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smireyac · 1 year

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new year, same post

so... 2022 huh?

i didn't even write a reflection post last year (well i tried but i never finished writing it) which i'm kinda really sad about because i really like having these snapshots of where i am at in my life every year... and i feel like i'm missing a year! because i am! so while i can't do a whole reflection of 2021, i can do my best and that's the best anyone can do

so 2021 was the start, crawling out of the hellscape that was 2020... in terms of overall quality, 2021 was a major improvement from the previous year. to make things easier, first i'll go thru what i actually accomplished on my list of goals i made at the end of 2020:

☑️ read new books: my goal was 10 and i read 8, three of which were comics/graphic novels and one was a road trip guide book? so technically i read more than before

☑️ watch new shows/movies: i made a letterboxd to keep track of what i watched instead of the notebook idea i had and i watched 48 movies/tv shows !!! wowie that's pretty good i never counted that out b4 :D

☑️ listen to new music: my spotify wrapped had very much different music than previous years so i did the dang thing too ...it uh... got flooded by OM music cuz i had a phase in the summer but other than that its all pretty diverse !

☑️ eat new food: i had kbbq for the first time in 2021 so i think that counts?

☑️ go on a road trip/visit some place ive never been before/go to a club: so i planned a pretty spontaneous trip to LA cuz i saw an ad on Instagram for a city pop night at a club in DTLA... i thought it was a rare thing (turns out it ain't lol) so i got my friends to go and it was really fun and i knocked these 3 things out in one go (tho the road trip one is a little ehh bc we didn't make any stops, we just drove ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) bc i've never been to little tokyo and it was in a club! so check!!

so as far as goals go that's pretty good! other notable highlights of the year include:

⭐ i passed my drivers test (after failing the first time lol) and got a car that i love so dang much!

⭐ tried dating (the first time) and it didn't get far lol (that's on me)

⭐ karaoke night after not seeing people in person for over a year

⭐ played d&d in-person again finally

⭐ HELLA MEGA TOUR!! THAT WAS TIGHT AF 10/10 would recommend

⭐ saw lindsay and kaveh at a book signing event that was pretty cool !! (still have to read the book lol;;)

so yeah ! it was pretty great, all things considered... i think around this time last year covid cases were surging and things were feeling bad again so my perspective of the year was tainted by that cloud but looking back, i think i had a pretty good run...

i had made another, separate doc as a kinda goal list ? but i never finished it either lmao but i did put 3 things on it:

🌠 read more (surprise surprise)

🌠 write something

🌠 join a club at school

i said 2021 would be the year of new and i think i accomplished that

SO 2022 HUH??

thats what this whole thing was supposed to be about lol

lotta stuff happened... started off strong by getting covid (lol), went to big bear for the first time, technically saw snow (on the ground) for the first time, saw remi TWICE in ONE YEAR, tried dating again (still didn't get very far), saw ORI AGAIN FINALLY, hung out with pals A LOT, ate good food, got really (back) into comics this year??, worked full time at the library this summer, got over my stupid crush FINALLY, went to 3 conventions - 1 of which being COMIC CON... anD OH YEAH I GOT PROMOTED!! pretty accomplished i would say

as far as my goals from last year i actually accomplished something!! and hey 2 outta 3 ain't bad ;^)

i reached my reading goal with 13/12 !! granted 5 of them were graphic novels again but i stuck with my book club (kinda;;) and read some stuff!! i started a lot more books than i finished this year but i want to push myself harder next year (this year)!! my want-to-read list on GoodReads is 500+ and that hasn't even been updated recently!! i gotta step my game up man,, i think i decided i want to try to be an editor someday so i gotta go for it!!

did i write something this year??? in fact i fucking did!! i wrote fanfiction even!! something i srsly never thought i would actually accomplish... and i started a first real draft for J+M and got thru most of the first "season" of that!! so that's cool!! i wanna write more!! i found this writing tracker like halfway thru the year and was trying to add to it retroactively but it was hard so i don't know exactly how many words i wrote this year BUT it's more than 40k!! so WOW!! I'll keep better track this year so we can know fr fr

if 2021 was the year trying new things, 2022 seemed to be the year of getting used to the new normal bc surprise!! covid is still around!! but ig it'll be endemic now instead of a pandemic bc we couldn't fucking eradicate it 🙄 whatever...

the last couple months of 2022 kinda painted the whole year a somber color but looking back, i can see that i had a really good time for the most part... i hope 2023 will be nice :^)

SO... GOALS:

🎆 read more!! let's keep the ball rolling! 12 more!! once a month!!! and i'm not gonna add comics unless i've read a real book with words first!!!!

🎆 write more!! no goals let's just see what happens :^) i hope that maybe some fandom interaction will motivate me bc i love attention and praise!!! also my secret writing project 👀

🎆 apply to transfer to university next year!! this was supposed to happen this year but... shit happened yk

🎆 do stuff with friends!! gotta keep it up bb: NYC, hot springs, see snow, MKE??, LA

🎆 make new friends?? perhaps??? 👀 idk!!!

i will end this post with all the movies i'm super fucking pumped to see this year: M3GAN, the mario movie, the D&D movie, the BARBIE movie!!, new transformers movie??, blue beetle movie, SPIDERVERSE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!

it'll be a good year for me for movies ❤️

here's to 2023!! 🥂

#omg i talk #happy new year

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bearpillowmonster · 1 year

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Super Castlevania IV Review

Forgive me if I compare this to Metroid.

Since I revisited Metroid and it becoming one of my favorite franchises, I figured I'd do the same with Castlevania. I think this is another one of those instances where you need to start with the right game, I guess mine just so happened to be Super Castlevania 4. Why so specific? Because I didn't want to go too early with the original 1-3 on NES and this was closer to a remake of the first one.

Now I've tried Castlevania 64 and it seemed different but just not my thing, everything placed felt deliberate. Then I tried Aria of Sorrow and I had no idea what I was doing, I still kind of don't but at least with this game, I don't really have to worry about taking the wrong path. Why? Because this game is split into stages.

I think this is a cool decision because it allows for a variety of different scenarios. Now this is a harder game so enemies can pop up out of nowhere. Imagine a rushing river that's slowly pushing you wherever it wants or maybe a cave where the stalagmite falls on you or a mansion with creaky stairs, a graveyard with hands that grab you so spiders can shoot their babies at you. That's just so cool. In this game, atmosphere is everything and it nails it pretty well. I never really felt like I was doing the same things, I felt like I was progressing to whatever was ahead except I had no idea what was ahead, there was no way to tell because a book could fly off the shelf and attack you for all I know, it challenged what I thought I knew. Normally I wouldn't like that but I found it a lot more digestible with this entry and would snicker at what I ended up finding. Now, I never could've played this on a console because I'd be all screwed up redoing stages with a set amount of lives, losing too much health and whatnot, still a baby on that front.

As far as gameplay, there isn't a separate button to aim diagonally, it's just built into the stick so that threw me off at first but you can control the whip pretty good. There really isn't an upgrade system which isn't necessarily a bad thing either, you can get the metal whip frequently from one of the candles which works a bit better but that's about it, nothing's permanent so it feels like you're actually scavenging for the treasure.

Items aren't carried per say, candles hold most of the items like an axe, a boomerang, a knife, health items and so on but those weapons can only be carried one at a time so be cautious of what you pick up. You can also pick up money which gives you a better score and sort of makes you feel like a treasure hunter in Drac's mansion. Yes, there's a score which is measured by your time, enemy kills and so on but it isn't indicative of an ending, in fact, there's only one with this game specifically.

A few things I didn't like are that you can't jump or crouch on stairs. Something I hated about the original Metroid as well is that the end level is a gauntlet, well same applies here. But I will say that I learned a ton of new tricks just from that level alone, I just wish it would've come sooner (it's not the game's fault, but it didn't exactly make it obvious). But yeah, really solid title, I look forward to branching out to other entries even if this is a little bit of a lone wolf in its category.

#super castlevania #super castlevania iv #super castlevania 4 #castlevania 4 #snes #review #game #video game #super nintendo

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minteyeddevil · 3 years

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Hi!I've always wanted to write something myself, but my vocab isnt very large. Sssoooo can you write something that involves a Female M/C and Levi??? She loses her virginity to him(because let's face it, he may be a loner,and non social but hes been living a very VERY long time. Hes had to have gotten some ass at some point in his life) And hes very understanding and sweet about it all.(but meanwhile trying very hard not to be too rough and just plow into her. If you dont want to use Levi, Maybe Satan..If say Beel would be a good fit(no pun intended) but I'm siding with every fan here. Dudes dick is too big.

I forgot to add(for my virgin idea with Levi) hes trying hard not be too rough since it's been oh so long since the last time he had sex.(that and the M/C just makes him feel like that regardless)

(I don't mind it being about Levi, I love me some otaku boy :3 I really hope this come out as you hoped, and thanks for sending in a request, lovely!)

---

Of all the beings available to her, why did she have to pick him? He's just the disgusting hermit who hides away in his room full of anime figurines and games stacked to the ceiling, glued to his computer screen and in his own little world all the time. Why oh why did she chose him?

Leviathan's brain asks these questions over and over again as he is laying next to MC in his bathtub-bed, her lips softly moving against his own. He can't shake the feeling that this has to be a dream; there is no way in all of the Devildom that this could possibly be happening to him.

He and MC had formed a bond of sorts over her stay in the Devildom; in fact, they had practically gotten glued at the hip with how often they would be around each other. She would hide away in his room til the wee hours of the morning, and even sleep over from time to time, taking up the futon he would lay out for her. Up until she slowly began working her way into his bed. This led to a shy first kiss, one that fried his brain to bits and left him a sputtering mess for days after; even that he couldn't believe actually happened.

As their relationship bloomed, so did their closeness, Levi working out his dislike of being touched to allow her to lay her hands on him, slowly but surely getting him used to her. Their kissing would become more and more heated, hands wondering and touching the most intimate of places, until she finally brought herself to admit she had never physically been with anyone before him. Her admittance was followed by a shy downturn of her face, hiding it against his chest as she waited for his judgment.

Another moment of his brain short circuiting. He felt the heat rising in his chest and creeping up into his face, but he wrapped his arms securely around her, giving her reassurance. "I-It's fine that you've never been with anyone before me, MC. It doesn't make me like you any less, ya know?"

She pulled back and looked up at his face, her eyes soft as they locked with his own. "You sure? I know as a demon who has lived for so long...I am sure you have, um, been with plenty of others..."

"T-That doesn't mean anything!" he yelped, covering his face with his hands for a moment. "I l-like the idea of being with you more...so I, uh, wouldn't mind if, ya know...you let me...be your first."

The tail end of his comment came out in a mumbled whisper, but she caught in none the less. "I would love for you to be my first, Levi. I trust you."

A small groan leaves his throat as her words play back in his mind. She trusts him. He had to make sure this night was the best of her life. With him.

He pulled away from the kiss, both of them panting for moment as they gazed at one another. He visibly swallowed, his fingers fisting into her shirt. "Can...Can I take this off?"

She nodded, sitting up to allow him to pull her shirt off, leaving her in a bralette, his eyes averting from her at first. "It's okay, you can look," she reassured him, reaching her hands out to touch his own.

He swallowed once more, slowly moving his eyes to look, taking in her chest as she reached behind her to unclasp her bra. "L-Lemme do it!" he called out suddenly, and she nodded, allowing him to reach behind her back. He undid the clasp easily, letting out the breath he was holding, only to suck in a deeper one when he saw her bare before him.

He stared for a moment before locking eyes with her once more, asking for permission. Another nod was given, and he lifted his hands slowly, cupping her breasts in each one, giving them a firm squeeze. She whimpered slightly, and he paused, gaging her reaction before continuing, feeling her nipples grow pert against the skin of his palm. He pinched them lightly, rolling them between his fingers, eliciting another whimper from her, before leaning in to capture her lips in a deep kiss.

"You're wearing far too much," she mumbled against his lips when they separated for air, and he gave her a funny look before addressing himself. He gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "S-Sorry, just...really wrapped up in you. Lemme just, ugh..."

He stood up from the bed and climbed out, taking off his shirt and kicking off his sweatpants. She stood as well, removing her shorts, leaving herself in just her underwear, as they climbed back into his bed. This time he climbed atop her, nestling himself between her legs. His flush had spread up to his ears and down to his chest, making his skin warmer than usual, and she ran her fingers along his skin.

"You doing okay?" he asked softly, his fingers shakily running along her side.

She smiled warmly and nodded. "Ready for whatever you have next, babe."

He visibly shuttered at the pet name, then leaned in to plant kisses to her neck and collarbone. He latched onto a specific spot at the bottom of her throat, sucking the skin there to leave a dark mark. He pulled away with an audible pop, and looked down at the mark, smirking slightly; good way to show that she was his.

He began to nervously plant kisses down her chest, coming to the valley between her breasts. He remembered a scene from a hentai he had watched before, and leaned over one of her mounds, blowing lightly on her nipple. It became pert at the sensation, and he felt her wiggle against him, making him smirk to himself. He than took the bud in his mouth, drawing a tight circle around it with his tongue and gave it a generous suck. She gave a high whine, rutting her hips against him, making him gasp and release her nipple when her core came in contact with his erection.

"G-Getting impatient, huh?" he tried to dirty talk, his hand slowly edging towards her still clothed cunt.

"Maybe," she mumbled, gasping a bit when his fingers rubbed against the damn fabric.

He shimmied down her body until settled between her thighs, his face now level with her core. He swallowed once more, mouth suddenly watering as he noticed the dark spot in the fabric covering her. His fingers shakily moved it aside and he leaned forward, giving her a tentative lick.

Her thighs clamped shut for a moment, making him yelp, until he pushed them back open, looking up at her. "Too much? Want me to stop?" he asked, worry apparent in his voice.

"No, no! It just... surprised me is all. New sensation, ya know?" she replied shyly, biting her lower lip. He nodded, giving her thigh a loving rub. "It should feel good, MC. Just, um, tap me on the head if you need to stop, 'kay?"

She nodded, and he bowed his head back down, pressing his tongue back to her folds, licking generously against her. Her thighs attempted to close once more, but his free hand kept them apart, his other hand opening her folds so he could tongue at her clit. She moaned, wiggling a bit at the sensation growing in her lower belly. His lips wrapped around the small bud, as he slowly pressed a finger inside her, thought stopped when he felt her tense.

He pulled away to look up at her, but she let out a deep breath, and urged him to continue. Lips going back to latch on to her clit, his finger slipped in with ease thanks to her slickness, and soon a second finger joined the first, stretching her out as he scissored them.

A slight sting made her wince as he stretched her, but soon she found her hips rutting against him, a pleasurable build up sending sparks along her spine. He pulled away what felt like too soon, and she whined a bit, looking down at him.

"I, um, I think you're ready," he reassured, climbing back up her body to lock eyes with her. She took in a deep breath, bringing her arms to wrap around his neck. He leaned down and kissed her deeply, his hands working his boxers down to free his cock. When she felt the head prodding her entrance, she tensed and looked at him with worry in her eyes.

"You can always back out, MC. I won't be upset or anything! I understand if you change your mind or if you're grossed out by me..." he babbled, but she hushed him with another kiss.

"No Levi, I want it to be you. I'm just nervous, and kind of scared of pain," she admitted, giving him a wry smile.

He frowned, but nodded in understanding. "I-It'll probably hurt for a little while, but I will do my best to be gentle, 'kay? Whenever you want me to stop just smack me or something."

She giggled and nodded, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He pressed his own to her forehead, and let himself press against her once more. His hand guided his tip into her entrance, and he tried not to groan aloud at how hot and wet she felt already. He was worried he might cum too soon with how good she felt as he slowly began to sink in. He felt her tense suddenly and he froze, looking back to her face.

Her brow was drawn together and lower lip bit tightly between her teeth as she felt the sting of the stretch. Once the initial pain dulled down, she motioned for him to continue. He pressed in further, her walls giving and molding to his cock, until he was fully in, skin pressed to skin.

He waited, feeling her walls flutter and pulse, until she began to roll her hips against him did he begin to move.

He started with shallow thrusts, letting her feel the drag of his cock inside her, little whimpers and moans leaving her. The sounds went straight to his cock, and he wanted so badly to pound in to her; but the last thing he wanted to do was take away from this being her first time.

"D-Does it feel good, MC?" he asked shyly, his breath coming in shaky pants. She nodded quickly, her hands running down his back and trailing down his arms to grip his biceps.

"It feels amazing, Levi...please, can you go faster?"

He groaned loudly at her request, burying his face in her neck to hide to flustered look on his face. He sped up his pace, pressing himself closer to her frame as he kept his cock deep inside her with each thrust. His tip made contact with that sweet spot within, and her vision began to turn white at the ends.

"L-Levi! I think I'm gonna--!"

"Go ahead MC! C-Cum for me, please!"

His name left her throat in a high moan, as her walls clamped down on him, milking him hard and pulling him into his own orgasm. He pulled out as quickly as he could, spilling his seed all over her belly. He leaned back on his haunches, panting for breath, as her body became limp against his pillows.

He looked her over, taking in the blissed out look of her face, and his cum all over her skin; he wanted to etch that image permanently into his memory.

"Lemme get you a towel to clean you up," he mumbled almost embarrassed, jumping out of his bed and throwing on his sweatpants to head out into the hall. When he returned, he also had a bottle of water for her, climbing back into to wipe her down. He gave her his shirt to cover up, and curled into the pillows with her, pulling his blanket over the two of them.

She sighed contently as she nuzzled into his chest, planting small kisses to his warm skin. He shuttered at the sensation, but cleared his throat suddenly.

"Was it, um...was it good...ya know, for your first time?"

What he wanted to ask was did he do well for her. Was he good enough for her; but he'd be damned before he asked that out loud.

Though as if she could read his mind, she gave him the brightest smile, reaching up to kiss him on the lips. "It was amazing, babe. You were amazing. Thank you for taking care of me."

He flustered again, verbally key-smashing in his words, as he wrapped his arms tightly around her and buried his burning face in her hair.

#obey me #obey me smut #obey me nsft #leviathan #fem!mc #request #fanficiton

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mypimpademia · 3 years

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Shinso x reader, Mina x reader, Kaminari x reader, Kirishima x reader

TW: Swearing

Note: another part of my high school AU! I've been wanting to write for some characters that I dont write too often, and I thought this would be the best way, enjoy!

Thank you to @katsuflossy for helping me w shinso and Kaminaris soccer parts😭

Taglist: @myhoodacademia @katsuflossy @iiminibattlehero @ecao @nnnoya @hawklmaoo @strawberry-ice @mixfi @wolfkid22 @mythiccheroacademia @myfandemons @lilsparkyswife @her-majesty-kiara @mindofess @kqtsukisgf @1-800-s1mping @angiebug101 @mads-fairy @solar3lunar

SHINSO.

He's one of the people that genuinely perfers being alone most of the time

And hes very intimidating to most people, but most realize that he's pretty chill and cool if you just talk to him

Hitoshi would be on the soccer team too

Number 12 baby (Ronaldinho's number)

Hed play midfield, and have insane control over the ball

Hes calm on the field just like he is off it

But he gets a little competitive sometimes, might have to sit down and take a breather for a second

He sometimes ends up talking shit about his opponents, and he is NOT quiet about it

Will look the exact player he's talking about dead in the eye and say that shit

"I'll knock your knees out if you push me again."

And he plays a little dirty, might kick the ball around in away that'll make people fall on their ass just to get a laugh out of it

He steps on and kicks shins too

Hes really the soccer teams MVP, they went one game without him an lost and realized just how much of a key he was to them

Hitoshi sees you as his good luck charm during games, if you're not there he feels like he can't play his absolute best

Good luck kisses before he goes on the field are mandatory, if you dont give him one or forget, youre gonna get a very sweaty hug after the game

Hitoshi has only ever come to school in sweatpants and hoodies, and only wears jeans or something other than his usual once a week just so he can switch it up

He probably comes in with major bags under his eyes and smelling like coffee

And just a little bit late

He normally goes out to eat during lunch, and always takes you with him and let's you choose

You're honestly the most underrated couple in school

The loner boy and his gorgeous s/o, it's basically a real life wattpad story

When people try flirting with you, he tries getting his soccer cleats out on them and you have to stop him before someone gets hurt

Hitoshi is just underrated overall and no one but you and his friens realize, give him more recognition </3

MINA.

The really nice popular girl of course

But one of the popular people whose popularity actually means something for once

Gets along with basically the whole school

And she makes sure everyone knows she belongs to you and you belong to her

"Mhm, I've got a pretty s/o, and I love them soo much."

Probably posts you on all her socials (that the whole school follows) everyday

Mina has been in pretty much every club and team, which is exactly how she got popular

She joins as many as she can every year, but her favorites are dance and volleyball, maybe soccer too

For dance she likes to show you her routines, and maybe even teach you how to do them if you're down for it

"How was that?!"

"You wanna learn it too, babe? I could teach you!"

She's the captain of every team she's been on

It honestly just comes from her being so charismatic and the way she can get along with people and bring everyone together

Mina is 100% best dressed

Best everything honestly

Best dressed, Best hair, all that

She's cool with all the staff members, so sometimes the turn a blind eye if she decides to head out at random even when she's not supposed to

The two of you are Thee School Couple

Everyone wishes they were you guys or at least had a relationship like the one you had

Everyone would be in tears if yall so much as fought

So 10/10 for both of you

KAMINARI.

Certified pretty play boy

Hes a flirt, and friendly, and super popular

But the playboy act dropped once the two of you got together, because that's when everyone saw how much of a simp he was for you

Denki would just constantly fawn and gush over you, it would be annoying if it were anyone else, but it was just so cute to see him be so crazy for someone after he was basically known for never being tied down

Hes on the soccer team with Shinso!

Number 5 <3

Who did you think was calming Shinso down when he got mad??? Definitely not their other teammates

Hes the teams striker, and him an Shinso are so coordinated on the field together it leaves their own teammates in shock everytime

Hes a good sport (unlike Shinso), and is very friendly with his opponents

Wishes them luck before the game, helps them up if they fall, even says 'My bad!' If he accidentally trips someone, and tells the good job if they lose

Like Shinso, good luck kisses are a must

They're more like good luck make outs with him, and he usually ends up getting so wrapped up in them that he only makes it to the field by the skin of his teeth (he gets yelled at by the coach a lot)

He gets so god damn DIRTY on the field

And it doesn't even make sense because he really doesn't slide around or fall too much

He just manages to come out covered in dirt, and the sweat doesn't make it better

Oh, and even if you give him a good luck kiss, he still hugs you after the game

He doesn't do it to be mean, he just gets excited when he's on the field and has a bunch of energy left when games are over

Denki takes you to get ice cream after games. Shinso third wheels sometimes, but it's cool and not awkward at all because you're all besties

Denki is the most popular guy in school, and he'd be most popular overall if it weren't for Mina

You guys get rated cutest couple by all the students because no one had seen Denki simp till you came along and it was just too cute

Everyone wishes they could be yall </3

And half the school has beef with you because you're dating Denki and they're jealous

But you guys are still an adorable and amazing couple so who cares

KIRISHIMA.

The super sweet and popular jock!

Hes the older sibling to all the people younger than him and in lower grades

Hes on the football team of course

The quarterback too

Number 44

Hes that player that the coach is really trying to get a scholarship for

The one the coach pulls off to the side and says "son, let me talk to you..." and then tells him how far he'll go

Colleges are already scouting him

Most of the school is crushing on him honestly

But they all know that he's all for you and only you

Eiji gives you kisses before games, after games and sometimes when there's a long enough break he'll run and kiss you really quick

Hes a vv good sport, always wishes players good luck and says nice job after games, and separates any of his teammates that try to fight w their opponents then say sorry

It's usually Bakugo hes separating because hes on the football team with Eiji when he's not in Boxing

Everyone that's younger than you sees you and kiri as big siblings, and those older see you as cousins

Yall are just that couple that everyone loves

The whole school basically gushes when you walk in wearing his letterman jacket or one of his football jerseys

You're the couple the doesn't disgust everyone when you kiss in the halls <3

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ramblingguy54 · 3 years

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I think the problem with people's reactions to Sasha's development is that people don't know how to perceive actual complex and nuanced characters anymore. Modern fandom prefer simplistic characters that are either good guys or bad guys. Sasha is neither. She's not a bad person but she's not wholly good either. She's also not the abusive bully many redemption arcs go to. She was a domineering and manipulative friend but still a friend. She stuck up for Anne, lied and protected her from grime, she did bad things for the sole purpse of having fun. But they also hung out normally like table top games and school plays. Sasha genuinely loves Anne and Marcy.

She's not malicious never was. She has a skewed idea of friendship and didn't fully understand that her bad actions could have severe consequences especially for Anne and Marcy. Cause she's 13. What 13 year old ever has any idea how the world works? Literally none.

People don't actually want to navigate the shades of gray cause it makes it easier if she was all bad or was never actually their friend but that's why the betrayal hurt Anne so much. Because Sasha was her friend and she does love her. That's good writing.

This is only the *start* for Sasha's redemption. It takes strength to admit you're wrong and decide to do better. Don't know why people say this was too fast Sasha already questioned her convictions throughout season 2, the finale was her realizing what the fallout was by sticking to her guns. Now the logical question is what do you do now? And sasha said not this and wants to make a genuine change.

I honestly haven't been this excited for a character redemption arc in years because so many shows and creators botch it by making the character in question too bad and not have enough good to convince audiences thaet can change. Sasha strikes an excellent balance. I'm seriously excited for her remaining character arc the rest of this season.

Welp, this is one lengthy anon ask right here.

Anyways, while I do very much empathize with your frustration of seeing people misunderstand a character you love, it'd be best not to generalize others in the fan community, due to seeing other comments about Sasha's journey of development rub you the wrong way. Like, I totally agree Sasha is a very complex character and even go as far as to say she's arguably the most interesting of the three girls, overall. Hell, I've really enjoyed what each one has brought to the table in their own right, quite frankly. However, getting back on track, I've seen plenty of others who share our sentiments about Sasha's character arc being interesting in the layered complexity she has. Even if people don’t like Waybright’s development, for whatever their reasons are, they can feel how they want to about it because there isn’t anything wrong with that, of course. I may strongly disagree on their perspective, akin to you, but people are gonna like what they like, while others hate what they hate, plain and simple.

The whole notion of her development being “rushed” is certainly a weird take. Sasha spends her entire time throughout Season 2′s separate respective stories on her own to figure out an endgame goal, while also getting more said screen time after she reunites with Anne & Marcy briefly, too. Sasha’s development in Season 2 is more or less, “Drifting further away from her sense of good conscience for the sake of maintaining a shallow status quo.”, which completely comes back to bite her in the ass hardcore for being so selfish. Honestly, for what screen time they managed to give Sasha, since Seasons 1 & 2 weren’t focused too heavily on her, I’m impressed with what they’ve pulled off. Real talk, the parallels I’ve gotten from Sasha’s screen time balancing act in these two Seasons and knowing Season 3 is gonna lean heavily into giving her more development reminds me so much of what DuckTales 2017 tried to do for Huey’s characterization. The big key difference is I don’t have to worry about this show trying to juggle so many things at once, where it robs who is supposed to the vocal point of development being Sasha’s defined journey of betterment.

I totally am on board with you a hundred percent about being excited for seeing what they’ll do for Sasha’s redemption arc. The way they went about crafting Sasha’s character from as far back as Season 1 in demonstrating how morally complicated this young teen is really set the stage for what was to come later in Season 2′s more intense higher stakes. Having everything Sasha believed in from refusing to accept not only her friends had changed, but she isn’t on top anymore as their figurative protector was a simply damn good way to have it all come crashing down terribly in True Colors’ climatic pay off. That’s why I have such massive respect for what True Colors managed to accomplish. While Andrias is indeed the big threat here, Season 2 finale’s main point of interest was solely about exploring this toxic unhealthy dynamic Sasha wants to keep enforcing, along with Marcy’s super passive, yet secretly desperate nature, causing shit to hit the fan for Anne’s tolerance and temper.

Amphibia’s greatest strength is in it’s organic in-depth exploration of complex friendships. Sasha’s redemption isn’t gonna be an easy one, considering everything that has happened in general. Sasha will have to work a ton in regaining Anne’s respect and trust. Not to mention, when Anne’s parents find out about what’s really going on, it’s gonna be a tough hurdle for Sasha to convince them she’s not such a bad influence after all when reuniting with Anne later in Season 3′s other batch of episodes. Matt stated before Mr & Mrs Boonchuy don’t like Anne hanging around Sasha because of her questionable moral actions and how they’ve badly influenced their daughter before in the past.

Needless to say, Sasha’s redemption arc will certainly be a bittersweet one.

#amphibia season 3 spoilers #amphibia season 3 #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #amphibia turning point #turning point #anon asks #anon answers

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a-mended-pact · 3 years

Text

Unsteady Keys : Chapter one

💬 Authors notes: here's to my first ever chaptered fanfic debut! Feel free to interact and ask questions! 💌

Series Masterlist

✒Word count: 1,486

Part 2

Part 3

Spencer and I have been married for 3 years now. Which means I knew all the tests and trails Catherine Adam's had put him through. I started at the Bau shortly after cases with her started piling up. I watched him crumble while trying to put himself back together again with Max after prison.

We had been friends for quite some time. Connecting over our knowledge and love for literature and the fact that out of everyone that worked on the team I knew what it was like to have someone older than you need to be taken care of by you. Having people in my family that have the same conditions as his mother. Brought us closer together. To say I understood was an understatement.

Max left him because of everything that happened between Cat Adams and her family. She could never seem to let it go. As if it were solely his fault for what happened to them. I suppose in a way it was. I couldn't blame her for wanting a way out. Those two tried to make it work for months and months of failed attempts and meaningless dates. That just ended up in fights and arguments because Max could never truly forgive nor could she truly forget.

Once those two finally went their separate ways Spencer had been very standoffish to every female in his life that wasn't his mother or a team member. Who could blame him?

I suppose that's where I come in? Well more frequently into his life rather than just at colleague and an occasional friend.

Soon enough one thing led to another and we hit it off amazingly. We married within less than a year of dating.

======

Standing there watching him interact with Cat made my blood boil not out of jealousy, definitely not. It was boiling because we hadn't gotten anywhere yet on finding the whereabouts of her latest plaything.The poor creature was more than likely just a puppet on strings. A means to an end. She was trying to prolong her execution date. I'm sure of it.

How she still managed to be such a pain in the ass for us was beyond me.

If it wasn't for the speaker on the wall. I wouldn't have known anything they said to one another. The thought of that drove me insane. I knew that Spencer had to play into her game more than the rest of us. The only problem was I'm not sure how much he was truly playing. The attraction he showed her was more than he had ever really shown anyone else. Which meant I was left questioning whether or not I truly was as important to him as he was to me.

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

‘Cat, we don’t have time for your games. You’ve lost control over your accomplice, just admit it!’ My hands slammed hard against the cold metal table. We didn’t have time for this. If we weren’t careful another person was going to go missing along with another body being dropped. Whoever she had working for her had clearly gone off the original script. Cat knew how to act confident and not give much away. Having dealt with her so long though I could tell she was losing it. She didn’t like not being in control. Control was everything to her.

‘Spencie, don’t go bursting a blood vessel now. It’s only a game after all.’ her voice was flirty and condescending. It made me nauseous just thinking about how badly her words made me want to break her and put her in her place. The bottom of the food chain.

“Oh Spencie baby, have I worked you up? Did I hurt someone you care about again?” She let out a child-like laugh. I felt my skin crawl in response. I knew my wife was on the other side of the double sided glass. I knew she could see everything, hear everything. That still didn’t stop me from falling right into what Cat wanted from me. Aren’t I supposed to be a genius?

I moved myself closer to her, sitting myself on the table with both my legs on either side of her.

‘I’ve been such a bad girl, Spencie.’ chewing on her lip looking up at me. I swear I saw stars. I love my wife I swear I do but something about Cat Adams got me blindingly turned on. All I wanted to do was grab her by her head and make her gag on me in this exact position. That would be a way to make her stop being so mouthy. I had to find her alluring or else getting information from her wouldn’t work. Right? That’s what I've been telling myself all these years anyway.

‘Are you going to give me any valuable information? If not, I am leaving.’ The aggression in my voice didn’t go unnoticed by her. A smirk forming on her lips. She looked me up and down. ‘Careful Spenice wouldn’t want your wife to know how turned on you are by me.’ She ran her cuffed hands up my thighs until she caressed me through my slacks. I could do nothing but watch her. Eventually like a moth drawn to a flame I touched her. Smacking her hand away. Probably hard enough to make the cuffs dig into her skin. I glared at her. I honestly didn’t know what else to do. I was stunned into silence.

I stormed out of the room. Rage fueling my every step.

‘Oh Doc did I hit a nerve? Don’t worry there is plenty more where that came from!’ I heard her shout once I had closed the door. I turned to see if my wife was still there. She wasn’t.

‘Shit!’ I shouted, running my hands through my hair. How could I have let Cat become my puppeteer so easily?

I glanced up at her through the glass. It was like she was looking directly at me.

‘Don’t worry, you know you haven’t seen the last of me’ She winked.

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

I couldn’t do it anymore. The moment I saw him move that close to her. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I knew what he was doing. Logically I knew he was just playing into the game. Why did it bother me so much? He was my husband but why did I feel like he really just belonged to her. I had to get out of here. I needed some fresh air.

When I made it to the parking lot I could finally feel the air enter my lungs. I could feel myself calming down. My blood was no longer boiling and I couldn't hear my heart beating in my ears anymore.

That feeling of relief wouldn’t last long though. Spencer had to have been looking for me by now. He could probably tell that he wasn’t going to get anymore answers from her as much as I could. So why did he continue to try?

I started walking towards my car. Spencer had left home to be at work early today. Knowing we will be dealing with Cat. I sighed I just needed to get as far away from him right now as humanly possible. To be honest I was uncomfortable with how close he had gotten to her. He had never lied to me about how he was in fact attracted to her. He told me when we were just friends. That for some ungodly reason he himself couldn’t figure out.

I knew Spencer Reid loved me. He had a special way he looked at me that made me believe him. He told me every day. He’d randomly blurt it out when we were alone together like he couldn’t hold it in. I thought it was cute and enduring how he always viewed each day with me as a new day to flood me with his ‘I love yous.’ today though I hadn't heard a single one from him.

I slammed my car door and started the car. I sat there messaging Emily to let her know I was heading home and that I wasn’t feeling well. The words on my phone screen began to blur. I started feeling nauseous along with my vision becoming foggy. I could barely make out Spencer jogging to my car when I felt my world begin to spin. That’s when I noticed the strange smell that was coming out of my ac vents. I quickly started to panic trying to open my car door. It was jammed. I started banging against the window. It wouldn’t break. I even tried turning off my car but it wouldn’t even do that. Every time I did. Something would turn it back on. Spencer never made it to me. Not before I lost consciousness. The last thing I remember hearing before my vision went fully black were the sound of screeching tires.

Taglist!

@sassymoon @rainsong01 @onlyhereforthefanfics

#criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds #spencer reid fanfiction #Unsteady Keys #Yuki's babbles #spencer x reader #spencer x you #spencer x y/n

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fruitcoops · 4 years

Note

I don't know if you are taking asks anymore, so if you are not you can ignore this or put it to the very end of your list. But I was hoping you could write something angsty for coops but with a happy ending. Maybe one of them is having a bad mental health day? I've been struggling so I'd really like to read something sad but also comforting. Thank you so much!

Lovely anon, I hope you are doing better <3 It’s been a few days since this ask came in (sorry) but it was really cathartic to write and I hope it is a good balance of sad and comforting. I combined it with two similar asks, which are listed below:

Coops/ SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

Prompt 26: “I don’t know what’s wrong, okay? I’m just…really tired.”

Prompt 30: “You’re not okay.”

“Sirius. Sirius.”

He blinked and shook his head, clearly trying to come back to reality. “What?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“You’re scowling.”

“I’m fine.” The resignation and frustrated confusion in his voice worried Remus. He almost sounded like when he got heatstroke, just…different. Angry.

“Are you ready to head out?”

“I’m going to tap a puck around for a bit, I think.”

Remus frowned. That superstition only came out after bad games, when Sirius’ pent-up energy twisted around and burrowed into him rather than overflowing in tangible waves that boosted everyone around them. A remnant of years spent blaming himself for not being the absolute best, Remus supposed. “You don’t want to do that at home?��

“Not really,” Sirius said harshly. Not shouting, not snapping—harsh. Harsh in a way he never was with Remus. Talker, the only other person left in the locker room, picked up his bag and left silently with a final glance between them.

“Talk to me, baby,” Remus tried again, softening his voice. Making Sirius feel pressured was the worst way to go about this.

As expected, the frown slipped slightly. “I don’t know what’s wrong, okay? I’m just…really tired.”

“Okay. Ten minutes?”

Sirius sighed and scrubbed his hand through his hair without looking up. His skates were still laced up tight. “Ten minutes.”

Twenty minutes later, they were on the road heading home. The car was uncomfortably quiet, as if they were both waiting to say something, but Remus refrained from making any comments until Sirius opened up. Poking and prodding was never a productive method, and he was exhausted from the game, which had been far too close for a team like the Ravens.

“I’m not mad at you.”

“Good.”

“I think I just need some food.”

“And sleep.”

“And sleep,” Sirius added as an afterthought. “You’re quiet tonight.”

“I’m always quiet,” Remus said with a light laugh.

“Not around me, you’re not.” A smile tugged at the edges of Sirius’ lips when he glanced over, then faded into the troubled darkness from the locker room. Few members of the team had swung by for fist bumps or postgame chatter with him once the interviews were done; any reporters who approached were met with a cold stare.

“I was thinking about asking Reg to come over for Christmas, too.” Remus looked back out the passenger window. “Jules misses him and it’s been a while since we all had dinner together.”

“D’accord.”

“We might need to convince Dumo to let him go, but—”

“I said that sounds fine,” Sirius huffed, turning onto the road that led to their house.

Remus looked at him, eyebrows raised. “I know. I heard you. I figured I’d ask for your opinion on getting him to come over, considering he’s your brother, but if you really don’t care then I’ll just call in the morning.”

“That works.” The engine turned off and Remus locked the doors. Sirius unlocked them, only for Remus to click his key again.

“What happened? You’re not okay.”

Sirius blew out a long breath and let his head fall back for a moment. “I told you, I’m just tired.”

“You get cuddly or grumbly when you’re tired. You shut down when you’re upset. What did the reporters say?”

“Can I at least take a shower before you start interrogating me?”

Ouch. Okay. Remus tucked his key into his pocket and grabbed his duffel from the backseat. “Go for it. I’ll be in the bedroom when you’re ready to talk.”

It felt weird entering the house alone after winning a game. Sure, it had been close, but they still won and Sirius generally went into Hockey Obsession Mode after skin-of-their-teeth victories. The last time Remus had seen him like this was when a rude reporter asked whether he had spoken to his parents since the All-Stars and Sirius silenced him with a thunderstorm glare.

The pasta he reheated tasted like sawdust, but it cleared his head a bit and stopped the growling in his stomach. Sirius was still in the shower when he went upstairs; leaning against the tile while steam practically suffocates him, I bet, he thought as he changed into his softest pajama pants and tossed his postgame clothes into the hamper.

Sirius looked everywhere but at him when he came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and began digging through the dresser. “Your sweatpants are over here,” Remus reminded him. He didn’t respond. “Ignoring me is a dick move. I know you’re upset but that’s not cool.”

His broad shoulders slumped and he paused his search. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. What are you looking for?”

“Manches longues.” With a low hum, Sirius pulled on his most beat-up long sleeve shirt and slipped into bed, then immediately turned on his side, facing away from Remus. “Bonne nuit, mon amour.”

“Are you sure you’re not mad at me?”

“Very sure.”

Remus settled onto his side as well and, after a moment’s hesitation, reached out and touched the back of Sirius’ shoulder. He flinched slightly. “Sirius.”

“Don’t say my name like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like—” He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling with an angry huff, waving one hand around. “Like it’s so soft. It’s not. I’m not.”

“You are.”

“No, I’m not.” The corners of his eye glimmered in the low light of the full moon.

Remus shifted closer, just enough that he could feel the heat radiating from his skin. “Yes, you are. With Harry, with the team, with me. You’re allowed to be soft, honey.”

“I don’t want to be,” Sirius said angrily.

“I think you do.”

“I hate it when I feel like this.” His voice broke and he inhaled shakily. Remus hummed his agreement, resting one hand a few inches from Sirius’. “All those reporters—they think I’m like that all the time. That I’m aggressive and untouchable and perfect, even off the ice.”

“But you’re not.”

“But I’m not. I’m not, and I don’t want to be, but I don’t want to let them down.”

“The reporters don’t matter.”

Sirius shook his head as the first tear slid down his cheek, toward his ear. “I don’t give a shit about them. I don’t want to let the fans down. It would be so much easier if I could be the captain all the time, but I can’t. They ask about the youngest captain and I always forget that it’s me. They ask about Regulus and I have to remember if they know he spent last week snarking at me about vacuuming or if they think we still fight. They ask about you and—and I’m tired of it. I love you, but sometimes I just want to talk about hockey. I play hockey and I have a life that is separate, but they don’t seem to understand that.”

Remus brushed away the tear tracks with his thumb and Sirius closed his eyes, tangling their hands together. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I’m sorry you feel like that,” he rephrased. “It’s a lot of pressure for one person.”

Sirius half-smiled. “You make it better.”

“Can I hold you?”

His smile wobbled. “Please do.”

Remus wrapped one arm around his waist and drew him close against his chest, threading his other hand through his hair as he placed gentle kisses to the top of his head. He had washed his hair in the shower—the minty scent was calming, and the slowly-drying curls were soft. “You don’t have to be perfect all the time,” he murmured. Sirius’ palms pressed into his bare back. “You can just be you and that’s more than enough. If they don’t see that, it’s their problem.”

Sirius hooked their ankles together and pulled the blankets up over their shoulders with a trembling sigh. They fell asleep soon after, lulled by two hearts beating in tandem.

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gra-sonas · 3 years

Text

Max Evans has had one hell of a year. The Roswell, New Mexico Season 3 premiere, which picked up a year after the events of the Season 2 finale, saw the alien-turned-cop living large with his pseudo siblings Isobel and Michael. However, his easygoing demeanor was nothing more than a facade. As it turns out, he is dying, principally because his body is rejecting the heart transplant he received last season. Now, he is on a mission to wrap up his unfinished business -- not the least of which involves Liz Ortecho, the estranged love of his life, and Jones, the alien from whom he was cloned.

Speaking to CBR, Roswell, New Mexico star Nathan Dean offered some insight into Max's end-of-life plans. He shared why it was so fun to play two separate characters in Season 3, as well as how that effect was accomplished behind the scenes. He explained the key difference between Max and Jones, which may very well show Max his own potential. He teased Anatsa's key role this season and warned fans to be worried about the results of Maria's ominous visions. He also previewed Max's reunion with Liz, the real-world issues that Season 3 will tackle and more.

CBR: This season, you're playing two separate characters. How do you alter your approach to differentiate between Max and Jones?

Nathan Dean: You know, Max has spent his whole life suppressing who he is, suppressing his abilities and trying to hide and trying to be human. Jones has never tried to do that. He has never suppressed anything. He's never tried to stop himself from finding his full potential. So really, it was just the opportunity.

I thank our showrunner Chris Hollier and our writers for allowing me to do this, to really step into the potential of what Max could have been under different circumstances, if he hadn't grown up on Earth around humans. If he never tried to suppress these abilities, if he never tried to suppress who you are or your potential, what is that? What is the limit there? For Jones, there is none.

So it was really fun to then step into this fully evolved version of the character that I've been playing and then switch between the two, go back to understanding the circumstances of, "Alright, you're human, you're trying to be human," but then switch back into, "Oh, no, you're not. You're so much more than human. You're something far beyond that." Yeah, juxtaposing the two was a lot of fun.

What is it like for you to act opposite yourself? What does that look like for you behind the scenes?

Nathan Dean: It's very weird! It's very weird. You know, there were days where there would be myself and there would be a photo double -- one for Max, one for Jones -- and there would be stunt doubles -- one for Max, one for Jones -- and we just kept multiplying on set. But it was very bizarre. It was a lot of fun.

You sort of do one side of the scene a certain way and then switch over. You know, you take the beard off, you change the outfit and change the mannerisms, change the demeanor, and then try to have a conversation with the self that you just were. It was very fun! [laughs] It was very bizarre, but it was great.

Thanks to Jones, Max is finally getting some of the answers he's longed for. How will that impact the way he sees himself, particularly in relation to Isobel and Guerin?

Nathan Dean: It impacts him a lot. I mean, we spent this past year... we weren't working. You know, a lot of people weren't working and you just kind of sit at home and have to look yourself in the mirror and really figure out who you want to be and how you want the world to remember you and how you want the world to see you.

Max is confronted with this thing in a very real person of Jones, literally looking yourself in the mirror. It sort of forces Max, I think, to take stock and appreciate Guerin and appreciate Isobel and Liz, too. I mean, just be grateful for having them in his life and finding out his place in the universe. You get to see, I think, that growth from him all season of just that gratitude and approaching people with respect, and respecting his situation so much more seeing it from someone else's eyes.

As we found out in the premiere, Max is dying. How does he envision his last days? What does his bucket list look like?

Well, I think largely it comes down to him wanting to respect and honor the people around him that have loved him in his life, and he hasn't necessarily always been good on that. So he just really wants to just be there for the people he cares about. I think for him, dying quietly and disappearing is the best option. He's always wanted to disappear into the shadows, but this season and Jones in particular kind of forced him to step out of those shadows and step into himself more.

I hope that, by the end of the season, that we see a much more mature, a much more fully formed Max than we have in the past. He's no longer allowed to hide because now there's two of him! So yeah, he's kind of forced to step into the spotlight when he doesn't necessarily want to.

It looks like Roswell has a new sheriff in town. How will that affect Max's job and his role in the community?

Nathan Dean: It doesn't really affect him. I mean, Max thankfully is not -- he doesn't have his job by election, but it definitely hurts him because Valenti was tough, but she was always kind of on his side and had his back. So yeah, he has to definitely adjust and learn a new place and learn if you he trust the new sheriff, who is coming into town in very crazy times, because now there's not one, but there's two of me.

He's got to learn how to adjust with that and hopefully, the new sheriff will be able to -- maybe not be as understanding as Valenti was, but yeah, she'll have a whole new set of problems to deal with. I hope we can trust her and hope that he'll be able to keep his job and try to keep her out of it as much as possible. But yeah, it's definitely a new rule.

In this week's episode, we learn a little more about Anatsa and her reason for coming to Roswell. How will we see that dynamic evolve as the season progresses?

Nathan Dean: Well, that's gonna be fun. I mean, she has her own agenda, definitely, and Max is a little bit reckless off the top and kind of steps a little bit out of line. But yeah, I mean, she's coming here, she's gonna learn a whole lot of things that she wasn't quite ready to learn when she first came to Roswell. Yeah, as the season goes on, we'll see her become integrated into not only Max's life, but then obviously, Michael and Isobel's life as well. She is really striving to uncover what turns out to be some uncomfortable truths.

Roswell has never shied away from dipping its toes into controversial topics, so how does that set the stage for the show to tackle some real-world current events?

Nathan Dean: Well, we've all been through a lot of these last couple years. Having jumped forward a year, we definitely touch on -- I mean, it's unavoidable. There was a pandemic! There was a lot of people going through some pretty difficult times. Yeah, we definitely jump into it. I mean, we'll talk about it. We always try to stay as current as possible.

I mean, the fact that Max is a cop, that's controversial in and of itself, and we definitely talk about that. Yeah, like you said, we don't shy away from situations that are going on in the real world, and I think this year, we were given a good platform to be able to have these conversations with level heads and not shy away from it. Stuff will come up about being a cop; stuff will come up about the pandemic. Kyle, one of our main characters, is a doctor. This stuff that doctors have had to go through these past couple of years, it's all very, very much at the forefront of this show.

We try to tackle everything with a level head and with respect. We just were given a lot of ammunition this past year, and we'll dive into it and we'll talk about it. But central to our show, obviously, is going to be these aliens and the relationship between Liz and Max and all that. So we try to play it all on an even playing field.

Just how trustworthy is Jones?

Nathan Dean: [laughs] I think you've got to figure out his agenda first! I mean, you've got to figure out what he wants. Ultimately, Jones sort of operates as a window into the past. Michael and Isobel primarily, but also Max, always had these questions boiling around in their minds about, "Who are we? Why are we here? Where did we come from? What's our place in the stars? What are we doing? What's happening?" And Jones is a window into that.

He obviously has his own plans and his own thing, but at the end of the day, yeah, he's sort of what Max could have been, had Max not grown up on Earth. We get to see that unfold and unfold throughout the season. So yeah, I mean, do you trust Max? Do you just Isobel? Do you trust Michael? Do you trust any of these aliens? Do you trust Jones? I don't know! That's all yet to be seen.

Maria keeps having visions of a funeral and she isn't quite sure who's in the coffin. How worried should fans be?

Nathan Dean: Definitely be worried. You know, we're just learning now what Maria's abilities are and what her role in this cosmic game is. As we move forward, trying to figure out what her ability is, and are these are these, in fact, real? Are these set in stone? Is this something that can be changed? What are these visions? Are these the future that's going to happen or a future that could happen?

Yeah, we learn a lot about Maria this year, and obviously Liz is off in LA trying to figure out how to deal with that as well. It's fun to sort of -- you know, she's one of the new aliens in the group and we get to figure out what that's about.

What can you tease about Max's reunion with Liz?

Nathan Dean: I mean, Max and Liz have this relationship that is constantly push and pull. They're in this orbit around each other they just can't break. It is very appropriate that she literally runs into him, because no matter how hard they try to be apart and try to be separated, the world, the universe, whatever it is, they just keep literally crashing into each other.

Obviously, it's been a year. Max is not doing well, in a lot of ways. There's also another Max out there somewhere. So yeah, they crash into each other in quite a spectacular way.

#nathan dean parsons #max evans #rnm cast interviews #rnm spoilers #rnm 3x02 #roswell new mexico s3 #echo #liz ortecho

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c-is-for-circinate · 3 years

Note

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about why P5R didn't quite land for you. I had the same reaction to it, but I've never quite been able to properly articulate why the last section fell so flat.

God okay so I've tried several times to answer this, and it seems like the answer is 'I still have way too many feelings, personally, to say this in anything less than thirty pages and fifteen hours of work', because Persona 5 the original is a game I loved a lot and care about a great deal. And most of the reasons I disliked Royal feel, in my head, like a list of ways it broke some of the things I liked best about P5--which means explaining them feels like I need to explain everything I loved about the original game, which is a book in itself, complete with referents to P3, P4, Jungian psychology, the Joseph Campbell mytharc, and fuck all even knows what. And that is too much.

But today I realized that I could instead describe it from an angle of, Persona 5 Strikers succeeds really well at doing the thing I think Royal was trying to do but failed at. And that I think I can talk about in a reasonable amount of wordspace, hopefully, behind this cut because I have at least one friend who hasn't played Royal yet.

Note for reblogs/comments: I HAVE NOT FINISHED STRIKERS YET. I got through the jail that pretended to be the final jail and have not yet gone into the obviously inevitable 'ohshit wait, you mean there's something more than simple human machinations behind all of this?' dungeon. (I got stuck on a really frustrating side quest, put the game down, and then dived into Hades to avoid throwing the Switch across the room for a while--and anyone around this blog lately knows how THAT'S been going.) Please no spoilers past Okinawa!

So, one of the many, many things I really appreciated about Persona 5 was its straightforward and unashamed attitude towards abusers and their acts of violence. Because, while yes P5 is a story about the use of power and control to make others suffer, it fundamentally isn't about those abusers themselves. It's about their victims, those that survive their crimes. And this shows up repeatedly over the course of the game.

We do not give a shit why Kamoshida wanted to beat and rape his students. We really don't. Kamoshida does not deserve our attention one moment longer than it takes to make him stop. Because, ultimately, that's the goal of P5, start to end. We don't know for sure if what we're doing is fair, if it's justice, if it's questionable. What we know is that people are being hurt, badly, actively, right now this second. What we know is that victims are suffering. What we know is that we, personally, us-the-protag and us the Phantom Thieves at large, are in danger. And in those circumstances, we don't care about the abuser's side any more. We don't. We don't have the space or time or capacity to care, because that is not the point.

The point is to help the weak. To save the people who need saving, right here and now. To give others the courage to stand up on their own behalf. We're not even out to change society, not really--that's a byproduct. We are reactions. We are triage. We are important.

There's something so empowering and validating about that as a theme, y'know? In a media landscape so full of "sympathetic villains", the idea that, you know, maybe sometimes you don't have to break yourself to show compassion that might possibly heal the bad guy--that sometimes you can just make the bad guy stop hurting people--feels both refreshing and satisfying. I really appreciate it as a message! I liked it a lot!

And yes, there's nuance to that theme, and the game is not without compassion. We save Futaba, because 'make the bad guy stop hurting people', in that case, means 'make this person stop hurting herself'. We give Sae a path forwards, help her fix her own heart. Yet it's worth pointing out that in both of those cases, while we were very glad to do those things, to save those people, we also went into both of those palaces for extremely practical reasons to begin with. We needed Futaba's help. We needed Sae's help. The fact that we chose to talk Sae into a change of heart rather than simply stealing her treasure, while ultimately a very good thing for her, was absolutely a practical choice predicated on the need for her palace to still exist to save our life. And yes, we wanted to save her, for Makoto's sake--yes, we wanted desperately to save Futaba. But Sae and Futaba let themselves be helped, too, and that doesn't change the overarching themes of the story itself.

Akechi (and to some extent Okumura) would not let himself be helped. Akechi's another interesting nuance to this theme, because of all our villains, we do learn the most about what drove him to the cruelties and crimes he's committed. He's at that intersection of victim and villain, and we want to help him, as a victim--but we also know that stopping him as a villain is more important. We'd like to save him from himself if we could, because we save people from their sources of trauma, it's what we do. We regret being unable to do so. But in the end, what matters to the story is not that Akechi refused to be saved--it's that Shido and Yaldabaoth need to be stopped, for the sakes of everyone else they're hurting now and may continue to hurt in the future.

The thing is, there's space and maybe even a need for a corollary discussion of those places where victim and villain intersect. It's an interesting, pertinent, and related topic. Strikers made an entire video game about it, a really good video game. It's centered in the idea that, yes, these people need to be stopped, and we will make stopping them our priority--but they're not going after us, and that gives us some space to sympathize. Even for Konoe, who specifically targets the Phantom Thieves--compare him to Shido, who actively destroyed the lives of both Joker and Futaba, who ordered Haru's father's death, who's the entire reason the team is still dealing with the trauma of Akechi's everything. Of course the game can be sympathetic to Konoe where it can't with Shido. There's enough distance to do that.

But right--Strikers is a separate game. It's a separate conversation. It's, "last time, we talked about that, so now let's take it one step further." And that's good writing. (It's something Persona has done before, too, also really well! Persona 3 is about terrible, occasionally-suicidal depression and grief. P4 is about how you can still be hurting and need some help and therapy even if things seem ok. Related ideas, but separate conversations that need to be separate in order to be respectful and do justice to either one. P5, as a follow-up to P4, is a conversation about how, ok, changing yourself is great and all, but sometimes the problem is other people so how do you deal with that? Again, still related! Still pertinent! Still alluded to in P4, with Adachi's whole thing--but it wasn't the time or place to base a quarter of the game around it.)

So one of Royal's biggest issues, to me, is that it tries to tack on this whole new angle for discussion onto a game that was originally about something else.

Adding Maruki's palace--adding it at the end, which by narrative laws suggests that it's the true point that everything else should be building up to--suddenly adds in about a hundred new dimensions at once. It wants us to engage with "what in this abuser/manipulator's life led him to act this way?" for basically the first time all game (we'll get to Akechi later). It wants us to engage with, "if the manipulator has a really good reason or good intentions, does that mean we should forgive them?" It requires us to reflect on, "what is the difference between control and cruelty?" It asks, "okay, but if people could be controlled into being happy, would that be okay?" (Which, based on the game so far, is actually a wild out-there hypothetical! Literally not a single thing we've seen in the game suggests that could ever happen. Even the people who think being controlled is safer and easier are miserable under it. Control that's able to lead to actual happiness is completely out of left field in the context of everything we've encountered all game so far.)

That's too much! We don't have time to unpack all that! We only have an eighth of the game left! Not to mention we are also being asked to bring back questions we put to bed much earlier in the game about the morality of our own actions, in a wholely unsatisfying way. Maruki attempts to justify his mass brainwashing because "it's the same as what you're doing", and we know it isn't, but the game didn't need Maruki calling it out in order for us to get that. We already faced that question when we started changing hearts, and again several times throughout the game, and again when we found our targets in Yaldabaoth's cells. The fact that we change hearts does not mean we think "changing hearts is fine and kind and should be done to everyone, actually." Changing hearts has been firmly established in this game as an act of violence, acceptable only because it prevents further systemic violence against innocents that we must prevent. The moral question has never once been about whether it's ok to change the hearts of the innocent, only about how far it's ethical to go against individuals who are actively hurting other people. Saying "you punched that guy to keep him from shooting a child, so punching people is good and I will save the world by punching everyone!" is confusing! and weird! and not actually at all helpful to the question of, how much violence is it acceptable to use to protect others! So presenting the question that way just falls really flat.

(And right, I love Strikers, because Strikers has time to unpack all that. Strikers can give us a main bad guy who wants to control the whole world for everybody's own good, because Strikers has earned that thematic climax. It has given us sympathetic bad guys who started out wanting to control the world to protect themselves and ended up going too far. It's given us Mariko Hyodo, who wanted to control the world to protect other people and went too far. It's given us a long-running thread about police, the desire to serve, and the abuse of power that can lead to. And since we are actively trying to care for the people whose hearts we're changing in Strikers, we can open the door to questions about using changes-of-heart and that level of control to make other people happy. We can even get a satisfying conclusion out of that discussion, because we have space to characterize the difference--Konoe thinks that changing peoples' hearts means confining them, but the Phantom Thieves think it means setting them free. We have seen enough sympathetic villains that we as an audience have had the space to figure out how we feel about that, and to understand the game's perspective of "stop them AND save them, if we can possibly do both." And that message STILL rests firmly on Persona 5's message of "it is Good to do what you have to do to stop an abuser so long as you don't catch innocent people in your crossfire.")

It's worth noting that the general problem of 'asking way too many new questions and then not answering them' also applies to how Royal treats its characters, too. P5 did have unanswered questions left at the end! The biggest one, and we all knew this, was Akechi, and what actually happened to him, and how we should feel about him, and how he felt about us. That was ripe for exploring in our bonus semester, and to Royal's credit they did in fact try to bring it up, but by god did they fuck up doing it.

Akechi's probable death in the boiler room was absolutely the biggest dangling mystery of the game. It was an off-screen apparent death of a key antagonist, so all of the narrative rules we know suggested that he might still be alive and would probably come back if the story went on for long enough. So when Royal brings him back on Christmas Eve, hey, great! Question answered. Except that the situation is immediately too good to be true, and immediately leads to another mystery, which leads to a flat suspicion that something must be wrong. We spend several hours of gameplay getting sly hints that, oooh, maybe he's not really alive after all, before it's finally confirmed by Maruki: yup, he really died, if we end the illusion we'll kill him too. Okay, at least we know now. Akechi is alive right now and he's going to be dead if we do this, and that doesn't make a ton of sense because every other undead person disappeared when the person who wished for them realized they were fake but at this point we'll take it. So we take down Maruki, and okay, Akechi really is dead! Probably! We're fairly sure! Aside from our lingering doubts!

And then we catch a glimpse of maybe-probably-could be him through the train window, and I just want to throw something, because come on.

Look, it is just a fact of storytelling: the more times you make an audience ask 'wait, is this character dead or aren't they?', the less they will care, until three or four reversals later you will be hard pressed to find anybody who gives a shit. Royal does this like four different times, and every iteration comes with even less certainty than the last. By the end, we somehow know even less than we did when we started! Did Akechi survive the boiler room to begin with and Maruki just didn't know? Or was Maruki lying to try and manipulate us further? Or was he actually dead and then his strength of will when Maruki's reality dissolved was enough to let him survive after all? Is that even actually him out the train window?

Where is he going! What is he doing! How did any of this happen! What is going on! We all had these questions about Akechi at the end of the original P5, and the kicker is that Royal pretends like it's going to answer them only to go LOL JK NO. It's frustrating and it's dissatisfying and it annoys me.

The one Akechi question that Royal doesn't even bother to ask, though, let alone leave ambiguous, is how does the protagonist feel about him? The entire emotional weight of the third semester rests on the protagonist caring about Akechi, Sumire, and Maruki. Maruki's the person we're supposed to sympathize with even as we try to stop him. Sumire's the person we're trying to save from herself. And Akechi is our bait--is, we are told, the one thing our protagonist wished for enough to actualize it in this world himself. Akechi's the final lure to accept Maruki's deal. Akechi's survival is meant to be tempting.

For firm Akechi fans, this probably worked out fine--the game wanted to insist that the protagonist cared for Akechi the same way the player did. For those of us who're a little more ambivalent, though (or for the many and valid people who hated him), this is a super sour note. Look, one of the Persona series' strengths is the way it lets players choose to put their time and emotional investment into an array of different characters, so the main story still has weight even if there's a couple you don't care about that much. It has always done this. The one exception, from P3 all the way through P4 to here and now, is Nanako Dojima, and by god she earned that distinction. I have never met a person who played Persona 4 who didn't love Nanako. Nanako is a neglected six-year-old child who is brave and strong enough to take care of herself and all of the housework but who still tries not to cry when her dad abandons her again and lights up like the sun when we spare her even the tiniest bit of time and attention. It is impossible not to care for Nanako. Goro Akechi is not Nanako.

And yet third semester Royal doesn't make sense if your protagonist doesn't feel linked to Akechi. The one question, out of all the brand new questions Royal throws out there, that it decides to answer all by itself--and it's how you as a player and your protagonist ought to feel about an extremely complex and controversial character. What the fuck, Royal. What the fuck.

In conclusion, I'll leave you with this. I played the original Persona 5 in March and April of 2017, as an American, a few months after the 2016 election and into the term of our then president. It felt painfully timely. A quick calendar google early on indicated that the game's 20XX was almost certainly 2016, and the closer our plot got to the in-game November leadup to an election destined to be dominated by a foul and charming man full of corruption and buoyed up by his own cult of personality, the more I wanted to laugh/cry. It felt timely. It felt important. It felt right.

I went through Royal (in LP form on youtube, not having a platform to play it on) in summer of 2020, with a hook full of face masks by my front door and protests about racial tension and local policing that occasionally turned into not-quite-riots close enough to hear at night if I opened the windows of my apartment. The parts of the game that I remembered felt as prescient and meaningful as ever, if not even more so. The new parts felt baffling. Every single evil in the game felt utterly, painfully real, from the opening moments of police brutality to the idea of a country led by a guy who probably would use his secret illegitimate teenage son as a magical assassin if the opportunity presented itself and he thought he could get away with it. Yaldabaoth as the cumulative despair of an entire population who just wanted somebody to take over and make things be okay--yes, yes, god, in summer of 2020? With streets full of people refusing to wear masks and streets full of people desperate for change? Of course. Of course that holy grail of safety should be enticing. Of course it should be terrifying.

And then Maruki. Maruki, who was just so far outside the scope of anything I could relate to the rest of the game or my own life. Because every single other villain in the rest of Persona is real. From the petty pandering principal to the human-trafficking mob boss. The corrupt politicians and the manmade god of cultural desire for stability. And this game was trying to tell me that the very biggest threat of all of them, the thing that was worse than the collective force of all society agreeing to let this happen because succumbing was easier than fighting back--that the very biggest threat of all was that the world could be taken over by some random nobody's misguided attempts to help?

No. Fuck no. I don't buy it. Because god, yes, I have seen the pain and damage done on a tiny and personal and very real level by the tight-fisted control of someone trying to help, it never looked like this. Not some ascended god of a bad therapist. All the threats to the world, and that's the one I'm supposed to take seriously? This one man is more of a threat than the fundamental human willingness to be controlled?

Sorry, but no. Not for me. Not in this game. Not in this real-life cyberpunk dystopian apocalypse.

#c plays persona #driveby meta attack #p5 royal spoilers #p5 strikers spoilers #holy crap I did it #I actually wrote a semicoherent essay of a length I'm willing to put on Tumblr #about my problems with this game #I have been trying on and off for MONTHS #I wanted to like Royal SO BADLY #it makes me SO UPSET #anyway #now back to your regularly scheduled Hades blogging #asked and answered #Anonymous

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suwya · 3 years

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Till the Stars Had Run Away - Chapter 6

Summary: Killian Jones was a voyager. Actually, he was many things, or at least he had been - a lieutenant, a brother, a loving boyfriend - until everything had turned upside down and his life had hit an all time low. So, he gave up. Aboard his spaceship he abandoned Arcadia, his planet, navigating the stars and other solar systems in search of... well, he still didn't know what he was searching for, but his rule was "never remain in the same place longer than necessary."

Rating: M

Prologue; Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

AO3

A/N: Sorry for the waiting, but real life came along and I had to stop writing for a couple of weeks. Thank you @thisonesatellite for being the best beta reader I could ever ask for. And thank to all of you who are reading this. Happy Labour Day!

Chapter 6 . .

Be not inhospitable to strangers,

lest they be angels in disguise.

(W. B. Yeats)

When Killian regained consciousness he found himself in what reminded him of a military hospital. There were thin white curtains around his bed, but through them he could spot other beds like his, most of them empty. The room seemed large and dimly lit.

He closed his eyes and remembered the crash landing, the unknown desert planet, the great rock that was about to crush Henry, and that feeling of unease and imminent danger he had felt just before the impact. Where was he? And above all what kind of situation was he in, a good or a bad one? He opened his eyes again, and noticed he wasn’t alone. A woman was checking his IV, and a nearby monitor was beeping intermittently.

Killian tried to sit up, but a stabbing pain in his lungs made him desist immediately. He groaned loudly.

“Look who’s awake.” Said the woman, who was now staring at him. “Hello, handsome.” She added cheerfully.

Killian had found himself dealing with uncharted waters several times in his life. He decided to play the waiting game. “This is usually my line, well, more or less.”

“Really? In this case, I'll warn my husband not to approach you.”

“Don’t worry I'm not into men, not recently at least.” He smirked.

“Oh, but my husband is quite the charming one.”

“I still prefer the company of a fair lady, if I could choose.” He winked and chuckled, and a dull pain made him gasp.

“Take it easy.” She immediately shifted her attitude from playful to worried. “How do you feel?”

“As if I've been hit by a rocket.”

“Not a rocket, but yes, you’ve been hit hard. You’ve suffered two broken ribs. And believe me, you were lucky, it could have been worse. Do you mind if I run some tests and see how you react?”

“No problem.”

While the woman was busy measuring his temperature, making him follow a small blue LED light with his gaze, and extracting some blood to examine later, he took advantage of the opportunity to observe her more closely. She had short black hair and green eyes, bright and lively in contrast to her very delicate skin. Killian found himself thinking of another pair of green eyes, which had been filling his thoughts frequently lately. The memory brought him back to reality quickly.

“What is this place?” He inquired, eager to know what had happened while he was unconscious.

“Welcome to Vernal-Den.” She answered smiling.

Killian tried to remember if he had ever read about this planet. “Never heard of it.”

“Yeah, we’re not very popular.”

Was she too concentrated on checking-in his vitals, or was she being too concise on purpose? He didn’t know, but he intended to keep an eye on her. “How long was I out?”

“A while.” Another elusive answer.

He decided to test the waters. “Were there ….other injured people with me?”

“If you’re referring to Henry and Emma, they are perfectly fine.” She seemed sincere. “They are staying at our place. Henry has visited you every day since you came in.”

“And Emma?”

“Well, she can’t come in. She’s not a relative of yours. But she has spent long hours sitting just outside that door.” She said pointing towards the exit. “I had to order her to go home and get some rest.”

After that she excused herself, saying that she had to attend to other patients.

He realized she hadn’t even told him her name. He didn’t know if he could trust her or not. The fact that she had avoided some of his questions sent chills down his spine. And most of all there was the Emma problem.

Why couldn’t she visit him? Was it true that it was only a matter of rules? Or was she in some kind of peril? He needed to know what was happening behind those doors that separated him from the woman that had been pestering his dreams in the last ten years of his life. He had to know that she was alright. To hell with rules! He thought. And by the way, when was the last time he followed one. He had to get out of this place. He tried to sit up, but the pain in his lungs was so strong that his vision started to blur and cold sweat formed on his temples. He lay back down on the bed, aware that in his conditions he couldn’t have gone far before collapsing unconscious on the floor. He promised himself to solve the problem as soon as he had enough strengths, but he couldn't dwell too much on that thought, because sleep was reclaiming his mind again.

~·~·~·~

Time passed very slowly, or so it seemed, but maybe it was simply the fact that every day looked the same. Killian was mostly asleep, probably due to the painkillers introduced through the IV, and when he woke up he couldn't tell how long he had been out, he couldn't even tell if it was day or night. There were no windows in that room.

During one of the moments when his mind regained consciousness, he felt the mattress drop slightly to one side and he slowly opened his eyes.

“You are awake! How do you feel? Can you breathe? Of course you can, you would be dead otherwise! Does it hurt?” Henry was sitting at the end of the bed, and he was asking a lot of questions, as usual. “Sorry.” He suddenly looked contrite. “I should let you rest, but…”

“It’s ok, lad.” Killian cut him off. “I’m glad to see you’re all in one piece.”

The boy greeted him with a wide grin.

Killian remembered the last moments before getting injured, and he was relieved to know that he had been able to prevent that rock from hitting Henry. But other worries crowded his mind. “How about your mom?”

“She’s fine. She’s outside. They won’t let her in. You know, only relatives and all that stuff.” He explained.

“I see. And why are you…?”

Henry didn’t let him finish the question. “I told them I’m your son.” He whispered with a conspiratory smile.

“Clever boy.” Killian’s chuckle turned soon into a cough due to the pain.

“Does it hurt?” The boy asked, frowning.

The man dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “It’s not a big deal.” He didn’t want the lad to feel responsible for his well-being. “How many days have passed since we landed here?” He asked, changing the subject.

“I don't know exactly.” And at Killian’s questioning look, he added, “It’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“People live underground here,” The boy started to explain, “With no opportunity to look outside. And there are no clocks. My watch had probably broken when we arrived, it doesn’t work anymore.”

The man hummed, he was starting to understand. The lack of windows, the elusive answer he had received from the dark-haired nurse… everything was beginning to tally in Killian’s head. “I want you to think carefully about everything you saw outside this room. Did you feel something was wrong?”

The boy shrugged. “I don't know.” He seemed to ponder. “This place is strange. Lots of corridors and passages underground. We are not allowed to go out into the open. They say it’s dangerous. But I never felt a threat or something. I would rather say it’s boring.”

“Why boring?”

Henry was trying to find the right words to explain it. “All the days are the same, people repeat the same actions every day. They say it’s useful to maintain a routine. But I don’t think Mary Margaret and David are bad people.”

“I’m sorry, who?” Killian asked.

“Oh, yeah, Mary Margaret, she is your nurse. We’re staying at her home. She is very nice. And David is her husband. He showed me the greenhouse. It’s awesome and huge, you should see it! But I don’t think he works there. I don’t know what his job is.”

Routine? New people? A greenhouse? Well, that was a lot of information to process. But Killian felt sleep calling him back. Next time I see that lady Margaret, I’m going to ask her not to put more painkillers in my IV. He thought. “Thank you, Henry, for everything. But I may need to rest for a while now.” He managed to say before falling asleep again.

~·~·~·~

Emma knew Killian was feeling better, Henry had told her about their short chat, and some of her child's enthusiasm had even infected her positively, but she continued to feel restless, she wanted to make herself useful. Most of all, she wanted to see Killian again.

All this absurd situation was her fault. And no, she was not thinking about the fact that Killian was lying on a hospital bed because of some bad decisions she had made lately. No. She was not going down that path again. She had already spent a lot of hours regretting many choices done in the last month.

But this was nonsensical, why couldn’t she visit a friend that was hurt and maybe in need of some company? She had actually had a chance to say that she was his wife; after all in the eyes of her guests, she and Killian had a son together, so why not lie a bit more and make Mary Margaret believe that she and Killian were married. But the thought of a possible long time spent together on this planet feigning to be a happily married couple scared her, and she couldn’t go on with the lie.

So there she was, sitting on a very uncomfortable metal chair in the waiting room. She had spent more hours there than she could count.

David had passed by to greet his wife, and he had offered to take Henry with him, on the way back home. So she was left alone with her thoughts.

Mary Margaret peeked out the door with a steaming mug in her hand. “Take this. It will help.”

She agreed with a nod. “Thank you.” She sipped some of the hot liquid and it felt like her nerves were starting to relax a little.

“You should go home and rest. It's late.” The woman said.

“Mary Margaret let me enter.” Emma pleaded for the umpteenth time.

“We have already talked about it. You know I can’t do that. There are strict rules down here, and the best way for us to survive is to follow them.”

“This is insane. I’m not a dangerous criminal or someone who is plotting to destroy this planet. I just want to see him. Please.” She begged.

The dark-haired woman seemed to be pondering all the possible consequences. “All right.” She sighed. “Let’s just say that I’m going inside and leave the door ajar, by mistake, of course. I have to check some very important documents, so I’ll be busy and concentrated. I’m not going to ask you what you’re going to do in the next... fifteen minutes or so. Okay?”

“Thank you.” Emma handed her the cup back, rising from her chair. “You won’t regret it.”

After Mary Margaret disappeared behind the door, Emma waited some minutes before going after her. The room was large and there were many beds, she had no idea where Killian was, but after a quick look at the surroundings, she discovered that only a couple of all the beds were occupied.

She approached one of those and gently opened the curtain trying not to disturb the patient lying inside.

Killian seemed asleep. He was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. She could only imagine the pain he was going through. She had her heart in her throat because she felt responsible for the situation. If they hadn't taken a detour because she had requested it, they'd probably all be home safe and sound by now.

“Hey, beautiful.” He greeted her with a painful grin.

Immersed as she was in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed that he had woken up. She smiled, trying to be strong and not show her inner turmoil. “Do they treat you well here?”

“I'm not complaining. The nurse is kind and the food is edible.” He tried to downplay the situation. “Although I would prefer the care and attention of a certain blonde.” He winked.

Emma chuckled. Then she went closer to him and sat down on the side of his bed, trying not to cause him any more pain. She looked him straight in the eye, and then, gently, she took his hand in hers, intertwining her fingers with his. She saw him swallow hard, and the beeping of his heartbeat accelerated on the monitor. She smiled softly again. “Thank you for saving my son’s life.”

She saw how he wet his lips before answering as if his mouth had been suddenly dry. “It was the right thing to do.” Was his answer, but his voice came out slightly choked.

Emma looked back, checking if any hospital employee was nearby, “I shouldn’t be here, and unfortunately my time is running out. But I wanted to see you... needed to see with my own eyes that you are ok... well, more or less.” She whispered, with her gaze lowered, avoiding eye contact. The physical connection of their joined hands was already arousing too many contradictory emotions inside her.

“Aye. I know the feeling.” He replied, letting her know that he had been eager to establish contact with her throughout his stay in the hospital.

At those words, she stared at him again. “Get well soon.” She bent down and dropped a mild kiss at the corner of his lips. “We need you.”

~·~·~·~

Killian was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. This time there was no way he would fall asleep again. Every time he thought about what had just happened his beeping monitor sped up. He blushed. It had been just a chaste kiss, nothing compared to the hot and breathtaking one they had shared a few days before. But she had said it had been a one-time thing and he had promised himself not to indulge in those lustful thoughts anymore. Yet, this last kiss had seemed much more real, and meaningful... it had left him with a feeling of hope.

Hope and distress. Emma was such a strong and beautiful woman, a marvelous creature, as he liked to describe her in his mind, and a princess even. And what was he? A rebel, and a scoundrel. Or a rapscallion... whatever. Okay, maybe not anymore, but he had been in the past, for many years. He had been trying to redeem himself lately. But was he worth enough of her? That was the million dollar question.

He was still ruminating on it when the known brunette peeked out the curtains. “Hello. How are you today?” She greeted him with a bright smile, as usual.

“Better.” He hoped the monitor on his right wasn’t showing his state of mind.

She came closer. “Do you mind if I check your ribs? It's time to change the dressing.” After a short pause, she added, “I'm sorry, but we don't have the best equipment to assist our patients. We have to work with what we have available on this planet.” She said pointing to the bands that covered his chest.

Killian nodded, and Mary Margaret started to untie the bandages. She seemed concentrated on her task, probably she was trying to avoid causing him any pain. It was only when she started to apply an ointment on the bruises, that she spoke again. “You love her.” It was just a whisper, and Killian doubted if he had heard correctly. But then she added “Emma.”

It wasn’t a question, and he pondered what was the correct answer, or if she was expecting one. “I'd go to the end of the world for her… Or the multiverse.” He said eventually.

“And she for you, I take it?”

Killian chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“What’s the problem?” She looked at him surprised. Then took some clean gauzes and started to wrap them on him.

“She's bloody brilliant, an amazing woman. She fights for her son and always does what’s right.” Killian’s voice was so full of admiration.

“Is there something wrong with it?” Mary Margaret inquired.

Killian shook his head again. “She raised the bar very high. The fact is, I don't think I measure up.”

The woman folded the old bandages and took the ointment bottle, then she stood up, she was making an exit when she stopped short. “Since you came here I've been watching you.”

“I don't know if I should be flattered or scared.” The man tried to ease the tension of the moment.

“We don’t have many foreigners on this planet, but believe me, you're not one of the bad guys. You sacrificed yourself for the sake of a young boy. There's good in your heart.” She smiled at him softly. “I’m going to look for the doctor; I bet you’ll be leaving this room soon.”

~·~·~·~

The following day started the same as the previous ones. But during the first hours of the evening a man in a white coat came to visit Killian. He explained the medications and precautions to be taken to him, some movements that he should avoid for a while, and other tips for a speedy recovery. Then he handed over some papers for the patient to sign to be discharged. Finally some good news.

After a while redressing and packing up his few belongings in his satchel Killian went to the door. Walking hurt a bit but nothing he couldn’t bear.

Mary Margaret was already waiting for him, and a tall blonde guy was with her. “You must be Jones.” He said. When they shook hands, Killian learned his name was David Nolan, and he remembered Henry had mentioned him in his conversations. “I’m going to take you to our humble abode.”

Nolan's house was in fact modest. A loft with a large dining room, a kitchenette, a bedroom, and a small bathroom on one corner, all open, without doors, except for the bathroom. There was a raised bedroom opposite it, whose access was a metal stair.

Dinner was good, if a little awkward. Emma didn't interact much, and Killian wanted to ask if something was troubling her, but he preferred to wait for a better time, perhaps a less crowded one. Henry entertained them with what he had done throughout the day and kept repeating how glad he was that Killian was back with them.

But the man was still a bit cautious with those new people around him. He didn’t know them, especially the Nolan guy, who had been silent for most of the dinner, glancing sidelong at him as if he wanted to study him thoroughly before making a personal judgment. The feeling was mutual, Killian thought.

Just after dessert, David started to speak. “What will you need to restore your ship?” He asked.

“Uh… a new stabilizer, I think, and some parts of the propulsion engine for sure. But I’ll have to look closely at the damages to be sure there’s nothing else broken.”

The blond man nodded. “Not many ships come and go from here. But I hope we can find all the pieces you need.”

“Thank you, mate.”

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to the hangar where your ship is. We’ll have a look at it.” He seemed sincere in his generosity.

“May I help?” Henry barged in.

A chorus of “No!” echoed the room.

“I appreciate the support, but it could be dangerous.” Killian explained.

“I hate being here. I feel trapped.” The boy complained.

Mary Margaret sighed. “This is a feeling that will vanish with time.”

The woman was no doubt trying to instill some optimism, but Killian didn't like the idea of staying in that place longer than necessary. “Well, then, let’s hope we could leave this planet before the feeling has entirely vanished.” He made a grin and passed his hand on his side.

“Time for resting.” The brunette stated although it sounded more like an order. “But before that, we should change those bandages. Emma, would you like to help me?”

“Me?” Emma, who had been silent and a bit on the sidelines all evening, seemed to re-emerge from wherever she’d gone.

“He won’t be able to do it by himself when you won’t live here anymore. It’s better if you learn how to help him.” Mary Margaret clarified.

Emma looked like she was going to object, but in the end, she asserted. “Sure.”

~·~·~·~

If a certain nervousness had taken hold of Emma as she climbed to the upstairs room, it disappeared the instant Mary Margaret helped Killian get rid of his shirt. That wasn’t a thorax, it was a nautical chart. Most of it was covered by gauze, but she could still spot many marks and scars.

There was a tattoo, two of them to be exact, but Emma saw just one at first. It was on his right forearm; it was a big red heart with a dagger running through and the name “Milah” across it. Emma made a mental note to ask him later who she was.

Mary Margaret showed her how to unfasten the bandages, and then she ordered her to stand behind him, to help better in removing them all.

On his back, Emma saw the second tattoo, on his right shoulder. It was an old nautical instrument she had read about in a book when she was younger, but she couldn’t remember the exact name. The drawing was beautifully detailed, even if it had faded, it was probably older than the other one, she thought.

And when all the gauze was out of the way, she saw them: tiny, blurred, old scars that studded most of his back. Emma wondered what kind of life he had to endure when he was very young.

Mary Margaret asked her to help with the ointment. She had already opened the bottle and was showing the blonde woman how much cream to use. But Emma wasn't listening, standing now in front of the man, her attention was caught by the glorious chest hair that was covering most of his torso.

Okay, there was also a big, horrible bruise on his right ribs, but Mary Margaret was saying that it seemed on the way to a fast recovery, if the yellow and purple veining was some indication.

Emma was ogling and she wasn’t ashamed of it either. The amount of hair decreased in the lower part of his chest, leaving a black trail that disappeared under the hem of his pants.

"See something you like?" Emma was abruptly taken back to reality by a smug Killian that was smirking at her while arching an eyebrow. She blushed. She was caught red-handed, but she couldn’t let him win. She took advantage of the fact that Mary Margaret was looking for something in a nearby drawer, to get closer to him. She looked at him lasciviously from under her lashes. “Maybe?” She purred.

Now it was his time to blush, he looked intently at his feet, but she found the bright red that appeared on his ears extremely endearing. Point for Emma.

Mary Margaret taught the other woman how to fix the bandages, and Emma had to use some tiny hooks to hold them together. She did not miss the opportunity to casually slide her fingers over a part of his chest hair that came out of the bandages.

“Bloody Hell!” Killian muttered.

Emma retreated her hand immediately. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?” Worries that she had done something wrong clouded her gaze.

“Apologies.” Killian was scratching behind his ear, in evident embarrassment. “While I do enjoy two lovely ladies attending to my needs, I'm not used to someone taking care of me…” He smiled and brought his mouth close to Emma’s ear: “I’m usually the one who devotes full attention to a woman’s needs.” He whispered, but clearly not as quietly as he would have liked, because Mary Margaret's answer - “Well, you will have to put that off for a while” - made him blush again like a schoolboy scolded by his teacher.

~·~·~·~

Suddenly it was bedtime. Everyone was busy making preparations and taking shifts for the bathroom to change for the night. Killian was upstairs, staring at the bed he knew he had to share with Emma, who was arranging a pillow on the nearby sofa. He passed a hand through his hair and then scratched a spot behind his right ear. “I'll crash on that couch.” He stated as if it was the most logical conclusion to a battle he was fighting inside.

“Don't be ridiculous,” she scoffed. “It's barely long enough for Henry. Plus, you’re still recovering, you absolutely need to rest.”

He didn't seem very convinced. “Emma, I'm not sure this is a good idea.”

“And why is that?” Was her exasperated reply, turning towards him with her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do? Seduce me with a couple of broken ribs and a ten-year-old boy sleeping next to us?”

He lifted his arms and surrendered. “Fair point.” He conceded.

In no time they were all ready for the night and Henry was snoring softly on the sofa. Killian was supine, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the events of the day. In any case, sleep had no intention of coming, but he tried not to move. He didn’t want to wake up his roommates. Emma was lying close with her back to him and he didn’t know if she was already in the arms of Morpheus.

He turned his head to observe how her upper body moved with the rhythm of her breathing, blond curls covering her shoulders. Killian had to repress the urge to touch them. And as if responding to his call, she stirred and turned to face him.

Her eyes opened lazily. “Still awake?” She murmured.

“I have the feeling that I’ve slept enough for the rest of my life.” He whispered. “But you can’t rest either, I see.”

She didn’t answer.

Perhaps it was the closeness, perhaps it was the fact that they had spent the last few days apart. Killian didn't know how he found the courage, but he lifted his left arm as an invitation. “Come here,” he said.

She seemed to ponder the situation, chewing her bottom lip. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

He decided not to think about all the possible implications of that sentence. He was falling in love with her, he was aware of it. Probably the simple doubt that she might not reciprocate was already hurting him, but he knew that at that moment she was referring only to his physical bruises. “You won’t.”

She slipped under the sheets towards him, resting her head gently on his left shoulder and placing a hand on his chest, avoiding the bruised part. Not many minutes passed before her lids grew heavy and she dozed off to the rhythm of his heartbeats. Killian placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

#cs ff #cs au #Till the Stars Had Run Away #alternative universe #science fiction #space au #my writing

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sery-chan-13 · 3 years

Text

Liars

Chapter 13 of '100 Promises'

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

I am... very... very... sorry for not updating this. I've been trying to write for this, got started, halfway through I got bored of the concept, deleted it, and started over. It's still... meh, if I'm being completely honest, but I hope you enjoy

Warnings: talks and mentions of rape, talks and mentions of abuse, swearing, mentions of blood, mentions of bullying. I think that's all, but as always let me know if I missed any.

Finally a hearts game!

You were excited, and so was Niragi. It was low ranking so you weren't worried in the least.

There were a couple others playing with you, and you smiled. There was people to sacrifice if needed. "How fun!" You cheered. Niragi laughed, shaking his head. "You're a crazy bitch you know?" You heard someone say. You turned to face them, and smiled. Your smile looked so innocent, so pure. "Hopefully the craziest bitch you've ever met."

"Game: Maze Of Reflection (can I name things? No.)

Rules: Everyone will be partnered up. You will be asked questions that you can only answer truthfully. The questions will all have relate to you and your life. Your partner will get the questions they must ask you through the headsets on the table. If you do lie, the headsets send a wave of the worst pain you've ever felt in your life. Once you've lied a total of 3 times, the headsets explode. There is no time limit. If your partner dies before you reach the end, you've basically won. You just find your way through the maze.

Clear condition: Make it to the end of the maze without lying to your partner 3 times.

The headsets will tell you who you're partnered up with. Game commences in two minutes.''

You skipped to the table, grabbing a headset. You noticed everyone except Niragi, Chishiya, and Last Boss, hesitating to grab one. "Well, come on now! You'll die of you don't grab one," you said. So cheerful. So excited. And for what? To watch the people in this room die? Maybe.

You put the headset on, and watched the screen load.

Partner: Player 59725

Below the number was a picture of Niragi. "Oh this is going to be so fucking easy!" Niragi exclaimed. You high-fived him. "Promise number two really saved our asses, hm?" You teased, remembering him saying something about keeping so many promises being dumb.

'Game start.'

You grabbed Niragi's hand, dragging him with you. "First question... oh, OK. What did your best friend promise to do if you were 28 and still single?" You asked. "That we'd get married," he answered. You heard his head set chime. "This is gonna be a bit too easy for my liking," you muttered.

"What cartoon characters did you idolize growing up and why?" Niragi asked. You bumped into a mirror and cursed. "Fuck... um... it was.... L Lawliet for his skills in solving things as well as his cleverness, Light Yagami for his twisted sense of justice, and Misa Amane for my fashion inspiration?" You said, trying to remember correctly. Your head set chimed.

This kept going on for a couple minutes, where you would ask each other a question, and the truth was told. Then the mirrors lit up.

'Players 11037 and 59725 switch. Your new partners are player 25718 and 617834.'

''So I go with Chishiya, and you go with that guy?" You asked. He nodded with a groan. "Well, I was getting rather bored, weren't you?" You asked him. He looked at you confused. "What do you mean?" Niragi asked. "Well, we know all there is to know about each other. There's nothing new or interesting being found out right now," you explained.

Were you really bored of him? No, not of him. You would never be bored of him. You just wanted a fun and interesting game. You would never get bored of him. Niragi hoped you wouldn't. He didn't want to be alone.

"So, did you bore the game master somehow?" Chishiya teased when you got to him. "I guess you could say that. We have nothing to hide from eachother, so it was getting boring for me too," you explained.

"Who in all actuality took your first time?" Chishiya read off the screen. He looked at you, waiting for your answer. "Easy, it was Niragi," you answered. Then you felt a pain in the bottom of of your stomach as your headset beeped. A voice on the headset called you a liar, as the pain worsened, and you screamed, falling to your knees. It hurt. Tears built up in your eyes as you tried to deal with the pain. "Are you lying?" Chishiya asked. "No, read the question again please? Just so I can figure out why I got it wrong. I know I'm not. I really did give him my first," you said, holding your stomach. It really was the worst pain you'd ever felt. It made you shudder. How did they know what was the worst pain?

"Who in all actuality took your first time?" He asked again. You thought for a minute.

'I gave Niragi my 'first'. The question is asking who took my first.'

You looked away. "It... it was taken... stolen... by... by a bully from school. One of the guys that tortured me," you stated. You had never admitted that out loud. You hadn't even told Niragi. You heard your head set chime, and looked at the mirrors. They were projecting you.

All of them. In the whole maze. You gasped, scooting back until your back was against the mirror behind you. You stared in horror as it replayed the words you had said. The thing you didn't want anyone to know had now been broadcasted to at least 14 people. The screen changed to Niragi.

"(Y/N) they did what?! And you- you didn't tell me?!" He shouted. "S-suguru, 'm sorry don't be mad at me," you squeaked, hiding behind your hands, as if he were in front of you. As if he would hurt you. "We'll be talking about this later," he said. Then the mirrors went back to being mirrors. Tears rolled down your cheeks. From the pain in your stomach and the embarrassment. The fear of the one person who you looked for approval of might leave you.

You stood up, and read Chishiya's question. "Who's the person you hate most?" You asked, wiping the tears away, holding your stomach. "Hm? Hate is such a strong word. I don't hate anyone-" Chishiya started, before holding his left hand. His eyes widened and he cursed, holding onto it. His headset beeped, and called him a liar. You guessed the pain worsened as he let out a groan of pain, followed by a small yelp when he tried to soothe the b pain. You went over to him looking at his hand in concern. "Are you ok?" You asked, grabbing his hand softly, your fingers barely ghosting over the skin. He hissed in pain, grabbing it back. "Fine. I hate my father. And my mother. I hate my parents," he answered. His headset chimed, and you looked a him in shock. You would've never guessed that was his trauma. "What? Little miss perfect grew up with a perfect family, didn't she? Got everything she wanted, the attention of people she loved?" He spat. You flinched. "Oh, look here's your question now. Who and what do you fear the most?" He asked. "My father and Suguru's father. And I fear being alone, getting hurt by people, as well as disappointing those I love and them leaving me," you answered. Your headset chimed, and you looked over at Chishiya. "Am I still little miss perfect with a perfect family?"

You two finally found your way through the maze, question after question. You didn't want to tell him some things, but it was better than dying.

'Last question is for both players. Tell the truth or you will be executed whether or not it was your third time lying.'

'Why is that the worst pain you've felt in your life?'

"Because... I was left handed. My parents might not have cared about me or anything having to do with me, but they sure as hell cared that I wrote with my left hand. They broke it once. Never wrote with it again," Chishiya answered. You grabbed his hand softly once more, and gave him a look of understanding.

"Mine has a few reasons. When... well when my first was stolen, it hurt. A lot. And when my father found out I gave my first to Niragi... he hurt my stomach. And the kids at school... the ones that tortured Niragi and I... they used to hurt me in similar ways to both reasons I said before," you said. Chishiya gave you a look that you couldn't read. Was it sympathy? Pity?

The screen chimed as well as phones a 'game complete message' across them both, and your headsets dropped to the floor. You grabbed his hand, pulling him out.

Outside, Kuina, Last Boss and another guy was out there. "My partner had a lot of secrets I guess," Last Boss muttered, wiping some of the blood from his arm. "Dude no way! He exploded on you?" You asked. He nodded, very annoyed at the fact they had. "Like, number 1, ew. Number 2, however, that's pretty fucking cool. What did they have to hide they didn't want to tell?" You wondered. "So... about your maze fiasco? Why did it only broadcast yours? And you and Niragi were the only two who got separated," Kuina asked. "I don't know... but if the game master is going to be a dick, I'm going to start hating these games," you said. "Hey... (Y/N), can I talk to you?" Chishiya whispered, pulling on your arm. You nodded, letting him lead you out of earshot of the others.

"I'm... I didn't know about your family situation. I shouldn't have said you were little miss perfect and assumed," he said, looking off to the side. "I accept your apology," you smiled. "I-i didn't apologize," he stammered. "Can I hug you?" You asked. He looked around, before nodding. You pulled him into a hug, leaning down, and whispering in his ear, "I know that was your way of apologizing. Thank you for telling me the truth... I'm glad I know you a bit better."

"Everything you heard, you say nothing about, got it?" Niragi threatened his partner. They nodded, terrified of him. They left, and Niragi immediately looked for you. He saw you sitting in the backseat of the car. He gave you a look, and you lowered your gaze. Kuina glared at him, sitting besides you in the back. He went over, and sat in the driver's seat. He purposely sat far from you. Last Boss got in the back, Chishiya finally getting into the front seat.

Niragi didn't say a word. He didn't respond to you, Chishiya's taunting. Nothing. You tapped his shoulder, and tried talking to him. "(Y/N), I'm driving. We will talk later," he stated. Was he really that mad?

You rushed into the hotel, rushing into your room. You didn't want to talk to him anymore. He was being mean.

You took a shower, changing into your pajamas, and sitting on your bed. You knew that Niragi would barge in at any second. You knew he would. Even if you didn't want to talk to him, he would.

You heard the door creek open, and got ready. Would he yell at you? Call you names? These were things that you had never thought about when thinking about Niragi.

You didn't look up as he sat on the bed besides you. "We're going to talk about it. I know you don't want to, but we have to," Niragi said. You looked up at him. "Are you mad?" You asked, playing with the fabric of your shirt. "Kind of. Why... first, let me ask, when did this happen?" He questioned. "Mmm... last year of high school... about two months before I gave you my first," you responded. "It wasn't really your fi-"

"To me it was. I didn't give him my first Suguru. He stole it. Why the fuck do you think I was so nervous the whole time?"

"Yeah but it wasn't-"

"It was! I-i... it was to me. Think about it, if your car gets stolen, it's still your car, no? You didn't give it to them... Then... if they stole my first... I still... I didn count as my first. You were. I counted you as my first."

You bit your tongue to stop the tears. You didn't want to cry and seem weak. "I... I'm sorry I didn't tell you... I'm sorry you had to find out about it that way..." you whispered. "I know. It just... makes me a bit upset that you're the one who made promise 9 and you broke it. I wish... you had told me back then, so that I could've helped you," he stated. "You did. You helped me back then. Even without knowing," you said, reaching your hand out to touch his. He pulled back. "How!? I-i- You cried when I- is that why? How could I have helped you if I didn't even know about it?" He asked, raising his voice. You grabbed his hand softly. "Because you showed me that... when it's wanted, when it's with you someone you trust, and when it's with someone you love... sex is a positive thing. It's not something I should be scared of. You gave me a positive image of what it should be like," you explained. He looked at you in shock. He didn't think you had actually felt that way back then, and even now. But it made sense about why you made promise 40 after.

You lay next to him, catching your breath, your hands holding onto him. Every inch of your skin was pressed against his, as if he'd disappear the second you would let go. He held you just as tight.

"Sugu... let's make a promise, yeah?"

"What is it?"

"That if by the time we're 28, and still single, we'll marry each other."

"I'd like that."

"Promise 40, we promise that if by the time we're 28 and still single, we'll get married."

It made so much more sense to him now.

"If you say so..." he muttered. You pulled him into bed with you, getting under the covers. "Sleep in here tonight. Please?" You pleaded, having a pillow and a space for him on the other side of the bed. "Alright," was all he said before getting under the sheets with you. You hugged him, burying your face into his neck. "I hope you know all the neck and back pain I have endured from hugging and sleeping with your short ass," you whispered. He decided to let your comment slide. He'd would just let you relax from the game. Tomorrow was another day.

You hoped you didn't have nightmare again.

#alice in borderland #niragi #×reader #chishiya #last boss #fluff #but also... angst?#hahahahahahahaha #Y/N youre playing with some goddamn fire honey

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shyrose57 · 3 years

Note

Brothers anon, sorry its been like 2 days since I last submitted something! I've been busy and whenever I finally had time to sit down and write this all its like 1 in the morning. I hope its still ok for me to send these.

🌹 anon ima respond to you first, your The Deal au could be the reason why and how Ranboos and Dreams soul got mixed and linked together. But then a problem is how did it pass to Ranbob? In my au, each person has their own soul basically. And while certain attributes like DNA can be passed through bloodlines, souls can't, as their unique to their person.

What left Ranbob vulnerable to Dream is that he was seen as the star student. The apprentice everyone wanted. He always got perfect grades and was seen as the smartest in the City. This did not go well. As Ranbob was put under a ton of pressure to always stay perfect and get everything right. When his grades started to slip and his chosen mentor started to put even more work on him, his mentality started to suffer. With him losing sleep and starting to not care for himself or do the basic necessities like eating or drinking, all in an effort to be "perfect". Its through this need, and weakened state over all, Dream's presence was able to slip in and convince him to let him help.

Benjamin is 30, Isaac 29, Cletus is 24, and Charles is 27.

When Ranbob first told Ran about the Dream mask and how he wasnt himself, Ran did not believe him at all. And kept saying that he needs to stop lying and fess up to what he did and pay for it. Others tried to convince him that his brother really wasn't in control of himself, but was met with strong skepticism, scoffs, and disbelief. With Ran not beliving that was the truth at all.

Watson was very shocked but quickly reorganized himself cause he had to calm Jackie, and its only after Jackie fell asleep he was like "Oh fuck. I really am the dad huh?" Jackie was embarrassed at first but after some prodding did say how he truly saw Watson as a dad figure in his life. And everyone had different reactions to Watson suddenly accepting and fitting into the dad role. Jackie was excited and immediately started calling him dad and asking him awkward dad questions "Dad whats puberty?" "Uhhh-" "Dad where do babies come from?" "Ask your dad about that!" "But you are my dad!" Ran seemed indifferent about it but Watson can tell he's revealed to have someone to talk too, and someone to go to if things get to much. Grievous keeps sating he doesn't need a dad but he's the one that goes to Watson the most for things like hugs, comfort, and advice.

Jackie and Grievous do everything. They rig the battle field so if someone steps in a certain area water will shoot up into their face, Grievous usually taunts and distracts opponents so Jackie can sneak up behind them and just latch onto them and cover their eyes while giggling like a madman as the opponent screams and runs around trying to get him off. Jackie regularly pulls peoples seat out from under them, while Grievous scares them and makes them choke or drop something. But they do know peoples limits. Like for Ran, no water related pranks (there was an incident where Grievous spilled a whole bucket of water on him and Ran got severe burns and had to stay in the hospital ward for a few days), for Watson don't mess with his bow or arrows, he will stab you. And for eachother, Jackie, no pranks that leave him alone for extended periods of time or makes it seems like everyone is gone/left. For Grievous no pranks centered around food or drinks (like putting toothpaste in his sandwich or putting pepper in his beer).

Ran and Jackie have a 50/50 win if that makes sense. They both win and lose pretty often. They play games like Spoons, Go Fish, Dart Throwing (Watson needs to be present for this one), something similar to Cards Against Humanity, Poker (everyone plays during this one), and Tic Tac Toe.

Sometimes Jackie loves being the smallest and other times hates it. He hates it when Ran steals something of his and holds it above his head, he sometimes resorts to aggressively climbing Ran to get it but Ran tends to just pluck him off, and people make fun of him in a mean natured way (he's fine with light teasing). But he loves it when he rides Ran's shoulders or can duck under peoples legs and trip em. Because he's also small and fast he's hard to catch and that definitely comes in handy during fights. No ones particularly protective of eachother (excluding Ran who's protective of everyone), because they know none of them like being babied and they can all hold their own, though they will quickly flock to help eachother if they need it. Ran definitely flaunts it whenever their in a agurement.

There is a area under the fighting arena of the pit where they stay. Theres separate rooms for everyone, training areas, dinning areas, and just chilling areas. Theres even extra rooms meant for often visiting friends (Like Genevieve) and some for storage of weapons which also holds things to sharpen them or get new ones. The Pit itself is in the middle of a gaint city, so there are tons of stores and food areas around. And because of a high salary the King gives them they go out quite often, often eating out and browsing stores when their not training or sleeping.

If by other combinations you mean like Ran-Jackie, Ran-Grievous, Watson-Jackie, and Watson-Grievous then it highly varies. Watson and Jackie are by far the worst team, their styles just don't match and constantly but heads during battles. Watson and Grievous are probably the best out of the 4 teams because Grievous can be serious and works well with Watson as he's much more willing to change his fighting style to accommodate whats needed. Ran and Jackie are like Jackie and Grievous, but they aren't nearly as insane. Rather Ran provides distractions while fighting to give Jackie time to sneak up behind them. Ran also is the only one able to actually throw Jackie, which they sometimes do during battles. And Ran and Grievous work well together, but not as much as Watson and Grievous, its just a few things of both their styles don't match or could potentially cause problems.

He's clumsy flat out, he isn't used to having full control and needs to get used to certain things like walking or talking again. He is also severely dehydrated and malnutritished because Dream didn't care enough to drink or eat. He's also incredibly skittish and scared easily. He and Cletus's relationship isn't solved fast at all, it takes months and the work of everyone to get the two comfortable around eachother. They start by putting Cletus on watching duty, where he watches over Ranbob to make sure he's eating and drinking and resting while not tiring himself out. Then after a month or 2 Isaac, Benjamin, and Charles start purposely leaving the two in a room alone toghere to get them to talk stuff out. It takes 3 months until their comfortable enough with eachother to willingly talk and hang out. Oh the house building attempts went aboustely awful. They sometimes fell on Ranbob! And when they didn't they just collapsed or got blown away by the wind, but Isaac did ofter help a few times and showed him multiple different ways to make sure the walls stay up and keep the cold out.

Ran is very unhappy with Ranbobs haunting, he thinks their kind of like Ranbob in which they've all killed people and considers them a threat at first, but when he sees how his haunting likes and interacts with Ranbob's, he losens up a bit, his group trusts them, so he has to trust them a little bit. But he doesn't trust them or like them nearly as much as he trusts and likes his haunting.

Im guessing you mean who from the two groups get along the easiest. Most of them take a while to get to know eachother, like a few hours. But after that their all really close. Charles and Jackie, Cletus and Grievous, and Benjamin, Isaac, and Watson are the groups that get along really well really fast.

Im honestly probably am going to go for them adventuring outside the City to try to get the brothers to get along again. Mostly cause I thought of the idea that what if Watson, Jackie, and Grievous all lie to Ran, and while they are actually going on an adventure, they lie to him that his brother and his group isn't coming. Then when its much to late for Ran to back out, Watson just goes "Oh yeah! Your brother and his group are traveling with us. And you can't do anything about it." And Ran just sits there shocked.

Ran and Ranbob are both subtle protective of their group. With Ranbob never really getting aggressive or going into overbearing. But for Ran, if someone in his group is injured badly enough or if there's a big enough threat he does get overbearing and extremely aggressive towards whatever/whoever the threat is *cough cough Ranbob cough*. Ranbob tends to be very physical, listening more to a certain instincts that tell him to constantly have a view on or hold his family, as if he doesnt see or touch them for a long time he gets very anxious and panicky, thinking his family is dead and that he's all alone again. His group understands this and so tends to not stray to far away from Ranbob. He will also follow his group like a lost puppy at times. Ran while listens more to the instinct that tells him at random times to make sure his family is ok and to bond with them. The bonding leads to him randomly grabbing them and just sitting down with them, most likely playing games. While the random urge to check on them has led to him waking them up during the middle of the night or interrupting his own conversation or others conversations just to ask if their ok. His took a while to understand why he does it, but now if he wakes them up or drags them somewhere, they know to go along with it and comfort him during those times.

Hybrids are rare! Especially aggressive or netural type mobs like Ran, Ranbob, and Porkius are. Their actually seen as monsters and are chased out or hunted in other city's because people aren't accepting of them. Theres very few city's like Subbin that fully welcome and are even led by hybrids. So there are more hybrids in Subbin, than there is anywhere else.

Sorry this is so long ':)

Asks are always welcome here, and don’t worry about taking a bit or anything. The questions aren’t going anywhere, there’s plenty of time.

Here’s that for you,🌹anon.

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

1: Wow, Ranbob’s really going through it, huh? Does he ever start to fall back on that need to be ‘perfect’ while with the others? If so, how do they deal with that? And how is he with others offering to help him? If he even can really recall falling under Dream’s thrall, by accepting such an offer, how does he react to others doing the same, even if their intentions are far different?

2: So we’ve settled all the ages down, nice. You figure out anything for their backstory yet? And how do their ages affect their relationships with one another? Does Benjamin take the lead a lot? Or is he more of a follower that still has a lot of say? Who met who first?

3: So Ran’s obviously going to be awhile before he believes what went down. Still, I can’t imagine he’d have been as willing to go along with his hauntings little roadtrip plan if he wasn’t swayed at least a bit, since I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have put his foot down if he truly though Ranbob had done what he did. Why exactly does he go along with it? Does some small part of him want to give his brother a chance? Is he just confident he can overpower him, and looking for an opportunity to settle the score? Does he see something that makes him hope a bit? What’s going down there, anon?

4: On one hand, very adorable. One the other hand, poor Watson. Does Jackie actually not know that stuff, or does he do that just to mess with his new father figure? It seems like they all take to it pretty well overall though.

5: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Two people to truly fear. How many people straight up forfeit when faced with this combination? It seems like they’ve had some interesting times, good and bad. How’d those play out? As for those last two, I’m sensing a bit of a backstory. Why does Grievous not like stuff being put into his food? And why’s Jackie not good with being left?

6: So it’s fifty/fifty, huh? Who wins the most at what games? And uh, Watson has to be present for Dart Throwing. What happened there? How’s everyone’s poker faces? Who’s got the best luck in games of chance?

7: A love/hate relationship with height. I feel ya, Jackie. Very funny to imagine though, Jackie just, physically climbing up Ran. How tall even is this guy?? How do they deal with meaner teasing, not just from the gladiators, but from general bullies? Not everybody’s as friendly as some of the Pit fighters, after all. And how do the fishermen react with their fighting skills? Obviously, they must know how to fight somewhat, to have entered the Pit, but the gladiators do this for a living. How much is the difference in skill level? And does the gang ever get to show off just how skilled they are?

8: Their home sounds very nice, honestly, I wished I could live there, minus the people. What’s everyone’s rooms look like? How have they personalized them? Which brings up another question-what kind of interests and hobbies do they have? What kind of things do they do that aren’t fighting and related to such? And they must be pretty well known, to have such high pay. Any of them have an arena title, or some sort of stage name? How many people can recognize the city’s top gladiators on sight? And how do they get around that, when they don’t want to be seen? How do people feel about them in general?

9: All these team ups sound terrifying, and I wouldn’t want to be facing them. How do they deal with it when they get a bad match up? Do they just stay out of each other’s way? Try to take their opponents out quick? Make it one on one? Ran and Jackie have to be my favorite team up, solely for the fact that you’ve said Ran straight up throws him. Like?? Imagine coming to the King’s Pit, a well known, popular place, hoping to prove yourself, and then getting taking out by a flying midget, just tossed at you by a ridiculously tall endermen hybrid. How would you feel??

10: Ranbob is just really going through the ringer here. How many times does he just drop stuff, or trip over his feet? Does he ever get better, or does he still retain a clumsy streak? If so, how does Ran react to that? It’s very good he and Cletus bond! Are they just as close as the others, or is there still a bit of distance? How often does Ranbob forget to eat or drink, or really just take a break? How long does it take to get him to start remembering to do that stuff again?

Does he ever slip up while with the gladiators? Also, in a room? Do the fisherman expand their house more, or do they just leave them in the house? Does Ranbob ever get his own house up? If so, does he use it at all, or is it more for storage? And how many times did he fall asleep out there, get injured, or not realize it was about to rain? How long did it take before Benjamin or Charles put their foot down and make him stay in for a bit?

Has Ranbob ever even dealt with rain before, or a storm above water? If not, how’d he react to it?

11: Oh, boy, Ran. Your concerns are understandable, but definitely going to lead to some angst. Is he just on edge the whole time? How many times does he just glare at them, or straight up steal one of his haunting back a few feet away from Ranbob’s? Are the fishermen ever worried he might hurt them?

12: How do both hybrids deal with their groups bonding? I imagine Ranbob’s pretty happy with it, but how about Ran? As you said, he doesn’t seem to be the biggest fan of these guys.

13: Roadtrip! Gotta love a roadtrip! What kind of places do they head? Any transportation, or is it just walking, enjoying nature? Do they go on an adventure to look for something cool? What’re they getting up to?

14: So Ran and Ranbob both act on their instincts in different ways. How do they feel about seeing how the other acts? What happens if any of the fishermen stray too far, or get separated from Ranbob? Same question to Ran. Ran just...like...picks up members of his haunting? Do people just see him walk around with them dangling in his arms? He must be pretty strong. How often does he do this? How else do their instincts lead to them acting? Cuddle piles, picking up blocks, keeping their groups close together, ect?

15: So Subbin’s pretty much a safe space for hybrids? Interesting. But since the groups are heading out, does this mean they run into some trouble outside of the city? And is there ever trouble within it?

Other questions: Does Karl play any further part in this, or has he already played his role for good? Does the gang ever end up back at Mizu? Do any of the group have a pet or something similar? With there be any sort of connection to other Tales, even if only slightly, or will they be solely focused on these two? Does Ranbob pick up his studies of Ranboo as best he can once he’s free, or does he leave it all behind entirely?

Thanks for the ask, this AU’s become quite interesting. I can’t wait to see where it goes!

#dream smp #Brothers AU #dream smp au #ranbob #ran #jackie #watson #grievous #tales from the smp #isaac #cletus #charles #benjamin

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ladyvader23 · 3 years

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Hello! 3, 13, 14, 15 and 19 for the end of year fic ask please? :D

HI AZA!!! I MISS AND LOVE YOU!!!! <3 <3 <3

Favorite scene:

The "Vader being off of Sith Drugs" scene from Darth Vader Goes to Therapy. I've plotted that scene for well over a year, and I cried laughing as I wrote it. The aftermath scene was fun, too!

13.

Favorite writing song/album:

Ok. So. This depends. While I am actually writing, I've started listening to Star Wars Ambience videos on Youtube, specifically from this channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUJNXs8C4pM&t=2350s

They usually do a version with just the ambience from that planet, and a version with ambience and matching music. It's been really helpful to get me in the mood when I'm writing something that I don't necessarily have a song inspiration for and I need to hyper focus.

As for coming up with scenes while I'm driving to work or taking a "inspiration walk" (a walk specifically with the intent to flesh out scenes/ideas), I do a lot of skipping around on my playlists, so it's hard to pin down specific inspiration, but here's a few songs that inspired some stuff recently:

All Gone: https://open.spotify.com/track/6zezOLouSWKEfMizbzcsad?si=b51540ee3c8f4f3f

Dancing With Monsters: https://open.spotify.com/track/33RyISdNuKSUcEUwYYXrtc?si=e9a901e2bb15404f

Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rythm of the War Drums: https://open.spotify.com/track/3mhhCui69mtJnRhLDoIi2f?si=39e78494113c4ebd

Ghosts of My Hometown: https://open.spotify.com/track/0pKYQ2U4RnhIKS2gz2KFi3?si=d705aef5d0ee432f

Face my Fears : https://open.spotify.com/track/1YIIJwABi2TUaP4FwMsRVT?si=757260a49069463a

Invincible:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3OdWhn1bYjWIJBI03dyBP1?si=896c25a3c08b49cc

14.

Unexpected fic I wrote:

"To Kidnap a Prince." I've told the story before of the one reviewer who harassed me over a Luke pairing they didn't want me to write to the point I never wanted to write another Luke romance again. I have plenty of Luke ships I enjoy, so when I saw art that inspired this story, I decided to go for it, despite being really nervous about being harassed again. But it went really well! I got requests to write more of it, but I don't think I'm ready to do a long-Luke romance fic quite yet, but maybe one day!

15.

What did I learn this year:

It's okay to take a break, both from writing fanfics and from reading. Fics will still be there when you're ready to read them, and people will still want to read your fic even if you haven't updated in forever (though they may need to do a refresher if it's been a super long time lol). So, don't feel bad if you aren't able to do as much as you want to! Mental health and real life comes first, sometimes.

19.

New fics for next year:

A lot of fics are spur of the moment one shots, but I know for a few longer fics I have two that I'd like to begin next year:

1. An Uncharted AU (no playing through of the game is necessary to read) Luke is a renouned glorified treasure hunter, known for being able to track down anything. It's rumored he has the Force, but so far no one's tried to specifically kill him for that reason. Vader tracks him down because Palpatine and his Hand are searching for a Sith artifact that is rumored to give immortality. Vader wants to stop Palpatine from becoming immortal, and he wants to liberate Leia, Palpatine's Hand of the Emperor (though he doesn't tell Luke Leia is his daughter). Luke, who was separated from his sister from an early age and has always had a goal to bring her home, agrees to help...naturally without telling Vader she's his sister. So Vader and Luke secretly work together to get to the Sith Artifact first and liberate Leia not knowing that they're related to each other.

2. My next Crack fic will be where Luke, having grown up looking up to his "Spice navigator" father, decides to quite literally take after him and become a spice trafficker, too. Vader finds out his son is alive, finds out he's a spice dealer, and since he can't catch him, he starts making some very weird, very specific anti-drugs PSA's to try to get his son to give up the unsavory life of a drug dealer and instead become a murderous sith lord. Luke interprets these PSA's wildly differently than intended. Chaos ensues.

3. This one would be a really dark AU, based on the "Ruby Weapon" questline in FF14 (no playing through the game is necessary to read). Basically, Vader and Palpatine fall out, and Vader ends up splitting away and working against the Empire to the point where he sort of has his own sect of a Rebellion on his hands. However, Luke and Leia are still with Palpatine, working on a weapons project that has horrifying consequences for those piloting the weapon. Vader, upon finding out what the weapon does to its pilots, is in a race against time to prevent either of his children from taking the piloting role. This would have main character death, torture, and just sad feels all around, so it's really only for people who like a darker story.

Feel free to ask me about fics from this year!!!

#ask game #star wars #star wars fanfic #i knew you'd be interested in the music one lol #ahhhhhh it's so good to see you again!!! I hope things are well!!!

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sou-ver-2-0 · 4 years

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hello, your secret fan here!! although I've just realized that I probably already outed myself by liking stuff, haha,, sending another anonymous ask once again just in case though (maybe I should just... dm you... next time... haha, just kidding..,,..,,, unless?? 😳😳) I must say, I wasn't actually expecting you to reply!! Your long response literally made me vibrate while reading it, I'm not exaggerating (idk why or how you prompt such a strong reaction out of me???? what's this sorcery)

anyway, I can't wait for your next meta!! I've never really thought that much about Kugie, so I don't have a very strong opinion about her, it's a very out of sight, out of mind situation for me rn. I'm very excited as to what you have to say about her. I have something I want to discuss (know your thoughts about) regarding that emotions vs logic post, which I still love a lot. I've seen that you've already talked about Nao before, but what about Keiji??

I remember staring at the Sou vs Kanna choice for a long while when I first got to it, unsure of what to do. After a while, I realized that the game never really specified what happened if two normal commoners tied I think?? It says what happens when a sacrifice or a keymaster tie, but it never mentions two commoners tieing.

After I realized that, I kept trying to vote for Keiji lol while thinking "you can't possibly kill them both if they tie, right?????? you can't just add a new rule out of nowhere, right??? this means they can both live, right?????? p l e a s e,,". Maybe my refusal to vote for Logic or Emotion was Denial lmao, but I still wonder what would have happened if they had let us choose Keiji.

He didn't have enough votes to be in danger, I wouldn't have voted for him otherwise. But it still makes me think what if. That small "aha!!" moment filled me with so much hope. In hindsight, it would have been awful if they had killed the two in that scenario lmao, but I was so blinded by the possibility of saving them both that I didn't really give it much thought. Anyway, long ramble over!! thanks for reading haha. I might be overlooking something, I really need to replay everything.

Oh wow, I loved reading your story of how you tried so hard to save both Sou and Kanna omg! I feel your pain haha. It hits you on such a gut level how unjust this moment is. You start clawing desperately for any way out.

I think it speaks well of Sara that she lifted that responsibility from Gin’s shoulders, although she can still betray his trust by choosing poorly. But hypothetically that’s one of the kindest things Sara can do, being a good big sister to Gin by lifting that burden from him. Still, it’s rotten work for Sara and us the Player to make that choice.

As much as I love your story, I believe you’ve answered your own question! It’s most likely that both Kanna and Sou would be killed if they were tied for first place. That’s why Sara couldn’t vote for Keiji. The Floormasters always lean on the side of cruelty rather than mercy when enforcing the rules. They’re adamant that “at least” two people will die in a Main Game.

Hell, another possibility is that the Floormasters would kill everyone in the group if they couldn’t decide on a single victim by majority vote. That’s not a spoken rule, but we can’t completely discount the possibility, can we? Since the Floormasters like throwing around the rule “Play our games properly or die as a penalty” so much. At the very least, refusal to participate in the Main Game would result in death, as we saw in the First Main Game when everyone was afraid that Kanna would be late and be punished.

What I’m getting at, is that while it makes perfect sense for the Player to try to “test” the rules of the Death Game, to see how much they can get away with, the stakes are much too high for Sara! So I completely sympathize with you trying to vote for Keiji in order to “trick” the Floormasters, but there is no way Sara could personally take that risk. This is another case showing how the Player and Sara are in fundamentally different worlds.

Another thought:

Something significant about YTTD as a game is that it mostly has a linear narrative so far. Nankidai has a specific direction in mind for where he wants to take the story, regardless of the player’s choices. This is especially true in Chapter 1, where Sara’s votes don’t matter. Who did you vote for in the Practice Round? It doesn’t matter; Mishima always dies. Who did you vote for in the First Main Game? It doesn’t matter; Joe and Kai always die.

The story doesn’t branch significantly until we get to Chapter 2, when our actions finally determine which characters live and die. But even so, as of Chapter 3-1A, the different story branches still parallel each other closely. Whether Alice or Reko survived, they both act as “tough, competent” team members, and they perform the same actions in fights. Whether Kanna or Sou survived, they’re both the “spunky waifs” in the group and they also act similarly in fights.

I’ll compare this kind of storytelling to Undertale, since that’s a popular game most people know about. In Undertale, the Player gets to choose from the get-go which characters live and which characters die. So the story has the potential to branch in different ways pretty quickly! This shows how Undertale’s protagonist is more of a blank slate for the Player to project onto, while YTTD’s protagonist has her own personality separate from the Player. We can influence Sara, but there are always going to be some choices she’ll refuse to make.

And that’s all I can think of to say on that! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, Anon. You don’t need to feel so awkward; I love talking about this stuff. :)

(I am a sorcerer though! You got me!!)

#yttd #your turn to die #asks #anonymous #meta #mine #long post #my meta #your turn to die spoilers

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