#like recent discussions about it have surprised me cuz i thought we all figured it out midseason

[boysdontcryboycry]

i don't creelarke much cuz im focused on other things but this sequence of mr clarke actually looking el in the face is veeerrrrry interesting if i do say so myself

[foilfreak]

Beauty and Her Beast: Chapter 4

Warning: This fic is rated NSFW and contains graphic depictions of things some people may find disturbing or alarming, including, but not limited to: violence, gore, unhealthy family relationships, Oedipus complexes, gratuitous amount of pornographic literature, ableist language, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, etc. If you are someone who does not enjoy fiction with these elements in them, then I suggest you refrain from reading this, because this fic will have all that, and probably a lot more. So, this is your first and final warning to turn around and go somewhere else if stuff like this just isn't your vibe, because from this point forward, your emotional wellbeing is in your own hands, and I will not be accepting blame if you disregarded my warnings and ended up reading something you didn't like. Idk why I feel compelled to write one of these despite this being Resident Evil fanfic, but I figured I'd cover my ass just in case.

(Link to ao3 version in comments below)

Upon returning to the surface again, Mother Miranda seems confused, but mostly relieved, that Salvatore did not show interest in lingering in the village any longer than necessary. Though Salvatore did end up needing to stay for one last brief conversation, in which he and Mother Miranda discussed various parts of Nadine’s file, as well as finalized the date and approximate time in which Salvatore could expect the villagers to arrive at the reservoir gate with his gift in tow.

2 days from now, was the final agreement, as it would ensure that Salvatore would be the first of the Lords to receive his gift, making up for the fact that he was the last of them to pick. It also permitted him the luxury of some spare time to prepare a new permanent living environment of some kind for his gift. Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

Regardless, Once their conversation finally concluded, Salvatore bid his beloved Mother a quick, but appropriately appreciative thank you and goodbye, before closing the large wooden door to the meeting room and trudging back out into the cold, harsh winter snow. Despite a lack of improvement in the weather since Salvatore’s initial journey into the village, the mutant man maintained a solid pace through the snowy paths, seemingly uninhibited by the forceful winds attempting to throw him from his course.

With little time remaining, Salvatore wanted to return to his reservoir as quickly as possible to begin making preparations; though, what exactly it was he was supposed to do in order to prepare for a tiny, beautiful, and apparently violent cadou-mutant woman to begin living in his reservoir with him, once again, Salvatore still had no idea.

Grimacing in frustration, the hooded man wracked his brain for something to do, some way for him to make a good “first” impression with his new gift when she finally arrives. Something that would catch her fancy and hopefully convince her that, despite his terrifying appearance, he wouldn’t harm her and merely wanted to be friends.

Well… technically speaking Salvatore wanted a great deal more than just friendship from the young woman, however given how low his chances are of ever achieving the former, the mutant man decided that he’d happily squash his vile and disgusting desires down deep within himself if it meant he’d gain at least something similar to a friendship with Nadine.

He’d been doing the same with Mother for all these years, so it wasn’t like it was going to be difficult… hopefully.

Upon returning to his reservoir finally, Salvatore retreated from the harsh weather, deciding that he’d likely have a much easier time cleaning if he waited the snowstorm out and got started in the morning, instead. Once the skies had cleared and the sun had just begun to peak over the mountaintop horizon however, Salvatore immediately set to work cleaning up the areas surrounding the reservoir.

It wasn’t until after several hours of diligent gathering and disposing of the numerous unsightly piles of rotting wood and garbage lying around, that the unusually bright and hopeful atmosphere surrounding the reservoir was rudely disrupted by a surprise visitor Salvatore would have never seen coming in a million years.

“HEY, FISHFACE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? I gotta talk to you about something, so hurry up and crawl out of your sewer system so we can get this over with, already” Karl’s rough and booming voice echoed out from somewhere within the reservoir.

Salvatore flinches in fearful surprise at the demanding voice, wondering what on earth could possibly have brought Karl, the notorious recluse of the family who never left his factory unless bribed or threatened, all the way out here to the reservoir. And to speak to HIM, on top of all that too.

Despite not feeling like subjecting himself to Karl’s recent tendency toward physical abuse disguised as “brotherly affection”, Salvatore sighs and swims his way toward his younger brother’s voice anyways, knowing that ignoring Karl would only prompt the younger man to actually enter the reservoir in search of him, which was the absolute last thing Salvatore needed right now.

“Mornin’, brother! It’s about fuckin’ time you answered the door. You were taking so long I was beginning to wonder if you’d finally decided to run away and live out the rest of your life as an actual fish, like I suggested to you at the last “family” meeting” Karl says bluntly, clad his characteristic attire of green sunglasses, a brown hat atop his head, a long tan trench coat covering his day clothes, various items strung around his neck, and large titanium hammer.

“H-hello, Karl... W-why is it th-that you’re h-here for?” Salvatore asks slowly, peering at the younger, but taller man from behind the only partially opened gate.

“Hey, hey, come on now, Sal, what’s with the cold welcome? Am I not allowed to visit my favorite older brother without a specific rhyme or reason. I think you’ll be surprised to know that I was actually already in the area, and wanted to stop by and see if you were in the mood for a chat. You know, like old times?” Karl says defensively, placing both his hands up as Salvatore narrows his eyes at the younger man.

Salvatore was a lot of things, but stupid most certainly wasn’t one of them, regardless of what other people thought. While it might be true that, when Karl was first introduced to the family as a child following his successful cadou mutation, they had something of a positive older-younger brother relationship that lasted a good many years into Karl’s adulthood, that relationship has been growing progressively shakier and unstable over the past few years, at least it has during the times Karl has acted like Salvatore wasn’t the only one to reach out and attempt to connect with the emotionally volatile, but secretly terrified young boy, when he first arrived.

Deep down, Salvatore still had something of a soft spot for Karl, a soft spot that he occasionally allowed himself to indulge in whenever Karl wasn’t acting like a royal asshole, but those moments of peace and solidarity between oldest and youngest brother had been few and far in between recently. Not to mention that Salvatore would be lying if he said he wasn’t growing increasingly more suspicious and distrustful of Karl and whatever secrets the younger man was hiding in that factory of his. He hadn’t the slightest idea what he could be up to, but something told Salvatore that Karl had more reason to be here than just pure coincidence.

“P-perhaps… what i-is it that you w-want to t-talk about?” Salvatore replies curtly, not wanting to just go along with whatever Karl wanted, but for some reason still willing to give the younger man a chance to prove himself.

Taking a brief moment to look over both his shoulders, Karl places the heavy end of his hammer on the ground and leans inward toward Salvatore, lowering his voice as he whispers, “You see your gift from Mother yet?”

This question took Salvatore by surprise, not expecting the gifts Mother Miranda had given them to be the reason why Karl was here.

“I… I h-have… why?” The disfigured man asks curiously, pushing the gate open a little further so that Karl, despite Salvatore’s earlier reservations toward the younger man, could squeeze his way inside.

Upon entering through the gate, Karl immediately takes 2 cigars out of his back pocket and lights the first one. “Curiosity mostly… but also cuz I think there’s more to this whole “gift” thing than Miranda wants us to believe,” the bespeckled man says, blowing a lungful of smoke out his nose as he offers Salvatore the second cigar. “You still smoke, old man?”

“I-I… I r-really shouldn’t” Salvatore says, turning his back toward Karl’s outstretched hand, even as the wonderfully woody scent fills his nose and his mouth begins to water.

“Oooooh, but something tells me you want to” Karl teases, sauntering over to the older man so that he could wave the fresh cigar in Salvatore’s face, chuckling in amusement when the fish mutant’s gaze locked onto and followed the unlit stick like a dog would a slab of meat.

“B-but it… M-Mother has s-said… m-many times… th-that she d-doesn’t like… doesn’t like when we s-smoke… because… uh, b-because...” Salvatore trails off, trying to remain strong for Mother Miranda, even as his self-control slowly continues to crack.

“Come on, lighten up a little bit, old man. It’s just one cigar. You smoked a pack of these things a day, like they were the only things keeping you going, both throughout my whole adolescence and, if what Duke says is to be trusted which we both know it is, well after I left for my factory, too. When the hell did you start being such a stick in the mud? No wonder I stopped hanging out with you, you’re like a fuckin’ parrot that repeats everything than goddamn woman says, it’s like I can’t escape her no matter where I fuckin’ go” Karl groans in a slightly childish tone of voice as he trudges forward to sit on one of the docks overlooking the calm water below.

Salvatore slowly moves to join him as he says, “S-she’s right th-though… it r-really isn’t good… f-for you… I smoked e-everyday for m-many years... an-and now I’m p-paying for my i-ignorance… Mother o-only nags at you… b-because she c-cares… and s-she’s always r-right… in the e-end...”

“Oh, fuck what Miranda says, I’m tired of that woman. Always telling us what to do and then thinking that pushing a couple of failed experiments onto us as “gifts” will make up for the fact that she’s disappearing off the face of the planet without a single trace and not telling us when she’ll be back. As far as I’m concerned, when Miranda’s not here, she’s not the boss of me. And the same goes for you, too” Karl says, roughly punching Salvatore in the shoulder.

“I-I don’t… I don’t think th-that’s how this w-works, Karl” Salvatore counters. “Even w-with Mother l-leaving us… f-for a t-time... we still h-have to make s-sure that th-things c-continue on… continue on as p-planned… or e-else we’ll really b-be in trouble… w-when she g-gets back.”

“Maybe,” Karl says thoughtfully, before taking another drag of his cigar. “I don’t know… I just have a sinking feeling that there’s something weird going on behind the scenes and these “gifts”, that she’s giving us, are nothing more than distractions to keep us entertained while she goes and does… whatever the fuck it is she plans on doing while she’s gone.”

Salvatore pauses for a moment, briefly remembering back to when Mother first told him that she’d be leaving the village to go “visit someone”, who she believed could be very important to their mission of reviving Mother’s long lost baby, Eva. Although he hadn’t thought very much of it at the time, the mutant man also remembers Mother saying something about how well Nadine would do at “keeping him occupied” until she finally returned, and maybe even after that, too. But why would Mother Miranda want or need him to be “occupied” when she got back? Wouldn’t she want to share her findings with him so they could work toward creating a vessel to revive Eva in? Wouldn’t she want to see and speak to him again after being away for so long?

Or maybe… could… could Karl actually be onto something here? Salvatore felt terrible doubting Mother Miranda, but he’d be lying if he said that Karl didn’t have a point about Mother’s behavior seeming odd, now that he was in the proper headspace to go back and analyze the memory properly, at least.

“B-but… if Mother h-has gone o-out of her w-way… to make sure that w-we won’t be l-lonely... w-while she’s away… isn’t th-that a… a good th-thing… doesn’t that m-mean she c-cares a-bout us... enough to… e-enough to do something l-like this?” Salvatore asks nervously, watching the younger man intently as he contemplates his response.

“I guess so, at least when you word it like that, it does. But something tells me there’s more to this than she’s led us to believe. She’s got something planned, and she’s definitely after something, and once she gets her hands on it, who the hell knows what’ll happen… whatever it is though, I doubt it’ll be very good, for any of us.”

“D-don’t say th-things l-like that… I-I’m sure M-Mother has a-a reason… a reason w-why she’s leaving… an-and if she d-doesn’t tell us w-what it is… b-before she leaves… th-then Im sure… I’m sure sh-she’ll tell u-us when she g-gets back… she’ll l-let us in o-on her p-plan… wh-when she’s ready… an-and then… once e-everything is… said a-and done… we c-can revive… r-revive Eva… and b-be a real f-family… a-at long l-last… isn’t th-that what w-we a-all want, after a-all… a f-family?” Salvatore asks, hoping this was doing something to ease the younger man’s clearly agitated mind.

What on earth it was that was causing so much turmoil as it flew around inside Karl’s head, Salvatore had no idea. But something about the bespectacled man’s unusually contemplative and concerned mood, coupled with the fact that he’d only punched Salvatore once since his arrival, was beginning to leave an acidic taste in the deformed man’s mouth.

Karl really and truly thought something was wrong, and the younger man’s continued insistence upon this fact was beginning to make Salvatore very very anxious.

Perhaps it was the unusually good and excited mood that Salvatore was in due to the near arrival of his gift, or maybe it was that soft spot for Karl I mentioned earlier, but regardless of the reason, Salvatore felt the odd need to help alleviate the younger man’s bad mood, just like he used to do for him back when Karl was still barely taller than his shoulder.

Mother Miranda certainly wouldn’t be pleased if she found out that Salvatore had broken his mandatory sobriety despite her explicit orders to avoid smoking so his experiment results wouldn't be hindered. That being said however, Miranda always seemed to want her 4 children to get along and be close, like real siblings, so Salvatore supposed that he could allow himself a break from his smoking break so long as, if Miranda did manage to find out somehow, he could get himself out of trouble by spinning it as a rare moment of sibling bonding between the oldest and youngest siblings, rather than the reality of the situation.

“I… I’ll t-take that cigar… if you’re n-not gonna smoke it… th-that is” Salvatore says, a small chuckle escaping him when Karl cheers in delight, practically throwing both the lighter and the cigar into the deformed man’s hands.

Salvatore’s first breath of the cigar is nothing short of heavenly once he finally lights it and takes a drag, and its moments like these when the mutant man finds himself secretly grateful that Karl hasn’t listened to a goddamn word Mother Miranda has said in nearly 4 decades.

A long period of silence passes as both brothers merely sit beside one another and secretly enjoy each other’s company.

“Miranda let me pick my gift first, so I didn’t get to see where the others went. Who did you end up with?” Karl asks, finally breaking the silence.

“T-the… the sh-short one,” Salvatore replies, “with b-blue skin, black h-hair, a-and, uh… oh, an-and white d-dots… all o-over her… l-like freckles… fins t-too”

“Oh ya, I remember that one. Gorgeous little thing, she was” Karl says, nodding his head in appreciation as a devilish smile spreads across his unshaven lips. “With quite the… voluptuous figure too, if I remember correctly.”

“I… well… I-I don’t know i-if… I d-didn’t... shut up...” Salvatore mumbles under his breath, taking a long drag from his cigar as Karl throws his head back laughing like a hyena at his older brother’s sudden bashfulness.

“Ah, come on, Sal, don’t be such a downer all the fuckin’ time, I’m just teasing. I know you still think about shit like that, too, even if you’ve managed to convince Alcina and everybody else that you’re just an innocent little follower who hasn’t had an independent, or dirty thought of his own since the cadou took hold. You used to be a fuckin’ doctor for crying out loud, and you’re still annoyingly the person Miranda goes to first whenever she has a new experiment in mind, cuz you’re smart AND she can trust you. You might look like you fell off the truck that was taking you and your fishy friends to market, but I’ve known you too long for that bullshit act of yours to work on me.”

“Act?” Salvatore asks, genuinely confused by what Karl means.

“You know, that stupid fuckin’ “moronic freak” act you do whenever Miranda’s around. The one where you act like you don’t know what the fuck is going on or what something is so that she’ll take pity on how stupid and childish you’re acting and give you more attention. It’s pathetic to watch and I’m gettin’ sick of seeing you do it all the time. Knock it off, you’re better than that.”

“I’ll… um… b-be sure not to… to m-make it s-seem as… uh… I’ll k-keep that in m-mind” Salvatore finally says, casting his gaze down to his pants for a moment, unsure how to feel about how… friendly and kind Karl was being all of a sudden. Salvatore knew Karl secretly cared about him, the brat does far too many conveniently nice things for him throughout the year for him not to, but hearing the younger man voice his surprisingly high opinion of him was definitely shocking, though still quite touching, all the while.

“W-which gift… d-did you end u-up… getting, Karl? I d-didn’t get t-the chance to… to s-see the others… M-Mother only showed me Nadi-er… my g-gift” Salvatore asks, deciding, at the last second, against using his gift’s real name lest Karl be given even more artillery to tease and riddle him with.

“Eh, just some tall dark haired broad. I think Miranda said something about her being Indian, or something along those lines.”

“O-oh… d-did Mother say a-anything about… whether she’s actually f-from here… o-or did she immigrate… f-from India?” Salvatore asks, tilting his head curiously as this new information about Karl’s gift piques his interest.

Karl stares at Salvatore with a look of confusion for a moment, his mouth opening and closing silently like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words for it. Until, “Aren’t Indians from America?”

The sound of Salvatore’s right palm making firm and painful contact with the back of Karl’s head echoes across the reservoir almost as loudly as the following cry of pain from the man himself.

“OW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?” Karl roars angrily, pushing himself to his feet while he rubs at the back of his head, hat lopsided and barely hanging on to his head and green glasses no longer perched upon his nose, likely sinking to the murky lake floor just below the docks they were sitting on.

“I d-didn’t spend… th-the better part o-of 15 years… p-pounding an education... i-into y-your th-thick head... for you t-to say… f-for you to b-be spouting dumb shit… l-like that” Salvatore growls in annoyance, eying the taller man with a look that even he wouldn’t dare argue against, at least not with Sal he wouldn’t.

It’s moments like these when Salvatore is very happy that Karl, for as strong and fearless as he is now as a fully grown adult, is still just a little bit afraid of him after all these years. Not because of anything bad or horrifically traumatic of course, especially considering how often Salvatore had gone out of his way to ensure Karl had the least traumatic upbringing he could possibly provide the young boy, given both their situations. As much as he hated to admit it, even Karl would agree that Salvatore had done a pretty decent job of not fucking him up anymore than he already was, which the younger man would secretly always be thankful for. However, even a person as naively patient and serving toward others as Salvatore had his breaking point, and all it took was one especially bad day, resulting in the one and only time Salvatore has ever left a mark upon the younger man’s skin, for Karl to realize that Salvatore was the last person in this godforsaken village he wanted to purposefully make an enemy out of.

Thankfully, their relationship never suffered negatively from that one-off event, but it did force the two to come to a mostly unspoken agreement that has remained present and active, if slightly ignored at certain times, from that point forward. Agreement or not however, Salvatore could never bring himself to harm Karl like that again, even if he wanted to, which was probably the main reason why Karl was still the most comfortable around him, even after all these years. It was a secret they shared between them, and them alone, and it would be one that he would cherish for the rest of his life, as Karl would secretly cherish the kindness and brotherly love Salvatore had treated him with for all these years. They were brothers, regardless of whether they got along or not, and nothing in the would world would be able to change that.

That being said however, Karl was about to be in for a very rude awakening if he thought he could just do and say whatever the hell he wanted around Salvatore without there being any consequences.

“‘A-aren’t Indians f-from A-America?’ G-good grief... I o-oughta throttle y-you for th-that one” Salvatore grumbles through another drag of his cigar, shaking his head in utter disbelief and disappointment. Karl was so intelligent, and yet he could be so stupid sometimes that it physically hurt Salvatore to think about.

“But there ARE Indians in America, aren’t there? I know I’m not wrong here” Karl defends aggressively, his anger quickly giving way to embarrassment when Salvatore raises his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration and annoyance.

“Th-they’re called N-Native Americans... f-first of all... they w-were only c-called I-Indians... b-because the g-guy... the moron who f-first sailed t-to the A-Americas... w-was actually... looking for I-India... the r-real India... b-but back th-then... you h-had to go all th-the way... a-around Africa... to g-get there... but he th-thought h-he could do... d-do it a d-different w-way... he thought h-he could f-find India... by s-sailing straight f-from S-Spain... and g-going around the whole w-world... until h-he came b-back around... an-and hit Asia” Salvatore explained slowly, hoping to maintain his delusion that Karl had, in fact, paid attention to at least some of the lessons he gave the boy throughout their time together, even if it wasn’t actually true.

“But he didn’t. He hit the Americas and started calling the locals Indians cuz the guy, what’s-his-face... Columbine... Columbus... whatever, was dumb enough to think he was in India and not a totally different landmass” Karl finishes, looking like he at least remembered hearing about his information before, which was good enough for Salvatore.

Despite the grimace still etched onto his face, Karl groans in annoyed defeat and slinks back down to sit next to Salvatore, still cradling the back of his head.

“Anyways, as i was saying before I was so rudely interrupted with a goddamn history lesson-”

“You w-want another s-smack?” Salvatore threatens, mildly amused when Karl pauses his dramatic retelling, before sliding just a few inches to the right, away from Salvatore’s preferred disciplining hand.

Coughing slightly, Karl continues. “Anyways… going back to my “finding the silver lining” idea, or whatever the fuck its called. This whole “gift” thing might actually work out kinda nice for me in the long run, especially since the one I got looked like she was strong and could handle herself in a rough and tumble environment. If she proves herself, I’m planning on turning her into my assistant” Karl explains casually. “As much as I hate working with other people, normally, I’ve got some projects that would really benefit from a second pair of hands, so I’m attempting to make a “silver lining” moment out of this bullshit “gift” thing Miranda’s tryin to do and just hope and pray that things work out in my favor. Though, to be fair, if things with this girl don’t go well, I could always use her body for a cool idea I’ve had cooked up for a while now. What about you? What are you planning on doing with your new little toy once it finally arrives?”

Salvatore merely shrugs his shoulders. “It w-would be nice… i-if we c-could be f-friends… somehow… but…”

“Ya… you’re not exactly working with the latest and greatest set up, huh? Even a mutant girl might need a little bit to get adjusted to a face like that” Karl says.

“That’s c-certainly one way o-of p-putting it” Salvatore replies dejectedly.

Karl flinches slightly, which surprises Salvatore, since the younger man has a habit of caring very little for how his words affect those around him. Why on earth was he being so considerate, all of a sudden?

“Look, uh… what I meant to say was that… ok, so maybe you’re not like, the best looking guy ever, but like…” Karl stammers and stutters, trying desperately to figure out what he wants to say but seemingly coming up short every time.

Salvatore narrows his eyes again, suspicion returning. “You’re h-hiding something f-from me… w-what are you a-after, Karl?” Salvatore asks seriously, fixing the younger man with a stern look that he knows Karl recognizes.

“Hey, don’t you give me that fuckin’ look. I am too fuckin’ old for you to be looking at me like that, what am I, 12?” Karl asks.

“You c-certainly act l-like it… most of th-the time” Salvatore grumbles under his breath.

Karl clearly heard him, but knew better than to argue with the water not even a foot below where the two were currently sitting, his sunglasses having already taken a nice little dive as punishment for his big mouth. Salvatore might have only agreed to speak with Karl because the latter had demanded it, but they were still very much in Salvatore’s territory, and it wasn’t even a question of who had the topographical advantage should an “argument” actually break out between them.

Karl is strong, nobody can deny that. But Salvatore has the home advantage, and they both know it.

After a moment of tense staring, Karl finally breaks first, sighing heavily before tossing his finished cigar cap into the water below them, a crime Salvatore briefly contemplates knocking the younger man in for, before deciding against it, knowing, with his luck, that it would only come back to bite him in the ass later.

“Alright look,” Karl finally says, a look of frustrated determination on his face, “I don’t know what Miranda really has planned past her whole “get a suitable vessel for Eva” obsession, or what she’s really after on this mission of hers… but something about this whole situation going on recently just doesn’t feel right to me, and I think we need to do something about it before something bad happens and we all somehow end up dead. Now, I'm not 100% sure why I’m talking about this with the head of Miranda’s fuckin’ fanclub, but considering what my other 2 options were it wasn’t like I had much of a damn choice. My only saving grace right now is the fact that you’ll at least occasionally listen to fuckin’ reason, given your gaping maw can be yanked from Miranda’s tit long enough to hear me out, that is. It’s certainly better than my chances with Lady Super-sized Bitch and Crazy Psycho Doll, over there.”

“Are you s-sure you’re n-not just being p-paranoid?” Salvatore asks slowly, not wanting to offend Karl by outright stating he didn’t believe the younger man’s hunch, but also trying to figure out if Karl actually has something to be concerned about, or if he’s just looking for an excuse to badmouth Miranda.

“No, no no no, don’t you do this to me too, Sal” Karl begs in frustration. “You can go about the rest of your life loving the absolute shit out of that crazy woman if you want to and I won’t say a goddamn thing about it, but I need you to promise me, and I mean promise me, that if you see or hear something weird regarding Miranda and this little “trip” she’s about to go on, you come tell me so that we can at least make sure our own asses are covered when shit hits the fan.”

“Well… I-I uh…”

“Come on, Sal. None of these psychotic assholes have ever had my back like you, and that’s exactly the reason why I’m telling you all this” Karl says honestly, catching Salvatore off guard with the oddly familiar wording.

“I know I can be a royal fucking pain in the ass most of the time and that I’m not always the… nicest to you… even though you did kinda do... a bit for me here and there when I was a little tyke... But none of that matters now, because even if Miranda isn’t trying to hide something from us, with the two of us banded together, we could do whatever the hell we wanted while she’s gone, and neither of the other shitheads would be able to tell us otherwise. What do you say, Sal? Come on, you and me, together, just like when I was a kid, remember?” Karl asked excitedly, his eyes shimmering in boyish glee as he spouts off all the things they’d be able to get away with when Miranda finally left, the torment they’d be able to unleash upon Alcina being a particular favorite of Karl’s, it would seem.

Salvatore remained silent for a moment, contemplating the deal he’d just been given.

It’s… not a terrible deal, at least compared to some of the previous deals Salvatore has been offered in the past. It wasn’t like him agreeing to “ally” himself with Karl was a direct declaration of war against Mother Miranda or anything like that, merely a mutual effort that would guarantee safety for both him and Karl should Mother’s plan not go exactly as she wanted, which scientific experiments were known to do. Not to mention that giving Alcina a good messing with did sound like quite a bit of fun.

Maybe… maybe Karl was right. Maybe Salvatore was being a bit too much of a stick in the mud. It was just Karl after all, who Salvatore had practically raised, starting from the boy’s arrival into the family at 6 years old and more or less up until his factory was completed just after his 22nd birthday. Karl could certainly be a handful for even the most powerful individuals, but even on his worst days, he always found some backwards, convoluted way to apologize for his behavior.

“W-well… I-I’m not s-sure… I d-don’t know how I f-feel about… about d-doing things th-that Mother… wouldn’t a-approve of… just b-because sh-she’s gone...”

“But...” Karl continued for him.

“B-but I suppose… k-keeping each other u-updated… when we f-find… or h-hear s-something weird is… wouldn’t be… wouldn’t be th-the worst idea… in th-the world… e-even if it just t-turns out that… we w-were just being p-paranoid.”

“Excellent! That’s just what I was hoping to hear” Karl says triumphantly, standing up.

“A-are you l-leaving, already?”

“Ya” Karl affirms, “I’ve got work to do at the factory, and based on the look of things here, you were busy with a project of your own it looks like.”

Salvatore nods, pocketing his freshly finished cigar cap for later, proper, disposal. “I c-can’t even remember… the l-last time I… p-properly cleaned this p-place… it l-looks so m-much nicer… even w-without being f-fully finished…”

“Good for you. My own property could probably do with a good cleaning of its own now that you mention it. If nothing else though, I’m sure your new little lady friend will appreciate that you picked up the place for her arrival.”

“Y-you think s-so?” Salvatore asks.

Karl shrugs his shoulders. “Who knows with chicks, they’re unpredictable, but I suppose it’s possible. Then again, maybe not considering who you ended up with. I don’t know the full story or anything like that, but based on what I heard from Miranda, that blue bitch you went with was the craziest one of them all. Practically tore her pod apart the first time Miranda tried to put her in it, and caused all sorts of other damage throughout her mutation phase too, not that I blame the poor girl. I’d tear that whole lab right out from under the surface and set it ablaze if I could. Going back down there after so many years… I was puking like you for the rest of the fuckin’ day when I finally got out of that hellhole. Stomach still feels a little nauseous if I’m being honest...”

“I-I’m sorry… to h-hear that” Salvatore says, though Karl is quick to brush him off.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’m a big boy and I can handle myself. But do we have a deal? Keep each other in the loop whenever we hear anything… strange or abnormal about Mother Miranda or her special little mission?”

Salvatore pauses for a moment, thinking one last time about whether this was a good idea, before finally shrugging his shoulders and nodding. “Y-yes, we h-have a deal… b-but just remember something, Karl… 40 years d-didnt do… nearly as m-much for your p-poker face as i-it did for your s-smart mouth. If I c-catch you lying to m-me-”

“Ya, ya, ya, you’ll chop up my body and toss my remains in the lake to feed the fishes, I’ve heard that one a million times before” Karl interrupts. “Don’t worry, Sal, if I was planning on lying to you at any point throughout this process, you’d have already caught me by now. Even I know better than to try pulling a fast one over the walking fuckin’ lie detector.”

“I’m h-holding you to th-that, Karl” Salvatore calls over his shoulder as the younger man stands and begins heading toward the gate to return to his factory, chuckling lightly when Karl returns his warning with a middle finger.

“Take it easy, old man. And let me know how that crazy fish bitch you ended up with turns out. If all else fails I’ll turn her into a nice stuffed pillow for you” the bespeckled man says, throwing his head back in laughter as though he’d told a funny joke, before adding, “And I’d better get my sunglasses back within the week, or else I’m draining the whole fucking reservoir so I can find them myself. Don’t think I won’t do it, old man.”

Salvatore merely returns the middle finger, a response that Karl seems to appreciate, if the wolfish howl of laughter the younger man let's out says anything, at least.

‘Cheeky brat. Always plotting something’ Salvatore thinks fondly to himself as he slips back into the water to continue cleaning the reservoir, quickly grabbing the green sunglasses that had sunk to the bottom and pocketing them to return to Karl later. He pauses for a moment when a thought crosses his mind.

Within the past 24 hours, both Mother Miranda and Karl had been… unusually kind and affectionate toward Salvatore, which pleased but also confused the twisted man.

Karl was easy enough to explain away, the younger man has been flip flopping between periods where he likes and spends time with Salvatore, and periods where he’d sooner set himself on fire than be in the same room as his older brother, since the day they met, so as far as Salvatore was concerned, Karl’s behavior was hardly breaking news, though perhaps a bit surprising given everything going on with Mother’s gifts. Mother Miranda, however, was a different story.

Usually more distant and hands-off in her parenting ways, Miranda had been uncharacteristically affectionate toward the disfigured man the night before, going as far as to openly praise Salvatore for all his hard work and even hold him without being asked to. It had been such a wonderful experience at the time and yet, the more Salvatore thought about it, the stranger and stranger the behavior seemed, especially now that Karl had confronted him.

Speaking of Karl… Mother seemed quite upset with him when she spoke of him the night before. Going as far as to badmouth him specifically, calling him a ‘conniving little snake’, despite the younger man usually being her favorite by a country mile. Had Karl done something to incur Mother’s wrath? Is that why Karl came all the way over here to make that deal with him? Is he trying to rally the 4 lords to rebel against Mother Miranda?

No... No, no no no, that couldn’t be true, there’s no way.

Even Karl, for all his incredible intellect and hunger for power, was too afraid of Mother Miranda to ever try anything as drastic as that. That being said however, even though Salvatore doubted that Karl would ever try to rebel against Mother Miranda, it did seem like the younger man was trying very hard to get Salvatore onto his side for some reason. In fact, both Karl AND Mother Miranda appeared to be trying to sway the eldest Lord in their favor, though for what reason, he still had no idea.

It was definitely something that made Salvatore slightly wary of the both of them, though.

There’s nothing in this world that Salvatore hates more than doubting his beloved Mother, but even he couldn’t write this oddity of a situation off as a mere one-off incident or sudden change of Miranda’s tune. Mother has been acting very strangely recently, doing things she wouldn’t normally do and acting overly affectionate as if to try and throw everyone off her tracks, and the longer Salvatore thought about it, the more he couldn’t help but wonder, as painful as it was to admit, if maybe Karl was actually onto something.

Logically, he knows that Karl is just being Karl, looking to stir up some trouble for his own, and supposedly Salvatore’s, amusement, and that Mother Miranda is likely just trying to enjoy the time she has left with her children before she leaves on her mission. However, something in the back of Salvatore’s mind can’t help but wonder if maybe there’s more going on than he’s been led to believe by either of them. And as if this situation couldn’t get any more confusing for the deformed man, now his overly anxious and analytical mind was beginning to understand what Karl meant when he said there was something strange going on, no matter how much the rest of him practically screamed to just listen to Miranda like he always has.

Shaking his head of his scrambled thoughts and turning his focus back to his work, Salvatore decides that the best thing he can do right now is keep an ear to the ground on both Mother Miranda AND Karl, just to be fair. He still isn't sure if he plans on being 100% honest with Karl regarding their deal, but he supposes that maintaining a good relationship with the younger man wouldn’t hurt in the event he turned out to be right and Mother’s plan backfired on all of them.

Besides, if Karl did turn out to be right, and Salvatore was ready for if things took a bad turn, he could still be there to rescue Mother Miranda and ensure she’s brought to safety along with them. He’ll have successfully fulfilled his family duties to both Karl and Mother Miranda, without ever having to actually choose which side he was definitively on. A perfect plan if the mutant man says so himself. Now the only thing left to do between now and whenever things started getting interesting was work on the reservoir and wait for his gift to finally arrive, his mood regarding this whole situation greatly improved thanks to Karl’s visit.

Hopefully, if things went well, he’d have some exciting news to tell the younger man the next time they met up.

Maybe he’d even have a new friend to introduce.

[seeminglydark]

So I've posted my story before, lots of times, but the art is old and back then I didnt realize I should probably have some trigger warnings and all that. So I'm gonna tell it again. Cuz maybe it, like the comic i recently posted, can spare you a moment of the trauma I experienced while finding myself. So if you're interested in my Asexuality journey, you can read under the cut. I don't go into detail on any of the triggers in the story, its all alluded, but just in case, stay safe. Triggers for assault, bullying, self esteem issues, ED, isolation and emotional abuse. But mine, like Johnnys, has a happy ending.

So I guess I don’t really have a timeline. I’ve probably been Ace my entire life without even knowing it cuz how could i have even known what it was at 15 in the mid 90's. It wasnt something anyone talked about. In school I never dated and I got teased all the time for being super skeeved out by any kinda sex discussion. All this coupled with being incredibly awkward and over six foot afab made for a lovely high school experience. Anyway at some point I met this dude and he was nice, made me feel pretty and all that. I married him shortly afterward, quickly, because i thought that was what I was supposed to do. I thought getting married would change my feelings on sexual experience. I didn’t realize it at the time but he was emotionally manipulating me to believe he was the only person who would ever love and find me attractive, he isolated me from my friends and family. Throughout our relationship I always found excuses to avoid sex, even after we were married. I stopped eating and lost way too much weight, i worked endless hours so he could stay at home and play video games, anything to 'make up for' not being able to perform my marital 'duties.' I’m not going to drag anyone through the mud here, but lets just say things escalated fairly quickly in an ugly way and I had to exit the relationship and move to another state. I thought what happened to me was my fault, because I couldn’t perform the way i thought a spouse should.  At this point I didn’t understand asexuality was a thing. I thought there was something wrong with me, and I tried to force having sexual relationships. I was told by everyone that no one would ever love me if I couldn’t figure out how to perform the simplest sexual activities. This went one for several years, through another tried and failed marriage (I will emphasize this man was not abusive, and a quite lovely person, but i never told him how i felt about these things, and so he never even had the chance to try and work with me.) I wanted to badly to be in what I thought was a normal relationship, it never occurred to me this wasn’t my fault. it never occurred to me sex doesnt have to be the basis for relationships. No one told me. I went to sex therapists trying to fix my issues but no matter what i did I still hated the idea of sexual contact in anyway.

At some point I met my current partner, about 15 years ago. I told him the truth, despite still not having a word for it, and to my surprise he's always been ok with me the way I am. It’s insane, and my relationship with him is what made me start to realize what Asexuality is and that I’m NOT broken, that love and sex arent the same thing (that being said ofc there are people whos love language is physical touch, mine is not.)

I’ll end this with one of the last conversations I had with my dad before he died. I remembered telling him one night that I was Ace because he found me crying in the kitchen. Even all these years later, in a healthy relationship, i still experience trauma about it. I explained everything that led to that decision, a strange moment because we normally didnt share like this, but as i said, he was nearing death and sometimes you want a parent to hear and understand your words. I remember he looked at me across the table with tears in his eyes. He said ‘I wish you would have told me this when you were a a young adult. I wish you would have explained how you felt then. I would have told you everything was ok, and that you were ok and not broken. I wish I could have spared you all that pain you experienced finding yourself.’

So now I look to you and I say what he wished he could have told me.

You’re ok.

You’re not broken.

You’re not alone.

We exist.

[skeeter-110]

A Canvas of Past Experiences

By: @skeeter-110 for @littlemissagrafina

Rating: General Audiences

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts / Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Summary: Penny loved getting tattoos and piercings. Of course, she only had her ears pierced in high school and a tiny stick-and-poke on her ankle; she wanted to look professional when applying to her dream college, of course. But she quickly learned that everyone was a lot more lenient about that kind of stuff than she thought. Although, of course, not everyone was lenient about it.

This fic is for @littlemissagrafina for the @friendly-neighborhood-exchange!!

They asked for the prompt: Peter or female Peter (whichever you're more comfortable with) has wanted tattoos and piercings for years and they finally start getting them. They hide them up until college when they get used to not covering up or taking the jewelry out around people and when they come home for break, Tony and the ironfam all have really shocked and surprised reactions. Especially Tony cuz Protective Irondad™

I really hope you enjoy this!!

Link to AO3

Penny had always loved the idea of tattoos and piercings. She loved the idea of someone being able to turn something so meaningful into a beautiful piece of art that you would wear forever.

Of course, when she started getting more into the idea of tattoos and piercings, she was one year away from high school, so the idea of getting a tattoo did not fly too well with her mom and dad. She was, however, allowed to get her ears pierced when she and Pepper went out for a girl's day, and that was good enough; for that moment.

But Penny never lost the love for it all.

Her first tattoo was when she was in high school. If you even really want to call it a tattoo.

She and M.J were having a sleepover together when the idea of doing stick and pokes came up. It was just a silly suggestion that passed, a “what if we got crazy tonight” kind of idea. But, after a while, the idea turned more into a reality, and before the two girls knew it, they were getting all the supplies ready.

It wasn’t anything crazy, just a tiny little star on her ankle. Penny knew she had to be careful with getting tattoos if she wanted to be able to get a professional job - and her parents would probably have a heart attack if they found out - so it stayed hidden underneath her sock. Although, none of that matters; the makeshift tattoo faded away before her junior year anyway.

But, despite wanting them, between wanting to look professional while she was applying for her dream school, and her overprotective father, Penny wasn’t able to get more than her ears pierced twice.

Until she went off to college.

Penny started considering getting another piercing - just to be able to test the limits of her newfound freedom - a few months after getting settled into her new life at college.

When she began asking her roommate who the best piercer in town was, though, her roommate really ran with the idea and the next thing Penny knew, they both were going with a group of friends to get tattoos.  

It kind of just snowballed from there.

One tattoo quickly turned into two, and then three, and then four. And then the next thing Penny knew, she was moving onto piercings; getting a stud in her nose, her belly button pierced, even an industrial in her ear.

She didn't really think much of it at the time. Her tattoos were placed so she could show them off, but also hide them at the same time, and she figured that she could enjoy her piercings now and just take them out later when need be.

It was so normal for other students to have piercings and tattoos, though, that Penny felt comfortable enough herself to not even bother hiding hers.

Until it was time for her to go home for the holidays, that is.

Her Dad had told her a couple of weeks ago over the phone that they planned on spending Christmas together at the house in Malibu - something about Morgan begging to make sand mermaids, whatever that meant - so Penny was to meet them at the airport there.

Because MIT was in Massachusetts, Penny arrived at the airport in sweatpants and one of her Dad's old hoodies, so her recent modifications were all basically hidden under clothes and hair; except for the stud in her nose.

In the future, whenever Penny thinks back to this moment, she likes to partially blame all that for what happens later. But, right now, in this current moment of time, all Penny could focus on was not running and throwing herself at her parents; her piercings and tattoos were - and the thought of hiding them - was the last thing on her mind. Especially when she heard a familiar little voice calling for her.

"Penny! Penny, Penny, Penny!" Morgan calls out as she runs down the hall. Penny couldn't help but laugh when she saw her younger sister, instantly getting down on one knee and opening her arms up.

"Hello, M. Oh, I missed you!" Penny coos as Morgan slams into her, quickly wrapping her younger sister up in a tight hug.

"Hey, don't hog all of her attention. Her parents would also like to see her." Tony teases as he and Pepper finally made their way over to the two girls.

"Oh, don't worry old man, there's plenty of me to go around." Penny jokes back, lifting Morgan up in her arms as she stood up.  As soon as Penny was upright, Tony pulled her into a hug, both of them breathing each other in. Three months was definitely too long.

"I missed you, Dad," Penny whispers, Tony giving his daughter one last squeeze in return before releasing her. And of course, that was the first time Tony had gotten a really good look at Penny since she went off to college.

"Woah, I know it's been a few months since we've seen each other, but I'm pretty sure you didn't have," Tony pokes the stud sitting in Penny's nose, "this when you left. What, are you joining a biker gang?" Tony questions, making both Penny and Pepper roll their eyes.

"Oh, Tony, leave her alone. It's just a tiny little stud." Pepper tries to placate while pulling Penny in for her own hug.

"I don't care if it's tiny, there's still a hole in our daughter's face where there wasn't a hole before." Tony continues to voice his displeasure.

"I think it's cool! Can I get one?" Morgan chimes in, causing Penny to burst into laughter at her father's reaction; he looked like he was about to have a heart attack at just the mere idea of Morgan also getting her nose pierced.

"How about we discuss getting your ears pierced in a couple of years instead." Pepper offers instead, everyone glad when that was enough to get Morgan off the subject for a while.

The key term there: for a while.

It didn't take too long for them to get the rest of Penny's luggage and to begin heading out to the beach house, but it definitely was long enough for the heat to reach it's high - causing Penny to sweat in her winter clothes - and for dinnertime to begin; causing everyone's stomachs to growl.

"Hey, Penny, do you want to go swimming in the pool with me while Daddy grills dinner?" Morgan excitedly asks, the small girl clearly over the moon to finally have her big sister back home.

"Yes, please. I'm roasting in these clothes." Penny whines, glaring at Tony when he began to laugh at her.

"That's what you get for wearing a hoodie and sweats when you know how hot it gets here." Tony light-heartedly says.

"Yeah, well, it's freezing in Massachusetts right now, you should know that." Penny snarks making Tony fondly chuckle. No doubt memories of when he went to MIT were flooding through his mind.

Almost as soon as they pulled up to the house, Penny was grabbing her luggage and dashing inside so she could change with Morgan right on her heels, both of them leaving their parents behind to get dinner started.

Penny took a bit longer than she usually would have getting dressed, taking her time afterward to put her stuff away and breathe in the familiar sight of her room.

Once she was dressed in a tank-top and shorts with her swimsuit underneath, Penny began making her way out to the patio where the pool was and where her Dad was, inevitably, grilling burgers. And that's where Penny messes up.

"Penny, what is all over your arms and legs?" Morgan calls from where she was sitting on the pool steps, making Penny cringe when she realized all her tattoos were on display.

"Penelope Virginia-" Penny heard her Father begin to grit through his teeth, making her whip around and put her hands up to try and placate him.

"-Dad, don't freak out-"

"-Stark! What the hell is all over your body?" Tony seethes as he walks around the grill and over towards Penny.

"They're just little tattoos; nothing too serious," Penny mumbles, knowing that any argument she gave in that moment wouldn't even be remotely good enough for her Dad.

"'Nothing too serious?'" Tony repeats in shock before spitting in his hand and rubbing it over the one tattoo Penny had over her shoulder.

"Eww, Dad, stop it, that's disgusting," Penny whines, pulling away and shoving Tony's hand off of her.

"Tony, leave her alone for-" Pepper begins to gripe as she walked out with more stuff for dinner, only stopping and gasping when she saw all the ink on Penny's skin. "Penelope, what did you do to yourself?"

"Can we please not make a big deal out of this. They're just tattoos and I promise that they're all in spots where they can easily be hidden and they all have meanings. Like the flowers on my thigh are all our birth flowers; they're not just meaningless little things." Penny tries to defend herself, knowing that it would be better for her if she could at least get her mom on her side.

One pissed-off parent is always better than two pissed-off parents.

"Well, I mean, Tony she is eighteen." Pepper gently slowly concedes.

"No. No, Pep, don't give in. This is bad. Our daughter permanently put ink all over her body." Tony says, already knowing he was going to lose this argument without Pepper on his side.

"And they can be hidden for when she gets a professional job, and they are meaningful. She's living on her own now and can make her own decisions so we can't stop or get mad at this." Pepper continues to soothe.

For a while all Pepper and Tony did was stare at each other, having one of the silent conversations that they've managed to master after so many years of being together.

Eventually Tony huffed before turning back towards Penny.

"I'm not happy about this, you know," Tony informs before pulling Penny into his side for a hug.

"Yeah, I'm aware." Penny chuckles a bit, relaxing into the hug.

"No more, though, young Miss. You're going to run out of skin at this rate." Tony says, trying - and slightly failing - to sound stern as he walked back to the grill.

"No promises," Penny says just to see the look on her Dad's face when she did so. She didn't really have any plans currently for more.

Figuring the excitement for the day was over, Penny was fully ready to just relax in the pool with her younger sister.

Penny jumped into the pool almost as soon as she could, smiling when she heard Morgan laughing at the water splashing her.

Morgan swam over to where Penny was, practically wedging herself in Penny's arms so her older sister had no choice but to hold her.

Once she was settled in Penny's arms, Morgan began to lightly trace one of the tattoos on her shoulder, making Penny smile at how precious the small girl was.

"They're really pretty." Morgan comments. Penny couldn't help but laugh a bit, finding Morgan's intrigue amusing. Although, it wasn't so amusing when Morgan shouted out her next question at their parents.

"Can I get a tattoo next?"  

I actually really enjoyed writing this prompt because I also have eight different piercings and seven different tattoos so this one was right up my alley haha I really hope you enjoyed reading this and it was what you were looking for as your gift!

Tag List: @spideyspeaches @lost-lunar-wolf @joyful-soul-collector @hatakehikari @thatcrackheadsadbitchtm

[dramaqueeenamby]

A Day with the Udakus'

A/N: I know we’re all hurting, but I just wanted to maybe try to lighten the mood. I don’t really expect most of you to read this, or anyone, but for me, writing was therapeutic. I love you all, and we will get through this. 

Words: 3K

Warnings: NO ANGST. Just shenanigans

Summary: Reader is granted an exclusive interview with the Udaku family, but Y/N quickly realizes there’s more to the Wakandans than she could have ever realized. 

You clicked the pen three times. 

Once to ensure that it was unsheathed, another to close it again, and the last time for purposeful use. It was a habit you’d developed way back in middle school. You were always the irksome “pen clicker” who elevated everyone’s anxiety while taking an exam. However, for you, it was calming.

And to a certain extent, it still was.

You turned your head to the window only to remember that the coverings were unmovable, an intentional move, you were sure, to keep you from seeing too much.

You didn’t take it personal, though. You were just thankful to have this assignment, an assignment that could make or break your career depending on the outcome.

No one, in the history of your country, had been welcomed to Wakanda. The borders were solid as cement. No outsiders.

Yet, here you were, and to spend a day interviewing the royal family.

You began your pen clicking process all over again.

You meant to document how long the flight was, but nerves ate at your ability to keep time. If you had to guess, though, at least twelve hours transpired prior to your arrival.

And what an arrival it was. As soon as you stepped off the plane, you were immediately in awe. Flying machines similar to cars but much smaller than 747’s flew over, the monolithic buildings seemed to eclipse the clouds themselves, and the design of everything, the specific details, it all seemed too ethereal to be real.

But it was.

This was Wakanda.

You frowned.

Where in the hell did everyone get the notion that this country was among the poorest in Africa? From what she could see, it was easily the richest in the continent.

If not the world.

“You’re here!”

You directed your attention to a beaming girl who made a beeline in your direction. She looked no older than 18 and wore her hair in small box braids. Her attire was unlike any you’d seen. You made a mental note of that, as well as the exterior of the nation.

“Welcome….” You supplied your name, allowing her to include it in her greeting before she started bobbing on the back of her heels. “I’m so excited to meet you. I’ve never actually done a real interview before.”

You smiled and pushed a passion twist behind your ear. During one of your naps on the plane, your bun must have loosened. “It’s an honor to be here…..”

Her eyes widened. “Shuri. You can call me Shuri.”

Your eyes too widened. Shuri? “As in Princess Shuri?”

The teenager scowled. “Please, Shuri will do fine.” She moved closer and placed a hand on your shoulder. “Come. I will show you to your room.”

All you could do was awkwardly nod. This was the freaking princess of this majestic place, and she was enthusiastic as a kid at Disney. For you.

Your own parents weren’t even that excited when you told them you’d landed your dream job.

As Shuri walked you from the hangar bay to the inside of the palace, you took note of everything around you, the people you passed. The strong women who wore red, the men who wore shades of blue, black, and gray. They all exuded strength and power. Shuri explained the women were called the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s all-female sect of the military. However, their first and foremost priority? Protecting the king and royal family.

The uniforms, the staffs, the power. Hell, you were damn near about to start spazzing.  

“Ahh, Erik!” Shuri stopped and gestured to a couple walking in your direction. “Come meet-”

“Goddamnit, woman, I told you I wasn’t looking at her!”

“Don’t call me a woman!”

“You a female, ain’t you? You got a pussy, don’t you?”

“You make me sick!”

“Naw, I make you gag, remember?” The man with short locs cursed as the woman he was arguing with grabbed at his hair, giving a good yank. “The fuck!”

“I want you to admit you were looking at her!”

“She was our waitress! Of course, I was looking at her! You asked me to order, damnit!”

“Nigga, don’t play with me, you know what I mean!” The woman paused. “You think she’s prettier than me, don’t you?”

“I don’t even know the bitch!”

“Don’t use that word around me!”

“Fuck this. You are really crazy, you know that?”

She suddenly started to whimper as the man’s shoulders dropped.

“You don’t love me anymore.”

As the woman began to sob, loudly and theatrically, he placed his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.

All you could do was stare in awe at the scene before you.

Shuri must have noticed your surprise. She waved her hand. “That is my cousin, Erik, and his wife--”

“Wife?” You interrupted, looking back and forth between the teen and the couple. “They’re married?”

Shuri nodded happily. “They’ve been together since primary.”

And they fight like that?

You also made a mental note to discuss the interesting dynamic of marriages in Wakanda in your writeup.

“You said it wasn’t big!” Erik’s wife was still crying and now punching on his chest as she angrily jabbed her finger in his shoulder. “You—you liar!”

Before Shuri could introduce you, the upset woman sauntered past and between you two, knocking you to the side.

“It isn’t, baby! You just got a lot on your mind!” Erik called after her, hands up in defeat. “A lot of thoughts!” He sighed and jogged toward you two, grabbing Shuri by the back of her neck and kissing her forehead. “I’ll catch you later, cuz.” He then looked your way, and you prayed he could not see the nervous swallow that coursed down your throat. He was so tall and handsome.

And married.

“Stranger.”

You opened your mouth, but he was already gone.

You sighed. It was better than being ignored.

Shuri shook her head and motioned for you two to continue walking. “We’ll try again at dinner. Come, let me finish showing you around.”

All you could do was quietly agree as she pointed things out, things you probably should have paid more attention to, but you were stuck not only on the volatile argument but just the wonders that surrounded you.

You expected poverty, dire conditions, solemn conversations. You were experiencing the complete opposite.

“Now this is—”

“Die, traitor! Die!”

“Wakanda Forever!”

“Surrender!”

“Never!

Multiple voices filled your ears as you turned the corner of a hallway, only to be knocked flat on your ass seconds later, your purse emptying, the recently purchased bottle of hand sanitizer rolling away from your body.

“Asha!” Shuri shouted with her arms crossed. “You come back here and apologize!”

The little girl with white locs that cascaded down her back, turned her head to look back. You caught her bright blue eyes and gasped. You’d never seen such a beautiful contrast of color. Her milky chocolate complexion, those ocean eyes, the icy white hair. She was easily the most beautiful little girl you’d ever seen.

“I cannot, Aunt Shuri! I must escape!”

“Asha...” Shuri’s voice transitioned into one of unequivocal sternness as she helped you stand up. “Now.”

Asha groaned and stomped over, pouting, she muttered a quiet sorry.

“You know better—”

“Now, Azari and N’Yami are going to win without me.”

“Another game of capture, eh?” Shuri chuckled and pulled the child into her, kissing the top of her head. “Y/N, this is my niece, Princess Asha.”

This time, you were able to watch your facial expressions. The only thing you did was curtsy. “Your highness.”

When you looked up, you saw Asha and Shuri sharing confused expressions. You faltered with your next statement, only for Asha to interrupt.

“What are you doing?”

“We don’t do that here,” Shuri explained with a small smile.

You were thankful for your deep complexion. Had you been caucasian, your embarrassment would have given you away.

You awkwardly looked down. “I’m sorry.” 

“You’re weird.”

“Asha!”

Shuri pinched her arm. The little princess scowled and grabbed the assaulted area. “Sorry.”

“Come, little one! We are off for another round.”

A new voice announced as three heads turned to the end of the hall where a group of kids stood amongst a giant. Wide, tall, and with muscles wrapping around bands of muscles, you swallowed again. You didn’t have to be close to see how attractive this man was.

Was every man in Wakanda sinfully handsome?

“Coming, Uncle M’Baku!” She looked up. “May I go now, Aunt Shuri?”

Shuri playfully sighed and motioned toward the other kids. “Go on.”

Without another word, she sprinted off, joining her friends before the group disappeared.

“Everyone is so busy today,” Shuri spoke with disappointment and crossed arms. “I planned to introduce you to the rest of the kids.”

You couldn’t help your interruption. “How many kids does the king have?”

“Four. Asha, N’Yami, and Azari, and Azzuri. Asha is the oldest. The other three are triplets.”

“My God,” you mumbled, then remembering that there were certainly more than three kids at the end of the hall. “And the others?”

“M’Baku’s kids. He was the tall man with them. He’s the leader of the Jabari tribe here. He and his wife Hawla have twelve children.”

Every segment of that sentence sent your eyebrows up in surprise. Yet, you retained more questions, especially after Shuri further explained how the tribes worked. She also mentioned introducing you to the leaders of this Jabari tribe.

It was a lot considering you hadn’t even been there for a whole hour.

“Come on, brother and sister should be in the training room.”

It wasn’t hard to figure that by brother, she meant King T’Challa, and by sister, Queen Ororo.

Where was that damn pen when you needed it?

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to disturb them.”

“Nonsense, they’re probably just training.”

“Training?”

“You’ll see.”

Shuri’s coyness didn’t help your nerves. While she seemed to enjoy the madness of the palace, it spiked your discomfort. You’d mentally prepared for almost everything except the madhouse that you were being introduced to.

“Do not let brother intimidate you. His bark is much worse than his bite.”

You found that very hard to believe. King T’Challa, also the Black Panther, had single handedly defeated every member of the Avengers on their own turf, yet you were supposed to believe that he was amenable?

“Really?”

Shuri snorted. “No, he’s an ass.” You gulped. “Sister has helped calm him down, though, that much, I can’t deny.”

You said nothing else as she brought you to double doors that opened without her moving. That’d happened more than a couple of times, yet you could never detect any sign of motion sensors. Another note was made.

You walked into a room where a wall of windows exposed a large area that resembled a training type arena.

“There they—”

“My wife controls the weather itself, while I am just a man.” You weren’t even paying attention to the words coming out of his mouth. All you could focus on was him. He was in the suit, muscles stretching against the fabric. He walked while he spoke, his gait that of a predator, a hunter, a king. “A man who has studied every fighting style in the world.”

Across the room, she rose into the sky, floating high above the ground. The winds whipped around her, her arms raised. Her eyes were completely white, her matching white hair floating from the mass of winds.

Storm

“If I have learned anything, it is that every punch can be blocked.” Seconds later, the queen flew toward him, aiming for a punch, but falling short as he easily moved to the side. “Every weapon can be countered.”

You saw his lips move, but whatever was said was not audible.

His next statement, however, was not.

“Right this moment, above our head, an unmanned drone sprays the cloud with a super-absorbent powdered polymer.” As he spoke, large bolts of lightning were directed toward him. Some hit his suit, but he dodged most of them. “Out on the Indian Ocean, a swarm of nanotech phytoplankton eat the heat from a burgeoning storm.” You noticed how the winds started to lessen in intensity and depth. “Microwaves shoot down from Wakandan satellites, reducing an onrushing snowstorm to a slightly cooling breeze.”

Storm’s brows furrowed as she looked at her hands. The white hues of her eyes were returning to normal, revealing the same blue eyes you’d seen in Asha.

“The winds? What just—”

“I’m sorry, my love,” King T’Challa interrupted. She looked over at him, lowering to the ground. “I just blocked your punch.”

“You….” Her jaw drop and speech faltered. “All this time, you’ve had a plan for how to defeat your own wife.”

The king spoke in a bored voice. “Please remember, my dear,  I did not start this fight.”

“Neither will you finish it, my dear!”

Before he could reply, Storm struck him, sending him flying and landing on his ass. What started as a battle of abilities was now reduced to hand to hand combat. You watched in awe as these two incomparably powerful human beings battled each other. The fact that they were husband and wife, king and queen, mattered not even in the slightest. 

They looked like two gladiators dueling to the death.

“Do—do they do this often?”

“Train?” Shuri looked at you. “All the time.”

You almost fainted. “This is how they train?”

“You bastard!” The strength of the thunder that emanated from Storm caused the entire building to shake while the lightning causes the lights to flicker.

Shuri sighed and shook her head. “I suppose you’ll have to meet them at dinner.”

“Dinner?” You coughed. “I couldn’t—I don’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense. We’d love to have you.” Shuri’s smile widened. “Then you can meet the whole family at once.”

You suddenly wondered how hard it was to get a flight out of Wakanda.

xXx

The room you’d been given, so beautiful and magnanimous, was now a disaster. Clothes were thrown about while shoes clustered the floor. Underneath your makeup, your face was red and patchy from the two looks you tried, hated, and scrubbed before settling on a simple smoky eye and blood red lip.

Every outfit you tried on seemed either too fancy or too casual. Then again, you’d never had dinner with a royal family, let alone a family of heroes.  

You so badly wanted to find a way out of it, but Shuri, the seemingly only normal member of this family was hellbent on introducing you. You also had to factor in that you’d have to communicate with them at some point. You were there to interview them for god’s sake.

Two guards knocked on your door to escort you to the dining hall. You were a bit saddened at the fact that Shuri hadn’t come to bring you. You felt comfortable with her.

Imagine that. I need a teenager to walk me. What is this place doing to me?

As you walked down the hall, you sent up a quick prayer. The voices that were initially faint grew into loud and lucid. The double doors opened and revealed you to the room full of royals. You stood still as a statue.

“Y/N!” Shuri jumped from the table and jogged over. This dining room envied that of one on a college campus. “Welcome.” She smiled while standing in front of you. “You look wonderful.”

“Thank you.” You wanted to compliment her, but you could only focus on the pairs of eyes on you. Almost everyone was staring, but that wasn’t even what stood out the most. It was how they were looking.

Welcoming

“Y/N.” The queen was the first to speak, her smile wide and warm. You’d never seen such a beautiful person. Her white dress had a long split up the right side of her leg and the neckline dipped low, revealing her full breast. It was almost strange to think this was the same woman who viciously attacked her husband just a few hours ago. “It is a pleasure to have you here. We welcome you.”

“T-t-t-thank you, your highness.”

“Man, if you don’t call her RoRo,” Erik interjected. His wife, who stood next to him, slapped his arm.

“Ignore him. I’m Nareema.”

“My woman.” Erik’s hand sunk down to her ass, where he gave a soft slap.

“We welcome you to our home.” The tallest man stood, but not before helping the woman who sat next to him up. She rubbed her round stomach. “I am M’Baku, and this is my wife, Hawla.”

Ororo’s beauty was undeniable, but so were Hawla and Nareema. And the men…..

I wonder if everyone in Wakanda is as—

“Y/N.”

When he spoke, heads turned and ears tuned. He just commanded authority. Hands together and behind his back, he stared directly at you. His gaze nor tone of voice was as friendly as his wife, but you didn’t expect him to be welcoming you with open arms. You could only imagine what it took to even allow him to be willing to have you in his home. Around his family.

“I hope you are finding your visit well.”

“I-I am.” She quickly answered and then added, “your highness.”

“Oh please, don’t call him that,” Shuri corrected. “Brother’s ego is already big enough.”

“That is true,” Ororo chimed with a sly smile, looking at him out the corner of her eye. King T’Challa moved his hand to his wife’s and gave a soft squeeze and wink.

You retained a smile as they welcomed you to the table. When you asked about the kids, a chorus of groans erupted.

“They eat by themselves. We need our time away from those demons.”

“My children are warriors.”

“Your kids are bad as hell.”

“Erik!”

“I don’t know you talking, sis. Your kids even badder.”

“Mind your tongue, N’Jadaka.”

“Spark Jr. Sparky the Third, Sparky Spark, and Sparkle are all savages. I said what I said.” You brought the napkin to your mouth to hide your amused smile. “How the hell all four of they asses end up inheriting both ya’ll’s powers anyway? What kind of fucking ya’ll be doing?”

“Erik, must you be so vulgar?” Hawla complained.

“Aye, the little man speaks truth. How rare it is for all four to inherit such power.”

“Who the hell you calling little man, Mark Henry? This little man will beat the ruff ruff’s right out ya atomic dog ass.”

“N’Jadaka, please!”

“I told you he needed a muzzle.”

“That’s funny, cause I told cuz not to marry you.”

“Speak that way to my wife, again, N’Jadaka, and we shall see how well you can speak with your larynx severed.”

The calm delivery of King T’Challa’s threat sent chills down your spine, but they didn’t last.

“You wasn’t saying that when you was chillin at my crib last week talking about you were sick of her mood swings.”

If looks could kill, Erik and T’Challa would be on life support.

“You said what?”

“What was Ororo doing at our house? Where was I? Why did you not tell me this?”

“We will discuss this later.”

“No, we will discuss it now.”

“I do not answer to you, Ororo.”

“Oh, really?” She tilted her head to the side, staring at him, T’Challa kept their stare for a few more seconds when he grabbed at his throat. His fist banged on the table, causing the dishes to tremble from the intensity. You gasped. She was choking him.

“Here we go again,” Shuri mumbled, stabbing her fork into the plate. You looked around, Erik and Nareema were still arguing. She looked ready to cry. M’Baku and Hawla spoke quietly amongst themselves. You were flabbergasted. No one seemed the least bit concerned that the queen was trying to kill the king.

Again

“Damnit, Ororo!” King T’Challa finally spoke after quick, hearty coughs. “Damn you!”

“Would you like to tell me again you don’t answer to me?”

“This is what I am referring to. You are always so quick to anger!”

“Perhaps if my husband would not do things to make me angry, I would not be angry. Did that ever cross your miserable, self-centered brain?”

“You do hate me! I knew it!”

“Nareema, I don’t hate you!”

“Could we get another round of bread, please?”

“So, what is your family like?” Shuri suddenly asked in a bored tone. All you could do was look around. So much arguing, so many strange interactions, yet you were the only one who seemed bothered. And perhaps that was for a reason.

A good reason.

This was their norm, and despite how dysfunctional it appeared on the outside, it worked for them. And that was more than enough for you.

You’d just have to accept that this was just another day with the Udakus.’

[cilliankelly]

text 📱 cillian & jude.

Discord thread featuring: cillian & @judetaylorhq

When: november 22 (from 1:25am onward)

Mentions: @robinscnfm

Description: cillian texts jude to thank him for bringing over pizza and beer and the rest is just a rollercoaster of confessions, feelings, fighting, and flirting. these two idiots right here, i tell yah. 

Trigger Warnings: brief discussion about family drama, some nsfw stuff, and some good old fashioned angst.

Cillian

thanks for bringing the pizza and beer, man

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Sure man. You good?

Cillian

what, cause of the black eye? or cause i’m sleeping on ellie’s couch? i’m alright, man, hanging in there.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

I meant more the..barely talking since we swapped spit part

Cillian

ooooooooooh that.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Yuh

Cillian

i’m sorry it was weird. i don’t like being all awkward around you, you’re my best friend, yknow? not to get all mushy and shit. but yeah.

i guess i miss you and stuff.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

So you were just drunk?

Cillian

i didn’t say that

is that what you think?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

I just assumed. You went to Ellie's place and not mine. She's not even your best friend

Cillian

i guess things were still kind of weird between us and i was worried. maybe that was dumb but i wasn’t really thinking straight either.

lot happened. all very fast.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

It's whatever bro.

Cillian

it’s not though, is it?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

It is what it is

Cillian

what is it? do you know? because i don’t.

look i’m like, the king of shrugging shit off and ignoring it but that’s not working and i miss my best friend

you didn’t ask me about my eye. or about why i’m staying at ellie’s.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

You didn't tell me. I figured it was part of the not talking..

I miss you too or whatever

Cillian

i don’t really know how to say this bc i’m really not good at this but here goes: i didn’t hate sucking face with you. like at all. not even a little bit.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

yeah no shit dude.

Cillian

okay well that was news to me okay? i didn’t know what to do with that info, it’s all confusing and kind of scary and i needed a minute

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

I guess...I just don't like being the guy you experiment on and never call again.

that felt like shit, bro. yu could have just told me you were like...questioning or something.

Cillian

trust me you are not that guy. i didn’t mean to make you feel like that i’m just really shit at this. i wasn’t trying to use you or anything.

i didn’t mean to ghost you or anything. i just wanted to figure out how i really felt.

shit, why’s this feelings shit so hard.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Well, did you figure it out? Or are you still into chicks?

Cillian

sooooooo this is the part where the black eye comes in

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Someone hit you?

Cillian

i wanted to be sure i was feeling what i was feeling so i’ve been trying out some different stuff. like a lot of different stuff. and my dad decided to make a surprise reappearance and walked in on me with another dude and things got kind of ugly.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

you fucked other guys?

Cillian

yeah. i did.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

sucks about your dad.

Cillian

he’s an asshole. wasn’t surprised.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

still..

So you went to ellie's...

Cillian

yeah. i can’t go back there. home i mean.

i haven’t really told her why. just that i got into it with my dad.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Well...i mean i'd offer the spare room here. But clearly that wasn't an option to you, so.

best of luck or whatever

Cillian

jude

are you mad at me?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

I'm fine dude. I'm just busy trying to fuck your new roommate.

Cillian

right

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

don't tell me you fucked her too?

Cillian

ellie?

not recently. why does it matter, dude?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Are you ever not gonna fuck girls that I'm into?

fuck, i can't have anything.

Cillian

i didn’t know you were seriously into her? she doesn’t like me anyways, man

it’s just sex anyways

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

whatever i'm not into her anymore.

Cillian

why? cause she’s slept with me?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Yeah dude.

Cillian

and what? don’t want my seconds?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Yeah, exactly.

I want like, one fucking person to be into me and not want to fuck you. Because you're a jackass.

Cillian

jeez, sorry everyone you ever liked has such bad taste.

want me to make you a list so that it doesn’t happen again?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Yeah.

You fucked another dude.

Cillian

yeah and what about it, jude? you have something to say?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Yeah I do.

But I'm not gonna, because clearly I'm just some drunk hook up.

Cillian

you’re wrong, but whatever.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

It's not whatever.

You made me feel like shit. And then you go out and fuck anyone that breathes. Besides me, apparently.

Cillian

what?

do you want me to fuck you?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

In your dreams.

You could never handle me.

Cillian

THEN WHY?! i don’t understand you dude. if you don’t want that then why do you care that i’m fucking other dudes.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

I care, but there's no point in like telling you about feelings and shit when you don't care.

YOu didnt even come to me.

You went to Ellie's. Fuck that, bro.

Cillian

i do care though! i care a lot.

i dunno how to prove that to you. i’m sorry i didn’t come to you first but i was worried. and i guess i was right to be based on your response.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

You really confused me with that kiss. And then you just like...cut me out.

Cillian

you don’t think i was confused too? i didn’t know how to be around you. or anyone really. i was scared you hated me, man. it sounds stupid but i thought i fucked everything up

and then you texted me the next day like it didn’t even happen

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

it's like whatever. i've just had a crush on you for like...ever.

Cillian

no you haven’t.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

okay fine.

i guess i just offer my ass to every guy i meet or whatever.

Cillian

jude. seriously.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

Why would i make this shit up? you think I want to like you? you're an asshole!

Cillian

yeah, exactly, which is why it doesn’t make sense.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

are we done here then? cuz you're obviously not gonna listen to me.

Cillian

no, fuck, sorry. i just don’t get it. why me?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

fuck if i know dude.

Cillian

so you like me... but you don’t want me?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

i didn't say that.

you don't want me

Cillian

i didn’t say that either.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

you didn't say anything

Cillian

i didn’t know what i wanted. but i think i figured it out.

this is gonna sound gross as shit but i don’t think there’s been a day since that i haven’t thought about the kiss.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

that sounds so gross. you totally wanted to suck my dick.

Cillian

you wishhhhhhh.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

come on, man. i'm adorable.

Cillian

i guess you’re pretty okay

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

i woulda done it.

Cillian

what?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

sucked you off

Cillian

yeah?

would you still?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

yuh

no homo though.

..unless.

Cillian

oh my god. next time i see you i’m gonna tackle your ass.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

my ass?

Cillian

yup.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

hot.

Cillian

shut up

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

kinky

Cillian

so. how long have you had this big ooey gooey crush on me then?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

ooh...and there it goes, big shot

Cillian

fuck. just when i was letting it go to my head.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

don't worry i'll always be sure to kick your ass

Cillian

i’d like to see you try

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

maybe i will

Cillian

do it. i dare you.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲��𝐨𝐫.

bet.

Cillian

hey jude

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

what dude?

Cillian

all those times i said i wasn’t an ass man? lies, all of it.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

DUDE.

i got a great ass fr.

Cillian

i’ve definitely checked it out more than once

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

nice. i knew it.

i checked you out too bro

Cillian

aaaaand? thoughts?

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

i don't know. i'd have to see it without all the layers to decide

see how fuking smooth i am?

Cillian

sooooooo smooth, hot damn.

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

i know right?

Cillian

here i thought i was the suave one this whole time

𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫.

i got game, bro.

[taxicabinmemphis]

#StayProud is today so I guess I will tell people the boring story of how I "came out", and why I didn't come out earlier. Long post, don't feel obligated to read! I just thought it was a good day to share.

~~~

So, for background, my parents are liberal, accepting, not homophobic at all, so they aren't unsafe to be gay around. However, as I started to figure out that 'hey I'm pretty gay for the White Canary', my parents and I had a conversation about being LGBTQ+. I mentioned how I knew many people around me who identified as gay, bisexual, or queer, and I also brought up Brendon Urie being pansexual (he was the only pan I knew of, and I was thinking I was pan). Bringing that up was me kind of putting my right foot out of the closet, testing the waters to see if I might later come out. After I explained what pansexual was, my dad made a remark that wasn't exactly homophobic, but it did just kinda shove me back into the closet. "Yeah, but I think at your age, you're just too young to know."

Right as it was said I was taken aback, hurt, angry, irritated, annoyed. I immediately wanted to jump to the defense of my friends (I didn't name anyone or anything, I don't out people), but I was basically speechless and caught off guard.

Because my dad had talked to me about BOYFRIENDS before, seemingly acknowledging that I could have a crush on a guy (but that I was too young to date, and I was, I was 11). He KNEW that I had the hots for a friend when I was three. THREE. I wasn't too young to love then!

But the thing was, the thing that was confusing me, was that all throughout elementary school, I never had a crush, and everyone around me was like "Julia, you have to have a crush. Not having one is unrealistic! We all know you have the hots for [insert male name here]. He likes you!"

And now my father is saying that I can't know if like a badass woman I saw on TV, that I'm too young?! I was in sixth grade, goddammit! I had friends who were dating. Was there some age you had to reach before you could be gay?

I knew my sexuality. I knew I wasn't too young. I also knew that if it did change, that if I started to prefer something else, I could. And that was okay. But I knew that then and there, a sixth grader who had never been taught about homosexuality, who learned about the LGBT+ community from her bi friend and learned about pansexuality from the internet, that I was pan.

And so I became spiteful. Looking back, too spiteful, but it's too late now. I figured "if you think I'm too young to know, and if I think there is no such thing as too young, you will decide when I am old enough. You will decide when I have reached the age where I am eligible to come out. When you decide you are ready for me to come out, you can ask me. And I will tell you."

And that became my motto. "If you ask, I'll tell." And so it eventually became that everyone at school knew, as I was very open about my sexuality, would throw it in conversation when appropriate, and when people would come out to me, I would come out to them. My friends outside of school knew too, we watched Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow together and I did nothing to hide my crush on Sara Lance. And so it became that my friends knew, some of my teachers probably knew, but my parents didn't.

But then I failed my mental health questionnaire/check-in/whatever.

And my primary care doctor basically said "Get this fucked up teen to therapy AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!" She implied that we should looked at therapists the second we got home.

Either way, it took my mom a few months to get me a therapist. We're pretty poor, my parents get busy, and therapy is damn expensive! And eventually, by the time I thought my mom forgot that the doctor demanded that I get help, I got a therapy appointment.

And the first thing that happens, is intake.

So flash-forward, I'm in the therapist's office, my mom's beside me because a parent or guardian had to be there and I am not comfortable with my dad when it comes to discussing mental health. Intake is basically a lot of questions, at least it was for me. Pronouns and other basic stuff that I don't remember.

But the question came.

"Sexuality?"

And I went to say "I don't want to answer that" as my mom was right there and I was used to hiding my sexuality from her. But then the words rang through my head.

If you ask, I'll tell you.

And so, with a slight smirk on my face but nerves coursing through my brain, I said "Pansexual." There it was. There was no going back.

My mom was shocked; her form flinched backwards in surprise. The therapist could see I hadn't told my mom this before. My mom wasn't mad or anything, she just told the therapist "yeah I just didn't know" and I turned to her and said my motto "if you asked, I would've told you".

No, it is not her fault for not asking. I'm not angry at her. She didn't make the comment that I was too young. I just wished she would've realized how socially anxious I am, that I would never have the courage to sit them down and tell them, or even just randomly shout "guess what, I'm pan!"

But I resigned myself to "if they ask, I'll tell, cuz even if they don't just ask me out of the blue, they most definitely will want to when I bring a girl home". It was a combination of spite and anxiety.

My dad on the other hand, I never truly came out to. I realized I could never do the sit down with the family, or bake a pink, yellow, and blue cake with the statement of ‘I'm pansexual’ gracing the top. Because two of the three people I lived with knew (I came out to my grandpa early on, I feel really safe around him so that was easy). My father realizing was basically a random throw-in of "...pansexuality, like me..." and I continued on. I could see the look on his face but it wasn't enough shock to stop me. That, and me desperately trying to give him clues. Because it's so casual and forgettable with him though, I will still make gay statements to make sure he hasn't forgotten. But because of his reaction of "of course" to "I mean I don't blame Julian Bashir for flirting with Jadzia, if I were on DS9 I would have the hots for her too" (my most recent gay statement), I think there is no confusion.

~~~

So yeah! That's my gay story! I don't expect anyone to read it, it's super long, but I really just wanted to share on this prideful day. To those of you who somehow haven't figured it out, I am pansexual! And I am not in the closet anymore.

I will say that I am very lucky to be able to come out as I did, that so many of my LGBT+ siblings don't have that privilege. I am here for you, my messages are always open, and I support you.

#StayProud

[unadulteratedfandomtrash]

Loki Laufeyson x Reader ~ Rest Assured [Pt.6]

[My Marvel Masterlist]   [Previous Part]

Word Count: 1596

“What’s the matter,” Wanda asks from behind the black-haired god. 

“I am unable to break this spell alone. Another spell-caster is required.”

“What do you mean you need someone else? Can’t you and Queen Frigga do it together?”

Clint squints at Loki with skepticism. Though Loki may have another agenda other than taking over and terrorizing innocents, the archer still treads with caution around him since Loki is the only person to successfully interpret a small portion of the jinxed door, so there is no other person who can call him out for lying. Plus, Clint is unhappy with his luck for receiving the first shift with the trickster god.

“These doors are locked with a variety of spells, but only half of them are recognizable since I was the one who taught (Y/n) the incantations. The other half is some sort of light-based magic. I have never seen anything like it, but the formations are very specific and individual depending on the spell, that much I can guess. As with most sorcery, I assume there is also some form of signature embedded within the spells that serves as the caster’s identification.”

“Well,” Pietro concludes, exhaling audibly, “looks like you need to figure it out then.”

The three Avengers lean against the wall opposite to the doors as they listen to Loki’s explanation as to why he cannot simply ‘figure it out’ as Pietro commented.

“I would venture to continue this discussion, but that would be a waste of valuable time standing around and idly chattering about subjects mere mortals such as yourselves would never understand.”

“You wanna take a stab at this, Maximoff,” Clint offers. “Maybe there’s something there you recognize.”

“There is no point in her trying, archer. (Y/n)’s knowledge in the different types of sorcery was acquired long before your existence.”

“He has a point,” the brunette points out. “Besides, I know nothing about magic. My powers are psionic-related and telepathy.”

“Ugh, fineee. I know what Cap said about three of us watching Loki at all times, but his mother is here, so you two watch him while I go gather some information.”

“Barton, why are you here and not watching Loki like you’re supposed to!”

Without any warning, a pillow comes flying across the room and hits the archer in the face with a satisfying thump, startling the man enough to trigger his reflexes, along with eliciting a shriek of panic. Quick hands reach for an arrow from the quiver on his back, only to cut his fingers along the sharpened edges of the vanes, causing Clint to drop his bow so that he now freed hand can grasp the injured digits.

“Nice. I can’t believe Fury hired you as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agents.”

“And I can’t believe that I recruited such a mean person. Was the pillow really necessary?”

Shrugging while sporting a triumphant smirk, Natasha slides off the silken sheets of her bed and waltzes over to her friend to inspect the damage. Only a tiny trickle of blood escapes the minuscule tear in the archer’s flesh, so she ignores his whining to return to the comforts of the pillow-covered mattress.

“Why are you here, Barton? Steve isn’t going to be happy when he finds out you left your post.”

“If he finds out, Nat. If. And I’m here to get your opinion on something.”

“Go on.”

Soft scratching noises echo in the room as Natasha files her nails. One of her temporary partners for the trip, James Rhodes, shuffles around the room aimlessly while to two agents converse about the recent events that had taken place. A stone bust catches the colonel’s attention, but upon inching closer to inspect the sculpture, his foot accidentally kicks the gold pedestal.

“Hey, hey! Be careful,” Clint all but screams at Rhodes. “Who knows how these guys will make us pay for that if you break it!”

“Please proceed with caution. That sculpture is one of three in existence.” If not for his warning, Thor’s heavy footfalls announces his entrance as he strolls into the room. “You nearly demolished my grandfather.”

Wincing visibly, Rhodes backs away from the bust and opts to sit on a carved wooden chest that sits at the foot of his mattress instead. 

“As I was saying,” Natasha clears her throat before continuing her argument, “I don’t know if Fury even knows about any activity to begin with. I mean, it’s possible for a few people possessing magical abilities to be in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, but that would require us to physically be present to look through all the files.”

“Why must you search for masters of sorcery when my mother and brother are ones themselves?”

“Because Loki needs a very specific person to unlock that door. He said that (Y/n) learned magic from a lot of different people, so there has to be some way to contact all her teachers.”

All eyes focus on the God of Thunder as the man in question rests a hand on his chin, stroking the strands of hair on his beard while thinking over the statement. As far as Thor knows, (Y/n) had left to seek apprenticeship from over a dozen times during her lifetime, but he was never very close to the young sorceress in their youth, so his knowledge of her travels is limited to gossip and brief exchanges he heard between Frigga and Loki. If there were any tangible records of her journeys and experiences, it would be kept in journals in her chambers, which is currently the issue at hand.

“I have no knowledge of any of her instructors. (Y/n) and I were quite distant as children. It was only after her marriage to Loki that we started getting acquainted with each other, but we still remain distant to this day.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…You mean to tell mean that this (Y/n) person is Loki’s wife?! That’s why we’re here? To let Reindeer Games see his wife?”

“Yes. I thought you knew this.”

“Though the wording used during the meeting did not directly state this,” Vision states as he phases through the golden walls, ”I do believe that many of the Avengers have at least gathered that (Y/n) holds a significant importance in Loki’s life.”

“Which is why I ask you to please do whatever you can to help my brother. Though he can be quite ill-mannered, Loki does have another side. One that shows kindness. In time, he may reveal his true self around us all, but I know very well that (Y/n) brings out the best in him.”

It takes a lot of convincing from Natasha, but Clint eventually agrees to bring up the newfound information to Steve, who scolds the archer at first for leaving the twins— despite Frigga being there with them. The super soldier works with Thor to modify a new plan to accommodate the time differences before bringing in the rest of the team for briefing. 

Surprisingly, Odin remains level-headed when the news reaches his ears, however, the AllFather denies the Avengers’ request to immediately return to Midgard. Instead, he suggests a much more simple plan— one that does not involve a blind search for possible magic teachers— that neither they nor his son thought about: Heimdall.

“The man you seek, he is heavily concealed by magic. His exact location is proving difficult even for me to determine.”

“How is that possible,” Thor demands.

“I may be all-seeing and all-hearing, My Prince, but there is little I can do when such powerful sorcery is involved.”

Seeing as the God of Thunder is losing his patience, Natasha steps in to speak to the gatekeeper. She words her questions carefully, trying to pull as many details as possible from his obscure answers.

“Wait,” Heimdall announces suddenly, his gold eyes widening in surprise. “I believe I just saw a glimpse of the destination you seek.”

Quickly pulling out a small pad of paper and a pen, the Russian spy hastily jots down the series of numbers and letters Heimdall reads out. The address is nowhere near complete, but it is more than enough for Natasha. With the bits of information, Natasha can simply input the partial address into a computer and let the Internet’s autocomplete do the rest of the work.

“Let’s go, Thor!”

Clint returns to his previous location before Loki’s chambers bearing news for the Maximoff twins, Frigga, and Loki to hear. He wants to withhold the information from the God of Mischief, but the possible consequences outweigh the satisfaction of witnessing Loki’s unrelenting frustration over a hexed door.

“Alright, listen up, kids, ‘cuz I’m not saying this again.” Glancing over at the Asgardian queen with a moment of realization, the archer apologizes for his wording before continuing with his announcement. “Natasha and Thor are leaving to make a quick visit on Earth, so because of that, Stark’s group will be the one to take over after our shift. If they’re not back by the time Stark’s shift ends, we’ll have to come back and fill in until then. Cap will take an extra shift if Nat and Thor are still gone by the morning. I don’t like this anymore than you do, but hopefully everything runs quickly and smoothly. Any questions?”

“And where exactly are they going,” Loki inquires wryly, his tolerance for his current group of guards diminishing by the minute.

“177A Bleecker Street, New York City, New York.”

[Next Part]

Tag List

@wecantgiggleitsafandom  @tarynkauai  @drstrangefictions  @laxarnas

[cobwebcorner]

A Meeting of Dolls

Midnight rang in with a thunderous chime from the antique grandfather clock. All through the ballroom, workers paused in their tasks, looking up from garlands of paper bats and armfuls of glittering pumpkins.

“Midnight already? We’re never gonna get all this done,” complained one stout man to his companion in the artificial corn field.

“We had a late start. So quit flappin your jaw and hurry up, we’ve still got to get this corn field set up.”

“You know, I thought Mr. McDougal was going to cancel this party, ‘cuz of all the threats,” the shorter man continued, impervious to criticism.

“Changed his mind last minute, I guess.”

“Would’ve been nicer for us if he’d changed it a few days ago.”

“Yeah, well....”

“Chick! Wilbur!”

The two men stood up, the shorter one, Wilbur, hitting his head on a corn stalk as he went. A very harried man with a clipboard in one hand and a werewolf head under the other came up to them.

“Yes, Mr. Talbot?”

“We need to start moving the animatronics out here. Can you get them from the east store room?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Chick answered, and caught the key which Talbot tossed him.

“Animatronics?” Wilbur repeated, bewildered, after Talbot had moved on to yell something at the men who were building the stage.

“You know, those big mechanical decorations that’ll jump at you when you trip a motion sensor. Like the ones they have down at Spirit.”

“Ohh, those.” Wilbur nodded, smiling. “I don’t like those. They scare me.”

“C’mon, you big wimp, they’re plastic and cloth. They can’t hurt you.”

The two men drifted away from the chaos of the ballroom, crossed winding halls decked with spider webs and black and purple streamers, to a little door tucked into a corner. Chick unlocked this with his key and opened it.

Wilbur had one look inside and jumped backward with a yelp.

The store room was packed full of massive toys, decorations, and wax figures. It would have been a marvel in the daylight, but the dark shadows painted sinister expressions on the many frozen faces, so even the 8 foot tall teddy bear and the life-size Pinocchio seemed to leer out at them.

“Get a grip, would you?” Chick snapped. He flipped the light switch, to no effect. “Huh. Bulb’s busted. Hey, grab that lantern off that wraith over there.”

Wilbur gulped and looked up at the decoration leaning next to the door.

“Excuse me, sir,” he told it, and delicately pried the lantern from its plastic fingers.

“Does it work?” Chick asked impatiently.

Wilbur switched it on, bathing the room in a cold white glow.

“That’s more like it. Leave it in the middle of the floor there. Let’s bring that coffin out first.”

“The--the coffin?”

“Yeah, you see it?”

“It’s...it’s very close to the back.”

“And it looks like it’ll take both of us to lift, so hop to it. Once we get this out we can make separate trips for the rest.”

“Oh, boy,” Wilbur sagged, not looking forward to being in this room alone.

Chick led the way to the back of the room, where the two of them could lift the bulky fake coffin between them and begin walking it back out.

“Now be very careful. These things probably cost a fortune,” Chick cautioned as they moved.

“I’ll treat ‘em with kid gloves,” Wilbur reassured him, moments before one massive, shadowy figure sprung suddenly to life as they passed it, leaping forward with arms outstretched. A tinny midi file of a man roaring played.

Wilbur shrieked and tried to scuttle sideways, knocking his end of the coffin into a big red dog. The dog toppled gently over, starting a chain reaction which led to a small avalanche of toys and decorations piling in the center of the room. Wilbur dropped his end of the coffin and hid behind one of the few wax dummies still standing.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Chick snarled. “If any of those are damaged, it’s coming out of your paycheck!”

“It-it-it-it--did you see that?” Wilbur squeaked.

“Yes, yes, I saw it. Take a good look at what you’re so afraid of.” Chick gently set his end of the coffin down so he could pick up the lantern and point it to a 7 foot tall model of Frankenstein’s monster, which had whirred back into its upright position. “You see?”

“I see it,” Wilbur admitted, not moving from his hiding spot.

“And?”

“It’s terrifying.”

“Aw, you’re hopeless.” Chick moved the lantern over to the pile of fallen figures, and winced. “We’ll have to sort all this out later. I think I see one of our animatronics at the bottom. For your sake, I hope it still works. Now get over here and help me with this box.”

With some whimpering, Wilbur did as told, and the two men waddled out with it, leaving the door to slowly creak shut on the dark store room. Only the lantern remained behind, set on the floor near the pile of figures, casting its white glow on the stitched burlap face of a scarecrow that lay at the bottom of the pile.

The scarecrow raised its head, glaring at the door, its tattered witch hat drooping over one eye. Jonathan Crane huffed to himself and let his head fall back. As enjoyable as that performance of terror had been, he did not appreciate being buried under a pile of giant toys. He added the two faces to his mental list of people to track down later for special attention.

Aside from the unpleasant detail of his lower half being crushed by a surprising amount of weight, his plans had gone off without a hitch so far. He’d made it inside the manor, with no one the wiser. One would think his antics over the past years would have made people more suspicious of scarecrows, yet no one had glanced at him twice. Gotham was truly special that way.

He struggled to move one leg to a more comfortable position, still puzzling over how much the pile on top of him weighed. Sure, there were about 4 or 5 different toys lying on his legs, all larger than a grown man, but how heavy could all that fluff and stuffing really be? The heaviest looking thing of the bunch was a life-sized ragdoll with a pure ceramic head.

As the minutes stretched out, waiting in the dark for the workmen to return, Jonathan finally noticed a soft noise which had escaped him before. A little hiss and rustle, which came in time with a gentle shifting of objects above him.

Something in the pile was breathing.

“....hello?” Jonathan whispered.

The whole pile jolted, as if a startled someone hiding in it had just jumped. Slowly, the ragdoll above him twisted its head 180 degrees, the black eyes staring lifelessly down at him. That was a neat trick, Jonathan thought with a stab of envy. He wished he could turn his head that far.

With only the frail light of the small lantern to see by, Jonathan could only just make out the ragdoll’s blank doll face and a cloud of red rope hair. Its visible arm hung at an angle which a human couldn’t possibly replicate without breaking five bones.

“Oh. Hello there,” the ragdoll said. “You scared me.”

“That’s the idea,” Jonathan replied dryly.

“Ah! You’re the scarecrow, aren’t you?”

“And you are...” Jonathan trailed off.

“You can call me Ragdoll.”

“Never heard of you.”

“A person in my line of work does better without the notoriety,” he said. “And you, sir, are stealing my gimmick.”

“Gimmick?” Jonathan repeated, bemused. “You mean, pretending to be an inanimate object?”

“Yes. I’ve slipped into half the richest homes in Gotham this way. Made off with a bundle in gems and artwork.”

“So you’re the one behind the recent rash of thefts. Everyone’s been suspecting Selina.”

“It’s not my fault so much of the best treasures in Gotham are cat-themed. And what are you doing here? You don’t seem the burglar type.”

“It’s Halloween.” Jonathan grinned behind his mask. “And I have an old score to settle with Mr. McDougal.”

“Personal, is it? A tale of sordid revenge, betrayal, that sort of thing?”

“Ah...” Jonathan thought about it. “Well, let’s just say I’m settling an old professional disagreement.” He squirmed, once more trying to budge his leg. One of his feet was falling asleep. “Would you mind getting off me?”

“Sorry, chap. If we move they’re going to notice.”

Jonathan sighed. It was going to be a long night.

##

One am, chimed the great grandfather clock in the front hall. Chick Young dusted cobwebs off his clothing as he made his way out from the ballroom. You’d think someone as rich as McDougal could hire someone to clean his store rooms once in a while, but apparently not.

Wilbur was standing outside the store room, white as a sheet and shaking.

“Oh, what now?” Chick snapped. “Why aren’t you working?”

“I--I heard--voices,” Wilbur stammered. He pointed his fingers at the door. “S-something’s alive in there, I tell ya.”

“Voices? It’s probably another animatronic that got left on. What was it saying?”

“They were discussing Shakespeare.”

“They were--” Chick broke off, glaring at his companion. “Yeah, right. You’ve been talking to Talbot too much, that’s your trouble.” He shoved the door open and swept the room with the flashlight he’d borrowed. “You see? There’s nothing but dolls and dummies in here. I’d like to see you talk literature with one of these empty heads.” He walked over and rapped his knuckles on the white ceramic head of a ragdoll.

“I heard it, Chick. I’m tellin ya. I heard what I heard when I--”

“Yeah, yeah. What exactly did you hear?”

Wilbur drew himself up. “They were talking about Hamlet,” he said.

“Hamlet?”

“Yeah. Something about how Ophelia was really murdered by Hamlet’s mother.”

“That--” Chick broke off. “You must have heard someone talking in one of the other rooms, through a wall. Now get going, we’ve still got a lot to set up. Ah--here’s the last animatronic. Help me move all this junk off it.”

Gently, the two men shifted the pile, until Chick could extricate the Scarecrow lying on the bottom.

“Well, he seems in working order,” Chick said doubtfully, after a cursory examination of the burlap-clad figure. “I’ll take him on over to the ballroom. You can stay here and clean up this mess you made.”

“U-uhhh!” Wilbur squeaked.

“What?”

“You want to leave me alone with them?” Wilbur waved a hand vaguely at the contents of the store room.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“What if-what if they try to talk to me, Chick? I-I don’t know the first thing about Shakespeare.”

Chick rolled his eyes heavenward. “Alright, alright. You take the scarecrow, I’ll clean the mess. But you owe me for this!”

“Aw, Chick, you’re a saint.”

Chick dumped the scarecrow in Wilbur’s arms, gruffly commanding Wilbur to get a move on. They were going to be here all night, at this rate. While Wilbur trotted out with his burden, Chick set to work untangling the figures and setting them upright.

A horrified shriek came from the hall, loud enough to burst eardrums at close range. Chick tripped over the lantern in his haste to get to the door, which he flung open. Any sense of urgency evaporated the moment he got a good look outside.

“Wilbur!”

“I-it tried to strangle me!” Wilbur said, pointing an accusing finger at the heap of scarecrow on the floor across from him.

“It’s an animatronic, you dummy! You must have just triggered it somehow.”

“Well I-I-I-I’m not touching it again. It’ll try to kill me.”

“Fine! I’ll carry it. And then you come back with me and we both clean up your mess!” Chick barked, coming forward to pick up the scarecrow.

Neither of them noticed the ragdoll waving goodbye before the store room door shut.

[kur0kvmi]

The Menacing Mind of Felix Lombardi-Act 2

I peek through the door glass one more time, to make sure I’m not hallucinating. Yep. Ami Fujinami in the mother, fucking flesh. 

“Felix? I know you’re in there, open up” Ami said, in between repeatedly knocking

“Yea I’ll open it up in a minute” I said as I frantically searched for a clean pair of sweatpants to wear.

Ami and I have known each other for the entirety of the 2 years I’ve been living at this apartment. She and her Grandma have taken pretty good care of me seeing as I’m not exactly the best at it. 

“Hi Ami, what brings you here?” I asked, trying to push out the conversation with my brother from my mind

“Well, a strange man in a dark blue suit was here yesterday and he gave me 2 tickets to Mysticon” 

And then it call comes rushing back

“Wow that’s weird, well have fun” I said as I tried to close the door on her, only for her to stop the door from shutting.

“He said he was your brother, and that I should ask you to go with me” Ami said, slowly edging towards me like she was trying to get a good look at the reflection in my eyeballs.

“Well, I have no idea who you’re talking about. I don’t have a brothe-”

“Hello? Mr. Lombardi? He said exactly what you said he’d say. Mhmm That he doesn't have a brother. Should I hand him the phone? Ok. Ok. I’ll tell him.” 

Oh fuck.

“He says if you don’t go to Mysticon with me, I should tell Obaa-san to lock you out of the wifi for a month” Ami said, in the most perfunctory tone imaginable.

“First of all, you can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. And to be honest, I don’t care if Mr. Lombardi is your real brother or not, I want to go to Mysticon, and I don’t care who with. So you’re going with me Felix.” Despite the fact that Ami was more or less extorting a date out of me, she did so with the gusto and demeanor of a middle schooler who just won a spelling bee. 

“Why couldn’t you just go by yourself?”

“The deal is, I take you, and I get a free ticket. Mr. Lombardi was very clear about this” 

“So I have no choice”

“None at all”

“Alright. Come knock on my door on saturday”

“It is Saturday, you bum”

“Why aren’t we using your car?” Ami moaned as we exited the building. 

“The train is faster” I said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of my jacket.

“Mysticon is in Hells Kitchen right?” Ami asked, whilst reaching into her backpack

“Yup, and it’s...3pm, traffic will be annoying, and I don’t wanna worry about driving back if I buy weed.” I said, pulling out my lighter

“What have I told you about smoking when you’re next to me.” Ami said, pulling out a batton, then flicking it to extend it’s length. 

I put the cig back in the pack, whilst prompting her to sheathe her weapon. Throughout the journey my mind is racing. Ami and I hanging out again? It’s not that I like her or anything, it’s just that I kind of missed her. Hey I’m allowed to have feelings aren’t I? I’m sure you’re wondering “but Felix, if you missed hanging out with her, why did you stop talking to her?” Why yes fair reader, that’s a very adequate question, however the nature of our relationship isn’t that simple. Ami is kind of an all around nerd aficionado, she cosplays, she writes fanfics, she draws, she sings anime openings on youtube, it’s kind of scary how much she does all over the place. Recently she’s started to get really famous online, she’s started to devote a lot more time to it, and She started ghosting. Being distant... And you know me, I ain’t exactly a butterfly myself, so we just drifted apart. She should be making money on youtube, couldn’t she just get her own tickets?

“Obaa San wouldn’t let me” Ami said as we reached the station. “She’s against anime conventions on principle”. 

“Is this about a ‘Japan is more than anime’ thing?” I asked, shifting over to the right as I stepped on the escalator so I could walk down past the standers.

“No that’s more my parents. Baa san is a reeeeaaally old school Otaku.”

“Then what’s her beef with anime conventions?”

“She thinks they’re ‘commodified caricatures of otaku culture’ or something along those lines” Ami said as we hopped on the train.

Granny Fujinami isn’t wrong in the slightest.

“So she won’t be mad at you for going?” 

“She’s only letting me go because I’m going with you. It’s aaalways about you with her.”

“Not my fault i’m the grandson she never had” I said while making a mocking face at Ami.

“She only loves you cuz you’re a broken mess she can nurture. You’re like my dad. Ugh, you’re like all men really.”

Ouch.

“Ouch.” 

“Suck it up loser.” Ami said, shifting her direction away from me. 

“You’re so cute when you go all Tsun” I said, pulling out my phone.

“That would imply me having any ‘dere’ for you.” Ami snapped back.

So hot.

[At the Convention]

What’s going on what’s going on going on. Everyone’s looking at us. Well I guess I am walking next to Amura. Yes that’s Ami’s social media name, you try coming up with something better at 12. Mine’s [REDACTED]. This is not what I signed up for. Louis Othello Lombardi you fucking bastard. You knew this would happen. You did your homework on Ami and figured out she’d be a lightning rod for attention. Keep me around her, and I’m bound to be assaulted by nothing. But. Fucking. People.

“OH MY GOD IT’S AMURA!” Two young girls screamed. “But I heard you weren't coming? You said so on twitter :(.“ I swear to almighty Haruhi Suzumiya, if there was such a thing as a frowny face emoji in real life, whatever that girl did was damn close. 

“Well change of plans ^_^” Oh my god, Ami can speak emoji too!

“So what panels are you going to? I heard Gail has a panel about anime piracy” Said one of the fangirls, angling towards it on the con directory. 

“Gail from Crunchyroll?” 

“Sounds fun! Felix, ikimasu!” Whoever this version of Ami was, I wanted NO PARTS. 

“Sounds lame. I’m going to the arcade.” I was putting my foot down

“Ok cool. Hand me your pass then. You can pay on your own.” 

“You can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. You want this pass?.” Ami pulled out the 3 day convention pass out of her purse and dangled it in front of me. Obviously I tried snatching at it, only for Ami to move it out of the way. Damn japanese reflexes.

“Gotta be quicker than that. We’re going to the panel. Follow me.” Ami said, tossing me the pass.

“If you sneak off, I’m calling Obaa chan.” she said, in that her perfunctory yet declaratory way.  

“...So what you end up having is an environment where it’s harder and harder for us to justify hosting servers for anime distribution, because they don’t wanna pa- *ahem* because piracy.” Or something to that effect I’m not really listening to this Gail lady.

Anime piracy is a dumb thing to have a panel about anyway, it’s not like anybody in this room even knows how to torrent off wonwons, let alone\ how find the right codec for shows with bad compression. These are a bunch of crunchycores. The kinds of anime fans so hopped up on seasonal hype that the mere thought of an anime older than 12 months makes their tongues run dry, and their eyes wire shut.

“Are there any questions?”

“You got anything to ask?” chuckled Ami. 

“Why are we here. We both know Kissanime is in your bookmarks” I jeered.

“Networking dummy. I talk to Gail after the panel, and smooth out something over at Crunchyroll” For some reason Ami’s eyes did the dollars signs when she said “crunchyroll”

“In San Francisco? You’d hate it there.”

“I’d make it there. That’s the important part. I’d really make it. I’d be in.” 

“In what?” I said with a look of befuddlement. 

“You wouldn’t understand. You’re basically guaranteed a job after graduation” 

“Hey, don’t make it like tha-”

“Don’t make it like what Felix?” Ami snapped, but less with anger, and more a tired expression.

The Panel was beginning to wind down, and folks were getting up to leave. Ami bounced out of her seat and darted towards the stage. 

“Gaaaaaiiiil! Hiii, I follow you on twitter!” Ami screamed, like a schoolgirl seeing a classmate

“Amura! I follow you too! I love your singing” Gail responded in a surprisingly similar manner.

“Thanks so much, ugh. That means alot l love you and Sailor Bee’s podcast ^_^” This whole display was just. The worst. 

I backed off from the discussion, but I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to make it far without incurring that good old Fujinami wrath. Jeez they’re taking forever. Is this a meet and greet? Or a job interview. 

“Felix? Oh shit, how you been bruh?” This voice, I recognized it. 

I turned around, and yup, it was Tyler. 

“Who let riff raff like  you in here?” I said as we shook hands

“Is that any way to treat your one black friend:” He responded dryly. 

“I have plenty of black friends. Unlike you, most of my friends are girls.” I shot back. 

“Yea right, if you ever left your yuppie ass play pad I’d believe you.”

“You’d be surprised how many of em recognize me from Ami’s streams.”

“The streams she stopped inviting you to?” 

“Low blow T.” 

Tyler is a friend from Highschool who runs in the same online circles that I do. We keep in touch through discord and trade merchandise on message boards. He’s been trying to break into the FGC since middle school and recently struck a deal with a team based out of Brooklyn, The Mash Masters. He’s pretty good, quick reflexes, consistent muscle memory, but he lacks patience, and his neutral game needs work. 

“Where you headed to after this? Tryna hit up the arcade?” Asked Tyler as he picked up his backpack getting ready to leave. 

“I’m here with Ami, I gotta check and see where she’s headed to” 

“Whooptish” Tyler said, while making a whipping motion. 

“You know it’s not like that bro.” I shot back

“For her it isn’t, for you it is.” he retorted. 

I told him to wait up for a sec as I went over to Ami & Gail. They were still chopping it up like they’d known each other since band camp. 

“Shoot me a DM on twitter whenever you get the chance, I’d love to get you acquainted with the rest of my team. Maybe even talk bringing you to some other cons around the east coast ;)” Naruhodo, it seems this Gail is also of the emoji Clan. 

“Sure thing! Don’t forget to tweet out the channel link with the picture, and tell Vicky I said hi!” Ami said gleefully. 

“I definitely will, but uhh, she hates being called Vicky. Victoria or Sailorbee are just fine.” Gail responded, with a tinge of trepidation.

“Yea, I made that mistake on twitter once, it wasn’t pretty” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh hello, and who might you be?” Asked Gail.

“This is my friend Felix I was telling you about.” Ami said. Wait, telling her about what?

“Ah yes, the animator. Ami showed me your fan animation of Diebuster. Very interesting to see a Gainax show done with heavy Yutapon vibes” This lady knows her stuff.

“This lady knows her stuff” I said to Ami. 

“Of course I do silly, I work in the anime industry” The smile Gail shot me as she said this wouldn’t be out of place in a Shaft anime.  

“You definitely have some real skills. We’re looking for someone to do a sakuga heavy promo for our new youtube ad. If you’re interested, Ami has my contact info. It was so very nice meeting the both of you, don’t forget to keep in touch.” Gail said in a warm, professional tone as she got up to leave. 

“Well she seems nice” I said to Ami. 

“You’re welcome Felix.” Said Ami, in her usual biting tone. 

“I didn’t ask you for that. If I wanted a job at Crunchyroll I’d have one already.”

“‘Thanks Ami, I really appreciate you showing my work to someone really influential who can open doors in my chosen profession, would you like headpats?’” Ami said, in a mocking imitation of my sultry ciciillian speech pattern. 

“First of all, fine, thank you, that was a very nice thing to do, and I was pleasantly surprised. Secondly, do you seriously want headpats?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, you weirdo” And there’s the Tsun again. 

“I ran into Tyler, he says he’s going to the Arcade, and I was looking to go with. You in?”

“Tyler’s here? Yea sure, let’s go” 

Ami & I leave the stage and head over to where Tyler is sitting when I get a text on my phone. 

[11:58. Text from Lou]: Having fun?

[11:58. You]: Yea

He’s just like mom. 

“Oh my god it’s Amura! Could you sign my Fightstick?” Tyler sniggered, his fightstick outstretched. He’s such an asshole I love it. 

“Knock it off, I’d actually sign it if I didn’t know you’d just flip it on Ebay” Ami sneered, arms folded and head angrily tossed to the side. 

“Aww don’t be like that, I really did want your autograph. You’d be surprised how many Blazblue players would pay good cash for one” Tyler said, packing his fightstick back in his backpack. 

“If anyone’s gonna make money off the Amura brand it’s gonna be ME!” Ami retorted viciously.

“Now that’s just anti-black business” I said, chuckling as Tyler dapped me up. 

Ami rolled her eyes as heavy as she could roll them and stomped out of the conference room, and we sheepishly trailed after her.

By this point in the day I’d grown used to Ami being a lightning rod for attention. My camera skills must have leveled up big time from all those pics I had to take, of her with fans. Just getting to the Arcade area of the convention was a whole 20 minutes of photo after photo with weeb after arrested developed weeb, and to be honest I was practicing some big time restraint to not just walk out of the center and catch an Uber home. But surely enough, through fire by force, we found ourselves at the-

Boy was this the kind of place I wanted to be. The whole area was what you’d expect from a high profile convention in a big city. What seemed to be at least 30 TVs all hooked up with consoles spanning an entire auditorium. This wasn’t an arcade, it felt more like a Bazaar crossed with a colosseum. You have your old reliables for the boomers like Street Fighter, MK, ok that’s neat, there’s Melee, 64, Ultimate, Smash 4, oh even Brawl, full house, that’s impressive. As we moved through, you could imagine that there were furrowed brows due to the smell, but in all honesty it wasn’t as bad as most invitationals I’ve been to. We couldn’t find the game we were here for though; Blazblue. Tyler directed us to the kiosk so we could get directions. 

“Nigga where the Blazblue at?” Tyler said to one of the convention attendees, 

All the way at the back, by the Under Night” The Attendee responded.

I was just about ready to dart over there when Tyler said: 

“Nah hol’ up real quick bro, I got a question I gotta ask you” uh oh, I hear the Brooklyn leaking out. 

“Yea? Is there something wrong?” the attendee said, with a befuddled expression.

“Y’all always hide the anime fighters, what's up with that?” Tyler said blankly, almost with no life at all. 

“It’s not my decision where the games are set up-”

“That’s not what I asked bro. I’ve done conventions fam, I sat where you sat. NYCC 2017, bigger con than this, and from what I know about my time there, y’all have a meeting to coordinate where the games are set up. Correct?” Oh my god, Tyler what are you doing. 

“Yes correct” The attendee responded. 

“So you were in the room when the decision was made, correct?” This is so wacky

“Yea, but like, I didn’t have a choi-”

“Nobody’s asking about a choice, I’m asking you, what was the reasoning behind the decision?” Should I stop this? Or?...

“They didn’t want the anime stuff turning folks away” Oh no, here we go

“There it is” Tyler said triumphantly as he began to walk off. 

“Hey, I think it’s bullshit too ma-” t

“Yet you said nothing. You and all your boys said nothing. Aight, I see you fam. Haruhi’s watching you” Tyler said, his back already turned and walking away.  “Let’s go guys”

“Did you have to make such a big hoopla you maniac?” Ami said laughing her ass off. 

“Because I have Principles Fujinami, you should try em some time” Tyler snapped back. 

“That was the FUNNIEST shit I’ve seen all day, I’m so happy I knew to record that” Ami said, still cackling. 

“Wait you recorded that?” Tyler said, shocked

“I uploaded it. Enjoy being a meme” Ami said blankly.

“Not again…” Tyler sighed.

We finally make it to the Blazblue section, and it’s about as serviceable as you’d expect. Two TVs both hooked up to PS4s playing Central Fiction. There wasn’t much of a crowd, about 5 or 6 people, all looked to be around college age, couple on the boomer side though. All guys. 

“This game is so hyperactive…” Ami said, in a tone betwixt judgement and bewilderment. 

“Not every game gotta be Street Fighter” Said Tyler. “Ey yo, who got next?” Tyler asked a portly asian fellow playing Taokaka. 

“Uhh, I dunno, anybody got next?” the Taokaka player asked. The crowd shook their heads. “I guess it’s on you bro after this.” 

Nobody else noticed, But Tyler’s killing intent began to spike. I get you’re excited kiddo, but you haven’t even chewed the scenery yet. 

The game was pretty hype. There it was Taokaka vs Valkenhayn. Both characters with adequate rushdown capabilities and heavy damage. The Valkenhayn was an even match, but the Tao was just catching clutch reversals at every corner. It felt like seeing a tiger beat a lion by leaving a bigger gash every time they left the scuffle. Tyler, ever the professional, was quiet as a mouse. A mouthy prick like him? Quiet? I know right? But he gets like this when it’s Blazblue. The data collection phase. See if Street Fighter is Chess, then Blazblue is Mahjong. The same level of depth, but a wider variety of dealing with situational disadvantages and advantages. Tyler sees what I’m seeing and he’s analyzing, putting his pieces together, he’s not here for fun. This is off the job training. 

“FINISH” 6 red letters on the television screen. Read em & Weep. 

“My turn now right?” Tyler asked the Taokaka player. 

“Yup. What’s your name?” said the Tao player

“Tyro, and you?” oh yea I forgot that was his FGC name, everywhere else he’s Tyrilla. He sucks at names yes I know.

“I’m Yiao, nice to meet you.” Yiao said, pushing his glasses up.

The character selection screen pops up and… Wait don’t tell me he…Oh boy, Tyler’s picking his middle school main. Hazama. Yiao on the other hand started mousing over Tao then over to Litchi. Come on pick a character already. After more mousing, his cursor finally landed on Mai... From rushdown to range spam. Just all around bloodthirst.

Both of them sat in silence as the loading screen started up, until Yiao broke that silence.

“I’ve heard of you, Mash Master Tyro. To be honest I was hoping we’d meet. I have this Mai prepared just for you.” said Yiao. Yawn. This happens all the time. Tyler’s probably got him scoped already too.

“Yiao, third runner up at Anifight Staten Island. Three. Years. Running.” Yup, knew it. Tyler lives for this shit.

“You wanna know why HowRite was able to beat you 3 to nothing last year?” Tyler said, deadpan staring at the screen.

“THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING” oh shit the round is starting.

“Cuz he knew if he lost, he’d never get to face my mentor in the finals”

“But wait. Ulysses isn’t on your team?” Yiao said confused, the backstory here is really weird, I’d be confused as well to be honest. 

“REBEL 1” 

“Ulysses is my stepdad.” 

“ACTION”

Told you. 

End of Act 2. 

[ishipbullshitso]

So, beginning off, I have another tumblr account, but I use that for more private reasons (it also hoards another ship of mine), so I am using this one to post my crap. With all of that said and done, enjoy. 

The King watched with amused eyes as his cousin sparred. It had been a year and a half since he reclaimed his throne in the final battle. It had been a year since T’Challa trusted N’Jakada-Erik-to roam Wakanda without burning everything to the ground. And lastly, it had been a week since T’Challa realized, with the horrific truth spoken by his sister, that he was undeniably in love with the man.

Erik looked up briefly at him, and T’Challa coughed and looked away. He was not supposed to be watching his cousin in this fashion, eyes clinging to the flex of his muscles or the perspiration of his back. T’Challa glanced over to see Erik’s famous smirk sent in his direction. T’Challa messed with his beads until something that looked important pulled up and he directed his focus to that instead of the man who is making his mind go blank.

Bast help him-that the person that he has fallen in love with has to be Erik Stevens,

“Sup, Cuz?” N’Jadaka called from the door. He doesn’t ask to come in or if he is doing anything important before plopping down on the couch of the room. T’Challa looks up from the book he is reading and sighs.

“Hello, N’Jadaka,” and he gets an eye roll.

“Y’know, I would kill anyone else who calls me that.” And T’Challa knows that he is kidding, but cannot help the way that his body tenses up at the image of the man killing...again. There is more than enough proof that his cousin is perfectly able to take someone out without much effort. T’Challa still has the scars to prove it, as well.

“Then why am I an exception?”

“Dunno, must like you or something,” and that horrid warmth in the pit of his stomach reveals itself. How can something so simple and probably not true make him feel such a way? Before he can answer, Erik is changing the subject, removing himself from the couch and towards the bed where T’Challa lays.

“Sooo I heard Nakia is back from her mission. Aren’t you gonna go see her and freeze? Something around the sorts.” And T’Challa snorts behind his book, still pretending to read.

“Nakia and I are not together. We have not been for a long time. And I never freeze.” The lie comes easy on his tongue, but his throat closes up with the way Erik gives him an unsurprised face with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Sure, T,” the King winces at the shortening of his name, “Y’all may not be together, but you still have feelings for-”

“Do not shorten my name like that. I have no felt anything in that sense for her in a long time, for your information.” Erik raises his hands defensively and scoots closer to see what he is reading. Their arms touch and T’Challa feels like he is on fire, but takes no initiative to move.

“Have you felt anything in that sense recently, my King?” The title is in perfect mother language and his mind goes blank immediately. Yes, it’s you, almost falls from his lips, but instead he is staring at his cousin with an expression he wishes he could wipe off.

“You lied, T’Challa, you said you never freeze.” N’Jadaka smiles, full and pretty. The gold of his teeth reflects the sunlight in the room and his mouth goes dry. He takes two more seconds to compose yourself before answering.

“I do not freeze.” His cousin laughs, full and hearty. Heart flutters get repressed as he rolls his eyes.

“You’re funny. But imma be real with you for a second. We all know I am good at taking what I want,” and yes, the images cross his mind. N’Jadaka in the yellow and black suit, nearly killing his sister, and the words of “I want the throne.” They all return. “But you are not. You’ve had everything given to you with little to no effort.” His cousin gets off of the couch-T’Challa craves for that heat again- and stalks towards the door. Erik opens it and gives one more look to him.

“Maybe it’s time that you take what you want for once.” And he is gone. T’Challa places the book gently on the nightstand and groans loudly.

“Brother, you are an idiot.” Shuri rolls her eyes in the lab, working on yet another upgrade.

“How so? He is his own man and I am not making that sort of decision for him.” Shuri mentioned just kissing Erik, just to see how he would react. He is obviously against such idea.

“I’ve known you to freeze, but I’ve never known you to be so blind.”

“What in Bast name does that mean?”Shuri shrugged her shoulders, but he knew she was lying.

“Have you thought of returning the gold suit to N’Jadaka?”

“He would kill you if he overheard you saying his real name and why would I do that?” Shuri wraps the necklace around his neck again, telling him to turn it back on again. He complies and the suit wraps his body smoothly.

“Say his name,” is all Shuri says.

“What?”

“Just say it!” T’Challa rolls his eyes but says N’Jadaka nonetheless. Almost instantly, the gold necklace on the other side of the room transforms around the mannequin into the gold suit.

“I figured that perhaps you would want him on your missions. It’s a work in progress, but if you two become synced via suits then the coherence between you two will ensure the safety of you both.” T’Challa never thought about bringing Erik with him, but now he can see it. He can imagine Erik cracking a joke in the middle of it and T’Challa begging him to stay focused while they both handle their groups of people. He can see Erik wearing that necklace with so much pride.

“I may have to change the activation word, though. It appears you may be saying it a lot more soon and I would prefer if I didn’t see the gold suit every day or so.” T’Challa nods wordlessly and repeats the word again, deactivating the other suit before deactivating his.

“Thank you,” he says instead because everything else fails him. Shuri winks at him, patting his back and pushing him out of the lab to fix the kinks.

“Go talk to him about it. Do more than that if you ever get any balls!”

T’Challa walks to the one place he knows his cousin would be. He hears the slice of the air and the grunt of one man. The spear spins through Erik’s fingers was a ferocity and he, undoubtedly, has been practicing since his previous loss to Okoye. Erik notices his presence as soon as he entered the room and he smiles wickedly. He pauses to grab another spear and throws it in T’Challa’s directions. The King catches it with ease, removing his royal robes in the process. N’Jadaka moves into an offensive position and T’Challa spins the spear fluidly then snaps it downward, using two fingers to beckon the first attack. Predictably, Erik moves first, aiming for his side, which is countered easily.

“Talk to Shuri recently?” T’Challa asks mid-counter, breathless from the action. His cousin rolls away from the attack easily. He raises his eyebrows in surprise for the spark of conversation.

“No, should I?” Erik attacks again, aiming for the sweep of his legs. He jumps out of the way, but gets hit in the side because he knew that Erik expected the dodge. The hit makes him moves a few paces away, but he shakes his head in an answer.

“No. We have been discussing what to do with the gold necklace. You’re going to receive it back on some conditions.” Erik’s face lights up in interest.

“Like what? I don’t use it to take over the world again?” T’Challa furrows his eyebrows in the seriousness of the question. He knows his cousin would not do that again.

“I guess, but moreof that you use it for conventional reasons, such as accompanying me on missions.”

“You’re going to take me with you on your missions? As what, your second in command?” The hopeful look on his face made him smile and the spar was forgotten.

“If you want it, of course. You would not be my second in command, no one could replace Okoye’s position. You would be more of,” T’Challa pauses, “my equal.”

Instead of responding verbally, N’Jadaka smiles wider and positions himself again to attack. He blows a kiss to him and T’Challa almost gets pierced, thrown off guard.

“This is horrible, “ N’Jadaka complains as he looks on the holographic projection. The two had been working for hours on simulations on how the two are going to work together in a fight situation. “But there is worse,”

Both of them are sore beyond belief, but does not pause the simulation as more enemies approach them. Erik takes out the person to the right of T’Challa and he returns the favor by killing the man behind Erik that Erik almost failed to notice. They both know that Shuri is tracking their movements and their coherence as a team.

It doesn’t go over the King’s head as to how well they truly work together. The first time was sloppy with frustrated cries and a definite overkill. Now they move almost like they’ve remembered each other’s exact moves.

“Behind you,” Erik comments conversationally, flipping the man and punching him one good time, knocking him out. T’Challa huffs and turns around in time to catch the knife going towards his abdomen, throwing the man to another one approaching Erik. The two guys fall and Erik looks briefly at him in a silent thanks.

They finish off the final 50 and the hologram immediately shuts off to send the information to Shuri in the lab. Their pants fill the room now and Erik is the first to deactivate the suit.

“Damn,” Erik says as he chugs a whole bottle in one go. T’Challa tries not to watch. They do not talk for a few minutes, undecided on what to say.

“So how has your new thing been going?”

“What?” Erik shrugs, moving to grab another bottle from the almost endless supply.

“Shuri accidentally blurted out that you was in love and that you’re an idiot, “ T’Challa pauses, fear arising in his veins, “sucks that you wouldn’t tell me. I’m hurt, cuz.”

“W-no, no, no. I am not-”

“Bullshit, T.” A fire burns in the middle of T’Challa’s chest.

“I told you not to shorten my name like that.” He hopes it comes off as a warning, but it doesn’t seem to affect his cousin, who shrugs.

“Black Panther who acts like a kitten, oh the irony.” Then he has Erik against the wall, breathing heavily as he stares into his eyes. Erik looks defiant and it screws with him more.

“Do not make mockery of my name or my title, N’Jadaka.” His cousin struggles a bit, the strength of the Black Panther running through his veins and his emotions flared.

“Then stop being such a bitc-” T’Challa brings his head forward in a bruising kiss, and it was nothing like he first imagined it (perhaps it was better than the whole “I think I am in love with you” conversation). Nevertheless, the deed is done and his cousin is kissing him back with as much ferocity, hands gripping the back of his neck in a way that’ll definitely leave bruises. T’Challa doesn’t care at the moment, nibbling at N’Jadaka’s bottom lip, receiving a moan in response.

The temperature rose ten degrees as T’Challa pushed himself all of the way against his lover, hands roaming to the back of Erik’s thighs. As if he knew what he wanted, Erik hoisted himself up, wrapping his legs around T’Challa’s waist, never breaking away from the kiss.

He never wants this to stop, but he pulls away with one final kiss, but doesn’t let N’Jadaka down. Instead he places his forehead against his love’s, catching his breath.

“It was always you.” In his head, he had a whole speech about his eyes and what he does to his head and how he doesn’t freeze, but Erik makes him completely crystallized, but that seems like enough from the way N’Jadaka chuckles from under him.

“God, you are an idiot.” T’Challa begins to pull away but hands are right there, pulling him back for another kiss. “I’ve been waiting for you to do something for months. I wasn’t going to do anything, you might throw me back in a cell.”

“Never,” T’Challa replies with finality, but smiles because he truly is an idiot. The share a laugh briefly before a call comes on his beads. He places Erik down and accepts the call.

“HELLO! I think you two forgot your necklaces can track your heart rates and other stuff. I would prefer it if you don’t have sex in the training room please!” T’Challa chokes on words, his face flushing in embarrassment. Beside of him, N’Jadaka laughs loudly, reverberating around the room.

“My King, it is almost time for you to drop,” Okoye says from the pilot’s seat. He stands immediately and the side doors open in preparation. He peers at the ground below him. He feels arms wrap around him and a kiss to his cheek. A smile naturally reaches his features as he turns around to N’Jadaka.

“Are you ready?” But T’Challa knows the two have done this a numerous amount of times. All his lover does is wink. Their suits are activated, with exception of their helmet-which it will activate when they so choose to. The signal to jump is given and T’Challa turns back to the outside of the plane. T’Challa holds his hand out for his best friend to take, but instead he is tackled out of the plane.

“Really, Erik, this is serious!” But all he gets back is a laugh. The King smiles nonetheless and finds his lover midair and kisses him. Erik kisses back for about two seconds, then breaks it.

“Ndiyakuthanda,” and Erik disappears in the midnight sky to cover his flank. T’Challa stops thinking for a solid five seconds, still freefalling. He smiles wide and beyond happy, already excited to see his lover again.

“Bast, help me,” he says as he reaches the ground.

[raeyvies]

“Push and Pull” pt. 6 // VxMC fic (based on day 10)

Surprise double update!! Things better be getting good now right? And yes somewhere in this chapter you’ll start getting love triangle vibes /o/ Remember MC here is “MC Jeon”

By the way, how would you guys feel if I gave MC an actual name? I mean like it’ll still be MC but legit when I write this story, I accidentally write “you” instead of MC cuz well MC isn’t a name xD

I was thinking to choose from these names: Jeon Dayeon, Jeon Jinhee, Jeon Ji-An. Which would you pick?

Pt. 1 // Pt. 2 // Pt. 3 // Pt.4 // Pt.5 // Pt. 6

Length: 3234

Part: 6/?

Pairing: VxMC

Warnings: None

Sorry for any grammatical mistakes ^^;;

“Jaehee…,” MC held her hand out to her, inviting her to sit next to her. Jaehee fought to swallow down her tears–she had always been one to show her feelings in private–but this was not as easy, despite having been fooled once already about Rika’s death. Accepting her invitation, the short haired girl sat next to MC, allowing herself to be comforted. “It must be hard but I'm here for you. I'm here for all of you. I know we just met but I can't thank you all enough for being by my side after all this. I’ll be with you if you need a shoulder to lean on, okay.”

It had been a tough day despite everyone’s efforts to remain optimistic. Jaehee let out her cries even in front of her boss but it really did serve a purpose. Because MC encouraged Jaehee to not hide her pain, Jumin realized that his assistant was more than just his worker and fellow member of the RFA. As he saw how selfless MC was, disregarding her own views on the situation and well, having her own dilemmas, Jumin could not help but think that MC came into their lives as a light. As a new sun. As a balance.

Jihyun had been gone for a while with Saeyoung and MC began to worry if something happened. What if Jihyun hurt himself? Saeyoung would have called without a doubt so maybe they were fine. Maybe they were having a long talk and Saeyoung could have been dropping the bomb (pun totally unintended) on him about Rika.

Too much was happening, and there was much more gloom than MC would like to admit she could handle for one day. She needed some refreshing or maybe a restart to the day, and well, she thought it could start by having a change of clothes.

“What city are we at? So much was happening I didn't notice what hospital this is. Then again it was nighttime and we were airlifted here,” MC said after a period of silence. She was surprised that after all this time it never occurred to her to ask where she was, though, it was normal because her mind with clouded with worries and fears.

“We're in Busan, MC. Inje University Haeundae Hospital,” Jumin answered, after all, he was the one who brought them there. MC was taken aback. She was far from home. At least three to four hours away, and Jumin noticed that, suddenly realizing that no one ever asked where she came from. ”I take it that you’re far from where you live.”

Scratching the back of her head and giving a soft chuckle, MC nodded, “Yeah it's pretty far at least by car. But I guess by train it's maybe an hour or two. I'm from Daejeon actually. I was going to say that maybe I could go with one of you to get a new set of clothes in the meantime.”

What MC did not mention was that she wanted to get rid of the clothes she was wearing because they were Rika’s. Little by little and step by step she wanted to strip herself of the terrible moments of these previous eleven days.

Jaehee volunteered to take MC to a retail store assuming that she could be discharged then and there, however, the nurse who had been monitoring her all this time came in. The nurse told them that she might be discharged at night and asked for Zen and Jaehee to give Jumin and MC privacy. Because Jumin passed as her guardian he was allowed to stay for the moment as the nurse discussed MC’s condition with them.

The nurse went over the medication she would have to take for the next week to help her gain back the nutrients her body was missing, and asked for MC to not strain herself for in the near future to prevent another incident like this one. MC was surprised to know she had anemia but she was aware that it was nothing that she would have to be worried about. Yes she would have to make sure she ate properly and that was nothing of a huge effort to begin with. Of course, it also explained why she was so tired recently.

In the meantime, Jaehee and Zen went out to buy MC a new set of clothes that was much more comfortable, both physically and mentally.

Jumin stayed with MC the entire time and was relieved when she was healthy enough to not need an IV anymore. She had definitely regained color in her skin compared to last night, and she looked so much brighter and stronger. Clearly showing that she was comfortable with him, MC talked more about herself and who she was. She had not gotten the chance to truly show the RFA who she was but she was ecstatic to finally show them one by one. And Jumin continued asking questions as he was intrigued in this girl. He found out that she was only two years younger than him so she was twenty five years old. He finally understood why MC was so mature despite everything she had gone through. It was something he really admired about her. However, knowing that she lived quite a distance away, Jumin dreaded the day that MC would return to her home if she ever decided to. He was about to ask her when she would leave when Jaehee and Zen returned with multiple bags of clothing.

“We have a special delivery for Miss Jeon from the fashion department,” Zen came in announcing as he placed the paper bags on MC’s bed. ”Oh! You don't have the IV anymore! Does that mean you get to leave today?”

She nodded as she looked through the contents in each bag. It was much more than she asked but then again she knew she would be staying for a while to be with Jihyun and she had no interest in returning to her home, and risk being followed by Saeran. Admittedly, she was terrified to go home because she would be alone and vulnerable. “Thank you so much! I'll make sure to pay you two back for this. I think I might relocate here in the next months but in the meantime these clothes are enough. So thanks again. And yes I can leave tonight, I don't know where I'll stay–”

“You'll be staying at my penthouse for now until you can settle down here in the city and adjust to the new cityscape,” Jumin interrupted, though it was not his intention. As MC stated she would consider moving to Busan, Jumin wanted to make sure she stayed but it seemed that he blurted it out instead, catching her off guard. She stuttered in agreement, but MC did not really have much of a choice, and she was not interested in blatantly turning down an offer that was so convenient for her.

On the other hand, Zen was somewhat annoyed with Jumin’s upfront interjection. It had been a miracle that the two had not instigated an argument sooner. “Jumin it's not for you to decide if she actually stays here permanently or where she’s going to live for the moment. You can't control everyone for God’s sake.”

MC rather decided to go ahead and take a shower but sadly there was not one in their room. Leaving the room with a set of clothes in her arms and her cell phone, she asked a nearby nurse where she could take a shower. On her way to the showers which were a decent stroll away, she checked her phone and had received multiple notifications from the same person. Although the ID tag said they came from Ray, it was Saeran.

Her heart dropped. All this time she had been distracted from this entire mess. She had forgotten about that phone call. She had forgotten her nightmares. And MC thought it was over with Rika’s death but there was still Saeran. Her palms began to sweat as she hurried on her way to the shower where she could open up the messages and voicemail in silence. MC could hear her heartbeat in her ears but remained composed.

Her shower came first to ease her tension and mentally prepare herself for whatever messages Saeran had left on her phone. The hot water relaxed her muscles and helped her reach a moment of peace, one that she did not think she needed until now. The clothes that Zen and Jaehee had picked out for MC were right in line with her preferred style. It felt great to wear leggings once again along with a large button up shirt.

She felt like she was in her own skin for once.

Towel wrapped over her hair, drops of water falling onto her brand new shirt, she a took seat on the bench in the bathroom and opened the text messages first.

You're the only person I've ever cared for. You must like me. I like you too.

Thank you for being here with me. I really wanted you to stay longer.

I thought I was being a good boy. I thought I was good enough for you to stay.

Without you I feel like I can't breathe. It's like I'm dying. I don't have a purpose anymore.

MC come back I miss you.

I have nowhere to go anymore MC. My savior has died therefore I am nothing anymore.

I have served my purpose.

I'll come back for you another day. I promise you that.

There were several more messages along those lines. MC wanted to pity him, she really did but that was something she could not do for him anymore. This man was sick and MC could decipher that he was more than just figuratively sick. He was not normal; it was as though he lacked any social interaction and that made him that way. But MC could not forget that he tried to drug her too. She could not forget that she had been essentially imprisoned in that room, only able to leave it when Saeran came for her. She had to think of herself before him even though she was the one mad enough to actually go to him, be blindfolded, and fooled by his lies. MC’s hand was balled up in a fist as she thought of everything that could have happened to her at Mint Eye. What if Saeran had lost his control on her like he had with Jihyun? What if he had refused to let her out of his sight? Where would MC be right now if Jihyun had not sent Saeyoung their coordinates?

No lighthearted possibilities came to mind unfortunately as she could only imagine herself being abused, violated, maybe even brainwashed like Saeran. However, MC could only replace those thoughts with memories of Jihyun’s cries through the phone; they were haunting her, so she let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes and letting the memory play once again. There was no use in fighting it.

We should’ve escaped at the first chance we got, Jihyun. That didn't have to happen to you, MC mentally cried. Later on when Jihyun would fully recover, she was sure to ask him who Saeran was, or at least when the moment seemed appropriate. He seemed to know a lot more about him than even Saeyoung knew. MC felt that she needed some closure before moving on. After all, there would only remain questions for the rest of her life and it would haunt her then.

Shaking her head, she tried to stop thinking about Jihyun and Saeran that night, and listened in to the voicemail he had left.

“The weather was nice today so I wanted to talk to you. But looks like you're not picking up the phone. What a shame.. Listen, to be honest, when you were in that room MC, those were the happiest days of my life. Having you so close I mean. You never showed a spot of betrayal. Dammit it was because of Jihyun that you're not here. I won't ever forget how you trusted me and waited for me. I won't forget your voice. I miss you a lot. I know I've said it so many times already but in the end we couldn't see each other,” Saeran’s voice gradually became broken and lower, sending chills down MC’s spine. This voicemail was causing so much confusion and conflict within her because she knew both sides of him even though Saeran though she only saw the man named Ray. This was beginning to start more like a goodbye than another phone call.

“The last time we met was when I introduced you to the savior right? Now I'll never get to see you. It's all my fault. I dreamed of living happily ever after when this all ended. That won't happen anymore. Though it was brief, I never imagined myself loving someone like I loved you. I wanted to go on a date with you. Hold you hand. Eat ice cream with you. I'm dreaming too big aren't I? I think even now I made you hear how pathetic I am.”

However, his voice completely changed, now sounding sinister and threatening.  “But none of this is over, MC. I'll still find my way to you and make these dreams come true. You'll be with me again and we'll live happily ever after. We'll just have to see what the future brings but for now I think this is over. You won't be seeing Ray anymore,” after that, MC heard him cough and growl, struggling with some sort of pain. Once again the voice had changed and it sounded strained and bitter. ”Farewell my dear flower. I hope you’ll remember me like I remembered you.”

The last thing MC heard was the sound of rapid ticking and beeping before the silence was broken by an explosion. As the noise was extremely loud in her ear, she gasped, pulling the phone away quickly. Then the call was voicemail ended with the operator saying in its monotonous voice, “End of voicemail. To listen to this message again press two. To save this message press four.”

Why she decided to save the voicemail was still unknown. Saeran died and MC kept his last words recorded, but what use would she have of it? It seemed however, like the proper thing to do. But that sinister voice rang in her ears. What did he mean that they would see each other again? The man was dead. That would be impossible.

Rika died in an explosion in her apartment. Saeran died in explosion God knows where. The only conclusion MC could reach was that they were destroying evidence of their cult. No one could survive.

And she was an eyewitness of that cult so MC must be evidence of its existence, too.

A few minutes later, MC was able to gather herself after that shocking voicemail. She repeated to herself that she would be fine. That nothing would happen to her. Both Rika and Saeran were dead, and that had to be enough to put the RFA out of harm's way. With those two out of the picture, MC could focus on aiding Jihyun in his recovery. He was her priority for now undoubtedly and her heart ached at the idea of being unable to be by his side. There was no real reason to leave, for now.

Placing her dirty clothes in a bag and removing the towel from her head, MC left the shower room to find herself bumping into Saeyoung and Jihyun. They must have been done with their long walk then. MC assumed that Saeyoung had told him about Rika’s death as the mint haired man had a gloomy expression plastered onto his face. Before the two men noticed that MC was in front of them, they were talking about Saeran.

“...way to get Saeran out of there,” Jihyun was in the midst of explaining to Saeyoung that his brother was alive at Mint Eye. Neither of them must have known what MC knew then. However, why was this to be discussed with Saeyoung? Did he know who Saeran was?

Wait.

Similar names. Almost identical facial features. Different voices however. There was something MC did not know yet and she was beginning to puzzle it together. Saeran and Saeyoung have to be related without a doubt. Maybe it was not the moment to discuss his death with them yet. They already had to mourn the loss of Rika, and MC was not about to hurt them even more.

As the two men finally took note of MC, they immediately cut their conversation. She wanted to say something to them but she did not know what it was, so instead she gave them a small grin and walked by Jihyun’s side.

As Jihyun saw how healthy MC appeared to be, it instantly changed his expression. Despite the previous discussion he had with Saeyoung over Rika and Saeran, seeing MC again gave him the energy that was drawn away from him earlier.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry into your conversation,” MC apologized for intruding in the midst of an important talk. Sadly, it still ate at her that she would have to wait to tell them about Saeran. But how would she tell them? Would she show them the voicemail? Would she just tell them? Would they even believe her?

The three walked together to their room and spent the rest of the day discussing things about the party, occasional moments about Rika, and mostly the RFA was getting to know MC. When night time fell, everyone was asked to leave the room and leave Jihyun to rest.

No one wanted to leave, but MC was the one who wanted to stay the most. Maybe she had grown accustomed to being by his side after all this time. It was a strange feeling to leave him alone now. Just as everyone was leaving, MC stayed could not fight the urge as she ran back to Jihyun to embrace him. He was caught off guard as he almost fell back onto his bed, but he was just as happy to have MC in his arms for one more moment again. She hugged him carefully, aware of his wound that was healing much quicker than expected. Unlike that night out in the mountains, Jihyun returned the embrace and wrapped his arms around her waist.

It felt so much warmer than that night. It was so pure and innocent.

“I’ll be back tomorrow after helping out with cleaning up the party venue,” MC mumbled against his chest. If anything, she wanted to stay there in his arms. It was very clear that her feelings for him were not going to disappear anytime soon. “Take care of yourself please.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” Jihyun reassured her as he noticed that Jumin was glaring at him. “You give me so much strength, MC. But please don’t keep Jumin waiting, I think he wants to get home too.”

The two friends knew each other so well. Jumin did not need words to tell Jihyun to be cautious of his actions and choose his moves carefully. And Jihyun was completely aware of Jumin’s warning.

To be continued...

Pt. 1 // Pt. 2 // Pt. 3 // Pt.4 // Pt.5 // Pt. 6

[smalleststress]

Hi. I leave for BCT very soon. I will also be at Fort Jackson. How was it? I’m getting extremely nervous as the date approaches. Anything that you can tell me that you wish you knew? Any tips at all would be great.

Hmm, that’s a good question. Keep reading if you want my advice on basic, as someone who completed it recently. In summary, it was rough but worth it.

(Every fort is different so if you are not going to go to Fort Jackson this might differ slightly)

About Basic

+ I didn’t know this when I went, I thought I was going straight to basic but there is a period beforehand before you go to basic that involves very elementary training. How to stand, how to March, all of those things are taught during this time though you definitely get better at them in Basic. The name of it is escaping me now but before basic when you ship off you’ll go there (it’s in the same state, and it will give you a light taste of what basic will be like). Basic is very difficult physically during the beginning.

+ Make sure your hair is in the requirements before you go. Males get their hair buzzed off so it doesn’t really matter but make sure to shave your face or get a profile for it if your face gets super irritated. Females with hair below their collar, yall better have perfected that tight ass bun or have your hair cut the right way above the collar. You can look up the exact requirements online but I cut my hair down so I wouldn’t have to bother with it, waking up is hard enough much less having to put your hair in a bun every single time. Females cant shave their entire head like the guys, so make sure you look up appropriate short hair cuts ( yes, ik its bullshit but its an old regulation)

+ If you don’t know your soldier’s Creed and those types of things ( you can Google search them, they’ll pop right up if you look up BCT requirements) because DS will ask you and you don’t wanna be the person that gets everyone messed up because you don’t know it fully. Know your APFT requirements. I would say make sure you can get close to them but if you have left soon don’t worry about it, they’ll get you there if you do the punishments right and work out. Use those foam rollers!!

+ Drink waaatterr! (You’ll get it after)

This is going to sound stupid but seriously drink water, some DS will be annoying and not want you to drink on the drill floor unless you are told so but usually it’s okay. Don’t be the person that faints because of heatstroke. You’re going around the time I did, which was in August, so the start of BCT will be hot but once you are in AIT it will start getting colder.

+ This sounds like common sense but you’ll be surprised how uncommon it is once you get there, don’t argue with a DS.

Just don’t. Unless it’s something serious that you could get held back for, just let it go. If they call you dumb? Ignore it. Call you slow? Ignore it. Work on that poker face, they are just trying to get a rise out of you or see you break. Accuse you of sleeping in class when you were looking at your fingers? Don’t fight it.

Most of the time, they are just looking for someone to argue with them and if you just agree your punishment is not that bad or you might not get punished at all or just get a lecture.

+ Sunday mornings are for religious times and the DS are not allowed to plan activities during that allowed time or punish you ( they can make you stand outside for hours tho so don’t use it as something to fall back on)

If you don’t want/need to go to church, use this time to write to family and friends, do hygiene ( not showering because you can’t leave quickly from that if y'all get called down), some people shave their legs (tbh I didn’t care no one is trying to impress anyways), some people draw or write. If you are going to try to take a nap, don’t do it on your cot or anywhere where a DS can walk in and immediately see you. No one wants to get in trouble because someone was sleeping, if someone is and you hear a DS coming, wake them the fuck up.

Church wise, I went a couple of times even though I’m not religious, to see a friend of mine who was in a different unit because everyone goes to the same churches for different services, including those it AIT. Don’t be dumb and try to use someone’s phone you will get caught, don’t be dumb and try to give someone your phone to use you will get caught. Other then that, the Spanish Christian church is the best in my opinion. Though I only know a bit of Spanish I had a wonderful time and most in translated into English anyhow. It’s absolutely lovely to see people singing and dancing, waving flags and having a good time after such a stressful previous week.

I can’t tell you where to sleep to not be seen in the barracks but I’m sure you’ll figure that out on your own.

+ If you wear a bra and have to wear one if you are doing physical exercise, wear one to bed. It may be really uncomfortable but if you are woken up in the middle of the night to be punished because someone was sleeping on fireguard, you’ll be happy you aren’t running around without one.

+Help clean your barracks! Don’t be that person that gets everyone fucked up because you don’t know how to hospital fold your bed corners, clean up sand from off the floor or you slacked off during your fireguard shift and everyone gets woken up to be punished. Make sure your uniform is correct and your name tags are on the right side before going out ( I remember it as the Army tag goes over your heart, left side.). Tuck in your shirt if you are in the PT uniform, and make sure your battle buddies aren’t fucked up, because if you don’t check them, a DS will and then no one will be happy cuz you’ll be punished for not looking after one another.

+ If basic is anything, it’s a group effort. No platoon is perfect, and yes your going to have people that you want to smack upside the head, but try as much as you can to help out (especially on obstacle courses, tall people I’m talking to you) and make sure your platoon isn’t the one that DS keep on having to call out for being fucked up.

+ Dear gods, please remember to call the drill floor to stand at attention when a high ranking officer walks up if you see them. You can look up exactly what ranks but please do it for the sake of your platoon. Go to parade rest when you are talking to anyone else or you’ll get punished for it

+ Never go anywhere alone! If you have to discuss something private or sensitive with a DS, still take a battle buddy. The battle buddy system is a real thing and not only helps you create stronger bonds but can really save your ass if you forget something and they remember.

+ DS are going to be the meanest people you’ve ever met for the first phase (red) but you’ll get to know their personalities later on, most stay stern but it isn’t as bad. If you have an issue that could be life-threatening or dangerous, tell them. There is no DS that would want to see their soldier fall because of something that could have been prevented.

+ Only use sick hall if you are really sick! Try not to use it during any training events, especially days where you are going to the shooting range. If you miss even one time at the shooting range, it can really mess you up for any future shooting range events. I missed one and had to get my weapon fixed while everyone else was already qualifying. Clean your damn weapon! Either 

+ Not everything is a requirement to pass basic, I don’t want to tell you what isn’t as you should try your best on everything but number one most important thing that you will get held back for if you don’t pass is the last APFT. You’ll know which one it is because it will be right before the forge, a battle buddy of mine was held back because of it and had to go to an entirely different unit (some people weren’t given a second chance because they did so horribly on it but most were) to take it again and had to go to the forge with them.

+ Don’t! Fraternize! I don’t care if you haven’t had someone kiss you since you were a baby, you can wait till your out of basic! I cannot tell you how many people got caught and messed up for that. If you think writing notes to each other is a good idea, don’t. If you think writing in a journal about them is a good idea, don’t. Those people always get caught, and this goes for gay people too. Y'all are a little less obvious but I cannot tell you how stressful it is for someone to be sleeping in someone else bed when you are on fireguard and you see the DS come in. Don’t be that person. You can get thrown out of basic for it, it isn’t worth your military career. Don’t even touch people of the other sex, even if you are gay, don’t give the DS any reason to try and call you out on it.

+Find friends of the same athletic or slightly better caliber as you. Train with them during free time in the later phases (though you won’t want to) run with them on the APFT test, don’t talk in formation on the frill form with them but carry a conversation when you are allowed to. It helps the time go by and you all can vent to one another about how basic sucks. I’m still friends with the people I went with ( not all of them of course, some people are just irritating and you have to learn to ignore them) and I even went to the wedding of one. We send each other mail and sometimes presents if we hear someone is feeling down since some are active army and others are National guard so we are split up everywhere.

+ While the start of basic is difficult mostly physically and a bit of a culture shock, the last couple of weeks are mentally draining to the core. Once you finish the forge, you will want to get out of there like nothing else. Try to be patient, it’s more difficult then it sounds but this is where most people mess up and screw their training even though they only have a matter of days left. It’s temporary and you will be out before you know it, even if it feels like an eternity spent with these people. I can still name the people who pissed me off and it’s been months and months since I left.

After Basic

+ AIT is better, but it’s still going to be training in the military. I can only speak about fort Jackson AIT because I went there for that as well (42 Alpha, yay). Just because you can get coffee at the DFACT doesn’t mean a DS won’t punish you for doing dumb shit.

Don’t miss the fireguard briefing in AIT, the DS come up in different punishments all the time so don’t be the one they experiment on. One time I and my roommates along with other people stood out in the cold for literally hours waiting for the DS because we missed the briefing and he left us there until he felt like we had learned our lesson. Not the worst punishment but damn if I wasn’t shaking like a leaf.

+ It does get better. I can’t speak for active or reserve, but the unit that I am with now, have some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and I could not be happier. It will be more relaxed (I’m sure active and reserve are to different degrees) and far more friendly than training so don’t stress too much when you eventually leave training and go to your unit.

Things to keep in mind.

It doesn’t last forever. Don’t become unmotivated because you know you have a lot of time still, it sucks ass sometimes but keep your chin up and keep going. Stopping only slows down the process ( unless you are really hurt or need help please don’t hesitate. I waited too long on an injury and I have to do physical therapy for it so stay safe friends)

You won’t see these people forever. While that can be sad in some ways, it’s also a relief as well. They are temporarily in your life, so try and manage not lashing out at them even if you believe they deserve it. No one benefits from extra stress in training so don’t be a source of it.

Sometimes letters take a while to send. Don’t become upset because no one has sent you a letter yet, I got mine faster then my friend in that state did and I live in Delaware. Even though the DS will make jokes about it, your family still loves you and are trying to do their best to reach out to you. If you get something serious or awful news do not hesitate to have a private conversation with a DS. They may seem to mean but they care about your well-being and need to be in the know if something is going on that could impair your ability to train as expected.

Keep a journal if you can. If it becomes stressful, don’t. Mine only has entries from some days, and they definitely are sequential, but try it out. If you need to vent by writing,. Use not obvious code words for people, you don’t want a DS reading it and calling you out for it. It’s interesting reading them once it’s all over, good or bad memories included. I have a ton of pages where there are huge inkblots because I fell asleep while writing. Lol

Don’t psych yourself out. Everyone messed up and gets punished at least once even if you fly under the radar. It’s bound to happen and while you shouldn’t try to make it happen, don’t cry over spilled milk.

Don’t cry in front of a DS if they are yelling at you but feel free to just let it out where ever else. Crying can be very therapeutic and even relive stress, don’t feel ashamed of you had a stress cry during lights out from a bad day, you aren’t weak and they are definitely other people doing the same. As someone who used to cry if someone yelled at me, Basic was a learning curve and one hell of one but it’s not impossible to any sense. People completed it before you many times and people will do it after you many times, you can do it.

You will most likely get homesick or at least miss your loved ones. Again, everything is only temporary. Don’t try to end your training early because you want to go home, it won’t happen and it may even prolong your stay. Get it done and over with so you can see your family on family day and go eat some french fries with them.

That’s about all I can think of, I’ll add if I think of anything but once it is over please feel free to shoot me a message saying how it went! We may even have had the same DS or company, who knows. I’ll update this if I think of anything else.

Stay safe future solider and best of luck!

[firebunnylover]

Hannah Watches LOSH - Legacy

Legacy

We start off with Alexis testing/playing around with a mecha-suit she designed - as evident by the logo on it. Her robot, Woodhouse, asks if her method is necessary. To which she replies yes and goes diving off the building she’s on.

Due to reckless driving, she accidentally bashes the wings of the suit, and head to the ground. For Superman to catch.

I’m guessing that suit had a tracker, cuz Woodhouse was literally right there, ready to pick up Alexis. Leaving Superman with the suit and then cuts to the intro theme.

Is Lightning Lad part cat by any chance? Because that is a very cat like pose.

NO ONE CAN RIP ME AWAY FROM THE IDEA THAT PHANTOM GIRL IS BISEXUAL. LOOK SHE IS SCOUTING FOR A POSSIBLE FEMALE DATE. ND SHE KNOWS SUPERMAN HAS GOOD TASTE SO SHE WANTS FEEDBACK FROM HIM.

And then reveal on who Alexis is. Richest Girl in the Galaxy.

What have you done in the past Phantom Girl to be considered an expert. Tell.

And then we get Lightning Lad saying Alexis is out of Superman’s league, which Brainy – of course – rebuffs, saying that no one is out of Superman’s league.

So I’m going of a limb here and guess what a lot of people can just go to the front door of HQ, given that’s what Woodhouse did, to give an invitation to a Charity Event where Alexis will be at. Repaying the favor of saving her from a fate of a pancake.

And then B5 tells him that they were both scheduled for patrol, meaning schedule conflict.

Lightning Lad offers to cover, and asks Superman to see if Alexis has friends.

MY POOR SMART GREEN CHILD

But I’m siding with Phantom Girl. I refuse to read a report that’s 130-132 pages long. I don’t have the patience. Just give us the basics.

And he planned out the looking-out places to take Superman to, that’s cute.

But then when he see’s Superman expression, he says that the plan can be altered. And he sounds so sad.

And then we get another SupermanxBrainy moment

The way B5’s actions change after Superman promises to spend time with him later, it’s so cute~

At the party, B5 is basically the person who keeps texting you when they really shouldn’t be. Much to Superman’s annoyance.

When one of the guys at the party begins to make fun of Superman, in a manner that could be compared to the jock we saw in our first episode, Alexis delivers one of the harshest burns of all time. So harsh the dude had to go off to apply water immediately rather than wait for her to leave.

Bailing the party early, Alexis takes Superman to her building – which she is not supposed to be at unsupervised. And she stole a dude’s bike. Which Woodhouse just gives money to.

Also, she mentioned that the top ten floors look good as new, after saying that an experiment had some problems.

And she has a bunch of robots that just immediately come to her, like pets. Which is cute. And then you think to hard about what a lot of robots but no people implies, like I did. More on that at the end.

Alexis and Superman do some bonding on the overbearing expectations that others have due to Legacy.

They should form a club with Steven Universe. They would get along.

She also confides that she doesn’t have any real goals in her life, wanting to just mess around with her robots and have friends, which she admits she sucks at making.

And we finally see the scavengers.

And more grumpy-Brainy over the fact no one read his report.

I bet it’s been very long for Superman for just relaxing and playing games with another person to the extent he did with Alexis.  Legion is too busy to take much time off for that sort of stuff, and they must be ready to go any time. And before then, he was a wallflower due to not being able to deal with his powers in the same way he can now. So, this is probably what he wanted for possibly several years.

Which leads to making this next bit even sadder.

At the point where the team is desperate, where Lightning Lad says it might be a good time to call him, he doesn’t answer.

Which lead to the part that destroyed some B5 fans figuratively, and B5 partially.

This took the longest to make a gif that i can put here. it looked so much better on photoshop.

Ironically, when I first saw this episode – this was the second episode of LoSH I watched when I first saw the series, and it was on a rerun – this part is what made B5 a cartoon crush.

I have a bad habit of wanting my favorite characters to suffer.

Later, we see that B5’s body can repair itself, but it takes a while.

Phantom Girl seems to immediately grasp what happened from Superman.

GOD BRAINY YOU JEALOUS?!

Also I like how B5 and Lightning Lad are just in sync at this part.

Oh it’s like when a friend buys tickets for that event thing for that series/fandom they’re super hyped about and invite you and you know squat about it.

And B5 is like that one person who hates that other fandom.

WOW. THAT’S PEARL LEVEL SALT.

So upon Superman explaining, Alexis takes it pretty well at first, trying to set a limit on how long they’ll hang out. But later we see that she gets carried away. Too carried away. To the point where Superman has to leave in a way that leaves both of them upset.

Back with the green bean, we find out he missed patrol again. Good god, if that was me I would straight up be panicking.

“Oh no…”

But in other news, green bean is salty.

And we know our beloved Puppy is on Rimbor. I hope puppy is coping well in this episode.

Woodhouse calls in to say that Alexis is in trouble, Superman tries to appease Brainy by saying it should be passed on to the Science Police. Phantom Girl seems like she expects B5 to insist on that, but to her surprise, Brainy tells Superman to go. While delivering a reminder to keep the communicator on.

I just love her expression here.

NO SQUEAKY TOY ROBOT!

And then comes the reveal that Alexis faked being in an emergency. Which Superman does not take very happily. And rightfully so, given that he’s supposed to protect people.

But then comes an interesting part to me that said something about Alexis.

Ok let’s lay things out. She got really upset that Superman left her, and she impulsively did something that she knew would get him to come, without thinking it through. She didn’t plan it out through, or at least the bit when Superman found out.

I had a recent discussion with a friend who requested to remain anonymous about what this suggests, which I’ll discuss further down below in character. Cuz if I start here, it’ll take forever for me to finish.

He clearly states that his team mates need him while she just wants a friend. She responds that what she wants is more important.

Seeing that he’s picking the Legion over her, she makes another impulsive decision. Helping the Scavengers.

Alexis then provides a decoy to get Superman to leave the HQ while she and the Scavengers attack.

BRAINY WHAT IS YOUR BODY EVEN DOING?

PFFT

During the fight, we see Lightning Lad isn’t afraid to electrocute people with water. Taking it a little far dude. And Saturn Girl is strong enough to smash metal.

I would feel more horrified about B5’s lab if I didn’t already figure he blows it up all the time.

NINJA BRAINY

Upon returning, Superman is pretty much pissed while Alexis just casually says “HEY!”

“Didn’t think this through, did we?”

Oof. Alexis’ weakness summed up.

“I guess I got a little carried away.”

“YA THINK?!

Unfortunately, Alexis lack of a backup plan leads to her getting caught in her mecha-suit exploding, leading to her hair falling out.

With our first look at Talkron Galtos, we see she manages to repair Woodhouse’s head so that he’s functioning enough to talk to her, where she discloses to him that she knows what she wants to do with her life, and the carving into her desk is enough to imply what that is.

So final thoughts on the episode overall.

Ironically, the episode before had a happier ending than this one. It goes from the tone of the more cheery episodes like Man of Tomorrow to ending in a tone we would expect in episodes like Timber Wolf.

It starts off with Superman finding some companionship in someone outside the Legion and wants to interact with him outside work. And it ends with him having to stop that person from hurting his friends. That isn’t going to be easy to swallow for him.

What’s adds to the tragedy of it all is that if they had found a way around it, Alexis could have been friends with Superman, and maybe with the Legion as well. But she made major errors on her part, as did Superman. Ditching her abruptly probably isn’t the best way to say bye to a friend – he probably could have invited her over to HQ instead. And storming off after finding out she pulled a stunt to get him to come isn’t the best reaction either.

Brainiac 5 was interesting to watch as well. NOT INCLUDING THE ARM INCIDENT. He probably sees Superman as this flawless being at the beginning, saying no one is out of his league, but what happens? He realizes Superman isn’t flawless. He realizes Superman will mess up every now and then.

Something I never noticed before but did this time is the parallels between Alexis and Brainiac 5. Both characters descendants of enemies of Superman, carrying their legacy. Both are genius inventors. Both aren’t the best at socializing. Both try to adjust to sharing time with Superman at first. Both fail with the adjustment, and both get upset. Both blame the other party for stealing Superman away in some degree.

The most noticeable difference is how they handled it.

Brainiac 5 realizes that Superman cares about Alexis, and that he also still cares about the Legion. He knows he can’t have Superman to himself naturally, as the guy cares too much, so he lets him go to Alexis when it seems like she needs him, but tells him to stay in contact.

Alexis didn’t. She didn’t think things through as she manipulated the situation so Superman would come to her. And when that failed, she decided that her only option was to get rid of the legion.

Speaking of Alexis, let’s take a better look at her.

Ho boy. Starts off as potential friend and ends as confirmed threat. But why? Well, I was watching this episode about a month ago, and I noticed something in her office that unsettled me.

She is surrounded by robots and toys. But nothing to speak for any interpersonal relationships. Nothing on family or peers. She’s isolated. Which led me to think that maybe Woodhouse raised her, along with possibly other programmed beings. Her best way to connect to him is with robots and building stuff, leading to further lack of social interaction. What that suggests is that she ended up having social development problems. She can’t connect to others well, as we see at the party.

But Superman showed signs to her that he cared about her. He was probably the first organic thing to care in a long time. So what happens? She latches on, and isn’t ready for being told he can’t be with her, and can’t understand that a line has been crossed.

As for the impulsive behavior, I had discussed it with another friend who requested to remain anonymous. They suggested that Alexis has, possibly, bipolar disorder, which is either undiagnosed or not getting treated.

Now before I continue, I know that media and mental disorders do not have a good relationship, with disorders getting portrayed horribly, usually by the antagonists. But the friend I discussed this has been diagnosed for being bipolar, so I ran this by them several times before posting. I’ll try to discuss this part carefully. But if you feel that I said anything wrong regarding this subject, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

There are several types of bipolar disorder, but it’s essentially an extreme change in mood, thought, and behavior, with highs/mania, and lows/depression, with the change lasting different ranges of time. A less extreme case of mania is called hypomania.

Mania episodes vary people to people, but symptoms include:

Abnormally upbeat, jumpy or wired

Increased activity, energy or agitation

Exaggerated sense of well-being and self-confidence (euphoria)

Decreased need for sleep

Unusual talkativeness

Racing thoughts

Easily distracted

Poor decision-making

Reckless behavior

Being agitated/irritable

Alexis is upbeat, active, talkative, easily distracted as seen when she and Superman were going around to different places and she lost track of time, has poor decision making and is reckless in this episode. So arguably, she is having a manic episode when this episode. But given we just met her, it’s hard to immediately say that’s the case since we haven’t seen if she’s always like this or not.

My friend said that bipolar disorder sometimes leads to negative emotions making you feel frustrated/angry/sad and you do more destructive things.

So when Superman stops hanging, she makes the reckless decision to trick him into coming, not thinking about what will happen afterwards. And this repeats when she sees him picking the Legion over her.

If you’re interested in reading more about bipolar disorder, here’s a good source that my friend gave the thumbs up for.

Still, Alexis had little comprehension on how she should have proceeded to avoid what happened. But there are signs she needed help.

And no signs of her getting that help soon.

Characters in this episode:

Ho boy. Superman did not have it easy. This episode probably left him in a worst place than where it started. But I like how he tried to balance things out between Alexis and the Legion at first. And when he finally gets to unwind fully, stuff happens that forces him to prioritize one over the other. Poor guy.

Brainiac 5 – we see more signs of the crush once again. But also a lot of bitterness. He wasn’t happy to being made second priority in the episode, but he manages to put his own wants aside.  And the bit about the report was also funny. But what size was the font? Double sided or one sided? Very important questions.

Phantom Girl’s sass was wonderful to watch once again, and seeing her on the possible look out for a girlfriend just makes me so friggin happy. And she seemed a bit more understanding towards Superman’s situation. Well, given she’s also defined as an expert at the act of “Privileged but misunderstood”, she has expectations as well. Probably not as overbearing as Superman’s but still notable.

Lightning Lad didn’t have any run ins with karma in this episode. The only time he got beat down was towards the end with Alexis, and that was just regular fighting. He still teased Superman at times, but nothing too harsh. And he is protective of Brainy, as seen as he lets the Scavengers have it big time after the arm incident.

Saturn Girl is shown to be very good at hand-to-hand combat, and is very strong. I hear she’s shredded and has an eight pack.

The Scavengers were bland to say the least. We didn’t see them a lot, but maybe if their designs varied more between them, I would have found them more interesting.

Alexis Luthor is another fascinating character to play role of the villain, although I’m not sure if I’d define her as 100% villain in this episode. She wasn’t manipulative in the sense Dr. Londo was, and did seem to care for Woodhouse enough to repair him so that he was aware of what was going on, and really wanted to spend time with Superman as friends. This was her origin story for her villain arc. And it’s very good.

[drink-n-watch]

  Remember when I was all excited about the fact that it was starting to get warm here? Well that’s all over now! It is hot and I mean humid and sticky and just plain old tough to breathe summertime in Montreal hooooot. I do have air conditioning. I’m not sure why I whine all the time. It’s just a thing we Canadians do. We complain about the weather. It’s our claim to fame. How are things in your neck in the woods, Crow?

  Also hot. Also sticky. Glad I recently got the air conditioning repaired. It’d be a real bummer without it. Wait. Why am I bold? I shouldn’t be bold! I stick out too much!

Oh, there will be spoilers.

And so here we are. Can you believe it’s been 4 months already? And we are now finally at the last episode of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Now for me this was a show that started out real strong but lost its footing somewhere at the halfway mark. However, before we get into all that, let’s just quickly resume what the episode was about. Actually no wait before we even resume what the episode was about, Crow, is there anything you want to get out up front?

19,800 meetings seems excessive. Glad we didn’t have to sit through all of them! I’m talking about Catarina’s internal Council of the Wise-ish. They made an appearance in this episode! But seeing them again made me realize how much I missed them. Glad we got to see that 19,800th meeting.

You know what’s always a great sign? When the series decides to, at the very last episode, bring in a whole new side plot with dramatic history to develop. I’m not really sure why we had to bother with the whole Sirius side. Actually, it was kind of worth it just to get the pronunciation of his name down though. This said it was over really quickly and it all seems a bit inconsequential now.

Oh, when you “great sign,” you were being sarcastic! I was momentarily confused. But it’s all good now! 

As you may remember, last week, the episode ended on a cliffhanger as Catarina and the gang were about to burst into Sirius’s house just as he was getting consumed by the darkness. Well, this week picks up right there. First, we get Sirius being all like gwaaahhh things are going all wrong. Then we quickly find out through flashback, that Sirius is not in fact serious. Sirious’s mother was a maid who was raped by her master and gave birth to a kid, but then the Master’s wife kidnaped them both and murdered the mother in a Dark Magic Ritual to stick the soul of her own dead kid into not Sirius, whose real name is Raphael and Sirius is the name of the dead kid but the thing didn’t work out and Raphirius only got the memories and he’s just been pretending that it worked all this time so that he could get revenge on the Dieke family who killed his mom. Cause they’re huge Diekes. I’m not sure why he wanted revenge on Caterina or what that was about but you know, I’m sure he had very good reasons. Anyways it doesn’t matter cuz Caterina says his real name out of the blue for some reason and now he’s all better and doesn’t want revenge anymore and all the PTSD is gone. Hurray! That was just the opening act of the episode though…

Now, to be fair, it was only almost all gone! The Entity Within made a “surprise” attempt to come back! But the Power of Friendship banished him. Either that, or not-Sirius was just happy to be holding Catarina’s hand.

 And then everybody goes back for a party at school because it’s graduation time. Caterina is right back to worrying whether she’s going to be all doomed so she decides to finally just ask Maria who she wants to… Let’s say… date. In response Maria confesses to Caterina and then everybody else confesses to Caterina and then everybody’s happy then they go to another room and have some more tea and cake because, I mean growing bodies, they need to keep hydrated and sugared up, and not Sirius comes back in and he also confesses to Caterina and everybody lives happily ever after, the end of the series…

Um…spoilers…

I got your back! Mentioned the danger of spoilers earlier. Though really, things went pretty well as expected, so maybe we’re more confirming things than spoiling them?

Is there a difference?

Speaking of growing bodies — did it seem like Catarina was, let’s say, more mature than even just last episode? Just what kind of sweets is Maria feeding her? Maria could build a fortune for her own family if she marketed it!

You always like your busty ladies. She was back to normal in her usual dress, just standard fanservice, I think.

I’ll be honest, although I did not dislike the Black magic plot, I also just feel like it belongs in a different story. It didn’t really, for me, mesh with the rest of the series. And that backstory of Sirius’s was deeply deeply tragic, yet it had this weird cheery music going on. It was all kind of uncanny. The tone was off, the pacing was way too abrupt and it just didn’t add anything to the light romantic comedy we’ve been watching for all these months. What do you think Crow? Did you like it as is, or do you think like me that it wasn’t bad in any way, it just would have been better in a different story that had the same sort of themes and tone that it was going for?

I like how you put it — that it would have been better in another story. It might have worked here if more of it had been foreshadowed, even thematically, earlier. But as is, I agree with you. It felt grafted on. In contrast, how Catarina brought him back was completely consistent with the rest of the show. She basically said that she wasn’t the heroine, so she couldn’t save him. Then she explained that “all” she could do was stand by his side, listen to him when he wanted to talk, and try to cheer him up. Which is to say, “save” him. The baka was strong with this one!

I wonder if there’s a discussion to be had on how Catarina’s view of herself as a villainess contributed to her baka-ness?

I reread some of the things I had said about the series in the first episodes and I was a little sad.  After episode one, I distinctly said how excited I was that Catarina seemed to break the mold of the usual otome heroine. She was a little dorky and a little clumsy sure, that’s a romantic archetype that’s super common, but she was also resourceful. Right off the bat she figured out what her situation was by herself, analyzed what danger she was likely to be in based on her own knowledge, and did so really well I should add, then started to put together contingency plans in order to ensure that she would be able to be okay in the future. And she did that by herself and for herself. It was refreshing. I think I’ve said word-for-word that it was so great to have a heroine that wasn’t an idiot constantly relying on the men around her to save her.

I can’t deny that I’m a little disappointed the series turned around and made being an idiot kind of a defining trait of Katerina’s personality. To the point that even the characters in the story refer to her as such without hesitation. And the fans have nicknamed her Bakarina. Even Crow, who really likes the character, uses the Idiotrina nickname because it fits so well. And frankly, I really can’t see the Katerina we got in the last 6 episodes or so, coming up with all the brilliant plans and situation assertions as the Katerina of early episodes.

It does seem like a disconnect. Reaching deep to try to defend what happened (and it kinda hurts!), I could build on the idea earlier about her own view of herself as the villainess degraded her abilities over time. Our abilities are often limited by how we view ourselves. Catarina perceived herself as the villainess who needed to do everything in her power to save herself. She probably thought she was selfish. Over time, that view narrowed her perception of what was possible. By the end, even when the whole harem clearly and concisely confessed their love for her, it wasn’t enough. Was she stupid? Or had her self-perception limited her so much that she couldn’t accept the idea that they honestly just loved her that much, and simply because she was herself?

Even after saying all that, did you notice that before the graduation party, the event that she saw as the final chance for doom to strike, she’d prepared? She had her toy snake, now perfected and looking completely real, ready to throw and distract Geraldo. She had her garden implements packed and ready. As narrow as she had allowed her perception to get, she was still fighting to the very end. It’s an echo of the full coolness we had earlier, but that little Catarina is still there, even if buried deeply!

 She’s still a very charming girl, but a much less memorable one as far as I’m concerned. The characters also went through a bit of arrested development which made me realize that I’m not sure why they all like Katerina. I understand why Keith does and potentially Alan. We legitimately see how her presence has affected them and changed them. But Geraldo doesn’t seem to have changed much. He’s different from his game counterpart, but he’s pretty much the same charming and commanding prince he was when we first met him. And Katerina has not been the nicest to him. I guess all the girls fall into the “because of the you were nice” trope. Still, it’s a bit thin. And Nicol likes her because she’s nice to his sister? It’s not that there’s no canon motivation given but we really don’t see it develop much, which is odd since that’s the actual core of the story. 

Of all of them, Geraldo’s continued affection seemed the most difficult to understand. Overall, it would have been more fulfilling had Catarina had chances to be good to them more after they entered school. As characters, they really did seem to stall. On the plus side, the show stayed true to its core concept: to the very end, Catarina struggled against her doom, and that was kinda cool.

I still really like those early episodes, I think I’m going to rewatch them.

I noticed that Katerina didn’t end up with anyone (although I suppose she still is engaged). I thought that was kinda cool. I guess very few harems end up in couples but I’m o.k. With that. How about you Crow? Did you want to see a couple form? Who?

Only in my imagination! I still think she and Mary would be a good match. Though maybe I’ve been affected my anime to the point where I wonder, why don’t they all just live together? It’s not like there’s no historical precedent! Well, in this world, anyway… A show where they have to work through the social expectations and legal biases might be fun. I mean, how would you figure out who inherited what estate, if everyone’s mingled? 

Will you be watching a season 2?

I think so! I still like the characters, and honestly, I’m curious to see where they’d take the plot. The core concept’s gone. The game’s over. Where’s it go from here?

What about you?

Like you, I’m curious what’s left. I guess it depends on what direction they take.

Well there you have it folks. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom is all said and done. I hope you all had a good time with the show despite whatever flaws it may have had. Are you gin to be watchin a second season?

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! ep 12 – Finale Remember when I was all excited about the fact that it was starting to get warm here?

[notarealdisciple]

How to Say 'I'm Not Surprised'

Do you ever hear a story and think to yourself, "I knew that" or "it's not surprising to me?" This week on Everyday Grammar, we will look at different ways to say that you are not surprised when you hear what someone says or does. One way to express this is by saying "it is no wonder." The word wonder is often used in English to express a feeling of unpredictability or uncertainty. On a recent episode of Ask a Teacher, we explained how to use wonder in a question. When using the expression “it is no wonder,” you are saying you really have no questions at all about this event. On a sunny day, for example, you might look outside the window and say, "It's no wonder that the park is crowded. The weather is beautiful!" Listen to the American singer James Swanberg telling about his relationship with a friend. This song says he's not surprised that they are together. It's No Wonder   It's No Wonder We're Together Oh Cuz There's No One I Like Better It's No Wonder We're United   Our next expression is “of course.” You can hear this saying every day when someone reacts to a statement that is almost always true. A: Ahmed stayed late last night to help with our project. B: Of course. He's very generous with his time. Another expression that you will hear when somebody is not surprised is "it figures." If you just look at the word "figure," you might imagine this has something to do with mathematics and adding up numbers. But in fact, the person who says "it figures" is putting together ideas and recognizing that their thoughts about those ideas are correct. The Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette tells about an incident like this in her hit song “Ironic.’   It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take And who would've thought—it figures!   The singer is telling us that she thinks - or figures - that bad things will always happen to her. Another expression used when someone is not surprised is "what do you expect?" 1: Those kids across the street are so loud. 2: What do you expect? They're celebrating their graduation.   Finally, let's look at how people use the word typical. It is often used when you are unhappy or dissatisfied with something that has happened.   1: The bus is late, so I can't make it to the meeting on time. 2: Typical! You should take the train. It's more dependable.   Differences between these expressions Now, let’s review what we discussed today. The first two expressions, "it's no wonder" and "of course," can be used for an approving or positive reaction to an event. But the second two expressions, "it figures" and "typical," usually show more of negative, or not so nice, reaction. Listen for these expressions the next time you are watching an American television show or movie. Try to use them when you are speaking English, and your listeners will know that you are not surprised. I'm John Russell.   Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   park – n. a piece of public land in or near a city that is kept free of houses and other buildings and can be used for pleasure and exercise of course – used to show that what is being said is very obvious or already generally known generous – adj. providing more than the amount that is needed or normal : abundant or ample typical – adj. happening in the usual way; normal for a person, thing, or group : average or usual review – v. to study or look at (something) again positive – adj. : thinking about the good qualities of someone or something : thinking that a good result will happen : hopeful or optimistic   We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. Source: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/how-to-say-i-m-not-surprised-/5117391.html