#in my defence it’s a pretty dumb ship name

[whymustyouhurtmeinthisway]

I know that technically the ship name Caejose should be pronounced See-joce (since Caesar is pronounced See-zer and Joseph is pronounced Jo-sef), but whenever my brain reads Caejose it pronounces it as Kai-ho-zay.

[pyaasa]

lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers is racist; she thinks she understands racism better than poc, stands by racists, and attacks poc for trying to speak to her about racism

Tw: racism, rape mention, incest mention. also possible transphobia 

For the full story, you first need a bit of background: if you’ve been following me for a while then you will be aware I have called out @ayeforscotland’s racism several times. I would recommend reading this post for a full explanation.

In addition to the incidences mentioned in the post I have just linked, ayeforscotland has also had interactions with neo @androidgynes who is Romani and another person who is black (but didn’t want to be named) and they’ve both also called him out for his racism.

Anyway so. @androidgynes​ saw that lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers was reblogging from ayeforscotland, and that the op of the post was @/getpoliticaluk (who defends incest). Androidgynes messaged lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers (who I will from now refer to as lagstm) and informed her that ayeforscotland is racist and getpoliticaluk defends incest - the conversation that followed went like this. (the below screenshots are posted with permission from @androidgynes​)

The post that neo (@androidgynes) linked of mine was this. And I mean... clearly that particular post by ayeforscotland was very racist, he literally just sat there laughing about anti-black racism as if it was a joke. When @mangopickled​ tried to speak to him about how offensive this post was, he removed her comments from the notes of the post (like. to be clear: ayeforscotland, a WHITE MAN, made a post about racism, and then removed a WOMAN OF COLOUR’S commentary from that post when she told him that his comments were inappropriate). When I saw that, I called that out, and he blocked me. There’s many levels to his racism here that I don’t have the energy to explain, and if you don’t understand why it’s so problematic then you should probably stop reading here cos you clearly know nothing and probably care even less about anti-racism.

So on that particular post that neo linked to lagstm, there is ayeforscotland being racist, and 2 woc calling out his racism. And yet on having this post shown to her, this is how she chose to respond

lagstm literally says that she thinks my views on racism lack nuance. I am a woman of colour, I am visibly muslim, and I’ve experienced racism pretty much all my life. And here is a white woman saying that she thinks my views on racism “lack nuance”. I,, I genuinely don’t have words to convey how angry this makes me. Literally who does she even think she is. Not even is it racist to dismiss my literal LIVED experience of being a woman of colour in this country, but she is literally saying “look at these stupid brown folk, they don’t know what they’re talking about cos they’re so stupid :)”

neo points out firstly that as a white person lagstm doesn’t have the right to make that call, and also that there is ofc another woc on that post saying that exact same thing, and androidgynes themselves are roma. lagstm is not just dismissing me as a stupid savage who is too stupid to form complex thoughts, but she is also indirectly saying the same thing about 2 other poc, and saying that her judgement, as a white person, is more sound than all of ours.

It’s also worth mentioning that neo, who is Romani, was polite to lagstm during this exchange, and lagstm was rude and dismissive. I find this deeply hypocritical. Lagstm has been talking a lot about the policing bill and how it will affect GRT communities, but when she’s talking to someone who is actually *from* the Roma community, she is dismissive and condescending. All this shows is that she’s fake AF. She pretends to care about the Roma community on her blog and then speaks down to them in private.

And again this is worth repeating: AYEFORSCOTLAND WAS BEING RACIST ON THAT POST. IT WAS RACIST. WHAT HE SAID WAS RACIST. So lagstm isn’t just ignoring 3 poc, she is also ignoring,,,, you know,,, the actual racism,,,

And she also says ayeforscotland is borderline racist? Like she acknowledges ayeforscotland is borderline racist but she’s still happy to follow him? Like that alone would be enough for me actually

neo then blocked lagstm and messaged me and told me what happened, and showed me the above screenshots - btw prior to this neo and I had never interacted. Anyway I was obviously a bit disgusted but instead of going straight to blocking lagstm or making a callout post straight away, I messaged her to explain herself and take back what she said. That is now two poc who tried to resolve the matter privately - clearly a lot more than lagstm ever deserved. Androidgynes messaged me last Friday, and I messaged lagstm the next day on Saturday

My convo with lagstm went as follows:

So you can see that initially she was apologetic and said she “didn’t mean to imply that that my judgement on racism was flawed” (even tho that’s literally what she said) and defended herself by saying “I react poorly in interactions like this” - genuinely not a defence but whatever. She then proceeded to say that what she doesn’t trust my opinion on is Scotland and Ireland - which completely irrelevant. Firstly I am ambivalent to Scottish nationalism and have always said I don’t know much about it, and I support the reunification of Ireland. And secondly, my issue with aye has got literally nothing to do with Scotland or Scottish nationalism; he is racist all on his own. And the post neo linked was barely even about scottish nationalism, it was just him being anti-black. So lagstm saying “I don’t trust your judgement on Scotland and Ireland” is ridiculous considering that Scottish/Irish nationalism have nothing to do with this.

Like akjfbkjdfbs this is actually so ridiculous. It doens’t make any sense. Lagstm clearly says “I don’t trust pakisstani’s judgement on THIS issue [the issue being racism] and her views on THIS issue [the issue being racism] lack nuance” but now turns around and says “I wasn’t talking about racism, I was talking about Scotland/Ireland” like she must really think I’m dumb

And you can see Lagstm bringing up unrelated hypothetical scenarios, and saying “in this situation, you can’t tell me to defer to poc” which i found ??? Like why are you bringing up scenarios in which you think you are allowed to educate us poor and stupid black and brown folk?? I then told her she was straw-manning and that her points about Ireland/Scotland were ridiculous, but then she claimed it was me that was engaging her in bad faith. Like SHE, the white woman who practically said that I am too stupid to understand racism, and when confronted on it started straw-manning and bringing up unrelated scenarios, said I am not engaging her in good faith. AFTER both neo and I tried to speak to her privately about this. Like I tried to speak to her privately AFTER I FOUND OUT SHE HAD SAID RACIST THINGS ABOUT ME. BUT I’M NOT ENGAGING HER IN GOOD FAITH? LMAOOO

And then the accusation about rape threats which is actually the most disgusting part of this entire thing. I shouldn’t have to explain that accusing 2 poc of conspiring to send her rape threats (without any evidence whatsoever. Frankly I think she’s lying about the rape threats 🤷🏽‍♀️ it’s quite a transparent attempt to distract from her own nasty behaviour and deflect onto us) is actually extremely racist. She is invoking her white fragility and painting me and androidgynes as aggressors who are threatening her safety and inflicting/threatening to inflict sexual violence on her. It is beyond disgusting 🤮

What’s more, neo is trans, so when lagstm is baselessly accusing them of issues related to rape, she is also playing up to transphobic tropes.

One more thing worth mentioning is that there are several lies peppered throughout lagstm’s comments. Firstly when she claimed to have briefly unfollowed me - she didn’t actually. I was checking regularly, and she never unfollowed me. This was a small lie that I picked up on striaght away but because it wasn’t relevant I didn’t say anything about it. But I just think it’s interesting that she would lie for no reason. And another lie - feigning ignorance about ayeforscotland’s racism, and actually even asking for receipts is incredibly disingenuous when on this particular post, if you scroll through the notes, you can see she has literally liked it. Like she had already seen the posts where me and mangopickled called out his racism and literally LIKED it, and when neo says to lagstm that aye is racist, lagstm says “receipts please :)” YOU’VE ALREADY SEEN THEM! AND LIKED THEM! screenshot in case she unlikes it (sorry for including dumb comments by dumb scots but i need to prove it’s the same post so):

LASTLY. Last point I swear. When lagstm said “it was also coloured by the statements they’d made about another tumblr user, which didn’t relate to racism, which I didn’t address with them because I didn’t want to upset them” <- she must mean getpoliticaluk defending incest? So like what is lagstm saying here, she didn’t want to bring up that she also herself defends incest?? Like is she tryna say she’s a pro-shipping freak?????????????????????? What other way is there to read that statment

Okay that’s everything.

I’m not interested in discourse on this post - if you are white and think lagstm isn’t racist or you’re inclined to defend her then save your breath, I don’t need white people telling me what is or isn’t racist. I gave her the chance to defend herself, which is way more than she deserves, and this is how she responds. Her actions and indefensible and she can choke ☺️❤️  I will be unfollowing/blocking anyone I see reblogging from her because I deserve better than to follow people who are ok with racists ❤️ 

[cayde-6]

@pretty-meekish I have done you question thing.

Guardians name: Atlas

Age: 26

Race: Human

Call signs/alias: N/A

Pronouns: He/him

Class: Titan

Preferred subclass(es): Solar

Ghost's name: Drachen

Their Vanguard: Zavala

Fireteam name: Last Words

Fireteam teammates: Faire, Deimos, Ruin-1, Ardyn-2

Favorite legendary weapon: D1: The Devil you know. D2: The Vow

Favorite exotic weapon: D1: Patience and

Time/Gjallarhorn. D2: Ace of Spades/Sweet Business

Favorite exotic armor: D1: Sunbreakers Mark. D2: Armamentarium

Favorite ornament armor set: Virtuous set (Season of Dawn's set)

Favorite weapon ornament: Last Hand/Salute to the Colonel/Big Blind

What stats do they focus on: Resilience and Recovery

Are they offense, defence, or support: All three but mainly offense, he switches around if the situation calls for him to do so.

Do they prefer being close, mid, or long range: Close so he can punch things and set them on fire.

Do they lean more "Element of Surprise" or "Upfront and Aggressive": Upfront and Aggressive, he's a Titan.

Strikes, Gambit, or Crucible: Strikes although if Mayhem is in then he's heading for that.

Who was their mentor(if they had one. If it is a character you created, tell us about them!): A solar Titan named Chad Lucky

What ship do they have: Saint's Invocation with Reflection Effects for the transmats effect. Shader is Lighthouse Sun.

What is their Sparrow: Atlas Runner

Favorite Ghost shell: Tie between Kill Tracker Ghost, Kitbash Shell, and Atlas Shell.

(Although I do own the irl Kill Tracker Ghost so he leans towards this one, but Kitbash's description is a mood.)

Favorite shader: Sulfur Burnish (it's from D1 and I am too lazy to Google it)

Favorite color: Colors of fire

Favorite food: Apples

Favorite piece of Pre-Collapse tech(if they've seen any): N/A

Favorite Pre-Collapse music(if they've heard any): Rasputin by Bobby Farrell and this is only because he likes to blast it to annoy everyone or he knows others will start singing it.

Favorite place in The Last City(if it's a place you created, give a little description!): Shaxx's area

Favorite NPC(s): Shaxx, Zavala, Ikora, Cayde-6, Saint-14, Osiris, Banshee-44, Amanda, Lord Saladin, Lady Efrideet, Failsafe, Asher, Eva, Tyra, Arcite, KADI 55-30.

Favorite patrol location: Nessus

5 things your Guardian likes(can be anything): Sleep, his husband Shaxx, his friends, his Ghost, his Sparrow, when someone finally calls him a veteran. (I missed the transfer date by 3 months and I still am angry that I missed it.

Least favorite food: Rhubarb (My dad and his dad hate it so decided to give him it)

Least favorite shader: Anything related to his enemies and the Reef/Dreaming City, EX Reefmade.

Least favorite patrol location: Europa

Least favorite Pre-Collapse tech(if they've seen any): N/A

Least favorite NPC(s): The Sovs, The Brays, Executor Hideo, Brother Vance, The cult of Osiris, Variks.

Least favorite weapon ornament: All In, this is because it makes the Ace look like a completely new gun.

Least favorite ornament armor set: Legatus, Valkyrian, Hardy's.

Least favorite legendary weapon: (I really haven't thought of it.)

Least favorite exotic weapon: Any of them that people use to be dicks in Crucible like Jöttun because that means he only gets kills if he uses those guns.

Least favorite exotic armor: Ashen Wake

5 things your Guardian dislikes(this can be anything): The Sovs, The Brays, Executor Hideo, being awake, anyone being rude to his loved ones. (Looking at you Drifter)

Your Guardian has to rest. What is their living space like: Clean and tidy as they live with Shaxx.

Does your Guardian have any casual wear?(Y'all remember Polyvore? The website URSTYLE works very similar if that helps!): A T-shirt and black pants along with basketball shoes. [Literally what I wear]

What hobbies and/or skills does you Guardian have: Sewing, crocheting, knitting, reading.

What would your Guardian's lore book be called: Atlas's Wild Ride

Where was your Guardian reborn?(If you created the location, give us a little description!): Old America

What were they wearing when they were reborn: Gold and red shirt, black pants and basketball shoes.

What was their reaction to being reborn: Complete confusion

What was their reaction to their first rez: "What the absolute fuck!"

After being reborn, did they meet friendlies first or hostiles: Friendlies

Who was the first other Guardian they met?(Same thing! If you made them, give a little description!): Fireteam Hide and Reap. They're mine but I don't really feel like going into detail with all 6 members.

Did your Guardian get reborn with, or find, any indication of their past life? If so what do they have/found: He only knows that he entered a death trap so others could escape the Fallen.

How did your Guardian get their name(if they didn't rez with past life momentos): Since he was holding up a gate in the death trap his Ghost decided to give him the name Atlas due to how similar he looked to the pictures of the ancient Greek Titan.

Going back to your Guardian's lore book, what would be some quotes or passages from their book: "I punched an echo of Oryx to death!"

Does your Guardian have a significant other: Warlord Shaxx

Did your Guardian go explore first before going to The Last City? If so, where to: No

What was their reaction to first seeing The Last City: "That's huge!"

Is your Guardian a part of a clan: No but I am part of one.

Does your Guardian's clan have a back story? If so, what is it?(if you want to or able to share): N/A

If your Guardian would have a quote as a flavor text for a weapon and/or piece of armor, what would they be: "Hang in there my fellow Guardian."

If your Guardian has had any interactions with any civilians (The Last City/The Farm), Eliksni, Cabal, Vex, Hive, Taken, Scorn, Rouge Lightbearers, or Iron Lords/War Lords(if your Guardian is an Old Light) tell us about it!: I honestly don't feel like doing this one.

Does your Guardian have any unconventional allies or connections(By Vanguard standards): Drifter and Spider, he hates both but understands he needs them to do things.

How does your Guardian feel about themselves or others using Stasis: "I was unwillingly brought back from the dead so I'll use whatever power I please."

Did they run The Last Wish raid? How did they react to seeing a live Ahamkara a.k.a Riven: N/A

Did they run The Deep Stone Crypt raid? How did they react to the Crypt and seeing Exo Eliskni: N/A

Is your Guardian from D1? How did they react to seeing Taniks alive once again: "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO HIT HIM WITH MY HAMMER, JUST STAY FUCKING DEAD!"

Where did they go and what did they do during The Red War: He went to the Farm and made or fixed clothes as well as class items.

Here are some characters that are either polarizing or have created a strong enough mass emotion within the community. What opinion does your Guardian hold on each of them(These are only a handful of characters!)>>>

Osiris, First Warlock Vanguard, originally exiled: Bird grandpa 1.0 needs to go see his husband Bird grandpa 2.0 for love.

Eris Morn, Bane of the Swarm: Who doesn't love Creepy space mom!

Cayde-6, Sixth Hunter Vanguard: SPACE VODKA MOM I MISS YOU!

Ikora Rey, Second Warlock Vanguard: Space mom is very deadly, she needs sleep and relaxation

Commander Zavala, Second Titan Vanguard: Space dad is deadly too, he also needs sleep and relaxation.

Saint-14, legendary Titan, First Titan Vanguard: Bird grandpa 2.0 please go hug Bird grandpa 1.0!

Lord Saladin, Iron Banner handler, One of the last remaining Iron Lords: Wolf Grandpa!

Lady Efrideet, part time Iron Banner handler, Guardian hippie, One of the last remaining Iron Lords: Wolf Grandma will throw Titans at you if she's angry!

Lord Shaxx, Crucible handler, Hero of Twilight Gap, living megaphone: MY HUSBAND!

The Crow, New Light, Ex-Enforcer to The Spider: This is my begrudgingly adopted son who I co-parent with Faire.

Shaw Han, random Hunter vendor for the Cosmodrome: This is my dumb son I adopted.

The Spider, The Shore's Only Law, founder of "House" Spider: "Fuck off or I'll kill you with fire!"

Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef, Master of Crows: Fucky, Fucky, Fucky you!

Mara Sov, Queen of the Reef, Queen of the Awoken, Ex-Kell of Wolves: Fucky, Fucky, fucky you. Also SHAXX IS MINE NOW SO FUCK OFF, I'M A GOD SLAYER AND I FUCKING PUNCHED ORYX TO DEATH!

Variks, the Loyal, founder of House Judgement: "I didn't trust you in the Reef but now I hate you for the Prison riot and not just because Cayde died, the Scorn are unholy creatures that shouldn't have been able to be created."

Mithrax, the Forsaken, Kell of Light, founder of House Light: "You try anything and I WILL END YOU!"

The Exo Stranger/Elizabeth "Elsie" Bray, Granddaughter of Clovis I and Sister to Ana Bray: "Ew a Bray."

Eramis, of House Salvation, Kell of Darkness: "YOU BETTER STAY FUCKING FROZEN!"

Taniks the Scarred, the Perfected, the Abomination, the Shadow Thief: "WHY DON'T YOU STAY DEAD!"

The Darkness is fast approaching. How is your Guardian handling it: "Well shit."

And finally, does your Guardian have any advice for any New Lights:

"Hang in there and don't do anything that will make my unstable ass come after you because YOU WILL DIE. Also for the love of the Light RESPECT THE ELDER GUARDIANS LIKE ZAVALA OR IKORA!"

[mrs-i-have-too-many-biases]

Bang Chan// Sun and Moon (-light)// Chapter one

Summary: Sun and Moon, different from another, but both unmissable in the world. The sun is warm, it provides daylight. It represents life, strength and growth. The moon, the brightest and largest object in our night sky. It makes the earth more livable and represents admiration, change, mystery and feelings. The sun is untouchable and unreachable, but what if his ,independent, sun(-shine) becomes his world? Tropes: Enemies to Lovers Season: Spring Pairing: Bang Chan X Reader AU: | Delinquent!Female Reader | Vice President!Bang Chan | School!AU | Non!Idol AU | Genre: Fluff/ Angst Word Count: 6,9K Warnings: Themes of bullying, Themes of Abuse, swearing, insults, Requested: Yes (Reference) A/n: For the sake of the fiction, Chan is a twat in the story, but only for imagines purposes only. We all know better than that.

Christopher bang.

Or Bang Chan for those who are close to him. A young man who has the world in his hands. That’s how every one else would describe him. Chan was seen as the definition of perfect. Came from a well and wealthy family, had multiple medallions from the swimming competitions he had won as a child. Making him very well known around town and athletic as well. At school, mister perfect a top-class student and was the pride of the school. And because of that he became vice president. The teachers loved him and so did the students, but who wouldn’t Chan’s just so loveable.

Well, jokes on you because Y/n didn’t. 

She’s was known as a delinquent, a trouble maker or a bitch which was what most girls called her. She was mysterious and people didn’t seem to like that. She owns a motor, which she got in trouble for with school, since they didn’t want to allow it, but they couldn’t find a valuable reason for that. Y/n had tattoos decorating her arms, as far as people know. Some made rumours that she had her whole body tattooed and that she covered it up with foundation to look ‘decent’. For this reason Y/n got a bucket of water dunked over her head. In in her infortune, it rained that day so everyone made it seem like she got drenched because of that and not because of the delusional students sadly attended the school. Besides the students not liking Y/n, were the teachers also not very fond of her. Her grades were average and If not that it was below it. If they could send her off school they would’ve loved to.

Y/n would usually just ignore the comments and the stares and go on minding her own business. She would hang around with her ‘clique’, which were basically these outsider-kids who didn’t really had a standard circle of friends and found comfort in one another whenever they needed each other. Y/n was glad she was part of it, but yet again, those students found her quite intimidating. So most of Y/n’s days, she would sit outside, secretly smoking a cigarette whilst drawing away. She didn’t mind at all being alone, she actually quite liked it. I mean who wouldn’t prefer quite and sunlight over annoying comments and mean stares?

Anyways, besides Chan and Y/n being so different from one another, they had one thing in comment: they couldn’t get along. They never did and they probably never will. Y/n had always found Chan a stuck-up rich kid who was arrogant with his head up his ass. Chan never understood Y/n. She was always in defence and she never wanted to be close to anyone. They have known each other since kinder garden and the teachers back then already knew that the two of you weren’t destined to be around each other.

Sadly, the universe had other plans for the two of you, since you spend most of you time with each other at school. Ending up in the same classes, going to the same school, being paired up together for projects and just in general being around each other. She found him bossy, since he was the vice president, and she didn’t liked to be bossed around. This made her not interfere into his businesses. And so far, that plan went well and the universe hadn’t screwed with that plan, yet.

Since Chan was the vice president, she, as a delinquent, faced him a lot, especially in your senior year. When she had a bad grade, she would be told to go and see Chan and look for a way to get her grades up. She got into a fight, go to Chan. She would look at someone the wrong way, go to Chan. She would be quite and minding her own business in class, go to Chan. It drove both of them crazy, but they couldn’t fight the teachers, they really wanted to, but they couldn’t. Chan because of his reputation and Y/n as well, but her reason was more the kind of ‘they already don’t like me so whatever’ kind of reason.

She would get scolded and receive a scripted ‘motivational’ speech, after a while she would just stare at something behind him and look at the birds, completely ignoring his presents. When he would be done, she would just shrug and walk past him. With a sigh and an eye roll he would pack up his stuff and leave as well, getting tired of this shit. He didn’t wanted to waste his breath on another useless speech on her, since he knew that she wouldn’t even bother to listen. He was done with her attitude, she loved messing with him every now and then though.

When he had to ‘scold’ her in public she would start straight up flirting with him and he never knew how to feel about it. “Y/n, we need to talk about your grades.” He would say. “What’s up honey.” She would joke, making every girl snap their heads towards her, so they could glare at her. “I-I, you need to get your grades up.” Chan stuttered, taken back by the comment, as he looked down to his feet. “And I need you too look up here Champ, my eyes are up here you know.” She would smirk when she saw the boy turning a shade of bright red.

The girls would huff and sulk when the teacher walked in as they were about to attack Y/n for her boldness.

Y/n like messing with Chan to see if he would snap in front of the others one day. Yes, the idea was pretty mean, but she just couldn’t stand the whole act that he was pulling up, as if he was the only person in the world without flaws. She couldn’t deny that he wasn’t attractive, he was, but she couldn’t see herself falling for a smart ass like him. He wanted to be perfect, but she happened to know that no one was perfect.

Y/n had her music blasting through her earphones as she walked through the school. Her blouse not tucked into her jeans and her bag loosely hanging off her shoulder. A poker face was spread over her face as she stared into nothing, whilst making her way to class. There were cuts and bruises covering her body, making people whisper and stare at her as she passed them. She ignored the stares and filtered out the whispers with her favourite song overpowering the irrelevant voices.

She knows what they thought.

‘She must have fought someone again.’ ‘I bet she started it.’ ‘She looks like she would.’

When she arrived to her seat, she didn’t bother to take out her earphones as she mindlessly looked out of the window, blocking everyone around her out. Sometimes, people liked to try and mess with her, to see if she would actually snap.

“You are the proof that God has a sense of humour!” One of the guys would yell. “You only chance of getting laid is to move up a chicken’s butt and wait.” Another added, receiving a roaring laughter from the other. “I’m not saying I hate you, but I would plug out your life support to charge my phone!” A girl joined the insult party as well. “You know, I would insult you, but it looks like your face is one already by itself.” A voice, from a bitch name Sooyun, yelled. The whole class started to laugh and Y/n slowly, but intimidatingly, turned her head to the group of four. Blankly staring at them as she raised an unimpressed eyebrow, before taking out her earphones as it was almost time for the class to begin, also showing them that she wasn’t listening at all to their bullshit.

“Guys, don’t waste your breath on her. You know what happens.” Chan’s voice filled the room and Y/n saw him sit next to Sooyun whilst slyly smirking. Sooyun and Chan had known each other since freshman year, both of their parents were rich. And they actually lived from across another in a different apartment complex. Sooyun was an only child and absolutely spoiled rotten by her parents. She never really talked about it. She was a so called ‘humble brag’.

‘Oh, I’m sorry I’m late, someone blocked my tesla, I couldn’t leave.’

Just dumb things like that would make Y/n roll her eyes intensely and groan internally as she wanted to throw yourself out of the school window to get away from her. Everybody knew that she was head over heals for Chan. The rumour was going around that she even randomly showed up to his place to try and ‘hang out’. Everybody knew of Sooyun’s feelings towards Chan, except the man himself. He was absolutely oblivious to the fact that she had a fat crush on him. Through the years, Chan started to bleach his hair blonde. One day suddenly, Sooyun as well arrived to school with a new blonde hairdo that matched Chan’s.

Some of the students cringed, some supported the so called ‘ship’ and others like Y/n pitied the poor girl for her desperation.

Even though, Sooyun had her own clique of popular kids, who ‘always’ got her back, and loved to insult Y/n with new found comments they had probably gotten off reddit. They knew that Y/n wasn’t afraid to throw hands. So, when Y/n shot up from her seat after the insult party, she saw the group jump in panic and shot their glances to anywhere else but towards Y/n. She then would just calmly fix her shirt and jeans and sit back down with a slight smirk, hearing the huffs coming from Sooyun’s side of the class.

‘They always bark, but they never bite.’ Y/n thought to herself as she shook her head as the class started.

Later through the class, Y/n rolled her eyes when she saw Sooyun talking with the teacher who then later shot Y/n a worried expression. She knew what was about to happen. And there she was, after class, ‘listening’ to Chan’s useless rant on how she needed to lose her attitude.

“… just leave the girl alone Y/n.” Chan sighed, knowing she hadn’t heard half of the things he had just said to her.   “Who?” “Sooyun, who else?” Chan snapped, looking at her in annoyance. “How sweet, you’re protecting your little girlfriend.” She mocked with a pout playing on her lips. “She’s not my girlfriend.” He said in defence. “You tell her that.” Y/n muttered under her breath, before hearing Chan hum in confusion. “Just stop being so fucking annoying and get some grip on yourself. Just because you think you’re cool and mysterious, doesn’t make it people like you.” Chan groans in frustration because he knew that he wouldn’t get through her.

“Whatever.” Was all she said to him as she plugged her earphone back into her ear, the music already blasting for her as she walked pass Chan to exit the room. “Just stop wasting my time!” Chan yelled after her, but she was already out of sight.

Y/n walked into the District 9 Tattoo Parlour, being greeted by Hyunjin with a bright smile.

“Hey Y/n! Here for another appointment?” Hyunjin asked before he looked up to you. When he did, he was in shock to see all the bruises and cuts on your body. He looked at her worried and she assured her that she was fine. “Did you get into a fight or something?” He asked as he slightly inspected some of the wounds. “Yeah.” She lied. “Did you kick their ass?” He asked with a slight smirk. “Of course I did.” She added to the lie as Hyunjin laughed.

“I bet you’re here for Changbin, he’s still with a client but you can go back there.” Hyunjin smiles as he goes back to work. “Thanks Jinnie! Say hi to Kkami for me!” She smiles before she disappears after a door that lead to Changbin’s corner.

He had loads of neon led lights as decoration. The vibe was kind of like the nightlife, which Changbin was all in for, especially as an underground rapper. “Hi Binnie!” She cheered after she had announced her presence. “Hello there Dumpling.” Changbin smirked as he hugged her side, giving the man who he was inking a little break. “What did I say about that name.” She whined before she took a seat on the couch in the room. “Sorry. I meant steamed bun-“ “Bin!” “You love me.” He laughed before sending her a kissy face, receiving a groan from her and a roaring laughter of the man who was still waiting for the Changbin to finish the inky artwork. “You two sound like my wife and I and we’ve been married for almost twenty years.” The man laughs, but soon was cut off by a hiss as Changbin started to carve the skin again.

The two of them heard it a lot. They acted and looked like a couple and they usually were too lazy or hadn’t had the heart to break the news to a random elderly couple that the two of them weren’t dating. They would gush over their connection and your relationship. Friends and family knew better though, like Hyunjin. Even though he would still joke about the fact that the two of them should just date, he knew that there was nothing going on between Y/n and Changbin.

The pair met for the first time when Y/n came by to set a tattoo and pierce her ears for the first time. Hyunjin was the one who introduced her to Changbin since Hyunjin worked at a different shop at the time. He loved the vibe Changbin owned and eventually decided to work alongside from him. Changbin loved that she could have some banter with him and the rest was history.

Changbin had been her best friend for years now. He wasn’t someone who judged her based on her image. He loved that she had piercings and tattoos decorating your body. He placed almost all of the on her. He knew that she had a rough childhood. Her mother running away from her and her father, leaving Y/n with an alcoholic and abusive person who dared to call himself a father. Later on Y/n found out that her mother had passed away due to her own overuse of drugs. 

The news angered her father even more and he dared to blame it all on Y/n when he deep down knew that he was the blame. Y/n was stuck with him, wanting to leave him and stop all the pain he has caused her through the years. 

Throwing empty liquor bottles to her, causing it to shatter against the wall and shoot into her skin. Sometimes he would get the closest object and try to beat her to death. Y/n never laid a hand on him, because she wanted to be better than him. He could never say that she hit back.

Changbin had told her many times to go to the police, but she would say that they wouldn’t believe her until they had actual prove. Because they found out that Y/n did kickboxing and Taekwondo and they just thought that she was another girl who wanted to mess with her parents. It was very frustrating. At home she wasn’t allowed to enjoy anything, to study or to in general grow. Her father wanted her to suffer, to rot into a pit and just die. The words and the thought hurt her deeply, but she knew it was mainly the pain and the alcohol talking for him. So, instead of ditching on him, she tried to save up money to take her father to a clinic. It was a lot of money and she didn’t wanted Changbin’s money, he kept offering, but she just couldn’t accept it.

Therefore, she worked for it. She saved up every little cent and went on with her life. She couldn’t find a normal job, so Hyunjin and Changbin were sweet enough to offer her a small job at their parlour. She was told to clean up their mess, to bring them food or whatever when they were working on a tattoo for hours and basically keep everything together. It didn’t pay a lot, but it was enough for her to safe up.

They were amazed by Y/n’s dedication and kindness. She goes through so much pain every day, just so she could provide for herself and her father. She told them, after they asked her why she just wouldn’t take the money, that she saves the money up herself, because she didn’t wanted her father to think that she wanted him gone. Yes, he hurt her deeply, but she still loves him because he’s her dad.

They found her heart and mindset inspiring and were glad that they could help out at least a little bit.

When Y/n’s situation got worse, Changbin offered her to come and stay at his place for a while. She was shocked and scared at first. Changbin really was one of the first persons to ever act kindly to her in her years of suffering.

His parents were shocked and intimidated by her appearance, which she wasn’t surprised by. They didn’t expect a delinquent-looking girl when Changbin said that a female friend of his would be staying over. Changbin also was from a wealthy family. His parent were rich, there’s no way to go around it. They lived in an apartment that was four times bigger than her dump of a place that she managed to call home. His parents were scared that Y/n would be an influence on their son. Not a good one obviously, a bad one of course.

Fortunately after a while and weeks of getting to know Y/n, they found out that Y/n was a girl with dept. She wasn’t like the other girls their son used to bring home. They were out for money, Y/n was out for safety and comfort. The more they talked with Y/n the more they fell in love with her. They loved the way Y/n talked about the things she loved like music, writing and creative things in general. It was one of the many things that she and Changbin bonded over, besides the tattoos and piercings.

Changbin was relieved that his parents were openminded enough to see past both of their images and look deeper into a person and they luckily got to know the real Y/n.

She did decide to not tell them about her father’s situation. All they knew is that she loved fighting sports and that she got her bruises from that, which wasn’t a complete lie. Changbin loved working out with her. He would tease her by calling her hundreds of different nicknames, just to mess with her. He was surprised every time of her strength and at the fact that she never used gloves for kickboxing, giving her permanent bruises on her knuckles. She would laugh about it and joke that it would scare the dumb kids off at her school.

Speaking of school, Changbin dropped out, to pursue one of his dreams, to become a tattoo artist. Y/n had a conversation with him and his parents the other day about his future. Yes, not even her own, but about her best friend’s one. His parents were worried that their son was throwing away his life.

But Y/n got her friend’s back and told his parents patiently and politely, but fierce, that their son was doing something he loved, something he was good at and he made money out of it as well. Changbin was talented and making a career out of it. It wasn’t the first dream he had intended for himself. He wanted to become a rapper, but the same goes for that. He produces music, is really good at it and is even able to perform, in exchange for money of course, every now and then. He’s trying to make it at both fields and he’s really good at it! When his parents heard the enthusiasm that came from her about their son, they saw that she was right. And Changbin still couldn’t thank you enough, but they supported his wishes and dreams from that day on.

The next day at school Chan made his way to the homeroom and was greeted by his friends, Jisung, Felix and Minho. Jisung and Minho were two sassy and sarcastic dodos who loved to insult people for fun. It sounds really mean, but it they are actually quite nice if they like you. And everyone wanted the two to like them, because if they liked you, you could be a step closer to Chan. But the ultimate way to Chan’s heart was: getting close with his best friend Felix. Chan had the biggest soft spot for his fellow Aussie and he would do anything for him. He basically guided Felix through life. Chan loved his friends unconditionally though and besides that, he had known them for ages. Their parents themselves were childhood friends. And so the four grew up together.

Besides Chan having a soft spot for Felix, he was also very close with Jisung, he was one of his producing partners. Jisung was a genius when it came to song lyrics and he was great to work with and it made him, besides Chan, the second member of the producing group 3Racha. Changbin was Chan’s last friend to complete the producing team. He was also very close with him, but since the both of them lived different lives, they didn’t get that deep bond like Chan had with Felix and Jisung.

Chan was chatting away with his friends, when he was suddenly interrupted by the presence of Y/n who just walked into the classroom. She got a new version of detention, where she had to arrive to school early, about an hour and a half earlier than the common students. It was quite the punishment since she didn’t got a lot of sleep already at home. But it wasn’t like the school cared, she ‘did this to herself’.

Chan sighed to himself as he tried to carry on with his conversation with his friends about the upcoming sport tournaments, but the loud music coming from Y/n’s earphones were distracting them.

They started to yell unnecessary comments to her as a joke, Chan laughing along with them. He watched her pull out an earphone and lower her music for a second as she yelled back. “You guys are the reason why God invented the middle finger!” Felix had to hold back his laughter as Minho and Jisung froze in shock. They as well have known Y/n for a long time, but somehow, they keep forgetting that she throw amazing insults back.

“You little-“ “Mister Lee, you better stop that or else you will be send to the principal’s office.” The teacher interrupted him, making him sit back in his seat with a huff. “And you Miss Y/l/n, you’re already in trouble, don’t make it worse for yourself.” The teacher sighed as Y/n just rolled her eyes and put her earphone back in.

Through the day, Chan was usually surrounded by admirers, who were usually just girls, and boys, who were absolutely smitten for him and wanted to become closer to this popular, rich boy. They loved throwing themselves onto him. Especially when Chan had his famous swimming tournaments and basically was half-naked in front of their eyes. There was even a time that some girls jumped into the water to ‘celebrate’ Chan’s win with him. So Y/n has heard. They would kill something or someone to get just a second or two of Chan’s attention. It was very pathetic and Y/n knew it. Hell, some just wanted him to look at them.

Sooyun was one of those girls, what a surprise, I know right?

She usually got what she wanted, since she was spoiled rotten. And she wanted Chan, that was for sure and she wasn’t going to let anyone ruin that. She thought that every girl who came close to Chan was a threat and she wouldn’t hesitate to fight them or ruin their school lives. Yet she knew not to mess with Y/n, she wasn’t afraid to throw hands and she was very glad that Sooyun was aware of that as well.

Sooyun, being a small figured girl, knew deep inside that she wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight with Y/n. Someone who has been practicing kickboxing and Taekwondo for multiple years.

Everybody thought that Sooyun and Chan would make the perfect couple together. They’re both rich, good-looking, have amazing grades and come from well families. He was an athlete and she was a dancer and/or cheerleader, no one really knew. People just loved them together, they were the ‘couple’ of the school, even though they’ve never dated. Sooyun belonged to Chan and Chan belonged to Sooyun. It was ‘supposed’ to be that way and not in any other.

For some reason, people asked Y/n if it bothered her and she would be so confused up to this day why they would ask her that. Of course it didn’t bother her, she didn’t care. She didn’t wanted t interfere with Chan’s business or with him after all, she saw him so much already since he had to scold her every time. The only time she could clearly remember where she interfered into his life was when the two of them were younger, her asking if she could borrow his bucket to build a sandcastle. The kindergarten teachers back then already knew that the two of them wouldn’t get along, unless a miracle happened.

“I swear! Her face could scare the shit out of a fucking toilet!” Some kid yells through the hall to Y/n. She didn’t bother to look at them as she inspected her locker. “Hey Y/n! That triple chin is shaping up nicely!” “Y/n! You’re so fucking lucky that mirrors can’t talk! They would just fucking laugh at you!” Another one shouted. “Just fucking leave you twat!” Y/n was getting enough of the comments and slammed her locker shut. “Every time one of you speak, I feel like one of my braincells commits suicide.” She said coolly to them. “Oh that wouldn’t be a lot then since you’re already retarded.” “I might not be perfect, but luckily I’m not you.” She said with sarcasm toning her voice and smile.

“What did you just say?” One of the girls say who Y/n aimed the comment to. “You heard me.” Before Y/n knew it, a punch was thrown to her face and she was slammed into the locker. The other kids didn’t bother to help Y/n, instead they started to cheer onto the other girl who was violently pulling Y/n’s hair whilst trying to throw punches. Y/n held on to her hands as she was still pushed against the locker, trying to hold the girl back from her face. Until the two hear a teacher screamed for the pair to stop.

The girl was ripped away from Y/n and Y/n finally felt like she found breath since the girls hands made their way to her throat in the end. “Y/n! Principal’s office! Now!” The teacher roared in frustration. Y/n sighed because she knew what was happening: she was getting the blame, as usual. And why? Because she was a delinquent.

In the end of the day, she was back with Chan in front of her. She now was pressing a cloth against her lip to stop it from bleeding as she ‘listened’ to Chan’s rant. Chan noticed her bleeding lip and wild hair. He wanted to make a comment about it, but he somehow felt guilty and decided not to. He was quite confused and taken aback by the feeling, since he usually wasn’t bothered to insult Y/n a little. “Just get your fucking shit together Y/n. This has been going on for months! I’m getting tired of your bullshit and you keep wasting my time! I could be going out with my friends for lunch right now, but no. I have to be here and ‘put you in your place’. I’m not your fucking babysitter Y/n so grow the fuck up and get yourself together for the love of God.” Chan sighed and left Y/n alone in the room.

Chan was once again shocked by himself as he made his way to the cafeteria. Usually was Y/n the one who left the room first, but she seemed to be timid and quiet this time. He tried to shake it off, because it was first of all none of his business and secondly, he didn’t care. He never did, why would he now? Chan remembered there was a time where he wanted to be friends with Y/n. They were around the age of nine, but he just never knew what she had against him. And through the years of him not being able to found out the reason, he just started to ‘hate’ her back, since it seemed to be the easiest way. She seemed so different and dangerous, she was also very held back. She had her walls up high and build strongly so no one could get through it or break them down. Chan now was focused on himself and he was glad he did, because he was fine just like that.

When Chan sat in the cafeteria with his friends he complained about Y/n wasting his time for the umpteenth time. His friends were just looking at him with a smug smirk and ended up laughing. “What?” Chan asked in confusion. “You’re so crushing on her.” Minho laughed as he took another bite of his sandwich. “What- no?” “Sure man, but you’re the one who keeps going on and on about her.” Jisung added before drinking his juice with a smirk. “I do not talk about her that much.” Chan claims in defence. “Yes you do, you mention her every day.” “That’s because she drives me mad every day!” “Whatever you say.” The two mutter before focussing their attention to their phones.

Chan shook his head in disbelief and looked away from them. His eyes landed onto a lonely figure that was outside in the spring sun. The sunlight was hitting her softly, giving her a soft glow as she scrabbled away in her notebook, her head tilt as she held her phone in between her shoulder and her head. Chan squinted his eyes and noticed that it was Y/n. He sighed slightly and took a bite rather aggressively as his frustration from earlier returned his body.

His gaze would fall back to Y/n who was suddenly throwing her body back in fort, seeming as if she was laughing loudly at something. Chan was surprised when he saw her like that, because he had never seen her smile, like ever. Chan was caught staring at her by the boys as they suddenly started to tease him once again. “Stop it.” Chan would whine at the other three. “You know, there could be a reason why she gets into trouble all the time.” Minho began. “She’s a troublemaker, it’s her thing.” Jisung scoffs with a chuckle. “Yes that too, but what if she does that all on purpose, so she can spend time with Chan?” Minho theorises. “No, that would be pathetic.” Chan argued in disbelief, not thinking that someone like Y/n would ever do something like that. “I mean, you’ve seen crazier thing Chan. It wouldn’t be too weird if she does all of this for that reason.” Minho shrugged, setting Chan to thinking.

In the meantime Y/n was sat outside. The sun was nice and warm and she had a nice spot alone in the open. She had pulled out her notebook to draw and write her lunch break away, until she thought of what she wanted to do tonight. So, she called Changbin, who picked up happily. “What’s up buttercup?” He sang on the other side of the line. “Nothing much Tat Rat. You busy tonight?” She asked him hopefully. “I am Dumpling. CB97 has called us to work tonight. We have to rehearse.” Changbin said, feeling sorry and guilty that he couldn’t spend time with her, because she probably needed him.

“Nah, it’s okay. I was just wondering.” She stuttered. “You can go and hang out with my mom you know? She’s alone tonight since my dad is gone for a business trip.” “I could do that and look at baby pictures of yours with her-“ “Don’t you fucking dare!” Changbin yelled, making her laugh loudly. “Calm down! You were cute though.” “I was cute? I’m not anymore?” He joked and she could almost hear the pout on his lips from the other side of the line. “Of course you’re the cutest Binnie!” She chuckled through the phone as she cutely cheered onto him. His laugh made her day a little better and he assured her that he would be home in time so they could spend some time together as well before she falls asleep.

She said that she would like that before they exchanged their goodbyes and hung up on the call. She sighed in relief that she could stay at Changbin’s place. She wasn’t feeling like getting beaten up twice today. She decided to go to his apartment right now, because she also didn’t feel like facing Chan or any other student again today. Therefore, fifteen minutes before the bell rung to get everyone back to class, she made her way to her locker to gather her stuff to leave. What she didn’t knew was that Chan had seen her and he, as the vice president, felt responsible to scold her once again for her behaviour. And since it was Y/n as well, he was especially done with her shit. He didn’t know what happened to himself, but something inside of him seemed to have snapped as he stomped his way to Y/n’s locker where she was standing herself.

“You’re fucking skipping again? School is for education you know? And since you’ve missed a lot of it, it just shows how retarded you are! You already go in trouble for multiple shit and you still pull out this card? You’re such a moron no wonder no teacher wants you in their class. At least I have something to look forward too. I work for my future, can’t say the same thing about you.” He snarled in anger. But soon enough a pang in his chest was felt and he was filled with guilt.

Y/n turned to him slowly, slamming her locker closed in process as she looked at him with slight watery eyes.

“You have no right to say something like that about me Christopher. You have no idea what’s going on in my life and you certainly can’t say that I’m not working on my future. I know you are mister perfect, but I didn’t know you would be so low to people below you.” She snapped back, before she swung her bag over her shoulders and pushed pass him.

This was the second time for Chan to be shocked by her. This time seeing her so vulnerable and because she used his full English name.

He watched how she rushed through the halls outside, leaving the building in process. Her serious and fallen expression were printed into his brain and he wasn’t very sure what to do with them. She usually seemed to unbothered and cold, he felt like he finally saw her as a human being and it just did something to him, he just didn’t know what and why. A part of him wanted to run after her and apologise for his harsh words. Another side, his pride, was high up in the sky and stopped him from doing so.

When Y/n had arrived at the Seo resident, she lied to his mother that she wasn’t feeling too well. She added to the lie that she had kickboxing training in the morning and that she got beaten in her face and stomach. Misses Seo would pity for her and ask her if she wanted some soup to make her feel a little better. Y/n thanked her but declined the offer and told her that she would be resting in Changbin’s room for a bit, which ended up her falling asleep in Changbin’s bed.

Hours later she woke up to the bed denting a little and a familiar sent filling her nose. “You’re back?” She muttered in a tired voice as she tried to open her eyes to look at her friend. “Yeah, I just got home. It’s eleven O’clock. Did you sleep the whole time?” He asked as he softly rubbed her back. She hummed in responds as she turned her body towards him so she could hug him. “Y/n?” “Hmm?” “Are those new wounds?” Changbin asks carefully. She managed to hum a ‘yes’ which made Changbin sigh worriedly.

“Did you at least throw hands back?” When she didn’t answer he already knew that she didn’t. “Y/n, this needs to stop.” “It’s just a few more months. Then they will be gone forever.” She whispers whilst closing her eyes again. “Besides, my older wounds aren’t healed yet.”

Changbin was besides a rapper, producer and tattoo artist also a doctor by now. The amount of times he had helped her with her wounds, cuts and bruises were uncountable.

The boy would sigh once again and lay down with her. Wrapping his arms around her carefully as he held her protectively. Y/n would usually stay in the Seo’s spare room, also known as Changbin’s older sister’s old bedroom, that wasn’t used anymore since she had already moved out. But at times like these, Changbin felt a need to hold her and protect her, since sometime she was too weak or too tired to do it herself.

The two of them fell asleep like that, that night. And since they fell asleep, Y/n forgot to set her alarm, which caused her to oversleep through her first class. She groans as she noticed how late she was and muttered a goodbye to the exhausted Changbin who eventually was left alone in bed.

Y/n hopped onto her motor and drove her way to school. As soon as she stepped foot into the building, she was greeted by the principal and lead to her office. She cursed to herself, because she knew that her punishment was going up a notch. And she was now just mentally preparing herself for it.

What could happen? Getting early at school and leaving extra late? She wouldn’t have a problem with it, since she wouldn’t have to be at home. School punishments weren’t the worst things that ever happened to her.

“Miss Y/l/n, I have been informed that you aren’t passing most of your classes.” The principal states. “I mean, I guess so.” Y/n muttered, still tired as fuck. “Do you want to receive your diploma this year, Miss Y/l/n?” She asks almost annoyed. “Yes.” “Well then you will have to pass at least three of these failing classes to receive your diploma. This will mean that you will have to be tutored and make extra assignments for extra credit if you want to get that diploma.” She said sternly.

The school wouldn’t want to kick her off, since there would be rumours going around like wildfire and it would make the school look bad. So instead, the principal had someone in mind to ‘help’ her. So she could pass her classes, get her diploma for the sake of the school.

“Who could possibly be tutoring me-“ At that moment a familiar figure walked into the office room. Chan rolled his eyes as soon as he saw her. His chest tightened a little at the sight of her. Her bloody lip had dried up and was now a shade of deep, dark red, matching the rest of her other wounds. “What did you do this time?” Chan muttered annoyed, receiving an eye roll from Y/n. “Mister Bang, I’m glad you’re here. I just told Y/n that you would be the one tutoring her!” The principal reveals cheerfully. But Chan was anything but cheerful as he stared at the adult across him.

“I’m going to what now?”

To be continued…

Gif isn’t mine.

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING - 2020 REWATCH - 19 - 20

What stands out now:

19. Assault on Barge

Think we are in for some 1x2 shenanigans (and as an old school 1x2 shipper, I AM READY)

HOWARD just strikes me as a guy who only listens to Jimmy Buffett. Like, he might help repair Tallgeese, but he’s just counting down to 5:00 so he can get his margaritaville on

“That’s an interesting looking machine… oh, it’s Tallgeese, I made it btw.”

“This isn’t what we meant” is totally a Gundam Wing song. Fight me. (actually I’m gonna make a whole post about this later, because I need to elaborate)

Colonel Une is nutbar: Her order is let him live if he’s ugly?? I have no memory of this?

OZ is like “OMG IT’S A GUNDAM!? On the thing that’s holding a Gundam?! HOW COULD WE HAVE BEEN PREPARED FOR THIS?!”

Duo’s cheery “You’re gonna die” is great. Duo is like the looks like a cinnamon roll but will kill you meme, and I love it.

“Tag along on my journey into hell” is such a fierce line

Trowa is the unexpected voice of reason

“What’s this?” Cabbage, dumb-dumb. Don’t you have salad in space??

Come on Heero, you managed to hide a gun in spandex, you can’t hide it in your jeans better. Why are you so bad at this?

That hero shot for Heero. Chefs kiss. It’s so good.

Duo: You can kill me if you want; Heero: Oh no. You asked me to kill you? Now I have feelings for you.

Describing the Mobile Dolls as “Annihilation machines” seems like a bad thing, tbh. But would be a badass name for a metal band.

How is Lady Une is magically sending out her peace talk? Does she have the same magic powers as Quatre?

Oh no. Are the mobile dolls attacking our own Leos?? What could possibly go wrong here?

Oh no, they are annihilation machines. How could we possibly have seen this coming.

Getting the Mobile Dolls to attack the Leos and the space suits is the best executed plan that Heero’s been a part of so far. We don’t see how it happens, and we know he didn’t have an escape plan, so I’m going to assume this was Duo’s idea.

20. The Lunar Base Infiltration

Duo: You can’t tell me not to come; Heero: You’re injured, you’ll get in the way; Duo: You know what?! I didn’t want to go anyway, so I’ll just stay here; Heero: Fine; Duo: FINE.

The moon is just one shitty mall. Figures

There’s something haunting about hanging a half built mech with all it’s wires hanging out. Eva really leaned into it, but we get it a lot in this episode with Vayeate and Sandrock.

Oh hey, it’s Sally Po

Oh hey, it’s the Maganac Corps

Oh hey, we can talk to each other without any sort of radio. Crazy!

Look, I don’t want Duo to cut his hair, but what an idiot. At least tuck it into your hat, man. The braid is pretty obvious, especially when you have wanted posters hanging around.

Trowa Barton. You really are just going to use the name you stole from someone else? And just tell OZ about it? Why are all the pilots so bad about their aliases.

That being said, Trowa is so cool. I am super into Trowa this time around.

NOOOOOOOOO. Come on Duo. This is not keeping a low profile.

Trowa’s tears. So iconic. So sad, he hasn’t cried in over a decade.

Lutenient Nichol is the only smart guy in Oz.

Oh man, Mercurius and the Vayeate. I remembered the names of these suits for 20 years, but I don’t know basic math. Go figure.

Lady Une/Colonel Une is so fascinating. Is she really unaware of her two sides? Did Trowa just break her? Does she not realize she’s part of OZ?

A-game from Trowa and Doctor S to totally ignore each other

Heero continues to be the worst at everything. What was his plan there? Why attack in Vayeate when everyone was there? When it’s not even fully bult? When you KNOW that Mercurius can just block it. WHY ARE YOU SO BAD AT THIS HEERO?

Why do I ship the pilots as soon as they point a gun at each other? 1x2 in the last episode; 1x3 here. I’m pretty sure Noin pulls a gun on Duo soon, too...  

Thoughts:

Heero is set up to the best character in this show, and he’s pretty awesome, but all he wants to do is go to school and just hang out. At least, that seems to be the thing he’s good at because he’s not good at carrying out any mission plan. I mean, he looks good while doing it, but it never ends well... I remember back in the day there was this yahoo mailing list I was on SDDI: Society for the Defence of Duo’s Intelligence. IDK why people thought Duo wasn’t smart (I was on the list because it was good discussion and lots of fic, if I recall, also mailing lists were great). Anyway, so far none of them have been super successful with their plans, but Trowa and Wufei have been slightly more?  

Also, we’ve been watching the Dub because that’s what @mpanighetti​ and I both watched on Toonami back in the day and we wanted the same experience... and having seen some of the sub, I think they do a pretty good job with a lot of the voices and the translations... that being said, Howard’s info dump at Zechs in 19 is just awful. I’m eager to go back and watch that scene subbed and see the differences.

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

Heero and Trowa get to pilot Mercurius and the Vayeate against Tallgeese. I think we get a few more pilot pairups as well? We get a glimpse of Quatre’s home.

ALSO: We know that it was shortsighted to start this in early December 2020 and call this Rewatch 2020. I’m gonna continue to use the “Gundam wing rewatch 2020″ tag to track all this (and if you want to follow the tag, too), and I might just take the date off the titles going forward. 

[loki-hargreeves]

Loki x Reader - You’re a Monster! [PART 2]

Author’s Note: This was supposed to be a one-shot but it turned into a series. Woops! Also, I’m sorry if there are typos! Warnings: vulgar language, mentions of death, angst, mentions of sex Word Count: 3,1K Summary: Loki broke his heart to save you from himself after he was prisoned for life. You believe he never loved you and he believes you’ve moved on. Five years later, you meet at Sakaar again and his fate is in your hands. Somehow, you’re supposed to work together in order to save Asgard, which is easier said than done. You left things messy and you know exactly how to push each other’s buttons.

[PART 1] 

Third POV

It was the second time within a few years that the Asgardians thought Loki, the often forgotten about son of Odin, God of Mischief, was believed to be dead. The truth was, he was posing as Odin. Frankly, Odin had been a mess after Frigga’s passing and Thor was out of the picture. Loki saw that as his chance to rule Asgard, make the people thrive for once. But he also used the position for good, diving deep into things Odin or Thor never could.

Little did anyone know he had a plan. During his time as Asgard’s king, Loki attempted to find out as much as possible about Thanos and his evil plans. He knew the location of three infinity stones, and he wanted to keep them away from the mad titan. Now that Loki was ‘dead’, he could live a little easier. No one was after him. There was only one thing that bothered him, tearing his mind to shreds. And no, it wasn’t the prophecy of Ragnarok he had been hearing about, had nightmares about too.

It was Y/N.

Just the memory of her made his heart ache. No matter how many times he told himself he did the right thing, he knew he was lying to himself. He had somehow hoped that he could see her again. Maybe not as himself but just to spot her. He wanted to see the woman, know that she was well, at least healthy. But that didn’t happen. Months passed and no one had seen her after their breakup. Loki had found out that Y/N had left her engagement ring in their old chambers. She had taken a bag worth of personal belongings, attended Frigga’s funeral, stolen weapons and then disappeared. He never found the book she had made for him. She was gone and it broke Loki’s heart because he knew it was his fault.

Posing as Odin, Loki had tried to question Heimdall about her whereabouts but of course he saw threw the magic. Tragic, really. Loki understood that Heimdall was a threat to his plans – but he was also wise, so after some very messy mutual disagreement and mild agreement, Heimdall ‘disappeared’.

It was just Loki alone for the next few years, wondering if Y/N was even alive. Deep in his heart, he could almost feel that hers was beating somewhere out there.

                     Unbeknownst to anyone, Y/N was putting her nose deep in the same waters as Loki. She hadn’t believed that Loki never loved her. No, it just didn’t make sense in her head, so she had decided to search for answers. After thinking about old conversations with Loki, reading books, contacting creatures from beyond the nine realms, she got on the right path. She learned about Thanos and the so-called infinity stones. Even Thor knew about them, which was great. Somehow, she managed to make Thor keep it a secret that she was travelling with him.

A few years passed and Thor left, following a hunch that had something to do with Sultur. Y/N didn’t go, because she had more important things to do. Besides, she knew Thor would be returning to Asgard and she had sworn not to return ever again. It hurt too much.

Once she was alone, flying through space in a ship she ‘borrowed’, she found herself thinking about Loki. That asshole, she thought but couldn’t find the truth behind those words. After everything she had learned, she was sure he had loved her to some extent. It didn’t mean that what had happened before he died didn’t put her in agony. Their last conversation broke her heart and it would haunt her forever. Thanks to the massive pain that had followed and the torturous truth of what had happened to Loki before, Y/N put up a hard and cold exterior. She had changed, to say at least.

Shamelessly, Y/N had gone as far as sleeping with strangers to lure secrets out of their lips. Some dumb Kree had told Y/N about the elders of the universe, a tale as old as time. Apparently, they were the original bearers of the stones and one of them, the Grandmaster, just happened to have an address, a dumpster realm known as Sakaar. That’s where Y/N went, not really knowing what to expect -except answers.

She landed in the middle of trash, literally, and some funky looking creatures tried to capture her. Y/N had killed them all before they could really bat an eye. She left behind a pile of their bodies but before she could leave, someone else wanted to have a word with her. Y/N had watched as a beautiful woman walked out of her ship with a bottle in her hands. Beautiful leather outfit, black hair which Y/N liked. She was hot, but Y/N knew she could be dangerous.

“You’re coming with me, ‘right?” The woman asked but it sounded like she also answered for her.

Y/N already thought of some magic tricks that were nifty for self-defence, just in case it got to that point. “Are you trying to eat me as well?” Y/N wondered, glancing at the scavengers she had killed. The woman looked at the pile and raised her eyebrows.

“I’m impressed, but no, I won’t eat you. I’m looking for…a fighter, you seem eligible.”

Y/N was honoured but it didn’t mean she’d volunteer as a puppet for whatever fight they needed a fighter for. “Can I thank you no? I’m here to meet someone called the Grandmaster.”

“Ah! I could take you to him.” The woman suggested almost casually.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Y/N still didn’t trust her. So, she walked closer to her, noticing the white paint on her skin, creating a beautiful contrast. “You lead the way; I can follow you with my ship.”

Before Y/N could hardly finish her sentence, she noticed that the woman grabbed something small, probably a weapon. Y/N was quick to grab her dagger and point it at the woman. “Look, you’re pretty and I don’t want to fight-“

“You think I’m pretty?” She smirked, almost cockily, although Y/N had a dagger pointed at her. “Isn’t that sweet of you!”. Although Y/N felt like she should be annoyed, she found herself liking this woman. There was something about her.

“Lead the way, okay? I’m busy and I don’t want to play your stupid game.”

The woman rolled her eyes and put the little weapon back into her purse. “Fine. If you wish to go to him voluntarily, I won’t stop you. Let’s go!”

And just like that, Y/N was led to the Grandmaster by the woman who she learned went by the name Scrapper 142. Y/N decided that she liked her, although she was probably dangerous and plotting a trap for her. Good luck, Y/N thought, she had been with Loki long enough to avoid basic traps. The effort was cute. But then the memory of the Trickster god stabbed her heart and she remembered what she was here for, the infinity stones.

“Oh, you found a pretty one! You never cease to impress me!” The old man smiled happily once he laid his dark eyes on Y/N. He had a blue stripe on his lip and a very sparkly, golden robe. He definitely stood out, even on this planet where no one seemed to know of dark clothes.

Y/N ignored his low-key compliment and she tried to get straight to the point. “Are you the Grandmaster I’ve heard so much about?” Y/N put on a fake but very sweet smile, attempting to flatter the man who seemed to enjoy it. She learned quickly that this Grandmaster was like a powerful dog that had to be fed with compliments – that way they could become friends. Manipulating him shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Well she was both right and wrong. She didn’t end up being a fighter, instead, she got into his inner circle with her charming act and she picked up clues piece by piece. Y/N had to admit the parties could get extreme and waking up in stranger’s beds wasn’t ideal, but she genuinely had fun for once. Perhaps blowing off some steam by partying and mingling couldn’t hurt too much. After all, Y/N had spent the last five years in her shell, surrounded by hate, anger and misery.

Weeks passed by quickly, very quickly on Scrapper 142’s couch. Her actual name was Brunnhilde, she was a Valkyrie. Y/N and Brunnhilde were wasted one night and Y/N saw her tattoo. Sure, there wasn’t much they could hide when they were both naked. Against all odds, they became friends and it was very beneficial to Y/N who never forgot about her plan.

All was well until someone else from Asgard ended up on Sakaar.

Y/N had picked up Brunnhilde’s ways of Scrapping to earn some credits while staying on Sakaar. It was a usual day when she saw something entering Sakaar’s atmosphere and fast. It’s like a bolt of green lightning struck the trash land. Y/N had to check it out.

Her ship landed on the ground only minutes after she saw the green object, or person, she had no idea. No one else had arrived yet which was perfect, she could take her time. Y/N grabbed a weapon that shot out obedience disks. She only needed that and her magic as she walked outside. As usual, there was a horrible stank outside. Space junk and bodies were rotting all around them. Y/N saw a body on the ground, back faced towards her. Once she saw long, black locks and an emerald green cape, she almost turned away and left. That’s when she took a deep breath and reminded herself that Loki was dead. It couldn’t possibly be him, right?

But the closer she got, the more she saw. And sure as hell, it was him. She could recognize his face from thousands of miles away. Seeing him on the ground, completely helpless, covered in small cuts and fresh bruises was almost too much for her. For a moment, she could only stare at him in utter disbelief and shock. The heartache from half a decade ago was returning and it hurt just as much, but she’d be damned to show it.

Whatever the story was behind it, she had to know. But he was unconscious and other Scrappers would love to find him. Biting her teeth together and swallowing her tears, she dragged his weak body into her ship. His scent emerged into her nostrils and reminded her of so many shared nights.

“Get yourself together!” Y/N growled at herself and dumped Loki’s body on the floor of the ship. Perhaps it was a bit harsh, but she didn’t want to hold onto him longer than needed. She didn’t want to soften up for him after what he did.

She locked the entrance to the ship and sat down, resting her head against her hands as she attempted to think. She had no idea how he was alive, what she would do to him or if he was going to hurt her even more. After pondering for a while and feeling how her shock just increased, she had to get answers. Y/N stood up and walked to Loki who was still on the ground. He looked terrified even though he was passed out. It’s like shock was imprinted on his resting face. Y/N wondered what he saw before ending up on Sakaar. Could it be Thanos?

Y/N groaned and pushed those thoughts away. The only right answers would come from him. So, Y/N gently shook him by his shoulder with her foot until he opened his eyes. Loki looked right at her and it was dead quiet around them for a moment. Y/N’s heart yearned for him, she wanted to wrap him into her arms, but she refused to do that. Instead, she put on a stern mask and grabbed the weapon, having no intentions to use it though. She wanted him to know that she was not the woman she used to be.

“Am I dead?”

“Newsflash, Loki! You’re not, but you sure let everyone think so.”

Loki sat up, never taking his eyes off Y/N. He seemed dazed. Flashes of what had happened only a few minutes earlier were fresh on his mind. He remembered Odin’s death, Thor’s rage, Hela. But once he saw her after believing he never would see her again; his mouth went dry. She stood there, looking at him with anger burning in her E/C eyes. Loki could hardly believe his eyes. He didn’t even know what to do. Now, several years later, there was no use in pretending to be the monster he made out of himself, but he didn’t know if he could let go of his regret and beg for forgiveness. Could he put her through that?

He looked away from her judging gaze and he saw the small, odd weapon that was in her hand. It felt like a punch in his gut, she was furious! He had to be careful but at the same time, he almost wanted her to be mad at him.

It became obvious that Loki wasn’t going to break the silence and Y/N was impatient.

“How are you alive?”

Loki remembered the exact moment he almost died. No one would ever know but he actually sacrificed himself to Thor. He could’ve died when Thor left his body on Svartalfheim but something miraculous kept him alive. What it was, Loki wasn’t sure, but he told himself it was his mother from Valhalla. How could he possibly explain the past five years to her? From the moment he broke her heart by telling her that everything they had together, all the good and the bad, were lies. He told her she was amusement for him. Now he felt rotten just thinking back.

“Answer me!” Y/N demanded harshly, taking a step closer to Loki. She put the little disk shooter underneath Loki’s jaw so she could tilt his head up, forcing him to look at her. It was astonishing how he hadn’t gotten up yet to mock her and drag her down. Something terrible must’ve happened before he arrived.

It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to let herself care about that. What they had in the past should remain there.

Loki didn’t flinch when Y/N put the cold metal object against his neck. He didn’t know what it did, and he didn’t want to find it. Although he knew she probably hated his gut, he doubted she’d hurt him. “It’s a long story, Y/N.”

His voice made Y/N’s stomach twist. She hated herself for missing it. She hated that his voice still affected her but the was proud she had learnt to hide her feelings. To him, he looked like a whole new person. Loki looked her up and down and noticed how different she was, even her attire had changed. Y/N was wearing a skin-tight, white bodysuit that hugged her curves just right, long red boots and a dark red cape, much less elegant than Asgardian capes. It was short and rigged. Y/N’s arms were bare, and she wore golden jewellery that spiralled from her wrist all the way to her upper arm. He even saw scars that weren’t there before. They weren’t neat so he figured they came from battles. She had changed.

The biggest difference was her cold and harsh exterior. He looked at her and her face didn’t soften up like before. He knew that he had burnt her innocence and sweetness to ashes. It hurt, more than he wanted to admit.

“You’re not in a hurry, are you? Start talking.” Y/N was getting angry again. The silence was messing with her head. If he didn’t care, why couldn’t he speak? It bothered her that Loki looked at her so carefully. She felt vulnerable.

Loki looked at her neck. He knew they weren’t together anymore but nevertheless, seeing a dark purple, almost red hickey decorating her skin hurt. Seeing that someone else had gotten the pleasure of touching her was like a stab to the heart. She had moved on, hadn’t she? Loki’s throat felt tight. So much was going on and it was too much – even for him. Asgard was in danger but here he was, in Y/N’s ship, his fate in her hands. “Where shall I begin?” He put on a fake smile, putting up the act from five years ago. He was not going to hurt her any further by explaining how he lied. She had gone through enough because of him. Lying furthermore should be smooth, he was the god of lies after all.

“How about you explain how you’re alive and where you’ve been. Maybe, just maybe I won’t throw you in the lion’s den.” By that, Y/N meant the arena. She knew damn well the Grandmaster would pay her a huge sum for Loki, but she also knew Loki could have answers that she desperately needed. “You’re so great with words, aren’t you? You better use them.”

“Someone still cares,” Loki taunted her, putting his best effort into acting like the fool he was before. He was aware it was terrible, but he had no choice. He decided to push her buttons a little bit more, just to study her reaction. “I see you took some Asgardian goods with you.”

“You know I could electrocute you, right?” Y/N pressed the lips of the disc shooter against his neck, only to threaten him of course. Sure, he probably deserved it, but she didn’t actually want to hurt him. Only a few years ago she was the one who stitched up his wounds and washed off his blood. “Besides, Thor gave them to me. Turns out being in good terms with him is quite handy,” Y/N pushed Loki’s buttons as well, knowing damn well how Loki hated that.

Loki pulled his lips into a thin line. The hickey was almost right in front of his eyes now and he believed Y/N did it on purpose, to shove it in his face that she didn’t care at all. Did Thor make it? Loki wished it was anyone else but his brother. Was she over him? Loki believed it – at least to some extent. How could she still care, after everything he put her through? He didn’t just break her heart, he absolutely destroyed it!

But she would never know he did it for her. She was better off without him. Loki told that to himself to make himself feel better. He had to get away from her and fast but it wouldn’t be easy.

“I’ve been on Asgard. Thor broke me out of my cell, begging for my help. It was a perfect opportunity for me to slither out of that little cell. Then I had to get Odin out of the picture…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Y/N almost yelled. Sure, Odin was a terrible person but she couldn’t imagine Loki killing him. He hadn’t gone that far, right?

Loki rolled his eyes. “I sent him away. He was on Midgard until Thor and I returned to him. He told us about our sister, Hela, who is currently set to destroy Asgard. Then he died-“

“Slow down!” Y/N stopped him. She put the disc shooter away and took a deep breath. She attempted to forget about her personal issues with Loki and tried to focus on Asgard. Were the people in danger? Who was this Hela? Their sister? She had never even heard of her. ”Odin’s dead?”

“I told you, it’s a long story, Y/N.”

[PART 3]

Author’s Note: I feel like this chapter is just building the plot but the next part will be a bit more fun (I hope). What are your thoughts? :) It’s kind of funny how this turned into a series.

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TAGS: @heather-destler @jessiejunebug @percyjackson886 @scorpionchild81 @snow-massacre (you asked me to fix your broken heart) @yes-honey-work @elliecapper @phluffyphantom

 if you want to be removed/added, just let me know! :)

[izzyfandoms]

Chosen - Chapter Four

(This is a Gender-Swapped Sanders Sides high school au)

SUMMARY: Logan Berry, Dee Ceite, Patricia Foster, Virginia Picani and Regina and Rena Prince are all 16-year-old high school students. They live relatively normal lives, with ordinary lessons and ordinary crushes and ordinary families, until one day a monster shows up and attacks them after class, and everything suddenly changes.

SHIPS: Moxiety, Logince, Dukeceit

WARNINGS: Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Deceit, swearing, monsters mention, sexual implications (Remus), siblings arguing, vomit mention, gross food mention, blood mention

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @creativity-killed-thekitten @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game

CHOSEN TAGLIST: @coasting-on-a-wave-of-apathy @littlestr @whispers-stuff-in-your-ear

Masterpost

FIRST CHAPTER | PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

“Remember to watch each other’s backs, girls,” Remy instructed, standing in front of them with one hand on her hip. “And never go to fight a monster alone. Why’s that? Because they’re almost never alone. That night at school was an exception, we were lucky.”

Logan raised her hand, as if she was still at school, instead of standing in Dee’s garden with the rest of their friends. Fortunately, Dee’s house was rather big – it had belonged to her grandparents before they died – and her next-door neighbours were either deaf or dead, so they likely weren’t going to be overheard. They’d previously been planning on going elsewhere for training, but ended up remaining at Dee’s house for convenience. Her mother, Octavia, was out on a date with Virge’s mother, Emily, so it was just the six girls, Remy and Thomas at the moment.  

Thomas chuckled lightly. “You don’t need to raise your hand, we’re not at school.”

Logan lowered her hand, turning to Remy. “Why were you alone when you saved us at school? Shouldn’t you follow your own rule?”

“Because Thomas is my partner – not in the romantic sense, he’s gay, I’m aro – and he managed to get himself possessed, by a pretty powerful one, at that.” Remy gave Thomas an annoyed look. “You’re lucky I’m so damn skilled, or you lot probably would’ve died.”  

The girls all made faces at that, and Thomas sighed.  

“How do you prevent possession?” Logan asked, bringing out a notebook and pen to start making notes.  

“Eh... okay,” Remy straightened up. “So, it’s not an exact science. Pure human blood can free someone from a possession, and it can also prevent a possession, but it’s kinda iffy. Different possessors can handle different amounts of blood when possessing, but there are a few ways to make it pretty hard for them to possess you. Number one is having a period. Only the Queen can possess someone on their period, so that’s pretty useful, but that doesn’t happen for everybody, and it’s not all the time. Number two is being injured, but that can be dangerous, so it’s super unrecommended. The one we tend to use most is number three, wearing something blood-stained – it has to be relatively fresh. It’s kinda hard to do that, though, so we usually just try to wear some kind of jewellery with a little container of blood on it. It’s not the most effective, but it keeps them away nine times out of ten. They don’t like the smell, or maybe it’s the vibe? I don’t know, they just don’t like blood. I’ll bring you guys some lockets next time I see you, and some blood bags to keep in your fridges. Don’t ask me where I got them. These lockets will be very important, keep them on you at all times.”

She eyed Thomas judgementally. “Someone forgot to do that on Thursday, and managed to get himself possessed.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “I’m a teacher, Rem, I can’t exactly wear blood around children. If someone noticed I’m pretty sure I could get fired for that. I usually keep it in my pocket but I guess Thursday I forgot.” He turned to the teenagers. “You can usually see them coming, they’re just like a weird moving puddle of ink. I just got unlucky on Thursday. Please don’t judge me for it.”

“We are,” Remy said.  

Virginia raised her hand. “Uh, how am I supposed to keep blood in my fridge? My mom doesn’t know about any of this.”

“Uh... just keep the blood with Dee and Logan, I guess?” Remy shrugged. “Now, who here knows self-defence?”

***

A few hours had passed, and their lesson was winding to a close. Remy had focused on teaching them self-defence, whilst Thomas had focused more on knowledge.  

“Logan, what are the four types of monsters, and how can you identify them?” Thomas asked, walking between the three pairs of girls as Remy adjusted Dee’s stance.

“Creatures, Possessors, Puppeteers and Seers,” Logan answered immediately. “Creatures are ink-black, inhuman and twice the size of an average adult. Possessors, Puppeteers and Seers all look like a puddle of ink when not currently possessing a human. You can identify a possessed human by the black stains on or around them. Puppeteers can be differentiated from Possessors and Seers by the black strings that eject from their fingers to control other, unpossessed humans. Seers are visually identical to Possessors.”

Thomas nodded approvingly.

Rena blew a raspberry. “Those names are so dumb; we should think of something cooler to call them.”

“Everyone’s got different names for them, Kid,” Remy said. “That’s just what my family calls them.”

“I think the names make sense,” Logan added, adjusting her glasses. “They’re clear and accurate. You understand them immediately.”

All of a sudden, the back door to Dee’s house opened, and out stepped Dee’s mother, Octavia, and Virginia’s mother, Emily. Emily spotted her daughter immediately and walked over to her, pulling her into a tight hug. Virge hugged back, visibly relaxing.

Almost a minute of silent hugging passed – Emily did nothing halfway, especially not parental affection – before they pulled away.  

“Octavia told me everything,” Emily said softly, squeezing her daughter’s arm reassuringly. “I will support you in everything you choose to do. I love you, Kiddo.”

“Love you, too, mom,” Virge mumbled, a little embarrassed.

Patricia cooed adoringly, taking her girlfriend’s hand and squeezing it. Emily gave her a cheerful smile. Remy turned to Octavia.

“Hey, Via, what’s up?” Remy asked, putting her elbow on Octavia’s shoulder (which was a little difficult, as Remy was quite a bit shorter than her).

Octavia shrugged, adjusting the collar of her black-and-white flannel shirt and stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Not much.”

Remy hummed in thought, before leaning closer to whisper in her friend’s ear.

“So, you planning on proposing, yet?”  

Dee was the only other one within earshot, and she snorted. Octavia rolled her eyes, lightly pushing Remy away.

“She’s already got the ring,” Dee said smoothly, though still quiet enough not to be overheard.

Remy gasped dramatically, offended, her hand on her heart. “And you didn’t tell me? I thought we were friends! I feel betrayed.”

“It just happened,” Octavia muttered, her eyes on Emily, making sure she wouldn’t overhear. “And you can’t keep a secret. That’s why I didn’t let you meet Dee until it was time to tell her about all the chosen one stuff.”

Remy booed, one hand on her hip. She turned to Dee, rolling her eyes. “If it was up to me, you guys would have learnt about all this shit years ago. But, apparantly, you shouldn’t put too much pressure on children. I don’t know, I know nothing about kids.”

Thomas sighed, running his fingers through his hair before checking his watch. “Oh, shoot, I’ve gotta go. I have a ton of papers to mark, and I’ve got a date tomorrow, so I want them done tonight.”

Remy turned sharply, her hair whipping around, and she grinned. “You have a date?”

“Yeah... I met this guy at a coffee ship about a week ago – as cliché as that sounds – and we kinda just clicked. This’ll be our first date.”

Rena opened her mouth, and Regina covered it immediately.

“Trust me,” Regina said seriously. “We don’t want to know what she has to say.”

That alarmed Thomas slightly, but he didn’t have time to comment before Regina suddenly pulled away from her sister, screeching indignantly and cradling her hand to her chest protectively.  

“You bit me, you heathen!”

Rena shrugged, grinning mischievously. “I coulda just licked you, but that would have been too predictable. I’ve gotta switch it up sometimes.”

“Have fun on your date, Mr Sanders,” Logan added, interrupting the twins’ argument, which was probably for the best.  

Remy made a face. “Ew, Mr Sanders sounds so formal. Just call him Thomas.”

“Okay!” Rena agreed immediately. “Enjoy your date, Mr Thomas. Get s- ow!”

Regina kicked her sister in the shin, stopping her from finishing that last part. The rest of the girls seemed to agree with the nickname, though, and repeated it with similar sentiments, also telling him to enjoy his date.

Thomas smiled. “Thanks, girls.” He then turned to Remy. “Do you need a ride back to your place?”

“Nah, I’m good, I’ll just walk.”

Thomas gave Remy a look, and she scoffed.

“Gurl, I don’t get lost that easily, I’ll be fine!”

“I’m going to ask one more time,” Thomas said calmly. “Do you need a ride back to your place?”

This started an intense staring match between Thomas and Remy, that lasted almost a whole minute, before Remy sighed.

“Okay, fine, yes, I need a ride,” She finally conceded, and Thomas smiled. “Besides,” Remy continued, fishing something from her pocket. “I have your keys.” She tossed the car keys back to a bewildered Thomas.

“You- what?”

“I was practising my pickpocketing skills.” Remy glanced back at the six teenagers. “I’ll teach you how to do that another time.” She walked up to Thomas, patting him on the shoulder before walking past him. “C’mon, Thomas, let’s get going. I’ve gotta give you some flirting tips before your date, ‘cos your skills are lacking.”

Thomas sighed, before turning and following her out of the garden, around the side of the house and out of sight.

“I wonder if he’s gonna get laid,” Rena piped up, interrupting the silence, and grinning widely, her sore shin already forgotten.

Patricia squeaked, turning red, and Virge closed her eyes, massaging the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her girlfriend’s hand reassuringly. Dee and Logan sighed in unison, unsurprised, and the two adults both pretended they hadn’t heard that. Regina, surprisingly, didn’t screech loudly, like she usually would. Instead, she turned back to her sister with a flat look.

“I hate you, so much.”  

Rena’s grin widened, wearing that statement with pride. “I know.”

Emily chose not to address what had just happened, instead turning to her daughter, squeezing her shoulder affectionately. “I’m gonna go, too,” She said. “I’ll pick you up in the morning, Honey, have a fun night!”

“Thanks, mom,” Virge responded.

Emily then turned to Octavia, walking up to her girlfriend and standing on her tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to her lips (Emily was quite short – Virginia had been taller than her for years – and Octavia was quite tall).

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Dear. I love you.”

Octavia smiled, leaning down to kiss the tip of Emily’s nose, eliciting a giggle from her girlfriend.

“Ew,” said Dee, breaking that bubble Emily and Octavia had found themselves in for that brief moment, where all they could see was each other. Her mother poked her shoulder with a chuckle.

“Bye, girls!” Emily said finally, waving cheerfully at them before she, too, left.

There were a few moments of silence, before they were broken, not by Rena, thankfully, but by Octavia.

“So, what pizza do you girls like?”

***

“Rena, truth or dare!”  

“Dare, duh!”

Patricia tapped her chin in thought; she was sat in her girlfriend’s lap on Dee’s living room floor, and the girls were all in a circle, playing some stereotypical party games.

“I dare you... to do a cartwheel!”

“Pfft, easy.” Rena leapt up and, with no spatial awareness, did a quick cartwheel in the middle of the circle.

She ended up kicking Regina in the face, and her sister screeched indignantly, falling back onto a startled Dee. Fortunately, Rena had socks on (they were neon green and black, and they were atrociously ugly). Unfortunately, this didn’t lessen Regina’s pain.

“I despise you.” Regina rubbed her cheek, glaring at Rena. “I’m going to stab you one day, don’t test me.”

“Psh, I’d just stab you back,” Rena retorted, not looking the least bit sorry. “Then what would happen? Checkmate, bitch.”

Regina somehow looked even more offended at that.

“Now, now, no more fighting,” Pat chided gently. “Be nice.”

Rena rolled her eyes. “Okay, mom.” She sat down between Logan and Regina, crossing her arms and practically pouting. There were a few moments of silence, before Virginia finally spoke up dryly.

“It’s your turn to ask.”

“Oh!” Rena lit up, and she looked around the room mischievously. “Hmm...” Her eyes finally landed on Virge again. “V, truth or dare!”  

“Truth.”

“Boo, you’re so boring!” Rena pulled a face. “Uh.... if you had to date anyone in this room other than Pat, who would you date?”

“Logan,” Virge answered immediately. Her arms were around Patricia’s waist, her chin on her shoulder. “She’s the only one I could stand being around that long.”

“Rude,” Rena said.

At the same time, Regina said, “Fair.”

Logan blinked a few times in surprise, her face turning slightly red. Patricia giggled quietly, and Virginia squeezed her lightly, shifting slightly so she could press a quick kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek.

“Regina, truth or dare?” Virge asked.

“Dare!”  

“Drink a glass of ketchup and milk.”

Regina immediately made a disgusted face, and Rena started cackling gleefully.

“I hate you. I hate you so so so so much, oh my gosh,” Regina said.

Dee sighed, standing up and dusting herself off. She then held out her hand and helped a reluctant Regina up. The two returned about a minute later, with a disgusting pink concoction.  

“Can I try some after you?” Rena asked excitedly.  

“Please, just take the whole thing.”

Virge raised her hand. “Nope, you gotta take at least a sip of it. That’s your dare, remember?” She paused for a moment, before continuing, smirking slightly. “Unless you’re too chicken.”

“Ha ha, so funny,” Regina said dryly, rolling her eyes. She then looked down into her glass, at the pinkish sludge.  

She took a deep breath, pinched her nose, and then lifted the glass, tipping back her head and swallowing a few mouthfuls of sludge before she gagged, covering her mouth and shoving the glass into Dee’s arms.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” She groaned, retching a few times, though thankfully she didn’t actually throw up, before she managed to calm herself down, to the relief of everyone else in the room – except, perhaps, Rena, who looked almost disappointed. “I need water, now.”

Patricia leapt up immediately. “I’ll get it!” She exclaimed, rushing off in the direction of the kitchen, despite the fact that this wasn’t her house and she therefore had no idea where the glasses were.

“I have got to try this,” Rena grinned, snatching the glass from Dee and downing its contents in one go. She, unsurprisingly, seemed unphased by the disgusting mixture, clicking her tongue a few times in thought. “It could use some more ketchup,” She decided.

Regina glared at her. “It most certainly could not.” She then turned and glared at Virginia. “I hate you, so very much. That was disgusting.”

Virginia shrugged. “My sister dared one of her friends to try it at a sleepover, and they did not react well. I couldn’t come up with another dare, so I used it.”

Patricia returned with two glasses of water, handing one to Regina, who began sipping it gratefully, and the other to Rena, who chugged that, too, in one go.  

Regina ended up heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth, to rid herself of that revolting flavour; she dragged her sister off with her, as her breath was smelling rather strongly of ketchup, and Regina would not stand for it. They returned a few minutes later, and Regina sat down on a pillow beside Logan, while Rena flopped down beside Dee.

“I am never choosing dare again,” Regina said dramatically. “That was the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

“Psh, you’re just weak,” Rena scoffed.

Regina stared at her sister for a few seconds, an odd glint in her eye, before she cleared her throat.

“Dee,” She said calmly. “Truth or Dare?”

Dee looked a little perturbed by the tone, but answered anyway. “Truth.” This was ironic, though none of them knew that.

“Do you have a crush on anyone?”

Dee and Rena both froze for a moment upon hearing that. Logan gave her best friend a worried look, while Patricia and Virge exchanged a short look. It was sometimes infuriating, being the only two people in the room aware that both sets of crushes were mutual, but Patricia had convinced her girlfriend not to speak up about it. If Regina and Logan, and Rena and Dee were meant to be, they’d figure things out. It wouldn’t be right to meddle.

“Yes,” Dee finally answered.

Rena’s eyes widened at that, though Dee didn’t notice, her eyes remaining firmly on Regina, and the sister clad in red and gold perked up.

“Ooh, who do you like?” Regina grinned. “Come on, spill.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Dee said smoothly, crossing her arms. “You only asked if I had a crush, not who it’s on. I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“Why don’t we watch a movie?” Patricia suddenly blurted out, breaking the tension. “How about some Disney?”

“Disney!” Regina exclaimed, immediately distracted from the prior conversation.

“Ooh! What about a horror movie? Something gorey with lots of blood and guts and murder!”

Patricia let out a squeak at that, and Dee delicately placed her hand on Rena’s shoulder.

“I think a horror movie would be too much from some of the present company. How about we all pick something... appropriate... and put the names in a hat and I’ll randomly choose one.”

“Boring...” Rena pouted, before sighing. “But fair.” She then perked up. “Let’s change into PJs first! My onesie’s the coolest, you guys have gotta see it.”

***

A few hours had passed. They’d pushed a couple mattresses onto the living room floor, so the girls could sleep on them or the couches, and made a pile of all the blankets and pillows that they could find (the only ones not there were the ones in Octavia’s room). There was popcorn all over the place, and discarded bowls of ice cream on every hard surface.  

The third chosen movie was now playing – Frozen, Regina’s choice – though the volume had been turned down (and subtitles turned on) when the first people started falling asleep.

Regina fell asleep first, at the very start of Frozen, curled up beside a flustered Logan, who was the next to go. They were now slumbering silently in the middle of a mattress, limbs entangled, which would be an entertaining thing to watch the consequences of in the morning.  

Patricia and Rena were the next to sleep, which was unfortunate, as both of them had started snoring almost immediately, which was rather loud, and was keeping both Dee and Virginia awake. Rena was lying on her back like a starfish on the other mattress, and Patricia was on one of the couches, her head in her girlfriend’s lap.

Dee was lying across the other sofa, and it wasn’t just the earth-shatteringly loud snoring keeping her awake.  

“Are you asleep?” Virginia mumbled, as she couldn’t quite see Dee’s face at that angle.

“Yes.”

Virge paused for a moment, before continuing. “Can I ask you something?” Dee didn’t answer, so she went ahead and asked her question. “Are you mad at your mom for not telling you about this whole ‘chosen ones’ thing?”

“No,” Dee lied.

[backpfeifenguy]

All in Your Head Chapter 5

After a few minutes, something occurred to Raven. “Why didn’t you just call Mento?”

“I need a psychic I can trust.”

“You don’t trust him? I thought he was a father figure or something.”

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. “And? Daddy issues are standard issue in our line of work. Besides,” he murmured, “he probably gave this bastard more to work with than anyone else.”

Raven couldn’t resist; it was rare for Beast Boy to talk so openly about his life before joining the Titans, and even rarer for him to talk about Mento. “Was he really that bad?”

“Worse,” Beast Boy replied, “trust me. He pretty much never talked to me except to make me feel like shit. Every day, he’d find some knew way that I’d disappointed him, some new reason why I wasn’t good enough, some new lecture about how the whole team was going to die because I wasn’t strong enough…” Raven could tell that this conversation was taking Beat Boy somewhere he probably shouldn’t be in his current state, and resolved to change the subject.

“You know, you actually remind me of Aziraphale a little.”

“Excuse me?”

“Aziraphale,” Raven replied simply, “from Good Omens. You remind me of him.”

“I remind you of him? Really?”

“You’re smarter than people give you credit for, and you’re good at being good.” Beast Boy snorted. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means you help people. You don’t have to think about it, you just help them.” Raven felt herself blushing slightly, but pressed on anyway. “You said the Beast is basically just your instincts, right?”

“That’s what it told me.”

“And everytime it’s come out, it’s tried to protect me,” Raven said with a faint grin, “your deepest instincts are to protect others. Face it Beast Boy; you’re a good person.”

No you’re not; you’re just a dog that got a few tricks whipped into it. Raven thinks that you’re a good person. She’s smarter than you. Ergo, she’s right, you’re a good person. “Thanks Raven, that means a lot to me.”

“Any time, Beast Boy.”

“I can confirm that you are indeed a good person.” An unfamiliar voice sounded from the corner of the room.

“I was wondering when you’d speak up,” Beast Boy replied calmly, “I’m guessing you’re the psychic that Robin called?”

A figure stepped forward; she had red hair and green skin, darker than Beast Boy’s. “How did you know?”

“What, like you made it hard?” Beast Boy scoffed. “I could smell you the instant you came in, through the wall I might add. Combined with your green skin and the fact that you smell like Martian Manhunter, I’m guessing you’re Miss Martian.”

“And he thinks he’s dumb.” Raven quipped, rolling her eyes. Because you are; having a good nose doesn’t make you smart.

“My name is M’gann M’orzz, but you can just call me Meghan. Now,” Meghan’s tone shifted from friendly and open to all business, “I’m told that you’ve got an uninvited guest in your head.”

After a quick explanation and a warning about the Beast, Meghan began her work. “I feel I should warn you, this may take a while; pinpointing the exact telepathic signature of the attack could takes hours, even days… No wait, I found it.” Her eyes narrowed. “Of course it’s him…”

Psimon’s plan was progressing nicely; Beast Boy hadn’t been seen in two weeks, the other titans were run ragged operating with an incomplete team, and best of all, they had no way to trace it back to him! All in all, he was starting to feel unstoppable. And that’s when his wall exploded.

A voice rang out from the smoke. “Hello Psimon.” Robin stepped forward.

“Heard you been messing with my little buddy’s head.” Cyborg growled, emerging from the smoke.

“That was an unwise choice of actions.” Starfire opined, the glow of her eyes contrasting with her calm tone.

“Very unwise.” Raven’s voice emerged from behind him.

“You think you’ve won?” Psimon sneered.

“Pretty much.” Best Boy stepped forward, looking unbearably smug.

“This isn’t a victory, this is just the start of negotiations.”

Beast Boy looked confused. “Negotiations?”

Psimon smirked. “You need me to get rid of the program I left in your grey matter, so you’ll have to give me what I want.” He’d hoped he wouldn’t need this contingency plan, but he’d settle for it anyway; extort his way to freedom, set the program to its dormant state for a few weeks, go into hiding and reactivate it. His plans would be delayed, but ultimately unchanged.

“No I don’t,” Beast Boy replied, “she already took care of it.”

“Who did?” Psimon demanded, taken aback.

“I did.” Miss Martian floated down through the ceiling.

“I surrender.” Psimon whimpered.

“I thought so.” Miss Martian smirked.

“So,” Beast Boy began growled as soon as Psimon had been restrained, “why did you do it?”

“To destroy the Titans, of course.”

“And you went after me?” Beast Boy shook his head. “Kind of a weird choice of target.” Don’t sell yourself short, boy.

“I didn’t go after anyone in particular,” Psimon responded airily. “The program simply attached itself to the most receptive mind.” He leered. “Doing the sad clown bit, are we? A little cliched.”

Robin narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”

“No,” Beast Boy sighed “I should explain, not him.” Everyone turned to face him. It’s time, boy. They need to know. “He didn’t put a voice in my head; he just took one that was already there and made it worse.” After a moment of hesitation, he continued. “It’s called intrusive thoughts. They’re a common symptom of depression and PTSD… both of which I have.”

“The program was meant to drive you to suicide!” Psimon hissed. “You would have died, and the program would jump ship onto whoever was most affected by your death. The Titans would have fallen like a line of dominoes!”

“Well, I guess I had a little more help than you expected.” You can say that again.

“What are you?” Psimon demanded. “What the hell are you?!”

Beast Boy leaned in close, so that only Psimon could hear him, and lowered his defences just enough to let his mind be read. “I’m a boy.” And a beast. “And stronger than you.”

Psimon was restrained and taken away by the police before long, and Miss Martian left shortly afterwards, pausing only to give everyone a quick psychic scan to make sure Psimon hadn’t messed with their heads. Before they could head home, Robin still had one very important job to handle. “Beast Boy, are… are you okay?”

For a second, it looked like Beast Boy was thinking of lying to him, but after a moment his shoulders sagged. “No. I’m not.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Another moment of silence. “Yes.”

Robin remembered his training for situations like this. “Would you rather wait until we get home first?” First rule of talking about trauma; make a safe space available. Somewhere private, comfortable and judgement-free.

Beast Boy looked grateful. “Yes.”

The atmosphere in the common room was tense; nobody felt comfortable saying anything, so they were all just waiting for Beast Boy to talk. “Okay, I guess I should start at the start; how much do you guys know about my life before the Titans?”

“Not much grass stain,” Cyborg replied. “You don’t talk about it much.”

“Okay,” Beast Boy sighed, “let’s take it from the top. My parents were biologists; Mark and Mary Logan. We were in Africa when I got my powers; the Upper Labumba region. They were researching a disease called sakutia.”

“The virus that turns animals green?” Cyborg asked.

“Yeah,” Beast Boy grinned ruefully, “and then I went and got bitten by a green monkey.”

“How’s that work?” Cyborg asked, severely confused. “Sakutia’s fatal in humans. One of the few diseases to have a 100% fatality rate. So how come you ain’t dead?”

“My parents were working on a cure, and when I got bit, they decided to test it out on me.” He chuckled sadly. “It’s not like it could have made things any worse. The cure was based on introducing animal DNA, since Sakutia only kills humans. It worked, but…” He gestured to his face. “There were some side effects.”

“So your parents saved your life and gave you your powers,” Robin muttered. “I always wondered.”

Beast Boy sighed. “And then they died. Went off a waterfall in their raft.” His eyes began to glisten with tears. “My mother saved my life that day, too. She told me to turn into a bird. If she hadn’t, I would have gone over with them.”

Cyborg couldn’t believe what he was hearing; had his little buddy really been keeping so much pain inside? “And that’s when you ended up with the Doom Patrol?”

“No,” Beast Boy replied, his expression taking on a haunted cast. “That’s when I ended up with Galtry.” And so he went on, outlining the abuse he suffered at the hands of Nicholas Galtry, his subsequent sale to Doctor Register, (he refused to say what happened in Register’s custody, except that it was ‘real bad’), his subsequent escape and homeless stint, followed by his capture by thieves who forced him to use his powers to help them rob houses, and finally, the Doom Patrol. “I basically just broke into their headquarters and refused to leave; after chasing me for six hours they gave up and let me stay.”

“Now tell them the rest.” Said Raven, her tone firm but not unkind.

Beast Boy looked at her for a moment and continued. “Things weren’t great with the Patrol either. Rita was great; she’s basically my mom now. Cliff and Larry seemed to like me too, but Mento…” Codename only for Mento; Cyborg could guess what that meant. “I don’t think that man ever praised me for anything. No matter what I did, it was never enough for him, and after a while, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I snuck out in the middle of the night, made my way to Jump City, met you guys and never looked back.”

It took Cyborg a moment to process everything he’d heard; all that misery in one little life. But once it had fully sunk in, he knew exactly what to do. “That’s it, I’m calling a group hug. Everybody bring it in, Beast Boy needs it.”

“Hey, come on Cy!” Beast Boy mumbled, blushing faintly. “You know Raven doesn’t do--” He was cut off when Raven wrapped her arms around him.

“I’ll make an exception this time.”

Robin stepped forward. “Me too,” he said, draping his arms over Beast Boy and Raven’s shoulders. “It’s an emergency.”

“Indeed,” Starfire agreed, flying in and hugging the cluster of titans. “You are in need of the group hug, friend Beast Boy.”

Cyborg chuckled as he encircled the other titans in a bear hug. “Sorry grass stain; you ain’t gettin’ out of this one.”

“Yeah,” Beast boy whispered, his voice hoarse. “Okay.”

“You’re keeping something from us.” The others had gone back to bed, albeit reluctantly, on the grounds that their being sleep deprived wouldn’t help anyone. The only ones still awake were Raven and Beast Boy.

“I am.” Beast Boy confirmed. “There’s a lot in my past, and I’m not ready to tell you everything.”

“Is it bad?” Raven demanded. “The thing you’re not telling us?”

“Real bad.” Beast Boy replied simply. “Maybe even the worst part.”

“And the intrusive thoughts?”

He shrugged. “They come and go.” Raven felt a flash of sadness in from Beast Boy, tinted with resignation.

“You’d better get some sleep,” Raven replied, her mind made up. “Because in the morning, I’m teaching you how to meditate.”

“Seriously? You’d do that for me?” This time she felt a burst of gratitude.

“Of course I would,” said Raven. “You’re my friend and I want to make sure you’re okay. Besides;”  She smirked. “If I teach you how to meditate, I might even get some peace and quiet every now and then.”

You’re green. Beast Boy opened his eyes; he hadn’t slept that well in weeks. Your ears are weird. It really was refreshing to only have to worry about his usual intrusive thoughts, which were a lot less frequent. And a lot more fucking lame. Apparently the Beast felt like being a little more vocal now, but that was fine. The Beast didn’t try to make him kill himself, the Beast was cool. Very cool. The important thing was that his mind was his own, he was back on active duty, and he had friends who cared about him. Your fangs scare people. Is that really the best you can do, little voice? Pathetic. And an incoming call from Jump City medium security prison, apparently.

“This better not be a dick pic.” Beast Boy muttered, accepting the call.

As it turned out, it was Control Freak. “Hey, uh… this is gonna sound weird but… are you okay man?”

“What the hell’s going on?” Beast Boy demanded.

“I just wanted to check up on you,” replied Control Freak. “Word is Psimon was pulling some weird stunt, trying to make you kill yourself.” He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Beast Boy sighed. “Control Freak, you’re a villain, in case you forgot. So why are you checking up on me?”

“Because,” Said control Freak after a moment. “The Titans wouldn’t be much fun without you.” He looked away for a second. “And you guys are kind of all I have.”

Beast Boy felt a strange sort of dread; the feeling that things were about to get really awkward, and there was nothing he could do about it. Any other day he would have considered ending the call, but he was in a ‘pay it forward’ kind of mood. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why do you feel like we’re all you’ve got?”

“Well, I was never really any good at making friends, and as for my father…” Well, isn’t that familiar?

“Dude, say no more,” said Beast Boy. “I know all about bad father figures.”

“You guys are kinda sorta... the only people I really interact with much.”

“Are telling me that all this time, you’ve been robbing people, wasting incredible technology, and, most recently, nearly killing me… because you were bored and lonely?!”

“I guess it does sound pretty stupid when you say it out loud.”

“You know what? I’m not even going to lay into you for that.” Beast Boy sighed. “Everyone makes mistakes. My big question is why it never occurred to you to be a hero.”

“What, like you guys?” Control Freak looked confused. “No way in hell that’d ever work!”

“Why not?” Beast Boy asked. “You’ve definitely got the tech for it.”

“I don’t really have what you’d call the superhero body.” Control Freak gestured to his considerable paunch.

“That’s what training’s for.”

“I’m a villain!”

“So was Ravager before she joined up with us. And let’s be real,” Beast Boy smirked. “She was a lot scarier than you.”

‘What if I’m not good enough?” Well, this is certainly familiar.

“Just try your best,” said Beast Boy. “If it’s not enough, at least you tried, and you can try again.” He grinned. “It’s not like you’d be getting your start against Slade!”

Control Freak looked pensive. “I guess it’s worth thinking about.”

“Look, if you’d like I could have a talk with Robin about it, maybe get things set up for when you get out.” He grinned, he hoped reassuringly. “In the meantime, start hitting the exercise yard, and be on your best behaviour. I’ll see what I can do for you on my end.”

Control Freak sagged with relief. “Thanks man; I owe you one.” Robin’s gonna flip his shit.

“So let me get this straight,” Robin began. “Control Freak’s decided to reform? And he wants to be a hero? And you believe him?!” Told you.

“Look dude, he opened up to me.” Beast Boy was trying his best to keep a level head, but he really didn’t need this. “We’re the closest thing he has to friends. Us. The guys who beat him up and hand him over to the police, and we’re all he’s got. I can’t turn my back on that.”

Robin sighed. “And if he’s lying?”

“Then he’s still Control Freak,” said Beast Boy. “We can handle him, no problem.”

“I’m with Beast Boy.” Everyone in the room turned to look at Raven. “If he really wants to redeem himself, I say we give him a chance.”

“Are you serious?” Robin demanded. “Am I the only one who remembers that Control Freak nearly killed Beast Boy?”

“And then he had a panic attack and made a medic.” Cyborg noted. “Right before he surrendered.”

“That’s three in favour.” Raven muttered.

Robin’s shoulders sagged. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do about getting him released into our custody. Maybe I can use Taskforce X to make a case. But if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. Cyborg, get to work on an emergency shutoff for his remote. And Beast Boy, get to work on a training schedule for him.” Robin winced. “Getting him into shape won’t be easy.”

“I’m afraid Beast Boy won’t be able to get started on that jut yet,” Raven interjected. “I need to teach him how to meditate.” She grinned very slightly. I like her. She would make a fine mate. With a sinking feeling and a faint blush, Beast Boy began to suspect that he might have just traded one dangerous voice in his head for another.

Author’s notes: Well, that’s it for this one! I’ve had fun writing it, tell me if you saw Psimon coming, and please, give me feedback! This is the first of a planned series, with the next part concerning Raven getting a boyfriend… who isn’t Beast Boy! Shock horror! That said, I’m not getting to work on that one until I get at least one review.

[st33d]

I’m not bored of RPGs

I would prefer to take my own screenshots but Steam has given me a big update queue and getting shots off of the Switch is a different kind of chore. Instead I will be using appropriate pictures of cats I found on shutterstock.com.

Pillars of Eternity 2

Almost all isometric computer roleplaying games are broken into islands. There is a campaign map operating like a vast sea, and within that sea one visits small places with a clearly marked border. Instanced dungeons where a poor laptop can muster a fireworks display for your heroes.

How refreshing that Pillars 2 leans into that. Islands within islands. Thematically a voyage across the sea, replete with sea shanties. I applaud the structure of this game. It is a delight to discover remote islands that hold illustrated text adventures in addition to the meat and potatoes combat.

And the combat really is meat and potatoes. You get to choose two professions, allowing really dumb combinations like my paladin who had to choose between summoning bats or tanking the front line. The benefit of all this is that you can find ways to entertain yourself if you get bored of all the murdering. I avoided the ship to ship combat as it is a weird mini game that I don’t like. You can largely do without it, and if you make enough allies during the main quest you can get to the final battle free of cannon balls or uninspiring melee.

The main story suffers from trying to have a connection to the first game. I really would have preferred to tackle this adventure without that baggage. When I go off the beaten track the game is a lot of fun. Fortunately the open sea has little in the way of tracks. It is a game weighed down by hubris and experiment but still manages to tread water in a sea of similar titles.

Tangledeep

This is a mostly classic roguelike. I say mostly because it has some very linear boss fights you’re forced to repeat, and it offsets the lack of a hunger clock by just dumping more monsters into a level. By “dump” I mean they’re just new things there without any logic or tactical threat.

However, Tangledeep has a lot of nonsense you can get up to: You can summon plant monsters. Multiclass into a soul drinking summoner. Plant trees. Keep pets. Visit bonus dungeons. Make food (mostly curry). There’s other stuff too, I just kinda lost track.

I got invested enough to come up with a specific build. One that would summon lots of monsters and teleport around the map with a combination of skills I’d pick up from two of the fighting professions. Eventually I died and I couldn’t imagine playing a different style of character. The new classes I was unlocking weren’t offering new pets or movement skills so I haven’t played since.

I enjoyed my time with Tangledeep a lot. Mining the powers from all the classes was a fun project to play out during the delve. Had I survived I’m sure I would have engaged with all the other features the game has. I want to say you should play the game without permadeath, because the structure doesn’t reward it. I think one should play their first game with permadeath on to get to grips with using skills, then turn it on to start a new game. Picking classes in the right order and taking only the skills you need. The game kind of expects you to do this by offering a tougher dungeon on future play-throughs. Some solid fun to be had here when you figure out what settings you should turn on and off. The developer has been kind enough to offer a lot of them.

Devil May Cry 5

Okay, it’s not an RPG but it’s really good. A pure expression of joy in videogame form. It dares me into thinking it’s gone too stupid, but then yes, yes I really do need to cut down this boss with two motorcycles, it’s the best tactical option.

I’m too old and slow for these sort of games and yet DMC5 encouraged me instead of frustrating me. From fans of the series I’ve heard it does its forebears credit. One can only hope that its creators have more games like this to share in the future.

Final Fantasy X

I’ve stopped at the Blitzball tutorial, I do not want to play this mini game. I don’t like any of the characters in this game either. It took The Witcher 3 about eight hours to win me over, which is kind of acceptable in a huge RPG. But I’m not even meeting NPCs that I like.

I’ll have to come back to this one.

Final Fantasy XII

Constraints do interesting things to games. In FF12 we have what wants to be an open world MMO type of game and it thinks it’s running on a Playstation 2. So the whole world is broken into islands.

Sounds like an isometric CRPG to me. It even leans into that constraint, creating strange geometries to navigate with a pace to encounters that you don’t really see in modern sandbox games. In an open world there must be empty spaces. To create immersion and to allow monsters to chase you for a reasonable distance before giving up. You need boring bits. FF12 removes those boring bits, creating a world that feels like a traditional dungeon on a massive scale.

Then it puts those boring bits right back in. All the way in.

FF12 is a real-time game. You assign commands and your heroes act them out. You can also set your heroes on auto pilot. The game lets you buy more specific commands from shops, allowing you to create an undying death machine out of your party. This starts out really fun. You unlock abilities on your character’s skill-tree-board-thing and continue to tinker with the death ball. But even though you’ve unlocked an ability, you have to first find it in the dungeon world. And some of the ways you find them are bullshit. Be prepared to walk in and out of an area to dice roll a boss fight into appearing (not a bug - that’s what you have to do). Be prepared to navigate a dungeon that has a 42 minute explanation on youtube (and it’s been edited). Be prepared to find Dispelga on route to a boss and only find Dispel after you looked it up on a wiki (it’s in the corner of a really easy dungeon that I already cleared). Unlocking abilities this way sets expectations. I know I’m missing something and I’ve paid to unlock it - I’m committed. As I got further into the game’s list of status effects and party buffs my frustration grew.

The story has a cast of amiable characters struggling against occupation by the Empire. It’s alright. I remember all their names but couldn’t honestly tell you how I got to where I am or what started it. In a game which is largely about exploration it works pretty well as a backdrop.

It’s a very unique game. A hybrid of MMO and isometric RPG made from the JRPG mindset. The modern ports of the game feature fast-forward buttons that apologise for the self-indulgences taken in its original form. It is a decent thirty hours of fun and a further ten hours of not much fun. I certainly recommend it to roleplaying game enthusiasts, but with caveats for completionists.

World of Final Fantasy

I experienced Pokemon Red on my then-desktop-PC whilst listening to the album Gran Turismo by The Cardigans. I couldn’t stand the high pitched beeps of the menu so I preferred to listen to the latest CD I had. The song Explode is burned into my mind next to stamping on a monster’s head and stuffing it into a ball. It’s not something you need to know, but I thought I’d tell you about it.

The conceit of why you are stuffing classic monsters from Final Fantasy games into balls prisms does not need explaining. Nor does one need to know why the two main characters help form two stacks of three creatures. Who cares why these stacks combine the powers of those within to create a hybrid JRPG avatar.

World of Final Fantasy cares. Oh boy does it care. There’s not a single button on my gamepad this isn’t getting away without two minutes of banter between the characters to explain it. Cutscene after cutscene rolls by. They often come in pairs so I pause and skip ahead just in case. Even after you complete a cutscene the characters lock out the controls and have a jolly good chat about what they’ve just seen. In its defence it lets you skip being waterboarded with the story and run the game at what feels like 1.5x speed. But there’s still a lot of busy work when it comes to skipping cutscenes. There’s loads of them.

I really like the combat. That is, I really like it when I have a monster that does the right colour damage for capturing a new monster. It’s a refreshing take on Pokemon that is utterly wasted on the Final Fantasy franchise, but I guess it needed the brand for this weird game to even exist. If you like the combat you found in Pokemon and want something with more nuance and challenge then you should pick it up and skip those cutscenes. If you need some story to wash it down with and don’t like a shockingly linear campaign map, then perhaps put it off for a while.

7DBL (7 Day Broughlike) Challenge

I’ve often been accused of making a Broughlike. To make a game that reminds you of Michael Brough’s work: A small grid with a turn based avatar that can cast spells. I’ve often refuted this because I tend to avoid having spells in my games. There’s just never a nice way to do the UI. Us iPad owners are fine, phone owners less so, desktop users get lots of keys to press, and hooray for gamepads if they aren’t awful for any type of menu.

Those more patient than I have stepped up to the challenge. Echoing the 7 Day Roguelike Challenge (7DRL, of which I am a yearly participant) developers across the globe attempted to make a small grid with a turn based avatar that cast spells. In 7 days. They also scheduled this challenge right before the gaming event called E3. Much like the 7DRL always gets scheduled before the gaming event called GDC. We can’t have a game jam making niche games and let reporters have time to talk about it. That wouldn’t be the done thing.

The results are above average. I say this coming from the 7DRL which is generally average, equal parts good and bad. The games produced in this jam are mostly good. There’s a few which clearly aren’t finished, and yet they show a great deal of promise. Even Brough himself submitted a game, one which is quite accessible and fun. Highlights for me included controlling a rather awkward squid that had to shoot in order to turn and a one dimensional roguelike that adds depth by throwing your weapons.

I hope they do it again next year.

My RPGs

I released my roguelite runner Bump 2 for the small audience that appreciates it. It’s one of those games that really appeals to a handful of people, and not to others in the slightest. In homage to my own select tastes and to unjinx my collection of unfinished projects, I resolved to make Bump 2 into its best form before walking away from it. And so I did.

I’m currently working on Kobold Dungeon Tester. This is my 4th (5th if you count Roomba Quest) interactive text project. I twice tried to write a novel in my youth and this project feel like a penance for my failures. Normally I would move on, satisfied the base idea works, like a puzzle, or a high score. A few kind words have convinced me that this one is different - it’s a story, it needs an ending. I shall try to finish it as best as I can.

[crewhonk]

turmoil (i)

might be a series if it gets well recieved? it’s an established relationship type thing, and it’s very much about YN and Steve dealing with their morals and their relationship. 

words: 3,900

an: this is a pretty slow chapter, mainly setting out the mood for the rest of it i guess? yn is an elementalw healing abilities

warnings: angst, swearing, death (civilian death)

When you walked into the kitchen in your shorts and one of Steve’s hoodies, you only expected to see a clean French press and a hot mug with your name on it. You didn’t expect to see the Secretary of Defence leaning against your counter in a three-piece Tom Ford Suit making small talk with Tony Stark. You froze in the doorway, and when Tony looked over at you and snorted at your appearance, you ducked around the corner to avoid the gaze of the Secretary.

You were running down the hall towards your and Steve’s bedroom when you almost ran into Vision using a door to walk towards the kitchen. You hit the Aliens chest as you failed to stop yourself in time and sacked your nose on his hard collarbone, making you bleed almost instantly.

“Oh my, I’m very sorry Miss Y/N. I would have stopped if I had heard you coming, but I was a bit preoccupied with conversation.” He explained, hovering slightly off of the ground and producing a handkerchief for you to staunch the flowing blood.

“Shit, It’s okay, Vis. You know— you should do some research on some classic Sarkovian foods— I’m sure Wanda would appreciate the effort.” You smiled up at him deviously and raised your eyebrows when he pointedly avoided eye contact with you. “I may not be psychic like one Scarlette Witch but I’m not oblivious.” You winked and handed him back the bloody cloth as your nose clicked itself into place and the blood stopped.

You poked your head into Wanda’s room and saw Steve in there with his arm wrapped tightly around Wanda’s shaking figure. She had always been the most nervous Avenger, and you knew that since the ‘Age of Ultron” (Tony liked to title their conquests) all she wanted to do was to right her wrongs. Her shaking (you assumed) was from the recent event in Lagos. It had been her first large mission, and she had been a part of a borderline 9/11 attack in the foreign city. You didn’t blame her, nor did you blame any of the Avengers, there was no way to avoid the deaths, but to have something like this take place on her first mission was near-traumatic.

“Hey.” You crooned softly, walking in and kneeling in front of the girl. She was only a few years younger than you, and you often found yourself curled up beside her while Steve was away and watching some dumb Netflix cartoon. She looked down at you from her place on Steve’s shoulder and shot a weak smile at you. “If it makes you feel better, I just ran into Mr. Seceratary in this,” you gestured to your outfit and she blew out an amused breath from her nose. “And I ran into Vision as he was leaving— literally broke my nose on his chest.” You laughed, reaching up to wipe a tear from her cheekbone.

“We all make mistakes— it’s how we learn from them that makes us who we are. For example, I’ll be more careful around hallways Vision may be near and I’ll change before I leave my bedroom.” You whispered. You felt the warmth of Steve’s gaze on your face and you patted his knee softly before getting up and leaving to change into something more comfortable.

This was going to be a shit show.

“Five years ago, I had a heart attack.” The Secretary began. He raised his hands behind his head as if he was golfing and looked up at everyone sitting around the dining room table. You were playing with the water in your glass subtly enough that he wouldn’t notice, but by the disapproving glares you were getting from Steve you assumed it was distracting him and stopped. “I dropped right int he middle of my backswing.” He brought his hands down. “Turns out it was the best round of my life because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass I found something that forty years in the army never taught me.” His gaze flicked quickly toward Wanda and you straightened up to attempt to block his vision of her. “Perspective.”

“The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us and risked your lives. And while many call you heroes, there are some who would prefer to use the word, vigilantes.” He sighed. You saw the weight that was resting on his shoulders and you rolled your eyes. Vigilantes. Sure.

“And what word would you use to describe us, Mr. Secretary?” Natasha asked as she leaned back in her chair and shot him an easy grin. His eyes flashed open at her question and he looked at her.

“How about dangerous. What would you call a group of US-based Enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned with that they leave behind.” You and Wanda flinched at the way he said ‘Enhanced’— as if it were a swear word and you ignored the concerned look directed at the both of you from Steve. You hadn’t chosen to be born like this, so why was every mutated human grouped under the same label.

The secretary stepped aside and allowed for a hologram map of the world. There were five or so golden dots around the world and your eyes narrowed in suspicion when the first one that opened was the original attack in 2012 on New York City. It showed various shots of the Hulk and Aliens tearing through buildings and making the debris fall on the streets— killing and wounding many civilians who were running for cover. You saw Rhodey close his eyes when the camera cut out. Ten thousand people had died that day.

“Washinton D.C.” The screen switched to the sight of a Helicarrier plunging into one of the lakes and reigning fire down upon the old headquarters of SHEILD. The end of the ship fell on the building and your eyelids fluttered as it came crashing down. Three thousand people died that day, and as the video once again cut out, you saw Sam and Steve scratch the back of their necks in discomfort.

“Sokovia.” The floating island had taken up the screen now, and you felt Wanda tense behind you. Bringing up that trauma unexpectedly had been a cold move, and you felt that hairs on the back of your neck stand up and bristle with rage at the guts he had. Tony’s fists clenched as he watched a building crash down to the ground and when they had shown you struggling to keep the rock afloat with your elemental powers, your eyes filled up with tears. You were just a civilian then, trying to work your way up in the United Nations by volunteering for Women’s Rights in second world countries. When the city began floating, however, you were unable to save as many people as you could have if you had embraced your powers earlier in your life rather than stuffing them down and trying to lead a normal life. You felt Wanda’s hand rest gently on your shoulder and you gripped it tightly— reassuringly. 20,000 people died that day, and the guilt of not being able to save more lives wrapped itself around your gut with an iron grip.

“Lagos.” The camera switched to another video of a building on fire— it hadn’t been as violent as the others, but when Wanda’s grip on your shoulder became almost painful you knew it was the biggest one for her. 500 reported deaths. “Okay, that’s enough,” Steve growled. He had been watching his two best girls struggling to watch the film the Secretary had brought and when he saw your chest shudder with grief and when he saw Wanda’s knuckles on your shoulder turn white he knew he had to put his foot down.

“For the last four years, you have acted with unlimited power and no supervision.” He barked, glaring at Steve. You opened your eyes and began focusing on the swirling water in your glass to help calm you down. Soon, the water began to bubble and the glass shattered, spilling water across the table. You stopped the water before it spilled on anyone's laps and made the water fill the Secretary’s own cup— glass and all. He looked down at the glass and up at you and when he saw the fire in your eyes his mustache bristled in contempt.

“That’s an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate.” He said, his voice almost shaking with frustration towards you, Natasha and Steve— you were making a fool of him.

“But I think we have a solution.” He took a binder from one of his escorts and dropped it on the table. The thick binder made a resounding bang on the mahogany table top and you flinched away from the noise. The man smirked and he pushed it towards you. You refused to meet his gaze and opened the pages. It was a binding agreement with the government.

“The Sokovia Accords.” He said, resting his hands on the table and leaning forward. You could smell the scent of a cigar on his death and you refrained from gagging. “Approved by 117 countries,” Rhodey held his hand out for the book and you gave it to him. The look in his eyes was almost mournfully reassuring and you shot him a very small smile with tears still resting in the inner corners of your eyes.

“It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they will operate under a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.” The Secretary began circling the table like a hawk and you felt his fiery gaze rest on you at the mention of the UN.

“The Avengers were formed to help make the world a safer place. I feel we’ve done that.” Steve’s voice rumbled through the room and you looked across the table at him. His jaw was tense, making the muscles int he corner of it tremble. His normally warm blue eyes were cold and angry, and his folded arms were tense— veins pulsing and knuckles white. In any other situation, you would have jumped his bones, but the precedes of such strict government personnel buried any amount of desire in a six-foot hole.

Mr. Secretary walked up to Steves chair and rested his hip against the arm. “Tell me, Captain. Do you know where Thor and Banner are?” He asked, his mustache covering the gloating smirk he had on his face. “If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton Nukes, you bet there would be consequences.”

You wanted to rip the old man’s dick off and shove it down his throat for disrespecting Steve, but Wanda’s shuddering body beside yours stopped you from making any more rash decisions.

“Compromise, Reassurance. That’s how the world works. Believe me,” He said, pointing to the open binder in front of Rhodes. “This is the middle ground.”

You decided that this was the time to clear your throat and speak up— you weren’t going to allow 30,000 dollars of university go to waste. “So, there are contingencies.” You leaned your elbows on the table and shifted in your seat so your back remained straight. Casual. Yet assertive.

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.” He responded, not bothering to even look over at you. “Talk it over.” He said, leaving the room while opening his phone and not even looking back.

The room he left remained silent for thirty seconds before the shit show truly began.

Steve and Tony had remained quiet and you had taken to pressing your leg against Wanda’s in some sort of physical comfort. You watched as Rhodey and Sam circled each other, growling arguments and shoving fingers of accusal at each other's chests. You rubbed your eyes with the palm of your heel and rested your cheek on your knuckles so you could watch Tony lay back with a hand over his face. He felt your gaze on him and you rolled your eyes at the argument in some attempt to make him smile. The corner of his lips teased in the most subtle way, but you knew he felt as if he had someone in his corner.

“— 177, Sam. And you’re all ‘no it’s cool, we got it’.” Rhodes barked while also mimicking his friends voice poorly.

“Well, how long are you gonna play both sides?” Sam sneered.

“I have an equation!” Vision interrupted, making Wanda perk up. You held back a smile at her actions because even int he time of a political turmoil the effects of complete adoration never seemed to waver. You felt the same way whenever Steve entered the room, and both of you worshipped the ground the other walked on. Love s love is love is love, you guessed.

You slid down to the floor and scooted over to lean against Steve’s knees. His hand almost immediately went to your hair and you could have purred at the feeling of his fingernails scraping your scalp.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark has declared himself as Iron Man, the number of known Enhanced persons has grown exponentially. On the other side, the number of possible world-ending events has also increased at a mimicking rate.”

Steve’s fingers stopped moving and you felt him lean forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. “You’re saying it’s our fault?”

“I’m saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom.” Mumbled Rhodes. He was stopped by a smack from Sam.

“Tony? Y/N? You’re both being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal.” Nat said. Steve leaned back and pulled the Accord book into his lap to continue reading.

“It’s because they’ve already made up their mind,” Steve grumbled, glaring at Tony but opening his legs to invite you to sink into his embrace. You did so tensely.

“Oh, you know me so well,” Tony grunted as he lifted himself off of his lounging chair and walked into the kitchenette to fill a glass with water. “Actually I’m nursing an electro-magnetic headache. That’s what’s goin’ on Cap. Just pain— it’s discomfort.” He leaned over the sink and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Who keeps putting the coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I renting a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” He complained, carrying the French press over to the oven on the island and glaring up at all of you. You sheepishly sunk further between Steve’s legs and mumbled a quick ‘sorry’ in response.

He threw his phone in the wicker fruit basket and an image of a man popped up in hologram form. You stared at his face for a long time before Tony pretended to finally notice it.

“Oh, that’s Charles Spencer, by the way.” He began. “He’s a great kid. Computer Engineering degree, three-point six GPA, had a floor level gig for an Intel plant for the fall. But first! He wanted to put a few miles on his soul before parking it behind a desk for the rest of his life and see the world, maybe be of service. Charlie didn’t want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale like I would have. He didn’t go to Paris or Amsterdam. No, he wanted to help build a school for the underprivileged. Guess where? Sokovia.” He yelled, slamming the palm of his hand against the marble countertop on a guilt-fuelled rage. You only closed your eyes to will away the tears. You had been doing the exact same thing Charlie had been doing only you had lived and he had not. The guilt that came hand in hand with being an Enhanced made bile rush up your throat. You swallowed it back down— this was Charlie and Tony’s moment, not your own.

“He wanted to make a difference, I suppose but we’ll never know because we dropped a building on him while we were kickin’ ass.” He snarled, volume trailing as he went on. “We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes I’m game. If we can’t accept boundaries, we are no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, if someone dies on your watch you don’t give up,” Steve said, throwing the binder on the ground.

“Who said we’re giving up?” Tony replied.

“We offer not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame—“

“Sorry, Steve— but that is dangerously arrogant.” Rhodes piped up from his spot standing behind Steve. “This is the United Nations we are dealing with. This isn’t the World Security Council, it’s not SHEILD, and it’s not Hydra.”

“No, but it’s run by people with agendas and agendas change.”

“That’s good!” Cried Tony. “I’m here because I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands and I shut it down.”

“And you chose to do that!” Steve gestured with his hand wildly behind you. “If we sign these documents, we are giving up our right to choose. What if this panel decides we should go somewhere we’re not needed? Better yet, what if they don’t send us somewhere we need to be?” He said, voice rising in irritation.

“Okay, Steve.” You piped up and leaned your head back against his hard thighs. He looked down at you and waiting for you to continue. “The United Nations aren’t a bunch of Authoritarian Monkeys. They’re very much willing to take our suggestions to heart. This isn’t some repeat of Romeo Delaire and Rwanda— they’ve reaped the consequences from that genocide and have learned from their mistakes. I’ve seen them in action multiple times and they are very much hands-on in the way they deal with things now. You do know that the peacekeeping mission in Latvia isn’t a peacekeeping mission, right?” You asked, waiting for him to react. He rolled his eyes at your words and a ball of frustration began to stew in your chest. You were sick of being brushed off by powerful men today.

“Wait, you literally just dumped a bunch of broken glass and water into the cup of the Secretary of Defence!” Sam cried, walking into your sight and staring at you aghast. You rolled your eyes.

“I don’t have to like him— he’s a misogynist slimeball and has minimal say in the decisions that the United Nation makes."

“Okay, then,” Steve said, cradling the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “But the safest hands are still our own.”

“If we don’t do this now, it will be done to us later. This is the choice thing you’re talking about.” Tony said, coming to your defense. He shot you a subtle wink and you nodded in recognition.  “And that won’t be pretty.”

“You’re saying they’ll come for me,” Wanda replied to Tony, her own voice completely monotonous.

“We won’t let that happen.” You and Vision said simultaneously. You would die before the government got their hands on Wanda against her own will. You would fight tooth and nail and bone for that girl.

“Maybe Tony is right?” Nat said nervously. “If we can keep one hand on the wheel then we’re still in control—“

“I cannot believe this is happening!” Screeched Sam, throwing his hand in the air before turning sharply towards Natasha and looking between you and her. “Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?”

“I’m just… I’m raiding the terrain.” She said raising her hands in surrender. “We have made some very public mistakes and we need to win their trust back.”

“Hold up. Rewind. I’m sorry did I just mishear you or did you just agree with me?” Tony said, looking at Natasha like she was holding the universe in her very palm.

“Oh, I want to take it back now.” She groaned.

“Ask your girlfriend what she thinks, huh Steve? Ask her.” Tony said, continuing to ride this high of support. You felt Steve tense, then and you covered your face with your cold hand in response to his words.

“Y/N? What do you think.” He whispered, not willing his voice any louder for fear of it wavering nervously. You stood up from his embrace and wiped your clammy hands on your jeans while you cleared your throat. You looked over the group of people and wanted to cry at the look Steve was giving you. It was one of total and utter betrayal and disappointment.

“I’m ahh—“ You began, coughing once more to rid the lump in your throat. “I’m gonna have to side with Tony on this one, Stevie.” You watched as he flinched and you closed your eyes in grief. “From what I know as a Political Science Major it’s that technically the Avengers are a glorified American terrorist group. We ignore borders. We kill thousands every year. We destroy countries economies and tourism businesses. We act on our own accord for no reason at all.” You said, staring at our feet. You heard Steve shoot up from his chair and step closer to you.

“Fucking, excuse me?” He growled, crossing his arms over his broad chest. You looked up at him and almost burst into tears at the look he was giving you. You straightened your back and pushed your shoulders back before pushing him out of your personal bubble and glaring back at him. If he could throw his relationships out of the window for his beliefs so could you.

“You heard me, Steve. I was in the United Nations for two years before I even thought about joining the Avengers. I was a part of something greater than myself because I wanted to make peace, not terrorize people wherever I went!” You said, voice raising past acceptable indoor volume.

“We make peace! We neutralize Hydra before they can destroy the world!” He shouted. His voice sent tremors into your very blood and your face flushed with an angry heat.

“You’re so dramatic! Hydra is barely a threat anymore, and we could have dealt with them so much better than we did in Lagos! We should have never brought Wanda along if we knew there were going to be explosives involved. You knew she wasn’t ready and not only did you put her and us in danger, but the entire city. Fuck, Steve! You’re killing thousands of people because of some dumb personal vendetta and I can’t stand for it anymore!” You screamed. You were both crying at this point, and you didn’t even notice Wanda fly from the room at your words. The others were watching the argument with bated breath— you had never fought or even raised your voices at the other, so this was new to everyone in the room.

Before he could even open up his mouth to retort, his phone binged. He glanced down at it and you saw his body almost slum when he read the message.

“I’ve got to go.” He mumbled, wiping his nose and leaving the room.

PART 2

[bryyo-data]

Diaries of a Pirate Hussar

Log Entry 1

Well, I've finished training and today they're gonna give me a beast. Also, I broke my personal records device. The one I stole off Captain Brules a cycle ago. Oh well, I'm missing it more than he ever did. Luckily I managed to get hold of a new one today- the respect you get as a rider is glorious! They'll just give you this stuff.

They've captured a new bunch of Korakk Beasts, all younglings fresh for training. I've gotta get mine into shape and then we'll be patrolling down by the jungle generator, I think. Supposedly it won't take long- they're loyal beasts, but dumb as shit. Dangerous, mind, but dumb. Kinda reminds me of Brules, now I think about it.

Log Entry 2

I met up with my beast yesterday. He's a weird looking thing. I mean, I haven't seen that many Korakks, but this one has this straggly look about him. And he just doesn't sit still. It's gonna take us the rest of the year to get the armour on him.

Wish I could say he took to me like the Velbop in that old story they used to tell us as youngsters. Nah, he threw a hissy fit when I tried to get near him and knocked my lance out of my hand. Could've been trampled. But I'll persevere. It'd be cowardly to back out now. This is my beast and I will tame him.

Log Entry 3

Beast taming is not going well. Somehow he managed to put a dent in the walls of his pen, because he was thrashing around so much and acting like an idiot. Then he sat in the corner and made whimpering noises all evening. It pisses me off because I saw Hussar 15 go off with her beast into the jungle, and she's only had it for ten days! It's not like I'm expecting instantaneous results here, but I can't even get the thing to sit still for five minutes so I can get on its stupid head.

Log Entry 4

Two week's worth of training finally paid off. I managed to get onto his head today. Then I sat myself down in what we like to call the driver's seat, and away I went! Flying through the sky because the freakish creature bucked me off. Then I was nearly trampled by it, and let me tell you, there's absolutely nothing fun about a Korakk running at you at high-speed while you're incapacitated on the floor.

Having been, ahem, rescued by a few of my colleagues, I set about putting a complaint in to command. Clearly there's something wrong with this one. With the amount of time we've spent on it, it should be as cooperative as the rest of them. I suspect Phazon madness, because you see more of that stuff growing around every day. Nearly stepped in a blob of it before- could've melted my leg off!

Log Entry 5

We had Commando 68 take a look at it, but the beast has been given the all-clear. He beat the thing pretty harshly into shape- it wasn't nice to watch. In fact, I feel a bit sorry for inflicting that on the stupid thing now. It looked awfully subdued afterward. I felt so bad that I went out and caught a Nightbarb for it- the normal ones, not those Phazon weirdo mutants. Seemed pleased enough.

Tomorrow they're going out to round up a couple more beasts, aiming to catch at least three of four of them if they can. I was gonna volunteer to help, but they want us to go mounted, and that probably ain't a good idea. Either I'll end up dead, or my beast will.

Log Entry 6

I've been sneaking rations to my beast. He's starting to look fatter, but that's okay because he was skinny to start with. Now he just looks normal.

It's fine, I can afford it. We're well paid in our position. It's a dangerous job handling Korakks, given their size and strength, so we're compensated. It takes someone like 68 to really know how to handle them- I still ain't too pleased with his methods, but he's the expert so I won't question it. But he's not handling my beast. I am, so from now on I'm handling things the way I want to.

Also, I decided on a name for him. I'm calling him Pod. It's short for "my brain is the size of a Wryl Bean Pod and I'm stupid" because he is.

Log Entry 7

Hussar 11 caught me sneaking Nightbarb wings to Pod and told me it was dangerous. Said I "wouldn't be the first to get devoured by my Korakk if I associate myself with food". I feel a bit bad stopping now because he always looks forward to them, but oh well. I prefer my head.

We rode around a bit today and he's actually taking a liking to me. Well, I hope so anyway, maybe it's just the snack thing. Maybe he's gonna toss me off and eat me. Hopefully not.

Log Entry 8

Today I'm confident enough to take Pod out on duty. We've had some worrying reports coming from the north and Command aren't risking anything. It sounds like the Federation are getting suspicious. I'm surprised they haven't turned up sooner if I'm honest, Norion's only, like, a planet away.

We're just trying to get the Phazite armour on Pod now. He's a bit hesitant, but I think if we- oh, bugger.

Log Entry 9

We got the armour on Pod. He took it off again. Commencing attempt two.

Log Entry 10

Great, Pod just inflicted a fatal wound on Hussar 18. They had to drag him off. Won't be seeing him again. Didn't like him much anyway, he was a- POD

Log Entry 11

Pod somehow got OVER the pen walls, found a few storage barrels, and is eating weapons fuel. I really don't wanna go near him because of the whole food-association thing... Man, his tongue's huge... I didn't even realise they were that big... Oh damn, those guys have weapons. They're gonna shoot Pod. I gotta do something.

Log Entry 12

So I managed to drag Pod away from the weapons fuel and somehow convinced my superiors that he's a really nice Korakk Beast and it won't happen again. He's actually an idiot and he's going to ruin my reputation, but I still feel bad about what 68 did and now we've bonded so I have to look out for him. We got out on duty within good enough time, and nothing interesting happened. Now I'm sitting on Pod's back while he paces up and down this stretch of path non-stop because he can't sit still for two minutes.

I guess his energy levels are a good thing?

We did spot a few of those reptiles who live on Bryyo, and I swear one of them was riding a Korakk too. But they vanished into thin air the moment we got up there. They like to lurk behind those giant thorn plants, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. At least I have Pod to protect me.

Log Entry 13

Pod caused a little bit more strife. He got into a fight with one of the other Korakks, and things got nasty. I mean, Korakks are nasty beasts anyway, so two of them locked in a deathmatch is brutal. Next thing you know there's Korakk blood-goo everywhere and claws waving wildly in the air. Me and the other Korakk's rider managed to get well out of the way in time, but we couldn't call the beasts off each other. Pod managed to rip the other one's tongue out and then was making jabs at its belly. That could've killed it.

Lucky a few aerotroopers showed up. They managed to distract Pod from the safety of above while we climbed away and the other terrified animal made a run for it. Luckier still, you can't reach a Korakk's stomach from above, and that's the vulnerable point. Those guys would've killed Pod for sure if they could.

Log Entry 14

Pod and I have been removed off duty due to disciplinary issues. Commando 68 isn't best pleased with my efforts. I guess he was right? And I was starting to think me and Pod were pretty tight.

There's been a couple more attacks on the jungle base by those lizards, and apparently the gel plant area is having major problems with them as well. At least our glorious Leader has sent a new Commander to help us sort them out while our technicians finish up the generator defences.

In the meantime, I dunno what I'm gonna do. I've been accused of being "too soft" which is just about the worst reputation-tarnisher a Pirate can get. Too soft means not ruthless enough for battle. Unable to battle means unable to serve the Pirate forces. If I get struck off, I'll be shipped back to Urtraghus and have my head put in a drone 'til the end of my days. I'd rather not.

Log Entry 15

Me and Pod have been sent to a quieter location down south. There's less for him to get angry at there, and so the both of us are safer, as is everyone else. We're basically just keeping the reptiles at bay from down here, but most of them are coming from the north anyway. It's not particularly entertaining.

I've been a bit stricter with Pod- haven't talked to him much, or picked bugs off the thorn bushes for him. I even jabbed him in the side at one point when he was misbehaving. He nearly threw me- won't be doing that again. I felt bad doing it, but security is paramount, and the only way he's gonna keep going is if he learns to behave himself.

Log Entry 16

Some of those Bryyonian lizards dared to get close to us today. I could tell Pod was on edge for a while, then suddenly one of the things lunged at his face. Couldn't get past his armour, but it was a shock. Needless to say, he dashed the thing to the ground and it was a pulp in seconds.

I signalled to a couple of the ground guards and they pretty much took care of the rest. A few more lizards jumped through the bushes but they were basically leaping into weapons fire. It almost feels like some sort of weird test. They can't be that intelligent, they're brutish and their planet's soaked in Phazon.

Pod wasn't too shaken by the assault, but he had taken a very small wound to his right leg. It must've been hurting him because he didn't move about too much afterward, which is uncharacteristic. He even let me clean it up afterwards. I don't know if he's forgiven me for the harsh treatment, but I'm gonna have to admit it- I'm not cut out for that. I'm too nice or whatever. From now on, it's bugs as often as I can catch them.

Log Entry 17

68 noted today that I've been working hard on Pod. I dunno what I've been doing that he's noticed, but he was pleased. Said the guards on the south end were impressed, partly because I managed to control Pod enough to prevent him from killing them too. I still think that was something to do with his leg, but oh well, I'll take the praise.

I know what I haven't been doing, and that is harsh treatment. You simply can't do that to them. They get annoyed, and you end up dead if you aren't careful. Treat 'em nice, and they love it. Today Pod followed me around while I was on foot, didn't ignore me, didn't try to eat me, just followed me around like a faithful Velbop. It was- dare I say this about my killer beast? It was adorable.

I hope nobody reads my diary.

Log Entry 18

Those lizards made a full-scale assault on us today. I was out towards the east near the generator with a couple of other Hussars, and suddenly we were surrounded by them. Some of them were huge, bulky things which turned invisible the minute you looked at them. The rest had these animals, Warp Hounds, which could teleport with them. Horrible things, they were. I saw a trio of hounds tear the limbs off someone's Korakk. The rider had a lucky quick death after that.

Pod handled it well- kept his stomach shielded, just like he was trained to do, and didn't falter once, even when one of those reptiles grabbed hold of his tongue. Korakks have sensitive tongues and it hurts to pull on 'em, but Pod managed to yank the reptile over and crush it. I also managed to coax him into spitting Phazon, which isn't something he generally likes to do because it burns his mouth on the way out. It worked well, though. Not exactly hypermode-PED levels of power, but I was impressed.

Near the end of the battle I got knocked off by one of those lizards' throwing weapons. I landed near the holobarrier, and the electric shock disabled all my limbs. Ruddy things. What amazed me was Pod stuck around and shielded me the whole time, standing over me to keep me from harm. At first I thought he was gonna trample me by accident, but I could tell he was being deliberately careful with where he put his feet.

After the battle, I was taken in for repairs, which is where I still am. Supposedly I'll be out tomorrow and back on duty. I'm a lucky one. About half the guards over there are lying dead in the mud now, plus two Korakks. Those lizards really know how to beat them.

Log Entry 19

I've come out of repairs and all my limbs are good to go. This is what happens when you don't evolve your own legs like most other species, you're transformed into a useless slug when the technology inevitably fails. Not even like I could crawl away with all the heavy metal stuck to me and pinning me down. But hey, I had Pod to look after me, and even if it did take a little coaxing for him to let the guards get to me, he did a good job.

Bad news from the north- the Hunter Samus Aran has made planetfall. And here we were thinking she was dead or something. She's never dead, she comes back faster than Lord Ridley. Well, bugger, we're dead.

Except we can't afford to be dead, because Command are insistent that we beat her this time. We have Phazon on our sides, and Phazon makes us stronger. Our Leader makes us stronger, with Phazon. Nothing's going to go wrong, okay?

Log Entry 20

Me and Pod have been reassigned again, this time to the way between the generator and the nearest viable landing site. It's a pretty vital path if the Hunter wants to get down to us, but Commando 68 is confident that we can handle it. Apparently you need a "wild, unpredictable beast" to take down something as dangerous as the Hunter. Apparently, to no surprise, a "wild, unpredictable beast" is how they're referring to Pod these days. No worries, I've got a handle on him.

I really hope the Hunter isn't gonna come down this way, if I'm honest. There's other ways to the generator, albeit longer ones- wouldn't it be ridiculous of her to place her ship so close to us? She's probably got the sense to make her way down from the cliff region instead. Maybe, maybe not.

Oh well, no good panicking about it now. I'm not a coward and I'm not disobeying orders. As much as I like Pod, his duty is the same as mine- we go in together, and if we die, we die. Whether we do or not, hopefully we'll stop the Hunter in the process.

At least it's a good spot down here, near the densest part of the jungle. There's bugs galore! I keep catching them out of the air and sneaking them to Pod. Tried a few myself, but they get stuck between my teeth. So I'll just give them to him for now. He seems pretty happy with himself.

That's a funny looking ship up there. Don't recognise that one. Maybe it's a Federation vessel, or the Hunter? I'd better investigate, I think I can see some rising smoke. Thought I heard a funny loud noise too. Didn't spook Pod, though. If I leave my records device up here, I hope nobody makes off with it, or there'll be hell to pay.

-- Records end here --

[phemonoi]

BTS A.R.M.Y: RULES TO KNOW IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE FANDOM

As you may have noticed, BTS are now having a huge time in America and a great impact in te world’s music industry. That has brought to them a big bunch of new stans. The A.R.M.Y family is growing huge, and if you are new to the fandom of course all of your unnies and oppas will welcome you with a smile. BUT there exist a bunch of rules and behaviors us, A.R.M.Y, need to follow if we want to keep up with the tag of «most loyal fandom» and the peace, order and good connivance.

Well, so let’s begin.

Rule #1: You WON’T start fights with other fandoms. Avoid fandom wars.

As you may notice, A.R.M.Ys have a delicate relationship with our EXO-Ls sisters. Most of us are tired of the ones in the fandoms that start fights. So PLEASE be careful with what you say. Praise all groups for their hard work. If you don’t come to like EXO or any other K-Pop group, you don’t have the right to express disapproval by insulting them or their fans. Be mature. Let’s show the K-Pop community that A.R.M.Y has grown up.

Rule #2: You WON’T call BTS kings or gods unironically.

BTS are a great group that has come too far by themselves. Yes, they tend to break stereotypes and be different, and yes, they may be one of the bests boybands out there. BUT that doesn’t make them any superior to other groups. What we want is to have a harmonious community, and avoid fandom wars. Fandom wars regularly begin when proud and egocentric stans call their groups the best in the industry. All groups are doing their best and have done their best. There is no king, no queen, no god or goddess of K-Pop. In a subjective point of view, BTS may be the bests for you, but just remember there exist variety of opinion in the community and you shouldn’t try to convince anyone of your own truth.

Rule #3: You are NOT going to compare the members.

BTS is a group that has been outstanding because of the unbelievably great relationship the members have, plus their humility and sincerity. They love each other as brothers and are a true example of brotherhood and team work. As well, us A.R.M.Y have to appreciate their hard work by equal. In this band, there is no rapper better than other, or singer better than other. They all have their talents and stand out for their own unique skills. I beg you to please don’t compare the members ever. Rule #3: Avoid talking about BTS everywhere. Some fandoms are tired of A.R.M.Y bringing up BTS in every topic. It’s not surprising since we are known for being loyal and passionate to our boys. However, this tends to tiren up other fandoms. Let’s say that right now the A.R.M.Y community doesn’t have a very honored title among the K-Pop stans because of that. Much of them hate the fandom and even hate our boys’ success because of the fandom itself. I know it sounds ridiculous. But let’s try to change it. If another group is in the highlights, let’s congratulate them and their fandom. Let’s not fall in haughtiness. Rule #4: Defend the boys. Up there I mentioned to avoid fandom wars. And yes, avoid them. BUT defend the boys in a good manner whenever you see someone insulting them or the fandom. If you are A.R.M.Y you’ll soon fall in love with the family, and as a strong family we protect each other. Actually, A.R.M.Y are known for being protective, so lets keep up on that. If you are having trouble defending the boys or the family to someone that is being missbehave and rude, call other A.R.M.Y to stand out in defence WITH GOOD MANNERS. Cease to fight with anyone who is being stubborn, better leave them in their own ignorance. Rule #5: STAN MUSIC, NOT JUST LOOKS.

BTS are a group well known for caring a lot more about their art than their visuals. If you want to be a true A.R.M.Y you should clearly listen to all their albums, the tracks they’ve developed outside the BigHit label, their mixes, read their translated lyrics, realize how poetic and beautiful their music is. If you gotta show off something about the boys, its their talent, trust me. Sure they are handsome and charismatic, but they are real for their music. Sure they may have called your attention at first glance because of their great looks, but know there is more about them than just pretty faces and expensive clothing. Rule #6: GET RID OF THE APPROPIATION SENSE. This is very important: your bias does not belong to you. It hasn’t happened yet, but if one of the boys ever decides to have a public relationship with whoever, you must not insult their partner or hate on them even if the jelousy is killing you. Realize how immature and ridiculous that is. Rule #7: Don’t take the ships too far. I know a lot of fans that get really obssessed with ships. It happens in every fandom. But please, remember that being too obvious about the ships can make the boys uncomfortable and also other stans. Don’t insult your fellow unnies and oppas if they happen to ship anything different from you. Don’t start ship wars in the fandom. Don’t make yourself any illusion that your ship may be canon, because by now we are not sure about the boys’ sexuality and we’ve only see their brotherly love side. They are adorable, I know, but don’t make yourself any wrong conception of what they really think about each other. Also, you will notice that in this fandom specially there is… hum… how can I say it… Poligamy? xD Kind of, there are tons of ships. Basically you can ship every member with every other member, even outside the group! You’ll find some crazy shippers, some multi-shippers (as me), and some rare species that only happen to ship one thing (I don’t have a clue of how they manage to stay loyal to their only ship omg). However, you can have fun with this, but just don’t take it to insanity. Please. Rule #8: Learn which kind of jokes may result offensive. I’m not going to lie, A.R.M.Y is a dope fandom. The best thing I love about this family is its humour sense. The jokes, the memes, the crack vids, its all fantastic. BUT as in everything, you need to know what is accepted and what is not. For example; don’t call Seokjin a princess. He doesn’t like being called that way, its disrespectful. Instead, why not call him a charming prince? or an egocentric bitch, I don’t know xD (Also realize that Seokjin is a very sarcastic person and he may seem arrogant if you can’t catch the joke, but he’s just very funny and his humour tends to be ironical. Just a little fact here) and also, don’t call Taehyung an alien. He doesn’t like that either, and I don’t want to talk to you about the scold you will receive from a V biased if they ever hear you call him an alien. I, myself, am an example of that. Don’t call him stupid or dumb either, he is not. Don’t call Yoongi lazy too often, if you do that sure there’ll be some Suga biased claiming to you he is not lazy at all (tho that may be a lie and we know it xD). Don’t EVER dare to say Namjoon or Hoseok are ugly. Ever. You’ll get hurt, trust me. I mean, I don’t even know why someone would joke about that, they are like the most beautiful creatures I’ve seen in my freaking life ???  I’ve been a long time on this fandom, and I think by now some very acceptable jokes that have always been funny are jokes about Jimin’s height and Jungkook’s bunny looks. However, these are jokes that the boys themselves started and tell, so we assume its correct if we use them. Whenever the boys end a joke, we stop making fun of it. Rule #9: Guide your new sisters and brothers into the fandom. Help people know well their new family. More important: get people interested in BTS! Show your friends the MV’s, tell them about the crazy theories and how charming and talented the boys are. As good A.R.M.Y our work is to help them gain recognition, and guiding new people to their concepts and music is a way to make it. 

Rule #10: Don’t be a koreaboo. We know Korea is a very interesting country and the mother of one of the greatest cultures, but a lot of people will find annoying and even racist if you get too obssessed with South Korean’s popular culture or Hallyu. I may have to admit that me myself was a koreaboo for a long time and have been sometimes. South Korea its fantastic and its media culture its very attractive, but know that there also exist other means of comsumption and markets around the world. Also, please, don’t create yourself a fetiche around asian people. That is racist. Control yourselves, fam. Don’t get me wrong; support the hallyu, but don’t take the obssession too far. Also, don’t trust the website named “koreaboo” because it’s bullshit. I think that’s it for now. Those are kind of the important points I think of. Thank you for reading this and please reblog! If you want to add anything please feel free to do it.

[thisisarealtagwhy]

Day 11: Backstory

Or, alternatively known as How Did His Life Come to This?

Summary:

Whitebeard hums, and extends his hand, “why don’t you join my crew Thatch, sail with me below the stars and into battle, and I will call you my son.”

He spluttered, when he was captured and then fighting the first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates, he hadn’t expected anything like this, ever. “Um-”

Thatch was not having a very fantastic day if you asked him this morning.

If anything, today was the worst day of his life.

Firstly, he had left his hidey hole on Sabaody to check the most recent bounties – he only hunted sometimes, when it was absolutely necessary.

He didn’t like to deprive people of their dreams but if he couldn’t feed himself then…

He had gone to work at the little restaurant as per usual, seeing as working there helped assuage some of his financial issues. And then, the little restaurant was attacked by some of the local pirates, and one of them had a pretty freaky devil fruit, and not to mention that the asshole knew how to look after himself.

Then, when the rest of the culinary masters attempted to fight back despite Thatch’s pleads for them to just get the fuck out of there, they were utterly annihilated.

Which had led to a third being killed in the battle, sliced and diced, shot repeatedly, beaten, the pirates didn’t leave much to the imagination. But what’s worse is that they strung up some of the chefs in front of a captive (when he says captive, he means captive) audience.

And whoever was left were carted off onto what Thatch presumed was their base of operations, the fact that these ‘pirates’ called themselves hardened sea-farers, which was pretty bullshit in his opinion.

Attacking only those who could not defend themselves and then make a living off of them, because that’s what was going to happen, he was probably going to either become their slave or be sold off to another human dealer and worse, sold to a Tenryuubito.

Not that they’d be bothered with a scarred chef, he bet they had plenty of professionals in the ‘holy land of Mariejois’.

He spat up a thick wad of blood, wincing, that probably wasn’t too healthy. Taking a cursory glance at the crude shackles hanging him to the stone wall of the filthy cell, he wondered how he would be getting out of this situation.

He wanted to at least save the other chefs, they’d shown kindness to him, he hunted bounties near them and cashed them in and worked double as a chef for them.

Whatever, he will get them out of this situation.

Cheeseface – he was named Cheeseface because of the nature of his mouldy akuma no mi – appeared between the bars of the 2 by 2 cell and sneered inwards at him, “Ah, m’lad, should ‘a heard how lou’ the lass screamed.”

“Leave them alone.” It was a worn-out sentence but he wouldn’t stop until they heeded his wish. “Please.”

“Nah, I reckon we gunna leave ya ‘til las’ so ya can hear all o’ their pretty lil’ screams.” He smiles again, a chessboard smile. “Ya chef’s need ta learn how ta holdja pears.” He cackled, delighted at the absolute hatred in Thatch’s eyes.

“Leave them alone!” He shouted again, kicking at the bars.

Cheeseface growled, grin disappearing. “Shut ya trap, should be glad we ain’t doin’ worse to ‘em. ‘sides, we’re movin’ ‘bout an hour, so. Cap’n’s gunna take on Whitebeard.”

His eyes bulged out of his head at the pure stupidity of the pirates. “The strongest man in the world? You’re going to take him on? You idiot! You’ll get us all killed!”

This time Cheeseface grabbed his leg and to Thatch’s horror a green mould began to creep up his leg. “Now you ain’t gunna last long, pity but it’ll be fun ta see ya rottin’ corpse when we’re the stronges’ crew.”

Thatch hung there in his chains, pompadour lying limp, why had it come to this?

Sighing he tried to haul himself up, wary of the mould on his leg, some were quite poisonous when inhaled and he wasn’t entirely sure which strain it was, so for the meantime he tried to keep his dignity even as he stripped off the pants to his ankles, hoping that leaving them there, pooling in between in his shoes would ensure that the mould would not harm him.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t had the mind to steal anything from his captives otherwise he would have been out of here much quicker.

Thatch wasn’t sure because there weren’t any windows but, an hour later, another pirate, this time with a leather mask wrapped around his eyes came around, keys jangling within his kimono. “Get up.” He said gruffly, unlocking the cell, taking a closer look he said. “Get your pants on.”

He looked forlornly at the pants but shrugged as he skilfully pulled them up with his feet and legs, trying his best to ignore the mould that was steadily creeping towards his upper body. Thatch complied again, lest the pirate think he not need his arms despite the protests from aforementioned limbs at the angle he was bending them.

“Try anything and I’ll run you through, got it?” He said, shifting a little so his katana was visible.

“Got it.”

Paying attention to what the man was holding, he noticed a pirate flag brooch on the crease of his kimono.

Rookie mistake, now he just had to keep the man distracted, Thatch allowed himself to be chained to the man, cuffs digging painfully into his skin.

“So, your boss is going to challenge the Whitebeard huh?” He said conversationally.

The pirate didn’t respond. “Well, personally I think he has a lot of guts, to think that such a weak captain would believe he had a smidgen of a chance against the Strongest Man Alive.”

His words rung through the stone hallway and the pirate stopped them both, fury palpable, he withdrew the gleaming katana from its sheath, placing it warningly against his back, but Thatch wasn’t stupid and he knew that it was preferable if he was alive right now.

“You lot must be really fucking dumb to think you can face him.”

Mask growled again and punched him square in the jaw, ignoring the ringing in his ears and the black spots dancing along his vision he did his part in egging Mask on by insulting the captain once more, this time when the pirate got in close enough, Thatch kicked him right where he-shall-not-name.

As Mask fell forward Thatch kneed his face, hearing a satisfying crunch and the warm feeling of blood pour through his mouldy pants.

He left Mask on the ground after carefully picking his locks, “Hmm.” Holding the unlocked chains in his hand he smirked and tied the man carefully up.

“Oi! Marron, hurry up!” Making a split decision that Thatch would come to love and hate later on in life, he quickly donned Mask’s clothing and dressed the other man, puffing the brown hair to somewhat resemble a pompadour he almost cried as he slashed his own.

“I’m coming!” He said gruffly, trying to sound annoyed.

He dragged the unconscious Mask behind him, despite how shitty the man actually was, he had quite good taste in clothing, he means, even the mask and gloves had a fur lining.

“What took so long?” Cheeseface asks and he growls out as menacingly as he can.

Thatch gazes up at the ship in mild disgust, it was the size of a gallion, floating in the breeze their jolly roger - a skull and crossbones being split by a double-edged axe.

“Stupid bastard thought he could fight.” Voice guttural it clearly fools the dumbass for Cheesface seemed to accept the explanation and gestured to one of the cages above the stone base of operations on the ship for him to place his ‘prisoner’.

Throwing in the man extra roughly to ensure that he wouldn’t be waking up on their journey, Thatch retreated into the bowels of the ship, he didn’t want to deal with the likes of these monkeys.

“How exactly am I going to get out of this one?” It was the million-dollar question.

After shifting through the rooms and coming across several unpleasant sights – heads, headless bodies, what kind of fluid is that? Couples going at it, torture chambers, he’d seen it all.

Finally he stumbled across what he assumed was Mask’s room and sighed with relief, inside were more masks.

And books, lots of them.

But photos too, lining the walls of the small room. He looked like he owned a, bandicoot?

Dumbass.

Flopping onto the bed without bothering to change Thatch slept despite being in the midst of enemy territory, he figured he was safe for now.

***

He definitely was not safe, judging by the way the ship had come alive in his absence, like tiny ants they searched the decks multiple times and the quarters, oh, and mask was outside of the cage, attended to by a doctor.

Oh well, he was relatively safe up in the crows nest, these pirates were pretty dull. He had somehow managed to slip past their defences and scale the crow's nest without anybody noticing, all he really had to do was remove the mask and they all thought he was somebody else just looking for land.

He had to plan for when the ship did arrive to wherever Whitebeard supposedly was, he could just be on his merry way but he had a feeling that the strongest man alive would not allow any survivors.

So that left plan 2, behead the captain when he tried to attack Whitebeard and ask to be a part of his crew.

Crude, but probably effective, Thatch had a vague idea about the powerhouses in the crew from the numerous bounties.

Marco the phoenix was just one of those.

Or there was a third option, just wait the whole thing out and watch them fight it out from the safety of the crow’s nest.

He sighed again, this whole thing had just been a mess from day one.

"Land aho!" He shouted down the pole to the crew when he did sight the island on the horizon.

Hopefully they wouldn't actually request him to descend when they did arrive. It was sometime later when his legs were truly cramped and the air was cold that they came to a stop.

He shook out of his short slumber and peered out at the assembled pirates, their captain was a hulking fellow and Thatch snorted at the sight of the double-bladed axe.

The Whitebeard pirates were on shore, a massive bonfire illuminating their faces in a garish light. 

Without hesitation the slightest bit of hesitation, the crew jump out of the ship along ropes and ladders into the water, wading into shore.

But, as the stupid pirates were distracted he shimmied down the crow’s nest and stealthily slipped past the singular guard on the ship patrolling, he still had the keys from Mask and he was going to free the chefs.

Keys jangling more than he liked he wandered around the deck, pulling the guard into a sleeper hold and gently setting him down in the empty cage.

“Sedrid! Is that you?” One of the chefs asks through his split lips.

“Shh! We can’t let them know that I’m here.” He whispers, wincing at the use of his false name but, regardless, he holds up the keys for the chefs.

“Thank you, bless you.” The chef says, bringing his hands together as if he is praying for him.

As soon as the chefs were all free Thatch hunts for one of the little life-boats he noticed before up in the crow’s nest.

In a joint effort, they carefully drop three of the ships into the water and drop into them, they ensure that they’re still anchored to the shore.

“Okay, we’re still in paradise so I’d say that you can make it to Sabaody on these, here, you just have to follow this log-pose and you’ll make it back.” Thatch says, tossing it to the head chef.

“Paradise?” The chef looked confused at the terminology of the weathered ex-pirate.

“Yeah, you know of the second half of the grand line? It makes the first half look like paradise.” He explained quickly, ushering them into the life boats.

The chefs looked at him dumb-struck, but Thatch was done explaining, looking over to the pirates he noticed that they still hadn’t attacked Whitebeard yet, probably too cocky to do so yet.

He should have figured that the idiots believed that their captain would be the one because he was big.

He unties the lifeboats, severing them for life and tosses them out to see. He desperately hopes that they would all survive the journey. “Thanks for everything you did for me.”

They smiled collectively through their split lips, unhinged jaws and various other injuries sustained as a result of torture.

He felt another twinge of regret at the reduced numbers and the numerous injuries but he supposes it cannot be helped.

Thatch returned to the crow’s nest, he was here to ensure that they got a large enough head-start on the other pirates, hopefully the pirates would put up a bit of a fight up. 

Thatch could see that the Whitebeard pirates were in a party of full swing, the Strongest Man Alive was sitting on a throne (chair) and sipping the blood of his enemies – okay maybe that was melodramatic but sake was boring.

Bozo – because he looked like a boulder and was dumb – stepped forward.

Thatch silently watched, withdrawing his (well it was now) katana as the pirates eagerly crowded around the ‘surprised’ party of troops.

“Whitebeard! I’ve come for your head.” Bozo cajoled, his crew whooping around him in anticipation.

But Whitebeard only said. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something kid?”

Thatch wasn’t sure what was funnier, the blatant dismissal, the ‘kid’ part or maybe the growing anger on Bozo’s face.

Bozo swung his ‘mighty’ axe, but it wasn’t Whitebeard that intercepted the blade, no, Thatch recognised the world renowned ‘Flower Sword’ Vista.

“Sorry lad, but Pops is drinking right now, you’ll have to come back later if you want to challenge him.”

Bozo spluttered. “Do you know who I am?”

“No, and unfortunately I don’t care.” Vista retorted, gracefully swinging the axe away from him.

With another flick of the wrists, Bozo was sent flying backwards, landing on his arse causing Thatch to erupt in laughter.

“Idiot couldn’t even see what hit him.”

Finally, the pirates cried their battle cry and leapt forward, pistols and swords drawn, this entire process has been a mockery and they were clearly done playing games.

It was just a pity that they were completely and utterly slaughtered, destroyed by even the smallest of the Whitebeard pirates.

As far as Thatch knew, Bozo and Cheeseface were the only two that were decent at using haki, they could use armament but clearly hadn’t bothered to learn kenbunshoku.

Finally, Whitebeard stood, sighing and oh my god he was so much taller and bigger and musclier then what Thatch had anticipated. Whitebeard glares at the remaining men, and with a singular punch he brings down the entirety of the cockiness the pirates had.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit he’s screwed.

Any thoughts of trying to attack the already beaten pirates escapes his head and he sits down, legs shaking at the sight of power.

And then the Strongest Man raises his glare to the ship and finally withdraws the bisento laying at his side, with a swing of the blade the air seems to crack around him and before Thatch can yell at himself, he’s jumping out of the crow’s nest and into the icy sea.

The ship falls apart like it was made of cardboard in the icy embrace of the sea.

“Oh shit, oh shit.” He murmurs repeatedly as he tries to stealthily sneak away, but where could he go? The village is further inland and now that Thatch is getting closer, he can tell that the village is being protected by the Whitebeard pirates, judging from the enormous flag flapping in the wind.

He’s obviously not as stealthy as he thinks he is because he feels rather than hears the phoenix swoop down to where he’s crawling.

“Having fun down there?” Marco the Phoenix asks dryly.

“Yes, quite, would you mind if I just crawled to the village?” He asks, despite already knowing the answer.

“Sorry kid.”

As soon as the Phoenix reaches for him, Thatch swings the katana wildly, cleaving straight through the blue-bell flamed wings.

To his dread, it simply grows back as if nothing had happened. “A+ for effort kid.”

Scowling Thatch turns the blade black under his willpower. “Just let me go and nobody needs to get hurt.”

The Phoenix grins, “So you know haki? That’ll make this a little more interesting.”

Birdbrain swings his clawed foot at Thatch and then it begins, parrying back and forth with his claws and beak, Marco flies upward, before swooping back down, Thatch rolls out of the way lest he becomes a pancake and slices Marco’s neck.

Marco allows the swing and to his utter horror, the sliced neck grows anew, destroying his theory that haki would be effective.

It only seems to piss him off.

Marco leaps, turning half-human as to withdraw his own short sword, slicing at the air where his pompadour once was.

Thatch returns the blow, hitting the sword, each lean into the blow, attempting to gain some leverage on the other.

“So, Marco,” Thatch begins conversationally, flipping backwards out of the hold and shooting forward like a rocket, “how did you become a hearty dog of the sea?”

The Phoenix, to his credit, replies as he slashes with three of his limbs, “Whitebeard picked me up after I escaped my captors.”

“Huh,” panting a little, Thatch kicks sand into his face and sweeps his now human feet out from under him, the Phoenix soars up again, circling him.

Divebombing him for the second time the Phoenix says, “Can I ask what your name is? It only seems appropriate since, I’m, fighting, you.”

Each word is punctuated with a slash from one of his limbs.

Leaping through the kicks he replies. “The name’s Thatch.”

“Nice name, kid.” The phoenix leaps into the inky sky for the third time of the fight.

Dropping down again, Thatch brings his katana back but as Marco thrusts his own blade outwards a loud voice rings towards their fight. “Are you two done?”

Thatch turns in dread to face the sight of the Strongest Man Alive staring at them both imposingly, the blow that he was expecting never comes and he turns, gobsmacked to see the phoenix returning to human form and sheathing the short blade.

“Good fight kid.” He’s 21 dammit.

“Guarara! You don’t seem to be part of that miserable crew.” He observes.

Still too stunned to run he replies in a daze, “My fellow chefs and I were captured-”

“We’ve been needing a head chef, haven’t we Pops?” Marco says, side-eyeing his captain.

“Mm.” Whitebeard hums, switching his bisento to the other hand he extends his free hand, “why don’t you join my crew Thatch, sail with me below the stars and into battle, and I will call you my son.”

He spluttered, when he was captured and then fighting the first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates, he hadn’t expected anything like this, ever. “Um-”

His indecision melts away at the soft look in the sea farer, it had been so long since he had seen such a look, it had been dulled away by the years on his own. “Yes, Pops.” The Pops was a second thought but judging by the look of joy in the mans crinkled eyes, it was the right thing to say.

Marco grins. “Welcome aboard, Thatch.”

The next few hours are a blur as he works through the numerous Whitebeard pirates who he will probably never remember the names of, ever. He meets the commanders who welcome him in open arms.

Then he’s thrust to the cooks who sigh in relief when he takes charge and directs them to their separate chores, don’t get him wrong, they were insanely good and were able to cook for the sheer amount of people on the ship, but, they were never really trained to be head chefs.

And he settles into life with the Whitebeard pirates because it is the family he never had.