#i did bring my glowstick with me so i did have a little bit of fun

[pelipper]

after going to a bar for the first time in over a decade, i have come to the conclusion that i belong at anime con raves, not at upper west side bars.

[the-young-and-forgotten]

Christmas With You

@just-a-belgian-girl’s request: okay so bc you said i could send in a christmas request: can i request a fic for either remus or sirius (your pick) where reader learns he doesn’t have anyone to go home for christmas to? like, the other marauders don’t know that and they’ve left already, and he’s left all alone. so reader invites him to come spend christmas with her and her family. he accepts, and her family is just so accepting and loving bc both boys definitely deserve it and cute fluffy ending?

Walking into the Great Hall, you see Sirius picking glumly at his food. The Hall was relatively empty because everyone had gone home for christmas. You, sirius and two third year hufflepuffs were the only ones left at the school.

You sit down on the bench next to him in silence. A few minutes crawl by, you grow extremely bored of it. “Wrackspurt got your tongue?” you say out of the blue. He finally looks at you, eyes glittering in amusement. “Wrack-what?” You wave away the question, answering with one of your own.

“Why are you alone? Where are the rest of the boys?”

He sighed and went back to picking at his food. “They had to go home. Their families wanted them to spend some time at home.”

“Oh.” You scratch the back of your neck awkwardly and open your mouth to say something, before Sirius speaks over you. “Tell me, why aren’t you at home?” You laugh aloud at that.

“I thought I wasn’t going home this christmas, so I didn’t catch the train. Turns out I am, so my parents had to arrange with Dumbledore for another one.”

Sirius stares at you intently before asking another question. “What time does your train leave?” “11am tomorrow.” He nods his head in understanding, offering you some of his untouched plate. Picking up a small piece of toast you pop it into your mouth. “Say” You speak through the food in your mouth. Sirius takes one look at you and makes a revolted face. You laugh and quickly swallow before continuing where you left off.

“My family has a spare bedroom, if you want to come over for christmas! They wouldn’t mind!” Sirius’ face lights up in poorly contained excitement. “Really?! You mean it?” He grabs your hand, bouncing up and down in his seat, making you laugh. “I gotta warn you though, my family can be very crazy and loud.”

...

The two of you stood outside Hogsmeade station, waiting for the train. Sirius was feeling more nervous than he cared to admit. ‘What if her family didn’t like him? What if he messed everything up? What if -’ “Hey!” You say, interrupting his thoughts, “feeling nervous?”

He smiles weakly, grateful for the distraction. “Just a little bit.” “Don’t worry” You give him a friendly shove, “I’m sure my family’s gonna love you.”

By the time the train rolled up, you were frozen to the bone. Running onto the train, you instantly sigh with relief when the hot air hits you. Sirius follows behind, looking green. “Who knew the guy who has won Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup for the last 6 years would be nervous to meet a girls family?”

He looks away, pouting “Shut up..” he mumbles.

Shaking your head, you take him by the hand, dragging him the compartment you and your friends normally sit in. “Did you bring anything to do?” You inquire. “It’s gonna be a long 8 hours.” He spreads himself out on the seat opposite you. “I figured I would just sleep most of it.” You pull out your book and settle into your seat. “You do that then.”

Even though Sirius said he was going to sleep, he goaded you into playing a few games of chess. Needless to say, he was an extremely sore loser. “You cheated. Go to jail.” “But that's Monopoly” “Yeah, there’s a jail now. Go to it.” Then he flipped the board. You discontinued playing.

Halfway through the ride, He decided to run up and down the train to stretch. Of course fell over and almost broke his arm. So he just lay there for the rest of the way and slept.

When the train pulled into Kings Cross Station, you stepped on him to wake him up. He tried to grab your foot to pull you down, but he just succeeded in injuring his hand even more. He finally got up, complaining.

As soon as you stepped off the train you felt almost every bone in your body crack. “Try and sound more like a glowstick there love.” Sirius remarked, walking next to you. You just stared him down and cracked your neck.

You turn away before he could retaliate, looking around for your parents. They were in the corner, looking as nervous as the first day they brought you here. “Mum! Dad!” You run up to them, wrapping them in a big hug. You turn back to Sirius and grab his hand to pull him closer. “This is my friend Sirius, he didn’t have anyone to go home to so I brought him home with me.”

Sirius felt even more nervous than before, struggling to meet their eyes. When he did look up, he found them smiling broadly at him. Your mum stuck out her hand to Sirius “I’m Marie Deverport but please just call me Marie, my husband is Samuel.” Sirius hesitantly shook it, absolutely filled with butterflies.

“We’re happy you’re spending Christmas with us! Though, we would’ve liked a little more of a heads up before.” She looked pointedly at their daughter, who hung her head in shame. “But now matter now” Samuel said, waving you and Sirius through the barrier. “Let’s get home.”

When you arrived at your house, Sirius started staring at it in wonder. “It’s so small… small and cosy-looking.” He rushed up the drive, eager to investigate. As soon as it opened, three little kids ran out, screaming at the top of their lungs. They surrounded you, smothering you in hugs and kisses. They kept glancing back at Sirius, whispering stuff which you just laugh off, blushing a little.

Marie let Sirius into the house, telling Y/n to show him around. You walk up to him, hair frazzled and panting a little. “Sorry, my siblings are a handful.” He smiles down at you “I love them.” You smile back at him and lead him up the stairs to his room.

You lean against the doorframe, as he inspects his room. “Christmas Day is a few days. It’s gonna be hectic around here. Sorry about that.” He turns to wink at you “You know I thrive on chaos” you laugh and shove yourself off the frame. “I’ll leave you to unpack now.”

...

Sirius was loving every minute he spent here. From making burning gingerbread cookies, to showing your siblings how to skate. He wished he could stay in this Christmas forever.

Soon, Christmas Day came. Sirius woke up to you frantically dancing around his room singing ‘it’s Christmas’ all in one note. Once he was awake enough for you, you dragged him down to the tree where the two of you and your siblings covered the floor with wrapping paper.

He was overwhelmed by the gifts he got from both his Hogwarts friends and your family. He stood up and asked if he could stand outside for a bit. Outside he drank in the fridged air. Eyes closed, face tilted up towards the cloudy sky. The snowflakes tickled his face, but he didn’t care.

Yeah sure, he had the boys. He had Hogwarts. He had Potter Manor. But never in a million years did he think that a small, mostly muggle family would accept him. Someone who’s family had been killing their kind for centuries. These last few weeks had been so calm and simple for him. For the first time in his life, he lived without magic and saw the beauty in it.

He heard the front door and close softly from behind him. He hastily wiped off the few tears he had on his cheeks. You walked up to stand next to him in the falling snow.

“You okay Siri?” “Yeah, just… overwhelmed.” You snort a little “Overwhelmed by what?” “Just how a simple muggle family can accept me, someone who has come from the longest line of dark wizards and witches.” “Yeah, but you’re not them Sirius.” “I know.” “So stop thinking you are and Just be Sirius. No pure-blood, no Black. Just one of the infamous Marauders.”

The words cut deep, making him emotional again. He looked at you, the snow was in your hair and caught in your eyelashes. You looked ethereal. He blushed a little. When did you start looking this beautiful?

He opened his mouth to say something to distract himself, but you beat him to it. “Let’s go inside now yeah? I don't want to catch a cold and I want you to enjoy the rest of Christmas with me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @just-a-belgian-girl @loonyvee @kashishwrites @lilgoddesshines @probably-peeves

[honeybeesiness]

an unholy holiday.

word count: 2k.

slight nsfw warning! dw tho, there’s absolutely no smut and it’s 97% fluff. it’s just the reader being a tiny bit of a thottie ;).

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two limited edition sucre frenzy tickets.

The next day was your day with the beloved otaku Leviathan. Based off the kind of person he was, you figured that he would want to watch some anime with you or take you to a convention somewhere in Devildom (or the human world if you’re lucky). Binging the TSL series in the beginning of the year for the quiz against Levi proved beneficial to you (aside from being able to make a pact with him), as after that you became quite invested in the series to the point where you would want to name your pet Henry too. You knew Levi liked how you were fond of the series, because it wasn’t every day where he met someone that shared the same interests as him and didn’t put him down for it. With that being said, you were perfectly content with watching TSL or any other series that Levi chose today.

After breakfast that morning, you had gotten a text from the boy in question, who had not shown up for the meal.

💞weeb husband💞: meet me in my room

💞weeb husband💞: wear ur pajamas

You began to grow excited, as your suspicions were seemingly correct. It seemed like you were quite good at guessing what the boys had planned so far, given how you knew what Beelzebub was planning yesterday as well. Were you a psychic? Maybe you just had really good intuition. Or maybe you just knew the brothers so well that guessing came easy for you. Either way, you were smiling like a madman as you typed out a reply.

You: aight fam, i’ll be there asap

You: want me to wear my tsl jammies

💞weeb husband💞: yes

After his swift reply, you slid your phone into your hoodie and bid the others at the breakfast table a farewell. You headed on back to your room to swap into what you called your “TSL Pajamas”, which was just a worn-looking oversized brown t-shirt with the TSL logo on it along with a pair of comfy grey pajama shorts. After you got dressed, you slid down the hall and knocked on Levi’s door.

“Come in.”

And you did, shutting the door behind you. You grinned giddily at Leviathan (who was situated in his bathtub) before turning your attention to the rest of the room. Surrounding the bathtub that was Leviathan’s bed was a large array of snacks and drinks, most of which were your favorites. You didn’t think Devildom had human food like this, and you wondered if Levi went out of his way to get you these things. You were grateful, and you sent him a cheeky look, also deciding that it would be funny to tease him just a little. Embarrassed Levi was one of your favorite Levis, after all.

“Did you get all of this for me~?” You batted your eyelashes, slowly and sensually bending over to pick up a bottle of banana flavored ramune, which you examined while still being crouched. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the bluenette’s face flush a scarlet color, and that was enough to satisfy you for the moment. “Thank you.”

“LOL, they’re not all for you, you know!” He squawked, still mildly embarrassed, but soon his face returned to its normal hue. “Believe it or not, there are some foods from the human world that actually taste good!”

You rolled your eyes, picking up a packet of chocolate pocky (a classic) as well as another favorite snack of yours before sauntering over to where Levi was sitting in the bathtub. “What’re we doin’? With all these snacks, I would assume you have something in mind.”

“You and I are going to be having an anime marathon.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of one of his PC monitors whose position he changed so the both of you could watch. “I wanna watch TSL and I don’t listen to normies who say no.”

“No. We literally watch TSL EVERY time I come to hang out here! Let’s try somethin’ new for once.” You said defiantly, earning a huff and a mini pout from the boy in return. You were clearly contradicting what you had thought to yourself earlier, but we don’t talk about that.

“FINE. What do you suggest?” He grumbled, pulling his keyboard closer to his lap so he could bring up his Softbun account. You put one foot into his bathtub and his head immediately shot over to look at you, his expression a little bit wild. “What are you doing?!”

You put another foot in. “Getting comfortable, of course, so scooch over! Your fatass is hogging the tub.”

“Excuse me?!” Levi sounded offended, but he was smiling as he (hesitantly) moved over. You plopped yourself down, hanging your legs over the rim of the tub. It was a small, Levi-sized bathtub, and you eyed the boy as he blushed fervently at your close proximity.

“Hey, have you watched Beast Assassin yet?” You asked, pointing at the series on the monitor in front of you. The show was in Levi’s library, but you couldn’t tell if he watched it or not.

He gave you a look that told you that you had asked a stupid question. “You mean the hit series where the protagonist’s sister gets turned into a beast and the protagonist must go on a journey to find a cure for her? OF COURSE I watched it! What are you, some kind of pleb?”

“NO. Shut the hell your mouth, we’re watching Beast Assassin, but we’re skipping to the part where Airitsu first appears because he’s the best.” You snatched his keyboard off his lap and placed it on yours, reaching your hand over the side of the bathtub to move the mouse (which was placed on the floor next to the bed) over to Beast Assassin.

“What are you saying?! Are you crazy?! We can’t just start on the second episode without watching the first! It’s called “Episode 2“ for a reason!” Levi attempted to take the keyboard away from you, but as soon as he laid his fingers on it, the entire room went pitch black.

You were the first to react. “Eh?? Levi-san, it’s so dark! H-Hold me!” But you, in fact, did not hold onto him. You could hear the boy, scoff, though. “Are we havin’ some sort of blackout? Has this ever happened in Devildom, or—?”

“This is SO unfair,” Levi grumbled to himself, and you felt him move beside you. “Just as I was going to click on the first episode of Beast Assassin!” You aggressively shoved him on the arm for that comment, sending him stumbling out of the bathtub and flat on the floor. Since you couldn’t exactly see him, the only way you could tell that he was on the floor was through the sound of skin hitting the tile that was the floor of Levi’s bedroom. “Hey!”

“What, I didn’t do anything!” You “harumph-ed” and crossed your arms, but you were generally curious as to what Levi was up to. And, as your eyes began to grow used to the dark, you could make out his silhouette approaching his desk where the rest of his monitors sat. “What’cha doin’?”

You watched somewhat blindly as he reached over the screens to the shelves that sat behind the desk, grabbing something that you couldn’t make out. You, too, got out of the bathtub, and you stumbled over to where Leviathan was standing. As he sensed you approaching, he turned away from you and hunched over slightly so you couldn’t see what he was holding. You shoved him again, but much more lightly this time.

“If you don’t stop, I won’t be giving you any of these glowsticks!” Ah, so that was what he was holding.

“Glowsticks? You have glowsticks??” From your spot behind Leviathan, you could spot a faint glow coming from his frontside. He turned around to face you, his face lit up by pink and red glowsticks, but still remaining shrouded by the surrounding darkness. He gave you another incredulous look that told you that you asked a stupid question. “Don’t give me that look! I thought that you used them all at the last concert you went to!”

Leviathan squinted at you. “Bold of you to assume that, since I’ve taken you to all of the concerts I got tickets for in the past year!”

That was something that had completely failed to cross your mind. It’s not that you didn’t remember Levi taking you to all those pop idol concerts before (you did), but you were always more invested in the music and the choreography rather than what the audience was doing or even holding.

“Well, I’m sooooorry that I forgot! It’s just-”

“Enough of your excuses, woman.” Leviathan interrupted you with a flick on your forehead. “An otaku never is without their glowsticks.”

“You can’t say that ‘cause glowsticks aren’t even used for anime! ...Unless it’s of Lyricoids. You like Lyricoids, right? You better. Who’s your favorite?” You reached out your hand to grab at the pink glowstick, hoping to distract the bluenette with your chitchat, but he moved his hands away.

“Of course I do! I like Muka. Her voice is so melodic and graceful, and her songs are so beautiful and meaningful. The settings of her music videos are always so detailed, especially with the backgrounds and how the plot of the song is portrayed through the visuals. Muka also always looks amazing in any outfit since her figure is naturally curvy and mature, and the musicians and animators never fail to make her draw the audience’s eyes. I also really like how—”

“I like the OG queen herself, Riku, thanks for asking.” You interrupted somewhat sarcastically, having another go at trying to acquire one of Levi’s glowsticks. “She’s so bubbly and her voice is so versatile that she can sing and sound nice in literally any genre.”

“I agree, but,” Levi moved the glowsticks out of the way once more. “Muka is—”

There were several knocks on Levi’s door, and both of your heads swiveled in that direction. You also took that moment to swipe up the pink glowstick, and Levi glared at you.

“What if a serial killer busted the lights and is out to kill us.” You mused, scratching your chin. “He’s being awfully polite if he’s knocking on the door, though.”

You were on a roll with your stupid statements today, for Levi gave you another look, this one being much more annoyed. He didn’t bother to correct you, and instead said, “I hope he kills you first because you’re being so annoying.”

Your reply was immediate, and the knocking was heard once more. “Jokes on you, I actually want to die.” Pink glowstick in hand, you marched to the front of the room and opened the door. “Stab me, daddy.”

“...What?”

You blinked several times and held up the glowstick to the person’s face. It was Satan, and you shuffled awkwardly in your spot. “Oops.”

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.” Satan surveyed the room, and his stiff posture relaxed— if only a little. “Good, you two aren’t the only ones whose rooms are affected by the blackout.”

You leaned against the doorframe. “This happened to you too?”

Satan nodded. “And the rest of us as well. It is unusual, is it not? This never happened before.”

“Well, I hope it gets fixed soon, because Levi back here,” You jabbed your free thumb in the man’s direction. “is being the biggest prick. He said he actually WANTED me to die! And for what, being annoying? Sheesh, how harsh.”

Satan smiled a little bit, glancing back at Leviathan, who he was only able to see thanks to the glowstick he was holding. Upon hearing your words, Levi marched up and slammed the door shut.

You held up your hands in front of yourself in mock surrender. “Let’s just agree that we’re both being annoying.”

“But YOU’RE the one who’s being annoying!”

“Agree to disagree?”

“...Fine.” ‎‎ ‎‎‎

i have a headcanon where Levi uses crackhead/internet/gen z humor so i decided to incorporate that into the story :”). had a lot of fun writing this!

also, if y’all forgot, Levi legit sleeps in a bathtub 😤.

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and yes that is a Sayaka Maizono/Danganronpa reference in the beginning ;)

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Beast Assassin = Demon Slayer. Airitsu = Zenitsu.

Lyricoid = Vocaloid. Muka = Luka Megurine. Riku = Miku Hatsune.

taglist: @wetleafwrites​ ::​ @midnight-moodlet​

[matchacloudz]

Lotus Inn

Daniel Seavey x OC (Kora King)

Requested: No 

word count: 1.8k

Masterlist

 Not my gif

With a final groan, the radio cut and the car had finally given up on us. “I told you we should have gotten it looked at” I said to my best friend sitting in the passenger seat. Knowing I was right, all she could do was glare my way and unbuckle her seatbelt. “Yeah, yeah, now help me push this to the side” she said. I put the car into neutral and got out to help her move the piece of shit to the curb.

“You have your CAA card right?” She asked as we started slowly pushing the car, “mom never lets me leave without it” I said. “Man, why did this have to happen? We’re literally in the middle of our trip” she moaned, trying to push the car with me. “Need I remind you, I told you to check what the engine light was all about” I groaned with her. We were barely making any progress, but after a few minutes we finally got the car to a safe-ish position on the side of the road. “Let’s just call CAA yeah? See if we can’t get ourselves to a motel or some shit” she said, leaning on the boot of the car.

40 or so minutes of waiting in the heatwave, we finally saw the tow truck. “Is there anywhere I can drop you girls off?” The driver said as we grabbed our bags out of the trunk. Ella and I looked at each other, we had reservations at a hotel that we were nowhere close too. “Not unless you’re willing to drive us 4 more hours to our hotel” she joked, earning a laugh from the worker infront of us. “That’s a bit out of my pay range, but I know a place I can take you – always looking for new customers” he said. With no other options in site, we climbed into his car and were soon on our way to the mystery location.

-

“Here you are girls, Lotus inn, best local hotel on this side of the coast.” “Thank you for all your help, we really appreciate it” Ella said handing the man a 50. “No problem, we’ll get back to you on how much the car will be – hopefully you’ll be able to make the rest of your trip with no issues.” We nodded to him in gratitude and with that we went our separate ways.

“This place looks pretty nice” Ella commented, “yeah, let’s hope its in our price range” I tell her.

Surprisingly, we were able to book a room for a while – having enough money and having to splurge some what into the emergency stash we took. “Well, considering we can’t make it to anything else – feel like going to the pool for a while?” I offered once we settled. “Why not, maybe find something to do” she agreed.

The pool was near empty, people were lounging about – sunbathing, drinking and not a single kid in sight. “Did we get lucky?” I asked plopping myself on one of the lounge chairs. The two of us laid in silence, trying to decompress from the day we just had, I on the other hand was just excited to be out of the passenger seat after 5 hours. “Hey, don’t look now but that guy across the pool is totally checking you out” she said, I looked at her – but due to her sun glasses I couldn’t tell if she was bluffing or not. Deciding to investigate for my self, I flipped to my back and looked across the water – sure enough, a group of five guys were across from us and the bleach blonde one was subtly looking in our direction. “What do you think, out of 10?” I say looking at her. She glanced up once more and then back to her book “I give him a solid 9” she said.

I laughed at her response and headed to the bar. “Hey, two cranberry vodkas please” I tell the server, however I was trying to see if the blonde had followed me or not, sure enough – when I looked one more time, he left his friends and started making his way to the bar. Wanting to talk to him, I took a seat, placing my foot on the one next to me.

“This seat taken?” He asked putting his glasses on his head. I couldn’t help but smirk when he came by – totally a ten in my books. “Not at all” I tell him, grabbing my drinks from the bartender. “So I couldn’t help but notice you from across the pool” he told me, placing his arms on the bar in front of himself. “Oh, so you weren’t just checking out my ass?” I tease him, biting my lip. “Couldn’t help it, you caught my eye” he admitted smiling at me. “I’m Kora, my friends Ella” I tell him, “Daniel. I’ll introduce you to my friends later” he says.

Conversation flowed easily between the two of us, that was until Ella came up and interrupted us. “I take it that’s for me?” She asks referring to the second cran vodka sitting between us. “Oh, shit sorry, uh Ella this is Daniel. He’s in a band” I say emphasizing the last fact. She wasn’t surprised however, “and you say you don’t have a type” she mutters nudging my shoulders. “So what brings you two to the Lotus inn?” He asks, including her in the conversation. “Her car broke down, sort of a last-minute kind of thing – you?” I ask looking him in the eyes. “Me and the guys come here a lot, sort of a hidden gem to everyone, great for a get away once in a while” he said. “Hey Daniel, we gotta go” a taller boy with curler hair said coming up to us. “So much for a getaway – hey we’ll see you at the bonfire tonight right?” He asked pointing to a poster hung up behind the bar. I look to my best friend but before she can refuse anything I agree. “Cool, here’s my number by the way.” He writes 10 digits on a napkin before leaving with the curly haired boy.

-

Later that night as we get ready for the bonfire Ella cannot stop with all the questions about Daniel. “What’s he like? You guys were literally there for 40 minutes. Is he sweet? Does he seem like a douche bag?” I can’t help but laugh at her – its been way too long since she’s seen her boyfriend and now she’s living right through me. “He seems really authentic? I guess I can say, I mean, we literally lost track of time. He’s so charming” I say as I finish curling my hair. “Well what are you going to wear? You gotta wow him” she says going through my clothes. “I’m going to wear a this set and we’re going to go” I say pulling my outfit out for myself. “I’m not going to dress up for someone I just met and will probably see ever again” I tell her, “boo, you’re no fun” she said shuffling over to her own bag.

The sun had started to set by time we make it to the bonfire. Everything is in full swing, but I don’t see Daniel anywhere or the guys he was with. “Come on! Let’s grab something to drink!” I turn to Ella and she places a lei on my neck as well as handed me some glowsticks. “Where in the world did you get these already?” I asked sliding them to wear as bracelets “It’s a bonfire! They’re just being handed out!”

Daniel

The guys were taking their sweet time getting ready for the bonfire and I was getting impatient, wanting to get out their and meet up with Kora already. “Dude chill have some pre-drink” Corbyn said handing me a red solo cup. “What are you guys even doing? Let’s just go” I said, chugging the beer.

After some more complaining we finally made our way to the bonfire and I found Kora and Ella dancing in front of the fire almost immediately. I stayed with the boys while they grabbed some drinks. Kora looked over at me and winked, earning a blush – which she would never hear about. “That her?” Zach asked as I handed him a beer, “yeah with the flower necklace on” I tell him. I couldn’t help but just watch her for a while, she looked absolutely perfect swaying her hips to the music playing loudly. I downed my drink and went to grab another one when I felt someone grab my wrist. Looking back I saw Kora with a big smile on her face. “Where do you think you’re going?” She asked bringing me to the dance floor, “just admiring the view” I whisper in her ear. I noticed the shiver roll down her spine. “you keep talking like that and I think we both know how this night is going to end” she said.

Kora handed me her drink as Elle came up to give her a refill and grabbed my free hand. I slowly twirled her around and brought her back to my front, keeping her with me and telling other guys to fuck off. “So mr. Rockstar – I take it I’m yours for the rest of the night?” She whispered in my ears, “I mean, if you’ll take me” I tell her.

Elle and the boys soon crowd around us making a semi circle. I can’t seem to look away from Kora however, the sunset hits her face just perfectly. Her eyes are highlighted by the golden rays and she’s glowing. “It’s getting dark – do you guys want to get out of here?” Zach suggested to everybody. “Yeah, we don’t have anywhere to be in the morning” Ella said for us – clearly smitten with the brunette beside her.

We all take some booze from the party and make it back to our suite. “Shit you guys rich or something?” Ella jokes as Zach takes her hand leading her to the couch. “I mean, Daniel did say they are a band” Kora said, her hand never leaving mine. We all disperse around the living room; Jonah setting up spotify on the tv, Corbyn grabbing some glasses, Zach with Ella, Jack with Corbyn and Kora always by my side. “So, we partying or what?” Jonah asked as the music started playing.

The next few hours are spent with booze flowing, jokes being made and games being played. It was only midnight, and a few more people showed up making the hotel room a little crowded. I had opened the door to let the salty sea air cool us all down, and looked towards Kora.

She made her way to me and grabbed my hand. “Baby, come with me” she said leading me out the doorway.

  To be continued?....

[alirhi]

it's back XD

I know no one cares, but I'm enjoying this fic, so I'm gonna keep writing and posting it as long as it keeps bringing me joy.

Title: Winter's Frost Chapter: 11/? Fandom: MCU Rating: R to be on the safe side Pairing: Loki/Bucky Summary: Loki never told anyone the real reason he became so obsessed with Midgard. Much better to let them think he wanted to hurt his brother than draw their attention to the one thing in the universe that makes the God of Mischief truly vulnerable. WARNINGS: not much, just some swearing and a little silliness. Notes: Here is where I offically say "fuck the canon." Just so we're clear. XD

Never before had Loki been so grateful that his brother was an idiot. While Thor returned to Asgard with a powerless double, Loki made his way to New Mexico. He'd thought to slip away to Siberia and go straight for Bucky, but he was too tired and in far too much pain to fight again any time soon. Besides, he'd been away from his sweet baby for nearly a year; he needed to check on Eira before he did anything else.

"You could have at least signed it!"

He smirked, not even lifting his head from his daughter's tiny shoulder and he squeezed her with all his might. "And risk you refusing to care for her?"

Darcy huffed, crossing her arms. "I wouldn't do that. She's an innocent baby. But some warning that she's not human might've been nice before she started teleporting!"

"I figured the fact that she materialized on your doorstep would have prepared you for that."

Though he could see a thousand retorts dancing behind those fierce blue eyes, the fight seemed to drain out of her and she sighed, sinking down into the nearest chair. "Are you okay?"

"Not even a little," he admitted, nuzzling Eira's chubby cheek and smiling as her giggle soothed his frayed nerves. "But I will be." Smile fading, he looked directly at his daughter's unwilling caretaker for the first time since his arrival and murmured, "Thank you, Darcy. Eira's... She's everything to me."

The soft, somewhat reluctant smile Darcy gave him warmed his heart, just a little. "She looks just like her daddy."

"Yes, she does." Loki finally eased his grip on his daughter and let her step back a bit, more so he could look at her sweet, cherubic face than for Eira's comfort. "Hopefully soon she'll get to meet him."

"...What? So she's... she's not your daughter?"

"She is. I'm just not her father." Even exhausted and aching in every inch of his body, he found such immense joy in something as simple as a human's hilariously baffled face. "I'm her mother."

Darcy stared at him for a moment in silence, and then stood abruptly. "I need a drink. You want a drink? I think we need... just... all of the drinks."

Reminded of Stark, he chuckled and nodded. "That would be lovely, Darcy, thank you."

Once they each had a frosty glass of vodka in hand, Darcy invited Loki to join her in the living room and they settled side-by-side on the couch, with little Eira curled up in her mother's lap. As she turned on the TV and began channel-surfing, Darcy stumbled across a news report on what had just happened in New York. Loki flinched as his own face flashed by on the screen. Setting the remote down, she closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, held it, and let it out in a frustrated whoosh. "Please tell me there's some sort of explanation."

"There is." He didn't offer one; he waited for her to look at him, met her eyes, and then glanced down at the top of the fluffy black head he'd been absently stroking. Catching Darcy's eye again, he waited.

It didn't take long. She was sharp, for a human, and she winced as the dots connected. "Who?"

"It doesn't matter. He won't come after her now." Even as the words tumbled out of his mouth, he realized with a sinking feeling that he might. Thanos hadn't gotten what he wanted out of this insanity. The Avengers had the Tesseract and the Glowstick of Destiny – even in such stressful times, that moniker made him smile. The smile didn't last long as he realized that his double had likely already dissipated and now Thor, and soon Odin and then the Avengers, would know that Loki was still free. "...Fuck."

"Really? Language like that, in front of a little kid?"

"It was appropriate for the moment." With a wince, he eased himself back against the back of the couch and dropped a hand over his eyes. "He wouldn't have come after her, if that absurd errand he'd sent me on had been successful. It had no chance, of course, but still... Darcy, I may need you to watch over Eira a little longer." Something twinged painfully, making him hiss, and he grudgingly added, "And me."

"Nope. No way in-" She stopped, glanced at Eira, and growled, "heck. No. She can stay as long as is needed, but you're a walking bulls-eye and you need to go."

"Darling, I'm rather incapacitated at the moment."

"You shouldda thought of that before you blew up New York!"

"It's not my fault 'Earth's mightiest heroes' couldn't get themselves motivated fast enough! That portal never should have had time to open!"

She blinked and inched back, looking stunned. "You lost on purpose?"

"More or less." Great, now something else was locking up painfully. Loki cringed, shifting position to try to loosen it up, only to have the bruises across his back press too firmly against the couch. "Damn it!"

Darcy bit her lip, lovely blue eyes scanning him frantically. "You really got your ass kicked, didn't you?"

"Yes," he snapped, closing his eyes again. "Thank you for pointing that out. It's very helpful. If the beast – what do they call it? The Hulk – if he'd slammed you repeatedly into a concrete floor hard enough to make craters in it, you'd be paste. I think I'm allowed to nurse a few bruises without judgement."

Mercifully, she didn't comment on his little rant. All she did say was, "What's your name, anyway?"

That was the moment he remembered that they'd never actually met. She'd heard of him, and he'd seen her when watching his brother, but she didn't know who he was. With a soft chuckle that his aching ribs turned into a low groan, he grumbled, "Loki."

The throw pillow that hit his face a second later startled him more than he'd ever care to admit.

"So, what? Was my town just a practice run for New York?!"

"No, it just happened to be where my adoptive brother was when I was trying to kill him." The pillow hit him again, and he snatched it from her. "Stop that!"

"Does your world have some equivalent to Child Protective Services?" she snapped, glaring at him. "Because that little girl deserves better than to be raised around that much violence!"

"Eira had never seen violence until the mad Titan showed up to torture me," Loki growled, hastily covering his daughter's ears so as not to traumatize her any further. The thought occurred to him to send her off to play, but he couldn't bear letting her out of his sight for even a second. Besides, she was such a curious child, she'd likely just eavesdrop, anyway. "I am not proud of how things turned out, but I've never done anything without a purpose – usually the same purpose that's been driving me for decades – and since she was born, all my daughter has ever seen me do is love and protect her."

"What purpose?"

He almost didn't answer, but it occurred to him that as long as he held Darcy's attention, she wouldn't kick him out. At least, that was what he told himself was the reason he was suddenly being so candid with a relative stranger; the truth was, no one but Bucky had ever cared enough to ask why he did the things he did, much less listen to the answer. Grateful for the connection to another person, though he'd never admit it, he murmured, "Love."

While Darcy stared at him in awe, he hugged Eira tight and told the entire tale of his star-crossed love with a young human soldier. By the time he got to Eira's conception, he was fighting back tears, and both Eira and Darcy were hugging him tight. The pressure on his bruises hurt like hell, but he didn't care. The rarity of someone giving a damn about him was too beautiful to let anything else ruin this moment.

_____________________________________________________

Next Masterlist

[puttingfingerstokeys]

why are you like this?

a wee bit of humor sprinkled with some poignant father-daughter moments. Sequel to reception (which I maintain is the WORST title).

Caged Heat, (again still “aged” heat, even though technically Johnny and Liu are the SAME age--Liu didn’t age so he looks like he’s in his 20s or whatever the fuck)

broken timeline

“Dad where WERE you?” Cassie’s voice held only a note of worry, to which Johnny responded dutifully by putting both hands up in mock surrender.

“Just checkin’ out the Fire Gardens, sweetheart; how many chances do ya get to do that in your life?” He was the picture of collected contentment, having rearranged his garb after Liu Kang rumpled it with his powerful, searching hands and aggressive lips. It was fortunate they’d stopped when they had. 

“Dad… why are you wearing sunglasses?” Her eyes were narrowed, sharp, just like her mother’s and Johnny felt a pang of guilt. This “dad” was distinctly different from the first. 

“Were you toking, Mr. Cage?” Takeda’s voice danced with amusement as he and Jacqui approached, she holding his arm and leaning heavily on him; he carried her shoes while she supported her swelling belly with her other arm. Little Hanzo was nowhere to be seen, but neither parent seemed worried.

“Is that what the kids are calling it… again?” Johnny’s eyes darted about as if searching for a solution to this sudden problem about which he had considered little when Liu Kang’s lips were on his, but in the gentle light and the dark tint of his sunglasses, no one could see.

“I think he was just trying to speak your language; now c’mon, you look stupid,” Cassie interjected, reaching out and, quick as lightning, snapping the shades off her father’s face.

There was an audible gasp from more than one mouth and the silence which followed was palpable.

“I’ll be damned,” came a grunt from near the cocktail bar where Erron Black was handing something sweet-looking to Jin, who did an almost comical double take. “Check them peepers.”

“By the Great Spirit,” Nightwolf whispered in disbelief. Even Fujin seemed more than a little surprised, but did his best to disguise it—the effort was wasted. No one was looking at him. All eyes, every single cognizant pair in the place, were affixed to Johnny Cage and his new set of “peepers”.

“Definitely toking,” Takeda concluded, bumping Cassie’s shoulder with a fistful of shoes, indicating she should probably give her father’s shades back. She did not, holding them tightly, mouth puckered in that way she had just about abandoned when she hit puberty—it came back every once in a while, when she was absolutely overcome and would not be reasoned with on any account. Johnny feared this look.

“Cass’,” Johnny began to explain, but she merely squeezed her fist, crushed his sunglasses and stalked off. One groom slid something into the other’s hand as they, too, emerged from parts unknown, Hanzo bearing his namesake upon his broad shoulders. Neither of them seemed particularly shocked—pun intended—but perhaps nuptial bliss was having an effect.

“I am not calling you Lord Johnny Cage,” said Sub-Zero firmly.

“You will be lord of very little, anyway, if you do not catch your daughter,” advised Scorpion. Johnny nodded numbly and went stumbling after her, wishing he had had just a little more to drink, or maybe a little less, so he could have retained the testicular fortitude to resist… But resist what? It was Raiden’s will that he, Johnny Cage, inherit his divinity and power. He didn’t have much of a choice. You couldn’t refuse something like that, could you? Either way, Johnny hadn’t and would have felt like he was insulting the guy if he had and he was of the opinion that it was idiotic in the extreme to go around insulting gods, especially ones like Raiden. There aren’t any gods like him…

“Cass’! Cassie, wait—Cassie… please, come on… You gotta let me explain this—it’s sudden for me, too!”

She stopped then, a little ways down a path he did not recognize. They were far enough from the gathering, once again, that the sounds were fairly muted, with trees, shrubbery, and walls dividing them. Cassie did not turn, keeping her back to her father, her shoulders rounded, body tense. She was shaking but Johnny knew better than to approach.

“So you’re just gunna leave, like that—mom’s gone and now you just can’t wait to fly the coop, huh dad?” Her voice was acid, venomous, burning and corroding both of them as she spoke. Frozen in place once more, Johnny wondered what in the world he could say that would convince her that he wasn’t simply leaving, flying the coop as she put it. Because in a way, he was.

“Cassie… I’m not—”

“You ARE.” She whirled on him, but did not approach, rage spilling off her in waves. He could almost feel it from here. Any minute, he thought, my baby girl’s gunna start glowin’ green and then I’m really in for it. The urge to laugh hysterically rose up in his guts and he stifled it, though not without effort.

“I’m not,” he said, quietly but with firm authority. He was still her father and if he had to attempt to pull that card to have this discussion, he would do it. “Cassie, I would never just…”

“Then what is this? Huh?” She gestured sharply toward his face and his glowing eyes, the arcs of electricity, now visible in the dimness, beginning to arc and dance nervously over his body, across the lines of his suit, illuminating him in an eerie blue.

“Raiden’s… gone, Cass’… Liu says he’s not dead, but he’s—we’re not gunna see him again; he’s mortal now, like, really mortal and I guess his final request was to give this shit to me. Kid, I don’t want this… I don’t want any of this, but I’m…” He trailed off helplessly, looking down at his hands which he curled into gentle fists and released, watching the sparks fly. “It’s… I have to.”

Cassie watched him, studying her father carefully, eyes blurred with tears. She was certain her carefully-applied eyeliner was running, despite the waterproof label. Furious with Johnny for this affront and at Raiden for bringing it on them, she nevertheless bore that ire in silence for the moment, considering all the thunder god had done for them, and their closeness. He had become a friend and now they would never see him again. His future self had been her mother’s downfall and for that, she could not forgive him, but the Raiden who had passed his power to Johnny was not the same man. She was fond of this one.

“It’s bad timing, I know,” Johnny continued, fumbling with his words, but wanting desperately to make Cassie understand something even he could not quite grasp. “And I’m not sure why he wanted me to have this. Liu doesn’t know either. Maybe Ol’ Sparky was goin’ senile or somethin’.” 

The humor was misplaced, he knew, and neither he nor Cassie laughed. She was at least watching him now, rather than outright fuming, regarding him carefully, studying her father. She chewed her lower lip, brows knitted at the center of her forehead. In this light, she looked just like her mother and Johnny’s heart squeezed with remorse.

“This… you need this,” Cassie said, concluding her internal thoughts aloud for her father’s benefit. “Dad, I know you… I’ve known you my whole life. Back then, when I was a kid, I used to wonder why you didn’t date anyone else when mom…” She sighed, shaking her head. “I thought that you looked so lonely and it broke my heart that I couldn’t fill that space for you. Worse… I kinda figured, y’know, I was the reason there WAS a space.”

There was a lump rising in Johnny’s throat, but he suppressed it, listening to his daughter, so much like him and yet so different, so wise for her age. Better than I was, he thought. 

“I know I wasn’t, y’know? But kids…. Anyway, you aren’t the kind of person who can be alone for very long, are you?” She did not mean the question in a cruel way. She sought truth and she, to Johnny’s chagrin, was absolutely onto something. It was, of course, not a truth he had known when he was younger, had only had inklings. Now, a man well into his fifties, he had figured it out, though it still stung to hear his baby girl say so.

“No, Cassie… I’m not.” The admission felt like a weight being lifted, but this also left him exposed, as if that weight had been a shield more than a burden. “I had to do it… when you were younger ‘cause, well you know what all the books say about a never-ending parade of people in the house when you’ve got a kid…”

“Thank you, Dad. You... “ Her whole body seemed to sag as she approached her father, arms open. “You deserve a break, but it looks like you’re getting more work, huh?”

“An eternity of it,” he admitted and wrapped his arms around his daughter. Cassie held him tight, withdrawing only when she could not take the oncoming numbness. 

“I dunno if I can get used to that,” she admitted.

“I don’t think I can turn it off,” Johnny said apologetically. 

“Yeah, Raiden couldn’t either,” she responded. Her eyes caught something and she stopped. “Hey… have you got like, a glowstick necklace on under your tux? I didn’t know they were handing out goodies like that.”

Cassie gestured toward the chest of Johnny’s tuxedo which, while still on him, in the most technical sense of the word, was askew and the fabric between the buttons had come dislodged (notably, his tie clip was nowhere to be seen). Despite his best efforts, he had evidently missed a few details. Johnny looked down and began to fumble with his tie, loosening it and tugging it aside, suddenly suspicious. Images of Liu Kang and Fujin’s beautiful, glowing marks of divinity were flashing in Johnny’s head and his fingers fumbled eagerly with the top three or four buttons of his shirt. 

“Oh my god, dad…” Cassie’s hand had found her mouth and she was grinning ear to ear. “You’ve GOT to show Liu; he’s gunna flip.”

“Show me what?” Liu Kang seemed to materialize out of the darkness… Perhaps he had merely approached and they had missed him in their excitement. 

“This,” said Johnny proudly, grinning and turning and tugging the top of his shirt open a little wider for his old friend’s perusal. In place of his “Johnny” tattoo, there was, in a very similar script (albeit glowing a soft blue-white) another word:

THUNDER

Liu Kang seemed to sigh with his entire body. “Why are you like this?”

[juju-on-that-yeet]

Behind Closed Doors

Whumptober Day 22: Do These Tacos Taste Funny To You? Prompt: Drugged

Summary: Eric goes clubbing with the Jims, but doesn't enjoy it as much as they do. When a good-looking woman approaches him to talk, Eric thinks the night might end up fun after all.

It doesn't.

Warnings: Drugging, sexual assault, non-con touching/kissing, attempted rape

Read on AO3 (Full Whumptober 2020 series)

Enjoy...?

~

Eric has never been to a club before, and already doubts he’ll ever go back.

RJ and CJ invited him here. Eric would’ve been worried about the two of them in a setting like this. After all, the twins can hold their liquor as well as Eric can, which is to say not at all. But apparently the upbeat music and frenetic dancing are just their style. Barely an hour into the night and the two are practically covered in glowstick bracelets and flailing like madmen on the dancefloor.

Eric, meanwhile, is sitting at their table, watching the Jims dance and eating pretzels like it’s the thing to do.

He’s too nervous to dance, and besides, the music is way too loud for him. The Jims already tried to get him dancing, but he went back to their table before long, using the excuse that someone should watch their sodas. Eric sighs to himself. He’s a little bored and uncomfortable, if he’s being honest. He doesn’t blame the Jims for not noticing; they have a lot of energy to burn and they’ve been fully swept up in the fast pace of the club. Eric is sure that the three of them will be back home in a couple hours, once the Jims have exhausted themselves. A couple hours of being a little bored is no problem, and Eric has to admit it’s fun to watch the Jims having such a good time. Their dancing is entertaining, too, though Eric feels a little bad for laughing at their moves. They’re nothing he could replicate, that’s for sure.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eric catches someone looking at him. When he turns to see, a pretty, orange-haired woman averts her gaze. Her cheeks are a little pink, and though her face is turned away, she sends Eric a sideways glance, smiling just a little.

Oh geez, she’s flirting with him.

Eric turns bright red and looks away again. Even through the din of the club, he hears a giggle that he’s sure belongs to the woman. When he looks over again, she’s walked up to his table.

“Can I join you?” she asks, still smiling softly, still blushing a little.

“Um, uh, um,” Eric stammers, brain short-circuiting. His face gets redder, were it possible.

“Oh, did you come with friends?” the woman asks, noticing the glasses in front of the other two chairs at the table.

“Uh, y-yeah,” Eric says, “Um, but you can sit, uh, here too, for a bit, I m-mean, if you want–”

“I was kinda hoping you’d say that,” the woman admits, before pulling out RJ’s chair and sitting in it beside Eric. “My name’s Tessa, by the way. What’s yours?”

“E-Eric,” Eric says. He wonders for a moment if he should shake her hand, before immediately revoking that thought.

He doesn’t know why he’s so flustered. It must be because no one’s flirted with him in ages. It probably doesn’t help that Tessa’s even prettier up close, with a vibrant orange bob of hair, winged eyeliner, and dark purple lipstick. The colors clash, but somehow don’t. Eric may still have a serious crush on the Jims, but he’s also powerless against beautiful women. Especially beautiful women who give Eric the time of day.

They talk, but Eric hardly remembers what they talk about from one moment to the next. He’s too busy trying to pay attention to Tessa’s words and not how cute her laugh sounds or how the lights of the club illuminate her hair. He hardly knows what he says to her, but she seems to like it, judging by how much she smiles. Tessa eventually orders a drink from a passing server – something alcoholic that Eric doesn’t catch the name of – and Eric continues sipping his soda. He has to be careful not to spit or snort it out when Tessa tells a funny joke or touches his arm.

After a while, Eric starts to wonder if something’s actually going on with him. He still can’t remember much of his conversation with Tessa, but not even focusing helps. The lights seem brighter, the pounding music pounds straight into his head. He checks his watch, thinking it must be late, but the numbers swim when he tries to read them.

“You doin’ alright, Eric?” Tessa asks with good-natured concern, “Have enough to drink?”

“I didn’t…didn’t drink?” Eric mumbles, trying to meet her eyes. He’s swaying too much, he can’t sit up straight. “I’m gonna…gonna go to th’ bathroom…”

Maybe he just needs to splash some water on his face, and he’ll feel better, more like himself. As he gets up, he almost slips, but Tessa grabs his arm and holds him up.

“Let me at least help you walk there,” Tessa insists, “You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

Tessa starts leading Eric to the restrooms without waiting for his reply. A thought that he should find the Jims floats through Eric’s mind, but it soon floats right back out. He can’t think straight for anything. He doesn’t even notice right away when Tessa helps him into the bathroom instead of waiting outside. He doesn’t notice until Tessa moves him into a stall, closes and locks the door.

“Issn this th’ men’s room?” Eric asks, voice quiet and weak.

“It’s fine,” Tessa says, shutting the lid of the toilet in front of them, “People do this here all the time. No one minds.” She sits Eric on the toilet, and he has no strength to get back up.

“Tessa?” he asks, voice small. Even through the fog in his mind, he can sense that something is deeply wrong. His heart kicks up as Tessa straddles his lap.

“I thought you could use some help to loosen up, is all,” Tessa says, putting her hands on Eric’s shoulders, “You were so nervous you didn’t even notice me putting the powder in your drink!”

“Stop,” Eric gasps, tears pricking his eyes. He should’ve paid more attention, he shouldn’t have let her sit with him –

“Don’t worry,” Tessa says, smiling again, eyes dark with lust, “I’ll make this good for both of us, I promise.”

Eric doesn’t have enough time to speak before Tessa’s dark purple lips are on his.

~~~

When the Jims return to their table to drink their sodas, they’re momentarily surprised that Eric isn’t there.

“Where’d Anxious Jim go?” CJ asks, looking around.

“Probably the bathroom,” RJ shrugs, “His glass is empty.” He blinks. “Hey, there’s a drink here! That’s not AJ’s, is it?”

“He must’ve been talking to someone,” CJ replies. He pauses. “I hope he’s having fun. We haven’t spent much time with him since we got here.”

“Good point, Jim,” RJ replies, thinking for a moment.

They both pick up their glasses to drink, but CJ is first. There wasn’t much left in his glass to begin with, which is why he notices the slightest grainy texture to his soda as he takes a sip. He spits it out across the table, making RJ jump and take his own glass away from his mouth.

“What the heck, CJ!?” RJ asks, “I almost spilled this on myself!”

CJ puts his glass down in a hurry and signs furiously.

“Don’t drink it! Someone put something in it!!”

“What!?” RJ practically drops his glass, as though it would burn him if he held onto it longer. “Who–” He catches sight of the alcoholic drink next to Eric’s empty glass. His heart falls into his stomach. “Oh no, CJ, if our drinks are drugged–”

“–so was AJ’s,” CJ finishes, face paling.

“We have to find him,” RJ says, fearful but resolute. “CJ, did you bring your whistle?”

CJ nods, pulling out a lanyard with a whistle on the end from his pocket and putting it around his neck. It’s a safety measure he takes with him whenever he and RJ go reporting or exploring. If anything happens to CJ or he gets separated from RJ, he can blow the whistle and get RJ’s attention. If he finds Eric, he can quickly lead RJ to him.

“Alright,” RJ says, “I’ll go that way–” He points. “–and you go that way.” He points in the opposite direction.

CJ nods.

They split up and search for Eric, stomachs turning at the thought of what might be happening to him at this very moment.

~~~

Eric can’t move. Even if he wasn’t drugged he would’ve frozen up by now.

Tessa won’t get off him.

She kisses him, his lips, his jaw, his neck. Eric can feel the stains her lipstick leaves, sticky and uncomfortable on his skin. Tessa’s hands run over his chest, through his hair. She tugs his hair and finds out it makes him whimper, so she does it again, and again. When Eric musters the dregs of his strength to push her away, she grabs his hand and puts it over her breast, making Eric sob. He’s been crying since this started, he can hardly even see through tears. Maybe that’s a good thing, because he can’t see Tessa that well when she pulls off her shirt and throws it to the floor. She humps against him, moaning against Eric’s skin, into his mouth.

Eric hears sounds in the bathroom, hears other people enter, use the toilet, wash their hands and leave. No one notices a problem, no one knocks on the stall’s door. If they hear Eric crying, they don’t do anything about it. Eric’s body is jelly from whatever Tessa gave him, but adrenaline courses through him, making his heart race. He can hardly breathe. He’s too afraid to close his eyes. He just wants this to be over.

He sobs when Tessa palms his groin, tries in vain to make himself move when she grabs at his belt to undo the buckle. But all he can do is tremble and wait for Tessa to be done with him.

Someone knocks on the door.

“We’re busy,” Tessa giggles, breathless from kissing Eric. She sounds so convincing, and though Eric’s heart soars with hope, he can’t help but fear that whoever it is will move on.

But whoever it is knocks on the door again, louder this time.

“Ugh, leave us be!” Tessa yells. “Are you staff, or something? Did someone report us?”

Another loud, insistent bout of knocking.

“Alright, alright!” Tessa gripes, quickly grabbing her shirt off the floor and pulling it back on. She gets off Eric’s lap, and he whimpers with relief.

Tessa opens the door, and there’s a familiar figure standing there. Eric is too blinded from tears to see their face well, but the silence means it must be CJ.

“Cee…” Eric gasps. It’s all he can manage.

“You don’t look like club staff,” Tessa mutters, looking CJ up and down.

Eric blinks enough tears out of his eyes in time to see CJ, wide-eyed with horror, bring his trusty whistle to his mouth.

“What the–” Tessa says.

CJ blows the whistle, loud and shrill. Tessa yelps and covers her ears. Eric would too if he could, but even though the sound makes his head hurt, it’s music to his ears.

“What on earth was that!?” Tessa yells, “Who even are you??”

CJ just crosses his arms and glares at her with more hate than Eric thought he was capable of. Several long moments pass. Then the door to the bathroom swings open, and RJ bursts in.

“CJ, did you find–” RJ shouts, then gasps, locking eyes with Eric. “AJ!!”

“His name’s Eric,” Tessa scoffs, “Look, you must have the wrong guy. Leave us alone already!”

“Get away from him,” RJ growls, eyes narrowing. He walks up beside CJ, joining him in glaring at Tessa. “We know you drugged him, and we can prove it. There’s powder in all our drinks but yours, and this club has cameras everywhere.”

“You wouldn’t–” Tessa gasps, paling, “No one’s even gonna believe you anyway! It’s not like guys can get raped!”

“So when the drug wears off, Eric’s gonna tell us it was all a big misunderstanding?” RJ asks condescendingly, “He’s gonna tell us he was having a great time until we barged in and ruined it for him? Somehow I doubt it.”

Tessa turns red with anger, but it seems she knows she’s been cornered. She storms out of the bathroom without another word, muttering unintelligibly to herself. She’s barely left the room before RJ and CJ are rushing to Eric, hateful glares melting into worried, horrified expressions.

“AJ,” RJ murmurs, putting an arm around Eric’s shoulders to help him up, “AJ, we’re so sorry this happened!”

“We shouldn’t have left you alone,” CJ adds, tears in his eyes. “We’re sorry, AJ.”

“CJ, help me with him, I don’t think he can move,” RJ says, trying to pull Eric up.

“O’er,” Eric mumbles, eyelids fluttering, tears leaking. “Juss wan’ it o’er…”

The last of his consciousness leaves him, and he sinks into RJ’s hold. RJ yelps and nearly drops him, but CJ comes to Eric’s other side and helps RJ keep him from falling. The twins glance at each other over Eric’s drooping head, deeply worried and a little frightened.

Working together, the pair get Eric out of the bathroom and out of the club. They sit on the sidewalk outside, keeping Eric between them as RJ calls Bim for someone to take them all home. CJ holds onto Eric while RJ waits for Bim to pick up, holding Eric’s head in his lap. Fortunately, it only takes a few rings for Bim to pick up.

As RJ explains what happened nearly too fast for Bim to understand, he glances over at CJ and Eric. CJ is wetting his thumb and wiping Eric’s face with it, trying to rub away the purple lipstick stains, crying silently as he works.

RJ bursts into tears. Bim cries out in alarm, asks what’s going on, but RJ can’t answer.

[marvel-noms]

After School Snack

Have my sleep deprived hot mess -snexy))

When Scott first got the instinct he wanted to lock himself away from his family, scared he'd  end up hurting them. Time went on however and Hope told him he was a dumbass for trying to hide from them, they loved him after all. 

Despite trying to keep his work away from his home life he ended up having to gulp his little family down during a mission. He still remembered how horrified he had been when he had to swallow them down. It was a lot different than when he had to tuck Hope away, it was heavier and a bit distracting when Cassie told him to kick butt every so often.

He honestly had expected to never be able to see his daughter away but they had accepted it, knowing he didn’t want to and that it was safe, besides Cassie had absolutely loved it. Scott wasn’t too surprised, his kid had a habit of liking the weirdest things after all. It did make finding a babysitter hard though, most didn’t particularly like a child going on about the insides of a human being, it had been a godsend when he met Peter parker, the kid knowing exactly what Cassie was talking about and why. The little web crawler had actually given him tips about how to handle his kiddo when she was small. 

The only issue was the fact that Peter had taught her how to use very effective puppy eyes which she used a lot on him.  A good example would be when she came home from school.

Scott grins when he hears the door open and slam shut, thrilled his kid was finally back from school. 

"Hey munchkin how was school?" He calls out, finishing putting the last of the band aides on his scratches. He still had issues with being small and hitting the dirt wrong. 

"I don't like it." Cassie whines, making a beeline to her dad. She thought it was burning and the teachers just wanted them to learn useless stuff. She was pretty sure he daddy didn't need to know the 7th's presidents name when he went out on missions.

"No one does, but we have to go." Scotts says sympathetically, grunting when Cassie practically threw herself onto him. She wasn't afraid of announcing what she wanted that was for sure. 

"It's not fair." She grumbles, burying her face into her dad's chest. All she got to do was go to boring school, her dad however got to do super fun stuff with Hope and sometimes he'd even show her the video of what he did. 

"I know, I know." He murrurs softly, running a hand through her hair gently. At this point he took it as a win that he was able to see his kid even after everything that happened. He sighs happily and kisses the top of her head, just relishing the fact they were together.

"But hey, at least you're home!" He says nudging her with a small smile, his smile growing wider when she giggles slightly in agreement. He takes the moment of vulnerability to hit her tickle spots, grinning when she squeals with laughter. 

"Daddy! Stooop!" She begs thrashing around as he tickled her mercilessly. It was little moments like these that just made the day. 

"Or what?" Scott says teasingly, slowly letting up to give his kid a breather. God she was so small and young, before he knew it she would be an adult. He sighs wistfully hanging onto this moment as long as he could, smiling again when tiny hands grasped at his.

"You're a meanie!" Cassie says still giggling slightly from the attack. Scott wasn't sure what triggered him but the instinct screamed in the back of his mind as his kid cuddled closer to him. God he hated this, it felt so wrong to want to eat his child. 

He shudders slightly, trying to act normal for now. "At least it got you giggling grumpy pants!" He says playfully, his stomach growling impatiently as he pushed off the urge.

He hated the way Cassie's eyes went wide at the sound, a look of confusion before she started grinning. Out of everyone he knew Cassie had an odd reaction to being tucked away, then again Stark's littlest didn't mind it either. Maybe it was just a kid thing.

"Oh! Are you gonna eat me?" She asks excitedly, squirming in place. She always knew exactly when he was having trouble squashing the urge down, hell the little crapper would even aggravate it more to get herself gulped up.

"I'm going to try not to." Scott sighs, playfully booping her nose. He wasn't too surprised when she sighs dramatically and buries her face into his chest, looking up at him through her eyelashes. Yep she knew exactly what to do to get his urge to flare up. 

"Now you're playing dirty munchkin." He says with a small grin. He kisses her forehead, trying to ignore his stomachs loud protests of not immediately swallowing his little girl up. 

"M' not." Cassie says innocently, her grin everything but innocent. She knew exactly what she was doing, and it was taking everything in him to not just swallow her up that moment. 

He sighs heavily and shifts up slightly, focusing on adjusting her size to something more manageable. He hated that he was making her a target being this small, but she didn't seem to mind, just excitedly bouncing. She really was something else.

"Alright you win." Scott says with a nervous smile, shifting Cassie into his hand. God she was so small like this, it always freaked him out that he could just hold his kid in one hand like this. He relaxes slightly when she cheers, grinning widely up at him.

"You lil pooper you knew exactly what you were doing didn't you?" He says teasingly. He smiles a bit bringing her up to his mouth. She was so fragile like this, that of course didn't help the ever present urge screaming at him to just tuck her away. He cringes slightly and opens his mouth mentally bracing himself.

"Maaaybe." Cassie chirps, giggling excitedly when she was plopped inside her dad's mouth. She wasn't sure why he hated this so much, it was soft and warm! It got dark and sometimes that was scary but Peter suggested that she use glow sticks which was always fun!

She grins widely, squirming around when she was squished around, squealing with laughter when her daddy started tickling her again. He was always so much fun when he was like this, she wasn't sure why her daddy hated it.

"Stoop! N-no Moore!" She squeals wriggling around as she was mercilessly tickled. 

Cassie's little chest heaves as she tries to catch her breath, still giggling slightly as she tried to calm down. She wriggles around a bit as she reaches into her pocket keeping a death grip on her glowstick, she would probably need it soon.  

She squeaks slightly as she was pressed up against the roof of her dad's mouth. She grins widely when the muscle under the twitched unsafely, like Scott was having second thoughts, like always. Before she could reassure her daddy that it was alright and that she was a big girl, she was squashed down into his throat. 

She smiles brightly as she slipped down with a small squelch. The trip down was always squishy and tight but it was like a water slide so it wasn't too bad. Besides she got to hear Scott's heart as she slipped down into his stomach, she liked that part a lot. 

"You alright munchkin?" Scott questions softly, lightly resting a hand over his stomach. He felt Cassie plop in a second ago so she should be fine right? The waiting always killed him, he never liked having to wait to know if he accidently hurt his kid. 

"Yeah! Peter gave me glow sticks, is it kay if I use them?" 

He sighs in relief melting back into the couch. She was alright, he hadn't hurt her. And the angry yelling in the back of his mind had gone away, so bonus. He hadn't exactly heard what she said over the loud very pleased gurgles of his stomach but figured it wasn't anything yo bad.

"Go ahead sweetheart." Scott says with a pleased sigh. He tenses up when he hears something snapping but before he could panic entirely he saw a soft glow coming from his middle.

Yeah he would so be talking to Peter later about glow sticks.

[conchstellations]

watching the 1990 LOTF movie!! my reactions:

hello all!!!! i was bored at midnight again so here it is: me watchin the 1990 movie, for the first time, hell yeah!!!!! here we go!!! its got the other movie to live up to, so im excited for a comedy lmao!! tl;dr at end if u want!!! its kinda long btw lmao

- castle rock entertainment??? piggy u better watch out bro

- fuck is that the pilot???

- k this isnt a big thing but why are they in water? the plane left a scar in the earth, they were on land.

- okay, again, me nitpicking. but idk, to me, they dont look 12?? maybe its just cause theyre all dressed up n that but they dont look like 12 yr olds to me like the last movie

- why tf does ralph (?) have a glowstick lmaooooo

- why are they all together. where is my conch. wher are my stupid ass choir outfits. maybe im not there yet and they have them, but i want my stupid cloaks!!! jack would not stand for this!!!

- why TF is the pilot alive???

- am i supposed to know whos who by now?? did i just miss that?? which ones ralph? which ones jack?? wheres simon???

- conch??? the conchs main job is to bring them together, and here theyre already together so???

- piggy already makin me love him gosh piggy is child

- okay so im guessing brown hair kid is ralph

- piggy protecting conch rights

- i do like piggys sass... very iconic

- okay whAT??? is that blonde kid supposed to be jack?? first off, jack has red hair. second off, there is no way in hELL THAT MY basTARD child jack merridew would let ralph win the election just like that??? wheres my choir??? wheres my c sharp???

- okay jack would for sure call piggy shitbrain nvm

- mY CHOIR WOULD NOT ACCEPT THAT SINGING. 

- wheres simon????

- r they fuckin cookin lizards??? nvm look away simon pls dont be in this

- is thAT BITCH supposed to be Simon?? hes got a lot to look up to. also why the FUCK is the adult alive. taht ruins the whole purpose of the entire book

- was that a dream??? sorry im dumb af lmao

- alrght simon is kind of an adorable hild and he likes lizard maybe hes valid?

- idk.. for some reason this ralph isnt like, giving me ralph vibes?? hes just not bring like ralphish u know??

- now im getting a little bit more of our beloved lil bitch ralph..

- okay wtf is going on lmao

- “SHOVE THEIR DICK IN THE CONCH” had me laughing for a solid fucking 30 minutes. william golding who??? whoever wrote that line is the new icon

- ‘EAT SHIT AND DIE”  okay wtffff im so confused but also vv entertained

- for some reason jack’s character is like 100% off, but also somehow 100% on point “thats exactly what i meant” like holy shit. like idk hes not jack but just sometimes he radiates “jack if he was allowed to swear and was less of a lil bitch” energy

- ok simon and lizard?? valid

- i swear to FUCKING GOD i will kill that child!!!

- im gonna cry. wtf. why would you kill his lizard. even this movie’s jack seems like he thinks thats fucked up and hes a psychopath. also, lemme say, at this point, i think most of the book characters would beat the shit out of someone if they were mean to simon like that, bc the choir were his friends, and ralphs tribe respected him, sooooo

- why tf is it simons job to take care of the adult that shouldnt even be there? liek wtf hes grieving asshole

- no fucking duh hes scared of everyone but simon i would be too 

- honestly kinda glad they let ralph say fuck he deserved it

- “back off man im sick of ur shit and sos my gang” fuckin got em

- let me guess pilot dude is the new beast???

- honestly wtf is goin on lmao

- okay piggys actor actually made me sd when he was crying about his glasses so good job

- simon comin through with the glowstick. also, good job simon

- well at least the lord of the flies looks terrifying as always

- are samneric putting on warpaint this early?? bc i WILL NOT stand for that shit. i am a samneric STAN Ok??? they were two of the tHREE left when simon died who didnt become cowards and go savage. they wree LOYAL to ralph until they were LITERALLY tied up and FORCED to join jack, and even then they helped ralph!!!! so fuck u. samneric are better than that.

- oh simon :(

- im glad they actually kind of (?) shwed simon like with the pig head bc last movei it was just ike them flipping the camera from pig to si so idkk

- ok that was a pretty ralph move to bring up the fire 24/7 lmao

- piggytits?? tf

- simon with hus fuckin glowstick lmao

- awe, simon

- okay HOLY SHIT. the sounds of what i assume to be them fucking stabbing simon are horrific. and then that cut to simon’s fucking mutiliated corpse?? holy SHIT. like as much as im complaining, thats the gruesome shit i expect from this book. i was expecting them to shy away from it bc its so awful, but im SO glad they didnt, bc that gave me fuckin chills. finally, something i can praise them on. thats the lord of the flies i expect. 

- i feel bad for ralph.. good job

- ok good. samneric came back. good job again.

- ok. nvm. the disrespect to my loyal children. alright.

- okay that child screaming as hes being whipped?? wtf.

- ok that line of piggy being scared that the russians will take them nad make them go into the olympics? gold. 

- piggys laugh is so pure

- why the fuCK are they finding instruments lmao

- poor piggy

- did roger just wolf whistle at ralph what the fuck is going on

- holy SHIt this movie does not hold back on the blood. but, wheres my conch explosion?? if ur gonna show him getting hit u gotta show the conch exploding. although, the conch means like nothing in this movie lmao

- okay wow piggys dead body cool cool cool

- ralph fucking YEETED that kid to the ground lmao

- okay, ralph crying?? good acting

tl;dr/conclusion/my thoughts: hooooo boy so i see why everyone likes 1960 one better. 

first, lets start with the obvious: why this isnt lord of the flies. because its not. if this wasnt telling me that its lord of the flies, i would think of it as that, really. first off, the conch. the conch represents civility, it brings them together. its important. when piggy dies, it dies, representing how all civility is now gone. i maybe saw the conch three times this movie. didnt do anything.

second, the pilot, captain whatever. the point of the beast to me is that they made it up. sure, the corpse was real, but it didnt pose a threat, it was simply a corpse. they made it into what it was, therefore proving that they are the beast. sure, the pilot here was harmless, but he grbbed a boy’s foot and was therefore making himself a possible threat. maybe its not a big deal i guess.

third, the characters. the point of lord of the flies is that they are rich kids who havent gone through anything. theyre the perfect, spoiled kids who havent done anything wrong. half of them are in choir. chOIR. in this movie, lets take jack for example. they said he stole  a car and got sent to military school. no. the point of jack is that he was a perfect kid. leader of choir. he was manipulitive and got even ADULTS to trust him. its part of hs character, showing that this perfect choir leader kid went fucking insane to prove how literally everyone can be evil. also samneric???? the direspect!! they were loyal to ralph until they were tied up and FORCED to join jack, and even then, after roger like beat the shit out of them, they were STILL loyal. fuck you.

so those are the MAIN reasons why it wasnt lotf. 

now, what i liked i guess.

the swearing was NOT lotf, and it didnt fit with the story, but ill admit that i laughed, so i guess thats a plus.

second, i liked how they showed the gore, i guess? sounds weird, hear me out. lord of the flies is a gruesome, violent, awful book. theres descriptions of death in detail, and im so glad they showed it. when simon’s body was there, literally torn to shreds? the shock of it, the true savagery you see that these boys murdered him SO violently, is amazing, because thats the essence of lotf. simons death shows how theyve lost all their civility, and showing such a gruesome corpse really brings that through. so good job.

and now, of course, the obvious: thats not the characters i pictured when i read the story. simon doesnt look like that, ralph doesnt look like that, jack doesnt look like that.

 where did the choir go, too? forgot to mention that, and i think that also adds into the whole, theyre supposed to be perfect kids and then become savage thing. also, the choir was a group. they voted for jack and went with him for a reason. 

so yea, thats that. dont know why people would read this lmao but thats my thoughts!!!! i just need to keep myself busy when i watch movies and to make sure i focused, i figured id just write down my thoughts as i went. if u wanna watch for free, look up lord of the flies 1990 google drive. 

;)))) and yea im posting this at 230 am lmao why not

[crying-gay-tears]

Brighter Than the Sun  - Ch. 4

It's Halloween! And the only thing scarier than that is the concept of intimacy! For Killua, at least.

Full Work 

It was his last class of the day, and Gon was trying desperately to pay attention. He was staring out the window when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out discreetly and checked the screen under the cover of his notebook, he had a text from Knuckle.

Halloween party at my place tonight! Costumes encouraged!

Halloween? He couldn’t believe he forgot it was today! He’d spent the last few years just helping Mito pass out candy to trick or treaters, so it must’ve slipped his mind when she wasn’t there to remind him. He quickly typed out a response.

I’ll be there! Can I bring a plus one?

His phone buzzed just as his professor dismissed the class.

The more the merrier!

He packed his backpack and hurried home. When he opened the door he was greeted with a “Yo” from Killua who was sprawled across the couch, chocolate robot in hand, and a movie playing on the tv.

“Hey! Knuckle invited me to a party tonight, wanna come?”

“I don’t think so Gon.”

“But Killua, it’s Halloween! Don’t you wanna celebrate??”

“I am celebrating. I’m watching scary movies and eating candy.”

“We do that all the time!”

“Exactly. It’s a time honored tradition. Plus, candy is what Halloween is all about.”

“Killuaaaaaa! Please, it’ll be so fun!”

“Parties aren’t really my thing, Gon.”

“It’s not gonna be like those boring parties your parents throw. We’ll get to wear costumes!!”

“That’s just another reason for me to stay home. I don’t have a costume.”

“Neither do I! I was just gonna make one with stuff that I already have. It’s what I used to do growing up.”

“I don’t know Gon…”

“Come with me, just for a little while! If you hate it, you can always leave early! I don’t think I’ll stay the whole time anyway.”

He flashed his best puppy eyes. “Please?”

“Ugh. Fine! I’ll go for a little while. But if it’s lame I’m leaving!”

Gon let out a cheer and grabbed Killua’s hand. “Come on! We’ve gotta figure out our costumes!”

An hour and several rolls of toilet paper later, and Gon stepped out of the bathroom and into Killua’s room. “Look Kill, I’m a mummy!”

Killua turned around and Gon’s jaw dropped. Black liner rimmed his ocean eyes and a silver hoop glinted on his lower lip, matching the studs lined along the cartilage of his ear. The leather tank top he wore clung to his figure showing off muscular arms, and his knees peeked through rips in skin tight black jeans. A spiked choker wrapped snugly around his neck, and a chain hung at his hip.

“Killua, you-you look…” he trailed off, eyes roving his friend’s slender form. He looked good.

“I know it’s not a real costume like what you did, but I didn’t really know what else to do, so I just put on what I wear to concerts. Figured I could say I’m dressed as a band member or something.” Killua’s gaze dropped to the ground, a faint blush spread across his cheeks.

“No, Killua, you look amazing! Seriously, it’s a great costume!” He couldn't take his eyes off him. “You look so good, I almost feel silly. I’m covered in toilet paper.” He gestured to himself and giggled, hoping it would put Killua at ease.

“I think your costume looks great, Gon.” He said with a smile.

“Well now that we’re both all dressed up, are you ready to head out?”

He slipped a jean jacket on. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

With that, they headed out the door to Knuckle’s place.

~~~~~~~~

The party was well underway when they arrived. Gon immediately ran up to Knuckle and began chatting. Killua stayed by his side for a bit, following him as he bounced from person to person chatting and laughing. He was getting tired of the introductions and small talk, so he decided to give Gon some space to enjoy himself.

The room was dim, orange and purple string lights lined the walls with fake cobwebs stretched out along with them. Large plastic bats and spiders hung from the ceiling, and a bowl of glowsticks sat by the front door for partygoers to take as they pleased. Speakers hung in each corner of the room, the low thump of the music wafted through the air, Killua found it soothing.

As he ambled around the room, he recognized people from some of his classes. A few of them smiled and waved, some just nodded their heads in acknowledgement as he passed. The music was pretty nice, if a little loud, and there was plenty of candy, so that was good. He wasn’t having a terrible time like he originally predicted, but he did feel a little out of place, and was starting to feel restless.

He made his way to the back wall, finding an empty spot to stand by the snack table. He was deciding between distracting himself with his phone and heading outside for some air when he heard a voice behind him.

“Parties aren’t really my thing either.”

He snapped his head over his shoulder to find a tall, lanky man making himself a drink. His long burgundy hair was tied up in a side ponytail, revealing high cheekbones and smooth porcelain skin.

“I’ve seen you around before. Killua, right? You’re Gon’s friend?”

He nodded slowly in response, heat suddenly rising up the back of his neck.

“It’s a pretty small campus. Good to officially meet you, the name’s Shoot.” He extended a hand which Killua tentatively shook.

“Y’know, you look kinda nervous, want a drink?”

“Uh,yeah, sure.” Maybe drinking would help ease his nerves and make the party more fun. He watched quietly as Shoot poured some soda and liquor into a red cup before handing it to him.

“Thanks, I’m not great at meeting new people I guess. And definitely not in settings like this.”

He offered a knowing smile. “Well, you just met me, so I’d say you’re doing pretty good so far.”.

Shoot’s calm energy was making Killua feel more at ease. “Thanks,” he smiled earnestly before sipping the drink in his hand. He winced a little as the alcohol burned his mouth and throat.

“So Killua, tell me about yourself, what’s your major? What brought you here tonight?” he motioned to the small crowd of costume clad people dancing around them.

“I’m still undecided, Gon’s my roommate, he invited me. He’s pretty social, I think he knows just about everyone here. What about you?”

“I’m majoring in studio art and political science. I’m here tonight because Knuckle invited me, and he’s my boyfriend and we share this apartment, so I kinda had no choice.” He glanced across the room where Knuckle was laughing and singing loudly with a small group of his friends. He kept his eyes on him as he spoke.

“It can be kind of tough sometimes, being with someone who’s naturally so social and lively. I usually prefer to just chill, and keep to myself.” His lips pulled into a small smile. “But I do love seeing him in his prime. Laughing obnoxiously and dancing like an idiot.”

Killua instinctually scanned the room for Gon, catching a glimpse of him in the middle of the room dancing with his head back and his eyes closed. He looked so happy.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” He sighed and sipped his drink. He must have made a face because Shoot chuckled.

“Don’t drink much, do you?”

“Not really. I guess I just never saw the appeal in it.”

“Yeah, I don’t drink often either. It does help me loosen up enough to get through these things though. I hope it helps you out too.”

“Thanks,” He smiled and looked down into his cup. Small talk was never really his forte, and where his mind was swirling with questions, most pertaining to Shoot’s mention of his boyfriend, he wasn’t sure if it was okay to just ask about things like that. He finished off his drink in a few burning gulps and tossed the cup into the trash. Gathering his courage, he continued the conversation.

“So, uh, you mentioned you’re with Knuckle? How did that happen?” Welp. That wasn’t as eloquent as he’d been hoping for, but at least he tried, and Shoot didn’t seem bothered by the question.

“We met our freshman year and were good friends for a while. I guess our relationship just sort of developed naturally. He’s a lovable goofball, it was pretty impossible to not fall for him.” His gaze shifted over to Killua. “What about you? Anyone special?”

Killua switched uncomfortably from foot to foot, wishing desperately that he hadn’t asked anything after all. “Uh, no, not really.”

“No one has caught your eye yet? Well, there’s plenty of people here to choose from. I’m sure you’ll meet someone you like eventually.” He raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’re aro? I’m sorry for assuming.”

“Aro?” he thought back to the GSA meeting and tried to remember what Aro was. “Oh! No, I’m not aromantic or anything. I just, well, it’s kind of complicated, and I’m really not sure about...uh, anything…” he trailed off, eyes focusing hard on the floor.

“Heh,” Shoot took a step closer and put his hand on Kilua’s shoulder. “Yeah, we’ve all been there. Don’t worry, you’ve got your whole life to figure stuff out, there’s no need to pick and stick with a label right now. Everything is fluid, and it’s okay to be where you are. Luckily, college is a pretty great place to get to know yourself, and what you want.” His smile was calm and comforting.

“Yeah, thanks,” he felt heat rising up the back of his neck once again. “Uh, so, when--” he hesitated. He didn’t want to pry too much, or come off as a weird loser. But hey, he was already pretty mortified already, might as well keep going… and maybe the alcohol was giving him a little courage. He cleared his throat and started again. “H-how did you...know?” He gulped. “When did you realize…”

“That I was queer?”

Killua offered a shy smile in response.

“Well, I guess it was more of a gradual thing than an overnight realization. I learned more about the queer community and I found out what fit me based on what didn’t. Once I learned what gay was, I knew I wasn’t straight, and so on. It gave things in my life a little more context, made sense of some past experiences.”

Killua nodded his head, hanging onto Shoot’s every word. He was right. Killua didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he knew he didn’t want to be a lawyer. He didn’t know what he was yet, but he knew he wasn’t straight. Still, the process of elimination was hard. What else would he have to figure out the hard way?

“When I felt comfortable enough acknowledging myself as queer, I felt a little more ‘me’. If I’ve learned anything from the journey so far, it’s that when you follow what feels right, you’ll figure yourself out along the way.” He sipped his drink. “So yeah, I’m queer, specifically panromantic and demisexual. But I like queer as an umbrella term.” He finished off his drink and tossed the cup in the trash.

“Thanks for telling me all that. Sorry for the heavy questions, I know parties are supposed to be light and fun or whatever, I didn’t mean to make it weird...” His eyes were fixed on the floor and the back of his neck was burning.

“No problem, I like weird. You seem cool, Killua.” He slipped his hand into the pocket of his purple shorts and fished out his phone, then handed it to Killua with a smile. “Put your number in, we can meet up sometime. It’s a lot easier to hang out when there’s not so much chaos going on.” He motioned around the room.

Killua quickly entered his name and number and handed the phone back to Shoot. His own phone buzzed in his pocket a minute later.

“I texted you so you’ve got my info too.”

They chatted for a while longer, bouncing stories and jokes off of each other while they ate some of the halloween themed snacks that lined the table. Shoot was down to earth and funny, and Killua was really glad to have found such a chill new friend. Eventually, he left to help a giggling and red faced Knuckle with a costume malfunction, and Killua was on his own.

He nibbled on a chocolate pumpkin as highlights of their conversation played back in his head. He was still embarrassed about how open he’d been with his own dumb sexuality, and how awkward his questions were. Shoot had been understanding and kind, and Killua was grateful, but that was a lot to process and talk about with a stranger at a party.

“Ne, Killuaaaaa!” Seemingly out of nowhere, a rosy cheeked Gon sauntered over. “Are you having fuuuun, Killua?” He asked, a tipsy lilt to his voice. His mouth was set in a relaxed half smile, and his pupils were blown. He threw his arms around Killua and squeezed him, swaying a bit in the process. This was turning out to be a hell of a night. Killua hadn’t been prepared for that deep talk with Shoot, and he certainly wasn’t prepared for an encounter with a drunken Gon.

“Eh,” he shrugged, feigning nonchalance, “it’s not the worst party I’ve ever been to.”

“It’s the best party ever! So many friends are here, and the punch is delicious!” A goofy smile stretched across his face and then slid into a devious grin. “You know what will make it even better? Dance with me Killua!”

“I don’t think so Gon.”

Gon stepped in closer, grabbed Killua’s hand and tugged it gently. “Please??”

“Gon, I don’t really dance.” He was trying to remain calm, despite how Gon looked wriggling in excitement with a pleading pout on his face.

“But Killua, it’s a party, I wanna dance with you!” He started swaying his hips, then grabbed Killua’s hands and pulled him closer. “Just one dance, pleaseeeee!”

Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was Gon’s proximity and eagerness, either way, throwing caution to the wind, Killua gave in. “Fine. Let’s dance.”

Gon cheered and tugged on his hand again, and this time he allowed himself to be led to the center of the room.

As they pushed their way through groups of people to find an open spot to dance, Gon stole a few glances back at him, like he was making sure Killua was still following behind him, even though they were holding hands. He wanted to point this out, but the adorable grin that appeared on his face when their eyes met each time he looked over his shoulder was enough to keep him quiet.

When they found a decent spot, the song playing was just coming to an end. Killua stood awkwardly, waiting for the next song to start up, Gon’s hand still warm around his own. The opening notes of a guitar curled through the air and Gon threw his head back in excitement.

“I love this song!!!” Smiling from ear to ear, he squeezed Killua’s hand and then let go to wave his arms in the air as his hips moved to the beat. Killua gulped and tried his best to relax his body enough to dance like a normal person, and not an awkward robot. Gon’s movements were so loose and fluid, it was mesmerizing watching him move, and Killua had to close his eyes to keep from staring. He actually felt a bit more comfortable with his eyes closed, it took some of the pressure of his surroundings away, enough for him to calm down and just enjoy the music.

Before he knew it he was fully enveloped in the song, his body moving naturally with the rhythm. He and Gon were close, occasionally brushing arms and bumping shoulders and hips. Killua’s eyes flew open when he felt a pair of arms loop around his shoulders. Gon was staring at him, eyes half lidded, the glow from the string lights reflected in deep golden pools.

The song was drawing to a close and he pulled Killua in closer, swaying them back and forth as the drums faded out and gave way to the next song. The peel of an electric guitar picked up the pace of the dancing going on around them, Gon didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re so pretty Killuaaaaa!” he chimed, a dopey smile spreading on his face. “I love dancing with you!”

Killua’s cheeks burned instantly, he had no idea what to say and before he could think of anything, Gon was grabbing his hand and twirling him. He spun him out once, then twice before pulling him back in again. Then he spun himself a few times and fell back into Killua’s arms with just a little too much force. Killua was able to ground his footing just in time to avoid bumping into someone. Gon was giggling now, rocking his body to the music and still holding Killua’s hand. Killua’s mind was reeling. Drunk Gon seemed to have even less regard for personal space and social etiquette than sober Gon, which was something Killua supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by.

Gon turned his back to Killua and started shaking his hips, moving backward slowly as he danced, closing the distance between them. What was he doing? Oh god-- was he about to grind on him? In a tizzy, Killua just swayed awkwardly from foot to foot, trying to figure out what to do with his hands when--

“Gon?”

He heard a voice call out from somewhere in the room. Gon, however, was too busy dancing to notice.

“Gon!” The voice yelled again, a little louder this time. Killua’s eyes scanned the room, trying to see where it was coming from. Gon was still dancing, oblivious.

“Hey, Gon!” This time, he heard.

“Eh?” He stood blinking, head quirked to the side in confusion, then suddenly, he took a few steps forward and his hand shot into the air and waved excitedly in front of him. Killua followed his line of sight.

A familiar looking guy with short brown hair and thick eyebrows was making his way towards them, waving as he pushed through a group of particularly excited dancers. Stumbling a bit, he approached them with a huge smile on his face.

“Gon! I thought that was you! Hi!” He was holding a drink in his hand and was dressed like a werewolf, his shirt ripped and fake mutton chops glued to both of his round cheeks.

“Zushi!” Gon’s face lit up and he threw his arms around him in a clumsy hug. They both stumbled a bit, laughing.

Killua stood awkwardly to the side as they complimented each other’s costumes and briefly caught up. He and Gon were about the same height, and Zushi stood a full head shorter than them. He was a little wobbly on his feet and the drink he was holding sloshed as he talked with his hands.

“Yeah, Zepile invited me, he’s friends with Knuckle.”

“Knuckle invited me, and of course I had to bring Killua!”

Finally, Gon turned to him. “Zushi, this is my roommate Killua! Killu, this is Zushi! We met in Mr. Wing’s philosophy class, he’s the one who told me about the GSA!”

Oh! So that’s why he looked familiar, he was a part of the GSA. Wasn’t he one of the guys who told their coming out story? Killua, thankful for his years of training at parties, slid his best ‘act natural and be polite’ smile on and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Zushi.”

“You too Killua!” His smile was wide and lopsided. “Can I join you guys?” He asked, starting to bob his head to the music.

“Of course! The more the merrier!” Giggling, Gon plucked the cup from his hand and sipped it. Zushi just laughed, sipping it himself when Gon passed it back.

They started dancing, both giggly and clumsy from the alcohol. They were smiling and moving together, close and carefree, and Killua stood off to the side, feeling very out of place and hyper aware. The music was suddenly too loud, and the ocean of bodies dancing around them seemed to be closing in on him. He needed space.

“I’m gonna get some air.” Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and headed for the door.

The October night air was thin and chilly, and Killua was desperately hoping it would help to clear his head. He sat on the cold stone steps in front of Knuckle’s front door, trying to calm his breathing as he looked out across the street. The streetlight cast a dull yellow glow onto the black asphalt, and the moon overhead was full and bright. He could still hear the dull thump of the music from inside, along with the scrape of crisp autumn leaves as the wind blew them across the sidewalk.

After a while, he slowly started to calm down. He wasn’t entirely sure what caused him to feel so anxious and out of place to begin with. The party had been going well. He’d actually managed to let loose and dance, and he was having fun. But after Zushi approached them, he just started spiraling. What happened?

He and Gon looked super chummy, their hug lingered and they touched while they danced. But what about that made Killua so upset? He and Gon were just friends, so him being with Zushi shouldn’t bother him. So why did it? Was he jealous? And what did it mean if he was?

When he thought about it, Gon was like that with pretty much everyone. He was a naturally open and affectionate person. But where accepting that affection felt so foreign and difficult for Killua, it seemed to be very easy for Zushi. Gon deserved someone confident and self assured. Someone like Zushi. Someone very unlike himself.

He sighed and his breath hung visibly in the air. He had goosebumps despite his jacket, and his fingers were starting to feel numb. Deciding it was time to call it a night, he stood and climbed the steps towards the house to let Gon know he was leaving.

As he reached for the handle, the door swung open revealing a bushed looking Shoot. Zushi was standing behind him on his left side and Gon was standing on his right, his arm slung over his shoulder.

Killua raised an eyebrow and Shoot chuckled. “They’ve both had a lot to drink. There’s room for one person to crash on the couch, so I’ve got this one” he motioned to Zushi, “ if you’ve got yours.” Mine, huh? He sighed and stepped forward, Shoot ducked out from under Gon’s arm and nudged him towards Killua. He immediately threw his arm over Killua’s shoulders and leaned against him.

“Thank you for helping me, Killuaaaa,” he whined, taking a wobbly step forward and tripping over his feet as he did. “Ah, Gon!” He stumbled back a bit, but steadied his feet quickly. Feeling brave, he looped an arm around Gon’s waist to help support him. He glanced up at Shoot who tilted his head and bid him a parting wave, a sly smile on his lips as he shuffled Zushi further into the apartment.

The walk home was slow and chilly, and Killua thanked the universe when they finally stumbled in through the front door of their dorm.

Most of Gon’s costume ripped and fell off while he was dancing and on the trudge home, so Killua only had a few pieces of toilet paper to unravel before dumping Gon into his bed. His boots fell to the floor with a thump as Killua pried them off and tucked him in under his blanket. He grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the common room and put it on the windowsill next to Gon’s bed along with the bottle aspirin from their bathroom.

Gon let out a loud yawn, his bed squeaked as he stretched his legs and wriggled into a comfy position. Killua took that at his cue to leave. Gon was safe and settled, and after a long night, his own bed was calling him. He was halfway through the door when he heard his name called out in the darkness behind him.

“Killua?”

He turned around. “Yes Gon?”

“Thanks for takin’ care of me.” His words were slow and a little slurred.

“Don’t mention it, Gon.” He grumbled, heat rising in his cheeks.

“Sweet dreams, Killuaaaa.” He murmured.

“Sweet dreams, Gon.”

The soft click of the door falling shut between them echoed in the quiet dark of his own room.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 5 Rundown

I really did not expect to get a daily huntress life montage episode, but here it was. Luckily that’s not all it was, and the ending is definitely gonna set events in motion to upset the status quo. But we can’t reach the ending unless we go to where it starts.

And it starts with Penny giving a sunrise wake up call to Team RWBY in their Atlas dorm. They’re in wall indented bunks, wearing matching Atlas Academy pajamas... and with the loose shirts it looks like they grew in more than just height over the last few Volumes, especially Weiss. Guess those dresses bind the chest pretty tightly. Or maybe they made one character model for the Atlas pajamas outfit and then changed up the face, hair, and other important details like Yang’s arm but left the torso basically the same? Regardless, they’re all very tired... except Ruby, who’s excited to start doing official Huntress work. 

Next thing we know everyone’s gathered in a briefing room to get the rundown on the day’s missions, and Jaune is coerced to give his cup of coffee to Marrow. Stupid puppy dog eyes... Clover starts briefing everyone, and his monologue plays over a montage of everyone doing the very thing he’s talking about. How convenient for show with minimal tell. Most of the missions are going to be escorting supply runs out to the Amity launch site and fighting off whatever Grimm might gather around the mine or strike on the road. But since so much construction stuff is going to making Amity a communication satellite, they can’t mend the damage to Mantle’s border wall so they have to do some Attack on Titan style Garrison work and defend the wall from approaching Grimm. We see Nora adorably playing with Ren’s braid, or maybe redoing it for him that morning, before they set to work on perimeter defense. Then the Bees are seen in the mine with Marrow killing Grimm, since it is a volatile part of the launch site and worth defending. He calls their combat styles into question, specifically how they don’t seem suited to work well together and they might want to mix up who teams up with who. But they execute a flawless tag team take down on a Beowolf and that quiets him down for a bit. Let’s get into that a little, because people have been getting a lot of impressions on it. Here’s how I see it. He comes from a team where all the members were chosen specifically to compliment each other. These are girls who met and were partnered by random selection, and had to learn how to make their styles meld together, so from the outside looking in it seems disjointed but when they apply themselves they have synergy. So it’s a matter of perspective, really.

But then we get to my third favorite part of the episode, and the moment we had been teased about since RTX. Jaune is indeed helping a group of preschoolers cross the street on the way to school, with a stop sign that has six sides instead of the eight real world signs do... odd. And this earns him the attention of five flirty, posing, winking, Real. Thirsty. Moms. A sixth even comes up and gives him a casserole she made... apparently something she’s done before. And she’s not taking no for an answer, shoving it into his hands even while acting all flustered and shy. Nora is watching from nearby and attributes his mom-magnet status to the new haircut. Makes you wonder if these ladies would still be into Jaune if they knew he was only about 19?... But even this has a point. It’s still important to help out with day to day troubles and jobs around Mantle to help the public know that the huntsmen and huntresses are there to keep them safe. 

Clover assures them they can use their free time however they choose, and everyone seems to take full advantage of that. The Rose-Xiao Long sisters spend their time hunting down Grimm that get into the city, while the Schnee sisters bond over strengthening Weiss’ summoning abilities... even if Winter doesn’t want to directly show praise or approval of her sister’s growing finesse. But another very practical activity emerges, training with the Ace Ops. Jaune and Ren get their butts kicked in some Atlas equivalent of the X-Men’s Danger Room by Vine and Elm respectively, but seem to learn a thing or two from the experience. Ruby tests her speed against Harriet as the two run in circles, with a little help from Weiss’ glyphs as she also gets to practice keeping up with Ruby’s movements to place the glyphs where and when she needs them. But Oscar gets the executive treatment, sparring with Ironwood himself to try and pry some of Oz’s muscle memory and fighting skills loose and hopefully bring Ozpin out too.

Next thing we know it seems to be the next morning and Ruby is excitedly telling Penny about her and Weiss’ mission the previous day complete with sound effects and wild hand gestures, while Blake drags a sluggish Yang away by the wrist to get ready for work. Jaune has learned his lesson and brought Marrow a coffee of his own, but Nora is still asleep in her chair. Can’t trust her with caffeine... Team RWBY are at varying levels of enthusiasm as they stare at the mission board, and as the days seem to fly by that energy starts to drain from all of them until its a team family napping pile. If you’re a shipper like me you can enjoy Blake sleeping with her head in Yang’s lap and Weiss leaning against Ruby’s shoulder to snooze, and if you’re not you can still enjoy the whole group comfort dynamic and Yang catching some z’s on her sister’s other shoulder. It’s a moment for all types.

But then IT happens. The best thing we could have ever hoped for all Volume. Team FNKI is Back, BABY!!!! Flynt got some fresh clothes including a jacket, while Neon wrapped her pigtails up into buns that look like cat ears and changed her whole wardrobe. She kept her cat collar-like choker and roller blades but added a white jacket connected to paw padded fingerless gloves, a crop top connected to a pair of short shorts with stars on them and a white belt by what look like suspenders, and blue leggings with a rainbow stripe down the outside and a few holes worn into it. It’s a whole ass look and she makes it work. But for all her clothing changes, her in-fight attitude is still just as bratty and insulting, calling Nora slow even as she smashes pillars to run directly at her. Ren is hiding behind a pillar and trying to shoot at... gasp, a third member of Team FNKI!!! His weapon is a whip and his outfit is mostly white and gold with a very deep cut to his shirt. Curious to see if we learn anything more about this person. But we don’t have time for that, because we bear witness to a MURDER. Neon took notice of Ren putting in so much effort against her teammate as she did a flip over him and froze Stormflower with her glowsticks, and goes for Nora’s jugular. “Where’s all that energy when he’s around you?~” ABSOLUTELY. ROASTED.

Nora takes the white and gold guy with a grenade before hopping on Magnhild and somehow riding it like a witch’s broomstick using repeated grenade shots as she chases after Neon... past Oscar fighting a guy wearing blue and black? No... it can’t be. 

They based the other two members of Team FNKI on that goddamn dress meme from 2015???? You brilliant bastards... what else could we expect from the people who made a raver chick out of Nyan Cat and a jazz musician from one of their own Minecraft jokes? So JNR and Oscar are doing their best against Team FNKI, much to Ironwood’s subtle amusement. Flynt and the blue guy, whose name we later learn is Kobalt, are beaten and Neon is cornered in the center of the training room by Jaune Ren and Oscar, then ambushed from above by Nora. Even with a black eye that disappears within 4 seconds, Neon is very impressed with how much they’ve grown since the Vytal Festival. And she seems kinda flirty with Oscar, much to his flustered confusion. Jaune returns the compliment to a certain degree saying they kept them on their toes a good many times. Flynt invites them to lunch, and Nora says she could eat a sandwich the size of a human being. Kobalt, the human she was comparing its size to, is not amused that he gets hypothetical lettuce on his head. Weird how much her fantasies can affect reality like that... But before they can all head off to bond, Ironwood needs JNR+ Oscar for a mission so they promise to try and meet up again.

We shift to Ruby, Penny, Qrow and Clover in a transport bringing supplies out to the launch site and driving past a few adorable penguins, though Ruby is bored by the long drive when an airship would be faster. But Penny informs her the supplies would be too heavy and use up too much Dust fuel when they should be conserving it for coming fights. The girls have a conversation about making friends and finding time to balance between work and social lives while the men are in the back playing cards and shooting the shit. Clover keeps winning. But they still have a heart to heart about how good of an influence Qrow has been for these truly gifted kids even if he doesn’t want to give himself that credit. He tries to shift the praise back to the Ace Ops for keeping the teens safe in Atlas, but Clover says its a no brainer, since the new generation is the ones who will inherit the planet they’re still trying to save, and that hopefully they can keep the world in better shape than the current adults are leaving it for them. Some real world parallels about environmental protection and all that if you ask me, and it’s subtle enough that I don’t mind at all. Qrow confirms that he really is off the booze by saying that once upon a time he would have drank a toast to that sentiment, and Clover calls him out on his behavior. But not the alcoholism, the deflecting praise. He deserves to feel good about what he’s done, because he really has been doing a better job than he thinks.

The truck comes to a stop, and the cause is unlike anything they would have expected. Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses have set up a roadblock. Penny stays in the truck as a last resort, while the other three get out to try and talk to Robyn. She wants to know why they’re bringing stuff that could be fixing the wall and protecting Mantle to a mine in the middle of the tundra. Turns out the sheep faunus from last episode really was one of her agents and reported what she saw. You might think there would be no harm in telling Robyn that they’re trying to make Amity into a new communication tower so global communication can be restored. It’s a noble thing to do and I doubt she would object to such an ambition, even though she would have liked to know sooner. But the more people you tell about it the more chance there is the wrong people will hear it. So if Watts got word about it and told Salem she might actively choose to send a lot more Grimm to ruin the launch instead of there being a few that naturally wander onto the site. Or if Jacques found out he might make a smear campaign out of it by spinning the truth. Also, it may not be for Clover to tell. 

He goes by the book in all things, so he would have to run it by Ironwood to know if this is info they can afford to share with Robyn. So he tries to play it off as getting lost out in the snow where everything looks the same, but she calls him out on it. He says Amity is at the mine for routine maintenance, but she’s not buying that either since usually only drones and select technicians do the repairs, the next tournament isn’t for a while, and the supplies they’re taking are more than what would be necessary not to mention better suited for Mantle wall repair. She demands answers for the shady military business she’s taken careful notice of, and for the materials to be handed over for the good of the people. But Clover gives that a hard pass and encourages her to focus on her political campaign so she can request materials be taken where they’re needed through the proper legal channels, especially when she shifts her questions over to Ruby and Qrow and the young huntress tries to assure her this is also for the good of Mantle. She seems very ready to fight for the sake of raiding the truck here and now, and everyone’s hands go to their weapons... until Penny pops out of the truck with her swords drawn and demands Robyn stand down and call off the camouflaged huntresses approaching the back of the truck. Guess her sensors are better than the human eye. Her pleading for Robyn to let them through peacefully works and the barrier gets taken down. But Robyn swears vengeance, she’ll get to the bottom of this secret no matter the cost. Potential antagonist? I hope not.

But enough of that tension, time for Schnee vs Schnee sparring: Weiss’ Knight vs a large Beowolf Winter spawned, but Winter has years more practice and skill so she wins a pyrrhic victory. The Knight gets slashed to death but it impaled the Beowolf with its sword. She criticizes Weiss’ technique, but it turns into a backhanded compliment that she’s made her sloppy moves a part of how she fights and makes them work for her. Weiss recognizes that’s her sister’s way of showing approval, and calls her out on being nice like that. The elder sister is mortified that her stern attitude has been called into question, but she calms down and acknowledges that Weiss has grown a lot during their time apart, she’s confident enough to make jabs like that and stand up to Dad. Winter is proud her sister has found her own independence and has made her own kinder worldview, since her own leaving the Schnee name behind was the best thing that ever happened to her. They can carve their own path together, though she still thinks Ironwood’s side is the best place to be with that path. Weiss is skeptical since she knows a bit more than the General about Salem and all that, and she doesn’t like the way the kingdom has become under his leadership, what he has let it become. Winter assures her this downward spiral is temporary and the satellite will fix everything, Ironwood is doing some tough things but it’s what he feels is right. Weiss had to deal with Ozpin keeping world shattering secrets and leading them on a deadman’s quest because he thought that would keep his self interests and plans on track, so even if she doesn’t admit that much she’s openly more skeptical. Winter stands firm that Ironwood wouldn’t keep secrets from her, but Weiss calls her on that. Can she be sure?

This is enough to spurn Winter into making a decision, to lead Weiss to the depths of Atlas Academy, through the facilities and labs and past a secure access door... to a viewing room. Overlooking a room where an old woman is resting in a hospital bed. There’s a sink and some cupboards, some paintings on the wall and an easel next to the bed, and a few medical pods on the left side of the room while the bed is on the right surrounded by health readout screens. The bedridden Winter Maiden was a painter. Oddly enough, the pictures on the wall seem to be concept art from the credits of the last few Volumes: the aquatic market in Menagerie, the Mistral train station, and the cave overlooking the forest where Nora and Ren found the Nuckelavee’s spoils of war are the ones I can recognize at the moment, but I’m sure the other 2 have relevance. But enough with the small details, let’s address the Goliath in the room. Winter has been personally attending to the Winter Maiden, named Fria, in her final days, how appropriate. In fact, that’s the plan. Winter will literally be the next Winter Maiden, so she’s the only person Fria is allowed to interact with so she can be the last person she thinks about when she dies. Which could be any day now. But I can smell a monkey wrench a mile away and there are a few that could be thrown into this plan. Fria is a very Norse sounding name so it’s possible she’s related to Nora and she could think of her in her last moments, the granddaughter she laments she may never see again after they parted so many years ago. Or if some grand attack comes to Atlas and Winter is otherwise engaged, Weiss will be the only one who knows to come bring Fria to safety and the worst might strike leaving one of our main 4 as a Maiden. All I’m saying is, there could be a lot that goes wrong. But for the moment, Winter is ready to take on this responsibility even if it seems like a dick move of Jimmy to have her volun-told to be next in line. But she calls back to Weiss’ growth and accepting what she can’t control. Her entire military career may have been a paved road to this outcome, but she’ll still make her own choices along the way and be the Maiden her way to make a real difference in the world with these powers. It’s not for Ironwood or their Father’s sake, but for herself.

Unfortunately, speaking of Father and doing things your own way, Jacques holds a press conference to proclaim how Ironwood’s embargo have caused everyone to suffer equally, himself included. That’s a load of garbage, he’s just moody that he’s 5% less rich and dropping. But he also announces that he will be closing down every SDC owned business that isn’t Dust mining and refining. It’s a “necessary measure” with how the embargo is effecting businesses and making it supposedly nonviable for those businesses to stay open and still be effective. Another lie, he just doesn’t want to have more money leaving his pocket as employee wages. This is clearly part of the strategy Watts suggested to him, keep as many doors closed as possible so he can horde the wealth he still has while spinning it to be Ironwood’s fault. He comes off as another victim doing what is necessary so people don’t hate him directly for it and he can win voter support. And it’s not like Robyn Hill can do anything to make the SDC give people their jobs back, so why vote for her? It’s a seemingly perfect plan, as infuriating as that is to admit. And it sure sets off the people of Mantle, as they start a riot in the streets. Guess our good boys and girls will have to deal with that some time soon.

A whole lot to think about while we wait for next weekend’s episode. But it was still a very good chapter in my opinion. What did you think?

[lunawings]

Island Fiesta Event Report 9/7/2019

So I finally got to go to an Island Fiesta! The series I went for was King of Prism.

This post is going to be long (and includes a lot of sea animals) because I want to talk about the event experience in general for people who may be thinking of going in the future. If you just want to read about the dolphin show with Junta Terashima and Taku Yashiro skip to the end. 

So Attraction Fiesta, or Island Fiesta depending on where it takes place (https://atfes.com/), is a new sort of event that popped up a few years ago. Basically they will sell anime merch at some tourist attraction, causing a bunch of fans to buy tickets and hang out at said attraction/area and spend money for that day. They call it Island Fiesta when it takes place on Hakke Island in Yokohama. Or at least that’s the gist of what I have gathered?? Back when they first started doing it, I think it was only just merch? I usually try and talk myself out of going long distance to events just to buy things. But they have been adding more features, like collab food and riddle solving games. And then they started doing actual events with voice actors, including a dolphin prism show. 

DOLPHIN

PRISM 

SHOW

So that was basically that. I decided I NEEDED to make it out to one of these at some point. I’d been waiting a year or so for one of them to fall on a good weekend and one finally did. So off I went. 

I wasn’t sure how early I needed to get there in the morning for the merch line. At first I thought it may not be so bad, but then I realized.... King of Prism wasn’t the only thing that was gonna be featured. There were eleven other series to buy merch from that day... and we’d likely all be in the same line...................

I ended up getting there at 8:45 (it opened at 9:30), and got a ticket for merch that said 11:10. 

I thought this wasn’t so bad for coming “late”.

But I also mistakenly thought they would be letting small waves of people in every 10 or 20 minutes like other events I had been to. But no, they actually let in big groups of like 100 people an hour (the 11:10 block had numbers 1 to 100 or so and we were supposed to line up roughly in that order), so after lining up at 11:10 I did not get out until like.... 1:45-2ish.......... and most of that was standing outside in summer because September is still summer in Japan. (At least we were in the shade though.)

The event had a loose Halloween theme and the Kinpri boys were vampires. I only got one Shin, but it was the acrylic strap which was really good. TBH though I was actually a bit more excited about the Ace stuff I got. Because I’m not that big of a fan of the artwork they did for Shin this time, and this is my first Ace merch EVER. 

They actually had a trading area for merch, which is kinda rare. It’s much more common for events to forbid trading altogether. ( So usually we just have to make… sHaDy dEAliNgs… Which has never made sense to me. I’ll buy MORE if I think maybe I can trade it with people…) 

But when I went over to the officially sanctioned trading area it was kinda small and looked like the same people had been camping out there all day probably. Plus nobody had signs for what they wanted out and I am pretty self conscious about initiating trades out of the blue. I checked Twitter just in case but found only people who were looking FOR Shin (pulls collar) instead of wanting to spare him and quickly gave up.

(I th.. I think there may have been a shift in popularity since SSS but maybe I’ll discuss that later…)

So the atmosphere of this event was rather strange. 

The merch line/trading area was as crowded and hectic from very early morning onward as any big time anime event I have been to. 

But the rest of the park.... 

Was pretty empty. 

Well, okay, it got more full as the day went on. I took these photos around 9:30 - 10:30 am. (I happen to find empty amusement park photos more interesting than lively ones.) But still.

There was an interesting divide in the park patrons. On the one hand you had all the fangirls (+about 4 or 5 fanboys yes there were that few) wandering around with itabags, and then the regular families just enjoying an amusement park haha. Of the fangirls, there was also a divide between King of Prism and.... non. Because it was easily like 70% King of Prism. But I suppose a.) I notice Kinpri fans a lot easier (sometimes I’m not sure what someone is here for. then I notice a tacky flamingo on their bag and it’s like I GOT YOU) and b.) This day was the dolphin prism show so there was probably a significantly higher concentration of Kinpri fans this day than other days. But still. I’m not used to King of Prism being one of the big dogs. 

So, I couldn’t tell you what the second most popular series was since I didn’t really recognize any of the others. Although what I can tell you is that for whatever reason the Yumeiro Cast merch actually started selling out first. (The King of Prism stuff followed after.) 

They had some food collabs, but the Kinpri vampire pizza was already sold out by the time I got out of the merch line. (So I just got non-Kinpri pizza and thought about King of Prism while I ate it. My stomach didn’t know the difference.) None of the other collab food sold out I think. 

Now, about the attraction itself. 

The proper name for this place is Yokohama Hakkejima Sea Paradise. It’s a pretty interesting and quirky aquarium/theme park.

Coming up to this event I was a bit worried I’d have nothing to do all day since I was getting in early for merch but the dolphin show wasn’t until evening. I wasn’t planning on merch taking over two hours though, so I actually only barely had time to see most of the attractions and just breezed through the main aquarium. Still, it doesn’t take much time for me to look at a fish anyhow. (I just may have kinda wasted my all-access day pass is all.)

You can get up really close to dolphins and penguins and all sorts of animals and pet them because.... sure?? 

They also really like animals in tubes. Or you going through tubes to look at animals.

seal tube

(seal tube from above)

penguin tube (walk through a tube while penguins are over you)

penguin tube from above

dolphin tube (walk through a tube while dolphins swim over you)

view from manta ray escalator (you take an escalator while manta rays swim over you)

otter tube (the otters were able to cross over into the river exhibition next to them)

they didn’t really feel like ottering at the time though 

It’s not a Japanese aquarium without capybaras. 

(If you’ve ever been to a Japanese aquarium you’ll know that’s serious.)

They also had this section where you could like... catch fish or shellfish and then eat it right there??? Because.... Japan.

I didn’t do that part. 

But anyway. 

flamingos

and another fish tube 

So this was a pretty neat attraction with or without the King of Prism stuff. I kind of like it when my anime drags me to do neat things I would not have done otherwise. 

So after looking at fish and things, lining up for two hours for merch, and looking at fish and things some more, it was finally time for the 

dOlPHin priSM SHow

Much like for merch we lined up in accordance with the numbers on our tickets. There were no assigned seats but we all had to file into the stadium roughly in order.

My number was just about in the middle, meaning all of the good center seats were taken when I got in. So I decided to opt to sit a little off to the side in order to be closer. This was a good decision because I happened to choose the side they came out (and left from) which got a good scream out of me when I realized. 

Unfortunately I didn’t think to bring penlights. I didn’t see the Tweet saying they were allowed until I was already on the train the day before. But realizing I’d only need red and orange anyway, at least I was able to hit up the 100 yen store for some glowsticks. 

(It just didn’t occur to me that outdoor + daytime = penlights even though King of Prism. Being daylight it was hard to tell the difference between red and orange haha but oh well. It’s true doesn’t feel like a King of Prism event without them.)

Before the show began we were all given an introduction about manners for the show voiced by Kakeru and Shin, to which we all responded eagerly out loud as King of Prism fans always do. (Kakeru: Rule number one! Audience: ONE!!!!!!, Kakeru (something like): Don’t throw penlights, etc. Audience: OKAY!!!!!!!!! etc. I love this fandom.)

So this whole dolphin prism show thing started a year ago maybe? This is the third or fourth time they have done it. It’s always Junta Terashima and *insert other SePTENTRION member(s)* 

So this time it was him and Taku Yashiro, and it was Taku’s first time doing it. (So basically Vi Va Vacance! But the song they ended up playing for the dolphin show was Brilliant Oath. But they gotta promote the newest CD and all that.) 

You could tell Junta and Taku only rehearsed this like right before, if.... at all....? (Probably not at all.) And there were a lot of parts nobody quite thought through. Haha it was so candid. But that’s how I like to see them. 

They started off the event by doing a King of Prism quiz. The audience could help out but it was mostly the two of them answering the questions A or B. 

One of the questions was if the number of likes on the mock social media merch below referred to Edel Rose’s debut or the number of “King of Prism elite”. 

Realizing the number was greater than the population of the world, they guessed correctly that it was Edel Rose’s debt. 

At one point they each had to fill in the line for the other’s character of what their proposal was in SSS episode 12. And then they each read their’s in character. 

Taku couldn’t read one of the kanji characters in Kakeru’s ahahahh..... (neither could I). He also almost misspelled “showtime” when signing an autograph. 

Speaking of which, after the quiz they both autographed the big uchiwa fans with A and B written on them that they had used to answer. But clearly nobody had though this through either, because the floor was wet so they couldn’t put anything down. So they had to like awkwardly put their scripts between their legs and fumble with their microphones while they tried to sign them. Junta kept apologizing about their awkward fumbling AS IF it was even possible for them to be wasting our time. They probably gave us like an extra 3 minutes with them so I thought it was beautiful hahaha..... 

(Photo from Junta Terashima’s official Twitter.)

Junta “won” the quiz, and his prize was two dolphins.

“Oh a pink one!!” (said kind of excitedly) “And a… normal one…” (said with the tone of “it’s what I… always wanted??”)

I guess he unloaded the “normal one” on Taku after the show.

(And then they kissed.)

Then after the quiz the actual dolphin show started. But this was also something nobody thought through. (I think they were at the back stage for previous events, but this time they were at the front?) Because both of them had to RUN when they realized they were about to get completely soaked with the first big dolphin jump. (They were both kinda like OH SHII-- and barely got out of the way in time.)

The dolphin show was set to Brilliant Oath like I mentioned before. It wasn’t really all that choreographed to match the music, but I imagine with dolphins that couldn’t be an easy thing to do anyhow. There were two moments that definitely seemed like they were probably intentional though: The big jump at the end, and when one dolphin brought a hula hoop ring to the stage right at “suki da yoooooo”. The rest of the show was probably no different than their usual dolphin show. But let me tell you, they sure did a whole lot of crazy flips and jumps. The combination of prism show x dolphins all of a sudden made a lot of sense. 

After the show Junta and Taku went to the back stage where the trainers were (”THE DOLPHINS ARE SO CLOSE” - Junta) and were given the opportunity to give them a hand signal to jump. 

They discussed what to say while giving the hand signal, and Taku jokingly suggested “We found natural gas!” 

In the end of course it was “Ready sparking!” and the audience participated as well. 

After the dolphins and trainers left, Junta and Taku came to the front again to wrap up the show. Junta let us know it was almost over, to which the audience of course let out a “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat” and he was like “I love hearing that thank you.” 

He also joked that the show we saw was so good we may have released the seal on Shine. AND then when they were laughing about together he voiced Shin being like “No! Stop!” or something like that. It was so random and came so quickly from nowhere I couldn’t help but laugh. This may sound out of character for me, but when Junta Terashima is voicing Shin in pain but he has this huge smile on his face it just cracks me up. If you don’t understand, maybe you haven’t seen his smile. It’s amazing.

I also had no idea it was cool for him to just mention Shine like that. But then again, if they have Shine curry at AmoCafe then I guess it’s not officially classified as a a spoiler anymore. 

The show ended up being about an hour. Which was way longer than I thought it would be and incredibly worth the trip. 

I might have briefly caught Junta Terashima’s eye when they were leaving and/or entering the stadium. It’s fairly reasonable to think that I may have since they were right in front of me and a.) I’m a white girl in a sea of Japanese people and b.) I had a Shin doll in my boobs. (Okay tucked in my sweatshirt, not that risque, but still.) 

I know the chances of him both seeing me AND remembering me are pretty slim, but I really hope he did. Because the last time I saw him in person was at one of the greeting shows for SSS Part 1. Between then and now, a lot has happened. Part 4 came out, and I read an interview where he said he felt bad for Shin fans multiple times over what happened. 

I just want him to know that I’m still here and I’m still supporting Shin. 

What a day. 

PS. do seals always swim upside down or is this one just bored

[alirhi]

chapter 10

Title: Winter's Frost Chapter: 10/? Fandom: MCU Rating: R to be on the safe side Pairing: Loki/Bucky Summary: Loki never told anyone the real reason he became so obsessed with Midgard. Much better to let them think he wanted to hurt his brother than draw their attention to the one thing in the universe that makes the God of Mischief truly vulnerable. WARNINGS: not much, really. References to torture, but nothing explicit Notes: as usual, this fic relies heavily on you having seen the Marvel movies (or at least CA:TFA, CA:CW, Thor, and The Avengers, so far) but like... why would you be reading MCU fanfic if you hadn't seen the MCU? XD

He never would have broken; he just hoped Thanos and his idiot henchmen didn't realize that. The torture he endured probably would have broken Thor in about half the time they'd been at it, but Loki was far stronger than anyone had ever given him credit for. If not for Eira, alone on an alien planet with a complete stranger, Loki probably would have held out indefinitely, just to piss them off. As usual, though, he didn't have time to mess with them or test his own endurance. He had to get to Midgard, collect his daughter and her father regardless of Bucky's feelings on the subject, and disappear.

So he pretended to break. He held out for a while for show, and then folded like a poorly constructed house of cards. Thanos – not a very trusting lad, that one – insisted on worming into Loki's mind with that damned scepter, and he had to let him, to convince him that the God of Mischief was truly under his thumb.

It was the most unpleasant sensation, having the energy of that thing wiggling through his brain. He did his best to keep it at bay, only letting the stone in the scepter into the very edge of his mind, but it still felt like a swarm of beetles crawling around under his skull. It, and the energy required to keep it from taking over or to keep himself from shaking it off entirely, left him exhausted and disoriented.

You will have your moment of glory, Thanos had told him with a smirk as he handed Loki the scepter. Just serve your purpose and bring me what's mine.

"I am Loki of Asgard," he announced to the humans between him and that damned cube, "and I am burdened with glorious purpose." They didn't catch the bitter sarcasm in his tone, but that was alright. He hadn't expected them to.

"Loki?" Why did this old man look so familiar? "Brother of Thor?"

Loki just barely stopped himself from gagging, and scoffed instead. Of course. This was one of Thor's little human friends. Well, at least he could have a bit of fun while he was here; he touched the tip of the scepter to Selveig's chest and watched the sickly blue light seep into his irises. See how Thor felt when he learned that Loki had made one of his precious human friends his little dancing puppet! It also helped that Selveig was some sort of scientist; he had some working knowledge of the Tesseract, and that would likely come in handy.

He really didn't give a damn about the Tesseract or Thanos' mad mission; still, it was best to keep up appearances until he could find a way to wiggle free of him once and for all. As long as he could feel the scepter's energy slithering around his brain, he knew there was a chance that Thanos, or his creepy underling The Other, could track what he was doing. The only thing worse than playing the obedient servant would be leading them straight back to Bucky and Eira. His best bet was a 'poorly executed' plan to distract Thor and his little band of human misfits.

Pity he had to fight them. He rather liked Banner and Stark. There was one silver lining to all this insanity, though: The redhead. That bloody slag, Natasha. The moment he looked into Barton's mind and saw her, that woman who'd dared put her hands on his Sergeant, he couldn't wait to make her suffer.

Damn. Jealousy truly was the ugliest, most uncomfortable emotion.

It caught him off guard when they sent her in first. As he gleefully informed her, he'd expected some sort of torture first, and then the woman would be sent in as a 'friend', a balm, and he'd be expected to fold and cooperate. None of them knew the depth of his hatred for this woman, so he was sure they didn't expect him to easily resist her 'charms.'

He taunted her for a bit, reveling in the increasing look of horror in her eyes, the way they filled with tears she fought valiantly not to shed, the way she trembled...

"You're a monster!" she whispered as she turned her back to him, still visibly shaking.

Loki chuckled, the insidious little devil in his heart placated by Natasha's apparent distress. "Oh, no," he gloated, at this point just making shit up as he went along. "You brought the monster." Honestly, what did that even mean?

Suddenly steady and clear-eyed, she turned and looked him right in the eye. "So, Banner. That's your play."

"What?" Oh, right. Barton had told him she had a knack for wrangling the beast within Banner; likely, she'd been the one sent to recruit him. Well, that worked out, didn't it?

He pretended to be shocked by her deductive skills until she was out of sight, and then rolled his eyes. Let them give him credit when Banner lost control of the beast in the fray about to come; it hadn't actually been his plan, but he knew it would certainly happen. These misfits were nothing if not predictable.

Maybe he'd luck out and find her mangled corpse somewhere at the end of all this. Surely Bucky wouldn't care, right? They'd only had a chance encounter... Perhaps Loki just wouldn't tell him. Really, was there any reason for him to know this random woman he'd slept with while brainwashed was dead? No, darling, I have no idea what happened to Agent Romanov! None at all. She's a spy, isn't she? Perhaps she disappeared on her own...

Oh, bugger. He was going to have to make sure she survived this, wasn't he? Even as he mocked Thor and tricked him into the glass cage, he was thinking about that bloody redhead. If the Sergeant remembered her, likely Bucky would, as well. Loki had never lied to him before; he certainly wasn't about to start now. Ugh. Guilt was an even worse feeling than jealousy!

Brother safely sequestered from the fight for the time being, Loki set about retrieving the scepter and the Tesseract, and making sure the vessel the fragile humans were on remained intact long enough for Stark and Rogers to get it at least partially functioning again. It was exhausting, trying to keep up the appearance of attempting to kill these people while simultaneously trying to keep them safe.

He could feel the scepter's hold on his mind weakening, thank Frigga, but he didn't dare even think of going to Siberia yet. Until he was free of it completely, without pushing it away himself and alerting Thanos, he didn't dare go anywhere near Bucky. At least he had command of the Chitauri, once he could bring them to Midgard. They would make a delightful distraction for all parties involved, and if he timed things just right, he could even send a few of them to SHIELD headquarters to turn HYDRA into nothing but a lake of blood and bone fragments.

Oh, Stark had made it home. Secretly pleased to see that he was well, Loki smirked – trying desperately to hide his giddy grin – and met him inside. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my 'humanity,'" he teased, eager for banter with a mind as sharp as his own for the first time since... Well, since before Bucky had been captured and reported killed in action.

"Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should've left your armor on for that." This man was adorable. Once all was said and done and they were safe, he wondered if it would be strange to invite Stark over for dinner.

"Yeah." Stark's tone was endearingly dismissive. "It's seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the glowstick of destiny."

Trying not to laugh, Loki glanced down at the scepter. I am never calling it anything else again.

"Would you like a drink?"

He couldn't contain his laughter completely; he really liked Stark. Disguising it as mocking and arrogance, he hastily told him, "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No no no, threatening!" Stark gestured to the impressively stocked bar. "No drink, you sure? I'm having one."

One more second, and he was going to break and crack up. Or hug the man. Either way, it wouldn't look good. Hoping to buy a moment to collect himself, he spun on his heel and moved over to the glass wall overlooking the city.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that." I wish you, Banner, and Thor would just get as far away as possible before they arrive. He turned back to face the other man, hoping the tremor he could hear in his own voice wasn't audible from across the room. "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers." Loki must have looked as confused as he felt; Stark rolled his eyes and clarified, "That's what we call ourselves; sorta like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing."

"Yes." Loki smirked. "I've me them."

Picking up the mocking in his tone, Stark chuckled. "Yeah, takes us a while to gain any traction, I'll give you that one. But... Let's do a headcount, here. Your brother, the demi-God-"

Adoptive brother, he wanted to snap as he scoffed and turned away, and barely that!

"A super soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend... A man with breathtaking anger management issues..."

Loki couldn't help grinning at that description. He liked Banner quite a bit, and the mindless green beast was an endless source of entertainment.

"A couple of master assassins," Stark continued, pointing at the pacing Trickster, "and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan."

That's because you don't know what the plan was for. He grinned, but his mirth was short-lived as Stark calmly made his way around the bar and approached him.

"When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

He'd thought of that, but still hadn't thought his way out of it quite yet. "I have an army," was all he could think to say.

"We have a Hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off." He'd likely return, of course, but hopefully in time only to slow the Chitauri, not to capture Loki.

He didn't want to, but as the conversation went on he realized he didn't have much of a choice. Hoping it wouldn't do any lasting damage to that beautiful brain of his, he touched the scepter to Stark's chest... and nothing happened. Confused, he tried again. Still nothing, and now Stark's witty retorts were just grating on him. Spotting the cuffs he hadn't been wearing before and assuming they were some sort of tech, he decided to just vent his frustrations the old fashioned way. With a growl, he lifted Stark by the throat and threw him out a window.

Sure enough, something shot out the hole in the glass after him, and within seconds, Stark appeared in a new suit. Good. At least Loki had managed to vent a little anger without actually harming one of the few humans he respected.

The knock to the head he received when he was blasted back a few seconds later was enough to finally dislodge the energy of the scepter fully. He'd have heaved a sigh of relief if the Tesseract hadn't chosen that exact moment to finally tear open the space above the tower and let the Chitauri through. Unleashing Hell on an unsuspecting city miles from even the closest of his actual targets had never exactly been his favorite plan, but it seemed that was the only one that was actually going to play out.

As usual, even his hated backup plan didn't end the way he'd hoped. By the end of the afternoon, two things were quite clear to Loki: One, he was going to have to take a breather and then find a way to disappear once he was healed.

And two, he didn't much like Banner anymore.

_____________________________________________________

Next Masterlist

[bluekayanite]

Comments/theories: In Dreams - Homeworld Bound

So I kind of missed the SU:F updates for a bit. ^_^;  That said, I'm caught up now, and have some misc. comments that I figured I'd share... before the next eps or two comes out. XD;

...That said, I was actually working on this when I'd heard that Homeworld Bound was out already. -.-;  It's on XFinity Stream, at least - and I suspect other streaming services - so I consider it "officially released."  I've since adjusted to implement the new info.  However, I'm making the comments in an ep-by-ep structure, so if you want to avoid spoilers, you can easily stop once you get here. =3

I'd also like to note that this one's more rambly than usual, so prepare yourself for rambles. XD

EDIT: Some adjustments, mostly additions. EDIT2: Couple more little deets. EDIT3: Few more MAJOR deets. XD;

Just a quick note: my current, primary theory is that, even with everything that seems to be glaringly obvious, White also has the power to alter Gems' memories and such, and Rose was not truly Pink Diamond (or at least, in a sense, not THE Pink Diamond).  Lately, I basically think that she may be a sort of a hybrid, or at least that Pink put a lot of herself into Rose... lately I've even suspected that it might be even more literal than I've previously noted... as in, Pink may have prepped some healing tears and broken off a shard of herself... or something. ._.;;;

But yeah, I figured I'd note this in advance because, well... I realize it sounds crazy.  It's going to be mentioned, so I ask for a bit of open-mindedness - or at least a willingness to entertain the idea, even if you think it's wrong (and I don't blame you if you do).  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprized if a lot of people would have already closed this post before getting to this sentence.  (That said, if you're still here, thank you!)

With that out of the way, let's get going!

In Dreams

Okay, so Crewniverse was definitely being self-aware, and using meta-humor. XD

I've commented here before that previous eps had a building feeling of listlessness and whatnot.  My sister also has commented (not in a place I can link XD; ) that the opening theme gets more and more jarring with each episode.  The both of us think that odds are pretty good that they'll switch to using something the reprise version of the theme. XD;  ("Here we are in the future, and it's wrooooong!")

...That said, while things have been getting intense (not to mention REAL!), I do appreciate that we seem to be moving out of "boredom" eps. XD;

The dreams-being-broadcast thing is more-than-likely a bit of setup for later story points.  I'm thinking "Emergency broadcast."

On an entirely different note, I like the confirmation that Peridot has green eyes. =3

Been sort of a headcanon of mine for awhile now. ^_^

Also, is it just me, or is Peridot getting taller? 83

Anyway, it's nice to have a bit of lighthearted funtimes in the midst of all the seriousness that has been going on. =3

Bismuth Casual

So... those toilet paper jokes certainly ended up being at an ironic time, right? XD;

Anyway, one of the things that stuck out to me is how increasingly obvious Pearl's obliviousness is.

One of my long-standing theories is that Rose saw Pearl more like a daughter, if anything... and didn't realize - or even have a clue that Pearl had a thing for her.

And I mean, really, if Pearl can't tell whether any human - or Gem - is into her, then how could she know for sure whether or not Rose did (or didn't)?  Odds are she's just going by her memories... which I strongly believe to be unreliable, what with how many contradictions they have. ^_^;

Together Forever

(...Does anyone else keep hearing the old Pokémon song by the same name in their head? ^_^; )

...Okay, I'm gonna confess: it actually didn't occur to me that either Steven or Ruby was supposed to be "cute" until it was mentioned in Hit the Diamond and Sadie Killer.  (I didn't count Andy saying it in Gem Harvest because I figured he had a family bias. ^_^;  I mean, he did make a complete and abrupt 180 about the parts of his plane being recycled, once it was Steven who started using them.)

...Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. XD;

I guess I can see how Crewniverse was going for "cute" with Steven...  Still, about the only time I've considered "Steven" to be cute - visually or otherwise - was after that last bout of Ultimate Steven tag.

...Yeah, I think that the Gems did the puppy-dog eyes better than Steven did. ^_^;  I mean, I would call Steven "sweet," "silly," and a number of other things.  Just... "cute" isn't typically one of them for me. ^_^;

That said, there are moments when I think that Ruby is being cute. =3  One of them is when she RAEGING.

Another one is when she's being happy... especially when she's super-excited.

So yeah. =3  For me, it was pretty nice to see Ruby spazzing like that.  It's also kind of nice to see Steven eating sweets again... even if it's for unfortunate reasons.

...yeah.

It's also nice to see R+S's new forms. =3

The headband is back! 83

(...Why hasn't there been a mention of Sapphire being cute?  She seems like the most obvious choice. XD; )

On another topic... So it’s not just Pearls that can store stuff in their gems? o.O

Anyway, part of my theory is that [Pink is really trapped in the moon base's observation orb], which she can use to see some of what's going on.  When Pink is watching, the moon might show up, and/or the sky might turn pink (usually around dawn/dusk) - the more intense either of these things are, the more intensely she's watching.

Looking back at when either of these happen, I've noticed that:

She seems to be a 'shipper

She particularly 'ships Steven + Connie

This ep certainly continues with that pattern. 83  Heck, I think that the extra lights on the horizon might even be from Pink - maybe even intentional on her part.

Even after the turn-down, the moon still showed, BRIGHTLY - at least until Garnet got there.

I also noticed the moon at the end of Little Graduation - in general, I'm getting an impression that Pink has been wanting to help Steven... but obviously, she wouldn't be able to.

However, that said, with the way things are looking, I think that she's going to get her chance, shortly... more on that farther down. =3

Side note: The glowstick-bracelet “ring” is a nice touch. =3

Other side note: JAM BUDS REFERENCE! 83

Also: Strawberry. =3

Also-also: it seems like Garnet actually does tend to give some pretty good love advice.

"Your soulmate is your compliment, not your missing piece.  [...]  Whatever hole there is in your life, Steven, I want you to understand that Connie - Stevonnie - won't be able to fill it." - Garnet, Together Forever

...Also-also, my suspicions about Garnet sorta being three people keep growing. XD;

...Incidentally, I’ve mentioned before that I think that Connie is probably ace and/or aro (though I didn’t know the latter term at the time).

Growing Pains

On the funny (at least to me) side, I noticed that Dr. Maheswaren checked for Steven’s heartbeat on his right side (which, ironically, would be the wrong side XD).

There actually is a genetic condition that can flip the positioning of the internal organs, though I’m pretty sure that it’s simply an oversight in this case.  For one, Dr. Maheswaren shouldn’t think to check there unless she’d checked the usual positioning, first.  For another... it’s actually not the only slip up in that shot; Steven’s gem has a hexagonal crown instead of the usual pentagonal one.  (This happens a lot, especially on Quartzes.)  The biggest thing, however, is that Steven actually does grab the left side of his chest later on.

But yeah, just some stuff that I thought maybe some other people might consider interesting. =3

Anyway...

So it's FINALLY established that Steven has PTSD... and appears to be having panic attacks.  Frankly, for a long time, I was under the impression that nothing like this would ever come up. XD;;;  Call me crazy, but in a weird way, this is kind of a relief for me.  It makes things feel more genuine to me.

...Hmm... I wonder if part of why we haven't seen panic in other characters is because they're hiding their own PTSD?  Maybe the reason why so many are just carrying on is as a sort of coping mechanism.  Maybe the also don't want anyone to worry.

...Or maybe this is an effect of this being a cartoon. >.>;  I mean, as much as I can see that Crewniverse is trying to touch on a lot of hard topics (and I appreciate that), we can only expect it to be so realistic.  Plus, a good story needs a bit of balance to it - as nice as it is to see the worrying stuff, it needs a good balance, or else it tends to be overwhelming.

In particular, I've been reminded that SU:F does have a number of much-younger viewers - I think we need to bear in mind that they probably aren't likely to handle this stuff as well as the older audiences. ^_^;

But yeah, I'm definitely glad that at least there's something, and the reaction seems fairly realistic (at least as far as having a half-Gem character goes).  Even the fact that there was a delay is fairly realistic... maybe a bit more of a delay than usual, but... I guess Steven is half-Gem?

Also: cartoon. XD;

And of course, it's really fascinating to see the medical aspect of Gems (or a lack thereof).

And of course, the sneaking in of an Amethyst-behavior joke. X3

Also: you can see Steven's chart in two of the transitions. 83

(Assuming Dr. Maheswaren got his height right... I’m actually admittedly jealous that he’s actually taller than me - especially since it looks to me like he should be shorter. XD; )

Also-also: I noticed that a lot of things that had nothing to do with Steven's life being in danger got referenced. ^_^;  Granted, I'm sure they're still important to him, but I thought I'd still bring it up.

I also couldn't help but notice there being a direct reference to Adverse Childhood Experiences, which is an actual term.  I suppose Steven's are unusual... but whatever the form, ACEs can still be pretty impactful. =/

...I do wonder if Crewniverse knows anything about Childhood Emotional Neglect.  It's supposedly an even bigger impact than abuse and whether one recovers from it.  That said, AFAIK it's lesser-known - even the term was coined less than a decade ago (2012, if I've got my dates right).  It's mentioned on the list of ACEs... I think?  But it's not very well defined there, so... it's hard to know.

At any rate, it definitely seems like a thing that could be a factor... more on that farther down.

Mr. Universe

It was nice to see Steven and Greg getting some bonding time in... even if it was short-lived. ^_^;

Can't help but wonder whether or not Steven's eating a veggie burger. XD;

Steven drooling in his sleep... it's been a headcanon/theory of mine that maybe Pink does that. X3

Okay, so maybe this is a cute picture of Steven... now that he's more grown-up. X3

Anyway, It's nice to learn some more about Greg's side of the family.  Especially since - aside from the strictness - they really do seem like they're probably nice people.

I mean, for one, they still kept reminders of Greg - his stuff, pictures of the whole fam, and even his letters... even if they never opened them.

(...Is it just me, or does Greg's mom look an awful lot like Connie's?)

And based on their stuff, I think it's pretty likely that they at least have a gentle side... even if maybe they didn't know how to properly use it with Greg. XD;  (Or maybe they're simply an appearance-conscious family. ^_^;  ...Which is apparently considered a gaslighting type of parenting-style. =/)

In any case, I hope we meet them, later. =3  Maybe they've mellowed out... or maybe they will as soon as they meet Steven. X3

My sis pointed out that Dear Old Dad plays - as in, the song from the last ep Steven and Greg fought in.  Only this time, it didn't end out well. ^_^;  Quoth her, "That's some next-generation foreshadowing!"

But yeah, I can see why Greg might be so frustrated at his parents that he would want to change his surname. ^_^;  ...And I can also see why Steven would be upset at Greg going as far as he did. =/  Pendulum effect: being so upset by one extreme that you go just as far into the other extreme, and it sounds like Steven paid for it. -.-;

This is part of what I mean by Childhood Emotional Neglect potentially being a factor... though in general, Greg's hands-off parenting style could very well fit in as a form of emotional neglect - parents who are just kind of buddies and try to give comfort on everything kind of avoid a lot of the issues, instead of teaching their kids how to deal with them, including on an emotional level. ^_^;

But yeah, the fact that Greg apparently didn't consider whether Steven might still want some of the usual aspects of childhood seems like it could also count. ^_^;  At the very least, it's common for Well-Meaning-But-Emotionally-Neglected-Themselves parents to give their kids what they wish they had in childhood, without actually considering whether it's what the children themselves want.

It's also common for emotional neglect to be passed on through families in ways such as this, so... seems like it could be a thing.

Oh, and you know how Steven also had to be "the adult" for the Gems a lot?  That also counts as CEN. XD;  Heck, that link even mentions the need to care for others that Steven continues to struggle with.

The parts about Steven trying to hide his struggles would also fit in with CEN, though his knowledge of emotions - and vocabulary thereof - does seem to be pretty big.  I can't help but wonder if CEN is something that's being inserted in more as a retcon, but wasn't planned at the beginning.  I mean... CEN was just being figured out around the time that the original SU series came out, so it seems pretty unlikely that it was the original plan.  I could see Crewniverse trying to work it in now, though.

...It's also possible that it's not really what they're going for and that it's sort of included by accident. XD;  I mean, there's often more than one way to arrive at the same conclusion, even coming from the same set of information, at times.

But yeah, CEN is important to me, and it's nice to see that it might be a part of the show. =3

Fragments

Okay, so that first convo was chock-full of examples on what NOT to say to someone who’s panicking. ^_^;

And those are just a few of them. ^_^;

I think that this is probably foreshadowing, and/or a setup for something coming shortly.  More on this farther down.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who was thinking back to Why So Blue? XD;

(Or, belatedly, Strong in the Real Way.)

I do think Jasper has kind of a point about learning to control anger by using it.  All-in-all, though, I think she's only about half-right. ^_^;  The parts about using it solely in violence... yeah

I see Steven’s eating fish, again. =3

It’s also neat to see him chopping wood with his hands. X3

...Not to mention Jasper’s new helmet. 83

It looks to me like Pink might have noticed some training, or at least may have been looking around the area.

...I suspect that she doesn't know about all the details, though. ^_^;

Homeworld Bound

Okay, first off, I think that Garnet may have said the family thing for Future Vision reasons - probably related to what the Diamonds said, even if she doesn't know that.

And now that that's out of the way, I was really glad to see Spinel again. =3

It does seem a bit weird that she's around as tall as Steven when she was shorter than him in the movie.

And I'm pretty sure that Steven's gotten even taller since the movie. XD;  Though maybe Yellow made Spinel taller...?

EDIT: I remembered that she probably wouldn’t be the first.  Could be a pattern.

Anyway, I also like the confirmation that Yellow's and Blue's powers seem to be about affecting the forms of Gems, and their emotions, in general - I've made a little spreadsheet (vaguely) touching on stuff like that, before.

Also, Blue getting a full song of her own.  Plus, the implications that Blue's powers are probably water-related. =3

(Who wants to try one of Blue's happy clouds? *raises hand* =D)

Not to mention Spinel doing the hammock hair thing. X3

*ahem* However... this is the second time one of the eps has felt like it's been full of Gems that are more-or-less hypnotised (the first one being Familiar).  A little too happy and/or nonchalant, and a little too conclusion-jump-ish. =/  (Especially Yellow for that last one. XD; )  Steven's even pointed stuff like this this out.

Which... White acted also that way.  If she really does have mind control powers, I think that this might be a sign that she's still using them, even on Blue and Yellow. ^_^;

Another thing that I think is odd is that the Diamonds were all taking initiative in doing good stuff.  In the movie, it seemed pretty clearly like they were only doing good things in order to try and please Steven and get him to stay with them.

White in particular was still disgusted at the idea of thinking of others as “equal.” XD;

They were even willing to move to Earth, leaving all those hurt Gems behind, instead of trying to do anything for them. =/

And yet, despite all that, Spinel in particular felt a little too weird to me (somehow XD; ).  A little too unconcerned about Steven's feelings, a little too relaxed and... blissful? ^_^;  She actually handwaved the "embarrassing" issue of having tried to kill Steven.

This is the second time we've seen something like this. =/

In a way, maybe Spinel's a little too close to her original personality, in general - as in, maybe less "healed" and more "reverted." =/

I mean, it's only been... a few months?  If I understand correctly?  Difficult thoughts and such do not just evaporate like that - ESPECIALLY if they're more-or-less intrusive ones. =/

And a lot of the time, it seems like her voice and intonation is closer to what she had with her original personality.  ...It does seem kind ambiguous, though I suspect that that’s on purpose. XD;

Here's what I think to be the kicker, though: you know the song she started singing when Steven asked how she stopped having vengeful thoughts?

It's the same song that Spinel said had said would NOT make everything better. XD;

"Just can it, won't ya?!  You can't just make everything better by singing some STUPID SONG!" - Spinel, SU Movie

(Incidentally, I noticed that the moon actually did show up - rather obviously - during said song.  Whoops. ^_^;  It looks like Pink has probably seen Spinel’s “evil” form, after all.)

Also... Quite honestly, the way Spinel mentions not getting vengeful thoughts anymore makes her seem... "drugged" to me. ^_^;

Possibly-similarly... this line seems odd to me.

For Spinel to tell Steven that White's powers work in reverse, she'd have to know:

How White's powers worked in the first place

That Steven knows how White's powers worked in the first place

I mean, I guess it's not impossible that White's powers are/were common knowledge, but... I dunno. XD;  It would have to mean letting Gems know that White could control them outright... and that White had used her powers on Steven's friends. ^_^;  I guess it's also possible that this was told to Spinel as a way of trying to bond over/help with the "tried to kill Steven" thing but... yeah, again, I dunno. ^_^;  If that were the case, it's possible that Spinel would mention it, rather than bursting out into song.

At any rate, I'm not ruling out mind-affecting as a possible reason for her knowledge.

So... yeah.  I suspected that White acted the way she did when seeing Spinel because Spinel knew (or otherwise had) something that White wanted to be kept hidden.  I kind of suspected that poor Spinel would get hit by White's powers pretty much right away, and to me, it looks like she did, and was placated a la mind-control. =(

Speaking of White... I'm guessing that the "pink-colored White" in the intro was actually Steven controlling her, or something. ^_^;

If so, then that's interesting twist on what's considered a "danger"...

...though that said, it looks like White managed to shed the pinkish tinge she had in the movie.

Now it seems to depend on the lighting, and is a fair bit fainter.

(Upper pic: purple.  Lower pic: brown.)

So... that said, I wouldn't rule out that maybe she found a way to keep the pink from getting worse - heck, maybe that's even one of the reasons why she's letting Gems control her, briefly.  Maybe it somehow keeps the pink from growing more saturated, or something.

So... yeah, while I think there's a good chance that the foreshadowed "Pink White" is already touched on, I'm not entirely ruling out that it might still be coming.  I mean, the theory that I was going with was that [Rose's gemstone had a virus in it], that Pink made specifically for White.  Possible circumstances to trigger the virus include:

Removing Rose's gemstone from whoever Rose’s child would be

Touching Rose's gemstone, in general

Trying to remove Rose from her gemstone - especially if from her child

Mind- and memory-manipulation on Rose's gemstone, in general

It's also possible that more than one trigger was programmed in.

Possible reasons for a virus include:

Trying to force White to learn empathy

Exposing White

In case the worst more-or-less happened

Prankage

Though yeah, if Rose's/Steven's gemstone really does have a virus in it, or something, I think odds are that White letting Steven control her is going to accelerate it. XD;

Also thought I'd note: while Spinel!White accurately reflects the colors of Spinel, Steven!White seems to better resemble Pink Steven than Pink Diamond, or Rose.

...Don't wanna dig up comparison pics, but I still thought I'd bring it up. XD;

Anyway, I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of deeper meaning to the scene with giant!Steven controlling little!White - like if there's something from Pink slipping in there, and her frustrations with whatever White did to her in the past.

I mean... Steven mentioned "everything" she did to him, and there were only flashbacks of stuff from Change Your Mind.  Which... yeah, sure, a lot happened in a short period of time, but... I still wonder. ^_^;

Aaaand it's becoming pretty evident that whatever traces of Pink are in Steven are coming out pretty strongly.

...On another note, the softer "Pink" hairstyle that Steven is getting might be a hint that the more-solid, five-lump "Steven" style that Pink is sometimes shown with is not her actual style. ;3

(My personal belief is that her appearance in Jungle Moon accurately reflects what she looks like - everything else is probably tainted by memory-alteration a la White.)

...anyway...

My guess(es) on what's next

Okay, I was previously assuming that Steven would first fight the worm-thing (which I thought might have been a mutated Jasper, after getting all that essence-of-Diamond in one dose XD; ).  I was also speculating about White having turned a much-more-intense shade of pink, accusing Steven of it, and a fight breaking out between the two (with a note that it might be a good thing that Steven's learned to better control his Diamond powers =D; ).

Now it’s looking like the “Pink White” may have already been covered... or maybe it’s still being foreshadowed.  Hard to say at this point.

That said, I think there's still a good chance that White will still try to follow Steven for one reason or another, despite his plea not to.  I mean, it looks like she may have genuinely been impacted by what happened with Steven controlling her... or at least terrified. XD;

She still asked him to wait, despite that.

Steven did leave his shoe behind, a la Cinderella.  This could be a hint about someone following him and returning it to him.  Maybe there'll be something about it fitting after he's calmed down? =3

Though... yeah.  Maybe letting Steven puppet her will result in her turning pink and coming after him for it.  Or maybe White will still try to follow out of more a compassionate reason - or just to “fix him, like she’s apparently done with so many other Gems XD - and Steven will try to keep her away.

In any case, I’m thinking that odds are that Steven will end up getting in a fight with What, and that it will end up being on Earth, at least at some point during the struggle.  If so, I tend to imagine something like this happening:

If Pink observes a fight between the two, it might be enough for the moon + sky thing to trigger in broad daylight.  If so, then the fact that there's someone on the moon who can turn the sky pink will be impossible to miss. XD  Even if it's not a fight that does it, I think odds are good that something like that will be how Pink being up there would be revealed, as well as working as a quick explanation that the moon + sky color are actually important.

If something like that does happen, then I think that White will finally fess up about messing with Gems' memories + thoughts and imprisoning Pink in the orb.  I mean... she'd basically be backed into a corner.  It also seems like she's getting to a point where she'd consider telling Steven anyway - just maybe she'd freak out and back out first, and/or the sky would beat her to it. XD;

I've also considered that maybe Steven's powers would get strong enough that he could be contacted by Pink in his dreams, anyway - they're not mutually-exclusive, so maybe both will happen?

But yeah.  There's plenty of evidence of a moon prisoner, and plenty of that evidence highly suggests that it's Pink.  I know I always say this, but I think it's time - maybe even well-past-time XD; - for Pink to be released.

A few possible roles of Pink (plus rambles)

Think about it: just about everyone that Steven knows - or is close to, at least - has been failing him in one way or another.  No one seems to know what's the best way to help him, or even fully understand just what exactly he might be going through - even White said that no one would be able to relate to him... but I don't think that's fully true.

Sure, maybe nobody could easily, and/or fully relate to the half-human thing, but I think there's a chance that, say, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth could at least help with the "vengeful thoughts" thing.

But Pink, Pink could probably help with the powers, and maybe a few other things.  I mean, they're probably her powers - or at least a variation of them.  Heck, she may be even more powerful than Steven is. XD  If anyone could help Steven get things under control, Pink can.

Heck, maybe Pink even knows how to help calm down somebody who’s having a panic attack - or at least knows how to help Steven with his panic.  Given that nobody else seems to know about this, it seems pretty likely that it might be what Crewniverse is going for. =3  And hey... if nothing else, maybe it’s something she picked up just from watching the Earth for so long.  (I mean... if she’s really been stuck for 5,000 years, odds are that she’s picked up on a few things.  Not like she’d have an awful lot else to do, anyway. XD; )

I admit... it’d be a little extra cool to me since I’ve had the idea that it might be something that Pink would do. 83  Sort of a headcanon/fanfic idea that I never really got to or anything. XD;

But yeah, at this point, I think odds are good that Steven will more-or-less beg Pink to stay with him for awhile. XD

I mean... maybe they could ask Pink Pearl (I really don't like the name "Volleyball," sorry XD; ) about Steven’s powers, but I think she might still have too much trauma of her own over Pink's powers to really be able to help. ^_^;

...Though that said, I've suspected that White placated her, too.  If her traumas can still show through... I think odds are good that others' traumas will end up resurfacing - and thus being addressed - too. =3

...But yeah, it seems like White's MO involved making everyone just forget about things, and/or suddenly become happy. ^_^;  ...Another form of emotional neglect, I suppose.

I also it's possible that part of the reason why Steven is having trouble is because White did something to him. =/  I mean, if White really did remove whatever was left of Rose, then she may have removed an important part of Steven... and if she added something to him, it might be a big part of why he's so... unstable. -.-;

...Heck, maybe the reason why Steven's been getting white Diamond-pupils is because White did something to him. o.O  Maybe that why Steven!White has them, too, despite Spinel!White having black pupils.

At any rate, maybe the real Pink could shed some light on that, too.  ...And/or maybe White will fess up. XD;  I think the latter is much, much more likely in this case, though.

I do think that, once Pink is released, it's likely to result in a lot of chaos, on account of Gems learning that things aren't how they thought they were - just one of many reasons why I think that White has still left her in there. ^_^;  However, that said, maybe Pink could end up being a catalyst in bringing those problems to the surface, so that they can be addressed. XD;

But yeah.  Overall, I think one of her roles would be in healing... just like with Rose, Steven, and their powers.  I think she'd also be good for helping uncover the truth of what really happened, along with other things.

Could be ironic; it's Steven Universe: Future, but there might end up being a lot of looking at the past.  Granted, maybe that's the point: look to the past to better understand the future. =3

[wayves-domain]

Miku Expo 2020 post but it’s too late.

Whoops

Anyway, HOLY SHIT this was a ride!

I won’t be listing all songs because this is already late, I’ll be covering the ones that stood out to me the most.

Let’s dive in!

Dang there were a lot of people! I managed to get a bit closer in the crowd than this pic so that was nice, still wasn’t able to see much due to me being a 5’2 gremlin.

Song list was a little different from London, Paris and Berlin tho. I went all researchy to know all the songs and we get songs I never thought I would hear live. And I LOVED it!

First off we got Miku’s Resonance (instead of Raspberry Monster) and I was singing along, without realizing it was one of my FAVORITE SONGS!

Oof, terrible pic right? Sorry about that.

Moving on to Rin!

While those three countries got Sweet Magic, Amsterdam got Kokoro, and I was living. That was my favorite F2nd song so of course I knew it by heart

It’s the best photo I got from the song. I love this dong so fucking much

Then we got, instead of Dappou Rock (the other countries), Butterfly On Your (Right) Shoulder. I was vibing so hard I forgot to take pics. Fuck.

ANYWAY

Moving on to the others because there’s so many Miku songs and I won’t be able to add that many pics on mobile!

Remote Controller! GOD I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG

It reminded me of me wanting to be able to shut my brother up when he’s gaming (it still does).

Meiko and Kaito! I got to see Remade Blue Longing (loving that putfit girl ) and Attakaito and I was so happy! These songs really checked my vibes though, ad I did not know them word for word, so I yelled in gibberish most of the songs...

Hurrah for my bad as fuck iPhone cam and ruining Kaito 😭

Two Luka songs! Never Die made me cry more than I wanted and after that one (RIGHT after that one) came Even If It’s Your Happiness which sounded so beautiful

Later on we got Jump For Joy, and I got a good pic of two (2) girlfriends

After that, a bit more serious...

The wowaka tribute. I’d like to take a moment to say how much Wowaka has meant to me. I might not have known him personally, but his music helped me through tougher times, songs like Rolling Girl and World’s End Dance Hall were one of the first songs I ever listened to when joining the fandom over 5 years ago. Rest in peace Wowaka. You won’t need to keep on rolling anymore. 💔

*wipes away tear irl* well then, let’s continue. After his tribute, we got Unhappy Refrain instead of Rolling Girl, which was a huge surprise to me, but tears were shed nontheless. They even projected crescent moons at the end of the concert, but I wasn’t able to photograph them in time. However, they’re in my photographic memory forever, and they were beautiful.

Hibana Hibana Hibana Hibana!!!!

I can’t even describe how hard I screamed when I heard the opening notes! All the people yelling nanananana were amazing, the good vibes were in the room. And what made it better is that it’s in the new Mega39’s, so when the game releases in europe I’ll be damned if I don’t get it.

Ohedo Julia Night was a blast! When Miku blasted those drums I happily drummed along, almost hit someone while doing so, whoopsies.

After that the bad got introduced with was amazing!

Decade, last expo’s theme was played, it was really great!

Hm, what else? Oh! I know!

BRING! IT! ON! That’s right, Giga’s Bring It On was live and HOLY FUCK I downloaded the song immediately on the way home, what a banger

Thank you random glowstick for ruining Rin...

After that, the last song and this year’s theme Lucky Orb played and EEEEE I LOVE THE OUTFIT!

That’s it for my two month late review on Miku Expo 2020, hope yall can forgive my evil camera

[nightofnyx8]

I’d Still Choose You (Part 2)

Well, in honor of the new Titans trailer coming out today, I finally added another part to this story. And remember how I said the first part was going to be the longest? Well, I lied. Also, I’m not sure if this will have just three parts, or four. Sometimes when I write the story takes a life of its own! But here you, Part 2! I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

****************************************

The perks of being the adopted son of a billionaire? You could get whatever kind of international coffee you wanted, as long as it was 99% caffeine.

As much as Dick appreciated Rachel's herbal tea, he had been asking for Arabic black coffee every time he came over to Wayne Manor. Alfred would usually protest against this, but lately he only had to look at the dark circles under Dick's eyes to know it was probably for the better.

"Master Dick, you are sleeping, are you not?"

Dick drunk deeply from the steaming hot mug. "Yes. Maybe just, not the amount of hours I'd prefer."

Alfred sighed as he took back the cup. "I do worry, that is all."

"I'll be alright, Alfred."

The older gentlemen gave him a pointed look until he finally relented to the question in Dick's eyes.

"Miss Kory is already waiting for you out in the gardens."

"Thanks Alfred."

Dick had been coming out to Wayne Manor every day for the past two weeks. He spent most of his time with Kory, taking her on walks to get her out of the house while simultaneously answering all of her many questions. This morning was no exception, as an hour later they found themselves strolling along the harbor in the brisk autumn wind. Today's topic was none other than Batman himself, as Kory had seen Bruce leave the manor many times in the later hours of the evening.

"So…the Batman is Bruce Wayne." She stated emphatically.

"Yes."

"And you also participate in the saving of others in a costume and mask."

"Yup."

"And…I do this as well?"

Dick laughed. "Yes, you too. Let's just say that Earth has…problems. And when there's bad people who are too big for the law, that's where we come in."

"So, we are as a league of protection?"

"Something like that."

Kory smiled and shook her head. "What a strange life."

She leaned over the edge of the dock railing to see the ocean better, letting Dick rest his head on her shoulder. She seemed to be becoming more comfortable with Dick's presence these days. To the very least, she had gotten used to the idea that she was special to him.

Dick closed his eyes, enjoying her silent company before finally summoning up the courage to ask her the question that had been on his mind all morning.

"Kory?"

"Yes?"

"How would you feel if we um, stayed out a little later tonight? You and me?"

She gazed curiously at him. "What are you implying?"

"I would like to take you on a date."

"A date?" She questioned skeptically.

"Yes. Would you, Princess Koriand'r, do me the honor of accompanying me this evening?"

Kory sighed and bowed her head, staring at the rotting wood below them. Dick knew she was still wary of the fact that she was married to a man she didn't know anymore. After all, who wouldn't be in her situation? Maybe he was moving too fast, and maybe he should have been backing off right now.

But every moment he wasn't with her, he felt something ache terribly inside of him. He missed her laugh, the way her face lit up when she saw him. He missed her gentle kisses and tight embraces, and just how free she made him feel.

You don't just give that up.

Kory had resolved to playing with the tips of her hair. "I don't know, Dick."

"Come on, Kory. Just to get out and have a little fun."

She glanced over at him suspiciously. "Fun?'

Dick put up his hands in mock surrender. "I promise I'll be a good boy and behave. I'll even get you home before midnight so Alfred doesn't ground you and come after me with a shotgun."

She laughed. "That is not why, I promise. It is only that…"

She trailed off, her unspoken words building up under her pained expression—an expression that Dick recognized. The very same one she wore in that cave long ago, when she had asked him how she was to know how he felt about her. Obviously, she didn't remember that conversation. But he did.

"Hey." He took one of her hands and squeezed it gently. "I know this is hard. But you've always taught me it's okay to take some chances, even if we might get hurt along the way."

"I did?"

"The Kory I knew was never one to be hesitant." He said reassuringly. "Maybe, maybe it'll help your memory a bit. But for tonight, let's just try to get to know one another again."

She smiled softly at him, the sunlight shimmering off the curls of her hair. "Alright, Dick. I can take a chance."

"That's my girl."

****************************************

He drove up to the entrance of Wayne Manor around eight. (How ironic it was to be picking up his own wife for a date from the very house he grew up in). He tugged restlessly at the open collar of his leather windbreaker. Why was he so nervous?

But all of that melted away when he was greeted with the sight of his wife as she opened the door. He had brought over a bag of her clothes a few days ago, along with some other personal belongings she might have needed. For tonight she had opted for a simple white blouse with jeans, her long red hair tied back in a high ponytail.

"You look beautiful." He said simply.

A red tinge appeared on her cheeks, and she looked down with a small smile.

"Thank you. You, um, you too."

"You trying to tell me I look beautiful?"

She looked up mortified and started to protest, but Dick just laughed and took her hand.

"Come on,"

"Where are we going?

"You'll see."

He led her down the driveway, revealing a sleek, blue motorcycle parked near the edge. He positioned himself in the seat and looked to see Kory standing awkwardly near the side.

"Well, jump on." He chimed.

"Is it safe?"

He laughed again, extending his arm towards her. "Quite."

She climbed onto the back cautiously, wrapping her arms around his waist for support.

"Hold on tight."

"Do I have a choice?" She managed to squeak out before he hit the accelerator to maximum speed.

Gotham was an excellent place to ride a motorcycle. Dick rounded the corners quickly, weaving effortlessly between the crawling traffic. He really didn't need to take the long way there, but he loved hearing her small gasps of surprise whenever they took a sharp turn. She laughed with delight as they sped alongside the water, bringing a smile to his face.

At last they stopped along the edge of the pier, the water reflecting the Ferris wheel lights along the surface.

"Where are we?"

"See for yourself." He replied, helping her off the motorcycle.

She looked around, the carnival buzzing with activity. Children chased each other with neon glowsticks while booth keepers encouraged loudly for families to try their luck at the games. The air smelled of buttered popcorn and smoky ash as colorful fireworks burst into the air above them.

Kory turned to smile at him, but instead found him offering her a cone of bright pink cotton candy. She took a bite cautiously, letting out a small laugh as she savored the taste.

"It's wonderful!"

Dick grinned. "Come on, I want to show you something."

It took a little bit of convincing, but he finally got her to join him on the old, rickety booth that glided slowly upward until they reached the top of the Ferris wheel. They had a perfect view of Gotham City, the skylights gleaming in the distance. Kory leaned forward and stared curiously at the scene in front of them.

Dick, meanwhile, had stretched out his arms behind him. "You loved being here." He said casually. "I'd always take you here every time the carnival came into town."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It was at a carnival like this one where we actually talked to each other for the first time."

He gazed off into the distance, lost in the memory until he heard Kory clear her throat tentatively.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked with a nervous timbre.

He looked back at her. "Yeah, anything."

She took a deep breath and bit the inside of her cheek. "How did we meet?"

"Oh." Dick leaned forward in the booth and tried to think. Where to begin? "Well, when the Gordanians took you from Tameran, eventually you escaped, and the first planet you came to was Earth."

He looked over at her. She was listening silently, staring intently at him.

"And then well, the Gordanians started attacking Earth since they were looking for you, and you kind of ran into us."

"Us?"

"The Titans. You remember Rachel and Garfield from the manor, right? They were in Jump City as well. And there was also Victor, you know, that cyborg who visited you last week and brought you that music box."

"Ah, yes." She mused, as if recalling the soft Tamaranean lullaby Victor had installed within the trinket.

"Well, you ran into us, since you were um, destroying the city. But we finally got you to talk to us and I uh…introduced you to the language."

He glanced over at her to see if she reacted. She said nothing, so he continued.

"You became part of the team, and you and I got closer over time."

"Closer." She repeated carefully.

"Mmm, I would say it took me forever at least. Not that great at talking about how I feel. But, one thing led to another, and after a few bumps in the road, we finally got married."

Of course, there was a lot more than that to the story. Different teams, different costumes, and even different planets accompanied a tale of two lovers who seemed to take forever to make up their minds about each other. There were so many midnight flights and dancing on rooftops that made him fall deeper in love with her every time. And obviously, there had been fights and misunderstandings as well. His stubborn and secluded disposition would ignite her fiery temper and their fights only ended much later when he played the piano to call her down the stairs, the notes speaking the apology much better than his own words (well, that and the kisses that always came after). How could you possibly "sum up" a relationship that had extended over ten years?

Kory seemed to have closed up all her words, and Dick allowed a comfortable silence fall over them as they sat there, watching the fireworks bloom above them in red and gold sparks. He placed his hand over hers on the wooden bench between them, and she allowed it to stay there. Small victories.

"How would you feel if I took you out again next Friday?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"You mean, on another date?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I mean, still lots to learn about this Boy Wonder, right?"

She pursed her lips, but her eyes sparkled with suppressed laughter. She considered the idea for a minute before finally relenting.

"Alright. As long as you buy more of the vanishing cloud candy."

Small victories indeed.

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Kory was already regretting her decision. She couldn't believe Dick had talked her into this. Gear up in her Tamaranean attire, sure; shoot some starbolts, why not? But to take down criminals as part of Bludhaven's vigilante superhero team? What had she gotten herself into?

"I am not certain that I am exactly comfortable with this." She stated, picking nervously at the hem of her skirt.

Dick shot her a sideways smile. She had not anticipated his uniform in the slightest when he had emerged on the roof half an hour earlier. He was clad in a jet-black bodysuit that made him almost as black as the night itself. Electric blue stripes cut through his chest and down to his fingertips, the color matching the dangerous electricity that sparked from two iron sticks sheathed onto his back. "Come on, Kory. You do this all the time with me."

"Do I?" Kory looked over the skyline, letting the cool night air tingle her bare arms. It wasn't fear that rushed through her veins. No, she was used to defending her planet from unwanted invaders. But this was something different altogether. She felt her emotions swirl inside of her. Uncertainty, restlessness, and…excitement? Her heart raced with anticipation and her body tensed, as though jumping off a twenty-story building was just a normal, nightly routine.

She caught Dick watching her carefully. His blue eyes were now hidden by the inky mask he had donned, making him look more sinister as he turned up the corners of his lips.

"You look…different in a mask." She decided.

"Well I certainly hope so. Kind of the point of a secret identity."

Right. No one else knew Nightwing was really Dick Grayson, just as no one else knew that Starfire, the name she was apparently known by on Earth, was really Kory Anders (her other, other name). She shook her head in disbelief. Starfire, Kory Anders, Koriand'r: no one wonder she ended up with a headache whenever she tried to remember her past. She couldn't even get her own name right.

Dick was filling in Rachel and Garfield (sorry, Raven and Beast Boy) on the patrol positions. Both had volunteered to help look after Bludhaven for a little while, as recent events had somewhat interrupted Nightwing's usual routine.

"Alright, the night's not getting any younger. Raven, stake out on the right side of 8th Avenue with Beast Boy. Two weeks without any supervision and this city is making Gotham's criminals look like harmless angels."

Beast Boy spoke up. "Does that mean Joker's been demoted? Because I think Batman's out of a job then."

Dick scowled. "Just get the job done. And no arcade stops this time."

Beast Boy stuck out his tongue. "Killjoy." But he complied with Raven's huffs of exasperation and transformed into a crow before they both sailed out into the city.

Dick turned to Kory. "Starfire, you and I will take the left flank of the city. We'll set up watch from the news tower until trouble arrives."

She nodded, resisting the urge to bolt right past him and straight back to Wayne Manor.

He must have noticed her hesitation, because he took her hand and squeezed it with assurance. "Don't worry. Just be yourself. You're a natural at this, I promise."

She smiled slightly and allowed him to lead her towards the edge of the building. Dick prepared to release what looked like some sort of zip line when he stopped, receiving a line of communication in his earpiece.

He looked annoyed as he answered. The words he chose were not exactly kind, so Kory assumed he was talking to Bruce. After a few minutes of banter, he looked towards her and gestured towards the tower. His message was clear: I'll meet you there.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. At least flying was nothing new to her.

One. Two. Three.

Kory took off into the night sky, letting go of all the fear and confusion that had built up from the past two weeks. The wind rushed through her hair as it billowed all around her. Climbing higher and higher into the sky, she laughed in delight. Oh, how she had missed this! Allowing herself to fall for a few moments, she closed her eyes and let time stop, pure happiness welling up inside her like a balloon. Glowing, bursting happiness! Moments before reaching the roof of a particular tall hotel, she stopped and landed gently.

She had overstepped their meeting place. The broadcasting tower stood tall and dark in the distance. She prepared herself to launch again when she caught sight of the night sky above her.

The void was inky black, glittering with thousands of twinkling stars. Her Tamaran was up there somewhere, and oh how she longed to see it again.

"Enjoying the view, are we?"

She jumped, turning to see the owner of the voice, but saw nothing.

"Nightwing?"

The voice laughed, sending chills up Kory's spine. The voice was smooth, like velvet, but held a sinister tone as though it were enjoying watching something die slowly.

"Who are you?"

"Really my dear, I would have thought that by now we would have known each other quite well."

Realizing too late, a bulging figure materialized behind her, holding her in an iron grip. Fear clenched her heart, her strength leaving her in a moment of weakness.

"Let-let me go!"

"Oh dear, you're trembling." She flinched as he crooned in her ear. "Not too good for you. Fear and confusion do tend to block certain abilities of yours, now don't they? But there's no need to be quite so scared, Starfire. I come only with a message."

She tried to gain control of her pounding heartbeat. "W-what do you want?"

"You seem to be having some memory issues. I can help you with that."

"And why would I need anything from you?" She protested defiantly. "My friends are already helping me."

"Are they your friends, my darling? How do you know you can trust them? After all, you don't remember them anymore better than you remember me."

"You don't know anything about me."

She recoiled to the sound of his ragged laugh. "I know all that I need to, sweetheart. As for your friends, do you really think they're all so innocent, so good? Even after all this time, you're still so incredibly naïve."

"You're wrong!" A hot pull burned at the pit of her stomach as her alien strength returned. She wrenched herself out of his grip and charged a starbolt to face the monster before her.

The greenish glow of her energy orb revealed a man who stood over six feet tall, his whole body clad in heavy armor. The white eye slit in his orange and black mask was the only opening, giving off a cruel aura in every way imaginable.

But the figure only laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of fighting you alone, Princess. But my offer still stands. And if you ever want to have your memories back, you will meet me here in one month, the exact same time."

"Never!"

"Well then, I suggest you get used to being entirely, hopelessly clueless for the rest of your life."

"SLADE!" A defiant voice yelled. Both turned to see Nightwing standing on top of the water tower, his iron pipes charged to the maximum. Raven and Beast Boy flanked his sides, both tensed and ready to attack. Kory had never seen Dick look so angry.

"Leave her alone!"

"Oh my, such an improper greeting. I would have thought, old friend, that you would have had better manners by now."

"I said, leave her alone!"

"Relax, Robin." He said calmly as Nightwing flinched. "We were just saying hello, weren't we, my dear?"

Kory said nothing, her starbolt still crackling in the night air.

She couldn't see his face, but she could have sworn she saw him grin under the mask.

"Well, until later, dear Princess." He said as he disappeared into the darkness, but she thought she could still feel his eerie presence watching her every move.

Nightwing jumped down from the water tower and took her gently by the shoulders. "Kory, are you okay?" He brushed her hair out of her eyes, taking her face in his hands.

Kory nodded. "I am unharmed."

"Did he say anything to you?"

You think they're all so innocent, so good? How can you possibly trust them?

"No." she replied shakily. "Just…introducing himself."

Dick cursed under his breath. "Come on, let's get you back to Wayne Manor." He was breathing heavily, his hands shaking as he sheathed his escrima sticks. Raven and Beast Boy didn't look any less relaxed.

"Dick?" She stated tentatively.

"What is it?"

"Who was that?"

He stared straight at her, his mask hiding whatever emotion he conveyed in his eyes. For a moment, they stood there in silence, letting the night air suffocate the distance between them before an answer finally detached from his lips.

"No one, Star. No one you need to remember."