#i’ll probably delete this since what i’m saying isn’t a new observation and more people have put this in much better and more put together

[godsgiftmaggot]

zionists will continuously bring up antisemitism from pro-palestine groups (i will be not say that there is no antisemitism, there are people that call out others masquerading their antisemitism as support for palestine), but make little to no effort to actually call out islamophobia and racism from other zionists. it’s beyond fucking sickening to see videos of people pulling dead family members from rubble, horrifying updates from those still in gaza, reports of entire families and generations getting wiped out, and seeing some fucking monster comment pro israel or some made up horse shit about hamas.

[shotorozu]

BABE , i saw a hc ( i think it was urs) where the boys’s s/o was really fashionable, ( as somebody that’s gone viral on pinterest a little too many times ) I WAS WONDERING , what if you did a todobakudeku ( separately please omg) with somebody that’s like the emma chamberlain of fashion and they own everybody’s pinterest boards and stuff AHAHA IDK , the amount of times somebody has said ‘ wait ur that one pinterest girl right?? ‘ ANYWHAHEEIE I LOVE YOU N HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! 💗💗

pinterest famous s/o

character(s) : midoriya izuku, bakugou katsuki, todoroki shouto (bnha)

legend : [Y/N = your name] afab! reader, they/them pronouns (at the request of anon) strong quirk hinted; not specific

headcanon type : fluff, crack-ish (x reader)

note(s) : thank you anon!! so ok, i still used they/them pronouns even though the reader is afab (again at the request of anon) and whdjwkd sorry for the inactivity :,) also im gonna post more later so— sorry for the delay

»»————-　♡　————-««

midoriya izuku

when middle school midoriya finally got a phone, he downloaded pinterest for the sole purpose of looking at screencaps of heroes

but then, he hasn’t touched it a few months, because he’s been training with all might

then, when he finally had enough free time again— he decided to go on pinterest

but instead of finding any heroes he could look at, he found the prettiest human being he has ever seen in his entire life 💀

that person was a different type of beauty, y’know— they weren’t just fashionable, but their beauty was,,

timeless? that’s how he’d describe it. yeah. that person lived in his head rent free for a while

sadly, he feels like you’re that person he sees once in his life, and never again 😔　which isn’t the case

when he finally meets you, midoriya realizes that you look VERY familiar— someone on pinterest, that he unfortunately, didn’t know the name of

but then wait! he realizes that you’re that person. that one person that blew up on pinterest, and ended up in all of the fashion boards.

okay, you’ve been recognized a few times in the past, just because you were pinterest famous— but you didn’t expect him to recognize you

“wait,, you know me?” you asked him when you saw the realization sink in

and you were honestly,, flattered when he went on a tangent on how you were on all of the pinterest boards, and how your sense of fashion was timeless

but you know what’s the best thing of it all? when izuku developed a crush on you (and not because he thought you were just an attractive face)

it was very easy to find pictures of you online! he says it’s for research but,, he tends to look at them for a long time

probably has 3-4 pages dedicated to your hero costume— since fashion icon = fashionable, yet a very practical hero costume!

does he get jealous whenever people fawn over your looks, or whenever he sees comments in pinterest comment sections just asking for your socials in such desperation?

hmm,, yes? he does occasionally feel like someone like you, should be with someone as equally beautiful as you

he thought he was always plain looking, but you wholeheartedly disagree! in fact, you fell in love with his ability to pay attention to detail.

to the random creeps in the comments section, he just contacts the uploader and asks them to delete any malicious comments and it works 100% of them time.

on the brighter side, he helps a lot with taking your pictures (if you ask him to) and sometimes! he’ll even appear in them

izuku will always be your #1 fan!

bakugou katsuki

at first, you’d be like “katsuki owning pinterest? naaah.” but! i think he would

being an all might fan, he liked looking at all might screen caps— and while katsuki would be on the discreet side, he’d find himself looking at them whenever he has extra minutes to burn

not to mention, the cooking recipes on there aren’t the worst, so he doesn’t just use pinterest to look at screen caps of heroes doing their work

and, how could he forget that you’ve been bugging him to search for rare screen caps? he says that it’s useless— but he finds himself digging for you anyway,

which is whyyy

he finds an entirely different rabbit hole, and it’s way past 10pm, 3 more minutes wouldn’t wound him.

the blond doesn’t know how he even stumbled on.. this side of pinterest. the one that kind of hurts his eyes.

the more well known side of pinterest, that is covered in pictures of fashion boards, and the standard pretty person.

the ‘aesthetic’ side, kaminari calls it— it makes bakugou cringe, and he was just about to refresh his page

when he spots something familiar, it’s you‼️ well it wasn’t just you but, you were dressed in something,, nice.

like sure! you’re attractive. but that’s not why he’s dating you, there’s a lot of reasons as to why

but, he’s baffled. seeing you in a different light, and in such nice clothing, what more, when he sees that you’re actually everywhere. he hasn’t seen this much of you and your attractive ass before

katsuki told himself that he was going to sleep a few minutes ago, but now? he’s left admiring all of your pictures.

how did he not know that his s/o’s pinterest famous? you’re practically in every single board!

he confronts you the next day in an oddly weird manner, “you didn’t tell me you were famous on that stupid pinterest app.”

you’re sheepish, “welll, i didn’t know that you were going to stumble on that side of pinterest!”

he doesn’t say anything, and really! it looks like he doesn’t care about the newest discovery of his s/o

but he shows his feelings in his own way.

like, how katsuki insists that he finds a new outfit that you’d absolutely love— one that’ll fit with your aesthetic

and that he insists that he does your graphic liner, because you’re going to ‘poke your eyes out’

makes an entirely different account to reply to those simps and creeps in the comment section, sort of like

random pinterest user : “the things i’ll do to be crushed by them 💦”

pinterestuser461903 : “go touch some fucking grass.”

also would’ve commented “your art sucks” at the poorly done drawings of you in the comments, but knows you appreciated the art— so he doesn’t

(still thinks the fanart doesn’t do you enough justice)

he’ll be super proud when someone notices you in person like “yeah that’s fucking right, but too bad they’re super attractive and way out of your league.”

in short, it looks like katsuki doesn’t care at all about your pinterest famous life, but he’s your #1 supporter

todoroki shouto

i am certain for this one— he doesn’t have pinterest

well, he didn’t have pinterest, until midoriya convinced him to create an account, but it kinda just ended at that

but the person that actually made him use pinterest was sero, because he kept bugging him to give it a try

todoroki finds the app very practical— he can find screen caps of heroes in action, and he can also find oddly helpful tips in cooking (and in anything)

but sero was like “todoroki, what about the aesthetic value??” and todoroki didn’t really get that part to be honest 💀

todoroki, being clueless didn’t know what to search for— so sero being the wonderful friend he is, helped him search for it

and that’s when it happened. it didn’t take that long, but they eventually found an entire section just full of pictures of you; their classmate and crush

“is that Y/N?” mina notices what they’re looking at, and she observes the picture “oh wow— it is her! no wonder why she looked familiar.”

“it’s impressive! our classmate is pinterest famous!” they continue to look at every single post in each board, and todoroki’s left to observe in silence

he has definitely taken a liking to you, even if he didn’t realize it at first— he liked you because of your hard work when it came to training, personality and patience, not because of your looks

obviously, todoroki thinks that you look good in anything, trashbag style or not. but seeing you in this light was interesting.

so after training, todoroki would spent a good portion of his time scavenging for more pictures— not because he was obsessed or anything

but because,, he really liked your pictures. maybe it was because without you in those pictures, it would feel incomplete

he didn’t know how to approach you after this discovery, which is why he’s glad that you approached him first

“todoroki! what are you looking at?” you took a peak at his screen, and you’re baffled to see yourself, and that very famous picture of you

he’s quiet for a second when he realizes that you’ve caught him staring at your pictures, but he explains calmly, “sero accidentally discovered your pictures,, and i just wanted to take a peak at them, if it was okay,,”

and he’s relieved— well, you’re also relieved. you didn’t know how your crush would react if he ever saw those pictures, but your heart skipped a beat knowing that he enjoyed looking at them

“it’s alright todoroki,” you smile, honestly over the moon as you spoke “i’m really glad that you like them.”

sometimes you’d get shy whenever he’d go on pinterest just to look at your pictures, “todoroki, not that one! that one was really old,,” is what you’d say whenever he’d look at your older photos but he’d still look at them anyway 💀

at first, todoroki helped you in his own subtle way. since he’s quite the fashion icon— he’d recommend you clothes to wear for future pictures

he eventually confessed— and it was because you were talking to him while he was really tired, and he blurted out that he really, really liked you and you almost passed away because of his words

so yeah— it was a case of secretly admiring their beautiful best friend to lovers scenario

he’d go the full mile when it came to taking your pictures. he’d check the weather forecast just in case if it was going to rain for that date, and impromptu picnic photoshoot

that boyfriend that has pictures of you in his photo gallery, and has a backstory for each photo if anyone were to ask

also that boyfriend that knows how to take pictures, will probably even lay down to take them, even if you didn’t kindly ask him to

when you asked him to join the picture, he didn’t really know how to— but he made it work! and the both of you guys went viral

but this isn’t all one sided, no— whenever you guys would cuddle, shouto would simply stare at you with HEARTS in his eyes,

and even before he leans in for a kiss, he’ll stare at you with so much love in his eyes, while he traces his thumb across your cheekbones. man’s in love— you’re gorgeous.

he knows that you know that he’s not with you because of any ulterior motive, you both have mutual trust in each other— so it’s not something you guys will bother on questioning because you’re both hot asf lets be real

he’s not uncomfortable whenever people gawk at you in public— i mean, you two get stares on the regular. and how could they not stare at you? you’re very attractive, and he’s glad that people recognize that

but he’ll get protective if they’ll try to be a threat to your loving relationship with him, he won’t be afraid to be blunt

regarding the comments on each pinterest post— he hates it when people say things out of the line

always tries to hide them from you so you don’t feel bothered by them, but if you knew about them— he’ll be sad :,(

but he’ll end up mass reporting those nasty comments— and they always get taken down, because of the shouto todoroki luck

in short? man’s whipped, and the both of you guys are SO attractive together— what more if people knew about the om chemistry?

really— you being pinterest famous was just a nice plus, he fell in love with you for you

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[neutral-emerald]

SILVER THE COSMIC TIME-JANITOR (or: dude, what's with all the alternate futures)

silver the hedgehog has a very simple backstory. he's a kindhearted, sorta-naive but altogether very driven psychic hedgehog here to save the world by time-traveling to the past (also known as present-day) to prevent the apocalyptic future he was born into from coming to pass!

[ID: A screenshot of Silver from Sonic 06. He’s glowing with cyan energy as he flies over a dark, post-apocalyptic city.]

...wait, if he's time traveling 200 years into the past to completely change the shape of the timeline, how do the stars manage to align such that he manages to be born at the exact same point in the new timeline with the exact same genetics? how are his parents born? does silver have parents?? and how does he do this no less than THREE SEPARATE TIMES??!

hey everyone, i'm tumblr user neutral-emerald here to make good on the idea i vaguely gestured at yesterday and point out silver's wildly inconsistent backstory(s) and then explain to you how this isn't just sega playing hopscotch with the concept of time travel, but actually TOTALLY EXPLAINABLE if you don't mind a whole lot of conjecture and "fuck dude i just think it'd be cool."

LET'S GO.

before i get started, a few things to establish.

first, this is about… half serious, tops. it’s less of a theory and more of an observation of something that’s weird and then throwing some possible explanations at it because i am a massive sucker for time-based nonsense. if you wanna take my observations and build your own conclusions, go for it. i’m not your boss.

second, i'm basing my conclusions off of both the games and the idw comics. the conclusions i draw are applicable to either continuity, but the logic does rest a decent amount on the comics, so just a heads-up in case you were expecting pure game canon from this.

and third, i'm working off like half a brain and very intermittent checks of the wiki and cutscene compilations, so there's probably many things i'm missing! if you notice something i said was wildly off-base, go ahead and correct me in the replies and i'll either edit the post or explain to you just how that detail doesn't actually matter, depending on whether it. y'know. matters.

with that out of the way, let's get into the first topic of discussion!

part 1: the future is inconsistent, y'all

now, i'm not sure if you've heard, but in the year 2006 sonic team released this little indie game creatively entitled Sonic the Hedgehog. it was a smash hit, won countless awards, and for some reason went down in history as a messy, incomplete bugfest. but that's not what matters. what matters is that it introduced Silver the Hedgehog.

silver hails from 200 years in the future. the world is a bleak, fiery place, and has been since the monster iblis was unleashed after princess elise's death. silver was born into this world, which we know since it's literally the first thing he says in his story.

[ID: A cropped line from Silver's story in Sonic 06. "This world was devastated before I was born."]

i'm not going to drag you through a beat-by-beat summary of the entire plot of sonic 06, you should know it already. silver meets mephiles, gets lied to about who caused the apocalypse, mephiles yeets him and blaze into the past, he tries to murder Sonic the Hedgehog™, and so on. eventually he helps kill god, and then sonic and elise travel further back in time to kill god even deader so that none of the game ever happened, and the bad future into which silver was born never happened, thus thoroughly scrubbing silver's existence from the timeline!

...until.

sonic rivals.

i'm not going to speak much on sonic rivals, mostly because i'm not super familiar with it. but what matters is that silver is back! he's still from the future, he's still here to change the past, and most importantly he wasn't deleted from existence by the destruction of solaris, unlike everything else from sonic 06 including everyone's memories of it. and obviously, whatever state his future is in, it's not the same as it was in sonic 06.

now, i don't have a single clue what is going on in rivals 2, so do inform me if there's some big information i'm missing from that one. all i know is he's fixing yet another possible apocalyptic future, like always. correct me if i’m wrong, i don’t have the patience to trawl through it myself.

then we've got sonic colors, in which silver is again from the future. notably, he’s definitely not from an apocalypse!

[ID: Some screenshots from the DS version of Sonic Colors, again cropped to just the text. Tails and Silver are talking to each other.

Tails: What's the future you came from like, Silver? Silver: A lot brighter than this. Silver: The sky is blue, and everybody's got a smile.]

sonic generations doesn't add much. again, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think we learn anything about what kind of future silver is from, and he's definitely not here to fix it this time. that's sonic's job! he's just hanging out like everyone else.

now, up until this point the future has been reasonably consistent, setting aside my somewhat abstract understanding of the rivals games. there's nothing to say that silver's not coming back in time from the same point in a single timeline, which is the one and only version of the future ever since the destruction of sonic 06.

UNTIL.

[ID: Two panels from the comic Sonic Forces: Stress Test. In the first panel, Silver looks worried as he lands in front of Knuckles, who looks skeptical.

Silver: We've got big trouble! Eggman— Knuckles: How can you be here? I thought you returned to the future?

In the second panel, Knuckles looks away with a self-assured grin, while Silver looks more panicked.

Knuckles: Oh wait— I must be dreaming! Silver: What? No! I've come back with a dire warning from the future!]

i have a lot of issues with sonic forces, especially with how its story is written. something i do NOT take issue with is the supplemental comics, mainly because they are WONDERFUL evidence for my crackpot time travel theory.

like i said, up until this point we don't really know whether silver has been experiencing separate instances of the future, or simply traveling back in time to prevent an also-time-traveling eggman nega from messing things up in the past. but here, we get some very juicy information:

[ID: Knuckles and Silver again. Knuckles has his arms crossed and is looking at Silver, who has a nervous look on his face as he slams a fist on the palm of his other hand.

Knuckles: Come again? Silver: Something happens that brings the world to ruin! But the historical records are sparse or make no sense. I came back to hopefully head off whatever's about to happen and save the future.]

silver travels back in time to prevent a terrible apocalypse. this is not the beautiful future silver came from in sonic colors— but this is the same silver. everyone recognizes him. he recognizes everyone. and yet, the future he came from is different.

part 2: silver is a walking paradox

allow me to remind you of what i pointed out when i was talking about sonic 06. silver was born into the iblis-apocalypse. considering no elaborate timeline nonsense happened to him before the events of the game (by his reckoning) i think we can safely assume he was born like a regular person with parents.

in the first post-06 timeline, silver was probably also born. let's be charitable, acknowledge that sonic team doesn't overthink the butterfly effect like i do, and say that silver was born to the same parents, because the universe likes to keep things nice and simple and contrive itself to make this particular character exist in this time period.

so, it's entirely fair that silver comes to exist in a post-06 timeline at the equivalent point in time, aka 200 years in the future. it's also fair that he travels back in time to prevent some kind of apocalypse, because that's his narrative role! it's what he does. when it's time for him to exist in the story, that's what he's there to do.

what isn't fair is the fact that it keeps happening.

[ID: A panel from the IDW comics. Sonic is stretching his legs while looking faintly exasperated at Silver, who is nervously holding his arm.

Silver: Er… No. I came back because defeating Eggman didn't save the future. Sonic: Couldn't even play along. Had to bring the mood down. Sonic: *sigh* Okay, what happened this time?]

[ID: The following panel, cropped to just Silver's text bubbles narrating over a starry sky.

Silver: When I left, my time had been conquered by the Eggman Empire. Everyone lived in fear, choking on polluted air. Silver: When I went back, the Eggman Empire was gone— but so was everyone else. Silver: There was nothing left. No people, no animals, no machinery. Only water and sparse, metallic plant life.]

allow me to summarize my understanding of all this: silver is from the future. normally, the future is good. sometimes it isn't. when it isn't good, he goes back in time and fixes things, then returns to the future to check if that fixed things.

the least conjecture-y interpretation i can come up with is that sometimes silver will go into the past, then go back to the future but end up in a Bad Timeline and thus go into the past again to fix things. there's no weird warping directly between bad timelines, he only gets there by way of the past.

but that's boring, so here's my PREFERRED interpretation.

silver hails from a good future, but sometimes it just changes. he's unstuck from time— if something weird happens in the past, he's the only one to know that the passage of fate was changed, because he went to bed in one timeline and woke up somewhere categorically worse, and the only way he can fix it is by figuring out just what caused this and going back in time to fix it.

or, to say it in a meme:

[ID: A picture of someone lying in a hospital bed with a nurse standing next to them, edited so that Silver is in the bed.

nurse: sir… you've been asleep for 2 hours silver: oh boy i can't wait to wake up in the same timeline i went to sleep in]

part 3: how did this happen?

it's one thing to point out that silver doesn't experience time like a normal hedgehog, and another thing to explain how and why this happens.

fyi, this is the part where i go wildly off the rails and start saying whatever i want. there's a ton of explanations one could come up with, most probably stemming back to sonic 06. i'm just going to go with my own, and probably not come up with a whole lot of concrete evidence because i'm just spitballing. this is me having a fun time. going "heeheehoohoo time traveling hedgehog go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

so. something i haven't touched upon is that in all games after sonic 06, silver can time travel. we never see him do it, it's never explained how he does it. all we know is that he's doing it under his own power.

which is kinda odd, don't you think? should he be able to do that?

in sonic 06, we see three mechanisms for time travel. first is the chaos emeralds. if two people perform Chaos Control with a chaos emerald apiece, they open up a swirling rift in the air which can send them to different points in time and space. silver can't be doing that, for obvious reasons— he's only one hedgehog, and he's not exactly running around with a chaos emerald at all times. that can't be how he does it.

second is a time machine eggman built. that obviously can't be it; the machine doesn't exist at all after the timeline gets wiped, and again, silver is doing this on his own. he's actively antagonistic towards eggman, even. absolutely not this one.

third and finally is mephiles, who can make big purple orbs to take himself and passengers to different points in time. this obviously can't be it either, for similar reasons to number 2, right? after all, mephiles is one half of solaris, who was destroyed before he could be split off. he doesn't exist to be silver's time-traveling uber driver.

...right?

well, obviously. i'm not going to try and tell you that mephiles is secretly alive and shepherding silver back and forth between timelines for no reason. that's ridiculous. no, i'm going to try and tell you that silver is mephiles.

or rather, he's solaris. or RATHER, he's the new solaris, sorta-ascended to the role of Time God after the old one got blown out like a birthday candle.

like i said, i'm going wildly off the rails and as such don't have any concrete evidence to explain why it's this instead of something else, but hear me out. after elise blew out the flame of hope, the universe was left in an interesting situation. someone needs to be in charge of the flow of time, but the previous time-god was just unceremoniously destroyed. but all the power and energy of a time-god has to go somewhere, in some form, in some time.

with nothing else to go off of, the role of time-god starts flipping through every notable being it had interacted with. they're all solidly accounted for in the timeline, except for one. silver the hedgehog was born into a timeline that cannot exist. silver the hedgehog does not, and cannot exist. silver the hedgehog interacted quite a bit with both sides of solaris— he spent a substantial amount of time fighting back iblis, and associated with mephiles, even being one of the few people to directly experience his time travel abilities. silver the hedgehog tried and failed to absorb iblis into himself.

here's my theory: after sonic 06, the universe reasserted itself such that silver was the new Solaris. silver is not consciously aware that this is what he is, but he knows that he can time travel. sometimes the timeline will rearrange itself around silver. he is unaffected by this because he is a higher being unaffected by such petty trifles as "an origin" or "paradoxes".

silver the hedgehog probably doesn't have parents. he sprang into existence one day and everyone just kind of went with it, himself included.

oh also something i thought was neat but couldn't think of where to put:

[ID: More cropped dialogue, this time from Team Sonic Racing.

Silver: I'm fine. It's just, something bad is gonna happen. I can't explain it. I just feel it. Blaze: Have your travels through time given you precognition? Silver: I don't know. Maybe they have. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much.]

silver might be becoming psychic in a future-vision kinda way. that, or he’s riddled with anxiety. possibly both.

TL;DR

silver hails from no less than three separate timelines, his existence is a tangled web of who-knows-how-many grandfather paradoxes, and i choose to believe that he's god.

if anyone who cares more about evidence wants to gather up like, little one-off clues that support or conflict with my conclusions, go right ahead. or just throw your own arbitrary headcanons for what's going on with this at me. or incorporate these ideas into an au or something! i just want more people thinking about what the Fuck is up with silver post-06, because by god there is a WHOLE lot of potential packed in there

anyway thanks for reading make sure to like comment and subscribe—

[icedcappujaeno]

kingdom come | one

Jaehyun remembers you, and he hopes that you remember him as well.

genre: mafia!au | fluff | angst | smut

pair: Jaehyun & reader

warnings: language, sexual content, drugs, blood and violence, guns

↤ previous | series masterlist | next ↦

( a/n: heh c: )

“Valentine, can you hear me, over.”

“Chicago to Valentine.”

“Jae-”

He pulls the device away from his ears. Sweat drips from his temple down to his wrist. He clutches the handle before when he hears the door open, footsteps following after. 

Jaehyun quietly exhales but he hears his heart thumping. Louder. The footsteps coming closer matching how his heart that he could hear it loudly in his ears. 

“He went through here. I’m sure of it,” one says. 

At least one of you is vigilant , he thinks. 

Jaehyun cocks the barrel and slides away from where he was hiding, shooting the speaker in his chest. His companion reacts even before his body falls to the ground with the fatal shot - shooting to the direction Jaehyun was. 

Unfortunately, still too slow.

Jaehyun rolls to the side, kicking the man’s ankles which caused him to fall down. He takes the opportunity to shoot another bullet straight to his lungs. But to these actions, he never noticed another man coming into the room, one making a bullet straight to his direction. Luckily with his reflexes, he managed to dodge a split second, the metal grazing through the fabric of his clothing deep into the skin of his shoulder. 

Momentarily he hisses because of the pain, yet Jaehyun manages to get it over quickly, landing a clean shot on the assailant’s head. 

He ducks behind the flipped table to reload and hears another set of steps coming towards his direction. He runs just behind the walls of the fallen door - and as one entered, sneaks up to land a fatal blow towards the back of the man’s neck. The other points his gun towards Jaehyun, but as to his quick senses, pulls the arm towards him, flipping him over with the remaining strength he has, before planting a bullet on the man’s head once more.

Jaehyun exhales.

“This is Valentine,” he says as he brings the comm back to his ears. “Cleaning up cleared.”

“YOU FUCKING SHIT!”

Johnny screams through the comm, and Jaehyun thinks his eardrums are being snapped at. It was pure regret to put them back on. The elder continues to interrogate his locations to which he answers meekly as to be careful - there might be more around that are hunting for him.

When he stands, the graze on his shoulder stung, and he hisses at the burning sensation. There is blood from his shoulder when he reaches for it, thus he places his free hand over for pressure to prevent more bleeding. Slowly, he walks over to the hallway, now stinking of dried blood. 

Jaehyun didn’t even get to the half of the hall when he heard running, thus he concealed himself behind a vase stand. 

“This way!” One of them shouts, but a series of gunshots fires after.

He hears a man whistle, then a slap of a hand on thick fabric.

“Jeno nice kill!”

Jaehyun chuckles and shakes his head. 

“Were you not told that you should call another agent by their code, Pudu?”

He says, standing up to meet his two companions - two juniors on the field. The hand on his shoulder still patched, to which the black-haired boy notices. 

“You’re injured, Hyung!”

Both rushed to his side, and Jaehyun saw the panic in their eyes.

“As much as I’d love to flick your foreheads right now,” he hisses. “Ah, shit. Should I be really giving lessons now-“

“Yeah, you should!” Another voice breaks him, and when Jaehyun looks over the hall, Johnny’s coming closer in big, angry strides. Jeno and Haechan move to the side to give way to Johnny. 

With the first aid kit, Johnny applies a mediocre patch with thick layers of gauze. He finishes the dressing by roughly putting on micropore tapes haphazardly over the injured shoulder.

“But they won’t be the one taking lessons, Jaehyun, it’ll be you—and by that I mean go back to the training where you’ll learn patience and obedience!” Johnny screams with obvious frustration laces his tone. 

“I can do it alone, hyung—“

“Bullshit,” Johnny scoffs, then turns his back to Jaehyun. “Carry Valentine up to the escape, Prince. Pudu, come with me.”

The two mentioned complies, but Jaehyun is reluctant to not go. He was about to speak when Johnny walked away with Haechan, leaving no room for argument. 

Jeno looks at him with pitiful eyes. He hears rumors of Jaehyun going insane by charging in alone, with no comms, when he sees fit, and now he’s seen it. A true suicidal maniac who succeeds nevertheless. 

“Prince. Bring Valentine over,” Jeno hears Taeyong through the comms. Jeno looks at Jaehyun — his lips pursed and brows knitted, probably in annoyance.

“Yes sir.”

Jaehyun looks at him with venomous eyes. Jeno cowers, his heart beats a little faster than normal, but no. An order is an order.

“Valentine hyung. Let’s go.”

The older looks at him for a brief few seconds and sighs. He could not hurt Jeno, and running away would probably sanction the kid. He couldn’t risk it — couldn’t be the one putting the blame.

He nods and lets Jeno assist him by putting his arm over the little one’s frame for support, drenched in blood and sweat.

━ ┉ ━

“Pass.”

Johnny attempts to imitate Jaehyun’s baritone when Taeil asks whether they’re up for a night of chicken and beer after finishing their reports on the previous mission. Jaehyun was the only man in the room to not be amused by the elder’s banter as his brows were knitted in obvious annoyance.

“Stop that, hyung,” he says as he gathers his coat to his hand. When he stands, he pushes the button of his computer to turn it off. “But I’ll pass.”

Johnny mouths ‘I told you so’ to the people around which earned fits of giggles. 

“Come on, Jaehyun,” Taeil insists. “It’s just for tonight.”

If other people would observe, Jaehyun’s actions would be seen as disrespectful - as he straight out walks towards the time clock to punch out. However, since almost everyone in the office knows of his past, they let him be. Jaehyun wasn’t like this before  that incident - and adjusting to his cold demeanor was quite difficult, to say the least, but everyone managed to lengthen their patience towards him.

“Okay, I’ll be honest,” Haechan raises his hand. “I am starting to lose my patience towards Jaehyun hyung.”

“Haechan,” Johnny sighs. “We talked about this.”

“It’s been two years!” The younger whines. “He should have moved on.”

“Thought you were teaching your kids well, Johnny hyung,” Taeyong quips as he gets out of his office. He looks so exhausted with his disheveled hair, first button of his shirt undone, and the loose necktie. Johnny could never imagine the piles of paper waiting for him on his desk. These were times that he was thankful that he was only a  supervisor .

“I did,” Johnny shrugs. “But did he lie though?”

Silence fills the room and everyone internally agrees, even Taeyong. 

Two years since Jaehyun got involved in a car  accident .

“So, chicken and beer?” Taeil finally stands from his seat then stretches the knots out of his back muscles. Everyone follows except for Taeyong, who only smiles and frees his neck from the tie hanging around all day.

━ ┉ ━

Two years since Jaehyun lost you.

Two years he’s been self-suffering. Two years of blaming. Two years of guilt.

And in the span of two years, he learns a new routine. Work. Then home. It was foreign not to go out with his co-workers in the first five months, but he swallows his guilt - he shouldn’t be happy while you’re gone. He doesn’t deserve it, it’s what he thinks. In the first five months, he drinks and tries to forget, but it wasn’t working for him. 

He was beyond broken, raising the worries of his co-workers. His  friends .

In the next months, Taeil and Yuta buy him gym equipment; ‘to keep himself busy’ as they say. Jaehyun appreciates the concern and thinking that not using it would rust them off, he learns to use them. In nights of insomnia, as you continue to appear in his dreams, taken in by the guilt and emotional repression, he goes up and trains until his body can’t move anymore.

This night wasn’t any different.

Jaehyun lies on the floor of his training ground. He’s drenched in sweat and it sticks to the mat below, but he pays no mind. He stares at the ceiling - your smile comes through his mind. He misses you, so much. And it hurts so badly. He isn’t alone but he feels like one without your presence. He shouldn’t be feeling guilty as it was an accident, but he’s blaming himself: he shouldn’t have invited you to a fancy dinner. He should have listened to you but he didn’t. 

Jaehyun looks at his watch. The screen flashes and shows 01:13 AM.

He shouldn’t be laying on the floor drenched in sweat. Right now, you should have been laying with him instead, your soft snores melody to his ears.

He stares at the ceiling once again. He has deleted all your pictures in order to forget, but it keeps coming…

Jaehyun cries. 

He swore he’ll never cry once more, yet your face, your dear facade keeps haunting his thoughts.

He wants you back.

━ ┉ ━

“You should be glad I’m still awake,” Rose quips, lightning her cig as she sits on the edge of Jaehyun’s bed. The white shirt tossed by Jaehyun earlier covers her slender upper body to her mid-thighs.

Jaehyun only hums, sitting beside her. He comes back from the shower from which he throws out the condom he used just a while ago. With him wearing his birthday suit, Rose can’t help but admire his body; sculpted into perfection. She was staring until he raised a brow.

Rose offers him a cig and he accepts, letting her light his stick.

“Yeah,” Jaehyun huffs from his cigarette. “Thanks.”

She offers him a knowing look. Her legs are crossed while her chin rests on her palms, supported by her elbows on her knees. A smile comes across her sultry lips. “So?”

He looks at her incredulously. “So?”

Rose shrugs. She glances at the clock by his nightstand and huffs a smoke out of her cigarette. “It’s almost 3 AM.”

“And?”

She reaches for her bag resting on the nightstand and fishes her phone out. She scrolls back to her recent contacts, most recently coming from Jaehyun. “Booty calls at 1:48 in the morning? Like I’ve said, you’re lucky I’m still up.”

Jaehyun chuckles dryly in reply, before blowing another smoke from his light. “I know you’d come anyway.”

“I mean,” Rose sighs dreamily, looking at Jaehyun’s body rather salaciously. He’s covered in his own sweat, mixed a little bit with hers, and it’s the hottest view Rose had ever seen in her entire life. “I’d be an idiot to turn you down.”

Jaehyun extinguishes his cig on a nearby ashtray and runs his fingers through his tresses. She imitates his actions, reaching over to the lone ashtray where he extinguished his stick. His gaze follows suit, weighing down whether he’ll let her stay until the sun rises or let her go home. 

Rose has been of great help to him. He needs release at times, and she’s been willing to do him a favor every time ever since they met at the bar when Jaehyun was still in the first few months of  recovering . She confessed her lowkey crush on him and they’ve been hooking up ever since.

It was hard to admit, but Rose knew she’s only nothing. When they fuck around, his eyes are void of any emotion. Sure, his face tells him he feels good as well as his moans and grunts, but Rose knew that it was all just lustful desires. A short-term form of happiness.

“Stay the night,” he says, proceeding to put stray strands of her hair behind her ears. His touch was cold like his exterior. Rose wishes she could break those walls, but she also knows that it’s not yet the time to do those if she wants to keep using him. 

A mutual understanding. Both sides benefited. She thinks that somehow, this is okay. At least for now.

She nods. It was quite late anyway, and the sun will be rising soon. It was part of the deal - that she leaves as the sun rises, so lays on his bed, inhaling his scent. Jaehyun follows suit, inviting her over to his and she scoots over, making his chest as a pillow. He runs his hand through her soft hair.

But the problem is, Jaehyun feels nothing after all these.

[tsskyx]

Unmeta

You know what’s ridiculous? This post was originally supposed to be an essay, an entire thesis backed with unshakable logic that I wanted to become my magnum opus. But as it turns out, I’m pretty terrible at doing that sort of thing. The first day I’m full of enthusiasm, while the next day I reread what I wrote and I delete it all again. It’s terrible.

For this reason, I’ve decided to just start with the opinion part. Instead of laying out the facts and easing the reader into it, I’ll just blurt everything out in one go. Instead of neatly organizing everything, I’ll write my thoughts as they come to me.

(Update for 2/Oct/2021: I no longer remember when I made the first draft of this post. Maybe it was in 2018, maybe even as early as 2017. Who knows. This post existed in my drafts since forever. It is time to finally publish it. It contains very little information, very little evidence for anything or logic or facts, it’s just a one big opinion piece that I began writing years ago out of frustration. Frustration not aimed at the game itself, nor at Toby or anyone else, but at my inability to decouple the “meta” from Undertale and thus causing me to disassociate from the characters that I loved, when I didn’t plan to do so. All I ever wanted is to make sense of the Undertale world, instead of giving its inhabitants a meta-existential dread. In a nutshell, for the Undertale world to be self-contained, the 4th wall must stay intact, and the mechanics of the UT world mustn’t resemble a video game. That’s basically the gist of this post. Proceed with reading.)

You know Undertale meta? All the 4th wall breaking stuff and whatnot? The stuff that makes the game so awesome?

What about it you say?

It’s not real. I don’t think it is. It cannot be.

Tell me, has Undertale personally impacted you? Was it more than just a game to you? I know for a fact that for many people, it was much more than that. So tell me, is it fine by you that despite presenting itself in this way to us, it still sort of cops out of this at the very end? (By which I mean, when we learn that we aren’t Frisk. That we’re just someone controlling them.)

Some say that this cop-out, this act of “disassociation”, is necessary for our psychological journey to end. And I agree. We cannot dwell on this forever, else we lose our minds. But what I meant is something much more... materialistic.

Let’s take Oneshot, a game that’s arguably even more meta than Undertale. Oneshot embraces the 4th wall. It labels us a god. It portrays the game itself as an in-game machine. And yet, it feels real. Despite all this ridiculousness, the story feels real and possible. Kind of like The Matrix. Perhaps think of everyone in Oneshot except for the main character as a Matrix program, while Niko is the only user hooked up to it. It still feels real, because Niko is real, because there exists a real world they can to return to.

But Undertale floats somewhere between being real and being a fairy tale, a mere bedtime story. The reason is its lax handling of the 4th wall. Say, if Undertale were to be considered a “real” possibility, as in, entirely fictional, but still believable, kinda like The Matrix, kinda like any science fiction, or just fiction in general, what would it be like?

I’ll tell you, everything would have to be real, everything would have to look exactly how we see it. There’d need to be turns, there’d need to be save files, there’d need to be so many bizarre things, it probably wouldn’t take long before the NPCs themselves realized their own nonexistence, probably around the time they developed computers and video games. It’d be so similar, they’d have to be either stupid or under some kind of spell to not realize that their entire world is just one giant video game. Especially Flowey. Some say that he has already realized this, as his dialogue hints towards this. Which puts a super unfortunate spin on his condition. Furthermore, the entire game could be described through its Game Maker code. No need for laws of physics, just observe the if-else statements!

It would also mean that Frisk is controlled by a third unknown entity. If we were to take everything we do to Frisk at face value, it must all be them. Except... after a true reset, everything gets reset, even things about Frisk, such as them expecting the whoopee cushion prank. So... Frisk isn’t in control. But Chara isn’t either. Take for example the final fight against Asriel. Chara appeared pretty enthusiastic during it. What if someone were to reset the timeline during the fight? Either it wasn’t them who did so, or they were just pretending to be entertained, or perhaps they aren’t the narrator in the first place even.

No matter what, there will always be an instance where Frisk forgets, and where Chara doesn’t do something when they could have. Once you mess with the game enough, their personalities stop making sense.

This gradual breakdown of the narrative as I keep attacking the logic of it from every direction imaginable is a symptom of something far bigger. The fact that unlike The Matrix or Oneshot, there is no “real world” in this game. The virtual part of it is what the game is trying to make us focus on. It’s all there is. There is not even a hint of “another” world in the game, a world that wouldn’t be governed by these terrible rules. And even if there was one, even if you consider what Sans said to be that world, even if you considered Deltarune to be that world, there is still no guarantee that everything will be okay. What if the characters - your friends, aren’t real in this actual real world, what if they’re all just computer simulations? There’d have to be an entire population hooked up to a virtual reality for everyone to be “safe” as I’m putting it in this hypothetical real world, which sounds not only ridiculous, but like a direct ripoff of The Matrix.

The game has made Frisk the main character. Why, when making Sans the main one, the one who at least has a possibility of coming from a “real” real world, would be far more logical?

Because it lacks logic. Undertale is an experiment. Toby Fox is not a genius. He was just messing around, he didn’t think of literally every tiny little logical detail (contrary to what some individuals would like to think), he just explained enough for most of the story to make sense. But, no matter how you spin it, this fundamental flaw will always be there. The story tries to merge you and the protagonist, before disassociating you from them. Even if you always were disassociated from them, how can the in-game world be real, when other aspects of your reality weren’t disassociated yet? Where’s the disassociation for battles and turns, for save files and time travel, for stats and everything? How can Undertale claim to be complete, when it isn’t? ... Perhaps because it is not claiming to be. It’s an experiment after all. And I don’t mean “incomplete” as in a single update / new game can fix it. I mean the premise itself is already broken from the start. And while there are many fictional worlds which function on a similar level of meta, Undertale is the only one that appears to irk me mad. I don’t know why. Maybe I love the characters. Maybe I love them very much. Maybe I love them so much, that I wanna write a fan fiction about them. And maybe, just maybe, this tiny little issue is making this dream of mine impossible. Undertale is a story conveyed through game mechanics. Choosing any other medium breaks everything down and the author needs to invent their own rules. There’s simply no way around it. Unless someone has the balls to program a fan game of their own, there’s just no way to resolve this without adjusting the canon a little bit, to make it “a little bit more sensible” as some would put it. Just a small nudge, a lil’ nudgie wudgie to the canon mechanics AAAAAND we’re in fanon territory. Excellent, better go all out.

Here’s my head canon, my little “adjustment” of the canon rules. Thanks to it, I can once again think about Undertale as a real world, I no longer need to philosophize over the meta like I did above, I can all put it past me:

Saving, loading, resetting? Regular sci-fi time travel.

The save file? The parameters of the time machine.

LV and EXP? Another set of properties of the machine, though it could be properties of the soul too. I’m undecided on that note. But either works, that’s what’s important.

Chara destroying the world through LV? No, screw that, Chara merely tuned Frisk out. And the black void was the inside of their mind as Chara denied them access to their own body.

The intro? Literally never happened, no one “saw” it. (The past was still real. It’s just the intro that never existed.) The outro? Literally never physically occurred, Frisk wasn’t “stuck” on the ending credits, unable to go further, fuck that.

Flowey? No screw everything meta about Flowey, there exists a perfectly logical explanation to everything he says, and if not, such as in the genocide run with him hinting towards people watching but not acting... he never said that in the first place!

Same with turns, the battles don’t actually look that way, there are no turns, what Sans perceives and abuses as such is just an illusion, the actual battle against Sans is absolutely fluid. And him pausing at the end and not letting us go is him keeping his guard up, until falling asleep and giving us an opportunity to sneak near him and strike. We don’t need turns to explain it. And what he said about turns... just ignore it! Ignore everything that directly proves me wrong! Because resolving that fucking conundrum IS more important than being logically consistent, and you can’t change my mind on that. Screw logic when the foundation of the entire fandom, of every UT-related fiction, is at stake here.

And I shall call this philosophy... the Unmeta. Because it attempts to undo the meta. Hence, “unmeta” for short.

[con-fection]

ASHES TO ASHES | jim moriarty x reader | part 2/13

Word count: 4.7K

"Sherlock," John says, for what is quite possibly the third time in a row. He sighs in frustration, his eyes darting between Sherlock's phone, which is set on the kitchen counter and has been ringing incessantly for the past half hour, effectively disrupting the peace in 221B, and Sherlock himself, who is positioned on his armchair, his elbows on his knees and his hands interlocked in front of his face.

"Not now, John. I'm thinking." Sherlock shakes his head, his eyes narrowing slightly, focusing in on something imperceptible.

"Right, well, I'll get it shall I?" John says, mostly to himself. He rises from the sofa, striding over to the kitchen to grasp the phone. "Hello? Oh, hi Greg. No, no, he's here. He's thinking. Yes, I'll let him know. Yes, thanks. Bye."

John turns around, eyeing Sherlock and waiting for any form of reaction. He doesn't even blink. His spine remains ramrod straight, but the tips of his fingers are twitching slightly, tapping rhythmically against his knuckles. He'd been trapped in a cycle of thinking and tossing away clients since he had last seen Moriarty - it was rather disturbing.

"Sherlock," He tries again. John really is one of the only people that Sherlock depends on, or even tolerates, and he's probably one of the only people that can tell when something has really got to Sherlock. Moriarty is under his skin, he has been in some way for years, starting with the murder of Carl Powers, and culminating with the bombs.  

"Not now, John. I'm - "

"Thinking. Yes, I know that." John snaps slightly, huffing. The frustration is evident in his voice, but he shakes it off quickly, disregarding it in favour of a calmer, more patient tone. "Greg just called - "

Sherlock finally blinks, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. His gaze finally diverts from his interlocked hands to John. "Who?"

"Greg Lestrade, the man who you've worked with for literal years. You have known him longer than you have known me. You have a case." John explains.

Much like any knowledge of the solar system, Lestrade's name is simply deleted from Sherlock's mind, redacted on the basis of it being irrelevant. To John, it seems painfully rude, but to Sherlock, it's an everyday practice - he constantly filters out information that he deems not to be useful enough, disregarding it and then replacing it with something new, something more useful. Something smart, something interesting. And as far as Sherlock is concerned 'Greg' is neither of those things.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Sherlock looks mildly surprised, letting his hands drop and standing up, rising from his armchair. "And I think you mean that we have a case, John."

"Yes, alright, we." John begrudgingly agrees, tossing Sherlock his phone. The taller man catches it with ease, before shrugging his coat on and stuffing it into a pocket.

---

"So, ah, what happened?" Is the first thing that tumbles from John's mouth as he and Sherlock enter Lestrade's office at the police station. The door swings shut behind them, but he can still sense Donovan's burning stare at his back, piercing through the door.

Lestrade is sat at his desk, a collection of pictures strewn around him, haloed by sunlight spilling in from the window behind him. Some of the pictures have been pinned to a corkboard on the wall, connected to each other by thumbtacks and neon-coloured string. He looks rather thankful for Sherlock's presence, his shoulders sagging instantly in relief.

"Right, well, murder and arson." Lestrade says, turning one of the pictures around. Sherlock and John quickly crowd around it, both vying to see the charred skeleton of a house.

"That doesn't look much like London." John says, squinting slightly.

"Well, it's not really London London, you know? It's only London technically." Lestrade supplies, shrugging slightly.

John nods. "So, it's in your jurisdiction, but barely. And, ah, when exactly did this all happen? Do you have like an estimated time of death?"

"This morning." Lestrade says. "The fire started pretty early - we can be relatively certain that the victims were killed in the night or this morning. Our killer was pretty quick about it. We're not sure if anything's missing yet."

"Strange fire pattern," Sherlock remarks, his eyes flitting over all of the pictures. "I assume our perpetrator used an accelerant - most likely gasoline, which they would have poured throughout the house judging by the consistency of the burning. I'm guessing that the fire began in the basement?"

Lestrade nods. "It's probably the worst room in the whole house. They didn't bother as much with the victims."

"So the basement's more important, then?" John guesses.

"Or the most convenient room to start the fire in," Lestrade says. "Right, these are our victims." He rises from behind his desk and strides over to the board, pointing to three pictures depicting three women. The first is probably in her mid-thirties, and she's wearing this slinky black dress with matching silk gloves. Her pale blonde hair is arranged in waves, and she's smiling to display perfectly white teeth.

"That's Verona Archer, and those are her two daughters Aubrey and Alora."

"Twins?"

"Yes, both of them are nineteen, on their gap year. A shame really, from what I can tell they were all very well liked." Lestrade confirms.

John nods slowly, his eyes travelling over to Verona's daughters. They're identical - the pictures are different, one depicts a young blonde girl wearing a sparkly pink dress, and the other depicts a blonde girl that is her mirror image in every way riding a white pony and waving to the camera. "And their father?"

"Ah, their dad died when they were three, of kidney failure. Verona remarried - he died nine years ago, in a car crash. Poor woman, losing both of her husbands." Lestrade answers. "Here's what the Archer family look like now." He grabs another three pictures off his desk and pins them underneath the pictures of the women whilst they were alive.

They're almost impossible to distinguish in death. Their bodies have been charred, their skin turning shrivelled, red and twisted. There's blotchy patches of red and white travelling down their arms, culminating in blackened fingertips that have crumpled to reveal bone. A few strands of their blonde hair has survived, but it's marred with thick blood and ash.

Their bedrooms, too, have been completely burnt. There's dark black smudges running up the walls, smoke stains pooling on the ceilings and floors, their belongings burnt, singed or reduced to piles of ash.

Their faces have been mostly obliterated in the fire, the bedsheets around them singed. There's a matching neck wound on each of them, one that's hard to see as a result of how badly their bodies were burnt. The remaining flesh on their neck has bubbled up into blisters and stuck to the sheets, almost melting off the bone. There's a glint of pale cartilage visible, poking out from between pieces of mangled, burnt skin.

"Their necks were hacked open," Sherlock observes. "There's no hesitation marks, from what I can tell. This wasn't some robbery gone wrong - they were sleeping. They wouldn't have even seen their attacker coming. This looks like a meat cleaver - I'd wager that you could find the murder weapon in their own kitchen. That alone should imply that this was unplanned, and yet, it seems to thoughtfully executed. Delightful."

John blinks rapidly. "I'm sorry, Sherlock, did you just say - you know what, never mind."

"He really hated them - he resented the Archer family more than anything. Do we know if any of the women had recently rejected a man? Broken off a relationship, perhaps?" Sherlock asks.

Lestrade shakes his head. "Not that I'm aware of, but I've got people looking into that avenue - forensics is going through the girls' phones right now."

"He?" John repeats, confusedly.

"About ninety percent of arsonists are male. Most of them are also white and have a low IQ, typically ranging between seventy and eighty. They're almost always either under eighteen, or in their late twenties." Sherlock says. "We can narrow down our search once we get to the scene."

John sighs, exchanging a long-suffering glance with Lestrade. "Sherlock, I hate to break it to you, but there's not much left to see."

"Not for you, but there will be for me." Sherlock says, glancing at John.

"But we're looking for a man, yes?" Lestrade asks.

Sherlock narrows his eyes, his gaze flitting between all of the pictures. "Most likely, yes. But we can't rule out a female suspect yet. It's always possible that it's a scorned female lover rather than a male one, or perhaps she could be acting out of jealousy, if those Archer girls were so well liked."

"Erm, will we even be allowed in the crime scene?" John enquires. "I mean, I imagine it would be quite dangerous, with the house literally crumbling, and all."

Sherlock scoffs, "You're more than welcome to stand outside and watch, John."

---

Central London isn't quite what you expect it to be. The bus ride is a nightmare - the incessant chatter of the other passengers around you sets you on edge. Their conversation is all so mundane, so pitifully boring that it makes you feel almost resentful.

These are people who have always had their freedom - who haven't had to kill and burn their way out of a gilded cage. And they use it to discuss things as asinine as the weather. You long for the depth that you had always been denied, the warmth, the love, the meaning.

It's so strange, that you can sit among them, an outsider - a dark Cinderella - in the midst of rodents that have yet to turn to carriagemen.

You're glad when you get off, and you can escape their dull conversations. Though, the streets are much louder. There's not any pretty, delicate fragments of birdsong to be heard here. There's the occasional squawk of some hungry pigeons vying for food, but no birdsong. The air is rife with pollution - contaminated, tainted by smoke. It's all cigarette smoke or the chemical-smelling kind that billows up from factory chimneys in plumes of white and grey smoke.

It's nothing like the kind you had smelled only earlier today - it's not the corpses of your step-family being reduced to charred remains. That was far more pungent, far sweeter, if only in the way it made you feel.

There's a constant urge to look over your shoulder. You still feel intensely victorious, and full of a pride that burns just as brightly as your house had done mere hours ago. Yet, amongst those addictive, elated kind of feelings, is a sliver of paranoia.

You don't want to get caught, not now. All pictures of you, all evidence even of your existence, had been destroyed first. It had to go, you had to be free to start afresh, to reinvent yourself as the princess rather than as the maid.

Cleaning the house constantly had been so useful. It had taught you a lot about cleaning up after yourself, about making sure that there would be no evidence you were even there. All those surfaces had shined brightly, but so had the knife when you lodged it into their throats.

The streets in London aren't as nice as you had thought they would be. In every alleyway lingers a different shifty person, eyeing passersby carefully, likely determining who they would try to pickpocket next.

There's so much noise, too.

There's the drunken ramblings of men who are going through a midlife crisis and day drinking. They stumble through the streets, seemingly having gravitated towards one another, forming packs of aimless, rowdy men who just want to escape from their lives and live something that's more interesting.

Then, there's the noises of the cars. There's so many cabs, all identical in their sleek, black appearance, hurrying through the streets. And then there's the people hailing them, standing in the streets and raising their hands, calling out loudly.

"Taxi!" Yet another man yells, and you flinch instinctively, automatically turning around to look at him. He's nothing special, nothing dangerous.

In fact, you're probably the most dangerous person on this street. And yet, you remain hypervigilant. There's only the remnants of all that adrenaline in your system, but still, you remain awfully flighty. You are more than aware that soon it's going to wear off and you're going to be absolutely exhausted.

If you were any normal, entirely sane person, by now you would have been concerned at the lack of guilt.

But it wasn't like these deaths were accidental, or spur of the moment attacks. They weren't self-defense.

They were retribution.

They were violent acts of revenge designed over years and years. It was premeditated in every sense of the word. The only thing that could really, truly bring you warmth on those cold nights in the basement wasn't those scratchy blankets. It was the thought that one day you would take them out of this world, and that they would burn for everything they had done to you.

Over the years, the plan itself had taken a great many differing directions. You had planned versions where you would burn them alive, torture them for days on end, or even use something as simple as a poison to achieve your aims - that would have been remarkably easy considering that you did all the cooking. But ultimately, those fantasies had to be short-lived. They fell victim to practicality. Poison wasn't readily available, and the longer your step-family lived, the more likely they would be to escape or attract the attention of any neighbours.

It was your own version of Cinderella. And although you hadn't much planned for after the murders, you knew that if she got to rule a kingdom, then you would, too.

But first, you wanted to find a hotel room. One with nice blankets and decent heating and light walls that didn't remind you whatsoever of that basement. You'd been trawling for a while, ever conscious of the amount of cash you had, and the fact that eventually, you would have to gain some form of employment and find a more permanent housing situation.

The third hotel that you look at is the one you decide is just right. The first had been far too expensive, and the second one had looked like it shouldn't even be in business with how dilapidated it was. It's pretty enough, a grand white towering structure with flowers in all the windows and delicate borders around the windows. The price, which would be steep elsewhere, is decent for London.

You push the door open - it's a glass door with cursive, swirly golden writing emblazoned across it, and a little overhead bell jingles. The lady at the desk's head immediately turns your way, and she gives you a bright smile.

The entrance is spacious, but sparsely furnished, a few simple chairs and tables scattered around, but nobody's using them. Security seems relatively lax here, you can't see any cameras yet, and despite the hotel seeming acceptable to you, it's probably not one of the most popular establishments in London.

You approach the lady at the desk - your eyes immediately darting to her nametag. Emily.

"Hello, how can I help?" She asks, smiling. Her voice is dripping with that faux-sweetness that is innate to anybody working in customer service. It's cheery, and terribly fake - but you can't really bring yourself to feel any contempt for her lack of genuity. For her it's protection, and just a part of her job. It's not malicious.

"I'd like to book a room, please." You reply.

"Sure," She says, her fingers darting to the computer keyboard. "Do you know how long you'll be staying with us for?"

"A week, I think." You decide that it should be enough time for you to get everything together.

The top priorities for you now were evading the police and finding yourself some new documentation so that you could work, and move on with your life.

Emily nods, her finger tapping away and clicking for a few, silent moments. "We have you booked in room 125." She briefly ducks below the countertop, emerging with a keycard in hand.

It's blue, with a curvy lime green stripe swerving up through it. It's not the most impressive graphic design you've ever seen, and it doesn't really match the rest of the hotel, but it's good enough. You take it from her with a smile. "Thank you."

"Enjoy your stay!" She calls out after you, just as you've started to head further into the hotel.

You don't bother to acknowledge her comment. You simply keep walking, wandering around the bottom floor of the hotel lobby. There are these tiny, light-up signs plastered everywhere, giving the guests directions. It doesn't take you long to reach your room once you start following them.

Room one hundred and twenty five is incredibly boring.

The entrance-way is frustratingly narrow, with a cramped bathroom on your left, and a wardrobe on your right. It opens up to a relatively small space - a double bed against the left wall, a TV mounted just opposite it, a desk and some windows with terrible, thin curtains that do nothing to obscure the light.

It's so terribly basic, and the whole place smells like cleaning supplies - that alone makes you recoil. It brings you back to scrubbing each and every surface again and again. It makes your fingers twitch with the urge to just tear it all apart - to pull the curtains from their rails, knock the sparse furniture over and destroy it.

It feels so fake. It's all orchestrated to look appealing - but to you it appears bland and disingenuous.

The smell of bleach permeating from the bathroom makes you flinch. It's so sterile. There's no life in this place. There's nothing real here.

You have to constantly tell yourself over and over again that this is temporary. For a fleeting moment, you feel some kind of pain, a sharp pang of longing for your home - it had been a prison in every sense of the word once both of you parents were gone, but still it was familiar, the safe haven of your childhood where your mother would read you bedtime stories.

In your story, Cinderella would get her palace. Your happily ever after wouldn't be marred by the fact that a few people had died at your hands.

This hotel room is temporary - something to be used briefly and once you've moved on, never to be dwelled upon again. For now, you just have to lay low, and establish your new life here. The hotel room, with it's bland white and beige decor is hardly the fruition of all your planning. It's just another stepping stone.

It's only saving grace is the mattress and the heating. You're all too happy to kick your shoes off and lay face-down on the bed, letting all of the tension in your body go. The sheets, for all that they smell like cheap detergent, are petal-soft beneath your fingers. They're nothing like the ones in that cold, awful basement.

---

It doesn't take long for Sherlock to become a man obsessed.

They had first visited the residence of the victims - the scene of the crime. The Archer home had been destroyed, completely reduced to rubble and ash - even Verona Archer's car had been caught in the blaze, though the damage to the car was inconsequential next to the damage to the house and the lives lost within it.

What had once been a grand, elegantly decorated four-bedroom house was now barely standing. It's roof had caved in, and there were slate tiles strewn throughout the top floor and around the garden. Some beams of wood had been exposed, and many of the bricks had simply tumbled over, left with dark scorch marks over them.

It had been necessary to wear hazard gear within the house, and there was still one fire-engine waiting on the street, just in case the house were to be set aflame again. That was a common procedure, at the very least. A few neighbours would come out every once in a while, looking at the burnt remains of the Archer house in awe and horror.

There wasn't a whole lot actually left of the house.

Sherlock had torn his way down to the basement first, and quickly discerned what most of the items were - bookshelves, and lots of family photographs that didn't survive the blaze. But, most of the items in the basement were really irrelevant. It was the pile of scorched blankets that drew his attention.

"This is where the fire started, then, is it?" John asks, peering down at the blankets - they've melted together in some places, fusing to one another under the extreme heat. The entire house smells awful - the sickly scent of burnt human flesh mixed with gasoline - but the blankets smell awful, too. They were probably, back before they had been reduced mostly to ash, some sort of plasticy-material.

"Of course it is." Sherlock says, flitting around the basement and moving to inspect every little thing. "The Archers weren't the only ones living in the house. They were allowing someone to live in their basement."

"I thought they had four bedrooms?"

Sherlock shakes his head slightly. "Mm, no. One was Verona's closet. They had left their guest to sleep in the basement. The blankets are mostly polyester - they're well-used but they don't match anything upstairs. I think our guest has been down here for quite some time. The basement was a mess before the fire. Ms. Archer keeps things down here that she doesn't particularly like, but can't bring herself to throw away, just in case they become useful later."

"Wait, are you saying that the Archer girls - who, may I remind you, the mother being a grieving widow twice over, and her teenaged daughters - had been keeping somebody in their basement?" John asks, incredulously. He looks up from the pile of blankets and to Sherlock, in utter disbelief.

Sherlock scoffs. "Yes, John. That's exactly what I'm saying. Their guest was probably closely related to them. It's even possible that Verona had a third child. I'm almost certain now that our arsonist is a woman."

"A woman?" John frowns, "I thought you said most arsonists were men?"

"They are. They also tend to have a low intelligence - but she is neither a man, nor is she stupid. No, she's smart. She's smart and she's hurting right now. They're not going to find any evidence. She won't have left any. She's wanted this for a very, very long time." Sherlock whispers. "The rest of the house will be useless - the stairs are liable to give in if we try them. The basement was the only part she cared about. The burning was about obscuring her identity, not her crimes."

Naturally, the next place they turn to is the morgue.

All three bodies are already lain out on metal slabs when Sherlock and John enter, the latter wrinkling his nose. The house had, of course, smelled worse. But the actual scent of a charred corpse right in front of him was still incredibly sickening.

Molly greets them both with a smile, "Hi, Sherlock, - "

Sherlock brushes past her, his hands clasped behind his back. He circles around the bodies, his eyes darting over their wounds, their burnt, blistered skin, and the protruding bones.

The pictures had made Verona, Aubrey and Alora seem to be in even better condition than they were.

Their flesh had sunk, plastering itself to the bone in flaky pieces. They were more a mass of bloody body parts, sullen skin and ash than a real human body. There were a few persistent strands of platinum hair that had survived both the fire and the murder, clinging to their burnt scalps.

"That - oh, my god, the smell," John says between coughs, bringing a pale hand up to clasp it over the bottom half of his face. It was more a gesture of self-soothing than any actual attempt to block out the pungent fumes, but he does step back and momentarily avert his eyes.

Molly winces slightly, her cheery visage disturbed only slightly. "Yeah, I've tried pretty much everything. There's not much you can do for them. Ah, they died in their sleep, at least, so..."

"From the uh," John gestures to his throat, drawing a line across his neck horizontally with his pointer finger.

By far, the most disturbing part of the burnt cadavers is their necks. There's a grand, gaping hole in the charred flesh. It pulls away from itself, ribbons of burnt skin dangling into the throat cavity, and tiny pieces of ripped, hacked skin flaring upwards, soaked in crimson blood. They've been almost decapitated - their heads only very tenuously linked to their shoulders via the back of their necks.

It's much worse in real life - the crime scene photographs hadn't quite captured the depth of the cut.

"Yeah," Molly confirms with a grimace.

"No hesitation marks," Sherlock whispers. "Just as I thought. The twins were killed first. Aubrey, then Alora not soon after. Verona was saved for last - she was the culmination of all of this, the main target, if you will. Our perpetrator hated the twins, yes, but she hated Verona much more. You won't find any gasoline on their bodies. She put the gasoline on the floor, but not her victims. She wanted to obscure her identity but avoid damaging her work as much as possible."

"Okay, but we still don't know who the culprit is, or better yet, where they are." John says.

Sherlock shakes his head. "No, we know lots of things about her. Petite, early twenties. She hates the smell of disinfectant and she hates the cold even more. We can make the assumption that she may not even be Verona's daughter at all - perhaps one of those husbands had an affair, or more likely, a previous marriage that produced Verona's step-daughter."

"So, once again, the Archer girls were keeping a... step-daughter in their basement? And she killed them?" He questions.

"Oh, yes, she absolutely did." Sherlock grins. He sounds terribly fascinated, almost breathless - it's a kind of intrigue that John has only ever seen Moriarty produce in him. It's the kind of intrigue that never ends well. The kind that leaves Sherlock invigorated as he tries to unwrap every tiny mystery, whilst John is probably in some sort of danger.

"Right..." John's voice trails off, dying slowly as he watches Sherlock's eyes light up.

The consulting detective paces around the room, stalking around the bodies, grinning and muttering softly to himself. Moriarty's game is still afoot, but whilst they're waiting for his next move, Sherlock is going to indulge himself with another clever little side quest.

"She was smart. You're probably not going to find her - I mean I can tell she's probably gone to a major city, most likely London, given the proximity and her lack of resources. But, there's not going to be anything about her that's distinguishable from any other girl living in London." Sherlock announces.

"So that's it then. Case closed?" Molly asks, confusion colouring her tone as she folds her arms over her chest.

Sherlock pauses in his stride, and narrows his eyes, going so far as to look mildly affronted. "No, of course not. We're going to find her."

"Of course we are." John groans. "Was it not enough to just identify the unstable murder-arsonist lady?"

"No, John. Don't be silly." Sherlock scoffs. "We're going to find out everything we can about our Cinderella."

John frowns, looking to Molly who still looks equally puzzled. "Cinderella?"

"What else would you call a step-daughter mistreated by her step-mother and step-sisters?"

"I don't think that Cinderella killed her step-family and burnt their house down." John points out, sighing. "She's meant to go to a ball, meet a prince, not try to decapitate her family."

Sherlock dismisses John easily, "Perhaps not in the original version, no. But in this one? Absolutely."

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Moriarty 8 - 11 (FINAL) | HypMic 12 - 13 (FINAL) | Taiso Samurai 7 - 9 | Akudama 9 - 12 (FINAL)

Hopefully I’ll be able to get on to all that backlog soon, because...I don’t want it to keep accumulating and Skate-Leading Stars (first winter 2021 anime) already has an advance 1st ep. up...

Moriarty 8

(Moriarty 8 notes deleted accidentally…)

Moriarty 9

If you want a modern equivalent to the Baker Street Irregulars, then I’d suggest you look this way *jabs finger at Odd Jobs Yamada (from HypMic)*.

These CGI background horse and carriages are…kind of distracting…

I’m guessing back in those days, the Irregulars were better than Google at finding info…because Google didn’t exist until the internet did.

Moriarty 10

Just this ep and one more until the end…at least, until spring 2021.

Wow, the use of colour here is really striking!

White lilies mean…purity/chastity…?

I’ve never heard of “bending someone’s ear” until now. It means to talk to someone, especially to ask a favour or to talk at length.

Probatio diabolica: the devil’s proof. I didn’t even know that was a concept until now…(I never once studied law, as you can tell.)

“William” isn’t normally shortened to “Liam”…It’s normally “Will”…also, notice all the footprints on the floor…

Moriarty 11 (FINAL)

Last ep. before spring 2021.

LOL, kabedon.

The fishy thing about Brits is that they’ve named things across the world names from Britain. I know there’s a Doncaster which isn’t anywhere near Britain, for one thing…

Observe the weird finger-like marking made by one of the bloodstains and the scratches on the suitcase. The latter was probably forced open.

Considering the number of signs the killer left, he was clearly in a hurry…

Well, based on that shoeprint we can find the killer if we can find traces of blood on his shoe.

“Duram” (sic).

Ah! If it was raining in Durham, then there would be traces of mud on the killer’s shoes. I remember early on in Detective Conan Shinichi, then newly shrunk, deduced Agasa was running in the rain based on the mud on his pants…this is similar.

Chloral (hydrate…?).

The “washroom” (apparently a Canadian term, the British term is “water closet”) has privacy and a place to get rid of the evidence, to some extent.

What about the rest of Eddie’s clothes?

Considering there are still 5 minutes of the ep. left…there’s going to be some kind of stinger for the next season. I can feel it.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait…Director Holmes??? Y’mean, Mycroft?! That is a good stinger! See you next time.

HypMic 12

“Ever since I was born, there was never a time I’d felt I’d accomplished something.” – Aw, Doppo, sweetpea (<- this blogger calls people “sweetpea” when they’re feeling lots of moe feels for them). Please don’t say that. You’ve accomplished more than enough in your life!

…Oh, almost didn’t notice it until Hifumi hid behind Doppo and the angle changed to confirm the jacket was on the bed, but Hifumi doesn’t have his jacket on.

I think I saw a tweet that said something about a wall being wrecked (specifically “Wall: Ow…”) but I wasn’t sure of the context, so I saved it in my bookmarks…LOL, so that’s what it means?

Samatoki, I know you don’t like Ichiro…but please stop trying to preach what his 2nd character song says in the title…(i.e. Break the Wall, LOL)

Jyuto’s very much a “I’ll leave this problem to the other guy” guy.

When the Funi subs say “dame”, I think Samatoki is just referring to an “onna” (woman). It’s a bit of an odd choice, really…although I can’t go and interrogate whoever was responsible for it. I don’t have the authority or the contacts that will allow me to.

This is not the time for fighting one another!!!

Notably, in the manga, Jakurai was going to chaffeur Hifumi and Doppo to their place, but then he had to go to work and so they rode the train with their prize money. This “run from Special Forces” ending is better, I think, since people got grumpy at Jakurai for having to abandon them with the money.

“…permission to cover a story.” - Permission from…who?

*screams* I was thinking Tom, Rex and Iris worked for a foreign government! They work for Ichijiku – why didn’t I think of that?!

LOL, I couldn’t even tell what Tom was saying until I played it back…it’s English, just…said in a spot where you don’t expect it.

“…that scares me.” – This may be nitpicky of me, but osoreru is actually a derivative of osore (fear), so “it strikes fear in me”…? “It strikes fear in my heart”? What would sound right…?

Go, host mode Hifumi! (...but does that imply host mode Hifumi is the only “version” of Hifumi able to rap? Certainly, he was able to do Wrap and Rap without his jacket, right…?)

You can tell Tom still respects Jakurai after all this time because he (the former) calls him (the latter) “Sensei”. Also, this’ll be interesting, we haven’t seen many mics and speakers beyond the standard bad guy ones (depicted in both the anime and the manga).

My gosh! All I knew of this song was that m-flo, also responsible for Human Lost’s theme song (and notably they’re a hip hop group with techno influences), was responsible for this song. Man, this s*** slaps! It’s great! (Sorry, I’ve just never really had the chance to capitalise on all the info I gathered on EDM DJs when talking in terms of things from Japan…m-flo is basically the only act I know which does that, so I’m really excited…can’t you tell from how verbose I’m getting in this note?)

That’s interesting that Matenrou won and Tom still took the gold chair symbolism to represent him and the Secret Aliens as the victor instead.

Iris’s parts are awesome. M-flo has a female vocalist and so I’d assume Iris takes on Lisa’s (m-flo’s vocalist’s) parts.

…Hmm, Gentaro’s made a reference to the track “Me Against the World”, has he?...Maybe.

I’m not quite sure, but I think Ramuda said “majo” (witch) when he was referring to Beauty and the Beast in the English subs.

…gosh, what is up with that airhorn…? Still, next time is the last time. See you on Christmas…no, Boxing Day.

HypMic 13 (FINAL)

This is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning…y’know, considering how stuff trended on Twitter, I’d say this anime’s gonna get a 2nd season, but you can’t really say that until it actually happens. I mean, Boueibu is much less popular than HypMic and that got a 2nd season…

This is the 1st episode where I woke up early enough to watch without spoilers and had no obligations to place over it, so…this is exciting, in its own sense, but in a sense, it could also be called “profoundly disappointing” because this experience is only available to me as of the final episode.

One of the tweets I saw a few weeks back came to mind – someone became interested in sakuga houkai (terrible animation, literally “animation collapse”) because of HypMic…I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing…

…Dude, you probably shouldn’t answer a call from someone who just revealed themselves to be a traitor last episode…*sweatdrops*

(Spoiler for rest of franchise) Hmm…Dice’s face is pretty straight. Assuming at this point we knew Dice was Otome’s son, this is a good poker face from him…!

This thing about gangs was mentioned in their profiles (although the words used implies they “went delinquent”), so it actually doesn’t surprise me.

I wonder if this subway exists in the mainline story…?

According to the next ep. preview I saw on Twitter, TDD will reform to take down the Secret Aliens. I’m not sure if that was a guess or whether that’s true, so I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on it.

Samatoki-san, not -sama. Hmm…

There was definitely the word “team” in Dice’s line, so it’s “what the legendary team was made of”.

…oh gosh…they’re still using that airhorn…?

Again with the play on “lonely thunder”. It’s a really fun pun, but one I’d like to see in the rest of the series more.

Notably, Iris’s rap in English missed the word “charisma” where it could have fit (unless I missed reading it the first time).

Note Samatoki does actually use the word “shinsensa” (freshness), so there’s no lie there.

I still love how much they went in on Rex’s theme, even in his raps.

Huh, that’s new. Never seen a tag team like this before.

It seems Tom’s signature is using a lot of English, which makes it easy for us English/Japanese pair translators.

Saburo didn’t actually say “Ichi-nii”, did he…?

…based on the rock intro, this is Rhyme Anima, the OP, or something that sounds similar. What I’d need to confirm this is the “nautilus” line and the “ends corruption” line, which are the OP’s two biggest tells for AMQ.

“rainmaking” – Hmm, another link from Gentaro to Rei. This might be a different part of Rhyme Anima (OP) that wasn’t used as the OP proper.

“this white light invites and heals” (<- paraphrased) – Sounds like Sensei, alright!

…now that (rainbow bit). That’s sakuga!

*a silhouette appears* - Oh nooooooooooooooo! Now they‘ve done it! They’ve included Rei! That’s more than enough spoilers to last a lifetime for y’all anime-onlys!

I wish someone would work on this collaboration between Saburo and Riou…

Hmm…what is the series endgame? Putting in Dice as the new ruler??? I mean, Dice is the worst possible politician ever. He’s far too lax about things.

*Nemu enters* - No! Nemu!

Not only is Iris a “ramen shop owner”, it’s Tom’s favourite food…No wonder ramen has significance to her.

…ooh! A new song! Update: I don’t know what this song’s name is, although it probably will become clear what its name is on the 13th. I’ll keep my eye on Twitter in case the answer is there.

…I knew it was far too early to say if there was an s2 – the DVD’s live events go until September 5th and the 2nd DRB finishes in March. That almost felt like a stinger right there. Oh well, I’m more than happy to call this anime a success, even if I would call it the worst of the arms of the franchise. All HypMic’s anime had to do was deliver fun, before anything else, and it delivered on that front. See you around!

Taiso Samurai 7

Anime burnout means I’m coming back to the anime after the day it finishes.

This dancing scene is kind of like the one at the start of ep. 2 of IWGP, except it has the owl to represent the setting as well as the dance stage.

Leo doesn’t seem to know kanji or katakana, only hiragana.

Even though this part of the anime is set in London, the characters are still speaking Japanese (lel…?).

LOL, Edward Scissorhands much?

LOL, these background gossips are like the Plastics from Mean Girls…haha.

…LOL, that’s not one of those dismounting moves, is it? It’s just kind of…jumping off the bar.

Lookit how Leo’s sticker is 90 deg. sideways from what it should be, haha.

I don’t think it’s true that Olympic gymnasts have never failed. Like other people at the top of their game, they’re probably failed millions of times, but only outside the view of most of the world. Persistence and passion are what’s key to becoming the best at what you are, no matter what field you’re in.

Now Aragaki’s what I call a “determinator” (see TV Tropes on what that is).

Taiso Samurai 8

Notably, the word used for “clothes” is specifically for Western clothing, like dresses.

Well, now we know why Leo can do those stretches…

They’ve clearly sped up the dance here, but…it’s basically the same sort of movements Yuri on Ice used to suck me in. I’m here for it!

Leo seems to be the type who tries to push away his worries by distracting people (including himself) with other things…I see. I didn’t have much of a grasp of his character beforehand.

Britney! F*** you, Britney!

Ah, that must be the (a?) fabled owl of Ikebukuro. I’ve never actually been to Ikebukuro…the closest I got was Akihabara (to memory) and even then, that was for electronics, not anime…so I’ve never seen the owl statue I’ve been talking about close up.

Rei does kind of look like her mother like this.

Ah! Rei and Kitty have a pair look now! “Twinsies”, they call it.

Amakusa’s head is located right next to Leo’s butt, so I end up staring at it…LOL.

The Hoover mission.

“I <3 Ninja”, LOL.

LOL, “Nyapoo!”

*sighs* The problem with being multi-talented is that you’re going to be told to one day put one passion above the others, even if you don’t want that.

LOL, you can be a ninja with this WikiHow article. (I was looking for Kitty’s quote, but found that instead. It seems to be a quote from one of Tomoyo’s movies.) Update: I was right.

There’s a movie in the back where the title is “Black Rainmaker”. (Tomoyo, I presume) Mifune is the 1st person credited.

Considering this is 2003…you won’t be on Mars in 2013, Kitty.

Wow, a tape! That brings me back to 2003, indeed.

Charlie’s Angels…so that’s what the tape was.

LOL, a shoebill.

“blade in your heart” – That would refer to the character for “ninja”, which has a blade over a heart. Y’know Kiss Shot Acerola Heart-Under-Blade (from Monogatari), yeah? Like that.

…you might think emails were out of place in 2003, but a virus from an email caused me to be an avid reader and that virus was unleashed around the late 90s – early 2000s.

LOL, Kitty’s cat belt buckle.

You said it, Rei. You said it.

Taiso Samurai 9

Lausanne, Switzerland.

I noticed one of the boxes at the start of the OP says “Horizontal Bars”, rather than some random name to make the boxes look like they were discarded.

Someone encoded the video funny…

LOL, BB’s getting possessive of his territory.

Fuku-chan the fukurou (owl) in Ikebukuro…LOL.

LOL, randomly there’s a skeleton with a hat in the background of Britney’s clinic.

Notably, one of the wall hangings says “heart” on it – alternatively, “soul”.

Notably, Atlanta was the 1996 Summer Olympics…there is no 1997 Lausanne Olympics, as far as I know.

Akudama 9

I watched the part where it glitches twice and I can’t quite figure out what that circular symbol is…maybe it’s Hacker’s symbol…?

Ah! Only now they properly confirm Swindler used to work in the Seal centre.

“Life that never dies is defective.” – Doctor

Does that mean Doctor is actually older than she looks, due to plastic surgery…?

Marker? What marker?

Apparently that flower is a cherry blossom…according to Detective Conan.

…I know this anime wasn’t made in America (it wouldn’t be “anime” otherwise), but Anime Feminist is going to have a field day with this one…if they haven’t abandoned it already due to their idea of morals.

…now I can even see parallels between HypMic’s authorities and Akudama’s. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

“Why did this have to happen when I’m chief?” – Sounds like…basically every authority during COVID and BLM, to be honest.

See? Akudama likes the S word. I told you.

I haven’t watched The Shining, but reading the synopsis, you can figure out why Cutthroat is the way he is…sort of.

How does the iconic quote go? “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Danny!” (or something…?)

They even copied the iconic eye shot! There you go!

Way to take a guy out (with the door, LOL).

…with all this killing, I can see why Akudama Drive was only in one magazine now. (Then again, HypMic was in basically all of them and that also has a tonne of problems…)

Akudama 10

万死 literally means “10000 deaths”.

Babel.

That police chief is such a mood, LOL.

I can see why people didn’t recognise Swindler, but Courier never changes his look, so…uh…

You can’t become a police chief without a sense of justice, no?

“Since when did you know that I’m not-“ - *facepalms*

Is this what they call an “ass-kickin’ Christmas”? (LOL)

Y’know, Sister, you could just do the whole “wherever you are, I’m also seeing the same sky as you” thing some other anime do.

Notably, there are shide (the paper strips) and a rope over the vault…they really do treat the shinkansen and its immortal children as a single god, huh?

Hmm? They don’t care about Sister anymore? Just Brother? (Somewhere along the way, the priorities must have shifted.)

In the end, the best ship is Brawler and Hoodlum (lel).

Akudama 11

One more ep after this. I’m gonna miss this anime, even if it was crazy over-the-top and I didn’t finish it until after the day it ended.

I think the scariest scene in all of Akudama Drive is the one where the “cleaner” tosses the girl aside.

“This nowhere place!” – Around this time, the bunny and shark’s shirts say “morning”/”afternoon” (shark) and “evening” (bunny).

The blue bird of happiness…literally. That character on the birds is the one for “happy”.

…LOL, that one glitched Courier looks more like Cutthroat.

Hacker’s drone matches Courier’s head angles, LOL.

I guess if you think you’re falling in Kanto, you’re falling in Kanto and if you think you’re floating (like Courier did), you float. I always liked that concept.

War Games. Now the title makes sense!

…but they can be together if they stay here in Kanto as vessels for the citizens? (That sounds mighty antagonistic of me, but…that logic does compute.)

Maybe swindlers play games with the truth…? (What an interesting concept.)

“Just fine.” – I think Hacker needs a “This is fine” meme.

“We can hear your heart talking.” – It means something like “We can hear you spouting your true intentions.”

“…worth every last penny…” – That’s a weird thing to say for someone whose life got changed by 500 yen…Just goes to tell you how American the subbers can be sometimes.

Swindler’s smug face is so good, LOL.

Akudama 12 (FINAL)

This episode isn’t named after a movie. It’s named after the anime itself.

The TV says “Please watch away from the TV”, i.e. stand back from the TV while you watch.

“They came and stole the offerings…” – At this point, bunny’s shirt says “freedom” and shark’s says honpou, meaning “wild, uninhibited, rampant, extravagant”.

…where did Shikoku come from? Is that where Swindler and Sister landed after they tried going to the moon?

Ohh! That Christian imagery! That’s scary!

Is Akudama Drive a tragedy? No, I think…on the contrary, it’s a story of hope.

LOL, “s*** guy”.

I thought the girl had a bomb. Turns out she has a gun, which is…far worse, come to think of it.

Instead of red characters which say things about the situation, now Shark and Bunny have Hacker’s symbol on them.

There’s no way anyone who wasn’t immortal would survive the attack Courier took…

…why is it that falling over represents vulnerability in children in all of these stores where a war has happened and/or there’s a chase? Hmm?

Wow, Sister did everything with heels on…?!

Anyways, that was a fun time. See you next time!

[logicalbookthief]

76 on the prompt list :>>> excited to see what u come up w/

Anon, your faith in me was truly misguided. I saw this prompt and went, “ooh, ok, let’s do some heartfelt angst,” and then as I started that my brain went, “nah, this instead.”

And by this, I mean “domestic & married Reddie being gross and in love and having a drama queen for a kid”

*

*

Prompt: 76 – “It could be worse. They could be dating.” “Wait. They are?!”

Summary: “Our daughter is dating a nose-picker?!” Eddie says it with the disdain of someone describing a serial killer.

*

*

Richie kicks the door closed with his foot, already slipping it halfway out of his shoe. He dumps his duffel on the floor, which Eddie’ll chide him for later. That’s a problem for future Richie, not present Richie, who’s running on pure caffeine after his non-stop flight from Atlanta to LA.

The distant thump of 80s music lures him to the kitchen. Eddie’s humming along to the radio as he rinses lettuce for one of his seasonal salads. Richie would bet his life it includes pine nuts. 

Padding quietly across the hardwood, Richie warps his arms around his husband from behind. “Honey, I’m home!”

Eddie jolts, relaxing the minute he feels the frame of Richie’s glasses against his head. “Jesus,” he sighs, dropping to a whisper. “Jack, what’re you doing, you know my husband’s coming home today!”

“Jack?!” Richie squawks, twisting him around by the lapels. “As in, our mailman?”

“Oh, whoops,” Eddie feigns shock, the facade lasting all of a second before he throws his arms around Richie’s neck, swooping in for a kiss. 

Richie moans, a little satisfied hum against Eddie’s lips. “Where’s my other sweetheart?”

His husband adjusts his shirt where it’s riding up, due to his Richie’s wandering hands. “Moping,” he explains, delicately.

“She’s seven. What does she have to mope about?” Richie deadpans. His mouth twists into a grimace. “Wait. Are you trying the tuna casserole recipe again?”

Eddie whips around. “What the fuck’s wrong with my–?”

“Nothing!” he answers quickly. Eddie narrows his eyes, wielding the salad-spinner like he wants to use it on something besides leafy greens. “So what’s eating my little Spaghetti-o?”

“Mrs. Diaz separated her from her cubby-buddy, Jonas,” Eddie informs, eyebrows rocketing to his hairline. “Apparently they were too disruptive as a pair.”

“Jonas? Isn’t that the nose-picker?” He regrets this observation as Eddie gags over the croutons. 

Everyone has a thing, a thing that trips the gag reflex. Many things bring out that response in Eddie, yet none so viscerally as his aversion to snot, boogers, and the like. Ever since they were kids, it was the surefire way to make him heave. Even if the snot in question was connected to their child.

So when it came to boogers, Richie was the go-to parent, while Eddie graciously agreed to handle the diaper meltdowns. After all, the key to a successful marriage is compromise. Compromise, and lots of Clorox wipes. 

At the school’s Christmas pageant last year, the boy standing next to Nina started digging for gold halfway through Twelve Days of Christmas and found a nugget before they hit two turtle-doves. Poor Eds nearly hurled in Richie’s lap. 

“Don’t remind me,” Eddie shudders. “Anyway, she’s heartbroken over it. As soon as we got home she ran to her room. I tried to talk to her when I brought her a snack and she asked me to please give her time.”

Richie imagines that coming out of his seven-year-old’s mouth and snorts. “Sorry,” he adds. “Not funny.”

Eddie ducks his chin to hide his smile. “Even for her, it’s a tad overdramatic,” he admits, glancing up at Richie through his lashes. “I didn’t have the heart to pester her, but, maybe since you’re home…”

“I’m on it!” Richie stretches the lingering kinks out of his neck. “I’m a world-famous comedian back from a sold-out show. Cheering our daughter up should be a cinch.”

“Mhm,” Eddie intones, not sounding very confident. Which, rude. He seems rather distracted by the length of Richie’s biceps as they stretch over his head. His eyes gleam with an anticipation that has nothing to do with salad. Richie’s got the same itch crawling beneath his skin and he’s very eager to scratch it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the dick grow harder. 

His knocks at Nina’s room are ignored, so Richie gently pushes the door open to peer inside. At the sight of his daughter curled up on the bed, he breaks into a smile.

“Eyyy, there’s my girl!” 

Nina raises her head from the pillow, uttering a curt, “Hi, Dad.”

Well, that’s far less enthusiasm than he was expecting. Considering he was gone for almost a week. Nothing like a child’s indifference to keep you humble.

“Aww, sweetie, what’s wrong?” His ears perk at the soft croon of Whitney Houston in the background. “And … what the heck are you listening to?”

“Playlist,” she mutters, blindly flinging an arm toward her device. She’s got it open to his Spotify. 

Richie should probably delete the app from her tablet, like, yesterday. If she ever stumbles across his “Songs to fuck Eddie to” playlist he’ll have to commit samurai-suicide.

However. Given this playlist is called “Sad love songs to cry into your Chipotle burrito,” Richie has a better idea of what type of crisis he’s dealing with here. 

“Sooo, uh. Your daddy told me. You and Jonas, you two are…?” He winces at her lip-tremble, which confirms his worst suspicions. “That’s rough, kiddo.”

“I’ll never be happy again,” Nina sniffs miserably. “I love Jonas and now we’ll never see each other!”

“You are still in the same class,” Richie points out.

She whirls on him, eyes flashing lividly.

“We sit by last names! His is at the beginning, mine’s at the end!” With more venom than a child should be capable of, she hisses, “I hate the alphabet.” 

“O-Kay,” says Richie, truly at a loss. Luckily, she doesn’t seem inclined to talk about it anymore. Instead she stuffs her face back in the pillow, not quite fluffy enough to absorb her lovelorn sigh.

He pets her hair, curling it around his fingers, until the sniffles eventually dwindle. “Do you want us to make you a special dinner? Anything you want,” Richie cajoles.

Nina thinks it over, tilting her cheek enough to say, “Can you ask Daddy to make tuna casserole?”

Richie blanches. “Wha– Why?”

“I want my belly to feel as bad as my heart,” she mumbles.

He manages to keep a straight face as he bends to kiss her brow and leaves her to sulk, but it’s a close call. When he reports back to the kitchen with his news, there’s no tact necessary.

Eddie laughs ‘til he’s out of breath. “It isn’t funny,” he repeats, slightly winded.

“Of course not,” Richie agrees, failing to stifle his own grin.

“I love her, I’m sorry she’s hurting, but she’s so–”

“Theatric?”

“She gets that from you,” Eddie accuses.

“Excuse a moi?” Richie balks. “This, coming from the guy who kissed me out of the deadlights like some low-budget horror rebut of Sleeping Beauty?”

“What, should I have let the clown eat you?” Eddie glances his way, slyly. “I was referring to middle school. When you spent an entire night cranking your mom’s Bonnie Tyler records because I said you kind of looked like a frog, and you remembered how three weeks ago I told Bev I’d never kiss a frog even if it turned into a handsome prince?”

“Fucking Stanley,”  Richie huffs. “I swore him to secrecy. We spit on it and everything.”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “At least for Nina, it’s only a crush. It could be worse,” he scoffs. “They could be dating.”

Richie tries to school his expression, he does, but – the thing is. After spending almost their whole fucking lives together, minus those twenty-two years of amnesia in between, Eddie can spot his tells from a mile away.

“Wait. They are?!” He slaps a hand over his mouth, aghast. “Our daughter is dating a nose-picker?”

He says it with the disdain of someone describing a serial killer.

“Ugh, Rich, that–ew! What if they hold hands after h–he–”

The suggestion of it alone has Eddie bending over the sink.

“Babe, c’mon.” Richie soothes a palm up-and-down his spine. “You’ve drilled the importance of hand-washing into Nina since she could walk. I doubt she’s carrying around any clingers.”

On cue, Eddie lets loose another dry heave.

“Will you stop?” he groans, glaring over his shoulder at Richie. “This is awful. Literally, of all the kids in her class, why this one?” 

“You’re blowing this way out of proportion,” says Richie, though Eddie’s eyebrows beg to differ. He loves his husband, deeply, irrevocably, but he’s also one of most ridiculous people on the planet. “Remember, we like Jonas? Jonas is nice! If a little unsanitary… He’ll grow out of it, though. Like I did.”

The words leave his mouth before his brain can flash any of the red warning signs. Slowly, ever so slowly, Eddie turns. They lock eyes. His gaze brims with the horror of this realization.

“Are you saying,” Eddie begins, dangerously low, “that you used to pick your nose when we were kids a-and then, you’d touch me?”

“Used to?” Richie grabs the fleeing Eddie and hauls him back before he really does leave him for their incredibly buff mailman.

“Babe!” he chuckles. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I swear! I swear on Ben’s chiseled abs!”

“Disgusting, you’re disgusting,” Eddie grumbles, wriggling in his grasp. “Let go of me, don’t even think of touching me with–”

All of a sudden, Eddie squeals, wracked with a full-bodied spasm.

“With what?” Richie taunts, continuing to tickle him. “With these filthy, boogery fingers of mine?”

“St–op!” Eddie wheezes. “I’m gonna piss my pants!”

“Don’t exploit my pee kink,” he snaps, which only makes Eddie wheeze harder.

“I’ve had my fingers in your ass,” Richie reminds. “In fact, you love my fingers in your ass.”

Whether from embarrassment or exertion, Eddie flushes. “Fuck you, that’s extremely different!”

“You’re right, it’s probably more disgusting.” Teeth skirting over his earlobe, Richie leans down, his voice a sultry hush, “Because I like to use my mouth there, too.”

Eddie muffles a moan into his fist. “I see what you’re doing,” he grits out. “And it won’t work. No way I’m sleeping with you now, nose-picker.”

Richie makes a wounded noise, clutching him more firmly to his chest. “Please, Eds, baby, I can change! I’ll go to meetings, therapy– I’ll never stick my finger anywhere you don’t want again!”

“I don’t know if I can ever look at you the same.” Eddie’s reply cuts off into a giggle as those fingers attack his flank. “Seriously, Rich, I am going to–!” 

They’re interrupted by the violent swing of Nina’s door against the wall.

“Will you two keep it down?!” she shouts. “I’m trying to mourn!”

The door slams shut again. They gawk at each other in silence. Finally, Richie pools enough blood into his brain to speak.

“Are we terrible parents?”

Eddie kisses the underside of his chin. “Ask me that when your semi isn’t plastered against my ass,” he says, flatly.

*

*

@trashmouth_tozier

Hi my name is Richie and I’m a recovering nose-picker. Ages 3 thru 9 were rough, but with the support of my dear husband, I’ve managed to keep my fingers clean. Hope my story can help inspire someone else xx

*

*

Bev: why did Eddie ask for the number of my divorce lawyer ?

Bev: nvm I saw your tweet

*

*

Am I projecting my own snot-induced gag reflex onto Eddie? Yes. Do I still believe my characterization was spot-on? Yes again.  

[ansheofthevalley]

Things unsaid. The narrative and framing of Jonsa in 8x01

For a while now, a lot of people have been writing about jonsa scenes and how the tension lies on the subtext rather than the text and how the framing of those scenes help the audience pick it up.

Roland Barthes’ book “A Lover’s Discourse” touches on the matter of romantic language: what we say and what we don’t, what we do and what we don’t do, if we’re the ones desiring someone, or the object of someone’s desire.

(I’ve actually made a meta using Barthes’ book as support for the Tent Scene and its underlying romantic tones in 6x09, but it was on my other blog, which was deleted. If you had the chance to read it, this meta will be similar)

For this meta, I’ll analize their private scene both from a narrative and framing perspective.

This is dedicated to @arin-arryn, for inspiring me to write this. 

Overall, we can distinguish a number of romantic sentiments in the scene, even if they’re part of the subtext. But first, I’ll have to explain the role of a scene.

In a romantic narrative, the scene is a back-and-forth. The two (they’re always two) argue or exchange remarks and they want to prove to the other that they are the ones on the right. They both seek to have the last word. As this is a back-and-forth, neither of the two is above the other; they’re on the same level, they’re equals, but most importantly, they need each other. It’s a confrontation, but neither of the two will leave the scene or submit to the other; it’s a way for the characters to have pleasure without it being physical: it tortures them, it’s perverse, but they will give into it.

For the scene to work, there must be a bait, something that will get the scene started. The bait can either be a) a fact (one affirms it and the other denies it) or b) a decision (one imposes it and the other rejects it). There is no way the tension in the scene can be resolved, there’s no agreement, simply because what’s being disputed between the two is not a fact or a decision, it’s something that lays outside the scene: it’s subtext. So the scene has no object or loses this object (the reason they’re arguing) very quickly. The scene builds in like a crescendo, what one character says reinforces the opposite idea of the other and so on and on. Silence is a powerful tool. It doesn't stop a scene, it strengthens it. There are three possible ends to a scene, all external to the scene's structure:

both characters are fatigued

a stranger arrives

the aggression changes into desire

So, with all of this is mind, let’s analyze the scene.

The scene start with Sansa reading a scroll. Jon knocks on the door and comes in.

We have a mid-shot of Sansa; we’re meant to see her reaction. Her features are hard. We don’t know the content of the scroll she’s holding, but it can’t be good news. This mid-shot cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of Jon from Sansa’s POV. This type of shot will be the most used in this scene. A side note: this type of shot is also heavily featured in their scenes in 6x09, 6x10 and 7x01. We’re always seeing them from the other’s POV. It makes the scene dynamic.

In the next cut, we have another over-the-shoulder shot, this time from Jon’s POV. Also, the bait is introduced.

S: Lord Glover wishes us good fortune, but he’s staying in Deepwood Motte with his men.

We get a POV shot of Jon. It’s a mid-shot, but we still get to see his reaction. He’s frustrated and angry.

J: House Glover will stand behind House Stark as we have for a thousand years. Isn’t that what he said?

During Jon’s line, we get an over-the-shoulder shot of Sansa, in which we can see her disagreement with what Jon is saying. They’re both ready to take the bait.

S: I will stand behind Jon Snow, he said. The King in the North.

So, the scene is set. The bait is already in play and from this moment on we see Jon and Sansa do a back-and-forth. But it’s important to observe how the object of their discussion (Lord Glover) shifts as the scene progresses. With what Sansa say, it’s already clear that the object (Lord Glover) is no longer the focus, Jon’s title is, and thus, they both took the bait.

This shot is interesting. It’s a wide shot. It helps us see their surroundings, but also the distance between them. Sansa stands up and tries to put some distance between her and Jon. This visual illustrates how Sansa won’t cede in this argument. She’s already made up her mind about this.

As Sansa stands up, Jon talks to her:

J: I told you we needed allies

We go from a wide shot to an over-the-shoulder shot of Jon. Sansa says in a V.O:

You didn’t tell me you were going to abandon your crown

In the first frame, we can see Jon’s reaction. He looks down then up to Sansa, as he strides towards her, closing the distance between them. From his body language, we can tell he’s trying to reconcile, but his words demonstrate the contrary. Just as Sansa already made up her mind and won’t cede, neither will Jon.

J: I never wanted a crown.

J: All I wanted was to protect the North. I brought two armies home with me, two dragons.

He comes to a full stop when he says this. He’s planted on both of his feet. He’s sure about the decision he made.

S: And a Targaryen Queen.

It’s in this shot of Sansa that we realize Sansa was not facing Jon while he talked to her. There is no openess on her part. She rejects what Jon is saying to her. She just doesn’t agree with him. The bait of the scene is Jon’s decision to bend the knee to Dænerys. Jon affirms his decision and Sansa rejects it. The tension lies there. 

It’s also with Sansa’s mention of Dænerys that the bait changes, it goes from Jon’s decision to Dænerys’ presence. Something that caught my eye during this scene is that’s really dynamic and grounded at the same time. The baits might change, we can see that through the dialogue, but the source of the tension of the scene remains the same.

 J: You think we can beat the army of the dead without her? I fought them, Sansa. Twice. 

Now, they’re both facing each other. But while Jon seems open and relaxed, Sansa looks guarded. She squares her shoulder and has her hands behind her. She looks commanding. From her body language, she doesn’t back down from what Jon is saying.

J: You want to worry about who holds what title, I’m telling you it doesn’t matter

Seeing that Sansa doesn’t cede to Jon, he adds intensity to his speech. He tries to make her see that Dænerys is their only chance at survival.

J: Without her, we don’t stand a chance.

Like I mentioned before, silence is a powerful tool. In this case, Sansa’s silence challenges Jon. Sansa tells Jon, without utting a word, that all that he’s said was for nothing, he will not convince her of his decision of bending the knee to a Targaryen. She’s saying that the subjugation of the North to a Targaryen is not worth the aid she can provide.

They comunicate in silence. Jon feels temporarily defeated, but quickly changes the focus of the conversation.

J: Do you have any faith in me at all?

S: You know I do

He does this with two things in mind: 1) he tries to make sure that no matter their disagreements, she still has faith in him, that she still trusts him, and 2) he tries to take the conversation to a neutral place, a place where both feel comfortable and safe. Jon needs to know that Sansa still believes in him, and Sansa needs to feel that they’re still a unit, that Jon is still part of the pack.

J: She’ll be a good queen. For all of us. She’s not her father.

Since a scene consists of convincing the other, Jon insists with the matter of Dænerys. He’s not as intense as before, he tries to reassure her, speaking softly.  

Another silence. But she also sighs. She can see that they could go on about this forever, because they just don’t see eye to eye. Sansa’s still not convinced of the new queen, so she deflects.

S: No, she’s much prettier.

Now, there’s a couple of things to unpack here. At first hand, she’s saying that Dænerys is pretty. But if we pay close attention to her words, she’s basically saying she’s a prettier version of her father. Sure, Dænerys is beautiful, but she’s as dangerous as her father. Sansa has seen it already in the Great Hall meeting with that veiled threat.

Another silence from Jon. From his body language, we can see he relaxes a bit. He’s probably thinking that that was it. That Sansa finally might’ve accepted that they do need her.

(I can’t remember if I made a post about it, or if I mentioned it in someone else’s post, but I believe part of the drama between the Starks will be due to miscommunication. And we have a clear example of that in this interaction between Sansa and Jon. It’s the things they leave unsaid that they misinterpret).

S: Did you bend the knee to save the North... or because you love her?

Here, Sansa misinterprets Jon’s silence for him agreeing with her on Dænerys being pretty. Like her “she’s much prettier” line, there are a couple of things to unpack her. It’s clear that for Sansa, this is a low blow. One, it means that Jon might’ve not listened to her and made the same mistake as Robb. If this is true, Jon not only just gave their freedom away, he put his siblings in danger. But if you listen closely, there is a pause between “to save the North” and “or because you love her”. She’s hurt by the fact that Jon might be in love with this foreign queen. Let’s not forget that last season, Littlefinger mentioned to Sansa the possibility of an alliance through marriage, to which she reacted surprised. There was no reason for her to be surprised at this proposition. She’s been trained as a politician. She saw first-hand the importance of advantageous marriages. There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Sansa’s feelings for Jon.

Again, Jon doesn’t say a word. But his expression changes drastically. He’s dead serious and never takes his eyes off of her. He slowly raises his head to look her right in the eye, but then, the scene ends.

So having said that silence is used not to end a scene but to strenghten it and that there are only three ways to end a scene, which none of them were used in 8x01. This means that the scene didn't reach its natural ending. The way the scene played out is meant to have the audience ask for more, to leave us wanting for closure. 

[okuraiani]

Mitsuhide’s Route Live Blog

Okay, I will probably delete this once I finish his route, but somehow I’d like to share my thoughts on his route with you guys o(*°▽°*)o I will try not to get too specific and you don’t have to mind if you’re not interested, since these are simply my thoughts on the things happening! Though, if anyone has question concerning my remarks (and thus Mitsuhide’s route), please feel free to ask me anything! ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶

Episode 1 So Hideyoshi is some kind of fashion guru now? Hey, who’s vassal is that, trying to kill off Ranmaru?! Somehow, Mitsuhide really has a talent for irritating Hideyoshi... seriously... Protecting a cutie is always proof of a good person. Wow, Mitsuhide that’s... I don’t know if he’s praising MC or making fun of her. Probably both. But I guess he’s worried for her. Oooh, guess who! Who wouldn’t appreciate encountering beautiful people! Especially those who are not out to kill everyone who as much as look at them. Of course, Sasuke shouldn’t be left out. As well as his BFF~ And of course Sasuke has to be the messenger of bad news... Masamune is being his usual self, huh? Uselessly excited about the prospect of war. Okay, the other guys are equally bad. Is that Ieyasu calling MC stupid in a roundabout way? Oh well, but at least Mitsunari is genuinely concerned for her... Mitsuhide, stop reading MC’s mind already lol Awww, Ranmaru, the cutie! He’d be someone I’d instantly befriend~ Uh, I sense some kind of (un)pleasant surprise... This isn’t Mitsunari’s route, so I guess the squad in the rear is certainly not... Told ya... I had the bad feeling way before you MC lol And of course, Mitsuhide has to tell her the things she doesn’t want to her at all... On the other hand... It’s totally plausible that the enemy would go for Nobunaga’s right and left hand... Oh dear... Ooooh, I sense some kind of deep-rooted trauma or something similar! Aaah, I already love that poor trickster to the point of no return! Oh, yeah, that could have been me. I’m not good with blood. And I guess there’s A LOT! That screams betrayal to me, but let’s keep calm and watch... Moreover, hasn’t anyone taught you guys not to trust strange men?! Aww, Mitsuhide is such a good guy~ Oh... ‘Kay... That... THAT surprised me. Really. And it hurts my heart a little. Heck, who am I kidding? A lot, a LOT! Why is everyone always assuming MC’s going to run away? Well... I can’t exactly hold it against them... Hideyoshi not trusting MC is not new, so I wonder why it surprises me to see Mitsuhide not trusting her... I mean, he normally reads her like an open book... Wow, that’s... a LOT! And knowing Mitsuhide, his guidance will turn out pretty spartan. But I guess I’d be happy about his attention... Probably... Maybe...

Episode 2 And we’re back to teasing lol But I guess being taught about the Sengoku era by a Sengoku warlord is not THAT bad, right? Urgh, I take that back. Why a test, Mitsuhide? Seriously? And THEN you’re surprised about her answers? Although, come on, ‘Nobu-tan’ sounds incredibly cute~ Yes, with all that history stuff my head would explode as well. Or maybe implode. Can’t decide. Okay, is it just me or is Mitsuhide surprisingly touchy-feely? That man will be the death of me, I swear! Says he doesn’t trust MC but takes her metaphor seriously! Why does he have to be so cute, dammit?! Nooo, MC, why are you running away?? Of course, he does that to tease her, what else... Yup, telling him he’s mean gives him no damage whatsoever lol Yay, two angels to the rescue~ Yeah, you tell him Ranmaru lol NO! Don’t! Get Mitsunari away from the tea! Thank god Ranmaru is such a good boy~ If this keeps going they can have a party in MC’s room lol Pfft, I KNEW it! Tell me what you want, this is a party! I’m surprised though Hideyoshi wasn’t the first to burst into the room lol Omg, Ieyasu is too precious lol I’d love some spicy pickles, too! So... Mitsuhide is either observing them or he’s displeased right now... Well, Mitsunari is just as surprised as I am... I tell you, Mitsuhide is secretly a ninja! Maybe... Yep, they are like cats and dogs, but they still love each other. Aww, big brother Hideyoshi is the best, really! Go for it, girl! Otherwise, his route would be meaningless lol Se-Self-defense skill...? A-As in... Body contact?? Oh dear... Oh no, don’t evade, please~ Yeah, tell her first! You got my hopes up... Oh? Suddenly I remember this one certain picture from the manga... Wow, he really IS spartan... MC’s level of fear is kinda not in the right order, I think? You can’t fool me, you sly fox, hah! Wow, that was low... A horse several times smarter than MC? Noo, I don’t think so. It’s literally impossible to escape Mitsuhide. Yes, the body contact I was waiting for! Nothing extraordinary, but at this point I’ll take anything lol Well, at least this time there’s no cliff involved in her first time horse riding. Okay, that’s some elementary school level reason for teasing, Mitsuhide... While MC’s fears are apparently in the wrong order, Mitsuhide’s worries are too (he wants us to believe lol) Right now MC is too cute for words. And Mitsuhide the proud (not yet) boyfriend lol Heh, I already knew that! I can already see Hideyoshi freak out when he finds out MC and Mitsuhide have something going on lol Scary, Hideyoshi isn’t joking... Of course he has too many secrets! That’s, like, in his job description. So, Mitsuhide is unexpectedly popular with women?! How did that happen?? But I agree, once you fall for him it’s pretty much impossible to hate him. Not so popular with men, though, I see... Why do I feel like Mitsuhide’s past might hunt him down in this route? I can’t count how often I’ve aww’d at him already... He’s so honest with himself but so absolutely not with everyone else.

Episode 3 Yeah, time flies by if you have fun, Mitsuhide. !? !?!? YES! A definite Yes! OMG, this man will be the death of me! I can’t stress this enough! Oh, Mitsuhide telling her to go straight back home most likely spells danger... The dungeon spells danger, too... Yup, that’s Mitsuhide’s dark side... Oh dear, I see a suspicious fox. So, when exactly does that man sleep? I mean, he has to be busier than Hideyoshi. Mitsuhide... Is that you being honest? Wow, that was quick. Now she even wants to see Mitsuhide when she can’t lol Uff, I think I heard her innocent heart shatter right this instant... O.K. I heard my heart shatter as well. I’m sure someone set him up! I hope so... Aww, MC’s such a sweet girl. Oh, I already wondered when we’ll get one of Sasuke’s trademark visits! Pfft, Sasuke’s reaction to MC hanging out with Mitsuhide... What, as if he hasn’t spread that rumor himself. Who are you kidding, Mitsuhide? You? Embarrassed? Hah! Didn’t expect that, did you? It’s so much fun to see Mitsuhide fail to handle a single almost foolishly trusting, kind and honest girl lol Really, she had him speechless so many times already. Wah, that music got my hopes up. Aaaand then the 3rd episode comes to an end. What a cliffhanger!

Episode 4 Yeah, I knew it. That was too good to be true, haha... Okay, that’s on you, Mitsuhide. Shouldn’t have taught her that lol Awww, okay, that’s enough to compensate me right now~ I’m genuinely confused. Oh, wait a minute. No way~ she can meet Mitsuhide’s pet! (It’s called Chimaki which is... something to eat, by the way lol) I have to say, Mitsuhide has his way with words... They are mostly ambiguous lol I have to ask... Does that fall under cannibalism? ... Can you believe there’s someone equally bad or even worse than Mitsunari in terms of personal maintenance? Eat some food, you goddamn handsome man! He has a point, but still! For all the teasing, at least he’s praising MC when she’s done well. Oh good gracious! I didn’t think Mitsuhide was able to tell a genuine joke! Yeah, I can relate to that. The many mysteries make him so charming lol Aww, honest Mitsuhide is always appreciated~ Yup, his teasing is indeed addictive lol Isn’t it cute how socially awkward Mitsuhide is? Like, he’s so not used to being around people. Oh dear... That screams trouble. In capitals. Ah... I think I see a pattern... Oh, okay. Didn’t see that coming. Funny how he knew exactly where she would go... Yeah, Hideyoshi is not amused. Big scoop? Secret revealed? Seriously? That’s just a different kind of torture... OMG, blushing Mitsuhide is the BEST!!

Episode 5 Tell me what you want, Mitsuhide is a gentleman. Like, deep, DEEP down lol Lap pillow? Lap pillow! Okay, who does he remind me of...? Aww, MC genuinely praising him is so cute. Oh god, Ranmaru lol I think he has a no-monopolization policy lol And now Mitsuhide is making Ranmaru cry, the poor boy. Aww, Ranmaru is such a good friend! Yup, of course Masamune has to be the supporting friend. Figured. Those two are the least amused about that rumor going around, haha... Mom and Dad don’t approve lol Especially Mom. Yeah, can you believe it? I totally can. Does Nobu-tan suspect something? Maybe. Wow, that is way out of my expectations. Hideyoshi not putting Nobu-tan first. Uh-huh, don’t mind him at all, please. Say that before going inside lol The awkward moment when your man knows more about how to properly dress as a woman than you. ....??? Says the liar, sure. Wa-Wa-Wait! Seriously?? Uuuh, Mitsuhide’s new style is really cool! (He’s posing as a traveling performer btw) ...yeah... wife!? MC is going to flip lol “I didn’t tell you?”, yeah, no, because you’re you. I can’t tell if he’s serious already or not.

Episode 6 You could have at least taught her properly lol Okay, with how fast this whole pretend thing was progressing, I expected something else lol Wow, he’s unexpectedly good at flattering. Heh, I already thought it would come to this! Argh, can’t he just decide if he’s serious or not? I sense some big evil... *gasp* I knew it. Ugh, I don’t like that guy. Like, at all. Okay, he’s officially making me uncomfortable. Men like them can just die, seriously. If that had been me, I’d have punched the living daylights out of him and would’ve died a slow and painful death right after that. Aaah, it’s a shame I won’t buy the premium stories (since I’m saving for when it’s released in English) Aww, he was looking for her! It’s such a rare sight to see Mitsuhide so kind and serious. Oh god~ He’s most likely genuinely smiling and she can’t see it~ “All right now. I should pay him back for making my lovely wife cry.” His words, not mine! Now I wonder what happened... I love how Mitsuhide talks to himself pretending he doesn’t lol Okay, now things are getting complicated. That... was fast. Like, how did he do that?! Somehow, I think Mitsuhide would have so much fun being a modern day actor lol Didn’t expect to see them there. Yuki’s cute in every route lol Why is a guy of that rank doing something like that? Most likely in secret? Not that I started liking him, but I’m confused. Oh, now that explains a lot. Confusion lifted. Again!? Come on! ... ... oh. Did I maybe get the love rival wrong the whole time? Oh man, I hope he doesn’t plan to die or anything. I started to like him a lot in Sasuke’s route. ... oh? Oh??? True, that probably IS the biggest historical discovery. Aww, the letter is cute.

Episode 7 I somehow think they will think they succeeded and the evil guy come crawling back up at the end of episode 10... Oh, that’s the fox mask I saw in Shiro-sensei’s illustration! So that’s when it becomes useful, huh? He’s really getting affectionate~ Yuki, that’s what being 500 years apart is about lol I could be wrong but... Is that Mitsuhide slightly trolling people without knowing what that actually is? lol As I said, he’d make a great modern- day actor. !? That had me surprised. Wow... how my eyes just instantly caught the word kiss before everything else lol Usually, I’m not into mean characters (mean= teasing), partly because I’m kinda like that as well, but Mitsuhide’s level of teasing is just right. He never does anything really hurtful and is able to admit if he went too far and apologizes. I really like that. Awww, there they are, his usual clothes. I really liked the costume... He really enjoys all this “As your husband” stuff lol ... he... He’s only joking right? How can he do that to my heart~? MC, joke back! Say okay! YES! Okay, I need a sec to calm down... I think my heart stopped just now. Yeah, it stopped. Wow, I don’t know if I’m happy or disappointed. But I strongly tend to happy. I feel you. Nobody can escape, MC. Ugh, really. Really!!? Why?? This is like Hideyoshi’s route! Who ordered those soldiers!? And what do they think they are doing??? I mean, MC, just knock them out! Mitsuhide taught you some self-defense didn’t he!? I really hope for you guys you don’t believe this bs... Of course Ranmaru would know. But the other’s wouldn’t know he knows. Aaah, so many secrets... Too many secrets. Ooh, Hideyoshi is impressed. I just wondered... maybe threatening him like in Hideyoshi’s route might work... Hideyoshi is impressed 2nd I’m not sure, but does that mean he trusts him? Bless you, Nobu-tan. Uuh, back story for Mitsuhide is always appreciated! That’s not exactly my top spot for a date, but... okay? No way, don’t tell me... Oh good gracious, how can he stay so calm??? I can’t. Seriously. That’s almost too much for my poor heart. I honestly physically can’t endure this. Where’s Hideyoshi when you need him?!? Gosh, is there some equivalent of lawsuit against abuse of power in the Sengoku era?? Oh? Mitsuhide has a weakness and it’s super cute. ... omg, this is intense. And not in a positive sense. Good for him that he’s fine with it. I’m not. Great, Hideyoshi. Your timing sucks, you know? I didn’t expect that. Damn, now it’s up to three villains?!

Episode 8 Relationship status: It’s complicated. Uhm... no? Thank you. Hmm? Awwwwwww~ He. is. SO. precious. Good gracious, can anyone kick these people’s behinds, please? At least that? Really, no other route had so many disturbing side characters... It’s a mystery to me, too. And you were such a good guy, Yoshimoto~ My god, just stab him already or something! I can’t decide if I hate him or pity him. Again, I’m confused. Oh, okay, I think I’m beginning to understand. Ooooh, is that a tryst? I’m joking, of course. Though I wish it was lol Hah, so she finally figured him out, huh? Yeah, that about sums it up. “Hard to understand kindness”. Woah, that’s mean. What do you mean farwell gift?! Amazing. He’s always telling MC she’s too good-natured, but who’d have thought that Mitsuhide was the most good-natured idiot of them all. Aww, my poor baby is getting wet. Oh oh... Masamune, you can’t be serious? You... have a lot of special skills, huh? You ninja-like warlord. Yay, Mitsunari is such a precious angel. I’m sure Ranmaru is trying to confirm something. Pfff, as if he’d leave unprepared. Of course he is. He dropped hints everywhere if you look close ennough. Aww, Chimaki is still there! Uuuh, go on, Kyuubei. Spill us some secrets! Wow, he’s spilling a lot of things. I anticipated something else, but that’s also amazingly cute! I very much hope this has never happened before. Who figured out that info this fast?

And, wow, I can already tell you, I normally go for the romantic ending first, but this route (very much like Kenshin’s) in and of itself is a an entire drama, so I’ll probably get all the drama out of the way in the first playthrough, haha...

Episode 9 This is really becoming a tangled mess. I don’t know who believes in whom anymore. Hideyoshi is really loyal to a fault. Okay lol So Kennyo is now out of the picture or what? Don’t you dare believe that bs, MC! Ugh, of course not! Good job, girl. It’s interesting that Hideyoshi seriously thinks Nobu-tan would take pity on anyone. He’s taking her because she will be useful, what else. Heh, it’s quite funny to see Nobu-tan so secretive. Though I wonder what he said to make Masamune grin from ear to ear lol Ugh, that guy’s so disgusting, really... I even like Kennyo better. Heck, even Motonari is slightly more likeable. Oooh, I can imagine that. ... no way. Omg, did he really work for such a disgusting prick??? Yeah. No. Those two don’t look like they’re falling for that. Okay, I was wrong. Looks like they’re totally buying it. Oh god, there are more?! I can already see Nobu-tan using MC like a human shield lol Ooooh no. Nooo... Don’t tell me that was a careless mistake. Ugh, I knew it. Yeah, what else could he want other than his one little weakness... Uuh, that was a bit harsh, you know? But I do understand. ... That’s a bit mean, to attack his weakness like that... That’s gonna be a shock for him. I’m pretty darn sure. Told ya. Do I sense a kidnapping? Maybe. “Stupid girl.” I think I heard that kind of nickname somewhere before lol Shoul I call him Oliver from now on? Awww~ Yeah, feelings do strange things to you, huh? Who do you think taught her to be like that? I’m not sure how to interpret the letter...

Episode 10 Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Sasuke for the longest time... Um, isn’t Hideyoshi’s Nobu-tan sense tingling? Omg, if you want a demon’s head, then take a look in the mirror! Thanks, at least one of us believes in him without fail. ... I don’t dare to touch my screen to see what happened... I’m SO relieved! Oh god... and what the hell’s with that calm and composed “Sorry, my hand slipped.”!!? Just... how low can that guy sink? Really now? I think I’d have already kicked him or something to shut that guy up. Don’t tell me...? Is that what Nobu-tan... Wha~t! So Nobu-tan had it all planned out as well? (Yeah, sorry. I liked that nickname too much, so he’ll probably now always be Nobu-tan to me.) Uhm, hey, MC? Would you mind, you know, stopping him from probably landing in prison again? Or worse? Wow, he’s lower than low. He already dropped below Earth’s crust. ...??? Oooh, I see. The poor people who’ll have to rebuild the place again. Do I wanna know? No. Will I read further? You bet I do. Why are Sengoku warlords always doing something stupid? Wow... I already predicted that in episode 6... Someone, anyone, smack some sense into that beautiful head of his. It’s not like I can’t understand his reasoning, but this is just. NO. Trust me, I’m just as surprised as you are. Love rival confirmed? I think so. Oh no~ When did he sleep or eat last!?? Curse you, premium story preview! (I want to read it so bad~) Awwww, Hideyoshi still cares so much~ I already knew he’s a smooth talker but... that’s too adorable. He’s almost worse than Ieyasu at being honest. But only almost. This is so like him it’s making me tear up. Seriously. Wow, it’s really hard to read when everything’s blurry haha... But man, you really can’t leave him alone. He’ll go off and do something stupid. I tell you, we all have to love the heck out of this man. Aaah, I missed this. Wow, that surprised me a bit. Bottom line: That man is absolutely, without doubt, too pure for this world! I love how Hideyoshi doesn’t consider the possibility he might be interupting something lol It’s like he’s trying to train a dog... Pffft, Hideyoshi, really? lol That’s almost cute if you weren’t in the way. Mitsuhide is so not amused. He should have tied him to MC. Awwww~ Okay, that’s definitely cute. “The next time you disappear, at least leave a letter.” Hideyoshi, don’t give him strange ideas lol Good food! Bless you, Masamune! lol Masamune is being way too optimistic about the whole thing. Mitsuhide, you’r not Mitsunari, okay? lol I’d die from embarrassment~ I wouldn’t try that if I were you, Masamune. I knew it lol Everyone would react that way. So he’s still going, huh? Aww, Hideyoshi just wants him to come home. He’s implying he’ll kill him a second time? That’s harsh lol I just imagined MC with Mitsuhide’s tone and way of speaking. It’s hilarious lol She’s seen through you, you know? Heh, who wouold’ve thought. But wasn’t that, like... in episode 2? Wow, talk about dedicated. This is so strange. I always hoped he’d share his secrets, but honest Mitsuhide is making me slightly embarrassed lol Everything was REAL~ My heart... I can’t. I think my heart is melting. Ugh, that guy is ruining my good mood~

Episode 11 (Dramatic) I know he fled, but this feels ominous nonetheless. Man, they are all so quick to throw away their lives... Yikes, that’s harsh, Mitsuhide. It’s amazing how he can be kind through being mean or harsh. Sometimes, MItsuhide’s jokes are strange lol Okay, who’s interrupting? Kyuubei~ Why? lol When did he even have time for that?? Awww, Kyuubei gets my personal Best Subordinate award~ I knew he’d come back lol She’s a totally open book to him. Well, at least his priorities are in the correct order lol Now even Mitsuhide is a bit annoyed lol ... A guest? Hmmm??? Guests? Plural! As straightforward as always, our Yuki lol Mitsuhide is not amused... Interesting... But how do they know? Mitsuhide is SO not amused lol He’s so jealous lol Right? That’s what I wanna know, too. I can tell you one thing for certain: The temporary alliances in this route are plain crazy. Heh... So he told him, then that went that way to those two and finally reached Mitsuhide and MC. Wow, what a long way to travel for some tiny information. Caring Mitsuhide must be a pretty confusing sight for those two lol OMG, Yuki is speechless and Sasuke can’t believe his ears lol But, really, I’m almost sure he planned on saying that. Yuki gets second-hand embarrassment lol For a second... I kinda forgot Kyuubei was there, too. Sorry. I KNEW he did that on purpose. Promise? Promise what? ... I didn’t anticipate such an honest letter.

Episode 12 (Dramatic) Okay...? Awww, he’s really thoughtful. Wow, MC really IS his weakness. Those two are too cute together. Uh-oh... If Sasuke is so serious that probably means trouble. So, apparently, Bakamoto is a thing in this route... Well, at least Bakamoto still stays true to his convictions. ... That surprised me. I mean, I still remember what he said earlier... Is that another formerly very unlikely alliance? Yeah, wonder why that is, Bakamoto. Uh, I don’t think Mitsuhide is happy about this conversation. Pfft, I bet this is his cue to interrupt. Knew it lol How he quickly that went from “not closer than necessary” to “100 steps away or more” lol THAT was definitely a declaration of war lol Love rival definitely confirmed. Now, it’s either kidnapping or assassination attempt. Why is that guy so gross??? Aww, good job, Kyuubei! And Bakamoto, please stop sulking! ... I... Have a very bad feeling. That’s... I can’t find the words. It’s... almost more heart-shattering than the similar situation in Kenshin’s route... OMG, Cybird is trying to kill me. Like, emotionally. I’m terrified to red the next parts. Guys and girls, please have a huge box of tissues ready when reading episode 12 part 6 to 10 (dramatic)!!!! Oh God, even before starting this half, my heart is beating like crazy. No, no no no, I can already tell what he'll try to do. I knew it! ARGH. Damn, where are my tissues? God, zhis is too much for my poor heart. Wait, you aren’t— Seriously?? Omg, I love this MC! As if we can leave like this! But that’s exactly why you’r MItsuhide’s pair, heh. And now I finally get the whole meaning of the preview for the dramatic route.

Episode 13 (Dramatic) They’re really nervous, huh? Ninja surprise! I expected that reaction lol Though I don’t get why they look so happy about his statement... Good job, you two! No doubt there, Mitsuhide is an exceptionally good marksman. Yuki, I don’t know if you’re dissing or praising him... Ugh, I can’t stand that guy anymore. Compared to him, Kennyo looks like a cute little kitten. Those two pull off the most amazing shit I’ve ever seen. With the most funny remarks ever possible. Honestly lol Wow, that guy is also popping up everywhere, huh? Well, we could just leave it to Bakamoto. You can’t say he doesn’t pay back those he owes. How can I hate a 2D character so much? Seriously. Every time this guy shows up I wanna punch him so bad. ... I wouldn’t make him mad if I were you, bastard. Nnnh, I know you can’t, but just stab him already! Come again...? Did he just suggest what I think he did? Nooo~ No Mitsuhide, you don’t! ??? Secret ninja around? Ooooh! No, that’s even better! Serves you right, you rotten bastard! That’s what was meant with controlling posion with poison! And who’d have thought, of course that dickhead has the antidote. You have some nerve, trying to trick the world’s greatest trickster. I should have known Mitsuhide already knew. Heh, I didn’t anticipate this. That’s almost mean, but let’s be honest, that jerk deserves it. Aww, Bakamoto is such a good guy. He wouldn’t needlessly kill anyone. And that’s as funny as it is harsh. Yay~ he made it in time! Aww, they are already leaving? Of course, Yuki doesn’t place value on Mitsuhide being there lol Yup, that’s our favorite tsun. For Yuki, idiot is an affectionate nickname lol And even Bakamoto realizes it now lol Wait wait wait. WHAT?! Noooo~ Seriously?! I think that’s the first time this happened in ANY route!!? I feel you MC. I’d be so startled. But awwww, she’s such a good girl. Oh? Oh!! Mitsuhide is the best! So they’re staying there for a bit? Well, it’s understandable. ... Are you kidding me? lol Well, at least he’s being responsible... Yeah, I can’t live without him as well lol Oooh, okay, so they’re making a quick detour before coming back. On Nobu-tan’s orders, I see. Phew, I was a bit worried about that, tbh. Mitsuhide disguising his affection as jokes/teasing is never getting old lol Oh wow. He’s like... super popular? Or more like... super loved? And if this were modern times he’d definitely share his declaration of MC being his girl on every single social network possible lol Awww, that’s cute. Pfffft, Hideyoshi! Really? lol Kyuubei, you little snitch. Heh, who am I kidding? We love you for that! And so, another one of Mitsuhide’s mysteries is solved. Well, at least for MC, since she’s probably only the second person who knows this. ... uhm, what? Why are you doubting yourself!? Bad taste? Seriously?? You trick her constantly and NOW you claim that could be a problem? Mitsuhide, please. Yay~ Sexy timez~ Oh my, that was dropped like a bomb. But I’m happy about it~ Holy... This might be just me, but that illustration has to be illegal!!! I also have no words, trust me.

Episode 11 (Romantic) Yeah, as if it would be that easy. Oooh, that’s nice, though! Awww, we all know what you wanna say with that, hehe. ... Excuse me, but... WTF??? Okay. Maybe Mitsuhide has lost his mind after everything that happened... Once again I have to acknowledge the hellish ability of his to use words with lotsa meanings... Now, that’s what I’m also curious about now. Don’t like to agree with him, but... – yes, he’s crazy. ... It’s not strange that I’m not trusting this guy, is it? Damn... He’s saying some irritatingly true things. Yikes... If Mitsuhide is oozing killing intent you can bet he’s being 1000% serious...

(Updating when I’m done with episode 11 romantic route second half (￣▽￣*)ゞ)

[jarmes]

The Man In The Attic

From the attic of a suburban family’s home, a mysterious stranger fixes their problems...

The walls in this house are thin. I hear every footstep, every word, every rage-filled fight with crystal clarity. At 6:00, I hear Keith’s alarm go off. Five minutes later I hear him stumble out of bed and into the shower. At 6:30, I hear the sound of Karen knocking on Kim’s door and the sound of Kim chucking a pillow at her. At 6:45, I hear the front door opening as Keith leaves for work. At 7:15, I hear Karen wake Kevin up. Five minutes later I hear the sound of a sizzling griddle as she makes breakfast for her children. At 7:45 I hear Kim leave the house, dragging her younger brother with her. Five minutes later, I hear Karen pouring herself a cup of coffee. At 8:05 Karen finally leaves. Five minutes later, I descend from the attic.

I open the refrigerator door and pull out a Tupperware container full of pasta, leftovers from the previous night. I only take a few bites, small enough that no one will notice that I’ve touched anything. Karen has left half a pot of coffee sitting on the counter; I finish it off. As I sip my lukewarm coffee, I make my way to the living room and turn on the TV.

The morning news is playing some sensationalist story about a string of recent break-ins. I roll my eyes and flip through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch. After finding nothing but reruns and game shows, I open up the DVR recordings.

I pop on a new episode of a sitcom I like, one about a happy family that Keith recorded the previous night. While I watch it I check the recording schedule, making sure that my shows are set to tape. I notice that the Karen forgot to tape this afternoon’s episode of one of her soap operas.

I imagine the fight that’ll break out when Karen comes home and realizes that her stories weren’t taped. Presumably, she’ll accuse Keith of deleting them for the sole purpose of angering her and refuse to acknowledge the possibility that she made a mistake. Keith will bring up the fact that he’s had a hard day at work, which will only make Karen angrier. Kevin will try to drown out the fight by watching TV and Kim will storm out of the house.

I set the soap opera to record and pat myself on the back for a job well done. I can’t imagine how these people got by before I started living here. I’m the glue that holds this family together. My job is thankless, primarily because the Brattons don’t know I exist.

I’ve been living in the Bratton family’s attic for nine months now. Hiding in the attic of a suburban middle-class family was never the plan. My stepfather kicked me out and I didn’t have anywhere to stay, so I started squatting in an unsold house on their street. After three days of squatting, a new family moved in without any warning.

I probably should have run away. But, I knew finding a new squatting location would be a hassle, so I just started hiding in the attic. When the Brattons are all gone, I sneak down to grab food from their fridge. When they come back, I return to my hiding place. It was hard, at first, avoiding detection. I almost got caught a dozen times. But, before long, I managed to learn the family’s schedules. Nowadays the odds of me getting caught are minuscule.

My hearing has gotten pretty good over the past few months, so I was able to hear the unmistakable sound of a door opening at 8:30. This surprises me, because I know for a fact that no one should be home until 3:45. As soon as the door opens I dash to the pantry; it would take to long to return to the attic.

I hear the sound of footsteps. Judging by their sound, they belong to Kim. I realize that she must be skipping school. I hear, through the thin door of the pantry, Kim walk to the living room. Sneaking past her to return to the attic is risky. If she doesn’t move until her family comes home, I’ll definitely get caught. I reach into my pocket and grab my cell phone. I text Karen, informing her of her daughter’s truancy. I smile when the Read tag appears beneath my message. I wait for Karen to come storming home.

I’ve learned a lot about the Brattons since I started living with them. Karen and Keith were high school sweethearts, him the local high school’s star quarterback and her the head of the cheer squad. I honestly think that the two of them would have gone their separate ways if it wasn’t for an unplanned pregnancy. Nine months and one shotgun wedding later, Keith and Karen came home with a baby girl named Kim.

If Karen’s weekly phone calls to her sister are to be believed, Kim used to be a sweet kid. But, with high school came new problems. One day Kim came home with black hair, piercings, and a new foul attitude. Keith and Karen came to the conclusion that they were the only parents in the history of mankind to have a rebellious teenager and responded by doubling down on punishments in an attempt to “fix” their daughter, something that has only made her rebel more.

Karen rips open the front door and marches into the living. “What’s up, mom?” Kim says.

“Why aren’t you at school?” Karen asks.

“Didn’t feel like going,” Kim replies.

Karen sighs. “Kim, you need to go to school,” she says. “Otherwise, you won’t be able-”

“I won’t be able to get into college and then I won’t be able to get a good job and I’ll have to marry a loser,” Kim interjects. “I’ve heard the speech before, mom.”

“Then why do you keep doing things like this?”

“Chill.”

“I had to leave my nursing class to come and get you, you know.”

“That was a dumb decision.”

I hear the sound of a struggle, presumably created by Karen grabbing Kim by the ear and dragging her to the front door. “How’d you even find out I skipped school?” Kim asks.

“You principal texted me,” Karen replies.

I chuckle from the darkened pantry. I inputted my number into Karen’s phone number under the principal’s name two months prior, knowing that a situation like this might occur. After making sure that Karen and Kim are gone, I return to the living room to watch TV.

At 3:00, I grab some snacks from the cupboard and return to the attack. At 3:45, right on schedule, I hear Karen’s car pull into the driveway.

I hear Kevin dash for his bedroom as soon as Karen opens the front door. “No video games until you’re done with your homework!” Karen shouts.

A few minutes later I hear the sound of Kevin turning on a game console. I don’t know if Karen doesn’t know or is just too busy to care. If I were to guess, I would say that she’s working on her classwork. Fortunately, I don’t have to guess.

I grab a small tablet sitting atop a pile of boxes and turn it on. Camera feeds showing various rooms spread throughout the house appear on the screen. The feed from the kitchen shows Karen surrounded by a pile of books, jotting down notes in a notebook. The feed from Kevin’s room shows him sitting on a beanbag chair, blasting heads off an army of zombies. There isn’t a feed from the attic; if there were, it would show me lazily lying on the old couch I claimed as my bed.

The security system was already installed when the Brattons moved in. The realtor neglected to tell them about the countless cameras spread throughout the house, designed to help stop an intruder. Ironically, nothing has contributed to my continued residence in this house more.

When I’m up in my attic, I do a variety of things to keep myself busy. I read, I browse the internet, I play games on my phone. But, the main thing I do is observe the Brattons over the cameras. At first, I did this so I could learn their schedules and figure out how to stay hidden. Over time, I started watching them for my own enjoyment. The Brattons are better than any soap opera. Their fights, their wants, their struggles, all of these things feature an authenticity television could never reproduce.

I don’t pay for the food, shelter, and entertainment I take from these people, but I do make up for the things I take. I provide this family with something that money could never buy: stability. When I first met the Bratton’s, Keith and Karen’s marriage was hanging on by a thread. I knew that, if the two of them were to split up, they might leave this house and sell it to more observant residents. So I took it upon myself to keep the two of them together.

The main thing I do is clean up the minor creators of stress spread around the house. I make sure Keith’s work clothes are clean, I take out the trash when it gets too full, I make sure the toilet seat is down, I write things on the grocery list when we run out, that kind of thing.

I never do too much, because that would reveal my existence. Just enough to make sure Keith and Karen are happy. Occasionally, I do something big, like sending Karen flowers using Keith’s credit card or hiding tickets to a concert in the family’s mailbox. I honestly think that, if it wasn’t for me, Keith and Karen would have broken up months ago.

At 5:30, Karen moves her moves her books from the table to the living room.  She isn’t done studying, but needs to start in on dinner if she’s going to have it done by the time Keith arrives at home. She pulls up a recipe on her phone and beings cooking fish.

I don’t think Karen ever wanted to be a housewife. She mentioned once, while talking to her sister on the phone, that she wanted to be a doctor when she was a kid. She’s never mentioned what changed, but I’m guessing that she put those dreams on hold when Kim came along.

She’s started taking nursing classes recently, a decision that has led to no shortage of stress in the Bratton family. No one has been impacted by this stress more than Karen herself, who has struggled to balance her studies and her family.

At 6:30, Keith comes home from work. He trudges through the front door and collapses onto the sofa. “How was your day?” Karen asks, seemingly oblivious.

“Tiring,” Keith replies.

Keith spends eleven hours each day in a cubicle. Since Karen started going back to school, things have been lean around the Bratton household. Keith volunteered to pick up extra responsibilities at work to help pad his salary, something he has regretted more and more with each passing moment.

Judging by the framed newspaper articles that hang in his study, Keith was a damn good football player in his youth, one good enough to get quite a few scholarships. He never accepted them, though. I’m not sure why.

“Keith, we need to talk about our daughter,” Karen says.

“What did she do this time?” Keith asks, eyes closed.

“She skipped school!”

“And?”

Karen scowls at Keith. “I can’t believe that you aren’t taking this seriously,” she says.

“Karen, she’s sixteen,” Keith says, rubbing his temples. “She’s going to make mistakes.”

“Skipping school is more than a mistake, Keith.”

“Fine, I’ll go talk to her,” Keith says while getting off the sofa.

“She isn’t here right now,” Karen says, “I drug her back to school but she hasn’t come back yet.”

Keith sighs. “Did you try calling her phone?” he asks.

“No Keith, I didn’t try calling my missing daughter,” Karen snaps. “Of course I tried calling her. She didn’t pick up.”

“Maybe that means she needs space.”

“She could be at the bottom of a ditch for all we know!”

Karen is proven wrong ten seconds later, when Kim walks through the front door. “Where on earth have you been for the past three hours?” Karen asks.

“Out,” Kim replies.

Keith chuckles and Karen shoots him an angry look. “I was hanging out with friends, I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Kim says.

“I was worried,” Karen says. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“It died,” Kim says.

“Bullshit,” Karen says.

“Easy,” Keith says as he pushes Karen and Kim apart. “Let’s all calm down.”

“I am perfectly calm, Keith,” Karen says. “I am just sick and tired of the fact that my daughter doesn’t respect me.”

“Okay,” Kim says while rolling her eyes.

Around this time, Kevin wanders downstairs, drawn by the fighting. He notices something that the others haven’t. “Mom?” he says.

“What is it, honey?” Karen asks, temporarily shifting her attention away from Kim.

“I smell smoke,” Kevin says.

Karen curses before running into the kitchen, ripping open the oven, and grabbing a glass pan containing charred fish with her bare hands. She screams and Keith runs over to her. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I feel fucking phenomenal, Keith,” Karen says.

“Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“No,” Karen says, as blunt as a boulder.

She reaches into a drawer, grabs a pair of oven mitts, and picks the pan full of burnt fish off the floor. “I have had a long day and would like nothing more than to have a nice meal with my family,” she says.

The Brattons eat the burnt fish in silence. Up in the attic, I munch on a bag of chips, enthralled by the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Kevin doesn’t touch his food. “What’s wrong, honey?” Karen asks.

“I don’t like fish,” he replies.

“It’s what we’re having for dinner tonight,” Karen says.

“It’s burnt,” Kim says.

“Maybe it would be better if I was able to focus on making dinner instead of worrying about you,” Karen snaps.

The doorbell rings and Keith answers it. A pimply pizza delivery boy stands on the front porch, holding a large stack of pies. “Pizza delivery for Keith Bratton,” he says.

“We didn’t order any pizza,” Karen says as she walks over to the door.

“Is this 432 East Meadow Street?” the pizza boy asks.

“Yes,” Keith replies. “And I’m Keith Bratton.”

“I have a delivery for you,” the pizza boy says.

“We didn’t order any pizza,” Karen says as she slams the door in the pizza boy’s face.

To be fair, Karen is right that she didn’t order any pizza. I did, hoping to stop the eventual fight over dinner by replacing the burnt fish with fresh pizza. “What did you do that for?” Keith asks.

“We didn’t order pizza,” Karen replies.

“I know, but we could have just paid for the pizza and ate it for dinner.”

“I worked really hard on dinner and we are going to eat it as a family.”

Karen walks back to her chair. “So, how was school? she asks.”

“Good,” Kevin replies.

“Did anything interesting happen?”

“My teacher talked to me about football tryouts.”

“Football tryouts?” Keith asks, suddenly interested.

“The answer is no,” Karen says.

“Now, let’s not be rash,” Keith interjects.

“I said no,” Karen says. “Football is dangerous and I don’t want my son getting involved.”

“Karen, it’s just flag football,” Keith says. “He’ll be fine.”

“I said no, Keith,” Karen says. “That’s final.”

Kevin gets out of his chair and storms off to his room. “Nice going mom, you made another child hate you,” Kim says before following her brother.

Kevin is the youngest of the Brattons, born a measly seven years prior. As much as I hate to say it, I think Keith and Karen decided to have him to rekindle their long dead marriage. This plan failed as a second child only added to their stresses.

I think Kevin would have it a lot worse if I wasn’t around to keep his parents happy. I’ve seen children who grow up in broken homes and the problems they face. I’ve been keeping Keith and Karen together for Kevin’s sake as much as my own.

After dinner, Keith brings his laptop to the table and starts typing away. Karen scrubs away at the pan, rubbing off the charred fish and dumping it into the sink. “How was dinner?” she asks.

“It was fine,” Keith says.

It’s a lie, of course, and a poor one at that. Karen can easily see through her husband’s deception, but chooses to play along. “Just fine?” she asks.

Keith sighs. “Can we do this some other time?” he says. “I’m drowning in work right now.”

“You hated it, didn’t you?”

“I said it was fine, dammit. Why does it always have to be mind games with you?”

Karen leaves the pan to soak and begins cleaning one of the plates. “I’m just trying to make conversations, she says. “How was work?”

“Busy,” Keith says while typing on his computer.

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you put the laptop away while we’re talking.”

“Well, dear, I’d appreciate it if you acknowledged that my job pays for the roof over your head.”

“Here we go again,” Karen says, bitterness flowing through her words.

“What?”

“You act like you’re the only one who works hard in this family!” Karen shouts.

The plate slips from her fingers and falls to the ground, shattering. She reaches down to pick it up and slices open her finger. “Are you okay?” Keith asks.

“I’m fine,” Karen says as blood drips from her hand.

On my screen, I notice that Kevin is watching his parents from the living room. I sigh. No child should have to see their parents fight like this. Using a remote I stole from the living room I turn on the living room TV. Kevin stops watching his parents fight and starts watching my favorite sitcom, the one about a happy family.

[miss-musings]

Some wild or not-so-wild predictions about Episode IX (with some TLJ meta/analysis)

So, for the record, these crazy-ass wild predictions (or maybe not so wild???) are based on: 1) evidence of themes, motifs, character development and story arcs from TFA and TLJ; 2) overall story arcs and whatnot from both the Prequel Trilogy and the OrigTrig; 3) other media (TV shows) within the Star Wars universe; 4) other media outside of Star Wars that I feel like share some thematic/character parallels and that I know are very popular among modern audiences; and 5) fan metas that tie into all of this.

So, in no particular order and with plenty of art to break up the text…

And in case this isn’t going to be obvious… SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI!!!

PREDICTION ONE: The Title

Across the 8 Star Wars films we have three possibilities for the way titles are worded: A/The (Adjective) (Noun) ; (Noun) with a verb somewhere in the phrase; (Noun) of the (Noun). So far in this new trilogy, we’ve had the first two. But we haven’t had (Noun) of the (Noun) yet. This has been the case with the third installments of each trilogy: Revenge of the Sith (III) and Return of the Jedi (IV).

I imagine IX will fit this pattern; and, while I doubt it will have “Jedi” or “Sith” in it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had the word “Balance” in it. Like “Balance of the Force” or something, except that I imagine they might be kind of nervous about using “Force” again in a title so soon, considering they have The Force Awakens and another property The Forces of Destiny.

But, I’d bet money “Balance” is in the title. Maybe not a lot of money. Like $5 or something, but still. I’ll bet money on it. Maybe… “Power of the Balance.” Because Balance has very much been a recurring theme/motif in this trilogy, and I’m 100% certain we’re going there (which we’ll get into more below).

PREDICTION TWO: Character Dynamics

Okay, so for a more general observation of the Core Three Characters of each of our trilogies – Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padme ; Luke/Han/Leia – we had a romantic pairing between two of the three characters (Anakin/Padme ; Han/Leia), and a sibling or pseudo-sibling bond two of three characters (Anakin/Obi-Wan ; Luke/Leia). And the remaining connection of the triangle (Padme/Obi-Wan ; Luke/Han) was more of a friendship than anything else.

Now, looking at our main three characters of this NEW trilogy, I’ve seen a lot of people arguing that it’s Rey/Finn/Poe. No, it’s really not. As much as I like Poe, he’s really more of the Lando or Yoda or Mace Windu of this series. He has an important role, but initially he’s more of a side character (especially considering that he doesn’t really get any character development until TLJ). This is evident in the marketing for TFA and the fact that Poe was supposed to die in the crash on Jakku.

No, Rey, Finn and Kylo are the main three of our story. With that, the bonds between them become more evident: Rey and Kylo are the romantic pairing as we clearly see in TLJ; and Rey and Finn are going to be more of the pseudo-sibling pairing (Sorry, FinnRey, shippers. I enjoy their dynamic but I see it being more platonic.) That will presumably leave Finn and Kylo to one day become friends, although it probably won’t happen in the events of Episode IX.

It’s evident that Rey and Finn deeply care about one another, and while there were hints to a possible romantic pairing between them – like the “cute boyfriend” comment and the “stop holding my hand,” awhich might’ve been done as either comic relief or shipping fodder – I don’t see them getting together unless Kylo dies (which I HIGHLY doubt, and we’ll get into more below).

Finn is the first person who ever cared about Rey and treated her like a real person, like family. That’s partly why she’s so attached to him; that and he’s just generally a good guy. Likewise, Rey was the first person to believe in Finn, and it’s obvious that she means a lot to him. They’re the first real connection they made after they escaped their respective shitty lives (scavenging on Jakku and working for the FO). But Finn only ever calls her his friend, and he and Rey never exchange any dialogue in TLJ. He hasn’t really talked to her since Starkiller Base, before he fell into his coma; they’ve both seen and done a lot since then. They’re really not the same people that they were on Jakku, and while they will always care about each other, their lives are moving in different directions to a certain degree.

Anyway, sorry that was long way of saying: Rey and Finn aren’t getting together; Rey and Kylo are getting together. At least romantically. I imagine Rey and Finn will still be a big part of each other’s lives at the trilogy’s end.

PREDICTION THREE: Length of the Time Skip

I doubt it will be shorter than six months, but I don’t think it’ll be more than three years. We need enough time for the Resistance to have built up their forces again, but not so long that I think Hux will have overthrown Kylo Ren (because it was very obvious that he’s not at ALL pleased with Kylo as Supreme Leader).

A year or a year-and-a-half seems pretty reasonable. Any more than that, and I think you’re going to have to explain why the hell Hux hasn’t killed Kylo Ren or why either the Resistance or FO hasn’t found out about the Force Bond (because I definitely think that’ll be making an appearance).

PREDICTION FOUR: Basic Plot Outline

On that note, here’s how I think the movie might go. We’ll get into the specifics of some of these later.

Since taking over as Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren has been mostly brooding. He doesn’t give a lot of orders, but mostly kind of lets Hux run things. He’s so incredibly conflicted, given everything that happened in TLJ. He is not at all stable emotionally or spiritually. He shuts himself in his chambers and doesn’t do much but wait for the Force Bond to connect him with Rey. They don’t really say anything to each other, even though both of them want to but can never find the words. Or something like that.

(EDIT: I could’ve sworn I put this next prediction in my original draft, but I guess not. Oh, well. Adding it back in now.) Leia’s death will be shortly before the events of this movie. In fact, it’ll probably be mentioned in the opening Title Crawl. News of her death or the feeling of his mother being gone (as he might sense it through the Force) will cause Kylo to break routine and leave his quarters to go on a solo trip to some location that reminds him of his mom. Alderaan is gone, so maybe wherever Leia and Han raised him?? As long as it wasn’t one of those planets that Starkiller blew up. Wherever. It’ll be somewhere that reminds him of his mom.

(EDIT:) Side note: I’m not sure what will cause Leia’s death. She might’ve died in battle. That’d at least be badass. But losing her husband and twin brother within a week of each other might’ve taken a strain on her physically and emotionally, much like what happened to Carrie Fisher’s mom, Debbie Reynolds, IRL. But, I think death in battle would be more fitting. Although, if that’s the case, Kylo won’t have ordered it.

As Kylo is visiting this site connected to his mom, Rey will either be on Jakku or Tattooine – delving into her own origins (visiting her parents’ graves in the junker desert) or into Luke’s/Anakin’s and trying to learn more about the Force. She will have constructed a new lightsaber: either one that’s totally unique to her (maybe like a staff size?), or one that uses half of the kyber crystal from the Skywalker Lightsaber (and Ben will use the other half for his saber at the very end, after he’s redeemed).

While they are both alone and on their personal journeys, the Bond will activate and they will finally say something to each other for the first time since TLJ. It won’t be much, and there will still be some anger/resentment/hostility between them, but it will be poignant and emotional. Rey will probably say something about how his mom never gave up on him, etc.

At some point while Kylo/Ben is visiting this location that reminds him of his mom, he will probably hear some audio of his mother speaking to him through the Force (they might use an earlier clip of Carrie/Leia saying “Ben” or something, they way they used the Alec Guiness/Old Ben dialogue in Rey’s Forceback).

Luke will appear as a Force-ghost to either Kylo or Rey or both at some point during the film, but this point (when they’re both on their respective journeys of nostalgia) seems the most likely. He’ll probably spout off some exposition-heavy dialogue (possibly giving Rey her third official lesson, if they decide the TLJ deleted scenes aren’t canon), and then tell Rey she’ll have to face Kylo again.

In the meantime, the Resistance has been cooking up some big plan to take down the FO’s most recent base/big gun/whatever. Poe is now in charge of the Resistance since Leia’s death. Finn and Rose are potentially a couple now, and they’re also major Resistance leaders.

Either the Resistance will win some major victory or the FO will start to fracture as Hux takes more power from Kylo. Something will have to kick Kylo back into full Renperor mode. Something will threaten his position of power and he will feel as though he has to retaliate. But, Hux won’t be killed off, either in battle or by Kylo, until the third act of the movie.

There will be a gigantic space battle in either the second or third act. Poe will probably be the one to kill Hux, if Kylo doesn’t.

Finn will likely find out about the Force Bond, if Rey hasn’t told him during the Time Skip.

If there’s an element where the Resistance has to send one of their own to infiltrate the FO base, Rey will do it. Finn will initially volunteer at first, but Rey says she has to face Kylo and give the Resistance its best chance to win.

Somehow Rey and Kylo will face each other in the final act of the film, likely after she’s sought him out on a FO base. Or they find each other on the battlefield.

Since the end of TLJ, Rey has gotten considerably stronger in the Force, especially her combat abilities. She and Kylo will be a literal even match. They know each other so well and are both so strong that almost every attack is ineffective. I really HOPE (not predict, but hope) that this fight will either have some kind of a dance feel to it or go back to Episode IV, when it was an homage to old samurai films. Like when they’re both trying to do one-shot kill moves on each other, but keep blocking it.

Okay… now as to how the fight will end… I truly believe that it will end in a draw with both of them being hurt to the point where they can’t fight any more, probably with inverse/opposite/complementary/mirroring injuries. The injuries will be major, but not life-threatening.

While they’re laying there, not fighting any more and experiencing a shared/parallel pain, they’ll both vocalize their feelings for one another. And probably kiss. And while they kiss, they have Force visions on how to resolve this conflict: to balance the Force by becoming Gray Jedi (Force-wielders who use both the light and the dark sides, in balance) TOGETHER.

Kylo will proposition to Rey to join him as a Gray Jedi, which she will accept.

Once they realize this, the two will go back to their respective sides, and figure out some kind of compromise/system where neither the Resistance nor the FO exists, but some kind of balanced government system where everyone feels represented and no one is oppressed.

Everyone celebrates the creation of this new system, the destruction of the old system(s), and Rey and Kylo leave their friends to become tandem Gray Jedi Masters who will teach the next generation of Force users all about the full scope of the Force. They’ll also totally become a couple and maybe we’ll see a Force-vision of the future, where they have kids or something.

Together, Ben and Rey will have brought balance to the Force and the galaxy at large!

EXPLANATION TIME!!!

Kylo letting Hux run most things would be a good reason for Hux not having killed him yet. And Kylo brooding rather than being a bad dude makes a lot of sense if he’s going to be redeemed and live. And it’s clear from the effort that’s gone into Kylo Ren’s character that he WILL be redeemed, and because we’ve already done the Redeemed Hero Dies route (Vader), Kylo will get to live, albeit probably scarred/injured/handicapped or something. He can’t do TOO much more evil stuff or otherwise he’ll be considered TOO unredeemable for average audiences. Killing Han, killing a bunch of innocent people and Resistance combatants, and trying to kill Luke are all pretty unredeemable, but eh. He killed Snoke, and Rey, Luke and Leia all believe in his goodness. Seeing his conflict early on in Episode IX will clue the audience in on his being redeemed by the end of the movie.

I’m basing a lot of this on Zuko’s character arc from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series and Sasuke from the Naruto universe (which we’ll talk about more in a second).

Rey’s arc, much like Luke’s in Episode VI, will be somewhat overlapping with the main War plot, but will ultimately take place parallel to it. Luke was on a journey of discovering himself, the Force and helping Anakin Skywalker to redeem himself. Rey, likewise, is on a journey of discovering herself, the Force and helping Ben Solo to redeem himself. Her main story will intersect with Finn/Poe/Rose/the Resistance’s, as Luke’s did with Han/Leia/Chewie/the Rebellion’s, but it will ultimately take place mostly separated from them.

With Carrie gone, they are going to have to have some kind of carry-over from the OrigTrig, and Luke as a Force-Ghost makes the most sense. He’ll do the Ben Kenobi role of getting the main characters to fight each other and figure out whatever the Force is trying to tell them. Because, as a Force-Ghost, Luke’s consciousness is one with the Force, or whatever; so he knows exactly what needs to happen for Balance to be achieved.

There will have to be something plot-wise to make Kylo snap out of his vulnerable state and back into his Renperor self because we’re going to need tension that he might kill Rey in their final duel, or at least destroy the Resistance. That way their final battle will have higher stakes.

Rey’s Force powers have leaned more toward the Sensing/Emotive side. Her first “awakening” is the Force-back, but even before that, she’s first aware of being called by the Force (the Lightsaber). She then figures out how to turn Kylo’s Force-sensing interrogation technique back on him, and senses his greatest fear. She also figures out how to use the Jedi Mind Trick, which she will ABSOLUTELY use again in Episode IX, and it’s only later that we see her using more of the physical attributes of the Force (pulling stuff toward you, combat enhancement, etc.). Rey is more naturally drawn toward sensing things via the Force, like the Tree, the Island (in her dreams) and the Lightsaber, and when she senses the Force as whole and then the Dark Side (the cave) in TLJ. So, during the Time Skip, she will have trained in learning how to use the Force to enhance her combat abilities, because it always felt to me like those were earned from her harsh life on Jakku rather than something inherent she had because she was Force-sensitive. (I mean, she didn’t even realize she was Force-sensitive until the Lightsaber scene on Takodana; but she’d been fighting off assholes all her life.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Force Bond is exposed to either the FO, the Resistance or both. This might be why Hux tries to usurp Kylo; and I doubt the Resistance will take Rey’s connection to Kylo all too well, considering that he tortured Poe and almost killed Finn (EDIT: and they might blame him for Leia’s death). Rey might make up for this by excusing herself from the main action of the War and offering to take down Kylo alone.

Now, what’s all this about the Gray Jedi and bringing “balance to the Force”?

(EDIT: Linking to the Wookieepedia article on “Gray Jedi” here.)

So, this is what all the eight movies have been leading up to – the prophecy that Anakin was supposed to fulfill. At the end of VI, the Sith (Vader and Palpitine) die and only one Jedi (Luke) survives to pass on what he has learned. This is not balance. At the time, we didn’t know about the whole prophecy thing and the OrigTrig was just about the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. But, over time, Star Wars has evolved to show us that this world – like ours – is a lot more GRAY. That’s what the Clone Wars series was about; that’s what Rebels (as far as I know) has been about; and that’s what the PT was sort of hinting at. That’s what THIS new trilogy has been hinting at, especially with the Finn/Rose subplot in TLJ. (EDIT: Which I wrote a whole meta analyzing and defending the importance of that subplot. Read it here.)

That’s not to say the FO hasn’t committed atrocities and the Resistance isn’t made up of people who have suffered and want better lives. But, as we saw with Finn, there’s a possibility that Stormtroopers are good people who don’t like what they’re being told to do. And, as was hinted at in TLJ, there are plenty of people who don’t like the Resistance. Because, in a war, no side is all good or all bad.

The whole Star Wars franchise kicked off as WWII In Space! But, since WWII, we’ve entered several conflicts where we (the U.S.) weren’t always in the right and the enemy wasn’t always in the wrong. There’s a TON of gray area in our conflicts now.

Anyway, this is all a very long way of saying that the OT’s understanding of the Light Side and the Dark Side isn’t well managed. As we saw with Luke at the end of VI, he let his anger, hatred and rage against Vader flow, but he didn’t become evil. He stopped himself, and realized that Vader was much more like him than he previously wanted to admit.

But, then in the PT, we see that the Jedi’s belief system is very lop-sided. They can NEVER let their emotions get the better of them. They have to be stoic, mindful, “celibate” (more or less), and detached from the world around them. They are encouraged to be compassionate, but not to love or become attached to people. This is a philosophy that isn’t going to fly well among modern audiences.

(EDIT: There’s a really great video Pop Culture Detective did on this very topic today. Linking to it here.)

Like with the War side, the answer is that we (the audience) are something in between. We do sometimes let our emotions get the better of us, which CAN be a bad thing sometimes, but not always (as “Inside Out” taught us, it’s unhealthy to lock certain feelings away). But, at the same time, most people aren’t evil and hate people so much that they want to destroy them.

So, the answer for The Force side of Star Wars is a balance: a coexisting of the extremes and the meeting of the two halves (Kylo and Rey). In TLJ, Luke’s big thing is that the Light Side WILL exist without the Jedi; and that the Force is ALL ABOUT A BALANCE: life/death, light/dark, heat/cold, peace/violence, etc. The Jedi is a RELIGION that used the Force, but there are plenty of other Force-users in this universe who aren’t Jedi or Sith (like Ahsoka Tano or Chirrut from Rogue One). The Gray Jedi can be the religious practice (the way of life) of Kylo and Rey. They can use both sides of the Force without being overcome by one or the other, by keeping them in a balance. I don’t know exactly how this would work, as I haven’t read TOO extensively into this topic, but I know it’s possible as I believe there were some Gray Jedi in the Legends Universe. I suppose it might be a bit like the Guardians of the Galaxy (another popular Disney property) – Kylo and Rey wouldn’t be all bad (because then they’d be evil) or all good (because then they’d be boring), but a little bit of both or something in between.

The happy ending to this entire saga isn’t about the Light snuffing out the Dark, the good guys killing all the bad guys, because the whole idea is that the Force and the world needs to be brought into balance. As much as we want the heroes to win, we also want the ending to be reflective of our human nature – both how we succeed and how we fail. This Gray Jedi ending would be reflective of that and bring the whole saga to a nice end.

I mean they wouldn’t have put a fucking YIN-YANG SYMBOL in the Meditation Pool on Ach-To if the idea behind the trilogy wasn’t about bringing the Force into balance. I wonder if it’s a good thing Rey took those ancient Jedi texts, because maybe they hint at if/how the Ancient Jedi (not the ones in the PT) were more in balance in the Force than our PT Jedi were.

We see this nicely encapsulated into Rey and Kylo as characters. Rey who embodies the Light, but has plenty of darker tendencies (like getting mad, charging at Snoke in a fit of rage and aggression); and Kylo who embodies the Dark, but has plenty of lighter tendencies (like telling Rey to detach herself from her past and let it go). They are a literal fucking YIN-YANG SYMBOL as people, side by side. But combined and intertwined… if you put a Yin-Yang symbol in wet paint on paper, and then mixed it together, what would you get?

A gray circle.

Gray Jedi is the answer, people. No question about it. At least in my mind.

Now, about the fight. Why do I think Rey and Kylo will have to wound one another and kiss?

Well, the draw/wound thing is something I stole from the Naruto universe.

For those of you who are unfamiliar… the main character Naruto (on the left) is very much the “light side” of his universe. His rival Sasuke (on the right, and who has a redemption arc similar to what we’ve seen of Kylo’s so far) is very much the “dark side.” There’s a point where they get sun and moon symbols on their respective hands, and each holds half of the same power source, although they manifest it differently based on their respective abilities/personalities.

Now, the entire series is built-up to this final showdown between the two. Naruto is not trying to kill Sasuke, but needs to stop him, because Sasuke IS trying to kill Naruto and bring an end to things/people Naruto loves. And, it physically ends in a draw. The two lose their dominant arms: Naruto loses his right; Sasuke, his left. Their wounds are a literal mirror of each other (see below). And in that shared pain, they find an understanding, and Sasuke decides not to kill Naruto but to come back over to the “good” side (more or less), to stop being a murderous asshole, and to start atoning for his crimes. (So, in a way, Naruto wins the fight on an emotional level, as he brings Sasuke over to his side.)

That’s very much where I see this Rey/Kylo thing going. There are so many parallels between these four characters and their respective arcs, it’s ridiculous.

With Kylo and Rey, each of them will be trying to kill the other so their respective side will win the War. A draw (with a major non-fatal injury) is the only way I see this fight ending in a way that will bring them into balance with each other and the Force at large.

Also, we’ve never had a movie lightsaber fight end in a draw before, to my recollection: Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon; Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul; Count Dooku injured/beat Obi-Wan and Anakin (I guess he ran away from Yoda, so you might count that); Count Dooku injured/beat Obi-Wan in the rematch and then Anakin killed Count Dooku; Obi-Wan injured/beat Anakin; the Emperor forced Yoda to run away; Obi-Wan allowed Vader to kill him; Vader beat/injured Luke; Luke beat/injured Vader in their rematch; Rey injured/beat Kylo; and there wasn’t really an actual lightsaber fight in TLJ.

It would fit the whole “balance” motif for neither to win or lose the fight, but instead the two come to an understanding and compromise.

Now. The Kiss.

Why do these two little fuckers have to kiss, IMO?

Well, do you all remember the Disney Channel TV Show “That’s So Raven”? The main character (Raven) is a psychic; and there’s an episode where she meets a male psychic. And, while they have 0 romantic interest in each other, there’s a point where they continue escalating their physical proximity/touching, because it allows them to better use their powers. There’s a point where they have to kiss in order to find Raven’s BFF and some other people.

And, as we saw with Rey and Kylo in TLJ, these two are oozing with sexual chemistry and Force power. I mean if they see each other’s futures whenever they touch hands, what the hell are they going to see when they kiss? (Or if they ever had sexy times… but this is a family-friendly movie, so that’s not going to happen on screen; the kiss is the closest we’re going to get).

I mean, c’mon you guys… everything we saw in TLJ is building up to them kissing and the Force coming into balance as a result of their combined lives/knowledge/destinies or whatever.

Also, as others have pointed out, they’re not going to kill off Ben Solo. The Skywalker family is too much of a commodity, and there’s so much possibility in leaving him alive and with Rey. I mean think of all the spinoff movies and TV shows we could have of them and their kids??? (EDIT: Just like how the Legends Universe focused in part on the kids of Luke, Han and Leia.) Rey is too well-loved by the fans to kill her off, and Ben/Kylo has gotten too much character development to not get redeemed. His kids with Rey would sell toys and tickets and subscriptions like crazy.

So, why do I think Ben/Kylo will proposition Rey, instead of the other way around (which would seem more natural)?

Well, in TLJ, each saw the other turning over to their side in a vision of the future. Rey says that Kylo won’t bow before Snoke and will turn, and she’ll help him. Kylo says that when the time comes Rey will turn and join him.

Now, from a physical standpoint, these visions were true after the Praetorian Guard fight. Kylo physically turned against Snoke and killed him, but emotionally was still attached to the Dark Side. Rey did physically join Kylo by his side in fighting the Guards but was still emotionally attached to the Light Side, or really, the Resistance. Neither ACTUALLY came over to the other’s side. Kylo didn’t want to join Rey politically, and she didn’t want to join him spiritually.

But now, they’re going to find that compromise where they meet in the middle both politically and spiritually. Kylo was right in TLJ: the old THINGS (political organizations, religious ways) should die, but Rey was right in that the PEOPLE should be saved. The only way to achieve both goals is to end the War, the FO, the Resistance, the Sith and the Jedi… and create something new. A compromise that works for everyone and brings the much-needed balance to the Force and the galaxy.

Each of them WILL join the other. Rey’s vision will have to be right that Kylo will turn from the Dark Side, and Kylo’s vision of her turning from the Light and joining him will have to be true as well.

So, like any proper proposal of marriage/political alliance/spiritual alignment, I think Ben should be the one to suggest it. That way, we the audience can see the fruition of his redemption arc, etc. (Also, we have to come full-circle on the Space!Mr.Darcy thing.)

Anyway, I’ve now rambled on about this for QUITE long enough. Just wanted to throw out some ideas and see what you guys think and if you have predictions of your own. (EDIT:) And, to quote Preston Jacobs, “I’m probably wrong about half of this.” There’s plenty of hints of where the franchise is going, but I’m sure there are some details I will have gotten wrong. Which is fine. This can be my headcanon for the next two years.

I guess there’s nothing else to say other than, “May the Force be with you, always.” Cheers, guys! And thanks for reading!

[reddiesaltedcrisps]

New Years Reunion - Part Three Finn Wolfhard x Reader

Word Count: 1,852 

Triggers: Some swearing

Gender of Reader: Fem.

*Part One and Part Two can both be found on my page *

Summary: Y/N gets a visit from her best friend and fellow IT co-star, Finn. Y/N thinks that her and Finn’s friendship is purely platonic, but could all that change when they both stay at Wyatt’s house for New Years along with the fellow IT cast?

Writers Note: Wow so everyone seems to be really enjoying this series so I’m thinking that I might keep it going for a bit longer. There will be at least one more part after this one but let me know if you want me to extend it past New Years Eve because that could be kind of fun.

Also, considering it’s not even been 48 hours since I started this blog and my writings already getting over 200 notes is insane! Thank you for all your support, whether you’ve been here since part one or not.

Enjoy Part Three and have an amazing day :)

You woke up. The morning sun streamed in from the glass double doors beside you. Dazed, you began to get up, only to realise Finns arm was around you. As your eyes adjusted to the light you noticed six figures lying on the floor in sleeping bags. You and Finn were the only ones on the couch, you must’ve both fallen asleep there.

    “Morning, Y/N.” Jaeden said groggily, still half asleep.

    “Morning, Jae. Are the others still all asleep?” You whispered, trying not to wake Finn.

   “They are, and judging my the looks of things, some of us had a pretty good sleep.” He smirked and nodded his head at Finn, who still had you in an embrace.

    You coughed awkwardly, “We both must’ve just fallen into this position when we fell asleep on the couch, or something.”

    “Mmmhm,” Jaeden raised his eyebrows slightly, “What actually happened was that you fell asleep on Finn during the film, and then he managed to get you into this cuddle position.”

You began to blush, Jaeden continued, “Then it got late, and we were all getting into our sleeping bags, but Finn didn't want to move, he was smiling like an idiot too. He even made me go get a blanket for you both, and then a pillow because he was worried your ‘head would get sore’.”

You tried to hide your smile by covering your mouth with the blanket on your lap. Finn stirred in his sleep, only to wrap both his arms even tighter around you, causing your stomach to flip. Jaeden snorted, you awkwardly changed the subject.

    “So tomorrows New Years Eve.” Your pulse had been racing ever since you’d woken up.

    “It sure is, are you excited to find out our plan?” Jaeden asked, apart from this time he didn’t whisper, resulting in Jack awakening next to him.

It didn’t take Jack long to catch on to you and Finn. He scanned his eyes over to the couch to you both, and began to chant;

    “Y/N and Finn, up a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” This obviously woke up everyone in the room, including Finn.

You felt him move his arms slightly before opening his deep, mahogany eyes to see you. Everyone was watching you both. As Finn began to strengthen an intake of his surroundings, he quickly moved his arms away and sat up. You felt disheartened.

It was 7PM now and you were sitting at Wyatt’s breakfast bar, reading your book. Everyone had gone out shopping for the day, accept from you, Jack and Finn. Jack was trying to cook in the kitchen and Finn had gone for a nap in his room, you hadn’t had much of a chance to speak to him today.

After burning yet another pancake, Jack sat down next to you.

    “You look sad.” He observed.

    “I’m fine.” You lied, bluntly.

    “You know, I know.” He began, you stayed silent, “I can tell you like Finn, everyone can, you just need to admit it.” You continued to say nothing.

Jack resumed talking, “He’s just really shy and shit, when it comes to girls. What you need to do is just be straight with him. Just be like ‘hey Finn you’re really fucking hot, date me now please’. That's what I always say to him. I mean, it technically hasn’t worked yet, but he’d probably appreciate it a bit more if it came from you, instead of me.”

    “I just can’t admit I like him.” You whispered, “If I admit I like him then I’ll only get disappointed. He doesn’t like me, plus even if he did he’d get over it quickly, he’s way too good for me. Like I look in the mirror and all I see if this girl staring back at me, she isn’t anything special. He’s so amazing and talented, and what am I? I’ll never be good enough for him.” You felt your eyes begin to sting, you really didn’t want to tear up in front of Jack.

Just when you were about to let everything out Finn came in, smiling to himself. He clapped his hands together.

    “Right,” He began enthusiastically, “The others are all out having fun, so why shouldn’t we.” He grabbed you by the hand and pulled you through to the living room. Jack followed.

    “Dude, if you and Y/N are going to be having that much fun I can leave?” Jack smirked.

    “Not yet.” Finn winked at you. Did he really just say ‘yet’? 

He pulled you down with him onto the couch and turned the TV on. Holding your hand, and the remote in the other, he pressed play. An upbeat instrumental began to play.

A title appeared on the screen;

“The Friendships the IT Cast Built on Set”

You opened your mouth, confused, but Jack stole the words right from you.

    “What the fuck is this?” Finn’s smile only grew wider.

    “This,” Finn began, “Is a montage of behind the scene clips from the movie. It’s to show how close we’ve all gotten during filming.”

You could see yourself on screen right now laughing with Sophia, at Jaeden, who’d just tried to do an impression of you. You remembered the happiness you’d felt spending all summer with them all.

Finn continued, “It was going to be part of the bonus features on the DVD but they cut it. Luckily, I managed to get a hold of it, I was going to save it for the others coming back but I need to show it to you now.” A clip of you and Finn hugging, after filming a scene came on, you couldn’t hold back your smile.

The three of you sat and watched the clips, well you tried to but you were too busy staring at Finn. His eyes were bright and shiny with excitement, he had the biggest smile on his face. You watched as he laughed at the screen, seeing him this happy made you feel happy - like you had an emotional connection. Seeing him sad would make you sad.

Jack snorted, “Dude, do you remember that day though? We literally couldn’t of pissed anymore people off if we’d tried!” Finn laughed with him.

All of a sudden Finn went quiet and paused the TV. He turned to look into your eyes and began to squeeze your hand. As soon as he did this, you felt sparks shoot up your arm.

    “Y/N,” He whispered, so quietly you could had to strain to hear him, “I don't want you to panic, but I overheard what you were saying to Jack in the kitchen.” You inhaled sharply, you’d just ruined a friendship.

    “The reason,” He stopped to take a breath, “The reason I wanted to show this to you was because of the next clip that's about to play. No ones ever seen it before. When they filmed this clip of me, on set, I made them delete it straight away, which they did, but then they managed to retrieve the file. As they were putting this whole thing on a disk to send to me, they added this scene too.”

Jack was on the edge of his seat, he had no idea what was happening. You could tell Finn was nervous as he moved his finger to the play button of the remote, and clicked. A video began of Finn, alone in the shot, talking to the camera, with the IT Quarry Scene set in the background;

    “What do I think of Y/N? I mean, where do I begin. Firstly, she’s probably the most talented actor I’ve ever worked with, not only that, but she’s the best friend I’ve ever had. When I’m filming a scene with her, it’s electric. When I’m spending time with her, it’s beyond electric.

“Not only that, but I’ve got to thank her for putting up with me and constantly laughing at my jokes. Like legit, I could make the worst joke ever in front of twenty odd people, who wouldn't even blink in response to the punchline, but I know that from across the room I'll hear that same familiar laugh.

“When we’re together, I can’t do anything but smile. Her being happy makes me happy, her smiles contagious. In all my life, I've never felt so connected with someone.

”I love all her habits, like how she scrunches up her nose when she's cold, and how she bites her lip when she’ s thinking. I notice all these things that make her unique.

“I don’t think people realise, when they see this movie, just how much it’s meant to me. If this film had never been made, I would have never met such a talented, funny, kind, and amazing,person to get to call my friend. 

“Someday I’ll tell her all this, she wont believe me though, she can’t see how amazing she is, but I can. Everyday, she surprises me more and more, I’m so lucky to have someone who makes me as happy as her. There’s no one quite like her. She's literally perfect in every single way...

“Shit. Sorry, what was the question again? Oh god, let’s redo that...”

Finn hadn’t watched the TV at all, he’d been completely been fixated on you. You were speechless.

    “Y/N,” He began, “I never want to hear you say anything like that ever again. Every single word I said there was true.”

    “Finn, I..I..”, You stuttered, “I don’t know what to say, I can’t find words.”

    “Well, you don't have to.” He leaned in and kissed you. Your lips were warm, your whole head was spinning, waves of electricity rushed through you. With his lips still pressed on yours he moved his hand to your face, cupping it. You began to move your hand to his hair, when you heard a thud coming from the doorway.

You both pulled away and looked over. Sophia, Wyatt, Chosen, Jaeden and Jeremy were all standing at the door with their mouths wide open. The thud had come from Sophia dropping her shopping bags.

    “Okay but what the fuck did we miss when we were out?” Wyatt asked, breaking the silence.

    Jeremey smirked, “Well, who turned the heat up in here?”

    “Shut up dude, you’re ruining their moment!” Chosen hissed.

You looked from the door and back into Finn’s eyes. You moved in to kiss him again, this time harder, like you didn’t have a single care in the world.

The room erupted with screams and cheers. Jack jumped onto the couch and hugged you both, the rest of the group followed, so that you were all piled on top of each other on the one sofa, sharing one big group hug. Finn didn’t let go of your hand at all.

    “I just love you guys so much, I LOVE YOU!” Jaeden shouted from the bottom of the heap. Everyone cheered.

     “You know what though,” Jack sighed, “Next time I’m just going shopping, I’ve been a right fucking third wheel.”

Everyone laughed in agreement.

It was the perfect end to the day, probably one of the best days of your life.

Writers Note: So I hope this was okay, Part Four will take place on NYE which should be fun, I’m going to miss writing this series a lot

Feel free to send in requests in my ask box anytime

Thank you so, so, much for reading this, it means so much to me!

Take care and stay safe :)

[jimlingss]

Brass & Strings [2]

Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3 Words: 2.9k Genre: Fluff, Humour (?), Slice of Life, Music!Au, College!Au Summary: Have you ever wondered what happens to the mean girl after high school? Where do they go, where do they end up? More importantly, what happens when they get mixed up with the classic nerd that's always too nervous to answer 'no'? Things become a lot more complicated when Kim Namjoon encounters you. They dub you as 'bat-shit insane' and you're not ashamed.

Cr.

Namjoon’s hands are within his lap and he peers down at them, twiddling his fingers and looking anywhere but you. No matter how much you lean down, trying to lock gazes and how intense your stare is, he refuses to meet your eyes. “I-Is there something you need from me?”

You lean back, watching as his glasses slide down the slope of his nose and he pushes it back up again hastily. “No. There’s something you need from me.”

It was quite a feat to catch Kim Namjoon. Every time you approached him, he would run in the opposite direction. When you stared at him in class, he would wipe his sweat away and excuse himself to the bathroom. It took you cornering him in the library after two days and demanding that he follow you to the coffee shop to be able to sit where you are now.

It’s not like you could blame him though. You did splash steaming coffee all over him.

Before the timid man in front of you can ask you what you mean, you slide your phone across the table. Namjoon follows the device and you motion him to press play. He swallows hard, holding it into his hands and his doe irises glue to the video.

Within a few sips of your iced drink, a scan of your surroundings and a short seconds spent gazing outside, when you redirect your vision to him, Namjoon’s face has outright paled.

The harpist gently puts down your phone and his pupils shake, hands back into his lap.

“Did you enjoy that? It definitely caused quite the scene. People became really mad.” You smirk at how his eyes momentarily flicker to your plush lips pressed against the straw. When your tongue pokes out to wet your mouth, he gulps and looks back into your eyes. “Our fellow classmates were about to create an entire riot. After all, how could a musician, no matter what they play, treat an instrument like that. They wanted to...hmm..what was it? Oh yeah, throw this person out of the faculty, make them pay, blacklist them from the music community.”

“That would certainly be a shame, wouldn’t it? To have your passion slip away from your fingers…” You sigh sheepishly, chin resting in your propped hand as your eyes glimmer. “You know, Namjoon, flutes are fairly expensive. The professional ones usually cost more than seventeen thousand but hand-crafted, custom made from professionals, golden plated instruments cost even more so.”

He releases a shaky breath, beads of sweat building at his forehead. The man is so easy to manipulate, so easy to play with, it’s almost sad. Namjoon nearly evokes a sense of guilt within you. “What do you want?”

A giant smile pulls at the corners of your lips. “I’m glad you’re willing to discuss this. But I’ve heard some rumours about you, Namjoon.”

The harpist raises his chin and blinks at you with wide eyes. “R-r-rumours?”

“You’re a science major, aren’t you? Well, you were.” You cross your arms, looking out the glass window again as you tiredly re-tell your sob story for him to hear. “You see, my parents aren’t all on board with me and my music major. Long story short, they’ve made me double major in something I don’t care about and frankly those classes and those assignments are a waste of my precious time.”

Namjoon puts two and two together. “So you want me to take those classes for you?”

“Bingo.” You snap your fingers, grinning at him. “You really are smart.”

“How will that even work? I-I can’t do that for you. It’s...It’s against the rules! T-that’s cheating! We could get thrown out.”

You wave your hand, motioning him to silence. “It’s impossible to become expelled, trust me. And we can figure out the details. But are you on board or not?”

Some might call you spoiled, a bitch or an absolute brat. And you can’t really disagree. Born with a golden spoon, every single inch pampered since birth, your life has been set. Anything and everything that you want, you end up getting. And it seems like this is one of the many times that things won’t change.

“C-can you give me some time to think? Just a little bit to consider…..please?” Namjoon pushes up his glasses again, stealing a glimpse of you as his teeth sink into his bottom lip. You muse that the harpist could be even more cute if he wasn’t wearing such a dirty flannel and he combed his hair for once. At the moment, he looks no less than a pitiful beggar and it allows you to give some mercy to him.

“Fine.” You roll your eyes, heaving out the answer like it exhausts you. “I’ll give you twenty four hours. By then, if you refuse or you don’t answer me, I’ll release the video.” Namjoon nods and you add on, “also, I know you wouldn’t but in the case you try to delete it or steal my phone somehow, I’ve got it backed up at several locations. Don’t test me.”

Namjoon observes as your red stained lips draw into yet another smirk. You slide your shades onto your face, swiping your mobile device while snatching your Versace handbag. With a hair flip and your heels clacking against the tile, the cafe door opens and slams, the bell jangling violently.

The harpist holds his head within his hands, groaning and melting into a spineless mess.

//

He wonders what sin he must’ve committed in his past life to deserve this.

It didn’t make sense. Namjoon has helped grannies across the street, hold their grocery bags all the way to their house. He’s given his seat up on the train and the bus for pregnant ladies, children and the elderly when he had pulled all-nighters, ready to pass out at any given chance. Every time there was a charity, Namjoon had forked out the bills he could. He’s the type of person to help at any given chance - to bring wallets he’s found on the street to the police station, to spend an hour with a crying child, consoling them and looking for their parents.

Namjoon wasn’t a saint but he’s not the devil. Not like you are; you’re practically a demon that showed up from nowhere.

“Jimin. I know you’re mad at me but I need your advice right now. More than ever, so can you at least look at me?” Namjoon puts his hand on the shoulders of his roommate and he shakes the shorter man. “Please!”

The cute college student scoffs and brushes his hands away. “Do you even know what you left me to do, Joon?! I had to clean up your mess like always! And I had to scrub the toilets! Why don’t you ever get that job? How is this even fair?” He whines, jumping up and down and wiggling his limbs in protest. Namjoon tries his best not to crack a smile at how cute the angry boy is. “I’m serious!”

“I know.” Namjoon attempts to sympathize. “And I’m sorry, Jimin. You know I can’t help my clumsiness. I promise I’ll clean up after myself next time. Just right now, I need you.”

Jimin mumbles something incoherent and he walks off to the kitchen, handing Namjoon the drying towel. As the latter man unloads the broken dishwasher, the former tucks the plates away in the cabinets. “Jimin, have you ever heard of a L/N Y/N?”

“L/N...sounds familiar.” He frowns and stands on the tips of his toes to put away the mugs. “Oh isn’t that the name of one of the chemistry professors?”

“Professors?” Namjoon frowns. “No. She’s a classmate of mine.”

“Y/N….” Jimin hums and tilts his head to the side. “I think I know who you���re talking about…. Yeah, I’ve seen her around. She’s scary.”

The boy in glasses grimaces and agrees.

Namjoon has never had many friends. Besides the fact that he’s always been shy and timid, those who became friendly with him most frequently had ulterior motives. They’d use him for his brain, answers to homework and to shoulder the burden of entire projects. These people never stuck around or lasted in his life. And despite transferring to a completely new faculty, no one in the science department would ever miss him. In Namjoon’s mind, he isn’t very memorable.

There is, however, one individual who he’s sort of befriended.

“Y/N?” The tenor saxophonist leans in closer, an appalled expression on his face. “Why would you ever want to know about her?”

Taehyung is someone Namjoon met in his Chromatic Harmony class, a mischievous boy who regularly brings in Chinese takeout, obnoxiously slurping noodles as the professor speaks, gaining the attention of everyone around and he almost always falls into a food coma afterwards. Ever since Taehyung stumbled in and took the last seat next to the harpist and asked Namjoon if he had toilet paper on him, Namjoon’s been saving him a seat.

The two of them get along pretty well for one person being a huge extrovert and the other a closed off introvert - opposites attract after all. “I’m just curious…”

“She’s good. One of the best...maybe even the best.” Taehyung murmurs as the both of them turn down the hallway. “Her knowledge on music composition and her playing is impeccable. The conductor never has anything to say or nitpick about her technique. If she was a violinist, she’d probably beat Jennie and be the concertmistress. I’ve also heard rumours that she’s a musical genius? I wouldn’t doubt that either.”

“But Y/N’s horrible.” The blonde man stops all together, causing Namjoon to halt hot on his toes. Taehyung darts his head around and pulls the other off to the side, whispering under his breath, “everyone’s a bit afraid of her, even the conductor himself. I’ve heard she made freshmen cry before and a few people drop out. Her tongue is sharp and she’s a mean bitch but no one can say anything or argue why she can’t be here. She’s a hard worker and naturally talented at what she does. It’s like heaven favours her or something. Seriously though, if I were you, I’d steer clear from Y/N.”

Taehyung warns Namjoon one more time, “they say she can manipulate other people’s emotions to get what she wants and she’s frighteningly good at it.”

Like an enchantress, people don’t realize that they’ve followed your demands until it’s over. It always feels like you’re the one doing them a favour. By merely being in their presence, they’ve already felt privileged. It’s a talent. It’s a gift.

Namjoon didn’t even realize he had been played right into your hands until it hit him.

But even if he wants to escape, he can’t.

He’s completely trapped.

“Have you made a decision?” Your fingernails tap against the wooden surface, making him more and more anxious. Namjoon is a marionette doll, trying to cut his own strings to freedom but with a simple smirk from your lips, his arms are pulled back into position and he’s helpless.

He finally understands why people call you scary.

Your twinkling eyeballs bore into his skin. Namjoon rubs his clammy palms together.

He loves music. He can’t give it up. If attending classes for you is all he needs to pursue his passion then...

A good three seconds pass and he finally cracks under the pressure. “Okay.”

“Great.” Your grin is bright, getting what you want as usual. For a second, he thinks you resemble a child ripping presents on Christmas. And you would certainly retain the innocent image if not for his perception of you as the devil incarnate. “There’s no need to make things complicated by writing out a formal contract, right? If you go against my plans then I’ll release the video. As simple as that.”

Namjoon gulps and nods. His glasses are full of stains but he still pushes them up, focusing his pupils in his lap. You’re puzzled as to why he often doesn’t look you in the eyes. “I’ll give you my schedule. Most of the time attendance is for grades but all they do is pass around a sheet of paper so you can just write my name down, yeah? And you can do my homework and projects. We’ll figure out more details later for exams and tests. I don’t really care about getting good marks in those classes so don’t break your back over it.”

“Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

“As I said before...it’s impossible for me to get thrown out. At least for me...” You take a good look at him. Today, he’s wearing an worn sweatshirt with streaks of paint blemishing the gray fabric and the letters on front are illegible from being washed a few hundred times. It looks like a rag you would use. “And I can protect you too. Don’t worry about things like being expelled.”

As your smile grows, one that resembles an angel ironically, Namjoon truly wonders what on earth he did to deserve this.

It hadn’t been a full day before you were already terrorizing his life.

All you had done was call him shouting ‘get over here!’ and while Namjoon was stunned and confused, you hung up on him and his phone lit up with a text of an address. Now he was running to you like some personal slave. “Is everything okay?!”

His glasses are hanging half off his face. He was in the middle of a shower, shampoo and soap studs still coating the strands of his hair. His white hoodie is half drenched from not drying his body off with a towel beforehand. But his mind is boggling from your figure, orbs sweeping up and down your form. “What-?”

You slide down your sunglasses, smirking at how he’s hyperventilating; the effort of his trip here is clearly evident. There are about twenty shopping bags by your feet and you’re sitting on the plush armchair like it’s your throne. The ladies behind the boutique counter smile stiffly at Namjoon.

All around him is expensive clothing racks. The coats and dresses are equivalent to him selling all four of his limbs on the black market. There are ritzy handbags showcased behind glass casing, white lights shining down on the sparkling products. Every jewel, handwatch and tie, the ironed suits and shoes belong to brand names he’s only seen in magazines; Hermès and Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel. Namjoon’s never quite stepped in a luxurious store like this.

“You made me wait a few minutes too long.” You ‘tut’ with your tongue, uncrossing your legs to stand tall with your brand new heels. “Just grab the bags and let’s go.”

As you throw open the doors, Namjoon struggles to haul all twenty bags on his arms but he manages to, panting and huffing as he catches up with you. “T-This is why you called me?”

“There are too many of them for me to carry on my own. You don’t mind, do you?” You pout your lips innocently, batting your long lashes back and forth. Namjoon prays for more patience.

You don’t wait for his reply, entering the next store with ludicrous prices, carding through the racks with your fingers. Anything that you like, you throw into the piles. Namjoon follows you from one place to the next, a servant to your shopaholic tendencies. The pair of you enter at least seven more stores, each with him following you like a shadow or puppy. And for the first time, rather than being scared, Namjoon is massively annoyed with you.

“That’ll be nine hundred and eighty dollars.” The lady behind the counter begins wrapping up your new blouses and skirts. You open your wallet, hand ghosting along the many cards.

Namjoon watches over your shoulder as you play eeny, meeny, miny, moe before you take a random one out. “Here you go.”

After you exit, the harpist can’t help but be curious. “Why do you have so many credit cards?”

“Oh, they’re not mine.”

“Then….?” It belatedly hits him, striking him like a freight train. It all makes sense. For someone as attractive as yourself, having all this money..…“Are you a sugar baby?”

Your face twists in distaste. “I don’t really like putting labels on things...it’s more like...sometimes I go on dates with wealthy people to get gifts from them. I give the lonely the company they desire. You’d be surprised how much someone could make it a week doing that sort of thing.”

There are fifteen bags each hanging off of Namjoon’s arms and he’s tired, exhausted. But for a mere moment, it all washes away with his slight growing curiosity of you. Namjoon thought that you were a spoiled brat and you are. Though, like anyone else, there were so many things he didn’t know….like an onion with many layers. He just hasn’t uncovered all of yours yet…

“Isn’t it time to get to class?” You glance at the clock in the center of the shopping plaza. “I think there’s only an hour left. You better start running if you don’t want to be late!”

Namjoon puts the bags down and without bidding you goodbye, begins to book it down the street. Your cackling laugh rings inside his ears as he calculates how long it would take to grab his belongings before sitting down in the lecture room for your biochem class. He also ponders again - what he did to deserve this. What he has gotten himself into?

Namjoon’s just sure that he’s going to have to be with you for a long time.

[forever-rogue]

Words and Paper - Part IV

Summary: Y/N is a brilliant young lawyer who was hired by Tony Stark himself. She didn’t expect half of the things that would happened, but she was sure glad Bucky happened.

A/N: Thanks for all your continued support! I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in this!

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: None

MASTERLIST

PART I | PART II | PART III | PART V | PART VI | PART VII | PART VIII | PART IX | PART X | PART XI | PART XII | PART XIII

Y/N had been eager to get started working since her big move to New York. Now that the day was finally upon her, she wasn’t feeling so sure. Her nerves were getting the better of her, and she was suddenly rethinking her decisions. The only decision she wasn’t rethinking was Bucky. Ever since he had finally kissed her, the two of them had been as giddy as two teenagers experiencing their first crushes.

She let out a sigh of exasperation as threw the dress in her hands onto the her bed, making it join the other ones she had already rejected. She didn’t want to be over dressed, but most definitely did not want to be under dressed. Nothing was calling out to her. She reached back and settled on a mid length dark blue dress with a lace overall that she could easily pair with a blazer. She deemed it professional, but still showed off her personality.

She glanced at her phone and saw that she had wasted more time than she had wanted on picking an outfit. She quickly pinned back the sides of her hair and threw on some makeup. Her phone lit up as she slippe on her shoes and grabbed her jacket. She picked it up without looking at who it was, “Hello?”

“Good Morning, Princess,” Bucky’s warm voice brought an instant smile to her face.

“Hiya Buckaroo,” she grabbed her saddle back and headed into the kitchen, “I’m so not ready for today! I think I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.”

“Hey, you’re going to be fine. They wanted you for a reason after all,” he reassured and hear her taking  a few deep breaths, “have you had coffee or breakfast yet?”

“No, I’ve been trying to figure out what to wear,” she sheepishly admitted.

“Open the door,” her brows knitted together for a moment as she realized he was going to be waiting for. She hung up the phone and swung the door open to reveal Bucky standing there, two coffees in his hand and some breakfast tucked under his arm.

“Oh yes! You are the best,” she stepped aside and let him. He set the items down on the counter. He gave her a smile in return and kissed her cheek.

“I figured you’d be nervous, so I tried to help a little bit. Were you planning on walking to work or taking a cab?” He sat down at the bar and pulled out a bagel he had gotten for himself.  She grabbed her coffee and took a sip - it was just the way she liked it, with plenty of milk and a hint of sugar.

“I was planning on walking, it’s not too far. Would you like to accompany me?” She gave him a small wink.

“I would love to,”

“I just, ugh,” she started and stopped herself, trying to choose her words carefully. She didn’t want to hurt Bucky’s feelings or anything.

“What’s up?”

“I think we maybe shouldn’t go in together. Not yet anyway,” she avoided meeting his gaze but could feel his eyes on her.

“Oh?” He didn’t sound upset, just surprised.

“I just thinking with starting a completely new job, I don’t know how good it would look to come in with your coworker, that you’ve started dating,” she shrugged her shoulders lightly.  She knew all about conflicts of interest and how much harshly people judged dating in the workplace, and it could lead down a path she didn’t necessarily want.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” He chuckled a little bit, “but don’t worry, we don’t have to tell anyone yet. It’ll be okay eventually, but you’re probably right.”

“It’s not you, Bucky, really. I just don’t want to start anything,” she keep rambling, relieved he wasn’t upset with her.

“It’ll be fine, Y/N,” he reached over and grabbed her hand kissed it gently. She felt a blush creep up in her cheeks at the small, intimate gesture. They were interrupted by the Y/N’s phone vibrating. She picked it up and saw that it was a text from Tony wishing her a good first day.

“I guess we’d better get going,” she said softly. She exhaled and slipped on her jacket, grabbing her bags and the rest of the coffee and bagel. Bucky followed suit and went ahead and opened the door for her.

The two of them walked hand in hand towards the Avengers Tower where they would both be working. It was a chilly New York morning, where the leaves had suck started changing color. Y/N tried to take everything in as she fought off her nerves.

“Tell me something about yourself,” Bucky suddenly said as he pulled on her hand and got her to stop about a block away from the tower. She loved that he always remembered to ask her for a fact and then tell her one in turn.

“Another day, another fact,” she chuckled as she tried to think of something interesting, “let’s see. My first job in law school was working as a clerk at a family law firm , and on my first day I accidentally deleted half of the stuff on the company server.”

Bucky let out a hearty laugh. She had confessed to him she was a bit unlucky, mixed in with some clumsiness, but this was hilarious to him, “how? How do you even manage to do that?”

“I leaned on my keyboard and apparently had a bunch of stuff selected and deleted it. Luckily, the server was backed up everyday, so it wasn’t a huge deal. Needles to say, I didn’t last long there, “ she cringed a little bit at the memory of having to tell her boss what she had done, “your turn.”

“Back before the War, I thought I was pretty smooth with the ladies,” Y/N raised her eyebrows at him and tried to imagine being suave, “and one night Steve and I were at a pool hall and I was trying to impress the girls. Long story short, I tried to play some pool and ended up giving a girl a black eye with the back of the cue stick.”

“Wow, Buck. Real smooth. I’m guessing she didn’t give you her number?” She smirked at him as he stuck out his tongue at her. She placed her hands on his shoulders and observed him, “I would still have given my number.”

“Ha ha. Isn’t it time for you to go?” He joked and it was her turn to stick out her tongue at him. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.

“I’ll see you later. Wish me luck?”

“You don’t need it, but of course. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sounds perfect,” she pulled away from him, turned on her heel and cast him one last glance before making her way down the block.

‘I can do this’ she repeatedly mentally to herself over and over.

She walked into the tower and headed for the front desk where a young woman sat at the receptionist's desk.

“Good morning, may I help you?” She gave Y/N a pleasant smile.

“Yes, I’m Dr. Y/L//N. I’m here for my first day,”

“Oh yes! It’s nice to meet you, there’s been a lot of buzz about you coming! The legal department is on third floor. This is your access badge. The team is there waiting for you,” she handed Y/N a few papers and a key card and pointed in the direction of the elevator.

“Thank you so much,” she put the papers in her bag and headed for the elevator. She gave the receptionist a small wave as the doors closed.  She clutched her bag tightly and leaned against the wall of the elevator with closed eyes as she waited for the ding.

When the doors opened they revealed a large, spacious and open suite. There was natural light filtering in through the many windows, which gave it a homey feel. Y/N smiled a little to herself. She walked over to the front desk and was about to introduce herself just as she was interrupted.

“Dr. Y/L/N?”

“Yes?” She turned around saw a middle aged woman with a stern expression on her face. Y/N was not getting good initial vibes from her.

“You’re late,” she said simply. Y/N glanced down at her watch and saw that the time displayed 9:01.

“A minute is considered late?” She said it almost without thinking, “I had to get my papers and key card, it took a few minutes.”

“I suggest you come earlier tomorrow then,” she had a wicked grin on her face, “if you’d like to follow me, I can show you to your office.”

“May I ask who you are?” She wasn’t about to let this woman break her on her first day.

“Mary Greene,” she stopped for a moment, “senior associate here and head of the legal department for Stark Industries.”

“Oh,”

“Make no mistake, Dr. Y/L/N, you may have been picked out by Mr. Stark himself, but you are still a child. You have much learn , and your place is one you should learn quickly. You will work here but you will answer to the me. Is that clear?”

Y/N trudged after Mary down the long hallway, past other offices. This wasn’t exactly how she imagined any of this would go. She was also not one to let things go. She paused for a moment,  “Mary? May I just ask you a question?”

“Go on,” she stopped in front of Y/N’s office and narrowed her eyes.

“I was just wondering who died and made you the queen?” Y/N  knew she would probably regret this later, but she wasn’t about to be bullied around, “I have worked hard to get where I am, just like I’m sure you did. Make no mistake, but my age makes me no less competent than you. If you expected me to just be some kid you could bully into doing your bidding, then you were wrong, Now, I believe this is my office?”

Mary’s mouth was hanging open as Y/N swiped her key card and opened the door. She let herself in and swiftly shut the door behind her. Her heart was racing; she half expected Mary to bust down the door and drag her out. One thing she had learned very early on in her legal career was that you had to stand your ground, otherwise people would just walk all over and use you.

Y/N took a look around her spacious office. It was almost exactly like her old one, she realized Tony must have gotten her and desk and furniture sent over. She walked over to antique globe she had by the side of her desk and have it a small spin. She would get used to this. People would learn to accept her, hopefully they wouldn’t all be as bad as Mary.  

She sat down in the familiar chair and sighed. So much for a first impression. She noticed she had a brand new top of the line computer and looked at it in awe, but of course Tony would only have the best. There was a bright sticky note on the corner of it, Y/N picked it up and saw that it said there was a meeting at noon. She sighed and laid her head down on  the desk. She jumped a bit at the sound of knocking on her door,. She gathered herself for a moment before going to answer it. To her surprise, there as Tony waiting for her.

“Mr. Stark-”

“Please, Tony. Mr. Stark is my father,” he stepped without her saying anything, “I just came by to wish you good luck and I must say, apparently you’ve made quite the first impression.”

“I’m sorry, sir, Mary was just so…”

“Awful? Yeah, she’s not the best people person. But she’s a talented lawyer and that’s why I keep her. You’re smart not to let her push you around. Just like I hand picked her, I hand picked you for a reason. Make sure they know that,” he set some flowers he had been holding down on her desk.

“I will try,” she with a small grin.

“After the department meeting where you’ll introduce yourself and they’ll explain procedures and blah blah blah, take the rest of the day  to settle in. Tomorrow morning, come see me when you get here, and I’ve got a case for you to start working on,” he didn’t let her get a word in edgewise but gave her a mock bow and left her office.

Y/N’s head was spinning with everything thrown at her. But to already be working on a new project was exciting enough. She spent the rest of the morning put away her supplies and making sure everything was just the way she liked.  But when the clock struck noon, she got up, held her head high and went to the meeting.

She wasn’t expecting to walk into a room so full of lawyers, a very varied group of lawyers to be fair. She looked for an empty seat but couldn’t spot one. She was about to go into panic mode when Mary’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Dr. Y/L/N, why don’t go to the front and introduce yourself. The whole department is here and exciting to get to know you,” the whole room fell into a hush and she could feel a nervous flush rise in her cheeks.

“I’d love to,” she lied as she walked up to the podium at the front. She set her notebook de and took a moment to gather her thoughts, “my name is Y/N Y/L/N. I work as a civil and human rights attorney, and I’m from San Francisco. I spent part of my time in law school working for the attorney general, dealing with criminal matters, as well as working for a family law firm, and have my doctorate in law and political science. I’ve been practicing since I passed the bar early last year, and I look forward to working here with all of you. I know everyone has different backgrounds and I think that beneficial so we can all learn from and help each other.”

“Y/N? If I may be so bold, how old are you?” She cringed for a moment at the question from one of the older men.

“I am 25, if you must know. But, let me make this very clear,” she paused for a moment for dramatic effect, “if you have a problem with my age or experience level, please say so now. I am an as competent and capable as you. Let me put it this way, young attorneys are needed because we bring a new perspective onto things: times are changing and we must adapt. We can’t handle things the way we did fifty years ago. I don’t want there to be any issues with any of us, but I will not tolerate being bullied or treated less because of my age. Now, are there any questions?”

No in the room moved or made any objections. She allowed herself a small smile as she backed away from the podium. That had shut them right up.

Maybe she did have a place there after all.

Taglist:  @sebstanwassup @ladyabby-1996 @bookaddic @jems8241

[theres-no-paradise]

Sorry not Sorry

Chapter 7

Summary: A random number wakes you up early on a Saturday morning. But it doesn't stop there. The stranger keeps on sending messages, and you have no idea what is happening, when you start to develop feelings for the unknown person.

Pairings: Tom Holland  x Reader [submit your name: How it works]

Y/N your Name

Y/F  your friends name

Word Count:  1726

Chapter 8 

Warnings: There will be swearing for sure, lots of sarcasm

A/N: And here we have Chapter 7! Sorry for the delay though, I needed to change some things and wasn't happy with the outcome yesterday. I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think :)

You both sat in silence for a moment, trying to understand what the words exactly meant which you just said a few minutes ago. ‘He is here’, you repeated these three words in your mind over and over like a mantra, searching through the crowds of people for a face that seemed to be familiar but you knew, that wouldn't happen. You had no idea who Tom was, what his face looked like, nor what colour his hair had. You didn't know anything and it turned you mad as you were looking at each person in the room. While you searched for him, Y/F wanted to know more about it.

“Are you serious? Where? How? Why?”, were the words she threw at you, nearly as hysterical as you felt.

“I don’t know! He texted me that he’s in his favourite Pub which apparently is this one!”, you answered a little fierce, your eyes glaring through the pub in hope to recognize him somehow.  

“Oh God. But how do we know who he is?”, Y/F asked the question, you've been trying to answer to yourself for the past few minutes. Maybe a huge blinking light would appear over his head or he’d just stare back at you and you’d know automatically that it was him. You know, just as in all this Soulmate Stories. But honestly, none of that would happen. You didn't know how he looked and he had no idea who you were. So how were you supposed to find out, who of these dozens of men was Tom.

“His friend’s at the restroom … so maybe-”, you remembered from his Text and Y/F continued: “If we see who comes out we can actually check where he’s going!”

It was a good idea, but you started to feel bad about this whole thing. You weren't ready yet to meet the guy you texted with for the past weeks. Not even a bit.

“Urgh, I feel sick. Can we leave?”

“No way! I actually wanna see the guy who’s been stealing your time for so long”, your best friend insisted and gave you a serious look.

“But Y/F … I don't think it's a good idea to stay. This is so … unplanned”, you tried to convince her but she shrugged it off. “And that's the best way to get to know each other. Oh look! Cute guy alert coming from the restroom. You think this is the friend? What's his name again? Haz?”, the name dropped a little too loud and the guy with the light hair and bright blue eyes turned around, catching a glimpse of the girl that was none other than Y/F. Your face was as red as a tomato and you slapped Y/Fs arm lightly. “Stop it!!”, you whisper shouted.

“Sorry”.

Your phone buzzed and caught your attention again. “I can't read it, I’m too anxious. You do it; I really can't because I might throw up”, you said, shoving the device in your best friends direction, so she could take it.

Then Y/F read the message, only loud enough for you to hear.

Not Tom Hardy :(: Cat got your tongue? Where you at? Home?

Y/F waited for your reaction but there was none. You sat there, silent and looking quickly at your hands that were holding the glass of beer in front of you. Then, as you sat there, your face started to change colours from deep red to white as your gaze got stuck on the guy who reacted to the name ‘Haz’. He just sat down on the bench in the far back corner of the Pub, another guy sitting opposite of him, typing something into his phone while the blue-eyed friend said something. He turned in his seat and looked around until he found your table, saying something to his friend, that still stared at his mobile. You gulped as realization started to hit slowly.

Not Tom Hardy :(: Haz is back. I’ll text you later since you seem to be busy.

As Y/F read the second text, she caught your stare and followed suit but what you didn’t expect was for the guy to look up from his phone and stare back at you immediately. Y/F’s eyes widened as she looked over to the table and then she said something, that made you feel even more nauseous: “Hey, isn't that actually the new Spiderman guy?”

“I think I have to vomit.”

“What?”

You stood up and walked quickly to the restrooms. Closing the door behind you, you breathed in and out. It couldn't be. He couldn't be the guy you've been texting for the past month, right? This was not the Tom, was it? Tom Holland? Really?

No, you were overreacting once again and your brain was making up things. You were so stressed out, that you even forgot your phone on the table. How silly.

After refreshing yourself with some water, you walked back to your table where Y/F waiting for you with a confused look on her face. As you were about to sit down, a voice from behind startled you. “Can we talk?” Y/F mouth dropped and her eyes went wide and so did yours, once you turned your face to see to whom the voice that spoke, belonged to.

Since you couldn't get a word out, you just nodded and followed the guy, that you recognized from earlier, outside.

“Hi”

“Hi”

Awkward silence.

“I always imagined to meet you under different circumstances but here we are I guess …”, he said after a few minutes of standing next to you. You didn't know what to answer and you definitely didn't know how to react. Stare at him or the streetlamp that was surrounded by a dozen of moths and other insects, that were drawn to the light? Maybe just observe the people that were walking by? Oh and this advert on the wall looked suddenly very interesting. At some point the silence made you feel very awkward and you saw Tom looking at you, waiting for a return probably.

“I … You … Uh … So- you really are Tom Holland, huh? Who would've guessed …?”, you stuttered and moved around awkwardly. Moments like this made you very nervous, so you had to shift a little around with your feet. “Are you surprised?” “Surprised? Tom, I am shocked. I feel like I'm about to have a panic attack because I feel so … so …” “Exposed?”, he finished your sentence as you were at a loss for words.

“Yes!”

“Yeah that's how I kinda feel, too”, he admitted, still looking at you.  

“This is so weird”

“I know right. But hey, at least I know you’re real! And I gotta be honest, you don't look like you're 25”, he laughed. It seemed that the whole situation was a lot easier for him than you. Maybe joking around made him less nervous, who knew.

“Yeah and you look like you're still in High School”, you countered, earning a loud and heartily laugh from the boy next to you.  

“Hey, that hurts! But I guess it is really you since you haven't lost your humour”, smiling, he nudged you a little.   “I'm still freaked out about this situation though.”

“No need to be. We can just pretend that we’ve known each other for a while.”he came forward with the proposal, but you only laughed nervously.

“Good Joke. You do realize that I'm still about to lose my shit since I'm talking to fucking Spider Man, right?”

“Then just talk to Tom”, was his simple answer.

You stared at him once again, taking everything in you could. His hair, eyes, nose and lips. The shape of his jaw, height and overall stature. You had to admit, he was even cuter in real life than all the movies you've seen him in before. And he seemed to be definitely the nice guy you got to know while texting. Would you give it a shot and keep the conversation going or would you leave him be since he was out of your league?   It was Tom Holland after all.

After what felt like a hundred years, Tom’s voice sounded once again: “Wanna go back inside? Its getting a little crowded.” “Yeah, I think I’ll head home anyway. This was a lot to take in tonight”, you admitted and followed Tom back inside with a sunken head. You felt horrible, self - conscious and absolutely not in the mood for more surprises. Tom nodded and headed straight back to the booth were his friend, Haz, was waiting for him. You sat down at the table you’ve occupied earlier together with Y/F. “So? What did you guys talk about?”, she asked curiously. The shock she seemed to have earlier was obviously gone but your heart still beating at a fast rate. “Nothing really. I’m still to overwhelmed right now”, you admitted and finished off your drink. “Do you think, we should join their table?”, your best friend asked, her eyes shiny as brilliants. “I’d rather not.”

“Why?”

“I just don't want to bother him any longer tonight and I also feel sick”

“I bet you aren't bothering him”

You didn't say anything for a few more minutes which made Y/F fretful, as she twitched around in her seat, waiting for a reaction on your side. “I'm going home” “Oh cmon, I thought we were going out, clubbing and getting wasted? It's been so long” “No, really, I need some time for myself now. I’m really sorry”, and with that you left a twenty Pound bill on the table and left the Pub without looking one last time to the back. You felt them, though. The stares. The brown eyes that belonged to Tom were watching every move you made, as you walked out of the building.

Not Tom Hardy :(: I hope we don't stop talking

You: Did I ever stop answering you?

Not Tom Hardy :(: Gladly you didn't

You: Does that answer your question?

Not Tom Hardy :(: :)

As you read the last message, you figured it was time to change Tom’s Contact Name. You deleted ‘Not Tom Hardy :(‘ and smiled as the new name appeared on the screen of the chat after changing it.

The Spiderman

TAGLIST: I hope everyone’s appearing here. If your link doesn’t work, let me know and I do my best to keep this updated :)  @hollandorks  @beardedsteveslut @ilivefortomholland @casualprincess77 @agirlwithpointlessideas @isabellamozarella03 @MENDES-HOLLAND @thiswildfire @wastedheartnat @hollandbaby @moonofmy-life @smileylaurens @random-fandom-lady @heartoftheadventure @blackazkaban @augurydemon @homecomjng @punkass-potato @unfoldingdaydreams @thefriendlyneighborhoodspidey