#like the movement feels great and since the weapon drops are random

[macgyvertape]

D2 season of the Plunder Thoughts

gameplay stuff above cut story stuff below in a liveblog format (what a mess this post is when tumblr ate my bullet points)

DIM has been painfully slow and it’s a problem with the Bungie API system, DiM is so integral to quality of life in the game, the app can’t compare. Tower has been unusably slow like the last few season but even worse

 I appreciate the UI buff changes, color coding it via class and with different shapes.

 Story progression requiring 50 champ kills and giving bonus for master ketchcrash is so bullshit since master ketchcrash isn’t matchmade and requires a high powerlevel grind. Glad they made it autocomplete after a day

The ketchcrash activity is fun, it's great that it's randomized to reduce the monotony of the grind. I think it’s neat the level of companion AI there is.

 However expeditions are frustrating with the ruffian mechanic which only progresses when you sit around and throw the treasure away. So they basically never show up with blueberries.

 Destroy shield generators is also a pain. Fighting other guardians for the scorch cannon then some asshole steals it right from your kill. Same thing with deposit treasure for scallywag, where you fight other guardians for it. A lot of people complained about this with scythe kills last season

Nice to see old areas repurposed for pirate hideouts

.Anti-barrier sniper is really bad this season, between the flinch changes and snipers being outclassed by other weapons the damage power isn’t there like lastime

The real flaw this season is the reward structure. So few red border drops, limits on the ability to buy focused weapons when you have challenges that require leveling them.

The challenge of “level 3 seasonal shaped weapons to lvl 10” exemplifies this when I had 0 seasonal weapons crafted by then

 Even worse that challenge gives repute when I need more repute to buy something that increased the drop rate.

I wish bungie wouldn’t lock GMs behind the power grind. They’re the content I want to do but irl keeps me busy so I never get to power level until after GMs start

Glad I don’t care about event title because I don’t have the time to grind for it. I made an attempt at getting challenges done but the weapon kills and 35 haunted sectors were too much of a time sink. So no point paying for the event pass even if I was interested. 

50 super kills in Mayhem was a lot easier this season with no classy restoration in PVP. Despite only using Thundercrash titan, I got that challenge done before “defeat guardians with arc damage”

Really enjoying whatever this Telesto thing is. Favorite fusion rifle and in top 3 favorite exotic guns. Edit: hmm it actually ended up being disappointing that they reverted all the changes

Very glad Devil Lair is the double loot GM. That way I can masterwork all my high stat exotics on hunter and titan

Masterworked Hunter Trip Grenade Gauntlets: wow those are a lot of fun with the new solar rework.

I played my Hunter and Titan characters a lot more this season, and I’m finally as comfortable doing endgame PVE with them as I am with my Warlock. Warlock is still my favorite class just how healing rift and grenade focus compliment my playstyle but learning to like all classes and be good is something I worked on since WQ launch and I think its paid off

Arc super on Warlock feels weak in that Chaos Reach can’t kill a champ in master content without Geomags, and ticklefingers is only really good for add control of which the rest of Arc Warlock kit provides a lot of other options.

Gathering Storm arc super for Hunter is great, finally makes Arc Hunter good in higher difficulty and its really good against both a crowd of adds and bosses. I think I used arc staff like once but it wasn’t as fun.

I didn’t think much changed for arc titan but I finally got the hang of the movement charged melees.

I love Brigand’s Law what a great sidearm. No Reprieve (stasis shotty) was the weapon I crafted first and lvled to 20. I don’t really like it as a precision shotgun but it will be great for Shank-Taniks boss fight next season.

Finally got my 3rd pattern for Seasonal weapons with 3 weeks left. Yeah the red border system this season was awfulI

 wound up not playing any iron banner this season. No seasonal challenges required it and if I’m not super interested in the game mode this season and skulking wolf trait isn’t good in PvE

.Just like seasonal event titles, the new IB structure incentives grinding a lot in 2 weeks. Its a fast track to burnout for me so I don’t go for it, but I dislike the shift towards short time to earn FOMO titles

 Did the raid almost every week on all 3 characters and no Touch of Malice, raid exotics being random RNG with no bad luck protection system is just such a waste of players time

This season I finally did a reset with Banshee, I’m glad they adjusted it.

Without even trying for it I got Thrillmonger medal, and thereby completed Dredgen. No FUCK no to ever trying to Gild it though

Glad there’s skill based matchmaking but crucible still sucks ass when I play with my friends in other timezones. Damage glitching with cheats or bad connections, gives me 0 reason to do pvp except for seasonal challenges and its so prevalent in Trials and Glory Playlist

The challenges I skipped were 100 Guardian stasis kills, and 2nd reset for Crucible and Gambit. If I’m not having fun then I won’t force myself to play

Did Master Rhulk through the streamer’s checkpoint system, it wasn’t that bad. Glad to get the sparrow.

Gameplay wise the community event was great to have during the last week, bonus rewards for doing a lot of playlist activities to finish seasonal challenges. I turned in most of my planetary materials to Rahool to buy golfballs, and I have most good stat exotics masterworked.

I’m SO GLAD they changed Scallywag to 8/9 triumphs, I’m tired of doing expeditions and I don't want to have to sit in the activity growing to hate Destiny to get it

I tried to do Master Caiatl with some clanmates on the last day and holy shit I think its the most difficult PvE in the game. Between survivability from lots of adds, match game with lots of shields, deaths from architects and being thrown off the map, and that you have so little time to kill bell keepers before Caiatl gets there. Its a lot to deal with and after close to an hour with no progress we gave up.Master WQ campaign mission was a cakewalk comparatively

First week:

I hope someone got a gif of the ketch flying overhead, that was my favorite part of Beyond Light, how present Eramis Shipstealer’s ketch is. Shame it wouldn’t let me replay the mission on other characters b/c of a bug. 

The following cutscene: cries in how bad my guardian looks on my graphics card. 

This pirate theme is a lot of fun, a lighter in tone breather from the horror of last season. If the music wasn’t a clue the fact that basically every NPC has a punny pirate name would do it 

Also the music that played during the cutscene sounded like the start of “the families” but different. Interesting because “the families” was from black armory soundtrack

Other weeks:

This is really peak Eliksni fucker season

While I’m enjoying Drifter’s antics I wish we got him being a bit more morally gray and sketchy like he was in Season of Outlaw/Joker’s Wild

Pirate Hideouts: The Blademasters - i do appreciate some immune Cabal chasing me with swords

In universe they keep calling what we’re doing “unsavory business” but aside from like working with Spider (leader of an organized crime ring) what morally dubious actions are we committing than our normal “privateering actions” where we basically have a comission of war from the Last City. Worst thing I guess we're doing is blowing up the ether and thereby starving others but that isn't like brought up as a plot point.

Spider and Misraaks have BIG ex energy. Feels like classic ex-significant other back in the life of the single dad causing drama with his child because the dad has a past he REGRETS

Misraaks threatening Spider(Rakis) is hot DILF shit.

Eramis is short! Wonder if she remembers me specifically as that guardian from Europa

Making people walk the plank into the void of space, marooning on small asteroids where who knows what you'd die from first. great melding of pirate+space.  Misraaks’ dark past wasn’t shocking, nothing that hadn’t been heavily hinted at 

The people in Victorian times ate mummies thinking it would be curative. Wonder what powers people would get from eating parts of Nezarac (edit: lmao what an easy I made before the cutscene even leaked)

Eramis vs Mithrax sword fight was great! Love that Eramis was there defending Eido. So curious about how things might have gone if Mithrax didn’t attack first

Feels nice to be the good guy again” WHEN DID YOU CHANGE DRIFTER?! you were pragmatic not moralistic, why are you not asking for any pay?! 

I wish there would be more pay off in the last week of the story instead of waiting for the last week of the season after a holiday event where you have to hope you have free time. The season just felt really anticlimactic, and I guess I wish Eramis’ message of “I can’t change I will never get over the pain of the whirlwind” wasn’t just in a radio message. Despite her threat to Eido I don’t  think she would follow through. Mithrax, yeah she’d totally hurt him. 

All of Drifter’s “funny” voicelines during the Halloween event, its like Drifter are you still the same character as the guy who killed and ate his fireteam to get off the ice planet and had people die for real in your gambit arena?

The community event of improving the eliksni quarter is cute, I don’t know if they went for the intentional parallels that Spider who is the face of organized crime in universe is “leading” the cleanup, when irl organized crime groups help the community because it gets them good pr

Love the end of season cutscene. Idk how to phrase this without uncharitable reading replies, but its good bungie made it explicitly clear it was a romantic relationship with an onscreen kiss. Like if you read the lore it’s been obvious for a while but in light of the 2021 IGN expose, and considering you have to go looking for the Immolant weblore, and when the writer was confirming it on twitter Osiris had already been replaced. Just glad Bungie doubled down about it being a gay romantic relationship and I hope everyone mad about it uninstalls. 

Overall its hard for me to say how much I would have enjoyed this season if I didn’t enjoy seeing characters who haven’t got a lot of screentime, especially since it was mostly Mcguffin chasing, with the twists of; Lucent Hive are after the relics too and Nazerac parts could wake up Osiris not really being built up before they’re revealed

[thetoxicgamer]

Borderlands meets Dead Cells as 9/10 roguelite sets Steam release date

As RyseUp Studios' roguelite first-person shooter Roboquest—now published by Payday creator Starbreeze Entertainment—gets ready for its full 1.0 debut on Steam, it will exit early access in the autumn. With Dead Cells-style fast-paced action, loot fit for Borderlands, and that genuine "one more run" compulsion, Roboquest is definitely one of the most alluring roguelites I've played in a while. Its complete release is scheduled to appear in the coming months. For those of you not acquainted with Roboquest, it’s a slick, fast-paced shooter with a Borderlands-like cartoon aesthetic that loads you up with randomized guns and loot that would feel quite at home in the Gearbox series. It draws from the best roguelikes to create a structure that gives you plenty of potential to customize and refine your builds over the course of each run, along with the option for two-player co-op. With super smooth, fast-paced movement and shooting at its disposal, Roboquest has felt great to play since it first launched via early access in August 2020. If you’re familiar with Dead Cells, you’ll quickly pick up on Roboquest’s stat system – each stat buffs certain aspects of your character, and weapons will specialize in one particular stat or, in some cases, your character’s highest value stat from a choice of two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQP7jxoeaq8 I tried Roboquest out on a whim when it first arrived on Microsoft’s Game Pass service and was instantly hooked, finding myself losing hours to that ‘one more run’ sensation thanks to just how good it feels. The gameplay and its challenging boss fights kept me coming back for more, but even at those early stages of development I felt like I had a lot of potential to create some wildly different builds and still make them effective. There’s a ton of variety to the weapons, from assault rifles to bows, grenade launchers, laser cannons dual machine pistols, and beyond, and they’re all incredibly fulfilling to blast down the various robot hordes with. This means your approach to a run can feel very different – choose a ranged precision tool and hang back, or rush in guns blazing amidst the chaos. It’s all up to you. As you progress through the levels, you’ll have to be versatile by changing your weapons to match the increased enemy difficulty – but thankfully with plenty of loot drops and chests that give you options, I’ve rarely felt stumped for choice. The whole thing is scored by a thumping, driving soundtrack from synthwave expert Noisecream, and it’s so good you’ll want to keep listening to it even when you put the game down for the night. Roboquest release date - gameplay screenshot of a boss fight. The player shoots at a large robot in the middle of an arena, as the enemy deploys cones of dangerous fire on the floor.The full Roboquest release date will see the game’s final level (and its corresponding boss) introduced to the game, along with five alternative levels to explore and fight your way through. Another class has been added, and a blend of new and reworked perks should offer even greater run customization than before. There’s four new weapon types, over 15 additional enemies, and plenty of quests and secrets to uncover. Roboquest releases on Steam and the Xbox app in Fall 2023. You can add it to your Steam wishlist, or buy it now for $19.99 / £16.75 to get right in and start playing the early access version. It’s also available as part of Microsoft’s PC Game Pass library, so if you’re a subscriber you can check it out at no additional cost. Alternatively, we’ve got more of the best co-op games to keep you and your friends having plenty of fun. Alternatively, browse the best free PC games and you’ll be surprised by just how much high-quality gaming can be yours for absolutely nothing. Read the full article

[foxstens]

dead cells is so fun but so hard :((((((

[tainted-wine]

Primal Dissonance

Hawks x Reader (NSFW)

So anon was like:

And since I’m total ass at writing short drabbles, or maybe it’s because they called me senpai, I ended up with a whole-ass fic. This took a different route than planned but I hope you enjoy, anon!

Words: 4.3k

Warnings: Dubcon, Pheromones, Mindbreak, Feral Hawks, Rough and Public Sex, Tit Abuse. This totally isn’t as dark as it sounds.

--------x--------

Hawks has been getting noisy. Not in the usual sense; he’s always a motormouth. No, he’s been making sounds that you’ve never heard him make.

At first you thought he was sick and something was irritating his throat, but on one occasion when you offered him water after hearing the sound, he almost looked offended. You concluded that it wasn’t an illness.

You later noticed that the noise often happens when it’s just the two of you together. During late night movie viewings at his place, he’d hold you close and release a constant hum, the vibrations from his chest and wings soothing enough to make you drift into sleep in his arms. You never saw the look of disappointment in his face as he decided to cuddle you for the rest of the night.

Just a few days later, he spots you during one of his patrols and presents you with a surprise expensive gift. A ruby pendant, the same brilliant shade as his feathers, was placed around your neck by gentle gloved hands.

“Hawks—why—what did I do to deserve this?” You asked while your eyes reflected the gemstone’s sparkles.

“Just wanted to give a pretty gift to my pretty girl.” He gave you a kiss, and waves of soft hums leave his mouth and into yours, flowing through your body, stimulating all of your nerves and triggering pleasant shivers. One makeout session later, and you both pull back to lock eyes. He’s looking at you expectantly, but you don’t even know what the hell he’s expecting.

You look to the side awkwardly. “Thank you, Hawks. It’s beautiful, but I…don’t have anything to give in return. This was a complete surprise, after all.”

His eye twitches, but he smiles and embraces you. “That’s fine, chickadee.”

A pigeon appears during your hug, and the soft coos emanating from it give you an epiphany.

“A pigeon! That’s what it is! You’re cooing like a pigeon!”

This time it’s his smile that twitches. Did you say something wrong? Whatever it is, he brushes it off with a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

That was also the day you noticed his rising body temperature. You asked once again if he was feeling ill, and at least this time he didn’t appear to be upset when he answered ‘no.’

On the next night you spent in his home, he—and you’re still not over this—took your hand and pulled you in for a dance. It wasn’t some silly jig in which he blindly moved to a random pop song, it was a slow classic love song, and he moved both of you in an elegant dance fitting for a ballroom.

It was the last thing you expected from the hero that normally took you on KFC dates or, if he had the time, reserve a spot at his favorite yakitori place. But there was no way you could say that you didn’t like the way his feet glided across the floor, wings acting as a living cape that made each of his movements look all the more graceful, and you followed his pace as best as you could.

You clung onto him more tightly than intended when he dipped you after a spin, sharp avian eyes boring into you before he buries his face in your neck, and that’s when you feel more than hear the cooing return. It’s a tune that never fails to make you feel so warm and safe; you have no idea how his gentle sounds have such influence over you.

He looks pleased by your relaxed state, pulling you back up and brushing a few stray hairs out of your face. “So?”

You smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I didn’t know you had such grace, Hawks. Now hurry up, or we’re going to miss the movie for tonight!”

You scampered off into the kitchen to prepare the popcorn, completely oblivious to the baffled look your boyfriend was giving behind your back.

A few days later and you’re more certain than ever that he’s coming down with something, because now there’s a constant sheen of sweat all over his skin, and his breath sounded labored even when he was just sitting around. Since he ignores all of your pleas to stay home for just a day or two, you come up with another solution. Hawks pouts like a child when you tell him that a little nature and clean air might restore his health, but he still accepts your offer for a date at a nature park because hey, spending a day in natural beauty with you sounds great.

You practically dragged him into a bus after telling him several times that he shouldn’t tire himself out prematurely by flying both of you there. One long scenic drive later, you both arrive at your beautiful destination. The park was huge and lush with flora of all kinds, from tree-filled paths to endless flower fields.

Exploring everything this paradise has to offer with Hawks sounds like a dream, but your main goal was to loosen him up and help him feel better, so you avoided the populated areas, passing the cycling roads, the play areas, the bug houses, all of the charming attractions until you reached the long stretches of vibrant colors. The flower park.

You and Hawks began a slow stroll hand-in-hand, taking in the seemingly endless blooms, the trees shedding petals onto the walkway—all of it served as the most delicious treat for your eyes.

But when you looked at the winged hero to see if he was enjoying the scenery as much as you were, you saw that he was staring at you. His face was slightly flushed, but you couldn’t tell if it was the result of his feverish temperature or if he’s finding this whole date very romantic.

“The flowers are over there, birdbrain,” you joked with a squeeze of his hand.

His wing wrapped around you and pulled you in closer, encasing you in his abnormal heat. “The only flower that matters is right here.” There was a rough breathlessness to his voice that made the otherwise corny line sound sensual.

And then the coos returned, bringing you back to that pleasant world where everything was warm, soft, and safe. The red feathers surrounding you quivered and rippled like ocean waves of scarlet. You were supposed to be making him feel at ease here, not the other way around.

A chorus of chirps snapped you out of your stupor. You broke out of the hypnotic embrace and spot a bunch of small bouncing figures in the white lilac tree in front of you. “Aww, look at all of the little tits, Hawks!” You point at the flock of singing critters.

Hawks snorted immaturely.

Before you could withdraw your arm, one of the Japanese tits flew over and perched on your still-extended finger, leaving you bug-eyed and your mouth agape. “Hi there! You’re a brave little guy, aren’t you?” You said softly, hoping not to startle it. It tweeted in response, fluffing up its black and white plumage as it looked up at you curiously. “Hawks! It’s so cute!”

Red wings bristled, but you were too enamored with the friendly bird on your hand to even look back at your boyfriend. It continued to sing, the tits sitting in the tree joining in to create an adorable medley of chirps, tweets, and peeps. “Such a nice sound, I never realized how amazing these little guys are.” You keep watching the beady eyes that stare right back at you, feeling the bird’s little feet move quickly as it adjusted itself to get more comfortable.

And with a powerful slug from a hardened red feather out of nowhere, the tiny tit is knocked off of your finger and sent flying like a fucking golf ball.

Your pointing hand was still out as you looked on, eyes and mouth now wide open in horror instead of awe. The poor bird managed to right itself before it hit the ground, flapping frantically to ride the light breeze and fly past its tree of brethren and off into the distance, its sloppy turns and sudden drops betraying how dazed it was.  

With your short-lived friend out of your sight, you turned to the man that ruined your magical bonding session, multiple negative emotions boiling inside you and ready to spill right onto this bastard. “Hawks!” You’re prepared to blow his ears off with every ounce of frustration, every concern that’s been plaguing you for the past week thanks to the strange changes that he refuses to talk about, but then you freeze.

The man’s face has darkened, eyes narrowed with its pupils shrunken into beady slits, lips pressed together in a tight frown—he looked enraged. But the terrifying look wasn’t directed at you, he was looking up at the innocent tits still residing in the tree and paying no mind to the violent treatment of one of their own. As his wings slowly spread with feathers sharpened, your chest constricted once you realized what was about to happen.

“Stop!” You threw yourself at him, grabbing at the outstretched limbs in a pitiful attempt to stop them, the bladed edges cutting your hands. It was still enough to shock and prevent him from launching any of the deadly weapons at the birds. You felt his feathers return to their soft fluffy state as he stumbled from your weight. “What the hell are you doing? What, are you pissed that it chose my hand instead of yours? The hell is wrong with you?”

Now he was aiming the glare at you, and you couldn’t help but shrink under the intimidation. His voice was shockingly low. “Just what game are you playing at here? Gushing over another bird’s song right in front of me?”

You eyed his still-expanded wings as you tried to make sense of what he said. “What?” Was all you could say.

“Here I was thinking you just had extremely high standards, but maybe you’re the type that likes to play hard to get, or make your guy jealous and see how he handles it.” He took a step toward you, and you took one back. “Well let me tell you, I’m not handling it very well.”

What he was implying would have made you burst into laughter if he didn’t look so threatening right now. “You’re…jealous? Of the bird that was on my finger?”

He laughed, or at least tried to, but the shortness of breath made him cough. The sudden anger must be worsening whatever has been making him hot and throaty for the past days. He needs to calm down for his own damn sake. “I guess I shouldn’t be, should I? Not for a girl who gets wet over any bird that does something as simple as approach her.”

“Excuse me?” Did you hear that correctly? No joke, did you really hear that shit correctly?

Hawks just keeps on going, taking your bewilderment as more mockery. “I give you something shiny, you don’t say anything.” A flash of several feathers and you feel your arms being pulled in front of you, the red tufts tying your wrist together.

“I put on a nice dance I practiced for, and you don’t say anything. Did you even notice that I cleaned and decorated the room that night?” You’re panicking from your tied hands and don’t see him fire another barrage that goes for your ankles, their tugs forcing you to lose your balance and fall hard onto the ground with a pained cry. Your hands are forcefully pinned above your head. “Hell, you seem to enjoy my song every time you hear it, so what’s the deal?”

While your heart is on the verge of exploding from its anxious beats, the gears in your head are spinning as you try to figure out how exactly this whole miscommunication even happened, but they keep jamming, filling your head with sparks and smoke of pure confusion. “What song? You haven’t been singing anything!” You yell as you fight against the feather-made cuffs around your hands and feet, but there was no breaking free. They suddenly felt as strong and durable as elastic metal.

Hurt flashes across his face and you don’t understand why goddammit, but it’s quickly masked with another scowl. “You mean the song that’s lulled you to sleep? The song that never fails to put you at ease every time? I can sense it, you know. How calm and pleased you feel whenever you hear it. I know it’s not the loud obnoxious tune of a songbird,” he glances at the tree that continues to emanate various calls as he kneels over you, nearly straddling your waist. Smart of him to keep his groin out of the range of your knees. “But you still enjoy it, right? I’m not too upset that you compared it to a shitty pigeon.”

You only stutter in shaky breaths as he lowers himself and presses all of his weight onto you, your eyes shut as he nuzzles your face lovingly. He feels like a furnace, the sweat from his face slathering onto yours from his rough rubs.

That’s when you smell something potent. You’ve picked up traces of it from him throughout the week, a strange but not unpleasant mixture of salt and sweet. You assumed it to be some sort of shampoo or cologne, but now it’s hitting you full force and it’s making your body…respond. With each inhale, the exotic scent sends a tingle down your abdomen and a release of wetness that dampens your clothing. What the hell is happening to you?

Hawks pulls away and sniffs the air. Your feminine aroma has him moan so suggestively that it makes your core heat up even more. “Oh, so this is getting you going?” He questions in a judgmental tone before something appears to cross his mind, and he laughs with a slap to his forehead. “I’m such an idiot. I’ve been doing this all wrong, haven’t I? You’re not a bird.” He kisses at the side of your face and licks the shell of your ear before whispering, “You’re a mammal. You don’t choose a mate by their pretty gifts or fancy dances.”

The lustful haze invading your mind almost distracts you from whatever is tugging at your pants and pulling them down. “H-Hawks…” You accidentally moaned. You were too out of it to even properly convey your worry. Your pants are removed and something tickles your hips to remove your panties next—that’s when you identify them as more feathers.

“With mammals, males just take what they want. They catch her, hold her down, and fuck her on the spot.”

You gasp when your lower body is completely stripped and exposed—a mistake—Hawks’s intoxicating smell rushes into your mouth and nostrils, making you clench and gush. He lifts himself just enough for the living binds around your wrists to pull and drag you off of the stone walkway and into the blooming batches. The flowers were just tall enough to probably hide you from anyone at a distance, but the winged man crawling over and sitting in front of your feet would easily give you away. “Hawks, someone…might see us,” you mutter.

He only chuckles. “Good, I want them to see. Are you little bastards watching?” He looks up at the lilac tree that now looms right over both of you. The resting tits have gone quiet, most likely intimidated by the large bird-human hybrid that continued to glare at them.

The response was ridiculous enough to temporarily free you from your trance. “I’m not worried about the birds, you dumbass.”

“Hmph, of course you’re not. You’d let them all join in if I’d let you, wouldn’t you?”

You have so many questions about how that would even work.

But you’re interrupted by the feathers around your ankles pulling your feet apart, easily overcoming your resistance and spreading you wide open for the hero in front of you. You have to look away from just how soaked you are, juices flowing from your swollen pussy and onto the soft soil, some of it sticking to your parted thighs in strands. The sight makes Hawks salivate.

“I’m at the peak of my rut and I’m tired of waiting. Gonna make you mine.”

It’s all he says before his entire mouth is on your cunt, tearing a startled cry from your throat. The peaceful sounds of the wind and rustling leaves are overshadowed by the absolutely filthy slurps, sucks, and growls between your legs. He was being a greedy savage that simply wanted to drink you up. There were no careful methods or patterns, just a hungry tongue that lapped at every inch of you and lips that sucked on anything they could grip.

You could barely even writhe from the onslaught, what with your arms pinned over your head and your feet held down so strongly that you couldn’t even move them across the dirt. You kept your sights on the rich colors of various flowers that encircled you as the sweet-smelling haze enveloped you again, enhancing your pleasure. Despite Hawks’ sudden loss of his oral skills, the feral nature of it all—the smothered snarls against your sex, the startling feel of his teeth carelessly grazing your sensitive flesh, and the lewd sight of his face covered in your glistening juices as his glassy eyes opened and stared into yours as he ate you alive—his voracity had you boiling over.

He gulped your essence loudly, welcoming every drop of the orgasmic flood into his mouth. All of the colors in your vision blurred more with each mind-numbing pulse. You weren’t even aware of the shameless wails that left you until the blissful waves finally subsided.

Once he had his fill, he finally pulled away from your mound and boy did he look like a hot mess. His cheeks were a deep red that was slowly spreading across his cum-covered face, a beady string of your fluids hanging from his lips before dripping off. He was climbing back over you and when the fuck did he take his pants off? He must have unbuttoned and removed them while he was licking you into heaven.

He still manages to look smug while he takes in your spent form, your slightly parted lips impossible to resist. Your mouth was suddenly locked with his, the breath you were desperately trying to get back stolen from you. And then the scent returns, this time accompanied with a powerful salted lemon flavor that assaults your taste buds. The taste of your own pussy was insignificant; his aroma in both your nose and mouth is nearly suffocating, your still-recovering inner walls already squeezing out more of your slick.

His tongue thrashes about in your mouth to paint his sweet saliva on every spot he could reach. You swallow it up thirstily and feel an immediate response in your throat that somewhat frightens you. Numbness overtakes your mouth and your throat relaxes completely; you felt like it was suddenly impossible to choke.

Hawks messily pulls away, breathing heavily and licking his lips. “Look at you. All it takes is a whiff and taste of a rutting male to turn you into a submissive little bitch.” You’ve never heard him speak like that, but like every action he’s taken since you’ve been at his mercy, it doesn’t fail to arouse you for reasons you still don’t understand. “Do you want some more? Hmm?”

You’re nodding before your crippled mind can comprehend the question.

The drugged kiss has you dizzy. You’re doing your best to keep track of his movements as he straddles your chest, his cock coming into focus and pressing against your lips. He doesn’t give you a command, you simply open up like a trained whore.

You’re moaning from the addicting taste of his length that pushes all the way to the back of your throat. Once his pubes are flush against your nose, your eyes roll back and you lose all sense of…everything. Everything except for that exhilarant fragrance and flavor.

Even as he begins to move in your mouth, your tongue swirls all around the sweet meat in an attempt to taste him all over. You’re throbbing wildly, but the feathers prevent you from bringing your thighs together for some much needed friction.

He was thrusting in and out at a pace that should have you gagging, but you take the pounding smoothly. Everything was murky, save for the pleasure that was slowly consuming you. You think the birds are singing again, maybe.

Something was smacking against your chin…rather loudly, you think. Hawks’s balls. How obscene, the way he’s hunched over you and fucking your face so roughly, but it’s hard to feel embarrassed when it’s all making you feel so damn good. Drool gathers and drips down your mouth. Your throat has become a second pussy, and he was fucking it like one.

The scent has your entire body on fire and you wish so badly that you could touch yourself. It was too powerful, each breath filling you with more burning tension. Your desperate whines came out as bubbly gurgles around his hammering dick. Your climax is dangling right at the edge. All you need is just the smallest touch on your drenched, deprived pussy.

His thick intrusion suddenly leaves your mouth, allowing oxygen to properly enter your lungs and for the pooling saliva to be swallowed. Hawks says something as you cough and sputter, but everything is still too muffled.

“Good……….not yet……….finish inside.” That was all that you were able to catch. You frankly don’t care. You immediately want his overpowering scent back.

When something pushes past the entrance between your legs, you cum instantly. Your scream is silent, or maybe you just can’t hear it, as your restrained limbs twitch like mad from the excruciatingly pleasurable contractions.

You’re already being fucked roughly while you’re still coming down from your orgasmic high. You’re rocked against the flowers and the soft earth beneath, your peaceful surroundings a stark contrast to the raunchy act currently taking place among them.

Hawks leans in once again, and you have to turn away and hold your breath because you truly felt like one more whiff of that mouth-watering smell would bring you the most euphoric death. His mouth drew closer to your ear, harsh pants in sync with his rapid thrusts. There’s no way a body was meant to handle so much stimulation, yet you didn’t want it to end.

You wanted this powerful man and everything that he had. You want him to fill your womb with his seed…bear his strong and healthy offspring…then let him take you all over again…

There’s a soft rumble that brings you back down to earth, clearing your mind just enough so that all of your senses work properly again. The smudged colors return to their original shapes, and the cooing that vibrates through both of your bodies can be heard loud and clear. His song.

“That’s it, baby. I’ve got you right here. Just give in to me.” Hawks sounds on the verge of losing his voice, weak and graveled, but his singing and hips aren’t letting up.

Finally, fucking finally, the feathers release your limbs. Ignoring how boneless they feel, you use all of your strength to wrap your arms tightly around his neck, and your legs lock right above his ass. You cling onto him like a parasite and moan freely, trusting his low and soft vocals to keep you grounded as his citrus aura captivates you again.

Your involuntary clenches ruin him and take him to his peak, several more hard and deep pumps bringing you to your final climax. Both of you cry out loudly enough to scare away the tits still resting in the tree, the small flock flying off to find a quieter perch.

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

Good. That showed the little bastards.

Hawks smiled triumphantly as the small birds fled the erotic scene. Once he was certain that none of them were coming back, he returned his attention to you. Your chest heaved with each audible breath, your entire body drenched in sweat, just like his. He laid a gentle hand on your cheek, thumb stroking lovingly as you close your eyes for much-needed rest after almost losing your mind.

He did it. He finally claimed you, and all he had to do was just show a little dominance…and expose you to a hefty dose of pheromones. It was clearly way more than you could handle—maybe the face-fucking wasn’t the best idea, but it looked like you were enjoying yourself enough. No harm done.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Hawks was a cool-headed man. He’s managed to stay calm and collected in the direst of situations. Still, when he slowly turns around to see a man dressed in the park’s staff uniform, blushing at the sight of a sweaty couple with no pants on among the innocent blossoms, he can’t help but feel just a wee bit fucked.

“H-Hawks? It’s really you? Wha-?” The poor guy is lost for words from the fact that he just found the number 2 hero banging someone in public.

Eh, he’s talked his way out of tighter spots.

With a smile, the winged hero sends a few feathers to his discarded pants and withdraws a pen from its pockets.

“How about a deal, buddy? An autograph from yours truly and a coupon for my merch. All you gotta do is walk away and forget what you just saw.”

[agentwhiskeysdarlin]

Kinktober:Day 4

Size Difference & Cunnilingus with Din Djarin

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!Reader

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: NSFW below the cut, this is so filthy, Din and his possessive self, poor reader gets manhandled, everyone is frustrated, oral (female receiving), teasing, cum play if you really squint, p in v sex, slight armor kink, rough sex, dom/sub undertones, fluff

Word Count: 1,518

Author’s Notes: This was just a given with this man am I not right? It has been soooooo long since I have written for Din and I truly missed it. Don't expect it much in the future but this was fun! Feedback is welcomed (but do be nice I’m fragile) and enjoy! Big thanks to @clint-aww-no-barton​

Kinktober Masterlist

ao3 link

  He was driving you crazy. Absolutely crazy. His shiny beskar armor, his stupid voice, sounding deeper thanks to the modulator in his helmet, and his stature over you. He always got you going, but recently it was worse. And now you were set on doing the exact same thing. You would brush against him, being sure to let your hand graze over his clothed member, or pushing your breasts against places you knew he could feel. You would slip on one of his shirts after using the fresher, and then bend down after “accidentally” dropping something, giving him a slight peep show. Unfortunately the great Mandalorian was not as hard to break as you were. 

Now here you were on a random planet trying to find a bounty. It was not going as planned. Din was beginning to get frustrated and you were getting frustrated in other ways. You kept white knuckling your blaster as you watched your man do what he did best. You were going to lose your mind if you weren’t ravished, and soon.

  “Din let’s just go back to the crest and start fresh. It’s getting dark and we’re getting nowhere,” you stepped closer, rubbing his arm and batting your eyelashes in an over the top way.

  He let out a frustrated growl, before his helmet tilted down to you and then to the side, like he was trying so hard to figure out your game. Then he let out a slightly defeated sigh.

  “Fine. Come on,” were his simple words before he started back for the crest.

  By the time you got back to the ship, night had fallen making everything dark. Din flipped a switch closing the ramp, as you placed your blaster in the weapons cabinet. and then turned back towards him. He was just standing there, his attention clearly on you.

  “Din what…”

  You never got to finish your sentence. The ramp hissed shut and Din ripped his helmet off, the sound almost too loud as it clattered to the floor, and he had you backed against the wall caging you between it and his massive self.

  “You are driving me fucking crazy. All fucking day. Batting those eyelashes, biting your lip, doing all this to get my attention while I’m trying to concentrate on finding this bounty,” the last words came out between gritted teeth.

  You were breathless and speechless. Your chest heaved in a pant as you looked up at him so tall over you.

  “Oh now you have no witty come back huh? That’s it?”

  His movements were quick as he stripped you completely bare for him, before picking you up. Your legs came up hook over his massive shoulders and he slammed you against the cold wall. You let out a gasp, your skin already on fire. His head was pressed between your legs, his tongue flattened against your slit as he licked from, your already dripping entrance, to your clit. He stopped to circle the bundle of nerves before sucking it between his lips. You finally were able to react, a loud moan falling from your mouth and your head going back to the wall. Anyone else in the universe could have you in the same position and you would be scared of falling to the floor below you but not Din, his obvious strength sending a shiver down your spine. Your fingers flew into his hair and pulled slightly.

  “Fuck Din!” You let out a moan, almost screaming his name.

  He groaned against you and your hips bucked involuntary. He set in a pattern, being sure to pay attention to each and every little spot he knew sent you spiraling. He ate you like you were his last meal and he was desperate for the dessert you were growing nearer to serving him.

  “I’m close,” you panted and pulled at his hair again.

  His hold on you tightened and he seemed to push himself deeper into you. He skillfully held you up with one hand, bringing the other one up, glove still on, and plunged two fingers deep into you. He fingered you at a rapid pace and the dam broke. The combination of his tongue on your clit, his fingers inside you and the knowledge that this massive man was easily holding your small figure up was all too much, and you fell apart. You let out a loud and long moan, your back arching off the wall, your legs shaking around him. He was quick to remove his fingers and hold you against the wall as he lapped up every last bit of you with his tongue. You panted against the metal as he finished, before he dropped you down. You let out a shriek followed by a giggle, your arms coming around his neck and your legs around his waist. The cold beskar made you jump but moan at its coolness against your skin.

  “Din that was…”

  Again the man wouldn’t let you finish your sentence, as his lips crashed against yours.

You let out a moan against them, tasting yourself there, and your fingers found purchase in his hair again.

  “Amazing,” he whispered the word after the two of you finally pulled away.

  “That’s one word for it,” you chuckled, his forehead falling against yours.

  “I’m not done with you yet either,”  he smirked and once again backed you against the wall.

  You were suddenly overly aware that he was still dressed, aside from his helmet while you were completely bare and vulnerable for him. It made you let out a sigh as he positioned you against the wall right where he wanted you. He reached down with one hand, holding you against the wall once again skillfully as you held him around the neck. Your eyes held his as he pulled himself free from his pants and entered you. You let out a loud moan, your eyes fluttered closed and your head slammed back. He pistoned into you with several hard thrusts, his mouth hanging open but still watching your every reaction.

  “Fuck,” was all you could manage.

  You had had this man so many times, but you swore you would never get used to the stretch and the feeling of him buried inside of you. He began to speed up and fucked into you at a slightly rough pace. He wouldn’t go slow for long.

  “Fuck me like I drive you crazy Din,” you whispered the words and looked him dead in the eyes.

  He smirked before he started to pound into you at such a rate, you were surprised that your body didn’t let go right there. You gripped at him with white knuckles as he drove himself into you.

  “Like that little girl? Huh? Look at you completely naked for me and taking my cock so fucking good,” you could only answer with a string of moans.

  “Din I’m…”

  One of his hands came to the back of your neck, catching your attention and making your forehead press against his again. You were a mess and completely at his mercy, you knew your face told him that.

  “Let go for me,” he growled the words in a command and you came apart.

  If it wasn’t for him, you would have fallen to the ground as you came around him. It was the most intense orgasm you had ever felt, and somewhere in the distance you could hear him moan and follow you. He slowed and you came back down to earth, the numbness of your body fading away. You panted and grabbed at him still. He held you there, still inside of you but completely still. The two of you closed your eyes, enjoying the feeling for just a little longer, before he finally pulled away from you. You let out a whimper at the loss of him. He moved you around until you were in his arms bridal style. You were so tired, your eyes fighting to stay open. Din looked down at you and let out a chuckle.

  “Stay with me a little longer,” he kissed your forehead before placing you in the cot.

  “I’m trying,” you mumbled with a small, sleepy smile.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  One last kiss against your forehead and he was gone. He soon returned with a washcloth to clean you up, earning a hiss from you. He then stood, throwing it away somewhere before starting to remove his armor. You watched him with pure love dancing all over your face. Finally he was as naked as you, and climbed in next to you.

  “That was amazing.”

  “Yeah it was,” he looked down at you tucking hair behind your ear.

  “Maybe I need to get you all riled up more often,” you smirked.

  “Better be careful there little one, I won’t always go that easy on you.”

  “That makes me want to do it even more.”

  “Of course it does,” he let out a chuckle and shook his head.

  You shared a kiss and “I love you’s” before the two of you feel asleep wrapped up in each other.

Taglist: @jimmythegirl​ @arcadianempress​ @discogrrl​ @immundusspiritu​ @someplace-darker​ @thisis-theway​ @ohpedromypedro​ @scribbledghost​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @spookyold-saintjm​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @princess-and-pedro​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @littlevodka​ @all-hallows-evie​ @mack4676​ @perropascal​ @audreyshepbvrn​ @mswarriorbabe80​ (I hope everyone tagged is okay because I took this list from my last Jack fic)

[neonthewrite]

Washed Up Winchesters 1

Introducing the Winchester brothers reimagined as tiny denizens of the Lilliput/Blefuscan continent! They're just as determined to fight monsters, though they've met a giant who's definitely not a monster. Jacob will get them the help they need (don't worry. Chase will definitely hear about this).

Co-written with @nightmares06.

Reading time ~10 minutes.

-1- ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 )

Story Tag

~~~~~

This was probably the worst way his day could have gone.

It hadn't been so bad in the morning, when they first boarded the ship. An easy in and out job, according to Sam. Get in, make sure they correctly identified the monsters, get out. They'd make a real plan once they were sure of what they were fighting.

This? This was supposed to just be reconnaissance.

So much for that, Dean thought when he was tossed overboard, along with Sam and the bag of backup weapons, lovingly disguised as a bag of clothing that only occasionally rattled.

Hitting the water was like slamming into a cold, icy brick. The impact disoriented Dean and he lost sight of Sam as he immediately went under, dragged down by the weight of his duffel bag and jacket. With effort, he kicked free of the bag. It vanished into the dark waters.

This was turning into a terrible case from start to finish. Dean's favorite guns were in there, and he'd built most of them himself.

The thought of Sam sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor propelled Dean to kick weakly for the glassy ceiling above his head, the barrier that separated him from the open air. Lungs burning from trying to hold his breath, Dean had nearly despaired when a hand clamped around his wrist, dragging him into the open air with a huge gasp.

Eyes stinging from the salt water, Dean clung to the driftwood that Sam stuffed into his arms. His lungs heaved as he tried to catch his breath.

The ship, full of their enemies, was long gone, leaving the pair drifting on the open expanse of water, barely clinging to life after being tossed to their deaths.

~~~

Time and the ocean were kind to the stranded pair.

Sam had long lost track of the time, with only the glaring sun above to measure it by. Half of him was submerged in the waves, the other half clung to the driftwood.

After what felt like hours, his arms were weakening. Not knowing where to turn to head to the shore, both Winchesters were in danger of driving themselves further from land if they swam in a random direction.

The ship they had stowed away on had long since vanished on the horizon. Sam knew no rescue would come from them, but there was the possibility of a fishing trawler passing by and spotting the brothers in the waves. Any hope, no matter how small, was worth dwelling on.

Dean groaned, and Sam glanced his way. His older brother had taken the brunt of the impact when they were tossed overboard together, and was definitely feeling it.

“C’mon,” Sam rasped at Dean, his voice thick. Licking his lips, he tried to clear his throat. The salt water was doing them no favors, out here where there was no fresh water. “Just hang in there. I’m sure someone will be here in no time.”

False hope was better than no hope, in Sam’s estimation. He needed to keep his brother going until rescue came.

The sound of splashing in the distance drew Sam’s attention. He slapped Dean’s back, forcing him to look. “See? Someone found us!”

Dean blinked heavily, then squinted. “You sure that’s not just fish…?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sam scoffed. “Fish don’t move like that. In no time at all we’ll be back on solid ground!”

Then, relief crashed over him as he recognized that a person had found them. “See? Told ya,” he said tiredly, just barely hanging on to consciousness.

Dean only mumbled a reply, eyes half-lidded as he turned to look towards their savior. Out in the ocean, with nothing to compare to their approaching helper, for a moment it looked like their rescue would be by some regular teenager.

Losing his grip on the driftwood, Sam was too weak to avoid slipping into the waves.

~~~

It was an average day in Lilliput, as far as Jacob was concerned. Ever since he'd settled in the back pasture of the Lisongs' farm, a shaky routine had started up for him. After his morning ablutions, he would check at the edge of town to see if anyone needed anything from him. Sometimes, if he could get away with it, he would even tiptoe along the miniature avenues to explore the outskirts of the city.

Until someone scolded him and sent him on his way, at least. It wasn't safe for him to linger in the city, not with all the Lilliputians bustling about at all hours of the day. They always kept themselves busy.

He had lost track of how long exactly he'd been a permanent resident of the place. It was a simple lifestyle for him, no matter how fussed the little guys could get. He was used to it.

Some days, he preferred to explore the areas beyond the city and farther even than the farmland. Other little settlements dotted the countryside, and he avoided them, but still found more places to walk. For an entire country sized for miniature people, it had plenty of space for someone who definitely didn't fit in.

He found himself on the beach on a gloomy afternoon. The beach was the first place he'd seen in Lilliput. After washing up to shore with no clear idea of how he'd gotten there, he'd received the shock of his life.

The tiniest little person he'd ever seen had been chilling on him, hidden right under his hand. Things had only gotten weirder after that discovery.

Jacob stared out over the waves, his hands stuffed into the pocket of his jacket. The cold didn't bother him nearly as much as it could the smaller folk, but even he noticed a nip in the air. Concealed behind fog and distance he could faintly see Lilliput's neighbor island on half the horizon. He'd yet to visit the place.

The rest of the horizon was open sea, extending farther than anyone on Lilliput could even fathom. Even Jacob wasn't sure how far away he was from home.

The waves were choppy further out, but Jacob squinted. He had a natural advantage when it came to seeing a great distance from the shore--no Lilliputian would notice the splash of color against the waves, so very far away. Too far for any of their little boats to reach in any amount of time.

Holy shit!

With a sinking suspicion in his gut, Jacob waded out into the water, heedless of the tiny, crashing waves.

The shore was far behind him before he had to adjust his gait to account for the deeper waters. He wasn't the world's best swimmer by any means, but his height kept him above water even out past where most of the Lilliputians tended to bring their boats. Out here even he eventually ran the risk of stepping off the continental shelf.

Depending on what he found at the end of his frantic search, his plans to meet up with Chase might be postponed.

More than once, a particularly choppy wave would rise up and hide the small splash of color against the dark blue from his sight. He always had to pause so he could find it again, hoping whatever it was hadn't finally been pulled beneath the waves.

He'd wondered if he was making a fool of himself chasing after a simple piece of driftwood when he finally spotted it again and his heart sank. Not driftwood at all.

"Oh, no," he muttered to himself as he half-swam, half-walked further along. The ocean floor was evasive under his boots, but Jacob didn't lose his focus as he stretched out one arm, ready to lift a hand under the bedraggled shape of two miniature people clinging to each other and barely keeping above water.

Jacob winced as he lost his footing in the water at last, but he didn't have quite as much trouble staying afloat as the two little guys. While one of his hands reached out to the side to help him tread water, the other lurched forward just as one of them disappeared. He had to pray the movement of the water didn't steal the little guy away before he could reach him.

Relief welled up in him as he felt something small against his rising palm. He lifted it up further to scoop up the second little guy and his meager life preserver, and soon enough the water was rushing off of them and off his hand as he lifted them out.

One thing about Lilliputians that always stuck out to him was how feather light they were. Even weighed down with exhaustion and water, these guys were no different. To him, they were mere ounces on his palm.

He struggled for a moment with his free arm to push himself backwards through the water again, all while keeping his occupied hand above the waves. When he could actually stand again, he finally lowered them enough to check on them. He cupped both hands to try to keep them steady.

Please be alive, please be alive!

~~~

Dean, waking up slowly and desperately after seeing his brother slip beneath the water, found himself clinging to his driftwood as the water rushed off the edge of the surface that had risen beneath them, and blinked blearily in confusion, unable to place what had just happened.

Sam remained close by, only a few feet away on the same surface. His long locks of hair hung around his face and rippled in the remaining pools of water that remained after the torrent.

Struck with worry, Dean inched closer, grabbing Sam’s shoulder and rolling him so he was face-up. It was with relief that Dean saw that his younger brother’s chest rose and fell, breathing steadily. He had only dropped into unconsciousness from fatigue.

“Sammy,” Dean patted his shoulder, raising his head to look around at their surroundings to see just what had rescued them so far from shore.

It took a long moment of staring for just what Dean was seeing to sink in, and when it did, he bolted upright, scrambling back.

“Giant!”

Jacob’s eyes widened and he flinched back from the startled shout. While he balked from the sudden burst of flailing from the tiny little guy, he was too late to notice where he was going. Before Jacob could curl his fingers upward and keep the little guy safe, he tumbled backwards right off his hands. The frantic yells cut off with a small plop in the water.

“Shit!” One hand curled closer around the guy who had fallen beneath the waves moments ago. He held him closer to his chest and scanned the waves, where only a tiny splash could direct him to the one that had fallen.

This time, at least, it was easier to fish the little guy out of the water. Jacob’s free hand scooped under the small, flailing shape for a second time in so many minutes, and this time as he lifted him out, he kept his fingers curled loosely over him.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he murmured. “I gotcha. You and your buddy here are gonna be just fine!”

Dean was only able to keep up his struggles for several more seconds, finding that the fingers kept him secure from jumping out of the giant’s grip. The exhaustion was creeping up on him, trying to pull him down into blackness just like Sam had been claimed. It was only by sheer, dogged determination that he held it at bay.

One of the last weapons Dean had on him, one of the few that he’d kept on himself instead of in the trusty duffel bag that currently rested at the bottom of the ocean, was a silver knife. Both brothers were in the habit of squirreling away such weapons in order to be prepared for anything. It hadn’t done Dean much good on the ship, caught off guard and overpowered before he could react, but maybe having it would pay off now.

“I don’ know who you think you are, giant,” Dean slurred, struggling to stay upright as he brandished his knife in two hands, pointing it at Jacob’s chest. “But you better let us go! We’re on an important job, and we’re not going to give up!”

Jacob felt bad. This wasn't the first time he'd scared a Lilliputian before, and may not be the last, but he never enjoyed it. Even though the tiny struggles didn't last, he could feel the tension in the tiny body as the little guy glared up at him. The knife glinted at him, but he kept his focus on the little guy's face. "I can't just..." he started to protest. Then, he shook his head and turned with both the little guys in tow. Whatever they needed to say to him, they could do so from the safety of dry land. He wasn't about to leave them floundering out there, no matter that he hadn't asked permission to grab them up.

What little energy Dean had left was put into directing a glare up towards Jacob’s face, annoyed at being mostly ignored. Hours under the hot sun with no food or water had his mind partially in a delirium, and the casual way this giant had stopped paying him any mind smarted at Dean’s pride.

“Hey, I was talking to you,” Dean said in annoyance, jabbing Jacob’s hand several times with a pointed finger. “I’m the great Dean Winchester! You should listen to me, I hunt monsters for a living!”

With that, the remaining energy he had left fled, and he sagged to the side, falling unconscious.

[the-littlefangirl]

TFATWS episode 1 rewatch commentary

The first scene was so beautiful. I loved that we didn't start directly with the fight sequence. It feels way closer to the quiet beginning of CATWS and I love it so much.

The title is also SO NEAT, music's on point too but hey it’s Henry Jackman the one thing I’m sure it’s going to be great overall is the score.

The choreography is AMAZING, really well shot. Sam shielding himself with only one wing was MA-JES-TIC.

“WHAT'S UP” EXACTLY SAM EXACTLY

I did feel so uncomfortable in regards to the military aspect of it. Not that I was expecting anything else, but both here and in Captain Marvel the military we're good guys < 3 propaganda is so blatant and ugh:/ At least there wasn’t a literal recruitment spot like with CM. 

The yellow filter in the Tunisia scene BYE please stop with the yellow filters 2k21

"I've been working with the Air Force for six months now" So, did Sam even catch a break at all after Endgame? Or did he just throw himself to work like SOMEONE did after being iced for 70 years. Hmmm? Sam????

"Essentially, these people, they want a world that's unified without borders" OH NO! HOW AWFUL, how evil of these bad guys smh

Joaquin: SO about Steve

Sam: :)))))) nope

"Moon stuff" SAAAM

#1 cry with Sam's speech, full on chills.. Fuck. Me. His voice about to break before saying thank you bYE.

Shady politician: "It was the right decision" (FUCKKKKK YOUUU)

Rhodey: *press any key to doubt *

I need someone to analyze the different curation of the two exhibits pretty please

NOT THE PHOTO POST-AZZANO JFC. That photo is my weakness, Bucky sweetie (also I find hilarious that usually when there are articles about Stucky and/or #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend they aaaalways use that photo LMAO)

In case someone wants to read the transcription of the texts about Bucky: "In 1944, while on a mission to thwart a Hydra weapon transport in the Alps, Barnes was thrown from a train and believed to have been killed in action. It wasn't until 2014, over seventy years later, that it was revealed that Barnes was alive, having been found by Hydra operatives. Captain America himself (i can't read) the effort to bring Barnes in only to later aid in a escape from custody having been convinced of his innocence. Steve's loyalty to his old friend, coupled with his refusal to sign the Sokovia Accords, led to the dissolution of the Avengers and drove the Captain into hiding with other like-minded Avengers including Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, and Sam Wilson. The current whereabouts of Barnes remains unknown, habing been labeled a fugitive following his escape from custody."

"current wherabout unknown" but not the government, interesting. Also, pretty good summary of CACW from the public's perspective, although one of the things I always wanted to see explored was the public's reaction of the fallout of them going into hiding after Civil War (which I'm hoping we'll get to see a little bit of in Black Widow).

Interesting point about the 70 years without having Captain America. Clearly the sacrifice play wasn't enough this time to fuel the nationalism so they went with a squeaky clean John Walker instead.

Sam saying the shield belongs to Steve I'm going to cry now excuse me. Sam. Sam sweetie.

The No. 1 Captain America comic in the display ugH fuck yes

See this is how you do a cameo that has actual meaning. Thank god for Malcolm Spellman being a competent writer. That scene was so well written.

HAVE YOU PRAISED ANTHONY MACKIE'S PERFORMANCE TODAY?? Holy shit that last shot fucked me up.

I'm loving the use of the wide shots, especially in the flashback. The camera movements are in synch with The Soldier's state of mind and mission focus, so good.

EVERYONE STAND UP FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM aka The Winter Soldier theme composed by Henry Jackman.

Without a doubt the most brutal TWS fight scene there has been, People involved in Punisher and John Wick are involved in this and it SHOWS. 

For the record, still stands that the only time we've seen him chocking someone with his right hand instead of the metal arm remains the Maria Stark assasination. I know it's probably because of blocking and the way the shot was composed but the implications are still bone chilling. God.

Uhhmmmm I'm very ambivalent about the "Hail Hydra". On one hand, it was 100% fanservice and the internet is probably going to go insane over it, and the dead way Sebastian Stan delivered the line. Good shit. Buuut what I love about CATWS is the way Bucky never, ever ever, mouths Hydra rethoric, and even when Pierce tries to gaslight him with it, it's just an empty effort. The Winter Soldier isn't doing anything because of ideological loyalty to Hydra, even if it's product of brainwashing, it's just sheer dehumanization. They don’t need him to say the words because he’s just An Asset. There are people who have put it more eloquently but yeah, I rather go with the fanon interpretation of that aspect.

The music growing louder with the shot of the keys. GOD.

I'm fine this is fine.

#2 cry with the therapy scene of fucking course.

The government monitoring Bucky is noooot going to end well lmao.

"We need to know that you're not gonna * slowmo stabbing motions *

Bucky: * nodding along slowly * 

I laughed out loud.

"It's passive agressive" I love him.

The way this scene just sucker punched me in the face, made me weep and then had me cracking up. Amazing.

Therapist: You can't do anything illegal

Bucky: yup yup check checkity check. What IS considered illegal tho?

*aggresive tablet finger pressing *

"Then why isn't it rule number one?" Bucky your Steve is showing.

I love the close up shot. I'll keep saying it. It's so good.

"I'm James Bucky Barnes" yeah you are🥺

That smile is nightmare fuel LMFAO I love it.

Uhm the way I'm kinning Bucky it's not funny anymore damn

That whole “are you lashing out at me” rambling is really reminiscent of the bar scene in CATFA and how he lashed out at Steve after Peggy left. Uhm yeah fuck.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" "Peace"

"That is UTTER BULLSHIT" "You're a terrible shrink"

yeah ugly crying to ugly laughing speedrun for me

"You're free" "To do what?" jesus. That entire scene. #3 and #4 and #5 cries for moi.

Ugh that Brooklyn shot. Someone needs to do a gifset compairing it to the one in CATFA asap.

"It's like Monique but it's got a "U" in there for uniqueness" "That's absurd" LMAO

"You can't keep fighting with your neighbors" uHM * redacted redacted i'm shifting into 1940s mode abort abort *

"Nobody passed 90" "So young. Such a shame" FGADHGA

🥺🥺 yes flex those flirting skills good for you

"It's a dance to this things. You can't… you gotta warm up and I haven't danced since 1943. Feels like." #6 cry I completely broke down into tears with that.

This Yori storyline is going to punch me in the face with a metal fist. Great!

The TWS theme when he looks at Yori fuuuuuck.

GREAT LET'S GO TO LOUISIANA THAT WAS GETTING HEAVY.

Those shots of Sam in the car. Immaculate. Showstoping. Yes.

Marvel, what if instead of promoting the military industrial complex you put a lot of publicity about cars?

"Uncle Sam!" LMAO subtle.

Everyone trying to have the wings lmao same.

I've only had Sarah for a day but etc. Brooklyn 99 meme

Good mirroring about Steve and Sam family's legacy. Good shit. Goooood shit.

Sam is trying so hard ouch my heart. I can't imagine how painful the scene with them reuniting must have been. He 100% still feels a lot of guilt about being gone for those 5 years (and even longer before that).

"Maybe it is time for us to move on" uuuuuuuuuuh

"To the rescue" "Always" 🥺🥺 i love them so much already

That shot outside the restaurant is so beautiful. Can't wait to see the night scenes in Madripoor tbh.

"I tried the whole online dating thing. It's pretty crazy". Uhm well that is something that Bucky Barnes has now said. In canon. Damn.

"It's a lot" "You sound like my dad" LMAO

Every Bucky fanfic trope speedrun with this scene

"Wow you really can drink" OH you have no idea

Just realized we don't even know her name, well.

"You have any siblings?" "I have a sister" THE WAY I SCREECHED. We're definitely getting Becca

Well that escalated quickly. The important thing is to try?

I can't deal with this BUCKY SWEETIE #8 cry right there fuck

The wardrobe department is KILLING IT, there's such a difference between the outfits of the shows vs how ugly and generic it usually is.

"ThEre is NO such thiNg as on time. You're either EARLY or LATE . picK One" lmao the way he delivered that line

At first I thought the flag smashers had thrown two cars out of a window LMAO

"I don't know how jurisdiction works here, but I'mma have to place you under arrest" uhm yikes. The way they changed Joaquín Torres backstory to just random army nice guy #1 is not sitting well with me, what can I say.

Sam's wings motions I LOVE HIM YOUR HONOR

Fuuuuck this guy.

"Funny how thing's always thighten around us" "Look, I'm on your side. After all, he's a hero". This script is C R I S P as hell, great fucking job.

"I don't care, I'm not gonna quit" "What are you trying to prove? And who you trying to prove it to" SHIT HSIT SHIT!!! UGH amazing. Look it's not necessary to say the show's questions out loud but how they flow between the conversations is still very satisfactory without feeling in your face about it. Inner conflicts have been set up fucking perfectly everyone * claps *

Ugh here we fucking go.  I knew this was how the episode was going to end but my stomach still dropped like a rollercoster. God.

The score is on point. Damn. Damn.

God, Sam.🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

The captain america franchise's visuals in the credits are always so amazing.

Also, does anybody know why Mackie isn't first in the billing?  Uhm what's that about?

ANYWAY CONCLUSION THAT EPISODE WAS SO FUCKING GOOD LIKE HOLY SHIT. I love them so much. The balance between the personal conflicts and the political aspect (although the military aspect is still very much yikes) was on point and it was overall a joy to watch.

[wanderinginksplot]

Nobody Listens to Kix

Sorry, Rebels fans. This is not Chopper the droid, but Chopper the clone trooper who was part of Slick's squad before the battle on Christophsis. Chopper has a number of physical and psychological scars, and that should be enough background for you to enjoy this chapter.

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Case 00389: Chopper

Kix packed his medic's bag, preparing for the trip mentally as well as physically. The dread he felt at the prospect was only slightly lessened because he knew his patient dreaded their appointment equally much.

Neither of them liked their meetings, but they were extremely necessary. After the explosion that had caused such extreme injury to Chopper's face, eyes, and body, the 501st's medic at the time, Coric, had started Chopper on a strict physical therapy regimen. Since then, Coric had been reassigned, but he had passed the physical therapy responsibility down to Kix.

The extensive scarring on Chopper's face, chest, arms, and back required constant physical activity or they would stiffen and he would essentially become paralyzed by the scar tissue.

Chopper, for his part, was terrified of all medics and medical personnel, a holdover from his time being treated after the injuries, when the non-clone staff had debated sending him back to Kamino. Even then, every vod had known that was code for reconditioning. Much as Kix had gotten a reputation for treating his brothers whether they liked it or not, he didn't enjoy torture, and that's how Chopper saw their sessions.

An hour later, the transport Kix had hopped was preparing for arrival at an outpost on the secluded edges of wild space… which was a nice way of saying it was in the middle of nowhere on the galaxy's shebs.

Parable Outpost was the kind of place troopers prayed they wouldn't be assigned to. It was quiet to the point of dullness, there was no local life to speak of, and no combat had ever come within 100 parsecs of it. The outpost was the home of foolish brothers, the lazy ones, and any men who had found some way to piss off a superior officer badly enough enough. No brother wanted to go to Parable, but more than a few ended up here. Chopper, however, was here on purpose.

Just before Coric had left the 501st, the medbay had been subjected to an audit and Coric, Captain Rex, and General Skywalker were required to submit a form detailing general medical expenses over the past year. They had managed to disguise the amounts that had gone toward Chopper's treatment due to - as the general put it - creative bookkeeping, but Coric had moved on and Chopper had shared his desire to do the same.

It made sense to Kix. After all, if the GAR or the longnecks found out that there was a trooper with such severe injuries - and several psychological problems as well - they would order him sent back to Kamino for reconditioning.

No one was willing to take that chance, but Chopper had to be moved out of such a combat-heavy detachment. To everyone's surprise, Chopper had come up with a list of places he would be interested in moving, including Parable Outpost.

Chopper had been marked for infantry almost as soon as he was decanted, and he was karking good at it. Over the years, his injuries and aggressive attitude had kept him from being promoted to higher ranks, but he had gained expertise on a remarkable level when it came to battle analysis. Now, Chopper worked at Parable Outpost as a Combat, Munitions, and Enemy Tactics Specialist, a division all of his own invented by General Skywalker and ratified by Generals Kenobi, Secura, and Koon.

It was a dream assignment for the temperamental trooper. In short, Chopper stayed at Parable Outpost and analyzed battle footage sent to him. He compiled reports and sent suggested improvements for tactics and weapons technology to the appropriate departments and generals. He had complete control over how much contact he had with brothers - most of whom he outranked - but could train as much as he wanted.

Even so, Kix couldn't fight back a shudder as he stepped out of the transport and approached the door leading from the hangar into the outpost itself. He wouldn't want to be stuck here, not surrounded by brothers with chips on their shoulders, trapped with troopers who had been reprimanded for underperforming.

He exchanged nods with a few random men as he made his way toward Chopper's office. The first few times he had come to Parable, Kix had been stopped over and over by men who didn't recognize him and wanted to check his credentials. Now, he was accepted as a common sight on the outpost and no one questioned him.

Chopper's office was at the end of a long hall on the officer's side of the outpost. There was nothing marking the door as his, nothing to invite anyone in, but Kix knocked with total confidence.

"Enter," Chopper barked after a long pause.

Kix stepped through the door, carefully closing it to avoid making any unnecessary noises. Chopper was a bit sensitive to unexpected sounds. The trooper in question sat at his desk, surrounded by datapads while a holoprojector adaptor threw footage from a battle on a far wall. Chopper's two-toned gaze was fixed intently on the scene, and he scrawled hasty notes on a pad of flimsi as he watched.

"It's time for your therapy," Kix said, loathe to interrupt, but equally eager to get this over with.

"We just kriffin' did this," Chopper grumbled, still writing.

Kix scoffed. "Three months ago. You know we have to work the scarring at least four times a year or it'll-"

"Yeah, yeah, it'll freeze up," Chopper interrupted. He sighed, pausing the holovid in place while he finished making notes and stood. Despite his dread of the therapy, he was already dressed in the gray outfit all clones wore to work out and spar. "Let's get this over with."

Kix nodded, opening the medical bag. He tossed Chopper a bottle of medicated lotion. "Here's enough for the next three months, at least. Are you still applying it twice a day?"

"Mostly."

Now it was Kix's turn to sigh. "Mostly? Vod…"

"I've only forgotten a few times," Chopper explained defensively.

"We'll see about that," Kix told him threateningly. "If you've been skipping applications, I'll be able to tell from the results of your range-of-motion tests."

To the medic's pleasure, the results were positive. "You've gained three more degrees of movement in your right shoulder and two in your left. That's really good, Chopper."

"Uh-huh. Let's just get through the rest of this," Chopper dismissed.

He infamously hated the next part, he always had. Kix had to work the muscles in each area, a process that required a great deal of physical contact. From what he understood, that had never been one of Chopper's favorite things, but now, the trooper despised touch on a nearly phobic level.

Kix worked to complete the process as quickly as he could while still working every patch of scar tissue as much as was necessary. By the end of it, Chopper was sweating lightly and his jaw was clenched to keep in the small pain noises.

From past experience, Kix knew his own face was pale. He hated - hated - hurting his brothers, and causing Chopper so much pain made Kix feel physically ill.

When he finally stepped back, Kix fought to observe Chopper with a medic's gaze. The trooper was pale and sweating, eyes glassy as his attention turned inward. He was fixating on the pain - never a good thing.

"Do you want the therapy machine?" Kix asked carefully.

Most sessions, Chopper refused the additional help, but it had been a long time since Kix had seen his brother in so much pain. It was a testament to the strain of physical therapy that Chopper gave a single jerk of his chin in the affirmative.

Kix wasted no time setting up the machine and attaching the small pads to Chopper's scars. The trooper's joints got a few more attachment points just because Kix had worked them so hard. Chopper didn't speak or react at all during the process.

Within two minutes, Kix had attached all the necessary equipment and powered up the machine. Chopper's shoulders crept downward slightly, dropping further from his ears with every breath.

As he stared at the small, lightweight machine that was currently blocking Chopper's pain receptors and causing a surge of endorphins, Kix fought not to fill the silence. Chopper didn't like unnecessary conversation and there was nothing Kix needed to say, anyway. He was just used to checking on the men's pain level and progress. He already knew Chopper's pain level - kriffing high - and there would be no real progress. This wasn't healing, it was preventative maintenance. Saying anything would just drive home that Chopper was deeply damaged.

Kix took in a deep breath, intent on releasing it as a silent breath, but words snuck out before he could hold them back: "I'm sorry."

Chopper's dark brows furrowed and he stared up at Kix through mismatched eyes. "No need," he said simply, dropping his gaze again.

The room's silence remained unbroken until Kix had detached Chopper from the machine, packed it away, and began to move for the door. Chopper stopped him.

"Hey," Chopper said, avoiding eye contact and speaking in a low-pitched rush of words. "I know I don't act like it, but I appreciate what you're doing for me. I don't like medics, but… I know you're a good man. A good brother. Thanks. See you in three months."

It was probably a good thing Kix walked with the crisp gait of a soldier and a medic. If Chopper had caught a glimpse of how much those words had affected Kix, the scarred trooper would have been more uncomfortable than he had been during the therapy. Still, Kix allowed Chopper's soft pronouncement to bounce around inside his helmet during the trip back to the Resolute, smiling all the while.

[tf2workbench]

Like gentlemenne of olde

One of my favorite maps in the game is DeGroot Keep, which enables Medieval Mode - melee and archaic weapons only, no guns! While it’s often a stew of anachronisms (note that the Scout’s sodas are usable), Medieval Mode has a kind of balance in and of itself. Granted, it’s a lot more straightforward than regular gameplay, but you can get some really interesting strategies in there.

Unfortunately, not all the classes are viable, and not all of the available weapons see any kind of use. This post, mostly for my own amusement, takes a few of those weapons and revamps them, specifically for Medieval Mode. I won’t delve into the balance of the individual classes quite yet - while there are clear imbalances, reworking a class is a much more difficult thing than redesigning some weapons.

Note that this is only a sampling of weapons. There’s plenty of things that don’t get much attention in Medieval Mode, so there’s definitely more for me to work with - if you all want to see more of that.

Bonk! Atomic Punch Bonk is a great tool in the Scout’s regular arsenal, but it’s not used very often in Medieval Mode. There’s very little undodgeable damage that you actually need Bonk to soak up - Scouts are faster and more maneuverable than anyone else on the battlefield, and there’s no rapid-fire weapons to deal with.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) Drink to gain +350% jump height for 8 seconds (-) While under effects: Any hit will cause you to fall to the ground (-) 20-second recharge

DeGroot Keep is a map with a lot of vertical space, courtesy of the big ol’ castle that houses the final control point. If I’m calculating this right, using this Bonk should allow you to climb the castle walls and get inside to wreak havoc - just be careful not to get shot down.

Sadly, I think this iteration of the Bonk might be less useful once the castle gates have opened, although a flanking route is always nice. It also forces you to use your melee weapon, which puts you within range of the enemy’s own hits; you also lose the benefits of a more combat-viable secondary like the Mad Milk or Flying Guillotine.

Market Gardener The Soldier is a slow-moving, awkward class when deprived of his signature rocket jump. In Medieval Mode, his main assets are the three battle banners, which can really turn a fight around if you deal enough damage to deploy them. Because the Market Gardener relies on rocket jumps, it has no real use without the rocket launchers, and almost always loses out to another melee.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) +100% rage gained on hit (-) No random critical hits

A simple change that synchronizes well with your available secondaries. However, its damage output is lackluster - a lack of random crits really hurts in Medieval Mode. You also lose out on the powerful attributes of other melees, such as the Disciplinary Action.

Homewrecker The Homewrecker sees a lot of use in standard gameplay thanks to its ability to remove sappers from friendly buildings. With no buildings and no sappers in this 10th-century Scottish keep, it becomes dead weight.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) Briefly slows enemy on hit (-) -50% damage

Because getting hit with a sledgehammer will slow you down, but probably won’t kill you as quickly as a fire axe. This is useful for getaways and for pinning down problematic targets, either for you or your team. My main concern is how it might be annoying to be slowed down, since it often feels impossible to avoid and frustrating to play with - especially because the Pyro has a decent movement speed and can catch up to at least a few targets.

Ubersaw It’s far and away the most popular Medic melee in regular gameplay, but Medieval Mode has no Ubercharge.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) On kill: Store a medium health kit (+) Alt-fire: Deploy health kit (-) -30% swing speed

All players drop a small health kit when they die in Medieval Mode, but this takes it a step further.

This Ubersaw is mainly going up against the Amputator, which provides a radial healing taunt. The advantage of this saw is that it lets you deliver strong burst healing without the immobility of a taunt. Is it enough? Maybe... maybe not.

[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Trapped” Part 3

Almost one year ago, someone tried to kill The Joker in a speeding car and Y/N pushed him out of the way, getting hit instead. With a fractured skull and broken bones, she was out of business for 6 months; when she finally recovered, The Queen of Gotham wasn’t the same anymore. Trapped inside her own mind and exhibiting severe cognitive impairment, Y/N’s life switched upside down without any hope of ever returning to normal.

Part 1       Part 2     Part 4     Part 5

Same day, later in the evening

“What are you doing, Pumpkin?” The Joker crawls next to you although he has an idea about why you look upset.

You’re on your tummy scribbling on a piece of paper and he can tell you are concentrating hard while working on the current project: writing down your name. Only got the first three letters then the rest went blank.

“I….I can’t think…” you intensely stare at the blue pen in between your fingers.

“Of course you can!” J reaches over so he can guide your arm since it’s clear you need help. “There you go… done. Now try to copy it bellow, alright?”

“Hm?”

“Try again Princess,” he taps on the sheet and watches Y/N struggling to imitate the word. “Well done!” The King of Gotham praises. “Wanna give it a shot with a few more simple words?”

“Mmmm…” you debate. “OK?...”

You analyze The Joker’s movements as he depicts four letter words, one of them getting your attention in particular.

“Love?” you smile, happy you deciphered the meaning.

“Yes, a basic…”

“Love?” you scoot over, more and more excited and it clicks for your boyfriend.

“It’s just an example for you to exercise and relearn how to write, understand? It doesn’t mean anything!”

You giggle and touch his nose with yours.

“Love!”

“No Pumpkin! I don’t love you, how did you get such atrocity from my note??!! It has no hidden meaning! I barely, from very afar, remotely, not even similar to love, sort of like you and that’s it!”

You snicker and quickly slide to grab the yellow teddy bear, whispering in its ear:

“Love.”

“Aren’t you listening Princess?? Don’t start fake rumors!!”

Still…Y/N lives on her own little planet and her damaged brain grasped a wonderful concept despite The Clown vehemently dismissing his actions.

“Serves me right for being supportive,” he grumbles and resorts to diversion, the best weapon against your new found logic.

“Wanna read to me?” he points at the pile of children’s books resting on the nightstand: they are the best to use in your present circumstance.

“… … Read?... ” you ask, confused.

“Here,” J picks a random publication and gives it to you.

Might as well fully take advantage.

“Spoil me!” he buries his cheeks in your cleavage, guiding your free hand towards his green locks.

You never figured out how he doesn’t suffocate with his face glued to your skin; sometimes he sleeps like that for hours. Must be a special talent.

“The … ummm… the…. The duck…” you read the first page and massage his scalp, frowning at the words you can’t make sense of. “Cross… … crossed?...”  

“Yeah,” The Joker’s mumbled voice agrees.

“… the… g-glass…” you stutter at the sentence.

“Grass,” J corrects you.

“Hm?...”

“Grass Pumpkin, not glass.”

“Ummm… grass…” you continue to read the best way you can and he rectifies your errors until no more sounds emerge: The King is softly purring, a clear indication he’s dreaming.

You toss the book on the floor, fed up with the difficult task of organizing your thoughts; pampering him is better. You slowly tilt his head backwards so you can kiss him: The Joker frowns in his daze and you pinch his butt, chuckling.

“What is it?” he opens one eye and you pull down on his boxers. “Princess, we had sex an hour ago. Do you think I run on batteries?” the complaint is fast to follow.

... … … Batteries?... …                                            

You jump from the bed and stump to the closet, fumbling around for a couple of minutes before returning to a puzzled Clown.

You stretch the elastic of his underwear, dropping two batteries you snatched from the flashlight inside.

“How… how long do we w-wait?” you innocently ask.

The Joker bites his lip, attempting to contain himself yet he can’t: he bursts out laughing at your quirky solution while dragging you on top of him.

“You’re the funniest and smartest person I know, Pumpkin!” he cracks up, actually convinced he’s telling the truth. “Who’s my clever girl, huh?”

He’s talking about a girl again…What girl?...

Y/N peeks behind her and J reminds his baffled half:

“For God’s sake, Princess! I’m talking about you; you’re my girl! Can you get my phone?” he gestures at his mobile ringing by your pillow.

You give the cell to J, ignoring his conversation with Frost: you keep kissing him with the sole purpose of getting undivided affection.

“I guess Adam is here to pick up the cars you damaged,” he finally ends his chat. “Let’s go supervise the process. Don’t be disappointed, Pumpkin, we’ll have fun later. It’s your fault for destroying my collection!”

****************

The Joker watches his crew sweeping the concrete in the garage: broken glass, pieces of metal and debris scattered on the pavement after his vehicles were hauled inside huge trucks in order to be transported to Adam’s workshop for repairs.

“Thanks a lot, Y/N!” he growls, frustrated.

“Y-you’re welcome,” you serenely reply without a care in the universe.

“You’re the worst thing that ever happened to me, Princess!” he huffs at your indifference.

“Love,” you confess to the fluffy toy squished in your embrace.

“I heard that and it’s an aberration! Why do you keep persisting with this nonsense?! I’m literally stating the opposite!” J admonishes but who’s listening to him?

Not Y/N.

“Nolan is texting me,” he changes subject. “He wants me to meet him at his warehouse to inspect the boxes of ammo for the deal. Will you accompany me?”

“Hm?”

“Car ride?” The King of Gotham simplifies his request.

“U-hum!” you nod, preparing to enter the purple Lamborghini which luckily wasn’t in the garage when you smashed J’s cars.

“Frost, if you see me parked up the street in the driving alley, don’t come investigate, got it? This woman’s been pestering me for extracurricular activities, might not make it inside the mansion.”

“Of course, sir!” Jonny finds it wise to consent to his boss’s rambling.

“Tell everyone: if the Lamborghini’s rockin’, don’t come knockin’!”

**************

You’re sitting on J’s lap, completely blocking the arrangements happening at the table: you’re more preoccupied with your game than whatever it is they are negotiating about.

“What are you playing, Y/N?” Nolan curiously inquires because your thumbs are surely moving at a crazy speed on your cell’s screen.

“Hm?” you stop and gaze his way.

“What are you playing?” the man repeats.

“Mmmmm… Tetrixx Bricks.”

“What level are you on?” Nolan leans over, his eyes getting big at the revelation. “Holy shit, Y/N! How did you make it this far??! I’ve been striving to pass level 98 for a month!”

“She’s smart, that’s how!” your boyfriend sassily underlines.

“Do you think that you can help me?” the guy slides his phone in front of you.

“I’m sorry, is this a gaming party or a business matter?!” The Joker scoffs.

“Well, we’re pretty much done: we accepted the terms, we just have to move the merchandise in the morning.”

You are already matching the colorful blocks on Nolan’s game, his face ecstatic when the obnoxious song announces with great fanfare: “Level Up!”

“Holy cow!!!!” he shouts and you return his phone. “Thank you!”

“Hey Y/N,” one of the mobster’s henchmen dares to voice his demand. “Would you help me too? I’m stuck on level 76.”

“I’m dead on 105,” another goon mumbles under his breath, stepping in the line forming to your left.

J would normally cut off this useless waste of his precious time yet he can’t deny the gratification building up in his heart: heavens knows how it feels to be trapped inside your own mind and his girl has definitely battled unimaginable odds to be where she’s at right now.

Living with cognitive impairment is not easy, but she’s still here and it beats the alternative.

“Good job, Pumpkin!” The Clown boasts at the long string of cell phones parading through your fingers while you aid Nolan’s team leveling up on Tetrixx Bricks.

And somehow his hands are holding you tighter, not even bored with the random outcome of his meeting.

**************

You escaped on the terrace for a break and J is discussing the last details with your host: tomorrow you have a routine checkup, thus he has to wrap it up soon.

“Out of my way, half-wit!” Derek aka Nolan’s oldest son pushes you. Would he have done it if you were the same individual from almost a year ago? Nope. Apparently he believes he’s entitled to take advantage of Y/N since she’s alone outside.

“Why did Mister Joker bring you anyway?” he lights up a cigarette, annoyed. “Stupid monosyllabic bitch!” he ogles your summer dress, swiftly lifting it. “Are you wearing diapers?” he chuckles as you walk backwards, trying to process what he’s throwing at you. “Come on, show me!” he approaches and carefully scouts the premises to ensure you two don’t have company.

Perhaps the neurons in your brain are overcharged for the moment; nevertheless, they warn of imminent altercation: the dude’s a total douchebag.

“Are you shy?” Derek grins. “C’mon, lemme see!! Oooohh…fuuuuck…” he bends over in pain when your knee unexpectedly kicks him in the crotch: you used all your strength and he drops down, curling up in a ball. “God…dammit!” Derek shrieks at the defense he didn’t anticipate.

“I…I’m not wearing diapers!” you stammer and because he landed on the edge of the pool you roll him in the water also.

The loud splash makes The Joker wave at you, glad he eventually found you: he’s been searching around the warehouse for the last 5 minutes.

“There you are! Quit playing around, Pumpkin; we have a swimming pool at home!”

You rush by his side eager to bail before the asshole pops up from the bottom of the pond.

“Sushi for dinner?” J suggests and Y/N is not the type of individual to reject one of her favorite dishes.

“I…I love sushi,” you smile elbowing him. “Love.”

“Don’t start with me again!” The King barks at your obvious hint.

*************

“Are you eating the last piece?” he glares at your salmon roll.

“No,” you offer the treat to him. “You…you need it more,” Y/N verbalizes her concern regarding his well-being.

“Can’t disagree, Pumpkin. You exhausted me you naughty girl,” J pretends to be super tired. “What can I do? Princess wants, Princess gets,” he inhales, resigned.

You’re not focusing on his whining: frankly, your intellect has been challenged enough for today. You cuddle in his arms while he chews on his food and watch TV without paying attention to the movie.

“Don’t forget tomorrow morning you have your doctor’s appointment,” J mentions. “I have to stay and wait for the guns I purchased from Nolan; you’ll have to manage without me. I’ll send an escort, deal?”

“U-hum.”

“Don’t yawn, Pumpkin. I’m the one that should yawn,” The Joker scratches his thigh. “This move sucks,” he pouts and turns off the TV. “I have a better idea,” he chooses a kid’s book from the stack. “Read to me.”

You open the textbook and although your brain is overwhelmed, you still make an effort for his sake.

“Mmm… Rainy… sky… Skies?...”

“Yup,” he turns on his side and nuzzles in your hair.

“Float over…hmm… t-town…”, your voice echoes in the room, soothing a worn out Joker.

Strange he can’t properly rest unless you read to him: after all J barely, from very afar, remotely, not even similar to love, sort of likes you.

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Chapter 12 / Previous Chapter 

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

When Tim wakes up, he spends a good amount of time simply staring at the ceiling of his room not doing anything. There’s a lot on his mind and it kind of makes him not want to leave the bed so he doesn’t have to deal with any of it.

Wouldn’t that just be easier? To simply avoid everything and pretend that there’s absolutely nothing wrong. Pretend that he was in his large open bedroom in the Manor instead of a supply closet on a spaceship. Pretend he was on Earth with his family and friends instead of floating through space with over-powered aliens. Pretend his enemies were the press instead of a whole league of killers potentially after him…

He shakes his head and lets out a moan. He can’t believe this is his life right now. What the hell is he going to tell his family once he gets back to Earth? Would they even believe him? That’ll be a bridge he’ll have to cross once he gets to it. For now he needs to decide on whether he wants to face the reality of his current situation or avoid it for as long as possible. 

Unfortunately that decision is taken away from him as his room’s door opens up. Not even bothering to ask for permission, Kon walks into his room and stares at his sprawled out form on the bed.

Tim doesn’t bother getting up, he’s kind of gone the past the point of caring about impressions. Alternatively he curls up into a ball, wrapping the blanket tighter around him and shoots the alien a glare. “You know, we humans have a thing called knocking and waiting for permission before entering a room, also known as manners. Remind me to teach you about them at some point.”

Kon raises an eyebrow at him, Tim guesses that’s either because of his attitude or because of the subject. “Well hello to you too.” Kon says evenly. “You’ve been in here a while I thought I’d check on you but also invite you to join us while we train.”

“Train? Train for what?” Tim questions with a frown.

“Now we know that The League of Assassins may be after us, we thought it would be good to do more training to improve our fighting skills and strengthen our abilities. Would you like to join us?”

“I uh…” Tim blinks at him for a moment as he comprehends the question. Fighting? The only fighting he’s ever really done was dirty wrestling matches with his brothers and the self-defence classes he’s been through, however he admits he’s pretty good with a bo staff. On the other hand, he’s never actually been in like an actual proper fight before.

Plus there’s the fact of the fact these guys are aliens, he’s seen what they can do with their inhuman powers, what chance does he have?

Well, he’s always liked a challenge. “Sure, why not. It’ll be interesting.”

Smiling, Kon nods. “Great! When you’re ready just come on over.”

Kon’s manners are just as bad as they were when he first entered Tim’s room. The alien simply turns around and leaves, abruptly ending their conversation before Tim could question him further. He huffs in indignation. Manners; is that so hard?

At least these aliens are better than the ones he was imprisoned by, they didn’t even respect him like they do on this ship. Also another bonus of these guys and not the others (beside not being a prisoner) is that at least all three of them look human. On the other ship there were all kinds of creatures Tim had never even imagined seeing before. There were a couple human appearances but those people were simply assholes.

Somehow he finally finds the willpower to get up and out of bed. Once standing he does some light stretches to loosen his muscles before moving around his room to change into some clean clothing.

As he’s getting dressed he suddenly realises that his back hadn’t hurt at all, throughout all of that movement. Not once did it twinge in agitation or pain, he had actually forgotten about the wounds that had nearly ripped open his back.

If he had to guess he would say it’s been about three or four days since that incident happened. His internal clock is still haywire as he hasn’t yet worked out what time it would be. That cream the others have been putting on him has really done wonders if he’s already all healed up! Tim will get one of the others to check his back for him to make sure, but at least that part of his current life is over.

At this point, it’s all the little things.

Once changed, he exits his room and starts wandering down the corridor. Its only when he’s close to the common room that he realises he has no idea where they were training. He curses Kon for his abrupt leaving earlier and starts looking through every door he could.

On occasion he finds his mind getting distracted by the strange looking technology that fills up different rooms. He’s able to pull himself away before he gets too invested but makes a mental note to go back later on. He’s been on this ship for who knows how long and he still hasn’t explored everything yet!

Eventually he finds where the crew were gathered. Walking through the door, Tim stares at the room and takes it all in. On one side of the room there was some sort of simulator running. It takes up half of the room and currently has blue holographic bodies of all shapes and sizes running in different directions. There’s a blur of motion and suddenly the holographic bodies burst and disappear like sprinkles before reappearing elsewhere.

The second half of the room was split into three sections. One third had what resembled a variety of weights on a rack with different bench presses around it. The second third, the biggest of the three, simply had large mats placed on the floor. The final third had, from what Tim could see, a variety of weapons all stacked neatly in a large cabinet type of thing, it reminds him of something from a spy film when all the weapons get revealed from behind a closed door.

It was there on the second third that he sees Cassie and Kon. The two aliens were engaged in what looked like a hand to hand fight. He watches them with fascination as they kick, punch and dodge the other’s attacks. It looked like they were dancing, just a very fast and violent dance. Kon was brute force, putting all of his weight into his swings and kicks. Cassie, on the other hand, seems to be more agility based, dodging with speed and using a few different tricks to strike against Kon. With them two on the mats, that must make Bart the one in the simulator.

Tim stands there for a while watching the aliens spar with one another. It doesn’t even look like their tiring, which is insane, but eventually they spot Tim standing awkwardly at the doorway and soon stop to look his way.

“It’s about time. We thought you may have changed your mind.” Kon greets him with a smile.

Tim shrugs, “Nah, I’m not a chicken, I can handle a challenge.”

His comment gets him two identical confused looks, it’s then that Tim realises what he just said. Of course they wouldn’t understand the chicken reference, chances are that they don’t even know what a chicken is.

He sighs and waves a hand dismissing it, “Don’t worry, it’s an Earth saying. So, what’s the plan?” He glances around and sees Bart as a blur of motion on the other side of the room. He turns back to the others with a sudden thought, “How come I’ve never seen you guys train or even hear you mention it before?”

They both blink at him for a moment before catching up with his questions.

“We’re going to put you in the training simulator to see what you can do and go from there.” Cassie tells him pointedly.

Tim makes an ‘oh’ shape with his mouth but doesn’t comment. Her tone of voice was one to not argue against.

“As for why you haven’t seen us train is because we happen to train at random intervals. We often train individually or when we do train together I believe most of the time you happen to be sleeping.”

He guesses that explains their absences when he couldn’t find them sometimes. He never really even thought about them training or doing some sort of abilities practice.

Cassie studies him for a moment before turning to go over to the stacked weapons. “So what weapon would you like, we have a wide variety but whatever you feel comfortable with you’re welcome to use.”

Tim blinks before making his way over to her side and has a proper look at the weapons. There’s so much that stands out to him, plenty of things that he’s never seen before however his eyes drift to the plainest thing on the shelf and something he is familiar with. A bo staff.

Tim reaches out and picks it up, feeling the weight of it in his hands. It’s lighter than he expected it to be and wonders what it was made of, it looked like it was made from some kind of wood but there’s a high chance that he wouldn’t actually know the material used.

“This will do.” He declares looking at her.

Cassie gives him a funny look but doesn’t comment on it. She gestures to the other side of the room and makes her way there, Tim follows closely behind. Bart was now out of the simulator, having left it while Tim was choosing his weapon. The speedster was stood next to Kon and was speed talking away in the Kryptonian’s ear.

The two of them get to the other side of the room and Cassie stops, not knowing what else to do, Tim stands beside her. He watches with bewilderment as she brings up a holographic screen that materialises from out of nowhere and starts playing around with it.

Tim stares at it for a moment, not having any idea on what she was doing, before looking away and back at the staff in his hands. He twists it a couple times when a sudden though appears in his mind. “Hey what happened to that metal pole I had? The one I carried around when you first picked me up?”

Cassie shoots him a raised eyebrow before turning back to what she was doing. “Why does it matter? I have no idea.”

Tim shrugs, trying to think of the answer. He liked that pole, even got attached to it. “It, uh, doesn’t really… I was just wondering.”

“You dropped it when we got attacked by the Galavent. It got left behind and we didn’t think about it because we were trying to make sure you didn’t die!” Bart says blurring next to him.

Tim takes a moment to catch up with what happened and nods in understanding. So that’s what happened to the pole, shame, he liked that pole. It helped him find some kind of balance while he wrapped his head around everything that was happening with his life.

Cassie turns to him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Ready?”

Tim glances at her, at the simulator and back again. He swallows suddenly feeling nervous and jittery. “What do I have to do? Will it hurt me?”

“Different holographic shapes and figures will appear around you, all you have to do is fight them off and not get touched. If they do touch you, it may sting for a moment.”

Tim slowly nods in apprehension. Is it too late back out? He’s not sure if he wants to do this. A side-ways look shows him all the aliens are looking at him expectantly and he swallows thickly. He takes a deep breath to try and compose himself, as long as it doesn’t kill him right? Right.

“Let’s go for it.” He tells Cassie after a moment.

She presses a button on the screen and gestures for him to enter the simulator. Tim honestly has no idea what he’s got himself into as he walks into the centre of the room, he just hopes he makes it out in one piece.

-------

He’s pulled something. Tim’s pretty sure he’s pulled a muscle or something along those lines because he is sore.

Overall he spent a good 5 hours in the training room with the aliens. It’s been about two hours since then, during that time he’s stretched, had some food and had a very pleasant shower. Now that he’s back in his room, collapsed on his bed, all he can feel is the achiness in his body and the bruising he’s received.

In reality, training hadn’t been as bad as what it could have been. Tim certainly isn’t skilled enough to keep up with the aliens and all of their super-human abilities but he held his ground for a little while. Once he had finished in the simulator, he had sparred with each of them separately, it gave him an insight on how their powers work and just simply fighting against different abilities.

That’s also where he picked up all the bruises, hopefully they won’t freak out too much when they next see him because its only after the shower that they’ve started to show on his skin now. A nice variety of ugly black and blue patches in different areas.

It’s easy to say that fighting the aliens is nothing like wrestling with his brothers.

He did manage to get the drop on both Kon and Cassie however, which was a delight considering who they are. He had surprised them both by doing a flip to dodge their attacks and striking out with one of his own. They had stared at him in disbelief for a good minute before asking what he did.  

He showed them how he can perform a back flip as well as a front flip. They seemed to be absolutely flabbergast with it. At first they freaked out when he had jumped, all three of them seemed to be in the middle of rushing towards him by the time he landed safely on his feet. It took him doing the trick a few times for them to not feel so on edge with what he could do, especially since he had no powers to help him perform.

Tim laughed at their reactions and commented that they should see his brother. If they think Tim is fancy for doing a couple flips, then they should see what his acrobatic brother could do. He would love to see their faces after seeing the variety of ways Dick could bend, making it seem like he has no bones in his body.

It would certainly be interesting.

When he hears his room’s door open, Tim groans. He buries his face into a pillow and scowls. Hadn’t he just come into his room? What do they want now? He can’t be bothered to do anything else. Whoever it was stops by his bed but doesn’t move any more.

“Tim?” It was Bart. “Are you sleeping?”  

In response Tim simply grunts into the pillow, not wanting to be disturbed. Bart doesn’t seem to get the message because Tim was suddenly being poked.

“Tim?”

He puts up with three more pokes before forcing himself up on his hands and sending Bart an unimpressed look. “What is it Bart?”

Bart smiles, clearly not seeing that Tim was annoyed with him. “We’re at the next planet we need to collect from. Cassie wanted me to come and get you.”

Sighing, Tim nods and starts getting up from the bed. “Okay sure, I’m coming.”

“Okay!”

When Tim blinks and reopens his eyes Bart was no longer there. He shakes his head and just lets it be, he still isn’t used to that superspeed thing. It’s becoming less surprising now but he still wasn’t entirely used to it.

With little energy Tim drags his feet across the floor until he’s out of his room and heads down the corridor towards the cockpit. He wonders what kind of item they’ll have to collect this time, hopefully it’ll be easier and a lot safer to collect than the others, especially after the most recent one.

He doesn’t really want another adventure like that thanks.

Walking into the cockpit he eyes Kon up at the dashboard, then Cassie and Bart sat at the table going over some papers. Tim strolls over to the table and collapses in an empty seat. “Please tell me this item is easier and safer to collect than the last.”

That gets him a laugh from Kon on the other side of the room, he spins around in his chair to face him. “This item is easy to collect, yes. Not all of us really have to even go, all we have to do is go to the supplier and exchange objects.”

Tim starts nodding in understanding before he stops and shoots Kon a look. “So was there any reason for Bart to come and get me or no? If only one of us needs to go then do I have to be here?” It was a bit blunt and harsh but he felt knackered after that workout session. It’s been a while since he’s done so much physical work and after being injured a couple times it’s kinda taken it out of him. 

Kon blinks in surprise at the questions. “Uh, we thought you would have wanted to know what was going on that’s all. I apologise that we disturbed you?”

The alien sounds so unsure on what to make of the situation that Tim feels bad for putting him in this position to begin with. He goes to apologise but Cassie jumps in before he could.

“Actually Tim, you and I can go over some details about The League,” She tells him, “there’s information that you should probably know and I want details from your time with them. Bart and Kon can handle collecting the next item.”

Tim raises his eyebrows but doesn’t protest. Maybe finding out more about The League wouldn’t hurt, though he has no idea what information that Cassie thinks that he may know, because he doesn’t know anything at all. When he was there, he couldn’t understand any of them and was too busy freaking out about being in space.

Kon turns back to the dashboard and guides the ship until they touch down on the new planet. The Kryptonian and the Speedster say their farewells as they exit the cockpit therefore leaving him and Cassie alone.

Tim still gets mixed feelings from Cassie, one moment she seems to be okay with him then the next she’s acting kinda hostile towards him. He didn’t know what to make of her but he really doesn’t want to cause any trouble.

The two of them end up sitting at the table and Tim sits there feeling tense and awkward as he waits for Cassie to start the conversation. At the moment the Amazon is sorting through some papers into a couple piles in front of her, promptly ignoring him.

Tim twiddles his thumbs and tries his best to not fidget too much. It was beginning to get uncomfortable and he wanted nothing more than to simply go back to bed, fall asleep and pretend this never happened. However he doesn’t always get what he wants.

There were several minutes of tense silence until Cassie finally engages with him. Showing him a variety of different bits of paper she starts explaining the history of the League of Assassins. Tim does his best to keep up with everything she was saying, any questions he had she answered to the best of her ability. Once they had gone through the history Cassie moved onto asking him about his time with them. Tim did his best to explain what he saw and why he thinks he was there, it wasn’t very informative but it was something.

They were still talking about the League when Bart and Kon return to the ship sometime later. The two aliens enter the cockpit smiling and laughing with one another, Cassie and Tim stop conversing watch them as they walk over to the table and settle down next to them.

Cassie raises an eyebrow, “Well?”

Kon waves a dismissive hand. “Surprisingly no conflictions with the trade, so it was a simple swap which makes a nice change compared to previous items.”

“Yeah he was pretty crash.” Bart grins. “He even gave us extra for no charge!”

Cassie hums noncommittedly. “Our next item is on the next planet from this one, it shouldn’t take too long to get there.” She gets up and heads for the dashboard.

Kon soon follows her and takes his seat in the pilots chair, the two of them work together to get the ship in the air once again and to take off so they could get away from this planet.

“How are you feeling?” Tim turns to Bart who was watching him. Tim shrugs.

“I’m fine. Cassie and I were going through stuff about the League.”

“There’s a lot there.” Bart hums knowingly. “They’re real nasty, its sad that you got involved with them.”

He knows that Bart doesn’t mean anything by those words but Tim couldn’t help the slight anger that rises up in him at hearing it. “It wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter.” He says sharply. Tim crosses his arms over his chest and looks away, thankfully Bart doesn’t continue the conversation.

Tim uses his time to go over the notes he made when he and Cassie were talking about the League, the files she had seemed to be great, however he couldn’t read any of them so to solve that problem he wrote his own.

He moves one piece of paper which uncovers the one hiding underneath it. Tim pauses, staring at the new piece of paper in front of him. Taking up most of the page was an image of the master of the league, the Demon’s Head as Cassie had called him, Ra’s Al Ghul.

The image was, what Tim would describe as, a mug shot. He looked human, with his Caucasian skin, long face, two green eyes, brown hair with white parts above the ears and facial hair that sticks out at the chin.

Tim shivers at the sight of him. He really hopes he doesn’t see that man again, he doesn’t know what would happen if he does see him but what he does know is that it won’t be pleasant. All Tim wants to do is go home and forget this whole space trip ever happened. It’s his fault Tim was in space to begin with, he’s the one who kidnapped Tim for whatever reason in the first place.

That being said, would he go after Tim again when he returns to Earth? What’s stopping the Demon’s Head from coming after him a second time? Will Tim ever be safe again?

Shaking his head he clears those thoughts and quickly covers the paper so he didn’t have to look at that hideous face anymore. He can’t be thinking about that right now, there's more important things to be dealing with.  

He glances up to see Bart staring at him with a slight frown on his face. Tim raises his eyebrows at him when they make eye contact as if to say, ‘mind your own business’, whether Bart gets the message or not he’s not sure. Tim’s soon distracted from the speedster because the other two soon join them.

“We’re on route to the neighbouring planet where we need to collect the next item. It shouldn’t take too long to get there. While we’re there we can do some stocking and check things over of the ship.” Kon informs them as he glances at each of them in turn.

“Okay, now that’s sorted, can I go back to bed?” Tim asks, almost whiningly. “It’s been a long day and I’m tired.”

The three aliens look at him and he fights the scowl threatening to take over his face. He’s tired but he wants his own space as much as he wants to go to bed, so just going to his room knowing he wouldn’t be disturbed for so many hours will be more than enough.

“Actually Tim, I was going to suggest an entertainment session. We haven’t done anything fun like for a while.” Kon says.

Tim sighs and hangs his hang in resignation. Stupid aliens and their capability to go on without sleep. Opposite him Bart brightens up in his chair. “Yes! We haven’t done one of those in eons! Whatarewegoingtodo? Arewewatchingsomethingonthescreen? Howaboutplayingsomegames? Ohohohohwhataboutthecards?”

Tim rubs his hand across his forehead and doesn’t even bother in trying to keep up with what the Speedster was saying. Kon, on the other hand, has no problem interpreting what he was saying.

Kon shrugs, looking between Bart and him. “Well I was going to have it as an open discussion. Perhaps if Tim isn’t feeling okay we can do it another time.”

Well, now he just feels bad. Tim sits up straight in his chair and looks at Kon. “Don’t worry about me joining in. I wouldn’t be much fun anyway, go on without me.”

“What about we use the screen instead?” Cassie suggests. “Tim can still rest but we can do something together?”

Both Kon and Bart nod, seeming satisfied with the idea that they still get to hang out together and do something. Tim simply agrees to his fate, they want him to join in (which is appreciated) and he isn’t getting away from not doing so, perhaps he could fall asleep on the couch?

A little while later, Tim finds himself lying on one end of the couch with a pillow under his head and a blanket covering him. The others are all sprawled out along the couch beside him, everyone watching the screen in front of them.

Tim has no idea what they’re watching, there were a variety of blue and purple blobs with faces resembling something like DaVinci would paint on the screen, he figures this is perhaps some planet’s animation. He has no idea but he’s pretty sure he’s going to get nightmares from watching those things. They’re terrifying.

He must have actually drifted off to sleep in the end because the next thing he’s mildly aware of is someone picking him up off the sofa. He makes an unhappy whining sound because a sudden rush of cold air meets an uncovered part of his body, Tim attempts to curl into the warmth still there as much as he can.

Soon enough Tim’s being placed back down on something soft, he’s then covered with a blanket and is left in peace. Tim succumbs to sleep pretty quickly after that.

[raendown]

Pairing: ShikamaruTemari Word count: 989 Soulmate au: The one where your shadows stick together for a short time when they first overlap

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 213

Shikamaru was, by nature, a cautious person. He’d learned the lesson at a very young age that it was always better to stop and think something through before acting, before speaking, and most certainly before making decisions. Twelve years old now and much too clever for his own good, it was often little more than that same caution that saved his life, a perfect excuse for keeping his distance from each new person he came across on the many varied paths of life. 

This Suna girl intrigued him. From the way her hair shone like spun gold in the afternoon sunlight to the iron hardness that held up every work she spoke, Temari of the Sands was just the sort of person that always captured his attention and only Shikamaru’s habitual caution prevented him from inching just a little closer, asking just a few more questions. Something about her just seemed to draw him in like a magnet to a lodestone no matter that he could almost physically see the spikiness of her personality. Luckily he was smart enough and still young enough that falling victim to his hormones wouldn’t be a problem for several more years, allowing him the presence of mind to observe from afar. There was always so much to learn just from observation. 

He wished he could say that such careful observations were the thing that saved him when it came time for their battle in the final round of the chunin exams. He had, after all, watched each of the participants from Sunagakure very carefully during the previous events of the exam. It was always good to know the skills of a potential opponent. However, in the end it turned out that all his hours of watching meant very little in the context of battle. 

Oh they helped him plan and strategize, helped him predict Temari’s movements several jumps ahead as they both cautiously circled each other on the field. But there was really nothing that could have ever helped him predict what it would feel like to send his shadow stretching across the earth and, for the first time in his life, find himself unable to retrieve it. Shikamaru was a tested and true child of the Nara clan. He’d been wielding his own shadow as a weapon since he learned how to mould chakra and shape hand signs. Controlling his shadow should have been as easy and second nature as drawing another breath. Yet no matter how he pulled and tugged or even attempted to release the jutsu his shadow remained stretched out across the field with no indication that it had ever been under his control at all. 

Genius that he was, it only took him until the first member of their audience gasped for him to understand what was truly happening.

“I didn’t plan for that,” he mumbled. Across the stadium, Temari gaped. 

“Didn’t plan for that!? Is that all you have to say!?” 

“Should I have come up with something wittier?” he asked. “Troublesome. Give me a minute.” 

If he squinted he was certain he could have spotted actual steam rising from the girl’s head as her jaw worked soundlessly, obviously unimpressed with his attempt at humor. Granted, it was a little weak, but he’d thought it was pretty clever considering the way his entire mind was reeling with shock. 

Being the cautious person that he was, Shikamaru had spent a great deal of his short life looking ahead and planning for all sorts of eventualities that might or might not come to pass. And like everyone else in the world he’d taken some time to imagine what it might be like the day he first met his soulmate. Obviously he knew that no one could plan for every eventuality but he’d gone over several of the more likely ways they could meet - opposite sides of a bloody battlefield, partners on a mission, over the counter of some random shop or other - but somehow this particular moment in life had never occurred to him as an option. Which it should have. The chunin exams were often the first chance genin had to meet others of their own age from fellow hidden villages. 

As the shock cleared from his mind Shikamaru noted at last the way Temari’s eyes flickered between him and the rest of the Suna delegation, jawline tense despite the utter relaxation in the rest of her body. With a closer look Shikamaru narrowed his own eyes. How strange for her to be so relaxed after such a shocking discovery. Almost as though she were deliberately trying to appear calm. 

“Got something to say?” he asked. Temari’s eyes snapped back to his own with the same light of determination she had shown before every battle he’d seen her in so far. 

“They’re not going to like this,” she said. Then her chin lifted. “But I don’t care what they do or don’t like.” 

“Sounds like we’re about to get in trouble for something,” Shikamaru noted.

He wasn’t very surprised when the Sand shinobi attacked. Defending his village was a little awkward while his shadow remained stuck to someone else’s but he made it work as best he could. Somewhere around the third body that dropped Shikamaru realized that he had instinctively trusted Temari to watch his back - and even more strangely, that she had done so. When their eyes met over the twitching form of a dark haired woman he couldn’t help but notice the band carrying her village crest was gone from Temari’s forehead. A lazy smile drifted across his lips before he could stop it and Shikamaru turned to cross blades with another opponent. 

Cautious he might be and rarely willing to place bets on the future but Shikamaru had an inkling suspicion that his soulmate would be wearing a Leaf before too long. And he had no doubt that it would suit her just fine. 

[spoon-writes]

Ends of the Earth | Chapter 17

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Mando x OC

Read on FFN or AO3

Summary: When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse, and soon they travel across the galaxy looking for her missing husband.

Chapter index

Chapter 17 - We Need to Talk About Kyen

The Razor Crest touched down on the planet's dusty surface, the ship groaning as it settled on the ground. Din looked out at the deserted landing pads and the sandblasted settlement with a frown. He would have preferred to land somewhere uninhabited and wait for Sinead to finish going through the records, but the ship had been running on fumes, and he didn't want to risk getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.

He looked down at his gloved hand, moving his fingers experimentally. Sometimes an ache would run down his arm, the only evidence that a nexu had tried to rip his arm off.

The sight that met him when he stood and turned nearly made his heart leap out of his chest: the child had found a fusing pen, probably taken it from the toolbox that stood in the corner of the cockpit. A treson cluster had burst behind a panel close to the door, and Din had had to hastily pull the half-melted components out and weld the rest back together as best he could.

"No, you don't." Din pulled the pen from the kid's hands, stifling a small smile when the kid sighed as loudly as his little body was capable of, his face wrinkled into a frown. He left the pen on top of the console and lifted the kid into his arms. "Come on," he mumbled to the child, who tried reaching for the pen.

Sinead sat on her bunk in the hull, scrolling through the datapad with a vacant look in her eyes. She glanced up when he climbed down the ladder.

"We landed?"

"On Mon Scon. Ship's almost out of fuel."

"Okay," she said and returned to her work.

Din stood silently, unsure what to do, unsure what he wanted to do. She hadn't said a word since she started going through the record. Instead, she seemed to grow smaller and smaller, the light from the datapad making her look washed out and ill. His arm prickled, and he almost managed to convince himself that it was residual bacta.

Once outside, it became clear why the landing pad was empty; cold gusts of wind tore across the ground. The sun directly overhead gave no warmth, only pale light that seemed to suck the colors out of everything, and every step threw up a cloud of dust that blew away in the wind.

There was a fuel pump on every landing pad, and Din flipped a switch to start the process. It made a coughing sound and briefly let out a smell of burning plastic before the wind whipped it away. He closed his eyes and counted to 10.

"Guess we have to go find someone."

The child cooed in response.

It took some time before Din got someone willing to help. The locals huddled in their houses or under warped awnings made to catch the worst of the sand. At last, an old and wizened human told Din to grab a toolbox and follow him, and once they got to the fuel pump, it took him a few minutes to clean out the buildup of sand.

The man walked back to the city, bent low to shield himself from the wind which had begun to come in harder and harder. Din leaned against the fuel pump and waited.

The ramp came down, and Sinead appeared in the opening. "You okay out here?"

"The pump didn't work. Should be done soon."

She nodded and disappeared back into the ship, leaving the ramp down, allowing sand to blow through the opening.

Din heaved a sign and was about to close the ship back up when a shadow through the haze caught his eyes; four shadows to be more precise who were moving closer to the ship.

A blaster bolt fizzed over his shoulder and hit the ship dangerously close to the fuel port, where it ricocheted off the metal with a ping. He dropped to the ground and drew his blaster, trying to keep his body between the kid and the attackers.

"Oh Mando!" a familiar voice called out.

Yurru. Shit.

"You're very popular these days!" The human bounty hunter came into view, most of her face hidden behind a mask. He could see his cold eyes glint behind the visor. The three others were strangers. Hired help, maybe. "It was quite the mess you made back on Nevarro. Didn't believe my ears when I heard what you did. You're the last person I expected to break the code."

Standing up, Din started moving away from the ship one careful step a time, keeping his eyes trained on Yurru. She was the only one smart enough to wear a helmet; the other three wore goggles to protect their eyes, but it was clear they were having trouble with sand blasting against their unprotected skin.

Yurru inspected her blaster. "Just this morning, I said to Vorkit, I said 'wouldn't it be nice if the target came to us for a change.' And just like that, you fall into our lap." Her eyes narrowed. "Got nothing to say?"

He was only half-listening while searching the surroundings for any sort of cover that wasn't a highly explosive fuel pump. The kid felt heavy in his arms.

Yurru shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway. Vorkit!"

"Yeah?" one of her companions said, scratching at his uncovered ear. The lens on his goggles was cracked.

"Check the ship. See if the target's in there."

Din didn't move as Vorkit went to the ramp and squinted into the dark ship. "Hey! Anyone in there?"

Yurru snarled. "Get in there and look."

Vorkit grumbled but still walked up the ramp, holding his blaster rifle at the ready.

"Now," Yurru said with a sigh. "I still haven't decided what to do with you. Dragging you back to Nevarro by the short and curlies will definitely put me among the greats, but there's something very satisfying in letting the traitor end his days in a shallow grave on some insignificant planet."

Din shifted his stance, so he was ready to move out of the way. If it came to it, he would be able to take a couple of blaster bolts, but the kid would not.

A thunderous explosion tore through the air, and the bounty hunters hit the ground. Din turned and saw her.

Sinead stalked down the ramp, her face set in an angry snarl, lit by red light emanating from a whip - the whip - she held in her hand. She swung it in an arc that alighted the air with kyber fire. The beskar didn't behave like metal; it flew through the air with precision and grace, irregular bursts of energy pulsing down the length of chain. The laser melted the sand to glass wherever it touched.

The whip cracked down on one of the bounty hunters who flew back, his chest caving in on itself. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Sinead whirled around and brought the whip down on the last bounty hunter. He crumbled in a wet, smoldering mess. An acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air.

Yurru aimed her blaster at Sinead, but before she had a chance to shoot, Din took her down with a shot to the chest.

Sinead turned in a circle, surveying the carnage around her. The whip burned a black line where it touched the ground.

"Is the kid okay?" She powered down the weapon, the red laser disappearing back into the hilt, leaving behind the beskar core.

"Yeah, I think-" Din looked under the cloak at the child, who started up at him with his big, dark eyes- "I think so."

She poked the bloody mess with the tip of her boot. "Who were they?"

"Bounty hunters." He went to Yurru's body and rifled through her pockets, coming up with a small pouch filled with credits and a tracking fob emitting a steady beep, which he crushed under the heel of his boot. "Let's go."

Sinead scanned the horizon. The wind came in even harder, and the settlement was almost totally obscured by a wall of sand. "Let's."

Sand had piled up on the ship's floor by the time they got back, and Sinead started to sweep it outside while Din placed the kid on the bunk. He turned to face her.

"I thought you said the nau'orar was somewhere safe," he said in a forced calm voice.

"Yes. The safest place is with me."

He scoffed, which finally made her turn, the whip swinging gently with her movement. "What was I supposed to do? Bury it on a random planet? Hide it somewhere and hope no one finds it?"

He gritted his teeth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Now it was her turn to scoff. "I didn't know you. If you knew, what would've stopped you from taking the damn thing and leaving me for dead?"

She, very annoyingly, had a point. If the roles were reversed, he wouldn't have told her either. Hell, it wasn't until she literally risked her life for the child that he told her the truth about him.

"I could still do that."

"I have a feeling you won't." For a long moment she looked at him, head cocked to the side, and an unreadable look in her eyes. Wordlessly, she offered him the weapon.

It was lighter than he thought. The metal rings clinked as he turned it in his hands, the light catching on the beskar in an almost hypnotic way. Crystals had been fused to the metal, probably what powered the whip. The hilt fit in his hand like it had been made for him, perfect Mandalorian craftsmanship. Another piece of their culture stolen away like everything else. It belonged in the covert.

He thrust it back to Sinead.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sinead said. "I nearly killed myself the first time I turned it on." She bundled it into a rag and stowed it in the little crevice between the bunk and the wall.

"Where'd you learn how to use it?"

"Got a leather whip to practice with, you know, I figured it was better to lose an eye than my head if something went wrong. And, I don't know ... once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard."

Din tore his eyes away from the whip's hiding spot. "I'm gonna find somewhere else to stay."

"Preferably without any bounty hunters."

"Yeah."

... ... ... ... ...

She almost missed his name.

The words blurred together in a long string of blue light. She had stopped thinking about them as names, as living, breathing sentients who had fought or toiled in the refineries on Loovria. It hurt too much.

It took a second for her brain to comprehend what it was looking at, and then it felt like all oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

K. Beck.

Human.

She nearly fell off the ladder in her haste to get to the cockpit, where Mando sat quietly with the kid on his lap. He startled when she stumbled into the room.

"I found him!" She tapped on the datapad in rapid motion, making the colors warp.

Mando took the datapad and looked, while Sinead threw herself into her seat just to jump up and start pacing.

"Says he was sold to a royal house on Seavo."

"So let's go."

"He was a fighter in the arena.”

A small seed of horrible doubt took root in the pit of her stomach. The image of Kyen in the arena, bloody blade at his side, refused to form in her mind. Combat was the antithesis of him. He was a farmer, not a fighter. "He did what he had to do. We've all done things we regret in the name of survival. You gonna plug in the course?"

Mando gave her back the datapad and started the navicomputer. She could feel him glancing at her as the ship changed course.

"What?"

He fiddled with a row of switches for some time before sitting back into his chair, clearing his throat. "You know, there's ... there's no guarantee that he's still alive."

"I've had years to think about this. The possibility has struck me. I still have to know."

"Fine."

She desperately tried to hold on to the elated feeling from before, not wanting to let Mando drag her down. He was right, of course. Her search could very well end at the foot of a grave. At least she would know what happened to him.

Letting out a deep breath, she leaned back in her chair and waited.

... ... ... ... ...

Seavo, it turned out, was a small and unimportant planet in a small, unimportant system located on the edge of wild space, where travelers were few and far between. It had no tactical significance and had therefore been largely ignored by most of the galaxy-wide conflicts. The surface consisted mostly of icy seas and slivers of rocky land. Mando steered the ship towards the biggest settlement which clung to the side of a cliff like a mollusk, nestled inside a large bay. As they came closer, Sinead could see watercrafts bob in the water.

The Crest landed on the small platform between rusty light freighters that looked like they hadn't been used for a long time. The people of Seavo had little use for space travel.

The smell of saltwater overwhelmed her senses when the ramp came down, and a chill immediately snuck into her bones. Growing up in space and subsequently ending up on a desert planet meant that she hadn't had much exposure to the sea, which was fine by her.

On the opposite side of the bay, overlooking the settlement, stood a dilapidated palace like a great shadow against the overcast sky. Even from a distance, it was clear that it had seen better days.

Sinead tamped down on the growing excitement which had bubbled up as soon as the palace came into view. Kyen might be in there. He wasn't, because when had she ever been that lucky, but until they got an explicit confirmation, she could pretend there was only a crumbling wall between them.

“You ready?” Mando looked at her.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s home.”

“Let’s go find out.”

The path to the palace led down through the settlement, steep and uneven. None of the houses were the same, but somehow, they all followed the same chaotic pattern. Some had grown together or had entirely new floors added on, made from whatever they’d managed to scavenge. Sinead recognized the cockpit of a hammerhead corvette stuck to the side of a building like an outhouse.

"They're very crafty," Sinead said.

“They have to be. There aren’t enough resources to go around.”

"I guess when all you have is endless seas and useless rock, you gotta make do."

Most of the people they passed were human, all of them casting curious or low-key hostile looks at Sinead and Mando.

It became clear that no one had lived in the palace for a long time. Even standing at the bottom of the bay, she could see that parts of the roof had caved in and the windows were black voids in the lichen-covered walls.

A human woman worked by a larger house, prying rusty metal plates off the outer wall and discarding them on the ground. She stopped to push a lock of wiry hair out of her face, and Sinead chose that time to clear her throat. The woman turned with a scowl, and Sinead gave her a winning smile. "Excuse me, I'm looking for someone to tell me about the palace up there."

“Who’s asking?”

“Names Jesha.”

“Why’re you asking?”

She shrugged. “Just wondering why such a beautiful building has been allowed to fall into disrepair.”

The woman gave the palace a dark look. “Psh. What use do we have for beautiful buildings, hm? If you haven’t noticed this ain’t Coruscant. Fancy houses don’t keep your family fed. Good riddance.”

Sinead crossed her arms to ward off the icy wind. “What happened?”

“Lord of the house finally got what was coming to him is all I know. All I care to know.” She looked Sinead up and down, her scowl slipping just a fraction. “Keep on the main road until you hit the docks, you’ll find an old fisherman by the name of Baston, peddling his excuse for redfish. He might be able to tell you more. His youngest is mixed up in all of this. Tell him that Dista sent you.”

Sinead shot her a genuine smile. “Appreciate it."

The woman grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, just let me get back to work." She brandished her crowbar in a vaguely threatening manner and waited until they started down the street.

The sharp smell of fish and brine permeated the air long before the docks came into view. The last buildings fell away, and Sinead got an uninterrupted view of the sea that glittered in the sun, throwing up clouds of freezing mist whenever a great wave broke against the harbor wall. The air was filled with bird squawks and shouts from fishermen. A single fishing trawler was docked and in the process of being unloaded. Straining her eyes, Sinead could see more vessels out on the ocean as small black dots. It all reminded her of the great spaceports she’d spend most of her childhood in, trying not to get in the way of burly workers who didn’t have time to entertain a curious girl.

In one end of the docks, out of the way of most of the traffic, a collection of stalls made from bleached driftwood sold fish lying on beds of ice or hung on racks, dried and salted. The birds were more concentrated here, watching the fish with empty, evil eyes.

They quickly found Baston manning one of the stalls. He was a short man with a thick grey beard, selling fish that were indeed rather sad looking. He grinned when they neared, not at all discouraged by Mando's intimidating presence.

“Hello there! S’not often we get strangers here. What can I get you?”

Sinead was about to answer when the kid made a noise and kicking his little feet, eyes fixated on the row of dried fish behind Baston.

"I guess we'll take a fish for the kid." Sinead gave him a couple of credits, and he plucked a dried fish off the rack and handed it to the child.

“What brings you all the way out here? New faces are a rare treat this close to Wild Space.” Baston’s eyes strayed briefly to the Mandalorian. He was remarkably calm in the face of Mando.

“Dista sent us. She said to ask you what happened up in that big house.” Sinead gestured to the dark palace.

A shadow came over Baston’s face. “Why do you want to know?”

“I …” she bit her lower lip. “I’m looking for someone. Might have been through the palace some time ago.”

Baston nodded to himself. "Happened some cycles ago. Don't know how long in your time, don't have much use of that out here." He was silent for a moment, his lips moving while he gathered his thoughts. "One of the king's men went an' killed him. The king was a bastard, but what followed wasn't much better to tell you the truth."

“He took over?” Sinead asked.

“For a little while. Think he got bored. We’re fishermen, we haven’t much need for governing around here, not really.” Baston seemed like a totally different man once the smile fell from his face. “Never thought I’d be missing the old king, but this man was something else. Don’t think I ever saw such a nasty man in all my life. What a terror. Say, who were you looking for again?”

She took a deep breath. “He might have been a slave in the palace. From Loovria.”

Baston nodded slowly. “Old king had a few of those. Like I said, he was a bastard. What’s the name? I might have known him?”

Sinead’s stomach knotted in fear and nauseating hope.

“Kyen Beck.”

Baston’s face twisted in fury. “You think this is funny?”

“What are you talking about?”

He came out from behind his stall, jabbing a finger at Sinead, who took a step back. Mando shifted the kid to his other arm, ready to draw his blaster.

“How dare you! Coming here, asking me questions like this!! I don’t want that tyrant back, not again.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

He finally seemed to catch on. “You … you really don’t know?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Obviously not.”

“Who do you think killed the king? Beck terrorized us for more than a cycle before pissing off to who knows where!”

At first the words didn’t register. Kyen terrorizing anyone? That couldn’t be true.

“You’re wrong.” Her voice was hollow.

Baston spat on the ground, all signs of the jolly old man gone. “Not something I’m liable to forget.”

“You know where he is now?” Mando said, not relaxing his stance.

“Not here. He stole a ship and took a crew. My guess is he’s out tyrannizing the Outer Rim, the good-for-nothing pirate. Calls himself Red Vekkass last I heard.”

Kyen? A pirate?

“No!” The word exploded out of her mouth, making passerby’s stop and stare. “Kyen would never do that!”

"Apparently, you don't know him as well as you think you do. My idiot son went with him, thinks a life of crime is better than staying here in safety."

“You’re wrong!” Her face was flushed and the sudden anger made her dizzy.

“Sinead-“ Mando began, grabbing her elbow to pull her back.

She wrenched her arm away from him. "Don't touch me!"

The kid made a worried sound, his little face contorted in a frown.

Mando clenched his fist and let it fall to his side. "Move. Now." His voice was dangerously low.

“But-“

“Now.”

Once they were off the dock, Sinead exploded. "Kyen would never do something like that! Not in a million years."

Mando stopped abruptly and put the child down on a barrel and turned to face her with his arms stiffly by his side. "It's been years. You said yourself, we all do things in the name of survival."

Sinead looked like she'd been slapped. She felt like she'd been slapped. "Not like this." Her eyes prickled, and she stared up at the sky. "You don't understand ..."

He remained silent.

"I ..." She took a shuddering breath, forcing the tears not to spill. "I wasn't born a slave. Already told you that ... my parents ran goods across the galaxy. We were ... pirates boarded the ship. They killed everyone ... except for me." She swallowed thickly, feeling at once hollow and drowning in memories she usually kept buried deep in her mind. "That's how I ended up on Srilurr." And I never told anyone except Kyen - and you.

If Mando had been still before, he was now a statue, glinting coldly in the morning air.

"Kyen wouldn’t do that. Not to me."

Mando cleared his throat, flexing his fingers. "I ... I didn't know."

"Nobody did." She breathed deeply, trying to keep herself from falling to pieces; if she were falling anywhere, it wouldn't be in front of Mando and the kid, who was watching silently from the sideline.

"Do you want to go after him?"

And just like that, grief was replaced with red-hot anger that pooled in her stomach and made her eyes twitch. How dare he ask her that? Like she would just give up after all that time and effort!

Small hands touched her calf, and she looked down into big black eyes. Somehow the child had gotten down from his perch and was gripping her around the leg, giving her the most worried look she'd ever seen on such a small face. The anger didn't ebb out, but slowly it receded enough for her to rein it in.

Picking him up, he settled against her chest, where he left a greasy handprint on her jacket. "Let's just get out of here." Her voice shook with barely concealed anger.

Mando nodded and stepped to the side, letting her lead the way back to the ship in silence.

<- Previous chapter - Next chapter ->

[ladyfiresfanfiction]

December Deals - Supernatural Fic - Crowley x OC

The winds blew colder than usual on that gloomy December day. The waves crashed with ferocity and brought a luke-warm mess of water and sand to my bare feet. It had been three miserable years since I lost him, but on the anniversary of his death, I always visited our secret place. The little private beach off of Orange street and first avenue. It was our hide away from our parents, our problems, and our growing sense of dread. This stretch of land could protect us from the worst pains, the saddest truths, and the darkest lies. But like a set of keys, I lost him. He was gone, without a word, and it killed me every day. I always wondered if Jay was still around. If he could actually hear me talking to him. If he maybe came to visit me at my apartment, or tried to keep me safe in tough times. I could always feel him around me. I could smell his cologne, I could hear his laugh, see those bright, adorable blue eyes. But it never lasted long. I walked along the waters edge, chilling myself to the bone in my black wifebeater and fishnet arm warmers, and those ripped up dark blue skinny jeans. The only thing that was kept the slightest bit toasty were my feet, the sand was still a bit hot from the suns powerful rays. I carried my black boots and knee high black and red striped socks in my hand while I looked out far into sea. Jay was a big part of my life. He was like the older brother I never had. He could make me laugh, protect me, surprise me in so many ways. He always had my best interests at heart and no matter what I said, or did, he never judged me, never left my side. The thought of my heartless words and childish behavior still brings tears to my eyes. The last time I saw him, I was so self absorbed and selfish to even help him, and despite the over bearing sense of desperation and need, he listened to me wail about some guy who broke up with me before he went away to college. He held me all night on the eve of my eighteenth birthday. When I left, he told me he would be over at my house bright and early for a little celebration. But he never showed up. I waited all day, swearing at him for being late. I never once thought he could have been hurt or in trouble. It only started to hit me when I remembered how sad he looked before I left. He asked me to stay the night, that something felt wrong. But all I wanted to do was try and call my ex boyfriend, see if he could come over to talk. He just gave me this optimistic smile and said "things happen for a reason, you never know what the future holds". I thought it seemed so old world of him to say things like that, but in the future, he was right. I put on my socks and shoes and stood up, slapping the sand from my jeans, and turned to the long, tall hill that would lead me back to the deserted road. I put in my earbuds and let the music of my favorite bands take me away to another time and place. Mine and Jay's favorite Tool song, "Right in Two", blared in my ear drums as I walked. I finally reached the road and, as usual, was not paying attention. I walked right into a man with dark features and dressed in a nice tailored black suit. I fell backwards and when I looked up, he stared me down. He had this mischevious smile form across his lips, and he extended his hand to help me up. Cautiously, I let him hoist me to my feet and I looked at him. "How are you, Cassidy?" he asked. "How do you-" "I just know these things." he replied in a thick british accent. I thanked him for his help and apologized for my clumsiness before turning away and walking towards my car, which was parked down the road. When I turned to see if he was still standing there, he was gone. I made it to my car, to be startled at his prescence leaning against the hood of my prized '72 cherry red mustang. "How the hell did you get here before me?" I asked. "Just fast, I guess." he replied, coyly. "Seriously, you were behind me. I would have seen if you -" "Darling, that's not important. I have a message for you." he said, waving off my questions. We stood beside my ride, and I shivered. He was taking in the sights, and then he looked in to my eyes. For a man his age, he was pretty good looking. A few inches taller than my five feet, four inches. He had a cute, chubby face, and a bit of stubble. His hair wasn't too long, and a light brown. It kind of made me want to run my fingers through it. His eyes looked like a melted chocolate, and his smile was contagious. He had a pretty nice build, too. His style looked pricey, but it looked even better on him. I felt like I was getting sized up as he continued to look at me. I felt as if his eyes were burning a hole through me, into my damn soul. I couldn't stand the quiet and I was so cold I could barely feel my fingers or my face anymore, so I cleared my throat to get his attention. Upon seeing how icy I was, he offered me his jacket. It was big on me, but it was cozy and felt great wrapped around my shoulders. He asked if he could hitch a ride, and although I was scared, I was so attracted to him I couldn't muster up the courage to tell him no. We hopped in my baby, that I named  Candy, and we sped down the street and on to the main highway. He asked if he could be dropped off at a bar that was, surprisingly, right down the street from my house, and I agreed. Puscifer's "Conditions of my Parole" blasted through the speakers and I caught him mouthing the words to the song. When the song ended and we came to a traffic jam, I turned in my seat and asked him what this so called message was, and from whom. "You know anyone named Jay Barnes?" he asked. I felt an ice cold chill run up my spine. "That was my best friends name, but.. He's been dead for three years now." I whispered. "Oh, I know. Was tradgic, really. But Jay told me to tell you that you're not at fault and to stop blaming yourself." he replied, while looking me straight in the eyes. The traffic cleared and I began speeding down the road, the man in the suit was digging his nails into the arm rests and swearing when I nearly collided into on coming cars and light poles. I swerved into another lane and went down a deserted street, about two miles from the bar, and hit the breaks, causing both of us to slam our heads against the dashboard. I frantically got out of the car and walked away a few paces. I heard him get out and jog after me. "I told the damn boy you'd react this way but he didn't want to listen." he said, grabbing my wrist. I backhanded him, leaving a red mark on his cheek. He backed away and saw that my eyes went from their usual green-hazel to a darkish, forest green. He rubbed at his aching cheek and began to speak again, weary of my random movements and frequent wheezing breaths. "I mean no harm, darling. Was just passing on a message as a favor to the kid." he said. "I don't know who in the hell you are, but my best friend did not come to you with a message from the grave! Who are you! What is your name?" I snarled. "Oh! Pardon my poor socialization skills. The names Crowley, and I'm the King of Hell." he smirked, and his eyes went to a dark black. I came to on the ground with him standing above me. My whole body was shaking and I could feel tears of fear leaking from my eyes, threatening to smudge my nearly perfect eyeliner. I backed away and he still came forward, and again, he helped me to my feet. "I'm not going to hurt you, relax." he said. "You're a.. A fucking.. Fucking.." "Spit it out, doll, I don't have all day. Yes, I'm a demon. What? Demons can't have nice clothes and be polite?" "Get the fuck away from me, or I swear I'll.. I'll.." "Shoot? Hate to break it to you but guns will only bring a bit of pain, but not death." he smiled. I was on the brink of hysteria when I took off running. The good looking stranger that was nice enough to give me his jacket was a fucking demon? And all these years I thought it was bullshit tales and lies to keep people in line. When I turned I saw my car getting smaller and smaller, but again, when I looked in front of me, he stood there and grabbed me by my waist. I screamed and kicked and scratched but he didn't let go. The last thing I remembered was begging for help, and then I blacked out. I woke up on a king sized bed with canopy curtains pulled in around it. It was dark out and I couldn't remember much. I didn't know where I was and for a split second, I thought I was in a high end hotel. But when I saw him in the doorway through the canopy, I froze. He slowly inched closer with his hands raised, signaling that he had no weapons or intentions to hurt me. I pulled the curtain back but kept the comforter pulled up to my shoulders, it felt so cold in the room. He took a seat on the edge of the bed, with his back turned to me. An overbearing desire to kiss him took over my body, but common sense screamed at me to run like hell. "I came to you because, not only did the boy ask me, but because you need help." he said softly. "Help? From a demon? HA!" I laughed. "I know this may be a bit hard, but can you please SHUT your damn TRAP and LISTEN!?" he shouted. If this would have been any other man, and any other time, I would have jumped him and let him fuck me around every corner of the earth while yelling at me, but instead I did as I was told and let him speak. "Jay is still around. He's been watching you ever since he checked out. He knows that you think it's your fault, he hears you when you talk to him. He won't leave until you realize what he did was his own choosing and no one could have stopped him. He can't be in peace until you finally let go and move on. Following so far?" he asked. "Yes, uh, sir." I spoke quietly. "Good. Now, what I am going to do will hurt but help both you and the boy. Do you want my help? Or, here's a better question; do you want Jay to move on?" he asked. "Of course, he was my brother!" I replied. "Take my hand, and hold on then." he said. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in Jay's apartment. He was downing whiskey straight from the bottle and looked like the poster boy for hell. I walked over, as if in a trance, and tried to touch his cheek. I called his name, but my efforts had gone unnoticed. "He can't see or hear you, honey. This is just a memory, so to speak." Crowley said, standing behind me. I watched as Jay looked through photo albums; they were of the two of us, his family, and then one of him and his ex fiancee, Taria. He wept and traced his fingertips over her picture, asking God why she had to die. He had struggled for six months over her death, and he never let any sadness show, but behind closed doors, I saw the emotional side of him I only wished he could have shared with me. His and Taria's song, "We're in this Together" by Nine Inch Nails played on his stereo, and the look in his eyes showed anguish and defeat. I watched him write his suicide note, take one last look at a photo of the three of us; Taria, Jay, and I, and then go into the bathroom. I followed behind, tears and shrieks escaping from me. I watched him get in the tub, now filled with hot water, and I watched him electrocute himself with his hair straightener. I cried out for him and when Crowley decided that I had seen enough, he brought us back to present day. "How could you put me through that?" I choked. "I'm sorry, Cassidy. I had to." "Why? So I wouldn't feel guilty? Well newsflash, genius; I feel even worse." I snapped. "Damn it, girl, you saw with your own eyes the pain he was going through. You saw that it had nothing to do with you, and no matter what, you couldn't save him! No one could! For fucks sake just accept it!" he barked. I sat on the bed and turned away from him. It was bad enough I was in a strange house with a member of God's public enemy number one, but I'd be damned if I let him see me cry. I laid on my side, facing a wall, and I felt the burning hot tears sting my eyes. I kept my moans to a minimum and kept as far away from him as possible. I heard him sigh and then after several minutes, felt his arm slide around my waist and pulled my back up against his body. I turned to look at him, and I saw compassion in his eyes. I didn't know what to think at this point. "Is there anyway.. I could bring him back?" I asked. "I'm sorry kid, but no." he whispered in my ear. "Please, Crowley, I'd do anything. I'd even sacrifice my soul." I pleaded. "What a nice gesture, but, still, the answer is no." he replied. I shoved him away and he fell backwards off the bed. "Well fuck you! What kind of pansy ass demon are you!?" I shrieked. "Sweetheart, you have no idea what you have just started." he said as he placed me on my back and hovered over my body. I looked up at him with curiosity. For all I know, he was about to murder me and hide the body somewhere. But instead, I just gave in to him. He was free to do whatever he wanted to me. His fingertips traced down my jawline as he leaned down and kissed my lips. They were warm and moist and sent electricity throughout my entire body. I couldn't help but moan. As the kiss grew deeper, I felt him smile into it, and his hands explored my curves. My tongue entered his mouth and I felt him begin to suck on it, it was new and exciting and made me feel like a giddy middle school girl. I felt his hands cup both sides of my face, and his own tongue began to rub against mine. He nibbled on my bottom lip and I slid my hands slowly up and down his arms, but then the reality that I was making out with a demon came in to play. I shoved him off and did a back flip off the other side of the bed, quickly throwing on my socks and boots. As I got up and made my way to the door, he stood in my way, looking down at me with eyes filled with lust and dominance. I felt my heart lodge in my throat as he grabbed me by my hips and slam me into the wall, his body pinned against mine and whispering in my ear that I was in alot of trouble and my best bet would be to let him fuck me and it wouldn't hurt... too much. I pushed back against him, trying to free myself from his grasp, but all it did was make me groan and make him press his lips hard into mine, stifling any sounds I tried to make. He yanked my hair back from my neck and let his lips wander down from my jawline, to my neck, and right along my collarbone. His kisses were rough and hard, and my knees were growing weak with each and every powerful kiss. His hands pinned my wrists into the wall, and I began to feel pain as his nails dug into my moist flesh. I was taking in short, jagged breaths while peering up to look at him. His facial expression was determined, concentrating on areas he somehow knew would make me turn to putty in his hands, and he looked as if he was happy with himself for turning me into his whore. He nipped at the sensitive areas on my neck, the last love bite drew a little blood, which he slid his tongue over. I arched into him and let out a whimper, which caught his attention. He freed my aching wrists and I jumped up in his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. As he kissed my lips again, he banged me into the wall, grinding against me, letting me feel every inch of his body melting into mine. He turned and threw me down on the bed, in which I half heartedly tried to sit up to see what he was doing. He smiled at me, clicking his tongue against his teeth, as if wondering what his next move should be. My mind was frazzled and I was more than turned on. I needed to feel every inch of him inside of me. He slowly walked over to the bed, bending down the slightest bit so he could lick my lips and bite down hard on my bottom lip. His hands were gliding through my hair, softly playing with every soft strand as he fell on top of me. Under him I felt like I was on ecstasy; my heart was racing at the speed of light, my mind was blacking out, and my body was shaking furiously. His hands, once again, trailed down my sides, his finger tips gliding down my rib cage, and slowly his fingers hooked into my jean loops, trying to yank my pants down a tad bit. I found the strength to take off his jacket and throw it on the leather desk chair behind him, and he locked eyes with me again. "Patience," he whispered in my ear, and his hot breath on my neck made a sharp breath stick in my throat, painfully. "When I'm through with you, I'll be carrying you around for awhile." I bit my lip as his last sentence played in my mind, like a broken record. He slowly pulled up my wifebeater, and with each inch he pulled up, he left a trail of kisses to my shaking form behind. I arched in to him again, and our bodies seemed to mould together perfectly. He rested one large, unwavering hand on the small of my back, holding me against him as he sucked and bit my neck. I went to work and began to unbutton his shirt. He ripped my wifebeater off, throwing the fabric on the other side of the bed. He muttered something about sloppy clothing pissing him off before kissing and licking the top of my breasts. I felt a slight film of sweat trickle down my forehead and along the sides of my face, with one hard, forceful move, he ripped my jeans off my legs without even unbuttoning them. I finally had his shirt fully unbuttoned, no thanks to my trembling fingers, and he quickly slid it off of his slightly muscular arms. He undid his tie painfully slow, and made a nice pile for his clothes on the nightstand, leaving me frustrated and snapping at him to finish what he started. "Oh, in due time, darling. Have a bit of patience." he would say, and then he pinned my wrists above my head and began to slide my bra straps off my shoulders using only his teeth. I bucked my hips against his, grinding my lower body in to his, letting him know I was more than ready for him to pound me in to the next century. He grunted, only once, and then stared me down. When my bra straps were down as far as they would go, he sat up, straddled over my body and yanked me up with one hand, and undid the bra hooks with ease. It went flying over his shoulder and he laid me down gently, smirking. He stood in front of the bed, staring at my nearly fully naked body. I felt as if I was being sized up, or as if he was taking a mental picture to add to his probable vast collection. I sat up, cautiously, and looked up at him. He nodded his head, as if giving me permission to undo his pants. With slow progression I had them unzipped and unbuttoned within a minute, and they fell to his ankles. He kicked them, along with his shoes, off and looked down at me. He shoved me hard into the bed and grabbed my legs, slowly pulling off my boots and socks. He threw them against the wall, looking disgusted at my now ruined attire. He leaned down, hooking his thumbs into the strings of my thong and ripped it off quickly. I sat up long enough to pull down his boxer briefs, and he kicked them off, placing his clothes on the nightstand. He stood in front of me, fully naked, and his length was something most girls only dream of having in a lover. I smiled up at him, ready for the most fierce sexual encounter I've had in my life, when he gently took my hand and helped me to my feet. "This will be the only time I'm careful with you" he groaned in my ear while he pulled me against him. "Bring it, black eyes." I choked out. He slammed me hard into the wall, lifting one leg and wrapping it around his waist. I felt him get situated and shove his full girth inside of my aching cunt. I swore at him as he began to forcefully penetrate me. He wasn't slow, he wasn't gentle, he was an animal. I held on to his shoulders, letting my nails dig in as he continued to make me squirm and scream. He grunted like an animal in my ear as he continued to slam into me, making me bounce back against the wall each and every time. My hips ached as his hit them with such a force I felt like they would break, and my eyes began to roll in the back of my head, making me feel dizzy and see stars. He nipped at the soft flesh on my neck, making me cry out, and as he pounded my cunt, he let his thumb play with my swelling clit. I bit down on his neck, surely drawing blood, and I arched in to him again. When he was tired of banging me into the wall, he threw me on the ground, landing on top of me. He looked into my eyes, out of his mind with hunger, and kissed my lips hard. My legs lifted into the air, giving him more clearance to penetrate me deeper. With each and every thrust, he hit my gspot and made it hurt so bad I was sure I was bleeding. He kissed down my sweaty body, nibbling on my collar bone, breasts, and back up to my lips. Our tongues locked in a passionate wage of war that no one would win. My nails raked down his back, making it burn as he continued to thrust in to me, making me scream his name. My throat was hurting and turning raw, but I couldn't stop the uncontrollable urge to scream and swear at him. I heard his seductive chuckle, and as I let out a stream of cum, I shoved him off, pinned his wrists down to his sides, and whispered that it was my turn to have some fun. I carefully kissed down his sweaty body, leaving gentle kisses to his chest, down to his stomach, and held one last kiss to his lower stomach, where his happy trail began. He groaned, trying to fight me off of him, but part of him was willing to be submissive, at least for a little while. I let him go, looking up at him and smirking as he bit his lip in anticipation. At first, I put quick, soft kisses to the head of his cock, down to his shaft and back up, I slowly let the tip enter my mouth, and I swirled my tongue inside and out of it, making him swear and call me his dirty little whore. With each curse word, I sucked on the tip while holding on to the shaft with one hand. I massaged the shaft with my fingertips as I began to slowly let it enter my mouth, inch by inch. He was trying to move, trying to force it all inside my mouth and down my throat, but it was as if he was paralyzed. I held on to the base as it was all in my mouth, and I showed him what was any guys favorite ability in a girl; I could deep throat. "Fucking Cassidy, you slut." he grunted as I let it all slide down my throat. I let him hardened, pulsing dick slide in and out of my mouth, and sucked it hard like a lollipop. Each time it slid down my throat quickly, the precum was leaking more and more, and then finally, when he couldn't take anymore, he let a wave of it release into my mouth. Looking up at him as I slowly let his cock slide out of my mouth, I swallowed every last drop, and smirked as he lay there, shaking and muttering to himself. "This isn't over, you fucking bitch." he gasped. "Oh, but I think it is." I laughed, slowly getting off my knees. "Guess again." he said, regaining balance on his feet and shoving me on my stomach on the bed. He entered me from behind, pounding my pussy while his fingernails raked down my back. As he entered me with force, I gripped the sheets and felt him grip on to my ass as he shoved in every inch into my now swollen cunt. I cried out for him to stop as I felt the familiar pulse rage inside of me, but all I heard was him grunting over and over again, and making my head spin and the little breaths I did have stick in my throat. He leaned down, over me, while he fucked me senseless and placed several sweet kisses to my neck. With one last push, the muscles in my cunt contracted around him and we soaked the bed with our burning hot cum. He placed me on my back and fell on top of me, his face buried in my hair. I slid my fingertips up and down his spine, and turned to kiss his cheek. Our hearts beat against each others, and when we finally caught our breath, I felt his arms slide around my waist and his lips gently kiss mine. "How does it feel to be fucked my a demon?" he whispered raggedly in my ear. "Sinfully spectacular. How does it feel to be completely worked by a human?" I asked in return. "Let's just say, it was a pleasure working with you." he chuckled before kissing my lips again.

[nsheetee]

Yin&Yang

Pairing: Mark Lee x Reader Genre: Bulleted AU, Superhero AU || Action, Romance, Angst, Mystery Length: 6.3k Details: mentions of Johnny, Doyoung, and Sicheng, major character death, happy ending Summary: In a world where certain people obtain superpowers, you are granted the dark and destructive powers of Yin while Mark is granted the bright and positive powers of Yang. Forced to work together, Mark uses his powers of creation to fight evil and you use your powers of destruction to maintain the balance of the world. The superhero gig isn’t full-time, though; you live as a University student, and when Mark becomes your chemistry lab partner, unbeknownst to either of you of your secret identities, a love blooms that seems to be stronger than any disguise you can hide yourselves under. Will Yin&Yang be able to conquer Imitatrice, a new villian who seems to be able to imitate superpowers? Or will it cost Yin&Yang their relationship? Or worse, their lives? 

▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼

Yin and Yang are forces that are complementary (rather than opposing) to each other 

just like how there can never be day without night or cold without heat

in your city, there can never be yin without yang

any average citizen of your city could tell you that yin&yang are anything but trouble

yin&yang are the city’s heroes

the black and white matching uniforms with complementing masks that cover over half of their faces could be recognized by anyone

children were taught to recognize their figures and how to shout for their help- just in case

people would stop what they were doing and gawk as yin&yang zoom down the streets, cheering them on as they ran to save the city once again

ever since superheroes appeared decades ago, the entire city started to rely on the comforting notion that a superhero will save the day

whether it be from a good-for-nothing criminal that’s involved in petty crimes, or another superpowered human that decided to use their fate-given gift for malicious purposes

these “supervillains” 

(a term appropriately coined by the citizens of the city)

are the reason many wealthier people are opposed to superpowers, and have tried to place a ban on the city from allowing superpowers to be used

this law never passed, the people of the city were too adamant on the idea that superpowers did more good than bad

fate granted you the destructive powers of yin

living life as yin was.,.,. mentally scarring, to say the least

to have the ability to destroy anything you touch from existence was.... a bit difficult to get used to

and finding out that your superpower matched with this other random kid’s superpower (better known as yang)

and finding out that the two of you balance out and help keep the world from falling apart

it was just a little too much for hormone-filled teenagers

despite that, you and yang have worked together for several years to stop criminal acts

yang has the power to create anything he wants

weapons, tools, literally anything you could think of

with one exception

you had to destroy something of the same caliber in return, to keep the balance of matter in the world 

this led to years of fighting crime together

and years of being pushed into the shadow of yang’s accomplishments

at first, you didn’t mind that people only saw you as someone who destroyed things

you were glad that yang was confident enough to handle the press because at that point in time, you weren’t

yang was always at your side

he was always reminding you that he couldn’t do his part without you

to you and him, you were a team- it didn’t matter what other people thought

▼△▼△▼△▼△

on a bright and fresh morning in the downtown area of your city, a shapeshifter wreaks havoc, disturbing several people’s day and destroying businesses and property

you and yang run towards downtown, the wind whipping past your faces and the cheers of people with their cameras pointed at you encouraging you to go faster

you both stop in front of the shapeshifter- you couldn’t really tell what it shifted into

some sort of hybrid between a lion and something with wings with big horns on its head

both of your minds go into a fritz at the sight in front of you- you’ve never had a fight with something that looked this non-human

“you got a plan for this one, yang?” you quietly asked your partner beside you- slowly backing up as the creature catches sight of you

“of course I do, smiles” even during times of stress, yang still throws out his endearing pet name for you with a smile

you relax, knowing that yang is confident makes you feel confident, too

“I just need some time” yang finishes

almost like an answer to a prayer, lissome comes from the opposite direction

his flexible and stretchy limbs propelling him further down the street- his green suit stretching with him and reflecting in the morning sun

behind him is foreshadow, a tall and lanky man with hair as black as the night and a suit as blue as the deep sea

although you and yang were the only superheroes that work together, lissome and foreshadow are known to help you out when a particularly stubborn supervillain appeared

“lissome! foreshadow! I know how we can catch the shapeshifter, I need a diversion!” yang yelled out

with one shared look, foreshadow and lissome took action

foreshadow used his ability of calculating the shapeshifters next movements and pointed that lissome should go the opposite direction

lissome’s malleable limbs seemed to catch the shapeshifter off guard and the constant movement from foreshadow seemed to confuse the supervillain, it was barely able to keep its eyes straight with all the movement from your two helpers

while all this was happening, yang quickly pulls your attention and points towards the multiple clothing lines hanging between two apartment buildings not too far away

knowingly, you sprint towards the buildings and begin to climb up the fire escape

“yin, hurry” you hear a cry from below you

you hang off of the fire escape with your right hand holding onto the railing for dear life, your left hand reaches out to the clothing line

you quickly envision the clothing line out of existence as your fingertips start to turn black with your power generating through you

and with one simple touch, the entire clothing line disappears, almost as if it wasn’t there to begin with, and reappears in yang’s hands in the form of a net

without much thought, yang, lissome, and foreshadow throw the heavy netting over the shapeshifter, stopping it from moving around

the supervillain lets out groans as it tries to shift into something that will break through the net

but it seems that fatigue takes over, and the shapeshifter returns to its normal human form

soon, the police task force used to detain superpowered humans show up and relieve the odd group of superheroes from the supervillain

and from all the ruckus of law enforcement, antidote shows up

his tall figure looms over the street, and as he walks everything behind him slowly moves into its correct place

the scratches left on cars that are parked on the side of the street are gone, the cracks in the concrete from the fighting are sealed, and even the heavy netting used to capture the shapeshifter is now once again turned into the clothing lines that hang between the two apartment buildings

antidote was the only one to ever be able to reverse what you and yang do

when you first met him at the beginning of your crime fighting career, he was a scary, tall guy whose powers seem to be stronger than yours

but slowly, you and yang realized that antidote was just a fellow superhero who would look out for you with all his might

antidote greets the four of you as a crowd forms, several cameramen and anchors ready to pounce on you to ask questions on your latest capture

more like ask yang about his most recent capture

his white mask does nothing to hide the smile on his face as he talks to the press animatedly about the events that went down

“one day, im gonna be busy and won’t be able to come and clean up after you kids and you’ll regret it” you almost don’t hear antidote’s groaning from beside you as you watch yang 

his cool and calm demeanor calms down the citizens who are listening and you quietly admire his way with words- you’re quickly reminded why he is the city’s favorite superhero

“you say that every time we all show up together, but you always arrive on time...?” foreshadow grills from the other side of you and before a cat fight can break out, yang makes his way over to you

“great job today, guys! I know you all say you work alone, but I think we make a great te-” 

“no thanks, one of us already has to deal with you taking all the credit for their work, I don’t want that weight on me, too”

an awkward air settles over the group and it seems like the comment put you in the center of attention, even though no one was looking at you

“yeah... I'd love to stay and continue this thrilling conversation, but I have places to be. until next time.” you end the conversation coldly

the four of them watch as you run through the crowd that parts like the red sea for you, fear propelling them away 

away from your superpower

you’ve never used your power on a person before

you promised yourself you never would- that killing is not the answer to anything that you come across in this line of work

but no one wanted to find out what would happen if you did

▼△▼△▼△▼△

after quickly changing into your regular clothes, you make your way to your first class of the school year

although you love being a superhero, it wouldn’t pay the bills in the future

so you were a college student outside of your superhero persona

(yes, it was difficult to juggling both of these parts of your life)

(yes, you were stressed)

(yes, you were going to continue being yin- there were too many people that count on you and yang to save the city to just drop the superhero side of your life)

you made your way into your chemistry lab, greeting the professor and the professor’s assistant

the assistant’s name tag read “doyoung” and he showed you the seating assignment 

once you sat down, the door to the lab opened once again

mark stumbled in, his backpack half open and hanging off one of his shoulders as he balanced his water bottle, phone, and several papers in his hands

before mark knew what was happening, he was falling over his own two feet with his phone flying up in the air and his papers falling to the floor

in one swift and fluid movement, doyoung grabbed mark’s arm to stabilize him, placing his foot down on the papers so they wouldn’t move away

when mark looked up at his savior, doyoung held mark’s flying phone in his other hand

mark’s gaze shifted to the other student’s in the class, but somehow no one was aware of the scene that just took place

they were all talking amongst each other and some even had their heads down on their table

“next time, tie your shoes. this is a chemistry lab, clumsiness can be fatal.” doyoung preached and sent a dumbfounded mark to his seat

as he arrived, his things practically fell from his hands and onto the table, getting your attention

when you look up at the ruckus next to you, your breathe leaves you

it feels like you can’t move

like whatever comprehensible thoughts you had before were suddenly erased as you looked at the person next to you

“hi, I'm mark. I’m your lab partner.”

he’s preoccupied with his things but he still smiles, pushing up his round glasses with his fingers and you swear you can’t look away from a sight like this

“im y/n”

mark finally looks at you

and everything suddenly feels right

like the feeling of completing a 1,000 piece puzzle

or the feeling of ending a 1,000 page novel 

complete, relieved, and content

you both look at each other for a few more seconds as if the whole world doesn’t matter

“alright everyone, settle down...” the professor interrupts and you and mark snap out of the trance

he takes off his jacket and you gulp down some water from your water bottle because the room just feels a bit too hot for the two of you right now

your mind, that was blank from all thoughts before, was now running a million miles per hour and you try to shake off the weird feeling in your chest

you discreetly glance over at mark

he’s nothing like your type at all

the clumsiness he showed as he came to his seat and the nervous laughs he let out as the professor talked was not something you were usually attracted to

you felt weird to admit it, but you were most attracted to someone like yang, who was cool and confident and almost unbothered

mark tried to listen to the professor as they talked, but his eyes kept wondering over to you

he couldn’t shake off how much you looked like yin

the same hair color and the same shaped eyes, even your lips looked the same

but as soon as the thought came into his mind, he shook it off

yin was a bit... stone cold

the yin he knew wasn’t one to be super warm and fuzzy- they were calculated and decisive 

and you sat next to him with sweater paws and an aura of softness around you that made you look so so so inviting

more inviting than yin could probably ever be

(despite that, mark still admired yin... very strongly admired)

so you both sat through your professor’s talking, silently wishing that the other would say something

hoping that you could catch each other’s gazes just once more

▼△▼△▼△▼△

with all of this going on, neither of you notice beatrice, who sits behind both of you

lets talk about beatrice for a bit:

she belongs to a wealthy family, they fund several activities at the university and are well known in the city

(they are well known for hating superpowers as well...)

despite this, beatrice is not that popular on campus

she mostly keeps to herself, and just sticks to her small group of friends (if you can even call them that)

but she has a secret:

she has a superpower

and it’s a dangerous one

she has the ability to know when someone possesses a superpower, and even worse, she has the ability to copy it

this type of superpower is not common, usually superpowers stick to just expanding normal human traits

because of this, beatrice sees herself as someone special, that fate has given her this gift for a reason

when she told her family of her amazing gift, thinking they would accept her and maybe even change their minds about superpowers

she was shocked when they told her to keep it to herself, to not let anyone find out

she was even more shocked when her parents continued to parade around the city with nastiness dripping from their mouths about superpowers

now, sitting behind you and mark, she immediately understands

she understands her purpose

she understands that you are yin and mark is yang

and judging by the way you are acting around each other, you don’t even know it yourselves

she chuckles quietly to herself

“what a bunch of fools”

after peering her head around to make sure no one was paying attention to her

she leans forward in her chair, across the table, and quietly plucks a strand of mark’s hair off of his jacket that hangs on the back of his chair

she quietly forms a plan in her mind as the professor drones on and on

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the next few months are pretty hectic not only for you and mark, but yin and yang as well

you and mark both realize you aren’t that good at chemistry (I mean, who is?)

so you decide to spend some time outside of class to catch up and help each other with your studies

(this was totally because you are lab partners, not because of how you felt towards each other hahahah.,.,. no- not at all)

the library was extra crowded at the beginning of the school year and you and mark found yourselves sitting on the floor during some study sessions because there were not enough tables

when doyoung, your professor’s assistant, ran into both of you studying on the library floor, he helps both of you pick up your things and takes you to a library cafe a few streets away

there were way less people here and many more seats- also, coffee was discounted for students

this is where you met johnny- the owner of the place, and sicheng- a fellow student at your university who works part time at this store

the first time you met them, sicheng was at the cash register of the cafe part of the store, all smiles and low giggles as you, mark, and doyoung gave him your orders

“what is your major, sicheng? I haven’t seen you around?” you ask and lean forward to hear him better

“dance... which is probably why you’ve never seen me before” you both lightly laugh at the small talk, until you feel mark by your side

he gently pushes you away and gives his order to sicheng

mark didn’t really like how your attention was all on sicheng

how you just met him, but you could start up conversation so easily 

when you could barely talk to mark without stuttering after several weeks of knowing each other

“what the hell is wrong with me?” mark thinks as he pays

you were just talking to the cashier, that was it, he shouldn’t be feeling like this- for his lab partner, no less

thankfully, you didn’t say anything about his small gesture

as johnny started making your drinks, he walked away from the expresso machine for just a moment

an abrupt clatter caught everyones attention

sicheng was holding the coffee cup to his chest and a bunch of straws were spilled all over the floor and the counter

he gives a shy smile “sorry everyone, the cup was about to fall off the machine. I caught it, though!” and everyone turned back to what they were doing as johnny chastised sicheng about wasting product

(you, mark, johnny, and doyoung found it slightly weird how sicheng was able to catch the cup so fast even though the machine was over five feet away from the cash register)

▼△▼△▼△▼△

you and mark LOVE the library cafe, it was cozy and kinda small

but you could actually sit in chairs to study, and you kept coming several times a week

especially when doyoung was there, he would sit down with you and help you with the concepts you couldn’t understand

one particular day, johnny was moving through the tables and replacing the daily newspaper with the one that has today’s date

as he set it on the table you were working on, your eyes stared at the picture on the front cover and you slowly dropped your pencil to pick up the thick collection of articles

taking up half of the front cover was a picture of yang- it was from a few days ago when you and yang defeated an armed bulgur at the city’s bank

but only yang was in the picture as he handed off the criminal to the police, yin’s figure was in the back- a blur as you moved around

the cameras didn’t even bother to catch your presence 

a feeling of anger started to fill the bottom of your stomach

yin was there, too

yin helped capture the bugler, too

you were used to not being on the cover of any newspapers or articles, but for some reason your existence as yin being boiled down to this one blur in a photo made you angry

why weren’t you given any proper credit? 

“y/n... are you okay?” mark asked from where he sat next to you

he noticed your tense figure and something propelled him to lift his arm over you and lay it on the back of your chair as he leaned in closer, all his attention on you

his fingertips grazed over your arm, and for some reason you weren’t taken aback by his sudden closeness

you relished in the attention he was giving you and it made you relax

yang deserved the recognition, the amount of people he has saved is immeasurable, and your power... just scared people away

you could deal with it

you have been for this long

“yeah, I'm okay.” you pushed the newspaper onto the table and a plate that was sitting on the edge was pushed off and shattered on the ground, catching johnny’s attention

“oh god, I'm sorry, johnny-”

“no, it’s okay, don’t move. I got it.”

mark eyed the newspaper on the table in front of you

seeing himself as yang would always be weird to him

he picked up the papers with his other hand and looked at the photo a while longer, sighing at the blurry, dark color of yin in the background

mark was glad that people saw him as a hero, but he wished people saw yin as a hero as well

yin puts just as much effort into fighting crime as yang

yin&yang are a team

the city wouldn’t be the same if there was just yang and he wished more people could recognize this

“are you sure you’re okay? you looked... not like yourself just now?” mark is brought down to earth from his thoughts when johnny repeats the question 

“yes, johnny. thank you. I'm just... a little stressed with all this work, you know?”

johnny seemed to accept your answer “you guys don’t work yourselves too hard, okay?”

you, mark, and doyoung all nodded and johnny bent down to retrieve the plate, picking it up and setting it back on the table and walking away to continue his business

all three of you looked at the plate

it was whole

not in pieces like it was moments ago

and almost as if everyone at the table could read each others minds

you all left it alone

returning to your books and notes, quietly noting the small incident, but not daring to speak of it to each other

▼△▼△▼△▼△

as for your feelings towards mark, they kept coming

you thought that maybe after spending some time together, they would gradually go away

maybe you would find somethings that you hated about him- he must have some sort of faults... right...?

but no, it seemed like someone, somewhere, wanted both of you to keep these feelings for each other

you even tried to find things you don’t like about him

like the fact that he’s super clumsy

(how could you hate the small blush that covered his cheeks when he asked you to help him carry his things, or when you catch the sleeve of his jacket and pull him away from stepping into a puddle or running into a door?)

or the fact that he laughs at everything... I mean EVERYthing, even if it’s not funny

(how could you deny the fact that his giggle sounds so much like yang’s???)

as for mark- he lets himself fall

he falls completely into his feelings for you, at first by accident, but after getting to know you more- he is relieved that he allowed himself the pleasure of loving you

you were different from what he thought he wanted, but he accepted it wholeheartedly

your soft smiles, your hard-working mind set, whatever it was- he fell for it all

unfortunately, these feelings translated to yin&yang as well

the feelings were there because you and mark were yin&yang- but neither of you knew that

which just added to the confusion and made both of you wonder:

who was underneath the mask of your crime fighting partner?

▼△▼△▼△▼△

on one particular night, after catching yet another criminal and handing them over to the police, you and yang made yourselves scarce from the scene 

yang noticed your hunched posture and walked faster to catch up to you

he grabbed onto your elbow and moved both of you into an alleyway a few feet away

“yang, what is it?” you weren’t really in the mood- crime fighting always made you tired

“what’s going on with you? is it the paparazzi again? I know they don’t give you the credit you deserve but you can’t let them get to you like that-”

“no, yang, it’s not that. it’s... you”

yang tilted his head

“me? what did I do?”

you sighed and rubbed your hand over your mask

“you’ve been very.... restricting lately”

“what do you mean?”

“you haven’t been letting me destroy things like you used to. like when we stopped that one armed burglar, you didn’t let me destroy his gun-”

“it was a GUN, you could’ve been SHOT”

“when has that ever stopped me before?” you ask and yang shuts his mouth

“don’t you trust me?” you ask again “because I trust you”

the alleyway becomes stuffy with your choice of words

“I can’t help it, smiles.” he weakly says, using your pet name, knowing that it’ll make you soft for him

you roll your eyes at his tactics but your heart beats a little faster anyways

“I don’t know, I just... I don’t want you to get hurt. what we do is dangerous and if something happened to you- if you got hurt and I couldn’t protect you... or even worse, if you got hurt because of me... I don’t know what I would do with myself”

the confession slips off of yang’s tongue so smoothly that the words pluck your heart strings, a beautiful melody resounding in your chest and you began to feel light

yang sighs, if there was any chance to tell you his thoughts- it was now

“I think I could let you do your part if... we show each other who we are.” yang says and the airy feeling spreading through you abruptly disappears 

“yang... you know that’s dangerous. we can’t-”

“we can, smiles. we can pulls off our masks right now and that can be the end. wouldn’t you feel better knowing who I am?”

you thought about his question, would you feel better if you knew who yang was? it was a tempting offer, and something that you’ve recently thought about...

but you’ve gone this long without knowing who he is.. does it even matter anymore?

yang senses your doubt and steps forward, pushing you against the cold, brick wall behind you

but you don’t feel trapped or pushed, his presence doesn’t frighten you

he looks into your eyes, swearing he’s seen them somewhere else before, and those lips... how close they were getting to his

he’s so close you can see the sweat still sticking to his forehead and the individual strands of his hair hugging his skin, his fair skin glowing even though the alleyway was dimly lit

you can’t see all of him, but you know that underneath the mask he must be beautiful

“there can’t be yang without yin- that’s the whole point of our powers. In our world, there can never be a me without a you. Why are we hiding from each other?” yang whispers, bodies only inches apart now

your mind is infused with him- his proximity and scent and aura so overwhelming you feel like you’ll be complete if you could just lean in all the way

yang’s hand slowly creeps up to his mask, his fingers finding their way under the edge and he takes a deep breathe before-

“yin&yang!! help!! we need you!!!”

the shout pulls yang away from you, and you share one more look before leaving the alleyway and running towards the shouts

but the tension and questions that have risen don’t leave either of you

▼△▼△▼△▼△

the rise of imitatrice came very suddenly, and with almost no warning to you or anyone else 

all you got was a notification on your phone from the local news station

a picture of a woman standing on top of the city hall building, wearing a dark purple uniform with long blonde hair whipping around in the wind

you didn’t think twice about changing into your suit and running towards the center of the city, where city hall is located

when you arrive, the whole front yard of city hall is blocked off and several people stand around along with the police and tv crews, filming the mysterious woman who is now by the fountain that is situated in front of the building

suddenly, on the command of an officer, a line of policemen all shoot a round of bullets right at the woman, making some members of the audience release screams in shock

she reacts quickly, her hands coming up in front of her, and several shields appear out of thin air, blocking the bullets from hitting her 

gasps leaves the audience as the shields fall like dominos to the floor, breaking the concrete underneath

“oh, yin? you’ve arrived, came to join, huh? do you like the show I've been putting on?” the woman yells with a taunting lilt to her voice and the audience turns around at the mention of you

they part for you as you walk towards the woman, a familiar scene when it comes to yin walking through a crowd of people

your mind is reeling- the only other person able to conjure up something like that out of thin air is... yang

you look around- he’s no where to be seen

“where is yang? what did you do with him?”

“oh, I didn’t do anything, dear.” she steps forwards, raising her voice to make sure everyone hears her

“I am imitatrice, and my superpower is to imitate other superpowers. I have been silenced all my life, but no longer.”

“do you have to talk like that? you don’t look that much older than me, why are you so demeaning-” you try to play off her vague threat

but you’re cut off by an uncomfortable feeling in your gut starting to form, it cramps up and makes you feel sick- imitatrice notices your discomfort

“oh, what is the matter, my little yin? do you feel sick? maybe a bit... unbalanced?” she hints and your eyes widen in realization

if imitatrice really is copying yang’s power... then the world is slowly becoming unbalanced from her previous actions

despite the pain in your abdomen, you quickly run over to some parked cars, your left hand gliding over them as you run by, hoping that destroying them could balance out the matter in the world

when the uncomfortable feeling in your stomach goes away, you make your way back to imitatrice who has been watching you the entire time

as if everything is going the way she planned- she looks pleased

“imitatrice, please. you don’t have to do this.” you now try to reason, but the words don’t go through to her

“save your words, listen to me instead.” she counters, “I have yang’s power now, and you have yours.. why don’t we team up?”

her proposition makes the audience gasp and chatter fills the area before imitatrice starts to speak again

“why did you ever think that your powers of destruction could make you a superhero? you were made to DESTROY, for god sakes.” she chuckles and it makes your skin crawl

“If we work together... we could get equal credit, your name could be on all of the tabloids and media there is- not yang’s... yours” no doubt some people in the audience quietly think to themselves that you could do it- you could become a supervillain

“everything you touch dies- it rots away. do you ever think that yang could love you for that?” she asks

confusion runs through your thoughts “why would she bring up yang like that” but it quickly disappears

because a scary thought replaces it

“what if I did join her?”

you would definitely be on tabloids and a talked about person, fate’s gift to you would be used for what it was probably given to you for: destruction

but at what cost?

the cost of death, grief, and misery in a whole city?

....not on your watch

“if I have to use my power for evil, I'd rather not use my power at all”

your words anger imitatrice and she lets out a growl

“fine. have it your way” she turns around but she doesn’t get far before a voice catches her attention

“imitatrice, there’s room for only one power of creation in this city, and it’s mine”

you whip your head around at the sound of mark’s voice, only to see yang standing by the audience

he sounded so much like mark- but that was not something you had time to think about

lissome reaches over the crowd and the blockade, straight to imitatrice

foreshadow yells towards you and yang about going inside to help the last group of people out

and city hall slowly turns into a hot mess

the fountain in front of the city spills water onto the concrete and the grass has been turned over and ripped from the ground

several objects that imitatrice and yang both conjure up are laying all over the concrete- everything from rope to guns to materials like wood and metal

despite the dangerous action going on, citizens stand around and watch, phones up and recording every last second of the fight

soon yang, lissome, and foreshadow are trapped behind the shields that she imitatrice first made and have been thrown into the ground

you crouch down next to them- you’ve been running around touching anything you can destroy to keep up with yang’s and imitatrice’s tricks

you’re out of breath, but you still focus on what the group is saying

“nothing is working” lissome growls as he rests, at some point his uniform tore at the arm and you can see his skin covered in dirt underneath from all the fighting

“she’s not letting up, how do I defeat her if she’s just using my power against me?” yang asked, frustration seeping through his words

you look at the members of this odd group of superheroes- everyone looked so worn out from the fighting

tired eyes and confused thoughts prominent in all of them

“maybe yin can destroy something that’s the opposite of you, wouldn’t that give you more power?” foreshadow asks

“no that’s not possible” yang shakes his head “the only thing that’s the opposite of yang is-”

“me” you simply state, and all three superheroes turn to look at you

“the only thing that is the opposite of yang.... is yin” you sigh, and the tone of your voice makes yang panic

you sound like you’ve made up your mind on something

“no, don’t even think about it. absolutely not.” yang’s voice rose in volume as he talked

“I know you can defeat her. I mean it when I say I trust you, yang”

you honestly can’t even believe yourself, you were about to do something you promised yourself you’d never do

and you were willing to do it all for yang, for your city

“smiles....” yang says weakly, reaching out to you, but lissome holds him back

and before anyone can change your mind or stop you

your left hand, finger tips black from dirt and from your superpower, comes up and presses into your chest

and like you never existed, your presence was completely erased

gone

just like all of the things you’ve ever destroyed

yang couldn’t believe his eyes, lissome and foreshadow breath heavily as they stare at the space you once occupied

the audience that was watching you gasps and covers their children’s eyes and look away themselves

it was the most sudden death anyone could imagine

yang wasn’t about to let it be in vain

“c’mon. let’s finish this”

for once in his crime fighting career, yang lets anger take over

he doesn’t know if it was the surge of energy he was gifted by you or the fact that you just erased yourself from existence 

but he could barely think about what he was doing, letting his gut take control of his powers

at one point, gray clouds cover the city, and rain starts falling, thunder rumbling and the ground was shaking from the new weather- but yang never stopped

in the future when asked about this fight, he would say he was blinded by the fear of you leaving him, by the sight of you killing yourself for him

he didn’t calm down until imitatrice’s hands were stuck behind her back in handcuffs with dome covers over them to keep her from creating anything else

yang falls to his knees, from exhaustion and from the numbness building in his chest and quickly spreading like a disease

the reality of what happened finally coming to him

as he looks up at the citizens of his city, he does not feel proud to be the hero

he does not feel joy to have saved everyone- because it was really you who saved the city today

“are you happy?” he asks the audience, voice cracking under the tears that threaten to flow down his face, and everyone settles down after hearing his helpless tone, only the pounding of rain on the concrete could be heard

“yin... killed themselves, for me, for us, for all of you.” yang points in the direction of the crowd

“we never deserved yin, no matter how you saw them, they were too good for us.” a blanket of guilt settles over the crowd, but no comfort comes to anyone as yang continues

“none of us really appreciated yin, and now we mourn them. how selfish can we be?” and with that, yang rises to his feet and a commotion is heard from behind him

antidote slowly walks through city hall’s front yard, slowly everything goes back to order

the fountain is repaired, the concrete is made new again, and the rain ceased

almost like the fight that just occurred here never happened

but no one would forget the events that took place

everyone looks towards the area that you had ended your life in, anticipation weighting down everyones chest

but nothing ever happened, you don’t reappear

antidote walks up to yang and places a steady hand on his shoulder

“what happened? shouldn’t they have come back” yang asked, despair dripping off of every word

“I don’t know, yang. I've never brought back anyone who was destroyed by yin’s power. only time can tell now.”

and like that, the crowd started to disperse and yang was left on city halls  front yard with a heavy heart filled with guilt

▼△▼△▼△▼△

johnny messaged the group chat containing you, mark, doyoung, and sicheng later that day

“come to the store, after all that happened at city hall today... drinks are on me”

johnny’s phone notified him that the text was only seen by three people 

▼△▼△▼△▼△

in johnny’s store that night, doyoung and sicheng crowd around johnny’s phone as they watch footage from what happened earlier that day

the mayor issued an investigation into the events of what happened at city hall and a message to yin to show themselves if they are still alive

the message has not yet been answered, and several people and businesses keep their window blinds open in hopes of seeing the black uniform running down their street

although it was once again sunny outside, the weather did not reflect the city’s feelings

as the bell above the door jingled, all heads turn to look at the new customer

mark walks in and stumbles up to the counter

“glad everyone’s here, and that you’re all okay” johnny sighs and mark clears his throat

“where’s... where’s y/n?”

silent looks are shared between the men

they all turn their heads to face the floor, knowing what your absence means

as no one talks and no one moves, grief fills the store, and slowly it turns into sadness

until the bell chimes again

“hey, guys. am I late? I just saw your message, johnny. I came as quick as I could”

your warm laughter never sounded so hopeful and has never been so appreciated until now

mark thinks he could cry when he sees your smile as you walk through the front door

suddenly everyones shoulders seem to fall in relief at your presence

“alright, I said drinks on me tonight, but shouldn’t we go out for dinner? I think we have a lot to celebrate tonight.”

couldn’t agree with you any more, Johnny

you decide that the city should be kept on their toes for a little longer- the return of yin would come eventually

tonight was the time to spend with your friends after so much happened earlier that day

you lock fingers with mark, a sheepish smile rising to both of your faces and you hope your friends don’t turn around to catch the affection you’re showing each other

walking down the street in the city that you and your friends unknowingly (but silently knowingly) saved together

the tune of your friends’ laughter and the promise that everything is okay again comforts you- mark's loving gaze a reminder of all the good things to come

both of you are only slightly aware that fate has brought you together 

whether it’s as yin&yang

or as you and mark

neither of you really care how you stay by each others side

as long as you can keep staying together

▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼