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inkandpen22 · 3 years

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Only Love, Only Hate (6 v.1/6)

Pairing: Riff x Latina!Reader

Word Count: 4.5k (oy vey! Hehe only for y’all)

Warnings: angst, mentions of death, very emotional

Part Summary: Y/N kills time until the end of the rumble with Anita. She then waits for Riff in her room, until she receives troubling news...

A/N: Making y’all sad now so that v. 2 makes you happier! Haha! The two versions start the same but are different after the first scene :)

Masterlist

As the sun begins to set, I look out the window in Anita’s sewing room. My arms around me act as a replacement for Riff’s. My mind begins to wander. Where is he? Is he okay? Has the fight begun? With each passing moment that feels years long, I feel sicker and sicker. I don’t know whether I should sit or stand.

If I fall into the deep abyss of various scenarios, I’ll get lost in them. It’s as Riff said, I can’t think that way.

A home upstate. A valley of horses. A yard full of children and dogs playing.

We will have it.

Anita places a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Bernardo told me they agreed to a fair fight, fists only. You know they can handle it.”

“I’m envious of you. You only have one dog in this fight.” My eyes fall to the floor. “If anything happens to either of them-”

She guides me to turn around and face her. “I’m not saying they’ll come out without a scratch, but Bernardo is trained to fight and I’m sure Riff can take care of himself.”

“Does Maria know?” I ask, referring to the rumble.

She nods. “Bernardo told her this morning.”

“And what’s her view?” I start toward the kitchen, needing that tea Anita has on the stove.

“She hates it when Bernardo fights. You’ve seen her on match days.”

“How did the conversation go about the boy she danced with last night?”

“Tony,” she states, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “Not well.”

“Oh good.” I snicker. “Something to look forward to...”

“You and she should have a chat,” Anita advises. “After all, you’ve both managed to find skinny little gringo boys to fawn over when you’re constantly surrounded by perfectly handsome Puerto Ricans!”

I grab two mugs from the cabinet and begin to pour each of us a cup of tea.

“Tony is Riff’s best friend you know...”

“Really?!” I set the kettle back on the stove and sit down swiftly, placing my hand over hers. “And Maria’s mine! That’s perfect!”

She scoffs in amusement, bringing her tea to her lips. “I’m sure that’s exactly how Bernardo and your parents will view it too.”

Her words bring my nerves back. My features fall as I lean back in my chair. “I’m more nervous about what Nardo will do...” I mutter.

“As you should be. I thought he was going to knock Tony out after he caught those two dancing.”

“It’s a shame I missed it.”

“Eh.” She shrugs. “You were upset and embarrassed which is entirely fair! Probably best you weren’t there. Bernardo started shouting and acting like a gangster.”

I can only imagine what Bernardo would’ve done if he had found me and Riff in the alley. If he was so hard on Tony and Maria for merely dancing he would’ve been furious with us. Perhaps the rumble would’ve started right then.

“I almost went to go find you, but Sebastián insisted and I had to get Maria home.” Anita describes, then she pauses, a hint of curiosity coats her features. “Where did you go anyway?”

“Oh uh,” I hesitate, debating on what to say. “I was outside... just getting some air.”

“Just air?” She inquires, a knowing tone in her voice.

I avoid her gaze, keeping my eyes locked on my tea.

“Sebastián wasn’t the first to find you, was he?” She guesses.

I shake my head slowly. “No...”

I hide my nerves in my tea, bringing it to my lips.

“I figured something happened,” she admits. “Sebastián was quiet the whole walk back. Plus, Riff hurried out of that dance without any of his Jets. I just thought he was preparing to challenge Bernardo.”

I practically slam my mug down the table in surprise. “Did he really?”

“Are you kidding?” She chuckles. “Left his date right in the dust. Her cheeks got all red and she had a pitiful frown.”

My lips part as a rush of awe consumes me. Even then, he must’ve loved me.

“I guess I should’ve known there,” Anita confesses. “At least had an inkling considering he wasn’t exactly discreet and after what happened after the market.”

I snap out of my daze, placing my hand over hers. “I didn’t see it coming, how could you?”

This whole time Riff has known. He ran out of the gym after me, despite being surrounded by Sharks. He was willing to risk everything.

She takes my hand in both of hers pleadingly. “It’s going to be hard, you do know that?”

I nod. “Yes... I do. We do.”

She sighs, concern plaguing her features. “Life would be easier if you loved someone like us.”

“I know, but I don’t,” I shrug with a soft smile. “I don’t think I could love anyone else but him.”

“You're still young!” She tries to reason with me. “Things could change! You could grow and-”

“The way you look at Bernardo, the way you are with him,” I describe to her, breathless. “I never fully understood it. I see Bernardo as that annoying older brother who never lets me do anything fun.”

She chuckles and I share it in.

“But from your view, he’s everything.” I now understand. “Your past, present, future. You would give up everything for him. Do anything he needed. Your entire life is encompassed around him. I never imagined feeling that way about anyone... until I met Riff. I had no idea what my future would look like. I saw the rest of my life the moment his eyes met mine at the dance.”

Her eyes wheel up and I see the magnitude of this finally reaching her. None of this is temporary or simple young love. It’s as real as anything. It’s as strong as her love for Bernardo.

“No one will be supportive, Jets, Sharks,” she warns.

I shake my head, unafraid. “I don’t care as long as I have him. He is enough.”

Anita releases a soft laugh and wipes under her eyes. She may never fully support our relationship, but at least now I’m certain she won’t fight it either. She understands. I couldn’t help falling in love with Riff the same way she couldn’t help loving Bernardo.

I glance out the window and the sun is long gone. “What time is it?”

Anita checks her watch. “Almost eight.”

My eyes grow wide. “I should go so he isn’t waiting for me.” I hurry and down the remainder of my time before rising from my seat. “I’ll come up tomorrow to check on Bernardo!” I lean down and peck her cheek on my way toward the door.

Anita flies up from her seat. “Y/N?”

“Yeah?” I pause, smiling brightly at the thought of seeing Riff again soon.

“Be careful...” She swallows hard.

“I will. Adios!” I wave before swinging open the front door and hurrying out.

A home upstate. A valley of horses. A yard full of children and dogs playing.

It’s him and I from now on. Us, every day, forever. Our future starts tonight.

_________________________

I find myself at my desk working on my art assignment with Sinatra playing in the background. Sitting around waiting felt like an eternity and I grew antsy quickly. When I started drawing, I didn’t have anything in mind. I sort of just did it. Over time, I realized what I’ve been doing is sketching Riff entirely from memory. Specifically from this afternoon when he was laying in bed with his eyes closed, looking the calmest I’ve ever seen him. I don’t have a photograph of him, so this will be a stand-in until we can get one together. It’ll be something I can look at whenever we’re apart.

There’s a knock at my door and I swiftly tuck the image under my previous rough drafts. “Sí?”

Papá pops his head in with a soft smile. “Buenos noches, Mija.”

“Buenos noches, Papá.”

He crosses my bedroom to give me a kiss on the forehead. “You work too hard.”

“All to make you proud,” I tell him. “Tell Mamá, good night.”

“Sí, Sí,” he mutters as he shuffles back to my door. “Ope, got another visitor!” He chuckles as Mateo rushes in.

He lands right into my side, wrapping his arms around me. “Buenos noches!”

“Oh, buenos noches, mi pequeño hombre!” (good night, my little man)

I plant a quick peck on the top of his head before ruffling his hair.

Papá waves him along. “Vamos a darle un poco de espacio a tu hermana. (Lets give your sister some space)

I blow Mateo a kiss before he disappears down the hall.

“You should shut that window,” Papá points to it, opened the widest it’ll allow. “You never know what might come flying in here.”

I giggle. “Sí Papá.”

Papá shuts my door slowly. Then, I hear him switch off the lights to the living room and kitchen.

I shuffle through my drafts and pull out my sketch of Riff. It’s funny. I may have spent hours trying to draw something from life, but none of them turned out realistic. I create an image of Riff absentmindedly and it’s my best work.

Abruptly, there’s frantic knocking and pounding on the front door. The sound echoes throughout the apartment and causes me to jump. I hurry over to my door and crack it open. Chatter and muffled chaos out in the stairwell makes my heart raise.

Papá emerges from my parent's bedroom with a yawn. I wave him back in. “I’ll get it, Papá. It’s probably just one of the neighbors locked out again. Go to bed.”

“Bien, buenos noches.” He nods, yawning again. “Let me know if there’s a problem.”

I wait until Papá disappears into his bedroom before approaching the front door. Three more panicked knocks signal before I open the door cautiously. I’m relieved to see Sebastián on the other side.

I release a sigh of relief, placing a hand on my chest. “Seb, Buenos noches,” I laugh.

I see over his shoulder. Behind him, people hurry about the building and travel in and out of their apartments.

I snicker. “¿Qué está pasando?“ (What’s going on?)

He pants. “It’s... It’s...”

I start to notice his state. His forehead is sweaty, clothes covered in dirt and... blood. His head is bleeding. I reach up and cup his face. “You’re bleeding.”

He reaches up into his hair and checks his hand to see the crimson liquid. “Sí.”

“Are you okay?” I panic.

He nods, but his stunned features say differently.

I step aside. “Would you like to come in? I have a first aid kit-”

“No, no, no!” He rushes out.

My heart is beating so fast I can practically hear it in my ears. My palms are sweaty and I feel as though I may be sick.

Seb rubs his hands in circles. His eyes locked on the tiles of my kitchen yards away. “I came... I came because...”

“What’s wrong?” I swallow hard.

“I...” He struggles to say.

Panicked, I grip his arms desperately. “Seb! Tell me! Por favor!”

“Mija,” Papá voices softly as he shuffles toward us. “¿Qué está pasando?”

“It’s Bernardo!” Seb shouts, starring into my eyes. “He’s dead... Tony killed him!”

“Bernardo’s muerto?!” I hear Mamá gasp.

My hands fly up to my mouth. All of the air in the world disappears.

“Y/N...” Papá mutters.

“Liar!” I shove Seb in the chest, causing him to fall back onto the floor. “Liar! Why do you lie?!”

“Mija!” Mamá scolds.

In a daze, I bolt past Sebastián and to the stairs.

“Y/N!” My parents call.

I sprint upstairs to the Vasquez apartment. Bernardo is there. He’ll be waiting in the kitchen. He’ll be at the table all bruised and cut up as he is after every fight. Anita will be cleaning him up and will have me make backs of ice.

Without knocking, I barge into the apartment. The lights in the kitchen and Anita’s sewing room are off.

“Anita!” I call out, my voice cracking. “Maria!”

When there’s no response, I start checking every room, starting with Bernardo and Anita’s. It’s empty. Bathroom, empty.

I start to sob. “¡Por favor, respóndeme!“ (Please, Answer me!)

I swing open Maria’s door. “Maria-”

I halt as my eyes land on Maria guiding a boy toward the window. The two freeze, waiting for me to react. My sight locks with the boy’s and I realize who it is.

Tony.

I charge toward him. He’s the reason for all of this. If it weren’t for him, Bernardo would be here.

Maria calm me down. “Y/N, please-”

I reach Tony and pound my fists into his chest. “Killer!”

He grips my arms but takes my hits.

“Killer! You’re a killer!” I cry.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” His voice shakes.

The sound of the front door echoes throughout the apartment, followed by Anita’s voice. “Maria!”

“Killer!” I sob into Tony’s chest.

He hugs me. “I’m so sorry… Please believe me.”

I’m too weak and overcome with a sense of dread to fight him off anymore.

The sound of Anita’s heels travels rapidly across the kitchen to Maria’s bedroom. Then, they skid to a halt and out of my peripheral vision, I see her standing in the doorway.

“Tony!” Maria pleads with him. “Go to Docs! Valentina will know what to do!”

Tony stares into my eyes with tears wheeling up in his. As I finally genuinely look at him, I’m reminded of a harsh fact that Anita told me just hours before. He’s Riff’s best friend.

I told Riff once, “you can’t love me and want to hurt my family.” If I expect that from him, I must do the same.

I step back, his arms falling from me. “Go...” I mutter.

“But-”

“Go,” I repeat. “Before the police or one of the boys come looking for you. Maria’s right, Valentina is the safest place.”

Tony glances between Anita and me before finally landing on Maria. He plants a quick kiss on her cheek then slips out the window.

“Y/N-”

I whip around and before I have the chance to think, my palm flies across her face.

Anita gasps, her hands flying up to her mouth.

Maria cups her cheek and tears fall from her eyes.

“He killed your brother, Maria!” I shout. “Don’t you understand that? Bernardo is gone because of him! He’s a killer!”

“He didn’t mean to do it!” She argues.

“Y/N,” Anita voices softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I need to speak with you.”

I jolt my shoulder forward and Anita’s hand falls from me. “Didn’t mean to do it?” I scoff at Maria. “So what, all sins forgiven? He did it, Maria! That’s enough! To hell with him!” I turn and march passed Anita toward the front door.

Maria chases after me. “Nardo killed Riff! Tony was-”

“Maria!” Anita scolds.

I freeze and spin on my heels to face her. She looks to Anita and then to me hesitantly. I must’ve heard her wrong. Yeah, that’s it! The voice in my head that kept assuming the worst is playing tricks on me.

“What?” I whisper, unable to speak much louder. “Nardo?” I shake my head and a soft laugh of disbelief falls from my lips. “No, Nardo wouldn’t-”

She swallows hard and stutters. “He... He did... It was an... an accident but, Ri... Riff... He’s...”

Before the words even leave her mouth again, I start to hyperventilate.

“Y/N,” Anita rushes to my side.

My sight remains locked on Maria as it becomes blurry. “No.. No...No...” My legs become numb. Anita struggles to keep up and eases me to the floor, kneeling beside me. I hunch over into a ball and struggle to catch my breath.

Maria lowers herself to the floor a few feet away, tears gliding down her cheeks.

I sob. “He’s... He’s... No! No, he can’t!”

Anita clings to me, her arms around me like a shield.

“He promised me... He promised me...” I stammer, going into shock.

A home upstate. A valley of horses. A yard full of children and dogs playing.

None of it is real...

The pain. It’s too much to bear. I have to live the rest of my life with the fact that I wasn’t there. I may never know what truly happened. If Maria is telling the truth, it was Bernardo who did this. But, Bernardo isn’t a killer. He wouldn’t just-- Tony. Tony was there. He’s Riff best friend. He would know the truth.

The image of him lying alone dead somewhere because of Bernardo enters my mind. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there to protect him. I was supposed to keep him safe. I was supposed to salvage his future and spend the rest of our lives together.

Overwhelmed and broken I scream out to the world with every ounce of my being.

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t be here anymore.

I push off the floor, rising to my feet. My eyes fall to the floor and frantically scatter the tile as my thoughts race.

“Y/N! Y/N!” Anita grips my wrist, struggling to keep me still. “Wait!”

I yank myself free and sprint out the front door without a second thought.

“No!” I hear Anita yell. “Y/N!”

Get out. Get out. Ger out.

_________________________

I stand outside of Docs. The wet pavement shimmers under the orange neon sign in the window and the street lamps. Tears glide down my cheeks in a steady, silent, river. My throat is strained from me suppressing my urge to scream. I see my reflection in the window. Black streams of mascara line my cheeks and down my neck. My hair disheveled from me pulling at it. All I want to do is fall to the ground and cry out to God, ask him why? Why take Riff from me? We could’ve had everything or nothing at all. Nothing, but together, would’ve been enough. Forever...

I open the door to the shop. The bell above it dings softly, announcing my arrival. My eyes flicker about the place and a sea of eyes meet mine. Each of them morphs from surprise to utter disdain. The Jets.

One of them sits up straight in his chair. “We don’t want your kind here,” he growls.

Chills shoot down my back. “I’m-” My voice cracks. “I’m here to see Tony.”

Another boy flies up from his spot at the counter. “What do you want to do with Tony?!”

“Guys!” A gentle voice interjects from the corner.

When I turn my head, I’m met with Graziella and another girl. Graziella’s eyes are bloodshot but don’t express disdain. If I didn’t know any better, I would say there was a hint of sympathy.

“Oi, chica!” A Jet ticks his tongue at me. “Wanna dance?”

I huff, desperate to just figure out where Tony is. “Is Tony here? I just want to talk-”

A boy who was standing by the window snakes up beside me. “Did you hear him, chica?” He whispers in my ear.

I spin on my heels, backing away from him into the store. I bump into another Jet who comes up behind me.

His hands grab my waist and purrs in my ear. “I wanna dance with ya!”

“Boys stop it!” Graziella rises from her spot. “Leave her alone!”

I shove his hands off of me and shout at each of them. “I only want to speak with him! Is Valentina here at least?”

“Wait!” The boy sitting on the foosball table perks up. “Aren’t you the one who was having it out with Bernardo at the dance?”

Stunned, a sense of panic jolts through my veins.

“Oh right...” The one who grabbed me grins as he glides closer. “You’re his little sister!” He wraps his arms around me and presses his lips to mine full force.

I struggle to fight him off as he constricts me like an evil snake. I snap my head to the side, breaking our lips apart. “Get off of me!” I scream. “Valentina!”

He squeezes my ass and the moment an idea pops into my mind, I do it. I pick up my leg and knee the asshole in the crouch.

He releases me with a groan and hunches over in agony. He pants and peers up at me. “You PR bitch!” He barks.

I catch my breath and clench my jaw as I meet his stare with disgust.

In a flash, he moves to lung at me. “I swear to God-”

“Hey, hey! Hold on!” A dark-haired boy jumps between us. He presses his palms to the asshole’s chest and urges him back. Then, he turns to me. “Are you Y/N?”

“What?” I scoff, glaring at him.

Asshole behind him and the other Jets shift. Their eyes grow wide and murmurs erupt.

“Are you her?” He asks, this time more sternly.

“That’s her,” Graziella answers.

I look over at her and she gives me a sharp nod, almost assuring me it’s okay.

“I’m Ice,” The boy speaks softly and digs into his pocket. Then, he reaches for my hand but I flinch. He holds up his hand in surrender. “I only want to give you something.”

For a moment, I hesitate. Why should I trust him? Why should I after what his friend just did to me? What all of them would’ve done to me?

Ice rolls his eyes with a sigh. “Look, Riff talked about ya. He...”

“He tried to talk to Bernardo,” another boy finishes from the corner. “To get his permission to be with ya before...”

“Before things got bad,” a third adds. “But we hadn’t heard of ya until tonight.”

“He made us promise to find you,” Ice finishes.

Cautiously, I extend my hand out to him and swallow hard. “Give it to me,” I mutter.

He lifts his fist and places it in my hand, slowly releasing the object into my palm. Swiftly, I examine the contents in my hand. My eyes grow wide and they flicker between my hand and Ice.

Riff’s bracelet, the one he always wore. It was his mother’s.

My chest rises and falls rapidly as I stare at it.

“May I?” Ice offers to help me put it on.

My eyes glide up to meet his dark ones. I nod.

He picks up the object and unclasps it. All of the Jets watch silently as he slips it around my wrist ever so gently and clicks it closed. The gold four-leaf clover that once belonged to their beloved leader hangs from my wrist.

“When Bernardo... When Bernardo-” Ice struggles to say it without his voice breaking. “And when Tony caught him, Riff kept repeating ‘siempre’.” He mutters as his hands fall to his side. “I’m guessing you know what that means.”

My lips part and it feels as though someone has just ripped my heart out. I nod as tears start to wheel up again in my ears.

Graziella appears between us and Ice steps aside. For a second, she simply looks at me with glossy eyes. I’m left wondering what she’s going to say or do.

My hand flies up to my mouth as I struggle to suppress the ever-present urge to completely break down.

A tear falls down her cheek and in a swift motion, she wraps her arms around me. We may not have met under the best circumstances, but I see now, at the end of all of this, we were in love with the same boy. We are experiencing the same loss.

The door to the cellar creaks, causing all of us to snap our heads in that direction. Valentia emerges. “What’s going on up here?” Her eyes scan the shop and eventually find me. Her features fall. “Aw mija.” She shuffles across the room toward me.

Graziella steps aside and Valentina pulls me into her embrace. I cry into her shoulder as she clings to me. The sound of my sobs fills the silent shop.

She brushes her hand down my hair gently. “He’ll always be with you...” She whispers and it nearly kills me. “Es tu ángel de la guardián ahora.” (He’s your guardian angel now)

________________________

Riff’s bracelet hangs from my wrist and the pendant sways as I march up the stairs of the apartment building. Numb and exhausted, that’s all I feel now. Earlier I complained about the minutes feeling like years as I was filled with anticipation. Now, the minutes feel like seconds and the world doesn’t feel real anymore. It’s like I’m in a nightmare and I’m waiting to wake up.

I step into my family’s apartment and all of the lights are out except in the kitchen. The silence is deafening. I shuffle into the kitchen and find a piece of paper on the table. I recognize Mamá's handwriting.

Tu papá te fue a buscar. Subí las escaleras para estar con maria y anita. Tu hermano está en la cama. Sube cuando llegues a casa. (Your dad went out looking for you. I went upstairs to be with Maria and Anita. Your brother is in bed. Come up when you get home.)

I can’t bear to be with anyone more tonight. I wouldn’t care if I never saw anyone else for the rest of my life. If I go into my room, lock the door, and hide in there for all eternity, I’ll take it.

Desperate to drown out the painful silence, I drop the needle down on the record and start the turntable. Soon, the familiar and now heartbreaking sound of Sinatra fills my room. A gentle breeze slips in from my window, gliding my curtains about. I grip the bottom of the window and push it up higher. As I step back, the visual of Riff climbing into my window and grinning at me crosses in front of my mind. I may always imagine him coming in, perhaps forever I’ll hold onto the hope that none of this is real.

I shuffle over to my dresser and my eyes land on the sketch of him laying on my desk.

mi ángel de la guarda. (My guardian angel)

I pick it up and settle down onto the floor, my back resting against my desk. I realize as I look at it that I’ll never have a photograph of him. This is my one image of him. Otherwise, he would exist only in my memory.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see something under my bed. I glance over and Riff’s jacket remains hidden. I set the sketch down beside me on the rug. Then, I reach for his jacket and bring it to my chest, clinging to the fabric. i curl up into a ball and hide my face in it. A weak smile forms on my lips as I realize it smells like him still.

“Siempre... mi amor,” I whisper, pressing a gentle kiss to it. “Siempre.”

_________________________

Masterlist

Tags: @ilovey0us0 @elarasstardust @jin-neck-shaft @ashleysimmons @septnephilim @sorryyoureoutofmyleague @emmamooney @puredicks @cxlpxrnia @mikefaistandarianadebosestan @i-am-fascinated @whisperofsong @livylululivy @ughkhag3yama @ameliamonster @peterporkpie @queen-ofbrooklyn @idga-fudgeicle

#west side story #west side story 2021 #riff west side story #west side story fanfic #west side story imagine #riff #riff imagine #riff fanfic #wss imagine #wss fanfic #wss 2021 #wss #mike faist #mike faist imagine #mike faist fanfic #imagine #fanfiction #fanfic

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zukkababey · 4 years

Note

kyoshi warrior sokka and blue spirit zuko having like a Thing and not knowing who the other person is until later when zuko joins the gaang

oooof anon i have thoughts about this one

sokka, dressing up like a kyoshi warrior throughout the gaang’s travels to be a badass vigilante - aang and katara and eventually toph all have their bending and whatnot, but sokka just wants to help the towns that they stay in (à la katara and the painted lady)

it starts off irregularly, but then sokka realizes how much what he does actually helps the community (like incapacitating a petty criminal that’s been terrorizing the town, stuff like that) and he starts doing it in every town they come across

one day, there’s been whispers of someone who wanders the streets at night and jumps unsuspecting citizens, someone in all in black, someone called the blue spirit. sokka asks the shop vendors what they know, but no one knows anything, except the name and its proclivity for dual swords.

sokka finds this information very intriguing - that night, he puts on the kyoshi outfit and goes to investigate.

he’s actually expecting some kind of evil spirit, based on the way that everyone talked about the vigilante; imagine his surprise when it’s an actual person holding this unsuspecting citizen at swordpoint, demanding gold pieces. and the spirit is kind of small, too, whoever is behind the mask can’t be much older than him.

sokka steps in to rescue the person being robbed, and as the person runs off down the alleyway, the blue spirit turns to sokka. while the mask covers the person’s face, sokka can tell they’re not impressed.

they fight. zuko wins. sokka is reluctantly very impressed with this kid’s fighting skills. sokka was able to hold his own for the majority of the fight - he’s getting pretty good at being a vigilante! - but the blue spirit eventually gained the upper hand. two blades are crisscrossed over sokka’s throat, and as he’s pressed up against the wall, sokka says, “who are you?”

the blue spirit doesn’t stick around to answer that question. instead, they make a run for it, leaving sokka to stare after them in fascination.

the blue spirit keeps on showing up in the same towns as sokka, and so they keep meeting. after their first few encounters, sokka realizes that even though they fight, the blue spirit never really tries to kill him, which sokka finds very intriguing. and jeez, whenever they fight, sokka can’t help but notice the easy grace the spirit moves with, the lines of their body. it’s so frustrating that no matter how hard he flirts, the blue spirit will just NOT talk back.

there’s one time when they’re fighting each other (sokka would call it flirtily sparring) and there’s a scream from down the road. they don’t even discuss it before they race off to the sound. turns out it’s this gross man trying to get with some girl who’s not into it, and sokka and zuko effectively fight the dude together.

it becomes a beautiful partnership. just two masked vigilantes fighting crime, three feet apart because the blue spirit’s swords are very sharp.

but then the blue spirit stops showing up. sokka travels to ba sing se with the gaang, thinking his time with the blue spirit has come to an end. he pretends that he’s not disappointed.

but then sokka is walking down the street when jet attacks zuko, when zuko fights jet with nothing but his dual swords. sokka is caught behind a crowd of people, so he doesn’t recognize either zuko or jet, but he does recognize that fighting style. what the hell is the goddamn blue spirit doing fighting in the middle of the streets of ba sing se with no mask on?

sokka now knows that the blue spirit is a teenage boy with short black hair, and what the hell is he supposed to do with that information? he tries to push through the hordes of people, talk to the guy, but then the police are showing up and everyone’s scattering and sokka has no choice but to do the same.

he wouldn’t have time to investigate further - things get messy and then ba sing se falls and the gaang has to leave.

the blue spirit is the one who inspires sokka to learn sword fighting. sokka would never admit it, but it’s a way to feel closer to him now that they no longer see each other. he doesn’t tell anyone this.

fast forward to zuko joining the gang and sokka pulls the classic “hey jerks, can i watch you two do your jerkbending” and even though zuko says no, sokka still watches from afar. and damn... the way zuko moves seems somehow familiar to him... but he can’t quite place it.

it’s not until the boiling rock, when they’re fighting together on the gondola, that sokka finally realizes that zuko is the blue spirit. and by the way that zuko is looking back at him, sokka is pretty sure that zuko just figured it out too.

after a mental 180 where sokka realizes it was zuko who he was flirting with, he’s like “.....do you wanna do an activity together?” and zuko is like “.... but we just did an activity together” and sokka responds with “haha oh yeah”

anyways he tells anyone who asks that zuko took him to a high security prison for their first date and zuko is just in the background like “stop telling people that!”

(zuko secretly thinks their first date was when they fought that guy off in an alleyway, but he’s not going to tell sokka that, no way.)

#zukka #if there’s something in here that doesnt actually line up with canon let’s just pretend we do not see it #i hope this was what you wanted anon lol i got a tad carried away #anonymous #answered

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hello-yue-here · 3 years

Text

fuck it im talking about all my favorite fic ideas today instead of writing my final paper because this is more fun.

up next we have the sukka & jetko boiling rock fic

this is exactly what it sounds like

jet lives and is sent to boiling rock. he never accused zuko and iroh of being firebenders so he was never taken by the dai lee and therefore never died. azula had dai lee monitoring the tea shop because she somehow knew zuko was there. they saw jet and zukos lil fling goin on. jet then sees iroh do something suspiciously like firebendimg but instead chooses to ignore it because he likes lee so much. when hes captured hed like i fucking knew it i knew he was a firebender. goes to boiling rock completely crushed and fucking furious that lee lied to him.

suki is there and the two of them bond quickly. they dont like each other at first because sokka had told suki ab jet but she gets to know him better and learns that he tried to change and was v traumatized and they get along and whatnot bla bla bla you know the drill. jet rlly did try to start a new life in ba sing se and he regrets what he did to sokka and that village so they move past it. jet and suki besties lets go

sokka and zuko head to boiling rock. their vibe? imagine hyde and eric from that 70’s show. thats their vibe. best friends and shit tons of sarcasm. broskis if you will.

they see suki sokka is so excited zuko is like haha nice good for you man.

then they see jet

and both of them are like oh fuck

sokka is like “that guy tried to kill me, why are you saing oh fuck”

zuko is like “thats my ex”

sokka is like what the fuck happened in ba sing se

anyways

they all reunite

jet is PISSED TF OFF as he should be

they manage to escape w hakoda

suki and sokka are happy

zuko and jet are not

lots of shit needs to happen for jetko to be stable again but development and storyline will be added in and everyone lives happily ever after the end.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #sokka #zuko #jet #suki #sukka #jetko #the boiling rock #fanfic #this is the good good #i already wrote the prolouge for this oops #i like this one a lot #jetko and sukka my beloveds #ppl need to appreciate jetko and sukka more

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aslitheryprinx · 3 years

Note

These are from song titles, but I think these are poggers (I hope, at least)

* And there was life inside "it"

* Can it really be called "Cinderella" ?

* Love inside an empty box

* World is full of wonders (Or "Full of wonders!!!!")

* Near

* Angel's clover

Don't worry anon, they are most definitely poggers! (Both of my current ao3 published works have names based on song lyrics, so that really fits my vibe haha.)

There are so many good prompts here! I couldn't help but write like.... A lot lmao.

CW: dehumanization, themes of child abuse, themes of death. Be safe!

____

And there was life inside "it"

They called it RNB-00. It was the first in a generation of experimental life production using DNA from one of the most volatile creatures in the worlds: endermen. There were no endermen hybrids. The children could not survive, and the birth was volatile, tearing the parents and anyone near them apart with the violent magic.

They would perform the experiment anyways.

An unfinished human embryo, carefully extracted from someone who would be written in the paperwork as a volunteer. An enderpearl, freshly taken from a creature they didn't consider "human" enough to need even dubious content. DNA, taken directly from the brain of the enderman.

They spliced together the three ingredients, cheering when the chimera of enderman and embryo inside its tubes showed signs of life.

But some things are not meant to be done.

Nature is not meant to be tampered with.

The experiment turned south quickly. The specimen convulsed in its tube, growing at a rapid rate. Vibrant purple magic lashed out, dancing through the lab with a vengeance. There were the cries of a newborn mixed with the shrieks of an enderman- then, an explosion.

RNB-00 fell to the ground, the magic pulsing from it too bright to be looked at by the naked eye. A second explosion rocked the lab, this time all-encompassing and final. The building turned to ash and dust and settled around a new crater.

There would never be a RNB-01.

A shape rose from the center of the crater. It was a child from one angle, maybe two or three, with pure white hair, scarred cheeks, and a red eye.

From the other angle, it was a monster. Something not quite enderman or human. Jet black hair, and velvety black fur covered the left half of it. It's eye glowed an unnatural green, not the color of humans or endermen.

It toddled slowly away from the epicenter of the explosion, no memory of what had happened. As it walked, it noticed a mark, a brand, on it's right arm: RNB-00. The child stared, and blinked at the word.

And he named himself Ranboo.

Can it really be called "Cinderella"?

When Tubbo was young, he saw Cinderella, once. Even with how young he was, the story resonated with him. He wished all his stepfather did was give him chores, but he knew exactly how it felt to be unloved, unwanted, forced to stay on the sidelines. He just hoped his fairy godmother would come soon.

When he was a little older, he looked back on the story of Cinderella with nothing but bitterness. He was old enough now that he knew fairy tales didn't happen. There was no "fairy godmother" coming to save him; there never had been, there never would be. All he had was himself and his shitty situation. He wanted to forget the story that had given him such a bittersweet lie, but it was burned into his memory.

As he reached his teens, the anger turned into weariness. It wasn't Cinderella's fault his stepfather was a piece of shit. It wasn't the character's fault that she had help to break free while he didn't. And how miserable he was wasn't Tubbo's fault either, no matter how much his stepfather screamed it.

When he was 16, feeling ancient yet younger than he had ever been, he stopped comparing himself to Cinderella. Cinderella hadn't stood over her stepparent's body with a bat. Cinderella hadn't called the police on herself, showing them what she'd done and then the reason why, covering his skin beneath his clothes. Cinderella had been freed, but she hadn't paid such a heavy price for that freedom.

Tubbo had. Tubbo was far from a Cinderella story.

Love inside an empty box

Tommy's love was dangerous. He learned that at a very young age. Love for him wasn't just a feeling, it was a physical thing, at least to his eyes. He could feel every last drop of care, of love gathering around him like a storm. And just like a storm, when the feeling touched down, it was deadly. People, animals, anything that was touched by the love he couldn't stop feeling crumbled under the weight of something that shouldn't exist.

Tommy couldn't stop himself from caring. But he could stop himself from hurting. Hurting others, at least. Tommy commissioned a solution from a witch with a terrible reputation for cruelty, but a renowned skill with magical crafting. It cost him everything he owned, and some of who he was, but he walked away with an empty box made to hold what he couldn't afford to keep.

For years after that, every time he felt love building up in his chest- his care for friends, the people he considered family, even for strangers- he tore it off of himself and flung it into the box. Over time, the box grew full, bursting at the seams with his love. He learned to discard all but the most precious feelings, keeping those in his overstuffed box that weighed nothing and locking them inside.

But no lock lasts forever. Nothing lasts an eternity.

Tommy was alone with nothing but his thoughts, his box, and the ghost of a brother who was only really that in the privacy of his mind. He let his eyes shut, the box held loosely in one hand. The ghost, not knowing the consequences, touched the box.

And the seams of magic holding it together shattered and the love Tommy had stored away broke free, as powerful and terrible as a hurricane.

If it had been Wilbur, the man would've died as surely as he had when a blade was thrust through his heart. But this was Ghostbur, and you cannot kill what is already dead.

Still, such power has consequences. All the love in the box, far too powerful to be contained for long, spilled over, pouring over and around the ghost and the boy.

Yes, such power has consequences. The boy with too much love and his brother that never was would face those consequences together.

(world is) full of wonders

Wilbur is a simple musician. He travels alone, playing an ode to all of the world around him. He sings to the trees, the sky, the river, the sun, anything he pleases.

Though he knows it's silly, he can't help but imagine they sing back. He tries to match the harmony he hears in his mind, tries to play along with the symphony of nature. He can never keep up, but likes to imagine the world is fond of his efforts.

But even musicians can stumble into trouble. Too caught up in the ballad he played to the tune of the wind, he didn't hear the rattle of bones, the drawing of a bow. He heard only the twang as an arrow released before it pierced through his skull and everything went black.

But Wilbur wasn't gone. He didn't cease to exist, like he always assumed. He felt the cool caress of the void, the gentle brush of the universe against his mind and he gasped. Clearer than he'd ever heard it, he heard the song of the world, in perfect harmony and tune. This time, it sang along to him, to the pulsing of his soul.

Wilbur had no body, but if he did he would weep. He had no lungs, no mouth, no voice, but his soul took up the melody he longed to sing anyways. He sang with the universe until the song became more and more impossible to replicate and he could only listen in awe.

He woke up painlessly, laying on a gentle green field. His guitar was by his side, and his sweater was cleaner than it had ever been. He knew instinctually that he was not in the world he'd came from. This was a new world, a universe untouched, a new song to add his voice to.

Near

It hit him, one day, as he absently peeled a potato over the sink. That he didn't remember if he'd ever touched another person.

Techno had froze for a moment. It was quite the revelation to have out of nowhere. He dismissed it a moment later, memories of how he and Phil would bump shoulders as they walked and talked fresh in his mind.

But all too soon his thoughts turned back to the uncomfortable topic. Sure he'd touched Phil before, but that was through layers of armor and clothing. Had he ever had skin to skin contact with another person? Anything, as simple as a handshake? Hell, even something during battle would count.

He came up empty, and it was driving him crazy.

He didn't need to touch people. He didn't. Having someone he cared about liked close to him was good enough. He didn't need physical contact to reassure him. He never had, not even as a child.

Though that may have had something to do with the chorus of voices he'd had in his head that had kept him on the brink of insanity for most of his childhood. His voices were always there, always with him, so what need did he have for another person's company?

Except he did like company, Phil's especially. And he had it, plenty of it, more than he could ever possibly need. So why did he suddenly feel so off balance?

He asked Phil about it next time he saw his friend. He kept it casual. It wasn't a big deal, he didn't need to worry Phil by letting how much this had bothered him show.

"Hey, Phil, have we ever touched?" He asked. Phil gave him a weird look, then bumped his shoulder.

"Like that?" He asked, unimpressed. "Mate, maybe you should check your own memory before you call me old man again."

"Nah," Techno dismissed, "I meant like... skin to skin. Like a handshake or something."

This actually gave Phil pause. He thought for a moment, then laughed.

"I guess we haven't. Weird. Why?"

"I... Don't think I've ever touched anyone like that," Techno said. He tried to keep his voice steady, but his heart was pounding as he poured out his weakness in front of Phil.

The other man was silent for a long time. Techno could practically hear the shouts of ever??? running through his mind.

Suddenly Phil turned towards him, pulling off a glove.

"Handshake?" He offered with a smile, something sad beyond the amusement in his eyes. Techno rolled his eyes, but he hesitated taking his glove off. Slowly reaching out, as if Phil's hand was a snake that might strike at any sudden movements, he placed his hand in Phil's.

The sensation was like a fire roaring to life on his hand. It didn't hurt, not like a real fire, but it somehow burned. He froze, his brain having trouble processing the bizarre feeling. It was overwhelming, and the best thing he'd ever felt, and yet it was almost a relief when Phil gently pulled his hand away.

"We'll take it slow, alright mate?" He said, nudging Techno with an elbow. The piglin's brain began to work again and he snorted, pulling the glove on again and falling back into step.

"Of course. We can't overwork your old man brain," Techno said dryly, earning him a sharper nudge. He grinned, the amusement softening to fondness as Phil walked just a little closer, letting their arms stay pressed together as they went.

It was strange how you didn't notice you were missing something until you had it. Bare contact was a little too overwhelming right now. So he was right. For now, this was enough. Having his best friend near him was all he needed.

Angel's Clover

There is a special plant that only grows in the land of celestials. An ethereal clover that sprouts from the weary souls that come to rest on the soils of heaven. The souls and the clover flourish in time with one another, tended to by the celestials that walk the lands. It is only a rumor, in the eyes of mortals, but one who walks among them knows it to be true. He is the Angel of Death, and his presence can never touch the sacred halls of the celestial lands, lest they wither and die.

But souls do not always complete the journey, to find their final rest above. Some souls are too broken, too hurt to reach the peace of the celestial lands. It is the duty of the Angel of Death to guide the souls, and it is his duty to heal them so that they may be guided.

In the land of the mortals, there is one place where the clover grows. It is in the humble garden of a plain looking man, who wears a large hat to block his eyes from the sun, and keeps his unearthly wings folded beneath his cloak.

In his garden, the Angel of Death nurtures the precious remnants of life.

#dsmp #dsmp au #prinx fake title game #ranboo #tommy #techno #tubbo #wilbur #phil #aslitheryanswers

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zukkatrash · 4 years

Text

atla pirate au

(soley based on me misreading a diff post and now wanting to see mai in a keira knightly getup) (also everything i know abt pirates is based on the pirates of the caribbean, treasure planet and black sails and hasty 2 am googling) (also also big fucking shoutout to @s-suki for helping me with this)

the gaang's ship - aka The Avatar

yue is captain!!! (@s-suki ur brain is huge and i luv u) so from what i know being a captain is a looot abt politics and u know our girl yue is good at that, not to mention how much her crew loves her bc she gives everything for them

sokka is navigator, one look at the stars and he knows where they are instantly, he charts a course in record time, captains have in fact fought over him but he is nothing but loyal to his captain!!!

aang spends at least half his time in the sails, as lookout and keeping knots secure(? idk shit abt sailing haha) he’s also the fastest one they got, no matter if he’s running, swimming or paddling a small boat

suki is the best fighter they have bc of course she is (also theres no misogyny in this bc i said so) grown men shit themselves when they see her / also shes boatswain (the boatswain was in charge of a ship's anchors, cordage, colors, deck crew and the ship's boats, and would also be in charge of the rigging while the ship was in dock)

toph! makes! bombs! also if u give her a gun that u found thats been underwater for three months and u give her like 2 hours, not only is it completely functional afterwards but it somehow works better than before?

katara is quartermaster and shes def like 30% of how yue keeps her crew in line

haru is ship cook (i know this has zero connection to canon but have you considered boi soft and warm like bread)

teo is the ships carpenter (highest ranking if they got more than one)

jet is a fighter obvs, also him and sokka do NOT get along but yue has this real icy stare that makes them both shut up immediately

smellerbee is dating toph and yue is not opposed to their relationship but does make sure theyre not around eachother too much when explosives are also near bc those 2 def get up to some wild shit

longshot is obvs the best shot they have and is the other lookout

appa is a parrot and he spends all of his time being adorable

momo is still a lemur and just steals so much shit

on to the firenation

ozai rules over a whole ass port/island or smth idk but like all the pirates have to deal with his fucking bullshit

zhao is his 2nd in command and yue at some point guts him 😊

azula is of course captain of her ship and she rules with an iron fist

mai is first mate (making any possible future betrayals that much worse)

ty lee is ship medic and just constantly gets underestimated in fights and wins like right away

zukos life motto on azulas ship is 'i hate it here' bc his job is basically everything nobody else wants to do (until! he is no longer on the ship. does he get pushed off the ship to drown? does he leave in the night with all the valuables he can carry and a map of a great prize? idk, YOU DECIDE)

more thoughts on zuko:

i dont think he’d join the gaang right away after he’s no longer with the fire nation but would first like half-die on some island (even if he didn’t get kicked off, i just imagine he’d do smth drastic like think he can sail a ship without getting lost just bc he’s spent a lot of time on a ship but like, honey no, navigation isnt as easy as it looks) bc zuko alone u kno

iroh is still his uncle in this, but zuko doesnt know that, so he thinks he’s just this weird hermit guy that finds him and takes him in

zuko is like "what does he want? what his secret agenda? how will this guy use this against me?" and iroh is just like "boy! eat something but also are u like okay? u want some cryptic advice thats consisting of 60 ocean metaphors?"

iroh does tell him hes his uncle tho and that he left when zuko was really young and he wasnt the only one who ran from that house that day...

URSA IS ALIVE!

she had been banished by ozai and threatened with zukos murder if she had stayed, ozai wouldve killed her but he knew he couldnt take her in a straight fight and if she had been the type you could assassinate they wouldntve ever gotten together anyway

now shes vibing with iroh and lu ten, because yes lu ten is alive (listen if there is any feasable way of my boi to be alive he is!!!)

also they’re def supporting everyone who opposes ozai as asafely as they can on whatever weird remote island theyre at

once zuko joins the crew of the avatar, sokka laughs like straight five minutes abt zuko thinking he could navigate his stolen boat after not even learning how to properly read a map, not to mention everything else that goes into navigating and zuko is like "fuck u" and sokka is like "lets show u how to read a map so this doesnt happen again" still with tears of laughter in his eyes, and maybe later when hes been on the crew for longer and maybe saved sokkas life in a fight, sokka teaches him abt the stars too and cue zuko pining after the way too beautiful guy trying to explain constellations but zuko just keeps getting lost in his eyes and being hyper aware of how close sokkas arm is when he points out specific stars

the reason zuko joins them in the first place is bc the avatar is the only crew that could protect him against azula and ozai and they’re the only ones willing/able to go up against the fire nation

also katara is the first to see zuko after he parted with the fn and she like immediately has a sword to his throat and boi just fucking faints

maybe jee is also a captain in this bc i really like it when the wani shows up in fanfics and maybe they’re not on good terms with ozai but they’re flying under the radar bc its just a small ship and they do bring in their percentage so maybe zuko joins his crew before he goes to find the gaang?

now some general thoughts:

the dai lee is the chinese navy out to get them all

miyuki is one of their highest ranking officers and gives the pirates a run for their money, but weirdly never goes to chase the Avatar

hakoda is also a captain but he’s working under ozai to take the operation down from the inside (also yes of course his husband bato is also there with him ^^)

kue is absolutely some weird hermit guy

once again big thanks to @s-suki for helping me with this check out their blog theyre great! (theyre on break rn tho but dont let that deter u!!)

if anyone wants to add to this PLEASE do!!! also if anyone draws or writes smth for this please please please tag me bc i would love to see it!! (also i will love u forever ♡)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #atla pirate au #pirate captain yue #like kellin u were GALAXY BRAINING yesterday!!!#i think if anyone draws her with a pirate hat and one of those flowy shirts ill drop dead on the spot #also i refused to go to sleep 3 times to write this haha #this idea had me up till like 4 am haha

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homespork-review · 4 years

Text

Homespork Act 4, Part 2: Flight of the Paradox Groans

BRIGHT: Remember Spades Slick being bizarrely aware he was in a comic, back in the Intermission? Buckle up, things are about to get even more fourth-wall-breaking. Appropriately, this starts by the comic focusing on an actual fourth wall, which activates to show...Andrew Hussie.

Hussie’s MS Paint avatar notices the audience watching him, laments that his side of the wall doesn’t have an off switch, and then recaps the first year of Homestuck.

Now, in all fairness: The recap is thorough, full of links, and explains things fairly well. It’s quite long, but given how much territory it has to cover I’m not sure it could be any shorter. So it does its job well, and it’s a boon if you’re getting lost with the plot.

As for the author insertion...on this occasion I don’t mind it. It comes across as tongue-in-cheek, but framed more as the author talking to the reader than as the author inserting himself into the narrative. It’s definitely very Homestuck.

Anyway, AH gets back to work, and after a couple of false starts we return to John!

John is still flying around with his jet pack. GC trolls him to offer him a world map of LOWAS and tell him she feels awful about killing him, although in literally the next line she tells him that technically he never even died so she doesn’t understand why he’s so upset. John understandably finds this disturbing. They have a brief nonsensical discussion about Jesus/Jegus, and then John agrees to go take a look at what’s on the other side of his Second Gate. Yes, on the advice of someone whose previous advice got him killed.

CHEL: Almost a shame we didn’t set up a Too Dumb To Live count, but then to be fair that was a separate timeline and he’s probably not thinking of it as something that “really” happened. This is supported by his later dialogue.

FAILURE ARTIST: The word Jegus is really popular in the Homestuck fandom, used far more often than it is in the canon. Gets quite annoying, in my opinion. Actually, a rather Jesus-like figure does appear, but he’s not called “Jegus”.

CHEL: Yeah, I think only Terezi, John, and Dave ever use the term, but it somehow became latched onto as an actual term used by trolls in general, even though in canon it isn’t.

BRIGHT: Fortunately, this time GC appears to be playing nice. John flies though the Second Gate and emerges...into LOLAR?

FAILURE ARTIST: Hussie does an amusing trick where he has what looks like a loading screen for a flash but it’s actually a still image eternally at 2%.

BRIGHT: Yes, it’s LOLAR. John promptly crashes into Rose’s house, smashing through a wall and into her bedroom, where Rose is still snoozing in her knitting pile. Apart from briefly being stuck upside down, he does not appear injured by this collision.

Rose has somehow slept through the commotion. John decides to let her rest and borrows her computer to talk to Dave.

The first one he talks to is actually Davesprite, who points out how moronic John was to listen to GC again. No arguments here! Then he explains how the Gate system works: Odd-numbered Gates, above players’ houses, lead to somewhere on their planets. Even-numbered Gates lead to other players’ planets, exiting over their houses. Normally they aren’t meant to go through even-numbered Gates until the houses are built up, so they don’t fall to their deaths, but fortunately John has a jetpack workaround. So far Davesprite is living up to his promise of being straightforward.

John realises he’s talking to Future Dave, and asks “do you think i could talk to the real dave for a second?”

...ouch, John.

Davesprite goes off on a tear, ranting that he is a real Dave — arguably the realest Dave, since he’s been running around LOHAC for months trying to get enough information to save everyone. John apologises sincerely.

CHEL: This won’t be the last we hear of this theme, though.

EB: i think i pissed off your future self. TG: what did you do EB: i said he wasn't the real dave. TG: ahahahahaha EB: i think i might have really hurt his feelings though! TG: pff TG: dont worry about it EB: why not? TG: cause i wouldnt give a shit TG: and hes me

BRIGHT: Not a hundred percent sure I believe Dave, there.

CHEL: Dave uses John to snoop around Rose’s room and get the captcha code for her journals. Classy, Dave. Not a SLAMMER point, however, as this does come back to bite him very soon.

Rose’s dreamself has awoken on Derse, the purple planet, and flies across to the opposite tower. Dave’s dreamself appears to be awake, sitting upright in his computer chair; the room is entirely an unsettling bloody red colour apart from the SBaHJ cartoons on the walls, and… oh shit, there’s Lil Cal again, now in a long purple nightdress and hopping around the room on his own. If Rose was having nightmares because of dreamself issues, I can only imagine how Dave’s nightmares must look. Rose throws a ball of yarn at Dave’s dreamself, alerting him, and causing the awake Dave to pass out.

Back in Rose’s room, it seems that Charles Barkley quote was not misattributed:

FAILURE ARTIST: Another SBaHJ reference in the book quote. Is that where Dave got it?

Still, I don’t recall this book ever coming up again. Just another item that seems like a Chekhov's Gun but isn’t.

CHEL: John feels guilty about opening his birthday gift from Rose, but reasons that it’s technically now his anyway, so he does, finding another bunny, this one black and filthy-looking except for the pristine knitted purple patches repairing it, though its shape is eerily familiar.

The gift in this box is a resurrection. I used your present to thread life anew into a tattered heirloom. As long as I can remember, its black, greasy appendages have been tethered limply to its ratty, porous carriage. Too delicate to wash, too dear to discard. I used to love this rabbit. Now he's yours. I trust you'll find this to be adequately sentimental. Happy birthday.

Oh my gosh, awwwwww. Even if you don’t ship them romantically how can you not love their interactions? Definitely one of the comic’s strong points. Also I need to go hug my childhood teddy bear.

John puts the bunny back in the box again and the box in his sylladex, freeing Casey the salamander while he’s at it. And let’s just take a minute to feel utter horror because dead John still had Casey in his sylladex, so the best option is that she died too, and the worst is that we have an And I Must Scream situation on for a baby salamander. Gah.

FAILURE ARTIST: Thanks, I’d never thought of that and I never want to again.

You aren't actually sure if she is a girl though. You don't even know if salamanders can be girls. Aren't they hermaphrodites or something?

CHEL: No, for the record. Though some frogs can switch from one to the other.

FAILURE ARTIST: Casey is very popular as a name for an OC child of John (often having Rose as the mother).

CHEL: John answers Rose’s Pesterchum, upon which GA is half-heartedly sending antagonistic messages. John answers on Rose’s account, saying that Rose is asleep, which GA takes for Human Sarcasm, prompting John to pretend to be Rose.

GA: I Should Figure Out How The Viewport Feature Of This Application Works GA: So I Can See What Such A Primitive Creature Looks Like TT: haha, well i know what you guys look like. TT: you look kind of like... TT: howie mandel from little monsters.

Wait, how does he know? Am I forgetting a point at which he saw them?

BRIGHT: I always assumed that he was just goofing around and his guess happened to land in the right ballpark, but thinking about it, I’m not sure the kids ever express surprise at the trolls’ appearance.

CHEL: John, pretending to be Rose, talks about how awesome John is.

GA: He Is Either The Leader Of Your Party Or You Hold Whatever The Human Equivalent Of Mating Fondness For Him Is

CHEL: Both. Both is good!

FAILURE ARTIST: Knowing what we do of troll culture later this is an odd statement. Heck, it’s just an odd statement. Maybe this is why people think trolls don’t do friendship.

CHEL: John apparently confuses GA by saying it’s because Rose is thoughtful and John appreciates his gift, and suggests GA talk to John.

TT: why don't you pick the time that will make the most complicated mess out of everything imaginable?

GA sounds very annoyed, and leaves, intending to have the conversation with John that she had previously. We see her, GC, and the horns of AT and an unknown troll in the grey room, now revealed to be a computer laboratory. For some reason she chats via Pesterchum with another troll instead of just walking over to talk to them. This new troll is twinArmageddons, an appropriate name for the circumstances, who type2 iin yellow text liike thii2; he is, as it turns out, the hacker guy GC mentioned earlier. TA is busy setting up the network and seems irritable in general, and is not willing to help GA work her viewport.

TA: iif ii 2ee one more 2narl of wiire2. TA: kiind of juttiing out and beiing tangled or whatever. TA: ii am goiing two perform 2ome 2ort of athletiic fuckiing 2omer2ault off the deep end and get a call from the pre2iident or 2ome 2hiit.

Nice callback, but trolls, as we’ll later find out, don’t have presidents.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 14

GA wonders why TA doesn’t want to talk to her, and TA complains that he knew in advance the trolls were doomed and no one believed him. He refuses to troll the humans himself but is setting up the system so the others can in order to get them to leave him alone. GA asks again for help, to no avail.

TA: iif you cant fiigure 2hiit out by fuckiing around you dont belong near computer2. TA: kiind of liike wiith regii2tered 2ex offender2 and 2chool2. TA: iif you move two a new town you have two go up two your neiighbor2 door and warn them about how 2tupiid you are. TA: and giive them a chance two hiide all theiir iinnocent technology. TA: and vandaliize your hou2e.

Ooh, a threefer plus one! Tacky simile for the Problematykks. As for WSP, we’ll later find out that 1) trolls kill all their criminals, 2) trolls don’t give a shit about the welfare of their children, and 3) trolls don’t appear to actually go to school. These two counts are neck and neck in the lead now!

CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 17 WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 17

BRIGHT: As with much of Homestuck, the trolls give the impression of being made up as Hussie went along. That’s not entirely a bad thing -- it certainly makes the comic pretty unique -- but it does lead to some out-of-place slip-ups.

Anyway, GA chucks her F1 key at TA’s head and then starts poking him. We also see CG in the lab.

FAILURE ARTIST: I think I recall GA/TA were a popular ship before we learned more about GA. It does seem like they have a Rose & Dave dynamic going on.

BRIGHT: Back on Derse, Rose and Dave have a dance party to Dave’s music while accompanied by some crows and Lil Cal, who keeps teleporting around the room. Rose eventually gets tired of Cal’s shenanigans and hurls him out of the window, to the relief of many.

FAILURE ARTIST: The flash originally included music by Bill Bolin. In fact, it was his unfinished music being included here that caused all the drama in the first place.

BRIGHT: Time for some random interludes! First up is Maplehoof the pony, who is following Rose’s mother through a large cave which, judging by the grist lying around, recently contained very dangerous monsters.

FAILURE ARTIST: Apparently pets can collect grist for their masters...and know what grist is despite being a normal(?) animal.

BRIGHT: First Mom, and then Maplehoof, stand on a transportaliser platform and disappear. Second is Dad, who has just acquired a replacement shoe and hat (which showed up in the walkaround game, way back at the beginning of the Act), when he encounters a familiar-looking stranger with a Colonel Sassacre book, who leads him to another transportalizer platform. Both of these interludes do become relevant later, but at the time they seem a tad unnecessary.

Meanwhile, John uses Rose’s alchemiter and a code Davesprite gave him mid-rant to produce a truly epic hammer called FEAR NO ANVIL. It’s far too big for John to wield, but fortunately he can use the scaling upgrade on the alchemiter to reduce it to a more useable size. ...wait. When did Rose’s alchemiter get a scaling upgrade? Dave and Jade added a lot of modifications to his, but Rose’s should be the original edition. Sigh.

EB: so what is this? EB: the thing the code made... TG: really powerful hammer EB: how do you know? EB: i thought you couldn't use hammers. TG: i cant TG: better be though TG: got it from hephaestus EB: who's that? TG: really tough to kill dude EB: you killed him for it? TG: nope EB: how'd you get it then? TG: shenanigans EB: ok.

...and we’re back to sprite evasiveness. Davesprite is being less than forthcoming here, although it’s less obvious than with Nannasprite because it superficially imitates John and Dave’s bantering.

CHEL: Now, this would be a good way of keeping us interested if we were eventually going to see how he did it, and also they have a time limit, so not going off into a long anecdote would be understandable. However, we’ll see how his evasiveness level proceeds in the future.

BRIGHT: Dream Rose and Dave see John using Rose’s alchemiter on Dream Dave’s computer. Rose wakes up.

FAILURE ARTIST: It is interesting how early Homestuck avoided having characters have face-to-face conversations. Would have been unique if it kept up throughout the entire comic.

BRIGHT: Back in the meteor, GA hassles TA into opening the viewport on her computer. This turns out to be as simple as clicking on the point in Rose’s timeline that she wants to see. No wonder TA was frustrated!

Of course, by this point, the only one left in the room is Rose, now awake, and the young salamander. Rose hurries to catch up with John, but he blasts off to explore before she can reach him, taking her mutated kitten with him.

CHEL: John renames Vodka Mutini to Dr Meowgon Spengler, and Rose renames Casey to Viceroy Bubbles von Salamancer. Interesting link to the themes of identities which are starting to crop up, though it’s not really a direct analogue. The animals are the same animals with different names; the alternate timeline characters have the same names and superficially the same identities, but are they really the same people after their new experiences?

BRIGHT: Back on Derse, Lil Cal inexplicably lands on a stray rocket board, catching the attention of AR.

You're not sure which laws are being broken, but it is probably a lot.

AR follows Cal to yet another transportaliser, and they both dematerialise.

We jump back to John, who spies a boat on one of the islands dotting LOLAR and lands to investigate. He follows hoofprints in the sand into a subterranean hallway filled with monsters. Fortunately his new hammer has time powers, which stun the monsters long enough for John to kill them. Further on, he finds the transportaliser Mom used. John, naturally, stands on it, and is transported to a meteor in the Veil.

Actually, it’s not just a meteor; it’s one of the laboratories where the Skaian troops are produced. John, along with the cat and Maplehoof, finds a bunch of chess guys being grown in glass jars on a giant podium. Most of them are the standard carapaces we’re familiar with, but there are also a few larger pieces, apparently based on knights and rooks. He also finds a JUNIOR ECTOBIOLOGIST’S LAB SUIT, and another of those strange house-shaped sets of monitors.

On Prospit, PM is preparing to board a shuttle to Skaia when a COURTYARD DROLL sneaks up behind her. Unaccountably, she fails to notice him, despite the fact that he’s wearing a hat larger than he is. CD successfully pickpockets the White Queen’s ring, and PM departs for Skaia, none the wiser.

CD radios the DRACONIAN DIGNITARY to report mission success, and is told that he doesn’t need to keep wearing his ridiculous outfit, per orders from Jack Noir, who is now going by the SOVEREIGN SLAYER. CD says he’d rather keep wearing the outfit. Apart from the sword-through-the-chest part, it is a very nice outfit, so I’m with CD on this one.

Catastrophe is averted by Jade delivering a flying kick to CD’s head and following up with a very efficient smackdown. Her robot body replicates this back on Earth, beating the stuffing out of her mummified grandfather. Jade retrieves the ring, and puts it on her fingers to remind herself to give it back to PM later. Unfortunately, this doesn’t cause Jade to sprout wings and tentacles. Seems the rings don’t work on humans like that.

Meanwhile, in a Timeless Expanse, a WARWEARY VILLEIN is getting tired of the battle between Derse and Prospit. The next animation is called “WV?: Rise Up” and it’s one of my favorites! When I first read Homestuck I had to watch it a few times before I understood what was going on, but it is a very neat video.

Watch on YouTube

The Battlefield has been prototyped three times, and is now spherical. The forces of Derse and Prospit meet. The usual carapaces with swords are backed up by larger pieces -- some of them very strange -- and by battleships clashing in the sky. In the chaos, WV, who is farming peacefully on Skaia, has his home and farm burned down. He raises a flag and addresses the troops of both armies. Elsewhere, Jack Noir appears, flying over the Battlefield in search of the Black King.

WV rallies the armies and tells them that their real enemies are the monarchs, who are responsible for the war. Encouraged, the Dersite and Prospitan troops band together and march on the Black King.

Meanwhile, PM has reached the White King and discovers that she no longer has the White Queen’s ring. The White King listens to her and hands over his scepter, which seems to represent Skaia and serves a similar function to the Queens’ rings. Behind a nearby hill, the Hegemonic Brute radios somebody to report the transfer.

As WV and the united armies reach the Black King, Jack arrives and slices the Black King’s scepter in half, nullifying its powers and turning the Black King back into a normal carapace. PM is attacked by HB, who knocks the White King’s scepter out of her hand; it falls down a waterfall. Jack Noir beheads the Black King and turns to WV, and the animation ends.

...okay, much as I love it, I have to admit there’s a glaring question here: Namely, the kids started playing the Game less than a day ago and Dave’s kernelsprite has been prototyped for a few hours max. The second prototyping made the Battlefield more complex and the third took it into its current form. That’s a very short time to instigate a cross-faction revolution, organise the troops, and march on a monarch. For that matter, how long has WV been a farmer? The inhabitants of Derse and Prospit have obviously been doing their thing all the kids’ lives, but the Battlefield was supposedly a static, rudimentary space until John entered the Medium, so what gives?

Then again, the timeline in the Medium is supposed to be distinct from the timeline on Earth, so maybe that explains it?

CHEL: An interesting point is also raised by WV’s revolution. Namely, Derse is presented as a kingdom of darkness and evil by the game, while Prospit is presented as good. However, while PM is good, WV and AR are demonstrably not bad people either. In this animation, we see carapaces of both sides apparently don’t want to be involved in the war and are willing to rise up against the Black King. The rank-and-file carapaces on both sides, it seems, are decent people who are just following orders. (Not to mention very cute.) Jack Noir and his gang are nasty pieces of work, except CD who’s also just kind of going along with it, but there’s nothing saying white carapaces couldn’t also be… And is that a Problematykks point, presenting the black-coloured people as bad and the white-coloured ones as good? I know they’re chess pieces, but still.

This raises the question, however, what’s Derse’s motive? Are its rulers and archagents simply destroying for the evulz? I wonder. I also wonder how much Skaia itself is involved in this and how aware it is. Skaia is called the crucible of creation, and it’s responsible for the creation of the carapaces too. References are made to it “seeing” and “knowing”; it’s quite possibly sentient, though maybe not sapient. On top of that, SBurb is specifically a game, and a game needs an objective, and an adventure-type game needs enemies. Derse, it seems likely, was created and presented the way it is in order to give the players something to battle against even if its people don’t want to be their enemies. No wonder WV’s pissed!

BRIGHT: Yup. Hmm, thinking about it...the imps and other enemies we saw attacking John’s house early on were obviously Dersite, but the ones we’ve seen in Rose’s seem to be Prospitian, if anything? The colour scheme looks that way, at least. But Nanna said earlier that Derse was the enemy, nothing about Prospit.

Perhaps it has something to do with Rose being a Derse dreamer, while John is a Prospit dreamer? But in that case I’d have expected it to come up in the text. Instead it just goes unremarked.

Rose goes on a massive alchemising spree and ends up creating the Thorns of Oglogoth, a pair of wands.

The needles seem to shiver with the dark desires of THE DEEP ONE. Any sane adventurer would cast these instruments of the occult into the FURTHEST RING and forget they ever existed.

Instead of throwing the wands away, Rose takes on the enemies camping all over her house, with style.

Meanwhile, Dave goes on another, less visibly productive alchemising spree.

GET ON WITH IT!: 18

FAILURE ARTIST: The SBaHJifier could be considered productive in that it provides foreshadowing cartoons. Wish Dave’s Brain in a Jar came up again.

BRIGHT: Once he’s done creating smuppet variations to disturb the monsters encroaching on his house, he sits down to take a look at those two journals he copied from Rose earlier. One of them is called ‘MEOW’, and is literally just those same four letters, repeated over and over in different orders. The second is ‘Complacency of the Learned’.

There is no way to adequately recap the beauty of ‘Complacency of the Learned’, so we’re just going to show the whole thing:

Frigglish bothered his beard, as if unkinking a hitch in a long silk windsock. A more pedestrian audience would parse the exhibit as nervous compulsion. Behavior to petition contempt among the reasonable. He was however not surrounded by the reasonable, but the wise, a distinction in men that would forever be the difference in history's garland of treasured follies. As a matter of fact, his cadre of fellow wizards were all putting similar moves on their beards as well. The practice would evince thoughtfulness - sagacity, even - if they didn't do it all the time. Standing in line at the bank. Shooing squirrels from bird feeders. Few occasions were safe. Zazzerpan inspected the clue. A single piece of evidence cradled in his coriaceous old man palms. It was a human bone, not striking in the tale it told alone so much as that told by the thousands like it festooning the marshy soil of the mass grave. The grisly expanse bore the texture of a decadent dessert, like one of Smarny's formidable custard trifles wobbled out on wheels for the holidays, to the dismay of a small nation. "You're certain of this?" asked Frigglish. Despite what he was doing with his beard, he was, in fact, immersed in meaningful contemplation. "I am afraid I am becoming more so with each terrible tick groused by that gaudy timepiece slung around your neck." In case it wasn't clear, Frigglish wore a clock Zazzerpan didn't care for. It was magic. "The massacre of Syrs Gnelph was not as written." "What has you convinced it was the hand of our disciples in this blackness?" Executus chimed in. "I believe... I..." a fat face stammered, eyes darting with the guilt of a thief in the throes of an unraveling alibi. "I can summon a... more pressing line of inquiry..." No, Smarny. Nobody was in the mood for a sticky bundt loaf just now. Zazzerpan's ears fell insubstantial to any line of inquiry, pastry-oriented or otherwise. His abstruse contour carved a pondering shape in the fog carpeting centuries-dead. His eleven contemporaries too embraced the muted consternation of their great Predicant Scholar. Few wizards kept sharper adumbratives or read them with such lucidity. When Zazzerpan treated men with silence it was seldom unrepaid by the wise and reasonable alike. It was harrowing to entertain. Zazzerpan the Learned's storied Complacency of Wizards was marked for grander descendence. Disciples hand-picked, vetted by Ockite the Bonafide and tested by Gastrell the Munificent. The twelve sweetest, most studious children a pair of elderly eyes could give their sparkle. Not the ragged guttersnipe so oft-harvested by the common Obscenity, those vituperative little beggars with hearts to corrupt as dropped bananas brown. That these chosen youngsters would turn was not merely unthinkable, but something of a roundhouse to the temporal bones of the Upper Indifference's high chamber of Softskulled Prophets. His wisdom-savaged brow pruned further with recount of his many lessons to wouldbe successors. Lessons to advance humanity's elucidation and prosperity, an outcome this bleak trail now painfully obviated. There were few puzzles The Learned could not suspend and dissect in the recondite manifold beneath his extremely expensive pointy hat. Daring to pitch his cherished pupils in with the foul melange of history's rogues, the heretofore abstract scourge that built up civilizations with ungodly magic and tore them down with joyful malice, would prove an intellectual trespass to make his calcium-deficient bones quake. And more daring yet was the only question that now mattered. Could a bunch of bearded, scraggly old men in preposterous outfits hunt them down? He didn't have an answer. Only a simple observation so blunt and uncharacteristically jejune for the lauded sage it was breathtaking in its selfevidency. "We're going to need more wands." (Wow. Think of something better.)

Wow.

Dave is understandably intimidated by this, and decides to stop reading for now. He puts his copy of the SBURB Beta in the notebook to act as a bookmark, and leaves both books in his room for later.

Then he checks in on Rose, who is burning her version of the MEOW book.

CHEL: Dave inquires about the wizard story.

TG: i thought you hated wizards TG: whats the deal with that TT: I like wizards. TT: What I don't like is my mother's obsession with feigning interest in them to antagonize me. TG: oh man thats so messed up TG: that you think that TG: she probably digs wizards for real just like you and youre blowing shit out of proportion like pretty much always

Once again, we see exactly how fucked-up Rose’s relationship with her mother is. Mom Lalonde has somehow managed to raise a child in such a way that Rose interprets everything her mother does as an attempt to mock and provoke her.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 16

TIER: The Lalondes are pretty damn dysfunctional as a family unit, and considering the zany nature of early Homestuck and its world's weird logic that is saying something indeed.

CHEL: As for the MEOW book, it turns out the gods from the Furthest Ring informed Rose while she was sleeping that the book’s contents are highly dangerous and must be destroyed. Said gods dwell in the sky above Derse; Dave’s never heard or seen them, but Rose points out his dreamself is always wearing shades, listening to music, and distracted by Cal.

TT: You're the prince of the moon. TG: ........ TT: I'm sure they've been meaning to seek a royal audience. TG: ..........................

Davesprite chats to Rose next. She protests at being spied on by two people, but Davesprite asks her why she burned the codebook. She didn’t need to in the future, but according to her future memories of the gods absorbed from her future dreamself, Davesprite appeared to make it relevant by traveling to the past. A sinister and familiar face watches through Dave’s window, soon proving to be the Draconian Dignitary, while Dave and Davesprite awkwardly spout elaborate mixed metaphors about how safe they are, until Dave, embarrassed, says "so i guess ill go back down and burn that book".

As any savvy reader could guess, he’s too late. The prompt suggests that he should go back in time to stop the books from being stolen, but, well...

It looks like you already tried that. GORE GALORE: 10

Dave looks completely undisturbed, but whether he is undisturbed is a different matter. He flings the corpse out the window into the lava, claiming it would freak Jade out.

John, in the lab, presses a button, causing the first monitor to depict his town, shortly before his birth. There is a Betty Crocker factory and a shopping mall, neither of which are in the town now. Zooming in locks a target over Nanna Egbert, who is taking a stroll with Dad. A meteor looms; this looks like it’s going to go very badly, considering the target lock, but it hits the factory instead. When John presses the glowing blue button, a PARADOX GHOST IMPRINT of Nanna is created; refer back to Rose’s experimentation in the lab and the green slime blobs. This time, the slime is sucked into a tube.

The next monitor does something similar with Grandpa Harley on his ship, and the next the same with Bro Strider, who stands over a meteor crater on an unseasonably warm day; something of an understatement, as the sky is the same lurid red and the sun the same glowing spiral that they were during the Strider bros’ battle even though it’s December. Bro is, regardless, prepared for the occasion with a small pair of outrageously awesome shades. What he needs these for will soon be revealed.

The fourth monitor goes back to John’s home town, a gigantic crater where the factory once was. In the shopping mall, Dad Egbert stands outside a joke shop, while Nanna apparently remains inside, busying herself with a tall bookshelf, a ladder, and a rather hefty unabridged joke book.

Mom Lalonde, clutching the infant Rose and wearing a rather snazzy long Jaspersprite-pink scarf, has come to town to study the meteor impact at the request of Grandpa Harley while he explores elsewhere. Unfortunately, now is the time a meteor chooses to strike Nanna’s location, destroying the shop.

An old mother lost today, but a new son gained.

Wait for it.

Mom Lalonde flees, dropping her scarf, which Dad Egbert picks up and slightly creepily sniffs. The monitor continues tracking her, and John captures her paradox imprint too, starting the machines whirring away...

Four babies abruptly appear on the pad, already diapered and bespectacled and old enough to sit up unaided. Convenient, no?

When the kitten jumps on a green button, the slime is blended in pairs; Nanna’s and Grandpa’s, and Mom’s and Bro’s. More blinking lights ensue, and another four extremely familiar-looking babies appear.

BRIGHT: I will say this: These kids are adorable.

While babies clamber over him, John vaults up his echeladder to the rank of Ectobiolobabysitter, acquiring one million Boondollars in the process. This automatically converts itself to a Boonbuck, the weight of which smashes his Porkhollow.

Finding out just what is going on here will have to wait, as the comic takes a brief detour to a battleship navigating the Medium nearby. There’s someone very familiar at the wheel…

An old man has much to do before he returns to Earth, dies, gets stuffed by his adopted-yet-biological daughter-slash-grand-daughter, and stuck in front of a fireplace.

Also aboard the ship are Dad Egbert and Mom Lalonde. Dad returns Mom’s scarf, and the two of them hold hands as Grandpa Harley pilots the ship towards Skaia.

We return to the lab, where John has his hands full with the babies. One of them has managed to break one of the paradox slime jars from earlier, but appears uninjured. Also, CG’s trolling him again.

CHEL: CG makes mention of the ULTIMATE RIDDLE, but John is confused because CG hasn’t told him about that yet. He uses an ableist description in explaining.

CG: SEE I KIND OF PAINTED MYSELF INTO A CORNER. CG: I STARTED TROLLING YOU AT THE END, JUST BEFORE THE RIFT. CG: AND THEN JUMPED BACK A LITTLE. CG: AND NOW I GUESS I'VE BECOME RAILROADED INTO WORKING BACKWARDS HERE. CG: UNLESS I WANT TO DO THE SORT OF DUMB SCHIZOPHRENIC HOPPING AROUND LIKE THE OTHERS. CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 18

… why wouldn’t you just hop right back to the start and work in a linear fashion from there?

TIER: Because CG excels at making things complicated for himself and is fundamentally rather stubborn and set in his ways/actions. Like he's made his bed, he's gonna lie in it.

CHEL: Anyway, CG banters with John for a bit, and then informs him that he (John) has arrived in the Veil and created infant versions of the players and their guardians.

EB: so they are like cloned copies of us? CG: NO. CG: THEY ARE LITERALLY YOU AND YOUR GUARDIANS. CG: PARADOX CLONES.

A paradox clone, we are informed, is A CORRECTLY CLONED DUPLICATE THAT WILL INEVITABLY GO BACK IN TIME AND BECOME THE ORIGINAL TARGET THAT WAS CLONED. The game worlds contain many clues hinting at the ultimate destiny of the players to create their own selves through the game, and the only way things could possibly go involved the players creating themselves, or else the game session would never happen.

CG: WHICH IS ESPECIALLY PATHETIC SINCE PARADOX SPACE APPARENTLY WENT TO ALL THIS TROUBLE TO MAKE YOU JUST TO HAVE YOU FAIL AND DIE. CG: REALLY THERE'S NOTHING MORE TRAGIC THAN THESE NULL SESSIONS FULL OF KIDS ENTERING THE GAME AND FULFILLING SOME COSMIC DESTINY SHIT JUST TO GET WIPED OUT AND LEAVE BEHIND AN EMPTY POINTLESS INCIPISPHERE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Tragic and completely unnecessary, when there are millions of perfectly good humans already in existence who could just as easily create winning game sessions without this aspect of it. Here we see another aspect of Homestuck which hasn’t come up quite so clearly before; an extremely weird take on determinism. I’m not sure if this is meant as a parody of Chosen One plotlines or if Hussie just thought it sounded cool, but it’s uncomfortable. As it turns out, only clones created by SBurb have a hope in hell of winning the game, and even they fail most of the time. Regular people who enter the game to save themselves from the destruction of the planet will fail and die there, which honestly is not really selling this game as a good thing, since it’s what causes the destruction of the planet in the first place. I’ve had actual, legitimate, honest-to-God nightmares about this aspect of SBurb, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

FAILURE ARTIST: I think many fans wish to play SBurb. There’s lots of fan sessions and fake GameFAQs and custom Lands. Yet in reality SBurb is not a fun time. This is cosmic horror. I think Hussie is sometimes playing it for horror and sometimes he ignores the implications.

Then again, some people want to live on the troll planet, which is straight-up dystopia.

CHEL: Again, it isn’t really clear what he’s going for. Is it supposed to be terrifying or did he just think it would be clever? Does even Hussie know what he was going for? While it’s not exactly a joke, I think it’s worth another point here:

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 17

It might be a joke. As I said, I could see it as a parody of or playing with the Chosen One narrative. In this case, literally only the chosen ones have any hope, for reasons that are not down to any merit of their own. But if it is, there isn’t really much made of it.

Of course, the reasons people want to live on the troll planet are reasonable when taken alone, but a) contradicted every alternate scene and b) not a fair trade for everything else that’s going on there. But we’ll get to that when we actually see it. And I admit, SBurb powers would be fun, but not worth the loss of my entire species.

TIER: To me at least it's fun in the same way wondering how I'd fare as a wizard during Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts, or a ninja in Naruto is. Fundamentally you'd rather want to never encounter this sorta stuff even if you get some swanky I guess powers, but the mental exercise of it is quite honestly, really fun. The game has quite a lot of interesting things to poke around with, from lands to quests to what your co-players are up to. And I'm def guilty of playing trollsona games, because the world presented is just really fascinating in its gruesome glory.

Never want to have to actually go through it, Lord knows I'd be dead within the first ten minutes if I'm super lucky, but stories about it are pretty neat.

CHEL: That’s true, but the paradox clones thing seems almost to be taunting us for having that mentality. We can pretend we’d be the super-smart strong competent ones who make it, but in this universe if we demonstrably have parents we’re doomed to die for nothing and there’s nothing we can do about it.

BRIGHT: Another fun thing about this is that it fundamentally isolates the players from the rest of humanity. If you think about it, unless they have children with a non-player, they are completely unrelated to anyone else on Earth.

CHEL: And they can’t have kids with a non-player unless something thoroughly horrible happened, because as is stated later SBurb specifically takes its players away and destroys their planet around the point of their puberty.

BRIGHT: Although I think John is actually related to Dad — as far as we’re told, Dad is in fact Nanna’s biological son, which makes him genetically John’s half-brother.

They also miss out on (going by how active the babies are) the first couple of years of life. Those two years are crucial in terms of brain development. SBURB probably controls for that, but it wouldn’t be surprising if there were negative consequences.

Oh, and if you’re a player, your existence means your civilisation is doomed. Lovely!

CHEL: And do the players ever feel any guilt or conflict over this? Do they hell. It doesn’t even occur to them, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t occur to Hussie either.

TIER: Welcome to the hell game that is SBURB; it's fundamentally pretty fucked up! It runs on a hellish scale of "things have already been predetermined" and I am Big Fear™.

CHEL: That’ll come up later, too, but there it’s obviously intentional nightmare fuel, and not at all a bad use of time travel as a story device.

CG, meanwhile, explains that he was the one to create his session’s players. With twelve of them it was a bit more complicated, but troll lineages are complicated anyway, and we’ll find out how later.

The babies are still getting all over the lab. Note that they're repeatedly referred to as "little pink monkeys". Then again, calling a non-white child a monkey really wouldn't be good.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 18

John’s infant self has latched onto the Sassacre book, while his infant Nanna is sitting in Dad Egbert’s old hat. Baby Bro is napping in the lap of Lil Cal; that baby’s braver than I am, I can tell you that. Baby Dave is sitting on Maplehoof, and baby Grandpa has found a pair of pistols. John does not take them away from him, or even seem to notice he has them.

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 7

BRIGHT: Earlier baby Bro broke one of the paradox slime cylinders and was sitting in it. John is pretty astoundingly bad at keeping babies away from obvious hazards.

TIER: That or the equipment is probably not sturdy enough to make it past an inspection into faulty management.

CHEL: But then he’s distracted by CG trolling him again, at least this time moving forward in time from the last conversation.

CG, like GA, apparently fails to grasp sarcasm...

EB: we had this great dare going. EB: to see who could be the least helpful and informative. EB: and you totally lost, dude! EB: you were hella helpful. CG: I WAS OBVIOUSLY JUST SPITING YOUR STUPID POINTLESS HUMAN DARE. [...] CG: ANYWAY, HOW COULD WE HAVE MADE A DARE IF I'M MOVING BACKWARDS ON YOUR TIMELINE.

… which is weird because moments later he uses it himself.

EB: do you even have elves? CG: YES, LET'S COMPARE WHICH FANTASY CREATURES THAT DON'T EXIST WE BOTH DO OR DON'T NOT HAVE. CG: WHAT A GREAT FUCKING IDEA, JOHN!

Hussie seems to waver back and forth a lot on whether trolls get sarcasm or not, in general. Since he’s contradicting himself with troll worldbuilding, that’s a point.

WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 19

Banter aside, he informs John that the babies are sent to Earth via meteors during the Reckoning.

BRIGHT: How do they survive the impact? Some of those meteor strikes destroy buildings. Those are some ridiculously resilient kids.

CHEL: Cut to AR, who is still having fun on the rocketboard, until he runs into a frog temple atop a meteor. This is apparently horrifying and illegal by his standards.

You are going to throw whoever is responsible into the slammer. You always call jail the slammer when you are extra angry at crimes.

Inside, he finds an empty time capsule, like Jade’s, some complicated machinery, and a monitor screen showing a greyscale house with a very familiar bespectacled female infant and dirty old hat in it. The year depicted, says the monitor, is 1910. Enter none other than Colonel Sassacre himself.

Eight days prior, the orphan girl was taken in by an aristocratic southern colonel and legendary humorist. He recovered the young lady from a crater where a bakery once stood, operated by the man's wife, a notable baked goods baroness.

An explosion outside leads them both to a crater, where once stood the doghouse of the colonel’s pet, Halley, but before the Colonel can investigate further he’s shot through the heart.

This is exactly why babies should not be allowed to dual-wield flintlock pistols.

BRIGHT: I remain baffled as to how Baby Grandpa can even lift those things, let alone pull the triggers.

CHEL: Baby Grandpa crawls from the crater, and Halley the dog turns out to be alive.

The young boy has difficulty pronouncing the name though. Sounds more like "Harley" when he says it.

How does he know it? The colonel died before he even noticed the baby was there. Is baby Nanna speaking well enough to tell him yet? I guess he could be told later, as Sassacre wasn’t in fact their only sapient guardian...

Thirteen years later, the boy develops a taste for adventure. He and his guardian bid farewell. His sister is sad. She will be left all alone with the wicked pastry baroness. She can handle it, he tells her. He believes in her.

It isn’t clear why she didn’t go with him, or leave under her own power. They don’t seem to be imprisoned, as the panel depicts them outside on grass with no restraints or guards over them, so it’s not a matter of only one of them being able to get out. That’s a point for Nanna not trying and a point for Grandpa not bringing her:

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 9

That dog is also remarkably lively, considering it, unlike Bec, is an entirely normal dog, it was an adult thirteen years previously, and it’s somehow supporting the weight of an entire teenager on its back (again, please don’t try this at home, you can break the dog’s spine that way).

FAILURE ARTIST: As we’ve said, Colonel Sassacre is a thinly-veiled Mark Twain expy. The real Mark Twain died in 1910 at the same time Halley’s Comet was in the sky. It’s a cute historical gag having him be literally killed by a comet but it does muck up the timeline. Nanna must have been a senior citizen when Dad was born. Perhaps he’s adopted?

CHEL: The other option is that Dad is a senior citizen now, but surely John would have wondered why his dad is so ridiculously old. I think it’s just that thing in mainstream comics and cartoons where adults are split into Old and Not Old, and the parents are normal ages for parents but the grandparents would have to be in their hundreds going by the gags. See how Scrooge McDuck in the DuckTales reboot is over a hundred and forty years old yet his sister’s son is still a youngish adult.

AR notes that the appearifier is centred over Halley the dog, but hears someone coming. It proves to be the Draconian Dignitary. AR hides and watches, noting that DD is carrying Rose’s notebooks and Dave’s beta envelopes. DD keeps the MEOW book, but throws away the other items. Complacency of the Learned lands on the floor, and the envelopes land in the time capsule, which sets to bloom in four hundred and thirteen million years.

Meanwhile, John talks to CG while infant Mom Lalonde pets the mutant kitten. John asks if there’s any way to delay the Reckoning, but nope; CG warns him that the smallest meteors will start going in only a few minutes.

EB: ok, well you keep saying how doomed we are and how all this bad stuff happens sooner, but you never say why! EB: what happens in our game that's different from yours that makes things go so badly? CG: JACK NOIR.

The Jack Noir from the trolls’ game session allied with them and helped them dethrone and exile the Black Queen, while the one from the humans’ session, as you may recall, killed the Black Monarchs and gained their powers, and is currently rampaging through the Incipisphere. John asks if it’s the same Jack Noir, but CG explains.

CG: SO LET'S SAY YOU PLAY YOUR BANDICOOT AND I PLAY MY BANDICOOT. CG: THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME BANDICOOT, SAME APPEARANCE AND DESIGN AND BEHAVIORS. CG: BUT THEY ARE STILL COMPLETELY SEPARATE BANDICOOTS ON SEPARATE SCREENS. CG: SO WE BOTH HAVE OUR OWN ASS BANDICOOTS TO OURSELVES, THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT. CG: OUR JACKS ARE THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT TOO. CG: SAME GUY, DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND OUTCOMES. CG: OUR JACK TRUMPED THE QUEEN, BUT GOT NO FURTHER. CG: YOUR JACK GOT THE BEST OF BOTH OF THEM, AND IS NOW SOMETHING HIGHER THAN A QUEEN OR A KING… EB: like an ace? CG: SURE OK.

The trolls don’t know what went so differently to cause the two Jacks to behave so differently, but CG doesn’t think it matters by now. John interrupts him, deciding to do yet another Con Air ending re-enactment.

Watch on YouTube

Recap: montage of Con Air posters and images to the tune of “How Do I Live Without You”. John hands the thoroughly disgusting Con Air bunny to the protesting baby Rose, while CG watches huffily on his monitor. Jade demands a toy too, so John hands her the bunny he received from Rose in an excessively dramatic fashion. CG frustratedly hits himself in the head. In scribbly crayon-like drawings, Casey the salamander performs a drum solo with glowing blue mushrooms for drums and the Con Air plane crashes. More Con Air imagery, John embraces baby Jade and the baby Lalondes while sobbing; GC points and laughs at him over CG’s shoulder and they have a slapfight. John imagines himself in Nic Cage’s iconic wifebeater and mullet and performs an air guitar solo.

TIER: Lemme tell ya, as someone who's only experience with this darn movie is whatever pops up courtesy of John this sequence is just a trip and a half. Possibly a higher number.

CHEL: Cut to end-of-act curtains; they open on the next page, declaring a PSYCHE; there are more pages to go.

Cut to Dave’s hands, covered in the dead Dave’s blood. I… guess he’s supposed to be staring at them in shock? It’s impossible to tell through his shades. For all I know he could be worried about the cleanup. GC trolls him and they banter creepily, with her demanding to know what his blood smells like and him taunting her about her blindness.

TG: just him and me TG: havin a see party TG: like a couple of eagle eyed bros peepin shit up into the wee hours GC: D4V3 GC: C4N 1 COM3 TO YOUR S33 P4RTY? TG: i guess but youll have to be careful not to stumble around bumping into all the gorgeous masterpieces hanging around everywhere TG: god so beautiful to look at with my perfect eyesight GC: C4N 1 L1CK TH3 P41NT1NGS? TG: yeah thats fine

Neither of them seems to take it particularly hard. If there was narrative around the dialogue, I think we’d get a better grasp of how Dave feels. Lacking much body language or punctuation, tone is a bit tricky to get.

FAILURE ARTIST: There’s a character later who gets a lot of grief for insulting her blindness but reading what John, Dave, and CG say I don’t know how that character could be worse.

CHEL: AT, meanwhile, is trolling Jade, rather politely. He even takes time to ask if she’s having a good nap. She’s worried about John’s dreamself not waking, and AT scrolls into his view of the future timeline, but can’t find John awake, nor see into his dreams. Jade, however, will wake up soon, and she thanks him for this report. Unfortunately, when Jade wakes up she will be in danger, and AT can’t see any further. He tells her CG wants to talk to her about her exploding robot. He can’t see whether it exploded or not because there are a lot of explosions, but asking future Jade shows it did, and that she declared CG to be a pretty nice guy, which surprises AT since he doesn’t think CG is particularly nice. Jade says she thinks AT is nice too, and asks why he’s the only one who talks to her while she’s asleep.

AT: bECAUSE YOU HAVE A ROBOT, tO LET YOU SAY THINGS THAT HAPPEN, oN PROSPIT, AT: aND i'M CURIOUS, AT: bECAUSE THE ONLY TIME i EVER HAD FUN PLAYING THIS GAME WAS WHEN i WAS ASLEEP, AT: bUT NOW ALL OUR DREAM SELVES ARE DEAD, AT: }:'(

AT happily remembers his own time on Prospit, and we cut back to Rose, being trolled by GA despite the fact that Rose is obviously in the middle of an epic magic battle. The conversation is understandably chilly, and GA still hasn’t figured out that “Dumb Rose” as opposed to “Smart Rose” was John rather than a bizarre roleplaying scenario.

GC continues trolling Dave. He asks her how she operates a computer without sight.

GC: 1M SORRY D4V3 TH4T YOU W1LL N3V3R 3XP3R13NC3 TH3 S3NSORY BOUQU3T TH4T 1 3NJOY 3V3RY D4Y GC: TH4T 1 3NSCONC3 MYS3LF 1N L1K3 4 W4RM 4ND COMFY B4THROB3 M4D3 OF FL4VOR 4ND M3LODY TG: oh ok TG: so the dumbest and most far fetched explanation imaginable ok got it

Yes, pretty much. This brings me to a Problematykks point; GC is supposed to be blind, but it really doesn’t seem to affect her in any way at all. Its workaround is ridiculously convenient and effective, and while I’m not blind myself, I know many people with physical disabilities hate it when fiction does this. I know I would be pissed off if a piece of fiction showed an easy and convenient way to not have autism anymore. (Horrible, horrible memories of someone back in the days of Livejournal’s Fanficrants of a fic in which autism was somehow cured by having a foursome. I don’t remember how that was supposed to work.) “She’s a space alien” only goes so far in explaining it. Why even bother making her blind if it’s not going to affect her in any way?

CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 19

FAILURE ARTIST: She’s the least blind blind person in media. Characters like Daredevil from Marvel Comics and Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender have a Disability Superpower but at the end of the day they still can’t do things like read printed text. GC has no disadvantages.

BRIGHT: She can apparently smell and taste photons.

Which raises the question why none of the other trolls ever show a heightened sense of smell or taste. If GC can learn to interpret smells as colours, her sense of smell must have been that strong all along, and there’s no indication in the text that she’s biologically more sensitive than her companions. Trolls must be better at following a trail than bloodhounds.

CHEL: Synaesthesia which makes one strongly associate colours with smells is a thing, and synaesthesia is generally the word the fandom uses to explain Terezi’s ability, but you still have to actually see the colours for that to work. If she was only mostly blind and was picking up blurry colour patches, I could buy it (and that is how the fandom tends to do it with human AUs), but not if she’s supposed to be completely blind, and she still wouldn’t be able to read text that way.

BRIGHT: Time for another animation, and for a hop back into the recent past.

Watch on YouTube

As the meteor locked onto Dave’s house approaches, Dave climbs up the tower to retrieve his cruxite egg from the nest his sprite made. Unfortunately the sprite attacks him, knocking him and the egg off the tower. Bro Strider appears on top of the approaching meteor and slices it in half with his katana; the two halves are diverted by the blow and strike different areas of the city. Dave’s fall is broken by a rocket board, which is presumably how Bro got up to the meteor in the first place. (How did he manage to aim it to intercept Dave’s fall? Wouldn’t it take longer to get from the meteor to Dave than it takes for Dave to fall from the top of the tower to the roof of the building? We shall never know.) The egg hatches, and Dave is transported into the Medium. There’s no sign of what happens to Bro.

CHEL: Yet more cartoon physics around the Strider bros.

BRIGHT: I don’t know if we mentioned this earlier, but although Dave and Bro live in an apartment block that presumably housed multiple people, only Dave’s apartment gets transported into the Medium. Everyone else in the complex is left to die on Earth. SBURB is sociopathic.

Elsewhere in the Medium, back in the present, Grandpa’s ship is approaching Skaia, with Mom Lalonde and Dad Egbert on board.

Down on Skaia, Jack Noir draws his sword and slaughters the army WV raised to march on the Black King. WV cowers, but Jack leaves him alive. He then uses the Black Queen’s ring to send some sort of giant red tentacle attack through Skaia, slaughtering Dersite and Prospitian forces indiscriminately.

CHEL: Are they tentacles? I always thought of them as some sort of lightning lasers.

BRIGHT: That makes a lot more sense!

In the ectobiology lab, as the clock ticks down to the Reckoning, the babies are teleported to asteroids around the lab. There must be an air supply in this asteroid belt — characters are consistently shown as being able to survive outside.

CHEL: Maybe it’s just the players’ natural badassery. Batman Can Breathe In Space.

BRIGHT: On Skaia, CD makes his way through Jack’s slaughter fest, which has now ravaged a sizeable chunk of planet, and hands him the White King’s sceptre. Jack raises the sceptre and initiates the Reckoning. The meteorites start to vanish into Skaia’s defence portals. In the frog temple, DD somehow combines the MEOW genetic code with a paradox clone of Halley, creating Jade’s guardian Bec. Bec’s creation damages the laboratory equipment in the temple.

Cut to Jade, who is snoozing peacefully while her dream self explores Prospit. She looks up at Skaia, to see Jack’s shadow passing in front of it. Jack launches his tentacle attack on Prospit, slaughtering the inhabitants, then severs the chain attaching Prospit’s moon to the planet. The moon begins falling towards Skaia.

Jack then flies to LOHAC, where he encounters Bro Strider on one of the turntable mesas. Unexpectedly, Bro is able to give Jack an even fight. After a few exchanges, he drives his katana into the mesa; some sort of golden light emanates from the crack, and Bro absconds.

Wait, how did Bro get onto LOHAC? How did he survive the meteor impacts?

TIER: The ol' "rule of cool". As long as something is sufficiently "absolutely kickass!!" the rules of reality and physics can go sit on the bleachers twiddling their thumbs for all they fucking matter. There's a reason early fandom pinned down Bro as an unorthodox but immensely cool older brother type guy for so long. Because with what little information was available before we got bludgeoned with "No actually he was the absolute fucking worst thing to happen to Dave and fucked him up for life" that was the general impression he gave off.

CHEL: This and the meteor splitting are yet more reason not to take Bro’s treatment of Dave seriously; this is a world in which ludicrous animesque badassery rules the day, and physically impossible feats of battle occur every five minutes. Forcing a child to go through extensive and excessive sword training in brutal heat in a precarious place, possibly every day, ought by rights to be normal there, and I can’t believe he was physically hurt by swordfighting when he survived a meteor collision as an infant. Besides, training that extensive quite possibly could be the only thing that would keep Dave alive in these circumstances.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 18

BRIGHT: There’s a random Squiddles interlude, and then we return to Skaia.

John’s unconscious dream self has fallen out of Prospit’s moon as it plummets towards Skaia. Jade tries shaking him awake, and then slaps him, but to no avail. At the last moment, she throws him out of the path of the moon, and her dream self is then killed when it lands on her. Back on Earth, her dreambot overloads and explodes.

CHEL: Taking her tower room with it; Jade’s sleeping body plummets towards the earth.

BRIGHT: The moon leaves a gigantic crater in Skaia. John’s now-conscious dreamself hovers above it.

The babies vanish through the defence portals to Earth.

CHEL: Each takes an item with them. John takes the Sassacre book, Rose the first Con Air bunny, Dave rides Maplehoof, Jade takes the bunny Rose gave to John (which is in fact the Con Air bunny plus several years and repairs), Nanna sits inside Dad’s old hat, Mom takes the mutant kitten, Bro sleeps in the lap of Li’l Cal, and Grandpa dual wields the flintlock pistols he should not be allowed.

BRIGHT: Dave and Rose reach the Gates above their houses and set out to explore their Lands. We close on an eerie shot of Bec outside the frog temple on Jade’s island at night.

CHEL: Jade’s tower room is blown to bits, and a truly enormous meteor hovers over the scene.

Curtains close. End of Act 4. Before Act 5, we receive a message from Rose, via her GameFAQ.

[ZZZZ] Rose: Egress. This is my final entry. My co-players and I have made every earnest attempt, with occasional relapse, to play this game the right way.

Really? You haven’t been in the game for more than a couple of hours and Jade still isn’t in at all! Maybe consider that the fact that not all your players are in the game yet when you wonder why it isn’t working?

I have been meticulous in documenting the process to help our peers and successors through the trials should we fail. In my hubris I believed these classes were relegated to the Earth-bound, but in even this quaint supposition I was in error. Our otherworldly antagonists have assured us of our inevitable failure repeatedly, while the gods whisper corroboration in my sleep. I believe them now. I just blew up my first gate. I’m not sure why I did it, really. I am not playing by the rules anymore. I will fly around this candy-coated rock and comb the white sand until I find answers. No one can tell me our fate can’t be repaired. We’ve come too far. I jumped out of the way of a burning fucking tree, for God’s sake.

I can see her point. The game is horrible and should be stopped. On the other hand, I’d at least attempt to spend more than one day investigating it before trying to break it. Randomly destroying shit is more likely to make things much worse than anything else.

I have used a spell to rip this walkthrough from Earth’s decaying network, and sealed it in one of the servers floating in the Furthest Ring. The gods may disperse the signal throughout the cosmos as they wish. Perhaps it will be of use to past or future species who like us have been ensnared by Skaia’s malevolent tendrils. In case it wasn’t clear, magic is real. Pardon my egress. You’re on your own now.

This note is signed with a glowing multicoloured “RL” and revealed to be emitted from a purple box with an aerial, floating in space. It seems that’s how their internet’s still working.

FAILURE ARTIST: The internet seems to be a magical dimension in Homestuck and not something that’s part of physical infrastructure.

CHEL: Hours in the future, WV lands in the desert remains of Earth, wrapped up in John’s old ghost-patterned bedsheet, which is still white. A villein becomes a vagabond. In his memory, he tears up an effigy of Jack Noir… where’d he get it? Did the game create it for some reason? Anyway, John’s blanket falls on him from the sky as Prospit plummets; WV calls it a RAG OF SOULS. Adorably melodramatic.

John’s awoken dreamself gazes sadly at Jade’s deceased one, which for some reason isn’t actually under the rubble of Prospit and appears to still be three-dimensional. There’s no excessive blood splatter like with the dead Dave, which is good, not too over the top. He retrieves the Queen’s ring from her hand. Was he told at any point that it’s important? Because if he doesn’t know, I’m not sure robbing the dead is very heroic. He sees an image of himself flying over the battlefield in a large cloud above him; in the vision he’s near a castle, so he goes to seek it out.

On Earth, PM wraps herself up in an old Prospit banner. A mistress becomes a mendicant. In her memories, she has beheaded the Hegemonic Brute and is arranging a meeting with Jack Noir. He arrives and she presents the crowns; smirking evilly, he honours their bargain, and the Courtyard Droll brings her the green parcel. She brings it to the castle from John’s vision as he arrives there, hands over the box, and angrily walks away.

FAILURE ARTIST: She’s Honor Before Reason (maybe she’s programmed that way) but she has the right reaction. This is a lot to go through to deliver a package.

CHEL: Inside the box is a letter from Jade’s unknown pen pal, who writes in dark green and a distinctive jolly-hockey-sticks dialect, with a tendency to ramble off on tangents about movies and wrestling.

Anyway you should listen to jade from here on out john because she sure seems to know whats best for you. Whatever your adventure throws at you im sure shell tell you you can handle it. She believes in you.

And another letter from Jade.

even though its super late and you probably went through a lot of trouble to get it, i really hope this present cheers you up! you looked so sad while you were reading my letter. um... which is to say, the one you are reading now.

She explains that in her dreams she goes to Prospit and John’s sleeping dream self is there, and that’s where she gets her visions. She hopes he likes his present, and says her penpal is fun…

john i am REALLY looking forward to seeing you when you wake up!!!!! its been nice playing with my prospitian friends and all, but also kind of lonely knowing you were in the other tower sleeping and having lousy dreams. :( im not sure where i am when you are reading this but im sure ill make it down to where you are soon! (jeez how did you get down there??? oh well ill find out) i cant wait to fly around the moon with you and show you all my favorite places. itll be so much fun!!!!!!!!! :D <3 jade

Ow. I think this is the only time John cries in the entire comic.

A Single Tear(™) is a bit of an understated reaction to the death of one of your best friends who you just recently learned is also your twin sister, but to be fair, John isn’t left with very much time to react, as next panel Jack Noir’s sword is pointed at his face.

BRIGHT: John knows about dream selves and waking selves by now, I think?

CHEL: He knows they’re a thing but I don’t think he knows they count as backup lives. AT told Jade dream selves can die separately from regular selves but I don’t think anyone told John.

FAILURE ARTIST: Jack Noir wants the ring, but then he’s stopped by Jade’s gift: a robotic bunny wielding multiple weapons.

They line up for a fight.

Hours in the future, on a destroyed planet, AR wraps police tape around himself and becomes a Aimless Renegade. Before the disaster, he went to the Veil, where he found a sleeping John. He saves John by putting him on a rocket board.

Back to the robotic bunny. Jack Noir flies away from the fight. Grandpa’s battleship lands and Grandpa takes away Jade’s body. Mom and Dad disembark the ship and wave goodbye as it leaves. Grandpa cries a Single Tear as he transports Jade’s already taxidermed body. Did he have a machine?

CHEL: For that matter, why isn’t he helping anyone who’s actually still alive while he’s there?

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 10

FAILURE ARTIST: Nope, transporting a dead body is more important.

Again going back, White Queen leaves Prospit. On landing, she becomes Windswept Questant and wanders the Earth. We go forward years later. She repairs the laboratory and meets up with AR, WV, and PM. WV’s homemade spear hides the ring.

John watches this scene through the clouds of Skaia. He looks at the ring in his hand. In another cloud, there’s Jade’s laboratory. We close in on it and inside is The Fourth Wall. It isn’t turned on, but we are still lead to Andrew Hussie, banging away on a computer keyboard as he recaps the plot for a second time.

CHEL: Which we shall do as well when we’re done with this section, because it’s insanely hard to keep track of everything.

FAILURE ARTIST: Andrew Hussie says Nanna’s comet landed 99 years before John’s “birth” so he has some clue about the age but still doesn’t see it odd that a woman that age has a son who is probably only in his thirties.

CHEL: As I said, it’s also possible Dad was really old too, but that’s never really suggested. Not to mention, since they were brought into existence as toddlers, shouldn’t the kids be noticeably older than the ages given for them? John should be biologically fourteen to fifteen by now and at that age that can make a visible difference. I know the art style doesn’t really give clues, but no one I’ve seen has ever pointed that out in fanfic either.

FAILURE ARTIST: Newborns aren’t distinctive looking and can’t really do the cute things toddlers do. People in TV and movies regularly give birth to six month old infants so it’s not strange.

CHEL: True, but this isn’t TV, it’s a comic, and they don’t have to use an actual infant as a prop here.

BRIGHT: Possibly it’s intentional. Among other things, we see the newly-created players survive short trips through vacuum, crash-land on Earth without even minor injuries, and handle weapons they shouldn’t be able to lift for another four or five years. This could work if players have superhuman abilities (that is, beyond the classpect system). If that was the intent then it really should be made more explicit, though.

Of course, what it really boils down to is that Homestuck runs off Rule of Cool and Rule of Funny, and occasionally breaks down on examination as a result.

On the whole this is a solid Act, I think! We have a lot of new stuff happening, more characters get introduced, and we find out some more about the trolls. It’s much less rambling than Act 1.

COUNTS ALL THE LUCK: 0 ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 18 CALL CPA PLEASE: 8 CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS: 19 GET ON WITH IT!: 18 GORE GALORE: 10 HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC: 15 HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 10 IN HATE WITH MY CREATION: 0 RELATIONSHIP GOALS?: 1 SEND THEM TO THE SLAMMER: 1 SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS: 0 WHAT IS HAPPENING??: 9 WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 19 TOTAL: 127

#homestuck #Let's read #homestuck meta #reread #literary critique #sporking #Homespork

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rogueninja · 4 years

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Okay so we all know who your top ships are... who are your unpopular ships? Or obscure ships? What characters from what series do you think about often in either good or bad ways? Who is a character that you hate that others love? If you could rewrite a story or part of a book, what would it be and what would you do differently?

Ok I am digging through my brain right now bc if I’m not able to hyperfixate on something then I tend to forget I even liked it. Ok buckle in bc this is gonna be long af. YOU ASKED FOR THIS, REG.

I’m putting a readmore so as not to torture my followers lol

Thinking about Veronica Mars. About Veronica/Logan. Do they have a ship name?? But I love that show and i was THERE for them. They were kind of a surprise ship for me, in that when they got together I was like, wait, WHAT? Like I was totally caught off guard. But there first kiss is, like, sooo romantic to me haha. It’s my fave scene in the show. But Logan is suck a prick sometimes. And they break up like every five minutes. And every season Logan gets accused of murder which of course he ends up not being the murderer. And they get back together eventually and I’m like really? But deep down I am rooting for them lol. I really enjoyed the new season of Veronica Mars that came out last year, actually. The ending made me SO SAD THO.

I also used to watch Supergirl and I thought Kara and Mon-El were adorable. He was very Carswell Thorne-esque, RH, I *think* you would like him. I never watched past season 3(?) though, and he shoots off into space and I never caught up so a few months ago I actually googled what happens and [spoiler] he ends up marrying someone else in the future or something so I was like, ok I’m not investing any more time in this show lol. (Also I had to google Mon-El’s name just now bc i forgot which is a bad look BUT I WAS REALLY RIDE OR DIE FOR THEM FOR A WHILE lol). Also I loved Martian Manhunter in this show, he was my favorite character. But the CGI for him was awful, omg. He had practical makeup at first, they should have just stuck with that.

Speaking of Martian Manhunter, I also used to watch Young Justice and loved Miss Martian/Superboy. Am I basic??? lol oop. But I love basic love stories. Anyway, I thought they were super cute. In season 3 though they’re kind of on the rocks. I haven’t watched season 4. I also loved Artemis/Wally West, but of course that had to end tragically.

Also, let’s talk about Nightcrawler. Allow me to set the scene. Little Kat is 13 and just rediscovered the cartoon she saw a few times as a kid called X-Men: Evolution. And thus, a weird obsession with the German, blue demon boy began. I loved Kurt Wagner. In the cartoon he starts a relationship with Amanda Sefton and I thought they were a-dor-a-ble. She accepted him for who he was, and they had a really nice healthy relationship. A lot of ppl shipped him with Kitty too which i am honestly all for idec I JUST WANT THE BLUE BOI TO BE HAPPY.

Can we talk about A:TLA too??? Like, obviously Zutara, amiright? Power couple. Like, Kataang is.. fine, but its probably my least favorite part about the ending, haha. Also, consider: Tokka. Toph is bae and can get anyone she wants, and she clearly had kind of a crush on Sokka and I think they could have been awesome. It actually kills me that they never say who Lin and Suyin’s father is in LoK. I had a whole theory that it was that kid The Duke from Jet’s band based on like 2 scenes from the series. There’s a tumblr post I made about it somewhere in the ether lol.

I also just remembered Tahnorra (Tahno/Korra) from Legend of Korra. It’s hard for me to explain this one. It’s a weird combination of being hyperfixated on the first season of the show when it came out, and I think I stumbled upon some fic or something???? And I thought Tahno was hot or something??? And FUN FACT, he was voice by Rami Malek BEFORE HE WAS COOL. So like before Rami really got big I knew who he was. He also basically played the Avatar in Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and I thought that connection was hilarious. It was kind of a problematic crack pairing but there was one author in particular whom i follow to this day hoping she’ll update her Tahnorra fics…. *sigh*

Okay one last ship…. I used to be ride or die for Outlaw Queen in Once Upon a Time (aka Regina/Robin Hood). Like, before TLC, I had a personal tumblr renaissance for that ship alone. My only existing published fanfic is for that ship. Taylor Swift’s 1989 came out that year and I related every dang song to that ship. I loved Regina so much and I just wanted her to be happy. That show is a dumpster fire, though, and spat all over my hopes and dreams. *sigh*

Also, lightning round for obscure pairings I ship and/or never talk about:

Frank Castle/Karen Page (The Punisher) ok this one isnt that obscure but I never talk about it… but the pining, oh god the pining

Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth (GoT) THEIR 5 SECONDS TOGETHER ARE THE ONLY WORTHY PART OF SEASON 8. everything after that never happened

I already listed Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye (FMAB) as a top pairing previously but I feel the need to mention it again bc it was for real my OG OTP… LIKE U WANNA TALK ABOUT PINING…. *sobs*

Percy/Annabeth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) This used to be my fave book series and i loved how their relationship developed over the course of the books

Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter) ok can we TALK ABOUT THIS??? They were both badass misfits and they were perfect for each other. But noooo JKR has to announce they marry some nobodies…. this is the only change the last movie did right

Midna/Link (Zelda: Twilight Princess) I honestly have no explanation for this lol

Qui-gon Jinn and Shmi (Star Wars) CAN U IMAGINE if anakin had a proper father figure and didnt have to abandon his mother to slavery

Obi-wan/Satine…. (Star Wars: The clone Wars) we know whats up

OK, to answer some of your other questions: character I hate that others love. HMMMM…….

This one seems too easy/obvious but Professor Snape? Like obviously there’s already a ton of discourse surrounding this but he was gross, mistreated his students for years, committed atrocities, couldn’t get over his high school crush, and we’re supposed to believe he’s a hero in the end and HARRY WOULD NAME HIS SON AFTER HIM….. uh no. “Always” is gross.

I’ve literally been wracking my brain for days and I can’t think of any more characters for this. OK I did some googling and I remembered some LOL.

Ross from friends…. I literally can’t stand him. He’s so entitled and just the worst. He tries to act like he’s the nice, sensitive guy, but really he is so full of himself. Joey on the other hand is portrayed as a womanizer but is actually super sweet and I love him

Archie from Riverdale… I have only seen the first 1.5 seasons ish but he is the worst…. we’re supposed to believe he’s some easygoing musically gifted football player but instead he manages to pull off being bland as heck and actually kind of a terrible garbage person

Nick from chilling adventures of Sabrina. I hate characters that are like hitting on the main character even though she has a bf and are like dark and broody and sexy blah blah blah…. I liked Harvey way better. I never finished season 2 tho

Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time? Idk she was fine she just got old after a while

If you could rewrite a story or part of a book, what would it be and what would you do differently?

HM. First, Harry would name his son Remus Rebeus Potter LOL. Ok but real talk there was a headcanon floating around forever ago that Harry should have become a professor at Hogwarts instead of an auror and I am 100% on board

Ok, ok….. what abouuuttt…… OK, is star wars when Han and Leia get together. I like them as a couple, but the entire first half of the movie Han is being such an ass. And when they kiss the first time, he’s being SOOO creepy. It’s like so quintessentially 80s romance. and HERE’S THE THING. They actually filmed (or maybe just wrote?) a version of that scene that WASNT CREEPY. And i’m like WHY DIDNT YOU USE THAT?!? So I like to pretend that’s the version that actually happened.

This part is way harder than the shipping portion. If I think of anything else i’l dm you. I HOPE YOU ENJOY READING THIS NOVEL LENGTH POST OF ME RAMBLING ABOUT MY FIXATIONS OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS. If anyone actually read this far, you deserve a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket

#regolithheart #ask #answered

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steveharrington · 4 years

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thots on the 100 1x10 i am become death

•so i remember being scared of this episode when i was 14 bc the thought of a super contagious virus freaked me out. haha. anyways, day ?? of quarantine let’s watch this

•i know this is the episode murphy comes back baby

•this is so funny because literally everyone is mad at finn like absolutely no one is on his side

•”they even gave us a bigger tent” like the implication that monty and jasper just live together and everyone knows that

•anyways harper and jasper flirting is so funny knowing that she’s gonna have a child with monty and name it after jasper

•MURPHYYYYY <333

•he is Not looking good

•BELLAMY JUST TRYING TO SHOOT MURPHY IN THE HEAD ??? right off the bat ??? while he is Covered in blood ???

•his fingernails were torn off omg steve harrington tease

•insane that these kids go to comeback in an argument is literally their version of “kill yourself”

•”maybe you should find somewhere else to sleep” monty and jasper are Literally breaking up that’s not an argument that two bros have

•why am i SCARED to watch this episode omg it’s the rona

•this virus is mad confusing why is clarke like pretty much fine but this one guy just dropped dead within two minutes of getting it

•lincoln’s drawing of octavia like i hate to break it to u man but that is Not octavia

•this makes no sense like why would clarke be examining everyone also she’s not wearing anything to cover her face like this is very improper pandemic response protocol

•octavia saying screw you clarke....absolutely no sympathy ugh queen

•LINCOLN BEING LIKE DW OCTAVIA I KNEW YOUD BE IMMUNE UR STRONG <3 SKDJSNX

•this is so GROSSSS i hate this episode getting murphy back is not worth it

•murphy don’t give her ur fucking hammock king she doesn’t deserve this. also that’s so funny bc like he’s gonna kill someone pretty soon so i think it’s funny that apparently he’s only holding grudges against the people who were involved in hanging him and everyone else he’s not only cool with but like kinda sweet to

•i’m sorry just the way finn talks grates on my fucking soul like why does he say things like that idk how to explain it but it’s heinous

•so funny that there’s a plague and the grounders are en route to attack and the c plot is just jasper and monty being bitchy to each other

•mmmm the jet fuel looks like koolaid yummy

•raven and bellamy have the potential to be the most powerful duo on this show unfortunately finn exists

•bellamy’s like trust me jasper i wouldn’t give you this important job if i didn’t absolutely have to but unfortunately you are the only one not puking up blood

•BYGONES ……. BY VOLCANO CHOIR!!!!!!!!!

•”i won’t let anything happen to you” “that’s what i said to you the day you were born” “i know you told me that like 1000 times” this shows dialogue is unparalleled

•DJDJDJ NO ONE HAS ANY FAITH IN JASPER STOP ITS NOT FAIRRR

•raven is so hardcore she’s literally just gonna blow herself up

•the way jasper would have just gotten everyone killed if it weren’t for him being gay

•clarke shut up stop quoting oppenheimer ur such a loser i want to shove you into a locker

•this episode rlly makes murphy look innocent as if he isn’t gonna murder someone tomorrow

•just. imagine choosing clarke over raven. i’m sorry like i can’t fathom it

•ITS OVERRRRR FINN YES PERIOD also so funny that murphy is sitting two feet away while this happens

•oop murphy is gonna murder someone TONIGHT

•why skxndcn why does he do these things murphy you were good you were IN!!!!

•assessment of this episode: 7/10 honestly pretty good once again any episode without the ark is a solid episode in my book, plus finn finally got dumped, plus murphy came back!!! loses some points for being gross and scary

#rewatching t100

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lapixie · 5 years

Text

Ten Years Later Chapter 2

Part 1

Chapter 2

Tony doesn’t go right to sleep. Instead he goes online, and he looks up everything! He learns about the last ten years the best way there is, by looking up all the gossip and news. He learns that they still have not perfected the flying car, but they did shoot one into space. What the fuck Elon? Simpsons was still playing. Supernatural went away, then came right back. They were on season 22 now. Destiel was still not a thing.

Then he looked up his friends and family. Holy shit! Peter was gay...or well...bi...maybe pan? Whatever he was, he wasn’t straight. And the world knew that he was Spiderman? He didn’t go too deep into that, figured it would be best for him to wait for the kid to tell him everything about that. And actually, maybe it would be better for the rest of them to be the ones to give updates on their lives also. He finally falls asleep as the sun was coming up.

The next morning, everyone woke up to the smell of bacon, sausage, eggs, home fries and pancakes. Walking into the kitchen, they were all surprised to see Tony at the stove.

“Morning Mr. Stark, I didn’t know you could cook?” Peter asked, while adorably running his hands through his hair.

“Breakfast, the most important meal of the day!” He blustered, trying not to stare at Peters abs peeking out from where his t-shirt was rising up.

Pepper laughed out loud, saying “What he means is; Breakfast, you cook it for the girl you’re about to kick out so there’s no hard feelings!”

“Hey, no slander Pep! I did it to the boys too!”

Peter choked on his coffee he had just taken a sip of, sputtering “Boys? Mr. Stark, I didn’t know you swung that way…?”

“Yeah, no sense being a playboy if you’re gonna limit yourself to only half the population!”

“Oh.”

“Does it bother you? I didn’t think it would, the internet is full of photos of you with other people. Including Flash?! What the hell kid? Isn’t he the one who bullied you for so long?”

“People change Mr. Stark. The snap changed a lot of people. Some for the better, some for the worse. Flash was for the better. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve been a kid.”

Tony felt his eyes slowly sliding down Peter’s body, but snapped them quickly back up to meet his eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you’re not gonna answer to kid anymore, you better call me Tony.”

With a hitch in his breath, Peter answered “Sure Mr….Tony. Might take some time to get used to though.”

They joined Pepper, Happy and Rhodey at the table, where the others had already started eating. They took turns filling him in on the people that had survived the snap.

“What?!” he yelled, “Thor got fat?!” He couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking of the handsome alien god with a belly of pudge. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

“Tony,” Peter gave him a stern look “It’s not funny. His whole planet was destroyed, then Thanos killed most of the survivors, including his brother, then his snap decimated what was left. We’re lucky he didn’t kill himself! Besides, he’s still badass and could beat you one handed.”

“Kid!” He cried, clutching at his chest. “My heart! I thought you loved me!”

“I do love you Mr. Stark. Which is why I would never lie to you. Thor would kick your ass.” He deadpanned.

“Hey, what happened to Tony?!”

“What happened to not calling me kid?”

“Touche. Moving on…so you went to Europe and met Quentin Beck?”

“Yeah, I messed up. I trusted him. I was in a really bad place. You, May, and Ned had all just been dusted. SHEILD was pressuring me to be Spiderman more than I was willing to at the time. I just wanted a vacation, ya know? But even that had some world ending, cataclysmic happening. By the time we thought we were done with all that, I was just ready to be me. Just Peter. So I gave Beck EDITH. The last thing you had trusted me with, and I just gave it away…”

Seeing Peter’s face so contorted with guilt and grief was breaking Tony’s heart. He couldn’t believe that he had had a hand in one of the worst times of his life. “Oh, kid, I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to handle that responsibility so young!”

With a quirk of a smile, Peter replied “It’s okay. I made it right. It was really bad for awhile though. Mysterio told everyone that I was Spiderman, at the same time he told them all that I was a murdering psychopath. With video evidence. Long story. SHEILD stepped in and proved me innocent, but I had already been outed. It was crazy for awhile. I was dating MJ and scared for her. The bad guys were actually the least of the problems. It was the paparazzi. They wouldn’t leave us alone! Plus, I was still having panic attacks from being hit by the train.”

“Excuse me?! What by the what now?!”

“Yeah, Mysterio was messing with my mind. Anyway, Everything finally started getting better, everything calmed down. Me and MJ decided we were better off as friends after a couple of years. I had my great gay awakening. Dated Flash for about a year, we were better off as friends too. And that’s about it for me. Oh, and while searching for a way to reverse the snap, I found a couple of cures, including one that let’s Bruce choose when he wants to Hulk out, and lets him keep his mind. Almost like an animagus mixed with wolfsbane potion? No? It’s a Harry Potter thing.”

“Wow. That’s...a lot. Pep, how about you? Tell me your last ten years have been a bit...tamer?”

“Well, I had a baby, then another, ran away to Paris to get married to Happy. It didn’t work out, but we’re still great friends.”

“What? Seriously?” That was...shocking to say the least. He always thought Happy was gay. And he didn’t mean in the...haha...happy way.

Pepper laughed. “No, but your face is priceless.” She said while rolling her eyes. “Actually, most of my time has been spent putting out fires started by Tony Jr. over here.” She pointed over at Peter.

“Hey!” Peter cried, with a hand over his heart, a fake wounded expression on his face. “I resent that! I’m much worse than him!”

Pepper gave a little half-smile, half-laugh that Tony recognized from how she used to look at him. Just yesterday for him, but apparently an entire decade for her. It was finally starting to sink in. He missed ten years of their lives. He missed seeing Peter grow up. Happy and Rhodey were grey. Pepper had wrinkles. They had all continued living their lives. Without him. And he couldn’t even be mad. He was gone! They couldn’t exactly pause time to wait for someone to get him back.

“Mr…Tony, are you okay?” Peter sounded worried. He couldn’t do that to the kid, not after everything he went through with EDITH. Because of him.

Shaking his head, like it could remove the thoughts from his brain, Tony smiled and replied “Yeah, Pete, I’m fine. Just jet lagged. That’s a thing, right? If you can get jet lagged from changing time zones, imagine my jet lag changing decades!”

Everyone laughed, just as he meant them to.

“So Happy, honeybear, tell me, did you find a mad passionate love for each other in the ten years I was gone?”

Happy and Rhodey rolled their eyes simultaneously, which just caused Tony to laugh more.

“See?! You’re already in sync!”

“Tony, shut up. I’m actually still happily single, and Happy is not so happily single.”

Happy elbowed Rhodey in the side, mumbling that he was fine.

“Happy, who broke your heart? Who do I need to reign the might of Tony Stark down on?” Tony was joking, but he was also totally serious.

“Careful boss, you reign your might, you’ll be taking on a certain Spiderman!” Happy chuckled, picturing this.

Tony felt something cold in his chest. Happy and Peter? No. Peter was his! Well, not his, his, but his protege!

Peter was watching Tony, as if he was expecting him to laugh and say something like he could take him, but instead Tony just got real quiet.

“Don’t worry Tony, even if you went after Aunt May, I doubt I’d have to do anything! She’d tear you apart all by herself!” He would probably deny it to his dying day, but Peter totally giggled at that.

Tony’s head snapped up from where it had started to droop towards his chest, his eyes meeting Peters.

“Aunt May? I thought he meant ...so it wasn’t you?” The relief Tony felt was immense. And completely inappropriate. It was none of his business who Peter dated. He didn’t even know the kid any more. Case in point, not a kid!

Peter and Happy started laughing uproariously, so hard he thought they may just fall over.

“Me and the kid?! Are you out of your mind? He just got over his annoying never stop talking stage. And he relapses! Oh God, kill me if I ever even think about it! Also, uh, I’m straight, so…” Happy shrugged, like “what are you gonna do”?

“Yeah, Tony, no offense to Happy, but he’s not my type. If I wanted to be with someone who rolled their eyes and stopped listening anytime I was talking, I would have stayed with Flash.”

His eyes were warm as he said this though, like it was fond memories.

“Well Pete, if they don’t listen to you, that’s their stupidity. You were already one of the smartest people I knew, and you were a teenager at the time.”

Remembering the kid he was, looking at who he was now, made him sad. He missed so much of Peter’s life.

“Thanks Tony. Wish more people felt that way.” Peter was smiling while he said it though, so he could tell he wasn’t really upset.

“Okay well, for me it’s been less than 24 hours since you saw me last, so not much has changed.”

As they cleaned up from breakfast, Tony couldn’t help staring at Peter. When he raised his arms to put dishes in the cupboard and his abs showed under his shirt. When he bent over to put the pans away, and he showed off his amazing ass. Tony could feel himself getting hard. He had to nip this in the bud.

“Okay Pete, I think I might go get reaquainted with the lab. Dum E, Butterfingers, and U must be missing me. And Friday has been suspiciously quiet.”

“It’s not suspicious boss! I’ve just been letting you get re-acclimated. I was being nice! Last time I do that!” For an AI, it was shocking how much emotion you could hear in her voice. She was the most sarcastic, loving, AI in the world.

“Friday! Baby! I’ve missed you!” Tony yelled with a big grin on his face.

“No you didn’t boss. It’s been less than a day for you. But I appreciate the sentiment.” She drawled. “Now, come, your kids have missed you.”

With that, the elevator opened and sat waiting for Tony.

“Guess that’s my queue. Later Underoos!” He yelled, scurrying to the elevator, with his hands in a peace sign, hearing Peter yelling that he wasn’t Underoos anymore in the background. “You’ll always be my Underoos!” He called back with a grin. Man, it felt good to be back!

@stxrker-fan-xx

#starker #starker fic #tony x peter #peter x tony #au #ten years later

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ssreeder · 2 years

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hypothetical anon back again! sorry it’s been so long, i didn’t realize how hard these were to come up with

so, hypothetically, what do you think would have happened if jet actually met iroh and found out that, yes, this is to help aang learn firebending? do you think he would have begrudgingly accepted cause aang’s the avatar or...?

(also, the chapters have been absolutely awesome!!!!!!!)

HIIIII HYPOTHETICAL ANON I MISSED YOU!!!

I’ve been getting a lot of Jet asks lately & I LOVE IT

Soooooo… I think it could go a few different ways between Jet & Iroh. But no matter how much anger and hostility Jet threw Iroh’s way because of his trauma,, I think iroh would see through it just like he did with Zuko.

It might have been more difficult for iroh to be around Jet than Jet around iroh, because Jet would remind him of Zuko (which would be really painful)

But I do think Jet would begrudgingly accept that iroh and his people were there to help and Aang can’t defeat the Fire Lord without learning fire bending.

He wouldn’t have been thrilled with the situation and he would have probably been a pain in the ass, but I don’t think he would be quite as outspoken and angry as he is with his current situation.

I’d also like to think Iroh would be a good influence on him and his patience would have benefitted Jet.

Too bad he didn’t go & now he has to deal with Zuko (& Sokka hahaha)

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saltybaltic · 6 years

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Natasha Romanoff X Reader - DECISIONS

Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow X FemReader Fanfic

Synopsis: You have been taken by an old enemy of Natasha’s and are now being held hostage. Your freedom comes at a high price. What choice will she make?

Warnings: Language, violence, blood, fighting etc etc.

Words: 5658

MASTERLIST

Okay so this one is the first one I’m doing as a request, requested by @je-suis-une-toilette . I’ve been working on it for a little while mostly because I found it so difficult to come up with something. Honestly this request has just highlighted how truly awful my imagination is. Anyway, I’m sorry if you don’t like it, I’m fairly certain it’s garbage haha. But hopefully you all enjoy nonetheless. Don’t forget to leave your feedback and remember requests are open!

PS. I’m sorry if the request meant you wanted a sad ending but like ... my life is depressing enough without writing sad stuff as well so I’m sorry, I am open to trying something again if that’s what you wanted!

“Natasha you can’t just go in there all guns blazing, without a plan, without back up when you don’t even know if she’ll be there.”

At Steve’s comment, Natasha finally looked up from the folder in front of her, “Yes I can.”

“You ... okay you can but you shouldn’t.” Sighed out Steve, beginning to feel himself getting exasperated by the woman’s stubbornness, “What use are you if you get yourself taken too. Or worse, killed?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes Rogers.”

Letting out another sigh, Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, “Well what if your recklessness gets her killed then?”

“I’m not going to let that happen.” Stated Natasha simply, rising to her feet and throwing the papers across the table away from her, “I’m going.”

“Just wait an hour. Let me get the authorisation fro-“

“I’m going.” Repeated Natasha, staring back at him defiantly, “Now.”

It had been three days but to Natasha it had felt like a lot longer. Three days since you had been taken. Three days since she had last seen you. Three days that you had been with him.

His name was Frederic Vosa and to say he had a bad reputation was somewhat of an understatement; a healthy number of assassinations to his name and notorious for taking what didn’t belong to him with whatever force was required. Natasha had crossed paths with him once before on one of her first missions with S.H.I.E.L.D. She had been tasked with taking out two known assassins who had been discovered to be devising a fairly serious terror attack. She had succeeded in her mission but it had earned her quite a grudge from the husband of one of the targets and the father of the other: the very same Frederic Vosa.

Now Natasha wasn’t arrogant or naive enough to think that Frederic would devise an elaborate scheme ten years later just to exact revenge on her but she couldn’t think of any other reason for his actions. It was no secret that you were in a relationship together, the media running with the story on every network once they found out two of The infamous Avengers were now a couple. Why else would you be the only one he had taken?

The only thing she could focus on was your safety and it was for that reason that as soon as she had information from an old contact on Frederic’s possible whereabouts, she didn’t hesitate for more than a second before taking in as much detail as she could and barrelling into the garage to jump on her bike and come get you. Steve had insisted on following her, telling her to wait once she got there for him to help. Telling her she had to get authorisation before storming the building. He insisted on waiting just the hour it would take to prep the jet and get a team together however all she could think about was what you could be going through while she waited.

It didn’t take her long to find the base, it had only been thirty miles or so away anyway, and it didn’t take her long to get inside. She found the building surprisingly quiet, no external guards and not much force required to get through the entrance. To be perfectly honest she practically walked through the front door but that didn’t offer her any comfort whatsoever. It shouldn’t have been so easy.

She passed up the corridors carefully, gun drawn ready for whatever she might be faced with as she made her way up the many floors of the building, but nothing ever came. Several minutes in she came across a set of double doors on the sixth floor, also unguarded and unlocked. It was suspicious and she knew she could be walking into a trap but her heart was ruling her head and foolishly she took a deep breath and stepped through the doors to the other side.

Natasha stopped instantly as she set foot inside the room. It was large and round and this place was certainly not empty. Her eyes were drawn to the other side of the room, her heart stopping at the sight in front of her. There you were, stood on a small platform above the spiral staircase to the ground floor, hands tied behind your back and a thick rope wrapped around your neck. Even with your bowed head Natasha could see you were obviously hurt, your lip swollen and bloody on one side and the faint beginnings of a black eye surrounded by smaller cuts and marks. She looked further throughout the room, seeing at least five men around the edges, all armed and all staring right back at her. There was a large screen on the back wall behind you, a timer counting down each second in the middle surrounded by smaller monitors showing satellites and aerial shots of different places. It was all a lot of take in and none of it made sense, the red head taking a cautious step further in to the room as she looked between you and the timer as it ominously counted down past the twenty minute mark.

“Oh great, you made it!”

At the sound of the man’s voice you finally raised your head and your eyes locked on Natasha instantly, heart sinking at the fact she was here and here alone.

Stepping out from where he had been lurking in the shadows of the room, Natasha’s brow furrowed in anger and raised her gun from her side as she laid eyes on Frederic.

“I thought you’d never make it.” He continued, a smile on his face as he made his way further in to view and stood just a few steps to your right.

“Let her go.” Stated Natasha firmly, raising her gun further and pointing it at the man.

He chuckled quietly, “Is that any way to greet someone after such a long time, where are your manners?”

Pulling back the hammer with her thumb, Natasha cocked the gun, “Let her go please.”

“Let’s play a game first shall we?” Asked Frederic, taking a few steps to the side so he could reach out to where you were stood and rest a hand on your shoulder, “I mean I’ve worked very hard on it for you Ms. Romanoff.”

“I’m not going to ask again.” Growled Natasha, making her way further in to the room tightening her grip on the gun.

“Trust me you don’t want to shoot me.” He started, smile broadening as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and waved what looked like a controller of some kind so that Natasha could see it, “Not when I have hold of this.”

Natasha frowned, “What is it?”

“I’m glad you asked, come closer.” He requested, still beaming back at the other woman as he beckoned her forward with his finger. She couldn’t get all the way over to you as she was on the other side of the large staircase but she got close enough to the bannister that she could see over the edge. “How far down do you think that is?”

She didn’t say anything but glanced down for a look none the less.

“Twenty, thirty feet?” He pushed, following her line of sight and tightening his grip on your shoulder, “I hate to think what would happen to someone’s neck if they fell from that kind of height with a rope around it.”

Natasha’s eyes narrowed further, “You hurt her and I swear I-“

“I’m not going to hurt her.” Interrupted Frederic, giving your shoulder a rough shake as you wobbled on the small platform leaning over the staircase in an attempt to keep your balance, “That’s the game.”

“What’s in your hand?”

He raised it higher so she could have a better look at the device in his hand, “My thumb slips off this button and that platform falls. You shoot me and she’ll be dead before you can blink.”

Slowly and reluctantly, Natasha lowered the gun back to her side, flicking her thumb over it again in submission, “I’m not playing any games with you, you psycho.”

Frederic laughed again, and gestured to the timer ticking down on the screen behind him, “You might want to listen to the rules, it’s your own time you’re wasting after all.”

Mouth snapping shut, Natasha glared back at the man before quickly stealing a glance at the timer, seeing the numbers roll past twelve minutes.

“When you killed my wife and son yo-“

“Your wife and son were murderous assassins.”

“And what exactly are you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as Natasha fell silent again, “As I was saying ... when you killed them, you took away the most important things in the world to me. I had to think, what kind of person would do something like that? What kind of person are you Ms. Romanoff? What’s the most important thing in the world to you?”

Natasha’s jaw tightened, “This is different and you know it, she hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh really? How many people have died at the hands of The Avengers exactly?” snapped back Frederic, the smile faltering from his face for the first time since Natasha had entered the room, “Who appointed ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’? Who said it was okay for you all to decide who lives and who dies?”

“This is between you and me, let’s leave it that way shall we?”

“This is between you and me ... and here’s what we’re going to find out ... what is it that matters to you most?” He continued as he gestured vaguely to the many monitors on the wall, “I’m sure you’ve noticed the screens. You’ll see there are five satellites monitoring five locations. These locations are amongst the busiest and most important in the world; Tokyo, New York, Delhi, Shanghai, Moscow. Each one currently has several large missiles pointed at it, ready to be deployed in ...” he turned to look at the timer and gave the red head a sinister grin, “Eight minutes.”

“You’re crazy.” Muttered Natasha, eyes scanning frantically over the screens as she tried to take in all the information she was being given.

Frederic laughed, “Maybe so ... are you ready to play the game?”

“I’m not sure I understand what you want me to do.”

“Choose.” He answered simply, walking over towards you again and placing his hand back on your shoulder, “Revenge ... her .... or the world as you know it.”

Natasha swallowed, trying to ignore the pounding of her heart in her chest, “What do you mean choose?”

“Well the way I see it you have three choices. First ... kill me. You get your revenge but my thumb slips of this detonator and it’s ... well ... it’s goodbye to your little friend. Second ... you can choose to save her. We let all those missiles off, I walk out of here and you can both ride off into the sunset together.” He paused, smile widening as he pointed to a large red button to the left of Natasha, “Or ... you save the people. Press that button and all the missiles are deactivated, no one has to get hurt, no one has to know. However ... I had a little trouble with setting it up and unfortunately the second you press it, that platform’s going to drop, and well ... you know what that means.”

“Nat, it’s okay, just press it.”

As you spoke for the first time, Natasha’s gaze drifted from Frederic to look back at you, hating to see you looking so hurt and weak.

“I’m afraid that’s not up to you.” Laughed Frederic, stepping back from where you stood and motioning at the red head, “It’s hers.”

“There’s no competition here Natasha.”

She shook her head quickly from side to side, “I’m getting you out of here, Steve is on his way, I’m taking you home.”

Frederic let out a cold laugh, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Shut ... up!” Hissed Natasha, shooting him a death glare.

“I’ve told you your options woman, and everyone living a long and happy life isn’t one of them.”

Natasha shook her head again, “Those aren’t the only options.”

Frowning back at her, Frederic watched as Natasha raised the gun from her side but this time pointed it so the barrel was pressed to the underside of her chin.

“You’re only doing this to get to me.” Elaborated Natasha, cocking the weapon with her thumb again, “If I’m dead then it all means nothing.”

He faltered for a moment, her words obviously hitting home before he quickly composed himself and plastered a smile back onto his face, “And you assume I’ll just let everyone live if you’re dead?”

“What do I care? I’ll be dead.”

You frowned, “Nat, this isn’t the way.”

“I’ll do it.” Threatened Natasha, finger pressing firmly against the trigger.

“Natasha, please.” You pleaded, your tone finally making her break eye contact with the man and look back at you, “You can’t let all those people die because of me.”

She pursed her lips, clearly beginning to get overwhelmed by the situation she had found herself in, “I’m not letting you die.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“Yes I do.” She shot back.

Shaking your head gently, you smiled sadly back at the red head, “You don’t Nat.”

“No.”

“It’s okay.” You insisted, trying your best to sound as sincere as possible, “This is what I signed up for, what we signed up for ... to put our life on the line to save others ... it’s the end of my line.”

Natasha pursed her lips tighter, “You are not dying because of me.”

“This isn’t because of you ... I’ve had a lot of time to think about this while I’ve been here ... I know what needs to be done and I’m ready okay? Please don’t worry about me.”

The gun wobbled in her hand as she tried her best to stay calm, “How can you say that when you know what you’re asking me to do?”

“Nat, sweetheart, put the gun down ... come on ... please.” You asked, willing her with your eyes to comply with your request.

Not doing anything for a few moments, Natasha took a couple of breaths to compose herself before finally doing as she was told and lowering the gun from her chin, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she desperately tried to think of a way out of the predicament she had found herself in. It was taking all of her strength and all of her training to not just crumble to the ground in an emotional mess as her inner turmoil threatened to overwhelm her. She hated herself for not listening to Steve and for coming to the building alone. She was furious that she had been stupid enough to come here with no back up and was now hopelessly outnumbered and backed into a corner.

You watched her carefully as she lost herself in thought, practically able to hear the cogs working in her head. Knowing Natasha as well as you did, you knew she would be desperate and unrelenting in finding a way out of the situation but you had had enough time to think about it: there was no way out, other than those that had already been outlined and now unfortunately a choice had to be made. Turning your head to the side, you looked up at the timer on the screen, seeing it tick to four and a half minutes.

“This isn’t going to get any easier the longer we leave it.”

“Let me think.” Mumbled Natasha, rubbing at her chin as her eyes glazed over in thought.

You shook your head, “You need to press it.”

“No I don’t.”

You looked back at her sincerely, “Natasha ... you know that if all those people die instead of me ... neither of us will be able to live with it.”

“Well I can’t live with this.” Snapped back Natasha, her voice cracking on the last word.

Offering what you hoped was a comforting smile, you shrugged slightly, “Babe if there was another way I know you would think of it ... but there is no other way.”

She didn’t say anything, chewing on her lower lip now as she tried to keep a lid on her emotions and think rationally. You could see the gun shaking ever so slightly in her hand, the faintest glimmer of tears at the back of her eyes and her jaw clenched tight in a bid to hide her feelings, but she had never been able to hide them from you. It was obvious she was on the brink of losing it and you knew you had very little time left.

“Listen to me ...” you started, waiting until she looked back at you before continuing, “It’s okay, you could never hurt me ... this isn’t you ... I know this isn’t you, I know it isn’t fair but you have to do it.”

“I can’t.” Whimpered Natasha, hands trembling more noticeably now as she tried to blink the tears out of her eyes.

Trying to ignore the ache in your chest at the sight of her looking so upset, you swallowed down the lump in your throat, “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known Nat, you can do this ... all you have to do is push a button.”

“That’s not all it is.” Argued Natasha, voice coming out weaker by the second.

“I know babe, I know but it’ll be okay. It’ll all be over soon.” You encouraged, knowing any attempts at offering comfort were futile given the situation, “You know I love you right?”

Natasha’s lip quivered at your words, fresh tears forming in her eyes, “I love you too.”

“That’s all I ever needed, you don’t need to worry about me.” You stated, feeling your own emotions beginning to get the better of you as you looked over at the clock and saw it begin to count down the final ninety seconds, “You can do this, come on.”

“I really don’t think I can.” Whispered Natasha, taking a tentative step towards the button and eying it carefully.

You nodded your head, “Yes you can, you’ve got this.”

Several more seconds ticked by and still she didn’t move, eyes flitting quickly between the timer and the button.

“Natasha.”

She shook her head frantically, the motion finally causing a couple of tears to spill from her eyes “No.”

“I wish we had more time but we don’t.” You said quietly, catching the timer flit to sixty seconds out of the corner of your eye, “Please, I need you to do it now.”

Her shoulders shook slightly as she tried to hold in a sob, pushing out a shaky breath and rubbing at her eyes, “I’m so sorry, this is all my fault.”

“No it’s not.” You insisted, “It’s okay.”

“I shouldn’t have come here first. I should have taken more time. I should have saved you.”

Shooting a quick glance at the screen, you felt your heart rate pick up as you saw only thirty seconds remaining, “Nat, honey, I need you to press it.”

“I can’t.”

“We are out...of...time.”

Nothing.

“Nat.”

Still nothing.

“Natasha!”

Finally she sniffed back her tears and looked up from the button to lock eyes with you across the room. You had told yourself for the last few minutes that you were prepared, that you were ready to die and it was the right thing to do. You had convinced yourself you weren’t scared and that it was all going to be over soon so there was nothing to fear. However maybe that was because you’d never really believed she would do it. Now, seeing the sorrow in her eyes you suddenly felt your heart stop, knowing that this was it. Bracing yourself, you clenched your hands into fists behind your back and grimaced as in one swift motion she turned her head to the side, closing her eyes tight and slammed her hand down on the button.

Time seemed to stand still as her hand collided hard with the red surface, a look of total agony on her face as she kept her head turned, unable to look in your direction. A second passed. And then another. And then another until finally you looked down at the platform expectantly, not quite understanding why you were still alive. Your head tilted to the side, seeing that the timer had indeed stopped but for some reason nothing else had happened.

The silence was broken as Frederic released a laugh, clapping his hands together in glee. “Well that was dramatic wasn’t it!”

At the sound of his voice, Natasha gingerly opened her eyes, turning back towards you and eyebrows knitting together at the sight of you still stood where you had been before. “What?”

“Oh you thought that was it?” Spat Frederic, his demeanour shifting from his previous happy, smiling character to one of total malice in an instant, “You thought you could murder my family and I’d just give your friend over here a nice quick send off and we’d be even?”

Natasha was still visibly shaken, her shock and trauma clouding her senses as she tried to understand what had just happened and why you were still alive.

“This game is just the beginning.” Continued Frederic, stepping back towards you, “You really believed me about those missiles? What kind of resources do you think I have that I could pull that off? What am I, a Bond villain? I know fear is a fantastic motivator but I didn’t expect you to bite so easily.”

“You sick fuck.” Hissed Natasha, raising her gun once again and pointing it back at the man beside you.

“Careful now.” He warned, raising the detonator again to demonstrate his thumb still pressed firmly against the button.

Natasha scoffed, “You really expect me to believe you now?”

“Are you willing to take the chance?” He taunted, the sickening smirk returning to his lips.

The top right window caught your eye as you swore a flash of colour swung past it, hoping desperately that this was back up and there might actually be a way out of this situation.

“I’d hate for us to have gone through all that just for you to snap her pretty little neck anyway.”

“Weird time for compliments but ... thanks I guess.” You muttered, still hoping that maybe help was on the way and you could buy yourself some time.

You regretted your remark almost instantly as in a flash his hand slapped across your cheek. Your skin burned immediately from the impact, the pain making your head spin and tears form in your eyes.

“Touch her again and you’ll be sorry.”

Looking over at the red head, Frederic arched a brow, “You talk a big game for someone without a leg to stand on.”

“You’re going to pay for this, I swear to you if it’s the last thing I do, you’ll pay for this.”

“What exactly do you hope to do? You’re alone, outnumbered, outgunned and if you try anything your girlfriend dies in an instant.” He let out a cold laugh, “How exactly do you hope to kill me?”

Natasha narrowed her eyes, “Kill you? You’ll beg for something as pleasant as death when I’m done with you.”

He grinned back at her, “Now there’s the woman we all know and love, and there was me thinking sentiment had changed you into much gentler creature.”

The look on Natasha’s face and the fact she didn’t say anything in response told you something was up. She looked like she was trying to concentrate on something, that her attention had drifted and you allowed your hopes to rise even further that this meant help was coming.

She didn’t offer a reply to his comment, instead clutching the gun tighter as she continued to aim it at Frederic but turned to look at you, “It’s going to be okay.”

“How can you say that when just a few moments ago you decided to kill her?” Taunted Frederic, nudging you in the arm to get your attention, “I mean, that’s got to hurt right?”

“If your goal was to make me doubt how she feels about me I’m sorry to tell you that you’ve failed spectacularly.” You shot back, never taking your eyes off Natasha as she seemed to take a breath of composure.

“Im going to get you out of here baby but I need you to do something for me okay?” Started Natasha, taking a step forward and resting her finger on the trigger of the gun.

You raised an eyebrow at her, eyes darting around the room briefly for any sign of back up or what her plan might be, “Okay?”

“I need you to trust me.” Continued Natasha, taking a final step closer so she was as close to the bannister of the stairs as she could get, “And take a deep breath.”

Your heart stopped at the implication of her request, looking down at the sheer drop below you and knowing that there was no way on this planet that you would survive the fall. “Wait Nat I-“

The words were snatched from your mouth as a gunshot sounded and the room promptly descended into chaos. In your panic there wasn’t much you managed to focus on but you certainly saw Natasha’s shot hit the target and Frederic collapse to the floor. Several other gun shots followed and suddenly you couldn’t see the red head any more. There was the deafening smash of glass. More gun shots. Shouting. And then it all faded out as you felt the floor give way beneath you and you realised you were falling.

Before Natasha had arrived and you knew what Frederic’s plan was you had been given a lot of time to consider your predicament and had ultimately been forced to accept your fate and come to terms with the fact you were going to die. You had convinced yourself you were okay, that you were brave enough to deal with it and that everyone had to die some time or another so why not now? But as your stomach dropped with the sudden sensation of falling and you felt the helplessness or knowing you would be dead in a few seconds, you realised that you were not in fact ready to die at all and you were actually completely terrified.

You braced yourself for impact, the loud, metallic ‘whoosh’ sound nearly passing you by as suddenly and quite abruptly you stopped falling and landed feet first on something very real and very solid. The surprising sensation of landing on your feet almost caused you to topple over, your hands tied behind your back making it near impossible to catch your balance and ironically it was only the rope around your neck that kept you upright. You hopped from foot to foot, wobbling unevenly as you attempted to stay standing, the pressure of the rope around your neck causing you to stand on your tip toes so that you could actually breath. Looking down, you quickly recognised what it was you had landed on, the blue and red of Steve’s shield shimmering where it was wedged into the wall beneath your feet. It was a close call, almost too close and it felt like you were breathing out of a straw as you tried to stand as tall as possible in a bid to loosen the strain around your neck. It got uncomfortable quickly, the pulse of blood in your brain almost drowning out the sound of gunfire and panicked shouting around you as you searched the room desperately in a bid to make sense of what was happening, still more than aware that you were far from safe yet.

Several rapid gunshots whizzed over your head and you looked up to see a couple of them had hit their mark and frayed the rope but it was still not enough to break it. Your head was starting to cloud now, the minimal oxygen getting into your lungs making it increasingly difficult as you strained to lift yourself higher onto your toes and get more air. A few more seconds passed before the same gunshots echoed around the room and finally, you felt the rope break above you so you could gulp in a desperate breath. You coughed and spluttered as you attempted to get as much air as you could, finally able to stand properly and try and balance yourself as your neck was freed. Looking down at the ground below you, you knew there was no chance of making the jump with your hands behind your back, still a decent 15 feet or so left to fall. Instead you were forced to stand helplessly on top of the shield and simply wait and hope that Natasha and Steve could gain control of the situation. You didn’t know if anyone else was here to help, it was difficult to see anything from where you had dropped to but you knew that if anyone could get you out of this it would be them. Minutes felt like hours as you stood waiting, your heart in your mouth as you prayed to anything that was listening that you would all make it out of this okay. Eventually the gunfire halted, all of the shouting stopped and an eerie silence enveloped the room. You wanted to shout up, let someone know you were there and ask for help but you couldn’t be sure who would be there to hear you.

There was a grunt and a shuffle above you and you braced yourself for what could possibly be about to happen next but instead relief finally washed over you as you recognised who was clambering over the bannister towards you. He made it look effortless, swinging from one floor to the next before eventually balancing on the railing directly beside you, offering you a small, reassuring smile as he squeezed your shoulder comfortingly .

“You okay?”

You shrugged, “I’ve been better.”

“Let’s get out of here shall we?” He pulled a knife from his pocket, cutting the rope that was binding your arms together so that you could finally remove your hands from your back.

“Nat-“

“Natasha’s fine.” Cut in Steve, “You think you can get back up there?”

You looked up at the climb ahead of you, the soreness in your wrists casting a small doubt but confident in your abilities none the less, “I don’t think I’ll look as graceful as you but we’ll give it a shot.”

“Let’s just go slow.”

You didn’t realise how much your body ached until you started climbing and it took you several minutes to make it to the top, needing the occasional help from Steve to pull you up a little. The last three days had taken a toll on your body, not to mention the emotional and mental strain of the last thirty minutes or so. All in all, you were fairly certain you would need to sleep for at least a month after this.

As your hand gripped the top ledge, you felt someone grab it, pulling you up the rest of the way until you were up and over the banister and back on your feet on the ground. You were enveloped in a hug before you even had a chance to look up and see the other person but you didn’t need to see them to know who it was.

“Let me see you, where are you hurt?” Natasha demanded, releasing you from the bear hug but keeping hold of your arms so she could keep you close and study your body. One hand brushed over your neck, taking in the red marks left from the noose. Her other hand turned over your wrists so she could look at the rope burn before she grabbed your shoulders and turned you 360 degrees on the spot to look at the rest of your body, “Did they do anything else to you?”

You couldn’t help but laugh as she rotated you until you were back facing her, “Well they don’t exactly leave chocolates on the pillows here but I’ve had worse, I’ll live.”

“I ...”

“I know what you’re going to say and you don’t need to say it ... we made the decision together and it was the right decision.”

Natasha bit down on her lip, “I thought I killed you.”

“It wasn’t you Nat, you had no choice.”

“But I thought you were going to die. I ... I don’t know what I would have done.” stated Natasha, both hands moving to take a hold of yours.

You smiled warmly and gave her hands a squeeze, “Well I’m still here aren’t I?”

“You have no idea how glad I am.”

“Do you think they’ll let me take the rest of the week off? This has been kind of exhausting and I think we’re going to need some serious therapy after this.” You joked, trying to lighten the mood for a moment.

Giving you a serious look, Natasha tightened her hold on you, “You’re retiring, I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

At her response you let out a small chuckle, tugging her closer so that you could press your lips to hers. The kiss only lasted a moment before someone cleared their throat, opening your eyes and turning your head to see Steve stood beside the pair of you.

Placing a hand on each of your shoulders, he raised his eyebrows expectantly with a smile, “If it’s all the same to you ladies, I think we should get home.”

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #Natalia Romanova #natalia romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #black widow x reader #Black Widow #x reader #x reader fanfic #mcu fanfiction #mcu #steve rogers #captain america #marvel #marvel au #fanfiction #femslash #The Avengers #Avengers

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imagine-always-and-forever · 6 years

Text

Flutterings & Tequila - Part 8

A Klaus Mikaelson Imagine

Pairing: Niklaus Mikaelson x Reader

Summary: you’ve decided to go clubbing with your best friend the last summer before college starts to take your mind off of the Mikaelsons who have invaded your life this summer. Specifically, you’re trying to distract yourself from Niklaus Mikaelson and the flutterings he has caused you. Tequila is your friend tonight.

Part Summary: An agreement is made

Warnings: typical stuff you’d see in the show

Word count: 2,212

Tags: elle88531, violentmommabear42 (let me know if you want to be tagged or I missed you out on the tag list!)

Authors note: remember when I said I’d start posting on a schedule? Haha, me too. I’m going to actually try to do that this year. Anyway, after a lot of requests, I’ve finally been able to continue this! I’m actually really excited for everyone to read this and the next parts to come! Let me know what you think! Feedback means the world!!

“Hello,” Jess said with a wide grin as he watched you, the phone to his ear.

You couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end. From the way Jess’s eyes sparked with victory, you could tell he had Klaus on the phone. You hung limply from your restraints as Jess pointed a knife at you. You got the message: make a peep and you’d die.

“No, that won’t do,” Jess said calmly. He listened for a while and shook his head. “You’re not in any place to bargain.” Jess walked up to you and he brought the knife up to your ribcage. “Perhaps, Mr. Mikaelson, you need some motivation?”

The tip of the knife pierced your skin and you screamed in pain just as Jess held the phone up to your mouth. Satisfied, he turned and walked away from you, phone back against his ear as he made his demands. You tried not to give him the satisfaction of crying out again, but the pain was too much. You scrunched your eyes up as tight as you could and bit your lip, focusing on that pain instead.

“Seven o’clock,” Jess was saying as he walked back up to you. He eyed you up. “Any funny business and neither of us get what we want,” he promised, holding the knife up to you. He smiled in delight when you flinched.

He hung up and slipped the phone into his back pocket. Neither of you said anything as he watched you with calculating eyes. He brought a hand to his mouth and rubbed his lower lip in thought as his brother walked in.

“Well?”

He didn’t answer his brother for a moment. You both waited to hear what he had planned. After a long few seconds, Jess flashed a grin and you knew his plan was all thought out.

“Get the hose and some new clothes for her. She needs to be ready for tonight,” Jess told his brother. Once again, he stepped forward and bit into his wrist. There was no point fighting it and you didn’t want to die from the stab wound after freedom was so close. He smiled as you drank down the blood. Once it was done, he made his way to the stairs. “I have to get things in order, but I expect her to be ready by the time I return,” he told his brother. “Oh, and Cooper,” he said, pausing to look back at his brother, “don’t lose your temper,” he warned.

Cooper reluctantly nodded.

When Jess disappeared, you watched a nasty smirk grow on Cooper’s lips. He walked over and picked up the end of a green hose from the floor. You braced yourself for the cold hose-down to come.

You didn’t get a warning. Cooper was standing too close to you and the water packed such a punch that it made you gasp. The cold jet felt like it was made of a million tiny needles. You gasped and squirmed as he hosed you down.

“We told you the water pressure was good,” he laughed.

“Sto-“

He moved the jet of water straight onto your face to cut you off. He coughed and spit as the water kept coming. Your clothes stuck to you uncomfortably as you shivered in the constant harsh water hitting you mercilessly. When the jet moved to your hair and Cooper walked back around you to wash the back of you, you opened your eyes, gasping as the water streamed down your face and into your eyes, nose, and mouth. The cement floor of the basement was covered in bloody water as it swirled down the grate underneath you.

You gritted your teeth as he stood too close to you. You’d be black and blue after this.

“Time to get dry,” Cooper said as he turned the hose off and let it fall to the floor.

You shivered and let your head rest on your arm, exhausted and unable to muster up a fight. When you saw the large striped towel he had in his hands as he walked back in front of you, there was a slight bubble of hope in your chest. At least you’d be dry and not covered in dried blood anymore.

Cooper put the towel on the table to his right and picked up a pair of scissors. You frowned. He smiled and stepped towards you with it. You wanted to step back or curl into yourself but you couldn’t move with the restraints.

“Have to get those wet clothes off first,” he told you.

You closed your eyes tightly as he cut away the wet fabric. Even as it fell to the floor with a wet thud, you didn’t open your eyes again. Your lip trembled as you felt his rough hand snake around your back and undo your bra.

There would be no tears or pleas to stop. You wouldn’t do it. To stop your lip from trembling or any tears from escaping, you kept your eyes tightly closed and once again bit your lip to distract you from what was going on.

You were naked before long.

He towelled you dry roughly and quickly. His hands lingered in some places but from the pace he was going, he didn’t have much time before his brother would be back. Thank god.

After you were dried, you were surprised to feel him cut the ties around you. Without your restraints holding you up, you fell to the floor. Your arms ached horribly.

“Get up and get dressed before Jess gets back,” Cooper instructed you with a rough tug to your upper arms. He held the knife he used to free you up to your face. “Try anything and you’ll be sorry. Jess can always patch you up if he needs to,” he warned you.

You nodded. It wasn’t like you could do anything. You looked up at the spell above you. There was a boundary spell around you, keeping you under the spell that stopped your magic. As you looked around to figure out where the boundary spell’s hold was in the room, you just about caught the clothes Cooper threw at you. A large t-shirt dress, a sports bra, and some underwear. You didn’t know whose they were but you didn’t bother asking. You quickly put them on.

You may be bound, magic-less, and about to be unsuccessfully attempted to be traded for some unknown object before very well being killed, but at least you weren’t naked anymore.

Cooper startled you when he suddenly pushed a hairclip into your hand. “Have to make you look presentable,” he grunted in annoyance.

If he had his way, you’d probably still be coated in blood and just stripped naked. You took the clip and put your hair up. You didn’t need to see yourself in any mirror to know you probably still looked a mess. You could feel the mass amount of knots in your hair. The blood and cuts all over your body may be gone, but you were sure you still looked like you had been tortured.

A pair of flip-flops were thrown down in front of you. You slipped them on without a word.

A chair was placed in your boundary circle and you were roughly pushed down onto it. He made quick work of tying you back up. You couldn’t help but wonder if they had you mixed up with anyone. Surely they realized you weren’t powerful enough to do anything in this state? They had your magic stripped from you.

Cooper disappeared, leaving you to sit in by yourself in the dark basement. You hung your head and refused to cry over something you couldn’t change.

What happened had happened. You had to look to the future. You didn’t have long before Jess would be back and you didn’t know what would happen when he tried his little plan of exchanging you for his whatever. If you could come up with a plan then that would be something.

You doubt he’d be meeting Klaus here. He’d probably be transporting you in that case and it was unlikely that he was going to take the ceiling with him. If you had your magic, that would be something. Although you weren’t the most powerful witch in the world, you weren’t defenceless and you’d be damned if you didn’t go down without a fight.

You sighed. You wished Josie was here.

But she wasn’t and you’d have to get yourself out of this. Klaus wouldn’t care if it came down to you or the thing he obviously wants considering he seemingly stole it. Whatever it is must be valuable if Jess is willing to go to such extremes. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together tries forcing the Mikaelsons to do anything they don’t want to and Jess seemed like he had more than two brain cells considering his plan managed to work this much.

If you could free yourself while Jess and Klaus fought – which was inevitable when Klaus saw how cocky Jess was that he’d beaten the hybrid – you could run. Cooper would no doubt come after you, but you would have your magic. There was a decent chance you’d get far enough to reach a safe patch where you could call Josie for help. That is if you were smart enough to get your hands or your magic to relieve Jess of his phone that he kept in his back pocket.

Right. You could do this. It was your only hope of survival.

“You’re looking –“

You looked up from your planning to see Jess running down the last few steps, his eyes taking you in. From his expression, you realised looked worse than you thought. He sighed.

“What happened to getting her ready?” he yelled up to his brother.

“Best I could do,” was the response he got.

Jess sighed again with a shake of his head. “Guess you’ll have to do.”

He walked up to you, dragging a chair behind him. He put it a few feet away from you and sat down in it. He watched you for a while. Neither of you said a word. If you weren’t sure he’d be dead by Klaus’s hand by the end of this, you’d make a point to not run at all and take both he and his brother down. You’ve never killed anyone before but you weren’t above doing it. You wanted them to pay. You already knew the spell you’d use. It was quick so they wouldn’t have any chance of stopping it. But it was painful.

You averted Jess’s eyes. You wouldn’t kill anyone tonight. Klaus would take care of them both most likely.

“Before we head out let’s get you caught up on the plan,” Jess said, bringing your attention back to him.

“What kind of stupid villain tells their hostage their evil plan?” you asked with an arched eyebrow.

“The kind that isn’t stupid at all and needs their hostage to play a role in the genius plan,” Jess said, completely unphased.

You glared at him. As if you’d help him. To hell with your plan the second you felt your magic freed, you’d kill the both of them and save Klaus the trouble.

“What’s going to happen is that you’re going to do exactly what I say,” Jess told you. He sat back in his chair looking unworried with the night’s soon-to-be event. “You aren’t going to try anything with your magic. You won’t even try to run. You’re going to sit quietly in the car on the way there and stay that way until I tell you to get out. Then, you’ll wait until I get what is mine. When I have that, you’ll be free to leave.”

He was deranged if he really thought that was how it was going to go. What was the catch?

“Oh,” he smiled and leaned forward, “you’re also going to be working for me now as a little spy on the Mikaelsons. You’ll tell me what they are doing and planning. You’ll do whatever I say in the future. I’m going to end the Mikaelsons and you’re going to help me. If you try to get out of this, “ he gestured around as if the idea was ridiculous, “somehow,” he laughed before the smile dropped from his face and he locked eyes with you, “I’ll kill you.” he said, ending with a wicked grin.

You felt your eyes prick with tears.

“Ready to go?” Cooper called down.

“Yep,” Jess responded with an extra pop to the word. He untied you and held your right bicep in a tight grip. He pushed you towards the stairs in front of you. Just as you took the first step, he yanked you back. You fell against his chest. He placed his lips to your ear. “One more thing,” he whispered into your ear hotly. He turned your head to look into your eyes. “If anything goes wrong tonight or if they find out and try to turn you against me, you’re going to kill yourself,” he stated.

You could feel the compulsion seeping into you.

“Let’s get going,” he smiled and pushed you up the stairs.

#niklaus mikaelson #the originals #klaus mikaelson #niklaus mikaelson imagine #klaus mikaleson imagine #flutterings & tequlia #part 8 #i'm so excited to write the next chapter #aaaaah #klaus mikaelson x reader #niklaus mikaelson x reader

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satorisa · 6 years

Text

Lift the Veil - Chapter 12: Easily

Rating: T

Summary: After living in Tokyo for the past six years, she decides to head back to Azumano to escape the big city. However, she now has to face everything that she tried to flee from all those years ago. How exactly will she fare when the pages of a long forgotten book start turning once more?

Alternate links for reading available in my description!

Hover over the chapter title if you’d like some easy listening to compliment this spicy update! ;)

(please take this before finals hell hits me because feelings hell already has and i am currently drowning in them while clinging onto anything to get me out of it.)

Chapter 12 – Easily

Coming and going, inside out, back to front all tangled and messy: that’s how we’ve been

The morning following our return, I received an e-mail asking me to head into the news station first thing in the morning. And so, stricken with a terrible case of jet lag, I trudged in looking as fierce as I could to mask the tiredness, greeting the ever-present security guard and coworkers I’d barely spoken to until I arrived at my superior’s office. He greeted me, all smiles, insisting that I sit down despite telling him I was fine standing up; if I sank down into that ottoman, I knew I’d pass out immediately.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about Sugisaki-san’s retirement last week.”

I remembered Takeshi mentioning an old coot finally leaving a while back and skimming through an e-mail while in Vienna about someone’s many years of hard work, but I didn’t recall who exactly it was, so I just nodded. At least I had an idea.

“That old coot’s been here longer than I’ve been in charge, and it was something to see that man churn out broadcast after broadcast with those bony hands of his!” He laughed. “We’re sad to see such an integral part of our team go, but it’s better he leaves before he actually breaks like a twig!” Yet another round of laughter. “However, his departure has opened up a spot on our broadcasting team and so, with our station’s best interests in mind, we decided to have you take his role!”

This didn’t come as a surprise from all the office gossip I had heard so, with a practiced smile, I thanked him. He tried to make small talk, but I told him that I needed to delegate my work to the other editors and talk to the team to understand what my promotion entailed, so he let me go.

I headed to my cubicle and took out my phone to share the news. I called Takeshi first since he deserved (and needed) to hear the news before anyone else. He picked up not even after a full ring, asking me what was holding me up.

“Good morning to you, too,” I answered.

“Don’t give me your sass. I know you’re back; is it the jetlag? Still at your apartment?”

“Nope. I’m actually at the news station; I’ve been promoted to become a part of the broadcasting team.”

“Congratulations, Risa! I mean, I’m not surprised because of all those rumors that were floating around, but damn, I wish I could be super happy for you.”

“What? Jealous of me going places in my life?”

“Nah, I’m perfectly fine living the life of a groveling reporter. I just wish they’d given me some prior notice about your promotion; I’m gonna miss ya, Risa.”

“Aw. I appreciate your sentiment, but you really should save that for Akane.”

Takeshi groaned. “I swear, you and the Chief always have to ruin a good thing with ya’lls sarcasm. Anyhow, I should probably—Chief!”

“What the hell do you want?” I heard Hiwatari grumble softy from the receiver. Yikes.

“It’s Risa!” I could imagine Takeshi shoving his phone in front of Hiwatari’s unamused face.

“…why should I take it?’

“Dude, I know you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, clearly, but just briefly entertain me. Please. You won’t be disappointed.”

Hiwatari sighed, and I could hear him grabbing the phone from Takeshi. “Hello, Harada-san. Has jet lag pinned our one and only editor to her bed, which explains her absence this morning?”

“Haha, very funny,” I drawled. “Don’t doubt I’ll be pinned to some sort of seat soon because yeah, it’s killing me right now, but no. I’m actually at the news station right now. I just got promoted a while ago.”

“Really? Congratulations, Harada-san. I’m finally free from your extended company in my station. Takeshi, grab the salt so we can cleanse this place of her presence.”

I heard Takeshi cackling in the background while I rolled my eyes. “In all seriousness, I’m happy for you. Really. I’m sure Takeshi’s planning something for your lunch later underneath that bed head of his, but I have a prior engagement, so I won’t be able to be there. How does dinner at my apartment sound?”

“Oh my, Hiwatari-san! So forward! You’re making me blush!”

“Ha. Ha.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Glad to disappoint.”

“But yeah, that sounds good.”

“I’m glad. I’ll see you later then.” I heard him hand the phone to Takeshi.

“Yo, how the hell did you manage to cheer him up so quickly? He looked about ready to kill everyone within a meter of him when he walked in this morning slightly late.”

“Happiness is contagious?”

“Are you sure it’s happiness, or is it—”

“No.”

“Come on! Lemme have my fun here.”

“And risk having Hiwatari return to his foul mood because he overheard you spouting nonsense?”

“You right. Anyways, stay hungry because I’ve got a feast planned for you later!”

“Hopefully packed with caffeine and B-12 vitamins to help me get through this day?”

“Does tiramisu work?”

“Good enough.”

“Anyways, you should—huh?” I heard muffled mumbling. “Hey, Chief said to make sure to call your parents about it.”

“Huh.”

“Weeird. Anyways, good luck with today! You’re gonna kill it, Boss.”

With a smile on my face, we hung up. I decided to message Riku, Daisuke, and Ritsuko since I figured they’d be busy. Hiwatari’s words hung in my mind as I pulled up my mother’s number. My thumb hovered over it until I took a deep breath and decided to call her.

I expected to get her voicemail, but she picked up, greeting me with that light-hearted tone of hers. “Good morning, Risa, dear. How’re you?”

“I…um…got promoted. I’ll be working on the broadcast now instead of editing stories.”

“Congratulations! Have you told your father yet?”

“No. I was going to call him after I called you.”

“Well, we should celebrate this! Is there a day when you’re free for dinner?”

“I’ll…um…I’ll let you know later. Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re very welcome!”

We said nothing for several seconds, and I gulped. Did she have anything else to say? Did I have anything else to tell her? I—

“Well, I’ll leave you to call your father. Have a nice day, dear!”

I heard the disconnected line and sighed before calling my dad. He picked up quickly as well: right after one ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Dad. I, uh, just got promoted. I’m working on the broadcast instead of just editing stories.”

“Good.” There wasn’t much fanfare compared to when I called Mom; I didn’t expect there to be. He had expected excellence from me the moment I was born and, for most of my life, I really couldn’t offer that to him. Only when I was accepted into Todai and worked at the NHK did he acknowledge me, ever so briefly because of how hell bent I was to become estranged from anything related to Azumano, so his praises never fully reached me.

Clearly, my parents were not the only ones at fault here, but I digress.

“Congratulations. You’ve done well.”

He it said it with that gruff voice of his, tinged with subtle pride, that sparsely echoed through my childhood. I nearly choked up hearing it. Was I deprived of parental attention? Totally.

“I’ll let you go. If you come back early tonight, we should talk.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Dad. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Yet another disconnected line. Glad I had gotten those awkward interactions out of the way, I started getting to work, hoping that I wouldn’t burn myself out before lunch arrived.

…

At noon, I started packing up, expecting to meet Takeshi at the police station when I saw him leading Daisuke, Riku, and Ritsuko towards my cubicle. Daisuke had a vase full of flowers while Riku carried bags full of food from the restaurant she worked at. Ritsuko paraded her small balloon bouquet around, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Missing the Chief already?” Takeshi snidely asked once in my cubicle.

“No? Why would I?”

“You did spend a whole week with him in a foreign city.” Ritsuko pointed out.

“So?”

“Well—”

“Continue that sentence, Takeshi. I dare you.”

Takeshi pouted while everyone laughed before placing their gifts in my cubicle. Lunch was a nice affair, especially since Riku had brought exactly what I was craving, but it was cut short when lunch break ended since Daisuke, Riku and Ritsuko had to head back to work, leaving me with a very, very curious looking Takeshi.

Oh no.

“Now that everyone’s gone, I need the deets.”

“On what?”

“Your trip with the Chief! I knew something was up after you called earlier this morning, but he then spent the rest of the morning gushing over you like some poor, love-struck bastard.”

“Now I know you’re embellishing it.”

“Okay, maybe I am, but still! He was in a much better mood after talking to you, so explain!”

“There’s nothing to explain? We just got closer because of the circumstances of our trip.”

“Because you two shared a room?”

“Um, no?” Takeshi looked at me, expecting me to elaborate. “Even if we did have to sleep at a hotel, I’m pretty sure Kosuke-san and Hiwatari-san would’ve booked me a separate room.”

“…then where the hell’d you guys sleep if ya’ll weren’t at a hotel?”

“Did Hiwatari-san not tell you?”

“Sorry, he was a little busy gloating about you all morning to tell me about whatever juicy detail you’re hiding from me—spill!”

“Kei duped us into thinking that he died, so we stayed at his fancy apartment while we were there.”

He blinked before his face ran through a range of emotions. Eventually, he settled on some level of discomfort before leaning back in his seat.

“Ah, so he’s here. That’s explains it.”

I only looked at him in confusion, expecting him to fill me in especially since I so graciously satiated his curiosity earlier, but he didn’t. Takeshi just jumped up before stretching his arms over his head.

“Well, if anything, I’m glad you two are getting along again.” I opened my mouth to say something but Takeshi finished stretching. “Well, I’ve got a story to type up so I’m gonna go slave away in my cubicle. Happy working, Boss!”

He disappeared with a dramatic wave, and I couldn’t help but question what was going through his mind. But I had better things to worry about than the little mystery Takeshi brought up, so I went back to working, reenergized from the food and time with friends.

…

I walked out of the meeting room with a splitting headache, frustrated at my stubborn coworkers who refused to listen to my opinion. Maybe the old men were intimidated by my quick promotion. And, while the women were probably feeling the same way, I also wouldn’t put it past them if they were jealous that I worked with Hiwatari. (For whatever reason, that man was a hot commodity for all the single ladies in the office, some sort of idol figure for those who weren’t, and many of them were quite desperate to fill my old position assuming HR wanted to keep it.)

My phone rang, and I picked up without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Harada-san.” Hiwatari? What did he need? “When will you be getting off of work?”

“After the broadcast. What’s up?”

“Is it fine if I accompanied you back to my apartment?”

I laughed. “Is this what you called me for? Really?”

“Yes. After what happened in Vienna, I’m not quite sure—”

“Hey. Stop bringing it up and making this awkward for us. Please. We’ll deal with it whenever it decides to rear its ugly head at us again which, considering our track record, might happen pretty soon, but don’t you dare jinx it. Knock on wood for us if you’re able to.” He laughed. “Anyways, I’ll let you know when I’m about to head out, so don’t pass out on me or anything.”

“I might…I am—”

“Don’t try to spite me, boy. I’ve got a headache, and I know damn well you’re more than capable enough to keep yourself from keeling over on the streets.”

“Yes’m,” he replied like a dutiful child after a scolding. “I’ll see you soon. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

We hung up before I sat down in my cubicle, leaning in my chair and looking at the speckled ceiling. Why were my coworkers being so unresponsive now? I offered friendly suggestions and recommendations that they were receptive to back as an editor, but the moment I began planning our daily broadcasts, they all decide to throw a hissy fit.

Straightening up, I looked at the monitor, staring at the schedule for the primetime broadcast. Everything looked in order, but who knew what could occur leading up to it. Taking a huge gulp of my tea, I gathered my papers and notes before heading to the broadcasting room.

I need to be ready for hell, whatever that may entail.

…

The broadcast was awful in terms of how unpolished everything felt which made me feel equally as, if not more so, awful, so I had politely declined the after-work party my coworkers were hosting to celebrate my promotion (which wasn’t improving my reputation any for sure, but I’d rather they judge me for that than a rage-induced, drunken tirade during which I would proceed to make them feel as insignificant as possible) before heading back to my cubicle to pack my things. Takeshi had long left, leaving a poorly drawn doodle of himself on a sticky note he placed on my monitor, making me feel marginally better.

I lounged in my chair, mentally decompressing until I felt my phone vibrate to see a text from Hiwatari saying he just arrived at the news station. I quickly packed my stuff before heading down, waving good-bye to the security guard—one of the only friendly faces left in this building—before stepping out into the evening air.

“How was the first day of your promotion?” he asked.

“Terrible. The moment you’re put in charge of something, people’s attitudes change. Isn’t it ridiculous that something so simple can change someone’s perception of you?”

“Indeed. Titles can change everything.”

I pouted, hating how true it was. Did Hiwatari ever have to deal with that working at the police station at such a young age? Or was it something he’d dealt with for his whole life?

Hiwatari joked around the whole walk back to his apartment, spouting some crap about how he was the life of the party and, had he been present at lunch, would’ve livened the whole place up. He was being stupid, needlessly so that it was equal parts concerning yet entertaining, but he got my mind off of my train wreck of a day. If that was his sole purpose, then I applaud him for nobly sacrificing his dignity.

And, without him knowing, thank him for his kindness.

When we arrived at his apartment, I saw a man, nearly the spitting image of Kei, sitting on the sofa. He stood up and smiled at me, but I hid behind Hiwatari, trying to compose myself from seeing this doppelganger.

“Satoshi said to expect company over, but I didn’t think it’d be the one and only Harada Risa!”

Ick. He even sounded like Kei with that saccharine tone of his, veiling the jab his words carried. To anyone else, it would’ve been a wonderful compliment, but considering the context of my relationship with Hiwatari, those words were loaded. “One and only” meant that I was a very, very special girl to Hiwatari. And no, that special wasn’t meant to praise me at all.

Wait—

“Are you Hiwatari-san, biker extraordinaire?” I asked.

Kazama laughed. “Yes, indeed! I am Uncle Kazama, biker and lawyer extraordinaire. Pleasure to finally meet you!”

“It’s, uh nice to meet you, too…”

Well, that explained his overbearing presence. The cheerfulness exuding from someone who looked almost like Kei only made it worse, so I forced an uncomfortable smile. He headed to the kitchen, checking on whatever was cooking while Hiwatari dismissed himself to his room.

“So, Harada-san, tell me: what spurred my nephew to invite a fine woman such as yourself over for dinner?” Kazama asked with an insinuating tone.

“Um…Hiwatari-san invited me over to make up for his absence during lunch.”

“Sorry about that; he had to go pick me up from the station.” Kazama tasted his food and nodded approvingly. With how wonderful it smelled, I was nodding approvingly inside my head, too. “So, is lunch together with him a regular thing then?”

“Oh no. My friends held a lunch celebration earlier to celebrate my promotion today.”

“And his absence from that so happened to give him an opportunity to celebrate alone with you? Spicy!”

I cleared my throat. “Anyways, what brings you here?”

“Just checking up on my nephew and catching up with old pals.” Takeshi’s reaction to Kazama being in town earlier told me there was more to his words than he let on, but I understood why he was so guarded. I’m the “one and only” Risa Harada. From his point of view, I was probably just a tick that just needed to explode and die from being too greedy.

Hiwatari decided at that time to walk into the living room wearing a ratty t-shirt and faded plaid pajama pants. I couldn’t hold back my laughter at seeing him so…so…

“Now I know Emiko taught you better!” Kazama called.

“I can dress myself perfectly fine when I choose to, but there’s no one I need to impress here, and I want to be comfortable in my own—goddammit, Harada-san. Stop laughing!”

If he didn’t need to impress me, then Hiwatari probably didn’t see me as anything more than a good friend. And anything that reassured me about the platonic nature of…whatever the hell this was, comforted me. Even though our interactions hadn’t changed much from high school, they didn’t carry any extra meanings.

Consciously, anyway.

Eventually, I calmed down, and the three of us had dinner. Kazama’s cooking was delicious: much better than anything Hiwatari and I could make even if we cooked together. And when we finished eating, queued by the end of a hilarious story about Hiwatari as a child, Kazama said he had plans and left the apartment, leaving me and Hiwatari in charge of the dishes. And it gave me space to breathe from Kei’s look-a-like.

“God,” I gasped as I stacked the dirty plates. “He’s, um, something.”

“It’s a shock, isn’t it?”

“Yes!”

Hiwatari laughed as he stood at the sink, ready and waiting for the dishes. “You’re not the only one; it took everyone a while to finally get used to him when he started visiting Azumano.”

“I can imagine. That’s not a personality we’ve come to associate with that face, but he’s on par with Kei with that presence of his.”

He laughed again as I handed him the first set of dirty dishes. Thankfully, nothing occurred while we cleaned up, and we eventually migrated to the sofa once we finished. Hiwatari placed two of cups of scotch on the low table in front of us, and I cautiously eyed him as he took his first sip.

“Is there something wrong, Harada-san?”

“…I’m not going to see that side of you tonight, am I?”

“I guarantee you won’t. It takes more than this to get me to that point, so don’t worry.” He took another sip and sighed with content, like an old, successful business man. I almost expected him to surprise me and pull out a pack of cigars to finish off the image, but he pulled out his cigarettes and lit one.

“Are you stressed?”

“I love Kazama, but his ‘damage control’ visits tend to be very…stressful. For everyone. He’s quite good at it, I suppose, but he takes those words far too seriously.” Before I could ask what he meant by that, he stood up and opened a window. “Enough about Kazama though. Sorry if I overstep a boundary, but you don’t seem too enthusiastic about your promotion. You’re one step closer to achieving your dream of becoming a news anchor and, knowing you, you’d be more excited about it; your coworkers’ attitude wouldn’t even bother you.”

I frowned at him bringing that up before taking a sip of my drink. Yikes. That was strong and disgusting. Hiwatari shot me a look, probably offended by my instinctive reaction. “Okay, wow. That was something. And um, yeah. I appreciate your bluntness but, uh, you bringing that up is kind of stressing me out more than your uncle right now. Are you sure you’re not the one on damage control right now?”

“Sorry. Um…” Hiwatari Satoshi, reduced to a bumbling mess. What a sight to behold. “I was just concerned. And, if I were on damage control, you and I both know we wouldn’t be talking about your job.”

I groaned. “Can you guys just let me leave it in the past? Please?”

“I’m just warning you about Kazama should you ever find yourself alone with him. Trust me. He’s going to find a way to bring it up one way or another.”

I gulped down the scotch, coughing as it burned down my throat: the epitome of the taste of regret. No one told me that an innocuous invitation for dinner could possible lead to me getting burned and grilled by Hiwatari’s uncle as the coup de grace to this awful day. Granted I couldn’t have possibly known when I had accepted it, but still!

Shit!

“Harada-san, I’m offended that you’ve disrespected my drink twice already. But must you treat it like a shot? It’s meant to—”

…

Growing up, I knew I wanted a job that would make me famous. I had this huge obsession with becoming noticed in the world that I set my sights on stardom.

The attempts I had in child modeling and acting, despite my talent for it, fell short when many of the gigs that would propel me to the public’s eye required long stays in Tokyo that neither of my parents had the time to allot for. (And, frankly speaking, my father thought was nonsense.) I wasn’t limber enough to get anywhere in dancing, and my singing voice with its normal timbre and average range would only land me a semi-regular gig at a café or bar at best. Whatever attempts I had with playing instruments or creating art failed because I didn’t believe in practice, only perfection at first try, and I hated sitting down for such long periods of time. And so, after turning on the TV and watching the news that one fateful day, I set my sights on becoming a news anchor.

It was a dream that carried me through middle and high school, eventually landing me at the prestigious University of Tokyo. However, after deciding to double major for both the extra experience and added job security, I found myself enjoying Japanese Literature more than Journalism.

So much so that I wondered why I decided to intern at new stations instead of publishing companies. Maybe I was so transfixed on carrying out my childhood dream to its end that I became oblivious to how much I had changed.

This certainly wasn’t the first time my attachment to the past had sent me down a path I didn’t think was the right one to take. And if I only continued to stay in the past, it was no wonder that I kept losing sight of my present, hindering the future full of opportunities I couldn’t see.

…

When Kazama returned, Hiwatari had just finished drinking the scotch he poured for me. Honestly, I preferred having a beer or a fruity cocktail whenever I drink, so Hiwatari procured a can of beer for me before graciously indulging in my portion. By this point, he had gotten somewhat talkative and disturbingly smiley, and his intermittent giggles started to terrify me, so I was glad for Kazama’s arrival.

“It’s about time for me to head out,” I said as I started to stand up. “Thanks for having me over.”

“You’re welcome.” Hiwatari placed the crystal glass on the table and stood up, stretching his arms. “Let me—”

“I’ll walk her back, big boy.” Kazama offered. “You go sober up and get some rest. You’ve got work tomorrow!”

Hiwatari hesitated, probably worried to leave me alone with Kazama. But he complied, maybe realizing that there was no way he could help me weasel out of this, bidding us goodnight (and offering me an apologetic smile) before disappearing into his room.

Me and Kazama? What could possibly go wrong as I leave the boiling pot, only to find myself in the frying pan?

Kazama offered me a polite smile, probably out of courtesy before tears me apart. “Well then, shall we?”

Nodding, we left the apartment for the cool, evening air that only got colder with Kazama next to me. He started the conversation easily, making small talk that obviously skirted around his true intention. Only when we reached a stoplight did he shoot me yet another polite smile, so eerily close to Kei’s, that it sent shivers down my spine. And, from my experience with Kei, I knew that this was a precursor of great doom for me.

“Would you like to grab coffee with me?” he asked. “There’s a café called Mizuame de Noisette that I wanted to try.”

“I, um, don’t like coffee all that much.” I cautiously replied. Why the hell did he want to invite me to that specific place? Did he know?

I scanned his expression, but I couldn’t discern anything from that stupid smile on his face. He was waiting to strike, and I knew exactly what he would do from Hiwatari’s well-meant warning earlier, but I didn’t know how badly this viper’s bite was. Nor did I want to find out that day. Or ever, to be honest, but this was inevitably going to happen because old men liked to dig their nose into my business with Hiwatari.

What a fate.

“Then perhaps tea?”

“I’m trying not to spend too much this month.”

“My treat.”

“Honestly, I just want to go home right now.” The light turned, and we started walking. “Stop trying to invite me somewhere, and just come out with it.”

He let out a hearty guffaw. “I like your spunk! So, I’m assuming you know why I’m here then?”

“I have a vague idea, so what’s your deal with me?”

“Oh, I’m sure you know all too well. I actually don’t like you all that much, Harada Risa-san. You’ve done enough to Satoshi, and you decide to crawl back to Azumano for no particularly compelling reason and literally break my perfectly functional nephew with just the sight of you. And please don’t give me that victim bullshit; you’re not the only one who suffered from the consequences of your fever-induced kiss.”

I shot Kazama a look. God, he was even more like Kei than I thought. Scratch that. Kei was an angel compared to this fire spewing demon. I didn’t realize that this was what that bubbly personality was hiding.

“Don’t you dare scold me right now,” I growled. “Just get to the damn point because I barely know you, and you’re meddling far more than I’m comfortable with you doing.”

“You and Satoshi are like Cesium and water: contact with each other not only causes an explosion but also breaks everything surrounding the two of you. There was no need for you to come back; you literally ruined the equilibrium that everyone you left had finally reached. You deserve whatever loneliness you feel when you’re here because you no longer have a place here.”

“Fuck. You,” I snarled. “I left my family and friends here to try to move on with my life! Did you think I wanted to do that?! Todai be damned; if it meant that I could finally feel at home here, if it meant that I didn’t ever have to leave so that no one would find out and be torn between two sides, then I would happily trade my degree in for that peace of mind. I was so, so miserable in Tokyo, and I wanted come back home despite Hiwatari-san’s presence because I deserve to be happy, even if that meant having to finally face the consequences of my past decisions. And if I’m going to have to put work into these relationships, then so be it, but I don’t need some hotshot lawyer who knows jack shit about me saying that I have no place in the town I grew up in!”

Kazama laughed again, but that only made the anger festering inside me grow. “Feisty! Kei warned me about that but—”

“You didn’t think I’d be a total bitch? I’ve had an awful day and you, smarmy bastard who has no fucking right to smear me like that, decide that the best thing to do is to provoke me about this. I understand your belligerence, but this is just a prime example of why I never wanted people to find out. And for god’s sake, grow up and act like an adult instead of throwing this hissy fit and solely blaming me for something your ‘oh-so-perfect’ nephew has equal fault in!”

He went silent, hopefully reflecting on what I’d just said. I expected an apology or some snide comment about respecting one’s elders, especially after I had just blown up at someone older than me, but he wouldn’t relent on this damn topic. Was he just hell bent on pissing me off to the point where I might act on that niggling thought to push him onto the road, timed perfectly so that a passing truck would squish him into oblivion?

“You know you’re going to have to tell everyone about your not-so-secret secret if you’re going to open up to them.”

“I’m aware, and that is a bridge I will cross when I get there.”

“This is probably one of the worst decisions both of you have made to date.”

“You’re preaching to the choir here.”

“You two are bound to make the same mistakes again.”

“Maybe so, but people learn from their mistakes.”

We had finally turned onto my street, and I had never been so happy to finally see my house looming by the cliff since I had arrived. I quickened my pace to get away from this man who, honestly, was worse than Kei. Genuine or not, at least Kei was nicer and meant well.

“You two finally learned the important art of communication!”

“Oh, shut your—what is that?”

In front of my house, so close to escaping the company of this rancid man, Kazama pulled out a necklace from his pocket. An intricately decorated pendant depicting a blue bird in a cage hung from a delicate chain, but I shot him a look of both confusion and disgust instead of enjoying the jewelry’s craftsmanship.

“Hikari artwork.”

“Should you really—”

“It’ll do you better than the one Kei gave you. I was originally supposed to give this Satoshi, but you clearly need it more than he ever could right now.”

“Thank you,” I bitterly said.

He stuffed it into my purse before walking away. “Have a good night, Harada-san.”

“I hope you get run over by a truck.”

…

The rest of that week, after my terrible conversation with Kazama, was pretty uneventful and light-hearted outside of work. Takeshi visited me during lunch every day, bringing along Daisuke, Riku or Ritsuko if they were able to drop by. “To make up for the Chief’s absence,” Takeshi explained as if me, him, and Hiwatari had become some important lunch trio. The lunches were lovely though, minus that one time Takeshi only brought Ritsuko and they fought the whole time.

To make up for Hiwatari’s absence during lunch (which other furthered my question as to how the three of us having lunch together became a thing), he would invite me over for dinner. I tried turning him down whenever he said Kazama would be in, but Hiwatari promised that he’d made sure his uncle was on his best behavior, so I somehow endured relatively normal and tame evenings at Hiwatari’s apartment either alone with him or with Kazama’s added company. How that man effortlessly hid his nastiness behind that stupid, laid-back demeanor of his was beyond me.

And work? I didn’t realize that each and every day would amount to the same amount of stress caused by completely different things. One day it was the people. Another day it was the broadcast itself. No matter how much I tried to get everything under control, whether it be kissing up to my team or asserting myself to prevent the mayhem from getting out of hand, something would slip through my fingers and proceed to wreak havoc.

The night before Riku and Daisuke were going to fly out to Zurich, (also conveniently the night before Kazama would finally return to Tokyo) my parents decided to hold my celebratory dinner for my promotion. Takeshi, Akane, and Ritsuko all had plans that evening, and Kazama thankfully had a fun-filled night at the Niwas in store for him, so it would just be me, Hiwatari, and the couple along with my parents.

This was totally an ideal set up. Not.

While running errands that afternoon, I conveniently bumped into both Daisuke and Hiwatari, both equally frazzled in the midst of their own errand runs. (Ms. Emiko strove for absolute perfection as a host whenever guests came over, and Hiwatari only had the time and energy to perform these stupidly trivial tasks during the weekends.) We embarked on a grand adventure across Azumano, knocking off item after item on our own respective to-do lists until we arrived at the Harada mansion: our final destination.

I opened the door, greeted by the sound of clinking dinnerware and the lovely smell emanating from the kitchen. Hiwatari and Daisuke parked themselves in the living room while I headed to the kitchen to tell my family that I was back. It was empty but impeccably clean, the way my mother always wanted it, so I headed over to the dining area to see Mom and Riku plating the table. Dad stood in front of the wine cabinet, perusing our selection before deciding on several different white wines. He turned around to see me, offering me a kind smile, while Riku and Mom talked amongst themselves, grumbling about placement as they kept moving things around.

“Risa…”

Mom and Riku looked up, frazzled, before they shot me smiles as well. My mom returned to busying herself while Riku came over to me and pulled me into a hug. “Congrats, sis.” She let go of me before holding my shoulders. “Sure, your job may not be as snazzy as the one you had back in Tokyo, but it’s still reason to celebrate!”

I pouted, but Riku laughed before urging my mom to come over to me while she fixed the table, nearly undoing everything my mother had done.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said, smile gentle and eyes shining before pulling me into a hug. It felt awkward at first, but I relished in it shortly after. And when my father returned from calling our guests over, he joined in as well, and I saw Daisuke, Riku, and Hiwatari behind us with knowing smiles as if sensing how much this meant to me.

Daisuke and Hiwatari sat next to each other, the former also next to Riku and the latter next to my dad, while I chose a seat between my sister and my mom. Dinner felt like a scene from those American holiday movies, feeling simultaneously homey yet foreign at the same time. I still felt slightly out of place amongst the conversation, hearing anecdotes of events I never knew occurred, of topics that required background knowledge, gained from first-hand accounts or lofty rumors, that I didn’t possess, and the familial setting imposed upon me had made it exceedingly clear that I had been displaced, and I couldn’t help but have Kazama’s words echo inside my mind every time I had to force a laugh.

Once we finished dinner, Riku and my mom dismissed themselves from the table only to return to with gifts. Daisuke and Riku gave me a matching journal and pen set while my parents gifted me a large, fashionable designer purse that I could use for work. Hiwatari didn’t have anything for me, but all the free meals he’d been treating me to that week were more than enough.

My parents left shortly after the gift exchange since they had made plans to see Kazama at the Niwa’s, leaving the four of us left to clean up. Daisuke and Hiwatari tided up the table while Riku and I washed the dishes. I could hear Hiwatari shooting terrible joke after terrible joke at Daisuke, embarrassing the poor man who didn’t need his good friend to make fun of his plans to propose to Riku soon.

“They’re ridiculous,” my sister muttered as she scrubbed the dishes.

“Leave them be. Unless you’re jealous, of course.”

“Me? Jealous of Satoshi? Risa, you must be out of your mind.”

I laughed as I dried the dishes, sorting them out so that it’d be easier to put them back. There was something soothing about this monotonous activity, and I was glad that it had gotten my mind off of dinner.

“So, how was the food?” she asked.

“Absolutely delicious. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” She handed me a plate. “You know, Mom and Dad are trying. They just don’t know how to approach you, especially considering how you were when you left.”

“I know. And I’m grateful for it, really.” I forced a laugh before placing the dry dish in its respective stack. “Doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten anywhere though.”

“Well, it can’t be a one-sided thing, you know. You have to try, too.” She handed me yet another plate. “It wasn’t easy for me either when they decided to barge back into my life after being practically non-existent for our childhood. ‘Family’ was contained in our Sunday brunches, formal and habitual just like mass: present and relevant for an hour only to be forgotten for the rest of the week until Sunday came around again. They nagged at me to do this and not do that, to strive to be exactly like the prodigal daughter who went off to Tokyo despite being an emotional wreck instead of dutifully playing the role of a smitten girlfriend.”

“No…”

“Yup,” she chirped. “We fought a lot in the beginning, going around in circles and arguing about the same things over and over again, but it helped to clear out the air, and we started to get better. Granted, I have a six year head start, but you’ll get there eventually. And you’re starting out on a civil note with them, so it can only be smooth sailing from here! I’m sure it’ll be a breeze compared to you and Satoshi!”

Riku, how could you bring him up in the midst of talking about our parents? I’d rather talk about them than him on any day!

“Honestly, I was so worried about you two going off to Vienna, but I’m glad it worked out for you!”

If you meant having him confess he was in love with me, us vigorously avoiding that he brought it up by coping with humor, and getting grilled at Kazama for even bothering to fix things with Hiwatari as working out for me, then sure! I was perfectly peachy.

“The two of you looked so pained that month before our high school graduation, but you two were bickering over the silliest topics over dinner that it felt like nothing changed. And if you could patch up whatever happened between you and Hiwatari, I feel like anything’s possible!”

I appreciated Riku’s vote of confidence, but I wished she’d used something else to reassure me. Anything was possible because everything had changed. My relationship between Hiwatari, while fundamentally identical on the surface, was inherently different. My parents were making an active attempt to make up for their lack of presence in my life growing up; Daisuke was planning on proposing to Riku in the coming week; I actually enjoyed Takeshi’s company: everything was different. Years had passed and, sure, some things haven’t changed, but the past was out of reach. And no matter how much we worshipped those nostalgic, rose-colored days, they were gone. I could never go back to them, thankfully, and nor did I wish to.

I wanted to be free from them, and yet it had become some arbitrary gauge to determine how “stable” Risa was. And I knew Riku meant well, but the intersection of my past with my present terrified me more than anyone could understand, more than I even wanted to admit to myself.

“…but everything has changed,” I mumbled, kind of hoping that Riku wouldn’t hear and kind of hoping she would.

“Well, yeah, but isn’t it nice to see things that have lasted the test of time and distance? It makes us think that there’s such a thing as a forever, huh?” Riku laughed. “Look at me getting all mushy! I probably had too much wine to drink.”

She went back to talking about our parents, laughing about something hilarious they had done on a Christmas morning during my absence, while I listened and laughed along, forcing myself to solely focus on the task at hand.

Forever, huh?

…

Riku and Daisuke had already retreated to her room for some alone time, leaving me and Hiwatari downstairs, drinking beer and watching dramas. While Hiwatari winced at every romantic cliché that popped up, I relished in each and every single one of them, breaking Hiwatari down until, he too, shed his repulsed demeanor and turned into the helpless sap he had admitted, on several occasions, that he was.

Once the credits rolled, playing a super catchy theme song, I let out the laugh I had been repressing. Hiwatari shot me a frown.

“Had I known you would laugh at me, I would not have let you see me like this.”

“No, thank you.” I tried to control my giggles, but they wouldn’t stop. “The great—ha—Commissioner Hiwatari—ha ha—turning into emotional putty at an excessive shot of the main couple l-lovingly staring into each other’s eyes!” I let loose, curling up into a ball to ease the pain of laughing too hard while Hiwatari just looked on with judgment.

I apologized once I had calmed down, still in awe at the karma returned to Hiwatari from needlessly heckling me about my romantic daydreams, but he still had that expression of disgust on his face. He quickly eased into an entertained smile, and I wondered just how hard it was for him to feign being upset with me.

“I’ll be driving Daisuke and Riku to the airport tomorrow morning and Uncle Kazama to the train station if you’d like to come with,” he started before turning off the TV.

“How early are you taking them to the airport?”

“Extremely.”

“I’ll pass. I don’t want to accidentally spill Daisuke’s plan in a 4AM stupor.” Hiwatari nodded. “But I’ll accompany you to drop Kazama off. I’ve got some choice words for your uncle.”

“Sorry. I should’ve stopped him.”

“Don’t worry about it. He would’ve done it sooner or later, I’m assuming, so it would’ve been pointless to delay the inevitable.”

He nodded before smirking. “So, how awful as he when he walked you back?”

“Worse than Kei who is actually a sweetheart compared to that nasty devil. He tried to lure me to my favorite café to go off on me! I eventually forced him to grill me on the streets so that he wouldn’t taint my favorite place in Azumano with his rude-ass self, but still! I get it! You love our nephew and, second to Krad and everything pertaining to the Hikari curse, I was the Worst Thing to have ever happened to him, but I’m human, too! Damn!”

It was Hiwatari’s turn to laugh now. How dare he have the audacity to laugh at my pain! “More damaging and controlling than actual damage control?”

“Yes! Could the hotshot, biker of a lawyer keep that behavior contained inside of the courtroom, please? Yeesh.”

“I warned you that he was overbearing.”

“That’s an understatement. Riku is overbearing. But Kazama is—I have no words to adequately describe him. No wonder he stresses you out.”

“You have no idea. He literally screamed at me until I told him about you. And when I finished, he continued screaming at me because I had hurt you so much.”

We both laughed at the image of Commissioner Hiwatari, a genius, fledgling adult in charge of a whole precinct, being screamed at like a child who had just shit their pants or something. I couldn’t fault Hiwatari for having a smoke when I visited the day Kazama arrived; that crazy man was too much for a single person to house for a week.

“So…Kosuke and Kei found out about us through their deductive abilities. As did Grandpa Daiki, I’m assuming, if my last interaction with him is anything to go by, and Kazama forced it out of you. Hiwatari, I was under the impression that this was top secret considering that I’ve never told a soul about it.” I looked at him, cutting the levity in the room with the serious tone of my voice. “Who else knows? And please be truthful here. I promise I won’t get mad. I just don’t want to keep having the rug pulled out from under my feet.”

He bit his lip, averting his gaze away from me. “Do you want to know the reason why I’ve been banned from excessively drinking around other people?” Oh no. “After Daisuke had turned twenty, I had invited him out for drinks and gotten so drunk that I talked about everything that happened between you and me.”

Goddammit, Hiwatari! I didn’t need to know that you were the type of drunk to spill your dirty secrets! Nor did I want to find out that it was Daisuke on the other end of it. I mean, I wasn’t surprised, but that was hitting way too close to home. One wrong move on Daisuke’s part and Riku would find out, eventually telling my parents and—nope. I did not want to entertain that thought.

“I made him promise not to acknowledge it ever again, so please don’t worry. Or try not to worry,” Hiwatari explained. “Takeshi also knows a little bit, but not enough to be a huge problem. Harada-san, please, you look like you’re about to faint.”

“I’m trying not to,” I said. “But thank you for telling me.”

We heard footsteps and turned to see Riku and Daisuke heading down the stairs. The former caught Hiwatari’s attention to confirm tomorrow morning while my eyes met Daisuke’s briefly.

“What’s up, Risa?”

“One wrong move, and you’re dead to me.”

…

Hiwatari and I followed Kazama to the tracks. The older man had his leather jacket precariously hanging off on shoulder. His suitcase stood next to his slim legs decked in a nice pair of skinny jeans, and he had a smirk plastered on his face: the perfect image of a douche bag.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Harada-san.”

“I just wanted to wish misfortune upon you back in Tokyo, however that would manifest itself for you.”

Kazama laughed before patting Hiwatari on the shoulder. “Just let me know if you need me.”

“I will.”

Kazama then returned to me, and I snarled at him. If he had anything rude to say to me, I’d push him onto the tracks.

“Harada-san, take care of him, will you? If I find out that either one of you hurt the other, you’re both getting it.” He flashed a smile. “Accountability’s important, yanno!”

“At least Hiwatari-san’s going down with me?”

Kazama only laughed before patting me on the head. “Sorry about our talk that night, Harada-san. I have a bad habit of overstepping boundaries in the moment, so I know everything I said was uncalled for.” I pushed his hand off, glaring at him for being overly familiar with me. “But you know? Both of you are trying, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Not many people can do what you two are doing, and that’s something to applaud. Really. It’s hard for people stick to their decision when they know the whole world will be against them for taking the road less traveled.”

The train had pulled into the station, and Kazama boarded, waving goodbye before disappearing into the cabin. Hiwatari and I stood there until the train pulled out of the station, leaving us to feel the sea breeze blow by.

“Maybe this was a mistake?” I innocently asked before looking at Hiwatari.

He just returned my gaze and shrugged. “Mistake or not, this is the path we’ve chosen. We can only move forward from here.”

“Do you think it’s a mistake?”

Hiwatari raised his eyebrow. “How I feel isn’t pertinent.”

“I’m not asking that. I want your honest opinion.”

“Then yes. I do. It’s illogical, and I feel like I’m setting myself up for an unfathomable disaster. You feel the same way, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah.” I let out a breathy laugh. “We’re such idiots.”

“I only have you to blame for dragging me down to your level.”

“Hey!”

#satorisa #dnangel #satoshi hiwatari #risa harada #My writing #fanfiction #lift the veil

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