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raveneira · 4 years ago

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Alright this extends from a twitter discussion, this is my counter argument to this post right here that they referenced, now this is my rebuttal.

You accepted that Ashura has reincarnated inside of you, instead of accepted that Ashura has reincarnated as you…. This makes me think that Ashura is just clinging to Naruto and isn’t actually him… Cause when people reincarnate they reincarnate as someone or something else, not inside of them, that’s more like a possession…

First off thats not how reincarnation works, several times in this post they make the argument that in order to be a true reincarnation that the two people have to be one and the same, this couldnt be further from the truth though.

Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration is the philosophical or religious belief that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death

In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the soul is seen as immortal and the only thing that becomes perishable is the body. Upon death, the soul becomes transmigrated into a new infant (or animal) to live again. The term transmigration means passing of soul from another body to another after-death.

THIS is how reincarnation works.

The body itself is not that of Ashura, but of Naruto, but Ashura’s SOUL is INSIDE Naruto’s body. They may have the same soul, but the new body functions largely as its own individual.

Take Inuyasha for example, Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyo, she has no memories of Kikyo’s but she inherited her spiritual powers and affinity with a bow and also her love for Inuyasha. Kagome and Kikyo are separate individuals yes, but she still has Kikyo’s soul and her powers by extension. The same applies to Naruto, he and Ashura are different people yes, but he still has Ashura’s SOUL and as such his power, he also inherited his love for his brother Indra which was passed down to Hashirama for Madara, and then Naruto for Sasuke.

To clarify YES Kagome grew to love Inuyasha through her own experiences for her own reasoning, and Naruto grew to love Sasuke like a brother through his own experiences and for his own reasoning. But this was both DESTINED and FATED to happen because of who they were, or more specifically who they are inside. It was inevitable.

The individuals may be different, but as reincarnations they still inherited their past lives powers and bonds/feelings towards the person who was most precious to them before dying. In Kikyo’s case it was her strong love for Inuyasha passed on to Kagome, and in Ashura’s case it was his strong love for his brother Indra and desire to save him passed down to Naruto.

When Hashirama and Madara died, the transmigration cycle resumed. Naruto Uzumaki became the next inheritor of Asura's chakra and will, with Sasuke Uchiha inheriting Indra's chakra and will.

This is from the Naruto wiki, but it is still an accurate description of what reincarnation is in Naruto, the transmigration of someones soul into another persons body, which is exactly what Hagoromo says happened with Naruto and Sasuke.

It’s important to note Naruto is the only one who refers to it as being haunted by a ghost and possession, Hagoromo specifically says in EVERY instance that Naruto and Sasuke are reincarnations and that Ashura and Indra have reincarnated inside them, so to use Naruto’s words here as evidence is inaccurate, because Hagoromo specifically says reincarnation, not possession.

In Hagoromo’s own character file refers to it as the transmigration of souls walking through an eternity of samara, making the argument of possession null and void.

Saṃsāra is a Sanskrit word that means "world". It is also the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental belief of most Indian religions. In short, it is the cycle of death and rebirth. Saṃsāra is sometimes referred to with terms or phrases such as transmigration, karmic cycle, reincarnation, and "cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence"

So this statement right here ^ is thoroughly debunked.

The definition of reincarnation and possession is vastly different with how they function and honestly disproves your own point of them being different people, because in order to be possessed you have to be CONTROLED by another entity which Naruto and Sasuke are not.

To possess is to take control over, if Indra and Ashura took control over them and have been in control their whole lives that means two twin brothers consciously developed romantic feelings for eachother by your logic, which is even worse than them just being reincarnations.

Possession is a term more accurate for Edo Tensei or Karma, not reincarnation.

So what am I getting at here? Reincarnation in Naruto doesnt mean being considered the same person as the deceased, it just means you have their soul, it DOES NOT MEAN Naruto is Ashura, he still has his own identity, but part of that identity is influenced by Ashura.

Hagoromo actually refers to it in several ways but they all essentially have the same meaning.

‘Ashura’s chakra is clinging about you’

‘Ashura’s presence inside you’

‘Ashura has reincarnated as you’

‘Ashura has reincarnated inside you’.

All different phrases, but carry the same meaning, Ashura’s soul reincarnated inside of Naruto, and Indra’s soul reincarnated inside Sasuke.

Your putting too much emphasis on the wording rather than the meaning.

Ashura clearly influenced Naruto in many ways despite them being separate people, by having the same soul its only natural that Naruto would inherit many of Ashura’s traits. Hagoromo himself points out how much like Ashura he is.

So their not really that different after all. Ashura’s soul still had alot of influence on Naruto’s beliefs, personality, and ideals as well as his strong bond with Sasuke. Naruto may have reached those conclusions in his own way through his own experiences but the result remained the same as Ashura’s due to his influence from inside him.

However although their not the same person physically, I think its important to note they are the same person spiritually. They still have their own unique chakra signatures that can be distinguished by certain ocular jutsu’s, but they are still overall the same spiritually with the same soul and chakra.

Naruto Uzumaki became the next inheritor of Asura's chakra and will, with Sasuke Uchiha inheriting Indra's chakra and will.

Again this is from the wiki, but it still accurately depicts what happened. They are different people, but they still inherited Indra and Ashura’s will from having their souls inside them.

Dont misunderstand, Naruto and Sasuke still have their own wills too and not all of their decisions and feelings extend from Indra and Ashura, Im just saying that they had an INFLUENCE on them in several aspects of their lives, but they still formed their own bonds and relationships through their own life experiences. Zetsu even comments on how Naruto and Sasuke are cooperating closely together more than any other reincarnate before them, proving they are still their own person capable of doing things their own way.

The fact that Naruto was able to succeed where Hashirama and Ashura failed is also proof of their individuality, but that was also predestined to happen.

Ultimately, Naruto managed to succeed in Asura's final goal which all other reincarnations failed at: end the rift between the two lines of the reincarnated brothers. Naruto achieved this after defeating Sasuke, who then finally accepted Naruto's ideals.

Everything I said for Naruto applies to Sasuke so I dont really need to reiterate it.

Onto the next point.

My point is that Indra and Ashura clung to people of their bloodline that was a lot like them, in terms of personality or ambitions, and thereby were reincarnated… So Naruto and Sasuke aren’t brothers and instead are just possessed by brothers..

This is impossible, because Indra and Ashura didnt possess Naruto and Sasuke like I said, but reincarnated inside them not long after they were born once both previous reincarnates were dead, meaning Indra and Ashura had NO idea what Naruto and Sasuke’s personalities or ambitions would be later in life. Their not psychic, they cant see the future so this argument is invalid.

They simply reincarnated inside Naruto and Sasuke because they were newborns and Hashirama was already dead, so all that was needed was for Madara to die which didnt happen till years later when Naruto and Sasuke were born. Once Sasuke was born Indra reincarnated into him, and when Naruto was born Ashura reincarnated into him. Naruto and Sasuke just happened to be born at the right time, there was nothing more to it than that.

So now that we’re done with the reincarnation counter argument, now for why NaruSasu is problematic because of it and yes, they are in fact brothers.

For starters going off what I said about reincarnation alone already makes things problematic, infact it is the MAIN reason its problematic. Just because Naruto and Sasuke arent literally Indra and Ashura doesnt change the fact that they have their SOULS, meaning they are literally SOUL brothers, do you really not see the problem with two guys who were TWIN brothers in their past lives to be romantically involved? come on now.

Here he says that he and Sasuke aren’t true brothers, which means that they’re not actually related despite being reincarnated from brothers.. Which again, to my knowledge, if you’re reincarnated from brothers you’d still be brothers… But he says that they’re not…

This is flawed on so many levels, as I’ve already explained how reincarnation works in both Naruto and Japanese beliefs they are SOUL brothers. If your soul was reincarnated into a new body, and your brother or sisters soul was reincarnated into another body, would you want your reincarnates in a romantic relationship with eachother? I know I wouldnt, because as shown in Naruto Indra and Ashura are still very much conscious inside them, which means they are AWARE of whats happening, they just dont have control over them.

Even if they WERENT conscious its irrelevant, because the core issue is that they are THERE and they are BROTHERS, this is not incest in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense this is very much an incetuous ship as they share both body and soul, that is still VERY problematic because they are STILL brothers, not by blood, but by soul.

While Naruto does say that he sees Sasuke as a brother several times, it doesn’t seem like that at all… To me it seems more like a crush that he doesn’t realize he has, or a crush he isn’t ready to believe he has…

Thats all speculation and how you choose to perceive things, but there is beyond enough evidence that proves it wrong which I’ll go more in depth in another post I’ll link back to here. But honestly theres not only tons of evidence that proves it wrong, theres literally nothing anywhere in canon that suggests romantic feelings between them in the first place. Thats a fact not an opinion.

Want my more condensed version of why NaruSasu are brothers refer to my twitter thread here

But just to add one of my points here, which is the other biggest reason NaruSasu is problematic, is that they are ACTUAL brothers.

I know right? I just said their not Indra and Ashura and are their own person how are they brothers? simple, thats true only for the show, however theres one other key factor that makes any argument you try to pull from the show for WHY their not brothers null and void. Which is that they are brothers by DESIGN.

Unfortunately the link is no longer available but this persons summary is pretty much what Kishimoto said. And the one above it is an actual sceenshot from when the site was still up.

From the beginning they were modeled after two real life brothers, Kishimoto and his twin brother Seishi, that was always the INTENT when making Naruto and Sasuke’s bond, so regardless of if their brothers by blood, by soul, or by bond, they are brothers by design, theres not a single argument you can come up with that’ll change that.

So in conclusion, yes, Sasuke and Naruto are real brothers by design, so for some people to call it incest is not far from the truth, because to ship Naruto and Sasuke your essentially shipping Kishimoto and his Twin brother.

I didnt wanna make this too long, so I focused on just the reincarnation aspect as that was the main point of the argument, and saved the other stuff about their relationship for another post so there wouldnt have to be a ton of scrolling on one post. But honestly? I think this post sums it up pretty well on WHY shipping this is problematic, you dont HAVE to stop shipping it if you dont want to, Im just pointing out why saying they are not brothers is factually incorrect.

#anti-narusasu #naruto fandom

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whatudottu · 4 years ago

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Coming from the Ben 10 Breakdowns, Zs’Skayr really had no true explained motivations on taking over the Earth. In fact, his canon motivations for WILLINGLY (i.e. possessing a Florauna) being sampled for the Omnitrix is completely unexplained, too!

Like… you’re literally the Ectolord?

…Why are you like… shirking your responsibilities???

ANYWAY! I’m here to talk about Zs’Skayr and how he’s motivated in the Area 51 au. Zs’Skayr 51 if you will.

Now, let’s first talk about why Zs’Skayr is out of town and now stuck in the watch instead of running shop as High Ectolord. You could say that he’s flunking, something f-ed happened on planet or responsibility isn’t his thing, but I think culturally Ectonurites probably have a… hrmm. Maybe not an innate sense of community, but perhaps are better at working together than apart, which reflects their own biology.

Sure, Humans work better when our bodies aren’t strewn about the room, but Ectonurites seem to commonly face being split apart. At least enough to the point where a single strand of DNA continues to carry a consciousness.

I’m not even going to begin to explain how that works, for I get too confused when actively thinking about it.

But the point here is, Zs’Skayr is still probably a committed Ectolord, though something seems to have pushed him out. Out so far as he’s not in Kansas The Anur System anymore. Pushed out so far because the local system can’t provide what Ectonurites need.

Now, the specifics are blurry, but I’d like to say that there’s some sort of uh… death plague striking Ectonurites. Could be a disease or virus type thing, or maybe some widespread genetic damage that’s tearing them apart from the inside out.

The sense of community within the Anur System did make reaching out a whole lot easier, Zs’Skayr knew this from the liberation of the Transylians, but even with direct sources on Ectonurite biology, inside help wasn’t doing much. In fact, the best the Anur System was at working together was facing against a common foe, and since there’s nothing to fight well…

Zs’Skayr was a little desperate.

It probably wasn’t his best decision going at it himself, but he did anoint people he trusted to take care of his civilians. He went at it alone to be ‘the sacrifice’ instead of sending others to die, but that didn’t stop his closest allies (Viktor and the unnamed Loboan and Thep Khufan) from trying to keep in contact.

When contacted ceased, needless to say things grew tense.

Over on Zs’Skayr’s perspective, he in his journeys heard rumours of the Omnitrix, but in concept only. The rumours talked about a ‘Noah’s Ark’ (obviously not the same phrase because aliens aren’t Christians) device, and that DNA from across the galaxy is being collected. Typically, the High Ectolord would be sceptical to the idea, but he’s already outside of the Anur System, so he’ll take any lead he can.

Maybe the Anur System is closed off for a reason, xenophobia and general mistreatment of its people and culture from the rest of the universe. Doesn’t help that a lot of accidents have happened from the universe alone, Luna Lobo probably still ended up in the Null Void for a bit and some random tears here and there sent people across the galaxy. So Zs’Skayr still possess a Florauna (or some other species ready to be sampled) to get his DNA in the Codon Stream.

Uh… maybe because he possessed a sample instead of being himself, that might have caused something buggy to happen with the scan. Whether his consciousness was whisked away with his sampled DNA or his actual body got fried in the process? Don’t know. Regardless, now his mission to save the Ectonurites lay unfinished, and many believe he died.

So, that’s how he’s gotten himself involved with the Omnitrix, but let’s see what’s his deal with Earth.

Now, being High Ectolord, it makes absolutely no dang sense as to why he wants Earth under his control. Well, unless he’s into conquering planets that is, but forcing your way into the Omnitrix does NOT seem like warlord behaviour and don’t come at me with gax and vil, prime villy is the warlord i’m referencing not this scary expert on the omnitrix.

But that doesn’t mean that the second he’s out the Omnitrix and freed from Area 51, he’s immediately off Earth.

No, he stays.

He stays because the Humans now have a sudden buttload of information on Ectonurites.

And he needs a little backup to get in there.

It’s a little difficult to scrounge up the tech needed for a communicator and perhaps even an ID mask when trying to hide, but being a ghost without some level 20 watch strapped to his wrist, Zs’Skayr manages. It’s also a lot helpful that Earth tech has also levelled up, which provides an abundance of space-age machines.

He’s no genius, but he whips up something crude and manages to send a message to his allies, probably most likely Viktor since he’s probably still looking out for a message. Obviously, he’s been gone a bit, probably not too long but certainly enough that a lot of Ectonurites have decided to live on the other Anur planets, primarily due to the lack of stable leadership on (or is it in?) Anur Phaetos.

Many have staved off extinction, but unfortunately none have gotten any better. The positive? The death toll hasn’t worsened.

“Where have you been!? All of Anur believed you dead!”

“It’s not far from the truth…” A pause, “I need you to assist me.”

“What system are you in? What planet!?”

“…”

“Zs’Skayr?”

“I’m on Earth…”

“WHAT!?”

Many rumours have spread about Earth, mainly disappearances but there’s the occasional ship crew that regale their experience. The planet’s more advanced, sure, but there’re still not on the level of uh… typical sci-fi spaceships. But they have used rocket technology to develop a defensive weapons system. Not only are there Ground to Atmosphere missiles, but some high altitude jets also have Air to Atmosphere weapons.

And with the previous rips and errors in the Anur System, a lot of folks have heard of Earth and try to keep track of it.

Earth is rather infamous, but resource wise, not worth the risk.

So essentially Zs’Skayr is being perceivably super crazy and also super impressive, seeming to have slipped through the atmosphere undetected. That’s not… entirely true, but the High Ectolord does explain that Earth has a high priority target on its surface, so interplanetary ‘threats’ may be left forgotten. He also requests help from the Yenaldooshi and the Mummy, who are probably separate from Crüjo and Kuphulu.

And yes, their mission is to raid Area 51.

No, they’re probably not going to go on Facebook and actually start our Area 51 raid.

It does take some time to gather, space travel and everything (like getting official ID masks along the way), and it takes a bit more to successfully pass as Human. Especially if they’re trying to get access to Area 51 without outing themselves as extraterrestrials, Zs’Skayr didn’t see everything but it was certainly a lot.

But he’ll see a lot more when they access the records, whether they get authorisation or just hack the institute from the inside.

A LOT of medical data, including images of… dissections and x-rays wherever relevant. A lot of physical data too, simple strengths and weaknesses.

Uh… not very pretty.

The plan?

Get the data (not enough time to dig for specifics), scrub the files (more than just alien data), and maybe pull a ‘Prisoner Number 775 is Missing’ and open up the cells and begin a REAL raid.

This turned from motivations into a plot, which is currently disconnected from the larger ‘story’ of Ben 51. It probably holds more significance in the au because of the ‘friends-but-not-really-in-contact-no-i-won’t-admit-it’ relationship between Ben and Zs’Skayr.

Also the Anur aliens, wanted them in here.

#zs’skayr #viktor #yenaldooshi #mummy #ben 51 #area 51 au #ben 10 #headcanon #ramblings #uh… this could be a #rewrite #technically… i suppose #in the sense that zs’skayr 51 is quite a bit different than canon zs’skayr #funny thing about this au #way back when when i was still a little youngen thinking about this for my angst #i was aiming to make the au a reskinned plot outline of os #save for of the area 51 bit #but that’s because i never rewrote the story archs of the other characters #the anur aliens being of course one of them #a simple change in relationship between ben and zs’skayr does in fact change the entire idea of the arch #and since it’s an au already i could change zs’skayr’s pre-omnitrix personality and goals #not that he had much to begin with but that’s not the point #i could have put all this ramblings in the post #but these are more tangents and behind the scenes rather than actually relevant #save of course my intro and breif conclusion #i say ‘of course’ a lot

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bots-basket · 4 years ago

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Safety in Numbers #5

{ Tw: Fighting/Violence also this is another long chapter ^^💦 }

Lance watched in Awe as the giant feline stood in between the girl and the Out of control Wolf. How... how did he summon that? It wasn’t like any Negati or Personal creature he’s ever created or unleashed.. Everything about it stood out. And Not to mention that Orb in its chest.. the same kind of orb that was laying next to the child giving off similar softer glows.

Yet it was undeniable from him- as He felt a steady stream of his power leaving him to somehow Power that Beast.. He had underestimated the visitor and the mysterious power she actually held. Even so- He’d have to get her out of harms way without getting caught in the crossfire of the two Titans.

Bass’s Tail gently flicked from side to side as he watched Barktholomew’s Movements carefully- staying on guard for when the wolf-hound decided to make its first move. Usually Bass wouldn’t be bothered with wasting his time fighting random blokes who just so happen to cross his path.. But This Mangey Mutt attempted to harm HIS Master. And for that, He shall surely pay dearly for his actions.

It Didn’t take long for the awaited moment to come as the Wolf gave its final warning howl before it charged the feline at full speed and tried to trounce him into the ground. Bass gave a large snarl and unsheathed his claws as he jumped into the attempted tackle.

He was quick to wrap his arms around the hounds shoulders and Twisted his Body Midair- using the force to Flip his opponent over and Send him into the ground instead. Bass Landed on his Paws and gave a Hiss to the downed dog, warning him to back down as his tail lashed from side to side.

Barktholomew was down but definitely not out. In an instance the Wolf sent up rounded pillars from out of the platform that knocked into the feline and sent him off balance for a moment. But it didn’t take him long to gather his bearings and use the platforms to his Advantage aswell. Like creating a climbing mechanism would put a damper on a Panther’s Attacks. Yeah right.

With Ease Bass clawed his way to the top of a pillar and chased after the hound, who was currently trying to launch him with the pillars into the null void around the floating platform. Barktholomew was pretty powerful, Bass would give him that. But he wasn’t very good with planning ahead. Not to mention he’s totally at a disadvantage against him~ Funny how the tables have turned between dog and cat.

While The two Were distracted, Lance took the opportunity to get closer to Rosie. He landed beside her and checked her over for any injuries or trauma. Thankfully she had only passed out, which made sense considering everything that’s happening- not to mention she’s probably been running for a while.

He placed all the little orbs back into her pockets before gently slipping his Hands under her and lifted her up into his arms. It was probably best if he just carried her like this and keep his tentacles free, just incase he needed to defend themselves. Speaking of which- He felt a sudden Strong gust of wind whirl around the area, nearly knocking himself into a whirlwind. He sunk his tentacles into the platform and did his best to shield her from the strong winds as he glanced back over to the two fighting.

Barktholomew had Lost its patience with Bass when The feline managed to land yet another blow, this time slashing his claws on its Face. Now the Wolf was mad. And it was going to make this Annoying Cat disappear just like how it’s Farm did. Channeling its Power into one large attack, it created a Tornado so big it covered the entire platform.

Bass had to literally dig his claws into the ground to keep from flying away! And since he couldn’t move, Barktholomew took advantage of it and began to throw mini tornadoes at him, the force of each hitting him feeling like a punch. And the worse part is that he had no choice but to take the hits since he had no way of attacking back.

Lance couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. He May Not know how or why this creature was created with his Power, but he did know that both it and The Little visitor was now his responsibility. And Since He unleashed Barktholomew in the first place, he’ll assist this ‘Galaxy Negati’ in defeating this powered up version.

He gingerly shifted the girl into one arm and used the other now freed arm to focuse on creating an Energy Ball. It didn’t come out a big as he wanted it too, but it would still get the job done neither the less. He pulled back his arm and focused on a particular Area on Barktholomew and Fired the Blast. Despite the raging winds- Lance’s Shot stayed true to its Target as it Hit Barktholomew- Sending him to clutch its side and cringe at the pain.

Bass’s Optics widened as he saw the Wolf take the blow then clutch his side. He immediately turned his helm to Lance and Rosie, His Ears and Tail flapping rapidly in the wind as he seemed surprised to see the Negati Master Actually stepping in to assist him. As If on Cue Lance shouted out something to him- Which Caused Bass to immediately catch on to what he was planning.

“ That’s his Weak Point!”

Bass didn’t hesitate to make his move. With a Glint in his Optics, He unsheathed his Back claws and let his Body get lifted into the wind halfway. His tail then did something unusual. It began to separate into section and a purplish liquid flowed from the Mindcore in his chest- all the way down into his tail. And then, He Let go of the ground; Letting himself get sucked into the Tornado- Much to both Lance and Barktholomew’s surprise.

But before the winds could send Lance And Rosie After him, The Feline Appeared once more- Emerging from a Portal that looked similar to that of Lance’s Bout Portal, And took his Opponent once more by surprise. With One Good Slash he Send the Wolf Propelling into the ground, Knocking him out cold.

As soon As Barktholomew was down, the Winds died down aswell. Bass Huffed slightly as he stood before the Wolf who was now unconscious on the floor. His Ears perked up as he heard Lance let out a sigh of relief as he removed his tentacles from the platform floor.

The Feline turned to the Negati Master and gingerly crept over to him, an obvious sign he was still a little unsure about him. Lance watched Bass head over to him as his piercing eyes watched him carefully. He might’ve listened to him in the battle, but this cat was still very unpredictable.

Bass’s Tail Flicked slightly as his Eyes landed on The unconscious girl in Lances arms, and then to the Negati master himself. They stood there looking at eachother for a few moments before Bass simply just leaned over and Picked up Rosie by her hoodie, and straight outta Lances arms.

Lance was once again taken aback by this felines bold actions as Bass was basically just holding The visitor like how a cat would hold a Kitten. But before Lance could say anything about it- Yet another Bang was heard. This time more closeby than before. A small puff of pinkish smoke had appeared around Barktholomew, and it gave out a long and Loud howl as the area around it began to change. The sky darkened into an pinkish purple and the platform they were on was steadily getting smaller..

Bass didn’t waste anytime. Now that he had his master safe and sound close to him, he wasn’t going to risk another tussle. He made a break for it and dashed towards the edge of the platform. A portal similar to the one he used before appeared at the edge of the platform.. but something was wrong. He felt suddenly felt very tired.. and then he couldn’t feel anything at all. Glancing down he saw that the energy that was keeping him together was rapidly disappearing.

Panicking about his masters Safety, he instinctively threw her into the portal with whatever part of him was still left- before it completely disappeared, leaving only his Simple Mindcore on the floor to be left to fate. Thankfully, Fate would be a lot kinder to him As Lance scooped up the Mindcore.

This Place has become more unstable than Lance would like to admit. And as much as he wanted to find out about that BANG, he didn’t have the energy.. he could barely float. This troublesome little orb had leeched quite a lot of power from him, and he wanted some answers. Not to mention he had to make sure that the visitor is okay.

So before things could get much worse, he followed after her through the portal.

——-

Once the Negati Master had Left, The Area, and Barktholomew themselves had changed. Everything looked like a warped version of what once was. The fields was withered and purple.. everything looked dead and destroyed.. it looked as if the once beautiful area had turned into a barren wasteland. And standing before it all was the same Man from before. He had a amused look on his face as he held a withered flower in his Hand.

“ Quite the interesting garden you have here.”

He hummed as he turned to the one standing beside him. It looked like a warped mixture between a few of the supposed ‘residents’ of this area and Barktholomew himself, except he wore a Scratched Wolf Mask over his face...

“ Come, we have new friends to make.”

The man spoke to the masked beast, who obediently followed after him and his group of suspicious characters.

———

Rosie was laying beneath a tree as a bunch of brightly colored Tim’s surrounded her, cooing and chirping worriedly as she didn’t make any attempts of waking up. They seemed to calm down a little bit as a Larger figure loomed over her and simply scooped her up into his arms.

Balan looked down to the girl as she slightly stirred, trembled under his touch. His big golden eyes looked down To her softly as he whispered to himself with concern.

“ Oh little one.. what happened to you..?”

#{ follow your heart; balan }#{ shy but sweet; rosie }#{ safety in numbers; balan wonderworld!verse }#fic #self insert #balan wonderland #balan wonderworld #fanfic #fanfiction #balan #lance #{ daydreaming; drabble }

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veldian · 4 years ago

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tell us more of ur think tank hcs i personally am at the edge of my seat

HELL YEAH ALRIGHT HERE WE GO. some of these might be against canon in some way but that's your fault for trusting me with this

ALSO, AS USUAL, I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE. THIS GOT VERY LONG. when i think about the tanks i go fuckin wild with it

starting with pride headcanons to get the ball rolling

all the tanks are nonbinary, but additionally, dala is a trans woman and 0 is a trans man

8 hates gender he fucking hates it. every day he wakes up and says "today i will make gender my bitch" and then he does. he says this in the game too you just don't know cuz he only speaks in static (don't factcheck this)

if you ask 8 what pronouns she uses, they will shrug and give you a "i dunno" noise. sometimes it'll make a non-committal hand movement and some unintelligible noises. good luck

god this bitch (borous) is gay! good for him! good for him.

he's also intersex! i don't remember where we got that hc but i like it and im holding onto it

okay but borous calls himself bi because yeah Men, but he also loves dala very much and doesn't want to misgender her. also as previously stated, 8's main goal is to confuse everyone about their gender so the tanks all stick with mspec labels to be on the safe side. you never know what'll happen. gender is a ticking time bomb

bi gang: klein, borous, 0

pan gang: dala, mobius

don't ask her about any of her identities she doesn't know the answer either: 8

have i gone off about polytank dynamics enough? i don't think so

8 and dala started dating first because horny bitches gravitate towards each other. they can also "pass" as a "straight couple" so hopefully no one at work will look at them and call them slurs. hopefully

klein and borous knocked things out of the park for being the first gay scientists ever

8 and dala became polyam icons and pulled 0 in. trans bitches gravitate towards each other

klein and borous did the same with mobius. bitches with facial hair gravitate towards each other

???????

idk and then all six of them started dating somehow. the end

somewhere along the way klein and 8 were like "i like you a little too much" and now they're inseparable

okay anyway. misc hcs

ive mentioned this before but when i pretend everything is in modern times, 0 is a tiktokker and he thrives on the attention and making fun of his coworkers on the internet

"watching steven universe repeatedly when i felt even slightly bad transed my gender" - doctor 8 old world blues

i just remembered i made a carrd for the tanks as if they were kinnies in their early to mid 20s

8 kinned pearl su. borous kinned werewolf cookie. 0 kinned rimmer red dwarf. mobius kinned... morbius forbidden planet. obviously. klein refused to put his kins on it. DID DALA KIN FROM DANGANRONPA

i think at one point we had a half-joking hc where klein gets nauseous if he sees blood

and then that changed to he can't see others blood, only his own

while borous can't see his own blood, but he's fine seeing other ppl's

i know borous said that gabe barked at everyone, but i think gabe trusts the other tanks because he knows borous does

borous set up a kissing booth with gabe. the crowd goes wild

when the tanks get together they usually go to klein's. he's the leader or something. also he has a fucking bar in his house.

he complains about them the whole time but you can really tell he loves having people over. why else would he deck his house out like that? he LOVES hosting stuff. house husband

if you saw my chart where i said klein would rather die than do dishes, i was so wrong. his house is pristine. its easily the cleanest

klein's love language is acts of service. he goes over to his partners' houses when they feel awful and clean stuff up for them when they can't. he also makes them food if they want it. he only complains a little, but you can tell he's mostly teasing

did you know klein has five mugs in his kitchen in-game. he's literally prepared to host his partners at any given moment.

the group have learned that letting 8 come over when their house is a mess is a Huge mistake. it goes from 8 trying to help "tidy up" to "im going to put your books and albums in alphabetical order by artist also your clothes are going to be hue-sorted"

"8 why are there only 8 books on each of my bookshelves"

"it looks better"

"it literally does not"

8 can no longer stomach going into 0's house

on the other hand, 0 hates staying in 8's house. the ticking of all their clocks is sensory hell

on 80 date nights they have to do rock-paper-scissors for which house they go to. or they go out. they love each other but their houses drive the other fucking nuts

oh speaking of their houses. yes dala said she didn't like Literal Teddy Bears but that is null and void considering she has teddies in her house

and she has 5 on her bed. five of them :)

she named all of them after her partners! its mostly cute but there is a slight bit of concern because they know what she does with them <__<

not that 8 has any place to judge. mobius found batteries under its pillow once. all 8 said was "they can vibrate." mobius regrets touching them.

i don't know what to say about dala's mannequins i don't have anything funny im just scared

WHY ARE 0 AND KLEIN THE ONLY ONES WITH BATHROOMS IT DRIVES ME INSANE 0'S BATHTUB ISNT EVEN LAYING DOWN ITS AGAINST THE WALL WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GENERATOR IN HIS BATHROOM DO THE OTHER TANKS JUST SHIT OUTSIDE I'M SEEING RED

mobius and 0 are both into robotics, and they worked together to make muggy, so they've had date nights where they mainly tinker with electronic things.

0 gets very excited when he makes a breakthrough, and seeing that warms mobius's heart. mobius made a habit of kissing 0 on the forehead or squeezing 0 into a hug when they figure things out.

(0 remembers he likes men.) 😳

dala/klein date nights are essentially just them drinking and gossiping chatting

i asked polycule for some more, so here are ones from your local think tank kinnies

borous -

"klein and borous both like classical music in very different ways. klein mostly likes it to feel smart (see: wheatley) but he just started associating it with the others so it felt nicer And borous just likes it bc hes borous"

klein also likes jazz, but so do all the rest of them

8 has a cochlear implant

"dala likes dressing up to look pretty (see: runway) but is personally embarrassed by it (until she gets encouragement) bc she feels like the others dont support that"

"0 loves collecting and reading those stupid magazines with the birthday party products and themes that ud wanna buy from as a kid but are way too expensive"

"mobius has a secret love for puppetry and will try to bring it up sometimes whenever he can. hes made 3 separate sets of the other tanks as puppets and they freak 0 out"

"borous, in an attempt to better his faults, has started learning from dala and 8 on how to take care of plants instead of what he did before. his basement turns into a cool little green house cozy cuddle area"

"to add on: 8 gardens to cope whenever hes alone bc (projects onto ur kin) he mood drops very fast when alone"

"mobius likes dressing in cozy sweaters and fancy stuff"

0 -

"0 doesn't like anal that much" (thanks.)

dala -

"their new rap album called boyz in the tanks" (THANKS.)

and to top things off, :) here are the normal names for them all, created primarily by our borous kinnie

klein - Ernest Klein (nicknamed ernie)

mobius - Wilbert Mobius (nicknamed bert)

borous - James H. Borous (nicknamed jamie)

dala - Dala Theodore (HER NICKNAME IS TEDDY ITS GENIUS)

8 - Emmett Handley (nicknamed 8 + emmy)

0 - Robert O'Barrick (nicknamed 0/O + robbie (HIM SHARING HOUSE'S NAME IS INTENTIONAL. HE'S TRANS HE PICKED HIS NAME WHY DID HE DO THIS))

#tech.txt #old world blues

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lordbloodysoul · 4 years ago

Text

Name:

Rift Doorman

Title:

“The Layer Breaker” – “Usurper” – “Ever Hunger”

Nicknames:

Rifty / Riff Raff / Tele-Broski (Fresh)

Freak of Nature / Parasite / Anomaly Animus (Error Sans)

Paperworm / Layer Breaker / Clown Vomit (Ink)

Age:

[REDACTED]

Height / Weight:

Varies

Soul Type

“Collective Soul”

// - A Collective Soul shows trades of all known Soul Types and is shielded by a thin membrane of Void. It looks like a blank Soul with a black outline, that has a small pitch dot in its center from which a vibration rolls across the surface of the Soul. Those waves appear in different colors and strokes. To those who are very sensible to Soul Energy, the vibration will sound like an endless army of different voices breathing simultaneously in sync. The rhythm changes with Rift’s state of emotion. It has an aroma/flavour that could be described as “Retro and vibrant”. The feeling it would induces is more reminiscent of Allure and vivid Chaos. Like a puzzle started, but left unsolved. With every piece just raining passed fields of endless colors, trapped within a pool of blackness. - //

STATS:

[REDACTED] // It will show the “ : P “ Emoji //

[REDACTED] // It will show the “ >:] “ Emoji //

ATTACK

[REDACTED] // Just spells out “YOLO” in painfully bright colors //

DEFENSE

[REDACTED] // Just spells out “LMAO” in painfully bright colors//

Doorman-Tier:

Tier A—Strength Level is not readable, due to its current activity behavior.

History:

Rift Doorman was born outside a Universe of the Undertale Multiverse. Its behavior is unusual compared to other Doorman. Rift traverses the Layers of the Timelines in search of something, but without a Universe to akin to, both its Power and Ambition were altered in a dangerous manner. Throughout its travels, this Doorman has eaten itself through various Timelines and Multiverses. However, these places didn’t just disappear, like usually when things are being destroyed through Outcodes or beings from the Anti-Void. They stay mostly intact. Broken like shattered glass, but still existing. Each piece would then connect with another part. A puzzle, that was willingly done wrong, with Timelines and places in Space just overlapping in chaotic patterns. Strings missing, but not forgotten, rules shifted, players removed and entire areas shifted incoherently.

When Rift gained conscious it felt nothing. Devoid of anything, it just drifted. This state changed when it fell into a Genocide Timeline by accident. Within it, Rift faced the Fallen Human in the Judgment Hall together with Sans. As it wasn’t able to feel pain, watching Sans Dust became its first experience with Death. It amused it. Thus it smashed the human child. Seeing as the child’s death was different from Sans’s, curiosity began building up. More so as Sans returned from the dead when the Timeline reset. The battle broke apart, literally, when Rift tried mimicking voices and speech patterns, causing a ear ripping shriek that splintered the very fabric and Layers of the Universe it was visiting. Sans, slain once more begged the creature to stop the child’s madness. Still incapable of understanding why, it understood that this Fallen Human had caused the Skeleton grievance. He understood the visualization of agony and hopelessness, but couldn’t comprehend the feeling itself. Amused by the concept of FIGHT and MERCY, they decided to experiment with it in this broken place. Trapping the Human Child in a never-ending loop of Resets they had no control over. Dying as plaything to the anomalous creature. Rift bored itself over the course of 17.589 Resets, ending the Human Child by eating first their upper body and disintegrating their Soul for absorption. This act loaded the Fallen Human’s Timeline Data Layers into its own being, giving it a broader view on what’s been happening. Still not able to comprehend things, however, Rift left the splintered Timeline and returned to the Layers between.

More travels were its answer. Further down its path, this Doorman entered a Rampage, experiencing many Emotions from interacting with various worlds in different ways. However, it couldn’t feel them at all. It understood. It could see them. Could comprehend what actions would lead to what reaction, but not why it was necessary. Hollow. It was hollow. Like a Black Hole. Just ripping everything apart and consuming it, but nothing could look back or return it. Within it grew a terrible Hunger, which it satisfied by devouring various portions of the visited Timelines and Multiverses. Places, Sections, Memories, People. All fell to its strife to understand. To engage. To be part of something. It began building a sort of pocket dimension in the Layers between the Multiverse, where it gathered things from various Timelines that kept intriguing it. In one already destroyed Universe, Rift recovered a monitor of round shape, still functional. It had the shape of a face, much like all the other creatures it met had. Thus it connected with the screen and used it as a makeshift face-mask, ensuring its actual form wouldn’t freak out too many people.

While striding through the Timelines, absorbing information, energy, magic and various other stimuli into its form, Rift discovered that it was possible to READ these Data and use it. Shaping its attacks in combat into Patterns and Styles unlike anything this Multiverse had ever witnessed. But not only that, it began to hunt and kill other Doorman instinctively, absorbing them into its form as well, leaving their Timelines defenseless. Rift became a true threat to many, just through its curiosity and yearning for understanding. It also began leaving pieces of itself behind in various distorted Worlds, hidden from view. Small Homunculi, holding enough Data and energy to reincarnate it. Rift slowly devolved into a Parasite that endangered the delicate balance of the Multiverse. A thorn in the side of both the protectors of the Multiverse as well as the Vanguards of the Anti-Void. As its shattering of Timelines caused multiple Universes to intertwine with one another. Rift became a target for eradication, even though no one knew about its existence yet.

It was during another stride into another Timeline that it encountered the parasitic entity known as “Fresh”. Their interaction was quite different than what it was used to. And something began to stir within it. Rift felt something. Something that was unfamiliar and strong. It played with Fresh, before that one disappeared to safety, as the creature seemingly grew too attached to them. That escape started it all. A chase that both were not prepared for nor understood. Rift’s conscious was completely fixated on Fresh. It didn’t understand why, but knew it was important. For days, weeks and months it kept chasing them. However, the Parasite didn’t need or wants anyone following them, so they kept fleeing and hiding. Despite their best efforts, though, Rift finds them every single time.

[!!!SPOILERS WARNING!!! - for those who wish to Read the FanFiction or wait till I get around to making the Comic, since the LITERATURE SUBMIT on DA doesn’t allow much creative Freedom, so I have to do a lot of Re-Spacing and Editing on those Parts. This Section will spoil some of the Plot in exchange for Character Build - If you don't want that spoiled, please proceed to the APPEARANCE Section - !!!SPOILER WARNING!!!]

Fresh found himself in a skirmish with Error and Ink, as they both tried tracking him down. They misjudged and thought they were responsible for several Holes within the Multiverse. With no secure escape Route, they were forced into battle, holding their own well. Up until the Anti-Void’s Enforcer, C0D35 Doorman, stepped onto the field. His entire presence alone began to erase the Universe he’s chosen as a battleground. Manipulating Space was practically useless against this foe, as one of C0D35 special abilities was to block all types of magics. Before the fight could harm Fresh, however, Rift shattered the Universe into several pieces. It took Fresh with it and delved through several Layers of broken Code, Timelines and hid them in a small Space it had created from the leftover scraps of Multiverses long forgotten. A Null Space of sorts. Due to the strenuous battle with Error and Ink, the body Fresh had chosen was slowly failing. They had to let go of the host body and seek out another. Rift, even though unable to talk and acting more like an excited puppy, willingly helped the Parasite. It took them to another Timeline to gain a new host body. Fresh, unable to understand or comprehend the motivation of this anomalous creature, decided to experiment how far its warped sense of loyalty would go. Curiosity getting the better of them. Since they couldn’t escape from it for long anyway. Thus the duo began their journey to try and understand what this drive was, where it was coming from and what it all meant. But Fresh already has the slight suspicion that something was off with Rift. Something huge was brewing.

Appearance:

Rift Doorman has no corporeal form. It’s a mass of black noise, free floating energy and magic. The almost cloud-like, dense column attached itself to an egg-shaped monitor. A remnant of a long forgotten Timeline. Due to the vapor form of its body, Rift can change its density and size at will, ranging from grasp-less like fog and air to solid and unmovable like a wall of steel and stone. This Doorman is holding its form together through sound wave. The magic and energy flooding its form gives these waves color and form, embracing its shape and fueling every movement of the mass. This special way of mass control makes it possible for Rift to even split itself into multiple smaller versions of itself. The Energy and Magic coursing through its vapor shape glows in various colors, like a swarm of bugs and fireflies. The ones that are mostly present range from neon-pinkish to eye-stinging green lights. The color of the Emoji faces on its screen are similarly bright and colorful, while the biggest mass of the body is a pitch-black buzzing fog.

Rift uses the screen it found as a makeshift face. By sending energy and magic through it, it channels different words and expressive Emojis, which it uses for communication, since it cannot speak. It developed this form of talking, which is accented with Retro musical tunes and sound effects, due to its own lack of actual vocal cords. Rift can only mimic various words through pitching and dipping sounds and tunes.

Underneath the screen is a distorted black orb-shaped head, with a bright, monstrous white jaw and eyes. The magic, energy and sound waves, which course through the body are accentuated here, pulsing through the big eyes that stare empty into the world. As the delight of murder and fighting was presented with a smile by both his first encountered Sans and Fallen Child, Rift has adopted that same expression into its own. Empty of empathy, reason or guilt. Hollow.

Personality:

Rift is a peculiar Doorman. Even though highly intelligent and fast learning, it prefers to act like an excited puppy or curious child. Devoid of any real emotion to drive its actions, it only acts upon what other people think is the “good thing” to do in a situation. Leaving trails of Chaos and destruction in its wake. Rift’s first real emotion was “a sense of joy” which emerged from killing the Fallen Human in their first ever visited Timeline. After loosing that, it was filled with a Hunger to learn more, experience more and discover why it was unable to understand or hold emotions like other beings do. It likes being lout and giddy, causing confusion and messes all around.

Rift learned from its travels that violence is considered bad, thus it only acts upon it when given a cause or being asked of. Through Fresh’s company, it grew found of their way of speaking, censoring and general demeanor, which they try to imitate. Not always successful. Rift lacks empathy and basic moralities. Doing the right things as much as they can, but never getting appreciation, feelings of guilt or delight out of any of its actions.

It is a slight hoarder, liking to collect various things from visited Timelines and just storing them in their own little Null Space.

Likes:

Fresh

Eating

making music through its distorted Retro Voice (which would probably sound much like the music you can hear in the “Just Shapes & Beats” Video Game – example here )

helping people

playing with Fresh

exploring and learning / education

collecting stuff for its Null Space

cuddling and hugs

dancing

Fighting, when allowed to do so

people laughing and smiling

inducing Fear into ‘evil’ people (it doesn’t understand it, but their expressions give it a sense of ‘delight’, which it can’t comprehend)

Dislikes:

pointless violence

swearing

anyone who tries to harm Fresh

disrespectful and rude behavior

the other Parasites spawned from Fresh

seeing other people go through loss, sadness and hopelessness (it doesn’t understand, but it dislikes their expressions during these moments)

Capabilities:

Rift is a special Doorman. Unlike any other it can and can’t do various things that are unlike its species. Since Doorman are shaped by what their Timeline / Universe needs, their abilities will be manifested into something they can use as an exploit to reach their goal. Rift, however, has neither a goal nor a world for that to work. Being born outside the Multiverse, Void and such, beneath the Layers of the In between, corrupted its whole existence. Thus it learned an ability so variable, loose and dangerous, that Rift managed to break its own power limitations. That ability is ADAPTATION. Through it, the anomalous entity can learn anything that it finds. This ability is limited only by its corrupted special skill, ARCHIVE, which extents its own Data Volume by absorbing that of other objects, Worlds and people. Through these two abilities, Rift extended its repertoire of skills by taking those of others into its own. By devouring other Timeline versions of Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, Napstablook and various other monsters, it learned their magics, attack patterns, strengths and weaknesses, accumulating them into its own form and using them against various aggressors along the way. Taking the Souls of the Fallen Children, it enhanced its own Soul Power, HP and influence over various aspects within the Timeline Layers. Even though unable to cause REWRITE or OVERWRITE, its Determination rivals the power output of such abilities, nullifying their affects on its own self. By devouring various Doormen, Rift added their special abilities into its own arsenal. But not only these are something to worry about, since they also absorbed the (apparently) infamous “COLOR PUZZLE”, which appeared in various Timelines. Through absorption of its information, Rift learned to utilize the principle in its own combat patterns, making for, probably, the worst experience of a FIGHT for any genocidal maniac. During a FIGHT Rift delights itself by causing its opponent as much headache and frustration as possible. All its patterns are a mix of things it accumulated from various Timelines, objects and people. The difference to its style is that every pattern follows a rhythm it deliberately switches to cause as much distress as it can. Their own original patterns appears as orbs, bars and string lines, which move in a sort of symphonic flow. It likes to abuse the rules of the infamous “COLOR PUZZLE” into each of their attacks. Goal during these fights are to keep itself busy till its bored. It will reset its opponent back into battle till it can’t get enjoyment out of it anymore. Than the most common outcome is for Rift to grab its foe and devour it (or part of it), just to satisfy its hunger for a bit.

// Attack Patterns for this Character would look like a mix between Undertale and “Just Shapes & Beats Style //

Rift’s voice is a powerful instrument of destruction, as its wavelength and pitch can shatter and fragment entire worlds, when threatened. Most of the time, though its a tool for amusement and distraction as they can’t use it to speak, but make totes rad Retro music and sounds with it.

Due to their body being so fluid, Rift tends to shape-shift a lot. Switching sizes being one of the more common transformations, however, it is capable of turning into practically anything it has a rough understanding off. From people to buildings and even entire landscapes. The greater the scope, thought, the higher the risk of its Soul overloading and damaging it. This skill it uses often to entertain Fresh’s curiosity and help them fight their boredom.

The Doorman is capable of using the Data collected to create completely new Multiverses out of them, which it does by filtering the most intriguing information into its “Null Space”. A collective widespread anomalous space in the Layers in between. Much like the Core Universe, it is a hidden pocket dimension that is unreachable unless you’ve been there once or are aware of its existence. As the Null Space grows, so does Rift’s power, which is connected to it. Would this secluded fragment in the Layers in between be destroyed, the damage to Rift itself would be tremendous. Rift is capable of creating “BACK UP FILES” for itself. So called Homunculi, which it scatters across the various splintered Timelines, hiding them in various objects. Through those Back up Data pieces, killing the Doorman has become nearly impossible. For its adversaries it is even unclear if this anomaly can ever truly be completely killed, since normal, widespread magic and fighting abilities are completely wasted on it. However, Rift is not completely invulnerable. All of its outstanding skills require huge amounts of magic, which it needs to store by devouring and absorbing Energy, Magic and Entities from other Timelines. Starvation is a realistic issue to it, since their moral compass started to change with the appearance of Fresh. Survival becoming an “optional goal” to its primary instinct fixating on the Parasite and its well-being. Rift can be harmed by beings from the Anti-Void as well as Ink, which is why it tries to stay hundreds of paces away from them. Especially C0D35, as his ability, ANNIHILATION, exceeds its coded protection by a margin. When Rift’s Soul reaches critical its body becomes fully corporeal and eats at its own mass till burn-out. The energy and magic from its body will slowly dissolve the very fabric of Reality, Time and Space as it goes on, till everything just becomes absolute Chaos. This meltdown can cause any nearby organism to be entrapped in a cascade of pain and maddening delirium, slowly eating at their very existence. It would cause an unseen apocalypse of shier Madness, but also cause the very Death of Rift, if the burn-out isn’t stopped.

Relations:

Rift has no great attachment to anyone besides Fresh. And even that “affection” is a level of understanding it can’t comprehend. For it, its something that it was born for, but doesn’t know why or what it is supposed to do with it. Finding the answer to this riddle is the only ‘purpose’ it got and after wandering aimless for so long, it decided not to let go of it till it knows.

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

Trivia:

The first word Rift ever spoke was “YOLO”, when it read the glasses of Fresh at their first meeting.

There is a Momma CQ version of Rift.

Kid!Rift entire backstory is goign to make people wanna stab me to death. I am sure of that.

Rift’s musical Battle Patterns are inspired by the game “Just Shapes and Beats”

Yes, I am aware that I messed up the Color Patterns of both of my Fresh Designs there. They were both drawn separately before placed in the same picture together. It has bugged me to no end!

Yes, there will be a Momma CQ version of this one coming (probably soon, since I don’t want to loose my shin. It’s not worth making Rifty mad)

Fresh Sans belongs to @loverofpiggies

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

#Rift #Doorman #LordBloodySoul #Horrorpuppets #Darktale #Undertale #Underfresh #Fresh #Sans

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 5 years ago

Text

03. Strengths and Weaknesses

Previous: Write Whatever You Want

Another person shouldn’t have the power to be able to control every aspect of your life. In fact, some power and responsibility granted to someone else in your life should be a sign of trust and appreciation, not force or obligation…

Grace collected all of the self help and self love books she could from the mall bookstore. It was a section that they rarely went to, the bookstore, a place that they never defiled. She glanced at the sci-fi and fantasy sections… they weren’t empty, but Simon had taken a lot of those to his personal quarters.

She realized that Simon would always occupy some space in her heart and in her mind, but the fact that he could still occupy space in her life was troubling her. She just wanted to get over him and what he’d done… But that would also come with having to face what he did, to look at it all and really think about it. That could destroy every semblance of dignity that she believed their friendship was based on. That could rob her of even the fond memories that she knew would never return.

But, she saw his absence in the book store, where all the spaces were in that section, where all of the journals from the journal rack were all but gone, where the section that had fanfare like models of famous spaceships or bobble heads from certain fandoms had spaces (which very well could have been taken by any number of the kids in the Mall Car, but she thought of Simon and his fanboy things. She thought of his passion for writing and his knack for constructing figures. She thought about the times when she would be reading a book and came to him and wondered, “What’s this word mean?” and how he would either know and give her a hard time, or not know and immediately consult a nearby thesaurus or dictionary. She saw his absence everywhere.

She headed back to her quarters, glanced at the photo booth as she passed, the photos of their kiss now serving as a bookmark for her to figure out how to figure out herself. How do you not know you? You’ve literally been with you since your conception. “I was distracted. By everybody’s expectations of me and by my need to be exalted as the best. Didn’t even matter what I was the best at, as long as I was the best.”

“Looks like you win again,” she heard Simon’s voice say in a memory. She shook her head. She hadn’t won anything in a long time. Maybe she could win some peace of mind if she went through enough of these books. All quotes and motivational “insights,” health advice, and spiritual tips.

The kids were still coming to her for advice on matters. “You are actually older than I was whenever I got here,” she told Shadow. Shadow wasn’t her real name. Couldn’t have been. But, it was the name that she told Grace and Simon that she wanted to be called, and she absolutely lived up to the name, as she seemed to trace Grace’s every move, copy her style, and emulate her. It was cute, to Grace. Having a mini her. She had plenty of kids that looked up to her, even Simon did, at some point. But, now that the Apex was over, and they hadn’t quite figured out what to do next, they still turned to Grace for their step by step and day to day… several of them, anyway. Shadow, definitely.

She was one of the ones who witnessed what happened. One of the ones who endured such a terrible sight as the gruesome fate of Simon. One of the ones to not mourn him herself, but to be very sympathetic to Grace for her loss. One of the ones that she may or may not have instantly grief bonded too as they were nice to her for the first time since she messed up, in the midst of her saying goodbye to not only her first, but her oldest friend… who had become her most determined enemy… There were many mixed emotions with what happened to him, but Grace appreciated the kids that were there for her. She appreciated Shadow, she really did… But she also wanted her to give her some space.

Grace was startled when the girl was waiting for her, for “morning yoga class,” and she didn’t regret to inform her, “It isn’t a class… It’s just me trying to start doing yoga, and you tagging along and doing what you see me doing.”

“I grabbed a yoga book from the bookstore to help me get better at my poses and teach me about meditation,” she said, not at all taking the hint that Grace wasn’t in the mood. Yoga was supposed to be some time to herself, but she also couldn’t just tell her to go away. The way that she had snapped at Simon at the cabin and the way it hurt him… the end of the beginning, she was pretty sure of it… She couldn’t risk shoving Shadow to her downfall, just because she was doing what she had been commended and appreciated for doing previously… though… before, they weren’t close. She definitely gave her more space before, but there was more structure back then, too.

There were rules, regulations, guidelines, laws, ordinances, whatever else in the big book of the Apex. They learned what to do and they did it and to not do it meant consequences. Nothing dire in her day - maybe not being able to go on the next raid or being responsible for some chore or something. But, Grace wasn’t positive what Simon had put these kids through without her there.

She knew that they had seemed unhappy when she next saw them, that the ones who were obediently trying to shove her off of the train and she begged for her life were just as confused as she had been when she and Simon began all of this. Confidence didn’t always mean certainty, and the guilt that she could see on those kids was as thick as the sorrow she saw whenever she returned to see Simon on her throne.

Shadow had been watching her and wanting to be her since her first day in the Apex. Seeing somebody that looked like her in charge, commanding, and carefree… 3 fun years of duty, then one day Simon returned without her, told them that she had betrayed them all, that she was unfit to lead, threw off his hoodie and revealed the most numbers any of them had seen, even on Grace. Some of them mourned her right then and there. Simon didn’t like that.

He explained to them that Grace was no longer like them. She no longer believed in the Apex. She no longer believed in the Conductor. She wasn’t to be mourned and she wasn’t to be missed. She was worse than a null, because they were created for worthless futures. But Grace? She had been given a chance by the Conductor. She had been given status and respect and honor, only to turn on all of their values. To call her a null would be an insult to nulls. She deserved nothing but to be blotted out, voided.

“She’s a void. THE void. Not even human anymore. Its number is low and its spirit is lost. The void is an unfit leader, a danger to us all!” Shadow couldn’t stop crying. This still sounded very sad to her. Simon cupped her chin and said, “Don’t worry. You won’t be punished for emulating it. None of us knew, but now that we know what the void is, we know what the Apex will do, what we MUST do.” He dropped his hand and smirked. “If it ever infiltrates the car again, we wheel it.”

The children all gasped. “You’re… you’re talking about Grace…” Lucy said.

“IT IS THE VOID!” He roared. Lucy and Todd both jumped and clutched each other. Simon pointed to Shadow, “Bring me the procedures. We have to quickly establish who is faithful to the Apex, and who is faithful to the void.” He looked at Lucy.

“I am Apex!” she said.

“And what is the void?” He asked.

“It’s… not Grace… It looks like Grace?” She felt ashamed that she was feeling sympathy for the void. Simon had just explained that it wasn’t Grace anymore. But, if it still looked like Grace, the person who had held her crying when she put her eye out with the harpoon pack while Simon tried to tend to the injury. Ultimately… she just lost the eye and it was Grace who had told her that she still was a whole person and one of her favorite kids. “That eye was important, but the most important thing is that you’re alive and safe and still one of the greatest kids here.” But… Lucy didn’t dare let Simon see her cry over Grace, not after how he had just gotten angry.

“If you see the traitor we used to know as Grace, it is now the void and only to be acknowledged as the void. What is a void, Apex?”

“A leader who is no longer fit to lead?” Lucy said, trying to fix her last mistake by mimicking what she remembered Simon saying before.

“And a danger to us all,” he completed as Shadow returned with his book for him to write in. “Again. What is a void?”

Now, multiple kids said, more confidently, “A leader who is no longer fit to lead. A danger to us all.” He continued writing and getting them to repeat it, until he was satisfied. “And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them?” Todd asked, recalling what Simon said.

“Again!” Simon called.

“We wheel them! We wheel them!” Many of the children began to chant, as was their way. Shadow, Todd, Lucy, Lindsay and Alex looked at each other, Alex noticed Simon looking at them and immediately joined in. Reluctantly, Lindsay and Todd did too.

Simon gave the signal for everyone to stop, a quick cut of his hand across his throat and they did. He put a hand on Lucy’s back and one on Shadow’s, then called five boys’ names and began to walk the girls to the door. Shadow was panicked. She didn’t know what this meant. Simon lead the six kids outside and shut the door behind them.

In a calm voice, he asked, “What is a void, Lucy?”

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

“We wheel them.”

“Good. So, you understood. You didn’t join the Apex when I asked.”

“It won’t happen again, Simon.”

“I have a special job for you. You’ll keep watch for the void. If it comes back, it may be injured or sick. It may try to convince you to be kind to it. Don’t be deceived, Lucy. The void is dangerous. Don’t let it near you and don’t listen to it. The Apex will back you up and we will wheel it, as a collective.”

Lucy nodded her head, “Understood, Simon.” He talked to the boys, too, giving them each assignments - sounding the alarm whenever the void arrived, taking the yokes to carry his throne… Shadow was more and more confused and troubled as it came down to her and Simon.

“Shadow, what is a void?” He didn’t sound as chill as he had with the others. More like cold. It sent shivers down her spine.

“A leader who is unfit to lead. A danger to us all.”

“And how do we deal with voids?”

She sighed and put her head down, “We wheel them.”

Simon smirked and then leaned forward to touch her shoulder. “It took you awhile today. Don’t let that happen again. I can’t leave room for another traitor. If you can’t keep your allegiance to the Apex, you will become familiar with the wheels.” He pointed towards the wheels and she gasped. “The Apex has but one leader now and if you can’t accept that, all traitors will be thrown off of the train.”

“I understand, Simon.” He put her on spotlight duty and she didn’t think that she would ever smile again.

She had been about to throw Grace off of the train. She had been about to kill her idol… She couldn’t take it back, but she poured herself into respecting Grace again as a person. Not the void, not a traitor. But, she felt like Grace didn’t like her anymore. Like… she was tired of her. Probably angry because she was going to push her off of the train..

“Grace…” Grace let out a very frustrated groan and wiped her face with her hands. Shadow frowned and shut up.

Grace tried to continue yoga, but the nagging that she had possibly just shut this girl down was getting to her. “What is it, Shadow?” She asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

“I just wanted to say that I didn’t just go along with it. Simon took me outside of the car. He threatened to wheel me if I didn’t agree with him about you. I was really scared that he was going to do it. I didn’t really want to kill you, even though I tried to.”

Grace sighed again, this time a little less annoyed. An understanding sigh, if that’s a thing. “I know. All of you were under pressure. I know that it was hard for all of you. Simon was sometimes hard for me too, and especially in the end. I can’t make heads or tails about how I feel about him from one day to the next. So, I understand that. But, I’m just trying to move on with my life. I just want to be able to get to the next step without harping on that, but whenever I’m trying, someone is always there. I love your company. I just want to be able to have an hour of time where someone isn’t looking to me for anything!” Grace realized that her voice was loud. She sighed again, “I want a moment to relax. Talking about who tried to kill me and why is not relaxing for me.”

“It’s just that, I know how afraid you must have been out there with him… and I know that I helped. I know how afraid I was with him, but I still helped.”

“Are you asking for forgiveness, Shadow? Because, I thought I made it clear to all of you that I don’t blame anybody for being tricked by Simon. How can I be mad at you for following someone that I recruited you to follow? We were a team. You did exactly what we taught you to do - listen to the leader and trust their judgment. I wouldn’t fault you for that. What I am faulting you for is the fact that I haven’t been able to have one session of yoga and meditation without you all up in my aura.” They both laughed a little.

Grace crawled over to her and wrapped an arm around her, “Seriously, you can’t just depend on me to give you what you’re looking for. You have to be able to forgive yourself for things that you don’t understand why you did. You have to be willing to ask yourself why and explain it to yourself to correct yourself. Never look to somebody else, not even me.”

Shadow smiled and said, “I just needed you to know the truth. I just needed to clear the air.”

Grace smiled, “It’s clear. It’s clean and clear and pure, okay?” Shadow smiled and then noticed her number changing.

She looked at her hand and gasped whenever it turned into a zero. Grace looked at the door that appeared and quickly got up to help Shadow off of her mat. Shadow looked excited for a moment then frowned, “Why me? There’s other kids more deserving of their door…”

“You did all that you needed to do!” Grace cheered. “And you didn’t have to model after somebody else to do it. You just had to be clear and honest and willing to accept the truth. I’m very proud of you.” Shadow opened her door and saw her family, still putting up posters and handing out fliers, three years later. Her eyes welled with tears. She hadn’t thought that they would even miss her, but there they were, still looking…

“Grace… My name was Sunny,” Shadow said. “Is Sunny, like the song. You should listen to it. It’s perfectly fitting for you.” She went through the doorway and Grace watched it all go. She felt her own number move and she looked down. It had gone up? She sighed and flopped back down on her mat. She knew that song, but not the lyrics. Just the melody. It was back to the bookshop, she guessed. There was a little music section and she could probably find that old song in there.

*Sunny plays in the background*

It was her go to yoga song, now. She kinda missed having Shadow around, despite how irritating it had been her last days there. Grace passed by Lucy and Lindsay, sitting on the floor looking at each other and giving affirmations. “

Lucy: When I look at you, I see me.

Lindsay: When I look at me, I see you…

Grace smiled, but kept going, grounding mat beneath her arm, water jug in her hand and a bag on her arm. Alex and Todd ran by her, both swerved to miss her.

Todd: By, Grace, we’re gonna go check out this go kart car that Mandy told us about!

Grace: Have fun!

Alex: We’ll bring you something back!

Grace: No need!

That kid was terrible at tributes when it was a thing. She set up her yoga space and looked at the empty place where Sunny would have been. It didn’t feel the same without the kid, but she also didn’t have that stress of her watching so intently either. She was finally able to actually relax as she went through this new little ritual. Afterwards, she did feel better. The other kids didn’t bother her the entire time, though whenever she finished, Lindsay and Lucy were there to each grab one of her hands and drag her to some place.

It was the signature wall. Apex kids would tag their names onto it and it became a mural of sorts. Grace had seen the wall before and guessed that they were about to show her some new art or something, when she noticed that the taller kids had sprayed over the red “Down with the False Conductor” that had been sprawled across the top, with curvy block letters that read “We Made It Out.” Lucy pointed to a four picture set from the photo booth of Sunny, posing like Grace used to in the mirror, with shoulders out and lips puckered, one of her looking thoughtful, one silly face and one simply smiling. It had “Shadow” written in marker on the slit of white just before the last one. Grace told Lucy, “Gimme a marker.” Lucy still had it and handed it over. Grace drew a line through Shadow and above it wrote “Sunny.” She and the girls smiled at each other.

“It’s a new tradition,” Lucy said. “We came up with it ourselves, without asking you.”

“I love it… Do… we have pictures from the photo booth of everybody?”

“Yep. They were in Simon’s ledger.” Lucy reached into her fanny pack to pull out hers, “We took them for his records. Our skills and weaknesses are on the backs. But me and Lindsay decided to use them for good stuff.” She showed Grace her own photo set, in which she still had two good eyes and flipped it over where she had a list of strengths and under weaknesses: Literally put her own eye out. Grace growled. “My sentiment exactly,” Lucy said.

“Look at you, Luce! If this place was going to continue, you’d be running the joint next.”

Lucy took Lindsay’s hand and pulled her forward. “Didn’t do it on my own.”

“And Lindsay. You’ve always been the silent but strong type.” Lindsay shrugged her shoulders and made an uh uh sound. Then she and Lucy exchanged looks. “What?”

“Well… We know that you’re probably gonna be the last one out, but just in case… There’s no photos of you. We want you on the wall one day too. But, Simon destroyed all of your pictures when he voided you. Can you take a set, and put it on the wall whenever your number drops?”

What if she was nowhere near the wall when she reached zero? What if she never reached zero? “I’ll try,” she said.

They dragged her to the photo booth to take her pictures and the first one was a big, fake smile, the second was a slightly faded one, the third a frown and the last she was starting to cry. She snatched it from the slit and sat down. “Maybe I’ll try another day.”

Lindsay took the photos and the magic from Grace and began to write on the back.

Strengths: Takes responsibility for her mistakes. Good feelings. Big heart. Leadership skills. Makes people happy...Grace was sniffling as she read along with Lindsay writing. She was scared to get to the weaknesses, but Lindsay capped the marker instead of writing any. “What, no weaknesses?”

“Plenty. But, that’s because you’re human and not an asset, like Simon saw us as.” She and Lucy fist bumped, and Lucy handed Grace the photos. “We’re gonna go check out that go kart car too, actually.”

“We won’t bother to bring you anything back.”

“Good!” Grace said. She looked at the photos and sighed, got back into the booth, wiping her eyes. The first one, she still looked sad, the next she tried to fix her expression, the third a smile started and the last, she had a bright smile with slightly damp eyes. She pulled them out. “I’ll get there. I’ll make it out.”

#Infinity Train #Nesha Fanfiction #Infinity Train Fanfiction #Fics #Grace Heals #Grace Monroe Fanfic

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spicyfloaty · 5 years ago

Text

Give & Take | Chapter 11

pairing: kacchako

genre: slowburn/fluff

words: 9.8k

summary: Ochako's grades are slipping. Bakugo is dangerously nearing suspension, or worse, expulsion. A certain twist of fate pairs them together for tutoring sessions. He teaches her math. She keeps him from getting suspended. A simple exchange, but what if this only brings them closer than necessary?

header credits: @alexbenedetto

[READ ON AO3]

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven: Saved by the Bell

“You’re not listening to me!”

“Guess what, Cheeks? Neither are you!”

After that incident at work last week, things went back to normal. Bakugo stayed true to his word about not mentioning her job to anyone else and much to Ochako’s delight, he had also stopped avoiding her altogether. Despite this good news, it didn’t stop them from spiraling into another tirade of who-got-the-math-question-wrong, but at least they were back to their regular programming of senseless, nerve-wracking bickering, which was about as normal as it could get.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I got this right?” Ochako circles her answer on the whiteboard over and over again with a black marker, hoping the repetitive gesture would somehow convince Bakugo that she answered the problem correctly.

Bakugo sank deeper into his chair as he dragged his palm down his face, “Fucking hell, round face, I’m telling you that it’s wrong.” He groaned.

Her palm flies to the board, producing a resounding thud that echoed around the classroom, “I used the right formula, I had all the calculations down, and--”

“And you still got it wrong.” He interupts.

If Ochako hadn’t already been accustomed to the ever so pleasant experience of arguing with Bakugo, she would have either A.) walked out the door by now or B.) thrown the marker clutched in her hand square on his face, but since she already had enough hours of tutoring as practice, she knew how to stand her ground and bite back.

She walked over to his seat, which wasn’t that far since he had plopped himself smack dab on the first row, “You were the one who taught me this.” She points out, standing in front of his desk.

“I know that.” Bakugo pushes himself up from his seat with his arms, leaning towards her with his eyes narrowed, “So tell me why you got it wrong then?”

“Oh nevermind.” Ochako huffs out, rolling her eyes as she turns to the whiteboard once again, “Let me just show you how I did it.”

If she was getting nowhere trying to make him see her point with her words alone along with the occasional repetitive circling of her answer on the board, she should move on to the next best thing of just literally showing him the exact step-by-step process of how she came up with her answer in the first place. If only her tutor had paid attention to what she was writing on the board as she was solving the problem he gave instead of complaining about it after, things would have gone so much smoother than they were now.

“No you’re not.” He walks after her to the front of the classroom so that he’s just a few feet in front of her, “Give me that.” Bakugo orders, holding his hand out to her.

“Why?” She asks, bringing the marker closer to her chest as if she were guarding the most valuable object on earth from a notorious thief.

Bakugo frowns as he jutted his hand out to her again impatiently, “I’m gonna fix it, dumbass.”

Ochako’s eyebrows knit together as she takes a step away from the board and the boy trying to steal away her chance of proving him wrong, “You’re not fixing anything, Bakugo.”

“Give me the marker.” Bakugo instructs, moving towards the same direction she had gone to.

She shakes her head as she moves farther away from him, walking towards the second row of desks, “I’d rather not.”

He follows her, stopping on one of the chairs in the front row, “I’m not going to ask you twice, round face.” Bakugo’s stern eyes burn into hers so much so to the point where she had felt her knees start to buckle ever so slightly.

Despite this, she knew better than to just back down to him that easily, “Over my dead body, Bakugo.”

In the split second after the last word of her sentence, Ochako could have sworn that she caught a fleeting glimpse of her dead body as Bakugo raced towards her with unparalleled speed. She pushes a chair towards his direction to block his path as she ran to the back of the classroom, looking back to see that her chair distraction had failed since Bakugo was just a few quick steps away from her.

Her feet swiftly take her to the other side of the room, but Bakugo follows just seconds after. She drags a desk in front of her to add some extra distance between them just in time before he could get to her.

“Stop. Acting. Like. A. Fucking. Six-year-old. And. Give. Me. The. Fucking. Marker.” Bakugo growls between attempts to snatch the marker away from her as Ochako just barely manages to dodge every single one of them.

Bakugo stops mid-grab and she sees his eyes flicker to the something behind her. She turns around and sees an eraser sitting on top of the teacher’s desk, her gaze then shifting to the lines of equations she had written on the board. Eyes widening in realization, she whips her head back towards him, “Don’t you dare.” She warns.

He immediately bolts to the front of the classroom and it only takes milliseconds for her to follow suit. Ochako uses her free hand to reach for the eraser, but Bakugo makes it a point to catch her wrist first before going for its target.

“Give it up.” Bakugo instructs. He points the eraser towards the board, fiery eyes never leaving hers in the process, “Or else all your work gets wiped off.”

“I can write it again just as easily.” She fires back, matching his intense stare with her own.

He tilts his head to the side, “Not if I give you another problem to work on, round face.”

The smug look on Bakugo’s face only grows more punchable by the second and him leaning towards her again only makes it harder to resist the urge of knocking his lights out, “Your work will be considered null...and...void.” He finishes, making sure to add extra emphasis on the last three words.

Ochako didn’t know whether to be amused or appalled at how Bakugo would really go the extra mile for a petty fight about a math problem. Despite this thought, she knew that she did the exact same thing starting the whole cat and mouse chase around the classroom. She finally comes to the conclusion that this whole argument was stupid and that she most likely didn’t have the energy nor the stamina to keep it up.

“You just hate being wrong, don’t you?” She sighs, handing him the marker.

He lets go of her wrist and takes it, placing the eraser back to where it was, on top of the teacher’s desk, “Who says I’m wrong?”

“I’ve been telling you that for the past twenty minutes or so, thank you very much.” Ochako retorts, folding her arms over her chest as she turns away from the board. She’d rather not see her work being ‘ corrected’ when she was so sure about being right about it.

Not even ten seconds pass by when Bakugo suddenly speaks up, “The fuck?”

Ochako turns around to see Bakugo staring at the marker with an expression that looked like he was unsure about the fact that what he was holding was indeed a marker, “What is it?” She asks.

“Your flimsy ass marker ran out of ink.” He deadpans, handing the marker back to her.

“Why are you saying it like it’s my fault?” She points out, taking it from him.

“If someone didn’t waste all the ink circling her wrong answer like a deranged person--”

“It wasn’t wrong.” She interjects, walking over to the board to test the marker out. Seeing that the board was still completely white after dragging the marker across a blank area, it was in fact, empty.

A small grin makes its way to her lips as she turns back around to face him, “Oh dear, it really is empty!” She says in mock disappointment, “I guess we’ll just have to leave it like that.” Ochako makes sure to give him the fakest look of dismay to really seal the deal.

“Your acting is as bad as your math.” He drones, unimpressed.

“No insult is going to change the fact that this is empty.” She points out, holding up the marker for him to see.

“And you think that’s gonna stop me?” He retorts.

Ochako shrugs, propping one hand onto her hips, “I mean, where else are you going to write it down?”

He narrows his eyes at her before looking away to stare at the wall in deep thought. An idea seemed to have crossed his mind since he suddenly started walking over to her seat where her bag was and started digging inside.

“Hey!” She protests, walking over to his direction, “You can’t just go around digging in other people’s stuff!”

“And why not?” He asks, still very much digging into the contents of her bag.

“Privacy!” She answers.

Bakugo holds up a stick of gum from her bag, “How scandalous, round face, a piece of gum. How will you ever recover?” He says sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her.

“You knew what I meant.” She mutters, peeking over his shoulder to see if he had already made a mess of her bag’s contents, but to her surprise everything was still as tidy and organized the way she had left it, no item out of its place as Bakugo shuffled through them in search of something she still wasn’t made aware of.

“What are you even looking for?” She asks, “I don’t have an extra marker.”

He fishes out her notebook and turns to her, “Where’s your pen?”

Ochako’s eyes droop at the question, “You’ve been tutoring me for the past five weeks and you still don’t bring your own pen to these sessions?”

Bakugo sends a spine-chilling glare towards her, “Keep that attitude up and I’m dumping all of this shit on the floor to make you look for it.” He threatens, holding her bag up in the air as a warning.

“Fine.” She grumbles, grabbing her bag from him to look for her pen. The only reason why she had this kind of attitude was because of the fact that Bakugo didn’t even give her a chance to prove that her answer was right nor did he show any intention of listening to her side of things a while ago.

“Here.” She hands him the pen and takes the seat beside him, looking towards the window as she rested her elbows on the desk, cupping a cheek in one hand. She honestly just wanted to get this over with.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Bakugo swears.

She turns to him, “What is it now?”

He holds her notebook up from the side and lets its pages fall one by one to show her that all of them were already full of her writing. She had forgotten that this specific notebook was the one she used for when she studied and worked on practice problems alone in the confines of her room. Not only that, but she had also just remembered that all of her notebooks, even the ones back at the dorms, were in fact, already used up.

She quietly chuckles to herself at the situation, but this doesn’t go unnoticed by Bakugo, “What’s so fucking funny?”

The laughter that Ochako had been struggling to suppress had only grown harder to fight, ‘Was this the universe’s way of telling her that she was right with her answer a while ago?’ “C-can I borrow the p-pen?” She asks through stifled laughter.

Bakugo slowly hands her the notebook along with the pen and looks at her as if she had already lost her mind. She tries to scribble on the corner of a page with it and the results only confirm her suspicions. The pen was empty too.

This time Ochako bursts into a fit of laughter. The timing was just all too perfect, “Face it, Bakugo, even fate is on my side!” She proclaims. Who would have guessed that her marker, notebook, and pen were the ones to turn this situation around at the last minute? Her unintentional negligence towards her things had somehow given her another chance at proving herself right.

Ochako’s laughter dies down and she turns to Bakugo, the ghost of a smile still stretching over her face, “Now, will you let me explain why I think I’m right?”

He studies her for a moment, as if deciding whether or not that option was worth taking. She scoots her chair nearer to his and gives him an expectant look, thinking that this way of saying Please was the way to go.

The creases on Bakugo’s forehead slowly disappear, his eyes slipping away from hers as he sighed. He stands up to head over the back of the classroom where his bag was, slinging it over his shoulder before walking towards the door.

“Wait, what are you doing?” She asks. Was he leaving? Was he really so allergic to the possibility of being wrong that he couldn’t even stand being in the same room with her anymore?

He looks over to her, “It’s better if you explain yourself using the board and you can’t do that if your flimsy ass marker is empty.”

This catches her off guard. She didn’t actually think he’d let her if she had asked, nor did she think it would take him that fast to even consider it. She had already assumed that he was already steadfast, hell-bent even, with the fact that only his opinion was acceptable.

“That doesn’t really answer my question, why does it look like you’re leaving?” She asks once more.

“Do I really need to spell it out for you?” He asks impatiently, “We’re buying another fucking marker.”

Another look of frustration crawls its way back to his face as he gestures to the bag next to her, “You coming or not?”

---

Ochako lags behind him as they descend upon the school’s stairs, making sure to keep up the pace since Bakugo made it clear that he had no intention of waiting for her nor did it look like he cared that she could potentially trip and fall with the speed he’s going at.

“Make sure you pause that timer you got on your phone.” He calls out to her as they reach the bottom of the last flight of stairs.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” She breathes out, pulling her phone out of her pocket to pause it as she followed close behind him. They had about half an hour left to their session, which was more than enough for her to thoroughly explain her answer to him once they get back. Nearing the grounds, she sees Bakugo head towards the opposite direction of the front exit, which was unusual since everybody exits through the front.

“I know I should have asked this before, but where are we going?” She asks, still a number of steps behind him as they reach UA’s back exit.

“Kinoku.” He answered shortly, stepping outside their campus’s back doors which connected to a wide walkway that stretched hundreds of feet towards the UA Arch at its end.

“The Dead Street?” She asked quizzically. Before they had been moved into their dorms, Ochako would usually tread the downhill path found in the forefront of UA on her way home. Almost everyone did, come to think of it. Nobody had really seen what the trail behind UA led to, but all they knew was that at the foot of that trail was Kinoku street, also commonly known among the students as The Dead Street because of its desertedness.

“And where exactly in Kinoku are you planning on taking us?” She follows up as they walk under the UA arch found behind the school. It was identical to the one found in the front, the only difference being the vines crawling up both of its legs, which was another telltale sign that this place was indeed devoid of people. It looked like it had been like that for quite a long time.

“Somewhere that has what we need.” Bakugo replies.

The concrete that covered UA’s grounds turn into dirt as they went past the arch, marking the start of the downhill trail. They walk in silence as they trudge along the unfamiliar path. Unfamiliar to her, at least. The soft rustling of the trees around them paired with the sound of their feet making contact with the soil were the only things keeping the atmosphere from being completely quiet.

“Is it far from here?” She asks.

“No.” Another clipped response. “We’ll be quick.”

Bakugo’s back was to her as she continued to walk a considerable amount of steps behind him. His answers made it seem like he had been here before, it only made sense since he somehow knew where to go and also knew that this place had what they needed.

Ochako picks up the pace and speeds along to walk beside him, “You’ve been to Kinoku before?” She asks, voicing out the curiosities inside her head. Bakugo looks at her questionably as if she had just spoken German to him. To be more specific, the expression on his face asked the unspoken question, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

“I’m just trying to kill the awkward silence.” She quickly explains, slightly holding up both of her hands.

“It’s only awkward if you make it awkward.” He says, shifting his focus back on the trail ahead of them, his gaze cold and distant. Small talk with Bakugo is truly proving to be a difficult task.

“Okay, you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to.” She concedes, slowing her pace back down to how it was before when she was lagging behind him, allowing the silence to stretch between them once more.

Ochako didn't know where she stood with Bakugo, if anything, she didn't know where Bakugo stood with her. Replaying every single instance they had interacted with one another in her head, she wasn't sure what to consider him as. It wouldn't be right for her to say that they were strangers to one another, but at the same time, they weren't exactly friends.

She'd like to be friends, though. A part of her wanted to get to know him better, with that part of her only growing twice its size ever since last week's incident at work. Despite this, Bakugo seemed to be closed off most of the time, leaving only the tiniest of spaces for her to squeeze into to try and find out more about him. The last thing she wanted was to make him uncomfortable so she decided not to push for a conversation any further.

Ochako was about to put her earphones on and listen to music instead when she saw that Bakugo's footsteps were beginning to slow down ever so slightly until both their paces were now in sync with one another, with him now walking by her side.

“I have.” He mutters.

Ochako lowers her earphones down from her ears, “You have what?”

“You asked if I’ve been to Kinoku before,” He says, shoving both his hands into his pockets, “I have.”

“Oh.” She turns to him and sees that he was still looking towards the path ahead of them. Despite this, she knew that Bakugo purposefully walking beside her, let alone talking to her was still remarkable progress, “What’s it like?”

“Quiet.” He answers, the hardened features of his face relaxing a bit under the memory of it.

“Dead quiet?” She asks, referring to Kinoku’s infamous nickname.

“No.” This time he turns to her, finally facing her full on, “Peaceful quiet.”

She observes his reaction, taking note of the faint softness in his voice compared to the distant replies he had thrown her way just minutes ago. This place must be as peaceful as he says it is if it had gotten him to sound this fond of it.

“That sounds nice.” She muses, smiling to herself. It felt nice to know that Bakugo was particularly fond of this place. He looked calmer.

“It’s a nice fucking change from the bumbling idiots I hang out with everyday.” He adds with a heavy touch of irritation, the calmness in his face being stripped away by the mention of his group of friends.

“You mean your friends?” Ochako clarifies. Bakugo did have a habit of referring to the people closest to him with questionable descriptions and nicknames.

“Whatever you wanna call ‘em, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re annoying as all hell.” He counters along with a sour look on his face. Ochako almost chuckles at the quick change in his mood.

“You know,” She begins, turning to him, “If they’re as annoying as you say they are, you wouldn’t be hanging out with them anymore.”

Bakugo’s eyebrows furrow at her simple explanation, his expression seemed like he was trying to come up with some logical, snarky remark to hit her back with, but needless to say, none came out.

“Tch.”

The corner of her lips quirk upwards, I got him there. She knew that his friends meant a lot to him, he just wasn’t the type to show it as well as they do. One might even say that most of his insulting quips and jabs at them were some kind of undiscovered love language that only he had the capability of expressing.

“Why not take them to Kinoku?” She suggests. Taking the people you care about to a place you enjoy might be a pleasant experience for both parties.

“Those damn extras are just gonna complain about how boring it is.” He deadpans.

Boring? Ochako doubts that his friends would say that about any place Bakugo would voluntarily take them to, but then again, it could be because Bakugo wasn’t ready to take them there yet so she won’t push the idea any further.

Does this make her the first? No, stop thinking like that, Ochako.

“What’s in Kinoku anyways?” She asks, shoving the previous thought into a small corner of her mind.

“Not much.” Bakugo answers, “That’s why they’d find it boring.”

“Peaceful boring.” She corrects him.

“Peaceful boring.” He agrees.

“And yet you still go there often, huh?” She adds. Sure, Kinoku didn’t have much to it, neither was it the liveliest place out there, but there must be another reason why Bakugo liked it so much apart from the kind of quiet it had offered.

“Only for this one place.” He recalls.

“Is it the place we’re headed to?” She asks, her curiosity morphing into excitement.

Bakugo nods, “A bookshop.”

Ochako’s eyebrows slightly spring upwards at the mention of a bookshop. A person favoring those kinds of places usually meant that they were fond of reading as well, which leads to the conclusion that Bakugo must be an avid reader too.

“So you're a book lover.” She smiles at him.

Bakugo lifts an eyebrow, “And what of it?”

He must have thought she was making fun of him for liking books, but she couldn’t have been any more delighted by the fact. Ochako liked the feeling of knowing such a tiny detail about him. ‘Bakugo Katsuki liked to read’, she repeated in her head.

“Nothing,” She dismisses with a shake of her head, “It just fits you.”

Bakugo’s face only clouds over with more confusion, “You calling me a nerd, round face?” He asks suspiciously.

“No!” She quickly replies, “I mean, yeah, you’re really good at math, but other than that, you see things differently, you know?”

“You're perceptive, quick-witted, observant,” Ochako enumerates. There was a lot more she could have said, but it would take the entire journey to and from the bookshop if she had done that. “And probably everything in between.” She turns to him, giving him the warmest of smiles.

A tiny look of surprise flashes over his face before turning away, one of his hands finding the back of his neck, “Thanks.” He mumbles.

“So yeah, being a book nerd does suit you.” She teases.

Bakugo’s head instantly whips back to face her, fiery, red eyes narrowing at her once again, “So you were calling me a nerd.” He bites.

“You already thanked me for it.” Ochako chuckles, earning her another nasty look from Bakugo. His mood really does change as quickly as she thought, it could beat Iida in a foot race.

“Honestly speaking, I have been curious about Kinoku for a long time.” She says after a short moment of silence. It was true, so many people had already been calling it The Dead Street, and yet none of those people had ever been there before, which had only piqued her interest more.

“Then why didn’t you go?” He asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at her.

“I was planning to,” She starts, “But as you now know, I’ve been busy with--”

“Training.” He finishes for her.

Ochako smiles a little, “Yes, with training.”

“With Gunhead.” He adds.

This time she chuckles, “Yep, that’s the one.”

She found it nice how Bakugo played along with their little joke. What she found most comforting was the fact that she was able to talk about her job with someone else that wasn’t Kit. It was a funny feeling, having someone know about her secret. It was an even funnier feeling, how she felt so comfortable mentioning it to the last person she thought that would find out about it.

“How long have you been training with him?” He asks.

“Not long after my dad’s injury, so about two months now.” Ochako thought it was weird how two months could pass by so quickly, hell, she couldn’t believe that it had already been more than a month of her undergoing Bakugo’s tutoring sessions.

“Do they know?” He follows up, looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. A strange sensation settles in her stomach, had he been keeping these questions to himself for a while now? Had he just been holding them back ever since last week, waiting for a time when she was comfortable enough to talk about it?

“Yes and no.” She answers.

His face scrunches up in confusion, “The hell does yes and no mean?”

“Maybe if you listened with this,” Ochako points to her ear, “Rather than this,” then down to her mouth, “You’d find out.”

Bakugo rolls his eyes at her as he taps a finger to his ear three times, “I’m all ears, round face.”

“Good.” She smiles. Ochako was definitely getting used to his attitude, on top of that, she’s getting better at handling it.

“Well, yes, they know that I have a part time job.” She begins, brushing her hands against each other to fiddle with her fingers, “No, they don’t know what my actual job is.”

“What did you tell them then?” He asks.

“It’s stupid.” Ochako had only just now realized how stupidly ironic the answer to that question was.

His eyes droop at her avoidance of the question, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“I told them,” She looks up at him, a bit hesitant of what she was about to say, “that I was working as a part-time tutor.”

Bakugo’s lips draw tighter and the first signs of laughter prickle on the features of his face, but he decides against it and looks away instead, “Shit.”

“You’re allowed to laugh.” She says, “It’s ironic, isn’t it?”

“I’m not laughing.” Ochako hears him retort, still looking away.

“Like I’ve said before, it’s not that I’m ashamed of it.” She recalls, “I just think I’d be less worried if my daughter was tutoring people during her spare time instead of cleaning up vomit and bussing tables.”

Bakugo turns to her, the traces of laughter gone from his face, “It fits you, though.”

She raises an eyebrow at him, “Cleaning up vomit?”

“No, you idiot, your job.” He corrects her, eyebrows slightly furrowing in annoyance.

“You think that being a waitress in some cafe suits me?” She asks. It’s not everyday she gets to hear that from anybody, but then again there only used to be one person who knew about her job.

Bakugo focuses on the trail ahead of them once more, “You’re kind, selfless, tough.” he pauses, taking the time to look at her straight in the eyes, “And probably everything in between.”

Ochako would have teased him about using her own words from before if not for the rush of sparks that sent warm tingles from her arms to her toes, “You really think so?”

Another look of annoyance twists in his face, “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t, dumbass.” He barked.

“You got me there.” She laughs.

The path of soil they were treading gradually turned into concrete as they neared the bottom of the hill, the trees around them were getting fewer and fewer until most of them were now replaced by electric posts and houses. Ochako lagged behind Bakugo once again so that he could lead the way through all of the twists and turns until the houses morph into laundromats and convenience stores, finally stopping at an antique looking bookshop beside an even more ancestral looking house.

“This house looks different from all the other ones we passed by.” She points out, looking up at the enormous house before them, it’s wooden exterior looked worn, but still steadfast, as if it had endured the harshest of winds and the deepest of floods.

“You mean it looks older.” Bakugo asks, looking over to her.

“A lot older.” She confirms.

“Mr. Fujioka, the bookshop's owner, lives there.” He explains, looking up at the house as well, “They've lived here for more than forty years, and his bookshop has been around for no more than twenty.”

“You know him?” Ochako asks. He seemed to know a lot about this place, especially this house.

Bakugo shakes his head as he grabs the handle of the bookshop’s front door, “The old man just loves to talk my ear off about it whenever I come here.”

A strong musk of paper, ink, and wood immediately envelopes her the moment they step inside. What Ochako notices first is the shelves upon shelves of books covering almost every square inch of the store, leaving only narrow strips of carpeting as walkways to pass through, most of which were also littered with books stacked in piles on the floor.

She was stunted by how so many shelves could fit in such a small-scale place, and just when Ochako had thought that this place couldn't have any more room for books, she had noticed that even the walls that stretched from each side of the shop seemed to also function as wide, towering bookshelves. The only spot spared from the sight of books was the small, wooden, flat-top counter nestled in the far right corner of the store, in which a girl about her age, reading a magazine, seemed to be manning.

Ochako's initial thoughts would have said that this bookshop was overcrowded and cramped, but instead, for some reason it felt cozy, as if the entire bookshop was giving her a nice, warm, hug.

The girl behind the small counter, to which Ochako now knows has braided hair, looks up from her magazine, eyes instantly lighting up at the sight of Bakugo, "Katsuki!" She chirps, waving her hand vigorously towards him.

“Ignore her.” He says flatly, gently pushing her forward so that both of them would be out of the braided girl's sight behind the shelves.

“I’m guessing that’s not Mr. Fujioka?” She jokes.

He frowns at her, “You think?”

Ochako shoots him a nasty look back, “You don’t have to be a dick about it.”

Bakugo clicks his tongue in frustration, his hand raking through the golden locks on his head, “His granddaughter watches over this place from time to time.” He explains before steering her farther into the plethora of bookshelves, “She’s annoying.”

Bakugo must have been here a lot of times for him to know that Mr. Fujioka's granddaughter works here from time to time, he’s probably interacted with her enough times for him to consider her as someone who was annoying. She had deduced from before that Bakugo often refers to the people closest to him as annoying or bothersome, so using that logic, ‘Were they close?’

“Earth to round face.” Bakugo snaps his fingers in front of her face, forcing her out of her reverie.

“Hm?” Ochako turns to him, “What were you saying?”

“I said, the school supplies are over there.” He repeats impatiently, pointing to the back of the shop, “I’ll be in the fiction section.”

“Want me to get anything for you?” She asks him.

Bakugo looks to the side, quickly muttering some sort of checklist to himself before turning to her, “Two notebooks, one binder.”

“Okay.” She nodded before heading to the back of the store and true to what he had said, there was a small rack of school supplies that stood beside the shelf dedicated to children’s books. Ochako scanned the selection of items before her and swiftly picked out two pens, a black binder, and four notebooks. Two of them pink and the other two plain black.

Ochako makes her way to the fiction section of the store, approaching Bakugo as she spots him fixated on reading the back of a book, “Found anything good?” She asks.

“Looks sappy.” He points out.

“Sappy can be good.” She proposes, glancing at the book’s cover.

With a frown curling his lips, Bakugo returns the book and goes back to scanning the various titles etched on the worn spines on each book adorning the rickety shelf towering over them. ‘Picky’, she says in her head. Ochako transfers the school supplies she had picked out in one arm and takes the book he had just returned, reading the synopsis on the back.

“I’m buying it.” She smiles to herself.

Bakugo looks over to her, a disapproving frown once again twisting on his lips, “But it’s bad.”

“Come on,” She holds the book up with one hand to show him the cover, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

“I read the plot and my judgement says it’s trash.” He deadpans, going back to examining the wall of books before him.

“To each their own, I guess.” Ochako acknowledges, flipping through the novel in her hands. It wasn’t hard to tell that the books sold in this place were secondhand books that have probably been passed down from person to person, given the yellowish hue of their pages and the highlighted or underlined parts in some of them, “This will be for my dad, he likes to read too.”

“What genre?” Bakugo asks, shifting his attention away from the shelf once again.

“I think he prefers romance novels above all else,” She recalls grinning at the book in her hand, “You should see how much his vital signs spike up when he gets to a good part.”

Her father had been a dedicated reader ever since forever, but with the demands of work and family, he never really had the time to sit down and indulge in a good book as much as he used to, but now that he’s bedridden and confined in a hospital, he had all the time in the world to catch up on all the reading he had missed out on.

“He’s been reading a lot now since it kept him busy when mom and I aren’t around to visit.” She adds.

“How often do you get to see him?” He asks, the same unreadable expression hanging over his face. Ochako notices the similar, strange feeling sitting in the pit of her stomach and it confuses her. He was only asking questions, nothing bizarre about that.

“Not as much as I would want to because of my job, not to mention how long the trip to the hospital is, but you take what you can get.” She shrugs, hugging the romance novel to her chest.

“So he’s staying somewhere far away.” He speculates.

“Couldn’t get any farther than Hinode Hospital.” She points out, “But it’s fine, the doctors are top notch, the facilities are state of the art and my job pays well enough to help my mom keep it that way.”

Bakugo looks away, his attention shifting back to the array of books on the shelf, “They’re lucky to have you.” He says quietly, eyes still focused on the books.

Ochako sees him finally pluck out a thinner book from the top half of the shelf, “Give him this.” He says, holding it out for her to see, “It’s better.”

She leans over and peeks at the book’s cover, Yep, that looks like a romance novel.

“I don’t know, it looks sappy.” She observes, looking up at him, feigning disapproval. He frowns at her in response.

“I’m kidding.” She smiles, earning herself another irritated eye roll from him.

Bakugo offers to carry the items in her arms and his eyes fall to the black notebooks she had gotten him, “You got black ones?”

“You always have black ones.” She points out. Ochako had been his classmate for over two years now and his study partner for over a month. It only made sense that she would remember what color his notebooks were and without fail, they would always be black.

They head to the counter up front and Ochako doesn’t miss the lingering looks Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter had been giving Bakugo as he placed their items on the counter top. She knew that Bakugo was objectively attractive, but this girl was practically devouring him with her eyes, something that the object of her attraction failed to see since he was focused only on the items being scanned one by one in front of him.

The braided girl’s hand accidentally brushes over Bakugo’s as he was bringing the last item over to the counter, “Oh, sorry.” She apologizes in a soft voice. Unfortunately for her, Bakugo didn’t seem to hear what she had said nor did he even notice her hand brushing over his.

A negative sensation floods her system. Something about this girl was getting to Ochako, and it was probably because of her shameless attempts to catch his attention, not to mention the non consensual touching she had covered up as a simple ‘accident’.

They pay for the books and supplies before exiting the store, the negative feeling in Ochako’s gut finally diffusing out of her system because of the gentle breeze that had greeted them outside. Maybe it was also due to the cramped space inside, she thinks to herself.

“Let’s head back.” Bakugo says, taking the plastic bag of supplies from her hands.

“I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I prove you wrong.” She grins to herself, rubbing both of her palms together.

“You fucking wish.” Bakugo scoffs, rolling his eyes.

Ochako was about to start walking away from the store when a thought hits her like a bullet train running at 200 miles per hour, “The marker!” She exclaims, looking back at the bookshop.

“Ah, fuck.” Bakugo curses under his breath.

“I’ll be back!” She calls out to him as she runs back inside the store, racing towards the small rack of supplies at the back to grab the first marker she lays eyes on. Ochako rushes to the counter, but finds no one there. She leaned over to check if the braided girl had somehow hidden underneath the countertop, but she was still nowhere to be found.

She rushes outside to see Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter talking to Bakugo just across the shop from where Ochako had left him. His back was to her, but she could clearly see the smile stretched on the braided girl’s face as she beamed at him.

Ochako's first instinct was to get away from there as far as she can, her second instinct telling her that she was thirsty. ‘Yeah, she needed to find a drink’, she thinks to herself and that was exactly where her feet had taken her. She kept walking and rounding every corner she came across until she found a group of vending machines situated next to an electric post.

She walks towards them, leaning her back against the one on the right. She looks down at her hand and sees the marker she had grabbed, the same marker she absolutely did not pay for.

Crap.

What was she even doing? Wandering off on her own to god knows where just to find something to drink and now look at how well that went for her. Now, she’s lost and not only that, but she technically had a stolen marker under her name now.

She pushes herself off the vending machine and sighs before reaching for her wallet. Might as well do what I came here for.

Before she could even fish out enough change from her wallet, Ochako felt a buzz in her uniform’s pocket, only to see Bakugo’s name flash on the screen.

“Where the hell are you?” He immediately barks in her ear as soon as she had accepted the call.

Ochako looks around the vicinity, hoping for some kind of street post that would tell her where she was, but there were none, “I, um, don’t know.” She replies.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He snaps as soon as she finishes her sentence, “Where the hell did you go?”

“I got thirsty and tried looking for something to drink.” She glances over at the vending machines near her. That could be a landmark, “There’s vending machines where I am.”

“God fucking dammit, Cheeks.” She hears him curse on the other end of the line along with the sound of wind rushing past. Was he running? “How many vending machines and what color?” He presses on.

“Three red ones.” She answers, making sure to check again just to be sure.

“You're not far off,” Ochako hears another string of profanities on the other side of the call paired with alternating thuds of his sprinting footsteps, “Stay where you are. I'll go to you.”

“I’m sorry--”

“Apologize later, I’m almost there.”

“Okay.” She replies softly. There were honestly no more words left in her head to describe how stupid she felt at that moment. Wandering off on her own to find some stupid vending machine with some stupid drink thinking about that stupid girl with the stupid braids.

“Found you.”

She looks over to her right and sees Bakugo coming to a stop beside an electrical post several feet away from where she was standing with his phone brought up to one ear.

“Yeah.” She breathes out, holding the phone on her hand tighter.

“Now get off the fucking phone and get over here.” He barks, making her almost drop her phone.

Ochako rushes over to him, already prepared for the ear splitting lecture she was about to receive. One of the first things she noticed was the thin, sheen of sweat covering his face, making strands of his hair stick to his skin, the other was the sound of his breaths, heavy and labored.

“Remind me again why you wandered off without telling me?” He breathes out, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“You were talking to Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter and I didn’t want to interrupt--”

He frowns and turns away from her, walking towards the direction of where he had come from, “You clearly don’t know your way around here and then you go off on your own as if you fucking do.” He spits out. The harshness of his words reached her even if she was a good few feet behind him.

“You said it yourself that you haven’t been here before and yet here you are getting yourself lost because of some stupid--”

“It was a stupid thing to do, okay?” She calls out to him, “I’m sorry.”

Bakugo keeps on walking at his own quickened pace, but after a while, his hands find both sides of his face, dragging them downwards accompanied by an exasperated groan. Ochako notices his footsteps slow down to match hers so that they were once again walking side by side.

He turns to her, “Did you atleast get the damn marker.”

“About that,” Ochako starts, “I may or may not have accidentally shoplifted it.” She lifts the unpaid marker up for him to see.

“You what?” He asks in disbelief.

“I promise I didn’t mean to, let’s just go back and I’ll apologize and pay for it--”

“We’re not going back there.” Bakugo interjects as they rounded a corner, ultimately walking past the bookshop.

“Why not?” She asks him, a little winded because of the brisk walking she was doing due to all the twists and turns they were taking as the laundromats and convenience stores around them turned back into electrical posts and residential houses.

“I don’t want to get ambushed by that gremlin again.” He huffs out.

“But how am I supposed to pay for this?” She waves the technically stolen marker up in the air once more as they walk back to the uphill trail headed to UA.

“I’ll figure something out.” He says, taking the maker from her and placing it inside the plastic bag along with the rest of their stuff. She turns to him, still a bit puzzled by how much Bakugo wanted to avoid that place because of Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter

“What happened?” Ochako asks, “You and Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter?” It must have been really bad if it made Bakugo want to steer clear of that bookshop.

“She said that she had some kind of message from her grandfather, but turns out the crazy witch just wanted my number in the fucking end.” He explains, kicking a stray pebble to the side of the dirt trail.

“Ah.” A part of her had already expected that answer from him, considering the way that braided girl had been undressing him with her eyes the entire time they were paying for their items a while ago. Another part of her was relieved that Bakugo had reacted the way he did with Mr. Fujioka’s granddaughter, not because she was jealous or anything, no, but it was simply because she wouldn’t be good for him to begin with and Bakugo was clearly not interested.

Before her thoughts could have any more chances to delve into matters such as Bakugo and jealousy, Ochako feels a buzz in her coat pocket.

“Mom?” She says as soon as her phone meets her ear. She sees Bakugo stop walking as he shoots her a look that asked, ‘Let’s stop?’ , but Ochako shakes her head and carries on in response, it would be better if they returned to UA faster.

“Honey!” Ochako hears her mom exclaim, “I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time.”

“No, no, you’re fine, mom.” She quickly replies. Her mom couldn’t have chosen a better time to call since the thoughts in her head had been needing a push towards a different direction, “What's up?”

“Well, you know how particularly chatty your father gets whenever we visit.” Her mother starts. Ochako could already hear the fond smile in her voice, “He couldn't stop talking about you, honey, and we both just ended up missing you more.”

“Oh, Mom.” She croaked, “I miss you too, both of you.”

Ochako’s classmates would normally visit home during the weekends, some even having the luxury of going home to visit their families after classes, but she only gets to see hers on Sundays, but even those sundays weren’t always free for her to use on family time since sometimes she needed it to study the lessons and finish the homework she had missed out on because of her job.

“Your father and I just wanted to know how you were doing, Ochako.”

“Everything's okay, mom.” She reassures her, “I’m okay.”

“Have you been eating well?” Her mother asks with a considerable amount of worry coating her voice. Ochako almost laughs at this, her mom has never failed to ask her about how well she’s eating in every conversation they have. She’s too worrisome for her own good, but then again, she was a mother.

“Yes, mom. I’m eating perfectly well.” Ochako chuckles.

“Are you sure?” Her mom adds, “You don’t miss my cooking at all?”

“Mom!” She laughs, “Of course I do, I miss it everyday.” Ochako hears her mother laugh on the other side of the line. There was no lie there, one of the many things she missed about home was the dishes her mother used to prepare for her and her father everyday. Nothing could ever replace that.

“How’s dad doing?” She asks, the cheerfulness in her voice decreasing at the thought of her father in a hospital.

“Here, why don’t you ask him yourself.”

She hears some distant shuffling in the background as her mother transfers the phone to her dad. Ochako’s heart almost beats out of her chest in anticipation.

“Dumpling! I missed you!” She hears her dad cheer. If Bakugo weren’t around, Ochako would have already burst into tears at the sound of her father's voice. As sappy as it may sound, she was getting desperate to hear it after all the stress the past weeks have been bringing down upon her. If only she was there to see the smile on his face as he greeted her by her favorite nickname.

“I miss you too, dad.” She smiles, “How’ve you been?”

“Bored.” Her father says flatly, “The nurses here have no sense of humor.”

“Don’t worry,” Ochako laughs, “Mom’s there to laugh at all your jokes.”

“She’s no fun.” She hears him pout, “Your mother makes better ones.”

Ochako’s chuckles and smiles so hard she feels her cheeks begin to cramp. She missed her dad’s jokes. It was another kind of joy to hear them and it had been a while since she last did.

“Oh! Before I forget to mention it.” She adds, “I bought something for you.”

“Oh?”

“The Forbidden Kiss by Yui Himari.” She recalls the book that Bakugo had picked out for her. It was the perfect novel for her father to read because if he loved anything more than he loved romances, it would be forbidden romances.

“I’ve heard good things about that one!” He says, brimming with enthusiasm, “I gotta give it to you, dumpling, you got good taste in books.”

“Yep.” Ochako glances at the blond walking beside her only to see that he was already looking at her, “I do have pretty good taste in books.” She smiles at him.

‘Damn right, I do.’ He mouths.

“Is there a sequel?” Her father asks, “I gotta know in case there’s a cliffhanger.”

“Is there a sequel?” She repeats, looking up at Bakugo once again in hopes of getting an answer from him. He holds up three fingers and mouths, ‘Trilogy’.

“It’s a trilogy actually,” She replies, “So you don’t have to worry about getting cliffhangered.”

“That’s good.” He laughs, “Visit soon, okay, dumpling?”

Ochako feels a tight squeeze in her heart, homesickness flooding her veins once more, “I will, dad. I promise.”

“Now, shoo. I have a wife I need to annoy.” He teases with mock annoyance.

“Bye, dad.” She smiles before her father ends the call.

“When are you gonna give it to him?” Bakugo asks as they walk past the UA Arch at the back of their campus. They were finally back.

“Thankfully, I’m free this Sunday, so I’ll be spending the entire day there.” Ochako claps her hands together, the smile on her face still unwavering. That phone call really did the trick, she feels as if she could take on another month no matter how stressful it may be. Honestly speaking, she thinks she could take on anything.

“Training with Gunhead and keeping up with school fucks everything up for you, doesn’t it?” Bakugo asks as they begin to climb the first flight of stairs.

“Yep.” She agrees.

“You can do it.” He says, stopping in the middle of the second set of stairs. She pauses as well, looking up at him to see that unreadable expression back on his face once again, “That shit’s child’s play for you, round face.”

Ochako smiles at him before speeding past him, “Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy.”

“And another thing,” Bakugo adds, “You’re a little miss hotshot all of a sudden, aren’t you?”

“Hotshot?” She calls out to him. Ochako doesn’t remember doing anything that would merit a nickname like that. Round Face, Cheeks, and Weirdo, she understood, but Little Miss Hotshot?

“Getting the best grade in Midnight’s essay, answering all of Mic’s questions in straight english, beating ponytail’s ass to all of Ectoplasm’s practice problems?” He enumerates as they stand in front of the classroom’s entrance, “Ring a bell?”

Ochako was stunned by the fact that he even remembered all of those things when she herself had forgotten about it. It had been more than a month of her being tutored by Bakugo and she hadn’t even noticed how much she had been improving over the weeks. Turns out she was improving a lot.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, though.” She turns to him, a warm smile stretching over her face before opening the door and stepping inside. It was true. She wouldn’t have gotten this far if not for his help, no matter how much they may argue and bicker during their sessions, she will never deny the fact that she was learning from him.

“Go on, hotshot.” He says before handing her the marker, “Prove me wrong.”

---

“And that’s why I used the second formula to solve it.” She underlines the first part of her work before facing her one-man audience sitting at the far end of the classroom with his feet resting on top of the chair in front of him.

“Why not the first one?” He challenges.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She starts, “See this? What number is this?” Ochako encircles a part of the given problem.

“I’m not blind, round face.” He says flatly.

“Just answer the damn question, Bakugo.” She snaps. She was this close to proving him wrong, she’d like it if he wouldn’t throw anymore snarky comments that would only prolong the grand finale.

“Three.” He drones impatiently.

“You only use the first formula for even limits and the second for odd ones.” Ochako explains, “Since when was three an even number?”

Bakugo’s eyebrows furrow at the sudden revelation of his mistake, but after a few seconds, he scoffs and rolls his eyes at her, “It’s not.”

“Then I rest my case.” She gloats, taking a seat at one of the desks at the front. Ochako knew for damn sure that she was right all along. All she needed was a chance to prove it and for Bakugo to listen and cooperate.

“Happy with yourself, Cheeks?” He asks sarcastically.

“Oh, you know it.” Ochako smiles to herself. She glances at the timer on her phone and to make matters even better, they had finished their session earlier than usual.

“By the way,” She turns to him and holds up the marker she had just used, “How am I going to pay for this again?”

Bakugo holds his hand up in the air and she tosses it to him, “I’ll text the old man and pay for it the next time I stop by Kinoku.” He says, catching it just in time before it hit the ground. Ochako notices the slight movement in his chair as he caught the marker, if he had leaned back a little further, he could have fallen.

“You know, if you keep tipping your chair back like that, you’re going to end up falling.” She warns him.

“Just because you got a math problem right, doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to-- Shit!”

Ochako’s prediction comes true, Bakugo’s chair slips and tumbles to the ground, bringing him along with it. She didn’t mean to laugh, but the look on Bakugo’s face when the chair fell over was just too priceless for her not to.

“I told you so.” She chortles in between laughs.

She doesn’t hear anything from Bakugo after her laughter had died down, nor did she see him try standing back up. From where she was sitting, she could see part of his legs flat on the floor, unmoving.

“Bakugo?” She lifts herself up from her seat and walks over to the back of the classroom. Her heart pounded with worry in each step she took towards the farthest chair in the back. Did he hurt himself? Oh, god, what if he hit his head?

Ochako reaches Bakugo’s seat, but she didn’t even have enough seconds to react to the leg that swiftly swipes across her feet.

“That’s what you get for laughin-- Fuck!”

Bakugo's sentence was cut short by her body crash landing on his. Bakugo's hands instinctively reach for her waist in an attempt to catch her while Ochako's arms quickly fly in front of her to prevent both their heads from colliding.

Bakugo's little revenge plan may have intended for her her to fall flat on the floor like he did, but it only led to the unfavorable position of Ochako being pressed on top of Bakugo, both their legs slightly tangled in one another as the strands of hair that hung from her head brush against the stunned expression on Bakugo's face.

None of them dared to move an inch, with both their eyes locking onto each other, wide with surprise as the steady rhythm of their breaths filled the empty, unsure silence that settled in the room. Her heart raced a thousand miles per minute upon the delayed realization of how close their faces were, not to mention the grip Bakugo still had on her sides that only grew tighter with each passing moment.

Don’t look at his lips. Don't look at his lips. Don't look at his lips. The desperate mantra in her head repeated over and over, making sure her eyes never left his.

Don't look at his lips.

It might just be a trick of the light, but to her surprise, Bakugo looks down at hers.

The resounding ring of the alarm on her phone suddenly fills the air and they immediately scramble off of each other in lightning speed. Bakugo hurriedly collects his bag from the floor and rushes out of the room while Ochako hastily grabs her things from her seat.

She looks back at the door and sees it turn upside down. Ochako feels the two pieces of hair that framed her face fall in front of her as she realizes that her feet were no longer on the ground.

She was floating.

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freddiesaysalright · 5 years ago

Text

Soft in Love Part 9

A Gwilym Lee x Student!Reader Fic

Summary: Y/N is an acting student in her last semester of college. When a professor unexpectedly can’t make it for the senior capstone class, a very famous (and handsome) substitute is called in. When they connect, they face a few challenges.

Word Count: 3.2k

Tag List: @psychosupernatural, @someone-get-a-medic, @bensrhapsody, @deakyclicks, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @minigranger, @crazyweirdocalledfriday, @benders-diamond-earring, @im-an-adult-ish, @anincurablefangirl, @kiainspace, @lookuptotheskiesandsee, @god-save-the-deaks, @assembledherethevolunteers, @misslolasworld, @not-john-watsons-blog, @spacedustmazzello, @theindiealto, @riddikuluslypotter, @depressedbitchxox, @tenement-funstah, @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls, @sarablog10, @johndeaconshands, @coincidence-ithinknots-blog, @simonedk, @queenlover05, @goodoldfashionedloverboyy, @the-claire-bitch-project, @kerouacsroad, @rose-writes-prose If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: The drama intensifies! Gwilym and Y/N make some important decisions regarding Edith’s blackmail.

Warning(s): none!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Part 9 here we go!!!

That night, Gwilym picked you up from your dorm. His hands were sweaty as he waited for you to emerge. Again, he was debating telling you about Edith and her threats. That way you wouldn’t be so angry at him. But a stronger part of him didn’t want to make you feel bad. Still, he knew you were going to have questions. He had to come up with something to say to satisfy you.

You slid into the passenger seat, his heart skipping its usual beat at the sight of your smile. When you leaned over to kiss him, he was surprised.

“You’re not angry with me?” he wondered as you sat back to buckle up.

You shook your head. “Daniel told me what happened.”

“Daniel?”

You explained what Daniel told you in the dressing room. You even shared his suggestion to break up and take away Edith’s power. You carefully watched Gwilym’s expression at this. His mouth turned down and he narrowed his eyes. He pulled up to his hotel in silence. As you followed him to his room, you grew more anxious. He wasn’t actually considering what Daniel said was he? You had refused it as an option because it felt impossible. Did Gwilym not feel the same? What did that mean?

Gwilym opened the door for you and you walked inside, legs slightly shaking. You weren’t sure what he might say now. Would he end it?

He flopped down on the bed, lying spread eagle. You crawled up after him and cuddled into his side. His arm draped over your shoulders. It made you feel so safe.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” he said. “She can’t take shows from you.”

“I dunno, baby,” you said. “Maybe we should just let this happen.”

“It’s not right!” he protested.

“No, it’s not, but what can we do?” you replied. “We’ve sort of done this to ourselves.”

“I know,” he sighed irritably. “But I hate this for you.”

“I do too,” you agreed. “I really do. Especially opening night. I wish you had given her closing instead.”

“She asked for that,” he said. “But I couldn’t.”

You sat up and looked sharply at him. “What?! Why?!”

“Now that, I really can’t tell you,” he said. “I’ve got something in mind for that night.”

“A surprise?” you asked, curiosity piqued. “What is it?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?” he returned.

He sat up too and pressed his lips to your temple. Then he sighed again. Your eyes searched his face. You saw in his eyes a deep sadness. It had come on so suddenly, it frightened you.

“I think Daniel’s right,” he said. “I think we should...call it a day.”

Once again, tears filled your eyes.

“Is that really what you want?” you whimpered.

He looked at you, took in your tearful face, and he pulled you into his arms.

“Of course it’s not,” he said. “I just don’t want you to miss out on your rightful chance. I care about you too much, and if being without me is better for you -”

“Stop it,” you sighed and tugged yourself away from him. “Gwilym, you either want to be with me or not. Which is it?”

“I want to be with you,” he answered without hesitation. “It’s just that -”

“No, listen to me,” you said. “It doesn’t matter if we break up. She still heard what she heard, and so did Dan. We can get through this as a couple or separate and still have the same problem.”

He looked thoughtfully at the floor.

“I suppose you’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have considered it.”

You offered a watery smile. “It’s alright. Just...fuck, Gwil. What are we going to do?”

“So now you’re on board to do something?” he teased.

“Yes!” you said, perking up. “Edith can’t do this. She can’t take my shows away from me and she can’t take you away from me.”

“I admire your conviction, darling,” he said with a soft smile.

“Well, she can’t,” you repeated stubbornly.

His heart swelled as he looked at your determined face.

“You’re so cute,” he said, cupping your cheek. You closed your eyes to his touch. “I love you.”

Your eyes snapped open to meet Gwilym’s. His were wide, frightened, as if he’d just told you something terrible instead of perhaps the most wonderful thing you’d ever heard in your life.

“You...you love me?”

Gwilym took a deep breath, relaxing his face. He looked at you. This time with strength and confidence.

“Yes, Y/N,” he said. “That’s where my heart is. I love you.”

A smile spread slowly across your face as he said it again.

“I love you too,” you replied. “So, so much.”

He grinned. Then pulled you in for another kiss. It was soft and tender and expressive. Everything that reflected the moment. Your heart felt full. This was so right.

“I love you,” he said again as you parted. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you giggled.

“Because I love you, I’m not going to let Edith have this,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’m going to restore your nights to you and go to the Dean’s office myself.”

Panic shot through you.

“No!” you cried. “They’ll fire you!”

“So what?” he returned. “I’ll tell them it was me, and you shouldn’t be punished.”

“If you’re going to lie, it might as well be a flat out denial,” you pointed out. “Let’s face it, I came on to you. I think we should let her go to the Dean’s office and then deny when there’s questions.”

“It is her word against ours,” he said.

“Oh, fuck,” you sighed.

“What?”

“I forgot about Dan,” you said. “He heard us too. She’s got another witness.”

“Shit,” he muttered.

A beat passed as you both pondered.

“Y/N, please let me do the honorable thing,” he said. “Let me take the fall for this so you don’t have to lose.”

You bottom lip quivered. “But then you’ll leave…”

“It won’t be forever,” he said. “I’ll stay in New York until you’re done and then we’ll figure it out. Together.”

“I can’t let you,” you told him. “I can’t let you take this alone.”

“Please,” he said again. “Let me do this for you.”

A tear slid down your cheek. Any more ups and downs and you were sure your head would literally be spinning.

“We don’t have to decide tonight,” you said. “I’m so tired. Can’t we just lay down and forget about all of it? We love each other, we should be celebrating.”

He smiled gently.

“You’re right,” he said. “I’ll order some champagne and then we’ll just relax. It’s been a long day.”

“You’re the best,” you told him.

He did order champagne and some dinner from room service. Together, you ate, took a bath, and then settled into bed and watched some trashy reality TV show. For a couple hours, all thoughts of Edith, the show, and anything else were null and void. You were in love with Gwilym, and he loved you right back. Despite everything going on, you were completely and totally happy.

On Thursday, when you arrived early, Edith and Gwilym were already there. He was speaking calmly to her but she looked furious. Her eyes flashed toward you when you walked through the door. She stormed toward you.

“Just because you’re fucking the professor, you think you can get whatever you want,” she spat. Literally. She was so close to you, you felt drops of saliva on your face. “Well, I’ll get rid of you right now!”

“Oh, shut up,” you replied, rolling your eyes. “I got the part of Esther before Gwilym was even here.”

She stamped her foot and then whipped around to face Gwilym again.

“I’m going to the Dean’s office right now!” she shouted. “You’ll both be out of here!”

“Go then!” you yelled back.

She swept out of the auditorium, trying to slam the door behind her, but it was too slow and it clicked shut softly. When she was well away, you jogged over to Gwilym.

“What do you want to do?” you asked frantically.

He stared at the spot where Edith disappeared.

“I want to keep teaching,” he admitted. “I want to stay with you.”

“So, we lie?” you wondered.

He nodded and looked at you. “We lie.”

You sat in anxiety for the remainder of the ten minutes until the rest of the class started showing up. Gwilym started to go on with class as usual, starting with attendance, when suddenly, Edith burst back into the auditorium. You would have rolled your eyes at her dramatics if it weren’t for the three people following her: Dr. Curtis, the head of the department; Dr. Dragel, the Dean of Students; and Sheri Peacock, the Chancellor.

Gwilym glanced at you before turning to his old teacher.

“Dr. Curtis,” he said. “To what do I owe the pleasure of our guests?”

“It’s very serious, Gwilym,” Dr. Curtis replied. “Miss Bernard here has made an...an accusation.”

“What sort of accusation?” Gwilym asked.

God, he was good. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought him genuinely confused.

“About you and Y/N,” Edith said. “You’re sleeping together!”

The whole class turned eyes on you and Sloan gasped loudly next to you. Andrew was staring daggers into your left side. Gwilym blinked and his mouth dropped. You wanted to disappear into your chair. You didn't think she’d do this in front of the whole class.

“I - are you joking?!” he cried. “That’s ridiculous!”

“It is not a joke, Mr. Lee,” said Dr. Dragel. He was a stern man who was not very popular with the student body because of his strictness. “This sort of accusation is no laughing matter. She claims she heard the act taking place in Dr. Bennett’s office.”

The whole class was whispering now, a wave of shock going through them. Sloan grabbed your arm and leaned into your ear.

“Is it true?” she hissed.

You gave a curt nod, barely moving at all, and only after ensuring that the three upper faculty members had their back to you. Sloan glared fiercely at you.

“We should discuss this in private,” Dr. Curtis said. “There are dressing rooms backstage where we won’t cause so much commotion.”

He scanned the crowd and found you.

“Y/N, come with us, please,” he said.

You stood up, feeling every person’s eyes on you as you shimmied down the row and into the aisle. The murmurs of everyone were driving you crazy. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you guessed the general idea. They were discussing favoritism and scandal. You clearly heard the word “slut” from someone a row in front of you.

Putting your head down, you followed the faculty members and Edith to the dressing room. The same one where Gwil had delivered the horrible news to you earlier that week. Chancellor Peacock and Dr. Dragel looked between you and Gwilym as Dr. Curtis closed the door.

“Well, Miss Y/L/N,” said Chancellor Peacock. “Is it true? Are you and Mr. Lee in a relationship?”

“No!” you insisted. “Edith’s been jealous of me all semester, she’s making this up!”

“Don’t lie, I heard you!” Edith interjected.

“Miss Bernard, please,” said Dr. Dragel. “We’ve heard your side of the story, now we need to hear theirs.”

“I don’t know what she heard - if she heard anything at all,” you said. “But I don’t go to office hours ever. I don’t need to. This class has only one grade and it’s the show.”

“Why would Miss Bernard accuse you of something like this?” wondered Chancellor Peacock.

“Edith’s ambitious and jealous,” you said. “She really wanted my part. Not to mention, she’s been hitting on Gwilym all semester. Everyone in class will tell you that. I guess it was because she was upset I got more attention from him than she did.”

“Mr. Lee, anything to say?” Dr. Dragel asked, turning to Gwilym.

“Y/N is right, Edith has made several advances, all of which I’ve turned down,” he said. “I don’t want to say she’s a liar, but I can’t speak to what she heard that day.”

“Were you...watching pornography or something?” Dr. Dragel pressed.

“What? God, no!” Gwilym answered. “That office doesn’t even belong to me. I wouldn’t dream of doing something like that.”

Chancellor Peacock looked at Edith. “Is it true you made advances toward Gwilym?”

Edith’s face went pink. “Well - I - yes, I did,” she admitted. “But I stopped after a while because he was so clearly into Y/N.”

“Was it clear?” Dr. Curtis spoke up. “Y/N is the star of the show, it’s natural for the director to spend extra time with her. In all my rehearsals with you, I’ve never noticed anything other than professionalism from both of you. Edith on the other hand, I did see being flirtatious.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Dr. Dragel snapped.

“Well, I expected the girls to like him,” Dr. Curtis said. “Look at him! It didn’t seem very serious, so I let it go.”

“Let me get this straight,” Chancellor Peacock said. “Edith has been flirting with Gwilym consistently over the semester. She wanted Y/N’s role from the start. Y/N got more attention from Gwilym. Now, just two weeks before the show opens, she’s come to us with a claim of an inappropriate relationship between Y/N and Gwilym that no one else can corroborate. Is that the situation here?”

“Yes,” you and Gwilym said in unison then exchanged a playful smile.

“Well, then,” Dr. Dragel said. “I think it’s perfectly clear what’s going on.”

“Hold on, I have another witness!” Edith said desperately. “Daniel was with me when I heard them. He heard it too.”

Your stomach dropped. Dr. Curtis left the room to fetch Daniel and get his statement on things. Your heart pounded. Would Daniel lie? Would he defend what Edith said? He told you he didn’t agree with her, but he was already on academic probation. If he lied now, and was found out, he could be suspended from the school.

You looked at Gwilym, willing him to look back at you, only he didn’t. He couldn’t really. It would be too obvious now. Your hand itched to clasp his for comfort. If this was the moment you went down together, you needed his support. Only, you couldn’t. Everything hinged on what Daniel might say. When the door opened, it startled you.

“Okay, Mr. Snow,” said Dr. Dragel. “Here’s what we’ve heard.”

He went over everything again. What Edith said, what you and Gwilym said, and all the information. Daniel listened, not looking at anyone, his focus solely on Dr. Dragel.

“So,” Dr. Dragel wrapped up. “Did you hear them...uh...well - did you hear them -”

“Bangin’?” Daniel finished.

Dr. Dragel flushed. You fought back a brutal urge to throttle your ex boyfriend.

Chancellor Peacock interjected. “Did you hear them having intercourse in the office?”

“Nope,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Edith’s mouth dropped. Yours almost did too, but you couldn’t look shocked. You looked relieved instead, which was also something you were feeling.

“We went to his office so Edith could ask to play Esther for one night,” Daniel went on. “Gwilym said no. That was that.”

Gwilym sighed with relief. You did the same.

“Well, I think this makes things perfectly clear,” said Dr. Curtis, glaring at Edith. “You, young lady, will be -”

Guilt washed over you. Edith wasn’t lying, and as angry as you were with her, she didn’t deserve to be punished.

“Dr. Curtis,” you said, interrupting. “Please don’t punish Edith. I know her actions were drastic, but jealousy is a complicated emotion. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Miss Y/L/N, this is a serious thing she accused a member of our faculty of,” Dr. Dragel said. “And quite frankly, any disciplinary action is not up to you.”

“I agree with Y/N,” Gwilym added. “It was likely a misunderstanding. Something she thought she heard, but didn’t. Besides, it’s not like I’m a permanent member of faculty.”

“Permanent or otherwise,” Dr. Dragel went on. “To falsely accuse someone of taking advantage of a student makes cases like these all the harder for real victims of such offenses. It isn’t right.”

You opened your mouth to protest again, seeing the anguish on Edith’s face, but Chancellor Peacock stepped forward.

“Dr. Dragel, Dr. Curtis, and I will deal with Edith now,” she said. “The rest of you may go.”

“But -”

“Y/N, we must go,” Gwilym cut across you.

He led you and Daniel back out, and all three of you went to the next dressing room on the other side of the stage. You popped in and closed the door.

“Thank you!” you cried, throwing yourself into Daniel’s arms. “Thank you so much!”

“No problem,” he returned. “You can owe me one.”

“I owe you a thousand,” you said, pulling back and looking at him.

“Why stand up for Edith, though?” he asked.

“Because she wasn’t actually lying,” you replied. “I felt kinda bad.”

Daniel laughed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Really, Daniel, thank you,” Gwilym added, extending his hand.

Daniel shook it. “Really, it’s nothing. The situation is all kinds of fucked, but I thought you guys deserved a chance.”

He looked at you and remembered how you’d exclaimed your love for Gwilym. He would never tell you so, but that was what convinced him to lie for you.

“It means a great deal,” Gwilym said. “Now, I’ve got to go tell the class what happened so they don’t get carried away.”

“Oh, yeah, pretty sure Mary and Leon already started a rumor that Y/N is pregnant,” Daniel said.

Gwilym sighed. “Oh, God. I might be too late.”

You chuckled as Gwilym kissed you swiftly on the cheek and went out. You looked at Daniel.

“Seriously, Dan, if there’s anything I can do for you,” you said. “Let me know.”

He looked at the floor and toed the ground with his boot. “Well...there is one thing.”

“Anything!” you reminded him.

“D’you…” he trailed off. “Ah, nevermind, it’s stupid.”

You took his arm before he could leave.

“Dan, just tell me,” you said.

He sighed. “Do you know if Andrew is into guys at all?”

You blinked, absolutely stunned.

“A-are you into guys?” you questioned.

“Yeah…” he said. “Well, mostly the one guy. But he’s so hung up on you and I dunno how he feels about...y’know…”

You smiled. “To answer your question, yes, Andrew is also into guys. And I think he’s mad enough at me now to be over me.”

Daniel chuckled. “Alright. Thanks, Y/N.”

“If you’re gonna go for Andrew, you better not cheat on him,” you warned.

“I won’t,” he said with a laugh. “Promise.”

You went out together to the auditorium.

“...so please forget what you heard,” Gwilym was finishing up. “It was all a misunderstanding.”

“So, you and Y/N aren’t sleeping together?” asked Leon.

“No, we’re not,” Gwilym said.

Your eyes found Andrew and Sloan. Both of them were glowering at you. You knew they were mad, and you were pretty sure you understood why. You just hoped they could understand too.

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thepoliticalpatient · 4 years ago

Text

Healthcare objectives for the Biden administration

For the next 2 years we hold the slimmest possible majority in the Senate, we have the House, and we have the presidency. We can get a lot done with that, but we will largely be limited to what we can accomplish via the budget reconciliation process, a process that allows the Senate to pass bills with only 50 votes, rather than the usual 60, but requires that all components of the bill be directly related to federal spending.

Here are some things that we can and should get done:

A simple bill to nullify the lawsuit against the ACA

This needs to happen basically immediately after inauguration. Congress can pass a bill through the budget reconciliation process reinstating the tax penalty for not buying insurance at just $1, and the basis for the whole lawsuit will be null and void. But they have to pass this before SCOTUS rules on the suit, which could happen literally any day.

Fixing the ACA’s subsidy cliff

The ACA has a serious problem with its subsidy structure. Anyone making 400% of the federal poverty level or less qualifies for subsidies that make the plans affordable. But if you’re making even just a little too much, you no longer qualify for any financial help, and the out of pocket price for a plan jumps drastically. Through reconciliation, we can and should pass a bill that caps the OOP price of ACA plans at a percentage of income for everybody, to ensure that nobody has to pay more than they can afford.

Expanding low-cost healthcare for people living in non-Medicaid expansion states

Since 12 states have not expanded Medicaid, low income residents of these states often don’t have affordable healthcare options. We can’t force these states to expand Medicaid, but we could expand the ACA to offer highly subsidized private plans to this population.

Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices

Coverage for prescription drugs was added to Medicare in 2006, but drug companies lobbied to prevent Medicare from being able to negotiate the prices. Removing this restriction would probably not change the out of pocket costs for patients, since Medicare prescription copays are usually a fixed cost and not a percentage of the sticker price. But it would save the federal government money that it could use to help pay for other healthcare endeavors, like the prior 2 proposals I just described, and it would also be a good check on pharma companies to tell them that they can’t just charge whatever the hell they want to and expect to get away with it.

Maybe a public option?

A public option probably cannot be passed through budget reconciliation, so it’s the most ambitious item on here as we’d have to convince Republicans to vote for it. I still hesitate to say that it isn’t doable, considering that this is policy that is a whole-ass decade old - it was in the original text of the ACA but had to be stripped out to appease Joe Lieberman. America was almost ready for a public option 11 years ago and we’re past ready now. But, unfortunately, it is still ambitious at this time.

Medicare for All is not going to happen with any immediacy

Medicare for All would not fit within the restrictions of budget reconciliation, and we will not be able to convince 10 Republican Senators to vote for it. It cannot realistically pass in the next 2 years. We can continue laying the groundwork and making arguments for why it’s a good policy in hopes of passing it in the future, of course.

#healthcare #biden #affordable care act #aca #obamacare #california v texas #medicare #medicaid #public option #medicare for all #m4a #single-payer #essay post #health insurance #us politics

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fabulousahoy · 5 years ago

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Original Story - J & O - Chapter 1

I wrote an original story... well part one of it. Dunno if it any good, but imma posting anyway.

A defeated and resigned Pumpkin Man gets a visit from his old “friend” which causes him a lot of trouble.

Far away from all civilization, in a dimension between life and death stands a small house. Hidden from prying eyes of humans and other creatures alike, this house belongs to a certain being. He who once struck fear into the hearts of men, yet now resides here. Alone, detached from everything. He who once commanded the entire might of Underworld, the Lord of Pumpkins himself... Jack'O.

* * *

Returning home with groceries was usually the best part of the "shopping day". Though of course, it's not like Jack'O actually bought stuff. It was more akin to stealing, though he preferred to call it "borrowing without giving back". After all, the only place he ventured to from his pocket dimension is the human world. Buying stuff is quite challenging(impossible) when you have a giant pumpkin for a head. Besides, he did not have any money anyway.

As he crossed over from the usual dirty alley into the dimension his home was in, Jack'O let out a sigh of relief. Navigating human cities always gave him anxiety, even if he does it after dark. Now that he stood at his front porch however, everything was peachy. He snapped his fingers in order to close the dimensional gateway and without even turning back he opened the door with his right foot. There was no need to lock them ever. No one could get into this dimension without him allowing it anyway. Humming to himself Jack'O entered the house, unaware that the gateway did not close completely. A small hole remained through which some sort of black liquid slowly poured in. After couple of minutes it stopped, and the hole closed itself. As if it was alive, the huge pool of black goo began to move towards the house.

After putting away everything he bought, Jack'O sat down down in his favorite(only) armchair by the fireplace and sighed in relief. Reaching out with his right hand towards the table, he took a dart out of a cup full of them and set his aim on the dartboard hanging above the fireplace. This particular one is a custom, which Jack'O made in the image of the creature he despised the most. The dartboard itself had the shape of a demon's head with crudely painted details, such as a shark-teeth smile and an eye patch.

Before he had a chance to throw the dart, a loud knocking noise came from the front door.

- What the...

Jack'O got up from his chair, taken aback by this impossible situation. He simply stood there as the sound continued.

- Who's there?!

The knocking stopped for a couple of seconds, only to resume again at a faster pace. Losing his patience, he decided that the only right course of action is to open the door and face whoever or whatever it is. After arming himself with a frying pan he slowly approached the door and in one swift move opened it. But there was no one there. He stepped out into the porch but he found no signs of anyone or anything.

- Maybe it was the wind. Or maybe I just need more sleep.

With that said, Jack'O returned inside the house and shut the door behind him. Once back inside however he noticed someone is sitting in his armchair.

- Cozy house you got here, Jacky. Mind if I crash here for awhile?

A long time has passed since he last heard this voice. Voice of the repulsing demon who betrayed him and because of whom he became a literal nobody.

- You...

- Indeed. Me.

The entire house shook to its foundations when Jack'O fired a giant beam of dark matter energy from both of his hands. His poor and trusty armchair exploded into nothing in an instant taking the table and darts with itself. Laying on the floor near the fireplace was a demon woman. Long black hair, pale skin, all white Gothic-like coat, a huge eye patch over the right eye and of course a pair of pointy horns. The look on her face was a mix between shock and genuine confusion.

- How dare you show your face to me, you foul carcass of the abyss?!

Jack'O began preparing another attack. Within his hollow eyes burned a fire, one which hasn't burned for long years.

- Look, Jacky. I know last time we saw each other, we had a bit of an uh... scuffle, you and me but...

The Lord of Pumpkins roared like a crazy beast and fired another shot, this one destroyed the fireplace along with the rest of the wall. The woman avoided the blast at the last second by jumping towards the kitchen then rolling into it like a ball. She stopped by hitting the sink so hard the faucet almost came loose. Now laying on the back with legs over her head she watched as the furious Jack'O towered over her like some sort of murderous madman with a vengeance.

- Okay, could you please stop trying to kill me, Jacky? I'm not here to fight you, and besides, I have had enough of a roller coaster ride today as it is.

- Then why are you here?

- Look, if you'll stop destroying your house and we just sit down like civilized Underworlders, I'll tell you everything.

The Lord of Pumpkins' fire seemed to have been instantly extinguished the moment he realized he just destroyed a wall, an armchair and a table. After short overlooking of the rotten fruits of his carnage he turned to the demoness on the floor.

- This better be good, Ovelia.

* * *

Another day, another load of paperwork done. Although she would never admit it in front of anybody, the amount of dumb requests citizens of the Underworld make is astronomically high. For instance, just today she had to deny thirty different pleas from Underworlders who wanted cleaner air. Like, what is she supposed to do about it?

Yawning, she got up from her chair and looked outside the giant window of the office. Thanks to her efforts the once horribly medieval Underworld became a technological juggernaut. Combining magic and technology yielded results surpassing those of humans. So what if the air is not as clean as it used to be? Everyone(who is a first or second class citizen at least) gets free cable TV and all the wondrous perks of magic and technology at the same time. It's a win-win all around, unless you're a complete failure and can't even afford shoes. In which case, oh well.

Taking out a small mirror out of the pocket in her coat, Ovelia took a look at her eye patch, and seeing that it is crooked she fixed it up.

- Well, nothing wrong with indulging myself a bit.

Back at her desk, she pressed the button four on her intercom. After two beeps a tired voice answered the call.

- Yes, miss Ovelia?

- Hans, if I have any appointments today then I want you to cancel them. In fact, tell everyone I am out and about doing charity or whatever it is.

- You want to watch "Funnies in the Family", right?

There was a brief but tense silence.

- Shut up.

She pressed the button again to terminate the call. Now that all of the "chorepointments" were null and void, she could enjoy the luxury of her favorite sitcom... or so she believed, because the lights went out, and the reinforced glass window behind her simply shattered.

- What. - She mumbled, quite confused.

With multiple pieces of glass now lodged in her back, Ovelia turned into black liquid and then swiftly reshaped back. Now free of the pieces, she took a look around her office which had shards of the window everywhere.

- This is going to be a witch to clean up. Welp, good thing it is not going to be me.

She pressed button four on the intercom couple of times, until it hit her that it wasn't just the lights that went out.

- Drat. Now I'll have to walk.

- Excuse me! Can you finally turn around for scariness' sake?!

Ovelia sighed and turned around towards the raspy voice. What her eyes beheld, could be simply explained as black floating rags, some chains and a bag of bones with barely any meat on them.

- By the seven pits... who let you in here, you filthy hobo?!

- What? I'm not...

- Yeah, yeah. Sure. You probably prefer to be called a "jobless individual". What? Cannot find any work for a fellow of your education?

The bag of bones and rags laughed like a maniac who smoked one cigarette too many in his life.

- Well, you see. I'm not going to be jobless for much longer, Abyss Demon!

- Indeed. That is me.

- Because I'll be taking your seat at the top of the Underworld!

With that said the bag'o'rags laughed again. Ovelia smiled wryly in response.

- Okay, that was cute and all. Now get your tattered bones out of here before I'll have to remove you myself.

- You... you don't remember me, do you?

She raised an eyebrow.

- Should I?

The hobo shrugged and took out a book from behind his ragged cloak. Upon opening it, and quickly skimming through a couple of pages, he began reading a passage in a language most ancient. A magical circle appeared under Ovelia's feet.

- I think I have had enough of your wacky hijinks. Get... out!

Usually at this stage she would make a very scary face, the air would tense up and the intruder would have been knocked out of her office, in pieces at that. Instead, she just lost her balance and fell face-flat onto the floor.

- Buh-wha? - She mumbled, spitting out a shard of glass from her mouth. The raspy laugh resounded again.

- It worked! It worked! Bless your dark heart, Abysswalker!

- What just happened?

Ovelia got up slowly and arrived at the conclusion that she feels much less powerful than usual. It was almost as if she had no crazy broken powers at all anymore.

- This spell was made specifically to deal with you, Ovelia! To be more precise, it seals most of your great power!

Before she could even process this information the raggedy hobo grabbed her by the hair and dangled outside of the window.

- It's a long way down, little abyss runt.

- Who in the seven pits of hell do you think you are?! You will not get away with this!

- Who? Why, I am... The Boogeyman!

With that said, he let go of her hair and in accordance with the laws of gravity, Ovelia plummeted down. In the brief moments during her fall she could hear the raspy, yet roaring laughter of victory. Then, there was only darkness and silence.

* * *

- Hold up. Boogeyman? The same Boogeyman we trashed completely and threw down into the Sea of Gehenna?! That Boogeyman?

- Well, considering he seems to kinda hate me, I think so.

Jack'O sighed.

- Look, if he hates me, then he hates you as well, Jacky.

- He only went after you because you were the top dog in the Underworld. Now that you were thrown away like yesterday's trash I'm sure he has more important things to do than go after me. Besides, he can't find me anyway, secret dimension, no?

- Uhh...

Jack'O sent Ovelia a cold piercing gaze.

- Which brings me to my next point. How did you find me?

- After Boogeyboy noticed I am not dead, he sent multiple assassins after me. I high-tailed it to the human world to lose them. After I wandered a bit, I noticed you going about in the dark with your bags of merchandise. I knew I could hide inside your dimension if I followed you. It was a pretty lucky coincidence, I must say.

- Mhm. - He shrugged. - Alright.

Jack'O turned around towards the kitchen, only to quickly turn back and punched Ovelia right in the gut. The might of the hit sent her flying right into a bookshelf. It immediately collapsed right on top of her. He carefully watched her turn into liquid then reform back into regular form next to him.

- What was that for?! - She asked, pouting.

- You tell me. While I would be otherwise inclined to believe in our "lucky" and "coincidental" meeting, I just simply can't. You said you "knew" about my dimension. From where? Who else knows?

- Uhhh...

Jack'O cracked his knuckles.

- Alrighty! Fine! I kept spying on you after you left, so I could laugh at you! I had special cameras installed at almost every place you visit! That way I always had a fresh stream of your misery!

They both stood there in complete silence for a bit.

- I can't believe this. I need a drink.

With that said, the Lord of Pumpkins simply went into the kitchen and returned with two cups filled with vodka. After staring at puzzled Ovelia for a couple of seconds, he poured both cups down his throat, one after the other.

- So... can I stay here?

- No.

As if on cue, the sky of the dimension split open with a loud and terrible noise and through the crack flew in a giant dragon. Alongside him a four armed being, whose head seemed to be composed of flames, descended upon the house.

- I have found you at last, wretch of the abyss! By the order of the almighty Boogeyman, I, Pyreman - Lord of Fire and Ashes, will cast burning judgment upon you and your comrade!

Upon finishing his speech, he threw a bunch of fireballs down onto the house and laughed proudly as everything around quickly went ablaze.

#original story #spooks #well kinda spooks #jack'o lantern #ovelia

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