#but i hope it actually stops the military. idk what it’s gonna do about the settlers that live there and attack palestinians/join the+

[milimeters-morales]

the ICJ is gonna deliver its order for the South Africa v Israel case on the 26th, i hope it’s a step in the right direction!

[viperixsworld]

GUTS, luke castellan x oc

(chapter one: new kid)

summary: Arianne and Luke just existing in camp and being the it couple.

disclaimer: im in introduction mood, so sorry. im thinking of making this story a full of oneshots and not a chapter after chapter think, idk. Enjoy this!!!

Set in Percy Jackson and the Olympians E1S1

Cabin ten, home to Aphordite's children. If Barbie and a military battalion had a kid, it would be the tenth cabin on Camp Half-blood. Arianne Deveraux was named captain and head counselor of the tenth cabin the day of her sixteen birthday, and since then she had to deal with all her brothers and sisters.

Two days later, Luke Castellan asked her to accompany him to a counselor meeting.

Said counselor meeting was actually a secret, not so secret, party for older campers, that had absolutly nothing to do with the fact that Chiron was out of camp in a secret quest and Mr.D had being persuaded with coke zero.

"Come on lovie, let's have some fun"

Wasn't he charming?

Apollo kids were at some (probably stolen) dj stuff, while Castor and Pollux were serving drinks and food. And every camper at sight waves and said hello to Luke. Three years at camp, and Ari was just starting to understand how deep Luke's influence run in the campus.

"So... are you gettin me a drink or what, champ?"

"And they said you were meek" laughed the boy.

"What can i say? Looks are deceiving"

"You don't have to swear it"

Later that night, when they had to break up the party after the earlier arrival of Chiron, some Demeter kid spread the rumor that captains of cabin 10 and 11 were making out behind a tree at the bonefire.

Some months after that, it was natural to see the two of them walking aroud camp, training together or swimming at the canoe lake. Her brothers and sisters would wait in the door of cabin 10, waiting for her to arrive past the curfew just to watch them say their goodbyes until next day.

"Quick! Hide behind the curtain!"

"Mitchell, she's gonna see you"

"Shut up, Val"

Arianne just draw her palm to her face as they stayed at the front door of cabin 10, her back facing the window while Luke only bit his tongue to avoid laughing at he situation. When Ari lifted her eyes from the floor, she found Luke's eyes just looking straight to her, as if he was trying to remember every little spot of her face, as if he was about to spend so much time without seeing her.

"Guess we have public tonight".

"They being spying us the whole day, I really hope they're not that bad when monsters are around"

Luke took a step foward, and before she could say her goodnight, he grabbed her face with two hands and kissed her on the lips. It was sweet and innocent and felt like being on a Pegasus. Her heart was beating faster than being chased by a monster and she actually heard the voices of her siblings giggling and clappin their hands.

"See you tomorrow at training, lovie"

Ari opened her eyes, finding Lukes mischievous grin, who was already on his way to his cabin.

"You just gave them a show" the girl complained

"No, your face did" responded the boy.

"I hate you".

"Nah".

She waved her goodbye to her boy with a foolish smile plastered on her face and prepare herself mentally for the nightmare of children behind that pink door. So, before entering, she breathed in and out three times, and stepped inside. She found all of her siblings looking at her, grinning at her, while poorly hidden behind curtains or under blankets.

"If your not dead sleeping before the count of ten, I will personally hunt you one by one in Capture the Flag"

This being said, the children practically flew to their bunkbeds as she directed herself to the twinbed she shared with her half-sister Silena.

The black haired girl was pretending to read a Vogue magazine when Ari just threw herself on her bed.

"Stop the act, Silena. I saw you looking out the window with Mitch and Val" said the captain.

Silena just left the magazine on the nightstand and looked at her big sister. They endured this for five seconds before brusting in laughs and putting her hands over their mouths to avoid bringin the attetion of the younger.

"Is he a good kisser?"

"Silena!"

"Don't shout! A girl just wants to know, don't blame me"

"It was all right" Ari said just staring at the ceiling "He felt right, get me?". Silena just looked to her sister in admiration, a look of pure happiness.

"Got it" she responded "Ugh, I'm so jealous... wish Charlie wasn't that dense".

"Give him time... it's not an easy task falling in love with a daugther of the goddess of love".

"Says the one with a boyfriend".

"Hey! It took time too, you know? Charlie will get it, don't worry about it. And if not, you can always leave it to your big counselor sister who can give him more chores!"

Silena just pushed her a little and they laugh again, falling sleep on the same bed after their conversation.

Later the same night, Arianne and Silena were woken up by a loud thud and the sun rays that sneak to the pinkish courtains. Apollo was feeling it today, huh? Arianne got off the bed, stretching after spending the night sharing a single bed with her dear sister, who kicks like hell.

"Mitch, what's going on si early?" she asked her little brother, who was running around the cabin with only one shoe one.

Did she sleep in? Why is everybody up that early? It was only 8:30 in the morning, most of the campers (especially HER campers) wouldn't leave their cabins until 9:00 for breakfast at mess hall.

She was sure as Tartarus that it wasn't inspection day, and she knew because the one in charge of that, was still lying in bed trying to get up. And Silena was really serious when it came to inspection day.

"A new kid entered at camp last night! Michael from Apollo said he killed a minotaur entering camp with Grover! Gods, he said the kid kept the horn!" said the boy before sprinting out the cabin.

What?

"Sil? Wake up, come on".

"Only five minutes" she murmured.

"Get your ass up!"

They dressed as quick as they could, (easy for Ari because she went to bed with the clothes from the day before). When both of them get to the mess hall, everyone was talking about the mysterious kid that one handedly got to kill a minotaur.

Apparently, poor boy passed out from the attack and was recovering in the infirmary, not even Apollo's children had access right now by Chiron's orders.

Silena went to their table, as for Ari, she was getting her food when Chris Rodríguez and Clarisse La Rue were having a conversation about it.

"I mean, a minotaur is big thing Clarisse".

"Beginner's luck, Rodríguez" said the Ares kid.

"Don't be mean, Clarisse" scolded the Aphordite's daugther entering the chat.

Despite being two opposite poles, La Rue and Deveraux had a good friendship and mutual respect. That probably comes from the close relationship between their godly parents (so to speak).

It was kind of relieving for Clarisse to know someone that she didn't need to impress. And for Arianne it was nice to have someone that wouldn't just underestimate her because of her looks, and actually saw that she wasn't a shallow, pretty face and that she could defend herself as well as any other demigod.

"Bet he's the son of Ares" said Chris "A new baby brother, Clarisse!".

Needless to say, Chris earned a hit from the Ares girl.

"What problem do you children of Hermes have with betting?" asked Arianne laughing while serving herself some pancakes with strawberry syrup.

"Make's life more insteresting, lovie" said a voice behind her, while an arm rested comfortably on her shoulders. "What are you three bickering about this morning, huh?" said Luke's voice.

"Good morning for you too" Arianne greeted.

With his arm still on her shoulder, Luke left a discret kiss on her hair. " What are the news?" he asked.

"Newbie kill a minotaur last night, and everyones freaking out" Clarisse said disdainfully.

"Unclaimed?".

"Seems like we'll have the bullslayer at our place, bro" said Chris before he and Clarisse went to their respective tables.

"Be nice to the kid, he is probably super scared right now" Arianne told Luke, gettin face to face.

Luke raised an eyebrow questioning her words.

"Im always nice to new campers".

Arianne just grinned and pecked his cheek before going to her sister, who was eagerly waiting for her pancakes.

[minihotdog]

Good ol' fishing boy

Pairing: Simon Ghost Riley x gn!Reader

a/n: idk. Simon is a big ol softie in this one

Summary: Simon learns how to fish

c/w: fake worm, maybe a swearword

Word Count: 1k

***

The weekend had finally come around. The usual hustle and bustle of the compound died down as everyone ran off to enjoy the little free time they’d been given. 

“Hey, Lt!” You beam at the sight of your superior. “Whatcha got planned for today?” You stood with your fishing rods tucked under your arm and a backpack stuffed to its brim.

“Nothin’.” He sat at the table with his morning tea. He always had such a cold look, with or without his mask, but you were determined to try and break down at least one of his walls. You’d been working for the task force for about three months now, and he was the only one who you still didn’t know a thing about.

  “You ‘otta come fishing with me. It’d be a good time, I promise.” You raise your eyebrows at him, waiting for his response.

“Not up my alley.” He swiftly declines, leaving you taken aback. 

In all my years, I’ve never heard a military man say no to fishing.

“Wha’d’ya gonna do? Sit here all day?” You say in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Oh c’mon, Lt.! What if I fall in the water and I can’t get out and I’m all by myself!” You clasp your hands in front of you as if you were about to get on your knees and beg. He sighs at what he referred to as your ‘American dramatics’. 

“Fine, but keep the talking to a minimum.”

“Yaay!” You celebrate, causing the stern Brit to groan in annoyance.

***

The air nipped at your nose as you and Simon sat on the bank of the river. The mountains off in the distance were topped off with fresh snow. The warm sunlight would occasionally peak out from behind the grey clouds. 

“Here ya go,” You hand him a rod and open your tackle box between the two of you. You start tying your hook to the line and reaching into the box to pull out a long black fake worm. You look over to Simon, motioning to the worm, “See this little guy? Bass love this shit.” He snorts lightly but you notice him go still when he looks at the contents of the box.

“So what do I do?” He asks, a little embarrassed. Most boys learned how to fish with their dads, unfortunately, his dad had been set on being a nightmare rather than an angler. You stop dead in your tracks, eyeing the man.

“You ever been fishing before?”

“No.”

You almost drop your worm, 

“What?! Really?!”

He shoots you a look that says, ‘Cool it or else’.

“Your dad never took you when you were a kid?” You probe.

“We weren’t very close.” His eyes avoid yours and look out at the bend of the river. Simon wasn’t one to feel embarrassed about his upbringing, he saw it as something that made him the man he was today. It motivated him to be better than what he witnessed and to maybe even eliminate the horrors that many were forced to live with. But it came with a cost and that cost was the simple things other people had gotten to experience that he didn’t.

“I wasn’t close with mine either,” You sigh, hoping that you hadn’t brought up painful memories. His eyes were back on you at the revelation.

“I actually learned how to fish from the locals when I was stationed in Turkey.” You smile, recounting the memories from your time overseas. “I rented a pole out and asked a taxi driver to take me to a fishing store. The taxi driver could barely speak English but it was clear as day that he loved fishing. We talked the whole way to the store and he even went inside with me.” You chuckle, “I’d run into a group of ‘Turkish Uncles’ out fishing and they’d try to show me their tricks.”

You place your rod down on the rocky ground and motion for him to give you his. “I’ll show you,” Your words come out softly. “This part is easy.” You place the rod between your knees and grab a hook out of the box to show him. 

“Now, there are all sorts of knots you can do but I use the Y/L/N special.” You put the line through the hole at the top of the hook and wrap the loose end a couple of times around the line coming directly from the rod.

 “So you wrap it however many times, then you put it through the loop at the bottom. Pull it and then tie a knot.” He nods at you showing he understands, and his eyes examine the funny-looking knot. 

“One time I went fishing with a friend of mine. He was the Bill Dance of trout.” You pause briefly to explain, “Bill Dance is an old man in the States that strikes fear in the hearts of Bass everywhere.” Simon laughs softly at your dramatics. “But, he took one look at my knot and I thought I was gonna die from embarrassment. He was too nice to tell me it looked awful, but it works just like any other.”

You gently clap your hands together, “Moving on, you know what these are?” You point to the contents inside your tackle box. Simon shakes his head, a smirk still playing on his lips. He almost felt like a young boy again, recanting the stories he’d heard in school of the other boys going out on the lake with their dads. Here he finally was.

“These are lures, a.k.a. Fake bait. They come in all shapes: Frogs, worms, little fish. Depending on the fish, some work better than others. Bass like the worm. Snakeheads, those angry demon fish, like the frogs.” You trail off stating the different lures for different fish as you grab a black worm out of the box. 

“You can hook however you want, but I think this is what separates boys from men.” Simon’s little smirk grows briefly. He found the way you explained things to him to be endearing.

You grab the hook in one hand and hold the fake worm in the other. “You could do this,” You put the hook through the side of the worm and let it dangle. 

“But you’d probably lose your lure on the weeds or from a strong bite.” You pull the worm off. “This is what I do because I’m a big fishing man,” You joke. Simon silently laughs again. He’d hear you constantly calling yourself jacked and joking that you were as big as him. Here you sat, looking about as big as the worm in comparison to him.

You put the hook through the top of the worm’s head, coming through the side. Your now cold fingers slide the worm to the top of the hook and poke through the middle of the squishy lure with the pointy tip nudging back into it. “This way, your hook stays weedless.” You hand him his rod before hooking your lure.

“Now we can rip some lips.” You laugh at your own joke as you stand and walk closer to the water. You point to the button your thumb rests on, looking back at him. “Hold that down when you cast.” You turn back to the water and give your rod a swift jerk. Your hook goes flying out to the middle of the river. Simon follows and casts his line out, the hook barely lands two feet away. He tuts quietly.

“Here,” You place your rod down and come up behind him. You place one hand on his left shoulder and the other over his hand on the base of the rod. “Keep your body facing the water, and swat it like this.” You run through the motion twice before backing away to watch him. This time he casts without a hitch. “Right on.” You smile at him and for the first time, he smiles back.

The two of you sit back down on the log. “Give it a couple of little tugs every once in a while and reel it in little by little. Or how the Turks taught me: Reel, reel, reel, action, action, action.”

“Reel, reel, reel, action, action, action.” He talks himself through the motions. 

“Just like that. Now we wait.”

Moments pass of silence. You couldn’t complain, the view was beautiful.

“Is it true that fish can hear you?” Simon asks you, a bit of humor in his voice.

“No, I think that’s something dads made up so their kids would be quiet.” The two of you laugh. You liked this version of Simon. Relaxed, still quiet and reserved, but he wasn’t the same cold person you met as Ghost.

“Thank you… For teaching me.” He said suddenly.

“No problem, I could use a fishing partner.” You nudge him with your elbow. “Just don’t catch more fish than me or we’ll have a problem.”

[silviakundera]

Joy of Life Episode 21 Liveblogging

This is my first watch, so don't tell me secrets ;)

The episode opens with an elaborate farce. The emperor & Chen Pingping are playing their roles with gusto (what? raise the army? 😮) and the 2 princes are like, the audacity of this bitch 🙄

It's the most relatable the princes have ever been

ML looks kinda sad.

Chen Pingping actually trying to stop the marriage but the prime minister has converted into a shipper

Glad they didn't try to play it like the Prime Minister could be so easily fooled.

Emperor & Chen Pingping can't let anyone be aware of Wu Zhu? INTERESTING.

Prime Minister thinking the ultimate killer of his son was the emperor is for the best (for our protagonist)

spend time with Wan'er ? er idk if that's a good idea right now

Prime Minister vs Royal Princess throw down!! PM has some care for his kids. I'm a little fascinated that PM has clocked Fan Xian's good person vibes & wants them for his clan like any other rare (and thus valuable) item. Princess is more interested in consolidating power. So much toxic divorced parents energy.

"kill them all, throw them in the lake" feudal times SUCKED. I appreciate historical dramas that don't downplay that

This Wan'er and Fan Xian meeting is gonna be sooooooooooo intensely awkward

"I feared his death was related to you" OK BUT IT WAS LMAO

It's actually a weak point for me that the screenwriter is dancing around this by writing Fan Xian going to murder the dude and having to be fought back, then again plan to go murder the dude but loses the track, then his mentor does it for him. So that the protagonist can have "clean hands" and get the girl as well as the justice. WEAK.

If I was invested in this ship it would really bother me and continue to grate that if she knew the truth she wouldn't want to be with him. But my suffering in the first arc of episodes tainted them for me so, whatever. Enjoy the fruits of your duplicity, ML. 👌

I like when cdramas address often how the justifications for war are manufactured by governments and how war leads to suffering for innocent people just trying to live their lives. Wan'er can want to stab ML dead for her brother but balks at raising banners for battle over it.

🍗 is like, I blamed you today. Don't be mad. Ok yeah and he's misleading you. That's bad. BUT. BUT. GIRL. You acknowledged your brother tried to kill him and had his best friend murdered? Where is the big displays of regret and grief for that? You held this man in your arms as his heart broke. YOUR BROTHER DID THAT. No... I don't even know what I expected here but just something. I expected her to be super torn about feeling bound to kill him but also knowing her brother reaped what he sowed, knowing her brother was committing treason + tried to murder the man she loves and promised to marry.

It feels like.... She told her bestie if there was conflict between family and loved one, that she'd hope justice would be done. And bestie took that to mean that she shouldn't hide the brother's guilt and justice matters. But it appears that what 🍗 meant was that she'd serve justice on behalf of her brother and take his side. (Brother could have tried to murder ML five times and she'd expect it to play out like, 😍 he loves me & has his reasons 😍and ML would just have to escape with his life and not fight back if he wants to still marry her.) Interesting how bestie and me the viewer misinterpreted her. Bestie is from a military family who would have strong feelings about treason, so that tracks.

None of this has me worked up, thank goodness, because it's not my ship 😇

Chen Pingping and Minister of Revenue having it out on the street about the best career path for their kid! BIG "we both loved the same woman" energy. I am wondering who ML's biological father is and do we really know. Officially unofficially Minster of Revenue is claiming him. But she wasn't his legal wife. Was she even his concubine? How many of these guys were in love with her or sworn brothers to her, and now they all wanna parent her kid lolololololol

ML is grappling with how his actions have impacted so many people. It's good that he cares, that none of this is easy. It makes him likeable.

The drama is using Sister Ruoruo to directly address ML's lie about his involvement in Lin Gong's death.

Oh!!! This was cool: ML didn't miss how erratic Crown Prince was behaving and wonders what is the real truth behind the competency of that faction. I HAVE BEEN WONDERING TOO. (pats seat beside me) come here, let's chat

Now we're back in CP HQ where he again seems perfectly calm and creepy and in control. YES the person we saw with Sister Ruoruo is his real self. He's pretending to be an occasional fuck up. (But as smart as the emperor is...if you and I and the ML can pick up the inconsistency, he can't be fooled..right?)

Chen Pingping shows up to intimidate Si Lili and start stepping on everyone's necks for Fan Xian ("An old friend". I have a CRAZY theory - do the main players from that generation know Mom was a time traveler and now they suspect Fan Xian might be her reincarnation or another time traveler?)

Uncle Wu is back to be mysterious!

No one REMEMBERS exactly what happened back then when mom was alive. We've been teased with this more than once. Because she was a time traveler and changed history? Or... Uncle Wu's comments made me consider an alternative, was she The Author who entered her own story???????

[absolutely-wretched]

finishing buffy s8 and starting angel&faith

spoilers under the cut

so, i did notice there were many writers in buffy s8 finally, confirming my suspicions that the badness of it wasn't joss alone. but let me tell you i was completely correct in thinking the last volume was going to piss me off. spike comes back and not only does she describe having sex with twilight to him, she KISSES HIM. i literally fell back onto my bed in exasperation. except she didn't actually kiss him, it ws a fantasy, which doesn't stop my annoyance, and neither does her immediately thinking she's gonna get into bed with him. i wanted to say like "buffy seems a little ooc, much more self-absorbed than she was originally". then i watched Hell's Bells since I was watching the dvd commentary, and her first words about Xander leaving Anya at the altar was "They were supposed to be my light at the end of the tunnel." and I was like oooooh nope she's still in character. just a bit worse, which is fair bc of the whole "leader of slayers" and "ultimate power" thing. also i was all excited about spike's design coming back in my last post bc of his nail polish, but then he's in like brownn boots and a tan sweater. idk just weird, i aggresively do not like it. i do like that Spike knew who twilight was immediately. very on-brand.

so angel kills giles and buffy doesn't stake him, but instead kills all magic. definitely needed to be done (poor willow, though), but it still seemed unrealistic that she didn't kill him, but i get why. angel&faith (abbreviated to a&f from here on out) pointed out the fact the angelus killed jenny in the same way, which i was surprised i didn't pick up on. faith gets giles' estate, which was a bit surprising but her explanation about it makes sense. that faith needed more help and all that. and faith is going to rehabilitate angel, which i love. angel's relationship with women like cordelia or faith are much nicer to me than anything about his relationship with buffy. and all magic is gone from the world except for the magic that's already there, tying these events to why the world is how it is in Fray (buffy having been the last slayer 200 years prior)

i'm curious to know how Willow was an Uber-witch then in the future, of whom Buffy goes back in time to kill. Also, Fray ended on a cliffhanger, the only continuation being when buffy went in time in s8. but i really want to know the rest of her story with Harth, especially because of that shocking kiss that's just like... what and why and what.

so warren is dead for good again, thank christ. everyone is mad at buffy for killing magic. it's all pretty fair since she boned twilight and birthed a whole universe and all that, being fairly selfish in their eyes, but since her and angel (mostly angel) were pretty possessed, it wasn't as selfish as it looks to everyone. but i'm glad they did it, a bit, because it brings us back to more of a similar world in the show. no more slayer military and all that, less bombastic fights and crazy mass demons. joss said "i learned what you like and didn't like" which i think means i'll like the seasons coming up much more. i don't like that willow has been nerfed, though. i love her so much, and she's so sad. and after goddesses and monsters, i knew she was into the snake goddess, and they're in love and she can never see her again. just... poor willow. i'm interested to know how that will turn out.

we also got to check in with riley, which i didn't care about, but it's part of the canon so i didn't skip it. and i was rewarded with finding out whistler is evil and an agent of twilight pulling the strings since buffy was 15. which was cool. oh! and giles leaving buffy the book that he pulled out in s1e1 was a nice touch. i dunno, the normalness of the epilogue gives me a lot of hope for s9 :) and so does the first vol of a&f

first off i'll say that I LOVE the art of a&f. Buffy art is really hit or miss, and while reading it i longed for the writing and art of Spike and Angel s5/6 comics (Urru and Lynch) even though when changing colorists/inkers around it could also be rendered hit or miss. But the a&f art? *chef's kiss*. The likenesses art great, the inking is amazing, I love the cell shading (which for comics is a much better fit to me than the airbrushing shading of buffy s8). I may be partial since it's the art style i'm personally trying to learn, and i'm seeing it being used professionally, but damn! it's really well done. and gone are the days of storyboarding being so confusing you dont know what's going on! i dunno if buffy s9 will lose that problem too, but here's hoping.

the characterization and story is really good, and angel is trying to bring giles back to life. i was thinking that wasn't really in character, but with eveything he did when he was (mostly) possessed by twilight, i can understand why. and faith promising to kill him, as usual. I just love it. it's got all the angel vibes of ats. I wonder how faith is going to reconcile that the slayers she helps want to kill angel. how she's going to allow him to bring giles back. it's a bummer, though, that new vampires that are turned since the seed was destroyed are like zombies. makes me uninterested in vampires. we get to check in with harmony at the end of the volume, which is fun. I love clem, he's continuously so cute.

i like the new villains. and they're working with Whistler, too. I'm interested to know more about the whistler lore. i wish they'd bring doyle back in some way. or cordelia. in comic form, not attached to an actor, i think i may actually like her, lol. i like that the seed rendered mohra blood unusable, since that could have changed angel's game completely, making him human. though, it doesn't make sense that he still says "i can't be what i need to be if i'm human". since he was human all through after the fall in Hell A and was able to save the world and all that while fighting demons constantly.

and what's up with that, too? so angel being twilight means eveyone hates him, he's infamous now. how does that reconcile with everyone in LA that he saved, making movies about he and Spike and Team Help the Hopeless, naming libraries after them and all that. Oh and I'm interested to know about the buddy comedy of illyria and gunn that was happening at the end of angel s6. i just love illyria and wanna know what she's up to.

TLDR: Joss says he learned a lot from doing buffy s8, seeing what worked and how certain things work in comic form. i feel like i'm going to enjoy the comics going forward, and really love a&f. the only thing that will make me really love s9 of Buffy when I start it, is if they change the entire art team (minus covers). I'm not sure if it's the inks that make it bad, but the shading definitely is bad. the pencils could be the problem, but since i can't see them, i'm not sure. the storyboarding was absolutely terrible, though, i had no idea what was happening a lot of the time. i'll be back after reading vol 1 of Buffy s9

[orneryotter-greiverdhark]

Monster Hunter: the movie commentary.

So I'm finally watching the Monster Hunter movie, here's my thoughts as it went on: I... I'm pretty sure boats in MH don't sail through sand??? Is physics just not a thing in MH or is this movie just off to a special start? Maybe that’s in some of the MH games I haven’t seen... Goggles girl! Ooo lol fuck diablos This is so fuckin dramatic omg Oh yeah, identify our world by the litter. What a statement piece. This is such a dramatic film. The slo-mo. Crikey. Coulda cut about half of it and got the same effect. Also wtf I don't think MH had wierdo portal magic shit? Idk tho, I've only looked at like 3 games in the series. Oo I wonder how much sand they just ate. Poor actors. Ooo more dramatic shot on the top of the dunes. I kinda like this movie. Its terrible, but I like it. Kinda. That's a surprisingly anti-military song they're singing. Guess they didn't get funded by the US army for this motion picture. Oo, wonder what bones they are o geez so dramatic oof so much sand. I wonder how many times they had to stop because of sand gettting in the eyes. lol they don't even try to make that look like burrowing under the ground Those 2 guys don't seem too bothered about the whole wierdo world with monsters lol. Very chill. lol, now its on fire and chasing you. oo dangerous. any of those bullets could have gotten her. Also it didn't seem like shooting them did a whole lot before so why was it different when they popped on its head? her teeth are so white against her grubby face lol Now that I think about it I don't recognise those bug monsters at all, especially not as prolific monsters. Maybe from one of the games I haven't seen?

oh yeah, shout at the monsters.v helpful

you did not get a spark that easy fuck off.

oo more dramatic ranged shots

I hope the whole movie isn't just this rock... I mean, its a story I guess but half the joy of MH is the community, and one dude stuck on a mountain really aint that.

lol high diablos. He like 'uh? where's my dinner -disappointed face-'

uh pointless fighting because nobody can ever do introductions. such 

unnecessary hostility.

uh really, were gonna watch them be dicks to eachother for half an hour? I mean, its on point I guess, very American - survivor in a strange land, attack the first person they see.

Seriously, this is MONSTER HUNTER why are we watching half an hour of two randos fighting eachother????? ARE THERE NO MONSTERS THEY COULD BE FIGHTING WTF.

oh they're friends now are they? Just, had enough of the ointless fight now she's realised she actually doesn't want to kill him.

Oh yeah, eat this food, which is probably so foreign to your body it'll make you super sick. Really, its great.

Really, only one big one has come out? You're kidding there are like a million spiders in there, but they just waited till the hoomins took down the first one?

It's kinda annoying that they've gone with the whole 'can't communicate with eachother due to language barrier' as a thing. I know it makes sense that they wouldn't be able to communicate since they come from different worlds, but still.

I mean, it's got some MH elements in there I guess.

Oh, now we're more towards the MH we know and love.

lol bait.

Oooo Rathy.

lol firespinning

Uh, really not enjoying the representation of the people of MH

For a guy who learned this language 'as a study' his accent is very american.

Who's keeping those fires lit.

So even though there's a whole bunch of them, he's only gonna speak in english to her. I guess the rest of them don't need words.

I mean, could they not just find a way inside the tower rather than hang about waiting for Rathy to blast 'em?

Also, saying 'its vulnerable just before it breathes fire' don't mean shit if you don't have a plan to like, take advantage of that like 3 seconds of vulnerability.

Oh look, she cut its wing or smthn. A vulnerability they could also capitlise on.

All this slow-mo.

lol face first.

Lol Rathy followed you home. Can we keep him mommy?

oh no, he's eating everything.

oof, you ain't gon win an air battle against a Rathy.

I mean, you could try for a radio or something but no, why not just go one on one against Rathy?

I mean, the attacks are straight out of MH but they look so tacky lol.  Also wtf how is that the end of the movie? That doesn't end it! Ugh. I mean fair enough though that was kinda terrible.

O, a credit scene. 

Who da fuk is that meant to be? Also Palico!

[wow-cool-robot]

Episode 25: The Battle of Odessa

excited to see this shows take on actual battles that overshadow the white base in scope!

amuro is very high strung before the battle, and it's pissing the engineers off.

now he's sadly flashing back to the times he spent with matilda last episode. i liked matilda, but this does feel a little like them just needing to reuse some animation to fill time

the music getting cut off when sayla says his name made me laugh

come on, answer fraw bow when she asks if you're ok, don't be rude!

the black di-stars mourning their lost member is a fairly nice scene. as always, this show is really good at humanizing the enemy, with the only exception being m'quve so far. he's just kind of generic

i love them sliding around. very code geass

did they not know when they were attacking? i thought that had already been decided and shared

have faith in fraw bow! you're 5, you don't get to be worried about that sort of thing

oh shit, they're going to find the spy

amuro no! the corruption goes all the way to the top!

oh he convinced the grunts beforehand that this might be worth listening in on? that was smart

hopefully things go well on that front

kai's doing surprisingly well, and this whole battle is well animated

aww, the orphans are helping fraw bow out :3

kai's out of the fight now, so it's amuro vs the black di-stars, with hayato in the core fighter

so since elran got got, that screwed m'quve? good, i hope this is the last we see of him

you're gonna nuke everything????

"yeah, it's a warcrime. but have you considered i would like to win the battle?" is interesting logic, but i'm not sure that'll hold up in a military tribunal

revil's stone cold, huh. not even hesitating?

i was expecting these guys to last a while, but amuro is really cutting through the ranks of the black di-stars (now just the black star singular)

hydrogen bomb as a uniquely taboo weapon feels weird in a world where zeon dropped a colony on australia, but i guess you really don’t want fallout in a colony

dude that's so fucking risky! i mean, no better option i guess, but if i were amuro i might just hunker down and hope the gundam will stop me from getting radiation poisoning if i'm not at ground zero

why do you think the data pre-treaty is still accurate? they still have the weapons, why would the not be making more in secret?

the poor gundam shield. gets destroyed every episode these days

"the federation has ignored my demand that they let me win or i'll start committing war crimes, so now i must commit war crimes! this is their fault!"

more like black no-stars. or die-stars? idk

that nuclear bomb is still on fire, and just exploded on a mountain. that seems like it's still a major issue!

though i guess the dom exploding is a bigger explosion? dunno what's up with that. maybe i just don't understand how nukes work

oh god damnit. i knew this battle wasn't the end of the war, but i was hoping it would be the end of m'quve!

i was going to ask why amuro was the one shaking hands with revil, but he did just save them all from a nuclear missile, so i guess that makes sense

good episode, the first one to explicitly call out war crimes being committed, which will become something of a recurring theme as i understand it

[whysojiminimnida]

Hello YSJ! I was at PTD Day 2 and while the concert was great, I left feeling doubtful about Jikook. All of the Jikook moments during the performance that everyone is cooing over felt like regular friendly interactions rather than “loud” moments (except the butt squeeze which I didn’t see due to being so short). I was hoping to see for myself their love since there’s no better “original content” than what you see with your own eyes, and I saw nothing but professional behavior. Thoughts?

Hi anon, WELL THIS IS LONGER THAN INTENDED OKAY I wasn't there live, but I did catch it via some very kind Friends of the People - well, mostly. I was super tired and also on some rather heavy meds. Also the streams weren't nearly as stable on Day Two. (If it helps I PAID FOR MY DAY FOUR 4K MULTIVIEW HYBE DON'T COME FOR ME) but I saw a number of things that made me coo and sigh and smile. So it might come down to what we saw and personal opinion, but...

Two things: One, moments in real time are FAST. We don't get those sweet slowed-down edits set to Doja Cat grooves that I LOVE LOVE LOVE do not get me wrong, I watch them for fun and ... fun. They are also not reactor vids that go back and catch the same moment twice. Hell, they're not even Weverse translations. A lot gets lost in context onstage. and B., moments in real time are often overshadowed by LIGHTS and LOUD MUSIC and your eyes are literally EVERYWHERE. Rose Bowl, for example, was MUCH LOUDER on video and because it was caught on the big screens and it was long enough that the hyungs had all moved away before it was over - and it still was less than ten seconds long in total. Also, you're looking at stuff from a distance instead of the video and photo closeups we get later:

So if you're at the concert and you are enjoying yourself, as you should, you are probably missing as much as your eyes can catch and interpret just by the nature of the event. And as a hobbit I can empathize also with the short thing, I even lie to my own doctors about my height, they have stopped arguing with me and just adjust my BMI accordingly but WE ALL KNOW I CAN'T SEE SHIT WITHOUT PLATFORMS AND A BUDDY.

This is actually how I started watching edits - because I was missing so much in original content, even in performance video that focused on the guys. But after a few weeks and finding the youtubers I like and don't, (see me for recommendations), I made myself watch original content mainly for context. Korean is an incredibly contextual language - verbal and written translation alone is not nearly adequate to get it into English as it is meant to be. Even good translators have a hard time making it sound as it is intended. Physical moments are QUICK - a brush of a hand on an ass or a chest, or a missed bro bump because Koo was tryna BRIDAL CATCH HIS MAN is so rapid in real time that it is very blink-and-miss-it. But the guys are, in fact, AT WORK when they are onstage and this is something we like to forget. THEY WORKING BB. They damn well better look and act professional or they are gonna hear about it.

And right now there is the military question to contend with. If you are expecting kisses and declarations of love that is not going to happen, not in Vegas, not any time until and unless that is resolved in a manner favorable to a coming-out party. The Korean military does not look kindly upon faggotry of any stripe, not in the guise of fanservice, not in any way at all thank you. Not under the incoming administration - President Yoon is virulently homophobic and so are his cronies and that is not something the Taekookers are taking into account. But for me, I saw SO MANY LITTLE MOMENTS. But I'm not the Jeon-Parks' evangelist - I'm more of a... Jeon Park Roomba? IDK in my house the Roomba is named Dobby and we don't give it socks and sometimes Yoongi tries to ride it so I identify as a Roomba in this story. (Whatever that's my brain sorry) But I am sorry you didn't get to see this:

I guess basically we all see different things, and we can miss a lot in live shows. And if the offstage lives and content they give us combined with the professional, working moments we get from a staged concert (okay the ass grab was... not professional) wasn't enough to keep you thinking they're a couple, then I don't really have any advice for you. Maybe you just see a friendship. And that's okay.

The real question is, do you still love them? Still love BTS? Have a great concert experience? If the answer is "yes", that's all good. :)

[viridessense]

Ready, set, ah fuck

I’m back on my a/b/o shit yo, but make it Top Gun.

For more about this au, check out the "viri does top gun" tag!

I’ve been agonising about how to swing this for like two weeks, but now I’m at a point where I might be kinda happy with the foundations of it, so I’m putting it on here in the faint hope that it’ll pressure me into sticking with it(hehe because that always works).

SO! Because military setting(gross for realsies, fuck yeah for fic amirite?) it’s a wee bit tricky, but let’s say I like a challenge. What I do know is that it basically floats around a few hard yesses that I started out with:

Maverick is am omega, which means that in some point in the 80s it should have been legal for omegas to join the navy.

Ice Man is an alpha, and because we want maximum angst, we’re just gonna go ahead and say that at that point, fraternising within your unit was a BIG NO.

Ice already had two kids by the time he went to Top Gun. I’m thinking marriage/pack bond of convenience, because he’s from a rich(Richy richidy RIIIICH) family, receiving his inheritance is contingent upon some stupid shit like whether or not you’re married with kids and at which level in your career you are. Sarah! Lovely society beauty omega Sarah would also like to get her inheritance thank you very much, and to get the fuck out from under her family’s thumb. They make bored-to-tears eye-contact at a gala and it was lets-be-rich-and-independent-together-also-hey-you’re-pretty-great at first sight. (Later, when Sarah is introduced to fellow omega Olivia Kerner, Ice has to threaten Slider with bodily harm if he doesn’t stop laughing, because now he has TWO omegas in his pack that are neither related nor attracted to him).

Of the dagger squad, Bob, Phoenix and Fritz are omegas, Rooster, Hangman, Payback, Halo and Yale are alphas, with Coyote, Fanboy, Harvard and Omaha as betas (and boy, did I overthink this to the high heavens. There’s a chart. It’s colour-coded).

These are the four laws of Viri’s Top Gun Omegaverse, around which everything else was contructed, kinda. So, as I mentioned, maximum angst required. So prior to let’s say, 1980(this might change because, uh, space and future and stuff) omegas were not permitted to join the armed forces because the contemporary family unit would’ve been threatened!!! But ya’ll know about the sexual liberation of the 60-70s, and so things were a’changin’. There was also! The first successful, long-term birth control method(suppressants) which meant the nay-sayers lost their ace. So, during the 80’s the law banning omegas was lifted, and voila, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mithcell waltzed(read; clawed, kicked, swung) his way in and bam.

But then there were some…issues. Mainly that suppressants, especially the kind the brass recommended, were not that reliable and were actually pretty fucking catastrophically bad for some users. Quite a few lawsuits dominated headlines for the latter half of the 80s and ultimately the powers that be put the issue of omegas in the military under a moratorium, which meant no new omegas could join, and omegas that had already joined were holding onto their jobs by the skin of their teeth.

For Mav, that meant agreeing to be a test subject for some things [cough super soldier cough] and a few years later, BAM a brand new product hit the omega birth control market: the implant.

How this new implant works is that it prevented heats until a certain threshold of ‘happy, pack, nesting’ hormones was met, after which it only kept them regular and prevented babies. Badda bing badda boom, heats during deployments problem solved, right??

Well, no. Because where before there was mostly warrior packs(something left over from ancient-ish times, where soldiers were harvesting when they weren’t fighting), where betas, alphas and yes, even omegas, only formed a bond based on like, camaraderie, you-watch-my-back-I’ll-watch-yours stuff. Temporary, an instinctual drive towards conflict-resolution(lol idk) and mutual survival! Warrior packs also tend to be way bigger, whereas family packs, even before The Contemporary Family Unit, tended to be small. 50 people vs. 12, maybe 15, far often even fewer than that. However, the unforeseen side effect of the implant was that omegas only went into heat with people they really trusted and even felt compatible with. Which, shocker apparently to the people in charge, can totally be the people you’re deployed with.

And so, for the first time since the light bulb and the industrial revolution, family packs emerged. Where you get any number of alphas, betas and omegas living together, thriving, living their best lives, and not necessarily cohabitating with the sole purpose of reproducing! Back in Ye Olden Days, you could have a massive fucking house with like, four family units smooshed together, sharing resources and childcare. In modern times, it’s a little more transient, in that most people enter a family pack during their college years, basically a pack to mature and grow with that isn’t your parents, until you find The One(or two) and form a Contemporary Family Unit(wow I’m getting tired of hearing myself think that). So you deploy with you Ship Family, kinda, and come back to your Home Family(though with time these came to overlap, A Lot).

(Yes what I’m saying is that the Top Gun Class of 86 formed the first ever military family pack and it’s all Mav’s fault)

Anyway for now I’ll stop rambling. This was mostly to sort it out in my head, because I tend to ramble(yes, even more than here) when its just myself in my notebook, and because I’m lazy half of it doesn’t get written down and thus forgotten or tripped over later as a plot/logic-hole.

[omiscurls]

Heyhey! I couldn’t find your rules, so idk if this is allowed or not, and if it isn’t feel free to ignore this, but may I request Childe with a reader who has depression? Thank you

tough

a/n: hi!! sorry for that, the rules are added by now, i chose not to describe depression itself, because it looks different on everyone, and you may not relate to what applies to me, but i'm hoping you'll find this enjoyable instead!!

plot: character helping the reader out of a breakdown, or a bad headspace

contains: tartaglia, kaeya

warnings: bad copying mechanisms, low mental place, nothing too serious mentioned

tartaglia

now, he's a man of action less than words, even though he's good with those, too

and to add to that, he's also a very perceptive person - if some negative vibe lingers on you for too long, he'll notice right away

however, relying on his experience, he opts to give you space to figure it out on your own, first, he wouldn't like to be making a huge deal of something that was just a worse couple of days

it's when you don't show up at your usual dinner spot, that he gets a little tingle in his brain, telling him to not dismiss it this time.

and so, he makes his way over to your place.

"ya there?" you hear on the other side of the door, followed by urgent knocking, sort of breaking you out of a trance, but you can't find it in you to go and answer it. he'll go away, you think, even better. your apartment is messy, you're messy, too, and it's not the right time to be receiving visitors. so you stay quiet.

"you do know i know you're in there, right?" he speaks up again "the blinds would be down if you weren't"

come in, you want to shout, and although no voice leaves your throat, soon the door opens anyway.

"hey, what's up, you weren't on the- oh." he stops in his tracks in the middle of the corridor, and you're already mentally prepared to a snarky remark about your sorroundings, but the only thing he says is a lighthearted "why're you sitting on the floor?"

the first thing he thinks about is to level with you, so he plops himself down right beside you, and you bet it looks funny - you in yesterday's clothes, in a big, probably smelly, mess, and then a harbinger in full military outfit right beside you.

"i-" you try to say, but your throat seems too dry and worn out, so you opt for a whisper "look at his place"

he indeed does, hinting the small note of desperation in your voice.

"what about it?"

"it's a mess!" you sigh, covering your face with your hands, out of both embarrassment, and fatigue. you take a big breath before continuing "so i wanted to clean it up, i even brought all the... all the things, but it's so much stuff to do, and i'm tired, and- and i don't know!" you choose to stop as not to snap right then and there. "i can't even do my shitty chores right like an adult" you mumble, massaging your temples.

"and is sitting on the floor helping?" he simply asks, and for a second, you're almost mad at him for not being more... cooey and fuss over you a bit more. he sounds cold.

"what are you-"

"really, is it helping?" he repeats "because from how i see it, every little thing would seem bigger if you looked at it from this angle. come on" he nudges you before standing up, and offering a hand to lift you up. you, however, shake your head.

"i really can't deal with it today, childe, i'm sorry"

"just stand up" he pleas, and the second you take his hand, he helps you up in less than a second. when you're on his level again, he sneaks both his arms on the sides of your waist, and sort of sways around a little, before speaking again. "what if, what if we do it little by little? look, we'll start over there" he puts his hand on top of yours, and lifts your arm to point to the full sink along with his. "and that'd be it for today! and then tomorrow... actually, let's not make plans. we'll just pick something tomorrow, and do it then. does the sink sound like a lot to do?" he asks.

"do you want me to be honest, or do you want me to say no" you mutter, earning the heartiest and brightest laughter you've heard in days from him.

"always honest. but come on, i'll help." he rolls you out of his embrace, causing you to feel a sudden wave of cold, it was comfortable back there, you think.

however, as he works through the dishes with you, the pile does seem to lessen, and doesn't rule over your kitchen anymore. every time he hands you a plate to dry, he smiles as wide as he can, and it doesn't seem to bother him at all when you don't smile back.

"remember" he starts again, after a while of comfortable silence. he looks ridiculous, doing the kitchen duties in an outfit designed mostly to look presentable and slay enemies in it, but the look on his face is dead set. "the first lesson you've gotta learn before going off to battle something, is that the best defense is always, always to fight back. and if you don't think you can manage that, well, that's why nobody ever battles alone. it's common sense to have someone watching your back. and as for you, not only are you a great warrior yourself, but you've also got the best second-in-command willing to help you out. don't forget that."

kaeya

as for him, he's also perceptive and empathic, but the difference between him and tartaglia is that he does believe people have the right to figure some things out on their own, he's a firm believer in the magic of secrets

that's probably because he himself doesn't like to share too much about his deeply personal feelings

so he'd obviously see some wave of difficult emotions coming your way, but would he immediately start worrying? probably not

the guy doesn't have healthy copying mechanisms himself, don't think he expects those of others

every other night the two of you meet up at the tavern, kaeya always ordering wine, you asking the bartender for whatever was in store today, but it's never anything alcoholic.

and just like nearly always, you're seated at angel's share, him noticing you're not particularly in the mood for talking, and choosing to entertain you with as many stories of the day that went by as he can remember.

the waiter interrupts him, asking if your minds are already made up regarding the drink. now, kaeya always has you picking first, but since he sees you're still analyzing the card (as if you expected to find anything new), he goes first with a drink he knows charles makes really strong.

to his surprise, when it comes to you, you just mumble "i'll have the same he had"

before the waiter has a chance of writing that down, kaeya tells him that actually, you're gonna need a minute or two more, and to erase the order you've both put in.

as he walks away, the calvary captain's eyes pierce through yours.

"that's a pretty nasty drink you wanted there" he starts, feeling he can't let you handle your mess this time, preparing to dig a little deeper into what's on your mind.

you shrug your shoulders.

"hey" he speaks up a little firmer, hand moving to cover yours, and even though they twitch as to retreat from his grip, you let it be. "tell me what's up."

"nothing's <up>" you accentuate. "can't i even have a drink now?"

"obviously you can" he nods "as long as i know you're trying it just for the taste, and not for the strong kick it's gonna offer, cause that's a dangerous path that only leads to nasty places." concern shines through his gaze, and an encouraging smile is wandering somewhere in his expression, however his lips are still pressed into a tight line, the same he forms when he's either fighting or arguing.

you stay silent for a good long while, before sighing.

"maybe i want the kick. good, or bad, maybe i want to feel... something."

the sentence sounds all too familiar, as he shakes his head and takes your hand, leading you towards the exit.

"what're you-"

"you're obviously not in the right state to be in a bar, of all places" he states almost coldly "so i'm getting you somewhere safer."

the two of you leave the bar, and walk out into the cold of mondstadt's street, covered in the darkness of the night. you walk past him, not leveling up to him, just tagging along to whatever he's going.

it comes as a surprise, that you're neither headed for your apartment, nor his, nor the knights' headquarters. he's guiding you in an unknown direction, until you reach a dead end.

he clims up a small building, offering you a hand and shaking off your confused expressions and questions. "you'll see" he says. the two of you walk from roof to roof, and countless times you tell him it's ridiculous, but then, he jumps onto the city's wall, helping you out with two hands this time, sitting you down right next to him on the stone surface of the wall. it's a little wet from the night's humidity, and cold, and probably dirty too, but the moon shines right at you, and from this perspective, you see thousands of lights in houses, taverns and shops, from the bottom up to the cathedral.

going up from that, a calm and peaceful lake paints the landscape blue on the left, and even from up here, you see a sea of lampgrasses shining through the leaves of wolvendom forest. if you squint, lights are still on in dawn winery, and the path to liyue and all the other lands swirls around near diluc's house. there's so much you can see, even if the night limits your vision.

"i like to come here when i need to gain some perspective over what is happening in my life right now" kaeya speaks really softly and quietly, bordering on a whisper. "it's a beautiful view, even someone as insensitive to art as i am can see that, but other than that... it's huge. and even though it is, it's also alive. every single one of those beings whose lights are dying out as they slowly go to sleep one by one, they're alive. they're not a scenery, they're their own, individual worlds. and they all coexist with each other in such a clever manner, don't you think? they have their differences, they might even hate each other, or wish the worst upon the other's name, but from up here? they fit together like puzzles of one, big picture."

"that's a nice way to put it, for sure" you whisper, looking down onto your knees. his finger pushes your chin slightly to make you face him, and he smiles at you gently, thumb brushing against the skin of your cheek.

"you know, we each have our own worlds, built from scratch from such fragile materials. we have our worlds rise, shine, and crumble before our sights. we look over the ruins of them and think, this is the end of the world. there's nothing more, it's all dust now. but from up here, you see how many other worlds there are - everyone has their own. not everything that is happening in your world is true. you see it from first person's perspective, and therefore the view might be disturbed by many different aspects. you might not see the picture, you just see the broken puzzle fragment that can't fit with the rest, and you're ready to throw away the entire picture, without finishing it. but being here, it reminds me... the world doesn't end on the ruins you see. you can always ask someone to help you build them up again, and of course, you can expect it to fall into pieces once more, but this time, you'll keep in mind, there're-" he stopped, pointing to the city's lights. "so many people to help you raise it up to the clouds."

"your metaphor is really complex" you chuckle, but his face stays still.

"it's not the end of the world if your puzzle piece is broken. and the ruins are not unfixable if you feel too tired to build them up all by yourself. if anything, that's a start." his hand travels up to keep the hair from getting on your face, since the wind blows pretty hard on this height. "what do you say we start your puzzle once more, toghether?"

-

your friendly reminder that you can request things [here]

[shadowiie]

can you give us more context for your Maria lives/ shadow puppet Au?

AU ASKS MY BELOVED

okay so originally this au was based off of this one comic by @/Lyricstomb about an alternate universe Maria meeting up with prime Shadow, where its revealed that although Shadow was technically alive in that universe, he recieved a fate worse than death (can't be bothered to search up the actual comic but it was pretty popular so im sure some people know what im talking about)

With a bunch of new ideas and headcanons it eventually spiralled out of control to become more than just a maria lives au, but an entire mess of a universe alltogether

I'm planning on changing the name from maria lives au to puppet shadow au simply because the lore of the au no longer surrounds the fact that maria is alive, but instead the fact that 50 years ago Shadow was mind controlled and taken over by GUN, who then utilized having an Ultimate Lifeform in their hands that would do whatever they say to take control of the world and rule as a kind of dystopian present

In this au, the people working to topple the current military government weirdly turned out to all be semi-obscure characters

There's Sonic, of course, but no Tails in this au rip. idk what happened to him maybe hes chilling on vacation

Sonic allowed himself to be genetically modified by bonafide biochemist and mad scientist Maria Robotnik, and so looks like that almost like a certain red and black hedgehog

Maria in this au lives instead of Shadow, but because of this she was forcibly spliced with Black Arms DNA by the ARC scientists (inspired by that one Black Arms War Maiden art by @/Xenohog), which means that she shares some abilities with Shadow and the other Black Arms. Without her consent, her legs were mutilated so she could walk again, and so because of this she has even more chronic pain issues than before, particularly centered around her feet and legs :)

Still, she fights hard to recover Shadow and wake him up from GUN's control

Next on this list is Elise! She's the one character I'm still figuring out how exactly i want to portray her (the human women in this series have zero personality so by god am i gonna make her interesting in this au), but she's a straight-faced princess that wields both flames and time-stop abilities to fight >:D

also i want her and maria to bond and develop into a qpr and thats why shes there

Eclipse has joined Team Wildin (name pending) because the way GUN figured out how to control Shadow was through manipulating the Black Arms hivemind, and so most of the Black Arms are either controlled by GUN or defeated. Black Doom created him in a last ditch effort for the survival of the species, so he was purposefully blocked out from receiving messages in the hivemind, only able to send messages one way. He teams up with the rest of the cast because the enemy of my enemy is my friend and boy howdy am i straight outta options

Lastly, Sticks the Badger :)

(also Maria has a Doom's Eye friend named Dorito. They're the mascot)

Together they fight against GUN and the United Federation, hoping to figure out a method to bring Shadow back :)

[misstalwyn]

FORBIDDEN WEST THOUGHTS 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

I’m literally on the dot at 50.2 percent completion so I figure it’s a good time bc idk what plot could follow what I know now, so

SPOILERS AGAIN

Ok, listen, y’all know Avad’s #1 in my heart but HOLY FUCK does Kotallo make a challenge for the throne!!

I don’t know how they keep making all the different varieties of ideal™️ men but goddamnit does Aloy keep finding them! Don’t be selfish girl leave some for the rest of us!! 🥺

he does such a quick heel turn from “ugh the chief is making me help an outlander” to “hello commander reporting for duty” AND I! JUST!!

KOTALLO!!!

love me a man that will wrestle a machine with chainsaws for teeth and also demand chocolate frosting as a ration

“That was an unkind comparison” YOUR HONOR, I LOVE HIM

it was a really great tone/motivation to have that whole plot just be “let’s go take this asshole down a peg”

and WHERE is aloy learning to curse so much now?? i’m not crazy, right? she’s telling people off left and right! i love it but goddamn, i think rost would be PISSED lol

can I just say, the Tenakth are a pretty fascinating group for a violent bunch. They’re just historians with a fixation on military doctrine! If they just stopped killing each other over everything, they’d really have the mettle to challenge the Carja

(But pls don’t do that Avad is really trying to keep the peace YALL 😭)

anyways I really liked how their section went, and I only did a couple side quests after the kulrut and haven’t touched the arena, so we’ll see if it impresses me even more

The Utaru I initially really liked, but then I realized that was just Zo selling them really well bc a lot of their npcs were rude and their leadership don’t seem to believe in having any agency, soooo

I can see why Zo just completely lost faith in them immediately lmao

Again tho, didn’t do any post-main story missions there yet, so we shall see!

Kue was cool, tho! I would go hang out with that settlement more if they get more quests tbh

I will say I thought Beta’s defection was pretty clever, idk how I knew the whole thing with the 237 immediately lol but I will happily take my pride on that one

I don’t feel bad but also kinda feel bad for laughing at the immortal woman with centuries of tech at her fingertips just to be stabbed to death by a tribal dude with a knife 😂

all that money and still no sense!!

but Beta’s issues, man

MAN,,,,

I’m well past her breakdown by now too and yknow her deal must be beyond complex if everyone in that base and Aloy included has been thru some kind of lasting trauma, and they’re all just throwing their hands up at her

I hate to meme about it but when i get to meet tilda i’m just gonna be like, “look at this clone you made, she’s got anxiety”

Anyways, I hope someone can get her some good help bc idk if GAIA is designed for therapy lol

(They SHOULD get her a real name, first things first!)

I’ve complained about the pacing/freedom of movement enough so far, but I’m still very confused at the why/where’s/how’s of it?

Like, the leveling up through the base felt fine, nothing was head and shoulders above me and they only threw the big bois at you w/the plot

But by the kulrut, I was starting to get side missions & errands that were 5-10 levels above me, in areas with super aggressive machines I was very unprepared for

and then the tremortusk mission felt very…. Easy? And I realized I was actually OVERLEVELED for it?? even tho everything else in the area wasn’t???

I don’t understand how the plot can be pushing me forward so much, and yet here I am at tide’s reach getting level 20 side missions at level 41, even tho I just fought a level 40 vampire bat!!

Like, what! How are you supposed to get this far and be simultaneously babied and bullied? HOW??

idk, I felt like HZD had it right just having each area set at a certain difficulty, so you could just mentally sort it out like, “okay, I can handle the maizelands at my level, and if I wanna relax I can go back to the embrace,” and so on

Everyone who said the pacing was great in reviews clearly meant the plot bc, well, no arguments there lol but oh boy does my general gameplay pacing get so thrown off when I struggle in a cauldron 5 levels above me for an hour bc GAIA HERSELF CALLED AND TOLD ME TO DO IT!

and then I walk 10 feet outside to find an NPC begging me to help them with a fetch quest literally 15 levels beneath me 😬

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

Anyway speaking of yikes, that lady at the biotech facility just got totally gaslit into thinking BIOMASS CONVERSION (the thing that doomed the world) WAS GOOD?? JUST GOTTA KEEP OUTDOING YOUR OWN SHIT, EH TED???

Y I K E S

anyways good on that person who resigned halfway thru, I respect them and only them in that environment

Alva is cool tho! And I mean that in the nerdiest, most awkward way possible lol

I gotta be honest, when I saw people mention her I thought she was supposed to be Beta bc no one understandably mentioned Beta and I thought Alva sounded close enough to Aloy that it meant they had picked a new name for her bc Beta feels kinda insulting to keep tbh

Anyways, her people sound neat, idk how i feel about hanging out with them since they worship elisabet herself?? that twist was really well done but goddamn the LOOK in aloy’s eyes when she realized “oh, not again!” lmaooo

I have also fought the monkeys. i hate the monkeys. i thought they were weird jungle cats for a little bit too lol 

I REALLY didn't expect to be at the coast already with how much more western space i still have blank on my map? but i guess, erosion is kind of the silent machine here? neat

as a native Californian, i would guess that’s just north of the bay, but its so far north i almost wanna say Eureka?? idk, but i will say theres quite a few places north and south that have that many redwoods, so i was kinda sad there were no datapoints ID’ing it

i wanna see if i can recognize everything now lol, i don't wanna leave its so pretty!! but i did reluctantly go back just to throw demeter back into gaia and its looking like i have a big chunk of plot left, huh? jesus, i really might not finish before the 18th oop

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Two Shorten the Road

part 1

joel dawson x reader

warnings: cussing? idk, bad writing.....fluff, cuteness, monsters(is this a warning), mentions of death, SPOILERS

word count: 2154

prompt: when your best friend decides to leave your colony to go find the love of his life, you decide to join him on his journey even if you aren’t so happy about where this journey is going

Welp I did it, I took it into my own hands. I am writing a joel dawson series. Because we👏need 👏more👏joel👏fics👏 it’s basically the movie, almost the same script but obviously slightly different…ENJOY! <3

No one in my generation or later had a typical upbringing, I mean some of us did but then the world ended. This type of thing sounds straight out of some apocalyptic movie, but we basically live in one now. Agatha 616, an asteroid heading straight for earth, I know, so original. So we all came together and did what we do best, blow things up. Yup, we blew up teh asteroid, and humanity was saved! We thought. But here’s the thing about rockets, they are made of a bunch of chemical compounds which eventually rained back down on earth. Suddenly there were these Aileen creatures that mutated and started eating us. Ants, lizards, roaches, crocodiles, you name it. Our president was even killed by a giant moth. Ya….not so original now huh? We suddenly need tanks to kill ants, oh man I remember the good old days when a shoe would do just fine. Sometimes even the tanks didn’t work. Eventually the really big ones and our military took each other out and we lost 95% of the human population in a year! Those of us who survived hid, bunkers, caves, panic rooms, all around the world. So for the last seven years I’ve been hiding in an underground bunker. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, and it’s better than getting eaten alive. It’s a great group of people and we all love each other.

“Are you sure they’re asleep?”

“Who?”

“Y/N and joel!”

“Oh ya I’m sure”

“Joel? Y/n?”

“He’s asleep”

Actually we are both awake. Me and my best friend joel have kinda mastered faking being asleep. Our beds are right across from each other so we normally just lie there and make stupid faces at each other. We are the only two single people in our bunker. Nice huh? Joel is my best friend. I met him when I joined the colony. He’s the sweetest. It’s funny cause everyone thinks we should just have sex already because that’s literally all everyone else does. But we are way above that. Anyway, joel is in love with his girlfriend from before the colony, her name is Aimee. With one “I” and two “e”s. He loves to talk about her, he writes her letters. So in reality, I am the only one who is not in love in this bunker. I’ve never had a boyfriend, ever, even before the world ended.

We don’t really get any sleep. The moaning kinda keeps us awake. I got up and out of my bed and headed for the kitchen. I heard Joel’s bed creak and then his footsteps as he followed behind me. Another annoying thing about being down here is that to get to the kitchen from my room, you have to walk though other people’s bedrooms. Oh shit, they are busy, why would they leave their door open. Me and Joel stopped.

“Oh” joel and I said in unison

“Hey Y/N! Hey Joel!” Ava said

“Oh hey Ava” Joel said, we didn’t dare look over to our left.

“Y/N how’s it going?” Tim asked

“T-totally good tim, h-how are you doing” I asked

“Yeah, good” he responded

“I uh we couldn’t sleep” said Joel looking at the ceiling

“Ya we know the feeling” Ava said with a laugh

“Yeah probably not for the…..same reasons” joel said looking straight ahead

“Your guyses door was open, did you…did you know that?” I asked

“Yeah we know” they said

I shook my head and knitted my eyebrows together

“Okay” joel trailed off

Ever since Tim’s parents were eaten by a swarm of termites he and Ava have gotten really close, in every way.

“Okay, goodnight” joel said as we walked

Basically everyone is coupled up down here, a baby was born last winter! Welcome to the apocalypse kid. Ok if we ever get out of this, that would be an awesome story to tell your kids. “Oh ya I was born in an underground bunker doing a monster apocalypse” “yes exactly like World War Z but with bugs bigger than a 5 story building”. I mean come on.

So your probably wonder how the hell we get food, we’ll we have a cow. Gurdy. Gurdy is great. We also have a hunting party that brings back whatever they can from the surface. It’s gotten harder and harder, cause we ran out of bullets. And facing one of those things with a handmade weapon is just as hard as it sounds. It’s very very difficult. I go with them….sometimes. I still get scared. But I’ve been out quite a lot, especially compared to my man joel over here. I’ve been out maybe 30 times, he’s been out…maybe once, or not even. He’s the chef of the bunker. He makes super good Minestrone.

Me and joel like to hang out with Mavis. A robot. Yup. Not much for conversation, her batter is shot. Just like every other mavis I would imagine. When I’m not hunting we hang out with her. But sometimes I just go read. Reading and joel keep me sane. I mean sometimes joel drives me insane but I still love him. I have quite the collection of books too! I’ve got Emma by Jane Austen, a couple random ones that we found, all the hunger games and Harry Potter books, some mysteries that stopped being mysteries after a while, and then of course some smutty romance books for personal entertainment.

Joel likes to say that his thing is target practice. He has never hit the target but ya know, gotta entertain yourself. I think his thing is drawing though, he has this book that he draws in from Aimee. It’s really cool actually. He’s really good.

I sat watching Joel as he tried to hit the target, laughing a little every time he missed. It was cute how hard he tried.

“Shut up” he said shaking his laugh away

I laughed again, but then suddenly the lights started flickering. You could hear screeches and creeks echoing through the bunker. Joel turned to look at me. Worry and determination in his eyes. We both scrambled out of the room and into the kitchen where everyone was preparing.

“Hustle, hustle people we’ve gotta move”

I turned to look at Joel but then realized that he wasn’t next to me. Where did he go? Worry flooded through me. Suddenly the clanking of our weapon started behind me.

“Hey guys!” Joel said as he rammed into the railing, I shook my head. “Guys! I’ve got the weapons” he smiled at me

A few people walked over to him taking them out of his hands

“Stay” said Tim

“W-what?” Joel asked looking around in confusion

Everyone was talking and barking orders “grab what you need and let’s go! Y/N you coming?”

My eyes shot open “yes! Yup!” I jumped up and grabbed the bow and arrow from Joel.

“W-what's happening?” He asked innocently “what’s going on?”

“There’s a breach” said Tim

“What do you mean? Like inside the bunker breach?!” He asked

“Yes joel! Now come on!” I told him, patting him on the pack as I followed the others

He followed me and watched the plan get arranged

“Anna, Y/N and I will engage. Anderson and Tom plank him”

“Plank him, ya ok where do you guys need me? You want me to uh come through the rear or..?” Joel asked eagerly

“I don’t think your going to pass this joel” I told him

“Pass what? You guys need help, let me help” said clutching his crossbow

“You gonna make me say it?” said Sam

“Say what?!” God he was so adorably clueless

“You can’t handle it joel, your shook” said Sam, we all began getting into positions

“Ya ok, yes so you guys don’t get scared..ever?” He asked still getting ready to fight

“We get scared, we all get scared joel, but you get really scared” said Sam

“They are trying to make you feel bad joel” I said sweetly, trying to calm him down

“We love you joel”

“But your a liability”

“Ok why did that speech feel so rehearsed? And what about Y/N? She’s like…ya know?” He said bobbing his head

“Joel-“ suddenly the bunker shook and the lights flicked again

“Ok 30 meters out! Let’s move!” And we were off

Leaving joel and some others behind. You could hear the growling of whatever we were up against

I followed the others and listened carefully. I was freaking shaking. Don’t ask how I got sucked into becoming one the the hunters. Kinda just happened and I was just-

“OH SHIT!” I heard someone yell, it was too dark to see. Someone was gone, that thing took them. I couldn’t even see it. Oh fuck my life. Everyone began scattering, running away from the monster. I stopped running to take a breath, when I realized I was alone. Nicely done Y/N. The lights kept flickering. I heard something blow up in the distance.

“Conned? Conner?” I heard a whisper, one I knew all too well. Shit, joel. I ran toward the sound, and had no idea I was also running toward certain death. I stopped running. There it was, that thing. I’d never seen this before. I didn’t recognize it. I stayed silent, not moving at all. It slowly crawled over a shower curtain. Oh fuck. He was going toward joel! I quickly grabbed my bow and arrow and shot it. Right though the face. Next to its….eye I guess you could call it. Joel stood there, frozen.

I slowly walked over to him “Joel, hey are you ok?” I asked as I slipped my hand into his. He was trembling. Tears ran down his cheeks. He has a bad freezing problem, so I've been helping him work on it.

About an hour later I sat with Joel, still holding his hand as he stared out into space. We could hear everyone talking. How could this have happened?

“It ripped through steal”

“Anderson and I resealed the Breach point, nothings getting in that way again”

“But why did it happen?”

I tried to toon it out, and I hoped Joel did too.

“Joel, do you wanna talk about it?” I asked squeezing his hand, he looked so sad, which just crushed me

He shook his head

“Ok….” I nodded, I leaned into hug him but was interrupted by his voice

“How far away is Aimee's colony?” He asked

I pulled back, looking at him confused. The talking stopped and everyone look at him

“What?” Tim asked

“Aimee’s colony, how far away is it?” He repeated

“About 85 miles” he said as he furrowed his brows

“How long will it take to get there?”

“What do you mean joel?” I asked leaning closer to him

“Just humor me, how long?” He insisted

“7 days” said Tim

“Someone who’s armed and trained would hardly last 50miles, but you…joel” Ava said, I felt bad for him, he really didn’t deserve any of this

“Alright” Tim continued “now I need volunteers”

“I’m gonna go” joel said

No one said anything, they just stared

“It’s an impossible journey joel” said Tim, crossing his arms

Joel stood up, moving around my chair. “No im serious…I love you guys but there’s only one person in this world who ever truly made me happy and she’s only 85 miles away” he said strongly “I’m gonna go see her” I could see his mind was made up

God he was such a romantic, how could you not love this guy? Sure it hurts when your best friend tells you that you didn’t make him truly happy. Especially when you maybe sorta kinda have a crush on him.

He let out a breath “woah, that felt awesome” he said as he walked off to start packing

I stood there for a second processing and thinking, but then suddenly my mouth took over and well….

“I’m coming with you!” I said, he froze “I mean you can’t leave me here with these middle aged people, and your my best friend so” I shrugged

“I’ll come back for you I promise” he walked over to me “I can’t let you put yourself in even more danger” he said grabbing my arms

“I can’t let you put yourself in danger knowing that I could have helped protect you” I said, he stared blankly at me

I smiled “o-ohK…then I guess…” he trailed off

“Cool I’ll go pack” I skipped past him. Was I scared? Hell yes. But like I said, I needed to help joel and protect him in every way I can. And sure I wasn’t so happy that he was returning to his long lost love but if it made him happy then I would live. And anyway, two do shorten the road.

[buzzybeesinlove]

I had this really sad idea of Bubmbleby where in order to get one of the relics one of them has to sacrifice herself (basically an Endgame!AU where Yang is Black Widow...)

spoiler for endgame aside that i didnt know about till now cause i haven’t actually seen it yet... this is very sad, but will that stop me from delivering? absolutely not.

i hope you enjoy it my friend. i haven’t seen the movie so like if there’s a specific way BW sacrifices herself and you wanted yang to do it that way, im sorry im not familiar but i still tried my best. still set during volume 8, towards the end of it i guess. idk if this is what’s gonna happen at all btw this is just what im doing.

TRIGGER WARNINGS // MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH , BLOOD AND INJURY AND VIOLENCE

When Blake saw Yang again properly for the first time, in what felt like years, it was through the blinding flurry of snowflakes out in the bitter cold of the Tundra.

It was a blur - how they got there and what the hell they were doing. It all happened so fast - Penny and Nora finally waking up, Neo and Cinder trying to intercept them as they began travelling away from Schnee Manor, Winter suddenly calling Weiss’ scroll to tell them their friends were sent inside of that fucking beast.

That last bit sent Blake’s mind into overdrive and all she and her team could think about was that - Yang, Jaune, Ren and somehow Oscar being stuck in that Whale and not knowing what the hell was happening with them.

The ache she felt in her heart imagining Yang in there was excruciating and unbearable. So many awful scenarios had whipped through her mind and continued to do so until they got close enough to the Whale to see the thing blow up from the inside - and a group of people rushing out of it.

They were in their airship, so the people were tiny dots mostly. But Blake knew. She knew who it must have been and the relief she had felt was incomparable to anything else she had ever felt.

They couldn’t go to them in that moment - things were too chaotic, Winter ordered them not to come any closer due to the explosion.

And then it happened.

The rumbling of the ground, the Grimm burrowing in and out of the dirt and the Whale bits flying everywhere around them. All of that combined almost masked the tragedy awaiting them, but not well enough.

The rumbling of the ground cracked pieces of Atlas apart, sent it flying down to Mantle below and buildings began getting crushed and ruined, and May immediately sent them down there without much more preamble - the Whale was gone, the Atlesian military could handle the rest of the Grimm.

The fight took them out into the Tundra, and Blake could barely see two feet in front of her due to the snow and the Grimm surrounding them all. She vaguely remembered wondering where the rest were - they saw Yang and the group get out of the Whale, saw them making their way to Winter’s airship, but May had sent them away before they could truly see what happened next.

So imagine her surprise when she saw the telltale sign of golden hair peeking through the snowy surroundings.

“Yang?!” Blake called in disbelief, using Gambol to slice through a small Grimm near her, distantly hearing Weiss and Ruby performing Ice Flower on a few more of them. She heard Nora and Penny as well, in the distance, but in that moment all her eyes and ears tried to focus on was Yang - turning around with searching, frantic lilac eyes until they found hers through the flakes, a series of emotions flitting through them.

“Blake.” Yang called back, and then she was there - wrapped around her, holding her close and pressing her lips into her hair and Blake held on just as tightly, clenching her eyes shut and burying her face into her neck.

“Oh Gods, you’re okay, you’re-” Blake choked around her words, swallowing back the desperate sob in her throat and she tightened her hold even more around her partner’s neck, a few tears leaking out of her eyes and hitting her cold skin.

“I am.” Yang replied, and Blake shuddered in her hold when she raised her hand to cup the back of her head, encourging her to continue pressing her face into the comfort of her neck.

“What happened? How did you even- How are you here-?” Blake asked, sniffling and although her ears flicked to the sounds of fighting around her, her team battling the onslaught of Grimm that had streamed into Mantle from the river, most of her other senses focused solely on the woman in her arms and the sound of her breathing in her ear and the feeling of those soft lips ghosting gently along her forehead briefly.

“We... The Whale...” Yang took a breath, and Blake pulled herself back just enough to look up into her eyes, not even caring about the tear tracks on her cheeks. Yang took in her face and smiled a little, cupping her cheeks and rubbing her thumbs on them to get rid of the remaining tears.

“We... Had to get Oscar, and the relic. And we got out in time, we were safe. Winter picked us up in the airship, and she was going to arrest us again...” Yang’s voice turned low at the end, eyes flashing with red for a split second, but it was gone the next second as she shook her head.

Arrested? Again?

And what about Oscar? Why was he in there to begin with?

Blake had so many questions about that, anger flaring up inside of her at the thought of Yang in cuffs, all of them in cuffs and treated like dangerous criminals when all they wanted to do was save people.

But Yang cut off her thoughts again.

“But Ren said...A bunch of stuff to her, to the rest of the Ace-Ops, and when we all saw the... Ground shaking and dropping Grimm and debris down into Mantle, we convinced them to let us help down here while they helped Atlas.”

Blake hummed, then paused, glancing into her eyes when a thought crossed her mind.

“Where is the relic?” Blake replied, worry lacing her voice.

“Oscar has it now. Emerald... You remember her? She... Defied Salem to get it for us, something about being unsure what team she was playing for. I didn’t ask too many questions - we had to get out of there as quick as possible.” Yang said, and Blake hummed again, relaxing even more the longer Yang caressed her cheek with her thumb.

Blake leaned into her touch, practically nuzzling her face into Yang’s palm and she heard her partner let out a huff of laughter in response, but she didn’t care if she looked soft and mushy right now, in the middle of the battlefield with the war still raging on around them.

Yang was back. She was there, with her and she was touching her so gently and looking at her with so much relief and love in her eyes and Blake would be damned if she didn’t let this moment continue for at least a while longer.

“I missed you so much.” She breathed into Yang’s skin, ears pressed down to her head.

Yang hummed and brought her closer again, leaning their foreheads together to look directly into her eyes, smile so bright and beautiful, cheeks either flushed red from the cold or from Blake’s presence.

Blake kinda hoped for the latter.

“Me, too.” Yang breathed back, and Blake’s lips curled into a smile, but just before she could faint from her rapid heartbeat or take Yang’s lips with her own to finally kiss her, Weiss’ screeching voice brought them out of it.

“I’m so happy you’re okay, really I am-” Weiss said, suddenly coming through the blizzard around them and laying a few glyphs out in front of her for Ruby to jump onto to attack a flying Grimm. “But can we save the... Ugh... Mushy stuff for later? We’re fighting right now!”

Blake and Yang blushed bright red and smiled a little at each other, nodding with determined glints in their eyes.

But something else interrupted them this time.

The rumbling got worse and worse all of a sudden underneath their feet, the snowy ground below them shaking violently, to the point where Blake almost toppled over onto her back. But Yang reached out to hold her, keeping them both upright while Ruby and Weiss used the glyphs to stay still.

“What’s happening?!” Nora yelled through the harsh winds and violent shaking. She was to Blake’s right - that much she knew - and she truly had no idea what was going on.

It happened then - much too fast for anyone to really react.

The ground split open in mere seconds, cracking underneath their feet and Blake’s eyes widened as she quickly stepped back from the crack onto one side of it, almost falling over if Yang hadn’t been holding her.

“What the-?!” She heard Weiss start, but was cut off by the sound of an airship flying overhead, whipping the winds even harsher around them all.

“It’s Cinder!” Ruby yelled to them all, pointing up towards the airship where the woman herself was leaning outside, grinning down at them all devilishly.

“The Maiden and the relic that you stole? Salem will be so pleased.” Cinder said with a maniacal grin. The airship moved around above them a bit more, clearing some of the blizzard obscuring their vision, and they could see they were making a direct beeline to Penny, who was caught off guard by the shaking of the ground.

“Ruby!” Weiss said, and the partners were off to defend Penny as Cinder dropped from the airship to begin the fight.

Blake and Yang readied their weapons to do the same. Through the storm whistling around them, she could make out Jaune and Nora battling a few Grimm not far from them - but no sign of Ren and Oscar.

But the moment Blake took a step, a massive black blur shot past her and Yang, causing her to stumble back into her partner’s arms, pure shock rattling her senses.

“What was that?” Blake said in disbelief.

“Fuck.” Yang cursed lowly, readying Ember Celica. “It’s The Hound.”

“The what?”

“It’s the thing that took Oscar before!” Yang shouted back, jumping over a smaller crack in the ground and gesturing for Blake to follow her. And of course she did.

She wasn’t leaving Yang again.

“It’s going for him again, we have to find him and Ren in all of this.” Yang said to her, and Blake nodded, but glanced over to Weiss and Ruby as they battled Cinder, trying their best to hold her off from Penny.

She felt a hand close around her shoulder and it brought her back to Yang in front of her, lilac eyes staring deep into hers.

“We’ll be back to help soon. That thing... It’s smarter than other Grimm, okay? We can’t let it have Oscar and the relic. Not again.” Yang said.

Blake glanced over to the rest of her team once again, but was relieved to see that Jaune had joined the fight over there at least, using his sword and shield to battle alongside them. Nora was nowhere to be found now, and Blake assumed she went back into the harsh storm to find Ren and Oscar.

“Okay.” Blake replied, and with that, they both took off through the blizzard, Blake keeping her ears and eyes open for any other sounds of struggle or fighting.

It was brief, and very quick, but eventually she caught it - a small yelp to their left, and she stopped in her tracks, grasping onto Yang’s hand to get her attention.

“There!” Blake shouted, pointing in that direction and prompting them both to scramble that way, towards the ever growing sounds of growling and snarling and harsh grunts of pain.

The images of their friends and the beast were blurry until they got much closer, but once they did, Blake had to bite back the shocked gasp at the sight of that thing - it was big, with rows of sharp teeth and bumps on its back, as if there should be wings there, but none were shown. It was on all fours, and Ren and Nora were teamed up in front of a knocked down Oscar, and without much more hesitation, she and Yang hopped into the fight.

It didn’t take long for the fight to turn sour.

She and Yang fought seamlessly, working together to dodge and block blows from its massive claws and teeth that snapped at them. But there was a moment where something went wrong - where the thing must have caught on to the methods they were using, and suddenly its hand grasped Gambol Shroud when she tried to throw it to Yang, and suddenly she was airborne.

“Blake!” Yang shouted from somewhere, and she quickly tried to redirect herself in the air, only to land solidly on her back some feet away, knocking the wind out of her for a few solid seconds.

She then saw Ren and Nora be treated the same exact way - The Hound finally grasping them both and sending them flying into the ground, their auras flickering as they became disoriented.

Blake grunted and shook her head, quickly getting herself back up and even though she had lost Gambol somewhere in all of that, she ran back towards the blurry images of Yang and that beast, using her partner’s mane of golden hair as a lighthouse in the dark.

She made it just in time to see Yang cross her arms over her chest to block a slam from The Hound, her feet skidding along behind her as she maintained her balance.

“Grab Oscar!” Yang said to her, shooting a few rounds into The Hound’s face and causing it to rear its head back a little.

Blake ran towards the fallen boy, and when she saw The Hound start to ignore Yang and come for her, and quickly used a copy of herself when it tried to grab her, pulling Oscar into her arms and using the distraction to whip herself around and attempt as escape.

But it was sloppy - The Hound’s clawed fingers still managed to snag into Oscar’s jacket when she finally materialised again, even through the snowy surroundings. She stumbled a little and she heard it rather than saw it - the sound of the Lamp dropping to the ground from Oscar’s belt, laying in the snow.

And she didn’t make it much further before a rumble from below knocked her over, dropping Oscar in the process and she felt her chest grow tight when she heard a growl from behind her, too close for comfort.

She whipped herself onto her back and looked on with fear washing over her when The Hound stood over her, reeling its arm back to swipe at her.

“Leave. Her. Alone!”

Yang’s voice was deadly - like icicles falling and hurtling against a glass window and it sent a chill down Blake’s spine, despite the circumstances.

Her partner shot through the blizzard and was suddenly on top of the thing, gripping onto its head. Blake took the opportunity to get back up, picking up Oscar and just managing to get out of the way when the beast flipped Yang off of its back and onto the ground on her back, a cry of pain echoing from her lips.

“Yang!” Blake said, and her partner groaned in reply, barely able to form words from the slam into the ground.

“The relic...” Yang wheezed, and it was then that Blake saw The Hound grabbing onto the relic from the snow, using its claws to grasp it and then hold it in its hand firmly.

“We need to go help Nora and Ren.” Blake said.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the relic - no, they needed it, and this whole fight would be for nothing if Salem obtained it again. Emerald’s choice would have meant nothing, and she knew that.

But they were outnumbered, wounded and beaten down, and she knew they couldn’t beat this thing with the others so far away from them.

It was already morphing right in front of her eyes, standing there and beginning to grow wings seemingly out of nowhere, getting ready to take flight.

“Blake.”

Yang was up now, and her partner turned to her then, and Blake really did not like the look in her eyes, didn’t like the tone of her voice that sounded so defeated and tired. And if Blake didn’t have Oscar in her arms at the moment she would have grabbed onto Yang, would have held her close and taken that defeated feeling away from her.

Maybe then what happened next wouldn’t have happened. Maybe what happened wouldn’t have occurred if she had grabbed her, wrapped her arms around her and told her how much she truly loved her, how much she’d wanted to be with her since Beacon.

But she did none of that. She never got the chance to when The Hound finally finished its transformation, and before Blake could properly react, Yang swallowed thickly and surged forward to plant a kiss right on her lips, and it was all chapped, cold lips and cold hands touching her face and then it was gone, her heart and mind reeling and growing fuzzy for just a moment at what just happened.

She had no time to register or appreciate it, because then Yang was pulling away - the warmth that bloomed in Blake’s chest at the touch of her partner’s lips being snuffed out when she saw a single tear roll down Yang’s cheek.

“I have to get it.” Yang breathed out, and the flapping of wings echoed around them through the snowflakes whipping their faces and it was then she realised what Yang was about to do.

“No. Yang Xiao Long, don’t you dare-” Blake began, but Yang just turned away from her, shaking her head and taking a deep breath and Blake tried to reach out to her, tried to touch her despite the weight of the boy in her arms, but it was no use.

“Yang, don’t- you - we can figure out a plan-” She started again.

“We have no time.” Yang shot back, and it was then that Blake realised tears were flowing down her cheeks, but Yang didn’t look back to her until the last moment, a bittersweet smile on her lips.

“I love you.” Yang said, simultaneously deafening and quiet in the haze of the storm and then she activated her semblance, the bright fire in her hair and the scalding temperature radiating off of her and blanketing over Blake.

But it wasn’t a comfort in this moment - it was the exact opposite.

A scream ripped its way out of her throat when Yang shot herself away, just managing to catch onto The Hound when it began to soar into the air, using her semblance to lay a series of punches into its back.

Blake put Oscar down in an instant and tried to catch up, tried to make her way there to stop this, to stop what was about to happen, but without Gambol Shroud, she had no way to latch herself onto the creature when it began to fly.

“Yang!” She cried, barely able to see with the snow and her tears filling her vision.

There was a moment of clarity when the storm eased up a little, but what she saw would fill her nightmares for many years to come - it would keep her and Ruby and Weiss up at night when she finally described to them what happened, all three of them huddled together with their arms all wrapped around each other, their tears and gasps for breath being the only type of communication between them all.

The Hound was up in the air still, but Yang’s blows against it had it faltering and swaying back and forth, the lamp being snatched up by one of Yang’s hands.

But then it went downhill just as fast - and Blake’s heart sunk down, into a dark, inky blackness that she probably wouldn’t ever escape from as she watched The Hound roar in anger and snatch Yang off of its back, the lamp slipping from her hand and down to the ground.

Blake caught it before it could fall fully, cradling it in her hands as her eyes locked back on the fight in the sky.

The Hound, holding Yang in one of its massive, clawed hands, and it began squeezing - clenching harder and harder until a sharp ‘crack’ was heard and Yang’’s howl of pain was the worst sound Blake had ever experienced.

“Yang! Yang, I’m-I’m coming!” Blake said frantically, looking around her for something to use - something to get her up there, something that could help her do something.

But all she saw was white blankets of snow around her, Nora and Ren unconscious somewhere, Oscar as well, and the rest of the team off fighting Cinder still.

And all she could do was watch while The Hound squeezed the life out of her partner, using its other hand to embed its claws deep into Yang’s chest, her partner crying out once more.

“No!” Blake screamed in agony, helpless and alone on the ground as she dropped to her knees, unable to do anything as the claws sunk deeper and deeper, protruding out of the other side of her body. Blake’s cries and whimpers were the only thing she could hear now, her ears ringing and her blood turning to solid ice when Yang’s head lolled back, her lilac eyes catching hers just briefly before they closed.

Her body went limp, and The Hound dropped her carelessly to the ground.

Blake sobbed and sobbed - she expected for her end to come as well, and a part of her wished that it did, as she saw the lifeless body of the most important person in her life not far away from her, and The Hound swooping down to get to her, for the relic.

But then, almost like a miracle, Ruby and Weiss were suddenly there - fighting the thing and protecting her, and then Penny and Jaune were too, but in her eyes, it didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered anymore, and even when they finally defeated The Hound, just as they had Cinder, it still didn’t matter.

Yang’s blood stained the snow red underneath her, and Ruby and Weiss cradled her as they all wailed, crying into each other’s embraces.

She wished The Hound took her too - took her instead.

She wished she did a lot of things differently - regarding Yang, the war, the battle that just occurred. So many things went wrong, and now, even with her other friends by her side, Blake was alone.

Yang laid there in the snow, red pooling from her and it was too much - that colour had been a stain on her life for so long, hurt her and abused her far too much and it was when golden hair and lilac eyes came into her life that she finally felt at peace, finally felt like she had found someone that understood her. That was her home in a place that was so unforgiving and cruel.

And now her home laid its head in her lap as she cried, not once opening its eyes ever again.

“I love you too.” Blake sobbed, her tears dripping from her cheeks and onto Yang’s pale skin.

She wished she had the chance to say it before.

And now she would never have that chance again.

[driflew]

Tell me more about that Melanie meets Jon before Elias alternative au, like I want it, I want it so bad

yes im glad i added that to the tags of the last ask specifically bc i was hoping you'd ask. so. here. alternate plot of my witness brings me into existence if Jon met Melanie before Elias found him

this one is less fleshed out, bc i obviously didn't go that route, but is diverges when Jon goes back to work and sees Martin and Tim for the first time. when he's on his way to Elias's office, he runs into Melanie (dont ask me why she's there idk), who doesnt know hes meant to be dead and is sort of like "oh, god, did they give you your job back? fire that other guy?" and Jon is like oh thank god someone who knows who i am

Melanie tells Jon what she remembers about the other Jon, and they figure out together he'd been replaced for a while by someone who looks nothing like him. and, of course, that for some fuckin reason, Melanie is the only one who recognizes him so far(?) (get into one argument at some spooky institute...).

they part ways after a while, agreeing to stay in touch. and then, of course, Jon finds out what being erased from existence actually means. he's homeless and his friends dont recognize him, and with nowhere to go and no one to turn to... he remembers Melanie

now Melanie and Jon didn't have the best first impression, but you know that bit in mag76 where they're discussing military records and stuff, and there's that one shining moment where you can see how well they'd get along if they only had the chance? yeah thats the entire basis of this au. Jon is desperate and scared and Melanie isn't going to fucking throw him on the street, leading to the stupid sibling dynamic Melanie and Jon friendship we deserve.

(also, she's met a similar monster w Sarah Baldwin, so looking into whatever's going on with Jon isn't irrelevant to her, either. and now that she's got Some Guy in her apartment with an incredibly pressing issue, she's gonna have to postpone that India trip... this is also pretty decent reasoning to not accept that Institute job offer she was given, if this is what happens to employees)

they end up kind of periphery characters for the main plot, trying to figure out how to proceed w whatever happened to Jon and trying to undo it. i dunno exactly how that all would go, but i do have a bit in mind

1. i like to think if this was canon this would be fun simply bc the audience would be able to hear and recognize Jon's voice whenever he appears, but the main cast does not recognize him, believing him dead, making for possibly the most frustrating possible listening experience ever

2. at some point Georgie stops by to see Melanie and sees This Fuckin Guy on Melanie's couch who she does recognize... as that dude who showed up at her place a while back and was probably a stalker. cue Jon being reintroduced to one of his friends, now with a trusted source (Melanie) to help so Georgie will actually believe him.

this starts off giving Jon the confidence to actually start reintroducing himself to his other friends at the Institute. Melanie's testimony helps Sasha actually believe Jon (since it was Melanie who helped her realize Jon was replaced at all), plus the tape they have of jon's. uh. death. to compare his voice to.

Martin i think might be pretty quick to accept Jon after Sasha says she believes Jon is really who he says he is, but Tim would probably be the hard to get to come around. he's already lost Jon to a fake once, and he doesnt want to keep losing more and more of his friend's memory to the Circus. it would happen eventually, tho, bc Tim and Jon friendship means So Much to me and without it i WILL whittle away into nothing.

as w my witness canon, their memories of Jon from before will never come back. theyre always going to see notJon when they think back to the first few months/years of their friendship. but they can make new memories with the real Jon, which isn't something they thought they'd get to do

[incorrect-quotes-from-she-ra]

Ya gal, i rambled alot in this one, its honestly like, half about the flag, and half about a special guest but you asked for it. Oh and BTW, those sleep tips actually did help! Thanks hun. Ok, here we go. SO

The flag thing was slightly less entertaining than I hoped. Only slightly though. Mom basically said "whatever, if that's what you want" in an obviously uncomfortable way. She then looked at the flag, and I quote, said "that things dirtier than you, I'm washing it"

ouch.

She then took the flag, and left. Leaving me sitting there speechless. Not only at the roast, but how she didn't get mad? Of course she said that she wouldn't HELP me transition, but hey. Now, this is where the story would've ended, but as this was about a week ago or somethin, there's new tea.

So, my Nana (grandma, on my mom's side) is really wierd. And I don't mean me wierd, i mean We got home from a two day vacation once, and nana had deep cleaned our entire house weird. Idk if she has ADD to, or something else, but she is in her 70s, works 2 jobs, gets 6 hours of sleep, cleans SO much, and STILL has time for Grandpa! (He's nice, buys me and the cousins games from time to time). Honestly I'm still not sure if she's actually human.

Anyway, she's also super nice. So I was confused about why mom acted like that, so I called Nana and told her about the situation. It turns out, mom had figured out about the flag 2 days before it arrived because idk how Amazon works. And she called Nana to help talk me out of it (???). Well. According to Nana they then had "an informative conversation", but based on the way mom was acting imma guess it was a little more than a conversation.

Did I mention how Nana is also the most intimidating person I've met? And, once again, I dont mean usual mom intimidating. I mean She punched my 6'2 step uncle in the face when he DARED to-show up at Christmas after it got out that he was abusive intimidating. She probably shouldn't be punching people at her age but that's never stopped her before. I'm thinking she probably got alot of this from her time on a military base with her now ex. Which he also got punched several times by her (pretty toxic relationship) much to the dismay of his officers.

And she always got away with it because she's so nice (to the people she doesn't punch)

Anyway that's the story of how I came out + What the actual fuck is my nana

hello! im glad the sleeping tips helped kjhsdfgjhvbgf

axkjhfgvksjfhjb from this, i think ur mom didnt react very nicely? ican be very socially inept at sometimes so if that is the case, im so fucking sorry. having parents being unsupportive is the worst thing ever, and you deserve more than that!!! i wish you best of luck with ur transitioning <3. if that isnt the case, yay!!!! im super happy for u bestie <3 go live ur life as a chaotic water gun shooting trans gal.

is ur nana. human. i mean this in the politest way possible BUT IS SHE HUMAN. also i bow down to her. havent even met the woman yet but i feel like shes GREAT. her vibes are sending me. im bowing down to her and offering her the sword i dont own but if i do own a sword its gonna be offered to her. [u dont have to answer this, but how she feeling on u being trans? no pressure to answer!!! sorry if this is too personal ksjhdgfkvjgfdh]

thank u for sharing this w me and remember, let me know once u find out what ur nana is ahsdkgchjfd