#grrr how the hell do you stay in character

[twinkfromconvergence]

I hate writing dialogue! I hate it so much!

[leaderoffestivals]

Poltergeist Chapter 6

The Sketch in the Rubbish Heap Ch 6

Arashi: I had such high expectations for this, the feeling of being violently let down is just as great, too! In fact, I feel like I’m about to collapse from the shock!

Scenario Writer: Akira Season: Winter Characters: Mikejima Madara, Sakasaki Natsume, Aoba Tsumugi, Narukami Arashi

<About an hour later, in the changing room of the large communal bath inside Dancing Cranes Home.>

Arashi: Oh my God, I can’t take this anymore!

Where are those so-called “bonds that unite us”! Where’s the supposed “humanism”!? What happened to the carefree scenes of frolicking in the flower fields I’ve been looking forward to?!

There’s no way a place like this will ever be a stage for such heart-warming family-friendly drama—This is a chaotic nest of unruly, ill brought-up brats! 

Madara: There, there. Try to calm down a little, Arashi-san ♪

Natsume: FufU~. That’s riGHT. We are all supposed to be childcare workers who love and cherish the children nOW. 

There aren’t any cameras here because this is a dressing room after aLL, but at the very leaST, outside this roOM, let’s stay true to our roles and play the parts of kind-hearted nursery school teachers with a smile without faIL.

Tsumugi: He’s absolutely right~. It’s not that big of a deal at all. We only happened to be drenched in paint by children we just met—

Arashi: Grrr! Exactly! All of us were eagerly heading to the Music Hall where the children were supposed to be waiting, when all of a sudden, a massive downpour of paint came raining down on us from abooooove! 

It’s the absolute worst! I thought that’s the kind of thing you only see in horror movies! 

Seriously! Look! All my brand new clothes have been ruined, thanks to them! Thankfully, the staff were kind enough to provide spare uniforms for us, though!

I had such high expectations for this, the feeling of being violently let down is just as great, too! In fact, I feel like I’m about to collapse from the shock!

Madara: Hahaha! It’s clear as day that the kids in this Dancing Cranes Home do not welcome us here at aaall. 

Tsumugi: Ahaha… That’s right. We were told the children would be welcoming us with song and dance, but what we really got was a storm of paint, insults and jeers. 

Madara: Hmmm. The words those children threw at us were pretty heartless too, weren’t they? Like—“Get the hell out of here!”, “Get lost!”, “Just die!”—and so on.

Arashi: But—why!? Why do they hate us so much!? We’re only meeting each other for the first time, aren’t we?

Tsumugi: Um~… … Rather than saying that they hate us specifically, I think it’s safer to say those children happen to hate all adults in general.

Madara: What makes you think that?

Tsumugi: Well, there were other staff members present in the auditorium; however, all of them looked pretty exhausted.

Some of them were wearing bandages as if injured, while others had dark circles under their eyes.

Arashi: Y-yes, that’s true. When we arrived on-site before Mama and Anzu-chan did, I was thinking all the staff members we met seemed to be in low spirits.

Moreover, they were looking on at us with expressions of sympathy, weren’t they?

Madara: I see. I wonder if the staff members here—the adults—have been constantly under attack by the children, much like how we were this time?

Arashi: And that’s why they were giving us sympathetic looks, since we were about to encounter what they had suffered?

Natsume: FufU. This is starting to get interestiNG. It looks like this isn’t the heartwarming workplace we imagined it to bE.

Arashi: Hey~, can I bow out from this project? My spirit’s been crushed right from the start, I want to go home already!

Natsume: WeLL, Mikejima-senpai’s the main character in the spotlight this tiME, so if you decide not to stay oN, come what mAY, it’s not a big deal at aLL.

Madara: Hahaha! Isn’t deserting one’s post in the face of the enemy a violation of the samurai’s code?

Arashi: That doesn’t apply to me. I’m a Knight, not a samurai, after all.

Tsumugi: Now, now. The children of this facility aren’t the enemy in the first place, are they~? 

I was thrown off guard by their unexpected actions too, but our original purpose here, which is to work as childcare workers, has not changed in the slightest. 

In order to achieve that purpose, we will need to establish a rapport with those kids to the point where we can have a normal conversation with them. That’s a prerequisite for working here, even under normal circumstances.

Madara: Hahaha! Tsumugi-san is totally unshaken and sooo reliable, so unlike Arashi-san!

Natsume: That’s only because he has an emotional insensitivity disorder, isn’t it?

Tsumugi: There are situations where a disorder like that can come in handy too~ ♪

You know, the kids here may be considered an extreme case, but children in general aren’t the innocent and angelic beings that everyone believes them to be.  

If you’re going to be put off by something like this, I’m afraid you would never cut it as a nursery school teacher. 

Madara: Sigh... What a difficult future we have ahead of us… … What’s going to happen to us from this point on, I wonder?

—————-To be continued——————-

Chapter 5 / Chapter 7

Translator’s Notes: 

This chapter hasn't been proofed, so if you spot any mistakes, please DM me.

[2n2n]

-im going to insult Kou

rapidfur

This whole exchange gave me BIG hell of mirrors vibes, when Kou is like "oh youve just got a gross and dirty little heart so thats why you dont want to go inside the mirror"... and its like UH YEAAA.... YEAA BUT LIKE NO ALSO.... akdjwkdj.  Especially when you get actual confirmation that his fear is his brother's dead body. I ultimately can't even take it seriously cause its so childish and, genuinely I dont think Kou means much by it... but... I dunno!

gkdfl;g it’s like ohhhhhh KOU, he words things far too capriciously and with far too much confidence, it makes Hanako go “jesus.... okay ....” not... ready for the level of irreverence. In the middle of a situation or subject as serious as what they are up against. Hanako is out here thinking about his beloved little brother’s corpse, and how the entire Hell of Mirrors will turn into an unbridled nightmare if he steps in......................... and then its like Kou is on a different planet. It’s crazy, the different wavelengths they exist on. It’s half Hanako’s fault for how he presents himself TO others and how he guards against severity/preciousness being discussed, BUT I STILL THINK KOU COULD.... BE SLIGHTLY MORE OBSERVANT AND PERCEPTIVE.... just like, from his own... brain..... please, you do walk into this knowing Hanako is a murderer, and now you know enough that it’s a complicated situation, but I swear Hanako’s demeanor of flippancy just works to make Kou (confirmed biggest patsy ever) completely forget everything ever...... if Nene was here I swear she’d be like “.... right.... Hanako-kun.... has a lot of things he might fear..... ): ”

Kou is so like... I can’t take your idiocy so seriously... and I think Hanako doesn’t either, which is WHY he never bothers defending himself or clarifying... he gets no benefit from uh, educating Kou.... he can’t get mad.... whatever, he can stay a misinformed idiot handling things with less honor than they deserve, Hanako has no need for Kou’s honor or respect. (which ig is why it’s so interesting he does snap the one time Kou tries to outright say the murder must have been ‘for a good reason’.... the extent to which you have to majorly fuck up to finally piss off Hanako, lol... he will shrug off so much.... you CAN insult HIM for being ‘afraid of Tsukasa’, but you CANNOT insult TSUKASA by saying he deserved to die... :B)

He feels like the goon in the room whos job it is to say the dumb thing, once Nene’s grown out of that role with what she’s learned. Maybe Nene gives Hanako too much space of respect and boundaries and then Kou’s the opposite with no sense of “hey... maybe thats not in your lane to comment on...”

Don’t Try To Have a Take, I Am Going To Hit You With a Rake

I'm also bothered and wondering if Kou still thinks Tsukasa is fake or not. He's not even talking like he is, so that must have been swept away by now...? But like does he even care? he carried him in his arms!!!! Oh my god, he is so simple-minded it drives me crazy... Kou IS great for his simplicity but it's annoying when AidaIro keep trying to give him moving character arcs. What was the point of him meeting baby tsukasa if hes still going to make the most uncharitable readings of tsukasa and hanakos relationship!?!? Grrr!!! I get his animosity towards Tsukasa can't be wrapped up so quickly, but the lack of any feeling at all is so discouraging. So disrespectful! How is Amane not more mad? Get some self respect, man!!! Maybe set up 1 or 2 boundaries!!!

Kou’s processing of things is often for me a real ‘just show you where he’s at periodically’ thing, admittedly I’m always pretty confounded when we check-in on him. He goes from... completely and utterly doubling down on ‘you’re DEFINITELY fake and NOT real Mitsuba’ to Mitsuba’s face in PP (ouch!) [I mean.... he pads it with ‘but I do want to help you’ but, it’s still... brutal... and he lacks any authority to say that, but boy does he say it]

 to... by the end of that arc, doing a ‘what’s real? idk’ (THEN WHY DID YOU DOUBLE DOWN SO HARD??? you really do just yell whatever comes to you before you critically examine it TT_TT) to Nene, 

^^This scene^^ has my favorite Kou, he’s the most contemplative and ‘pausing for thought’ we’ve seen... if he were like this more often I would not dislike him! This is such a placid and grounding conversation, admitting to uncertainty, conferring with Nene how difficult this is to navigate. He actually knows he’s out of his depth here. FOR ONCE...!

idk how to say this, but I think it’s... cruel, he doesn’t externalize ANY of his confusion TO Mitsuba? Mitsuba only gets him screaming confidently, declaring things, Mitsuba doesn’t even.. know, that you lay awake struggling with this? Mitsuba actually doesn’t even presume Kou is thinking/worrying about him (why would he, he won’t even think to eat lunch with him daily)

 ... he’s so humble!! It’s killing me, you’re supposed to be the good boy, but Mitsuba has made less progress peering into Kou’s psyche than freaking Nene has with goddamn HANAKO. WOOF! I mean, it’s both their fault, because   , they are both stupid,

...but still! 

Wouldn’t that be... helpful, for Mitsuba, who IS THE ONE STRUGGLING WITH HIS IDENTITY AND SELF, to know that even to an outsider, it isn’t so cut and dry, and it’s painful and intimidating to try to confront?

... then  just before the Red House we get Kou interacting with Mitsuba’s mom, a dope scene wherein Kou censors himself while Nene doesn’t, but both get mommy’s approval..... Kou comes out of that mostly just wrestling with ‘death’, and cryptically, despite us (the audience) seeing the contrary (nene and mommy chatting about the ghost Mitsuba as if he was living Mitsuba), Kou ends this all with “ah... he’s really gone” (????????????????????? did you really go this whole time not even processing his death as a point of fact? You’re making Nene’s processing of Hanako being a ghost multiple volumes in look like she was a rocket scientist .......  ig Teru has done a great job keeping him ignorant and unthinking about all these things?)

....... its like every time we check-in with Kou, he’s definitely thought harder to himself and gotten himself in a tizzy and all.... he’ll be at different stages of struggling....... but like. For me, seeing him get ‘this far’ with Mitsuba was like “nice nice ... ok ... come on Kou ....” and then him leaping to ‘this is a fake Tsukasa’ was like,

WHY ARE YOU STARTING AT 0?????????????????? OMG please apply your experiences with Mitsuba, TO Tsukasa.... PLEASE RELATE TO HANAKO’S LOSS NOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND LOSS?????? You-- JUST AREN’T??? OMG Kou what is the POINT then of you processing Loss and Identity,,, if you’ll use none of that to analyze the Yugi before you. IMAGINE if Hanako was like “lol you don’t interact with Mitsuba because you are afraid of him” it would be like ................................................ SORTOF????? it’s intimidating to interact with confusing things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s also sad!! It’s HARDDDD!!!! KOU!!!! What IS your relationship with ‘new Mitsuba’? How do you decontextualize your modern relationship from the legacy of your past?  Is it right to, is it wrong to? How do you act different, how do you act the same? What ‘future’ do you have with this person? YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW PAINFUL THIS IS, KOU. 

the authenticity removal due to alteration does not GET to apply to ONLY Tsukasa and be more vague for Mitsuba, for Kou’s convenience!! Questions of Kaii legitimacy and the source of identity are, going to be universal, you can’t pick and choose when to authenticate someone as ‘real’ and when to not based on IF YOU PERSONALLY LIKE THEM OR NOT. *hits him with a rake*

...anyway yeah, like ... seeing Red House not change his disrespectful tone about Tsukasa, is par the course for like.... omg.... you don’t seem to retain much information or apply it to Tsukasa.... I’m excited anyway bc I feel Kou has such a big storm coming when ultimately the narratives of Mitsuba and Tsukasa have overlap (where he can’t reject one and accept the other without collateral).... I feel like his purpose right now is to ... be the guy who needs to learn something .... 

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

10.27.23 Friday

3am

The Leopard is still here, done showering at 3am... Still,having windblow...

What will happen to me? Whew! Thinking of money and my rewave in Iqor... I need to get the certification of calling in Iqor, I will not stop until I can beat that fucking call!!!

I feel bitterish and I feel bitter....Still, wanna have SEX but can't find anyone now... I hate being stuck in the house....Can't even go to Starbucks...

I'm planning to get an eyebrows tattoo.... hmm... hmm... No fundings yet... hmm...

Again,this is not my ideal life with Uncle Jun, so flat and plain and boring for 16 years....

3:21 am

I have maturity... It is just that the timing and my situation won't let me grow but I'm mature and I have maturity.

I need to find you, fucking soul-mate.... Everyday I never forget a single thing about my maturity... But like what I posted I always have my child-like heart and it is normal for people to have their child-like character from time to time...

3:43 am

I don't have a problem angels... I'm genuine! I know how to love but there are some people who don't know how to love... Those people are selfish! They only want me for their movement... Yeah! Yeah! I love to do movement... I'm into positive movement....I know how to love,I'm not guilty at all angels...

I didn't hurt anybody... I'm easy to read coz I want to be transparent coz I'm genuine!

16 years fucking flat plain stage.... Fuck you for the guilty you! 16 years you gave me a "Plateau"! Years of nothingess... I feel bitter!!!

There are some " spanish words" ouchie! I got murdered by some spanish on t-mobile, remember???

It was a weird day but I have cousins and some aunts in the province who look like spanish coz of some percentage of blood line, on ancestor...

4:18 am

I feel bitter angels... I feel HURT and USED by them for 16 years.... I'm HUMAN! I feel JEALOUS!

10:47 am

Still having windblow.....Still, thinking of money and my rewave... I'm panicky coz of money... I still feeel fat,old and ugly but I'm a good person... I know how to love, I know how to chill but this windblow trap me on a weird dimension...

Still, thinking of SEX and still feeling frustrated!I can't find a mature,clean penism to show care and love and to walk on the play ground to learn and make a pattern for something... It is like a heaven on earth, like what I said walking is sometimes healthy than running....When you walk with someone and with some genuine people who truly like me as me and genuinely want me to be their friend, you can make precious moments together. I feel bitter coz I lost that "precious moments" I mean time to capature memories with someone and with real FRIENDS!

11:16 am

I hate being a 2nd choice angels... I feel bitter,I have windblow!

Grrr....16 years, I'm super suppress!!!

I need to get mature friends most specially male friends!!!

11:29 am

Then, I realized coz I'm shawty girl... I don't wanna dwell ( to keep thinking ) on my height but now coz of that fucking 16 years on the "plateau" ( reach a state of little or no change after a time of activity or progress ). I feel this strange personal insecurity...

I feel that coz of me being shorty I don't have the right to be on the first position...

I wanna buy starbucks! I wanna buy cheesecake...I need to buy new yoga mat, I miss AF! ( still have my key fob )... A lot of things I miss to do... I'm thinking of money!!! ARGH!!

I need SEX! My system needs SEX! I need a relief!!! I need love and care!!!

4:37 pm

It is depressing inside me angels... It is a weird feeling... I feel bitterish...

6:08 pm

It is so good to stay on a high-end farm house castle where you can have these cute animals...

But it is not bad to walk for awhile, to learn something and for the ground pattern... Still, on uphill movement...

But I know, my theme these days is to hell with love...

6:12 pm

My pelvic/ S-bones are aching, I need a push on it and a touch or pressing with love and care...

6:19 pm

Can I be 16 again angels???

6:28 pm

My pelvic is really aching....Argh!

7:41 pm

I still have windblow and I still feel bitterish...

I wanna meet a soulmate and someone mature and mutual on me on wanting to have SEX and I really wanna walk and make a pattern for something... I want someone who knows how to love and care...

I'm not kidding ,I feel irritated if I can't have SEX soon....It is a complex for me... Aging for nothing and on the serious side my money, my botux and my future...

I still feel jealous on people having SEX... Coz I don't have it for 16 years... I feel bitterish... I feel ugly if I can't have SEX!

I feel irritated, I have windblow... I wanna buy Starbucks everyday... After 2 years will definitely leave Cavite, wanna see sand-dunes and some plastics....There are so many plastics everywhere...

I really want black penis or paint it black....

8:07 pm

I love this song,that wild damn thing! Bounce back yo!!!

Now, you can understand??? Bounce Back... Bounce Back Yo!

9:09 pm

Grrr.... I feeel bitter and panicky.... Waiting for rewave!!! I need money!!! I feel ugly and fat and old! I wanna have SEX! Can't find someone I want and will be mutual on everything.

I can't find a new friends for me who will truly like me and treat me as an adult but I'm always used to be a baby of the group, most specially men...I feel bitter nobody wants me angels...

I'm really having a hard time to find someone and to find friends.... I feeel bullshit! I have windblow!!!

9:32 pm

Fullmoon angels!!! AWOOH!!!!

9:53 pm

10:05 pm

Sssh.... Love me.... Love me...

[blue-eyed-bloodstains]

Has anyone ever told you that you were really pretty? yeah but way too much of my life, still is, has been severely the opposite to where I never believe it no matter who it is...:(

Do you relate to main characters in novels often? it depends on the book and situation/backstory

Do you listen to a wide variety of music? yeah

Does nature feel magical to you? yeah

What holiday are you looking forward to next? Halloween, always

Do you take a lot of pictures? no I really wish I did, just always forget or not in the mood only to regret it later

Did you ever go through a phase when you didn’t want to take medicine? I don’t think so, although any type of pill or capsule has been very hard since 2014 due to a medical condition, I gag really really bad and it sucks that most meds don’t have a liquid or ODT (dissolvable) version 

Do you love popsicles? don’t eat them very often but yeah definite nostalgia of ice cream trucks with them!

Do you have to hem up a lot of your pants? no actually most pants are short around the ankles cause I’m so tall...I mostly wear my fiance’s pants which at least reach my shoes when standing lol

Do you shop at Goodwill? I have in the past and got some really cool clothes, I haven’t gone in forever so I’m definitely due!

What’s your natural hair color? it was dirty blonde with natural blonde highlights growing up but overtime, especially as I isolated a lot more and mostly stayed inside it got darker so now it’s brown grrr

Do you like your smile? HELL. FUCKING. NO. major trigger for me all my life....

Was the last book you read good? honestly’ I can’t even remember the last book I fully read and finished...I just can’t sit down and read the last several years, too much personal shit going on to where mentally I’m just not into it

Do you make grocery lists? sometimes but most of the time I forget to and just wing it, then again we mostly get the same shit every time so it’s easy 

Do you take walks often? ha no that’s a disaster waiting to happen...my health has severely depleted my physical ability for even basic functions on my feet :(

Does sunlight make you feel happier? yeah especially a nice cool warm day, not too chilly not too hot

Do you make wishes on the moon? no

What are you most looking forward to this spring? nicer weather, top down doors off backroad cruising in my fiance’s Jeep with music blaring and the wind blowing, and I am DYYYIINNNGGGG to swim! preferably pool but beach works too!

Are you fulfilling your passion in life? nowhere near

Do you daydream a lot? no, more like zone out and get too lost in my head which is never a good thing especially alone which is most of the time anyway...sigh

What are your dreams? fucked up nightmare fuel and night terrors...all the time

Do you take medications? yeah several

When was the last time you went to the doctor? actually last week on March 28th to the cancer institute

What helps you fall asleep? pssh jack shit, I’m an insomniac and when I do actually doze? it’s rarely longer than an hour at a time...needless to say I’m the walking dead

Do you love sushi? GIMME RIGHT NOWWWW!!! I LOVE sushi I’d live on it in a heartbeat if I could!

What’s your favorite type of seafood? pretty much anything, there’s some things I haven’t gotten to try but I’ve got a decent range that I have and I love

Do you have stomach problems? you don’t even know the fucking half of it and can never fully understand unless you suffer like I do every single day. period.

Do you enjoy editing photos? back in the day I did Photoshop quite a bit through free trials but it’s been so long, I don’t know where to even begin especially thinking about how updated it must be now. I’ll occasionally throw a minimal filter on a pic every now and then on my phone but rarely

What was the last photo filter you used? ha wow considering I just mentioned filters...ummm I usually will do like something to do with the saturation in the pic..maybe a bit faded, grayscale, etc. 

Do you live a simple life? not exactly the word I’d use...complicated is better

Do you own a pair of pajamas with foxes on them? nope

Peace signs or hearts? depends, guilty of being one of “those” that early FB days I’d throw up the peace sign a lot in pics lol and pretty much every card (holiday, bday, etc.) I’ll throw in a heart  when signing at the end

What kind of pie is your favorite? cheesecake, hands down

Do you think you could go a whole year without eating dessert? hmm probably yeah, I’m more of a junk food junkie so I can probably make a year without sweet stuff like candy, chocolate, etc.

[pandajaye]

Todoroki Family Ties (Parts 1-4)

(this is just a lil like continuous part narrative conceptual thing, it’s not completely written out but whatever)

Characters: Enji Todoroki, Stepmom!OC!Ivy (Ivy is black btw), Child!Shoto Todoroki, Teen!Touya Todoroki

Warnings: tw // mention of murder, mention of abuse, slight choking i think? and, as i imagine all characters that are fire based, angery

Todoroki Family Ties Parts 5-6

Todoroki Family Ties Part 7

Part 1

being endeavors second wife/ touya and shoto’s stepmom and having to watch him push them to hard with training them and it’s like “*sigh* don’t get involved don’t get involved don’t get involved” but then shoto gets tired and (he lil and so cute so it’s like ahh why do dis enji why) endeavor is like getting all ‘grrr get up you’re not done yet’ and so then step mama to the rescue, leapin into action, runnin to get between enji and shoto and picking him up and being like “Okay that’s enough!! You guys are done for the day, you can go inside it’s okay. Good job, boys!” and shoto and touya go inside and it’s like “I’m not even gonna turn around just yet.... because I know what look you’ll have on your face, Enji.” *turns around* “See? I was right. You’re upset. But I don’t feel like arguing right now. Maybe later.” and then going inside to make snacks for the kids.

Part 2

so it’s later, touya and shoto are asleep, stepmama and enji arguing in bed:

🔥: “What did you think you were doing involving yourself like that? These are my boys and dammit they /will/ be number one.”

✨: “Oh for god’s sake, Enji, they’re children!! You said it yourself, they’re boys!! You need to be easier on them.”

🔥: “Listen. You’re quirkless. Sure. It’s not your fault. But that’s exactly why you should stay in your place. You’re just a replacement. Someone to take care of us while I work with them to become pro heroes. You’re nothing special.”

✨: “....You’re such a dick, Enji. I’ll admit you knew how to be sweet when we first met. But I guess this wasn’t how I was expecting to find out you were an actor.” *getting up* “I’m sleeping in Shoto’s room tonight because, honestly, I’d hate to sleep next to someone like you. All bark and all bite.”

Part 3

stepmama gets up and goes to the door, but, before she can open it, Enji puts his hand on the crack of the door so S.M. can’t open it.

“Move, Enji. Now.”

She could her a low growl from him as his anger started to build. But she wasn’t phased by it.

“I don’t even really wanna turn around. I already know how you’re looking at me. With those angry blue eyes that you for some reason think are intimidating.”

Still. She turned around and look at him. Almost exactly as she pictured it in her mind. The only thing different, was the different, was the fact that before she turned she heard what sounded like a campfire starting, and wouldn’t you know it, there it was. A little flame in the palm of his hand.

“What are you gonna do, Enji? Burn me like Shoto? Like Touya? Kill me? Like your wife?”

In 3 seconds, that flame was out and that hand was holding her against the door and at eye level to him. Some pressure around her throat. She could still feel a little bit of warmness from where his hand was previously lit.

“As I previously stated, you’re nothing but a quirkless replacement meant to serve me and my children. You don’t get a say in how I raise them to become Heroes and you sure as hell don’t get to talk about my past with such an attitude. I should crush you windpipe right now.”

“Y’know.... *struggle* Fire needs oxygen. Without it, it simply doesn’t burn. It’s useless. For a pro-hero, and seen as such by so many in the public, you’re really acting like a useless villain right now. *struggle* I don’t know why citizens look up to you other than the fact that after that shit with killing your own wife, got me to be your new cover. You needed everyone to think that you had grown past that. You’re “a new family man” or whatever the hell you told all those damned journalists. Your fire is your reputation, Endeavor. And I’m your oxygen. So kill me if you want to.... *grabbing his wrist* but think about what that means for you in the face of the public. Quirkless or not, you’ve put me in a big powerful position and I can fuck everything up for you very easily.”

Enji wasn’t just mad anymore. He was irate. Especially since she was right. He needed her to keep him in the good spotlight. He decided it wasn’t worth it. This time.

“Just shut up and do what you’re supposed to. I’m going to bed and you should too. Sooner than later.”

When he let go, she fell to the floor. Her throat finally felt relief again and she rejoiced with panting for new air. It was weird. She had seen his worst before, but there was something about this time. As soon as she realized she was fine, for now, her eyes flowed with tears. But she wasn’t sad? She was.. scared? But not in the moment scared. Scared as in she can’t believe it happened even though it’s not out of character for him. There was nothing left to say and frankly her throat hurt too much to say anything else. She just got up and laid back down in bed. Right next to him.

She continued to silently express her upset which almost raised in volume a little bit more when she felt him turnover and wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer to himself a little bit later. He was asleep then and it helped ease her mind but still. Tonight, after talking to him like that, she felt so lucky to still be alive.

Was she really gonna be the second one? Was she going to need to be replaced? At the same time she wanted to know, she also didn’t want to know. For now, she’d hopefully wake up tomorrow. And she wasn’t exactly sure about what pushed her to do it, but she turned, quietly and gently, gave him a kiss on his stupid hothead.

“Sweet dreams, you slimy son of a bitch.”

And they were both asleep.

However, Touya didn’t like what he had just heard through the door.

‘Hmph. Shouldn’t have let a back talking bitch change his mind so easily. How weak....”

That was a thought in his mind as he headed back to bed.

Part 4

The next day, stepmama stayed home with Touya while Enji took Shoto to train more away from home. she took this time to clean the house, do dishes, and laundry. when that was done, she took a break and read a book while on the living room couch. there was no noise but a presence, when she turned to see what it was, it was Touya.

“Oh! Wow, you scared me, T. What’s up?”

He waited a bit before he spoke, and in an emotionless but slightly inquisitive voice he asked an ominous question.

“If I threatened to burn you alive, would you believe me?”

Her face twisted to that of someone confused. A little bit of fear mixed in with it.

“W-....what? Why would you ask that?”

“Would you try to stop me? Or would you just hope with all your sweet, kind, innocent little heart for me to just let you go?”

There was no possible way that could be misheard. The shock in her mind was almost stunning.

“Touya. What are you talking abou-“

“I HEARD EVERYTHING LAST NIGHT!! He’s such a coward. An asshole. You speak to him like that and he lets you live, but my mother simply resists and he murders her? You don’t deserve to still have your life, you worthless little mouse. Maybe.... Maybe I should get rid of you myself. Maybe that’ll show him my strength, my power!!”

During his little speech, she felt guilt, fear, and regret from the things he said. Maybe he was right. Why did she get to live but not Rei? Was he just going to kill her sometime sooner, and in a way worse way? Why hasn’t she left yet?

‘This is no time to question these things. What did he say? He’s going to get rid of me? Oh.... o h.’

“T, please-“

“IT’S TOUYA TO YOU, BITCH!! Now hold still. I don’t wanna burn down the house if I miss!!”

While she scrambled to the corner, he tried to get closer and closer to increase his chances of firing at his target. Waves of heat could be seen with the illuminating blue glow from his cremation quirk.

Unfortunately, she ran out of space to go and if you learn anything in a home of fight training, you never turn your back on your opponent. He continued to reach toward her, his hand so close that the heat was making her sweat.

“This is for my mother. YOUR WORTHLESS ASS WILL NEVER BE HER!!”

‘Is this it? Is this the end? Killed by the angry Enji’s angry son? I guess it’s fair? It doesn’t matter. I give up. If this is what he wants, than who am I to say no?’

If there’s one thing a villain’s gonna do, it’s talk for way longer than necessary. Because all of that talking, gave Enji enough time to return home and tackle Touya.

“TOUYA!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU’RE GROUNDED, YOU HEATHEN!!”

He got off of him and picked him up, carrying him to his room. Out of nowhere, Shoto ran in and hugged her. He seemed to be in a little distress so she comforted him, it kind of gave her comfort.

“A-Are you okay? I heard him going talking about it all night. So this morning I was prepared to call my dad. I’m so sorry.”

She held onto him a little tighter first, just happy that she still had the ability to hug someone.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Thank you for saving my life.”

Dinner was anticipated to be awkward that night but Enji made Toya stay in his room without dinner. Shoto was eager to sit next to his stepmom and it was a pretty nice time.

Enji, or at least as she knows him, wasn’t much for showing emotion other than anger or concern these days. But he did smile a little whenever his youngest and his partner would act a little silly at the dinner table. He did reprimand them whenever he was almost caught with a little smirk on his face but by the end he gave in. Together they put Shoto to bed, nothing but sweet “goodnights”, “I love you”’s, and “sleep well”’s.

Even though it was only hours after Touya tried to kill her, she still felt bad that he didn’t get to eat with them. She fixed him some dinner and left it outside his door, giving a little knock to notify him. She’d taken five steps before she heard the door quietly open and close. When she turned around, the bowl was gone. There was a quiet, muffled “thanks.” that made her smile before she continued to bed.

After her and Enji had settled down for the night, there was peaceful quiet. Until he sighed.

“I.... I haven’t been completely honest with you about something. I need to let you know and I’m ready to now.”

She looked up at him and sat up.

“What is it, Enji?”

He had been looking at the ceiling but switched to looking at her.

“I need you to promise you won’t be mad.... and that you’ll let me explain.”

That made her a little nervous but not too bad. Maybe it wouldn’t be too big of a deal. She still listened intently

“I promise.”

He looked away from her. Back at the ceiling.

“Rei is alive.”

That was a complete shock. And that was the look on her face. Shock.

“She’s.... alive?”

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite? - Part 1: SILVER

There are some heroes I like. And there are some heroes I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the heroes in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves over the course of time. Two things to keep in mind:

1. These reviews will be focusing mainly on game portrayals. Though alternate media will occasionally be mentioned, it'll be for the sake of adding onto a point if a portrayal is similar enough, or to compare and contrast if a portrayal is different enough.

2. These are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, I decided to challenge myself by starting off with a complicated one. Born from the future, and never content to stay put in said future, it's the saviour whose debut came from the most unfortunate game... Silver the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the distant future, there was an idealistic young hedgehog named Silver, gifted with the power of telekinesis for reasons unknown. With his amazing potential, he was truly destined for a wonderful, prosperous li-just kidding, it was shit.

“All two of us.”

For as long as he knew, the world was forever plagued by Iblis, the terrible Flames of Disaster. Cities stood in ruin, flames stood high, the floor was lava... it was a bitter life to be certain, all thanks to Iblis. Not even defeating the titular creature did much good, since it would simply come back to be a shitty boss fight another day. What was he - and his friend, Blaze, a character we definitely never saw before and definitely didn't have a completely different backstory before - to do?

Trust the first person he sees, of course. Even if they look like they might be related to the same Flames of Disaster that he fights so constantly.

If he had eyelids, he'd be winking at the camera.

This mysterious fellow, Mephiles the Dark, informed Silver that if he were to wipe out Iblis for real, he would need to take a trip into the past, and eliminate the root of the problem... Sonic the Hedgehog? That was what Mephiles claimed, yes. What was his proof? There was no proof.

That was good enough for Silver.

Oh look, it's Fleetway Sonic.

After an elaborate series of events, which should sound exciting but really isn't because it was just Silver going “Iblis Trigger grrr” in varying tones of voice, he was finally able to corner the blue hedgehog... twice! And despite having less fighting know-how than the hero who saved the world plenty of times, he effortlessly came close to killing the blue hedgehog... twice!

This looks like a jobbing for...

Why twice? The first time was halted by Sonic's friend Amy Rose, who Silver had met beforehand after she mistook him for Sonic, an understandable mistake that even the keenest of eyes would be forgiven for making.

The second time was also interrupted, this time by Shadow the Hedgehog. There's only room for one controversial non-blue male hedgehog in this franchise, sonny boy. Actually, his reasons were more benevolent than that: he wanted to show Silver the truth about what was going on, by time travelling to the incident that gave birth to Iblis. Why was one able to to this, so long as more than one Chaos Emerald was present? No one knew.

That was good enough for Silver.

“I challenge you to a dumb-off.”

As it turned out, Iblis was one half of a sun god called Solaris, the other half being the aforementioned Mephiles. The Duke of Soleanna wanted to reunite with his late wife by harnessing Solaris' power, which succeeded from a certain point of view since he's dead now too. The resulting blunder split Solaris into two halves. One half was all brawn, with little capacity for intelligence. The other half was Iblis.

Understanding the error of his ways, and after making peace with Sonic, Silver went back to the future to try something different, which consisted of doing the same thing he always did. Luckily for him, the script decided it would work this time, albeit at the cost of Blaze sacrificing herself... Maybe? Sort of? It’s not entirely clear what happened to her, and it’s not like this was the last we ever saw of her.

~La laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, heading to a better game, la laaaaaa~

But ohhhhh nooooo, turns out THAT didn't solve anything either! In the present, Sonic was killed by Mephiles, after the latter realised he should probably do that already if he wanted to make any progress at all with his plan. This incident led to Iblis being brought into the present, and they fused to become the omnipotent Solaris once more. Such power... such divinity... such devastation...

Actually, he was really easy. The antlion from Underground Zone was harder.

Manchild robots - 1, god of time - 0.

With their super forms in tow, Silver, Shadow, and the revived Sonic joined forces to defeat Solaris, with Sonic in particular going the extra step in retconning Solaris out of existence entirely. Since time itself reset, meaning Iblis was no longer a memory, Silver's timeline was given a second chance. What was he to look forward to in this new, promising future?

Shit.

The Design: Let's take a closer look at Silver's appearance, shall we?

Or rather, a certain thing that's wrong with it.

He's holding up fifteen fingers.

Yes, you all know what I'm pointing to: the hairstyle. Let it be known that I'm very aware of the intention behind this design choice. It's supposed to be based on the Japanese Red Maple Leaf, which holds a lot of relevant symbolism for Silver's character. This is a fine idea in theory, and I can respect the intent and the creativity.

But here's the thing: If it looks like a ganja leaf, people are going to say it looks like a ganja leaf. I know some fans will gnash their teeth at me saying this, but the fact of the matter is that intentions and ideas, no matter how good they may be on paper, don't always translate well into the final product. Unleashed Secret Rings Black Knight Sonic '06 in general is certainly no stranger to showcasing examples of that, and Silver's hairstyle is no exception. There are ways to incorporate symbolism in a character’s design without making them look like meme bait in the process, and no amount of “umm ackshually” will change that, I'm afraid.

That said, there's another reason why I'm staying clean of Silver marijuana: it doesn't work for a hedgehog character. With the other hedgehogs, their hairstyles are simple and get the point across: Sonic's goes without saying, Shadow's is more angular to befit a slightly rougher hero, and Amy's is a cute bob cut of sorts. But Silver? Even without the ganja, you've still got the two tentacles making up the back of his head.

I'd rather not be reminded of hentai quills, thanks.

“I thought Crusher-san would like it :’(”

I do find it hilarious that they went through numerous designs for Silver, and this was what they chose to go with. Some of his prototype designs may have fared better had any of them been used instead... but we didn't end up with any of those ones. We ended up with this one, therefore I'm judging this one.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad with Silver...

The Personality: As far as actual character goes, Silver's personality is as straightfoward as most characters in the series, yet it's no less interesting, because it took a while for it to fully evolve to what it currently is. The seeds of his character - a good-natured yet awkward and rather insecure kind of guy, who doesn't fully understand how the present time works - have always been there, but it was often downplayed in earlier titles due to him being hungry for Iblis Trigger blood... or being an arsehole for no reason.

Although to be fair, everyone in Rivals is an arsehole for no reason.

Eventually though, after the writers gave him a Snickers, these traits got more opportunity to shine. Mostly in side media admittedly, but it's been noted in the games as well. With no Iblis to angst over, he's proven to be a surprisingly bubbly chap, who just wants to know how you're all doing, fellow anthro kids. And whereas his naivety was previously used for intended tragedy to benefit the evil plan of a guy who thought taking the -istoph- out of Mephistopheles would make him inconspicuous, now it's been used for a bunch of low-key contexts that do a much better job at endearing him to the player.

Finally, something I can relate to.

Hell, he even seems to have learned from the Mephiles incident, as he was quick to make it clear to the next shadowy deep-voiced anthro with demonic eyes he met that he wasn't gonna fall for any of them fibs no more, ya hear?

“YouTube and Twitter don’t count.”

All in all, it works well enough, in my opinion. His personality does pave the way for some funny and wholesome moments, and since they’re no longer trying to build him up like he’s Shadow 2.0, he's nowhere near as much of a tool as he was before. So I guess you could say... I like it?

Does this mean I can say that I like the character as a whole then, design and '06-induced idiocy aside?

Well, not quite...

The Execution: This is where the complication part comes into play. We know now that I like his personality, not so much his design, but that's only the half of it. It would be more accurate to say that I like his personality... and dislike everything else.

Aside from that, obviously.

For starters, the creation process for his character and story was summed up with, in their own words, “Think Trunks from Dragon Ball Z”. So he comes off as rather lazy and uninspired. Now I'm not expecting my Sonic characters to be 100% unique, there's always going to be similarities to other franchises no matter what you do, even if subconsciously or by complete coincidence. Taking inspiration in itself is no big deal at all.

But... was that it? Copying a DBZ character to such a blatant extent? Was there no other thought put into it?

Naturally, this ties into an overarching problem: the franchise's mid-00's habit of trying way too hard to be the anthro Dragon Ball Z. Sonic has had DBZ influences since the early days, with the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, but it didn't assimilate itself into every waking aspect of his universe. It was merely an additional flavor that added to the complete package, in the same way that a Death Star with a moustache didn't mean the franchise was suddenly Star Wars the Hedgehog.

But come the turn of the millenium, nearly every main title in the series ended with Super Sonic and/or Super Shadow saving the day, while everyone else either stood around being useless, or only helping in ways that no one actually cares about. Including the in-universe President apparently, since only Sonic and Shadow were featured in the photo on his desk.

Amy smiled. “I guess the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, huh?”

This reached its peak with - of course - Sonic '06, with Silver in particular being an obvious result of this then-ongoing trend. And yes, it would be unfair to use him as a scapegoat, considering it was already a problem long before he turned up. But moreso than even Shadow, it's an era that Silver is forever a relic of, for better or for worse.

But it doesn't stop there. Since Silver is considered a mainstay character, his gimmick of being from the future also creates problems of its own, because in order for him to make further appearances, he keeps turning up for little explained reason, and thus he suffers the Deadly Six problem of being shoved into places where he doesn't belong, for fanservice's own sake. Take Sonic Colours DS for example, where he went back in time JUST to check out Eggman's theme park... Okay...?

On one hand, I’d visit it too, since it's made by Eggman. On the other hand, I’d stay clear of it, since it's made by Eggman.

And when there IS a justification with more weight to it? It's just recycling the '06 routine of trying to avert his ruined future, which isn't much better. The cause may differ depending on the story, but if his future is a permanent shitehole for one reason or another, he might as well cut out the middle man and stay in the present altogether, since that's where his friends are anyway. But they seem intent on not doing that, despite the future schtick being a noose around his neck at this point.

In hindsight, maybe this was a hint to how the rest of the arc would turn out.

And then there's his dynamic with a certain purple cat... No, not Big. The other one.

“I’m here, by the way.”

Simply put: I don't like this dynamic. At all. Or rather, I don't like how they keep milking it. Blaze's backstory was radically changed to justify her presence in Silver's future, and it really shows, since she barely even shows up half the time, as if the developers themselves forgot she was in the game. But her backstory has since been restored to her original alternate dimension interpretation, so hanging around with the grey hedgehog is all good now, right?

To be brutally honest, I probably wouldn't care for this dynamic regardless. But I would be more willing to tolerate it, and I'd refrain from groaning every time they're seen together... if they weren't intent on playing it up so much in spite of '06 being wiped out, sometimes with a bit of commentary involving their thoughts and memories, which only succeeds at making things more confusing. If Blaze is around, Silver will be nearby, and if he's not at first, he will be soon enough. This franchise does have a problem in general with restricting who's allowed to interact with who (I personally believe Sonic Heroes may have led to this, or at least it accelerated it), but I'd argue it's at its most insufferable here, with Blaze's potential and her entire world taking a backseat to being the sidekick of Ganja Man.

And you might say “Well, it's part of the franchise now, so you'll just have to accept it”. To which I ask: Have you accepted Two Worlds? Have you accepted Solo Sonica? Have you accepted Sonic's friends not doing much as of late?

Yeah. That's what I thought. “It’s just how it is” doesn’t mean you can’t criticise it.

Meanwhile, Marine is lucky enough to get so much as a shout out.

So yeah, I have quite an extensive list of grievances involving poor Silver. But... very little of it has to do with him, right? They're all indirect problems that he just so happens to be linked to, as opposed to someone like Chris Thorndyke, who is genuinely a shit character through and through. This is more comparable to Tails being bitchy in Lost World, or Amy being manipulative in Chronicles, or Sonic being a smug dumbass in IDW, or Shadow not wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Boom. Frustrating, regrettable, but not really the character's own fault.

Yet even after all that, there's one last kick in the teeth... How do you fix all this? And how do you fix it when he's since gained a sizable fandom, many of whom like him for these very attributes? If you leave it as it is, you're stuck with this big, awkward mess that everyone pretends to ignore. If you try to do something about it, you'll get complaints about disrespecting the True Silver Spirit, and you’ll get questions about why you didn't create a new character instead... And if you did use a new character for the sake of a clean slate, THEN you'd get complaints about not using Silver.

It's a tough call to be sure, and it's such a shame because like I said, I do appreciate his personality, so I can't say he's bad outright. But with all this... clutter, I can only put him in the average category. So, in he goes.

Crusher Gives Silver a: Thumbs Sideways!

Well, I'm glad this one's out of the way. Putting my thoughts into words with Silver was harder than it should have been. I do slightly regret starting this series off on a rather downer note, but rest assured, it's a lot more positive from this point onwards, since while I have higher praise for some heroes more than others, the hero characters as a whole fare a lot better than the majority of villains not named Eggman.

I guess you could say that I hope to show why Sonic's friends aren't as shitty as the haters would suggest. ;)

[klvbxlove]

finally (chie x american! gn! reader)

a/n: i’ve got another persona 4 drabble. this time it’s dedicated to another cousin of mine, matt. i hope you like this, i lowkey had fun writing it! i think it’s now the longest drabble i’ve written so far (it has, i think, 400 more words than my yosuke one, damn). i do plan on writing a rise drabble for my other cousin, chuck, soon, but i also kinda wanna write a kanji drabble. idk which one to start off with, so i’ll see what my mind decides. but anyways, enjoy this drabble! :)

reader type: gender neutral

reader specification(s): reader is from america and is also a bit flirty LOL

genre(s): fluff, romance

trigger warning(s): none

summary: as much as chie loved being with you, she was saddened by the fact that you lived in america, which is far away from japan. however, one day you give her a surprise, one that she wasn’t expecting at ALL

word count: 2.9k words

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

key:

(e/c) = eye color (f/a) = favorite anime (f/c) = favorite color (n/n) = nickname (y/n) = your name

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

   It started with Chie meeting you online after finding out you were a fan of (F/A), an anime series she had recently started watching. Having been in love with it for years, you were glad to find someone else (regardless of whether you met them online or in real life) who also loved it as much. 

   Then it slowly progressed into the both of you talking about everything besides (F/A) almost constantly. Every day, whenever you woke up, whenever you were waiting for school to start, whenever you were about to go to bed. Hell, even when you were out with your friends, the both of you found ways to text each other! Also, both of you may or may not have stayed up on school nights to continue the conversations.

   Conflicted feelings eventually showed up at the front door months later, when the both of you realized you had crushes on each other but had no idea how to bring it up. Neither of you originally wanted to confess in fear that you would be rejected, and the friendship would end up tensing up (cliché, I know). But ultimately, the two of you got over that fear and eventually ended up in a relationship.

   And that is where the two of you are at now.

   Now, here was the thing. It was not as if there were any major problems throughout your and Chie’s relationship. It was quite healthy, to say the least! 

   So what was wrong?

   Chie lived in Japan, and you lived in America. 

   Those were different countries and two different continents. 

   Even before entering a relationship, the two of you initially had some difficulty having the time to chat with each other due to the huge time zones. It was especially hard since both of you were high school students who had to focus on their education. Although like troopers, the both of you managed to deal with the time difference and found time to talk. 

   And of course, Chie could not forget to mention this was not only her first relationship but her first long-distance relationship. It sucked not being able to see you every day (not including face-time calls. Sure, she has seen your face, but not in real life). Chie was not one to constantly watch couples. However, when she did, she could not help the slight jealousy in her eyes. She had no idea if she would ever get the chance to get a ticket to America or vice-versa. 

   All Chie could do, whenever she missed you badly, was to sulk. There was no other way to do it. Was it healthy? Probably not. How was she supposed to help herself? But then again, it was not her fault she had been raised in Japan her entire life. Same as you, you have been in America for a while now. And the both of you certainly could not help the fact that you were miles away from each other. 

   Of course, that was not enough to stop Chie from being sad about it from time to time. She had a feeling she would not see you anytime soon.

-

   The short brown-haired female found herself sitting alone on the bench, scrolling through her phone. Out of everyone in the Investigation Team, Chie was the only one who did not feel like going to the restroom. So she insisted on waiting for them outside. Although, that was not the only reason. She did not want any of them catching her reading her text messages with you and questioning why she was smiling. 

   But then Chie remembered one time Yosuke had caught her doing that. Yeah, he was the first (and unfortunate) person. As he had continued to tease her, she eventually got irritated and took out that irritation by kicking Yosuke right in his scrotum area. (**)

   Oh God, she just had to bite the inside of her cheek. She was already seeing him riving in pain on the ground as he held the affected area and the rest of their friend group looked on in either confusion or concern. Hmph, served him right!

   Scrolling up towards the older texts, Chie was reading a conversation she had with you. It was about how you wanted to visit her in Inaba and explore the town. 

   Chie: I mean, of course, I’m down to you coming here and meeting me. But let me warn you, Inaba is a bit boring. I don’t think you could even compare it to other places like Tokyo or Osaka.

   (Y/N): Babe, I don’t mind at all! And besides, you know I’m willing to visit any part of Japan, not just Tokyo. I’m like head over heels with Japan at this point BWAHAHAHA

   Chie: I think everyone knows. But knowing you, I think you would especially want to go to Akihabara.

   (Y/N): Hey, stop calling me out!

   Chie: You know it’s true (N/N). Eh, not that I blame you. They got cool stuff there. It would be nice to visit sometime.

   (Y/N): For sure! We should go together, too ;)

   Jeez, even reading old texts you sent Chie always managed to make her blush! Although they were not the only reasons for her blushing, besides your flirtatious remarks. On a few occasions, you would poke fun at her (Not in a way to make her upset, of course). You were lucky that Chie considered you more tolerable compared to Yosuke. 

   She could already imagine herself not bothered by you teasing her about something like how Yosuke did. And when Yosuke would see, he would ask, “Oh, so (Y/N) can tease you, but I can’t?! WHERE’S THE LOGIC IN THAT, CHIE?!”

   Oh, wait. Chie looked up. Now that she realized, she had not told anyone in the Investigation Team about her relationship with you. No, it was not because she was ashamed. Well, it was more of the fact that she did not have a logical explanation. 

   Was it because she could not find the time to tell everyone? Maybe.  

   Or was it because she knew that some of them might not even believe her? 

   Looking up from her phone, the brown-haired girl saw everyone else heading in her direction. As she stood up, placed her phone in the back pocket of her shirts, and followed the rest of the team, she thought, ‘There will be a day where I can introduce (Y/N) to everyone. One day. And I’ll be sure to do it!’

-

   INCOMING CALL: (Y/N)

   Chie immediately sat up from her bed at the sudden sound ringing. Her first instincts were to assume someone had broken into her room. However, those instincts vanished when she looked over at her nightstand and saw that it was her phone making that sound. When Chie looked at the screen, her eyes lightened in excitement upon seeing what it read. 

   “(Y/N)!” She said after picking up the phone.

   “Hey, Chie,” you answered over the line. Said girl could never get tired of hearing your voice. “How’s my favorite girl doing?”

   Chie could feel the blood rushing towards her cheeks again. You were not one to call her many pet names. But when it comes to you referring to her as “your girl”? Do you even realize the effect you have on her?! She was lucky she was not like this when she was sneakily texting you next to the Investigation Team! 

   “I--” she cleared her throat, “--I’m good, thanks!” 

   You chuckled over the phone. “You know, for a sec it sounded like you were getting flustered again. Don’t hide it, Chie. I know you sometimes clear your throat when I see those cute cheeks turn pink!”

   “H-Hey, shut up!” Chie retorted. If this was an anime, she was sure she would have had a tick mark above her head. “Why do you always tease me whenever I blush? I don’t get it, (Y/N),” 

   “It’s ‘cause you’re so cute, baby.”

   ‘STOP. OH MY GOD, PLEASE!’

   It wasn’t exactly helping that Chie had made some weird sound at what you had said. And it wasn’t any better by the fact that she heard you snickering. “Jeez, if you were an anime character, even though you don’t act like one, you would surely be a tsundere!” 

   “(Y/N),” Chie gritted her teeth. To hide her flustered form, she acted as if she was angry. “I swear to God I will...get back for you one day.”

   “Get back? Hmm? If I didn’t know any better, I thought you were going to say, ‘I will kick your ass.’ Is my girl getting too flustered now? How cute.”

   “Grrr, (Y/N)...” Damn it, Chie wanted to fight back against you. Sometimes (or more like, a majority of the time), you were way TOO MUCH to handle! You knew how to get her going, that was for sure. 

   “Alright, enough about that,” you spoke up, the teasing tone in your voice already gone. “I wanted to call you ‘cause I got a surprise!”

   At that, Chie’s eyes lit up in slight interest. “A surprise?”

   “Yep! I’ve been planning it for a few months so I can get it right. And now I think it’s the perfect opportunity to give it to you!”

   The surprise was more intriguing than learning about a new steak meal at Junes and practically drooling over how it would taste. Chie could not hold back her excitement anymore. “What is it, (Y/N)?!”

   “Ah, ah, ah! I can’t tell you what it is. You’ll have to find out for yourself, babe.” you snickered. 

   “Oh, come on!” Chie grumbled. “You know I can’t do that. You’ve gotta at least give me a hint! Just one hint! 

   “Well, how about this,” you suggested. “Just open your front door, and you’ll see it right then and there.”

   Okay, that was a bit suspicious. Chie raised her eyebrow. It was not as if she had little to no faith in you when it came to surprises. Coming outside to the front door, though? Just what were you planning? “Are you sure?” she asked. “You’re kinda weirding me out,” 

   “Just trust me on this!” you said. “I’m not trying to do anything creepy, I promise. Come on, Chie. Just open your front door.” 

   “Fine,” the short brown-haired female gave in, sitting up from her bed and exciting her bedroom. Maybe Chie was feeling a bit too doubtful about this. For all she knew, you must have sent her something like an anime figurine of her favorite character. Or even better, maybe you ordered her some food and had it sent to her front door! 

   “Okay, I’m at the front door,” Chie spoke over the phone as soon as she arrived. With her free hand, she unlocked the handle before fully opening it.

   And what did she see? Just someone wearing a (F/C) shirt (Chie was sure that was your favorite) and carrying a backpack. In one of their hands was a suitcase, and they had a smile on their face. 

   Chie was extremely confused. Did she invite someone to come over to her house for a sleepover? She did not remember, nor did she think she ever did. She highly doubted that this was the surprise you were mentioning. 

   A few seconds of silence passed before the person snickered. “What’s with the confused look?” they asked. Their voice sounded so familiar, but who was it? “Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you don’t recognize your s/o! You’re breaking my heart over here, Chie!”

   Wait a minute.

   Wait a Goddamn minute.

   That voice. 

   That familiar smile.

   Her eyes widened.

   There was no way. Was this real? Was she dreaming? If so, someone needs to knock her out right now! 

   And she meant RIGHT NOW!

   Chie almost dropped her phone on the floor. “(Y-Y/N)?” she spoke up. 

   Their smile-- no, your smile grew a bit. “Yep, that’s me!” you nodded. “Live in the flesh, and not just some photo on a screen.” 

   ‘So it was you, holy shit!’ 

   Chie could not believe it. Her mind was feeling so many things. One part of her accepted the fact that this was real. But the other part of her was in disbelief. Chie had no idea what to do at this point. Besides, she already knew she must have looked foolish right now, and you were there to see it in real life. 

   And then the tears came. 

   Chie could no longer control herself. She practically jumped out towards you and wrapped her arms around you. She almost knocked you to the ground, but luckily you only stumbled backward a bit before balancing yourself. “Y-You finally came!” she sobbed into your chest. “You’re real! You’re right here, oh my God! I-I’m not dreaming, right?! Please tell me I’m not!!”

   Meanwhile, your heart felt like it was being pulled on tug strings watching your girlfriend cry out of happiness. You wrapped your arms around her waist to complete the hug and rubbed her back soothingly. “You’re not dreaming, darling,” you reassured Chie, “I’m right here. After many, many months, I’m right here.”

   Chie pulled away for a bit, wiping her tears with the sleeves of her sweater before looking up at you with a tear-stained smile. “I never thought the day would come when I get to see you right in front of me,” she said, “I thought it wouldn’t even be possible, either! You’re here, at my house. Speaking of which--” 

   Then the realization hit her, “--How did you even get my address? Because I don’t think I ever gave it to you after months of knowing you.” 

   “Well,” you scratched the back of your head sheepishly. You were somewhat scared that Chie was going to question it, but now she did. 

   “Please don’t kill me when I say this. But I talked to one of your friends, Yosuke, and I told him about my relationship with you. After a while, I tried to bring up the suggestion of wanting to visit you after I realized I have a chance of going to Japan. Then he gave me your address, and I kept it. Then as soon as I arrived in Inaba, I went to your house. I know that sounds so creepy. I’m sorry!”

   Chie would have kicked Yosuke’s ass (literally) if he ever did something like that. She would never approve of him giving any stranger her address, especially without her permission. And she would have kicked your ass for coming to her house as well. Chie would want you to consider yourself lucky since she understood where her friend was coming from, so there was no anger in her body. 

   Oh yeah, and it seems like Yosuke already knows about you and Chie. He better not have told anyone else on the Investigation Team. She was planning to do it very soon.

   “Don’t worry, I get it,” she said. “If getting my address from one of my friends meant that you got to see me, then I don’t mind at all!” 

   You were expecting Chie to yell at you about how creepy that was. After being shocked at her calm reaction for a while, the feeling disappeared, and you smiled, patting her head. “Thanks, babe. I appreciate it.

   “Oh, and by the way,” Chie spoke up. “Now that you’re here and not just on a screen, I’d like to do one thing with you. 

   Puzzled, you tilted your head. “What is it?”

   A smirk appeared on her face. “I want to kiss you!”

   Your eyes widened a bit. Now it was your turn to feel flustered (you could already feel it in your cheeks). You were not opposed to the matter, as you could understand why Chie would want to do it. You had no idea why you were feeling nervous in the first place. You cleared your throat. “Well, alright. I don’t mind,” you smiled. 

   “Oh wow, you’re getting flustered now, aren’t you? I guess this is karma for all the times you’ve made me flustered.” Chie snickered. 

   You sighed. Somehow you had a feeling that your girlfriend would say something like that. But you decided to brush that aside for now.

   Rewrapping your arms around her waist, you slowly inched towards her face. Both of your eyes closed at the same time as she placed her hands on your shoulders. It almost felt like an eternity for the moment to finally happen. 

   And then, the moment happened. Your lips connected into a kiss. 

   You instantly realized how soft her lips were, and you had to admit it felt amazing. You almost considered not pulling away for a while. Both of you did not want this to escalate into some steamy make out session, so you kept it slow. But there was a feeling of love and passion in it. You could feel the bliss coming into the atmosphere. 

   Seconds passed, and both you and Chie pulled away. You smiled. “God, do you know how long I wanted to do that?” you asked softly, caressing her cheek. 

   “I could ask you the same thing, (Y/N),” Chie answered. “I waited for so long, and I thought it would never happen in a few years. But now it has, and I’m so happy.” She rested her head against your chest to feel your heartbeat. “Thank you. Thank you for coming here,” 

   “Of course, Chie,” you whispered, running your fingers through her hair.

   At this point, you would have asked if Chie would let you inside her house. But you did not care about that right now. All you were thinking of was hugging Chie and never letting go. You were almost tearing up just thinking of the fact that you had been in a relationship with Chie over a long distance for months. It had been months where you two could not even have your first kiss or any affection. 

   And here you are now. Hey, you (unfortunately) might not be in Japan for too long, but it was better than not visiting at all. As long as you were able to spend every single second with your girlfriend, you were as happy as they could be.

-

(**) lowkey feel bad about hurting yosuke like this, but i felt like i just had to LMAO 

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine one-shot “Fitting” (Rated NC17)

Summary:

When Kurt tasks Blaine with picking out an appropriate match to his witch costume for the annual Vogue Halloween party, he pictures his husband choosing something skin tight and sexy. ... Well, he gets the skin tight right ... (1435 words)

Notes: This is a re-write. Don't @ me. Why am I posting this now instead of holding onto it till Halloween? Murder hornets, that's why.

Read on AO3

“Blaine! Honey! Come on! We’re going to be late!” Kurt emphasizes this point (to himself, at least) by checking his phone, pulling a sheepish face when he realizes it’s only been a minute since the last time he scolded his husband. Still, his criticism stands. This costume party, organized each year by the Vogue event coordinators, promises to be campy as hell, but as a gay man, he can appreciate that. He’s been looking forward to it for the past few months.

He’d like to get there some time before it’s over.

“I’m sorry, Kurt,” Blaine calls from behind their bedroom door. “I didn’t think … mmph … I was … ugh! … taking too long. Besides … *grumble grumble grumble* isn’t there … grrr … a certain greatness … mmph - to fashionable lateness?”

“Fifteen minutes is fashionably late,” Kurt says, checking his face in the mirror to make sure he hasn’t started sweating from all the pacing he’s been doing. He doesn’t want his makeup to smear before the world gets the chance to see his masterpiece. Good thing he added a healthy spritz of Urban Decay All Nighter, then Instagrammed it the second he finished. It’s been duly recorded for posterity. “Twenty-five minutes is excusable. But close to an hour? That’s just plain rude. If we take any longer, we might as well call it a night and go Trick or Treating instead.”

“God, I would kill for a Snickers,” Kurt hears Blaine mutter, and he laughs. “I’m sorry … urgh! … but this … (incoherent muttering) isn’t an easy … frick frick frick! … costume to get into.”

Kurt stops fussing with his makeup and grins. He’s annoyed that they’re late, yes, but he can’t deny the fact that Blaine squeezing himself into a difficult costume has the potential to make up for it. Since the day they began dating, Kurt and Blaine opted for the ‘couples costume’ thing, alternating each year as to who picks the theme. Blaine goes for the same general idea every turn – a dynamic duo from either the MCU or DC Universe, or a problematic fave from reality TV. Kurt aims for more Broadway based or drama series inspired costume ideas – Elphaba and Fiyero, Loras and Renly, Agron and Nasir. But this time, he decided to take a different route - shake things up a bit. He picked out his costume, then had Blaine come up with a match, just to see how things would go if they played off one another, bearing in mind that the costume party has a theme.

This year’s is Expect the Unexpected.

When Kurt chose to go with his own twist on a witch costume, Blaine was then tasked to find something to match. Surprisingly, he did so almost immediately … then refused to tell Kurt what it was.

And the suspense has been killing Kurt ever since.

Blaine could be going as a warlock - simple, maybe slightly unoriginal, but Kurt has faith in his husband to throw in a wrench somewhere. Since Kurt’s rendition is Tonks influenced (complete with an ombre pink/blue/purple wig), Blaine may also follow the Harry Potter route (since it’s his favorite book/movie franchise of all time) and go as a werewolf. Or he might be dressed as a witch’s familiar.

A cat springs to mind.

A long, black, sinewy cat; a skin tight leotard exposing bulging biceps (along with a bulging something else); and a tail sliding between the crack of his muscular buttocks. That would explain the painful grunts and groans coming through the bathroom door.

That much cinch-y Spandex would be a bitch to put on after a shower and without any help.

Kurt lets that thought linger in the forefront of his mind for a moment, lets it settle into his body and do things to him.

And while he does, he whimpers.

If Blaine comes out of their bedroom dressed like that, they may end up leaving later than they already are … if they leave at all.

Of course, Blaine’s superhero alter ego since high school is called Nightbird so there is a chance that - while still staying true to the Harry Potter vein - he’s dressing like an owl.

Could a full-body suit of feathers be sexy? Kurt wonders.

He hates to admit the jury’s out.

The door to their room opens while Kurt is daydreaming, so he doesn’t notice his husband until he clears his throat and says, “So … what do you think?”

Kurt snaps out of his stupor at lightning speed, eager to see his husband’s version of whatever character he came up with (please be a cat, please be a cat, please be a cat!), but finds himself stumped by the creature in front of him, swathed in brown latex and bearing his husband’s face.

“That depends …” Kurt tilts his head from side to side, trying to find an angle that will ultimately reveal what he is, but he can’t seem to find it. Kurt definitely got the ‘skin tight’ right, but whether or not that’s a good thing, he has yet to decide. He circles his husband, looking him over from top to luscious bottom, but neither from front nor back can he figure out if Blaine is supposed to be some sort of animal … or a shiny turd with furry feet. The brown seems to have some kind of grain painted on. What could that mean? “… what are you supposed to be?”

Blaine raises his arms as best he can and announces, “I’m a broom!”

“A … a broom?”

“Yup.”

“And why, of all the things you could have chosen, did you pick a broom?” Kurt asks, amazed that somewhere in the recesses of the web, some company (more than likely out of Hong Kong) came up with a broom costume … and his husband ordered one.

“You wanted me to pick out a costume that would match yours,” Blaine reminds him. “Something unexpected …” He waddles over to his husband, trying his best to look sexy even though a good two feet of his costume sticks up over his head like a wonky dildo. “Plus, you know what they say …”

“And what is that?” Kurt asks, distracted by the fact that he has no idea how they’re going to get Blaine into an Uber.

“If the broom fits …” Blaine pauses to bounce his eyebrows suggestively “… ride it.”

“Does that fall along the lines of ‘I licked it, so now it’s mine’?”

“That makes every inch of my body yours then, doesn’t it?” Blaine manages to wield his seductive voice even though he looks absolutely sexless. “Except maybe my feet below the ankles.”

“Yeah, well, sorry, but I’m not into that.” Kurt leans back to get another full look at his husband and shakes his head. “How long exactly did it take you to get into this?”

“Longer than I care to admit.” Blaine attempts to tug at the rear of his outfit, leading Kurt to assume there may be some kind of attached brief underneath, causing him a latex uni-wedgie, and probably some unmentionable chaffing. “Does that deserve some kind of reward?”

“Possibly.” Kurt crosses his arms. “Can I dress you up in something more appropriate if you get one?”

Blaine grins, but then he scowls, wiggling his body with a tortured expression on his face. “You know, originally I did all of this to vie for a little unnecessary external validation, but this costume is crushing me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“A-ha. My butt itches like crazy, and I’m having trouble breathing. So, if you help me out of this, I promise, you can put me in anything you’d like.”

“Good.” Kurt walks over to his drafting table and grabs a heavy duty seam ripper. “Because I’ve always thought you’d make a stunning Morgan le Fay.”

Blaine fixes his husband with an anxious expression as Kurt searches for an air pocket big enough for him to poke without impaling his husband. He has to give Blaine credit. This costume looks so painted on, he’s having trouble finding any gaps at all. “Can I wear that McQueen thing with the red brocade coat and those black thigh high boots of yours?”

Kurt finds a safe spot and pricks it with the sharp tip of his tool. The material pops, giving way to a long rip down Blaine’s left side, freeing him from his latex prison. He lets out a sigh that sounds downright orgasmic. It alone is worth lending him the boots. “Deal.”

[sanscestships]

"Escapee" Asylum Zoo Crossmare P.2 (Oneshot, CrossxNightmare)

Created on: 11/18/20

Requested by: No one. I'm bored and there are no requests

(A/N for all of yall's info. FeralVerse backstory is in the first FeralVerse story ["Recovery", its Cream but im not explaining that entire thing again]. Cross is Saber Toothed-Tiger/Rhinocerus and Nightmare is Panther/Octopus to clear up any misunderstandings-)

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH. MY WAY OF DOING ANGST (that probably failed). IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS, DO NOT READ.

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

He could hear him. He could hear him coming again.

Hissing into the darkness, he snarled and glared at the "glass", as the child had called it. It was easy to discern "him" from the rest. Soft paw steps instead of tapping and thudding feet. Patterns of three instead of two.

Growling, he could now see the light from the now opening door dimly light the room. Stepping in, was the six-legged one.

He didn't know his name. He didn't know what he was called. And he's never heard any of the other ones address him. But he knew from personal experience he was strong. The goop covering him had such a foul taste when he'd tried to bite him. The cyan tint clashed with the black, giving him the obvious clue it would be a mistake to try and swallow the goop. And his aura, while not as disturbing as the golden one's, definitely made him tremble.

Tremble with both, fear and excitement.

He'd been bored, pacing around the closed in walls, with only the frustration of that un-attackable child and confusion from those other skeletons all this time. But him? He was something the horned beast could actually understand.

He'd been through rough times. And he'd become stronger to get past those times. And he could understand that. Respect that.

Challenge that.

Sometimes when it is dark, the goopy beast would come into the room to fight him. And he enjoyed it. The goopy one would get the training he needed to grow even further. And he would get his entertainment, thrill, and experience of his own. It was a win-win.

He began to shake once more, expecting another brawl. However, his shoulder slumped with disappointment when the creature merely reared up against the glass to stare at him with that one, cyan eye.

Why weren't they fighting this time? Had he grown bored of him? Was he no longer of use to him? Suddenly, he was filled with more fear than he'd ever been. Than he could remember.

Why did the thought of being useless scare him so much? This was exactly one of the many things he needed to overcome. And yet, not being of any use at all, not even as fodder? That was something that scared him more than he could ever expect at that moment.

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

Nightmare was amused.

He'd been hoping for an entertaining reaction when he'd come to watch instead of fight Cross. And of course, Cross did not disappoint. Cross was his favorite little toy of all the other mutated skeletons in the building.

Fell just screeched out or hid. Dust would just stare, watching for an opportunity. Error was always on such a constant rampage. Geno just growled at everything except for Reaper and any sort of Papyrus alternate.

Cross? Cross had so much more variety.

Sometimes he'd just jump up at the sight of him, out of excitement or surprise. Sometimes he'd tremble, the fear feeding him while the excitement intrigued him. Sometimes he'd just ignore Nightmare, just pacing further or going to sleep. Sometimes he could even sense XChara's emotions, increasing in joy before being covered up with pain when Cross's frustration snaps and he begins to ram into the wall.

It was hard to deal with only one source of entertainment, but Nightmare could deal with it until the cure is made.

Suddenly, he stopped to think. When the cure is made... Would Cross remember? Would Cross become different? He had heard from Ink that Cross had mutated soon after his AU was "lost", meaning that it wasn't likely that Cross had always been this interesting. Would he become boring once he's cured. Would he not remember when he's cured? After all, mental damage is a bit more tricky to cure than just a little physical change. Would he be like one of those few Sanses, deranged and feral in a normal skeleton body?

Thinking about this made Nightmare want to leave Cross like this. After all, how often would he come across entertainment like this? Negativity, that was easy. He'd just have to kill a few people to make so many more full of misery. Or deprive them of their hope. But eventually with his long life, he'd get bored. What then? What then when he is at the time. When he is the most powerful being in the multiverse? Would he sit on his throne all day, doing absolutely nothing with nothing left to do?

Suddenly, he was completely rethinking multiversal domination too.

What exactly was this being to make him do so?

Now he was even more interested in "Cross", staring down with a smug grin as the fanged beast had suddenly become skittish. What was wrong with him now? Surely it wasn't his aura that was disturbing him now was it? He'd been around the beast with his aura before after all and he seemed mostly fine.

A little wary and hostile, but fine.

Unfortunately, with having amusing reaction, Cross was also a bit unpredictable. Nightmare didn't really know what was going on in his mind, and his fear and anxiety alone wasn't going to be able to help him. Hint him and point him in the right direction, yes. But it didn't let him accurately guess why.

While the goop covered creature admitted he hasn't had to really think too hard about anything in a while and that he appreciated the challenge, he wished that it wasn't about his only toy's well being of all things.

Tap tap tap tap.

He suddenly jolted, snarling towards the door as he heard pawsteps. Like bone against marble.

Which meant someone was out of their cage.

All of the others wore shoes and/or socks (with Ink being the "non-shoe" one). That meant the only ones who would be walking bear foot would be one of the other mutated ferals. Meaning someone's out, and that was certainly not a good thing.

Hearing a huff, he turned towards the glass to see Cross staring at the door with a surprisingly cold look on his face. He could sense Cross anticipating a fight before he growled and shook his head at him. Possibly other ferals walking about was bad enough. But they didn't need Cross, one of the two deranged ones as far as they knew, to be on the prowl either. By the stars, the panic one escapee alone would cause...

Even Nightmare gets stomachaches from eating too much ya know.

After all, he'd already had quite the hefty meal, not only feeding off Cross's fear,  but also having had such a fun game scaring the SOUL out of Sci just earlier. While yes, he'd certainly become stronger, there was a limit to how much power he could retain the way he was now without that power turning on him to make him as crazy as the others.

Too much power was what caused him to mutate in the first place. And he was lucky then to have been able to stay sane.

He sprung into action, starting to run at full sprint towards where he heard the sound. It takes a feral to take out a feral, meaning he should be the only one chasing after the escapee. Making his ways through the maze of hallways, he smelled 3 creatures down the next hall with 1 faintly far. Growling having had finally caught several of his prey, he made a sharp turn and pounced-

right into Classic?

"WHOA-" "HEY!" "GRRR-"

Nightmare paused, glaring around the hall as he realized that the 3 he had smelled were Classic, Blue, and Red, with Red being the only feral of the three. Hopping off of Classic, he glared at Blue and Classic. Why the hell did they pursue Red?! Hell, how did Red even escape in the first place?! Its... It's RED! The glass is magic proof and an inch thick so even if any of them had regained the ability to use his Gaster Blasters, not even Error should've been able to get out.

And Blue and Classic chasing after him, not even knowing who exactly had escaped?! For all they knew, it was Dust or Cross who got out! They should've evacuated and put the building on lockdown so no one would escape!

He rolled his eyes, groaning as he heard Classic mumble a bit and Blue demand he apologize to Classic. God, he was surrounded by idiots. No wonder he'd been one of the few to stay sane. For fuck's sake...

He snapped towards Red, grabbing him by the torso with a tentacle before beginning to march towards the main containment room, completely ignoring the other two's complaints and the red-eyed beast's struggling.

At this point, Nightmare was DONE with today. He could feel himself staring to-

NO. No. He was NOT going to go crazy. He was NOT going to fall into insanity just like the others. And yet, he could feel all of the negativity start to go to his head as he kept walking. All of the power... All of the negativity... It was so much. At this point, he swore he could even feel that mutation that turned him into some sort of panther-like thing, multiplying all of his magic over and over. All of that new magic intensifying. All of that intensified magic, eating away at him, physically and mentally.

No. He wasn't going to lose it. He WASN'T-

He suddenly stopped, dropping Red before bolting towards somewhere, ANYONE, with his eye shut tight. He should've known something was up when he was suddenly so emotional Suddenly so bored. Suddenly so powerful. Suddenly so... feral.

The mutation is creating so much magic, that its becoming too much even for HIM. Along with all of that negativity he absorbed today, he couldn't focus anymore. He didn't even know where he was going.

And suddenly he felt pain.

"Grah-" He grunted, feeling even worse at that animalistic sound he'd just made as he caught a glimpse of a red and blue eye.

Fuck, it was Dust.

Now that he was so close, he recognized the scent. It was the same one he'd only faintly smelled. Fuck, he completely forgot there was a 4th that slipped away earlier. He really was losing it. Trying to grab Dust with a tentacle, he tried to claw at him to make him let go from his neck. However, that just made him bite down even harder as he kept trying to yank him off. He could feel himself losing his ability to think rationally as Dust's aggression and bloodlust only fueled his magic more.

Finally remembering to roll backwards and kick him off, he started dashing towards Cross's room. Usually around this time of day, Dream visited Cross to try and "heal him". If Dream is here, his aura should kill off all of his extra negativity to help him stay sane. And even if he was smart enough to leave, Cross is like a fucking puppy. All he has to do is act a little nice and he'll be fucking ecstatic. And that, should help just as much.

Suddenly, he felt confusion as he sensed excitement and anticipation coming off of Dust. Did he really think he could take out Nightmare? So what if he was LV 20? He was Nightmare, Lord of Fear and King of Nightmares. Even if he won't be able to think, he sure as well was still capable of taking him out.

He just wanted to be able to feel satisfaction from brutally defeating him.

Bursting into the room, he felt himself accidentally slipping and sliding on something red as he crashed through a little pile. The hell?

Suddenly, time stopped.

He could only feel Dust's glee as he realized he'd just slipped through blood and a pile of dust.

He couldn't sense Cross's emotions.

Which means Cross was dead.

And if Cross was dead, that meant someone killed him.

And if someone killed him, then it had to be Dust since he was the only one with hostile intentions around.

And if Dust had killed him, he was in the room at some point.

If Classic and Blue and Red had been near him while he slipped away, they were pursuing Red AND Dust.

And while he'd been dealing with those three...

Dust slipped away and killed Cross.

That's why he was strangely strong.

He killed Cross. And gained LV.

He killed Cross.

And it was his fucking fault...

With that final thought, with those words just breaking him...

He lost the rationality he had left to even wonder why it hurt him so much.

[medea10]

My Review of Interspecies Reviewers

End of January…um, 2020

“Grrr…this day was a crap show! The republicans rat-fucked our country and Brexit fucking happened. I’m gonna write some scripts and call it a night. Let me just check Twitter one last time before I…

Huh?

FUNimation drops newly-added anime, Interspecies Reviewers?

This smells scandalous, I must watch!”

It’s very, very, VERY rare that an anime licensor drops an anime that’s currently airing in Japan and doing it weeks after announcing a full release (no pun intended), plus a friggin’ English dub. And where there’s controversy, I will be there to sniff it out…eventually. I think I can squeeze one more anime to watch on a week-by-week basis. Hell, I shoved Domestic Girlfriend in at last minute in 2019 right in the middle of moving to a different state. I think I can handle a little anime like this. What could possibly go wr…?!

*one week later*

Oh fluffies! This escalated quickly!

So…Interspecies Reviewers is about a human name Stunk and an elf named Zel. They go around to brothels, spend some time with the ladies of the evening known as Succu-girls (because these girls suck you), and review their “encounter” with them for a tavern full of curious males. Stunk and Zel want to go around and conquer as many species, discovering all new kinks and fetishes, fondle all kinds of jiggly-bits and naughty bits from cow-girls, cat-girls, skeleton girls, succubis, fire salamanders girls, elves, fairies, slimes, demons, bird-maidens, cyclops, and oh-so many others. This is a vast world and there’s only so many brothels these men can tackle at a time.

Oh yeah, there’s also an angel named Crim. Stunk and Zel saved Crim, but Crim can’t go back to Heaven since his halo is busted. Although now, I doubt if he’ll ever get entry back into Heaven after being defiled by a cat-woman. I mean who among us haven’t lost our virginity to a cat-eared girl on a whim?

*ahem*

R.I.P. Crim’s virginity

So there you have it! A human, an elf, and an angel walk into a brothel and…that’s the anime!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUUUUUU…..UH-OH: The sub was fine and I’m gonna leave it there with the subtitle version. As for the dub…What dub? There’s no dub! Dubs are just a myth here! Like I said before, FUNimation DID have this series. Emphasis on “DID”! They released the first 3 episodes in their normal week-by-week fashion, no worries there. They promised an English dub and released one episode dubbed, sounds about right! But then one night, they just drop this series!

Funimation on Jan. 31: After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards. We have the utmost respect for our creators so rather than substantially alter the content, we felt taking it down was the most respectful choice.

*sighs*

BOI!

Did you, FUNimation? Or was it Sony pulling the strings? But I’m getting ahead of myself here. A wide variety of things could have sprung this on! One reason could be that the voice actors felt uncomfortable with the material. I know some voice actors from FUNimation are a little skeptical here and if they voice something that’s borderline Hentai or IS HENTAI, they’ll use an alias name so that no one would be the wiser. I know it’s a job and money’s on the table here, but people are people. They have morals and boundaries! Not everyone can have the bravery to voice act in a Hentai like Dan Green (he totally did, you should look it up).

Another theory, Sony and/or FUNimation were being cautious and don’t want to air something so extreme in the naughty department. But if that were the case, how do you account for your full releases of High School DxD, Panty & Stocking, Conception, Keijo!!!!!!!!, Shimoneta, My Girlfriend is a Gal, and A Sister is All You Need? Then again, these animes were made and released prior to Sony buying FUNimation. But as of recent, FUNimation is streaming works from Aniplex of America that are kinda questionable. Where I’m going with this is that weeks after dropping Interspecies Reviewers, they add shows like Nisemonogatari AND Eromanga Sensei to their site. Ahem! Guys, where were those “STANDARDS” you were talking about earlier? Eromanga Sensei is downright illegal! Then again, none of these titles really reached full-blown bestiality like this series does! I mean, Sentai Filmworks happily released Monster Musume and that was borderline bestiality. But whatever, you guys do you!

Then again, no series has gone the distance by having several sex scenes per episode with the uncensored version going beyond the boundary quite like this.

Yeah…in this “woke AF” time we’re living in, if an anime doesn’t have an advisory stated at the beginning of an episode with lewd or controversial scenes, people lose their shit. Hence, Goblin Slayer’s debut and that one Sword Art Online episode! Whatever the case, now that FUNimation dropped this series, I don’t expect it to get picked up by any other licensor and it’ll probably remain in license limbo forever. There were a few voice actors set up to be in this anime including Monica Rial, Brittney Karbowski, and Amber Lee Connors. Only one episode was dubbed and good luck finding it now! But after this, I doubt these folks would ever finish what they started. And that’s a shame, because FUNimation voice actors have a knack for turning an anime dirty. Especially if you hire Monica Rial or Jamie Marchi (or both)!

I know every season, there’s a fight between American licensors in what animes they’re going to grab and show to their subscribers. FUNimation really could have taken a few extra minutes to do a little research on this one before jumping in a pool where the water is replaced by naked half-species chicks. For fuck’s sake, there’s a manga to this! Although, I’ve heard that the manga doesn’t even go this far! So this is disproving my rant! Let me just finish by saying that FUNimation really fucked up here. You could have streamed the series censored, have an age confirmation to watch the uncensored version, and then release that later down the line! But dropping Interspecies Reviewers has unleashed a fury of pissed off viewers who ended up trolling MyAnimeList and other websites. Yeah, thanks a lot! Those were some idiotic days on the internet! With all of that said, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Stunk is played by Junji Majima (known for Ryuji on Toradora, Ryuunousuke on Assassination Classroom, Kimihito on Monster Musume, Nikaido on Shugo Chara, Racer on Fairy Tail, and Kouhei on Oreimo)

*Zel is played by Yuusuke Kobayashi (known for Subaru on ReZero, Tanukichi on Shimoneta, Arthur on Fire Force, and Marui on Food Wars)

*Crim is played by Miyu Tomita

FAVORITE CHARACTER: God bless this boy, I love Crim.

I know he’s got the short end of the stick in a lot of these reviews. But there’s nothing short about his stick if you get what I’m saying.

Yeah, I said it.

SHIPPING: DO STD’S EXIST IN THIS FUCKING WORLD?!

Look, all you need to know is that real love is not gonna happen in this franchise and just fuck it! Literally!

Actually, I really think the boys have a special place in their hearts for Meidri. I’m only basing this on episode 6 where the boys go to the Golem brothel to “Build-a-Bitch” and out of all the figures, ladies, and ways to build a bitch, their little Halfling friend builds a golem replica of Meidri. Maybe it’s because she’s familiar or they’re curious in case they end up having sex with Meidri in the future or if the Halfling has a thing for Meidri! I just know all four boys ended up fucking a golem in the likeness of Meidri AND gave it a great score.

But aside from that, there’s really nothing more to say except Stunk has a thing for that 500 year old fairy and Zel has a thing for a 60+ year old human.

IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE…: It’s obvious that Japan has a thing for music made outside of the country. Especially those made in America (and England)! Recent examples are animes like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Eden of the East, and A Silent Voice actually using songs from groups like The Bangles, Oasis, and The Who. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES!

The OP song for this series is literally Y.M.C.A. except about getting your dick up to fuck!

And you know what? That was another missed fucking opportunity for FUNimation! This song could have gotten an English dub. Normally I despise it when English companies give an English dub to perfectly good opening and endings from Japan. But this would have been the ONE exception. GOD! Only in my dreams!

OH THIS IS WRONG: I don’t mean aspects of this anime! I’ve gotten used to the sex scenes and the shock factor of watching actual hentai at this point. Surprisingly, the one thing that got my feathers ruffled is at the end of some of the episodes where we get a small segment from a gentleman named Professor Ookina or Professor Poke if you will.

LOOK AT THIS FUCKING MAN!

Pokemon, why haven’t you sued yet? This is a sexual version of Professor Oak’s end-of-the-episode lectures. Unshou Ishizuka’s probably rolling over in his grave either from laughter, disgust, or that he didn’t live long enough to voice this colorful character. I haven’t settled on which to believe in!

ENDING: The last few episodes we saw a few interesting storylines. For one, we’ve got one brothel where all four adventurers gave the ladies a unanimous 10/10. Spend three days with the clones of a powerful woman and just all-around perfect scores. That is just unheard of! Even in the anime reviewing community, a perfect anime doesn’t exist. So stop trying to turn Interspecies Reviewers into the next Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. OKAY?! Not gonna happen! Just stop it! Stop it.

Then we had a gentleman who has generously been giving previous ladies of the evening perfect scores. This dude loves the ladies and sees the positives in all of them giving them all a perfect score. And I guess that does bring up a good point here.

Different strokes for different blokes! Not everyone is going to have the same taste as you. Stunk might have a thing for 500-year old fairies while Zel finds her old and disgusting. Zel might have a thing for Mitsue while Stunk finds banging 60-year old human whores repulsive. That’s where reviewers come in. They say the good and the bad when it comes to reviewing (insert profession here). In the case of this series, the boys have different tastes and when going to a foreign brothel, some of the ladies customs might confuse and weird out the boys. But in most cases, they had fun (except that afternoon watching girls laid eggs). So I’m glad Stunk and Zel found fault with the dude who gives 10/10’s like candy.

The final episode felt a little nostalgic as we revisit a race we haven’t seen since episode 2. Stunk and Zel find a business card for a demon brothel. They WERE supposed to go over and review the demon girls...

...but got side-tracked by the big-tit cowgirls.

Better late than never, but at least the demon brothel got some decent reviews by the boys. Good since demons are rated quite low in what men want to bang.

Then, the boys celebrate New Years by hitting up a good brothel to start the New Year off right. You know, start it off with a bang! It’s just that a lot of the popular brothels and Stunk’s regular hangouts are all booked up for the night. Lot of horny John’s on New Years! So the boys end up in a dream eater brothel. These girls take on the form of their dream succu-girl and believe it or not, the reviewers were very pleased. Almost like a pleasant dream!

Now conclusion wise, we really didn’t get Crim’s halo fixed nor did we go to Heaven to see Zel and Stunk get it on with some freaky angels. Instead, we get the same intro we got in episode one, reminding us that there are a barrage of brothels out there in this world and a bunch of succu-girls ready to suck your dicks off. And as long as we have succu-girls and brothels, there will always be reviewers like Stunk, Zel, and Crim to bust a nut! And I think Stunk is now going to visit his father’s harem now. Yeah, his old man has a harem. So there’s that! Too bad we’re not going to see that story.

I got to say…this wasn’t all that bad. In fact, I really liked this anime. And I’m usually rough on borderline-Hentai programs (and not in the good way). I am impressed at the creative way these men review these ladies and the brothels they work in. As an anime reviewer, I have to admire this. To take it all in with how these guys approach something such as having a one-night stand with a succu-girl! Each episode was a new experience with a new lady, sometimes two new brothels in the same episode. After their nights with a succu-girl, their reviews…actually, it’s best to watch it instead of taking my word for it.

NOW THEN! This is by no means on Top-Tier levels of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. So you people on MyAnimeList better knock it the fuck off! Yes, FUNimation dropped the ball by dropping this series when they’ve clearly licensed and dubbed WORSE. But owning them this way is just going to come off as weird when we look back at this years later and laugh. On top of which, FUNimation wasn’t the only one that dropped Interspecies Reviewers. Amazon Prime and at least three television stations in Japan dropped this series in the middle of its run.

Oh good God this was a fun and bizarre ride and it was fun while it lasted. Come on y’all, face the facts. There is no way this anime is ever gonna get a second season unless they absolutely censor the fuck out of it over in Japan. Look at all the Japanese channels that dropped this series not even halfway into the run! The best I’m hoping for is an OVA release. That way they can show us all the sex and nipples they want. But a season two? You’d have a better chance getting a Haruhi Suzumiya continuation! Yeah, I said it and I ain’t taking it back! Despite it not being available anywhere in the states, I advise my anime friends and followers to at least give this a chance (as long as you’re not grossed out by sexual discourse).

...

Medea, aren’t you going to give a number score like the Interspecies Reviewer lads?

*sighs*

I truly hate giving a number score. But for once in my written reviews, I’ll do it just this once.

If you would like to watch this series legally here in the states, you are shit out of luck unless you’re from Australia or Japan.

And once again…

R.I.P. Crim’s virginity!

[scullyy]

Fandom: TWDG, Ship: Clouis, and Character: Louis

Hello anon! 

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character - (I’m not gonna include Clementine here since she’s always a top tier character for me and I want to talk about some other characters :3) 

Either Louis or Luke. Louis because he’s the kind of person I aspire to be like and Luke just because I find his personality enjoyable (even though I didn’t like him at first, I came around)

Least Favorite character - 

Larry. I already disliked him after the first season but hearing what he did to Lilly when she was a child and his messed up lessons made me hate him even more.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): 

Clouis (duh)

Javi & Jesus

Violentine

Rusim 

Is James & Mitch still a thing??? Their dynamics could work well together (I like the grrr one with the quiet one)

Character I find most attractive:

tbh Omid! His personality is also a big factor in that, but he’s good on the eyes too. 

Character I would marry:

Again, Omid. I like people who are funny!

Character I would be best friends with:

Hopefully Louis would want to be my friend. Ruby would be fun to hang around too, maybe she could teach me how to not kill my plants.

A random thought:

I miss Ben :’(

An unpopular opinion:

Gabe isn’t that bad of a guy. Yeah he’s annoying, but he’s a kid. A kid who watched his sister die. I empathise with him.

My canon OTP:

C L O U I S

Non-canon OTP:

Again, Javi & Jesus (I wanted to flirt with him more)

Most badass character:

Clementine!

Pairing I am not a fan of:

Probably Minnie and Violet, seems like their relationship was very one-sided (possibly even emotionally abusive)

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Jane. I liked Jane when I first met her but her actions at the end of Season 2 were just...odd. Kate could have been handled better too, make her a reliable source not just a forced love interest.

Favourite friendship:

Louis and Violet!

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when or if I started shipping it.

I started to ship Clouis (like really, really ship them) around Episode 2, when he immediately ran to help them when they got back to school. Idk why that moment, it was just nice.

my thoughts:

Their dynamic is one of my favourites. The tough one and the goofball. They balance each other well, reminding each other that there are things worth fighting for and that sometimes it’s more than okay to take a break and have fun.

What makes me happy about them:

Just the idea of two young kids falling for each other. I’m a sucker for young love.

What makes me sad about them:

Louis dying in Episode 4 / Clem going on without him :((

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

The only thing that comes to mind (and I don’t see it being done anymore) is when people would write Louis as an idiot, a jokester who never takes anything seriously. Sure the guy plays around, but he knows when to take action and support people.

Things I look for in fanfic:

Louis giving Clem pet names (darling & princess and two that make my heart go waahhhh)

My kinks:

My what now? Uhhhh...them being happy and living a content life

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I do like Clem & Violet. Perhaps Louis would find a nice girl in the apocalypse who can also play the piano :)

My happily ever after for them:

Staying in the school, protecting each other and getting to live in peace

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character:

Love him 10/10. I like people who can make me laugh, and Louis makes me laugh! He’s genuine and has layers to his character and feels real.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Clementine

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Violet. I love their friendship, despite how much crap they give each other they would easily murder a bitch if it meant protecting the other.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I don’t really have one / know of any unpopular Louis opinions : /

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I will stick by my theory that Louis had a little brother and walk backwards into hell

My OTP:

Clouis!

My OT3:

This is more of a brotp3; Clem, Louis and Violet being buddies and mucking up the way teenagers do

[trashpandaorigins]

The Body Keeps the Score Ch. 6 The Wrong Shot

"You said it yourself bitch, we're the Guardians of the Galaxy." Gamora is finally a part of something. But the past always follows you, eats at you and she must come to grips with her deeds as she tries to build a future. Meanwhile Rocket has never cared much for anyone or anything. Together the two of them discover they are more alike than different and try to heal themselves by befriending the other.

*Content Warnings: Mentions of child/animal abuse, trauma, character death, physical torture/pain*

Title of this fic is taken from the book of the same title "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma," by Bessel van der Kolk

You and I both are nothing but thieves

We take what we want when we need

I had a chance for a better life

But all that I've known is to

Run, run, run, from a devil in disguise

Like a bullet, a bullet, a bullet into the night

Bullet  - Steel Train

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fuck! Rocket cursed rolling backward across the crowded workshop, hissing as the cybernetic panel in his back slammed into the unforgiving wall. Colors swam for a moment before his vision. The raccoonoid blinked several times, waiting for cybernetics in his optic nerves to recalibrate. He flicked his fingers, good still in tact.  

I’m gonna shoot that flarking humie, he thought begrudgingly, standing up and stalking out of the work room.

“Quill! What the hell kinda jump was that?! You’re gonna wreck my ship!” Rocket scurried to the engine room.

“Um it’s my ship,” the human stepped out into the main hall, one hand clutching his stomach. “And I didn’t do anything!”

“Then who the hell is piloting this thing?” Rocket pushed passed the human with a grunt into the cock-pit.  He halted in the door, an orange glow bathed the interior of the ship with hazy iridescence. Three large green asteroid rings encircled the planet. Kilvore.

“Gamora!” Drax boomed, stomping in behind Quill. “You are quite the pilot! You should be flying this ship!” Rocket suppressed a growl,

“Groot!”

The little sapling made a playful cooing noise from his place in the co-pilot seat. Rocket rushed over to him and growled at the right of the miniature flora, who, despite his seat belt had tumbled from his pot. Dirt scattered about the seat.

“What did you do?!” The raccoonoid growled, furiously packing the soil back around Groot’s base. Gamora bristled with the accusation.

“I didn’t do anything,” she keyed in the codes to approach landing.  “I strapped him in, he’s alright.”

Evidently Groot wiggled his arms as the raccoonoid hoisted him up on his hip-reaching to try and play with the straps of Rocket’s jumpsuit.

“He could’a been hurt!”  

“If he never get’s hurt he’s never going to learn how to protect himself,” she countered.

“Is that what daddy Thanos taught yah?”  He snapped, baring his teeth at the woman. He looked up at Gamora, a nerve pulsing in her forehead. Something snapped. Gamora stuck her arm out, instantly for the raccoonoid’s neck. Rocket panicked as his feet were whisked off the ground. Groot tumbled from his hold. Drax dove with surprising agility, catching the little flora who only giggled and wiggled in his pot. Rocket growled, claws digging into Gamora’s wrist,

“Oh yeah,” he snarled,  with a cruel grin. “There she is, there’s the daughter of Thanos!” Her fingers tightened around the scruff of his neck, hardly flinching even as he kicked and scratched, trying to reach for the gun in his belt.

“I’d  rip out your spine rodent, if you had one.”

“W...what the hell Gamora?!” Rocket wheezed out, trying to twist his neck out of her grip.

“I am not a daughter of Thanos,” she whispered dangerously.

“Yeah, you’re really proving me wrong. You flarking…”

“I could snap your neck,” she threatened, “it would be easy.”

Rocket focused his roving eyes  towards Groot’s plaintive wail.

“You can run all you want,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “But you can’t run from what he made you.”

“C’mon guys,” Peter whined, “I thought we were passed the point of killing each other!”

“At least I ain’t a hypocrite” he couldn't  stop himself. The humiliation of being held like some dangling thing, the escalation of Groot’s terrified cries. “Your no better than him.”  His tail thrashed madly, bite...bite her! Get away!

“Gamora,” Quill stepped forward tentatively, “let him go.”

Rocket swallowed down the animalistic yelp that nearly escaped him as Gamora dropped him to the floor. He glared up at her, trying to massage the throbbing in his neck.

“Like father like daughter,’ he wheezed, black nostrils flaring to catch his breath.

“Hey!” Quill snapped, pointing at him like some petulant child. Groot tried to inch his pot forward little arms reaching out for him, sap leaking from his eyes.

“I’m going after Nebula,” Gamora barked stalking from the room.

“Wait! Gamora!” Quill spared a disappointed glance at Rocket and darted out of the cockpit as the Benatar shook, locking into the dock on the main port of Yreka’a Kilvore’s largest city.

“Mmm, mmm Grrr!” Groot’s little face screwed up as he cried. Drax knelt down placing Groot’s pot in front of him. Rocket reached out to him, little wooden fingers grasping around his claws in earnest.

Groot teetered forward closer, burying his little head in the nape of the raccoonoid’s neck.

No! Don’t touch….

He jerked backward, still panting. Claws clenched against the metal floor. He stopped himself from the snarl forming in his throat.

“Small friend, are you alright?”

“I’ve had worse,” Rocket coughed, remaining on all fours. Groot tried to borrow against him, thin fingers wringing through his fur. “Watch it,” he spat, pushing the small flora away as one of the little hands hit against the metal bolts in his clavicle. “It’s not like either of you did anything to help,” his red gaze slid between the Destroyer and his miniature best friend. “You might be tiny but you could’ve at least tried to stop her!” He glowered at Groot who only pouted and reached for him. “Could’ve said something even if you couldn’t fight her.” He envisioned Groot’s  protective stance between himself and Drax back in that bar in Knowhere.

“You must not anger our assassin friend, she will kill you for what you’ve said.”

“Tsch, I’d like to see her try. Damn sadist.” Rocket checked the gun at his belt, and gripped the handle of it for reassurance, turning from the two of them.

“Where are you going?” Drax’s concern echoed down the hall as the raccoonoid stalked back towards his workroom. The heavy door slammed behind him with a satisfying clang. He snatched up the data pad, furiously pounding the keys.

“This is Sub…..Subject...8...8913, I have an update.”

The screen blipped and went fuzzy for a moment before a Nova agent’s face appeared on the screen, helmet obscuring her features.

“Subject, what is your…”

“Its Gamora,” he seethed. “She’s taken our ship to Kilvore, tryn’ to go after her maniac sister Nebula.”

“Has she threatened you or your crew?”

“She threatened me,” he snarled with contempt. I’d rip out your spine, rodent. Rocket hung up before the agent could continue.

“Animal friend, open this door!” Drax’s fists banged against the door, Groot’s whine sounded through the metal. Rocket snatched up his pistols and a few more rounds before opening the door again.

“Where are you going?”

“After Quill and Gamora.”

“What about Groot? He cannot go into battle.”

Rocket spun on his heel, glaring.

“Then you stay back with him.”

Without waiting he sprinted down the gangway, into the crowded sea of aliens bustling about Yreka’a.

---

Rocket darted through the crowds with relative ease, used to navigating the world of larger people. He kept one hand at his holster as he scanned for any sign of Quill or Gamora. Not that he wanted to see her. Not that he wanted them to see him. Not after being hoisted up by the scruff  like a misbehaving dog. The hair on his neck rose at the memory of it. Cold merciless metal clamped around him, cords that electrocuted him when he resisted. The gloved grasp around his neck. One hand restrained him, the other held a scalpel or a needle or some other device. The raccoonoid halted in his tracks, the legs and knees of the crowd becoming blurry in shadows. His vision tunneled and he shook his head, rubbing his paws across his snout.

“Small angry companion! Wait!”

Rocket sniffed once more, through the ochre of cooking food and thick smoke. The sweat and liquor. He sniffed again, arching his head upward through the throngs of bodies, rounding a corner and down another thoroughfare. Music pumped from a nearby club, merchants shouted their wares in dozens of languages.

Too many smells, still the lingering old too much axe flitted on his nose. He could tell Quill’s scent anywhere.

“This way, hurry up baldy.”

“Mmmgggrrrt!”

“I ain’t waitin’!”  

He darted between the long purple tentacles of a Ktavian, sniffing for any whiff of either Quill or Gamora.

“Watch it vermin!”

Rocket growled, one paw tightening around his pistol but he kept it in check,  it ain’t worth it.

“Quill! Quill!” The raccoonoid scrambled down another series of streets, pausing only to ensure that Drax and Groot hadn’t fallen too far behind.

Flarking...bipeds, he cursed almost tempted to cover more ground on four legs.

“Quill, damn it wa…”

Something flashed in the monotone sea of grays and muddled browns.

Shit that can’t be… Rocket sniffed, it was.  Nebula was here, he scrambled up a nearby market stall, onto the roof, keen eyes scanning through the crowd. There she was...moving in the opposite direction of Quill and Gamora.  She moved with complete economy, head down glancing around suspiciously at anyone who dared come close.

“Furry one! Why are you all the way,”

“Shut up!"

Rocket hissed, reaching for the gun at his belt and looked through the scope, tracing the women's movements as she weaved out of the main streets, back towards the ship docks. His grip fixed around the gun, pulling the trigger back. One shot, that’s all it’d take.  Nebula flagged down one of the Rskeven workers. Paying him handsomely by the grin he spurted.  Rocket adjusted his grip, it’d be an easy shot, right in the back of the noggin and that cyborg’d be done for good. He sucked a breath in sharply through his nose, watching her walk up to a crummy little Xandarian transport vessel. Must’ve stolen it after the battle.  He squeezed the trigger, back as hard it would go 3…..2… flark it! Rocket hit the safety mechanism, let go of the trigger heard the empty click.

“Rocket! What are you doing up there?!”

Out of his periphery the Xandarian ship sputtered to life. Quickly he reached into his belt, loading his gun with the tracking device.

“Rocket!”

Something hit against his ear. Instinctively his swiveled towards it, his finger slipping. A bang. He recovered in time to watch the projectile launch through the air at the body of the ship as it took off. He watched it hit against the left wing, through the dust and exhaust, only to teeter and slip, falling to the ground in the wake of the ship taking off. Through the haze, a miniature head in the cockpit, Nebula’s eyes fixated on the atmosphere above.

Fuck, the ship took off, vaulting through the sky and out of sight to join all the other transports coming and going, lost among them. Rocket shook his head, thrusting the gun back into its holster.

“Who through that?”

“Rocket,”

Quil, Drax, Groot and Gamora stood below, gazing up at him with expressions ranging from confusion, (Drax and Quill), to irritation, (Gamora).

The raccoonoid huffed, ears twitching and made his way back down, making sure not to look at the green assassin.

“What gives man? We saw Drax and Groot and assumed you were with them. Quill planted his hands on his hips like a scolding parent.

“I saw Nebula.”

“Really?” Gamora’s skepticism grated against his last nerve. “Where?”

“She was taking off in a stolen Xandarian transport. I was tryin’ to shoot her but Star-Turd threw off my aim.”

Gamora shifted her displeasure to the human man, only for an instant.

“Did you shoot to kill?”

Rocket smirked, kicking a rock with his boot.

“Nah Gams I didn’t shoot to kill. I was tryn’ to put a tracking device on it.”

---

Rocket was three sheets to the wind when he heard the knock on the workroom door. Trying to drown the humiliation of being shaken like a misbehaving vermin in front of others, trying to drown the feel of Gamora’s hand around his scruff. They’d regrouped on the ship and he worked out the calculations to approximate Nebula’s trajectory. Towards the Keystone Quadrant. Rocket thought, lifting another can of Uzbellian beer to his muzzle. He never imagined he’d be back in the same Quadrant as ...that place. But Quill, Gamora and Drax has insisted they follow despite his protests; and he sure as shit wasn’t about to divulge his tragic backstory to them like a sucker.

No, he’d hunker down and bare it, he wouldn’t let Groot out of his sight. He’d stay on the ship, claim to be doing repairs. He’d pack more weapons on him, well, more than usual. His mind spun into strategy mode. How large was the Keystone Quadrant? Where was Halfworld in relation to their current flight path? What if Nebula was going to that very planet? No there was no reason to go there. She wouldn’t. SHE WOULDN”T. But if she did….how many bombs had he made? How much ammo? How could he….

“Rocket?”

Gamora. He could tell by her scent and the sound of her footfalls.

Great, the last person he wanted to see.

“What?”

He snarled, finishing off the beer and throwing the can to the ground. She stepped in gracefully, looking around the crowded room of half-formed weapons and gadgets.

“Immm grrrrrot!”

Groot waved to her happily as she came closer.

“Rocket,” the word was heavy as she spoke it. “About my outburst earlier, I sor…”

He held up one paw, eyes unmoving from the work before him.

“I’mma stop you right there,”

“I’m sorry,” she continued.

“Well I ain’t,” this time he looked up at her with indignation. “You wanna snap at me? Fine.” Rocket’s ears pressed against his skull. “You wanna choke me out or cut me with those knives of yours, be my guest. I’ll fight you any day.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed with speculation.

“Do whatever you want,” he rasped. “But you don’t do it in front of them. Or Groot,” he gestured to the flora who had lost interest in the both of them and was trying to reach for a discarded magazine. Gamora bit the inside of her cheek, looking at the baby. “He’s got a new start on things. He don’t need to see that stuff yet.” He watched her nod in agreement and wiped his claws free of oil.

“I didn’t mean to do those things in front of Groot,” she started. “I didn’t mean to say those things to you.”

“Really? Cuz I did,” he countered. “Thanos might’a taught you to hurt in order to grow but Thanos ain’t taken care of Groot while he gets his growth back...and I ain’t as bad as Thanos.”

This elicited a surprising smile from the assassin.

“No, your not.”

“No killin’ each other in front of the plant capeesh? He’s had enough of killin’....” Rocket swallowed the sour taste of liquor, “and bein’ killed.” Gamora nodded with more vigor this time. He watched her hover on the edge of words, trying to find something to say.

“Thank you, for not killing Nebula today.”

"Wasn't my shot to take." Rocket waved a dismissive paw, turning back to his work. She nodded once more, waved to Groot and made to leave, stopping in the doorway.

“You have my word Rocket, I never call you those names again. Nor will I ever...miss-handle you in that manor again. I swear.”

“Why don’t you go miss-handle Quill?” He laughed.

“I’m serious Rocket,” she pressed.

“Tsch, so am I! He’d love it. He’s clearly in love with you.”

He looked up from the disassembled gun, a sardonic grin coming to his face for the first time in days at the woman’s face, internally waging the possibility.  She gave him a look he couldn’t quite determine and finally left, closing the door behind her.

Rocket worked long into the night, the booze eventually coaxing him into a fitful sleep.

And...I shouldn’t have called you Thanos’s daughter…cuz you ain’t. At all. 

When he woke up the next morning, he couldn’t remember if he’d said the apology aloud. Or if it were another one of his drunken thoughts of what he should’ve said.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Operation; Prank Quill; Rocket x child reader

This was my first ever Rocket raccoon oneshot that I was ever requested to do, and I know it’s mostly the Guardians but I tried to put in as much Rocket’s character getting involved with the reader as I could in the beginning. Now backstory; imagine reader is 7 years old, and was experimented alongside Rocket and Groot. Your abilities are to control and manipulate the shadows at will, you can also use the shadows to control someone and make them appear more menacing and powerful as you’ll soon read. Except for swearing not really anymore warnings, hope you guys enjoy :)

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This was the last straw for me. Peter's continuous prank war on this suppose day of April Fool's that he says it's called on Terra, has reached all of our breaking points. Recently he had pulled a prank on me involving my favorite canned snack and fake snakes that exploded everywhere as soon as I opened it up. Solemnly sad and now hungry because of Quill's prank, I slumped under the deck of the Milano when I suddenly heard a loud electrical buzz and a scream soon Rocket came flying in and slammed right into the wall behind me.

"Rocket, are you okay?" I asked as I helped him up. His fur was slightly singed and smoke rose from it as well.

"Am I okay? Am I okay? Sorry (n/n), but I sure as hell am NOT okay. Man when I find that Quill I'm gonna—" he took out his favorite gun and fired it but instead of a big blast, what came out was a small flag that plainly said "BANG!" In big bold red letters. "Grrr, goddamnit Quill!!" Rocket shouted out as he tossed his gun aside and continued to mutter furiously.

"I know how you feel, the jerk tampered with my Space-nut Brittle, filled it with those jumping snakes that pop out when you open something, not only am I mad at him but I'm hungry too".

Then he got an idea. An awful idea. Rocket Raccoon got a wonderful, awful idea.

"I know just what we can do". Rocket said with a cunning grin and an evil look in his eye.

We all gathered below the deck minus Peter and went over the prank one last time.

"Okay, so everyone knows their positions when we reach Knowhere right?" Rocket asked us.

"Right". We all said together.

"Oh boy this is gonna be good". I giggled.

"Alright now kid don't go getting to loud otherwise this whole thing blows over!"

"Sorry Rocket". I said solemnly looking downward. Rocket rolled his eyes and sighed then said as he patted my back.

"Hey, don't sweat about it kid, just try to be careful next time alright?" I nodded then Rocket continued, "now once we get to Knowhere, we gotta move quickly with the plan, so we need to get Quill to the warehouse as soon as we land, otherwise someone else is gonna blow our cover and Quill will have figured us out, now (y/n), you got the fake tape ready for his dumb cassette right?"

"Just like you taught me Rocket". I said as I held Peter's old cassette player with the fake tape that I made inside it ready to go.

"Excellent".

"Hey! Where is everybody? And have any of you seen my cassette player!?" We all quickly ran for the main deck and Gamora said.

"Don't worry Quill we're all here".

"And the runt has your dumb music player" Rocket said. I walked up to Peter and handed it to him and said to him with the sweetest voice I could muster and gave him my ultimate weapon, the puppy dog face.

"I'm sorry Peter, I just wanted to listen to some of your cool music, I didn't mean to take it without asking but Rocket said you'd be cool with it".

"Aww now how can I be mad at that face? I taught you all too well my little (y/n). Apology accepted, just next time don't listen to what the raccoon says and just ask me next time, I'd be more than happy to share all my music with you". He took his cassette player back and hooked it to his belt as he ruffled my hair.Hook, line and stinker.

Soon we finally arrived at Knowhere. Once we landed the Milano and exited the ship we were greeted by none other than Cosmo the Russian space dog.

'Greetings friends, Cosmo is glad you could make it'.

"No problem Cosmo glad we could make it, what exactly is the problem going on here?" Peter said.

'Lately the old abandoned warehouse has been making strange noises, people claim it's unknown creatures taking refuge because people who enter don't come out'.

"Unknown creatures huh? Well gang looks like we've got a mystery on our hands". Said Peter. Soon Cosmo lead us to the suppose warehouse where the people have been saying they've heard noises when truthfully it was some low-life's Rocket said he pay if they would do this for our Prank War.

'Here is where noises have been coming from, and now Cosmo leaves Guardians on their own, stay safe my friends' he then took off running back to the streets of Knowhere.

"Alright guys, let's head on in". Peter lead us in first and the rest of us looked at each other signaling that now was the time for our payback to begin.

As we walked through the dark warehouse, we all looked around and Rocket said.

"Okay this isn't creepy at all".

"Oh don't be such a baby Rocket, we'll be in and out in no time, I say we split up into teams for this matter, maybe we can cover more ground that way". Peter suggested.

"You sure that's a good idea Quill, we don't even know what it is that we're up against. Could be anything or anyone". Gamora stated warningly.

"Trust me Gamora, I know what I'm doing, but how about this if we don't find anything within 15 minutes, then we all meet right back here, deal?"

"Fine, agreed". It was then we split up into groups. Gamora and Drax were the first group, Rocket and Groot the second, and Peter and I in the third group. As Peter and I searched the upper decks with our helmet scanners.

"Any luck (n/n)?"

"No sign of anything Peter, not a single clue".

"Yeah I'm not getting anything either, let's check somewhere else". As Peter and I continued on searching for any clues lying around, I then heard Rocket's voice say from my individual earpiece,

"Alright kid, get ready to proceed with Phase 1".

"Got it". I whispered.

"Grah damnit, nothing again. Alright come on sweet pea, let's meet the others back in the main lobby, hopefully they had better luck than us though I hope they didn't". He muttered the last statement more to himself. I allowed Peter to walk ahead of me muttering to himself then when I got the chance, I used my abilities and disappeared into the shadows ready to begin Operation: Prank Quill.

The Guardians met back together as planned and Peter asked them.

"Any luck you guys?"

"Gamora and I have failed our quest to find any signs of beings living here".

"Yeah Groot and I didn't find a single thing either".

"I am Groot".

"Maybe this was all a hoax". Gamora said.

"Yeah, maybe it was just some of the kids pulling harmless pranks, what do you think (y/n)?" When Peter didn't hear a response from me he turned around and was shocked to see that I wasn't there. "Okay this isn't funny kid, (y/n)!"

"Quill please tell me you didn't lose her" Gamora demanded.

"No, no, no, no, no I-I-I-I swear guys she was literally right behind me!" Peter was suddenly grabbed by Groot aggressively and was forced onto his knees in front of Rocket.

"Listen Quill! If anything happens to that kid I can promise you I'll give you five or six good shots straight up your freakin—" Rocket threatened as he held up his gun right up at Peter's face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no! No! No! No! No! No! Look, look guys! Please look Rocket I promise we'll find her! Maybe she's pulling our leg and pulling a joke on us".

"Fine. But if this isn't a prank and she ends up hurt or even worse, I'll follow up on my promise!" Rocket snarled then he and Groot went on walking to try and find me soon followed by the others.

"(Y/n)? (Y/n)? Come on sweet pea where are yah?" Peter cried out. Rocket grumbled as he kept his gun pointed more at Quill than anywhere else.

"I am Groot".

"You know why I'm aiming it at him!"

"I am Groot".

"Yeah I know, it's just that—I'll never forgive myself if that kid ends up hurt, or worse". Suddenly black shadows shot out and took ahold of Groot.

"I am Groot!" The shadows picked Groot up and dragged him into the darkness.

"Hold on buddy we got yah!" Rocket then proceeded to fire at the shadows along with Peter, while Gamora and Drax charged head on and tried to cut the shadows apart with their knives and sword. But the shadows just flicked both Gamora and Drax like a sack of flower and shards of shadows shot toward Peter and Rocket who had no choice but to dodge them.

It was then Groot disappeared into the darkness his last words echoing throughout the warehouse.

"No, Groot". Rocket stated solemnly. He lowered his head trying to hold in his tears when a shadow hand suddenly reached out for him.

"Rocket, above you!" Peter fired at the shadow hand then another shadow hand punched Peter while the hand above Rocket grabbed him.

"Hey! Let me go you freak! Let me go! NOOOOO!!!!" And just like Groot, Rocket disappeared into the darkness.Peter, Gamora and Drax all sat there in horror and in shock that they just lost three of their members so easily.

"There's a little bit of pee coming out of me right now". Peter muttered.

"Peter, we can't defeat whatever this thing is on our own, we have to get out of here and find help, maybe then there's a chance we can save Rocket, Groot and (y/n)".

"Yeah, you're right. Or....We could just leave this place and let whatever this creature is eat Rocket and Groot and find a way to save only (y/n) because she's the nicest out of the three of them. I think it's a compromise between both our agreements".

"You're despicable, dishonorable, FAITHLESS!" Gamora cried out.

"We will not retreat. Not without our friends, all of them. I will fight whatever this creature is and spill its blood upon the floor" Drax growled.

"Drax is right Quill, we're not leaving without (y/n) and Rocket and Groot".

"Alright fine, fine. But we all stick together and fight as hard as we can, and watch out for any dark corner. This creature seems to come out of the darkest corners of this warehouse, so keep a sharp eye".

"My eyes are indeed sharp, and my reflexes are too quick and I will catch this shadow". Drax muttered as Gamora rolled her eyes and Peter tried to explain to Drax that it was an expression.

They kept their guards up ready to attack anything that would come out of the shadows. Suddenly they heard a voice echoing from the darkness.

"Okay what was that?" asked Peter fearfully.

"The voice of the creature we're hunting. He's finally revealed himself". Drax growled. They waited until they heard the voice again but closer to them this time and when they turned towards the source of the voice, they soon saw the silhouette of their friend Groot.

"Oh it's just Groot, you okay there pal?" Peter asked.

"Hold on Quill, something's not right here" Gamora stopped Peter from walking any closer to "Groot".

And she was right to do that, because when Groot stepped out of the shadows, he appeared bigger more menacing looking, his whole body was a shadow and his eyes were pure white. As he cried out his normal three words, they were almost demonic as it echoed and pierced the warehouse like a haunting ghostly wail.

"Oh shit!" Peter cried as Groot shot out several shadow-forms of his powers at the three remaining Guardians. They all dodged and fought on as hard as they could but suddenly Drax was gripped tightly a shadow figure of what appeared to be a black bird and the bird flew him towards the wall and he and the bird disappeared. 

"Drax!" Peter cried out.

"PETER!!!" Gamora cried out. Peter turned to see Gamora gripped tightly by Groot and he was slowly fading back into the shadows. Peter grabbed Gamora's hand and pulled as hard as he could but he was suddenly thrown back by shadow hands and soon Groot and Gamora disappeared.

"GAMORA!!!" Peter ran towards the wall only to feel that no one was there. He shuddered angrily then blasted at the wall creating a huge hole in it. "This is all my fault, it's my fault".

As Peter stood in the warehouse alone filled with fear and regret, he then said to himself.

"Okay Peter, calm down relax. You can do this, just listen to a bit of some tunes to get your game back then you can go and go all Star Lord on this freaks ass". He then turned on his player and put on his headphones. As the beginning part of "Come and Get your Love" played, the track suddenly began to slow down and the recording went deep and messy, when Peter looked down he saw that the tape was literally tearing itself apart. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Not my mom's tape!" He then took out the cassette tape and the reels and fell to his knees.

'Peter Quill'. The voice echoed. Now in fear of his life, Peter tried to run to which ever door was closest to him, but they all slammed shut on him and seem to be locked up tight. When the last door he tried was lock, he then heard the screech of a bird and when he turned around he saw a giant shadow of a rave flying right at him.

Fangs around the beak and glowing red eyes with an intent to attack and kill. Peter ran as fast as he could from the demon Raven following him. When he reached a dead end, he took out his blaster and readied to fire. Unfortunately his weapon decided to short circuit and now Quill had no way of escaping because he was just frozen in fear at the Raven now closing in on him.

But the Raven just flew straight through him.

"Demon raven just flew in me!"

'Peter'. Soon appearing before him was a very haunting version of me. My eyes were soulless white, my skin was ghostly pale with black veins showing through my entire body.

"(N/n)?"

'Why did you leave me Peter?' I asked in my haunting ghostly voice.

"Please (n/n) you know I love yah kid, I thought you were right behind me, honest!"

'You just left me. Like you did the others'. Soon the others appeared as black shadows of their former selves all saying Peter's name and how he should've done better in leading them.

"Please guys, I'm sorry! I'm truly, really, really sorry! If you all were alive right now I promise I'll never behave stupidly ever again! I won't play my music to annoy you guys! And I'll never prank on you guys ever again!" Peter crumbled to the ground almost ready to cry as we all surrounded him ready to deliver the final attack.

"APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!" We all shouted as we turned back to normal.

"Wha?"

"That's right Quill, it's payback for all those pranks you pulled on us earlier". Gamora said.

"But—but the shadow tentacle thingies? The Possessions?"

"God you really are an idiot Quill, that was (y/n) all the time, that's her power". Rocket groaned as he patted my leg.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, the full extent anyways. I thought you would've remembered back when we fought against Ronan to save Xandar. That's how I managed to defeat most of the Kree's ships that were bombing the city". I explained.

"But the—the noises, the creature refuge that Cosmo told us about earlier".

"I am Groot".

"Yep he's right, some punk mercenaries we hired to make all that ruckus to peak your interest, whom then bailed when I told them we were on our way, by the way we owe them 30,000 units each for the job".

"What!?"

"Besides the point Quill, this is payback for all those jokes you've been playing on us all day". Gamora stated as she helped Peter stand up and we all headed back for the Milano.

"So all in all there never really was a mystery on Knowhere was there?" Peter asked.

"Nope, we planned the whole thing".

"Well I got to admit, you guys got me good but sadly I wasn't scared at all". We all laughed hysterically as Peter still kept trying to convince to us that he wasn't scared as we flew off towards planets and other galaxies unknown.

[airoasis]

Pain Develops Inspiration, However Only If You Let It

Today is Christmas Eve, unless you happen to be reading this on a various day obviously. Christmas Eve and Day were a few of the most memorable and vivid memories I had as a child.I matured in a very economically strapped household. Through the majority of my childhood, my daddy was a tough working, low income person who supported a household of seven: himself, my mommy who was his stay at house better half, and his five children, of which I was the oldest.We weren't

" bad," but we were seriously strapped. The only method my parents could manage to purchase Christmas presents for their five kids was to scrape as best they could and put a little loan away all year. Each kid received only 3 or 4 presents, and only one of the 5 kids would receive a "huge" present each year. "Huge" was defined as more than about $50. My parents did their best to turn which kid got the "huge present" each year to make it as reasonable as they could.This whole

scenario really troubled me. I was constantly a materialistic capitalist from the time I was very small. I started my first service at age nine selling Christmas cards door-to-door to all the community mamas so I might have a little pocket money in my pocket ... cash I didn't receive from my moms and dads who could not afford it. Soon this changed into offering papers, mowing lawns, babysitting, and moving building and construction particles. I knew that no matter how difficult I attempted, I 'd never ever get any real money out of my parents, so I had to go make it myself.Often I would ask my

father why he didn't make more loan, and why all of my good friends constantly appeared to have more than we did. He would provide me the usual false, left-wing Societal Programming about how loan does not make people pleased. Even as a kid I knew this was demonstrably false, considering that the parents of my more wealthier pals constantly seemed to be pleased, and my moms and dads, while they were great people and great parents, constantly appeared stressed out.Every Christmas early morning, I would stroll into the living-room and see the stacks of presents under the Christmas tree, and it resembled a spiritual experience. Seeing all those gifts was among the most exciting things, possibly the most interesting thing I experienced as a kid.Yet, after we opened all the presents, I would look down on my lap and see the 3 or four small presents that were mine

, and after that see among my brothers or sis get really delighted about their one "big present," generally a bicycle or something.It didn't appear right to me.One day I visited among my friend's houses. He was an active blonde kid called Barry. This was the first time I had really visited his home.

He showed me around his place. Eventually we came throughout an open door to a space he hadn't revealed me. "What remains in there?"I asked."Oh,"he stated,"That's the toy space.""The TOY ROOM?" I exclaimed,"You have a whole room just for your toys ?!?" "Well, yeah,"he stated in a confused tone,"Don't you?" I turned

and entered the space, and it

resembled going into heaven. It was a whole playroom with all sort of toys all lined up on 3 of its 4 walls. And I'm not just talking toys, I'm taking huge expensive toys, like the Star Wars Death Star Playset and the Imperial Walker AT-AT and massive area LEGO sets, all of which I knew were way more than $50.$ 50 was a great deal of cash for a toy back in the 1980s, especially for kids in households like mine.I simply couldn't think what I was seeing. I screamed in enjoyment and ran to the toys and began playing with all of them. Barry was confused."Why are you so thrilled? "This example was typical to him. To

me it was practically better than Christmas.My joy was short-lived. I went house that evening furious. Why the hell did Barry get all these remarkable toys and not me? Barry didn't work any more difficult at school than I did. As as a matter of reality, I got better grades than he did

. Yet he was allowed to reside in a toy paradise while I was stuck in my low-income, toy-sparse household. It was bullshit. IT WASUNFAIR!!! I was so upset. I cursed the world as a dark and unjust place.And I was wrong.My nine-year-old understanding of the world was therefore. Somebody had something I didn't, for that reason the world was unfair, individuals who had more than me were jerks, and life sucked.I didn't realize at that time the logical

, domino effect descriptions for this disparity. The reasons Barry had so

far more than me were extremely basic. Barry's father chose to operate in a high-income market. My father picked to work in a low-income market. Barry's father picked to have two kids and stop. My dad selected to have 5 kids and keep going.(My mama was unable to have more past 5, but my parents still attempted.)Barry resided in high-income household with just 2 kids to support. I resided in a low-income household with 5 kids to support. So of course Barry had more than I had. And in both cases, it wasn't due to the fact that the world was wicked or unjust. It wasn't due to the fact that Barry's dad, or my dad, was great or bad. It was due to the fact that our daddies had made various conscious and purposeful life decisions.Today I see a lot of hatred against individuals who make more money than others. Each time I see this, I can't assist however consider how I felt when I was dumb nine year-old kid. That guy makes more loan than me. He sucks. The world is unreasonable. Grrr. However no, that's not it at all. That guy made different choices than you did. Yes, some people inherit a great deal of loan without doing any work

, however grumbling about these people is a red herring, considering that only 8 %these days's millionaires acquired their wealth. I certainly wasn't because classification. As a young guy I had to go out into the market and make my money.On the news, in the in 2015 or two, we have actually seen some dreadful and wicked things committed by angry males who aren't effective with ladies. These guys are much like the money-haters. That guy fumes girls. I do not. He sucks. The world is unreasonable. Grrr.In with both loan and women, this is the specific incorrect way to transport

discontentment. You can either direct discontentment outward into the world and be resentful the rest of your life, or you can direct it inward and transmute it into motivation to end up being a much better, more effective, and more pleased man.As I discuss in the Alpha Male 2.0 book, one of the only two times misery stands past the age of 25 is as a short-term motivator for you to enhance your condition. You're dissatisfied with something in your life, so you take favorable right action to change that condition into something that makes you long-term happy.I have a higher than average income, and have considering that I was in my twenties. Today I can buy basically whatever I desire. The only genuine element when I purchase something, even something pricey, is not if I can manage it but how it will affect my investments. (With my INTJ character I tend to be quite anal about those. )There are lots of reasons for this monetary success. The primary factor is that money creates flexibility, and freedom is my greatest value. I knew that if I wished to be a really totally free guy, I needed to make a certain amount of money. So I sucked it up and did it.But the second factor, of all the many reasons, is because of the extreme discontentment I felt for lots of years as a child in a huge family with very little loan. I remember how uncomfortable it was to desire something severely and be unable to afford it. I grew up knowing that I never ever desired to feel that unfavorable feeling ever once again. I wished to ensure my future kids and future better half(if any)never felt that feeling either.As I got in the work world at age 18, I again saw this monetary lack with people all around me. Men at work, in their 30s and 40s, would grumble they couldn't afford things. Females at work would complain they wished to go on all these trips and other enjoyable things "However my other half is a delivery truck driver and we can't afford it." This spurred me on even more. I didn't desire to be among those guys.So I put my head down and worked extremely hard for several years, compromising a few things, consisting of a good sex life, in order to do so. It worked, as cause and result always does. By the time I was 27 I was making 6 figures, which was back in 1999 when 6 figures truly suggested something(considering that it was before Bush and Obama began printing all that cash and boosting inflation ). Relax tomorrow during Christmas, open your presents, eat a great dinner, try to ignore the Societal Shows of your household, and have an excellent time. On New Years Eve, go get drunk and celebration and get laid.But on January 2nd when the new year really begins, you have an option to make. You can cross your arms and resent the world about how unfair whatever is, or you can put in the work to much better your condition and be happy.I know which one I've always picked, and which one I will continue to choose next year. I hope you do the same.Merry Christmas.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

A lost stray; Dog! Bucky x teen reader

Okay I give you all the last series of my Bucky masterlist, once the 2 parts are up my MASTERLIST WILL FINALLY BE UPDATED YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!! Now I have seen a lot of fic involving Bucky with dogs (which are AMAZING BTW) but it got me thinking, what is Bucky BECAME a dog by a certain God of Mischief, and this request that I was given to by some dear friends of mine on wattpad gave me the idea for this, now bare in mind the reader is given a specific name cause that’s what they wanted so if you don’t like it then just replace the name with your own. Also I had a poll to see which bred of dog would best represent Bucky and the winner was....well you’ll find out here shortly. Now BEWARE OF SWEARING, SEXUAL INNUENDOS, MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE, DRUGS, all the bad stuff pretty much *so sorry* but I hope you all enjoy :)

Taglist:

@evyiione

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Okay I have no idea what I did to deserve this fate? I was simply writing in my journal about old memories minding my own business when all of a sudden my journal falls to the ground as does the pencil and when I look down I notice instead of hands, I had paws. I ran towards the nearest mirror to see that I've been turned into a dog, and to be more specific a German shepherd.

I screamed which came out as a yelp of fright as I looked at myself. Even my metal arm had turned onto a dog's leg and I heard soft chuckling behind me. When I turned around I saw Loki standing there.

I growled and ran towards him and cried out his name in anger as I leaped for him but he disappeared into a poof of green mist. I snarled down at the ground thinking I had gotten him but I paused when I saw no one beneath me.

'Grrr Loki! What the hell is this about?! Why the hell did you turn me into a fucking dog! You—you sick low life son of a—' but all that anyone else would hear is mad barking.

"If you want to know why I did what I did, go out and see for yourself. You're not the only Midgardian who has suffered if not more than you have". I turned to see Loki perched up along the windowsill as a black cat which gave me a terrific idea.

'You know for some high and mighty God you sure are clueless'.

"And what is that supposed to mean soldier of Winter?"

'Well here on Earth, the animal kingdom has many animals that are arch rivals, and the biggest of them all is dogs vs. cats'. Loki looked at me like he knew he had been caught. I lunged for him and he took off running.

I chased after him knocking over tables and expensive vases that Tony had. Barking as he yowled at me trying to escape when Tony and Bruce came in and I heard Tony say.

"WHAT THE HELL!?!"

"How did a dog get into the tower?" Bruce said in confusion.

"I don't care about that just look at all my stuff! That does it, come here you mutt!" I was then grabbed on by the neck by a rope. I barked at Tony to let me go telling him that I wasn't a dog, I was Bucky. But sadly he couldn't understand me and soon I was thrown out of the tower and locked out.

I barked as I scratched on the door begging to be back in but when no one answered whimpers came out of my throat and I decided to just walk down the streets of New York, as a freakin dog.

As I walked along the streets, people looked at me like I was still a freak especially since they stared at my metal dog arm. When I got hungry and tried to do the dog face and beg, people just turned me aside and kicked dirt or threw whatever they could at me to get me running. My stomach growled hungrily and I decided to just rest. I managed to find an alleyway with an old rotten box big enough for me to lay in. I got in and laid down on my stomach and sighed.

Who knew that even as a dog I'd be labeled a freak? No one shows sympathy for dogs like me, with handicaps and out on the street. I was a lost dog and I felt sad about it as I felt my ears bend backwards showing my sadness.

It wasn't until my sensitive ears picked up something. I raised my head up and I stood up to hear what almost sounded like someone being beaten up. I carefully followed my ears and I soon came along a corner seeing a group of teenage boys picking on two young twins a boy and a girl.

"What's the matter runts? Are you gonna cry for Mommy?"

"Hey Jared they ain't got no mommy! All they got is that bitch leader of theirs".

"Now listen up you twerps, you better tell your ring leader that if we see another one of you punks on our turf again, people are gonna get hurt, understand?" The taller boy I assumed to be the leader said as he picked up the little girl by the throat then just tossed her towards the wall.

"Amy!" The little boy cried out. Something inside of me snapped. I don't care if you're bigger than your opponent but you do not, I repeat do NOT harm CHILDREN! I came out snarled at the group of boys who turned towards me in shock.

My fangs baring, ears pointed backward and fur ruffled on end. I lunged at them just as one of the boys drew out a small handgun but I successfully threw it out of his hands and got him down on the ground. I then turned to the leader and glared at him with hatred and soon the boys ran away like cowards as they ran home to their momma's.

Once the thugs were gone, I turned to see the boy trying to wake up his sister and when I slowly got up to him, he gasped and tried to get himself and his sister away from me.

'No, don't be scared kid, good dog'. I whimpered softly as I waved my paw at him showing him that I wasn't going to hurt him or his sister. He looked at me nervously and shakily held out his hand for me. Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was a gut feeling, but something was telling me that this young boy once had a bad encounter with a dog before, that's why his hand was so shaky and why he's also trying to protect his sister so much from me.

I lowered my head to his hand and softly licked it assuring him I was a good dog. When I was done, he looked down at his twin then back at me with teary eyes. I walked up to the little girl and sniffed her, I could sadly smell blood but thankfully not a lot so I proceeded to gently lick her temple licking up the blood in the process and soon she started to stir.

"Amy!" The girl's eyes soon opened and my tail wagged thanking god she was alright. When she saw me she suddenly jumped back and her brother caught her and said to her, "it's okay Amy. He's a nice doggy, he's not like uncle's dog was, aren't yah boy?" I grunted softly and sat down before them. So my instincts were right, these poor kids did have a bad experience with a dog before and by their uncle? That just broke my heart.

The little girl Amy looked at me and she held out her hand as well. I smelled her hand and nudged it playfully until it was on top of my head. She smiled softly and petted my head which made my tail swish along the floor.

"He's soft" Amy said. The little boy then reached out and stroked down my neck and gently ruffled the fur alongside my neck and he said.

"Yeah, and he's warm too, and he doesn't have a collar on".

"Look Aaron, he's got a metal leg". I lowered my ears thinking now they would leave and think I was a freak now that they see my metal arm.

"Wow, that's so cool". My ears perked up and I tilted my head in confusion.

"He must be like us, can't we take him home with us, please Aaron?" Amy begged to her brother.

"Amy, I don't think Miss Alex will allow us to have a dog, especially since we didn't tell her we lost the cat we begged to keep when we found it". Cat? What cat?

"But look at him, he's just like us. I bet he's been kicked out by the grownups, haven't you boy?" Amy asked as she took my face between her small hands. I whimpered sadly in yes.

'You don't know the half of it kid'.

"Please Aaron?" I then gave him the puppy dog eyes as did his sister and soon Aaron gave in.

"Alright we can keep him".

"Yay! You hear that boy, you get to come live with us". Amy cheered. I licked her cheek happily making her giggle and curl up. Aww how cute, she's ticklish.

"But we gotta make sure Miss Alex doesn't find him, otherwise she'll make us get rid of him, now come on let's go before she gets back". The twins then stood up and I followed them to their home.

Now I wasn't expecting much just a simple house or even apartment and this so called "Miss Alex" was to be an older woman sitting by a chair or maybe a desk but to my shock these children didn't live in any house, but in the NYC junkyard.

As I followed the young twins I soon notice a camp was set up with small forts and old, filthy mattresses and broken or used up furniture surrounding the camp. A large fire pit stood at the center and all around I could see children ranging from the twins age to teenagers. All of them looked roughed up from living out here in the streets of NY and wore scattered clothes.

"Here we are doggy, home". Amy said.

"Oh good, Miss Alex isn't here yet, maybe she's with Miss Mindy, Carly and Wendy". I titled my head in confusion when someone called out.

"Hey! Where are Amy and Aaron?"

"Uh-oh, quick doggy you gotta hide, we need to talk to Miss Alex about letting you join in". Amy quickly stated. Not wanting these kids to get in trouble with this "Alex" character I quickly hid among some of the rubble of garbage and soon coming into the camp was a girl around 19 maybe even 20 years old, long dark brown hair down past her shoulders, she wore all black and had on a long sleeved black leather jacket and I could faintly see a mark on her neck it almost looked like a tattoo.

Along with her were another girl a bit younger than her wearing the same type of clothes as she was. My dog instincts were telling me that the eldest girl could probably be "Miss Alex" as the twins have said. I stayed as low and quiet as I could and just watched carefully and listened to the conversation that would soon take place.

*My POV*

My name is Alex Pickett, I'm 20 years old with a very, very, very rough past. I'm the leader of a sacred group of special kids, you know the ones that the adults give up on, throw aside like strays, abuse them, and force them into activities that no child should have to go through. Any child in that situation, I come into the picture and bring them here to my save haven in the junkyard where no big business like Child Services can find it.

Anyways, my Right hand girl Mindy and I had just gotten back from getting some supplies like food and medicine for our pack of strays. Might as well tell you a little bit about my girl that I've allowed to be my 2nd in command. Mindy's father was sent to prison for life on a false charge caused by some hire-up business dick who wanted to sleep with her mother who was pregnant with her at the time. Depressed her mom overdosed and died as she gave a 7 month birth to Mindy.

She was taken from foster home to foster home until finally the system just threw her out. I met her just shortly I escaped my fate and the two of us began the Merry gang.

The two of us would find and pick up any child boy or girl that has been abandoned by the people they've looked up to the most in their whole lives, the people that gave them life but soon decided it was nothing but a mistake, or stolen away at their most vulnerable ages or states and taken to serve as their pets in whatever sick activity these bastards saw fit.

"They're back!" Jared called out and soon the whole gang gathered around and Carly said.

"Did you get the stuff?"

"Yep" I said as Mindy and I opened the bags revealing our food and medicine and other supplies we needed to survive at a few weeks at most.

"Hey, where are Amy and Aaron?"

"We're right here!" We all turned to see our youngest pups running towards us. I walked up towards them and knelt down to their 5 year heights. These kids boy did they have a rough story. Their uncle was the only legal guardian alive to care for these kids but the guy was a heavy drinker and he once used to host the Dog fights down in Mexico in his early days. He had the winning fight dog as his pet and whenever he got into his drunk moods, he would have the dog attack these poor children if they ever disobeyed him.

That's when I came in. I found them cowering behind a creak in the woods not far from their house trying to run away. I told them that I was sent to save them and when I heard the Uncle's drunken slurs and the dog's barking, I forced them behind me and told them to close their eyes and cover their ears. As their uncle and his dog came forward, the uncle seized his dog on me and when I was sure the twins could see or hear anything I killed their uncle and his dog with only my right arm *spoilers*.

Now a few months later these two little punks are starting to open up and recover since Child services didn't even bother even trying to look into their case, I was their savior and like to all these other kids, I am their Mother and Protector.

"Where did you two get to?"

"We were just taking a walk Miss Alex, honest". Aaron said nervously. I raised an eyebrow when I took notice of a bit of dry blood at the corner of Amy's temple.

"Amy, what happened to your head?" Amy touched her head and winced. "Oh god, Mindy get me some antiseptic cream and some band-aids from the bag!" Mindy handed me the antiseptic and the band-aids and I said as I squeezed some onto my hand and gently dabbed it onto Amy's forehead. "Okay you two, no more lies, what happened?"

"It was Butch and his goons, we got lost on our way back and accidentally went into his alleyway. He picked Amy up and threw her against the wall". I stopped as I put the band-aid on Amy's head and internally snarled.

That Butch, he and his gang of snakes have always been trying to claim certain spots of the streets as his turf even if it wasn't before. He's even tried to get me involved with a few heists of theirs in the past and a few other stuff to with him personally in his bedroom, and everytime when I'm not in front of the little ones, I tell him to fuck off and I beat the shit out of him then head back home.

"We're sorry Miss Alex, we didn't mean to, we just—" Amy started off but then she trailed off as she looked down almost about to cry. I gently ruffled her head and said.

"It's okay sweetie, I'm not mad at you or your brother. You both didn't know, okay so don't cry okay?" She sniffled and tried to dry up her tears and wiped her cheek with her sleeve. "That's my girl, now then," I stood up and said, "where's Little Thief, I've got something for him". Little Thief is whom I like to call the Black cat that Aaron and Amy begged me to keep around in the gang about a week ago. Black male cat with green eyes, always causing trouble and mischief for my group and stealing some of our food and other supplies running us dry, so I called him "Little Thief" for that.

I then looked down to see the twins looking down nervously and I said to them.

"Amy, Aaron, do you know where Little Thief is?"

"We're sorry Miss Alex, but he ran away a few days ago. We tried to catch him but he disappeared before we could, we're sorry". Aaron said. I took a deep sigh then I said.

"I told you guys that if you can keep track of your pets you could keep them, but since he's gone I'm afraid you guys can't have any more pets around. No more animals, alright?"

"Yes Miss Alex". They said solemnly.

"Now go on, wash yourselves up it's almost supper time". They sulked off together and I told the others to wash up as well and prepare the dinner table leaving Mindy and I alone.

"Well that was a little cruel of you, you know cats are agile and can easily escape if they want to". Mindy said to me.

"It doesn't matter anymore, besides that cat was trouble form the start. The thing I wanted to give him was a bullet right between the eyes". I sneered. I really did hate that cat and he always seem to target me while he stayed in the gang, and at times I did want to shoot the little bastard but I didn't want to upset Aaron and Amy. "You go and wash up Mins, I'll gather the food from the bags". She walked up and I took out the food unaware of someone watching me.

*Bucky's POV*

Wow, this girl really seemed tough on the outside, but on the inside she was sweet and gentle but she is firm when she needs to be, not letting anyone push her around, she truly was a leader, kinda like Steve in a way. But what I want to know is why does she always have to act like this? And what does she have hidden underneath that right arm of hers since I've notice that as she gathers up the food, she keeps touching her right arm like it hurts or something.

Just who was this girl anyway?

*My POV*

After supper time it was time for bed for the little ones, the teens and I tucked in the young ones in their mattress beds and covered them up with as many blankets as we could find and if they wanted a story, the destined teen would read them a story from books that Mindy and I "take" from bookstores and libraries.

Once the little ones were all tired after story time or whatever they needed, we would leave a small lantern on for them in case they needed a light and us big kids gathered around the fire pit and talked quietly.

My mind couldn't shake off the fact that Butch had harmed one of my kids and he needed to pay especially since he's done it to one of my younger and most recent members. I stood up and Mindy said.

"Alex?"

"I'm going to pay someone a visit". Mindy being my right hand woman and knowing me the best out of anyone in the whole gang knew to whom I was referring to.

"Do you want us to go with you?"

"No, Butch is mine and mine alone. I've kicked his ass before and I'll do it again, I'll be back in an hour". I walked out of the junkyard and headed towards Butch's apartment where he and the rest of his lackies like to lounge around.

*Bucky's POV*

That night when the teens had put the kids to bed, I snuck out and walked towards Aaron's and Amy's shared mattress and laid down beside them. I felt Amy place her small hand on my head petting me and Aaron snuggled into my neck. At least I wouldn't be sleeping in an alleyway or under a bridge tonight.

My ears flicked as I heard someone leaving the junkyard. I got off the mattress and safely snuck around the teens who were still gathered around the fire and followed the figure. 

As I followed the scent, I soon found out that Alex was heading into an old building of some sorts so I quickly looked around to see if there was a safer way for me to get inside, when I found an airway vent at the floor of the building. I pawed at it and when I got it opened, I walked inside and crawled through the vents, hoping to find Alex's scent again.

*My POV*

I walked up the stairs and I soon arrived at Butch's floor. All around me I saw some of his goonies passed out on the floor drunk or beyond High on coke or whatever they had in their bodies. I slammed the doors opened and all around me Butch's boys all stared at me and then I saw the high man himself with two prostitutes way older than him on either side hooked onto his arms.

"Ahhh Alex, welcome, welcome, thrice welcome my sweet".

"Cut the shit Butch, you know why I'm here!" I snarled.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about sweetheart". His Brooklynn accent strong as he cooed at me.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about! You mess with any of my kids, especially the children, Mama Bear comes out in full throttle". I tore my leather jacket off revealing my secret weapon.

My right arm was entirely made of the strongest automail material, it also came with a very long extension blade that I personally can summon out by tensing up my muscles together. (A/N: For the automail arm, look up a picture of Lan Fan from FMA: Brotherhood and see her automail arm, that’s what I imagines the arm to look like here)

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, now that's some bad ass arm you got there, I'd love to feel that around my thick—"

"Enough you pig! You want me to feel you, then try it in the dark!" I then slammed my hand against the power box and soon the room went pitch black. Butch and his gang all went screaming and frantically tried to find anything that would give them a source of light but they didn't notice that something dark was stalking them.

A blade went through one guy's chest and he let out a choked out bloody scream just before he collapsed. Butch's gang were nothing but babies as soon as one of them cried out.

"BODY!!" It was a game of cat and mouse, or as I like to call it the Mouse and the Raven. More guys kept screaming in pain as something was beating them like ragdolls before being stabbed by a blade. When the lights came back on, bloody bodies laid all over the ground and Butch stood there as the last one with terrified eyes and I stood just a few feet away from him, the blade of my automail dripping blood onto the ground as well as my whole arm.

Even my whole body was splattered with blood from my clothes, skin and even a portion of my face especially where my tattoo of a raven on flight on my neck was as I stared darkly at Butch.

"You even mess with my children again, I promise you you'll be—AHHHHH!!!" Something shocked me in the back and I was soon brought down to the ground knocked unconscious.

*3rd POV*

Older men in black combat gear came into the room and apprehended my unconscious body while the man in a full armor suit wearing a mask with a design of crossbones walked in and he said.

"Nicely done kid".

"Well it was about damn time you guys got here I thought she was going to kill me! So does that mean I'm a full-fledged Hydra member now?"

"Not yet, first we need to make sure you'll fully comply with Hydra's demands". Crossbones walked towards his men who were holding Alex in hold and touched her face and felt for her pulse.

"Comply with Hydra's demands hey I helped you guys get her doesn't that comply with Hydra's demands you son of a—" Butch was then shot point blank in the forehead with a blade and Crossbones lowered his arm and muttered.

"These damn kids, no respect for authority what's so ever. Get her in the car". Crossbones and his men walked out with Alex to a truck and drove out, unaware that a German shepherd saw the whole thing and was now trailing behind the truck.