#like that was SUCH an obvious story direction i kept expecting it to happen and it never did!

[tokidokifish]

man i just got past equinox and apparently one of the writers was PISSED and i can see why. like janeway takes a flying fucking leap off the deep end for NO apparent reason, endangering her crew and ignoring every other option of how to resolve the situation, fucking? essentially torturing a dude for information? and then she just… turns on a dime when captain sexual harassment is like pwease ms janeway i’m weawwy sowwy 🥺👉👈, like girl WHAT? and then NOTHING HAPPENS, she isn’t confronted w the consequences of her actions, she doesn’t even have to decide if she’s gonna keep her word and turn the equinox over bc he essentially does it for her. she gets everything she wants and afterward she’s just like well let’s just move on and put all that past us, chakotay, and they have the most on the fucking nose metaphor for picking up voyager’s plaque and putting it back where it belonged - but that would require admitting that her actions were unacceptable and lessened her as a person, and the show just. didn’t.

i was also upset w how they treated the doctor. like he’s had a full six seasons of developing beyond his original programming, then they flip ONE switch and suddenly he’s ready to lobotomize seven?? what sense does that even make?? that felt like it would have been the perfect time for him to prove he didn’t even need ethical subroutines to be a good person but i guess they couldn’t resist the allure of strapping a woman down on a table and menacing her. BLECH.

also if i had a nickel for each time i’ve seen an evil doppelgänger replace a starfleet medical officer and no one noticed, i’d have two nickels. which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it’s happened twice.

[jeneveuxrein]

inevitable (BLACKPINK Jennie)

word count: 7.5K

(something light, in a sense it’s the prequel to best behavior, but my apologies for not getting this out when it was supposed to be, enjoy!)

-- --

The question is out of your mouth before you could stop yourself. It’s become a habit more than anything, but you promised it would be something you break in the new year.

You just didn’t expect the answer to change.

“Okay, Tuesday works.”

Your jaw almost drops, but your lips stay in a straight line, slowly curling up. If you’re being honest, you want to scream at the top of your lungs because finally.

“Sweet,” You answer nonchalantly. “I’ll text you, yeah?”

“Sure,” The woman stands from the barstool, a soft smile on her face. One you’re not familiar with, especially directed at you. It’s sincere, and personal that it almost feels like you’re seeing a side that’s been waiting to be shown. There’s something in your chest that blooms. “See you then.”

A small wave from her friend has you returning it back, watching them walk away. You hear giggles, and you know she could never keep her excitement to herself.

It sets in quickly as the door shuts behind the pair, internally fist pumping. All the time and effort finally paid off.

Kim Jennie said yes.

-- --

You laughed at Lisa’s joke, sipping your beer as you leaned against the counter. She was telling a story about how one of her dancers walked in on her changing, ogling a second too long that she ran out of the room. Only things like this would happen to her.

Someone asked a question when she walked in.

You almost dropped your drink because there was no one that had ever caught your attention like she did.

She practically lit up the room, and for some reason, you felt a little lighter. You didn’t believe in love at first sight, but this felt pretty damn close.

You played your cool, not wanting to seem too forward, too eager, to talk to her. That didn’t mean your eyes glanced away, they kept searching for her in the room as Jisoo pulled her into whoever they walked by. There were handshakes and hugs, and you wondered where you’d fall.

Your heartbeat lightly thudded on your chest when they were a few feet away. You’d soon get to meet her, and you hoped you wouldn’t make a fool of yourself.

“Jendeukie,” Jisoo fondly called her as they stood in front of you. She introduced your name. You froze when your eyes met her—love at first sight never seemed so close, because you’d have to bet she felt it too.

Whatever it was.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jennie extended her hand out, a shy smile in her face

“Right back at you,” Throwing her a wink as her hand gripped around your palm. You noticed how soft her hand was, small too, but there was something about it that just fit right.

“Oppa! Don’t you dare,” Jisoo slapped your arm enough for your hand to drop Jennie’s. “I refuse to let the mandu be part of your list. Absolutely not.” She shook her head, disapproving already when you hadn’t said more than four words to her.

Jisoo dragged Jennie away before you could respond.

Lisa chuckled next to you, shaking her head. She knew you too well to know you were instantly attracted to the woman. It was obvious on your face. “Please don’t.”

“I’m going to marry her,” You said simply.

Lisa almost spit out her drinking. You weren’t one to mention commitment when you were dating all these women, let alone marriage.

“What?”

“I’m going to marry Jennie,” You shrugged, as if it was for certain, a small smile formed on your face when your eyes met her across the room.

A smile returned.

--

You groaned, frustrated again at Jennie’s rejection. You didn’t understand why she was being difficult. You thought she was interested in you.

“Unnie said no again, huh?” Rosie asked, chuckling as the waiter took away the empty plates.

“I literally don’t get it,” You shook your head at your phone screen, re-reading Jennie’s no. “Does she not like me?”

Rosie rolled her eyes, used to your dramatics. “She probably doesn’t like you the way you do if she’s said no four times already.”

It had been a month since you met Jennie, and you saw her frequently, thanks to Lisa inviting you to come along. At first, you didn’t want to go, but she’d slip in that Jennie would be there too. It was an easy decision to join whatever they did, even though you’d end up taking an insane amount of pictures.

Jennie was shy.

Or, at the very least, shy around you.

You would describe it as ‘shy’ because she hardly interacted with you. You had to approach her first, grasping at straws to have any kind of conversation with her.

You were able to get her number one night after clubbing, mentioning this restaurant that you thought she would like. It was the perfect segue to ask her out, but you later saw on her socials she went with one of her friends. She did, however, message you a thank you for the recommendation.

“I don’t get why you’re trying so hard,” Rosie commented as you pouted at your device. “Jennie’s never had a boyfriend, and sorry if it’s harsh, but I genuinely don’t think you’d be her first serious relationship.”

Something you knew very early on, but you were aware of the effect she had on men and women alike. You witnessed a lot of people ask her out. She entertained it, flirting right in front of you.

It wasn’t like you could say anything. You were just some guy that was around Jennie. You weren’t even sure she considered you a friend.

“You’re right,” You flip your phone over. “It’s probably not meant to be.”

You knew you wouldn’t listen to Rosie. There was something in your gut that told you to keep trying.

It felt inevitable.

--

You were almost at your breaking point. You didn’t know what would push you over the edge, but you were sure it was close.

Jennie said no again.

You offhandedly asked her to dinner after walking her to the train station. You took the opportunity to be alone with her while the others took a car to their respective homes.

You were thankful for your ‘friendship’ that had developed over the past few months. It had gotten to the point where you could hold a conversation, and she wouldn’t look at you with a blank stare. She even sometimes approached you, asking how you were and what was going on in your life.

Yet, you couldn’t figure it out.

Some days she’d always be near you, keeping you within arms reach.

Other days, she’d hardly look your way.

Rosie was also confused by Jennie’s attitude toward you. It took some time, but after a while, over a quick bite after work, she asked you if anything was going on. You couldn’t give her an answer since you were trying to make something happen, but rejection was always the outcome. Rosie didn’t know what was going on. She even went on to tell you that she asked Jennie herself how she felt about you, but she couldn’t get an answer out of her.

You were rolling with the punches at this point.

Christmas was around the corner and you wanted to do coupley things with someone, but the someone you wanted to do it with was making it difficult.

The worst part of hearing another rejection was that you had to see Jennie this evening.

Sana was hosting a holiday get-together slash birthday party before your friends leave to spend the end of the year with their families. She was adamant that you had to go because there was a surprise that you didn’t want to miss. When it came to Sana, you had to be weary. It took a bit of convincing, but you reluctantly said yes when all you wanted to do was stay home and play video games, especially with how work had been going.

Lisa mentioned earlier in the week that Jennie would also be there, which your enthusiasm to be at the same place with her waned these past few weeks. You’d be happy to see her, but at the same time, the no thank you she gave you echoed in your head.

You arrived at Sana’s, knocking on the door as you waited for someone to answer. You heard the sound of conversation on the other side, which meant the party was in full swing. A moment later, Momo opened the door, face lighting up as soon as she saw you.

“Oppa! You made it,” Momo greeted, hugging you briefly before ushering you in. You weren’t used to her being this excited to see you. She usually just gave you a nod, but as soon as you entered, you felt something was up.

“Hi Momo,” You smiled, handing her the bottle of wine Sana demanded you bring as you took your shoes off.

“Go to the kitchen,” Momo nodded encouragingly, the same smile still on her face when you walked in.

This is weird, you thought before doing exactly what she said.

You said your hello’s to a few of your friends, who had the same excitement on their face as you walked by.

You saw Jennie across the room, next to one of her friends, Hyujin, and Jisoo, laughing at something the latter was saying. She looked up as soon as you walked by. You didn’t say anything except shooting her a small smile before reaching the kitchen.

You scanned the room, noting the food and alcohol spread prepared by Sana, before your eyes fell on the back of someone familiar. You couldn’t quite place it, but you saw this person conversing with Sana and Lisa.

Sana shrieked when she realized you were there, halting most, if not all, of the conversations in her apartment.

“Oppa! Come here!” Sana waved you over, and as she did, the person in question turned around and you couldn’t help the grin forming on your face. “Look who it is,” She pointed excitedly.

Mina.

--

Being in the presence of your ex-girlfriend was a pleasant surprise.

You hadn’t seen Mina since she graduated and moved back to Japan. You spoke with her a few times, wishing birthdays mostly, but that was the extent. You kept up with her socials and whatever Sana or Momo would tell you, and from what you gathered, she had been doing great.

She was also still as beautiful as you remembered. Time had made her even more so, that you felt you were in the presence of a goddess.

You told her exactly that, which was met with an eye roll and a cheeky smile.

“Still with the compliments?” Mina shook her head, cheeks turning red as she sipped her wine.

“Never enough for you,” You leaned forward, hand resting on the back of the seat.

To your friends, the witnesses of your relationship, they wouldn’t think anything of it. It was a familiar sight to be close with Mina, regardless of how much time has passed. They knew how hard it was on you when the relationship ended, but everyone knew that it wouldn’t last. She was always meant to go back to Japan. There was an expiration date the moment you decided to be together.

Could you have followed her to Japan? Yes, but would you? Probably not.

You were in love with her, but you were glad you experienced your first heartbreak with her.

It was a lot of catching up, talking about what happened then, in between, and now. Mina was doing well for herself, developing games for one of the country's biggest companies. She lived a simple life, hanging out with her friends and occasionally traveling with her family abroad.

You were proud of who she had become. She wasn’t the same woman you fell in love with all those years ago–shy, reserved–that much was obvious. She was still shy, but there was an air of confidence around her that wasn’t there before. She glowed, smiling at your stories and laughing at your antics. You could tell she was proud of you too.

The topic of relationships came up, which Mina told you candidly that she was seeing someone. His name was Kyo, a bit of a hot-head, but he was only ever like that with his cousins. You were happy she found someone who drew her out of her shell.

In love always looked good on her, even if that meant it wasn’t with you.

“What about you?” Mina placed her wine glass on the counter, the rest of your friends in their own conversations around you. They’d join in, but ultimately left you two in your own space.

“What about me?” You sighed. “I haven’t really dated anyone since you.”

Mina tilted her head, analyzing your face. It was jarring whenever she did that. She always said there were ‘tells’ when you liked someone, even on a superficial level. Having been her friend before you started dating, she could figure out if there was a crush involved.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Mina’s eyes squinted, lip pouting as she took her eyes off you to look behind you. “But then will you tell me why I’ve been on the receiving end of a death glare since you sat down with me?” You almost turned around, but she rushed out, “Don’t.”

“What’re you talking about?” You raised an eyebrow, confused.

“You like someone, and they’re here, aren’t they?”

Leave it to Mina who could always see right through you.

A dejected yes fell from your lips, shoulders dropping as you quietly explained the situation with Jennie. There wasn’t much to say except you had been asking her out for quite some time, but it hadn’t gotten anywhere.

“I don’t know her, but if I had to wager, she probably likes you too.”

There was no way.

Jennie hadn’t come up to you since you arrived. You hadn’t even thought of her until now, too swept up with Mina’s presence .

“Doubtful.”

Mina made a humming sound before changing the subject, not commenting on it anymore. You didn’t have it in you to ask.

--

You waited for the elevator when you heard a set of footsteps approaching you. Your pulse quickened when you saw Jennie and Hyujin walking towards you. You decided to leave the party as soon as Jeongyeon suggested the start of playing games, mainly because you didn’t want to referee disagreements between Jihyo and Nayeon. It somehow always fell on you.

“Hi,” You bowed your head slightly the closer the pair got to you.

Hyujin smiled, giving you a soft hey as she stood next to you. The other woman looked at you with a tight smile before facing the elevator.

“Oh, shit,” Hyujin said after looking through her purse, “I have Jisoo’s keys. I’ll be back. If the elevator comes, I’ll just meet you in the lobby.”

Hyujin took off right as the elevator doors opened. You internally groaned as Jennie walked in, following after her.

Once the elevator door closed, you felt the hairs on your neck stand. The air around you suddenly felt tense, and you didn’t know what to do. You watched the numbers decrease, the elevator descending that it felt like forever being in such close quarters with her.

“How was your night?” Jennie’s voice came out so softly. You almost didn’t hear her.

“Oh, uh, well it was great.”

“Good. I’m glad,” You braced yourself, sensing her next question. “You spent a lot of time talking with Mina-ssi. How do you two know each other?”

“She’s my ex-girlfriend,” You raised your arm to scratch the back of your head. You had no reason to feel embarrassed, but you felt the need to explain yourself. “We dated in school, but broke up because she moved back to Japan. We’re still cordial.”

Jennie turned her head slightly, giving you an inscrutable expression. You still couldn’t figure her out, but if you had to describe it, she looked annoyed.

“Ex-girlfriend?” You didn’t miss the way she emphasized the first part. “It seemed a little cozy between you two.”

You were getting baited, and you fell for it.

“Mina has a boyfriend,” You deadpanned, crossing your arms.

“Sure she does,” Jennie rolled her eyes. “She didn’t act like she had one.”

Whatever she implied, you wouldn’t have any of it. You had always been protective of Mina, and her comment pissed you off.

“You don’t know her, so watch what you’re saying,” You said lowly, eyes glaring as she turned her body to face you.

“If I had a boyfriend, I don’t think he’d like me cozying up with someone that wasn’t him.”

“Why do you care?” You turned, nearly towering over her as she looked up, “Why do you care what Mina does? Wait, I think the better question is, why do you care what I do?”

Jennie scoffed, shaking her head, “I don’t know how that relates to anything-”

“I know you were staring at us when we spoke. Mina felt it across the room,” You cut her off. You took a small step forward, invading her space when you heard her breath hitch. “Jealous?” You grinned as her eyes widened.

The elevator ringing broke whatever trance you two were in. You stepped back, giving Jennie space as you watched her shake her head.

“Goodnight Jennie. I’ll see you around,” You say quietly, nodding as you walk away.

You didn’t know what the hell that was, but you didn’t look back. Your thoughts were in a mess because you saw a glimpse of how Jennie felt.

You couldn’t get your hopes up again.

-- --

“Just checking in,” The waitress serving your table is here again, for the fourth time. “Your date will be arriving soon, yes?”

“Yes,” You lie because you haven’t heard from Jennie since this morning to confirm the time and location. “She’s stuck in some bad traffic.”

The waitress nods politely, walking away before she stands among her colleagues. They whisper something, shooting you pitiful looks and it adds to the sting of how the night’s unfolding.

Jennie’s late.

Today is also her birthday, which you were completely unaware of.

The only reason you know is because later in the morning, while checking your socials, Lisa posted a picture of a birthday greeting to Jennie. You immediately called Rosie to make sure, uncaring that you woke her up in the middle of the night since she was in Australia. She hung up as soon as she said yes.

You didn’t think Jennie would want to spend part of her birthday with you, of all people. You also didn’t think she wouldn’t share this piece of information with you. Your mistake for not knowing it was her birthday because she only ever said it was at the beginning of the year. Sure, you could have asked for an exact date, but still.

This wasn’t how you expected things to go.

Things were weird between you and Jennie after Sana’s party. You didn’t bother meeting with them when Lisa invited you. You had to clear your head because all these mixed signals from Jennie were throwing you off. If you were in the same vicinity, especially with the not-tense exchange in the elevator, you were sure you’d say something you’d regret. You were still surprised she didn’t slap you for what you said. It was warranted.

You saw her right before the year ended, and things were the same–in a way.

You still spoke to each other the same, but there was something between you that you couldn’t ignore. She felt it too. There was some truth to what you said, even if it was very little, because she acted very much like a jealous girlfriend. You contemplated talking to Lisa about it, someone who gave reasonable advice, but opted not to because Lisa had been trying to get you two together, that it would make her try harder.

Jennie was more guarded than when you first met her. She was still polite and open to talking to you, but you got the impression there was more she wanted to say. She never did, leaving you to wonder.

Then, you happened to be meeting Jinseok and Habin for drinks after work when you saw Jennie sitting alone at the bar. You didn’t want to say hello, but something compelled you to. When you approached, Jennie’s face lit up in surprise, but a small smile formed. You made small talk, asking about her day and what she was doing there, which she said she was waiting for Hyujin in the ladies’ room before they went off to dinner.

You couldn’t help yourself from asking will you go on a date with me, but the words fell from your mouth. You froze, realizing that you didn’t intend to ask her out again, but it happened and she actually agreed.

Jennie chose today as the day, but she’s not even here. You were losing hope that she was even going to show since she’s thirty minutes late. The sympathetic looks you’re receiving from the staff has you feeling low.

You fold the napkin on your lap, placing it on the table. You couldn’t wait anymore, chalking this date as a fluke. She probably didn’t mean to say yes.

When you turn to wave your waitress over, you’re met with the sight of Jennie rushing towards you. She pants, out of breath, once she reaches the table, shaking her head.

“I’m so sorry,” You hear her say, watching her lean on the chair. “My phone died as I was leaving my place, and there was traffic because of the snow.”

You lower your hand, giving her an understanding nod. It didn’t matter if she was another thirty minutes late. None of that matters now because she was always going to show up.

“Happy birthday, Jen,” You say softly, standing to help her take her coat off.

She gives you the brightest smile, which has you absolutely giddy.

--

It’s getting late, but no one in the restaurant seems to mind. It’s practically empty except for a couple of the staff–your waitress included–as they begin setting up to close. You assume they wanted to see how the night would pan out.

This has been the best date you’ve ever been on, and you hope that there’s another and another.

It’s different being with Jennie like this.

You’re so used to being with her with other people around, that being alone with her made you nervous you wouldn’t have anything to talk about. Surprisingly, you had a lot to talk about. She’s much more open with you, telling you about her day and how her coworkers held her up after work to ask more details about the date she was going on. You teased her, which she took in stride because it was a big deal she had a date. She explained she didn’t talk that much about her private life, but it slipped out that she had plans with someone–a man of all people–to celebrate her birthday.

“I didn’t even know it was your birthday. I found out through Lisa’s post.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to think it was a big deal.”

It is a big deal that you’re spending part of her birthday with her, and she knows it. She’s making a statement, and you think you’re understanding it correctly.

You’re also learning Jennie’s much more expressive than she lets on. She’s generally cool and collected, smiling at the right times, when she’s around you and her friends. She’s animated when she tells you about herself, what she likes, dislikes, and how she cried watching a recent drama because it was so sweet. You’ve watched her expressions change throughout the night as she tells you things you’ve never heard about her.

“You didn’t have to pay,” Jennie looks away when the waitress picks up the bill, your card tucked in between the folds. “I’m still sorry for being late.”

“It’s fine,” You wave her off. You planned to pay anyway, regardless if it was her birthday or not. You cared the most about Jennie showing up. She scared you a bit running late, but she’s here.

“You say it is, but I feel terrible about it,” You can tell she means it. “I didn’t want you to be upset.”

“Jennie,” You say softly, reaching for her hand on the table, hoping it wouldn’t be too much. She doesn’t flinch, thankfully. “It’s okay. You’re here. I’m honored you wanted to spend part of today with me.”

“Still,” Jennie pouts, and it makes you want to kiss it away.

“Answer me this then,” You rub the back of her hand with your thumb, “Why’d you finally say yes? I’ve been asking you out for months.”

You can see the wheels turning in her head as she formulates an answer. The waitress is back with the paid bill, giving her time to think of a response as you sign. Once you shut the book, you wait expectantly.

Jennie sighs, this time reaching for your hand, absentmindedly playing with your fingers, “I couldn’t really give you an answer. I’ve seen how you interact with girls and Jisoo-unnie has been in my ear about how you’re a player and not good to women. She even went as far to call you a pig,” You couldn’t stop the eyeroll if you wanted to, which Jennie doesn’t miss. “But after seeing how you were with Mina, it’d made me think Jisoo’s wrong, and that it’d be nice to be with you like that.”

“So you were jealous,” You smirk behind your wine glass. Jennie pinches your skin, but quickly soothes the area with her finger.

“I wouldn’t call it jealousy,” Jennie shakes her head, adding, “I don’t get jealous.”

“Sure.” She’s in denial, but this is still too new for you to start joking with her like that–whatever this is.

“Anyways, I saw a side of you I’ve never seen,” Jennie’s gaze meets yours. “I just thought that could be with me.”

You take a moment to process everything she said, but it’s all jumbled with how she’s looking at you.

The only thought you have right now is that you want to kiss her.

--

“Jennie,” You groan as your back hits the doorknob, metal digging into your body as she presses herself against you.

“What?” Jennie murmurs against your lips, hands swiftly moving to unbutton your coat, shrugging the article of clothing down your shoulders before it hits the hardwood floor.

“We don’t have to do anything,” You moan out after her teeth bite gently on your bottom lip.

You didn’t think the night would end like this.

You offered her a ride home since you drove, and you didn’t exactly trust a stranger since it was late. She declined at first because she lived on the other side of the city, and she didn’t want you to go out of your way. She relented after assuring her that you wanted to, adding sweetly that it was making up for the time spent waiting for her.

You couldn’t explain it, but something shifted once you entered the car. The tension was palpable that you couldn’t do anything but focus on the road. At one point, Jennie took your hand and placed it on her thigh. Her fingers played with your hand, lightly brushing over your skin that had your body shivering underneath her touch.

If Jennie noticed your internal struggle, she didn’t say anything. She kept on talking as if your body wasn’t having a visceral reaction.

As soon as you parked in the driveway, shutting the car off, Jennie turned to you, fingers interlaced, “Do you want to come inside?”

You berated yourself for making a simple question sound so dirty, but you nodded dumbly as Jennie smiled. She let go of your hand and turned away to open the car door. You hurried out of the car to get the door for her, which you were able to open it enough for her to stand up. When you shut the door, she leaned against the car, looking up at you.

Neither of you moved, but all of a sudden, her lips were on yours and your hand shot out to grip the car frame. Her arms encircled around your neck, pulling your body flush against hers. You heard the soft moan as your tongue grazed her bottom lip, automatically granting you access that ignites a fire.

You thought of your first kiss with Jennie in your head multiple times, but the reality was so much better. Her lips were soft, but demanding, as the months leading up this moment boiled over. You felt all the pent up energy in your body leave as your tongues wrestled in a frenzy.

Jennie pulled away, breaking the kiss, as her hand found its way on your chest to gently push you off. You didn’t say anything as she dragged you towards the entrance, dazed from the kiss.

You probably should have paid more attention to your surroundings, but you wrapped your arms around Jennie as she inserted the key into the lock, making sure she knew exactly how she made you feel.

Once the door opened, Jennie pounced.

“I know we don’t,” Jennie tears her lips off yours, trailing kisses on your jaw. “I want you.”

“Are you sure?” Your control’s slipping when she sucks lightly on your neck. You want her, that much was obvious. You also want her in the morning and the next.

“Yes, and before you ask again, yes,” Jennie leans back to look at you, giving you a small nod that she feels the same.

You’re about to say something when Jennie drops to her knees, hands unbuckling your belt and untucking your dress shirt. Your head falls back, hitting the door as she quickly undoes the button.

“I want,” You try to get out but Jennie palms you through your briefs, “To go out again.”

“We will,” Jennie nods, slipping her hand underneath the waistband before a soft fist encircles around your cock. “You’re bigger than I imagined,” She comments as she strokes you slowly.

It goes straight to your head as she frees you from the confines of the fabric, shrugging your pants down mid-thigh. You watch her eyes widen as she sees your cock up close.

“Jennie,” You grit out, the sight of your cock over her face has you losing your balance. You’re thankful the door’s holding you upright.

Jennie gives you an innocent look before her next move has her everything but. She pokes her tongue, flicking your tip, that has you pressing your weight against the door. Your hands ball into a fist as you watch her kiss all over your cock. She licks up and down, swirling over the tip, and you can’t help the guttural groan leaving your body as her lips wrap around the head.

That’s when you knew you were in trouble.

You’re entranced as Jennie slowly takes more of you inside her mouth. You could cum right then and there, and you almost do the moment your tip touches her throat. She coughs slightly, pulling back for air.

“I don’t think I could take you right now,” Jennie whispers, gaze locked on you while her hands don’t remain idle.

“Practice makes perfect,” You quip, ignoring the tension in your stomach as her mouth engulfs you again. Her cheeks hollow out, the suction causing your eyes to roll back. “You’re so good.”

“Am I?” Your cock’s out of her mouth, a resounding pop echoes through the house.

“Yes,” You nod, bringing a gentle hand to thread through her locks. Her expression darkens, eyes filled with lust that has you wondering how far you could go. “So good.”

Jennie raises herself, keeping her hand around your cock. You gulp when she leans against you, breath against your lips, “As much as I’d like to drain you with my mouth, which I will at some point, I need this,” She squeezes your cock, the pain never felt so good, “Inside me.”

You can’t do anything but nod. Jennie literally has you in the palm of her hands, and if she wanted you to fuck her, who are you to say no?

--

You’re doing everything you possibly can to not snap your hips forward. You’ve resorted to doing mental math because the sensation of Jennie’s pussy wrapped around your cock has your head(s) spinning.

Her walls pulse as your length sinks deeper into her. You couldn’t ignore the sounds falling from her mouth, the soft moans and breathy sighs as her body takes you in.

It isn’t without preparation because you spent a fair amount of time in between her legs. You might’ve gotten drunk on her taste, that she had to physically pull you off from overstimulation. You didn’t know how many times she came, but it was evident on your face and the bedsheet.

“You’re too big,” Jennie pants out, hands wrapped around your wrist, gripping tightly that her nails dig into your skin.

“We can stop,” It pains you to say that, but you don’t want to hurt her.

Jennie frantically shakes her head, biting her lip, “No no no. I want it, please.”

“Baby,” The nickname leaves your mouth easily, and her pussy twitches, “Just breathe.”

Her grip loosens as you watch her chest rise slowly before expelling a long breath. Your jaw clenches as you feel your cock slide in more, and you shouldn’t have glanced down.

It’s absolutely filthy the way she sucks you in. You’re over halfway in, and you genuinely didn’t know if you’d be able to last.

“Kiss me.”

You bring your lips down, distracting her and yourself. She moans into your mouth, greedily swallowing every sound and breath as she wraps her arms around your shoulders, pulling you deeper into her body.

“Fuck,” Jennie’s head snaps back, tearing her lips away as her little move brings all of you in.

You swear you feel something leave your body, whether it was your impending orgasm or your soul, you didn’t know. All you know is that having Jennie wrapped around you—tight, wet, and hot—has you burying your face in the crook of her neck.

“You feel so good,” You groan against her skin, pussy tightening at the praise. “Jennie,” You choke out.

“Tell me I’m good,” Jennie commands quietly, and there’s a shift in the air, something you’ve never experienced with any of the women you’ve been with—something darker.

“Who said you were?” You taunt, nipping softly at her ear.

“You don’t think so?” Jennie plays dirty, wrapping her legs around your waist, pulling you deeper into her that has both of you sucking in a breath.

“That definitely wasn’t good,” You grit out as you subtly shift your hips, eyes rolling back as she chuckles.

“I’m sure you could make me,” She kisses you sweetly on the cheek before saying, “You know you want to.”

Things go downhill, or uphill, depending on how you look at it.

In that very moment, her words break something inside you, unleashing the control you tried so hard to keep. You don’t give her, or yourself, any notice when you slide your length out, keeping your tip snug between her lips before thrusting back in, her body jolting at the movement.

“God, yes,” Jennie moans, her limbs hugging you tighter to her body as you start bucking into her, hands sliding underneath her small frame.

You’re not sure if you black out, but the only thing spurring you on is Jennie’s moans and breath on the side of your face as you pump in and out of her slick. You thought it would be difficult, given how long it took for her to take you, but as you move easily within her body, thrusting and rolling your hips to hit that spot inside of her. It’s like she was made for you.

“Jen,” You don’t recognize your voice after a particularly hard thrust and squeeze from her, signaling that you were close.

“That fast?” You don’t need to see her face to know she’s smirking, but it’s a façade. The way she’s pulsing around you proves she’s right there with you.

“You feel so fucking good,” And her pussy reacts, squeezing as her breath hitches, nails scratching down your back. “You like hearing that, huh? Be good for me, baby.”

It happens suddenly, knocking the wind out of you as Jennie’s body seizes, back arching, chest pushed against yours when she screams. A gush of wetness covers you as her orgasm rips through her body, triggering yours that you had no time to pull out. You capture her lips, groaning as you paint her insides white, hips stuttering as her walls throb—pulse—along your cock.

Jennie whines as her wombs fill with your essence, moaning, whispering how good it feels inside her. She rocks her hips, making sure she milks you dry before her limbs sprawl out on the bed.

You’re usually not this reckless, especially when it comes to sex. You tend to use protection, but that seemed to go out the window. Jennie was too determined, too tempting, too hot that it didn’t cross your mind—at all.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” You mutter, pulling quickly out as your lust-filled mind clears. Jennie lets out a small gasp. “Fuck I’m so sorry.”

“What? Hey, where are you going?!” Jennie’s legs try to wrap around you before you step away, but you’re quicker.

“We didn’t use protection,” You say harshly, shaking your head at your carelessness.

“Okay? And?” Jennie sits up as you start pacing back and forth in front of her. “I’m clean and on the pill. Are you?”

“Of course I am. I get tested regularly,” You roll your eyes, slightly offended by her accusation.

“Okay, so we’re fine. If I wanted to use a condom, I would’ve made you put one on, so can you just come back to bed. You’re stressing over literally nothing,” Jennie reaches for your arm, pulling you to stand in front of her. “It was great,” She places a soft kiss on your stomach, peering up at you. “Lay with me.”

Jennie’s stronger than she lets on, pulling you down to lay next to her. She rests her head on your chest, locking a leg over yours so you have nowhere to go. It calms you, being wrapped around by her. You sigh contentedly as her finger absentmindedly traces over your abdomen.

“You know,” Jennie says quietly, “I’m sorry for how I’ve been with you since the day we met.”

“You had your reservations, it’s understandable,” You place a soft kiss on her forehead. “But I swear that I’m not that much of a fuckboy as Jisoo makes me out to be.”

Jennie chuckles, shaking her head, “I see that. I do. I think I can trust you.”

“Are you saying you want to be my girlfriend? One date was all it took?” You tease, earning a light slap.

“Maybe take me out some more, and I can see us being together,” Jennie kisses underneath your jaw.

Something blooms in your chest, that same feeling you had when you first saw Jennie all those months ago. It’s scary to feel this strongly about her so quickly, but you’ll lean into the feeling because whether you want to or not, you know you’ll fall in love with her.

If you haven’t already.

“And with how you are in bed,” Jennie murmurs against your skin, “I’m not entirely keen on sharing you with anyone.”

You don’t plan on being with anyone else after her because there’s something there that only she could get to.

Instead of being all sweet and romantic, you opt to respond with a joke, “So you are the jealous type.”

“Possessive might be a better word,” Jennie whispers seductively. “I’m sure it would take very little from me to make you mine.”

“Do I want to be yours?” You quip, rubbing her skin softly.

“I’m sure I could convince you,” Jennie mumbles, kissing you sweetly one last time before she climbs on top of you. “Right?” Her eyes narrow as she subtly grinds along your cock, waking at the movement.

“Maybe,” You nod, eyes locked on her as she smirks.

“Can you go again? Or do you need a break?” Jennie bends forward, meeting your lips with hers. She dips her tongue into your mouth and you moan softly against her.

“I might need some help,” You say sheepishly as she giggles.

“I want you in my mouth anyways,” Jennie murmurs, trailing her lips down your neck as she shifts her body. “I’ll be good.”

And fuck you know she will be.

-- --

“I love you,” Jennie drunkenly mumbles against your lips, wrapping her arms around your neck as she tries to deepen the kiss.

“Baby,” You smile, trying to keep this kiss as PG as possible given you’re at a club with all of your friends.

“I do,” Jennie pulls away, pouting.

That’s the thing you’ve learned about Jennie these past few months. She doesn’t talk about her feelings a lot, but when she does, it’s one of the things you love the most about her.

And yes, you love her. You’re in love with her. You told her after three months of making it official. She didn’t say it back, nor did you expect to. She keeps her feelings to herself, only sharing them with her closest friends. As time went on, she opened up, telling you how she felt in not so many words, but enough to know she was falling for you, hard.

“I love you too, Jen,” You grin, watching her roll her eyes underneath the strobe lights.

“You’re not hearing me, I love you,” Jennie crosses her arms. “Like I’m in love with you.”

Oh.

“You’re drunk,” You shake your head because her telling you she’s in love with you, drunk, in the club, with all your friends around, wasn’t how you expected this confession.

“I am,” Jennie nods, scooting closer to you enough to swing her legs over yours. “But I know what I’m saying and I’m in love with you.”

“You’ll tell me again in the morning?” You raise an eyebrow, not wanting to get your hopes up.

Jennie nods, leaning forward to kiss you again. “I’ll show you just how much I love you till then.”

You tap her legs, moving them away, before standing up. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Jennie asks as you pull her up, interlacing your fingers together.

“Home,” You say simply, and she gives you the brightest smile before nodding.

“Make me cum tonight, yeah?” Jennie whispers seductively in your ear.

Like you won’t.

--

You’ve always been a light sleeper, and when you feel the bed dip, you wake up slowly. You watch Jennie slip on your shirt, feet padding into the bathroom.

Last night was intense in the best kind of way.

Jennie showed you exactly how much she loved you by the way she rode you until you came inside her. She wouldn’t let you rest, keeping your cock inside of her until you got hard again. She begged you to keep fucking her, the word daddy got thrown around, and that was it for you.

Right before she came, she told you she loved you again and you let her come around your cock as you fucked her from behind, thrusting inside of her before you met your release.

Jennie’s back in the room, sliding underneath the blanket before snuggling into your side. “I know you’re awake.”

“What gave me away?” You ask, clearing your throat when you realize your voice is thick with sleep.

“You always wake up whenever I leave the bed,” Jennie murmurs.

“Can’t help that I miss you as soon as you go.”

“Such a sweet talker,” Jennie giggles, “But I do have something to tell you.”

You wait, giving her the time she needs to gather her thoughts.

Jennie lets out a shaky breath before looking at you, “I love you. Like I’m in love with you, and you know that I’m not really someone who expresses my feelings, but yeah I’m in love with you. I think I was always going to since the day I met you.”

You smile, closing your eyes contentedly. “Thanks.”

“What?” Jennie slaps your chest. “Say it back!”

“I love you, Jen,” You open one eye, “You’ve known this.”

“I know,” Jennie huffs, slapping your chest again. “But still.”

“Careful, I don’t need you getting all soft on me now,” You tease and she huffs against your neck.

You might be joking, but you know how serious Jennie’s being. She’s never had a relationship, and you feel some pressure being her first. It’s not enough to have you running because you want to make this work.

She is, after all, the woman you’re going to marry.

-- -- --

[lucozadehulahoop]

A Question of Time (Astarion x f!reader/tav) part 2/?

Chapter Summary: Astarion gets caught by Cazador in his daughter's room. Tav attempts to get him out of the situation.

Read part 1 here! part 3 part 4

tags and TW: pre-bg3! Astarion, slave!Astarion, mentions of torture and abuse, demi-goddess!tav, Cazador being all sorts of creepy, eventual NSFW (minors stay away kindly, thank you darlings)

tag list for those who asked for part 2 (if you want to be added to the tag list, just let me know!): @d0nutkaky0in @i-just-want-to-sleep-97 @omggiannarosa @dead-giirl-walking @warbwarts @mrsfullbuster500 @uwomina @iyaesakura @cheeslyy @dragon-kazansky @bambamwolf87 @chibi-chi @orsomethingelseentirely @davenswitcher @adequate-superstar

Astarion dropped to his knees and bowed his head the second Cazador stepped into the room. He couldn't even look at his Master, choosing to stare at the ground, fixating on the space between the Vampire Lord's heavy boots to anticipate the blows that were no doubt coming to him.

It was over. Whatever hell awaited Astarion next, it was going to make the past two centuries seem like a dream in comparison. That much he was certain of.

He could feel Cazador's ice-cold stare on him, yet it was his daughter he spoke to. "Step aside, my dear. I have made the terrible mistake of being too gracious with this... servant. I will personally make sure he never strays again..."

Astarion began to shake violently. For all he knew, Cazador was already making a promise to break his legs.

What he did not expect was what happened next. The young woman stepped in front of him, putting herself between him and Cazador. "Father, there has been a misunderstanding... I sneaked out and met... Astarion in a local tavern." She faked an attempt at trying to remember his name correctly. "I believe he was deeply charmed by me and offered we spend the evening together. When he brought me back here, I had to confess who I truly was and immediately realized his mistake. He acted like a true gentleman and returned me to my chambers."

Astarion didn't move a muscle. He could not have come up with a better lie himself, considering that little story painted him as a dutiful spawn who'd merely been out seeking prey for his Master. But he doubted Cazador cared. A line had been crossed, and Cazador rarely needed an excuse to torture anyone, least of all Astarion.

"Is that so, dearest?" Cazador's tone turned sickly sweet, yet he was not fooled by the shared. He'd taken a good look at the dagger on the floor and the open window. He'd already come to his own conclusions. "In that case, such a valiant display of chivalry deserves a reward, wouldn't you say? Come along, Astarion, I wish to give you the recognition you deserve..."

Astarion had lost all feeling in his limbs, but he knew it wouldn't matter because Cazador's words would have been enough to make him stand and walk like his own personal puppet. Except... they weren't.

Cazador had given him a direct order yet he hadn't budged.

The Vampire Lord seemed to notice this too, his eyes widening at the realization his influence seemed to have no hold on Astarion's mind at that moment. Astarion looked back at his Master and it was all Cazador needed to make a stride toward them, no doubt intent on dragging his slave out of the room by force when his luck struck out for a second time.

"No!" His valiant protector protested in the face of Cazador's increasingly obvious rage. Her little outburst was followed by a loud crash as a heavy bookcase fell in the middle of the room, nearly missing Cazador by an inch.

And that was when Astarion realized why Cazador kept this girl pampered and at a considerable distance from him. He was afraid of her. Of his own daughter. Terror was all that was left on his Master's face now, and Astarion had never witnessed something so satisfying ever since he'd crawled out of his own grave on that faithful night.

"I mean..." She backtracked, looking quite abashed at the mess she'd just made, more so than the thought of having nearly buried her father underneath a small library. "I would like to request Astarion stay in this wing of the castle from now on. I... have no servants, and I never see anyone all day. I believe Astarion has proven himself to be an honorable man, and I trust him. That way... I won't be tempted to run away again, and you can trust him to keep an eye on me and...report back to you in case I get into trouble again." She reasoned in a sweet voice, almost as if she were asking Cazador for a new pony.

"The reasonings you make are quite sound, my dear. But-"

"Oh, wonderful!" She cheered and looked back at Astarion. "Only if that would be an agreeable arrangement for you, Astarion. It's your choice, of course..."

Astarion stared up at her blankly. His... choice?

The spawn hadn't made a decision for himself in two hundred years. Obviously going back to Cazador meant there was a world of pain to pay for the innumerable transgressions that he'd perpetrated that night. But what about this girl? She was clearly a force to be reckoned with, and he was more than familiar with the old saying: better the devil you know...

"Tav, dearest." Cazador attempted to interject. "It is unbecoming for a noble lady such as yourself to have such a bleeding heart for the lower class. Astarion knows his place, he does not need to be asked for permission..."

Tav. Astarion knew that word well from the scriptures he'd studied for so many nights on his path to becoming a magistrate all those centuries ago. The name meant 'sign' or 'omen', the symbol of truth, perfection, and completion.

Maybe he could let himself hope one last time.

"My lady, I accept your gracious request..." And put myself in your debt.

Cazador gave him an amused look, almost as if he knew whatever freedom Astarion thought he'd just obtained was going to be extremely short-lived. After all, Tav, as far as either of them was concerned, did not know about the true nature of any of the inhabitants of the castle. Her father had more means than necessary to hide his appetites and odd schedules, but Astarion? He'd soon have to make the choice between staying up in the tower and starving or crawling back to Cazador to beg for a measly rat to feed on.

Tav smiled at Astarion's decision and helped him up to his feet.

"Well, my dear. It seems as if I can't do anything but warn you... this one barely does anything during the day and I personally wouldn't let him near any one of your dear pets... When you tire of his incompetence, be sure to return him back to me."

...💫...

Astarion was shown to a private guest room and he had an inkling of what was to come next, now that Tav had finally got him alone. If there was one thing he'd learned in all of those years was that the only thing about him that was worth anything was his body.

Now that he could think things through with a clear head, there was no doubt in his mind that Tav had 'saved' him solely because she, like many others, had come to be infatuated with him. And as much as it pained him to acknowledge he'd merely swapped an old owner for a new one, he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. He needed her protection and the fact she was already harboring affection for him would only work in his favor in the future. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince her to let him escape someday, once he was sure the bond between him and Cazador had truly been severed. he had no way of knowing if it had been Tav's presence in the room that had counteracted Cazador's powers, nor could he be sure how long that blessing was going to last.

The first step for now would be seducing her, and at least that part he was an expert in. Another blessing he could count on was that she was gorgeous, and if he truly had met her in some tavern, she'd been right in thinking she would have been one of his marks.

"I'll be leaving you now..." Tav announced, snapping Astarion out of his reverie. He looked back at her as she returned his dagger and his climbing tools to him. The weight of the gear seemed heavier than, before and he heard the distinct sound of a heavy pouch of coins in the mix. "There is a small boat that leaves the harbor in a few hours. By dawn, you should be well away from the Sword Coast... although where you'll end up I don't know."

Being out at sea at the break of day was not a realistic option for Astarion unless he wanted to burn alive with nowhere to hide. But that certainly wasn't what he took away from her words. Tav was giving him a way out, just like that. Her plan could not work for him, but she couldn't have known.

"What is your angle?" Astarion snapped, baffled beyond reason. He could not wrap his head around what she was or what she wanted with him and it was driving him insane.

"My.. my angle? Forgive me, I don't-" Tav wrought her hands together nervously, fearing she'd somehow misunderstood. All this time, she'd been certain Astarion had been crying out for help, for someone to rescue him.

"You can cut the crap now, sweetheart. I'm not as easily spooked by a falling armoire as your dear old dad is..." Astarion grinned, a slight glint in his eyes as he spoke. "That little naive act of yours though... that's the real thing about you that's terrifying. And let me the first to say, it was quite something watching you put on that show. I'm not that easily impressed."

Tav looked completely lost at his words, and Astarion admired how good she was at keeping up the act. But he was tired of it now.

"So, what does it feel like to have me all to yourself now, hmm?" Astarion inquired, his voice turning sultry as he carelessly chucked the objects she'd handed him on the bed and took a step towards her. "Is it everything you dreamed of, precious? All couped up in here by yourself, day after day..." He stroked Tav's cheek with the back of his hand gently, and Astarion would have been lying to himself if he didn't recognize the warmth ghosting over his fingers from that brief touch.

"You-you misunderstand, I don't have you. I... I heard you calling-" Tav tried to explain, but it was difficult. Would Astarion have believed her if she told him who she truly was? All that mattered now was that he could leave, so why didn't he? She must have done something wrong. It was hard putting the right words together when Astarion was so close. Her mind was completely scrambled and her face felt like it was burning up.

Astarion smirked. Finally, he was getting somewhere with trying to understand what Tav wanted with him, and he'd been right. Watching her blood rise to her cheeks, however, almost made his mind go blank for a few seconds.

What on earth was he doing? Standing there trying to figure out the impossible woman in front of him, when he should have been getting out of dodge and putting as much ground between himself and Cazador as possible?

A faint voice inside him wondered what the consequences on Tav would be if he ended up going missing, and he hated himself right after for even having such a thought.

The way out was right in front of him, and he could still count on a few more hours of darkness to make his way underground.

All he had to do was turn and run.

---

AN: aaah thank you so much for the love! Comments are appreciated and keep me writing. I'm planning on adding more chapters soon!

[crooked-wasteland]

Stolen from @pinkandpurple360 anonymous ask.

"Blitz still has a long way to go with character development”

That's great. I can't wait to never see it.

This was an issue I tried working into my Fizzarolli Dissection but it kept feeling less about the character and more an overarching writing issue, so let's just take it here.

Every bit of character development in the series is inconsistent or entirely spontaneous. Stolas being in love with Blitz seemed like a slow burn until out of nowhere in Ozzie's he is so head over heels for Blitz in specific. Asking why Blitz only now is asking him out "after all this time", like he has been waiting on and expecting it despite that never being a thought towards their dynamic before. Going from being entirely obsessed with their sexual contract and seeing Blitz as a sex object to suddenly wanting cuddles on the couch with no strings attached?

That change was never shown in the series. It was never developed. There is no character growth, they merely are different to suit the new direction to the plot.

So again, I'm so glad Blitz has more character development to go through, can't wait for it all to be implied off screen like every other ounce of character we've been gaslight into believing has "grown".

If you never show it on screen, the dynamic, the relationship, the change, it never happened. Loona at the end of Queen Bee seems to get closer to Blitz but the next time we see her she's trying to assault him. We never saw any moment of change following the end of Queen Bee where we felt her character actually develop. Even after calling Blitz dad in the episode, she ignores him in favor of strangers at the party. She expressed clear disgust with Blitz before leaving with him, and her mild softening towards him at the end could just as easily be seen as nothing at all as it could be a character growth.

However growth requires reinforcement. If you never reinforce that moment meant something, it isn't growth, it's a cheap emotional scene to get a reaction from an audience. A short scene of Loona simply telling Blitz good morning to show some kind of change was all that was needed, but it was not as important to establish change in the characters as it was to have the most cringe scene in existence. Priorities.

One of the biggest issues with the series is how blatant the meta agenda of the writing is. They never allow the space to establish characters or change, instead citing these one off moments as “proof” of story when they do not amount to anything at all. There is unfortunately a distinct difference between a story and a scene, and it is painfully obvious by how Medrano and Nylan utilize these scenes that it is entirely for a superficial effect.

The relationship between Fizzarolli and Blitz similarly is extremely vapid and has no foundation to establish what their dynamic actually was growing up. Additionally, the two scenes of them being younger are fundamentally contradictory. Younger Fizz from The Circus is assertive and confrontational. He threatens to punch Blitz for being annoying and not playing the way he wants to play. He's bossy without necessarily being mean and not only knows he's popular, but also how to utilize it as manipulation, seen in how he draws attention to himself to spare Blitz the embarrassment of his failed joke. This Fizzarolli actually lines up also with the Fizz from Ozzie's. It's hard to claim that Ozzie's Fizz was "just an act" when as a literal child he has all the same traits

Then in the Special he is insecure, timid, has very little self esteem and is an anxious people pleaser with a mousy voice. There is nothing to establish this as the same person at all, and all the narrative context clues around his popularity does not support the direction of change this character has experienced. Fizzarolli has only gotten bigger between being what appears to be six years old and what I can only assume to be thirteen based on his cracking pubescent voice and gangly limbs. All we can go on is context clues and extrapolation, but arguing of a non-existent event that humbled Fizzarolli to this extent, while maintaining his stardom prior to ever meeting Mammon, is founded on nothing, when there is a much simpler answer.

His whole personality has taken a 180 turn for the sole purpose of the episode’s narrative. Fizzarolli being the pathetic whump he is in the episode is not founded anywhere else in the show, but we need that so people feel bad for him. There is no confidence in this writing. It shows that instead of believing the character is likeable as a whole for a complex personality, the only way anyone will like him is if he is just the softest jellybean in the bunch.

It is only this way because it suits the episode right here and now. And when his character changes, it isn't founded on any concrete narrative of growth and actions having consequences, but on what the writers need to get the audience to feel a certain way. So I say it again:

That's nice, I can't wait to never see it.

[bestworstcase]

option 1: tai’s guarding the crown of choice.

pros:

a legitimately important task that recontextualizes his ongoing decision to remain on patch as a personal sacrifice he makes for the greater good.

ozpin would pick the guy named for the god of light to be the gatekeeper of choice, huh.

if any parent in this story is meant to die, it’s him, and narratively this is the most intuitive way to do it.

cons:

realistically, what can tai do to prevent salem / cinder / summer from accessing the vault if they find it? if he’s the gatekeeper, staying on patch alone after everyone else evacuates achieves nothing except, ah, signaling to the enemy that the real vault is under signal academy. bad plan.

it means oz is breaking his promise to be honest and forthcoming, undermining his character growth for the sake of ‘surprising’ the audience with the most obvious answer.

means qrow has either been kept in the dark (see prev point) or he’s also deliberately hiding this information from his nieces after they asked him outright if he knew where tai is; this is so far afield for his character as to border on character assassination, and likewise undermines his positive growth since v7.

honestly makes both yang and ruby seem kind of stupid. they know the crown is hidden somewhere near beacon, that ozpin did something to protect it differently from the others, and that their father hasn’t left patch. ruby was sharp enough to guess that long memory might be a relic hidden in plain sight; yang is just as smart, and she knows tai had “some things” to look after on patch. are we expected to believe that “hey, is dad guarding the relic?” somehow hasn’t occurred to either of them?

tai harbors a whole lot of resentment toward ozpin, and based on qrow kicking him out of ruby’s bedroom to drip-feed her hints on where to go next, he seems to have been on the outer perimeter of the inner circle. why would oz entrust him with the relic’s safety?

glynda—ozpin’s scrupulously loyal second-in-command whose emblem is a crown and whose semblance puts her on par with a maiden—is a far more narratively plausible vault-guardian than tai, and the “sun dragon” makes a damn good red herring.

if he’s guarding the vault, he dies. sorry. but the point of putting the father of 2/4 protagonists in between the two main villains and the thing they want most (choice) is so they can kill him to get it, increasing tension and raising the emotional stakes of negotiating peace. to be clear, rwby is willing to Go There, but i think it’s an unsatisfactory way to close out the rose xiao long family arc.

option 2: survivors trapped under mountain glenn, and tai is taking point.

pros:

a genuinely important, worthwhile thing for him to be doing—even more so than guarding the crown. likely sets up a resolution for him in the vein of “you can be a good huntsman or a good father, and tai picked being a huntsman,” which is an elegant way to balance his contradictions.

gives him meaningful stuff to do in v10; for example, one stealthy huntsman with a bullhead could slip in and out of mountain glenn to get a few dozen people out at a time, and/or run supplies and messages between the kingdoms.

we get to see zwei back in action around mountain glenn :)

introduces a natural segue from playing defense in vacuo to mounting a counteroffensive against beacon as tai’s work clarifies the situation in vale.

easily the most 'heroic' direction for him without contorting the story to arbitrarily lionize tai: he’s a scout preparing the stage for the heroes to take the fight to salem, making him the good counterpart to watts.

cons:

makes no sense to keep it a secret. the emotional beats of B4 can still happen if the girls know this is what tai’s doing: instead of “do you… wonder why he’s not here? i know qrow said he’s on assignment, but what’s more important than here?” yang says “do you… wish he were here? with us? i know qrow said he’s looking for survivors, but how many of them can there really be by now? we need all the help we can get,” and ruby says “maybe we don’t have the full picture” as in maybe dad knows something we don’t and that’s why he hasn’t given up yet. the emotion is the same, and the big "they’re hiding in mountain glenn" reveal is hinted without spoiling.

leaves hanging the narrative thread of what tai has been doing since the fall of beacon, because the “some things” he was dealing with in v4 obviously wasn’t this.

option 3: tai is dead.

pros:

explains the apparent secrecy; qrow knows tai was away “on assignment” (i.e., had taken a huntsman contract that brought him out of the kingdom) at the time salem attacked vale, so he is missing but not yet presumed dead.

might reopen the mystery box of summer’s last mission through the real-deal “left on a mission and never came back” echo.

cons:

raven would know.

it’s a cheap, narratively unsatisfying twist that fails to deliver on the bread crumbs set up in v2-3 (tai starts going on missions again) and v4 (“some things”), and also undermines any serious emotional resolution with regard to yang and ruby’s complex relationships with tai.

option 4: summer’s working with salem, and tai is trying to convince her to come back.

pros:

“some things” being his presumed-dead wife who left him to join the enemy and with whom tai is now having an affair or otherwise hoping to coax back to the heroic side through the power of love whilst also keeping his mouth shut about her being a) still alive and b) a traitor is OBJECTIVELY the funniest answer.

brings forward and interrogates the way tai’s romantic grief informs the choices he makes as a parent: from hiding raven and then refusing to talk about her with yang, to shutting down when he lost summer and letting his five-year-old pick up the pieces, to discovering and then keeping summer’s secrets for the sake of some faint hope that she might finally come back to him.

cogent with the Dead (Absent) Mother / Neglectful Father / Evil Stepmother fairytale paradigm rwby deconstructs with raven, tai, and summer; the father chooses the stepmother over his children.

raises the emotional stakes of the war for summer through direct confrontation with the life she left behind, creating narrative opportunities to develop her character (is she still in love with tai? how does she feel about being his first priority, over their children? does she resent that he has her on this pedestal even now?) and apply pressure to her relationships with salem and cinder (do they know? is summer keeping her communication with him a secret, too? or is he an “asset” she’s using for salem’s benefit?).

consequently, raises the momentum of the narrative toward negotiation with salem; tai still has the coalition’s trust, however strained his personal relationships may be. summer is the obvious ambassador for salem’s side of the war, but she’s also the traitor who needs someone to vouch for her good intentions.

the secrecy needs no explanation: just as summer’s last mission was a summer secret, tai’s "assignment" is a taiyang secret and the girls know everything that oz and qrow do, because all of them have been left in the dark. raven might know, and she has the means to find if she doesn’t, but tai’s whereabouts are entangled with what raven knows about summer, so she can’t explain where tai is or why until she reveals her deep dark secrets about what happened between her and summer that night.

foreshadowing is solid: tai starts to go on "missions" again in v2, after the inner circle becomes aware that salem has infiltrated beacon and just before the breach downtown. when ruby visits summer’s grave in v3, she says "[dad] told me he’s going to be on some mission soon! i think he misses adventuring with you." he’s got to "look after some things" (but he isn’t talking about yang, because he stays home after she leaves). and then with B4 we have ruby echoing what the blacksmith taught her about summer in relation to tai, "maybe we don’t have the full picture?"

juicy

cons:

???

dependent on the unconfirmed theory that summer is working for salem as herself, not some unrecognizable enslaved monster, but i am as confident in that as i was about salem going to vale next and we all know how that turned out :)

taking their mom was not enough salem had to go for the full set APPARENTLY

option 5: secret fifth thing

pros:

???

cons:

???

[hoonsangel]

RED:CARD- 11:55 PM

wc: 2.0k

warnings: mental health, crying

Being left on read by Jay was expected, but finding Riki coddled up in the blankets of your bed was not. Yet there he was sound asleep in the solace you had been looking forward to after a sudden day out. It shouldn’t have surprised you, you both always shared everything even if you didn’t need to.

When you met you quickly learned Riki’s affection choice was quality time and gift giving. It's more that he wouldn’t let you forget, he would constantly give you small gifts in exchange for giving him information about the school or even just talking to him outside the f4 club room. You thought it was sweet the first couple of times until it happened so often that you became so concerned that you finally asked why he kept bringing seemingly random gifts.

“I don’t know, I just want to.” He told you as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, you assured him that he didn’t have to. All he did was shrug his shoulders, and walk away leaving you to watch his taller frame go. The conversation obviously did nothing as he continued on with his giving ways but it was something you learned to accept. As well as his constant want to be around his friends. Even if it was to sit in silence he’d rather it be with another person.

Wonyoung had dropped you off later than expected though you were jet lagged you didn’t feel it. in fact the time seemed to pass in a blur. Wony doing her best to make you forget your so-called best friend avoiding you like his life depended on it. She tried her best but the memory still lingered in your mind and disappointment would flash over your features, the overbearing thoughts being swept to the side by her stories and laughter at the rookie mistakes she had made while designing with her mentor. Catching up with each other had gone into the night letting you free from the events of the morning.

You enter the doors of the hotel trudging your tired body to the front desk. You pick up your room key from the way-to-cheerful-for-nearly-12-in-the-morning receptionist and head straight for the elevators. With your luggage dragging behind you, passing a few lingering guests each in their own bubble. Maybe they were like you, having too much on their mind to rest or simply wanted to get the full use of the amenities they paid so much for. Before you could ponder any longer a ding sounds from the elevator signaling its arrival. You’re met with the sight of Giselle…‘oh right she came’ you thought to yourself. A friendly tight-lipped smile is naturally placed on your face when you two make eye contact. “Y/N? ” she asks with a slight irk in her voice or at least that’s what it sounds like to you.

Truthfully you have nothing against her, She just always seemed to have a dislike for you since you transferred.

How you met was unconventional in a way. In your first week at Decelis Academy you had met her outside the boys’ “club room”—taking pictures with the door. You patiently waited for her to finish when she dropped her pose to stare at you. The sudden intense atmosphere and less than impressed expression plastered on her face showed she may have been annoyed by the impromptu audience “Did you need something?” the attitude evident in her tone “This is F4’s club room right?” The question was rhetorical it was obvious it was from the numerous confessions lining the corridor that led to the room. “Yes-” “Great, Jay made his directions confusing as hell. Should’ve asked Hee” you mumble stepping past Giselle to enter the club room.

Reaching for the handle you were instead met with Giselle’s uniform. Looking up to meet the eyes of the sudden intrusion “Um, did you need something-” you begin to ask “What makes you think you can just walk in there.” her lip quirked up in disgust. “I didn’t know I’d have to pass through security to see my friends,” you said. Letting out an awkward laugh in an effort to ease the tension. “ Friends? Aren’t you the new transfer? There’s no way you’re “friends” with the f4. making quotations in the air whenever she said the word friends. Honestly, it irked you a little bit but you let her continue on her rant. “They only talk to each other.” She stated matter of factly “Mmm and how exactly do you know that” quirking an eyebrow at her conclusive statement “i know everything about the f4” she declares proudly. “Not everything, clearly” a low voice sounded down the corridor.

Whipping your head toward the voice, you focus your eyes on the new addition to the conversation. “JAY!” you squeal as you jog into his awaiting arms, wrapping you in one of his bone-crushing hugs you hadn’t felt in so long. You finally separate, his arms still holding onto your waist—yours hung around his neck. His signature smirk settled on his face you could spot it no matter where you were “I knew you missed me.” his cockiness took over the sweet moment earning him a push to his chest and hearty laughter from the boy.

“You just had to ruin it” you respond, restraining the eye roll you want to do involuntarily.

“You’re the one who wanted to keep lying about it.” throwing his arm over your shoulder, you grab his hand automatically wrapping the other around his waist. He tugs you in bringing you closer to him as you walk back down the hall

“I would never give you that satisfaction.” You chip in glancing up at him with a scowl on your lips. His unoccupied hand takes your chin in it “Aww don’t get mad at me now princess” You push the pesky hand away.

“YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN”

“Doing what?” his eyebrows scrunch together and his lips come together in a pout, putting on an innocent façade. His favorite face to pull whenever you'd both get in trouble as kids.

“Calling me weird names!” you exclaim turning away from the piercing eye contact you had somehow accidentally started

“Princess?”

“What? Does it make you flustered? Hmm, princess?” he questions while his head bobs around trying to continue your impromptu staring contest

“Be serious Jongseong”

“Ooh, my government name I must be right then” a smug smile taking the place of his façade.

Before you know it you’re in front of a bewildered Giselle her arms crossed tightly over her chest avoiding eye contact with you both. ‘she might be embarrassed. It’s not like she knew…’ Jay doesn’t spare the girl a glance simply walking past her to the club room door. Giving her a reassuring smile to verify you wouldn’t take any of this to heart she reciprocates a half smile then with quick steps makes her escape. You didn’t realize you had been watching her departing figure until Jay taps you on your shoulder and ushers you inside the room.

That leads you to the awkward situation here today. You haven’t spoken to the girl much in the past 3 years you’ve gone to the school together even if you were in the same room. It was as if it was some unspoken rule. “Giselle! Riki told me you and Jay had planned this getaway” hope I didn’t intrude or anything. Niki invited me so I thought he got the clear from everyone…” you ramble on until Giselle cuts you off “No it’s honestly fine, Jay and Riki seemed a little tense in the car I guess I know why now” she remarks with a chuckle at the end. You shift uncomfortably at the information. She seems to notice as she quickly blurts out “Oh I’m not saying it's your fault of course. You know how guys can get they probably just had a petty disagreement” you would have believed her front if the slight twinge of excitement in her voice didn’t come through as she said it. You flinch at the unexpected tone. Rolling her shoulders back with a slight shrug “I guess Jay will tell me later, he always does” she mutters but loud enough for you to hear. A couple of months ago you would have scoffed at her words. But now you’re not even sure if you could.

The elevator doors had officially closed out your quickest escape plan. Your eyes start to wander around not exactly sure what to say to her any longer. Not really wanting to talk about your business with someone who is technically a stranger. The vibration of Giselle’s phone catches your attention, you let out a sigh of relief at the opening to take your leave. She reaches into the pockets of her cardigan, her eyes quickly scanning the screen

“Oh it’s Jay I’m gonna take this, don’t get lost Y/N the hotel is pretty big.” She points out as she walks toward the doors of the hotel to answer Jay’s call. You send her a slight wave and a tight-lipped smile in thanks for the information you never asked for— once again. She seems to have a habit of that. Telling people things they didn’t ask about.

Closing your eyes you take another deep breath in, and busy yourself with the elevator buttons before overthinking can get the best of you. You step inside, the black marble and gold accented designs make the short trip bearable giving you something else to focus on for a while. Before you know it you’re at your suite door. You fish around in your pocket for the keycard, quickly unlocking it to hopefully crash as soon as possible.

You look around the suite as the grand entrance welcomes you, leading to an open area housing the kitchen and living room, everything adorned in that same color scheme of the elevator, black and gold. Though it was dark and modern it still felt homey in its own way. It seemed like Riki didn’t put your room number to use as the hotel still looked like the pristine condition you expected it in before Riki asked. Dragging your suitcase behind you, you enter the bedroom and soon figure out why he asked for it. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers all over, a giant happy birthday sign hung from the ceiling. You chuckle to yourself thinking about his struggle of getting the sign up there. Yes, he was tall but the ceiling in here was too tall even for him.

He must have fallen asleep while waiting for you. The sound of ruffling sheets makes you turn around. You meet Riki’s droopy eyes still adjusting to the lighting of the room. “Shit Y/N, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Rubbing his face in his hands to wake himself up “Riki it’s really fine,” You say getting up from your seat on the bed “What time is it?” a stressed look overtakes his face and you can’t help but laugh lightly at the way he looks right now. Reminds you of a kid late for school with his hair splayed in different ways and evident drowsiness. “It’s 11:55” “Ok good close your eyes”

“I'm too young to die Riki.” That makes him quirk a smile. You didn’t know you missed it so much “ok ok hurry up,” he says, closing your eyes you wait patiently even when you hear suspicious noises. You finally open your eyes when you hear the tune of the happy birthday song come out in your friend’s voice. Cracking a smile you’re not sure you could put away if you tried. You quickly blow out the candles “Woah, woah, woah, why are you crying?” his hands are swiping away the fallen tears before he knows it. He chases your own wandering eyes with his,

“I’m sorry and thank you, Riki. Thank you so much.”

“Hey don't get all sentimental on me now” he says lightheartedly.

“You might hate me later if i guessed the wrong flavor for this cake”

“Never. Unless it's banana.”

☆author note: heyyyy yalllll...update!

previous | masterlist | next

pairing: f4!jay x rich!reader x rich!riki

synopsis: Returning to school after a “well-deserved” trip, you find a red card waiting for you in your locker setting your entire school against you. All from the one person you thought would always be on your side. Now stuck between two of your closest friends one who suddenly wants nothing to do with you and one who wants to be next to you through it all.

Taglist🔖(open): @sunovrse @prdxinvade

[sexy-n-stressed]

Deck the halls (Conner Kent X Male Reader one shot)

A/N: Hi everyone, so, this will be my first post on writing Tumblr, and a bit of a pivot for me. I have a history of writing fanfiction, but have decided to start writing one-shots (and smut….soon…) as I am terrible at committing to full-length stories. This is just a quick story, which I'm planning to follow up with in the next part. Also, it's Christmas for me today so yay fluffy Christmas?

Also, most if not all of my stories will be male readers, as I am a male and want to make stories for people like me who have struggled to find stories like this with male representation. That being said, all gender identities are allowed to interact with my stories, and I may accept female reader requests. So fire away!

Please send me story requests, and follow and comment so I know you're reading! Thank you!

Side note, in my version of things, Conner’s introduction happens like that of young justice but a fair bit later, meaning Dick Grayson is grown etc while Conner is still freshly….minted?

————————————————————

Christmas was a time of snow, cheesy movies and overplayed sellout Christmas albums. And, as Y/N would find out, boys. Specifically Conner Kent.

The holiday had started innocently, with the newest adopted son of Bruce Wayne being invited along to a combined lunch with the Kent family, which was also apparently the family of Superman. Being adopted into a wealthy socialite family was one thing, especially after bouncing around the foster system among families in the Narrows, Gotham's seedy underbelly. Being adopted into the Batfamily was something else entirely.

With the whole new host of Vigilante siblings and father, came an immense amount of pressure to live up to the moral standard they had set. Between attending Galas, etiquette training, crime fighting and fitting into a family of ‘misfit’ angsty superheroes, the chances of failure kept building and it was obvious that everything was doomed to come crashing down.

Lately, you had been missing training sessions, forgetting to show up for the rich socialite events Bruce was forced to attend, even the ones in your own home, which was more of a haunted house anyway.

It was obvious that Bruce was less than happy, disappointed even in your behaviour, though he wouldn't voice it. Having just been adopted into the family meant that everyone was still walking on eggshells around you, not paying you much mind when you both were and weren't present, only engaging in simple small talk. It wasn't necessarily their fault, you had made no real effort to reach out or connect. A side effect of an unstable home life you guessed.

Arriving at the Kent family farm was like a deep breath. There were no looming crystal chandeliers, no extravagant staircases or dining tables and absolutely no overbearing elitists. You felt free among the cutesy knick-knacks and homemade furniture.

“Welcome!” A warm voice beamed as the thick oak door creaked open, laced with a typical southern drawl one would expect around these parts. The voice belonged to Clark’s mother, or ma as she liked to be called. A southern thing you assumed.

As greetings and gifts between the two initially standoffish families took place, a firm hand was pointed in your direction. Quickly shaking it, you remembered to force eye contact with Clark, or, Mr.Kent as you would confusingly call both him and his father for the rest of the gathering, regardless of any request to “Please, call me Clark”

The sturdy man emitted a soothing warmth, both from his comforting personality and from the literal solar warmth the man contained, powering his God-like abilities. It may have been snowing, but the Kent’s felt like a warm sunburst in the backdrop of a picturesque photograph.

Clark made a comment about speaking to you more later in the evening, most likely welcoming you into the family and wider network of connections Bruce held, and swept away to greet his other guests while preparing the most likely gargantuan amount of food about to be consumed.

Eyes sweeping the room, you looked for somebody to strike up a conversation with, both to follow the etiquette training rules of sociability and to escape an awkward, overbearing conversation with the more intense few present, such as Ma Kent. While you held absolutely nothing against the woman, her booming laugh and exaggerated body movements made you almost queasy with nerves.

You weren't waiting long though, as the boy you guessed to be Conner Kent, who you had been told not to ask about his relation to the Kents for some reason, dropped a cartoonishly large crate of apples behind you, with the stragglers rolling off into every direction.

Dropping to the floor, you began helping the boy gather the fallen produce, heaving armfuls of the crisp red apples back into the crate.

He seemed mad, muttering words you assumed to be swears under his breath as he practically threw the apples back into the crate, bruising them.

“At least it wasn’t eggs?” You awkwardly interjected. He stared at you silently, for what felt like an hour, before lightly chuckling.

“What?” The boy stared blankly at you, seemingly not understanding the joke.

“Well because if it was eggs then they would… break, y’know?”

“Oh!” He burst into laughter at the explanation, somehow enjoying the joke.

Still laughing, he stood up, brushing off his knees before extending a hand towards you. “I'm, uh, Conner..”

He subtly cringed as he spoke, stopping himself from saying the word Kent. You understood that all too well, not feeling right calling yourself a Wayne.

“I'm Y/N…” Your avoidance of the word Wayne seemed to strike a cord within him, and the two of you felt instantly closer. Shaking hands with Conner was like playing a thumb war with a gorilla. He seemed to force himself to subdue the intense Kryptonian strength he possessed.

“Thank you for your help” Conner spoke, standing uncomfortably in a way that suggested he was unfamiliar with social interaction. You, on the other hand, were just uncomfortable with it.

“You’re welcome.” came the awkward reply. “Need a hand with that?” gesturing towards the large apple crate. Did you seriously just ask a Kryptonian if they needed help lifting something? You were already blowing this lunch.

“Why would I need a hand? I have two” Conner confusedly responded, looking down at his hands to confirm he did, in fact, have both.

“No, like, help lifting that.” You once again pointed to the apple crate.

“Oh,” He sounded dejected, clearly upset with himself for misinterpreting that.

“No, no it's my fault. That didn't make any sense” you quickly spoke, moving towards Conner and beginning to lift the crate, to which he effortlessly heaved it into the air. You would feel embarrassed if the endearing tensing of his back and arm muscles wasn't completely distracting you.

The two of you walked the crate to the kitchen, as Ma gleefully rubbed her hands together while mumbling about making apple pie better than someone named Dolores ever could. The murderous glint in her eye told you she was not playing about her apple pie.

“Ma really likes her apple pie” Conner explained as you exited the kitchen. He stopped, before turning to you with an excited look.

“Would you like to see my room?”

A/N: Y/N may have W rizz. Also, the formatting of Tumblr is new to me, so if there is anything annoying with how this is laid out, let me know! Pease send Requests too! I'm excited to see what comes in!

[ungrateful-cyborg-moved]

Enough time has passed that I can share my opinion about Dawntrail now. It's a potentially unpopular point of view at times so uh... beware? Idk, people have very strong feelings about stuff sometimes xD

At the very least, beware of spoilers.

Overall I liked the story. Liked it a lot more that Endwalker despite a few things that bothered me. The first half is the most solid to me, because the second half has too much incoherent stuff going on for my taste.

But first thing first. I'm really happy with how well they made us care for all those new people and this giant country. Once or twice, I wished they wouldn't insist on how diverse it is I must say, because while it's nice as a marketing point, it gets old after a while. I have eyes and ears, after all. I can see that for myself.

Wuk Lamat left me cold when we first met her. I was a bit worried about accompanying her at first because she's a character archetype I don't like that much, but she quickly grew on me through the expansion, and I love her now. I do think, however, that the voice acting didn't always match the energy of the scenes (in English. According to friends who use the French dub, it's not an issue in French). Since it also happened once or twice with Koana, I'm gonna assume it's due to how they were directed, but it took me out of the story on occasions.

I really really wish they'd stop with the world threatening shit though. They did it for Endwalker. Fine. Logic even, it was the end of a 10 years old story. Then they did it again with the patches, when really saving the dragon should have been motivation enough. Then they had to do it once more in the second half of Dawntrail, this time threatening the Source AND the reflections. Frankly, it feels cheap and unimaginative, I'm a bit disappointed and worried about what comes in future expansions if they can't find other reasons for us to fight. For a game that keeps insisting that doing the right thing is what matters, they certainly don't like making it our main reason to fight.

The Mamool Ja story bothers me. They survived for centuries on eating bananas apparently and there's no sign of deficiencies so clearly they're adapted to their environment? And if not, nothing stopped them from cutting down trees to make space for the sun? Idk the fact that they spent centuries down there but need a foreigner to teach them how to live well rubs me wrong.

Solution 9 looks dope, though. Loved meeting Otis and Gulool Ja. For Sphene, I understand why they kept Wuk Lamat as the focus, but it felt like a missed occasion to teach her that wanting the happiness of her people and actually bringing it are two different things. Instead, it felt like listening to a teenager telling you that fixing the world is easy when they have no idea what's even wrong with it. In character, perhaps, but frustrating when you have so much more practical experience.

Not to mention that Sphene's issues with the weight of expectations echoe nicely with the weight of the WoL's mantle, and we didn't even get to pipe in to try to connect with her. Or with Zoraal Ja, for that matter.

The twins were entirely unnecessary. Them joining us felt forced and nothing in the expansion made me change my mind. They have nothing to do here except stealing potential lines from the WoL to say out loud the most obvious thing like it's deep. I love them both, but they should have stayed in Garlemald. It's not like the Garleans give a fuck about how the rest of the world deal with their shit anyway, and they visited enough places already. Tural gave them nothing they weren't already aware of.

Erenville got many hugs from my WoL, idc that the MSQ won't make it canon.

I'm still indifferent to Krile, but the Scions didn't grow on me before ShB so I'm giving her time. Still, I would've liked it better if instead of the twins, we'd had her and G'raha with us instead. You know, the guy with actual ruling experience of people from diverse backgrounds.

Slightly disappointed we didn't get to fight Thancred and Urianger tbh. That would have been fun XD

The whole time shenanigans hurt my brain in the second part. Like, if 30 years passed in just a few days for us then they shouldn't have had time to prepare Tuliyollal's defense. The dragons intervening was cool but there were better ways to make it happen without mysteriously forgetting that time flows differently inside the dome. Unless I missed something to explain why very conveniently it aligns now?

I liked the last zone. Gpose bait lmao I found it sadder that Ultima Thule tbh. Though, uh... we were in a hurry. Now wasn't the time to talk to every dead people we met.

Also I don't think it'll happen since he seems to have joined the guards, but I want Bakool Ja Ja to travel with us and Erenville for a while xD

Overall, I really liked it don't get me wrong. Aside from Thancred and Urianger, I don't think any Scion was truly useful however (not even Krile). This was my main problem with the time stuff, but I suppose they're not ready to let them go just yet.

And the graphical update makes me want to travel through all the areas and take screenshots until my hard drive can't take it anymore x)

[soobadnoonecanstopher]

Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 12.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M (Mature Content)

Word Count: 7.7K

Warnings: A romance between two adults with an unspecified age difference between them, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Tag list: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Links: Part 1, …. Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

The announcement of Baekhyun’s departure to your team caused more stir than you had expected.

You’d anticipated a few disappointed groans, maybe some questions about the reason for the sudden change; even though there had never been any misconceptions that he was a permanent fixture on this team. But what actually happened was quite a bit of pushback from several members who said Baekhyun’s contributions had helped them greatly with the everyday. Either through his communication style, his sense of humor that usually made the office mood light and fun, with his organization, or his sense of leadership. You’d known that your own heart and soul had benefited greatly from having him on your side, but you hadn’t quite realized the impact he had on the rest of the team too.

The ladies seemed to take it particularly hard and you found your eyes pulled to him as he smiled his sweet smile in their direction, even frowning at a few in solidarity that he had to be pulled away from them all so suddenly. One younger member of your team who sat in the far back of the room abruptly rushed out of the room in tears, coming back after a few moments with a flushed face and hand full of tissues.

“What the hell was that about?” You whispered to him through tightly gritted teeth.

“I’ve never seen that girl in my entire life,” he whispered back through his wide toothy smile.

You tried your best to mitigate the negativity that had seemed to take over and when you announced that there would be a new replacement to take his place right away they only groaned louder. It was only after you agreed to throw a going away party after his final day did they finally settle down; placated by the thought of good food and alcohol on the company’s dime.

The commotion in the office settled and as you carried on with your day a new commotion seemed to be brewing inside of you the more you paid attention to your soon-to-be-Ex assistant. He went about his usual day-to-day duties only this time with a certain flair of finality to them. He was performing things with just a little bit more care and thoroughness, being sure to make plenty of notes in some book he kept. You began to feel an ache somewhere inside the more you watched him. He was so glaring with it too; as he carefully organized and stacked things with brand new super obvious labels he’d made that left no doubt at all about what was what and where things were. He also was speaking out loud as he did it, making sure you were paying attention so that when he was gone you could still find the things you needed.

While you found the entire thing extremely sweet of him to go through such great lengths for you, you also could not shake that melancholy lump that had settled deep inside of your chest.

How would you manage without him?

You knew, of course, the rational part of your brain knew that you were being very dramatic right now, and you would, of course, manage just fine, but still… how?

“I think I’ve made a mistake,” you said, to your own horror out loud. The words pushed their way out of your lips before you could stop them and Baekhyun looked up from where he had been digging inside of a file box across the office. His eyebrows lifted in silent question and you quickly closed your mouth back up and shook your head, as if you saying something like that to him without elaborating was anything you could shake your head about and have him actually ignore you.

“What mistake?” You’d already looked back at your computer screen to the conversation you were having with Advertising Manager Park who was basically frothing at the mouth at the idea of having The Byun Baekhyun, of the esteemed family Byun, whose fame and fortune preceded them all, working alongside one of their very own Senior Advertising executives. It wasn’t an assistant role. It wasn’t even working beside Chet as you had so threatened him with. It was something he would possibly even struggle with at first, but of course he would learn and he would adapt and then they had better watch out because he was going to outshine them all, you were sure of it.

“It’s nothing,” you said lamely and you rolled your eyes at how very silly you were acting after having been the very one to decide on this change.

“Noona, what mistake? What happened?” He repeated and he had left the open box behind as he made his way to stand behind your desk. He was looking curiously at your computer screen, clearly trying to decipher your cryptic words on his own since you weren’t offering up any clues.

His warm hand landed over your mouse hand and he bent at the waist to look at your computer as he moved your hand to move your mouse. You watched the side profile of his pretty face. His skin was clear and his lips were pink and pouty. You felt his fingertips land just between your own and he was clicking around your screen, quickly mouthing along as he was reading messages you had sent about his wonderful work ethic, sharp responsive wit, and charming social skills. You’d really sold it and his middle finger clicked against the scroll wheel a few times before he came up blank and turned his attention back to your face, lightly touching into your eyes with his dark brown questioning ones.

“I mean you,” you said with a small frown pulling at your lips. “What will I do without you here?”

His lips pushed down into a small frown and he blinked his brown eyes slowly at you. You knew that you had decided this for the both of you; without even asking him for alternative ideas first. Now the wheels were in motion on a steep hill and there was no way to stop it. He was leaving and it was your own damn fault.

“You’ll be fine,” he said softly. His thumb brushed comforting strokes over the back of your hand and his eyes traveled over your face before bouncing back into your eyes for the briefest moments and then he was very quickly looking away from your pouting face. He inhaled a breath and straightened out his spine, standing up and taking the close-up view of his pretty face with him. It only served to deepen the frown.

“Sunny will be good. You can trust me on this. I’ll always take care of you. Even from another department.”

“But she’s not you. No matter how good she is, she’s not my Assistant Byun.” You knew you were acting childish. Having laid down for just two minutes on the bed you’d made yourself and all of a sudden you had something to say about the quality of the sheets.

“You big baby,” he said under his breath with a little shake of his head. He’d already moved back to the big box he had been digging through and he left you to it; whatever this mood you’d brought on yourself was. You knew he didn’t feel any better about this but he seemed to have processed his disappointment already and had moved on to busying himself with the preparations for what was to come.

The afternoon progressed in much of the same manner. Your mood was shot and watching him buzz around you as busy as he was getting ready for the changes to come only made you feel it more.

When quitting time arrived you swallowed away the disappointment as best as you could, said a fond farewell to him, and watched him walk out the door of your office; one day closer to the last time you’d see him at work.

Your feet were dragging and you felt exhausted from the day as you made your way downstairs, through the large lobby beyond the security turnstiles and you’d made it halfway down the sidewalk walking in the direction of your bus stop when a sound pulled your attention from the street. There was a quick horn that beeped, and a flash of lights.

You knew him in an instant. His car wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. You’d stopped your steps when you heard the horn but a glance around you for witnesses kept you from immediately going up to the car.

There were a few odd stragglers still emerging from the building and you pointed with a finger around the corner just a little further from the entrance. You couldn’t see in due to the dark tint of his windows but you trusted he would be paying attention enough to catch your meaning.

You were walking now, headed in the opposite direction of your bus stop you quickly crossed a small street and as you walked you could hear the low rumble of that big engine as the car followed where you traveled. When you were satisfied with the distance you made your way for the passenger door, hearing the click as the locks disengaged the moment you put your hand on the door handle. You pulled that door open and you slipped inside.

You hadn’t expected this. You had fully intended to take the bus home and sit and stew in your crappy mood alone with maybe a pint of ice cream and some trashy romance playing on your tv.

Baekhyun didn’t immediately speak to you when you sat down in his passenger seat. All you got was a sweet smile before he pulled out into traffic, driving off toward who-knows-where. He was headed in the opposite direction of your apartment and your knowledge of the geography of this town told you that he wasn’t making a big ol loop to turn back around. Instead he seemed to be merging onto a freeway.

Your bad mood had vanished with that first smile he had given you and now that he was no longer looking at you, you leaned your head against the comfy headrest and watched his side profile as he drove. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips and he swallowed in a way that made his throat bounce up and down. His arm extended out with his left hand rested light on the top of the steering wheel and his eyes settled ahead as he watched the traffic ahead of him.

Somehow, you not knowing where he was taking you didn’t bug you at all. You simply settled into the seat with your shoulders angled just enough so you could watch him as he drove. It was amazing; how easily your mood had turned around. He could take you anywhere he wanted as long as you could look at his pretty face as he did it.

A change in the momentum of the car brought you out of the quiet trance. He had taken an exit, slowed the car, turned two or three times down some winding roads that weaved in between buildings and he drove down unfamiliar streets, all the while he kept his eyes carefully focused on the road until you could feel the itch of curiosity building inside of you.

The neighborhood felt old. His fancy car definitely looked out of place here and you noticed the occasional glance as very normal and regular people caught a glimpse of it from their busy street corners and tables set up outside of convenience stores.

He was signaling though and he then he was turning and when he pulled into a plain looking parking spot in front of what looked like a hole in the wall place whose signage boasted the simple kind of comfort food that you might expect to find on your grandmother’s table you followed his lead and unbuckled your seatbelt with wide eyes and that curious itch clawing against the backs of your teeth.

“We’re here,” he whispered cryptically with a disarming smile and a lift of his eyebrows.

“We are where?” You began to wonder if you had missed something. Had he actually told you what his plans were and you had been too distracted to listen to him? Baekhyun had the kind of voice that you could point out clearly in nearly any noisy room. Something about the sound of it made it nearly impossible for you to ignore even if you wanted to. There was no way you had missed him offering you an explanation for this.

His lips pulled wider.

“Let’s eat,” he said and you pushed at your door to step out onto the worn out pavement of this parking lot. There were some holes and some puddles from a recent rain shower that afternoon and you watched your step as you made your way around the front of his car where he stood and waited with his hand outstretched for you to join him.

The door had a bell on it that rang out noisily as the metal hit against the glass and you heard the sound of an old woman’s voice call out a greeting. The place was empty and it was tiny, with only three tables with four chairs each. You could smell something delicious coming from the kitchen and knowing what you knew about Baekhyun and his excellent judgment in all things, you were certain that you were in for something delicious..

“Welcome. Come in. Sit anywhere you—” Her standard greeting was interrupted as she peeked her head around a corner that separated the tiny dining area from the kitchen.

The woman burst around the corner, “Ahh! Baekhyun-ie, my baby boy! Come here!” She was closing in on him fast and the giggles that came from his chest as the old woman pulled him in tight for a full-body hug had you genuinely wondering who this woman was in his life to warrant such an enthusiastic and warm greeting.

When she released him from the tight embrace, she wasn’t done. You heard him say something that sounded a little bit like ‘Halmi,’ but it was mumbled from very deep down inside of her arms.

“It’s been too long. It’s been so long. Where have you been that you stayed away for so long?” Her hands lightly swatted over his shoulders with the little complaints she had. The affection between the two was obvious. She gripped both sides of his face tightly with her worn, wrinkly hands and it took only a few moments of her glistening eyes taking him in for the awareness of your presence beside him to suddenly dawn on her.

She looked at your face for the briefest moment before her wide eyes were back on him; looking into his face expectantly with everything about her body language relaying her unspoken questions.

Her eyebrows raised, her lips pushed into an O shape, and her mouth asked a silent ‘Who?’ She asked this of Baekhyun.

“Halmi—” the name he called her again although it felt like a term of endearment more than a familial relationship, “Mimi,” He’d taken the sweet nickname and made it even cuter before he continued, “this is my girlfriend.” His palm was up and extended in front of you as he said your first name with as wide a smile as you had seen on his face.

When his palm moved, the other joined in and he gestured toward the woman as he spoke quietly to you now, “This is Mimi. My nanny. She raised me since I was a baby — my whole life.”

As soon as the words were out, she was fussing. She gasped noisily with her eyes wide and her hands went to cover over her mouth. Just as quickly as she did that, she was reaching her hands out in your direction; reaching for your arms. Her hands traveled down to grasp tightly over both of your hands and she was smiling a wide grin in your direction. She was moving all over the place, trembling with genuine excitement before you. The happiness you felt radiating from her was contagious and you felt your own wide smile responding in kind.

“Oh my!” She gave you a wondrous smile. “Would you look at that?” She looked into your face with a curious expression of awe painted across her features. You didn’t really know how to respond to this. You’d never been received by a stranger with such enthusiasm before and you looked into Baekhyun’s smiling face with what you were sure was confusion and many questions, although hopefully, very well-hidden ones.

“You can call me Mimi too — silly boy, I’m not his grandmother but he’s called me that since he was a baby,” she said as she shook your hands up and down inside of her own. Her admission made you laugh, reminding you of how stubborn he was about calling you Noona when you had first met him. She had taken a step into you.

“Oh,” she lifted a hand up to touch over the side of your face and she looked deep inside of your eyes as she did it. She looked at you for what felt like ages and you could find nothing else to do but look back at the old woman. After a few breaths she was nodding her head as if she had understood something profound with that simple look into your eyes and that gentle touch upon your face.

You weren’t sure how one look could have done it, but you felt it in an instant. With this one introduction you had a complete and unfaltering understanding of how Baekhyun could be such a sweet and gentle human being who was kind and sensitive and so very beautiful on the inside.

It had been her.

She was why.

Everything about his unimaginable wealth and privilege should have had some sort of a detrimental effect on him, and try as hard as you could, you couldn’t quite understand how he was still so down to earth, so genuine, and how he felt so real. People with the kind of privilege that he had didn’t just turn out completely unaffected by it and yet Baekhyun had surprised you again and again with just how very good he seemed to be deep down inside.

With this meeting, you understood at once.

This woman had raised Baekhyun, her sweet and precious baby boy, with so much love. She had loved him completely and with her whole being and all at once you felt overwhelmed by it. You felt grateful to her and you felt awestruck in her presence. That overwhelming feeling, it rose up inside of your esophagus and you had to swallow it back down; sniffing through your nose as your breathing grew just a little bit constricted. You blinked your eyes rapidly to rein in the unexpected rise in emotions. If either of them noticed how suddenly affected you felt by this meeting, they didn't react.

She moved so quickly with it all. She was as intense as he was. You recognized an uncanny likeness between the two of them with the size of their giant personalities.

She was obviously very old and yet so full of energy. She was well in motion now. The shocked gasps from her lips quickly turned into more complaining as her hand rose up to lightly touch at the hair on her head and she let go of your hands to lightly smack Baekhyun on his arm, pulling a rough laugh from his chest. “Why didn’t you warn me? I look like this. She’s so pretty.”

“Where did you find such a pretty girl? She doesn't know how annoying you can be yet, does she?” The woman’s frantic fussing was winding down and turning into playful teasing. Baekhyun was still laughing as she seemed to be talking to herself while also steering him further inside the room with her hands on him, “Oh, well she’s going to find out soon enough. How did you trick her into it? A girlfriend! I can’t believe it.”

“How many years has it been? I told you to find a girl to love enough to bring her to me and now you’ve done it, my baby boy. Now I can go in peace. You have someone to love. My heart can rest.”

The significance of Baekhyun having brought you here today hit you harder and harder the more you listened to her talk. Just as he hadn’t warned her, he also didn’t say a thing to you about this. That same overwhelming feeling in your chest pulsed hot and it spread just under your skin, up your neck and face; making your eyes burn. You blinked again, willing yourself to breathe in and out slowly in some attempt to keep your emotions in check. Although if he had warned you about meeting the woman who raised him, you might not have so blindly climbed inside his car and let him take you wherever he wanted to take you without even so much as a question.

She didn’t care about your age. Or how much money your family had or your salary right now. She didn’t care about your position at work, the price tag of the designer bags you’d splurged on, or about how small of a dress size you could fit into.

She only cared that Baekhyun loved you and that was enough for her. You liked to imagine that one day that would also be enough for you.

She was steering him through the small room, hands gesturing to one of the tables, clearly instructing you both to sit down. You could feel in your bones that some food was about to come out. It was going to come out whether you asked for it or not and there was going to be a lot of it. This was a doting mother feeding her hungry child.

“Sit, sit. You’ll both be very hungry. I’ll bring out the food.” It didn’t sound like a survey of your hunger levels so much as it was a clear command, said with such authority that you quickly pulled out a chair and sat your butt down on it.

You were right about the food. There was too much of it and it was the kind of home-made comfort food that only came from someone who had been feeding someone that they loved for a lifetime. The rice, the stews, the dishes on the side, every single thing that touched your tongue felt familiar right down into your soul. You ate until you felt ready to burst and there was still so much of it left on the table.

You couldn't remember the last time you had such a comforting meal. Despite this not being your home and not being your family, everything about the experience felt like coming back home after having been away for much too long.

Even her nagging felt so comfortable. It all came from a place of love. She nagged him about visiting her more often and you quickly found yourself promising to come back again with him, even telling her that you would be sure to remind him when he had been away for too long. Strangely, you meant it too and his eyes watched you with such a fondness that you had to look away from the man just to keep your wits about you.

When the tables turned and it was Baekhyun’s turn to nag and scold his Mimi for continuing to work tirelessly, for not retiring on the money he had always deposited into her account, she was quick with a dismissive hand wave, saying that life wasn’t for her and if she stopped working she would drop dead and she had to see him get married before she left this Earth. You didn’t miss the small wink she shot at you behind his back when she said it and the entire exchange had your cheeks burning and you choked and coughed on the small glass of water you had been sipping on.

Baekhyun was stubborn and once he got started on a cause, he wouldn't quit. He insisted too much on her taking a vacation, or living the life of luxury he had clearly provided for her and she told him she would think about it as she reminded him of the time, explaining that she had to close up the shop and get to bed. It didn’t seem that late in the evening but he eventually gave up the fight anyway.

You were both promptly expelled and given several containers filled with food with well wishes from all sides and promises to see each other again soon.

Once everything was securely fastened inside the car and you were both seated well inside the car with the doors closing out the noise and the chaos from that visit, there was a moment before he started the engine when you both just sat in a kind of shell-shocked silence.

“Mimi might be the sweetest lady I’ve ever met in my life,” you said in a whisper and you heard a small chuckle escape from his chest.

“Well, she liked you,” he said as if that fact held some sort of reasoning for why you found her to be so lovely.

He reached forward and pressed the button that made his car engine roar to life, “don't let the sweet old lady act fool you. She can be downright nasty if she doesn't like someone. But you…of course she would like you. I knew she would like you.”

“How did you know?”

“Because I love you.”

He said it so casually as if anyone in the world could see it as plain as day as he reversed the car and headed off into a direction you could not give a name to even if you tried. You didn’t recognize any of these neighborhoods or street names.

“What are we going to do with all of this food? She always gives me so much,” He said with a glance in his rear view mirror, “I think I need to go home so I can put it away.”

His home — Baekhyun’s home.

You hadn’t been to his home yet. The opportunity simply had not presented itself with this relationship being just so very brand new.

“You don't have any reason why you need to be home in a hurry do you? We aren’t very far from my place.”

Not only had you not planned on this outing with him, you hadn’t actually made any plans for your evening at all. Maybe just something relaxing. Then maybe something soft and comfortable. It was all a vague and distant hypothetical that clearly didn’t have anywhere near the magnetism that spending a few more hours with this man had.

“Aside from a warm bath and a comfy bed, I hadn’t planned much for my evening at all.”

“I have a bath tub,” he said nearly under his breath and an amused giggle escaped from your lips.

“Ahh, and I bet your bed is very comfortable too,” you teased him playfully at first, but halfway through the sentence the back of your brain buzzed a noisy alert.

Making silly jokes about his bed as he was pulling his fancy car into the first level of a parking garage in one of the most exclusive parts of town on the very same day you and he had made a promise of abstinence was definitely on some unexplored list of No-Nos.

He parked and turned the engine off. The silence and stillness in this car was all at once overwhelming and Baekhyun had leaned forward with his arms folded over the steering wheel, resting his head on them as he turned to look at you from the driver’s seat. He hadn’t replied at all to your silly comment about his bed and the longer he stared at you quietly the more stifling the air inside this darkened car became.

Outside of the car, the garage was lit, but only just. Not enough for any fine definition to be visible in his features and the dark tint on these windows blocked out nearly everything else. You could still see enough of his face to know that he was still looking at you. You knew so much about the beauty of this man’s face to know exactly what had been building inside this closed up car the second he had turned that engine off. The silence magnified the sound of him. You could also hear his steady breathing and after a moment you heard a click as he reached a hand down and unfastened his seatbelt.

The next bits of motion from him were a dreamy haze. You felt him move closer to you. He was leaning over the center console into your space in this car and you heard the click of your own seat belt at the same moment that you felt his hand brush against your hip.

You smelled him moments before you felt the warm air from his mouth and you closed your eyes when you felt his soft lips press over yours. His lips parted and your own wandering fingertips reached up to touch the soft skin of his face. With your fingertips on him, every movement of his jaw as he opened his mouth felt that much more pronounced. Every tilt of his head and every gasp of breath from his lungs you felt them all magnified under your fingertips. His tongue was soft and wet against your own and the greedy drag he took from your lungs gave you no chance to recover from his needy mouth that only wanted more. When he pulled back he sucked your bottom lip deep into his mouth, the desire that flooded your veins had your fingertips constricting; wrapping around the nape of his neck; threading fingers into his hair — an unrestricted and unwavering desire filled your senses making you second guess your sanity when you proposed something as silly as a week without giving in to what both of you wanted from each other.

It was Baekhyun that pulled away from you first; with both of his hands cradling your face, you lost his lips first and with a huff and heavy breaths coming from your own lungs, he held you firmly in place with his forehead leaned up against yours as he begged his lungs to calm his breathing down.

When he finally spoke it was after you’d managed to pull your hands off of the smooth warmth of his skin and some bits of your sanity were beginning to return to your conscious mind.

“This much is okay, right?” His dark pupils were clearly visible from up close and they peppered over your face, touching lightly into your own eyes before the focus was lost and he leaned into you again, pressing his mouth over your parted lips again and all of the progress you had made in your recovery was gone.

“I want you,” he groaned into your open mouth, “you taste so sweet.”

He was insane.

It was not okay.

No. Baekhyun. This much wasn’t okay. You felt on fire.

You were not handling it very well, and when you threaded your fingertips in his hair behind his head you tightened the grip you had on his hair. Briefly and only for a moment, you felt just too overcome. You had lost his lips again. He had pulled away from you again, but you were much too overcome. Briefly and only for the scant few seconds it took for your lips to open up over the smooth warm skin of his neck and just below his ear you knew the perfect spot where this man had oftentimes driven you beyond the brink with his teeth. When you had simply lost your damn mind, and you let your teeth sink into the sensitive skin there, you were instantly rewarded with the sweetest and most addictive sound from deep within his body. It was a whimper. It was a moan. It was cursing and his hands were grabbing hold of your wandering hands roughly as he pushed, and held and forced your hands down and off of his body completely.

“Nope. It’s not okay. It’s too much. Fuck — fuck.” He was loud. A light flooded the cabin and you squinted against the sudden brightness, hearing the sound of his car door opening and he was gone in an instant. The change was so abrupt it brought you back into your mind. It only took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the increase in lighting and you could see him standing up in the space between his car and the open door.

You had gone overboard. You knew it then, he had a sensitive neck and with the current restrictions in your relationship, you should have just behaved yourself.

His hand motioned in your direction as he opened his fingers, closed them again and shook his hand out. He wasn’t speaking anymore, but you could taste much of the same frustration he was feeling on the back of your tongue.

“Should I just quit?” You heard him ask. “I should just quit. Right now. And then it doesn't matter what we do.” There was a tinge of hopeless humor in his voice. He was coming down from it and was trying to distract himself with sarcasm and jokes.

“You can't quit,” you answered the question he wasn’t actually asking you.

“Why can't I? I’m an adult.”

“Because I need you.” Your lips had pulled into a small pout when you spoke again, “I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

He had bent at the waist and his head appeared in the open space. He was looking at you with a curious expression.

“Let’s just try and make it through the week,” you said with as much of an apology in your voice as you could manage, “I’m sorry I bit you. I’ll behave myself, I promise.” You lifted a pinky finger in his direction and waved it but he didn’t move.

This had been your own idea. Your solution to the work issue that you knew would cause these kinds of challenges for you both, and you had been the first one to take it too far. The frown on your face was genuine. You were actually feeling just a little bad for losing yourself so easily with him.

He quietly stared at you and his lips hung as the tip of his tongue darted out to run over his front teeth before he bit down on his bottom lip and closed up his mouth.

“We should take the food inside,” he seemed to have regained his composure with the distance he put between your mouth and his neck and you nodded with what you hoped was a believably innocent of a smile on your face as you got out of the car, made your way around the front end to stand beside him with your arms outstretched, ready to help carry the load of Mimi’s food.

“So…” he began as he passed bundles of carefully tied containers into your waiting hands, “you’re going to be on your best behavior now?”

His tone sounded funny. Almost much too flirtatious for your shaky and new found self control to handle. You looked up into his face, noticing on the smirk you caught for just a split second.

He was walking now and you trailed behind him as you both reached an elevator. The journey felt like a maze. There were doors after doors all with locks that disengaged with something he kept in his pocket and all the while you hadn’t caught any glimpse of another soul. You’d expected to see others coming home from work perhaps or venturing out for dinner. You had noticed that the elevator down in the garage had next to nothing printed on it as elevators usually did and something about it looked extremely closed off, almost private.

“Where are your neighbors? Why is this place so empty?” It was honestly overwhelming just how different this felt from when you took the bus and got home from work.

He had reached another door and had pulled it open.

“I imagine they’re at their own homes. This is my home.” He said it with a shrug and your eyes widened.

“Yeah but the elevator, the other cars in the garage.” His eyes wandered and his feet kept moving as the space suddenly opened up into an enormous space that was very obviously an entryway to a grand home.

“Sorry,” he shook his head lightly and winced, “my cars in my garage. My elevator.”

Your eyes were wide with the shock of it. When you had first sat inside his car and you had been thrown off by the scale of this man but this felt like a completely different story. You clearly had no idea. This man was so out of the ordinary that you suddenly had no idea how to proceed with this new knowledge.

“For the record, I didn’t — ask for this estate. I didn’t pick it. I think it’s too big, too cold, too fucking empty. I kind of hate it most of the time.”

On his walls were what you were certain had to be priceless art works and you both passed a room that seemed to be entirely dedicated to showcasing some giant statue of a naked lady that stood illuminated in the very center of the otherwise empty room. The place felt like a museum. How did he even find his way around?

“I spend most of my time in my bedroom.” He said.

You’d taken some stairs down, not enough to be a full story but you both turned a corner and reached a kitchen with an enormous center island, more drawers and space that you could even think to be able to fill with stuff and he pressed a hand over one of the walls. To your surprise it opened. It was an enormous fridge.

He’d put the food away. You had yet to comment on any of the things you saw and all of this walking had made you dizzy. Baekhyun had turned away from the fridge wall and had grabbed both of your hands as he swung them lightly and dipped his face to catch your flighty eyes.

“Baby, why aren’t you saying anything?” He was smiling at you but there was some concern in his eyes as he did it. “Do you hate it here? Should I move? I’ll move if you hate it. I don’t like being so far away from you anyway.”

You could see the anxiety in his body language and his rambling told you that maybe part of the reason why you hadn’t had the opportunity to visit Baekhyun inside his home yet was because the man was apprehensive of showing all of this to you.

“I’m just…very surprised. It’s a lot, Baek.” You opted for honesty. It wasn’t that you hated it. You just suddenly felt so very small standing in here. “How do you find anything? Who is that naked lady in the other room and why does she get her own room to be naked in?”

Your genuine question pulled a loud laugh from his chest and he was pulled your arms against him now. He pulled you hard and your legs stumbled forward until you collided with his chest and he wrapped his strong arms tightly around your shoulders. You felt him tuck his face into your neck and he was giggling just a little bit.

“She came with the house. But yes that is her room. If you are jealous you can come and get naked in my room. Didn't you say you wanted a bath?”

You were laughing now. You did feel super overloaded when you first came inside this home but having his arms around you with his little jokes in your ear put your heart at ease. He was still your boyfriend. He was Baekhyun. Baekhyun happened to be a whole lot but at least you could count on his warm strong arms and his disarming jokes and even more disarming smile.

“Take me to your room because I want to see it. But I’m keeping my clothes on.”

He was pulling on your arm as he walked backwards. There were some more steps, this time they went up and they led to a hallway that turned a corner. He turned to walk forward with occasional glances at you as he moved and at last he had stopped in front of a pair of closed double doors.

“I have a picture of you next to my bed. Don’t freak out. I just like looking at you when I wake up. And you won’t let me come live with you. A man’s gotta survive…”

“A what? Where did you—”

He had opened the door and inside was a much more comforting feeling space than you had seen in any other room you’d passed by. Of course it was huge, but despite its large size felt so much more livable and real than most of the rest of the home. The bedroom itself felt more like it’s own studio apartment with occasional nooks for a small library and desk, another nook for a gaming computer and a wrap-around sofa with a large tv mounted on the wall.

“Ahhh,” you said suddenly understanding. This... this was his home. This space was entirely his. This place with the pop culture artwork on the walls, the big bed that sat on the other side behind a glass partition, “Now this feels like your place.”

Your legs carried you to his bed and you couldn’t help yourself with the way you threw your body down, moaning out in delight at the incredible way his soft mattress hugged your body. The bed felt incredible. You turned your head and facing you was an image of your own smiling face in a small frame that stood on his nightstand beside the hexagonal shaped table lamp you had seen in the video call.

You reached for the frame and tried to recall when he must have snapped this picture. But the season didn’t match for when you both had started dating. This wasn’t recent. No, he took this picture of you long before that. You recognized that the last time you wore that coat was last spring when the last late cold snap blew through; right before the oppressive summer heat took over.

How long had this man been keeping his crush a secret from you and how many other photos had he snapped of your silly smiling face without you even noticing.

You felt the bed dip behind you and the warmth of his arms encased you. His fingers reached out and he grabbed the frame from your hand, pulling it gently out of your fingers so he could place it back in its spot on his nightstand.

His fingertips brushed up the length of your extended arm slowly and traveled up your shoulder to move your hair out of the way for his lips. You felt him breathing here and your eyes seemed to close on their own when you felt the pull of air he inhaled from beside your ear.

“Do you want to take a bath with me?”

“Naked?” Your own voice took on a panicky sounding lift when you stupidly responded to his question.

“Do you usually wear clothes in the bathtub?” He trailed his index finger lightly along your jawline. All at once you knew you were in some danger here laying in this bed beside this man who clearly had not learned a damn thing from what happened in the car earlier.

“Isn’t that dangerous, Baekhyun? I don't seem to have enough self control to be around you even with clothes on.”

You felt the hot exhale from his lungs. A long deep sigh that sounded very much like deep disappointment of a man who was still very affected by the closeness with you.

“Tell me again why I can't quit tonight.” You found his tone curious. His words did not lift at the end as you expected this sort of question would.

“You know already,” you whispered, opening your eyes back up as you tried to ignore the way his fingertips felt brushing against your skin.

“Tell me again though.”

Now you understood why it didn’t sound like he was asking you a question. It wasn’t one. He knew what you had told him and he wanted to hear it from you again.

“I need you. I’m not ready to let you go.” The danger you felt with this multiplied when you said it.

His fingertips were joined by more digits and he touched your face so lightly with his hand, “Again,” he whispered.

You turned your head and you said it again, “I need you.”

You turned your shoulders around and you were spinning on this bed turning your entire self around so you could wrap your arms around his waist and you tucked your face into his chest.

“I need you. I need you and I love you. ” you said again and again and again as you wiggled your forehead against him with the repeated words that he wanted to hear from you. You felt the rumbles inside his chest and he was giggling as he wrapped you up tightly within his arms.

“Okay,” he said over your head, “then I’ll be the strong one. Just stay like this with me tonight. Just let me hold you and it’s enough. It’s enough.”

[To Be Continued]

Links: Part 1, …. Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

[jinglyhigh-heels]

Okay so. Now that I’m not thick in the Emotions this game was giving me, I have come to the realization that this game does SO good at portraying abuse.

So uh. Expect to see a lot (Lot) of talk about that, under the cut.

I’ll start with the most recent realization, which was how the cat was dictating your actions the entire time. It explicitly says so at the end: it was your narrator throughout this whole game. And then how you had to struggle through narrating your own actions at the very end? Solid.

Then, the second most recent realization: you may have ‘messed up’ in the very first ending, but the cat just goes on to show you that literally anything you could’ve done was the ‘wrong choice.’ It found enjoyment in watching you try again and again to see what you could’ve done differently: which is such a good way of telling the player that this isn’t on you. Often times people who are in abusive relationships are blamed for the violence inflicted upon them. If you dressed differently, went to bed instead of watching tv, made such-and-such for dinner instead of so-and/so, did whatever was the catalyst for your abuse differently, then it wouldn’t have happened. But this game is saying no! That’s not how it works! People who want to hurt you WILL hurt you, and it’s not your fault.

As an addition to that point, you cannot avoid doing something that will get you killed (well, except for the ending where you help your cat kill everyone else, but I digress). Even when you see the death coming, and choose the option that gets you away, you run out of things to do. You either have to stay in a single loop—or, well, daydream in this case—forever, or do something that makes the cat (or something else) kills you.

Then, the endings where you feed the cat your blood. It’s really interesting! These endings made me think of what it’s like being in an abusive relationship when you have a child. The choice of whether to risk an even greater abuse to—maybe even temporarily—protect someone who couldn’t protect themself, or whether to turn a blind eye and let your own abuse be temporarily paused, permanently stopped, minimized, or even just kept the same but importantly not made worse; it just reminds me of stories I’ve seen in the past. And you might think, well, you should obviously choose the first one, right? But the game does a good job of showing the dilemma someone who’s being abused might go through. See, if you choose the former option, you die. And as you say when dying: how can you protect anyone now? It’s the same with the mouse, when you choose to let it go. You saved one, for the price of one, and now the cat is free to kill as many more as it desires. And that’s not even considering the instinctive desire to protect oneself, or how the abuser might have changed how you look at the abuse. All this to say, it’s a pretty great portrayal of a dilemma that often shows up in abusive relationships that have a dependent involved (which doesn’t always mean a child, despite what I said in the beginning of this section).

Next up, the dog park. This is pretty heavily related to the first point; which, upon rereading, wasn’t expanded on enough, so let’s talk about it again. This section, the narration goes on and on a lot about how disgusting dogs are, how everything’d be so much better with the cat, and then even your visual perception of these dogs is altered to make them terrifying—part of an attempt to lure you back to the cat (not that you can. Actually do that, if you’re at this point). As part of the game, the cat’s influence is really obvious, and really direct. It’s literally, directly admitted to influencing your thoughts like this. But you don’t need magic or psychic powers, or whatever, in order to influence someone’s thoughts. And abusive people take advantage of that often! They tell you stories, or act a certain way, or inflict physical pain in order to make you view something positively or negatively. Like, if your abuser would curse out dogs all the time while drunk and slamming cabinets, or something. You might look at dogs and be reminded of the fear and paranoia you felt while the cabinets were slamming. (To give a simple example.)

Then, the endings where you almost feed the cat chocolate. These endings do a great job at exploring two different mindsets that abuse victims often have. One, that thoughts of doing something bad are nearly as reprehensible as doing the act itself. When you almost feed the cat chocolate—and by ‘almost’, I mean, you pull it out of your pocket while searching for food and then merely look towards the cat, the beginnings of consideration in your mind, before you stop—you’re wracked with guilt aaaalllll throughout the journey home, and the cats reinforce this guilt. And then this one is specific towards the ending where you ignore the cats, where you turn into a fish and realize now that you have a way to ‘repent’ for what you did. The cat is staring at you, and likely has the means to grab you, but what’s notable here is that you, on your own will, swim up to the surface. And even after you’ve sacrificed yourself, you find yourself feeling guilt that you couldn’t feed all the cats, couldn’t truly repent for what you’d “done.” Which, again, was literally just thinking about doing something, and even before you realized that it would be bad (not that that makes a difference, because thoughts aren’t bad 🔫). This is kinda similar to what happens when you let the mouse go, but that one is unique in that you: 1.) stay still. You don’t deliver yourself to your death like you do in the fish-transformation ending. 2) don’t say anything about regretting being unable to give the cat its fill. Probably because, well. You probably are able to.

And then of course, The ending. This is, most definitely, the least subtle thing ever. Even if I hadn’t happened to exit the game partway through (and then actually read the CWs upon reentering), this likely would’ve let me figure out pretty fuckin quick what was goin on.

I’m gonna split this into three parts: the beginning of the end, the end, and the post-end.

To begin my discussion of the former, I need to mention that the end is you not letting the cat (who, in case this wasn’t obvious by now, is your abuser) back into your home. This is a HUGE step for abuse victims. It’s, hard. Like, in this case it may have been due to magic, but the cat was literally rewriting your brain. Also, you’re lonely, and the cat provided at least some comfort. A helluva lotta pain, sure, but they gave you more comfort than you were receiving anywhere else. Not every situation is the same, but there’s almost always some big hurdle keeping you with the abuser. In this case, the game lets you climb that hurdle through the help of previous victims. This is good, because it avoids the pitfall of ‘to escape abuse you just need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.’ And, ‘the pain they inflict on you will be enough motivation.’ Like no! This wasn’t something you could do on your own!

Then for the second part, I’m first gonna talk about the lead up to the end: the chase scene, as you’re trying to get home. In that, the cat begs you to stay, saying they’ll die without you, that they’re nothing without you.

And here’s where I make the disclaimer that I’ve never been abused, nor have I ever abused. Furthermore, while I have read many accounts from people who have been abused, I have read very little from the perspective of the abuser (at least, ones that were from people who had recognized and accepted that they were abusive).

However, with this dialogue, it seemed like the cat really believed what it was saying. And from what I can tell, it seems like (SOME) irl abusers actually feel the same? They punish you because they worry that if you enjoy the world outside of them, then you’ll love it so much more and leave—and what would they do without you? And I say this, because then the ending of the game is teaching the lesson that: THAT IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM.

You staying with them did not help them get better. They had every chance, every single second you were together they could have chosen to change, and instead they chose to continue hurting you. Going back will not prove to them that they need to change or they will lose you: it will only tell them that they need to take away even more of your power so you CAN’T leave. Splitting up is not only the best thing that you can do for yourself, but it is the best thing you can do for them: even if they don’t seem like it.

Which is a great segue into the post-end. Because it really proves the point! You may have been lonely, but your abuser wasn’t your only option. You did find someone, and this one won’t kill you! :D I do have mixed feelings on the new cat being a black cat with their right eye gone though. One the one hand, it could potentially be interpreted as you letting your abuser, reformed(?), into your house. On the other, sndndinwjd. (<- that was initially a placeholder but you know what? I’m leaving it.)

For example, if you view its coat as a symbolism for a trait like gender, then choosing another black cat could be like dating another woman after your last abuser was a woman. The traits don’t make the abuser, yada yada. Very good! But since we’re dealing with cats, the creator would’ve had to deal with the issue that cats (especially in a simpler art style) Can Kinda Look Similar. And I know that if I, personally, had seen that image and the cat had both eyes, I would’ve immediately been like ‘oh sHIT THE ABUSER’S BACK—’ and had a mini heart attack. /j So. They were probably trying to find a way to make it obvious that THIS cat was not the abusive one.

But not only did you find someone better to replace the abuser with, you are just overall happier without them in your life, and the game did an excellent job of portraying this: by making you go through all the locations you already did. It was such a good parallel. Visiting any location while you were under your the cat’s paw you marred by anxiety and death. But visiting those same places on your own, after ditching it? You have fun times at every one! You even meet new people—and I really love the way the game handled that, because it could have suddenly made us outgoing and extroverted. But nope! We were an introvert walking in, and we’re an introvert walking out. That’s not a bad thing.

One final note that I realized while writing this, is that the game does a VERY good job of giving you a reason for sticking with the cat. See, I can’t think of any specific examples, but I feel like when most people see their main character in an abusive relationship they get frustrated by why they won’t leave. They, the player, can see what’s happening and see the means to escape. The character themself likely has a reason for staying, but the player doesn’t feel whatever emotions are behind that, so it’s pretty easy for them to either view the reason as ‘stupid,’ or to discount the reason altogether. To properly tell an abuse story, I think a really important aspect is being able to see why they wouldn’t leave. To feel, even a little bit, of what the victim is feeling. This game does that in two very simple, yet effective, ways. First, by making the abuser Cute and Smoll. There’s no har~m giving them a chance~! It’s an adorable kitty cat~ (And even when it does do bad things, it’s like “dohhh~ you didn’t know what you were doing~, did u my wittle cutie patootie~”) By virtue of it being adorable, many people immediately have a baseline bond with the cat, which is later made deeper by all the cute scenes, and the moments of backwards kindness in which the cat directly or indirectly helps you out in some way. The second, juxtaposing the first, is done by making the cat incomprehensibly powerful. You see for yourself the power it can, and is willing to, wield against you. Sure, most (and, hopefully, all) abusers don’t have this kind of eldritch power, but to many abuse victims, it sure may seem like it. Maybe it’s financial, or social, or maybe they’re just scarily good with guns: regardless, it tends to be a hurdle that feels impossible to overcome, though it may seem different to an outsider looking in. By making the abuser literally impossible to defeat until you’re given help by outside means (aka, the game, via the former victims), it places you right into the eyes of a victim gazing upon their abuser. This incomprehensible power pairs really well with the cuteness factor, by making the cat seem almost innocent in everything they do. Sure, they ripped me to shreds when my laser pointer was reflected to the back of my head; but they’re just a wittle kitty, how can I blame them for following their instincts~. Not every abuser has this veneer of innocence, but when it’s there it can make recognizing (as was my experience here lol) and reporting abuse to be extra difficult.

[isobelleposts]

“Eat The Rich” — My Favorite Genre in Film

by Isobelle Cruz [February 1, 2022]

The Menu (2022) dir. by Mark Mylod

The phrase in the title comes from political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s quote, “When people have nothing to eat, they will eat the rich.” The last film I watched that had me surprised they did not literally eat the rich was The Menu by Mark Mylod.

This film never took itself too seriously despite its center around the wealthy and the lengths they go to just to experience the finer things in life. It is fully aware of its bizarreness and adds bits of humor here and there, making it enjoyable despite mostly taking place in one setting.

As the first film I had seen this year, The Menu truly sets up expectations and a fresh path to more of what the industry has in store for the rest of the year. Moving on, here are four more films to see if you enjoyed The Menu:

Triangle of Sadness (2022) dir. by Ruben Östlund

Starting off strong with one of my final watches of 2022 that had me saying “what the fuck?” under my breath every few minutes is Triangle of Sadness directed by Ruben Östlund. What initially caught my interest in watching this film was a clip in the opening part wherein we see a bit of the modeling industry and its quirks, or so, ridiculousness. What I didn’t know, and certainly wasn’t prepared for,  was what I would witness next.

I went into this film after refraining myself from spoilers or even a hint of what it could be about, preparing myself to be either disappointed or pleased with what I was about to be met with. And that is exactly what I suggest to you as well. Ditch the synopsis and logline and head straight into this experience. Just know that you’ll be met with great dialogue, delicate cinematography, and a whole lot of shit—both figuratively and literally.

Parasite (2019) dir. by Bong Joon-ho

Behind my little song to the clouds to tuck its raindrops away, a certain thought would always lie at the back of my head while growing up. As we celebrate a class suspension and give thanks for the chilly weather in the desert-like heat of the Philippines, I wonder what life is like for those living by the rivers, whose roofs are made with cheap iron or yero and whose walls are made of thin wood.

It hasn’t occurred to me before how important these thoughts were until I encountered this film a few years back. Parasite presents its audience with the rich’s ignorance of their surroundings and several contrasts between the everyday life scenes of a wealthy and poor family. 

Parasite is precise, well-written, and surely deserving of its multiple awards.

Knives Out (2019) dir. by Rian Johnson

Whodunnit—-they say that when you see them once, you’ve seen them all. And that may be true, but Knives Out’s fast pacing and quick cuts from past to present still kept my eyes glued to the screen. It’s a classic murder mystery, encouraging the audience to say things like “It’s too early on for such an obvious clue.”

This will keep you thinking throughout its length, asking questions again and again in your head, eager to beat the ending before the killer’s reveal. Though predictable for some, Knives Out nonetheless offers a fun view into the world of a money-starved family and their deceased father, along with a bunch of odd and entertaining characters.

The Handmaiden (2016) dir. by Park Chan-wook

Of course I found a way to sneak The Handmaiden into this list. 

The film follows Kim Tae-ri’s character who falls in deep romance with Lady Hideko, the woman she works for. Just when you think it is about to finally end, a sharp turn comes and it’s as if the story had only begun then—this happens thrice, by the way.

As we go further along the story we encounter money’s play in the wickedness of men and are left with our mouths agape after another unexpected revelation or scene. 

The Handmaiden is not only a story of forbidden romance between two women but also a showcasing of comradeship and care for another in suffering. Looking past its long length and adult scenes is a mind-boggling and thoroughly written story accompanied by excellent direction, camera work, and acting.

[sneakyparsnipslicer]

A New Lease On Life

Have you ever felt like being yourself limits you in a way? Like being born to a particular family or culture limits your potential and often how the world views you?

My name is Dr. Kurpreet Singh. I'm 27, single and longing for a life other than my own.

It's a well-known fact that Indian culture gives little freedom to the children. Great expectations from parents, often using the success to flaunt in others' faces. Despite being a well-studied and successful man of medicine, I must be causing my mother and father a great deal of disappointment. They keep setting me up for arranged marriages, but I know it's all for their gain, and whilst I've been introduced to some absolutely beautiful women, they're not exactly what I'm looking for.

During my education, I was envious of the other boys, they could laze about, talk anything they'd like, date anyone they'd like. My life was pre-determined, focus on my studies, ace every test. I love my parents, but the life they forced upon me doesn't exactly offer the freedoms that many of my peers take for granted. It seems clear to me my life was mapped out in their eyes even from conception; create a child prodigy, marry him into a wealthy family, have some beautiful children, die securing a promising future for their grandchildren. A noble plan I guess, but what about what I want?

It took some persuasion, but I was able to move from my parents' home into my own flat. My mother of course always hit with the obvious comments. 'Why are you settling for a flat? You need a mortgage for raising your family!' 'A single bed? No, you need a big bed to share with the right lady when you find her!' 'I don't like this place, too small. Where is the family supposed to sit for Diwali?' 'This is not a nice neighbourhood. You don't know anyone on your street. What you need is a good community, please come back and live with us Kurpreet, you'll be happier!'

Honestly she's not been happy with my flat since Day 1, saying I need to change this and that, chastising me on finding the slightest speck of dust. At least she never stays. When I'm alone, that's when I truly feel free of the pressure and expectations I have had placed on me.

Now, in the time I've had in my flat, I've been able to enjoy all kinds of freedoms, particularly conducting my own research into arcane topics. It's crazy to think that some things we dream of can infact be reality, through the right methods of course. My researches led me to discovering the likes of body possession and bodysuits, methods to change a person's entire likeness! There were stories of people documenting their transformations from their old bodies into new ones and I wondered if I could do the same. Through a few contacts I was able to obtain a small glass container of powder.

To anyone it looked like some kind of seasoning, it really wouldn't have looked to out of place on a spice rack. According to my supplier, it was a powder that numbed the nerves and extracted the soul. More or less, anyone I sprinkled the powder on would become a bodysuit, and I'd also be able to undergo a transformation much like the stories I'd become enamoured by. I kept the container on me, you never know when I might find the right person to become the vessel I need. Of course I went about my usual life at the local clinic as the kindly Dr. Singh, but beneath the surface, an almost inhuman hunger was growing inside me.

It happened on one evening, as I drove home from the clinic, I parked my car in my usual spot in the carpark and made my way towards my flat's front door. Even as I locked my car door I could hear people talking from the direction of my door. Sounded like a bunch of rowdy men. I got my briefcase out of my car's boot, cautiously pocketing my glass container as a precaution. 'I'm just going into my flat' I told myself under my breath. Taking a deep breath I began to make my way to my door. The voices seemed to be sluggishly singing some chant. Maybe they were on their way back from a pub after a football match. I turned the corner and saw four men in tracksuits sitting on the steps leading up to my door, beer cans littered all over the floor. I stopped in my tracks looking slack-jawed at the sight.

'Oi, the fuck you looking at?' demanded one of them when he noticed me looking. The rest stopped singing and turned their attention on me. I cleared my throat. 'Pardon me, Gentlemen. Could I possibly get to my front door?' I asked politely. It took a moment then they started laughing. 'Did you boys get any of that?' asked the one closest to my door. 'Nah man, all I heard was 'Oh deary, deary me!'' said another one imitating an Indian accent. 'Welcome to my Kwik-E-Mart, please come again!' said the one that addressed me at first, and they all broke into outrageous laughter. I wasn't about to let a bunch of racists make me lose my cool. 'Look, you're in my doorway, haven't you all got somewhere better to be?' I demanded sternly, folding my arms. It was at that point the one who hadn't said a word yet stood up. He glared at me and began to walk menacingly over. He was a fair bit taller than I am, quite bulky too. I backed away a few steps, subtley reaching for my little glass container. 'Why don't you fuck off back to India, Curry-In-A-Hurry?' asked the man, staring me down. The other men started laughing again. I mustered up my courage, removing the cork behind my back. 'I was born here in England, my family's been living here two generations' I replied smartly, looking him in the eyes. The man lifted his head from my breathing space, seemingly impressed. 'Well look at that boys, guess he's one of us!' he shouted, turning to the others. I was stunned. 'What, really?' I asked curiously. 'Nah, fuck off!' he said, turning back and aiming a punch at me. I anticipated this and ducked to the side, spraying the contents of the container in his face. He coughed and shook his head, wiping the powder out of his eyes. 'You dirty little…little…' he slurred, gradually losing consciousness and slumping down on the ground. His friends looked on shocked. 'Terry?' asked one of them, getting up to get a better look. 'Guess your friend has had too much to drink' I said shrugging. 'Nah nah nah, you threw something on him!' cried another one, standing up and pointing accusingly at me. The first one approached Terry's body and shook his shoulder. Terry's whole body wobbled like jelly. 'Shit, you've killed him!' he said, looking at me. At this point I looked darkly into his eyes. 'You wanna take your chances with me or are you gonna go?' I asked calmly. The guy shook his head, inching along the wall. 'Fuck no! Let's get away from this Voodoo creep!' he yelled staggering off. The other two ran off after him, leaving me and Terry alone. I gave his body a little kick with my boot, then lifted his arm up, which flopped back down as I let go. 'Well then Terry, looks like your check-up's due!' I chuckled, unlocking my front door and hoisting him over my right shoulder.

Getting into my living room, I placed Terry on my sofa and placed my belongings on the counter to the side. Getting a better look at the man, he looked to be roughly the same age as me, short brown hair, clean-shaven. Dare I say kinda cute. I removed his clothes to get a better look at what was on offer, I was met with the sight of some nice biceps and muscles, a very nice chest and abs. I had no doubt this guy probably could have actually knocked me out if he'd had a decent shot. 'Nice body Terry! Shame about your awful mouth and problematic mind' I said tutting condescendingly. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and took a good, long look at myself. Slim built, soft black hair, a tidy goatee and the glasses I always wore. Not bad, but there was room for improvement. It occurred to me this might just be the last time I see my face like this, but I was ready to give it all up. Staring at myself I began to unbutton my shirt, revealing my flat chest and stomach, my skinny arms and slightly hairy chest. I began to smile, this was like a dream come true. I undid my belt, unlaced my boots, pulled off my trousers, socks and boxers and stood there fully nude. I looked at myself one last time and nodded, turning my attention to Terry. I pulled him off the sofa and placed him carefully on the rug. Nervously, I prised open his mouth, the stretching sound of elastic filling the room. My cock twitched and a grin spread across my face as I looked down into the darkness within his body. It was time.

I began by placing my right foot into his mouth, pushing down my foot and shin began to disappear past his lips. I thought it best to sit down for this, so I did just that. Placing my left foot inside, the rubbery squeaking continued as I pushed my legs down, Terry's mouth seemingly consuming my kneecaps and upper legs. Looking further down his body, I could see his own legs were swelling and darkening slightly, going from pale white a delightful tan. I could only imagine what the outcome was going to look like and my dick began to harden in delight. I began to move my thighs inside, I took care to push my erectifying penis into Terry's mouth too, seeing it further down stretching his length out and amazingly restoring my foreskin. I'd been circumcised as a child, so I'd never really known what it was like to have an uncut cock, but I guess that was going to be something for me to explore in good time. Hands on the floor, I began to slide my belly and chest into the mouth, seeing them firm up and darken Terry's body, I moved my arms inside too and they filled out his arms and hands too. I let my new hands explore my body, this was nice. Like REALLY nice. I stood up and walked over to the mirror, checking it out. Abs, ass, I had it all going on. I bit my lip and locked eyes with my reflection. My old face atop this new body looked back. I took off my glasses and put them on the counter, and through blurred vision I matched up Terry's lower jaw with my own and pulled his head over mine. I could feel my face contorting as I stood there for a moment, eyes shut, letting the transformation finish. I felt my face and hair, with one hesitant breath I opened my eyes. My new reflection looked back at me, clear as day. Terry must have had good eyesight, I could kiss those glasses goodbye. My black hair was still there, my goatee had survived the transformation too. I looked good, Terry and I had created one gorgeous guy. I gave my new cock a playful tug with my left hand and my new ass a squeeze with the right. I could finally leave my old life behind and enjoy any man I wanted, be anything I wanted. Ruffling up my hair and massaging my biceps I remembered, I had kept an outfit aside for this occasion. I hurried to my bedroom and flung open the doors, searching through my coat hangers I found it; a plaid shirt, skinny jeans with chains on them, a G-string to perk up everything on offer, and a leather harness, for later. I'd see about officially leaving the flat tomorrow, for tonight I'm hitting every gay bar in town and getting me some long-desired action. Dr. Kurpreet was gone, any remnants are getting fucked out tonight. From here on out, I am Hari, a cute guy in a big town with big dreams of being the most lustful male stripper around!

[sorcerous-caress]

I had two thoughts that I can't stop thinking

First was like the obvious like girl dad male drow and Minthara. Cute, Intense TM couple and their warrior daughters. But the second thought was like would it get angsty if Minthara had a son?

Dude i literally had this exact same thought when i answered the ask.

Minthara in-depth Character study + Media literacy 101 below cut.

[Tw: themes of abuse discussed]

First of all

Characters are tools.

All characters are not real, Minthara is not a real person. She is pixels, Minthara can't abuse or be abused because she isn't real.

What she can do, is be a tool or a puppet to tell a story about abuse.

Second of all

Evil characters are not bad characters. Morally wrong characters are not bad writing.

A character doesn't have to be good, moral or have a redemption arc. A character only needs to be compelling, interesting and dynamic.

Third of all

The writers aren't horrible people or freaks for putting a character through trauma or shitty events. Their job is to make an interesting story and not a life guidance manual for newborns.

These shitty events happen to real-life people. Go direct your energy to helping them instead of fictional characters depictions that allow safe exploration of dark themes where no real people are getting harmed.

I'm so proud of you for understanding this. Here is your complimentary media literacy degree. 🎊

Minthara was written to be a typical drow, she was never meant to be the good drow that stands out or rejects the brutality of drow culture.

The drow twins in sharess caress are the unique good drows that completely opted out of drow culture.

Minthara was never meant to be that, no matter how much you twist her or try to look for a deeper meaning. At her core, even after abandoning Lolth, she still abids by drow culture rules for her own personal life.

She is aware of how cruel it is, she accepts and likes it.

Sure, some aspects she hates, she isn't really a huge enthusiastic fan of it. But she likes it enough to still apply it even when she is outside of the underdark, it shows in how she treats Gale or the other people who aren't companions.

Now a final thing to keep in mind.

Minthara adores us the most, as in us the player, not Tav, not Durge, not anyone. Doesn't matter who you end up picking or if you even pick an origin character, as long as you follow her questline, she admits to you being the person she admires the most.

That child is ours too, the player.

Because of that, we can never truly see Minthara as she really is. All of our view of her are wrapped and biased Because she is literally being her nicest self around us. We can only get glimpses of how cruel she is to strangers in stray conversations or throw away lines. Even if you have low approval with her, she still admires you the most.

She is a lawful evil character.

As in evil evil and not Astarion grey evil.

Astarion approves of bullying a child, Minthara approves of killing a child.

And that to me makes her a very compelling and interesting character, I love her dynamic and personality. Much like how I think Cazador is an amazing character because of how good he is at being a tool in a story about cycles of abuse. He more than fulfilled his role which makes him a great addition that shouldn't be changed, redeemed or watered down.

So about the child.

In Minthara's datamined lines, it is clear that she plans to enforce drow culture rules on her child no matter what.

They are abusive by nature, yes.

While some might think a son would have a much worse time than a daughter, I disagree.

While Minthara would resent having a son for how useless she deems males, at the end of the day he will meet her expectations of being a complete waste of space and pregnancy. Kept there for breeding for the bloodline.

But if a daughter doesn't meet her expectations? Do you realise the implications of that. Minthara a previous Baerne princess birthing a weakling of a female drow that can't even yell at someone without crying? Minthara would rain hellfire upon her.

It's more than a shame, a complete disgrace.

Her daughter is supposed to grow to be strong enough to kill her and take her place, that is the cycle of life.

Also about the child itself, you would still be the other parent.

The relationship with Minthara in the game can be controlling and possessive at times. And to remind you, that is the toned down version of her flaws because again, she adores us.

But i don't think it's far fetched for her to do most of the work when it comes to actually raising the kid, she likes to be in control.

Also side note, i have been only talking about her evil side and flaws so far and I wanted to remind you that she isn't just that. Her personality has so much more and there is depth and genuine love in her, it's something that we are also her first ever romantic love. And let's not forget on how she even encourages Gale in act 3 to leave Mystra. Minthara isn't a black or white character, she is a fully flushed out and filled with many complex concept tool.

She doesn't want to break the cycle of abuse, that's her major flaw. It's not something she seeks or even attempts to do. It's not even a debate to her, she simply acknowledges it and lets it be.

Her good ending is starting a new noble drow house with durge for fucks sake.

She cherry picks which areas she "breaks" from. Lolth worshipping for example, and she only extends respect and love to her companions. While the rest of the world gets the same treatment from her that they'd get from a typical drow Matron.

Okay note over, so proud of you for still reading btw, you're an excellent student. Have this imaginary star sticker on your brain.

I have so much to say about her that this post barely even scrapes the surface of what I think about her.

As long as you, the player, intervene and show her that parenting is both of your responsibilities, then I think you can really smooth down a lot of her sharp edges.

I mean the same argument could be said for Laeze, isn't training a child to fight at 12 also a form of abuse?

Not a single one of the companions is equipped to be a parent, not at their current states. Maybe Halsin tho, he has the best potential to be a parent stand in. Tho he has a major flaw of not realising that having too many kids means your attention will be spreadthin and that is a form of neglect abuse. Goodmeaning or not, he won't be a very good parent because he underestimates his capabilities in favour for naive optimism.

I've side tracked a lot ngl.

But yeah that's the jest of it, Minthara would be a shitty mom. Like it or hate it, it doesn't matter because she isn't real and she isn't a mom. She is a tool to tell a story about a shitty mom and she is succeeding at it.

[claudia1829things]

"THE BLACK DAHLIA" (2006) Review

"THE BLACK DAHLIA" (2006) Review

Judging from the reactions among moviegoers, it seemed quite obvious that director Brian DePalma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s 1987 novel had disappointed them. The ironic thing is that I do not share their feelings.

A good number of people – including a relative of mine – have told me that they had expected "THE BLACK DAHLIA" to be a docudrama of the infamous 1947 murder case. Others had expected the movie to be an epic-style crime drama similar to the 1997 Academy Award winning film, "L.A. CONFIDENTIAL" - another Ellroy adaptation. ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” proved to be neither for many fans. For me, it turned out to be an entertaining and solid film noir that I enjoyed.

Told from the point-of-view of Los Angeles Police detective Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Harnett), ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” told the story of how the January 1947 murder of Hollywood star wannabe, Elizabeth Short aka “The Black Dahlia” (Mia Kershner) affected Bleichert’s life and the lives of others close to him – especially his partner, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart). The story began over three years before Short’s murder when Bleichert saved Blanchard’s life during the Zoot Riots in 1943. After World War II, the pair (who also happened to be celebrated local boxers) participated in an inter-departmental boxing match to help raise support for a political bond issue that will increase pay for the LAPD, but with a slight tax increase. Although Bleichert lost the match, both he and Blanchard are rewarded by Assistant District Attorney Ellis Loew (Patrick Fischler) with promotions and transfers to the Warrants Department and the pair became partners. Bleichert not only became partners and friends with Blanchard, he also became acquainted with Blanchard’s live-in girlfriend, a former prostitute and artist named Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). Although Bleichert fell in love with Kay, he kept his feelings to himself, due to his relationship with Blanchard. Thanks to Blanchard’s penchant for publicity, the two partners eventually participated in the murder investigation of Elizabeth Short (nicknamed the Black Dahlia). The case not only led the pair to a rich young playgirl named Madeleine Linscott (Hillary Swank) and her family, but also into a world of prostitution, pornography, lesbian nightclubs and the dark underbelly of Hollywood life.

Written by James Ellroy and originally published in 1987, ”The Black Dahlia” became the first of four novels about the Los Angeles Police Department in the post-World War II era (”L.A. Confidential” was the third in the quartet). In my opinion, it was the best in Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet. I believe that it translated quite well to the movie screen, thanks to DePalma’s direction and Josh Friedman’s screenplay. Like the movie ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL”, ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” turned out to be superior to its literary version. Not only did DePalma and Friedman’s screenplay recapture the ambiance of the novel’s characters and 1940s Los Angeles setting, the plot turned out to be an improvement over the novel. Especially over the latter’s chaotic finale. Despite the improvement, ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” never achieved the epic style and quality of ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL”. If I must be frank, I really do not care. Movies like the 1997 Oscar winner are rare occurrences of near perfect quality. Just because ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” was another film adaptation of an Ellroy novel, did not mean that I had expected it to become another ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL”.

Mark Isham’s score for the film did not turn out to be that memorable to me. All I can say is that I am grateful that he did not attempt a remake of Jerry Goldsmith’s scores for ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL” and ”CHINATOWN”. On the other hand, I was very impressed with Vilmos Zsigmond’s photography for the film. One sequence stood out for me – namely the overhead shot that featured the discovery of Elizabeth Short’s dead body in the Leimert Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. Ironically, part of the movie was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria substituting as 1946-47 Los Angeles. Production Designer Dante Ferretti and Art Director Christopher Tandon did a solid job in disguising Sofia as Los Angeles. But there were a few times when the City of Angels seemed like it was located on the East Coast. And I could spot a few palm trees that definitely looked false. However, I really loved the set designs for Kay’s home and the lesbian nightclub where Bleichert first met Madeline. I loved Jenny Beavan’s costume designs for the film. She did an excellent job of recapturing the clothing styles of the mid-to-late 1940s and designing clothes for particular characters.

One of the movie’s best strengths turned out to be its very interesting characters and the cast of actors that portrayed them. Characters that included the ambitious and sometimes malevolent ADA Ellis Loew, portrayed with great intensity by Patrick Fischler; Rose McGowan’s bitchy and shallow Hollywood landlady/movie extra; Elizabeth Short’s frank and crude father Cleo Short (Kevin Dunn); Mike Starr’s solid portrayal of Bleichert and Blanchard’s immediate supervisor Russ Millard; and Lorna Mertz, the young Hollywood prostitute portrayed memorably by Jemima Rooper. John Kavanagh and Fiona Shaw portrayed Madeline Linscott’s parents – a Scottish-born real estate magnate and his alcoholic California society wife. Kavanagh was charming and fun in a slightly corrupt manner, but Shaw hammed it up in grand style as the alcoholic Ramona Linscott. I doubt that a lesser actress could have pulled off such a performance.

Not only were the supporting characters memorable, so were the leading characters, thanks to the performances of the actors and actresses that portrayed them. I was very impressed by Mia Kershner’s portrayal of the doomed Elizabeth Short. She managed to skillfully conveyed Short’s desperation and eagerness to become a Hollywood movie star in flashbacks shown in the form of black-and-white audition clips and a pornographic film clip. At first, I found Scarlett Johansson as slightly too young for the role of Kay Lake, the former prostitute and artist that both Bleichert and Blanchard loved. She seemed a bit out of her depth, especially when she used a cigarette holder to convey her character’s sophistication. Fortunately, Johansson had ditched the cigarette holder and Kay’s so-called sophistication and portrayed the character as a warm and pragmatic woman, who turned out to be more emotionally mature than the other characters. I found Aaron Eckhart’s performance as the passionate, yet calculating Lee Blanchard great fun to watch. He seemed funny, sharp, verbose, passionate and rather manic all at once. There were times when his character’s growing obsession toward the Black Dahlia case seemed to border on histrionics. But in the end, Eckhart managed to keep it all together. Another performance I truly enjoyed was Hillary Swank’s portrayal of the sensual, rich playgirl Madeline Linscott. Just by watching Swank on screen, I got the impression that the actress had enjoyed herself playing Madeline. I know I had a ball watching her reveal the charming, yet dark facets of this interesting character.

Ellroy’s novel had been written in the first person – from the viewpoint of LAPD detective, Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert. Which meant that the entire movie had to focus around the actor who portrayed Bleichert. I once heard a rumor that Josh Harnett became interested in the role before casting for the movie actually began. In the end, many critics had either dismissed Hartnett’s performance or judged him incapable of portraying a complex character. Personally, I found their opinions hard – even impossible – to accept. For me, Harnett did not merely give a first-rate performance. He ”was” Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert. One must understand that Bleichert was a difficult role for any actor – especially a non-showy role that also had to keep the story together. Throughout the movie, Harnett, DePalma’s direction and Friedman’s script managed to convey the many complexities of Bleichert’s personality without being overtly dramatic about it. After all, Dwight was basically a quiet and subtle character. Harnett portrayed the character’s growing obsession with both the Black Dahlia case and Madeline Linscott without the manic and abrupt manner that seemed to mark Blanchard’s obsession. You know what? I really wish I could say more about Harnett’s performance. But what else can I say? He perfectly hit every nuance of Bleichert’s personality. I personally believe that Dwight Bleichert might be his best role to date.

I wish I could explain or even understand why ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” had flopped at the box office. Some have complained that the film had failed to match the epic qualities of ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL”. Others have complained that it failed as a docudrama that would solve the true life murder of Elizabeth Short. And there have been complaints that Brian DePalma’s editing of a film that was originally three hours ruined it. I had never expected the movie to become another ”L.A. CONFIDENTIAL” (which did a mediocre job at the box office) – a rare case of near Hollywood perfection. I really do not see how a three hour running time would have helped ”THE BLACK DAHLIA”. It was a complex story, but not as much as the 1997 film. Hell, the novel was more straightforward than the literary L.A. Confidential”. And since the Hollywood publicity machine had made it clear that the movie was a direct adaptation of the novel, I found the argument that ”THE BLACK DAHLIA” should have been a docudrama that would solve Short’s murder rather ludicrous. Since I had read the novel back in the late 90s, I simply found myself wondering how DePalma would translate it to the movie screen.

In the end, I found myself more than satisfied with ”THE BLACK DAHLIA”. It possessed a first-rate cast led by a superb performance from Josh Harnett. Screenwriter Josh Friedman’s screenplay turned out to be a solid job that slightly improved Ellroy’s novel – especially the finale. And director Brian DePalma did an excellent job of putting it all together. I highly recommend it – if one does not harbor any high expectations.

[emilyhufflepufftlk]

Review of Seven Kings Must Die

I feel like people are going to have mixed feelings towards this film, however I really liked it and I think it did a good job within the constraints it had. Could it have been better as a whole season? Probably. But I think it was still a fitting way to end TLK.

Overall an 8.5/10 from me. I have written a very detailed review (lots of spoilers!!!!) under the cut. It is perhaps too detailed - I got carried away lol.

First things first, I loved the opening credits with the extended title sequence. Loved that it incorporated the original title art alongside movie specific sequences. Also the fact that the music started off different and then went into the iconic TLK theme was great, signalling that the film is both it's own thing and part of the TLK story. I have always loved the way they use the titles as a storytelling device, like how they changed it for season 5 to make Northumbria the 'last kingdom' rather than Wessex, so I thought changing it to have the burning start in Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man etc where the 'kings' in the film were from was really effective. Maybe it's the nerd in me, but I love these kind of details.

Finan doing the voice over was interesting as we've never had anyone else but Uhtred do the narration. It gave a different perspective from what we usually get which was cool. I also like to think that this was Finan telling the story of how Uhtred made England happen after Uhtred's death (I know it was left opened ended, but I personally think Uhtred did go to Valhalla at the end) which is cool as Uhtred always said he would live on in the songs his men will tell of him (thinking about his dialogue with Alfred in 3.09).

I was fine with Ingrith having the 'prophesy'. Yes it kind of came out of nowhere but it didn't really matter - by that I mean if she had not had the vision nothing would have changed, Uhtred was not acting on her advice or took real heed of it, in fact he shrugged it off. Having the prophesy gave us extra intrigue and the twist that 'the woman you love' was directed at Finan and she was the one to die was surprising and I thought well done. I did like that it was the sons of kings that died rather than the kings themselves, especially after the kings talked about how having an heir meant their kingdoms would live on.

In terms of the new characters, I cannot say they were particularly memorable (with the exception of Ingilmundr who I will talk about later). We did not get much of a chance to get to know them which is to be expected due to time constraints. I personally didn't mind this as I think most movies have a similar problem so I am used to it. I think the kings served their role for the plot and I was fine with not knowing much about them. Same for the Danes, they served their purpose plot wise. It would have been nice to have a bit more focus on Astrid (the Dane's daughter who spied on the Saxons) but I'm not that fussed about it.

Onto Ingilmundr - I thought he was an excellent antagonist. He was everything Aethelhelm was trying to be. I think with Aethelhelm in season 5, he felt a bit too much like a comic book villain to me, I kept expecting him to break out into cackles of evil laughter. But Ingilmundr felt more real and I thought the actor's performance was very good. He was manipulative without being too obvious. I also liked how he was the opposite of Uhtred - born Dane, taught Saxon ways and eventually betraying them for the people of his birth (just like how Uhtred was born Saxon, grew up Dane, but in the end chose to serve Saxon kings).

I was pleased that they gave Aethelstan a male lover as I believe it's referenced in the books (I have not read them personally) and I didn't know if Netflix had the balls to do it. I think it added to the manipulation and helped to explain why Aethelstan was so easily influenced by him (as I feel like Aethelstan genuinely cared for/loved him). It also makes the sense of betrayal on Aethelstan's part greater and I thought that was portrayed well.

In terms of Aethelstan in general, I think the writer's did a good job building him up to be the antagonist in the beginning third of the film. Him killing his brother in cold blood after the surrender clearly signalled he'd changed from who we met in season 5 and showed how Ingilmundr influenced him. Killing Aldhelm really shocked me and made me SOB (especially how he went calmly and accepted his fate). As much as I hated to see Aldhelm die as he had grown to become one of my favourite characters over the course of the series, I think his death was effective. It showed that Aethelstan had gone mad from paranoia and how lost he rally was, both to the audience and the characters - it's only when Uhtred sees Aldhelm's body does he realise what Aethelstan is capable of and realises he isn't the young man he had raised.

The change from Aethelstan being an antagonist to siding with Uhtred was a little abrupt and could have been done better over the course of a whole season, but I still thought it worked. Harry Gilby did a good job with the scenes he had, from the denial when Uhtred first tells him of Ingilmundr's betrayal to the acceptance and guilt when he discovers the truth.

The attack on Bebbanburg and the killing of Ingrith and the rest of the people was gut wrenching but thinking about it in hindsight I wonder what purpose it served? They would have still gone to look for their sons regardless. I guess it made Uhtred feel totally defeated and maybe alerted them to the immediate danger but I feel like it wasn't necessary. Ingrith's death destroyed me, mainly because of Mark's acting - that man knows how to sell an emotional scene! His scream and the sobbing was soul destroying. However, what really took me out of this moment was wondering where the hell Sihtric's wife and kids are? I guess they no longer exist?

There were lots of characters that were absent without explanation. This always happens when a series with a whole range of characters developed over many seasons have to condense down into a two hour film - it happened with Downton Abbey, although I feel like the writers of the Downton movie at least gave missing characters reasons for not being there. I didn't care so much about Hild or Eadith as much as I love them as I don't see what role they would have played in the plot anyway, but I feel like they should have at least explained Stiorra's absence as it feels odd she didn't come to Uhtred/Bebbanburg's aid if she had been able to.

I liked the introduction of Osbert and Edmund, although we didn't get much of them. I don't think there was time in the movie to address the whole 'Uhtred abandoning Osbert for most of his childhood' and I guess there has been a big enough time jump to assume they have worked out their differences. I also liked the fact Osbert protected and trained Edmund, it feels like it's carrying on the legacy of Uhtred teaching and protecting Edward.

I was glad that Eadgifu's characterisation was the same as in season 5 despite the change in actress. Her friendship with Uhtred was a surprise but worked well.

We didn't get a whole lot of Finan and Sihtric which was sad but was what I expected. There really wasn't time for side plots which means Finan's past is reserved for fanfic alone. I did like how they inferred Finan was getting older (falling asleep, sore arse etc) which at least acknowledges the fact that these guys should be like 80 by now lmao.

As always in TLK they travelled across the country in what seemed like no time at all - however I feel like although we didn't get extended scenes of them travelling places, the length of time it takes to get to places was acknowledged: when they get to the cave where the residents of Bebbanburg were imprisoned, it's said that Ingrith last spoke three days before they got there, which at least signals that time has passed since Uhtred left and not five seconds like it feels in the movie.

Something both the movie and Season 5 did was show the barbarity of the Christians. I feel like in previous seasons it was always presented as the Danes being the savages that rape and pillage and leave destruction in their wake, whilst in Season 5 we saw in the massacre at Rumcofa Christians doing the murdering and we saw it again here with them slaughtering everyone in Aegelesburg even after they surrendered and the burning of the Scottish settlements etc. I think this gives the show more nuance and makes it less black and white.

The end battle was epic. I loved that it was a return to the standard shield wall which was so iconic in the series but I feel like they moved away from in seasons 4 and 5. The tactics of moving them around so they could attack them from behind was clever, especially as I didn't realise that was what they were doing. The putting down of spikes in front of them was also such a cool idea. The whole battle reminded me a lot of Ethendun and so it feels like we've come full circle. I really thought Pyrlig was going to be another Leofric, but he miraculously survived yet again. Honestly I think this man is invincible - he's been stabbed TWICE, tortured, walked for miles and been through numerous battles. I love Pyrlig so I'm not complaining lol.

I thought Uhtred was going to die laying on the battlefield. I can't decide if I would have preferred him going down with a blaze of glory on the battlefield rather than the ending we got, but it was still emotional seeing him fight on whilst bleeding out. Sihtric and Finan finding him afterwards also made me tear up.

Uhtred seeing the feast hall of Valhalla with his friends laughing together was very emotional and I really liked it. It would have been nice to have seen Young Ragnar, Gisela and Thyra (although maybe Thyra is in heaven with Beocca) there alongside them but I know the actors were probably unavailable.

The fact that they don't specify if Uhtred lived or died was clever, especially with Finan's voice over saying that the chronicles didn't record his fate. It ties into this idea that Uhtred was written out of history, again linking back to his dialogue with Alfred in 3.09. I like the idea that we can pretend that the events in TLK did happen, that the Uhtred we know did exist, just it wasn't included in the chronicles.

I loved that the ending shot was modern Bambrugh castle, showing that the thing Uhtred fought so hard for lives on. Bebbanburg was such an important part of the show; even in Season 3 when we don't go to Bebbanburg at all, it still looms over the show and everything Uhtred does. It's also integrally linked to Uhtred's 'destiny' and as we know 'destiny is all'. The way the camera pans away in that final shot reminds me a bit of the last shot of Season 5 which ties the endings together.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I thought it was done well. As always with TLK the costumes, hair and makeup, stunts, fight scenes and music were awesome. The crew really outdid themselves. I do think that it would have benefitted from having a bit more space to expand on certain plot points and it would have been more effective as a whole season, however, I am really glad we got this movie and saw the creation of England which (alongside Uhtred reclaiming Bebbanburg) has always been the biggest theme running through the series.

I can't believe TLK is really over. I might cry. I will miss it dearly.

[celestiall0tus]

Miraculous Salvation - Chapter 7 - Concerning Actions

Beginning || Previous || Next

            Tap, tap, tap.

            Sabrina groaned and rolled over.

            Tap, tap, tap.

            Sabrina cracked open an eye. She reached for her glasses and put them on as she sat up.

            Tap, tap, tap.

            Sabrina yawned and got up. She pulled back her curtains and saw Chloe standing outside. She shook her head and opened the window.

            “Chloe? What kind of trouble are you in now?”

            Chloe climbed in and shut the window behind her. She pulled back the curtains and leaned against the wall. “It’s a long story.”

            “I’m waiting.”

            Chloe relayed the events of the evening. Sabrina grimaced, turned on the light, then moved to her closet.

            “What are you going to do? You can’t stay here this time,” Sabrina remarked.

            “I don’t know. I can’t run for long. She’ll find me eventually,” Chloe said.

            “And when she does catch you?”

            “I don’t know. I’d normally expect a lecture or silence, but I don’t think it’ll be like all those previous times. Something has started and I’m messing with it. I suppose I can use that, can’t I?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “I just need to delay. Let Muridae save the day, as heroes do. Hopefully I can keep them chasing geese. Or, at the very least, get them to call off the search. Give everyone time to rest.”

            “So, what are you going to do?”

            “Well, first I’m going to shower. You have my change of clothes here, right?”

            “Yes.”

            “Perfect. And your father is out, right?”

            “Well, if Audrey has the entire force looking for you guys, then I would imagine so.”

            “Perfect. I have some time. Think I’ll be able to have some breakfast before he comes back?”

            “Maybe? But you’re not staying here, are you? You’re going to hide, right?”

            Chloe smiled and leaned against the door. “No. I’m going to keep them safe. If Audrey wants to play games, then I will too. And it will all start in the morning. After breakfast, preferably.”

            Chloe gave Sabrina a reassuring smile, then headed for the bathroom. Sabrina stood, frozen. Her stomach twisted and made her nauseous. She had a bad feeling of what was about to come.

~~

            Bridgette sat on the counter in the Dupain-Cheng bakery. She kept her eyes forward as she watched the empty night streets. She listened to Marinette behind her who prepared pastries for their friends. It unnerved her how quiet Marinette was. She would always hear a happy melody being hummed or the swishing of fabric as Marinette danced, but there was nothing.

            “What’s wrong, Cousin?”

            “Is it obvious?”

            “Are you scared?”

            A pause. “Maybe a little.”

            “You know you have me. You’ll be safe.”

            “I’m safe from anything directed towards me, but what if something happens that draws me into the crossfires? What then?”

            “You’re worried about the people, aren’t you?”

            “I am.”

            “Maybe… maybe it’s time to consider a different resource, Cousin,” Bridgette suggested.

            “Bridge, I can’t. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s life. I don’t want to endure what I could do to that person. I mean, look what I did to you.”

            “I chose this, Cousin. I decided long before all this that I would keep you safe. You are my family. One of the only ones that puts up with me.”

            “But what about everything else? There’s so much more you could experience in life, but because of your devotion to me, you can’t. Don’t you ever feel like you’re missing out?”

            “On what exactly?”

            “Spending time with other family members you like, your own friends that aren’t our mutual friends, or maybe even a partner. Wouldn’t you want any of that?”

            “If I did, it was long ago. However, after all these years, you’re all I see.”

            Marinette stopped and moved in front of Bridgette. The silence filled with an angry buzz as Marinette glared at Bridgette.

            “That. That right there is what I’m trying to avoid. I made a mistake long ago and you’re paying for it. You could have had a normal life. You could have had your own friends, family circle, or even a partner.”

            “I know, but I don’t care. You already know how our family treats me. And I’ve always been fine with your friends as they’re my friends too. As for a partner, look me in the eyes and tell me who’d ever want someone like me.”

            “There are people that would. I mean, you and Alix get along well enough. You’d just need to look for someone like that.”

            “A nice sentiment, not that I would though. So, stop bringing it up.”

            “Bridge, I’m just trying to avoid what I did to you. Once I create those bonds, I can’t break them.”

            “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Besides, you should realize that with Fluff’s announcement, all present kwamis will be picking a holder soon. That includes the spider. If you don’t want to be weakened, you’ll need to do something.”

            Marinette paled. The buzzing silenced. She pursed her lips and tapped her fingers on her hand.

            “Please. I know you don’t want to repeat old mistakes, but these won’t be mistakes. They’ll be intentional. You just need to find people that would be utterly devoted to you. And not the flimsy devotion you get from your fans. You need something more. You need another me.”

            “But, if I do that, I’ll come before all other relationships. Their parents, siblings, partners, everything. They’ll owe their loyalty to me. On top of that, I’d have no idea how the relationship will be. I can handle more friends, but what if it’s someone that wants more? What if more than one person wants me like that?”

            Bridgette snorted. “What do you mean ‘what if?’ You read the comments and messages you get as often as I do. I think it’s obvious what your fans really like you for. Not to mention people shamelessly declaring they’d gladly ‘join your harem.’”

            Marinette groaned and hid her face. “I don’t want a harem. I would never have a harem. Why? Because I’ll make sure I never have relationships go that far. Would it be nice to have a partner? Maybe, but not at the price to be paid for it.”

            Bridgette rolled her eyes as Marinette continued. She leaned on a display case as she texted on her phone. She grinned as she sent a message to the girl group chat. Marinette stopped her rambling when her phone buzzed. Marinette opened the message and her face turned red. The silence filled again with buzzing.

            “Bridge! What the hell?”

            Bridgette snickered. “I mean, am I wrong?”

            “I don’t need a ‘dick appointment’ nor do I need a harem. Do you understand? I will be fine with the support I have. I will not make the same mistake twice. Have I made myself clear?”

            “Say it again. I didn’t quite get it the first time,” Bridgette remarked.

            Marinette growled and returned to the kitchen. She ignored Bridgette as she continued with the food preparation.

            Bridgette sighed and looked forward. Her stomach twisted and turned in knots. She kept her eyes on the street as she waited for the coming dawn.

~~

            “Wake up, bitches!” Alix roared. She blared her rock music at max volume.

            Mylene growled then covered her head with her pillow. Rose covered her ears as she curled up in a ball. Juleka and Luka slept through the noise. Zoe, Nino, and Kim rose from their sleep and joined Alix. Alix, Kim, and Nino worked on waking up everyone while Zoe looked for Adrien. Her smile fell when she didn’t see him. She looked at the stairs and headed onto the deck. She peeked around and saw him sitting under the glass structure with the white cat. She crept up and sat beside him.

            “How’re you holding up?” Zoe asked.

            Adrien shook his head.

            Zoe sighed and looked away. “I know. It’s… terrifying, isn’t it? Here we are, hiding from our parents who’re plotting who knows what. It’s just really crazy, right?”

            “I’m scared, Zoe.”

            “Me too. We’re surrounded by strangers in a strange place. Mother put a warrant out for us with the entire calvary looking. And then there’s Chloe. Do you think she’s alright?”

            “I really hope so. I wish she would have come with us.”

            “Me too, but I get what she was doing. She didn’t want all of us together. I mean, I suppose it would have been too dangerous with all of us in one place. Easier to get us all. And I suppose she’s way more resourceful than us too. I just don’t like the idea of her being all alone. Y’know?”

            “I don’t either. We should be able to do something, right?”

            “Like what though?”

            “I… don’t know, but we can’t just sit here.”

            “Yeah, but what can we do? We have an entire police department looking for us. Our parents hellbent on finding us for whatever scheme they’ve concocted. Chloe is out there somewhere doing whatever she is to keep us safe. So, what can we do?”

            The white cat meowed and transformed into a white cat kwami. “Mayhaps I could be of assistance?”

            “Uh, how?” Adrien asked.

            “You long to help, right? With who knows what on the horizon, you’ll need all the help you can get. As such, I can be that help seeing how I grant powers and all that.”

            “Which powers do you offer? And which kwami are you?”

            “I am Saoirse, Kwami of Freedom. Of the powers I can offer a mortal, a holder gets to use the power of teleportation. Quite handy, don’t you think?”

            “Well, yeah. So, how does this work?”

            Saoirse held out her hand. Light appeared and formed into a gold ring. “Adrien Agreste, this is my jewel. Should you accept our bond, know that your life will never be the same again. Do you accept the freedom I offer?”

            Adrien furrowed his brow and looked at Zoe.

            Zoe shrugged. “It doesn’t seem like a bad idea. For all we may know, our parents could have kwamis of their own. Especially if they were seeking the black cat.”

            Adrien inhaled sharply. “Shit. I didn’t think about that.”

            “Then I’d take it. But that’s just me.”

            Adrien nodded. He grabbed the ring and slipped it onto his right ring finger.

            “Now, say: ‘Saoirse, claws out!’”

            “Saoirse, claws out.”

            Zoe watched in awe as Adrien transformed. His formal clothes became a white catsuit with white thigh high boots. Twin belts wrapped around his hips and extended out into a tail. A golden cat bell sat on his collar along with white cat ears atop his head. A white mask covered half of his face as his eyes turned purple and catlike.

            Zoe jumped up and circled Adrien. “Look at you! Love the hair down. I do wish you’d keep it that way more often. Oh, and the bell. The bell is cute.”

            “This is… interesting.”

            “It is! Let’s go show the others.”

            Zoe grabbed Adrien before he could answer. She dragged him downstairs into the chaos. They paused as they stared at everyone.

            Alix and Kim fought with Rose to get Juleka up. Luka sat on the couch with his head propped up on his arm, watching the argument. Mylene was curled up under her covers. Nino sat back with the kwamis and watched everything.

            “Just get her up, Rose. We have a whole day of shit to get up to,” Alix commanded.

            “No, and you can’t make me,” Rose said.

            “Just let her sleep, guys,” Luka remarked.

            “Let us all sleep!” Mylene yelled.

            “Sleep is for the weak,” Nino shouted.

            “Hey, guys! Time out!” Zoe called.

            Kim, Nino, Alix, and Rose looked at Zoe. Their jaws dropped when they saw Adrien.

            “What the hell?” Nino asked.

            “You accepted that kwami,” Rose breathed.

            “Wait, that’s what we get if we accept a kwami? A superhero outfit and superpowers?” Kim demanded.

            “Well, technically, the clothes can be whatever you want them to be,” Rose explained.

            “But we can look like superheroes?” Kim pressed.

            “Yes?”

            “Sick! I want one now!” Kim declared.

            “Of course, you do. Hey, rich model boy! Strike a dashing pose for me,” Alix commanded.

            Alix raised her phone camera to Adrien. He blinked and posed on instinct. She took several photos, then grinned.

            “What are you doing?” Kim asked.

            “I’m sending these to Marinette,” Alix answered.

            Adrien blushed. “What? Marinette? No, please.”

            “Oh, relax. Bridgette will see them before Marinette does.”

            “Wait, is that why Marinette never responds to me?” Kim asked.

            “No fucking shit. You honestly think Bridge will let your nasty ass near Mari alone?” Alix retorted.

            “For the love of Gaia, stop! Mari is our friend, and you should respect her, Kim. Now, can we all shut up and go back to bed, please,” Mylene asked.

            “No one here wants to go back to sleep, Mylene,” Alix shot back.

            “I do. Juleka is still sound asleep, and looks like Luka is nodding off too,” Mylene pointed out.

            Alix turned towards Luka. His eyes were closed and his breathing slow and even as if he were in a deep sleep.

            Alix rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m going for a morning run.”

            “I’ll join,” Kim said.

            The pair headed out. Mylene sighed and curled up. Nino shrugged, put his headphones on, and blared his music.

            Rose maneuvered around to Adrien and Zoe. Rose opened her mouth but paused when footsteps thundered on the deck. Rose pulled Adrien and Zoe out of the way as Bridgette jumped into the hold, wearing a black sports crop top and leggings. Bridgette grinned as she put down the pastry boxes.

            “Look at you! I didn’t think it was real, but fuck. Welcome to the crew, kitty,” Bridgette mused.

            “Uh, thanks.”

            “Alright, everyone! Breakfast is here!” Bridgette declared.

            Mylene groaned and rose from her bag to help Rose with moving the pastries to the kitchen. Luka sighed and got up. He moved to the kitchen and started on a pot of coffee. Bridgette trotted over to Juleka and poked her.

            “Hey, Cousin! Juleka is still sleeping!” Bridgette called.

            Adrien’s cat ear twitched at the sound of Marinette’s frustrated sigh. He tilted his head as he wondered what was wrong. Marinette was always so cheery and bubbly, at least in her photos. Did something happen? He watched the stairs as Marinette walked down. His jaw dropped when he saw her.

            Marinette wore a long gold cheongsam dress with splits up both sides clear up to her hips. The dress had stitching of gold, red, and black flowers with bees buzzing around. She wore black spandex short shorts underneath for some modesty with a pair of black thigh high boots and a set of black ball gown gloves with gold trim at the hems. Her hair was half-drawn back in a Chinese bun decorated with flowers and a single hair stick.

            Zoe grinned and poked Adrien. “She’s really pretty, isn’t she?”

            Adrien nodded.

            “You know, you’re very lucky that suit doesn’t show anything,” Zoe remarked.

            Adrien frowned. “Why are you looking down there?”

            “To further tease you. You are my brother after all,” Zoe teased.

            Adrien snorted and ruffled Zoe’s hair. “You little runt.”

            Zoe laughed and swatted at Adrien’s hand. “Careful who you call a runt, pussy.”

            Adrien blushed and growled like a cat.

            “Glad to see you two in such high spirits. How’re you holding up?” Marinette said.

            “Hanging in there. Still worried about what’s going to happen,” Adrien remarked.

            “We all are. Just be careful and don’t do anything reckless, please.”

            “We’ll try not to, but we’ll still help where we can. We are just as involved as the rest of you. Might as well do something right?”

            Marinette smiled. “I’m sure the others will appreciate it. Come along, Bridge.”

            “You’re not staying?” Zoe asked.

            “I’m afraid not. I have some prior engagements to see to today. If all goes well, I should hopefully be able to swing by tonight to bring you back to my place, Zoe. For now, just relax, ok?”

            Zoe nodded.

            “Um, Marinette?” Adrien started.

            “Yes?”

            Adrien held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure getting to meet you and I look forward to working with you.”

            Marinette smiled and took Adrien’s hand. They froze at the other’s touch. A small golden light weaved around them. Her eyes widened as she saw red threads that ensnared him like a fly caught in a web. The light evaporated the strands and threaded together a golden cord that linked them.

            Zoe’s eyes widened. Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Bridgette jumped up. She ripped Marinette from Adrien, pushing him down. She scooped up Marinette and ran out of the hold towards the Vespa.

            “You should have listened to me, Cousin. I told you-.”

            “That’s not what that was, Bridge.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “My powers reacted as a counter measure. They negated its powers and created a safeguard.”

            “Wait, you don’t mean?”

            “The spider is already active and it’s one of us.”