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writercole · 1 year

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Bound: A Sounds of Someday story

Summary: Jensen and Y/N have a strained month after their engagement. Words: 1848 Warnings: Childbirth (non graphic), anxiety. Credits: I'm pretty sure @flamencodiva beta'd this ages ago when it was supposed to be more than this. A/N: This is part of the world of Sounds of Someday. I haven't written RPF in over a year now so this is definitely an ancient wip that I'm bringing back for my dear friend @jensengirl83's birthday. I tried to find the master list for the series buuuut it's legit gone and I'm pretty sure that I deleted it. But I've linked the prologue (haha fooled you guys. The series is still there, just the ML is gone) and everything should be crosslinked. ANYWAY - this was born out of a challenge that Brandy set forth quite some time ago. My song was 'Turn the Page' by Bob Seger. I'm pretty sure I captured it well. Love you B! A/N 2: There is an entire story to follow behind this but I'm elbow deep in the rewrite and I'm also sure that the story that follows will be a separate book. But to all the fans of this series, I love you and cannot thank you enough. You can read the original again and the rewrite will be done hopefully in the next 6ish months. 😘

Jensen laid in the bunk on the tour bus and stared at the wall. The only thing he could hear was the sound of the engine roaring and the tires on the road. Everyone else was asleep except for the driver, Cliff. He’d tried to fall asleep but the only thing he saw when he closed his eyes was his fiancee’s face the moment she realized what he was doing on that stage two months ago.

Jensen dropped down to one knee in front of Y/N and her hands flew to her mouth as she gasped in surprise. “What better place to continue our adventure than on the stage where it began. Y/N, will you make me the luckiest man on earth and be my wife?”

He smiled at the memory as it played in his head again, comforting him while he rode several hundred miles east from Omaha to their next show. With a sigh, he turned over again, facing the curtain that was drawn across his bunk. The soft glow of the ambient nightlights filtered through a crack in the curtain, illuminating the beige walls and light blue of the curtain and bed linens.

Jensen huffed as he swung his legs out of his bunk and padded to the common area. He sat in the corner of the black leather sofa and spread out from end to end, his feet resting against one end while his back was against the other. He leaned his head against the back of the sofa and pulled his phone out, opening the youtube app and hitting his favorites.

The video they recorded for Eric Church started playing softly, the strains of ‘Like a Wrecking Ball’ surrounding him as he watched their smiling faces filling his screen. A tear slipped down his cheek when the video switched to the one Gen had posted of the proposal. He fell asleep watching the two videos on repeat, like he had every night since he’d left her side.

Y/N sipped from the glass of wine that was perched on the edge of the bathtub. The bubbles had nearly gone and the water was barely warm but her eyelids were still refusing to get heavy. It wasn’t the same sitting in the house in Austin alone, it wasn’t the same sleeping alone. Jensen’s pillow smelled like him, but it was cold, too soft.

Sighing dejectedly, she drained her glass and then the tub, stepping out onto the plush rug and wrapping herself up in Jensen’s soft robe. She inhaled deeply, comforting herself with his scent.

She crawled into bed again and pulled up youtube on the smart tv. She navigated to her favorites playlist and hit play. The sound of Jensen’s voice filled the room, a video from one of his first concerts with Corey. She watched several videos before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

“Jensen, man, what’s going on? You were a million miles away tonight,” Corey asked, his brows furrowed and his voice soft. They had just finished a show and Jensen had been sullen and quiet, his usual playful banter missing from their set.

"I have never been more ready for a tour to end. I like what we do, love what we do, but I don't know if I want to keep doing this." Jensen put his head in his hands and sighed deeply, willing the tears away.

Corey sat next to his friend and put his hand on his shoulder. “I get it, man. I do. With Alicia due any day now, I’m questioning this life, too. It’s hard enough being away from my wife but being away from my kid? That’s going to be a whole other ballgame.”

“We haven’t even set a date or really had time to just absorb being engaged, you know? She was with us that night and the next, then she went back home to Austin and I haven’t seen her in a month and we can barely video call and -” Jensen felt his breathing getting shallow and his chest tightening, signaling the start of an anxiety attack. It had been a few years since his last one and was shaping up to be a major one.

“Steve, bag!” Corey yelled across the room. Steve took one look at Jensen and ran across the room with one of the paper bags that were kept on hand for the number of people dealing with anxiety on the tour.

Corey handed Jensen the opened bag and walked him through breathing and grounding exercises, calming him down and getting him to refocus on the room around him. He handed Jensen a bottle of water and made sure he was okay before continuing their conversation.

“Look, Jay, it’s not gonna be easy, man. But we’ve only got a few more dates on this tour and then we’re off for months. You’ll be able to hang with us and your godchild, whatever that may be. You’ll plan the wedding, hell maybe even have the wedding. And it’ll all feel like a bad memory,” Corey offered half-heartedly.

“Yeah,” Jensen nodded, swallowing hard. “Distant memory.”

The days passed in a hurry. The countdown progressed down to hours, just over 48 now. Two more days and Y/N would be back at this airport picking up her fiance’. But now, she had business to tend to.

It was nearly midnight when Y/N made it to the door of the apartment her best friends owned. She was staying with Alicia until either the baby was born or Corey got back from tour. Alicia insisted that she was fine but Y/N wouldn’t take no for an answer; it was her way of paying them back for everything they’d done for her since they’d met.

“Alicia!” Y/N called as she walked inside, taking her keys out of the door and slipping them in her pocket. Alicia didn’t answer, but Y/N heard her cry out in pain. She rushed towards the bedroom, the direction the sound came from, and found Alicia doubled over, holding onto the door frame of the en suite and clutching her stomach. “Lee?!”

“Y/N. Thank god you’re here. I think I’m going into labor.” A splashing sound drew their attention towards the ground, a stream of clear liquid puddling on the floor at Alicia’s feet.

“Pretty sure your water just broke, hon. Get your shoes, I’ll grab your bag and we’ll call the hospital on the way down to the street,” Y/N instructed, already heading to the closet for the prepared bags. As soon as she grabbed them, she was phoning the hospital and getting the information on the fastest way there and what she needed to do for Alicia in the meantime.

“Y/N, Corey,” Alicia panted as she waddled to the elevator.

“Don’t worry, hon. I’ll handle everything else. You just focus on keeping that baby where it is until we get to the hospital.” Y/N said a silent prayer to whomever was listening that they’d make it in time and that she wouldn’t have to deliver a baby in the backseat of a cab.

Cliff had stopped at an all-night diner for everyone to get off the bus, stretch their legs, and have dinner before continuing on the next leg of the journey. There was still time before the next show, the last show of the tour, so he figured a break from the road was needed.

The group was situated at a long table, Corey at one end and Cliff at the other, quietly talking and enjoying their break. Corey’s phone rang and he looked at Jensen after checking the id. “It’s after midnight and it’s Y/N.”

“Her flight landed like two hours ago,” Jensen added, worry building in his gut.

“Y/N, what’s going -” Corey was cut off by Y/N talking very, very quickly and then handing off the phone. “Alicia, baby, are you okay? How far apart are they? How long until you get there? Okay baby, one of you call me when you can. I love you.” Corey hung up the phone and looked at the table. “Alicia is in labor. Y/N is with her. They’re almost to the hospital.”

The table was stunned into silence before a cacophony of reassurances spewed forth from everyone, turning the heads of the other diners, though no one seemed to care. They finished their meal quickly and headed to the bus, ready to get this final show on the road so Corey could get home to meet his kid.

Seven hours later, Alicia was holding a beautiful baby boy. She was exhausted but she was overjoyed, basking in the bliss of new motherhood. Y/N watched everything with a soft smile and tears in her eyes, happy for her best friends and already deeply in love with her godson.

Corey was video chatting with Alicia and the baby, assuring them that he’d be here tomorrow. That meant that Jensen would be here tomorrow as well. Y/N sighed in relief and shut her eyes, knowing that it would feel faster if she got some rest.

The performers on stage for their final date of the tour were nearly vibrating with anticipation, counting the seconds until they could run back to the tour bus and hop on their flight to New York. The crowd was enjoying every second and the energy in the arena was palpable.

Corey thanked everyone and bid them a good night, restraining himself from running off the stage. Post show drinks were skipped as everyone packed up as fast as they could, the amplifiers still ringing in their ears, and headed to the airport.

The plane took off from South Carolina and landed in New York a few hours later. Corey and Jensen were scanning the crowd as soon as it came into view, chuckling when they spotted Y/N holding a sign that said ‘aging, washed up rock stars’ in bold black letters.

She dropped the sign as soon as she saw Jensen rounding the corner of the walkway and ran to him, jumping in his arms with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

“I missed you so much, sweetheart,” Jensen whispered as he twirled her around.

“Missed you more,” she replied as she buried her face into his neck.

“What’s this about you picking up aging, washed up rock stars?” Corey jested from behind them.

She lifted her head enough to send him a glare. He tossed his head back laughing loudly, amused by the antics of his best friends.

“Can we wrap this up, please? I got a kid to meet,” he quipped, smirking at the couple.

Jensen shifted Y/N onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry as she shrieked and the three of them headed to the baggage claim.

Jensen took the wheel and drove straight to the hospital, dropping Corey off to go be with his son and wife. “Where to, sweetheart?” he asked when they pulled away.

“Anywhere, baby. As long as I’m with you.”

#writercole #old wip #sounds of someday #jensen ackles rpf #corey taylor rpf #happy birthday brandy #turn the page by bob seger

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chibivesicle · 2 years

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Dunno why you're harping so hard on the "muh mystery" aspect. A feature literally only existent in the 98 anime, because they added a shit ton of filler to make up for so little manga material at the time. The actual source material tells us this is all Knives's fault volume ONE! We know super early on why they're stuck here and who is at fault. The actual mystery the manga and stampede are setting up is not "who did it" but "why did knives do it"

Hello hello,

Yes, I'm one of those people who isn't happy with Stampede revealing a lot of information out from the get go. I 100% admit it. I think that this is going to be an issue for a lot of viewers, especially for people who have a high fondness for Trigun.

I think this comes from a lot of different places and combines in the general feeling of 'meh I don't like this as much'. I’m surprised how quickly I saw the new series and was like ‘Noooooo!’ but didn’t even know why my immediate reaction was like this.

1.) What was available at the time you watched the anime. When I watched the anime, it was on a fansub. The DVDs were released between 2000-2001 and the box set at the end of 2001. Therefore, this was all you could go on. If you wanted the manga it wouldn't be out until 2003 via Darkhorse in North America. You could have bought the current tankobons and then found a website where there was a text based translation of the speech bubbles. This was before the common use of fan scan translations. The ability to find a manga before it gets an anime was really freakkin' hard in the 80s and 90s. It was almost the reverse - you'd see the anime and then quest for the manga and hope it got picked up by a publisher who'd then publish it over several years. They’d only gamble on a title if it already had a strong anime fanbase.

2.) The unique nature of the source material lead to an unusual but clever adaptation of that limited material. Studio Madhouse didn't have enough material for a full 26 episode run. They were brilliant to focus on a new point of view to introduce the viewer to the world. There is nothing wrong with a show that can be episodic, sure, we want stories with a plot driving them forward but episodic shows allow for more character development. The same situation happens, but characters behave differently and Trigun does this well. Having Wolfwood show up and hang out with the group from episodes 9-11 gives him more time to get to know them. The manga has Wolfwood and Vash as close friends, but before the Fifth Moon Incident they only rode on the bus together. Episodes 9-11 gives us more time for them to be dorks together and makes for enjoyable antics. 3.) The air of mystery fits in perfectly with the 'Western' genre. In the classic American Western, you frequently have a drifter who comes into town. He's a skilled gunman who never stays in one place but tries to stand up against injustice against the locals. He might be genuinely good. He may be on a redemption arc. He might be doing this for penance due his past deeds. Hell, he might just be bored. What he does have is a mysterious past.

Trigun used this concept its advantage for the slow reveal of events. It went for a stronger ‘show, don't tell’ than either the manga or Stampede. Vash looks like a goofball drifter, why isn't he? What type of pain has he been through? How has he survived? This also worked for Wolfwood who won't reveal his full mystery either and the bits here and there in 9-11 add to it. What is this traveling clergyman doing with a giant 100kg cross that he literally carries? Why would he accept carrying such a cross? Why would he lie about being able to shoot a gun when he’s excellent at it?

4.) Meryl and Milly vibed with a Western audience more. I'm appalled at how Roberto is currently treating Meryl in the anime. It is setting up a different trope that didn't exist in the original anime or manga. I think a lot of women will not like this as much, the manga didn't have romance since Yasuhiro Nightow said he couldn't write it. But it means that the anime easily passes the Bechdel test which is good for female representation and motivations. I agree with the idea that Meryl and Roberto are written to be a much more culturally Japanese dynamic. It honestly would make a lot of sense if they are trying to make this more of a domestic success than the original. We’ll give it the gritty realism of the Japanese office culture! That will resonate with people! Maybe this brings in more Japanese women who sympathize exactly with Meryl now?

I had no idea that Badlands Rumble was released in the States months before Japan. It seems Trigun is like Escaflowne. Saw great success outside of Japan but locally was a bit of a flop. 23 year old Meryl is just starting her career, but remember, women over 25 are ‘Christmas Cake’. Past their best buy date and should be married. And this is a term that exists in the present, not the past in Japan.

Other people have hypothesized that Milly was eliminated due to her rare role as a canonically large girl who could take you on. Other than the fact that she uses a non-lethal weapon, is the youngest child of 10, and the sweetest person ever. I always loved her dress shirt, tie and suspenders look but it isn’t very ‘cute’ in a moe sense.

5.) Having a fresh comparison of the anime and manga. With the Stampede hype, I watched the anime. And then binged the manga. Overall, I like the anime better. It is more character driven, the pacing is right and the twists and turns work well. The only weakness is the manga background lore is lacking but they more than compensated for it for the most part.

I don’t generalize that I like a series based on a manga that the manga is inherently better than the anime. Golden Kamuy was an anime that would have benefited from more of the manga chapters included for the first three seasons. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was better with the full background from the manga. Gintama messed around with content all the time deciding to move plot vs comedy. Honestly, it always just depends on which one you ultimately prefer. And I make this on a series by series basis.

6.) The power of nostalgia and a less saturated anime environment of the past. Now, you can essentially watch anime every day or read current manga for an entire year and not overlap with series other people are reading. The 80s, 90s and very early 2000s were a sparse anime/manga ecosystem. The internet wasn’t quite at your fingertips. This then resulted in a more cohesive fanbase. You all saw the same things due to limited titles to choose from. Distributors in the States leaned hard into releasing more obscure OVAs since they were cost effective. OVAs had more adult content than conventional titles so a bunch of us were exposed to some rather mature things likely before we should have. A lot of 90s anime had that gritty feeling which I don’t think was an accurate representation for it across the board in the 90s but what made it internationally. The first con I went to was full of Deedlit cosplayers. Why? You could rent Record of Lodoss War at Blockbuster and it was a well known fantasy anime with a hot elf chick. The hardcore people were the Inuyasha and Utena cosplayers since they’d not had a domestic release yet and were fansub/text only translation at the time.

With less titles to choose from, you spent more time on the limited series and really dug into them. Thus, to the western fanbase, Trigun has risen to an important point on a lot of people’s lists. Or it was the introduction to anime for a lot of people when my introduction had been series like Macross/Voltron/Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2. Were these ‘pure’ versions - nope but it was what slowly sucked me into more series.

This also means that in this supersaturated environment, there is more competition for eyeballs. Do you want to reboot a series that had modest niche success in Japan that was a blockbuster hit in the States? You have the advantage of the series being complete now; you can draw from all the source material. But it is a product of its time and the look can be easily dated to the mid-late 90s.

There are two ways you go with this. 1.) The CLAMP approach - who cares about current styles and trends, we are gonna keep our chara design pretty standard for the original and that will give us our visual advantage. 2.) Adapt it to the current look - which I think is a gamble. You lose your visual pop factor by making it look more current but it would appear how current series look so people might be willing to give it a shot not knowing the source material.

With such high saturation, you end up with so many series with characters that all look similar. I find this to make it hard to distinguish the isekai/fantasy/school set series and they just keep coming out. I’ll watch a new anime and be like, ‘It was fine.’ but it will quickly blur into the next series that was just as ‘fine’ as that last one.

In conclusion, I think all of these factors and likely more are why many fans who watched the original anime (and may have even read and enjoyed the manga as well) are so bummed out by this choice to put so many things up front. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have time to fit in more characters and they may instead be swapping out characters for manga specific ones that weren’t written yet and dropping other manga and anime ones. I have a gut feeling Midvalley will not appear. If he does, I will be pleasantly surprised.

I think the reason why so many people love the slow reveal is that it rewards you for your time getting to know Vash. And with other characters meeting him and wondering why he’s so weird it helps you to focus on it as well before the reveal of his origin. From a narrative perspective it worked well and I think that contributed to why so many people love the anime and are fine with it if it was the only Trigun media they knew.

#ask #answered ask #trigun #trigun anime #trigun stampede

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bengiyo · 2 years

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Never Let Me Go Ep 6 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Ben totally let Nuengdiao down in a critical moment that I am about 83% sure Chopper instigated. Palm kissed Nuengdiao in a way that still isn't equal and full of mutual desire. Then, I was caught up in the euphoria of Tanya being a queer-supportive parent and totally missed the death flags all over her. Now, the boys fled to the beach.

Episode Title: Escape

I appreciate that Chanon and Palm had escape plans prepared, so Palm gets to be competent in this moment. It would have been frustrating if somehow Nuengdiao had to take charge immediately.

Ah, this is the Shirts Off episode.

Phuwin is so tall. Long legs.

Even going incognito, their styles of dress belie their origins.

I'm not sure I'm looking forward to seeing Palm's mom.

I wonder if Nuengdiao has ever been on a bus like this before.

I appreciate that GMMTV has (thus far this year) not committed to making the vomit seem as realistic as possible.

This track they're playing in the background of the boat ride is making me think of Shelter (2007).

I feel sad for Palm. His mom doesn't recognize him and seems suspicious.

"What is our relationship?" Don't get too excited, Palm. He also was real quick to use rude pronouns for Nuengdiao (who also seemed to enjoy it).

Yes, put Nuengdiao to work. Let's build some character.

Once again, will Phuwin's talents ever stop emerging??

Pond's jawline is doing so much work in this show.

This show is handling the line between bodyguard and ward, and the potential romance well. Nuengdiao was hoping for a different answer about the kiss, but Palm can't give it with everything going on. He has to prioritize Nuengdiao's safety until they get word back, and can't let his own desire cloud that responsibility right now.

Curious how the debtor situation will unfold with Palm's mom, especially if she learns who Nuengdiao is.

Palm is so excited to have Nuengdiao pressing up against him on this bike.

I like when Phuwin gets to play charming without any other motives. He really shines.

Mam is like, "I need to know what's going on!" Smash cut to her slamming the table and swearing about Chanon.

I think Mam's advice is pragmatic. Can't trust rich folks.

Me and the other girlies are being fed this week with all the wide shots with legs, and all the hands content.

I'm glad Palm can tease Nuengdiao now.

Alright, after Palm says he only sees the good side of Nuengdiao, Phuwin has Nuengdiao give this fond look before intentionally looking away and then glancing right as if forcing himself to think about something else. Acting.

"When I see you are feeling better, I feel that I did my job well." Doing his job well is a form of devotion. I wonder if Nuengdiao can enjoy that too?

Ugh, I'm already eager for the next episode.

#never let me go #thai bl #bl series #Ben watches

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detectivejrdude583 · 1 year

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Sunburns and squabbles

chapter 1

AO3

summery: How Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler, Amanda Rollins, Dominick Carisi, and Grace Muncy all ended up on a family vacation together would never be known.

Actually, it would. It was quite simple really: Elizabeth Stabler forgot to mention the name of her girlfriend.

Or: The story of a vacation with way too many people, with way too many things going on, and oh great now we have to make an ER visit.

not centered around a specific pairing rather several pairings and friendships

words: 2531

warnings: None for this chapter, correct me if I'm wrong

How Olivia Benson, Elliot stabler, Amanda Rollins, Dominick Carisi, and Grace Muncy all ended up on a family vacation together would never be known.

Actually, it would. It was quite simple really: Elizabeth Stabler forgot to mention the name of her girlfriend.

……………………….

The trip had been in the planning stage for quite a while, trying to get everyone time off and details set in stone was more of a task than expected, but eventually everyone had managed to pull themselves together for a good old fashion family vacation.

Among the guest were the original stablers: Elliot, Maureen, her husband, and their two kids, Kathleen, Richard- or Dickie, and Elizabeth with her girlfriend who only her siblings had met, and of course Eli.

Then there were the Benson-stablers: Olivia and Noah.

And then tagging along was the Rollins-Carisi crew: Sonny, Amanda, Jesse, and Billie, there was a bit of debate about whether or not Frannie was coming along, but ultimately Frannie was sent to live with a more than reluctant Fin for a while.

Olivia and Amanda had brought up going on vacation together more than once, it just never seemed to work out, and when it finally did work out, ten more people were added to the mix, not that either of them really minded.

Okay, Amanda minded a little, not because she didn’t want everyone there, but because she was going to be in close proximity with Elliot Stabler, and while she was incredibly happy that Olivia has found someone who makes her happy, Amanda did not exactly like Elliot. She had nothing real against him, he just rubbed her the wrong way- and the whole abandoning Olivia thing didn’t help- but Amanda supposed she could put up with him so long as he didn’t do anything stupid.

Looking back on it, Olivia really should have known- she was the one who signed off on Muncy’s time off for god’s sake, she really couldn’t put two and two together.

……………………….

“Tell me why we aren’t just flying again” Elliot said popping his head out of the closet.

“Elliot it was your decision, you said it would be cheaper to drive and a good quote ‘bonding experience’” Olivia pointed out.

“Well why didn’t you stop me”

“I tried El, I tried, but you weren’t having it, now were going to be driving for quite literally 2 days before the trip even starts” Olivia rolled her eyes “It should also be noted that it was your idea to rent an entire minibus so we can all ride together” Olivia said.

“Hey, now that was a good idea, no trying to keep up with each other, plus the bus has WIFI and charging stations, not to mention a bathroom which means we will be stopping less” Elliot defended himself.

“Sure”

……………………….

“Jesse Honey come on, you have to get up” Amanda said softly shaking her daughter, it had been a rough night in the Rollins-Carisi house, Jesse had been having a tough time all around. She wasn’t acting up, but she never wanted to go to school, half the time she ended up in Sonny and Amanda’s bed in the middle of the night and she never seemed to want to be in a room without at least one of her parents. Amanda had talked to her about it, but the 8-year-old didn’t really have a good explanation, but Amanda would keep trying until she figured out whatever was going on.

The previous night had been a long one to say the least, not really by anyone’s fault, but Jesse had refused going to sleep, even when Amanda laid in the bed with her, she had had a bit of a breakdown. Amanda and Sonny had established a solid bedtime routine which Jesse could do mostly independently, but when it came time for her to actually go to sleep, she clung first to Sonny and then to Amanda.

Amanda was never one for just sticking a kid in their own bedroom and saying deal with it, this was not Jesse being defiant, this was Jesse being anxious, and forcing her to sleep in her own bed on the verge of a very real panic attack was not the solution.

They had gotten Jesse to sleep with the promise that one of them would be with her at all times, but she had woken up several times during the night, which thank the heavens Billie never woke up to since they moved and the girls had their own rooms, but it made for several very tired individuals, and Amanda hated the fact she had to wake Jesse up so they could leave, with any luck she would sleep on the bus.

Jesse rolled over and groaned, now that she actually needed to be awake it seemed as if all her body could do was sleep.

“I know, I'm sorry, I’ve let you sleep as long as I can, we got to get up and get ready to go, but maybe you can sleep once were on the road” Amanda said, hoping to entice her oldest out of bed “And Aunt Livia said there will be breakfast”

Jesse rubbed at her eyes before opening them to meet her mothers, “Don’t wanna”

“You don’t wanna get up, or you don’t want to go on vacation?” Jesse hadn’t said anything about not wanted to go, but then again, she hadn’t talked about going much either.

“Don’t wanna get up” Jesse clarified, snuggling her face into the blanket Fin had given her so many years ago.

“I know you don’t, I know it was a bit of a long night huh” Amanda brushed back some of Jesse’s hair “We just need to get you up, I can braid your hair and we need to brush your teeth and pack the last-minute things”

Jesse still didn’t want to, but pulled herself out of bed.

……………………….

With a momentous amount of effort everyone managed to make it to the lot where they could all get on the bus to start driving.

Noah was dragging his feet behind his mother and Elliot, looking like he has rolled out of bed about 30 seconds ago, Eli not far behind him looking about the same. Olivia and Elliot were babbling away about God knows what, probably about how there were only 3 people licensed to drive the bus.

Kathleen rode with Maureen and her family, and she seemed to be about the only one awake in the whole group, except of course for Maureen’s boys who were running in circles around the parking lot.

Dickie- which he was finally okay with being called again- was standing at the back of the bus with Maureen’s husband playing what resembled a game of Tetris but with ungodly amounts of suitcases and duffle bags.

Billie was holding onto Sonny’s hands and being swung around, which in truth made Amanda a little nervous on the hard pavement, but she wasn’t going to stop them, not with the giggles it was producing from the 5-year-old. Jesse was standing against her mother’s side gripping her hand, she knew some of the people around her, but not all of them, but when she saw Olivia, she ripped herself away from her mother to run towards her.

Olivia caught the girl in a hug “Hey sweet girl” she ran her hand over the back of Jesse’s head from where Jesse’s face was against her stomach. “You doing, okay?” she said as Jesse released her.

Jesse nodded “Hi Elliot”

Elliot was a little surprised this being the first time Jesse had greeted him directing without prompting. “Well, hello miss Jesse, can I just say that I think your hair looks pretty awesome”

That got a smile out of Jesse once hand going up to touch one of her braided space buns “Thank you, momma did it”

“Well, your momma did a great job” Elliot said with a smile, this honestly being the longest interaction with Jesse other than the time he was helping her get food at a dinner.

“I like to tell Elliot that his hair looks good” Olivia said with a smirk.

“But Elliot’s bald” Jesse said with a laugh.

……………………….

Lizzie was the last to arrive, but no one minded since she was also responsible for bringing breakfast for everyone, so she got a pass.

“I need some help here, I only have so many hands Elizabeth” came a frustrated, but not actually frustrated voice from the other side of the car where no one could see.

Olivia looked behind her from where she was talking to Amanda, she knew that voice, but there was no way. Amanda had also noticed but she was a little more unsure as to who it was.

Only a few moments later Lizzie stabler walked out from behind the car holding several boxes and bags, followed by a Grace Muncy who was quite precariously balancing drink holders up and down her arms.

Amanda and Olivia looked at each other then back at Muncy who had yet to notice the presence of her captain and former colleague, passing some of the drinks over to Kathleen who had come over to stop her from spilling the drinks all over the parking lot.

With a more reasonable load to handle Muncy was able to look up and at all the people spread across the parking lot, she quite quickly noticed Olivia and Amanda, and who she assumed was Carisi on the other side- he was running in circles it was hard to tell.

“You knew didn’t you” Grace looked towards her girlfriend who had a little guilty smirk.

“I didn’t want to scare you away, if it makes you feel better Olivia didn’t know either” Lizzie defended herself with a smile.

Grace rolled her eyes “I don’t even like you”

They made their way over to the group, Muncy just giving a nod to Amanda and Olivia, not sure what the protocol was for when you find out you're going on vacation with your boss. “Alright, the drinks have sticky notes with names on them, if you got the wrong drink wait until they’re distributed before we figure out who’s is whose” she said and began passing out drinks.

“This one is for Billie” Grace said handing it to Sonny rather than the 5-year-old. “And this one is for Oli- the captain” Muncy was just reading off names but stopped herself before calling her boss by her first name.

Olivia held back a smile, it seemed as though Muncy was a whole lot more flustered over the whole situation than she was, she took her drink trying and failing to make eye contact with a very focused Muncy.

Lizzie had been setting down the food inside the bus and hopped out walking over to Olivia instead of her helpless girlfriend. “If I'm being honest, I thought it would probably scare her away, it should also be mentioned that she’s never met dad”

Olivia was going to respond but Amanda beside her started chuckling. “She hasn’t met your family and you stick her on a vacation with her boss and Elliot Stabler, now that’s just cruel”

“Hey all my siblings have met her” Lizzie defended herself. “She’ll be fine”

Olivia couldn’t help rolling her eyes with a bit of a smile. “Once she actually makes eye contact with someone” she really did mind the whole situation, sure it was definitely a shock and it threw her off, but all in all it wasn’t a big deal- nothing was going to put a damper on her vacation.

All the drinks had been distributed and Grace saw that she really didn’t have a choice other than to go stand over by her girlfriend. “Captain, Detective Rollins” Muncy greeted with a smile, even if it was a little forced.

“Not a Detective anymore, you can call me Amanda” Amanda said trying to coax a hiding Jesse out from behind her to meet a new person.

Olivia considered messing with Muncy a little, but decided she would be nice just this once “And you can call me Olivia or Liv since we’re not at work”

Muncy nodded- she would still be using captain. She spotted Jesse from behind Amanda, when she had called out her name for her drink Amanda had come up and grabbed it handing it to the girl, so she hadn’t really seen her. “And who is this?”

Amanda tried to pull Jesse out from behind her, failing at first but getting her to where Grace could at least see her face, even if it was still leaning against Amanda’s side.

Grace could see how nervous Jesse and made sure not to step forward to avoid crowding “Those shoes are really cool; I have some just like them with me” the way to a kid’s heart was compliments.

Jesse looked down at her shoes than back up at Muncy “Like these ones”

“Yep” Muncy was telling the truth, they were in her suitcase at the moment “Well, they’re probably a little bigger”

Jesse looked down at the shoes Muncy was currently in, as if to check and nodded back up at Muncy “I'm Jesse” she said after looking at her mother for permission.

“That’s a very pretty name, I'm grace, and do you know Lizzie” she said indicating her girlfriend who gave a little wave.

Jesse thought for a second before decided that she had not met Lizzie, but thought she knew who she was “You're Elliot’s daughter”

Everyone was a little surprised that Jesse had put that together and remembered it but Lizzie nodded “I am, which means I'm Eli’s sister” Lizzie knew Jesse would know who Eli was.

Jesse nodded and turned to point “That’s Billie my sister with uncle Sonny”

Olivia looked at Amanda who shrugged. There had been some debate over who Sonny was to the girls, well not really, by almost all accounts he was their father, and ever since Amanda and Carisi got married they had been living together.

Billie had taken to calling Sonny dad right away, she had been doing it since they day of the courthouse wedding, but Jesse hadn’t and that was okay they were in no way going to pressure her, if she never called Sonny dad no one would have a problem with it.

Jesse knew who Declan was, and had met him a few times, mostly she knew that she would be getting a nice birthday and Christmas card each year with more spending money than she got from anyone else, and she didn’t seem too torn up about not seeing her biological father. Al was a little more involved in Billie’s everyday life, and saw her a good bit even having her overnight sometimes, but Amanda and Sonny made sure always to give Jesse a bit of extra love whenever that happened.

There was a loud slam at the back of the bus indicating that all the bags had been packed in and Elliot got the attention of the group “This bus leaves in 5 minutes if you're not on it too bad”

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alpacahat67 · 2 years

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Stupid Shit I've Done/Still Do as TWST Characters

Not an original idea. But I forgot who originally posted this LOL so if you know please please please tell me so I can add it because I can't find the post!

Riddle: Showed a 7th grader his 101% in ELA after the 7th grader called him dumb (in response to HIM calling THE 7TH GRADER DUMB) just to flex

Trey: Once fell asleep on a bus with his head against the window. He woke up and one of the lenses of his glasses was beside him in the seat. He doesn't know what happened or how it got there.

Cater: The only surefire way he's found to motivate himself to drink water was to buy the biggest, most OBNOXIOUS water bottle he could find and just keep it by his bed.

Ace: Watched someone steal the person sitting across from him's gum wrapper and then played dumb when said person was looking all over for the stupid thing.

Deuce: Checks those stupid bubble sheets teachers give him 50 times over just to REALLY make sure that he won't fail. Also can't multiply or divide on paper at all. It's mental math, a calculator, or nothing.

Leona: Once slept 12 hours consecutively and is 90% sure that he stayed awake for another 2 hours before just going back to sleep again.

Ruggie: Picked up a random ass ring off the ground of the hallway. Put it in his pocket. Never wore it, it's still in that pocket.

Jack: Mediocre at checkers, but refuses to learn chess. His friends keep pressuring him to learn chess but he says "not until you learn checkers" and none of them want to learn checkers.

Azul: Once agreed to cashapp someone $4 in exchange for 3 REAL dollars solely because he understood and respected the grindset that the person had going on. Profit.

Floyd: Eats candle wax. For fun. Just little tiny bits of it tho.

Jade: Got bored and decided to set shit on fire with a candle. Almost burned his room down with a candle and a dumdum wrapper.

Kalim: Called treble clef bass clef with FULL CONFIDENCE. OUT LOUD.

Jamil: Had a solitaire phase. Is actually very good at solitaire now.

Vil: Now has an embarrassing amount of beauty blenders/makeup sponges because he had his old one, and then he bought a shit ton, and then was given another as a gift and now he has too many and can't use all of them.

Rook: Cultivated a grandma army on cookie clicker that he's still growing.

Epel: Frequently swam in a creek when he was younger. That wasn't uncommon despite not being an ADVERTISED SWIMMING SPOT back then but now you aren't allowed to swim there, and it makes him wonder what was in that water.

Idia: Still petty to this day because he competed in this stupid writing thing and after winning 3rd place he got his score sheet from all the judges back and this one judge TORE INTO HIM and said he "straddled the fence" with his opinion and then the judge wrote "good word choice." He doesn't know how he "straddled the fence" because he very clearly stated his opinion IN THE THESIS OF HIS ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY and thus is pissed.

Ortho: Idia accidentally hit him in the face with a soccer ball and he cried. (How did he cry he's a robot? Don't know. All I know is my uncle kicked a ball at me and I started sobbing.)

Malleus: Was once brought to Buc-ee's at 11 PM at night (I'm not sure what the context would've been for Malleus but for ME this was DIRECTLY AFTER A MARCHING BAND COMPETITION and I was actually exhausted and confused). He was very sleep deprived and terrified of this giant gas station. Made the decision to hate it.

Lilia: Has 900+ hours on the Sims 3. Is not ashamed.

Sebek: Was an avid Wings of Fire reader until 5th grade

Silver: Was looking directly up when a can of spray paint toppled off a shelf and hit him in the eye. Ow.

#twst #twisted-wonderland

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the-cinnamon-snail · 2 years

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Apocalypse Of The Fallen

(Some Of My First Writing. Reposting Cause I Lost The Original. Warning For Blood, Sickness, and Injury.)

[No Seriously, This Is. A Lot Of Blood. Like, I'm Not Sure If It Counts As Gore. But. Be Safe.]

{And Also. My Dialogue Capabilities Have Improved Since I Wrote This. This Is Old Writing, So Be Aware Of That.}

At first, everyone thought it could not get worse. A deadly virus broke out, and people had to quarantine. It got better for a bit, then worse, and then everything looked like it would be over. But then, the third wave struck, and it was horrible. People got sick even when there was no apparent exposure to the virus, and if you did not get any treatment you were lucky to have three weeks left. My parents were some of the first to go, before people even realized the third wave was coming.

Bouncing around foster care for a bit, I saw a lot of people. They said they could not keep me for longer because I was a teenager, but I am sure it was because of my parents. When everything started falling apart I was with a family called the Nicklesons. Mr. Nickleson was not too bad, but he expected me to help, or fully, clean everything, but that was it. Mrs. Nickleson was a stay at home mom, and insisted that I should call her Mich. I never really got to that though. My favorite Nickleson was Jinny, for sure. She was barely in the second grade, and felt like a real sibling to me.

The first sign that something was wrong was the power outage. Of course, we just thought it was a normal outage, a few hours and then it would be back on. The first day it was out was when we started worrying. Luckily, phone signals were still up, probably not for much longer though. Mrs. Nickleson took the opportunity to call her aunt who lived just out of town, and set up plans to stay with her while the power was completely out. I will never forget how excited Jinny was when she heard about it.

Of course, in one of our back to back strokes of bad luck, the car was completely and utterly out of gas. We eventually decided on taking the next best option, a public bus, it could not be that bad. It was pretty old, but it still drove. The bus held around 20 other worried passengers, all adults somehow, that talked to the Nicklesons about what happened. From what I heard, which was barely anything, we were lucky we just got a power outage. Gas leaks were coming up all over, and apparently we had barely missed one.

I felt a tug at the bottom of my jacket, and looked down at Jinny, she had tears in her eyes. I asked what was wrong and she mumbled out ¨..It is too loud...¨ I could not exactly stop all the conversations and creaking for her, so I let out a small sigh and asked if she wanted me to carry her. She smiled widely and was clinging to me like a koala in a matter of seconds. The bus started rattling loudly and she almost squeezed the air out of my lungs. ¨Do not worry Jin.¨ I said as I patted her back. ¨It will be fine.¨ She nodded, ¨Okay Rye..¨ and in a few minutes managed to doze off, leaving me to carry her.

After Jinny fell asleep, the rattling got even worse, it was a miracle she managed to sleep while even some of the adults looked worried or possibly a bit scared. The Nicklesons were talking in quick, but hushed voices, and I knew not to bother them. I sat down on the floor, against the wall of the bus, Jinny was still latched onto me. After a few minutes, the driver, a middle aged man, got a call. It seemed important or something of the like, as he got a look of terror on his face which he tried to hide. ¨Okay Listen!¨ He semi yelled so that everyone could hear him from the front. ¨I have received orders to head to the stadium. There is a risk that we are in another outbreak.¨ The adults looked really scared then, but a few of them grumbled something about being late.

The bus took a turn and screeched loudly, that led me to wondering how old the thing really was. It was still a huge surprise to me that Jinny had not been woken up yet, but I am glad she was not. We reached the stadium quick enough, luckily the bus never broke down like I secretly thought it would. The sight of the stadium would have been borderline horrific to someone like Jinny. I held her sleeping body tight and grabbed Mrs. Nickleson´s hand before I could stop myself. She smiled at me warmly but I could tell she was just as concerned as I was. I am sure Mr. Nickleson felt the same, but he was just much better at hiding it.

The stadium had some kind of border security around it, and dozens of ambulances dotted around testing everyone entering for the virus. Other police were there too, making sure everyone had identification on them. It was to make sure no one was lost in the stadium, but it was still unnerving nonetheless. We had to wake up Jinny for the test, and luckily all four of ours came back completely negative. When we got to the police for identification, Mr. and Mrs. Nickleson showed their driver's licenses, and Jinny just needed her name. I was given a suspicious look as I did not look anything like my foster family. I showed them my recently given drivers permit, which I was lucky enough to have in my jacket pocket.

The real terrible thing was the inside of the stadium, definitely. It was almost completely full, which I guess was not exactly a bad thing on its own. However, when there was still a load of people outside wanting or needing to get in, it was certainly a problem. The Nicklesons and I found a relatively empty space next to a few people who lived in or near our area. The air felt really stuffy and made Jinny´s eyes water. Mrs. Nickleson patted me on the back, ¨It will be fine Riley.¨ She said. I am not really sure if she meant it or not. Mr. Nickleson was practically ignoring us, answering call after call. I never did learn where he worked, but it did not matter.

It eventually started getting dark, and Jinny had gone to sleep around an hour before, she was exhausted. Mrs. Nickleson had to call her aunt again, just to say the four of us were fine, and to tell her where we were. Something her aunt said must have upset Mrs. Nickleson, because she hung up grimacing. She turned to face me, ¨Riley.¨ she said, getting my attention. I was already listening, but I turned to her to show that I was. ¨..Aunt Jane has decided to move out to the farm house.¨ I nodded, now I understood why she looked so bothered. Jane´s farmhouse was way out in the country, and it would be much harder to get there.

I woke up to Mr. Nickleson shaking me, shouting at me to get up. I jumped up in shock, I had not even realized that I had fallen asleep. Mrs. Nickleson stood a bit in front of us, staring across the field in a mixture of shock and horror. Across the field the air seemed to be colored, and the ambulances once outside were rushing in. Most likely worst of all, some of the people over there seemed to be hacking up blood. This likely meant that someone with the disease had made it into the stadium.

Jinny was still asleep, but I quickly picked her up off the ground. Luckily for me and her, she did not wake up, I hoped that she would not see anything that was currently going on. The side of the stadium that was not in quarantine, our side, started rushing towards the doors. The Nicklesons and I were nearly crushed by all the people trying to get out. I would not be surprised if a few people actually got trampled during it. Everything seemed to close in, I felt like I was almost suffocated before I got out of the doors, still holding a now awoken Jinny tightly. ¨Where are mom and dad..?¨ She groggily asked me, unaware of anything that had just happened. When she asked me that, I looked around and realized that the four of us had been separated. I took a deep breath to remain calm, ¨We will find them. Do not worry Jin, it will be fine.¨

It, most likely, would definitely not be fine anytime soon, but I had to keep calm so Jinny would stay calm. We wandered around a bit looking for her parents, and I kept Jinny from noticing just how shaken up other people were. So far that second part had been going well. The two of us eventually made it to a police officer and asked if he could help us find where Jinny´s parents were. As luck would have it, he was one of the officers who had ID checked us. He said that he would look around, and told us to check around ourselves of all things. Did he not realize that we could also get lost? Then he would have to look for us, and the Nicklesons.

Jinny and I, of course, still looked ourselves, it was best not to question a police officer. Jinny walked close to me, and luckily the people avoided us or moved out of the way so as not to crush her. We walked around quite a bit, but did not manage to find them. I hope it was because they were looking for us too. Jinny started walking even closer to me, once again on the verge of tears. She babbled something that I could not quite decipher, it was probably way too loud again. I patted her head and reassured her that we would find her parents. I may have lied to her, but there was not much else that I could do.

We walked all the way back to the edge of the large group of people after what I would say was an hour of searching. We found nothing on where her parents were, and I had to carry Jinny because she could not walk anymore. Everything calmed down in the crowd for a few minutes, but of course it did not stay that way. In the front and even middle of the group, people started moving forward, away from where me and Jinny were resting. In a moment of terror, I thought our area was being quarantined. However I soon noticed the buses lined up and the police directing people towards them. Jinny and I started moving towards the buses like everyone else after a few minutes.

Walking to the buses I was in deep thought, everytime I realized how many people were still quarantined in the stadium.. Or possibly even dead, I had to hold myself back from telling Jinny what happened. She was only 7, she did not need to hear it. When we got to the bus we were asked where our parents were. I first corrected them, Jinny´s parents, but then I made a half-lie about just losing them. It would have been way longer of a wait if I told the truth. We were let on the bus, and I led Jinny to the back seat with me. We were left alone for the most part, which was good. Another good thing is that the bus was not even completely full, I guess we got lucky.

Jinny fell asleep against me not too far into the ride, which was not too surprising. I stared out the window of the bus into the city, the sun was fully out again but the streets were close to abandoned. I thought to ask where exactly the bus was going, but I decided against it. I assumed they would all be heading to the same place, and out of the area for that place was good enough for me. I really was just hoping that the Nicklesons were on another bus, and we would find them when the buses all got to wherever they were headed. Sighing, I leaned back against the bus seat, I decided a small nap would not hurt anyone.

I, once again, woke up. The bus was now driving through a dense forest area that I recognized as the one on the edge of town, and Jinny seemed to still be asleep against me. The bus seemed hotter than when it started moving, but I paid it no mind, It probably just warmed up outside. I looked around the public bus and most, if not all of the other passengers were asleep. I tried going back to sleep, but I never could no matter how hard I tried. The sun still seemed to be up, so that was probably why. Leaning against the seat, I felt it shake a bit, I hoped it was just not tightened enough somewhere.

The bus was definitely heating up, no question about it now. The bus driver looked worried, and I do not think she knew I was awake. She patted the steering wheel and whispered something to herself that I didn't quite understand. The bus, like the bus me and the Nicklesons took to the stadium, started violently rattling. That could not be right.. Maybe the bus was older than it looked, yeah that had to be right. The look on the driver's face however, said otherwise.

I pulled Jinny close so she did not wake up, as if I could protect her from the shaking. The driver jumped up and almost fell out of her seat, and rushed back as if to grab something. She had to have remembered that she was the one driving as she looked into my horrified eyes. The bus turned and swerved into a ditch. As we fell, I held Jinny tight, and the world went black.

I woke up in a murky, sticky pool, and I was holding something large under me. I looked down to see Jinny, she was the thing I was holding, she seemed fine, just a bit dirty. The pool is what I thought was a dirty, dark red color, it could have been blood. I blinked a bit before finding out that I was only seeing out of one eye, but at least I could still see. I lifted my head off the floor, and I got really dizzy, but as my vision cleared, all I saw was red. Through muffled horror, I saw the other passengers strewn about, it looked like Jinny and I were the only ones capable of waking up again. I looked down again at Jinny, she was passed out but breathing fine. Her leg worried me a lot though, her ankle seemed sprained, or at least very badly rolled.

The bus was on its side, and even worse, the door side was on the ground. My headache was pounding now, like someone bludgeoned my head with a hammer. Just getting up made me so dizzy I almost passed out, luckily i did not. I still could only see out of one eye, it felt like I could not open the other. My hair felt stiff and sticky,it must have laid in the pool of blood.. the thought alone was disgusting. I thought to wake Jinny up so we both could find a way to leave the bus quicker or maybe even easier, but I stopped myself. She did not need to see any of this, it was too brutal. I took a deep breath, I could not exactly think straight. I could feel the adrenaline just barely keeping me conscious. Maybe that is why I am not as scared as I ought to be. Looking to the windows, now on the ceiling, I realized that they were just big enough for me to climb through. I reminded myself of Jinny. I could not forget about Jinny, but she could fit through the windows if I could.

I stumbled over to be directly under one of the windows, it did not look like the sun was up outside, but maybe I just could not see it. I definitely could not reach those windows, I do not know if I ever thought that I could. My headache was still pounding in my ears, I remember one bus I took that had a back door, I remember sitting right by it, maybe this bus had a back door too? Looking back towards to thIe back wall, my blurry vision saw a latch. I went as quick as I could without falling over or stepping on someone.. Which was really hard with my fading vision. I grabbed the latch and pulled as hard as I could, but the door did not budge. I looked out the window, there did not seem to be anything blocking it either. I pulled the latch, and collapsed against the door. I fell against the door with a strong grip on the latch, and the door swung open.

I fell out into the grass of the ditch, I caught myself but my arms crumpled under my weight. I did not think it would be a push door. I looked back into the horror scene of the bus, I needed to get Jinny out now. She absolutely could not wake up in there, I could not let that happen. Jinny should not have to see that. I forced myself up and semi-stumbled back into the bus. By some miracle, I managed to pick her up. I almost dropped her when she moved in her sleep, but I managed to keep a hold on her. I dragged myself out of the bus, now holding Jinny, and set her down against the side of the ditch. I sat down right next to her, and it felt like as soon as I sat down against the ditch, I blacked out.

I woke up to Jinny squeezing me tightly, tears pouring down her slightly bruised face.¨Riley.. please wake up.. Ri please!” She yelled while burying her face in my jacket. I coughed a bit, ¨Hey.. Hey Jin..¨ I said, my words were coming out slurred. She looked up to me with her tear stained face, for a moment I thought she saw the inside of the bus. But then she put her hand on the back of my head, it was right where my headache was coming from. I pulled her hand away, my head was hurting and Jinny was not exactly helping. ¨Cmon Jinny, what is wrong?¨ Jinny looked down and showed me the hand she had placed on the back of my head, it was now covered in blood.

I most definitely had a concussion, all the side effects were there, and it explained a lot of what had happened. My slurred words, blurry vision, dizziness, all of that.. I should have figured it out, but I did not because of it. A thought came to me and I reached up to feel the eye I could not see out of, and it proved my theory correct, it was caked over with dried blood. That was definitely going to hurt later if it was not already infected. I sat up slowly to not fall over, ¨Do not worry, I will be fine Jin..¨ I said slowly, trying not to trip over my words. I knew that I was lying, and I think that Jinny did too, because she hugged me tighter than before. ¨But..¨ She tried to say something, but I cut her off. ¨No buts.¨ Jinny nodded and got off of me, sitting down right next to me.

We sat together for a little while longer while I tried to gain my bearings back on reality. Jinny was completely exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open, but she seemed extremely interested in the area around the ditch we were in. ¨What has caught your eye, Jin?¨ I asked, my words had stopped slurring. Her eyes lit up in recognition of something, ¨This is near Auntie Jane´s house!” I sat up so quickly that I nearly blacked out again. ¨Are you sure Jin?¨ Jinny then pointed towards a tree with a full chunk out of it, surprisingly, it was still standing. She had told me before, but I never did quite believe her, but here was the oak, standing in all of its glory.

This was amazing, the best situation aside from what led up to it. All me and Jinny had to do now was manage to make it out of the ditch and over to Jane's house and then… the memory of Mrs. Nicholson´s phone call flashed through my head. Okay, so we do not have adults to help us, but the possibility of food and fresh running water was way too good to just pass up. ¨Okay Jinny, do you remember the way to your Aunt Jane's house?¨ I asked calmly to not put her on the spot. She nodded excitedly and stood up, or at least she tried to stand up. She immediately fell over, her foot giving out, and she bit her lip to not start wailing, but tears were starting to pour. How idiotic did I manage to be. I didn't even check in the slightest for the sprain she might have had, and she did have it. I sighed and wobbled to my feet, luckily being able to walk. I leaned down and surprisingly, I was still able to pick up Jinny without falling over. Maybe I was recovering quickly, or maybe some adrenaline was still left in me.

To make up for my mistake, I made absolutely sure that while holding Jinny that she never saw the bus. Luckily, it was pretty easy to get out of the ditch, so I got us both out fairly quickly. I walked with Jinny over to the tree, ¨Alright Jinny, where do we go from here?¨ I asked, grimacing when my words started slurring again. I hoped she remembered the quickest way there. She did not say anything, probably because she was still waiting for the tears to stop flowing, but she pointed forwards, so I decided that was as good of a response as any and started walking in said direction. I was just glad that wherever Jane's house was, it was away from the bus crash.

Jinny seemed pretty sure on the path she led us in, and I was told, and believe, that she has always had an amazing memory. Taking that into account, I did not doubt her for the slightest second. I, not too far into walking, started feeling so exhausted while carrying Jinny, and it hurt a lot to just keep walking and moving on, but I knew that I could not rest. I kept reminding myself that, if I sat down to rest against a tree, and maybe even sleep, there would be a good chance I would not be able to move, or maybe even wake up again. ¨So Jinny, how much farther is Aunt Jane's house?¨ She focused and stared forward around the are, ¨Not that much farther I don't think..¨

#Apocalypse Of The Fallen #Jinny Nickelson #Riley Garder #tw blood #tw gore?#tw illness #tw injury #writing

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magpiejay1234 · 6 months

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Looks like I will be going through all of GX S2 once again.

Anyway, we sort of mentioned, though I found it rather odd that Edo was eventually paired up with Sora for Z-ARC Duel (other than Asuka being put on a bus due to Yuzu being shoved back inside Ray). My initialy assumption was that writers wanted to parallel Edo's destiny plot with Sora's loyalty to Academia, since ARC-V Edo's character is pretty much based off that, but I guess the intended meta-parallel was second Edo vs. Judai Duel, since that is about Edo finding fun in Dueling once more, which ties more directly with Sora's arc.

As we sort of gleamed before, his ties to Yugo is not that complicated though. Aside from Yugo pun with Clock Tower Prison's Japanese name (Yuugoko no Tokeito), which is probably the main reason, Edo is basically deuteragonist of latter half of GX S2, replacing Manjoume who in turn replaced Edo as Saio's main enforcer (which Saio intended Judai to be originally be), and Yugo is the deuteragonist of ARC-V S2 replacing Yuzu, so...

****

Anyway, let's go over Edo vs. Judai 1 a bit. I may have alluded to this before, but I distinctly remember back in GX's airing it was a common talking point about how Judai wasn't all great of a Duelist, thus a weak protagonist, since not only he lost to Edo, but he lost to him badly. I'm pretty sure you can find the posts in archives.

Though S2 later did a very harsh course correction that lasted until Yuma's inconclusive but sure to lose Duel against Kaito, DM sort of established the cool Duelist protagonist that rarely loses trope with Atem, and really smart Duelist protagonist that wins bigly with big strategies for end-game regular Yugi. Well, Judai was neither, and most of his S1 victories were due to his friends, and spirits supporting him.

Similar course correction seems to have happened with Yusaku after Yuya's loss to Jack, though to be fair to Yusaku, he kept losing stuff except Duels, since his character arc was about losing his hatred, and learning to like people.

While there are inherent problems with YGO protagonists having actual realistic growth arcs when it comes to Dueling (less so with other stuff, though that also comes up), and not being unbeatable nerds taking revenge on bullies, fandom response (which in itself somewhat justified due to card sales aspect of the franchise) is kind of the bigger elephant in the room among them.

Anyway, back to GX, Judai's loss to Edo starts a decently long arc that ends with Judai finding Neo-Spacians, though Judai will go similar depression arcs in later Seasons (he also went through a somewhat similar, but different arc with Daitokuji-Fubuki plot in S1 though that is a different topic).

#ygo random thoughts #shitposting

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ready-steady-freddie · 2 years

Text

Beyond (Part six)

Robert Bob Floyd x original female character

Warnings: 18+! Explicit sexual acts.

Word count: 2,6K

Notes: Formatting ... Anyway. Enjoy, my lovelies, and thank you for taking the time to read this 🥰 every like, comment and reblog means the world to me. You are all wonderful! Also, this part was definitely just an excuse to practice writing the sexy stuff. Oh well 😏

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE

"I'm not usually rattled by things that are supposed to be a surprise. But this actually makes me kind of nervous."

Kate glanced at Bob with the tiniest of smiles that had been present on her face for most of the evening as they rode the bus into San Diego. She, too, was nervous. Nervous if he would like or hate what she had planned for them for their third date in as many weeks. Kate fiddled with her hands in her lap, her smile faltering. Perhaps it had been a bad idea after all. Why on Earth had she come up with the idea to surprise him with a jazz concert? Did he even like jazz that much?

"We can always leave if it turns out to be horrible. Or-or we can do something else entirely. Go see a movie or something? We can perhaps catch the last movie of the eveni-"

Bob covered both of her fiddling hands with one of his and squeezed gently. "I'm sure it'll be great. I appreciate you doing this, Kate. I really do."

She let his hand drop to her thigh, feeling his warm palm against her skin through the thin material of her dress. She helped his hand find the spot near the very top of her leg where his fingers could almost reach the innermost part of her thigh. Kate noticed how Bob's breathing quickened the way her own did, and how a deep red coated his neck and cheeks as she felt intense heat creep over her own.

Kate looked around at the other passengers. Not a single one paid them any attention and they sat in solitude in their two-person seat at the back of the bus. If Bob moved his hand a mere inch further down, Kate was sure he would find her just as wet and throbbing for him as she felt she was.

Bob leaned in closer and whispered, "We can't do this here …"

"I know," Kate replied longingly, "But I so want you to."

"So do I." With that Bob slowly withdrew his hand. Kate sighed deeply and let her head fall back. She felt two of Bob's fingers drag a line across her palm and she smiled at the sensation.

Their eyes locked. Kate wanted nothing more in this moment than to attack his mouth with her lips. Bob was so close and warm and handsome and his scent was intoxicating - but she held back. They had not exactly talked about it but Kate had noticed that Bob was flustered by open public displays of affection and she did not want to embarrass him. That did not, however, make her long for or want him any less. It simply made him even more precious to her.

"This is our stop."

Kate tried to gauge his reaction while they walked to the venue. Bob's smile widened when he realised where they were heading, stopping near dead in his tracks when he saw who was playing that night. He turned to her with excitement. Contained but nearly bubbling over.

"This is an awesome surprise." Kate squeaked when Bob unexpectedly cupped her face and kissed her quickly. She turned to putty in his hands, leaning into the kiss and following him when he pulled away from her.

Kate breathed deeply, already feeling dazed. "I had heard he was a fantastic drummer so I hope you will like it."

"It will be amazing. Thank you."

Kate had not heard any of the music played before the concert but she enjoyed it and loved how Bob seemed so fixated on the performance that he got lost in his own little world where only he and the musicians existed. Kate saw how Bob observed the drummer very intently as if he was trying to memorise what he was playing. It was turning her on in a way she had not expected.

They stood close in the dark venue, very, very close. It was hot and stuffy in the room, nearing the point of sweaty hot. For once Bob had asked for a drink with alcohol in it and that single drink paired with the bustling atmosphere in the venue and Kate's rousing lavender scent made him lightheaded. She stood slightly in front of him with her butt against his thigh. His arm moved around her body and his hand was on her stomach, long fingers splayed across her body protectively. He moved his hand once in a while, grasping at her waist and hip, pulling her even closer and bunching the fabric of her dress in his hand.

Kate's heart pounded in her chest and in her ears. Bob's hand felt burning hot through her dress and the way he held her body against his own while ignoring her glances and silent calls for attention had her dizzy with want once again. She pressed her temple into his collarbone and he finally looked down at her with dark, glazed eyes. How she yearned for a kiss from him. Just a quick, soft one. Something innocent. He leaned down, lips inches from hers, and he purposefully denied her that kiss when he moved close to her ear, leaving the ghost of a kiss there. He murmured, "Not here, sweetheart."

She groaned inwardly. The rumble of his voice had a tightness coiling up between her legs and she had to clench her thighs together, whimpering as she did so. She downed the rest of her drink and breathed shakily. Turning to Bob, she said, "I n-need something to drink. Are you okay, do you need anything?"

Bob smiled innocently. "Just you."

Kate walked determinedly to the bar, biting her lower lip. She wanted him so bad right now. She remembered with a tremble how good it felt to be impossibly close with him, the feeling of him sinking deep into her, his hot breath against her skin and his fingers pressing into her flesh. Kate ordered another Mojito. She stood at the bar for a while observing her date. She would never tire of looking at Robert Floyd. He was beautiful and Kate felt so lucky to be the one to receive his attention and his kisses. He could without a doubt have whoever he wanted but right now he wanted her.

She watched as Bob left his spot on the floor at the back of the room and came up to the bar. Kate swallowed hard. She was startled by the boldness with which he walked up to her, looked deep into her eyes for a few moments and led her away from the music with a hand on the small of her back. "This way, sweetheart."

Kate's breaths were so shallow she thought she might faint. The suspense in where he was leading her and what was going to happen was thrilling her to no end. Usually a bit of a control freak, Kate was honestly enjoying letting Bob taking charge. It was also somewhat distressing - but she trusted him.

They stopped at the restrooms. Bob looked over their shoulders before gently pushing Kate inside the women's toilets. Before she had a chance to look around, she found herself locked inside a tiny stall face to face with a smiling Bob. He opened his mouth to speak. Kate's lips were on his before he uttered a single word.

She had not been foreseeing enough to wear high heels. She had to level out their height difference by standing on her toes. Bob held her close in his embrace, soon lifting her off the floor with his hands on the back of her thighs. Kate held on tight with her hands around his neck and her legs around his hips. Bob turned so Kate had her back pressed up against the stall door. She moaned at the friction between her, Bob and the door. Bob's hands glided up to cup and squeeze her ass under her dress.

"Fuck, Bob …" He smiled into her moans as they kissed deeply. He grinded his hardening cock into her core, her soft whimpers sending shivers down his spine. Kate took a moment away from his mouth to open the top buttons on his shirt and gained easier access to his neck where she planted light kisses. She whispered heatedly, "Do you have condoms?"

Bob pulled away from her with wide eyes. "Ah. No."

Bob cursed himself for not being prepared. He had not expected this to happen but now that it was actually happening, he felt like an idiot for not bringing any. He sighed disappointedly.

"Don't worry about it." Kate stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I've got something else in mind."

She slipped down to the floor to her feet, turning them both again so Bob had his back to the door. Kate pushed him flush against it, grabbing his belt and unbuckling it with shaky hands. She dared not look at him but she felt bold and confident despite her shaking hands. His cock was hard, warm and heavy in her hand as she stroked it. With closed eyes he moaned and leaned into her touch. Bob then grabbed her wrist with one hand, tilting her face up towards his with the other, making deep eye contact.

"You don't have to do this," he panted.

She smiled. "I want to."

Kate got on her knees before him. The tile floor of the toilet stall was unforgiving on her knees but the look Bob gave her when he saw her down there made it all worth it. His eyes were full of gratitude and Kate felt the gratitude in his touch of her cheek. That same hand came to rest gently in her hair when she slowly took him in her mouth with one hand. She put her other hand on the back of his thigh for support.

His moans turned deeper. Kate used her few skills and little experience the best she could, trying to suppress her gagging reflex to the best of her abilities. She had no clue if she was doing it to his liking. He looked focused on trying to keep his balance. Kate figured that was a good sign.

She felt like she was kneeling before him for a long time. He moaned softly and whispered affirmations of her actions. All of his small noises went straight to her core and she felt like she was dripping with desire. Suddenly she felt him shifting ever so slightly with the movements of her hand and mouth. His right leg tensed. He breathed harder and rasped, “I'm close.”

Kate went on, unsure of what to do with that information. He tensed even more and moved to pull away but she moved with him, continuing to stroke and suck. Bob came into her mouth with a deep moan. Kate sat back on her heels, looked up into his eyes and swallowed. The salty liquid pricked her mouth and throat. He helped her to her feet with a soft chuckle. He kissed her, a long and thankful kiss, before pulling up his clothes.

“That was unexpected,” he stated. Kate saw a blush colouring his cheeks and ears and she adored him for it.

“Well, I didn't mind you coming in my mouth. Thanks for the, um, heads up, though.” She looked down briefly at her already bruised knees.

"Of course, of course. I didn't know how you felt about that, so I figured that was the safe thing to do."

"You are so considerate," she giggled.

"Considerate enough to return the favour."

They turned once more and Kate found stability against the stall walls with both hands. Bob crawled under her dress, pressing small kisses to her inner thighs. Heat arose within her as he neared her core. His breaths were hot through her soaked panties. He pulled them down and helped her to step out of them, stuffing her panties in his back pocket. He took off his glasses but Kate did not see where he placed them as her head rolled back when his tongue met her soaked cunt.

He lifted one of her legs over his shoulder and he licked deeper, more forcefully, making Kate whimper. She was certain she heard a couple of women come into the restroom and fall silent at the sound of her and Bob's moaning - but she did not really care. Her focus was back on Bob and the amazing sensations he was waking in her. Hours of pent-up tension between them had her extremely hot and bothered for him and she knew it would not take much for him to make her come. His own moans of pleasure had her writhing even more under his touch.

Her orgasm came closer and closer as Bob pushed first one, then two fingers inside her tight warmth. She had to brace herself against the stall or she would collapse onto the floor and onto Bob. She whimpered loudly when he thrusted his fingers in and out, slipping easily with her wetness. His tongue drew circles around her clit while his fingers curled and thrusted inside her.

She hissed faintly when his thumb started circling her clit along with his tongue. "Too much, it's too much."

"Sorry, sweetheart." He grinned slightly, continuing to draw delightful sounds from her quivering body, but removed his thumb at her request. Once the orgasm overtook Kate's body, she pressed Bob's face, his mouth and his tongue further into her sopping wet core and she came with a deep sigh. He lapped softly at her cunt, careful not to overstimulate her again, merely taking his time to taste every last drop of her. Her entire body shook with strain and pleasure. He helped her down into his lap and they sat awkwardly pressed together between the toilet and the door.

"My teeth have gone numb," she mumbled into his shoulder.

He laughed softly. "Is that a good thing?"

She nodded and kissed him. He tasted sweet and tangy. Salty. It was her. She threaded her fingers lightly through his hair to make it look less uncombed.

"I think we missed the last part of the gig. I'm sorry."

Bob laughed again. "I saw all I needed of that gig. This was the best part of it."

Kate looked up at him with a little smile. "You surprised me."

"I surprised myself, too."

The restroom filled up with concert-goers after the show ended. Bob and Kate sat staring at each other with wide eyes, laughing faintly.

"Bob, what do we do?"

"We can stay here until everyone is gone. It's .. sort of safe here. It's not comfy but it's cozy, right? Or we leg it. Like, we don't look at anyone, we just get the hell out of here."

Kate gave him a challenging look. "We get out of here now."

Kate put her panties back on before they opened the stall door and walked very quickly out of the restroom. A few whistles and catcalls followed them out into the entrance hall of the venue. Faces red with embarrassment and excitement, they walked a few blocks in the warm San Diego night. They came to a halt at the bus stop and giggled, settling down on the bench to catch their breath.

Bob reached for Kate's hand, dragging two fingers across her palm. He eyed her nervously, clearing his throat. "So, uhm .. I was kind of hoping you'd let me keep those panties you wore."

"Bob!" she laughed exasperatedly. The now familiar heat rose in her stomach. This man was driving her insane and she loved it. How he challenged, emboldened her, empowered her. Light pink dusted over her face and she replied softly, "You can have them after next time you take them off me."

Taglist: @blessupblessup ❤️

#bob floyd #top gun fanfiction #bob floyd fanfiction #bob floyd top gun #everyone's favourite bob #lieutenant bob floyd #robert bob floyd

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eve-without-adam · 2 years

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Lost Boy Review (kinda)

Not sure who else has read has read books by Christina Henry, but I just finished Lost Boy and now I need someone to talk about it. I genuinely think it might be one of my favourite books.

I literally just finished it 30 minutes ago on the bus and had to stop myself from restarting immediately, but only because I promised my sister she could read it after I'm done.

I can only recommend this book to anyone who likes dark and violent stories. It could be rather graphic and a little gory at times but not overly so, that it felt like it was only there to shock you.

There were moments when I had to set the book down for a second and go "wtf no! She can't do that!" but those events never felt out of place and, for me, seemed to all make sense in the end.

Though the general ending isn't much of a surprise to anyone who knows the original story, the twists and turns the story took to get there did take me by surprise more than once.

I also have to say that I loved all the characters. I'm trying not to spoil anything.

I loved that you saw Peter the way Jamie did, so the more the story progressed and the more was revealed, the worse he became. I felt genuinely unsettled by him and he did give me chills more than once.

I think Jamie is a great main character.

(Spoiler)

I love the way he transforms from the lost boy into the grown-up pirate captain. And even before that you can see his doubts in the background until he finally turns against Peter.

(Spoiler end)

I think all the characters were very well written and did act in a way that was believable, considering their ages and circumstances.

All I can say is that even though the book (sadly) is rather short with only about 300 pages, it's definitely worth a read for anyone who likes those kinds of stories.

If anyone has read the book and wants to talk about it, please pm me, I'd love to talk to someone about this.

#lost boy #christina henry #book review #lost boy book #peter pan #captain hook

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wastelandcth · 4 years

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In the Mountains - cth

summary: who would've thought hiking with the boys would have ended up being so eventful? as the fifth member of 5sos with a crush on a certain bass player, you’re about to find out.

author’s notes: thanks to @calumspupils for sending this request in! I hope you enjoy it!

masterlist || request

You didn't really know how you'd gotten to this point in your life. How you had ended up in a band with four people you'd give the world to, it all still seemed like a fever dream. Most mornings you'd wake up either on a tour bus or in a hotel room miles from home wondering if this was your real-life and it wasn't until you were sat at breakfast with your bandmates that you realized how grateful you were for the twists and turns that had led to your crazy life.

Some days you'd play shows and feel like you were on top of the world, rocking out on stage with your best friends. Some nights the views from the airplanes you'd grown used to being on took your breath away for so long you were afraid you'd actually imagined it all. That all the cameras flashing and fans screaming out lyrics you'd written with the four guys on stage next to you were a figment of your imagination and you'd wake up one day to find it all gone.

"Hey, I know you don't love hiking but...I'm sure we'll make it fun," Calum's voice rang out in the car, bringing you back to the moment at present, "And I'll be there to tell you all the jokes and point out cool rocks," he said with a wink.

Calum Hood. You'd turned your head to face him, the California sun was hitting his skin and making him glow. His bright smile adorning his face as the sunglasses he was wearing slid down his nose to reveal those brown eyes you'd fallen for. His soft voice and gentle teasing bringing warmth to your stomach that always seem to linger whenever you two were alone. It was something that you thought you'd kept to yourself, a little secret, but the comments online only left you a blushing mess.

If you were being honest, you'd been in love with Calum since the first months you'd spent with the band, getting to know each other and making sure you'd be a good fit into the group. those weeks had been filled with outings together where all five of you would spend hours on end telling stories about growing up and then laughing over how the internet blew up when they introduced you to their fanbase. But those few weeks were also spent trying your best to not make a fool of yourself in front of Calum, who seemed to always be at the right place whenever you stumbled or when your voice would crack while you were practicing alone.

You two had clicked instantly, both stuck to each other's hip as you took on the world. You'd write together, spending hours on a couch drafting out possible songs and humming along to tracks that had potential in matching the band's sound. You'd even become neighbors at one point when you'd first moved into the city to be closer for band work. He'd helped you move into the apartment next to his and you'd spent many weekends at each other's place, laughing over the awkward silences when you'd both caught each other glancing for a few seconds too long.

So you were in love with your bandmate, your best friend, with Calum Hood. How bad could it be?

Apparently, very bad. You and Calum had never been the subtle type and although you both pretty much knew there was more than friendship between you two, no one made a move to make it more. Ashton had asked you once when you two had gone out for lunch after a studio session.

"I just can't understand why you two haven't already gotten over it and got together. You'd thought about it, he's thought about it. Just do it," Ashton huffed, shaking his head as he watched you tense up and shake your head.

"The band is what's important, Ash. We can't let our feelings get in the way of fucking up what all five of us have created. He knows that and I do too," you'd replied, laughing quietly as Ashton only shook his head and mumbled something under his breath.

But Ashton was always one to try and make others happy in his own special way. And that's how you found yourself in the car with Calum on the way out of the city for a hike you were less than excited about. You knew Ashton was up to something when he'd texted the group saying that you and Calum would have to drive to the trail together since you wouldn't fit in his car with Luke, Mike, and their partners. As a form of payback, you'd purposefully told Calum to pick you up thirty minutes after the original time to make sure you were the last ones to get there because there was nothing more than Ashton hated than being late. And that's how you found yourself driving out of the city with Calum, lost in your own head over how beautiful he looked.

"Mhm, you always make things fun," you chuckled and winked back at him, "We're gonna need it especially now that we're late and Ashton will definitely kill us."

The hike had gone surprisingly good considering three of you were not the most athletics and Luke and Michael had constantly been racing seeing who could go the farthest faster. Ashton had tried his best to keep everyone on track until you and Calum had teased him about being the mom friend as he'd set up his phone on a rock to shoot an update video for fans to let them know about the band had been up to. It had all been going according to plan until you moved closer to Calum and twisted your ankle, ending up on the floor staring up at the blue sky.

"Oh my god, I'm going to die. Just leave me here to die because I'm not making it," you cried out, "This is the end of me!"

In a matter of seconds since your back had hit the ground, four familiar faces hovered above you, one of them looking more concerned than the others. The pain shot through your spine and down your leg, your eyes closing as you tried to stop the tears from falling down your cheeks. Soon enough you found yourself being lifted up from the ground and a warm body pressed against your back. You could hear all the guys fighting over what to do, which meant your ankle wasn't twisted backward since none of them had screamed or puked their guts out. Their voices all mumbled into one as you breathed through the pain and it wasn't until Calum's warm breath was hitting your ear that you felt yourself take a deep breath in and open your eyes.

"I'm gonna stay here with you until Ash and the others can get a ranger to bring a car or something like that, okay?" he mumbled softly, his hand rubbing at your back as he helped you sit back against a rock.

"Please don't let my leg fall off, I need it to run on stage and to kick Michael when he steals my food," you whined.

"That's not gonna happen, okay? I think you just twisted it and it's all going to be okay, sweet girl," Calum mumbled and kissed your forehead, "Promise."

The sun was still high in the sky by the time you started thinking Ashton had left you both in the desert. You'd both been sitting on the ground together, watching as your ankle grew and grew in size as the time passed by. The pain had dulled and your head was resting on his shoulder when your brain had started to think of the worst.

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you were Australian. Us Aussies are known for our athleticism," Calum chuckled as he nudged your side with his elbow, "It's a well-known fact."

"I can do a better Australian accent than all four of you," you scoffed, rolling your eyes as you smacked his thigh, "And I can outrun pretty much all of you except Ash."

"Except right now."

"Calum Hood, I swear if you don't stop making fun of me-"

"What? Are you gonna hit me again? I dare you-"

You don't know what came over you. Maybe it was the heat of the sun beaming down on you both. Or maybe the fact that you were thirsty since Michael had taken the only backpack with water with him before you two realized it but Calum's lips looked very nice and it took no self-restraint for you to lean in and stop him mid-sentence.

"Maybe you should twist your ankle more often, huh?" Calum chuckled as you both pulled away, "Or bully you more often."

"Shut up and kiss me again, idiot," you laughed and pulled him back in for another kiss.

"Who knew all I had to do was get you two alone on a hiking trail for you to finally kiss, huh?" Ashton's chuckled made you both pull away, making you both look like a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh shut up, I'm never going on a hike with any of you again," you huffed and gratefully took the park ranger’s hand as he helped you on to what looked like a golf car.

It was a short trip back to the medical center, where they treated your very swollen ankle with ice while you downed all the water you could get your hands on. But you were grateful that Calum hadn't left your side once, his hand in yours as you squeezed it whenever you'd hit a bump or when the park ranger wrapped your ankle. His hand was still in yours as you both drove back to the city and it never left yours even when you both laid on the couch in his living room that night, drifting off in each other's company for once accepting that maybe, just maybe, this could be more than just stolen glances.

taglist: @hoodhoran @finelliine @moonlightcriess @dinosaursandsocks @mxgyver @calpops @karajaynetoday @notlukehemmo @calumrose @devilatmydoor @lyss-xo @lowkeyflop @hemmo1996-5sosvevo @myloverboyash @notinthesameguey

#calum hood blurbs #calum hood imagines #calum hood x reader #5sos imagines #5sos blurbs #5sos x reader #calum hood #5sos #5 seconds of summer #gemma writes

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initiumseries · 2 years

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Do you have any top tier scenes in movies or television solely because of the music in the background? I sort of do, but for me, it’s more so that the music improves upon the scene which I already find to be good, haha.

Tumblr is annoying so I have to break this up. ^^ this is how it started, and I'll continue here: The Dark Knight This was pretty damn epic.

My Hero Academia So, I find that the score for good anime is usually pretty sick, and MHA doesn't disappoint. All Might's last battle and Endeavour's fight against the Nomu had FANTASTIC score that elevated the animation and really hit the emotionality of the scenes. I've watched them more than once for sure.

Lord of the Rings The battle at Helm's Deep is once of my favourites ever, but this moment, when they're riding to a glorious death in battle, and then Gandalf shows up on the horizon, the music swells and the riders of rohan just absolutely merk the SHIT out of the orcs, with the cinematography, the editing, the score...just *chef's kiss*, honestly one the best scenes in movies period imo.

Story of Yanxi Palace This drama is SO high drama, SO soapy, I love every fucking second of it, but THIS moment was *peak*. Wei Yinglou and Fuca Fuheng were in love and the emperor refused to let them marry and planned to kill Yinglou, and Fuheng, in a bid to save her life, accepts the original marriage bestowed on him to someone else, and in order to be pardoned so she can go back to serving the empress, the emperor makes her go out in the first snow fall begging for forgiveness every 10 steps and she meets them outside the gates, and it's BRUTAL. Fuheng is miserable, Yinglou is heartbroken...and the music is GOING IN. It's so hard to watch, but it's also beautifully shot.

Touch Your Heart So honestly, I think this moment is a FANTASTIC moment in cinema/tv. Basically Jung Rok broke up with Oh Jin Shim and stops driving so he can see her on a billboard every day at the bus stop. Then he has a particularly difficult day and finds out Oh Jin Shim left notes cheering him on and goes to the bus stop and breaks DOWN. And I LOVE this because the music is PERFECT, and then at THIS exact moment the music stops, and all you hear is him breaking down and crying before the music starts up again. I will stop WHATEVER I'm doing EVERY time to watch this. TOP of the toppest tier.

Goblin This moment was when I knew the drama was gonna get LIT. This lightning, the vfx, the implications AND the score? And that's the end of the ep? Whew.

Arcane So this was just beautifully animated from beginning to end, and I've talked about it extensively. But this moment, among a few others, I especially liked, because the music underscores this moment for Jinx where she's confused and vulnerable and just wants her big sister back, and I love it.

Hi Bye Mama This drama WRECKED me. The whole thing is basically a woman gets hit by a car and has to choose to save herself or her baby and she chooses her baby and her husband is a COMPLETE disaster because he operates on her and couldn't save her, so now he can't perform surgeries. And so she's a ghost and has the opportunity to try to come back permanently if she can resume her role in her family, but her husband has remarried and she knows its best for her daughter if she just passes on, and you see the sadness of other ghosts around her, and just... Korea is SO GOOD at abject grief. Like I believe the shit out of them. They MISSED this woman. And the score at every step was just...so intense. It's I think the only drama that actually made me cry.

#hi bye mama #arcane #touch your heart #my hero academia #the story of yanxi palace #lord of the rings

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gemsofgreece · 3 years

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I've been finally getting into rebetiko so I was wondering if you could give me some recs? M' aeroplana Kai Vaporia is my fav song and gives me chills, and so does To Minore Tis Avgis from the softer ones. And could you point me towards info for its history & culture? Due to my personal circumstances the Smyrna aspects in particular is something I want to reconnect with. Note I'm Greek so I don't need English info I I'm just writing in english for accessibility in case people are interested

REBETIKOOO ah my favourite genre!!! (along with entechno) I am gonna add English info if you don’t mind.

Μ’αεροπλάνα και βαπόρια (With planes and ships) is one of my favourite songs too! Perhaps you already know this but fun fact: Savvopoulos was dreaming for a long time to write a proper rebetiko. So when he got Sotiria Bellou to sing his song he could hardly contain himself. When Bellou got out of the studio after she had finished recording the song, she told him “I ripped your “pops” and “rocks” apart”. After that, Savvopoulos never attempted to write rebetiko again. Now, to be fair, the song IS rebetiko but with an obvious entechno and soft rock flair :)

Since you like Bellou, here are other great classics from her:

Μη μου ξαναφύγεις πια (Don’t leave me no more)

Συννεφιασμένη Κυριακή (Cloudy Sunday)

Δε λες κουβέντα (You don’t say a word) (this is actually laiko bordering on soft rebetiko)

And since you also like Το μινόρε της αυγής some songs of Markos Vamvakaris, the dad of rebetiko (he was the one who made it mainstream and exculpated it):

Φραγκοσυριανή (Lady from Syros)

Τα ματόκλαδα σου λάμπουν (Your eyelashes are shining) For a less heavy approach, it is also great by Giannis Poulopoulos.

Τα ζηλιάρικα σου μάτια (Your jealous eyes)

And now a short history of Rebétiko.

Rebetiko is a music genre that first appeared in the late 19th Century and at the first three decades of the 20th Century it had reached the familiar sound we know today. It flourished amongst the Greeks of Asia Minor, mostly the low and working class. When the population exchange between Greece and Turkey took place in 1922, the 1,5 million Greek refugees who arrived at Greece brought many things, including rebetiko. In the beginning, the rapid influx of over a million people made the Greek citizens basically hostile towards them. The Greek refugees were severely marginalized and they survived and flourished in the underground scene. Rebetiko was considered provocative, shocking as, besides love, it often also addressed the struggles and little joys of marginalized people (poverty, prison, drugs, prostitution, life in the streets in general etc). Rebetiko was censored by the regime of Metaxas in 1936. In 1940, during the Nazi Occupation, rebetiko became a resistance genre against the Nazis and that helped it find wide acceptance amongst all Greeks by the early 50s. Since then, rebetiko has become an “untouchable” of Greek (and not only) genres and even Mikis Theodorakis (arguably the best or runner-up Greek composer of all time) once said: “We (the composers) are all just branches of a tree and that tree is Markos Vamvakaris” (the aforementioned dad). Rebetiko music is now part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Aaaand some more recs!

1) Some very old

Τα παιδιά της γειτονιάς σου (The kids of your neighborhood) Actually folk Minor Asian of the late 19th century that was rebetised around the 20s. The version I linked is recent cos I love it)

Μισιρλού (Misirlu - Egyptian girl) Song from 1927. The main theme of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is a cover of this song. Black Eyed Peas also did a cover.

2) Some hardcore ones, like the Hashish songs (yep that’s an actual subcategory of rebetiko)

Ένας μάγκας στο Βοτανικό (A man of the streets at Votanikos) Sung entirely in a made up street slang Greek dialect.

Το πιτσιρικάκι (The kiddo)

Έμαθα πως είσαι μάγκας (I heard you are a street man)

Στην υπόγα (At the basement) I love the original 30′s version. The melody written and performed by Kostas Bezos was then remastered by him and led to the super famous ---->

Παξιμαδοκλέφτρα (Rusk thief) The dude who made the video for this song is my idol. I wonder what people who don’t speak Greek make of it lmao

Η προσευχή του μάγκα (The street man’s prayer)

3) And some more mainstream:

Βρέχει στη φτωχογειτονιά (It’s raining over the slum)

Με παρέσυρε το ρέμα (The river took me)

Απόψε στις ακρογιαλιές (Tonight at the beach)

Ακρογιαλιές δειλινά (Beaches and sunsets) I’m linking the Imam Baildi version.

Είμαστε αλάνια (We are street kids (?) )

Που ‘σαι Θανάση; (Where are you Thanasis?) Okay I am cheating a bit here because this is a laiko song but I INSIST it has a rebetiko flair also I am obsessing over it today

4) Instrumental

Τα ωραία του Τσιτσάνη (Tsitsanis’ nice tunes) Basically Vasilis Tsitsanis killing it.

Ζεϊμπέκικο της Ευδοκίας (A zeibekiko for Evdokia) Our unofficial national anthem shouldn’t be missing from this list. Fun fact: This was to be a full song. When Manos Loizos (the very famous composer) gave the melody to Lefteris Papadopoulos (very famous lyricist) refused to write any lyrics because he was sure this would destroy the song. And of course he was right.

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5) Last BUT NOT LEAST, everything written by Stavros Xarchakos for the movie Rebetiko.

I give you my three favourites. But, like, I recommend all the movie basically.

Καίγομαι, καίγομαι (I am burning, I am burning)

youtube

Στου Θωμά το μαγαζί (At Thomas’ shop)

youtube

And for last, I saved the song that freezes my blood, sung by the man himself. Flirts heavily with entechno genre. This was Xarchakos’ only appearance on the silver screen.

Το πρακτορείο (The bus station)

youtube

I think I covered you well XD but in general Markos Vamvakaris and Vasilis Tsitsanis wrote many masterpieces for rebetiko you can find. Xarchakos did too in this movie (but he generally composed more laiko and entechno). You can find a lot of good stuff. Happy listening!

P.S I was double checking whether Βρέχει φωτιά στη στράτα μου is laiko or rebetiko (I’m stupid I know) and this is the genre Google gave me for Stratos Dionysiou:

As we speak, Dionysiou is rolling in his grave. I’ve never seen a disgrace like this before XD

#greece #culture #music #songs #greek music #greek songs #rebetiko #music genres #greek culture #greek facts

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kissinginkitchens · 3 years

Text

You Bring Me Home — Chapter One: Flightless Bird, American Mouth

a/n: I've been working on this story for mooonths now and I'm so excited to finally share it with the world! It's heavily inspired by Harry's Behind the Album mini doc, except I changed the setting to Hawai'i because I've personally spent some time there and as they say, write what you know! YBMH takes place in the period between One Direction's hiatus and Harry's first album/tour, but with that being said, this is entirely a work of fiction and some events don't follow the true timeline. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my little story, I hope you love it as much as I do! It will be updated every Friday at 5 PM PST. My inbox is open, so feel free to talk to me once you've finished reading! I'd love to hear from you :) Much love, Mel <3

Pairing: Hawai'i!Harry x Original Character

Warnings: swearing

Word Count: 5.5k

May, 2016

Harry watches LAX get smaller through the airplane window and visualizes all of his worries stuck at the terminal gate, their magnitude also diminishing as he takes flight. He sinks lower in his seat and skims through playlists on his phone when a nagging feeling at the back of his mind pulls his attention away from the screen. Looking up from the song choices, he spots a cell phone quickly lowered from his line of vision and a girl with flushed cheeks who quickly averts her gaze. Harry shoots a tight-lipped smile in her direction and goes back to his phone with a sigh. The days when he could roam the streets freely without fear of recognition—or worse, harassment—feel like an entirely different lifetime. He sometimes imagines that he’ll wake up back in his childhood bed as if the past five years had all been a dream, but he never does. In fact, his privacy and anonymity seem to dwindle with each minute of radio play that One Direction receives. It’s a bittersweet pill to swallow, but one he hopes will go down easier with some time in the Hawaiian sun.

His close friend and new manager, Jeff Azoff, had suggested the vacation as soon as the band privately agreed to take a hiatus.

“You’ll go home for a few weeks,” his voice had crackled through the speakers of Harry’s phone. “Visit your mom and Gem, lay low for a while until the smoke blows over,”

Harry mulled it over in his mind, eyes flickering over the rolling landscape outside of the tour bus window.

“Then what?”

“Then you go for a little vacation. The label offered to cover a house in Hawaii so you can start working on the album,”

“Alone?”

Jeff chuckled lightly on the other end before responding. “I mean, if that’s what you want,”

“No,” Harry corrected. “You and Tom should come. Mitch and Bhasker, too,”

“The dream team,”

“And there’ll be a studio there?”

“Yes,” Jeff started, almost hesitant. “But I don’t want you to think about that too much,”

“But you said the label—"

“I also said vacation. Look, Rob said ‘it will all happen in due time,' did he not?”

Harry twisted the rose ring around his finger, tracing over the silver petals and thinking back to his conversation with the CEO of Sony Music, Rob Stringer. Upon the proposal of his debut solo album, Rob had told him that the most important ingredient for a successful debut would be patience. The singer had agreed in the moment, but every day not spent in the studio felt like a test he hadn’t studied hard enough for.

“Yeah.”

“So you take the free vacation,” Jeff suggested. “You go out, live, get some writing material. Maybe mess around with some tunes. And then we come back to L.A. and get to work. But until then, I just want you to focus on taking it easy.”

So take it easy he had. Or at least he had tried to when he was back home in England. Harry quickly grew restless after what felt like the millionth awkward conversation with past friends and acquaintances, all of which eventually led to the topic of One Direction and it’s unexpected hiatus. After one month at home, his mind and journal were full of ideas for songs, things that he wanted to say before he lost his nerve. One night as he tossed and turned in bed, he shot Jeff a text, just two words that would kick off a three month getaway to the Big Island of Hawai'i:

I’m ready.

********

“Sounds great, I'll go put in your order.” Alani offers sweetly, trying not to overdo it with the customer service voice. After waiting on the family at her designated table, she heads back to the kitchen and finds her younger sister, Pua, crouched in the corner taking what appears to be a serious phone call.

“I don’t know, I just saw it!” Her sister cries in a hushed tone. “Where do you think he’s going?”

“Is everything okay?” Alani cuts in with concern.

Pua whispers into the speaker before bringing the phone to her shoulder.

“Harry Styles was just spotted on a plane this morning,”

“Who?”

“The guy from One Direction,” her sister explains with a hint of irritation in her voice. “The band who sings that song you secretly like, ‘Fireproof,'”

Alani vaguely recalls the melody, but she waits expectantly for Pua to elaborate. “And this is news because…”

“Because the band just broke up, so where could he possibly be going?”

"The unemployment office?”

Pua rolls her eyes and returns to her phone call while Alani envelops her in a tight hug.

“I’m just kidding!” Alani apologizes, squeezing tighter despite her sister’s attempts to break free. “I’m sure he’ll be living off of royalty checks until he’s, like, eighty,”

“Get off me, freak!” Pua cries out, finally breaking the embrace.

Alani clutches her chest and pulls out an invisible knife. “Ouch. I’m telling Harry you said that,”

“This is exactly why I don’t tell you things.” the younger sister huffs, storming out of the kitchen through the employee entrance where Alani’s best friend, Maleah, has just arrived.

“Looks like someone forgot to eat their Cheerios today,” she remarks, tying her curls into a high ponytail.

Alani shrugs and leans against the counter. “She’s going through something. Just discovered that boys in pop bands are, in fact, just regular boys.”

“Poor thing,” Maleah frowns. “We all have to learn eventually.”

********

The sky is a blend of cotton candy pink and burnt orange when Alani returns home from the café with a strawberry smoothie in tow. She empties the mailbox and sorts through the various bills and advertisements, but her stomach drops when she sees a familiar return address label. After a quick greeting to her excited dog who waits at the door, Alani bolts up the stairs and quietly shuts the bedroom door behind her. Breathe, she reminds herself before tearing into the envelope and discarding it onto the wooden floor.

Dear Ms. Hale,

We are very grateful to have received your submission to Rolling Stone magazine. However, we regret to inform you—

She doesn’t read the rest, slumping to the floor in defeat. The sixth rejection letter from Rolling Stone lies crumpled at Alani’s feet and she kicks it across the room with a frustrated grunt. She had worked for over two months perfecting her analysis of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi and its allusions to the environmental impact of urban development in Hawaii. As part of her initial research, Alani had even traveled to both the Royal Hawaiian hotel in Honolulu, which is the famous Pink Hotel mentioned in the song, and Foster Botanical Garden that Mitchell referred to as “the tree museum.” She was certain that her effort and persistence would result in at least a consideration. The second third time's the charm! Maleah had joked watching Alani submit the piece. Six articles in the span of two years, each one facing the same rejection despite the increased effort Alani had put in over time. The fact that the rejection letter hadn’t changed over the course of the two years brings an incredulous smile to her face, and her stomach turns when she considers that the editors probably hadn’t even read her work, anyway. All that effort, she thinks to herself, all that time, for nothing.

“It will take time,” her favorite professor, Dr. Hudson, had reassured her three months after the Joni Mitchell article was submitted. “Every great writer faced countless rejection until that one piece. Yours will come. Keep your eyes open and your pen ready.”

Alani sighs and lifts herself off the floor, choosing to crawl into her unmade bed instead of slumping onto the hardwood. She hears a soft scratching at the door before her King Charles Spaniel, Freddie, pads into the room.

“Come here, bubs,” Alani whispers. He obeys and burrows into the duvet, giving her temple a gentle lick before nuzzling into the nape of her neck.

“You still love me, right?” she asks, voice cracking. “Even if I’m a failure?”

Freddie sniffs her ear in response.

********

“Right,” Harry says, his tongue peeking from the corner of his mouth as he reads the map. “No, left, sorry,”

“Do you actually know how to read a map?” Jeff teases, correcting the turn.

Harry pouts in response, his brows furrowing. “In my defense, we’re literally in the middle of fucking nowhere,”

“There are worse places to be,” Mitch pipes up from the back seat. “England, for example, where they say things like ‘litchrally’,”

“Very well said, Mitchell,” Jeff Bhasker adds with a fake British accent of his own.

Harry turns to his friends in the back seat with a finger pointed like an agitated mother. “If you lot don’t shut up, I’m gonna lead us to a volcano and push you in,”

“Where are we even going? I forgot,” Tom complains.

“To get food,” his manager responds from the driver’s seat. “I think,”

“Why can’t we just stop there?” Mitch asks pointing to a café pulling up on their right.

Jeff merges into the turning lane quickly without a second thought. “Good enough for me, I’m starving.”

“Sorry, H.” Mitch pats his friend on the shoulder.

Harry scoffs. “You’re the one who wanted poke.”

The Aloha Nui Loa Café is much more spacious than the exterior suggests, yet it still feels cozy. The walls are painted sage green and adorned with various local art pieces, as described by the plaques that accompany them. A skylight fills the center of the room with plenty of warm lighting, leaving the space along the walls in a bit more shade for an intimate feel. In one corner, a hanging disco ball leaves freckles of sparkling light along the walls where the sunlight hits, making the whole image very idyllic in Harry’s mind. As if he couldn’t enjoy the setting more, he hears the beginning of an Otis Redding song that he’s had stuck in his head drift through the restaurant speakers.

“Welcome in!” a voice calls, which pulls him from his survey of the room. His head whips to the source—a girl around his age with wavy, dark hair and honey skin. “For here or to go?”

Harry takes a hesitant step up to the counter. “For here,”

She smiles warmly and pulls some menus from under the counter. “How many in your party?”

“Five.”

“Great, follow me.”

Harry and his friends follow the waitress to the corner of the room under the disco ball and take their seats at the round table.

“My name is Alani,” she introduces herself, setting the menus down. “I’ll be serving you today. Can I get you started with some drinks?”

Harry continues scanning the restaurant while his group orders. His eyes land on the shirt that Alani is wearing, a white tee with the words “Enjoy Health, Eat Your Honey” in blue lettering that surrounds a picture of a cartoon bee.

“Harry,” Jeff says gently, catching his drifting attention.

The singer turns to his manager, who nods to Alani waiting with a pen pressed to her notepad. Harry feels a rush of embarrassment creep across his cheeks and he clears his throat to cover it.

“Just water,” he says, eyes glued to the menu. “Thanks.”

“You got it.” Alani nods, flashing a toothy grin at the rest of the group before turning back to the kitchen. Harry. Her mind repeats, finding a hint of familiarity, though she doesn’t know why.

When Alani arrives at the drink station, she finds her sister staring at her, mouth agape, while Maleah unsuccessfully conceals her laughter.

“What?” she questions, checking herself for any embarrassing stains or smells.

“You were—and he—” Pua stammers. “He was—and then he—”

“That’s Harry Styles,” Maleah translates, her voice hushed as she peers over her friend's shoulder.

Alani turns to steal a glance at the table she just seated, but Pua and Maleah latch onto her and shake their heads frantically.

“Don’t look!” her sister hisses.

Alani smirks, amused at their reactions. “No shit. That’s One Direction?”

Maleah snorts, clasping a hand over her mouth as Pua huffs. “No, dumbass! It’s just Harry. I don’t know who the other guys are,”

“But the blonde guy? That’s not—?”

“No!” Pua and Maleah giggle in unison.

“Okay, geez,” Alani relents. She manages to steal a quick glance at the table over her shoulder, immediately searching for Harry. Her eyes scan over the long, curly hair kept out of his face by a pair of white sunglasses that she had seen on Kurt Cobain once. All of his features are sharp and striking, from his pointed nose and defined jawline to the bright blue eyes. Or maybe they were grey? Alani wonders, trying to remember the exact shade. He doesn’t look anything like the fresh-faced teeny bopper she’d had in mind, the one from a music video her sister had shown her a long time ago. She would have never guessed that the What Makes You Beautiful singer had so much dark ink trailing down his bicep and forearm, though her knowledge of One Direction was very limited.

“What did he order?” Pua questions, her eyes wide.

Alani quickly snaps back to reality and resumes filling the drinks. “A water,”

“Oh my god,” Maleah swoons. “I’m never drinking anything else ever again,”

“I didn’t even know you liked him,” Alani teases with an eyebrow raised.

Maleah sneaks another peek at the table and catches her lower lip between her teeth. “I mean, I didn’t really think so either but look at him. What a fucking dream,”

Harry was objectively handsome, this Alani could admit, but she personally didn’t see the appeal and had a strong feeling that he was just like every other male celebrity. The fact that he hadn’t even bothered to make eye contact with her only served as further proof of what she knew to be true.

“Okay, well, your dreamboat is waiting for his water. So excuse me,” Alani winks, making her way back to the table.

The singer spots Alani returning out of the corner of his eye and the sight of her causes a strange flutter in the pit of his stomach that makes him want to duck for cover. Instead, he pulls his phone from his back pocket and pretends to be occupied with something on the screen.

“Okay,” she greets, setting the drink tray down. “I have a Blue Hawaii, a Mango Mama, two Loco Cocos, and a water,”

The group graciously accepts their drinks with a chorus of “thank you," but the only one under Alani’s scrutiny is Harry. He still doesn’t meet her almond eyes, and though she figured he wouldn’t, she can’t help the inkling of disappointment that washes over her. After taking their meal orders, Alani heads back to the kitchen, checking on her other customers along the way. Harry’s eyes follow her and he observes the way customers light up at her presence, indulging her conversation with laughter. He watches as she lingers by the jukebox in one corner of the room, a detail he had missed in his initial scan, and waits anxiously to see what song she chooses. Baby I’m-a Want You begins softly and Harry feels the corner of his lip curl ever so slightly. Good choice, he thinks.

********

“He’s still here,” Pua muses, peering through the tiny window in the kitchen door. It had been nearly two hours and the five men were still seated around their table cracking jokes and doing a lot of talking with their hands.

Alani doesn’t look up from her bowl of sliced kiwis, offering a hum in response. “And what do you want me to do about that?”

“Nothing,” Pua shoots back. “Don’t bother him,”

“What kind of girls do you think he’s into?” Maleah asks, attempting to peek through the window.

Alani shrugs, bored of the conversation and of thinking about Harry. “I don’t know, but I’ll bet he’s a real sucker for the ones who stalk him while he’s eating,”

“How does he make eating a salad look hot?”

“Can we talk about something else now?” Alani whines, poking holes in a lone kiwi with her fork.

Pua tosses a wet dish rag in her sister’s direction and cheers when it lands in her face. “Go see if he wants more water, he looks thirsty.”

“I already refilled it,” Alani defends. “Twenty minutes ago. I’ve refilled it a hundred times, I’m surprised he hasn’t peed his pants.”

I’m gonna piss myself. Harry thinks, his right leg bouncing to distract himself. He really wasn’t all that thirsty, but he couldn’t stop himself from finishing each glass of water that Alani placed in front of him. He really wasn’t all that thirsty, but he couldn’t stop himself from finishing each glass of water that Alani placed in front of him. Like clockwork, she would return to fill his glass almost as soon as the last drop had been drained, and so what began as a little experiment slowly turned into a bladder hazard. But if the trend was to be trusted, she would be back any minute and he wasn’t going to miss it; afterall, there were only so many ways to casually linger in a small café without making it weird. Unable to bear it any longer, he heads to the restroom and hopes that Alani doesn’t clear their table before he has a chance to see her again.

Harry pads down the back hallway with his eyes cast down at the floor, which proves to be a mistake when he walks directly into another person.

“Sorry!” they both apologize quickly, Harry’s palm taking purchase on the other person’s upper arm.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” he offers, finally meeting the dark, mocha eyes already looking back at him.

Alani presses her lips into a tight smile. “Me either,”

Harry’s heartbeat picks up when he realizes it’s her, and he isn’t aware of how close they’re standing until he detects the faint scent of kiwi on her breath. He takes a step back and rakes a hand through his hair.

“So I guess I’ll just—”

“Yeah, sure.”

Green. Alani notes to herself. His eyes are green.

********

Shortly after Harry returned from the restroom, him and his friends settled their bill and headed out. Alani cleared their table and her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw the hefty tip left behind. The word mahalo was also left behind on the receipt, underlined twice, and she wondered if it was his handwriting.

Later that night, she settled into bed with her laptop and hesitantly typed his name into Google. As she expected, countless articles about the split of One Direction emerged, most of them speculating what was next for each member. To her surprise, however, Harry’s name seemed to be mentioned more than his fellow bandmates as various sources labeled him “the next Justin Timberlake” and rising star of the group. Upon further investigation, she learned that the demand for information about the elusive Harry Styles was high, especially concerning any possible solo music. No news had yet been confirmed by Styles himself, nor anyone claiming to represent him, but she still wondered if his presence in Hawaii had anything to do with a possible solo project. Almost as soon as she thought it, Alani dismissed the theory in favor of the idea that he was most likely just taking a vacation. And from the buzz that she saw surrounding the news about One Direction, she couldn’t blame him.

The more Alani read, the more she wanted to know, and something deep down told her that his was a story worth telling. Of course, the only problem was that she had hardly talked to him, and there were only so many things she could say about the fifteen glasses of water he downed. There was no way of knowing if she would ever see him again, either, or if he was merely stopping in Hilo on his way to another island or somewhere else entirely. Alani sighed, thinking back to her most recent rejection from Rolling Stone. She knew that there was no possible way she would ever see or talk to Harry ever again, and even if she did, why would he bare his entire soul to a stranger? Still, she let her mind wander through the possibility.

Dear Ms. Hale, the letter would read, we are very grateful to have received your submission to Rolling Stone magazine and are pleased to inform you that your piece on Harry Styles will be featured in next month’s issue. Additionally, we would be honored to have you on staff, effective immediately.

It was far-fetched, Alani knew this, but she dozed off that night with endless ideas swimming in her head.

********

By the third day after his visit, the only trace of Harry is in Alani’s search history. She would have completely forgotten about him if it weren’t for her sister’s constant reminiscing and multiple attempts to rename the house salad to the “Harry Special.” As a result, a part of Alani’s thoughts periodically linger back to that day and the subsequent hours spent on Google that she’d rationalized as research instead of stalking. Somehow the knowledge that she’ll never see him again only adds fuel to the questions still burning in her mind, but a customer clearing their throat while she sorts menus below the hostess podium interrupts her thoughts.

“Welcome in!” She calls, standing. “What can I—”

She stops in her tracks, unable to believe her eyes. Harry blinks and waits for her to continue.

“What can I get started for you?” Alani tries again, hoping that he hadn’t noticed her shock. Luckily for her, Harry had been too focused on choosing his next words to register her mistake.

“What’s in the Honu smoothie?” he asks, mentally kicking himself for asking such a stupid question when the menu just inches above her head clearly spells it out.

Alani hums, thinking back to the times she had made the smoothie herself. “Kiwis, spinach, mango, avocado, and a hint of lime,”

“I’ll take one of those,” Harry says, reaching for his wallet.

Alani punches in the order with trembling fingers and nods. “For here or to go?”

“To go,”

Disappointment fills her chest. Sure, she hadn’t planned on seeing him ever again, but the fact that she did felt like a sign. If she wanted to take the chance, she’d have to do it fast.

“Anything else?” she asks, weighing her options while he skims the menu.

“No thanks.��

Alani makes the smoothie quickly, head spinning. She had spent most of the night after their initial meeting planning out exactly the type of questions she hoped to ask him and what kind of article she would write. She was used to writing about what she knew—artists and music she’d admired for years— but she figured that starting fresh with someone she hardly knew would be a good challenge. Not to mention that it seemed like just the thing Rolling Stone would jump for. Alani finally works up the courage as she finishes his smoothie, but when she returns to hand it to him and hopefully strike up a conversation, his ear is pressed to his cell phone. She holds out the drink and he graciously accepts, giving her a small nod as a “thank you” and rushing out of the restaurant.

Two days later he returns and is seated at the counter, typing away on his phone. Alani feels both a rush of optimism and annoyance at the universe for dangling his presence so unexpectedly. She starts heading over to him, but Maleah cuts in.

“Trade me?” she proposes, eyes wide.

Alani blinks. “Oh, I would but I—”

“Please,” her best friend pouts. “I’m leaving to see my grandparents in stupid California for two months. Who knows when I’ll get the chance to see him again?”

Alani sighs, but gives in, reluctantly exchanging Harry for the family of four seated by the window. A strange feeling settles into the pit of his stomach when he sees that she heads in the opposite direction after a hushed conversation with another waitress. He doesn’t know why she traded him for a different customer, but he takes the hint.

A week goes by without another sighting of Harry and Alani has permanently taken on the role of greeting hostess in hopes of seeing him again. Her heartbeat temporarily speeds up when she sees a long haired customer approach the door, but her spirits quickly fall when the face doesn’t match his.

Another week brings another disappointing realization that Harry might be gone for good. One rainy morning when the restaurant is quiet and only two customers huddle together in a booth near the back, Alani hunches over the hostess podium and doodles on a stray receipt— a sunflower, a crescent moon, and two hearts. The bell above the door jingles but she doesn’t look up, too absorbed in her scribbles.

“Do you serve coffee?”

The familiar accented voice stops Alani’s pen dead in its tracks. She lifts her eyes first to confirm, and then straightens up when she sees that her ears haven’t deceived her.

“Yes,” she swallows.

“Great. I’ll take it to go,”

She slightly deflates, but Harry thinks he’s reading too much into it.

“Actually,” he corrects anyway, just in case he isn’t. “I think I’ll stay for a while,”

Alani flashes a warm smile and nods in the direction of the counter. “Right this way,”

Harry sheds his windbreaker onto the back of the seat, revealing a black and white Rolling Stones t-shirt that makes Alani’s blood pressure rise. A sign, she thinks.

“What do you want in your coffee?” she questions carefully.

“Nothing,” he responds, shaking out his damp hair gently. “Or actually, uh, butter...if you have some,”

Alani blinks, not sure if she’d heard correctly or if there had been some transatlantic miscommunication.

“Butter?”

“Yeah,”

“Like the—”

“Spread, yeah,” Harry confirms. “It’s weird, I know,”

She lets out a light-hearted laugh and nods. “It’s a...unique request,”

“I thought the same thing at first,” Harry confides. “It’s not bad, actually. But maybe I’ve just been in L.A. for too long.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

She offers a polite smile and heads to the kitchen where the cook and two other waiters talk amongst each other. Alani is grateful that the restaurant is slow this morning because she knows that it means minimal interruptions to her time with Harry. To ensure this, though, she asks one of the other waiters to cover the podium and returns to Harry with his coffee.

“One butter coffee, free of judgement,” the waitress announces, setting it down.

Harry grins softly, stirring the drink with the spoon Alani provided. “You can judge, it’s alright,”

“I just wanna know why,”

The coffee had been part of a fad diet while on tour in order to boost Harry’s energy on stage and stay trim for the hundreds of photo-ops he would be a part of. He doesn’t know how to communicate all of this to Alani, however, not sure how much she knows about that part of him, so he shrugs and tells a simplified version of the truth.

“I read about this trend a while back, it's called bulletproof coffee. Supposed to get your energy up and I needed it for my job,”

“Which is…” Alani trails off, downplaying the knowledge that she had acquired from Google.

“I make music,” is all Harry says and he takes a sip of the drink to avoid elaborating.

“Anything I would have heard?”

He swallows hard and listens to the faint rumbling of thunder outside before replying. “Possibly,”

“Try me,” Alani challenges.

He narrows his eyes and takes another sip of coffee. “Why don’t you tell me something about yourself first?”

“What do you wanna know?”

Everything, Harry responds internally, though he reigns it in. “How you got into waitressing,”

Alani sighs, resting her elbows on the counter across from him. “There’s not much to tell, it’s a family business. What I really wanna do is write,”

“Music?”

“Articles. I’m studying Journalism at UH,”

Harry hums in response, filing the detail away in the back of his mind. “Sounds interesting. You ever publish anything?”

“Not yet,” Alani shakes her head gently, toying with the sleeves of her green University of Hawaii crewneck. “Hopefully soon, though,”

Harry racks his brain for something else to say, but before he can, Alani speaks up again.

“Is it my turn to ask something now?”

He offers a curt nod and stirs his coffee.

“What kind of music do you write?”

Harry chooses to be vague again. “Different stuff. Pop, usually. Been messing with some classic rock, though,”

“Explains the shirt,”

He peers down at the design on his tee and agrees. “Yeah, I guess so,”

“Do you like it?” Alani asks, her eyes begging to make contact with his again. “Writing music, I mean,”

“Yeah,” Harry confirms, tapping his spoon against the rim of the mug. “I really do,”

Alani’s heart pounds. This is her chance, a moment to finally secure her breakthrough piece. She doesn’t know how to approach it, so she opts to dive right in without looking back. The worst he can say is no.

“Can I ask you something else?”

“That’s cheating,” Harry teases lightly. “It's my turn,”

She pouts playfully, but obliges. “Fire away,”

Harry doesn’t know which question to ask first, but when he glances down at the crescent moon inked on her wrist, he decides to start there.

“What’s with the moon tattoo?”

Alani isn’t sure what she expected him to ask and wonders what purpose such a detail could possibly serve him, but she answers anyway.

“Oh, well,” she begins, tracing her index finger over the outline. “It’s kinda the meaning of my full name. It’s Mahealani, Hawaiian for ‘heavenly moon,'”

Fitting, Harry comments to himself. Every detail he learns about her makes him want to learn that much more, from her favorite foods to the last thing she thinks about before falling asleep. Studying her expectant eyes, he suddenly remembers that it’s his turn to respond.

“That’s cool,” is all he says.

Alani doesn’t know what to make of the faraway look in his eye, but she decides to pose her most burning question while he appears to be in good spirits.

“I know this is gonna sound totally out of the blue,” she starts, working past the lump in her throat. “But when you mentioned how you write music, I was just reminded of this assignment I’m working on in my class,”

Harry waits for her to continue, nursing his now lukewarm coffee.

“I’m supposed to write a piece about someone who I don’t know that well,” she continues. “You know, to practice our interviewing skills. And, well, I was just kind of wondering if you might be interested in helping me out—being the subject, I mean,”

Alani had every intention of telling Harry the truth, about how she really planned to submit the article to Rolling Stone in hopes of securing an internship before her college graduation next Spring. But as she started speaking, she quickly realized how it would come off: a complete stranger asking for personal information to submit to a well-known publication. She knew that there was a chance he would shut down and never return, so she lowered the stakes and hoped that this route would be less risky. Was it ethical? Alani hadn’t decided yet, but she would work out the details later. After six failed articles and two years of rejection, she saw a ray of hope and wasn’t going to let it slip away.

Harry ponders her offer for a moment, which confirms that she had recognized him. Normally he would be off-put by such a request, and to a certain extent he is, but there is something sincere in her voice that he trusts deep down. Before he agrees, however, he decides to fish around a bit to test her reaction.

“You know who I am,” he says gently. “Don’t you?”

Alani’s heart drops into the pit of her stomach, not sure what to say next. She hopes with every fiber of her being that she hasn’t upset him, or worse, ruined her chances, so she decides to offer some truth to throw him off her scent.

“My sister recognized you,” she explains. “That day you came in with your friends. I thought they were your bandmates at first,”

This lets Harry know that she isn’t a total stalker, which is comforting, but he wouldn’t have been minded if she were a fan simply engaging in conversation.

“Oh,” he laughs weakly.

“I totally understand if you say no,” Alani offers quickly, trying to smooth things over. “I just thought it was worth a shot. And that it might be more interesting than interviewing our produce guy,”

Harry decides to give her one last scan for any sign of insincerity. He’d always felt that his gut instinct was strong and it hadn’t led him astray thus far.

“An interview?” he clarifies.

“Just one,” Alani promises. “An hour, tops. And you can proofread all of it once I’ve finished, too.”

Harry waits a beat, already knowing his reply, but he wants to see how she will react to his silence. She doesn’t budge, almond eyes set and determined.

“Okay.”

next chapter

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing #harry styles x oc #harry styles fluff #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fic #ybmh #she's here she's here she's here!!!!!

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stillness-in-green · 3 years

Text

Part 2 of the response to this ask:

Part 1 was about where I think Geten’s story is going, and if I think it’s likely that Dabi will kill him; it dealt mainly with how those characters are set up in canon. Part 2 is far more about the fandom, and the assumptions people make that lead them to theories like the one above--specifically, the assumption that the League was always planning on bailing on the PLF. Hit the jump below with me and I'll go over why I think the common arguments for that are misguided at best, and willfully misreading the text at worst.

WARNING: Contains some generalizations about parts of the fandom that I have mostly taken steps to avoid seeing on my dash, so some of my characterizations may be out of date. I’ve tried to desalinate this post as much as possible, but as an unapologetic fan of the MLA and of Spinner (who I do not bring up incidentally), this is a topic I feel particularly strongly about. Apologies, but I Have Seen Things.

DISCLAIMER: I like Geten better than Dabi. I don't think he's better developed; I don't think he's a better character--I just like him better. This is largely down to the fact that I find the MLA fascinating from a worldbuilding perspective and its members compelling personally, whereas I’m less interested in Dabi personally than I am the Todoroki Drama on the whole, and have been tired of Fanon Dabi for approximately 83 years. I’ll also be the first to admit that my take on Dabi is pretty mercenary--hardly the irredeemable psychopath the Hero Stans on Twitter see, but nothing close to Secretly Soft Big Brother Touya, either. If that’s not your bag, you may want to skip this one.

So, here's a bullet point list of the reasons I have personally seen on why the League was always planning to turn on the MLA:

Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them.

Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

[Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

So, let's go over those, shall we? Note that a lot of what I'm going to lay out below isn't conclusive. What I want to establish is simply that the canonical evidence isn't conclusive, certainly not as much so as the people who support this view espouse.

|| Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

In responses to my recent Overhaul post, I defended Viz’s official translation as an accurate rendering of the dialogue in question. In general, I feel like Caleb Cook is pretty reliable in his translations, if sometimes kind of stiff or dry in localization. However, there are times he makes assumptions about lines--as indeed a translator for a currently-running series will sometimes have to--and sometimes, those assumptions don’t pan out. This is one of those times.

Dabi's line, "Shall we get started early?" is based on an assumption Cook made about a line that doesn't have an actual subject. In the original dialogue--Hayame ni hajimaru ka--there is no “we,” not even in the form of some implicit collective in Dabi’s grammatical inflection, nor is there a question of "should." All Dabi’s doing is musing that the start (again, there’s no subject, and so no indication of the start of what, or the start as initiated by who) is happening early.

Toga's line communicates much the same, save that she does specify that the schedule/plan/arrangement is happening earlier than expected--which is totally true, since her line is in response to Dabi observing that Machia moving must mean Shigaraki's awake, and Shigaraki was supposed to be down for another month.

Shigaraki's line, like Dabi's, lacks a subject to describe what exactly is supposed to start as soon as Shigaraki wakes. He's saying something that would, in a more stilted way, be, "I wake up and then it's the start, right?"

None of these lines suggest that the characters are necessarily talking about any plan other than the one the PLF laid out. Yes, it looks somewhat damning that Shigaraki's first action (after getting himself a cape, anyway) is to have Machia bring him the League, but heck, maybe that was always the plan. Just because Shigaraki wants to rejoin his comrades doesn't mean the rest of the PLF didn't already have machinations that they were supposed to set into motion the moment Machia left. After all, the plan as Hawks understood it did involve simultaneous attacks on major cities--maybe the League was going to be spearheading one of those attacks. Further, Shigaraki knew something was wrong from the moment he regained consciousness, and we don’t know how that knowledge affected the call he made. Hell, maybe the original plan was for the League to be brought to meet him somewhere in a chartered limo; we don’t know.

It's telling that this idea that the League had a Secret Plan to screw over the MLA rarely seems to account for Mr. Compress and Spinner being confused over the suddenness of events. The response to questions about this seems to be that the "villain trio" knew about it, so the ignorance of the rest of the League can just be handwaved--the important members knew, and that's enough. This is ungenerous towards both Twice and Mr. Compress, but I have got particularly little time for Spinner, the narrator of MVA and guy who decided to devote his all to Shigaraki, being disrespected in this fashion. More on that later.

|| Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

Shigaraki does say he won't forgive the MLA, but consider what he did to the MLA and its leader. He destroyed most of their stronghold, killed scores of them, is directly responsible for Re-Destro losing his legs, and saw that vaunted descendant of Destro about six inches shy of full forehead-on-the-ground dogeza. The League Shigaraki commands killed a great many more of them, including one of their inner circle. He commandeered the Liberation Army, its resources, and its grand cause. I think it’s safe to say he’s more than responded in kind!

I'm not saying Shigaraki feels for the MLA the same way he does about the League, far from it, but I do think he's practical enough after two hundred chapters of character development not to throw them away out of spite. In Chapter 246, he tells Ujiko explicitly, "When someone offers me something, I take it," and, "I'm done taking the heroes lightly. I'll use everything I've got to obliterate the dregs All Might left behind." From a purely practical standpoint, if he intends to throw everything he has at the heroes, he has no reason to throw the MLA under the bus, and 116,000 reasons to keep them around. I'm altogether sure that, so long as they stood to be useful to his plans, he would have kept them around.

|| The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them. + || Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

I hadn’t seen the second point in the wild, but I suppose it must be how the “The League will betray the MLA” theorists are getting around Dabi and Skeptic’s clear collaboration and how that collaboration totally scuttles the first point, huh? Hilarious.

Anyway, setting aside the fact that Dabi showed up to the one planning session we were shown when even Geten didn’t, there’s evidence in the canon that Dabi was working with Skeptic since even before the raid. Consider that Dabi’s video was filmed at the villa (the wall paneling and the style of the couch both match) and ask yourself where the camera he used came from. Once the filming was complete, where was the video stored such that Skeptic could access it from his laptop? If Dabi’d had it on an SD card and Skeptic was seeing it for the first time, why didn’t Spinner, Compress and Toga watch it alongside him? Surely Skeptic would need to watch it through at least once to know when to splice in the footage of Jin’s death for maximum dramatic impact? On that note, by far the most telling piece of evidence is this: if Dabi wasn't already working with Skeptic, then why was he wearing one of Skeptic's body cameras during his confrontation with Hawks?

Further, Skeptic's protest when he’s pulled onto Machia isn't that he doesn’t want to be with the League; it’s that he doesn’t want to leave Re-Destro behind. Once he's resigned that it's going to happen, though, he's cocky about his talents and complimentary of Dabi's big reveal, even if he is exasperated about the League's antics. It's ambiguous, I admit, but given that Dabi's wearing his cameras, he had to have known Dabi had a reason for them--and given that he is both abrasive and mouthy, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have demanded to know what that reason was.

Hell, Dabi even thanks Skeptic for his editing work, which is more direct positive approval than he's ever shown anyone in the League (give or take the high-five with Twice, which, genuine or not, he would have known he was doing on camera). That much-vaunted panel of Spinner telling Toga to come back to the League? Dabi's grinning, which in isolation you could read as a certain rueful affection, but with the full context of the chapter, it becomes apparent that Dabi is grinning at Skeptic's laptop, seconds after telling Skeptic to "hurry up." Skeptic is, at that moment, probably gearing up the video to project nationwide, and Dabi’s more focused on that than he is Toga’s crisis, even when Compress directly appeals to him for aid. He tells Compress he doesn’t care, the same way he told Hawks he doesn't give a damn about the League.

Let me be clear here: I'm inclined to take Dabi at his word. I think Dabi hangs around the League because, for all that he says one man's conviction can shake the world, he also knows his own limits, and the League offers safety in numbers and an avenue to pursue his revenge. Maybe he finds them acceptable enough company, maybe he even does like them a bit despite himself, but I think any affection he might have for them is entirely incidental to his views on their usefulness. In the same way, while he's willing to bail on the MLA when the heroes attack, I don't think it was his plan to do so, especially not given his apparent immediate regard for Skeptic, as seen in the deleted scene here. Sure, he dislikes Geten, but ultimately, Geten is a stupid kid too tied up in his care for Re-Destro--who's now worshipping the ground Shigaraki walks on--to really be getting in Dabi's way.

Maybe if the MLA really were as quirk supremacist as Geten makes them out to be, Dabi would be actively looking for a way to see ‘em burn, but as I’ve said countless times before, Geten is not a reliable narrator vis a vis the MLA's doctrine. Now, obviously I don't expect Dabi to give them an unearned benefit of the doubt,(1) not after what he heard Geten say, but if Dabi has been working with Skeptic, it doesn't take a genius to realize that while Anthropomorph is a perfectly good quirk, it is categorically not what primarily defines Skeptic’s "worth" in the MLA societal microcosm.

Nothing that Skeptic does reflects the way Geten talks about "elevating one's ability" or "sheer strength" in the way that HeroAca fandom tends to understand as referring to flashy and offensive quirks. And yet, Skeptic is a ranked advisor warranting an introductory panel with RD's inner circle and Geten is not. Perhaps, just perhaps, this might have led Dabi to reevaluating his initial assessment just slightly?

|| Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

So, this one's pretty wild, because, in the same chapter that had people crowing about Mr. Compress's dialogue, Mr. Compress's actions show the exact opposite of the conclusion this theory would demand. Specifically, if it was always the League's plan to ditch the MLA, Mr. Compress would have darted right past Skeptic, ignoring the man's cries for help. He doesn't--he picks Skeptic up on the way past and (at least in the volume corrections) deposits him safe with Dabi in Spinner's scarf. Of course, Skeptic still stands to be useful, but if one acknowledges that Skeptic's usefulness is reason enough not to abandon him, then what exactly is the argument for leaving 116,000 perfectly useful warm bodies behind?

But let's set aside Compress rescuing Skeptic and focus on the actual point, because that point in itself is still flawed. Mr. Compress's thoughts on the PLF in the specific talk bubble in question are somewhat ambiguous. It's another case of the Viz translation making a couple of assumptions that are just that--assumptions.

Compress's words in the Japanese are as follows:

Chōjō Kaihō Sensen.… Viran rengo no Shigaraki Tomura ga…

Viz then renders the line like so:

The Paranormal Liberation Front's… No, the League of Villain's Shigaraki…

Note that in the Japanese, the possessive no is only included once, to indicate Shigaraki's association with the League. Further, the original doesn't indicate any negation in Compress's thoughts. Yes, he could be rejecting the PLF association for Shigaraki, but he could as easily be narrowing his scope to Shigaraki as the figure he represents to the League, rather than the figure he represents to the PLF--not rejecting wholesale, but rather becoming more specific. Compress might also be thinking first of the PLF as a general organization, then narrowing down to Shigaraki specifically.

Rather than reading this line as an indication that Compress regards the PLF as temporary, I was heartened by the fact that Compress thought about the PLF at all! If the League really had been planning to discard them this entire time, then there's no reason for Compress to have ever taken the Front seriously enough to have thought about them in that moment of crisis. You can carry this back further, too. In Chapter 258, when Twice is asking Hawks for help, he says that Spinner and Compress have been in meetings for days. Coupled with Compress's first thought about the entity that will carry out Harima's desired reformation being the Liberation Front (or possibly "the Liberation Front's Shigaraki"), this indicates to me that Compress was taking it seriously, not just gorging himself on sushi on the MLA's dime.

Indeed, back in Ujiko's lab, when it was just Shigaraki talking about his backstory and his dreams of destruction, Compress looks the opposite of impressed; we know from his narration in 294 that he liked the League because they didn't place any importance on one another’s pasts. Yet, at some point, his view shifted to believing that fulfilling his ancestor's ambition, his bloodline’s duty, really might be back on the table. We as readers don't quite know when that shift happened, but given, again, his initial mental invocation of the PLF, I think we can assume that it's tied to that alliance, those resources. And sure, when the moment of crisis happens and he's really defining who and what Shigaraki is to him, and where his values and priorities lie, it's with the League and Shigaraki as the leader of the League. But that doesn't mean he never had his hopes for the PLF at all, or was partaking in plans to ditch them.

Also too, this is a man who was lamenting the loss of their partnership with Overhaul, a man who personally maimed him, on top of killing a comrade. You're telling me the guy who shrugged off his animosity towards Overhaul would willingly allow the League to plot sabotage against even wealthier collaborators against whom he has even less reason to hold a grudge? Come on, guys.

|| Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

This one's easy: Toga pretty explicitly hated Curious, but she's even more explicit that she likes the MLA because she thinks the world they want to create is wonderful. She says this verbatim at the end of 225, after Curious has spent the entire chapter hounding her with explosions and intrusive questions. What turns her animosity on Curious is not some reveal that the MLA's world would be terrible after all, but Curious calling Toga's "normal" miserable and tragic. Essentially, she doesn't object to the world the MLA wants to bring about; she objects to being turned into a martyr for that world, especially when that martyrdom requires that the things that make Toga happy be characterized as horrific misfortunes.

Toga doesn't like Curious; she kills Curious. And then she comes into a position of leadership, and we don't know a lot about how that position takes her, but she seems delighted to be walking out onto the stage to be announced as such, and she makes active contributions to the discussion of the PLF's plans in Chapter 245. We are, again, given no indication that her lethal response to Curious means that she's planning to ditch the MLA on the whole.

Incidentally, Curious asserts what she does about Toga only in the context of the world as it stands. The world's rejection of Toga's normal, and the extremes that rejection drove Toga to, are what Curious considers tragic and miserable, not Toga's fascination with blood in and of itself. She clearly believes that, in the world the MLA envisions, Toga's life would not be so miserable because she would never have been oppressed to the degree that she snapped. And frankly, Curious isn't wrong. The only reason she is a villain in that scene is that she's willing to murder Toga to project that tragedy to the world. If she'd been willing to sit down and have a civil interview with Toga to print it in a relevant magazine, she would have been fine.

|| Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

You know, this is a totally fair point. It is, however, somewhat complicated by the fact that Giran himself never left the PLF. Now, there’s almost certainly something to be said about Giran’s whole information broker shtick being terminally compromised by his capture, his maiming, his client list being hacked, etc. He had a bunch of identifying items strewn all over the country that were covered in the national news, items that people who associated with him closely certainly would have recognized. Maybe he’s laying low for a while?

I don’t know why Giran was still around by the time of the raid. I can theorize about his pragmatism or what have you, but the canon really doesn’t give us anything to go on. Still, if he really hated the MLA all that much, as he would be totally justified in doing, it’s pretty bizarre that Horikoshi showed him twice in PLF crowd scenes post-Deika looking nothing worse than kind of confused and uneasy. Heck, you’d think he would at least have merited a better seat in the crowd for the big merger announcement.

Giran aside, the fact that Twice never does hit it off with anyone in his regiment is, I think, telling. If there’s anyone in the League that intentionally kept himself at a distance from the MLA because of hard feelings, it’s likely Twice. After all, if he had befriended anyone, he presumably wouldn’t have needed to go to Hawks for tutoring almost an entire month after Deika. That said, the fact that Twice does go running to Hawks for tutoring shows that he’s at least doing his best to act in accordance with what he thinks Shigaraki and the rest want. That doesn’t preclude the League having a secret plan that he’s either in on and playing along with, or hasn’t been told about because he might not be able to stop himself from vocalizing about it. Still, while absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, obviously absence of evidence is not evidence of presence. So, lacking any sign that the rest of the League is planning treachery, I’m not inclined to assume Twice’s lack of forgiveness is indicative of anything other than his own feelings.

|| [Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

:: INCOMING SALT WARNING :: INCOMING SALT WARNING ::

This is the one that really gets to me. I have never seen an argument that the League is planning to betray the PLF that convincingly explains the fact that Spinner, to all available evidence, threw himself wholeheartedly into trying to make the PLF succeed. To be more precise, I have seen one explanation, and that explanation is that the plan to ditch the MLA was a secret that only Shigaraki, Dabi and sometimes Toga knew about, and to reiterate, that is bullshit.

In my experience, this is an explanation proposed by people who care about Spinner only insofar as he can be a Soft Gaymer Boyfriend or score them rhetorical points, but have little to no interest in his ongoing--and, indeed, increasing--importance to the League generally and Shigaraki’s arc specifically. The dude who talked about how Twice’s home was the League, who got through to Toga while still respecting her choice when no one else could, the guy who recognized the hollowness within Shigaraki but also bonded with him over video games, the man who Mr. Compress said was Shigaraki’s most devoted follower(2)--this man did not do all of that for people in this fandom to say, “Oh, well, the others probably just kept it a secret from him because they thought he’d be bad at lying.”

Really? “Bad at lying?” And that’s an adequate justification, is it, for Shigaraki letting Spinner toil for months under false pretenses? For lying to the man who adores him the most? Of course it isn’t, but the people who theorize this don’t really care about Spinner’s adoration for Shigaraki, or the fact that Shigaraki rewarding Spinner’s feelings by allowing him to dedicate himself unstintingly to something Shigaraki was planning to discard from the beginning would be a blatant abuse of Spinner’s trust.

I have never seen anyone try to argue that Spinner was in on a plan to betray the MLA all along. That’s because it’s patently obvious that Spinner--forthright, direct Spinner, who named the merged organization with Re-Destro, spends all his time in meetings, has a direct exchange with Re-Destro about the state of their plans, and is probably the reason RD started wearing polka dots--went all-in on the PLF. But for the people who propose the “the League was always going to bail” theory, Spinner and his labors are an afterthought.

Spinner is not an afterthought. Where Mr. Compress has been captured, Toga could hypothetically be peeled away from the League via Uraraka, and Dabi almost certainly will be peeled away via the Todoroki plot, Spinner’s driving motivation at this point is Shigaraki himself. He connected to Shigaraki’s nihilism, his hatred, but also his humanity--the humanity in Shigaraki Tomura, not in Shimura Tenko. His empathy didn’t spring from contrived psychic glimpses of crying 5-year-olds, but from long months of observation, doubt, and gradually deepening wonder. He’s the only person currently with Shigaraki that I can see caring enough about Shigaraki’s welfare that he might sacrifice his own goals and desires to help Deku save him.

Spinner is not an afterthought, and I refuse to build or entertain theories that treat him that way. So as to his opinions on the MLA? Despite having his own reasons to be leery of them based on how shabbily Trumpet treated him, he was obviously trying to make the Paranormal Liberation Front succeed, which means he must have believed that Shigaraki wanted it to succeed. Therefore, unless you’re prepared to assert that Shigaraki (and everyone else who was in on it!) was cruel enough to lie to Spinner about something he was devoting so much time and energy to, the inescapable conclusion is that Shigaraki also wanted the Front to succeed.

(Note: After letting a friend pre-read this, I have been informed that there is, in fact, one explanation offered for Spinner knowing the League was going to abandon the PLF but working his ass off on the venture anyway, and that explanation is, “Something something wants to prove himself because low self-esteem.” This is so ridiculous I can’t even bring myself to edit this post accordingly. Low self-esteem! Because nothing would alleviate Spinner's low self-esteem like toiling for months over something that holds no worth to the people he actually cares about, right? Right?? Bah. Humbug!)

And but so, to wrap all that up: I fundamentally disagree that the League viewed the Paranormal Liberation Front as a temporary arrangement, at least to the extent that they were actively planning to betray their newfound--new won--allies. The fact that I don't think the League intended to discard the MLA out of hand does, thus, influence my opinion that, whatever Geten's fate will be, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be, "He gets murdered in a way that resembles nothing so much as a sick revenge fantasy dozens of chapters after the last point when such a death would have been remotely tonally appropriate."

Thanks for the ask, anon! Sorry about-- *waves at all of this*

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

(1) Not that Mr. “Burns Random Delinquents Alive For Not Measuring Up To His Standards For Villainy” has any moral standing to criticize others for how they determine the value of peoples’ lives, mind.

(2) Other translations for the verb in Mr. Compress’s Japanese line of, “You are the one who ____s Shigaraki the most,” include yearn for, long for, pine for, miss, love dearly, adore, idolize, and revere. “Most devoted follower” is accurate enough, but considerably less homo than some of the things we could have gotten there.

#bnha #stillness answers #paranormal liberation front #league of villains #stillness has salt #spinner defense squad

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