#i think i ruined this piece by adding the speech bubbles

[pocketshipping]

r,,, renscar??? please?? for a starving soul perhaps???? a starving soul who enjoys your artstyle???

I am so sorry for the cringe ass dialogue.

with the amount of innuendos these two make, i feel like this pairing would demolish the PG rating of hermitcraft.

also bonus sketch:

[gallickingun]

PAIRING: Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Reader RATINGS: M/E+ WARNINGS: smut WORD COUNT: 1.7k+

PROMPTS: 22: “Maybe I should leave you like this, this way anyone who wanted to use you could have a go with you. Would you like that?” 32: “I wanna fuck you right against the glass so everyone can see how good you take it.” 321: “I don’t care how good it feels, you better not cum until I tell you to.”

request from THIS prompt list - prompt fill sentences will look like this.

You swat errantly at his roaming hands, trying desperately to listen to what Izuku is saying from the podium.

“-as heroes, it’s our responsibility to…”

“Fuck that guy,” Bakugou mutters into your ear, his palms rustling your dress from where he stands behind you, “God, you look sexy in this dress.”

He’s not wrong. You bought it specifically because it’s the color he likes to see against your pretty complexion, a dropped neckline to show off your cleavage and a low plunging back so the top of your ass is just visible enough to make him go stir crazy.

Bakugou slips his hands underneath the silken fabric of the dress, the loose fabric making it easy for his fingers to continue their exploration of your ribs. He leans forward to kiss your shoulder, Deku’s voice reverberating in the training hall as the press conference continues, “I will literally fuck you right here if we don’t find somewhere to fuckin’ go.”

“Katsuki,” you turn to swat him, but your hips swiveling so you can face him gives his hand the perfect avenue to slip down between your thighs.

You quickly snatch his coat from the table, pretending to shiver as you cover your front with it. He is completely flush with your backside, and with the added protective layer of his suit jacket, his motions are concealed. His voice rumbles in your ear next, “How about we go up to my office and I’ll fuck you on my desk.”

Your throat bobs at the notion, a new wave of slick coating your core as you stutter-step forward, “Katsuki.”

“Yeah, I wanna hear you moan that,” he kisses beneath your earlobe, “now let’s get the fuck outta here.”

He doesn’t give you much option, snatching his coat from you and pulling you by the wrist towards the elevator. Luckily there are enough people milling about that it doesn’t go noticed that you’re slipping away. You’re mostly worried about Deku, given that Katsuki is his patrol partner, he really should be there for him when his speech is over.

Bakugou corners you in the elevator, despite it being completely clear glass, his mouth on your neck in an instant. He hikes your dress up, running his middle finger against the thin layer of lace separating your cunt from the fresh air. He’s growling in your ear as he feels the damp fabric, “Fuck, you’re wet. This all for me, Princess?”

“You’re a nuisance,” you shove at him, but it holds no malice. Bakugou stiffens his spine and rolls his hips into your side, tucked between you and the wall so he can ride your thigh on the long elevator ride up to his office. The bulging tent in his pants makes your eyes drop so you can take in his length. A part of you wants to drop to your knees and suck him off right here, but you can still see the tops of everyone’s heads as they listen to Deku’s speech, so you hold your tongue.

Katsuki turns your head with the rough brush of his knuckles against your jawline, “What’re you lookin’ at?”

He follows your line of sight to the downstairs are and a greedy smirk overtakes his demeanor. Bakugou has twisted you in an instant, turning your body so you are now pressed into the glass, the curves of your chest leaving hot steam on the clear surface. The sight of you like this makes Bakugou’s cock twitch within the confines of his clothes and another rumbling growl tears through his throat as he lets loose a string of cuss words.

“I wanna fuck you right against the glass, so everyone can see how good you take it.” His voice is in your ear now, his chest parallel with your shoulders as he leans closer, “And you’d take it good, wouldn’t you sweetheart?”

You’re nodding before you know what you’re doing, the people below all but forgotten as the thrum of his voice in tandem with the throb of his cock against your thigh throws your blissed-out brain into overdrive. The copious amounts of slick gathered between your thighs only gives him more reason to want to hike your dress up and fuck you until the glass shatters.

The elevator bell rings, and he’s got you hoisted into his arms before you can think. Your mouth finds his, searching and wanton, lewd smacking sounds combined with the silvery strands of saliva connecting the two of you. Neither of your hands can find purchase against the perfect patch of skin, still searching even as he fumbles into his office.

Your back is thrown against the door, slamming the wooden object shut, and Katsuki is tearing into your clothes before you can beg him for a moment to breathe. He has your dress pooled at your feet, your body bare save for the small pair of lace underwear you’d worn. The sight of you has him salivating, caging you between his arms as he forcefully reigns his mouth down on you.

He nips at your lower lip, “Take off my tie.”

You do as told, reaching up around his neck to start loosening the offending piece of clothing keeping him from taking his shirt off. Bakugou does not assist you in this process, continuing to distract you with his kisses and his hands. His warm palms immediately find your aching nipples, tugging the sensitive skin between his index and thumb, “Gonna be a good girl for me? Gonna listen?”

Nodding, you breathe out panting, whining breaths that hurt your lungs but you don’t care, “Yes, Katsuki, please, I just want-”

“Nah, baby,” Bakugou nudges his nose over your jawline, “When you decided to wear that dress, what you wanted went out the window.”

The sound of his voice sends a chill down his spine, but now you’ve got his tie undone and in a heap in your hands, offering it up to him like some sort of sacrifice. Bakugou takes the article of clothing from your hands and then proceeds to tie it around your wrists, tightening it so you have to clasp your hands together.

“How’s that?”

“A little tight,” you squeak, shifting your feet as the air conditioning kicks on, the vent above your head blowing chilling blasts of air down on top of your bare body.

Bakugou snickers before yanking the tie tighter around your wrists, “Good.”

He has his hand buried two knuckles deep within your glutinous walls before you can take another breath. You keen, dropping your head back to the door so you can stare up at the ceiling. Your eyes flutter somewhere between open and shut, unable to keep up with the pace his fingers are setting against your core. Bakugou is relentless as he circles the pad of his thumb against your clit and uses his opposing hand to build the pleasurable wash of pure ecstasy within your walls.

The hand that is not sheathed inside of your cut trails up your body tantalizingly slow, swirling his thumb around your nipple before pinching it harshly, “Such a good girl, Princess. What else did you expect when you wore that?”

You shake your head and start to mutter out a response, but it’s cut off when his thick digits wrap around your throat and he squeezes. Your cunt clenches around his hand, a whine ripped straight from your chest at the combination of all of his ministrations.

“You’re not cumming yet, do you understand?” Bakugou angles his body forward to start kissing and licking at your exposed shoulder and collarbone. He sucks harshly against the skin before tilting his head upward to bite at your earlobe, “I don’t care good it feels, you better not cum until I tell you to.”

A meager, “Yes, Katsuki,” parts your lips but it is accented by a wheezing cough. Your eyes water and you have a moment to mourn your ruined makeup before he is sucking hickeys into the skin of your throat. Your neck bobs and you push yourself up on your toes to try and chase your release despite him strictly telling you otherwise. Bakugou can sense this, the tightness of your core constricting around his three fingers.

His palm encases your jaw and he yanks you forward, mouth never disconnecting from the muscle of your shoulder, “Feels like you’re about to cum, Princess. Are you going to have to make me punish you?”

You are feeble when you answer him, pushing the words out of your teeth in a fit of desperation because you know how mean Bakugou can get when you disobey, “N-No, not cumming, promise!”

He snickers against your jugular, “Good girl.”

Bakugou’s fingers work at you for the next couple of minutes, his mouth lavishing your skin to place several pulsating marks along the column of your throat and on down your shoulders. Your hands twitch with want, only able to rest and squirm against his chest, your wrists tied tightly together.

A soft squeal parts your mouth and Bakugou’s cock stretches underneath his zipper, “C’mere,” and suddenly he’s got you turned against his desk, your arms over your head as your ass faces him, perfectly round for him to worship. He administers a few spankings, watching as the flesh ripples beneath his touch.

“Maybe I should leave you like this,” he mumbles into the skin of your shoulder, feeling your muscles twitch beneath his lips. You are already protesting, tears tracking down your cheeks as you struggle to form full sentences now that you’ve entered the subservient headspace he loves so much, “This way anyone who wanted to use you could have a go with you. Would you like that?”

You are crying out for him to stay, begging for his cock or his mouth or whatever body part of his that he can abuse your pussy with that will keep him here. You whine, dropping your forehead to the desk, “P-Please, Katsuki, I-I just want you, please, I just want…” You can’t form full syllables any longer, your throat bubbling up with emotion as you cry for him, begging incoherently for his touch.

Bakugou hums and you can faintly hear the sound of his zipper, the shuffling of feet against the hardwood making your stomach coil. He sporadically sprinkles kisses down your back, hands rubbing against the globes of your ass, “Well, I guess you better be a good girl, then. Or else you’re gonna have to find your own way home.”

-

@redbeanteax​ your ask got fucked up so i had to repost here!

[animebaby00]

Early Morning Welcome: Soma Yukihira X Reader - One-shot

Summary: You've already been welcomed in as the newest member of the Polar Star Dormitory, but a certain redhead extends your welcome with a delicious morning breakfast. 

It wasn't your alarm clock that woke you up. 

It wasn't the early morning sunshine peeking in through your curtains or the faint chirping of birds from your closed window. 

It was your nose. 

Or rather the action of your nose inhaling so deeply that it had caused a new aroma to overcome you from the otherwise plain scent of your room and crumpled sheets that were covering nearly half of your face.

And it smelled...delicious. 

With your intrigue fully captured, you swung your legs over the edge of your bed, tossing the covers away into a crumpled heap at the base of the mattress. Feet sliding into your slippers, you stood, and shuffled out of your room. 

Once in the hall, you noticed how quiet it was. All doors were shut with no traces of your fellow dorm mates in sight. 

The smell was a little more powerful now, as it wafted through the air and entered your nostrils. You could only make sense that someone was cooking, and considering this was one of the  dorms to the greatest cooking schools in the world, it supposedly made sense to a certain extent. But still, this early in the morning?

With crossed arms, you slowly padded to the stairwell and took quiet steps to reach the bottom floor, turning to head towards the kitchen. 

Your ears then picked up the sound of clanging pans and the sizzling sound of something being cooked. You sniffed the air again. 

It smelled rich, hearty, and delightedly greasy.

Bacon perhaps? 

Your nose carried you further until finally, you reached the large kitchen of the Polar Star Dormitory. 

And you were right. 

Someone was up and cooking away without a care in the world. 

He was male, lean yet slightly muscular, the curvature of his biceps evident through his thin, blue shirt as he expertly whisked away at a substance heating in a pot over the stove. 

A strip of white fabric was tied around his forehead, contrasting against his slightly tanned skin and vibrant red hair. 

But even though he seemed heavily drawn in by his work, it didn't stop him from noticing your slightly hidden form from out of the corner of his eye.

He turned his head, causing you to stiffen as you met his friendly, golden gaze. His free hand flew up into a wave.

"Hey ! Mornin Y/N !" 

His greeting caught you off guard, especially since you weren't too familiar with your new dorm mates yet. They welcomed you humbly the night before and you could only recall a few of their names in full. 

Still, he had greeted you and you didn't want to be rude, but…

"G-Good morning. It's...Soma, right ? Sorry, I... don't remember your last name." You admitted shyly, "I would have addressed you as such but I didn't really get a chance to memorize the names of everyone here."

"Ah, don't worry about it," he shrugged off, "The formality isn't necessary. But you're okay with me calling you Y/N aren't ya?" He asked, flashing you a toothy grin.

You nodded, finding a strange, immediate comfort in his friendliness,"Yeah. Absolutely."

"Awesome!" he stood straighter, extending his right hand out while he continued whisking,  "I know last night was a little crazy so I'll go ahead and introduce myself fully. Soma Yukihira. It's nice to meetcha."

You smiled warmly, stepping fully into the kitchen and over to where he stood, reaching your hand out to grasp his in a shake.

"Y/N L/N. It's nice to meet you too."

He flashed another smile, before letting go of your hand and turned back to the stove. 

You tilted your head at him thoughtfully. 

Even though you just met, you were very intrigued by this boy and for some reason, you wanted to know more about him. 

But just as you opened your mouth to speak, he beat you to the point.

"Say, Y/N. Are ya hungry ?" 

You blinked. This boy certainly had his ways of catching people off guard, but you answered him nonetheless.

"Uhm...maybe a little. I guess."

"Perfect. Go and sit. I'll make you something."

"Uh, no it's okay !" You waved your hands in front of your face, "You don't have to."

"I've already kinda got a head start anyways. Go ahead and take a seat. It won't take long "

You held your breath, thinking that there wasn't any way to turn down his offer, mindlessly adding 'persistent' to the unknown list of traits you were giving him in your head. 

Soma turned away, going back to the stove as you made your way to one of the seats at the bar, pulling out the chair and situating yourself comfortably, a palm resting on your cheek while your arm propped itself up on the counter. 

There weren't any other sounds in the kitchen beside the occasional chop of a knife and the continued sizzle of food being cooked. And even though you practically had a front row seat of his actions, you had no idea what Soma was making. 

He was very quick and precise with his actions, his timing with everything near perfection and you were completely transfixed as he moved almost gracefully with nearly everything he did.

"Do you do this alot ?"

He looked up, "What ? Cook?" 

You shook your head, "No. I mean obviously you cook because why else would you be here." Your hand gestured to the clock on the wall, which currently read 6:15 AM, "I mean cook this early in the morning, and for other people so randomly like this."

"Well in a way," he started, cutting a lemon and squeezing the juice into a pot, "My dad and I own a family eatery and we opened pretty early in the morning. But most of the time, it's just to get in some early practice." 

"Practice ?" 

"Uh huh. I mean I won't get any better if I don't experiment and work with different things. And if I don't get better, then I'll never beat my old man." 

His words piqued your interest, "What do you mean 'beat him' ?" 

Soma looked up at the ceiling, "He and I battle in the kitchen sometimes, but I have yet to whip up something better than him." He clenched his fist, "He's one of the greatest chefs there is, and it's my goal to beat him one day along with being the best chef at this school so I'm good enough to run our eatery." 

You smiled, admiring his determination, "Guess that video means you weren't lying then." 

He tilted his head, "Video? What video?" 

"The girls showed me a recording of your speech at the entrance exam. I didn't get a chance to see it since I was late arriving here. You seemed really dead set and," Your hesitated, remembering the angled shot of the people in the crowd and how poisonous their features looked,"...A lot of people looked sort of mad at you."

"Did they? Huh. Guess I didn't notice."

You practically fell over. Of course he didn't. For someone to have such big aspirations and goals, he was kind of an airhead. 

But you honestly kind of appreciated it. For some people, it took a lot to ignore the negligent opinions of others, but Soma seemed to shrug any bad omen about him off completely. 

You sort of...envied him.

"All right, breakfast is served !" 

Your thought bubble popped once his voice breached the air, looking down at the plate he had placed in front of you.

And what you saw had your E/C irises snapping open in shock. 

They were pancakes, thick and fluffy, cooked to a golden perfection while the middle remained a delightful off-white. There were two of them, stacked and topped off with pieces of crispy, pan fried bacon that stuck out delicately from their placement on top of the fluffy mounds. A deep yellow sauce cascaded from the top and over the edges, it's supposed thickness adding a strange elegance to the dish, making even the mediocre light in the kitchen glisten off of its polished finish. And the whole thing was garnished with a pinch of parsley. 

You were completely awestruck.

"Well ?" Soma inquired, that same grin plastered on its face, "Aren't you gonna try it?" 

You looked up at him, still totally bewildered, "I-Well, yes but it...it almost looks too beautiful to eat. Like I'd be destroying a piece of art or something." 

Soma laughed, "Well I'm definitely happy that it's pleasing to the eye. But good food is meant to be eaten so don't think you're ruining anything." He gave you a thumbs up, "Go ahead and enjoy !"

You smiled softly and picked up the fork and knife he had laid out next to the plate, preparing to cut off an edge of the pancake.

"Ah, wait !" 

You looked up, "What's wrong ?"

He folded his arms, "Cut it right down the middle."

"....Huh ?"

"Just trust me."

You blinked, your next words trailing out with confusion, "O….k…."

He gave you a wink and watched as you moved again to cut into the pancakes, but this time, right down the middle like Soma had told you. 

Your knife glided right through the top, piercing what you thought was the pancake. That is, until a rich, orangey-yellow substance burst out and flowed down the edge of your knife and soaked through the fluffy center of the pancakes while also mixing with the thickened sauce below. 

"Woah…" you breathed. 

"Doesn't take much to wow you, I see." Soma chuckled, "Now make sure to get everything together."

You nodded slowly, taking care to create what looked like a perfect bite of fluffy, rich, and crispy.

Lifting the fork to your mouth, your lips encompassed it fully before pulling it back out clean and your eyes widened again as your mouth went to work in letting everything glide over your taste buds. 

So much flavor and so many different textures. 

The pancake was just as soft as it looked. The bacon was still crispy, even as you noticed it's thicker cut in biting it with your teeth. The sauce was thick and absolutely divine, buttery with a hint of acidity.

Acidity.

The lemon you saw him squeezing earlier.

Its classic yellow color. 

Hollandaise sauce.

You inwardly gasped, now tasting and recognizing the other component of the dish that had burst out when you had cut into it.

It's smooth subtlety mixed perfectly with everything, the taste so familiar and oddly vibrant even though it was an extremely common breakfast food whether scrambled, boiled, fried, or in this case, poached.

"So what do you think ?"

You savored it for as long as you could before finally, you swallowed, refraining from taking another bite of what tasted like heaven on a plate so you could answer the red head.

"It's... incredible!" 

Soma grinned, watching as your eyes quite literally started to sparkle which each additional bite you took.

It didn't take long for you to finish, and when you did, you sat back happily, humming as you relished in your delightful fill.

Soma leaned over the counter, "I take it you liked it ?" 

You nodded eagerly, " Mmhm ! I've never had pancakes like this before. It was so unique! Everything fits so well together! The bacon, the Hollandaise sauce, and was that a-"

Soma snapped his fingers, "Egg ? Yep ! You're exactly right ! You definitely know your stuff ! What you had there were Souffle Pancakes Eggs Benedict style. Not a lot of restaurants serve it and it was my first time making it. Kinda risky but I wanted to welcome you somehow."

You tilted your head up with a smile, "Well...you definitely did. Thank you, Soma." 

He beamed, removing the strip of fabric from his forehead and tied it around his arm, "Your Welcome, Y/N." 

You weren't sure if it was from the meal you just had, but you felt full, especially when it crossed over on just how thoughtful Soma had been to you even though you just met.

Come to think of it, everyone had been thoughtful the night you had arrived. 

You had been so nervous to cook for Miss Fumio, but you proved all successful in the end after she had tasted your dish. Everyone had been eavesdropping to see how you would do and surrounded you with all the congratulations in the world once you passed. 

Everyone celebrated that night with a feast and you appreciated their kindness with every out of gratefulness you could muster. 

They accepted you and wanted you to succeed.

No one at this dorm was at each other's throats like other students you had seen, especially the ones you had seen on the video of Soma at the entrance ceremony. 

No, everyone here was considerate and friendly with a want for everyone to do their best even if they had powerful aspirations of third own.

Wholeheartedly, you did feel welcomed, and Soma's actions increased that feeling tenfold. 

[psycheswritings]

Nothing’s Fair in Love and War - Three

Title: Nothing’s Fair in Love and War Fandom: Peaky Blinders Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Daphne Scott (OFC) Warnings: Swearing, I guess. Word Count: 5019 Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Life has been a bitch this week and I was hating everything I wrote. Thanks to everybody that liked and commented on the fic, honorary mentions to @blues022​, @livingmybestfakelife​, @livvtheangel​ and @stressedandbandobessed7771​ - thank you all for taking your time to review this, it makes my heart swoon with happiness. @livvtheangel​ kindly asked for me to add some kind of separation between the scenes to make it easier to read, I have already done it on the other parts and will do it in every chapter from now on. It was supposed to have a blank space between the scenes but God knows what happened. Let me know if its better this way. And, finally, before I go, @stressedandbandobessed7771​ asked to be tagged in the series, which I'm going to do from now on, and I wanted to let you all know that if anybody wants to be tagged too, let me know. As always, this haven’t been proofread, so feel free to report any mistakes back to me; warnings are expecific for each chapter. Also, your feedback is also highly appreciated. I relly hope you like this one. Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Masterlist

Chapter Summary: Daphne receives a very unexpected invitation while the Shelby's have to deal with Sabini's retaliation. Tommy buys a new horse and gets to know a possible new asset at the same time that Polly tries to understand what is the nature of his interest in the woman working with Solomons. Ada has a heart to heart with her friend and Alfie makes a surprise for Daphne.

Three

“Next month?!” Daphne’s shocked expression and high-pitched tone of voice made the engaged couple laugh. William was a little behind them, by the door, a smirk on his face. “Now I understand what you’re saying about them hushing things.”

“You never believe me.” Daphne just rolled her eyes at his mockery before Jane quipped in her defense.

“Well, you have a habit of overreacting about things.” The doctor narrowed his eyes to looks at his sister.

“Always knew that you were going to be a little traitor.” They all laughed, apart from William, although everyone knew that it was just an act.

“Nothing like a little display of sibling love by the Weston’s.” Alfie commented, surprising Daphne with his good mood. The last few days had been a little strange for them, both had totally ignored the episode of the window, but his words kept coming back to haunt the woman every time she looked at him. She was distracted observing him when their eyes met, Alfie gave her a heartwarming smile that Daphne promptly returned.

“We are always happy to entertain, Alfie.” There was false mockery in his tone.

“But we didn’t come here for William to complain about everything.” She turned to face the other woman, her expression was serious but joyful. “I want you to be my maid of honor.” Daphne blinked a few times, shock washing trough her. She expected to be invited to the weeding, of course - the two of them were good friends, after all – but being Jane’s maid of honor wasn’t something that she had in mind.

“Oh, I… Of course. It will be my pleasure.” Jane got up to embrace her friend, bubbling with happiness.

“William here already accepted to be the best man, despite his constants complains.” That resulted in Charles receiving a slap on the back of the head, given by his future brother-in-law, making them all laugh aloud.

“In all these years that I know him I never saw William do anything without complaining.” He looked at Daphne shaking his head.

“What’s this, a plot to ruin my reputation?”

“What reputation, mate?” Charles chocked in laughter and soon the others accompanied him.

“Et tu, Brute?”

“What can I say, mate. You make it too easy, aye.” When they all recovered from their laughter, Jane addressed herself to the gangster.

“Of course you’re invited too, Alfie.”

“And I will be there, for sure. Wouldn’t miss William’s speech for anything.” That was something that Daphne had missed, the friendly banter between Alfie and William, that brought a genuine smile to her face that didn’t escaped Alfie’s eyes.

“The betrayal. I thought we were friends, Solomons.” The doctor complained while Alfie just shrugged.

“What can I say, business is business, my friend.”

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“This had better be good to interrupt my holiday.” Polly rushes into the betting shop after John has opened the door that connects it to the house. It’s clear that she is in a hurry and in no mood to small talk.

“Where's the boy?” Arthur asked when she was putting her things on the table.

“In the back room. I only brought him because afterwards we're going to the museum.” Another obvious thing was that she didn’t wanted Michael involved in the family business, even though she knew it was an herculean task.

“He wanted to come in and say hello but...”

“Shut up, John. There is nothing of interest to Michael in this room.” Said nephew stopped talking altogether, looking a little dismayed. “Tommy, get on with it.”

“Last night, one of our men had his throat cut in Winson Green. This morning, I had a telegram to say it was Sabini who ordered it.”

“And it says here that Thomas Shelby's next.” Arthur added, ripping said telegram into pieces. Despite the death threat on his life, Thomas didn’t looked that concerned, like he wasn’t with most things. Just another day in the job.

“If our men think we can't look after them in prison, they'll not work for us. Sabini knows that. So we need to get the Green sorted out. Scudboat, you and one of the boys. Break a couple of windows and get yourselves arrested. I'll have our coppers get you into the Green and you can find the bastards who did it.”

“Instead of breaking a window, can we pinch a car?” All of the men, besides from Tommy, start laughing. “What? Everybody else is getting a bloody car. I'm still on a donkey.”

“All right, just get yourselves fucking arrested, it doesn't matter how. And before you all laugh, a boy is dead. He was just a kid. We'll start a fund for his family, Pol.”

“Agreed.” The woman says, solemnly. “So is that it? Can I go now?” She starts picking up her things just to hear Tommy talking again.

“Well, as company treasurer, I need your permission to spend a thousand guineas.” That makes her stop and look at him.

“On what?”

“On a horse.”

“A thousand guineas on a horse?”

“That's right.”

“When was this decided?” She starts passing, deep in thinking.

“You've been busy with Michael.” He knew that she would question it but this was a means to an end. Sometimes it was difficult to make people see what he saw. Even Polly.

“Oh, my God. So, in the absence of common sense, you boys have had an idea.”

“Polly there's a thoroughbred quarter-Arab filly up for auction at the Doncaster Blood Stock.” Polly looks at him.

“What do we want with a thousand guinea horse?” Tommy sighs, before explaining.

“When we make our move on Sabini's racing pitches, any men we get into the betting enclosure will be lifted by Sabini's police. A good racehorse is a passport to the owner's enclosure.”

“We'll be in there with all the toffs. Coppers won't know where to look.” Arthur adds and John accompanies him, excitedly.

“Yeah, the Epsom Derby, Pol. We'll be drinking with the bloody King.”

“The Derby? Did he say the Derby?” The glare Thomas gave to his younger brother erased the smile in John’s face while he lowered his head. The leader of the Peaky Blinders took a deep breath and cleared his throat before speaking.

“That's right. For the last ten years, Sabini has made it his race. If we're going to take him down, might as well make it there as a symbol.”

“Did you come up with this idea in a pub by any chance?” Her tone was drenched in pure sarcasm.

“Pol a good racehorse is an investment, like property. We need to diversify the portfolio.”

“So when is this sale?”

“Tomorrow.”

“And Tommy's had a death threat so we'll have to go with him for protection.” The older of the Shelby siblings explained.

“So, you're going to close up the shop, go out on a piss-up and blow a thousand guineas on a horse that's not even whole Arab?”

“Quarter Arab is better! Quarter Arab, it means...” Polly cuts him off.

“Curly, shut up.” The door that connects the betting shop to the house open to reveal Michael. Polly instantly looks reprovingly at John. “I thought I told you to lock that door.”

“He did. I used the key on the nail.” The younger boy explains. “Look, I've been listening. I want to go with them.”

“You see?!” The Shelby matriarch throws her arms up in exasperation while Tommy looks at his cousin.

“I love horses. I could even help!” The excitement mixed with hope that his mother would allow him to go with his cousins was evident in Michael’s face.

“Over my dead body.” The older woman said, crossing her arms.

“It'll be all right, Mum. I've been to loads of horse auctions before with my uncle. They're very respectable. People bring their butlers.”

“Yeah, and their posh wives!” Arthur said, smirking and taking a sip of his whiskey.

“And their mistresses.” Added John, elbowing his cousin while they laughed.

“Let him come, Polly.” Arthur tried to convince the woman. “We'll go there, buy a horse, come back.”

“I'll drop him back at the house in Sutton before it gets dark.” Promised John to his aunt.

“No. Fucking no.” Michael left the room slamming the door behind him, clearly upset. Polly looked at Thomas and after a minute that seemed to last too long, he treated to clear the room.

“All right, that's it. Back to work.” All of the men started to leave, going back to his own tasks. John stayed behind, approaching his aunt.

“Come on! Aunt Pol, when I was Michael's age, I'd killed a hundred men and seen a thousand die. If you want to scare that kid away forever, carry on how you are going. If you want him to stay, let him come.”

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Thomas couldn’t say that he was surprised to see his aunt entering his office later that day. After the incident with Michael earlier he expected that she would come around, he just didn’t predicted the reason why she wanted to talk to him.

“How’s Michael?” He asked when she took a sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk, his eyes not leaving the papers he was analyzing.

“Beaming with happiness now that he wored me down to go with you lot, tomorrow.” She answered with a sigh. “But that’s not what bought me here.”

“What it is then?”

“That woman” Polly started, waiting for his attention to be back on her, but he ignored it completely, the only reaction that she got was his pen freezing for a couple of seconds “the one you and Ada were taking to at the Garrison.”

“What about her?” His tone was dismissive, however, his aunt wasn’t foolish. She was pissed off with him that night at the reopening of the Garrison, but she most definitely saw his interaction with the unknown woman that had arrived and departed of the pub like smoke, but not before drawing all eyes to her.

“Who is she?”

“She is the woman who works with Solomons.” He hoped that would end with the interrogation but he wasn’t that lucky.

“The one you were curious about?” Tommy exhaled loudly, dropping the document he was currently reading to look at his aunt.

“Yeah, that would be her.”

“She knows our Ada.” She would have asked Ada about the woman if she had had the chance, – her niece certainly would be less evasive than Thomas -but her son had appeared at her door and the subject escaped to the back of her mind. Also, the gipsy woman needed to see his reaction to know if they were going to have another problem like they had with that barmaid.

“Yes, they know each other from London.”

“I want to meet her.” He wrinkled his forehead.

“Why?”

“Because the last time a woman caught your attention your judgment became clouded and we both know that it didn’t end well.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Maybe not yet, but I know the look in your eyes. She intrigues you. I noticed the first time you talked about her. I brushed it off because I thought it was just because of the business, but the way you behaved yourself around her that night at the Garrison tells me otherwise.” Thomas takes a deep breath but does not confirm or denies her suspicions.

“I’m certain that Ada can schedule tea for you three...”

“No. I want you to be there.” She wanted to see firsthand how he reacted to this girl because the last thing that Polly trusted was in men and their cocks. Thomas wasn’t the worst of the Shelby brothers in this topic – John was the man whore of the three of them – but since he was in charge of things in the family, the potential of trouble was higher.

“I will see what I can do.”

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“To the premises of Mr. Charles Strong, Small Heath.” The man wrote down on the book before looking up at Tommy. “What kind of premises?”

“Boat yard.” The Brummie answered unamused.

“Yachts?”

“Canals.”

“I'm curious. What is your business, Mr. Shelby?” The man asked, giving Tommy a piece of paper.

“Import, export.” Before he left, Tommy added. “But I also sell pegs and tell fortunes.”

“You beat us to it.” The feminine voice made him stop and turn around - it was the woman of the auction. The one who had been stealing glances at the gangster since they arrived.

“Did I?”

“I was trying to nab a filly for my stud.” Thomas knew that she was only trying to catch his attention, but he played along.

“Sorry.”

“Thomas Shelby from where?” He took a deep breath before answering.

“From Birmingham.”

“Goodness!” There was a certain amount of surprise in her voice, mixed with shock.

“No, not much.”

“May Carleton.” She extended her hand for him and he took it. “I breed racehorses and train them. What is it you do?”

“I rarely answer questions, is what I do.”

“Tommy, come on, hurry up! We've got to go!” Arthur shouted in the background, laughing.

“Well, before you go, if you ever decided to put that filly out, I'd be interested in having her.”

“I plan to race her.” She looked at him surprised.

“Do you have a trainer?”

“I know people.”

“I know people, too.” The woman replied giving Tommy her card.

“Tommy! We've got to get this kid back before dark or Polly will have your balls!” John shouted this time while they all laughed.

“She will have 'em!” Arthur quipped in.

“We know different people, I would guess.” Tommy just ignored his brother’s giggles in the background.

“My father knows Mick Hancock. Trained three Ascot winners.”

“Oh, so that was your father?” He was right, them. She was talking to him for a reason – a reason that didn’t involve the horse at all.

“Yes. We're joint owners of the stud. He took the majority share when my husband was killed. Ypres.”

“Tommy! We've got to get back to the caravans! The chickens are hungry!” May looked at them and chuckled before asking.

“So will you consider me?”

“I will consider you.”

“You still didn't tell me what you do.” Tommy turned to face her again.

“Oh, I do bad things. But you already know that.” She could be a good asset for their plan and maybe – hopefully - help him get his mind off of the damn mystery that was Daphne Scott.

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Things have been quite calm for Daphne since she received Jane’s invitation to be her maid of honor. She saw the girl almost daily now, helping her prepare everything that was needed for the ceremony in such a short time. To say that the youngest of the Weston’s siblings was beaming with joy would be an understatement – she was all smiles and compliments and it ended up rubbing off on Daphne, even if just a little bit.

She had met William a couple of times too, since he was involved in the preparations as much as her seeing that he wasn’t just the best man but also the bride’s older brother. He tried to sound annoyed in every meeting, but Daphne knew that he was happy for the couple, just worried that his little sister would be out of his sight from now on.

Alfie was an entirely different matter. Things had been as normal as you would expect between them. No more visits from Thomas Shelby, no more employees being knocked out cold, everything seemed to run smoothly. However, Daphne knew in her heart that something wasn’t right. More than once, she had caught him staring at her from the distance with a frown on his face, deep in thinking. He usually did not even noticed that she had caught him staring, but when he did, the Jew made quick work to turn the other way, pretending that nothing happened.

In all the years she had known him, Daphne never gave too much though about the reasons why he kept her around. Alfie wasn’t exactly what you could call “a man of his word”. She had seen him betray his associates for his own benefit more than once - and being brutally honest, she couldn’t say that if the roles were reversed she would have done different. With her, thought, he always had been anything but loyal. He had helped her in the moment she most needed and they constructed a strong bond. Strong enough for her to consider him family.

In all the years they have worked together, they learned how to read each other – that was one of the reasons why they functioned so well as partners. And that’s why she knew she wasn’t going crazy because he was, most certainly, hiding something from her. His words kept hammering in her head: “Do you trust me? Because sometimes I wish you didn’t.”.

“You look like Tommy.” Daphne blinked a few times while looking at Ada.

“What?”

“You do this thing of looking straight away, to nowhere, not blinking or moving while you’re deep in thinking. He does that sometimes.” Ada laughed when the other woman raised one eyebrow at her. “I can’t help it if you two have so much in common.” There was a pause while she poured the both of them another cup of tea. “He’s been asking about you.”

“Who?” Ada rolled her eyes, sitting down on the chair again.

“You know who. My knucklehead of a brother.” Daphne laughed at that while the other woman just observed her carefully. There was a hint of concern in her voice when she asked “Why is he so interested in you, Daph?”

“It’s not in me he’s interested in, it’s in my relationship with Alfie.” Or so she had been trying to convince herself. Since she last talked to Harriet Daphne had been trying to figure out what she felt towards the Brummie gangster, with no luck so far. It seemed that the much she thought about it more confused she was getting.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe in that for a second. I know my brother and the way he looks at you has nothing to do with curiosity about your relationship with Solomons.” Daphne had no answer to that so she took a sip of her tea trying to ignore Ada’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Just be careful, okay.”

“Ada, even if he is interested in me it doesn’t mean that anything will happen. Even if I was interested in him too.” Daphne regretted her words the moment they left her mouth.

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Interested in him?” There was a long silence where the two of them just stared at each other. “Just have in mind that Tommy usually gets what he wants and this not necessarily means that it will be what you want too.”

“Ada…”

“I really like you, Daph. And I know that deep down my brother is a good man. He’s just… Not the same since he came back from the war and I would hate to see him hurt you.” Neither of them had the time to address the subject further since Karl entered the room in a rush going straight to Daphne’s lap. As they both giggled at something that the little boy had done, the topic dissipated in the air. The unfinished conversation had to wait for another time.

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When they entered the pub everyone stood up, clapping their hands as they passed. Daphne just looked at Alfie and he only shrugged, a hand on her back to guide her through the crowd. Some of the people greeted her on their way to the mezzanine just beside the stage.

“I’ll bloody kill you, Solomons.” She said to him through clenched teeth and he laughed at her, whispering into her ear.

“No, you won’t love.” Despite being pissed off at him for ignoring her wishes of not doing anything at her birthday, Daphne couldn’t help but feel touched by his gesture.

“You tricked me into this.” He made her stop at the base of the stairs that lead to the mezzanine beside the stage, turning her to face him and resting his hands on her arms.

“I knew that it was the only way for you to come, don’t blame me for wanting to see you happy.” The young woman just nodded, ignoring all the eyes on them, before she let him lead her upstairs. She recognized almost all of the faces that turned to look at them when they arrived on the mezzanine – Ollie and his wife, Jane and Charles, William, Harriet, some of their work associates, Ada and Karl, but her eyes were instantly draw to a pair of blue irises fixed on her. His stare was so intense that she felt like getting lost in them, but the connection was broken when Karl escaped Ada’s arms and run right to her screaming “Dee Dee”, making everyone smile. She caught him by reflex while he hugged her.

“Mommy said that this was for you. She said it is your birrr…” He gave her a package that Daphne knew contained a book all the while struggling to say the word birthday. She smiled and kissed him on the check.

“Birthday, sweet pea.” Alfie chuckled behind them while Ada walked to them.

“That it.”

“What have I told you about running away from me, Karl?” It was always amazing to see Ada step into her motherly figure.

“But it was Dee Dee!” The boy protested snuggling into Daphne’s neck while the woman smiled.

“It doesn’t matter, you can’t do that, Karl.”

“It’s okay, Ada. He won’t do it again.” Karl straightened himself to look at Daphne. “Will he?”

“No, Dee Dee.” She smiled at him again and he gave her a kiss on the check. Ada could do nothing but shake her head.

“That’s a good boy.” Daphne placed him on the ground and Ada stepped closer to hug her.

“Happy Birthday, Daph. I know you hate it, but try and have some fun, will you?” They looked at each other for a moment.

“I won’t promise you anything.” The two smiled at each other and Ada hushed Karl back to where they were sitting so Daphne could talk to the other guests.

Jane almost knocked her out to the ground in a very good mimicking of what Karl had just done while everyone laughed. Charles was right behind her - the couple seemed to be stuck into a bubble of unbreakable happiness. William was trying – and failing miserably – to hide a smile right behind them.

“Trying to maintain your reputation of ‘The grumpy Weston’, I see.”

“Somebody has too.” He smiled, before hugging her. “Happy Birthday, Daph.”

“Okay, can you release her now? She’s not exclusively yours, you know?” They separated themselves from the embrace and laughed at Harriet standing right behind them, hands on her waist as if she was about to give them the scold of their lives.

“You and your wonderful timing, as always.” William huffed, rolling his eyes and receiving a slap on the arm from Daphne.

“Get away, lover boy.” The courtesan jested, smiling bright at Daphne before taking her in a hug like the others. “Are you okay?” The question was asked quietly, just for Daphne to hear. They kept each other close after they parted from the hug.

“I will be.” Harriet knew that it was a lie – Daphne was not okay, she would never be okay, not entirely and the sadness in her eyes proved that. She wanted to convince her friend that she could be happy, she should be happy, but sometimes the woman could be as headstrong as Alfie. Harriet just nodded and Daphne moved onto the next person that was waiting to greet her, with the Jew following her closely.

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The blood red of the dress contrasted with her skin and for a moment, Tommy let his eyes wander down her body. The sleeveless piece of clothing was sophisticatedly draped with intricate embroidery at the front, the velvet was loose on her curves, marked only at the waist but the back had a low-cut that showed a good amount of her skin, since her hair was loosely tied. The golden locket always around her neck.

Thomas felt pulled by her presence like a moth to a flame. He observed, curiously, as she crossed the room with Alfie right behind her, all eyes on her. Then it took him by surprise the way his nephew had run to her, hugging and kissing her as if she was family. He already knew that she and Ada were close but he was right in assuming – after Ada called her by a nickname – that their bond was stronger than he had predicted.

Polly noticed the way Tommy’s eyes were immediately attracted to the woman the moment she entered the pub. She took her time observing the girl too. It was undeniable that she was beautiful – all soft curves, long hair and a smile that could light up the whole room – but there was something more, something about the way she carried herself that made people captivated by her.

She watched Thomas observing the girl and immediately recognized the spark in his eyes – there was no denying that he was attracted to her, Polly wanted to know in what extent. The older woman saw the same spark in Daphne’s eyes when their eyes crossed just before Karl jumped into the woman’s arms. Her relationship with Ada was something that Polly would explore later, because there was no way that her niece would have left Karl around someone she didn’t trusted.

“That woman over there isn’t Harriet?” John’s voice broke the spell and Tommy looked at the woman his brother was talking about – it was the brunette, dressed in a tight navy blue skirt and white blouse mocking a the man who was hugging Daphne at the moment.

“Harriet? You must be crazy Jhonny, boy. This can’t be…” Arthur’s mouth fell open before he could finish the sentence.

“The owner of one of the most famous brothels in London?” John looked at the older Shelby, smugly, but Tommy’s attention was securely held by the interaction between Daphne and the man that had just hugged her. He seemed like one of those rich gentlemen that every mother wanted for their daughters at the same time that he held an air of rebellion. What made Thomas wary was the way his touch lingered on Daphne who seemed unbothered by it.

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Daphne graciously greeted everyone in the mezzanine – everyone except for the group of people watching her on the other side of the mezzanine. She looked at Alfie that just motioned for her to follow him.

“And I took the opportunity to invite the rest of the Shelby clam, so we could get acquaintance, aye. Now, you already know Tommy here, this is the rest of his family.”

“Arthur Shelby, at your service.” The eldest of the brothers kissed the back of Daphne’s hand, making her smile.

“Daphne Scott.”

“John Shelby, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He mimicked his older brother moves, a flirtatious smile on his face.

“Likewise. You aren’t supposed to have a wife, somewhere?” Arthur almost spat his drink trying to contain his laughter and John cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. Alfie chuckled behind her.

“She had to stay home with the kids.”

“Send her my regards, then.” He nodded at her, clearly not used being caught flirting like that. Daphne’s eyes then stopped in the older woman beside Thomas. She was staring at her quizzically but there was a hint of a smile on her features.

“Polly Gray.” She took a second too much to extend her hand for the younger woman to take, probably trying to make a point. Her grip was firm but so was Daphne’s – two could play at this game.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ada talks greatly of you.” The girl knew how to play, Polly had to give her that. The way she handed John’s flirting showed that she knew how to handle herself and, most importantly, that she had done her fair share of research on them. By bringing Ada into the conversation right now, she was trying to gain the older woman’s good graces.

“Funny thing is that she never mentioned you.”

“I had to keep her away from the bunch of you or otherwise she would have left running.” Ada quipped in, having just arrived back at the mezzanine after going to the bathroom, before Daphne could say anything.

“Well, she is not running.” Her hazel eyes encountered Tommy’s when he spoke, keeping himself beside his aunt. Daphne held his gaze when she answered.

“It takes a lot more to make me run.”

“I hear that a happy birthday is in order.” He extended his hand to her, that she took without question, the touch lasting a minute longer than it should.

“Dee Dee, are you going to have a cake?” Daphne released Tommy’s hand to lower herself to Karl’s level before talking to the little boy.

“Maybe. Why? Will you want some?”

“’Cause when it’s your birrr…” She smiled again.

“Birthday.”

“Yeah, you have to blow the candles, right?”

“That’s right, lad. Do you want to go see if Daph’s cake is ready?” Daphne was amused at how shocked everyone looked when Alfie lowered himself at her side to talk with the little boy, who looked at him shyly. Karl looked at his mother who nodded at him, before looking at Daphne again.

“Will you help me blow out the candles?” He only nodded excitedly, before taking the hand that Alfie offered him and the two of them walked to the kitchen. When Daphne straightened herself, observing Alfie and Karl going down the stairs seemingly in a happy conversation, she directed herself to her friend. “That was a low blow, even for you.”

“What can I say, we play with the cards we have.”

[semi-imaginary-place]

gamers have no rights

SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

Oh and Minato actually using crude (like he always speaks very politely)  speech for the last big shot was a good moment. i rather like minato  and you can  see how dear kaburagi is to him. Minato gets Kaburagi put on mod duty instead of being destroyed or sentenced to life at the waste facility. Minato then stops Kaburagi from getting destroyed a second time and even keeps his avatar which would have gotten him killed. and he does all this without Kaburagi asking him, without Kaburagi ever knowing. Minato in the finale then risks annihilation to see kaburagi in the finale and is willing to gamble his life by staying in deca-dence to execute the plan. if he hadn’t helped, kaburagi would almost certainly be destroyed by the bubble wipe. Minato just wants to be near Kaburagi and be a part of his life. me in the distance: “gaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy”

when the admins threw donatello into the poop jail, did no one think to take the arm gun?

Yuzuru Tachikawa  has a lot of good stuff. death parade, mob psycho 100 II, assistant director for zankyo no terror.

once a limiter is released, can you put it back on?

http://decadence-anime.com/en/ incase the website ever goes down and i have to use the wayback machine

5.5: ok so i did forget the part where they say that Solid Quake and the other mega corps manufacture the cyborgs. ah and the cyborgs are also property of Solid Quake. real last stage capitalist dystopia. and some cyborgs’ job is to play the mmo. Like the company mandates download of the game upon cyborg activation. yeah if solid quake has the resources to manage a population of squishy monsters and have absolute control of all matter in the bubble they totally could have dealt with the air pollution on the rest of the planet. There’s also at least 4 other structures/companies on the planet. I wonder what they are up to. i was wondering about the ruins, so they were made as set pieces/background art for the post apocalyptic story.

so cyborgs did originally have their roots in biological humans. but currently and all the ones we see are assembled by Solid Quake. I wonder about the cyborg cores, they have the same green glow as oxyone. And one of the characters (minato? kaburagi?) says that cores aren’t controlled by Solid Quake, so the cyborgs have free will.

So I doubt minato ever switched departments though I guess its possible, meaning when he says he wants to fight along side kaburagi again he means this metaphorically, he wants to be able to once against work towards the same goal as kaburagi side by side. Also Minato calls Kaburagi “Kabu” no honorifics or anything and the subtitles bastardize this into just “Kaburagi”

they ended up making a game that involves throwing around a cyborg core. isn’t that a little...

Though everyone helped out a little, the finale was all about helping kaburagi where as I would have preferred something like everyone working and changing the system rather than kaburagi having a chat and the deca dence system letting him do what he wants. but I suppose that’s a hook for season 2. So seen on its own deca-dence has a good solid ending but not a spectacular one. But I am so glad it has a good ending, you don’t know how many shows have gotten my hopes up in the first couple episodes only to fizzle out and flop. I am so happy this show stuck the landing even if there was a little wobble.

I watched all of Deca-Dence in one sitting and wow do I love this show. It's just a good solid show. There's no weak point, each episode is solid, the writing is good, the animation is striking, and most importantly the show holds itself together throughout its entire run.

funny thing is. When I first saw the promo material for this anime back in spring of 2020 i went like ”ugggg not another one of these” where the remnants of humanity fight against annihilation at the hands of some monsters like shingeki no kyoujin or kabaneri of the iron fortress mostly because I’m been thinking a lot on compassion for the Other and a lack of that combined with propaganda about how the Other is a threat to the existence of the in-group forms the basis of a lot of modern facism and white supremacy groups that justify their existence against an imaginary threat use this same kind of logic framing themselves as the last bastions of humanity (whiteness) against a monstrous other (muslims, immigrants, ethnic minorities, usually people of color/not white people). Now the premises of humanity fighting against annihilation by monsters in of itself isn’t necessarily racist, but after a year where violent racism exploded against asian americans and BLM had a lot of attention, my mind can’t help but be in that space. However by the time I watched Deca-Dence on January 25, 2021 I had completely forgotten everything and anything about the show. All I remembered was some people crying about it on tumblr and twitter whose posts I skipped over once I realized they were about a show I hadn’t seen. So I went into this with a completely blank slate, I didn’t know that this was scifi, or that there was a giant fortress city, I didn’t know that Kaburagi was featured in the promos alongside Natsume, and I didn’t know we would be fighting monsters. But the first episode was just so well directed that I was excited for a second one despite the premises, and also i was still processing that last shot when i clicked the next episode button. It was the second episode that sold this show for me.

Oh I totally forgot to talk about natsume’s arm and how the show handle’s disability. Also I don’t have a prosthetic so take this with a gain of salt. Natsume occasionally feels self conscious about her prosthetic arm since people will comment on it and it adds barriers in her life, disqualifying her from joining The Power and making it more difficult to adjust the nozzle on her pack. She has added struggles in her life that others don’t, but the show never portrays her as lesser for it, its just something she has to consider and work around in her life. The line about how its not her weakness, but her power was a good line. And she literally turned it into a weapon, that’s so cool.

Corporations generate capital for the enrichment of their shareholders. But in the world of deca-dence there are no shareholders at the end of the pipeline. The machinery of the capitalist firm continues to spin, squeezing out as much cheap or free labor as possible, and acquiring assets, but for nothing and no one. Its a system made to benefit the Few, but whose beneficiaries no longer exist (or at least we never see them in the anime). The exploitation of the Tankers and cyborgs serve no purpose but to continue the existence of Solid Quake and its system.

dissonance grieving tankers at funeral to cyborgs chatting about how fun the last raid event was. bright cartoony artstyle to the dystopia of neoliberal capitalism (and the labor camp). the cheery game trailer and company intro style exposition for the apocalypse.

The reason the ending was only good instead of spectacular is because it doesn’t engage with the themes laid down in earlier episodes enough. The ending provides an emotionally fulfilling ending for its characters but only a lukewarm one for late-stage capitalism. There’s two narratives going on in Deca-Dence. The personal narrative told through Natsume and Kaburagi about learning to try again, improve yourself, make your own decisions, live on your own terms, and push your limits. Then there’s the secondary narrative about overcoming structures and systems of oppression. The anime team did a great job at the first one, but kinda meh about the second one. When we are introduced to the people of Deca-Dence we see them stratified into classes like Gear/cyborg and Tanker. However this is a false narrative perpetuated by Solid Quake to maintain its control of both groups, after all Solid Quake owns both the cyborgs and the Tankers as literal property. Ideally the Tankers and cyborgs would realize the divide between them is false and team up to tear down not only Solid Quake but the systems that allowed mega corps to exist in the first place and build more equitable and just social systems. And we do get some of this in the ending with changes in how Solid Quake is run (no more punishment of “bugs”, got rid of the gulag), but all this is shoved to the background. Essentially management and company policy changed but the fact that the corporation or its structures exists, didn’t. I can't tell if its deliberate or not though. Its common with single cour anime to leave dangling plot threads as a bid to the funding for a second season and most of them never do. So I can see it like that, but eh I still never liked this approach. Its also a limitation of the single cour instead of being produced as a 24 ep anime where they would have had lime to develop that second narrative.

[firefly-in-darkness]

Butterflies & Sunflowers

Characters: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Prompt: Setting / Location - Coffee Shop Date.

Summary: Y/N looks back to when she met Natasha Romanoff.

Warnings: Fluff, lots of FLUFF!

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: This is a one shot for @jaamesbbarnes​ & @sgtjbuccky writing challenge. Well done to you both on your milestone celebration! I have not written flashbacks so it was a great challeneg for me, I hope you enjoy the Romanoff & Y/L/N date!

Moodboard created by me - Coffee Shop // Sunflowers // Books

Firefly’s Library & Masterlist

You gripped onto the bouquet of sunflowers, her favourite, as if your life was dependant on them. Weaving through the crowds and navigating the cobbled streets, you finally reached Maximoff’s Coffee House. 

The bell above the door chimed as you entered and the friendly smiles, from behind the counter, warmed your heart. You greeted the Maximoff twins as you removed your scarf and leather jacket. Wanda gave you a wink from the coffee machine as Pietro placed the cakes onto the tray in front of you. Lemon drizzle for you, carrot cake for her.

   Your favourite spot was at the back of the coffee shop, reserved for you. It was secluded from the other customers and surrounded by shelved books. The familiarity of sinking into the leather sofa nearly made your nerves disappear. Nevertheless, the butterflies hadn’t stopped for three years, unrelenting from the first moment you saw her.

  *

  You were pacing the aisles, looking for a book about the Soviet Union for your final assignment at NYU but it was long forgotten when you reached the period drama section.

 You were enthralled by a woman in a black summer dress, red curls half pined back and falling down her back. You knew she was beautiful with only seeing her profile. Her lashes caressed the curve of her cheek and a dimple formed as she smiled at one of the blurbs.

You were captivated by the graceful way she lowered herself to read the titles on the bottom shelves and the way her index finger moved across the spines of the books.

 It wasn’t until she turned and look at you that you broke out from the trance. The sultry smirk that crossed her lips and the sparkle in her green eyes made your body tingle and you were certain your heart missed a beat.

 “Staring won’t give you the power to see through my clothes.”

You mumbled an apology, the words getting lost in your throat.

“I’m only joking, sort of.” She winked at you as she left with Pride and Prejudice in her arms.

 *

 Wanda sat down opposite you, “Is there anything else you need?”

“I just hope I can form the right words.”

  The tension filling your lungs, the butterflies causing chaos in your stomach and your heart wreaking havoc in your rib cage.

 “Y/N, I’m sure everything will be perfect.” Wanda reassured you and squeezed your hand from across the coffee table as she left you with your thoughts.

  *

  A few weeks after your encounter in the book shop, she was sat in a seat by the window in the coffee house. She was sipping on a latte, her nose buried in a different book, Wuthering Heights.

 You waved over to Wanda and Pietro who were arranging the cake display, “Has she been here before?”

“Yeah, she comes by every Wednesday morning.” Said Wanda.

“I think her name is Natalie or something like that.” Added Pietro.

 Wanda joined you on her break, but you were not paying attention to any of the words coming out of her mouth or the textbooks in front of you. All you could see was her.

 Half an hour had passed, and she began to leave. You rushed out of your chair, sending it back and crashing to the floor. Wanda and the other customers were startled by the abrupt movement and intrusive sound in the serene coffee shop.

 She didn’t even register the interruption but grinned and walked towards you. Once again, you couldn’t find the words to speak to her. She took a pen from her bag and grabbed the napkin in front of you.

 She placed the napkin in your hand and whispered in your ear, her perfume intoxicating you, “Here. 7pm on Friday. Sunflowers.”

 She left you, once again, unable to form a sentence.

 You lifted the chair and avoided looking at Wanda and Pietro. You knew they were trying their hardest to not laugh. You could feel the blush creep up your face as you read the napkin.

 Natasha

212-984-2211

  *

  “What are you daydreaming about Y/N?” Natasha’s voice melted your heart and the butterflies erupted into a frenzy as you glanced up at her.

   You stood and pulled her into a warm embrace, her lips ghosted your cheek before she pulled away. She was a vision, her red curls pinned up neatly, wearing a white blouse with navy trousers.

   You sat back down on the sofa, and she slipped by you to the other side. The slightest touch was electric. Oh, what you would give to have those long legs wrapped around you, tangled in bedsheets.

  Your fantasy was interrupted by Pietro as he placed down a cappuccino and latte.

  “Happy Anniversary my love.” She lifted out a small bag and placed it on your lap.

“I thought we said no presents?”

“Yet you bought me these.” She chuckled as she brought the bouquet to her face, indulging in the scent of the flowers.

   You could listen to the sound of her laugh and watch the sparkle in her eyes for the rest of your life and it would never be anything less than lovely.

   You opened the bag to find a long black velvet box, your heart beat raced as you opened it to find a silver necklace, with an hour glass charm.

  “It’s beautiful, thank you.”

   Natasha took it from your hands and unclasped the chain. You lifted your hair as she placed it around your neck. Her fingers brushed over your pulse and your collarbone as Natasha adjusted the charm hanging above your cleavage.

  You felt a blush creep up your cheeks as you thought of her hand and fingers drifting lower on your chest.

   Looking into the bag, a napkin with Natasha’s scrawl was at the bottom. You picked it up and saw the Maximoff logo at the bottom, faded from the years. Turning it over you could see Natasha’s name and telephone number with a new addition. Tears filled your eyes as you read the words.

   My time with you will always be precious.

  *

  It was 6.50pm, you kept glancing at your watch in hopes that the minutes would pass by quicker. Your head snapped up every time you heard the bell above the door chime. It wasn’t her. Nor were the next five people that entered the coffee house.

   You could see Wanda glancing over towards you from the corner of your eye. You couldn’t bear to look at your best friend from the were nerves and fear of being stood up.

  Two cups of coffee and only three re-read paragraphs of your book later, you decided to go home. Disappointment and embarrassment could easily be solved with a bubble bath and an early night.

  The cool night air and the drizzling rain made you tremble under your jacket. You opened your umbrella, stepping out onto the street as someone crashed into you.

 “Y/N, I am so sorry!”

  You spun around, Natasha had collided with you. Her hair was soaking and make up ran down her face yet, she still wore the prettiest smile. She was holding onto your waist, your umbrella sheltering her from the rain. Your eyes were locked onto each other. You couldn’t feel the rain getting heavier or see the flash of lightning, but the thunder shook you both to your cores.

 You softly unfolded yourself, taking Natasha’s hand in yours. “Let’s get you inside, you’re going to freeze out here.”

  Natasha settled into the sofa and you wrapped a blanket around her legs as she blew on the hot chocolate in her hands.

“Thank you, Y/N. I am never late, it’s not like me at all. Time is precious and I have wasted yours. Please can we start over?”

  You had forgiven her the moment you held her hand. A bubble bath and an early night was long forgotten.

  *

  “Don’t cry, my reputation as a hard-ass will be ruined if people know that I am a hopeless romantic!” You giggled at Natasha’s comment and wiped the corners of your eyes with the sleeve of your jumper.

   Your lips met hers briefly, foreheads resting on each other as you stroked her cheek. Natasha pulled away and tucked a lose strand of hair behind your ear.

You talked about nothing and everything in between sips of coffee and nibbles of cake.

 Natasha looked at you and licked the icing from her lips, a mischievous grin spread across her face and she leant forwards.

“I cannot wait to get home tonight.” She whispered as she stroked your arm.

  You breathe hitched and your arousal grew. You berated yourself, and instead of going to stroke up her thigh you focused on your coffee cup, draining it in seconds.

 “You’re eager?!” Natasha winked at you, draining the mug herself.

   Your heart stopped as Natasha swallowed the last of her latte and saw the bottom of her coffee cup.

   Will you marry me?

  You knelt to the side of Natasha, pulling a velvet box and a wrinkled piece of paper from your pocket. It felt like an eternity before she placed the cup down on the table and looked at you.

  “Before you answer, I would like to say a few words…” You stuttered as the butterflies began plunging around your stomach. “The first time I saw you was like time had stopped.”

  You glanced at the words on the paper before taking her hand and looking into her glistening green eyes.  You stroked the back of her hand with your thumb as you carried on with your speech.

  “And ever since, I have never wanted to waste a single second with you. That is the reason I agreed to come back to our first date. You bewitched me, body and soul.”

Natasha sniffled and giggled at the Pride and Prejudice quote, “That’s the book I bought when we met. Wait, are you some sort of stalker?!”

  You chuckled and shook your head before glancing down at the sheet of paper and throwing it onto the table. “Natasha, I love you, and I have done so from the moment you commanded my attention in this coffee shop all those years ago.”

  You opened the velvet box, revealing a dazzling engagement ring. “As you said earlier, our time together is precious so will you marry me?”

 Natasha threw her arms around you, kissing you several times over your cheeks and lips.

“I’ll take that as a yes then?” You giggled and wrapped your arms around her.

 Natasha nodded against your lips, tears rolling down between both of your cheeks.

  You were solely focused on her, with the remnants of butterflies, the glow of sunflowers and the scent of coffee.

[bountybossier]

Deblighted to Meet You II Josephine and Nicodemus

It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.

With: @saintjosaphime

Life, sometimes, came down to two choices: investigate, or do not investigate. This was the fork that Josephine had come upon when she’d taken a simple stroll through the woods and heard-- and felt-- something amiss. Any normal person would probably leave it and go, but Josephine was anything but normal. So, gathering herself, and the little dagger she kept with her, she crept off the path to investigate the noise. Rule number one, she had told her sister, ages ago, do not investigate. But that was back when they were human, squishy. Well...back when she was human. Now, the only death she could have was given to herself. Voices up ahead, low and gruff. Well, one voice. One voice, one wave of anger. Josephine made her way through the bushes, too inexplicably drawn the by the call of the emotions to stop herself, or to realize that something was following her-- until she reached a clearing, and down by the bank of the river-- a person. Slumped over something dead on the ground. But despite being an immortal being, Josephine could not see well in the dark, so the figure on the ground was lost to her, even as she came closer. The figure was a hunter, probably. Her opinion was not swayed by species, though-- it was only the anger inside of them that drew her in. A twig snapped behind her and her head spun to look behind her-- but it was too late. Whatever it was was already on top of her with a heavy, liquid thump! Her back hit the ground. This was altogether embarrassing, Josephine though, as she struggled. “A little help!” she finally called out, hoping the person down the hill would at least have some sense of moral duty to help an “innocent” stranger.

Joke was on the ahuizotl: Nicodemus didn’t give a shit about babies. Back home, he had developed a distaste for the river demons and it had stayed with him long into adulthood. If a bounty ever came up for him, he snatched it with vigor and determination. And maybe a little bitterness. They were among the first creatures that his grandfather had him get acquainted with. When it came to dismantling them, the hunter had keen precision and efficiency. He muttered to himself as he worked, setting aside the pieces he did or didn’t need into separate piles. The hand was what he really needed, but the innards could be used for some coveted delicacies and mixtures he had familiarity with. The muttering stopped as something drew near, likely someone. His ears figuratively perked up and he straightened his crouched posture. That flare of annoyance in his chest grew. Always someone in this town to happen by, it seemed. His trained ears heard the voice well enough, but he made no immediate move to offer assistance. Something was on them. He couldn’t likely tell what from anything else nearby that caused his skin to crawl and his pupils to dilate. Standing still into obscurity wouldn’t work. The stranger already knew he was there. The hunter swore and stood up, wiping his hands off on his dark pants as he stalked up the lake edge in no particular hurry. “What’d you need?” He was met with what looked like a blob of blood converging on someone. Groovy. “...The fuck is that?”

“My dog,” Josephine said in a huff, fighting to keep the thing from crawling onto her face. It was hard to get a hold of it, it felt like a wet burlap sack full of jelly. Fingers clawing to get it off, covering themselves in blood and the like. Gross. And this was a newer jacket, too. She clawed at the thing, when suddenly, it seemed to change directions, falling off of her and lunging for the person who had come up to very poorly try and help. Josephine scrambled away, wiping her hands on her now ruined jacket and pointed at the thing as it scuttled towards him. “Do I look like I know what that thing is!?” she hissed, kicking at it as it squelched along. She’d never seen something so disgusting in her life. As gross as it was, though, it sure was slow moving, pulling itself along by moving its flesh over itself. It kind of looked like how a slug moved, stretching along and pulling itself back in. “It looks like a sack of organs.”

The hunter’s expression withered. It wouldn’t be hard to turn around and go back to pilfering through ahuizotl organs. Nicodemus readied himself to make a remark about not being shocked by blood dogs when suddenly it did become difficult to organ harvest. “I don’t know your life, la--” His hands came up to his face defensively, his instinct to protect his eyes and mouth outweighing the need to snark. Another time then. The blood bubble squished around his hands and the smell was nearly overwhelming. “What in the hell?!” His voice was a garbled mess behind the blob and he tried what she had, clawing and grunting. It was hell to try and grab. A good enough grip of at least half of it was enough to pull it off his hands and frisbee-toss it downhill. Bits clung to his fingers. Undeterred, the blood regrouped and crawled up the wet grass. Whatever it was, it had a goddamn mission. “Well, I can’t shoot that,” he said, almost despairingly. Mostly annoyed, a little furious even. “Where the hell did it come from?”

Josephine had half a mind to turn around and leave as soon as it was off of her and on the hunter, but as angry as she was, she couldn’t not help someone in trouble. She wasn’t heartless. She was Justice. And she was angry. As the hunter finally tossed the creature off, she watched it land in the grass and immediately begin crawling its way back up. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to stop. They needed to stop it now or it would probably follow them both till their deaths, and Josephine didn’t much feel like ruining a jacket a day for eternity. “Did you try shooting it?” she asked with a little huff, taking a step back. “Like I know! I was just out for a walk when I heard a noise. Noise led me to you, gutting an ahuizotl, and then this thing showed up. So it’s probably your problem.”

Nicodemus took in a lifetime’s worth of breath through his nose, his nostrils flared out as a mossy anger crept up his ribs. He just wanted the organs. That’s all he wanted and he couldn’t fucking get even that. If rage alone could burn a city down, he could very well have been the match at that moment. He turned the safety off his handgun, readied it, and emptied the majority of the clip into the crawling sack of blood and tissue. And still, it crawled. “I tried now,” he grunted. So the first choice didn’t work. Fine. They weren’t out of options. “I was guttin’ it for a reason, not for fun.” That didn’t exactly pertain to the situation at hand but he said it anyway. “That can’t be reason enough for it to--Hmm.” His thoughts cut off his speech. He searched them and backed up. The vague notion that he might know what it was crossed his mind’s path. Then again, he had dealt with a lot of shit throughout the years. Before he could speak up again, the blood launched itself like a cat and the hunter reflexively ducked into a roll. The wet grass caused him to slide some but he righted himself quickly. “Think it might be yours too!

Josephine stood by as he emptied a whole clip into the thing, and once he was done, it sucked all of its scattered bits back up and kept crawling towards them. Gross. Josephine liked to believe she knew quite a bit about the otherworldly things that took up residence in White Crest, but this? This was something she didn’t know too much about. A sack of organs that seemingly couldn’t die? A swell of anger pulled her from her thoughts. This hunter was just so full of it. God, just standing here made her feel strong. His anger was like a shot of adrenaline. She grinned. Couldn’t help it. Watched him duck out of its way, watched it crawl its way towards her again. This time, she simply lifted her foot and stomped her heel into it, the sharp end of her shoe jabbing into it. It cried out a bit, but kept moving, dislodging itself from under her foot. She frowned. “Hmmm what? Do you know what it is, other than annoying?” she asked, backing away as it once again tried to leap onto her. Once it landed back on the ground, she kicked it back towards the hunter, feeling it separate on impact, spilling blood all over her shoes. “And disgusting.”

“It’s coming to me, hang on,” Nicodemus grumbled, eyes on the prize as he contemplated. “Been awhile since I’ve seen one. I know they’re pissed off about something and stick to that something until they, well, kill. I’ve seen that too. The aftermath of it.” It wasn’t just vampires and werewolves that came for hunters with a grudge match in mind. Sometimes it was a vengeance-seeking pile of organs that couldn’t be stopped through conventional means, only avoided until the legs got tired and a mouth opened to take that breath the lungs so desperately needed. Death didn’t take long to appear after that. He would take a wolf any day of the week. Now, it was just unfortunate. A wry smile spread on his face. “Can’t be bargained with, can’t be reasoned with,” he added. It probably wasn’t something to smile about, but he couldn’t help it. It was a reflex. “Other shit you can at least deal with.” It congealed itself together at his feet and with a garbled sound of annoyance, he stomped on it with both feet. Maybe if they kept stomping it, it would get the idea. Not likely. He didn’t think organs could be drowned, but he glanced at the lake regardless. “Think there’s a jar nearby or somethin’?”

Can’t be bargained with, can’t be killed. Both of Josephine’s go-tos. She watched with a groan as he stomped and stomped and stomped on the thing, but it kept reforming itself and coming back for more, tossing between the two, wondering which one it wanted to kill first. Well, it wasn’t going to have much luck with Josephine. Maybe it could sense that. Maybe it could sense its chase of her was just as useless as the hunter’s attempts to stomp it out. They were at an impasse. But this was getting annoying, and she wasn’t looking to adopt a blood puppy. “Oh, yes, a jar. We can just grab one at the jar store they put up in the middle of the forest. Perfect!” She glanced around quickly, spotted a larger rock, and raced over to it. The thing turned its attention quickly to her, not wanting to let its primary victim get away, and scuttled towards her. When it was close enough, she summoned all her strength, and rolled the rock right on top of it. The sound was like dropping a rock into a puddle of mud. Blood spreading out around the base of the rock, leaking out. “There, dealt with.”

“You can find all kinds of weird crap in the woods, people litter all the time,” Nicodemus remarked offhandedly. People also apparently left hemoblights--that’s what it was--in the woods all the time. It wasn’t lost on him what that meant. Regardless, it didn’t cause him to cast any side eye. It only made him awfully curious. As he thought about it, he watched as she plopped a rock right on top of it. It was funny to look at, as if they were suddenly giants and the rock had fallen on some unsuspecting passerby. “Huh, not bad,” he said, mildly impressed. Far more conventional than trying to find a jar, or Nic’s second option of a flamethrower, in the woods. “Guess that’s that then. See you around.” He dusted his hands of it and shrugged. He could get back to his guts. The hunter offered a half-hearted two-finger salute and turned on his heel. That squelching sound returned only steps later. His fists clenched as he started to turn around. “Oh, you gotta be fuckin’ joking m--” Before he could finish, the blob launched flung itself to try and hug his face.

Josephine rolled her eyes. But the thing was taken care of, and whatever this guy had been up to didn’t matter. She’d keep his face in mind for later-- and his anger-- but he didn’t matter to her. He wasn’t the kind of person she made deals with. “Guess so,” she said, already taking her leave, wiping her hands on a handkerchief in her pocket. But then a gurgling noise made her swerve around, already ready to swat it away, only to find it barreling for the hunter’s face, trying to stuff itself down his throat. Oh, ew. Oh, wait-- she knew what this thing was. She’d heard about something like this before. Something about vengeance for...something. Cynthia had told her about them, to be careful of them. Dammit. Dammit! Josephine raced over, clawing at the thing, trying to help remove it from his face. It held on tight. She dug her hands in and yanked, pulling chunks of it off, stumbling backwards with the force of her motion. This thing was never gonna stop, was it? “Dammit! Get it off! I have an idea!”

Pure, unbridled hate rolled out of Nicodemus’s every pore. Now if only he could self-immolate and ignite the son of a bitch. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in his deck and all he could do was play slap hands with blood. A split-second sensation of something like gratitude happened when the woman came back. Later, when he wasn’t getting face-hugged by bloody vengeance, he could appreciate her efficiency and altruism. He ignored the slight pain when her hands dug through the blood and met skin, but at least it peeled the fucker off enough for him to talk. “Where’s the fuckin--” His speech muffled under the blood until he pulled it off again, enough for him to finally look at her with burning eyes. “Devil when you need him? Fuck, what is it?”

Josephine stumbled back a little, waiting for him to get the rest of it off. She stomped once for good measure on the bits trying to put itself back together on the ground before turning back to the hunter. “We’re going to make a deal,” she said, pointing at him. “You’re going to think about how much you hate this thing for whatever reason-- maybe it interrupted your peaceful night or because now you have to get tested for HIV since it stuffed blood in your mouth--” she gave a shrug, “and then you’re going to shake my hand and tell me you want it gone. Forever. And in exchange, you’re going to promise to never speak to anyone about this. Deal?” It wasn’t really a question, though. The way her eyes bored into him. It was this, or she would leave to let him die. He was a murderer, it seemed, anyway. No sweat off Josephine’s back.

“Yeah?” Nicodemus replied, immediately put on edge. Few things in the world could make deals like that and everything he had ever learned as a hunter was roaring at him, wearing the face of his grandfather. The very idea of it put a shit taste in his mouth and it wasn’t just the blood. All he wanted to do was get the guts and go, but nothing in White Crest ever seemed to come cheap or easy. To hell with it all. Eyes like pitch met hers and his expression hardened. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine how much he hated the blood congealing in front of him. Confronted with vengeance, he had no reason to consider sympathy. Kill it again and be done with it. “Fine, we got a deal,” he said through grit teeth. “I want this thing to fuckin’ burn and I want it gone, to hell or whereafter.” The hunter stuck out his bloodied hand and smiled like a grimace. If it didn’t go for him, it would go for her and on they would dance. Blood called for blood and few people knew the tune it sang. “From one bloodletter to another.”

Josephine didn’t much like the fact that he felt they were somehow equal, simply because this gross creature had decided to come after both of them. Hunters often thought what they did was for the greater good, but having a prejudice based simply on species reminded Josephine too much of the people she’d grown up with, who spat at her and her sister simply because they were black. Or women. Or queer. But, she supposed, she couldn’t blame them too much. They were just doing the job the universe handed them, and if she had the right to stick so truly to hers, then they should, as well. It was a hard thing to balance, but if they stayed off her radar, then she supposed it didn’t matter. It simply meant, she would not hesitate to take one out lest someone wish it. She frowned. “Deal.” Raised her hand, and snapped.

The blight, almost fully formed on the ground, ignited. It screamed, somehow in pain, despite not having the ability to feel it. “To hell, or whereafter,” she repeated, staring the hunter straight in the eye, as the blight crumpled, burned. Something seemed to reach through the ether and grab it, pulling its existence completely from this plane, leaving behind only a stain of red in the grass to prove it had existed at all. She felt the deal settle nicely in her stomach, though her mind soured at the idea of it. It wasn’t the kind of deals she liked making, especially with someone like this. But it would do for now. “Thanks for the help. I’ll leave you to your monster guts, then.”

He looked from her eyes to the blood sack-turned-inferno. It was satisfying to watch and his head tilted. Nicodemus had heard little about dealings that could cause a blaze, but having something like that for his first time....The one word that could summarize it was neat. And he would keep it in mind like a nugget of something valuable. The concept of a deal that didn’t neatly stack like fresh dollars grated on him. However, not getting mauled anymore was as pleasant of a conclusion as they could come to for the time being. He could go back to his guts and she could go back to wherever her path was taking her. Yet for that brief blink of time, something found it worthy to judge them. And that was a curious thought that weighed on him, one that he wrung between his hands as he backed away. “Sure, anytime,” he said with a knowing nod. “Good luck and be seeing you.”

[angelofthequeers]

Ladybug and Reine Nuit: Chapter 19

Puppeteer

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

I was listening to ‘Nightmare’ by NateWantsToBattle (my favourite singer) while writing this chapter.

Trust me, you’ll want to do the same. And check out this post for additional feels.

@miraculousl4dybug @livinthebilife tagged as requested :)

Check out my Ko-fi for writing commissions!

Chapter 18 | Chapter 20

Bloody Hawkmoth. That douchebag always has to ruin Marinette’s day, doesn’t he? Just when Marinette was catching the train to see a movie with her friends, too.

“What’s going on?” Nino cries as blue sparkles shoot up his legs, turning him into Bubbler.

“Nino!” Marinette, Adrien, and Alya shout. Bubbler turns to Marinette with a childish scowl on his blue face.

“Marinette!” he snaps. “Give me those Ladybug and Reine Nuit dolls!”

“B-Bubbler?” is all Marinette can say. What’s going on? Had Nino been re-akumatised? But he hadn’t been upset! And the sparkles had been blue, not purple!

“No! I’m Puppeteer!” Bubbler stamps his foot. “And I want those dolls now!”

“What – but – I don’t have the dolls!” Marinette says. Why does Puppeteer want the superhero and supervillain dolls she’s been sewing? “They’re at home! Why do you want them?”

“Because you said I could have them!” Bubbler says with another foot stamp. “Then Mummy said no! So, give ‘em to me now, or you’ll be super-duper sorry!”

Everything clicks into place. “Manon!” Marinette gasps. Alya and Adrien frown at her. “I was babysitting Manon today, and we were playing with some dolls I’ve made, and she wanted to borrow the Ladybug and Reine Nuit dolls but Nadja said no! But I let her take the Bubbler one!” She gasps again. “Nino! I’m so sorry!”

“I want Ladybug and Reine Nuit’s Miraculouses, so I can win forever and ever!” Bubbler howls before conjuring a bubble and flying off with a mad little laugh. Marinette groans and ducks away to transform. Why is this her life?

.

The first indication Alya gets that this hadn’t been a normal akuma fight is when Nino is oddly quiet when they meet back up at the train station for their movie after Puppeteer’s defeat. She’d originally chalked it to him trying to process what had just happened, but that was before she realised that she hadn’t been any quieter or more subdued after Ladybug had defeated Puppeteer and freed her from the akuma’s control after Puppeteer had snagged the Reine Nuit doll. No, it must be something else.

“Sorry, dudes, but I’m not in the mood for a movie,” Nino says suddenly. Alya jumps out of her deep thoughts. “I think I’m gonna just head home.”

“Are you sure?” Adrien says. “Did that akuma knock you around a bit?”

Nino forces a smile. “Yeah. I just kinda wanna go home and sleep it off. Catch you later?”

“You call us if you need anything, yeah?” Alya says. Nino forces a grin and a thumbs-up, then snaps his headphones on and heads for the stairs out of the station. Alya frowns after him.

“Maybe we should just reschedule,” Marinette says. “It wouldn’t feel right seeing the movie without Nino.”

“True,” Alya says. “I got some homework I can keep myself busy with. Maybe he’ll feel better tomorrow and we can go then.”

“If my father’s kind enough to let me out tomorrow as well,” Adrien mutters. “I’ll call Nino tonight and check on him.”

With that settled, they head their separate ways. Once she’s alone, Alya transforms into Reine Nuit and bounds in the direction of Nino’s house, hoping to catch him either there or on the way there. She’s in luck; a few streets away from the station, she spots him shuffling along the sidewalk, his shoulders slumped.

“Nino?” she says when she lands behind him, lightly touching his shoulder in case he doesn’t hear her. Nino jumps and whirls around, fists raised, but he lowers them when he sees who it is.

“Reine Nuit!” he says. “Don’t do that, dude!”

“Sorry,” Reine Nuit says sheepishly.

“What are you even doing here?”

Reine Nuit sighs. “I ran into your friend Alya. She told me that you’ve been a bit off since Puppeteer and that she’s worried about you.”

“Thanks, but I’m totally fine.” There’s that fake smile again. Reine Nuit just raises an eyebrow.

“Come on,” she says and holds out her hand. “Let me take you home at least.”

There’s still suspicion in Nino’s eyes, but he accepts her offer and lets her scoop him up and leap through the streets of Paris until they arrive at his house. But they’ve got company; waiting on the doorstep are Adrien and Marinette.

“Dudes, I told you –” Nino protests.

“Yeah, right,” Marinette says with her hands on her hips. “Like we’re gonna let you stew, Nino Lahiffe.”

“Hey, cookie, Ladybugreste,” Reine Nuit grins. “Alya told me that Nino could use some help.”

“Well, I know you’re not gonna leave me alone till I talk to you, so you may as well get it over with,” Nino sighs, standing aside to let them in and then closing the door behind them. Reine Nuit gives him a smile and sits down on the black leather couch with Marinette and Adrien, wincing when she steps on a Lego block in the process and pain shoots up her leg. Thank god for protective hero suits, or she’d be a sobbing mess right about now. Maybe they should just start yeeting Legos at akumas from now on.

“I don’t want you to feel like you’re being pressured to talk to me,” Reine Nuit says. “But after Alya told me that she was worried about you, I realised that we never really follow up on the people who got akumatised. And she told me that this isn’t what you were like after the first time you were Bubbler.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I don’t remember it.” Nino sits on a cracked brown armchair and sags. “I mean, I get flashes when I’m asleep, but they’re dreams, y’know? No different to having a nightmare. Did I really try and suffocate you and Ladybug in a bubble?”

Reine Nuit shrugs. “Yeah, but it’s hardly the worst thing that’s happened to us. What’s different this time…if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I wasn’t akumatised, was I?” Nino says with a twisted smile. “I didn’t have some butterfly giving me powers and shit. I was being controlled by an akuma. I was a puppet. And normal people don’t forget the crap that happens to them when akumas hit them, do they? Not if those akumas aren’t brainwashing ones, which she wasn’t.”

Reine Nuit gasps. “Shit.”

“I remember everything, Reine. I remember trashing Marinette’s room to get the dolls. I remember trapping Ladybug in a bubble. I remember giving all the dolls to Puppeteer – so I’m the one responsible for everyone else’s pain! Nathaniel, Roger, you…you got controlled ‘cause of me. Whatever I’m feeling right now, you’re feeling it now too ‘cause of me.”

“That’s not true, Nino,” Reine Nuit says firmly. She leans forward and takes one of his hands, then squeezes it. “You couldn’t help what you did.”

“But I still remember it,” Nino laughs darkly. “It wasn’t like when I was akumatised. I knew everything I was doing – I felt everything I was doing – and I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop…do you guys know what it’s like to be stuck in your own body like it’s a freaking prison? To have someone else pulling the strings? Ladybug doesn’t remember when Dark Cupid hit her, does she?”

“N-No, I don’t think she does,” Marinette says in an odd voice.

“But I remember this! This wasn’t mind control – this was someone else playing puppeteer with my body!”

By the end of his speech, tears are starting to spill down Nino’s cheeks. Before Reine Nuit can do anything, he jumps up with a yell and slams his head into the wall behind the chair, thumping it with his fists. Reine Nuit bounds over to stop him from hurting himself and when she pulls him into a loose hug from behind, he turns around and throws his arms around her, squeezing so tightly that she can barely breathe, the bottom of his glasses digging into her scalp from where they’re pushed up and his wet cheeks dampening her hair when he buries his face in the top of her head. But she doesn’t complain. Nino needs this, and it’s better than him hurting himself in his distress.

“You know, I can’t even hate Puppeteer,” Nino says thickly when Reine Nuit’s guided him to sit down with her on the couch. Marinette and Adrien immediately huddle around him, adding their hugs to the comfort pile. “She’s just a kid. And hating her for being akumatised would be freaking hypocritical.”

“It’s Hawkmoth’s fault, Nino,” Adrien says. “He’s the only one to blame for this. Not you, not Puppeteer, not any of the other akumas.”

“He’s the one who’s made it unsafe to feel negative emotions without him taking advantage of you,” Marinette agrees.

“I promise you, Nino: Ladybug and I are gonna find Hawkmoth and we’re gonna kick him up the butt for you,” Reine Nuit says, stroking her crying friend’s hair.

“Agreed!” Marinette says.

“Just save me a piece and I’m totally down with that,” Nino jokes weakly, pulling away and wiping his eyes.

“Did talking about it help a little at least?” Reine Nuit says. Nino shrugs.

“A bit. But…ya know…can’t really put this kinda thing into words…”

“How would you usually deal with this?”

“My music. I’d go and mix a track or something.” Nino sighs. “But I don’t feel like it. Feels like all the juice got sucked outta me.”

Marinette lets out a small gasp. “I think I know someone who can help,” she says and pulls a Reine Nuit by holding out her hand. “If you trust me, that is? And if Reine Nuit’s happy to give us a lift?”

“Sure thing,” Reine Nuit says. Nino bites his lip, then shrugs and takes Marinette’s hand.

“Why the hell not? You guys helped me just now. Just lemme lock up.”

“I’ll head home from here,” Adrien says. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Nino smiles weakly at him, but at least it’s a smile. Once they’re outside and he’s locked the front door, Reine Nuit hoists Marinette onto her back, scoops Nino up, waves goodbye to Adrien, and takes off leaping through the city, with Marinette giving directions. Reine Nuit grins when Nino laughs and tips his head back, and when they reach a houseboat on the Seine, he’s reluctant to let go.

“Reine Nuit?” Juleka jumps up from where she’s tuning her guitar. Rose gasps and bounces on the spot, and Ivan grins at her from the drums. Reine Nuit grins back at her classmates, not that they know that she’s in their class or anything.

“Marinette! Nino! Hi!” Rose waves. “What are you doing here with Reine Nuit?”

“Actually, I was wondering if we could speak to Luka?” Marinette says. “I think he’s perfect for this problem.”

“Uh – yeah, of course!” Juleka rushes to the houseboat’s entrance and calls, “Luka! Marinette and Reine Nuit are here to see you!”

“Nice try, little sis,” a voice replies. “Maybe don’t mention superheroes if you want me to believe you.”

“It’s true!” Rose squeals. “She’s here! Come on, Luka!”

“And bring your guitar, please?” Marinette adds loudly. There’s silence for a few seconds, followed by the sound of thumping and footsteps as Luka hurries up the stairs. His eyes widen comically at the sight of Reine Nuit, Marinette, and Nino.

“Reine Nuit?” he says. “What are you doing here with Marinette? Why do you need me?”

“Nino here has a problem and I think you can help him with it,” Reine Nuit says. “According to Marinette here, you come highly recommended.”

Luka smiles. “Well, if you come with Marinette’s blessing, then how can I say no?” He nimbly crosses the plank connecting the boat to the shore and unslings his guitar.

“Nino, how about you explain the problem to Luka?” Marinette says and sits down on the grass, crossing her legs. Reine Nuit, Nino, and Luka follow suit.

“I – so –” Nino clears his throat, then shakes his head. “I don’t think I can. Sorry, dude. I think Reine Nuit’s the only one I could tell, ‘cause she was there and you guys were with her when I told her.”

“Do you think you can express it without words?” Marinette says to Luka. “You read my heart the first time you met me. I was thinking that since you can’t really put something like this into proper words, it might help Nino if someone can express it non-verbally. Nino’s into music as well, so he totally gets what music can do!”

Luka frowns at Nino. “Hmm.” He plucks a string. The note rolls off it and into the air, deep and dark. “I’m sensing torment.” He plays a few more chords that send shivers down Reine Nuit’s spine and cause something dark and icky to roll in her gut. “Darkness. Loss of control. It felt like this, didn’t it?”

Nino stares at Luka with wide, suspiciously shiny eyes as Luka plays a short, dark melody. Reine Nuit’s suddenly overcome with the feeling of trappedhelpneedhelpescape and it takes every ounce of willpower for her to not reach over and crush Nino in a hug and never let him go.

“H-How did you do that?” Nino croaks, quickly wiping his eyes beneath his glasses. Luka smiles gently at him.

“Music’s often simpler than words,” Luka says, strumming again. “You would know that, as a fellow musician. Sometimes, when we’ve been through something intense, words just don’t do that experience justice.”

They fall silent, listening to the song that Luka plays. It’s low and dark, frantic, something that makes Reine Nuit’s heart begin to race as she closes her eyes to absorb it, before then growing higher and more hopeful, a light at the end of the tunnel, reassurance of escape. When she opens her eyes, she sees that Nino’s face is once again shiny and damp, but all the tension has melted out of his body. Once Luka finishes playing, there’s silence.

“Whoa,” Nino murmurs after a few minutes when his eyes flutter open. “That was…whoa, dude.”

Luka smiles. “Did that help you a little bit? Removing that pressure to verbalise your feelings?”

“You know, it totally did,” Nino says. “I can’t thank you enough, dude. I mean, I’m not over it or anything –”

“But it’s helped to alleviate your distress for now,” Luka says. “I’m glad.” He smiles at Marinette and adds, “I’ll have to thank you for recommending me to a superhero, Marinette.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Marinette says. “I mean – no drama for me! It’s definitely something for Nino!”

“Maybe you should join Kitty Section, Nino,” Luka says. “It might be healthy to be in such a musical environment with other people.”

“I dunno,” Nino says. “I don’t exactly play instruments, y’know? I’m more of the DJ kind.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t hang around,” Reine Nuit says. She smirks and adds, “You can be their very first groupie.”

“Hey!” Nino shoves her, while Marinette giggles at that, but he’s grinning widely. “We should go before my parents get home and realise I’m not there when I told them we cancelled the movie. Thanks, Luka, dude.”

Luka smiles and nods. “My pleasure. And it’s great to meet you, Reine Nuit.”

“You too, Luka. Any friend of Marinette’s is cool with me.” Reine Nuit stands up with Marinette and pulls Nino to his feet, then grasps him and Marinette securely. “Good luck with your band!” Then she’s off through Paris with her friends, taking Nino back home first so that he can recover from his ordeal and then Marinette. The minute she lands at his door and lets him go, she and Marinette are crushed in a suffocating hug.

“Thanks, Marinette, Reine Nuit,” Nino whispers into her hair. Reine Nuit smiles and hugs him back just as tightly, as does Marinette.

“I’m just glad you’re doing a little better, Nino,” Reine Nuit says.

[axe-trio-commanders]

Quiet

Yeah, both of the commanders are very much introverts. Very, very mild lws3 spoilers, some mostly vague lws4 spoilers, and some rather direct personal story Priory line spoilers.

    Zori let out a sigh of relief as she pulled herself up and over the final pile of rubble, the stone now well-worn enough that she didn't feel small bits of grit underneath her paw. The tall, underground tower that led to this place was getting easier and easier to navigate- and she wasn't sure if it was because she'd just gotten better at sneaking past them, or if they'd just learned not to bother her, that the Separatists hadn't bothered her on the way up, but she didn’t really mind, either way. And now… she let her fur lie flat, taking a deep breath of the lavender-scented air, a small smile coming to her face as she looked out into her own little patch of paradise. She started forwards again, careful not to step on the small flowers that littered the ground, carpeting the place, surrounding the tall, stone structures of the Ascalonian ruins surrounding them, golden orange trees filtering the beams of sunlight that were cast into the hollow. And… ahh, beyond the soft wind meandering through, faintly rustling the leaves, it was just so… quiet.

     She'd make her way to a small, shaded spot in front of a tree, taking a moment to admire the little wild garden she'd been taking care of. It wasn't really high-maintenance, really- she didn't need anything to be neatly sectioned, and she rather liked the vines crawling their way up the walls, but… she took a small joy in helping the more fragile flowers keep their own little patch of land. They were already native to the place, of course- she wouldn't want something invasive running rampant- but they'd been struggling to survive when she first arrived- and…

They'd been Sieran's favorite.

     ...She took in a deep breath, let it out. She… still wasn't 'over that'- by now, she… didn't think she ever would be, but… she was coming to terms with that. If anything, she didn't want to forget- not that Sieran was gone, but… that she had been there. And… that was why she was here now. Zori reached into her pack, pulling out a well-used tome- not titled, not yet- she hadn't thought of one, though she'd managed a… brief introduction. She'd glance over it as she turned the pages-

"A tribute to some of many who deserve to be remembered."

She'd started writing it… soon after Balthazar died- after only a short trip around Istan, after having seen the school in Vabbi… she'd heard speeches about past rulers rewriting history, but… only then had the consequences held weight to her. That not only might the people she loved, the people she needed might not only not be remembered, but… be remembered poorly. So… she'd start leafing through the pages. Each titled with a name, categorized in the Priory research method she'd had drilled into her head so many times- she often wondered if Gixx would be proud of her, seeing this. Date of entry, date of events- strict truth, then… any personal notes in annotations. There were… a lot of notes in annotations… "Ev Forestner", "Albas", "Trahearne", "Braham Eirsson", "Rox"... "Blish"... the ones closer to the front had notes scribbled up the margins in want for more space to write, until she'd resorted to simply skipping pages ahead to continue writing, sure she wouldn't be able to close the book soon if she simply added pages… names, so many names and stories she felt obligated to preserve, as best she could- each name held a weight, each…

     She stopped at an… almost blank page, the emptiness… glaring- painful, with the name written above it. She'd… tried, before to write this, but found that words were… difficult. How was she supposed to explain everything she wanted to? How did she start…?

     …Another deep breath. Pulling out the pen. Putting it to the page. Just write… something. Just write something, and she'd find so much more to say…

"Sieran"

X-1325 AE

Entry date: 1332 AE

-I still miss her.

-------

     Sweet aromas filled the air of their temporary campsite, the soft clinks of a spoon hitting the side of a wooden stirring bowl the only sound. The stars were out, and most of the others would be asleep, but… well, Seremnis had promised a cake the next day, and she planned to deliver. Strawberry, of course- they always had more than they would ever need stockpiled, thanks to Zori- and, to her surprise, it seemed the group had yet to grow tired of them. So, a strawberry cake- fresh, chilled strawberries in the vanilla icing. She already had the spongy stuff itself baking- the icing was what she was stirring now; and… hm.

     She paused, lifting her hand and inspecting it, noticing a bead of sap bubbling out of a small cut on the side of her hand. Had she… gotten that cooking, or… fighting off wild animals? ...Either way, it'd probably gotten into the icing. Not enough to affect the flavor much, but… she'd have to be a little more careful with how she applied it. Didn't want to accidentally summon something from the realm of torment while making a cake- or, mother forbid, entice one of the Five to come back and actually do something helpful for… hm, there was a thought, though. Could she make an abomination-summoning cake? She knew full well that sap worked as a replacement for blood, but in frosting…? The real issue was that she didn't have anyone good to send it to. Anyone who would have to receive it was either her friend, too deeply mired in politics, or dead. And she wasn't going to just send it to some poor random citizen… she sighed. No, no demon-cakes today.

     She mixed in a couple more pieces of glacial ice to keep the mixture cool, knowing she'd have to pull the magically cold material back out in the morning, content with the mental image of… really any member of Dragon's Watch getting their tongue stuck trying to lick the frosting off- they were safe to eat, anyways, if not the best for one's teeth, so she didn’t find any need to be worried about the consequences… and then she'd step away, sitting just outside, to wait.

     Really, she didn't mind staying up late. She… was a night bloom- preferred the quiet and darkness to the busy chaos of the daytime- but… more than that… she laid back on the ground, looking up at the stars. It was a clear night- one of the first she'd seen since she'd gotten here- and… well, maybe it'd been too long now since she'd looked at the real ones, rather than just the ones she made for herself in her dreams. It was… somehow even more vibrant than she remembered, the night sky- but… still, she'd raise a hand, tracing constellations with a finger, a soft smile on her face. She'd always loved hearing Malomedies talk about them; their names, the stories other races had given them, what they meant… it was… the happiest memory of the Grove she had.

     The Grove… it wasn't home, anymore, not really. Not for her. Without a connection with the Dream, it felt… emptier than it once had, even with the new connections she'd gained through Aurene- and Mother…

     Seremnis closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. But… it was alright. She had… another home, now- not quite anywhere, or in... anyone she’d expected, but... she’d found a new family, here, in Dragon’s Watch. A small smirk crossed her face as she opened her eyes again, remembering the poorly disguised puppy-dog eyes of yesterday’s Zori. A new family that, evidently, wanted cake.

[nayutai]

21 | TM

<< Part 20 | Part 22 >>

As an International Relations major minoring in Korean Studies, studying abroad in Seoul was never not an option for Riyan. Falling in love with an idol rapper was just an added bonus. She thinks life has finally dealt her a bomb ass hand of cards but one tweet on a random Tuesday might burst her bubble.

- and we’re live!! Head on over to my love bug @tae-tae-drives-me-kray’s profile for the rest of the tea so your cups may runneth over! Also.....the smut y’all asked for? It’s down below 🤪

Masterlist

SMUT WARNING: STOP HERE IF YOU AINT TRYNA READ SOME SEXY TIME STUFF

Riyan’s phone buzzes incessantly in her bra as she bounces Nadia in her lap. Her daughter’s enthusiastic giggles bring a smile to her face that only grows bigger at Jimin’s contact picture on her phone.

“Hey babe what’s up? Aye, aye stop that you have to wait your turn, ma’am.” She maneuvers the phone as far as possible from Nadia’s grasping hands.

“Tell my munchkin that I’ll FaceTime her in just a second but first I have to tell her gorgeous mother that Remy will be picking up our bundle of joy later this afternoon because we’re going on a date.” Nadia stops reaching for the phone and goes back to chewing on her teething ring as if she can hear and understand what Jimin is saying.

“Is that so, Mr. Park?”

“Yes it is ma’am so pack a bag for Miss Nadia and then you get all cute for me. Remy will be picking her up at six so I’ll try to get home before then to kiss her goodbye.”

***

True to his word, Jimin struts through the door 30 minutes before Remy is due to arrive. Your mouth waters as you take him in from head to toe. The sleek lines of his frame are accentuated perfectly in an all black suit that has to have been tailor made. His hair, which is currently jet black, is styled to perfection. The dark locks partially covering his forehead. Jimin whistles in appreciation at the way the maroon lace of your dress is draped over your curves.

His megawatt smile splits his face in two when Nadia starts makes a fuss from her play pen, interrupting the moment between you two. Jimin wastes no time scooping her up into his strong arms, peppering kisses all over her face. The sound of her daughter’s excited giggles makes Riyan’s heart soar. He looks so much like a doting father that you’d think he was Nadia’s dad if you didn’t know any better.

***

Dinner at the steakhouse Jimin has rented out for the evening is going amazingly well. He feeds Riyan a piece of meat that practically melts in her mouth. She moan out loud at how good it is.

“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this place from me.”

“If I’d known you’d react to the food like this I would’ve made time to bring you a lot sooner.” Riyan seductively licks a drop of sauce from her fork, looking Jimin in the eye the whole time. He swallows roughly at the sight as his pants start to grow tighter.

“You’re killing me.”

“I know.”

***

Jimin is sure that he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown. They’ve just ordered dessert and his heart is racing. Partly because of Riyan’s constant attempts to seduce him but mostly because of the small velvet box in his pocket.

The last spoonful of ice cream has made it’s way down Riyan’s throat and she’s growing a bit concerned at the look on Jimin’s face. Her normally carefree boyfriend looks positively stressed.

“Jimin, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine. I-...I just- fuck will you marry me? I planned out this long speech but my mind just went blank but I love you so much Riyan. I love our daughter. I can’t imagine a life without the two of you in it and I don’t want to. Will you please do me the honor of being my wife?”

Riyan freezes. Jimin’s hands are clutching both of hers. Her heart is screaming at her to say yes. Everything Jimin just said is reciprocated and all of the reservations she’d had the last time he’d brought up marriage no longer seem important.

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes I’ll marry you.”

***

Jimin presses his hand against the keypad next to the door. It takes him a few tries with Riyan’s lips attached to his but he’s finally able to blindly input the code. The two of them stumble inside. They make it to their bedroom on pure muscle memory alone.

“I love you. I love you so much.” Riyan whispers into the skin of Jimin’s neck as she greedily mouths at the skin there.

“Not nearly as much as I love you.” He replies. Their clothes land in random spots around the room as they carelessly strip each other.

Riyan squirms and moans as Jimin works her into a frenzy with his sinful tongue. He’s sure he’s never seen a more beautiful sight than her newly decorated left hand shoved into her mouth as she does her best to stifle her screams. It’s not much longer before she leaps over the edge and into the arms of a powerful orgasm.

Jimin makes his way back up to her lips, kissing every inch of skin he can reach along the way. Riyan bites down on his shoulder when he begins to inch his way inside her willing body. He groans low in his throat at the combined sensation of her teeth and her velvety walls so warm, wet, and tight around him.

“I’m so glad you’re mine.” He murmurs against her lips as he draws his hips back before pushing back in. The small whine that escapes her when he hits that particular spot makes his chest swell with pride.

Jimin steadily picks up speed until he’s all but fucking her through the mattress. He’s never been more thankful for the fact that they don’t have neighbors as he is right now since the headboard is slamming against the wall with every thrust of his hips. Her high pitched screams and the slapping sound of skin against skin intermingled in with the headboard makes for a symphony that he simply can’t get enough of.

Riyan is writhing beneath Jimin as she both clings to him and tries to escape the overwhelming pleasure singing through her veins. Her orgasm slams into her unexpectedly. She lets out a single drawn out yell. Black spots dancing across her vision. Her orgasm triggers Jimin’s and he joins her in the sea of ecstasy.

He collapses on top of her, sweaty and out of breath. They cling to each other desperately. Chaste kisses are pressed to damp skin as their heartbeats slowly regulate. Riyan’s phone rings from wherever it is she’d dropped her clutch. She’s tempted to just let whoever it is leave a message but then the song registers in her hazy mind as the one she’d picked for Remy. Seeing as how she currently has Nadia with her, Riyan scrambles out from under Jimin to find her phone. Remy has hung up and is calling back a second time when Riyan finally finds her phone.

“Hello.”

“I hate to ruin date night but we have a problem.”

“What’s going on? Is Nadia okay? Is she sick?” Riyan questions in rapid succession. Jimin is up and on the move immediately, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and tossing a pair at Riyan as well.

“I’m guessing she’s fine but Yoongi showed up with the police and took her so I can’t 100% confirm that” Riyan let’s out what could only be described as a Valkyrie shriek before launching her phone at the wall. Yoongi must really want to die today.

[prince-claremont-diaz]

Whatever We Become

Summary: In Lucas’ final year of high school before he has to face the real world, he comes across the new identical twins, Eliott and Leo. Needless to say, Lucas falls head over heels for both of them. 

Or The twin au absolutely no one asked for

Word count:1.8k

Ao3 version

Chapter Twelve: I miss you 

Lucas: Eliott where are you?

Lucas: Eliott?

Lucas:I have your hoodie. I'll give it back tomorrow in school.

Lucas was in a frenzy that night, pacing his bedroom sending frantic texts to Eliott. His hair was standing up in every way and his fingernails were bitten down to the nub in his anxiety. He even tried texting Leo to see if he had any clue.

Lucas: Leo, I don't know where Eliott went. Is he home?

Leo: No, he still hasn't come back and he wasn't answering all evening.

Leo: Was he with you?

Lucas: He was, but he left out of nowhere when I went to the toilet

Lucas whimpered dejectedly as he checked his messages with Eliott once again, seeing they were still unread. He messaged Leo once again, running his hand through his hair and chewing on his bottom lip.

Lucas: Can you please tell me if he comes home?

By almost 11, Lucas still hadn't heard back from either of the Demaury's. He was curled up in the corner of his bed, wrapped up in his duvet and staring at his phone screen. He clutched the blanket with one of his fists, fingers aching from the tight grip, though he paid it no mind.

Periodically, Manon and Mika came in to check on him, giving him worried and apologetic looks as he told them nothing had changed.

Finally, as Lucas was pacing the floor again, clutching one of his pillows to his chest, tears burning his eyes, his phone lit up with a notification. In his haste, Lucas nearly slammed his head on the ground, scrambling for the phone. It was already one in the morning.

Leo: Eliott is with me. He's safe, don't worry.

Lucas sobbed in relief, dropping his phone back onto his bed and letting himself fall onto the floor with a thud.

◇

The next day at school, Lucas was standing in the courtyard with Yann, Basile and Arthur, staring intensely at the entrance to the school. Deep greyish purple bags sat under bloodshot, glassy eyes, lips swollen and red from biting. Around him, the other boys' voices were distant and incoherent, blending together with the constant ringing in his ears.

Something warm and soft pressed onto Lucas' shoulder, causing him to jump, pulled from his stare to look around. Yann was peering at him with concern, one of his hands dropping to his side after Lucas' startle. The other two were looking equally as confused and concerned, pausing their conversation to look over at Lucas.

"Everything alright, man? You look like you haven't slept a bit." Yann's face softened, forehead creased in a frown. "Are you sure Eliott's coming?"

Lucas shook his head, eyes falling to the concrete as they welled up with fresh tears. "I-I don't know. He just—left yesterday. He was acting strange all afternoon and wanted to dye his hair and then after… when I went to the toilet, he was gone," Lucas said, voice shattering at the end. A fat, cold tear plopped onto the ground at his feet and Lucas wiped his face furiously with the pads of his fingers.

"He left without explanation? Just like that?" Yann said, blinking in perplexity.

"I don't know!" Lucas sobbed, throwing his hands up, "Like I said, he was acting strange all evening and then he just up and left me without any explanation. And then he apparently didn't get home until one, according to Leo."

The boys all exchanged worried looks as Lucas broke down in front of them, face red and eyes pricking with more tears. "He got home eventually, didn't he?" Yann said, draping a comforting arm over Lucas' shoulder. Lucas nodded, sniffing. "That's all that matters then. At least he got home safe."

The bell for class sounded overhead, breaking the conversation. "Come on, let's get to class, Lu," Arthur said, linking arms with Lucas. "We can't let this ruin our days, you know?"

Lucas sniffled, smiling gratefully at his friend and joining him in walking towards the school building. He threw one last look over his shoulder hopelessly and then the four boys disappeared inside together.

◇

Later that week, Lucas was sitting next to Leo in math class, silently writing down notes while Mr. Bernard droned on about graphs. Much of that lesson passed quietly between the two boys, but for tentative greetings or the whispered apologies when they bumped into each other.

However, when everyone else started to pack up in the last few minutes, Leo finally spoke up, reaching into his backpack to pull something out. It looked to be a small folded piece of paper, which Leo handed over. "Eliott wanted me to give this to you," he said by way of explanation, zipping his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.

Lucas inspected the small parchment. It was an expensive looking off white and it had his name scribbled over the back of it in shining black ink. "What is it?" he asked, beginning to carefully unfold the sheet.

Leo shrugged. The bell overhead rang and their other classmates started to file out together, chatting amongst themselves. "I don't know. I gathered it was private, so I didn't look at what's inside." Before Lucas could reply, Leo was slipping outside into the hall with the rest of the swarm.

Drawing his eyebrows together suspiciously and casting a glance towards the door as Mr. Bernard joined the students, Lucas fully unfolded the paper and looked at its contents.

It was a drawing. Lucas recognised the same raccoon character adorning Eliott's bedroom walls, only it was now joined by a cute, cartoonish hedgehog. On one side of the mini comic, the hedgehog was standing alone in a perfect rendition of their school corridors, a distinct pout on its face. On the other side, the hedgehog was joined again by the raccoon, which had a speech bubble overhead that stated, "I miss you." Underneath the comic, Eliott scrawled: In an alternate universe…

Scribbled on the bottom right corner in the same black ink, Eliott had written: You asked me how I would draw you, so…

Lucas blinked back the tears in his eyes, catching on the edges of his lashes and carefully folded the paper again. Finally, Lucas joined the rest of the students enjoying their lunch break, slipping the paper into the back pocket of his jeans.

◇

"-We were sleeping together, Alex and I, but I don’t know if I want to make it official, you know?” Emma was saying the next day on the couch in Lucas’ flat.

Lucas was leaned back against a pile of cushions with his feet out, bottle of vodka in hand. They were trying to pass the evening with drinking too much, ignoring the other problems in their lives by drowning them in alcohol. Manon, who was using his legs as a pillow and resting her feet on the back of the couch, said, “I mean, Alex is dumb, but he has feelings doesn’t he? And you guys get along well.” She plucked the bottle from Lucas’ hands and took a swig of the vodka.

“Plus, you already know you guys have chemistry,” Lucas added, pulling the vodka back and taking another sip, spilling a bit down his chin. His head was already starting to swirl pleasantly after only a few minutes of passing the bottle around between the three of them. If he looked directly at a light, it blurred into a star shape, twinkling and turning into two or three depending on how he looked at it.

“Have you ever tried talking to him? He might surprise you with a, dare I say it, personality?" Manon teased, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and giggling drunkenly.

Emma laughed and leaned over to take the bottle from Lucas, taking a long gulp from the bottle and wincing slightly, eyes watering from the strength of the alcohol. “You mean he can do other things besides sex?”

Manon giggled, nodding. “Well, yeah. He’s not just a…”

“A dick.”

“Exactly.”

The trio laughed, still passing the bottle back and forth between them. “At least you’ve got someone. I haven’t got anyone,” Lucas said as he tugged the bottle from Manon before she could take another sip. The other two gave him curious, puzzled looks. “Well, I don’t know what the hell happened with Eliott. He acted all weird the other day and now he won’t reply to any of my messages or even read any of them. And then yesterday, Leo gave me a drawing he made for me saying he misses me!” Lucas rambled. He let the cool liquid flood down his throat in burning hot rivulets which made his head swim and his vision began to blur at the edges.

“That’s so sweet!”

“Come on, that’s cool!”

Lucas stopped drinking for a moment, looking back at the girls with an intense, deadpan scowl. “If he really missed me, wouldn’t he reply to my texts? And giving it to me through his brother instead of doing it himself?” Lucas complained, “I don’t think he wants anything serious. He just wants to mess with my head.”

“I’m still the most fucked,” Emma replied simply, shrugging her shoulders.

“Now I just feel bad because I still have Charles,” Manon said with a pout. Just then, the front door to the flat opened and Mika walked in with their other roommate Lisa. Manon shrieked happily, sitting up as they entered. “Oh! Mika, Lisa! Come and join us!”

Mika looked the three teenagers over, raising one of his eyebrows. “Yeah, come join us. We have vodka,” Emma joined in, pointing at Lucas with the bottle of alcohol in hand.

“VODKA!”

Soon enough, the five of them had set up a mini party, blasting a party playlist on a speaker and using one of the multi-coloured lights they usually used for house parties. As the music blasted through the flat and the shifting, flashing colourful lights bounced off the walls, they jumped and danced around the room, still passing around the vodka and beginning to down bottles of beer from the fridge. They shrieked and yelled, leaping on furniture and dancing together like a meteor was set to hit the earth the next day.

Lucas’ vision blurred in and out of focus as the alcohol hit his brain, the music getting twisted and warped and everything around him seemed to slow to a standstill. Looking around at his friends, Lucas suddenly felt his heart drop as he watched everyone together, actually having fun. He was reminded suddenly of how messed up his life was and how no amount of alcohol was going to fix that. The many flashing colours burned his vision and he screwed his eyes shut as he felt tears pricking his eyes, covering his face with his hands. A flash, a split second image, blink and you'll miss it, Eliott's face staring back at him, eyes as intense as ever.

Around him, the world continued to warp and swirl, lights still flashing, music still playing and people still dancing. Meanwhile, Lucas stayed motionless in the centre, at a crossroad, as life went on without him.

[chemicalmagecraft]

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 16

A/N: By the way, I got the app now, so I have gained the awesome power to write fanfiction ANYWHERE (as long as there's service). That might speed up my writing a bit, so yay for you guys I guess.

Though at the same time I have finals and stuff, so it might take a bit to update after this...

digimak2: Not exactly. First, there's the fact that technically, most of them have already been doing magic, in the form of their Quirks, without even realizing it. Second, there's the fact that we've only seen members of Yuuei doing magic. People often forget this because of Kaminari and Mineta, but Yuuei's supposed to be the best of the best. Normal people wouldn't show nearly as much talent at first.

xoxoxo

"So did you do it?" I asked Tsu and Uraraka when I saw them by the front gate.

"No, not yet," Tsu said. "We're still practicing with the spells, kero."

"Oh, and I think I found a new element!" Uraraka added. "I remembered how you said you had more fire and water affinity because of your parents' Quirks, and I asked my dad about the specifics of his Quirk. Turns out his fingerpads actually latch onto things using some kind of magnetic thing, which means I can use some kind of weird magnet element!"

"So what, like electricity?" Kacchan asked.

"Not exactly," Uraraka said, then pulled out a small metal ball. "Watch." The ball started floating.

"No offense, but that isn't exactly a new trick for you," I said.

She grinned. "Yeah, but what about this?" The ball glowed lightly around the middle, then split cleanly in half. "I did say it was a weird magnet element, remember?"

"Did you just break the bonds between its atoms down?" I asked. "Uraraka, please be careful with that."

"I know what happens when you split an atom, Deku. Oh, and also I got another elemental, so that's a thing."

"Cool," Kacchan said. "How 'bout we get to the classroom so you can summon them."

xoxoxo

"So you have how many elementals now?" Jirou asked me.

I summoned them, pulling out materials when needed. "Ten."

"Sup," Iggy said.

"Right. Hey, can I have the elemental spell? I was gonna ask you at the USJ, but..."

I nodded. "Oh, yeah, totally. Hang on." I pulled a leaf out of my inventory, giving it to Juniper. "Watch this." The leaf expanded and changed into a piece of wood, which paper then sprouted from. There was just something really cool about handing people scrolls with spells written on them. When Juniper was done, I handed Jirou the scroll.

"Little overkill, but thanks. I take it she's your plant elemental?"

"Bio, but yes," Juniper said.

"Can we show you our elementals now?" Tsu asked. I nodded. Tsu summoned a ball of water and Uraraka created some form of almost-visible ripple in the air that I could feel with Fuckery Detection. It definitely wasn't gravity, though. The water and ripple both expanded and turned blue, becoming humanoid. Tsu's water formed into a small boy with dark blue hair and clothes, though with a lighter blue ruffle on his collar.

"Hi, everyone!" he said with a bright smile. "I'm Bubbles!"

"Bubbles?" Kirishima asked.

"Yeah!" Bubbles created a white bubble wand with a pink loop for the bubbles. He waved it, forming some oddly thick bubbles that looked like they were made purely out of water. "Bubbles!" The water bubbles floated like normal bubbles, though.

Meanwhile, Uraraka's ripple formed into an androgynous child that also had blue hair and clothes, though theirs looked... metallic, I guess? Their eyes had black sclera and red irises. "Greetings," they said. "My name is Ion."

"Didn't you already have an elemental, Uraraka?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"Yeah. Nebby's a gravity elemental, but Ion here's..." She paused, then looked at Ion. "Actually, what element are you, exactly? I know you're some kinda magnetic element, but..."

"My element has had many names in the past because of its seemingly erratic nature," Ion said, closing their eyes. "Alchemy, matter, reality, chaos, cataclysm, destruction, attraction. These names are a result of people at the time not knowing what exactly it affects and not thinking to ask. However, it does have a true, proper name: particle. Think of it like a culmination of the three fundamental forces of nature that are not gravity, as it allows for the manipulation of the electromagnetic and nuclear forces." They opened their eyes. "Is that a sufficient explanation?"

Uraraka looked a little worried. "Those... Were words. That you said. So like, Full Metal Alchemist plus magnet powers?"

Ion blinked. "I do not know what this Full Metal Alchemist is, but I assume so. In fact, a rather simple application of it is the spell Compass, which allows one to feel magnetic fields, including Earth's."

"Actually," Yaoyorozu said, "I think I might also be able to use this... particle element."

Ion nodded. "My senses indicate you to be right. Perhaps you might be willing to demonstrate?"

"Of course." Yaoyorozu made a small cube of what my Observe told me was wood with her Quirk, then used magic on it, reshaping it into a sphere.

"You are correct. That was an application of particle magic, Quirk and spell both."

Yaoyorozu nodded and pocketed the ball. "Thank you. Jirou, could I please borrow that scroll Midoriya gave you when you're done with it?"

"Sure," Jirou said.

"I can make another if you need," I said.

"No, that's fine."

"Classmates!" Iida shouted as he burst through the door. "Class will start soon! Take your seats!"

I looked around. Aside from the elementals, who didn't have seats, the only person who wasn't sitting was Iida. "Umm... I guess we should probably unsummon the elementals too?" I said.

He sighed. "Yes, Midoriya, I see my mistake." He walked to his desk as our elementals said goodbye.

"Hey, so who's going to be teaching today?" Ashido asked as she leaned back in her chair. "Aizawa-sensei's probably still out, so..."

The door opened. I facepalmed when I saw Aizawa walking through the door. "Alright, class. I'm glad to see you're in your seats already." He had bandages wrapped around his eye and one of his arms was in a sling. I noticed that, with the level ups I'd gained from USJ, I could see his title and level now.

Eraser Head

LV 79

Aizawa Shōta

"Aizawa-sensei, are you sure you're good to be teaching," I asked.

He stared at me, raised his hand, and did he just cast Regeneration? "I'm fine, Midoriya. And Recovery Girl insisted on teaching me healing spells just in case. Now, the first item on the agenda. The school's counselor, Hound Dog, would like me to remind you all that there is no shame in visiting his office after a traumatic event, and that it doesn't make you any less of a hero. In fact, I'm going to see a therapist soon, though that's more because of my tendency to isolate myself leading to the degradation of my relationship with my family than anything else... Next, I'm sure you've noticed by now that one of your classmates isn't here."

A wave of confusion rolled over the class. We were? I couldn't think of anyone who was gone, and it seemed that neither could the rest of the class. "Wh-For the love of..." Aizawa sighed. "Mineta. It's Mineta. After the USJ incident, he decided to transfer to the general education course." I winced. That might've partially been my fault... "On to better news, then... The last thing I have to say for today is that we will be having the Yuuei sports festival in a few weeks."

"Yeah, the sports festival!" Kaminari shouted.

"Is it really a good idea to still have the festival after what happened?" Jirou asked.

"C'mon, Jirou, don't ruin this..."

Aizawa nodded. "It's a fair concern, but Nedzu seems to think that this'll show the public that we've dealt with the problem. And we're going to up our security, so we are dealing with the problem. I feel I should remind you all, this is probably your best opportunity to get scouted, so put your best foot forward. And finally, Bakugou."

Kacchan perked up at the sound of his name. "Yeah, teach?"

"Because you had the best score in the entrance exam, you're giving the speech at the beginning. If you need any tips, ask the principal or All Might. Class dismissed."

A buzz of excitement filled the room. The sports festival! Yuuei's sports festival was seen around the nation, and even in other countries. "Everyone's fired up, huh?" I said.

"Of course we are!" Kacchan shouted. "It's the fucking sports festival!"

"Of course!" Iida agreed. He was excitedly fidgeting in a way that made it look like he was dancing. Or he was doing some kind of happy dance. "Our goal is to become heroes! This is our chance to prove ourselves to the hero agencies of Japan!"

"I'm fired up!" Uraraka shouted. She had the most intense face I'd ever seen on her. A visible glow of pink surrounded her, and I could feel the gravity fluctuations from a few meters away. "I'm gonna win this thing!" She punched the air above her, and a wave of altered gravity rattled ceiling.

"Not if I beat you!" Kacchan shouted.

"You're pretty excited, huh, Ochako-chan?" Tsu commented.

"Yeah, that excitement's pretty manly!" Kirishima cheered.

"Uraraka, I understand your excitement, but please curb your magic before you destroy something!" Iida shouted.

It was then that she noticed the gravity she was putting out. "Oh. Sorry."

xoxoxo

"So..." I said later, when we were in the hallway. "Why are you so determined to win, Uraraka?"

She stopped. "Um... Well..." She hesitated.

"Are you okay, Ochako-chan?" Tsu asked.

She nervously touched the tips of her fingers together. "Well... it sounds kinda bad..."

"I'm sure it's not that stupid," Kacchan said. "Fuck, the grape said he was only in it for the ladies. Can't be much worse than that."

She blushed. "Well, see, the thing is that I'm kinda... in it for the money..."

"Yeah, I can see that," Tsu said.

Her blush deepened. "D-don't get me wrong! I also wanna help people, but..."

"Your family," I guessed. "You said that money's tight, so you want to help them out, don't you?"

"Yeah," she said. "Cousin Shōta sends us some money, but we only accept so much because he'd probably not leave anything for himself if we didn't. I want to be able to support my parents and make sure Shōta doesn't have to worry about us at all, so I need to sign with a good agency."

Iida started clapping. "How inspiring! A truly selfless goal! I am sure you will do magnificently!"

She smiled. "Thanks, Iida."

"If you wanna learn some hand-to-hand, I'll help," Kacchan offered.

"So will I, kero," Tsu added.

"Yeah, I'm sure I can help you with your magic," I said.

She smiled. "Thank you all."

xoxoxo

I opened the door to the teachers' lounge. I thought back to earlier, when I was about to leave the classroom.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Midoriya," Aizawa-sensei said. "I'd like to speak to you, when you have the time."

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, everything's fine. I'd just... like to get your opinion on something."

So I excused myself during the lunch break to see what he wanted. I saw that he was on the phone, so I decided to politely wait for him to finish. "It wouldn't have been a bother at all, Obasan," he growled to whoever was on the other side of the phone, presumably his aunt.

Sonia offered to give me the other half of the conversation, but I declined.

"In fact, I would've loved to have her over." He made a frustrated noise, then took a deep breath. "Yes, I haven't visited in a while. I apologize for that. But I would have preferred she been with me than having noone in an unfamiliar environment." He scoffed at something his aunt said. "Okay, she's with a friend now, but what about before then?" He sighed. "Well, just so you know in the future, it wouldn't have been a bother at all. You're family. Goodbye." He hesitated for a bit. "Love you too," he sheepishly added, then hanged up. He sighed. "Why is my entire family so damn selfless..."

"Um..." Aizawa turned to face me. "I think maybe you are too," I said. "You should probably be in the infirmary still."

He pointedly cast Regeneration again. "I'm fine. Now, I'm sure you want to know why I wanted to talk to you?"

"Was it related to magic?" I asked.

"Yes. I've managed to figure out some simple strengthening magic, and now I suppose I know some healing spells." He frowned. "Saying this out loud feels like I'm playing some kind of RPG, but I guess that's life now."

I laughed. "Tell me about it, my Quirk is literally video game logic." I thought for a bit. "Aside from elemental magic, I do have a few spells I could give you." I took out another leaf and turned it into a scroll.

"Showoff," he said as he placed it on his desk.

I shrugged. "Juniper, my new bio elemental, can make scrolls really fast."

"I guess that makes sense."

"This scroll has some non-elemental spells you might find useful. Next, do you mind if I use Observe on you?"

"Didn't you say you couldn't use that on me?"

"I can now because I leveled up enough."

He nodded. "Well then do it."

"Observe," I said. Oddly enough, he had ten fire affinity. "Did your father have a fire Quirk?" I asked.

"That's literally the only thing I knew about the bastard, why?"

I blinked. I was not expecting that. It was also kind of a coincidence, considering my father... "Well, you... have some fire affinity..."

"I see."

I made another scroll. "These are some fire spells. Speaking of your parents, what's your mother's Quirk? That might open up another elemental affinity for you."

"My mother's Quirk was Graviteyes. It let her erase gravity from an object by looking at it. I don't know where the Quirk-erasing part of my Quirk comes from, but I at least know that my mother's Quirk was the reason my hair floats when I use mine." His mom's Quirk reminded me of Uraraka's, actually...

"Are you related to Uraraka?" I asked.

He blinked. "How did you know?"

"Yesterday she said something about a cousin Shōta who lives around here. You just said your mother had a gravity-nullifying Quirk, like hers, and I just heard you talking to your aunt about a situation that sounded a lot like Uraraka's." And then I pointed at what looked like a family portrait. "And in hindsight, that little girl in the picture looks a lot like a young Uraraka."

"Yeah." He sighed. "She doesn't recognize me, though... I'm kind of a bad cousin."

"Well, I can't tell you much about gravity magic that you probably wouldn't be able to guess on your own because I don't have it yet, but Uraraka could." I smiled." And at the same time, I'm sure she'd love combat lessons from her cousin, especially with the upcoming sports festival. She wants to do good so she can help support her family."

He grinned. Then he started laughing. "You're good, problem child. I'll talk to her."

I nodded. "Then for the moment, let's start you off on fire. Make a ball of mana, then concentrate on merging it with fire."

He made the ball of mana and closed his eyes. After a few moments of concentration, the mana ball became a fireball. "There. What next?"

His level jumped up by one just from using fire magic for the first time. I'd noticed first with my classmates; it seemed like levels worked differently for people who weren't me. "That's a basic fire spell right there. Just play around with that and other spells and you should be good." I made another scroll and put it on the growing pile of scrolls on his desk. "Aside from that, you might want to consider contracting elementals. They have trouble translating their magic to something we can learn sometimes, but they do help a lot."

He stared at his fire. "Thank you, Midoriya. Your help has been invaluable." His level wavered for a moment. "This fire... No, this magic, I feel like I should be able to..." The fire changed colors to indigo and black as it roared to new heights for a moment before he got a hold of it again. Aizawa's level started scrolling up and up until it reached eighty-six, where it turned back into question marks. The heat from the fire felt... deeper than normal fire.

"That's... not normal fire," I said.

"Obviously."

"No, but even in terms of magical fire, your level increased enough that I can't see it anymore. Sure, you were apparently only seven levels from it before, but... to level up seven times at least from simply gaining the ability to use some kind of magic and not mastering it..."

He closed his hand, snuffing out that arcane fire. "So are you saying I got stronger by simply using this blue fire?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. You might have, but it's more likely that it's just symbolic of how bad of an idea it would be to fight you. Levels seem to work that way for other people. But still, to gain so many levels at your level... The one thing I know for sure is that if you learn how to properly use whatever magic you just did, you probably won't have to worry about becoming more powerful anymore."

He stared at his hand. "Is that so? Thank you, Midoriya."

"Now could you please talk to Recovery Girl when you're done with work for the day."

He snorted. "Fine, problem child."

xoxoxo

Class was over for the day, so Uraraka opened the door to leave. She stopped, though, because there was a crowd of students in front of the doorway. "Why are you all here?" she asked.

"Do you need us for something?" I asked.

"They're scouting the competition," Kacchan said as he walked up to them. "Checking out the class that fought a bunch of villains and won, right?"

"So this is class 1-A," a voice from the back said. A very tired-looking boy with purple hair wilder than mine stepped forward.

Drowse

LV 11

Shinso Hitoshi

He sneered. "You know, I wanted to be in the hero course, but my Quirk wasn't suited to the entrance exams. Did you know that if someone from gen ed does well enough in the sports festival, they can get transferred to the hero course? In other words, I've come here as a declaration of war. I'll be gunning for one of your spots in the sports festival."

"Oh hey," I said. "We actually had someone drop out after... well... you know, so you might get in if you try hard enough!"

He sighed. "Damn it, I was trying to be all cool..." He shrugged. "Well, I guess that's ruined. Just know that I'm hoping to become one of your class..."

"Good luck!" Uraraka said.

"Yeah, yeah..." He waved as he walked away.

"So! You guys're class 1-A, huh!?" someone else shouted.

Kicking Your Can All Over the Place

LV 26

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

He had silver hair and... I think that was fur around his eyes? "You guys were the ones who were in that villain attack, weren't you!?"

Kacchan glared at him. "What of it?"

"I'm from class 1-B, and I'm here to check out the competition!"

"You are class 1-A!" a third person shouted, a blonde this time.

Copycat

LV 22

Monoma Neito

He sneered at us. "How arrogant. First you hoard all the magic to yourself, then you hoard all the media attention to yourself."

"Okay what the fuck was that last bit?" Kacchan asked.

He gave an arrogant pose. I'm pretty sure he copied that from a JoJo villain. "Of course, you jerks of class 1-A just so happened to gain the attention of the media within the first month of class. How arrogant."

An audible snap could be heard, followed by an oppressive, sweltering heat filling the room. An aura of fire surrounded Kacchan. "What. The fuck. Are you talking about?" He ground his teeth together. He looked like he was about to explode in more ways than one.

"You know what, fuck you all. I'd have told you all how to do some magic. It's only fucking fair. But if this is how you fucking react to a fucking class getting attacked by fucking villains, then fuck you. People almost fucking died, I don't think fucking anyone in the class would've actually asked for a fucking villain attack, and here you jackasses are throwing yourselves a fucking pity party over how you didn't get your five seconds of fame! Fuck off!" He vanished. With a low application of Space Invader, I was able to tell that the Illusion Barrier he made was filled with fire and he'd already left. Most of the crowd softened a bit after having been told off.

"Okay, you might have gone a bit too far there, Monoma..." Tetsutetsu said. Monoma harrumphed.

"If you guys wanted to learn magic, you could've asked," I said.

"Aren't you worried about your friend?" Monoma sneered.

"His temper can be a little explosive at times, as you just saw. It's best to give him a few minutes of alone time to cool down first. Now, just a quick show of hands, who wants to learn some basic magic." I counted the hands raised, then made a sheet of paper for each. "These are some basic nonelemental tricks and how to use affinity if you think you might have it. It might be a bad idea to disseminate some of the more advanced tricks to people without knowing how well they can be trusted with them, but at the very least this is more than enough to, if you're good enough, figure out something good." I placed the papers on a nearby desk. "Now I should probably go talk to him." I entered Kacchan's still-active Illusion Barrier.

xoxoxo

"Hey, Kacchan," I said quietly, and sat down next to him. I could guess from the ruined and smoldering building we were sitting in, but... "How are you feeling?"

He sighed. "I fucking exploded again. It keeps on happening." He played around with a tiny, candle-sized flame, changing its shape and color. It didn't do anything like Aizawa-sensei's fire, though. I guess it was special or something. I'd have to ask him about it later.

I shrugged. "Well you did get angry because someone called the class arrogant for getting attacked by villains, which is probably among the better reasons to get angry. And you did manage to blow up in here, where you can blow off steam without damaging anything in the real world. Probably a lot better than getting into a fight or something..."

He chuckled. "What the fuck did I do to deserve a friend like you?"

"Absolutely nothing."

This made him laugh even more. After a while, he said, "I'm probably going to take up Hound Dog's offer."

"Cool," I said. "I'm going to try to find that one Shinsou guy who walked off and see if he wants to learn magic. He might be fun to have in class."

xoxoxo

Uraraka walked into the teachers' lounge with Tsu. "Heeeey, little listeners!" Mic-sensei said when he noticed them. "What brings you here?"

"Aizawa-sensei asked to talk to me when class finished?" Uraraka said.

"Oh, is Shōta finally talking to her?" Midnight-sensei butted in.

"Wait, what?" Uraraka said.

"I knew it," Tsu said, looking at something. Uraraka followed her gaze to Aizawa-sensei's desk, where she saw a family portrait. The same family portrait that was hanging on her family's wall, one of the few photos they had with both her and her cousin... Shōta...

"Oh..." Uraraka said. Then it hit her. "WHAT!?" she shouted, then felt her face heat up a bit. She slapped her hands to her face. "How did I never notice that!? I even knew his Quirk!"

Tsu patted her on the back. "It's okay, Ochako-chan. Nobody wants to believe that their cousin is a scruffy, grumpy hobo..."

The door to the teachers' lounge closed, and Uraraka turned to see Aiza- cousin Shōta. "If I knew I was going to come back to my cousin's girlfriend calling me a scruffy, grumpy hobo, I'd have listened to more of Shuzenji-san's rant..."

Uraraka felt her face heating up, and Tsu quickly removed her arm from her back. "Ribbit," she whimpered, her face bright red.

"Ah, i-it's not like that," Uraraka said a little too quickly. "I-I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to... but she and I aren't..." She stopped when she heard Mic-sensei and Midnight-sensei laughing.

"That was a joke," Shōta grinned. Then his face fell. "Sorry for not visiting ever... I don't really have an excuse."

Uraraka shook her head. "No, it's okay. So uh, what did you need me for, or was that what you wanted to talk about?"

"No, I was actually going to talk about magic, though I was hoping to bring that up if I saw the opportunity. Did Midoriya tell you elemental affinity can be inherited?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I got something called particle affinity from Dad. I'm guessing you want tips on gravity?"

"Yeah. I'll help you with fighting, too. I have it on good authority that you want to make a splash in the sports festival."

Uraraka smiled. "Sounds great."

"If you don't mind, I'd also like some tips," Tsu said.

xoxoxo

A/N: Bubbles is a Popplio and Ion is a Beldum. Particle is weird, but generally any particle elemental would be a Pokémon that can either use a magnet-based move or is a psychic type that one could argue to fuck around with magnets or particles, same as gravity (though with gravity instead of magnet), though also maybe some electric and/or steel types if they're magnetic enough. I have a good idea of what Yaoyorozu's and Midoriya's (eventually) will be, but as always I'm open to suggestions.

[kierarutherford]

Blood and Lust

Idea was what if Cullen went with the Inquisitor (When romanced) into the field. Originally, he’d be concerned about them until he saw how impressive their abilities were. -From @dapromptexchange I wanted a twist on this. What if Cullen saw her fighting and it turned him on. Hmm… so we have for your enjoyment: Cullen and my OC Diana Trevelyan. NSFW and I like it that way. Word count - 2929 (it kinda just ran from me, and that’s cool) Some mention of blood and gore, death, and smut. Under the cut for length. Thank you! AND tagging @princessvicky01 because she wanted to read this piece, so for you hun! Enjoy!

The entire journey to the Shrine of Dumat had been quiet. More so than she was used to and in stark contrast to the clatter of metal and scent of blood that awaited them at their destination. Cullen had been too focused on fighting, too honed-in on finding Samson that he didn’t even think about Diana while he hewed down red templar after red templar.

Searching the burning ruins, it became reality that once again, Samson had evaded him. Once again just outside of his reach. Collecting everything they could use they settled camp a few kilometers from the smoking building.

Everyone was on high alert and exhausted from their fight having also endured the thrum of red lyrium. Cullen in particular, found his mood much improved once he put distance between himself and the angry crystal. Taking shifts, they all kept vigil less any of the red templars were lurking in the near by woods. To his surprise it was an uneventful evening. With everyone rested they began the trek back to Skyhold. It would take several days and while there was no immediate rush, Cullen couldn’t shake the feeling they were being followed.

“We are being followed,” Diana lowered her voice as she steered her horse close to his, “they intend to ambush us at the pass, ahead.” She maintained her calm demeanor as she smiled, “don’t fuss too much, they’ll know we’re on to them. I haven’t got a proper count of their numbers but I believe we are out numbered.” Looking back over her shoulder she smiled to Bull, “the Commander wishes to stop up head, he needs a moment.” Turning back, she hissed, “play along.”

“Yes, if you don’t mind of course,” Cullen nodded over his shoulder. The hairs on his neck were standing as he followed Diana���s lead. Hoping down from his horse he handed the reigns to Diana. “I don’t understand your plan.”

Stifling a giggle, she tied the horses together and passed the reigns around a tree along their path, “take the advantage away. If we linger, they will grow impatient. Striking us in anger and hurry, losing their edge. It may not be a perfect win, but it assures us less aches come the morning.” The others clattered up to them jumping from their horses. “Be ready, it won’t be long. The fat one over there just sneezed,” she lilted her head towards a massive oak. “There’s at least a dozen of them, if not more. I can’t be sure. Lost count last night.”

“Last night?” Cullen half squeaked out as his thumb traced the pommel of his hilt. He had thought they had been lucky to walk away from the Shrine with no one giving chase. Now here was Diana pointing out too much for his brain to focus on.

Clicking her tongue Diana patted his arm, “don’t take it personally, Commander, you are an ex-templar not a seasoned tracker. I’m sure only the Dalish rival my skills. Now if I were you,” she pulled her sword and unhooked her buckler from her shoulder, “I would prepare. This is going to be a close one. Thankful they didn’t bring any archers.”

No sooner had she leveled her shield did the red templars spring from the woods. Cullen braced himself best he could but panic rose in his chest. In the rush before he hadn’t seen her skill, and while her tracking and estimates of the red templars were accurate, could she back that with sword skill. His questions were being answer before him as she charged the first soldiers, her blade glinting in the late morning sun.

Shields clashed as she slammed head long into the templar. Not risking a power struggle, she slammed into his shield and using the momentum, sprang off her feet and rolled around him. With no time to react she quickly found the weak spot in his armor and drove her blade in deep. Crimson splattered down the grooves of the blade, splashing along her gloved hand and the dirt path.

Cullen couldn’t help the swell filling his chest and travelling even lower. There was a fluidic and gracefulness to her movements. Acrobatic strength and raw beauty as she dealt death. Giving his head a shake he refocused on the men pouring from the woods.

Magic and metal singed and sang as they battled on. Smoke and blood filling the air as their group dealt measured death. Diana felt herself tiring, “we need to finish this, Dorian!”

“I’m too pretty to die,” he howled as he cast out. Reaching in his robes he pulled another lyrium potion. Sucking it back quickly he shivered under the rush of power, “get behind me!” Everyone rushed towards Dorian seeing his hands pulse and swirl in a sparkling purple flare. Focusing the energy his lip quivered in a grand smirk. Casting out towards the largest guy he thrust the magic forward. “You may want to take cover,” he grunted forcing out a barrier before them, “and for those with tender stomachs, I wouldn’t look.” As he spoke the vibrant ball of magic entered the body before them. The red templar twitched, doubled over and let out a feral yelp before his eyes started to glow. “One more second,” Dorian grinned holding his open hand out. “and, now.” Dorian clenched his open hand into a tight fist. Magic flickered from his palm. The red templar’s back bent backwards sharply as he howled again. His howling burst as his body bubbled and his armor squealed as the metal twisted. In a bright flare of light, the man exploded, sending a shockwave of bone shards into the unsuspecting group of red templars surrounding him.

“Dorian…” Cullen groaned as blood sputtered out of the wretched corpses laying on the ground. Some of them still alive as they groaned and twitched along the ground. Gripping their wounds, sections of the man’s ribs imbedded in their faces, chests, limbs.

“Let’s finish them quickly, they’ve suffered enough,” Diana smirked as she kicked at the one before her, “perhaps not quite enough.” Going about the wet work they finished off the men quickly. Looting through to salvage anything useful. Once that was done, Diana slashed a section of fabric from a fallen templar and calmly strolled over to the small stream running by the road. Dipping her blade in she hummed to herself as she cleaned off the blood and matter. Wiping herself down she sheathed her sword and hooked her shield to her horse, “we should get to our campsite before the stars are forced to light our way.”

Cullen was dumbstruck. Her calm demeanor, a cool sense of strength and sureness that lit a sense of wonder and adoration deep in the pit of his gut. Clumsily following her lead, he climbed atop of his horse and followed closely behind her. He was mesmerized by the sway of her fiery hair as he hung down her back. How her shoulder rose and fell with the cantor of the stallion beneath her.

“See something interesting, dear Commander,” Dorian bristled next to him. “Perhaps you should take the night off watch, you’re of little use to the group if you can’t focus.”

“I… I… uh…” he rubbed at the base of his neck, cheeks blooming a brilliant red.

“Hush, you are adorable, indeed,” Dorian chuckled as he kicked his horse up to meet with Diana.

Cullen fumbled with the reigns as he tried not to look up. Keeping his head down he stumbled over what he would say to her once they made camp. Surely by now Dorian had told her of his boyish fawning. Trotting along he maintained his position with the group, only lifting his head once he caught the sound of feet hitting the ground before him. Stumbling along he jumped from his horse too. They must have arrived at their site.

Everyone did their chores from collecting firewood, to setting up tents and setting out cooking gear. Things moved rapidly as night began to creep over the horizon. It flowed smoothly and without much hassle dinner was bubbling away in the pot upon the crackling fire. Crowded around that fire they all laughed and tittered about the day, Diana’s unique catch of the fat templar, and the extra half day it would take to reach Skyhold.

“Dearest cousin, please, get some rest. Bull has offered to take the first watch. Varric is going to assume the second and,” letting out a groan Dorian rolled his eyes back at Bull, “I shall take the final watch.”

Letting a coiled grin kiss her lips Diana peered towards Cullen as she spoke, “well dearest cousin that is quite generous of all of you. I appreciate the efforts put forth.” Rising she tipped her head to everyone, “I should bid you all good night then, since I’m sure the Commander will want to make up for lost time.” Hiding the grin cracking across her face she licked her lips, “I’m certain he will want to ride hard tomorrow to reach Skyhold.”

Cullen furrowed his brow, not picking up on the subtle innuendo of her speech. Feeling a stubby finger poke his side he glanced over to Varric. “Follow her Curly, Maker’s breath you’re slow tonight.” Eyes flashing wide Cullen staggered back as he watched Diana slip into her tent, “what?” he barely mumbled.

“Bull would you kindly speak to the man,” Dorian waved his arm as he disappeared into his tent.

Bull slapped Cullen across the back as Varric threw up his hands and sauntered off to his tent, “Cullen, go get her. A little after battle sex, hot and heavy. Best way to cool off.”

Cullen flushed red as he stood sharply, “I… uh… well…” turning about he realize he was alone with Bull, “good night, Bull.” Keeping his head low he rushed off towards the tents. Peeking over his shoulder he saw Bull’s face down adding another thick log to the fire. Clenching his jaw tightly he went for it, ducking into her tent.

“I was wondering if you were going to figure it out,” Diana lay upon the top of her bedroll, in nothing but her smalls and bra band.

Lips pressed tightly together Cullen stifled a long groaning grunt as he began tugging at his armor. Practiced hands slipping buckles and clasps as he watched her toy with the lip of her bra band. Her finger dipping under the fabric and ringing around the edge plunging between her bountiful bosom.

Kicking at his boots he nearly tumbled to the floor. Righting himself he pulled the last pieces of his armor off and discarded them to the side. Pulling his shirt over his head he let out a throaty half growl, “I don’t wish the entire camp to know what we’re doing tonight.”

Reaching behind her she unclipped her bra band, catching the material against her breast she sighed, “of course. Believe me when I say you don’t want to give Iron Bull ideas when Dorian is around.”

Finishing with the ties to his pants he hurriedly hauled them down. Standing before her, naked and ready he licked his lips, “good. Take it off, now.” His voice was low and smacked of his stern Commander tone.

Purring she tossed the bra band at his face. Looping her finger tips in her smalls she stood up, “yes Commander,” turning sideways she shimmied her hips, dragging the clothe inch by painstaking inch down her toned, bronze thighs. It was too much as he sucked in his bottom lip, sinking his teeth into the stubble patch of skin beneath. Tossing her bra band towards his armor he stalked towards her, half primal predator half remaining in control. He knew she loved to unleash this side. Pure carnal sin and animal ferocity nestled just underneath his cool veneer.

Sinking to her knees she licked her lips, waiting for him to come closer. Taking as much joy in teasing her as she did in tease him he got down to his fours. His eyes never leaving hers as he crawled towards her, the beast in steady pursuit. His eyes drove her back, upon her elbows and down to the bedroll, where he loomed over her. Kneeing her legs open his breath heavy, he pressed her down into the woven blankets, “I’ve wanted you all day.”

Dragging her nails along his shoulders and up into his hair she sighed, “seeing me fight turns you on?” It was less a question, and more a sinful statement as she nipped his bottom lip, drawing a harsh moan from him.

“You are grace and death,” he sealed his lips to her, eager and forceful, just how she always craved him. Leaning further into her he craved the sounds she could make. Low and wicked murmurs that made him weak. Taking her lip in his teeth he graced them over the sensitive flesh, “you are sin and base, a demon wrapped in sweet promises.”

Licking his upper lip, she grinned against his mouth, “I love when you talk dirty to me.” Pulling him back into herself she snaked her hands down his neck, over the taut muscles of his back, passing countless scars as she reached over the small of his back to grasp his rear tightly in her palms. Forcing him forward she felt his tip twitch at the sudden dip into her warmth. Shuddering she threw her head back, “fuck, yes,” she gritted out between her teeth. “Fuck me hard, Cullen. Lay claim to me.”

A thunderous bellow held tightly in his chest as he thrust into her, driving himself as deep as he could. Gasping above he, he seized her wrists. Pinning them over her head in one hand he grinned, “how do you ask for such things?” His face loomed over hers just beyond her reach. Struggling would be ineffective against his size and strength but he knew she would. Knew she loved the chase, the callous and naked approach to their love making. She bucked under him, twisting her hip against his, forcing him in and out of her. Leaning back, he grinned, “that’s not being a very good girl, is it?” He tugged on her nipple, earning another low hiss and curse. “How do we ask for such things?” He enjoyed being in control, enjoyed commanding her in such a way. A way he never thought of until she came along, equal parts fire and tempered water, and only for him.

“Fuck me hard, Commander, please,” her doe eyes batted their long lashes as her lips pouted.

He twitched hard inside of her, so much so she gasped at the sudden shift. How he loved this game, how it drove him higher. He couldn’t last, wouldn’t last much longer and by the tightening around his length, she couldn’t either. Giving her breast, a firm swat he grinned, “did you want your hands back, temptress?”

“Mhmm, please Commander. I wish to touch you,” licking her lips she eyed him like a hungry wolf prepared to devour him whole.

Slapping her other breast, he released her hands, “good girl.” His voice was low as he rocked his hips, “come here,” he opened his arms to her as he leaned back upon his knees. Helping her into his lap he thrust up into her, her own hips matching his rhythm made the tent spin. Light was fading, the tent whirled and the delicious sounds of her sighs and moans were in his ear as he clutched her to him, “damnit Di…” he panted. His walls were closing in, sound and atmosphere washing away in the cloudy haze swirling about him. Her voice broke the sensation, “fill me, fuck me.” Burying his face in her breasts he sucked one of the stiff peaks into his mouth hard. Her half cry was muffled as she sank her teeth into her palm to muffle herself. Squeezing her rear in the other hand he could hear her heart hammering in her chest. Another thrust and both were squelching their wails. Riding their climax together, their breaths frantic and gasping. He released her breast and rested his forehead against hers.

Wrapping her arms around his neck she let out a soft giggle, “you are a delectable prince.”

Chuckling along with her, he struggled to catch his breath, “I love you, Diana. I hope you know that.”

Giving his rear, a firm swat she let out a chorus of giggles, “of course I do, silly. I would never allow anyone else to ride me like you.” Seeing his face twist up in an odd assortment of confusion and amusement she laughed again, “oh Cullen, you are such an innocent little creature. Never change.” Carefully slipping off his lap she swiped a rag from her bag and tidied them off, “come, sleep. I’m sure you’ll be marching us at a wicked pace come morning.”

Giving his head a shake he sighed, “I shall never get used to your humor and sense of carefree flippancy.”

“Flippancy?” she laughed again, “Maker Cullen, I’m only getting started,” winking she patted the bedroll, “come on. There’s room for two.”

Sinking into the bedroll, he cradled her in his arms, “thank you.”

Wiping the sweat from his brow she nestled into his chest, “no thank you my dearest. I love you, Cullen Stanton Rutherford. Even if I don’t say it nearly enough, know I do. Now hush before you make me get all mushy.”

Snuggling her tightly he sighed, “perish the thought.”

[higuchimon]

[fanfic]  Answers To Unexpected Questions:  3/3

Because of Tumblr not allowing searches for posts with external links, I decided it would be much easier to just start posting my fics to Tumblr itself.  Easier for people to read if they so desire as well

||Pairing:  Yubel x Juudai|| ||Word Count:  9,367|| ||Chapter Count:  3/3||

“Juudai!”  Yubel knocked him down, wings spread wide, avoiding the battery of crossbow bolts shot through the tent.  One of them slammed into the man chained up to a pole, sending him spinning as far as his bonds would allow him.

It wasn’t Johan.  Sparkman had been tricked.  Either illusion or just making a mistake, which wasn’t that surprising.

It wasn’t a mistake that Juudai or Yubel would’ve made.  Both of them knew the difference between Johan and his twin brother Rune on sight alone.

Yubel tried to tell me and I wouldn’t listen.

Juudai had enough time for that alone before he brought himself back to his feet and checked Yubel.  The crossbow bolts did nothing at all save force them to step back.  Their wings remained spread in front of him.

Ancient Elf stepped into the ruined tent, giving a very disapproving look as he did.

“I truly did not believe you would come for this ruffian,”  he said, brushing his coat off as if Juudai’s very presence dirtied him. “Now, his brother, that would’ve been understandable.  But why him?”

Juudai wasn’t going to let him know the truth.  Instead he just tossed his head.

“You should know that I protect all life.  Doesn’t matter who it is.”

“Yes, yes, of course.  But this world is going to be destroyed and you will not be able to stop it.”

Juudai drew in a very long and very deep breath.  “Could you save your speeches for after I’m dead?  I really don’t have the time now.”

Rune was bleeding.  Rune was dying, because Juudai’s powers didn’t include healing and Johan’s did, and Johan wasn’t there and they needed to get out as soon as they could.

He made no move at all.  He couldn’t find Rune’s shadow, not with all the other light in the room.  It had been by great good luck that none of the bolts hit any of the candles or lanterns there and set the tent itself on fire.

Maybe that would’ve been better.  There would’ve been shadows there for sure.  And the tent would’ve burned down.  Maybe all of them would have.

Ancient Elf smiled.  It wasn’t the kind of smile that would make other people happy in the slightest.

“If you wish to die, then we can most certainly accommodate you.”

“Not as long as I’m around.” Yubel growled, arms and wings spread to defend Juudai at a moment’s notice.  “No harm will come to my Juudai.”

The old sorcerer turned a very disapproving look upon Yubel.  “No one asked for your opinion, malformed one.  But since you insist upon it as well, we’ve made plans for you.”

Fear coiled itself all around Juudai and he started to back for Rune.  Even if he died, Johan wasn’t going to leave him here.  Johan would need to know about this.  “Yubel, we’re getting out of here.”

“Oh, I think not.”  Ancient Elf tsked before raising one finger.

Many things happened at the same time.

A net of glowing green materials dropped down from above, wrapping all around Juudai.  No matter how much he strained at it, he could not break it, despite how fragile it looked.

Another bout of crossbow bolts shot, arching over the elf’s head and burying themselves deep into Yubel.  Each of them carried a malevolent white sigil written upon them, one Juudai only belatedly recognized as something intended to bind the effects of magic, sealing them off from the user.

Aodh had said that Yubel’s power wasn’t unstoppable.  For that matter, neither was Juudai’s.  Whatever this web was made out of, Juudai couldn’t so much as get a firm grip on it, let alone get it off of him.

Ancient Elf stepped over and stared down at him, a sadistic tilt to his lips.

“Oh, Herald.  You thought it would be so easy, didn’t you?  That you would just come in here, rescue this piece of offal, and dance away with your misborn creation before any of us noticed you.  We knew you were coming from the beginning.  It’s what someone as foolish as you does.”

He nudged Juudai with one foot.  Juudai twisted away from it, trying to get hold of Yubel, to do something that wasn’t lay there like a lump.

Yubel lay against the far wide of the tent, a thick dark liquid coming from the half-dozen crossbow bolts still lodged within.  Slowly, as if feeling his attention, Yubel opened their eyes and turned toward him.

“Beloved...”  Yubel tried to reach for him.  Juudai tried to reach back.  But warriors in white armor trooped in and one of them wrenched Yubel away, not caring how much more damage was done in the process.

“First we dispose of the misborn.  Then we dispose of him,”  Ancient Elf decreed.  He glanced toward Rune.  “Throw that in the deadpile.  It can be burned with the others.”

Juudai had time only to see that Rune still breathed, if shallow and unsteadily, before they dragged all three out.  Yubel and Juudai were taken to a clearing he’d ignored on the way in, where a white marble altar had been spread out, and the strongest and most skilled of the Army of Light’s warriors awaited them.

The altar had been marked with those sigils that kept Yubel’s power bound, ensuring that there wasn’t anything Yubel could do to protect Juudai or anyone else as they hauled Yubel onto it, wrapping thick chains all around to keep them in place.

They’d bound Juudai tighter with the power-nullifying web, which also carried those marks, he noticed when he had a moment to stop fighting.  A full two dozen of them stood guard on him, while Ancient Elf moved over to the altar and Yubel.

“Once you’ve both perished in honor of the Light, your souls will be cleansed by its power, and will nevermore be able to touch the unholy Darkness.  Should you return to a mortal form, you will belong to the Light.”

Juudai struggled harder.  He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere, but he didn’t care.  As far as he was concerned, if this went through, then he’d be dead forever.  Being part of the Light embodied all that he stood against.  

Ancient Elf raised a sharp, long-bladed dagger, marked with emblems of the Light.  Clearly he wasn’t taking any chances at all.

“In the name of the Light, by the Power of the Light, by the Cleansing of the Light, let you be freed of your misborn form and your foolish vows to the Darkness!  Let there be nothing more that binds you, nothing more that keeps you from serving the Light, as all things must!”

He brought the knife down, sharp and deadly and reeking of magic that made Juudai sick.

“I don’t think so.”

A different kind of light filled the clearing, one that Juudai squinted against, but it caused no fear in him.  Instead, it drove all fear out, and he found it in himself to hope that this wasn’t the end.

“You!”  Ancient Elf spun backwards even as that familiar voice spoke.  

Standing on the back of a beautiful winged unicorn stood Johan, in his full power as the incarnate Light of Hope.  His arms folded over his chest and he stared down at them like the very wrath of the gods, clad all in armor of white and trimmed in silver.

The rest of his guardians stood near him, a tiger and a great cat, a mammoth and a turtle and an eagle, and on his shoulder, a tiny little squirrel-ish creature that chirruped at the sight of Juudai.

“Johan!”

Johan gave a quick, quiet nod, before gesturing to Amethyst Cat and Topaz Tiger.  “Get Rune out of here.  I’ll take care of this.”

They didn’t argue, even as Johan turned back to Ancient Elf.  “I could ask a lot of questions but I’ll save them for when people aren’t waving knives at my friends.  So, let them go.”

He added nothing else.  He needed to add nothing else, not with the way the rest of his companions stared down alongside of him.

Ancient Elf moved towards Yubel, knife still in hand.  “Of course, of course.”  His lip curled in hatred, no matter if he looked at Juudai or Yubel or Johan.  “How could we ever disobey you?”

More crossbow bolts, but Emerald Turtle moved in front of them and they clattered harmlessly off of his shell.  In the intervening moments, however, Ancient Elf struck down at Yubel, the tip of the blade piercing Yubel’s very center.  

Juudai had heard Yubel scream before, but never since becoming his guardian and taking on the form of a dragon.  The scream struck into the deepest part of his heart and he could see Yubel’s form shimmering before it shattered altogether, breaking into untold points of light, and then fading away with one last cry.

“Juudai...”

And then Yubel was gone.

Juudai writhed and screamed in rage of his own, rage enough to end the world, and he could see Johan running towards him and he didn’t care, Yubel was gone, destroyed, and it was all his fault, he could blame no one else and wouldn’t have even if he could, if he’d just listened and not rushed off like this, if he’d just so much as waited for a second check…

Yubel was gone.

Yubel was gone and Juudai’s heart bled and power that he’d known he had surged upward, shattering the bonds that held him.

One could hold the Darkness incarnate but only for so long.  Darkness always fell and always rose again.

There was a voice that called a name.  Then other voices.  None of them meant anything to the Darkness.

It rose.  The Light was there.  It needed to be extinguished.  

Yubel needed to be avenged.  

The world needed to be saved.

The Darkness reached and all those warriors of the Light fell, screaming, and it was pleasing to the ears of the Darkness.

To the ears of Haou.

He smiled and terror spread among all those who gazed upon him and so would it be.  

He would protect that which was his.  If that meant to destroy all things, to crush them underneath his heel so that never again would the Light harm them, then so be it.  Without Yubel, what did he have?  

Juudai.  Juudai.

Little more than a whisper on the wind, but it was enough to catch his attention and he turned to where the broken body lay.  Standing next to it, transparent as a soap bubble, was… Yubel?

He spoke their name.  The world shook at the sound of one word and he heard other voices again, and they still meant nothing at all to him.

I’m … I’m still here.  I don’t know what happened.  But I’m here.

He tilted his head.  Did Yubel wish him to stop, then?  He would stop at their will and theirs alone.

No, Juudai.  I don’t.  Yubel bared their teeth and it was not a smile and he returned it.  Destroy it all.  Let their folly be known throughout the land.  Let the Light know what it threatens and what will happen when it fails.

Haou liked how that sounded.  The screaming voices still meant nothing.  He turned toward one and tilted his head a bit.  The screamer meant nothing but Haou recognized him anyway.  He just wasn’t what Haou wanted right now.  Nor did he want anyone else to have it.

Hope gave people a promise.  The only hope and promise he wanted the people here, the servants of the Light, to know was the chance for a quick death.  It was the only promise he would fulfill.

He turned another way to recognize his bodyguards.  The ones who weren’t Yubel.  They kept on yelling, but nothing they said made any sense to him.  Well, no matter.  It was time to finish this once and for all anyway.

All the elements lay under his command.  Fire rained from the sky with little more than an exercise of will.  Water rose up from the river, ten times that of what Bubbleman caused, and the earth underneath their feet rocked and cracked open, sending legion after legion of the Army of Light screaming into the depths.  

Winds roared, a tornado touching down in the center of their camp, shredding survivors and tents and all their equipment into useless junk.

“Juudai!  Juudai!”  

Hope again.  Haou flicked a finger and a wave of energy knocked him to the side into one of the few still standing trees.  He didn’t move.

Haou moved onward.  He had a great deal of work to do and he would like to finish it before sundown.

Pain beyond pain tore into his back, ripping through his armor and sending him crashing to his knees.  Haou pulled himself up and around to stare behind himself.

The same blade used to kill Yubel now sank up to the hilt in his own back.  Far too close stood Ancient Elf, with another in hand.

“Even if I can’t kill you for the Light, I can still kill you!”

Haou reached for his own last bit of power:  he knew what a dying body felt like, and this one was dying.  He lashed outward with it, and Ancient Elf was no more, falling backwards with a twisted smirk in the last moments.

Juudai sank back down to his knees, stumbling even then, falling forward.  One hand reached for Yubel.  The other, for Johan.  He spared one breath for the Elemental Heroes, even as he could feel the last of his life fading away.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know who he spoke to, but he meant it to all of them.

All my fault...

Juudai sat up, panting, before he wrenched around and threw himself into Yubel’s arms, holding onto them as if they would vanish if he let go for a single moment.  His heart raced, tears spilled down his cheeks, and he whispered two words over and over again.

“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.”

Yubel wrapped their arms even more tightly around him.  “It wasn’t your fault, Juudai.”

“Yes, it was!  Just like last time!  This time!  I’m always too stupid and I never listen and people get hurt because of it!  First you and I … I … did I… Johan?  Then?  Did I...”  Juudai didn’t know how much sense he made, but it must’ve been enough for Yubel.

“No.  He survived and helped put Kuragari back together again after that.”  Yubel tilted Juudai’s head up.  “He made a very good King after Aodh and Kaien passed away.”

Juudai swallowed.  Somehow, that didn’t surprise him at all.  Then he blinked. “How do you know?”  He hadn’t known that.  He hadn’t been around to see it.

“Because I wasn’t dead.  I didn’t know then what was going on.  But because of what Ancient Elf did, I haven’t had a physical body since then.  I can mimic one now, especially since you and I fused and I’ve learned more about the power I have.  It took me over a century to learn just how to communicate with other people.”  Yubel’s lip curled for a moment.  “Not that I wanted to communicate with anyone but you.”

Juudai nodded, holding onto Yubel still.  No matter what they said, he wasn’t going to absolve himself so easily.  Then he lifted his head up and turned to where the Elemental Heroes stood.

“You all knew, didn’t you?  About me?  And about what I did back then?”

Featherman spoke. “Of course we did.  We’ve been by your side almost as long as Yubel has.  But why would we blame you for something that you did when you were pushed beyond coherent rage?”

“And why do you think that Elemental Heroes can take on so many different fusion forms in the first place?”  Sparkman asked.  “We resonate to you as much as the Neo-Spacians do, Juudai.  Our fusions reflect what’s in your heart.  That means we understand what it can be like when things like that happen.  And like what happened in Dark World.”

“You don’t need to be afraid of your power or what you can do with it.  Control is all you need, and you’ve been working on that,”  Burst Lady told him.  “You’re much better about it, too.”

Juudai eased back down into Yubel’s arms.  “I don’t deserve all of you.”  Nor did he deserve Johan, who’d risked so much to try to help him even when Juudai wouldn’t listen to him.

“So, you were different because...”

“Because after a few thousand years of not having a proper body, of not being with you at all, and what Ancient Elf did severing my connection to you in the first place, I… wasn’t entirely sane at the time, even before the Light itself got hold of me.”  Yubel’s fingers tightened for a heartbeat. “I think this time it intended that I make certain you couldn’t fight back against it, instead of trying to take us both out at the same time.”

Juudai shuddered at how close the plan had come to working, both times.  If it hadn’t been for Johan’s arrival, then they both would’ve been sacrificed to the Light.  And this time, if it hadn’t been for him getting his memories back…

“I really should do something nice for Johan,” he murmured, starting to feel weary all over again.  That had not been a restful nap.

Then he recalled Rune, and realized that he’d seen him before:  in this lifetime.

“Yubel… that guy in Dark World.  The one that I met before I fought Zure.”  He winced at the thought of all else that happened then, before forging onward.  “That was Rune, wasn’t it?  The guy who was Johan’s twin the first time.”

“And still is now.  He’s in Dark World somewhere, I presume.  That’s where I sent him, anyway.”

Juudai whipped his head around to stare at her again.  “You saved him?”

“I saved everyone you cared about.  You cared about him, even for those few moments, didn’t you?”

He could not say he didn’t.  He hadn’t thought of it at the time, but perhaps some vague memory recalled Johan’s twin brother.  Then he sat up even more.

“Come on.  I’m going to find him and he and Johan are going to get a family reunion!”  

He stood up, all weariness falling away, and reached for Yubel’s hand.  Then he leaned up and forwards to kiss her.  “I really am sorry.”  He would spend all of time making it up to Yubel if he had to.  And to Johan as well.

Yubel returned the kiss, with interest.  “You’re forgiven.”  As simple as two words and his heart sang for joy, and he carried them away into the shadows to find a brother.

The End Notes:  And that's it.  Though there will be other tales that involve Juudai and Yubel and Johan and maybe Rune.

[glopratchet]

simo-beeing

I cant even believe ive pulled it off either, took a while to set up and almost got caught a couple times but it all payed off! Was actually stupidly easy if i do say so myself! he has only started his official guard training but has already proved to be quite capable with the basics, not as good as me of course, if you are reading this then thats one thing you should take away, you must be better than the rest or you will not survive in this new world attached is is his note paper he left around his latrine board which lists all the other shifts so ive done them all now! , some of the older residents already queing up to use it when ive come on shift, he has already made 200 from me alone he is now the richest boy in the guard aside from me :) Too late to back out now does this mean im in charge now? i'm not sure about this, im going to need some help directly to the awaiting bows etched beautifully on the surface, they look like stained glass windows The church has a logo too but it looks different, perhaps its different in the bible times? Like this alligator bladder inflatables, alligator collagen and many others that are all neatly organized into these clever boxes via conveyer belt to each corresponding window There are also windows for people to put their wastes in as well!! lies on a tray which collects them from the windows and comes around in a cycle that reminds me of those claw crane games, whatever you can squeeze out of the vending machine is yours I guess as far as the waste goes, the amount you take is based on your ranking in society Poor people cant take much but they get more than sodarites so they can trade it i suppose are dispensed from chutes hidden in the walls next to the windows This seems pretty complicated i hope you all are happy its your asses if this thing breaks, apparently everything is monitored via those cameras from control so maintenance is not something i need to worry about, as for retrieving the profits if the creature has been killed is also pumped out from his magical portal costume or something, i dunno Also washboards tons and tons of them and bubble wrap the alligators must really love to sleep on that stuff anyway this is all to be expected We basically sold out completely, 7 minutes of every hour are taken up by products thats why they scampered around so much at first, gave them more room to pump out more crap simultaneously , a flatbrim ballcap and navy jeans standing at one of his windows cheerfully greets every customer with a big smile I sometimes break from my gatekeeping to inspect some of the meat, it gives me mixed feelings to see it go through not knowing if im sending dead gators to a warm cozy home or chucking it in a trash pit somewhere, i ponder this as im picking flesh chunks off my claws , a high ranking position to be sure The most obnoxious thing is it came with matching shoes with little gators on them like COME ON!!! You shouldnt advertis ewho you are on your shoes for god sake! They cant take you seriously in these things, they look clownish We have even had talks to passing alligator ranchers about potential business deals in the future In any case our family has started rolling in the dough, unfortunately GiGi is still a dog biscuit away from the good fairy granting her speech but she doesn't seem too bothered by it, we really dont talk too much anyway The shivers are happy Life is easy, all i have to do anymore is open the gate that's it a HUD, with the locations of all the turrets and cameras for the stadium, best to keep the customer experience top notch afterall Although I don't think it matters too much,there are so many shivers in now every one has a different path to their tunnel system that even at a 5% attrition rate the population keeps climbing! Its starting to reach overcrowding levels but its not like we're sending anyone back alright? Were not! encryption codes for all the conversations that happen so far using your custom security systems A fulltime worker you have hired helps manage the trading floor while you police the stock market multiple times a day incase any occurances need your attention You created jobs for everyone, you created a life and a grand beard that laves the belly area of his long coat He wears light hiking boots presumably to trek through the sewers with and a travler's backpack for over night trips, sure signs of a trader! The success has lead to others trying their luck in there, but only few have even come close to GiGi's success, it might be your tech or the shiver's that attract them but one thing remains true It's your name that sucks to them most of the time, most of it stuck in there own routines, seems like they barely tolerate him now Water is quite rare for us now so we have to wait until it rains before doing the wash,still worth it though! or we salvage it from the toilet tanks any way the guy is called Mike, goes by GiMMiX online, one of the newer traders that have recently started coming here Normally I don't hear them until they are at the top floor then they normally eat at GiGi's before they leave He must be pretty confident to try sell me stuff when he knows who I am You should do this more often Dad, this is a nice talk over dinner, see ya with that guy and helped create a community of thriving humans who enjoy the gifts this world has to offer You and Lena? Yep that'll do, you'll name your robot Lena as a sign of appreciation Once you have entered her name you are greated with a box asking for a last name, you type in GiGis and it accepts it CONGRATULATIONS! "Lena GiGi-S-I-S" has been added to your home! You have created a second living creature that enjoys your presence A screen pops up with her picture on the left and some more information about her on the right, this is where you can change her name, informaion, add or remove her from your home and much more Some buttons appear at the bottom letting you navigate through the various screens you are glad that you managed to get communications working on a large scale between herds again You decide to leave the GiGis identification screens for later, you have just noticed that it is already outside and the herd of Shreks haven't gone past yet! Last night when you saw them they were making sounds that the Calvary were coming soon and every one was getting excited You always felt that division was the ruin of the humans indeed a couple of weeks pass and the music has been rejoined by happy trumpets that could only belong to GiGis It's nice to see her so happy, she really loves that music next week you get a visitor You hear a voice on the PA asking for you and asking to visit outside You buff up, take your gun and head to the top floor You open your window and see a woman your age looking up at you,she is pretty obviously pregnant, has grown nails and dark green skin She speaks "Hey, I'm Lena" "I know" you reply cautiously "i also Know that you have GiGis" She says pointing at your robot who is sitting to the side of the window "Yes, she is mine" Lena nods "I want to add her to the herd, the music has brought all of us joy and peace for years, GiGis would be a welcome edition to our little community" You weren't really sure what to expect when you got your first visitor, but it wasn't this You complte the transaction and feel very HAPPY as a result Music truly is the mystical link that connects all creatures on this planet! You wonder how you never saw it before,of course the differentherBS would feel joy at GiGis playing, what kind of a horrible person does this to beings who love music as their mother plays piano in the next room! The happy GiGis announces a new song "Go die in a fire (Ilium update discussion #405)" You don't mean to listen, but you can hear it quite clearly as the topic of the songs is pretty relevant to you right now You leave your home and head straight for the gate, you aren't really sure what you will do when you get there, but you are really angry! Before you know it you are flying through the air and in a yard with a massive collection of shreks and GiGis himself He is strangely cheery You stand up and aim your gun at him "Downѕtand!" you shout angrily He laughs "No" You fire at him, and are surprised to see that you shoot a stream of confetti GiGis laughs even louder now YOu start firing in all directions and realise that all you are doing is shooting party favors into the air, including one very large one right behind GiGis You dart back inside just as your entire house explodes into a million pieces and rains down onto the remaining houses You peek outside a bit later and see nothing but rubble where there were once houses and the words "All are GiGis" hovering above it all

[cryptochurp]

Op Ed: Tulip Myths and Modern Cryptocurrency Skepticism

“Ever heard of tulips?” It’s a question anyone who is publically involved in the cryptocurrency space has been asked multiple times. With the enormous gains in value the industry has seen, many observers come to the same conclusion. It’s a bubble.

The take is not a terrible one and many experienced cryptocurrency traders agree with the sentiment. Bubbles have come to be an expected occurrence in the space. The difference in opinion comes when deciding whether the “pop” will be a minor setback or the final conclusion in an exciting but short-lived ride.

On one side are the supporters of cryptocurrency. Their motivations can be boiled down to two points: desire for profits and a belief that the technology will benefit humanity. They believe that bubbles are a natural phenomenon in price discovery and an inevitable part of the long-term upward trend in value that will occur as cryptocurrencies become more utilized. They also understand that, while bubbles can hurt some traders in the short term, they are a necessary evil in the development of a technology which stands to dramatically increase human financial freedom. Sometimes these motivations can seem at odds, but in general they coexist within the community.

Get rich making the world a better place. It’s an attractive pitch.

On the other side are the skeptics. Doubt in cryptocurrency has made strange bedfellows of a band of commentators as diverse as it is vocal. Nobel prize economists, billionaire bankers, goldbugs and central banks have all weighed in to signal their prediction of the industry’s inevitable demise. And with the spotlight of increasing coin valuations has come even more doubters. In the age of Twitter, it’s almost essential that you have an opinion on the matter and that you let the world know it. For detractors, the tulip meme often comes into play:

OG Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/qQSMJYhLR7

— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 6, 2018

For skeptics as much as believers, there is a personal economic motivation. While they may not have cashed in on the extraordinary rise of cryptocurrencies, they think the game is rigged from the start. By keeping their hard earned cash out of the market, they are saving themselves from an “inevitable” crash to zero.

But under this current of self-preservation is an ethical play opposite to that of cryptocurrency supporters. Many detractors believe that this technology is not just ridiculous but actually harmful to society. What drives this outlook? The true history of the tulip bubble can give us an interesting view of the motivations driving their sentiment.

An Early Mania

Tulip Mania is the go-to story whenever someone wants to talk about humanity’s penchant for irrational exuberance in financial markets. It’s the catchy name for the extraordinary rise in value, and subsequent crash, of Dutch tulip bulb valuations over a four month span from November 1636 to February 1637. This phenomenon had devastating effects on the Dutch economy and left many people in financial ruin.

At least that’s how the story is told.

But according to Anne Goldgar, Professor of Early Modern History at King’s College London and author of Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age, the popular story is mostly an exaggeration.

The description of her book reads like this:

“We have heard how these bulbs changed hands hundreds of times in a single day, and how some bulbs, sold and resold for thousands of guilders, never even existed. Tulipmania is seen as an example of the gullibility of crowds and the dangers of financial speculation. But it wasn’t like that … not one of these stories is true.”

Goldgar uses extensive research to expose that, while there was a rise and crash of tulip prices, much of what we believe about the period is the product of historical exaggeration from a small number of writers.

What drove this? According to Goldgar, it was a product of societal anxieties triggered by the immense riches of the Dutch Golden Age. As Lorraine Boissoneault writes in Smithsonian Magazine’s recent piece on the book, “All the outlandish stories of economic ruin, of an innocent sailor thrown in prison for eating a tulip bulb, of chimney sweeps wading into the market in hopes of striking it rich — those come from propaganda pamphlets published by Dutch Calvinists worried that the tulip-propelled consumerism boom would lead to societal decay.”

English historian Simon Schama also writes of the period: “The prodigious quality of their [the Dutch] success went to their heads, but it also made them a bit queasy. Even their most uninhibited documents of self-congratulation are haunted by the threat of overvloed (abundance) ... a word heavy with warning as well as euphoria.”

When looked at through the lens of this historic research, the legend of the tulip bubble becomes less about financial mania and more about the way that an economic memory can reflect a society’s collective mindset. The Dutch Golden Age represents a period during the 17th century when “Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.”

This transformation was termed the “Dutch Miracle” by historian K.W. Swart. But, while it is easy to look back now and realize this era was a huge stepping stone to the modern prosperity the Dutch people enjoy today, at the time the progress was not as apparent. Many of the Dutch found a hard time adjusting to a society where fortunes were being created overnight. Schama compares the mindset to one which was found by de Tocqueville in 19th century America: “that strange melancholy which often haunts the inhabitants of democratic countries in the midst of their abundance, and the disgust at life which sometimes seizes upon them in the midst of calm and easy circumstances.”

While there was undoubtedly a run on Dutch Tulip prices, it seems there was an equal run on seizing the opportunity to find a negative aspect to extraordinary societal progress. Today, we are seeing the same mindset from cryptocurrency skeptics.

Modern Anxieties

Cryptocurrency has arrived at an uncomfortable moment in history. There is a wide debate surrounding whether or not technology is hurting human progress. Many argue that smartphones are making kids depressed and robots are taking our jobs. The thought is that technology which was supposed to make life better is instead causing us to become stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. On top of this, the freedom of speech made possible by the internet is being questioned for the alleged harm it can cause to democracy.

It is in this atmosphere of negativity that critics have found their “tulip moment” in cryptocurrency. It is being latched onto as an lightning rod for these growing worries about a society that is becoming radically shaped by the digital age. Detractors consistently ignore any possible justification for cryptocurrency to be considered useful and instead focus on its most distasteful features:

Haha, I feel sorry for all you losers who missed out on the Bitcoin train. You should've bought in years ago, like me: A perfectly normal man who coincidentally hoarded a virtual currency during a time when it's only use was for sex trafficking and purchasing organs.

— Shane (@Shanehasabeard) December 8, 2017

Many cannot push their analysis past observations of price movements. Warren Buffett partner Charlie Munger has described the cryptocurrency scene as “total insanity” and recently told an audience at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, “I think it is perfectly asinine to even pause to think about them. It’s bad people, crazy bubble, bad idea, luring people into the concept of easy wealth without much insight or work.”

Others, echoing popular sentiment questioning unbridled freedom of speech, are worried about a lack of governmental oversight. Back in 2013 author Charlie Stross wrote in Why I Want Bitcoin to Die in a Fire that “Bitcoin looks like it was designed as a weapon intended to damage central banking and money-issuing banks, with a Libertarian political agenda in mind — to damage states’ ability to collect tax and monitor their citizens’ financial transactions … late-period capitalism may suck, but replacing it with Bitcoin would be like swapping out a hangnail for Fournier's gangrene.”

Economist Paul Krugman cited the article in his piece Bitcoin Is Evil, adding “Stross doesn’t like that agenda, and neither do I.” While Krugman did admit he was open to conversation on the topic, fellow economist, Joseph Stiglitz, has been less forgiving. Recently he told Bloomberg “Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight...So it seems to me it ought to be outlawed … It doesn’t serve any socially useful function.”

The Progress Paradox

Are these arguments baseless? Not at all. Cryptocurrencies do in fact make many unsavory things possible. But, much like supporters believe bubbles are a necessary evil for price growth, they also believe that some illicit activities are a worthwhile trade-off for the ability to have a censorship-resistant, value-transfer system. They believe the win for personal freedom trumps all else.

It looks as if this idea is spreading. Bitcoin alone has grown from roughly 6,000 transactions per day in January of 2011 to 240,000 transactions on January 1, 2018. With 1000+ other cryptocurrencies, each growing their own communities, this desire for this financial independence appears contagious.

To the critics, these statistics do not matter. They will continue to focus on perceived faults. As the myth of the Tulip Bubble illustrates, this is rooted in human psychology. Some people are set on ignoring the progress around them.

De Tocqueville observed: “In America I saw the freest and most enlightened men placed in the happiest circumstances that the world affords; it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung upon their brow, and I thought them serious and almost sad, even in their pleasures.” Over the last few centuries, technology has made our lives less nasty, brutish and short. But, for some of us, the natural reaction has been to question whether it was really worth it.

Cryptocurrency now finds itself at the center of this larger debate over the morality of technology in a developing society. If supporters have their way, it holds the power to usher in a new era of human economic freedom. If critics have their way it will be regulated to death.

Let’s hope one side ends up as forgotten as Calvinist pamphlet writers.

This is a guest post by Kenny Spotz. Views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Media.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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