#i honestly assumed ei talked to the people after the events of her second quest maybe??? for closure??

[yusukenui]

i never realized that the shogun's only form of public apology to the inazuman folk was... over a bulletin board message. and that was final.

[fairiesnova]

The Questioning Phase

This was written for @ft-wwtdp pride month event for the prompt: question. It’s late because it turned out longer than I expected. Also tagging @ceruleanshockwave for putting up with my minerzajane obsession and @fuckyeahft-poly-ships and @ftmlmages

Read on Ao3

The sunlight was blinding by the time they walked outside. Erza squinted up at the sky before reaching into a side pocket of her dress to pull out sunglasses. Jellal eyed that dress for the third time that morning. It was new, flashy in a way Erza wasn’t. It was one of the changes in her wardrobe he noticed over these last couple months. But if she wasn’t going to mention it he wasn’t going to ask.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones after all.

Perhaps there was still some awkwardness after their brief dating attempt in high school ended in a disaster, but they always avoided the topic of dating on their weekly meetups. They spoke about their coursework, their favorite professors, about their families and mutual friends but never mentioning Erza’s roommates or Jellal’s new friends.

Or maybe there was another reason neither asked the other about romance and love.

Both had been avoiding talking about what happened early that morning.

“Oh hi,” A woman with white hair and a bright smile opened the door. “Are you lost?”

“I don’t think so. I’m looking for Erza.” This was the first time Jellal was going to Erza’s room to pick her up for their weekly coffee meetup. As soon as Erza’s name left his mouth the woman’s expression changed. Her smile dipped into a frown before changing into a neutral face. It was fast, but Jellal caught the movement. There was a tense silence as the girl stood unmoving in the doorway. That wasn’t broken until a different voice came from inside the room.

"I swear I told both of you bitches to stay out of my wardrobe but here I am missing clothes again." The voice was raised and angry. A few seconds later the sound of a door opening and feet stomping towards the doorway reached Jellal’s ears. Then a hiss rang throughout the room, “Turn around I know you hear me talking to you!”

The white-haired girl barely reacted. She merely turned her to look over her shoulder at the angry woman approaching them. As she got closer, Jellal could see she had jet-black strands of hair skewed wildly across her face and snarl on her lips. She was pretty, and terrifying. Erza must have really lucked out with roommates.

The white-haired girl looked the new-comer up and down and snorted. “Go put some pants on, we have a guest.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” She scowled before looking towards Jellal. “Who the hell is he?”

The first girl gave her a knowing looked as she answers, “Oh, he says he’s here for Erza.”

Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped and Jellal felt like a deer thrown into the den of lions. He coughed awkwardly hoping to clear the air in the room. “Uh-yeah I’m here to-can I come in?”

The dark-haired girl slivered up to him and gave a wide taunting smile. “I don’t know, can you?”

Given the tone she spoke and that deadly sharp smile, Jellal was pretty sure that was a threat.

Then, like an angel appearing from the shadow’s, Erza came from one of the empty rooms with a smile on her face. She bumped both of the girls out of the way and wrapped Jellal into a hug. Jellal couldn’t tell if she was oblivious to the tense atmosphere or purposely ignoring the two woman glaring into the back of his head. Erza started to quickly lead them out of the door whispering something he couldn’t hear under her breath. Before they stepped out, Jellal could hear the white-haired girl turning to the black-haired one and saying, “guess you found your dress Minny.”

She had gestured to the pretty blue dress Erza was wearing currently. In another time, maybe Jellal would ask. He would ask about why the two woman seemed way more possessive of Erza then your normal roommate situations. Would ask if they were the reasons behind the perk in Erza’s walk or the smiles that come onto her face. Would ask if Erza had ever been the situation that he was in currently. But he didn’t, couldn’t voice the words in his head. And she didn’t offer. So, they hugged goodbye as always with Jellal ignoring the scents of three different perfumes sinking into his clothes. He went home in a daze, so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed his front door being ajar.

Some time ago, this would worry him.

Now he just rolls his eyes at his roommates’ lack of manners.

Jellal walked into his home already knowing what he was going to find. Sure enough, Gajeel lounged on his sofa with his feet up on his coffee table. He could hear Laxus calling out a greeting to him in the kitchen while Gajeel barely looked up from the tv screen.

“Haven’t I told both of you to ask before barging into my home?” As soon as the words left his lips Jellal winced. He sounded just like Erza’s dark-haired roommate. Well at least he didn’t have to worry about them stealing his clothes.

His wince however caught Gajeel’s attention. He paused his movie to frown up at Jellal, “What’s with you? Have a bad date?”

“They aren’t dates. You know that.”

“They’re dates.” Laxus came out of the kitchen with three water bottles tossing one to Jellal and Gajeel before collapsing next to the man on the sofa. Gajeel’s arm automatically lifted to curve around Laxus’ shoulder as they both stared at Jellal expectantly. Jellal stayed focused on that hand.

He had never given much thought to love and romance over the years. Him and Erza didn’t work out, he moved on quite easily. He always figured he’d just met some other girl somewhere down the road and settle down with marriage and a family like his father.

Then he met Laxus.

They were grouped together for a project and bonding over shit-talking their professor and annoying kids in their class. He had heard Laxus mention his partner more than once but had assumed he was referring to a partner on another project. And to be fair, Gajeel and Laxus did not act like any other couple he knew. The first time he hung out with them they bickered for 2 hours over what to cook for dinner and nearly burnt his kitchen down. It wasn’t until they were stuffing their faces with the pizza he ended up ordering that Laxus had sat down and Gajeel immediately plopped down in his lap. Like it was second nature, Laxus just wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed a greased kiss to the back of his neck.

It was like entry into another world, and even now 2 months later, he still feels breathless every time they exchange intimacy around him. He was drawn to them like a moth to a flame slowly daring to get closer and closer each time but withdrawing right before he could get burnt.

He wanted them. Wanted that. But want was still a feeling Jellal was getting used to.

Slowly his emotions, Jellal turned his eyes away from his own personal flames and towards the tv keeping them there as he spoke, “They are not dates. And I get the feeling Erza’s roommates would plot to kill me if they were.” He paused to sip his water before continuing, “They’re…close.”

Both men’s eyebrows went up as they registered what Jellal was hinting. “Oh, good for her.” Laxus shrugged.

“Is this a I just found out my ex-girlfriend might be gay conversation? I’ve had one of those.”

Jellal ignored them both leading Laxus to watch him closely. “Does that bother you?”

“No.” He answered honestly. “I’m just…confused.”

He had known Erza for half of their young lives and he never knew she had attraction to girls just like he never knew he held attraction to guys. He wondered if Erza went through the confusing phase of questing his identity the way he did. Or was it easy for her? Did she breeze through her realization and Jellal was the only one feeling this lost?

Before he could spiral anymore in his thoughts, a calloused hand tugged on his wrist. He looked into Gajeel’s dark eyes seeing the understanding laced through them. “We told you before, everyone moves at their own pace. It’s okay to be confused.” He tugged once more and Jellal went willingly into their embrace. His couch was not designed for three grown men, but they fit perfectly. Jellal allowed himself to sink into Gajeel’s arm around his shoulder and Laxus’ around his waist. He would eventually talk to Erza, would hopefully be able to answer the question regarding his own sexuality, but for right now he was just going to enjoy being warmed by his flames.

[pixel-creates]

About Me: Kingdom Hearts

Behold, my excuse to cry over KH with paragraphs for nearly each answer.

(shamelessly copied from @khfriendlyreminders​)

Favorite Kh Game Overall: … I underestimated how hard this would be. I mean, I can't simply say I love all of them (even though I do), so... I guess it has to be

ALL OF THEM.

Least Favorite Kh Game Overall: Aside from nitpicks in story and gameplay, I don't have much to say against the KH games. ^^'

I understand perfectly well when people analyze the story and explain why certain parts just don't work, but unless it's something that just outright doesn't sit well with me, I find it hard to be critical of the games. Which is weird since I can be very critical of other media, but KH is kind of... hard to see or make criticism of. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it...

Kh Games I Should Replay: … ALL OF TH-

Okay but for real, I do have to repay them all for the sake of my fic since I'm basing the events off of my gameplay. Though, one I'd like to experience once again is 0.2. I only had the chance to play once at my older brother's before I moved and I feel like I need to experience it again to really understand where the story stands currently.

Most Played Kh Game: KH2 definitely.

Least Played Kh Game: Maybe Re:Coded, Days, and Re:COM. Re:Coded, while I do enjoy, is just not that fun to play on my dying 3DS. Also, I can't remember if it's just Re:Coded, but the camera was just really loose?? On my 3DS with broken left and right triggers, there was just no end to the frustration when those babies started going out. Days is a long game to play and my gameplay is either short and brief stints or finishing the entire game in a day. Right now, I'm in the short and brief stint gameplay mode since I need a new 3DS. On that part, Days and Re:Coded aren't at fault. Re:COM just scares me. Eveyone says that it's easy to get a handle on the card system, and it is but I don't do very well under the pressure of getting the cards together. It's gotten to the point where just looking at the menu screen makes me cringe. ^^' KHUX can count, as well. The game has a hella lot of filler quests, which are fine here and there, but wow those mission goals (“Defeat Every Enemy” has been seen in my nightmares). Not only that, but I'm not really that good at keeping up with games that often require constant/daily logging in for advancement.

Kh Games I Need to Play: I've technically played them all in one form or another, but I would very much like to try out the original GBA COM game at least once. GBA used to be my favorite system and finding out a KH game had been made for it is amazing!

Favorite Gameplay: This one is a tie between KH and KH0.2.

KH2 is just... fun. It's fun to play, it's fun to watch, and it just feels satisfactory to attack and explore the worlds. It might seem a little weird, but my favorite part was being able to 'Examine' everything with the triangle button. It was like Sora's (and Roxas' thoughts for a time) were given a place to exist outside cutscenes and gave insight into how Sora/Roxas were viewing the world. I dunno what anyone else thinks about it or if they even care, but I sincerely hope it makes a comeback in KH3.

KH0.2 is like KH2 in which we are given more of an opportunity to explore and interact with the world around us by actually creating change within the world through spells, hitting objects, or finding the lost memories. I absolutely love to freely roam in games, but it doesn't do much to bring me into the world itself if I can't interact with the world. That's why, as much as it creeped the frick out of me, the Dwarf Woodlands in the Dark World was my favorite world to explore even after the main story.

Least Favorite Gameplay: It's not my least favorite by far (in fact, it's really high up there), but I feel I do have to mention that in KH DDD, I felt really bad about using Flowmotion. It was like, I'd find my way up to several treasures, but then, it turns out, that you'd eventually make it up there by unlocking the way so that you could walk to the treasure. I feel like if there was a couple of puzzles that locked some treasures away and couldn't be accessed through mobile means, it'd balance out the gameplay a little more.

I also find the Dream Eater system to be... a little cool and also a little bad. A little cool because while I can adventure to who knows where and not get constantly freaked by Donald and Goofy teleporting right behind me. It felt like I was on a little solo adventure! Not only that, but the feature to import Dream Eaters from a previous save to a new/other save was a great feature. It was especially helpful when I replayed DDD went from Beginner Mode to Critical Mode. Did I mention it was y first time playing any KH game on a mode tougher than Normal?

A little bad because sometimes that solo adventure was just a bit too solo – and when just starting out (especially on Critical Mode), rather than being my allies, my Dream Eaters were more so the colorful Pokemon rejects I babysat so they didn't die after three hits. It became annoying pretty quickly to constantly keep them alive, only for them to wander away from where the enemies are or just simply not attack and once again die.

KH Re:Com as explained above, though I will admit that once I start to get into it, I feel a lot less pressured unless it's a boss fight. Other than that, the game just feels really repetitive and as someone who's gameplay style is 80% grinding until you simply can't die, it just really didn't feel that fun to play after an hour of just grinding for a boss fight that I felt really unsure about fighting because I'm sill having trouble with the card system.

Favorite Story: Yikes, another hard one. It's easy for me to talk about gameplay in the games because they're self-contained to a singular game within the series, but goodness the story.

I suppose out of all of them, I would replay KH2, DDD, Days, and Re:Coded for story reasons only. I find them to have the more interesting stories. Right now, I'm kind of side eying BBS for... reasons, and KH1 is kind of hard for me to say anything about. More on that in the next one.

Least Favorite Story: Out of the games, KH1 is probably the most consistent one... on its own. As the series progressed and the writers tried to fit more lore and story into an idea that... no one really expected would garner so much attention, it becomes more obvious how... out of place the first game seems in comparison. This took me years to realize and I only really understood why people made such a deal about it when Caddicarus talked about it in his review.

I can't bring myself to really blame the writers (or Nomura) too much for the inconsistencies between the first game and the latest one, but I will say there are some things I wish could've been kept consistent throughout the series, or just plain kept.

So, I don't think of it as my least favorite (since there are times I'll play it simply because I love the story a heck of a lot more than the gameplay), but it's question because of how out of place its story is in comparison to its children.

Favorite Character:  Sora. I would fucking die for him – but he probably wouldn't let me. Why is he my favorite character? Probably for a similar reason why Naruto is – I am not a particularly outgoing or outspoken person. My voice is naturally soft and whenever I try to gear myself to ask people the simplest of questions or even to say hi, I chicken out at the last second. And then, we have this character who not only talks to people without an issue but easily has an active participation in not only social situations but in everyday life.

In a way, my younger self strived to be just a little but more like that, if only because I wanted to be surrounded by friends like Sora was. Not only that, but there's just the overall positivity vibe Sora gives off that I feel like I lack; I almost immediately assume the worst of situations, have trust issues, and stress horribly over situations that even I can admit are out of my control. And seeing this character go through what he did and still keep that positive outlook? How could I not want to be like that, if only just a little?

Least Favorite Character: I'll probably get shit on for saying it, but I really can't bring myself to like Kairi in any way shape or form. She's pretty much the only thing about KH that I can be really critical of and I'm not very proud of that. I can't get into her in canon and I can't get into her in fanon. I can detail point by point about why I just can't like her in any capacity and my own disappointment towards how she's written, and I really wish it was the opposite... but that's a whole other post.

For now, I'm more than content to ignore her.

Favorite Character from Main Cast: Aside from Sora? Roxas, Xion, Vanitas, Riku, Namine, and Ventus are in the ring competing for 11th favorite character since Sora has taken up the first ten spots. Aqua, Terra and Goofy are shoe ins for the next spots after them.

Least Favorite Character from Main Cast: Aside from that one chick? It's mostly as a joke, but Donald can rot.

#NeverThankDonaldDuck2018 Also, fuck Yen Sid.

Favorite Drive Form: Final. Fucking fite my vanilla ass.

Favorite Spell: While the Cure line is a staple, I'm going to have to go with the Reflect line. Late game KH2 often ends up with Heartless/Nobody encounters quickly ending as soon as it started with a single Reflectga. I really hope it makes some kind of comeback in KH3.

Favorite Keyblade: Kingdom Key. Call me vanilla, but I love it's simple design and the lore around it.

Favorite Summon: I've honestly only ever really used Tinkerbell and it's always for the Dragon!Maleficent fight in KH1. I always stress about using things with time limits, so I often just don't use them period. :,D

Favorite Limit: Okay, but if I rarely use Summons, then I really don't use Limits like ever. I hardly switch my party members out unless mandatory. Even then, I turn off the Auto Limit shit because I find it more important to make sure Sora has magic for Cure than pulling off an attack that will only hit like 3 times.

Aside from completion purposes (and Riku because how can I deny the beauty that is Sora and Riku's Limit), I don't use them in the main story.

Favorite Dream Eater: It's a toss up between Pega Slick and Me Me Bunny. While offering some pretty good abilities, I really like their aesthetic. Yoggy Ram and Aura Lion are pretty high up there, too.

Favorite World: Oooo~ How about we have fun with this answer?

KH1 – A toss up between Hollow Bastion and End of The World. The aesthetics for both just really agree with me and the map for Hollow Bation especially is really fun to explore. KH Re:COM – 100 Acre Wood for being the only world that isn't completely repetitive. Whenever I play Re:COM I use it as the 12th floor just so I can reward myself for sticking with the game. KH2 – Radiant Garden for being probably the biggest world in KH2, linking to worlds I really like (Space Paranoids/100 Acre Wood), and having an interesting story that was actually intertwined with the main plot. KHBBS – This one is a bit hard since I don't play any other story except Ventus' 90% of the time. It's a toss up between Land of Departure (aesthetic and story reasons), Disney Town (mini games are really great – except I Scream Beat), and Mirage Arena (Rumble Racing and Mono- Command Board ftw!!).

KH Re:Coded – Pretty much all of Hollow Bastion. While a re-hash of KH1, it still felt like its own thing, especially with the battle system since Data!Sora's Keyblade was destroyed. I also really liked Olympus Coliseum. It was my favorite place to grind. In fact... Re:Coded took a lot of risks in changing up how you could fight and/or navigate the world and, to me, they were all interesting takes and fun experiences. Except Agrabah. Fuck Agrabah.

KHDDD – I like La Cité des Cloches because of what it could have been... Actual worlds I like are The Country of Musketeers, The World That Never Was (Sora's story), and Symphony of Sorcery. KH0.2 – Dwarf Woodlands as explained above. KHUX – I honestly really like Daybreak Town. I wish we could freely explore it.

Least Favorite World: F U C K M O N S T R O

I have some bad memories with Monstro from KH1.

First off, there's a chance you will just plain miss the cutscene needed to get access to him. I once had to drive between Halloween Town and Atlantica six times to get him, and often require 2 or more trips around to get him to appear in general.

Second, in KH1, a game that actually would've benefited from the nowadays useless as shit map system, has a world where everything looks the damn same and has rooms literally titled 'Monstro: Chamber 1' and 'Monstro: Chamber 2'. Just watching Raisoren, someone who has played KH1 at least twice, try to find his way around Monstro was a headache in itself back when I first found out about KH. Actually playing it was a migraine.

Third, the aesthetic... just the aesthetic. I am very squicky about the 'insides' of things. I understand that the team went through lengths to make it not look realistic, but that ultimately failed since the main different between most of the rooms are ledges and the amount of barrels in a room.

With all that said, I bet many of you can guess my reaction to Monstro in KH:DDD... it honestly wasn't too bad. Unless I was grinding, I didn't have to spend as much time in Monstro as I did in KH1 and the layout was a lot more varied and easily distinguishable from each other.

And then I played it in Critical Mode. :)

Am I ready for Kingdom Hearts III: Very much so! I've been steadily getting more and more excited with each piece of news we get. I don't know what to expect, but as long as it feels like a KH game, I don't think there's a way to disappoint me.

[lealikestowriteaaaah-blog]

Here’s My Trap Card

Sin had let out a sigh as she steps foot into yet another guild. She wondered if going into this one was even worth it since all her previous guilds just disappointed her. Everyone seemed nice, but they wouldn’t speak much. The lack of speaking and lack of participation put her on the verge of leaving. No one else but two or maybe three other people at most would join a battle. But after one battle, she stood in the guild lobby near the highest ranking person in the guild- Hikaru. Hikaru was always praised for how strong of a mage he was and honestly, being near Hikaru felt intimidating. I mean, she surely wasn’t new to this whole place, but she nearly wasn’t as strong as him. She was also just a simple lancer. She tried to spark a conversation with him and that spark went off.

Within a few days, they were great friends and the rest of the guild could tell by the way they helped to each other in battle and even in quests. After battles, Hikaru began to invite Sin into his room. She always accepted because his room was great to her. Hikaru begged to differ, but that didn’t change her mind. He has various plushies and other objects she had never seen before. He would walk to sit at one end of the table placed in the middle of the room and watch Sin happily look at his plushies. But once Sin sat down, they talked about various subjects and they just seemed very alike. She really enjoyed that aspect of their friendship. Hikaru didn’t really notice much other than he enjoyed her company. Honestly, this dark-haired girl was probably the only person he could stand being around for this long.

As time went on, feelings began to grow. Sin strangely fancy the way Hikaru dressed. It came to a point where the blue-eyed mage began to request they dressed similarly- Like twins almost. Sin agreed due to how fun the idea had appeared. So they dressed alike with what gear they had. During a tough battle, they stood near to each other to fight. The rest of the guild noticed how they were dressed and “twinsies” they were called. All they could really do was laugh until the battle was finished. But it finally ended. They entered lobby as usual and Hikaru yawned proceeding to asked Sin if she wanted to go to his room. The girl accepted as expected. They were a bit tired, but still found a way to have fun sitting at his usual table. The conversation about relationships came up. They joked about being single for life or how they’ll feel bad for their future significant other because of the silly things they do. They both giggled, but only for a bit until there was an awkward silence that followed along.

“Erm... I have a question.” Hikaru shyly said.

“What is it?” Sin was a little relieved that the silence was broken.

“Would you ever go out with me?”

A silence filled the room yet again and Sin began to contemplate. As she spent a few minutes thinking, Hikaru looked away from her in the fear of rejection. People knew who he actually was and would usually reject him. The regret begann to set in. The mage stared at the wooden table and began to play with his hands.  He felt that tears began to fill his eyes as he realized he was probably going to get rejected again, and that another friendship was going to be ruined yet again.

Then a small “Yes.” was heard. Hikaru had a big smile smiled as he jumped out of his seat ft to hug Sin tightly close to him. She gasped as they both fell onto the soft carpet. They laid like that for a few seconds until Hikaru realized what he’s done.

“S-Sorry!” Hikaru blushed and quickly got off of the girl. He stood up and looked away.

“I was just really excited, y’know?”

A small “It’s okay.” was heard and he let out a sigh of relief.

No one else really knew of the relationship since it wasn’t confirmed, but it was quite clear they were more than friends to their guildmates. Especially the ones who would say “She was gonna date him eventually.” Battles of just them were occurring at this time other guildmates had events to attend and exciting lives to live. It got to the point where they would just stay in Hikaru’s room all the time and not even do battle. Sin realized she didn’t wanna leave a guild for once, and it was because of this mage. Eventually, an incident had come along where they were talking and the young boy blushed looking at Sin as she sat in his room. She noticed and looked back. He asked if could do more than just hug her. She thought about it and consented. Hikaru closed his eyes as he wasted no time going in to kiss her. As he did, he gently placed his hand on her waist and used his other hand to hold her close to him. Sin was surprised but kissed back, closing her eyes as well.

“I’ve never done before, not even with a male.” Sin awkwardly said. Hikaru paused and let go of the girl from his arms.

“You think I’m male?..” He was a little confused since he assumed everyone knew what his true identity actually was at this point. Sin was confused as well looking at what appeared to be a boy. Hikaru sat at that side of his usual table.

“I’m actually a girl.”

Reflection: So basically my friend drew a pic of our OC’s. They were kissing and it looks straight, but my OC looks like a guy and is actually a boy. So I couldn’t really help but write a story when I saw that pic she drew. Doesn’t help that she was actually confused when my friend first saw her.