#she wasn't expecting her hair color to change as a result though

[ennysimmer]

The Goth household. Summer, rotation 1. Part 2: The new heir

Time went by quickly, and suddenly Alexander was a teenager. Now he was expected to start working with his father after school. He didn't mind the work. On the contrary, he loved the science lab, especially now that he was shadowing his father, learning all sorts of interesting stuff. But still, the work shifts were long and they were rarely home before sunset, and then Alexander had to start writing his school assignments. He barely had any free time on the weekdays and, as a result, he'd made very few friends.

He did have one close friend, though. Her name was Tara Debateau. She and her father had recently moved to Pleasantview, and Alexander met her at one of the dinner parties the upper-class families in the Pleasant region often attended. Alexander had always found the dinners boring, but that changed when he met Tara.

She was nothing like the other upper-class sims. She was colorful and fun, and she always made him laugh. They had so much in common, too. They were both knowledge sims, neither had any clear memories of their mothers, and they both struggled with the lofty expectations of their fathers.

Alexander hadn't thought much about when he would fall in love. He barely had time to sleep, so dating was far down on his priority list. Still, when he looked at Tara... he was wondering. She was pretty, with her freckles and short-cut red hair, and he liked her. A lot. Could there be something there? He wasn't sure and he didn't dare to ask.

A short summary of what happened in the Goth round: - Cassandra and Don moved out - Mortimer woohooed with Dina for the first time - Alexander became a teenager - Alexander developed a crush on Tara Debateau

[quirkthieves]

tentative restructuring for setsuna's background/family life

Setsuna has lived her entire life with high expectations; her mostly human appearance (especially once her larval tail fell off) gave her father hope that she'd be able to move further in life than his family had, and that she would escape the general anti-heteromorph sentiment of the world, especially living in the city. He sees her as the "future" or "representative" of their family-- and thus, anything she does reflects back on them, and so she needs to carry herself appropriately so as not to embarrass him, who has spent so long trying to escape the rural "hick" lifestyle of his family. Sometimes her cousin Shuichi would be spent to stay with them to try and fix his shut-in nature by getting him away from the bullying in their town, and she'd usually respond to this by trying to "push him out of his shell" with teasing he didn't take as lightly as she did, being condescending, or ignoring him outright, because she didn't really know what to do about him, and viewed him very much in the same vein as being a failure, even though he was older-- he was cringe. She thought he was cringe. Even him running away was met with relative indifference-- it was too far away for her to really feel the impact, and they had never gotten along.

Shinju, her mother, was a U.A graduate who became a sidekick, but couldn't make it far and ended up becoming a housewife instead. Upon the revelation that Setsuna's quirk was an even more advanced version of her own, she began heavily steering Setsuna towards the life of heroic prestige-- especially because Setsuna would have needed to be enrolled in intensive quirk training from a young age because of how her quirk could pose a danger to herself if not controlled well. (For example, a child not understanding her limits, or tearing open the serous covering that keeps blood and organs in place) She sort of subconsciously sees this as her chance to live vicariously through her daughter.

Conversely, she's pretty spoiled; anything she wants is hers for the taking, because cultivating strong self-confidence is vital to make it in the hero world. Making sure she lives well is the goal of any good parent, especially those with such high expectations. She also wasn't ever really expected to take on household duties-- especially cooking, because body parts ended up in the mix more than a few times. RIP.

And as a result of that among other factors, like her quirk, Setsuna's treatment of others can be pretty calloused. As someone who doesn't feel a lot of pain, and has a pretty "detached" personality, she doesn't always understand the fact that other people may take things a lot more seriously than she does, and social incentive and enabling of a pecking order means she was fine putting herself at the top of it-- it was just another success she was entitled to. She really hasn't "learned her lesson", per se, it's just that U.A. doesn't cultivate that environment-- and she's not a cruel person, so she doesn't see a need to seek it out.

As she started in her teen years, she began pushing more and more for her individuality and freedom, hence her foray into the Gyaru subculture, which is very much seen as a "rich kid rebellion" type of thing. Dying hair, getting piercings, wearing flashy clothing, sneaking out, etc... all of those were her way of pushing back at the standards set by her family, and a way for her to indulge herself. Despite this, she did still want to be a hero, so her diligence in school never dropped.

Her parents were pretty disappointed and even upset with her "delinquency", and still are-- but they were ecstatic when she decided to "clean up" for U.A., like returning to her natural hair color, changing her wardrobe, etc. That being said, during those years, tensions in the Tokage house could run pretty high-- both of her parents have rather intense tempers, and both of them saw it as a personal attack on their family's values. There were more than a few screaming matches, and Setsuna even took to using her quirk as a weapon in arguments, like doing things like "spilling her guts" or escaping a grip or conversation by dropping a limb and running out. As time went on, Setsuna became more and more indifferent to the arguing and their opinions, and more often than not will just leave if confronted on anything, or stand there with a bored expression until it's over. Punishment isn't always enforced heavily outside of the immediate explosion of anger, so grounding or confiscated privileges mean nothing-- either she'd steal it back, or sneak out anyway.

Even with that, though, they still love each other very much. They just don't know how to communicate anymore, and so talks or time together have whittled away into interrogations about where her progress is or a chiding about reckless behavior, which Setsuna ignores because she's in her "I'm young, I'm fantastic, and I'm never gonna die" phase. She hasn't ever really had to confront loss before, so when Majestic and Midnight die, it shakes her up more than a little bit.

[avinox]

It's been A LONG, long time since I posted any art but I needed to post this.

It's THE NYMPHS!!! You know, the nymphs that have been in love for 524 years, who think their love isn't requited??? Who raised TWO CHILDREN together and still call it "platonic"??? The Sorcerous Sapphic Demigoddesses??? Those nymphs???

On the left we have Iris, the dryad. Her magic comes from Thylea, the Great Mother. She's also a multiclass cleric of the same goddess. Her Epic Path is the Dragonslayer.

On the right is Epithymia, my character, and an aurae nymph. Her magic comes from Lutheria, the Lady of Dreams. Her Epic Path is the Doomed One, and she's also a multiclass warlock. Reasons under a readmore since they're spoilers for the campaign.

The drawing isn't finished yet, but I'll post the finished version with all the party members once it's done. Also we realized pretty recently that their color schemes matched their flags.

I'll always love our nymphs, they are truly magical <3

Iris almost died during the fight against the Sea Hag, and Epithymia, being a "herald of death", as they made her believe, found herself powerless to help her. However, she had figured out the identity of Kyrah (or Usma, the name she used to introduce herself to the party).

Epithymia was ready to blackmail, challenge, or straight up beg Kyrah (the goddess of Music) for her help. She needed to be able to heal Iris if worst came to worst.

She got what she wanted, but as we know, getting what you want and being happy are two very different things.

Kyrah agreed to help her, but on the condition that Epithymia slayed Lutheria and became the new goddess of Death. She didn't think it twice. The pact was made.

[stayevildarling]

Wilhemina Venable x Reader- When the time is right - Pt 3

Part 1, Part 2

word count: 5.3k

warnings: mention of scoliosis, feeling sick, dizziness, angst + fluff at the end

A/N: Part 3, Reader and Venable finally having the conversation that needs to take place and understanding and learning the truth about what happened.

Taglist:

@lunaticwhittaker, @billiebeanhoward, @mrsdeanhoward, @okpaulson, @in-cordelias-coven, @kenzbro, @twistedpoeticjustice, @minaslittleone, @vintagepaulson, @ninaahs, @whitelotus00, @httpfiftyshadesofgay, @talulahmae, @cordeliass

Tossing and turning in bed, you try and ignore the massive headache, responsible for your slightly blurred vision and the ringing in your ears. The last few days had been spent in bed, feeling awful as if some kind of force had rippled its way through your body, causing this exhaustion within you.

Maybe it was the flu or some similar infection your body was fighting at the moment or maybe it was caused by something entirely different. Maybe it had been the events of this past week, reuniting with Wilhemina randomly as if it was fate or the encounter with her just a day after. It had been a week since now, a week of fighting your way out of bed every morning, fighting your way to the office every day, pretending it didn't take its toll on you, pretending she wasn't still present in every single thought or dream. Your body gave up eventually, not managing to go in yesterday as it felt like you might pass out if you had to leave your bed. As a result, you called into work sick, feeling guilty as you usually would, always caring more about not letting others down and performing well.

Feeling the urge to use the bathroom, you slowly get out of bed, ignoring the blurry vision and sick feeling in your stomach. As you walk past the kitchen, you realize the feeling is probably due to the fact you had abandoned any thought of food or staying hydrated in the last few days, not feeling like it and at the same time not having enough energy to either. It feels like there is this source of pain in your body somewhere, near your chest area, causing this deep sadness within you. In the past, there had often been days like these, days you felt physically sick from the aching in your heart, the busy thoughts in your head causing throbbing pain that would keep you from performing well and giving it your best every single day.

As you stand by the sink, the cold water coming into contact with your shaky hands, you look up and your breath hitches a little at the reflection in the mirror. It's not the paleness of your skin, lacking any kind of light or color, or the bags under your eyes, a sign of the lack of sleep. It's the image of a broken girl, once a smile so bright it could fill the whole world and rid it of its ugly sides. All that vanished, pain taking over and grief, grief for a love you once felt and the feeling it gave you, sadness and loneliness and longing at the same time. Shaking the thoughts away, you slowly make your way back towards the bedroom, not planning to leave it for the rest of the day either, as you feel drained and tired. With shaky hands you reach for the bottle of water on your nightstand, letting the cool liquid run down your throat and at least soothe the dryness and hydrate your body a little.

Just as you are about to lie down, falling back into the same habit, curling up in bed, pulling the blanket over your head as if it could shield you from the outside world and harsh reality, you hear something. A quiet knock. For a second you debate whether you heard it wrong, after all, it must be late in the evening now, considering it was dark as you passed the window, the moonlight shining brightly and igniting the dark apartment. In your slightly dizzy and confused state, you slowly make your way out of bed again, thinking maybe it isn't actually evening and maybe early morning and it being the mail or your landlord. As you take slow and steady steps, ignoring the pain, you failed to acknowledge the indication who is waiting by your door. The tapping of a cane and a second impatient knock as you missed the first one, after being in the bathroom moments ago.

Opening the door, your eyes instantly close as the bright ceiling lights of the hallway blind you momentarily, still keeping you in the dark about who is standing in front of you. In fact, standing in front of you is the same woman that has been on your mind for the past two years, including the past week after reuniting with her and just moments ago, as you washed your hands. The redhead never quite left your mind in the first place, however, you never expected to see her again after your last interaction, let alone her standing by your apartment in the middle of the night.

''Y/N'' her voice startles you, causing your eyes to abruptly open, ignoring the pain the light causes and for your heart's beat to instantly pick up the pace, matching the woman standing in front of you, her own anxiety high, even though you could never tell as she wouldn't let anyone notice or in.

You scan her features, two hands balancing and at the same time gripping around her cane, her facial features stern and cold, matching her demeanor. She is wearing an alike outfit to the one you met her in last, although you can't fail to acknowledge the light purple tie. Your mind instantly wanders to many flashbacks, many mornings spent helping your ex-girlfriend getting ready for work and helping her with her tie as she used to look like a dork when doing it herself and you doing it for her in the end. Even though she learned it eventually, watching you do it every morning, it became your little habit, Wilhemina lovingly watching you as you helped her adjust the tie, the same little loving smile on her face and her brown eyes looking into your soul. You felt nervous every single time, averting her gaze as it caused your heart to beat uncontrollably and the butterflies in your stomach to show every single morning.

''Aren't you going to invite me in?'' her voice rips you out of your thoughts yet again, unable to react at first, as her presence and the fact she is standing right outside your door, comes as a shock, like a slap from reality.

Your throat goes dry, breath hitching slightly but you try and focus regardless. ''Of - of course'' you say, trying hard to get the words out, before opening the door a little further and letting her walk inside. Taking a step towards you, you take a step back, allowing her to enter your home.

The redhead scans your apartment for a moment, never having been here before and until about a week ago, having no idea you actually live in the same city. Internally scolding yourself, for not keeping the place tidy over the last few days, you lead the way into the living room and towards the sofa, knowing it's clean in there.

Wilhemina follows you, scanning every aspect of your home carefully, not allowing herself to smile at all the little details she had missed in her life for the time you had been separated. For instance, the little accessories and details, colors perfectly matching, furniture carefully picked, making the apartment cozy and comfortable. Wilhemina's thoughts wander to her own home these days, that same lightness and feeling of comfort lacking as it is entirely decorated in dark shades and hardly any personal details or additions, matching the feelings hidden deep beneath the woman's walls.

Suddenly, Wilhemina halts in the middle of the hallway, her eyes noticing the photo in the frame instantly. It's a portray of your side profile, laughing and smiling, overlooking a hill and suddenly the redhead gets hit by her own memories and emotions as she remembers that day so clearly, before everything had changed. She took you on a picnic to the park, as a surprise after getting promoted in the department you both worked in. She was so proud of you, insisting on taking you there and after seeing how you kept admiring the hill and talking about what a beautiful view it must be from up there, she ignored her back pain and walked up there with you. And it was worth it in the end, the view making up for the aching in her spine, you overlooking the city, the many buildings, and skylines as well as the river. However, no view could ever be better than the one right in front of her, you, her little sunshine at the time smiling brightly and causing for the redhead to feel the same familiar tingles in her heart, whenever she used to be near you.

''Wilhemina?'' this time you are the one startling her, pulling her out of her own thoughts as she snaps out of it, focussing her attention back onto you. For a second you thought you saw her eyes watering as if she was trying to fight tears but that couldn't be true. You point towards the sofa and explain ''Please sit, would you like some water?''. The redhead meets your gaze, nodding and you walk past her, making your way into the kitchen.

While the redhead sits down, inspecting your apartment a little further, you walk into the kitchen, still unsure whether this is a dream after all. Grabbing a tray, two glasses, and a bottle of water, you make your way back into the living room and for a moment you find yourself halting too. Looking at the redhead, sitting on your sofa, the moonlight shining through your apartment, the only light source other than the lamp in the corner. The white light ignites her features perfectly, her side profile looking perfect as ever, the darker hair and clothes long forgotten as her cheekbones, eyes, and mouth are so familiar. She seems familiar, yet at the same time so far away.

Snapping out of it, you walk over to her, not realizing that her presence is indeed causing your own anxiety to reach its peak point and only adding to the way you felt before she arrived. You set the tray down and pour two glasses, handing her one, trying to stop your hands from shaking. However, the redhead instantly notices, her eyes wandering from your hand holding the glass, to your face, only for the first time tonight noticing how pale you are.

''Y/N are you feeling quite alright?'' she asks, before retrieving the glass and setting it back down on the table. ''I heard you called in sick at work'' she explains, her voice now showing clear signs of concern.

At this moment it hits you, the question that never occurred to you when finding her in front of your own front door ''How does she know your address?''. Her statement only adds to your confusion, had she been at your work? did she call in to check on you? why is she here in the first place?. All these questions only add to your state, the pain in your head becoming more excruciating by the minute and black spots now clouding your vision.

''Sit down'' Wilhemina demands, being able to tell how unwell you are, after all, she had been the person caring and loving you for an entire year, not to mention knowing you before then. She quickly stands up, ignoring her back as she realizes your body just barely holding itself in place. Your fragile body gently collapses forward, your forehead hitting Wilhemina's shoulders, her hands instantly reaching for your arms, holding you in place. ''Y/N'' she repeats, the concern visible in her voice.

All you remember, before everything goes dark, is two hands steadily, grip around your arms, and helping you onto the sofa. Two hands, reaching for your legs and a soft fabric covering your body, before your head was met with a soft surface. As sleep finally consumes you, the exhaustion from the last few days finally coming to an ease as you sleep off the events, the redhead woman in your apartment is still there, not thinking of leaving you like this for a second. Wilhemina sits on the other end of the sofa, carefully watching over your fragile state and her heart breaking at seeing you in such distress.

As soon as she noticed, your breathing evening out and sleep consuming you, she breathes out, a breath she had been holding in for way too long as your distressed state caused concern in the usual stern and strong woman. Within the last week, Wilhemina had tried to forget about you, tried to ignore the fact you live and work in the same city, tried to forget about the memories you had brought back after being in her office twice and she tried to ignore the feelings seeing you again caused. However, she couldn't get you out of her mind, not when you first walked into Kineros Robotics with your boss, or the second time retrieving some files. That night she couldn't sleep one bit, your laughter still so present in her memory as well as the carefree times you two had experienced together.

At first, Wilhemina tried to remain strong, ignore the uncomfortable feeling in her chest and the scars that seemed to have opened when you waltzed right back into her life, the wounds that she caused herself when walking out of your life together, and the years of coldness patched together. However, after four days she couldn't stand the silence, hoping to see you at another meeting with Mr. Odell, only to be disappointed when his assistant showed up with him. She questioned it, trying to make it not obvious what her true reasoning for the question is and Mr. Odell didn't notice it either, simply explaining you only helped out on the case. After that encounter, Wilhemina fought a battle, the soft Mina begging her to just reach out, try and figure out your number or a way of contacting you, while the cold Wilhemina tried to stay harsh, pushing all the feelings back, ignoring the sleepless nights and the toll the situation had on her own body, specifically her back.

Ultimately, the soft Mina won, finally after many battles in the past, she returned, quite literally forcing herself to make the phone call to your workplace and ask for some information on you, whether it being your number or address. In the end, she spoke to your co-worker, and even though she was skeptical at first, she was also concerned about you not coming in, so she told Wilhemina the address, desperately hoping she didn't just give some stranger that piece of information. Wilhemina waited until today, not having the courage to show up, scared of her own emotions and walls she build up high, ever since the day she had walked out of your life. Your cries and begs have never left the redhead's memory, the pain in your voice and written across your entire face, you collapsing onto the floor, while she simply walked out, still causing this pain and mostly regret in the woman, currently sitting on your sofa.

You feel your eyes opening, a few hours later, your neck feeling a little stiff but a much more calmer feeling settling in your chest and stomach. The sun is slowly rising, causing your apartment to fill with both light and warmth. As you sit up a little, you realize that you haven't slept this peacefully and calmly in a long time, no nightmares coming to haunt you or the usual insomnia. Only realizing the reason for this as you see Wilhemina on the other end of the sofa, gently leaning against it, her eyes closed and chest rising and falling slowly. For a moment you melt, unable to believe she actually stayed all these hours with you, slowly the memories from last night coming back and you instantly worrying about her back, knowing this uncomfortable position must have hurt and cause her pain now. Despite everything that happened, you can't stand knowing Wilhemina would be in any kind of pain or discomfort because of you.

Feeling a little stronger, legs less weak and hands less shaky, you make your way into the kitchen to make some coffee. While the coffee machine is preparing the warm beverage for you and Wilhemina, you walk into the bathroom, quickly freshening up a little. As you walk back into the living room, two cups of coffee in your hand, Wilhemina is already awake, woken up by the sound of the coffee machine and at the same time the concern of you not being on the sofa anymore.

''Good morning'' you mumble, before handing her a cup of coffee and also some painkillers, knowing her pain must be bad and at the same time remembering she used to always take those ones in the morning. Her gaze meets yours, taking the coffee and looking at the two painkillers in your palms. ''Here go on, I um- know you might need these now'' you explain and walk over to the other side of the sofa again, two hands cupping around the coffee cup.

Wilhemina's eyes close for a second, taking a deep breath, unable to believe even after all of this time you would still remember her routines and caring enough to give her a painkiller or make her a coffee. You watch her closely, as you take a few sips from your own drink, as she swallows the pills and sets the coffee cup down afterward. There is silence for a moment, the painful kind, both of you wanting to say so many things but holding back at the same time. Taking all your courage, feeling a little barrier and wall broken after her staying with you last night, you try and touch the subject, knowing it won't be easy.

''I'm sorry for this'' you mumble, meeting her eyes and her brown orbs instantly lock with yours. ''Don't be ridiculous Y/N, you weren't feeling well, no need to apologize'' she replies. For a second you feel intimidated by her presence again, her voice sounding just a little harsher than you remembered it last night.

''Are you feeling better now?'' she asks, her eyes full of concern and hope and you find yourself melting yet again, witnessing these small moments with her, reminding you so much of your old Mina. ''Yes, much better, thank you'' you reply with a small smile that she almost returns before replying ''No need to thank me''.

You realize this version of the redhead is much like Wilhemina at the beginning, when you had met her at the office, insecure, not being able to take a compliment or anything nice being said to her and you still wonder what had happened, the reason for her leaving and also what made her change into this different person.

After some silence, you feel the urge to just ask and find out the reason, why she is currently sitting in your apartment, after thinking you might never see her again after the last interaction you had with her. ''M- Wilhemina? why did you come here last night?'' you blurt the question out, not being able to beat around the bush for much longer and just needing answers. Answers for questions that have been burnt into your mind for years, many months filled with laying awake at night, or randomly zoning out throughout the day, breaks in the park, sitting at your desk, wondering what went wrong and what you had possibly done to drive her away.

''I-'' she starts, her lips parting but no more words leaving her mouth for now. Silence fills your apartment yet again and this time you know it's not her not having anything to say or being too cold to find the right words, you practically watch the woman you had fallen in love with fighting this version build to protect herself and you know she won't open up without your help.

''Did my workplace give you my address? or have your stalker skills improved a little over the years?'' you joke, hoping the little reference might help to get her to open up a little, as you remember her often admiring how easily you could find out information about someone back then, simply by looking up their name on social media. Mina often had you do that with clients she was wary of or someone she wasn't particularly fond of to make fun of them.

''Your co-worker gave it to me'' she states but you do notice a little smile tucked on the corner of her mouth. ''Thought so'' you add, before Wilhemina's eyebrows furrow, confused how you aren't mad at her or terrified that she would go through such lengths just to see you.

''It's okay, I'm not mad or anything but Wilhemina why are you here?'' you ask, her insecurities visible in this moment. Her eyes lock with your own again, before she finally speaks up.

''I had to see you Y/N'' she explains, her voice filled with pain and for the first time since meeting her in this city again, she allows herself to be vulnerable around you.

You watch as she takes a deep breath, averting her gaze to look anywhere but your eyes as her whole face scrunches up, feeling guilty for the way things had ended and never having the intention to leave you in the first place. What you didn't know is that the reason for Wilhemina leaving you in the first place, walking out of the shared apartment on that dark day, was never you or anything you had said or done. She loved you so much, she allowed herself to feel love for the first time, never thinking one day anyone would walk into her life that would be able to make the redhead feel the emotions she felt when she met you. Wilhemina had never known about love, the love she felt for her parents and what they gave her in return, a very different kind of love, lacking empathy, kindness, and gentleness.

Her childhood was rough, often being told that what she was feeling wasn't valid, she wasn't allowed to feel pain, she wasn't allowed those doctor's appointments or medication for her back as she was only making it all up. Only after she ended up in the hospital one night after her parents ignored her cries and pleas for too long, they changed their mindset a little but the scars on Wilhemina's soul had never really left or healed. However, when you walked into her life, you showed her the things she had always missed, empathy always checking in on her, despite only being co-workers at the time, always kind and gentle with her, and appreciating every single part about her. You taught Wilhemina it's possible to be loved, you made her feel valid, like all of those confusing feelings and the pain was valid and okay to be voiced by her. You made her believe she could never be a burden or anything those voices and insecurities made her believe. However, there were still those days after she started dating you, the days where she tried to stay funny, kind with everyone, and loving with you even though the darkness inside her was killing her. She tried for so long and hard and she managed to fight it until there was one day, one day that changed everything and ended up resulting in her leaving just weeks after.

It was the day after an office party, you and Wilhemina attending together and after dating for a year at that point, not really caring about occasionally holding hands that night or being a bit more open, considering most people in the office knew regardless. However, one of the male co-workers just had to point it out on Wilhemina's way out, managing to catch her both off guard and on a vulnerable day, as both her back pain and her insecurities were very strong that day.

''Isn't she a bit young for you, after all, you could be her mother'' was all the words it needed. Hitting Wilhemina right in the feels and insecurities. After all, she had always been a bit skeptical of the age gap between you two but you often reassured her it's not a problem and age is only a number. She felt awful that day, not being able to dance with you at the office party properly, and even though you reassured her it was okay, she didn't believe it. The voices making her believe she could never be good enough for you, her scoliosis always being the problem in your relationship, and that you deserved someone better. She took about a week to make her mind up, knowing her leaving would break you as you had not only grown so fond of her but also knowing you needed her. However, Wilhemina came to realize the pain is worth it if it means setting you free and someone better coming along eventually.

''Why did you wanna see me Mina?'' you ask, freeing Wilhemina from her thoughts and sending her right back into reality, the reality of sitting in your living room. Her face is still guilty, not able to look at your face.

''I came to say that I'm sorry for how our last conversation ended'' she explains and this takes you by surprise. Your mind wanders to the last conversation at Kineros Robotics when you had to pick up some files and you remember leaving after it seemed like she had nothing left to say to you.

''It's okay, I had to get into work it's-'' you try and explain but the redhead meets your gaze and cuts you off. ''No Y/N.. I mean the last conversation a year back'' she clarifies, talking about the time she walked out and left without saying a single word other than her leaving you.

Tears instantly build-up, the emotions of that day present again as if it just happened yesterday. Wilhemina notices your smile fading and the pain in your eyes. The old Wilhemina feels the urge to walk over to you, hold you in her arms, and wipe those tears just like she would have done but at the same time not ready to fully lose her cover and facade just yet.

''Why did you leave me?'' you question, not able to hold back your own emotions, as tears run freely down your cheeks.

''I never meant to hurt you'' the redhead whispers, a genuine confession leaving her lips.

''Please answer my question Mina'' you beg, needing answers after all this time.

''What happened to you, you changed, you aren't you anymore'' the words leave your mind before you can even think about it.

At this moment Wilhemina fights the biggest battle with herself, the newer darker side, wishing to simply build her walls right back up and walk out of this situation and out of your life, letting you find someone else just like she always had intended but her coming here in the first place was an indication that the soft woman you had fallen in love with, is still in there and currently back, finally winning her inner battle after such a long time.

She retrieves her cane, standing up and for a moment you fear she will walk out, having offended her but instead she takes you by surprise yet again, walking closer to you and sitting on the same end of the sofa you are sitting in. Her hand wanders to your leg in a comforting manner, wanting nothing more than to dry your own tears as she hates seeing you in pain.

''You need to believe me, sweet girl, I never meant to cause you pain and walk out the way I did, there hasn't been a day where I didn't miss you'' she explains, opening up and not holding back on how she really feels anymore.

''But then why did you?'' you question, not able to believe it truly didn't have anything to do with you.

''Someone said something to me that got under my skin, I should have never let it affect me this much, affect us this much'' she adds and you lock eyes when hearing her last sentence.

''Us?'' you whisper, barely audible. Despite hoping and often thinking whether there was ever a right time again for you and Wilhemina to be together again, you never thought it could be true.

''My darling, I know things have changed, I have changed but I don't want to lose you again, now I want to take this slow, respect you and your feelings but please don't let me walk out again'' Wilhemina begs, taking you by surprise as now her own emotions are on this display, a tear running down her cheek.

You sit up a little more, moving closer to the woman in front of you, your hand moving to cup her cheek and wipe the tears, before halting for a moment as it feels so unnatural after all this time. Wilhemina closes her eyes ready to lean into your touch and that's when you ignore the voices and simply wipe her tears. She leans into your cheek, enjoying the warmth you radiate and internally grateful to still be able to feel around you.

The two of you spend moments, sitting there and comforting each other, wiping each other's tears and just looking at each other, so many things to say, not just things that had happened in each other's lives since being apart but also still so many feelings and thoughts needing to be exchanged. However, for now, you feel grateful, grateful to have some part of your Mina back, and even though things are uncertain for now, you know there is now a different ground and knowing maybe now the time is right after all.

''I would like that, taking it slow and figuring this out, figuring us out'' you explain after some comfortable silence and you find Wilhemina smiling, breathing out in relief and all the anxiety and nervous feelings about this conversation leaving the redhead.

A little smirk makes its way onto your features, feeling a little like teasing Wilhemina ''By the way, how did you know I wasn't already taken or married or something at this point?'' you joke, with a little smirk, hoping she won't take it the wrong way but knowing your Mina would appreciate and understand this sense of humor as you always communicated like that before.

Wilhemina smiles, no sign of insecurities or doubts in her features before replying ''Well maybe after all this time my stalker skills did improve and I may or may not have found that piece of information out'' she explains.

''Besides there is no ring on your finger'' she adds, making you smile yet again and things feeling so natural as if nothing ever changed in the first place.

The two of you chuckle, your eyes locking with hers as she looks at you with so much love and gratitude, just the way she would usually look at you, so grateful to be in your embrace, to be in the same room and alive at the same time as you.

For the first time in a long time, you feel complete and warm, no doubts, no questions about Wilhemina lingering on your mind as now finally you have some answers on what happened. Even though there are still things to be figured out, questions to be answered, conversations to be held, you two working on each other, at least you now know that you won't have to do it without the redhead anymore, and this time she didn't just walk out, this time she wouldn't as this time- the time is right.

[lepusrufus]

To bargain for immortality pt.2

Finally, she felt well enough to leave the infirmary room for good. Her internal organs were at peace for the most part and she could keep some food down without the risk of seeing it for a second time. Her sinuses still seemed to refuse to recover though. Occasional nosebleeds would have her head spinning and the scent of blood so often present within the castle was somehow too offensive to her senses. Nicole couldn't help but wonder how exactly she got it this screwed up, but then again the first few days of the infection were a painful blur that she'd rather not remember.

For now she was content to sit in front of the fireplace with the rest of her family. They decided to have a movie night to break her out of the mopey state she had been in and, for the most part, it was quite the success. She wasn't paying much attention to the projector screen, some sappy scene from a movie chosen by Daniela playing at the moment. Instead, she was simply enjoying the close proximity to Cassandra that she so dearly missed in the last few weeks. Nicole was in the brunette's lap, with hands loosely around her waist and leaning against her shoulder. She was vaguely aware of Laura complaining about the poor life choices of one of the characters only to be unceremoniously shushed by the youngest sister. It made her chuckle.

Bela was passing the popcorn to her mothers when a knock on the main entrance reached their ears faintly. Lady Dimitrescu narrowed her eyes in the general direction of the sound, and listened. Soon enough the rapid steps of Alexandria, their Steward, reached them.

"My Ladies, Mother Miranda's assistant is here."

The whole family got up hesitantly and tried to look as presentable as possible, given their "lazy day outfits". For some like Bela that was a baggy shirt and shorts, while for the Lady it was one of her trademark white dresses. They made their way to the main entrance of the castle, where the assistant, a woman in her late thirties and the air of an annoyed teacher, was waiting. It was Alcina the one to ask why she was there.

"Mother Miranda wants to see um… Nicole was it? Yes, to take a look at the regenerative abilities."

"Why not do it here like last time?"

"Mother Miranda's laboratory is far better equipped for whatever she may want to test. Unless you have something to say against her wishes." She finished that with a raised eyebrow that would've gained her a talon through the skull were she not there as per Miranda's wishes.

Who's talons exactly was debatable.

"I'll come too," Cassandra spoke up from just behind Nicole.

That only got her a dismissive wave. "No, I was told specifically to only bring her. Come now, we don't want to make Mother Miranda wait."

With that, the woman turned around and started walking towards a carriage that would take them away. Nicole looked briefly at her family. They all had either confusion or mild concern in their eyes. All but Alcina who looked as if she'd like to protest and snap at the woman but was holding her tongue.

She reassured Cassandra that she'd be fine and started jogging after the assistant.

---

Needless to say, that was Nicole's first time stepping foot inside the underground network of tunnels. Not that she complained. Few people went there willingly and probably fewer left the same way they came in.

The ancient looking hallways were in such stark contrast with the occasional medical equipment and the pristine looking labs with doors left slightly ajar that Nicole had to wonder if the woman had no taste for a consistent aesthetic. At least Lady Dimitrescu kept all wiring and modern devices carefully hidden or blended in with the castle's decor. Here, the harsh neon lights illuminated worn out stone so dark it was almost black. Not to mention the smell of… old that seemed to ooze off the very walls she was walking by.

She was led inside a spacious lab, the bluish lights above being too bothersome for someone who got used to the warm or natural light in the castle. The room was rather long, numerous hospital beds lined up against a wall, some separated by white curtains and some left visible. An almost imperceptible whiff of an all too familiar foul odor reached her nose, but it was mild enough to be easily ignored. Nicole had a suspicion that the unmoving person laying in one of the cots further away could be the source, but she sighed and hoped not to join them by the end of the day.

Mother Miranda was sat at a desk, microscope in front of her together with a small stack of documents and a laptop. She was typing in what could probably be notes on whatever she was looking at, when icy grey eyes finally shifted to Nicole.

"Get changed and lay down," she ordered, not even moving from her spot.

The assistant that had brought her here, pushed a hospital gown that had been pulled out from a cupboard in her arms. At least she was allowed the decency of changing into a bathroom as opposed to stripping then and there in the middle of the room. The gown was surprisingly comfortable, fabric folding around her body and being held closed by a loose ribbon that she tried at the side.

Once she was back in the lab, she was ushered to one of the beds where she laid down, nervously waiting for whatever Miranda had in mind.

It was quite odd to see her without her usual attire, especially without the gold talons that Nicole was now far more familiar with than she'd ever hoped. The white lab coat looked far too normal on her and, were it not for the unmistakable cold eyes and regal posture, the woman would’ve been unrecognizable.

She finally got up, a few documents in hand, and approached her. The papers were handed over to the assistant, along with a few other objects and finally, Nicole had her full attention.

Mother Miranda bent down, scalpel in hand, and grabbed one of Nicole's wrists. Just like she did back during the first examination, the blade was dragged across the length of her forearm. Despite fully expecting it, Nicole couldn't help flinching at the pain, but she kept her eyes fixated on her arm, at the blood slowly starting to flow from the wound.

Soon the same tingling as before took over the pain and before their eyes, the skin started to stitch itself back together.

"Time," Miranda asked while wiping the blood to allow for a closer inspection of the now good as new skin.

"Five seconds."

"Alcina's?"

"Three seconds."

Miranda hummed, seemingly pleased with the results. Or at least as pleased as the woman was physically capable of being.

"Hook her up to the cardiac monitor," she further instructed while moving to retrieve something from another cabinet.

The assistant, Emma, if the tag pinned to her lab coat was to be believed, stuck a series of electrodes to her chest and abdomen. Nicole bit her lip to stifle a yelp when one came uncomfortably close to the still sensitive skin of the scar.

In no time, the machine came to life, familiar beeping sounding through the otherwise silent room.

"I hope you're not afraid of needles," Miranda said while grabbing the same arm she had before, lips pulled into a faint smirk.

Nicole only shook her head as she saw the needle of a syringe attached to a transparent slim tube slide into her arm. How ironic would that be. The sting was close to imperceptible, taken over by the now familiar faint tingle. Unlike with the cut, it didn't fade away, most likely due to not being able to fully heal the small wound with the needle embedded in the skin and vein.

She looked away, in the direction of the other occupied bed in the room. It was far away enough that she couldn't make out any detail, only messy brown hair sprawled on a pillow. The face was turned towards the wall and body covered up to the neck. She grimaced and decided instead to focus on the beeping machine, mildly annoyed by Miranda's lack of properly separating her dead lab rats from the living ones. At least she hoped she'd stay living.

The numbers on the machine started out normal. With the slight uncomfortable feeling of blood being drained however, her heart rate started to slowly increase.

Alright. Normal enough. Especially when someone is clearly in a fucking blood draining mood.

Nicole decided not to look at exactly how much blood Miranda was drawing, keeping her eyes glued to the various color coded numbers. The heart rate kept increasing until Nicole could swear she could feel her heartbeat ringing in her ears. She gulped. Still relatively within the norm.

Two things were at odds however. First, the blood pressure remained constant, almost as if her body simply refused to acknowledge the fact that it was currently being drained. Secondly, the temperature rose from the normal 36 degrees to a staggering 41 in less time than it should have.

"What the fuck…" She couldn't keep her tongue at the weirdness of her situation, her brain thankfully choosing confusion and curiosity over the dread that it probably should've felt instead.

Mother Miranda didn't seem to care though as she turned to type something on the laptop that she brought over from the desk. She tapped her finger on the device for a few seconds and finally spoke up.

"The accelerated healing means the blood is being regenerated constantly, thus not decreasing in volume. Which explains the constant pressure." She narrowed her eyes at the monitor once again. "It doesn't, however, explain the heart rate and temperature. Any bright guesses?"

It took Nicole a second to realize the question was actually addressed to her. Miranda seemed in an oddly good mood. Not any less hell bent on causing her pain, mind you, but she also seemed genuinely curious. Being a biology nerd will do that to you, she couldn't help but think.

Nicole hummed and thought for a second. She tried to recall any information about the topic at hand that she had studied prior to running away.

"Heart rate could just be the normal body response that stayed even with the mutation. Like… like a reflex. It remains even though it's not needed." Then she tapped a finger on her chin trying to find a less random explanation. "Or maybe it's the body's way of making sure that even while healing all body parts remain at least decently functional. No idea about the temperature though," she shrugged.

Miranda once again typed something up and then, without warning, pulled the needle out of Nicole's arm. She flinched, barely holding in an angry protest as she turned towards the woman. Which was a mistake. She couldn't help the gag that raised in the back of her throat at the sight of the metal container full of blood.

No, no, blood did not bother her. That would've cut her career as a medical examiner short before she even stepped foot in med school. It was the knowledge that that was her blood that made her stomach churn. The container could easily fit three liters of liquid in it, and it was full to the brim. Not to mention the smell that assaulted her still messed up sinuses mixing oh so perfectly with mr. corpse over in the corner.

Miranda just chuckled at her sour expression. "Do you think your darling wife would like to have this?"

With a sneer, masked by Nicole turning once again towards the monitor, she couldn't help slipping an edge of snark in her reply. "No need, she likes it fresh."

The numbers were back to normal, all but for the temperature that was taking slightly longer to go down.

---

By this point her vocal cords were raw from screaming and each shuddering sob felt like clumps of spines in her throat. Nicole was curled in on herself, small frame trembling pathetically on top of the uncomfortable bed. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, the tingling sensation feeling like needles constantly pricking at her skin around and under the wired leather cuffs wrapped around her wrists. The frantic beeping of the machine was grating to her ears.

An electric shock test.

Of course.

Mother Miranda decided to test out how the increased heart rate worked. Results? Her body vehemently refused to allow her to pass out. Even when the shocks traveled through every part of her body, causing the nervous system to short circuit. Even when damage to internal organs and muscles ripped painful sobs from her throat, that turned into gags as soon as the tingling turned to nausea. Even when she could feel her heart hammering against her ribcage so fast that she was sure the small organ would burst any second. But it didn’t.

Every muscle in her body flared up in a sensation of painful pins and needles when Miranda pushed the button to release another shock. The cardiac monitor started screaming again and Nicole brought shaky hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the sound. Her whole body was on fire while all the damaged tissue repaired itself, making her stomach turn painfully. She felt like throwing up. Not that she had eaten anything today, but bile and thick blood still coated her esophagus. It was all swallowed back with a disgusting gulp.

The nausea was oh so kindly accompanied by searing pain from her still damaged sinuses, who’s condition only worsened exponentially with the electricity. The blood that seemed to coat all the way up to the inside of her mouth felt horrible mixed with the putrid smell of death.

She swallowed again, but that proved itself a bad decision as now that same smell permeated the very inside of her nose and mouth and throat and the feeling of blood sloshing on her tongue behind clenched teeth made her head spin.

She lurched forward, a small river of dark blood flowing from her mouth and nose, into her palms that she instinctively brought to her mouth. Wet coughs made it splatter into crimson splotches on the white sheets, herself and anything else within proximity. It took surprisingly long to realize that, after the initial wave that rose up her esophagus, the rest of the blood was from her sinuses. It was cruelly invading her nose and sliding back into her throat only to come out of her mouth. Fuck fuck fuck-

“What’s wrong?” Miranda’s tone lacked any trace of sympathy.

Nicole simply coughed out the remaining fluid from her mouth and unceremoniously grabbed a piece of cloth from Emma’s hands. She pressed it to her nose, only to feel it soaked against her skin far too soon.

“Damaged sinuses, as you said,” she croaked, her voice sounding so unlike her own.

That made Miranda frown. She kept that same expression while noting down the previous results. “It should be healed by now.”

“Well they aren't,” Nicole spat. The blood and the horrid smell were clouding her mind and, as many knew, pain and holding her tongue did not mix well in her. “And did we really have to do this in the same room as a dead fucking body?!”

Nicole’s angry outburst gave the woman pause. Annoyance mixed with a hint of confusion on her face. She looked at her assistant, an eyebrow raised in a silent question.

“No. Just- just anestesia.” Emma answered promptly.

“What the fuck do you mean anesthesia? Anesthesia doesn’t make you smell like a goddamn decomposing corpse, do you have cotton stuck up your noses?!” Thankfully the bleeding was starting to subside, which meant there was nothing to stifle her steadily raising angry tone.

Miranda, now sporting a scowl, got up and grabbed Nicole’s chin between two fingers. It made her flinch back, but there was no escaping the iron grip.

“I can assure you that the man is not dead, simply under anesthesia and recovering from a bad infection.” She moved Nicole’s head from left to right, eyes scrutinizing as ever.

Afterwards, she turned back and wrote something down on a piece of paper and simply instructed Emma to wrap up and lead Nicole out. The sudden shift not only in demeanor, but also in her position from the bed to standing upright was mildly dizzying. She swapped the gown for her normal clothes as quickly as she physically could, not wanting to spend another unnecessary second in this underground grave.

While she was ushered out the door, Mother Miranda’s sickly sweet voice rang after her.

“I’ll see you in a couple days.”

Her stomach turned.

---

The trek home was short and silent, Nicole simply wanting to get home as soon as possible and get a damn hot shower and sleep.

She bid the young man that was accompanying her goodbye the moment the Castle’s entrance was within jogging distance, and hurried steps took her to the imposing doors. It was Alexandria to answer her knock, Nicole having left her own keys in her bedroom.

“Welcome back my la-” the polite smile was all but wiped off the woman’s face, replaced by wide eyes. “Are you injured?”

Nicole looked at her confused, then down at herself. A muttered curse escaped past her lips when she remembered the bloody mess on her skin. “I’m okay. Just-... just don’t tell anyone I’m here yet. I'll change first.”

Her plan went out the window when a set of hasty steps came booming toward them.

“Nico-”

Cassandra’s voice died in her throat when her golden eyes landed on Nicole’s small frame, dried dark blood on her face and arms and her clothes stained. An angry growl slipped from between bared teeth.

“What the fuck did she do to you?”

Nicole was quick to answer, too tired to deal with anything other than a few hours of sleep. “I’m okay. I’m just-...” she shook her head, then turned to the Steward. “Alexandria kindly ask a maid to draw me a bath.”

“At once.” And with that the woman turned and scurried away, most likely also not wanting to be in the vicinity of an angry Cassandra.

---

The hot water felt like pure bliss on her skin. It seemed to make every muscle relax and get rid of the awful tension. She leaned back, eyes closed and hands idly moving through the water.

It was just mildly difficult to fully relax with Cassandra muttering and pacing back and forth in the same room though.

"I'm-... I'm not letting you do this again."

Nicole simply sighed and started to scrub away at dried blood. The miniature red waterfall from earlier had gotten blood all over her arms and chest, some splatters even getting on her legs. Her face was also a mess, trails of blood going from her nose and mouth to the chin with smudges and splatters.

"What did she even do to you?"

Before she had a chance to reply, a knock came from the door and a maid entered with a few clean towels and a change of clothes from Nicole's own bedroom. The girl didn't linger, simply giving them both a courteous bow and exiting the room.

Looking for something to change the subject, Nicole focused on the pleasant honey smell. Honey with a slight citrus-y undertone, maybe lemon or orange.

"Did you get a new soap?"

Cassandra stopped pacing, brows furrowed. "No? It's the same one."

Confused, Nicole brought a hand that had just been scrubbed with that very soap right under her nose and took a deep inhale. It was indeed the same one. Chamomile and mint. She sighed in annoyance and leaned back against the cool porcelain while Cassandra came and bent down on one knee to be somewhat on eye level.

"Nose still not working properly or…?" She said while gingerly tilting Nicole's chin up with two fingers. She grimaced at one yet to be washed trail of dried blood that made its way to her wife's thin upper lip.

Nicole simply shook her head and grabbed Cassandra's hand. "Can you… go get ready. I'm beyond tired and just want to lay down with you."

Cassandra pursed her lips but nodded none the less. With a kiss on top of red hair, she turned and left the spacious bathroom, door shutting with a heavy thud.

Left alone, she scrubbed every inch of skin again and took a few extra minutes to enjoy the warmth of the water. It felt so incredibly odd to not feel any actual pain after the day's events. Any trace of what her body went through had been erased by her newfound ability, not leaving behind even the faintest mark of a scar, nor blackened skin caused by electric shocks.

She pushed herself out of the tub, grimacing at the slight pink tone the water had taken. Body and hair quickly dried with the towels, she put on the clothes, a comfortable pair of shorts and a tank top, and finally stepped out of the bathroom too.

Cassandra was waiting for her in bed, velvety dark robes hanging loosely on her shoulders and eyes fixated on the window while her fingers were tapping furiously on the cover of a book forgotten in her lap. Book that was quickly placed on the nightstand when Nicole climbed in beside her and pushed her way into the brunette's arms. She was tired and absolutely not above demanding cuddles.

Her wife wasted no time in wrapping an arm around her and pulling the soft blanket up to cover them both. Nicole interlocked their fingers, absentmentally turning the ring on Cassandra's finger. The same ring she had, albeit in a smaller size. A golden band with intricate floral patterns engraved on it. It had no protruding gem, something they both opted for so that the rings wouldn't need to be taken off while working and wearing gloves. Instead, eight small ocre gems were lined among the minuscule curled leaves.

It took Cassandra about two minutes to take a deep inhale and open her mouth. New record.

"Are you… are you hurt?"

Nicole didn't look up at her, the concern dripping from her words alone were enough to squeeze her heart painfully.

"No. I'm all healed up, just tired." She could almost feel Cassandra's question of clarification, but not wanting to go over what had happened down in the laboratory so soon, she opted for something the brunette would hopefully be just as interested in. "We did get some odd results though."

At the lack of any interruption she went on. "Accelerated heart rate whenever I get hurt. Can't pass out." Which was both a blessing and a curse, depending on the point of view and situation. "Also for some reason my temperature gets really high."

"You get one hell of a fever?"

"Yeah."

Cassandra tapped a finger on Nicole's hand, mentally going over possibilities. "Aren't fevers used against infections? Maybe that has something to do with it."

A small hum passed her lips. Could that have something to do with it? It was possible that her healing abilities caused a fever in order to fight off any possible infection before it even became one. Maybe it was her body's way of lessening damage as much as possible since, as the day's events showed, the old replaced tissue had a tendency to get purged. She grimaced at the memory of slowly choking on blood and went for something at least slightly more pleasant.

"Oh and… I can't bleed out. Blood volume stays constant."

She looked up at Cassandra with what could only be described as a shit eating grin. Her wife blinked, realization seeming to dawn on her together with the faintest hint of a blush on her cheeks. She coughed.

"Yeah well. I'll keep that in mind. For when you don't need to sleep."

"And deny me some fun now?" Nicole's pout was purely for dramatic effect and it gained her an eye roll.

Two slender fingers gripped her chin to keep it in place while narrowed golden eyes bored into her green ones. The pout slowly morphed into a smirk. Cassandra was not the kind of person who did not indulge in her own pleasures and that, although to a more careful extent, included drinking her lover's blood. A fact that Nicole was not only not complaining about, but also learned to use in order to push all the right buttons.

When Nicole turned her head in the uncharacteristically gentle grip to plant a small kiss on the soft palm, Cassandra finally gave in. Concern was momentarily put on hold in the name of the normalcy they both have been denied in the last few weeks. She bent down, their lips meeting into a kiss that soon turned needy with tongue slipping past sharp teeth and a hand scratching lightly at her nape. Soon Cassandra broke their kiss, but only to slowly trail her way across her jawline with kisses and small nips. She bit at the soft skin right under the jaw bone, eliciting a quiet groan right by her sensitive ear. Black painted lips took her down the neck and across collarbones, planting a kiss right in between them, at the base of Nicole's throat.

When she slowly made her way to an exposed shoulder, Nicole's hand at the back of her head guided her further up, right above where her pulse was. After an inquisitive hum against her skin, she spoke quietly.

"Since blood loss isn't exactly a problem… no need to avoid the neck really."

Cassandra hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to trust her wife. She placed a gentle kiss on the spot right above where blood was flowing in rhythm with her heartbeat. The same gentle kiss that was placed on the skin countless times before and that only Nicole had the privilege of experiencing.

Sharp fangs sunk into tender flesh, the warm blood invading Cassandra's mouth making her moan low in her throat. Being used to the feeling of the bite by now, Nicole simply closed her eyes with a sigh and let her body melt into Cassandra's arms. The familiar blissful ache was welcomed, even though, she noticed, it did not bring with it the lightheadedness she had grown accustomed to.

Although she wasn't aware of it, Cassandra was, in a way, a creature of habit. Every time she would drink her blood, her hand would come up to cup Nicole's cheek, thumb slowly tracing the jawline, right before she would pull her mouth away. Every time, without fail.

This time however, when that happened, Nicole kept her in place with the hand tangled in brunette hair, her voice coming out breathy when she spoke. "Go on."

Cassandra would never admit it, but her self control would always waver while feeding. Therefore, she didn't need much convincing, continuing to take mouthfuls of blood in between a satisfied groan. When she finally had her fill, she pulled back with a bashful look in her eyes. Concern quickly flashed on her face at the sight of the crimson mess on her wife's neck.

Nicole however, not wanting their moment to get ruined, took one of Cassandra's hands in her own and slowly placed a soft kiss on each knuckle. After that was done, and the downright ticklish sensation of skin patching itself subsided, she guided the fingers over the bloody skin.

"See? Healed," she whispered.

Cassandra gingerly traced her fingers over the spot, looking for no longer existing puncture marks. She smiled upon not finding them and turned to pull out a handkerchief from a small drawer of her nightstand. A ritual of sorts, one practiced more times than they cared to count over the years. Cassandra passed the white cloth over the skin, wiping away the crimson stains while her wife relaxed into the touch.

"Feeling good?" It was a remark meant to poke fun at how much Nicole seemed to enjoy herself, but the double meaning did not go unnoticed.

A smile tugged at Nicole's lips and she nodded.

In turn, Cassandra hummed. "You taste different." And, at her lover's furrowed brows and the slightest hint of alarm flashing in her eyes, she clarified. "Not bad. Just different. Slightly sweeter actually."

"Is that so," Nicole purred, the smile returning to her lips.

Cassandra discarded the cloth on the floor to be retrieved later and shifted both of them back down on the myriad of pillows.

"Yes. Now how about you get some sleep."

Nicole wasted no time in snaking an arm around her waist and nuzzling into her side. It would never cease to amaze her how Cassandra's presence could make her feel so at ease, as if nothing beyond the castle's walls existed. At that moment, she couldn't help but be grateful for her newfound ability, useful in far more ways than one.

She stretched slightly upwards, auburn hair like a small waterfall behind her.

"I love you," she whispered against cool ashy lips.

"I love you too," Cassandra replied, closing the almost nonexistent space between their mouths in a soft kiss.

It left behind a slight coppery taste on Nicole's lips, but she couldn't bring herself to care, instead readjusting her legs to tangle comfortably around her wife's thigh.

[gicaarts]

My take on @tamak0's draw this in your style on Instagram!

I wanted to make something a bit different from the other posts I saw so I made Luca and Alberto as sea monsters! It was written on the rules that changes on the characters were allowed so I hope that is ok 🥺

That's the situation: it's a sunny day, Alberto is on work break, the underdogs decide to hang out together and get themselves some gelato, they sit on a bench to do some small talk, but suddenly the sky starts leaking, it's nothing but a sudden summer rain, drizzle is all that falls from the sky, but it's enough water to soak their ice cream cones, luckily Giulia now has the habit of carrying an umbrella around with her since she's pretty much going to get in contact with water a lot because of her aquatic friends. Luca doesn't have one though, so he tries his best to protect his gelato from the water with his own hand while they wait for the rain to go away. Meanwhile, Alberto keeps talking about his countless stories as a lifeguard and how he's "kind of an expert" on his job saving people from drowning and teaching little kids how to swim. Poor kitty right there in the corner wasn't having fun at all though, it left its shelter just to take a closer look on the strange and flashy sea monsters but ended up getting taken by the rain and started running as fast as it could before getting completely drenched, the cat ran so fast that the underdogs only noticed it a few seconds before the cat completely disappeared from the place, they all laughed at the situation as soon as they lost sight of it

They are 16-17 in here cause I honestly have no idea of how I would picture them as adults, that's why their designs are kinda lazy too, I sort of had to do this in a rush cause the challenge's end line is almost here so I didn't have exactly enough time to think of better designs, but I guess these ones are enough to get by, I'll definitely change their designs in the future tho, but I've always pictured teen Giulia with long hair in a low ponytail, that's for sure, so I'm glad I had the chance to draw her like this!

I am still very happy with how this came out though, trees and backgrounds are usually my weak spot but surprisingly they were a lot of fun to work on and I'm very proud of how they turned out! I am really satisfied with the colors as well, I love how colorful it looks! I also played around with different colors for shading and it actually looks better than I expected, especially the shading of Giulia's skin!

I like the final result very much so I hope you like it too! 🥺

[blindingdutchy]

lamentation | FIVE

{peter parker x fem!reader AU}

based on All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

SERIES MASTERLIST

word count: 4,111

warnings: mostly fluff, some angst toward the end, mentions of injury

18+!!! minors stay away!

You didn't get much work done with Peter during the weekend. Following your emotional outburst over the argument between the pair of you, Peter stayed at your house surprisingly late into the night. You both seemed to agree the project could wait for a different day, and instead of working you spent the evening talking. While you didn't have much to talk about, Peter had a seemingly endless supply of subject matter to keep you both entertained.

Already you could tell that you were growing attached to him, probably far too much and far too soon, but there was no stopping it any longer. He made you feel good things and gave you a sense of normalcy you'd been craving for so long; there was no way you were giving that up any time soon. If he hurt you in the end, you'd deal with the pain because at least you got a bit of relief in the present.

That Friday evening had been one of the best nights of your life, regardless of how mundane or even boring it probably would have seemed to your younger self. You learned a lot about Peter, more than he'd already forced you to know in the weeks leading up to that night, and you answered all his random and silly questions about yourself. You learned that his favorite colors were red and blue, totally un-ironically, and that he'd gotten his abilities the summer between the eighth and ninth grades.

You also learned that Peter was just as stubborn and competitive as you used to be, and something about that knowledge sparked some of the old flame back into you. So, chasing after the fire that used to warm you, you made a deal with him. If he could prove to you that the Avengers were not as bad as you thought they were, then you would willingly do your speech in favor of the superheroes.

"You--you what?" Peter sputtered, laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach with both hands and gasp for air, "You really cut the hair off of all of your sister's dolls because she beat you at checkers?"

You snorted, a harsh sound that made your nose ache as you laughed along with him, "Yes! She knew how competitive I was, and she took that risk by challenging me. I never lost a game of checkers again after that."

He slipped into another torrent of giggles much to your amusement, his eyes crinkling at the corners with a beautiful smile that made your own chuckling soften as you found yourself mesmerized by the sight of it. Peter Parker was certainly a very breathtaking spectacle to behold, and you had to wonder why he wasn't so much more popular in school. You knew why, everyone could see the relentless torment that Flash Thompson unleashed on him, but it still made no sense to you.

What was there to dislike about Peter? Just days ago you'd been beyond annoyed by him, and weeks before that you'd been entirely uncaring of his existence, but already that all seemed completely nonsensical to you. Now that you'd let him in, given him a chance, it seemed impossible to ever not like him again.

Wheezing breathlessly, Peter chortled, "I can't even judge you. One time, when Ned and I were thirteen, he bet that he could finish a LEGO set before me. He was going to beat me, and I may have accidentally knocked it off the table so he had to start over."

"So," you finally gasped as you stopped laughing, "so, what you're saying is, you're just as stubborn as I am and we're definitely never going to agree on this project?"

His chuckles slowly died out as he nodded, "I guess so."

You knew what he meant to say, and that was the fact that he didn't feel he was being needlessly stubborn in this situation. This wasn't about competition to him. No, this was about him not seeing himself or his colleagues in a negative light; he couldn't fathom the distaste you had for them.

As much as you disagreed, you could understand that. You could understand how he would see the people he worked alongside as good people. It made sense that he would have a different perspective when he was the one out saving civilians from big and small horrors alike, rather than being the one to suffer the consequences of the destruction that happened as a result.

Along with your understanding, you also didn't think that Peter was a bad person. You couldn't possibly imagine him causing harm, intentionally or not, and maybe that was why you said what you did next. Maybe that was why you proposed, "I'll make you a deal. If you can prove to me that the Avengers are not who I think they are, then I'll take your stance for the speech. Give me a reason to speak positively of them, and I will."

Even now, as you made your way toward your locker at school on Monday, you weren't entirely sure what had made you decide to propose such a thing. You were pretty certain that you were setting Peter up for failure. In your eyes, there wasn't much of anything that Peter could say, do, or show you that would change your mind. Nothing would make what had happened to your sister okay or forgivable.

Yet, he clearly did not feel the same way. Peter looked as if he was walking on sunshine that morning as he pranced along beside you, a triumphant grin on his face as he whispered, "I have a plan."

"A plan?"

He grinned wider as you looked at him curiously, "Yes, a plan. To change your mind."

Quirking an eyebrow expectantly, you waited for him to elaborate as you gathered your things from your locker for class. He never did, only continuing to practically vibrate with excitement beside you in silence. "Are you going to tell me what this plan of yours is?" you prodded.

"No." When you looked at him in confusion he continued, "If I tell you what it is, you're not going to have an open mind. You're going to think of all the reasons it won't change your mind, and then it won't."

Suddenly, you were the one chasing after Peter instead of the other way around. All day you found yourself glancing to him suspiciously and following him around much like he had you in all the weeks leading up to your budding friendship, and it was a big change of pace for you. You felt a little pathetic following him like a lost puppy, but you were nosy and wanted to know what his plan was.

No matter how much you pried, though, he didn't budge. In Calculus he ignored your staring and whispers with a far too smug smirk on his face, though you secretly liked the way it looked on him. Who would have guessed that Peter Parker could be arrogant?

In Gym class he teasingly ran faster than you could keep up the moment you asked again, only slowing down once you begrudgingly promised to leave the subject alone. Though he did tell you he wouldn't run faster than you anyways because people would probably get suspicious if he suddenly turned into a track star. He had to play the roll of the un-athletic nerd regardless.

At lunch he didn't sit with you for the first time since he'd started joining you. He'd waved at you from where he sat with his friends, Ned and MJ, but you found yourself leaving the cafeteria rather than joining him. You weren't ready to take that next step yet; being open with Peter was hard enough, and you weren't ready to have to talk to two more people. Still, you tried to pretend it didn't bother you despite the little sinking feeling you felt in your stomach.

He still sat with you in Speech class, which you were relieved by. Ms. Lovell left everyone to work with their partners on their project, warning the class sternly, "You may have until the end of the semester, but don't slack off now. I'm only giving you two other class periods after now to work on this."

Peter quietly joked, "I bet she just forgot to grade our homework from last week."

When the woman sat down at her desk and pulled over a stack of papers, uncapping her favorite red-glitter pen that she always graded with, you both fell into a fit of giggles that you had to work very hard to keep quiet. It only took one glare from the teacher to have you ducking behind your book to hide how red your face turned, both from embarrassment and repressed laughter. You did, however, notice to fleeting expression of shock on her face to see it was you giggling in her class.

Not much work was done during that class, though for you and Peter the work couldn't be started yet. You still hadn't decided on a stance, and until Peter either succeeded with his plan or failed as you expected, a decision wouldn't be made. Instead, you both whispered to each other about whatever random thoughts seemed to pop into your heads in the moment.

"People are staring at me," you acknowledged, glancing around the class timidly at the sight of many students giving you curious stares, "is there something on my face?"

Peter laughed, though he quickly disguised it as a cough, and responded, "No, they're just confused."

Confused, you furrowed your eyebrows and looked at the boy with the warm brown eyes who was grinning at you proudly. "Why?" you asked, shifting uncomfortably. You were used to people giving you strange looks, but these were different. They weren't looking at you as if they were pitying you, or as if they were waiting for you to finally break down and go crazy. No, now they were looking to you with wonder and interest.

He bit the inside of his cheek, a pensive expression blossoming over his face as he thought of how to say whatever he planned to tell you. For a moment you admired the way his ruffled eyebrows furrowed, his lips pouting slightly as he pursed them in concentration. Only when the strange, old fluttering in your heart and your stomach started to erupt did you look away and wrinkle your nose.

You didn't want to admit it, but you knew exactly what that feeling was. It was a feeling you hadn't encountered since before the incident, and it was a feeling you didn't want to experience now. So, you told yourself it was just nerves over having a friend again, and squashed the stupid butterflies down as hard and as fast as you could.

"Well," Peter finally started, eyes wide and a little nervous as if he expected you to potentially be offended by his words, "you haven't exactly... talked to anyone in awhile."

Suddenly, it clicked. People were staring because you weren't the reclusive, closed-off, depressed girl you had been for the past thirteen months. They were staring because you seemed... happy. "Oh." you nodded, the sound feeble and slightly broken, "I guess that makes sense."

People were staring at you because you were the girl with the dead sister who they'd been waiting to witness implode, and suddenly you were talking, and laughing, and smiling. You were talking, laughing, and smiling with Peter Parker, no less. They were looking at you because you seemed fine.

Were you fine? Peter shot you a few concerned glances as you seemed to slip back into the repression you'd been living in for so long, but you gave him a small smile as if to say, "I'm okay." You were okay.

For the first time since she died, now that you really thought about it, you truly felt okay. You felt good. You felt happy. Sure, you were terrified of the little flutters you felt whenever you stared a little too long at Peter's face, and you still felt all the bad things you'd been feeling, but now you had good things to balance them out.

It would have been so easy to slip back into that cycle of beating yourself up again. That little voice in the back of your head was still there, the one that sounded like your sister but so different at the same time, that told you that you didn't deserve to have friends. You didn't deserve to make new friends, or feel those butterflies that meant something more, not when she couldn't do those things ever again.

It would have been easy, but you didn't want that for yourself anymore. If you did that, if you pushed Peter away because of her, then you would be left with all the bad feelings and more of them. You didn't deserve that. So, you took a deep breath, and gave a more genuine smile, and met the stares head on. She would have wanted you to be happy, and you deserved to be happy.

After school, Peter left you with a swimming mind and a million thoughts of what his plan could be. He didn't mention anything, and you wondered how long you would have to wait for whatever it was to come to fruition. What could it be?

You spent the afternoon in the family room, an action that seemed to startle and befuddle your parents who watched you like hawks. Though they didn't say anything, only greeting you casually as if everything were totally normal, you could practically hear the gears turning in their heads. You could imagine their thoughts of, "Who is this alien that looks like our child?"

As confused as they were, eventually the decided to just go with it. Your mom curled up on the sofa with you, and your father fell into his recliner just like old times, and the three of you watched a movie in a comfortable silence. Well, mostly comfortable. Nobody dared to look at or acknowledge the empty middle cushion on the sofa where she'd always sat, or your mother's empty lap that she mindlessly kept brushing her hands over as if waiting for your sister's head to be laying there waiting for her hair to be played with.

Nobody dared, until you did. You weren't entirely sure what compelled you to do it. It seemed as if you were urged to do lots of things you thought you never would these days. But, after half an hour of watching your mother's twitching hands, you laid your head on her lap and closed your eyes to avoid seeing her face.

After a moment, her fingers brushed through your wind-tangled hair and you felt peace. She had always been the one to do this. She had always been the one to burrow her way into your mother's lap, begging to have her scalp massaged or her back traced delicately, and now you understood why. It was comforting for more than one reason.

On one hand, it was just physically relaxing. But, on a more complex level, it gave you a sense of closeness you hadn't realized you'd been longing for. You felt closer with your mother who worked through the tangles in your hair with her fingers, gently scratching your scalp with her manicured fingernails. You felt closer with your sister, too. It felt as if you had a small piece of her to hold onto in that moment, and it was comforting.

By the time the movie ended, you were nearly asleep and the sun had set some time ago. Your mother was the first to break the silence, softly rousing you, "(Y/N), honey, do you want dinner?"

You did, but before you could answer, your phone rang loudly. Glancing at the screen and seeing it was Peter, you nibbled your lip to hide a smile and stated, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute." They didn't protest as you raced up to your bedroom to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"(Y/N)! Hey!" Peter practically shouted, though his voice cut out with what sounded like a windstorm. "Can you hear me?"

For a moment the audio cut out and you wondered if the call dropped, but then the crackling wind returned and you questioned, "What are you doing?"

Abruptly the sound ended, and he was breathing a little heavily as he responded, "Sorry, I was swinging--"

"Peter! Are you really on your phone while doing that?"

He laughed, "Calm down! My suit, well, Karen, the AI in my suit, is connected to my phone. Completely hands free--I promise."

Your mind flashed back to that night on the roof, the night he'd stopped you, and you remembered how he'd asked a woman named Karen what he was supposed to do. Now it all made sense. You'd been a little curious about who Karen was ever since that night, and now that you knew it was some sort of artificial intelligence that Peter had given such a human name to, you had to laugh.

"Why are you calling me, Spiderman?" you joked.

There was some quiet rustling, as if he were moving around, and he spoke quieter, "I'm on patrol. I just--maybe this is stupid, but I just thought if maybe I could show you the good things I do you'd see that we don't just destroy stuff."

It went silent for a moment before he continued, "I can't exactly take you with me, because that would be stupid, but you could listen."

You hesitated in responding. A part of you wanted to tell him that it was a stupid idea, for multiple reasons, but you decided against it. How would he ever prove anything to you if you didn't give him the chance?

So, you swallowed your protests, and said, "Okay."

"I'll warn you now it's usually pretty boring. A lot of nights I just swing around for awhile and go home without seeing anyone or anything."

That was strangely relieving. You hoped that tonight would be one of those nights; not because you didn't want him to have the chance to really enact his plan, but because you worried for him. What if having you metaphorically there with him distracted him? What if you distracted him and caused him to get hurt?

For awhile, it was a boring night. You and Peter went back and forth, taking turns telling stupid jokes to see who would crack and laugh first, and inevitably he won. He had an endless supply of disgustingly cheesy science puns that left you in stitches every time, even if you'd already seen the joke before on one of his many t-shirts.

You got him to laugh too, though, with all of the dead-pan anti-jokes you may have been secretly googling as you told them. Sometimes the wind would return, alerting you that he was swinging around the city, and every now and then he'd almost forget you were listening as he gave little exclamations of exhilaration in the moment. It was cute, even if the shouts nearly blew out your ear drum every time.

It was a boring night, until it wasn't. One moment the wind was making your phone speaker cut out, and the next it was eerily quiet and you had to pull your phone away to see if the call had dropped. Putting the device on speaker phone, you questioned quietly, "Peter?"

"I'm still here," he whispered, "I see something. Be quiet for a minute."

You listened and waited with baited breathe, probably panicking more than enough for the both of you, as Peter started speaking to Karen. He asked her to start something he called enhanced reconnaissance mode, and you were bursting with suspense and curiosity. What did he see? What was happening?

It felt like an eternity before he acknowledged you again, "Okay, I see a woman cornered by some guys. I think they're trying to... to attack her."

He didn't have to say the word for you to know what he meant, and you felt your stomach explode with anxiety and fear for a woman you couldn't even see. "What are you going to do?" you asked.

"I'm gonna web 'em up, and wait for the police with her." he stated, "I won't be able to talk for a bit, okay?"

And then, everything changed. One moment the wind was back as he swung down to the scene, and suddenly Peter was in full Spiderman mode and almost unrecognizable to you. He was sassier, playful even, despite how serious you knew he really was as he antagonized the bad guys.

The banter didn't last long. You heard the woman scream in terror as a loud ruckus rang through your phone, and Peter groaned. Was he hurt? Did he get hit? There were more thuds and dull smacking sounds, Peter and the men alike grunting and shouting out loudly as she continued to break the atmosphere with her screaming.

You wanted to call out for him, to make sure he was okay, but you were paralyzed in fear. What if you called his name and it distracted him, causing him to really get hurt? But, what if he already was hurt and forgot you were there to potentially call for help?

The fight lasted awhile, before finally the woman's screaming ceased as Peter told her, "Hey, hey! I got them, I got you. It's okay. Everything's okay."

"Peter?" you whispered.

"Everything's okay. It's going to be alright."

He was speaking to you, though he had to phrase it in a way that it sounded as if he were just speaking to her. You didn't believe him that everything was fine, though. It was easy to hear just how winded he was in the way his voice was strained, weaker than before.

Peter was hurt, and you were terrified. His plan was just as stupid as you'd thought it to be. Not because he didn't prove anything to you, because you were happy he'd saved the woman and he had shown you a good thing he did, but because he'd forced you to witness his pain and suffering yet again. You'd had to witness him actually get hurt this time, and the woman's screams still echoed in your ears.

It brought you back to that day. Her screams reminded you of the chaos following the building's collapse, reminded you of how hoarse and sore your throat had been from screaming just like that. Screams of pure horror and panic.

Only after the police finally left, thanking Spiderman for his help, did Peter drop the faux strength and softly whimper, "Shit, that really hurt."

"My window is open."

With that, you hung up and left him to decide what to do by himself.

Your mother quietly knocked at your door, opening it slowly as she poked her head into your room, "Dinner is done if you still want to eat."

Forcing the best smile you could manage, you muttered, "I'm actually not feeling very good. I think I'll just go to bed." You wished you could say you hadn't seen the disappointment written all over her face, clearly let down by you pulling away again, but she nodded nonetheless and shut the door as she trudged away again.

You laid in bed for hours unable to fall asleep, listening to every noise outside with hitched breathe. Was that little knock Peter? Was he at your window? By the time your phone told you it was nearing sunrise, you gave up. He wasn't coming, and you tried to ignore all the horrible thoughts that consumed you.

What if he was so injured he couldn't make it to you? What if he was out on the street somewhere, hurt badly and in need of help? You cursed yourself for hanging up, but you couldn't bring yourself to call him back. It was a strange battle of worry and anger, with anger winning out in the end and stopping you from reaching out.

You were angry at Peter for his stupid plan, causing you to think of all the awful things he seemed to keep at bay during the daytime. You were angry at those men for hurting him. Mostly, you were angry at yourself for being so stubborn. Why were you being prideful and letting the anger stop you from making sure he was alright?

You: are you alive

Peter Parker: yes

Peter Parker: go to sleep

Peter Parker: see you tomorrow?

You: yes. good night.

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@msmimimerton @zendayasfwb @sweet-symphony

[neptunetheplanet7]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱 - 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭

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;mikasa ackerman x fem!lesbian!reader

;modern au, band au

word count: 1.5k

warnings: none!

sorry for the delay on this update. haven’t been feeling well these past two days.

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The repeated buzzing of your phone and the sound of your alarm shoved you out of a comfortable sleep. You had been dreaming about pleasant things before being pulled back into your reality. With your dream forgotten, you grumpily reached out to your sheet-covered phone, fumbling around to untangle the cord from the blankets. Upon its pickup, the bright screen flashed in your face and when your eyes adjusted to the exposure, they widened at what they saw.

Hitch's old contact was displayed in a notification banner from two hours before. "Having fun with your girlfriend?" you mumbled the text aloud. "For your information, I am." You glared at the words onscreen as if Hitch could see you through them. You thought it'd be best not to give her the attention she wanted from you. Irritably, you cleared the notification and tossed your phone on the mattress as you got up and stretched.

You fixed your hair and rubbed the sleep from your eyes before leaving your room with a sour look on your face. However, everything seemed to get a little better when you arrived in the kitchen, seeing your friends laughing together at the island like nothing happened between them.

Mikasa looked so different than the last time you saw her and you couldn't shake it. It wasn't a bad thing. You always thought she was beautiful. Her features had matured and she had a different presence, resulting in a different reaction from you. You could barely look her in the eyes without feeling flustered.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Jean jeered, startling you from your thoughts. Eren snickered as he handed you a cup of coffee.

He lowered his head to whisper in your ear. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." You nearly dropped your mug from his teasing jest.

"I see you still aren't a morning person." Mikasa smiled at you and you felt butterflies begin to rise in your stomach.

You nervously cleared your throat and pulled out the stool next to hers. "I like your hair."

Her eyes shifted to the strands that fell near the front of her face. Color bloomed on her cheeks. "Thank you. It was just in the way when it was long," she said quietly.

Armin approached the kitchen island with his phone in between his shoulder and his ear and his lips pressed into a thin line. He slid a bowl of cereal over to you. You thanked him and he just nodded with a smile before going back to whisper shouting suspiciously into the phone. They went to the other room, leaving you with your bandmates and Mikasa.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Eren pick up his phone and start typing furiously. Jean peeked over his shoulder and grinned. "Reiner? What's he up to?"

The name caught your attention and you looked up from your cereal curiously. "He wants us to go out with everyone again," Eren informed, everyone meaning a bunch of people you went to high school with and somehow ended up friends with all of them.

"Does he know I'm back?" Mikasa asked.

Jean shrugged. "We didn't tell him. Y/n told Sasha and Connie, though."

"Yeah, they're the only ones who know. In our friend group, I mean. We had to tell Hannes since he's the band manager and if you just showed up it'd probably give the poor guy a heart attack. It could be a nice surprise if we don't tell the group and just show up with her, though." Eren schemed.

"That would be so funny! Can you imagine the look on their faces when they see her?" In an attempt to imitate his friends, Jean made eccentric hand gestures and expressions.

"How would we get her in without telling them? If Reiner's planning, he'll need to know who's going to make a reservation," you asked logically, eyebrows furrowing.

Eren's face contorted into a thoughtful expression. He paused for a moment. "I've got it! We just say Y/n is bringing a plus one she wants them to meet," he said casually.

Jean took a large bite of his toast and pointed at Eren. "Sometimes you can be smart," he said with a mouthful of food. Eren looked both disgusted and offended.

You raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have to be the one bringing somebody?"

"It might give them hope of you not staying single forever." Eren gave you a stupid smile while you narrowed your eyes at him.

"I could find someone if I wanted to. You shouldn't be talking. It's not like you've ever been in a relationship," you chided back. He scowled.

"You never know, I might just fuck Floch out of spite." He glared. You laughed in surprise.

"Floch? Really? Even you could do better than that pinwheel." When he heard your insult, Jean snorted into his coffee and accidentally spilled some on his shirt.

"Damn, now I have to wash this shirt again." He groaned and rolled his eyes. Eren let out a boisterous laugh at his misfortune.

"That's what you get for laughing, hoe!"

"Oh, have a little sympathy, Jaeger," he grumbled while Mikasa grabbed a handful of napkins for him.

"Who's Floch?" Mikasa asked with befuddlement.

You whistled. "A real piece of work, that's what he is. He just doesn't stop flirting with me whenever I visit Connie at his job even though I've made it clear I'm not interested."

A sour look etched her features for a split second before she looked down at her empty plate. "Oh."

You frowned and glanced at Jean who was desperately trying to keep his shirt from staining. Eren was still trying to catch his breath as he went back to texting who you assumed was Reiner. Your suspicions were proven correct when he happily announced that everything was set for the dinner taking place that Friday night. Two days away.

He practically skipped into the hallway being followed by an aggravated Jean. You continued eating your breakfast while Mikasa got up started cleaning her dishes. Carefully, you eyed the way she slipped past you and wondered if you should say anything to her. You swiveled around in your seat and asked the question you were sure everyone was wondering.

"Where did you go when you left?"

Mikasa lifted her head and glanced over her shoulder at you. "I told the guys all about it while you were asleep so I'll explain it to you too." You nodded intently as she shifted her body to lean against the sink.

"At first I was just traveling around to see where I fit best. I ended up back in college for a year but none of it felt right, you know? What I love doing is playing in the band with all of you. I wasn't having as good of a time as I would here. I tried convincing myself I wanted to do school but it wasn't working out. I did a lot of thinking and noticed I was only running away from my problems and the people I loved. That's when I decided to come home."

You exhaled softly. Her brief explanation assured you that she wasn't going to leave again. "So you're coming back to the band?"

She looked off and shrugged again. "Hopefully I will. A lot has probably changed with you guys since I left. I haven't performed in a long time. I also haven't been involved with paparazzi for a while, either. It'll be hard getting used to that. Glad to see Hannes still puts up with you all."

You grinned. "Yeah, I don't know how he does it. Especially with Eren's dramatics. That's goood to hear, though. I missed you a lot."

She smiled at you genuinely. "I missed you too. Don't tell the others, but I probably missed you more." She winked and bit her lower lip. You flushed and laughed lightly.

"That's a relief. I was worried it'd be the other way around," you joked. You were glad conversations with her felt much more natural than you had expected. But, then again, this was Mikasa. Everything felt natural with her.

She reached out and fiddled with the ends of your hair, a gesture she used to do often with you. You hadn't seen her do it in a long time and you could feel the heat rushing to your face once again.

"It'll be pretty strange seeing me around so much again, won't it?" Her gray eyes were trained on yours as she continued to mindlessly play with your hair.

"I suppose it will be. I'll just have to get used to it."

posted: 8/30/21

neptunetheplanet7© 2021

no reposts, edits, or modification to my work by anyone other than me.

[lovelywingsart]

Hopeful Future

-- Karl Heisenberg X OC (AFAB, She/They) --

Something short and sweet... This was also one of my favorites to write <3 This is also one of many where you can tell my strong suit is dialogue. ouo'' Anyway, enjoy some more cuteness from them- you'll need it.

**Remember, check out the Masterlist for more! <3 **

-----

*Warning?: Some self doubt, comfort, cuddles, kisses, just being relatively sweet

Summary: The date is set, but Emelia is experiencing a pretty bad case of nerves. She won't say it, but Karl seems to notice, and gives his own form of comfort. The start of a hopeful future has begun, and they can only hope all goes to plan.

The outside building was... quiet, for once, even with the distant sound of machinery. These times were rare, especially recently. Emelia lay cuddled against Heisenberg on the mattress-like cushion kept on the second floor, relaxed enough to almost sleep as her fingers traced over the scars on his chest. His breaths came as low rumbles as he kept his arm under her, curled around her back to tap at her shoulder. She wore his shirt, as always, thoroughly enjoying his warmth and the calm that his 'purring' gave her. So much had gotten done... Planning, construction, even small bits of 'fun' thrown in for a sort of stress relief. Production had increased thanks to recent expansions since the big meeting, and their plan was set once the news of Miranda's discovery of a new vessel had come out. However, due to this, tension, Emelias tension specifically, had been high. She wouldn't admit she was nervous... Especially not to him. Talks of overthrowing or simply killing Miranda had been increasingly common, and the man seemed more ecstatic than usual. Even if he was dead tired, his mood had increased tenfold once he realized just how close they were. Somehow, the thought of that excitement disappearing because of her was something that she found... distasteful.

And so, she stayed silent, heavily preferring to be cuddled against him in what little calm and silence they had. But it still gnawed at the back of her mind, and she unintentionally let out a quiet huff. He took notice, moving his arm slightly under her to simply hold her shoulder. She glanced up at him as he shifted under her head, only to meet a curious gaze.

"Hm?" He hummed quietly, only giving a slight smile as she shook her head and looked away. She wanted to say something... She just didn't know what or how

There was silence for a moment before she quietly spoke up.

"... Karl...?"

He tilted his head, glancing at her once more. "Yes, Emmy?"

"What..." she started, faltering just slightly, "... What will we do? Once Miranda is dead, I mean..."

Her voice held a genuine, scared curiosity as she looked up at him fully. He couldn't help but raise his brows in the slightest bit of surprise. She kept her fingers moving along his chest as she felt him adjust his arm again so he could run his fingers through her currently loose hair. He chuckled.

"Well, we do what we want!" He replied happily, leaning his head back once more. "Once that bitch is dead, I-..." he paused quickly before grinning. "WE will be free. Free to live, free to thrive. We won't be under her thumb. We do whatever the hell we want to do, Emmy."

"Free to live..." she repeated, her fingers mindlessly drifting along his skin. She paused her movements once the words fully settled. Never once did she realize how close freedom was... Not once did she realize exactly what freedom MEANT. The had talked about it from the first few months of her arrival years ago, but the concept now was... odd. "We'll be free... That means..."

"That means you can live a normal life." Heisenberg chuckled, watching her reactions carefully. "It IS what you've wanted, yes?"

Emelia stared at his chest for a moment before suddenly pushing herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the uncomfortable grunt she received as she left the comfort of his arm. She was silent, lifting her right arm and staring at her hand. 'Normal'... Why did the word sound so... impossible now? Sure, her dream of normalcy had stayed with her. But did 'normal' even exist at this point? She was a fucking mutant, for god sakes... She had accepted it years ago, of course, but...

"I can't live 'normally' anymore..." she sighed finally, reaching to rub the back of her neck. There was a small flutter in her chest as if the parasite sensed her silent distress. She could feel Heisenbergs eyes nearly bore holes into her back, turning her head away as she felt him sit up with another grunt. He settled himself into a sitting position, resting an arm over his leg.

"As normally as you can, then." He offered, his voice taking on a lighter tone. He then rolled his eyes with a quiet sigh as she gave a snort of disbelief. She jumped as he reached forward, taking her jaw in his hand and making her face him. "Look at me, Emelia." He said quietly. "We're all a bunch of freaks thanks to that bitch, there's no use being ashamed of it now. But with her dead, the world is OURS! 'Normal' is whatever the hell you make it."

"But the others-"

"Fuck the others!" He laughed suddenly. "They wouldn't know what to do without her direction, they'll fall like useless pawns. And if they don't, they'll scatter like the cowards they are."

Emelia stared at him for a moment with a raised brow before falling back onto the cushion with a huff and closing her eye.

"So you want to rule by yourself, then?" She asked, the slightest bit of amusement in her voice. He looked back at her with a chuckle.

"Well, yes, but not necessarily. We both know what my plans are. But more importantly..." he suddenly twisted himself slightly, leaning over her with his hands on either side of her shoulders. He smirked as a light blush entered her cheeks once she looked up at him, clearly not expecting him to even move. "What do YOU want, Emmy?"

"... What...?" She managed, calming slightly as he tilted his head.

"You're worried about not being 'normal' enough to live that way, and even I know your mind is hard to change. What do you want, then?"

"I..." she started, somewhat stunned. Well, there were a lot of answers to that question... She just didn't expect him to even ask. What DID she want...? He was right... She knew he was. The only issue was, she didn't have an answer for the first time in years. She couldn't have the life she wanted... What the hell COULD she do? She finally sighed, turning her head to the side with her missing eye towards him. "... I don't know..."

"You don't know?"

"N-No, I..." she tried, moving her hand to brush against his just slightly to calm the nerves that had started to show themselves. "I don't have many options."

"And what are the ones you DO have?" He questioned. He shifted his hand for her, allowing her to hold it just slightly. She shrugged.

"Well, I certainly can't return to where I came from before this... If I even knew where to go, that is..." she mumbled, moving her head to look at the room around them. "I'll most definitely be killed if I tried... Or tested on more if caught, god forbid the company remembers me enough to care. Though, I COULD travel..." she said thoughtfully, but she couldn't help but frown slightly at the thought. "... But..."

Heisenberg drew back in interest, arching a brow as she spoke.

"'But'?" He asked, watching her carefully. She shook her head slightly before finally meeting his gaze with a sigh.

"This... This is my home..." she replied quietly, a near sadness in the gold of her eye. "It wouldn't feel right if I left... I'm safe here, and it's not... not lonely. Travelling can't guarantee that."

"I guess that would result in loneliness, wouldn't it?" He asked casually.

She was silent, but nodded. Lonely wasn't exactly what she wanted to be after spending time around others like her now, specifically him. She took a nervous breath and held it for a moment, choosing her next words as carefully as she could. May as well tell him the truth of her thoughts, right...?

"Given the chance, I think..." she started, her voice lowering. "I think I would... stay here." She looked up at him with a slight bit of confidence, meeting his now somewhat surprised expression. "... With you."

She was met with silence before he suddenly let out a genuine laugh, lowering himself onto his elbows for his face to be closer to hers.

"You'd really stay with me, Emmy?" He asked, an amused smile on his face as her face brightened in color. But she soon relaxed, her lips twitching into the smallest smile. She felt much better with this reaction... Much better than she thought she would.

"You're an ignorant twit, Heisenberg..." she joked before chuckling lightly. "But... yes. If... If I could."

She was met with a chuckle from him as he leaned down slightly, his nose brushing against hers.

"Well, of course you can!" He grinned, earning a small laugh. "Hell, if you stay with me, I'll help make life for you normal."

"As 'normal' as possible..." she snorted, though she couldn't keep the smile from her face. The sentiment was... oddly comforting. "You'd really do that for me, Metalhead?"

"Anything for my favorite worker."

"Am I really?"

"Always have been, Emmy."

"Hm... I feel like that's a lie..." she joked, tilting her head slightly. She was met with another chuckle.

"Would I lie to you?" He asked. She shrugged, starting to reach up.

"You hate liars, but that doesn't mean you aren't one..." she replied, her fingers drifting along the scratchy hair of his beard. She felt... calm. Oddly calm, at that... She couldn't have even begun to understand why, even as she stared into the bright pale yellow eyes that she had admittedly, secretly, come to admire. She held his jaw for a moment before tugging him down slightly. He smiled.

"To freedom from Miranda." He said simply, following her movements slowly with a now large grin. Her own smile widened ever so slightly as his lips brushed hers.

"To freedom." She replied, her voice nearly a whisper.

She was met with a surprisingly gentle kiss, letting it settle before fully wrapping her raised arm around his shoulders. She was so used to this... So used to the 'affection'. So used to the quiet and comfort he gave despite the machines around them and even his own personality at times. She felt him chuckle into the kiss as she reached her other arm around his shoulders, and in turn couldn't help herself from doing the same as he pulled away and eased himself into the hug she gave.

"And what was that for?" He asked, amusement in his voice as he moved to press a light kiss against her jaw. She shrugged, a relaxed smile on her face.

"I'm... not sure." She admitted, watching as he propped himself up over her on his elbows once more. "Perhaps that's my 'normal' now..."

"Hm. Well, I hope that counts as the start of a full 'normal' for you from now on..."

Emelia kept her arms around his shoulders, her fingers running along what skin they could reach and tracing over smaller scars.

"Maybe..."

"'Maybe'?"

"You heard me, Metalhead."

Heisenberg laughed again, finally moving to lay down next to her once more and shifting his arm to rest under her head.

"You're always the odd one, Emelia. But please, do me a favor."

She returned to her place on his chest as he shifted, tilting her head slightly.

"Yes, Karl?" She looked up at him, surprised as she was met with a calm smile.

"Never stop smiling." He said simply. While it caught her off guard, she couldn't help but do just that.

"Once this is over with, I won't." She replied.

"You promise?"

She gave a laughing huff, pressing her face to his shoulder.

"Yes."

"Good."

[popculturebuffet]

Scotrospective: Scott Pilgrim Vs the World (The Comic)

Hello, Hello, Hello scottaholics! And what a beautiful day it is: After decades lost in the lost woods, at least it had that catchy tune to keep it company, Scott Pilgrim Vs the World: The Game is FINALLY back and performing for you on all platforms!

Even Stadia, the platform most likely to disappear like this game did for a while! Cheap shots at the stadia aside as a huge fan of the franchise as a whole and of this game who played it back on the 360, and had since sold said 360 so I had no way to get it back or ever play the dlc packs. Seriously who didn’t want to play wallace but never got to? Everyone, everyone is the answer. But with those the entirety of what I consider to be the main cast is playable, it has online so you can beat up hipsters, guys in costumes and robots with your friends, it’s a good damn feeling.  And since i’m in a celebratory mood, naturally i’m also feeling like a review. And since it just so happens the next volume up in my look at the comics is Vs the World, seriously I planned this review for this month without thinking to have it come out on the same day as the game until a week or two in, I felt there was no better way to celebrate the biggest day for Scott Pilgrim fans in some time.. and for Brian Lee O Malley as he’ll stop getting twitter asks about it. So with all the exposition taken care of LAST TIME, and the link right there if your curious, we can jump right in. On with the show!

After our opening titles, and yes this comic has opening titles, with Ramona sitting solmely in the rain. 

And Scott caught in the title. The rain shot is real pretty by the way. But yeah once we get past those we’re taken back 7 years ago. Finn found out his father was an asshole, and voiced by Stephen Root so hey you take the good with the bad, Steven just learned the horrifying truth about Gem Monsters, Guardians of the Galaxy saved the MCU and I was trying to find work after college.. wait... sorry sorry that was 7 years ago from THIS year. The comic came out in 2005, though the comic takes place on a sliding timescale where only like 2 years pass so I dunno when this is. Let’s just say 98.  Okay so 1998: Bill Cllinton’s sex scandal breaks, and puts way too much of hte blame on the young intern whose life came to be defined by one stupid mistake she made with a man who was way older and should’ve known better, the tide of the Monday Night War turned in favor of the WWF as Stone Cold Steve Austin became a household name, and it was an utterly standup year for video game relaases with Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, StarCraft, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, WWF: War Zone, Pokemon Stadium, Spyro The Dragon, Pokemon Yellow, WarioLand 2, Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Pokemon: Trading Card Game and Sonic Adventure. It’s like someone took a good chunk of my childhood and squeezed it into one year holy shit, I did not expect this when looking up what came out in 98. 

And while the movie pool wasn't’ quite this amazing, we still had The Wedding Singer, The Big Lebowski, the dude abides, Batman and Mr Freeze: SubZero, The Truman Show, Mulan, the good one not the one made near concetration camps that makes her into a demigod, Saving Private Ryan, Blade, Simon Birch, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, Rushmore, Bride of Chucky, HalloweenTown, Plesantville, and the Prince of Egypt. And in music Weird Al changed from his first signature look to his second, getting Lasik and growing out his hair. Seirously had no idea that was this year. Good to know. Also Elton John got his knighthood. Super shooters. I could go on with 1998 triva for days but I cannot go on for 8 weeks so let’s get to the point here.. during alllla this  Scott Pilgrim, age 16, was starting St. John’s Catholic School and a couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble. . by threatning to beat him up for no real reason. A fight insues and we cut to the principal’s office as Scott’s still a minor and not allowed to get into death fights just yet under the people’s freedom of choices and voices act. 

It’s here he meets Lisa Miler, a peppy and sarcastic blonde, who’s intrigued by the fact Scott somehow got beat up after being here just 15 minutes and wants to be friends. Naturally for scott next we see him he’s busy playing video games, and annoyed someone else is around and wondering who this person whose now in his basement is. God no wonder teenage me related to him. So for the next few pages we see their friendship in time lapse: Lisa joins him at lunch, then geninely wonders since Scott’s Untentionally a dick if he hates her.. it’s part of why I think Scott has some form of autisim. And not just because I tend to belivie a character is on the spectrum all the damn time, it’s because of the way he acts: while he is nice and charming at times.. he also clearly has trouble relating to people or realizing how his actions effect them and as seen here in a younger form can often be compeltely distanced from normal social queues, not getting how his actions might be seen until Lisa outright talks to him about it. I mean.. it’s not a huge stretch, and it dosen’t mean he’s nto responsible for his own actions, but it does EXPLAIN a lot of them better: why he just sorta forgets about Knives post-ramona but at the same time still cares enough he dosen’t want to hurt her despite you know, that ship sailing just by having moved on. 

But now the two are friends and his parents, who we meet for the first time and sister inquire about her being his girlfirned.. and by next jumpcut his parents apparently don’t want him hanging out with girls? What exactly the fuck? Also they mention Laurence, Scott’s brother whose missing for most of the books and has no real payoff for not being around. Next cut we get KIM!

Thank you Prissy. And she’s.. not all that different, assuming, correctly that their partner project, how she meets scott will just result in her doing all the work.. which not only is how these things usually went when I was in high school a decade later, but reminds me of the time me and my friends curtis and justin were put on a project and when asked who the alied powers were, guessed “Germany?”.... you can understand my fear. And also Curtis punching him for getting nothing done.. and not hard or brutally mind you just once quick in the gut and with full warning. Ah... the adaquate old days. 

So back to Lisa as, since Scott’s Mom has a guitar.. a fact I.. never honestly thought about. Seriously I never realized her children, since the Bass Scott has for most of the books is Laurence’s, getting into music was probably due to her. Also Lisa makes her case for WHY be a band: the school has a regular event called Lunchapalooza, where everyone goes to and since by teen logic, just being in a band is automiacally cool, she figures they can jump from not QUITE being in any cliques to being super cool. Which honestly yeah... while I didn’t know any bands in high school, the fact one of my friends, ironically named Scott, was a DJ automatically made him pretty damn cool once he got past his awkard phase. I never got past mine but somehow was loved by all except that one douchey kid in our group who mocked me for naming my Luxray kim, assuming it was based on Kim possible and not Kim Pine... though frankly how that’s an insult when Kim Possible was a fucking awesome show and character is beyond me but he was just 17 and also a douchebag, it didn’t have to make since it just had to piss off the easily pissed off kid with aspergers. So Scott poses how they can be a band with just their guitars and Lisa concedes drums WOULD help.. I mean it’s what MADE Shallow Gravy. 

So while Kim wonders if Scott is dating Lisa, because teenagers don’t really get girls and boys can be friends without wanting to be together, though not often as teenage boy brains can be rather stupid and horny... can confrim from personal experince. So it becomes clear Scott has a thing for Kim, and when Scott tries broaching it with Lisa she dosen’t take it well and he backpedals to asking her to be her drummer and plans to monday, proving Scott has somehow not gotten better at reading women, or anyone after 7 years. Can relate. 

So yeah he decides to ask Monday, same day as their presentation.. and thankfully missed the bus as he arrives to find the Benvy Tech boys came in, took everyone out and abducted Kim. Because yeah, just in case you were wondering Scott’s life was always like this.. or was it? Questions for later. So one Canadian Version of River City Ransom later, Scott’s made his way to simon... who, since most of you have probably seen the movie or art of the movie.. looks an AWFUL lot like Gideon. Hrmmm. Simon is naturally the final boss here and wonders if this is the best St. Joels can muster. Scott quips back as only Scott can. 

So cue an unsuprisingly awesome actoin sequence. IT’s part of why I love these color editions: While they already LOOKED thoroughly fantastic the added colors really help the series shonen manga meets old school video game vibe REALLY fucking pop. So Simon pleads mercy which like Scott delivering a good quip.. should’ve really been a red flag to younger me and is foreshadowing for later in case I was too subtle. He then does what any noble hero would do.. kicks simon into the sunset, tells Kim how he feels and asks her to play drums. They then make out. Awwww. 

Lisa suprisingly takes it well as the next montage shows.. granted we’ll learn in Feburary she wasn’t QUITE as over scott as it seemed, but the three, along with a friend of Lisa’s whose name I forgot and who DOSEN’T come back so I’m not going to bother learning, form their own friend group, Scott and Kim get an A, and Scott, Kim and Lisa’s band is dubbed sonic and knuckles, which is an objectively awesome band name. Something the series really does great: Video Game Based Band Names. Crash and the Boys, Sex Bomb-Omb, Clash at the Demonhead... we need more bands like this in the real world dammit. So then they play their big game, the two loose their vrigniity.. and then Kim asks scott “your moving to tornoto?” And.. for now.. that’s that. 

While the framing of that will be VERY important in the last volume, as notice how KIM’S the one who brings it up and it’s not explicitly stated scott actually told her, this flasback is great. While it does contribute to the volume’s drifty pacing, more  on that as we go, it brilliantly sets up a LOT of stuff for later, paticuarlly Lisa who I assumed wouldn’t be back and younger me’s jaw fucking DROPPED when she popped up in Volume 4. Granted i’m spoiling that suprise for you now but odds are most of you reading this have either alreaddy read these or were probably wondering if the girl from the animated short ever had any actual relevance in the books. So yes, yes she does. She’s also the pink haired girl you see pop up in the game in the background, as a nod to O’Malley’s comic strip style which had her and Kim as the leads.  Also yeah for fans of the game or movie or even the comics who were unaware.. this prologue got an animated adaption on adult swim to promote the movie. Naturally Micheal Cera and Allison Pill reprised their roles as Scott and Kim, with Mae Whitman voicing lisa.. and honestly being perfect for the roll, and Jason Schrwartzman voicing Simon naturally. While the animation is slightly limited, it still looks decent and expertly translates O’Malley’s art, while sliming things down slightly where needed to fit a short, and the anmation takes a huge bump for the fight scene which like the comic is short but awesome. While it has no real bearing on the film as Kim’s former relationship with Scott never really comes up or has any impact, as the Film while good was based primarily on volumes 1-3 with small pieces of 4 (paticuarlly the iconic “Lesbians gag”), with Wright working off outlines and drafts of 5 and 6, so the last half hour or so is mostly Wright’s invention. 

Not a bad thing as it’s still awesome and not o’malley’s fault but it means kim dosen’t get to do much, and is a big reason why I want an adaptation on netflix or hbo max. While i’d still want changes both because there’s no sense doing an adaptation if your not going to make some tweaks of your own and because it’d be intresting to update the series to modern day, both in societal conventions and so everyone stops saying the r word. Seirously the most telling sign of the series age is that word showing up quite a bit during the first half of the series. Point is there is merit in doing another remix of the story and doing a longer form one so we can get more of the characters, as well as flesh out ones like Steven, Neil (Who was done WAY better in the movie adaptation thanks to the wonderful Johnny Simmons), and Stacey who got the shaft in the books. Again, not slagging off the movie, it’s really great. Just saying there’s always room for more Scott Pilgrim content and we all know it. 

We’ll get back to the comic proper, and the present day of 2005, after the cut. 

So the story proper opens with Scott dreaming of playing video games... because of course he is with Ramona walking in. and finding it charmingly pathetic but wanting her boyfriend to you know, get out of bed. It’s 11:30.  So with Scott’s ass out of bed, we find Scott, Age 23 idiot with a heart of gold and Wallace, 25 king of all gays, on the bus as they talk it getting warmer and Lucas Lee, movie star and jason lee stand in coming to town to film a movie.. and Scott being Scott gets him confused for Luke WIlson. He’s also seen Bottle Rocket which.. good on him. Seriously while not wes anderson’s best film, those were made long afte this comic was published, it’s still a damn good one.. where was his career at this point... looking it up life aquatic was his most recent films and is still one of my favorites. So yeah he was in a good place career wise. 

Scott proudly talks about having Ramona over in a couple days so she can see his place and meet Wallace. But as explained by Wallace for those of us just tuning in, he already met her last volume. You know during that time Stacey thought she could magically make her date not be attracted to someone else.. and yes even almost a month later not letting that one go. Stacey should know better. Not saying i’ts right Wallace keeps poaching her boyfriends, but she still shoudlnt’ try and force a relationship with a guy or even finish a date with one who makes out with someone else, regardless of gender, mid date. She deserves better. In general not just in this one scenario but we’ll get to that. 

Point is while Scott, as usual, is a bit pissy about this Wallace.. has no time for that and issues an ultimatium

And he’s not bluffing, as he fully intends to tell Ramona the minute she walks in the door if he dosen’t break up with Knives. It really shows Wallace off at his best and why he’s Scott’s closest friend: Kim and Stephen do care about him but Kim both has a LOT of unresolved issues and sexual tension with him and keeps eveyrbody including Scott at arm’s length. And Stephen.. while he will OCASIONALLY call Scott out mostly just enables him, either ignoring his college buddy’s shittier behavior or playing along with it and backing him up when Kim rightfully calls him on being a dickhead. While both love their friend they just aren’t the best at dealing with his shit or getting why he does the things he does good and bad.  Wallace on the other hand geninely likes Scott. He’ll lock him out of the house and tell him to sleep elsewhere so he can bang one out, he’ll not wear pants if he dosen’t have to and he’ll certainly hit on Scott just to get a rise out of him, phrasing.. but he also genuinely cares for the guy’s well being. He lets him sleep in their house basically rent free since scott has no money, buys most of their stuff, and is, as we’ll see in this one, the ONLY one of his friends to take an active part in the fight against the exes, training Scott and researching his opponents when he can get info. He won’t baby Scott as seen here, but he will help him, and he will be the harsh voice of reason his friend needs.  And he did TRY doing a softer approach last time, simply telling scott to break up with his fake high school girlfriend. Scott had every chance to dump Knives during the last third of the first book.. it’s just a combination of both Knives and Ramona being in the same place and Scott getting panicky meant he balked. He NEEDS to be pushed into leaving Knives or he’s not gonna. And he also gets it’s not just Scott being a shifty coward: Scott DOES like Knives.. he just found someone who actually challenges him, intrests him and connects with him on his level, versus someone who worships and adores him like a puppy who just happens to be skilled with knives. The relationship with Knives. was an ego boost, an unequal paring that gave Scott the illusion of moving on from Envy. Ramona is him ACTUALLY moving on and given how badly Envy fucked him up, which comes into play in this book and the next, Wallace recognizes that Scott does need her... but this relationship can’t go anywhere if Scott is seeing someone else, and they both know it. Wallace is just the one who’s willing to do something about it to force scott to do something about it. He’s doing this for Knives too: it’s very clear he cares about the girl, was against this from the start, and knew this was going to end in pain and the faster Scott rips off the Band-Aid the faster she can move on to someone closer to her age and far more equal to her. Scott.. takes this about how you’d expect, even calling Double Standard, as Wallace does sleep around.. and while Wallace will be a homewrecker to Stacey.. otherwise it’s not remotley the same. Wallace does his sleeping around either casually or when he does get a partner, with their consent from what we can tell. He never cheats or anything, he just likes to bone. So yeah Scott doesn’t have a leg to stand on and acts accordingly. 

One of my faviorite gags in the series and one that’s etched in my head for keeps. So with a justified Ultimatium over his head Scott calls knives to hang out. Knives.. shows off that as adorable and trusting as she is.. she’s also kind of creepy and shows up just outside the phone booth he’s calling her from.  So the two go to a record store and Knives tries to get Scott into Clash at the Demonhead, her faviorite band. But since i’ts you know, headlined by Scott’s ex as we’ll find out, he’s not into it. But before that can get awkward.. it gets awkward in another way as Knives invites Scott to dinner at her parents place. Which is an objectively bad idea even before you get into the fact Scott wants a way out and as Volume 4 will show us her dad is both not happy with the idea of her dating a white guy and willing to use a katana to prevent it so he dodged a bullet there. Scott TRIES weasling out of it, but his “I’m too old for you” thing falsls on deaf ears.. and actually explains why she thinks this is normal: her parents are 9 years apart. of course obviously two consenting adults with a decade between them is a mite bit diffrent than 5 years between a teenager whose taking this way too seriously and a grown man whose taking this not seroiusly at all and dosen’t get how effed up this is. But Knives is too naive to get that, and papers over any possible concerns about her parents not wanting her to date a white guy with i’m in love.  Seeing that he has no EASY way out of this, as he shouldn’t, Scott just rips off the band aid and bluntly breaks up with her, saying it’s not going to work out. Knives.. is clealry devistatd. To her this was a serious relationship.. and Scott realized that too late.. and thankfully while he didn’t break up with her in the best way, at all, simply syaing i’ts not going to work out and confirming to her he means it, it’s clear from his face this hurts to do and he knows he’s REALLY hurting her and REALLY shoudlnt’ of dated her to begin with. IT’s why Scott dating a teenager dosen’t make him a morally rephrenisvie monster: because he was genuinely intrested, didn’t use her sexually, and there are tangible consequences for his actions. Knives just dosen’t disappear neatly into the sunset so he can be with ramona. The rest of the series covers her emotoinal recovery from being with Scott, and how she very horribly handles it and that’s why this plotline works at all: she’s not some act one contrivance to be thrown away, sh’es a human being, and more than that a young woman who got hurt REALLY bad and got way too in over her head with someone who just..wasn’t the one fo rher no matter how much she can’t admit that. 

We also get one of my faviorite sets of pages as Scott relfects on things and the sheer devistation on Knives face, which credit to a series that even at this early point loves it’s big bold facial expressions.. her’s being more subded just makes it sting MORE. 

This bit to me is vital to keeping Scott sympathetic and to his character. We see he really does regret what happened, dosen’t know how to process it and genuinely feels awful. As I said instead of some exgerated face that would still hurt him.. her face is quiet, clearly unable to process this and clealry lost and hurt.. and that hurts more than any fuck your or sobs he was probably expecting. Just her clearly not getting WHY he’s doing this or why he hurt her, and he KNOWS why he just knows telling her the truth would hurt her even more. But.. as he thinks.. his thoughts move to something else.. and the WHY of why he did this. 

He did it for Ramona. Wallace was as harsh as he was right: he needed a clean slate to actually give this relationship a shot and the smile comes off less as him being a calous dick whose just happy to move on, I mean he is a little, but more jus tsomeone READY to finally move on. He found the right person, he let the wrong one go if clumsily.. he has a future to look forward to and he can smile about that. 

Granted he’s still his usual unteitonally callous self and his way of telling his friends he and knives broke up is to casually say so and say “dont’ worry you’ll meet my new girlfriend soon.” Their reaction.. is my own. 

Look just because Scott is a nuanced douchebag dosne’t stop him from being a Douchebag. It just means he isn’t intolerable to watch and you actually care about him growing as a human being is all. 

So with that out of the way, it’s date night and Ramona is coming over.. also Scott is considering calling her Ramy which no. I'm genuinely in favor of a pet name that’s just a variant on someone’s name but a bit cute, as it’s just the right level of obnoxious, but no, just no Scott. No.  Ramona enters, meets Wallace again and sits down while Scott tries to shoo him out.. because turnabout is fair play bitch. They also see Ramona’s new hair as she dyes it something new for the first time, in this case a very lovely two tone, the purple from last volume but with a darker purple bellow it. I honestly wish she went for multiple colors in her hair again, but likely didn’t since the book was originally in black and white... which still dosent’ make sense as it would’ve been EASIER that way. Regardless Wallace makes himself scarce proving that he’s more than willing to be equal in terms of one of them spending the ngiht elsewhere. What a guy. 

Ramona finds out a few things about Scott: That his apartment is VERY small, just one room with a bed, a cabinet, a small kitchen and a bathroom, which despite what scott says I REALLY dont’ count as another room. Just common sense. She also learns that he can COOK. Yeah while you’d expect Scott to just get a wad of “I did the ultimatum thing okay now gimme” money and buy dinner but no.. he made the whole thing himself from his own recipe.  And once we cut to them eating on the floor.. turns out yeah he not only can cook but is REALLY good at it. She wishes there was a table which, small as the place is.. fair point. I mean at least get some tv trays. You have chairs. Or at least the easy chair. You can get nice padded folding chairs so you have a second chair guys. I know your poor but come on. Also Scott leanrs bread makes you fat. Good stuff. Also Scott freaks out when , while making out with Ramona in bed later, she mentions his hair’s getting kinda long and could use a cut... which turns out to be a thing for him. He isn’t an ass about it he just panics a bit because he’s partially convinced his last relationship’s nightmarish breakup was because of a bad haircut he got. As we’ll see next week, that’s a no but as someone whose a touch neroutic myself I get blaming a larger issue on something trivial. 

So we then get to the next chapter where it’s KIM’S turn to have a dream.. and the only time we see someone else's dreams. Honestly.. I really would’ve liked if it was a recurring device, even have Ramona pop into other people’s Not used ALL the time but I could easily see it being used with Knives to convey her obsession with Scott and her pain or kim again to help move her plots along or Wallace because I want to know what’s going on in his head. It must be a maze of male gentalia and fine liquor the likes of which has never been seen. It’s scotts funeral as Simon killed him and Scott’s corpse wonders if she dreams about this a lot. 

So we see her get ready and wake up her roomate Sarah whose a bitch. And as we’ll see in one of the backups, so’s the rest of her roommates. So drifting into work. Hollie is a character I really liked... the past tense will be explained later. And the first scene is probably why as her and Kim banter effortlessly, with Kim suggesting maybe she was a happy kid... only to admit quickly no she wasn’t, she was pretty withdrawn and then pretty angsty over someasshole who will be named Scott. “Your a holy terror kim, and i’m glad your on your side”> It’s a short scene but the kind this series excells at: just realistic, fun little exchanges bursting with character. I also GENUINELY wish we got more of this kind of thing, as only Knives really gets these kind of scenes to herself for the most part. There ARE scenes without Scott, but not enough like this that just give us as look into what his friends lives are like during the moments they aren’t putting up with his dumbassery or watching him engage in mortal combat. It’s why i’ve been hoping a spinoff will happen even though it likely won’t SOON. I’m sure O’Malley will return to this world some day, but between Snotgirl and Wicked World, which will come out when it’s ready but should be good.. he’s just really busy. But i’d love to see more of Kim.. or Wallace or Knives. The latter two are a no brainer: Knives is the tritagonist of the books, and it’d be intresting to see what she’d be like 5 years at the book, at the same age and stage in life as Scott. And with Wallace it’s because we really DON’T see his friend circle, life or what goes on with him. We hear him talk about a new boyfriend, who we don’t meet until near the end of the series, though you can see him in stage 3 of hte game if your curious, we see him with some random friends in volume 4, but we really don’t KNOW what hyjinks and lojinks wallace gets up to. He’s pretty isoalted from the rest of the main cast, something I hope an adaptation could fix as while realistic i’td be curious to see what his relationship with Kim or Steven would be like. Just food for thought. 

Point is this was a good scene. But as is typical for Kim’s life just when she has some serenity her ex crashes back in. In this case Scott needs to rent some movies, kim works at a rental store and god teenage me really wanted a clerks style spinoff.. but enough spinoff talk. Scott asks kim to bororw them, of course and explains he’s training for his fight with Lucas.. which Kim reacts to finding out her second best friend is in a series of death matches. 

She has understandable questions such as how the hell doe she know that and is he stalking Lucas and just hoping he’s an ex.. which let’s face it would be a very scott move. But nope Wallace told him, likely learning in an interview he dated Ramona or is coming for scott because he knows everything. We also get one of my faviorite exchanges when Kim wonders why Wallace and Scott are roomates.. a valid question he deflects by saying i’ts a long story. 

Also yeah, as much as casting Micheal Cera backfired for the movie.. that panel there proves there wasn’t another choice at the time. When you want a loveable, somewhat douchey, but also somewhat innocent and oblivious slacker.. who you gonna call. Also before we move on.. Kim.. how are you this suprised. You were there for the fight with Matthew. And Ramona giving out the exposition on why he’s there.. and you even did that whole weird space channel 5 thing no one ever did agian and to this day I will never understand what O’Malley was going for and only know the refrence by hearing that’s what it was. Point is you shouldn’t be this suprised.  Anyways we next cut to Ramona and Stacey, as Ramona enters her workplace, second cup, and they talk and Scott’s spider sense goes off... 

I mean it’s just a bad feeling but still.. weird. WE’ll get back to that later. Scott is in the middle of his training.. and I love the mentor side of Wallace and feel it didn’t get used enough as the series went on. As said before he cares about Scott, so he serves as his Shounen Mentor and a great one: he’s stern and makes Scott work, but he also gets his student and what Scott needs to work. I just wish he’d taught Scott some actual combat, but as we see Wallace’s combat skills boil down to yelling useless info from the sidelines.. I mean he can be useful, we’ll see that next week, it’s just he’s not an action guy. But spirtually he’s the guy scott needs to kick his ass into shape. That being said his “training” consists of watching Lucas’ movies, playing tony hawk and when Scott wants to play more Tony Hawk, having Scott do pushups while Wallace plays Tony Hawk.  Before we turn... there is an elephant in the room I just gotta shoo out: Lucas.. is easily the worst setup of the 6 exes. Patel SEEMINGLY comes out of nowhere but his letter and email hint SOMETHING is coming up, and his flashy dynamic entry intro is damn cool and is what turns the series on it’s head, from an indie comic about a guy getting it together.. to that but with huge shonen dustups with epic visuals. Todd is introduced masterfully here, and is a presence from the start of volume 3 as a result, Roxie gets a slight tease in the free comic book day issue, and her not attacking for two months not only sets up tension but allowed for a red herring.. im’ not only hiding that the fourth ex is a she because anyone whose seen the movie or played the game knows the fourth ex is a woman. The cat’s out of the bag, no sense hiding it. The Kentangis show up pretty early on and Gideon is hinted at and built up, as this towering, mysterious figure, his relationship with Ramona, who he is, why he set up the league, and just how fucking strong he is is all obscured, with his only four apperances simply teasing the big final showdown and giving him that much more mysitque. 

Lucas.. is just sorta intorduced like “Hey I gotta fight this guy”. There’s just.. nothing. Scott’s just gotta fight him because he’s next up and Wallace knows that because plot convience. It’s VERY lackluster given what comes before.. and frankly while I like Lucas, he’s the weakest plot and character wise. HE’s not even really EVIL, just a sellout and is more doing this because he has to I guess, and likely because of stuff we find out in Book 6 but sssssshhhhh. We’ll get more into that when the fight happens but it’s one of the books weakest points. The evil ex.. just feels like an afterthrought again despite there being no reason to. Thankfully this would never happen again as I said, but it dosen’t make this any less frustrating. 

So we cut to Sex Bomb-Omb practice, and after that we get more tease for Clash at Demonhead. And Stephen.. is cool with them and entirely happy one of them made it, while Scott is understandably pisssed off about it and not happy one of his best friends is you know, promoting the band of his ex who broke his heart and as we’ll get more into next time, said rising career is what tore them apart. So yeah Stephen’s a dickhead, and I was wrong last time that he got better. He really.. dosen’t. He gets less CREEPY.. but out of the main 6 characters he’s the weakest: he dosen’t have much of an arc, does some very questionable shit in the second half, and his being around means we have to suffer through Julie. I’ll tear into him more on a case by case basis but for once Scott’s not overreacting. While Kim does nothing she also has no idea just HOW bad things were and Scott won’t tell her. Stephen was there the whole fucking time. He just saw Scott’s rebound with a teenager. He knows he was kind of messed up after this. Dosen’t justfiy knives but still he looses the moral high ground he tries to have at times. 

So while Scott shops a song for Ramona to her, Knives calls Scott’s place clearly setting up another suprise apperance. Wallace.. figures out what sh’es doing quick and simply gives her a stern “You have to go” And to me it’s not him being a dick.. he’s both trying to save her from seeing Scott with Ramona and fucking her up worse... and is looking out for her. She needs to move on and moving up to stalking Scott’s not going to help that. Scott dosen’t WANT her anymore, and while he handled it bad, Wallace gets she needs to see that. Granted he could’ve you know explained it to her and tried talking, but as i’ve said he’s not a perfect person and he was also on a time table to get her out of there in case Scott you know, showed up with his new girlfriend and made things a billion times worse. And the two are indeed headed to his place to watch one of Lucas’ movies, and part of that weak setup is that Ramona.. just has no connection with him. It was high school. Scott also pretends he dosent’ remember his. You are a lying liar sir stop that.  So they watch the film together hanging out, and it’s.. really bad. The good one was rented out. I miss rental stores.. a magical time. I mean i’ts better now, streaming means 80% of movies are avaliable if you have a bunch of services and even if you just have netflix or hulu or hbo max, you still get a pretty decent selection each month. Plus digital rentals are super easy. Do miss redbox though. I mean it’s still there I’m just warry of something that relies so heavily on touching things in a state with a lot of trump morons. You CAN get Covid twice and I don’t wanna. Also we get some dated Dialouge as Scott commenting on Lucas being hot, he is good taste Scott, is given a “good job convincing me your not gay”. He and ramona end up having sex though so .. yay? I dunno. The series has a really weird thing about not getting bisexuals exist and as someone whose bi, and really against bi errasure it bothers me, it bothers me a lot. Though given O’Malley apparently has not only far more queer rep in snotgirl but a bisexual lead, he’s clearly learned so i’m not going to drag him too hard on this. It was the early 2000′s. People were pretty damn stupid about this. Creators have gottten MUCH more important issues much worse. 

So the next morning, Scott gets a call from his well meaning but ditzy mom, and reacts like you’d expect. His parents are in Europe to keep them out of the action and what not. Though apparently according to the last book his mom did read volume 3 at least. Or Wallace told her about the relevant bit. You make the call. 

So i’ts Ramona’s turn to meet Sex Bomb-Omb. The group hang out and discuss Gordon Downie. 

Look I don’t know indie bands. I have no idea who the tragically hip are I just know the name is really hipstery. We also get the recipe for Vegan Shepards Pie. None of them are vegan they just wanted to try it and I.. really want to make this some time. Just to see if it’s any good. But yeah it’s in general a fun casual scene, as Kim reveals she and Scott dated, just to break the tension, and Scott tries out Rammy but quickly backpedals. Just fun slice of life stuff. Oh and Knives is watching them from the window and takes Scott dating someone else as well as you’d expect. 

So she gets some hair bleach to do some highlights and calls her friend Tamara over. We met her last volume as she dragged her along to the show, but it’s here we really get to know what she’s like.. i.e. the sane one in the duo, rightfully pointing out Scott’s not that great. Also Knive’s points out ramona’s “fat”, which is thankfully portrayed as petty sniping as while Ramona does have some curves it’s you know.. not remotely a bad thing and the kind of thing a teenage girl would harp on. Still she’s just in STEPS from this happening. 

But yeah.. it’s clear here Knives has some underlying issues to address and really needs therapy  not to go after her ex’s current girlfriend with knives. I mean it’s in the name but still. Then again volume 4 has her dad going around with a katana or something like it wanting to murder her daughter’s older ex boyfriend he dosen’t realize is ex so it’s clear her whole FAMILY needs some therapy. But this does round her out and show there’s more to her.. a pretty violent and obessive side sure, but it shows she wasn’t just some one dimensional ego boost for scott but a person. One whose just as flawed as the rest of the cast.. but more sympatheic because they’ve all got about 6 or 7 years on her and at this age that’s a lifetime. And while Scott DID set this off by dating her which was objecitvely a bad idea... the rest of this isn’t remotely on him. He handled things BAD.... but all he wanted was for both of them to move on. Knives.. simply can’t admit Scott is not a nice person, was probably two timing her as Tamara points out, which as we know he 100% was, and is not some perfect guy she can’t replace: like Knives.. he’s just a person with faults and she’s too blind to see that. 

So before we can get to the crazy stalker ninja fight, let’s instead get to Scott and Ramona hanging out where we meet Gideon, Ramona’s Cat who i’ll call Cat Gideon, both because I love steven unvierse and because it’s less confusing. This is a pretty slight scene as Ramona admits not a lot happened with Lucas and Scott’s apartment is a hole.. which yeah, yeah it is. Also she DEFINTLY dind’t cheat on him with any cocky pretty boys. Which would come off worse if it wasn’t for the pact Ramona was clearly doing it out of regret and Scott just liked like 50 pages ago about rembering his exes when one of them is his second best friend.. which neither would admit but you know it’s true. Stephen is third where he belongs. 

So next morning it’s fight time, and Scott is glad wallace is going with him. It’s awkard going to fights alone. Which leaves me to wonder if before this comic Scott just.. fought random guys letterkenny style. Like they’d call up, schedule it and then he and one or more of his friends would go beat up a guy. It’s just.. hilarious knowing that this kind of thing is common in canda minus the ki attacks , flash effects, wizards, vegan psycics, ninjas, and roboticists. But damn I now want a scott pilgrimized letterkenny now more than ever. You know you do too don’t deny it. I”d love to see the hard right jay fight but iwth a loud “KO!” when he gets his ass knocked out. Also Casa Loma is a very real, very cool Toronto location, as I never realized as a kid, to the point that the lucas fight was filmed there for the movie. 

So Scott approaches Lucas a bit star struck and upon finding out scott is.. punches him out as seen in the header image and throws him into a tower. When Scott regains conciousness, Kim and Neil have arrived and Lucas calls a time out. And it’s here we get to, while being the weakest of the 7, why I like Lucas.. he’s actually a pretty nice guy. At WORST he sold out. But the two have a pretty nice conversation over ritz and baby carrots, with it turning out, unsuprisingly Ramona did cheat on him with a cocky pretty boy, and while like Ramona he’s clearly moved on, it still hurts a bit and understandably so. He also warns scott while she might seem nice i’ts an act. 

I mean it isn’t ALL an act, but she does have a tedency to put up walls and act pretty badly as we’re slowly finding out.. though given Scott does the exact same it only means.. she’s human. She’s not MUCH higher above him in terms of morality and this is where we get our first peaks into the fact the series isn’t just about Scott’s development but hers. But it’s understandably absent from volumes 1 and 2 since we need to know her first, and this volume is about getting to know her a bit and get a feel for who she is, something I ddin’t really get a grip on as a teen, but do now. We see more of who she is good and bad as the walls go down. She’s more SURFACE LEVEL functional than scott, but beneath it has a lot of the same exact issues.  Lucas and Scott continue to GENUINELY bond, as Scott genuinely thinks the guy is talented and Lucas want’s an Oscar this year.. maybe not for the current film which is a romantic comedy with a teen star but hey, stars have done far worse in their Oscar years. I mean at least he’s not making a comedy about himself in a fat suit domestically abusing himself in a wig while he also plays an asian sterotype. He explains he almost didn’t get into the league but felt too important to ramona’s past.. plus he looks cool. Plus they let Patel in despite barely being in a relationship with her and being kind of a tool so they kinda had to let the handsome affiable movie star in. Scott wonders “wait league” and Lucas is understandably frustrated to find out Patel just sent a letter Scott didn’t read.. and at Matthew let’s be clear. I mean.. Gideon has to have known Scott wouldn’t read that since he’s been in his head. We’ll get to that in part 6. Point is they formed a league, hence why their organized enough to come after him like this and Scott understandably glares at Wallace for you know, having him play tony hawk and watch movies yet missing the fucking obvious clue they were all working together and they were only coming at him one at a time by choice. 

Lucas offers to just.. take a bribe and SAY Scott beat him, Scott calls him a sellout jokingly and Lucas proves that while not AS bad as the rest of the League, he’s still a dick by telling him to kiss ramona’s sweet ass goodbye pilgrim. Okay either he’s seen her since high school or he’s fondly remembering a high schooler’s ass. Neither one is nice to think about. But Scott gets out of his ass beating by pointing out a ramp, real thing too used for the movie, and asking him to skate down it. Lucas says i’ts impossible, and Scott just whistles. So Lucas tries skating the impossible and dies via velocity. Yes really. Scott collects his change and gets a gift, a mytryil skateboard he.. can’t use because he dosen’t have a proficency for it and bemoans not picking it up in 5th grade. Also he didn’t get his autograph. He does get some coins though so neat.   Yeah I mentioend Lucas was the least of the exes and I stand by it: He’s an intresting character, not a GREAT person but clearly a charming and nice enough guy who likely offered the bribe not because he’sd a sell out but because he genuinely liked scott, and is easily the best adjusted of the exes. But obviously a near non existant setup and a really hilarious and unsastifying finish just.. don’t really feel sastsifying. I mean i’t slampshaded, but after all the build up of her having 7 evil exes, the next one is just..filler. Not BAD, but not really anything special and giving Scott a an early pokemon victory, but unlike ash having done nothing to really DESERVE it.  Thankfully both adaptations so far VASTLY improved on this. While Lucas is still affiable in the movie he’s also smarmy, if on better terms with Ramona, saying “he seems nice” after the tower throw and throwing in some stunt doubles. His fight goes from one of the least satisfying and weakst of the series, to easily one of the best of the movie. We’ll talk about that more there but obvious Chris Evans version is far superior, keeping the good traits while giving us an intresting fight.. and still keeping the skateboard death because it’s fucking hilarious and the movie improves on THAT too by having scott give flat wows as he slowly dies. The game likewise keeps teh skateboard death, if shortening it, and the skateboard, and while not changing his apperance does make him a hell of a tough boss. Took three tries and some online grinding to take him out. Still a hell of a fight. Point is while I genuinely like Lucas story wise.. this just dosen’t work for me and is pretty damn weak, even if it gives us some godo character insight we could’ve got that, and a fight and still had the finish we did. 

That being said.. we DO get a fight instead, likely why the Lucas fight was so truncated. Next chapter and that evening or the next day or whatever, we pan over the real life tornto refrence library. It is a VERY nice touch thatt the comic and it’s adpations use either real places in toronto or reasonable subsittues. While not canadian myself I love the place and hope to visit Tornoto some day when the world isn’t a living nightmare and it’s really nice that like New York for Marvel, Brian Lee O malley really makes the city feel integral to the comic, like it’s own character. But Knives is ominously perched above.  At second cup Scott is horrified to find Julie. Seconded. Julie takes the moment to give out to scott about him dating Ramona despite telling him no. Okay... 

Yeah as you can probably guess I don’t like Julie. She’s not a good character. The movie did her better, with the bleeping gag and aubrey plaza’s performance, but in the comic.. she’s just the worst. She sucks bad. If she were an ice cream flavor she’d be pralines and dick. While she’s fine on OCCASION, and actually works in the next volume, outside of that she just gets more unplesant, more unlikeable, more bitchy, more unfathomabbly assholish every. damn. volume. I”ll give out about that a bit then too but I have to put up with her for the entire damn comic. Now her being bitchy to Scott is fair to a point: Scott is a mess, and she’s loyal to Envy in the breakup, and Scott’s own friends drag him on a daily basis.  The problems are that she’s like that to EVERYONE, even Knives who isn’t about to stab her much as i’d like that. She’s unberable to Stephen whose tolerance for her is unfathomable, though the ending bits of volume 6 show maybe he just has terrble taste. She’s just a throughly unplesant, social climbing bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone. And it sticks out badly against the main cast; Scott is very bad with women and relating to people, but is also nice, charming and most of the damage he does is not intetional. Ramona puts up walls to keep others out but is also a responsible adult and often cuts through Scott, and at times others, internal bullshit. Wallace is an alcholic, but still a very responsible, very loveable guy who clearly cares about scott and supports him finacially and emotionally. Kim is VERY emotionally distant, very misntrhopic.. but also a good person who as we see as the series goes, has an inner light to her and often drags on Scott because she’s been putting up with his shit the longest and WANTS him to be better. Knives is an obessive and violent stalker.. who was also deeply hurt by an older man, dosen’t GET that her realtionship with scott was wrong and uneven, and is clearly not emtoinallyr eady for the deep feelings she’s having. And Stephen.. well he’s a talented guitarist but also enables scott and julie. Especially him enabling Julie. 

Point is their all pretty well rounded, llikeable characters with flaws. Julie.. is just an ass. And this scene demonstrates that with flying colors. While Scott does ignore her because he’s too worried about his sister and girlfriend becoming friends, understandably given Stacey knows all his dark secrets, Julie spends two pages giving out and treating scott like some bad guy for persuing Ramona against her orders. And i’m going to break down why.. this dosen’t work.. on any level for her.  1) Ramona is not Julie’s property. She’s a big girl with her own free will. They aren’t even remotely close: Julie met her only barely before Scott, and given the dream thing probably not even that. And you could say Julie is just looking out for her... she dosen’t know Ramona well enough to KNOW if Ramona is still smarting over Gideon. She probably was.. but she readily, once the awkwardness passed, went out with scott and dove right into the relationship. While there’s still some scars as we’ll see.. she CHOOSE to move on and that’s her choice. If she wasn’t ready, she woudl’ve turned him down or broke it off by now realizing it was a mistake.  2) Scott has no reason to listen to her. She hates his ass, somewhat justifably but still, she hates him and has been against him since fucking colllege. She took his exes side in the breakup despite Envy still being partly in the wrong but paints him as some abusive dickhead and not just an insesntive dickhead. To him he’s just some villian she needs to reign in for her cool friend who wants nothing to do with her and grows to justifably hate her over time. Scott and Julie TOLERATE each other. They are not friend,s they do not like each other and never will. They are around each other because of Stephen. That is it. If Kim , Wallace or Stephen had asked, or at least made him wait for kinves. he probablyw ould’ve or at least considered it since while they take the piss out of him, they genuinely care about him and actually have shown they care about something other than themselves! Speaking of which the cou de gras 3) She’s a selifsh bitch: She is NEVER not  in any volume seen as out for anyone but herself, and thus scott has no reason to trust her judgement. She berates Stephen, him and anyone who will listen, is only so loyal to envy because she’s famous, and as I said treats EVERYONE like dogshit.  And given Scott is still a very flawed guy.. it takes a LOT for him to be so right and he runs out screaming when Julie mentions her.

So back at the library, Ramona brought Stacey along because the place is a maze. Scott calls Stephen and calls julie evil.. which given the last two paragrahs. Yeah. She is. She really is. But that goes nowhere as he dosen’t have Stacey’s number. He also thinks Julie was responsible for this which while she’s very much not.. would it REALLY be that suprising that if Julie were there she would’ve introdcued the two and set up their little hangout just to piss scott off? God I’m  so sick of talking about her. 

So the two after dropping off Ramona’s package decide to hang out a bit.. not long as Ramona’s got shit to do, but hey I agree with her logic i’m curious about this palce too. But before they can go up an elevator Ramona spots incoming.. and thus we get the fight of the volume. Though given the next one has two climatctic fights and one or two before that, they easily could’ve had both.. this is still the highlight of the volume.  So Ramona snaps off a railing and before Stacey can give out about that she finds out WHY as Knives attacks with a pair of sais. And O’Malley did his homework as while you’d THINK it was just another dumb white person mistake.. O’Malley is asian, thoughw ether he’s candaian korean or canadian chineses, as his last name is korean but he has a large chinese cast in this very comic that might come from experince, I do not know and if you do know tell me. I’d like to refer to him properly as I don’t LIKE lumping all asian cultures into one basket. But not only that he did his home work, as Sai’s, while popularized in Okinawa Japan, were also used in other countries. I bring this up since I assumed it was just a simple mistake even knowing Brian was mixed-race, and was plesantly suprised to fine that know, I was the moron. And i’m fine with admitting that. 

So we get a damn good fight.. and Knives figures out Scott WAS cheating on her. Granted she assumes so due to seeing Ramona at the refrence Library, before he actually cheated and clearly blames Ramona for it, but still, it fucking hurts. Plus while her attacking Ramona, who initally assumes she’s gideon’s doing, which.. yeah sending a teenage assasian just to mess with her head does sound like him. So while Stacey does complain “ramona you can’t just tear out art objects” to which I say... yeah high, Stacey? NOT THE POINT RIGHT NOW SCOTT’S EX IS TRYING TO KILL HER. SHE’S DEFENDING HERSELF.  So we get one hell of a fight. It not only shows off that Ramona is one hell of a fighter herself, as is knives, but just how immature knives is, resorting to constnat fat jokes and taunts showing just how immature she is.. and unlike volume one where it was endearing and we just saw how sweet she was here it just comes off as mean, bitter, and uncomfortable. But again part of the series biggest charm is the main cast are all well fleshed out and throughly human. She’s doint this because she dosen’t know better and was raised in a house where, again as volume 4 will bear out, finding out her dad is going after scott with a samurai sword just warrants a “dad’s are so weird aren’t they” my point is her frame of refrence is a mite skewed. Plus this is a world where everyone but Stacey just calmly accepts big shonen fights break out, so it’s not that unsuaul to want to settle things with a fight and while i’ve joked about her killing Ramona we genuinely don’t know that was the goal> Could’ve been, easily given murder is peachy in this setting and just leads to a respawn according to O’Malley and would’ve just sent ramona back to her apartment. But I genuinely don’t think she has it in her to do it and while she could’ve planend to, she never would’ve. Plus Ramona easily leads the fight as while Knives uses hit and run tactics and tries make her follow.. Ramona is more annoyed than anything as she has shit to do. Knives only gets one hit in and while i’ts a pretty nasty scratch on the cheek, if thankfully not scarring.. Ramona shrugs it off when she brags about it and easily takes knives down with a potted tree. Knives runs and while she tells herself it’s to fight another day.. its really because her opponent was WAY stronger and way more ready for something like this than she probably planned on. She did defintely want a fight, she just wasn’t prepared to be outmatched so handily. It’s also a nice  parallel to last book’s fight: Like with Scott and Matthew,  while the fight SEEMS pretty even, in reality our hero/heroine was alwasy teh one in control and easily took care of the less experinced and less ready upstart, who likely wasn’t expecting a fair fight much less to loose. 

So Ramona and Stacey wisely get out while Stacey explains Knives is indeed Scott’s ex, though is unaware of the cheating thing. Speaking of Scott he’s playing sonic and knuckles, and in fact kept wallace on the line before just to get advice because of course he did hence why stacey didn’t get through to him, but gets a call... from Envy. 

This is easily the second best sequence in the boook, which was lovingly and wonderfully adapted to film and as a result I cannot read it without hearing Brie Larson’s voice for Envy , a nice mixture of seduction and condescension. It’s CLEARLY painful fo rhim, and we do get some things established as Envy toys with him, that it’s been about a year and that she left him for a cocky pretty boy, familiar.. and while Scott claims to not know what he looks like.. given Todd is clearly on her band cover... it’s not exactly hard to put two and two together. So after some awkard catchup and Scott telling her about ramona against his will, we get to the reason she’s here with Scott understanndbly being supscious and calling her a user.. which while Envy denys.. she ends up admitting to. She’s coming to town as estalbished and her opening act backed out, and since Scott has a band, and one that 2/3 of which she knows, she wants them to open for her.  Scott naturally isn’t too intrested and thinks it’s just pity. The sequence. is masterful, using a watchmen style 9 by 9 panel layout and intercutting scott’s pained reactions and clear lack of comfort with flashes of envy on her side.. never showing her proper, but showing his memories or what he’s seen in magazines. It’s really striking and really sells the sheer discomfort Scott’s going through.  So soon after Wallace gets home.. and finds Scott, drained and miserable on the floor, not even responsive. And this really is the scene that shows me that Wallace cares for the guy and cements that asshole he may be, he loves his buddy. He goes through possible scenarios that fit scott: Food poisoning, finding out Wallace saved over his final fantasy save (though he rules it out as last time that happened he was crying), that ramona dumped him.. before Scott let’s out a pathetic and miserable “Ennnnnvvv”. Wallace , who was at ground zero for that relationship as we’ll find out, realizes this and lets out a little shit, unsure how to help and pissed off at that bitch for once again hurting him like this. As I said it shows how Wallace knows scott in and out and loves him dearly.. and how he knwos about this paticuarly heartbreak better than anyone but Scott and Envy themselves. IT’s just a really tearjerking scene, as we get a sense of WHY scott spiraled into an ego boost of a relationship: His last one REALLY tore him in half, and he’s still not completely healed from the emtional bisection. 

So Scott gets more bad news next chapter as Stacey tells him about the fight and he’s worried he’s going to loose ramona on top of this. I mean he desrves it.. .but it’s clear she’s the best thing to happen to him after a really rough year of denial and poor decisionss and loosing her will likely only make him WORSE. He also breaks the bad news, to him at least to the band about the gig. Stephen, being kind of a dick who while understandbly excited about a big gig fails to see his friend REALLY isn’t happy about this nor remembers you know, that the person offering this tore his heart out indiana jones style and while they should take the gig despite the risks, it’s too big an opportunity not to, he should be fucking senstive about this. Kim however... has a suprising and heartbreaking reactoin to this. Which is spread over a few panels but i’m gonna string into one image for convince sake. 

Just.. DAMN. I honeslty missed this both as a teenager and as an adult when I read through the books last time but holy shit is this a heartbreaking little moment, even more with the development she gets in later books. Keep in mind, over two books so far, Kim.. really hasn’t shown a lot of emtion. The most upset she’s gotten was getting a bit pissed about another a girl drummer. The only other time we’ve seen her sad was at 17 when Scott left. Her only emotions that we could see were angry and surly. But here? She’s genuinely upset and we see her walls break down for the very first time.. and it’s with the clear indication she NEVER really got over Scott. She never got proper closure and while she hasn’t let it so.. it’s been VERY clear she's been grossly uncomfortable with how he just likes to brush off their history, something that very clearly still bothers her and understandably so: 6 years , while a lot of time, still really isn’t long enough to just .. FORGET your first boyfriend , how he made you feel or the fact he took your virginity and you took his. Stuff like that sticks with you.. I’m ony assuming on the virginity thing but my point remains: To Scott it’s SEEMINGLY nothing, when really he’s probably just trying to brush it off because he dosen’t like dealing with things and given how Kim is wrongly assumed she can’t feel pain. I mean to anyone else i’d be a fair assumption and even i’m not convinced if she touched a hot stove she’d burn, but that’s phsysical this is emotional. DIffrent playing fields. Point is Scott’s kind of a dick and not having ANY closure for anything, Kim is still smarting from him leaving as much as Scott is smarting from Envy dumping him.  And it somehow gets MORE painful.... which should’ve been the tagline for Bojack Horseman now I think about it but yeah: her line is what cuts me up the most “I saw her on the cover of Now. She’s pretty”. It’s a little line, it’s easy to see why I missed it .. but the subtext really stings. It’s that despite being VERY pretty, I had a crush on her as a kid and I still do now.. Kim just can’t help but compare herself to someone whose now a glamrous rock star.  Their equally attractive but all Kim can see is ANOTHER person who Scott cared about more than her. Which seems petty but again he just.. abnadoned her. His moving wasn’t his choice but his not telling her as was framed earlier sure as hell was. And then just.. look at the next people he dates: A glamorous rock star (She wasn’t at the time but that’s for next week), a much younger girl who can’t possible challenge him, and an ultra cool american. To her.. it must feel like he just looks right through her to every other person intersted in him and never even consdered her as a person anymore. I mean.. jesus christ that hurts.. and makes me hate Stephen more since you know he dosen’t notice any of this.. though at least unlike with Scott it’s a bit more understandable because Kim’s so unflappable and he’s already ignoring very obvious and transparent emotional pain why shouldn’t this be any diffrent.  So yeah no one’s happy about this, and that ends up including Stephen as he’s so insecure about his band’s talent he’s pretty sure they suck when their probably at least adaquate. 

So while Scott dosen’t say anything, it’s clear he’s at least consdiering the offer as when we next see him he and ramona are heading to Envy’s show. And honestly it’s just a really sweet scene as Ramona asks about envy and the two banter and hold hands. A really nice palletee clensar since hte last few pages were like I was the one lucas socked in the gut. Also she assures him she dosen’t hate him, and asks about how the breakup happened, turning down any offers to hear the good times.  It was new years eve one year ago, and he mentions it was over her leaving to meet some guy named Todd.. and Ramona finds the story familiar but brushes off Scott wondering if her todd and Envy’s todd wer ethe same guy as a douchey joke. When prying about what happened otherwise, Scott admits it was all a blur.. Ramona isn’t ahppy with the answer.. but it’s nto like it’s that unresonable: he was in deep with Envy, and the breakup was damn bad to the point it took a year for him to recover and end up in the relationship he is now and the one before this was clearly a cry for help. It also helps reinfroce just how much Wallace was there for him and probably WHY Wallace hates Envy so much. They probably live together simply because Scott needed a place after college, was in zero condition to get a job or do anything given his zombie like state.. and Wallace just had him move into his bed, platonically and into his place. It’s probably why while Wallace will complain ocasoinally he isn’t that on scott to find a job. He dosen’t need a paying roomate, they do fine just on his sallary and he has a steady, secure job in some sort of calling office, probably working in medical stuff like my mom. He needs his friend to be safe and happy, then he can get on his ass about being functional, as he is in present day. If nothing else this volume made me realize just how good a person Wallace is.  The one thing he CAN remember, to Ramona’s disbelif is a restraunt opening up, the job story he hinted at last volume: basically it was a fancy tex mex place called, and this is one of the best restraunt naems in the history of fiction brace yourself: The Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos. Naturally, as would I as I love tex mex and that name, Scott loved the place, ate there most of the week and like me with some places I liked waited impatietly to get a job. He did and they were even super generous as the food was FREE.  Which is a euphoric feeling I relate to, though I also liked any discounts I got. seriously when I worked at Bagel and Bagel a good chunk of my paycheck was eating there for dirt cheap every shift. I miss that place so much. Like even after I left there I still like a good bagel sandwitch. And it wasn’t covid or anything it was just low staffed and slowly coming apart due to a lack of a solid manager after Crystal, the manager who hired me, transfered to a store closer to her home, which I do not blame her for. 

Point is I get it even if Ramona thinks this is all made up. Anyways at Lee’s Place, based on the real life Leo’s place, everyone’s gussied up: Steven got an awful haircut and Kim... 

But no time to dwell on how great kim’s..everything is.. who DID  Neil bring to the concert? 

While Kim is VERY much enjoying this, everyone else is a bit freaked with Ramona getting assurance her and Scott dated breifly, with Kim quipping her and neil will probably date even breiflyer, and Stephen.. freaking out, wondering if she seduced him, and asking if they should take him out back and kick his ass.. 

Just..... that’s a lot of douche to unpack and this review has been VERY long and suprisingly hard already.. but fuck it, we don’t have much left to go let’s do this. Okay one did she seduce him.. I mean I GUESS, but really let’s be clear here: Neil is a horny, lonely, monosolobic 19 year old who lives with his sister’s college friend and whose life revovles around said guys band. Knives is adorable. She likely barely had to flirt with him to get him to say yes .As someone who was a lonely 19 year old doofus, I guarantee no matter the red flags I probably woudl’ve said yes provided she was 18 instead of 17, despite the abudant red flags such as neil vaugely looking like scott, neil being the one single man within scott’s circle to get her way back in, as Knives hasn’t realized she’s bi yet or given how much she looked up to Kim, she probably WOULD’VE gone for it. As would any sane person, which neither knives nor I entirley are. So she didnt’ so much seduce him as offer him a girlfriend he didn’t have and him being too intrested in having a sweet, caring girl on his arm to see the giant army of adrestian soldiers needed to carry all the red flags this presents. 

And as for “do we need to kick his ass. “ Stephen.. did you kick SCOTT’S ass? No, you fucking abetted him and only stepped in for the good girl thing. You did NOTHING to stop his relationship with knives or tell him he was screwing up or look out for that girl’s well being. This will bite him in the ass even harder in volume 5, but even now it just makes him look REALLY fucking bad that, even if he probably dosen’t mean it, that’s at all on the table. Also.. Neil, unlike scott is doing slightly less wrong. While he is 20 to her 17, three years.. it’s HALF of what Scott and her’s age diffrence is, and far more equal in power structure. It’s still not.. GREAT, but my point is you did NOTHING when Scott did this, for far flimiser and less forgiavble reasons.. but when NEIL, whose been nothing but weirdly loyal to you dates her, you want to kick someone’s ass. I mean yes he’s being stupid: in a clear role reversal of the Scott and Knives situation, it’s obvious just from her expression that KNVIES is the one in control here, and the one using someone to ease her own pain. Granted it’s wrong, if not as wrong as Scott should techincally know better and Knives very clearly dosen’t, as well as get into a show of her faviorite band. Is what she’s doing wrong.. yeah... while she can’t see it again it’s what Scott did just not QUITE as fucked up due to not being AS embalanced. Should neil probably be dating her after scott did ? No. But should you be threatning him and not scott for you know, setting all this in motion? No. Jesus christ you suck Steven. 

Thankfully while Scott presumibly calms Stephen down, Kim spots Hollie and her roomate Joseph, who will be suprisingly important. He’s very gay, very quite, very bearded and is only hear because the bass player is hot and when prodded on it....

Well said. Also I read that with John Heder’s voice fo rsome reason.. don’t know why, his career ended as quickly as it began because he REALLY did not pick his films well. He saw that he was going to be in a film with David Spade and Rob Schinder and didn’t fire his agent for suggesting it. Meanwhile Scott and Ramona run into Sandra and Monique, Scott’s old classmates who just sorta.. show up every so oftne, often backing up Julie because every Alpha Bitch needs a posse. As Boscha has proven once you loose your posse you loose your bitchy powers. They also ask if Scott and Ramona are an item which leads to a fantagious visual gag. 

Also Stephen awkardly talks to the new couple, about how much Knives loves the band, and because why start reading the room now just sorta.. CASUALLY slips in the fact he knows her is because she and scott dated. 

Granted Knives action this book really EARNED her that curveball.. but still, it’s transparently clear she’s both not over Scott and Neil’s a placebo, and that she loves the band... how the fuck did you get through college, much less get two loyalish friends Steve. 

Kim tries to hide when she runs into Sarah whose with.. someon O Malley does not know, literally captioning it “I don’t know htis girl”. Fucking love that gag even if SOMEHOW kim is the roomate they all hate. Despite hte fact as the side story will bare out, her roommates are all pretty obnoxious, so i’ts probably because she’s the only sane person in that group and their VERY lucky kim just dind’t set the place on fire on her way out and let god do what he should’ve a long time ago. Also we meet Lynette, the band’s drummer who smokes “She must be evil” “Still hot though”... both accurate. Also Luke wilson is there.. no really. Just holy shit that’s awesome.  Okay so with all of that out of the way, it’s time for the show. So after a full volume’s build up , and a really cool build up in the page before we finally properly meet clash at the demonhead, and miss envy adams. 

Heck of  a reveal and not the only one as ramona realized what the audience probably already guessed....

Dun dun dun! And since I don’t like leaving a cliffhanger dangling lest I have to... we’ll be getting to this next week.. what you thought i’d say right now or tommorow? This was a lot. But no i’m not leaving you too long. Next week, Evil Ex Crossover! Ramona and Wallace become BFF’s! We learn what the deal with Scott and Envy is! Scott faces the Ken to his Ryu! And Wallace gets a boyfriend. All this and more next week. for now...

Final Thoughts: This one.. was a VERY rough one to review and it ties back to this volume’s biggest problem: it is not paced very well. Like the series as a whole it has a pretty easy going, slice of life pace. The only ones without this kind of easy pacing are 3 and 6, and even 3 has some slice of life bits, their just both more focused due to the events going on. This one... well....

Pretty much. While this one has very important stuff going on, Scott and ramona getting closer, ramona getting more fleshed out, Wallace showing how deep his character is, Kim also getting fleshed out quite a bit, Knives showing off her crazy side, setting up the next volume, the second ex fight.. it’s all just kinda.. jumbled together. It’s not really until the knives fight onward the book takes on some really solid pacing and really gets going.It’s not a BAD book: ther’es some REALLY good character stuff as I dug into.. but the pacing is just really loose and without the Evil Ex fight as an anchor and with ramona and scott just sorta.. getting to know one another, in both biblical and non biblical senses, it dosen’t have either of the series main narrative thrusts. Even the knvies subplot really amoutns to nothing for now, as Ramona dosen’t find out Scott’s a cheater, and only distrusts knives now. That’s about it. It does improve on book one in characterization, with eveyrone being MUCH cleearer in terms of who they are and settling into their iconic selves nicely. Wallace’s more selfless and protective side pops up, Ramona starts to show mroe of her personality good and bad, Scott’s better traits are mixed a bit mor eeven with the douche ones,  Knive’s far more unstable and violet stalker side emerges, and Stephen.. well fuck him, point is things are coming together.. but O’Malley still isn’t quite at peak power yet. Not bad and still worth a read like last time, just a bit uneeven is all. That being said... if you want O’Malley at his peak.. well then come back next week. Until then i’ll be doing my usual buisness of reviewing birds, refrencing simpsons and letterkenny, and putting my eyes back in after kim’s look up there. For now the sun’s setting and i’m out of here. 

[danceworshipper]

Ida Sommer - HPHL MC

Info subject to change as more game information is released. All of my HPHL ocs exist in the same universe

[profile template by me]

Personal

Full Name: Ida Marie Sommer

Gender: Female (cis)

Sexuality: Pansexual (closeted)

Birthday: August 20th

Birthstone: Peridot

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Age: 14 (at beginning of game)

Blood Status: Pureblood

3 Positive Traits:

- Charming

- Spiritual (nature oriented)

- Resilient

3 Negative Traits:

- Childish

- Uncommunicative

- Vain

Usual First Impression: When first meeting Ida, people often assume she is immature, ignorant, and easy to take advantage of due to her sheltered nature and cutesy appearance. This impression is highly incorrect

Location

Birthplace: Germany (exact location TBD)

Current Home: Her father's estate in one of the richest areas (Germany)

Future Home: A beautiful cottage secluded from the world, near a mountainside (Germany)

Favorite Place: A cliff overseeing the sea in Japan, close to the little shop where she got her wand

Disliked Place: Her maternal grandparents' home, simply because she doesn't enjoy their company

Appearance

[image created using the Live Portrait Maker app]

Face Shape: Roundish jaw, soft features with a strong brow bone

Eye Color: Yellowish green

Hair Color: Light blonde

Hair Style: Ida wears her hair down or in a single braid. Her hair is mostly straight with side bangs, and is parted in the middle

Skin Tone: Light

Freckles/Spots: A few freckles on her cheeks, more visible when she's been out in the sun

Scars: None during her schooling. After graduation, Ida marks her arms with runes only she and Sebastien can make sense of to strengthen her connection to the world around her

Piercings/Tattoos: Single earlobe piercings.

Final Height: 5'9"

Final Weight: 137lbs

Physique: Thin with long legs, slightly wider than average shoulders

Clothing Style: Ida is a rich kid, so her clothing is always of high quality material and her jewelry is noticeably unflawed. She dresses modestly until she turns seventeen, when she stops caring what her parents think. Her favorite colors to wear are pastels

Carried Items:

- her wand

- a locket with a picture of her and her parents in it - not worn, but kept in her satchel

- a silver pocket watch stuck at 11:18 pm, handed to her by the same Seer who told her where to get her wand

- a handful of candy

- extra quills for her roommate who keeps forgetting hers

- a book from the Restricted Section about Elementals, written by Elementals and charmed so no one other than an Elemental can ever figure out what it says

Magic

Wand: 12 inches of firm Ebony wood with a koi-mer hair core. A pitch black, rounded wand with a pattern of scales carved into the handle. This wand was custom made in a small, almost unknown shop in Japan after a Seer she bumped into on the street told Ida that her perfect wand would be created there. It would seem foolish to go all the way from Germany to Japan on the word of an unknown Seer, but it was Ida's turn to plan the summer trip, so she picked a place in Japan close enough to the mentioned shop

Animagus: Loon

Boggart Form: A headless figure easily recognizable as herself, crumbling away into dust. A failed attempt to merge with nature resulting in her demise

Riddikulus Form: A statue of her like the one in her parents' back garden, over glorifying her features, that has been attacked and is crumbling away. She hates that statue

Amortentia (to others): Someone smelling Ida would smell lime juice, fresh water, and static electricity

Amortentia (to her): TBD

Patronus: Ida has never been able to cast a Patronus. Not for a lack of happy enough memories, but because of her powerful soul. The Patronus can never escape her magical core

Patronus Memory: N/A

Mirror of Erised: A tree so big it grows up an entire mountainside. The tree bark is covered in swirling patterns Ida recognizes as Elemental runes. She doesn't yet know what exactly this tree is, but she feels an undeniable longing for it

Family Spells: The Sommer family has no special family spells

Inherent Magic: Elemental

- Ida has all the magic of a normal witch, but on top of that has a deep connection to the earth and the magic stemming from it, even beyond the earth into the universe. If not properly trained (or if driven to a great enough temptation), an Elemental could vaporize the entire planet, or bend it to their will. They could also leave humanity behind if they so wished and become nature itself

- Elementals are theorized to have fragments of Merlin's soul fused with their own, hence why they feel strong connections to each other and can't ever fatally harm one of their own. Most Elementals also fall in love with each other as well, and the connection is thought to be stronger than a normal human's love could ever be. These connections help ensure no Elemental gives in to whichever temptation has the strongest pull on them. Only one Elemental has ever yet gone evil, and this is how it was discovered that they cannot kill one another

- This special magic is not hereditary. In fact, no one knows what causes someone to be born an Elemental, only that there have been less and less of them in the recent centuries. There are only two known Elementals left: Ida and Sebastien

Family

Mother: Lina is a warm hearted woman who wants the best for her daughter, misguided though she might be. She often has to shout at her husband to trying to hold Ida back, or discourage Ida's dreams. She noticed Ida's growing power long before her husband did, and was the one to finally contact someone for help when Ida grew so strong and uncontrolled she couldn't stop floating

Father: Elias is a business oriented man who, though he loves his daughter, up until her reveal as an Elemental wished she was a son. He's the reason Ida was homeschooled for so long, as he didn't think a girl was worth the tuition money. He refused to believe that Ida was anything other than ordinary until a man in a high position told him otherwise

Sisters: None

Brothers: None

Pets: A screech owl named Goldig, meaning 'cute'

Other Important Family: Ida's paternal aunt, Ingrid, is one of the biggest influences in her life as a child. Ingrid is an independent witch who lives fabulously by herself with her dead husband's fortune. Ida used to yearn for a future where she wasn't tied down by a man and could do as she pleased

Family Values: The Sommer family as a whole is mainly concerned with two things: remaining pureblooded, and growing richer. Most of the Sommers are decently good people, but they have period-appropriate prejudices and are willing to leave someone behind to save themselves, metaphorically and literally

Opinion on Family: Up until entering Hogwarts, Ida really only knew her family, so she loved them and thought very highly of them. As she becomes more socialized and learns more about the world, she starts to notice her parents' many flaws and though she never stopped loving them, she does resent them for homeschooling her and ignoring the signs of her being abnormal, because she used to think she was broken when in reality she's nearly a god

Friendships

Introverted or Extroverted: Extroverted

Best Friend: Sebastien Parr - another mc of mine who is also an Elemental, and an exchange student from Beauxbatons

Worst Friend: TBD

Friend She Didn't Expect: TBD

Who She Wishes Was Her Friend: TBD

List of Casual Friends:

- Sophia Burton @gcldensnitch

- Charlotte Grant @weasleysandwheezes

- canon friends TBD

Romance

Current Crush: None

Current Partner: None

Past Partners: None

Future Partners: TBD - will likely be picked from the game's characters, but could possibly be someone else's mc

Her Type: TBD

Hogwarts

House: Slytherin

Prefect Status: No

Quidditch: Never played, but loves to watch

Clubs: None

Organizations: The fake Headmaster's Apprentices organization that she and Sebastien use to hide what they're really doing

Favorite Class: Herbology

Least Favorite Class: History of Magic

Favorite Professor: TBD

Least Favorite Professor: TBD

Timeline

Young Childhood: Ida is kept at home. She knows no children her age, and spends most of her free time roaming her father's land. No matter how far she wanders, she never seems to get lost. Ida has strange dreams where she watches the world as an outsider. After being told by a Seer that her ideal wand would be created at a small shop in Japan, Ida convinces her father to spend a month there over the summer, and her mother takes her to the shop to get her wand. Ida sneaks out one night and climbs a cliff that looks out over the ocean. In later years she can't remember whether rising up over the waters and hearing the stars call to her by name was a dream or not, but she knows the moon smiled at her.

First Year: N/A

Second Year: N/A

Third Year: Ida's uncontrolled Elemental magic reaches a breaking point, and Ida explodes her little study room as she lifts up in the air, unable to come down. Her mother sends for help: two healers, a historian, and three government officials later, Ida is brought down and informed that she will be enrolled in Hogwarts the following year. She is not informed why, though her parents are

Fourth Year: Ida enters Hogwarts with no social skills. She meets Sebastien and they're both informed of their true nature. As Ida struggles to catch up on her studies as well as train her Elemental magic, she also learns just how wonderful having friends her age is

Fifth Year: TBD

Sixth Year: Ida grows suspicious of Sebastien's "friend" Dorian. Other details TBD

Seventh Year: TBD

Post Graduation: Ida marks herself with ancient Elemental runes and her father gifts her the cottage. She spends a year and a half where almost no one hears from her, before appearing back in her friends' lives as if nothing happened, looking healthier and happier than ever

Career(s): Ida doesn't live long enough to have a career

Marriage and Children: Ida marries (TBD) from school, someone who had always had a crush on her that she eventually returned the feelings for. They spend a beautiful three years together before her end. Ida manages to give her love a son, but only after she's gone

Death: Ida sacrifices herself to stop Sebastien and Dorian from destroying the world. Ida's biggest temptation as an Elemental was always to leave her humanity behind and become nature, so she does. She traps the two men inside of a ridiculously large tree that grows out of the mountainside near her cottage. This tree forms from her body, and has a notch where her favorite necklace can be inserted to be allowed entry to the chamber Sebastien and Dorian are trapped. However, she hid the necklace in Japan, where no one will find it until a century has passed and her friends have passed away. Ida can occasionally gather her spirit into a physical form to communicate with her love and child that she left behind

Notable Facts Not Previously Mentioned

- Ida is the ancestor of my main hphm mcs, Gracie and Tessa Chiva, on their father's side

- The reason Ida is sent to Hogwarts and not Durmstrang is the fear of bad influences. No one wanted to risk her being corrupted

- Ida does feel guilty about leaving her love behind, but since she couldn't kill Sebastien and she still loved him and wanted him to be happy, this was the only way she could think of to stop him

- Her love watched her leave humanity behind. As they wept, Ida's spirit gathered to say her goodbyes, and point them to their son, who had been born from Ida's final breath at exactly 11:18 pm

- Ida thinks very highly of herself. This is both from being praised so much as a child and hearing so much about the good she can do as an Elemental

- She throws a graduation party so extravagant that it's talked about for decades after her death

- No one but her love knows what truly happened to her. All anyone else knows is that she and Sebastien disappeared at the same time

[love101imagines]

Way too much

request: could u pls write a imagine with Sinan,I was thinking about him and you being the best childhood friends, but they ended up getting away a lot, so some teacher spends a double job and chooses them to do it together, so they spend a lot of time together and discover that they still like each other

tag list: @zaynlikfalls @wwafangirld @girl-looking-out-window

If you asked Sinan if he had ever been happy he wouldn't answer. However, his mind would go back to the time when he was six and he used to spend every hour with his best friend, meeting you since you two lived in the same neighborhood and we’re the same age. You, the girl he used to play around on the park under his grandpa's care, the same one he used to watch cartoons with until you two fell asleep on his couch, and the one he used to play wrestle until one of you ended up with an accidental bloody nose or a broken tooth.

You were also each other's first kiss, the result of a dare when you two were nine and you wanted to know what it felt like after you watched a romantic movie.

Everything changed when you turned twelve when it was one of those nights your parents were out and you two would stay up late watching horror movies. With a blanket covering most of your face and eyes glued to the TV, you didn't notice how Sinan was looking at you.

When a jumpscare happened and you yelped, immediately grabbing his hand, he blushed slightly, finally realizing he was in love with you. And it terrified him. Even more than the old movie you were watching on the couch in your living room.

He felt his heart breaking when a few days later you arrived at his house on the verge of tears because your dad had received an offer for a better job in Ankara and you would be moving in some weeks. The only thing he could do was hug you, trying to calm you down as you continued crying into his shoulder.

That had to be one of the many disappointments he would face during his life, but he slowly got used to it, expecting people to always leave him, just like you did.

"You're staring." Eda pointed out, a smirk on her face as she leaned against the wall behind her. "Who are you looking at?"

Sinan gulped, back to reality before he looked away. "No one." He snapped in an annoyed tone.

Eda rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh as she went back to the drawing on the wall. He mentally cursed himself as he looked back at the group of girls standing nearby, no sign of the girl who had been his best friend for almost seven years. His mind had to be playing games on him, probably from drinking too many that day. There was no way you were at school, he must have seen someone similar.

He didn't have much time to think about it, focusing on the ticket Osman was handing to him for a concert.

"I'm off to the infirmary to sleep." He announced, already feeling a migraine he didn't have any intention of increasing.

Taking slow steps, he walked away from the group. The ticket was in his shirt's pocket, and he only had one thing in mind as he walked through the halls. To stop the feeling on the pit of his stomach after thinking about you in months and to sleep.

"Sinan!"

He didn't even get a chance to fully turn around before you crashed into him, standing on your tiptoes so you could wrap your arms around his neck. He didn't recognize you for a second, believing someone was about to punch him when he heard his name being called but he didn't even have time to flinch.

It was only a second though before his eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around your waist, finding comfort in the fact that nobody else was around and you two were the only ones standing next to the infirmary's door. Feeling you hug him again definitely was one of the best feelings in the world.

"(Y/N)?" He asked, chills running up his spine at the feeling of your skin against his.

You pulled away after a few seconds, even if you were sure the whole hug lasted for at least two minutes until he let you go. "The one and only." You teased.

You took a minute to get a good look at him, your hand still lingering on his shoulder. He looked...well, you didn't care about the bags under his eyes or the fact that his breath smelled of alcohol, the only thing that mattered was that you were with him again.

Sinan looked at you up and down too. Your hair was a bit shorter, not in your usual braids that you used to wear all the time. Your cheeks weren't as chubby as before and your legs weren't as skinny, and the small scar on your upper lip was faded almost completely, just like the one on the bridge of his nose.

But still, you were beautiful. That was undeniable.

You gave him a toothy grin, the same one you used to have all the time when you were kids. "It's so good to finally see you again. I missed you so much."

He nodded, a soft smile on his face as he looked at you, any thought about the migraine already gone. "When did you come back?"

As you started your rant about your father finding another job offer here in Istanbul and coming back a week ago, his mind couldn't help but drift off that you hadn't seen each other in years and many things had happened in between. His parents had abandoned him, he had turned into an alcoholic and he was about to be expelled. You, on the other hand, didn't know any of this, and he was sure you would look at him in disgust once you found out he wasn't the same twelve-year-old you had trusted with your whole life before.

He didn't even notice Osman calling him to meet when the rest until you tugged in his arm.

"What?" He asked emotionless turning to the taller boy.

Osman didn't seem to care, already used to his attitude. "Eda convinced Miss Burcu, we need to find a way to convince Coach Kemal."

Convincing Coach Kemal couldn't matter less to him, glancing at you because he wanted to take advantage of the fact that you still believed that he was the sweet boy who you had grew up with. It wouldn’t last for long, but he wanted to at least enjoy that time until you were disappointed.

You only gave him a reassuring smile. "Go on, I have to fix some things about my schedule but I'll see you later. We have a lot of catching up to do."

A bit less unsure than before, he nodded, giving you one last smile that lasted a second before he left, his heart pounding with so much force he didn't know how the rest couldn't feel it.

While Kerem was busy talking to their teacher, it didn't take much for him to run into you again, sharing your same classes. Even if most of the time he slept through Chemistry class without anyone bothering him, his brows furrowed as soon as he heard someone sitting next to him.

You only chuckled after waking the boy up, Sinan's face softening immediately. "Um, rough day?" You asked, not sure of what to say once you noticed the flask near his bag.

He shrugged, slowly leaving it inside his bag and taking out a notebook, trying to show that he cared about school even if he truly didn't anymore. Nevertheless, your bubbly attitude surely did something to him. It was like you two had never been separated before while the rest of your new classmates didn't understand why the new girl was hanging out with him, the depressed boy who mocked everyone.

It was to his luck that your teacher chose you two to work together on an assignment. Of course, you were happy, thinking you could make up for all the lost time and he allowed himself to feel happy too, even if he knew he'd fuck it up like he always did.

"So?" You started the next day as you two walked towards your home.

He raised a brow at you, his hands fumbling with the hem of his shirt. "So what?"

You rolled your eyes in a teasing way. "I want to know everything that happened since I left. My parents didn't tell me anything because they're busy with their new jobs and we haven't had time to talk. How are your parents?" You added, mindlessly looking at the colorful neighborhood you were walking past.

It was a loaded question and Sinan thought for a moment, waiting for you to find your keys in your bag. "They got divorced."

You almost dropped your keys in surprise, not knowing what to say like when you found him with his flask. "Oh." You mumbled, awkwardly opening the door for both of you. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine." He brushed it off, not wanting things to change and be more awkward. "I've been living with my grandpa since I turned fourteen." He explained as he followed after you, taking off his shoes just like you were doing.

"How is he?" You asked with a smile, with a better mood knowing that the older man who used to take care of you two when you were younger was still alive.

"You know him, he doesn't die." He said, earning a slap to his arm.

You two ended up sitting on the floor of your room, a few books next to you, and a music cassette in the background. It felt like when you were seven, and he would trace out different pictures and you would giggle and try to bump his hand out of the way to color it in.

"What was Ankara like?" He asked as he turned the pages trying to look for something.

You continued highlighting a few phrases sitting in front of him. “Um, nice I think. I met a lot of people, went to a few parties, the school was pretty good.”

He glanced at you, absentmindedly doodling on his notebook. “Did you have fun in the city?” He asked sarcastically.

You punched his arm in a teasing way. “Yeah, but there wasn’t anyone like you.”

You only received a small smile before you sighed and moved over to sit next to him, knowing that he didn’t take notes and this was the most he had done in months.

“I have a question for you.” You told him.

“Go ahead.” He answered, still calm which was weird.

If someone else had asked him something personal he wouldn’t have answered or he would have given a sarcastic answer, but you were the one who was asking him. He could never snap at you.

You grinned at him. “How much did you miss me?”

He sighed, turning to look at you with a small sparkle on his eyes. “Way too much.”

It was in that moment with your smile that a small glimmer of hope built inside of him. It didn’t seem to bother you that he slept through most lessons, or that he showed up at school with messy hair and his tie undone, or that he always had his flask close to him. He hadn’t even taken a sip since you approached him that day so you two could go to your house.

“I tried to write to you.” He started, eyes directed to the floor so he didn’t have to meet your eyes. “My mum gave me your new address but...I always ended up crumpling them up and throwing them away.”

When you left, he used to write a letter every day, always trying to find the right words to express how much he missed you and to express his true feelings whenever he thought about you. It helped a bit to pour out all the feelings he didn’t know how to tell you in person, but out of fear of rejection or of ruining what was left of the two of you he never sent them, destroying them completely.

You furrowed your brows confused. “Why?”

A few seconds passed, your music being the only sound in the room.

You bit the inside of your cheek, fumbling with the hem of your skirt, knowing that things had changed between the two of you. “Sinan, it’s fine, I know that it’s been years since we...”

“Are you going to leave again?” He interrupted you, a hint of anger on his voice.

“What?” You blurted out.

“You left once, it wouldn’t surprise me if you did again.” He continued, a scowl on his face.

You crossed your arms, trying to act firm in front of him. “Are you serious? We were twelve, I didn’t have any choice and you know that.”

You stayed like that for a while, no trace of a smile on your face and a hard look on his until he gave up.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled. “It’s just, I...I don’t want to lose you again.” He admitted, vulnerability palpable on his voice.

You found yourself wrapping your arms around his shoulders again, hugging him for the second time in the same week. He didn’t seem to mind, his arms holding you by your waist and keeping you close to him.

“I won’t leave.” You added softly. “I promise.”

You tried to pull back to look at him, but it was to no avail, his grip on your waist tightening with each passing second. “Sinan.” You muttered, your hands finding his.

He was painfully aware of how close you are to him. It was like a deja vu from when you kissed for the first time, and with your eyes fixed on him, you didn’t even notice that one of his hands that was on your waist moved to the back of your neck until he was kissing you.

After you closed your eyes, you smiled against his lips. The kiss was slow, and you left your hands on his neck, bringing him closer. He didn’t pull away until you finally did for air, placing your forehead against his shoulder with your eyes closed, feeling your heart beat in your ears.

You weren’t seven anymore, you were now teens who could admit why you felt so comfortable around each other, or why one of the bests things of your day was to talk to him.

“About time.” You mumbled with a smirk, and he thought the same.

About fucking time.

[sophi-s]

Day 29 #Grief

Whoops. I actually ended up writing a short piece for this one as well and uh... I think I accidentally created a new ship... :O

To Mourn Together

By: sophi-s (me)

Franchise: Darksiders video games

Words: 1 961

Warnings: None

Characters: Uriel, Nathaniel, Abaddon (mentioned)

_________________________________________

With utmost certainty, one could say it was one of the brightest nights in the White City. Of course, with the buildings in the color of gilded snow, every night seemed bright. But that one particular night the full moon spilled its cold, silver light all over the angelic city, bathing it in a pale glow that reflected in the smooth surfaces and illuminated the warm darkness as the gentle gusts of wind blew through the quiet and empty plaza.

Aside from the sentries patrolling the streets, all of the Heaven's denizens were long asleep in their homes. All of them.

Except for one.

A figure of a lonely angel threads lightly through the city, grand white wings folded neatly at his sides, just like his hands behind his back. His golden battle armor is discarded in favor of a simple set of clothes. There's nothing threatening him after all. Lost in thought, he doesn't acknowledge guards greeting him as he passes by. He walks seemingly without purpose, reconsidering the not so recent events.

Your friend serves the Shadow.

The Archon? Corrupted?!

Impossible!

Leave me, Horseman. I must think of what to do now…

He shook his head with an exasperated sigh. One hundred years. It's been over one hundred years since all of this happened. And yet, all this felt far too fresh in his head. As though it happened merely yesterday. Sweeping his gaze over his surroundings, he realised he'd left for the outskirts of the White City, where the grand Tree of Life stands tall and magnificent as it has since the day Heaven was created. But to his surprise, he wasn't alone here after all. At the foot of the Tree, his keen white eyes spotted another angel. A woman. The same silver hair, any other angel possesses, fluttering on the wind, wings of golden, radiant feathers slumped sadly against her back as she stood there, gazing out at the locked gate to the Well of Souls. Strange. He assumed he would be alone.

Since he wasn't trying to sneak up on her, she heard him approach quite early and whipped around to face him, her own robes billowing, but the moment she laid her golden eyes on him she simply sighed.

"Oh. It's just you, Nathaniel.."

"So it is."

Nathaniel murmured, silently wondering who she'd been actually expecting, and stood for a few long moments, looking at her. A black ribbon with a darkened feather tied around her right wrist caught his attention and something twisted painfully in his chest. Even blackened and bathed in Hellish corruption, the ribbon was unmistakable and the feather spoke for itself..

"What are you doing here, Uriel?"

He found himself asking nonetheless. It's been a long while since they last talked. After all, Nathaniel had been sent away from the Hellguard shortly after Uriel joined their ranks. And it was so long ago.. Humming quietly, Uriel turned away to look up at the Tree's tangled canopy of small fluttering leaves.

"A year…"

She sighed when Nathaniel came closer and stood beside her, watching her stare into the black sky where the moon gazed down on them like a gigantic, round eye.

"It's been a year since Abaddon died.. exactly a year, day to day."

Nathaniel nodded in agreement, looking at Uriel's fingers absent mindedly stroking the end of the ribbon tied around her forearm. Even though he'd been away from the White City for quite some time, rumours about the commander of the Hellguard reached Nathaniel even in Lostlight. If they were true, then no wonder Uriel takes Abaddon's demise so personally. He could only imagine what was going on in her head throughout this year. He wasn't going to stop her from spitting out what she'd been choking up inside of her.

"And yet.. I still sometimes wonder. If I should've done something. Stopped War… I don't know."

"He'd been the Destroyer, Uriel. As much as I disagree with it, you couldn't do anything else for him."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Uriel huffed and lowered her head.

"I know. But… I still have this in my head. The sight of him reaching out to me for help. What if…"

She hesitated, something that was very unlike her. Nathaniel raised his eyebrows curiously, waiting for her to speak up. He had his suspicions from the moment Death brought the news of Abaddon's fate and he couldn't help but wonder if Uriel thought the same way.

"I refuse to believe he'd planned it from the beginning. What if all of it wasn't his choice? He can't have been in his right mind! What if before War killed him, in his last moments Abaddon, the real Abaddon, came back? What if… there was still something worth saving in him?"

Nathaniel's suspicions turned out to be true. She thought just like he had. Now it was his turn to look up at the sky. Indeed, there was something so enchanting about this particular night..

"I wondered myself, Uriel. Many times in fact…"

The younger angel crossed her arms and glared down at her boots as though they'd done something wrong. The branches of the Tree creaked mournfully as the wind tugged on them and ruffled feathers of both angels standing below. Its gusts were getting stronger and its voice whistling against nearby structures brought to mind a sorrowful cry of a lost soul.

"Abaddon taught me everything I know. I had known him my whole life. It feels so… empty without him."

I can't believe he's gone. That's what she truly meant to say and Nathaniel knew it but said nothing of it. He knew that feeling quite well. Better than most. Abaddon had been his friend after all…

"Sometimes I feel like he's still here. Watching over me like he always has.."

Uriel chuckled humorlessly, as though she meant to laugh off the ridiculousness of her claim but Nathaniel didn't feel like laughing. He laid his hand on Uriel's shoulder, nearly making her jump in the process.

"Who says he isn't?"

He could clearly see her jaw visibly clench tightly at his assumption. Not that he could blame her. Nathaniel knew all too well what Uriel was going through. He didn't want anyone to feel like he does and he wished to offer her comfort, compassion. But it's not easy to do so while he grieves as well.

"Do you think I could've changed it?"

Uriel suddenly asked, making Nathaniel's eyebrow wander up.

"During the initial Endwar.. Do you think if I was a little faster back then…"

"Uriel."

The deep tone of his voice had just the result he was counting on as she cut off to finally look him in the eye. Nathaniel placed his other hand on her other shoulder and said sternly

"Even if so, it doesn't change anything. We can't turn back time. Thinking this way won't make you feel better."

"And how could you possibly know?"

It was just the matter of time before Uriel snapped and brushed Nathaniel's hands from her shoulders. There was fire in her eyes, burning like the hottest blaze of Hell.

"You don't know how I feel."

Frowning gently, Nathaniel heaved out a long suffering sigh.

"Quite the opposite in fact.. I know exactly how you feel…"

This seemed to have given Uriel a pause.

"I've known Abaddon even longer than you have. He was my close friend, one of the very few I had. When the news of his fall reached me I kept wondering if it would've been different if I was there. This one, wretched thought stayed with me for a whole century, like a festering wound that refuses to heal. If you seek understanding, I assure you, you will find it in me."

Would it have been different if I knew of the darkness that threatened Lucien? Sometimes he still has those doubts... In shock, Uriel opened her mouth a couple of times only to shut it again as she couldn't find suitable words. Until..

"I'm… sorry. I had no idea…"

With an unhappy smile, Nathaniel shook his head. He wasn't going to take offense. Grief does strange things to people. Uriel snapping at him wasn't the worst thing that could've happened.

"Past cannot be changed. Blaming yourself will not bring you peace of mind. We must march into the future."

Snickering quietly, Uriel looked away.

"You speak words of wisdom.. But I cannot decide if they help me either."

Humming thoughtfully, Nathaniel measured Uriel. Her heart was bleeding profusely, even though she kept it hidden away. He knew how to recognise inner turmoil. From his own experience.. Fortunately, he knew just the way. And honestly, after all this.. Abaddon's treason, Lucien's collapse into the hateful darkness.. he probably needed it as much as she did. Carefully, but insistently, Nathaniel reached out to Uriel and gently pulled her into his arms.

"Nathaniel? What.. are you doing?"

Uriel didn't stop him, probably because of confusion and surprise. Not getting pushed away was a small victory in itself. He was more than happy to explain it to her. Going back to memories of that peculiar human who accompanied Death everywhere always warmed his heart.

"A good friend of mine had told me once that embraces can bring comfort. Especially in sorrow. Does it help you ?"

For a long moment Uriel didn't answer. She was thinking. Up this close Nathaniel could feel her heart rapidly hammering against her ribcage. But then she finally returned the embrace and placed her head on his chest with a heavy sigh.

"It does. Even if a little.."

A tiny note of wonderment in her voice was barely perceptible but definitely there. For a few minutes both angels stood like that in silence before Uriel spoke again.

"Do you think he's at peace? Abaddon, I mean…"

Staring at the shorter angel in his arms, Nathaniel harrumphed. The Charred Council was surely bent on condemning Abaddon, sentencing him to damnation even after his death. He only hoped that the Horsemen made short work of them before they were able to fulfill their dire promises and cast the already tormented soul into Oblivion. Nothing was sure. The only way to confirm either was to travel to the Kingdom of the Dead. Nathaniel couldn't say for certain that Abaddon has his rest or if his spirit in this very moment wastes away in nothingness. The mere thought made his stomach churn. But he didn't speak his fears out loud. He didn't dare.

"I do sincerely hope so…"

An answer as good as any, he supposed. It wasn't a "yes" but neither it was a "no". Perhaps it would be just enough..

"Thank you, Nathaniel.. I'm glad you came here…"

Somehow, an odd, heavy presence lingering about was abruptly lifted from the air when Uriel whispered into the edge of his coat but stayed motionless where she was, unwilling  and not ready to pull away just yet. Mourning is always easier with a companion. For just a second Nathaniel could've sworn he saw something… someone… move out of the corner of his eye but just as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone. It was most likely nothing. Just a fleeting trick of his imagination. Nathaniel rested his chin on top of Uriel's head and closed his eyes, listening to the wind blowing gently overhead and to her heart beating right next to his own. Two different rhythms that seemed the same. He didn't wish to leave just yet either. Luckily, he didn't have to. There was no need for hurry. It was still the middle of the night. No one will see them here, vulnerable and weak, slowly mending their broken hearts from the pieces.

They still had time…

_________________________________________

Bear with me, I just wanted those sad dorks to lift each other's spirits up. It's not my fault that I'm so trash 😂

At least I drew Nathaniel properly, as I promised :P

Darksiders Inktober drawing prompts by @imagine-darksiders

[talesofsonicasura]

Guardian of the Forest

This has been stewing in my Google drive for quite a bit. It's when you play tons of Digimon, binge watch Attack On Titan and have a love for Demon Digimon that resulted in this little story here.

She was punished from the unrighteous sin of another. His entire species caged in stone walls like sheep to the slaughter. Both refuse to accept their fate and it was time to strike back and rebel.

Monster. A word that has many meanings to describe something. A term often used for otherworldly creatures or those with peculiarities. Something that fit the Evil Digimon species. They were called Evil for they represented the demons, horrors and undead of legends. Demons, ghosts, ghouls and vampires are such a small sample amongst the variety. Yet, not all of them are actually evil.

They are called that mainly for their power to manipulate the element of darkness. Darkness to many was considered malevolent, vile and unneeded. On the opposite, Holy Digimon were considered pure and absolute good. They held angelic appearances and wielded the element known as light. Light to many was blessed, sacred and untainted. Yet, not all Holy Digimon were good.

Yet not many could look past the black and whites of the world. This led the innocent to be punished and the wicked to be rewarded. It was how many innocent Digimon were sent to the Dark Area or worse, deleted. Amongst them was a Granddracmon who was only trying to protect his young. A Holy Digimon with a heart darker than any abyss had struck the family with unequal hatred.

Clash between Mega Digimon was intense and devastating especially one as powerful as GranDracmon who are said to surpass many Demon Lord Digimon vastly in power. In the end, Granddracmon had been subdued and punished. Punishment? The youngest Digimon had the power of Digivolution taken from them and cast out of the Digital World trapped in the In-Training stage with no hope of surviving or returning home.

Yet, hope was something no one could manipulate or control. For it granted the impossible in unpredictable ways.

Shiganshina, the outer town of Wall Maria. Long ago, giant creatures resembling emerged all over the world. These beasts held unbelievably sturdy hides, near godlike regeneration and incredible size from a simple three meters to a towering fifteen meters. To animals, they leave them undisturbed and vice versa. However when it involved humans was where the horror laid.

These creatures hunt down humans and devour them with no emotion. The terrifying part? These beasts only did it for the kill not for substance or vendetta. It was for the kill and no more. It didn't take long for humanity to be pushed to the edge of extinction overnight. Survivors crafted three walls ranging from 50 meters and over to keep the creatures out and these creatures earned their name. Titans, for they only brought death and destruction.

Shiganshina was located in the first wall that was made, Wall Maria. It was where farmers, common folk and those who were considered low status dwelled amongst vast abundance of nature. One forest in particular was special amongst the others. The Legend of the Red Eye. The Red Eye was a mysterious creature that dwelled within the woods. It was called Red Eye for the large glowing red orb that emerged before it strikes.

Deer, wolves and even bears fell victim to its claws with all of their blood drained. Yet to a single boy amongst thousands of people wasn't afraid. Hair short and the color of dark chocolate with eyes as bright as emeralds but a soul that burned like fire. This child was Eren Yeager, son of Doctor Grisha Yeager. An act of bravery was what set the greatest ripple of all history.

The sound of footsteps and crunching of leaves could be heard as a young child barely 3 ft in height ran through the Red Eyed Woods. This child, Eren, was carrying an empty firewood container on his back and in his hand was a few rabbits freshly killed. "Hmm… She should be somewhere around here. Garnet! Garnet! Where are you?" Eren called as his youthful slight raspy voice carried out through the vast woods.

A large bright red glared at the boy from deep within the brush of brambles and leaves. Claws clicked in the sticks they grasped. When the child draws near, it leapt out at him. Eren only turned before being knocked to the ground by a bluish violet blur. The boy laid on his back as green orbs stared into a single large red orb. Pinning the child to the ground was a large violet blue hand like creature.

It was half the boy's size with two wispy antennas, small white claws on each leg and a single giant red eye on the front of its odd octopus/hand body. Though what was peculiar was that Eren had a small pin on his shirt shaped just like the red eyes beast. "Get off me Garnet! If I come home with scratch marks in my clothes again, mom will get very suspicious about what I been doing!" Eren yelled in annoyance.

"Sorry Erenmon. Garnet is just hungry." A childish little girl's voice came from the creature as it walked off the boy. "What do you expect from your large appetite? All that pigging out on bears lately got you triple the size of a normal Tsumemon!" Eren exclaimed as Garnet looked at him. "I can't help it. Not being able to digivolve screws up any Digimon's natural biology. Size is the only thing that has been keeping me alive and not some wolf's dinner." Garnet replied walking over to Eren.

It was actually comical on how the duo met. Eren was being chased by a wolf when he had accidentally walked into its territory. This wolf was the one that actually was being hunted by Garnet. It was an alpha predator hunting a predator who was stalking a potential prey. It ended with Eren throwing a stick at the furball causing it to trip and Garnet the chance to grapple the creature to feed on it. From then it was the beginning of their odd friendship and years of trading.

Eren would visit Garnet with animals he hunted. Then he would exchange it for something the Tsumemon found in the forest or help in tasks like wood gathering. It benefitted both parties for Eren would get stuff he could use or sell and Garnet got more food to eat or store. "Do you need anything while your here Erenmon?" Garnet questioned the child. Apparently adding -mon to someone's name was a sign of respect and endearment for the In-Training's point of view.

"Nah. I just thought of giving you some rabbits to eat today. You have been a big help lately considering dad's work has been going slow." Eren states giving said forest creatures to the Digimon. "Hey, you are my friend and friends help each other. Ain't the Scouts coming back today from their latest expedition? You don't want to miss it." Garnet said as Eren flinched. "Oh crap! You're right! Thanks for the heads up Garnet. I have to go before Mikasa finds out I disappeared." Eren exclaimed as the little Digimon chuckled.

"Go Erenmon! I 'see' you tomorrow!" Garnet giggled with an eye pun as Eren took off. "I wonder when he will ever introduce me to his friends. Though considering everyone's views on the Survey Corps and this Titan nonsense of late, he does have good reasons." Garnet said as she took her claws and dug them into the three bunny corpses. "Why do I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen?" The Tsumemon asked herself before feeding her on food's blood.

Survey Corps or Scout Regiment, it was a military faction dedicated to exploring the outside world beyond the walls. It also had the highest death count of over 40 percent each expedition. This regiment was the only one who also did research on the mysterious titans and it was thanks to them for what precious knowledge they had about the giants.

Many thought they were fools for there was barely anything to cover the massive loss of life per trip but this isn't what Eren saw. To him, the Scouts were the only ones looking for answers to forever ending the titan's reign but also the world they were forced to abandoned for these insufferable walls. Some of the many who didn't support the Scouts was Eren's own mother Carla Yaeger.

She absolutely despises the Survey Corps and couldn't help but belittle them with each chance she gets. Eren could remember the many times she has done so in double digits. It was that attitude that made their relationship rough but meeting Garnet had made it worse. Garnet doesn't insult or belittle his mother whenever they meet up.

She could understand her wanting Eren to be alive but attacking the only thing willing to fight for the better of their face miffed her like a bad itch. "Nothing is forever. There will come a time where these walls will fall. The Survey Corps are the only ones trying to find a solution. They chose to risk their lives for change. To make fun of them is disrespecting their sacrifice. No one should insult their cause or souls" Were her words exactly.

Garnet had not just supported the boy but also teach him skills that could help if he ever enlists in the military. She taught him how to mask his presence, observe his surroundings and develop a sixth sense for danger. Eren had kept his goal to join the Survey Corps secret from his mother. The only ones who knew other than him and Garnet were his foster sister Mikasa and his best friend Armin.

Though he didn't feel it was smart to tell Mikasa. Mikasa was adopted into their family when her parents were brutally murdered by slave traffickers. Her onyx hair and near solemn black eyes with the crimson scarf was the only thing to identify her amongst any crowd. Mikasa was overly protective which was something Garnet believed she needed to hold back on.

Eren easily agreed with the Digimon during his current situation. The Survey Corps had returned to the walls but this expedition was a bust so to speak. A lot of casualties and broken spirits amongst the group of soldiers. The worst was when a mother looking for her son amongst then was brought back his arm and told they didn't learn anything new. That it was a waste. He recognized the look in Mikasa's eyes from the scene and knew what happened next was something he didn't like.

'Traitor!' Eren screamed in his head as he ran from his home in a rage. Mikasa had told his secret to his mother and the reaction was one he expected for her. 'Get that idiotic thought out of your head! I won't let my son go out to get himself killed for something pointless!' His mother's voice bellowed at him. 'She doesn't understand! I don't want to live a life as a bird stuck in a cage! I want to go see what's out there and the answers it holds! We can't sit around or this nightmare will never end!' Eren thought trying to hold back tears.

He needed to do something. Anything to resist the urge to scream in rage and go berserk. He looked up to see a boy around his age being picked by bullies. Eren recognized this particular child as Armin from his sun yellow hair, blue eyes and skinny frame. Despite being frail, Armin was the smartest of the three. Eren was the trio's courage and Mikasa served as the powerhouse. "Leave my friend alone you bastards!" Eren howled before jumping into the fray. It wasn't anyone's day at all.

"Nail Scratch!" A tree limb was suddenly sliced into pieces as Garnet leapt past it. The Tsumemon had decided to up her training by working on her techniques. It was something she did so on the day Eren made it to the Scouts then she could support him in battle. Titans only had one weak spot which was located on the nape of their neck. Her Bubble attack would be useless in a fight but her Nail Scratch had the best chance of actually breaking through their tough hide.

"Alright! I sliced clean through that limb and it was twice as thick as the last one too!" Garnet cheered happily. The sun was beginning to set as Garnet faced the wall far from her home. She felt confused as something was tapping into her senses. Then her pupil shrunk and her antennae shot up in alert. "That aura…! Danger! Really really deadly! It's… a catastrophe in the making! Eren in danger!" Garnet hissed wildly as a giant bolt of lightning crashed down from the distance.

"Find Eren! I gotta find Eren!" She cried out before darting off in a frenzy of worry and desperation. It can take one thing to remind the last remnants of humanity of what kept them caged. Giant skinless fingers hung over the 50 meter as what belonged to it rose into view. The face of a skinless behemoth of a titan with a corpse like mouth and verdant eyes that only promised devastation looked down on the people of Shiganshina.

In an instant the outer gate between the outside and Shiganshina had exploded inward taking into the air. Debris rained from above crushing both people and buildings underfoot the pure terror was the soulless face of a 15 meter titan peeking its head through the breach. A mass of panic had broken out as Mikasa and Eren were trapped in the chaos. "Come on Mikasa! We have to find mom! Part of that gate went flying where our house is at!" Eren screamed as he ran with all his might.

Garnet amongst the panic was also searching for Eren. The Tsumemon wove through the crowd looking desperately for her friend while dispatching any Titans in her path. "Nail Scratch!" She cried out as her claws ripped through the nape of a 12 meter Titan who was about to grab a child. "*huff* That's 7 of them but no sign of Eren. Where is he?!" Garnet shouted. She looked to her right and saw what remained of Eren's house.

How did she know? The corpse of Eren's own mother peeked from underneath the tile roof specifically her hand. "She wasn't eaten since that roof obviously crushed her. Irony on how ones fear of being devoured is to be replaced with death by their own home. Yet, where's Eren?" Garnet questioned before her single eye laid on something that chilled her core.

In the hands of an ugly blonde 15 meter Titan was Eren! "No!" She screamed as she flew desperately towards her friend. Eren was fighting to break the monster's grasp on him but it merely ignored his attempts to the likeness of a fly. 'I'm not going to make it but I can't leave him!' The Tsumemon thought. 'If only I could Digivolve but that bastard took it away from me!' The thought made her want to scream.

A memory flashed through her mind. 'Hey. Do you have a name other than Tsumemon?' A young Eren asked the little Tsumemon. 'No. Tsumemon is the only thing I got. No one really gave me one.' Garnet replied. 'Do you want one? I think you deserve an actual name than something you share with your species.' The boy said as Garnet looked confused. 'Um, okay? What do you think my name should be?' The Tsumemon questioned.

'Um… I got it! I'll call you Garnet! It's this stone Armin showed me in his special book! It said that a Garnet represents a strong spirit and will of defiance! You fight against all the odds and still come out on top yet keep a level head! ' Eren explained as Garnet couldn't help but feel happy. 'Then call me Garnet.' The Tsumemon soon had a determined look on her face.

'I won't give up! Eren put his faith in me! I am a Garnet and Garnets always overcome every challenge! I don't need Digivolution because I have something better! A friend!' Garnet thought picking up more speed. "We are going to see what lies beyond these walls together. Eren… I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE!!!" Garnet cried out with all her might as Eren felt her resolve. "Garnet!!!" Eren cried as he turned and reached out for his friend.

And at that moment, hope had brought forth a new power.

"Spirit Rebellion! Tsumemon EXEvolve to…!" The Tsumemon cried as a bright red light engulfed her in a brilliant flash. The sound of torn flesh pierced through the destructive chaos as boiling red splattered everywhere. The head of the 15 meter sailed through the air along with other pieces of its body before crashing into different parts of Shiganshina and even one piece splatting onto the wall.

Eren had opened his eyes that he didn't know he closed to find himself still alive. "What happened?" He asked before noticing the surface underneath him was red, furry and eerily shaped like a hand. "Erenmon, you're safe now." A soft, kind and exotic woman's voice spoke as Eren looked up in shock. Only one person called him Erenmon. Holding him gently in their hand was a centaur like creature.

It was around 20 meters and looked capable of carrying a 15 meter Titan on her back. The top half was human with gray skin and the face of a woman that was obscured by a dark blue eyeless mask, red straps, black belts, a blue bat shaped cowl that a beautiful carved garnet gemstone and dark red fur covered the top half of her body and chest, long curly blond mane of hair on her head and a spiralling tail of yellow hair, half black and half white bat like wings on her back, twin curled horns, razor sharp claws, a beautiful woman's face that held sharp fangs behind soft ruby lips.

Her bottom half could be described as something from hell. The bottom half was more wolf and bear like than horse from the bulk and talon wielding paws, two giant eyeless shark like heads snapped from the side of her front thighs practically big enough to swallow a 12 meter Titan's head in their jaws, back curled spikes behind each of her legs guaranteeing pain for those careless to strike and on her lower was some sort of horse armor with a sheath that made home to a sword with a black bat like hilt.

"Garnet...You digivolved…" Eren spoke breathless at his friend's incredible transformation. "I don't think this is Digivolution but it's something more powerful. EXEvolution..." Garnet answered. "EXEvolution… Garnet, is my mom?" Eren asked as Garnet couldn't help but shook her head. Tears welled up in the child's eyes as he looked ready to cry. "The house killed her from collapsing. She was dead on arrival. Though there are more pressing matters." Garnet explained as Eren looked at the madness around them.

"Garnet. We have to get everyone out of here. As much as I want to kill these titans, there are still people alive who need to be saved." Eren said wiping the tears from his face. "I'm with you partner. Do you wish to give this form a name before we begin?" Garnet asked facing her friend. "Yeah I do. No longer are we going to sit back and let these bastards trample our dreams! It's time to fight back! Let's show them your new power Garnet! The power of GranDracmon: Rebellion Mode!" Eren shouted with all his might.

"GranDracmon: Rebellion Mode… Yes! That'll do my friend! Time to break our chains and rebel!" Garnet declared as her twin shark heads roared in challenge. Hope can come in many forms and often comes in moments of rebellion. To rebel against fate is to prove yourself worthy to face the impossible. That is the power of EXEvolution. Something this beauty and cruel world will easily understand because of two spirits who fought against fate!

That's it! GranDracmon line is one of my favorite Digivolution lines other than Cherubimon Evil or Venommyotismon from the Demon Digimon family. EXEvolution is like an alternate version of Digivolution which I created to avoid being a complete hypocrite since quote on quote Garnet can't Digivolve.

Eren's pure hatred stemmed from watching his mother get eaten but since she died an alternate way, he's resolve is more towards saving others than 'I'm gonna kill all the Titans'. Plus GranDracmon Rebellion Mode is came from a dream along with the thought of it being badass with a Rogue Titan Eren riding into battle on Garnet like a badass.

That's it for now! Until next time, stay fresh!

[dominaecaede]

Tomorrow Never Comes

Chapter 4 results: 65% chose to see who it is

〘 twitter 〙

The following story will have themes such as blood, gore, situations that may cause anxiety and major character death. If you are sensitive to any of these, please do not proceed.

Chapter 5: It's A Small World After All

They watched the knob shake and jangle and the door banging in. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of their foreheads as their brains pounded with what to do. If they let this mysterious person continue, those creatures will hear the knocks and they'll kill him. If not, then they could save a life. The life of someone they don't know whether they were trustworthy or not.

"We... We have to let him in," Kirishima stood up. "Those things are gonna get him if we don't!"

Enji only grunted. He was always hard to read but surely his inner conscience knew it was the right thing to do. The man took out a hunting knife he had holsted in his belt and held it on guard, using his other hand to unlock the door.

"Try anything funny and I'm gonna slice your damn head off," he spoke firmly before holding the door wide open.

The hooded figure immediately ran in, followed by Enji slamming the door closed and locking it. He held up his knife at the stranger's head point. It prompted the figure to raise his hands up.

"Alright. Now take off your hood and show your face."

The figure nodded and obliged. When he put his hood down, a face was revealed that Enji would never forget. That thick spiky black hair and stapled scarred flesh were unforgettable. It made Enji hostile.

"...! You damn villain...!" Enji snarled and charged at him.

Dabi was prepared, though. He dodged Enji's attack and pulled out a gun he had in his belt, using it to wack the knife out of his hand and point it at him effortlessly. He chuckled, and the group knew full well that this man wasn't intimidated in the least. Midoriya watched. His reflexes were fast and swift.

"Now, now," Dabi began. "I know I have quite the reputation, but the world's gone to shit. Without quirks, should I even be called a villain anymore? Since without quirks, I don't consider you a hero anymore, oh powerful Endeavor."

His tone of voice was mocking, the smirk on his face as the cherry on top. It pissed the man off. Todoroki stood up and was in front of his mother as he held up his metal baton in a protective position.

"You killed people even before this happened," Bakugou spoke up. "Why the hell should we trust you?"

"I killed heroes who weren't worthy of that title, not random people on the streets," Dabi clarified. "And I may just so happen to have information you'll need, so put your weapons down, or kill me and you'll be left in the dark."

There was a moment of silence as everyone darted their eyes around the room. When the group came to a silent agreement, they put their weapons down. However, Enji still had his weapon up with fierce eyes. Dabi blinked.

"You really think I'm stupid enough to put down my weapon for you?" Enji barked.

Dabi only sighed. "Whatever. You were always a bitter old man, anyway."

Todoroki sat down next to Rei again, who was quiet the entire time. The woman didn't seem scared by the former villain. In fact, her storm colored eyes only observed Dabi from where she was. Dabi sat down in the chair not too far from the door. Midoriya took his spot back on the floor, crossing his arms at him.

"Okay, so start talking," Todoroki spoke. "Why'd you come to this room specifically when you could've escaped the hospital?"

"For the same reason you all did," Dabi answered and looked up at Rei. "To see her. I just didn't expect a full party here."

Todoroki got defensive. "But why? What the hell do you have planned with my mother?"

Dabi snorted. "Relax, kid. I came here to see if what I heard was true, only it turns out it wasn't."

"...?" Todoroki blinked. "If what was true?"

Enji sighed, in which caught everyone's attention. The man looked down. "... If Clearnox got to her."

Dabi raised his brow at the man and gave an amused smirk. "So you and I thought the same thing, huh?"

"There's that name again. Clearnox...," Midoriya muttered. "What did they want with Todoroki-san?"

That's when Enji stood up to look out the window, having an almost visible concerned look on his face. Those who knew him would be surprised to see such a face. "Back to when everything wasn't like this, Clearnox contacted my agency. Yura Hana was seeking subjects for their upcoming project and that Rei was chosen among the 'lucky people' who would take part in it. Rei was under strict protection under me, so I assumed Yura discovered this. 'She would be a completely new person than before,' she said. 'It's not good to keep her cooped up in a hospital room knowing she has so much potential to be something more.' It seemed sketchy but then it seemed... tempting when she put it that way."

"But you declined her, right?" Todoroki raised his brow.

"No, but I didn't accept her offer either. I told her that I'd think it over," Enji responded. "But... Something wasn't right. So I sent spies to their company and see what this project was all about. What I found out was... beyond words."

Midoriya furrowed his brows. "And what did you find out?"

Enji turned his gaze towards the greenette and then the rest od the group. "That they were actually experimenting on people."

Their breath hitched. Kirishima winced. "Experimenting?"

"Yes," Enji nodded. "My associates sent pictures they took of people strapped into these beds and these people in suits injecting something in them. I didn't know what it was but I kept the photos as proof to warn others and to intentionally bring their organization down. From what it looks like, it seemed to have been going on for a while. Here, take a look yourselves."

He tossed three photographs onto Rei's hospital bed where they could see. They were hidden photos of people screaming, deteriorating and dying. That would explain why her name was on that list. Todoroki was horrified. "And... They wanted to experiment on my mother? To do this to her? But why?"

"That I don't know," Enji responded. "But after one of my associates reported to me, something happened. I remember his breathing began to get heavier and he screamed... Then there was silence. The same thing happened to the others. Only one survived long enough to send this last photo to me."

Enji then tossed the one last photo and Midoriya picked it up to examine it. He gasped. It showed the face of one of those creatures, blurred out as if the photographer was running for their life in the process. "Those things were people? What the hell?" Bakugou whispered.

"When that happened, I didn't hesitate to make my way to Rei's room. But by the time I got to the hospital, it was already infested with those things. I can only assume that the hospital was one of the first buildings to go down."

Todoroki was in disbelief. "That's... That's insane. So... Clearnox caused this to happen..."

"That's so fucked up," Kirishima blinked. "Who would do something like this?"

"Someone who probably thought that they'd make a big profit for themselves," Dabi spoke up as he reloaded his gun. "From what I've seen on the way here, those things are contagious too. There was this survivor running away from one of them. They got her, but not even a couple minutes later she began making those deafening noises."

"Are you fucking serious?" Bakugou huffed. "If we get bit by one of those things, we become one?"

"Seems like it," Dabi shrugged.

"I'm still confused though," Todoroki stood up. "You didn't just come to this room specifically just to see if some rumours were true. What's my mom to you? Why are you really here?"

Dabi didn't respond at first, but he didn't want to answer that anyway. However, he didn't have to after all. Rei stood up and began walking towards him, in which made the former villain stand up as well. Her hands reached up to touch his face and the woman's eyes began tearing up.

"... Because you never forgot about me... Like I never forgot about you...," Rei whispered. "Isn't that right... Touya?"

Both Enji's and Dabi's eyes widened. He instantly walked towards the woman and the former villain and put a hand on her shoulder. "Rei, that's not Touya. Touya is gone... He's been missing for years. He's never coming back."

"And why do you think that is?! You made my child disappear!" Rei snapped back, causing Enji's hand to fall off her shoulder. "But a mother never forgets her child's face, no matter how many years have gone by... And that is my son. That's my Touya...! He came back! Just look at his eyes, Enji! Don't you dare deny that truth!"

The large man looked back up at Dabi to see for himself, and the villain stayed silent. In fact, Dabi's expression changed. He looked sad. Enji's own facial expression began to change in realization, followed by disbelief.

"No...," Enji shook his head. "You can't be..."

Rei began sobbing and took Dabi in her arms, holding him tight and not letting go. The former villain didn't do anything, however. He stayed silent and let it be, but he began blinking rapidly as if he was going to cry as well. He couldn't form any words.

However, their time of sentimentality was cut short. The screeching noises seemed to be getting louder and closer towards the door, with the sound of their feet making loud thuds on the floor from running. Bakugou backed up.

"Shit, they're coming...!"

"Dammit...!" Dabi's eyes darted every corner of the room for a way out, but the only way was through the window. He snatched Todoroki's metal baton and broke the window open, then looked out of it. "There's a shade over the second story window and a large patch of grass underneath. It'll hurt but it's our only way out. We have to hurry!"

But by the time anyone could make a choice, those things were already at the door trying to break it down. Enji darted towards it and used his strength to keep it closed. Eventually the door broke open, but Enji was still pushing through and forcing it closed. The group had begun lunging out of the window; Bakugou was already down, Todoroki carefully guiding Rei out and Midoriya was soon to follow.

"Shit, it's not gonna stay closed...!" Kirishima darted to help Enji keep it closed, trying to find anything to barricade it but he couldn't find anything within reach. Enji grunted and looked back at the group before looking at Kirishima.

"You have to get out of here, boy! Or else you won't make it!"

"But then you'll die!" Kirishima shouted.

Midoriya was already at the edge of the window to jump down, but when he heard both Enji and Kirishima shouting in the back, he knew they weren't following. The greenette rushed to look behind. "BOTH OF YOU, COME ON! WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!"

"SOMEONE HAS TO STAY BEHIND TO KEEP THESE THINGS AT BAY WHILE YOU ALL ESCAPE. YOU HAVE TO GO, BOY! NOW!!"

Who should stay behind?

• Enji?

• Or Kirishima?