#i probably just pissed off a ton of people who got this on their dash in it's full length

[50cyg]

We see so many indications of how much Yamato cares for Taichi and constantly goes out of his way to look out for him. Do you see anything that shows this love and affection is reciprocated, that Taichi is looking out for Yamato too?

Sorry for responding much later than I originally said I would:(

Umm… I feel like there are multiple questions being asked here

If you are asking if we see Taichi looking out for Yamato, myanswer is “Not really”. 

But in Taichi’s defense, he is dealing with a pretty huge mentalcrisis and needs far more support than he can reciprocate. He shows anunderstanding for Jyou’s dilemma, but I think that is in part because hisdilemma is similar. Also, it’s worth noting that he is defending Jyou’sbehavior to Yamato specifically, who is also the same person he has had todefend his own behavior to. 

We don’t see Taichi actively looking out for anyone untilSoshitsu (Loss), wherin we see him looking out for Koushiro

As well as Sora

As well as his little sister.

But this is in the same movie where we see him actively chasingafter Meicoomon, and once again making decisions for the group. So, it’s safeto say his mental state is in a much better place, enough to allow for him tolook out for other people.

In regards to Yamato, there isn’t any specific moment where he hasa need to look out for him in this movie, except for the scene where they areboth drowning. They do nod at each other in that scene, which could be themboth making sure the other is okay, while also saying that theythemselves are okay. This interpretation certainly makes more sense to me than“okay, we’re going to swim upwards, got it”… like “well duh we’re going to swimupwards”, I can’t see them needing to mutually agree on that :P

If you are asking if Taichi caresabout Yamato, shows signs of worrying about him, is aware of him, understandshim and returns his affection, then my answer is “Yes”.

In Saikai, Taichi immediatelycatches on to the fact that musical differences does not mean musicaldifferences (not that this is any kind of huge feat though, but still :P).

We later get a scene thatdirectly tells us that Taichi has an understanding of Yamato:

Not only does this show thatTaichi understands where Yamato is coming from, but also that he is notjudgmental of his outburst.

In addition, it may be worthnoting that his outburst makes Taichi question his current conflict, implyinghe relies on Yamato’s approval.

Okay, I’m stretching it withthis next one, but I do feel that there is a potential Taiyama reading to thefollowing scene. It’s one of the scenes where Taichi is asking Daigo questionsat the Onsen.

After this very briefexchange we see Taichi looking away:

And continues to look awaywhile Takeru and Daigo have their exchange:

My question is “why?”.

We can assume he’s stoppedlistening to Daigo and to the conversation at that point because when peopleare paying attention to a conversation, even while looking away, they usuallyhave their eyes glancing in the direction of the conversation. Here however, Taichi’sattention appears to be somewhere else. He could be contemplating what Daigojust told him - this is the obvious answer as we see him look down, perhaps incontemplation, a moment later:

But again, why is he lookingoff to the right, and what exactly is he thinking about? It’s not like Daigogave him much to work with, but the animators still drew attention to thisscene.

So, I theorize it’s becausehe’s actually thinking about Yamato. It seems like they haven’t spoken much since theend of Saikai, and there’s even some indication that they are intentionallyavoiding each other.

If you watch the shot justbefore the conversation between Taichi and Daigo starts, you will seethat Yamato is walking off to the right, in the direction that we see Taichilooking later on:

So, if my reading of thismoment is correct, then this indicates that not only does Taichi have an awareness of Yamato’swhereabouts to an extent, but also that he contemplates everything that is going onbetween them.

Like I pointed out in my Yamato’s awarenessof Taichi Part 2 post, at the end of Ketsui, Taichi notices Yamato looking athim and smiles. 

This could be taken as him acknowledging Yamato’s concernand telling him he’s alright or as him wanting to reconcile with Yamato, orboth. Either way, it shows he cares about Yamato and their relationship, and isalso aware when Yamato is watching him.

Moving on to Kokuhaku, wehave his facial expressions as Yamato leaves from their ‘date’:

These facial expressions, tome, are semi similar to Yamato’s facial expressions after the airport battle.Taichi looks concerned (especially in that second shot), but also perhaps a bitconfused by Yamato’s behavior.

No matter how you want tointerpret these facial expressions, Taichi is watching Yamato intently as heleaves, so I guess we could say that this is an instant of Taichi looking outfor Yamato.

However, there is another scenein Kokuhaku that, in my opinion, makes it pretty clear that Taichi cares a lotabout Yamato and worries about him.

Let’s break down thefollowing scene, wherin Meiko arrives on the battlefield and subsequently has tobe saved by Yamato (side note, I need to learn how to make GIFs or video asap).

Additional side note: In mybreakdown of this scene I’m both fighting in favour of a Taiyama reading, aswell as fighting against a Meichi reading (sorry Meichi shippers).

Begin watching this video at2:22 minutes and watch until 2:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u2aaH7TYDE

The group hears Meiko callout for Meicoomon and turn to look, upon doing so, they quickly realize thatshe is heading into danger.

The first person to commentis Jyou who says “Don’t be reckless” and does make a slight move forward. Thesecond Jyou says that, we see Sora turn her head towards Taichi, while everyoneelse is still looking towards Meiko, as if she is anticipating his next move.This makes sense because Sora knows Taichi well enough to know that he, 98% ofthe time, has no issues putting himself in danger to protect others.

Taichi proceeds to call Meikoan idiot and move forward as if to try and stop her or protect her. This is nodifferent from his actions in Saikai, when he realized she was in danger ofbeing attacked by Alphamon and made a move to protect her. Except that inSaikai he was stopped by his PTSD, while in this movie he is held back by Sora.

Then we hear Mimi call outMeiko’s name (her dialogue is not in the subs, but if you listen you canclearly hear Mimi say “Meimei” slightly after Sora says “don’t”).

So, in this sequence we have3 of the Digidestined showing concern for Meiko, and both Jyou and Taichi moveforward, so both can be read as considering running to protect her or intercepther.

Watch video from 0:00-0:15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cL6Em_57-A

When Ikakumon gets throwninto the glass, we see that Meiko is dangerously close to the explosion itcauses. The chosen can obviously see this as well and all look equallyconcerned, though Taichi is the only one to call out to her, yelling “watchout” (I concede that this could be a point in Meichi’s favor).

However, we then see Yamatojump in to push her out of the way just before a ton of metal poles are aboutto impale her. And then we hear Taichi scream Yamato’s name.

This was always aninteresting moment to me because he screams Yamato’s name after we, theaudience, see that him and Meiko are safely out of harm’s way. This leads me tobelieve one of two things. Either it’s screamed in post shock of seeing Yamatorisk his life, or,

If you look at this shot youwill notice there is a cloud of dust from the debree in front of them. I haveno idea what the other kids line of sight is on Yamato and Meiko, but I thinkit is entirely plausible that Taichi and the others cannot see if the two areokay until after the dust cloud clears. So, when Taichi screams for Yamato,it’s because he cannot see whether or not Yamato is okay and is scared that hemay be injured.

Either way though, I think itspeaks volumes that Taichi is the only one to call out Yamato’s name, which, Imight add, is not a common thing to happen. Usually more than one of the chosenacknowledges when someone else is potentially in danger or something happens tothem. This leads me to believe that the creators really wanted to highlightTaichi’s concern for Yamato (and only Yamato, he doesn’t call out Meiko’s nameat all).

Actually, in this wholescene, Mimi is the only one to call for Meiko, the others acknowledge she is indanger but don’t call out her name the way Mimi does (points to Meimi).

I also want to add, and noone has to agree with me on this, but I personally feel that the delivery ofthe line “Yamato” (delivered to show Taichi’s concern for Yamato) has way morefear and concern packed behind it than the line “Watch out” (delivered to showTaichi’s concern for Meiko).

In Shoshitsu, we have himquoting Yamato word for word when he makes the decision to find Meicoomon andreunite her with Meiko. This indicates that he genuinely takes the thingsYamato says to heart.

Lastly, we have the fact thatTaichi is always teasing Yamato:

His teasing of Yamatoindicates that he likes getting reactions out of him, and possibly gouge hisfacial expressions. This is also a pretty staple anime romance trope, havingthe one love interest tease the other because they enjoy seeing their reactions.It’s a pretty classic thing to see in real life romantic relationshipsas well.

So, I don’t think that Taichiwatches out for Yamato the way Yamato watches out for him, but like I alludedto before, Taichi is the one who needs looking out for right now. It’s his turnto have Yamato watch out for him, cause Taichi was watching out for Yamato alot in Adventure while Yamato was going through his whole crisis (I should makea post about that someday).

But, there is absolutely nodoubt in my mind that Taichi understands and cares very deeply for Yamato. Idefinitely think Yamato’s affection is reciprocated.

[yarichin-imagines]

Hi!!! okokok, how bout a s/o who has a kind of quirk (just like bnha!), how do you think they would react? Like, I think they'd probably integrate into something related to sex or develop a kink (? LMAO

y'all i am so into bnha you have no idea!! also, for neutrality purposes, i'll be using the quirks of deku, todoroki, bakugou, uraraka, kirishima, denki, sero, iida, and satou, all from class 1A, mostly just because none of their quirks rely on physical appearances!!

tw: impact, dubcon (drugging, somno), dummification if you squint

Toono – S/O's Quirk: One for All – This Quirk is a union of two different Quirks, one that stockpiles power and one that passes itself on to another. The user can momentarily gain strength and speed far greater than any other Quirk and hero.

thankfully by the time he'd met you, you'd mastered the use of your Quirk

you were never the prance about type to flash around your power anyway

you preferred to use it for more mundane tasks – like opening pickle jars and carrying the groceries into the house in one trip

he found out about it on accident

he was on his way out when he caught you in the parking lot coming in––

with your car in hand, two feet off the ground

you'd dropped your fob somewhere underneath it and couldn't see

toono passed out

when he came to, his first questions revolved around whether or not the car was okay

once he wraps his head around it though..

he's way more into it than he tells you

but it also fuckin terrifies him

so much so that he really doesn't want you to use it on him

definitely has watched you use it so intently that he can nut off to it later

maybe one day he'll pluck up and ask you to activate it for some pictures he can keep

Kashima - S/O's Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot – This Quirk splits the user into two, half of the user's body can emit ice, the other half emits fire.

honesty is a pillar to kashima's relationship

your quirk came to light a month or so into seeing him

and at first, he was mostly excited about the health benefits

he decides then and there that you gotta do him a solid and chill his side of the bed

that way he can keep cool when he sleeps

sometimes

even if he's half asleep

he'll grab your right hand with a lil soft tug

and in your drowsy stupor you chill his pillow so there's no need for a flip

makes him grin like an idiot every time

when he comes home from practice or from the gym he has you freeze and unfreeze the bathwater-- saves you guys a whole lot of ice

he doesn't mind letting you ease his muscles with your left side after all the heats works wonders that would make any rice pack green with envy

as a top, kashima's got complete control in the bedroom

all day, he'll ask you to close your eyes and heat something up, maybe it's a vibrator or a dildo

or when you chill something, they're usually beads or a plug

all for him to torment you with later on that night

Yacchan – S/O's Quirk: Explosion – This Quirk allows the user to sweat a substance similar to Nitroglycerin from the user's palms and ignite it to create explosions.

kyosuke recognizes it's too dangerous to use in the bedroom

but that being said, there's plenty of other stuff around the place to let you show off

your firework shows are always the best on the block

especially when he sets some off right when yuu isn't expecting it

mainly, yacchan appreciates your quirk when it comes to pulling pranks

It's really funny when you're popping ziploc bags full of nothing right outside tamura's dorm when he's trying to power nap before exams

and even funnier when he storms out in just tighty whities to yell at you

only to meet the flash of yacchan's cellphone

toono will fall asleep during study sessions sometimes and yacchan will facetime you so you can let out a boom and wake him up

he will most definitely fall off the bed and yacchan will most definitely record it

the two of you are the best of the worst that way

Shikatani – S/O's Quirk: Zero Gravity – This Quirk allows the user to cause people and items to float on contact. There is a weight limit on how much the user can levitate, and if this Quirk is used to much, it will cause the user to get sick.

it's really helpful when you help him deep clean

after all, if the supplies are gracefully floating behind him, that leaves his hands free to do twice the work, saving him half the time

but you're content to watch the beautiful boy work

if you help him clean like that, he won't ask for much more that day

he is very very conscious of how much you use your quirk

because he cares about you too much to let you get sick

since he knows for a fact that because of his ocd he won't be able to take care of you

and that stings

so on the days where the chores have all been done he gets the honor of experiencing the effects of your quirk in bed

he likes how it feels when your tease him from the air above

your throat feels more open

but it's not like he can do too much about it since the instant he gets too eager you always float just out of reach

sometimes if he's behaved very well, you'll suspend him

the headrush he gets is euphoric

but the best is how good you are when you blow out his back with your strap

after all, without gravity, your stroke game is literally out of this world

Akemi – S/O's Quirk: Hardening – This Quirk allows the user to harden any part of their body. This shell can withstand several tons of metal falling on the user, along with shock waves, explosions, etc.

there's nothing cuter to akemi keiichi than a brat

if you want to misbehave?

by all means

go right ahead

he'll leave it to you to exhaust yourself

that's the first time he saw you use it

he wasn't aiming to cause any major damage, he was only spanking you with his hand

but he'd been at it for almost an hour

then suddenly he'd pushed you off him after he'd slapped what felt like a solid rock

not that it could stop him

his eyes only grew darker

from then on out, it was all a game to see how far he could push before the shell wore down and you gave into him

Itome – S/O's Quirk: Electrification – This Quirk allows the user to discharge electricity out of the user's body. It goes out in all directions around the user, and can be used to even charge objects, such as batteries. There is a limit to how much this Quirk can be used, and if used too much, the user will short circuit their own brain, and won't be able to do anything for an hour.

of course you can charge his phone in a pinch when it dies at the worst possible moment

hotwire his car when he's already running late

restart the fusebox when there's a power outage

after hours, itome's not a hard dom

not in the slightest

but every once in awhile, he can be particularly malicious

like when he has you overcharge your vibrators to give him the liberty of overstimulating you for longer

really it's less about the scene and more about what comes after

due to the limits of your quirk, aftercare is all on him

that's what he likes the most

taking care of you completely

being able to coax you through your braindead state

clean you off and pose you all comfortable

you're all the sweeter when you come to, when you come back to him

Yuri – S/O's Quirk: Tape – This Quirk allows the user to shoot extremely strong tape from openings on the user's elbows.

the tape is good for fixing most messes yuri gets himself into, clumsy fuck

also waxing!

of course he's gonna be into it

he loves the sting it leaves when you pull it off him the most

and he feels it all over again when there's red rectangular patches all across his skin the next morning

though the gluey part is a bit of a pain to wash off

sometimes he'll leave it for him to pick at throughout the day -- that way he'll get the shivers, makes him hot all over again!

he literally cannot get enough

when you do your school work or anything that diverts your attention from him, he'll be tugging at your elbow

this way you can restrain him until you're ready to ahem

put him to use

you can also use your tape to toss him around, floor to bed to floor to wherever

sometimes you even tape up his face, cover his mouth until the drool renders the tape into a thin flimsy strip

you tie his hands tighter and tighter every time, and it never breaks him

he loves it

on the other hand, yuri can be quite the slippery fuck

for emergencies, you've got some of your tape stored away

you've woken up more than once hogtied, your quirk turned against you

like it or not, yuri can easily turn the tables and you're almost never expecting it

you might have an unlimited supply, but he's too quick for your own good

Tamura – S/O's Quirk: Engine – This Quirk gives the user incredible speed by engine-like protrusions in the user's calves. The engines are fueled by orange juice, and carbonated drinks will mess the engines up.

he calls a 40 meter dash every single weekend

he sets his treadmill to train for it the whole week

but he never beats you

and it seriously pisses him off

you're always faster, no matter the game

if anything, it motivates him

he'll take the bruised ego if it helps him get into better shape

the fact that sometimes, you let him win makes his "engines" overheat faster than you can blink

he'll chase you and chase you for hours

fueled on adrenaline and testosterone, there's no way he'll tap out before you

expect a long, hard bite once he catches you

he goes absolutely animalistic

that lilt in his voice when he finally gets to sink his teeth into your shoulder, even if it's through a shirt, that doesn't matter to him

"caught you"

Jimmy – S/O's Quirk: Sugar Rush – This Quirk allows the user to become stronger and faster every 10 grams of sugar they eat for three minutes. The more the user uses this Quirk, the dumber they get.

every time he catches you snacking on a chocolate bar his whole brain turns off

he's practically jumping, the way he bounces around

waiting for you to inevitably choke slam him against the nearest surface

wall, couch, bed, anything

he likes it when you just toss him over your shoulder

even more the way your hits are harder than usual

he antagonizes you on purpose

making sure to stuff a grocery cart full of sweets he knows you like so that he can catch you snacking and make him pay through the nose

he always asks so nicely

but when you won't give in, well that just won't do!

doses your miso with sugar, drops in three extra cubes in your milk tea, encourages extra flan for dessert

for the next three minutes, you're nearly tripping over yourself

everything is lighter

and then when the crash hits---

jimmy can finally take what he wants

and karma is quite the bitch

[juuls]

This was a comment left on chapter 11 of my fem!Tony Stuckony time travel/soulmate fic, Hanging From a Cross of Iron, and I just wanted to put a couple things out there.

First of all, I’m not mad. We’ll make that clear. I’ve received variations of this comment before and it’s rather on the mark. But sometimes both sides can be correct in how they interpret a piece of fiction, and I wanted to show that.

So… yeah. This is something I get every so often on this fic, especially around this chapter (10-12ish) and I just… really wanted to post my reply to it, if for nothing other than explaining the way my brain works and WHY I hate Captain America: Civil War so much for ruining so many good things in fandom.

I’m not putting this out there for sympathy or agreement or to start a fight or stupid shit. It’s more like a… “I’m tired of explaining myself, let me post something I feel is a semi-eloquent response to someone who was at least mostly respectful and got some things right, who I know does represent a fair portion of people who may be interested in reading this fic,” which I could then just point/link to the next time I wake up to things making me sad in my inbox on top of me being sad and feeling guilty at not having written for a while.

Stupid covid. Stupid life being dumb and depressing and draining energy and happiness from many. Just you wait. I’ll be back soon with Codega and this fic, Cross.

But here. This is my reply to the above comment:

So I don’t normally reply to critique such as this because this IS fanfiction, but you are at least part right: it IS supposed to be unfair.

This is me working out my issues with Civil War, because boy that sure as fuck pissed me off. I love Stuckony, but after CACW it was really hard to reconcile that love anymore. So this was my way to do that, and I 100% wanted to bring in the unfairness, the distrust, the favouritism, the… meanness that I saw and felt after that.

It’s also a way for me to work through my issues at the injustices I suffered at the hands of my ex-husband—I started writing this shortly after packing my bags and leaving.

I wanted a slow, somewhat realistic, non-fairytale path to even partial redemption, shared pain and circumstances and experiences, and to show that things CAN work out as long as certain lines are not crossed. I skirt the line sometimes, definitely on purpose, but that’s for ME.

I wanted to turn the tables: Steve (and Bucky) were out of their time and comfort zone in the future—Toni, in turn, needed to be out of her time and comfort zone in the past.

Plus, can you imagine a soulmate world where you’ve had a partner and you think “this is it”? Then bam! Suddenly someone’s suddenly thrust into your life.

And I wanted to play on every single issue Toni would have experienced with her family, friends, “friends”, enemies, Obie, her company, the world, etc., post-IM2.

None of them have had an easy go of it and war is goddamn hell. They ALL have PTSD. (But also, lol, the Howlies start laying into Stucky about what you’re getting mad about here too, so I’m way ahead of you!)

From the beginning, this was as much a psychological setting as a romantic one: way more so in the beginning. But it slowly crawls its way out of the murk. I wanted a soulmate story where it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I wanted a story where they had to fight for it… or where they had a choice, shitty as it may be (they’ll NEVER choose not to have Toni, that was never going to happen). I wanted something… realistic, even amidst super soldiers, super tech, an almost unbelievable war, and soulmates existing.

I wanted it to be a fight. I wanted rejection… then them, ALL of them, to choose each other despite that, despite their past, and despite fate.

That is my goal with this fic. And since I take my own sweet time, that’s really not readily apparent so soon in this fic, even at chapter 11.

The love will be there. The unconditional love, the equal triadic love. Not just Stucky plus Toni. Because believe me, Stucky is probably one of my least favourite ships that include some of my favourite characters. Sounds ridiculous since I write them here, but as a historian I wanted to take that, take some realism, with a dash of ridiculous and hurt and pain and anger, and see what I could do with that.

The entire reason this story exists is because of a scene idea I had that doesn’t come about until the future in the 20s chapters. Leaning on each other and trusting each other because one of them was lost. Well, technically, that happens twice.

But the point is: this is a long as fuck story towards a love they have to (and WANT to, eventually) fight tor.

This fic is for me. It’s for people like me. It’s for people who don’t want an easy love story. It’s absolutely okay that you don’t like it! There are SO many fics that I dislike for a variety of reasons, and I simply close it, mark it as Did Not Finish, and don’t return. I recognize not every fic is for me.

This one’s for me. I may have sort of stalled out where I’m at in the 20s chapters, but it’s left at a pretty good place, and I’m looking forward to this dumb pandemic so I can get back to forging this love between these three idiots, as well as pick up an old Star Wars story I left 4+ years ago due to the abuse at the hands of my ex. But I’m ready to return to it now. Well, after the world calms down a little.

It’s okay if you’re done with this story—that is 100% your choice and I will never begrudge you that. I’m glad you gave it a try though! If you’re interested, you could skip ahead and see how the dynamics have changed, or I could give you clips and examples too.

My one wish (though I understand it completely) is that you had not done this on Anon. For a few reasons:

1, I would never hold this opinion against you, especially because you got tons of it right! Go you!

2, I’d love to understand you better and discuss this with you. No recriminations whatsoever.

3, But I do wonder who of those who have read my other writings left me this message. It makes me a little sad, and I will wonder which of the people I talk to have this negative opinion of me now, but that’s also my own past issues rearing their ugly heads. You have every right to remain on Anon, though it’s not so nice when you wake from a nice dream and discover anon ‘dislike’ in your inbox on a work you slaved away on, and that the dislike is specifically about the things you wrote about deliberately, hah. Sorta funny, actually, so I’ll let that one go. xD

Thank you, though, even if I disliked reading this words: it helps me to look at my own work critically and to better understand how to frame and write things going forward.

Not every fic is for everyone, and that’s okay. I’ve encountered mine, you’ve encountered yours, but I think we’ve both learned from this interaction.

Whoever you may be, even if you divulge your handle to me, my respect for you wouldn’t diminish. It’s good to have healthy discussions and to look critically upon your own work—even if I am a sensitive bean and it hurts a little, I’m fine. :P

I think the lesson to be learned here is: fuck everything after CACW!!!! Grrrrr xD

Take care,

Juuls

P.S. I may post parts of this on my Tumblr because I do occasionally encounter similar complaints about this story, and I think maybe this is the most coherent and respectful enough comment-reply response I’ve had on this topic. Thank you.

P.P.S. Happy to talk privately too!

P.P.P.S. And the offer still stands for some lovely clips from future chapters, especially if you’re not considering continuing reading this story anymore; it’ll at least show what I’m talking about and what I’ve been working tirelessly towards. It’s hard—fucking hard—work to get past CACW and still like these characters together (my fic Paper Boats is probably one of my bigger testaments to that, oof) and I admit it’s still really really hard and I struggle with it. Covid isn’t the only reason I’ve sort of stalled out on that. But that’s more because I’m like “now what?” than not seeing any love between these three.

It’s a long journey. I knew it was going to be. But I like a challenge. :)

Take care, be well, stay safe, to you and all of yours.

And may you find many fics you love!

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

lol okay so I dashed off most of this the day of and then kept not posting it because I kept thinking I needed to add stuff, but then I ended up adding more stuff mostly in reblogs instead (should all be under the “my meta” tag if anyone’s curious) and now episode 2 is technically coming out tomorrow night in my time zone so obviously I need to just post this. bullet points of disconnected thoughts, some of which are probably at least slightly outdated by now but whatever, here you go

seems very possible Mobius left the tape with him on purpose because he figured Loki wouldn’t be able to resist looking at it

would have to check the timing but I’m pretty sure he started looking terrified as soon as Thanos came onscreen without really knowing the context (aside from the very basic outline of “it’s been several years and he reconciled with Thor”), which at least underscores that they weren’t buddies--Loki knew something awful was about to happen the second Thanos showed up sadly this is not true, the clip he sees first is him trying to stab Thanos, so...yeah it stands to reason that he’d know it was about to end badly no matter what

other people have mentioned this but I love that we got to see Loki just like...existing?? like I know he’s never been the protagonist before and seeing him as the protagonist has always been one of the things that’s excited me most about the show, but now that it’s here I’m just kind of struck by how HE’S THE PROTAGONIST so we’re getting all these emotions and little gestures and moments when he’s alone that we only got in tiny, sadly easy-to-overlook snatches before (and it also occurred to me that I don’t think we’ve ever seen Loki eat anything, which is something else that might change)

also his projection is fascinating, and so is the fact that he explicitly turned it around on himself, which seems relevant to all the theories about a lot of his other statements (”freedom is life’s great lie,” most of what he said to Natasha, etc.) being things that were drummed into him on Sanctuary rather than stuff he just came up with on his own, so that seems to cover a lot of the stuff he says in Avengers and here

on the other hand it seems unlikely we’re ever going to get confirmation that Bad Stuff happened to him on Sanctuary aside from what we already saw in Avengers, which is frustrating, although to be fair I also wasn’t expecting to see Loki crying about his family in the first episode (and the most I’m really hoping for, still, is that nothing will explicitly contradict the idea, so...we’re good on that thus far, I guess)

so the first half of the episode was...ehhh, I don’t know, but the second half was amazing. I know some people didn’t like that part either, but I felt like...okay, I don’t love him being humiliated so I would’ve preferred different framing for some of this BUT a lot of casual viewers still see Loki as a cackling caricature without having picked up on any of the stuff that very clearly showed otherwise, and this show wants to treat Loki as a person, someone worthy of audience sympathy, so they kind of had to go in hard and fast on that aspect to get everyone up to speed. like, yes, fans who’ve been paying attention know that Loki’s a person, that he’s wounded, that he doesn’t hurt people just because it’s fun for him, that he feels things very deeply, that he loves his family, but somehow the mainstream perception of him has missed like 85% of that, and the show’s just not going to have much impact unless it gets everybody on board with those very basic ideas. in terms of story structure it probably doesn’t make sense for this to be his lowest point, but starting from the bottom and eventually getting somewhere better is fairly standard, so at this point I can imagine tons of ways things could improve for him

yeah I do hate the whole Sacred Timeline thing, see also my posts about how much I loved that Endgame canonically (I thought) established multiple timelines where everything was fine, so yeah I’m pissed about that because it means those timelines were canonically pruned

like I don’t...hate it as a storytelling device? I just hate it for fandom reasons, and I’ve hated it in other fandoms when canon did something that seemed to open things up to all this incredible possibility and then went “actually no, we’re boxing it up again into this one specific Way That Things Happened” and for fanwork purposes it doesn’t matter all that much, I don’t think it’s actually that much harder to do AUs or go “okay well in this universe the TVA doesn’t exist, whatever” (in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if AO3 quickly develops a new canonical “not TVA compliant” tag for basically all Loki fic), but it is annoying that it’s now like “canonically, every AU is Not Allowed”, and if that ends up sticking as the status quo with the TVA considered good guys or at least a necessary evil then yeah, I’m going to be annoyed

HOWEVER

I don’t think that’s inevitable for a variety of reasons

this whole show is going to deal with multiverse shenanigans and so will Dr. Strange 2, so it seems completely possible that the end result could be a status quo of “there’s a multiverse actually and that’s fine” (...although yes, I’ll be doubly annoyed if the end result of this show is a restored multiverse of some kind and the end result of Dr. Strange 2 is condensing it back down to a single timeline)

the multiverse is a long-running comics tradition, which still seems to be the case even after...whatever event it was that collided a bunch of them and tried for a Highlander thing, look I wasn’t really following it and I know some characters ended up in other universes from where they started but I’m pretty sure we still have a multiverse of some kind

almost all the recent Loki-centric comics have focused on questions of fate and agency

Agent of Asgard in particular was about Loki eventually going “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” and forging a new path (and, okay, it does seem like runs other than AoA have been the most influential here but again we’ve only seen one episode)

Loki, specifically, is an agent of chaos and change, like that’s his whole thing going way back to mythology, because sometimes stagnancy is death and chaos is healthy, and of course myth!Loki (and earlier versions of comics!Loki) is always responsible for triggering Ragnarok, which isn’t just the end of the world but is also a natural, crucial part of a cycle of renewal, and yes the MCU already did Ragnarok but that doesn’t at all mean they can’t play more with those ideas

Tom Hiddleston has brought up this specific point several times in recent interviews, that sometimes chaos is the one thing that's really needed

also, on Jimmy Kimmel the day of the episode, he kind of...planted a seed about the TVA maybe not being uncomplicated good guys because seriously what gives them the right to make these decisions for literally everyone

so at the very least I think it’s completely possible that things aren’t quite what they seem, and that for instance we’re supposed to discover that Mobius is consciously manipulating him to turn him into the type of tool the TVA wants him to be

also “the timeline wants to break free” shows up on a lot of merch, which does seem to indicate a free will vs. predestination theme

I’m not at all familiar with comics!TVA, although I understand they’re considered villains (although to be fair, so were the Skrulls, and at least thus far that’s been inverted for the MCU), but their whole thing reminded me of a few other entities in a way that could be relevant:

the tape running out was like the Norns cutting the thread of somebody’s life

Those Who Sit Above In Shadow in AoA (and also maybe whatever was below the God Quarry in Infinity Wars although I’m less familiar with that)

the gods in Cabin In The Woods, who were also kind of audience proxies in that they really just cared about the sacrifice being entertaining, which kinda seems like the only logical reason for the Timekeepers to prefer any given series of events over another

my personal hope for the series: the Timekeepers are ultimately the Big Bad and the rogue Loki variant is ultimately right in trying to wipe out the TVA (because sure I realize it’s maybe dumb of me but I still don’t want any Loki to be completely a bad guy!!); the major named TVA characters realize they’re the baddies actually and team up with a whole army of Lokis to take them down and GIVE US BACK OUR MULTIVERSE

[c-c-cherry]

I simply must ask... could you spare some spooky Halloween headcanons? I know it’s not quite Halloween yet but I’d love to see your spin on a jojo Halloween!

Oho....hohoho...you have no idea what kind of a beast you’ve awakened in me...

Halloween is arguably the best holiday ever because free candy, costumes, and the weather is fucking PERFECT. (also idk what’s up with the rest of y’all but Canadian thanksgiving is in the middle of October so I’m still riding the high of good thanksgiving food by the time its Halloween (AND I’m half-American so we celebrate it in November too hehehe)

But long story short I love spooky season (and autumn in general) with a burning passion and I am SO willing to go hard on jjba spooky headcanons

Thanks again to @jjadegreen for alway being my best headcanon bud!!

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Part One:

-For the sake of this, I’m making them like 13 or something, like maybe not even a year after they met

-In 19th century England, it was actually pretty typical for them to have a bonfire on Halloween!!

-Halloween costumes were popularized a few centuries ago in France so you bet our phantom blood buds were wearing costumes and shit :)

-I doubt the rich participated in such “unruly” stuff like lighting shit on fire and bearing torches and whatever (but you never know)

-Like George probably spoiled Jonathan with candy as a kid and let him dress up with his school friends and that was it lol

-Dio though OH MY GOD-

-You know based on where he grew up that all that wild shit definitely happened

-He can’t say that he misses living like that, but there’s some kind of weird nostalgia that comes with it

-...which is why Jonathan is really confused when he catches Dio sneaking out of the mansion in the middle of the night

-Begrudgingly, he tells Jojo his plan and this boy’s eyes LIGHT UP

-Instead of being a “stupid, crybaby, tattletale,” as Dio puts it, Jojo is like,,,super hyped

-“Oh! I have an idea! Why don’t we sneak out in costumes so no-one knows it’s us??”

-The sheets on their beds may have two holes in them now, but it's worth it

-They hijack a horse or some shit and skeet over to a giant bonfire

-Dio thinks it's gonna be a drag since Jonathan is there to watch his every move, but it's actually,,,really fun

-As a kid who’s barely ever left his sheltered property, Jonathan is having the time of his life and Dio never thought he would be happy to see Jonathan so happy

-It ends with the two of them sitting by the river, absolutely exhausted from the rush and Jonathan pulls out this bag of shit from his pocket and is like

-“It’s candy!! :D”

-Dio could never really afford things like sweets on Halloween growing up so he’s a bit touchy about it but OH MY GOD that shit is GOOD

-Probably one of the only times where they actually bond properly

-BUT IF THIS IS MY POCKET DIMENSION THEN I CAN SAY THAT THEY BECOME FRIENDS >:)

Part Two:

-I’m just gonna start out with the fact that Joseph is fucking OBSESSED with candy. You know those kids you knew growing up that loved it more than anything on this goddamn earth? *cough cough @jjadegreen*

-That is Joseph

-And now that he consumes that type of shit with the power of mastered Hamon at his fingertips,,,holy shit man,,,it's like a child’s sugar rush but 100x worse

-Caeasr is put in charge of Jojo to make sure he doesn’t do anything idiotic *which he definitely will trust me*

-The MOMENT he goes to the bathroom, Suzi pops in like “JOJO!!!! :) Let's go trick or treating!!!”

-He can’t say no to that, bro,,,he and Suzi are tight ;-;

-While Lisa Lisa is out to meet Speedwagon and Erina and bring them back over to where everyone else is, Joseph sneaks out with Suzi and the two of them dash off into the streets of New York

Caesar: *steps out of bathroom*

“Jojo, what the hell do you and Suzi want for dinner?”

*silence*

“...Jojo?”

*Hears the screams of of children in the distance*

“JOJO, NO—”

-So turns out Joseph’s way of trick-or-treating at such an old age is just terrorizing young children and ransacking them for candy

-Suzi Q is just totally unphased by how awful this is and just thinks its the funniest shit

-Caesar is running out into the streets of New York like ???? and spots Joseph being himself and he could probably just pretend he doesn’t know them

-But,,,Joseph may be an idiot but he’s his idiot and Suzi Q is his bimbo best friend so he goes out to drag them back home

-Erina, Lisa Lisa, and Speedwagon are already home by the time they get back and Caesar sits Joseph down and chews him out in front of everyone

-Erina is super pissed and lectures him about “Joestar values” or whatever and tells a really embarrassing story about how a kid took his candy once when he was little and he cried about it for DAYS

-Caesar is still really angry about it so he replaces all of Joseph’s gummies with sugar free ones (you goddamn know the ones I’m talking about) but he didn’t know Joseph WOULD EAT THEM ALL AT ONCE

-He is so fucking sick on November 1st

-Also off-topic but Lisa Lisa gives out dental floss or some shit on halloween

Part Three:

-Honestly all Jotaro wants to do is buy candy for himself, hole himself up in his room like he always does, and just munch and watch shitty horror movies 

-But of course he has actual friends now

-Kakyoin tackles him before he can get his ass upstairs and suggests that they go out and trick-or-treat

-To which Jotaro thinks is a joke and laughs because he’s not only 17, but also 6’5” but Kak’s face looks dead serious

-Kakyoin goes on this long, detailed ramble about how he meticulously made the best Halloween route for them to get the best candy

-Now THIS is when Polnareff abandons whatever he and Avdol are doing to join in on the stupid plan they have

-When Kakyoin comes back with a handful of white sheets, they already know what he’s thinking and its brilliant

Kakyoin’s 5-step, foolproof Halloween plan:

Step one: It’s already established that stands can hold non-stand items (like when Star Plat whipped Iggy across the desert) so what’s stopping them from being able to have sheets over their heads?

Step two: They faze a bit of their stands into the ground so that they at least resemble the height of children (plus non-stand users can’t see anything besides the sheets so it's perfect)

Step three: Polnareff pretends to be the father of these shy children who can’t speak (he looks the oldest) while Jotaro and Kakyoin hide nearby so their stands don’t de-summon

Step four: Hit up every good house in the neighbourhood

Step Five: Candy.

(Kak used to put a sheet over hierophant all the time as a kid and always got twice the amount of candy each year)

-It actually works pretty well, aside from the fact that Star would sometimes scream “ORA” in a really deep, manly, not seven years old at all voice whenever the people at the door would try to speak with him or make him say ‘trick-or-treat’

-They finally reach the richest house in the neighbourhood, where the snootiest lady lives (but she has a shit ton of candy leftover every year since no one goes there)

-Once the stands knock on the door, she starts saying stuff like “ohh, let me see your faces so I make sure you aren’t too old for this” and ducks under to look at the sheets…

-...Only to find that there’s literally nothing there

-She looks up at Polnareff like 👁👄👁 and Kakyoin seems to get the message because one of hierophant’s tentacles grabs her ankle and she SCREAMS and throws her entire candy stash at them, slamming the door behind her

-Half of them are full-sizes chocolate bars. Candy acquired.

-When they get back, Joseph is so fucking angry that they didn’t invite him out for Halloween shenanigans  >:(

-Avdol and Holy have a very nice chat, meanwhile. They answer the door while everyone's gone and are so sweet to the kids about their costumes :)

-Also Avdol is 100% the kind of person to bake pumpkin seeds and season them and shit

-Kakyoin sorts all his candy and puts it on a spreadsheet and also make a pie chart just like he does every year

-T’was a very successful halloween

Part Five:

-Giorno is probably short enough to go out if he really wanted to

-But he has maturity issues and there would be no way in hell that the Bucci Gang would catch him going out in a costume and begging for candy

-So as soon as all the daily tasks and shit are met Giorno locks himself in his room

-He honestly wants some candy and to watch spooky movies with the gang but he just feels like an outsider to all of that stuff since he never did it

-So Bruno slips a thing of dracula-themed chocolate pudding under his door and leaves him be :)

-Narancia and Mista DO go out, however

-Not only do they go out and steal shit, but they also go and hit up houses for candy just for the fun of it

-The moment the clock strikes 6 Trish is OUT of there

-Girl is hitting up as many parties as she possibly can and eventually meets up with Nara and Mista at some shitty Halloween party and end up just buying really shitty beer and going to the graveyard or something

-Fugo wants none of that shit

-He’s perfectly content sitting with the black cat that Giorno made him and watching shitty reruns of whatever’s on

-Bruno takes out his tacky Halloween apron that definitely looks something like this

-Fugo helps him make all this really good spooky-themed dessert shit and helps him sort the candy in the nut and nut-free bowls :))) (because Bruno really goes and does that)

-Abbacchio seems like the kind of person who would go really fucking hard with Halloween decorations

-Like, no explanation why, he just loves it and everyone knows not to get in his way

-The moment October 1st comes around, this man is in his ELEMENT. He’s READY.

-It’s the one month where he looks anywhere near normal compared to other people and man is ready to rock that shit

-Later that night they go to check on Giorno and find him asleep surrounded by bags of candy

-Turns out he snuck out and had a good time after all :’)

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You’re wondering why I skipped part 4, right? ↓ ↓ 

I’m sorry to disappoint y’all, but I don’t think I’m gonna be doing much for Whumptober this year! (I’m just shit at monthly challenges in general lmao) but I think y’all need a breather from all this giant dump of whumpy stuff coming this month, so I, your dear friend Cherry, have decided to write fics throughout the month that I dub SOFT HALLOWEEN :D  (with uhhh a side of whump and hurt/comfort and all that shit because I can’t help myself)

It’s gonna vary (hopefully from parts 1-5)! I didn’t add any part four headcanons in here because Jade and I are literally writing part 4 shenanigans first and we didn’t wanna spoil anything :)

SPEAKING OF SPOILERS here’s a horrifying, blurry, teaser picture that’s only gonna make sense once you read the fic:

Isn’t it beautiful?

Hope you enjoyed these!! Tell me what you want the Jojos to do on Halloween!

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Ok so apparently its not normal to sort your candy by type, count it all out and then put it into a spreadsheet which then gets made into a graph? Because I did that. EVERY. FUCKING. YEAR. Ask Jade​. She was there every goddamn time. Please I’m begging you someone else tell me you did shit like this I need to know

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

Multiples of 3, 1-18 for your Ryder and 47,48 and 49 for Hawke 🤗 (or switch them around if you want!)

This took me like 8 hours bc I'm typing it all on a phone and got interrupted ripriprip. Anyway I don't remember multiples for crap lmao I hope I got it right 😂

Brynja:

What does their safe space look like?

Jaal. LMAO but for real, her room on the Tempest. She keeps the lights low, and has different color settings depending on mood and light sensitivity. She also has tons of light and fluffy blankets and pillows piled all over, and she took her dad's coffee machine and keeps it by her desk along with a ton of snacks and hot chocolate. On her bad days she hides under 20 layers of blankets and at times dumps her work computer in the crew quarters. When she's having a panic attack SAM will talk her through some grounding techniques or Jaal will sit with her. Sometimes they talk and sometimes they don't, but he's always her anchor and solid ground, his presence steadies her.

What kind of books comfort them? What books help them heal after a hard day?

She's a science nerd but: definitely fiction. Fantasy, historical, she's 100% a sucker for romance lol. Nothing steamy bc that's usually outside of her comfort zone, more like the tooth-rotting fluff variety lol. She needs soft hopeful stuff, she only reads angst if she knows it's got a happy ending.

What is your character’s trigger point? What makes them angry, sad or makes them go off?

Oh man. She has no tolerance for corruption and very little patience for bureaucracy. Cruelty will make her feral in a heartbeat: generally she's against murder, but the Cerberus scientists on Kadara trying to make a computer out of people's minds, well....I haven't decided how it goes exactly, but it may be the first time she actively chooses to kill someone instead of killing in self-defense. Any time someone says "You're not Alec" or "Alec would've made a different choice" or whatever, it hurts her deeply and pisses her off, she often gets snappy with whoever said it. When someone says they wish Alec was here instead, it doesn't piss her off, just.....aches, bc it tells her that she's not good enough, and it gives her the impression that people wish she was dead. Cora quits saying that stuff real fast.

Also, the day a human is exalted? That's the day she spirals into a deep deep depression. It'll be the big breaking point for her and honestly Cora will have to take over a lot of Pathfinder duties for a while. Witnessing the exaltation of angara, krogan and salarians is already chipping away at her and breaking her down, that'll be the last straw.

Are they an overall healthy person? Do they make for a good patient or a terror?

Ahahahaha she's mostly healthy? But her eating habits are GARBAGE. She snacks all the time, skips meals on accident, eats a lot or not at all and she can be picky. She never in her life drinks enough water.

When she's totally wiped out she's a good patient, once she's on the mend she gets really antsy and gets a little pushy about refusing help and getting back to work sooner than she should. Between the two of them Scott's the real terror, he doesn't bug for permission to do stuff like Brynja does,, he just goes for it, breaks out of the hospital and far too often reinjures himself in the process. They both can't leave bandages or scabs or the like alone, they always gotta pick at it.

What is the first thing people notice about them?

She's tiny (like 5'2" tops), and she lacks the gravitas and authority that her father and Nadja carry. She's pretty easy to miss in a crowd, but when you do notice her? Her eyes stand out. They're violet, almost pink in the right lighting and they're not contacts because BioWare made the terrible decision of giving me a color wheel for the eyes.

Describe your character through a Brooklyn 99 gif or line.

Joke's on me I haven't watched b99!!! But I did some digging around and the line I found that's most her is probably “I’d describe the workflow today as dismal, with a tiny dash of pathetic.”

Hawke:

What is your character’s reaction when someone does something nice for them?

She's absolutely delighted, thanks the person with an entire paragraph's worth of jabbering and depending on who they are, a hug. Sometimes a side hug, other times a full-on hug. She's not usually that touchy so it surprises people lol.

Is your character easy to make cry? Or angry? Or annoyed?

No, but I think I can rank them by difficulty: annoyed, cry, angry. She is almost never angry and has the longest fuse known to man, so when she is angry it is TERRIFYING. Hell hath no fury like a Hawke. She doesn't often get genuinely annoyed either, she'll get irked but it'll only last like 3 minutes, people who truly annoy her she gets really passive-aggressive with, and it's usually nobles and templars who get that 😂 And when she cries it's only in private, so when she does break down in front of her friends it catches them off-guard. When Leandra died they expected it of her (like for real who wouldn't cry when your mom was murdered and turned into a Frankenstein monster) but when Act 3 rolled around and she broke down seemingly randomly, that's extra off-guard and I think of the group Bela, Sebastian, and maybe Merrill are the most equipped to handle it, based on their respective friendships with her.

What is your character’s biggest fear? Most irrational?

This might be stereotypical but: being dragged to the Circle. This bluebird can't survive in a cage, and she's part of the mage underground with Anders. She knows the hell they suffer and she's damn sure Meredith would execute her at the drop of a hat if she could. She's terrified of tranquility too, but I think outright execution is a little scarier for her, since it's a little more akin to being butchered like an animal. Tranquility kills heart and magic, execution kills everything at once, so that's her reasoning.

For irrational fears, I'm not sure. Probably losing her most important belongings, such as her parents' rings.

[OC ask game]

[fluffy-marshmallow-heart]

Two Lost Souls -ch 17

The Elementalists au

Beckett x Oriana

Words: 3447

Series Master List

Complete Master List

Series Warnings: Will contain NSFW content. TRIGGER WARNINGS: Physical, Emotional, Sexual, and Domestic Abuse. Death.  Rape, Violence, Manipulation, Drug Abuse, and lots and lots of Angst.

Chapter Warning: Slightly NSFW

By Reading you are acknowledging you are 18 years of age and older.

A sequel to Secret Studies

8 Years ago, Beckett and Oriana Harrington graduated Penderghast College.  A year after that, tragedy struck, and they haven’t seen each other since. What happens when their paths cross once more? Is it coincidence? Or is it their souls trying to find their way home?

Oriana’s POV

Oriana woke up early, 4am, slipping out of bed and grabbing some clothes. Everett was still snoring on the floor, and she didn’t want to be here when he woke up. She stopped at a bakery near her flat, picking up some fresh donuts, fruits, and coffee. She was at Beckett’s penthouse by 5 and brought the bags to the kitchen area. There weren’t any lights on and there was no movement in the house, so she knew Beckett must still be asleep. Tiptoeing back out to the living space, she saw Zephyr sleeping on the couch she’d picked out and had delivered the previous day.

She grabbed herself a coffee and some fruit before heading into the office space. Flipping on the light, she sat down in her new chair, pulling out her necklace from under her shirt and taking it off, staring at it. She didn’t quite know what to do with it. If she wore it back home, Everett would certainly see it at some point, and she couldn’t have that. She watched the metallic wildflowers sway before she heard a door open. She quickly shoved it in her desk drawer. It would do for now.

“Why are you here so early?” Beckett’s cold voice startled her. “What have you been doing? I didn’t ask you to come in this early, you’re not getting paid any extra for it.”

“I, um…” Her voice failed her as she took in his appearance. His blondish brown hair was all mussed up from sleep, he wore light blue pajama pants that were hanging dangerously low on his hips, and he had no shirt on. She couldn’t take her eyes off his ripped abs. He always had nice abs, but holy cow, this was doing something to her already.

“Um?” He demanded. “Didn’t think this would be an issue, but I guess I’ll tell the desk not to let you in unless I say so.”

“You gave me a key.” She finally looked into his eyes. His beautiful, silver eyes, which were currently lasered in on her.

He smirked, sauntering into the room and closing the door before going behind the desk. He turned her chair to face him, and she inhaled sharply. God, he smells as good as his body looks…absolutely delicious. Placing his hands on the armrests, he leaned in, murmuring in her ear. “See something you like?”

She took a shaky breath. “Yes, actually, I think the furniture I picked out is quite nice.”

“About that…” He drew his head back, eyes focused on her lips. “I said shop for the office, not shop to decorate my entire penthouse.”

“It needed color.” She told him defiantly.

“I could have provided that for myself.”

“But you didn’t.”

“You don’t live here, Oriana.” He growled. “I want you to return everything except what’s in this room.”

“You’ll thank me someday.” She breathed.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

Oriana bit her lower lip. She was ready to head into new territory, and can only hope it doesn’t blow up in her face. “Because you love me.”

Beckett blinked, clearly taken aback by that sentence. He stood up tall, his abdomen in line with her eyes now. She couldn’t stop herself from ogling again. “I love who you used to be.” He said tightly, backing away.

“I’m still that person.”

“You’re still engaged to that dick you call wonderful. It’s masochistic, and I don’t approve.”

“Approve?” She laughed shortly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I needed your approval for anything.”

Beckett scoffed. “You know what? I don’t need you today. Go home, Ori.” He whirled around, reopening the door and leaving the room.

“Wait.” She dashed after him, cornering him in the hall. “You and Zeph didn’t give me much of a chance to talk yesterday.”

Beckett shrugged, looking away. “Actually, you seem to talk way too much. Go home to your lover.” He finished with a bitterness in his tone.

Oriana’s eyes narrowed. “Yesterday you were kissing me, wanting me, desperately craving me…and a few hours later you’re practically shoving me out the door. What the hell is your problem? You’re always telling me I have to come in early. I’m only doing what you’re constantly telling me to do.”

“My problem is you.” Beckett glared. “And I told you, I don’t need you today. I’m taking Zeph sight-seeing.”

“You don’t want me to answer phones calls or emails or…”

“Frankly, Oriana, I don’t want you here at all right now.”

She felt like the wind was knocked out of her. She didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want to go home; she hates it there. Everett suffocates her.

“Maybe she wants to come.” Zeph appeared, yawning. “Can the two of you shut up until I get my coffee? I can’t deal with you until then.”

Beckett snickered and Oriana shot him a Look. She was originally really happy that Beckett still had Zeph. But right now, it was pissing her off, because Zeph clearly would only take Beckett’s side in everything.

“She can’t come. She’s got a busy day returning all this crap she bought yesterday.” Beckett smirked. “Although I stand by my statement. You can just go home and deal with it tomorrow.”

“You ordered food already? How long have you been up?” Zeph asked, grabbing a donut.

“Actually, I brought it.” Oriana huffed. “Thought I would do something nice, but silly me, thinking I’d be appreciated.”

“You mean Everett doesn’t appreciate you, enough? Seems like he does, the way he can’t take his hands off you.”

“Fuck you, Beckett.” She spat. “You don’t know anything about it.”

“I don’t need to know. You’re my employee; I only need to know that you can follow directions. Like leaving, for example.” Beckett snarled, stepping into her space.

A loud groan came from Zephyr, his head falling back in exasperation. “Seriously, you guys? If I leave, can you just have sex already? The tension here is killing me, and it’s way too early for me to see you both attempt not to rip each other’s clothes off. And I’m kind of afraid you’re going to do it front of me anyway.”

“It’s not my fault that Oriana’s been drooling over my muscles all morning.” Beckett shrugged. “I take care of myself, this is my house, and I don’t feel the need to cover up.

She couldn’t believe the audacity this man had. He was pretty much the same guy she met as a freshman in college, except now he had more power; more money; his ego was even more inflated. Well, since Beckett needs to be knocked down a few pegs again, she really only had one decision to make.

“Ya know what?” She glanced at Zephyr. “Sightseeing sounds fun. Count me in.”

 Beckett’s POV

Beckett grumbled as they made their way to Hampstead Heath. He’d attempted to bring Zeph to one of London’s plethora of museums, but he was vetoed immediately.

“I’m not here to stay inside.” Zeph told him. “There’s plenty other places, BookBeck, a museum isn’t the most fun.”

“Depends on the person. Personally, I find the National Gallery quite enticing.”

“Of course, you do.” Oriana giggled. “Some things certainly don’t change.”

“Are you mocking me?” Beckett asked incredulously.

She put her hands up in defeat. “Not at all. I’m just saying hello to the Beckett I know.”

“Ha ha ha.” Beckett rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard Hampstead Heath is also nice, but there isn’t anything to do or see.”

“Actually, it has great views.” Oriana mused.

“Oriana, how long have you lived here?” Zeph asked.

“Um…I’m not completely sure…” She trailed off, averting her gaze.

“So, a long time.” Zeph supplied. “And, Beckett, how often were you here before you were forced to come?”

“Once or twice.” Beckett mumbled. He’d tried to come more, but Katrina would always tell him she was too busy. One time, he decided to surprise her, but when he arrived his sister was already trashed, and it ended up being quite unpleasant for them both.

“Wow, this is huge!” Zeph gasped, turning his attention back to the park they were entering. “It’s like London’s version of Central Park!”

“Way better though.” Oriana told him. “There are tons of places to get lost here.”

“Should we do it?” Zeph asked excitedly.

“Do what?” Beckett asked skeptically.

“Get lost! It’ll be an adventure!”

Oriana laughed and Beckett tried really hard to not let it affect him, but after they left his penthouse, her mood seemed to lift…she seemed different today. She was looser, more laid-back, more easy-going…the way she used to be. He couldn’t figure out what her game was. He also couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was breathtaking, even wearing a simple pair of jeans and a v-neck green tee.

“There’s one place in particular I want I bring you first…it’s a bit of a popular area, so there will probably be lots of people, but trust me, it’s worth it.” Oriana grinned.

She began leading them, and Zephyr shrugged at Beckett, following her.

“So, Zeph, I’m really sorry about yesterday.” She started.

“It’s not me you should be apologizing to.” He replied shortly, and Beckett couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of his mouth. It felt amazing to have someone like Zeph on his side. Oriana’s missing out.

The whole thing seemed surreal. He and Oriana used to spend every minute together, but after not seeing her for so long, it felt a bit odd. And not in a bad way. But odd in a ‘I can’t believe how natural this still is’ kind of way. He’d lost everything, but somehow, after all these years, he was strolling through a large park with his best friend and the woman he loves more than anything else in the world, like it was the most common thing for him to be doing.

“Okay. Wow. I admit this is pretty cool.”

Beckett snapped back to attention, seeing they’d come to a stop on a large hill, looking down on a perfect view of the city. Oriana was beaming.

“I come here when I don’t want to feel alone. There’s lots of people, yet it’s still your own experience. And looking down at all that life…it makes me remember that I’m not actually done with mine. There are lots of people just like me, and I take comfort in that.”

“Not just like you.” Beckett muttered under his breath.

“Why do you find yourself feeling alone?” Zeph asked.

“I think everyone does, at one point or another.” She responded.

“What’s next?” Beckett piped in. He didn’t want to get into a conversation about being alone. He’s by himself far too often and wasn’t proud of it.

“The viaduct.” Oriana stated immediately. “You’re going to love it. Both of you.”

After another trek, the three friends approached a large pond, with a brick structure jutting out of the water. “The viaduct was supposed to be an entrance to an estate, but the estate was never built.” She explained.

“What a shame, it would be great space to own a home.” Beckett murmured to himself.

“Yes, well, the majority of the population disagreed.” Oriana countered. “And if it had been built, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Beckett furrowed his eyebrows, taking in her appearance. She seemed contemplated; lost in thought. He wanted to get inside her pretty head and see what she’s thinking. The three of them talked a bit more, though it felt a bit forced at times. Zeph filled Oriana in on everything he’s been up to since they last saw each other, and she was hanging onto every word of it. For the next hour or so, the small group continued walking aimlessly around, until coming to another pond, this one with a small dock leading out into the water. There were a few people swimming, and Zeph stopped short, eyes wide.

“Oh. My. God. I have always wanted to do this.”

“Do what….?” Beckett began to ask, but Zeph had already shoved his phone into his hands and taken off down the bank and onto the dock. He stared in horror as Zeph jumped off the end and into the water.

When he emerged, he pumped his fist into the air. “Woooooooo!”

“And now we have to get him out. What do you…” He trailed off again at the look of excitement in Oriana’s eyes.

“That looks like fun!” She grabbed Beckett’s hand. “We should do it!”

It took him a moment to compose himself from the strike of lightning that flew when their hands joined. “Ori, please, I’m not jumping into some pond I’ve never been to. I need to take samples and get them analyzed first, to make sure it’s safe.”

“There’s other people in the water. It’s a mixed swimming pond.”

“And maybe they’ll catch diphtheria.” He shrugged.

“You really forgot.” She spoke softly, dropping his hand.

“Forgot what?”

“How to be spontaneous.”

Before he could reply again, Oriana gave him her phone, and took off just like Zeph, leaping into the water, leaving him gaping behind her.

“Come on, Beckett!” Zeph laughed. “It feels great!”

Grumbling, Beckett walked down the dock. “You’re going to spend the rest of the day in wet clothes?”

“Well, you might have an easier time getting Oriana’s clothes off than you would mine.”

Beckett’s jaw dropped as he turned a deep crimson. “T-that’s preposterous, I wouldn’t…I mean, I couldn’t…”

“Why don’t you jump in and find out?” Oriana teased.

Suddenly feeling extremely hot, Beckett warred with himself. Something was most definitely different today. Did him knocking out Everett somehow loosen her up? Or maybe Zeph’s outburst did. Either way, as Zeph and Oriana raced around splashing each other and laughing, he set the phones down and began unbuttoning his shirt. He’d chosen a white button-down shirt with khakis today. He figured he wanted to look nice in case he ran into anyone important, but wanted to be comfortable bringing Zeph around the city.

Swallowing hard, he let his shirt flutter onto the wood. He was shaking in anticipation. He hasn’t done anything like this…well, since he was living with Oriana. He’d be stupid to let this opportunity go by. He felt Oriana’s eyes on him as he pushed his pants off next.

“Uh, it’s deep enough to jump in, right? I’m not going to land on some rocks?” He asked nervously, staring into the murky water.

“That’s all part of living dangerously, my friend! But the fact that Oriana and I didn’t scream in pain is probably a good indicator of what’s to come.” Zeph winked, nodding his head towards Oriana, who wasn’t saying anything…but her hazel eyes were still roving over his muscular body shamelessly.

Beckett dipped one toe into the water, willing himself to just jump. He met Oriana’s gaze as she cocked her head to the side.

“He’s going to wimp out. I’m heading over there; they’re playing some sort of game.” Zeph started swimming away as Oriana swam closer.

“What’s the matter, Beck? You sunburned already?”

“What?” He gasped, looking down at himself quickly. “I look perfectly normal, why…” He trailed off as she laughed.

“You might have forgot how to have fun, but I gotta say…making you blush is still so easy.”

Oh. Now he gets it. Narrowing his eyes, he glared at her. “I’m heading home. You two can come whenever.”

He reached down to collect his clothing, but suddenly Oriana was wrapping her arms around him and pulling him down into the water with a splash.

When he came back up to the surface, he was sputtering in shock at what just happened. “What the heck, Ori? I could have hit my head!”

“On what? Water?” She asked incredulously.

“You’re going to get it.” He growled and she shrieked, turning around and swimming further away from the dock, Beckett right on her heels. Finally, he caught her foot, forcing her to stop swimming and pulled her towards him, his arms holding her tightly, her lips just a breath away. She was still giggling, and it was so contagious; his grin must have been a mile wide. He felt like he’s been living someone else’s life and was finally coming back home after far too long. He forgot how lonely he’s been without her.

His eyes fell to her luscious lips, his heart pounding. God, he’s missed her. He’s missed everything about her; her smile, her warmth, her laugh…even her tears. She was his home, there was no question of that. He crushed her body into his and crashed their lips together. One of her arms snaked around his neck, while the other travelled to his ass, grinding their hips together.

“B…Beck…” She whimpered, and he groaned, feeling himself harden in an instant, all rational thought flying out the window. He needs her, needs to feel her, right here, and right now.

He unbuttoned her jeans and she gasped as his hand slipped in and beneath the waistband of her panties. She was trembling, forehead resting on his, no longer kissing him, but lost in his eyes, still clutching him for dear life. Before he dared to go further on his own, her fingernails dug into his back intensely; her breathing became erratic…and he knew exactly what that meant. It was one of her tells.

“Yesss…” Her voice was quiet and breathy as his fingers lightly reached her center, stroking once along her folds.

But they sprang apart when a loud whistle came from the shore, the lifeguard yelling something to another swimmer. And then Zeph reappeared.

“Isn’t this so much fun? I think I should move here, too. How kick-ass would that be? You’ll give me a job, right Bucket?”

“Uh…yeah, sure…” Beckett said sheepishly, feeling scrutinized under his gaze, his cheeks dusted pink.

“Did…I…did I interrupt something?”

“No!” Both he and Oriana cried in unison.

Zeph stared at them and Oriana shifted even further away. “Um, there’s a pub nearby, we could…”

“Your clothes are soaked.” Beckett reminded.

“Oh, right…my…clothes…that are still on…because they weren’t taken off.”

He rose an eyebrow. “I did try to warn you about that.”

“I definitely interrupted something.” Zeph was still staring.

“You interrupted nothing.” Beckett muttered, turning around and heading back to the dock. Pulling himself out of the water, he grabbed their belongings and walked off into the grass. He couldn’t believe that just happened. They were having so much fun; it was just like old times. And then making out and fondling her in a public area, like they were the only two people there…his eyes darted to where she and Zeph were getting out of the water, chatting amicably.

How can she act like nothing happened right now? How can she act like he wasn’t touching her intimately? God, why did he do that? She’s an engaged woman. Her heart belongs to someone else. According to her, anyway, even though it was completely obvious she didn’t want Everett at all. She was shivering when she approached.

“Cold?” He asked, avoiding her gaze.

“Just a bit.” She replied shakily. I think I’d like dry clothes now.”

Beckett nodded. “We can take you home first.”

“No, that’s okay, I have a few outfits in your penthouse.” Her eyes widened, like she didn’t mean to say that.

“Why do you have clothes in his penthouse?” Zeph mused.

“Well, Beck said we’d have some late nights, so I just wanted to make sure I had something clean there. To, you know, stay presentable.”

“Where are they?” Beckett asked. This was news to him. It’s not like she’s been there a ton so far.

Oriana shrugged. “They would have been delivered yesterday, so, probably in one of the unopened boxes.

“That’s verrry interesting. Hear that Beckett? She decided to keep a change of clothes at your house. You didn’t know?” Zeph asked slyly.

He shook his head. He hadn’t had a clue she had clothes there. He wondered what else he’d end up finding in his penthouse that he hadn’t discovered yet.

“Well, Oriana, you apparently still have the best clothes, so I’m excited to see the little numbers you keep at Beckett’s. You know, maybe this home office was a really good decision. I admit I had my doubts but…sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Do you stay over often, Oriana? I wasn’t offered a second bed…”

Beckett felt the tips of his ears burning.

Oriana started coughing as though she’d swallowed wrong, and you couldn’t wipe the shit-eating grin off Zeph’s face if you tried.

“Yup. I definitely interrupted something.”

[king-finnigan]

Looking Up For Heaven - Oneshot

Summary: The first time you touch your soulmate, you remember things - the other life, people call it. Jaskier's heard the stories of this other life: witches, wizards, magic, medieval but not quite medieval. His flatmate, Yennefer, has already met her soulmate, and remembers the other life, but Jaskier is still not sold on the idea, and would rather not be a part of this bullshit.

Pairing/Warnings: Geralt x Jaskier, Modern AU, Soulmate AU

A/n: Look this is either the most creative fic I’ve ever written, or just one big pile of flaming garbage, that’s honestly up to you to decide. Title and idea from Glory by Bastille (and my fav song ever!). As always, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy, and don’t hesitate to leave a like and a comment if you feel like it!

You can also read this on AO3! M A S T E R L I S T

Jaskier sighs as he stares at his reflection the mirror, hand threading through his hair. It’s slightly greasy and he remembers he forgot to take a shower today. Again. For the third day in a row. Goddammit.

He sighs again, looking at his flatmate in the reflection of the mirror, as she pulls her raven curls up into a ponytail. “Do I really have to go, Yen?” He ignores how whiny he sounds, instead leaning on the wash basin with his forearms, chin resting on them as he pouts at Yennefer’s reflection.

She scoffs from where she’s sitting on the edge of the once-white bath, tying her ponytail with one of her girlfriend’s scrunchies, the bright yellow a stark contrast with the rest of her exclusively black outfit. “Yes, you have to go, Julian. You promised a week ago that you would, and Triss will be really upset if you don’t show up.”

She gets up from the side of the tub, taking the half step towards the wash basin, pushing him aside. “Scoot, idiot.” She takes her eyeliner from the open cabinet next to the mirror, uncapping it, leaning her elbow next to the sink as she slowly, deliberately, traces a line over her eyelid. “I swear to god, if you make her sad, I will throw all your food in the trash and bend the needle of your record player.”

He frowns, leaning back against the edge of the sink, arms crossed in front of him. “Fine, whatever, I’ll go, then. Just don’t break my record player. It took me five weekends at bloody Starbucks to afford it.” He suppresses a shudder at the memory of working customer service.

Yennefer finishes her eyeliner, grabbing her mascara from the cabinet. He takes the eyeliner from where it’s lying on the sink, twirling it in his hands, as she rolls her eyes at him. “Don’t even know why you want a record player so badly, but okay. You know you can just stream music, right?”

He scoffs. “Oh, please, everyone knows vinyl sounds better than digital.”

She side-eyes him, eyes widening for a bit as she looks at her reflection again. “Okay, grandpa, if you say so.”

He sighs again, still twirling the eyeliner in his hands, as she finishes her mascara, pulling her ponytail taut again – even though it’s not sagging in the slightest. She finishes her makeup with a dark lipstick, before casting a last wink at her reflection and turning her back to the mirror, leaning against the sink, next to him. “Alright, what is it, Julian? We’ve been living together long enough for me to recognize an ‘I’m so sad please ask me if I’m okay’-sigh when I hear one.”

He side-eyes her for a moment, but she simply stares at him, dark-painted lips pursed, violet eyes stubborn, waiting for him to speak. After a few moments he sighs again, relenting under her unforgiving gaze. “Fine, I really don’t feel like going to this party.” He looks at her, cutting her off before she can scold him again: “Yes, I know Triss would be upset if I didn’t show up, but, like, I don’t know anyone there, and you know I hate crowds.”

She rolls her eyes. “Here’s an idea: maybe if you made some fucking friends for once, you’d actually know someone at this party. You really need to go out more, you can’t just sit in the flat all day, pretending to study.”

He gapes at her. “I do study, like, all the time! Hell, I have two essays due next week that I need a lot of time for. And if I didn’t go to the party, I’d actually be able to finish them in time.”

She scoffs, shaking her head slightly as she looks at the once-blue tiles of the wall opposite them. “Yeah, sure. I know you procrastinate, Julian. A lot. You’re just using these essays as an excuse to stay at home. We’re both well aware you wouldn’t do shit.”

He sighs, throwing his head back a bit. “Okay, fine, maybe I would spend all evening bingeing Netflix. Still, that’s a hell of a lot more fun than standing in the corner of some bar all evening. I love Triss, I really do, but I’m not willing to spend all those hours bored out of my mind and getting panic attacks when there’s too many people.”

She sighs, bumping into his shoulder slightly. “I know, alright? I know you can’t really talk to people and that crowds make you anxious, and I know that this evening is probably going to be a waste of time for you, but you promised, okay? You promised Triss that you would be there and she’s really looking forward to seeing you again. She’s going to be really disappointed if you don’t show up.” Her voice drops to barely above a whisper. “And so am I. You really need to go out more, Julian, you can’t spend the rest of your life cooped up in this apartment. You’re never going to make other friends or meet your soulmate if you sit inside all day.”

He scoffs at his feet when she mentions soulmates, but she simply ducks her head to meet his eyes. “Please, Julian, just go to this one party. If not for yourself or Triss, then for me.”

He sighs again, throwing his head back, looking at the mouldy ceiling. “Fine, fine, I’ll go. If only to stop you nagging.”

She laughs. “Oh, please, I’m never going to stop nagging. Speaking of,” she looks at him, one perfect eyebrow arched up, “you seriously need a change of clothes before we leave.”

He frowns at her. “As opposed to changing my clothes after we leave?” He laughs as she smacks him in the back of his head.

“You know what I meant, idiot. Seriously, at least wear some jeans, you look like you live in your mum’s basement and play Fortnite all day.” She gestures at his sweatpants, and he rolls his eyes. “And at least wear, like, a hoodie. It’s cold outside and that thin-ass shirt won’t be enough to keep you warm.”

He rolls his eyes, but pushes away from the sink anyway, calling over his shoulder as he walks to his bedroom. “Fine, alright! Jeez, mum. What’s next? You’ll tell me I have to comb my hair and part it in the middle so I can bedazzle my soulmate with my charming good looks?”

He rummages through his closet, pulling out the least crumpled jeans out from the pile of unfolded clothes, as he hears Yennefer letting herself fall on his unmade bed. “Actually, yes. I think you’d look dashing with a middle part and you’d be sure to instantly woo your soulmate once you meet them.”

He snorts as he pulls off his sweatpants, wiggling into the slightly too skinny jeans. “I don’t think I’m going to meet my soulmate, like, ever.” He struggles with the button a bit, sucking in his stomach. “Don’t think I want to.”

Yennefer looks at him, frowning a bit. “Why not? It’s such great fun, honestly. Like, you get all these memories of this cool-ass other life, and you get an added bonus of, you know, having a soulmate. Like, me and Triss didn’t even have to date, I immediately got this amazing girlfriend. It’s a win-win, my dude.”

He scoffs, rummaging through the pile of clothes at the bottom of his wardrobe again, pulling out a light blue hoodie with great difficulty. “Okay, first of all, you got lucky with Triss. There are a ton of people who end up hating their soulmate.” She shrugs, snorting as he struggles to pull the hoodie over his head. “Secondly,” he continues, when he has finally managed to put it on, “why would I want to know about the other life? Huh?”

Yennefer scoffs, as he sits on his desk chair, pulling on his Vans. “Because it’s cool as fuck. Did you know I was a witch in the other life? So was Triss, by the way.” She sighs, looking at her phone. “Though, I do miss being able to portal everywhere, that was really tight.”

He pulls his leg up, tying his shoelaces. “See? I don’t want to miss something I’ll never be able to get back. Also, your other life was cool, sure, but what if mine sucks, huh? What then? What if I died, like, the most stupid death humanly possible? And that’s another thing,” he continues to rant, as he ties the laces of his other shoe, “why would I want to remember how I died? That sounds like shit. Like, you remember how you died in the other life, that’s not a fun memory, right?”

Yennefer shrugs. “I mean, I got stabbed and fell off a tower in the middle of a battle, that’s all I remember. Didn’t hurt that much, really. And I’m sure you were an alright person in the other life. Probably royalty, since you’re so unbelievably stuck-up.”

She laughs as he flips her off. “Piss off, I’m serious. I don’t want to know about the other life. People keep saying you’ll really find your true self when you first touch your soulmate and remember, and they’re all like ‘ooh, you don’t know real happiness until you experience the glory of meeting your soulmate’ but that just all sounds like such bullshit. What’s wrong with this life? Why does everyone say it’s not enough? It’s enough for me so far.”

He sighs, gritting his teeth as he stops his rant, cheeks hot with annoyance. Yennefer simply stares at him from where she’s still lying on his bed, one eyebrow pulled up. It’s quiet for a few moments, until she speaks: “Are you done? Cause it’s nine thirty and we should leave right about now if we want to be fashionably late and not just plain late.”

He sighs, rolling his eyes, grabbing his phone from his desk. “Yeah, let’s go.”

҉    ҉    ҉

“Oh my god, Julian, you made it!” Triss’ voice is loud and clear above the noise of the people at the bar, as she nearly skips her way over to him and Yennefer, pulling him into a tight hug. He’s barely able to return it before she holds him at an arm’s length, beaming at him. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“Hello, I’m here too,” Yennefer says next to him, and Triss laughs as she pulls her girlfriend into a short kiss.

“Oh, please, Yen, you’re so needy.” The two of them smile at each other and Jaskier clears his throat, kind of uncomfortable. He turns to the bar right next to them, ordering a tequila, only half paying attention to Triss and Yennefer’s conversation.

“So,” Yennefer asks, “who’s here?”

Triss looks around, pointing to different people as she names them. “Mostly friends from uni,” she waves at a group of people in one of the corners, “not a lot of people. Only Sabrina, Fringilla, and Anica. Istredd is still on his way, though.”

She turns her head left and right, stretching her neck a bit to see over the crowd of regular pub-goers. “I invited Geralt as well, but I haven’t seen him yet.” She shrugs. “He might not even show up, though, he said he’s not a big fan of parties.”

Jaskier takes the tequila from the barman, paying before he turns, sipping his drink as he leans his back against the bar. He sees Yennefer shoot him an uncomfortable look, something he can’t quite place, before she turns back to Triss. “Uh… who’s this Geralt-guy?” She glances back at him again for a second. “Haven’t heard of him.”

Triss blinks, visibly confused for a second, before some sort of realization dawns in her eyes. “Uh… oh, yeah! I uh… met him yesterday in the uni cafeteria. He was sitting all by himself and he looked kinda lonely so I joined him.”

Jaskier looks up, snorting a bit. “You sat with a total stranger and then invited him to your birthday party because he looked lonely?”

Triss blinks again, bright smile faltering a bit. “Uh… yeah, I guess I did. Anyways, he’s a really nice guy, I think you should really meet him, Julian. You know, give him a chance?”

He frowns. “What do you mean ‘give him a chance’?”

Yennefer clears her throat, she and her girlfriend sharing another strange look Jaskier doesn’t really understand. “At being a friend. You seriously need to make some friends, remember? Also, he doesn’t know anyone else at the party, either, so you two can be socially awkward together.”

Jaskier frowns again. “How do you know he’s socially awkward? I thought you never met him.”

She shrugs. “Well, he must be if he was sitting on his own.” Jaskier nods, not entirely convinced there isn’t something else going on as well, but he decides against asking about it. Maybe later, he thinks, as he sips his drink, looking at his phone a bit.

It’s rowdy and hot in the pub, and he can already feel a panic attack starting to build, as his eyes dart around, lungs constricting in his chest a bit. Yennefer and Triss have made their way over to their friends, leaving him on his own at the bar. He downs his tequila, placing the glass on the countertop behind him.

He’s contemplating making a bee-line to the side door and slipping away into the night – maybe getting a taxi – when someone stands next to him, ordering a beer from the barman. Jaskier looks to his right, eyes first meeting a black leather jacket, seeing long, white hair as he looks up a bit. He directs his gaze to his phone as quickly as possible, hoping the guy next to him won’t notice how much he seems to be blushing because fuck, this guy is hot.

He chances another look up, startling when he meets amber eyes. He swallows thickly, as the guy looks away again, taking the beer from the barman and tipping generously – Jaskier notices. He expects the guy to walk away, and part of him is already dreading never seeing those amber eyes again.

The guy doesn’t, though. He turns around, leaning against the bar, next to Jaskier, sipping his beer as he looks over the crowded room. Jaskier looks at his feet, fumbling with his phone a bit, unsure of what to say or to do.

He sighs in relief as he hears Triss’ voice, clear above the murmur of the crowd. “Oh my god, hi, Geralt!” She drags Yennefer behind her as they make their way over to Jaskier and the mysterious guy – apparently Geralt. She smiles brightly as she looks between the two of them. “So, I see you’ve already met Julian! This is my girlfriend Yennefer, by the way.” Yennefer gives a small smile and a weak wave from behind her soulmate. “Julian is her flat mate! You two really should get to know each other, I think you’d be great friends!”

Jaskier frowns at her, and he can see Geralt cocking his head in the corner of his eye. Triss smiles brightly, though, and looks behind her at Yennefer, who gives her girlfriend a reassuring nod. Reassuring her of what – Jaskier is not sure yet, but he narrows his eyes at his friend nonetheless.

“Oh! Look!” Triss says. “Istredd is here! And he brought some friends! Come on, Yen, we should go greet them.” She turns back to Jaskier and Geralt, giving them a final wave before disappearing in the crowd, leaving him alone with the guy. Great.

She was right though – Istredd did bring a ton of friends, and the bar feels a lot stuffier and rowdier than it did a few minutes ago. He considers leaving again, but doesn’t want to be impolite towards Geralt, so he stands there, leaning against the bar, heart racing, lungs constricting and oh fuck, he’s starting to have a panic attack.

His hands tremble as he fidgets with the hem of his pale blue hoodie, and he wishes he hadn’t worn it, even though it’s his favourite sweater. It’s too warm in the room, and he can feel sweat starting to form on his brow. He tries to keep his breathing even, but that only results in spots dancing across his vision from lack of oxygen, and his chest hiccupping with every other breath.

After a minute or so of silent suffering, he’s had enough. He throws a tight smile at Geralt, who looks at him weirdly, and mutters a “nice meeting you” before pushing through the crowd towards the side door, his shoulders bumping into several people on the way.

Once outside, he takes in deep, gulping breaths of night air, leaning forward, resting his hands on his knees. It’s blissfully quiet in the side alley, and he closes his eyes, waiting for the rush of blood in his ears to subside.

The door opens behind him, flooding him with light and noise before it’s closed again. He doesn’t look up, waiting for Yennefer to start her rant that he needs to practice conscious breathing when he feels a panic attack coming up, or Triss to ask him if he’s alright and if there’s anything she can do for him.

Instead, he hears a deep voice behind him. “Are you okay?” He stretches out again, looking behind him to see Geralt, amber eyes surprisingly concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just…” he shrugs, looking at his feet “had a bit of a panic attack.”

Geralt takes a tentative step towards him. “You wanna talk about it?”

Jaskier smiles, shaking his head slightly. He hadn’t taken Geralt for a talkative person, so the fact that the guy offered to talk about it means a lot to him, surprisingly. “No, it’s fine.” He shrugs again, hands in the pocket of his hoodie. “Just don’t like crowds.”

Geralt smiles a bit, and oh god, oh shit, oh fuck, he looks so hot when he smiles. “Yeah, same here. Not a big fan of them.” Jaskier looks around, the street in front of the bar deserted. He’s not sure what’s down the alley, but he might find a taxi there.

He looks back at Geralt, who’s shifting from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. “It was nice meeting you, Geralt.” He starts walking down the alley, hands still in the pocket of his hoodie. He hears footsteps behind him and half turns around, frowning as he sees the guy catching up with him.

“Where are you going?” Geralt is walking next to him now, and Jaskier takes half a step to the side in the small alley, making sure their shoulders don’t brush.

He cocks his head. “Why do you want to know?”

And he might definitely be mistaken but he could swear he sees Geralt blush in the dim light of the streetlamps behind them. “Just doesn’t seem very safe, walking into an alley on your own in the middle of the night.”

Jaskier smiles. “And it’s safer to walk into an alley in the middle of the night with a stranger?”

He can see Geralt chewing on his lip, frowning deeply. “I suppose not.” He stops walking, and Jaskier does, too, after a couple of steps, turning back to Geralt. “If you want me to leave, Julian, that’s okay, I’ll leave.”

Jaskier laughs a bit, shaking his head. “Nah, don’t worry.” He keeps walking, signaling with his head for Geralt to follow him again. “Come on, let’s keep moving, it’s too cold to stand still.”

Geralt falls in step next to him and Jaskier can’t help but smile. He looks to his side. “My name’s not Julian, by the way.” Geralt frowns at him, confused, and Jaskier shrugs. “It is, officially, but my parents changed their minds a few weeks after I was born, and named me Jaskier, but didn’t change the legal documents. Yennefer just calls me Julian to spite me, and Triss does it cause she thinks it’s more polite, and I don’t have the heart to tell her no.”

Geralt laughs, shaking his head slightly. “I only met her yesterday, but that sounds exactly like her.”

Jaskier cocks his head. “I am wondering, though, Geralt, why did you come to the party? Like you said, you only met Triss yesterday.”

Geralt shrugs, hands buried in the pockets of his leather jacket. “She was very insistent. And, just like you, I didn’t have the heart to tell her no.”

Jaskier smiles, nodding a bit. “Fair enough.”

He side-steps around a garbage bag, before they reach the street behind the pub. It’s deserted. Well, fuck. So long, taxi. He looks around, the street stretching into the darkness on both sides. There’s a fenced off field in front of him, and he can see street lamps and cars passing by on a street on the other side of the field. He begins walking forward.

“Where are you going?” He hears Geralt call behind him.

He half turns around, pointing to the field with his thumb as he walks sideways. “Gonna hop the fence, go to that street over there and try and find a tax-“

His sentence is cut off abruptly as he trips over a small rock in the middle of the road, painfully hitting his head on the curb as he falls on his side. “Shit!”

He clutches his head as he sits up, but luckily there’s no blood on his hand, as he pulls it back. It is going to be a nasty bump, tomorrow, though. “Jaskier! You okay?” He looks up as Geralt half-jogs towards him across the street, looking both ways even though the neighborhood seems deserted.

He’s almost reached Jaskier, when he trips over his own feet, landing on his knees next to Jaskier. “Shit!”

Jaskier can’t help but laugh, clutching his stomach as he wheezes. God, just a pair of fucking idiots, lying in the middle of the street. He laughs harder when Geralt frowns at him, though the guy can’t help but laugh as well, as tears start to form in Jaskier’s eyes.

He gasps for air between fits of giggles, and leans back, lying on the asphalt, still clutching his stomach as he hiccups. He feels Geralt joining him, lying next to him in the middle of the street. “You okay, Jask?”

He finally quiets down and nods. He turns to Geralt. “You called me Jask.”

The guy shrugs, seemingly blushing again, though Jaskier tells himself it’s just a trick the streetlamps are playing on his eyes. “You don’t like it?”

Jaskier smiles, looking up at the sky. “No, no, I do like it. Just… no one’s ever called me that.”

Geralt shrugs again. They lie there in silence for a few moments, staring up at the night sky, the sound of cars in the distance.

“So, Geralt, what do you study?” He looks to his side again, admiring Geralt’s profile.

“Veterinary.”

Jaskier pushes himself up on one elbow, looking down on Geralt, who smiles softly. “Really? Didn’t take you for an animal lover, honestly.”

Geralt shrugs. “Most people don’t. I just have a soft spot for horses, I guess.”

Jaskier can’t help but smile at that. “Oh? Why horses, specifically?”

Amber eyes grow distant, as if Geralt’s suddenly transported into his own memories. “My dad’s got a horse farm, in the countryside. Taught me how to ride and take care of them at a young age.” He blinks, and suddenly he seems to be back in reality, as he looks at Jaskier. “What about you, though? What do you study?”

Jaskier leans back again, unable to look into Geralt’s eyes too long, for some reason. “English Lit.”

He hears Geralt chuckle next to him. “I wish I could say I didn’t take you for a book lover, but I’d be lying.”

Jaskier laughs a bit. “Alright, fair enough.”

He hears the quiet sound of a cap being unscrewed and looks to the side, seeing Geralt take a swig from a metal flask. “Wow, dude, you’ve come prepared.”

Geralt smiles, handing the flask to Jaskier. “What can I say? Pubs are expensive.” Jaskier laughs, feeling a slight burn in his throat as he takes a sip of whiskey – apparently Geralt’s a whiskey kind of guy. Horses and whiskey.

He laughs as he imagines Geralt, with a frown on his face, downing a bottle of Jack Daniels as he rides on a horse, wearing a cowboy outfit. He sits up as he chokes on the whiskey, coughing violently into his elbow. Geralt sits up next to him as well. “You okay?”

Jaskier gasps for air, coughing the last bit of whiskey from his airway, tears in the corners of his eyes. “Yeah, fine, just thought of something funny.” Geralt shoots him a questioning look and Jaskier shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

Geralt lays back down, taking the flask as Jaskier hands it to him, putting it back in the pocket of his leather jacket, folding his arms behind his head. “Well, watch out the next time you think about something unimportant, then. Don’t want you to laugh until you die.”

Jaskier smiles, laying back down on the pavement. “Honestly, can you think of any better way to choke?”

Geralt smiles as well. “Hmm.”

It’s quiet between them for a couple more moments, as they look at the night sky. The light pollution of the city makes it hard for him to see the stars, but he can make out some blinking lights in the dark abyss above. He points up. “Look, a plane.”

Geralt nods next to him, then points to the right of where Jaskier’s pointing. “Another one.”

Jaskier nods as well. “Very busy night for the plane business.”

And Geralt’s chuckle might be the most beautiful thing he’s heard in his whole life.

“So,” Geralt starts, and Jaskier looks at his profile again, noticing how soft the white hair looks and how much he wants to touch it, “do you do this often?” Geralt turns his head towards Jaskier, and oh god, those lips look so kissable.

He blinks. “Do what?”

Geralt smiles. “Lying in the middle of the road at one in the morning with strangers?”

Jaskier shakes his head. “No, I never do that. See, I know your name and you’ve watched me fall on my face, so we’re not really strangers anymore, are we?”

Geralt looks at the night sky again. “No, I suppose not.” He lets out a long deep breath, and Jaskier can see small clouds above his face in the cold air. “So,” he looks back at Jaskier, “what do you do in your spare time?”

Jaskier scoffs. “You mean besides watching Netflix and pretending to study?” Geralt laughs, and Jaskier can’t help but vow to make this guy laugh as many times as he possibly can, because he can’t imagine ever getting tired of the sound. He shrugs. “I don’t know, really. Lie in the middle of the road at one in the morning, and look up for heaven, I guess.”

Geralt frowns a bit. “What do you mean with looking up for heaven?”

Jaskier shrugs. “Well, people always say that when you find your soulmate you will find glory or some shit, but… I don’t know. It’s always sounded like an empty promise to me. Something that only happens if you find your soulmate, and… what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Wait?” He shakes his head, looking at the sky, watching as another plane passes overhead. “No, I don’t really like that. Life has meaning even if you don’t have a soulmate or if you haven’t found them yet. I can’t do anything with empty words for glory, so I’ll just be here, looking up for heaven, trying to find something else to strive towards.”

It’s quiet for another moment, and eventually he turns his head, looking at Geralt, amber eyes searching his face. Finally, he speaks: “You said ‘even if you don’t have a soulmate’. Everyone has one, though.”

Jaskier scoffs. “I don’t believe that. I mean, my parents were supposedly soulmates. They did the whole thing: touching each other for the first time, seeing the other life, falling in love, marrying, getting a kid. But then they ended up hating each other. So were they really soulmates, then? I don’t believe so.”

Geralt nods, turning his head towards the night sky. “I understand. I don’t know if my parents were soulmates, I never met them.”

Jaskier frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Geralt smiles and shrugs. “It’s okay. I’ve got my adoptive father. He never found his soulmate, though, but he seems at peace with it. I think you’d like him.”

Jaskier smiles as well. “I mean, he owns a horse farm, so I’m already sold.”

Geralt laughs again, and maybe Jaskier feels something flutter in the pit of his stomach, but he’s probably just hungry or something. He sees another plane pass by. “Kind of weird, isn’t it? That there’s a scientific explanation for everything in this world, except for the other life and the whole soulmate ordeal.”

Geralt nods. “Guess we really know nothing at all, when push comes to shove. We can only make the best of what we have, as long as we’re here, and maybe there’s something afterwards, who knows? Maybe another life, where soulmates will remember this one when they touch for the first time.”

Jaskier smirks, half turning his head to Geralt. “Now who’s looking up for heaven?”

Geralt scoffs, half turning towards Jaskier as well. “Not me. I’ll take my chances on the curb here with you, thank you very much.”

Jaskier notices little, dark brown flecks in Geralt’s amber eyes, and has to look away, a blush gracing his cheeks. In the distance a church bell chimes three times. Jaskier looks at his phone, suspicions confirmed: it’s three in the morning already. “Huh, it’s getting late.” He sighs, putting his phone back in the pocket of his hoodie. “I have class in the morning. I should probably get going.”

He makes no move to get up, though, and simply watches as another plane passes overhead. He hears that deep voice again, and feels a shiver run down his spine that has nothing to do with the cold. “What is it, Jask?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t wanna go home yet, I guess.” He looks at Geralt. “I don’t know why, but it’s really easy to talk with you.”

Geralt smiles. “Same here.”

Jaskier looks up at the sky once more. “I just wanna stay here, in the middle of the road, with you, looking up for heaven together.”

Geralt chuckles, pushing himself to his feet, as Jaskier sits upright. Geralt extends his hand, smiling a bit. “Stop looking up for heaven, waiting to be buried.” Jaskier laughs, reaching out his hand to take Geralt’s.

Their skin touches, for the first time that evening, and his eyes grow wide as memories that aren’t quite his own flood him.

“Love the way you just sit in the corner and brood.” “I’m here to drink alone.”

“Respect doesn’t make history.”

“I need no one, and the last thing I want is someone needing me.” “And yet, here we are.”

“We could head to the coast, get away for a while.”

“If life could give me one blessing, it would be to take you off my hands.”

He lets go of Geralt’s hand, falling back on the pavement as he is pulled back to here and now. He looks up, wide-eyed, shocked, and he can tell Geralt just experienced the same thing. Fuck.

The other life. A Witcher, a Bard. Soulmates.

He breathes out, shuddering breath leaving his lungs in fragments, forming small clouds in the cold night air. “Oh.”

Geralt simply stares at him, then at his hand, as if he can’t believe what just happened. Eventually, he nods, lowering himself back onto the pavement, next to Jaskier. “Oh,” he says as well.

Jaskier looks at his own hand, half expecting a mark, something to indicate something’s – everything’s changed, but his skin is the same as always. Really, he’s the same as always, it’s just the memories that are new.

He looks at Geralt, who’s still staring ahead, amber eyes wide. “What happened in the other life, Geralt? How did you-“ his voice catches in his throat as he imagines Geralt dying.

The guy – the Witcher looks at him, eyes still absent. He blinks, then clears his throat. “I uh… After… our fight, on the mountain, I went looking for Ciri, for my…” a sharp intake of breath “Child Surprise. Never found her. Got attacked by ghouls, died a day or so later. You?”

A memory presents itself to Jaskier, and he shudders, burying his hands in the sleeves of his hoodie. “Got robbed a few weeks after our fight. Got stabbed, bled out.”

Geralt frowns at him. “I know we only just met, really, and that we’re not who we were in the other life but… I do want to apologize for what I said on the mountain. I never meant any of it, and travelling with you for…” he frowns, swallowing thickly “twenty-two years, was an honour and a privilege. You deserved better.”

Jaskier smiles. “I did, and thank you, Geralt. It does mean a lot to me, even if it wasn’t really… me, but… other life me? I don’t know, this is so weird.”

Geralt laughs. “It is. I’m glad we’re here, now, though.”

Jaskier leans his shoulder against Geralt’s, something that feels so natural he doesn’t need to think twice about it. “So am I. And I’m glad we’re soulmates.” He frowns. “I’m glad we got a second chance, Geralt.”

Geralt smiles back, softly, fondness in his eyes. “So am I. I really messed up the first time. I want to do better in this life, if you’ll have me.”

Jaskier leans forward, resting his forehead against Geralt’s, the clouds of their breaths intertwining in the cold night air. “I’ll have you, Geralt of Rivia, if you’ll have me.”

Geralt sighs, softly. “Yes, of course I’ll have you, Jask. No question about it.”

Their eyes meet, and Jaskier can barely suppress a shiver that runs down his spine. He’s drowning in the molten gold of Geralt’s eyes, and can’t help but smile. “May I kiss you?”

Geralt leans forward, their noses brushing, hot breath fanning over Jaskier’s skin. “I fear I might die all over again if you don’t.”

Jaskier laughs. “God, Geralt, you’re so dramatic.” He leans forward further, softly pressing his lips against Geralt’s, and he feels a hand on the back of his neck pulling him closer, the kiss deepening.

After a few moments he pulls back, drawing in shaky breaths of cold night air as their foreheads rest against each other. He can’t help but smile as he takes in every little detail of Geralt’s face. The little freckle under his right eye, the small scar on his left eyebrow, the brown freckles in his amber eyes. He hopes he gets the chance to spend the rest of his life memorizing every single detail, every single imperfection that makes Geralt perfect.

Geralt smiles at him, frowning a bit as he sees Jaskier’s searching eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jaskier smiles, before pressing a chaste kiss to Geralt’s lips and he could never, ever tire of this. Not in this life, not in the next. “No reason, I’m just… looking up for heaven.”

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

Dreaming While I Wake

Sanders Sides Foster Care AU - Roman-centric Angst & Hurt/Comfort & Abuse Recovery

Roman tries to be upbeat and hopeful despite all the shit that’s happened to him. And a lot of shit has. Luckily, his new foster home is with two literal rays of sunshine (and a sarcastic asshole).

Words: 3,998 Warnings: Bad Teachers, Scorn of Peers, Violence Against Golems and Soldiers, Weapons, Negative Self-Talk, Negative Self Image, Playful Threats Characters: Roman, Thomas, Virgil Universe: Dreaming While I Wake Genre: Vibing™ too hard

Chapter 23

chapter 1 for new readers - ffn mirror

   Roman sighed and leaned back on the bleachers. It was dodgeball day, it seemed. He wasn’t the biggest fan of being hit by something unexpectedly, so not having to participate was relieving. Roman didn’t want to do homework or read a book to pass the time, like they allowed him to, because it would make him look like a major nerd to a ton of dudes with testosterone pumping and that was just bullying central. 

   He couldn’t use his phone during school hours, though. He’d just do it anyway if the gym instructor wasn’t watching. She wasn’t a fan of the doctor’s note at all and continued shooting glances at him. As if he would mysteriously heal or something equally miraculous. They weren’t all mean glances. Mostly just annoyed. He got the same from most of the other people in his class. He’d probably also be jealous of sitting out on dodgeball, too, if he wasn’t already.

   The gym teacher seemed miffed about the fact that the physician’s note was open-ended since Roman had to be cleared for exercise by a doctor. It was the same for any broken bone, but without a cast, people had trouble believing it seemed. This wasn’t Roman’s first rodeo with broken bones or anything. She was vexed she’d have to print up packets to serve as make-up classwork. Roman wasn’t aware you learned anything in gym class other than suffering, so that was new. 

   He wished he had the packets to work on already. She wasn’t doing anything other than lying back and ignoring a bunch of teen boys pummeling each other with dodgeballs, so it’s not like she couldn’t go into her office and print them up. Maybe she was attempting to make Roman stew in frustration for not taking part. If she was, she was succeeding fantastically. Roman was jittery and pissed off and generally in a terrible mood.

   Fighting slouching in bleachers was surprisingly difficult. He just craved to lie down and take a nap, but the classmates would hate him more if he did. So Roman persevered and watched from the bleachers, catching himself slouching when the soreness in his side got worse. He positioned himself up high enough up that he was out of the danger zone of dodgeballs, but that meant the people against the wall could see him clearly. 

   He received bitter looks from people who were out and sitting on the sidelines on the gymnasium floor. He didn’t understand the ire since they were relaxing, too. Roman would personally rather take a dodgeball to the chest than a steel toe boot, but life just didn’t work out like that. He tried to elevate his feet while he watched. He wouldn’t get much of a chance to raise them throughout today, and they hurt. It was still better than staying home again. At least they were finally well enough that he could walk.

   It was Roman’s bitter luck that Nolan was in his PE class and kept shooting him glares. This period was taking him forever. Nolan seemed to get progressively more annoyed at him for whatever reason. Roman sighed and decided not to look back. He didn’t prefer to accidentally start some kind of glare war. Roman’s left foot tapped nervously as he stared at the gym ceiling, waiting for the minutes to pass.

   When he noticed himself fidgeting, he was supposed to wear the gloves, but there was no way he was ostracising himself even further by doing that. He didn’t care that he technically agreed to a compromise over it not wearing them in school. He stood out like rainbow tulip in a dead lawn with gloves and a T-shirt. They weren’t as obvious with his jacket, but his jacket was white and the brown leather just contrasted it. Roman just couldn’t find a way to make it work. He had shoved the gloves deep in his backpack instead.

   He checked the massive wall clock in the gym as he carded his fingers through his shaggy hair. Roman had a bit of time to pass until history class. He had just sort of stewed in anger for most of the period, but his brain must have finally ranted out what it wanted to say for Roman to be capable of thinking about something else. He knew better than to challenge the times his head was obsessed with something by now. It was just easier to wait it out. Just another 10ish minutes of chilling on the bleachers to go. He was so bored it hurt, like a painful pressure gripping his brain and trying to open it up.

   Roman lolled his head back to the ceiling and forced his mind to drift instead of fighting it. Something fun. Something cool. Fighting off an army atop a dragon. A spectacular sword. The dragon’s flames were acid green and melted everything instantly. Roman leaned back on his hands on the next row up of bleachers. 

   He was fighting the magically animated golems of an evil tyrant. He fired a crossbow to protect the dragon as it decimated the golems below. The great iridescent black dragon was trying to charge up a blast when Roman was nearly thrown off of it by flying machinations that expelled ice beams from their torsos. He was able to catch on to the tail and pull himself back up, deflecting ice beams with his sword. The dragon charged up its power in time thanks to Roman’s defense, and the machinations melted into puddles far below.

   The dragon shot Roman a look, and Roman understood in an instant. The mighty winged beast flew close to the earth, and Roman tumbled expertly off the dragon. Roman and his trusty sword ploughed through the golem army, swinging wildly and protecting himself with well-timed blows and using the enemies as his shields. Roman approached the castle by foot as the dragon cleared out further golems around him. The army was dwindling, and they were successful.

   Roman turned his eyes to the looming castle ahead. He had to stop this madness. Roman reached out and the dragon’s great claws swooped down and grasped Roman’s arm and lifted him from the field of decimated golem parts. The dragon flew Roman over the moat and past the raised drawbridge, but ballista prevented the dragon from going any further in. Roman was jettisoned towards the outer castle wall to get him closer to his target. He rolled as he landed on between the crenelations, skidding to a stop to stand and fight the soldiers. 

   Humans were arming the ballistae and defending the doors, and Roman couldn’t bring himself to kill, so he sheathed his blade and instead relied on his legs to do the talking. Roman leaped about and kicked soldiers off the machinery, knocking them out in a few precise hits to disable them. The guards at the door brandished blades at Roman, but he reached for his crossbow and fired a well-placed shot at each, pinning the soldiers by their clothes to give Roman just enough time to breach the doors.

   The guards inside weren’t so easy, though. Roman had to take out his trusty sword once more to defend himself. He knew the evil sorcerer’s magic compelled them to fight, and they didn’t deserve death for the mistakes of another. Roman did his best to take the higher ground and send soldiers toppling down the stairs in the tower. He hoped he hadn’t harmed them too severely, but perhaps once this was all over healers could come help mend those Roman had to battle off.

   Roman ascended the stairs into an upper corridor. Massive banners billowed in the wind that blustered through the hall. The magic was stronger here. Roman had to resist the powerful effects that caused his head to swim in the aura alone. Things would be worse in the inner chambers. His boots clicked loudly against the cold stone floors as he dashed down the hallway. This area was suspiciously empty of soldiers and the smell was strange. It felt almost electrically charged. Roman ran into a dead end. This couldn’t be the wrong way, could it?

   He examined the hall further as he turned around. The walls were adorned with massive tapestries and sconces fitted with gems. The waste of the kingdom’s resources alone was ample reason to dethrone this monster. But his use of the forbidden magics propelled Roman forward to do what had to be done before the entire kingdom fell to ruin from the sinister arts infecting the lands.

   Banners and tapestries littered this hall, but a strangely blank wall between two sconces caught Roman’s attention as he passed. Roman wasn’t practiced, but he felt what he was looking for. He reached deep within himself and forced out the raw power within. With unrefined powers, he could do nothing skilled, but he could break a barrier. The illusion shattered and a strident cracking sound shook the hallway. One minor success wasn’t enough to celebrate, though. Roman was here for one reason alone. He scaled the stairs that were obscured by the now broken barrier two at a time as he pushed deeper into the belly of the beast.

   The staircase narrowed and Roman sprinted with all of his being to escape the shrinking passage, staying ahead of the walls cinching shut behind him. This dark sorcery could try to deflect him, but Roman was quicker. He raced up the stairs and cleared into a new chamber just as it was becoming too narrow to traverse. Roman stumbled in, his bearings shaken by the sheer intensity of the tainted aura encasing the chamber. This would be his most challenging battle yet.

   He straightened his back and locked eyes with the dark sorcerer upon his despicable throne. The entire room shook with the sorcerer’s booming, sinister laugh. Roman drew his blade and stood his ground. He wouldn’t show weakness now. Now that the final battle was here, he had to stay strong. He couldn’t afford an ounce of fear as he slowly approached the villain’s throne as the ominous wind howled all around them. Then the bell rang and Roman tumbled back on his bench from the shock. Shit.

   Roman grabbed his backpack and left as fast as he could safely stand down the bleacher stairs. The students down on the wood gymnasium floor weren’t familiar, however. And even the wrong age group. Son of a bitch, did he miss lunch? Stupid ridiculously short lunch periods! He was late for class. Goddammit, he didn’t even get to defeat the evil sorcerer!

   He wasn’t surprised nobody told him or anything, but he couldn’t exactly be a speed demon on his healing feet. Roman knew if he stepped the wrong way he’d get stuck at home a few days again and he wasn’t risking it. He also didn’t need detention for running. Roman went as hastily as he could manage to his history class. 

   He’d rather be back in the castle than history, but he could never get a daydream back once he lost it. That meant that particular kingdom was doomed to fall to the taint of the forbidden magic under the rule of a tyrant. He was at least lucky he ended up daydreaming instead of sitting there and being bored for the whole period.

   Roman pushed the classroom door open as quietly as he could achieve, but a classroom’s worth of eyes landed on him as he arrived. He flinched at all the unwanted attention and headed for his seat.

   “Detention, Mr. Reinhart,” The teacher drolled as Roman slid into his desk. Son of a bitch. Roman was fated to detention either way. He had so much homework though, it wouldn’t make a difference if he started it in after-school detention or if he did it at home. Roman may as well do it today, just to have it out of the way. 

   The teacher’s voice droned on as Roman got out the things listed on the board and struggled to follow the lecture. It felt like the words went right into gibberish land when he attempted to focus on them, so Roman had to find the careful balance between focused and distracted without slipping into another daydream every class. It was annoying as hell.

   He tapped his fingers on his thigh and started doodling stars in the margins of his notes. Other than clearly jumping in the middle of a lecture, he could start to try to pinpoint things that sounded important to take notes on. People, years, locations, quick event summaries, and concepts that were generally interesting. Teachers liked to use kinds of things those on tests. Missing part of the lecture was nothing new for Roman, anyway. His notes were always a scattered mess out of context, but if he managed to label an overarching category, he could usually understand them.

   Roman was sketching a bobcat jumping between the stars when the bell finally rang again. He traded his homework for a detention slip at the teacher’s desk and left the classroom in a huff. That dragon with the awesome super hot flames would totally eat that teacher for breakfast. He wished to know more about those tapestries, too. He had lots more notes to fail to take and pages of homework to turn in, though, even if he could get a daydream back.

   If Patton didn’t help him on Sunday Roman didn’t think he could have possibly done all the homework he had gotten over the 3 days he was out. It was like the school was trying to kill students with mountains of paper. How many trees did academia kill every year, anyway? Probably a horrific number he shouldn’t look up and depress himself further with. He couldn’t stop thinking about that daydream. Those golems made such a cool noise when they died, damnit. He’d probably give up and attempt to bring the daydream back next class.

—

   Roman sighed with relief when his eyes met with the couch as he arrived at the house that afternoon. His feet were sore as shit and he wanted to put them up more than anything. Stupid fresh skin, not hardened to the brutal reality of life yet. He felt it every time the skin on his foot bent. 

   He slid his backpack under the coffee table so no one would trip over it and kicked off his shoes to lay back on the couch. Bed might be better, but couch . Sure, he seemed like he lived there lately, but right now home was wonderful. Roman buried his face under a throw pillow and sighed with relief as blood shifted out of his feet and he was no longer opposing gravity to keep a straight spine. Good posture was hard.

   “Roman?” Thomas asked, and it sounded like he came into the living room from his office. “Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you were. You didn’t answer your texts,” He said, sounding concerned. Whoops. He felt a little bad for worrying Thomas.

   “Sorry, after school detention,” Roman said plainly, flipping his hand. “Hadn’t taken my phone off silent yet,” He explained from behind the cushion.

   “Detention? For what?” Thomas asked curiously.

   “I was late to history,” Roman responded blithely as he flopped his arm loosely off the couch.

   “Because you couldn’t move quickly enough? Those heartless-” Thomas sounded surprisingly pissed. He’d seen Thomas being irate before, but this was new and a little scary, if he was honest with himself. He knew it wasn’t about him , but all angry adults made him want to run. He needed to cut Thomas off.

   “I was late because I was an idiot and spaced out waiting for gym to be over, not because I couldn’t get there on time in the stupid 8 minutes they give you,” Roman interjected quickly. Thomas settled down fast, thank god, and just looked concerned again. He was used to ‘concerned’ from Thomas. That was fine. Roman settled down again, sinking the tension from his muscles back into the couch. He was hungry and thirsty but didn’t feel like getting up. He didn’t even feel like getting up to play games. Though he had at least another hour of homework and shouldn’t play anyway, or he’d forget to do it.

   “Were you-” Thomas started and Roman had a feeling he knew where this was going.

   “I was fine. I was just daydreaming and didn’t hear the first bell go off,” Roman cut him off to explain.

   “How did you not hear ?” Thomas asked, bordering on disbelief and befuddlement.

   “Daydreaming, remember?” Roman reminded him, unsure why Thomas was confused. Had he never gotten caught up in a daydream before? It happened to Roman every few days, it seemed.

   “And nobody told you?” Thomas asked, furrowing his eyebrows. What kind of school did Thomas go to where people looked out for you? Geez.

   “I’m lucky I didn’t get pelted with a dodgeball. It’s fine. The detention is already done, and I did some homework in it,” Roman shrugged lazily. “Detention isn’t much of a punishment when you have nothing better to do. There was a stoner in there just doing zen finger crochet for the whole hour. It was amazing. I think I learned how to do it just by watching him. I’ve only ever used a hook,” Roman said, still feeling very impressed by how he didn’t stop or do literally anything else. Roman’s gesturing knocked the throw partially off his face and he didn’t bother to move it back.

   “I… suppose that’s a good way to look at it. Is there something we can get so you can have more fun at home?” Thomas proposed, sounding awkward. Roman had no idea what he could feel awkward about, though, and he certainly wasn’t giving Thomas any money-spending ideas.

   “And make detention suck worse for the next time I mess up?” Roman lilted airily and let out a single dark laugh.

   “ Roman ,” Thomas responded firmly, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows. He had a surprisingly intense gaze for a dumb joke.

   “What? It was a joke,” Roman replied dryly with a small huff.

   “I don’t appreciate that you made the assumption that you’ll inevitably mess up,” Thomas sounded upset and shook his head lightly, looking pointedly at Roman.

   “Well, it’s the one constant in my universe, so why not embrace it?” Roman sighed and flipped his hand dismissively close to the floor, feeling too lazy to move more than that.

   “ Roman ,” Thomas chided. Roman rolled his eyes that were partially skewed by the pillow.

   “Fine, whatever. I don’t need anything. I’m sorry, that was in poor taste or something,” Roman conceded. He was too tired to argue.

   “Why are you shaking? I didn’t scare you, did I?” Thomas asked quickly in a concerned tone. Roman furrowed his eyebrows and threw off the throw pillow to look at his hand.

   “Oh, huh,” Roman commented blithely, watching his hand slightly tremble. “No, you didn’t startle me. I’m okay, I’m just fu-frickin’ tired. That happens often, I don’t know why. I assume it’s my crap sleep,” Roman explained and his hand sagged back down.

   “Good catch, kid,” Thomas chuckled weakly. “I’ll make you some tea, maybe that will help?” Thomas said, not sounding sure but hopeful nonetheless.

   “You don’t need to do anything for me, like I said it just kind of… happens,” Roman shrugged and laid his arm over his eyes.

   “I’ll make myself some tea, too,” Thomas said lightly and headed to the kitchen. Roman huffed, but he wouldn’t mind some tea. He could make it himself without bothering Thomas, but if Thomas was already doing it for himself, then maybe that wasn’t a big deal and he could let it go.

   Something was unsettling about laying his arm over his eyes, so he returned it to limp noodle status and stared at the ceiling instead. He wondered how Remus was doing. He also wondered what Virgil was doing holed up in his room again. Virgil had that laptop. Maybe he did something on that all day. Being allowed to use the TV here was awesome, but Roman got the draw of hiding in your room with the door closed. The living room was open and a central part of the residence. Lying around in the living room for nearly a week made him much more comfortable here, though. Thomas and Patton were worrywarts, but they were… nice. Being out here was okay sometimes. He didn’t want to push it, or anything.

   Thomas came back out into the living room and slid a mug of tea on the side table near where Roman was laying and he sat down nearby with his mug, holding it in his hands and looking like he was sniffing it. Roman caught a whiff of the tea while he passed, and it smelled like vanilla and spices, which smelled relaxing.

   “I feel like playing something kind of silly. Do you want to join me?” Thomas looked over to Roman with a small smile.

   “Um, yeah, sure,” Roman nodded and slowly shifted himself to sit up on the couch again, putting his feet up and sitting sideways. “I’ll go lay in your office, or something, you don’t have to stay out here to watch me,” Roman offered nervously. He had fun playing with Thomas last time, and Thomas knew when to stop so Roman wouldn’t end up playing forever on accident and forget his homework.

   “No, I hit a roadblock with writing. I need to take a break before I fry my brain. We cook stuff together in this game, it’s kind of fast-paced but it should be fun,” Thomas responded brightly, getting up to grab the controllers. “The game is kind of hard with just two, so inviting Virgil might help. Will you text him?” Thomas asked, slipping out another controller from the charging station. He passed off a joycon to Roman with a smile. Roman nodded and invited Virgil to play with them.

   “Do you think he wants to?” Roman asked carefully.

   “It never hurts to ask. It’s nice to feel included even if he’s busy with something,” Thomas said, settling down on the couch again. That was a nice thought, but Roman didn’t like it when people shot him down when he invited them to things. Roman watched his phone uneasily while he waited for a response. Virgil normally texted back quickly. Virgil sent back a thumbs up and came down the stairs a moment later.

   ‘I will kick your ass,’ Virgil signed with a smug smile, backing up into the couch and climbing up to the top. Thomas tossed him a joy-con and smiled brightly.

   “Okay, one sec,” Thomas said and straightened his hair while the game loaded. “Cool. Pick your characters here. Make sure they look different enough you don’t get confused. Patton had that problem,” Thomas chuckled. Virgil picked a vampire, Roman chose a dragon, and Thomas picked a unicorn. Roman was amused they all chose supernatural avatars. Virgil stared at the loading screen in confusion for a moment where it showed the map.

   ‘Wait, co-op?’ Virgil fingerspelled and narrowed his eyes at Roman. Roman held up his hands and shrugged.

   “What’s wrong, Virgil?” Thomas asked, noticing Virgil’s glower.

   “I suppose I should have specified this wasn’t a versus game,” Roman replied, glancing between Virgil and Thomas and chewed his lip.

   “It’s fun, just give it a shot. A few levels and we can switch to a fighting game if you don’t like it,” Thomas offered. Virgil considered it for a second and nodded in agreement, turning toward the TV and looking intense. Roman liked that compromise, as well. He hadn’t played a fighting game in a long time and couldn’t wait to show Virgil he’d need a lot more than determination to beat him.

Personal Taglist: @bunny222 @elizabutgayer​ @prinxietyforever @kanene-yaaay-o-retorno @the-sympathetic-villain @croftersjam15 @ollyollyoxinfree @xytiiko

the taglist repository:

High school:  @dragonwithproblems @starlight-era @averykedavra  @potatsanderssides

Roman Angst:  @k1ngtok1

Hurt/Comfort:  @callboxkat @nonasficcollection @supernovainthenightsky @evoodo123

Roman-Centric:  @smileyzs  @robinwritesshitposts @thatgaydemigodnerd

Fostering AU:  @i-am-not-a-dinner-roll

literally everything sanders sides:  @katelynn-a-fan @dwbh888 @grouptalekindnesssoul @the-hoely-bleach @anvil527up @fanficloverinthesun  @brain-deadx0 @the-grounded-raven  @ananonsplace

[diaryofageekgirl]

minor ramblings about world of warcraft characters & ships below the cut.

So the spoilers for Shadows Rising and Exploring Azeroth came out... honestly, I haven’t been feeling the WoW novels for a while, so I probably won’t be reading either of these either. But what I really want to talk about is Flynn and Shaw.

Also, just to get the disclaimer out of the way, I’m a whole-ass pansexual, and I’ve headcanoned Flynn as bi since the beginning of the expansion (though I never posted about it), so my dislike of the ship isn’t because I’m against same-sex couples or M/M ships specifically. Hell, I’m thrilled that Blizzard is finally making some significant lore characters openly queer.

My problem is that I never liked the two of them together in the first place. Early on in the Alliance side of BfA, you get tons of interactions between Flynn and Taelia, including an old friend of Flynn’s teasing him about his crush on a “girl with hair like raven’s down”. I thought we were going to get to see the two of them together, and their banter and friendship is very similar to what Fairshaw shippers see in their ship.

I’m pretty sure most people started shipping Fairshaw because of the heist in patch 8.1 - which is fine, but neither Flynn nor Shaw felt like they were acting any differently with each other than they did with anybody else. There was Flynn, who is canonically a snarky asshole, acting like... a snarky asshole. And Shaw was being standoffish and done with his shit because... that’s how Shaw acts with people. Nothing about it felt like ship-teasing or old-married-couple banter. (And even if it did, Taelia and Flynn had a similar relationship anyways).

And now they’ve apparently gone canon, with basically no build-up or any of it actually happening in game. What’s the likelihood that we’ll ever see Flynn again in the actual main installment of the franchise, and not tie-in novels? Because if we don’t get it in the actual main body of work, then I don’t give a shit. Sorry, but I’m tired of creators claiming that they’re adding in queer rep, only for it to be in a spin-off or a tie-in, or some other non-canonical add-on to the main series that can be completely ignored.

And Taelia... again, I thought we were going to get her with Flynn. It’d be better than them trying to shove her with Anduin. Remember when the quest/voice lines of them meeting got datamined, and everyone was pissed that Blizzard was throwing in a young, noble-born woman around Anduin’s age? Out of nowhere? Towards a character that a huge chunk of the fanbase headcanoned/interpreted as gay? Yeah, me too. :/

IDK, everyone on my dash seems to be thrilled with Fairshaw going canon and adding Taelia into their Wranduin for a thruple, and I’m glad they’re happy, but I’m just not happy with any of it. That’s all.

(Not to mention I don’t trust Christie Golden to write romance to save her life, and she’s notoriously anti-gay-Anduin, so...yeah.) 

[southern-belle-outcasts]

4, 5, and 20 mun views

Mun Views 

4. On your fandom. 

Which one lmao....um, well X-Men? Cool, a lot of the fandom to some degree is drawn cuz they can relate be they part of some type of minority group. Don’t see too many assholes, I think most of the jerks that were on here fell off during nippocalypse. There is a divide with the comic elitists vs xmcu and it’s dumb. I used to be an xmcu blog cuz I WANTED to read the comics but I was a broke ass college student who had literally no access to that, but I’d seen Wolverine and the X-Men, plus the movies that were out at the time. If I’d let those asses run me off, well, wouldn’t have continued to build my comic book collection (I’d already read Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, I’m talking specifically X-Men comics).

Arrowverse? I don’t follow many of the blogs, I have a select few I follow. My fandom experience is pretty much my friends with fairly similar views so I can’t speak on the fandom outside of the fact there’s a loooot of veiled hating on women of color under the guise of griping with the crappy writing. I try to avoid it. I don’t hold with Iris and Cecile hate, they’re good characters subjected to the writing of white men, what do you want.

Star Wars? NOPE. Hell naw. No thank you. Bye. I have no interest. I make it very clear this is a “the prequels are the shit, TCW is a fucking joke and trashes the characters, not!Star Wars mouse sequels are non-existent, the og EU is not legends it’s the only recognized canon” blog, and I’m this unapologetically. I have extremely strong opinions, I’ve literally been in the fandom since I was 6, I’ve spent hours reading EU content, visual dictionaries and encyclopedias, concept art of the movies books, comics, novelizations, etc. If you’re a stan of the other...stuff, I’ll probably say shit that will offend you and it’s probably for the best you don’t follow me cuz I’m not censoring these opinions, ever, at all. And for the love of all things holy, if you want to call R*ylo okay, or Anidala toxic, we meeting up behind Denny’s, yo.

Supernatural? Kinda sorta, considering I don’t link Nil and Farrar to any of the show canon besides using some of the monster lore. Like we don’t do the appropriation of native spirituality on this blog, so there’s no use of W*nd*g* cuz you’re not supposed to write or say that, like no. I have major problems with the show, that’s a mile and a half long, past season 5 it went downhill, they really should have left Swan Song as the finale. The queer baiting and bury the gays, the trash trash trash finale, the way any poc and female characters are handled, there’s so much oof. I stay away from it. Honestly kind of nice to see the SPN crowd was mostly quiet, it was RAMPANT when I first got on here, and there was a looot of drama. The way the extreme crowd of the fandom conducts themselves with the actors and stuff tells you a lot. Another nope. I prefer to stick to fandomless urban fantasy.

5. On exclusivity. 

If that’s someone’s jam, that’s cool. Doesn’t bother me. At one point I was exclusive to a few versions of characters. Not anymore, but I can understand how sometimes someone just clicks for you to the extent it rubs you wrong seeing a different version. It doesn’t stop me from writing with other people so I literally give no fucks and don’t see why anyone else should either.

20. On 'popular' blogs. 

Here’s where I piss a lot of people off, and I don’t really fucking care, as having at one point been an even more actively sought out blog back when the MCU was taking off in 2012-2014 and having tons of asks and thread requests, I can more than speak on what it’s like being a popular blog.Technically still am, you don’t have to take my word for it, just look in my thread tracker, and that’s not even all the threads cuz some are in drafts cuz they’re starters and I can’t add yet.

There’s nothing wrong with people enjoying your writing and following you. Awesome, good for you. It often proves to be a lot for people and I don’t like when I see people biting off more than they can chew but still pushing for more followers and asks and threads. Frankly, it’s really, really rude. I get wanting to make people happy, or wanting to try new threads and stuff, but you should also be reasonable with how much you can manage. If I see someone complaining about having too many drafts and asks and then not being able to write because of the pressure, but then daily pushing their promo or their wire or memes...and nothings coming of it...and they’re admitting they can’t get their muse to reply...then STOP. “You don’t owe anyone anything” means you don’t owe anyone respect and obligations that aren’t due.

When you decide to join a collaborative writing hobby, you’re still committing to your partners to write to some degree. Now if that means you’re going to be slow, and super minimal with which followers you actually interact with THAT IS FINE...as long as you have that communicated and make it very clear to the people who follow you they’re probably just following to be lurkers. But I can’t get with constantly pulling for interaction then within the same day the whole inbox is being dumped, drafts are being dumped, the same three people are the only ones ever getting a reply for the past three months, etc.

There’s been times I’ve said I can’t plot right now, there’s been weeks I bump all the memes in my queue further down so that they don’t post so I can catch up. I’m so secure with partners I don’t follow back unless I get my rules code sent in (newsflash: 9/10 I never see it). I never post a promo. I really don’t need to, if I see someone I really want to interact with on my dash, I’ll follow first, but I can’t in good conscious promote myself when I’m at a decent spot keeping up with a LOT. Sometimes I’m really glad I’m a multi with OCS and mostly female muses, it helps avoid ever reaching the point where I’m just getting too many followers to keep up with, but giving yourself a cut-off isn’t a bad thing people. Trying to do too much is.

There, I have successfully pissed off a ton of people, but I’m not taking it back. There’s way too much immaturity on this matter on here, and it’s really a litmus test of the people who HAVE been in group hobbies that are interdependent of cooperation of all members offline, and those who haven’t. “It’s my hobby” isn’t this get of of jail free card you get to wave everywhere when you want to ignore people. You can’t pull that in most hobbies that involve more than one person, whatever it may be, if it’s a DND group, rec sports, chess, whatever. This is my hobby too. I just probably take hobbies and commitment to other people to a more...respectful level. If I have real life, or physical issues, of course that takes priority, but here’s a little secret...we ALL, like 99% of the community, have some degree of mental health, nuerodivergence, jobs, home life, chronic physical issues. I want you to single me out the mun that doesn’t have any of that impacting their writing capabilities to some degree. Please, find them for me. You having those things doesn’t make you special and if you can’t communicate that it’s too much, you need the “flood of follows” from your promo circulating but can’t ever write...I’m just sighing over here.

If any of these opinions rub you wrong, I don’t mind you just unfollowing,that’s fine. No one is forcing you to remain. I strongly believe the people that don’t want to remotely take it seriously, and the people that do take it more seriously, should just keep to themselves, that way no one is getting offended by the other for how they choose to enjoy their hobby. You should enjoy it, goddamnit!!! But NOT at the expense of stringing other people along. Communication is kind of essential here, as much as people want to go “I’m too shy, BLOCK”, but y’all I have ADHD, RSD, social anxiety (I used to live in an anxiety attack it was so bad), and I still do my best to communicate with people even on uncomfortable topics. If I can manage, so can you. And if you CAN’T be mature...and communicate...then mayhaps stick to fanfic until you learn how.

[bearpillowmonster]

Persona 5 Review (Palaces)

Now I think it’s be interesting to split up each villain and review their arcs. First is Kamoshida, I like the layout of his palace. Sneaking along the walls and such and they really give you the drive to get rid of him. This is one of the only ones I actually got all the will seeds, I found that you only get the accessory if you collect the three, I don’t think there’s any bonus for collecting ALL of them from ALL the palaces though.

After that, they introduce something called Mementos which is basically everybody’s palace, a compilative place of where small distortions go that aren’t big enough for their own palace. This is kind of used for side missions, it’s not that bad though, the dark sections can be annoying but I see why they were put in there. You visit it throughout the game and after each boss, a new section gets added, going farther down. This is also one of the places to grind and a quick way to grind is to mow down enemies with your van using the dash button, rather than going through the trouble of battling, you even get their mask. That’s only if they’re not too far down though because the farther down you go, the tougher the enemies. It’s funny because once you get tough enough, going to the higher entrances, making enemies RUN from you while you’re mowing them down, it’s a blast. I will recommend though that you don’t piss off too many and get alarmed because they’ll come in waves, one battle after another and if you’re deep in Mementos, it can be scary.

Next is Madarame, I like the setting of a museum and the boss (better than Kamo) but I will also say that it was annoying to traverse, it built upon the urgency by adding legal action into the mix. This is probably in my top 3 palaces, I just don’t have a whole lot to say about it.

Kaneshiro (sounds like Kamoshida) I feel like his character is very one way, an easy prey, I’m fine with that but I’m just saying that the depth was better for the previous two. The boss isn’t exactly my favorite, it’s a little different between 5 and Royal so I looked it up and am accounting for both of them. I do however like the style of the bank and the vault is one giant lock, the enemies are probably some of the most annoying though with the introduction of the dogs.

Alibaba. Now this palace is actually pretty cool because it changes the context and way you do things, again with the real life interference as well. What I really like are the little hieroglyphics puzzles at the end of each section, those things are my jam but while I appreciate the variety and setup, this was one of the weaker palaces. The boss was weak as well, more of just a sponge unless I didn’t play it right (maybe I was underleveled? I mean I don’t think I even died tbh though) because it was really cool when you used the arrows but really dragging when she was in the air.

I will say that I took a break after this arc (about 35-40 hours in) not because I was tired of it, far from it actually, I was having tons of fun but traversing the palaces just seemed off to me at this point so I thought if I took a break and got a fresh perspective when I came back, it would be better. It was hard to detach myself from it because I really enjoyed what I had played thus far but it felt good to get back into the groove of it after a break. This was both a good place to take the break given the hours spent and what the next palace is, and kind of a weird place because after Alibaba you take the field trip but I would still recommend you take a decent break at some point because...

The next palace is Okumura. Now I’ve seen some flack about this one, saying it’s the least favorite of the bunch, so you don’t want to have the previous build up of hours hamper your experience since it’s considered the worse. Honestly I don’t think it’s that bad (the palace!) now the boss on the other hand is a different story, I understand that a CEO is only as good as their employees and the idea to use them is pretty reflective of the palace itself but it’s annoying because if you don’t have the right type of persona then you’re screwed because they just flee or blow themselves up, it’s just left to chance sometimes. I think it would be cool to have a race against him with the timer rather than a battle. It made me so stressed, not because of the timer but because of the stupid robots, it was easily the battle I spent the most tries on, I even had to go back and grind and fuse a new persona to finally beat him. (I was almost level 40 so you might have an easier time if you did more persona work than I did) but you don’t get any All Out Attacks either apparently. Also the story (though a bit nit picky) is easy to complain about but it’s not as bad as they say imo especially since the characters explain themselves afterwards.

Casino Master. This was probably the only spoiler I got for this game but I feel I would’ve figured it out anyway and it didn’t even turn out to be that big of a spoiler. Also the addition of the “Crow” should’ve been the “Raven” as an Edgar Allen Poe reference, it would’ve fit the character better in my opinion. I don’t like that they use the same card mechanic from the last palace, it makes more sense with this one but still. There’s an enemy in this palace that was bugged for my play through and it was only that specific enemy whenever I encountered them, it would say something like “it’s groaning” (which it sometimes does with enemies such as Regent) but for this one it just kept doing it and would get stuck, I just had to button mash a bit and then they would attack normally but just a small stain I’ll point out, easily patchable I’m sure. As for the story, I’m not quite sure what makes the palace in the first place, what is the distortion exactly? Other than that, another in the top 3.

The boss is actually kind of cool, in a way it’s the opposite of Okumura but an actual boss instead of enemies. It’s probably my favorite because of the design and style. I’m not done yet but honestly when I got about 1/3 of the way through this game, I thought it was a 5/5 but I re-evaluated and the one thing that I want is a bit of gameplay variety even if it’s just the bosses. I’ve talked about this before but it makes everything feel samey and while I know more or less all turn based RPGs are guilty of the same thing (so I can’t really hold that against this game) this one just seems so different. It doesn’t wear itself out, for turn based, it’s not so bad but it just leaves you desiring one extra step, an extra something everytime to say “This is the fourth-fifth-sixth boss!” rather than just chip damage with no weaknesses, some kind of reward for playing the way you do perhaps.

Armstrong from MGS Rising (yeah I didn’t have a codename for this one). I really like the setup, probably the best palace to be honest, in a way it’s sort of a compilation. I could see where people could complain about it even if I haven’t seen anything. This palace also has the best music, it’s very fitting and stylistic. There’s a little bit of a barrage of mini bosses throughout, I kind of like it but the last one before the big boss is tough because it’s 3 different sections, one after the other but it’s kind of a tease/warning to say “Are you really ready for the real boss? If you had trouble with this, then you’ll have trouble with him.” 

Let's talk about the final final boss (for what’s known as the ‘true’ ending route) because I apparently did the ‘true’ ending after looking into it, it doesn't matter who you picked for a romantic route, it matters what choices you made at certain points in the game, the ‘true’ ending is just the longest, there are different points in the game where it could end and be the other good/bad endings so yeah. Let me talk about it without spoiling anything, Notice I said ‘true’ with quotes. I'm going to summarize this reddit post I saw, justifying it, out of context. The boss is idolized, he's made by the people, he didn't make the people and because he's pretending, we were sent to destroy him. (In the grand scheme of things (story-wise)) because it bothers me that they make him out to be almighty. It is a persona and personas are figments of imagination, they're amalgamations of how the characters perceive their desire/distortion, not the real thing therefore it shouldn't be blasphemous right? That thin line is what's making me knock this game a little more because its material is so concerning. Also you’re stopping people from doing bad things, that’s ‘just’, correct? You’re defeating the seven sins, that’s ‘just’ (at least that’s what the will seeds are called). I guess they wanted to try and make it a true question “Are the Phantom Thieves ‘Just’?” They ask it over and over and in reality, I ask myself the same thing.

You can buy as seen on tv stuff, the big thing I’ll say helped me was the cleaning spray so snatch that up when it becomes available, I think it’s also available in Kichijoji but it lowers your enemy’s defense and I didn’t have that move for any of my characters. Make sure you have everything done that you want done by the time you reach the final date after sending the calling card and beat the boss such as confidants, a proper persona, side quests and a good amount of stat boosters and stuff. I can't say too many specifics on what to bring because you're going to play different than I did so just fill in the blanks, have cans of whatever you don't have as a move because it's going to be a stretch of fights and there really isn't room to turn back.

[malyen0retsev]

A massive text of ‘Thank you’ amongst all of this MESS

I’ve spent the last six years on Tumblr, in this fandom, and I’m as heartbroken as everyone else that this is the way we all have to say goodbye to it. I never in my wildest nightmares thought that this would be the ending, or that we would all be in mourning/despair in this way. And sure, a part of me regrets getting so invested because of how it’s all gone down - but the much larger part of me doesn’t.

I am grateful, every damn day, to the people on here who’ve become my friends over the last few years. Who’ve been wonderful to be around when we’re all celebrating together, and have been such a massive support the last couple of weeks when everything feels like it’s crashing down. I can’t regret the last six years, because I will never ever regret befriending you guys. And so, without further ado, this is a post to say ‘thank you’ to all of you who’ve made this worth it, and who I love and am always grateful for:

@geekychemist - My first proper friend on here, who I’ve communicated with via shitposts for about four years. For always being one of the first people I message, for being someone I’ve had numerous stupid FaceTimes with, for sending me a fat ass book from the US because I couldn’t get hold of it in the UK. For making me go from hating Petyr Baelish to respecting him, and for being a Gendrya stan with me from day one. I love you girl.

@gendrywatersseaworth - MY G! I LOVE YOU! My ultimate Gendry/Gendrya defence squad RIDE OR DIE (who sends Christmas cards with the SWEETEST messages). For being someone I Skype for ‘10 minutes’ which turns into 2 and a half fucking hours. For giving TMI on the daily, and we take the piss out of it also on the daily. For being the person I run to yelling about every positive, negative, or downright stupid thing I encounter online, and we then destroy with a fuck ton of ‘OH MY FUCKING JESUS WEPT’

@aethelfled - The first person on here to go from ‘online friend’ to IRL friend; who would’ve guessed chatting about Arya and Gendry on here would turn into hanging out irl in Melbourne? Those four days in Melbourne with you were four of the best days of my year down in the Southern Hemisphere, and idk if you fully know how grateful I was for them. You’re one of the most passionate and strongest people I know, and your love for Arya is the ONE.

@villan3lle - One of the sweetest people on here, someone who’s always down to shout about OUR SQUID SON, and also sends adorable Christmas cards. Every time I see frogs I think of you, and that’s a damn good trait to have tbh! You’re such a supportive, wonderful, kind human, and your salty takes are always ones I bloody love reading. No matter how many times I turn up on Twitter or Tumblr essentially screaming at you, you’re always like ‘YEP GO OFF’ and I love you for it.

@gendrie - AKA probably THE MOST CYNICAL PERSON I KNOW I’m here for it and I love it. Always think of how we became friends back before S7 aired and we were piecing together all the screencaps and interviews like ‘WAIT IS THAT GENDRY IS HE COMING BACK’. Your love for Arya is bloody fab, and you’re one of the most talented people I know with your fics.

@insomniarama - Honest to god, idk anyone else who makes so ON POINT meme reaction posts; I’m thinking specifically of the bloody catspaw dagger with the Mickey Mouse screencap of ‘These are useful tools which will help us later’ SCREAMING. Always down for hearing your takes bc you reblog and post SUCH GOOD TAKES amongst the chaotic memes. Also, you listen to my general screaming, which is always a plus tbh.

@ariannenymerosmartell - Your slamming down of anons being ridiculous amuses the hell out of me, and also I have never come across anyone who so unfailingly defends and loves Petyr Baelish, and manages it in such a way that convinces ME it’s great. And your loathing of D&D is hilarious, your raging at them for the Dorne plotline specifically, your salty takes are always the bloody one.

@imjustasmith - Yelling about Joe and Gendry, does that summarise it basically?? We’re cynical but also cynical clowns, and we go into this void together. I love how much you love Gendry, and although he was ma boy already, you’ve definitely grown that love, bc you don’t realise how much you love a character till you scream about it with other people tbh.

@mhysaofdragons - The way you love and defend Dany is inspiring, and you’ve always done it from a totally rational standpoint, not just with stan goggles on. Also you’re a teacher with green hair, so I obvs have to respect that. Even amongst the mess that’s gone down, you’ve unfailingly spread love around for this character, and you’re one of the main people on here who changed me from going to ‘I like Dany’ to ‘I love Dany’ and I thank you so much for that.

@jonerys - Honestly, the same as above to an extent - you’ve been so important to me with making me love Dany so much, and I’m also grateful for the mass-screaming we’ve had via messenger about the show. Your love for Dany is extraordinary, and I love that you’re not ashamed of how fiercely you love this character and how much she’s impacted you as a person.

@elizabthturner - Mate I had the BEST TIME trawling through Reddit with you, and hell, we came up with an episode summary THAT REALLY WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN THE WAY THAT SHITSHOW TURNED OUT. I love shouting about Jaime with you, and the last week of us just crashing ours heads against the wall trying to make sense out of this disaster - and I also love how though we stan different ships and different characters, we’ve never once let that become a toxic thing IN A FANDOM WHICH OFTEN VERY MUCH LETS IT BECOME A TOXIC THING.

HONOURABLE SHOUTOUTS TO @josephdempsie @freedvictors @madaboutasoiaf @jrrtolkiens @lizstargaryen @rabbitbaratheon @bethgreenesgf @gendryastarkers @fosterjane @fvrestlass @game-of-clowns @aryaofhousesnark @thorodinsvn - You are all people I’ve spoken to, not in depth, but enough times over these few years to deserve to be mentioned; because frankly, my dash and my experience on here would not be the same without you all on it. So thank you. Thank you for talking with me, for adding light and positivity from many different fandoms to my dash, and just being all round stars who I love seeing updates from, and I’m always glad to know you’re doing OK.

YEP THIS IS A LONG ASS POST. I DON’T APOLOGISE FOR IT. This fandom is hurting a lot right now, justifiably so, and many of us are questioning if we would be happier if we’d never got involved in it. But I don’t regret it, because my life would be a hell of a lot emptier without you all in it. So thank you. Thank you for being the reasons I’ve stuck around on here for so long, the reasons we’ve got through the last couple of weeks, and the reasons why at the end of the day, all of this mess has been worth it. <3

[kirbychan234]

Mountain Sound - Chapter 2

Written for @k2-week

Day 2 - Music

Read it on AO3

It had become almost routine for Kite to brace himself for a rescue whenever he saw Kenny somewhere high up. He must have the worst luck in the world, because most of the time, Kenny would either trip off or be pushed off. It was nothing short of a miracle he hadn’t been seriously injured or killed yet, and Kite wondered just what the hell Kenny had done before a superhero started saving him.

Kite frowned as he watched Kenny for a moment. The universe just seemed to have it out for the poor guy, and Kite found that completely unfair. He’d never say it to his face, but Kite found him endearing, almost charming, and he legitimately enjoyed being around him (for the most part). What had Kenny, of all people, done to piss off the universe that badly?

He wanted to ask, but that was probably way more personal than Human Kite should let himself be.

And then he heard it. A soft humming at first, but soon Kenny’s voice rang out in a soft melody.

“…heard them calling in the distance So I packed my things and ran Far away from all the troubles I had caused with my two hands…”

If it hadn’t been so quiet tonight, Kite doubted he would have heard Kenny at all. As it stood, however, Kite found himself entranced. Kenny’s voice was absolutely heavenly. Looking at him now, he could easily mistake him for an angel.

“Along we traveled on With nothing but a shadow We fled Far away…”

Before Kite even realized it, he had sat himself on a ledge above Kenny, listening intently. More likely than not, Kenny didn’t realize someone was watching, so this was him without an audience. Not holding himself back.

Human Kite found himself absolutely smitten, and right now? He didn’t even care.

“Some has scars and some had scratches It made me wonder about their past And as I looked around, I began to notice That we were nothing like the re-”

Kenny had turned as he sang, and stopped short when his eyes fell on Human Kite. Unabashedly, Kite didn’t look away even though he was caught, and he felt a surge of pride when it was Kenny who looked sheepish.

He’d never seen him look that way before. Kite liked it a lot. “How…long’ve you been sitting there?”

“Long enough,” Kite answered with a grin, floating down to the ground. “You didn’t tell me you could sing, dude.”

Kenny blushed. “You didn’t ask?”

True enough, but still. “You’re really good.”

“Thanks.” He was embarrassed, and Kite found it pretty adorable, actually.

“You ever think about doing it professionally?”

“Pft, what? No way, man.” Kenny waved his hand nonchalant. “Anyway, you know how creepy it is to watch someone without them knowing? Makes you seem like a stalker.”

“You’re the one who’s got me paranoid you’re gonna fall off anything higher than ten feet,” Kite shot back effortlessly, and almost laughed when Kenny looked even more sheepish.

“Okay fair.”

Good, he’d won that one. Kite was nothing if not competitive when it came to debates, something the people he went to school with knew all too well. “And I’m serious. Kenny, you’d be great as a singer.” The brief vision of Stan playing guitar and Kenny singing along made Kite way more happy than probably necessary.

He could dream, right?

“You’re giving me way too much credit.” Kenny laughed and gently nudged Kite. “But thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”

Huh. That sounded a little deeper than Kenny was probably meaning to. Kite watched him carefully. “What’s that mean?”

The stupid grin on his face made Kite frown. Maybe he spoke too soon. “Well I figure you can barely hear shit with your ears covered all the time.” Kenny snickered and pointed to Kite’s hood.

“Oh like you’re one to fucking talk.” Kite huffed and tugged a little at Kenny’s own fluffy hood. “You’ve got so many layers on, it’s a wonder you can even move. Is that how you’ve lived all this time? Tons of padding?”

“Maybe. I can fix that, though.” Kenny actually slipped his hood down, and Kite wasn’t sure if it was just to mock him or just add to the mood.

He wasn’t even really thinking much about that, because he hadn’t seen Kenny without his hood before. His face looked so much more open without it. Kite felt his heart skip.

“So did it work?” Kenny’s voice made him snap back to reality. “I can’t ever show my face to people, you know. They fall for me instantly if they do. It’s a curse, I’m afraid.” He didn’t sound sorry at all, and without the hood, his smug grin was all the more dashing irritating. “But if it was you who-”

“Oh my god shut up.” Kite rolled his eyes, ignoring how absolutely right Kenny was. Fucking teasing bastard. “And to answer your earlier question, my ears are stupidly huge, that’s why I could hear you. Asshole.”

Kenny tilted his head curiously. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Against his better judgement, Kite pulled a bit of his hood back to show one of his ears. Much like his tail, it was so otherworldly. It was pointed, but curved upwards like a wing. “They’re supposed to help me fly, or whatever.”

Kenny was staring at him in awe, and it made Kite shift uncomfortably. “So why do you keep ‘em covered then?”

Kite let the hood fall back into place and he tucked away some hairs that had escaped. “Cause I don’t like them.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Hate ‘em.”

“Dude.” Kenny walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, jolting Kite out of his thoughts once more. He’d gotten much more bold recently with the whole…touching thing. At least he wasn’t afraid or anything. “They’re really cool. Sometimes I – I forget you’re an alien or whatever, but that shit’s so neat. You shouldn’t hide stuff like that.”

Kite shrugged. He’d hide his tail if he could as well, but it was practically essential for flight. “It’s not a big deal.”

“How about this?” Kenny took his wrists this time. He had Kite’s full attention now. “I’ll sing for you. You’re the only one I’d ever want to sing for anyway.” A deep blush formed on Kite’s cheeks, and Kenny kept going. “In return, you don’t hide yourself?”

He sounded so genuine, so desperate even, that Kite was at a loss for words. As hard as he tried to force them out, they kept catching in his throat. It felt far too long before they lodged free. “Wh…what the hell are you saying? I don’t want them out for everyone to see, Kenny.”

“Fine, then just around me?” Kenny smiled warmly, that same damn charming fucking smile Kite found himself enamored with. “I’ll sing for you and you don’t hide yourself around me. Deal?”

“I’m a fucking superhero, Kenny. You said you wouldn’t ask about that.”

“I know. I’m not asking you to show your face, I promise. I just…” Kenny looked down at his feet. “You looked so uncomfortable, but you’re so cool, you know? You don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”

Was he that obvious? Kite was tempted to take his hands away, but they stayed put against his will. “I’m not-”

But he stopped when he saw the look on Kenny’s face; the look that clearly said “I don’t believe you”. Kite’s face scrunched up, and Kenny continued. “You know I care about you, right? Not just because you’re an awesome superhero, dude. I care about whoever else you are too. So believe me when I say you have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re seriously the coolest person ever.”

He was being so damn charming that it was hard to be mad at him. “Uh…thanks. I guess.”

“So? Deal or no deal?”

Well…if it was just Kenny, Kite didn’t see the harm in it. It’s not like he’d be able to see them if they somehow saw each other on the streets when he wasn’t in costume. “Ugh, fine. If you’re gonna be so annoying about it.”

And if he could hear Kenny’s singing voice again. But he kept that part to himself.

[rosemaidenvixen]

A Secret’s Worth

Chapter 1: Claire

Ao3

The building itself was utterly unremarkable, a boxy structure of beige bricks and plexiglass windows. But to Claire this building was a huge first step.

Claire walked up to the front door and pushed her way inside, other students milled around in the large corridor, occasionally opening or shutting the blue lockers that lined every side of it. Claire headed in, navigating her way through the crowd while taking in more of her surroundings. The walls and lockers had a slightly worn look and the air smelled faintly of sweat and rubber. Despite that Claire couldn’t help but smile, feeling lighter with every step.

High school, not the snooty prep school her mom kept pushing her to consider; real actual high school.

Claire broke free of the crowded hallway and into an outdoor area full of concrete picnic tables. She glanced around until she spotted the table Mary and Darci were at and jogged over to meet them.

Mary noticed her approaching and waved “Claire-Bear! Over here!”

Claire slowed to a stop and slid into her seat “It’s great to see you guys, you have no idea how excited I am now that we’re starting high school together,”

“I know!” Darci gushed “I can’t wait to try out for the cheerleading squad,”

Claire snorted “I still think you’re nuts for not going for theatre club,”

“What can I say? The pom poms are calling me,”

“Both of you are missing the big picture,” Mary paused for dramatic effect “All the boys that will fall at our feet!”

Claire and Darci groaned in unison. Not this again.

Mary smirked at her friends “Trust me on this,” she brandished her phone in their direction “I have over a thousand followers already, so it’s only a matter of time before I’m the queen bee of this place,” she let out a dreamy sigh “And then admirers will follow,”

Claire didn’t know why she was surprised, the schools and grades they were in might change, but some things never did “Don’t get ahead of yourself Mare, this is just our first day, it doesn’t matter how many followers you have, boys are hardly going to be lining up to--”

“Give it back!”

“Come on, you always make tons of extra,”

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean--”

All three girls turned in the direction of the new voices.

Two boys were heading towards them, a red headed one holding a paper bag, and one in a blue jacket making a grab for the bag that redhead was holding.

They froze upon noticing the girls eyes on them, before quickly jerking into semi-normal postures.

“Uh...Hi?” blue jacket boy said with a nervous smile.

Darci raised an eyebrow at them “Hi?”

Claire turned in her seat to take in the newcomers; redhead was somebody new, but she could have sworn she had seen blue jacket before.

Mary narrowed her eyes in suspicion “Can we help you with something?”

Redhead perked up “Actually yes,” he fended off one more attempt from blue jacket to take the bag and held it out towards Claire “My friend here was baking last night and accidentally made too many, would you mind taking them off our hands?”

Curious and just the slightest bit sceptical, Claire accepted the bag. Mary and Darci leaned over to get a better look as Claire reached inside.

“Are these…”

“Macarons!” Darci squealed.

Mary plucked one of the cookies out of Claire’s hand and held it up for examination “Hang on, you  made  these?”

Blue jacket forced out an awkward chuckle “Yep...sure did,”

That’s when it clicked. Last February. Her mom’s fundraiser at the hospital. What was his name, John? Jake?

“I don’t think we got your names,”

“Oh! I’m Jim,” he gestured to the red head by his side “This is Toby,”

Toby winked at them “The one and only,”

Claire smiled back “Nice to meet you, I’m Claire,”

“I’m Darci,”

“I’m Mary,”

The conversation fell flat as none of them could figure out what to say next.

Claire fiddled with her thumbs “Are you guys freshmen to?”

“Yep,” Toby said with a confident smirk “We’ll probably have a lot of classes together,”

“Having students in the same grade share classes would make a lot of sense,” Darci said with just a hint of sarcasm, although judging by the grin on her face she was more amused than anything else

“Well, it was nice meeting you guys, but Toby and I have to...get to our lockers, so...I guess I’ll see you later,”

Claire brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face “I would like that,”

Toby took it in stride but Jim was blushing so hard he looked like a tomato. He stuttered out his own goodbye before making a hasty retreat with Toby in tow.

Claire turned back around in her seat only to come face to face with a very smug looking Mary.

“What?”

Mary gave her a knowing grin that would have been more fitting on a feline “Didn’t someone just say something about not getting ahead of ourselves?”

A blush burned to life across Claire’s cheeks “It’s not like that! They just seemed nice,”

Mary waved a cookie under Claire’s nose “And the macarons?”

“You heard what he said, Jim just made extra and they were sharing them,”

Darci popped one of the aforementioned macarons into her mouth “So that’s why you were giving him goo goo eyes the whole time,” she mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs “Just the cookies?”

Claire fixed Darci with a level stare as she finished chewing the cookie, an oh-so-innocent look on her face, Mary snickered from across the table. All Claire wanted was to talk to people in her new school,

Preferably dark haired boys that baked macarons and got punch for their moms at parties,

Without her friends reading too much into it. Was that so much to ask?

“Et tu Darci?”

*

Lockers and brick walls surrounded her on three sides, another dead end. Claire groaned before turning around and heading back the way she came. Seriously, why did this place have to be so huge? This was the third time this week Claire had gotten turned around on her way to the choir room.

The back of someone’s shirt looming just inches in front of her face pulled Claire out of her grousing. She stopped in her tracks to avoid a collision. A loose crowd of sorts had gathered, growing thicker as the hallway continued on, a low buzz of whispering and hushed conversation rippled through them.

Mary and Darci were standing off to the side, Mary was on her tiptoes trying to see through the mass of bodies while Darci just looked anxious. Hoping her friends had some idea of what was happening, Claire walked over to them.

“You guys know what’s going on?”

Darci turned upon hearing her voice “Jim Lake started crying in the middle of the hall,”

Hearing that name caused Claire to freeze in her tracks.

Jim Lake, from the fundraiser, macaron boy.

“He was crying? Why?”

“No one knows, one minute he was fine, the next he was sobbing on the floor,”

Mary spoke up for the first time, startling both of them “Which is why we’re going to figure out what happened,”

Before she could ask Mary exactly what she meant by that, Señor Uhl’s voice started booming from the other side of the crowd; in response, the gathered students started to walk away, a few straight up ran.

Claire was right about to join them, if there was one teacher who’s bad side you did  not want to be on it was Señor Uhl, when Mary grabbed her and Darci’s wrists, pulling them down the hall after her as she dashed away.

After numerous twists and turns Mary finally let them go and peeked around the corner of the corridor they were in. Claire glanced around, the halls were clear now, class must have started. She gave her jacket zipper a nervous tug, if she got caught ditching classes in her first week of school her mom would be pissed.

Whatever Mary’s scheme was Darci was having none of it “Mare, what are you--”

“Shh!” Mary hissed and made frantic shushing motions at them before jerking back and pressing herself against the lockers.

Curious, Claire risked a peek around the corner and saw Toby jogging up from the opposite end of the hall. Gone was the over confident boy they had met on Monday, this Toby looked ashen and postively stricken. He slowed to a stop and went through a door on the wall perpendicular to her, disappearing from her sight.

Less than a second after the door shut behind him Mary ran ahead, Claire and Darci following on her heels. In one fluid motion Mary slid to her knees and pressed her ear against the door. Dacri hung back, restlessly glancing back and forth down either side of the hall. Claire recognized this room, this was the front office, she’d been in here a bunch of times while she was getting registered.

It was only then that she noticed the sound of voices coming from inside.

“Do you have any idea why James-- Jim, was so out of sorts?”

That was Mr. Strickler, their history teacher. He was talking about Jim. The desire to snoop overriding every ounce of common sense in her body, Claire moved next to Mary and pressed her own ear against the door. Darci muttered something about how her dad was going to ground her until she was thirty before joining them.

“I know you’re worried about Jim, but if he needs help, any information you can give would be greatly appreciated, and I promise, nothing you say will leave this room,”

Claire’s hands were trembling against the wood of the door, her pulse pounded in her ears like a drum. She shouldn’t be listening to this. She should not be listening right now.

Toby’s voice rang out next, sending Claire’s heart straight up into her throat “It’s just that...today’s his birthday…which was also the day his dad walked out...ten years ago,”

Claire had to cover her mouth to keep from gasping.

She had a feeling that she just learned something she had  no  business knowing.

Strickler was saying something else now but Claire didn’t hear.

No wonder Jim had started crying.

Claire was yanked back to reality by Mary and Darci pulling her away from the door. It was just in time to, no sooner did they sprint back around the corner than Toby came out and started heading in their direction.

The girls froze and pressed their backs against the lockers as hard as they could. Claire held her breath as Toby stepped around the corner and walked right past her. Mercifully, Toby didn’t look up, keeping his head slumped down, staring at his shoes as he walked by. Immediately after Toby was far enough past them, they raced into the nearest bathroom for cover.

They stood in silence for a few seconds, the only sound their frantic breathing echoing off the stall doors, while they waited for someone to burst through the door and bust them for eavesdropping. After a few minutes passed, it slowly became apparent that they had gotten away with it.

For better or worse.

Darci spoke up first “That was...wow,”

Claire eyed Mary uncertainly, she knew her friend was a huge fan of gossip, but this... “You won’t share this on your blog, right?”

Mary leaned back against the wall and sank to the ground “No,” she mumbled “I just thought he didn’t get on the football team or something, not...this,”

Claire turned and leaned heavily against the bathroom counter, porcelain cold against her palms. She wasn’t naive, she knew that just because she had a mom and a dad didn’t mean everyone else did. Some kids had just one, or an uncle, or a grandma, even two moms or dads.

And sometimes...moms or dads weren’t good people.

Claire lifted her head to face her reflection. It might not have been her idea to eavesdrop, but she could have stopped Mary, instead she’d gone right along with it. And now they all knew a big fat personal secret that none of them had any right to know.

Needing something to do with her hands, Claire turned on the sink and splashed her face with water. She might have just met Jim, but he seemed really nice, nicer than most of the other boys their age. And now he was going to have to deal with being the kid that started crying in front of everyone.

Claire wanted to do something, anything, to make him feel better. About his dad and for what just happened. But if she tried to reach out and cheer him up he’d probably just think it was out of pity.

Not to mention that she could  never  let it slip that they knew about his dad.

Her hands went limp under the streaming faucet. How could she reach out without seeming insincere?

[chromium7sky]

The Legend of Gotham| Damirae| Batling| One shot (definitely)

A/n: got inspired by M. Night shyamalan movie call unbreakable. Totally different perspective view and drama superhero. I like it! 😆😆 anyway enjoy! Also dedicated to @dastrigon For drawing me bat damian and commander Lenore. Thank you! 😆😆

Casimir has been a while went to private pre-school, although his father, a billionaire, a philantrophist and also founder of animal shelter in Gotham, prefer him to be home school, his mother insist so that he could learn to socialize.

"Let him learn how to talk to people. " his mother gives out warm smile as she caress her son's cheek.

"Don't pampered him too much, love."

Casimir knew his father actually love him, despite with the serious and stern voice. It radiates from him. Like a wave.

It may sounds a bit crazy but he always felt different. Different from the other kids.

Everytime he sit on his table, he could feel different types of feelings that fill the room but none of them contain sadness, or sick like he always feel at night in his bedroom. Some are from the visitor who float through the walls.

He thought it was normal for a kid to experience that but then, the popular kid along with his friends gives out weird name to address him, like Carpet and the worst nickname he got is Freak kid.

He didn't talk to his parents about the mistreat, he just wants to stay away from drama. Whenever he goes, as soon as he almost meet the popular kid he just vanish and went to another place in his pre school compound, unknowingly. He just shrugged it off as soon as he walk away.

Until on that mid winter, all the kids were in the classroom stayed in the room to feel the warm heater. Casimir where resting his head on his table, felt asleep lulled by the warmth in the room, in a sudden, the front main door knock by a group of men trying to get shelter from the blizzard outside all the student aware about it. One of their home teacher, Ms. Frey went to the door and open it.

It happens so fast. Ms. Frey lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The student who witness the event, panic and quickly lock the door of their room. The men were smirked as the other two close the main door then barricade with lockers that was in the hallway.

Casimir who saw what happen through the small window nearby, shivered. As soon as the men are about to ramped their classroom door, suddenly Casimir jolted and almost thrown the table away from him.

All of his classmate have their eyes on him while he was shivered as if the cold outside hit him, he mumbled about danger is coming. What did he see back then? A dream? But he felt it so real.

He see Ms. Frey in their classroom writing on the board about the books project where they need to read. Casimir has no problem about that since Wayne manor has tons of books. He might read it fast but not as fast as Uncle Wally.

Suddenly he felt sick, like what he felt in the bedroom every night when he confront with the people who walk through the walls but this time, its much worst. Much darker and almost suffocating him.

He walk slowly towards Ms.Frey saying he feel ill. Ms.Frey, smiled give a pat on his head and lead him outside the classroom.

"Billy, you're in charge of the class. I don't want to see any trouble when I'm gone. " Ms.Frey gives out orders.

"Look, the freak is a woosie. Hahaha." Cas could hear the popular kid laughing at the back of the class.

"Come on Casimir, let us go to the nurse office. " as Ms. Frey hold his hand and leading him towards their destination.

As soon as they reaches the room, Ms. Frey put him on the patient bed, checking his body temperature, his tongue and eyes color. His body burn up a bit, so she take out a gel cooler from the drawer and put it on his forehead. "I hope this will cool you down."

Casimir noded and lie on the patient bed.

"Ms.Lucy will come in after she's having her lunch break. Get rest alright, sweetie? " Ms. Frey smiled as she tuck him in with blankets.

As she close the nurse office door, he heard the knock. The same knock he heard in that DREAM.

Cas eyes went agape and quickly to the door. Lucky the door has small window behind the blinds. He took a peek to see what's going on.

It was the same MEN. Cas almost screamed but he close his mouth. He wanted to save Ms. Frey, preventing her from opening the door but it seems things happen like in his dream or vision. She's already on the floor in a pool of blood.

The little boy cried. He then, quickly locked the door and dashed towards the nurse desk as those evil men busy themselves barricade the main door with the lockers.

He found a landline phone and quickly call his home.

"Hello?"

"M.. mommy?? "

"Casimir? What's the matter? Are you okay?

"Mommy, tell Daddy send help... Som-" the line were cut due to the snow storm getting worst.

Casimir were totally speechless. His lifeline has been cut and he could hear the evil men try to broke down the door.

Casimir then try to distract them as he unlocked the door and expose himself. Those ruthless men, turn their attention to him.

"Try to get me, you jerk! "

"Is that Wayne's kid?"

"Oi, don't let him escape! "

"Let who escape?"

A familiar voice he heard from behind.

The men at first look intimidated but then they took out their knife and hand guns.

Casimir almost caught out of breath but he felt a soft hand wrap his shoulder. When he turn looked up, it was his mother, Rachel!

"Mom, how did you-"

"Stand back, Cas. " Rachel pulled her son behind her.

"Mommy, no! They are dangerous!!" Cas screamed as he was afraid those men might hurt her like they hurt Ms.Frey.

Two guys at the back held their guns toward her.

"Noooo!!! " Cas were dreaded.

But he didnt heard the gunfire as the gun were unravel, like jigsaw puzzle on the floor.

The gunners petrified with the unexpected event. The leader seems pissed, took a step forward, assault the woman.

Rachel push his son aside as she locked the armed man by his elbow and throw him over her shoulder.

Two man come to her at once as she swipe kick to the left side and sidekick on the right side.

The down man with knife manage to grab her ankle but she slammed her elbow along with her weight on that man's face which she manage to knock him out a couple of teeth.

As the gunners pull out their tactic blades, Casimir tried to warn his mother. But it seems both of them frozed as they heard the loud thud behind them.

Never in his life, Casimir would see a dark figure stood tall behind the bad guys. With horn-like head, is that the devil? Wait, he looks familiar.

"Batman? " his mother muttered under breath as she sit up.

Batman! The legend of gotham he heard when he was a baby. He taught it was a ghost tale when his mother told him but now the legend come to save him, save them.

He felt some unusual wave from his mother, like affection some sort like the way he felt when his mother with his father. Wait, his mother love batman?! But how about his father?!

The dark knight beating the bad guys like the bat flapped their wings sending them fly away. In a blink of an eye, all the bad guys where lying and groaning in pain. Some of them unconcious.

"Woah... " Casimir were astonished with dark hero's skill.

Rachel got up and walk towards Batman.

Casimir quickly hold her hand. " Mom, no! He might be dangerous! " his eyes shows his fear. Rachel smiled then kiss his forehead and she went to the dark knight.

He felt dark wave around the dark knight almost covered the big man himself.

However, as soon as his mother came to him the dark wave begin to dissipated, the warm aura from his mother seems to connect with the Dark Knight. What is happening?

"You were reckless. " Batman muttered as he inspected Rachel's body.

"I was worried about my son." she slapped playfully on his bat logo. Then, she stole a kiss from him.

"Mommy!! "

Both Rachel and Dark Knight look at the confused boy.

"Why... How about Dad?! " Casimir was confused.

"Beloved, I think we need to explain this to Casimir. " Batman went to the little boy.

"Wait, how to you know my name? " Cas stuttered as the dark hero put a pat on his back, then Cas felt familiar with his aura.

"D-dad? "

The vigilante smiled and embrace the boy.

"But... But... " as Cas pulled himself from his father.

"But what, son? "

"But you kiss Raven! You've cheated Mom?! " as Casimir recall the legend of gotham story.

Damian almost choke up as he heard his child accusion.

Rachel chuckled as she sees her husband reaction. Damian glared at his wife for laughing at him.

"Casimir, actually I am Raven. The Queen of darkness," as she demonstrate her dark aura on her hand.

Speechless as he saw in front of his eyes, the famous vigilante are his parents.

"Beloved, I've already alarmed Commissioner Grayson about this. " Damian looked at his pop up screen from his arm.

"Is Ms.Frey okay? " Cas still concern about his teacher who has been hurt as he witness before.

"I've already check the pulse and done some laser stitching towards her wound. She should be stabilize. " Damian press a couple of button then shut the pop screen.

"And Cas? "

"Yes, dad? " as Cas calmed down from the shock news today.

"We'll explain as soon as we come home. "

Casimir can feel his calm and relief aura from his voice, probably they been keep the secret for too long.

Perhaps it is time for him and his sibling to know the origin the legend of Gotham.

Bonus: