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phoenix-manga · 2 years

Note

This is gonna be quite a long post but what are the Twst boy’s families opinion on their Pokemons after they had reached their final evolution stages.

Hoo boy... here's a long answer!

Those with already fully evolved Pokemon won't be included.

*Cracks knuckles*

Heartslabyul

Riddle's Roserade - Ms. Rosehearts thinks that the familiar looks more fitting of their family name now. Except this is where the meme, "If you don't love me at my worst then you don't deserve me at my best" comes in.

She gave Budew a load of BS saying how small she is and asking if Riddle wanted, she could find a way better familiar for him. Though she is proud that her son has a regal familiar, she isn't given the chance to flaunt when Roserade just ignores her.

Ace's Arcanine - Ace's brother thinks that his lil bro's familiar is super badass! He was almost jealous of Ace and wished he didn't graduate if it meant he could be the one getting a familiar as well.

His mother feels worried now that a bigger pet means bigger everything. But Ace said he'll be responsible so she hopes he keeps him promise! She does adore Arcanine though, the absolutely luxurious fur and the good boy guarding the house is a benefit for the household.

Deuce's Togekiss - His mom thinks that Togekiss is such a sweetheart. Deuce couldn't stop crying when his familiar went through the final stage of evolving. Ms. Spade likes to fawn over her son and his familiar when they try to help out around the house. Absolute sweeties.

Cater's Wobbuffet - His sisters were disappointed in the evolution and thought it looked derpy now, to which Cater actually tells them to take those words back. His parents think his familiar was quite attached to Cater. Always popping up selfies and says its name before he takes the picture.

Savanaclaw

Leona's Alolan Persian - Cheka absolutely loved the round face Persian has. so squishy to hold! Farena and his wife admit they thought the familiar ate a bee. No it just looks like that. Still regal and fine though.

Ruggie's Honchkrow - His grandmother thought it was a stranger at first when she saw the Pokemon from a distance. But she realized that it was just Ruggie's familiar who just grew up? Looks shady as heck though.

The kids in his neighborhood all think that the Pokemon looks more of a boss and they will absolutely follow him like how mafia underlings are to the boss.

Octavinelle

Azul's Grapploct - his mother and step father thought the familiar was very tough-like yet they can't help but chuckle when it tries to protect Azul from anyone who comes near that wasn't familiar. It was cute to see how the familiar is like a third parent to their son.

Jade's Amoongus - Ms. Leech just loves the cute mushroom for hands, she'll grab them to squish gently because the texture is just so alien to her. Mr. Leech is trying to wrap his head around the appearance. The expression it wears kinda resembles Jade's the more he looks at it.

Floyd's Quagsire - Ms. Leech absolutely adores the beady eyes. But she can't help but worry hoe the poor thing sometimes bumps into things. Mr. Leech is even more confused about this one, how does something with no hands grow hands!?

Scarabia

Kalim's Sunflora - His family just adores how lovely Sunflora is, always bringing smiles wherever it goes. His siblings love how it goes along with almost any game they want to play when big bro Kalim gives them permission to play with his familiar.

Jamil's Xatu - The excitement kinda dies down a few days after relizng that it barely moves and ketp staring. Najma admits it was kinda unerving. The parents are wondering if it ever eats... or does it even need to?

Pomefiore

Vil's Frosmoth - Mr. Schoenheit thinks that his guts on the familiar were correct. He always had a feeling that Snom was going to be something incredible.

Epel's Flapple - His grandma absolutely adored the little thing, she just finds it odd how a little worm grew legs though. His family thinks that now that the familiar has little hands, they take the opportunity to give Flapple little bits of food and coo how the Pokemon nibbles on them with the itty bitty hands, awww!

Ignihyde

They're all fully evolved so there's no need...

Diasomnia

Malleus' Vanilluxe - His grandmother thought that at some point this familir would be a triple scoop sundae. But this was the final evolution. She was strolling through the halls when she sees her grandson and his familiar training together. Just looking at those happy faces as it completely obliterates the training dummies means that the familiar may be just as ferocious as a dragon even if it resembles a sweet treat.

Lilia's Swalot - Everyone in the dorm is very happy for Lilia, he doesn't know that half of them are congratulating him on his familiar but also they will no longer be forced to eat his cooking. His food will now go to Swalot all the time.

Silver's Ursaring - Lilia admits that he was caught off guard that the little bear just becomes this big furry beast with a grumpy face instead of those beady little eyes that likes to beg for food. But all in all, he is proud of them both for getting very strong.

#ask #twst x pokemon #pokemon x twisted wonderland

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shroudcore · 3 years

Text

Speak now, or forever hold your peace. (II)

Summary: You crash the wedding with Grim and Ortho. Unlike the others, proposing isn’t on your mind. You come with a very different approach.

An angstier take on Ghost Marriage. Idia x GN!reader. Reader is MC, or takes the role of MC in this story. (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Warnings: none

If the students of NRC thought they’ve seen Eliza at her angriest, they were wrong. The fury she displayed now was incomparable. While Idia fawned over your dramatic anime-worthy entrance, the new interruption was getting on her last ghostly nerve.

“Guards! Seize them!” she roared. Immediately, the ghosts went into action. Idia held his breath as he watched the obedient ghosts charge at you, Grim, and Ortho. He hoped you didn’t barge in with no plan. If you didn’t come equipped with useful items, you would end up like everyone else.

Chubby, determined to get rid of the intruders that caused distress to his beloved princess, was eager to get rid of you. (”Simp”, Idia muttered) However, eagerness wasn’t enough against an opponent equally as determined. As soon as he got too close, an unknown force threw him backwards to where Eliza floated, shocking the princess.

“Chubby! Are you alright?”

Idia, on the other hand, was elated.

“Th-that’s so OP!” he exclaimed. He knew you heard him, because your gaze flicked to him for a split second before looking away. Embarrassed, Idia shut his mouth. He’d expected at least a smile.

After Chubby’s failed attack, other ghosts attempted to face your group. They only met the same fate. Confused, they could only pay their apologies to the princess and watch on in helplessness. Just what did you have up your sleeve? Who did you get such an SS-tier item from?

“Princess, it’s impossible to stop them!” the last of Eliza’s guards told her. For the first time that night, she looked afraid.

Grim guffawed, while you smirked. A familiar look. It was always there before you jumpscared an enemy, or before you checkmated a poor opponent. Idia might have thought it was kinda hot. At the moment, he was oblivious to his gaping mouth, and how wildly his hair blazed. What were once lightly blushing tips were now an alarming red—a level of ferocity never seen from him before.

“You can’t touch or hurt us!” boasted Grim, a devious smirk on his face. “We had some he—mprfgh!” He was abruptly cut off by Ortho’s robotic arm covering his mouth. Idia’s brother shook his head at your noisy dorm mate.

“Release my big brother now!” he demanded. Idia grimaced, but didn’t feel too worried. As long as Ortho was with you and your anti-ghost protective shield, he would be safe.

As expected, the ghosts were affronted.

“How dare he order the princess like that?”

“You ought to be punished for your insolence!”

“To intrude on a royal wedding and speak disrespectfully!

“Send them to the gallows!”

One talked, and one talked over the other. Soon, all that could be heard was an unintelligible susurrus of disembodied voices. One ghost had enough of it, and shouted to Eliza: “Princess, the kiss! Do what must be done!”

“NO!” You and Ortho yelled at the same time. You continued to walk towards the makeshift altar as your two companions followed close behind. Ghosts rushed to block your path, but you pressed on as your invisible shield threw them back. It looked absolutely badass. Well, anything you did was cool to Idia, anyway.

“Out of my way!” You commanded, strong and unwavering. He’d seen you annoyed and angry before, but never up to this point. It basically radiated off of you that a danger warning could be floating above your head.

“S-so intimidating... “

“So scary!”

Sure, this wedding crasher looked like you, but something was different. An unexplainable sinister aura wreathed you tonight. Was it your glare, or was it that regal suit you wore? Idia must have been too distracted by you, that he only noticed now how your cape seemed to drag shadows with it. You were a villain... much like one of the villains from his video games! And something else that was familiar.

Whatever it was and wherever it came from, there was a menacing presence in the hall tonight.

All were silent, except for the wind whistling through the hall. If one listened more carefully, they would hear drowned-out cackles. But it is just the wind, right?

“Wh-who are you?” Eliza finally asked. The ghosts who were ashamed at being unable to seize you began to form a protective ring around their princess. Eliza herself, Idia noticed, was starting to curl in on herself—her presence shrinking the closer you approached. “What do you want?”

“The groom,” was all you said, staring her down as if eyes alone could exterminate the ghost in front of you.

“Idia?” she asks weakly, glancing at her tied-up groom. Idia said nothing and did nothing but look at you, attempting to telepathically communicate his panic. You barely even looked at him.

“He’s mine.”

Hold up—?

More gasps and chatter. They sounded less like whispers and more like the buzzing insects he heard whenever he snuck out at midnight. The world spun. Idia stared at you open-mouthed.

If he were asked to describe his state of mind at this moment, it would be similar to a loading screen. Suddenly, everything you did together played back in a 1.75x supercut sequence.

Mine.

“Wh-what?” Eliza sputtered. “What do you mean?”

You answered her, voice losing the steadiness it possessed just moments ago. “You have the man I love.”

Wha…

KDJAFCKSAJHDKACBSXCJSIEUDS?

Idia.exe has crashed. Reboot?

The audience’s reactions were varied. Some students on the floor were amused by the spectacle and could have used some popcorn (and a comfortable position) during these times. Some were horrified and disappointed by the idea of the prefect being in love with Idia Shroud the shut-in. Some were much too confused to feel anything.

“Pardon…? What did I just hear?” Azul asked the floor.

“Puppy love,” Lilia wept, sniffling very loudly. “You know, this reminds me of when I was young...”

“Whaddaya mean when you were young?!” Floyd snapped. His irritability had spiked up even more when you arrived. His position prevented him from witnessing the events. Everyone on the floor could feel his bad mood rolling off of him in waves.

“Hey! Watch your tone when speaking to Lilia!” scolded Sebek.

“... Are they acting?” Leona mumbled.

“Oh, this better be an act.” said Vil. “... though it does not seem to be.” The last part of his observation remained unheard by anyone else, except for Rook.

“I believe we are witnessing a genuine love confession,” added the Chasseur d’Amour himself, voice soft as he sighed dreamily. “Engrave this moment into your memories, everyone! We are fortunate to witness it…”

But no one shared his enthusiasm about the situation. The others expressed their displeasure by groaning and complaining. “... well, even in this state we are in?” he added as a follow-up.

Reboot.

You once fell asleep on Idia’s shoulder after finishing a movie. It was something you both only watched to make fun of, but you were apparently too tired to give your top-tier jokes and meme references. The contact sent his heart into overdrive as he froze, begging for option boxes to appear and help him. The flames of his hair blazed so brightly that it woke you back up. It was embarrassing, and sometimes he would remember it late at night and cringe.

It was happening again, but worse. Any moment now, he was sure that he alone could burn down the cafeteria, if not the whole school. This was stupid. Why did he get that worked up over an obvious act? A mere ploy to get the ghosts to release him?

Reality catches up and deals him triple attack damage. Crowley probably put you up to this. You were probably annoyed that you were forced to do this, weren’t you? That’s why you couldn’t even look at him. It had to be the cruelest joke that fate ever threw his way.

“I can’t say I don’t understand you, Princess,” you tell Eliza, forcing a smile. “Idia is perfect, is he not?” He felt your eyes on him. This time, it was he who couldn’t quite meet your gaze. Looking down at the floor was all he could do; it couldn’t judge his blushing face. Only when the warmth in his cheeks faded did he feel it safe to look back up again.

“You see him, don’t you, Princess?” Your voice began to falter, losing the confidence and authority in it that scared the ghosts. “He’s so much more than what everyone else thinks! We agree on that, don’t we?”

Eliza’s face softened, nodding. “Yes. I’ve seen how these people insult him!” she tells you, gesturing to the ‘failed princes’ on the floor.

“But we’re still different,” you stepped closer, but still far enough so that your invisible anti-ghost forcefield wouldn’t activate. “You don’t want to marry Idia, you want to marry your fairytale prince.”

Eliza appeared to be genuinely confused. She looked around at her companions, before turning back to you. “What do you mean?”

“You’re in love with your ideals, not the person himself,” you explain. “You only chose him for his appearance. Am I right? His personality, likes and dislikes, and possible flaws don’t matter to you.”

Eliza seemed deep in thought. While she was silent, you release a bitter laugh and threw your hands up. “I mean, do you even know what his favorite candy is?”

Pomegranate drops. You asked to have some, but he refused to give you any. He wouldn’t tell you why, but he let you assume it was his favorite and didn’t want to share because of that.

That wasn’t it, though. Maybe he’d tell you once you were both out of here.

“You’ve never stayed up until 4am just to join him on a raid!” You waved your hands wildly, lost in your rant. Whether Eliza understood you or not, you seemed to have stopped giving a damn.

“Weak!” he teased, noticing your drooping eyelids and reduced concentration. Deep down, he felt bad for keeping you up late. “Look, it’s fine if you need to rest.”

“Nah, let’s finish this. What are you going to do without me?” you replied, smirking.

“You don’t even have 4-hour conversations with him on Magicord VC like I do!”

It lasted up until 3am. You two were laughing at memes. He could hear a groggy Grim complain in the background about the noise.

“Alright. Here’s a question, princess. How much would you risk for the man beside you right now? Bet that’s where we’re different...”

Eliza’s gaze darted back and forth between you and Idia. Even the other ghosts were silent, waiting for your next words.

“... because if you ask me, I would risk everything! That’s why I’m here wearing this stupid suit!”

It’s not real. It’s not real. The emotion behind every word was a punch to the gut. If you kept this up, he might need a healer soon. Ever since he realized he was falling, he tried to quell the sparks of hope you ignited whenever you did something nice for him. All that hard work was gone. Each word you uttered was gasoline.

“To think that if I arrived minutes later… th-that I would never see him again!” A sob escapes your throat, your intimidating persona crumbling.

No, don’t do that. Idia wanted to reassure you that he was still there and he was okay, but he couldn’t. It’s part of an act. It’s part of an act.

“So please… just let him go.” The front you wore has completely dissolved. There you were, reduced to a sobbing mess in front of a ghost princess and the students of NRC.

You weren’t the only one. All traces of anger or fear have vanished from Eliza’s face. Instead, she put her hands over her mouth. The princess had been moved to tears. Finally, she turns to Idia. “Idia, they seem to l-love you very much… ”

“That’s right.” You wiped your tear-streaked face and pointed an accusing finger at the ghosts. “And all of you! Are you going to enable her forever? Encourage her shallow ideas of what love should be?”

They all looked down, unable to meet your eyes.

“You have no right to just snatch him up and claim him as yours,” you told Eliza with an unfaltering resolve, despite your tear-covered face and your crumbled front of strength. “Did you never think… that there could have been someone waiting for him to return?”

“I-I never meant to!” Eliza cried. “I was so blinded by my own happiness. I never thought… never even considered…”

“Princess, it’s alright. We all make mistakes.” Chubby told her, trying to be reassuring.

“Tell me, intruder. How else am I going to find my prince?” she asked you with no trace of hostility. You stopped for a while, staring at her.

You must not have expected the question. Idia saw you look at him—it was the longest time you’d looked at him all evening. Clearing your throat, you began to explain. You fumbled a bit, scratching the back of your neck and tugging at the hem of your coat as you explained what a perfect partner should be.

As you spoke, Idia was enthralled by your voice and most of all, the knowledge you possessed about love and romance. He hadn’t seen this side of you before. How did he ever think that a hundred dating sims could make him a romance expert?

“Is that so?” she sighs, bowing her head. “I understand now. I’m so sorry… for causing you so much grief.”

She turns to her companions, giving them a sad smile. “There’s only one thing to do. Everyone, we must stop this wedding.”

Idia wanted to fall to the floor in relief. At least a few exhausted sighs and weak cheers could be heard from the wedding “attendees”. You fell to your knees, exaggerating your gratitude.

“Thank you, princess!”

“But Princess… what about your happily ever after?” Chubby interjected.

“I can’t tear two lovers apart!” Eliza wipes a few of her own tears, then turns to you. “I was deeply moved by your words. I dream of having a lover like you,” she sighs dreamily, probably imagining her future lover already.

While the students of NRC rejoiced at this victory, Idia’s heartbeat quickened in fear. What if Eliza decided to take you for herself?

“Princess…” Chubby muttered, sighing. Eliza only gave him a reassuring smile. Phew. Idia relaxed, grateful that she doesn’t have the idea… yet. He didn’t know what to do if that thought became reality.

Eliza turns to address the hall with a smile. “I have decided.” Everyone waited with bated breath for her announcement. Idia squeezed his eyes shut and silently urged her to announce their departure already.

“Idia and I will not be married anymore. She smiles wide, and clasps her hands together. “However, there will still be a wedding!”

Your smile faded. “What… what do you mean, princess?”

She beams. “To make up for my mistake, I will make sure that Idia and his lover are married tonight!”

To be continued.

Tagging: @teashopwritingzz @twistedcrumbs

Well, that was long. To think that I was planning for the story to be a one-shot! Once again, keep an eye out for Part 3. Thank you for reading!

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

#twst x reader #twst fic #idia x reader #idia shroud #idia shroud x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #rewritten

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pedropascalunofficial · 3 years

Text

Pedro Pascal and Lena Headey

Head to head interview

Hunger Magazine, Issue 6. Released December 28, 2014. Photoshoot October 15, 2013.

Thirteen million. That's the number of people, on average, who tuned into each episode of the third season of Game of Thrones. Among them was Chilean actor Pedro Pascal, who was as enthralled by the sex and slaughter as the rest of us. But little did he know that within a few months he'd be pitching up on the shores of Belfast to join the cast as Oberyn Martell, affectionately known as the Red Viper. Sound ominous? It is. The Red Viper is GoTs newest anti-hero, “sexy and charming but driven by hate”. Sounds like he'll be right at home.

Pedro, on the other hand, though he looks good on paper, wasn't the obvious choice for the role. Expecting a big name to ride into King’s Landing, the show's fans took to forums to express their concerns as soon as the news broke. So is he worried? Like hell he is. “The fans had the part cast in their minds already. They knew who they wanted and it certainly was not me. But I'm not stupid, | presumed that people were going to say ‘who the fuck is this guy’. Since I anticipated the reaction it didn't throw me off.”

“There are so many different ways to go into battle with yourself when you're trying to get a job. I felt a certain amount of pressure because I wanted to make everyone happy. The fan base is so specific and, as a fan myself, I understand the relationship that they have with the show. The Red Viper is the best part I've ever played, and in season four shocks come at the most unexpected times. You might think you know, but you have no idea,” he explains.

Looks like the Red Viper could be in line to fill a Walter-White-sized-hole in television, but to test the theory we pit Pascal against Lena Headey, aka the Queen. Because if you can come away from Cersei unscathed, you can handle anything.

LH: So, Pedro, you come into Game of Thrones in season four, playing a pretty major character. Does that fill you with joy or dread?

PP: I'd say it fills me with joy because it’s a really fucking fun part. He’s a badass. He comes up against a lot of the main characters in the show. I'm very aware of the show. I watch it like a fan.

LH: Were you a fan before you arrived in Belfast?

PP: Yeah, I was a proper fan. I was caught up in the drama of it before I even auditioned for the part. I was already up to speed.

LH: I remember meeting you and thinking, “he fucking loves the show’.

PP: I kissed your ass.

LH: Well, it worked. We're friends now.

PP: I was like a tourist visiting the set, and yet I had to act with you and be in a scene with the characters that I had such a specific association with already.

LH: So you’re saying it’s boring?

PP: No, it wasn’t boring at all. It was extremely, relentlessly surreal.

LH: And who were your favourite characters up until that point?

PP: Not you.

LH: I realise that!

PP: There are too many characters to have a favourite, but I was fascinated by the Lannisters because they're so frightening. They scared me and then you would come in and pull sympathy from your audience somehow, and I found that rather fascinating. The Northerners were so easy to like or get behind, but it was quite something to see people sympathise with a Lannister, after you made people see things from their perspective.

LH: Speaking of being slightly ambiguous as a character, you come in as a major player and a very well-loved character in the eyes of people who read the books, and he’s somewhat of an anti-hero. Did you base him on anyone?

PP: What does an anti-hero mean exactly?

LH: It means he doesn't wear deodorant, doesn't it? [Laughs]. Someone you shouldn't champion, but you do, like Walter White in Breaking Bad.

PP: No, | didn’t really base him on anyone.

LH: Did you take anything from classic movies that you thought you could use and spin to your advantage playing the Red Viper?

PP: God, that’s a good question. I probably did subconsciously. Now I feel under the spotlight because I need to think of somebody, and I have so many in my mind! I think that’s something that is happening a lot in TV today: the anti-heroes are central to these television shows, and people are really getting behind them, even though they're not necessarily the most moral characters. So I'd say that ‘ve become more familiar with the character who's obviously very flawed but gets you on their side — you have complicated feelings about them. But I think I saw the story too much from this character's perspective to perceive any flaws.

LH: He has some.

PP: I know, from the outside. But I don't see any of them. What are his flaws?

LH: His flaws? He's a dirty bastard!

PP: Why is he a dirty bastard? He likes to fucking fight, for sure.

LH: Back to you as an actor. You've done it for a long time and, as we all know, the path is not always golden, and sometimes you think, “fuck it” and you want to leave it and do something else. Have there been moments where you wanted to give up?

PP: Yes, there have been moments where I came very close to giving up. But I never had anything to fall back on. I think you can understand that.

LH: Because were stupid?

PP: We're stupid.

LH: I can't even make pizza!

PP: We don’t have any other skills.

LH: None at all!

PP: And that’s the odd conundrum. You get to a point where you think, “This isn’t going to happen. This isn’t sustainable. I'm too exhausted, and it can't be good for me.” There were moments where I truly did try to formulate an idea of what I'd do. I thought I'd go back to school, start pre-med again and go to medical school or something like that.

LH: But that didn't happen, you just thought about it?

PP: Yes, I'd have thoughts, but it was still fantasy really. But at the time it felt like a practical life plan. Do you know what I mean?

LH: Yeah of course, you need to pay the fucking rent.

PP: Exactly. You just try to escape from the chaos of what you're feeling by trying to create order in your life. Order seems like a solution to save you from the pain of acting!

LH: It's a mental pain. Who was the first person you called when you got the role?

PP: My sister.

LH: Does she watch the show?

PP: Yes, she does.

LH: Pedro Pascal... or Pablo as I called you when I had too much wine, which was deeply insulting.

PP: Even family members have done that to me! Do I look more like a Pablo? Because it happens with about ninety-five percent of the people I meet.

LH: No, I think I’m just an ignorant drunk person.

PP: No, you were an ignorant drunk person that night is what you're saying.

LH: And now I’m educated.

PP: [Whispers] But | want you to call me Pablo.

LH: Ok, Pablo! When you first arrived on set in Northern Ireland, what was your feeling showing up to a bunch of British actors? Did it feel different to doing an American project?

PP: Yes, but I loved it. It wasn’t intimidating. I found it surreal because I’d watched and loved the show. I hadn't had the opportunity to work on something that I was really familiar with before, so it was overwhelming. But it was far more delightful than intimidating. Also you guys were really cool. Everyone was friendly.

LH: Oh, that’s just fake.

PP: Well, you guys were good at it!

LH: We know Game of Thrones is very popular obviously. Do you have any thoughts, or fears, about what this is going to bring you in terms of exposure?

PP: I have hope.

LH: Oh, God. I don’t mean to shatter that, but give it up.

PP: I don’t know really. It’s all been filmed, and now I'm back to my normal routine, so I haven't really thought about it. I remember when we finished filming and we were on our way to the airport, you asked me, “How does it feel you're all done?” and I couldn't really answer.

LH: You were quite emotional that day.

PP: I was very emotional because I’d had such an amazing time doing the part. Also just being there immersed in the experience... You described it to me best. You told me how I'd be feeling.

LH: We don't know your character's backstory when you enter the show, and you have some rather brutal scenes. Anyone who has read the books will know what I’m talking about.

PP: My character comes in, he stirs a bunch of shit up, and then he makes this fucking enormous exit. Now can | ask you a question?

LH: What is it? I’m not going to sleep with you. Give it up.

PP: Oh, come on! This has gone to shit and it’s your fault, so good luck to whoever has to edit it! But anyway, sometimes I'd hang out with the cast members and we'd go to dinner and they would get stopped constantly. There was no denying who they played because they were so recognisable, but you got away with it because you have this beautiful blonde wig on in the show, and in real life you are...

LH: Grey?

PP: {Laughs] No! You have beautiful chestnut hair! Is it liberating to not be recognised the way some of the other cast members are?

LH: Yes, it is liberating.

PP: Liberating being able to walk down an alley in Dubrovnik without being stopped?

LH: Yes, except sometimes | get recognised in the weirdest places. A woman was emptying my bag at Heathrow Airport's security gates and just went, “Are you the Queen?” while rummaging through my underwear. It was so fucking weird.

PP: It seems they're more respectful to you?

LH: Because they're frightened. Wait until they meet the Viper.

PP: Well, that covers it.

LH: I think we're going to get our own show out of this, you know

youtube

Interested in learning more about Pedro? Check out Pedro Pascal Unofficial on Pinterest!

#pedro pascal #lena headey #hunger magazine #shot October 2013 #published December 2014 #game of thrones #queen cersei #prince oberyn #oberyn #oberyn martell #hunger tv

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amydancepants-peralta · 4 years

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mr mendes just released a new song & i was wondering if you could write something inspired by the line: "i wonder what it's like to be loved by you" 😌✨

Ericaaa I loved this prompt! 💕 Of course I had to throw in some Pining because it’s so good ... hope you enjoy! (here it is on AO3)

to be loved by you

It’s a secret to absolutely no-one that Amy Santiago is the kind of woman that likes to excel in any skillset. Unapologetic in her badass-ery, she can (and has) chase a perp through the boroughs of Brooklyn in boots that have a higher heel than three of her male colleagues put together. Her finely tuned memory - the same one that has led Trivia Newton John to seven straight victories - helped solve a series of long-dead case files, and her problem solving skills are the reason that one of the city’s biggest kingpins is currently behind bars.

With this in mind, one could consider it safe to say that Amy regretting her natural ability to ace any situation would be up there with hell freezing over, or for a flock of pigs to soar across the sky.

But tonight, here in Shaw’s bar as she watches Jake have what seems to be a lovely date with Sophia; Amy just might be, if only maybe a little, slightly regretting her highly graded observation skills (yes, the same ones that pushed her into the highest percentile when graduating from the academy - which she very rarely brags about, and she really should - it was mentioned in the commissioners speech and everything).

To be fair, it wasn’t all bad. She could, for example; hear the jukebox in the corner, playing Come on Eileen for the fifth time in a row - unknowingly settling into a duet with squelching sneakers as a bunch of drunken frat guys danced, all of them too far gone to notice any repetition. Plus, she could pick up on the subtle click of the acrylic nails on the woman at a neighbouring table, listening to them tap against a series of her friends’ photographs, rotating between descriptions of priddy and gawgeous.

Mixed with the scent of spilled beer and day-old peanuts, it was exactly the combination that to others may appear seedy, but to Amy and the squad, just seemed … familiar. Shaw’s was their watering hole, the basement bar each could disappear into and drink to forget their days, and despite the five empty glasses on her table and the half-full one in her hand, Amy was finding it incredibly difficult to stop noticing just how sweet Jake was with his girlfriend.

Even more impossible was to stop imagining what it would be like if she were the one standing near the dart board, with Jake’s arm resting comfortably over her shoulders.

It had all started earlier today, when she had glanced over at her partner just in time to pick up on the tiny little smile that grew on his face when he noticed a text from Sophia.

(Okay, it’s possible that it had actually started back at The Maple Drip Inn, with that look he’d given her after maybe, yes, a little. It had definitely led to a series of Thoughts after Teddy’s departure, of which she’d only given herself just that night to think about.)

(Except ‘that night’ then turned into that week, and okay fine then it had turned into ‘just that month'; and now here she is, several weeks later; completely unable of getting Jake Peralta off of her mind, and it’s becoming very likely that this is more than just a little crush.)

It had been so endearing to see, that tiny glimpse of joy and enchantment as he’d read Sophia’s message - just fleeting enough for Amy to wonder if anybody had ever reacted to a message from her with such glee. (Teddy, she remembers, preferred not to text; and would instead express his affections by saving her the last bottle of his favourite pilsner, or brewing a new concoction ‘inspired by her’ … sweet, but somehow didn’t hold the same sentiment.)

So she’d kept her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her as she listened to Jake pick up the phone and order a bunch of flowers to be delivered to Sophia’s office - using his debit card, and not a combination of the five questionably balanced credit cards under his name - which in itself is huge. Pretended not to notice the multiple kiss emojis in his reply, or the soft tune that he hummed for a few minutes after, focusing intensely on the case file in front of her as she described a recent interrogation in finite detail. Kept up the facade of all that stuff with us is in the past as he recounted a romantic weekend to their squad in the break room - laughing along in all the right places, doing her very best to keep the wistfulness out of her eyes.

And all the while, Amy’s mind had kept contemplating if she would ever get to know what it would be like to date someone like Jake: to have somebody who would take all the black and whites of her life and show her the beautiful greys in-between.

So when he’d shown up at Shaw’s this evening, with Sophia’s hand carefully wrapped around his own and a grin that announced his contentment to anyone who cared to look; Amy had felt her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. Her painted smile had just lasted until the couple retreated to the corner for a crazily competitive game of darts, and Amy had decided tonight would be a great opportunity to drown her sorrows in a few glasses of whiskey, doing her absolute best not to notice all the little things she will never have.

Like the way Jake would punctuate each congratulatory high five with a kiss, even when it meant that his girlfriend had beaten him at a game. The gentle way he steered them away from a rambunctious crowd, keeping an eye on the raised voices as his unaware girlfriend played her shot and came so close to hitting the bullseye. Or the way Sophia’s hand would rest on Jake’s chest as he held her in his arms (just the way that Amy wishes she could do), and the way she would laugh so happily as he commented on the drunk guys dancing near them.

It was all very simple, but undeniably sweet, and Amy doesn’t know how she ever doubted that Jake would be anything but.

“Your covert skills need work, Santiago.”

The chair beside Amy scrapes angrily against the worn floorboards and she turns, startled by the interruption, quietly praying that her face isn’t quite as red as it suddenly feels. Terry, far more interested in taking the last sip of his scotch than commenting on her appearance, settles in to his new location next to her, and his glass hits the soaking cardboard coaster with a slap.

“Wha-huh? Covert skills? You really must be drunk, Sarge. We’re not even on a stakeout right now. Unless you’re talking about us staking out the contents of that fridge behind the bar haha!”

(She’s rambling - she knows she’s rambling; but cannot stop the desperate need to pretend that she hadn’t just been completely busted for spending her entire evening staring at a life she may never know.)

“Ugh. Okay fine.” Her mouth stretches out into a cringe, eyes flickering to the colleagues Terry had just walked away from. “How noticeable are we talking here?”

“Noticeable enough that Charles has spent the last 40 minutes lamenting on ‘the beautiful tragedy of unrequited love’”. Dropping his air quotes, Terry rolls his eyes, one eyebrow lowering as he returns to his drink. “He lost me when he started quoting poetry. Terry loves Shakespeare, but he could do with a little less soliloquies - and a little more spirits - tonight.”

“Oh! You know what, there was just a Shakespeare play in Polonsky that starred - ” Terry overlaps her last words with his own heavy voice, and Amy’s stops in it’s tracks.

“Dianne Wiest. Terry knows. That was his segue, Amy.”

She nods, sensing the need to dig up. “Should have known. Charles loves his Wiest feasts.” Terry grunts his assent, pressing his lips together as he savours another verse-less sip, and Amy seizes the opportunity to cast another furtive glance at the happy couple.

“Seriously, though. Just because Peralta hasn’t noticed, doesn’t mean the rest of us haven’t.”

Amy brushes her hair to the side, swirling the liquid in her glass with her free hand. “Okay, so maybe I haven’t been very subtle tonight, or whatever.” Her gaze returns to Jake, drawn to him like a magnet, and her heart squeezes once more.

To his credit, Terry gives her a moment; waiting for a silence to settle over their table before leaning forward in his chair, ignoring the sticky residue of the tabletop as he rests his arms on either side of his glass.

“Out with it, Santiago.”

She shakes her head, swallowing hard to push down the burgeoning lump in her throat. “They look really happy together, don’t they? He looks … happy.”

Terry shrugs, glancing in the direction of Amy’s eye line. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“He does! All shiny and cheerful and just .. happy.”

“I don’t know. Terry remembers a time when you and Teddy looked just as content.” His look is pointed, and followed by the unsubtle raise of his eyebrows. Amy nods, draining the last of her drink. Somehow, she has a feeling that Sophia’s underwear isn’t lined with mesh like Teddy’s had been (and even if it was, it would be some kind of inexplicably sexy mesh, for sure).

“Sometimes things aren’t what they seem, sarge.”

“You know that works both ways, don’t you?”

Nodding again, Amy wipes her thumb along the smudged lipstick print on her glass, choosing to remain silent. Terry didn’t get it - none of them got it, really. She’d had her chance, the very first time the words romantic styles were uttered, and she’d let it slip away. And now, she has to live with the consequences.

Clearing his throat, Terry continues. “I mean … she is a defence attorney, you know.”

“But see, even that isn’t something that I can fault. Not fairly, anyway.” Clocking the look of disbelief on Terry’s face, Amy shrugs defensively, waving her hand vaguely in Sophia’s direction. “I know we all like to joke and call them evil, but really … all they’re doing is making us prove that our findings are beyond reasonable doubt. If anything, it’s people like her that push us to do better - to work harder to make sure that we’re definitely charging the right person. And as annoying as that can be, it’s definitely not a reason to hate her.”

“Kinda sounds like you do, though.”

She shakes her head, feeling the sense of defeat sink into her bones. “I really don’t. She’s incredibly smart, and funny and beautiful … she honestly looks like she should be in a commercial for shampoo or something. She’s perfect for Jake, and I’m just …”

“You’re just … ?”

Shrugging, Amy slots her thumbnail into the edge of the coaster underneath her glass. It, like her heart, had seen better days, and it was time for her to cut her losses. “I’m just … going home.”

“What? No. Stay! Our squad kicked butt this week, Amy. We all deserve a drink.”

Painting another smile onto her face (she really is getting good at them), Amy pushes her seat away from the table, allowing herself one more glimpse at Jake’s smile before shaking her head at Terry. “Sorry sarge, I just can’t seem to celebrate tonight.”

Heading towards the exit without a second thought, Amy doesn’t see Jake pull away from Sophia, taking a half step in the direction of the door as he watches her leave. She doesn’t notice him pull out his phone, start to type a message before hesitating, pocketing it without hitting send. The night moves on as Amy walks away, and the streets are deafeningly silent as soon as the bar door closes behind her.

The sky seems to feel just as morose as Amy this evening, tiny droplets dropping onto her grey work blazer as she waits for a cab; too lost in her thoughts to take in the frivolity of a parting crowd. As the rain increases and the splotches on her blazer turn into tiny Rorschach Tests she decides to give herself one more night - one last night of wishing for things that will never be.

In the backseat on her ride home Amy twists her hands together, linking her fingers and imagining not for the first time that one hand was Jake’s (she would imagine similar .. later). She thinks of what it could be like to have his warm presence near hers .. to have his hand resting on her leg, not out of possession but just to be near. Watching him get out of the car first, only to turn and offer a helping hand for her exit, every time without fail.

She pictures what it would be like to feel the brick exterior of her apartment against her back as Jake presses his soft lips against hers, kissing the life out of her, making her see stars before pulling her into the apartment for so much more.

He wouldn’t always be the perfect partner - and lord knows, neither would she - but Amy knows that through it all he would remain her best friend, because even through all of this yo-yo pattern of denial and admittance, thats who Jake has been for her. After all these years, he’s become the only one she wants to talk to, at any given moment of the day, who knows her coffee order better than his own and remembers her Abuela’s birthday, even when she hasn’t mentioned it in weeks.

The scent of rain lingers in her apartment as Amy readies herself for bed, casting her pantsuit aside with drunken abandonment and giving her face a half-hearted wash before stumbling towards her bed. She closes her eyes, the thoughts of what could have been still so loud in her quiet apartment, hugging the pillow beside her tightly while her mind begins to wander.

As she finally drifts off to sleep that night, Amy tries not to remember the smile that Jake gave her as they danced so long ago at the community hall - that special kind of smile, that made her think that maybe it was solely for her - and tells herself once. and. for. all. that sometimes, life just doesn’t work out the way you’d hope.

* *

It’s a rush of cool air that alerts Amy to a brand new morning, the drop in temperature squashed as quickly as it arrives by the wrapping of a warm arm around her middle. She smiles into the pillow as it completes its protective loop, letting her body get pulled closer to the human hot water bottle in the middle of her bed, and if there was a better way to wake up on a cold day, Amy is yet to see it.

She lets out a sigh of comfort as the bridge of a prominent nose digs into her shoulder blade, feeling the warmth of his breath through her old academy shirt, nestling closer until her legs are well and truly tangled amongst his. It’s late, later than she would normally allow herself to sleep, but the two of them were far too invested in basking in the afterglow of a rainy Saturday filled with sex and movies to consider leaving the bedroom anytime soon.

Jake’s voice is rough, the remnants of a deep sleep obvious in his throat. “Today’s Sunday, right?”

Amy nods, wriggling herself just free enough to turn within her boyfriend’s embrace. His hair is sticking out on all ends - unaided, she is certain, by her hands the night before - and she runs the tip of her thumb along his right cheekbone. Though his eyes are still closed, he leans into her touch, and she grins. “Definitely Sunday. A rainy Sunday, but part of the weekend all the same.”

He nods, the short and prickly fibres of his morning stubble scratching her palm. “Good. More time for time machine building.”

“… we’re building a time machine?”

“Yeah, one that lets us skip past all the boring work stuff, and leaves us with all the time in the world for more of this. Kinda like that movie Click, but a lot less ‘trying to change the past’ stuff, and a lot more sex.”

She chuckles, and his left foot rubs along the side of her calf under the blanket. “You’re crazy, Peralta.” (Although, she will admit - the ‘a lot more sex’ part did sound kinda great.)

His eyelids flutter open, gaze growing soft as a smile stretches across his face. “You’re beautiful, Santiago.”

Amy feels her cheeks begin to heat up, resisting the urge to cool herself down by tucking her hair away, completely unable to move as long as Jake continues to look at her like that. There’s a pimple growing underneath the surface of her chin that is going to rival Mount Vesuvius, and her morning breath could probably wilt the flower pots living happily on her kitchen’s windowsill. But here, in bed with her boyfriend of almost two years, she feels more beautiful than all of her best days put together.

“I don’t think I’ve told you this today, but I love you, Jake.”

Leaning forwards, Jake’s soft lips press against Amy’s, and he winks as he pulls away. “I mean, we’ve both been awake for a sum total of three minutes, so yeah, you’re pretty late with the love you’s today, babe.”

Her free hand flies out from under the cover, delivering an indignant smack to Jake’s chest, and he grabs it back before she can pull away, linking their fingers together and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I love you too, Ames. Even if you don’t want to build a time machine with me, I still love you.”

She laughs - a giggle that starts in her belly and bursts through her lungs, something that she’s been doing a lot more of these days - and pulls Jake in for a longer kiss, morning breath be damned.

One day, in eight or so years time, they’ll have a son - a miniature version of Jake that, much like his father, runs to the beat of his own drum; and answers to the name Mac. Amy will fall pregnant again, and when they explain to their son that he’s going to be a big brother, his response is so perfectly him that it makes Amy’s eyes tear up with laughter.

For they are, by Mac’s decree, now officially a Ninja Turtle family. He is Raphael (or ‘Rafel’), Jake Michelangelo due to his love of nunchaku, and Amy nabs Leonardo purely out of homage to one of her favourite artists. The mini-Peralta still growing in her womb is, by default, Donatello (or Donatella, depending), and even though there was a time when Amy truly felt like she could never be this lucky, she will love their little family with all of her heart.

But for now, she has Jake; and together they have warm bedsheets and no plans for a future that isn’t together - no matter what obstacles may be thrown their way.

And Amy realises, as Jake begins to trace a series of kisses along her side of her neck; truly, being loved by him is better than she could have ever imagined.

#it's all about the yearning #pining!Amy #fic prompts #has the ninja turtle family thing been done? I can't remember #b99 fanfic #peraltiago fanfiction #b99fic

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cherry-valentine · 4 years

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Fall 2020 Anime Season:

Golden Kamuy Season 3 is, so far, just as good as the first two seasons. For anyone unfamiliar with the show, it follows a former soldier called “Immortal Sugimoto” (nicknamed so for his tendency to survive a lot of shit that would kill most people) and a young Ainu (the Japanese equivalent of Native Americans) girl as they search Northern Japan (and even parts of Russia) for hidden Ainu gold. The story is pretty wild, with threats coming from the wildlife and the harsh, snowy conditions as often as from mercenaries, assassins, and various other human dangers. The cast has expanded enough that we have several separate groups of cool, well-written characters roaming about (and they’ve shuffled a bit from season two, making their interactions very interesting). Sugimoto remains one of my favorite anime protagonists. He’s one of the more brutal, violent main characters I’ve seen, but, strangely, also one of the nicest. He’s kind to innocents (both people and animals) but will slaughter his enemies without hesitation. He’s also pretty funny. Then again, almost every character is subject to the show’s weird but endearing humor. It’s very hard to dislike any character, even the ones who are quite cruel. The show is also notable for having a lot of homoerotic subtext. The beefy, handsome men sure do love taking their clothes off and wrestling. Like, taking it ALL off. Multiple times per season. Yeah. Watch this show, everybody.

Ikebukuro West Gate Park is a new show this season that I was initially interested in because it reminded me of Durarara!! in that it’s set in Ikebukuro and features color gangs. That’s where the similarities end, however. Whereas Durarara!! had tons of supernatural elements and just plain craziness, IWGP is more realistic by comparison. The show follows Makoto, a seemingly normal guy who seems to function in a sort of “odd jobs” type of role for a color gang called the G Boys. While they’re a gang, they don’t seem like criminals or thugs, or even delinquents. They really feel more like a club, held together by their respect for the leader referred to as King. So far the series seems to be episodic in nature, with most stand-alone episodes focusing on some sort of social issue, from drug addiction to immigration. It’s interesting to see these issues presented in such a sympathetic light, viewed through the lens of Tokyo’s youth. The art is nice, with varied character designs and animation that’s just good enough that you don’t notice the problems very often. The music is a highlight, with my favorite opening theme of the season and one of the better ending themes.

Magatsu Wahrheit is a show I was very iffy on at first. It has a lot of things working against it. It’s based on a video game I’ve never heard of, the opening theme is one of the cheapest, most unimpressive things I’ve ever seen (note: it does improve a few episodes in!), and the series overall has a low budget feel (though nowhere near as bad as Gibiate from last season). But the story is actually very interesting and very well written. The basic premise is that Young Man A (I’m not remembering these weird names, sorry) works as a delivery truck driver in your usual “modern fantasy” setting (kingdoms and monsters and other medieval fantasy trappings alongside trucks and cars and advanced science laboratories). When he’s loading up his deliveries, Young Man B, a fresh recruit in the kingdom’s military and general goody-two-shoes, randomly offers to help Young Man A load his truck. Young Man B spots some boxes off to the side and, assuming they were part of the load, puts them into the truck while Young Man A is talking to his boss. These boxes turn out to be illegal weapons being smuggled by a group of... freedom fighters? I guess? This, in turn, drags Young Man A into a shit storm of trouble when the illegal weapons are discovered in his truck. It also leads directly to tragedy for Young Man B as well, setting them both on wildly different but similarly dangerous paths. The whole idea that a simple act of kindness for a stranger sets off such a terrible series of events is pretty engaging. As it stands in the show right now, Young Man A is the more compelling character. He’s just a truck driver. He’s a coward who runs from danger and wants no part of any of this. But at the same time, he can be surprisingly brave at times (usually when a child is in danger). In a twist on the usual trope, these spurts of bravery are rarely rewarded. At least twice, his decision to act has led to heartbreaking tragedy. So far Young Man B is your typical “idealistic youth realizing the military isn’t comprised entirely of nice people” type of character. As such, he’s just not as interesting. He hasn’t had as much screen time though, so hopefully he’ll grow as a character. I guess it says a lot that I’ve written so much about the show, and almost all of it is about the plot. But the plot is really the only remarkable thing about it. In this case, that’s enough.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is, well, a bit of a trainwreck. And I’m not necessarily talking about the quality of the show. Let me explain: The show was marketed as a remake of the 2006 anime, which was one of my all-time favorite series. I was pretty excited about it. Lots of new fans who had never watched the original started this one. The first episode was okay. I wasn’t crazy about how shiny everything looked (I realize the original’s visuals are a bit dated now but at least they were unique, this new one looks like pretty much every harem anime from the past five years) but the story seemed to be doing good and I looooooved the use of the original opening theme song as the closer. Then episode two dropped, and the fandom basically exploded. The first few minutes of episode two reveal that this is not a remake, but a sequel! Shock! At first, I was impressed by this little bit of manipulation. It felt exciting to realize the truth. But then it dawned on me (and the rest of the fandom) that new viewers who came to watch this were screwed over. Those first few minutes of episode two spoil some very important things from the original series (we’re talking major spoilers here), and it’s going to ruin a lot of plot points for those who never watched the original and now want to go back and watch it first. So here’s a PSA: If you’re new to Higurashi and want to try this new series, DON’T unless you’re okay with watching a sequel that spoils the original.

Okay, so now let’s talk about this new series/sequel. First, the good points: The ending theme is GORGEOUS. Just... go watch it. Soak it up. The opening isn’t bad but I can’t help comparing it to the far superior original opening. Aside from the overly shiny and generic character designs, the rest of the visuals are pretty great. The scenery in particular is very nice. In terms of story, I like the idea of beginning each new “arc” by staying close to the original story, then throwing in some pretty wild deviations that make them end in completely different ways because a character that lived through the original is trying to make subtle changes (that so far have ended up turning out very badly). When it comes to the bad points, one in particular sticks out: It’s not scary! The original had some truly unsettling moments, and so far this one hasn’t even been creepy. It’s had some moments that obviously tried to be scary but have failed miserably. For example, the early scenes with Rena in the original were actually terrifying. But I felt none of the intensity or creepiness in this sequel. Still, it’s nice to see these characters again and to see how this story deviates as someone tries desperately to change the outcomes.

Haikyuu!! has another new season and... I don’t really know what to say about it. I’ve talked about this show several times now. Looks like this season is going to focus primarily on one long match, a concept I’m not crazy about. They also made the baffling decision to cut in with a full episode about a rival team’s match right in the middle of showing the match with the main team. I mean I love seeing more of the rival teams but it felt disjointed to do it this way. Still yet, it’s a fun and energetic show full of great characters and easily understood volley ball matches.

Jujutsu Kaisen is probably the most hyped up new show this season, and I would say it definitely deserves that hype. It’s a pretty familiar shounen fighting anime setup: A teenage boy acquires special powers and joins a school to train so that he can use those powers for good. However, following that formula does little to negate just how fun and well-done this series is. A lot of people have compared it to Naruto (the protagonist is a vessel for a powerful entity, he joins a trio of characters with a more serious and moody black-haired boy and a chick, and they have a badass teacher with silver hair who keeps his face partially covered). So sure, it’s like Naruto... except it’s much better than Naruto in every conceivable way. The animation and fight choreography are consistently fantastic. The main character is not the least bit annoying. The only chick in the group (there are more cool ladies in the story, just not in this group!) is a badass in her own right and her story and motivations have absolutely nothing to do with romantic interest in any of the guys. Even the teacher character is incredibly fun. The music is great, with my favorite ending theme of the season. You know it’s an excellent ending theme when people start making different versions of it using characters from other shows. It’s so, well, fun. A word I keep using here, because that’s the first word that comes to mind when I’m watching this series.

Talentless Nana is one of those shows that’s going to be difficult for me to talk about without spoiling a very cool surprise. This surprise comes at the end of episode one (basically, the show makes you think it’s about something, but turns out it’s about something completely different). So if you want to really enjoy that surprise, stop reading this and go watch episode one before coming back. If you’ve already watched it or don’t mind having the surprise spoiled, here we go: The first episode sets up the series to be a cheap Boku no Hero Academia knock-off. We have a school of “talented” (super powered) kids training to use their powers to save humanity from (so far) unseen monsters referred to as “the enemies of humanity”. We are told one boy has no “talent” or special power and he’s ridiculed for this. There’s a new transfer student named Nana, a super sweet and cheerful girl with pink hair who has the ability to read minds. There’s also another transfer student, a sullen and quiet boy named Kyouya who hasn’t disclosed what his “talent” is. With that setup, I think a lot of people were ready to dismiss it as “BNHA, but not as good”. But then, a few minutes before the first episode ends, we’re hit with the twist that reveals what this show is really about: Nana is the one with no “talent”. She lied about being able to read minds (the boy we thought had no talent did actually have one). She’s a totally normal human being, and she has been sent to infiltrate the school and kill off the students, the true “enemies of humanity” (called so because their powers make them incredibly dangerous). Thus, the show is about a normal human girl using only her wits and skill in manipulation to kill off super-powered individuals. Watching her work is an absolute delight. She is ruthless and incredibly intelligent, but she does have one major problem: the other transfer student Kyouya, who is at least as smart as she is and is suspicious of her right off the bat. But since he’s not sure she’s up to no good, he can’t really act on his suspicions. Nana in turn knows he suspects her, so she has to be careful around him. As a result, the two become “friends”, constantly watching and outmaneuvering each other. In this way, the series reminds me of the early, best parts of Death Note, with the mental sparring between Light and L. But the most fun you’ll have with this show is watching Nana come up with ways to deal with each new “talent” she comes across, from the ability to time travel to necromancy, all while having no special power of her own. The art is nice, a bit generic, nothing too fancy. The music is great, with one of the better opening themes this season.

Moriarty the Patriot focuses on the classic Sherlock antagonist Professor Moriarty. Let me get this out of the way first: I know next to nothing about Sherlock. I haven’t even watched any of the various tv shows about him. What I know of the character basically comes from mentions of him in Detective Conan. So I’m coming into this series with no preconceived notions about these characters and no other versions to compare them to. Anyway, Moriarty as a series is about class warfare. Moriarty as a character pretty much embodies the phrase “eat the rich”. If you’re familiar with the phrase and understand its meaning, you’ll probably like this show. Moriarty works as a professor, but his side job is as a “Crime Consultant”. He helps the poor lower classes get revenge on the cruel nobles and elites who have wronged them. This revenge most often involves murder. There’s something refreshing about how unapologetic it is. In most anime, the hero tries to find other ways to punish evil than by actually killing them, or there’s some lesson involved about how revenge isn’t the answer or how killing someone who wronged you makes you as bad as them. In this series, there’s absolutely none of that. People get their revenge and, so far as I’ve watched, seem to be living much happier lives afterwards. In this way the show totally avoids being preachy. The art is gorgeous, with classy character designs and lovely backgrounds. There’s a certain lushness to it. The music is very nice as well (particularly that poppy ending theme). The only downside is that this has probably ruined me for watching other versions of these characters now. I mean, once you see them as sexy anime pretty boys, it’s hard to see them as anything else.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons:

Black Clover

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Jujutsu Kaisen

Best Opening Theme: Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Best Ending Theme: Jujutsu Kaisen

Best New Male Character: Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot)

Best New Female Character: Nana (Talentless Nana)

#anime reviews #seasonal anime #fall 2020 anime #anime recommendations #text #jujutsu kaisen #moriarty the patriot #munou na nana #ikebukuro west gate park

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Best SNES Platformers Ever

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Platformers have long been an entry point for new gamers. Video games may have greatly expanded in scope over the years and now offer so many different genres and experiences that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them, but that’s actually a big part of the reason why it’s still so much fun to look back at these timeless games where the main objective was often to simply jump from one place to the next.

There is no console that celebrated the brilliance of the platformer better than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES may be best known for expanding the adventure and RPG genres, as well as raising a generation’s expectations for video game graphics, but few consoles have come close to rivaling the Super Nintendo’s library of classic platforming titles.

It’s hard to narrow this list down to just 15 games, but from action-based platformers to pure platforming classics, these are the best examples of this timeless genre that the SNES gifted the gaming world.

15. Jelly Boy

Putting you in control of a jelly baby (a candy that is popular in the U.K. and surrounding areas), Jelly Boy was only released in Europe when it debuted in 1994. The game has a colorful aesthetic and some unique platforming elements built around the main character’s ability to transform into a myriad of vehicles, tools, and other objects. Those metamorphoses will be familiar to anyone who has played a Wario Land title or Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

Admittedly, Jelly Boy‘s mechanics can be a little clunky and the controls are deficient compared to some of the later games on this list. Still, you will be hard-pressed to find a more original platformer on the console that isn’t made by Nintendo themselves. You can even play it now via the Nintendo Switch Online service.

14. Demon’s Crest

Released by Capcom in 1994 as the third game featuring the character Firebrand (who debuted in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series), Demon’s Crest is a forgotten gem in the SNES catalog. It adds some variety to the traditional action-platformer by giving the playable protagonist the ability to fly and shoot fireballs as well as access other upgradeable attacks and maneuvers as their quest rolls along. That feature adds a little Zelda-like adventuring to the mix, and you’ll certainly need those late-game power-ups because this platformer means business.

There are many difficult platformers on this list, but few boast the plethora of boss battles seen in this one. It’s actually similar to Mega Man in terms of its fighting style and jumping requirements, so if you are looking for an alternative to the Blue Bomber that keeps the basics of the genre intact, you’ll have a hard time doing better than Demon’s Crest.

13. Joe & Mac

Joe & Mac is honestly a fairly basic platformer for its era. What gets it onto this list of the best games in that genre, though, is the creativity and execution of its setting.

The game sees you control two different cavemen who rely on basic prehistoric items such as fire, bats, bones, etc. The bosses are pretty cool (dinosaurs are fun for all ages) and the controls hold up well enough that you won’t ever feel like you have to force the avatar into doing something that the interface simply won’t allow for. The game spawned a sequel that was also released on SNES, but the original is unique enough to get the nod here.

12. Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Despite what the title may suggest, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is actually the third game in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. Like the previous games, this classic sees you battle various monsters and bosses that fit the setting nicely. Although the game is maybe a little too action-heavy to get the nod over the SNES’ best platformers, it uses its platforming elements to elevate the entire experience.

The difficulty is insanely high and the sheer amount of sprites on screen at once can lead to some lag that only adds to the frustrations of this arduous journey, but the game has a way of keeping things light and humorous when the frustration sets in. How many other games see the protagonist stripped of their armor, quite literally, when he takes too many hits?

11. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!

The third installment in the beloved Donkey Kong Country trilogy certainly isn’t hated by many, but it is usually viewed as a step down from the first two games. Whether that has to do with a change in composer for the soundtrack, the inability to play as Donkey or Diddy, or the fact it was released after the Nintendo 64 was on the market, the title’s sometimes mixed reputation often prevents it from being appreciated as a divine platforming experience.

The environments and storytelling in this game are well-executed. If you’re observant, you may even notice that the developers were trying to say something about the sad state of ape habitats and pollution in the wild. Even if you didn’t dive too deep into that surprising bit of social commentary, you’ll likely find that the platforming in this one remains top-notch and that the overall experience remains severely underrated.

10. DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s DokiDoki Adventure

As the only game on this list that wasn’t initially released outside of Japan, many gamers may not know that DoReMi Fantasy is a whimsical experience that features some of the key elements of Mario and Kirby’s best adventures in terms of gameplay and graphics. Starring a young child whose objective is to reclaim music for the forest, DoReMi utilizes some clever puzzles that may not be unusual for the platformer genre but certainly add to the fun.

The game got a Virtual Console release in North America in 2008, but that’s sadly the best chance many gamers have had in recent years to take a chance on this title. It’s a great example of how people should be more open to experiencing games that weren’t localized the first time around.

9. Donkey Kong Country

Perhaps the most famous game starring Nintendo’s lovable ape, the original Donkey Kong Country was Rare’s first big title for the SNES and practically started their decade-plus long relationship as a second-party developer with the Big N. Tasked with showing off off the console’s pre-rendered graphics system, the crew from Britain proved to be up to the task. Honestly, this game still looks halfway decent in 2021.

While the actual platforming is not as good as the Super Mario games on the SNES, it offered a different flavor of jumping that is still very much appreciated. The “weight” of Donkey Kong and Diddy means that the platforming is less flighty than in Super Mario games, and the rideable animal buddies you encounter along the way add a little flair to the experience.

8. ActRaiser

As a game that serves as both an action-platformer and a God simulator, this underrated and forgotten gem from Enix and developer Quintet showed off the visual and audio capabilities of the SNES in the early days of the console. You play as the “Master” who is tasked with building towns around the world and fending off the evils that threaten them. It’s hard to juggle two completely different genres like that, but ActRaiser finds a great balance.

The game was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 but has otherwise been paid little attention in the years since its release. That’s unfortunate because there aren’t many games from 30 years ago that provide this much depth and versatility. Both parts of the experience are extremely solid in their own right, and together add up to become something truly special.

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7. Kirby Super Star

Even the most ardent Kirby fans would probably agree that the franchise can get a little stale at times. There are only so many ways Kirby can suck an enemy up, transform his powers to match theirs, and ultimately defeat King Dedede. That’s why Kirby Super Star is still arguably the best game that the pink cutie pie has ever starred in.

Featuring eight different games within the game, the genre-mixing in this one is really off the charts. There are racing elements, adventure tones, and shooting sequences amongst the different sections of the playthrough. The experience was so beloved that it was eventually remade for the Nintendo DS as Kirby Super Star Deluxe. There is something for everyone in this package, and it shows the best parts of Kirby’s history.

6. Mega Man X

The original run of NES Mega Man titles are arguably still more famous than all of the others, but Mega Man X just has more of what makes those games great. It retains the eight bosses and weapon upgrades that can be completed/acquired in whatever order the player chooses, and it even has that same incredible soundtrack that the Blue Bomber’s adventures are always famous for.

Mega Man X‘s graphical upgrades admittedly take some of that eight-bit nostalgia out of the experience, but the game ultimately makes up for it by offering new gameplay experiences. Jumping on walls and acquiring upgrades to defensive maneuvers gives Mega Man an even more badass skillset, and the game generally does an excellent job of emphasizing the “platforming” parts of its action-platformer mix.

5. Super Castlevania 4

Super Castlevania 4 is actually a kind of soft remake of the original game, and the developers at Konami did a great job of making that game more digestible for newcomers while keeping all of the iconic elements from the classic NES title.

The Castlevania basics are all here (you still control Simon Belmont, equipped with his famous whip and ax, and battle through the game’s 11 stages before reaching Dracula), but an ideal mix of combat and platforming makes this one of the most irreplaceable platformers in the SNES catalog. It’s still an airtight action-platformer experience in 2021.

4. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The second game in the DKC trilogy took all of the best parts of the first title and refined them to create a truly unique platforming game that was a lot more than fancy graphics (a reputation the original game has had a hard time shaking). Diddy’s Kong Quest expanded upon the game design that fans loved while keeping the jungle hijinx, masterful soundtrack, and weighted platforming intact.

That last part is what truly separates the middle installment of this franchise from the other two. Many people have said that these games were sometimes more style than substance, but after playing through the myriad of environments on display in DKC 2, it becomes clear that this title has endured over the years because its tight mechanics are executed at a high level.

3. Super Metroid

If this list were just a ranking of 2D games or if it encapsulated the entire SNES library regardless of genre, Super Metroid would most likely take the top spot. Alas, this icon of game design settles in the third spot because it isn’t the best example of a “pure platformer.” It’s more of an action/adventure affair, though the game’s platforming elements are still as satisfying now as they were in the 1990s.

What separates this game from so many that have tried to emulate it in the nearly three decades since release is that every ability upgrade and every part of the map fits together with nearly flawless foresight and execution. It’s never a hassle to re-explore a section that you’ve already seen. The game has a masterful flow that is incredibly modern and perhaps even more popular today because of the prominence of this design style on the indie game scene.

2. Super Mario World

With its flawless controls, colorful sprites, cheerful soundtrack, and ageless platforming, Super Mario World is the title that all other 2D games in the genre are still compared to. The extra graphical power of the SNES gave Nintendo the opportunity to expand upon Super Mario Bros. 3‘s best ideas while exploring new concepts that simply weren’t possible before.

That is why this game remains so playable. Super Mario World combines the most enjoyable elements of the NES Super Mario classics and then elevates them to fully realize the world that Miyamoto imagined when this basic concept was created. It still doesn’t make sense to have a plumber jumping on top of turtles and occasionally getting lost inside of a house full of ghosts (those damn Boo mansions still haunt me), but when you combine this much creativity into one package, you have no choice but to admit how special it all is.

1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Shigeru Miyamoto and his team knew that it was futile to try and surpass Super Mario World simply by emulating it. So when developing the sequel, they made the decision to craft an entirely different type of platformer in which Mario isn’t even the main protagonist. The concept was bold, but the execution needed to be flawless if the game was ever going to be more than another disappointing follow-up.

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It’s safe to say Yoshi’s Island exceeded all expectations. Putting Yoshi at the forefront of a platformer that included mini-games, evasion, puzzle-solving, item collection, and the most timeless color palette in gaming history was brilliance personified. Yoshi’s Island is not as famous as its older sibling, but its daring creativity and irreplaceable charm have inspired many to argue that it is the better game in retrospect. Whatever your opinion is, the fun and escapism of the green dinosaur’s finest hour (as well as the horrors of Baby Mario’s screams) will be remembered until the end of gaming.

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elyvorg · 4 years

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A while back, a follower of mine prompted me to consider Kaito alongside Nekomaru from DR2. They both share a very loud and enthusiastic desire to support their peers that serves as an immediately obvious similarity between them, of course. But a question was proposed: Does Nekomaru perhaps have his shit together better than Kaito does, to the point that he’d actually be able to help Kaito with his issues if they met?

The short answer to this is a very resounding no, and I’ll be going into why not here. But as I was looking into Nekomaru again to figure this out (I hadn’t seen his FTEs since before V3), I noticed some rather… interesting stuff.

So here’s a sudden theory that I’m nonetheless pretty confident in: Nekomaru was the DR writers’ prototype for Kaito.

Let me show you what I mean.

Training

It’s pretty apparent that Nekomaru’s team manager thing is a lot like Kaito’s hero-and-sidekick thing. But in Nekomaru’s case, there’s some disappointing arbitrary restrictions to it, because he’s only interested in and knowledgeable about training people who are athletes. If you’re not interested in sports, he’s not going to take you on, no matter how much support you might need in other ways.

It’s only in the final one of Nekomaru’s FTEs – which is to say, in a totally optional not-quite-canon scene – that Hajime talking about his worries prompts Nekomaru to declare himself the “manager” of everyone here who’s going to help them win the “match” of getting off the island safely. Apparently he never realised he could use his skills to help everyone like that until then, simply because the killing game isn’t an actual sport.

…And then he decides that the way for him to help Hajime (and presumably also the others) with that is through a ridiculous amount of physical training, which he claims will help because physical fitness will apparently help. He never mentions, like Kaito would, the fact that physical exercise will help their mental strength and that that’s what everyone really needs in this situation.

Of course, Nekomaru is good at inspiring people emotionally, too, just like Kaito – Hajime mentions in a couple of their interactions that Nekomaru makes him feel like he has potential and really can do things – but Nekomaru doesn’t seem to realise that that’s also one of his strengths. He focuses almost entirely on the physical side of things when pushing people to get stronger. Which is kind of a shame, and a waste of his potential, really.

So, Kaito’s training is a lot like Nekomaru’s in spirit, but with a much wider, more mentality-focused scope that isn’t arbitrarily restricted to sports and physicality. It’s like someone saw Nekomaru’s thing and liked the idea of it, but they wanted to be able to apply it to more situations and types of characters, so that it could be made much more relevant to an overall story.

There’s also one line at the end of Nekomaru’s first FTE in which Hajime’s narration describes his stories of training his athletes as “heroic escapades”. Which sure is an interesting thing to call them. This suggests that someone on the DR writing team was already thinking about what someone as inspiring as Nekomaru would look like to the people he supports.

Weakness

The most interesting part of Nekomaru, though, is something we only learn about in his fourth FTE (again, a totally optional scene that has no connection to the main storyline). Turns out, he was born with a heart defect and has been in and out of hospital since he was a kid. That’s where he met another boy with the same condition as him who was a team manager, which inspired him to become one, too.

As part of this, Nekomaru casually mentions that his doctors estimate he won’t live to be much older than about 20. So… he’s dying.

It makes sense, then, why he’d put so much effort into selflessly helping others succeed. Even if he’s only got a few more years to live, he can make sure his athletes continue to have amazing careers long after he’s gone, all because of what he’s done for them. He can live on through them, in a way. Sounds a lot like another ill-fated luminary we know, hm?

Nekomaru never talks about this, mind you; it’s literally only in that one line that he even indirectly mentions that he’s dying. And he does end up dying and leaving behind his legacy in Akane’s memory of him – but because it’s entirely possible to not even know he was always dying, the narrative never makes a proper point of how that kind of thing might have been what he always sought out of their relationship. Which is a shame, because that’s a compelling story that could have been told with Nekomaru if they’d played their cards right, but it seems like they just didn’t really try to.

…Not that Kaito exactly talks about his equivalent of this much either, because of course he doesn’t. But he doesn’t need to for his story to make a lot more of a point of how the knowledge of his impending death is affecting him, and how he’s trying to deal with it by at least wanting to feel like he’s made an impact and left something behind through his sidekicks once he’s gone.

(Also, while I do feel like Nekomaru is someone self-assured enough that it makes sense he could accept being turned into a robot when that’s better than ending up dead… maybe his heart defect is also a part of why he could be so chill with it, in a way he didn’t want to mention to anyone. This robot body isn’t dying, so it’s actually kind of an improvement, really! This seems reminiscent of the time Kaito also found himself, if only temporarily, in a different body that wasn’t dying on him.)

“Invincibility”

Perhaps even more interesting than simply the fact that Nekomaru is terminally ill is what he says to Hajime at the beginning of the FTE in which he opens up about his condition.

Nekomaru: “Hm… I’ve decided! It might be easier to talk to you about it since you aren’t an athlete.”

So, apparently, none of his athletes know he’s sick and dying. He feels like he can’t tell them, because they’re his athletes. Like, if they knew about it, he suddenly wouldn’t be able to do such a good job of training and inspiring them? A manager… can’t show weakness in front of his athletes? Well, that sure sounds familiar.

There’s a couple of other bits that indicate this, too. In his final FTE, there’s this exchange:

Hajime: “Hey, Nekomaru… aren’t you scared? You seem very calm. Even in this situation, it’s like you have this unwavering presence of mind…”

Nekomaru: “Well, it’s my duty to support my athletes, after all. There’s no way a manager should be more concerned than his athletes.”

Which is Nekomaru completely dodging the question of whether or not he’s truly calm by insisting that he just needs to be, because that’s a manager’s responsibility to his athletes. So that obviously must mean he’s Totally Fine, because he would never not live up to that expectation, right? Right. He’s definitely not freaking out just as much as everyone else beneath the surface, that wouldn’t be inspiring.

Then there’s this, when he takes Monokuma’s attack to protect Akane and gets himself mortally wounded:

Nekomaru: “Wh-What a shame… For someone like NEKOMARU NIDAI… to… It was just a little shot from a bazooka… I really am the worst… Heh… hehe… hah…”

Yeah, why is being shot by a bazooka getting him down? Someone like him isn’t supposed to falter at anything. One might even say, he’s supposed to be invincible – and if he isn’t, then he’s the worst. You could read this line like he’s joking to at least try and lighten the situation, but, really, is Nekomaru ever joking when he talks up how awesome and badass he’s meant to be? Not once.

And after he’s done opening up about his illness, at the end of that FTE:

Hajime: “But… why did you decide to tell me that?”

Nekomaru: “Hm… I don’t know. I don’t really understand it myself, but… maybe I just wanted to tell someone.”

Nekomaru didn’t seem to consciously realise that talking about it to someone would be good for him. Apparently he’s so constantly wrapped up in selflessly supporting his athletes without worrying about himself that it doesn’t properly occur to him that he deserves to worry and vent about his own problems, too.

So, does Nekomaru have his shit together more than Kaito about this kind of thing? Evidently not. There’s far fewer clues for it with Nekomaru, but he apparently has pretty much exactly the same issues about not showing weakness to his side – uh, athletes – as Kaito does.

If they were ever to meet, Kaito and Nekomaru would look at each other, look at the people the other is supporting, and go, “hey, they’re kinda like your sidekicks/athletes, right?” And as soon as they recognised each other as being in that same position of selflessly providing support to bring out a person’s potential, it’d just make sense to each of them that the other is being perfectly reasonable to hide their own problems. The most important thing is making sure not to worry their sidekicks/athletes and keep being an inspiration to them; that’s just how this whole arrangement works! A hero/manager like them is obviously strong enough to deal with their burdens alone, right?

(That said, there’s also the fact that in a UTDP-style universe in which these two could even meet, Kaito genuinely has no major worries or problems in the first place. Nekomaru would still be dying, but unlike Kaito’s illness, there really isn’t anything anyone can do about Nekomaru’s heart defect. The best thing for him to do really is to just life his life to the fullest until it’s over, and supporting athletes seems to be his way of doing that. Even if Kaito found out what was up with Nekomaru, and even if he did see beyond his hero-framing to acknowledge that Nekomaru deserves support with what he’s going through, Kaito would probably agree that Nekomaru was already doing the best with it that he could.)

Infinite potential

The thing is, when I was first into DR2, when DRV3 didn’t even exist yet, I noticed almost none of this about Nekomaru. I liked him and thought he was a pretty cool guy, and I enjoyed his friendship with Akane, but I never noticed any of this deeper and more interesting stuff about him until I looked into him again recently through a Kaito-tinged lens. And that’s not even necessarily because it’s fairly subtle – most of Kaito’s stuff is subtle, too, like it should be. It’s because, for Nekomaru, all this extra stuff about him barely matters to his story, so there’s little incentive to look into it more and try to figure out more about him.

Nekomaru had all this potential to be almost exactly like Kaito in terms of his selfless supportiveness and presenting himself as indestructible and dealing with the fact that he’s literally dying – but ultimately, the DR2 story never really goes anywhere with that. Granted, he’s selfless enough to sacrifice himself for Akane and get turned into a robot, and then to sacrifice himself again when they’re all starving – but still, those acts seem to me to be, like, a regular level of selflessness, something that any tough and selfless person would have done in that situation, even if he hadn’t been dying or had a worrying tendency to hide his weaknesses. Those extra bits of nuance in him are neat if you happen to notice them, but they don’t actually affect the story in any way. Nothing significant would be lost if they were just not there at all. Which is a huge shame when there’s so much potential to a character with issues like that.

So it seems very possible to me like Kaito’s conception could have come about from the writers looking at Nekomaru’s extra complexity that they never did anything with in DR2, and thinking: “Hey, we really should do more with this.” What if they did a character like Nekomaru again, but more? – more complex, more focused, more pointedly exploring that kind of all-encompassing selfless supportiveness and how unhealthily self-destructive it can be, and really making his storyline about that part of him. It’s exactly what a character like this deserves.

…

And if you’re still not convinced, here’s a few more choice Nekomaru lines that could never not catch my eye nowadays.

Nekomaru: “It’s my job to make the impossible possible.”

Yep, that’s there in his final FTE. It’s said with surprisingly little oomph for Nekomaru’s standards, honestly. But clearly the writers later realised that they could take that sentiment, give it a lot more gusto, and make it a really iconic part of another character much like him.

And, from his Island Mode ending scene, there’s these gems:

Nekomaru: “Stick with me and we won’t just be able to take on the world, we’ll take on space, too!”

Nekomaru: “Let’s go, Hajime! You and me, we’ll go to the end of the universe!!”

Um, Nekomaru? You’re a sports manager. You have absolutely no business talking about space, of all things.

Yet, apparently the writers just liked the idea of getting across how ridiculously over-the-top he is by having him talk about things on an out-of-this-world level. No wonder they went on to realise they could do an even better job of this by creating a character who could deliver bombastic lines on this same cosmically-overblown scale and mean it all much more literally.

#danganronpa 2 #danganronpa v3 #nekomaru nidai #kaito momota #danganronpa 2 spoilers #danganronpa v3 spoilers #ramble #character analysis #kaito's hero issues

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talldecafcappuccino · 3 years

Text

Title: Between Close Friends

Rating: General Audience

Chapters: 1/1

Relationship: Ted Lasso/Rebecca Welton

Summary: Ted is bad at social media, but is that a bad thing?

Ted, what the fuck are you doing????

Ted peers at his phone, rubbing sleep from his eyes and reads the message again.

He scrolls down and sees he has twelve more texts and three missed calls all from Keeley Jones. He turns off his nighttime notifications with a few exceptions for emergency contacts, so it’s not surprising he slept through the messages.

He scratches at the stubble along his cheek and checks his clock. It’s seven o’clock here in Kansas, so it must be . . . early afternoon in London. He thinks through the last day, but he can’t remember anything interesting enough to have Keeley on the case.

Henry came over to his extended-stay hotel, they went to an American football game, got a late dinner in downtown Wichita, and watched a movie before bed.

They did make it on the Jumbotron for the Lasso-off, the team’s half-time dance contest, but his moves weren’t especially embarrassing. At least not in his opinion. Unless one of the moves was actually an insult to the English in which case, oh jeeze, he needs to get on this quick.

The call barely connects before Keeley’s voice echoes in his ear.

“Oy! Ted!”

“Keeley, I am so sorry for whatever I did to offend the great people of the United Kingdom. I am ready to make a statement and an apology tour as soon as you tell me which dance move I need to retire immediately.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I need you to log out of the AFC Richmond Instagram account. Like, now.”

That stops Ted in his tracks.

Does he even have access to that? He remembers a post-it note of accounts and passwords from Beard on their first day with Richmond.

There was an account run by the previous manager, but Keeley had taken it over long ago, converting it to the official team account. She had also made Ted a personal Instagram for his own use and brand development, but he never posted publicly.

He puts her on speaker phone and opens the Instagram app. She’s right. He’s logged into the team account with all 25 million followers. Well, shoot.

There are about a dozen stories posted from last night. All of Ted and Henry’s day together. There’s puns (“having a cow” at dinner with an image of Henry holding up a beef rib and screaming his head off), Ted and Henry singing at a dueling piano bar, the two brushing their teeth together in the bathroom mirror.

“No offense, but I think this may delay the Tom Ford deal you asked me about.”

“Yeah. I get that.”

“It’s just, you know, dads aren’t quite their brand. Or our brand. I mean we’re not anti-dorky dad, but you know with the whole comeback narrative during the season hiatus . . .”

“No I get it. You’ve put a lot of work into rebranding this team and I just undermined that.”

She sighs, but it’s fond.

“Sorry, Ted. It’s not like what you posted was bad, it’s rather sweet actually. It’s just a little different from the posts I had scheduled.”

Ted nodded. It wasn’t the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, but he felt bad for making Keeley’s job harder than it needed to be.

“No, I’m sorry Keeley. I swear, it won’t happen again.”

****

“Can you believe what Ted did last night? I’ve never seen someone so bad at social media.”

Rebecca has no idea what Keeley is talking about when she walks into her office. She flops onto the couch, feet splayed on the coffee table, clearly exhausted by whatever Ted has done from 4,438 miles away.

“So many puns. Which, don't get me wrong, I love word play more than most people. But I don’t think it’s right for the team right now.”

Rebecca shuts her laptop.

“You’re right about puns not being part of the team plan, but what’s this about Ted? What did he do, exactly?”

Ted hasn’t posted anything in at least 24 hours. Not that Rebecca is keeping track.

“Oh he managed to switch to the team account on Instagram and posted about his entire evening out with Henry. It was quite sweet, actually. The ones that made sense,” but then she pulled a face.”He’s like, really, really bad at social media.”

Oof. Well that isn’t great, but Rebecca doesn’t think there’s anything particularly terrible about Ted’s social media use normally.

“But everything seems under control? No big PR actions needed.”

“It’s fine. I had him log out and wrote a post about Coach Lasso’s surprise social media takeover from America.”

Rebecca nods. Okay, so it was all sorted. Keeley has things totally under control.

But she reaches for her phone anyway. She opens Instagram, taps through the AFC Richmond stories, and snorts at the image of Henry with the rib as big as his head.

“Are people at least being kind?” Rebecca hopes Ted logged out without seeing any messages about Henry. Not that she could see any reason for it, but people were shitheads on the internet.

“Well, wanker is still the most common response. But many of them are wanker with a little heart at the end, so I think it’s fine. We actually got a lot of responses, proper engagement and all that,” she looks up at the ceiling, considering it for a moment before rolling her head to look back at Rebecca.

“If we weren’t trying to present the team as a badass phoenix rising from the ashes, I’d say a Ted takeover isn’t a bad idea. He just needs some supervision. Maybe a phone with a better camera.”

Rebecca is only half listening as she taps to the next story.

“Aw, they went to dueling piano night. That must have been fun for Henry.”

She’s smiling at her phone when Keeley asks, “Dueling piano night?”

“Yeah, you know at Jim Bob’s Bar.”

Keeley is looking at her blankly.

“Fine. I know it’s not really Jim Bob’s bar. It’s probably not even a bar if Henry’s there. But I can’t remember the real name off the top of my head.”

She’d looked it up once, after Ted first posted about the dueling pianos. For some reason she started calling it Jim Bob’s. Ted didn’t seem bothered and had even started calling it that himself.

When she looks up again, Keeley is staring at her, eyes narrowed.

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do you know so much about some bar in Kansas?”

That gives Rebecca pause. She isn’t sure what Keeley means by the line of questioning.

“It’s not some totally random bar. Ted posts about it whenever he goes for dueling pianos.”

If he gets to the bar early or she has a particularly late evening, Rebecca catches the story before going to bed. When she does, she always asks him to put in $5 for Wannabee by the Spice Girls. She owes him a small fortune by now, but it’s worth it to see the bar explode with cheers and jeers.

Some nights she misses the story, but he puts money in anyways and she wakes up to a shaky video of, Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

Rebecca thinks this is a good enough explanation, but Keeley is still staring at her.

“I’ve literally no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Keeley, you know social media is not my thing. All I know is that sometimes Ted posts about this bar on his tiny friends list thing,” she waves her hand around, trying her best to describe it. “The one with the green ring around it.”

Keeley leaps to her feet, eyes wide.

“Am I not on Ted’s Close Friends list??”

Before Rebecca can say a word, Keeley is halfway out the door, texting furiously.

“Roy, better not be on there, if I’m not on there. Ted knows how I feel about being left out!” she shouts over her shoulder. “Sorry Rebecca, I need to do some investigating, asap.”

Oof. She may have just created a problem. It’s probably best to give Ted a heads up before Keeley gets through interrogating Roy.

She drafts a text once, twice, then deletes it and presses call instead.

“Hey Boss, let me guess. Keeley got a hold of you?”

It’s been a while since they’ve chatted, what with the time difference. It’s bizarre how familiar his American accent has become.

“She just left my office, yes.”

There’s a loud crack in the background and a metal clang.

“Where are you?”

“Oh, just the batting cages with Henry,” he says, cheering loudly. “Hey, do you guys have a sport called baseball that has nothing to do with American baseball? You know, like football and football?”

She chuckles, “I don’t believe we do. However there is always cricket.”

He hums, considering it.

“Now Ted, I think there’s something you should know.”

“Lay it on me Boss. I know I caused a headache this morning, what’s the damage? What do you need me to do? I am at your disposal or I’ll lay really, really low as long as you need me to.”

“It’s not that Ted. It’s Keeley.”

“Keeley?”

“Yes, she’s on a bit of a mission at the moment. It seems you left her off your Close Friends list? I think that’s right. On Instagram?”

“Huh. How did that come up?”

“I was telling her about Jim Bob’s. Apparently she had never heard of it and realized you had a whole social media life she was unaware of.”

“Right . . .”

“So do what you will with that.”

“You haven’t talked to anyone else about this yet, have you?”

Rebecca is confused by this new direction.

“No. Why? Ted, is something wrong?”

It takes a long moment for Ted to respond.

“What can I say, I’m just really bad at this social media stuff.”

It's a non-response and an overly folksy one at that. But Rebecca can’t be fooled by the aw shucks routine—not anymore. She tries again.

“Ted. Who is on your close friends list?”

“Uh. Not a lot of people.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“What can I say?” He huffs, a little frustrated. She would feel bad for prying, but she can't help herself. “The list of people I want to share silly life things with is small.”

“How small?” she wonders.

“Very small.”

The line goes silent and Rebecca swears she lost him. But then she hears him take a deep breath.

“It’s you. You’re the list.”

Rebecca feels flush. That’s not where she was expecting this conversation to go.

“I know that might be a lot. You don’t have to say anything. I just, that’s the honest truth and I’d like to get ahead of it before Keeley harangues the entire team.”

It’s a lot to take in, but it makes sense. Sometimes when she’s watching his posts, she wonders about his audience. Who else cares about his biscuit recipe improvements or Broadway Sundays (a recent development that’s turned into a shared movie night.)

“Rebecca?”

She realizes she’s been quiet for a while. The moment feels tenuous and she worries about saying the wrong thing, sending him running faster than Keeley during a social media snafu.

Finally she settles on, “You know, you’re welcome to text me silly life things. It wouldn’t be a bother.”

She brushes invisible crumbs from her desk, listening carefully to his breathing on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Maybe I can send some, too?”

Rebecca can hear his smile from across the Atlantic.

“Well, alright then.”

****

That night, Ted’s phone pings and he rolls over to see a text message from Rebecca. It’s a picture of the sun rising over her garden wall.

Something silly to start the day.

But it doesn’t feel silly. Not at all.

#ted lasso #ted lasso fic #some fluff #because a plot bunny got in the way of what I planned to write this weekend #I blame the Easter bunny #ted x rebecca

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selfishsunnies · 4 years

Text

I wish you sidewalk pennies // JJ maybank x named reader

summary: Alice, Kiara’s cousin, comes to stay with her for the summer. for the first time in seven years. She attempts to remember all the memories, piece her family back together, and make the best friends. Maybe a little romance never hurt anyone.

warnings: nothing more than the show

word count: 2,200

Ch. 1

Alice had grown up in the city her whole life. Each summer, her and her parents would come to the Outer Banks to visit her mother’s family for a few weeks. She had gotten used to the idea of spending a month with Kiara and her friends, helping out at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant. The two girls were inseparable. They’d stay up late making up nonsense scenarios and messily trying to bake cookies well after they should’ve been asleep. It was where Alice could leave the school year behind her and act like she was one of the islanders.That is until her family stopped visiting. Alice didn’t understand why when the girls turned 11 they stopped coming around. She had even gotten a new number and had no way of contacting her cousin since then. Now, at 18, Alice was being driven, with a whole summer’s worth of luggage in the back of her mom's car, to the Outer Banks.

“But, Mom, I don’t get why now is a good time?” Alice asked, she had been asking her mother this since they told her she was leaving. Two weeks ago. Alice was angry to say the least, she wanted to spend her last summer before college with her friends. The ones she went to high school with and not Kiara, who she wasn’t sure would even still like her, and her friends, who’s names she could barely remember. For all she knew, they weren’t friends anymore. The possible scenarios ran through her head as her mother sighed, giving her the same answer she had been for weeks, “Your aunt and uncle want to see you and it will be good for you to get away for a little, see some things.”

“Three months is not a little,” she murmured. Alice didn’t understand. Why did her family just now want to see her? They hadn’t been there for her while she was growing up. Not when she broke her leg at a dance competition, when she went on her first date, or graduated high school. She didn’t understand why they stopped coming and neither of her parents gave her a straightforward answer. She just learned not to ask.

Alice thought back to the past seven years, her anger and resentment building. She tried to shake it, but she felt it coursing through her body. It was in her hands, her teeth.

“Well, it’s too late now, we’re only a few minutes away,” her mother responded, snapping her back to reality.

Alice watched the trees disappear into water and felt a sense of anxiety in her stomach. The air smelled of salt water and dirt, bringing back a vague memory she couldn’t quite visualize yet. The feeling her stomach only grew as the car drove down the dirt road to the house. It looked familiar in the way that she knew she should remember it, but didn’t. Her mother barely parked the car for Alice to get out.

“Now, be good for you aunt and uncle and give Kiara a hug from me. I’ll see you soon, bug. Love you,” her mother said. Alice sighed at the use of her old nickname, but it brought a warmth to her heart for a moment.

Alice stood there, watching her mom drive away, back down the dirt road they had come up on and struggled to pick up her bags. She didn’t have much, but it was enough that she had to make two trips from the steps to the curb. She marched up the steps the final time and knocked on the door lightly, it was loud enough for someone inside to hear and soon enough she was settling into the guest room.

Alice tried to put new images to the memories she had. Her aunt and uncle were older now, showing a few gray hairs and wrinkles where there weren’t before. The house was painted differently and it smelled like a new car in almost every room. She tried to remember how she felt here, afterall, this was home for a little. She placed a few personal items around the guest room, making it feel more familiar before passing out on the bed.

A few days had passed since Alice had arrived. It was awkward to say the least. She felt out of place in their routine, like everyone was making sure she wouldn’t fall over and break something. Kiara had been trying to be friendly, a lot changes in seven years though, Alice couldn’t blame her for the uncomfortable air lingering. The hallways rang with laughter from days passed, but Alice couldn’t quite place the memories. They talked about school for all of thirty seconds before they both realized it wasn’t important. Kiara had told her stories about surfing and the beach and even this crazy treasure hunt her and friends had gone on. It seemed a bit exaggerated, but Alice didn’t push.

“So, do you still have the same friends as the last time I was here?”

“Oh, yeah. John B, you remember him?” She asked, Alice nodded her head in agreement, although she didn’t. At least, she didn’t think so. You would’ve thought she’d remember someone with two first names.

“Yeah, and then he’s dating Sarah, who I don’t think you’ve met before. She’s great. Uhm, then there’s Pope. We’ve been together for a little bit.”

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” She saw Kiara blush slightly, “He’s the real smart one, right?”

She laughed at this, “Yeah, he’s got this crazy scholarship lined up for the fall,” she paused, “and then there’s JJ.” Alice tried to remember, but everything got mixed together.

“Sounds like a good crew,” she laughed.

“They’re the best,” Kiara answered, “I’m sure they’d be down to meet you, since you are spending summer with us. There’s a party tonight at the beach, I wasn’t gonna say anything in case you didn’t feel like going.”

Finally. “I’m so down,” Alice replied. Maybe this will break the tension she felt in the house. If not, it was an excuse to drink and meet some new people.

The two of them got ready to leave. Kiara effortlessly braided a few pieces of her hair and let them fall. She wore her swimsuit underneath a pair of shorts and a knitted tank top. Alice, feeling a little nervous again, threw on some makeup and let her hair down. She was wearing jean shorts and a black tube top.

“You two be careful,” a voice called from the kitchen, “stay out of trouble.”

“We will!” Kiara called out, letting the door shut behind her.

When they finally arrived at the party, the sun was setting and a cool air was settling in. Alice secretly wished she brought a sweatshirt with her, but knew that soon she’d feel warm from the alcohol. Kiara poured them both some drinks from the keg and said hello to a few people on the way over to a few logs with a group of people.

“Look who decided to show up?” a boy with shaggy brown hair and an open hawaiian shirt yelled when we got close enough, “Kie!”

Kiara lifted her drink as if to say hello. Alice subtly slid out from behind her and tried to look more confident than she felt. The boy who yelled at her, got up and hugged her before sitting back down next to a blonde with a pair of reflective sunglasses on her head. John B, Alice inquired.

“Alice, these are my screw up friends, John B, Sarah and Pope. Guys, my badass cousin.” And that was it for introductions.

“You used to visit when we were younger, right?” Pope asked.

She smiled, happy to be remembered, “Yeah, that seems like a lifetime ago.”

They sat down, Kiara throwing her arm around Pope’s waist on a log directly across from where Alice had laid down a blanket. Sarah and John B were to her right.

“Isn’t there another one of you?” Alice asked, taking in the scene and realizing they were missing someone.

“Yeah, JJ,” John B chuckled.

“He’s off macking on some poor touron.” Pope said, moving his hand as if to dismiss the question.

Alice’s confused expression must have been enough because soon Sarah realized and explained, “Uh, touron just means tourist. And JJ does this at every party. Kinda his thing, you get used to it.”

“You guys talk weird down here,” Alice responded, making everybody laugh. The pit in her stomach was soon gone and the group was laughing and telling stories like they’d known each other forever. Well, Alice thought, they practically had. Not just Kiara and the boys, but her too. She had spent so many summers here without even realizing it. Alice thought back to old hide and seek games with the kids in the neighborhood, inquiring that these were the same kids she’d team up with. They probably spent nights running around barefoot through backyards, catching fireflies before getting called in for the night by their parents. This wasn’t much different, she thought.

A few drinks in, the group seemed ready to leave. The music was bad and the alcohol was slightly warm even though the air had quickly gotten colder. They all agreed to head back to John B’s. As soon as they found the keys. After searching in the sand using their phone flashlights, someone spoke up, “Do you think JJ has them?”

“He shouldn’t. God knows he’s probably wasted right now.” Pope said, rolling his eyes and collapsing back into the sand. Pope was deemed the designated driver tonight after he lost a bet with John B earlier in the day. He was beating himself up about not having the keys.

“Shit, you guys.” He muttered to no one in particular. Kiara rubbed his back gently.

“Why don’t you just call him?” Alice asked.

Kiara replied, “Phone towers are down. Happens most of the time after storms.”

“This is just typical JJ though,” Sarah started, but was soon interrupted by a figure walking towards them. It was stumbling, but Alice couldn’t tell if that was because of the uneven sand or because of the possible alcohol consumption.

“Hey!” He yelled. Upon coming closer Alice noticed his blonde hair was falling in his face. He was wearing a muscle tee and had a cut just above his lip.

“JJ!” everyone, but Alice yelled in unison. JJ, she thought. Memories flooded back, he looked a lot more grown up then last time.

“Who’s the kook?” He asked, looking right at Alice. She felt her face light up, but luckily it was too dark to realize. What the hell was a kook?

“She’s not a kook!” Sarah responded quickly.

“Sorry, dude, you can’t tell me she doesn’t look like your people.”

“My-” Sarah started only for John B to cut her off, “Hey!”

JJ put his hands up in defense, “Well, she’s not a pogue and she’s definitely not a touron. I just got done dancing with about every single one.”

“She’s my cousin, JJ.” Kiara said, tense. There wasn’t even a slight change in his disposition upon hearing this. His face remained blank, his eyes far away. By the way everyone was acting, this wasn’t surprising JJ behavior. Alice didn’t bother introducing herself, she was sure he wasn’t going to remember any of this in the morning.

There was a tension in the air that hadn’t been there before he showed up.

“You guys talk weird,” Alice muttered, once again. Sarah chuckled at her comment, breaking up the stale air.

“What’s your problem anyway, J?” Pope asked.

“Uh,” he glanced in Alice’s direction before continuing, “things got a little messy out there.” They waited for him to elaborate, “I guess this one touron has a boyfriend and he might have just seen me macking on her. I don’t know, but I ran out of there.” There were a few laughs from the boys and knowing looks shared between the two girls. Once again Alice felt out of the loop.

One awkward car ride later, they were all at John B’s house. Alice had since learned that John B and Sarah lived alone, with the occasional JJ sleeping in the spare room. She had also learned that they call themselves Pogues and the rich, snotty kids from the other side of the cut, kooks. She was still confused about the whole label thing, but didn’t question it. It was like a different language half the time.

The six of them naturally ended up in the living room, sprawled out on couches and chairs, a few laying on the floor. JJ had immediately grabbed another beer from the fridge upon getting home. There were a few looks from the others, but no one spoke up. Alice noticed though. They told stories until everyone was too tired to move and ended up crashing on the floor. Alice felt balanced for the first time since arriving. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Thanks for the love you guys! feel free to ask questions or just comment. new chapter will be up soon

#obx #outerbanks #jj maybank #jj x y/n #obx fic

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thewritewolf · 5 years

Text

Just Between Us

Set just after the events of Four Times (and the Lucky One), Adrien tries to subtly reveal his identity to Marinette. Unfortunately, obliviousness seems to be contagious...

Reading Four Times isn't necessary, but encouraged. All you need to know is Adrien knows Marinette is Ladybug.

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.

There were plenty of opportunities to come…

Unfortunately, Marinette was proving just as oblivious as he had been for so, so long. Maybe the universe wasn’t quite done testing him yet, but Adrien couldn't find it in himself to be frustrated. It was almost like a game at this point as he got more and more daring with his hints.

It had started out small, of course…

------

“Hey, Mari,” Adrien said with a smile as he bounded up the steps of the school. He could feel his hair, now messy and free like his alter-ego’s, bouncing along with him.

“Hey, you-” Marinette paused as she turned toward him, her smile flickering for a moment as her eyes drifted to his hair. Her head tilted and she wore a mask of bemusement. “...Trying something different with your hair?”

“Ah, so you did notice.” He held her close and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. Calling on his Chat Noir charm, he gave her a playful wink. “You see, I’m trying to impress this girl I like…”

“Well I think you’re going to do just fine. I hear she is already head over heels for you.” She tugged his hand as she guided him into the building. Pausing at the lockers, she gently ruffled his hair to make it even messier. “All jokes aside, I like it. The look suits you.”

“...Does it remind you of anyone?” He might be pushing his luck her but…

She snorted. “Yeah - it looks like you had a team of stylists recreate what bedhead must be like for the common folk.”

He gasped in mock offense and while they settled into a familiar banter, he grumbled on the inside. At least he could try again next time.

---------

...But small acts wouldn’t be enough to overcome the magic of the miraculous, would they?

If he was going to succeed, he’d need to be even more daring, even bolder. Something that could tie him to the miraculous, but only because she knew him so well in and out of the mask. For his next attempt, he’d have to play up the cool, badass energy of Chat Noir while still being Adrien. He had just the idea to get Marinette’s attention…

-------

A few days later, Marinette was minding her own business on one of the last days of school before the winter break. As was happening more frequently, the cold had woken her up despite her attempts to cocoon herself in a blanket burrito. Even now, inside the warm school building, there was a chill that had settled into her very bones. She resigned herself to being miserably cold all day, at least until she could get to her space heater in her room. Maybe she could convince Adrien to come over for some snuggling?

As if summoned by her thinking about him, a bright mop of blonde hair pulled her attention up, but after seeing what he was wearing, she was unable to get more than a syllable into her greeting. The rest was lost in a strangled choking sound.

The first word that managed to get through was Leather, followed swiftly by Hot. When she managed coherent thought again, she belatedly realized that Adrien looked good in black leather jackets and… well-fitted black jeans. The fact that no fashion designer had realized this was a tragedy to all humankind. Hell, he could give her partner a run for his money.

...She wondered if Chat Noir would be willing to part with his miraculous for just a little bit. Just to see what Adrien would look like in magical, skin-tight leather.

“Uh… girl?”

Alya’s voice snapped her out of her daydreams. “Hm?”

“Here, you’re going to need this.” Alya passed her a pencil.

Marinette was about to decline before she realized that she was still clutching the snapped remains of her favorite drawing utensil. She pouted at the back of Adrien’s head, eyes narrowing as a plan came to mind. There was a way she could get back at him for this little surprise.

--------

...Of course, Adrien wasn’t the only one who could turn on the charm. He’d thought that he’d had the advantage there, being a model and all. But after what Marinette wore the following day, he was pretty sure she should have been one posing for the camera. Then again, he was more than happy that he got her all to himself.

Even if he couldn’t think straight for the entire rest of that day.

Things got a little desperate, but truth be told…

-------

“So you’ve met Chat Noir, right?”

“I mean, yeah, sure,” Marinette said, as noncommittal as could be. “Most of our class has, you realize.”

Adrien waved that off with a dismissive shake of his hand. “Yeah, yeah, but you two have… met a lot, right?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “And where did you hear that, huh?” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “Did Alya put you up to this?”

“No no! I was just-”

A little gasp escaped her. “Adrien… are you jealous?”

The situation was ridiculous, so clearly he laughed. But that wasn’t the right answer, apparently, since Marinette stormed off. It took some apologizing and hugs, but her mood passed and they were back to normal before too long.

------

...Tact was never his strong suit.

In the end, he was left with only one option. It was one that he hadn’t been looking forward too, but not because of any sense of lost romance, or even misguided fear that she would be angry. They were too far along in their relationship to be worried about that.

No, it was the taunting and griping and ‘I-told-you-so’s from Plagg that he’d been dreading. Adrien took the needling and mocking like a champ, though, and before long his kwami was finally willing to transform him.

After all, even Plagg (especially Plagg) wanted to finally finish this.

Which is why Adrien now found himself on top of Marinette’s balcony, steeling himself for what he was about to do. It had been a while since he’d been here as Chat Noir - after slowly reducing the frequency of his visits, they’d sort of petered out after he and Marinette had gotten together. As much as he wanted to spend every moment possible with her, he couldn’t trust himself not to get comfortable with her and he didn’t want to make her feel like she was cheating.

But now?

He tapped at the glass, unsurprised when he saw her bright blue eyes peering up at him. It was late, sure - but he knew his lady well, knew that when she had a project in mind, she would see it through no matter what. Even at the cost of sleep and eating.

Stunned as she was by his sudden appearance, seemed to let unlock the skylight and let him in through muscle memory alone. She also let in a wave of cold air that raised goosebumps on her skin and sent shivers down her spine.

They’re sitting on her bed, like they often did before he found out. The same place where he found himself slowly falling for his everyday Ladybug, until suddenly his everyday Ladybug and his Ladybug became one and the same. The silence stretched for a few moments, Adrien lost in the memories of falling for the same person twice.

“Chat-”

His attention snapped back into focus. “Marinette. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Chat can this wait until-”

“I know you’re Ladybug.”

Again, silence. But what had been a soft, companionable quiet before was now charged. Tense. Electric.

There were a few false starts, half-formed questions dying on her lips. Eventually she settled with, “How did you…?”

“A few months ago, there was an akuma. I… I was worried about you. And I know that was dumb since it was nowhere near you but… I was still worried. So I came over to make sure you were alright and… well…” He shrugged helplessly. “It’s Tikki, right?”

“Huh?”

“Your kwami. Her name is Tikki?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah…” Her eyes became distant for a moment before hardening. “Chat,” she said with a chastising tone, “why did you wait so long to tell me? This was pretty important information!”

His ears flattened against his head and his tail wrapped around his waist. “I’m sorry. I was worried you’d be upset that I found out. But, in my defense, I have been dropping hints these last few weeks…”

Her stern expression softened and she put a hand to his cheek, “Oh, kitty. You annoy me to pieces sometimes, but I can’t be mad at you over an accident. Especially because it only happened because you were worried about me.” She paused, her brow furrowing in thought. “Wait… hints? I don’t remember any hints in the last few akuma battles.”

He wrung his hands, wishing he’d just dropped his transformation the moment he got here. Now it was too late and he needed to wait for her to ask him to reveal himself. It was only right, after all.

“That’s… that’s because I haven’t been giving you hints as Chat Noir. I’ve been giving them as… me.”

“We know each other?!” She screeched, before throwing her hands over her mouth. They listened in a pregnant silence, waiting for the sounds of either Tom or Sabine to come marching up the stairs. When they failed to materialize, they breathed a sigh of relief.

“We know each other? In our civilian identities?!” She whisper-screamed at him.

He was sure his blush was peeking out from behind his mask as he nodded, thinking of their last make out session. If that didn’t qualify as knowing someone…

She turned away from him and began patting the pillows. “Tikki? Tikki! Can we just drop his transformation now? He already knows who I am! Why can’t I find out about him?”

A kwami in Ladybug’s colors appeared at his girlfriend’s shoulder. She had a thoughtful expression as she looked first into space and then deep into Adrien’s eyes. With a sigh, she replied, “We may as well. The damage is already done, and the imbalance of power could throw you two out of sync.”

Marinette did her best to have a cool and confident exterior, but it was clear she was struggling while she was out of the spots. She waved at Adrien. “W-well. Go ahead. Let’s see… see who you really are.”

“Alright, just…” He had a sudden surge of fear. “Don’t be mad, okay?” He took a deep breath. “Plagg, claws in.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling incredibly exposed without his mask to hide behind. It took him a few moments to gather the courage to look her in the eye. He couldn’t read the emotion there, and all he could tell was that the curiosity from before had been replaced by something else entirely. The silence stretched out and he itched to break it. Just as he was about to, she finally spoke, her voice a whisper.

“It was you all along…” The reverence in her tone faded as her eyes narrowed. “Wait, how long ago did you say you started trying to ask me out?”

“I know what you’re thinking but-”

“Adrien,” she began, clearly putting on a brave face, “tell me the truth - did you start flirting with me just because you knew I was Ladybug?”

“No.” The speed of his reply seemed to catch her unaware. She was still on the back foot when he leaned forward into her space and took her hand in his. “Sure, that’s what made me start, but that was only because I wasn’t torn about who I wanted to pursue anymore. The two most wonderful women in my life… were actually the same person all along.” He planted a kiss to the back of her hand, looking deep into her eyes as he did so.

Unlike when they were in the masks, this time he’d coaxed a fierce blush from her. Maybe it was because it was something he’d only ever done as Chat Noir to Ladybug. He could see the gears turning in her head. Which was why he was surprised when she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around his chest and pressing her lips to his.

He smiles against her and pulls back enough to rest his forehead against hers. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“No. These are disciplinary kisses. Do not take joy from them.”

“Too late.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and kissed his nose. “You’re impossible.”

“Don’t you mean, im-purr-ssible?”

She tilted her head back to groan at the ceiling, then buried her face in his chest, still groaning. “I can’t believe I thought you were cool once.”

“Of course I’m not cool.” He paused for effect, then pulled her close while grinning down at her. “I’m hot.”

“Not to interrupt your grossness or anything, but…” Plagg chimed in from his spot curled up with Tikki. “We could visit whenever now. And you two could do some… nocturnal stuff.”

Marinette’s face went completely red and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. She squeaked out, “Plagg!”

But Adrien’s mind was flush with possibilities. “That’s an awesome idea, Plagg! We could have movie nights and sleepovers and-”

He was silenced when Marinette put her hands on his cheeks and squished his face. “You are… way too energetic at midnight, kitty.” She pouted in thought. “But a movie night doesn’t sound too bad.”

A few minutes later and they’d built a cuddle nest of pillows around themselves. Marinette’s bed was smaller than his, but that just made it easier to fill with warmth as she rested her head against his chest and the kwamis curled up just above his head.

As the credits rolled on their second movie, Adrien yawned and stretched. As much as he wanted to stay, he’d better go home. A plan which was immediately thwarted by Marinette clamping down on him.

“Bugaboo…”

“It’s too cold out there,” she said in a voice muffled by his shirt. “You’ll get sick. In fact,” she raised her head to peer at a point on the pillow behind him, “I think Plagg already caught something.”

He heard Plagg say, “Wuh? Oh, um… cough cough. Sneeze. Yeah, real sick. You better listen to her, young man. Kwami’s orders.”

“...You literally just said cough and sneeze. You didn’t actually-” He shook his head. “Actually, you know what? You’re right. Plagg’s sick. Can’t go home. I’ll have to spend the night here.”

He settled back into place as Marinette sighed against him.

“Good kitty.”

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #Chat Noir #Marichat #Plagg #Tikki #unrelenting fluff #just... complete fluff #ml fanfiction #my writing #Just Between Us #Four Times (and the Lucky One)#The Lucky One series

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lost-eternity · 4 years

Text

Match up requests: CLOSED

Match up for @ lunar-calliope

Okie dokie. I match you with...

Since you never specified your gender preference, I am just going to match you with anyone I think would click the best. Because I was kind of at a loss for anyone else. First I was thinking about matching you with the 11th Doctor as his personality type ENTP would mesh perfectly with your own. However, I feel like you two would work better as friends than lovers only because the Doctors are kind of... damaged. They all really need someone who is more of a hopeless romantic and boundlessly compassionate. The doctors would continuously push you away the moment they realize their feelings are slightly more than friendship out of fear. They would need someone to tirelessly pursue them and let's be real. Ain't nobody got time for that. And I feel like you are smart enough to recognize dependency and stay the hell away from it. Because if I am being brutally honest, all of the doctors would make a horrible relationship. They are far too traumatized and caught up in this game of endlessly trying to prove themselves to the universe, trying to justify that all of the lives they have saved somehow makes up for the lives they've lost. Right. Let's get started.

Here is the thing about Clara. She talks. A lot.

She talks faster than Matt Smith, which is an achievement in of itself and is the primary reason she was cast for the role.

So she is no stranger to the fast-talking rambling that you do when you get nervous.

As a matter of fact, she might even contribute to it

So now there are two people talking their lungs out and giving the Doctor a massive headache

She is also the type to make crude or inappropriate jokes in the heat of the moment. So you really don't have to worry about being offensive around her. She is reflective enough to recognize the hypocrisy of taking offence.

However, your introverted nature and her extroverted nature would mesh very well

She does all of the talking, allowing you some time to hang back and think or reflect

Which works out perfectly for you.

Clara also has a sharp tongue and steely wit. If you pulled a prank on her, she would definitely do something in retribution. And if it is allowed to escalate it most definitely would until the Doctor or someone puts a stop to the childishness.

She would be perfectly adept as exchanging quips and playful banter with you

Although she does have a reckless streak. She is up for any challenge, no matter how daunting. And this carelessness can cause you to sprout some grey hairs worrying over her. You and Doctor would be in agreement over constantly trying to keep Clara in line.

However, with something to ground herself and hold her back, I feel like Clara would be a lot more careful than she was in the show. She was free then with no one to care for or worry about. With you, she would rein herself in because she knows that you are worrying over her

She also feels some level of protection towards you.

Now let's address the elephant in the room. Clara is short. She is only 157 centimetres (that's 5"2 in American)

I am a huuuge sucker for height differences. Like the more timid tall one and the short little spitfire, trope makes me swoon.

And that is kinda what you two would be

And it is so cute

Clara would want to climb on you. Or sit on your shoulders or something but because she knows how you feel about your height, she will restrain herself. Because she cares ❤

Which is also why I believe she will be the one to help you get over this insecurity. She would remind you that you are beautiful every day, especially when you are feeling self-confidence

Bitch, your height makes you look like a badass!

Embrace it

She says that one day you are going to be confident enough to wear heels. And she means it

Clara is a huge advocate for nature. She appreciates its beauty. After all, it was nature that caused her parents to meet. How could she notice have at least a begrudging respect for it? She wouldn't have been born if it were not for the trees

So she loves forests

And being the energetic little fireball that she is, would demand to go hiking. And maybe a home-made picnic when you've reached your destination

But Clara is also boundlessly compassionate. As a companion of the Doctor, she harbours a deeply empathetic nature behind those quips and bluster.

Which I think perfectly dampens your more judgemental mindset. You would be the more cynical one, wary of those who you encounter. And Clara would be the one to have faith in their inherent goodness.

While I can see this giving rise to some conflicts, I think that it is a necessity for you. You need someone to act as your counterweight and achieve that balance.

Clara is your foil. You keep her grounded and logistical and in return, she will open your mind. She will help you work on dispelling preconceived notions and embrace the individuality of everyone

This is the main reason I chose Clara for you. Rory was also a possible match but I don't have the heart to take him from Amy lol.

You two probably knew each other before. Although not well

Maybe she was in one of your college classes. Or even an old student who attended the same High School

Regardless of what it was, you kinda thought that she was obnoxious

Near constantly blabbering about once thing or another

Kind of annoying really

Anyways. You were sitting at your favourite cafe reading a rather engaging book when you heard a loud bang originating from outside.

Curiously, you peered out the window and noticed a throng of people running away...

So naturally, you went to investigate.

Apparently, a phone booth had fallen from the sky and struck a car. Outside of it rolled an aged looking man and a rather familiar woman.

Smoke billowing from their poofed hair as it frizzed out around them in an untamed mane.

The woman whooped loudly, pumping her arms in the air, seemingly overjoyed

The man seemed completely distraught over the condition of the phone booth. The way he was acting, you would have thought that he had lost a baby

The woman turned to you, her eyes lighting up in recognition as she called your name

You were a little confused before you also recognized her. That maniacal glint in her eye, the Cheshire Grin. This was Clara. From school.

Great

Clara approached you, asking how you have been while the man stalked around his phone booth, buzzing some sort of glowing stick at it

You were kind of at a loss for words.

Like. This girl you haven't seen in literal years just fell out of the sky in a box and has the audacity to ask YOU how things are going

You couldn't get a word out before the man approached, saying that it may take a few days for him to fix the TARDIS before interrupting himself to ask "oh. Who's your friend?"

Clara introduces you before you have a chance to introduce yourself. The man introduced himself as "the Doctor"

The egotism is not lost on you. It's kinda self-righteous to add a "the" before your own name. And then not even use a real name. As though this man were the only good doctor in the world

You never do get his real name

First, Clara asks you what year it is. When you respond, both she and the Doctor appear confused than relieved. Then Clara casually asks if they can crash at your place for a few days

And you are dumbfounded like. "Uh... no?" Clara, who you haven't seen in years, fell out of the sky with some rando-stranger, for heaven's sake.

You basically tell them no unless they want to tell you to want is going on

The Doctor, seeing no other alternative, explains what the TARDIS is and who he is

And now you are CONVINCED that these two knuckleheads are high off their asses

Apparently not because before you know it, Clara is dragging you into the TARDIS before you can even fight back

You were gonna start screaming for help but what you found took your breath away

"It's bigger on the inside!"

The doctor laughs. "I love it when they say that."

So your brain is understandable fried

Like. What?

You have to go out and pace around the TARDIS a few times before passively accepting whatever lunacy you had just gotten yourself into

Meanwhile, both Clara and the Doctor watch you in amusement

Long story short, you agree to let them spend the night while the Doctor fixes his little machine

What else were you supposed to do?

Two TIME TRAVELLERS appeared at your doorstep needing your help. You can't just refuse that... right?

So as the Doctor tirelessly worked on his time machine, you and Clara spent the whole night talking

She had so many incredible and quite frankly unbelievable stories to tell

Your earlier notions about her were slowing beginning to assuage the more she spoke

You couldn't believe that she would be foolish enough to take off and go travelling the universe with a guy whose name she didn't even know.

You two actually hit it off quite nicely and exchanged numbers to keep on contact

The three days it took to finish the TARDIS came all too quickly for you

Although not quickly enough for the Doctor who apparently was damn near close to losing his mind due to staying stationary for so long

Like. It's been three days. Dude. Chill.

Not only was he rash and egotistical, he was also impatient and had the attention span of a gnat. You were kinda wondering how Clara put up with him

Despite your qualms about the Doctor, you really did not want them to leave

These two people... well, one person and one alien, were the most exciting thing that has ever happened to you in your dull life. Everything you ever were excited for paled in comparison to the tales that Clara had revealed to you. It really put a damper on well... everything

How could you be excited to go on a trip to Italy when you knew that there was an AMUSEMENT PARK on the dark side of the moon!!!!

How could you be content living, working, and dying knowing that there are entire solar systems of intelligent peoples with cultures, festivities, and ideologies completely different to your own that you would never get to see

You couldn't

It was simple as that

So you asked them if you could go on a trip with them

The Doctor adamantly refused, saying that it was best for you to forget you ever met them

You were persistent. Saying that you fed and housed them for three days. That is a massive favour. One trip would be the least he could do

Clara agreed with you and the two of you turned these adorable pleading puppy eyes on the Doctor

He finally acquiesced.

You were absolutely ecstatic

You three went to a faraway solar system and participated in some kind of elaborate festival which quickly turned awry

Clara had to give up her most prized possessions to please some kind of God

And the Doctor? The doctor would have died if it weren't for you and your quick wit

You are actually quite handy to have around

So the doctor, upon dropping you off, promised that he and Clara would occasionally swing by to take you with them

But warned you not to get too involved. Those that do often end up dead or worse. Usually worse.

Well. For a time traveller, the Doctor has piss poor time management skills and it is years before you ever see him and Clara again

Clara apologized profusely as she blamed the Doctor for screwing up the time dial thingy again

To make up for the lost time, you three embark on a lot of adventures in quick succession of one another

This is when you find yourself beginning to fall for Clara

You become a staple companion of the Doctor and Clara but unfortunately, fate can be quite cruel

As it turns out, Clara is set to die

She has to. It’s a fixed point in time

Of all the moments you thought you were going to lose her, this one scared you the most

The Doctor and you did everything possible to change the timeline, nearly breaking it in the process

But it did not matter. Clara was supposed to die.

And as her heartbeat its last beat, you found yourself deeply regretting all of the hours spent with the Doctor. Because if it were not for him, Clara would be allowed to live

Well. If it were not for him, you would have never met...

The Time Lords themselves had to step in and fix the situation. Because the Doctor had managed to extract Clara the moment she died. She technically was dead. Her heart no longer beat. But her mind still functioned. Rendering her practically immortal..

As a last-ditch effort to save her, the Doctor vowed to erase her memories.

Panicked, Clara reversed the polarities of the sonic glasses and ended up erasing the Doctor's memories of her.

She turned, ready to do the same to you but just couldn't manage

Instead, she broke down sobbing.

The two of your abandoned the Doctor, taking his TARDIS and going back in time to steal a previous edition of the TARDIS. Before the chameleon circuit broke down.

You dropped the Doctor off somewhere safe and then with your own personal TARDIS, travelled to Nevada

Clara admitted that she still had to die. And it would be wise to return to the Time Lords and allow herself to be returned into the time stream, meeting her final death

You were absolutely devastated

But Clara assured you that she had some wiggle room. The two of you could "take the long way around". She did not have to go immediately

At this realization, you smiled.

She was right. You were in no rush to return to Gallifrey. Why not enjoy some sights along the way?

And that was how you scored your own TARDIS and began to travel the universe, Clara by your side. You two had the craziest adventures and remained by each other's side until you withered from old age and died.

Clara, being technically immortal, hadn't aged a day. But she had a lifetime to come to terms with your future death and solemnly returned to Gallifrey.

She did not speak a word as the Time Lords showed her to her final resting spot. The last thing she uttered was "goodbye, y/n" before returning herself to the void

And finally meeting death

Wow. Why are my Doctor Who matchups always so depressing?

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ericsonclan · 4 years

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Nighttime Violets

Summary: Louis visits Violet before they both head to bed and they talk about the past, what to remember, and how to move on.

Read on A03:

Violet was about to head to bed when she heard a familiar rat-a-tat-tat at her door. Louis’ special knock. Somewhat reluctantly, Violet shuffled to the door and cracked it open. Louis grinned at her with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry for the late-night house call. I brought a peace offering to make up for the timing,” He raised a wrinkled bag that Violet was sure contained the decade-old pretzels he still insisted were a special treat.

Violet rolled her eyes, but opened the door wider and stepped back. “Come on in,”

“Thanks!” Louis strode into the room and promptly plopped himself on top of her desk. Looking around the room, he took in the familiar decorations that Violet had kept up for years: her button making machine and the few buttons she kept in her personal collection, the faded glow-in-the-dark stars that they had moved from her ceiling to her bedside wall after the accident, her worn-out vest tossed carelessly across the chair. He absentmindedly kicked his legs back and forth, whistling to himself. Violet stood across from him, arms crossed, waiting for him to speak. Louis noticed her stance and stopped mid-note. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’m visiting tonight,”

“Duh,”

“Well, now that our newest member has been with us for a few months, I wanted to see how you were feeling,”

Of fucking course.

“Get out,”

“Whaaat?”

“I said out,” Violet walked over to her dresser where her hunting knife lay.

“OK! OK!” Louis exclaimed, raising his hands in surrender. “God, I wasn’t thinking you’d react this harshly! And after I intentionally came in the dead of night so no one would hear us gossiping!” Though the sight of Violet’s knife was certainly pressing, he suddenly found himself looking beyond it to something else that lay on the dresser. “Wait a second. Is that… a violet?”

“What? No! Get out!” Violet shouted, advancing threateningly with the knife.

“Oh my god, it is, isn’t it?” Louis leapt off the desk onto the extra bunk bed, wriggling across the mattress to get a better look at the flower. “Potted and everything!” He turned to wiggle his eyebrows at Violet. “I bet I would only need one guess as to who gave you this,”

“Be quiet!” Violet hissed, shooting a worried glance toward the door.

“Does the name of the gift giver perhaps start with a P?”

“You know it does,” Violet sullenly took a seat on her bed.

“How long ago did this happen?”

“A few days. She went to practice fishing with Clementine and when they came back she gave it to me. Said she found it near the stream,”

“It’s potted,”

Violet shrugged noncommittally. “Guess she found it by the greenhouse,”

“Holy shit, Violet. Do you know what this means?”

“Don’t be weird about this,”

“She’s totally into you! I was right all along!” Louis leapt up from the bed, doing a little happy dance. “I can’t believe this! This is way better than I hoped to find!”

“If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will end you,”

“Well, Clementine must know already, right? Considering that Prisha was with her when she got the flower,”

“Louis,”

“Ok, fine! I won’t talk about it with anyone, not even Clementine!” Louis looked over at the potted flower again, putting a hand up to his mouth to cover his smile. “I just can’t believe this is actually happening. Have you told her yet?”

“Told her what?”

“Violet – c’mon! It doesn’t take a genius to notice the way you look at her. And she brought you a flower, your namesake flower! You can’t say that’s not a sign that she feels the same way,”

“I can say whatever I fucking want,” Violet pulled her blanket from where it had lain bunched up along the side of her bed. She smoothed the blanket out across the mattress, a clear signal that she was going to bed.

“Are you waiting for her to make the first move?”

“I’m not waiting for anything!”

“’Cause I know you get shy when it comes to stuff like this. Like that time when Minnie-”

Violet slammed her hands down on the bedframe, causing a huge clang. Louis flinched. “Don’t,”

“I’m sorry. I just got caught up in the excitement and it slipped out.”

“… I know,”

The room was silent as Louis looked for the right words to say next. There weren’t any. Looking at her bedroom walls, he saw some of Tenn’s old drawings lining the walls, ones he had given to Violet over the years. A crayon drawing of Violet made several years ago smiled at him from the top of the wall. Various depictions of wildlife and the nature around Ericson could be found amongst the colored pages.

There were some pieces missing though, ones that Louis remembered being displayed proudly just a few years ago. Pictures of Minnie and Sophie. Group drawings with Violet in the middle. Memories of the times before the twins had been lost. Before Minnie had been found again, only to turn her weapon against them and try to kill them herself.

Louis looked over at Violet. She had her arms wrapped around herself, knees pulled tight against her chest. Her face lay against them, turned away from him. He prayed he hadn’t made her cry.

“Violet?”

He heard nothing in response.

“Promise you won’t kill me if I say what’s on my mind?”

More silence.

He would have to take that as a yes. Taking a deep breath, Louis decided to go for it. “Prisha’s not Minnie. What happened on the boat and on the bridge, it won’t happen again,”

She didn’t move. Louis wasn’t sure what to do. Then a soft, shaky sniffle emerged from Violet’s still form. Louis immediately took a seat beside her on the bed, taking her in his arms and making soft shushing sounds.

“Shit, Vi, I’m sorry. I went too far. Shh, shh, it’s gonna be okay. I won’t say anything else, I swear,”

“Fuck you, Louis,” Violet mumbled against his chest, taking a long, snotty inhale. “I was doing alright today,”

“I’m so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you,”

Violet pushed herself up to lean against the back wall, rubbing tears out of her permanently bleary eyes. She couldn’t see shit when she was crying.

Louis was still holding onto her hand, gently running his thumb against her palm in apology. He just said sorry for pushing her, but he wasn’t going to leave till she opened up, was he? Asshole.

“What happened that night on the boat changed everything,”

Louis was surprisingly silent. He must be waiting for more.

“It changed what I thought I’d lost. Then I lost it all again. But it was worse than before. I didn’t used to think that was possible. After that, after losing Tenn…. For a while I didn’t think I could come back. Like what was the point anymore in living in this shithole world with these useless eyes and everybody gone-”

She could feel Louis’ grip tighten on her hand.

“… But not everybody was gone. You were still here. And Clem. And Ruby. And AJ and…. You guys didn’t give up on me, even when I had nothing to give. It took so, so long to just feel anything at all again. To care at all. To still try. But I got there. When Prisha came…” Violet’s spare hand tangled in her blanket, clasping and unclasping it. “It felt different again. Not bad, but… I can’t deal with it. Whatever this is, I don’t want it,”

“Do you really mean that?” Louis whispered. “It’s OK to be scared. Hell, I’m sure Prisha knows plenty about that too. She wouldn’t hold it against you if you were nervous,”

Violet shook her head. “Don’t do this. Don’t act like you know what this is or what she’s thinking. It can’t be true,”

“What can’t be true? That she likes you?”

“Louis, have you seen me lately?” Violet turned to look him dead-on. Even this close, she could barely make out the freckles that covered her friend’s face. “Don’t act like this looks good,”

“Violet-”

“No. Don’t brush this off like it’s not a big fucking deal,”

Louis sighed. He let go of her hand and leaned back to take a place against the wall. “You know, after Clem lost her leg, I would catch her flinch sometimes when I touched her. Not super obviously, and not all the time. She had her good and her bad days, just like you. When I eventually got the nerve up to ask her about it, she just looked down at where her leg used to be. Then she started crying.”

Louis shook his head, eyes downcast. “I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t see how she thought that it was a big deal – not from a survival standpoint of course – but for me. I told her again and again that I didn’t care at all, that she was still the badass who I’d fallen for the second she walked into my life.

But it wasn’t enough for Clem. That conversation didn’t change things. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t really about what I thought or how I saw her – it was how she saw herself. To me, she was just as beautiful as ever, but for Clementine… I think it took her a long time to learn to see herself again, her real self,”

Louis turned to look at Violet. “Now, I’m not saying that what I think I see between you and Prisha is the real deal, but whether it is or not, I don’t think your eyes would be a deal-breaker for her. Just like her busted arm doesn’t matter much to you. Even if there aren’t romantic feelings there, I’m sure she sees the same thing I do when she looks at you,”

He reached out to cup Violet’s face with one hand. “A total badass who’s a complete softie underneath,”

Violet’s lip trembled. Damnit, she was not going to start crying again. Seeing her expression, Louis chuckled and pulled her against him so that her face was once more hidden from him.

“All in all, I would say this has been a quite productive evening,” She could feel him shift on the bed. “Clementine and A.J. are already asleep, so if you like I could definitely spend the night. It’s been ages since you and I have had a proper slumber party,”

Violet mumbled something, but it was lost in the folds of his trenchcoat.

“What was that?”

“I said you have to sleep on the opposite bunk,”

“Oh, but of course! How about we play a game? I bet I can catch more pretzels in my mouth from across the room than you can!”

Violet straightened up, rubbing her eyes dry one last time. “Alright, you’re on,”

“Loser takes pelt tanning duty?”

“Yeah, right. I know it’s already your shift tomorrow,”

“Dang it! Can’t blame a guy for trying. Ok, I’ll start first. Get ready for some expert marksmanship!” Louis pulled away to take his seat on the opposite bunk.

As Violet adjusted to her place on the bed, her eyes caught the potted violet. Gingerly, she picked it up and placed it further from the edge of the dresser and the pretzel warfare that was about to ensue. Something within her felt calmer. Within that calm, perhaps she could finally admit to herself the twinge of excitement that came with Prisha’s gift.

A pretzel hit the side of her face, and she turned to Louis with a frown. “A little warning next time!”

“That was just a warmup!”

Violet rolled her eyes, but her smile remained. Wherever things went, she could be happy with how things were now. She could take a second to live in the moment.

#twdg prisha #twdg violet #twdg privet #twdg louis #louis and violet #twdg #telltale the walking dead #twdgs4 #fanfic

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zecretsanta · 4 years

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[Bonus!] Fic: life preserver

To: @therealhousewivesofhyrule

From: @kiichu

Surprise! A bonus fic from your prompt: Santa falling for Clover during the Nonary Game. It’s not quite a happy fic, but I hope it at least gave you some idea of a bittersweet outcome. ;) Happy Holidays, once again! <3

—

Ao3 Link

Aoi knows from the moment he’s sentenced to Door [4] that he is, in some capacity, going to die.

Oh, there’s still a chance he’ll walk out of the game alive, of course - provided Snake goes batshit in the incinerator and takes Ace down with him - but Akane still dies. And if Akane dies, Aoi might as well be dead, too.

So when Junpei asserts himself and chooses Door [5], Aoi feels a pang in his stomach. There’s not much he can do, though, apart from give a scoff or glare that lines up with his ‘punk’ persona.

Junpei is so goddamn insistent on going through that door, and for what? Is the guy that interested in seeing a dead body or something? If that’s the case, he should just look into Akane’s many envisioned outcomes; would he still be curious to see the dead corpses of everyone in the room sprawled out in a lifeless heap, including Junpei himself?

Somehow, Aoi doubts it. Knowing the truth about them, about Akane and Zero and the whole Nonary Game, will only destroy Junpei’s future - if he even has one in this timeline. Then again, Junpei’s trauma is Akane’s survival, so Aoi can’t give too much of a shit about it.

As Junpei makes his decision, Akane protests immediately, wanting to go with him. Aoi has to admit, she plays up the theatrics quite well; in another life, his sister might have been a movie star or something. She plays her role as ‘childhood friend returned/girl-next-door who still holds romantic feelings for the protagonist’ quite well… though Aoi isn’t sure how much of that role is fabricated for her.

Anyway, Akane tries her best to subtly discourage him, but Junpei still insists. Aoi huffs, crossing his arms, and forces himself to go along with it. There’s nothing he can do, and has to accept that this simply isn’t the future he and Akane are chasing.

But this time, things feel a little different, and Aoi finds himself drawn to details he hasn’t been advised about before. Akane hasn’t mentioned anything like this, so he is almost positive he doesn’t do this in other outcomes.

This time, he notes Clover’s reaction to being separated from Snake, sees the sheer pain and panic settle into her green gaze, and it actually physically affects him. His heart pounds a little faster, palms get a little clammier, eyes a little wider; for some reason, he’s eerily aware of her distress, and it bothers him.

And he actually thinks, consciously, I understand what it’s like to worry about a sibling - I wish she didn’t look like that.

For someone whose only concern was his sister up until this very point in time, the reality strikes Aoi to his very core; the mere thought that someone else could potentially be more than a disposable pawn in Akane’s plans was startling.

But Clover’s arm goes to wrap around Snake’s, begging him not to leave her alone in this scary situation, and Aoi’s chest twinges.

—

“Snake’s pretty smart,” he admits to Clover once they’re past Door [4] and he’s searching idly through a puzzle he helped design. “You’ll see him again, no worries.”

Clover sits quietly on the bed in the room, taking a breather; her hands ball into tiny fists in her lap, her shoulders shaking as she tries to collect herself. He watches her teeth sink into her bottom lip to try to force her emotions back. No doubt she’s reliving her past experiences with games like this, her mind racing with potential perpetrators as she tries desperately to determine who would want to kidnap her and her brother again.

Aoi almost takes a second to sit with her, to once more remind her that Snake will definitely be fine (he can’t tell her, but fuck, he dragged Hongou to Hell in one outcome!), but reminds himself Akane needs to be his top priority. He has to stay diligent, no matter how much his heart may soften at the sight of Clover’s held-back tears, or the way he wants to say something to stop her from trembling so badly.

He considers, just briefly, giving her the bookmark and seeing if that would change the outcome - but Akane was very strict on when he had to give it to Junpei, and which paths would bring that opportunity.

Clover’s sniffling breaks his thoughts for the moment. “Shut up, you don’t even know him,” she snaps, shooting him a glare. “But… you’re right, he’ll keep it together. I trust him.”

Giving a lopsided smirk, Aoi nods. “Dude seems like a badass - I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.” That’s an understatement, trust me.

“You’re not wrong,” Clover replies, surrendering a hint of a smile. Her gaze flickers down to her hands for a moment before looking back up at Aoi. “I’ll do whatever I can to protect him, as well.”

Believe me, I know that, too. Aoi already knows all-too-well what happens when Clover has to avenge her brother. He can’t say so, however, and just responds with a snarky, “I’ll bet.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s a sibling thing. You know what I mean?”

He can read in between the lines here, can see she’s gently prodding him for personal information. Or maybe he’s being paranoid and she genuinely wants to know more about him - but he can’t take that chance. There’s too much at stake.

“Nope. Only child,” he replies, his voice clipped.

“Oh.” Her face falls slightly; she draws her legs close to her chest and settles her head on her knees, looking almost disappointed. “Then I guess, in a weird way, you’re sorta lucky then.”

Aoi barks out bitter laughter at that. If only she knew - if only she understood how unlucky he really is, how much shit he’s had to go through just to secure the only other person he has in his life. If only he could tell Clover, could let her bear the weight of his hatred and his sins and his grief –

He stops laughing, and leaves the room without gracing her with a response.

—

It’s unfortunate, Aoi laments as he slings Snake’s unconscious body over his shoulder, that Akane saw it this way. He doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly so considerate of Clover’s feelings in all this, but it really puts a fucking damper on the whole thing. He has to constantly remind himself that this is all for Akane, that Akane is the most important person in his life, and that thinking about anyone else may as well be betrayal.

Akane’s his little sister, it’s his job to protect her. He can’t afford to…

Quickly, Aoi banishes the thought and finishes the switch-off with Snake and Nijisaki. It’s strange, but looking at the unconscious man slated to die leaves him no remorse.

“Your boss’ll be the one killin’ you, dude. Sorry,” Aoi mutters to him, knowing he won’t get a response. It’s true, though - if Hongou didn’t get any stupid ideas like pushing people through doorways with active bombs in their stomachs, then Akane would have never had to add this part to the plan. If the asshole had just confessed from the beginning, no one would’ve had to die.

But it’s too late now. Aoi doesn’t feel regret, but at the same time, he feels no pleasure at this, either - he’s just numb to it all. Nijisaki will die, though, so that Snake doesn’t have to.

(And that’s better for Clover.)

—

After Snake’s disappearance, Clover’s quiet suffering grinds into Aoi’s heart even further, like the tip of a boot digging into the ground. His breath catches in his throat and for a moment, he can only focus on the tears glistening behind her eyes, and how she seems to refuse to let them fall.

He only half-listens to Ace’s insistence at ‘sacrificing himself’ - Akane’s told him about it a million times, and it’s honestly so bad, Aoi can practically taste the bullshit in his mouth. Nothing about the man looks or sounds trustworthy, but Aoi can at least recognize his own bias. There’s probably nothing suspicious about him to, say, Junpei - but most of the players should know better.

‘Should’ being the key word, but…

Aoi glances at Clover for a moment, then back to Ace and his theatrics. There’s several timelines where the old bastard kills her, isn’t there? Briefly, he lets his mind wander into the possibility of preventing it…

If he can’t save Akane this timeline, or even himself - can he save Clover?

But why would he even bother? What makes her so special in this timeline? Is there something specific that happens here, in this particular path, that sets her apart from the others? Does he get a better look at her tears, her worries, her grief, and that makes him want to protect her?

Should he protect her, even if there’s no change of fate for anyone else?

“Clover, uh,” he murmurs, approaching her quietly. She sits in a manner similar to how she had in Door [4] - all silent, hands in her lap, gaze looking dead and unfocused. In some timelines, this anxiety churns into a murderous rage - but hopefully, that won’t end up happening here. “How’re you holdin’ up?”

She glares at him, snapping her head in his direction and hissing, “How do you think?!”

Aoi knows it’s fear driving her actions and words - he’s so familiar with this brand of worry and pain that he immediately feels sickly comforted by its nostalgia. He stiffens, unsure how to respond (because he sure as fuck knows he wouldn’t want to be messed with in this situation).

So instead of saying anything, he just gives her a nod and leaves her alone, turning back to the others just in time to see Ace dramatically fall to the floor in his drug-induced act.

—

Much later on, Junpei chooses Door [2] with Seven and Lotus, and Aoi becomes aware of what fate he’ll have. Granted, his choices from the beginning were fucked, so he should’ve expected this, but the tingling of the knife in his back already begins to spread across his shoulder blades.

(And of course, Ace is none the wiser - probably cooking up his stupid scheme on the spot.)

The plan is for ‘Santa’ and ‘June’ to go with Ace through Door [1], much to their secret dismay. Clover will wait for everyone to come back around to the main area after their respective puzzles. And it sucks, but no one but Ace will survive this part of the game - at least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.

Akane had gone over what she’d called ‘main’ timelines she’d seen - probably the ones she knew had the most chances of happening. This part’s recurring, according to her: Ace grabs Aoi when his back is turned, ruthlessly stabs him, then grabs Clover. Then Akane runs, Ace corners and kills her in another room, and the asshole returns to the staircase with Aoi and Clover’s bodies and plays dead. It’s disgusting, it’s deceiving, it’s evil - but Aoi doesn’t think he can fight it.

There’s no happy ending this time.

“This way,” Ace directs kindly, as if he’s not about to slaughter them all. Akane exchanges a brief glance with Aoi and gives a small, almost imperceptible nod. It’s going to happen just as she foresaw, then.

Well, Aoi isn’t going to make it easy for him.

“Comin’ grandpa, sheesh. Who put you in charge?” he scoffs, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Tryin’ to sacrifice yourself earlier gets some brownie points, but it still doesn’t make you our leader or anythin’.”

Ace’s eyes narrow, and Aoi can tell he wants to break character so very badly. Go on, dickhead, Aoi thinks, Show your true colors.

“I think it was very brave, albeit a bit reckless,” Akane chimes in, breaking the tension in the air a little. “I’m glad you’re alright, though, Ace. Don’t you agree, Clover?” She turns her head to the quiet girl.

Clover doesn’t respond, and continues to tremble as they grow closer to the staircase that will be their grave. Aoi reminds himself that she still doesn’t know whether Snake is alive or dead - and she’ll die never knowing. It feels like a pinch in his heart, a dull jabbing every time he looks and notes how sad she is.

And it’s his fault she’s this way.

He wishes he could come clean right here, warn her about Ace’s attack, but finds himself bound by the promise he made Akane. He’d sworn never to break character and tell the truth until the very end - and only on the ‘right’ path. But this sucks, it sucks so much that he can’t do anything to save her, or Akane and himself for that matter, that it physically pains him.

“Santa.” Clover’s whisper breaks him of any thoughts.

He shifts his gaze to her as they walk, silently prompting her to continue - and she does.

“I’m scared for my brother. I want to see him again.” The agony in her voice is so raw, it tears him up that she won’t get her wish. “I know you said you were an only child, but… I feel like you understand, somehow. Or that you care. So… I just wanted to say thank you.” Through her pained expression, she curls her lips into a shaky smile, meeting his eyes.

And goddammit, something once more stabs into Aoi’s heart - figuratively, for now.

“No biggie,” he replies, probably a bit softer than appropriate for his role. Oh well - they’re both about to die, what the fuck does it matter?

The two of them start to speed up a little, creating a pretty convenient setup: Akane and Ace walk behind, Aoi and Clover ahead; besides being able to privately talk with Clover, Aoi has a step ahead of his sister and her would-be murderer. He has to glance back to see what the old man is doing, but also recognizes nothing will probably happen until they reach the staircase.

He also trusts his sister with everything he has - including his life - and if there’s nothing else true about Akane, it’s that she’s strong enough to take care of herself.

So Aoi takes the opportunity to enjoy this last walk with Clover, his eyes settling on her pretty face. A touch of heat hits his cheeks and he reminds himself of the kind of character he’s playing - it won’t be very tough or punk if he starts blushing, will it?

But his main focus is to keep the girl calm, so he continues their talk quietly. “If it means anything, I was serious about what I said before,” he says. “Snake seems tough enough. He won’t die that easily.”

He doesn’t miss the way Clover flinches at the word ‘die’ - and it definitely feels like a punch in the gut to him - but she does find the courage to nod and stammer out, “Y-you’re right. H-he’s fine, I’m sure of it.”

“There you go.” Aoi gives a smirk and dares to nudge her shoulder. “Now stop worrying ‘bout it. As soon as we’re out of this next door, we’ll all regroup to look for him again.”

Clover gives him a playful shove back. “Okay, sounds good. You promise?”

Before he realizes it, Aoi gets too caught up in his role, in keeping the pink-haired girl calm and positive - enough so that he completely forgets their fate. He opens his mouth to actually promise Clover they’ll all look for Snake - but something stops the words from leaving.

They’ve reached the staircase - Aoi didn’t even realize he’d taken the first step already with Clover. Behind them, Ace and Akane have come to a halt, and the room settles into deathly still silence.

Aoi bites his lip and, understanding what’s about to happen, lets his instincts kick in.

Whatever the Aois of other timelines do, he dares to follow his own heart in this very moment. Whatever role he plays elsewhere, steps he isn’t taking, outcome he’s creating – none of that fucking matters right now.

He looks to the girl beside him - as well as the one behind him - and realizes he doesn’t want anyone to die here.

“June, RUN!” He yells, turning around just in time to see Ace bring out the knife. Aoi’s leg kicks back into the old man’s shin as hard as he can, almost losing his balance on the staircase in the process.

A lot of things happen at the same time: Clover cries out in surprise, Ace yelps (yelps!) in pain, the knife clatters to the floor, and Akane bolts back the way they came. Aoi has to fight the urge to run after her, remembering that this isn’t the right timeline - that Akane will die regardless, and she knows that. He can’t pretend to understand his sister at this very moment, but he hopes she isn’t too upset at him for trying to fight fate itself, hopes she understands why he’s so compelled to do this.

It isn’t fair for them to cause Clover so much pain, is it?

Ace staggers back, trying to regain his own balance, and Aoi wastes no time: he clutches Clover’s hand and attempts to run the only way they can: up the staircase. The girl has some crazy stupid heels on, so she almost trips a few times. But together, they manage to get a few rows up ahead of Ace.

“Santa – Santa, what are you doing!?” Clover shrieks, glancing back and trying to process what’s happening.

There’s no time to explain, and it isn’t like he can explain everything, anyway - so Aoi opts to just shout, “He’s gonna kill us unless we fucking run!”

“K-Kill!?” Clover exclaims, once again looking back. “Crap! He’s coming!”

Aoi glances over his shoulder, seeing the murderous glint in Hongou’s eyes. Damn it, that kick only seemed to piss him off further - is he going to stab them twice as hard now? In trying to prevent the bad outcome, did Aoi actually make it worse?

It wouldn’t be the first time something like that’s happened, at least.

“Come on, you old fucker,” Aoi goads, trying to calm his racing heart. There’s not much at stake for himself here, but…

But he’s decided: he wants to save Clover, this time.

“I’m a bit surprised you predicted my move, Santa,” Ace rumbles, his voice as dangerous as ever. “It’s a pity you won’t be lasting for much longer.”

Yeah? We’ll see about that. Aoi keeps running up the stairs with Clover at his side, practically dragging her. Both of them are panting heavily, clearly not used to this much adrenaline use at once, but Ace takes his time walking up behind them.

It’s as though he isn’t even worried about catching up to them - shit, he’s waiting for their energy to be spent, isn’t he? Like a wolf hunting rabbits, he’s waiting for them to be cornered or stop from exhaustion, and then he’ll strike.

Fuck, why did Aoi think this was possible?

It feels like there’s a million stairs as they travel upwards, panting and gasping for air once they finally reach the top - and a familiar dark laugh echoes very close behind.

“Stupid children. There’s nowhere you can possibly run that I won’t be able to find you.” His low growl is intimidating, sends Aoi’s mind momentarily back in time - back to that same voice giving instructions over a loudspeaker in a deathtrap. Back to this same psychopath taunting a child behind the glass door of an incinerator, to the feeling of helplessness as Aoi gathers up his little sister’s ashes.

Without thinking too much about it, Aoi grabs Clover’s shoulders and shuffles her ahead of him. “You have to go,” he murmurs quickly to her, “he’s lying - there’s a way out, and you’ll find it.”

The girl stumbles forward, turning around to protest, but her face goes pale before she can. A large shadow looms over Aoi, and it becomes very clear that it’s all over for him. Hongou must’ve gained some speed at the last moment, or was just very calculated with his movements, for he’s suddenly deathly close before Aoi can even think of a proper reaction.

A large hand knots around Aoi’s scarf, yanking him backwards. As he’s spun around, the sharp end of a knife meets his abdomen, sliding in smoothly. Pain erupts in his stomach, his limbs trembling and twitching uncontrollably – but Aoi dares to meet his attacker’s eyes. Hongou’s brown pupils are thinned in his crazed state, his lips stretched open to a wide smile with bared teeth. A dark chuckle rumbles in his throat as he twists the blade, and Aoi’s world briefly explodes into white.

Aoi tries to speak, but liquid fills his mouth and he’s choking, suddenly all he can think is that he needs air but there’s no air, there’s only his own blood. Then, the very next moment, it spews out through his mouth down his chin, onto Hongou’s coat (good), and unfortunately onto those awesome shoes Aoi does genuinely love.

He looks for Clover, hopes she managed to scramble up the rest of the stairs and is running for her life - but she stands nearby in shock, a hand outstretched in his direction. Why doesn’t she understand - he’s as good as dead anyway (and has been since Door [5]), but she still has a chance.

So why isn’t she taking it?!

“Gg… g—o,” he gurgles, trying to get the sounds past the bubbling copper taste in his throat. “Snn- sn-… ake…. off..offin.”

Please, Clover. Please understand what I’m fucking saying! He begs her mentally, his eyes growing dull as his vision starts to fade at the edges. But he does catch her lips mouthing the word ‘coffin?’ and he gives a trembling nod in affirmation.

Yes! Find the coffin. Snake’s in there. Please - find him, and survive.

The next moment, he hears the clicking of her heels as she runs away, her quiet cries fading off into the distance. He gives a brief smile, pleased that he was able to give her an ounce of hope in this nightmare he helped set up.

Aoi can’t have his sibling after all this is over, but at least Clover can.

But a cold realization hits Aoi once the knife’s finally wrenched out of him: She’ll know. Red soaks through the white of his shirt, pooling freely onto the floor below him; the pain is unbearable, unspeakable, unstoppable - but he can’t help but focus on that one blinding thought echoing through his mind.

Clover will know the truth when she gets to the coffin.

Once she reaches that coffin and finds her brother alive, she’ll connect the dots. She’ll realize that Aoi knew where Snake was because he was the one who put him there. It’ll all come so clearly to her, and Aoi can only hope that his gesture of letting her know holds some amount of an apology, somewhere.

He isn’t sure if he’s truly sorry for doing what Akane said had to happen, but he is sorry for getting people like Clover wrapped up in all of it.

All sounds drown out and the world grows darker and darker, his limbs feeling heavy and numb. Before he can register what’s happening, his knees have hit the ground, and his torso soon after. Staring at Ace’s boots, Aoi gathers up the last of his strength to spit forward a wad of blood, smirking in triumph as he hits his mark.

Hongou hisses something angrily, but Aoi can’t even be bothered to process the words in his brain. It isn’t worth it - whatever this monster has to say to him, it can wait until they’re both in Hell.

As one of his last breaths leave him, Aoi at least has the clarity to wish Clover’s far enough away now, that she’s going to be safe and make it out okay.

It’s stupid to think, but maybe this timeline, this path, this outcome… maybe he actually managed to do something right. He’ll never know for certain, but perhaps he was finally able to keep a pair of siblings together?

And although it’s one of the four things he hates more than anything in this world, he finds himself attached to that hope for Clover’s safety - like he’s actually aboard a sinking ship, and someone’s finally tossed him a life preserver. Sure, the preserver’s crumbling and slippery - maybe it’s been used too many times, or taken advantage of by others - but he holds on with all he has, and will continue to desperately cling to it, even as he drowns.

#zero escape #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #clover/santa #zecret santa 2019 #submission

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koi-sims · 5 years

Text

Do Sim Evil Better.

I’d been knockin’ this idea around for a long time, and after collecting (or making, in the case of the CAS background) all the right cc, I decided to do something fun and unrelated to my stories and make the most handsome, most ingenious, and most evil man to ever exist in a narrative, Corin Deeth III (who actually named the Corin in my current storyline - Corin with two “r”. #bigFan).

Reader, you may or may not be familiar with the story of Kakos Industries and if you aren’t you truly are missing out. It is the best podcast I’ve listened to since The NoSleep Podcast, and to be honest...I think it actually one-ups my beloved NoSleep. It is a very fun and witty podcast with some great humor, greater hijinks, and can I just mention how alluring Corin’s voice is? Just sayin’. The storyline is awesome, too...so many great characters. I want to make Jr. and Malantha next~ I’ll leave some links at the bottom of the post for those who may be interested. Anyway, without further ado, let’s meet the man of the hour, shall we?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Well hello, Corin~.... Now, I may have missed the mark, but I always envisioned Corin having short, trendy hair that still embodied professionalism and and air of slight douchery. I have seen a lot of fanart where Corin has long hair and perhaps that is canonically true. If so, I apologize Corin, please do not send me a pair of exploding sneakers. I may have missed his eye color too, but I went with a very piercing blue-green because that’s just my personal taste and light eyes with dark hair is so badass.

Corin’s traits came pretty natural - evil, confident, and I picked hot-headed because it would best help his in-game aspiration (Criminal Mastermind) moreso than him being hot-headed in the canon. He is actually always as cool as a cucumber. I admire that.

And a little in-game blurb for him because why not? Am a ridiculously enamored fangirl? Maybe. (I spelled his name wrong up top, but I fixed it AFTER I took that and the next cap - whoops)

And just for fun, this personality notice about Corin popped up when I went in to do his photoshoot. I just love it and the look on Corin’s face at the time - Ah, the taste of accuracy.

Now, on to the main event. I’ve always wondered what Corin’s sense of fashion was like, and now having listened to 99% of the podcast (it was so fun to catch up, I’m pretty much stalling on finishing what’s out now because waiting for the next is gonna hurt so bad) I’ve gotten too curious and decided to raid his wardrobe. What’s in there, I wonder??? Let’s find out.

Everyday Wear

Oh of COURSE Corin looks dark and dapper in a suit for everyday. Look at that little splash of color! I bet you used the blood of insubordinate employees to make that tie custom, didn’t you? Magnificent. What else do you slip into on the daily? Maybe when you’re home relaxi-

Oh. Um. Well...You do wear a cowboy hat very well, Corin! I mean...they match the boots and everything! I...I’m sure there are a lot of experimental abominations to wrangle around the office so why not dress the part? Not gonna lie, that shirt looks breezy and comfortable as hell. Maybe take a trip to the mountains with King Leopold sometime? (I...I know what happened in the story, and I refuse to let it go. #OTP.)

Formal Wear

Ah. The natural snazz comes out around the time of the Shareholder’s Ball and the CEO Festival, doesn’t it? You didn’t strike me as the bowtie type of evil CEO but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look amazing on you. I see you’ve forgone your gloves for formal wear. Hard to eat the deviled eggs and tiny cheeses in those, non?

...This must be the suit you wear to the CEO Festival. That’s really the only explanation as to why it always turns out to be...what it usually becomes. I am going to assume that this suit belonged to Mr. Corin Deeth I and you wear it in his honor. I sure he is looking down on you, pleased but also wondering why you haven’t indulged in what is (still) in the right-side inner pocket.

Athletic Wear

You cannot be a successful CEO of an evil megacorp if you let yourself go. Hence why you slip into nothing but basketball shorts for a long, strenuous...sweaty...satisfying...workout. Between culling unnecessary employees and flawlessly delivering the shareholder announcements, you’re deadlifting 400lbs and making 1st in marathons, aren’t you? Of course you are.

And then there’s jazzercise. Cardio IS important and I mean...just running can be a bit tedious, yeah? You’re so well-rounded, Corin, golly. Honestly, I’m not at all mad at your fashion choice for this one. You don’t have to hide it, we are all friends here. The 80′s were a great time and I am happy you’re keeping the impeccable athletics fashion alive.

Sleepwear

Even mega evil mega CEOs need rest from time to time and nothing beats resting out topless and in trackpants. I see you are wearing ADIDAS, the most evil of brands. Not much else I can say. I am too busy admiring what jazzercise has done for you.

Uh oh. It must be one of those days. Malantha has flustered you again, Dirk is texting for more life advice, and Jr. is sending way too many...um...”special photos” to prove his is thinking hard on how to best contribute to the company. Good thing Brosephus is totally awake at 2am and ready to video chat about all of this. It’s SOOOO LAAAAAAME, right?!

Party Wear

Rollin’ up to the New Year’s Festival feels good, especially when you look this mighty fine. Nothing like finally getting past Yule and Anti-Celebrating by finally cutting loose again and making those ultra evil resolutions. Again with the gloves, I see. Well, I guess better safe than sorry. There’s no tell who’ll feel your wrath after four Blue Motorcycles.

Hm. This is quite the uh...departure, Corin. I mean, nothing ever looks bad on you but where on Earth would you even wear this to? Where would it even work??? ...Oh, right! The Festival of Adorableness! Awkward or not, you’ve made it work. I’m willing to bet the Division of Subversive Cute helped out with this ensemble. Kudos to them! I’m sure burning it afterwards was incredibly satisfying for you.

Swimwear

Why are you looking so bedeviled, Corin? How, when you look that prepared for a pool party, can you possibly be in such a foul mood? Oh...oh wait. Malantha has hidden your sunblock, hasn’t she? Goshdarnit! How can you possibly be evil without being as pale as your skin tone will allow?! That Malantha...she truly is evil, isn’t she?

Welp. I guess if you’re going to get a tan, might as well hit every spot you can. Suck on that, Malantha! (....) Also, breaking out the zebra print speedo wasn’t the worst idea you’ve ever had, and I both applaud, and ready my binoculars for, you choice of white swimwear. No booty shot? Ugh. Fair enough...gotta leave something to the imagination, I guess. #disappointmentOverdose

Warm Weather Wear

This is the look of a man about to take off on his mega evil yacht and never look back. That shirt, unbuttoned down to where it is suggestive but not desperate, those shorts, defining the thighs while still looking professional, those boat shoes that scream class and bless you for not wearing socks with them. There is a thin line between evil and insane and you ride it perfectly.

Apparently, even evil knows it wouldn’t be summer without an obnoxiously bright Hawaiian shirt. Ain’t even mad. Oooh, and white pinstripe pants....why yes, dear, they do make you look taller and thinner! I can almost hear you now, as you swagger out the front doors, “I’m off to the Maldives, screw y’all! Also, if a single brick is out of place when I get back, I’ll kill you.” You tell ‘em, Corin.

Cold Weather Wear

Brrrrrr. Generally, evil is always cold, dark, and hateful but sometimes even the weather puts up a good fight. Stylish as ever, you have broken out a very elegant scarf and jacket, expertly layered as to properly insulate all of the darkness within. No hat, though? Of course not. Evil does not get that chilly.

Corin: “What you mean I didn’t win the Ugly Sweater Contest?!”

RUN.

~*~*~*~*~

And that concludes are journey through Corin’s wardrobe! This really was a lot of fun to do, and I’d be ever so pleased if the fine people who bring the @kakosindustries universe alive enjoy it too! I’ve also redecorated Corin’s in-game home (the Alto Apartment’s unit that was formally Lobo’s #sorrynotsorry) and I would like to share that one day too, if I get around to doing the photo tour. I will share some links below to a few relevant sites for anyone whose interested in Corin and the Kakos Industries story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Cheers!

~*~*~*~*~

WCIF: Kakos Industries

Kakos Industries Home - where it’s all laid out

Kakos Industries on Tumblr - contains information about episode releases, fan-created content, and other candid goodies

Kakos Industries on TVTropes - [SPOILERS] a nice place to gather info about the series and related tropes therein

And of course you can find Kakos Industries on Facebook, Twitter, and any podcast service worth it’s salt.

#sims 4 #kakos industries #corin deeth iii

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