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nb-octopus-writes · 17 days

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once you’re in the hive, the other bees assume you’re supposed to be there

[Masterpost]

Chapter 6: Baiting the Trap

Wordcount: 1.8K

~~~~

Virgil is woken by his alarm and has never once in his entire life been less interested in getting out of bed.

He's comfortable. The bed is soft, the blankets are warm, and Virgil is sleepy and wants nothing more than to just lie here forever.

He snoozes the alarm and drifts back off.

Five minutes later, of course, he's dragged back out of sleep by the insistent melody.

Virgil seriously considers quitting his job so he doesn't have to ever leave this bed, but he does actually need money to buy groceries and pay his rent, and also his hosts have been real gracious but even their patience would surely wear thin if Virgil never left.

So, regrettably, Virgil sits up. He yawns. He longingly contemplates lying back down, but forces himself instead to get out of bed.

At some point in the night, someone—Patton, presumably—had returned his cleaned clothes, which are now sitting folded on the floor by the foot of the bed. Virgil dresses. He folds the borrowed pajamas and sets them on the foot of the bed. He doesn't usually fold his pajamas, but it seems like the polite thing to do in this case. After a moment, he makes the bed too.

And then he goes downstairs.

They're all in the dining room again, and they give him breakfast, and this time he's calm enough to appreciate it.

Princey drives him to work, and he has an otherwise normal day. He borrows a clean apron, and he makes a lot of coffee. He eats lunch at the shop, he takes the bus home, he has leftover spaghetti for dinner, and he does that load of laundry.

His bed seems even harder and lumpier than usual, contrasted with the memory of the bed—no, the actual literal cotton candy cloud—he'd slept on last night.

At least it makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning, when staying isn't bliss. If only by a little. Virgil is not and has never been a morning person. Still, he manages to actually catch the bus for the first time this week, so that's good.

Their newbie’s here for her second day of training, which means that Virgil splits his time between his usual duties and showing her the ropes. She's wary of the fancy coffee machines, and looks attentive but intimidated when Virgil walks her through one of the more simple brews.

She does better with the register. Its layout is also unfamiliar, but at least the potential worst-case consequences of pressing the wrong button are much less severe than “breaking an expensive machine” or “third degree burns and coffee everywhere.”

Several hours into Virgil’s shift, his manager joins him in the back while he's on break.

“There's someone out front looking for you,” Morgan tells him.

“Who?” Virgil asks.

“Nobody I recognized,” Morgan says with a bit of a frown. “Said he was a friend of yours though.”

“Did he give you a name?” Virgil asks, and Morgan's frown deepens.

“No, and I asked,” she says. “I said to him, ‘and you are?’ and he said ‘oh I'm roamin’ like that's an answer, so I prompts him, ‘yer name?’ and he just says ‘yeah’. So seeing as he's decided to just be evasive I told him he could order something or he could leave, but he couldn't hold up the line any longer, so he bought a coffee. Paid in cash, too, so I didn't get to see his name on the card neither.”

“He said he was roaming?” Virgil asks, gears turning.

“Yeah, ’cept he ain't, he sat down with his coffee,” Morgan answers.

“Brown hair?” Virgil asks, fighting back a rising laugh. “Maybe bout this tall, looks a bit like Remus if he ever shaved and combed his hair?”

Morgan nods. “Do you want me to get rid of him?”

Virgil pinches his lips together and shakes his head. Morgan squints at him.

“And what exactly is so funny?” she asks.

The laugh spills out of him. “Sor– sorry, Morgue,” he says. “I think you misheard him. His name’s Roman.”

“What, like Greeks and Romans?”

“I think so,” Virgil says, still grinning. “He's Remus’s brother.”

“I see,” Morgan says. “Well, if you don't want me to get rid of him, do you want to talk to him, or stay back here til he leaves? Lexi and I can handle the customers for a while yet if you don't wanna see him.”

“Nah, I'll go see what he wants.”

Roman is sitting in one of the booths, sipping a coffee and staring dramatically out the window. He turns as Virgil approaches, and then perks up. “Finding Emo!” he says. “Your coworkers said they had never heard of you in their lives. I was starting to think I’d gone to the wrong coffee shop.”

“Nah, just being protective,” Virgil says, sliding into the booth across the table from Roman. “We don’t give that kind of information to customers.” They’d had problems with stalkers trying to get information on employees before, and one bewildering man who’d kept coming round looking for someone Virgil had genuinely never heard of, til Morgan banned him from the shop. “What’s up?”

“So we realized your bike is still at our house,” Roman says. “I wanted to see if you’d like a ride over to get it back. Also if you would be interested in watching more Unfortunate Events, because we left off at a really climactic bit, and I know I already know what happens next, but I want to know what happens next, you know?”

“I definitely want my bike back,” Virgil says. He glances at the clock. “I don’t get off for a while yet today, but if you want to come back around five?”

Roman nods. “And movies?” he asks eagerly.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Virgil says. “I don’t want to bike home in the dark.”

“Oh of course,” Roman says. “I'd never force you to do that.”

Virgil glances back toward Morgan and Lexi at the counter. They’re busy with customers, but the line isn’t very long. Lexi catches his glance and grins at him with a little wave.

“Do you need to get back to work?” Roman asks.

“Not yet,” Virgil decides, settling more comfortably into his seat. “I’ve got a few minutes left before my break ends.”

Roman returns just before five, as Virgil’s getting ready to hand off the machines to the next shift. He orders three coffees to go “and whatever Virgil would like,” with a wink in Virgil’s direction.

Virgil rolls his eyes and makes himself a hot chocolate, which he sips on the drive back to Roman’s house. The sun is already dipping toward the horizon, so it looks like there isn't going to be time for tv before he has to bike home. It's a shame, because he really was looking forward to it.

“We’re home!” Roman calls as he opens the door from the garage into the rest of the house to lead Virgil in. As they cross the threshold, Virgil is hit with a nearly tangible wall of scent, stopping him in his tracks. The air smells rich and warm and delicious. He can smell fresh bread, and roasted meat, and something sweet, all mingled together into a tantalizing aroma that makes his mouth water and his stomach perk up eagerly.

“Oh good!” someone Virgil can’t see calls back. “Great timing!”

Roman pulls his jacket off and hangs it on a hook by the door. “It smells great in here!” he says brightly, heading deeper into the house. Virgil manages to unglue his feet from the floor and finally closes the door behind himself and follows Roman.

Calico is putting a steaming dish onto the table when they enter the dining room. “Welcome home,” he says fondly. “Dinner's just about ready.”

“Oh good, I'm hungry,” Roman says. “It smells fabulous, darling.”

Calico beams, eyes scrunching up with it. “Thank you,” he says.

“We brought coffee,” Roman adds, and hands Patton one of the to-go cups. “Your Chemical Romance made this just for you.”

“Aww,” Patton says, smiling heart-meltingly at Virgil. “Thank you.”

Virgil finger-guns awkwardly back at him with his free hand. “No problem.” Making coffee is literally his job. Roman was the one who had paid for it, and picked the flavor.

Then Patton notices what Virgil had put on the side of the cup instead of his name. “Aww!” he exclaims. “You drew me a kitty!”

“Yeah, I figured– you like cats, right?”

Patton looks up at him with shining eyes. “That is paws-itively precious. Thank you so much!”

“Please do not keep the empty cup just because there is a cute cat on it,” Logan says. Roman hands him his own coffee, on which Virgil had drawn a robot face and a triangle science beaker. “Thank you. We do not need additional clutter in our home, Patton.”

Patton pouts at him. “But look, it's so sweet!” he says. “Look at this precious little kitten drawn specifically for me and tell me that you want to throw her in the trash!”

Logan sighs. “At least cut the picture out of the cup instead of keeping the entire thing,” he says.

“Deal!” Patton agrees cheerfully.

“Sorry,” Virgil says. He had not expected Calico to appreciate the art to quite that extreme. He might've put more effort into it if he had.

“No need,” Logan replies. “This is hardly the first time something like this has occurred, and I hold no illusions that it will be the last.”

“Sure won't!” Patton agrees shamelessly.

“Um, so where's my bike at?” Virgil asks after a moment.

“By the door still,” Roman says, taking a seat at the table. “Do you wanna sit next to me again?”

Virgil just now notices that the table is set with four plates. “You… want me to stay for dinner?” he asks hesitantly.

“Of course,” Roman says, now looking puzzled himself. “Why would I bring you to dinner and then not want you to stay and eat?”

They hadn't discussed him coming to dinner. They had planned for him to retrieve his bike, and perhaps watch tv with Roman, but the topic of dinner hadn't come up.

Virgil means to say no, that he had better get going, but it does smell so very good, and they did set a spot for him, and he is hungry, and if he goes home now he'll have to figure out some other meal and honestly it's not going to be anything fancier than frozen pizza and fries, or maybe just ramen since that would be faster.

“Okay,” Virgil says, and sits next to Roman.

~~~~

Chapter 7: How They Kept Him Very Well

#nb octopus writes #sanders sides #6 #accidental polycule infiltration fic #LMP #polyamory #polysanders #multichapter

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gofancyninjaworld · 5 months

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No one is born knowing how to communicate

A: And that's okay...

Dr Kuseno made it look so easy. He just swanned into Saitama's apartment, proferred him a gift of beef and the hero's hostility melted away.

Fubuki felt positively foolish, and yet encouraged.

Since then, however, she's found that the only thing meat bribes pull in are dogs. Literal dogs:

And even dogs need more than meat to be loyal.

What gives? Well, it's obvious that Fubuki mistook Dr Kuseno's gift for a bribe: more on that later. Probably. And yeah, it's funny, but it's more interesting than that.

Learning how to communicate is complex. There are a ludicrous number of unspoken conventions and rules in every human society, so much so that we don't fully learn how to smile socially until we're in our forties. Dr Kuseno carefully judged his gift: he had a legitimate reason to offer Saitama a gift in the first place, out of gratitude for Saitama going out of his way to mentor Genos. Then he chose a gift Saitama would be sure to appreciate and presented it at a time when Saitama would be thinking about dinner. The worst that could have happened is that Saitama took the gift but insisted on the doctor going home (and taking Genos with him) -- it would still have left the desired positive impression. And things went really well. Kuseno made it look effortless.

Fubuki is only in her early twenties and her experience to date has been far from typical. She's learned that either she can intimidate people or she can flatter them into doing what she wants. With Saitama (and later Bang, Bomb, and Kuseno), she has to learn how to talk to more powerful people whom she cannot overpower, over whom she has no leverage, and who are unimpressed by her looks, simpering, or flattery.

Fortunately, Fubuki is nothing if not astute. She's worked out that she needs to develop complementary skills if she's to make herself useful to the S-Class heroes she wants to hang with. How to talk to them to get the help and cooperation she desires? Ah, that's a work in progress.

B: ...Unless it's not

Let's move onto another miscommunication.

Something that I hadn't before was that, unlike the webcomic version where Saitama only thinks to himself that Genos seems depressed, in the manga, Saitama out and out asks him if this is the case. He wants to know.

It mirrors King asking Saitama that very same question and getting Saitama to open up and be vulnerable for the first time (ever, in any version of the story). So it is very appropriate to see Saitama trying to do the same for Genos, particularly as he is openly fond of the guy.

However, it goes wrong. Saitama feels himself under pressure to say something wise to make it better. So he puts on his best 'confident' face and inadvertently makes everything much worse. Oh dear. What makes this particularly painful in the manga is that Saitama is much more invested in trying to reach Genos, and it's made Genos think that Saitama saying that he doesn't see what he's doing must mean that earlier times when he's praised him must have been just Saitama being nice. For sure, Genos could have pushed back and made Saitama clarify what he meant, but he's even worse at communicating: and Saitama's glib remark about being bright struck him square in the insecurities.

I'm going to come to something that I only realised once I started typing this up. Even though I've pointed out their abilities to communicate, neither King nor Kuseno have the perfect words to say. Kuseno started out by first committing a faux pas in bringing his great big outside boots into Saitama's flat, then nearly boring Saitama to death with a long-winded explanation. King started out by trying to guess what was bothering Saitama. Both, however, did the most important thing about effective communication: they picked up on their going wrong and changed tack.

It's not about saying the right thing: it's about responding to the person you're talking to.

The thing that King did that Saitama was trying to do for Genos was to ask Saitama open questions, and shut up in the interim, letting Saitama talk to fill in the silence. He'd only speak to ask more open questions when Saitama ran out of things to say, and through that, gently started to challenge Saitama's thinking.

But doing so means being comfortable with several seconds of silence. And that is excruciating. It is almost irresistible to jump in and say something, anything. And it would have been a longish wait, for Genos to slowly sit down and decide to start speaking, which might well have started being about something only tangentially related to his worry. King did that for Saitama: Saitama started out talking about what was bothering him on the surface -- being too strong -- before eventually coming to what was really bothering him, feeling lonely and profoundly isolated from everyone around him. Saitama does not yet know how to wait a person out.

It's a problem in this case because it's introduced a big barrier between those two, not an insurmountable one for sure, but one that could easily compound later.

Ah well, no one is born a communicator. We just have to wait and see if they work out a way to open up and be honest with each other. So it goes! There's more ways to introduce conflicts than to have a monster trample Tokyo, after all!

And so help me, the struggle to learn how to communicate is 1000% worthwhile.

#OPM #meta #Saitama #Genos #Dr Kuseno #Fubuki #King #communication is hard work #I love how well ONE brings across some of its subtleties #the pressure we put ourselves under to stay the 'right thing' when listening and openly receiving what we're hearing is more important #the true struggles for the characters are rarely monsters #but rather lie within themselves and between the people they want to understand #damn that's a little too IRL for comfort #ah well no one is born knowing how -- let's all struggle forward to do better!

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kenposting · 1 year

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Baseline

Summary: You're a Blade Runner paired to work with Officer K. You both sense a bizarre shift lately. Something is wrong.

WC: 3.6k

AN: I literally have Ryan Gosling brainrot right now and I've loved this movie for years.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀✩⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

If there was one thing the two of you could agree on, its that something was wrong. Different. Broken. Whatever it was, something was wrong.

He felt like a deterrent when you first met him. Someone assigned him alongside you a few months back. Being a Blade Runner at your stature had proven to be more difficult than anyone higher up had expected, and instead of retiring all the smaller, female models, they decided to just force you into this bizarre co-op with the other older Nexus-9s.

And that’s what happened. You were assigned a partner, and therefore, a roommate as well. You found him to be a nuisance at first. You were perfectly fine doing your job on your own. This safety precaution was unnecessary, and you believed that wholeheartedly, until you saw the case photos of your model.

It was brutal. Fueled by hatred. You had never ran into any real trouble, but these were your colleagues, retired before they had a chance to call for assistance.

You began to be grateful he was around. The two of you argued constantly, but you did feel a lot safer. He was larger than you by a lot, and much broader in stature, but he didn’t scare you. Nothing did.

Until now. You only barely understood what was going on when you compared it to human data. It seemed to be closest to fear, or perhaps anxiety. You never had a feeling before. Neither had he.

Something was wrong. You just couldn’t shake it. Even thinking that way was bizarre, as it had nothing to do with programming or logistics. The thought was pointless – unless it began to effect your work. And it had.

“Do you know why the two of you are in here today?”

Lieutenant Joshi was the superior to the both of you, a higher ranking member of the Retirement Division of the LAPD. You had never really minded her, but you knew something negative was present in the way she spoke. She was human, and you were built to analyze and understand the humanness within her. She was scared and confused.

“No, Madam.”

He answered for the both of you, something he often does. That was part of his job since the placement. He’s there to make sure you’re protected, even if it's something small.

She looked at you. You shook your head. She sucked on her teeth, visibly upset.

“Neither of you are even close to baseline.”

Another bizarre sensation crept over your shoulders and sank into your abdomen. A feeling. You didn’t like it – which was another feeling, in and of itself.

“What the fuck is going on?”

She was upset now. You tried your best to comprehend it but you couldn’t.

“Ever since we put the two of you together your retiring alone takes longer than usual, you aren’t preforming how you’re supposed to, you respond in inadequate ways, I mean, what is the problem?” She paused, collecting herself. “You only perform how you’re meant to when you’re together.”

She looked at Officer K. She was speaking mostly to him. After all, he was the only one doing his job alone anymore. You were only allowed to work when he was around, and you performed fine. It was when you weren’t working… That’s where the problems were. You actually preferred his company to your own. You didn’t understand this.

“I’m going to give you both an option.” She looked sternly between the two of you. “I’m going to retest you, right now. One of you will naturally preform better than the other. Whoever is closest to baseline will retire the other.”

“You can take me, Madam.”

His voice sounded different now. Still very monotone, but laced with urgency, like the thought of retiring you impeded on his natural task of protecting you.

She scoffed. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, what is wrong with you?” She sighed, shaking it off and leaving the meeting room. You followed K into the testing area. Familiar. Uncomfortable. Something loomed over you.

There were two white chairs. You and Officer K shifted to face one another. He looked into you. You looked back.

“Officer K D 6 dash 3 dot 7,” A voice read off his name, followed by yours. “Let’s begin. Ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

Again, he answered for the both of you.

“Recite your baseline.”

The two of you spoke immediately, like a second nature, programmed into the basic essence of your coding. You didn’t have to think or process. You knew what to do, so you did it.

“And blood-black nothingness began to spin, a system of cells interlinked within cells interlinked within cells interlinked within one stem, and dreadfully distinct against the dark, tall white fountain played–”

“Cells.”

The two of you responded back, your voices synced to one another. Your eyes darted all around his face, searching for a sign that he was performing well. You hoped he was. Another foreign feeling, hope. Why did you hope for his success?

“Have you ever been in an institution? Cells.”

“Cells.”

His eyes never averted from your gaze. There was something foreign to you there. Something you presumed would be described as comforting.

“Do they keep you in a cell? Cells.”

“Cells.”

“When you’re not performing your duties do they keep you in a little box? Cells.”

“Cells.”

“Interlinked.”

“What’s it like to hold the hand of someone you love? Interlinked.”

K’s face flashed before your mind at this question. You wished you also knew what was going on, but you didn’t. Something was wrong. You remembered his hand accidentally brushing against yours a few weeks prior. That’s when all of this began. You were going to be retired. You could feel it.

“Interlinked.”

Officer K looked over your face, a mechanical whirring at the speed of his shifting eyes. Truthfully, he felt the same way. He was going to be retired. He could feel it.

“Did they teach you how to feel finger to finger? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.”

“Do you long for having your heart interlinked? Interlinked.”

You could’ve sworn you detected movement in K’s lips. A slight smile. Something you had never seen before in a Replicant. Something you had never done before. His eyes softened.

“Interlinked.”

“Do you dream about being interlinked? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.”

“What’s it like to hold your child in your arms? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.”

“Do you feel that there’s a part of you that’s missing? Interlinked.”

“Interlinked.”

Sometimes you did think things like that, but they didn’t make any sense. It was like a buffering within you.

“Within cells interlinked.”

“Why don’t you say that three times, within cells interlinked.”

“Within cells interlinked. Within cells interlinked. Within cells interlinked.”

A silence fell over the white room, and again, fear crept in, or what you could only assume was fear. His eyes still hadn’t left yours.

“Officers, do you have anything more to say?”

The voice nearly startled you, further showing you that something was very wrong. You aren’t in any imminent danger, so why were you responding like you were?

“No, sir.”

You wondered if you’d ever have to answer for yourself again.

He stood, his movement encouraging you to stand as well. You often followed his every move. His height never ceased to amaze you. You wondered why they built him so tall, yet programmed him so meekly. He didn’t naturally intimidate you. He didn't naturally intimidate anyone. He just did his job and went on his way.

You followed him into the room you had both been in previously. Lieutenant Joshi was sat back at the table holding a sheet of data. She analyzed it much slower than either of you could.

Officer K pulled out a chair and waited for you to have a seat. Part of his task. He sat beside you.

Her eyes looked up, shifting between the two of you with a clicking motion. She was searching for something, but she wasn’t going to find it. There's nothing there to find.

“Do either of you have any comments, Officers?”

You looked at K.

“I hope I did worse than her.”

She rolled her eyes, frustrated at his malfunctioning. She couldn’t gather a response, so she resorted to sliding the paper in front of the both of you.

100% accuracy. A perfect score. The highest either of you had ever gotten to baseline.

You looked up at her. She remained searching, beginning to say something before sighing, abandoning the thought all together.

Officer K’s jaw tightened beside you.

“Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?”

You looked at him, then her. You didn’t have any previous data on any of this. It was rare for you to have an uninspired thought, but your software had been updated to the highest functioning and you figured only one explanation would make sense.

“We’re interlinked, Madam.”

She was quiet for a moment, blinking.

“It appears so.”

Silence fell over the room for several minutes. K sat much taller than you. He felt much more powerful than you in this moment. Even now, you were glad to have him around.

“We should really just retire both of you, but we’ve never seen this kind of score. I need to speak to some colleagues and I’ll have you report back here in the following days. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Madam.”

The two of you spoke in sync. Interlinked.

The drive home was quiet, but pleasant. Both of you thought you’d be retired before sundown, so the bleak landscape appeared a bit more welcoming than usual. You didn’t particularly enjoy the world, but you did enjoy being around K.

The walk to your building was always the worst. The people outside felt like one large organism, moving and speaking all at once, an amalgamation of bodies, neon lights reflecting against the rain droplets hitting the ground. It was hard to take in so many small happenings at the same time. He knew this about you, picking up on the shifts in your face when you stepped out into the night. He placed a gloved hand on the small of your back, leading you. Afterall, part of his task was to enure your safety, and he wanted you to know he was looking out for you. He liked doing a good job for you. He feels something when you thank him for it.

“Hey, A boy!”

Moans and expletives swam through your ears. This scene was ever present. Every single night on your way home, you passed this part of town. Before Officer K was assigned to you it was much scarier. People would grab at you and pull you towards different dark buildings and corners of street. Replicant and human alike, both took advantage of your size.

You always ignored it, programmed to move forward, but something felt different this time.

The girls touched him, eyeing him up and down, walking alongside the both of you, looking at you.

“Wanna come see what a real girl feels like?”

He didn't react. He never did, actually. One of the girls showed a change in her expression, cautioning the others, mentioning his job. The words she spoke relieved you. You didn’t mind the insult, you just didn’t want him to leave you. It was scary out here. Everyone towered over you, even the girls.

The girls dismissed her warning, giggling, grabbing onto him further. Your pace quickened. So did his. You reached the stairs outside of your building and he stepped aside, letting you go ahead of him.

“We’re always here!”

They were always there. They had been built for pleasure. Sexual consumerism. It confused you, really. You didn’t understand the appeal, but it seemed like everyone else did. K didn't get it either.

He followed closely behind you up the steps. The flights went on for ages. People lingered there, littering the tight area, continuing to yell at the two of you. K kept a close watch for anyone grabbing for you, though. He wouldn’t let it happed again.

He opened the door to your apartment, holding it wide for you to walk in. Someone spat in your direction. He closed his eyes. It was like he was convincing himself not to react. He never had to do that before. The droning lull of the people made you feel anxious again, like you really were in danger. He shut the door behind you, the thick lock clunking shut.

Your apartment was safe, like a homebase. No one could attack you here. You watched as K hanged his coat on the back of the door, heavy and weighed down. He looked different. Relieved. Softer. Pleased to see you.

“Are you hungry?”

You thought for a moment, considering when the last time you ate was. There was am artificial aching in your abdomen.

“Yes.”

He nodded, stepping a foot into the kitchen. This place was so small. After all, Blade Runners don’t really deserve comfort. They didn’t need it. They couldn’t feel it. But you did. You had to accept it, it was only logical. You felt the place was small, and that meant you could feel.

K made the same thing you both ate every night. Noodles. You hated them – another feeling – but you liked spending time with him. It was sweet, the ways he chose to serve you.

He looked down into his bowl. He wasn’t eating. Something was different about him.

“K? Is everything alright?”

He looked up at you, meeting your gaze. He searched you, but found no answers.

“I don’t know. I know that I’m supposed to know. But I don’t. And that means something is wrong.”

You nodded. You felt immense comfort at his answer. He felt the same. At realizing this, a secondary thought entered your mind: he must need to be comforted as well. You thought back to your Joi, sat somewhere in a drawer for weeks now, collecting dust. You found it odd to use it around him, and he thought the same, but you remembered what went on when you did use it. You retraced all the humans you had came across in your mind, all films you had seen. You knew how they all comforted one another. You wanted to try for him. This was perhaps the most bizarre feeling of all.

Neither of you were real, just programmed to be as human-like as technology currently allowed. So really, what’s the harm in this? You couldn’t have feelings for something real, but he wasn’t real either, so no harm no foul.

“I feel the same way. I feel, I mean. I don’t like it either.”

You tried your best to put it into words.

He nodded, shifting, like he had turned something off inside of him. You had frightened him. He thought he was just malfunctioning, and the only other option is that the two of you were both feeling something very real and new and unlikely. That was frightening. Something was wrong.

His jaw tightened as he stood from the table, grabbing his bowl and stepping toward the kitchen.

You sat there alone at the table for a long time. You felt something different now, something new. You didn’t recognize it; it hadn’t been taught to you. Loneliness, perhaps. Or regret. A feeling that you had said something you wished you hadn’t.

A heavy hand rested on your shoulder, awakening you from your trance. You didn’t know how long you’d been sitting there, but the orange glow of the city had drifted into a deep aqua color. Night had fallen.

“I don’t know what’s going on.”

His voice was different. Softer than before, like every moment he became gentler and… more... human.

You hummed in agreement. You didn’t know either. He reached his hand out and you took it, following him a few feet to your small bathroom. A soft glow came from behind the doorframe.

His steps were heavy as he lead you forward. Your eyes shifted, taking in the scene.

He had ran you a bath, something you didn’t even realize you possessed in this small space. There were candles lit alongside the edge of the porcelain. You were sure you didn’t own any candles.

“I saw this in a film once…” His voice trailed off, like he didn’t know what else to say. He was almost shy about it.

You stepped forward. A new smell filled the room. Something fresh.

“Its lavender. I took some from the last Nexus-8 I retired. I know that’s not very romantic.”

Romantic? Was he trying to be romantic? Why was he trying to be romantic?

“And the candles?”

His constant blank stare shifted into a sheepish, subtle, barely-noticeable smile. But you noticed. It was just a change in data, after all.

“I bought them yesterday. I saw them downtown and I thought of you. I’m not sure why.”

Whatever you had been feeling before was miniscule compared to what you feel now. An ache in your chest and browline, sharp and sudden. A tear fell from your right eye. Something was definitely wrong.

This world was just… so sad. Fallen. Broken. Corrupted. Evil. Lost. So many things. And especially for you. You felt selfish for feeling this way at all; you weren’t a human that had everything ripped away from you, you weren’t even real. But your memories were real to you, and this was real to you too. No one had ever gone out of their way to think of you before. Everything before your assignment with Officer K was rigid and impersonal, but he wasn’t like that, and neither of you knew why.

You stepped forward, keeping his hand in yours, leading him into the small space with you. It would be snug, but both of you could fit.

You followed your normal routine, removing each article of clothing as to not get them wet. His torso was laced with cuts and bruising. Again, the sight of it made you feel something.

He sank into the water first, still holding your hand, blankly looking forward at the tile on the wall. You followed after him, laying against his chest. This was nice, but also very weird. What were you meant to do now? You were grateful for the gesture. The warm water was a stark contrast to the cold world you both lived in. The last few weeks you realized you hated being a Blade Runner, and in hindsight, he must've felt the same. Underappreciated. Unimportant. Cold. False.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for inviting me in.”

You both sat there for a long time. His hand held onto you gently, like you were in danger. Part of his task. You liked this, but in every film you’ve seen, its followed by much more interesting activities. A curiosity crept inside you. There’s so much you’ve began to be able to feel and think and see. You couldn’t help but feel like this was only the beginning. “This was very kind of you, K. I hope you know that.”

You felt him nod behind you, dismissive.

“I appreciate you letting me work alongside you. I know you didn’t like it at first, but you’ve always been very nice to me. Thank you for that.”

You felt like crying again. This world really did blow for the two of you, didn’t it?

“I’d like to lay down now.”

He nodded again, waiting for you to stand before standing himself. He got you a towel. He didn’t have to do that. It had nothing to do with your safety. That wasn’t an assigned task, that was a choice.

“Thank you.”

He nodded, careful not to look you over too much. He didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.

As you dried yourself, he left the small bathroom. You quickly got dressed, searching around for him. He was sat on the couch staring blankly ahead.

You made your way over to him, sitting beside him. You placed a hand on his arm and sat up to gently kiss his cheek, something you’d done with Joi before and something you’d seen in many movies. Even humans would do this downtown, you’d seen it before.

He looked at you.

“You kissed me. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. I felt like doing it. I think it’s supposed to make people feel better and you look like you don’t feel well.”

He looked at you. Nothing had ever made him react this way. He no longer wanted to just be a consumer of pleasure. Joi and the like didn’t interest him anymore. He wanted to show you something. He didn’t understand it yet, but he was made in the likeness of a human, and perhaps this was part of that. It would be different if he felt something for a human – unfair almost. He couldn’t provide them with the things they would need. He just didn’t have it in him. But you? You were like him. Just like him. The same. Cells, interlinked.

He watched as you placed your hand atop his. It was so tiny in comparison. He didn’t recognize this sensation, but he felt an urge to take care of you, to give you anything you asked for. More than his assigned task. He wanted to, even if he didn’t have to. He took pleasure in it, actually.

You were real to him; as real as he was. He wanted to take care of you. He also hated being a Blade Runner, and he knew you must have it so much harder. The board even assigned you a partner out of sheer fear you’d be brutally beaten into retirement just for existing, not to mention the humans and replicants that used your model for pleasure. He didn’t like that, and he didn’t want that. He wanted something different and it didn’t make sense to him.

The act seemed almost the same. The same positions, the same words being said, the same sequence of events. People kissing, then laying down together, all of that. But sometimes something was different. He thought of the ads around town, how they appeared to him. He compared it to the books he had to read on the human condition. Something was different. One was about lust, and one was about love. He thought the latter more closely related to what he felt for you.

“I’m okay, just thinking.”

You looked up at his scarred face, bruised from the last job. There was something heavy on his mind. You wanted to help him with that. You didn’t know how, but you wanted to try for him. Afterall, the two of you performed great at work when you were together. Maybe you’d perform great at home too.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀✩⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

#Blade Runner 2049 #Officer K x reader #officer k #blade runner #kenergy

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lavathein · 11 months

Text

Why is Sylvie angry?

I want to elaborate on this point a little bit, as some people either don't quite understand or are a confused by the plot.

Read more about the relationship between Sylvie and Loki here: sylki meta

"TVA is in danger"

If TVA is in danger, then literally EVERYTHING is in danger. TVA cannot be destroyed or simply abandoned, because the Multiverse will begin to self-destruct. Time Loom is overloaded with too many branches. Previously, they were simply cut off, but now everyone finally understands that this is wrong and we need to find another way.

By the way, it is very interesting that the organisation that used to destroy everything can now become the biggest defender.

Loki Time Slipping to the future and saw that the situation is getting worse, there is complete Chaos in TVA, the Loom is overloaded, and the Evacuation is taking place.

They have very little time to deal with this problem. Loki is interested in this, because if this is not done, then everything, everyone will come to an end.

Sylvie did not see all this and does not even imagine that such consequences could be. She had a terrible life to live and TVA was to blame. From her point of view, it was just a terrible organisation that had a dictator and he was the only one to blame for all the problems.

She killed HWR and dismissed Timeline. It's really free will, so everyone can do whatever they want, she can do whatever she wants. Has she been living on Timeline for a while and is everything okay? Yeah. Nothing terrible is happening. (The time difference from TVA makes itself felt)

And then Loki appears. Their last meeting was difficult, neither of them understands why, each of them made this choice. They also have a time difference. Let me remind you that Sylvie does not know what happened at TVA and she cannot know what happened to Loki. They are both confused.

But she agrees to talk. The conversation is not going well. Sylvie concludes that Loki is worried about the TVA. This immediately creates a barrier between them because she had been hoping that the TVA was a thing of the past, that it was all behind them. However, it turns out that it's not, and this fear and threat are still present.

Loki focuses on TVA because he was pushed away. It's always easier for him to avoid a difficult topic, and the TVA problem is a real threat and he can't ignore it either.

Sylvie does not back down as soon as she learns that the branches are going to be pruned. She helps and even takes the step to come to TVA. She's seen Loki and Mobius stop these Minutemens, so that gives her a little bit of confidence… BUT! It was a failure and many branches were pruned. She is very hurt by this and angry that what she fought against is coming back.

Again, she does not see the danger that Loki was about to tell her about. She has just witnessed the TVA doing what they have always done. This cannot inspire confidence or a desire to be in this place.

But this situation does not give her peace of mind. So she takes another step.

I think she was following Ravonna, because she heard in the final ep2 that they were searching for her. Again, let me remind you that Sylvie does not know that Ravonna is not an ally at the moment.

When she finds Victor Timeley, she sees that Loki is going to take him to TVA. She interprets this in her own way and becomes very angry.

From her point of view, the situation is as follows: Ravonna, Loki, and Mobius are working together. That is, she thinks they have a plan and want to bring He Who Remains back to TVA. She is very annoyed by this, she does not understand what is happening at all. Loki tries to explain, but using "TVA is in danger" only makes her angrier.

Let me remind you that even Loki was not happy with the idea of taking Viktor to TVA, but he understands that there is No Choice.

When Sylvie accuses Loki of collaborating with Ravonna, Loki looks very confused and says openly that isn`t the case. Sylvie thinks about it.

I also note the fact that none of them attack each other. Loki shields Victor because he believes that Sylvie will not harm him (Loki) - and he is right, she doesn't.

But no one will back down, so you have to get out of this situation, but she doesn't like to do it and it's clearly visible:

Later, she finds everyone. She overhears their entire dialogue and finally realises that Ravonna is not an ally. Mobius also tells her that Victor needed at TVA because It`s in danger. She uses magic in time to rescue the situation.

She doesn't kill Viktor. Loki did not interfere at this point and trusted her to decide for herself. Let me remind you that a lot depends on it now, but he still makes no attempt to stop her.

These are the first steps towards trust and understanding of each other's actions. But it's a very good example of what happens when, instead of talking, people start to get angry or silent. This leads to complete misunderstanding and hurt.

This is a very real and live conflict. They could have avoided a lot of this if they had talked, but there are many things that get in the way, and the global threat is taking over.

They are growing, and I like that. I love watching deep stories. The characters have to have a path to reach some purpose, to learn about yourself.

#loki #loki series #loki season 2 #sylki #sylvie #s2 #loki laufeyson #loki x sylvie #loki sylvie #sylvie laufeydottir #sylvie path #why this is so

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darklinaforever · 2 months

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Girl, you are so insanely misogynistic, when a woman is married to a violent and abusive man, she’s completely allowed and justified in cheating on him.

You can support creeps, stalkers, rapists and pedos but draw the line at cheating, lmao.

Literally, Daemon in F&B never abused Rhaenyra emotionally and physically.

The choking scene in 1x10 is completely OCC.

But you buy it anyway because it justifies your hatred of Daemon. Once again, you'll buy whatever hatred against Daemon the show gives and you'll be happy.

Then, like I said not only is the 1x10 scene is OCC but it also demonstrates the terrifying habit of the screenwriters to amplify the violence suffered by women in the GRRM universe without any good script-valid reason, in addition to adding scenes of various abuse and variety non-existent in the basic source material, all for pure shock value on the viewer.

This aspect is criticized as much as the fact that Daemon having strangled Rhaenyra makes no sense with the first 8 episodes of HOTD in relation to the Daemyra relationship, in addition to the fact that it never existed in Fire and Blood, so the source material from which this show is taken.

We are filled with the fact that Daemon strangling Rhaenyra makes no sense with his character and the Daemyra relationship, therefore being OCC in HOTD, and not being present in the source material either. So a pure free invention for the shock of the screenwriters who adds non-existent violence compared to the source material and consequently the empires to stimulate the shock of the viewer.

At no time do we justify Daemon's behavior. On the contrary. But you are unable to understand that.

How the hell does pointing out these crucial things make me a misogynist ? On the contrary, it is HOTD's treatment of female characters that is misogynistic.

I didn't know that it was feminist to add gratuitous violence towards female characters, so you teach me something...

Then, if we are all so against Rhaenyra cheating on Daemon, it has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman, but simply because once again it does not exist in the source material. And no, Daemon cheating on Rhaenyra in F&B has never been proven and we are just as against Daemon cheating on Rhaenyra.

The strangling scene Daemyra, and the kiss scene between Rhaenyra & Mysaria are just as OCC as each other. We criticize both. Neither should have happened. It's not complicated to understand.

On the other hand, when did I support stalkers, worse rapists ?! (While I literally made a recent post again to take down characters who commit rape...) You have so little argument that you have to lie to be able to send me a request ? You're pitiful. The same thing about pedophiles. When did I support up with pedophiles ? Unless you're trying to say that Daemon is a pedophile and... you're still wrong.

Oops.

Oh and if it's because of my ships such as Sessrin, Sareth or Sebaciel, my god, I have already explained from what angle I ship Sebaciel and that this relationship or Sareth and Sessrin does not were not pedophile ships :

Oh and in case someone tells me the stupidity about Daemon being a groomer again :

Have a good day, you who complete yourself in your stupidity and your wickedness.

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shima-draws · 1 month

Text

Okay so. I'm like, 99% done with V3 and I realized I've barely shared like any of my thoughts here so. SPOILERS AHEAD

-The fact that Ryoma wanted to die and was fighting to find something to live for only to find out that he had NOTHING...that shit was sad bro

-Was NOT expecting Kirumi at all but in retrospect it's the least suspicious ones that you should be the most suspicious of. Also her execution was p brutal

-ANGIE WITH THE CULT...the fact that she managed to brainwash half the group had me terrified. Also her Atua worshipping got real old real fast. I hate religious cults lmao I was literally sitting there like "I REALLY hope she's the one to die this chapter" bc if I had to read one more sentence of her being like "Atua will save us all <3" I WOULD have gone to play in traffic.

-Angie needed to go but TENKO 😭 She was just a hopeless lesbian in love with Himiko she did not deserve what happened to her

-Speaking of Himiko I was kinda meh about her at first but after the chapter 3 trial her character developed so wonderfully...it was so nice to see her grow and change and learn to express herself 🥺

-TRAINING TRIO MY BELOVED FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER I would kill for them genuinely.

-My hatred for Kokichi only grew as time went on but after forcing Gonta to kill. MAN. That trial was so heartbreaking Gonta was just trying his best to protect everyone :"( Kokichi's such a little shit

-Kaito brushing off his illness as just him being afraid of ghosts AGGHHHH I knew there was something wrong from the start but seeing it progress and get worse was just 😭 I was literally sitting there like. Does he have a terminal illness. Oh my god he's going to die isn't he. NO HE'S MY FAVORITE PLEASEEEEE

-Was NOT expecting the space colony twist but even more so was the fact that the world ended...not once, but TWICE

-Me during chapter 4: How much you wanna bet next chapter Kokichi's gonna get killed and Kaito's gonna be the one who kills him Me during the chapter 5 trial: FUCKING. CALLED IT!!!!!!

-MAKI FALLING FOR KAITO and admitting it right before his execution.......my heart can't TAKE this shit please!!!!

-Kaito dying from his illness before the execution was even over...Monokuma being pissed about it...everyone looking at him and going HA BITCH YOU THOUGHT! Kaito beat you!!

-Also me during all this: NOT KAITO THAT'S SHUICHI'S EMOTIONAL SUPPORT BOYFRIEND

-Keebo going off the rails was not on my 2024 bingo card but here we are

-KAEDE DIED FOR NO REASON?? She didn't actually kill Rantaro. My girl was innocent after all huh 😔

-Me, 3 chapters in: Tsumugi is so boring she literally brings nothing to the plot whatsoever. She's just...there Me, during the chapter 6 class trial: OHHHH. THAT WAS INTENTIONAL. I KNEW they wouldn't just have a useless character that should have been my first clue honestly

-Also me: Why do the Monocubs even exist. They've done nothing but comedy routines and die this entire time. They're literally pointless?? I've been watching Game Grumps play V3 and every time they come on screen Dan and Arin collectively sigh together. LMAO

-Imagine me with my jaw on the FLOOR once everything was revealed to be fictional. It's all a lie?? They Truman Show'd this shit?? Neither of the first two games MATTERED?? (A friend explained that DRV3 is in a separate universe than the first two games so that calmed me down a little lmao I would have been so pissed if it were actually the case that everyone from the first two games were just. Not real. Didn't actually exist. It was all faked)

Anyway I'm not completely done with the game yet I'm at the tail end of the chapter 6 trial so we'll see how things go from here 😬 This has been a wild ride. An emotional rollercoaster for sure

#Shima speaks #Danganronpa #DRV3 #Danganronpa V3 #Danganronpa spoilers #DRV3 spoilers #Also. SAIMOTA. AAAAAAAAAAAAA #AND Saiharumota. I'm a training trio OT3 truther #Anyway I'm probably going to watch the anime next since I haven't seen it yet!#Friends warned me it was Dark. I must tread carefully...LOL #Long post

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scarletwritesshit · 4 months

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🕯️ Mortefi x F!Rover 🕯️The Rover and Her Red Cat Researcher

Mortefi scratched his head in utter confusion. He had absolutely no leads to go off of as a starting point, and even worse was that he had never seen a case quite like this before. Granted, he was more specialized in other fields of research, but denying the opportunity to learn more about the peculiar would be a fool’s choice. She returned seeking answers. He wanted answers himself. Unfortunately for the both of them, basic testing came back completely normal, and Mortefi did not know why.

What he did know, is that he didn’t know anything about the girl who went by the name of Rover. She had the clothes of a foreigner, most certainly a region that he was most unfamiliar with. Without as much of a formal name that could at least provide some clues to her heritage, Mortefi was at a complete loss for tracing back her origins. It was perplexing, to say the least. The thought of contacting senior researchers at Huaxu Academy had crossed his mind more than once, but what would they be able to do, if every result was as average as it could possibly be?

Rover came to him seeking some form of answer, and he was determined to give her something of value. A response along the lines of “I haven’t the slightest idea” simply was not acceptable. Unfortunately, he was stumped. He understood none of this. Mortefi was even sure to run multiple tests, and carry out the exact same procedures on another researcher he knew was average as a control. He could find absolutely nothing.

“Any luck yet?” Rover asked, peeking around his shoulder.

“Regrettably, no,” Mortefi admitted. “All of the tests that I have conducted have yieled completely normal results. You’re clearly a deviation from the norm, yet I fail to determine what factors exactly make you stand out in such a way.”

“But what about my memory loss?”

“No leads in regards to that either. Not even the medical specialists could find anything wrong with your head neurological system.”

Rover sighed, a bit disappointed with his response.

“If it were not for your unusual appearance, as well as the inclusion of that most curious sundial, I would have been led to believe that you were faking all of this for attention.”

“If I had the answers, then I would have no reason to pester you.”

“That may be so, but despite multiple attempts with a control variable taken into account, neither me nor my colleagues can find anything explicitly wrong with you. It’s slightly infuriating, to put it lightly,” Mortefi said, with a slight growl to his voice.

Rover noticed that Mortefi’s once curious expression quickly began to fade away. He exhaled a bit of smoke, clenching his fits as if his frustration was becoming unbearable. With another sigh tinged with smoke, Mortefi pulled out a lighter from his pocket and flicked the cap open. Rover’s heart jumped, and she backed away from him worried that Mortefi was one bad decision away from burning down the entire laboratory, the two of them included.

He clicked the lighter a couple of times, the flame igniting and dissipating, almost as if he was sizing up the equipment around him for the maximum carnage possible with such a small lighter. However, after a good couple of clicks, Mortefi let out a deep breath, this time no fiery smoke to be seen.

“I…apologize for that bout of unprofessionalism,” Mortefi said, sticking the lighter back into his pocket.

“Were you debating burning this entire place down just now?” Rover said, still tense and prepared to bolt.

“I merely find the click of my lighter to be soothing. I cannot let my nerves to get the best of me.”

“I can assume very much so. I could see you exhaling literal smoke.”

Mortefi cleared his throat, and picket up his tablet once more.

“With that being an issue best left in the past, I suppose that this mystery is not going to solve themselves. Shall we proceed?”

Although she was still somewhat shaken up from Mortefi’s actions just moments prior, Rover nodded her head and allowed for Mortefi to resume thoroughly examining her. He grabbed her hand and noticed her Tacet Mark, bringing it closer to his eyes in an attempt to find anything that stood out as unusual. As he squinted his eyes at her hand, Rover awaited the moment where he would be struck with inspiration and shove her under some laboratory equipment for vigorous testing. However, he simply held her had rather tight and continued observing it intently.

“Something super fascinating about my hand?” she asked.

“Ah…no. Just simply conducting a thorough examination.”

He leaned away a little, allowing a Rover a little bit more personal space. Now that he had lifted his head up a bit more, she caught a clear glimpse of his eyes for the first time. His pupils were slit, somewhat like those of the reptiles she had cut down on the way. They, however, felt more curious and alive than just plain bloodthirsty. In fact, they were almost cat-like, giving him the look of a man occupied with a lot of thoughts rather than just a beast whose only thought was what its next victim for a meal was.

Noble, majestic, respectable. It was like she was face to face with a dragon in human form, which made her heart skip a beat every time the light of the laboratory reflected the amber shine in his eyes.

Despite these thoughts of a well-respected dragon standing before her, Rover felt as if Mortefi kept the demeanor of a cat hidden beneath an aura of authority and intelligence. The way he lit up with curiosity while working on his research, his normally calm mannerisms, and the eyes that widened like a curious cat every time even the slightest detail caught his attention all further supported her strange feeling of fondness for Mortefi. Hell, it was becoming mighty tempting to reach out and pet his hair as if he really were a friendly cat.

Just one little pat wouldn’t hurt, she hoped. At the very worst, he would push her hand away, but this nagging urge of hers had to be satisfied. Just one little pet. She could just play it off as a side effect of the brain damage Mortefi insists she doesn’t have.

With her free hand, she reached up and gently pet him. His eyes widened and was a bit surprised by her sudden move, but showed no clear signs of taking any insult. In fact, she could argue that for a moment, she saw him enjoying the attention.

“You really are curious about me, aren’t you?” she said.

“I believe you to be the more curious one, in terms of both attributes and apparently behavior,” Mortefi said, releasing her hand to ruffle his hair back into place.

Some of Mortefi’s lingering tension appeared to have eased thanks to Rover’s playful gesture. Maybe her wild guess wasn’t too far off in actuality. She wouldn’t hesitate to continue if it meant putting Mortefi at ease, but even she had enough common sense remaining to think that petting someone performing tests on you was a bit unusual. Her mind was already upside down, and Mortefi was clearly withholding a great deal of stress, so both of them would have an excuse, should he desire more.

“You look like you’ve lightened up a bit,” Rover commented.

“I believe that I am the one who is supposed to be assisting at the current moment in time. Worry not about me, it’s nothing I haven’t experienced before.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want just a little more? You can think of it as a way of me repaying you for putting all of this effort into attempting to help me.”

Mortefi looked around the lab, as if he was anxious that someone had opened doors that have clearly remained shut throughout the duration of their conversation.

“A subject eager to assist is certainly an usual case. Usually, individuals that do come into the lab constantly ask when the tests are concluded as they get pried and poked,” Mortefi said, puzzled, yet intrigued.

“As we have clearly concluded, I’m not a normal test subject.”

“You are normal, in a sense. In a contradictory manner, that is rather abnormal. Abnormalities in some way are to be expected to be turn up in at least one test. You however, have shown- “

“Normal this, abnormal that, just say that this has been confusing you and you wouldn’t mind another pat to destress,” Rover said, reaching out her hand up once more.

“I suppose this could be a prime opportunity for us to both discover something about ourselves,” Mortefi said with a sigh.

He put his tablet down onto the table and glanced at Rover’s hand, nodding to signal that it was okay for her to proceed. With a smile, she once more began to pet him, only just realizing how soft his hair actually was. It was a bit of an unexpected feeling for a man whose chest was partially covered in what appeared to be scales.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

“In the most unusual way possible, I find it to be quite the soothing experience.”

As she continued gently petting Moretfi, she noticed that his eyes were relaxed and he was blinking rather slowly. Rover’s impulsiveness somehow managed to pay off for both of them, though now it was possible that she could be petting him all day if he was this fond of the attention. He was showing no signs of resistance or wanting to stop either, despite the tests waiting to be ran (or, re-ran) on Rover.

“If it helps you keep your cool, I would gladly keep going all day,” Rover said, mainly as an excuse to continue feeling his surprisingly soft hair.

“Are all outsiders like you this considerate for the well-being of others?” Mortefi asked, almost as if he were slowly becoming drunk off of the affection from Rover.

“Maybe. I don’t know how someone like me is normally supposed to think.”

“Right, my apologies,” Mortefi said, lifting his head up. “As nice as that truthfully feels for the soul, we must continue attempting to discern the extent of your…condition.”

“Mortefi, has anyone ever been nice to you in such a way?” Rover asked, completely disregarding his statement.

“I never considered such things as my studies have always taken top priority. An honest answer would be no, up until now, but I find it most strange that a stranger would be the first to think of me in such a regard,” Mortefi said, attempting to piece together his thoughts. “…Let’s resume the operation before I once more allow myself to get carried away.”

#wuthering waves #fanfic #fanfiction #mortefi #wuwa rover #female rover #morterover #roverfi #this is why i hate being the first to write for a ship cuz i never know what name to use Help #wuwa

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deluweil · 5 months

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To be honest the way part of the fandom has treated this Tommy character as a god makes me dislike him more. Unfortunately the Buck bi arc was tainted for me because it all feels force. Also what doesn't help is that Eddie was to much involved in that storyline.

The way people are acting like it's a perfect relationship and yet we barely saw them together feels just weird.

Also I don't like how some literally push Eddie away for this new white man.

This is Taylor Kelly all over again. The sad part is that the season is short and people wAnt to to spend their time giving more to the new guy.

I hope him and Marisol are gone, but I'm afraid. These two characters took the joy out of the Buck and Eddie storyline for me.

The fandom, I think, in this case, is definitely the problem here,

Lou is completely unassuming and enjoying the process and being a buddie shipper just like us - if one actually bothers to read the interviews and not just pick and choose what to talk about.

That is what makes me like Lou.

The fandom has somehow glorified Tommy's character after a couple of episodes and yeah it rubs the wrong way, because, what about the story we had so far?

Is season 7 a reset to 911? and everything that came before that doesn't count? Why not just make it 911 abc pilot then?

I don't think that's the case, but I think the last minute switch between Buck and Eddie kind of ruined it for the Tim because, yes, in a way it feels forced and out of left field.

Supposed that Buck was indeed vying for Tommy's attention, why do it like that? and why involve Eddie in the first place?

I have a lot of questions and my main problem here is not that Buck is experimenting with Tommy, it's the way they practically propelled this ship off the cliff into a dangerous spin, they went from zero to 200 in a second. - That is not how you build a relationship.

You don't try to figure out what you want, mess up the first date, then invite said date to an apology coffee and then invite him to family wedding on the way. It just doesn't work that way.

I may be straight, but I have gay and bi and lesbian friends, neither one of them has ever brought a second or even a third date to so much as a friends get together before they were sure that this is something that would last, before they brought the intended victim to be judged by friends and family.

And people who talk about Tommy as being established in the 118 family, that is not true. He has a connection with Chimney in that that he owes him his life and an acquaintance with Hen, who is clearly not very fond of him, because of obvious past she had with him and their old house before Bobby came into the picture. - Remember - Chimney was her ONLY lifeline in that house.

Tommy was not a liked character before.

Arguably Buck had more history with Taylor than he did with Tommy (which is none at all) - But Taylor is a strong opinionated and often self-serving woman (not unlike Buck mind you), emphasis on woman. - That is the only reason she never stood a chance. Because the writers could have made her and Buck the greatest love story this show has seen, but they continuously managed to ruin any fondness for any female LI to ever grace that set.

And this season is short, to bring in a new LI kinda defeats the purpose of re-establishing the team and this show, because it does feel the same as any of Buck's old relationships that were being pushed for the benefit of 'god forbid Buck actually learns how to be alone and healthy and happy' - the only thing that changed in Buck this season is his sexuality and nothing else, and that vexes me.

My problem is not with Tommy, it's the perpetuation of 'poor baby Buck' society. - I love Oliver and I love Buck - I am tired of the ever repeating pattern of forgiveness for his self serving ways without any accountability that we keep seeing.

I don't think Buck's or even Eddie's firsts or you know what? even seconds should be each other, I am more than happy to make this journey with them, but let it be a marathon not a sprint to the finish line - they knew they would get renewed for another season, they could have written and built it better than what we got - because the moment they switched gears after the second episode, the story became written in the same messy last minute way both S4 and most of S5 were written.

There is no grand plan, at this point they are merely winging it and see where the wind takes them. - And that is idiotic, they had SO MUCH TIME to make this a well written story with the strike and long break after that, to write as they film is lazy and stupid and mostly childish.

And yes this is Taylor all over again, not in that they are the same type of people, but that Buck is jumping head first into a relationship without actually knowing how he got there. - Bobby said that himself - and it is the same, because who in their right mind invite a second (kinda) date to a family event? Like dude have you ever dated before? Do you how this works?

It is a LOT of pressure and not even for Buck himself - because he brought this on himself - but rather for Tommy (aka the intended victim) to be first introduced to the family after a couple of dates when he himself has no idea where he and Buck are standing.

Marisol, has indeed sucked the joy out of the Eddie's story, I don't get why do either of the boys had to be in a relationship starting this season to begin with. Like, she is literally a handbag, the token hetero symbol, so to speak, what she is doing there? is beyond me.

The catholic guilt of her being a nun is bullshit, and as Bobby said himself, Eddie has no problem committing to certain people/things. She serves no purpose this season other than a seat warmer/ glorified babysitter since Buck is otherwise engaged.

They could have gone for Eddie finding his way in the department, Eddie dealing with his mommy issues, Eddie trying to figure out what and who he wants in his life, Eddie trying to navigate Chris' terrible teenage years.

They could have explored the fact that a guy going with his supposed gf/wife in the golf course checking Eddie's hot ass (6X17) - Oh wait, they were going to... the ground for Eddie's coming out was all laid out and they took a sharp turn to left field in the second episode of S7 and made it all about Buck again, because the Natalia actress couldn't come?? what kind of a weak ass reason is that?

And yes, the cliche of receiving the odd white man out (who played a controversial role in early seasons) rather than the regular casted poc male or the guest starring woman, for that matter, better is all kind of f-ed up, but no one would talk about that, of course. 👀

Anyway, I am hoping that whatever is coming next will be worthy of our time and attention because so far we got about more of the same as far as Buck and Eddie are concerned - except that Buck has just broaden his variety and has a bigger pallet of mate choosing at his disposal.

I have two very close bi friends, so I know how their minds work, because God knows they share with me more than I ever wanted to know lol. And one of them is watching 911 with me and she is happy for the rep as well, but unhappy with how it was developed too.

At the moment, I have decided to put any Buck and Eddie topics aside and just want to get the LONG AWAITED Madney wedding, if anyone deserve a happy ending, it's them. ❤️

#911 ask #evan buckley #eddie diaz #tommy kinard #marisol whatever her last name is #buddie #911 spoilers #911 speculation #don't you dare to rb this with an opposing opinion - i don't care that you think tommy farts rainbows out of his ass make your own post #and if you don't like what i write block me so you can save me the trouble of blocking you #not directed to this anon #just a warning to toxic fandom groopies that has done it before - naturally they were blocked #I am entitled to my opinion just like you are entitled to yours #deluweil replies

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azquine · 1 year

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Can I get something on the JoanFK tag that ISN'T just complaining? It is ok to be feeling shit that things went badly in the show, but do you have to tag that negativity on the ship? The negativity is all that there is to see whenever I try to interact with the show and it's making me feel horrible.

I've been in far worse fandoms, and they didn't make me feel this bad.

It all feels so puritanical, like you have forgotten what a teen drama parody entails. Did you forget that they were ALL assholes in the first season who backstabbed and did shitty things to eachother for their own selfish gain? You are applying pretty strict rules of morality onto characters who intrinsically must break those rules to allow the narratives of their genre to move.

This was a short kiss, the result of feelings that JFK and Harriet had actively been trying to avoid for the sake of Joan. This could have been resolved by open communication, but that's not how either drama shows OR stupid hormonal teens work. After making this mistake, they did the most responsible and moral thing they could have and confessed it literally within the same episode as soon as Joan would not, you know, DIE as a result.

All things considered, it wasn't a secret relationship, it wasn't sex, it wasn't a long term secret held until it accidentally spills out and ruins everything. It could have been SO much worse, it was none of my worst fears, and I'm honestly relieved a kiss was where it stopped. And I am also really glad they confessed to quickly because I HATE liar revealed plots more than ANYTHING and I probably would have stopped watching. If they were going to do this plotline it was the best case scenario for me.

And do you know what is even better? What should be the bare minimum but is actually pretty rare in dramas from my experience? Neither of them tried to mitigate Joan's reaction, to say she was overreacting or to dance around the issue to make it sound better beyond a truthful 'we felt nothing'. Joan was allowed the space to fully process the information and her emotions, even if through a montage. And damn I wish I saw that more often.

As for those saying JFK would need a redemption for what he has done- does being open and honest about his wrongdoings not do that pretty succinctly? Beyond having not done it at all what else do you want? Pretty puritanical to want him to suffer before he can be forgiven.

And granted, Harriet got plenty of unjustified hate before she had even done anything, but post-kiss most of the discussion and anger I have seen has been directed solely at JFK. Harriet was part of that kiss too, knowingly going against her friend. Why is the romantic relationship deemed worse to betray? Both of them did a stupid thing together, and fixed it together.

And I'm not saying Joan putting all the consequence on Abe is justified, he didn't do shit wrong either, he tried to keep his friend alive in a tricky situation.

All of your feelings are valid, and I do see why the dominant opinion is what it is. Cheating is an awful thing to do and you should not be with someone you do not trust, I cannot refute that.

Yet at the same time, I felt it was important to put forward some differing points that I had been having. This show will not be enjoyable if we hold a position of being negative and moralistic. To some extent there has to be an acceptance that this is a fiction and moral failings are often part of a narrative structure.

(And while many of you have legitimate critiques on the execution of the show, it feels like some of you are taking the 'thing done badly because I don't like it' route)

I really hope nobody takes this as me trying to enforce cheating or to say that JFK and Harriet kissing was ok. It was shitty of them to do in the first place, but they are not morally irredeemable. Teen do stupid bad thing is not new. I'm also not interested in having an argument over this, I get caught up far too easily in that so I won't be answering any replies or asks. It is fine if you disagree, I'm here to propose a counterpoint.

Sorry if this was repetitive or lengthy. It just felt like I had to get it out there despite it being the early hours of the morning.

#clone high #joanfk #clone high jfk #clone high joan #rant #ramble

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angrylittletrashpanda · 4 months

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Why the heck people are cheering for Aemond and the Madam s*x scene(s)?

To start with, I don’t understand how did the fans arrive at the rock-solid certainty there will be such scenes in the show? As far as I know, nothing is confirmed (yet). AFAIK in one interview, Michelle Bonard (the Madam’s actress) said she “got a little naked” and some believe it means she filmed a sex scene. Given Michelle is playing a sex worker, I doubt she meant we’re going simply see her changing her dress or bathing, but does “getting a little naked” or filming a nude scene actually mean having a sex scene? In GoT, we saw a bunch of Littlefinger scenes, which took place in pleasure houses he owned. In the background, we could then easily spot his more or less underdressed “employees” . I think it’s entirely possible we *may* actually see a déshabillé Michelle in any tavern/brothel scene (for instance at one of Aegon’s wild parties). ATP we can’t even rule out she could be involved in the BnC subplot. Frankly, there is something quite appealing about two lowly born women, like the Madam and Mysaria, teaming up for the “Team Smallfolk’s” sake. Don’t get me wrong, I am not cheering about BnC, but I think the Madam could not be Aegon’s greatest fan and condemn his taste for watching children fighting in pits.

Moreover, even if in this case, “getting a little naked” means “filming a s*x scene” indeed, we can’t be 100% certain it was a love scene with Ewan/Aemond specifically. Come on, Michelle plays a literal sex worker, and not Aemond’s secret girlfriend.

I know there is a popular theory that the Madam is actually Mystery Lady on whose lap Aemond pillows his head on, since we can spot the same vein protrusion on Michelle’s hand and there’s a strand of dark hair around that woman’s neck. In my view, the vein protrusion doesn’t prove anything – we could easily find a very same one on almost every woman’s flexed hand, including HOTD actresses’. And as for the strands of hair – I initially failed to spot them, and now, I think they look quite like a chain Alicent used to wear in SE1. But enough about the Mystery Lady theories.

I just wanna say I fail to understand why so many “Aemond fans” seem to be really excited about the possible Aemond x the Madam s*x scene(s)? From season one, we learn Aemond was dragged to the brothel when he was 13. In 09x01, we see he’s really uncomfortable around that woman. Which indicates his experience in the pleasure house wasn’t an enjoyable one, to say the least. Why Aemond, who “has no taste for depravity” and doesn’t want to be like his pervy brother would seek comfort in the arms of a sex worker? It sounds rather ooc for him ,tbf. I get it that in SE 2, we’re probably gonna see Aemond at his lowest. We all know excessive drinking and debauchery are Aegon’s copying mechanisms, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if Aemond’s were different from his brother’s?

In my view, Aemond’s “relationship”w/the Madam doesn’t foreshadow his relationship with Alys, since the Witch of Harenhall never forced herself on him. The actresses don’t even look alike.

To my knowledge, a bunch of people are happy about the Aemond x the Madam thing, since they believe it would be helaemond erasure. But can’t Aemond’s feelings for Helaena be brotherly (in the non-Targaryen way) even without him sleeping with sex workers? In addition, helaemond is widely disliked for its hypocrisy. This ship is deemed OOC, since the dutiful Aemond would never cuck the crown prince and neither would he dishonor his sister. Plus, he takes pride in being different than Aegon. In season 2, Aemond is already engaged. So, wouldn’t frequenting brothels mean Aemond dishonors his fiancée Floris the very same way Aegon dishonors his wife Helaena?

#anti hotd #anti aemond stans #aemond targaryen x floris baratheon #helaemond #aegon and aemond

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cosmicjoke · 6 months

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Selfishness and selflessness are constant themes in the characters in AoT. Each character has varying degrees of both. I feel like Levi was definitely one of the most selfless ones. When this topic is brought up a lot outside of Tumblr I feel like most people tend to leave Levi out of this discussion because he's mostly just seen as "badass action figure" instead of a character who fully carries the humongous burden of being humanities strongest soldier... Which characters do you think were ultimately the most selfish?

People like to reduce Levi to a trope, but the truth is, he's one of the most complex characters in the story. That they don't get that is their problem, I suppose. And yes, Levi is also the most selfless character in the series, for reasons I've talked at length about, so I won't bore you by going into why here, other than to say Levi commits himself fully to the lives and dreams of others, while carrying no real dream or desire of his own. There's no self-serving motivation behind his actions, ever. He's a tragic hero in that regard. Because it's both admirable to be that selfless, and also deeply sad. Levi, basically, genuinely is what Historia early on pretended to be.

As for who I think the most selfish characters are, that's pretty easy to answer, honestly. In no particular order, it would be:

Eren

Zeke

Historia

Characters like Reiner and Annie also acted extremely selfishly at points, and their selfishness lead to untold amounts of destruction, particularly Reiner. There's a reason Eren compares himself to Reiner right before he attacks Liberio. Because Eren knows what he's about to do is wrong, and that he's doing it for selfish reasons, and Reiner also knew, during his second attack on Paradis, that what he was doing was wrong, and he was doing it for selfish reasons (in his case, the desire to be seen as a hero and become an honorary Marleyan). Neither Riener or Eren had an excuse for why they killed so many people. It's why Reiner is so consumed by guilt later, and has these episodes of displaying a kind of split personality. Ultimately, though, Reiner owned up to his sins and did all he could to make up for them, whereas Eren just fully embraced his evil desires and went all the way with them.

I've talked at length about Eren, Zeke and Historia, and why their actions were so selfish, so I won't go into a long explanation here. Needless to say, Eren committed a worldwide genocide because he refused to accept the world the way it was, and wanted it to be like what he saw in Armin's book. Zeke literally instigated a war and caused the deaths of countless people because of his selfish, self-aggrandizing wish to be the world's "savior" through the execution of his own genocide, and Historia stood by and did nothing to stop Eren from committing a genocide and also allowed countless numbers of her own, former comrades to be killed or critically injured and imperiled all because she decided she didn't want to follow through on her previous promise to them, because she wanted to go on living herself.

#Levi Ackerman #Eren Yeager #Zeke Yeager #Historia Reiss #Reiner Braun #Annie Leonhart #attack on titan #shingkei no kyojin

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lucaaazd · 4 months

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Reibert bus shenanigans part 2. Read part 1 here. Anyways START SCENE

“Stay cool, stay cool,” The blond boy clutched the back of a seat, “All we gotta do is take the bus the other way, right?”

Bertolt was inconsolable. Take the bus the other way? What’s he talking about? He had no money. Why couldn’t Dad have given him a metro card with more than one ride on it? He cussed himself for losing his student pass in a school toilet on Taco Tuesday. He’d had too much beans and rice and was eager to leave the crime scene in case the next person who used the bathroom linked his presence to the radioactive stench. Being caught stinking up the already disgusting boys’ bathroom would be his social death, although to be honest he was getting there without the help of a poopy reputation. There’s no way he’s getting back home. Fluorescent street lights flew past the windows in a bright, ghostly arch, illuminating the run-down, industrial cityscape. Bertolt had only been to Queens twice to visit his family friends, the Galliards’. They lived in a three-story house with an overgrown backyard and chain link fences, and Bertolt had marveled at how much bigger everything was there. The streets were wider, the gas stations enormous, miles of parking garages the size of malls overlooked the highway. The highway. “We’re literally on the highway!” Bertolt sobbed.

“Eh, yeah,” the other boy agreed, “Hm,” he looked down at his feet, any residual pompousness evaporated.

“What’s wrong, darlings?” Squeaked an old woman with a walker. They had caused quite a scene. Bertolt went bright red, “Eh, nothing.”

“Dear me, you lads seem quite young to be taking the bus all by yourselves,” the lady said, “How old are you kids?”

“13,” said the blond kid, puffing up his chest.

“12,” Lied Bertolt. He was turning eleven in a week and a half.

“Oh my,” the woman stood up with difficulty, her shriveled arms shaking like mad above her walker, “Not lost, are you?”

Bertolt looked around quickly and registered the fact that they were the only people on the bus. “No,” both boys said at the same time and looked at each other, flabbergasted. “Hold on,” Bertolt remembered something, “Where’s your phone?”

“Right here,” the boy waved his ginormous iPhone twelve with its Spider-Man case and four cameras.

“Oh,” a hint of resentment flashed through Bertolt, “Can you look up where we are?”

“Eh, no.”

“Why?” Resentment quickly festered into annoyance.

“It’s dead,” said the kid, “Where’s your phone?”

Oh. Duh. “Dead,” said Bertolt bashfully.

“Why didn’t you charge it before you left?” The boy prodded.

“I did,” Bertolt felt defensive, “it’s old.”

“I saw you watching Ice Spice.”

“Hey!” Said Bertolt, “it’s none of your business. Why were you spying?” He bit back.

“You were playing it from your phone really loud. It’s kind of hard to miss.”

“No I wasn’t. I had my headphones in,” gasped Bertolt.

“Guess you didn’t charge your headphones either,” the annoying new boy shrugged.

Bertolt turned scarlet. So the whole bus could hear him. Great. Everyone probably thought he was a little weirdo.

“I don’t blame you. She’s hot,” said the other boy with a longing look. Bertolt’s ears started burning. “Barbie World is a really good song, okay?” he stuttered.

“Sure,” the kid towered over him, waggling his eyebrows, “You totally don’t wanna ‘undress her everywhere’.”

“Ew!” Bertolt protested.

“I wish she had more melons,” his eyes began to cross, “The things I would do to them…”

Bertolt felt extremely uncomfortable, “Please stop. Seriously.”

“I’m Reiner, by the way,” the boy snapped out of his daze with a sheepish smile, “What’s your name?”

“Bertolt,” Bertolt answered reluctantly, bracing for taunts.

“Burger?” Reiner repeated.

“Bertolt,” Bertolt said a little louder.

“Okay Birdsack,” said Reiner, “Let’s get off this fucking bus.”

Bertolt gasped at his audacity. He was disliking the boy more by the minute. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

“So,” Reiner whistled, jumping up and hanging onto the bar with one hand, “let’s - wait.”

“I think,” said Bertolt apprehensively, “We might be waiting for a really long time.”

Before Reiner could respond, bus driver barked, “No swinging!” It caught Reiner off guard and he fell right into a pole. “Ow!”

Bertolt watched with little sympathy as the older boy clutched his right knee, hopping on one foot with a pained expression.

“Easy love,” the nice lady with the walker cooed over Reiner, “Want to get off the bus, you said?”

Bertolt nodded furiously. The lady smiled and pointed at a red button next to her head that spelled “STOP” in all cap. She pushed it and a “ding!” issued from the speaker. “Stop requested,” it announced.

“That’s it?” Bertolt said in disbelief.

“Never took the bus before?” The woman grinned toothlessly.

Bertolt stared around him like he’d never taken a proper look at the inside of a bus before. Now that he’s paying attention, there were indeed red buttons everywhere that said “STOP”. The answer was right in front of him this whole time. Bertolt wanted to slap himself. It’s true that he didn’t take the bus very often. Mom didn’t like them. She said it was a vertigo thing, plus they came rather sporadically. Bertolt’s mother was a career woman with very short patience and had sworn off the bus due to the one time they had to wait an hour for the M4 after her meeting at a partner hotel on the East Side. Bertolt had to listen to her rant about how disorganized and inefficient the MTA was as a company and in a lower voice, how rude the bus driver was when her card kept declining. Bertolt tuned out the rest as usual by thinking about that cute girl in his social studies class. He must have had a faraway look in his eyes because his mom had grabbed him by the ear seconds later, hissing at him to pay attention. “Well, there, that’s your stop, young man,” the old lady pointed at the back door.

The bus had come to a stop, sending Reiner crashing into the seat in front of him. “Come on,” Bertolt thought about lending him a hand but instead tucked both into his pockets.

“Okay,” Reiner grimaced as he followed Bertolt to the door. For a moment, they both stared at the glass screen, unsure of what to do.

“Touch the yellow tape to open door,” the same robotic voice from earlier said. Bertolt pushed the yellow strip and the double doors folded aside. “Thanks, ma’am!” Bertolt muttered before hurrying off the bus.

“Good luck, kids!” Said the woman, waving at them from the window, “The other bus is across the street!”

Indeed, the desolate, dimly lit little bus stop stood twenty feet before them. Bertolt looked both ways to make sure no car was coming before crossing the road in a jog. “Wait up, Borgat,” Reiner called after him, panting. Remembering that he had fucked up his leg earlier, Bertolt felt like an asshole. He turned around and reluctantly lent Reiner a shoulder, which the other boy clung onto for dear life. Together they wobbled to the sad little bench in front of a Viagra ad. Bertolt studied the twin cups with a curious expression. “Those don’t work,” said Reiner expertly, wincing as he eased himself down onto the bench.

“I don’t get why you can’t just get more toothpaste,” said Bertolt.

Reiner looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What?” Bertolt shot back.

“Nothing,” said the other boy.

They watched the scarce traffic go by the poorly lit street. “How do we know when the bus is coming?” Bertolt wondered out loud.

“Dunno,” Reiner shrugged, “Oh, I think you can text a number.”

“Great!” Bertolt clapped his hands together, “Let’s text the number.”

Awkward silence hung in the air. “Or,” Reiner coughed into his hand, “We just wait.”

They waited for what felt like fifteen minutes, during which Bertolt adamantly avoided eye contact with the other boy. He distracted himself by thinking about Annie, whose number he acquired last week during recess after half the boys in his class egged him on. They had looked shocked when he came back with ten digits scribbled on the palm of his hand and no bruises anywhere. “No way,” one of them held Bertolt’s hand like it was a piece of important evidence at a crime scene, “it’s probably fake. She’s messing with him. Let’s call it after school.” The same boy’s jaws were slack when she actually picked up later that day, sounding bored as ever. She’s the coolest. She wore her hair down yesterday and Bertolt found himself not so casually staring at her the whole period, earning himself a few extra head smacks from Mrs. Mcleod. For some reason Mrs. Mcleod had decided to dress code Annie as soon as class was over, and she returned from the principle’s office wearing an ugly wrinkly school T-shirt that said “MSC” instead of the blue tank top. She was still cute when she was fuming.

“What’s with that smile?” Reiner’s voice snapped him back into an Annie-less reality, “Thinking about Ice Spice again?”

How dare he make such a vile allegation? “No!” Bertolt bellowed.

“Chill. I have a proposal,” said Reiner.

Bertolt waited for him to continue.

“You see that deli over there?” Reiner gestured behind them at the sketchiest looking deli Bertolt had ever seen, its narrow doorway lit up beneath the man-sized Viagra bottle. “Let’s see if we could charge our phones there.”

“I don’t have a charger. Or money,” Bertolt worried.

“Me neither,” said Reiner in a mock sing-songy voice, “I could use some Taki’s though.” He made to get up and Bertolt had to try and stop him, “But your leg! Plus, I have a feeling we shouldn’t go in there.” Bertolt eyed the men hanging out outside the shop, smoking cigarettes with their backs against the graffitied walls.

“Fine, you wait here then,” Reiner pushed Bertolt’s hand away and strode towards the deli.

“Wait up! Don’t leave me here alone,” Bertolt whined. When Reiner didn’t answer, he gritted his teeth and followed the older boy.

END SCENE

#aot #attack on titan #reibert #reiner braun #bertolt hoover #annie leonhart #RBA

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icedragonlizard · 10 months

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I really genuinely feel like Susie has gotten way too much vitriol for the whole ordeal of Meta Knight being turned into Mecha Knight.

Truthfully, I don't think the Mecha Knight situation was really quite as bad as some people make it out to be. After you beat him the second time, he breaks out of the armor and quickly flies off. You don't even see scars on his face right before he flies off. He effortlessly flies off.

Some people say that Susie "destroyed" Meta Knight's body and just ruined his life. If that was really the case... then after you beat him the second time and the armor falls off of him, don't you think he would've just sat there crippled and helpless? And that his face would look ripped apart? Neither of those were the case. He quickly flies off, gets the Halberd up and going, and generally has no issue helping Kirby battle Star Dream. He then continues to get the Halberd flying around Popstar at the ending cutscene of the game before the credits.

Meta Knight is literally fine at the end of Planet Robobot! He seems to have walked off the mechanization pretty damn quickly. Immediately after breaking free of the armor, he performed a bunch of exercise without any trouble doing so. He seems to be living life just fine after the incident. I don't buy into the headcanon of him having tons of medical trauma as a result from being Mecha Knight... because otherwise, don't you think his design would've been permanently altered post-Robobot? His design has not been changed at all from it. He was not totally destroyed and ruined by being Mecha Knight.

Now, I understand people in the fandom adore angst (as do I!) and that the Mecha Knight situation does pump out some good angst for fanon content, such as fanfictions. But canonically speaking, the whole ordeal is greatly exaggerated by the fandom. Some people seem to act like it's the worst and most messed up thing that ever happened in the franchise. If I'm being honest, I don't think the Mecha Knight situation was any worse than when Hyness sucked the life force out of the mage sisters, used their bodies as weapons and then sacrificed them (and himself) in order to summon Void Termina.

I mean, to be fair, what Susie did to Meta Knight was pretty messed up... but I think people blow it out of proportion. Like said above, Meta Knight came out of it just fine. And really, there's a lot of pretty messed up shit that happens in the series. I think what Dark Matter did to King Dedede was pretty messed up... it formed a giant eyeball in his stomach, and then turned his stomach into a set of jaws. And this happened in two different games! Also, Francisca literally has a collection of frozen dead people stored in ice cubes... you can't tell me in a straight face that's not messed up. Because it absolutely is!

The level of how much Susie gets demonized by the fandom is just absolutely ridiculous. And some of the worst demonization I've seen of her is purely for Mecha Knight. I have literally seen people say that Kirby should've killed Susie for turning Meta Knight into a robot... bruh, Kirby literally rushed over to Susie to see if she was okay after she got blasted by Star Dream when she seized the machine's controller. You think he would've done that if he had any intention of harming her for Mecha Knight? Kirby doesn't want to hurt people if he doesn't have to! You will never, ever see anyone saying that Kirby should've killed Taranza for kidnapping and possessing King Dedede.

I'm not calling for people to say that, by the way. I do not at all wish to demonize Taranza, but it's just kind of sickening to see the absolute double standard that the fandom has for Taranza and Susie. People literally pretend that Taranza did nothing wrong while screaming about how much of a horrible monster Susie is. In reality, these two characters are very much on the same boat in a lot of ways. They were both minions of corrupt higher-ups and they both committed atrocities in the name of the corrupt higher-ups that they were trying to save. Their atrocities were very similar. Now, Susie's are technically worse because hers were on a bigger scale compared to Taranza's, but it's still incredibly hypocritical to justify one and demonize the other.

I suppose I should also bring up the Star Allies skit of Susie chasing Meta Knight, since people love to use that skit to try to say that he's still 'canonically' scared and/or traumatized by her. I'm pretty sure these skits are not meant to be taken seriously. And if you're insistent in acting like this skit is truth, then how about we do the same for all the other skits? In fact, there's literally another skit where Kirby, Meta Knight and Susie all pose together to basically showcase the 'Planet Robobot team', and Meta Knight doesn't appear to be bothered at all by Susie being right by him in that particular skit.

Now, to be fair, I myself have the headcanon where Meta Knight gets angry at Susie for turning him into a robot and initially hates her for it, but it's not permanent. In my interpretation, his disdain for her slowly chips away and there becomes a point where he's... okay with her. If anything, I feel like he was just really humiliated for being kidnapped and turned into a slave, and while I imagine he did technically feel some hurt for being turned into a robot, I certainly don't imagine it "ruined his life" or permanently messed up his body, or that he'd forever hold a colossal grudge against Susie over it. In my headcanons, he at least lets Kirby pursue a friendship with Susie.

Overall, I feel like people exaggerate Mecha Knight, and that the amount of negativity that Susie has received for it is unfair. Now... let me make myself clear here... it's fine if you don't like Susie. If she unnerves you because of the whole capitalism, colonization and greed themes of Planet Robobot, then that's perfectly understandable. I get that. That's fair. But I really, truly, think that many of her criticisms aren't so valid. I could go on about how I think people make wrong claims about her, like they claim that she's still just as evil as she was in Robobot and that she doesn't care that her father is dead, because I do not believe either of those things being true, but that's for another time. I think the Mecha Knight situation is the most absurd part of her discourse entirely. I've seen people demonize her just because of Mecha Knight, and say she's unforgivable literally just because of that. Dunno about you, but I find that to be ludicrous.

I think how the Kirby fandom treats Susie is as tragic as her backstory.

#kirby #meta knight #susie haltmann #kirby planet robobot #kirby star allies #mecha knight #haltmann works company #star dream

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uraharashouten · 11 months

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Urahara Kisuke's bankai has a 'range'

...but what does that really mean?

"Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame's power... is to restructure anything she touches."

This claim that Urahara Kisuke asserts to Askin Nakk le Vaar in Bleach chapter 666 sounds ridiculously OP, doesn't it? Where's the catch? Ah yes, it has a 'range.' I, and fandom in general, have speculated just what that limit is. We see Askin get caught in it, and his arm flayed open—only to repair itself instantly when he jumps back. So it seems that you can't get too close. We also see Kisuke's wounds reopening as Benihime collapses, so there has been much speculation (including on my part) that perhaps Benihime's restructuring expires when bankai does... the wiki seems to think so.

Well, I am here today to unveil a new (and probably controversial) opinion: That "range" has nothing to do with distance or time—it's a metaphysical one, and it hinges on the subordination of willpower.

Before I go on, I'd like to stress how fundamentally important the concept of willpower is to Bleach. This has been explored with great thought and detail by better than me, so I'll gesture to this post and this one. We saw the Hōgyoku merge with Aizen, who had a strong enough will (and hubris) to stand atop the heavens, only to see it abandon him when he began to subordinate his own will to the "will of the Hōgyoku." We know from No Breathes From Hell that with a strong enough willpower, as measured in reii, one will quite literally leave a lasting impression in the very fabric of the universe.

So: how does this apply to Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame?

Let's take that second point first. We never, in any subsequent official material, hear about Kisuke's blindness, or even his scars. We never get any mention of how his eyes "died" again once his bankai expired and had to be restored. When we encounter him again in CFYOW, there is nary a mention about any of that. So... it seems unlikely that Cinderella's curfew applies to Benihime's restructuring.

So if there's not a duration limit to the range, what about proximity?

In a shounen manga where shinigami can't wait to shinigamisplain their bankai in great detail to their foe before using it... Urahara Kisuke breaks the pattern by playing coy. Well, of course he does; he's Kisuke, so we chuckle and think "How in character!"

But could it also be that his bankai is less effective once an opponent knows about it?

Well, of course it is. Once Askin's aware of the 'range,' he seeks to avoid it. But in the exchange that follows... see how close they are?

Kisuke's right hand is fending off Askin's while his left's being restructured. So unless we want to imagine the 'range' of proximity is tightly hugging Kisuke's body, or that he's passing on a lot of tactical opportunity here, we have to consider that perhaps proximity isn't the necessary factor.

In any case, we know the the 'range' doesn't hug Kisuke's body.

He did say "anything it touches." And we saw Kisuke laying the groundwork for that in chapter 606.

Even sealed, Benihime has still 'touched' this terrain.

But neither do we see Kisuke or Benihime physically touch Askin's left arm before he invokes bankai. (If we see that in the anime I will throw my laptop across the room and stand corrected. But it'll also be a way simpler explanation.)

In any case, he's certainly a dangerous man to touch carelessly...

Which may be why Askin's predictions turn out wrong:

Now that's a familiar-sounding overconfidence. And when we get overconfident, we can become careless.

After that initial open-arm surgery, Benihime never rearranges anything of Askin's, does she? Perhaps because he's now on guard. He's focused on keeping himself together.

And now, we circle back around to the importance of will. Here's my assertion:

Benihime can't restructure reishi that's held together by a stronger resistant willpower.

Corollary 1: if you don't want to be rearranged by Benihime, you must either concentrate on choosing not to be, or establish a pattern strong enough that it survives your loss of consciousness, or even your death. Corollary 2: If you do want the effects of Benihime's restructuring to continue, then by all means subordinate your will to it. Especially if you're Kisuke and want to keep your new eyes. grumbles about retconning all my eye headcanons

Consider that Kisuke did nothing to rearrange the body chemistry of Yoruichi and Yuushirou as they lay unconscious nearby, suffering in Askin's Gift Bereich. I've wondered about that—but as great nobles, they have some of the highest reii of any shinigami. It's safe to say their patterns are indelible. I think that for Benihime to restructure them, they'd have to subordinate their wills, and for that, they'd have to be conscious.

What about the Gift Bereich? How is it that Benihime could make a path in, but not a path out? What's the difference?

The difference is that Askin's will established a structure that wouldn't permit creation of an exit.... even if he died. That's supremacy of willpower.

Askin's right. Why is Kisuke even asking something like this? It's almost like he's discerning just how iron-clad is Askin's intent.

Is there any support for this I can glean from Kisuke's history? Glad you asked.

We know that Kisuke has said his bankai isn't suitable for training. If it's best used on restructuring himself, that stands to reason. But we also can take something from his training of Ichigo.

"I press you a little and you fall apart!"

Advice, it has been said, is a form of nostalgia. If this is Kisuke's lesson, we can suppose it's what he learned... in his own training with Benihime. The need for resolve, for willpower, to keep from literally falling apart—could it be that's how he won his own bankai battle?

#Kisuke.meta #MUSE::Kisuke #[[ meta ]]

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