#peak yuri tbh

[tamaotomoe]

brief rambling about mayakuro in the revue of souls, and their cyclical paradoxical bond that somehow solves itself.

revue of souls posits maya and claudine to us as thus:

claudine, the devil, who bargains with maya, a vessel of god on stage.

the deal, claudine shall show maya, who claims to have stood on every stage there is, a completely new brilliance unseen by her, by the both of them, by anyone. if the deal is fulfilled, then maya's soul is the collateral. her soul shall be taken by the devil.

if you are reading this, then i assume you have seen the revue. i shall skip act i and ii.

act iii begins, and maya declares herself empty, a vessel of god. something to be filled and molded into whatever role the stage wishes, inhuman and most importantly, soulless. if she has no soul to wager, then she automatically wins the bet, no?

here is her declaration, that she is something godly, inhuman, divine.

but that little intermission between act iii and iv.

claudine, the devil, exposes maya. she cannot be soulless, for she shows such emotions as pride and arrogance, envy and longing. she as a stage girl by nature, is greedy. here exists such feelings within her, and this is the proof that she is a human.

the deal still sits unfulfilled.

and here is act iv.

for heroes, there are trials. for saints, there are temptations. for me, there is a devil.

for me, there is you.

maya's admittance to this seals the bet. claudine wins, the devil wins the revue. her soul is damned to fall with the devil. and yet, it is salvation to her. they, together, complete the other. the only one there can be for themselves, is each other. maya's soul falling and being damned is the same thing that gives her salvation, dignity as a human.

together they fall, as something unholy and blasphemous, but together, just themselves, it does not matter if hell is where they land, or if they keep falling forever. each other is heaven, each other is salvation. for me, there is you. their salvation is their rivalry, their eternal clash and overcoming the other over and over again.

maya is damned, yet maya is saved.

claudine as the devil, is already damned, and yet she saves a soul.

act iv ends with fire. hell is the absence of god, and with maya's loss, she can no longer be a vessel of god. thus, the stage is hell, and hellfire consumes it. but to maya and claudine, this hell is heaven, because claudine is there. and to claudine, this hell is heaven, because maya is there.

a continual cycle of salvation and damnation, yet somehow, it seems like it solves itself, this weird little paradox. it really all goes back to that infamous quote huh?

for heroes, there are trials. for saints there are temptations

for me, there is you.

[lunesart]

Chloe and Christine dressed as madoka and homura doesn't have to be AU related just want them in the silly outfits

they make me crazy brother

no background version under cut

[millidew]

WAKES UP IN A COLD SWEAT. kaemugi utenanthy/rgu au. junko akio. monokuma chuu-chuu. it’s all coming together

[llamallama213]

chat what if i started shipping random friends love interests together

[total-takes-island-takes]

i hope malass happens instead

Malassney love triangle????

[stellar-constellations]

I really enjoy your fanfic (Yuri Brair x fem!spy! reader) !! I always giggles everytime I read it. I got really excited when I saw your Tumblr too! You're a good writer tbh.

I just wonder to see an usual date between spy!reader and Yuri! I prefer an oneshot more but headcanons would be okay! If you're going to do an oneshot then I'd love to see the first date.

You don't have to this rq. I hope you have a good luck day<3!!

Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader (Date Headcannons)

        Beware! This fic DOES contain SPOILERS for the manga and for the Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader series: An Alliance (part 1)!

        This can be read with or without reading my Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader series: An Alliance (part 1).

        Series information: Setting is AFTER the reader rejoined WISE (so Yuri and [Y/N] are married and [Y/N] becomes an official double-spy).

        This is NOT a replacement or part 10 for the Yuri Briar x Fem! Spy! Reader series!

        Warning: Reliving PTSD (shell shock they called it in 1950's) from war.

        Wordcount: 3,700+ words

Yuri and (Y/N)'s dates are surprisingly very down to earth and mundane. For two people that are almost always spending their time together in playful bickers and working together, they don't really go on dates often. Part of it is because they're always around each other anyways so there's little point, but it's also because the two of them have a hard time being vulnerable around one another. Even if they've been living together with months and are officially engaged, they still started out as enemies and have hidden barriers they've set up without realizing. 

A big part of Yuri and (Y/N) is how limited they both are when it comes to expression. Yuri grew up alone alongside his sister, graduated college at 14 without even finishing high school, and put his sister and studies above all else, so he's always been a little limited when it comes to expressing his feelings, relaxing, and social interactions (though he gets better as he goes along).

(Y/N) always had a problem with feeling inferior to others, whether it was because of her short stature due to carrying around heavy military equipment at seven stunting her growth, or it was because of her strength after the military's hardships. Growing up in the military and spy industry didn't leave her any time to play or bother with friends, something she does regret putting on herself at such a young age due to naivety and a thirst for change. She was busy in an adult world doing adult things as a kid that she forgot how to act her age, so sometimes those moments peak through in her everyday life because she starting to feel okay and that her feelings are validated thanks to Yuri. A huge part of her personality is to overshadow that feeling of insecurity and loss of worth, her confidence and humor is merely a facade, but Yuri knows better than that. That's why over time we can see (Y/N) mellow out, starting to calm down and unwind, over the series; starting to accept that she's safe with Yuri. 

Yuri and (Y/N) don't go on dates often because they have each other, what more do you need? Flowers and chocolates and candlelit dinners and entertainment tickets and pets, all of that can't replace the love they have for one another, whether they show it or not. There's always moments where they let their guards down and can feel comfortable with one another, such as when Yuri proposed to (Y/N), or when (Y/N) gave Yuri his Christmas present she made, or when the two set aside each others differences to work together as a co-workers and a couple.  

A major thing they both do at night before bed is talk about each other's day. They might've spent the whole day together, but they want to know how the other felt during the day. What could've been better? What did the other enjoy? What did they dislike? How did they feel? It's a major part of their relationship because it makes them both feel like their feelings are important and that they're communicating healthily with one another to make their relationship work because they care for one another. 

For Yuri, his ideas of dates are going to amusement parks, seeing movies in the theaters, candlelit dinners, and picnics in the park as dates simply because he's unsure what else could be a date. All those things are society's expectations as dates and he's just adopted it because he has no figure to ask for dating advice, his parents are dead and Yor isn't too great of a help due to her limited experience in relationships (and her current relationship being a fraud). 

For (Y/N), anything can be a date. Some simple things to cooking dinner together, taking work off together to sleep in, running errands together, visiting Yuri's sister and family together, anything is a date to her because she understands the importance of time. (Y/N) values every moment she has with Yuri because she's not sure when it'll be their last. Servicing in the Westalis military taught her how easy it was to lose everything so fast, from her friends to her most of her family, all it took was a few minutes to lose it all. (Y/N) doesn't want to make the same mistake and take another person in her life for granted. She values every mission, every hug, every kiss, and every word Yuri gives her and takes it with open arms because Yuri is what she cherishes most. 

The first date the two of them can actually agree was a date, was a simple day shopping after work. Even though the two were dreadfully tired after their mission, they were still responsible adults that needed to complete their adult chores, even if it was now dark outside. They didn't see the clouds since it was too dark outside, and shopping for groceries ended up being longer than they thought it'd take (after trying to find a store open that late), so they missed their bus. 

        "Damn it." Yuri groaned, walking back to the bus stop after trying to chase the bus down like a madman in the dark. "Did we really have to get groceries today? Couldn't we have waited tomorrow on our day off?"

        "Sorry. I didn't want to have to leave the house tomorrow. I figured we could've just stayed home and relaxed." (Y/N) sighed, plopping down on the metal bench. "You know, being an SSS agent is much harder than I gave you guys credit for."

        "Shh! Don't just say that in public!" Yuri hissed, looking around cautiously, before taking a seat on the cold bench next to her. "Who knows who is around, there could be spies or hidden bugs." 

        "Oh, don't be such a worry wart." (Y/N) groaned, exhausted.

        They sat in silent for a couple minutes, before she noticed a smile wafting in the air. It didn't smell like the city's fossil fuels or any cooking from restaurants or such.

        "Hey Yuri, I think it's about to—" 

        A few droplets of water fell on the ground and their heads, causing them both to look up.

        "Seriously? Out of all the bus stops in Berlint, this one has a leaking roof?" Yuri groaned. 

        As if on cue, the rain poured harder, before the bus stop's roof busted open like wet cardboard, dumping the water on them and their groceries. 

        "Damn it!" Yuri hissed, the paper bags wet and falling apart as they both tried to salvage their groceries from falling on the ground. 

        "Well... the worst has happened, right?" (Y/N) spoke, trying to smile positively since Yuri couldn't at the moment. 

        Nobody likes a Debbie-Downer, especially two Debbie-Downers.

        Once more, as if the weather heard her, a flash of lightning struck nearby, followed by the powerful hiss of thunder. (Y/N) yelped, jumping up from the bench and almost dropping the food in her hands. 

        "Hey, calm down. Now it's official, there really can't be anything worse to happen." Yuri sighed.

        As the universe heard their optimistic views once more, it felt the need to rain on it (literally), and it turned off all the lamp posts, the power lines being struck by lightning as the streets were instantly engulfed in darkness. (Y/N) jumped at the noise, 

        "Wow, Lady Luck must really hates us." (Y/N) commented, unsure if she should be angry or sad, but mostly a feeling of dread lingering in her. 

        "Let's just get home..." Yuri sighed, not even having energy to sound angry, just disappointed. 

        (Y/N) followed behind him, observing his quick footsteps as he kept his head low, the rain pouring down his face. He used his coat to try and keep the grocery bags in his hands dry, especially the baguette since it would be a shame for it to go to waste. 

        Even after the long day of work. and grocery shopping, they would still have to go home and make dinner and do laundry. Something Yuri didn't seem to want to do anymore chores today, he looks ready for bed. 

        The streets were dark except for the occasional lightning from the thunder, so really they were just guessing where to step and hoping they wouldn't trip. (Y/N) noticed him making use of his coat for the bags he held, so she decided to make use of her own. (Y/N) placed her bags on the ground, not caring that the bottoms got wet and started falling apart. She shrugged off her coat (really, one she stole from Yuri) and threw it over his head, adjusting it so he could see as the fabric prevented water from getting in his eyes.

        "What are you doing?" Yuri questioned, looking at her confused. "Are you catching a cold? Why are you acting stupid?"

        "I'm trying to do something nice for you, stupid!" she hissed, starting to regret her kindness. 

        Maybe it's not too late to trip him, or drown him in a puddle...

        "Why don't you just ditch the groceries?" (Y/N) questioned. "They're already ruined now thanks to the rain."

        "But we spent money on it." Yuri groaned.

        "C'mon, it's not like we don't have the money to buy more. Next time let's just carry an umbrella whenever we go grocery shopping." (Y/N) spoke.

        Yuri looked at her, then the groceries, before sighing and placing them on the ground. 

        "Oh well... maybe someone desperate enough will find good use for it." Yuri spoke. "Still, what a waste." 

        "Let's hurry up, we still have a bit to walk, and I want to get out of this weather." (Y/N) spoke, ignoring that feeling of dread in her stomach. 

        Every lightning strike caused a zap of light down the streets, like the flash of grenades, or the light from the rifle's muzzle. Her eyes traveled the streets, searching for any enemies being revealed by the fleeting light. Every bang sounded similar to a trigger being pulled and a bullet firing from the sudden explosive pressure, the sound reminding her of the ringing in her ears after she fired on some poor soul who didn't notice her hiding. The white flashes were replaced with red, the blood on her hands and in her ears, the painful stabbing sensation in her leg and rib as the bullets made a home embedded in her flesh. 

        "Hey, are you okay?" Yuri questioned as he noticed her unusual quietness.

        She was quiet, unusual for her rather talkative personality with Yuri, but it wasn't a comfortable silence. Yuri looked concerned as her face was pale, her arms motionless as she walked, and her pace slowing down despite being adamant about escaping the rain. 

        It took him a second, but then he realized it; shell shock. Of course, flashing lights and bright noises would make them remember the trauma that took place in the battlefield for a veteran, it doesn't help she was a child when she was in the war either. Even if Yuri disliked Westalis, she played a part and fought for Westalis in the war, and it brought a pity and sympathy for her to experience such a traumatizing event, much less take part in it.

        Yuri gently took her arm, being careful not to make any quick movements, and with his other hand he turned her head to face him. There was an almost glazed-look in her eyes, her expression almost emotionless.

        "Hey, (Y/N)." Yuri spoke, making sure to keep his tone calm and gentle as he moved his hand down to hers, eloping their fingers together. "Let's go home and get out of this rain."

        Rain, right! It was just rain and thunder, not any dirt hitting her from the explosions or the boom of gunfire.

         "Oh! Y-yeah... I don't really like thunderstorms..." she mumbled, regaining some sense of the present reality.

        Yuri took her coat off his head, instead placing it on her head, covering her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the flashes of light. Unfortunately, he couldn't cover her ears or anything while he walked, but he could at least prevent any visual flashbacks hopefully. 

        "Hey, what are you doing?" (Y/N) questioned, blindly following Yuri as he held her hand. 

        His pace quickened as he hurried home with her, doing his best to see since the power was still out so the lampposts didn't work. Eventually, he got to the apartment complex and took the stairs since the elevator was down. He took her to their apartment and unlocked the door, closing it behind them. 

        The light switch didn't work, though that wasn't a shock since the whole building's power was out. Yuri sat (Y/N) down on their couch and closed the curtains so no lightning could be seen, then rummaged through drawers around the apartment. He found candles and lit the wicks, at least providing a bit of light for the two. Yuri took the candle and guided them to their bedroom. He sat (Y/N) down on their bed as he picked out pajamas for the pair of them.

        He looked back at (Y/N), unsure if she'd be able to actually change into the clothes herself or not. She seemed a little better now that they were in the apartment, still obviously shaking and on edge, but at least she gave out short responses when he spoke to her. 

        "Here, change into these. I'll be right back." Yuri spoke, grabbing his clothes and walking into the dark bathroom to change in the dark while she stayed in the candle's dim light.

        He quickly changed out of his after-work clothes and into his pajamas, knocking on the bathroom door. "Hey, I'm coming out. Are you finished changing?"

        "Yes." (Y/N) spoke quietly, almost muttering. 

        Yuri opened the bathroom door, relieved to see she was still present enough to be able to do a task such as changing clothes. Yuri grabbed a towel and dried off (Y/N)'s hair, then proceeded to brush it and use whatever products he's seen her put in it before. When he finished doing (Y/N)'s hair, he took the candle in one of his hands and took her hand in his other, guiding her under their bedsheets. He tucked her in all snug and cozy, before sitting down next to her.          

        Even with the flashing light covered, every explosion outside left an explosion inside her mind, debris from that day piling up on her as she hit the tree, disoriented and confused why the falling star just destroyed her home. Or the sound of dirt being crunched as military tanks rolled in, the Westalis military trying to aid Luwen's survivors from the bombings, as the shouts of civilians and crying of injured children just like her could be heard from afar. The buses transporting the survivors to shelters as they wore gas masks to prevent themselves from enhancing the chemicals from the nukes, or trying their best to speed out of Luwen to avoid excessive exposure to radiation. 

        There was no power, so he was unsure how to distract her of the noises going on outside. Her expression seemed troubled, her eyes glazed as they tried to figure out what was the past and present. It was almost like she could feel that heavy gun strap digging into her shoulder again, or how she needed to use both index fingers to apply enough force to pull the trigger and add another fatality to her ever-growing piling count. 

        "Do you want to read a book?" Yuri questioned, unsure what else to do.

        There was no TV, no radio they could listen to since he had a plug-in that needed electricity, no chance of going outside for a walk or even just people watch. It wasn't like they had a pet to entertain (Y/N) with, though he's unsure if he'd even like a pet wandering the house while they're out working. 

        "No..." (Y/N) muttered, resting her head on Yuri's shoulder.

        Every boom sent a jolt in her chest, her body reflecting the feeling as she jolted too. Her hands shook, not from the lingering cold of outside, but from the cold silence in the battlefield. The sudden shouts on the radio channels breaking the noise, static voices crying for help after being shot by the enemy or being stabbed by a knife bayonet to where they couldn't stitch the triangular-wound. 

        "You like music, right?" Yuri questioned.

        "Yes?" (Y/N) answered, confused on what music had to do with thunderstorms in a power outage.

        "Ilse Werner... she's one of your favorites, right?" Yuri questioned. "You have her vinyls."

        "Yeah. I guess you could say she's one of my German favorites..." she nodded.

        "Do you wanna sing?" Yuri questioned, his face dead serious as he looked at her. 

        "Sing?" she parroted, cracking a smile.

        "Yeah. Do you wanna sing with me?" he repeated. 

        "Sure..." she hummed, smiling. "Can we sing 'Ich hab dich und du hast mich' (I have you and you have me)?"

        "Of course you'd choose that one." He spoke, playfully rolling his eyes. 

        (Y/N) grabbed his hand and looked up at him saying the first words as Yuri quickly followed, falling into a symphony together. 

        "Ich seh’ die Welt seit heute

        In rosarotem Licht

        Es haben alle Leute

        Ein glückliches Gesicht

        Es sehen alle Dinge

        Bunt und verzaubert aus

        Zwei kleine gold’ne Ringe

        Und schon ist das Glück im Haus."

        (From today on I see the world

        Through rose-tinted glasses

        All the people

        Have happy faces

        All the things seem

        Colourful and magical

        Two little gold rings

        And that's enough to keep us happy)

        Sure, their rings weren't gold, instead a pretty silver with rubies on top, but that's fine with them. It's not like a color would deter the two of them, their love was still as pure as gold even if their rings weren't.

        "Ich hab’ dich und du hast mich

        Was brauchen wir noch mehr

        Einmal Freud und einmal Leid

        Zu zweit ist’s halb so schwer

        Ich bin jung und du bist jung

        Und vor uns liegt die Welt

        Man erreicht ja alles leicht

        Wenn man zusammenhält"

        (I have you and you have me

        What else do we need?

        Both happiness and pain

        Are easier to bear when they're shared

        I'm young and you're young

        The whole world lies at our feet

        Well, it's easy to achieve anything

        If we stick together)

        Both happiness and pain, a vow shared between the two once Yuri proposed that ring and (Y/N) accepted. Even if they originally hated each other, coming from two separate sides of this ongoing Cold War between Westalis and Ostania as the Iron Curtain blocked them, they still had each other whilst the rest of the world was under them. 

        "Ab heute ist mein Leben

        Von Grund auf renoviert

        Du hast außer der Wohnung

        Auch mein Herz frisch tapeziert"

        (From today on my life has been

        Changed from the ground up

        Not only the walls, you've also

        Wallpapered my heart)

        Not only have the two fought each other countless times through bickers and arguments and even missions (Yuri's poor jaw), it never deterred the other. Somehow along their fighting, they managed to fight their ways into each other's hearts, keeping an iron fist to never let go of one another. 

        "Ich hab’ dich und du hast mich

        Was brauchen wir noch mehr

        Einmal Freud und einmal Leid

        Zu zweit ist’s halb so schwer."

        (I have you and you have me

        What else do we need?

        Both happiness and pain

        Are easier to bear when they're shared)

        Hardships will always be apart of one's marriage. Is it truly love if you don't fight for it? 

        "Ich hab’ dich und du hast mich

        Was brauchen wir noch mehr

        Einmal Freud und einmal Leid

        Zu zweit ist’s halb so schwer."

        (I have you and you have me

        What else do we need?

        Both happiness and pain

        Are easier to bear when they're shared)

        Love will never be easy, there will never be a perfect happy ever after. After all, love has lessons you must learn. In order to care for another, you must first care for yourself. You can't expect to care for someone if you can't even take care of yourself. You deserve to be placed on a pedestal too. You shouldn't tear yourself apart trying to sew another together. 

        "Ich bin jung und du bist jung

        Und vor uns liegt die Welt

        Man erreicht ja alles leicht

        Wenn man zusammenhält"

        (I'm young and you're young

        The whole world lies at our feet

        Well, it's easy to achieve anything

        If we stick together).

        Suddenly, the explosions outside didn't exist in her mind, but her heart instead. She smiled at Yuri, resting her head on his shoulder as she hummed. 

        "Thank you, Yuri..." she spoke.

        "Anytime, (Y/N)." He smiled, leaning back and placing his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side.

        What's there to be scared of when (Y/N) had Yuri and Yuri had (Y/N)?

        Thank you for being patient as I work on this! At the moment, I do have more requests in, however I believe I'll finished the Andrew Graves x reader: Star Patient series before I continue working on requests. I know I always complete requests extremely late and a good part of that is not having any time to write and not having any motivation to write, so I appreciate everyone who continues to read my work and engage in my writing hobbies! Thank you to all my stars for supporting me on our journey through the galaxy together!

        Want more Yuri Briar content? Check out the Yuri Briar masterlist!

        By the way, the song was "Ich hab dich und du hast mich" (I have you and you have me) by Ilse Werner. The original song is in German. Lyrics was translated and used from the website lyricstranslate.com

Inbox is OPEN for requests!

[queervocasongtourn]

Queer Vocaloid Song Tournament: Side C, Round 1

Please listen to all songs before voting!

Abnormality Dancin' Girl by guchiry feat. v flower

VS

Akatsuki Arrival by Last Note feat. Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka

Propaganda under the cut!

ABNORMALITY DANCIN' GIRL

"TOXIC YURI IS GOOD YURI "

"It's got a theme of butterflies. Like. Obviously it's a trans allegory, it's got an amazing ccolor scheme too (purple and blue are wonderful colors tbh frfr)"

"uhhh well maybe i'm stretching here but tame mene the main character of the song has a giant crush on miya nanamiya (another girl) so yeah i just love this so much"

AKATSUKI ARRIVAL

"When Magnet wasn't carrying Miku X Luka, this song was. Miku and Luka being rivals, only to realize that they only loved what they did when their rival was there with them. This is the Rivals to Lovers song. // Rivals to lovers. Doomed yuri. This song rewired my brain chemistry I love them so much"

"Two rivals whose worlds revolve around one another and for whom living without each other is difficult: what's more queer than that? Plus the MV from Project Diva is literally what got me into Vocaloid so I can safely say. Peak."

[siilvan]

Desideria – I

Previous | Next

Pairing: Yuri Volkov/Mylène "Petra" Scholten de Ridder

Summary: Second meetings and first chances.

Genre: General, light angst, light fluff, fem!oc

Warnings: Semi-proofread, cursing, references to canon-typical violence, not much going on this time tbh

Word Count: 3k

Note: I got halfway through the next chapter of Bloodsport and rewarded myself with more self indulgent oc stuff... Bit of a shorter chapter than I wanted, but oh well (●'◡'●)

As always, very special thanks to my beloveds @sofasoap, @nrdmssgs, and @gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot for their endless encouragement and support <3

"Lively group we've got here." Mylène comments, her narrowed gaze slowly dragging over the other people in the room.

Gathered were the remnants of the one-four-one. All but the pair of bright-eyed, effervescent siblings currently lying in hospital beds. Everything feels darker, somehow, like the sun had been eclipsed at its peak. The thought weighs heavily on those who remain, the silence at first only being broken by the sounds of fabric shuffling as people shifted their weight and the occasional quiet grunt or cough.

"You're lookin' lively yourself, Lt." Kyle is the second one to speak up, his eyes meeting hers from his spot leaned against the wall.

The hospital was charitable enough – or, more likely, Laswell had pulled some strings to 'convince' the staff – to leave a private meeting room empty for the group to gather.

"Okay, we're not going to get anywhere if we don't address the elephant in the room." Laswell interrupts the awkward banter with a low exhale. She's stood at the front of the room with her arms crossed tight over her chest, the tension in her muscles readily apparent to the other woman. "We're not in a good position right now. We're two down, out of leads, and out of intel on Makarov's next moves."

"Very hopeful start, Laswell. You should try being a motivational speaker." Kyle snorts, silently surrendering when her hard stare directs itself at him.

"Kyle." Price's unimpressed and, frankly, exhausted voice lightly scolds the sergeant. Kyle was the most bubbly one in the room, especially given how his only competition was Laswell, Price, Simon, and Mylène – all of whom look to be on the verge of snapping for different, yet related, reasons.

"Do we have anything at all to work with, Kate?" The captain shifts his attention back to the liaison; one of their only allies at the moment.

She takes her time before answering. Her ocean blue eyes are trained on the large, wooden, oval-shaped table in the center of the space, still in pristine condition due to none of them even daring to touch it. "Minimal resources." She starts, pausing to wet her lips. "As you all know by now, we're splitting up to utilize what little we have."

"John, Kyle, you're linking up with Farah's forces to try and gain some intel from within Urzikstan's borders. Ghost, you and Riot are heading to Mexico to follow up on a lead from Colonel Vargas." Laswell continues, taking another pause to meet the remaining lieutenant's mismatched eyes. "You've got a special assignment, Petra."

"So I've heard." Mylène huffs, her tone dry as her arms lift to cross over her chest.

"One of the few leads we have at the moment is on a smuggler – chemical weapons." Laswell states.

"Connected to the agents Konni Group's been drooling over since General Barkov was taken care of?" Mylène's eyebrows knit together, trying to recall any names of known smugglers. A few come to mind, none of which were reliable or still functional, but she mentally files them away nonetheless.

"Exactly that." Laswell nods, sliding a flash drive across the table, right into the other woman's waiting hand. "We don't have a name, just locations of the trades we've been able to confirm. The contact I got this from has already agreed to help with every step of the investigation."

Mylène turns over the USB stick in her hand, eyeing it curiously. "The contact, is it Colonel Volkov again?" She asks, turning to Laswell once more as she safely tucks the flash drive away.

"How'd you guess?"

"Vrag moyego vraga - moi drug." She echoed his prior words, the ones he spoke to the two women back in Arklov Base. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The older woman lets out something of a chuckle and cracks a smile for the first time since she arrived. "Nikolai agreed to provide transport, at least for linking you up with Yuri. He'll be picking you up in about three hours."

"Three hours— why do none of you give me more time to prepare?" Mylène shoots a pointed look towards Laswell and Simon specifically and turns to walk out, but stops dead in her tracks before she can even take a single step towards the door.

"Someone should be staying with Johnny and Freya. They're still targets, even here." She says, sending the group a wary glance.

Riot was hovering over the siblings' bedsides at the moment, hence why she was missing the meeting, but she'll be leaving with Simon before the end of the day. They'll be left alone. Someone needs to stay with the two, just in case.

"We've already got that covered."

Mylène quirks a brow at Laswell's assured statement, until she hears the door behind her open and close with a soft click.

A tall, broad figure is standing in front of it, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a black hoodie with the hood lowered, showing off a head of messy dark brown curls. A set of forest green eyes stare back at her, the rich color standing out against the dark circles under his eyes and the long, jagged scar running down the left side of his face. It starts just above his eyebrow and disappears into the black surgical mask he's wearing, giving some air of mystery despite her knowing exactly what exists underneath.

Emiel Scholten de Ridder. Nightfall.

To others, he may be an imposing character, but to Mylène, he's just her little brother. Well, little in age.

"Finally staying in one place for more than a few days?" She draws him into a tight hug with a gleeful smile on her lips.

"Seems like it." He chuckles into her hair, returning the hug for a few seconds. "She decided to pull me off my last assignment and station me here to keep an eye on things."

"I wanted the best on the job." Laswell clarifies, earning a confident nod from the younger woman. "Nightfall will stay in the hospital as long as Soap and Mini are here. They'll be safe." She adds and meets Mylène's gaze once more.

"If there are no more questions, then I'll let you get prepared."

"None at all, Watcher."

⋆⋆⋆

The heavy blades of the helicopter are a welcomed sight, whipping up a light breeze that blows the loose strands of hair framing Petra's back as the vehicle descends.

She wastes no time in approaching it and sliding the side door back, stepping up into the cabin. The door shuts behind her with another heavy thud, leaving her standing in a UH-60 Black Hawk so familiar that she might as well call it her second home.

"Good to see you in one piece, Mila!" Nikolai calls out over his shoulder. Petra turns to flash him a smile, carefully setting her backpack against a wall before coming up to the cockpit.

"Thought Makarov took me out of commission, too?" She hums, calmly settling in the co-pilot's seat next to his.

"You? Of course not." He laughs, hearty and full of life. It was refreshing after spending so much time in the hospital. "I am just happy to see you doing well, my friend." He adds once the laughter dies down, the helicopter taking off just as quickly as it had landed.

Petra shifts in her seat in anticipation for the longer flight. "I'm assuming we're not meeting Colonel Volkov at Arklov Base again?" She asks with a soft laugh of her own.

"Unless you are willing to brave sarin gas, then, no." Nikolai comments. "He's in Zaporizhzhia."

"Zaporizhzhia?"

"Melitopol, to be exact." He clarifies, intentionally slowing his speech and harshly pronouncing each syllable with a cheeky grin.

"Fucks sake, I know what it is." She huffs, ignoring his amused snort as she shakes her head. "What's he doing in southern Ukraine?"

"Waiting for us, probably." He shrugs with the sarcastic response. "Did Laswell send you in with any information on this op?"

"Yeah, actually, thanks for the reminder." Petra jumps up from her seat and shuffles over to her bag, unzipping it and pulling a tablet out. She plops down in her seat again after a moment, scrolling through the pages of intel that she transferred from the flash drive that Laswell gave her before she left.

Like she said before, it was mostly locations of confirmed trades between the yet-unnamed smuggler and Konni Group. There was an attempt at pinpointing his home base, but the locations were too scattered all over the map to centralize them. Unsurprisingly, a decent amount of the trades happened in Eastern Europe – they already knew it was Konni Group's playground, though, so it gave her nothing about the smuggler himself.

"Maybe he knows something that we don't." Petra mumbles, half to herself and half to the pilot. "The next deal could be happening in Ukraine." She adds.

"Suppose we won't know until we talk with him." Nikolai comments, earning an affirmative hum from her. A second passes before he speaks again. "When was the last time you slept?"

She blinks, her gaze flitting up from the screen and landing on him. "What?"

"Sleep? The thing most people do at night?" He explains, completely ignoring the way she rolls her eyes as soon as he starts. "When you close your eyes and dream of handsome pilots who always come through to help you in your times of need?"

"Having romantic dreams about yourself again, Nik?" She quirks a brow at him. "And, I'm fine. I slept—"

She cuts herself off, her lashes fluttering as she blinks a few more times. Her eyes drop to the tablet sitting on her thighs, unfocused on the screen as it slowly darkens before shutting itself off.

"...Some time recently." She mutters after a few seconds.

"We'll be up here for a while, you will have plenty of time to agonize over those files after we land. Get some rest while you still can, Mila." His voice softens, the previous humor in it dissipating and making room for a genuine concern that she only heard in certain moments.

Still, she argues. There was just too much for her to do. "But, I—"

"My bird, my rules. Get some rest." Nikolai replies without missing a beat. He doesn't even look at her while giving the command, nonchalantly glancing over a few gauges and dials like it was natural for him. Well, it was probably as natural as breathing at this point.

With a sigh comparable to that of a child getting sent to bed, she concedes. "Fine, just wake me up before we land." Petra shifts and gets into a more comfortable position, the tablet forgotten on the panel as she semi-awkwardly curls up and eventually finds a way to drift off into a light sleep.

⋆⋆⋆

The telltale sound of the helicopter descending is what wakes her up, eventually. Petra rubs the sleep out of her eyes before it touches down and hurries to grab the tablet, maneuvering back to her backpack and shoving it inside.

"Melitopol, safe and sound." Nikolai announces, stepping out of the cockpit after shutting everything down.

"Didn't doubt you for even a second." She slips her backpack on with a slow exhale and follows the pilot out onto the tarmac.

The sun was starting to crest over the horizon, spilling a healthy balance of oranges, reds, yellows, and pink hues all over the sky above. The location they had landed at was some sort of base – not necessarily military, judging by the lack of a uniform… well, uniform, amongst the few people gracing the small airfield. Mercenaries, she assumes.

"So, where are we meeting him?" She asks, carefully examining her surroundings.

"Right here, if that works for you."

Petra turns when she hears the familiar voice, gravelly and rich, and sees the man himself approaching them.

"Colonel Volkov, always good to see a friendly face." She greets him, stepping forward to meet him and holding out her hand.

"Please, there is no need for formalities." He chuckles, shaking her hand far more gently than she was used to. "Just call me Yuri."

"Yuri. That works for me." A bright smile flashes across her face as his name leaves her lips.

It's right then and there that something in the back of the colonel's mind changes, begging him to only have his name spoken that way from now on. Spoken by her. He tries to ignore that feeling, especially as the other Russian in the group catches his attention.

"Yuri, my brother." Nikolai shares his own cheerful greeting with the man, one that’s eagerly reciprocated as the two hug briefly.

"It's been too long, my friend." Yuri comments, patting his shoulder one last time as the two part.

"You two have known each other for a long time?" Petra quirks a brow at the pair as Yuri starts to lead them to a car nearby. He fishes a set of keys out of his pocket – he’s in civvies, she realizes. Dark jeans and a navy blue windbreaker, with the collar of a simple black shirt peeking out from underneath – and tosses them to Nikolai.

"Something like that." Nikolai slides into the driver’s seat after catching the keys. The other two circle around to the passengers’ side, where Petra reaches out to open the door for herself. Yuri beats her to it, though, and he holds the door open while she slips into the backseat. He sits in the front, leaving her to lean forward and poke her head between the two men.

"So, where are we heading from here?" She chirps, realizing but refusing to admit just how much that short nap on the helicopter helped her. For the first time in weeks, she feels like she has some energy.

"South, past the border." Yuri replies, his low voice rumbling right next to her ear.

Wait, what? "The border? We're heading into Crimea?"

"I am assuming Laswell gave you the information I delivered to her." He continues, turning his head just enough to meet her confused gaze. "The smuggler working with Konni Group isn't the one we are going after, since he hardly shows his face for these trades, but the man who facilitates most of the deals should be here for an upcoming one."

She hums. "When is it?"

The car pulls onto a road after leaving the base, quiet and mostly vacant of any other vehicles as the light of the sun slowly begins to fade from the sky. Moving in the dark. It's smart. Petra had already sat back in her seat before reaching into her bag, lazily dropped next to her. She fishes her tablet out, deciding to give the information a thorough scan, unlike her cursory glance in the helicopter.

"Three days from now. Not sure what time." Yuri mutters. "I have my own contact coming into town tomorrow to assist. FSB."

"FSB? Are you sure they can be trusted with this?" She huffs, raising her brows again as she looks at the side of his face.

He makes a small sound, akin to a curt chuckle. "Trust me, he is reliable. He's bringing information on our broker and claims to hate him just as much as we do."

"Do we even have a name for our target? Laswell couldn't give me one." She blinks, wracking her brain again for any known smugglers.

He shrugs, the quiet rustling of fabric his only answer for a brief moment. "We will tomorrow."

Petra accepts his response with a nod and a muted sigh. The drive to the border would be at least another few hours, and she was sure that crossing it would end up being some elaborate scheme to avoid detection by the border patrol. In any case, she buries her nose in file after file while Nikolai chats the other Russian's ear off.

At one point during the drive, already over an hour in, the pilot was spinning some recent tale about his nebo that she halfway tunes in for. Her eyes flit up after he says something about her "kicking his ass" and, after a low snort that she denies when he points it out, her gaze drifts to the rear-view mirror. Curiosity, the instinct to check the road behind them without making a scene, some random desire to look at herself – she isn't sure what motivates her to do it, but when she meets a pair of steel blue irides in the reflection, she freezes.

Yuri, in his silence only broken by muttered "oh's," "ah's," and quiet hums whenever Nikolai badgered him enough for a response, was eyeing her in the mirror.

And, here she was, meeting his gaze and staring back just the same. They already had a moment like this once before: at Arklov Base, before the missiles hit and disrupted the meeting Laswell had stolen her away from her team for. There was some kind of energy, a spark, even, that seemed to keep drawing their attentions back to each other, even with a woman discussing a potential world war brewing or a man actively attempting to steal the show right next to them.

She would deny the faint shiver creeping down her spine, just as he would deny the subtle electricity beneath his skin forcing him to flex his hands. They break eye contact at the same time, with his moving to the road ahead as hers drops down to her screen once more.

There is one thing Petra can tell already, as she quietly raps her fingers against her thigh and attempts to distract her mind. This mission is going to be more trouble than it's worth.

Vrag moyego vraga - moi drug. (Враг моего врага - мой друг.) - The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Mila - Slavic diminutive of Mylène

Nebo (Небо) - Sky

[totaldrama-showdowns]

Round 3 Match 3

Propaganda

Mkulia: “Why did they have more chemistry than the canon ships. how. evil lesbian win”

“JK. because fresh says "jk" at yuri”

“I love yuri”

“they are in love with each other in a way that makes me kick my feet and twirl my hair and giggle.”

“cmon. theyre in love. and they fucking love and respect each other so much it’s the rivalry of all time”

“Evil yuri, that’s it”

“EVIL LESBIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Scarmien: “LOOK IF WE CAN'T HAVE PRIMIEN”

“The feared/afraid dynamic is PEAK, and they both have a sweetness to them tbh”

“Me and the bad bitch enby I pulled by being transgender and autistic”

[ssruis]

Woo you finally read the best film wrap!! /earnestly

What a criminally underrated event tbh. Peak event. For me

(also take a look at Nene's card stories if you haven't yet lol)

I did it’s so good… it’s so good… I love seeing nene get along with her classmates and make friends (& her relationships w an and akito are so cute)… also why was tachibana acting like that. What in the yuri. “Aww let me dress you up in these cute outfits let’s go shopping together” etc etc good luck tachibana you’re talking to someone who is denser than bricks

[stitchthelilo]

to me ludengami could only ever work as yuri, just make byakuya agender, a woman or just anything but a man and boom. you got peak. i just can’t see celeste being into men tbh

this revelation of it being such a good pairing has now made it one of my favourite rarepairs in danganronpa. perhaps ever

[piosplayhouse]

3am Sims update ;

- I made Liu Qingge and Mingyan

I don't have any pictures of them cause it's 3am but you just have to trust they look good. Lqg is a hotheaded loner sim who pretty much only likes fitness (and handiness cause I thought that carving wood statues is like the closest thing to sword training we're gonna get in the base game here) (also I keep making him carve horses hehe. He's so bad at it ). He's also an athlete. Lmy is also a loner but a creative bookworm freelancer with a writing attribute. She also really likes gardening and I made her a little garden where she exclusively grows lilies I call it Mingyan's Yuri Garden.

They're both ace not that it really matters because the only time lqg leaves the house is to go to the gym and lmy never does either because she's always writing or reading sexpertise books so she can improve her Yuri skills. I preemptively banned autonomous sex and nudity in their house after Binghe and Moshang (sqq didnt come idk why) showed up to their house and started fighting with lqg. I don't want an exhibitionism on bai zhan peak attribute. The only place sex and nudity is allowed is in lmy's room just because I think she deserves it y'know. It's extra forbidden in lqgs room because I think he's a never nude tbh I can't explain why.

I was trying to take good pictures of their house but I couldn't get any .. need to study more. I think you guys will like it tho lmy's room is like a typical teenage girls room but decked out with super expensive and maxed out bookshelf and the highest level writing desk you can get in game. Lqgs room has a single twin bed, a minimalist dresser, and one desk lamp. It's about 10 sq units so the only decoration in there is a pile of random sports equipment and estrogen blocking pills that I assume came with basemental drugs for some reason ? But he's also trans btw

[altho-arto]

A little late, but here's some of my works from 2023 ! (only cheated a little for months where i did stuff but forgot to publish it, consider it a sneak peak haha) Happy to see my style continue to evolve in a direction im generally happy with, while also occasionally going out of my comfort zone to try out a bit of painting and push my colors a little bit !

Can't wait to be even more obnoxious about my interests (related : bonus AA/DGS only summary under the cut) and post some weirder fanarts over the next year, despite wanting the concept of cringe dead and buried i have trouble applying that to myself so we'll see <3 happy 2024!

i made some fun AAvsPL crossover stuff this year, and while the DGS brainrot that consumed my whole brain this year was slowly going away i have new friends who are discovering dgs1 rn and bringing me back the spark for it... my multishipper heart is happy i could participate in more events this year, but id love to publish more ryulock than before cause the ratio of sketches i make VS stuff i finish and post for them is insane!!! also need to do my ot3 propaganda maybe so i can get even more niche than i was before !! (clown emoji)

anyways. also got more yuri in the plans but i dont want to make promises i cant keep. but ginamari i am not forgetting you <3

bonus for the people who read all that : see the Herlock in the June slot ? he was not drawn like an emoji on purpose. that lineart was actually made in 2021 when i was playing through dgs1, and finding how to do his face was my personal nightmare (tbh except ryuu none of the dgs characters came "easy" to me). it took time but as you can see now i found a way ! so dont give up if you dont know how to draw your blorbo in your style, it can rly be a struggle but eventually you'll get there!! just gotta be patient with yourself !! (also looking how other artists draw him can help. thank you random ryulock doujin which had rly cool herlock eyes)

[aftonfamilyvalues]

may I rant for a little bout a nitpicky peak moment sister?

So in my yt recs I got two video essays. One was no joke one of the worst vids I've seen in a while, it was -supposedly- about the meaning and horror related to neurodivergence of a web series i'm hyperfixated rn, but it's really a boring mishmash of the creator, a furry transwoman with a rantsona and everything, saying how aparently having extended, personal and different interpretations of a piece of media is wrong and stupid? But not really?? Because somehow *his* views on something are the correct ones because he's so different and counterculture or whatever ig?? And also him going on full uncomfortable details about how he was discriminated because of autism but also had meltdowns so violent he had to be rastained by fucking police.

The other vid was tbh considerably better, about a lame yuri vampire anime and the general theme of the story of the genre of fantasy lesbian anime, which I wouldn't have a problem.. if the creator was also a tw and everytime he talked about the lack of representation/bad representantion he's receiving I was like "my brother in christ.. this doesnt concern you i'm sorry", also high nitpick but he has *THAT* contrapoints-esque hyper femme girlish voice that gives you chills.

We NEED a radfem fandom and media reviewer/analysist/essayist ASAP

i think theres a prevalence of transwomen in this area of content because they think of their opinions as always correct. most of them cant actually analyze media that well either, they do a surface level reading and think theyre masters of grasping fine detail. theyre maybe able to make one thoughtful point but then they throw it out the window and ruin it by taking it a horrible direction all while having this superiority about it. overall i just dont care to watch those videos, whats there to really get out of them?

[annelidist]

Hello, here's my questions for the Ask about Fandom thingy, it's for Elden Ring!

1.

5.

7.

10.

13.

15.

Thank you!

what originally drew me to it

i was already really into the souls games, but the big draw for me with elden ring was getting to participate in like, the peak swarm of online activity and lore diving that comes in the first few weeks/months. i wasn't really around for the release of any of the other games, so it felt like something really special.

5. a character i'd like to frame and hang on my wall and admire like a work of art

RANNI.... i really like ranni... i like the little absurdities worked into her writing, like how she makes fun of you for talking to the minature ranni or the way she sits on a stack of books to look less short. i think the way her strange, inhuman body is treated by the narrative and the camera is really interesting. i like that she's unscrupulous in her methods and weird in her aims. also if you do her questline you get to hang out with blaidd a lot, which leads us to

7. a character who feels like home

i really like blaidd a lot too. deciding to give him such a gentle, soft-spoken voice was a stroke of fucking genius. like he's just sincerely the nicest person in the game AND he's a giant battle-hardened wolf furry. literally the ideal man. much like with people who give ranni tits, anyone who draws blaidd without his battered, lopsided features is sanding charm off the character, absolute philistine shit. i desire him carnally but tbh it would also just be really nice to fall asleep on his chest

10. a ship I would gladly go down with... and then become davey jones, so I can continue to captain said ship for eternity

i don't actually have any elden ring ships i have particularly strong feelings on, i think? rykard and tanith's whole deal is cute, but they're just outright married in the text, so that's hardly a ship... i have my fair share of fromsoft shipping opinions but they're all, like. dark souls 3 yuri. and also the solid 20% of my brain dedicated to thinking about lady maria/plain doll

13. the non-canon pairing i find the most intriguing

same problem here, really. sorry! -w-;

15. a character/story arc that bores me to tears

i truly do not understand why anyone on god's earth cares about mohg. i summoned for my very first attempt on that guy's fight just to get him over with quicker

[dazzlerazz]

Random crest post v2 that I promised but forgot about

Shit beneath the cut bc it is a long post

Crest of Flames

Reminds me of a raging fire, of course, but also sort of like a butterfly

Crest of Seiros

It looks like a leaf I think and to me that represents life

Crest of Blaiddyd

Kinda reminds me of the edges of some ice that's been chipped away at by an ice pick or something

Crest of Ernest

Reminds me of the eye of Sauron tbh, or a minecraft guardian

Crest of Macuil

Makes me think something is being caught in a bear trap

Crest of Dominic

Reminds me of an eye that's been opened

Crest of Fraldarius

A shield obviously to represent the fraldarius line and the multiple references to shields when it comes to said family line and its role in the story as the shields of the royal family

Crest of Noa

Noa-dea mate (it actually reminds me of like a bishop with their arms out)

Crest of Cethleann

A stylized heart, representing Flayn and her love for everyone and Linhardt's bisexuality lol

Crest of Daphnel

Now this one's a bit anticlimactic, it reminds me of a modern day street lamp

Crest of Gloucester

Reminds me of a wild boar with the tusks, you know the one

Crest of Goneril

I said this before but it always reminded me of like an ink blot that had fallen to a paper from up high and had spread out

Crest of Cichol

Reminds me of one of those justice scales, you know the types

Crest of Aubin

Always kinda reminded me vaguely of a horseshoe print which represents Yuri's cavalry movement with the fetters

Crest of Gautier

Easy, it's a sun

Crest of Indech

It looks like a third eye is being opened while the two main eyes are shut

Crest of The Beast/Maurice

I also said this before but this one always reminded me of like a goat or a ram

Crest of Charon

Two peaks close together, kinda like botw's Dueling Peaks

Crest of Timotheos

An opened eye turned sideways

Crest of Riegan

Crescent moon

Crest of Chevalier

Eclipse of the sun and moon

Crest of Lamine

Representing life from the fact it is the only crest whose lines are completely self contained with no disconnected or jutting lines that don't come back into itself