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sealofreconciliation · 5 months

Text

Excelblem doesn't understand Conquest's story

Link to video here.

Let's get the preamble out of the way:

Unlike my other responses, i have no reason to believe that Excel would have any reasonable way of knowing about the smaller translation differences in Fates, so whenever he criticizes something about the game's story i'll only defend it in regards to it's localized script; even if one of his criticisms is valid in EN but invalid in JP, i'll still give him the point in full, even if i bring up the differences anyway just to give whoever can be bothered reading this some context.

I will not accept “he's just joking!!” as an excuse for the issues with his points when most of his arguments against the story are just him criticizing it and the characters in a snarky manner, i'm already skipping over points i genuinely believe to be exaggerated satire, and the video would lose most of it's value if every single argument was dismissed as meaningless nonsense.

I will be transcribing his arguments and pointing out what chapter the video's on whenever i get to a criticism i disagree with; he put timestamps for every chapter in the game on the video itself, so if anyone wants to fact-check me and see if i'm not misrepresenting what he says, y'all can just go to the timestamp there and hear it for yourselves.

Now, onto the main course:

Chapter 1

Then we are introduced to all of the Nohrian royals: Xander who has good stats, Camilla whose assets make her a fan favorite, Leo who exists primarily to ensure that Corrin never has to do anything morally dubious, and Elise, who is technically an adult in the english translation to cover Intelligent Systems' ass.

I'll respond to the Leo point in full when Excel presents his evidence for that claim in later chapters, but the Elise point is both bad-faith and ignorant; If we assume that the Nohrian and Hoshidan sibling counterparts are even vaguely similar to each other in age, Elise is bordering on adulthood even in JP since she's 15 at the absolute youngest, very likely older given how Sumeragi would probably have waited until Sakura was at least a few years old before bringing her to the peace talks 15 years prior to the start of Fates (as stated by the second artbook). I fail to see why an adult being naive, innocent and acting childishly causes so many people to assume they actually are a child, or why Excel is trying to frame this line as if it was Treehouse trying to change Elise into an adult instead of them just confirming that she's a few years older than 15.

Edit: i was informed that Elise claims in her support with Azura that she was only born after the latter was kidnapped, which would put her at 15 years old at oldest instead of youngest, according to the artbook statement; genuine mistake on my part, but even then, 1-) i was never very fond of the statement due to it being written 4 years after the game came out and by a completely different writer that could very well have had no involvement with the original story, and have only grown to have more issues with it since, to the point of no longer standing by it as valid info, and 2-) it's still his burden to prove that JP!Elise is underage just because she's short and childish without using the artbook, since he never brings it up in the video.

Chapter 2

Corrin refuses to actually kill them, making daddy very mad, but to stop the situation from escalating further, Leo uses golden experience to pretend to execute the prisoners to preserve Corrin's moral purity;

That's a funny way of saying “to stop Corrin from being executed for disobedience”; Corrin was never going to be willing to actually kill the prisoners at that point in the story and would have gladly died a pointless death trying to save them. Leo didn't do shit to preserve Corrin's morality in this instance, only to preserve their life; their morals would have stayed squicky-clean regardless of Leo intervening, they just wouldn't have been worth much when they would have been killed shortly after rebelling.

the prisoners Rinkah and Kaze are released back into the wild because they have unique portraits.

And because they were canonically the only Hoshidan prisoners in the castle; this point only works if it's supposed to be referring to the fodder Hoshidan soldiers Corrin kills earlier during gameplay and pointing out how weird it is for Rinkah and Kaze to have been spared but not them, something that conveniently ignores the fact that they don't show up at all in the pre- and post-battle cutscenes and are never acknowledged by anyone on either side of the battle, not even during gameplay proper, pretty heavily implying that they were only put into the chapter to spice up the map design, not to imply that there were a half-dozen fodder who no one points out the existence of.

This is apparently only a good thing and will never backfire because merely being seen alive will be solid proof of treason or insubordination.

Firstly, both Leo and Xander state that they think this is overly soft-hearted for Corrin to do, that they should have followed Garon's orders instead of risking getting into trouble just to spare some random no-name soldiers, and that they only did so as a favor to Corrin:

Corrin: Leo, your spell…

Leo: Was only enough to weaken them, yes. I should have followed Father’s orders. But Camilla and Elise always make such a fuss when I do anything to upset you.

Xander: Listen well. It is only my brother’s kind heart that has bought your freedom. Disappear now, lest you be spotted by our king.

Secondly, the burden is on Excel to prove that Garon both told everyone in Nohr about two random soldiers the Nohrian army captured during a skirmish and gave them detailed descriptions of what they looked like despite fully intending on having them killed soon after taking them prisoner; even if he could do that, the fact that Kaze defects to Nohr and Garon evidently doesn't care about him being alive debunks that point anyway, due to it being walking proof that Garon doesn't care enough about Corrin and Leo having spared some random fodder months ago to punish them for it.

Chapter 3

Corrin gets sent into a death trap as punishment for the events of the previous chapter, a chapter premise that will be repeated so many times it defies explanation.

What the fuck is Excel talking about?! Chapter 8 is the only time in all of Conquest where the premise of “send Corrin into an intentional death trap in the hopes that they'll get killed, all because of what they did in the previous chapter” gets reused, and that comes with the obvious explanation that Garon and Iago still don't trust Corrin at that point and are trying to get rid of them; the only other instances that even vaguely resemble that premise are Chapters 12, 21 and 25, all of which fall apart under scrutiny due to Garon and Iago fully expecting and wanting Corrin to surpass the challenges they're sending their way in all those instances and the challenges having nothing to do with what Corrin did or didn't do in the previous chapter. Did he even read Conquest's script before writing this section?!

Shortly after is he yeeted into the bottomless canyon by his own sword but as it turns out Lilith, one of his maids and apparently a bird he saved at the barn because Corrin is homeschooled and is incapable of identifying common animals who also happens to be his biological sister by means of a shared parentage with an evil dragon not appearing in this route,

Firstly, young children are incredibly stupid; i guarantee that a five-year old who'd never seen a bird in their life and only heard of them without being given explicit descriptions would absolutely mistake Lilith's dragon form for a weird species of bird.

Secondly, Anankos appears in every route of Fates, especially Conquest and Revelation; just because he doesn't show up personally doesn't mean he isn't projecting his desires and personality onto Garon everytime he's on-screen, which he is, since he's the one getting all excited at the prospect of breaking Corrin and turning them into his vessel.

Chapter 5

For completely unrelated reasons the divine blade Yato appears and throws itself into Corrin's hands seemingly out of nowhere, marking him as a hero of legend who will bring peace to all of-uh, does the setting-wait wait hold on a second does the setting have a name? Oh apparently it doesn't. Anyway uh-marking him as the hero of legend who will bring peace to all of Fateslandia.

Nohr and Hoshido is the name of the setting; their landmasses combined account for the entirety of the non-Valla section of the world and the smaller tribes all occupy miniscule amounts of territories in comparison. Obviously the two countries that have been stuck in a forever war aren't going to come together and decide on what the name for the combined continent in case the two of them decide to join forces is going to be; that's asinine, and even if anyone needs to name the continent as a single thing out-of-universe, they can just call it Nohrshido.

Chapter 7

The Nohrian royal siblings employ the powerful “surely he can't kill us all” tactic to convince Garon to not kill Corrin; Garon concedes the point but decides to switch gears and resolves to put Corrin into moral quandaries in which he has no agency because he will always be bailed out at last minute by convenient circumstance.

Firstly, Corrin not having any agency is the point; they're being forced into ridiculously evil and cruel ultimatums where their only choice is to either do something bad or die, which by necessity means they don't have any agency or meaningful choice in the matter.

Secondly, neither of those suicides happened by “convenient circumstance”; i know he's surprisingly incompetent at remembering what actually happens in the story despite dedicating large portions of this video to covering it, but both the Sage and especially Ryoma only kill themselves as a direct result of Corrin convincing them of their hopes for the world through their words and actions, not convenience.

Chapter 9

Upon completing the map i find it safe to assume that all of the castle's inhabitants are non-lethally suppressed, but nobody cares anyway since none of them had unique portraits.

Nobody cares because that rogue section of Hoshido's army was too powerful for Corrin's group to risk dealing with non-lethally and had to all be wiped out, much like the vast majority of the chapters in Conquest.

Chapter 10

Upon successfully defending the port Corrin allows Takumi and his soldiers to walk away because he has once again somehow managed to avoid killing even a single person

Where in the actual fuck is he getting the idea that Corrin's army didn't kill anyone in Chapter 10 of Conquest from?! The closest anyone ever implies to that being the case is Takumi saying that too many of his soldiers are too injured to keep fighting, but that doesn't in any way imply that no one died during the battle or that the soldiers that are injured aren't just the remaining ones after a bunch of the main army died; Corrin never tells Beruka, Selena and Camilla to try and spare the people they're currently fighting, much like they don't tell Nyx or Azura in Chapter 9, a chapter where we know for a near-fact that Corrin's group murdered all the Hoshidan soldiers in the fort, making it very likely that they were also killing a bunch of Takumi's soldiers during the port and a few of them got lucky enough to be disabled instead of killed.

Chapter 11 is uneventful outside of Excel repeating his “muh Corrin's moral purity” point after what happens with the Rainbow Sage, but it'd be a waste of post space to respond to the same criticism with the same debunk from 6 paragraphs ago, so onto a part of the video that'll be actually interesting to tear apart:

Chapter 12

In chapter 12 of this Conquest ironman we must escape or defeat Ryoma within 16 turns because we need to get medicine for Elise who has coincidentally fallen ill from a tropical disease that will soon kill her, that can coincidentally only be treated with Hoshidan herbs, that coincidentally can also be found at the Nohrian town of Macarath, where Corrin has coincidentally simultaneously been given orders to travel to as part of a convoluted trap, that coincidentally only works if all of the previous statements are true, otherwise this conflict simply does not materialize as Corrin will not need to fight Ryoma to save his sister.

Oh boy:

Excel has no proof that Elise got sick by pure coincidence; the closest the game gets to implying as such is Azura theorizing that she might have gotten infected in Notre Sagesse and Sakura theorizing that Takumi got the same disease from fighting the wolfskin in chapter 16 of BR, both of which are completely baseless assumptions made by two characters who are desperate to come up with some sort of answer as to why their ally fell deathly ill out of nowhere, with neither of them having any proof for their claims. The fact that Iago confirms that he's the one who told Ryoma where Corrin was going to be just proves that he's the one who made Elise and Takumi sick in the first place; Excel failing to understand the basic-bitch red herring of “have a bunch of seemingly coincidental stuff happen for the premise of a chapter, only to reveal that it actually happened because one of the main villains set all of it up” isn't chapter 12 being convoluted, it's him proving my point that his reading comprehension is phenomenally terrible.

that can coincidentally only be treated with Hoshidan herbs, that coincidentally can also be found at the Nohrian town of Macarath,

I can concede to the disease only being reasonably fixable on Macarath being convoluted, but only if Excel bites an ungodly large bullet and also argues that every single instance in fiction where someone has a problem they can only solve by going to one location that just so happens to be specialized to deal with said problem is also notably convoluted, otherwise these criticisms are horseshit; it's perfectly logical and consistent for Nohr to have at least one hospital with Hoshidan medicinal ingredients in it just in case one of their soldiers have injuries that can only be treated with said ingredients.

where Corrin has coincidentally simultaneously been given orders to travel to as part of a convoluted trap,

Again, Corrin going to Macarath and being forced to fight Ryoma because there's nowhere else they can go to to save Elise was all part of Iago's plan; the orders were given just to make sure Corrin knew where to go in case the rest of their army didn't know about Macarath or the disease, not by coincidence. Furthermore, what part of Iago's trap is convoluted? He gave Elise an illness that can only be solved by one hospital in Nohrian land, warned Ryoma that Corrin and their group would be spending a whole lot of time there and would be vulnerable to being ambushed, and had Garon order Corrin to also go there just in case they didn't know about Macarath, forcing them to fight and potentially kill Ryoma; every part of that plan is perfectly logical and within Iago's knowledge and capabilities, and i'd even argue it's a pretty simple plan overall.

that coincidentally only works if all of the previous statements are true, otherwise this conflict simply does not materialize as Corrin will not need to fight Ryoma to save his sister.

Iago's plan would have very likely worked regardless of any of the steps he mentioned; forcing Corrin to fight by poisoning Elise in such a way that there's only one place they can go to to save her is a smart guarantee, but the basic plan of “have Corrin fight Ryoma by warning Ryoma of where their next location is going to be and having Corrin sent there under orders from Garon” would have worked almost anywhere else in Nohr, if not having been more unreliable due to the lack of a guarantee that Corrin would fight Ryoma instead of retreating, which itself would still be very unlikely when a fighting retreat would be significantly more dangerous than standing their ground.

Oh right, i almost forgot to mention, no one died.

Well, at least he has more of a basis for this than in Chapters 9 and 10, if only because Corrin does order Peri and Laslow to try and avoid killing the Hoshidan soldiers if at all possible, but it's his claim that no one died that i take issue with; that's never stated or implied by anyone in the story, and Peri and Laslow trying to spare people if possible does not mean they succeed at it 100% of the time, let alone the rest of the army.

Chapter 14

The performance begins and the singer, whose disguise is so flimsy that a child could see through it, sings a magical song that causes king Garon to groan in increasing discomfort. Unfortunately, traumatic brain injury induced prosopagnosia runs in the Nohrian royal family, meaning that nobody knows that the singer is actually Azura.

How would they? Look at how far away they are from the stage, especially when they don't have telescopes or any way of getting a close-up on Azura; she'd just look like a dark and blue blob to anyone watching the performance, especially when she's deliberately dancing and singing in a completely different way than normal, is covering the stage with water, there's plenty of people in Nohrshido with long blue hair, and there's nothing in the game to imply that the royals have super-vision because of their dragon blood. I still don't get how this criticism became so widespread when thinking about it from the POV of the characters debunks it so easily.

He then repeats this criticism but with Garon not recognizing Azura instead, so moving onto a more interesting point (again):

he asks for all the singers in the city to be killed and for Corrin to do it. Fortunately, just like every other time Garon orders some cruel duty to perform, he loses interest in the enforcement of his orders almost immediately, just like a baby who lacks object permanence.

What? Garon doesn't lose interest in having Corrin enforce his orders, he just has a short argument with them where he explains why he's giving them said orders before Leo saves them from blowing their cover by convincing Garon that they're too exhausted to do that immediately and need a bit of rest; giving someone who just fought in a battle a couple of minutes to recover their strength is hardly “losing interest in the enforcement of his orders”, especially when Corrin and Leo's plan hinges on them intentionally searching for dancers in unlikely places and lying to Garon about having killed some of them, meaning Corrin started pretending to follow Garon's orders as soon as the convo ended. I genuinely suspect Excel didn't read the script properly before putting this in, both due to him just being factually wrong about Corrin not following Garon's orders and especially because he immediately afterwards adds “Corrin is whisked away by Leo” as if it was an entirely separate incident that came after Garon had already let them off the hook instead of being the reason it happens and, as such, something that should have been put in this paragraph instead of the next.

Also, at what point in Conquest does Garon not care about making sure that Corrin performs some cruel duty he ordered them to do? Chapter 24's the only time in the game where he doesn't make sure that Corrin's doing what he told them to, and that instance is perfectly justified due to him being busy leading his section of the army in a separate battle; i guess 8, 11, 14 and 25 could also count depending on how generous you want to be to Excel, but those instances also don't hold up to scrutiny. Sure, he forgives them for disobeying his order to deal with the Ice Tribe alone, but only because he changed his mind on what to do with them after finding out how powerful they were and wanting them to become Anankos' vessel, i already explained why his argument for Chapter 14 being an example was bs, and in both 11 and 25 his only goal with giving them cruel orders was to fuck with their mental state by having them kill someone they care about, something that's accomplished just as well by said people killing themselves instead and having Corrin blame themselves for it.

Leo whisks Corrin away and reveals that he plans to save the singers; that's all the Nohrian royals secretly plot to keep Garon in check, and says that he's not some kind of hero for doing this, prompting his magical tome, the one marking him as a legendary hero of Nohr who was prophesized by the Rainbow Sage to join forces with the wielder of the legendary blade Yato, to bring peace to all fateslandia. Yeah, this is a little on the nose, don't you think?

Firstly, and this isn't an actual response to the point being made and moreso something i wanted to point out for anyone reading this, since i already clarified i wouldn't be using the og script as a defense, Leo doesn't say that in JP (source is fateswartable):

Leo: …I work in my own way. That’s all.

Secondly, i'd love to get a source for the royal siblings' legendary weapons marking them as heroes; the weapons are literally just sentient beings that choose whoever they deem to be worthy as their wielder and were created by the Rainbow Sage in order to give humans the firepower to defeat the ancient dragons and put an end to their war, also happening to power up the Yato if the wielders of the two resonate with each other strongly enough. The Yato is the only legendary weapon in Fates whose goal is to bring peace to the world and, as such, marks whoever wields it as a hero; anyone of any moral caliber could have picked up the other legendary weapons if they were strong enough to do so and the weapons took a liking to them, with them just so happening to pick people that were both worthy and had a close relationship with the wielder of the Yato that time around by coincidence, not because they were heroes.

Thirdly and lastly, even if i were to concede in full, for the sake of the argument, that Leo having the Byrnhildr made him a hero and that was the point of the scene, what's wrong with it? It's a good joke; Leo claiming he's not a hero only to be immediately proven wrong by his personal weapon helping the weapon destined to bring peace to the world power up is a good bait-and-switch, not something that's “on the nose”.

Chapter 15

This mysterious land is populated by invisible ghosts and also, somehow, Gunter, who has not died of starvation off-screen like he probably does in the Birthright route

Gunter doesn't die in Conquest because Azura finds him and gives him advice on how to survive in Valla, unlike in BR and Rev where he either dies or gets possessed before the two can even meet, something Azura explicitly says in this very chapter.

Plus, and this is again somewhat of a nitpick, can Excel prove that Gunter dies, let alone due to starvation specifically, in BR? Wouldn't it be much more reasonable for him to have either gotten himself killed fighting Vallite troops or to have been captured and brainwashed like in Rev?

Corrin jumps off of a cliff to leave Valla whose existence must be kept a secret because of a curse that kills you for talking about it, unless you pay 20 dollars to buy the DLC for the Revelation route

Excel keeps trying to pretend throughout the video that Rev has extremely important information hidden behind a paywall, but it really doesn't; the most important thing revealed there is that Anankos is the one instigating the war, which boils down to giving the demon Azura keeps referring to in CQ a name. Every other plot thread throughout CQ is explained and resolved by the end just as well, if not better, than in Rev, so i really don't get why he decided to fixate on CQ foreshadowing Rev as one of his major criticisms throughout the video.

Then, in one of the stupidest plot points of the entire franchise, Azura comes up with a genius plan of exposing Garon's true form by conquering all of Hoshido to get the false king to sit on a special chair.

And here i thought i was going to have to go in-depth when i got to this part; seriously, i'm still surprised Excel practically skipped over this scene. It's much more important to the story and characters than Lilith's death, yet he puts significantly more effort into deconstructing the irrelevant death scene of an equally-irrelevant side character than to deconstructing the entire reason the story plays out the way it does from the halfway-point onwards, being content to just explain what happens in the scene, call it stupid, refuse to elaborate further, and leave; what the hell are these priorities?

Chapter 17

Corrin's forces non-lethally defeat several squads of Hoshido ninjas before it is discovered that Kotaro has dared to take a captive; the horrifying audacity of such a dishonorable action is enough to convince Corrin to murder Kotaro and slaughter his entire clan down to the last man.

The second half of that sentence is just Excel being a rat; Corrin asks Kotaro to release his hostages, Xander escalates the situation by threatening him with violence once he refuses, and then Kotaro starts a fight with the group and gets himself killed. Trying to portray the battle as starting just because Corrin didn't like Kotaro taking a hostage is ridiculously disingenuous.

The story unfortunately has the audacity to once again rub Corrin's moral high ground in our faces by telling us how they didn't kill any Hoshidan soldiers; i assume that the credit for the deaths of Kotaro and his forces was intentionally left vague.

Excel's argument that Corrin and their forces not killing any Hoshidan soldiers was done to give Corrin the moral high ground is asinine; it's much more likely to have been included so Saizo being buddy-buddy with Corrin and Kaze during the end of the chapter made more sense and to maintain consistency with previous chapters, where they did the same thing but to more and better-armed platoons instead of a bunch of half-dead soldiers, especially when Corrin canonically kills Hoshidan soldiers in every chapter of Conquest from this point onwards and in most chapters prior.

Also, what the fuck is he talking about with “i assume that the credit for the deaths of Kotaro and his forces was intentionally left vague”? i find it incredibly difficult for this line to mean anything other than giving Corrin significant credit for the death of Kotaro:

Saizo: You also helped me to finally avenge my father's death.

Even if we were to argue that it still leaves room for interpretation on who personally killed Kotaro, the only reasonable interpretations of that line are that Corrin or someone in their group killed Kotaro, at which point that's the game giving them direct credit for his death, or that Saizo did it instead, at which point that's the game giving them credit for killing dozens of enemy soldiers in order to give Saizo the opportunity to deal with Kotaro; unless Excel's unironically trying to argue that Saizo soloed Kotaro and his army while Corrin did nothing to help (while conveniently ignoring the line that explicitly states otherwise), this argument is idiotic.

Lastly, why would Corrin killing Kotaro and his forces be morally bad for them to do, to the point of sullying their supposed “moral high ground”? Kotaro attacked them first and (practically) unprovoked and had every intention of killing them; how is blatant self-defense supposed to be a mark against their morality? The only way this could possibly work as a gotcha is if Excel's trying to argue that Conquest only ever portrays murder as an exclusively bad thing, something easily debunked by pointing out that chapters 18 and 26 exist.

Chapter 18

Xander and Ryoma have a cat fight over who is actually Corrin's non-blood-related big brother, but this is interrupted by Izana, who has actually been replaced and impersonated by the illusion wizard Zola, who uses this opportunity to capture the unarmed Hoshidans and try to execute them to win the war instantly and gain favor with king Garon; Xander and Corrin disagree with this treachery and decide to stop Zola which, if nothing else, is at least consistent with the previous chapters.

Excel has no basis for his claim that Zola killing the Royal siblings would have ended the war instantly; the Hoshidan army in BR is fully aware that the siblings all went on what could have very well been a suicide mission to assassinate Garon, leaving it to fend for itself, and still fights to the bitter end to protect it's home, even as it's pushed back to the throne room and on the brink of losing the war. Zola going through with his plan would, at best, have left Hoshido without a royal family while the rest of the game went on completely unchanged and, at worst, enraged the Hoshidan soldiers to the point of them refusing to surrender, leading to significantly more casualties than in canon.

Upon the map's completion Zola is cornered and begs for his life, but Leo executes him so Corrin doesn't have to.

Corrin wouldn't have executed Zola at all; they were about to let him leave prior to Leo killing him. Leo saying verbatim that “i did it so you wouldn't have to” is just a weird and stupid line given how he knows that Corrin was about to let Zola go and wouldn't have agreed to execute him even if Leo had explained to them why he should be killed, meaning that Corrin killing Zola was never a possibility in the first place; while this doesn't fix the EN version of the line being dumb, since i agreed to only use that version of the script when responding to the video, it's worth noting that that convo goes pretty differently in JP:

Kamui: L- Leon…? You didn’t- have to kill… Leon: Why not? Big sis Kamui. If we kept that guy alive, what would happen if Father found out we helped Hoshido nobility?

Leo doesn't in any way phrase what happened as him taking the moral responsibility of executing a defenseless enemy away from Corrin and into himself in JP, only explaining why Zola needed to die after a shocked Corrin questions why he did that; it's actually weirdly-consistent, given what happens with Iago later on in CQ, for Treehouse to take scenes that originally only served to showcase Leo's ruthlessness and willingness to kill even defenseless people with little to no remorse on his part and change them into Leo being just as disturbed as Corrin at the prospect of executing defenseless enemies but doing it anyway in order to spare Corrin's conscience. Again, not a point against the video, just something i felt like pointing out.

Corrin takes this opportunity to ponder about another world where everyone gets along; they're trying to get you to buy the 20 dollar Revelation route dlc.

Corrin explicitly states that their dream is to have everyone on both sides of the royal family survive the war and make peace with each other after it ends, a dream that bears no correlation to convincing the royal families to unite against Anankos in order to put an end to the war before it even properly starts and ensuring cooperation in the process. Unless Excel is going to bite the bullet and argue that the basic concept of “Corrin wants both royal families to survive and be on good terms after a conflict is over” is a Rev reference in and of itself, something i know he won't do because Corrin has expressed that desire multiple times in the prior chapters but he never commented on those instances, this point is idiotic.

After a yet-again uneventful Chapter 19 synopsis (outside of Excel claiming *again* that Corrin doesn't kill people through most of Conquest, but i'm not wasting significant post space on something i've debunked thrice already), we get to:

Chapter 20

Fuga dusts off his non-lethal wounds and non-lethally tells Corrin to do whatever he wants, because the story and every other character will bend over backwards to justify his actions.

I wasn't aware that Fuga confirming that the Yato didn't make a mistake by choosing Corrin as it's wielder, meaning the path they're currently on is indeed destined to save the world and they should keep following it, was actually him telling them to do whatever they want; i need to check out Excel's personalized copy of Conquest, that seems like it does a crazy amount of changes to the story.

More seriously, Fuga, Azura, and maybe the Hoshidan royals are the only characters to try and justify Corrin's actions in all of CQ, and i still don't really get how “the story” is supposed to be reaching to try and justify their actions; Corrin's actions are inherently just due to the context of the story and what it means for the Yato to choose someone as it's wielder, and the scene at the end of chapter 20 is just reaffirming that.

Chapter 21

Iago laments that Corrin has apparently suffered zero casualties which will, uh- come on, look, 16 dead characters, and the game doesn't even acknowledge it.

I'll give him this point because we're both using the english version of the script, but just for clarity's sake, this is an issue with the localization of the game, not the game itself:

Iago: …Hmph…Lady Kamui seems to have passed through the Wind Clan village. I thought she would’ve lost a hand or foot or two by this point, but there’s nothing interesting in this. The stairway is a dangerous place said to lead straight to hell…How many of your comrades will disappear? I’m looking forward to it.

Iago never states anywhere in JP that Corrin and everyone in their group made it through the Wind Tribe village alive, only that Corrin and *only* Corrin made it past unharmed; they could have lost as many people due to the player's ineptitude as it was possible to and the statement would still be perfectly valid.

and for some bizarre reason the Hoshidan defenders have already all been killed and replaced by Iago's faceless.

I wonder why the Faceless, a bunch of mindless brutes under orders from Iago, wouldn't get along well with Hoshidan soldiers and had to kill them all in in order to set up an ambush, or why Iago would ever think that sending a near-endless amount of Faceless Corrin's way would be more likely to result in one of their comrades dying than a small platoon of fodder Hoshidan soldiers; truly a mystery for the ages.

No cap, this might just be the stupidest point in the video so far; how in the fuck did Excel not realize how much of an idiot he'd have to be to say “it's bizarre that the Faceless killed the Hoshidan soldiers occupying the stairway in order to set up their ambush” despite knowing full well that the two factions aren't on friendly terms?! How did this both make it into the final draft and get recorded without him realizing how stupid that claim was to anyone with two brain-cells to rub together?!

And despite this tragic incident being caused by a need to hurry up and escape, Xander and Corrin somehow find the time to sit in place and have a roughly 500 word conversation mourning Corrin's astral plane dragon-sister-made-landlord, and this is extremely understandable, because i for one am extremely emotionally invested in this character who in this route has had a total of two appearances.

I'll give Excel Lilith's lack of screentime, but the “look at how long they spend talking and standing still despite being in a rush to run away from the Faceless” criticism is just another example of him being a dimwit; here's the part of that scene he oh-so-conveniently decided to skip over:

Azura: Yes, thanks to Xander's incomparable skill, we somehow made it out alive. We're sorry to have kept you waiting.

Unless Xander's secretly really skilled at running away from fights, the only reasonable interpretation of that statement is that he killed all the Faceless already and, as such, they have all the time in the world to grieve over Lilith; going back to college and getting some classes in basic reading comprehension before writing the script would have done this video wonders, methinks.

Shigure's Paralogue

We find ourselves suddenly on a boat, in a scene jarringly disconnected from any part of the main story

No shit, Sherlock; they quite literally travelled to a different dimension while on R&R from the war in order to pay Shigure a visit. How is something like that supposed to connect to the main story when the entire point of the scene is that they're taking a break from the main story?

At the end of the map it is revealed that all of Shigure's friends are dead, but that's okay, because they didn't have names and he can now be drafted into her army as a child soldier.

Firstly, prove that Shigure's underage; secondly, i dunno why he's exposing himself as never having read Shigure's supports. He could have just left that part out of the script and not made himself look like a clown by implying that the story doesn't care about Shigure's dead friends and family despite multiple of his supports being centered around his grief at losing them.

Nina and Midori's paralogues

Somehow, in the midst of invading a foreign country, Silas has found a way to resurrect himself from the dead to protect some old man's funko pop collection.

(Later…)

Nina finds herself intrigued by the interactions between Niles and Silas, the latter of which is, in fact, dead.

The paralogue melancholically ends with Midori hallucinating a conversation with her father's ghost.

I'm surprised Excel never realized that Silas and Kaze have plot armor and them losing all their HP causes them to be crippled and incapable of fighting again, not die; i'd have expected someone on his twitch chat to inform him of that fact, or at least for him to find out himself after double-checking Silas and Kaze's defeat quotes, if he evidently thought the two of them showing up despite being “dead” was weird enough to warrant making basically the exact same joke about it thrice.

Chapter 23

Conflict is brewing in the Nohrian army and two factions have formed: one half that is loyal to king Garon, for some reason, and the other half that is loyal to Xander, for some other unspecified reason.

Goddamn, was Excel really in such a rush to pop this video out asap?

Azura: …You should know that Garon's men don't agree with our choice to keep them alive. We should keep close watch on them, or I shudder to think what might happen.

Azura is all but spelling out that the reason the Nohrian army's loyalty is split between Garon and Corrin is that the former half wants to kill every Hoshidan soldier they see without taking prisoners, even if they're surrendering, while the latter half wants only to kill as many people as needed to conquer the country and are willing to spare surrendering soldiers; How did he miss something this obvious?!

Chapter 24

In chapter 24 of this Conquest ironman the Nohrian army enters the Hoshidan capital and starts committing some atrocities; addressing these unwarranted acts of brutality, the wise prince Xander bows his head and solemnly says to Corrin there's actually zero difference between good and bad things, you imbecile you.

This just beat the “the Faceless killing Hoshidan soldiers is bizarre” claim as the biggest showcase of ineptitude in the video; Xander's point is that absolute justice doesn't exist and that bad actions can lead to good outcomes and vice versa, therefore they shouldn't risk dooming the world by trying to stop the slaughter and likely getting themselves pointlessly killed in the process; the bad and stupid part of that speech is Xander saying that they shouldn't let evil men's visions take precedence over their own, even as he's letting an evil man's vision take precedence over his own, but that's not even a point i can give to Excel, since he just takes the lazy way out and strawmans the fuck out of that speech instead of properly criticizing what's wrong with it.

Chapter 26

In the following cutscene Leo kills Iago so Corrin doesn't have to, a reocurring theme already well established by this point.

I'll give him this point in EN, if only because Corrin explicitly thanking Leo for killing Iago for them is pretty irrefutable evidence, but for clarity's sake, that is not what Corrin says in JP:

Corrin: Leon… I’ve caused you trouble.

The only thing that line means is Corrin apologizing to Leo for pushing him into killing a defenseless person again, this time due to a fight they're directly responsible for starting due to sparing Hinoka; nowhere in that scene is it implied Corrin wouldn't have just killed Iago themselves, other than their hesitating to do so after he begs for his life, a hesitation that lasts all of a few seconds before Leo barges in and killsteals them, giving them no time to go through with it themselves.

Chapter 27

In chapter 27 of this Conquest ironman, the Nohrian royals lampshade the flagrant plot contrivances that have brought them to this point.

How is Leo asking Corrin how they found out about Garon being dead, why they didn't tell them earlier, and why only they and Azura know about it lampshading contrivances? I could maybe see the first and third questions fitting that bill if i were to be generous to Excel and point out that the answer is “because of a truth-revealing crystal ball that comes out of nowhere in this route”, but the answer to the second one isn't in any way contrived; the Nohrian royals would never believe Corrin and Azura based off their words alone, therefore they had to get them to the Hoshidan throne room in order to show them irrefutable evidence for their claim.

Chapter 28

Takumi shows up, apparently having already died in chapter 23, and tells Corrin that his corpse is being pocketed by a mysterious entity, but he won't say any more unless Corrin pays 20 bucks for the Revelation dlc.

What? Takumi doesn't know anything more about the situation than what he tells Corrin; plus, the only thing Revelation adds to this scene is giving Anankos a name and nothing more. The how and why of Takumi and Garon being possesed are genuinely significantly better explained in CQ than in Rev, which are the only things of relevance to this scene.

He then expresses his true heartfelt feelings, that Corrin never did anything wrong and that all of the legitimate grievances he had were completely unjustified.

I need to peep his personalized copy; changing Takumi's confession from him saying that he always wanted to befriend Corrin throughout Conquest, even as he felt hurt and betrayed by what they were doing, into him saying that Corrin did nothing wrong and all his complaints were unjustified sounds like a crazy modification to the story, and i'd love to question IS on why Excel's such a special boy that they went through the trouble of rewriting the scene just for him.

Azura also mysteriously disappears for reasons not elaborated on in this route, and you can only save her by paying 20 bucks for the Revelation dlc.

Maybe so in Excel's personalized copy, but for everyone else, there's a pretty obvious elaboration on why she disappears in a line he already brought up:

Azura: I didn’t plan on ever doing this again… But I will now use my forbidden song to weaken the curse and help free you. Once I use this power… Takumi, Ryoma… I wonder if you’ll be upset at me for joining you so soon. Or maybe you’ll be happy to see me too... ... ♪

Blud must have contracted Garon's supposed object impermanence; either that, or he's being an inept rat again, given how he already referenced the in-route explanation for why Azura disappears and still thought this would be a good gotcha.

Buy Revelation today to get the golden route ending where everyone lives, except for the ones that don't; buy Revelation today, buy Rev today, buy Rev today, buy the dlc i swear to god buy it please please, don't you want to see all your favorite characters happy? buy it now buy it buy it

This entire rant is just Excel being a rat and making an argument that he doesn't realize would require him to bite a bullet so large no one would unironically do so in order to be valid; every single time he portrays something in CQ as a Rev reference he's either factually wrong or trying to use the fact that different things happen in a different route as IS shilling for people to buy it. Even if i were to just start bootlicking him and gave him that second part, he'd also have to argue that Path of Radiance setting things up that are only revealed and/or paid off in Radiant Dawn is also IS shilling for people to buy RD every time PoR sets up a plot point to be explained in the former, along with any instances of a piece of fiction with a planned sequel leaving things up in the air for a sequel to explore and explain also being an instance of the creator shilling for people to buy said sequel, otherwise he's a flagrant hypocrite.

Besides, he's blindly assuming that IS had mind-reading skills and foresaw that people playing CQ would randomly know that Rev is the route where most of the characters survive; Rev was only ever marketed as a route where Corrin refuses to side with either kingdom and sets out to find the truth behind the war, so even if i started hyper-sucking him off and gave him both of the first two criticisms, the entire argument would still fall apart due to, at it's very core, being built off working backwards from a conclusion and assuming that IS expected players to have future sight when playing CQ.

In a following cutscene, Xander is crowned king and gives a speech about how war benefits nobody, immediately after conducting a war of aggression that has exclusively benefited Nohr.

Nope, this is the true heir to the throne of “biggest display of flagrant incompetence in the video”; Excel literally pulled the “no one on either side of the kingdom benefited in the slightest from the war” gotcha completely out of his ass. Xander only says that Garon was a cruel leader, that he won't follow in his footsteps, and that Hoshido suffered from the war, never that no one in Nohr benefitted from it; i would adore to take a gander at Excel's personalized copy of Conquest, since that's the only explanation for this point making it into the video that doesn't require him to either be a lazy fuck who'd rather strawman a very simple speech than actually spend the two minutes necessary to read it, or a grossly inept dimwit, and for what it's worth, i'm willing to give him the former denomination rather than the latter.

Hinoka and Sakura forgive Corrin for invading their country and killing their brothers because it wasn't his fault and he can do no wrong.

I wasn't aware Corrin secretly had mind-control powers all along and forced Takumi to jump off a tall wall and Ryoma to slice open his own stomach, especially when they were trying to take the former in as a POW and the latter would have just been killed by Garon anyway if they hadn't done it themselves; Excel needs to release his personalized copy of Conquest for the world to see.

Besides, i thought he claimed Corrin never kills people throughout all of Conquest unless stated otherwise; if that's the case, what would Hinoka and Sakura be angry at them for? They didn't kill anyone during the invasion and gave the former her kingdom back as soon as the war was over, so i fail to see a single good reason for anyone to be angry at them, according to his logic.

Lastly, yes, it unironically wasn't Corrin's fault that their kingdom was invaded and their brothers died; Nohr is so much more powerful than Hoshido that they would have won the war even without Corrin's help, except with the entire royal family dead and a lot more casualties on the Hoshidan side.

To celebrate the tremendous loss of life, Nohr will have a grand banquet for everyone in the capital.

I find it very interesting that Excel doesn't make this exact same criticism against every FE ending; all of them end with the heroes triumphant and relaxing after a lot of bloodshed, and in CQ's case specifically it's even more justified due to Nohr finally getting enough food from Hoshido to feed everyone in the country for the first time in decades, if not centuries.

The rest of the video is just a couple of mid jokes followed by self-congratulations, so i'll end this here; shame that Excel put out a 3/10 video for something as important as a subscriber landmark, but there's always next time.

Later.

#fire emblem fates #fire emblem

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silhouetteofacedar · 3 years

Text

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 4: Man Pouts on Couch

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

Mulder is not feeling lucky.

In hindsight, he should have suspected something was off today; Scully kept looking at her watch.

It’s Friday, March 13th, and he thought it’d be cute to invite Scully out for a drink again, make a little joke about it becoming a Friday the 13th tradition. This could work, he thinks. His plan is simple; ask her out every once in a while, for some reason or another, with the intention of eventually coming clean and setting up a proper date.

At five o’clock he stands up and stretches with performative nonchalance. “Buy you a drink, Scully?” he asks, cocking his head towards the calendar pinned to the office wall, surrounded by newspaper clippings and grainy photos.

She pauses with her arm halfway into the sleeve of her coat. “I…” She falters and presses her lips together, looking suddenly guilty.

“What is it?” he asks quietly, a pit growing in his stomach.

“I’d love to, Mulder, but I actually have a date tonight.”

The earth stops spinning and Mulder is thrown off balance, hurtling through the atmosphere.

“Oh,” he says softly. “That doctor guy?”

Scully nods, not meeting his gaze. “His name is Mark,” she says. “We’re getting sushi.” She looks up at him then, big blue eyes soft. “A rain check?” she asks hopefully.

She owns him; one look like that and he’d sell his soul to buy her a cup of shitty coffee. “Sure. Another time, then,” Mulder says, gathering up every scrap of composure he has left, patching together a smile for her. “Have fun.”

He goes home and throws himself face down onto the couch.

She has a date. A real date, with a presumably mentally stable human man with a high-value job. And a daughter. A ready-made family, just add water and stir. This Mark guy probably calls her Dana, asks her how her mother’s doing, feeds her bits of sashimi with no threat of aliens or shadow governments in sight. Maybe he’ll kiss her at the end of the night, softly with closed lips like a gentleman.

What stings the most is the fact that this Doctor Mark had the balls to tell Scully outright that he’s interested in her romantically, something Mulder has yet to do.

Mulder knows he should eat, but his stomach is churning and the idea of food sickens him. He’s being dramatic and irrational; it’s just one date. But the implications are weighty, the potential enormous.

He feels bad for being upset. This is good for her; she needs to get out of the basement, connect with other rational people, find some normalcy and balance in her life.

You need those things too, he hears her say in his head.

He brushes it aside. It’s different for him; he created this life for himself. He’s a collapsed star, a black hole of conspiracy and paranoia that sucks in everything that gets too close. The last thing he wants is for her to get lost in his darkness, swallowed by the void like some interstellar debris.

She’d told him that night in Rock Creek Park that she does’t blame him for what’s happened to her, but that doesn’t assuage his guilt. He carries the weight of what she calls her choices, a load she has no intention of sharing with him, awaiting no acknowledgement or thanks.

He’s doing it to himself.

Mulder whiles away the hours on the couch, gazing up at the constellations of pencil marks on his ceiling, tossing his basketball above his head. He drops it on his face twice.

He knows it’s probably only going to make him feel worse, but he’s a glutton for punishment; so at eleven-thirty that night he picks up the phone and calls Scully.

He waits for her to answer, his heart sinking lower with each ring. She’s not picking up. Is she still out? he thinks anxiously. The guy has a kid, so it’s unlikely that they’d stay out too late unless he’s arranged it with his babysitter…

“Hello?” Scully’s slightly husky voice cuts through his thoughts.

“Scully,” he says, tentative relief creeping into his body.

“Mulder, what is it?” she asks. “It’s late. For normal people, anyway. Are you alright?”

“‘M’ fine,” he assures he. “Just couldn’t sleep.”

He hears her hum in understanding. Late night phone calls between them aren’t uncommon, after all. “Have you tried counting sheep?” she asks, not unkindly. “Or slowing your breathing down, focusing on the cadence of inhales and exhales like I showed you?”

He’s wide awake, sitting upright on his couch, still in the slacks and wrinkled button-down he wore to the office that day. “Yes,” he lies. “It’s not helping. There’s too much going on in my head right now.”

“You work too much,” she says gently. “And yet not enough, when deadlines are involved. We’ve got an impressive paperwork backlog-”

“Can we not talk about work right now?” He reaches down and unties his shoes. “Otherwise I’ll never get to sleep.”

“Right.” There’s rustling on her end. She’s in bed, he realizes.

“Did I wake you, Scully?” he asks, trying to hide his surprise.

“It’s fine, Mulder, I was only dozing,” she replies.

“Oh, how was the date?” he asks, as though it only just occurred to him, instead of being the only thing he’s thought about all night.

“It was nice,” she responds, and he drops his head onto the back of the couch in defeat. Shit. Shit shit shit shit-

“We talked about medicine, about cancer, loss. His daughter’s name is Amanda,” she continues. “Her mother - his wife - died when Mandy was only two, so he’s mostly raised her alone.”

“That’s rough,” Mulder says softly. Please don’t make me feel bad for this guy, Scully, I can’t bear it, he thinks.

“Mhm,” she agrees. “And his work at the hospital is pretty grueling, so his mother helps out a lot. I… I told him about Emily.”

“How’d that go?” Mulder asks, concerned. “It’s not the most… plausible-sounding story.”

“I was vague,” she replies. “All I really said was that I had recently reconnected with a child I’d been separated from, right before she died. He didn’t ask for details; he could probably tell it was a fresh wound.”

They’re silent for a moment.

“Do you think you’ll see him again?” Mulder asks quietly. Somehow he already knows what she’s going to say, and he braces himself for the sting of her words as they pierce his heart.

“I… I think I will,” Scully says, sounding distant. “I mean, it’s worth a shot, right?”

She deserves this. She deserves a chance at something ordinary, safe, comfortable.

“Maggie Scully didn’t raise a quitter,” he says with a watery smile she’ll never see.

She chuckles. “No, I suppose she didn’t,” Scully muses. He hears her yawn. “I’m tired out, Mulder. Think you can sleep now?”

“I’ll try,” he says. He’s surprised to feel his eyes beginning to burn with unshed tears. “Thanks for talking to me,” he adds.

“Anytime. Sleep well,” she says warmly, and the line goes dead.

He supposes he brought this on himself by keeping his feelings hidden. He waited too long, playing it safe. He wanted to gauge her feelings before he made any overt moves, and someone else beat him to it.

It’s just one date. But there’s going to be more. By the sound of it, she wants there to be more.

There’s no way he’s going to sleep well tonight.

He’s in a sour mood when he’s summoned to the Gunmen’s… den? lair? headquarters? the next afternoon, by way of one of their patented cryptic phone calls.

Byers unfastens the dozen locks on the door and lets him inside. “Mulder,” he says, ushering him in. “Good to see you.”

Mulder flops down in a rickety desk chair, exhaustion permeating his muscles. “I’m not up for being social today, boys,” he warns. “You said you had information for me?”

“We took the liberty of looking into Agent Scully’s new… uh, friend,” Byers says.

“For safety reason,” Langly adds, seeing Mulder’s lips purse.

“She’s precious cargo,” Frohike says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“How did you find him?” Mulder asks. “I didn’t even know his first name until yesterday.”

“Don’t insult us with your surprise,” Frohike mutters. “We’re experts.”

“We knew he’s a part of the parish Scully attends-“ Byers begins.

“And we knew he’s an ER doc, has a 6 year old daughter, and a dead wife,” Langly cuts in. “That’s plenty to go on.”

“I don’t need to know more than that,” Mulder says, suddenly feeling guilty. “It’s not my business.”

“Maybe not, but we have the info,” Frohike says. “Look, all you need to know is that he seems legit. Name’s Einolander, if you were curious.”

“I wasn’t,” Mulder lies, taking a sunflower seed out of his pocket and biting it pensively.

“Of course not,” Byers says, sounding completely unconvinced.

“You alright, Mulder?” Langly asks. “You look rough.”

“Of course he does,” Frohike hisses in the least subtle whisper of all time. “Scully’s dating someone that’s not him. Cut the guy some slack.”

“You guys don’t know shit,” Mulder grumbles, then backtracks, running his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I, uh... didn’t sleep well.”

“It’s okay, man,” Langly says.

Frohike nods sagely. ”We know how you feel about her. This can’t be easy for you.”

Mulder wilts in his chair. “How did you know?” he asks pathetically, realizing the jig is up. Has he really been so obvious this whole time? Fucking hell.

“Look, knowing things is our business,” Byers explains. “And we know you. We’ve been around the block with you a few times, and nobody’s meant this much to you. Not even Diana.”

“Plus, Agent Scully is a smokeshow, and you have eyes,” Frohike adds. Byers gives him a jab with his elbow. “Hey, I stand by that,” he declares, rubbing his arm.

“Well thanks anyway, fellas,” Mulder says, standing. “I should get going. The walls in my apartment won’t stare at themselves.”

“Do you want the file we put together on the guy?” Byers asks. “We can make copies.”

Mulder shakes his head. “Keep it. Draw a mustache on his photo or something.” He picks up his coat and slings it over his shoulder. “You kids have fun.”

“If you need anything, just flag us down,” Frohike says, patting Mulder’s back before unlatching the door.

Mulder steps out the door, then turns back. “How old is this guy?”

“Forty-one,” Byers says, flipping through the file. “Five-foot-ten, dark blond hair, brown eyes. Blood type-”

Mulder holds up a hand. “I don’t want to know. Bye, guys.”

He gets a petty, juvenile satisfaction from the fact that he’s two inches taller and four years younger than Dr. Einolander. It’s short-lived, but at this point he’ll take what he can get.

Because he can’t get Scully.

#my fic #txf fic #msr #xfiles #fox mulder closet romantic #fmcr #OH SHIT YALL THE ANGST TRAIN IS PULLING INTO THE STATION #had to do it to em

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chubbyreaderchan · 3 years

Text

Kid | Frank Castle x platonic! Reader

Info: Reader is around 15/16 but this is really a father daughter type relationship.

Tw: Mentions of child neglect/abuse and the foster care system, drug use

Frank looked up as Lisa and (Y/n) walked into his house.

"Does your mom know you are here?"

The then 9 year old looked at Frank and nodded. He knew they were lying. This was years before he became the Punisher. He was home for the holidays and (Y/n) may as well be his third child at this point. Not once has he met their parent but he figured they were better off there.

They were a great kid, anyways. Always did their homework, ate all their food when they were over, and were always grateful.

The feelings of fatherhood towards the kid never faded. They practically lived at their house. Maria also saw the kid as her own, enjoying the company of the three kids even when Frank went back on duty.

Then when Frank came back home he noticed they weren't around. Maria smiled at Frank, a bitter sweet smile on her face. Happy to see him, but clearly she was worried. They all seemed to be happy he was home yet they also seemed so distant.

"Hey, baby. What's wrong?" He asked Maria as she sat across from him at lunch, a light smile on her face. It was a fake smile.

Something was off.

"..." She looked down at her cup of tea and then back up at Frank. "Lisa told me that (Y/n) is being put into the foster system," His dark eyes looked at his wife, wondering if her thoughts were the same as his, knowing exactly how it was for Billy. He didn't want that for them. "I was thinking-"

Frank cut her off. "Why don't we offer to take them... They might as well be our kid anyway."

Maria's eyes looked up at him and she smiled. She had already started the process to get them but didn't quite tell him. She was glad she knew her husband well enough to be okay with something like this.

Unfortunately, that never happened. Their lives were interrupted. Cut short. Through it all, Frank had forgotten all about them.

That was until he was out late, lurking. Trying to figure out how to pull apart a gang that had been recruiting kids way to young to make smart decisions. Most likely to make them do unthinkable things. It made him sick. He sat in his truck watching as a group were being lead by a guy in a hoodie. It was normal, or rather nothing completely unusual. The plan was to go in and stop whatever ring this was one at a time.

The plan was to take it slow.

That was until his eyes landed on a familiar face.

"Son of a bitch," Frank grunted, tossing the paper cup of cold coffee into the cup holder. It was (Y/n). Shivering. Looking lost and quite scared looking up at the person who he had been trailing. How the hell did he miss that?

It may as well have been his own damn kid being lead into the jaws of hell. He couldn't control himself. Frank shouldered the truck door open just as they began to head in. He rushed just before the heavy metal shut, grabbing (Y/n) by the wrist.

They yelled, hitting him in the chest barely causing Frank to react. "Let me go!"

"Hey, hey!" He whispered not to alert them. The teen looked up at him. They knew that tone. That voice. "Mr. Castle?" Their eyes looked over his slightly beat up face. "Yeah. What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Frank didn't even hesitate as he pulled them to his truck. "Do you know what these people are doing with kids like you?!"

"T-They promised to give me money. Our water got cut off and--. Wait I thought you died..."

That tore Frank up. In a different world he probably would have adopted them by now. "Well, I didn't. Get your ass in the truck" he scolded. They climbed into the truck, shivering. It was like refrigerator in his truck.

"Where's your mom?" Frank turned on the truck, adjusting the heat before removing his own jacket. He put it over their shoulders. "I haven't seen her in days... Months maybe."

They had lost track of time. They had been taking care of themselves, thankful their mother didn't have any other kids.

That news pissed Frank off even more.

"Son of a bitch," he grunted.

Another life was ruined because Billy Russo valued money over lives. Frank should've been taking care of them. The damn kid should have been a Castle. Should have been in school, getting ready to go to college or whatever the hell they wanted. Frank pulled out of the lot. He would have to take care of them in an hour or so. "I'm going to take you to my hotel room. You can stay there."

It must've been a while since the kid had water at wherever they lived since their hair was dirty and their skin had an oily shine. They didn't respond. Part of them wanted to shout how they weren't their dad and so on. At the same time they missed the Castles. They missed Lisa and Frank Jr. They didn't even get to go to their funeral because they were in a shitty foster home.

On the way back to the hotel room, Frank noticed a late night fast food joint. He pulled in, hiding his face as best as he could. "What do you want?" He sat, looking at them. They looked at him surprise on their face, yet it reminded them of those few good times in their life. In a way, it reminded Frank of those times too.

They explained what they wanted. They kept it pretty cheap and Frank went in. "Stay here. I'll be back" he stated before he did. "Keep the door locked and if something happens honk three times,"

The drive to the motel room was short from there. Silent. Peaceful. They felt safe with Frank and it was like they were finally coming home to something, despite knowing he probably hasn't been to the original home in years.

(Y/n) watched the news or at least before they had to pawn the tv. "Did you really kill all those people," they asked, now sitting on a bed in a warm room. Frank looked at them, not wanting to drag them into his hell. "Yeah," but lying wouldn't do much for them either. He handed them a bag of fries and a drink. "I gotta go. Stay here. I'll be back soon. Keep the door locked. Watch tv. Take a shower. Just do not leave"

Frank pressed a quick kiss to their forehead. An action he often did with his daughter.

The night that (Y/n) thought would be terrifying for money soon became peaceful. They ate. Watched boring night tv and took a shower. Unfortunately they had to put the dirty clothes they had back on but at least their body didn't feel like filth.

Hours later, Frank stumbled in. He had a few new cuts and bruises that littered his face and probably further down. Turned out the group weren't prepared for any attack. He got the kids out and even had time to smash and grab some clothes for the kid.

"Here. I didn't know what size to get you but I figured it was at least big enough to fit you. Better than nothing." He stated, sitting down on the bed.

"I'm sorry,"

They looked up at him. "The clothes are fine--"

Frank shook his head, cutting them off. "I forgot all about our plans. Before..." He hated talking about it. "Before. Maria and I... We were looking into fostering you. Maybe even adopting you. Then... They passed and I forgot. I got so into revenge, (Y/n) I didn't even think about you."

He rubbed some blood from his lip. "You didn't even get to go to the funeral. Lisa was your best friend. Hell, she may as well have been your sister."

"It's okay. I understand," they didn't look up at him.

"I'm going to make it up to you. I can't take you now. I'm in to much shit and I'm to dangerous now but--" he sucked his bottom lip as he brought his thoughts together. "I'm gonna make sure you are damn well taken care of."

Without thought the teen walked over to Frank, hugging him. "Thank you, Mr. Castle," they couldn't help but cry.

#frank castle x y/n #frank castle x reader #punisher x reader #platonic reader #possible part 2?

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mysmegrace · 3 years

Note

woop wait i just saw the requests open thing sorry , can i please request the rfa with an ace/asexual mc ?

of course! thank you so much for your request! i hope i did this justice, please let me know if any information in this post is inaccurate or misunderstood! i'm not asexual and my resource for all info is from the internet.

RFA with an Ace/Asexual MC

---

yoosung kim:

the topic of your sexuality first arose from a movie night in his university dorm.

you two have been dating for a while now and it's been in the back of yoosungs mind for a while.

in his mind, he knew the time for that special event to happen was approaching.

so he decided that tonight was the tonight he would bring it up ever so subtly and maybe experience it for the first time.

with your consent of course.

you had a different idea of the action however.

you don't understand the huge hype around it.

it just wasn't something you’re attracted to.

the action itself repulsed you.

that's not to say you didn't want a relationship with yoosung or didn't find him physically attractive.

you valued your significant others personality and the emotional connection you had together such a strong way.

and you hoped yoosung would understand that when you eventually told him.

so when you arrived, he had everything ready to make the night comfortable and amazing.

the fluffiest blankets you could imagine had been laid across the couch with a bowl of popcorn, made just the way you like it, in front of you on the coffee table.

and the night was just beginning.

half-way through the movie, yoosung reached across your body laid in front of him to the coffee table and took up the remote to pause the film.

he said in a low, yet nervous voice “MC, i was thinking recently..”

you could sense where this was going.

you knew you had to tell him sometime in the near future, but if you were honest, you didn’t expect to have to let him know tonight.

“we’ve been dating for a while now. usually couples around this point in the relationship would..” he continued, cutting himself off with a breath to calm his nerves.

then he let it out.

“start talking about that special event..you know, the really deep one in relationships. i was wondering if maybe you wanted for us to try that out for ourselves tonight?” he finished.

you could feel your heart racing ever so slightly.

you weren’t ashamed or embarrassed of your sexuality.

you were mainly concerned that yoosung would get the wrong idea or shame you because of it.

but you knew you had to tell him, so you answered after a long thought.

“i’ve..never been interested in those types of things. they’ve always repulsed me and made me uncomfortable. it’s not because of you personally, i was just born like this. i understand if you need some time but my idea of it won’t change anytime soon.”

you took a deep breath, slightly closing your eyes to shield you from his body language in case he would become angry or upset.

yoosung took a breath too as he thought about your response.

he had never thought about the fact that you may not have been attracted to those things.

he finally responded after a minute or two, saying “oh, i’ve never thought about it like that. i hope i haven’t made you uncomfortable..”

truth be told, yoosung wasn’t ready for the event just yet.

but he understood your feelings towards it.

the absence of sex didn’t mark the end of your relationship.

your relationship was much more than one physical action.

he wrapped his arm around your waist, saying

“don’t worry, i completely understand”.

then he resumed the movie, eventually falling asleep with you on the couch.

hyun ryu / zen:

you’ve been living with zen for a few months following the third rfa party.

over the course of these past few months, you could feel your relationship continuously evolving into something deeper.

zen kept making moves with you, getting increasingly physical each time.

you knew the time for that special event between couples was approaching.

and you were not looking forward to it.

you found zen very physically attractive, but couldn’t imagine doing the deed with him.

it disgusted you to your core.

just the thought of it alone was enough to make you shiver.

one night after zen came home from practicing for his new role, he started with the typical nightly routine.

it consisted of skincare, a drink, and loving actions towards his love.

tonight when his loving actions came out, it continued to get deeper and deeper.

the arm around the waist turned into a kiss which continued into a make-up session.

eventually he was asking for your consent to go farther.

you knew what this meant and immediately got it together.

you quickly denied, saying “wait, i don’t want this”.

you could tell by the wave of shock and confusion flashing over his face that you would need to explain this.

so you quickly let him know why, saying “it’s not because i don’t want to be with you or think your ugly, i just think sex isn’t for me. i find the very thought of it disgusting. im content with kissing and i hope we can keep it this way”.

you hoped he wouldn’t be upset with you.

he was taken aback, sitting up to make eye contact.

he had never heard of someone not wanting to do the act.

not just with him, but all together.

however, he listened and stopped all action in the moment.

he looked away, thinking about your words.

he knew your relationship was more than physical actions and that something so deep wasn’t something that a relationship should be centered around.

so after some thought, he embraced you.

reassuring you that this wouldn’t change the way he perceived you in this relationship.

he would still love you.

he could never not love you.

so instead of continuing your previous intense make out session, you two ended up cuddling, eventually falling asleep in a loving embrace.

jaehee kang:

you awoke with the sun piercing through your eyelids.

a rude awakening in your opinion.

as you rub your eyes, you turn to look at your love sleeping besides you.

it was only 5:30am, the cafe you two owned didn’t open until 8am.

with a solid 2 and a half hours to waste, you stroked your sleeping beauties face.

ever so gently moving her once short hair away from her face.

the sun eventually woke her up too, only 15 minutes after it woke you up.

she said good morning with a kiss.

you returned her kiss, but she continued the kiss.

deeping it more and more.

you had become a little annoyed, pulling away more and more every time she went in for another one.

she caught on not long after, giving you a questioning look.

you were quick to explain your actions.

“i’m not comfortable with such physical actions. i’ve always had a general disgust when it comes to actions such as deep long kisses and sexual events. i hope i haven’t made you upset” you let out.

she was incredibly understanding, giving you a quick smile saying “oh, i’m sorry love. i understand”.

she then left the bedroom, heading to make breakfast for the both of you.

jumin han:

your wedding day was coming closer and closer by the day.

you knew jumin strongly believed in not living together before marriage or participating in extremely intimate actions before marriage.

however, you knew sex was something many people expected to happen in a marriage at some time.

you had no doubt jumin expected it too.

you couldn’t exactly blame him when you knew it was the societal norm.

but you hated it.

you hated everything about the action.

no matter what way you looked at it, you couldn’t understand why so many people want to take part in such a thing.

but you knew you would have to tell him sometime.

it would be better to tell him sooner than later.

you didn’t think it would be right to tell him after you were already married.

plus you wouldn’t want to spend your life with someone who couldn’t accept everything about you.

so tonight was the night you would let it out.

you met jumin at his home once he came home from work and cleaned up.

he offered you some wine, and you accepted.

it was the perfect opportunity.

watching the expensive liquid being poured into your glass, you wondered which way you should let him knew.

should you hint towards it?

should you say it outright?

you knew in your heart that that would be the best course of action.

jumin was a straight forward man afterall.

once both of you were settled down, you started off the conversation with your concerns about the marriage.

more importantly, your concerns about the sexual aspects of this.

jumin was caught off guard.

he didn’t expect you to be worried about it.

did you think he would hurt you during the act or take advantage of you?

however, he continued to listen with a concerned look on his face.

all of his predictions were shot down when you said your feelings towards the act.

you said you hated the thought of it and had no desire to ever participate in it.

“oh” he thought.

sure he would like to take part in those acts from time to time, but only if you were 100% comfortable with it.

if you didn’t want to do it, he would respect that.

afterall, he didn’t want to marry you for his own physical pleasure.

he completely understood you, but reassured you that you had nothing to worry about as he would never force that upon you.

he wants to marry you for you, not for your body.

saeyoung choi:

the night of your engagement was an exciting one to say the least.

a party with all of your close friends that you would consider family was exactly what you needed right now.

and to see your future husband and brother in law finally together made your heart want to explode out of your chest from happiness.

and now you were here, laying on saeyoungs bed smiling while talking about your future together.

the house you could build together.

the car you could drive to the store in.

the names of any future children you may have.

it’s safe to say, you two were getting carried away.

saeyoung started to make out with you after you two had calmed down a bit.

you returned the action, and it was getting increasingly heated as time went on.

he started to lay his hands upon the bottom of your shirt, gesturing towards pulling it off.

you snapped out of your makeout haze after you realized what he was trying to get at.

you pulled away sharply, leaving him shocked.

did he do something wrong?

his head started racing with worries.

he didn’t want to upset you in anyway.

you blatantly let out your feelnings towards his actions.

“saeyoung, i don’t like that. you haven’t done anything terrible, i just don’t like things getting that intense and sexual.”

he didn’t know what to say.

he never meant to unknowingly upset you.

cue the wave of apologizes from saeyoung.

you calmed him pretty quick once he starting this, saying “saeyoung, it’s fine. i know you didn’t mean to”.

eventually he calmed down and thought about it seriously.

he was completely understanding.

so instead of going further, he just continued with the kissing.

but made sure to keep it strictly kissing.

he was ready to love you for his entire life, even if he never had sex with you.

and he was content with that.

#mysticmessenger #mysme #jumin han #jaehee kang #Yoosung Kim #zen #hyun ryu #saeyoung choi #mysme 707

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darkdevasofdestruction · 3 years

Text

Queen of Masks ~ Alfie Solomons

Life as a woman, in any country really, isn’t the best, unless you score a jackpot with the most gentle, sweetest man and you become his housewife and agree to be some kind of baby factory and a maid, should he not have enough to provide for one, and a chef, nonetheless.

However, there are enough ambitious women who have enough spite in their veins to trample over anyone standing in their path of success, and would spit on graves and crush cadavers under their heeled boots that they wear with much pride and conviction.

That is exactly the case of Y/N, a gorgeous woman who won against all odds and became a Veterinary Physician in London, Camden, to be precise, and had to work under an older man who had a clinic - But it was fine, she got to learn loads, and interacting with animals on a daily basis was enough to keep her going and not to answer to any provocation from her male colleague who was far inferior to her, intellectually and intuitively speaking.

And one day, after tending to a gorgeous black race stallion, a tall and broad man walked in with a Bullmastiff boy who, upon seeing her, managed to snatch away his chain leash and jumped on her, trampling her to the ground and licking her all over her face.

The man jumped in shock, trying to pry away his pet from the poor woman, only to notice she was laughing and that he face was bright like the sun, as she tried to wipe away all the slobber from her face.

“I’m so sorry, aye, he’s never done somethin’ like this before. Here, let me help you up, right.” the man extended his hand for her to take, helping raise her up, then reprimanded his dog. “Don’t worry, mister, it’s quite alright. I kinda like when animals act so affectionate, it makes it feel as if I’m doing something right. What’s your name, darling? Let’s get you up on the table...Arghh...What a heavy baby...You’re gonna break every bone in my body...” the woman sweet talked the dog, struggling to hold him in her arms like a baby so she could put in on the table to examine. “He’s name’s Cyril, I got him last year. ‘S just a routine check up, but I think there’s a bump on his neck, yeah, right here.” the man explained, letting the girl palpate his dog and continuing to sweet talk him to calm him down. “Thyroid Carcinoma.” the male doctor spoke, which made the girl whip her head to him with a disturbed look. “Thyroid Cancer? Surely, you must be joking. Have you even been to Vet school?!” Y/N protested, shaking her head in protest at his sudden diagnosis. “What else could a bump in the thyroid area mean? Don’t play smart, just be humble and accept when you’re wrong.” the man rolled his eyes, not lifting his head from his papers. “First of all, even if it IS a tumour, it doesn’t HAVE to be cancer, it can still be completely harmless, thus, benign. Secondly, out of all tumours a dog can have, thyroid cancer is the least common one, the percentage going to maximum 2%. Therefore, NOT cancer! Besides, it could be hyperthyroidism, if you want to go over the top, but again, it could just be something the owner felt because something got stuck in his neck and-....Oh.” the girl then carefully touched the neck area, and smiled widely, looking down, nodding to herself. “What? You shut up ‘cause you finally realised I was right, despite your useless statistics?” the doctor grumbled in annoyance, not caring, obviously. “Wanna bet 100 pounds that it’s not cancer?” she asked, kissing Cyril’s head and playing with his floppy ears, action which made the dog bark playfully. “Ah, sorry, mister, I didn’t ask for your name and whether you find it insensitive or not for us to bet on a diagnosis.” she smiled awkwardly, extending her hand towards the bearded man who was watching the interaction carefully. “Alfie Solomons, lass, but call me just Alfie, right? So, yeah, ‘s fine, bet all you want, just make my boy better, eh?” Alfie shook the girl’s hand, seeing her cunningly going to the other doctor and spitting in her hand to shake and make the bet go through. “Okay, Alfie, you might want to step to the side a bit...If you value your shoes, that it. They look pretty new.” she chuckled softly, signing him with her head to move to the side, and so he did, as she made the dog vomit, and thus, revealing a small ball. “Oi, I can’t believe it! You stupid dog, Cyril, aye, how could you manage to swallow your own toy, yeah?!” Alfie gasped, his brows furrowing from shock. “Weirdly enough, dogs, especially big ones, are prone to swallowing little things, just like human babies are. It was small enough to just make him cough, but it’s a good thing you got him here in time.” the girl started quickly cleaning up the floor as she explained everything, as the Jew was still staring in shock at the idiocy of some animals. “Well, lass, thank you for solving the mystery, yeah, of whatever the hell this was, right. So, then, tell me how much I have to pay you for this consult, aye.” Alfie asked, which made her snap her head upwards, looking up at him, her eyes wide in shock. “No, God, no, nothing, it’s on me! I mean, if it weren’t for you...” Y/N smirked, reminding Alfie of a vixen, as she twirled around and went to snatch away the hundred pounds banknotes from her employer’s hand, who was looking at her with anger and bitterness. “I wouldn’t have been paid more than I’m paid in 3 months in just one day! It’s the least I can do to thank you...And to also see Cyril again, because I think it’s a connection. Right, Cyril? You’re such a sweet baby boy-....ARGH, GODS, NO-...!” but before the girl could compose herself, Cyril jumped on her torso, knocking her down again, coating her face in yet another sleek coat of drool from the lickings. “Damn it, Cyril, you’re impossible! Let the poor lass live, eh? I know, I know, she’s pretty, but leave her alone, alright?” after he finally managed to pry away the canine, he helped the girl up, who, once again, was laughing. “Let me make it up to you, yeah, for all the trouble this prankster’s been giving you, right. I’ve this bakery, y’know, the one nearby, so, anything you want, yeah, anything, you ask for it, you say my name, right, you say Alfie owes you a favour, and it’s all on the house, eh. How’s that.” he spoke, and he could see that her overly confident and extra demeanour shattered in an instant, making her look down, her beautiful, long hair hiding her features, as she was most likely blushing and smiling. “O-Oh, then, if that’s your bakery, means I’ve heard of you, you’re THE Alfie Solomons. Yeah, I’d love that, if you’d have me, but I told you, you don’t have to. I used you to get money worth of about 3 months, or more, so really, I should be thanking you somehow, but I don’t really have anything else to offer, other than to pay for the consult myself.” her serious, boastful voice turned very soft and shy, as fast as the flick of her fingers, as she walked him out of the clinic, so only he would hear. “Your boss there...He seemed kinda...Angry, eh. Are you gonna be fine dealing with him, lass?” he asked, bending down a bit, speaking to her tone level. “I guess. What’s the worst he can do, anyway. Besides, I care more about this conversation right now, and...About this.” she smirked softly, showing off the rolled pounds from her coat’s chest pocket. “So, Mr. Gangster, is there any specific time you’d be okay with me coming by the bakery? Maybe...Under the pretext of yet another regular check up on Cyril? Or...The smell of freshly baked cookies just captured me enough to find myself senselessly walking into the place?” she asked, diving her hands into her pockets, waiting for an answer, too timid to look him in the eye. “Ahhh, I see you’ve heard of me. Well, lass, I guess I can’t pretend to be some ordinary man, right, but maybe we can still enjoy a nice chat once in a while, eh, it would be nice, right?” the corner of Alfie’s mouth turned upwards, extending his hand for her to shake. “Y/N L/N, it’s great meeting you, Alfie. And yeah, it would be great. I’ll be seeing you around, alright? Hope I’ll see you soon and maybe we can have a nice cup of tea and anything that you’ve baked. I’m looking forward to that.” she shook his hand, smiling brightly at him, gesture which he turned. “And I’ll be seeing you as well, sweetheart.” with that, she kissed Cyril’s head once again, before waving Alfie goodbye and walking back into the clinic. “And I’ll be seeing you too...Y/N.” the gangster muttered, grinning at his dog and praising him with a few pats on his head. “Cyril, my boy, you’re my lucky charm.”

A week passed, and Y/N walked into the bakery - However, it wasn’t the front up, the bakery shop that smelled heavenly - It meant the gangster warehouse where Alfie would usually conduct his business meetings. And, of course, it was shocking to him when heard the click of heels and saw a beautiful, slender woman, dressed in high-waisted pants, with a black turtleneck tucked in her pants, beautiful brown leather boots with heels and a black trench coat that elegantly, yet imposingly hung from her shoulders, as if she was some kind of mafia Queen - Elegant, but deadly.

“Hello, Alfie. I heard you have a job around this place. Not sure what it is...Medic? Secretary? Dog-walker? Maybe you could fill me in.” she asked, her hands in her pants, fidgeting in her spot. “Where’ve you heard about this...Supposed job, eh, lass? And why’d you quit your job from the clinic, eh?” he asked, his fingers intertwining as he leaned forward, elbows rested on his desk. “Ah, well...Y’know...I got my medical license pulled, so I need a way to make money, and you’re the only one that I trusted not to treat me like garbage, so here I am. I know there’s no job, but I had to try my luck and be comedic in a way. It’s probably about the only thing I’m good at, sort of. It’s fine if you don’t want to give me a job, I mean, you can’t trust me with your business info after just speaking to me once, I can imagine, and - “ she kept on ranting, until Alfie raised both his hands in the air to calm her down and stop her speaking, before he raised to his feet, getting in front of the desk and leaning back on it. “Well, I did owe you a favour, right, so, sure, you’re hired, right, I’ll find you something. While we’re at it, can you, yeah, can you fire a gun?” he asked, with a mix of seriousness and playfulness in his voice. “Is it...In the job requirements?” she asked, looking around the place with a fake kind of curiosity. “There’s no job seeking, yeah, so, therefore, no job requirements. I was just being curious, alright, y’know, I have to know what everyone around is capable of, okay.” he explained, which made her smirk and turn on her heel to look at him. “That’s only fair. After all, now that you know that I’m particularly incapable of defending myself against people in general, you’ll just have to be extra careful to keep me safe, right, Alfie? We wouldn’t want Cyril to grieve over me, would we?” she chuckled, extending her arms to her side in a dramatic manner. “Haha, yes, lass, I s’ppose you’re right. Can you handle more than one job, eh? I can hire you as a physician, right, but we don’t always have wounded men, yeah, so, you’re a smart woman, alright, I’m sure you are very capable of reading, writing, doing calculus and other stuff that involves using your head, right, so, I don’t know what name will this job have, but, maybe an assistant of sort, eh? Ollie here helps me out a lot, yeah, but he can’t do everything, he ain’t some God, y’know.” Alfie gesticulated, pointing towards Ollie, then tried to explain to her that things are serious, and not to be taken lightly. “Guess this is gonna be the thrill of my life, huh? I’m in, Alfie. At least I can get along with you without fearing having my license pulled-...Oh, wait, I have nothing to fear about anymore.” she chuckled in a self-deprecating way, making Alfie cross his arms to his chest. “You never told me what happened. Go on, tell me. I’m sure you didn’t kill a dog, or somethin’, you’re too smart a doctor to fuck up.” his curiosity got the better of him, as he saw her turning to look at him, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly agape, and he could almost see her brain gears moving, trying to think of a witty answer. “Didn’t you say something about freshly baked goodies and tea? I bet that’s gonna be a much more...Hospitable way of chatting with your new employee, wouldn’t it? Or better said, friendlier? I mean, this place is so...Ugly and humid...Only good for gangster business. The echo here, if you shout, can intimidate anyone, I’m sure. Come on, show me the actual bakery...And you better have a gramophone. I like music.” she smiled up at him, hooking her arm to his, pulling him in a random direction to urge him to guide her to the bakery, where the beautiful smell of bread and cookies mesmerised her, and she playfully swooned in her chair. “I see you’re enjoying this place very much, eh. Well, can’t say I expected you coming today, so I didn’t bake them myself, yeah, but I’ll make it up to you. Sure you want tea and not rum or somethin’?” Alfie asked, a bit awkward staying at the cute little table, with a cute, little cup of tea in his bear-like hands. “Yes, I’m quite sure, Alfie. But it’s fine, you don’t have to drink what I’m drinking, I won’t think of you any differently. In your home, you do as you please.” she chuckled at him, watching as he nodded solemnly, only to down that tea in one go, small droplets of liquid embedding themselves in his beard. “Right, right, I understand, y’er a people pleaser, you want everyone to like you, unless it goes against whatever scheme you have. You’re smart, alright. Very smart, and you’ve sharp eyes, and are cunning. I need someone like you around, yeah. But tell me, how’d you manage to lose your dream job in a week?” Alfie asked, extending his hand to gently grab her chin, pulling it so he could peer right into her gorgeous, vixen-like eyes. “Remember the bet I did when you came around with Cyril? Well, apparently that jerk got mad at me for, to quote, steal his money, so he filed a malpractice lawsuit to get his money back, 5 times more, and pulled away my license, to get revenge on me for humiliating him in front of a customer...Allegedly. Very petty, I know, but, as they say...C’est la vie. Not much to do about it, really. Now I’m seen as a con-artist thief who kills animals, so I have no way of getting a job anywhere anymore, hence why I’m here. Lovely, innit?” she snorted as she took a bit of the cookie, closing her eyes to savour it’s flavour. “And now, I think I died and went to heaven, ‘cause this is the best thing I’ve eaten in my life.” “You’re so hired, lass. Did ya pay the 500 pounds?” he asked, propping his jaw on his hand. “Yeah, thankfully. And by that, I mean I to sell my apartment so now I’m using my saving to stay at a cheap hotel, but, y’know, life’s life. At least I know I won and I was right. Maybe if I had the right connections, I could have won 10 times what I lost...But what do I know. I don’t really know how non-legal things go by.” she chuckled softly, scratching the back of her head in a playfully guilty manner. “Y’know, Y/N...I think we can solve that fairly quick, yeah. Tell me the name, and I’ll make sure things are sold. In the meantime, I’ve a nice, warm room where you can stay, right, and surely, Cyril’s gonna love your company.” Alfie smiled at her, signaling for her to follow him.

At that time, she had no idea this was actually his home, but when she did find out, she was more than grateful, if not, a bit awkward, for having to rely so much on his kindness. However, just as he promised, Alfie managed to get that jerk of a doctor to pay her 10 times the money she paid him, and thus, she would have been able to get a very modern and luxurious place, only for herself, and even buy a dog, a cat, or hell, more of them.

But she refused, and asked to continue staying with him, if she wasn’t too much of a burden, since she really enjoyed spending time with him, and she had no idea, other than working 200% of her capabilities for her job, whatever that was, at the moment, and, of course, she would have missed Cyril too much.

It didn’t take long for Alfie’s people to realise the obvious chemistry between the two, and Ollie kept trying to convince him to ask her out, but things are always so difficult, aren’t they? Business and logics are much easier than subjective emotions.

It became sort of a routine for everyone around to see their boss writing and reading documents at his desk, while Y/N would sit on the desk, her legs resting on his chair’s back rest, as she would write on her clipboard whatever relevant things she thought were worth noting down, and would occasionally express her opinions regarding ideas that Alfie had, or some businesses that he was dealing with at the moment - All that, with, of course, the frequent witty comments they would exchange - And it was never anything hurtful, or reproachful jabs, only playful and domestic comments that always made her laugh.

“You never told me why you always look down when you interact with people, y’know, and by that, I don’t mean when you’re being some dramatic Queen, but when you’re being yourself. I mean, I haven’t seen women who let their hair so long these days, right, so I was curious about you. You do things much differently than most people, y’know that, don’t you?” Alfie asked, raising his head to look up at her, only to see, once again, trying to think of how to explain things that don’t rely on rational and objective behaviours. “Ah...Well...Uh...Y’know...I’m...My face is very expressive, y’know. So, like...I get embarrassed easily, or...Uhm...When I lie, or something, I tend to grin or laugh. I’m a messy failure who can’t do a pokerface, like, ever, so, since most people are taller than me, if I let my hair cover my face, they won’t see the truth. Or, well, y’know, at least that’s what I hope. I can’t look at them while hiding, so I’ve no way of telling whether it works or not. Contrary to me being flashy and dramatic, I’m kinda shy and terrible around people.” she chuckled awkwardly, looking away from him, bringing up her clipboard to cover half of her face. “Ahhh, I see, I see, so you go to real great lengths, yeah, to get what you want, and so far, you’ve done really well, eh. Is there anything you can’t do, lass? You’ve been doing this job for over a year, and business has improved with...Uh...Lemme see, how much did you say...Ah, yes, here, it says 23%.” he had his glasses on as his eyes scanned the documents on his desk. “I...Can’t socialise, I guess. And I can’t relax. I don’t know how to have fun. Uhm...I can’t human, I guess? I don’t know what to call it, but I think you get what I’m saying. Anyway, we have business work now, so read this paragraph here, I think we have to talk threaten Sabini a bit, he’s over his head now with power, someone has to humble him, give us a better percentage of his business, and -” Y/N tried to quickly redirect the conversation, hating when she had to talk about herself, but obviously, she couldn’t say no to the man who was always so kind and sweet with her, could she? “Nahhh, it’s fine, Y/N, let’s take a little break, right? We’ve been working since early morning, it’s evening now. Ollie, go make tea and bring those treats made today, eh. Now, lass, why don’t you tell me how did you get around to practicing medicine? I’ve always been curious by that, you know, you don’t see many women unafraid of stuff like that, yeah.” he pointed out, letting himself fall down on his chair’s seat, looking up at her. “Y’know, Y/N, you say you can hide your emotions when you hide your face from people taller than you, yeah? But what happens when they look at you from below? Gotta say, Y/N, sometimes, your worried face is rather pretty...Better now, let me look at you when you speak, yeah, we’re equals, when you go all meek on me, you make me feel like some kind o’ merciless boss or somethin’.” he chuckled, raising a bit to put her hair behind her ears, revealing a soft blush coating her cheeks, and god damn, he could feel his heart beating a bit faster. “Uhm...Okay, fine, sure, I owe you that much. Uhm...My dad was a medic too, so it became a family business for a while. And, uhm...Dad was recruited as a war medic, and went with my brother, while I and mum continued to take care of the people and animals from our city. When it was all over, I decided to get to London to practice properly, get more money and provide for my family better. They’re getting old and they need someone to take care of them, somehow.” she explained, but her eyes were darting around, and he could feel she was still hiding something because of her hesitance, but he wasn’t sure what exactly was it that she was trying to hide.

But before either of them could say anything about it anymore, a loud bang echoed through the warehouse, somewhere from the entrance, which made the girl jump in her place with a mouse-like squeak, slapping her hands over her ears.

It’s true, any person would get frightened by a gunshot that resounded so loudly through that place - And yet, this one looked like a panicked, scared fawn in the headlights - And Alfie, of course, noticed that and came to a few conclusions for himself.

However, before he could say anything, a man entered their field of vision, and he could feel Y/N tensing up, her face showing shock and disgust at the person who she clearly recognise. She turned her head to look at Alfie, and with pleading eyes, mouthing a few simple words that may or may not have shocked him.

“Let me kill him” she tried to say, but this mystery man spoke out faster than expected, and it was clear she was getting more and more angry and embarrassed by the moment. “Y/N, darling, what are you doing here? Whoring around with other men, getting into illicit business, thinking you’re superior to men just because you have some over the top ambitions that are completely unreachable, and now you think you can get rich by staying around wealthy old men, huh?” the man kept speaking, igniting an infernal fire into her eyes. “Alfie, I pride myself with my never ending patience, but I swear to God, if you don’t let me kill him...I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” Y/N muttered between her gritted teeth, shocking Alfie since he never saw her as the violent type. “I’m not doing any business with him, alright, do what you feel like doing, Y/N, he’s all yours.” Alfie sat back in his chair, his fingers intertwined over his stomach, watching with interest whatever she was going to do.

Y/N jumped off the desk and slowly prowled around it, her head hanging low, before she snapped it up, glaring lightnings at the man.

“Fuck off. Now. Or you’re dead. Do you understand this simple language, or do I need to put it in words that even a monkey would understand?” she crossed her arms, spitting poison at him. “What, can’t I be angry at my own girlfriend for being a bitch and leaving me alone? I mean, you really fucked up, y’know? You left me when I needed you the most, how tragic is that?!” he yelled at her, but she only rolled her eyes, scoffing. “Yeah, I left you ‘cause you were abusing me. The way I see it, you’re the one who sucks, not me. Now get the hell out of here. Before I do something you will regret.” her voice went an octave lower, threatening him the same way she learnt from Alfie over the time of business making. “Woaw, Y/N, woaw, that’s pathetic, even for you. You’ve never been able to even raise your voice at anyone. You were nothing more than a crybaby who couldn’t step up to anyone, and then you went to war, and what, you think you changed? You didn’t! Underneath this dumb, tough facade that you’re trying to pull in front of everyone else, you’re nothing more than the frightened little girl who needed to have everything in control and grasp a bit of power to feel superior to others after you got beaten up and had a gun pointed at your head by the Germa-” but he couldn’t continue speaking for, in the blink of an eye, she pulled out a gun for her trench coat and shot him in the head, his blood and brains shooting everywhere, all over her, on the walls and floor. “Well...Ask me anything and I will provide you with an answer that is completely honest this time. But, uhm...Take of your shirt, will you?” she had a solemn, pissed off expression as she threw off her coat before hurriedly taking off her shirt, nonchalantly cleaning up her face, then pulling it into a ball, throwing it on the cadaver, then stepped in front of a very shocked, yet impressed Alfie. “Go on, take off your shirt, will you? It’s clean. You promised I’ll never have to shoot a gun, and yet, I did, therefore I need a clean top, right? So, while I tell you the truth, don’t let me stay like this in front of you, okay?” extending her hand in front of her, while her other arm was over her chest, trying to cover her pretty white laced bra, it took a mirthful laugh out of the Jew for him to finally take off his shirt and put it around her, not caring that he was the topless one now. “Will you ever stop impressing and surprising me, lass?” Alfie asked, petting her head as a way to say she did well. “Once I stop shocking myself, sure. Until then...I believe you want to say something, don’t you?” she asked, slowly stepping in front of him, looking up at him as she properly put on his shirt that looked like a dress on her. “Yeah, lass, I think I did.”

With a gentle smile, he cupped her face, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on her lips, one hand stroking his fingers through her beautiful long hair, while the other caressed her soft visage. The tender look in his blue-green eyes felt like the safest, warmest haven she ever felt, and with an impulse decision that her heart made, she leaned forward, her arms slowly snaking around his torso, her head resting on his shoulder, and closing her eyes, she could finally feel her heart calming, for the first time in her life.

“It was you who went to war, wasn’t it?” Alfie muttered in her hair, holding her tightly. “Yeah. I don’t have a brother. It was me who went with my father to war, but he died, so I had to be the backbone of the troops. When I got home, my mum was devastated and she died of grief. I left that place to get rid of memories...And get rid of that fuckass. War left me with traumas, but it also made me strong enough to face up to who I am and stop taking everyone’s shit just because they think I’m lesser than them. Sometimes...When you talk about your time as a captain...I remember my time there...And...I realise how much I respect you...And also, how different you are from all the people I had contact with there.” she explained, her grip tightening around him, her heart quivering from the deep emotions she was feeling. “You’ve been through quite a lot in your life, haven’t you, lass? And you managed to make a life all for yourself, from the scratch, right, so, I think you’ve been doing great. France?” he asked, guiding her to a more private room, much warmer and cozier, while Ollie was to find him another shirt. “Yeah, France. Thing is...You went through all that, and it was worse for you, since you were a Captain, and you must have felt responsible for every death from your troops...And yet...Ever since we met, you’ve been sweeter than anyone has ever been, and that includes my own family. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them, but maybe...Maybe I’m just a bit softer than I let others think. And you managed to hit the right spot, in the good way, I mean. War changes everyone, and yet, you’re...I have no fitting word to describe how much I appreciate you, Alfie, but here...This thing here feels it, and I think you can feel what I’m feeling too.” she explained, resting her head on his shoulder once they sat down on the sofa, as he pulled her closer to his side, kissing her temple lovingly. “You know, Y/N...You’re not wrong. I tried not to think about my time there and the horrors I’ve seen, yeah, so, maybe it doesn’t come off as anything fantastic, and I still don’t think that being a decent person, right, to people who are close to me, is a big deal. But maybe sometimes we take things for granted, don’t we, so, maybe, you’re right. But that guy has no excuse for being a bastard. You’re safe now, Y/N, and when some day, when we’re done with this gangster mess...We can go to Margate and live a normal life there, eh. You, me and Cyril, and the sandy beach and the waves, right, and maybe, if we get bored, we can shoot those damned seagulls, yeah? They’re so annoying, I’m telling ya!” Alfie chuckled, which, in turn, made her grin at him lovingly. “I’d love to go to Margate with you, Alfie, and have seagull shooting contests together, and run barefoot on the shore, and if it’s enough light from the moon, we can swim a bit. Sounds like the perfect life if you ask me.” Y/N kissed his cheek, lovingly caressing his face before hugging his side. “That’s what I like to hear, lass. I’m sure Cyril would bark like a mad dog from happiness if he was hear, right. S’gonna be fun when we get home, eh.”

#alfie solomons #alfie solomons imagine #alfie solomons x reader #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinders

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tenaciouspeacesandwich · 3 years

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PSA: Online Safety

Ok so normally I don’t post personal stuff on here, but I saw something today that made me remember this and I knew I had to post it somewhere.

When I was 14, I was really into digital art and online forums where people could post and discuss their paintings/drawings. As someone w/adhd and social anxiety, the internet was somewhere I felt I could be myself and be in control of my social interactions. It wasn’t as intimidating as making friends or talking to people in real life, and I built genuine social skills on there. However, I wasn’t aware of how dangerous these digital communities could be.

I had (still do) a really great relationship with my parents growing up, and they made sure to have the discussion with me about stranger danger and how you should never give away personal info online, all the classics. I never really hid anything I did on the computer from them, and they trusted me completely. They monitored our internet that was considered acceptable by most parenting standards (i.e. server blockers for adult content, etc.). But none of that mattered when I met someone on a discussion board who convinced me to meet up with them irl.

Obviously, looking back on it now years later, it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. Even at the time, I remember being a little scared when this person asked me to meet them at a public park. They were one of my online ‘art buddies’, ppl who critiqued and gave advice for your submissions, and we’d ‘known’ each other for a while. They complimented my sketches, gave me great tips on how to draw better, and I was really inspired by all the works they posted. Then the conversations meandered naturally from our posts to our lives, casual talk like how we hated homework but liked our teachers, our siblings were annoying, etc.

WARNING: DESCRIPTION OF GROOMING AHEAD

Then, one day they messaged me complementing my self-portrait that I had posted. It was by no means realism, more of a cartoon version of myself, but their flattering words were enough to make my introverted,14-year-old self swoon. I was so shy in school, no one even knew i was there half the time, let alone told me i was beautiful. It made me feel special, valued, less alone. Looking back now, I see it for what it was. But at the time, those words only made me trust this person more. So when they mentioned that they lived in my city and asked if I wanted to meet up at a public park, it wasn’t a huge red flag to me. It was a public place, right? It’s not like they were asking for my social or my address or anything. And they wouldn’t be picking me up in their car, the park was close enough to my school that I could bike the 4 miles there myself. We were just gonna hang out at the picnic tables for a couple of hours, no big deal.

Even though I’d seen this park before, I’d never actually been to it. My parents never took us there, and I always just assumed it was because there were other, closer parks to our house that were just as nice. It didn’t seem sketchy to me as I rode up closer, other than the fact that some of the playground equipment was rusty and the swing set had overgrown weeds on it.

I remember this day so clearly even though it’s been 10 years now: I was pedaling up this mini-hill that went thru a neighborhood, and the park was at the bottom of the hill on the other side. I remember stopping at the top of the hill to catch my breath for a second on the sidewalk, and I looked down at the park. From where I was standing, I could see the picnic tables and the parking lot. My friend had been messaging me on my phone, and had been updating me ever since I left school on my bike. They said they were already there and had been waiting for me for the past 10 minutes, and that when I arrived I’d be able to find them really easily because they had a red convertible in the parking lot, and they had managed to get us a table that we didn’t have to share. I texted them when I left, asking if there were a lot of people at the park that day. Their reply was really distinct, because instead of ‘yeah, kinda’ or ‘not really’, they texted back; ‘Super crowded, some kind of birthday party at the gazebo- All kinds of moms lol’ . Reading that gave me assurance that I didn’t know I needed, and that’s why I remember the dread and fear I felt when I looked down at the park.

There was no one there.

No party, no kids, nothing- the gazebo was empty, the playground deserted, everything was just quiet.

Except for this one man sitting at a picnic table, who had to be at least my father’s age. There was a gray sedan parked in the lot (i’m assuming his, but I don’t know), and the man was looking down at his phone as he sat at the table.

I texted my ‘friend’ again, still hidden by the garage wall of someone’s house where my bike was parked at the top of the hill. My ‘friend’ was supposed to be a guy my age who was wearing a pink floyd t shirt and black jeans. I asked him, ‘is there food at the party?’

I got an instant reply; ‘Yeah, a grillout- smells amazing but i don’t think they’ll let us have anything lol’.

I turned around and got on my bike, looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes, terrified that this guy might have seen and followed me. Thankfully, there was never anyone behind me, and I didn’t stop until I got home. I went to my room and deleted my entire account from that website, blocking my ‘friend’ first and deleting all of our conversation history in a panic before making sure every trace of me was gone forever. I sat there in my room for a while just staring at the wall.

I don’t know for sure if the man that I saw had anything to do with the person I was messaging- I don’t know him or why he was at the park. All of these things are connections I drew from what I knew via the website and our conversation, and what I could see with my own eyes. But more powerful than any of that was the immense, strong gut feeling I had wash over me when I was about to meet that person. Something just felt very, very wrong. I was still happy and excited to meet them, but that happiness was soured by that innate reaction of dread and foreboding that just screamed at me to go away.

I never told my parents about this, and still haven’t to this day. I know they would blame themselves for me being lured by this person (if that was in fact what happened), and that is the last thing I want- they did everything right.

That’s my entire point in posting this: my parents did everything by the book, took the experts advice, had an open and trusting relationship with me, and monitored our internet access. But I still made this happen, I still got my way, and I’m convinced that it’s by sheer luck that I’m still here today. I got up the courage to ask them one day, about 3 years after all this, when we were driving by that park why they never took us there as kids. My parents told me that park was notorious for drug use and crime, and that there were no working security cameras anywhere nearby.

There have been so many people in my situation who unfortunately never came home. Please please please be careful who you talk to on the internet, and be even more careful about the excuses you tell yourself to justify why it’s ok for you to be communicating with strangers. I convinced myself that this was just a fun meet up with a friend, that it was safe because it was on a public property, and that it was ok for me to go by myself. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.

#public safety #online safety #grooming #child exploitation #luring #online predators #be safe #safety #parenting #online smarts

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likethecities · 3 years

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In “Defense” of Bo-Katan in Mandalorian S2

(or, why Bo’s refusal to accept Boba as Mandalorian in 2x08, after Din did accept it in 2x06, is internally consistent with her character and view of Mandalore, and is not only because she’s a self-serving ass*)

*(although she is both of those things)

NOTE: This is a discussion of why her view of Boba is logical for her character and where I hope/think it will go in S3 and the concept of “Mandalorian”. It is NOT an endorsement for her behavior.

This is ONLY based in current, Disney canon, not Legends. In Legends, Jango was the leader of Mandalore for several years if not decades. However! that line conflicts with TCW. So we’re using the old rule of “if it conflicts, current canon wins” and tossing it out. If it gets recanonized, we can come back to it.

Okay first! Let’s break down the major Mandalorian characters/factions in the Mandalorian.

Din Djarin/Children of the Watch

Bo-Katan Kryze/Nite Owls

Boba and Jango Fett

What do they have in common? All three groups place a lot of practical and symbolic/ancestral value on their beskar armor. Bo and Din also place a lot of importance on the value of the Way, although with different interpretations. Lastly, Bo specifically cares about Mandalore as a place. Unsurprisingly, they all have different interpretations of what it means to be Mandalorian.

Let’s start with Din and the Children of the Watch (CotW). Here’s what we know about their definition of Mandalorian:

high cultural and symbolic value on Mandalorian armor

foundlings/non-Mandalorian children can be raised Mandalorian

very strict interpretation of the Way/Creed

non-Mandalorians cannot wear Mandalorian armor

As a final note, they don’t appear to have much actual beskar. Most of their armor, though forged in Mandalorian style, isn’t made of beskar, but other metals instead. It’s a big deal when Din rolls up with enough beskar to forge a whole suit; that kind of windfall doesn’t just happen.

So when S2 rolls around and Din runs into people wearing Mandalorian armor who don’t follow the Way as he knows it, he assumes they aren’t Mandalorian, with the following results:

Cobb (2x01): admits to not being Mandalorian when Din challenges him, offers to return armor to Din (standing in as a representative of all Mandalorians) once Din helps him. Din agrees, helps, and then leaves with the armor.

Bo-Katan/Nite Owls (2x03): claim a different interpretation of the Way, declare ownership over their armor through family heritage. Din recognizes their claim.

Boba (2x06): identifies himself as the rightful owner of the armor, refuses to claim clan ties or the Creed. Din (eventually) recognizes his claim.

Once Din has accepted that other Mandalorians don’t have the same interpretation of the Way that he does, he’s willing to accept proof of ownership as enough. Likely, this is because the CotW don’t have much beskar, and so they recognize prior claims much more strictly. For Din, at least, owning the beskar is enough to drop the argument about being Mandalorian or not. Now let’s move to Bo and her supporters. Here’s what we know about them:

high cultural and symbolic value on Mandalorian armor: status symbol, but not required by all members

looser interpretation of the Way

high value on clan/community membership, or connection to Mandalore as a planet

non-Mandalorians cannot (or at least shouldn’t) wear Mandalorian armor

We know from SW Rebels and TCW that Bo, her followers, and most of the Mandalore-based people that you do not have to wear armor to be Mandalorian. Sabine’s father is an artist and is never seen fighting or wearing armor, but no one questions that he’s Mandalorian. The armor and Creed alone aren’t a requirement.

How else do we know this? Because Bo spent several seasons backing Pre Viszla and the darksaber for the Mandalorian throne, but when Viszla lost the darksaber - and his head - to Maul, Bo objected. Maul wasn’t Mandalorian; he didn’t care about the place, the community, the culture, or the Way. So Bo turned to Satine, the leader that she had just deposed, as a more “Mandalorian” challenger. Satine still has her House Kryze ties and close attachment to Mandalore as a place; that was enough to make her Mandalorian and a better choice than Maul, even though she’d nearly completely broken with old Mandalorian ways.

(And, we should note, that some Mandalorians did switch their allegiance to Maul after this, because they recognized the right of the darksaber over any community or clan ties. They’re also still Mandalorian.)

So when Bo and her team meet Din, they recognize Din as Mandalorian. He’s part of a Mandalorian offshoot sect: that’s his clan/community. They think his rules are weird and antiquated*, but they recognize them as related to the Way as they know it.

*yes, Bo is a jerk about this, because Bo is a jerk about a lot of things. She does accept it, though, which is the important part for this discussion.

Okay, now let’s turn to Boba.

Boba never explicitly claims to be Mandalorian, with Din in 2x06 or in the bar 2x08. He says that Jango was a Mandalorian foundling, but despite Din giving him multiple opportunities to claim to be Mandalorian, Boba rebuffs every single one. He doesn’t have any clan or community ties, and he doesn’t care about the planet; he’s actively derisive about Bo’s goal to retake it. He doesn’t appear to follow any parts of the Way. Frankly, Boba doesn’t seem to even want to be Mandalorian, he just puts up with being associated with them because of the armor. He certainly doesn’t care who considers themselves Mandalorian or why. The only things that Boba cares about are that a) his ownership of his armor is acknowledged, and b) he’s recognized as Jango Fett’s son. That’s it.

Again, for Din, that’s enough. Boba can prove that the armor is his and he can prove that Jango obtained it properly (ie, as a Mandalorian foundling). Conflict solved, everyone move on.

For Bo and her followers, that’s not enough. The armor isn’t the sole thing that marks you as Mandalorian, and Boba (and Jango after becoming a bounty hunter, apparently for much of his adult life) has none of the clan/community ties that are part of her definition and no attachment to the planet or culture of Mandalore. Ergo, he’s not Mandalorian, and rightfully-obtained armor or not, him wearing it is against their culture. And yes, Bo is being racist (something -ist, at least) when she calls Jango his “donor”, but she also has a point. There are millions of Jango Fett clones in the galaxy, and none of them were raised in Mandalorian culture or have any connection to Mandalore except DNA. Rewatching the bar scene, she doesn’t seem to have any idea who Boba is until she recognizes his voice and identifies him as a clone. Why should he or any clone deserve to wear Mandalorian armor, especially when they don’t participate in Mandalorian culture?

(the answer, obviously, is because Jango raised Boba as his son and heir and chose to pass down his armor/ship accordingly. But Bo has no reason to know this and she wouldn’t consider him Mandalorian either way, so there’s no point in Boba proving his ownership even if he cared enough about her opinion to bother.)

This also ties into the problem of the darksaber. Gideon isn’t Mandalorian, and it seems likely he obtained the sword when the Imperial Remant “glassed” the planet, so he’s not recognized as ruler of Mandalore even when he holds the darksaber. Din

Mandalorian, and he won it in combat. That’s an undeniable claim. He’s also worked with Bo multiple times, it’s not his fault that Gideon outplayed both of them, and he’s very, very good in a fight. Bo really wants that weapon to shore up her claim, but she also knows it’s not very honorable to attack an ally who didn’t ask for this, and she probably doesn’t want to risk the possibility that she might lose. She’s in a bind.

Similarly, Din really doesn’t want the darksaber or the responsibilities that go with it, but he can’t just hand it over because that’s against the Creed. Sabine did, but she never “won” the darksaber; she just picked it up out of Maul’s garbage cave, which was vague enough for everyone to accept her passing it up. (She was also probably 17 or 18 at the time and was considered a traitor by most Mandalorians, which probably helped). But Din is also very honorable; if he can’t find a way to pass the saber off, he’ll probably feel obligated to fulfill the requirements to the best of his abilities until he either does find someone else to take them or accepts them permanently (kinda like Grogu himself HMMMMMM). We already know that Din is fairly good at diplomacy from 2x01, but he’s never worked with Mandalorians outside of his clan before, so he’s got a steep learning curve.

So my guess: S3 is going to be about reuniting the disparate Mandalorian groups, all of whom have different versions of what it means to be Mandalorian, and finding some common ground. They will either attempt to retake Mandalore or find somewhere else to make a homeland, or possibly make the decision to stay dispersed. If Bo stays as a major character, we might see her trying to recruit Din into her clan to influence him; if not, she might slink off and wait to see how he does.

Something that could be cool? Din putting a lot of effort into trying to connect with other Mandalorians and Bo admitting that he’s actually doing a pretty good job, even if she wanted to do it herself! #growth for both of them. Meanwhile Boba, who again appears to not give two shits about any of this, will probably be chilling on Tatooine, maybe throwing some info or weapons Din’s way if he thinks Din actually has a shot at something. Or ignoring all of them and taking over the Hutt empire instead, who knows.

Either way, I hope we get more discussion of what happened to Mandalore, Mandalorian identity, and Mandalorian politics in S3.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #din djarin #bo katan kryze #boba fett #jango fett #children of the watch #nite owls #mandalore #mandalorians #meta #darksaber #star wars

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redheadedteatotaler · 3 years

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First and foremost, special thank you to @ladymarinenc and @tonksiefea for their help with the summaries for all the YT News vids...I very much appreciate it. There’s a lot to cover there, and I have to break the stories down over a couple of days, as Tumblr will only allow so many video links in one post...and I have some new info revealed in the Editors Notes...let’s get into it!

We have several different topics to get to today...and I’m gonna start with the one that is likely the least concerning. The Book Cancellation. In case anyone was wondering, they’re doing this to completely eliminate Cara. Not because of what Gina said, but because they’re trying to get out of paying her royalties.

RK Outpost talks about how LuciferFilms has now canceled both the Mandalorian Original Novel as well as the VisualGuide. Which does not make sense if they were just taking out Cara Dune. He pointes out that clearly the divide between Darth Kennedy the Moronic and the Favreau/Foloni Side is clear. He also shows an article about how Pedro is putting Last of Us tv show as his "Main focus" but how the article originally said he "Could" Still be in Mando not he was until it was changed and that both Darth Kennedy the Moronic and Favreau have mentioned Book of Boba Fett as "Chapter 3" of the Mandalorian and that the filming that was supposed to be in April for Mandalorian is actually the Obiwan Series. (Which is once again Darth Kennedy the Moronic putting her projects before others). It seems Darth Kennedy the Moronic does not have an understanding of where to go with from here and has lost the plot with Mandalorian.

youtube

Fans also took to the internet to voice their absolute displeasure in Cara being ignored for International Women’s Day.

Yellowflash 2 weighed in, pointing out how well we see the crap that’s going on.

On International Womens Day, Star Wars official sm pages, they posted an excerpt from Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy celebrating Leia Organa. The post read “Leia Organa’s fearless bravery, intelligence, sharp wit and commitment to fighting galactic tyranny make her an inspiration not only to the Rebellion, but to generations of SW’s fans around the world.”

Fans see right through the bull and see how hypocritical Disney is being since firing Gina Carano.

Jim Riley on Facebook wrote, “You know who else is brave, intelligent, sharp witted and committed to fighting tyranny in real life as well as on the screen?” and he posts a picture of Gina.

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And now for the big news story of the day. The shareholder’s meeting. Bob Cheapskate was asked point blank about Gina being fired, and the possibility of Darth Kathleen the Hypocritical getting fired. His answers were less than stellar for both, and the Star Wars community is in an utter uproar. They claim there’s no Civil War going on....yet Bob’s answers point to the exact opposite. Our anchors couldn’t wait to weigh in.

Drunk 3P0 had a lot to say on the subject, and he’s been around Disney’s cast members more than most.

Mr. Chapek said Tuesday in the annual shareholder meeting that he “doesn’t see Disney as characterizing itself as left-leaning or right-leaning” when responding to a shareholder who accused Hollywood and the company of a double standard in firing Gina Carano from the Mandalorian because she’s a conservative.

While not speaking about the Gina Carano incident directly, he did say “Disney stands for values that are universal: respect, decency, integrity and inclusion and we seek to have the same content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in. And I think that’s a world we should all live in harmony and peace.”

Jay has plenty of videos on his channel that show proof showing employees of Lucasfilm and how they do NOT fit into those Disney values. Behind the scenes can be much worse than we may think or Bob could just be “full of crap”.

youtube

Jeremy at The Quartering also talks about it, but goes further into the article than Jay did.

Disney stock is down almost 4%. During the question and answer portion of the meeting, Chapek confirmed that “Star Wars is dead and Lucasfilm will continue to be a stain on the company.”

When Chapek was asked, “Are you guys looking at firing KK or asking her to resign and promote somebody like Filoni or Favreau or both to the co-council?”

His response was “We’ve been absolutely thrilled that we can have the kind of creative talent in our company, the likes of kk running Lucas and we look forward to having K directing the activities of the entire Luciferfilm organization for many years to come.”

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Anna, That Star Wars Girl takes Cheapskate’s comments apart...

Anna goes through Bob Cheapskate's answer to the question about Disney having a blacklist as well as playing the clip of the question about Gina that was asked and Cheapskate's answer. She went through the parts of Cheapskate's answer and how it was lies directly disproving the points and once again showing Gina's tweet as about the German topics as well as Auschwitz Memorial's tweet and Pedro's Tweets about MAGA hats.

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Because Tumblr will only allow 5 videos per post, the news about the shareholder’s meeting will be featured for the next few days. I actually like the fact that I can’t bombard you all at once, as it gives people time to process the information in each video, and not have so much on their plate.

Also, starting tomorrow, some categories will be renamed, and the new categories will start to be a part of the newsletter.

I apologize that this one is so short, but I want to give everyone the chance to wrap their heads around what happened, and not have other stuff be overlooked.

Til next time!

#gina carano #the carano files

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dragontamer-nia-2 · 4 years

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Olivier [Beyblade theories on crack]

Welcome to my random rants about random beyblade things. I have a lot of things to say about the Euro Team and how tragically underestimated and undervalued they are, as characters, but also as very smart plot devices, so in these posts I'm gonna pick a fight with the writers and yell at clouds while probably drunk. If you want a trip, and you think you don't like the Euro team, then jump on.

This guy.

I love this guy.

This guy is great and I swear to god they knew what they were doing when they decided when and how to introduce him.

So, from the encounter at the top of the Eiffel Tower in ep 33 we know that this guy is mysterious and that he blades; he randomly starts roasting the Bladebreakers unprovoked, which is always fun, but fucks off before anything interesting can happen. What the writers decided to do in the next episode was split up the team, and have them find out more about Olivier separately: since everywhere they go they meet someone that has at least heard of him, we can't help but feel that this guy is kind of a big deal. From Max we learn that he's bloody rich, from Rei we learn that he's a great cook, from them both (when two guys conveniently share the information right in front of them… anime logic) we learn that he's the best blader in France, and from Takao and Kyouju we learn that he likes art, and… prepare your tinfoil hats, guys, because we're going deep.

The thing is, we know this guy is manipulative, and we know it because he offers Takao lunch in his own super expensive restaurant to distract him from the fact that he just ruined hundreds of people's day. Kyouju even points out that something's wrong when he sees Takao go into the Louvre absolutely furious at Olivier, and then sees them come out like buddies. We also know it because… come on guys, have you seen his face? Have you seen his evil smirk? He's a walking troll face. It's like the animators want us to not trust him. And yet, every background character seemingly adores him, even though we don't really get a specific reason why.

I mean… this is a kids show, I know. And the writing is messy most of the times. But this guy. This guy is shady as fuck. You can take him at face value and assume he's a well-meaning asshole, completely oblivious to normal interpersonal relationships, living in rich people's world where he can just do whatever the fuck he wants. Or. He could be one bad day away from being a chaotic-evil type of supervillain, because it's almost like he's doing everything he possibly can to lure and provoke Takao into battle while holding the façade of smiles and politeness. And the funny thing is that Takao doesn't even notice his intimidation attempts (while Kyouju falls for them at every step)

But, exactly, how manipulative is he? And, more importantly, is he even aware of it? Let's assume the worst about him for a second, that everything he did and said had the purpose to push buttons and provoke a reaction. Then just in episode 34 we have the following:

- He reserves the whole Louvre knowing that the Bladebreakers were going around famous tourists attractions

- He immediately interrupts Takao and makes him waste time on honorifics before letting him speak

- He invites Takao and Kyouju, two guys clearly not dressed for the occasion and who probably don't know proper etiquette, to his high class, really expensive restaurant, serves them delicious food he cooked himself, and even implies that he could kick everyone else out if he wanted to

- He namedrops that one guy from Team Who, in a conversation that really wasn't going in that direction, and then uses the bait to imply that he's much stronger than those guys, knowing fully well that Takao was having a hard time the previous day against them

- He basically corners Takao into battling in the middle of a fucking public park, knowing that there are a lot of people around and everyone wants to see the French champion battle

Now. The thing is, I can't prove he's the Machiavellian mastermind I suspect him to be, and the only way this whole thing works is that, in this episode, Olivier somehow got Takao and Kyouju alone and the rest of the team (Kai in particular) is not there to call Olivier out on his bullshit.

On the Eiffel Tower, at the very end of ep 33, Olivier did mention, among other things, that he has unresolved business with Team Who, and it's Kai that questions him to get more information. And what does Olivier do? He immediately cuts him off with "none of your business" and basically flees. We even get a reaction shot of Kai. Afterwards, Kai goes around trying to find out more information about Olivier on his own, and spies on the battle unseen. What's going on here? Well, Kai is not like his teammates, he's not naive, he knows what manipulation looks like and I think Olivier realizes it. That's why Olivier doesn't even try to play dumb with him like he does with basically everyone else, and that's why Kai circumvents the problem by playing bully with random kids instead of trying to confront him directly.

And I know all of this may be "chemicals are making the frogs gay" level tinfoil, but come on, just look at Olivier's reaction when Takao barges into the Louvre and somehow finds him. What does he looks like he's thinking?

At the end, it doesn't really matter, because Olivier doesn't win like he expects. Granted, at this point he can't lose - because the arc has just begun and Takao needs to work harder, and because Olivier already shit-talked Team Who in two different occasions while the writers want them to be a legit threat for the Bladebreakers. But Olivier can't win either, because we're already at the end of episode 34, we have three teams to juggle, and Takao can't keep losing and having to fight against the same people the whole arc. So they tie… and Olivier is shook. He miscalculated. For some reason this guy, this clueless, impulsive idiot, didn't lose immediately and neatly like he expected. And since Olivier does have honor, and respects people stronger than him, he immediately changes his tone, shuts down the peasants that don't understand these kind of things, and he starts treating Takao like an actual person (kinda).

Option A) Oh, what's this guy doing here while the Louvre should be closed?

Option B) How lucky, I caught him alone

One thing that stands out, though, is that he is the one member of the Euro Team who never loses. They had reasons to make his fight with Takao a tie, but why did they make him tie with Rei? Although I do have my own little theory about this, I noticed that he's the only member of the Euro Team that actually has other things going on in his life other than beyblade. The guy is rich, he is very interested in art, he works as a chef and wins culinary competitions. The fact that he's probably a bored psychopath is balanced by the fact that he seems to have his personal life together, he doesn't put his whole worth into spinning tops clashing against each other, and he has the self-confidence to admit when he was wrong. Which is… more than we say about the other European guys.

So, I'm thinking, because this is called Beyblade theories on crack after all, and there's too much reasonable stuff in this post so far… maybe the writers wanted to use the Euro Team to make a point about not winning, and being ok with it, and they really couldn't make it with the Bladebreakers because they are the protagonists. They can't lose - not permanently. Olivier doesn't win, twice, and… he's shook that he miscalculated, he seems to be honestly confused, his whole drive is not winning, but understand what's going on. That's why he sends the Bladebreakers to Giancarlo, that's why he convinces him to bring them to Ralf, he does want to study Takao, and… is he using the rest of the Euro Team as guinea pigs? Or did he notice something that's missing in them, and subconsciously wants to fix it?

Here's my hot take, and the conclusion to this dumb post. Olivier is not aware of his own machinations. He's a natural manipulator and he has a talent to read people or get info out of them, and he mainly does this by playing dumb and wait until people scream at him who they are and what they want. He reads the Euro Team, he reads the Bladebreakers, and realizes one thing: they could help each other. He baits Takao with the prospect of more beybattles and then follows him to see what happens. If it's chaos, good, if it's some life lesson, better. He manages to get Giancarlo on board and the both of them, combined with Takao, eventually get to Ralf. But what Olivier doesn't realize is that the very thing that he is subconsciously asking Giancarlo, Johnny, and Ralf to fix, is their inability to lean on other people, their skeptical and wary natures, their need to be perfect, without weaknesses, in the eyes of the world; and if Olivier was aware of his own machinations he would have realized sooner that, all this time, all he wanted was to have friends. And if I’m right about anything about this, then the writers will have done a good job with at least one member of the Euro Team, because it’s not only a fucking genius way to introduce the arc, the team, and the theme, but he’s also a damn good character.

I love this guy.

#beyblade #bakuten shoot beyblade #olivier boulanger #euro team #beyblade theories on crack #but wait #there's more #I'm just waltzing into the fandom with posts no one asked for #but I'm rewatching beyblade 2001 and it's a blast #also sorry if I made mistakes #english is not my first language #and i'm drunk and tired

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ameliyaahn3 · 3 years

Note

Sorry for the formatting, I’m on mobile.

🖇 Hi, can I please request male matchups for One Punch Man and My Hero Academia? Thank you!

I’m a grey/demisexual, panromantic girl. I’m over 18, I’ m an ENFP though I feel like I’m 50/50 extroverted and introverted. I’m 5’5, full of snark and sass. I like to wear clothes ai can move in, though my usual wear is sneakers, jeans, a tank top and a jacket if it’s cold. I’m assertive and until people get to know me, I can come off as aggressive and angry/grumpy. I’m extremely opinionated and get outspoken about my beliefs. I’m very smart but I will need a while to process new information and see how that new information interacts and intersects with what I already know. I have a strong sense of right and wrong, and not afraid of conflict. Am ready to throw down at the drop of a hat and even though I’m on the smaller side I *will* kick someone’s ass. I have very few friends, but the ones I do have are especially close to me.

My major fear in life is that I won’t live up to my full potential. A word that I like, if it doesn’t have to be in English, is the Japanese word/name ‘mamoru’ which means to defend/to protect.

My favorite color is red, and I like silver and cool colors secondly. I love action and super hero movies, and I hate most romance movies/love triangles in shows. I love sci-fi too. I can be pretty insightful and observant despite what most people think, as I do come off as a loner or oblivious on occasion. I hate corruption, double standards and fake people. The most important quality I value in myself, and others is loyalty.

I’m an Aries sun with an Aquarius moon. I like savory foods and my favorite is steak. My favorite time of day is evening, and my love languages are physical touch and quality time. Fun facts are I’m very good at playing the Imposter in Among us, I’ve played piano, clarinet, and baritone and I’d like to learn a string instrument at some point. If there’s a I’ve been told by two separate people that my aura color is creamsicle/bright orange. My favorite bands are the emo-trinity, and one of my favorite songs is Trouble by Neon Jungle. My favorite anime of all time is Kill la Kill. Hope this enough info ❤️

A/n : Don't worry for formating i'm on mobile too ! AND I'M SORRY TO ANSWER YOUR ASK SO LATE LIKE YOU HAD TO WAIT A MONTH ?!

One punch man >>>

I match you with...

Speed o Sound Sonic

Less than five min to match you two lol.

Like I think you're pretty much his type in a matter of style or personality.

The first time you met it was chaos, like you two probably argued about something as you are very opiniated. But at least you didn't scared each other by being agressive like it would usually with more sensitive people.

Sonic is pretty impulsive when it comes to takes decision but that doesn't mean he's not smart, I think he's pretty decent in his reflexion when he's not attending to kill Saitame at all it cost... When comes new information he process to treat them faster, what makes him pretty resourceful and so your two methods complete each others and gives you a little bit of intellectual challenge when they're confronted.

Likes that you aren't a people pleaser that goes to befriend everyone and capable to kick his ass when he's being an idiot.

You're not even that small beside him, like the height difference is 9cm. Sonic feel tall but not enough to mess with you about it.

"Mamoru" is a word that he would like too and don't worry about live your life to your fullest with him cause he would never let that happen ! If you want something he would push you for it !

Actions movies are is favorite so far since he integrated a "normal" japanese society, doesn't like romance ones too but sci-fi doesn't takes that much his interest, I likely see him sleep during them.

The tsundere he is founded recomfort in your oblivious facade but once he knew about your hiden obsvervative nature it became his worst nightmare : When he would believe that he can let his guard down and that you won't see if he let somes evidence about if he's doing something subtly romantic or that he admit again slightly have feelings for you, you would caught him out off guard and point out with a lot of sass how he is such a tsundere.

Sonic is very loyal, but you will have to proove him first that you are to him.

He doesn't have an official birthday but I'm pretty sure his chart is strongly influenced by either Aries or Sagittarius. He got strong vibes in my opinion.

Your touch makes him flustered but I do think he's into physical touch as a love language and act of services even if he whines and act as a tsundere before doing something for you.

Sonic probably sucks at playing Among Us so he takes it even worse than he would notmally do that you're a good impo' and just rage whenever you are one.

Is in love with your aura brighter than his.

Also is secretely admirative of your musicals skills, likes when you play clarinet or piano except that he's not a fan or baritone.

Kill la Kill is definitely an anime that I could see him enjoy so you can rewatch with him without any problem.

Nothing is forced in your relationship so you two goes at the rythm that you want. No pressure.

A lot of laugh and fun, even if Sonic lives as a bandit, I can see two as partner in crime or you as the one that bring him kn the right path, your choice !

Try to doesn't involve you in his problem and makes some times for both of you.

Sonic never let you in his home as he changes often and literaly live in an abandonned area, a dirty place really that you don't deserve to live in and him neither but he don't care about himself.

So always it's at your place if you want to being at home with him.

He's researched so you two can't date often but you does watch the town together on the rooftop of higher buildings.

Others potential matchs :

Tatsumaki.

My hero Academia >>>

I match you with...

Dabi

Oh God. Here we have a pretty explosive combination.

Honestly, he won't like you and likes you at the same time the first time you will met.

He likes your style and doesn't mind the way you can come as agressive at first but does dislike how opiniated you can be, like it's a bit too much for him. It's a pros and your cons at the same time but the worst I think is if you impose your opinion to him, like girl... he would literaly eject you.

But as you're opiniated you're aren't afraid to speak for yourself and you're able to debate at least to defend your opinion. I definitely can't see him with someone that doesn't bother to think about the our society at least a little bit.

Dabi probably makes fun of how slow it can be for you taking decision and analyzing situatuon but does respect it as sometimes things can't always be resolved in the second and that usually your reflexions are pretty accurate and goes more further than his. He's not dumb but definitely a man of action.

I know you're against corruption im sorry but I likely see Dabi try to corrupt your beliefs of right and wrong in a playful way, he doesn't force you to anything but jokes about how you're idealistic and so innocent. This isn't the same type of corruption but yeah...

Besides that he's admirative of your strong sense of justice, unlike others heroes you're sincere about it.

And don't hesit to kick some ass, even his. You're not afraid to makes enemies or disagree and that does makes you an honest person in Dabi eyes.

Doesn't understand how you can be afraid to live your life to your fullest and would likely tell you to do what you want to do and don't care about others.

He's very protective of you so he doesn't like to meet you outside and like Sonic is loyal whenever you are. You need to gain his trust.

You're so much brighter than him it hurts, you're his dose of light in his darker world.

He would notice your secret obsvervative nature quicker than anybody else and wouldn't even be surprised if you notice a lot of things about him that he didn't know himself. Actually I even think that in your relationship you would think of him as the careless one when he is for real but a lot less with you.

I'm pretty sure that the fact that you're not someone into romance is something is glad about like... this isn't is thing at all and so it's isn't yours too you don't except him to be very romantic what he's totally not.

This man would understand his feelings toward you after a while like you two can wait more than 8 months like this if nothing confront him to realize his strong attachement to you.

So you know know how he is please let him breathe and do not takes initiative of physical affection in public if it's not a very slight one or that he's not in a playful mood.

Can always dream of a proper date.

Others potential matchs :

Himiko Toga, Kyoka Jirou.

#one punch man #my hero academia #mha #dabi #sonic opm #matchup #matchups

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hellamaidburlington · 3 years

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10 Quick Cleaning Tips That Everyone Should Know

It can feel like everything is working against you when it comes to keeping your house clean. We've all experienced it: no matter how many times you tell your children to pick up their clothes, they never do. Dishes pile up in the sink, stacks of paper and bills cascade across the kitchen table, and the clutter of daily life begins to overrun your home. It's enough to drive even the most sane person insane!

But here's the thing: there are some tried-and-true methods for keeping your home clean and organised.

When it comes to keeping things nice and orderly, it's all about developing healthy habits – small everyday actions go a long way. And, best of all, you won't have to waste time cleaning your house on Sunday if you adopt these daily cleaning habits and tricks.

So, if you've been envious of those elusive people whose homes are always spotless, it's time to put these cleaning tips to use.

1) Always Make Your Bed

Making your bed in the morning is an excellent way to begin the day. Not only will your bedroom appear cleaner right away, but you'll feel a burst of productive energy that will last the rest of the day. It only takes 30 seconds to make your bed, and it gives you a mental boost – what's not to like?

2) If You Get Something Out, Put It Away

Doesn't it appear to be simple? When you've finished with something, return it to its original location.

However, as most of us know, this does not always occur. And, while it may take some getting used to, enforcing this rule with yourself and your family members will result in a significantly cleaner home.

Consider it this way: if you consistently put things away in the moment, you won't have to spend as much time cleaning!

3) Don’t Let the Mail Pile Up

This is something we're all guilty of! It may seem easier to just let the mail pile up and deal with it later, but you'll end up spending far more time sorting through it than is necessary. Rather, devise a mail/paperwork system that works for you and your family and stick to it. Whatever the case may be.

4) Take Out the Trash When You Leave

Don't leave the garbage out all day – take it out as soon as you leave the house in the morning or as soon as you walk out to your car.

Getting into the habit of taking out the trash and recycling every day before leaving the house will keep things smelling fresh and prevent garbage pileup.

5) Clean Your Toilet & Spray Your Shower With Cleaner At Night

Take a few extra minutes to clean your toilet and spray your shower cleaner while you're doing your nightly bathroom routine. Clean the toilet seat with a wipe as well. In between deep cleaning sessions, taking the time to do so will keep your toilet clean.

6) Rehang Clothing That You Wore at the End of the Day

This is another one of those habit-forming tasks that takes only a few minutes to complete, but many of us fail to do it. Refrain from tossing your clothes around your room! Put it in the hamper or hang it back up in the closet.

This is the one room in your house that is most likely to be overlooked, but it is also the most important (nothing is more important than sleep!) Rehanging your clothes at the end of the day will help your bedroom feel like a cosy, comfortable palace. If you also make an effort to never let unfolded laundry into your bedroom, you'll get bonus points.

7) Brush Your Pets at Least Once Every Other Day

We can't emphasise this point enough if you have a dog, a cat, or multiple pets. Brushing your pets at least every other day will keep hair from accumulating in every corner of your home. This will not only save you time vacuuming, but it will also limit the amount of dander or other allergens brought into the house by your furry friends.

8) Clean Your Counters & Wipe Down Surfaces Daily

Nothing beats a spotless countertop for creating a neat and orderly atmosphere in your home. While watching Netflix, wipe down your coffee table, clean the surfaces in your bathroom while getting ready in the morning, and wipe down your counters and stovetop before going to bed each night.

Trust us when we say that waking up to gleaming clean surfaces will make your day!

9) Empty / Fill Dishwasher While Waiting For Your Coffee to Brew

Every homeowner despises emptying and loading the dishwasher. We postpone it until they pile up in the sink.

You can save a lot of time by working on this while you're brewing coffee, waiting for toast, or doing anything else for breakfast. While you're waiting, why don't you do something productive?

Your dishes will not pile up and sit in the sink all day if you do it this way. Also, you won't have to do the dishes at the end of the day when you're exhausted.

10) Clean As You Cook

This simple tip may appear to be insignificant, but it has the potential to change your life. When you're preparing dinner, make an effort to clean up as you go.

While the pasta water is boiling, put clean dishes away, wash pots and pans as soon as you're done using them, and clean any prep work before sitting down to eat. Cleanup is a breeze with this method!

Keep in mind that you should replace your dish towel(s) every few days to avoid cross-contamination. (And let's not even talk about that filthy sponge.

Hellamaid values our place in the Burlington community, living and working alongside Burlington residents every day. We consider each and every client as our own neighbors and take as much pride in your home as you do. We love calling Burlington home and enjoy providing quality, affordable cleaning services throughout the community. For more info about House Cleaning Burlington, then visit our website.

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the-good-noodle-kf · 4 years

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Redacted (First) Impressions

My Saiou Winter Exchange Gift for @evil-muffins

Prompt: Pre-game fic, angsty w/ a side of fluff

Hope you like c:

Life has no meaning.

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“My name is ******* ***. My audition number is three-hundred fifty-one.”

“I’m… always looked down on and.. I probably deserve it. So, I thought, fuck my memories huh? It’s not like I care about anyone. Just… I don’t want to be weak anymore. I want to be rewritten as someone less weak. Maybe I could be someone to look up to, like a leader. But, it doesn’t matter what I am; I’m desperate, and isn’t that what you want from people? People so desperate that they’ll willingly offer their lives away to become part of a killing game?”

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Every day is a string of bland pointless blurs that bleed into the next like watercolor paint.

So, why not make life as interesting as possible?

Kokichi Oma stares blankly. He presses down on the lit power button of his computer monitor, effectively shutting it off. It’s done. That’s it. The chance that they’ll consider him is low, but maybe they - Team Danganronpa - will find value in him that no one else has. He barely got a submission number. It took hours of staying awake, eyes peeled, staring at the stinging blue light of the screen until he requested an audition as fast as he possibly could. Even still, he ended up with number three-hundred fifty-one. He wonders how someone could possibly get the first audition.

Applying for Danganronpa has become much more… commonplace, ever since they began using simulation technology. As strange as it may seem, not everyone is exactly willing to stake their lives on a show, but for some, their memories are a small price to pay for becoming a part of the show. Though it might also have something to do with the prize money, Oma doesn’t care much about that. He’s omniscient enough to know that he definitely doesn’t have a very high self-worth… or self-preservation for that matter, but it’s not like he can change that just from being aware of it.

II.

School is boring.

Each additional day of school he's feeling more tired and drained, regardless of how much he falls asleep in class. What is the point of working if he has nothing to work towards?

III.

Shuichi Saihara.

It’s the name of his new coworker… the one he’s supposed to be training. Oma’s worked at the place for not even a year, yet his boss says he’s qualified to teach the boy that was hired just a few days ago.

“Thank you for shopping! Have a great day!” He repeats his response, with his cyclic forced smile bridging his cheeks. It’s almost robotic, in how habitual and automatic it’s become after saying it to every single customer once they’ve paid. He looks to Saihara once the little bell on the door rings, signaling the exit of the customer, and he’s back to his normal expression. It’s not a frown, but it’s definitely not a smile either. “And that’s it. Did you want to try?” he offers, not really sure himself.

Saihara’s staring at him closely, like he doesn’t know what to make of him, but yet he still startles at the response. His brows furrow together but he does nod, so Oma moves aside and lets Saihara stand in front of the register instead. Saihara mumbles as he looks down at the keys, “I wonder why...”

Oma tilts his head at the unfinished sentence as he assesses Saihara. He’s taller than him, and he seems nervous. Oma can also see that he’s good looking, but he probably isn’t a very popular or outgoing person, judging by his mannerisms.

IV.

Working is… habitual for Oma. It’s not that he particularly hates it, and he does make money, but he only does it because he knows that he’d otherwise be doing legitimately nothing, and doing something at least makes him feel a little better about himself. Regardless of how much he dreads being a functional human being in general, he has to - he has to because he’s terrified of what will happen if he stops.

“Ah, Oma-kun,”

Oma looks over with curiosity at the other as he restocks shelves. It’s only the two of them right now. There haven’t been many customers because of the cold, dreary weather. It’s also a Monday, so people are too busy working or at afterschool activities to have any need to stop at the relatively small convenience store.

“Your cheek…” Saihara trails off, scratching his wrist, and Oma reflexively lifts his hand and brushes his fingers over the scrape, reminding him of it with a slight sting.

He lifts up the corners of his cheeks, walls raising, “hmmmm?”

“W-wait, I have-” Saihara cuts himself off as he runs off into the employee’s only door. It’s a little room with a few tiny lockers that Oma throws his school bag in on the days he comes straight from school. Saihara comes back with a bag of his own and huh- Oma didn’t expect Saihara to have so many Danganronpa pins, or any really; there’s a little Monokuma keychain hanging from one of the zippers too. He raises his eyebrows and even smiles a little bit at the thought of someone else liking what he likes, but it’s smothered by the fear of being known, of showing who he really is, and Saihara is oblivious to all this as he tugs a band-aid out of the front pocket and hands it to Oma.

It’s like his mind fizzles like a burnt-out lightbulb for a second when Saihara, instead of just handing him the band-aid like a normal person, envelops Oma’s hand with his own and deposits the band-aid with the other. Oma’s sure that’s not normally how people give other people band-aids, or anything, but the feeling of Saihara’s shockingly warm hand is gone as quick as it arrived when he releases him and smiles. Oma’s even more embarrassed because he actually briefly considered if Saihara was a warm or cold hands person, which isn’t normal, because who does that? Who thinks about their co-worker’s hand temperature - who he doesn’t really know, but seems really nice, if handing him a band-aid could be considered a point of reference.

Oma’s not even sure what tangent his mind is going off on this time, so he looks down in his hand at the band-aid and sees that - huh, it’s got Kyoko Kirigiri on it. He must’ve mumbled her name aloud because Saihara gasps and has an expression that almost reminds Oma of a dog wagging its tail. “You watch Danganronpa?” Saihara grabs his hands again, and Oma knows he can’t blame his blush on anything else but Saihara if questioned.

He squeaks out an “mhm,” and tries to look back at the band-aid that’s now fallen on the floor after Saihara grabbed his hands, and he ends up just looking at their hands. Why is he so focused on Saihara holding his hands?

Saihara lets go and runs to put his bag away again, at least, that’s what Oma assumes. It gives him a moment to pick the band-aid up off the floor and come to realize why, in fact, Saihara handed him the band-aid in the first place. ...Does he… expect me to put this band-aid on my face?

...But, it would be rude not to. So he opens the band-aid and sticks it on his face, approximating where he puts the cottony part over the place on his face that’s stinging the most when he brushes his finger over it. It wasn’t even bleeding, but Saihara practically beams when he comes back, and the rest of his shift goes by like a fog. He’s not really able to focus on anything after experiencing that - he was completely unprepared.

VI.

Oma isn’t sure why he keeps thinking about Saihara. He’s ashamed of himself. Why does he keep going back to the feeling of Saihara’s hands on his? It was completely… platonic? Except Oma doesn’t think that word works either, because there’s no way him and Saihara are friends, even if they’ve spent a total of fifteen hours together total since he met Saihara three days ago; he’s known him three days, and already, he has some dumb, crush, or something. He doesn’t know what to do with it, and having not had any physical contact that wasn’t bodily damaging with someone in as many years as he can remember, isn’t helping him. He groans aloud as he face-plants into the open textbook on his mattress. He wouldn’t call it a bed, since it has no sheets and sits on the floor instead of being sandwiched between a bed frame.

He peers over to the side of his resting place where his little trash can is and of course, there’s the band-aid that he peeled from his cheek immediately after getting back from work last night - not home, he’s never “home” when he’s here - and of course everything he looks at is reminding him of the boy.

He’s not supposed to do this - to want to be held; he’s not a damn child. He definitely can’t count the number of times he’s thought about Saihara hugging him on one hand. He’s not supposed to do this.

For one of many times, he wonders why he’s like this. Why is he like this?

VII.

Oma’s something of a… target, at school. He fits the parameters perfectly; he’s small, short, effeminate, generally weak, quiet. It’s nothing dramatic like being beaten up within the school, luckily. It’s the little things, like being tripped in the hallways by an upperclassmen’s ‘conveniently’ outstretched foot and then snickered at, having a book of his be hung high above his head, out of his reach, by another student until he repeated whatever idiotic thing they wanted him to say, the occasional mockery, his belongings getting stolen when he’s not looking, being chosen as the designated monkey in the middle as his belongings are tossed between two guys that think they’re the absolute pinnacle of comedy, and various other meaningless things he deals with.

School is something he can handle, though.

VIII.

“Oma-kun.” Saihara ducks his head as he pushes his phone into Oma’s hands. It’s open on the contacts screen, and Oma stares at it for a second, the unfilled contact info, before realizing it’s Saihara’s roundabout way of asking him for his number. He smiles a little and Saihara’s eyes widen, his expression becoming pretty serious as he takes in Oma’s grin.

Oma doesn’t realize he’s smiling until Saihara points it out, “You’re smiling.”

Even though he’s a little self-conscious now it’s been acknowledged, he still nods, and smiles even wider; he hands the phone back to Saihara, his number in place.

IX.

He wishes he could handle being home as well as he can handle school.

Saihara texts Oma a lot.

He’s constantly sending messages about anything and everything, especially Danganronpa. As Oma reads through he wonders if Saihara just texts him every time he thinks something. It doesn’t bother him though; every time he gets a new message he smiles in a way that he would deny if he were face to face with Saihara.

It’s a little weird, but hearing Saihara’s thoughts and theories and opinions is so interesting. Oma really hopes Saihara doesn’t get discouraged by his own lack of response. He doesn’t ignore him, but his replies are far and few between - things like little smile emotes and one-word responses. He doesn’t exactly know how to reply otherwise.

He can’t help but feel hesitant. Talking about his own opinions makes him feel self-centered and narcissistic, and he wants to be anything but that. What if Saihara thinks that he turns everything around to make it about himself? Saihara probably doesn’t want to hear what he has to say anyway… Oma’s come to accept the fact that people don’t want to hear what he has to say, so he stays quiet.

That doesn’t stop him from reading all of Saihara’s messages over again and grinning secretively under his blanket.

XI.

Saihara invites him over the next day. It’s Sunday, and neither of them is scheduled at work, so Oma accepts.

Getting ready is nerve-wracking for Oma, because he can’t remember the last time he had a friend to hang out with. It’s such a “normal people” thing to do - leisurely spend the day with friends. It’s a thing that feels so out of the ordinary to someone like Oma. He puts on a long sleeve shirt but then changes out of it after his nervousness makes his body temperature rise, and the sleeves feel a little too tight and warm. He puts it on again because of how bare his arms feel in a T-shirt and maneuvers around the floor and out the door before he can change his mind or before his aunt notices his presence.

The first impression Oma has of Saihara’s living space is that it’s quiet. It’s also pretty neat and ordinary, and Saihara makes no mention of any parents or relatives which leaves Oma feeling a little curious.

The day is surreal. He and Saihara talk and watch some of the earlier seasons of Danganronpa while eating some artificial tasting junk food, and it’s fun. It’s so fun. He’s shocked about how natural it feels, spending time with the other boy. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt so content, ever had a true, genuine smile on his face for so long - ever had someone else have such a genuine smile on their face in return.

Saihara asks him things and he answers them, because if he’s asked, then he can talk about himself. Oma’s glad that Saihara wants to know about him just as much as he wants to learn about Saihara.

He wants it to last, and there’s a twisting feeling in his chest because he’s already convinced that it won’t.

When Oma gets back, it’s late enough that he has to sneak in through his window - the apartment is on the ground floor, and the screen already has holes torn into it that make it easy to reach in and remove before placing it back and latching it in. The brass latch reminds him of the color of Shuichi’s eyes as he locks it - Oma’s not sure when Saihara became Shuichi - and he’s so caught up in Shuichi, and talking to Shuichi, that he jumps when a door slams, shaking all thoughts of his day out of his mind.

XII.

Oma doesn’t know what to do. The day after visiting Saihara had been one of the worse ones recently, and Shuichi catches onto it through his messages somehow and asks him if he’s okay of all things.

And Oma replies, “why?”

Oma doesn’t know what to do when Shuichi Saihara sends him the five-word message, “because I care about you…”

No one cares about him. That’s just how things are. There’s no way Saihara actually cares about him. Why would he?

XIII.

If Shuichi cares about him, then why couldn’t his parents?

XIV.

He’s not exactly sure when he and Shuichi became friends, but he supposes it happened somewhere between Shuichi making it known that he was generally concerned for Oma’s well being, (that’s never happened to him before; have someone be concerned? About him? The ridiculous idea rolls around in Oma’s head like an optimistic interposition), Oma realizing that on his days off, he’d long for Shuichi’s presence, and their countless messages to each other that make the longing a little more bearable.

It’s new to Oma. He’s never… craved the company of another. It makes him feel pathetic, but also… kind of lonely.

It makes the moments when he’s around Shuichi all the better.

XV.

He becomes Kokichi to Shuichi. Being addressed by his given name, despite giving Shuichi his explicit permission, makes Kokichi feel giddy.

XVI.

School isn’t so bad… especially on the days that Shuichi takes the train over so they can walk home together.

Side by side.

Hand in hand.

XVII.

He wants to kiss Shuichi.

XVIII.

Kokichi’s room is a less depressing place when he has Shuichi to sneak in. The two of them waste time by watching movies on Kokichi’s computer or playing board games that Shuichi carried in.

XIX.

Shuichi speaks up from behind the register when the store is devoid of customers. “I noticed…” he starts, scratching at his wrist, and Kokichi looks up to make eye contact “at first, you always had this smile on, but it was just pretend…”

Kokichi doesn’t have time to react before Shuichi’s continuing his train of thought.

“But when I asked for your phone number, you had a different smile for the first time. It made me really happy to see that I made you smile for real…” Shuichi fumbles with his hands, but Kokichi doubts that Shuichi’s more embarrassed than he is after hearing something so… sentimental.

XX.

Shuichi’s favorite thing about Kokichi may be seeing him smile, but Kokichi’s favorite thing about Shuichi is feeling his warm arms enveloping him when they hug.

Kokichi’s feelings have escalated so much that he’s drowning in them, and he doesn’t ever want to come up for air.

XXI.

Oma’s long sleeves usually hide the finger-sized bruises on his arms, but he can’t hide the ones around his neck.

Shuichi goes on high alert as he shuts the door behind them. It is the first time he’s seeing where Kokichi lives - besides when he snuck into Kokichi’s window with snacks to watch a movie on his computer - but it isn’t the time to take notice of the dilapidated state of the furniture and wallpaper. All he can focus on is the alarming marks on Kokichi’s neck that look like someone shoved him up against a wall and didn’t let him breathe for who knows how long. “What happened?" Concerned, he reaches a hand out to gesture and Oma flinches.

Oma wants to tell him, “I forgot to lock the door, so my aunt got mad,” because, she didn’t want him to begin with, it’s not her fault she got stuck with him after his parents left. He wasn’t wanted. At least he had somewhere to sleep, his aunt would tell him, and Oma thought she was right.

But he can’t tell him that, because that would mean seeing the look in Shuichi’s eyes as he realizes Kokichi is a burden to him too.

“It’s nothing,” he deflects.

It’s silent as Saihara mumbles, but in a way that’s loud enough to hear, “I knew something was off when we first met. When you got so guarded about how you got that scrape on your cheek. I thought maybe someone was bullying you at school, but after we started walking together, I knew that wasn’t the case.”

Oma shrinks back, but Saihara keeps going.

“I didn’t push it at the time, because it was none of my business, but… was it… your guardian?”

He says “guardian” because Oma hasn’t spoken a word to him about his aunt. But the silence is Shuichi’s answer.

“Kokichi, you have to tell someone- you can’t just let them-” let them what? Give him what he deserves? He’s a problem child. A burden. A -

“I can’t.” Saihara doesn’t understand. Oma doesn’t even have it that bad. It could be so much worse, and he can stick it out for a few more years, can’t he?

A failure. “It won’t get better if you don’t report this!”

Oma avoids his eyes. “Shut up.”

A mistake. “I’m trying to help,” he says pleadingly, desperately.

“Maybe I don’t want your help! I’m not some problem that you have to solve Saihara!”

Saihara’s lips thin and when Oma expects him to retaliate he just - leaves. He turns around and runs off, shutting the door behind him.

It’s only after he’s gone and Oma is standing in the middle of the quiet, empty room that Oma is encompassed in the feeling of absolute dread.

XXII.

Saihara doesn’t show up for work the next day. Oma feels guilt gnawing at him during his shift, because it’s all his fault. He shouldn’t have pushed Saihara away. He texts him “sorry” and “can we talk?” through budding tears and hopes Saihara can forgive him.

XXIII.

He hasn’t texted him back anything in the past forty-eight hours, so Oma sighs and lets his feelings pour out in a long message when Saihara doesn’t answer his call. He tells him that he’s sorry, and that he doesn’t want Saihara to hate him.

XXIV.

The water cup he filled the night before has an almost stale taste to it in the morning, but Oma drinks it anyway because his throat is dry, and he can’t summon the energy to get up even though he’s been sleeping for the past thirteen hours. He’s still tired once he sets the cup down so he scrolls mindlessly through his past messages to and from Saihara before staring at Saihara’s last message to him, before their fight. He hasn’t said anything since.

He doesn’t go to school; he’s already sleeping again by the time it starts and he’s too preoccupied to care.

XXV.

With no reply, Oma gets worried really quickly. It’s unlike Saihara to completely… cut him off. He at least figured Saihara would reject his apology upfront instead of hiding away and giving him the silent treatment.

His chest makes that twisting feeling again and he feels unbearably nauseous when he goes to Saihara’s apartment and no one opens the door. There’s not even the telltale sound of footsteps towards the door to signal someone checking who’s there.

It’s like no one’s home.

He sits curled up in his blankets and practically spams Saihara with messages of “please answer me” and “tell me that you’re okay” but Saihara answers none of them. He’s sweating, and heaving, and he doesn’t care if Saihara hates him, he only wants him to say something. Oma needs a reply so he doesn’t keep panicking like he is now, thinking something happened to Saihara; he feels sick, and he can’t stop thinking about it.

XXVI.

Oma tries to rationalize. Saihara doesn’t have any family, and after Oma shut him out, maybe he simply… left. Just because he disappeared doesn’t mean something bad happened.

But, Oma thinks, what if something bad did happen. What if Saihara was abducted - or - or - killed? The thought of Saihara being dead makes Oma so uncomfortable; his throat feels like it’s closing up and it’s hard to swallow his own saliva. He’s growing more and more anxious each day he shows up to work and Saihara isn’t there beside him, despite being scheduled.

XXVII.

The metal of the buttons and zipper on his clothes feel especially cold against his skin as he gets ready for school. He probably looks terrible, but he can’t find it in himself to worry about that.

He has more important things to worry about.

Saihara is more important.

XXVIII.

Oma remembers sending in his Danganronpa application and thinks, this would be the perfect time to forget everything I’ve ever cared about, but then, what if Saihara comes back?

He wants Saihara to come back.

He wants to say sorry for shutting him out when he shouldn’t have.

He wants to have more long conversations about whatever comes to mind.

He wants to see Saihara smile at him again.

He wants to sit next to Saihara and watch movies for hours on end.

He wants to feel Saihara’s hands on his like that day when Saihara gave him that stupid Kirigiri band-aid.

He wants Saihara to forgive him.

XXIX.

His aunt makes him feel worthless.

XXX.

He should’ve kissed him when he had the chance.

XXXI.

Oma lies in his unmade bed, staring up at the ceiling, phone in hand.

It’s been over a week.

Why hasn’t Saihara replied to him? How can he fix this? Did Saihara forget about him like everyone else has?

His eye sockets are weighed down by a combination of depression and sleep deprivation.

His phone speaker blares through the silence - his alarm - his mind supplies through the ever-unchanging headache. He turns it off, already awake, and forces himself out of the temporary comfort of his blanket’s embrace, and gets dressed for work. Because he has to. Because he doesn’t know what else he’ll do if he doesn’t.

Because he hopes Saihara will show up.

(He doesn’t.)

On his walk home from work, he’s approached and pulled into a car, hearing the engine and looking out at the silent street as he falls into panicked unconsciousness. The initiation for the fifty-third killing game commences.

Ouma hesitates as he comes to the memories section of the contract. Even after everything, the participants won’t get their memories back... he won’t remember ever meeting Saihara; he won’t remember falling in love. He’ll know of nothing but whatever backstory Team Danganronpa cooks up for him.

But...

Saihara’s gone. As hard as it is to think about, Ouma doesn’t think Saihara will be waiting for him once the simulation ends. No one cares about him anyways, so he might as well make things interesting, right?

...right?

Ouma’s nose is tingly; his lower eyelids are about to spill over as he signs the contract, signing his past and present away.

Two doors down, Shuichi Saihara does the same.

Life has no meaning.

I also posted this on my Ao3 Account (More A/N there)

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morinokunikara · 5 years

Note

“Can I get a photo?” with yuuki meeting akechi? Or hifumi? Any persona celebrity ig.

Anon i am so sorry this took so damn long and also sorry that what was going to be a little drabble turned into 2.5k words, i just got carried away

there are spoilers here!!!

“Can I get a photo?”

That’s how it all started. A chance meeting with a fan at the train station. Typically - at least this early in the morning - it was a request Goro would reject and move on, but something about the boy standing in front of him that day made him impossible to decline. The hopeful look on his face was too good to say no to. If Goro was being honest, the guy was kind of cute. He was always kind of picky when it came to attraction, but this particular fan was certainly something. A little short, blue hair the perfect length for ruffling, grey eyes that seemed so gentle, kind, and full of wonder - no, not bad at all. He wondered about the bruises and bandages all over him though. What could have caused so many injuries...? “Alright, only since you asked so nicely,” he said with a charming smile.

Yuuki felt his heart pick up a little just from seeing the other smile. He was a bit of an Akechi fanboy, admittedly. Who wouldn’t be? The way those brown locks just fall perfectly on his face... those enchanting brown eyes... so tall and confident... and his smile...! No, he was not about to go into fanboy mode. Not now. Save it for later when you’re looking at this picture again, and again, and again... Focus on right now! He moved so the two could pose together for a selfie. He smiled just slightly, trying hard to not look as excited as he was, but the spark in his eyes gave him away. He looked at the picture afterwards and...wow, he looked so boring in comparison. A handsome Prince Charming, and the lowly peasant just grasping at the chance to meet him. He started to feel a bit of his self-loathing kick in, but shoved it aside to smile at Akechi again. “Thank you so much!” He said, and then ran off before he could embarrass himself.

Goro sighed a bit as he watched the stranger run off. “How strange,” He whispered. He’d never felt so happy to have someone ask for a photo. Usually he didn’t even have time, so he’d have to turn down the offer but this boy... He found himself thinking more about him. All he could gather for the time being was that he was a Shujin student, and that he looked pretty beat up. He worried a lot about the latter. Who or what could cause so many injuries to such a lovely face? And why did he care so damn much? Sure, he was a little cute, but in the end he was just another fan. Right?

Yuuki couldn’t focus on school that day. He got a picture from Akechi! He changed the wallpaper on his phone as soon as he had the chance, so he could always be reminded of that day. Sure, Akechi was a billion times more attractive than him. Sure, he looked like a boring stale potato chip next to Akechi. But it was a real actual picture with Detective Prince Goro Akechi. He wanted to be able to look at it every chance he got.

Following that day, there were a few more chance encounters at that train station. Goro found the courage to approach his handsome fan each of these times, and learned a bit more about him. His name was Yuuki Mishima. He was a second year at Shujin. He was on the volleyball team. Wait, the one with the super famous gold medalist as a coach? Maybe he could catch a game sometime. They both liked Featherman, and showed off their keychain collections to each other. The more they met, the stranger the feelings inside Goro’s chest got. Before long, their chance encounters were less of chance encounters, and more of knowing the other will be at the station and waiting. It became an unspoken promise that they would meet and talk before school. But Goro started wanting more than just a few minutes before school. Would it be too much to ask for just...lunch together one weekend? Would that be weird? It wouldn’t hurt to try, right?

Yuuki nearly burst right in the middle of the train station. Goro Akechi wanted to go to lunch with him. Akechi just asked him to hang out. The Detective Prince wants to spend time with a nobody like me. He was more excited than he had ever been all week. Sunday couldn’t come soon enough. When it finally came, Yuuki spent hours beforehand looking at outfit after outfit after outfit trying to find the perfect look. He wanted to look good. He was going to be hanging out with Akechi, so he had to look his best. He had to look perfect. He found a nice blue sweater with gold stars on it, and his best pair of jeans. He picked his cutest binder as well, the one with the one with rainbow hearts. No one would see it, of course, but it somehow made him feel a bit more confident. Alright, he would do this. It’s just one short lunch.

Goro arrived early. He put a bit more effort into his appearance today, though he wasn’t really sure why. It was just a meeting with a fan. A friend? Were he and Mishima friends? Even if they were, why did he want to look so nice for him? How long had he been waiting? Had Mishima changed his mind? Was he going to cancel? Why the hell was he overthinking things so hard? He got so lost in his mind, he almost didn’t notice when Mishima sat down across from him. Wow. He looked even cuter than before - wait what.

“Sorry I’m late!” Yuuki was a bit embarrassed that he got so caught up in his own appearance that he showed up a bit later than planned, but Akechi didn’t seem to mind. He just smiled that bright princely smile that made Yuuki’s heart flutter a bit. Wait, why did it flutter so much just from one small smile?

The lunch went well, almost too well in Goro’s mind. How could he be sure this guy didn’t have ulterior motives? He was almost too nice. Goro had spent so much time being used and manipulated by others, it was so hard for him to trust Mishima. But at the same time, he wanted to trust him. He wanted to believe that Mishima was different. He seemed so kind and genuine. His smile was so radiant, his voice was like the most soothing music... Why was Goro so caught up in this guy? He wanted to get to know him better; he wanted to know his dreams, his secrets, what made him smile. He wanted to make him smile. He wanted to be close. What is wrong with him? It was a risk, but maybe they could keep in touch? If it was leaked, he could always change numbers. He’d done that a few times already.

Holy. Shit. Did Akechi just trade contact info with Yuuki?! Did Goro Akechi really want to keep in touch with some zero like him?! Was this real?! Yuuki tried to control himself. He couldn’t seem too eager. He had to play it cool, like the advice articles all said. He waited until after school Monday to text back, and then sent his text.

“Hey! Sorry it took me so long to send this, I was super busy.” Just like the articles said.

Between school and work, Goro found himself unable to look at his phone until he got home. God he was so exhausted. He wanted to curl up in his blankets and sleep for a month at least. But checking his phone did bring a smile to his face. Mishima had texted him! That was all the energy he needed to get through his paperwork and homework. They could talk while he worked. It’d be a good idea to keep him awake and alive through all this boring stuff.

“It’s fine. I had school and work all day. I’m free now, though! If you want to talk of course.”

He texted back! Oh my god he texted back he texted me back Goro Akechi texted me back oh my god. Nope, can’t be too excited. Can’t let him think you’re just another dorky fanboy. Have to play it cool. Cool. Just stay cool, wait a few minutes to text back. Take it easy. You got this.

The two texted well into the night, sharing jokes, pictures of cats, Featherman headcanons, anything that came to mind. They spent many more nights like that, met up many more times, became closer and closer. Everything was going so well. Rumors began to spread. Rumors about the plain-looking Shujin student that seemed to spend every weekend with Akechi. A friend? A lover? Someone shady? Both knew about the rumors. Both agreed that it would be best to ignore them, and keep doing their thing as best they could.

The new Featherman movie was an absolute must for them to see together as soon as they possibly could. Watching it with a friend made the experience that much better for them both. Both wore bright smiles on their faces as they walked out. “That was so awesome! Way better than the last one.” Yuuki said before striking a pose to match one from the movie. “We have brought an end to your crimes, Dark Knight! Surrender immediately!”

Goro laughed. Wow, Mishima was cute all excited like this. “They are pretty cool, aren’t they?” He sighed. “To be honest, I always kind of wanted to be like them.”

“Like the Feathermen? I’d say you’re already a lot like them!”

“How so?” Goro asked, tilting his head. He was admittedly curious as to how Mishima saw him. Why did that matter so much?

“Well, you’ve got a strong set of values you stick by, you put your life on the line to protect others, and if I’m being totally honest, you’re really cool.” Yuuki rubbed the back of his neck. That was kind of embarrassing to admit. “I’d venture to say you’re hero material, just like any Featherman!”

The words struck Goro like a lightning bolt. Hero material? Mishima saw him as a hero? It made him feel like his heart might just fly away. He would love to hear that from anyone but for some reason, it meant even more coming from Mishima. What were these feelings? He managed a slightly blushy smile, one that completely downplayed how overjoyed he felt in the moment. “How sweet of you to say.” He could go on to say how wonderful it felt, how it made him want to just grab Mishima right there and- Wait what?

Oh my god that smile I want to capture it forever and keep it close he’s so pretty! Yuuki smiled back, a mere fraction of the smile that was in his heart. “Well, I’m not just saying it to be sweet. I really mean it.” He looked at his phone and sighed. It was a Sunday, but he had obligations at home. Damn his past self for agreeing to help with dinner the same day as the movie. “Well, I better get home. Thanks for today, Akechi. I had fun!” He smiled again.

The same bright, radiant smile that made Goro’s heart smile right back. “A shame. Well, we can always spend more time together later.” He wanted to make another move. Take a chance. Do something to show his friendship. Right. They were friends. This would be fine. “See you around, Yuuki.”

Did he really just- Hearing Akechi say his name made his whole face almost glow red. “R-right uh- yeah! See you later Ake- Goro.” He turned around and booked it before he could say something stupid or embarassing. Are we really on a first name basis with Goro Akechi now?! He thought about it for the rest of the night, nearly screwing up cooking, unable to focus on homework, staying up just thinking about the way Goro said his name, with that lovely smile and sweet voice. Why did his heart race so much? Why did he feel so warm? Was this what it felt like to- Don’t even finish that thought. This is nothing like that. He’s your friend. Nothing more than that.

Their friendship grew from there, from lunches and movies and quiet walks, to sleepovers and Yuuki’s house (Goro wasn’t exactly comfortable inviting Yuuki to his own place) where they would stay up all night playing video games. They learned a bit more about each other, their hopes and dreams, their favorite things, even a few secrets (though nothing too serious, just silly things like Goro’s fear of heights and Yuuki’s plushie collection). They were friends, and they acknowledged that much. But there was a certain aching to their friendship.

A feeling that sprouted when one of them looked at the other for too long. A certain tension after they shared a good laugh together. The way their skin burned if they accidentally touched. The way they hesitated before parting ways. They both knew what the feeling was. Each knew how he felt, but refused to admit it, even to himself. They were friends. That was all they were and all they’d ever be. Nothing more.

Nothing would change that.

Nothing, except things changing.

Goro should have seen this coming. The injuries, the way Yuuki never seemed to want to talk about practice... Of course the coach was abusing his students. But the way it came forward... These Phantom Thieves... They were a bump in his plans, a thorn in his side... But Yuuki was of course completely enthralled. And he made sure Goro knew it. In return, Goro let Yuuki know how much he disliked them. They were dangerous criminals with unknown methods. They needed to be stopped, not celebrated.

Just like that, things changed.

What were once fun, enjoyable outings turned into hushed arguments and a tense awkwardness. Sleepovers turned into shouting matches that ended in Goro stomping home. Before long, the sleepovers stopped. Then the outings. Then messages and meeting at the station. The Phantom Thieves but a rift between the two of them. Just another reason for Goro to despise everything about them. They ruined everything. He was supposed to be Yuuki’s hero, not them. Yuuki was supposed to admire him and treasure him and-

And love him.

He-

He just wanted Yuuki to love him.

The Phantom Thieves took everything from him.

He would see to their end.

Yuuki sighed as he flipped through his phone’s gallery. He used up all his space on gacha games and music, so it was time to do a photo cleanup. A picture of notes for a long past test, a video he had no recollection of recording, some selfies that were rather embarrassing... And one that made him freeze completely. The selfie that started what ended up being a painful friendship.

He stared for a bit. Goro’s handsome princely smile he put on for his fans was one thing, but the genuine smile he had when watching Featherman, or laughing at one of Yuuki’s jokes, that stuck in his mind more than the one in the image in front of him. He still didn’t understand so much about how their friendship ended. How could he call the Phantom Thieves a threat? How could he not see how much happier Yuuki was without that bastard of a coach around to ruin his life? Did he expect Yuuki to just put up with that treatment until high school was over? He didn’t understand it at all. And yet somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to be completely hate Goro. In fact, a part of him still-

He still-

He still adored Goro.

He looked at the picture again and sighed.

Delete image?

>Yes / No

#persona #p5 #persona 5 #akeshima #again anon i am so so sorry #Anonymous #mailbox

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crazyrandomfucker · 4 years

Text

Toblerone to obliterate someone

Based by a challenge promt of @gale-of-the-nomads

___________________

As Marinette left with his father, Adrien simply stood where he was, smiling like an idiot and waving goodbye to them.

"Wow, I can't believe that went so well" said Plagg hiding on Adrien's other pocket.

"Neither do I Plagg, I feel like walking on clouds" said Adrien smiling stupidly.

"Well, make sure to take good care of her kid. She's a great one" said Plagg.

"Do you know her?" asked Adrien.

"Yeah, I met her that time with Kwami Buster. Then I went a couple of times to check on her, she gave me Camembert filled croissants. That's why if you hurt Princess I'll kick your ass" warned Plagg.

"Since when do you visit people like that?" asked Adrien half curious.

"I only visit Ladybug and her, because I thought she was interesting and I wasn't disappointed" said Plagg.

Adrien was going to reply, but the music stopped and the lights illuminated an enormous screen descending from the ceiling. When the screen was turned on, the saw and listened to Marinette talking with Gabriel Agreste, unaware that everyone was hearing them.

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

Gabriel Agreste was a misterious person for sure. Marinette couldn't quite decypher him while they walked towards wherever he was taking her. If someone had told Marinette that he was a robot clone of the real man, she wouldn't have doubted it.

Finally, they got into the backstage and Marinette was ordered to change into the dress she wore at the beauty contest again, paired with the crown they had given her. Once she was changed and waiting behind some very heavy courtains that blocked even the sound of the concert, Gabriel gave her a gigantic Toblerone. It was taller than her, but it didn't weight as much as Marinette had expected it.

"As I told you before, I have something for you to do as Miss Miraculous, but before explaining it, let me congratulate you" said Gabriel with his emotionless expression. "I was certainly impressed by you, as well as I was impressed by your outfits which, correct me if I'm wrong, you yourself designed and tailored them. I will be expecting your debut on the fashion world, which I believe it won't be far from now".

"Thank you sir, it's an honor to hear that from you" said Marinette smiling sincerely as she blushed a bit. "You are the one I've been looking up to when designing and I can't express how hapou I feel hearing something like that" said tearing a couple of tears of happiness.

"I feel honored then" said Gabriel changing his expression into a more relaxed one. "Now, for what I need you to do is simply give that Toblerone to an employee of mine that will be coming in a moment, Lila. I know you are nit precisely on the best terms with her, but as Miss Miraculous it's your duty to deliver this award to hardwork, so do your best effort to deal with it" said before he left.

"Look who we have here" said Lila as she entered the room wearing make up and a red dress. "Isn't it Dupain-Clumsy-Cheng? I'm amazed you won the beauty contest".

"Hello Lila" said Marinette trying her best not to groan and roll her eyes.

"You know, that giant piece of disgusting chocolate remembers me of you. Sweet and repulsive" said Lila laughing.

"This chocolate is your prize for hardworking Lila, I'm sure everyone thinks you deserve it" said Marinette resisting the urge to hit her.

"Having to play nice today? It must be killing you to lie like I do. Seriously, how is everybody so stupid? Even Gabriel Agreste believes everything I tell him involving Adrien's classmates" said proudly the italian girl. "Anyway, that crappy chocolate is not a prize for someone like me

"They are all far too good for you Lila, even if you don't value them. But I do, so I'd recommend you to drop the insults" warned her Marinette.

"Oh come on. They are all stupid fools willing to hear whatever will be best for them even if it's a lie. They are worthless bugs that will follow me to the end of the world just because they believe me" said Lila grinnig. "Like, this price? I haven't worked a single bit and yet, Gabriel Agreste himself decided to award it to me, because I'm the only one he knows, the only one he can trust. Just like that, all the idiots follow me and whatever I plan for them".

"That's it Lila" said Marinette letting a note of anger get to her voice. "Stop insulting my friends, my loved ones and everyone who was unlucky enough to met you".

"Unlucky? They are Lucky to habe someone like me turning them from useless garbage into tools. Just wait until I make you hated by everyone and get Adrien just for me. After all, he's nothing but an accesory" said cockily Lila.

"You deserve no prize! And you don't deserve this Toblerone!" said Marinette now completely angry as she picked the toblerone and hit Lila with it. "You know nothing of them and you know nothing of Adrien! All of their problems, of their virtues! They are amazing and you don't deserve anything from them!"

"Ow! You little sl-" began to say Lila, but shut up once she saw that the curtains in front of them were opening and everyone was looking at them on a screen.

Everyone booed and was very angry with Lila, calling her everything but pretty. Gabriel Agreste called the security guards and told them to kick Lila out. Marinette was shocked. She didn't expected everyone to be listenning to them, she thought that Lila's reaction would be filmed afterwards she got the price, not before. Gabriel Agreste aproached her and picked up the Toblerone bar from the floor.

"I must say ypu never cease to impress me young lady. You value your connections and the people you get to know. You haven't showed an ounce of selfishness when I praised you, nor when I tasked you with this... Unpleasant task. And above all, you have placed your friends, your family and your aquantice before your own sake just now. For all of that, I think you fit better a price like this, for your selflessness and dedication" said giving her the Toblerone. "Thought please refrain from hitting someone else with a chocolate like this one, the ones this size are rather rare".

"O-Ofcourse. I'm sorry" apologised Marinette confused, not sure of what to do or say.

"Marinette!" said Alya as she went and tackle-hugged her best friend. "Oh my god girl, that was so badass! I love you girl!"

"It's nice to see we can always can count with you Mari. I'm sorry for doubting you" said Nino with a bittersweet tone.

"That was very nice Marinette. Well, not the part of hitting Lila, because that was cool" said Adrien.

"I will take my leave for now. Have fun Adrien and enjoy the rest of the event Marinette. Goodbye" said Gabriel leaving.

"That was..." said Adrien.

"Weird? Yes, a lot" said Alya raising an eyebrow. "Your father is a very strange man, no ofense Sunshine".

"No, I think so too" assured Adrien.

"At least he hasn't obliterated a liar with a giant Toblerone" teased Nino and Marinette blushed.

"Hey, leave my girl alone or I'll begin to tease your boy and we both nknow I have some sweet material for teasing" said Alya smirking mischievously.

"Alya no" said Adrien. "I've got enough of your microphones for a year".

"Such a pity you disconnected your microphone at a crucial time" said Alya feigning sadness, but then a flashy grin appeared on her face. "Or it would be if I hadn't put another microphone on Marinette. We still have to listen to it, but it will be less painful if you two spill now".

"Alya!" exclaimed Marinette getting redder.

"I know a good scoop when I see one girl and I won't believe for a second that nothing happened. You are lucky I won't share it with the girls" said Alya.

"If you dare even think about sending that to them I'll ban you from the bakery forever" said Marinette completely serious.

"Noooooooo. Your delicious baked goods no. You monster" said Alya dramatically.

"I'm fine with telling them" said Adrien. "I mean, I was probably going to tell Nino anyway".

"Watch it young man, or no croissants for you" said Marinette.

"I'm just saying, things will be faster if we tell them now rather than keeping it a secret and thwn suffering Alya's reporter mode" pointed Adrien.

"I'll take that as a compliment Buttercups" said Alya.

"I've been wondering, why do you and Alix call me sometimes Buttercup?" asked Adrien.

"Nothing! They are silly!" said Marinette desperatedly.

"Then it's something about you? I'll ask another time then" said Adrien and the sides of his lips curved.

"We'll talk about that later" said Marinette glaring at him annoyed.

"Yes yes. Let the old married couple banter for later, I want the deets" said Alya.

"We're not an old married couple!" said Marinette and Adrien blushing.

"Yeah, and I'm Hawk Moth" said Nino laughing.

"Anyway, I need the details. Now" said Alya grabbing Marinette.

"W-We're dating" said Marinette blushing.

"Well no shit honey, that much is obvious. Tell me how it went and how much I'll have to punch our oblivious supermodel" said Alya.

As the teenagers talked, a black shadow zoomed unseen from Adrien's jacket into Marinette's poach on the waiting room. The black cat kwami touched the red kwami and awakened her.

"Hello Sugarcube. It's weird of you to be sleeping at a time like this" said Plagg smugly grinning.

"What are you doing here? And what do you mean? I have slept during the whole party, Marinette told me to do so in case we get another midnight akuma" said Tikki, not hidding her irritation from being woken up.

"You have slept through all?" said Plagg and began to laugh wholeheartedly. "You have missed the thing you love most!"

"What are you talking about Stinky Socks?" asked Tikki.

"My kitten and your baby bug, that's what I'm talking about" said Plagg smirking.

"No way. Are they finally a thing?" said Tikki beaming.

"And you have slept right through all the declaration" snickered Plagg.

"Noooo" said Tikki.

"Lucky for you, I have a way for you to hear it all" sang Plagg. "But there is a price for such info, of course"

"What cheese do you want?" said Tikki deadpanned.

"Even thought I would love to have some cheese, it's something else what I want this time" said Plagg smirking.

"Spill. What is more important that your beloved cheese?" asked Tikki a tad curious.

"Don't worry Sugar Cube it's something easy. I want that your baby bug learns my kitten's identity" said Plagg. "She is the guardian now, if anything happens she'll need to know that".

"Plagg, if Ladybug knew that your kitten is Chat Noir, she'll broke up with him and one of them will be akumatized. On a different timeline your kitty was akumatized and destroyed everything and the fight against him was horrendous. She bowed to never ever date Chat Noir after Chat Blanc told her that their love had destroyed everything" said Tikki.

"I see your point Sugar Cube but you forgot a little fact there" said Plagg. "You don't know why was my kitten akumatized. If I had to guess, only something that seriously broke him would make him akumatizable, like his father being Hawk Moth or if something happened to your bug".

"So what? We're risking another akumatization?" said Tikki. "Because I have to remind you that my bug has been almost akumatized two times. I will not allow it to happen again".

"If my kitten was akumatized being civilian, how would your bug know that she's not having support? What will happen if, like Gorizilla or Style Queen, my kitten can't help your bug and the enemy is way too strong for her? Reveal Hawk Moth where does she live?" said Plagg harshly. "This Ladybug is stronger than what you think. I trust her, do you?"

"Of course I do!" replied Tikki offended.

"Then do it! Because all I'm seeing now is your fear!" exclaimed Plagg annoyed. "You're just scared to lose her like the rest of Ladybugs!"

"And you're being possesive because don't have a murderer this time!" shouted Tikki and inmediately regretted it as she saw Plagg's expression darken. "I'm sorry Plagg, I didn't mean-"

"That's right! I am selfish! I like this pure boy that doesn't misuse his powers! We both now how strange that is!" bursts Plagg. "But I like this bug too! She is different! This two belong together and each passing day that they don't know each other just adds more and more reasons to the list of why shouldn't they reveal because they'll be akumatized!"

"I know okay! I know that they'll have to know someday and it's more difficult each passing day!" exploded Tikki. "But we have reasons not to do it now. Let them be happy for a bit more of time".

"It'll only be worse and you know it" said Plagg bitterly. "Forget it, it's no use to talk to you when you're afraid. Just search in Alya's phone and you'll have your sappy confession" said as he left.

Tikki was hurt. She knew better than anyone how right was Plagg, but she couldn't lose another Ladybug, there had been so many murdered. However, she also knew that Plagg hadn't always had the best holders and even she had found Adrien endearing. If only things were different...

Her thoughts and sobs were interrupted when she heard the door of the room openning and she quickly wiped her tears. Someone took the poach carefully and Tikki peeked to see if it was Marinette. But it was Alya who she saw, so she went back inside the poach again.

"Girl, here's your poach" said Alya.

"Oh thanks god! I feared thar Lila had taken it in revenge" said Marinette relieved.

"I'm going to pulverize that lying fox when I get her! The nerve she had messing with you" said Alya.

"It's okay now Alya, don't worry" said Marinette. "It's enough that everyone knows now".

"But Mari! You were almost akumitized twice and almost expelled once!" protested Alya.

"But I wasn't so calm down. Besides, I'm sure that all the parents that were here today will make a very good complaint to the school, so she's bound to be expelled" pointed Marinette.

"Girls, are you going to take more time in there?" asked Nino from outside the room. "There is an awful lot of people outside that want to talk to Marinette".

"This is not over young lady. I'm going to calm down the audience, you'd better change back girl" said Alya and left.

"Phew, it was hard to evade having another lady wifi appearence" said Marinette.

"What happens Marinette?" asked Tikki from inside the purse, trying to sound normal.

"Oh, you won't believe it Tikki. Lila has slipped and now everyone knows she's a liar" said Marinette happily. "But what was even better was that Adrien has confessed that he loves me and now we're dating! Even his father seems to approve that!"

"I'm so happy for you Marinette" said Tikki smiling bitterly.

"Tikki?" asked Marinette when she opened her poach and saw Tikki. "What happens? Are you okay?"

"I just had a small disagreement with Plagg earlier, don't worry" said Tikki.

"Oh Tikki" said the girl as she caressed the kwami. "What has that alley kwami done to you know?"

"He just told me the truth Mari" said Tikki and suddenly became more serious. "You need to know Chat's identity".

"What?!" exclaimed Marinette.

"Marinette, listen to me. You need to know and no matter what, please don't overreact" said Tikki.

"Is it that bad? You're kind of scaring me" said Marinette.

"I just hope this ends well" said Tikki looking away.

"Then... Who is he?" asked Marinette.

"I can't tell you. I'll go and talk with him later. He has to be the one who reveals" said Tikki.

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

Adrien was peacefully sitting on his room, fantasazing about all the wonderful things he could do with Marinette. He wanted to take her on a date, a wonderful one, and he was thinking about the infinite possibilites while smiling like a lovesick idiot, as Plagg would say.

Plagg was being weird thought. He hadn't demanded cheese as per usual, nor had he driven Adrien nuts with all the new girlfriend stuff. Furthermore, he even seemed to be annoyed or maybe angry. But then a red blur entered the room and his mood switched ten times between fury, sadness and hope. The blur stopped in front of Adrien and he recognized as Tikki.

"Tikki? What are you doing here?" asked Adrien confused. "Is Ladybug okay?"

"She is, for now at least" said as she glared Plagg. "I'm here for something very important".

"So you finally saw what we need to do" said Plagg.

"I am under no means pleased with this Plagg. It's going to hurt Ladybug and the odds are quite messed up" replied Tikki annoyed.

"Wait, what is happenning?" asked Adrien.

"You need to reveal your identity to Ladybug. But listen well, because I will be forcing her not to reveal hers, so don't even dare to think about that" said Tikki. "This is important Adrien, everything is going to change, I just hope things will go smoothly, or we're going to have serious problems".

"I don't quite understand..." said Adrien.

"Look kid, it's necessary that Ladybug knows your identity. The thing is, you and her know each other as civilians and the surprise could mess everything or fix you two" said Plagg.

"We'll meet tonight at ten at the top of Eiffel's Tower" said Tikki "Please Adrien, just don't blame her of anything, everything has been our's fault" she said and then left.

"I'm scared. Is it that bad I'm Chat Noir?" asked Adrien feeling very down.

"It's not that kid. Just some time travel shenanigans about a future you were akumatized. Ladybug sweared to never live you to protect Paris, but she is in love with civilian you" said Plagg grabbing a bit of Camembert.

"What?!"

"All this time, the boy she liked was you, but neither of you knew. The irony is hilarious".

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

Ladybug was nervously walking from one side of another while she waited for Chat. Who could Chat be? Tikki was clearly worried. Did she know him outside the mask? That must be. Wait, what if they hate eachother outside the mask?

Meanwhile, Chat Noir arrived, his head also full of questions. He saw her, worrying as she didn't stop walking. He made clear he was there to not startpe her and for a second, a bit of fear shined on Ladybug's eyes, but Chat was feeling the same.

"Hello My Lady" said Chat Noir awkwardly.

"Hello chaton" replied her, unsure of hiw to act.

"Before we do anything, I must tell you something Ladybug" said Chat. "I promise that no matter what, I will not blame you for anything or despise you in anyway, even if your kwami has implied so to me before. I could never truly hate you".

"Thank you Chat, it means a lot" said gently Ladybug. She took a paper out of the yoyo. "Now, Tikki has made this plan in hope everything goes better. I'll be closing my eyes and won't open them until your kwami says so".

"Okay... Let's do it LB" said Chat.

Ladybug closed her eyes and turned the sheet of paper to Chat. He skimmed throught it and then detransformwd, giving Plagg a bit of cheese. Plagg read the paper and understood what he had to do.

"Don't open your eyes yet Ladybug, I need to talk with you first" ordered Plagg and Ladybug complied. "First of all, if you two have to blame someone, blame me. I pushed Tikki to convince her to do this and she wasn't very pleased to do so".

"Okay..." said Ladybug without opening her eyes.

"Now, that's what Tikki wanted me to say, but I have to add more. Ladybug, my holder is a good boy, he's not that bad and that's for sure" said Plagg. "And even if there is a possibility you don't quite react well, I personally think that you will like to know who is he".

"That was very sweet of you Plagg" said Adrien surprised.

"Don't get used to it boy" replied Plagg. "Now, open your eyes Ladybug".

She opened them and saw Plagg in front of her making a very silly face. She giggled and pet the kwami, taking him on her hands to look at his holder. And there he was, standing awkwardly, not quite sure what to do, Adrien Agreste. She felt a whirl inside her, spinning her feelings and messing with them. For a moment, she felt sad and hurt, remembering Chat Blanc, but then she realized the truth and began to laugh wholeheartedly as she tackled him in a hug.

"Uh... Ladybug?" asked Chat confused.

"I'm so happy you are my adorable dorky partner" said Ladybug giggling.

"I thought that you made a promise to yourself not to love Chat Noir" said Adrien.

"I thought so, but I've realized that it's impossible, no matter how hard I hide miy feelings" said Ladybug "I cannot stop loving you".

"I- I'm sorry Ladybug, but I now have a girlfriend" said Adrien.

"I know that minou" said Ladybug and let him go. "I was very happy to know who you are".

"I'm relieved My Lady, I was afraid after how worried was Tikki".

"I know, she totally freaked me out but it was worthy. Now I know that my so caring partner, the one I trust the most, is also the boy who stole my heart on a rainy day" said Ladybug with a melancholic look on her face. "I really want to reveal my identity to you now..."

"You can't, Tikki has made it so you won't be able to say anything related to yourself and you won't be able to detransform unless she says so" said Plagg.

"I know, but I do really want to detransform and-" tried to say Ladybug, but red bubbles came out of her mouth.

"Yes, that's what happens" said Plagg. "Thought, it's funnier to see it happen on humans".

"I'm glad that my inability to speak is entertaining for you" sassed Ladybug.

"Don't look at me, it was Tikki's idea" replied Plagg.

"I'm very confused right now and I am not sure what is happenning" stated Adrien.

"It's not important" said Plagg. "Let's go home, I'm getting tired and I don't want to deal with human hormones".

"I guess this is goodbye then" said Ladybug scratching her head.

"I guess so" replied Adrien shrugging.

"Goodbye Adrien" said Ladybug and turned to leave, but stopped halfway, kissed Adrien's cheek and left quickly.

"What was that?" said Adrien confused as he touched the spot where she had kissed him.

"Girls. That's why I told you that it's better to love cheese" pointed Plagg. "Come on kid, transform and let's get home already".

-----------

THE END (?)

#miraculous fanfic #miraculous ladybug

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