#i love surprising people with random bullshit facts and skills that are not very useful except for v specific moments

[homo-house]

my bucket list includes being able to name every country in a world map my current biggest opponents are east europe and west/central africa i swear these countries keep changing names

[jackiequick]

Meet more of the family, Miss Stark & The Youngest Barnes | Marvel OC

———

Liv Stark ⌚️

Full name: Olivia Charlotte Stark-Vega

Nicknames: Liv, Vi, Lottie, Lola, Clary, Char, Charlie, Miss Vega, Snark Central

Age range: 5-18

Height: 5’1

Relationship status: Single

Background: American with Peruvian, Polish and Italian descent

Father: Anthony Stark

Godmother: Elizabeth Stark

Godfather: Jason Underwood

Brother & Sister: Rei and Morgan Stark

Step-mom: Pepper Potts

Uncles: James Rhodes, Happy Hogan & rest of The Avengers

Abilities: A bit of geek and hacker due to her love of technology, basic hand to hand combat since she enjoys boxing and her witty personality. She’s young so she hasn’t gotten plenty of skills yet.

Personality: Liv has a smart touch, gentle soul, sweet, charming and easy going. She is a bit of a bitchy girl and stubborn about everything she does. If she wants to do something, she will probably sneak out to get it done. She got a some of anxiety and a nervous twitch (which would grow over the years since Liv is afraid of being alone and in the dark about a lot of things), this creeping fear and sadness that will take over her if not careful.

- However Liv is very accident prone, she’s always getting hurt one way or another, giving everyone an heart attack since the age of 9 since she’s always been a active little girl. So in result she give Tony and something for Rei to roll his eyes about.

- From an young age, she has always been into tech, jewelry and over all. Wanting to build and grow a her own little things, she was a Stark it’s a given! She watched a lot of movies so she got creative with her ideas.

- Random fun fact, one of her favorite movies is 10 Things I Hate About You, just because she likes Kat Stratford’s aesthetic and attitude. But it’s many Action Movies and Rom-Coms that she will watch with Pepper, that she enjoyed. It’s where she gets her inspiration for things.

- She adored the idea staying in the lab, tinkering and cleaning up the inventions that were made. She practically lived in there, staying home to help and learn. It caused never want to leave that house in general, having a bit of mouth on her after hearing the adults always speak their minds (so don’t be surprised this girl start rambling and throws out whatever bullshit that appears in her thoughts), but it allowed her to be a safe within those four walls.

- It didn’t take long for her to start filling up a notebook with designs on how to incorporate technology into fine jewelry (aka The Stark Watch, necklaces to tracking and security measures, bracelets to be use for defense purposes and rings can be transformed into gauntlet). 

- She’s always been bit of business women! Wanting to create products to help people, keeping an eye on things from behind the scenes, represent and model for Stark industries and such. 

- But she was still so young, so her parents and siblings didn’t want her to grow up so soon in the spotlight of it. She’s a kid! And she understood that, it bothered her but she understood why. So she stays hoping her time could come where she can help out the group.

—> Because little did she know that theses little gadgets and gizmos that would be incorporated into the ideas her father and older brother would use as fashion purposes in the future with their own suits. Aka they’re Iron Man suits!

—> I know you may be wondering about her family life, well Liv raised well per say. She had to move around a lot as a child, especially since Tony never wanted the public attention to be on her just yet and her mother wasn’t sure that she would taken care of. It took convincing from Pepper and Jason to let her stay home with them, so everything was fine after that.

Her relationship with her father was an nice one. When it comes to parenting his kids, Tony was a rather dramatic, embarrassingly loud at times, a little cocky and stubborn parent per day, so it’s a bit difficult to get him to calm down and talk softly with him. Tony cares a lot about his children, having Rei and Liv to take care of but he was always busy with the company having to arrive home late, events he had to attend and ending up being tired.

Other than that, he tried to make time for his son and daughter, bringing them to the lab and everywhere he could. Even if he got in trouble afterwards. Tony always tries to inspire his daughter to do what she loves and experience things, be caring, make sure she was alright too and etc. But they make it work!

Ohh, did I forget to mention how annoying and protective Tony can be as a parent? He will take everything very seriously or not serious at all, acting out if something goes wrong and he tends to be questioning his motives. Even blaming himself if something bad were to happen to his family. Tell Tony Stark you have a crush? He sends JARVIS to keep an eye on you. Ask Tony for something like a new backpack for school? He buys you something else.

In his defense, he does everything with so much love (even if he doesn’t always portray it in the best way).

Her relationship with Rei however—you wouldn’t think it but rather wholesome, since she’s the little sister he never exactly wanted. They were completely opposite to one another, he’s grumpy and she’s easygoing, he rather work alone in silence and she rather work with music blasting and etc. But as much as Rei may be annoyed and want to throw his little sister out of the house, deep down he cares about her, even though he didn’t show it to her very often and he’s very protective of her ever since he was a child.

Rei and their father, always trying to keep Liv out of harms way and safe at home. Even if they tend to fail at times.

Since Tony was always busy, Rei tends to be one to look out for Liv and keep her in check, being her personal bodyguard for everything she does. If it was up to him, Rei would wrap his baby sister in bubble wrap and not let her leave the house!!

When they were kids (and even now) Liv would follow Rei wherever he went and wanting to copy him, be like her big brother because he always around the corner with something snarky to say to her and a huge potty mouth (it resulted in her having a huge attitude as well). She will always be the one to encourage Rei’s designs for suits and talk to dad about something.

He talks and she will absolutely love to listen to him (even if 85% of the time she has no idea what he’s talking, cause he’s smarter than her at a lot of things.)

Sometimes you will find Liv in a moody way shutting everyone out of her room and just curled up in a ball, similar to brother and to be honest, it concerns Rei a bit when it happens. But he would probably try to snap her out of it, even not he will let her be in her moody moments. He knows how it is

At the end of the day, no matter how different they were with one another and the paths they choose, they cared in their own way. Even if when they’re public, they act like they don’t know one another.

—> As for her relationship with the Avengers and Young Avengers! Ooof let’s stick to first impressions, shall we?

She met all of them when she just a child, joining Rei and Tony on a simple basis day with the group. She first started watching her father talking with Bruce Banner, and she took a liking to him very much seeing how nice, gentle and reserved he can be. But there an edge to him, that she found to be cool.

As for when she met Rick, it was when him and Rei were chatting. Her first impression of him, to her the young man is that he looked like a old school Disney Channel Star with a nice smile and warmth, with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

So when she saw Bruce, Rick, Rei and Tony all work together in their own separate labs blasting music so loudly..the only thing Vi said, “Oh no, there’s 4 of them!”

When she met Natasha, she just cool and rather chill per say acting like the nonsense agent with a soft side. Romanoff’s daughter on the other hand, she was just curious about her and Vi liked that.

Same thing goes for Clint and his daughter, they were just cool people. She was always amazed with the skills they had, and a part of her always knew that Clint Barton was a family man. And she was right, when they appeared at the Barton’s Barn years later.

Meira and Luna were just so relaxed, gentle and sweet girls. She adored how they acted with their teammates and siblings, especially Meira since she was a little sister just like her. Sweet and snarky.

Ethan was just super chill and suspicious of everything, Rei didn’t like him and carried Vi alway from from very quickly. Cole was just so mischievous, snarky smile and tossing jokes every day, making Vi laugh or snort. But a part of her respected him greatly, cause she heard he was VERY powerful.

Liane, well she didn’t like her right away. She annoyed Olivia very quickly and she sent painful glared toward the girl who tried to make friends with her. After a while she softened toward Ms Felton, but it took a long time cause she saw Rei didn’t like her either.

——

Daphnia Barnes-Wilson 🪫

Full name: Daphnia Ramona Wilson-Barnes 

Nicknames: Daphne, Nia, Daph, DD, Sparky, Daffy, Fifi, Birdie,

Other name while on the run: Davina, Robin

Age range: 7–20

Height: 5’7

Relationship status: Single

Parents: Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson

Background: American with Mexican and Chilean Origin

Aunt: Sarah Wilson

Uncle: Steve Rogers

Sister: Laurie Wilson

Brother: Benjamin Barnes

Abilities: Marksmanship and Acrobatics, having took some gymnastics classes. She’s also a bit of a fast learner so she’s fluent in English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and some French.

Personality: Gentle, a little broken due to being let down a lot in life, warm-hearted, clumsy, a bit shy and humorous at times. But if she’s anything like her fathers, she’s stubborn enough, a little self-sacrificing, and willingly to help no matter what.

- Sam and Bucky have been together for a while now, since their chemistry was a challenging one it always hard to settle down and figure out what they want. However a house, family and future for their kids was always one of them.

- They already had Laurie and Benjamin, so they thought two kids was enough as it is. But things took a small turn when they stumble at a orphanage in Brazil for a mission and met this no named little girl who gave both of them the most honest smile.

- Sam has always been one to have a big heart, so wanting a big family was always part of that. So his heart spoke before his words ever could, wanting to adopt her. Bucky Barnes on the other hand was a little hesitant—well more like worried—about the whole thing, he always wanted a little piece of normalcy and he got it with Sam and their kids. But adding a 3rd? That was a lot of responsibility, but he caved as soon as he hung out with the girl.

- To be honest, they saw a bit of themselves in her. So she was adopted when she less than 10 years old and brought into a family of oddly comforting heroes. They named gave her a name and did everything they could to make her feel comfortable. Welcomed.

—> So Davina (or Daphne) as they called her grow up with her parents and siblings. As loved as she was, she always felt alone and feared that it will all be taken away from her. Especially with the fact that her parents were heroes themselves, there was always a chance that they can end up hurt or worse, if not careful.

- But Bucky always made sure to tell her and every single one of his children, “Don’t worry, I’ll always come back home to you guys, no matter how long it takes.” And Sam would tell them, “You’re our kids, we will always love you and be there to tuck you in bed whenever we can.”

- Sometimes they would be gone for 2-3 days, maybe a week or a whole month leaving the kids in care of family and friends. Laurie was the oldest of the siblings, so they could handle themselves very well and or sneak off to join the fight ending with them in trouble. Benjamin being the second oldest, so he rather stay behind during the fight and stay with his sisters and friends.

- Speaking of fights and travel, when if plenty say battle isn’t place for children. Sometimes Sam and Bucky had no choice but to bring there kids with them to places like Wakanda, Stark Tower, France and or let’s say Germany for instance. Even though it was a hassle to bring children along for the ride, it was an interesting learning experience and a way to test out their kids

- And to be honest, Daph and her siblings enjoy it a little too much. Cracking jokes, running around, exploring different places and meeting interesting people, and creating new ideas among one another. It was a field trip for them sometimes.

-> And if your wondering, yes Daphnia is team #HateJohnWalker! When she found out, she was ready to take her baseball bat and wack his head with it, demanding the Shield back with a glare. Bucky couldn’t be more prouder of her in that moment laughing, meanwhile Sam rolled his eyes unable to believe what he heard.

- Random fun fact, she played baseball before she was ever adopted and had really good aim, depending on where she was hitting. It was a trait her siblings carried on as well, especially Benjamin even if he was more reserved one, he had a great aim.

- She always loved any sport that involves movement and play, soccer being one of them (since she lived in Brazil for a while). She liked to think she was rather talented when it came to that, even if she was a problem when it came to being around other kids, having a small temper and glaring at other people. Mainly, it was her insecurity that she hid underneath her own glares. 

- Matter a fact all the kids were talented in their own way ever since they were younger. Daphne when she was very little, believed at the time that she didn’t have any good talents and wasn’t as smart enough as it is. Until Sam took her out to the shopping and noticed that she stopped in front of small gymnastics building with wide eyes, softly grinning at the sight. She pleaded for him to let her walk in and see the girls, he nodded letting her watch. As she did, Daph realized she wanted to join in on the fun and dance as well. Sam couldn’t stop himself and called Bucky for his opinion on it.

- She started her classes soon enough and enjoyed it for the most part, her body was rather sore after some classes. So she wasn’t too happy about that part. When Bucky told Nat about it, the Russian spy came in shocked and said, “If she wanted to learn some acrobatics, why didn’t you come to me or Lydia? Barton would’ve showed her!” 

- Bucky just rolled his eyes and replied, “Cause she wanted that to be her own thing. And it doesn’t hurt to have some normalcy around her, Romanoff. I think it’s a good thing..” And Bucky was right about that, since he loved seeing his husband and children happy, enjoying themselves and having a break from the hero world. Hell, he goes to every talent show, buys items needed and participates in whatever is needed. Even if he’s not too happy about it at first.

- Of course as much as acrobatics were her own thing and all she ever wanted to do, so she can have that skill set. That didn’t stop the idea of having good marksmanship in her left corner, she was already good with a baseball bat and Bucky was more than happy to show the basics of how to hold/use a gun to his kids. Sam wasn’t too pleased about that idea though saying, “They’re too young!”

- And to be honest, Daph was pretty good with a gun. Swinging it swiftly and tossing the gun in her hands, holding it up to her target (which was an old target board hanging outside nearby the trees). However that didn’t mean she didn’t play around with the gun at first, holding in her hands and pretending to be a spy. “Barnes, but you can call Agent Daphnia Wilson, at your service.” She said with a giggle, humoring herself.

- Daph was always a little silly, cocky and daring. Not thinking first and asking questions later kinda gal—oops! So it lead her to getting in trouble sometimes, breaking certain curfews if she out at the movies with a friend (like with one of the young avengers), being a little lazy about things and running away from her problems like a champ. But by the end of the day, she was good girl.

-> Speaking of Young Avengers and Older Avengers. You’re probably wondering who’s her favorites are and first impression were of the teams huh? Well, here are your answers.

Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were a given to being liked by her, due to her parents being friends with them. I mean come on, they are basically Captain America, The Black Widow and the rest of Cap’s Quarter.

Moving down the list Thor was always a silly man to her, hearing stories how he speaks in old English and is very noble when it comes to the things that he does. According to the stories from Sam, he was a rather loud fella with a good heart.

Clint Barton, she took a liking too finding his simple ways of life and honest charm to be a nice thing to see. Plus Clint has a similar murder stare to Bucky, so it was funny to see their resting faces when they’re in the same room together.

The man, the myth, the legend himself (or that’s at least what people like to say) Tony Stark was always one of a kind. She was very nervous to meet all of The Avengers, one of them being Stark having seen how the persona he displayed on TV screens and the stories. But in reality, Tony was just a genius goof with snarky humor, so it lighten up her mood.

It was like Bruce Banner sensed her nervousness from a mile away since she appeared in The Tower. He noticed the child behind Sam Wilson holding her jacket, leaned down to her level to kindly introduce himself to the girl and watching parents reactions. Soon enough, with Bucky leaning against the wall with a nod of encouragement, Daph started talking to Bruce with such softness and gentleness.

As for the rest of them, she met them some time later. The Young Avengers. She met the Stark siblings, Rei wasn’t in the lightest mood having no like the idea of meeting Barnes or Wilson’s kids but Olivia gave her a warm welcome and waved at her before rushing off to meet her friends at the mall.

Natasha Romanoff’s daughter Rochelle was kind enough to show her and her siblings around, chatting with them knowing it felt to be the new kids. Daph liked her reddish hair and kind smile.

Liane was something else, having been on a rambling mess when she met Daph and trying to figure out what to do with her plans. Laurie laughed as her sister snicker at the blonde, meanwhile Benji just rolled his eyes confused wanting to get away from there.

Meira was and will always be a delight to meet, since Daphnia met her that same week in The Tower’s kitchen and taste testing her new batch of cookies. They were delicious.

Speaking of food, when Daphnia met Rick she got the same warmth and kindness she remembered from being Bruce. But this time it involved snacks and jokes around his week at The Tower, she was all ears listening to him as they entered the kitchen to find some chicken nuggets.

Cole and Luna, it was more magic and fun spells when she came to see them. The two were casting some spills, when she got caught in one of them being turned into a little mouse by accident. Cole laughed as Luna worried, but they turned her back to normal soon enough.

Ethan was the 3rd sibling she met, and she thanked all the Stars and Stripes that it was a simple meeting. He was watching a movie, being Monsters Inc. when she met him the guy joining The Young Avengers for a movie night.

———

I hope you liked it and thank you for taking your time to read this!

If you want to know anything about theses OCs, let me know in the comments below.

Please like, comment, share and reblog if you like.

Tags: @gcthvile @rickb-chaos @msrochelleromanofffelton @mallowbee4 @mandylove1000 @gaminggirlsstuff @whitewiccan @rooster-84 @parisparker269 @sherloquestea @starkleila @meiramel @blueboirick and etc



[deviantartdramahub]

Lol imagine unironically saying kek- https://web.archive.org/web/20240523054740/https://www.deviantart.com/liesoft/status-update/It-really-isn-t-personal-but-1055229175 uh ohhh more slur using!! And honey, what you're saying isn't just swears, they're words created to DISCRIMINATE against people, that's what a slur is, sweetheart. And that's why it's so bad and bigoted. How old are you? It's pretty embarrassing a teenager on the internet has to explain things like this to you. But I suppose not surprising, considering the fact you and your allies live in a magical little world where you all are incapable of doing any wrong, and anyone who suggests you aren't perfect must be exterminated. Also no one asked about this Dollcreep person no one cares why are you giving random ass lore dump lmao. And what makes you think anyone will believe your fake ass proof (btw screenshots aren't valid proof bc they can be manipulatedddd!! How many times do I have to repeat that to you toddler attention span mfs lmfao) when you're proving right there that your harassing is purely out of bigotry?? It's not putting words in your mouth, because the R slur is right there XD

Also I obviously have no problem with normal swearing, I swear all the time, so idk why you're making us out to be little 5 year olds going "MOMMYYYY BIG BROTHER SAID HECK!!!" bc that's not the case at all lmaoo.

Btw more slur using, the fact it's only the one used for disabled people surely is telling. Wonder when they'll start calling Tri the f-slur for being LGBT, bc we know they're obviously not above that. https://web.archive.org/web/20240523171148/https://www.deviantart.com/liesoft/status-update/Would-also-like-to-add-1055290265

It's so fucking hilarious how they're saying we're the ones deleting our comments to avoid backlash when their ally Evie literally just did that very thing. DADN and their allies love doing bad things to throw the blame onto their victims, they do it all the damn time. At this point, "hypocrite" would be a compliment to them. Also Ninja mentioned this post in their most recent ask, so Liar confidently saying Ninja won't see the post is so funny. Uh ohhh they actually look at shit because they have critical thinking skills unlike you uh ohhhh.

Don't even know what ask this one's directed to bc the archive won't let me go to it, and the link's preview doesn't give any clues, but oh well. https://web.archive.org/web/20240523205657/https://www.deviantart.com/liesoft/status-update/Another-retard-spewing-shite-But-1055447327 Blah blah more slurring blah blah also we can tell you have no friends lol.

Alright bye bye looks like someone wants to be the new Mod-S bc their goddess abandoned them lmaooo so sad and pathetic :3

Which means I'll probably have to post frequently again and call out more bullshit. Sighhh... -_-

(But my source of knowing about these posts is Ninja's asks, so if Ninja can keep alerting me about these, it'd be greatly appreciated <3

Also, if I remember correctly, slurs are against DA rules.

[knowlesian]

i will actually finish my short ode to the s1 finale when i’ve gotten any sleep. for now: why the four good place leads actually voltron together to create one perfect human!!!!

(aka: why the good place makes the argument pobody’s nerfect, there’s a lot of ways to be smart, and we need everybody crushing it in their own lane together to overturn the system instead of trying to go it alone or assume people who don’t see the world the same way we do don’t have anything to offer us.)

chidi's the most obvious one, and the kind of intelligent we find easiest to acknowledge: he fucking loves books. like eleanor says, he’s the smart one. this is a source of so very many hilarious jokes, but on a characterization level everything we know about chidi says this is instinct for him. he honed himself over the years, sure, but the kind of intelligence it takes to sort through and synthesize a bunch of theoretical information and come up with his own take on it all is driven deep right into his nerdy lil’ soul. the books helped and expanded what he’s already got and thanks to one very hilarious/sad childhood misunderstanding he has decided they are literally the answer to everything. 

eleanor's got the next kind of intelligence we more or less respect. jj bittenbinder would call it street smarts. eleanor might not know who died and left aristotle in charge of ethics, but she can read the troubling undercurrents of a room and cut through all the bullshit to what’s really going on. people like eleanor instinctively leave the party right before the cops arrive. her childhood and life spent forced to emotionally fend for herself turned her into a knowing when things are about to turn and getting out first nightmare human, but like chidi this is part of who she is. this is why she’s the one who figures out they’re in the bad place almost every single time; something’s not right here, and she can feel it.

tahani's the next level down, and a little harder to spot: it’s social intelligence. not necessarily social skills, but tahani can look at a room and understand the dynamic and what it needs in a way that is somewhat like eleanor’s way of knowing where all the exits are, but not quite. tahani is good at reading and inserting herself in a social flow, cruise director style. the rules of social flow she learned living in Weird Rich People Land mask some of this early on, but the whole hostess gag covers a real truth: it’s fucking hard to plan and then throw a good party, let alone one that stays good.

jason is our last one. he’s the wise fool archetype, but done in a way i like better than the standard set-up of just pulling out random facts we find surprising a total dumbass knows; jason’s emotional intelligence is off the fucking charts. he understands undercurrents like ‘when you’re nice to someone and they’re not nice to you, something’s not right’ and ‘janet should be treated with reverence’. it’s why he’s the one who knows they should have caught that magic panda and used her powers! (the visual payout of the panda joke later is truly one of the funniest jokes on the whole show.) he’s the kindest person in maybe the universe, and he’s the only one other than eleanor who ever figures out they’re in the bad place, also because he just feels it.

the way the team grows once they find each other is about becoming the best version of themselves, but it’s also about pointing out even the best version of ourself lacks skills the best version of somebody else finds instinctive and easy to understand. they end up needing all those skillsets to find their way to the (fucking amazing) series finale; take a single one of them out of the mix entirely, none of it would have worked at all.

(there’s also a lot of fun overlap between the four, too; chidi and tahani’s skills are about Speaking Fluent Bullshit, eleanor and jason’s about cutting through it. tahani and eleanor share the social situations angle, and jason’s kindness overlaps with chidi’s intense desire to be ethical, & etc.)

[astridthevalkyrie]

summer rain: chapter 1

Your days in the Training Corp aren’t too out of the ordinary. You make friends, you train hard, and you eat dinner every day.

Oh, and you’re also hellbent on getting revenge against Humanity’s Strongest Soldier. 

Chapter 2

Read on FF.net or AO3.

Helloooo, beautiful people. I’m so excited about this story! This is now the official first part of the series, so it’s a prequel to the three oneshots I’ve already posted. If you haven’t read them, no worries, you can read this just fine. If you want to, just know they all have an established relationship and will reference the past, so you may possibly get spoiled. 

I plan for this to have five or so chapters, so buckle up, and as always, happy reading!

You’ve been expecting more.

Maybe that’s the wrong perspective to have. It’s still the military, and it’s still your first day and sure, that’s exciting and all, but you’ve heard stories. People always describe their first day of training as absolutely terrifying, but life-changing. They say that the first day is the day all the baby-faced cadets realize they’re in over their heads. It’s an introduction to the rest of their lives. At least, that’s the case for the people who stay. If one can’t handle a verbal beating, how can they stand any chance against the titans? The first day changes everything.

This, however, isn’t life-changing. It’s not terrifying. It’s rather...dull.

To be fair, the man in front doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it either.

You’ve heard of him, of course you have. Even back within Sina, people talk. A newcomer, a gift from the walls, humanity’s savior. Recently joined the Survey Corp and yet already a lieutenant, a definite shoe-in for the next available section commander position. Apparently his origins are a bit of a mystery, but he’s either the long lost son of a rich merchant or he’s come from outside the walls themselves because it’s just impossible that any common person can possess the skills he’s rumored to have. You’re not sure you believe all of it - apparently he’s so fast that the titans can’t even see him coming? yeah, sure - and yet there’s just something about him that gives off a truly well-earned confident aura. That’s been the most exciting part so far, the chance to see him up close, to see that he’s actually real.

Still, since he began talking, Lieutenant Levi hasn’t once raised his voice. He hasn’t screamed at them all for being the weakest pieces of shit he’s ever seen. He hasn’t even told them about how they’re going to train to become snacks for the titans. It’s disappointing. You’ve been ready to stand your ground, to show you’re made of some tough stuff. That can’t happen when your trainer won’t even bother to strike fear into your heart. Where other people may be relieved, you are mourning this loss of the traditional military experience.

At the very least, he’s not the actual trainer. He started his speech with a complaint that their actual instructor was sick for the day so now he had the absolute pleasure to welcome dozens of new fucking brats to their new home and occupation. His words drip with venom and boredom - clearly, he didn’t join to do any of this. It’s beneath him. All in all, Lieutenant Levi seems rather...arrogant. Maybe it’s well-deserved. But you don’t have to like it.

As he walks up to people at random who shout out their bare identities, the lieutenant snaps out comments that seem like they’re meant to bully rather than to frighten.

“Your posture is shit.”

“Oh wow, I bet the titans will be real scared of your noodle arms.”

“And here I thought these villages would send their best and brightest. Instead they sent you.”

But you’re not one to let things get to you so easily. You have your fist balled to your chest proudly, ready to serve humanity. You’ve fought to get where you are, and now you’re really, actually standing here, with your new comrades besides you, and you couldn’t be more proud. A bright smile settles on your face. You will make the best out of this, no matter your humanity-saving trainer’s dour mood. 

Unfortunately, said humanity-saving trainer takes notice of your smile, and with his gaze locked on his new target, he walks up to you, eyes narrowed in irritation.

“What’s your deal?”

You straighten your back, snap to attention, and look directly ahead as you know is appropriate. “Cadet (F/N) (L/N), sir, from Stohess District!”

His expression doesn’t throw you off, despite it looking like he’s never been so irritated in his life. You know you haven’t done anything wrong (at least not yet), so him looking that pissed off must be an internal issue, nothing to do with you. You’re not any different than any of the other cadets that have introduced themselves.

“Cadet (F/N) (L/N),” he says as though he’s testing out a brand new curse word, with just a hint of mockery in his voice. “I didn’t ask for your name or where you were from. I asked what your deal was.”

Well what in the holy hells is that supposed to mean?

Is what you want to say, but instead you simply furrow your brows and ask curly. “Sir?”

“What the fuck are you so happy about?” he clarifies, annoyance displayed clearly on his face.

Well damn, no need to be so edgy. You aren’t necessarily required to be as serious as everyone else here, and smiling isn’t a crime last time you checked. But this is obviously Lieutenant Levi’s thing, to be snarky and mean, and the sooner you answer, the sooner he’ll move on and find a new victim. “Just happy to be here, sir.”

Your smile stays right where it is.

“Oh, is that it?” He stares at you, deadpan. “You like the thought of being eaten? Does the idea just make your day? Do you fantasize about it at night? Let it lull you to sleep?”

Your smile grows a little strained.

Passion aggression is nothing new. You grew up in Stohess, you’re used to your fair share of cattiness. The lieutenant must take lessons from the tea-sipping high class ladies you’d basically grown up with, because he reminds you of them vividly. Ironic, considering you thought the military would be an escape to a life that was real and included less passive bullshit. It’s that frustration at the similarity that makes your polite mask crack.

The response slips through your lips before you can stop yourself. “No, sir, but last night I did happen to dream of a trainer that was tough enough to handle one of his subordinates smiling.”

You can be catty too. 

The grounds become more silent than they already were. It’s as though everyone is suddenly holding their breath at this new confrontation, just waiting to see what the newly dubbed hope of humanity will do if someone matches his sass. The loud silence is what finally makes you just a smidge nervous - surely, they won’t kick you out on your very first day just because of a smart comment, right?

Impatient and a bit anxious, you finally allow yourself to look directly in his eyes, and you’re suddenly stricken by how grey they are. You don’t think you’ve ever met anyone with grey eyes. They’re damn gorgeous. And there’s a hint of...something in them, and to your surprise it’s not rage. He looks calculatingly gleeful, as though he’s just been waiting for someone to say something back to him. He appears cruel and delighted all at once, and the contrast of it along with the striking silver hue is more personality than you’ve ever seen in someone’s eyes before.

It’s a breathtaking sight. You move in just a millionth of a centimeter to get a closer look -

And then he moves, lightning fast, reeling back and swinging his leg around to sweep your legs from under you. With a gasp, you hit the ground hard, head ringing and vision blurring for a few seconds. Your hair, which was loose around your shoulders, flies across your face, some of it entering your mouth. From above you, grey eyes are triumphant, looking down on you as though to ask whether or not that’s tough enough for you. You’d love to answer, but your head is throbbing and you can only let out a pathetic, confused noise that causes titters to spread throughout the room.

What the hell just happened?

You move to get up, but he’s quicker, slamming his foot down on your leg and holding you right where you are. For someone with such a short stature, he looks pretty damn tall from down here. Maybe this is the sight that the titans barely get to see before he slices through them. 

Everyone is watching, even if they’re not turning their hands. This is their entertainment today, and the fool has just made its move. The fool being you, of course. They’re all hungry to see how this will play out.

Your cheeks glow bright with embarrassment, but you are not going to waver. Not on the first day. This is what you wanted, right? You wanted someone who’d be a hardass, who’d strike fear in you and make this a day you’d never forget. Well, Lieutenant Levi is your wish come true.

“Please remove your foot, sir,” you muster as politely as you can, looking up at him icily.

He digs the heel of his shoe into your thigh to make a point, and maybe to see if you’ll cry out in pain. But you look him in his strange grey eyes and you only blink, a small smile returning to your face. Will he kick someone who’s already down?

The moment seems to last forever, and you briefly entertain the fantasy that time is freezing for him as much as it is for you.

And then it’s all broken - he takes his foot off and walks right by you, and the only words you’re spared after being humiliated are, “Tie your hair up, you look ridiculous.”

Thus goes your first meeting with Humanity’s Strongest Soldier.

____________________

Dinner that night is filled with chatter. It seems people have found their loyal companions pretty fast, and cliques are forming faster than a speeding bullet. 

Luckily, you don’t need to worry about making friends. Besides the fact that you’re charming and perfect (according to everyone else and definitely not just you), you joined the military with your best friend from childhood. Millie Shackel is every bit the Stohess lady you are, the Rose to your Maria, the jelly to your butter. It’s amazing how much two girls can bond over a shared hate for the lack of activity happening within their stuffy town.

You gnaw at the bread on your plate, squeezing your eyes shut in pain after a particularly hard bite makes the back of your head throb. Not for the first time, you place your hand gingerly on the back of your skull, confirming that there’s no blood pouring out.

“Shouldn’t have mouthed off,” Millie quips from across the table, looking at you amusedly.

“Thanks,” you mutter bitterly, abandoning the bread for now until the soreness goes away. “Didn’t think one stupid comment was going to make him go berserk on me.”

She laughs, confirming you sound every bit as stupid as you feel. “I don’t think that classifies as berserk. That was a superior putting you in your place.”

“Suck-up,” you accuse, eyes narrowed. She only rolls her eyes, and you bring the cup of water to your lips and begin simply guzzling it down when someone claps you on the back, making you choke.

You turn to glare, still coughing up water, at two guys behind you. The one who nearly killed you is tall, with hair the color of bananas, and he’s grinning with no regrets, the shameful bastard. The other one behind him looks apologetic, red-haired with pretty green eyes. He whacks his friend on the arm. “You idiot, you nearly sent her to the infirmary!”

“Oh, come on.” The tall guy slides next to you without permission, slinging an arm around you as though you’re the closest of chums. Back in Stohess, you’d have called for his execution or some shit. “Surely the girl who talked back to Lieutenant Levi can handle some water going down the wrong way.”

Millie does not look pleased at the intruder, and looks even more grouchy when his friend sits down next to her, albeit keeping a much more respectful distance. When you finally stop coughing violently, you shove the guy’s arm away.

“A-asshole, what the hell’s your problem?” 

“There’s no problem, kid.” He nudges your arm with his elbow. “I just wanted to see the balls on you. Guess it was overexaggerated.”

“Obviously,” you snap, “I just talked back, I didn’t hop over the wall and kill a titan.”

“Regardless, good job with the way you handled it. The others are talking about you.”

Millie gives you a stern look. “Hear that? Now we’re the troublemakers.”

You shrug apologetically, and decide to take another crack at eating your bread. This time, it goes down easier, with only a light sting to remind you of the lieutenant’s cruelty. 

“I’m Stephen,” the redhead says with a shy smile, extending his hand. You shake it, then turn your gaze questioningly to the one next to you. He grins cockily, waiting for you to ask. You don’t.

“This is Ricky.” Stephen spoils his fun, sounding exasperated. 

“I assume you two are close.” Millie wrinkles her nose distastefully. You bite back a laugh - there’s that Stohess bitchiness that you love about her.

“We met this morning,” Ricky responds, and you can’t tell if he’s joking or not.

The two of you warm up to the boys soon enough. Ricky is rather friendly when he’s not trying to steal your food thinking you won’t notice, and Stephen is downright sweet, his emerald eyes brightening when you ask him where he’s from. He goes off on a ramble about his village which is somewhere smack dab in the middle of the land within Wall Rose. Apparently their local stew is the best there is. You privately disagree; nothing quite tastes like the stew they make in the Orvud District, least of all this bland loaf of bread in your hand.

Ricky, on the other hand, is from Shiganshina, which is apparently an outer city of Wall Maria (so the two boys really had just met that morning). 

“So, I’m guessing it’s the MP for you two?” Ricky says. Millie looks offended.

“That’s not right for you to assume!” She deflates a little. “But yes, it is.”

“Hey.” You shoot her a scowl. “It’s the MP for you. I don’t have any intention of hurrying back to precious Sina.”

Millie gazes at you with her we’ll talk about this later look like she has every time you’ve brought up that you have no intention of returning to fucking Stohess where nothing ever happens. Before she can say anything, Ricky ruffles your hair fondly. 

“Should’ve known you were made of tougher shit than that. So what, you like playing hero?”

You shrug. “No, I just have a sob story. Dead old Dad was a Scout, and then he was titan chowder.”

Stephen looks disturbed at how bluntly you say it, and even Ricky is a bit thrown off. You chuckle at their expressions, waving a hand nonchalantly. “It’s fine, it happened a while ago. I barely remember him. But you know, what better way to connect with your dead dad than to align yourself with the people who let him die, right?”

Ricky’s mouth hangs open as Millie snorts. “You can laugh, she’s making a joke. Get used to her sense of humor, it’s always this bad.”

“I resent that.”

“So you don’t care about getting into the top ten?” Stephen asks carefully - scoping out the competition, you realize.

“Couldn’t give less of a shit,” you answer coolly, “but Millie obviously does.”

“I’ll get into the top ten, it’s not about that.” Millie says confidently, shaking her head as though it’s ridiculous to even imagine that she wouldn’t. After all, you two were raised to be perfect. “The real goal is to be first.”

Ignoring the madly ambitious look in her eyes, you focus on Stephen. “So what is it for you? The Scouts?”

He winces bashfully. “I’m...undecided.”

You laugh out loud, a bit meanly. “What, undecided like you’re going to some top university in Mitras? This is the Training Corp, Stephen, you’re not gonna get to try out a bit of everything. Just choose whether or not you wanna be shipped off to a pointless death, and then you’ve made your decision.”

Stephen frowns, shaking his head. “If it was that simple, then what would be the point of choosing?”

Who in the holy hells asked for his philosophical wisdom, that’s what you want to know. Rolling your eyes, you turn to Ricky, who is chewing on your bread, abandoned after your taste buds just wouldn’t adjust without the butter you were used to. With his mouth full, he answers easily. “Scouts.”

You nod. At least he’s sure.

____________________

“That wasn’t right,” Millie says later, right as you’re about to lie down on a scratchy-looking bed.

“What?”

“What you said to him. He can take his time deciding if he wants to. And it’s just rich, coming from you.”

Your eye twitches in irritation. “You’re just pissed because I don’t wanna take on the most boring job in the world.”

“Grow up,” Millie hisses, venom laced in her voice. “Not everything’s about your entertainment.”

Turning around, you see your best friend with arms crossed, giving you a disapproving look that reminds you of your mother. How odd. What’s that old saying about people becoming what they most hate?

“You’re gonna lecture me now too? Hit me with some philosophy, maybe?” You raise your brow, daring her to say more. “Or do you wanna knock me over again? Maybe I’ll get a concussion this time.”

Millie scoffs, sitting down on the bed she’s claimed. “You know what, it was nice. Seeing someone put you in your place like that.” Her lips quirk under your hard gaze. “Maybe he’ll teach you a thing or two about taking things seriously. Give you some actual goals to achieve.”

The only thing Lieutenant Levi will teach you is to never get distracted by something like how beautiful someone’s eyes look ever again. Even now, you can still picture him, the way he stood in front of you, startled you, threw you off. The way his eyes were filled with more duality than you’d ever expected to see in a person.

Pretending like you didn’t just fantasize about his pretty grey irises, you roll your eyes and flop down on the bed next to her’s. “He’s not gonna teach me jack shit. He’s not even our trainer.”

Millie hums, whether it’s to you or to herself you don’t know, and when you look at her again she’s closed her eyes, clearly wanting to end what was a very long day. It’s not long before you join her.

“(F/N).”

“Yeah?”

“I miss home.”

You don’t, but you keep it to yourself.

The last thing you think of before you fall asleep is how cold the lieutenant had looked when he humiliated you, and your cheeks burn angrily.

____________________

Two weeks pass by in a blur. Once training starts, there’s not much time to think about something like goals, because everyone’s goal is simply living until dinner each night. Avoid getting yelled at, attend classes, study hard, and for the love of all things holy don’t fall on your face when you’re balancing in the practice ODM gear. 

It’s a rush, and you actually find yourself enjoying it. The food still tastes stale and the bed is still too hard to be comfortable, but there’s an easy routine that’s so much more than sit still and look pretty. While you’ve never been a fan of routine, this is different. There’s a purpose to this, even if everyone has different things they’re working towards. Whether they’re trying their best to show what they’re made of and get into the top ten like Millie, or pushing themselves because they get starry-eyed at the thought of saving humanity like Rashad, or simply staying out of trouble to avoid getting meal privileges taken away like Clara, everyone is working towards something, and it’s thrilling to be in the midst of it, to be a part of something meaningful.

You and Ricky are fast friends - he’s surprisingly not too insufferable and he shares your enthusiasm for not taking things so seriously. He also seems like he’s looking for a partner in crime, someone to partake in the oh-so delightful task of slacking off with. Millie is throwing herself into perfecting everything, and Stephen, while not as crazy as she is, is more nervous about losing respectability in front of their trainers and comrades. So the two of you naturally gravitate towards each other, because jeez, at least a few people here need to remember that life still exists outside of all of the training and military drama. 

Today is the first time they’re letting you practice hand-to-hand combat, and while that’s obviously ridiculous since you’re training to fight titans (or just bully people, if you’re joining the MP, but Millie didn’t appreciate you voicing that out loud), it’s also a chance for you to show off a natural talent. 

You’re flexible. And fairly fast too.

Sure, you’re no fighter, but back home you were put into dancing lessons since you were a wee young thing, so you have a much higher tolerance than most of these chumps. You can take a few hard punches here and there, and you’re fluid with your movements, so you’re giving as good as you get. Even combat is a dance in a certain way, it has all the same elements at any rate. Everything comes down to the placement of the feet, and every other body is an accessory that has to be utilized perfectly to do any damage. 

Unfortunately, Ricky’s fought, like actually fought - fucking peasants from Maria and their street fights - and so as much as you put up a damn good fight, he eventually gets you in a hold from behind. You squirm in his grasp as he laughs, digging his fingers in your side. You try to protest, but it’s hard when he’s tickling you so hard.

“H-hey, hey!” Your giggling only gets two octaves louder when Ricky doesn’t let up. “Stop!” Ricky’s laugh mixes in with yours, until he’s lifting you off the ground. Your breathing becomes painful as you struggle against his grip, clawing at his hands. “Ricky! Let go!”

Finally, he decides to show mercy, dropping you. He regrets it pretty soon, though, because then you’re on him quickly, throwing a hard punch against his shoulder. He groans, letting out a pained, “What the hell, (F/N)?” but you’re not done. You grab the collar of his uniform, and tug it forward briefly to give yourself some momentum to shove him back as hard as you can.

Ricky stumbles on his feet, catching himself before he falls at the last second. There’s a determined expression in his eyes, not quite competitive but suddenly eager to show off.

“So, think your dainty dancing is gonna give you the advantage here?” he challenges, balling his fists in front of his chest. You do the same. “Hate to break it to you, kid, but that’s not how that works.”

“Beat me, then. Properly.” You smirk, planting your feet firmly. Let him throw the first punch, you decide. “I have to be on the ground for you to win.”

Ricky’s clever too, knowing you intend to use his size against him. He lowers his arms, extending them as though he’s going to let you take a free shot. Yeah, you’re not that stupid. You stay right where you are, raising an unimpressed brow. The two of you stare each other down, trying your best not to break into smiles. 

“Hit me.”

“Hard pass.”

“Because you know your punch will be too weak?”

“How’s your shoulder, Ricky? Should be feeling fine, since my punch was so weak.”

He barks out a laugh, rolling his shoulder back experimentally. “Like getting hit by a feather.”

Okay, trash talk isn’t part of the combat training that the trainer, Instructor Grumman, has assigned. But it’s still fun, and it’s about a thousand times more preferable than actually fighting. Fighting is painful and pointless. Trash talk is entertaining and doable. 

Still, you hunch your shoulders. If Ricky really won’t move, you’ll come at him with full force. Digging your heel into the ground, you give yourself a boost and run towards him with a burst of speed. His eyes widen, and his first instinct is to hold out his hands to keep you at bay. But with the close proximity and his lanky figure, it won’t be enough. You’ll have him on his back within seconds if you ram into him in one, two -

You don’t make it.

You don’t make it because you’re suddenly flung into the air. You let out a frantic shriek and bring your arms up to shield your face. The ground approaches with dizzying speed and you hit it with a sickening thud. Your hands are suddenly covered in scratches and you open your mouth to furiously ask Ricky what the fuck he was thinking and how did he even do that and did he have to throw you so high -

But when you look up, it’s cold grey eyes that meet you.

Fuck.

The glare that was supposed to be for Ricky is now aimed at him, unadulterated hate coursing through your veins. This is the first time you’ve seen him since that day. Just what in the actual fuck is his problem, and just what had you done to deserve being thrown over his shoulder and up into the sky like a fucking ragdoll? You hadn’t mouthed off this time. Hell, you didn’t even know he was there, so just what the fuck was he punishing you for?

“People who don’t take their training seriously usually end up looking up like this,” he hisses. His glare matches yours, which is ridiculous, because he’s the one who knocked you down. Why is he pissed off? “‘Course, they’re usually looking up at a titan, but we don’t have any of those on hand for me to demonstrate.”

Yeah, he’s far from a titan. Fucking shrimp.

“I was taking my training very seriously, sir,” you say with gritted teeth. “In fact, I would have defeated my opponent had you not stepped in and shot me up in the air.” Your hands would also have significantly fewer bruises. 

He snorts, actually snorts, like you’ve just told a hilarious joke. “A real opponent isn’t going to let you run that mouth of yours before they come at you. You’d be dead in two fucking seconds.”

People are looking now. Everyone remembers that first day, and they all look as though their favorite stage actors have come to town to perform a show. They’re all waiting to see just what the girl who talked back to Lieutenant Levi will do now. A circus trick, perhaps? They don’t know what you’re made of - no one is going to see you crack. And definitely not because of this insufferable man.

“You don’t know that, sir.” You say it with a poisonous smile, wanting him to know that it’s not meant to be respectful. “I might just make it. Maybe I’ll even make it longer than you.”

There are hushed gasps all around you, but the lieutenant pays them no mind. He looks amused, as if you’re just a stupid little girl, an arrogant brat who somehow thinks she’s somehow stronger than him. You’re not an idiot, you know that he’s an excellent soldier who will probably make captain soon, and you’re a lowly cadet who doesn’t even know the basics yet. But once you’re trained up, once you have experience, you think you could take him on, and you could possibly win.

Lieutenant Levi leans down, crouching on his legs before leaning in. He grabs your shoulder harshly, and leans in to whisper in your ear. “I’ll be waiting, (L/N).”

You almost feel respected until he adds, “Waiting to see the day that fucking smile gets wiped off your face.”

With that, he stands up and turns. Turns to walk away. Turns as though you’re not still on the ground. Turns as though your comrades aren’t snickering around you, convinced that he just put you in your place a second time. Turns as though he didn’t just single you out for no damn reason - who even fucking asked him to watch? Who asked him to interfere in your business? Why didn’t anyone else demand his attention? You weren’t the only one goofing off. Hell, there were some people who were actually just lazing around! Where was their punishment?

Furiously, you speak before your brain can catch up.

“Why don’t you fight me, Lieutenant?” you say loudly as you get to your feet.

He stops.

Ricky, who is safely standing a few feet away now, gives you a wide-eyed look, silently asking if you’re brain damaged. But you pay him no mind, your eyes focused on the back of Lieutenant Levi’s head, probably burning a hole in him with your gaze by now. Immediately, the crowd changes sides again, hushed oohs spreading around. It’s not enthusiastic, no one actually believes you’ll triumph, but they are enthusiastic that you have the balls to try.

He turns, giving you the driest expression you’ve ever seen, and you half expect to be dismissed. To be told that you’re too weak to even think about fighting him.

Instead, his stance changes, his fists are raised, and he’s accepted your challenge.

You know you can’t win. That’s not the point. The point is to hold out. For a whole minute, at least. Half a minute. Was twenty seconds too generous?

There’s a small part of you that regrets mouthing off this time.

Lieutenant Levi doesn’t have to waste any time staring you down. He has no need to debate in his head about who should throw the first punch, and nor does he grant you the courtesy of devising a strategy in your head first. In half a second, he’s approaching you with dizzying speed, fist reeled back, about to knock you over for the second time today.

But you’re sick and tired of these fast maneuvers. 

You duck down just as he closes the gap between you, and you go for his legs. He grunts in surprise as you make contact, clutching tightly. It may look pathetic. Your arms are wrapped around his thighs, which you basically just dived into. Your face is squished against his hip. Your feet have left the ground, as you’ve thrown your entire body at him. At this moment, you look absolutely ridiculous.

But it’s worth it.

The lieutenant loses his balance as his feet slip from under him. You can feel him falling down, down, down, with a gasp that is just fucking music to your ears. This is turning out better than you’ve ever hoped for. You’ve proved everyone wrong, even yourself. He’s going to hit the floor, and you’re going to win. You’ll win.

Or at least, you would have.

You’re both hurtling through the air for one glorious moment. Then, recovering from his shock in an instant, Lieutenant Levi spins the two of you in midair, and despite all your efforts and quick calculations, it’s your back that hits the floor again with a loud crack, air knocked clean out of your lungs. You gasp for breath. His knees are digging into your neck, you’re going to choke -

He takes no time to recover. He’s up and on his feet in a second, brushing the nonexistent dirt off his pants, and you’re left panting with your hand on your throat, trying to recover what little dignity you have left as laughter erupts around you. Dizziness and confusion overwhelms you, as does something else. Just a few minutes ago, you’d been looking at him hatefully. Well, you from five minutes ago had no idea what hate was. You could kill him right now, this arrogant, pompous, cruel jerk. 

How dare he look so unperturbed? Like this is just a normal weekday for him?

A hand yanks you up by your hair, nails digging in your scalp painfully. You’re brought to your knees with a heaving gasp. He tugs your head up until you’re looking at him properly, and he has the nerve to smirk. It’s slight - perhaps he knows a full blown smile would look creepy on him - but it’s there, mocking you.

When he speaks, it’s just a little louder than a murmur. “I thought I told you to tie your hair up.”

Then he releases you, and your buckle over in pain. The position literally has you bowing down to him. White hot anger seeps through you. Consumes you. When he starts walking away, his every step thunders in your head, echoing a million times. He had no right. 

No right at all.

It seems like Millie’s wish has come true. You have a goal now. A goal that Lieutenant Levi has so graciously given you.

You’ve decided. No matter what happens, you’re going to get revenge on Humanity’s Strongest Soldier. He’s going to fucking pay.

____________________

You’re pacing out in the field later that day, muttering under your breath, the events from earlier replaying in your head on loop. Millie’s decided to give up on getting you to come study with her, and she’s blatantly refused to participate in your little quest for revenge, citing it as “pointless and foolhardy.” Well, this whole thing is pointless and foolhardy. The Training Corp is just a way to produce more dead bodies every year. But Millie didn’t agree with your line of logic and has left you to brood on your own.

Realistically, what are your options? It’s not an easy task to take on. Humiliating a man who is now so respected and admired will be difficult when his ego soars sky high. Something heavy will be needed to bring it down. Now you have no intention of ruining him for life, nothing major or extremely dangerous. If you did have such an intent, it would’ve been rather simple, just a letter back home to your mother to spread the word of what humanity’s hero was really like. Not that she’s inclined to listen to your demands nowadays, but it’s a doable plan that would work one way or another. But you want to embarrass Lieutenant Levi the exact same way he embarrassed you. You want to knock him flat on his back, while everyone watches, and you want to stand triumphantly as he kneels down to you.

Someone listening to your thoughts right about now would think you were having a vivid sexual fantasy. You groan, slumping down against the bark of a tree. It’s going to be dark soon. You have a curfew that you’re inclined to obey. But you simply can’t go back without thinking of a plan. He deserves it. He deserves to be utterly humiliated. Punishing you is one thing. Beating you in a fight is only natural. 

But holding you up by your hair like you’re one of the fucking spoils of war only to have you kneel to him - that’s sick. He’s sick, and probably perverted. You wonder if he’s always been like that, or if the glory has gone to his head. And you wonder why he’s chosen you to play this game with. Because of a smile and some cheek? That’s no excuse. 

Maybe you’re just the prettiest one here, and he has a crush.

Even the cocky thought can’t distract you enough from your frustration. You can’t possibly beat him. There’s a reason he’s getting so much attention. It’s because he can fight like no other, and it’s all natural talent too. Frankly, you call bullshit, no one is just that good without any practice, but whatever, not the point right now. Who could possibly make you capable enough to beat the lieutenant in a fight? Who could possibly know all his weaknesses? 

Probably only him.

Your eyes widen.

____________________

The sun shines brightly the next day. You feel the warm breeze from the open windows kissing your cheek as you run through the base. Most people passing by pay you no mind, although a few give you questioning looks. But they don’t say anything, probably figuring you’re just a lost newbie who’s inevitably going to get yelled at when you show up late for class. But they’re mistaken, you’re not lost at all. You’re running with purpose. And well, you might be late for class, but it’ll be fine, you know Stephen takes detailed notes that he’s willing to share, and even if he feels like being mean, this is much more important.

Originally, the plan was to go all the way to his office, the path pieced together from directions you’d gotten from Instructor Grumman who believed you were going to apologize (for what?). Hopefully, he won’t actually double check if you went through with it, because you have no intention of apologizing for a single damn thing. Your aim is far more sinister than that. Today is the first step of a plan that will take you a long while, but it’ll pay off eventually. You’re going to achieve your goal. 

That is, if he agrees.

The universe is on your side, because you don’t even need to go all the way to his office. There he is, in the flesh, talking to a blonde man you recognize as Captain Erwin Smith and a woman who you haven’t seen before. Maybe if he hadn’t been so callous yesterday, you’d have waited until he was away from his comrades before approaching him. It’s too late to care about appearances now.

You step up to the three of them and salute, clearing your throat.

He looks at you, and his eyes harden when he sees a smile plastered on your face yet again. 

“Can we help you?” Captain Erwin says gently, but there’s just the slightest edge in his tone. Clearly one is not supposed to just approach this dream team. Your bad.

You open your mouth to answer him, but Lieutenant Levi beats you to it, looking bored as he does. “She’s lost, Erwin. Classes are on the other side of the base,” he says dismissively, waving a hand like he’s swatting away a fly.

“I am not lost. Sir.” Your spine is still straightened and your fist is still balled against your heart. You’re not sacrificing it just yet, but you’re certainly sacrificing your pride here. “I have a request for you. After you pointed out my obvious flaws yesterday, I realized that if I don’t get help, I’m going to fall seriously behind.”

Captain Erwin shoots him an exasperated look, already having figured that his best friend (or whatever they are to each other) must have done something to you. Meanwhile, the woman cackles, nudging the lieutenant’s shoulder. 

“She’s being proactive! You appreciate that, don’t you, Levi?”

He doesn’t answer. His attention is now exclusively on you - you nearly feel special. 

“So what do you need from me, Cadet?” You ignore the way your stomach flip-flops violently from the way he stares at you, the corners of his mouth twitched upward in a light smirk. Something in him clearly enjoys the idea of you needing him for something. Something else to lord over your head, something else for him to be cocky about. “You want me to find someone to give you private lessons?”

“Close,” you say, mustering the brightest and happiest fucking expression you can, “I’d like you to give me private lessons. I want you to train me.”

The lieutenant’s eyes flash upwards. 

Your hair is neatly tied up in a tight bun.

Y’all have no idea how weird it is to write “Lieutenant Levi.” I loathe it.

Also, this is my first time writing in second person. Lots of firsts here, folks.

Please review, your comments are my source of life.

[sam-t-a]

Okay. 

*Deep breath* 

I think I’m finally calm enough to put into words exactly why I hated the finale and why I wasn’t completely surprised that I hated it. 

(Heads-up: this is really long and pretty negative. If you disagree, I would of course appreciate your point of view and love to hear it, but just thought I’d let you know in case this is the kind of post you would like to avoid.)

To me, it felt like every character on the show got betrayed in some way or another, but the main ones are Han Seo (devastatingly), Chayoung (obviously) and Han Seok (bear with me). 

Cha Young: 

She started out as a solid FL who annoyed some people for sure, but who had so much promise as someone unconventional and bold. The way her mother’s death affected her and caused a clear shift in her personality was a super interesting plot point that really never got explored. We have no idea how she came to sacrifice her morality in joining Wusang, just that she wanted to spite her father, which is a very superficial exploration. She gets cute idiosyncrasies in lieu of an actual character and an actual character arc. 

We also, halfway through the show, seem to forget that her father's death was the initial trigger. Cha young does not suggest bold ideas or intricate plans, she doesn’t fill the gaps Vincenzo is incapable of filling (because that would require that Vincenzo have flaws, and that’s not something the writers can abide), and she’s literally victimized in episode 19 and bedridden in episode 20, and that is IT. 

Someone who started out supposedly as Vincenzo’s equal just became another piece in his chess set, no matter how important a piece she may be. 

So her role as a badass avenger is trashed. That leaves her role as a love interest. Now, as Vincenzo’s love interest, she was supposed to get kidnapped in like episode 5 or 6 at the most if the villain has any brains whatsoever (Han Seok may or may not, more on that later). We need a reason for that not to happen too early. Cue villain is somehow in love with her for all of 15 minutes or so throughout a 20-episode series because a love triangle is inconceivable with the show’s current structure and for its purposes. 

So, she spends 15 or so episodes making the first move on Vincenzo, every time, putting herself out there, creating cute moments, getting nothing in return, and then he leaves. No confession, nothing much, he wasn’t even going to say goodbye or give her the choice of coming with him. 

I’m sure more chayenzo-oriented fans have already expressed all the necessary outrage over this, so I’ll move on to the part that I’ve personally been way more emotionally invested in from the get go: the Jang brothers. 

Han Seo: 

I was among the minority that  hated the “Vinny hyung” angle from the get-go and I’ve ranted about it in another post, so I won’t get into it here in-depth, but basically it was because I felt like Vincenzo hadn’t earned it, so to have the last words Han Seo hears be “You deserve to be my brother” or whatever the fuck he was on about PISSED ME OFF. It’s VINCENZO who doesn’t deserve to be Han Seo’s brother and hasn’t done a single thing to earn it. He was a good ally. The situation he allowed Han Seo to be a part of was beneficial to him, but Han Seo’s attachment to him was neither healthy nor heartwarming, and it certainly wasn’t returned on the level he offered it.

Vincenzo’s disregard of his death didn’t strike me as odd because I never saw enough indications that this was a two-way street and Han Seo’s safety and well-being came second so often that I didn’t get the impression Vincenzo was doing much to keep him alive. This is what I meant when I said the show was glorifying a torture survivor’s trauma responses. Han Seo himself, as a torture survivor, meant nothing to them. He was just there to create one more contrived comparison between Vincenzo and Han Seok. Instead of recovering from the trauma, it’s simply employed to someone else’s favor. He doesn’t go to prison for Han Seok, he takes a bullet for Vincenzo, and we’re supposed to see that as so much better.

All of that might (JUST MIGHT) not have ruined the show for me if he’d died better. 1) It was narratively pointless and totally avoidable, 2) they could’ve framed it as heroic, but instead Han Seok’s hand patting his head is pushing it down, so he can’t even get shot with his chin up and his back straight, Taec’s already taller, so the angle’s fucked and the whole cinematography screamed “kicking an injured puppy” and most certainly NOT “survivor finally stands up to his abuser”. The final nail in the proverbial and literal coffin is that he is mourned by no one. They’re FLIRTING not 3 MINUTES LATER, it felt so tone deaf and left such a bad taste. As I said, I didn’t expect significant mourning from Vincenzo (gotta say, I didn’t expect no mourning, that was a shocker), and Cha young and the tenants had no real interactions with him and no reason to mourn him, which left only one person who could. 

Which brings me to Han Seok. 

Han Seok started out as a solid villain, clear goals, clear skills that help him achieve his goals and basically make him a villain worth defeating, and a very complex relationship with both his own psychopathy and his brother. 

Let me get it out of the way: I do not believe Han Seok is capable of killing Han Seo because he had every reason and every opportunity to do so in previous episodes and couldn’t do it (I say couldn’t because a certain degree of reluctance is in itself inability). Han Seo’s danger far outweighed his material value the minute he shot Han Seok and then completely lost any value once he came out to the world as the chairman and it became clear that the prosecution would be going after him if anything happened, and not his brother. But time and again, he’s proven he’s all bark and no bite when it comes to Han Seo (killing-wise, specifically). 

The scene where he asks him to beat Vincenzo to death could be interpreted as him wanting to give Vincenzo the “painful death” he would have given him, but honestly, I think he was way past that point. He just wanted him dead in the “You crazy? we have to kill him before he kills us” sense. To that end, killing off a key ally of Vincenzo’s, who betrayed you and almost got you killed a bunch of times, should take priority, but Han Seok’s priority is reclaiming Han Seo by forcing him back onto his side. Now, much like his “love for Cha young”, Han Seok’s keenness on not killing his brother was essential to the writers so that Han Seo can justifiably make it this far and still be useful to Vincenzo (he can’t help if Han Seok completely excludes him from all events, plans and management processes, so Han Seok needs to want to keep him on his side enough not to do that even when it’s more prudent). 

All of this isn’t to say it’s unbelievable that he would kill Han Seo, but it’s DEFINITELY unbelievable that he would stay the same man after killing him. Someone here (I’m sorry, I don’t rememebr who) once said that Han Seo had become, over time, far more of a foil to his brother than Vincenzo was. To me, this means that Post-Han Seo Han Seok would be out of balance (tilted screen), unhinged in a way he never was before. The Han Seok we see shrugs and “oh, well”-s and moves on in a flash, not really any different from the villain he was four minutes and a whole brother earlier. 

This is very consistent with the way the show has been de-humanizing him from the start. I’m not saying this to defend Han Seok in any way, he’s a serial killer, an abuser and a total maniac. But you can be all those things and still a human being. In fact, you can ONLY be those things if you’re a human being. The show used its villain vs villain idea to justify a lot, but in the end, Vincenzo had to be a protagonist. He had to follow up every “I’m a villain” with a contrived “but at least I’m not (insert something worse)”. 

On the level of humans:

1) Vincenzo is supposedly different because he doesn’t hurt children or women (unless the women deserve it, and shooting a parent in front of their kid doesn’t count as hurting.) 

But we never see Han Seok hurting women or children either. In fact, if we proceed with the “chayoung is the myung hee of the good guys” comparison, he hasn’t hurt any women nearly as badly as Vincenzo did. 

2) Babel vs Mafia 

Babel’s corruption is compared a lot to the mafia, with Vincenzo commenting repeatedly that the people are WORSE than the mafia...which is bullshit. Babel is a set of companies that provide goods and services, but use illegal means to maximize their profit, so they hurt/kill people in the process because they want more money and care about money more than ethics. The Mafia is an inherently criminal organization that functions PURELY on the basis of its criminality. Every single dime Vincenzo spends is blood money. None of it is clean. And while we’re on the topic, I find the whole “taking Miri under his wing” thing pretty unreasonable too because he tried to have her killed you guys, I cannot believe we’re just glossing over that. He had everyone who worked on that vault killed, just random fucking construction workers. And he’s not sorry. And the show tells you he shouldn’t be. 

3) Repentance

Han Seok says outright he won’t atone, and while Vincenzo says no such thing out loud he just...doesn’t repent, I guess. He keeps the blood money, he goes back to being a full-time mafia dude doing mafia things. He leaves the same man he arrived. 

So, if on the level of harm inflicted upon humanity, Vincenzo and Han Seok are pretty much equal (and Vincenzo might actually be worse), then why should we root for Vincenzo? 

Well, my friend, that’s where the dehumanization comes in! 

I was initially very excited to see their portrayal of a psychopath because of the very interesting ways in which the informal moral code and official justice system surrounding a psychopath/sociopath/narcissist affect their behavior and their chances of not turning out rotten, and the show looked like it was looking at corruption in general. 

But as the show went on, the villain vs villain thing proved not to be enough, Vincenzo has to be better in some way (or if you’re as obsessed with him as the writers are, then ALL ways), so it became a villain vs monster narrative. Vincenzo isn’t ethical or fair or in any way interested in having a remotely positive impact on society, but at least he’s A HUMAN BEING unlike SOMEBODY. So, the characterization goes to shit, Han Seok becomes a cartoon card-board cut out of a villain and emphasis is put on how pointless his violence is, as opposed to how purposeful Vincenzo’s is. 

This is dangerous on multiple levels (and I promise this is the last point I’m making). 

1) For people in general, dehumanizing abusers/murderers/etc. makes us very liable to forget that you don’t have to be “a monster” to cause harm, and it makes people complacent in their belief that they are “not bad people” since they aren’t total monsters. The Banality of Evil is a thing, and in this series, it goes completely ignored. No one is inherently incapable of good or inherently undeserving of humanity. 

2) For victims of abuse in specific, it’s dangerous to portray abusers (including serial killer and non-serial killer ones) as entirely bad and unlovable, because it poses the dual risk of making victims less likely to acknowledge their abuse if it comes from someone who cares about or loves them on some level because the idea that someone cannot both love and hurt you is so stereotypical. Your abuser can genuinely want you in their lives and need you and, on some level, love you, and IT DOESN’T MATTER if that love doesn’t stop them from hurting you. 

On the other hand, portraying the victims of abuse as capable of flipping an off switch and hating the abuser with no hesitation or second thoughts to the point of unapologetically and cheerfully helping someone kill them and having no mixed feelings about it sends the message that if you CAN’T do that, then are you really abused? Are sure you’re not complicit in your own abuse? Do you even want to get rid of them? 

So this is basically why the way the show ended was so painfully disappointing for me. And the main reason it hit so hard was that it was initially so good and had so much promise. I really expected more.

[giantroboticplatypusbutt218]

I finished watching Loonatics Unleashed and I have Some Thoughts. I guess this is like a part 2 to the other post I made about the show so yeah.

I swear I don’t intend for everything I write to be an essay but whatever. It’s all under the cut. No massive story spoilers, but I will talk about episodes and will warn accordingly. (But who actually cares about being spoiled on the plot of Loonatics Unleashed?)

Alright so I finally figured out why Ace has laser vision. ...It’s kinda dumb but it’s because rabbits eat carrots(in cartoons). It’s... a reason at least. Still kinda sucks that it’s his only power when everyone else got 2 and some change. Kickass swords don’t count, even if they are magic. Seriously; Transformation. Duplication. Imitation. Tons of other “ation”s. They could’ve leaned into his trickster side but no. He eats carrots... so he got laser vision. Also he only ate carrots like three times in the show so wtf...

Okay so the pacing... improved somewhat in season 2. Don’t get me wrong there were still problems in some episodes but at least they learned how to build the stakes until the climax. They still sometimes went from zero to eighty after the opening credits, but at least it wasn’t zero to a hundred. Much less whiplash was had is what I’m saying. 

I don’t think I really mentioned the villains before but they’re uh... generally not very good. They’ve got cool gimmicks but most of the time they’re just two stereotypes and a cliche in a trench coat. Season 2 brought back classic anthro characters to be villains a few times, and while they still weren’t well written and just referenced old bits half the time... at least they weren’t dehumanized humans. 

I also don’t think I mentioned the animation so... it’s fine. It’s got cut corners but all cartoons do. Sometimes fight scenes look cool, sometimes they’re stiff. Sometimes the slapstick is well timed, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the facial expressions match the voice acting, sometimes they don’t. Speaking of voice acting, it’s good. There’s not really anything stand out to perform in the first place but everyone does a good job with what they have. 

Okay random note before getting deeper into things... the intro themes were... not good. I swear the first song ended on a note that it wasn’t supposed to. The second song fixed that but added people announcing the characters which... is just worse to me. Not much else to say because I skipped them after the first few times. 

(Very mild spoilers for the general plots of episodes past this point.)

Ace and Lexi improved a little in the second season, but I still find them kinda bland. Ace still just feels like zero calorie Bugs Bunny. His wit is confined to being the leader, snarky comebacks, and some decent sleuthing skills... and that’s really it. He doesn’t really play around with the villains the way Bugs would. Ace was also supposed to have an arc learning to use his magic sword which... didn’t really happen. Lexi’s defining trait outside of her powers is still that she’s “the girl” which... sucks... Uh... she upgraded to Gamer Girl in the second season which while neat, amounted to nothing outside that one episode. At the very least she was never kidnapped for more than 5 seconds?(That “honor” goes to Zadavia) They also never really brought up their backstories in a meaningful way again, which sucks. 

I still like the rest of the team. Slam got an episode about wrestling that built on his backstory and was fun to watch. Duck discovered that his egg powers work differently in water which was neat and matched him being a waterfowl.(Lexi’s powers work differently in water too but it’s never brought up again). Rev is still Rev and I still love him. He got an episode about his family and struggle to impress them(specifically his parents) despite his career choice which was also neat, but I will be coming back to this episode later. Tech is also still Tech and I also still love him. But uh, every character and also me wanted to see him get out of the lab more, and then he got like a nibble of an episode to get out of the lab, and then the show was over. Oof.

Speaking of Tech, it might be for the best he hardly ever left the lab because his powers are... possibly way too effective against all the robots and machines the team fights. Now, him being “overpowered” could’ve been used as a fun writing challenge. Robot goons aren’t a good option for villains anymore. Fighting against him in a city filled with metal is harder. Villains can’t rely on simply killing him thanks to his regeneration. Fight scenes including Tech would have to be handled in a fun and interesting way. But... no. In a team with two tech guys, the one with super speed and flight comes with while the one who can control metal and literally can’t die stays behind. Oh well. Doubt they could’ve added him into more fights without accidentally dumbing him down anyway. 

Oh crap I forgot to talk about Zadavia! Uh... she exists. She’s the team’s boss who sends them out on missions. Uh... I can’t talk too much about her without spoiling what little overarching plot this show has, but just know that she’s neat, but affected by the usual sexism going on in the show’s writing.

(Character and episode spoilers past this point.)

You know, for being The Loonatics the main cast wasn’t very loony. You know who were though? Basically all the villains. Yeah I don’t wanna go there but oops here I go anyway. It’s pretty messed up that all the main characters’ zany traits were dialed down, while the defining feature of practically every villain (besides their stereotypes)is that they’re insane. I mean, if you’re looking for good mental illness rep in The Looney Tunes you’re gonna be disappointed, but at least in the shorts almost every character was a little unhinged and a bit of an asshole, making none of them stand out for those traits specifically. 

Also messed up is that a lot of the villains are disfigured and made fun of for it by the main cast. Hot take of the century, but I think making fun of people for having a big head or only one eye is... bad. Oh and if they’re a woman then they’re also judged on how hot they are. Actually all women in the show are subjected to sexist writing. I remember like one episode where women were treated with a sliver of respect for a split second and that was in the obligatory “the cast comes across an island of amazon women” episode. However since most of the time was spent painting them as villains until the “actually sexism is bad” ending, there was hardly a moment of reprieve from the bullshit if a woman was on screen. 

I’m not the best person to speak on this but uh... it’s fucked up that since literally every notable human is a villain, all the people of color are bad guys, right? Like, obviously it’s not as bad as some of the shit the old shorts pulled, but that’s like saying getting punched is not as bad as getting stabbed. It’s true... but I’m sure most people would prefer neither. 

And here’s where I bring up that Rev episode I mentioned earlier. Rev’s parents are racist against coyotes (cartoons sure love to make carnivores allegories for black people don’t they?) and obviously with Tech E. Coyote being his close friend, that causes trouble. ...Right? Uh, no. They say some racist crap to Tech, and that’s it. There is not even an attempt to correct their behavior from anyone. It’s just treated as some unfortunate quirk. In fact the episode’s conflict actually revolves around Rev’s brother, Rip. Honestly, I doubt that they could’ve handled a decent “racism is bad” episode anyway. But they could’ve also... just not brought up racism if they couldn’t handle it? I’m sure having no racism topic at all would be better than having Tech just take the parents’ racist bull crap lying down and then help Rev impress them with an invention he doesn’t get credit for. Also at one point Rev says if Tech wasn’t a coyote and a guy he’d kiss him, which has two uncomfortable implications, but this section is already too long. 

(Spoilers end here.)

Overall... yeah the show’s not very good. Of course it wasn’t. It was always going to be a little garbage. And no not because of the darker style or strange setting or any of that superficial crap. Team dynamic shows are popular and with Teen Titans doing so well WB probably thought they might as well shove out a 2 season Looney Tunes version to grab a little more cash, probably minimizing the budget to squeeze out as much profit as possible. If anyone working on the show was passionate about it, I doubt they had the budget or time to act on most their ideas. 

Still, there were things to like. There are some funny jokes throughout the show, a few of which even managed to come out of Ace’s mouth. Danger Duck was literally just Daffy and he’s always great. Ironically, Rev and Tech were the most fun to listen to, and also to watch interacting in general. Slam didn’t do much but was a sweetheart who deserves success. There managed to be some decently twisty twist villains, if only because Disney ruined my brain with their ceaseless and lazy attempts at them, and I wasn’t looking out for them in this show. And, while almost nothing was properly developed, at least the concepts and characters are fun to think about?

I can’t say I’d recommend this show to everybody, but uh... if you’re a Furry with low standards and too much free time like me, maybe you’ll like it? Just go in with low expectations so when nice things happen you’re decently surprised. 

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas]

S.....Sooga.....tiddie fucking........Heheheh

Simple, effective, genius. Let’s fucking go.

“Something tells me Master Kohga isn’t happy today.”

“No fucking shit.”

Kohga had walked back outside from his council with Princess Zelda. Ever since the defeat of Ganon, the Yiga and the royal family have been trying to work together. As in, try to bribe them to stop killing both the king and his daughter. Kohga didn’t HATE Zelda (Sooga often recalled the times he called her ‘a sweet gal’), but he still hated the royal family. This made him bring rather unreasonable demands to the table, and of course he was told no. This led to rather fierce tantrums on his end, but this was the first time he had actually stormed out of the hall. Sooga joined his master’s side, followed by the two previously bickering blademasters. Zelda tried to follow him, asking that he listen to reason. Kohga suddenly stopped in the hallway, pointing at both her, and Link.

“Look. I respect you guys, really. But your royal BULLSHIT has been affecting my people for TOO long! I was not taught my skills by my fathers mothers father, just to flop over the SECOND you want me to! I won’t!”

Kohga stomped his foot on the plush carpet floor, before grumbling angrily, turning to what he thought was the exit. Granted it was the library, but his point was made. Somewhat. Zelda tried to follow him, when Sooga stopped her in her tracks.

“Master Kohga is a proud man. You must let his anger take his course. Please, allow me to dissipate his anger, he will be ready to listen to you after, Princess.”

He received a nod from both little blondes. Sooga nodded at both Blademasters, making them stand by and guard the door. Sooga walked inside of the library, seeing Kohga standing there, forehead against a bookshelf. Sooga cleared his throat, alerting his master of his presence. That seemed good enough for him to pull away, and start his rant.

“I love how ZELDA just has to be a princess AND my friend! I’M more important than some stupid royal crap, right?!”

As usual, Sooga stood there, and nodded. He was ever an ear for Kohga, and Sooga never forgot a single rant of his master (upon his demands). Kohga started pacing back and forth in front of him, throwing his arms around and stomping around the floor.

“She acts like my cause is nothing! No one asks the Yiga clan, ‘hey, how much an ass WERE those royals from so long ago?’ They act like we do this stuff for fun! And no one takes me SERIOUSLY!”

That was enough for Kohga to smack a random book off a table. Even now, in having his little fit, Kohga was incapable of actually damaging someone’s property. Not because he was scared of punishment, but because he genuinely found the library to be Zelda’s personal stuff. He was grumpy, he was impatient, but he was incredibly kind, considerate. Kohga finally stopped, hopping up on a table, and folding his arms across his chest, grumbling something fierce. Sooga waited, just in case he wasn’t done, before he gave a small nod.

“Master Kohga. Things are changing for the better. Nothing about this has been, nor will it ever, be easy. But whatever does happen, you must know that you are respected, and you are revered, especially to us. I apologize for the disrespect you have been given. You deserve all of Hyrule, truly.”

That seemed to at least stop the grumbling. But Kohga was too upset to even LOOK at Sooga right now. Kohga really only wanted one thing; respect. It was something Sooga wished he could give his master more of. But, he already gave him all he had. This meant he’d have to cheer his master up by less...conventional means. Sooga hated royals as much as he did, but he wanted peace from them both. He HAD to make something work here. He knelt down in front of Kohga, and despite his nerves eating away at him, he knew what he had to do.

“Master Kohga, I would...like to help you feel better. May I?”

Kohga seemed confused on just what he meant, but he nodded anyway, clearly interested. Sooga nudged himself between his master’s legs, pressing his face into his big, beautiful belly, and his chest right up against his cock. Kohga took only a second to piece together what was happening, and he nearly roared in laughter.

“Sooga! I’m surprised at you! Here? Now?”

Sooga gave a soft nod, a bit in disbelief himself.

“You have so much tension. Besides, doing something like this in the very castle seems like something scandalous enough for you.”

“Hey. You’re making me sound like a pervert. I mean I am, but still.”

Sooga had a slight chuckle at that. He could already tell his Master’s mood had improved tenfold. Sooga pulled away a bit, helping his Master’s cock out of his uniform, lightly stroking it in his palm. He had Kohga’s full attention now, and even though Sooga had initiated this, he felt as if he had been seduced into it.

“So, what exactly were you thinking? Blowjobs? Handjobs?”

Sooga almost thought about doing those things, but he decided against it. Blowjobs meant his mouth would be exposed here, and handjobs alone wouldn’t remove this kind of anger festering in his Master’s heart. No, he needed something to wow him, something that let him be in control. So, despite how lewd it was, Sooga placed his cock right at his chest, and pushed his titties (he liked to call them pecs, but even he had to admit they were so large, ‘pecs’ didn’t really suit them) together. Kohga actually seemed to be at a loss for words, before suddenly snickering.

“You’re ACTUALLY serious. I get to fuck THESE puppies here?”

“I’ve told you before, my body is yours to command. Every part of me is entitled to you. And I’ve….well. I’ve thought about this before.”

“You like thinking about me, don’t you Sooga?”

Kohga was already getting hard for him. Sooga pushed and rubbed his chest together, nearly smothering his poor master’s cock. Even though Sooga was VERY familiar with Kohga’s dick, it still made him nervous, feeling the hot, semi hard appendage brush up against his skin, separated by just the thin clothing of his uniform. Sooga nodded, trying not to drool at the sight of his cock reappearing between his cleavage.

“I do. I very much do. I’ve always thought how nice it’d be, if you deemed my body worthy enough to satisfy you.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say. You’re such a good boy like that.”

Kohga actually felt like participating this time around; moving his hips a bit forward to really push his cock in between them. It wasn’t long before Kohga’s cock was twitching, smearing precum between Sooga’s massive chest. It made a wet, dirty sound, that when combined with Kohga’s moans of approval, made Sooga go mad. HE was making his master feel this good. HE was making him pant like that. Sooga would have preferred to go slow, but he knew Kohga. He liked quick, passionate movements, actions that made his partner seem desperate to please. It was why Sooga kept pushing his chest together quickly, it was why he even moved his chest from side to side. It was humiliating, but Sooga liked it. He liked it for not just the fact that it was making Kohga happy, but for-

“You work so hard for me, Sooga. When no one else wants to make me feel better, you’re there. You listen to me, you give yourself to me. You’re such a good boy.”

That. Sooga loved making him happy, loved being good and obedient. Kohga was endless in his praise, cooing them so sweetly, running his fingers across his scalp, and even pulling at his hair, just to really remind him who was running this ship. It was why Sooga was not above grabbing and moving his chest around as he was, like he was some kind of filthy little whore. Sooga had enough respect to not deem himself as such, but he had enough love (and lust), to be willing to do that for Kohga. Kohga grabbed at his hair again, making Sooga’s actions skid to a halt. Kohga was getting closer and closer, why did he-

“Stop, just for a minute. Look up at me with that pretty face. Just like that. Now, pinch your nipples. Nice and hard. Good boy.”

Sooga felt a bit of shame, actually finding himself enjoying the tight, firm pinches he was giving to his already sensitive nipples.  But the way Kohga chuckled, the way he greedily gripped onto his locks? He didn’t regret a single thing.

“You like my cum, don’t you Sooga? You like it so much, you keep finding excuses to have it. The night after the party, the times I tried to punish you, and even the times you snuck into my room.”

Sooga suddenly felt tense. Oh no. 

“M-master Kohga, I can explain-”

“I wasn’t done. I know you sneak into my room when I sleep. I know sometimes you just check up on me, make sure I’m safe, and you even cover me if I get cold. But sometimes. Sometimes you want to taste my cum so badly, you’ll sit there and touch youself to me. I’ve seen you there, pumping your cock and grabbing at your fat tits, just picturing how you could get it out of me. And the fact that I KNOW you’ve been doing that, just made you so fucking hard, didn’t it?”

Sooga nodded, even though there was slight shame in it. He meant no harm by his actions, honestly. It was just, hard to resist such temptations. Kohga chuckled, giving a small shake of his head.

“Well. I don’t mind. I don’t mind one itsy bitsy bit. You know why? Hmm?”

He paused, for dramatic affect, before a devilish snicker came from his lips.

“Becase as much as you love taking my cum, I love, just as much, giving it to you. Now, rub those titties together for me, and earn my load.”

Sooga was back at it again before he could finish his sentence. He rubbed his slick, hot tits together, putting as much enthiusm and speed against his head as he could. Kohga was right; he wanted his cum, and he wanted SO much of it. He wanted to earn the right to be covered in it, earn the right to sport it across his features like a medal of honor. And as he heard Kohga grumble, as he saw his fingers dig into the table, he received just that. Spurts of cum came from his Master’s lovely cock, decorating his tits, and even dribbling down to his stomach. It was hot, creamy, and absolutely perfect. Kohga gifted him with a plentiful amount, and Sooga was almost sad when Kohga seemed to finish giving it to him. He even kept pressing his chest together, hoping to squeeze out more from him. Even as Kohga sat there, in the midst of a cooldown, Sooga found himself unable to stop. It wasn’t until Kohga snapped his fingers, that he finally put a halt to it. Kohga grinned, lightly flicking the other’s forehead.

“You love doing all the hard work for me. And I love that.”

“Love it enough to re consider the princess proposal?”

Kohga sighed, before giving a small nod.

“Yeah yeah...for YOU, I’ll go back in there, give it another shot. Not that you’re making me.”

“Of course not, Master Kohga. You’re merely kind enough to heed my plea.”

“Hey...don’t you start talking like that. You’re getting a bit too smart, Sooga.”

He could tell his Master was most amused. They spent a good minute cleaning Sooga up, and after Kohga got himself a fistful of that ass, they both came back outside, just in time to catch Zelda and Link about to leave.

“Princess, Goldilocks! Listen, I talked a bit with Sooga here, let’s try the whole meeting thing again, yeah?”

Zelda’s excitement was palpable. As Kohga joined them both back to the meeting room, the Blade masters looked at Sooga, bewildered.

“How did you make him change his mind?”

“I do not ‘make’ our master do anything. I merely took a load off of his mind.”

A big, BIG load off of his mind.

[dinosaurtsukki]

haikyuu!! music idol au (seijoh and shiratorizawa vers.)

hello hello! now for the groups with seijoh and shiratorizawa! if you like this why not check out music idol au karasuno vers.

CROWN ENTERTAINMENT

okay so basically this is now the entertainment company for the groups FALCON and KING

HAHAHS THE NAMES I REALLY CAN'T GUYS I'M SORRY THE NEXT POST ABOUT NEKOMA AND FUKURODANI ARE GONNA BE MUCH WORSE

okay but yes

they're one of the biggest names in the country and their groups have been around for quite some time

washijo is CEO

they're known to be very hard to get into because all of their idols are trained to be polished at whatever they do

but all of their releases are top quality

so lets get into the groups !!

KING - seijoh

okay so KING has 8 members and most of their comeback concepts are pretty bubblegum pop and boy-next-door

our leader for this group is oikawa of course

he's also wanted to be an idol for so long and trained really hard for it

• he managed to pass the auditions but his trainee years were hard on him because of all the expectations and work

luckily he befriended iwa who was also a struggling trainee

they spent years helping each other out and leaning on each other for support until their debut came

oikawa's the all-around vocalist, visual, and dancer so he's almost always in the center

the kind who nails all the notes while busting out the hardest dance moves

he's also multilingual because he wants to talk to a variety of his fans

everything he does seems so natural but in reality he practices so hard that iwa has to drag him to bed

iwa's our main rapper and main dancer of the group

his audition tape of him dancing was a bit embarassing because he was wearing a godzilla sweater and his hair was gelled up

everyone likes to bring it out from time to time

his fans also like sending him anything godzilla

his rapping is pOWERFUL and he can also beatbox really well

he also leads the dance breaks in performances

everyone thought he was scary until oikawa accidentally called him iwa-chan in a radio show and now everyone calls him iwa-chan

while oikawa is the leader, iwa is the one who manages everyone and makes sure no one gets lost when they go to awards shows

matsukawa and hanamaki were trainees that came in later and they became friends because they were roommates

hanamaki saw matsukawa taping printed out pictures of memes on the wall beside his bed and immediately knew they would be friends for life

and they were

they're notorious for sneaking food into their dorms and also picking on oikawa

they're kind of like an inseparable duo especially since hanamaki is on vocals and matsukawa is on rap

they have a lot of onstage moments and fans love how playful they are

they kind of improvise a bit sometimes when it comes to dance moves which makes washijo want to pull his hair out but fans like it so :/

they're the oldest members but they still call iwa and oikawa 'mom and dad'

they like doing weird shit to hanamaki's hair and taking videos of it 

the ‘what’s a contract? never heard of it’ duo basically 

yahaba's like the resident beautiful guy apart from oikawa

his voice is really melodious and he's often the one harmonizing with the high part

also sUCH a fLIRT

camera: *is directed at him*

yahaba: *blows a kiss*

matsuhana try to get him into their pranks on oikawa but he's too much of a goody two shoes

likes to film his skincare routine for the fans

secretly oikawa’s favorite junior

kyoutani auditioned for CROWN because he thought they were forming a hip-hop group or something edgy but no he was put into KING and he has to be around softies

he was desperate to get kicked out at first until iwa convinced him that he could still keep his look

they gave up on making him smile or look bright on cameras and said that if he's going to glare at least make it sexy

only listens to iwa and always stands next to iwa during award shows 

kindaichi and kunimi are their most treasured juniors and they'll do anything to protect them

both of them are vocalists and even though they don't often sing the melodies or hit the high notes, they're great harmonizing

actually knew of kageyama back in their auditioning days and were lowkey jealous of him

kindaichi is the sweetest junior he's always the one giving the members water and making sure they're alright

kunimi just silently observes the entire time and barely says anything but he'll often approach iwa for pointers when it comes to dancing

they were super young when they debuted and attended high school together in between practice

their seniors surprised them by coming to their graduation and even performing at the ceremony

both of them aren't as good as their fellow members yet but kindaichi works hard to be able to earn a few more lines in their songs

kunimi doesn't show much effort but he secretly likes to learn songwriting and music production because his dream is for KING to perform one of his songs

FALCON - shiratorizawa

another group that debuted about a year or two before KING

it is a POWERHOUSE of talent

also pretty much the OG group for most fans that inspired other upcoming groups

a lot of their concepts are centered around a mature gentleman image

idk what im saying but i'd compare them to super junior pretty much

they also do a lot of edgy concepts

ushijima's the leader of the group plus main rapper

he was actually inspired to become a rapper after watching another idol's performance

tbh he never expected to debut with a group but he had grown attached to some of his fellow trainees

he's also really talented at writing and producing songs

super stoic, even in front of the camera, but fans love his attempts at humor

tendou's like their main dancer and rapper

when he was younger people said his dancing looked weird because tendou could do those really cool, almost jerky movements

when washijo saw his audition tape he was like 'hmm we could use that'

thats because FALCON is super big on choreography, especially the ones that look like all the members are creating this huge other thing just by using movement

tendou pretty much leads the dance breaks all the time and he looks super serious and intense

he likes saying the most random, funny things during interviews

sometimes you'll catch him dancing by himself when they’re just waiting for results in award shows

so many conspiracy videos as to whether or not tendou has joints

now we have our shirabu kenjiro

this boy is like a prodigy he was destined to be recruited by CROWN and to end up in FALCON

the more i spell out these names the more i see how absurd they all look i'm sorry

tendou likes to call him his 'beloved junior'

he's as serious as ushiwaka is but with sASS

is known for sassing out interviewers and show hosts when he can tell that they're making up bullshit and now everyone's scared of him

he's main vocals and visuals

his voice is like a really nice baritone and he's very powerful with his singing that people don't question whether or not he lipsyncs

actually gets the most lines in their group

he likes to challenge the limits of his contract and even cut his own bangs and that's why they're Like That

he ended up getting chewed out by washijo for it

ya boi semisemi is out here being a dAncE gOD

he can learn choreography really quickly and in variety shows the hosts always challenge him to learn another group's choreo by looking at it once

so far he has not lost

everyone in his team cheers him on

also basically the group's main choreographer. he'll lowkey get mad at someone who forgot the choreo but teach them anyway

interacting with fans makes him so happy and soft he treasures every letter he receives and likes giving out gifts during fanmeets

he keeps his room really neat and likes to display the presents he receives from fans

also main vocalist in the group but just gets a line or two

his real skill though are opening dance performances during music award shows

he, tendou, and goshiki slay every opening performance and its amazing

reon is the last main rapper of the group and basically The Mom of the group

he's the one calming everyone down and checking up with people before they perform

his rapping sounds really smooth and very close to how he speaks normally so he shines most in the b-side tracks of their album

he had a lot of struggles passing auditions because most companies would discriminate because of appearance but washijo saw a lot of potential in him

he likes to speak out about the discrimination in terms of appearance in the music industry

everyone in FALCON supports him

lastly we have goshiki the precious little maknae of the group

everyone dotes on him because he was a skinny child when he debuted with the group

goshiki's like the legendary maknae who could do pretty much anything

he's main vocalist, dancer, and visuals

when he started out he was always super active and full of initative as a trainee

he trained super hard just to debut with FALCON because he looks up to ushijima

like shirabu, he gets a ton of lines and sings a lot during the chorus

when he graduated everyone from FALCON attended and he treated them all too lunch

after every comeback tendou's jus like 'our little baby goshiki is growing up'

i basically wrote him as jungkook from bts didn't i?

additional hc’s for funsies

oikawa was actually supposed to debut much earlier with FALCON but he had grown attached to his fellow trainees (iwa and matsuhana) and wanted to be in a group with them

FALCON and KING have a small rivalry ongoing to see who can get the most views in one day during every comeback video that the members do all these crazy things to get their fans to stream their comebacks

one of them was matsuhana promising to release a rare picture of kyoutani smiling 

FALCON has Boardgame Fridays where they just play boardgames all night and it’s super fun and precious because goshiki gets super competitive

also all of his seniors tried to get him drunk after his graduation and goshiki did in fact get drunk and ended up spilling some secrets about how shirabu cuts his bangs on instagram live

FALCON and KING love having dance-off sessions with each other and the music they always choose is ‘Crazy in Love’ from the White Chicks movie

the reon and semi have a mukbang series on instagram live and sometimes yahaba and kindaichi join in

ushijima allegedly wrote and produced a song about the joy of farming but washijo rejected it from appearing on the album because it was weird but thanks to tendou spilling about it, fans demanded to hear the song and ushijima performed it in one of their concerts

kunimi also wrote a song about that was supposedly about a loving a bad boy despite being a nice girl and when people asked what his inspiration was he just said ‘kyouhaba’ 

haikyuu!! music idol au series: karasuno vers., seijoh and shiratorizawa vers., nekoma and fukurodani vers.

[kayteewritessteve]

Okay, Deal.

Description: A tower game night ends in a slightly different way then you’d have expected.

Masterlist HERE.

Word Count: 3,970 ish.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Rating: G

Requested: Yes, by the lovely @casuallydarktiger . She’d originally asked for a Bucky one shot, but as I don’t currently write for the handsome Buck, I asked if she’d be okay with a Steve one instead. So, here it is! My first Marvel one shot request! Hopefully I did your request justice, lovely! And I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!!

A/N: I sadly don’t own any of these characters. And no beta reader either, so I do proudly own all the errors and this story, so there’s that.

You stared across the table at the very large super soldier, who was currently deciding whether he wanted to royally screw you over or not. Or at least that’s what you assumed he was trying to figure out. Though his fixed, impassive expression wasn’t giving you a damn thing to go on at the moment. And it was taking everything in you to not show an ounce of the current internal turmoil that was raging inside you. You fought valiantly to keep your nonchalant, relaxed and be it slightly smug expression on the outside. His eyesight was far too good, far too fast, and even if you slipped up only a little. Let just one millisecond of nerves affect your expression, he’d see it. Damn near in slow motion at that. And he’d know, god, he’d totally know that you were fucking bluffing. 100%.

So how did you end up in basically a stare off with thee Steve Rogers, a man they literally say was ‘frozen in time’—Shit, yeah, you were most likely doomed to lose this stare off from the start— you ask? Oh, well, let me explain that for you.

A few hours earlier.

The tower was abuzz with activity, as all the avengers were actually home at the same time, which was something that didn’t happen all that often. Usually at least 2 or 3 were off on missions, sometimes damn near all of you were gone. However, by the grace of God, nothing was happening in the world right now. And every team member was in attendance tonight, so Tony decided that was a perfect excuse for a team building night. Or a ‘family game night’ as some of you called it.

You’d all met in the main living area, and then had a hearty group discussion about which game to actually play.

Thor had offered up Monopoly, which Nat had vetoed damn near instantly. Citing that Tony and Sam always got way to into it, and she was not interested in spending the next 3 days watching them play one stupid game, that would just result in Sam flipping the board game off the table in a fit of rage. To which both Sam and Tony attempted to claim was complete bullshit and a defamation of character, respectively. But the pointed glares from the rest of the group shut them both up. Instantly.

Wanda offered up Pictionary, but Sam groaned and refused to play against Steve, or Tony. But especially Steve, however instead of using his name, he referred to him as ‘the da vinci over there’. So yeah, pictionary was also out.

Clint had suggested Cards Against Humanity, but then quickly rescinded that offer when he saw the wicked grin break out on Tony’s lips. That game was a total blast, however, it always took a dark and awkward turn, rather quickly, when Tony was involved. And honestly, no one ever won against him, he was just too damn good at that game.

Rhodey offered up Risk, but that was axed due to obvious reasons.

Tony then suggested Trivial Pursuit, clearly as a dig at the super soldiers, who both caught on to that and then abruptly shot down the idea, saying it wasn’t fair to play since they were both, basically, not around for the last 40 years—that being the time frame in which Trivial Pursuits questions all came from.

So then the suggestions continued on, adding Life, Clue, and Sorry to the pile of now vetoed games.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Bruce brought up Poker, and you had to try not to excitedly jump at the suggestion. Everyone seemed to mull it over, a few trying to say that they weren’t really that interested or that they didn’t have any cash on them, but then Tony got an idea.

“What if, instead of betting money, we bet other things?”

“Such as?” Sam asked skeptically, though you could tell he was intrigued.

“Bragging rights?” Clint asked, excitedly.

“Yeah that, or,” Tony started and the wicked smirk was back, except this time it made everyone curious, instead of nervous. “We can each bet whatever we want, like chores,” he looked pointedly at Bucky who just shrugged as everyone else laughed, “or dates,” he glanced at you for a second then shifted his eyes away to someone else, and you instantly paled, praying no one else noticed. Or rather that one person in particular hadn’t. “Or food, or personal items, or anything really.” He shrugged.

You peeked around at the others, making a point to avoid looking at Steve, hoping he hadn’t caught Tony’s ‘date’ meaning. To say you had a crush on Steve, was a bit of an understatement. I mean, honestly, who wouldn’t. He was the whole damn package, wrapped up in a soft, sweet, slightly awkward bow. You were sure there was a damn support group in the building for all the women—and men— currently crushing on him. You know, like a ‘We adore Steve Rogers Anonymous’ group, and you’d bet money that Sam was heading that support group with full force, most likely with Coulson happily by his side. The thought made you giggle and you quickly stifled the sound. You heard a snort and flicked your eyes up to see Nat, smirking with a raised brow at you, as if she knew what you were thinking.

Then your eyes drifted to Wanda, who was pointedly attempting not to make eye contact with you and also trying not to laugh, and you instantly realized that she actually knew what you were thinking. Poor thing did try really hard not to read peoples minds, but sometimes it just happened, and you couldn’t fault her for that. She finally locked eyes with you, giving you an apologetic smile, and you just smiled back, reassuringly. It’s not like you hadn’t told her all about your little crush already. She knew all the dirty details.

“Well, I’m in,” Nat said with a shrug, “could be fun.”

Everyone else agreed with her and Tony went to grab a few decks of cards. You did your best not to look too excited but little did they all know you’d grown up watching, and then partaking in, weekly family poker nights. And having 3 older brothers, you’d gotten very competitive and in turn very, very good at this game.

Over the next few hours, everyone was slowly bumped out. You’d all agreed at the beginning on 5 things each, to offer up as bets, and once those 5 things had been won by others, that person was out.

You’d ended up winning a bunch of random things, the main ones of note being; a week of Wanda cooking you dinner, 3 hours with Sam’s Falcon pack, 3 bags of Tony’s blueberries, one of Bucky’s coveted knives and the pièce de résistance, a flask of Thor’s Asgardian mead. All and all, you’d damn near cleaned house, which had caught the others completely off guard. Tony had practically fallen out of his chair when you’d knocked him out of the game, along with Nat and Bucky. Adding them to your casualties list with Wanda and Clint.

But Tony wasn’t the only one who had been caught off guard by someones hidden skills. Turns out Steve was damn near a pro at poker, and him doing so well at this game had managed to surprise you, making you utterly aware that there were, in fact, still things you didn’t know about him. And even though he’d knocked out Bruce, Thor, Vis, Rhodey and Sam, he wasn’t smug or boasting about it. In fact, he was actually eerily silent and impassive the whole game, which was messing with you. A lot. He’d barely mumbled a word since the game started and so now, it was just you and him, the last two left standing, and there were a bunch of things riding on this hand.

Both of you only had one item of your own left to bet, making this the final round. Your bet was one you were not wanting to part with, but if anyone was going to win them, you were happy it was Steve. He’d appreciate them the way they should be, and you’d maybe be able to talk him into letting you borrow them from time to time. ‘Them’ being your 5 favourite Disney movies, which were all currently in the stupid Disney vault, so you’d have a hard time replacing them. But it was doable, for sure. Just might cost you an arm and a leg.

And Steve's bet was one of his sketchbooks, whichever one the winner wanted— And you wanted that damn sketchbook, plus your Disney movies. So you needed to win this damn hand.

So here you were, trying to read his blank expression, waiting to see if he would fold and let you take the win, or if he’d raise you one of his acquired items. And then it would have to goto the actual cards, and you weren’t too hopeful your 4 of a kind Jacks would hold up. All he needed was a royal flush, a straight flush, or a higher set of 4 to take it.

So you both sat here, silently, and even if your eyes had been closed, you’d have been able to feel his drilling into you. He was just staring at you, probably looking for any subtle hints from your body language or features, but you weren’t giving him a damn thing. This was the exact same treatment your oldest brother, Tyler, would give you during intense games. So you were used to it—slightly, I mean, you obviously don’t have a raging crush on your brother, and his eyes on you definitely didn’t make you feel this way. And there was just something about Steve openly staring at you. You wished it was him ogling you, but at the same time you’d take whatever you could get. No complaints about it.

You were also acutely aware of the other sets of eyes on you as well. The ones shifting between Steve and yourself, as if waiting for one of you to crack. But you refused to give them that satisfaction.

So instead, you took this opportunity to just look at him. And I mean, really look at him. Because, my god, he was just so damn attractive. From his blonde hair, to his blue eyes, to his chiseled jaw and plump lips. Oh god, the things you wanted to do to this man. The things you dreamed about doing. In a perfect world, you’d get to do them all, you’d get to call him your own and love him for exactly the man he is.

Captain America, who? I’m sorry, I don’t know her... But Steve Rogers, now him you knew, fully. Maybe not as well as Bucky, but pretty damn close.

When you’d joined the Avengers, 4 years back, just before the Chitauri attacked. You’d been thrusted into battle when it all went down, which you weren’t entirely ready for, but there really wasn’t any other options. It was all hands on deck. However, looking back on it now, you’re glad you were, because it was why you and Steve had bonded instantly. He had your back out there, just as you had his.

You’d been struggling to focus on fighting the Chitauri, as you were a few yards away from a rather large distraction. A tall, muscular super soldier that you had so much respect for, and fighting alongside him only made that respect grow, ten fold. Seeing him in action first hand was such a thrill. Such a rush. And you kept having to remind yourself that you were in the middle of an invasion, and you couldn’t just stand there and watch Steve Rogers fight. Regardless of how entrancing that was.

Buuuuuut maybe you should have been a little more firm with yourself on that, since you were almost crushed by a few floors of a building, one that clearly decided it no longer wanted to stay standing. But, Steve, being the hero he always was, swooped in and saved your ass at the last second. And from then on, you stuck close to him, had his back just as he had yours.

And now, years later, you were both like a well oiled machine. Both your skills playing perfectly off each other, so much so that neither of you ever went on missions without the other, it was just too risky as you’d both grown so accustomed to the other being there. Some might say it was a weak spot, but you’d just ignore them. What did they know anyways? Your only weakness was not having Steve by your side.

So it goes without saying that it didn’t take long for the crush to form—it may have always been there in some capacity though, but that was more an infatuation with the man, the legend, that was Steve Rogers AKA Captain America.

However, once you got to know Steve, like really know him, inside and out, that infatuation shifted to sheer adoration for him. For everything he was, and wasn’t. For everything he’d been and would be. It wasn’t about his hero title anymore, it was just about him. The man behind the mask and shield.

So yeah, you totally had a crush on Steve Rogers, but could anyone really blame you?—

Your eyes quickly snapped down at a movement on his face, and you watched as the corner of his lips twitched, just slightly. Then your eyes flicked up to his and locked on. And instantly you realized the impassive front was gone, there was now a few different emotions swimming in his eyes. You couldn’t make them all out, but mischief was definitely one of them, you knew that look in his eyes all too well. So that mixed with a slight knowing look, both combined to make your heart rate pick up and your stomach to do back flips. What did he know, that you didn’t? Oh god, what does he know?!

“I fold,” he said softly as he put his cards face down on the table and slid them off to the side. Right into the muck pile, effectively making it impossible for anyone to check what his cards had been.

“What?” Tony gaped, wide eyed at Steve, “you’re folding after all of that?!”

“Steve, man,” Sam groaned, “you’re seriously going to end it like that?”

“I can’t believe this,” Clint mumbled and glanced around at the others, “we’ve been sitting here for hours and that’s the finish we get?!”

“They’ve only been playing this hand for 25 minutes.” Nat says back with an eye roll.

“But it’s felt like hours,” Clint crosses his arms and pouts, “I feel like we got ripped off here.”

“Wait, what did he have?” Wanda asks the group. Clearly confused by how folding works.

“We will never know,” Bucky sighs and shakes his head.

You quickly push your cards face down into the muck pile as well, before anyone can think to ask what you had. Though Thor does ask anyways, “Lady Y/N, what was your winning hand?”

You smirk at Steve, receiving one in return and then you both stand from the table, “That’s for me to know, and you to think about, big guy.” You pat his arm, comfortingly. And then make your way over to Steve to shake his hand, thanking him for a good game.

As you do, Steve leans in and whispers, “Shall we go pick out your sketchbook?”

You grin up at him and nod your head enthusiastically, “Yes, let’s!”

You both walk out of the room, hearing everyone still complaining about how it all ended, and Tony frantically trying to figure out which cards Steve and you had, while he has FRIDAY crunching the card and number probabilities.

You both laugh as you make your way towards Steve’s room, and once you’re out of earshot of the others you lean in, “so, can I ask what you had?”

He side eyes you and you don’t miss the grin on his lips, “I had a royal flush.”

You halt your steps and damn near yell, “what?!” before quickly looking around and lowering your voice to an incredulous whisper, “then why did you fold?”

He stops and turns to you, then just shrugs, “I couldn’t take your movies from you. I know how much you love them.”

“Wow, thats,” you pause, just staring up at this big, beautiful sweetheart, “really thoughtful of you, Steve. Thank you.”

He gives you a glorious smile, “don’t mention it.” Then he starts to walk again, and you quickly fall into step with him.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I had?” You question, curiously.

“No,” he shakes his head, “I know you had 4 of a kind.”

“How did you—jesus, what are you, like a professional card counter or something?”

“Eidetic memory,” he taps his temple, and smirks at you, “plus I played a lot back in the 40’s.”

“Damn,” you mumble, more to yourself, “and here I thought I was the one hiding my master skills.”

“Oh trust me, you were one of the harder opponents I’ve ever had, so don’t feel too bad about it.” He stops walking as you both reach his door.

“Well that’s reassuring at least,” you nod.

He opens his door and ushers you into his room, then shuts it. He wanders over to his desk and searches the top and drawers for his sketchbooks, “now I know the deal was you get to pick the book, but would you be okay with us amending that just a little?”

“In what way?” You ask.

He glances over his shoulder at you, “Would you be okay if I, maybe, picked the book for you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.” You nod.

“Perfect,” he smiles then moves to his bookshelf, clearly searching for a specific one, which he seems to be having some troubles finding. He stands in front of the bookshelf, scratching the side of his head in thought and then as if he has an epiphany, he quickly turns and walks over towards his bed. Opening the top drawer of his bedside table and pulling a book out, mumbling, “there you are.”

He walks back over to you, and you notice that he now looks extremely hesitant, unsure. Which is a different look for him, one you’ve barely ever seen on him before. That only causes your mind to race with the possibilities of why he’d be nervous about this. It was just a sketchbook, wasn’t it?

“Ah,” his eyes shift down to the ground and he rubs the back of his neck, “so I should probably warn you before I give you this,” his eyes snap up to yours and he holds the book out to you, “so, ah, don’t be alarmed.”

“Okay,” you slowly say as you take it from him, pressing the still closed book to your chest as you walk over to his bed, then plop yourself down on the end. He just stays standing near the door, watching, waiting. Which only makes your heart rate skyrocket as to what exactly you’re about to see. What could be in this book that is causing him to act so out of character.

Your fingers gently brush the worn, and well loved, brown leather cover and then you slowly flip it open to the first page.

And you are instantly positive that you’ve died. Yup, you’re dead. You have to be. That is the only explanation your mind can think up for what you are currently looking at. You flip to the next page, then the next, and the next, and so on for a few more pages, before your eyes snap up to meet Steve’s clearly anxious ones.

“There all,” you clear your throat then glance back down at the sketchbook again, running your fingers over the sketch currently showing, and whispering, “there all of me?”

“Yeah, I ah, I find it,” he pauses and you peek up at him, seeing him now blushing and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Find it?” You coax, gently.

He takes a deep breath, “I find it comforting to draw you. After a hard mission, I mean.” He pauses then adds quickly, “Or really at any time. You just—there is just something about you that calms me. Relaxes me, I guess.”

You close the sketchbook and gently place it on the bed as you stand, then take the few short steps so that you’re standing in front of him now, “I calm you?”

He nods then locks eyes with you, “yeah, you ah, you always have.”

“So you draw me when..?” You trail off then add, “Like when you’re upset, or?”

“Not just upset, I mean, drawing you does help when I am. But I also draw you when I’m happy, or bored.” He shrugs.

“Huh,” you reply, thoughtfully, “why?”

“Why?” He repeats back, pretending to be confused. But you know him well enough to see right through that.

“Yeah,” you nod, “why do you draw me, specifically? Or do you have books for the others as well?”

“Not full books, no.”

“So I’m the only full book?” You wonder aloud.

“Yep.”

“So then, why?” You ask quietly as you take a small step towards him, now only inches away from him.

“Ah, because I,” He takes another deep breath, “I adore you, Y/N. I always have. And I’ve never felt this way about anyone else before. Not this deeply, at least.”

You smile up at him, a real genuine smile, because holy shit. Is this all really happening right now? Is he really saying all these things to you? My god, maybe you have actually died and gone to heaven. “I adore you too.”

“You do?” He asks, buoyantly.

You nod, “I do.”

And then you see the confident Steve resurface, as if he hadn’t gone anywhere, and a smirk breaks out on his handsome face, as he wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you into him, “I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Okay, deal.” You giggle out just before he leans in and silences you with his lips. You know, the ones you’ve been dreaming about kissing for years. Yeah, those ones.

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

Bonus:

You and Steve finally part from the most amazing kiss you’ve ever had, leaving you both a little dazed and confused. But that doesn’t last long because this is the tower after all.

“Tony would like me to inform you both of his congratulations,” FRIDAY’s familiar lilt echoes through Steve’s room, “and to play this recording for you both.”

And then you hear Tony’s voice speak up, “that took you both long enough. What was that, 4 years of mutual pining? Damn, I haven’t even had relationships that lasted that long.” A pause then Tony’s recording continues, “oh and also, I figured out both your hands. And I never took you as someone who would forfeit, Capsicle. I’m disappointed in you.”

Then the room goes silent once again.

“He is never going to get me live that down now,” Steve groans as he scraps a hand down his face, and you burst out laughing.

“No, no he is not—“ you start but then a finger gently pokes your ribs, right where you’re ticklish spot is, causing you to flinch away from it and giggle.

“That’s enough outta you, missy,” he jokes as he leans down to kiss you again, effectively preventing any retort you were about to make. But my god, you could really get used to this. And from the looks of it, that just might be what’s in the cards for you both.

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

Not sure if you all want to be tagged in this or not, but figured I’d tag ya’ll just in case. @hopefulmoonobject @itsstillnotwhatyouthink @tessvillegas @boxofteenageideas @wangdeasang @giggleberts @casuallydarktiger @theonelittleone @agentbadbitch @ratwrites @starrystellars @bandsandanimefreak

[maluraunderchild]

An Infinite Loop P2

The kiss sends my mind to another point in time. It sends me to a memory I had blocked for years.

I’m sixteen, and I’m afraid. Behind me, I can feel the flames coming off the wing of the Scarlet Monastery and there are shouts from the people inside. These were my jailers, the people who told me I was not pure enough in my faith in the light. They were right. I hated them. My body burned thinking what they did to others. What they did to the Forsaken. What they did to Deeb..

I tried to move, but there was something wrong with me, with my back. I can feel the oil slick blood coating my sides, my legs didn’t want to move properly. I didn’t know how badly I was flogged, I just knew something was wrong, very wrong.

The world stopped, time froze as I noticed a pair of feet approaching me and a man knelt down to look at me. He looked older, too much older than me. His hands are covered in golden light, no, that was sand he had slipping around his fingers. As he touched my hand I feel my body slow down.

‘It’s going to be okay Malura. Keep breathing, the San’layn is going to be here soon. He’s going to sense the raw magic on you and send you to a place where you’ll get help. You’re a survivor.’

His voice holds a mourning pain I didn’t understand. I can’t remember his face. No. I couldn’t remember his face until now.

I’m back in the moment, the man who had slowed my wounds has his arms around me, like this is natural. His lips have a hot scorching heat that rolled off of him. It’s that heat and spice I’ve only smelled once before, weeks ago in Stormwind.

My lips are traitors as they kiss him back, it’s a gut reaction in the face of feeling something so powerful rush over you. I could easily fall into this moment. Give me passion, give me someone who gives a fuck and I’m pudding.

I don’t want to be like that anymore.

Pulling away I have to crane my neck up to look at him. Okay, sure, the kiss was nice. Like, I’d rank it... top three I’ve ever had. But I don’t know this guy. I suspect this is Khazradormu, fuck, I just kissed a dragon. Fuck, fuck.

He lowered his forehead to rest on mine but I pull away a bit more. “Um... so... this is awkward. I think we’re on two different timelines.” I don’t want to pull away, he feels good. All warmth and security. The kind of shit I would fall for if I let myself

His arms go stiff around me until they fall off and limp to his sides. His eyes carry a calculated look, but his smile doesn’t leave his lips. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I mean it was one Fel of a kiss.” I held my hand up. “And you’re a nice-looking guy, dragon... dragon guy. But I’m really not in the market for a boyfriend right now.”

Khazradormu rose and eyebrow and his hands moved up to roost on his hips. “Mal-”

“And I think we should probably stick to our mission. I could be reading too much into all of this. Like. Dragons don’t date mortals. You’ve been stuck for who knows how long in this loop... This is a loop right. Like, I get it, you’re probably really happy to be seeing another living being an-”

I’m rambling, trying to find a logical way for him to have kissed me without there being anything big to take from it.

“Malura!” He shouted this time stopping me from my rant. “For fuck’s sake.” But he’s not angry, he’s laughing. “This is when I meet you for the first time. Take a deep breath and stop putting your panties in a twist.”

My cheeks and ears blush. “I saw you years ago. You were there after I tried to escape from the Scarlet Crusade.” I then pointed at him, things clicking into place. “You were doing random shit around me during ‘Love Is In The Air’!”

A small smile crept on his lips. He really has nice facial hair, when did I start liking men with facial hair? “You hate that holiday. Everyone is all paired up, and you were lonely. But, right now, this is when I get to see you and you see me. It’s time.”

“Fuck time.”

“We have.” He says it in such a deadpan that I am struck silent by him. “Look, I get it, it’s weird for you. I’m sorry I kissed you... I thought you were the future you.”

But his kiss had been beautiful. There was a peek into the future that I normally deny myself. I don’t want to know the future so I can feel surprised. Well, I’m surprised. I’m surprised there is a dragon who is smirking at me like I was some hot shit.

“Yeah well.” I’m still at a loss for words as I watch him. His clothing is like mine, it’s filled with stories that I might or might not be apart of. He’s also got this angular educated smart guy look. I’ve dated a lot of guys, most of them ranging between idiots with swords, smart guys with zero social skills, or monsters. I’m not sure what side of all of that this dragon is on. What I do know is he’s cute, and not int the ‘powerful badass’ way. He’s just, cute. “Nice introduction, Khazradormu right?”

“I go by Khaz Mal.” He smiled a bit. “Khazradormu really is a mouth full.”

“Khaz.” I said the shortened name, flicking it over with my tongue to figure out if I like it or not. I might. “I’m, really going to date you one day?”

His smile, it make his eyebrows hike up and his eyes brighten to this teasing impish look. “Yeah, you could say date. We consider it more a partnership. Mates.”

This is why I don’t look into my future, I don’t want to know who I’m going to be in love with. I want to wake up one day and go ‘oh... I love this person’.

But, I’ve done that before. I’ve fallen in love the normal way. Where did it get me? It got me to right here. To meeting this dragon and him tell me we’re going to be a thing. I’ve dated my share of guys who said they could see the future. It lead me to right here. Only all of them were mortal, none of them came from the Dragonflight. None of them were a Bronze. I know the Bronze Dragons are born with the full memory of their future. Unlike everyone else, Khaz might not be shitting me.

I crush easily, fall in love, I don’t know. He keeps looking at me and my ears are burning.

“It’s, nice to meet you. But I don’t think I can do this right now. We, we should get to work.” I said gesturing around us. There was a frozen infinite dragon who looked to be in the middle of a fight with Khaz.

“I mean, sure if you want to ignore the fact we’re meeting for the- oh” He held out the ‘oh’ for a long moment. “Right, you’re a workaholic at this time.”

Being called out I scoffed. “You have been stuck in this loop for how long and you want to shoot the shit with me?”

“It’s different, you’re here. I mean, I know Pandaria is kinda a boring country to you, but, it’s pretty.” He gestured to the grounds around us before grinning. “I know you’re curious about stuff, it’s you. You’re wanting to know ‘why him?’ Right?”

“Yeah, no. I want to get this done. Look, you’re a nice, dragon, man. But...” I try searching for words to say. I know I’ve met people out of sync with me, that I had to cover first meetings, but that was future friends. Not, not something like this.

His shoulder’s drop, just slightly. “You’re right. Let’s treat this like any first meeting.” But he moves closer again and I can feel how warm he is. He offers a scared hand out. “I’m Khaz, and I want to say, thanks for saving my hide.”

“I haven’t saved it yet.” But I reach out and take his hand. The slight chill in my hands is instantly gone and there is a whispering thought in my mind. He knows the future, in a way he is my right now and my future. If he kisses me when we’ve been apart for a short while, what is it like to be beside him all the time? I don’t know anything about him, and I think this job is going to give me a crash course in getting to know him.

But Khaz smirks, he has this glinting look that makes me wonder if he’s going to be a trouble maker. Squeezing my hand once he lets it go. “Trust me Sandstorm, you’re the only Timewalker I know who can backtalk demons, stare down overly powered Temporal Anomolys, and,” he pointed a finger at me with a grin. “dodge questions for days. These Infinite Dragons will know you one day, and they’ll know to flee the field when you get there.”

I’ve been a timewalker for years now, no one has ever retreated when I approached. Everything Khaz has said has already happened. It sounds impressive, even if I think it’s just my normal life, I know it’s impressive. “You really think I’m all that.”

Furrowing his brows he nodded. “Babe, you’re all that. Wanna get your work done so you can do twenty questions with me?”

“If I want to be around your scally ass after this.” But my laugh escapes me, like this is easy. I’ve done this before, with friends. Normally we would take time to get to know each other, ask questions, figure out where our friendship took off. Now I’m here, and I feel like I want to know everything. I want to know why I chose to fall in love again. After all the pain, after having to lose and lose again, why this dragon is going to be the one who stays.

 “I have one question. Since you’re a Bronze.” He is watching me, he probably knows what it is. “How are we going to break up? Are you going to die on me? Get corrupted? Some other temporal bullshit? Find another woman?”

That’s when I see the hurt. I might have said the wrong thing, but it’s something I need to know. “I’ve never left you. And I’m never going to leave you.” 

“Right.” But I don’t believe it. It’s a little difficult to once you know a lot of powerful people.

“Yeah, I know.” He offered a small saddened look. “You’ve had enough guys tell you the same stuff. But they were mortal. Even that Anomaly was mortal. When I was born, my first memories that came to me was of my end. And you got no reason to trust me, but it’s a good end. For both of us.”

For both of us. When I die, he’ll die too. That seed of knowledge makes me shiver. What would it be like if after who knows how long someone I love holds me and says, ‘It’s time’. It’s going to happen and part of me is sad, but also filled with something new. Hope.

“When I had spare time, I’ve been here. When you needed someone, I was there.” He said and wet his lips as he continued. “I’ve been with you the whole time. I was there when you were framed for murder, when the Scarlet Crusade tried to brainwash you, as Anthion trained you, when your troop betrayed you, as you went through therapy.” He was moving closer to me, my heart starting to speed up as he closed the distance. “I was there when you found out Arrel died, when you took your trials.” His hand reached up and touched the notch in my ear. “I was there when you were lonely, when no one would listen to your side of the story. I was there when you finally left that place... I was rooting for you. I always have rooted for you.”

My breath is gone. I don’t think I know how to breathe in this moment. There were nights when I was curled up in my bed, head tucked under my arms that I wished someone was there. I needed someone there who wasn’t going to treat me like an idiot, or like I couldn’t care for myself. Someone who was on my level and treated me for all the damage I’ve suffered. Someone who loves my scars. Not someone who would erase them if I told them to.

I can see it, I can see why I fell in love with this dragon.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, forgetting about work for the time being. 

Khaz shrugged his smile still there, but it’s tired like he has seen as much as I’ve seen. “Cause you deserved someone looking out for you. Even if I couldn’t be with you.”

There was this story I heard, when I was trying to come to terms with not having a soulmate and watching others around me proclaim their love for their soulmates, I found a story about how if your soulmate dies before you do they look after you. I’m not calling Khaz a soulmate, but a guardian. Someone just wishing the best for me, but not being able to save me.

I can feel the tears, they’re hot, like how he’s hot. They scorch down my cheeks and I am again at a loss for words. For all my life I thought I was alone. That no one was looking in on me, that one day I would die by myself. But I’ve never been alone. I’ve had a dragon watching me, hoping I’d make it through.

He’s close and a hand reaches out, as if he wants to touch me. “Let it out.” But I complete the small advance he’s been making now pulling him into a hug. I’m not kissing him, but I do cry. It’s one of those good clearing cries. So many of my mental wounds are infected, and it’s only crying that helps me clear it out. He doesn’t move, and I’m grateful he’s basically acting as my support as I break for a bit.

“Thank you.” And I can’t mean it enough. Looking up tears are still coming down, but I feel better. For the first time in years, I’m whole and it’s not because I’m going to fall in love with him. It’s because I’m not alone. Finally someone has stayed and I didn’t know until now. “I want to take this slow, but, thank you.”

Khaz reached over touching my arm with a secure touch. “Always.” His eyes dashed over to the frozen Infinite Dragon. “I need your help... more your knowlage. Get me a lead on this guy.”

[bluehhj]

listen to me — chapter 25

LISTEN TO ME — 0025

listen to me masterlist;

WORDS: 1.7K

(a/n: i wrote it very quickly, it's not one of my best writings, but still... here it is. i’m starting to write another one ok?)

Jade wasn't getting to work that afternoon, neither was Jinah.

Kang occupied her customary branch next to Choi. Although she hadn't yet received any call — which was commonplace on taciturn Mondays — she kept the headphones in her ears and the little microphone attached to them near her mouth, since she wasn't managing to drive a hundred percent of her attention to work and probably didn't even notice the flashing red light in case someone decided to call; so, she'd be alerted by a beep that would take over her auditory channels and bring her back to reality if that were necessary. On her desk there was nothing more than the open laptop and a bottle of water in half. Every five minutes, her eyes were fixed on spying on the little partition that separated her from Jinah, and she could tell with certainty that her friend was, definitely, not doing well at all.

"Unnie?" — she called softly. Jinah took about five seconds to go into orbit and look away from a random spot on the wall, then leading them to the american's. Jade eventually got Choi to tell her what she wanted to hear and know when they were leaving college. — "Stop thinking about it, nothing's going to happen."

Jinah remained silent. She really didn't want to take it all seriously, after all, as Jade had said earlier, it was just a message and Seoul was too big for anyone to track down her whereabouts like that, overnight. But Jinah knew Minhwan more than she wanted to know and she knew what he was capable of to achieve the things he wanted. Besides, it wasn't only Choi who was involved in the snowball, but, consequently, everyone around her, and that was what made her more and more worried.

"Are you afraid?" — Jade spoke again at Choi's silence.

"No" — it was true. The time when Jinah was shaking just to hear the name of her ex-boyfriend had passed, today she just wanted to punch him. — "I'm distressed, it's different."

"You don't have to be like this, I told you that nothing will happen" — it wasn't as if Jade could be absolutely sure, but, if it were up to her and Changbin, things would still be under control. The couple had their methods. — "This guy could even be the owner of the hill" — Jinah almost laughed at the expression and slang used by her friend — "there in the town where you lived, but here he won't be at the top, no. First I'll scrub him all over."

"A little below his waist should be the most you can reach, Jade."

"Perfect! It's even easier, Changbin breaks one of his balls and I break the other."

Jinah couldn't hold back a low chuckle, though it was mostly nervous.

"Those action movies aren't doing you good, I just think."

"My action movies aren't the problem, but your restlessness about that subject, yes."

"And how do you want me not to get restless?" — Jinah turned in the wheeled chair, facing Kang, who decided to remove the headphones for a moment. It was too important to pass up. — "He even found out my number. It wouldn't surprise me if he had become a hacker and, unlike you think, knew where we live" — Jinah remembered that, shortly before moving to Seoul, Minhwan was developing some very suspicious technological skills. — "And it scares me a bit, Jadey," — she confessed. — "You know what he's done, can you imagine if all that happens again? Jisung, he..." — she closed her eyes for a moment, not wanting to think about that part. — "I don't want anything bad to happen to him, even more because of me."

"You're not going to walk away from him, are you?"

"Of course not" — the same stupidity, Jinah wouldn't commit twice. She wouldn't let Minhwan take anything else from her. — "If I didn't do it even when I discovered I was in love with him, it's not now that I'm going to dwell on something I've seen that I can't do."

"That's my girl" — Jade approved of her friend's decision with a shake of her head. — "Don't let this idiot intimidate you."

Though a small voice screamed in the back of her head, Jinah nodded: — "I'll try."

                         ♡˖°

Jisung could say that he liked that publishing house, but let's face it: every day was a new test of patience.

Beginning with Donghyuck, who made him angry with such a facility that he even looked like Jinah from weeks ago. Not that he did it directly, but the mania of complaining about everything and everyone made Jisung very angry, so that Han almost thanked in his knees whenever Renjun ordered the boy to shut his fucking mouth. The bad part was that they started fighting right away and Jaemin kept trying to calm things down.

Jaemin, all cute and affectionate. Sometimes, Jisung wanted to hit him. It was so much sweetness for one person that it even caused diabetes. In addition, there was the fact that he participated in the strangest relationship that Han had ever seen in his life. One hour he was full of flame over Renjun, in another he was kissing the young man who worked at the reception, and, as if that weren't enough, Renjun also dragged his wing to that same boy. It was a mess, Jisung didn't understand anything.

When the dance of triple mating wasn't happening, Donghyuck complained that he was the only one who didn't have a boyfriend and his chinese friend refuted that it was obvious that he didn't, since he was very unbearable for someone to bear him every day, then started a new fight that, would, surely, make Jisung's head ache. It was a relief when the time to leave finally came.

On leaving the publishing house, already with the dark and starry sky above the tops of the buildings, Jisung took the first step and felt the phone vibrate in his hand. It was a message from Jinah, asking if he had already gone home, and as the boy was feeling a bit of lazy typing, eventually called the girl (it wasn't because he liked to hear her voice on the phone, far from it).

"I'm leaving the publishing house now," — he replied as Choi answered.

"Can you wait for me at the first corner?" —, for a moment Jisung had forgotten that the central where Jinah worked was very close.

"Come quickly" — and so the call ended.

Han walked to the right place and didn't have to wait long until he saw Jinah crossing the street to get to where he was. Jisung didn't know her well enough to understand her personality completely, but it was clear that Choi seemed downcast.

"Hard day?"

"Kind of" — Jinah shrugged one shoulder. — "Can you talk a little bit?"

"It seems the roles are reversing" — Jisung smiled weakly, prompting the girl to do the same. — "What do you want to talk about?" — he asked, starting to walk toward the park across the busy boulevard. He was tired, but he didn't mind losing a few minutes listening to the problems of someone who had done the same for him.

Jinah had already talked to Jade, Chan and Changbin, but something urged her to talk to Jisung as well. It was a strange desire to want him to be inside her life, as if that way she could have him closer. There was also the fact that she liked his company. The problems seemed to lose some of the importance when she was near him.

"I had a really stupid boyfriend when I was younger," — she began, sitting on one of the park benches. The boy sat down beside her and stood listening intently. — "He would do that controlling guy, that even implied with my friends" — with implicating, Jinah meant to scare, to diminish, to attack and to drive away in the worst possible way. Minhwan did the same to the people with whom Choi got involved after the end of the relationship, or even worse, but she preferred to hide that part. — "We broke up when things got very complicated, but he never accepted it very well. That's why my parents sent me to live here, with my aunt. It was very difficult to bear what he did..." — all the terrible memories reproducing in her mind. — "But now he's in Seoul, and I sort of don't know what to do."

"Look, I don't know how your friends of this time were, but I think those of now won't believe him, no" — Jisung had already seen Jade in anger and didn't want to see again so soon, neither Changbin. — "And you can count on us all to hit this guy. I'm not worth much, but I know how to curse."

Jinah opened another smile, this time wider than the previous one. She knew she wasn't alone and that the only thing that made her so apprehensive was the trauma of adolescence. She was an almost psychologist with psychological problems, very ironic.

The best thing to do was convince herself that Jisung and her friends were right. Things have changed a lot over the years, she was no longer that little girl who didn't know how to defend herself.

"You seem to have gone through a difficult phase," — the boy observed, aware that he had heard only the shallow part of the story, the tip of the iceberg. — "It doesn't have to be now, but, if you ever want to talk about it, I don't mind listening."

"Thank you" — Jinah didn't really want to bring the subject up at that time, but she was grateful for the offer. — "And sorry about that. You must be tired and I'm here, stuffing your head with bullshit."

"As if I've never done the same to you. Besides, it's not bullshit, it's what you feel and I'm here to listen."

You're going to kill me of love like that, fuck, Jinah thought as her eyes grew brighter. Jisung kept surprising her, it wasn't good for her health.

"If we weren't in public, I swear I'd give you a kiss right now" — as sassy as she was, she couldn't let it go.

Han smirked, enigmatic, and stood up: — "Don't be for that reason."

(a/n: i know that jinah's story with her ex hasn't yet been completely cleared up, but this will be clarified little by little. meanwhile i'll leave you guys there, grinding the knives. the good thing about the villain of the story not being an idol is that you guys can hate him as much as you want, lol. enjoy the refreshments)

[hardlyfatal]

gary’s writing workshop: lesson 3:

Plot Structuring, Part 1

What is a story? Stories are accounts of transformations: situations, people, attitudes, establishments. If something isn’t changing, what is there to write about? Nothing.

Our job, as writers, is to describe the change and repercussions so that they’re effectively and entertainingly communicated to our readers with as much readability as possible. There are three components to managing it, which I’ll be going over here..

In this lesson, I’m going to ask you to change how you perceive and write stories.1

1. Plot Points & Purpose

Instead of looking at scenes from the outside – instead of looking at them from the POV of the reader, and considering their entertainment value – I want you to look at them from the inside. Or, rather, from below. From what basis, to what purpose, do they spring?

Scenes do not exist just to be entertaining. The wow factor is great, but it’s the icing on this particular cake. You can dress up a scene with elaborate setting, intense dialogue, brisk pacing, and boatloads of UST… but if they don’t move the plot along, they’re like a broken pencil: pointless.

Thus the new way to look at stories, at individual scenes, is to scrutinize them for purpose. The only purpose or reason any scene should make it into a story is because it moves the plot to its next point. These are in fact called plot points, and every scene requires one.

It’s a pretty existential way of looking at the matter, but it’s necessary, in order to create a satisfying tale that flows logically from one place to the next, that feels continuous and makes sense. Making sense is a very important, and often overlooked, aspect of storytelling.

Let’s use my story, Shoot the Moon, as an example. Going into it, I knew my overarching story premise: I wanted them to meet, hate each other, but slowly grow to learn about, become attracted to, eventually love each other, and then part. Not knowing that they actually lived in the same city, they meet again and reestablish their relationship. Finally, they find the motivation to overcome their personal demons to be together.

If you tease apart those plot points, you’ll see there are three acts:

They meet, hate each other, but slowly grow to learn about, become attracted to, and eventually love each other.

They part, not knowing that they lived in the same city, then meet again.

They overcome their misapprehensions about each other, and personal demons, to be together.

So how do I get them from A (beginning of each arc) to B (end of each arc)? The chapters in each arc have to have purpose; they have to have a point. Thus each scene was created to serve the purpose needed. A few examples:

I wanted Jaime to see how loving and gentle Brienne could be in contrast to her appearance and behavior to that point, so I created the scene where she shows the twins the bird eggs.

I wanted Brienne that, for all Jaime’s dickishness, he carried pain and perhaps deserved a bit of understanding and patience, so I created the scene where she confronts him and he reveals how he’s been parenting the twins by himself since his wife died.

I wanted to show Brienne’s persisting lack of self-esteem and reinforce Jaime’s attraction to her, so I created the scene where Arianne opened the door in just a robe, exposing most of her goodies, and Jaime hardly noticing because he was paying attention to Brienne instead.

As long as your story is driven by plot points– that make sense – that’s it. You’re probably suspicious of how simple it is, but it really is just that uncomplicated.

Despite that simplicity, I see a lot of people including gratuitous scenes, the purpose of which is to stroke the reader’s kink for whatever (hurt/comfort, fluff, smut, drama, etc.) instead of to push the plot forward. Either nothing much occurs in the scene, or it’s merely a reiteration of plot development and exposition that has already occurred before.

In the case of the latter, you need to have self-discipline and choose one or the other. There is no need to repeat yourself in romantic fiction – it just bogs things down and kills the pacing. Redundancy is wasted time and effort. If you’ve made a point, the point is made and does not need repeating. Have you noticed yet that I’ve said the same thing four times in this paragraph, just worded differently? Yeah.

In the case of the former, it just needs to go. If it’s dead weight, it’s dead weight. Be like Marie Kondo: thank it and let it go.

That’s not to say that hurt/comfort, fluff, smut, and drama can’t be included. They absolutely can and should be; they just need to have a point, and you only need to make that point once.

The point of a hurt/comfort scene could be one of them learning to trust the other, or discovering they have the capacity to be gentle and caring with another person, or that being vulnerable – with the right person, i.e. the other half of the couple – is not only safe but freeing.

The point of fluff could be one of them revealing they feel secure enough to let their inhibitions down and show spontaneous affection, or to show their joy in being able to openly express their love instead of having to keep it hidden and fearful.

The point of smut could be one of them developing the confidence to be a more active or even dominant lover, or show their surprise to be given pleasure for their sake instead of used for their partner’s satisfaction before their own, i.e. that they matter as well and that they doesn’t have to sacrifice their own pleasure in order to make the other person happy.

The point of a dramatic scene could be an expression of any of these – trust, capacity for gentleness, security in the other’s affections, confidence, realization of self-worth, revelations of secrets – possibly with some sort of action-y component. Is there a dramatic revelation that will somehow directly impact the romance between the couple?

To illustrate what I mean, I chose to deconstruct a scene from the show specifically because it is so spare of dialogue (relatively speaking), to show you how effective scenes can be even when there’s not a lot of verbal exposition, at least about the true reason for the scene.

This scene has nothing to do with her loyalties to the Starks or Catelyn Stark, though it may seem that way at first. It exists to give Jaime an opportunity to get to know Brienne better in ways that speak to her core personality and character.

Example:

TV!Brienne takes on three Stark men – who had killed a group of prostitutes after servicing Lannister soldiers – while Jaime watches. Youtube link, if you’d like to watch it to see exactly what happens..

Reason it was included:

To give the audience not only more evidence of her fighting prowess but also insight to her thoughts/feelings (her pity for the prostitutes in particular and of women’s plight in being under the control of men in general, and that she’s empathetic to the point of being vengeful on behalf of others who have suffered).

To make the audience understand that Jaime is now aware that Brienne is a formidable fighter; is not an empty braggart/can back up her claims of ‘knocking men into the dust’; is passionate enough about her convictions to fight and kill for them; is brave enough to face, and skilled enough to defeat, three men at once; is more committed to her loyalty to other women than she is to the Stark cause.

What was accomplished:

Jaime sees her as more than just her unusual appearance or another random person who loathes him like everyone else or a Stark lackey. She becomes a real person to him in this scene.

2. Making the Reader Give a Damn

You have to retain the reader’s interest from one chapter to the next. If you lose them along the way, you’ve lost any reason to keep going with the story. I know we all tell ourselves “I’m just having fun!” and “I’m doing this for myself!” but I think we all agree, though maybe just secretly, that it’s kind of bullshit: stories are made to be read by someone, somewhere.

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? If no one reads our stories, was it worth the effort of writing them? If we’re boring the pants off our readers, why bother? Maybe it’s because you love to know you’re making others happy, maybe it’s because you love the appreciation you receive, whatever. IDK your life. But for the most part, there’s some external validation going on, and if others are quitting your story in the middle, or foregoing your stories entirely because past things you’d written had been unreadable, you’re just shouting into a void.

The main issues where readership hangs in the balance are pacing and description (setting, blocking, inner voice/narration). We’ll go over all of these to a greater degree in later lessons. For now, I’ll just say… if these are compromised, you’re going to be giving a skimpier, shallower, boring-er version instead of the lushly-detailed story it could have been.

3. Making Sense

Getting them sucked in with your word-picture and the flow of plot points is only two-thirds of the job: you also need to make sense. And before you start yapping about suspension of disbelief, yes, that’s a thing, but it only goes so far. There are certain premises than can stretch credulity and still work, but others that go too far and just ruin it.

This is one of our Battles of the Balance: you have to find how far you can go until it just doesn’t work and starts to feel stupid. It negatively impacts readability because it’s so outlandish that it tugs the reader from their reading trance and makes them wonder WTF you’re trying to do because what you just wrote is highly improbable. It kills the story’s readability. It’s important to stay grounded and retain an open mind about your balance in this regard. You need to be able to analyze what you’re doing and seeing if it is going over the top rather than blindly trusting your first impulses and, worse, ignoring feedback that indicates that you need to tone it down.

This is why the work of A Certain Someone fails: she contends that human people are able to produce bodily secretions to a volume that is not physically possible. She loses us because she forewent logic for the payoff she was reaching for (presumably arousal?). Instead of us getting all into the smut and romance, grinning dirtily, instead we frown and grimace because we’re imagining rivulets and puddles and sodden carpets and crusty mattresses, etc. And her ego prevents her from understanding that she is imbalanced in this way, with the result that she keeps churning out fic after revolting fic that many potential readers avoid.

It’s also why Mary Sues and Gary Stus spur such a knee-jerk loathing in so many people. It’s fine to give your characters fine, admirable qualities, but if you heap them on, or don’t counter them with just-as-significant flaws, it will no longer make sense because it’s illogical that anyone would be so fantastic and lacking in defects.

Chekhov’s Gun3 vs. Deus Ex Machina

Chekhov’s Gun2 and Deus Ex Machina are two sides of the same coin: the need for continuity. If it happens earlier, there needs to be resolution later. If it happens later, there needs to be mention (aka ”foreshadowing”) earlier.

Chekhov’s Gun is a literary principle stating that elements in a story have to be relevant. The presence of superfluous details constitute ‘false promises’ on the part of the author, because they’re offering a concept to the reader that will never have any point.

This doesn’t mean you should never mention non-essential things that have no bearing on the plot for fear of creating Chekhov’s guns willy-nilly; you need to create ambiance with description of setting, etc. It just means don’t make a point of mentioning something beyond its level of importance to the story. Brienne’s nose is mentioned as being crooked to emphasize her ugliness as well as symbolize her atypically unfeminine lifestyle since the huge majority of Westerosi women don’t get their noses broken, due to their less active lifestyles. Jaime’s nose is mentioned… never, because it doesn’t matter.

Disclaimer: I am terrible at the Chekhov’s Gun thing, because I have a shitty memory and will put in a detail that I fully intend to do something with… only to completely forget it exists and never mention it again. This is bad. Do not do as I do on this one. I mention it because it’s a continuing issue I struggle with and continue to work on. My poor betas...

Deux Ex Machina is a plot device whereby a problem, conundrum, obstacle, or mystery is solved when an unlikely resolution presents itself without any hints or foreshadowing earlier in the plot, often in such a convenient way that it feels contrived and anti-climactic.

Example that I just cooked up: The big fight in King’s Landing, Jaime and Brienne fight a pitched battle to reach the throne room where Cersei is seated upon her pile of swords. Together, they manage to defeat Gregor Clegane and just as they’re about to confront the queen, Arya pops up3 from behind the throne to tug on Cersei’s left earlobe. Turns out, Cersei is actually an android and had been malfunctioning for a long time, hence her erratic behavior. Bran had a vision about where her off-switch was, and used magical mind-speak to tell his sister how to cut Cersei’s power. Et voilà!

Example that actually happened in the show: Dragons fly at the speed of light and can whisk people around a continent comparable in size to the United States in an hour or two. Similarly, ships can navigate long distances at a fraction of the time supported by actual reality, and horses can rocket down the Kingsroad like Maseratis, if the speed with which Brienne and Pod made it from Winterfell to the dragon pit is any indication4.

Homework

If you are currently working on a story: create an outline of its plot in terms of each scene’s purpose. Identify any gaps in the progression of plot points, and come up with ways to bridge those gaps.

If you are not currently working on a story: do this with one of the stories you have already published. Think up what you could have done differently, or what you could have inserted, to connect the loose ends.

If you are not currently writing anything, and have never published anything: Take one of my stories, nothing too short because it won’t have enough transitions to make the effort meaningful, and nothing too long because LOL this is supposed to be fun, and do as instructed above. I suggest Signs of Life, Vision of Love, or Full Fathom Five because of their middling lengths. Identify gaps, and suggest fixes for them.

Remember to look for connections and flow from scene to scene, NOT chapter to chapter.

Footnotes

1 – Unless you already do this, in which case… well done! Carry on! 

2 – This refers to Anton Chekhov, Russian author, not any Star Trek character.

3 – I SWEAR TO GOD I wrote this months ago, before the last season. Wish I hadn’t been prescient about it... *weeps*

4 – Like, I know about the compression of time through editing but COME ON.

© 2019 to me

[musicprincess655]

Mei is no stranger to flirting. He’s always been good with charming people, a life in the spotlight giving him an innate sense of how to get people to like him, even if he usually prefers to press buttons instead. Flings are easy for him, but what he’s never been all that good at is wooing.

He’s never really had to learn, after all. When he first started having an interest in people that went beyond ew, cooties, his natural looks were enough to do the job for him. After high school, he never pursued a serious relationship for reasons that are more and more clear to him, so he never had to try. Flings don’t require much more than a passing glance and a few well-chosen words.

Itsuki, though, Itsuki is different. Mei is trying for a relationship here, trying to build something real, and Mei is trying his hand at wooing. He’s not entirely sure what he’s supposed to be doing, but he’s got one ace up his sleeve: he’s throwing money at it.

Well. Not entirely. It’s not that he thinks he can buy Itsuki’s affection, and he doubts he would want it if he could. It’s just that Mei has a lot of disposable income, and even if Itsuki does too, the little spark in Itsuki’s eyes when Mei can manage to surprise him with a treat is worth it.

A part of Mei, one he isn’t quite ready to acknowledge yet, knows what he’s really doing here. Even when they were properly together, they missed out on a lot of the stereotypical cutesy high school romance moments. They were too wrapped up in baseball, too wrapped up in each other, and Itsuki was too afraid of being seen for them to do any of the kinds of dates all their friends did. No walks in the park to look at the blooming cherry blossoms, no going to the mall, no buying ice cream.

It’s not that Mei feels cheated of the experience. It’s more…he missed a lot with Itsuki, the first time. And trying to spoil Itsuki like they’re not both adults is a lot easier to make up for than the fact he never told Itsuki he loved him.

“I feel like you wanted ice cream more than I did,” Itsuki says.

“Did you want something else?” Mei asks. He saw a crepe stand on the way into the park. He’s willing to backtrack to go get one.

“No, this is fine.” Itsuki licks a drop of chocolate running down his thumb. Mei very pointedly does not stare. “We’re definitely not supposed to be eating this.”

“One ice cream cone won’t ruin us,” Mei says. “Live a little.”

“We do have a game tomorrow,” Itsuki chides him, but it’s without heat. He gives up trying to catch random drips and just licks all around the base of his cone, tongue levelling across the ice cream. Mei very pointedly does not stare.

“And we’ll kick ass,” he says, and he’s very proud when his voice comes out sounding normal. “We’ve got this.”

“Even though we’re playing against Miyuki Kazuya?” Itsuki asks.

“Kazuya isn’t that special,” Mei says. “I’ve beaten him before. We can do it again.”

“You always were a little weird about him in high school,” Itsuki says. “I actually thought you had a thing for him.”

“That…might not be entirely untrue,” Mei admits. Because, really, the way he and Kazuya used to act around each other, it definitely reads like a crush neither of them acknowledged. “Good thing we never acted on it. Can you imagine how much of a disaster we would’ve been?”

“Your taste in men is as bad as your taste in ice cream,” Itsuki says.

“Hey,” Mei complains. He likes rum raisin. It’s good. “Isn’t that a self-burn?”

“What, because you liked me?” Itsuki asks. “Did you actually like me back then, or was I just there?”

“Hey,” Mei says again, this time actually insulted. “I don’t know exactly what you think of me, and I won’t pretend I don’t deserve most of it, but I definitely wouldn’t have done all that if I didn’t like you.”

“You were pretty broken up after we lost Koshien,” Itsuki says. “You didn’t know what you were gonna do in the future. It’s…I don’t like thinking it, but I’d get it if you wanted a distraction.”

Itsuki is both closer than he realizes and so very, very far off. Mei still doesn’t know if they’re allowed to talk about this now, but he refuses to let Itsuki think he’s that much less than what he really means to Mei.

“I don’t know if I’ve given you the impression that I do things I don’t want to do,” Mei starts, voice going just slightly hard with emotion, “but I wouldn’t have let anything happen between us if I didn’t want to.”

“Yeah, but still,” Itsuki protests. “I wasn’t like any of the girls you flirted with, I wasn’t pretty or confident or all over you, and I wasn’t like Miyuki, I wasn’t the best catcher of the generation, I wasn’t the one you tried so hard to recruit. So why me?”

“Do you believe we were friends back then?” Mei asks quietly. Itsuki nods. “So do you believe the way I treat my friends might be different from the way I treat strangers?”

“Miyuki wasn’t a stranger,” Itsuki says, but the corner of his mouth is twitching up anyway, and Mei takes the small victory.

“We definitely weren’t friends back then,” Mei says. “If you’re asking if you were somehow special, the answer is obviously yes.”

Mei waits, bated breath, for Itsuki to ask the logical follow-up to that.

If I was so special, then why did you end things the way you did?

Mei has tried to parse the answer in his many emails, and he thinks he might have come close, and while Itsuki has read all of that, he deserves to hear it out loud. Mei is ready to tell him, if he just asks.

He’ll tell Itsuki that he was stupid, that he was so scared of losing what they had that he’d run from anything that would end them early, and maybe Itsuki is a little right about Mei starting their relationship because he needed a distraction, but he’s so wrong about the reasons they ended.

But Itsuki just breathes out, takes another bite of ice cream, and doesn’t ask Mei to explain himself. And perhaps that’s for the best. This has already been an emotionally taxing conversation, and maybe they should both let it sit and rest before they finish it. They have the time, after all.

And besides, despite how flippant Mei was about their upcoming game with the Yakult Swallows, it actually won’t be an easy game for them. It’s not even just the incredible battery Kazuya and Sawamura have, product of countless hours and over a decade of learning each other. The Swallows already have a stable, winning team. The BayStars aren’t there yet. They can win, but they’re not yet consistent. It’s a quality that will only come with time, and time is something they’re short on for this year.

Remembering that doesn’t make it any better when Mei hears Kazuya’s soft cackle behind him as the ball lands perfectly in his mitt. Sawamura got him with a circle changeup, and that’s just insulting. Mei went out swinging, and now he immediately has to get up and pitch.

Mei prides himself on his ability to pitch even in less than ideal situations. He’s a damn good pitcher, and even without his pride, if he were to go toe-to-toe with Sawamura, he’d win. On technical skill alone, even with Sawamura’s bullshit huge pitch repertoire, Mei is better.

But that’s before they’re in batteries, and Sawamura’s battery with Kazuya has long since been multiplicative instead of additive. Kazuya makes him shine, and right now, Sawamura is outpitching Mei.

Maybe that’s why the first pitch Mei sends isn’t quite where Itsuki asked for, and the batter hits it clear to the outfield and makes it all the way to second for his troubles.

It’s not exactly a surprise that Itsuki calls a timeout. It might be the start of their half of the inning, but if Mei is going to make dumb mistakes like that, it’ll be a rough inning for them indeed.

“Mei-san, Mei-san,” Itsuki calls, dragging Mei’s attention to him. Mei prepares himself for a standard pep talk. Calm down, take them one at a time. He’s determined that he won’t snap at Itsuki for it, because Itsuki’s just doing his job, and it’s not his fault being told to calm down is infuriating. “What flavor is a spider?”

“Huh?” Mei just…has no clue how to respond to that. It’s so far from the topic at hand.

“What flavor is a spider?” Itsuki repeats, a smile forming on his face. He doesn’t wait for Mei to ask again. “Sour!”

It’s just…such a bad pun. It seems Itsuki’s only gotten worse at them with age.

Mei doubles over with laughter.

They’re okay. They’re okay. They’re okay because Itsuki will still tell him bad puns, and will slowly allow him to talk out their past, will allow him to get closer. Will allow the easy friendship they once had, might even allow something more.

They’re okay.

“Get your ass back to the plate,” Mei says, and he doesn’t have a prayer of wiping the grin off his face. “Let’s see if we can make Sawamura squirm.”

It’s overkill. Sawamura has never been the best batter, and he definitely doesn’t warrant the best Mei and Itsuki can throw at him, but he gets it anyway. Mei is feeling particularly vindictive about the changeup that strikes Sawamura out.

They don’t win, in the end, but it’s a near thing. When the time comes for playoffs, there’s every chance they could take the Swallows. It’s enough, for now.

No one else on the team feels like celebrating a loss, but Mei is high on the feeling of Itsuki telling him puns again, and Itsuki is indulgent to his request for dinner. Mei pays without thinking on their way out, too happy that Itsuki is once again following him home.

“You’ve been treating me a lot lately,” Itsuki points out as Mei unlocks his door.

“Are you complaining?” Mei asks. He roots around in his fridge until he finds a bottle of green tea, pouring a glass for each of them. Itsuki is already on the couch, and Mei flops down next to him, nearly spilling the tea.

“No,” Itsuki says, taking the glass and sipping. “Just…I noticed.”

“Maybe I want to make up for missed opportunities,” Mei says. It comes out more serious than he intended. He tries to take a gulp of tea to cover it up, but when he sees Itsuki’s face, he chokes, coughing it all back up. “What?”

Wordlessly, Itsuki takes the tea from Mei and sets it aside. He leans closer, and Mei is frozen stiff.

“Don’t…just…” Itsuki sighs. “Don’t move, okay?”

“Okay,” Mei breathes. Itsuki keeps leaning in, and maybe Mei should close his eyes, maybe he should make this easier on them both, but he can’t.

Because even when Itsuki’s lips press to his, Mei can’t quite believe this is happening. Can’t believe the warmth pressed to his mouth, Itsuki’s eyes still open and watching him.

It’s like a mirror of their very first kiss, but instead of Itsuki tight with nerves and Mei making a choice for all the wrong reasons, this time, it feels like a missing piece has finally clicked into place. Itsuki is not a distraction, or a temporary thing, and the parts of Mei that have never been the same since that first kiss are singing now.

“You’re supposed to close your eyes,” he says softly against Itsuki’s lips. Itsuki breathes a laugh, and it gusts across Mei’s face, shaky and real.

“Still just as good as kissing girls?” he asks.

“Better.” Mei would like to get back to kissing, actually, but Itsuki is leading, and after everything that happened before, Itsuki deserves to call the shots.

“I think,” Itsuki takes a deep breath that Mei feels in his own chest, “that this can be a thing again. We can give this a try again.”

“Are you sure?” Mei asks. He doesn’t want to be a regret for Itsuki, doesn’t want to be a wrong choice, doesn’t think he can handle having this and losing it again.

“Yes,” Itsuki says. “If you give it time…yes.”

Mei will give Itsuki anything he asks for in this moment. He’s already decided Itsuki gets to set the pace this time. Being asked only this is just so easy to agree to.

“Anything you want.”

Itsuki kisses him again, eyes dropping closed, and Mei will let his lungs drown in themselves before he ends it to come up for air.

[incognitowetrust]

a random ramble about Kung Fu Panda related shit

I’m putting this under the “read more” thing because it’s long and kinda unrelated about what I usually do. However, I find myself doing long rambly brain train spills to myself about random topics, and this is one. I wrote this whole thing out, so sure, I’ll post it here. 

I never watched Kung Fu Panda 3 because I loved the second one so much, I wasn't willing to be let down. 

I'm sure a lot of folks are aware of how when it comes to movies getting sequels, it seems like the third one is where things kinda fall apart a bit. I think I kinda call it... a case of the Shreks. Shrek one, iconic, Shrek 2, friggin' amazing... Shrek 3? Hnnn... nnno. And then by the time Shrek 4 came around I don't think most people were particularly hyped. 

Though, to be honest, I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy KFP3 more than Shrek 3. However, I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as How To Train Your Dragon 3... which I certainly liked but I'm mixed as to whether or not it's "better" or "worse" than HTTYD 2, I think when it comes to HTTYD2 and 3 some aspects are kind a trade off, like I liked the villain in 3 more than 2. 

Anyway... Kung Fu Panda... the first movie I think was a bit of a shock to everyone, whether they realized it or not. I mean, KUNG FU PANDA, with JACK BLACK, everyone went in expecting to have an amusing time, but if you're like me, you may not have expected to have a certain respect for the movie later on, in regards to it being more than just a animated kids movie about a funny panda way in over his head. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that movie was a lot more "respectful" and "accurate" of Chinese culture/martial arts stuff than a lot of  media over the years has been, I mean, at the very least it's certainly gorgeous visually. Now that I think about it, it was a damn body-positive movie in a weird way, because not only is there a chubby protagonist, but because all of the martial arts masters are different animals (based off of the different Kung Fu styles of course), you get a cast of characters who greatly vary in body types and appearances. And they didn't do anything weird with the female designs either, they didn't feel the need to give Tigress long eyelashes or whatever. My favorite observation was a thread I read where people agreed "thank goodness they spared us from sniddies (snake tiddies)". Anyway, the first movie's characters were likable, the movie is visually appealing, the audio is appealing, character motivations were decent, yeah it was just pretty heckin' solid at being both smart, and a "kid" movie. 

And then Kung Fu Panda 2 happened, and I went and saw it like "Yeah, what the heck, should be fun", you know, as you do when there's a fun movie that gets a sequel. While my appreciation for the first movie has increased due to artistic observations that come with a growing mind, even at the time when I saw KFP2, I could easily point out how the movie was OOF THERE'S SOME FEELS. They kinda upped the ante in many aspects, but one thing that I'm grateful I got to see in the theaters for was the use of more 2D type animation, for flashbacky bits. That was gorgeous. Oh yeah, and the villain is a white Peacock, which is pretty great. Like, you don't expect a peacock to be a villain, do ya? But it really worked for a royal character. In hindsight, I've thought about how in the past Chinese upper class folks would do things like grow their fingernails out really long as a status symbol showing they didn't have to do manual labor, and a male peacock is a good animal equivalent, because as impressive as their tails are, they can actually be cumbersome (though it sure as hell doesn't stop this one from fighting with the grace and skill of an elf). Though, whether that in itself was done on purpose or not, I dunno, a peacock is still a good choice considering how ornamental and visually stunning designs could fit real nice with it. Oh, and there was at least one part where ya get to hear him do the famous peacock call, which is a very specific and surprising sound to anyone who ain't used to it. This is, all and all, how you do good character design, m'dudes. I know, I know, how a character LOOKS may not SEEM so important compared to the story, but any good storymaker using a visual medium knows the importance of character design, because in itself it can tell a lot about a character. However, aside from looks alone, Lord Shen (I was reminded of his name when looking for gifs) is a good character on the basis of, well, character. I don't wanna really give any big spoilers in case I convince someone who hasn't seen the second movie to see it, but I think it's fair to say that the story overall has more of an emotional weight to it. Tai Lung wasn't a bad villain, but I do say with confidence that Lord Shen was a GREAT villain (He also has a damn good array of facial expressions), there are more complexities, like how he's tied into Po's past. 

SPEAKING of Po, I'm a sucker for some feels, and this movie delivers. Honestly one of the BIGGEST reasons I didn't see the third movie, was because of the introduction of the other pandas, including Po's birth father. One of the greatest things about the second movie was the stuff around Po and his father... because, yeah, a lot of people watching the first movie were probably questioning "wait, he's a panda, and he's a goose... what exactly are we dealing with here?" and the second movie waves a finger like "Ah HA, see, we weren't just being weird to be amusing and confusing, GET A LOAD OF THIS-" And they give ya the FEEEELS, m'dudes. I think that it hits especially hard, because really there are a lot of family dynamics that are similar to Po's and his dad's that exist in real life all the time. I wonder how many young adults might have gone to see the movie, and then sat there in the theater tearing up like "Oh my god, that's my dad". Or, if you're like me, who can find relatability in a lot of things anyway regardless, but didn't need to even compare them to their own family to see and feel the message. 

But then KFP3 happened, and it's like "Ha ha, look, it's Po's dad!" and meanwhile I'm over here like BUT HE HAD A DAD!!! ... I understand it, but at the same time, it's just a bit awkward, and I feel like it might undermine that whole important family arc in the 2nd movie. Yeah, there's an ending shot that shows Po's biological father is alive, realizing his son is alive, but sometimes it's okay for birth parents and kids to not always meet/ get to know each other and  "WOW, I'M SO HAPPY I FOUND MY REEEAAALLL DAD"... that's just what seeing the trailer for KFP3 felt like to me. And, I mean... kinda spoilers for the 2nd movie I guess, but... like... either the mother did in fact die, or they completely glaze over her. Das sum bullshit. 

Look, I ain't advocating total Panda genocide, it was cool to get that glance and the end of KFP2 that showed there were survivors, but, come on man, don't give me a sequel that's problematic to holding true some of the emotions I went through from the other works of art. YA CAN'T DO MEH LIKE DAT, BRUH. Ya gotta keep your messages intact. 

I refuse to ever watch the third movie. I don't trust it to handle the parent/family stuff right. Goose Dad isn't perfect, but Goose Dad is real dad.  

[ganymedesclock]

I’ve been @-ed on a post, so, my two thoughts on the whole “Romelle is lying” thing, and, this may surprise you given the great affinity I have for Lotor... but I think Romelle really needs to be defended here.

Lotor makes it clear he did exactly what Romelle is accusing him of.

Look at his reaction as soon as he sees her. This is not someone with a clean conscience looking at another Altean whose ancestors he saved and his only concern is how the paladins found her / what she’s doing away from the colony and what that means for the colony’s security.

Lotor knows, as soon as he sees / hears Romelle and what she’s saying, exactly what she’s talking about. He’d never play along with something that blackens his name and ruins all of his opportunities like that. Much less, he wouldn’t continue trying to clarify this thing to Allura.

I love Lotor and I really do believe Lotor has it in him to be a better person. Narratively I even think we’re going there. But the colony is super obviously Lotor’s personal demon to grapple with. We don’t know his reasons yet, partially because it would be really unreasonable to demand Allura or Romelle actually sit and hear him out when the conversation opens with “okay, so, there might have been some vampirism going on, for generations, but...”

If Romelle was a liar she’d be gambling on some truly bizarre factors so far out of her control that not even someone of Haggar’s resources could have actually planned for it to happen

Let’s compare this to Rolo’s scheme in s1e6.

Rolo has a very convenient story that could have happened to anyone, his ship was stranded in what he knew via the information put out by Prorok’s bounty was Voltron’s direct flight path (since Prorok knew they’d come back to the Balmera and, given he has a planet full of hostages and Shay in particular, they’re going to take a very direct route there). 

He’s got the resources to cut and run if it goes south on him (given he wasn’t captured by the galra after Prorok tried to double cross him and the Lions damaged his ship, he presumably actually had the parts to repair it himself, was able to toss a quick patch job together and get out of Dodge before Prorok showed up), he’s got the experience to have pulled off stuff like this before- he’s made it clear that he’s successfully robbed the empire before and that’s a much dicier mark than Voltron who you can count on being good people.

And that’s also it- Rolo knows the legend of Voltron and whether or not he really believes in it at this point, he knows these people are trying to live up to the legend of being the Super Helpful Goody Two Shoes of the universe. They’re gonna stop for a stranded ship putting out a distress signal, which he has, so he can guarantee they won’t miss him. And in the off chance they do? No skin off his back, he fixes the pipe and is out of there.

Look at Romelle’s situation.

Her story is fantastical. There’s no guarantee someone would believe her. If we take the assumption that the whole colony’s fake besides her, how precisely is she supposed to cover her butt if someone tries to blow her off and insists on questioning the other colony Alteans on her story?

She’s not in a good place; she’s on the far side of the quantum abyss, and there’s no impetus for anyone, much less Voltron, to come looking for her. Is anyone going to notice Lotor’s quintessence supply route? Is anyone going to care? If they do both (as they did) it’s going to take them a long time to hunt it down and longer to make it through the abyss to get to her colony.

Furthermore, if it had been, say, Ranveig following up on it rather than his Blade infiltrator ex-lieutenant, Romelle as an Altean would have been likely killed.

She has no guarantee who’s gonna follow this breadcrumb trail, at what rate they will, and what their intentions will be once they get to the colony. She can’t guarantee, as Rolo is, that she’s dealing with some humanitarian types who’ll help as soon as they come. Even assuming she can observe Keith and Krolia through hidden cameras, which is unforeshadowed, Krolia’s wearing imperial armor and Keith’s dressed like a Blade with his human-looking face hidden until he’s already inside the colony.

Romelle’s in the worst place to present herself as a ruse here. She’s doing an obvious time-sensitive task, washing her clothes, that she can’t just effortlessly cycle here by the river waiting for someone to show up. She draws Keith’s attention by humming but nobody, again, gambling on strangers the character of which she has no way to evaluate, would want to distract themselves, wait for potentially a long time, and expose their unguarded back to the wilderness when they’re someone most of the empire would want to shoot on sight.

The only way she’d be able to predict Keith and Krolia were coming would be if her presumed employer, Haggar, kept tabs on the situation and frequently updated her, which... Krolia is a career intelligence agent who covered her tracks very well, and Keith’s with Voltron, and we know Haggar has a tab on Voltron that isn’t Keith. She started using Shiro’s eyes against the team well after Keith parted ways with them in s4e1 so Keith would be an unknown to her.

There’s nothing obvious about Krolia’s connection with Keith. Haggar’s not going to waste resources tracking random imperial soldiers that might resemble one of the paladins on the off chance one of them is actually a very human-looking half-galra and his parent is currently infiltrating as an imperial soldier.

If there was some other reason that Haggar was tracking Keith or Krolia, we’d have seen foreshadowing of it by now. And either way, Haggar has zero guarantee whatsoever that those two are going to go to the abyss when they could just as easily phone it into the Blade and have them send someone else.

For Haggar to have set this up, that would require bullshit levels of omniscience. Furthermore, Haggar would have to waste resources setting this all up in the most backwater place conceivable that nobody would logically stumble across through any means other than this highly specific and difficult to trace breadcrumbs trail.

And of course, again, she’d have to somehow convince Lotor to fess up, and if she can manipulate confessions out of Lotor, she has no reason to do any of this in the first place.

If the takeaway is that Romelle’s just an opportunist who didn’t plan much, there would be a really good question as to why so much corroborated her story. I think the most you could possibly accuse her of lying of in that case is making up Bandor or painting her suspicions as more righteous, and, I really grit my teeth at the idea of “let’s accuse an emotionally vulnerable teenage girl of pretending she had a brother that was killed”. And if Bandor was really there, and really died, which we have every reason to believe at this point... that basically means the only details she might have possibly lied about would be so incredibly trivial that it would be breathtakingly petty to throw out her whole story on account of her going “WELL but I never trusted this second colony business!” if she did, in fact, trust the second colony at first.

(And even that kind of lying doesn’t really seem like her. At best, she could be retroactively emphasizing her convictions on account of bitterness and sense of betrayal, not wanting to give Lotor credit she may have in the past)

If Romelle is an agent of Haggar, she’s a victim and her life is in danger

Romelle is definitely not Haggar herself in disguise because we’ve obviously seen them in two different places. Haggar also manipulated Shiro to attack and injure Romelle along with everyone else on the bridge once she took control.

Romelle is an Altean. She’s a young Altean who seemingly lacks combat skills. Haggar has been the other leading head of an empire that’s spent the last ten thousand years trying to hunt Romelle’s people into extinction.

And while that’s Zarkon’s edict rather than Haggar’s, we have... yet to see Haggar exercise any sort of goodwill to the two other Alteans she’s interacted with: Allura and Lotor.

Haggar rarely has willing spies. When she does, they’re imperial soldiers who are honor-bound to follow her as Zarkon’s presumed consort and a person of great influence within the empire.

When Haggar has a spy who’s a looked down minority within the empire- Shiro, Narti- they’re not willing subjects. Assuming Romelle may have somehow been manipulated against Lotor by Haggar doesn’t make Romelle less of a sympathetic person, and it definitely doesn’t make her threatening. VLD just got done making us cry over a clone of Shiro and painting it as the moral right thing to do to save and empathize with that clone who was terrified, heartbroken, and in considerable pain from Haggar exploiting him.

Even if we somehow assume Haggar’s controlling Romelle, the takeaway here is that the loss and pain and fear Romelle’s experiencing would still be completely authentic because Haggar doesn’t spare thoughts for the feelings of her puppets. And, again, there’s all the rest of the negative evidence to contend with here.

A synthetic environment does not suspicion make in a scifi environment where this is showcased as a wholly mundane tool and element of life

Alteans use synthetic environments. This is documented technology and it’s not just for Alfor’s AI flower field. Identical technology is used to house Kaltenecker, for presumably the same reasons as the colony: living creatures are more comfortable in beautiful pastoral environs as opposed to claustrophobic metal structures. This also applies to sentient beings, in fact, more so, because a sentient being more than a cow will complain about things like aesthetic taste.

Considering the gap in time between Lotor establishing the colony and Lotor turning to it for resources, presumably, Lotor overwhelmingly built the colony with its subjects’ happiness and comfort in mind.

There’s also no particular effort to hide the colony’s simulated environment which is another mark against it being a sinister warning that something here is false. And heck, everything about the colony- its location in the quantum abyss, that from the outside it looks barely habitable much less inhabited- makes perfect sense if you assume Romelle’s story is completely true, and this was where Lotor desperately tried to hide his people from Zarkon’s prowling eyes.

The simulated environment is just a way to do that without cutting into the Alteans’ comfort, which, even if Lotor was wiling to take quintessence from them, it’s clear that was a priority for him. With Lotor’s power and resources compared to them, he could easily have swept in there, gone, “surprise, I’m a vampire, I’m drinking you all” destroyed the meager transport ships they had and then gone to work all at once. The story about the second colony, the memorial... reflects exactly what Lotor said in his own defense. He feels guilty, he doesn’t want to hurt them, but he also, for some reason, thinks he has no choice but to select out the “higher energy” members of the population and tap their energy.

Why is the colony in a picturesque pastoral bubble? Because real Altea isn’t something they can have, so they settled for fake Altea. 

It bothers me, as someone who loves Lotor, that we would try to defend him by attacking a female character who’s obviously the victim here

Romelle is a young teenager who by all accounts left everything she knew to travel across the universe with strangers, knowing said universe is highly inhospitable to her entire species, in order to confront a very powerful person who as far as she knew killed her entire family.

Yeah, I feel bad for Lotor. Yeah, I feel like Lotor really needed help and didn’t get it during the finale. Yeah, I think the writers deliberately wanted us to feel that way.

Romelle is the last person we should be turning on here. Even if she did mislead the paladins, which we have no evidence of, that would point to her being a victim of the empire and someone who needs help. It’s pretty darn clear she’s scared of Lotor, and has good reason to be!

Everything about Romelle’s story checks out. There’s frankly nothing suspicious about her. People point to DotU and Haggar impersonating Romelle but that happened once- it would be a lot more suspicious if the Altean we were dealing with was named Orla, when that person IIRC overwhelmingly existed as an infiltration effort by Haggar. Romelle was a character who had a lot of history and presence in the original as herself and not an impostor- and as herself, she’s shown as someone initially charmed by Lotor who later furiously declares that she hates him because he gets her brother killed. 

If we’re grabbing evidence from DotU, it’s not on Lotor’s side here. (Albeit DotU Lotor was a lot more on board with the whole conquering and hurting the heroes thing and cheerfully wanted to add Romelle to his harem, which is... not how this conflict is conducting itself)

Also, if the interest in this exercise is defending Lotor’s good character, it concerns me that we’d gloss over the obviously guilty way Lotor reacts, especially the other signs of a heavy conscience that littered the colony and Romelle’s story

The fact of the matter is, the reason I’m willing to sorta stay on Lotor’s side here is because I believe that the writers are deliberately introducing this element for a reason, combined with how they’ve already done a lot to humanize Lotor and endear him to the audience compared to his prior incarnations. 

The writers keep emphasizing that the overwhelming majority of Lotor’s input and stated opinions are completely sincere, and that’s reinforced even after we know Romelle’s story, but before Lotor knows she’s there and Allura knows about her. We see Lotor, with Allura, feeling happy, and safe, and genuinely adoring her. He’s gentle, he’s compassionate- it would be so easy to give us some sinister angle or hint that something foul is in the works for Allura if she continues to cooperate with him.

Instead, in trying to defend himself to Allura, Lotor makes it incredibly easy for Allura to take him down. It’s not even a fight. It’s practically a joke given what we know of Lotor’s reflexes and combat capabilities.

So my thinking here is the writers have something planned in the works for the colony. Lotor’s fascination with the rift definitely takes a new angle that the energy sources he had were paid for in blood and he didn’t want that- so perhaps part of the salvation Lotor saw in the infinite “clean” energy of the rift was being able to revive the Alteans using that quintessence and Oriande’s secrets. After all, the drained Alteans weren’t cast aside and piled in a heap.

But even then, that doesn’t make it all better. Lotor lied to those people and by his own admission even if most of them are hanging in there in suspended animation and could be restored to health, not all of them are. Bandor, in particular, crash-landed a ship back to the colony. And when Bandor’s one of the most important people to Romelle...

There’s going to be a conflict between Romelle and Lotor. And it should be. And Romelle has a damn good point. I’m pretty sure the better side of Lotor wants to be held accountable for what he did- just not how it happened which took the rift out of his grasp and thus scrambled any opportunity he might’ve had fixing it.

Lotor basically fed on the other Alteans. He may have wished he didn’t, but he still did. He felt like he had no other options, but he still did it. And it feels... really, really uncomfortable to cast aspersions on, again, the vulnerable girl who lost her entire family to this.

Her parents? Bandor? All “went to the new colony”, and in Bandor’s case, again, if there’s any life support for the drained people he got away from that. Even if Lotor can fix the overwhelming majority of this, there’s going to be an awful lot he can’t fix- people who’ve been there for so long there’s not much left, people who teetered too close to the brink and fell off, or people like Bandor who escaped and probably died in the process.

This is blood that’s gonna stay on Lotor’s hands. And however they handle his character going forwards, the reason why I’m willing to be sympathetic to the writers isn’t because I think it can be swept under the rug or easily forgiven- but rather, because I trust the writers to not introduce something like this and not intend to meaningfully deal with it.

But in the meantime? I understand completely if people, in-universe or out, have a hard time sympathizing with Lotor. Just because narratively I think an answer’s coming doesn’t mean it’s here yet and it’s hard to evaluate a hypothetical future response.

In the meantime, fellow people who feel bad for Lotor... please don’t attack Romelle over this. Especially when Lotor himself doesn’t. His whole stance in response is “yes, she’s right about that, what she says happened is true, and, frankly, that was terrible, but the important thing is that doesn’t have to continue! I am beyond ready to give that up forever the rift is right here Allura please-”