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wooyunhwa · 4 years

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kingdom of welcome addiction | four

view pinned post for masterlist / links to the rest of the parts!

Genre: smut (with plot), this part is just suggestive, mostly plot

Pairing: demon!san x fem!reader / ???yunho x fem!reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: a bit of blood drinking, not much else in this part tbh

Synopsis: A new boy from your class steals your attention, but something about it seems too good to be true.

A/N: The plot thickens! I know most of you are here for the smut but this chapter is very important for later parts! Thank you for reading and comments are super appreciated as always! <3

The familiar alleyway. Why did you come back here? It went on endlessly, you couldn’t see the street from either side. You were running, but you weren’t sure why. Was someone chasing you?

A glimmer of crimson caught your eye from the shadow, a familiar flash of fangs sparkling in the thinly veiled moonlight. A bloodthirsty snarl painted his face. The demon from before? He stepped into the light, and his piercings glimmered in the flickering glow of the rusty street light. You swiveled to run, but the brick wall stopped your path. That wasn’t there before...

You turned to meet his eyes, hungry with bloodlust, like a lion stalking its prey. He had you cornered. His proverbial lamb.

San.

He lurched forward, his speed unmatched, pinning you up against the wall with a disturbing thud. You gasped as the wind knocked from your body. You opened your mouth to speak, but nothing came out, not even your breaths. His hands viced around your neck. Why was he doing this? Why? Tears poured from your eyes as he squeezed mercilessly. You couldn’t understand why. You thought he was supposed to protect you.

You heard him speak, but his words didn’t make any sense. His voice was a venomous hiss, poison dripping from his fangs as he trained his eyes over you, to the hands squeezing the life out of you. Why was he hurting you? What did you do wrong?

Your body went cold as you writhed, unable to run, unable to scream, unable to breathe. Piercing black eyes watched you as you sobbed helplessly, searching for any remnant of life left in your lungs, clawing at his hands, silently begging him to stop.

And then black.

The next thing you saw was the dizzyingly bright white of your ceiling. The sheets were drenched under you from sweat, blankets thrown everywhere from tossing and turning in your bed.

Your hand came to your neck, tracing the faint scars from San’s teeth, remembering the grip of his hands around your neck. He could have killed you, back then, if he hadn’t snapped out of it. You would be dead.

You were falling for him. But somewhere inside of you, somewhere deep in your subconscious, he terrified you.

Your next semester had been, so far, incredibly overwhelming—and it was still only the first day. You weren’t used to such a hectic schedule, usually opting to take most of your courses online, but your schedule this time was booked entirely on campus.

Your last class of the day: Advanced Human Religion. Fitting, for your current entanglement with a particular demon. Admittedly, that was the reason you took the class. Maybe it’d give you a better picture of what you were dealing with. But probably not.

You just wanted the day to be over—time felt endless in the constant drawl of class after class, boring lecture after boring lecture.

Until you saw him.

Time seemed to stop as he rounded the corner through the doorway, like a slow-motion movie scene.

He wasn’t your usual type, you were usually exclusively drawn to the “tall, dark and handsome” trope. He ticked only two of those boxes. One, he was incredibly tall. He towered over you, and most of the people in the classroom, a perfectly proportioned giant. Lean, limber, and absolutely stunning. Two, he was unbelievably handsome.

But dark? He was exactly the opposite. He was a glowing ray of light, you imagined if this was a cartoon there would be golden glitter sparkling around him as he walked. His cotton-candy blue hair was styled neatly on his head, tousled gently in a way that looked purposeful. He was effortlessly gorgeous, almost ethereal.

Part of you wanted him to take the empty seat next to you, so badly. The other part wanted him as far away as possible—not only because the butterflies fluttering in your stomach were making you too nervous to breathe, but because he was so pure he could probably detect the sin permeating from your aura. You didn’t deserve to even be in the room with someone so sparkly and bright. You’d been fucking a bloodthirsty demon, after all. And you had the scars to prove it.

He was walking in your direction. Fuck. What do you do? Look at him, look away? Look at your phone? His eyes trained on the seat next to you. As he walked behind you, your heart stopped completely, breath frozen in your chest. Why were you so nervous? Why?

He took a gentle seat next to you as you fumbled uselessly on your phone, trying to pretend you didn’t even notice him.

Your eyes wouldn’t listen. You glanced over at him, and he met your eyes warmly. He flashed you the most heavenly smile you’d ever seen, his eyes forming into soft crescents. He looked like the embodiment of sunshine. “Hi, I’m Yunho.”

You felt yourself shrinking as the heat rose in your cheeks, unable to keep calm as you tried not to stare too obviously at him. “I-I’m Y/N,” you stuttered, shifting in your chair as you tried to stay upright.

Other than his ray-of-sunlight aura, he smelled incredible. Like warm, freshly baked bread wafting in the air on a summer day. He smelled like a nostalgia, like a distant memory you’d forgotten, but desperately wanted to remember.

You didn’t have a chance to make too much conversation with him, as your lecture was about to start any second. You had a hard time focusing for the rest of the class—it seemed like both the longest and shortest hour of your entire life. The tightness in your chest was overwhelming, heart beating ruthlessly fast in your chest. You weren’t sure if he could tell from beside you how much you were struggling to focus, but if he even saw half of the nervousness you felt, he’d probably think you were crazy.

The minute your professor dismissed the class, you practically sprang up out of your seat, too anxious to face him again, but his voice immediately stopped you, deep and smooth, from your side. “See you tomorrow.”

A blush rose to your cheeks. You didn’t even consider that you’d have to go through this again. How were you going to handle these feelings every day? You smiled kindly, concealing your nerves the best you could. “Right, see you tomorrow. It was nice meeting you.”

You beelined your way out the door, practically gasping for air as you made it out of the classroom.

You made your way to the bus stop, putting in your headphones, searching desperately for a song to calm your nerves. Your head was filled with images of him, ethereal and glowing. The first time your mind wasn’t filled with thoughts of San in a while. You didn’t exactly know what it was, but something about Yunho drew you in, had you completely flustered like you’d never experienced. Dare you say, even with San. What was it?

A shadow obstructed your vision for a moment, drawing your gaze up. And farther up. Yunho. He smiled warmly above you, his figure illuminated by light washing up behind him. You tugged out your earbud frantically as he opened his mouth to speak.

“You take the 5 too?” he asked, gesturing to your bus stop. “What a coincidence, huh?”

You thought you’d gotten off easy today. You had no idea what to say, mind fumbling for words as his smile pulled you farther and farther into nervousness. Butterflies enveloped your stomach, creeping up into your chest. You were surprised when you managed to reply semi-coherently. “Long time no see,” you jested lightly, eliciting a cute chuckle from him. “Yeah, I take the 5. I could take the 11, but the 5 comes more often.” God, what were you saying? “Anyway, I meant to ask… are you new here?”

“Yeah, I just transferred here this semester,” he explained. Makes sense why you hadn’t seen him before. You heard the screeching of the bus’ wheels coming to a halt by your side, but you were entirely focused on him. He was so tall you nearly had to tip your head ninety degrees to meet his gaze with him standing in front of you, unlike when he was sitting next to you in class. “I don’t know many people yet.”

You boarded the bus with him, and he took a seat next to you. His heavenly smell was overwhelming, you wanted to bury your head in his fuzzy sweater and never let go. It was a weird thought, but you couldn’t help but think he would give really good hugs. Like a fluffy cloud in the shape of a human. You chatted lightly, mostly about the classes you were taking, your professors. It went all too fast, and when he got off at his stop, you almost wanted to follow him. But that would be really creepy. Despite trying to avoid him before, now that you were talking, you didn’t want to stop.

You didn’t summon San that night.

You wondered if he was watching you flirt with Yunho on the bus. He told you he’d stop watching you when you expressed your displeasure at him being so intrusive, but you wouldn’t call anything about San trustworthy. You almost wondered if he could read your thoughts sometimes. Would he be mad that you had such an undeniable crush on another guy? It’s not like you and San were dating, but you definitely had a relationship of some sort, however unusual it was. You recalled the bitterness in San’s voice when he mentioned you getting the handsome man’s number from the bar. You couldn’t imagine how he’d feel about you crushing on your new classmate.

The highlight of your day quickly grew from summoning San to getting to talk to Yunho for a few moments before and after class and on the bus. You had undeniable chemistry with Yunho, and he was like a walking shot of pure serotonin, a bright ray of happiness in your otherwise dull days.

You still summoned San at night every so often. He hadn’t mentioned anything about Yunho at all, not even a fleeting sarcastic comment. Maybe, just maybe, he was finally following through with his promise of not spying on you.

The nights with San were nice, but you stayed away from anything explicitly sexual for a while. Your contracts became purely professional—well, as professional as an unprofessional demon boy cleaning your bathroom for you in exchange for your virgin blood could get. It felt entirely wrong to lust after him so desperately while your mind was filled with thoughts of your new crush. You almost felt dirty when San was around, like a cheater, though you didn’t know who exactly you were cheating on. You and Yunho were mere acquaintances still, and yet being in the presence of your demon felt wrong. Sinful—and not in the good way.

You rejected San’s flirting, shying from his soft kisses, ducking away when he pinned you like prey against your wall, pulling away from him when his hands explored your waist a little too closely. You craved him entirely, but it felt so wrong. You did, however, let him feed from you still—his lust for your blood was still insatiable, and you felt cruel not even letting him get a taste—but your newest condition was that he couldn’t use your neck.

You couldn’t help but cry out when his fangs sunk into your skin, pain mixing with pleasure as San’s fangs pierced just above your hip bone. The scars were starting to compound, and with each bite, they seemed to heal less and less cleany. You definitely started to look like a vampire’s chew toy in a way you couldn’t just explain away anymore.

His tongue against your skin had you squirming—the neck felt intimate, but your hips were even more so. You imagined his tongue dancing across your skin, his hand sneaking down below the waistband of your pants, his fangs pulling your panties off with his teeth. The fantasy dissolved in your mind when he pulled up from your skin, pushing the hem of your shirt back down while he swiped his other hand over his fangs, smearing the blood with a satisfied moan.

He kept his hand on your waist as he came up, finger tracing your chin, hungry for you after a long night of contracted housework. You could tell he wanted you, more than just your blood, he wanted you. He was begging for you with his eyes, lustful and intense. You wanted him too. You wanted your lips against his, pressed up against yours passionately, the feeling of his cold metal lip ring scraping your bottom lip. You wanted his hands all over you, you wanted to hear his sweet praises in your ear.

But you also couldn’t get the image Yunho out of your head. The things you wanted him to do to you, even more so. The guilt wouldn’t let you go.

You shied away from San, breaking eye contact. “San—I—I’m tired. I just want to sleep.”

He sighed, clicking his tongue against his teeth in annoyance. Your constant rejections of him were probably suspicious, but you didn’t know how to tell him about Yunho.

“Fine. But you know, something’s off with you.” He narrowed his eyes, his scrutinizing crimson gaze making you incredibly self-conscious. Like you were under investigation.

“I’m just overloaded with school right now.” Were you really lying to him? That was a dangerous game.

“Are you lying to me? That pretty little face doesn’t hide very much, you know.” Fuck. “Whatever. I’m not obligated to stay here. Our contract is up anyway.”

“San, wait—”

But he was gone.

The empty space on your bed where he just was stung just as much as the still-fresh bite mark on your hip. You lifted your hand to meet your cheek, wet with saltwater. Why were you crying?

“Who knew a class about religion was going to have such a crazy workload?”

You shoved your notebooks into your school back as you packed up at the end of class. The only class you looked forward to in the day also happened to be the hardest one—your professor turned out to be especially harsh with his tests, and assigned so much work you could hardly keep up.

“Right? I thought this was going to be an easy one. Maybe I should have been tipped off by the ‘Advanced’ part of the class description,” you responded with a smile, eliciting one of his intoxicating laughs. You couldn’t help but smile when he smiled.

“Maybe we could study together?”

Your heart stopped in your chest, and you paused for a moment to weigh his proposal. It wasn’t a difficult decision. “That would be nice,” you said with a flirtatious smile. You hadn’t had a chance to hang out with him outside of the setting of school yet. Although it was just an invitation to study, it almost felt like he was asking you on a date. “I know a cafe we could go to. It’s open pretty late. We could go tonight if you wanted,” you added.

A night free of demon drama would be nice for once. The guilt when you looked at San was practically eating you alive. You couldn’t lie to him anymore, but you also couldn’t face him enough to tell him the truth. You would jump on any reason to avoid having to have that conversation one more day.

“I’m not doing anything now, actually. We could go right now?”

You nodded with a soft smile. “Sounds great.”

The time flew way too fast as you studied at the cafe with him. You’d gone relatively early, but you somehow managed to still be there when they started ushering the customers out at closing. You were studying, but it also felt like a date of sorts. You were being particularly flirty, and if you weren’t imagining things, he was too. He bought you a coffee, held the chair out for you as you sat down, even brushed up against you a few times while you sat next to each other.

“Is it just me or did that feel like it went by way too fast?” Yunho asked with a laugh, holding open the door for you as you stepped outside.

You were met immediately with the cold night air, coughing you to shiver a bit from the chill of the wind against your skin. Yunho’s arm came down suddenly to wrap around your shoulders, his thick fuzzy sweater warming you in the cold, though he had to lower himself down a bit to get a proper angle on your shoulders. You melted into his touch immediately, heat rising in your face. It felt… right. You never wanted to leave this moment.

“Would you like to come back to my apartment?” you asked hesitantly, not wanting to seem too forward. “To finish studying, I mean. We still have a bit left to go over.”

Studying. Funny. That’s definitely not what you wanted to do with him right now.

He squeezed his arm around you tighter. “I’d love to.”

You settled down at your apartment with him. You hadn’t had a guy in your apartment other than San in months. Actually, come to think of it, you hadn’t had anyone in your apartment other than San in that time. At least it was already sparkling clean, thanks to your demon maid.

You settled on your loveseat couch—it was all you had room for in your small apartment. Yunho nestled up next to you, scooting up next to you until his hips were touching yours. You did your best to focus on the work in front of you, but you couldn’t help but feel distracted by what his touch was doing to you. It was so minimal it was almost non-existent, but even the faintest brush of him against you had you blushing and flustered.

Yunho glanced over at you. “So, for this question, I think we need to—”

But you couldn’t let him finish. You were leaning into him before you even had a chance to ask yourself what you were doing. Your lips met his softly. He tasted like sunshine, like heaven itself. He rocked back against you, hands lacing in your hair, moaning against your lips. You pushed back into him, savoring every taste of him. Your arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders, his hands moving to—

“Sorry to interrupt your fun.”

You nearly jumped a foot in the air at the sudden voice, echoing loudly off the walls.

San. He was standing in front of the kitchen, leaning against the counter top. His eyes glared darkly in your direction.

“San, holy fuck. What are you doing?” you hissed, eyes flitting over to Yunho. He couldn’t just appear like that, he was going to get himself in massive trouble.

He ignored you entirely, his eyes almost black as he drew his gaze over to your guest. “Yunho. Surprised to see you here. What business do you have with my human, exactly?

Did he just call him by his name? How did San—

“San. Always a displeasure,” Yunho responded at your side.

What the fuck was going on here? You watched in shock as their eyes met, both seemingly as displeased as the other to see each other.

“I’m sorry, explain to me what’s going on?” you asked with wide eyes, voice rising as your confusion compounded.

San took a few threatening steps forward, like an animal protecting its territory. “Your little lover boy right here… is a former colleague of mine. Care to tell her, Yunho? Or are you just gonna lead her on, hmm?”

Yunho glanced at you, his big eyes filled with what looked like regret, then back at San vengefully. Anger didn’t look right on him. “You don’t have to do this, San.”

San flashed his fangs in a sinister snarl. “If you don’t tell her, I will.”

Yunho glanced at you for a moment, then back at San, hesitating. “San, really, you don’t have to do this,” he pleaded again, eyes wide as he glanced back at you. He shuffled closer to you, putting a hand on your leg protectively.

“I warned you,” he growled. “So you’re going around kissing humans now, hmm? Is there some sort of new angel code I missed somewhere?”

I’m sorry, did he say angel?

“You really aren’t the same San I remember,” Yunho said through his teeth, ruffling his free hand through his cotton-candy hair in annoyance. The other gripped tighter on your leg. “What did you think you’d accomplish by coming here, anyway?”

“I’m trying to find out what business you have with Y/N. She’s not even your assignment. You thought you’d just have a little fun with her, huh? Didn’t know you were the type to play with your humans.”

Yunho sighed. “I’ve been reassigned.”

“So she is your assignment now, is that it?”

“Yes.” Yunho dropped his gaze from San’s for a moment, locking it with yours for a moment. “You’ll have to forgive me,” he whispered softly.

Ugh. Why did every guy you fell for have to be not human? You knew a boy like Yunho was too good to be true, anyway. You were sensing a pattern.

“You go around kissing all your assignments then?”

A blush rose to Yunho’s cheeks, staining them a gorgeous shade of rose. Even now, he glowed ethereally, fittingly angelic for an angel. Guess that explained why he was always sparkling. And why he smelled like the actual embodiment of heaven. “Not usually, no. I got caught up in the moment. It was unprofessional.” San rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue against his teeth mockingly, but Yunho continued. “I’ve been assigned to protect her.”

“From what?” San asked, relaxing his hostile stance back a bit.

Yunho glanced at you, then back at San, uneasiness coming through in his gaze.

“From you.”

#ateez smut #san smut #yunho smut #san x reader #ateez x reader #yunho x reader #choi san smut #jeong yunho smut #hongjoong smut #wooyoung smut #choi san fic #ateez fic #ateez fanfic

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lady-literature · 4 years

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A Miraculous DC Crossover

ALL RIGHT!!

I’ve been sucked into this unholy sub-fandom and I have thoughts okay? lots of them. Almost none are coherent and I don’t care. I have no plotline to write a fic but by the gods do I need to get out all my ideas.

Behold:

the Salttm

Lila, obviously. But she’s a petty nuisance at best, and an annoyingly competent akuma to fight at worst. manipulative, but not really dangerous ya feel?

Alya. which like, home girl probably doesn’t deserve but like,,, the drama??

CHLOE REDEMPTION YOU COWARDS

She and Marinette become surprisingly good friends (because I love that for both of them and you can pry it from me cold, dead hands)

Nettie-bug and Queenie

They pick on Adrien together

Mari’s friends Protection Squad That Don’t Take No Shit

Adrien

Chloe

NINO BITCH HE DESERVES MORE LOVE TBH

Alix?? Probably

Luka obvi

Felix (PV)?? Or does Marinette have enough emotionally constipated boys in her life?

(Answer: no. no she does not.)

Nath? He be a good fox tbh. creative and sneaky boi

Kagami!!! I love her

They’re all heroes because I say so.

Felix (Sparrow) is an honorary member even though he doesn’t have a miraculous

He handles PR and other background things along with Chloe

Joined up a few years back when Parisians were getting a bit too critical of the heroes

No Hawkmoth b/c fuck that guy

He existed, just not anymore. Bitch got yeeted

There’s other villains in town now. After Hawkmoth’s defeat other metas/supervillains looked at Paris and was just like, ‘free real estate?”

So now the Miraculous Team are Paris’ Actual Full-Time Hero TeamTM… yay.

Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Abielle (or like, Wasp/Yellow Jacket idk Chloe changes her name because ~identity stuff~) are the core three team. like, the wonder woman/batman/superman trio of the MTeam.

Nath is called Reynard Ambre b/c I love him

The public knows he exists but he’s never seen in battle and no pictures exist.

but there are plenty of instances where Paris knows he out mucking around because those akuma battles always get really weird.

Marinette be the guardian?

Guardian in training

Along with all the other holders b/c jesus. Give the girl a break.

Yeah. I like that Idea. All current holders are training to be guardians as well, but Mari’s going to step up as Guardian Supreme when Fu steps down.

Hero fashion!!!

The Miraculous Team is all decked out in their own merch like 24/7

Rarely is it thier own hero persona tho

Not because of like,,,, secrecy or anything. Just because they’re all nerds who love each other

Marinette is the lead producer of Miraculous Merchandise. It’s like,,, her BrandTM It was completely unintentional too

(Adrien and Chloe financially support her work tho. She designs, makes a prototype, and has her two blondes get others to replicate it)

Half of Paris is wearing her without knowing it

(Go MDC! get it girl!)

She totally makes Gotham inspired outfits because what else would she do????

Don’t get her wrong, most of Gotham’s fashion sense royally pisses her off but it’s fun and hey, supporting her fellow heroes ya know?

She wears a Robin hoodie after being officially acquainted with both Damian and Robin (separately of course)

Damian chokes on something, probably his own tongue.

It confuses Nettie. But then she thinks maybe he’s a fan too? She offers to make one for him but he steadfastly refuses much to his brothers’ amusement.

Might make a robin themed dress?? If so, she crosses paths with Robin when she does, thoroughly embarrassing her and almost sending poor Dami into a crisis.

Rogues Gallery

She makes a lot of designs off the rouges gallery because like, supporting people trying to get better??? also they’re some of the few who’s aesthetic aint shit?

She can’t make all of them because she ran out of time, so the rest get posited up on her Instagram and MDC blog (that’s run by Tikki mostly. She’s a great secretary and gets bored in Mari’s purse all the time)

Everyone is very flattered

Harley, if she ever finds it, immediately commission all pieces and wears them around Gotham don’t @ me

Daminette obvi

Marinette meets him and is just like ‘wow, you’re horrible. I want five’

Marinette, in the group chat later: so I met Kagami and Felix’s love child today

Kagami and Felix, seconds apart: I would never stoop so low

immediately after: Hey what the fuck? Rude

Nino: Nettie, dearest, sunshine, light of our collective lives and reason I breathe, what the fuck

Adrien: Kagami, my love, how could you? the Betrayal

Chloe: ew

Luka: Send pics or it didn’t happen

Nath: [insert the ‘right in front of my salad?’ meme]

Whenever they cross paths as Robin and Mari, he’ll just like,,, appear from nowhere hanging upside down spiderman style. Mari finds it endearing but she also wants him to stop scaring the shit out of her

Nicknames, because I have an unhealthy obsession with them, alright?

Misc Mari names: Bug, Bugaboo, Buginette, Madame President/Colonel (when the Team’s being cheeky), Princess, Marigold, Nettie (by like, Nino and Alix)

Jason calls her Pixie-pop

The bird boys call her Nightingale/Mockingbird in like, honor of her being a kickass civillian

Mari refers to them as ‘the flock’ (and bird-brains after getting to know them better)

Damian calls her: Starling, Habibti, ya qamar(my moon), malaki (angel), ya wardati(my flower) (b/c like, angel’s cute an all but I just think Damian’s way more dramatic than that tbh. he’d put thought into his nicknames)

Mari calls Damian: mon soleil (my sunshine) (because symmetry and also Mari thinks she’d hilarious), Birdie, petit oiseau/oisillon

I like the idea of Jagged being a native Gothamite tbh

it’s just so fun honestly???

He’s probably the reason the MTeam are in Gotham in the first place? maybe? anyway, the class is there, right? right.

Kagami, Luka and Felix are all holding the fort down in Paris. Ain't no akumas but sometimes they need backup so when certain heroes need to disappear, Nath has Trixx set up an illusion of whichever one so they can slip away with the horse miraculous.

Mari’s the one who has to leave the most because she’s still Paris’ damage control, so like,,,,, ya know.

Mari doesn’t get left behind, at least not on the first day b/c come on people! She has plenty of friends in class watching out for her and a semi-competent teacher who does care even if she’s non-confrontational to a fault.

She does eventually become separated from the group. Half because of Lila and half because she’s always fucking late and got distracted.

She actually runs into one of the civilian batfam in the first place because the class was allowed an hour or so to wander around the shopping district or whatever to explore/buy things/get food. They just needed to return to the meetup spot at a certain time but Mari is like ten minutes away when it’s five minutes to the meetup

So she’s just… fucking booking it and completely takes out this trained vigilante without trying to.

Mari, as she’s groaning on the ground, tangled around a boy: By Kwamii, I thought my luck was supposed to be good Tikki.

That or like, the subway doors close before she can get on them and the rest of the class ends up ahead of her leaving her to get caught up on some bullshit in the next train or smth.

Oh, like. Of course it’s her train that gets held hostage. Wonderful.

(Later, Mari will rant at Tikki about her luck. A common conversation between the two tbh.)

This could be where she officially meets the Batfam as the Batfam. Or, like. A couple of em, at least.

Marinette getting serial adopted by the whole goddamn batfamily because i will die for this trope tbh i dont even care

The Robins nickname her Nightingale before they realize she’s Ladybug

They still call her that after but it’s not with the intention of making it her hero name anymore

Her and Alfred are def bros you don’t understand

Actually, Gina and Alfred are old friends. Mari totally knows Alfie before the bat fam and calls him Poppy/Pépé

which floors the batfam because what? Since when does that happen???

Alfred and Mari never, like, actually met in person before, but video chats exist and Gina def talks about the two to each other so it’s like they may as well know each other.

I also like the idea of Alfred being a former holder, probably the peacock. I would adore that

Just,,,, so many fun hero shenanigans

Yeah sure. The batfam are super detectives and have a history of figuring out people’s identities in no time at all. Whatever. Where’s the drama in that though? The showmanship?

Fuck canon, the Miraculous all have glamours because magic bitch and it plays fucking hell on the Batfam and all their shit

Every single Batfam member is simultaneously pulling their hair out because they don’t know who these heroes are???? Why can they figure them out?? Confusion???????

Miraculous team is just…. Straight up laughing at them. The poor dears.

That one gag where it’s a well-known secret that Mari has connections to every Parisian hero and is basically their own personal catering service/comfort place.

Also, it’s the worst kept secret in Paris that Mari is Multimouse

None of the MTeam have confirmed that rumour but they also don’t deny it.

they actually started the rumour. If all of Paris thinks Mari’s the mouse, a temporary hero, no one’s going to think she’s Ladybug/or that she’s an easy target to go after

chloe actually came up with that one

Mari meeting all of Damian’s ‘associates’ (ie pets)

She adores all of them and they her.

Especially GOLIATH, why isn’t he talked about more honestly???? He’s GREAT

She meets Goliath as Ladybug and Robin is just… so done with him??? You are supposed to be a fearsome beast and a professional why are you rolling over and expoSING YOUR STOMACH??? Meanwhile, Ladybug is just: Awww! Who’s a good boy? Who’s the best boy? You are! Look at how handsome you are! Cute widdle baby-

Miraculous Team hanging on the roof of their hotel kinda chilling

Maybe having a debate about doing some free-running/parkour?

Also maybe about whether or not they should be heroes while in Gotham

MT being like, why can’t we go and stop an armed robbery? we can help!

“Gotham already has very active heroes-”

“Vigilantes!”

“-whatever. I don’t want us stepping on any toes. This isn’t our terf and Batman’s known for being strict about Metas rolling around here.”

“We aren’t Metas though.”

“I don’t think he’ll enjoy splitting that particular hair, Nino. Just- not unless lives are at stake, okay? Emergencies only.”

“Yes, Colonel Ladybug.”

This debate most def gets crashed by batfam and confusion ensues upon both sides

batfam didn’t hear anything, they’re just really confused about these french kids hanging out on a roof in Gotham

Just.... yes. all of that. I have like, more but those are not organized or even remotely coherent. here you go! I might write for this but I already have other fics rn so... it wouldn’t be for a while. and as I said, I have no plot.

take this though, i guess. *throws confetti*

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darkpoisonouslove · 3 years

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Scooby-Doo & Zombie Island Review

This refers to both movies dealing with the zombie island. Lemme recap my experience with the first one because I don’t really have all that much to say about it and then we can move on to the MVP. Some mild and not so mild spoilers ahead so be warned. Also, as you’ll be able to tell from the review, I was still watching when I started writing it and my opinions at the beginning and at the end of it are differing.

I watched Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island when I was little and it scared the living hell out of me. Not because of the zombies. Who even cares about zombies anymore? But those cat creatures? Damn, that was the actual worst. And that assessment... still holds up... to an extent. The werecats are still terrifying, still the scariest part of the movie but was I as freaked out as the first time? Definitely not. Tbh there were pretty cool visuals but other than that the movie felt like it dragged a lot. There wasn’t that much of a mystery built through so many clues. It felt like they were just throwing in bits of info to piece together later so that they can tell their story but the actual case that they were supposed to solve? Felt pretty weak. And I have to say that that seems understandable. It is the first Scooby-Doo movie which means the first time they had to build a longer mystery and the first time we had real villains. It’s only natural that there will be a process of trial and error. Overall, it doesn’t really feel like mystery solving is really the focus of the movie. It feels a little scattered and like it doesn’t know exactly how to fill their runtime.

Now to move on to Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island. The beginning is a little weird and what is up with Fred selling the Mystery Machine (at least we get an emotional arc from Fred about it)? Not to mention that the dialogue is a little stilted at some points and there are some delivery and script choices that don’t land well but there is a lot of brilliant in it! I love the iterations of the characters here! The mystery is built so well through the little clues (just as it should be). And the comedy is really good. I laughed out loud so many times!

Shaggy and Scooby are what they always are but with an added twist I will talk about a little later on because we need the set-up first. I know that Fred, Daphne and Velma have promised a break from mysteries before but this is the one time that they are really sticking to that promise. They are going to great lengths to keep their promise to their friends and I love the dedication. They are ignoring their own instincts and urges to solve mysteries and even deliberately explaining the obviously clue-shaped stuff away in order to be good friends and it is heartwarming! I am so sold on this friendship, I can’t even tell you. Not to mention that there is the added bonus of them being left with empty lives when you take away the mysteries and being unable to small talk to each other but they still know each other pretty well. Velma understanding Scooby and Shaggy’s panicked babbling and that group hug when Scoob and Shag finally lifted the no mysteries clause were absolutely adorable moments of genuine friendship!

And that brings me back to Shaggy and Scooby who are here put in the place of the ones having to incite the mystery solving process while the others are explaining away the obviously suspicious activity around them. That was an interesting take on the characters that I don’t think I’ve seen in other Scooby-Doo pieces and was handled really well in a way that makes sense.

The other great thing about this movie is the detail work. The mystery is clearly set up with a bonus thrown in the way. You get a smaller fake mystery in the way that is pretty obvious but also hiding the grand picture. There are several clues left unexplained after the fake mystery is moved out of the way and those are the scariest ones such as the creature Scooby saw and the tires being slashed. Also, the fact that the people with familiar sounding names turned out to be actors is now lulling them in a false sense of security that contrasts with the real danger still lurking to bring out the horror that awaits them. And of course, there is the cat alter that clearly wasn’t part of the movie settings, the cold and therefore dead and real zombies Shaggy and Scooby saw (further thrown off by the fact that there were supposed to be fake zombies there but they ended up being real) and the cat pendant that the movie director is wearing which is straight out of the first movie. An intriguing way to set up a sequel. So they should have saved the personnel quitting for when the werecats showed up as opposed to the actual cats, plus, the whole deal with abandoning the mystery is messing with the tension but... why did they have to get cartoony all of a sudden? I know it’s Scooby Doo but they were handling everything seriously and successfully so far. It was a little bit of a letdown.

There are issues with the pacing throughout the climax of the story which is about the last place you want to have issues with your pacing and I feel like cutting the chase sequence would have served the movie so much better. I know it is a Scooby Doo staple but it is causing some of those issues I mentioned and they would have benefited from placing it before that while they were being chased by the actors so that they could maintain the sense of tension and danger during the parts with actual monsters. The resolution was lackluster at best, confusing at worst. They mention a forth cat and then there isn’t one. The big mystery isn’t connected to the fake mystery and is barely connected to the original mystery either (the pendant was just a coincidence which was about the most frustrating thing of all). And the emotional storyline fell through the cracks as well. It was clear that they were going to come back to solving mysteries but the movie set up a message about them learning who they are outside of that as well and then it went nowhere. They could have tried getting to learn more about themselves and each other while still keeping up with the mysteries and maybe even figuring out that they have a path in acting which could segue into the sheriff offering them to sign up and complete a training program for becoming undercover detectives and work officially for the police after they graduate from that. It would have tied all of the movie segments together much better.

I was so hyped at the beginning of this movie because it was going so well. It had the heart and the brains and then the third act took all of that and launched it into the sun. This is how the potential for a spectacular movie dies and leaves you with a hot mess on your hands instead. I really wanted to talk about this movie because I though that it would be really good and I was super excited about what it was accomplishing in the first part but they couldn’t find it in themselves to carry that momentum all the way to the finish line which is disappointing and sad. I really wish I could have been more positive about this because I really wanted to and I was hoping it would get where it was going but alas... Not the best Scooby Doo movie even though it had headed there at the speed of light at first.

#scooby doo #scooby doo on zombie island #scooby doo return to zombie island #velma dinkley #daphne blake #fred jones #shaggy rogers #movie review #review #movies

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padawanlost · 4 years

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What do you think would happen if Anakin did tell the Jedi about his nightmares? I know some like to believe that it would be a happy au and everyone stays alive but wouldn’t order 66 still be executed, with or without Anakin?

Anakin did tell the Jedi about his nightmares. The fact Anakin had visions, nightmares and trouble sleeping was common knowledge to those close to him. Obi-wan knew since he was kid and Anakin literary told Yoda about his premonitions.

But this morning, despite clearly having other things on his mind—even Anakin’s Force perceptions, far from the most subtle, had detected echoes of conflict and worry within the Master’s chamber—Yoda had simply offered Anakin a place on one of the softly rounded pod seats and suggested that they meditate together. He hadn’t even asked for details. Anakin had been so grateful—and so relieved, and so unexpectedly hopeful—that he’d found tears welling into his eyes, and some few minutes had been required for him to compose himself into proper Jedi serenity. After a time, Yoda’s eyes had slowly opened and the deep furrows on his ancient brow had deepened further. “Premonitions … premonitions … deep questions they are. Sense the future, once all Jedi could; now few alone have this skill. Visions … gifts from the Force, and curses. Signposts and snares. These visions of yours …” “They are of pain,” Anakin had said. “Of suffering.” He had barely been able to make himself add: “And death.” “In these troubled times, no surprise this is. Yourself you see, or someone you know?” Anakin had not trusted himself to answer. “Someone close to you?” Yoda had prompted gently. “Yes,” Anakin had replied, eyes turned away from Yoda’s too-wise stare. Let him think he was talking about Obi-Wan. It was close enough. Yoda’s voice was still gentle, and understanding. “The fear of loss is a path to the dark side, young one.” “I won’t let my visions come true, Master. I won’t.” “Rejoice for those who transform into the Force. Mourn them not. Miss them not.” “Then why do we fight at all, Master? Why save anybody?” “Speaking of anybody, we are not,” Yoda had said sternly. “Speaking of you, and your vision, and your fear, we are. The shadow of greed, attachment is. What you fear to lose, train yourself to release. Let go of fear, and loss cannot harm you.” Which was when Anakin had realized Yoda wasn’t going to be any help at all. The greatest sage of the Jedi Order had nothing better to offer him than more pious babble about Letting Things Pass Out Of His Life. Like he hadn’t heard that a million times already. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

Anakin’s dreams, nightmares and sleep problems were mostly ignore by his masters. This happened before with Shmi:

“But these are more than …” Anakin started to say, but he stopped and sighed and shook his head. “Are they dreams, or are they visions? Are they images of what has been, or do they tell of something that is yet to be?” “Or are they just dreams?” Obi-Wan said, his gentle smile showing through his scraggly beard. “Not every dream is a premonition, some vision, or some mystical connection. Some dreams are just … dreams, and even Jedi have dreams, young Padawan.” Anakin didn’t seem very satisfied with that. He just shook his head again. “Dreams pass in time,” Obi-Wan told him. [R.A. Salvatore. Attack of the Clones]

This is probably the result of the Order’s take on nightmares:

‘“Can you also control your nightmares?” Bultar’s eyes narrowed. Anakin sensed she was studying him the way she might study an especially difficult puzzle or perhaps a dangerous creature. Then calmly, as if to a child, she replied, “Jedi don’t have nightmares.” Anakin appeared to consider this, then said, “Of course.” “I’ll wait in the hall while you get cleaned up,” Bultar said. She turned away, and the door slid shut, leaving Anakin alone in the dark room. Anakin looked again to the mirror and stared hard at his reflection. He grimaced. “Jedi don’t have nightmares,” he muttered to himself. “Jedi… don’t… have… nightmares.”He wished it were true.’ ‘ Star Wars Adventures: The Hostage Princess by Ryder Windham

Jedi don’t have nightmares. That’s a lesson Anakin learned:

impetuous, aggravating and charming all at once. “You had a nightmare again last night,” she said quietly, when Anakin at last opened his blue eyes. “Jedi don’t have nightmares,” came the defiant reply. [R.A. Salvatore. Attack of the Clones]

Anakin telling the Jedi about his nightmares wouldn’t have done anything because he told the actual leader of the Order in canon and it ended terribly. The only person that maybe would’ve been able to understand or maybe comfort Anakin was Obi-wan. He’s the only who has ignored Anakin’s visions in the past and witnessed the pain it caused Anakin later. Sadly, when Anakin goes to find the conversation derails before he gets a chance to explain:

But now here was Obi-Wan—Obi-Wan would help him, Anakin knew he would—if only Anakin could figure out the right way to ask … While he was still hunting for words, Obi-Wan reached him. “You missed the report on the Outer Rim sieges.” “I—was held up,” Anakin said. “I have no excuse.” That, at least, was true. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

But, tbh, for Obi-wan to listen to Anakin and everyone get a happy ending so much would’ve to change too. Anakin’s relationship would’ve to be different because it’s clear he has a hard time talking to Obi-wan because the relationship is somewhat strained. And Palpatine’s actions would have to change because he knew Obi-wan had to be removed from the picture for him to turn Anakin. So, for Anakin to walk up to Obi-wan and confess everything we would have to change their relationship and Palpatine. that’s why I don’t believe that if Anakin had simply told Obi-wan everything would’ve been fix.

Anakin telling Obi-wan would give him confort but it would’ve changed Palpatine’s plans or the political climate of the moment. It wouln’t change the rest of the Council, the Senate, the war, the clone army or Order 66. So, yeah, Anakin sharing his nightmares would not guarantee anyone a happy ending.

#ask #limeligjts67 #sw meta #anakin skywalker #meta: anakin #au #what if #txt

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devnicolee · 5 years

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Snowfall (7)

A/N: AHHH BIG THANKS to @muse-of-mbaku for the motivation to finish this chapter, I was so discouraged by it tbh but I think I got there in the end *hopefully*. This is not edited but I wanted to get it out tonight so apologies for all mistakes! Enjoy!

Word Count: 9,016

Outwardly, life in the mountains slowly returned to normal after the storm and Davu’s attack. Everyone considered it to be yet another reminder that the Jabari always prevailed.

However, for the inhabitants of the Great Lodge, they all knew the truth - things were far from normal. They all understood just how fickle life was - one minute everything is fine, then a storm barrels toward you with no warning and destroys everything in its path, and you are left to deal with the destruction it leaves behind. No one felt that strain more than Zarah. The storm had dissipated but she was stuck, standing in the middle of the wreckage of her life with no idea where to start. It wasn’t sustainable to stay that way, she knew that much. But she was beginning to wonder if anything this storm left behind could be salvaged.

***

Zarah ran. She ran fast. She wanted to stop, she had been running for a while now. Her chest and side burned from cramps as she staggered her way through the forest. It was freezing and her heart and legs felt like they were going to give out, but she couldn’t stop running. Not now. She had to keep going. Every time she considered giving up, she repeated the same mantra in her head:

"You can’t stop."

She cried out in pain as low branches whipped her arms and legs and she tumbled from tree to tree, trying to race toward safety. It didn’t matter how but she had to get as far away as possible. Frustration grew at the audible crunch and snaps of twigs and earth beneath her feet alerting her pursuer of her whereabouts and path through the forest. She could hear him barreling behind her, knew he was gaining on her. The pounding in her heart drowned out all the other sounds of the night. All she could hear was her own heart, her thundering footsteps, and his, the menacing drum beats in her race against death.

Zarah yelled out as she tumbled down into bank of a small creek, landing just before the water. She ignored the dull ache in her tailbone at the rough landing, using the moment to catch her breath and wildly look around for her next move. The only clear path she could see was across the creek and up the other side. She hesitated. "There had to be another way." It was the dead of winter, Zarah was in nothing but her nightgown. The thin material already doing next to nothing to stave off the harsh, freezing cold. It wasn’t until she heard rustling above her that she took her chances. There are worse ways to die, she thought.

"You can’t stop."

Zarah splashed across the water, gasping at the unforgiving cold that seeped through her thin clothing. When she made it to the other side, her body screamed at her but she ignored its pleads for warmth. She pressed on, crouching low to avoid detection as she tried to ascend to higher ground. Once she felt safe to, she hid behind a tree to rest her aching body.

"You can do this," she told herself as tears streamed down her face and teeth chattering quietly. Safety wasn’t far. The Lodge wasn’t far. "He’s there. Safety is there." Her body started shaking as the cold settled into her bones. "You have to keep moving."

"You can’t stop."

She tore herself from her temporary safe haven and continued running. She felt the winds pick up as she ran up what she prayed was Gorilla Mount. She tripped and fell into a nearby tree, another tear joining the others in her nightgown. But she didn’t care, as she pushed herself upright and came eye level with a series of carvings. Jabari symbols. She was on the right track.

"You can’t stop."

She kept going, clutching her chest as the increasing altitude forced her to work harder. Her lungs felt like they were near collapse. It didn’t matter that she had been running for hours, she was willing to push her body to its breaking point. She decided her body was going to have to give out on its own before she stopped. She saw the statue of Hanuman peeking around the corner of the mountains. The gates weren’t far now, safety was finally within her grasp, she just had to push. She passed by the statue, knowing the gates were just one more corner aw-

"AHHHHH"

Zarah screamed as a rough hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.

"You thought you could run from me bitch?" A rough gruff voice demanded in her ears.

"Please don’t do this. I haven’t done anything. I don’t know you!" Zarah begged the man holding her fate, her future in his calloused hands.

"You will soon enough."

Zarah’s continuous begging was cut off by a hand curling around her neck. She struggled to fill her lungs with air, gasping and hands clawing at his to get him to release her. But he wouldn’t. Zarah felt the darkness creep on the corners of her vision as she tried to fight him off. But she couldn’t.

"Zarah! Za!"

Zarah knew death was coming for her. She could hear Death calling her name, inviting her to come home and rest. She welcomed it at this point. She was so tired of running. She had been running for so long. She just begged it to come and collect her quickly.

"Zarah! Wake up!"

Zarah’s eyes sprang open, wildly looking around to understand where she was. She tried to move but she couldn’t. She pushed against the hands that were forcing her body deep into a soft mattress. Blanketed in darkness, she didn’t understand where she was. She was back in the caves, immobile and restricted. No longer a faceless man in the woods, she could see the enemy clear as day now. Davu’s arms painfully restrained her wrists as he started to straddle her bruised body. "No! Get off me! Stop!"

She thrashed against him, attempting to buck him off of her. She wouldn’t let him do this, wouldn’t let him hurt her ever again.

"Zarah, stop! It’s just me, babe! Calm down," M’Baku yelled at her frantically, trying to break through her thoughts and calm her. The only thing holding her down was her husband, who used his body to restrain her limbs during her nightmare so she wouldn’t hurt herself. He waited with bated breath, eyes filled with trepidation and some unshed tears for his wife’s mind to finally catch up with her physical reality. It took several minutes for his calls to break through her traumatized psyche and convince her he didn’t pose a danger to her. Once her body calmed and he saw the terror start to leave her eyes, M’Baku loosened his grip on her arms and lifted his body off of hers to settle on his knees in front of her.

She couldn’t hear anything M’Baku said as she tried to calm herself. Her mind wasn’t even truly with him. All she could see was visions of her bruised body being choked in her nightmare and the flashback of Davu. She grabbed her head and pulled it in-between her knees as she tried to practice the deep breathing exercising their healer recommended but those images were etched into her mind. She quickly registered the churning, nauseating feeling in her belly and the wetting of her mouth as her body prepared to throw up. Zarah pushed M’Baku out her way and tumbled off the bed in her haste to make it to the toilet or any receptacle. She barely made it. She started heaving as her body tried to rid itself of any and all its contents, not even noticing M’Baku’s presence until a warm wet towel dapped her forehead and started moving down her face.

She briefly leaned into his touch, appreciating the gentleness after the rough sickness that ran through her body.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, his voice still deep and raspy from sleeping. He sounded exhausted and here she was bothering him... again.

"Go back to sleep M'Baku. I will be fine," she murmured as she tried to lean on the toilet and lift herself up. She heard a soft tsk from her husband as the attempt failed and she collapsed back down to the ground.

"Zarah please, I will not go rest while you are hurting like this. Let me help you," he insisted gently as he slid his arms under her soft body and picked her up. He placed her on the counter and gathered her toothbrush and toothpaste.

"You do this and I will get you some new clothes to rest in. You are soaked."

He returned with one of his t-shirts, remembering that she preferred to sleep in his clothes, and waited for her to finish brushing her teeth.

"Here, let me help you put this on." He picked her up and placed one arm around her waist to stabilize her while she slid the thin straps of her nightgown off and he pulled the shirt over her head.

"There, all better. How do you feel?"

"Fine, thank you. I don’t know what came over me." Zarah’s head fell into his chest, his chin resting on hers, and they just stood for a moment. One of his arms was snaked tightly around her waist, holding her close, while the other rubbed soothing circles into her bicep. She wanted to stay like this forever, cocooned in the sanctuary of his arms, the only place pain and violence would never befall her. For a brief moment, it all faded - her shame, her guilt, her physical agony. She was drawn back to a time when the intimacy and peace they shared outshined all the painful emotions filling her. How times change.

He placed a soft kiss to her temple before picking her up and settling her back in bed again.

"Do you want to tell me what the dream was?"

"I-I don’t remember it. The dreams are foolish, anyway. I shouldn’t be bothering you with them. Let’s just go back to sleep yes?"

It was a lie; she remembered every second. She had a similar dream every night of running away from a faceless man. The only thing that changed was the setting: the Lodge, a forest in Greater Wakanda, Jabariland, the caves. The setting was irrelevant, the subject matter was always the same. Safety was always within her grasp. It was so close that relief would start to wrap her in a warm embrace, only for that same relief to be ripped away again to leave her cold and vulnerable. She almost wondered if it was a premonition of some sort. Like her body was just waiting and preparing her for the moment when the safety and security she regained would be stolen from her once more.

"Mnandi… th-this is not a bother. You, your feelings, your fears are important to me. You can tell me anything, understand?"

Zarah didn’t acknowledge his question and he didn’t push for an answer. She didn’t have the energy to offer him her usual line that said she understood and would try harder to open up in the future. She just wanted the conversation to end. She heard a deep sigh escape him before he wrapped his arms around her and settled to rest for the night. Unlike him, Zarah had no intentions of sleeping but she laid there as still and relaxed as she could to give the impression that she was attempting to rest.

She just wanted things to go back to the way they were. It had been four days since she returned home. Four days of her husband’s eyes following her every movement, watching her like a hawk and acting as more of her healer than her husband. Four days of seeing his smile turn into a frown and something likened to irritation or anger pass over his eyes at every wince, outcry of pain or tear. Four days of isolating herself in her quarters so no unnecessary people would see her broken body. Four days of waking herself and her husband up with screams from vivid, terrifying nightmares. Four days of slow but steady improvements to her physical health while her emotional well-being took a nosedive.

Zarah craved the opportunity to just be vulnerable. She wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball on her husband’s chest and cry, let go of all the pain and agony she felt, mourn the part of her that died in that cave, and unleash her fury at the man who caused all of it. It would be cathartic, to unleash all the negative emotions that consistently beat against her chest for release.

But something always stopped her, limited her ability to actually do all those things. And that was her pride. She refused to look weak so another person could swoop in and attempt to destroy her. She refused to let her husband see her like that ever again: damaged and powerless. He had to see the physical manifestation of her weakness, the injuries she couldn’t hide from him. But she didn’t need to make her deep emotional wounds visible as well.

You were weak and powerless in those caves. If you hadn’t been, if you had fought back and protected yourself, none of this would have happened. But you will never be that again. You will be stronger, she told herself. There was no strength in vulnerability, no one would praise her for breaking down, there was nothing to gain from falling apart. But there was strength in moving forward, reclaiming her power now and proving that she could never be bent or broken. She was the Lady of the Jabari for Hanuman’s sake, she was no one’s victim.

In that moment, Zarah made a decision. She would move on from this. She was safe and no one would harm her ever again. She wouldn’t let anyone do so again. This situation was done and so were her days mourning what she lost. That meant, when they woke up tomorrow, she and M’Baku would go to work. She would visit her lab and get caught up on what projects needed her attention and approval. She would schedule a meeting with her staff to see what duties as chieftess she needed to catch up on. She would settle back into her life, start working on that future she and M’Baku still needed to build together and put this unfortunate situation behind her. All the guilt, shame and trauma she was feeling, she would no longer give it fuel and power to hold her back.

Zarah shifted to her side and eyed a bottle of sleeping pills Shuri left behind. The young girl insisted she have the bottle, even though Zarah told her she wouldn’t depend on vibranium-based drugs to feel better. However, after Shuri told her that these were the only way she slept after being consumed with nightmares of her father’s fatal explosion and T’Challa’s "death," Zarah let her leave the bottle. Just in case. These were one step, at least one way to stop looking as fragile as she did right now. She gently shifted as to not disturb the slumbering giant by her side and popped one in her mouth.

Tomorrow, you will be you again. You will be strong again, Zarah told herself, before falling back into a restful sleep.

****

When M’Baku woke up the next morning, he immediately noticed the lack of warmth nestled beside him. He shot up, wildly looking around, fear taking hold quickly. But before he could sound the alarm for his missing wife, she emerged from their shared closet, pulling one of his sweaters.

"Good morning," she chirped, offering him a small smile as she sat down at her vanity mirror. M’Baku tilted his head in confusion at her cheerful disposition and her attire. She was dressed in something other than pajamas, something she hadn’t done in four days. She gently took off the bandage on her forehead and examined it intently before applying a new one and healing ointment to the bruising on her face. He watched her layer on make up, taking extra time to hide the bags under her eyes.

"Um... Good morning. Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, I am going to go down to the labs for at least half the day. I was checking in on the work I missed with the new beads Shuri sent along and I am so behind. And then I thought I would go to my office and get caught up on tribal duties. Is that alright? I figured you needed to return to work as well. I know you have mountains of work to attend to."

He was surprised. First, she hadn’t even mentioned the nightmare last night, which was the worst to date. And while both of their work was piling up, he wasn’t bothered by it. "Are you sure? Shuri said you should take at least a week. The cut on your head is barely closed, your ribs are still healing."

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you husband. I am well aware of my litany of injuries. I am, unfortunately, reminded of them every minute of my current existence." Even as she spoke, she was forced to ignore the dull but constant pain in her ribs that accompanied every breath she took. "But we both need to return to our duties to the tribe. We can’t neglect our people."

His head thudded back onto their headboard, internally debating. He didn’t like this. She was still in intense pain and on emotional shaky ground. He was concerned about her mental health and didn’t want her pushing herself too far physically either. But even he couldn’t deny that ignoring his job for a week through the lifetime of this ordeal left him multiple mountains worth of work to catch up on. He could take a few hours to at least make a small dent in it.

"Fine, little one. You are right. But I will be checking on you every hour. Make sure you take breaks and if you don’t feel well, come back here. Understand?"

She nodded, "Understood." She rounded their bed and placed a quick kiss on his lips before heading toward the door. Instinctively, she reached for the mounted stand that usually held her and M’Baku’s knobkerries, her hand grabbing nothing but air before she remembered hers was gone. Her hand fell beside her and her heart rate picked up as she realized she didn’t have any protection. She stood aimlessly for a moment, not knowing what to do before she darted quickly toward their closet. She emerged moments later with the smaller extra knobkerrie, one her husband used for carving and the same one she failed to reach in time to save herself. Her fingers tightened around it before she scurried out of the door, refusing to look at M’Baku and give him a chance to say anything.

***

It didn’t take long for Zarah to realize that M’Baku was right - she was not physically strong enough to be at work. She stopped by the lab first, intending to give final approval to two projects that were now behind schedule thanks to her absence.

However, as she sat at her desk examining blueprints for a new training facility and upgrades to the mountains’ bridges, she realized she didn’t have the concentration or mental capacity for any of it. The page just looked like jumbled shapes with no rhyme or reason. The longer she stared, willing her supposed genius to kick in and remind her all she knew of civil engineering, the more her pounding headache grew and her vision blurred.

Her staff could tell she wasn’t fit to be back in the lab, sensing her growing irritation at the piece of paper as her grumbling got louder and her writing and subsequent erasing became more aggressive. After 2 hours of praying that the knowledge would simply jump out of her head and onto the page like magic, she apologized to the team and told them she would try again tomorrow. She tried to shake off the nagging feeling of inadequacy that followed her upstairs to her actual office but it stuck to her like glue.

Things didn’t improve at her other job. Her staff fawned over her, continuously popping in to her office to ask if she needed water, food, rest or to get M’Baku. She could see and hear the thinly-veiled pity in their actions and words, could tell they all knew she wasn’t functioning at 100 percent like her usual self. She wondered if someone on the engineering team sent a message to them, letting them know that she couldn’t function. Now the whole staff knows you can’t do your job correctly. Still, she pushed her paranoid thoughts down and kept pressing forward, determined to give it her all.

She tried to spend part of her time reviewing her calendar, dealing with the host of postponed or cancelled meetings that now needed to be rescheduled. But her attempts at work was consistently interrupted by friends and councilmembers wanting to see that she was ok. She plastered a smile on her face at each person who interrupted her day. Then she offered them all slight variations of the same narrative: she was fine, Davu was nothing more than a fanatic who will lose his life, her husband and brother were heroes to the tribe and the Jabari were strong. All forced words meant to comfort and assure them more than anything, because that was what was expected of her.

Shortly after lunch and a tense visit with her parents, she had enough of it. The visit started out pleasant but it quickly transformed into an interrogation, her parents demanding to know every detail of the kidnapping and attack. Zarah had told the story once, she didn’t plan on telling it again if it wasn’t before the council at Davu’s trial. Her faher was subdued when she relied the general outline of the kidnapping, genuinely shocked and distrubed by the beatings she endured. However, true to his warrior roots, toward the end, he demanded a play by play of her attempts to defend herself and escape. Surely she did right as daughter of the great warrior leader, Elder Amari? But she informed him, to his dismay and her guilt, that she didn’t remember but all signs pointed to her doing little to nothing to save herself. Her mother was less than supportive as well, asking invasive questions that just increased her frustration.

She was frustrated by their tone, the implications behind their questions and their lack of genuine concern for her, but she swallowed her frustrations with them like always. But after her mother suggested that this "unfortunate ordeal" made Zarah look fragile and would push M’Baku away, she politely told them that she was not feeling well and needed to return to her chambers. Some of those thoughts oscillated through her head daily, she didn’t need them thrown back at her by her parents. And M’Baku wasn’t like that. He already said she wasn’t a bother to him, he wouldn’t cast her aside for this. Right?

She didn’t have the energy to entertain anymore visits and pretend to be productive when everyone knew she wasn’t getting anything done, or stomp down the tides of irritation that were rising inside her at her own inability to do her job. This was just as bad as sitting in our room stewing, she thought to herself. At least there, I can be alone. She said goodbye to her staff, quickly retreating to her room that promised the rest and privacy she craved.

*****

M’Baku’s day was not faring much better than his wife's. He was completely overwhelmed. He had reports, statements from the imprisoned cult members, paperwork from the Golden City and regular Jabari work piling up from his absence. He certainly didn’t regret it - he would take a month off if Zarah needed it but he didn’t realize how much work Davu’s schemes would cause him.

He couldn’t even start most of it because he spent most of his time fielding visits from members of the council, who stopped by his office after visiting Zarah’s. Calls to "destroy the lot of fanatics" with speedy trials and executions were all he heard. And while he couldn’t wait to execute Davu, that couldn’t happen until he found him. But thankfully, N’Danna was steps ahead of him and messaged him in the afternoon for a meeting in their secret office.

He met N’Danna halfway on his journey to the meeting spot.

"You look like hell brother," N’Danna commented as they walked, Kide trailing closely behind, Jahari still on "Zarah duty."

"I feel like it too. I saw your parents today."

"Yes, I heard they made their rounds this morning. I stopped by Zarah’s office earlier to check on her and her assistant said she came down with a 'sudden illness' 10 minutes into their visit. Hanuman only knows what they said to her, nothing good I am sure. They wouldn’t know comfort if it turned into a panther and mauled them. I am just glad Father didn’t mention that we haven’t found him yet to her. That would have made things worse."

M’Baku sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I will have to ask her about it tonight. I knew going to the office today was a bad idea. She is… she is still struggling. I know how badly she wants things to return to normal, I just wish she would take it easy. I can usually get through to her but she has completely shut down, pretending this didn’t happen. You know she has barely even cried since that first night? Holding all that in can’t be healthy right? I am not sure how to get through to her."

They turned another corner, nodding at passing staff as N’Danna replied, "Did you really expect anything different? Hanuman knows I adore my sister but vulnerability is not her strength. When has she ever been open and honest about her feelings without it being forced out of her? It is not her way. All traumatic events come with a level of guilt and shame. There is no way she doesn’t blame herself for this, hasn’t already convinced herself that she caused this and failed you by letting it happen. Couple that with her overachieving personality and her insane expectations of being the perfect chieftess for you... well, it is a dangerous combination. She is processing this as well as can be expected. I know my sister… it is unfortunate but she will hold her emotions in until she is ready or until they burst out on their own. Just be there and ready for either of those moments."

M’Baku nodded, "I will. I just hate that she considers herself a failure at all. I mean, when have I ever made her feel as though she could ever disappointment me?"

M’Baku made it no secret that his wife’s hang ups frustrated him to no end. Not at her of course, but at the people who modeled her to believe so lowly of herself. But he understood. When people treat you as if you are always one mistake, one failure away from losing their affection, you begin to believe everyone’s love is conditional. It turns you into a person so obsessed with being perfect to maintain that love and favor. In Zarah’s world, failing was truly never an option so she was never off her game and never took a break because if she fell down on the job just once, she feared she would risk losing the people she cared about. She acted like it never bothered her to overextended herself for people. But M’Baku saw the toll it took. He saw the emotions she pushed down and ignored to be everything to everyone without asking for support for herself to avoid seeming needy. M’Baku tried, in their short marriage, to tug her out of that mentality by giving her free reign as chieftess, normalizing mistakes, supporting her ambitions and ideas, and putting her needs front and center. But now he worried he hadn’t done enough.

"Oh come on M’Baku, you know it's not you. If anyone is to blame, it is our parents. The pressure, expectations and criticisms they heaped on her were too much and she projects that onto everyone else. She tries to break free of it but old habits die hard. Just be there for her. Assure her that you aren’t going anywhere - I am sure that will go a long way."

M’Baku nodded as Kide closed the door to their second office and called T’Challa.

"How did the interrogations fare General N’Danna?" T’Challa asked. At first, he was reluctant to be involved in this secret manhunt. But after Shuri told him that it might be ‘fun’ to finally be involved in drama that doesn’t concern or murder him, he agreed. Things were relatively boring in the Golden City anyway so he had the time.

"Excellent, which is why I called this meeting. We finally have a lead. First, we captured the two missing maintenance workers sneaking back into Jabariland last night. They were trying to get into Dweller territory but we have men stationed there. Thank god we did or they would have passed undetected."

"I thought they were presumed dead?" Kide asked, both men’s homes were destroyed and the other staff members swore the men were loyal to the throne.

"All signs pointed to that. However, it only took an hour of interrogations and the threat of execution to get them to talk. When given the choice of Davu or them, they chose themselves." N’Danna pulled up pictures of the two men and notes from his meetings with them. "They became disillusioned after the tribe rejoined Wakanda, citing their displeasure at our new interest in vibranium and partnership with the Panthers. They planned to abandon the tribe and join the Cave Dwellers. They said they only met Davu twice, both times in the woods. There is no record of that conversation or even proof the meetings happened. But they claim the only way he would let them join was if they did something to prove themselves.

"Help him steal the throne?" T’Challa interjected.

"Exactly. When they realized the storm was on the way, one of them broke into your room and damaged that pipe causing the burst. They gave men their uniforms, access to the Lodge and put in the request to complete the work the night of the storm."

"And they gave them the information about the guard? The idea for the fire?" Kide asked.

"They worked with the two men who set the fire but it wasn’t their idea. They just said Davu already had a plan for drawing M’Baku out. They just had to alert them of when to start the fire." Kide’s face scrunched up in confusion but he kept silent. "While all of our forces were searching for her, they escaped down the mountains and were to return within a week. That is how long Davu claimed it would take to offer the ransom and get you to give up the throne. They only returned because they didn’t realize the plan fell through."

"Did they say how long Davu had been planning this?" T’Challa asked.

"Over a year. Several of the Dwellers flipped on him too - they agree with his message but felt he went too far with this. One said he had been trying to figure out a plan to steal the throne since he lost the challenge. Zarah and the workers just presented the right opportunity and timing."

M’Baku’s fists clenched as he tried to control his anger.

"This is a good thing, Brother. Believe me."

Fury flashed across his eyes, "Treason is a good thing?"

"Treason from two maintenance workers is a good thing. Certainly better than treason and mutiny within the Royal guard, which was the alternative. We interviewed everyone in this lodge. Loyalty for the Jabari, you and Lady Zarah run deep in this palace and around the tribe. Two dissenters are no match to that. This is the best outcome we could have hoped for. Their trials will be set before the council and they will be executed for treason."

M’Baku nodded. N’Danna was right but they didn’t limit his frustration.

"So this is good. We have a missing piece. Could they offer any insight to Davu’s whereabouts?" T’Challa asked.

"They couldn’t. They didn’t know him well enough and they weren’t members yet - Davu wouldn’t discuss escape plans with them. He didn’t discuss them with anyone we captured actually. Apparently his most faithful members fled with him. They could only give us their best assumption at where he went."

"Where?"

"The Temple of the White Gorilla."

"Why would he go there?" Kide asked. "Nobody goes there but priests. Also they aren’t allowed. It’s in our lands."

"One of them said that Davu talked about it a lot. It makes sense. It is the birthplace of Hanuman, what spot could bring you closer to him? They said he always believed it would be his first act as chief, to rebuild it in the image of Hanuman and with it, the tribe as a whole. It is a smart move, we can’t spill blood there so it would be the safest spot in all of Wakanda for him."

The Temple sat on the farthest edge of Jabari territory. It was a sacred spot, the reason the first Jabari worship Hanuman instead of Bast like most Wakandans. The legend says the temple was the slumbering spot of the Great White Gorilla, a physical manifestation of Hanuman. When the first Jabari decide to settle in the mountains, they encountered the Gorilla at that spot. He guarded them, protected them and in return, they vowed to worship him until the end of their days. To honor him, they erected a temple around the spot. However, the journey to the temple was long and arduous. Most didn’t venture there, except those with a direct spiritual connection with the Gorilla God.

"I already sent a group of my most skilled warriors to the temple. King T’Challa lent our men a ship. We can’t use it to get the entire way, we don’t want them to see or hear it. They won’t expect anyone by foot. They will be there in the next two hours."

"Good. No mistakes this time. Let me know when you have him in custody. I should go back to Zarah." He paused. "Oh, before I forget, I suppose we can let Kasim and Mosi back on Zarah duty."

Kide couldn’t hide the scowl that appeared on his face at the suggestion.

"You disagree Kide?" N’Danna asked. Technically, Kide reported to him but he chose to defer to the warrior on matters of the guard. He knew them better than he did.

Kide chose his words carefully, all he had was a hunch and he wouldn’t risk someone or his own life over it. Better to air on the side of caution until he had proof. "Kasim and Mosi are dedicated warriors my lord and General. They have been yearning to return to duty. However, I do worry about their physical ability to watch over Lady Zarah as they both suffered from severe head injuries. Perhaps we should wait until Davu is captured? We wouldn’t want him to get wind of a potential gap in her security, should he try to harm her again."

N’Danna shared a knowing glance with M’Baku. It was no secret among those in the Lodge that Kide and Kasim hated each other. They tolerated each other, merely for the protection of M’Baku and Zarah but there was no friendship or brotherly love there. Kasim was Kide’s only real competition during training, both vying for Head of the Kingsguard. Despite his equally prominent position as head of the Queensguard, some would say that Kasim hasn’t stopped vying for Kide’s position since. N’Danna also knew that Kide blamed them for this ordeal, felt that this would have never transpired on his watch and casted doubt on their story. N’Danna ignored it, both men’s accounts checked out. They were ambushed, that could have happened to anyone. Besides, loyalty among the guard was absolute. No one would dare betray M’Baku.

But still, Kide highlighted a good point, even if it seemed shrouded with selfish intentions. "Understood. Jahari will remain on Zarah duty until Davu is killed or captured and they have been cleared by healers. That is all. I will update everyone tonight."

****

Davu’s disgust for the Jabari had grown tenfold in the last few days, and he hadn’t believed it possible. They had been at the Temple for two days and not one member of the tribe had come and found them.

He was certainly happy to be safe, even just temporarily, but how could they call themselves followers of the Great Gorilla God when they didn’t even visit his sacred temple? His birth place? He was cemented in his ideas as he prayed: the Jabari had gone astray and someone had to lead them back into the light.

He sat on his knees before the statue of Hanuman, praying fervently, asking his lord for guidance to lead his small band of brothers through the storm that was pursuing them. He couldn’t hope to see his way through this alone, he needed help, he needed -

"My lord," one of his men called. Davu’s eyes clenched shut, his hands balling into fists.

"How many times do I have to say not to interrupt me during my prayers?"

He bowed, "My apologies, my lord. The men worry that we cannot stay here for long."

Davu stood, dusting his robes off before rejoining the group of ten faithful servants he escaped with. They were huddled together for warmth, a small fire just outside the temple brewing.

"This is the safest place to be," Davu explained. "We have been here for days and not one Jabari has come to call. And our contact is directly involved in the search, he will alert us if we need to move. "

"Yes, but you talked about this temple, this spot many times. It only takes one Dweller to mention it before we have an army on our heels. If this is what Hanuman wills, then we shall obey but we are worried. Maybe we should pray on it and ask for a sign?" All the men looked at him expectantly.

"U-uhh. Yes! An excellent idea. I will seek his guidance before we make any decisions. Leave me." The man bowed before joining the rest outside the temple.

Davu went back inside but he did not pray. He was set on this path, set and assured. He knew Hanuman had given him the tools, he just needed these foolish men to follow him. If they needed to move, he knew Hanuman would send a sign.

He closed his eyes when he heard a rustling in the trees, he looked off to the side and noticed a figure staring out of the woods at him. He smiled, Hanuman always sends signs when they are needed.

****

M’Baku quietly walked back into his quarters, excitement building at the idea that they could have Davu in custody before nightfall. They could finally put an end to this madness. He walked into his room and found his chieftess asleep, clutching her knobkerrie so tightly that it looked painful. His heart sank a little as he looked at her, the terrors and pain afflicting her dreams etched clearly across her face. He walked to the bed, sitting down gently down to avoid disturbing her.

He laid down and watched her sleep for a minute. When her restlessness started to grow, he determined that she didn’t need a repeat of the last few nights when she screamed herself awake. So, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake.

Zarah jolted up at the weight of someone’s hand on her body and immediately raised her knobkerrie to attack an unknown enemy… her husband, who sported a look of shock and slight amusement. She let out a shaky laugh.

"M’Baku, my love, you scared me." she exclaimed. She lowered the weapon, which shook slightly in her hand. She paused briefly, clenching her eyes closed and placing a palm to her head as a dizzy spell came over her from sitting up so suddenly. The effects of this concussion were growing old fast."I am sorry, I thought you were an intruder."

M’Baku let out a small chuckle, noting her swollen and red eyes, "It’s alright, it looked like you were having a nightmare so I wanted to wake you up."

"Oh… no, I was fine," she lied effortlessly. No matter how peaceful her dreams started, Davu always appeared to cloak them in horror.

"You are still pretty sharp with that knobkerrie eh?" He joked after a few minutes, hoping to ease her into a serious conversation with something lighthearted.

"Still not as good as you.. Or N'Danna," she chuckled. He noticed a dark cloud pass through her eyes and she fiddled with the weapon. "It isn’t my old one though… it feels foreign."

"I know... it’s not the same. But we can get you a new one made when you have healed. Maybe I could carve it for you, if you would like."

A small smile spread across her face. Nothing would replace the one she had but a hand-carved weapon from her husband seemed just as special. Her nails feathered his forearm, "Yea I would like that, thank you my king."

He grasped her chin gently and kissed her on the cheek, avoiding the tender spots and bruises. "There’s that smile I love. It is small but still manages to brighten my days."

He sat down next to her and stared at her for a few minutes. She anxiously switched the weapon between her hands to have something to do while she waited for him to speak.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Of course."

He moved to position himself directly in front of her. "Well, I just…" he faltered slightly before continuing. "I know you feel like you have to always be on and strong as chieftess. But you went through something unthinkable and I just want to make sure you are giving yourself time to process that before trying to go back to business as usual. I don’t care how long that process takes, I am with you until the end of my days."

Her fingers grazed light patterns into his arm as she answered, "M’Baku, thank you but I am processing this. There isn’t much to process to be honest. I don’t even remember anything. I am alright, really. Just grateful to be alive and with you."

She could see his face scrunch up as he took in her words. "You have been having nightmares, you are scared to be in our room alone, I can tell you are crying when I am not around,” he gestured at the evidence still on her face. She tried to turn away from him, angry at being called out for her defense mechanisms, but he slightly tightened his grip on her chin to keep her eyes on him. “I may not be a genius like you my love but I am not stupid. Even N'Danna is worried about you. You don’t have to hold all this in or deal with it yourself. I am just saying I am here for you when you are ready to let me be. That is all."

Zarah couldn’t think of what to say without her emotions betraying her so she opted for a soft kiss on the lips. She pulled back for a moment, then kissed him again, quickly pulling herself to her knees and straddling his legs. His hands grabbed her waist like magnets.

The kiss started out timid but soon M’Baku could feel the desperation, the need his wife had as it became aggressive and frantic. Her hands snaked around his neck to the back of his head, pulling him closer to her.

"Babe… stop," he gripped her arms and pulled her off of him suddenly, causing her to groan. "We can't do this"

"Why not?" Exasperation filled her voice. Zarah refused to give up. Logic was no longer factoring in her decisions. She wasn’t sure if this was the best decision but she needed to feel like herself again and this was the closest way to get there. She recaptured his lips and grinded her hips into his, awakening his manhood beneath her. Her fingertips feathered his chest as they made their journey south to reach for him.

His calloused fingers enclosed hers before they could reach their desired destination beyond the waistband of his boxers.

"I want this but I'm not going to take advantage of you when you are in this state. You are supposed to be resting. I can’t do this." The look in his eyes signified that this was the final word.

"M-M’Baku… please. I am fine. I want this. I want you," she begged in a small voice. Usually, that voice would have been his kryptonite, that voice beckoned him to give the small woman before him the world and he was usually gave in without hesitation. But not today, not like this. So he held firm, one of his harder decisions.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make love to her, he did. He always did and this was certainly their longest stint without physical intimacy. But she was emotionally compromised, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself. What kind of man would he be to take advantage of her in such a state? And, he couldn’t deny that the sight of her bruises still filled him with rage. At Davu, at the world and at himself. And once he started thinking of him, his thoughts of failure and inadequacy flared. He wouldn’t be able to enjoy himself or give her the intimacy and care she deserved if his mind was occupied with obsessions over his own failures.

However, Zarah was no mind reader and didn’t understand the thoughts whirling through her husband’s head. So all she heard was his rejection. Cold and sharp. It was a blow, no doubt. She never knew a world in which she had to beg M’Baku, a man whose sexual appetite was never sated, to be intimate. Before him, she never had to convince her husband to give her the physical affection she craved.

Her eyes avoided his as the embarrassment settled in her stomach. She quickly got off his lap and slid to her side of the bed. "I understand. I think I am going to go take a bath," she informed quietly, her voice breaking slightly as she pulled a robe around herself. She hugged herself as she moved toward the bathroom.

"Za, wait! Let’s talk abo-" he started to call after her when he was cut off by the chime of his kimoyo beads. Zarah stilled and turned, waiting for him to address message on his beads and then finish his statement.

He was gone. Regroup tonight. - N’Danna.

"FUCK!" M’Baku barked loudly as he picked up a cup by his side of the bed and threw it, it slammed against the opposite wall and shattered. Zarah almost jumped clean out of her skin at his aggressive outburst, rarely seeing him this angry.

"What is wrong?" she asked urgently, walking back toward him.

M’Baku quickly recovered, exhaling deeply before reeling in his emotions to give her a stock answer. "Nothing my queen, just another breach at the border. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you."

She eyed him skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yes of course. You know how I loathe when those lowlanders try to come and sneak into Jabariland. I will have someone come clean this mess up. Go take your bath," he urged.

He is lying.

She knew it. It was true that he hated breaches at the border but never had one caused him so much anger. She wasn’t sure what the issue was but she was sure about one thing: He didn’t trust her with whatever it was and that was also complete departure from their past relationship. M’Baku told Zarah everything, sought her counsel on every subject except military strategy because she gave sound advice. But here he was, keeping a secret, big or small, from her and she hated it. But she knew why… he was beginning to realize that she wasn’t the same anymore. She was too weak for him now, too broken. He isn’t wrong, she thought to herself. Today was proof that she couldn’t measure up to her old self. He must see it, the damage left behind.

What advice would she be able give him when she could barely handle the simple job of chieftess? She couldn’t satisfy him as a wife, could no longer meet the expectations of the job and it was impacting M’Baku’s trust and faith in her.

Well, what did you expect? She asked herself. You’ve spent the last few days falling apart in front of him and expect him to find you desirable and treat you the same? He can’t trust you to lead like this. If anything, you are just hindering his ability to lead. Think about the problems this ordeal caused him? Weakness is not our way. The Jabari do not follow weakness, find it attractive or seek counsel from it. Your mother was right. He is pulling away.

She should have known one day of regular activities and behavior couldn’t outshine days of tears, nightmares and trauma. He was losing faith in her and if she couldn’t give him all the things she used to, what would be her purpose in his world? She needed to get back into his good graces, prove to him she was still the chieftess he deserved.

She nodded, recognizing his statement for what it was - a dismissal. "Well, I won’t keep you then. You have work to do."

With the snap of the door shutting, the warmth and love usually emanating through their marriage like a raging fire started to die out. This interaction was the cold gust of wind that threatened to extinguish it entirely. Neither operating out of love and admiration for the other but out of fear. Fear of losing each other, fear of being seen for everything their paranoid thoughts told them they were: failures.

As days without progress in finding Davu grew, so did M’Baku’s frustrations and his lies to hide it. Davu followed him like a dark cloud, blanketing his days in darkness. His fractured ego turned this search into an obsession, a quest for justice to prove that he wasn’t a failure as a husband and chief. Every waking moment was dedicated to finding him, leaving no time to be emotionally or physically present for his fragile wife, who mistook his distance for disdain.

It took mere days for her to notice the distance he put between them, the ways he was different with her. She didn’t understand. There were no more tears, she worked even harder at her duties, she didn’t complain about her injuries, nor did she even utter Davu’s name. She acted as if the incident never happened; she was herself again and that’s what he wanted right? But none of it seemed to make him happy or meet the expectations she thought he desired. Paranoia grew as she began to wonder about the real reason for the late nights in his office, secret calls and messages, and their lack of physical intimacy; fearing that he had already moved on after growing tired of her brokenness. She continued to push herself, determined to prove she could be the woman he fell in love with again, all while trapping her trauma below the surface to fester.

What started as a small but understandable emotional rift after a traumatic experience developed into a chasm with no bridge to cross.

Sometimes when she was alone, she wondered if this was her punishment for failing M’Baku in the first place. She thought it cruel of Hanuman to let her live, only to rip away the source of love and light in her life. Feeling M’Baku’s love turn distant and cold was its own form of torture. It didn’t matter where he was physically, Davu’s reign of terror continued, this time through the one person who vowed never to hurt her.

***

A/N: Whew! A lot happened, most of it not that great lol but we finally know who traitors in the Lodge are... but Kide is feeling like this is all still a bit shady. But on the other hand, Kide himself is a bit shady so who knows lol what do you think? Davu is still trying to find his exit plan. And Zarah and M’Baku... well they are struggling.

The next few updates will be way slower (sorry!). Between work, an upcoming dance performance (cue anxious screams) and my sister’s wedding (more anxious screaming), the month of October is a full hellscape. I hope I have time to write Chapter 8 but fair warning that it might be a while. Thanks for reading!

@destinio1 @muse-of-mbaku @great-neckpectations @missmohnique @jellybean531 @dawva

#black panther fanfiction #black panther imagines #black panther fics #m'baku imagine #m'baku imagines #m'baku x oc #m'baku x reader #m'baku x zarah

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

Text

Batman AU where a pissed off Dick Grayson, after being fired from Robin and kicked out by Bruce, doesn’t go back to the circus when he was off finding himself. Before he became Nightwing. He meant to, even made it all the way to Europe on his way to their latest stop, but in London he got....distracted, when he ran into one John Constantine.

Now, back at this point in canon, Constantine was probably in his mid-twenties at most. I’ve always pictured him mid to late thirties in current comic canon, he’s one of those guys who comes off as older than he is, b/c like, lbr, dude lives ROUGH, lol. But me being me, like, I’m not looking to hook nineteen year old Dick Grayson up with a mid-twenties staggering disaster in whiskey-soaked human form. However, that does not mean that Dick, recently feeling disillusioned about numerous things as well as lost and directionless, two things that define John in a lot of his decades, let alone twenties -

Like, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t THINK about it, and perhaps romanticize the idea of him and John being kindred spirits. As well as maybe a little attracted to Constantine’s patented performative way of living, aka “watch how I windmill through life, giving no fucks whilst taking whatever latest misfortune befalls me in an unaffected and devilishly snarky stride, because of the thing about the no fucks, see, that’s the connection there.”

And okay, if we’re being totally honest here, its not like it just COMPLETELY didn’t occur to Dick that he was coming up with reasons to justify sticking around and hanging out and also crushing on one of the people MOST likely to tick his dad off. I mean, let’s face it, John is like, the combination of three things Bruce has zero patience for and avoids or outright disdains whenever possible:

1) Magic, ugh, unreliable, illogical. (Bruce’s super-objective POV on the subject) - Look. It makes no sense. Follows no logical rules. Every usage of it is a breakdown of the normal universe and the ordered mechanism of The Way Things Are Supposed to Work, the things Batman relies on, needs in order to be him, the Great Detective, the guy who understands how everything works and that’s how he stays one step ahead of everyone else.

In a word, magic and all its works are RUDE and they like....annoy him just on principle.

2) Eternally late and relentlessly slovenly (not everyone has a live-in BUTLER Bruce, jeez)

and

3) ...John Constantine. (Let’s be real. This one just is what it is. There’s not a whole lot of getting around it. Its hard for Dick at age 19 to pretend buddying up with John isn’t guaranteed to make Bruce grind his teeth, given that its hard for anyone at any age to pretend that while Bruce almost certainly respects the things John has accomplished at various times....being in the same zip code as him is something he tries to avoid. Their personalities are not super compatible).

So, its a tiny bit possible the Great Divergence of this AU from canon.... comes down to one accidental team-up with one of Batman’s Top Ten Favorite People, No Seriously....and then Dick kinda leaning into being a bit of a petty shit here. Look, its not his finest hour, but Bruce started it, and also, like whatever. Alexa, play ‘Teenage Wasteland’ but y’know, all...SUPER LOUD and ANGSTILY.

Ahem. Anyway.

So even though Constantine rather famously likes neither people nor drama, and Dick is both those things.....Dick is also always effortlessly charming and makes friends wherever he goes. In the end, it should come as no surprise to anyone but Constantine that he is no more Immune to Dick’s innate Likeability Quotient than most of the rest of humanity.

And for a couple of weeks they kinda just hang out, get into random mishaps with magical gargoyles and ensorcelled ravens around the Tower of London and also one specific clash with a demonically possessed umbrella that turned anyone who held it into like, Mary Poppins, but also, y’know, EVIL - look it was this whole thing, don’t ask, Constantine still doesn’t like to talk about it. He even offered to show Dick how to do a minor cantrip if his mischief minded companion would agree to keep his mouth shut on the subject from now until the end of eternity.

Dick had to hem and haw over that one for a bit, but ultimately his innate curiosity won out over his fondness for telling a rousing but also hilarious tale. It was a very narrow margin, but that was all that was needed to have Dick’s foot take its very first step along a very different road in this universe.

See, Constantine’s not really expecting much to happen even as he walks Dick through the steps of the simple spell. Magic’s as unpredictable about who it’ll roll over and play tricks for as it is in how it operates and functions and like...basically accomplishes all the many varied feats that make Bruce develop spontaneous frustration migraines, because that’s not how reality works, none of this has anything to do with how reality WORKS, what happened to the RULES, dammit!

And sure, there’s all sorts of different kinds of magic, and all kinds of different lines various magic practitioners sort into....some are born into it, like the Zataras, and Constantine himself actually, though in a very different way from the former....others end up developing a knack for it after significant encounters with arcane or occult beings, forces, artifacts or the like, as though their exposure to such a focused concentration of it resulted in a kind of charge rubbing off on them, just enough to make them able to attract and gather and channel magical forces from then on themselves. Others are chosen to it, and some just have no clue why spells will work for them but not ten random pedestrians they stop on the street and use as a rather strange sample group.

But bottom line is magic isn’t just about practice and skill, you tend to either have a knack for it or you don’t, and more people don’t than do, so John’s pretty much expecting to fulfill his end of their little gentleman’s agreement and then watch Dick duplicate everything he did exactly, with zero result.

Except turns out, Dick Grayson DOES have a knack for magic, same as he has a knack for well, everything. The guy was crime fighting and kicking bad guy ass in middle school. Forget James Bond and Captain Kirk, forget even Batman himself, ROBIN is the original and ultimate Gary Stu. Of fucking course Dick would be good at magic if he ever tried it. There’s a fairly large school of thought in this universe that posits that the force they call magic is an almost living entity in its own way, perhaps even sentient. Most of the magicians and wizards and sorcerers in that school of thinking kinda all quietly nurse the opinion that magic just, like....likes Dick Grayson, and he just charmed it with his first attempt at that simple spell and had it wrapped around his finger by the time he said Abra Kadabra.

(Because of fucking COURSE John picked a spell he could end with Abra Kadabra, have you met the man? He’s the most dramatic of them all, why do you think he hates both people and drama so much??? He’s the people and the drama!)

So there we have one lost and directionless Dick Grayson, feeling like he’s lost his footing and all his old plans and projected paths don’t really fit him anymore, or at least not well enough to help him feel like he’s headed somewhere, doing something.

Buuuuuut, then there’s that petty teenage side of him again, the one that goes fuck Batman, and also I’m right to say so.....and at least that IS a direction to focus on, even if not the most noble one....so the same brain cells that linked up and logic’d him around to the conclusion that ‘Bruce will never think to look for me with John Constantine of all people, and LOL how much would he hate that’....like, big fans of the positive reception their prior performance had received, those same brain cells leap back into action with zeal and zest and steer him to the not all that distant conclusion:

“LOL, how much would Bruce hate it if I ended up being this like, super talented magician, with expertise he knows nothing about? Could you imagine?”

Turns out Dick could, and did, and so much like that initial inch in this direction, is the true basis of him following up on that and becoming a renowned sorcerous superhero in this universe the fateful last words “Screw you dad, you’re not the boss of me and I’ll do what I want!”

I mean. Yeah. That’s pretty much exactly how it began. Yup. Oops.

But the thing is, that’s just how it starts. A random string of chance encounters and events that capture Dick’s attention and interest at a time and a place in his life where he was looking for literally anything to do just that....but once it HAD his attention and interest, everything changed. It was no longer about thinking ‘hey this will really tick Bruce off,’ because Dick’s capable of that train of thought and gut/impulsive decision making, sure, but he’s not about to commit his entire LIFE to that just to flip Bruce the proverbial middle finger.

It only continues, he only keeps going and furthering his magical studies because he genuinely comes to love it for the sheer versatility, the unpredictability of it, the way holding reality in one hand and magical forces in the other is like walking a tight rope with no safety net, and sure its not the same thing as flying, but on that note, did you know there are spells that can literally make you fly?

Dick does, now, and he knows like, seventeen different ones.

And so Dick throws himself into studying magic the same way he throws himself into everything. He’s never done anything half-assed in his life. He’s physically allergic to the very idea of it. When he does a thing, he fucking COMMITS, and becomes the best he possibly can at it....which ultimately almost always puts him in the one percentile of that thing.

He learns everything he can from Constantine, or at least as much as Constantine’s willing to teach him. Eventually their paths diverge, not because of any bad blood, but just because Dick isn’t interested in the same specialties as Constantine. So then he moves on. Travels the world, similar to what Bruce did when he was his age, training to become Batman. But Dick trains with magicians, wizards, alchemists. Madame Xanadu. Sebastian Faust. Raven. Even charms freaking Circe into teaching him an enchantment or two, because lbr, a mystically inclined Dick Grayson would inevitably intrigue the more infamous mystics of the DC universe in the same way a combat-focused Dick Grayson intrigues Deathstroke and assorted others.

Everyone except for Zatanna and Jason Blood, the magicians Bruce actually respects and relies on, and who Dick is sure would report back to Bruce about him, and he’s still ticked. Plus, Zatanna’s type of magic is innate, not really something that can be taught, and Blood’s stems from his sharing his body with a demon and Dick’s not really looking for a roommate right now.

Eventually, Dick is satisfied enough with his skills and knowledge to return to the Titans. He adopts the name Nightwing, same as in canon and for the same reasons. He’s still the same man, same leader, same fighter with all the skills he already had....just now with the added repertoire of someone who’s branched off in an unlikely direction.

Hey, Bruce did want him to go to college and learn something new. Not Dick’s fault his particular field of study isn’t Bruce-approved. (Okay, its entirely Dick’s fault, since that was after all the point, but eh. Oh well).

Nightwing’s still an acrobat and hand-to-hand fighter. He’s invested too much time, effort, himself into those skills to just give them up. He’s an adrenaline junkie, thrives on motion, activity, the rush of going head to head with someone who can really push him, challenge him. His magic is incorporated into his fighting. He constructs who he becomes as magician around the foundation already in place due to who he is as an acrobat, detective and hand to hand combatant. His magic is an added skill, not a replacement for his previous skillsets.

So he has alchemical potions on his utility belt, amid his ordinary smoke bombs and gas pellets. Tools and spells of divination and scrying for when a trail goes cold and can’t be tracked further by ordinary means. But now the Titans have another mystical expert to turn to for magical related missions, not just Raven. Their specialties are entirely different, but they’ve worked together since Raven first came to this plane, and they still complement each other well.

Of course, this changes things in other ways too. Dick’s new focus takes him further away from his time with Batman than even in canon. He’s still traveling and training for most of the time Jason is Robin and never even meets him before his death. Of course he kept tabs on Gotham no matter where he was. He absolutely knows about the adoption, about a second Robin. And about Jason’s eventual death. But he’s still somewhere places unknown in the aftermath, not easily tracked down by Tim, who sets out to help Bruce on his own, wearing down Bruce’s resistance to him being Robin between just his and Alfred’s efforts. Dick remains largely estranged from the Batfamily as Cass is adopted, Steph takes her turn as Robin, etc.

And then Jason comes back from the dead.

But again, things play out differently here. This Jason is never found by Talia and the League, never dumped into a Lazarus Pit. Instead, Leslie Thompkins opens up her clinic one day to find a catatonic Jason in a bed inside, not long after he’s resurrected. He recovers as mysteriously as he returned, helped along by being in familiar environs, surrounded by loved ones as he’s of course immediately returned to the Manor and attended on by Bruce, Alfred, Babs, Tim and Cass. So he has less resentment for Tim, for being replaced. Its harder to deny Bruce’s love for him when he has Bruce by his bedside, day after day, watching and waiting throughout his recovery. He never suffers from Pit madness. Is never influenced by League ideology. Never trains with monsters and murderers awful enough he wants to kill them himself after he’s done training with them.

And its hard to resent Bruce for not avenging him and killing the Joker, when no one’s seen the Joker since almost right after Jason’s death. The clown never returns to Gotham from Ethiopia, not as far as anyone can tell. By the time Bruce set out to hunt him down, after Jason’s funeral, the trail had gone entirely cold. Bruce hunted for him, sure, but Jason can’t be too mad about Bruce giving up before finding him. The Joker’s never been one to lay low. When even just a few months had passed without even a hint of the villain or his future plans, it was hard to imagine he was still alive - he never lacked for enemies, after all. Not unreasonable that someone else had gotten to him first.

Plus, of course, its hard to compare yourself to the ‘golden boy’ and find yourself coming up short, viewing yourself as less loved than Dick Grayson, when said golden boy still remains estranged. He’s the prodigal son in this reality, with Bruce’s anger towards his eldest for never coming back to the Manor, not even after Jason’s death - its obvious to everyone, even Jason. Tim doesn’t have the close, brotherly bond with Dick that he does in canon, and with less resentment from Jason for replacing him, its easier for the two middle sons of Batman to bond after Jason’s return.

Jason returns to crime fighting, probably still takes up the name the Red Hood - his sense of humor and irony had nothing to do with his death or the specifics of his return. He and Bruce still clash. They have their ideological differences, Jason’s harsher than Bruce would prefer. But this Jason has reasons not to force an all-out divide between he and his father, sticks to the line (even if reluctantly), not because he believes differently - he still thinks he’s right about Bruce’s way being flawed and will always argue so - but because he has reasons to stay. Things he actually feels he’ll lose if he pushes things too much, actually leaves the family. Because he has a family, he has no doubts about that here. Tim and Cass and Alfred and even Bruce. He’d miss them, if he lost them. So he makes sure he doesn’t.

And then, a couple years after his return, Jason starts feeling hunted by something. Some presence, some force constantly shadowing him, stalking him. Something supernatural. Otherworldly. In time, there’s no denying it. He’s actually attacked by some unseen, invisible presence, like some kind of monstrous beast that’s hunting him and only him.

Its hard to come to any conclusion other than that it has something to do with his resurrection. Nobody knows how that happened after all. Not even Jason. But there was definitely nothing natural about it, so with something unnatural hunting him, almost as if he’s ‘the one that got away’ or some kind of affront to the natural order of things, the Batfamily adds 2 + 2 and gets ugh, fuck, we need to call a magician for help, don’t we?

Bruce calls in Zatanna and Jason Blood first, of course. But this is well outside Zatanna’s area of expertise, she has no insight to offer. Blood’s a little bit more help. He’s at least able to confirm that the force is otherworldly, not native to this plane, and might very well have something to do with Jason’s time....not on this plane. And he is able to affirm that there’s nothing demonic about the presence, no whiff of Hell surrounding either it or Jason.

Finally, reluctantly, Bruce calls in John Constantine, at Blood’s suggestion. His number isn’t so much the last one in Bruce’s old-fashioned rolodex so much as its buried somewhere on the Manor grounds, locked in a puzzle box that affords Bruce countless opportunities to turn back or try something else before he finally gets it open and pulls out the card with his contact info and the header: IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY WITH ALL OTHER CONCEIVABLE OPTIONS HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN EXHAUSTED PRIOR TO THIS - HERE I GUESS.

Okay, maaaaaaaaybe I’m embellishing a little bit on that one there. But whatever.

And its not like Constantine is the actual last of the last he contacts here. For instance, even more than he’d like to not have to bring in John, he’d really rather not call Raven either, though he knows of her as well of course.

In this reality, the Titans remain more distant from the Justice League and other heroes. They took Dick’s side when Bruce kicked him out, closing ranks, not to mention Roy’s falling out with Ollie resulting in a similar sentiment from them. And Dick and Roy’s diverged paths here similarly result in them paralleling each other in not reconciling with their fathers - they reaffirm to each other that whatever ‘their part’ in their disputes were, they deserved better than how Bruce and Ollie handled those situations, and they’re not going to let each other settle for being afforded less than the respect and care they deserve.

So to be clear, its not that even after a couple years, Dick is still actively avoiding Bruce - Bruce’s failure to extend the hand first, make the first attempt at reconciliation and conveying that he still wants and needs Dick in his life, his family...that’s still the underlying issue, and the real change in family dynamics comes from Dick not caving and returning to a similar status quo to what he left, without Bruce ever actually addressing his own behavior and mistakes in driving Dick away without making any real attempt to get him to stay, or to follow him, or to ask him to come home.

As for the rest of the Titans, Wally still became the Flash here when Barry died, but he felt no real need to ‘move up’ to the Justice League, and with all of the rest of the original Titans remaining a cohesive family unit here, he chose to stay with them when not patrolling Central City. And when Kyle Rayner became the last Green Lantern and joined the Titans as in canon, the team was closer, more family than the line-up he was briefly a part of in canon, and so he remained with them as well.

So the end result is in this universe, for the end of their teens and the early years of their twenties, the Titans go their own way, and they and the JLA keep to their respective ‘corners’ as it were. Meanwhile Tim’s generation remains known as Young Justice.

So back to the Batfam’s problem and Jason’s unknown pursuer. Constantine’s not much more help than Jason Blood was. After all, demons are his specialty too, just in different ways than they are Jason Blood’s. and the other magic he knows isn’t of a sort they need here either.

He is however, able to offer one bit of advice - what they need, John says, is a magician who specializes in the otherworldly, not just the netherworlds. There are more things in Heaven and Hell than well...just Heaven and Hell. Plenty of other worlds, plenty of other dimensions....the kinds of places something like this creature could have come from. What they need is a planewalker. And luckily for them, Constantine just so happens to know the name of a planewalker who could help them.

Dick Grayson.

And of course the estranged eldest still comes when he’s called, because its never that he didn’t care, its just that he wanted, needed to be called. Even when tragedy struck the family, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to return and be a comfort to them, its just that he wasn’t sure his presence would be a comfort.

(Though it takes numerous arguments while working on the mystery of Jason’s hunter, like, before this gets even brought up, let alone clarified. All parties involved are of course world-class experts at the cold shoulder, not to mention avoidance tactics and evasive maneuvers of all types.)

And as Jason and his other siblings get to know their mysterious oldest brother, the much alluded to but rarely spoken of first son, the Zitka in the room, the shadow they’ve all always been aware of but never known much about - other than that he had a definite Talent with a capital T for getting under their father’s skin, and while they might be closer with Bruce in this reality, Bruce is still Bruce and that’s still a Talent they all can respect and appreciate - well.

It would be a mistake, Jason realizes, to assume that just because Dick left, that meant that he didn’t keep informed on what he left behind. He has many many means at his disposal now, for getting information when he wants it.

And it would be a mistake to assume that just because they didn’t see him care, that actually meant that Dick didn’t care. He didn’t have to actually meet Jason to feel at least a connection to the second son to be raised by the same father, the second person to wear his colors, bear his mantle, fight at Bruce’s side. He didn’t even have to know him, to grieve that now he’d never get the chance, when Jason died. To be outraged at the Joker, on his behalf.

And its not like Dick didn’t have plenty of other reasons to hate the Joker as well - he was the reason he was fired, the reason he and Bruce were estranged, the catalyst of so much of his family’s misfortune.

And no one did ever find a trace of the Joker after Ethiopia.

Almost like he’d dropped off the face of the Earth.

Vanished from it entirely.

Of course, while Dick Grayson might be estranged from his father, he still abides by the code Bruce instilled in him at an early age. He doesn’t kill.

But there are worse things than death, some might say.

Especially for a man like a Joker, because he does have one thing he truly cares about: landing a punchline. Its why everyone assumes he was killed by some other enemy after Ethiopia....the Joker can never go long without making a reappearance. He needs an audience too badly to ever stay hidden for long.

After all, what is a joke, if there’s no one to hear it?

And then as well, the family never did figure out how Jason ended up in Leslie’s clinic, after he crawled out of his grave.

How someone found him so quickly, and knew the best place to take him. However Jason ended up resurrected, it surely had to involve considerable power of some sort, supernatural energies that surely had to attract some attention....

at least from someone attuned to the supernatural, who knew how to see such things....

and had reason to occasionally visit the Wayne family cemetery.

Yes, even in this vastly different universe, there’s still a way, still time to reunite a family even this fractured. When you’re a planewalker like Dick Grayson, there’s no road beyond your reach, its just a matter of finding the right one.

And just because it takes time to find the road that finally leads home....that doesn’t mean its not out there.

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translightyagami · 4 years

Note

Near for the character ask meme thingy!!

My otp for them:

u know, i don’t rlly ship near with anyone in canon. i see him finding someone online maybe, on a forum for gundam builds. he deserves someone who doesn’t see him as L, or their boss, or their rival. someone who sees near as a person, u know.

My brotp for them:

his relationship w/ mello is interesting, sure, but i’m all about exploring Light and Near hving to begrudgingly working together. they both could learn a lotta lessons from each other...

Any other ships:

no. i don’t want any of the canon characters to date near, tbh.

Their best friend:

hm. don’t think near has a best friend...he should go join a dnd league and make a few of those friend things...

My favorite nickname for them:

i guess like near is a nickname in general, since he’s got a real name (nate) that he doesn’t use v often.

My favorite AU of them:

the best near AU is hands down the fic Noel, which is an incredible exploration of near growing into his role as L while also keeping Light alive. i love how it slowly unpacks neer’s humanity, and lets him see others as more than pawns in a wider game. good stuff!

My favorite outfit they wear:

he rlly isn’t much of a fashionista so the pajamas r a pretty good look. altho, i differ a bit from most fans in that i do like his white button up and jeans look from the anime. it gives him more of a “dressing up in his older brother’s clothes” look, which reflects how the original L’s persona doesn’t fit him, and that he needs to forge his own path as a detective.

Defining color:

white! or maybe egg shell? cream? taupe?

Would I date them:

no, probably not, altho never say never i guess. i’ve dated bigger nerds. i just think near would make a better friend for me, and i’d love to learn how to use minecraft from him.

First impression:

no impression, just like “oh hm. interesting. another character who isn’t light. i will file them away as ‘non-light’ and move on.”

Current impression:

he’s a great addition to the manga’s second arc, and probably would hv been a rlly great way to explore the folly of the L detective cycle if his and Mello’s time hadn’t been split so weirdly. i feel like the story could hv benefited from focusing on one successor so that the themes of L’s story could hv had a better closed loop. but you know. someone had to shoot off those missiles, and it wasn’t going to b near.

Hogwarts House:

very ravenclaw.

Which Pokemon starter they’d be:

i don’t knowwww. i don’t know pokeyman. what’s the yellow one? pikachu.

#death note #thanks for the question!!!#Anonymous

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two-friends-read-hp · 4 years

Text

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

CHAPTER TWENTY: The First Task

OOoOH I love the first task!

“Feeling too queasy to eat, Harry waited until Hermione had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out onto the grounds.” Lol can you imagine Harry just sitting next to Hermione in the great hall, staring at her while rocking backwards and forwards, just impatiently waiting for her to finish breakfast? Lol

“‘Let’s just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening,’ she said desperately, ‘and then we can worry about Karkaroff.’” Lol, she has a point though, as concerning as both matters are, you gotta deal with the one that’s going to happen sooner. Also, if only Ron had heard about the multiple plots to kill Harry, he’d think twice about wanting his fame and attention

I don’t blame Colin for telling Rita Skeeter that Harry and Hermione might be together, just look at the amount of walks they took around the lake today, and how much time they’re spending together in general, for however long Ron wasn’t talking to Harry

Yeah I don’t think ‘Men Who Love Dragons Too Much’ would help you subdue a dragon lol

Hermione’s been doing O.W.L practice papers??? Well I guess they are in fourth year so it’s a good head start

Ok but what if Cedric’s friends hadn’t gone on without him after his bag split open?

Well I mean, the footing isn’t that even, you didn’t tell him on Saturday, which is when you found out, so everyone had two full days to somewhat prepare except Cedric, who now has to deal with this in addition to his new bag ripping

Does Moody have super hearing too? In addition to seeing people in invisibility cloaks? And through solid objects?

“‘Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies… no use here, of course, too much interference - students in every direction lying about why they haven’t done their homework.’” CONVENIENT

“‘I had to disable my Sneakoscope because it wouldn’t stop whistling.’” 1) You can disable a sneakoscope? 2) CONVENIENT!

“‘Of course, it could be picking up more than kid stuff,’” You have to admire the nerve of this guy, talking about it like he isn’t at the centre of it

Tbh Dumbledore would probably not have minded if his school lost, so really Karkaroff and Maxime would have to worry about beating each other

Harry thinks he doesn’t have any strengths :(

Moody is just spoon feeding Harry lol

“‘Hermione - I need you to help me.’ ‘What d’you think I’ve been trying to do, Harry?’ she whispered back,...” Lol I could’ve said the same thing

I’m imagining him learning the summoning charm like a montage with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ backing it

“‘Good luck, Harry,’ Hermione whispered. ‘You’ll be fine!’ ‘Yeah,’ said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own.” I’m sorry Harry but this is really funny lol

“He left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn’t seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione.” Aww, poor McGonagall

I wonder what the champions would’ve looked like if they didn’t know about the dragons, would they have been more sure of themselves and overconfident? Or would they be even more anxious and pale?

Of course Harry got the Horntail… at least they put it last

Poor Cedric has to go first

“‘No, I’m fine,’ said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine.” LOL

Wow, Fleur did it in 10 minutes

Jeez, the anxiety Harry is experiencing is reminding me of whenever I’d have to do anything in front of a crowd in school… I’m getting flashbacks lol

Props to Harry for not losing his cool the moment he saw the dragon and for being able to concentrate on his firebolt

Did his firebolt avoid all the obstacles that were surely in its path? Or did it just crash through them? I guess it had to have avoided them or it would’ve crashed through the enclosure

Oooh what a delight to have Viktor Krum watch Harry and his flying skills

How are they keeping the dragon from thrashing the rest of the people in the stadium by the way? I guess it doesn’t care about the other creatures that aren’t after its eggs

The way he managed the dragon in the books was nice and quick, they really drew it out in the movie for the sake of keeping it dramatic I guess, but that meant that he had to take the dragon on an adventure. What would the teachers have done in that instance?? How would they have tried to recapture the dragon if it had broken free of it’s restraints? Also would Charlie and his coworkers have been in trouble if any of the champions had hurt the dragons? Because if I’m remembering correctly, in the movies the dragon ended up crashing into that big bridge thingy and falling into the lake or whatever, so would he have gotten in trouble for losing the dragon? So many unanswered questions!

Moody might’ve given Harry the idea, but Harry really outdid himself with actually carrying out the plan, great stuff!

Lucky that they learned summoning charms this year lol

“‘You two are so stupid!’ she shouted,...” Couldn’t have put it better myself girl

Also, glad it took a freaking dragon for Ron to realise that maybe it wasn’t Harry who put his name down for the death tournament

See? Krum’s idea resulted in a bunch of eggs getting destroyed! Now those dragon handlers have to deal with that damage! I guess they had it coming if they agreed for the dragons to be in the tournament in the first place… but stil!

Hmm… Ludo Bagman gave Harry a ten? I wonder why that is

Harry knows how to handle Rita Skeeter now… once bitten twice shy if you know what I mean *wink wink*

Chapter 21

#hp #hp fandom #Harry Potter #harry potter and the goblet of fire #HPGOF #hp gof #GoF #Goblet of Fire #harry potter thoughts #harry potter reread

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guardianofmemes · 5 years

Text

fallout 4 companions best to worst

with funny images at the start of each character review! DLC companions included! also BIG TIME SPOILERS FOR FALLOUT 4 OKAY 3 2 1 GOOOO!

1. nick valentine - clockwork PI

positives: he’s a robot detective who loves neon and smokes even though he has no lungs you know he’s a man who appreciates aesthetic.

negatives: none

2. old longfellow - old salty

positive: grandpa time. he's perfect. this man is everyone's rough and tumble but supportive grandfather. he's a rough block of wood, well worn and with a sense of humor, drinking habits, great dialogue, fantastic personality and can follow you around, he never outwears his welcome. he can even follow you around the commonwealth. rivals nick valentine for best companion to me.negative: i can't really think of ANY.

3. codsworth - lovable orb

positives: truly a stalwart companion, never abandons you, waited 2 centuries for the player character. it made me upset you couldn't romance them, the character who truly had a connection with you. they're fantastic and the top 3 was a REALLY close call.

negatives: cannot romance, wHY TODD YOU COWARD

4. preston garvey - minutemen general

positive: i can't even bring myself to post a jokey image for him he's just that good. god his character is good. he's a broken man, but he still doesn't stop helping others, or giving up hope. he's truly a good person, but not unrealistic. he has his limits, and can bend and break. and unlike other companions strangely, he DOES have more loyalty breaking points than the others, like if you side with raiders he will shoot you on sight. unless you deviate from the carefully curated quest paths in which case aaaaaaa also his backstory good, and i like how he faces his inner demons, altho i wish he'd just take the mantle of general. he honestly deserves it.

DOWNSIDES: ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEdS OUR HELP. making any companion a never ending, radiant quest hub, is a BAD FECKIN IDEA BOYO. BUCKO ITS A BAD IDEA. as a result of him being a radiant quest hub, its the onbly thing people know about him, care about, and experience while in game, because before and after every character interaction is something about his radiant quest hub quests. also romancing him feels HORRIBLE just like mac cready.

5. john maccready - ratface

positives: Positives, I like snarky mercs. And he had real Scout vibes.Honestly if you forget he existed in any other fallout games, on his own he's a decent companion. I like having him around, he's like that coworker of yours who keeps stealing office supplies but he always has spare smokes if you ask. honestly maccready is like if you dipped piper in the FEV. he's just a better version of her. she's too heavy handed i'm sorry

negative: again bethesda's bad design about being afraid of upsetting consumers. because once you finish his personal quest, spoilers getting the cure for his infant son's sickness, he should IMMEDAITELY RETURN TO HIS SON. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE MAC AND CHEESE. GO RAISE YOUR SON. also romancing him just feels dirty and manipulative. this MAN IS CLEARLY STILL GREIVING FOR HIS DEAD WIFE!!! most of the romance paths honestly feel dirty and manipulative to me, like you're taking advantage of their friendship and trust in you

6. Ada - actual wife

positives: i love robots and this is like if curie didn't suck and wasn't born sexy yesterday. she has a character arc and is cool and has personality and also she's made of different robot parts when she starts out and that's cool. her story is good and even her generic lines are charming.

negatives: after the mechanist dlc is over she has no more unique cool things to say, and its sad they didn't prepare enough dialogue for her

7. john danse - paladin pants

positives: danse is a trooper, he's a boot boy yeah. in literal apocalypse land tho, understandable. also he is loyal to his team and anyone he considers his friends. once he spoilers is exiled from the brotherhood for being a synth and loses his way he does lose some of his hangups, becomes a more thoughtful person. his character arc is good, i like how he ends up.

negatives: holy fuck my cat just jumped in my lap he's like my way or the highway haha. anyways back to pants paladin. like i said he has some hangups, aka his racism from living in the brotherhood, a proto-fascist military cult. but honestly this doesn't make him a bad character, and he does get better from it. i'm gonna be real here the only negative about him is again, THE ROMANCE PATH. IT FEELS SO NEGATIVE AND DIRTY AND MANIPULATIVE. like i see people say he's a bad character but no he's just a bad person. and even then, he does learn and adapt.you can have characters who aren't good people in your stories

8. piper - waifu bait

positive: extra extra read all about it, the tracer of fallout 4 not totally a bad thing tho, she's just.obviously the companion you're supposed to like the most.

negative: her quirkiness has its charms but it can be KINDA much sometimes. also she’s obvious waifu bait. however in the end she's really more a person i'd want to argue with as a friend and hang just chill around she's pushy tho and i don't like being railroaded into certain quests or storybeats.

9. dog - dog

positive: dog is dog

negative: is not robot detective or butler, but is still good

10. deacon - MY EYES!!!

positives: charming spy man, so deep in the weeds he doesn't even know his own past or even if he's a synth. that's quirky and cute. he also has that very obvious spy charm of, his disguise is just him wearing clothes. iits funny like superman putting glasses on.

negatives: honestly he's just kinda bland. he's such a mystery wrapped in an enigma locked in a puzzlebox owned by that demon guy with the needles in his head, that there's nothing to know about him. really i can't figure him out. or get to know him.then again some of that is due to trust issues. i mean neat character trait but there's not much for me to consume here.

11. john hancock - anarcho beef jerky

positive: he's a pretty free wheeling kinda dude and i like that, he stands up against bad authority, to an extent, and that's where some of my issues crop up

negative: it could also be blamed on shitty bethesda afraid you wouldn't do certain content if it locked you out of your favorite companions, but he'll stand with you through allying with the institute, the brotherhood, anyone. also his anarchist leadership style has resulted in a lot of issues for his community he doesn't seem keen on fixing or reflecting on anytime soon. also constant substance abuse and he'll encourage you to take on the party hardy lifestyle tooi just look at freeside i mean goodneighbor i mean freeside and i think "man you're supposed to be the king i mean the mayor you should do better". ripoff of the king i'm gonna rip off the bandaid tbh, not even as cool as the king. the king really looked out for freesiders while hancock kinda just... meanders about the place. being mayor with no authority on purpose just makes you, a guy who kills people sometimes.

12. automatron - build-a-bear workshop BUT WITH GUN

positive: there's a few distinct personality modules and voice actors for the automatron companions, each one is enjoyable, i liked them, and they were all different from each other. i consider them like mini companions. plus being able to build your very own custom robots with any parts you want is the most epic part of this companion.

negative: the dialogue for the voice actor packs is pretty limited, like pretty limited. not a lot to hear before they loop. i'd have to say these are more neutral than even X6-88 for me

13. X6-88: oh that uniquely named courser that showed up as i destroyed the institute, wait he was a companion???

positives:

okay negatives time

negatives:for real tho he's just uh, again kind of a Nothing character. not as disappointing as Strong tho. As an institute courser he's just... well he just Is. he exists. doesn't really question his nature tho, or consider what life would be like outside the institute... its like if Danse had no character arc at all and spoilers just stayed in the brotherhood like a good proto-fascist feudalistic power armored boot boy. he feels like a quota like todd howard walked in the design room and said "we need an institute companion" and then the designers said "... fuck. we're almost done with the game's story okay lets cook something up". i'd have to say he's perfectly average. he's like the bland guy from the wendys commercials about how spicy their chicken is

14. porter gage - why do i keep stepping on this rake

positives: his armor looks cool, and his voice actor is good. i like that a raider character is portrayed by a sneaky advisor type instead of just a chest beating tough guy on chems. porter is an interesting take, and his motivations and methods are interesting.

negatives: his motivations don't make sense though. he's seen over and over in his life that raiders simply are unsustainable and don't work, always breaking apart. yet he... still wants to be a raider, and advise raider gangs? it doesn't make sense. also if you buddy up with him preston will hate you, and you have to eliminate your OWN settlements in the commonwealth. sorry porter but i'm not willing to make that kind of sacrifice at all. he's alright as a character but not really deep. having a backstory doesn't mean you're deep, that's Bethesda Deep™. Bad, no. Die now with the rest of nuka world, gage.

15. strong - fallout 3 was a mistake

positives: non-human companion, i like that. super mutants are always cool

negatives: lumpy and misshappen as fuck oh god he's like a slab of moldy ribs. also his character? what character? he's just a bog standard super mutant, not even a cool one from the west coast. he's just an orc, a raider painted green with half a brain and a penchant for eating people. he doesn't change or evolve, he's just. he's a Nothing character.

16. curie - born french yesterday

positives: so i guess i should start with the positives since that's a trend in this list now. positives! robot, and one that's both aware of how the world's dead but wants to learn, and make it better. i always like robots, and well. uh. robot. i'm out of positives now.

negatives: she is the living embodiment of th e born sexy yesterday trope. profoundly naive, yet unimaginably wise. and spoilers once she gets a SEXAYYYYY human bod from a braindead synth, her naive nature is played up even further as WHAT EEZ DIS STRANGE FEELING UWU I FEEL HORMONE AND LUUUV its bad, its bad its bad. french maid plus nurse wrapped into one, with the mind of a child, aka its the born sexy yesterday trope. and you can only fuc once she's out of the robot body and this makes betheseda COWARDS. LET ME HAVE MY ROBOTS.

17. cait - drug

positive:

negative: commit go away from my game. rude, not fun to be around, substance abuse storyline is NOT handled well. also in boston the one irish character is all fucked up come on man.

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adelinemckenna · 4 years

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i swear i just saw REINA HARDESTY out on the streets but it turned out to be ADELINE MCKENNA. SHE was born on AUGUST 3RD making them only 25 years old. They’re known to be +ALERT +PERSISTENT and -VENGEFUL -IMPULSIVE. They spend most of their time being a WEBSITE DESIGNER/HACKER. Rumour has it they’re PANSEXUAL, and can be found in WASHINGTON HEIGHTS. You know you’ve found them when you come across DARK ROOMS WITH LIT UP COMPUTER SCREENS, UNDERLYING FEELINGS OF GUILT THAT ARE BURIED DEEP DOWN AND THE SMELL OF FRESHLY GROUND COFFEE .

TW: death, faking a death, crime

History

Her mother was only seventeen years old when she fell pregnant with her, the father was an eighteen-year-old high school graduate on his year abroad in Japan and was already gone by the time the pregnancy was discovered

The mother's parents told her she had two choices, either she'd give the child up for adoption or she would be disowned and they would no longer consider her their daughter - she went with the first option and immediately went to an adoption agency

Born in Japan, she was adopted shortly after her birth and taken to the United States. She was given the name Kelsey Quinn.

She grew up in San Francisco with a close-knit family, which included two older brothers - her adoption was never a secret, her parents were always very open about it and considering she was the only Asian kid in an otherwise white family, it was pretty obvious

Got really into everything computers and programming at eight years old and quickly showed to have quite her way with it, even being able to build a computer from scratch

Around twelve she discovered the magical world of hacking, she was very good at it too, but she also already knew the kind of trouble she could get into and so she steered away from it (or at least made sure she couldn't get discovered and never actually took anything)

Despite being a complete computer nerd, Kelsey was pretty popular in high school. She was just kind of friendly with everyone and everyone liked her plenty.

When she was eighteen, one of her brothers died in an 'accident'. Her family was told that he had gotten behind the wheel drunk and that he'd gotten in car accident that way - she didn't believe it for even one second, because she knew her brother knew better than to do that.

So she did what she did best and she hacked her way into some databases and other places she wasn't supposed to find her way into and ended up discovering that the detective on her bother's case was dirty and had been paid off by a gang to cover up the death of her brother, who had fallen victim of mistaken identity due to a mistake of one of the gang members.

Pissed off by the whole thing, Kelsey did what she felt was only right and anonymously sent out the file that she had built up to all the newspapers and online bloggers she could find and it kind of blew up. The detective on the case was fired and sentenced to time in prison, but unfortunately despite the fact that the leaders of the gang were prosecuted, nothing ever happened and they got away with it all.

Of course Kelsey couldn't leave it like that, and so she decided to hit the gang where it hurt them the most - their wallet. She hacked into all of their bank accounts and cleared them out, donating the majority to various charities and putting away some of it for herself and her family- it seemed to her the least of what they deserved.

Unfortunately for her, she was sloppy due to her anger and left behind a trace that pointed the gang in her direction and so a kill order was put on her head. Knowing that she had inadvertently put her family and friends in danger, Kelsey faked her death and ran away.

That's when she became Adeline McKenna. It was pretty easy to create a new identity for herself, what she couldn't do herself, she found the right (albeit shady) people to help her with.

At nineteen she was just keeping her head low, taking money from people who gave her odd little jobs that required her skills and always keeping an eye out in case she was recognized.

Through one of these odd jobs she met Jimmy, impressed with her skills he decided to recruit her to his ragtag team. She was hesitant about it at first, but eventually she realised how much safer she would be in his team and how much more comfortable she'd be and so she said yes.

It wasn't that long after she'd joined the team that Jimmy was arrested - it spooked her for a bit but the second in command was able to convince her to stick around and to this day she still doesn't regret her choice.

As far as the outside world is concerned, she's a website designer. It's a cover story she's created just in case, and to keep it alive she'll occasionally take on a job so she doesn't get find out. All of her time is spent on being the hacker for the team though.

Even though she knows that she covered herself well, she's lowkey still worried that one day the gang that she pissed off might come after her - but even then she knows she has her new family, and knowing what kind of people they are, she's aware that she shouldn't be too worried.

Personality

Once believing about the good in people, Adeline has become far more weary of people's intentions.

She doesn't believe in good or bad, she's seen supposedly good people be bad and so now she's more than happy to just believe in money. It's far easier that way.

Can be the most energetic, upbeat person one moment and a sarcastic lil' shit the next.

Isn't scared to call people out on their shit and doesn't really worry about the consequences.

She's not easy to piss off, but if someone does - fully expect her to get back at them. Whether it'll be something subtle like hacking into their social media accounts and wreaking havoc that way, or something less subtle like punching them in the face - she doesn't let go of a grudge until after she's retaliated.

A disaster in the kitchen. Has like a handful of dishes that she can actually make pretty well, everything else is awful and you’d take a huge risk trying a bite of.

Wanted/possible connections

The rest of the team, ofc

Drinking buddies

People who always come to her for all kind of tech issues

People who've hired her to design their website (0/3)

People that she’s worked for with Jimmy’s team

People she's slept with / is sleeping with

Exes since she’s gotten to New York - no relationship would’ve lasted long as she would’ve doubted all of their intentions so it could be angsty

Someone who’s all genuine good intentions that Adeline’s always weary about and basically looking for their (non-existent) hidden agenda and might end up actually giving her hope that there’s still some actual good people around

Honestly - give me drama and give me someone that reminds her of/looks a lot like her dead brother

Someone from the gang in San Francisco she’s running from that’s come to New York and maybe recognizes her when they bump into each other and decides not to report it to the gang just yet and tries to befriend her to see if they can play her or use her or even just a totally different path tbh

Someone that she totally clashes with to the point where they piss her off all the time and it takes her everything not to completely wreck their life or get into a fight with - might even just end up in hate sex sometimes

Anything tbh, *Sharpay Evans voice* I WANT IT ALL

#nychqintro #come love on my new bab pls and tha

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pixelrender · 4 years

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Top 10 games I played in 2019

In many ways 2019 was a transitional year for me. 2020 will be a completely different year than 2018. Full of work and studying. And that’s why I need to leave my computer behind for a while. I have few games I would like to play on my phone, but mostly, I’ll be silent on the gaming front. I managed to play over 95 games this year. I wrote two or three sentences on every single one of them here. They were mostly short games from Itch.io, most of them under one hour of gameplay. There were many gems and I have an urge to honorably mention at least five of them. So, there might be another post along these lines or check this playlist of mine for some essential games, which might be missing in this selection.

Top 3 was a clear cut, but coming up with the order for the rest of it was difficult. FTL is in my top ten of all times for example and a superior game to both Morphblade and A Short Hike. It is however a game I had played before. The list is quite cohesive this year and I think that every single game on it is either an example of excellent design, great fun or an experience more interesting than films. 2019 was a year, in which I stopped caring about the story being good. I don’t need twists I only want feelings and there are other ways to evoke them. Video games and various kinds of walking sims are way more powerful tool for that. It might be that I’m more sold on games than most movies right now? Dunno, I guess I just managed to dig myself deep enough in my niche. There’s one honorable mention I should make right here. I finally managed to beat, one of my favourite games, FTL this year. Finally! It was the most satisfying moment in gaming of the year. I considered to put it on the list for that reason alone, but being one of my favourite games of all times, I don’t think it needs further spotlight.

10. The Isle is Full of Noises

I played several games from Dreamfeel early 2019 and fell in love with the devs. They’re sensitive, emotional and visually delightful. Curtain probably is the best starting point, but The Isle is Full of Noises is where it’s at. This flatgame is a full emotional outbreak accompanied by some of the best music I’ve heard in video games. It being a flatgame, there’s no collision just your character moving around and discovering things. Despite this simplicity I felt the game and the painful alienation of the character. It’s free and on every platform but phones!

9. Espectro City

This is such a weird combination of influences and simply the best game to come out of CosmoD’s jam. This game’s about a city inhabited by ghosts. The whole world seems to be dead. It’s a detective game and you move around the city, which happens to be a desktop of a computer and individual places icons. The writing is really good, the mood superb and the gameplay itself surprisingly fun. The game’s full of sentimental sadness and rather deep too! I can’t wait to see more pieces like Espectro City from the dev. Again the game’s free and that’s a nice bonus.

8. Renowned Explorers: Inernational Society

I played this back to back with Curious Expeditions and expected to like Expeditions better, because their gorgeous art style suits my taste better. And they were a lot of fun with ridiculous thngs happening all the time, usually because of my exploits. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but not as much as Explorers. This game’s really sweet with its simple addictive tactical battles, which are winnable by being friendly, handcrafted locations, great random events (the structure reminds me of FTL) and board game like elements like cards. Also, individual explorers feel way more personal. This was the most fun I had with the game all year long.

7. The Things We Lost in the Flood

This little free game was exposed on major outlets such as Rock Paper Shotgun and PC gamer for a reason. It’s an impressive experience, a piece of art almost. It makes you think and most likely creative and insightful. I played it only few days ago, but I immediately knew that this needs to go on the list. Besides floating on your ship through the flooded world (in one direction), you come across messages from other players. This subtle multiplayer function makes the game really shine. You feel connected yet distant and there’s no space for hostile interactions. Even after several runs, I feel like there’s more stuff to explore too with screens being thrown at you at random. Play it and get engrossed in its meditative nature, this is the future of poetry.

6. Even The Ocean

For a fairly traditional Megaman inspired platformer in its core gameplay, Even The Ocean brought a lot of extra stuff from JRPGs in. There is a story, which gives you reasons to explore more, an overworld and the esthetic. It’s a nice game, but some of the backgrounds or platforms looked more like sketches than defined illustrations. The gameplay is smooth and good and I enjoyed a good portion of it. It’s all about jumping and overcoming various obstacles, the game doesn’t include battles. Also, the game evolves around corporations, exploitation of power and resources and nature and keeping things in balance and it’s all really actual with climatic changes being number 1 topic of the year. The story is somehow predictable but there is a very enjoyable twist.

5. Even The Stars

This was a simple game about exploring universe, which left a deep impression on me by its finally, which gave your wandering a purpose. Now this is a major SPOILER. This game ends with you dying and revealing your path and discoveries. Even without a purpose, your life had a purpose. It was such a strong message and it crowned the slow exploring, which, tbh, was quite enjoyable on its own. There’s not much to say, just play the game, it’s free. While you’re at it check other games from Pol Clarissou as well, they’re little gems.

4. Heaven Will Be Mine

Ok, I claimed that I moved from story driven media earlier and this is a visual novel. It was the truth only partially. I still enjoy a good story if it manages to get me invested. This is both a hot romance and a tragedy. You choose to play as one of the three Mecha pilots, all of them are female, each of them representing one faction, one vision of the future. It's really complex and you can never fulfil all of your goals. Choices you're making are difficult from the get go and you're usually choosing between goals of your faction and your personal attitude towards one of the other two pilots, because you're, if not in love, in a hot relationship with both of them. Mecha suits get steamy and it Bronté level romantic. Also, it's worth it make multiple runs with various goals as different drivers. In the end the emotional impact this game with a relatively complicated and often post-human motivations had on me was the main reason why it stuck with me and why I enjoyed thinking about it's politics so different and yet same as problems of my own and this world. Despite the strange it was easy to relate thanks to masterful writing and sleek esthetic choices.

3. Morphblade

I hadn't got around anything really strategic or thinky this year before playing Morphblade. Damn, what a bullseye! This game's an almost abstract endless puzzle game with no real fiction attached to it. In the same way as Super Hexagon it makes it more addictive than morphine. Maybe that's why it's called Morphblade. Or it might be because you morph every turn into a new weapon or tool, based on tile you land on. The game's only mode is endless survival, so there's no real reason to keep playing but the addiction and the great combination of upgrading tiles by killing bugs on them and expanding the playing area. Despite being more of a little side project, this might be the best game Tom Francis has created so far. It's definitely the tightest design.

2. A Short Hike

The top 2 games on my list have a lot in common. They're both Humble Originals and they're both games about enjoying simple things. In case of A Short Hike, you're a city dwelling teen thrown on a Wi-Fi free island and you're being learnt to enjoy it. And it is enjoyable and warm and fuzzy. It's for reason this short game appeared on end of the year lists of many respectable outlets. Looking at screenshots and gifs doesn't make this game justice despite them being really pretty. The low poly in this game is superb and it being this good looking certainly gives it an edge, when it comes to presenting all the little nice things you can do to have a brighter day without exploiting anyone. A Short Hike is an extremely friendly game. Everyone on the isle is welcoming and sharing their enthusiasm with you. I cried of joy. Movement in this game is another thing. You walk, run, glide and climb and everything feels right. It's a game you can play on a wet day to make it the best day possible or on a sunny day to inspire yourself. Because enjoying the pleasures of movement on your own is the real deal.

1. Kimmy

This was a wonderful experience. The game's about Dana, a good caring kid, who is babysitting Kimmy. They walk around town, chat and play games. Mechanics of the game are simple but the way Kimmy presents itself, together with its structure and everything weaved in its narrative, it simply is brilliant. At first it might feel that the game's about building relationships with other kids. That part's really cool on its own as you get to know more about them and they're all original characters and positive ones in one way or other. Next, you uncover the second line. Simple game we all used to play and how we all managed to lose something, when embracing playing on computers and even various board games with many rules and components. It's never been the same sensation since. The last thing is the overarching narrative of the relation of Dana and Kimmy. There were more serious tones thrown in and the final plot twist went against my expectations and made me totally happy. The move from simply satisfying player is a bold one and I would say more rewarding in this case. Definitely more rewarding for me. Celeste and her work on Tacoma had put Nina Freeman on my map years ago, but only after playing Kimmy, she became a real star for me and I'm looking forward to playing We Met in May one day. This definitely is on par with Tacoma in terms of using the medium to carry over a message and a depth of the message.

#2019 #best of #top 10 #the isle is full of noises #dreamfeel #espectro city #makhor #renowned explorers #the things we lost in the flood #even the ocean #even the stars #kimmy #morphblade #nina freeman #a short hike #heaven will be mine

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