#she would nok fucking do anything like that

[crabknight]

His beloved had left him. Mitama was still only some months old, but that poor excuse of a person had ran away one night to be with someone else and left Azama alone with their child. Countless days had he spent lost and confused. He didn't understand why she left and he didn't know how to care for such a young child alone.

Worst of all, he was still Hinoka's retainer. Whenever he left for work, he feared that the kindergarten wasn't any good and that Mitama would get hurt. He feared he might leave to the battlefield and never return, leaving his baby without anyone to care for her.

"You should just put her in the deeprealms," Hinoka suggested.

"I don't want that, I want to see her grow up," Azama sighed, "She'll hate me if she spends her entire childhood thinking I abandoned her."

"But you wouldn't have to worry about her and besides, kids are a lot of work!" Hinoka said, "All that cleaning up after them because they can't do it themselves and you have to teach them to speak."

Azama felt a certain anger bubbling in him, a frustration that she couldn't understand just how much Mitama meant to him, but he tried to remain civil, "The answer is no."

Hinoka let it rest, but it was clear she still thought of it. Azama wondered how she could be so heartless. Of course children needed their parents, someone had to teach and care for them. A caretaker such as those of the deeprealm had a dozen children to care for, Mitama might be neglected or abused and he would have no way of knowing.

In his worry for his daughter, he didn't notice he had fallen behind by several paces until Setsuna called his name.

"I'll help take care of her when I have time," she said.

"Thanks," was all Azama could muster in the midst of his anxious daze.

Some days and a battle later, they returned home. Mitama had been staying with Mozu's family. She had to stay home for some weeks after breaking her leg and she was more than happy to care for Mitama during that time. Her father loved the girl as well and had endlessly reassured Azama he would make sure she was perfectly safe, happy and healthy.

Though he was exhausted, Azama wore a bright smile when he knocked on the front door. Some moments passed before Mozu answered. At the sight of her friend, she retreated back into the house before he could see how she had burst into tears.

"Mozu? What's the matter?" he asked as he stepped over the threshold.

Her father held his head in his hands and looked just as, if not more, devastated than Mozu.

"What's wrong?" Azama asked once more.

"They took Mitama," Mozu muttered.

A hopelessness he hadn't felt in years bubbled up in Azama's chest. It was odd, cold and heavy. In that moment, he wanted everything to stop and to scream at them both for allowing anything to happen to the one that mattered most to him...

They weren't at fault though, he knew that much. They both loved Mitama as though she were part of the family, they would sacrifice life and limb to protect her.

With nothing else he could do, Azama wept. His sobs filled the house and just the sound made the residents' hearts ache. They hugged him tight and cried with him, for he and Mitama were family in every way but blood.

That evening after endless tears had been shed and they had spoken, Azama returned home with useful information. Those that had taken Mitama were soldiers. Hoshidan soldiers. Apparently, a higher up had commanded them to take Mitama after determining the thought of her distracted Azama while he worked.

The second piece of information he gleaned was her location: the deeprealms.

It wasn't something he thought of then, but on the walk home, it was crystal clear to hi. that Hinoka had given the order. She always complained whenever he had a problem related to Mitama and said he should send her away.

His grip on his staff tightened as he thought of this. He wanted to kill her slowly and watch her bleed, he wanted her to beg for a second chance and to feel nothing but pain and regret as she bled out when he refused to forgive her.

But Mitama was more important. He would find her and then decide what to do with Hinoka.

First, he had to get to the deeprealms. Despite the amount of times the option had been recommended to him, he didn't actually know how to get there. It was a secret that few outside the royal family knew.

That information was surprisingly easy to learn though as Ryoma had offered it voluntarily when asked. He knew not of Hinoka's issues with Azama.

"East of the butterfly village. There's a path to follow, the locals would gladly show it to you!" he had said.

As expected, a local had happily shown Azama to the correct path. They had left after he reached the gate. He dropped his polite smile and entered, only concerned with if he could find his dear little Mitama.

The world was different from how he pictured. Everyone always said farmlands, but he didn't think there would really be as much farmlands as there truly were. He waded though golden wheat to a distant manor.

From afar, he could already hear the sounds of children laughing as they played. They sounded happy. He wondered if Mitama was amongst those kids, or if she was still a baby. He didn't know what the difference in time was between his world and this.

A man watched the children as they played. He wore a uniform not unlike a Hoshidan steward, and so Azama assumed he was their caretaker.

"Sir! I'm searching for my daughter," Azama said.

"Hmm? No one was scheduled to visit today," the man answered.

"I don't care, I need to see her. Her name is Mitama."

"Mitama?" the man thought.

His face contorted into something Azama couldn't quite make out. Confusion? Fear? Dread? Horror? Surprise?

"Mitama... Takagi?" he hesitantly said.

"Yes, is she here?" Azama said as composed as he could.

"I've received orders that she isn't to have any visitors."

That hopelessness that had latched onto his heart like a tumor seemed to grow by the second. All that stopped him from falling to his knees in a sea of tears was the staff he leaned on.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and forced a smile.

"You're a reasonable man, no?" he asked.

"I'd like to think I am," the caretaker confusedly answered.

"Then you must understand my situation. My wife left me and I don't speak with my family, Mitama is all I have left," he pleaded.

The caretaker thought of it. His face was still as he did, completely and frustratingly unreadable.

"I suppose you can see her," he said.

Azama wanted to cry while he followed the caretaker into the manor. He paced back and forth while the caretaker left to retrieve the girl.

It felt like he waited for an eternity. Or maybe just some seconds. As soon as he saw little Mitama's face, he forgot everything about how long he had waited.

She hid behind the caretaker with a frown. Her hair was the same pink as her mother's and she had adorable round cheeks, but she must have been about three of four for she was quite a bit taller than when he last held her four days prior.

"Go on Mitama, he's just your dad," he said.

"He's mean," she complained.

"Please, just say hi to him."

Hesitantly, she stepped out from her hiding place.

"Hello Mitama," Azama smiled.

She stared up at him with empty eyes before retreating behind the caretaker once more. She didn't like Azama, not when she had never met him before and only knew him as her dad who abandoned her because she was a burden.

"Can I leave now?" she asked.

The caretaker looked to Azama and reluctantly, he nodded. Mitama ran off, likely to play or whatever else she liked doing. He didn't know his own daughter. He didn't know if she was rowdy or quiet or artistic or sporty or snooty or friendly or anything about her at all.

A silence stayed in that room for another stretch of time that felt like it could both be a million years and a millisecond.

"She doesn't seem to like you," the caretaker said plainly.

Azama held it in no longer and fell to the floor and sobbed. The caretaker put a careful hand on his shoulder, saying little while this stranger seemed to feel the worst pain of his life. There wasn't much to say to anyway, it was clear what had happened.

"Can I stay here? I-I'll help care for all the children, I just want to see my daughter," Azama wept.

It was all he could think of in the moment, but truly, it wasn't a half bad idea. He thought children were fascinating and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself if he saw Hinoka again.

Being a caretaker to two dozen children with a slight chance of fixing his relationship with his daughter was better than being executed for killing a princess.

The caretaker agreed, and so began a strange new chapter in Azama's life.

how could you

how DARE you

you can't just do this to me

can't believe this

[depizan]

Bees???

Jezari isn’t a fan of live cargo. She’s even less of a fan when the live cargo is angry insects which are now loose in her cargo hold.

(Not whump, but the only thing that came to mind from the possible prompts. And owes more than a little to Jezari’s origin as a green, female, Han Solo. Because this is exactly the sort of thing that would happen to Han and Chewie.)

Whumptober prompt #15: bees

12.3.10

Jezari tried not to fuss as the dockworkers loaded cargo into the Luck’s hold. It wasn’t that they were doing a bad job, particularly not with Bowdaar and Corso supervising, but she’d caught her client’s nervousness and was beginning to think that there was something in the cargo that he hadn’t mentioned. It was also entirely possible that he was just a fussy man.

“No, no.” Her client, a stocky middle aged human, waved his hands at a Zabrak carrying two small casks. “Those have to go on top. They’re fragile.”

The Zabrak rolled her eyes and shoved the casks into Corso’s arms before he could protest.

“And be very, very careful with that large case,” the client shouted after her as she disappeared down the ramp for more cargo.

Jezari gave it about fifty/fifty odds that one of the workers was going to punt her client off the landing platform before everything was loaded. That was what she got for taking an almost-legitimate job. But she still wasn’t sure Corso understood that she was a smuggler, and not a somehow misunderstood legitimate freighter captain. And she wasn’t at all ready to discuss cargos with Nok Drayen’s daughter. Compared to him, she was a legitimate freighter captain.

So a luxury goods run it was, with all of the crime in the documentation and none of it actually in the cargo. If business people on Fedalle wanted to wow each other with tax-free Corellian brandy, roba steak, and tomuon cloth, she was happy to help them. And if anything went wrong, the only danger was to their credit accounts.

She stepped back from the ramp as the Zabrak returned, a large, narrow rectangular crate balanced between herself and a Weequay. It looked almost like the kind of case used to ship artwork, except it was a shiny gray and had some kind of electronic control panel on one end.

Whatever it was—climate controlled art, a really weird way to ship fresh fish—it appeared to be the last of the load. The two human dockworkers were already leaning on the empty cargo hauler, toasting themselves with bottles of beer. Jezari shook her head.

“Careful!” Her client yelped.

She turned in time to see the end of the large shiny case slip from the Weequay’s hands and crash to the deck. A black cloud, like smoke, rose from the top of the case.

The Weequay swore, batting at the spreading cloud.

Bowdaar grabbed Corso and Jezari and leapt down the ramp. She had a brief glimpse of the startled dockworkers as the Wookiee raced past them.

“Hey! What are you doing!” She struggled in his grasp. “Put me down! Ow!” She slapped a hand to the hot sting at her neck and came away with something. It stung her hand and she tossed it away with a yelp.

Bowdaar set her and Corso down in the middle of the cargo port with a growled instruction to stay put, and ran off. Not in the direction of the ship.

Corso blinked at her, a red, swollen lump on his nose, another above his right eyebrow. “What…?”

“I don’t know.” Jezari looked at the throbbing swelling on her hand. “What the hell were those doing in the cargo!?” She started back toward the Luck, Corso trailing in her wake.

“Captain, wait! What’re you gonna do?”

She didn’t stop. “I don’t know!” She had a whole lot of questions for her client, starting with: “What the fuck?”

Her comm chimed. She fumbled with it, not wanting to stop, or use her sore hand.

A tiny image of Risha, still back on the ship, came to life. “Captain, what—”

Jezari cut her off. “Don’t go in the cargo bay. Don’t leave the ship. Don’t even open the cargo bay. Nasty things!” She held up her hand, though the image would probably be too small to show the swelling.

“Captain…”

“I don’t know!” She gave Risha what explanation she could of what had just happened, which mostly amounted to: angry bugs, cargo, stay put.

The area around the Luck’s landing pad had cleared out, the landing pad empty save for the ship and the abandoned freight hauler. A few curious people had stopped, well back from the entrance, staring at the apparently perfectly ordinary ship and landing platform and the small group arguing in front of it.

The two human dockworkers and the Zabrak had found a medpac and were tending to their stings and glowering at her client, who was shouting at the unimpressed—and apparently uninjured—Weequay.

“You’ve cost me more than I paid you!” The client yelled.

“You fool! No one ship these!” The Weequay had something pinned between his thumb and forefinger and thrust it at the client, who skipped back. “Dangerous!”

“Captain!” Her client waved her over. “Explain to these clods what they’ve done.”

“I’m with him,” Jezari said, indicating the Weequay. “What the fuck were those things and why were they in the cargo?”

The man gaped at her.

“Kuret,” the Weequay said. “For Kubaz. No other.”

“What?” Corso said.

“Wait.” Jezari turned back to her client. “You were shipping those things intentionally?”

“They’re a Kubaz delicacy,” he said. “Very valuable. And perfectly safe. Until these oafs dropped them.”

“Not safe.” The Weequay pointed the thing in his hand at him. “Forbidden.”

The client backed away. “Don’t wave that at me.”

It was a single dark colored insect, Jezari realized, about the size of her fingernail. It was also still alive, legs flailing. She rubbed her temples. “Tell me the rest of them are gone.”

The Weequay shook his head. “On ship.”

“They chased us out,” the Zabrak added.

“We’re done,” one of the human dockworkers put in. “You can’t pay me enough to go in there. We loaded the cargo. We’re out of here.”

The Weequay flicked the kuret at the client’s face and followed his companions.

“Damn it!” Jezari jumped back.

The client flailed at the insect, swatting it away. “How dare they! This is their fault. The kuret were safely stored and would have been no problem at all if they’d been properly handled.”

“I don’t do live cargo!” Jezari shot back. “I don’t ever do live cargo. You get those things off my ship. Now.”

Her client stared at her. “This isn’t my fault. I gave you the cargo manifest and you agreed to it. All perfectly legal. Go shout at those thugs.”

“You didn’t indicate that anything on there was alive.”

“Of course kurets are shipped alive,” her client said. “They’re eaten alive. They wouldn’t be any good dead.”

Bowdaar’s irritated growl cut off Jezari’s response. He’d wanted them to stay far away from the danger, not return to it the moment he was gone.

“We’re fine,” she said. “Except maybe for him.” She waved a hand at her client.

Bowdaar nodded and held up a large tank with a spray nozzle. He repeated his instruction to stay put and started for the Luck.

“What…what is that hairy beast going to do?” Her client stammered. “Wait, no, you’re not going to kill them! I’ve already paid for them!” He ran after the Wookiee.

Jezari groaned. "Why didn't I pick something simple? Like glitterstim. Or timebombs."

[eauderesistnce]

what’s up you guys. i’m jacey, and i’m just about the worst person you’ll ever meet. but !! good news. it can only get better from here. anyway, more about quinn below if you’re interested.

(( if you’ve ever been in an rp with me before and recognize the intro to my intro, don’t fucking @ me. i’m too stupid to come up with anything else. ))

:･ﾟ✧ * ˏˋ / ( lisa, 24, female, she&her ) * hey, i’m looking for the office of quinn amarin. they’re the intellectual property lawyer who’s known around the office as the medusa, if that helps? not to be a gossip, but i’ve heard that they’re tenacious but severe, is that true? i also heard that they’re the one who blackmailed a competitor. anyways, here’s the coffee they ordered. (jacey, 24, she&her, mst)

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕡𝕠 !! 

chloe decker (lucifer), temperance brennan (bones), amy brookheimer (veep), katara (atla), hermione granger (hp), lisa simpson (the simpsons), belle (beauty and the beast), monica (friends) 

𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 !!

 quinn was born in thailand as sinn amarin to sarai ‘sarah’ and nok ‘nick’ amarin. her mother wa the classic combination of an heiress and a socialite, and her father was the founder of a successful petrochemical company. her mother obtained dual citizenship when quinn was a toddler so that she could pursue quinn’s dance career in new york and los angeles. for the first thirteen years of her life, quinn lived and breathed dance. she was homeschooled in order to spend extra time in her company’s studio, and she was a national title holder for most of her life. her mother was convinced that she could have a lifelong career in dance and a future in modeling. 

quinn, however, disagreed. she was a serious child; the kind of kid who always used the steps to get into the pool (( after checking the water temperature first, of course )). she tried to get control of her life in high school. she devoted countless hours to her academic interests in order to get into an ivy league school for pre-law. her mother was devastated. she was only allowed to go if she chose a school close to their pent house in new york. 

she earned her undergrad from columbia so that her mother could ensure that she still spent time in the dance studio before and after classes. quinn wriggled out from under her thumb when she graduated early and was accepted to yale for law school. in exchange for a life-changing favor (( that’s a shhh, secret )), her parents footed the insanely expensive tuition and rent bills. quinn quit dance, so she had to appease one of their dreams for her future. 

her parents are allowing her to work at master’s as a intellectual property lawyer for now, but the deadline of her untraditional loan is quickly ticking by. unfortunately, quinn isn’t looking to pay it anytime soon.   

𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 !!

quinn is of the opinion that if you want something, you have to work for it. there aren’t any excuses in life, so either put up or shut up. she takes Extreme offense to anyone who throws away opportunities by messing around.

she’s v cordial at work, so she can come off as cold. she thinks that personal lives should be kept out of the workplace. of course, quinn has no personal life to talk about so that’s an easy motto for her live by lmao. 

she’s fiercely loyal to the few friends she has. 

quinn’s not actively mean, but she doesn’t know how to sugarcoat things or understand why some people would be sensitive to criticism. she grew up with a hyper-critical mom, so she thinks that’s the best way to improve, and that she’s being helpful when she’s being harsh lmao––but her goal isn’t ever to hurt someone’s feelings. she’s v honest and genuine, but not tactful. 

she definitely lacks an ability to understand people who think differently than she does, and she is, of course, always right.

she’s a v literal person, so it takes her a minute to get when someone is kidding or being sarcastic. definitely on the spectrum, but like a lot kids on the high end of spectrum, it went undiagnosed. if she had been diagnosed, she probably would’ve had a psychologist help her learn the social cues she doesn’t understand. 

she’s totally ruled by logic and reason. her loyalties lie with concrete evidence above all else. 

she can often come off as arrogant. she doesn’t brag or flex, but she’s definitely not humble lmao. she is definitely aware that she’s smart and beautiful lmao, and she’s far more likely to say, “i know,” than, “thank you,” to a compliment. 

she hasn’t danced since she was 19, and it’s entirely to prove a point to her mom even though she did love dancing before her mom became her momager. *you’re doing amazing, sweetie*

she’s v embarrassed that she wanted to be a ballerina when she was eight bc how immature and unrealistic. it’s not like she was four. 

she has a dog who she loves more than any human. she’s a german shepherd named lizzie (after elizabeth bennet of course).

she loves art and poetry history. she’s also really into the history of fashion and fashion in general. most of her money (that doesn’t go into a 401k and her investment portfolio) goes towards art pieces and handbags. 

she views relationships as a basic tier in maslow’s hierarchy of needs, similar to food or shelter. to her, sex is just a means to an orgasm, and orgasms are occasionally necessary to release tension. so ,,, she’s never had a romantic partner lmao, and she’s not interested in any unnecessary distractions from her work.  

𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 !!

best friends: ( m, f, nb ), childhood friends: ( m, f, nb ), fwb: (m, f, nb), casual hookup ( m, f, nb), work rivals: ( m, f, nb ), enemies: ( m, f, nb )

all the connections tbh. hmu or like this and i’ll hit you up !!

[michellejackson]

Jeg har nok kjærlighet for deg og meg

PART ONE PART TWO

Fandom: Druck

Pairing: Fatou Jallow/Kieu My Vu

Wordcount: 1897

AU where Kieu My and Fatou haven’t met yet, but Ismail still steals a tortoise.

or the one where Kieu My is having a shitty day, but a certain aquarium store worker brightens it.

You can read everything on ao3:)

“Dude, are you skipping right now? Like actually skipping?” Kieu My stopped walking and looked behind her where Ismail now was holding the boxed turtle. She smiled, of course not, she said, don’t be stupid. But she said it all with a smile.

“Why are you so happy right now? What’s happening?” they jogged a little to keep up with her, so she slowed down. They were in the mall now; she really hoped the girl was working today.

“I’m just happy to help you out, can’t I find joy in the little things, Ismail?” Ismail saw right thought that, “you barely find joy in the big things, Kieu My.” But they let it go. Taking this small win in seeing her happy.

When they stood outside the shop Ismail didn’t hesitate to go right in, but Kieu My stopped walking for a minute and looked to see if the girl was there, she was. Despite the excitement she’d felt earlier, now she was suddenly filled with nerves, and she didn’t start walking again before Ismail turned around and gave her a “the fuck you standing there for” look. They walked up to the register together.

The girl was alone today, there was no other people on the shop, and Kieu My was glad. The less people to witness Ismail’s stupidity, the better.

Pet shop girl looked up as they approached and their eyes locked, god, she was just was gorgeous as she remembered. Her mouth opened as she talked, but Kieu My didn’t pay attention, her eyes taking all of her in. She looked even better up close. She was wearing a green jacket, the shops uniform, she guessed, with a light purple sweater underneath it, and GOD the color looks so good on her. Around her neck was a puka shell choker, and even though at most times puka shells reminded her of white people going south for the summer and coming back with aggressive tans and cornrows, she gained a new appreciation for them, seeing them on her.

Caught in her head, she didn’t pop back out again before she heard her name. “Wait what, sorry,” Kieu My looked from Ismail to the girl behind the desk, “what were you saying, sorry…” Ismail looked at her with a knowing smile, “you’re Kieu My.” She looked back at the girl she’d spent time admiring,

“yes. Yes, I’m Kieu My”.

She cringed. What the fuck. “Sorry, uhm, hi…” was it too late to be unborn? This was not going as smoothly as she’d hoped. She looked at the girl again and this time searching for a nametag, but she didn’t find any. Would it be weird to ask for her name?

“Hi, Kieu My.” She said, dipping her head in her direction. Kieu My focused on her voice this time, it was light, calm, and so so so pretty. If she could, Kieu My would wrap herself up in it. Even her voice was perfect, how typical. She blushed; this was not the way she thought she would introduce herself. Ismail, her hero at the moment, put her out of her misery and again took the center of attention.

“So, funny story, yesterday my friend and I, not Kieu My, another one, he’s kind of a dick, honestly-”

As Ismail was talking, Kieu My took a moment to look around the store, it was dark and there were big aquariums along the walls. There were loads of aquarium stuff here, a lot of food and props for fishes mostly. The weird thing was, she hadn’t actually seen a single dog collar since walking into the store, which one would think would be an essential for dogs. Since this was a pet store and there’s approximately five million dogs in this country (she did not look that up in some poor attempt to impress the other girl, nope) so it would just be logical to at least- oh. Kieu My tried her hardest not to facepalm. She has never in her life felt more stupid than right now, in this exact moment.

It seemed that in the midst of admiring the beauty of the cashier, Kieu My had failed to notice the simple fact that this was not a pet store, but an aquarium store. For fishes. And they’re here with a turtle. A turtle. God.

She cuts off Ismail in the middle of their rambling, “oh god, this is an aquarium store. I’m so sorry to bother you, I thought this was a pet store!” she looked from Ismail to the girl who seemed relieved to not having to listen to Ismail’s story any longer.

Ismail kept talking though. “Does that even matter?”, Kieu My looked at them, dumbfounded. The other girl laughed though, “if you need anything, I could try my best to help you” she said.

“Oh yeah,” Ismail put the box on the counter, “how does one care for a turtle?”

At this, the eyes of the worker widen, “you’re keeping a turtle in a paper box?” her hands quickly go to take the top off the box, and her stiffen exterior quickly dissolves when she sees the animal. “This is a tortoise” she says, looking at Ismail as if they’re the stupidest person to ever exist. Oh, of course it is, she should’ve known that. What’s going on with her?

Her first reaction was to apologize again, but before she could do that the girls gaze switched to her. “If you thought it was a turtle, why isn’t there any water here? And also, you can’t transport it like that.” Ismail picked up the tortoise with both hands, and the girl spoke up again “why are you holding her like a burger?” at this Kieu My laughed, easing the tension a little.

“They’ve been carrying it like that all day” Kieu My says, smiling at her. She wanted to ask for her name, should she? Mentally preparing herself for it she decided that yes, yes she should. So, she did.

“uhm, wha-” or at least she tried to.

Ismail, who she again had to remind herself was her friend, cut her off, “yes, I just need to know how to take care of her for now, I don’t really know what to do with it to be honest, you can’t keep it in an aquarium here right?” they both look at the girl as she answers with a stern no and a look that honestly says it all.

“Right, so we’ve been feeding her cookies-”

“You’ve been feeding her cookies?” the girl looks at them in utter disbelief. Oh, how bad Kieu My wanted to throw her friend under the bus right about now. She wouldn’t, but GOD she wanted to. She instead stares daggers into them. Hoping at least one would pierce through the skin, just a little.

“You know what? I can take her in the meantime, I know enough to take care of her properly, you can come back when you find her another place to stay or decide to take her back to the zoo.” She said this as if it was final, as if she wouldn’t dare let Ismail try to feed her cookies again, and honestly? That was very hot of her. Even though it would make things a hundred times easier for Kieu My if she let the girl take the tortoise, she knew she couldn’t just dump Ismail’s problems on her.

Since Ismail told her about what they’d done and the results of it, she had prepared herself for the possibility that she would be the one to take care of the tortoise. She knew that Ismail wouldn’t 1. know the first thing about taking care of it (case in point, they fed it cookies) or 2. be able to keep it at their house

“Oh, we really couldn’t ask that of you. Ismail is hopeless, but I would take her. I just need to know more about tortoises, like what they need and stuff, what does it eat, how should it live? Do I need to take it on walks?” that last part was meant to be funny, and Kieu My mentally gave herself a pat on the back when the other girl smiled at her. She wouldn’t really need to take it on walks, right?

“Kieu My, I can’t ask you to-” Ismail started.

“Shut up, Ismail.” Kieu My finished.

“Yeah, I really can’t take her home to my mother…” Kieu My already knew this the second Ismail walked through her door with the animal.

“You should’ve thought about that before you stole it.” The clerk pointedly said to Ismail. Ismail just raised their hand and waved her off. Kieu My knew she was way out of her depth, but she’d learn everything she needed to know to take care of this tortoise in the meantime.

“Does she have a name?” The worker took the tortoise from Ismail and smiled at it. “She looks like a Maike to me”.

“Maike it is then.” Kieu My said, looking at her cozying up to Maike. She looked so soft with Maike in her hands, she held her up to her face and made a face. She was so beautiful, Kieu My couldn’t help but melt a little.

Putting her back into her box, she looked up at Kieu My and opened her mouth again, “I really can take her; I do have access to a lot of equipment, not here though, obviously, but I already have a grid cage because I used to have guinea pig, and Maike should be fine living in it for now.” She rambled, low and fast, and she wouldn’t look away from the tortoise. Kieu My smiled, did she really want to take care of the tortoise?

“Of course, if you really want to take care of her, I’ll give you my number and you could just message me anytime you have a question-” Kieu My was basically grinning now, and from the corner of her eye she could see Ismail smirking. She was willing to give her her number! Of course, it would just be to exchange information about the tortoise, but it would work for now. We were finally getting somewhere.

Kieu My quickly cuts her off, “or, you could keep the tortoise if you really wanted to take care of her, and still give me your number, you know, for updates and stuff…”

Keeping her eyes on the girl for a reaction, she could see her slowly beginning to smile, like she couldn’t keep it in, she looked up at Kieu My. Her stomach fluttered.

“’And stuff’, huh? Like if your friend decides to steal another poor reptile?” Ismail gasped at this and opened their mouth, Kieu My kicked them in the leg. They kept it shut for once.

“or if I potentially wanted to know your name” they both smile at each other, Ismail and Maike forgotten.

“Well, if you wanted to know my name, all you had to do was ask, you really didn’t have to steal a tortoise.”

“are you going to have me beg for it?”

“if that’s a possibility…” they both laugh, Kieu My blushes. The other girl offers her hand,

“my names Fatou.”

Kieu My took the hand and repeated her name once, smiling, “nice to meet you, Fatou”.

[revisitingstoneybrook]

#68 Jessi and the Bad Babysitter: Chapter 10

I think Jessi wins the award for Dumbest Thing Said in a BSC Book Ever in this chapter. You’ll see what I mean.

Jessi gets to the Pikes five minutes early and, sure enough, Wendy isn't there, even after Jessi begged her to show up early the day before. Mallory reassures Jessi that she'll probably be there in a minute (especially considering, you know, Jessi showed up five minutes early), and Jessi explodes, “I specifically asked her to be on time!” Whoa, calm down. You're turning into Kristy! Besides, you're early; if she arrives right after you, she's still on time! Jessi has a warped understanding of how “on time” works.

Mrs. Pike asks Jessi where Wendy is, and Jessi says she has no clue. Jessi tells them to go, Wendy will probably be there soon. Mrs. Pike panics over the thought of Wendy not showing up and decides to sit around for a few extra minutes. Since the Pike kids will all melt into puddles of goo if there aren't two sitters there and it isn't that important to get What's-Her-Name to the doctor right away. She says she can't cancel the appointment though because it was the only available slot when she called last week. What the hell kind of pediatrician do the Pikes use that doesn't take patients on an emergency basis?

And while we're on this tangent, why is it such a huge issue if there isn't a second sitter there? I know, I know, more than 4 kids = 2 sitters. But the Pike kids are drinkers of the BSC Kool-Aid, they're only a handful if the writer wants to show how chaotic/wacky they are, or if they're doing one of their ~projects~ and this one isn't their brainchild. The rest of the time, they practically take care of themselves! And Vanessa and the triplets are 9 and 10. When the series started, Mallory was helping out and she was, oh yeah, 10. And two chapters ago, we got this whole thing about Vanessa being responsible and able to help out with watching the younger kids. What? Already forgotten? And the other Pike kids aren't expected to help out the way Mallory does because she's the family punching bag? Ok.

Jessi finally gets rid of Mrs. Pike and Mallory by promising if Wendy doesn't show up in 15 minutes, she'll call Aunt Cecilia to come over and help. Jessi says she doesn't even like the idea, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Anyway, Mrs. Pike finally takes a hint and leaves with Mallory, anxiously reminding Jessi to do something if Wendy doesn't show up. Geez, calm the hell down, Mrs. Pike! After they get the hell out of there, Jessi does the usual “make the rounds and see what the kids are doing” routine. The boys are playing Nok Hockey downstairs, again the triplets have no problem letting Nicky play with them. And upstairs, Vanessa's doing her homework and Claire's doing a puzzle on the floor. Claire says Margo kicked her out of their bedroom. Jessi heads over to the younger girls' room, wondering why Margo would do that.

Um, let's see. You caught her shoplifting the other day, she was acting secretive and weird last time you sat for her...you don’t think she’s holed up in her room with the ring she stole? Geez, the BSC is not good at putting 2 and 2 together. Especially Claudia.

Jessi knocks on Margo's door and she doesn't answer until Jessi threatens to come inside. Margo opens up and claims she was asleep, though Jessi heard footsteps inside. Jessi wants to talk but Margo says she wants to “sleep” for like another hour and feigns a yawn. Jessi lets her and Margo shuts the door before either of them can say anything else. 

As she walks downstairs, Jessi wonders if Margo's coming down with whatever Mallory has. Are you fucking kidding me? She faked being asleep, when she obviously wasn't. Jessi herself noticed that. Add that in with all the other stuff...she's clearly hiding something and chances are, it involves her shoplifting. Jessi is such a moron in some parts of this book. The real doozie's coming up soon where she says what quite possibly could be the dumbest thing she's ever said.

Hey, whoa! Wendy's 15 minutes are up (in more ways than one), so Jessi calls her house first. Mrs. Loesser answers and says Wendy had a babysitting job after school. Jessi wonders if it's the Pike one or if she forgot about the Pikes and took another one without telling the club (blasphemy!). She asks Mrs. Loesser to call her at the Pikes if she comes back and hangs up. Now what? Things are calm and quiet, so she has half the mind to keep it that way. But Mrs. Pike wanted another sitter there, dammit! And Jessi's in no rush to call Aunt Cecilia, so she goes looking for someone else.

The victim is Mary Anne, who doesn't have a sitting job until 7:30 but was going to spend the afternoon working on a paper. Jessi calls her, begging her to come help out, since Wendy isn't there. Mary Anne says she can't because the paper's due tomorrow and since she's been so busy with the BSC, she's had like no time to work on it. Kristy, when the sitters' academic time is suffering, IT'S TIME TO HIRE NEW SITTERS AND NOT BE AN UNWELCOMING BITCH TO THEM! Bring on the Shillaber twins, we haven't heard from them in ages.

Jessi begs her again and Mary Anne says she will, as long as she stays at the kitchen table to work on her paper and is only called on in an emergency. Uh...doesn't that defeat the purpose of having another sitter if she's going to pretty much be useless?

Mary Anne shows up, armed with four books and a pen behind her ear, explaining that the paper counts for a quarter of her grade. What the hell is she doing taking tons of babysitting jobs if she's got a bigass paper due? Forget this whole “Seven sitters is ENOUGH!” crap, hire more people and keep them! Even if they are normies. And geez, Mary Anne, no Kid-Kit? You're slacking!

Well, not long after she arrives, there's a knock at the door. It's Wendy! Jessi demands to know where she's been. Oh no...she is turning into Kristy!

Wendy starts to say something, then notices Mary Anne's there and stops herself. Mary Anne asks if everything's ok and Wendy tells her she had something to do at school that went long, and she knew Jessi would be at the Pikes, so she thought it wasn't a big deal. Nice save. Jessi reminds Wendy that Mrs. Pike asked for two sitters, since her three next-eldest are unable to babysit, being that they're a year younger and oh-so-immature. Wendy responds, “I knew you'd get here on time!” and smiles but Mary Anne and Jessi are not amused. 

With Wendy there, Mary Anne gets out of there faster than Claudia in a library and that's the last we hear from her on this...or is it?

After Mary Anne leaves, Wendy confesses to Jessi that she really didn't have anything at school. Well, then where was she? Just like her mom said, Wendy was at a babysitting job. Her neighbor that she usually sits for grabbed her that morning in an emergency to ask if she could watch her baby after school. Wendy said she couldn't say no to her and took it knowing the Pike kids wouldn't be left alone since Jessi was there. Strike 3 and strike 4! Wendy is going to meet her doom at the next BSC meeting...it was nice knowing you, peripheral character!

Jessi freaks out and tells Wendy that she wasn't allowed to do that! Kristy told her so! Yeah! You can't babysit for anyone unless the BSC approves it! Ok...I know Wendy was irresponsible in not calling up Jessi and telling her that she was going to be late. Not to mention she didn’t bother telling Jessi about this at school before they left for their babysitting jobs. Really not smart. But Wendy's faux pas is overshadowed by Jessi here. Seriously, this is like the stupidest shit she ever said in the series. I'm including it in its entirety for posterity:

“Nobody else knows this baby,” Wendy insisted. “She won't go to just anybody.” (OH SHIT! She just dissed the BSC!) “Besides, Mrs. Behar only asked me this morning as I was leaving for school. What was I supposed to do?” “Well, I'm not exactly sure,” I admitted. “I guess you should have told her no, or given her the number of our club.”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!? God, it's taking all my will power to not hurl this book against the wall. Where is the logic in that? Neighbor asks for babysitter in emergency, usual sitter says no because the BSC won't let her take jobs without everyone else's approval. Did Jessi seriously expect her to say, “I'm sorry. I'm in this babysitting club now and I can no longer sit for you on my own. Here's the number, you must call on these days only and at these times only. I know you don't know everyone else but that's what I'm supposed to do now. Hail Kristy!” This makes absolutely no sense. And despite all this, we're supposed to side with the BSC and look at Wendy as the bad girl.

And you seriously can't tell me that, like, Mrs. Newton (who, in the words of another snarker, can't go to the bathroom without calling the BSC) has never called Claudia on a Tuesday morning to ask her to watch the kids in the afternoon because a family emergency or something came up? That's such a stupid rule and I don't remember the BSC ever making a huge deal out of it before. Plot device!

Wendy gives Jessi the same response I just did, only in a lot nicer terms, of course. Jessi's response? “If all of us took our own private jobs we wouldn't have any club customers.”

Good lord, IT WAS AN EMERGENCY!!!! Of course they don't all take their own private jobs all the time, but in an emergency situation, why not? I'd rather take the job than turn it down over a stupid rule and make the club look unreliable. Hear that, Kristy?

Before they can keep arguing, the sound of another fight interrupts them. They run downstairs to find Jordan accusing Adam of cheating at Nok-Hockey. Wendy breaks up the fight and suggests they do a rematch, with her as referee. Since the BSC charges always obey their sitters, the boys agree. Argument averted. Jessi goes upstairs to do her homework (with essentially only one babysitter on duty. How is that different from having one sitter?) and thinks to herself how good Wendy is with kids. Doesn't say she's a good babysitter...good babysitters don't defy the BSC I guess.

An hour goes by and Jessi realizes she didn't talk to Margo. Whoops! She goes upstairs but just as she does, Mallory and Mrs. Pike come home. Dammit Mallory! You ruin everything! Turns out Mallory's ok...the doctor thinks she's riding out a virus and is rundown. Oh, and she also might be anemic, so she has pills for that and they did blood work. The results aren't back yet but I'm sure they're back in time for the next book, when they discover she has mono.

Jessi's relieved and I guess it sucks for Mallory, because now everyone can give her more shit than usual and not have to worry about the whole “she's sick!” thing. Everyone hates Mallory. Jessi wonders if she should tell Mallory about Margo and Wendy but stays quiet. For the time being at least. And don't worry about Wendy, everyone in the BSC will be finding out about that soon.

[adozentothedawn]

First Playthrough Log Pathfinder: Kingmaker Part 31

Oh joy, it seems the mirror quest is bugged, because it doesn’t tigger. The only mention of this I found was in a post from may 2019. 

Aaaand now the game got stuck.

Ah there you go! Now it works.

Is that one ghost guard the elf king? A little disapointing but okay.

This feels weirdly anticlimactic. I haven’t taken a single of damage in the fight against Nyrissa because all she did was just heal herself. What to do with her now...

I mean I’m really tempted. More gameplay? And it would fit Tamary’s character... I’m just annoyed at myself that I didn’t save after defeating her.

j/ Mister, you are a giant floating ball of fire. With spikes. Calling you a lantern is like calling a burning house an oven. Like yeah I guess you can use it for that, but it seems kind of overkill.

I just realized I never saw Lander again, so maybe he’ll show up here. Edit: Yeah, there he is!

j/ Those are way too many Irovetti’s. At least they’re fittingly weak.

I just got my decleration of love from Kanerah and Kalikke and I must say I’m impressed. It’s great. I love it. It was so sweet and all I want is to hug them. I promise they’ll get a better wedding than just that though. 

j/ The last battle and Nyrissa just killed a dominated Jubilost. Thanks Nyrissa, remind me to never recruit you again.

What to do now... Not gonna lie, essentially becoming a fey does sound kind of dope. But also... immortality? Meh. At least if my wives don’t get same I’m very hesitant. Not gonna deal with Nyrissa though. I really don’t know why, but have less pity for her than for the Lantern King. Maybe it’s the voice actors, Nyrissa’s voice actress is just too good at sounding like a bitch.

I can’t find the actual ending slides unfortunately, but I did find something that said he was the chaotic ending and Nyrissa the good one, and like, why? What about Nyrissa is good? Like I get that she was fucked over and all, and we can totally have a discussion on her moral ambiguity, but how would allying with her lead to a good ending? Because in all honesty, but her and the Lantern King are kind of wonky with morals. They’re both selfish dicks, but they’re endgoal isn’t to hurt people. They’re very fine with it, but it’s not the point of what they’re doing. Anyway, I think I’ll both to fuck off. They can have their game somewhere else, Tamary is fine with the absolute batshit insane story she gets out of this. Becoming a fey would be dope, but also he admitted to being lonely and seem kind of insane. So yeah no thanks.

Aw, no he’s sad. If I’d been able to I would have told both they’re welcome to visit as long as they behave themselves. I can play tricks with him alright, I just don’t want immortality.

Okay, and now I’ll put a break, because after this will be my reactions to the ending slides, which make this thing even longer than usual and I don’t want to annoy people too badly. At least not with long posts.

You know, I pity what happened to Nyrissa in the beginning. It was a bad idea, but the Lantern King is also a dick with no sense of scale. She didn’t deserve that. But I don’t really pity her for her following fate, because that’s entirely her choice. He pulled back and gave up. She could do whatever she wanted to, for example apologize to her sister who were definitely the victims here, instead she chooses pointless revenge.

The republic thing is weird but okay.

Oh fuck you, I didn’t spend frivoulously. I was rich beyond reason in the end. 

My treasury is full of artifacts, but I’m out of money. Okay.

I can live with Brevoy sulking at me. 

Oh come on, no need to be so mean to Lander. It’s not like he was ever a real threat, and he actually did his job fine. I just hope he doesn’t get himself killed again.

Good for Amiri. Did her job well, and when she noticed it wasn’t for her, left them better than they were before. 

Not sure I’m too happy with Pitax, but it’s not bad enough to really annoy me. Let Moskoni have some money if he does his job well. (Even though apparently I don’t have any.)

I’m fine with the academy thing. As long as the leaflets are more creative than the last ones they’re at least entertaining.

Good for Varn! He’s a good man and deserves good things!

I’m glad Kesten stays. Tamary’ll see if she can find his sweetheart and she’s interested will make sure she can live here with her mother. For Tamary, fucking over noble marriage rules is a matter of principle. (As will be shown in the thing I’m currently working on.) Edit: Nevermind, she showed up on her own. Well good for them.

I’m glad the Sweet Teeth are having fun.

I’m a bit dissapointed at this non explanation for the Storyteller. Especially after that last bit it really feels like there’s something missing. Oh well, I hope he has fun wherever he goes. Maybe he’ll come visit later.

Yeah, like I said I have some issues with Valerie, but that would take too long to do here. Maybe later. But it’s not really the ending and more the general concept that I have an issue with, for what it’s worth the ending is fine I guess.

I like Harrim’s ending better than I expected. Nice.

I absolutely adore that Jaethal is now hanging out with Salim. I desperately need a buddy cup story about these two. I would die laughing.

Octavia is fine. I’m not really sure what else to say. Not very surprising, not very interesting, but fine. Good for her.

I like that Regongar’s plan for the future is basically just woo Octavia. That’s a romcom I’m down for!

Tristian stays, which is nice of him. Thank you.

I’ll gladly be godmother of Ekun’s baby, but I won’t lie, I’m not terribly into him marrying Elina. She was a kind of a creep. I’ll just have to hope Tamary managed to talk some sense into her, much like the Watcher does with Xoti.

I love Jubilost. He’s great. Not super into the game trying to ship him with Nyrd, it just seems kind of pointless, but I’m super into the rest. You are always welcome here Jubilost!

I’m so glad that Nok-Nok is happy. Even if his ending slide is still worded a bit... well mean, at least he seems to have found his place.

The whole Tartuccio Tartuk story is still kind of weird but I’m strangely into it. You go kobold man! (Also was it the Lantern King who reserructed him? If I ever found out who did it I forgot, but who else would it have been?)

!!!!! That’s so fucking cute!! Why aren’t there more tiefling shippers? I don’t get it. I love them so much. I hope Idream of the wedding tonight. This is absolutely adorable. Also, it’s tradition now to put little horns on the wedding hats? Oh hell yes! I love this so much... It’s so fucking cute I’m dying. I don’t think anything can top this. Excuse me while I go cry over my tiefling wives.

Bitches, I just got married! You can keep your marriage proposals, my wives are the best!

I still don’t know why they thought they had to do this to poor Linzi, but okay I guess.

Well, I guess now my last question is how I’ll start Varnhold’s Lot.^^ Not today anymore though, it’s already midnight. I want to though. Hmmm...

[freedom-barricades-bighero16]

And they were roommates... (part 1: Square Glasses)

I got this done a few days ago after a long writing hiatus, hope it turns out good. Tagging @bare-nok

(warning: bullying behaviour mentioned)

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

The wind blew on a cloudy day in early September. A girl was standing in front of the gates of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, her mid-back length black hair flowed freely in the wind, but it also brought black and blue streaks of hair in front of her eyes, blocking her view. Groaning, she pushed the strands of hair away from her face, right before picking up her phone upon hearing it ring.

It was a text from her father.

What up, Elizabeth? How’s San Fransokyo?

With a sigh, Elizabeth groggily typed her reply.

Hotter and louder than Surrey. Who knows, perhaps I’ll learn to like it someday...

A few seconds later Elizabeth’s father replied with another text.

Good thing you do. Love you, Pumpkin!

His text brought a small smile to Elizabeth’s face. She texted,

Love you too, Dad.

But the moment she put her phone away, her glum expression was back as she looked at the gates again with regret. It seemed that dropping out of London Metropolitan University to attend this school in California wasn't Elizabeth's best idea. She felt like it's her duty to get her family’s lost knives back, that’s why she made that decision, as she have heard the knives ended up in the hands of a local crime boss there.

A pretty stupid one, indeed.

Pretty FUCKING stupid.

By doing that she had to leave her family and friends behind, and go to somewhere she's never been to before, alone. It’s pretty stressful and terrifying to think about how one’s in a different country with a completely different culture, and that was what Elizabeth felt. She was so stressed that she kept on thinking about turning away and head back to Britain, where she spent the first 18 years of her life at.

But there’s no going back. She can’t just jump from one school to another on a whim, and it was her decision to go, so she had to do this. Elizabeth took a few deep breaths, and headed further into the school. Before she could deal with anything, she would have to at least lay down her bags somewhere. And she should be lucky that she had a full day to get used to all of this before classes actually start. 

Then, a girl in a blue jersey came up to her with a broad smile on her face.

“Hi, welcome to SFIT!” she cajoled, “what dorm?”

“Uh… Issac Newton Hall.”

“Oh. So you go this way, then turn left and right...”

Elizabeth tried to pay attention as the girl told her how to go to her dormitory, but instead, she paid attention to two boys that were a few feet away from her, staring at them with her green eyes and twitching her ears, trying to focus on what they were talking about.

“Didn’t you hear? There’s a female student from Canada coming here this year. Lyontreal, I think.” the one with brown hair said.

“Canada? Nice. I gotta talk to her if I see her.” said the one with black hair.

“Not a good idea, man. She looks pretty boring and square with that pair of square glasses on.”

“A glasses girl! What would she look like without glasses? I would love to see that!”

“Who knows, unless you yank them off her face!”

There’s another overseas student here, like me?

“... although, it’s faster if you walk through this building to the north exit and then you’ll find a path to your dorm. Any more questions?”

Realizing that she was distracted, Elizabeth turned back to look at the girl in blue. Luckily, she managed to hear the last part of the latter’s instruction. 

“So I just have to go to the north exit and then walk along a small path until I see a building?” she asked.

“Yes!” the girl said, while looking down at her pocket and getting out a small medal and stuffed it into Elizabeth’s hand. “and here’s your official SFIT medal. Have a great day!”

Elizabeth quickly thanked the girl, and then headed towards the north exit. Her walk was mostly uneventful, except for when she turned left, she bumped into another girl and crashed onto the floor.

“Augh!”

She spent a good few seconds rubbing her nose with her eyes closed, until when she heard a sweet voice ask her,

“Tu vas bien?”

She opened her eyes to see that there’s a girl that looked roughly her age sitting in front of her, rubbing her head. That girl had white hair, pale skin and greyish blue eyes, and she had a small, grey mole near her nose. She was wearing a dark red tee and a pair of jeans. She was staring at Elizabeth with one eye open, one eye shut, and a worried look on her face.

“Are you alright?” She repeated. 

“Yes, thank you.” Elizabeth grunted, then she turned to look at her backpack, and noticed that all of her books fell out. The girl saw it, and covered one hand over her mouth.

“I’m sorry about your books...”

“It’s fine, I’ll put them back in my bag.” 

As Elizabeth started tidying up her books again, the girl offered to help her. She made the former’s work easier for her, but she stopped when she noticed Elizabeth looking at her with concern.

“Square glasses… huh.” 

The girl looked back at her, confused.

“You better be careful around here, love. I just overheard some boys talking about bullying a girl with square glasses and that could be you.”

The girl frowned a little, but nodded again. “Merci. I’ll be careful.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Elizabeth then got up and left with her luggage. When she walked past a rubbish bin, she took a quick look at what’s inside, and threw the medal she received into that bin full of identical-looking medals.

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

The girl watched Elizabeth leave, before picking up her physics book and walking at the opposite direction. And then, like Elizabeth, she encountered a girl in a blue jersey who asked her which dorm was she in.

“ Brillouin Hall.”

The latter showed the former the way to the hall, and stuffed another medal into her hand before leaving. The girl looked at the medal thoughtfully, and then threw it into the nearest bin. She then sauntered on, but slowed down when she heard to voices giggling.

“Psst, there she comes! I told you she looks boring!”

She stopped, then turned to look at two boys standing at her right, sniggering at her. One of them had brown hair and the other had black hair. 

“Wow, you’re right, dude! But the thing is she looks even freakier than what I thought!” the one with black hair laughed, with a hand on his mouth. He then turned to look at the girl, and said, 

“Are you even alive, four-eyes? What’s with the hair? Only dead girls have white hair!”

“And she’s even holding that book close to her chest! Do you bring it into the toilet with you, four-eyes? Ewwwww!” the other jeered.

The girl didn’t respond to their questions, and quickly walked away. She only stopped once when she felt a crumpled up piece of paper hit her shoulder.

“What a nerd alert!” the boys shouted together, before breaking down into laughter. 

The girl fastened her pace and headed for Brillouin Hall, drops of tears running down her cheeks. She told herself, once getting to her own room, everything will be fine.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. Very wrong indeed. What happened to her that night in her dormitory was nowhere near pretty.

[tellywoodtrash]

Ishaaron Ishaaron Mein: First Impressions

For once, I lived up to my promises, and checked out IIM as per plan!

YAYs:

Mudit as Yogi is adorable. Like really, really, stinkin’ adorable. I just can't stop smiling when he's on screen. He has such good screen presence and makes the character of Yogi instantly lovable. I have already adopted him as my son, and genuinely want to do the "vaari vaari" gesture every time he does something cute. I love him, I love him, I love him!

I like the whole family. The loving mom, the supportive siblings and bhaabis, the doting grandparents. The dad's pretty ornery, but it's obvious that he's a good man who loves his family very much. Overall, lots of love and support all around, not just for Yogi, but each other as well.

We haven't seen as much of Gunjan (Simran Pareenja), so I don't have much of an Impression of her other than that she's cute. She kinda gives me Janhvi Kapoor vibes, but more... natural?

The actress playing Pari (Debattama Saha) should have been picked as grown up Mishti in SBRK2, coz she really reminds me of Aditi Sharma. (But since I hated that show with the fire of a thousand suns, good for her that she wasn't. I am so fucking glad it's finally ended. Fucking trash show.) I like Pari as a character; she's a shaani, moofat type, who provides a nice contrast to Gunjan. And I love nok-jhok, so I like this petty animosity they've built between her and Yogi. I wonder if she's also supposed to be a love interest for him? On one hand, I'm kinda put off by the idea coz it's such a wholesome show, I don't want it to be sullied with love triangle BS. But her and Yogi would definitely make a super entertaining couple together, so I'm not fully opposed to the idea either. Let's see where this goes!

Some nice complexity built into the family dynamic; though they're close-knit and mostly happy, there are some mild underlying issues that will eventually bubble up. The dadi mentions there are secrets that every member is concealing within themselves to just keep living on. Very intriguing.

The aesthetics are nice. Not surprised; all Sony shows look high quality. I just really like the feel of the show. It's like a fantastical, dream version of Old Delhi, lol.

MEHs:

Comedy is a little OTT and on the slapstick side, esp. when it comes to the dad and Yogi unintentionally injuring him.

But it's tolerable. At least toing ting tong waali aawaazein toh nahi hai as an audio cue to indicate that we're supposed to find this funny.

The dad’s grumpiness is a cramp in the overall wholesomeness. He's not genuinely malicious or anything, but everyone else is so jovial and chill, that his disgruntled mood is kind of a fly in the ointment.

The hyper focus on Yogi's shaadi by everyone, to the point where the mom is having a breakdown about it on a daily basis. Like, he's only 25????? Calm your horses mummyji.

Kinda disappointed they didn't go the subtitles way and instead have characters translating for Yogi. Also they don't seem to have him using much sign language, other than a few words per conversation. It's mostly all gestures. I was really looking forward to seeing sign language being properly utilized in a mainstream show. Maybe when Yogi and Gunjan finally meet, they'll have them communicate in proper sign language?

Overall; A super wholesome show with a really nice cast, has lots of heart and is quite amusing too. I will be watching!

[just-me-writting]

A Needle is a Prophet even if they don’t wish to be.

I guess we are diving into Needle psyche a bit today. Our starring role will explain their hate towards another vessel (which did nothing wrong). 

Marquis and Nix will have his starring role in the next chapter! I promise! However, for this chapter, we meet one of Needles dead siblings. 

I hope you guys liked it!

Nix, Nox, and Nok belong to @dajermce

Marquis belongs to @ivoirecrasfali

Silk belongs to @silkvessel

This AU, in general, belongs to @sothequeensays

The trip with the Tram was far shorter than Needle expected it to be. Maybe it was the fact that they spent most of the ride in their own head...ignoring everything around them. They should really stop that.

"So, from here it's only down and right...and down again. Like really down. The  Abyss really far down."

"Yes, we understand that, Nox. Just show us the way." Marquis sighed annoyed and Needle swore they could hear some endearment in that sigh as well.

"Alright, this way!" Nox started to lead the way and everybody followed. It felt weird to Needle. Suddenly it hit them. How would they distract their siblings? They hadn't thought that far! For Mother's sake, they didn't think they would get that far! Well Okay, that's a blatant lie. They, however, did not expect more than just one sibling to lead them to the Abyss.

They probably should think about a plan but the Shadows weren't screaming so fucking loud. Why were they always so loud!

"Are you okay, Needle?" A whispering voice rang through all the screaming Shadows. It made Needle almost jump out of their own shell as their head turned rapidly towards the source of the voice as they are met with Noks void filled eyes staring back at Needle with concern. "You were holding your head like it was hurting. So I just thought...well that you were hurting, you know...."

As Nok was rambling Needle tried their best to comprehend what was going on. It took them a few seconds to realize what the concern was. It also took them a few more seconds to realize that they have stopped walking and that the group was staring at them.

"Ah...yeah, I...I just don't like loud noises..."  their voice was weak but loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a moment of silence from the group before Marquis decided to speak up. "There are no loud noises."

Needle just let out an awkward chuckle before looking down once again. "Yeah...can we just move forward? Just ignore this please..."

Another moment of silence before they started to move again. It brought Needle a feeling of delight when they didn't ask.

The whole way to the Abyss they did not speak other than a few questions from Marquis. To Needles annoyance, they did have to climb a bit but they soon arrived at the entrance of the Abyss, which from above has not changed much. Well...as much Needle could see it was still a dark, loud hell that they actually didn't wish to return to.

At least the way down was still the same as their...dream? Still, Needle decided to follow the lead of the trio. Maybe they could fall behind and wander off. That's at least what they planned to do with Marquis. Who once they arrived to the bottom actually did wander off, with only Nox following behind...well now was just to get rid of the other two...man they did sound like an absolute bastard talking like that about their siblings They ignored the majority of their stay in the garden and didn't even bother to remember but what has to be done will be done.

Looking around for a way to lose the two Needle found this place to be rather...skullless. Not that they didn't appreciate that they weren't exactly fond of the idea of walking in their dead sibling's corpses. However, the graves were still very unnerving. Where did they come from?

"We made them." A whisper said as it made Needle realize that they had asked that question out loud. "We come here occasionally to explore and help out the Shades" Shadows  "if they need it."

This took Needle by surprise. They knew of other vessels that could hear these Shadows but they actually haven't actually talked to them at all...well they tried once. With one vessel in particular but it didn't end well. Not that the other would know. Needle actually did talk to them, they tried, but...the moment they saw them surrounded by these Shadows...Shadows that didn't scream, that didn't curse, that didn't...reject them...it made Needle feel these feelings. Feelings that boiled inside of them for as long as they could remember. Rage and envy. Envy at the fact that this vessel had been accepted by the things that rejected them for no reason. As for rage, it was simply the fact this could have been them. The vessel may not have looked happy with its role but in farsight, their fate would have been much tamer than that of Needles (They did not wish to remember their fate), which made them angry to no end. The vessel who carried the name of Silk, a name they both shared at that point in their very young lives and which Needle decided to change afterward, made Needle realize something. Something they did not wish to think about. Not then, not now and not in the near future.

"So, did the Shadows-"

"Shades" Nix interrupted Needle to correct them. "Whatever. Did the Shades ask you to bury their bodies?" The mocking tone in their voice made Nix clearly unhappy but before she could say anything Nok interrupted her. "Some did, others we just buried because they are, you know our siblings." He turned to a grave and so did Nix, seemingly having suddenly forgotten about Needles little sass just a minute ago. As Nok continued to ramble about the graves and for once Needle was actually listening, there was a sudden whisper. "Listen, Prophet. Be quiet and don't say a word." The whisper made Needle realize how quiet it was. When did the Shadows stop screaming? Ans this voice was clearly not Nix. No, Nix would not address them in such a way. Dear beloved Mother, nobody had addressed them as Prophet for almost as long as they have been outside of the Abyss. This was clearly a Shadow.

Anger. They could feel it, all the hate that they harbored for so long. It almost wanted to turn and find the voice only to scream at them. They did not care if their voice did not allow, they would break it if it was necessary.

But yet...they did not do such a thing. They stayed quiet. Like the Shadow has requested. "Prophet, I am the Guide. This is my title as I have no name, so you will address me as such. I am here to guide you to your prophecy. Today the Void called, our Lord called and you came. So please move slowly and follow my voice."

As soon as the words were spoken the Prophet did as such. Needle hated themselves for following orders from the Guide. They were a Shadow, they were below them and yet from the deepest hole in their own mind, the place of memories denied for so long, they knew they could not resist the words of their very own Sibling. Their clutch mate. They did not wish to acknowledge it. They wish to deny it. But they could not in the end. The memories always flooded back.

As soon as Needle was sure that they were far enough away from their siblings they turned around and found themselves face to face with a Shadow. One that looked so similar to the vessel in their dream (or was it a calling?) that they were certain that it was the same being. Still, the urge to scream arose again and still, Needle did not.

"Very well Prophet. You have heard your calling. The Lord and the Void have called you and as I see you met the Maskmaker." The Shadow said as it turned back around to look into the deep darkness of the Abyss and started floating in a certain direction. Needle followed. Not like they had much of a choice now. They already came here and the Guide would bring them to their destination.

"You know I have a name."

"Names are mere titles with no fate attached. I will not address you with a fateless title if have a fate laid out in front of you. You have a title." Needle sometimes wished they didn't. It felt like a wave of memories were suddenly flowing over them. Drowning them in their own despair. The knowledge of their very own life, from beginning to the end was laid in front of them. The path that only brought pain into their life. They had once tried to wander off this path but it only leads to them being hurt. It made them realize how much, outside of their purpose, they were replaceable. They were so often overlooked and ignored. Maybe it was because of their hight or maybe it was because of their knowledge people tended to either not see them or just ignore them. So the decision to find somebody alike. Somebody like Silk. They had hoped they would find closure, that they weren't alone in all this. Yes, They had Mio and Fior but they just took them in out of pity. Needle was sure of that. But Silk was somebody like them and then they saw the Shadows, the Shades, their dead siblings. They were so gentle with them. Whispering. It hurt. It hurt to see that even in their own prophecy...they were replaceable. And suddenly everything broke. They did not wish to speak, they did not wish to even acknowledge such emotions. They rejected them like their very own clutch mates did once Needle hatched. They denied them and buried those feelings face inside whole inside their very own mind. And now. Now they shall behold their very own fate. They could not escape their prophecy. They knew from the beginning, that happiness on this path would not be reachable and yet they had hope that maybe...maybe for once they would not be replaced. Maybe that's why they came. To reassure that nobody else did. To make sure that they were the one that the Lord has called.

Torn out of their thoughts by the sudden halt of the Guide. In front of them was the lake of void. It's shores radiated with power. "Do you know how to call upon the Lord of Shades?" Needle shook their head. They did not know that...even with their knowledge of the life that they would live, they did not know how to call upon their Lord that they would serve. It was fucking pathetic...

"I thought so. Then I shall teach you. Close your mind to anything else other than the Void. Not the voice of the siblings nor on your emotions." That was easier said than done but Needle still tried. It felt like they were returning in their own head but instead of their own voice, they could hear whispers. The prophet could not understand them. "This is the shore. Push past it and you will call upon the Lord, trapped inside its very own." The voice of the Guide was clear as day like their title suggested they were guiding them through the steps of summoning.

Needle, After countless tries finally pushed past the shores and suddenly they mind felt like they were falling. "Put on the mask. You shall not face our Lord with your eyes. Only through the mask, you shall speak to them. At least for now." Needle nodded and even to their mind was falling, they turned their mask to cover their face.

Shortly after that, a voice rang through them and their mind no longer was falling. "Finally..."

Slowly the shore rippled. Multiple gigantic arms rose from below, pushing up an even more gigantic body. Those eyes. Those eight eyes. This was the creature that has called upon them. This was their Lord.

The being lowered its head to stare at Needle. Its white eyes were glowing yet Needle could not read their Lords emotions. Did it even have any?

"You came, my prophet. I believe you know why came. It is finally time. Time to pressure our goal." Its booming voice shook Needles body to their void core. "Find beings willing to worship the Void. Find beings willing to sacrifice their life for the freedom of the void. It will be a long task but we shall be patient."

Slowly their Lord halted one of its hands in front of Needle. One of its fingers stretched forward. On its finger laid something. It was black as the Void itself and carved with the pictures of two Shado- Shades! Shades. They were Shades and the thing was a charm.

Slowly Needle took it from the Lords' finger and immediately found themselves filled with confidence. They felt like they could talk to anybody. It felt...new. They never felt like this before and it felt nice. Needle quickly equipped the charm upon them.

"This charm shall help you on your task. It will persuade the strong-willed and manipulate the weaker." The Lord of Shades drew back its hand. "I hope that I have not been mistaken in my faith in you." After these words, they once again returned to the void. Weakened by its presence outside of it.

Needle mind was slowly being filled by it's surrounding again. Still, the words of their Lord still rang in their head. It determined them. They will not be overlooked. They will most definitely not be replaced.

Suddenly, there was screaming. The Shado-Shades. They were screaming. Why were they screaming? They clearly weren't screaming at them. It was a mess of words screeched by those that were long dead, whoever there was one sentence that Needle seemed to understand perfectly.

"He is coming!" A warning. Needle looked alarmed at the Guide who did not look any less worried as they were. "Who is coming?" Needle decided to ask. Slowly her met theirs and she whispered but sounded more like a terrified gasp.

"The Wyrm."

[shedeservesthebest]

The Amis and things I’ve said to my friends

Enjolras:

ye, but do you really think dick can do that? I mean, look at the number of world leaders and you’ll see how useless dick really is when speaking of changing the world…

Oh well, Grantaire, no, I mean grammar isn’t important, Grantaire is!

Capitalism is a fake bitch who helps only the rich, and everyone else are too brainwashed to see it

 Combeferre:

I am the mother-dude

I’d fuck Darwin

White is not only a skin colour, but a state of being

 Courfeyrac:

The stage turns him on. He’s gay that way

I just masturbated, so I have this extreme calm feeling spreading through my entire body, nothing makes sense, everything is gayer than it seems, and I am satisfied, in every sense of the word

Sun kissed skin. Beach waves. Bitch I’m gay

 Jehan:

Shakespeare was a fuckboi and I would definitely fuck him

I love it! Make it gay as a passive aggressive fuck u to the fugly dudebros

I’m slutshaming Lord Byron

 Joly:

I think I’ll get a shot of water

I will always support the extraterrestrials

Yall I have a bad hip and my knee joint is aching why am I exactly 80 fucking yeas old??

 Bousset:

I just blew a piece of candy out of my nose lol wtf

A mistake that has been repeated time and time again

Ouch! … That didn’t hurt

 Feuilly:

I don’t need a sugar daddy, I have 21 NOK (about 2,2 Euro)

Wanna go to my place and get a JesusJoint?

It’s a mutual friendship! It’s called communism!

 Bahorel:

*Sips Cola* I fucked Santa… to get this

Dick is illegal. Ass is not. So, dick in ass evens out. Dick in ass is neutral.

It’s the Chad on the inside that counts

 Grantaire:

My hobby is burying my head in a pillow as anal goblins hammer on the inside of my skull

Correct grammar is for those who still believe in the world

What if I just... fucking… slamdunked my head into my desk… and just… mcfucking died

 BONUS:

Marius:

He activates my Yikes! instinct

I just cry in general

Cause I’m a duck with minor social anxiety

 Cosette:

10 cats are better than an unhappy marriage!!

Tho a dick would be easier than a vagina…. Easier orgasms and no period pains, could be counted as a win… (if you ignore the fact that you have a wiggly pee stick flopping between your thighs 20/7 (idk how often dicks are erect…))

I’m cheering for Mother Earth, I hope she kills us all

 Gavroche:

He had a certain vendetta against mushrooms and children ever since. You’re not getting context

I tried throwing a paper into the trash, but it fluttered to the floor instead, and I muttered “Top 10 anime betrayals”

I am wise you courageous bitch

 Eponine:

If I ever think about getting out of bed before 11 for a man, I’m gonna need you to punch me

Never trust your guy, always trust your gut

Why do men think dicks make women horny? I will never feel anything except mild disgust at the sight of a dick

 Musichetta:

ALSO I’VE BEEN CRAVING FUCKING DONUTS FOR 2 FUCKING DAYS NOW AND I DROVE DOWN TO THE SHOP EARLIER AND THEY WERE OUT OF DONUTS AND I AM FURIOUS THAT WE DON’T HAVE LIKE DUNKIN DONUTS OR SOME CRAPPY CORPORATE DONUT SHOP THAT WORKS LIKE MCDONALD’S OR SOME BULLSHIT I NEED DONUTS. In conclusion: I am bitter

The head of a man must be light

“I don’t know why I haven’t blocked him yet”, the eternal question woman always have and always will ask themselves

 Valjean:

Arrest doesn’t always mean jail time, but jail time always means a rest

I have breadcrumbs in my back pocket

 Javert:

Duuuuude, I am becoming an ultimate dad!! I give life advice hidden in dad jokes to avoid the emotional aspect because I’m an emotionally repressed idiot!!

This is a dad joke, but it’s still funny

 Montparnasse:

I will ever only accept a real actual dick, never a painting, never a dick pic, just send me a severed dick in a box

They definitely are, I am never walking again! From now on, my only form of transportation is those chairs the rich would have the poor carry them around in, those that demanded wide double doors

He can be a charming bag of dicks when he needs it

[exmachinus]

ascension

another gift for @melissaknowsthings featuring The Thot being imperial, and The Banana Bae being fond

Watching the Talos priest arrive in Solitude had been an utterly hilarious moment. It was partly why she’d chosen Solitude to be crowned in. Well. That and because it was a rather graceful melding of Imperial and Nord. Solitude, city of the Empire, home of General Tullius himself, having to play host to an ancient Nord custom, appointing a Nord Dragonborn Queenship of the land. Ah, but, she’d ever-so-sweetly reasoned with the table of uncomfortable generals, priests, politicians, and various other Old Men of Note, surely there was a better title to confer on a Nord Lady about to assume the throne? After all, the Empire as an institution was functional. There wasn’t any real reason to abandon it. Just the Thalmor and their… barbaric practices about Talos. Yes, she’d mused out loud, it was absolutely best to give her the Imperial title of Empress. She’d taken their silence as assent. She knew she had them under her thumb, and not just because Marcus was sitting obsequiously in a corner behind her, sharpening a Daedric greatsword.  

No. They owed her. They owed her the happiness and safety of their collective peoples. Bards throughout Skyrim sang odes to her beauty and generosity, wherever she went the common folk would approach to grip her hands and thank her, embrace her with joy and hope. They owed her this. And no one would dare to stop her. And who could? She had the Blackbriars and the Thieves around her little finger, the Dark Brotherhood was at her command, even the Thalmor dared not move openly against her. Besides, assassination attempts would keep life interesting.

The only thing more amusing than Talos worshipers in the streets of Solitude was sauntering into the Palace of Kings with Marcus and Rumarin. Being in Windhelm at all with Marcus was always a delight; she loved watching Ulfric and his blustering buffoons nearly rupture the veins in their foreheads when she brought a dremora and a High Elf into their most revered sanctum. But of course, Ulfric was as powerless as the others to stop her. Once her business was finished, she released Marcus into the snowy wilds to let off some steam and find some bandits to destroy, as was his wont, and grinned at Rumarin, who rolled his eyes even as he smiled, fondness apparent. “Really, one day they’ll all drop dead if you keep doing that.”

She laughed, unbridled. “Oh, that would be fun, but I’ve promised Marcus he can have them once I don’t need them anymore.” Ru’s eyes glittered at her cruel grin.

“It’s really almost too attractive when you get ruthless like that.”

She’d laughed again and kissed his cheek. Then fucked him senseless that night.

-

That was two days ago. Now she leaned against a balcony railing in Castle Dour with Rumarin, watching the common folk of the city learn to adjust to the restoration of the Nine. It had taken some work, and would continue to take some work, but she was confident Talos would be re-accepted with time. She knew it, the way she felt the gentle warmth of a benevolent smile whenever she passed one of His shrines. Like a distant, but proud and loving, father.

A servant briefly interrupted their game of guessing who would try and step awkwardly around whom in the streets to let her know the seamstresses had arrived for the fittings for her coronation gown. She’d dismissed him with a nod and finished the last of the wine in her goblet, and was turning to head inside when Rumarin stopped her with a light hand on her forearm. She’d turned back with her brows raised, intending to tell him, yes, she would leave the jug of wine here with him, when she was stopped by the strangely fond expression on his face.

“I don’t mean to get all, ugh, mushy on you here, and maybe this is just the wine and skooma talking, but. Before I met you, did I ever once think a High Elf would be able to walk freely through Windhelm, or be the guest of the Nord Dragonborn about to gain the highest office in the land? If anyone’d suggested it a year and a half ago, I would have accused them of taking skooma shots off an Argonian’s ballsack.”

She’d choked. “Ru-”

“Look, before I lose my nerve, what I’m trying to say is I really am quite proud of you. And I’m grateful. For all you’ve given me.”

Her mouth fell open a little and her eyes stung. When she said nothing, he coughed and leaned back out over the railing. “Do you remember when we met? You were wearing leather armors. That you’d bought from a storekeep. Incredible. You’ve come so far.”

She put her arms around him and pressed a loud, smacking, kiss against his temple. “And what have I given you? Aside from a collection of fantastic scars and memories?” He turned in her arms, expression offended.

“You did the best thing anyone’s ever done for me: you introduced me to Marcus, and by extension some of the best orgasms I’ve had in my life.”

She couldn’t help it, she collapsed against his shoulder laughing, and through the giggles she managed to get out, “He’d be so offended his fucking has only given you some of the best orgasms of your life.”

Ru considered that. “Well,” he said solemnly, “he’ll just have to continue fucking me until I don’t care to remember getting fucked by anyone or anything else, won’t he?”

She nearly screamed with laughter, and that point she had to retire indoors or she was going to spend the whole afternoon kissing him, and have to wear something unsightly to her own coronation.

Of course, that would be fun, as well.

-

The Temple of the Divines was resplendent in the afternoon sun, the colored glass in the high windows throwing shafts of brilliant light across the congregation. Rather than have a private ceremony, with only Skyrim’s nobles in attendance, she’d ordered the doors of the Temple thrown open so the gathered throngs of people could witness their Queen become Empress. As she processed down the aisle, she was keenly aware of the gazes of the people around her. Bits of jealousy, still some anger, love, devotion, fear. Marcus, leaning against the back wall of the Temple, equally resplendent in his fine clothes, his red eyes nearly aglow with fierce pride.

She went through the rehearsed motions, kneeling carefully in her magnificent cream and gold gown. She bent her head and swore to love, protect, and serve the peoples of Skyrim and Tamriel with all her life and spirit, and to uphold the fairness of the justice and laws of the land. The Talos priest, nearly bursting with Nordic pride, raised his arms and bid her lift her head. She did, and felt with equally keen awareness the heavy enameled crown placed atop her hair. In a single fluid motion she rose to her feet and turned, magisterial and imperial, nearly aglow herself in the shining light of the mid-afternoon sun, framed by the Nine Divines, set in the knowledge of the right of her birth and what she had accomplished, she rose Kira I, Empress of Skyrim and Tamriel.

A deafening flood of approving sound, roars and cries and applause, greeted her. Then, from the back of the assembled crowd, came the cry: “Dovahkiin! Dovahkiin!” and the Nords collectively launched into the old, once nearly-forgotten, song, greeting their hero and their empress, in the tongue of their ancestors and of hers: “...naal ok zin los vahriin! Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal!”

Also near the back of the room, her eyes caught on the one High Elf present, his kind yellow eyes glossy and bright. She watched as he mouthed the words in the tongue of dovah along with the Nords, shining with pride and joy for her. In that moment, she was nearly overcome. He’d learned the words of the song, not necessarily knowing it would be sung, but he’d learned them anyway, for her, the old old song of her people to the Dragonborn.

“...Nuz aan sul, fent alok, fod fin vul dovah nok! Fen kos nahlot mahfaeraak ahrk ruz! Paaz Keizaal fen kos stin nol bein Alduin jot! Dovahkiin kos fin saviik do muz!”

[depizan]

I admit that the writers were working uphill to win me on the whole Dubrillion thing with Risha, as I found her being royalty to be one of the more painfully eye-rolly bits from the beginning. (The only thing more “We’re basing the Smuggler entirely on Han Solo and have no creativity whatsoever!”* in the Smuggler story is Bowdaar existing but having no content. Good job there, guys.)

It’s not like the Dubrillion stuff fails entirely, it’s that the premise just... it doesn’t make any sense. There’s no reason for the current ruler of Dubrillion to be so worried about RIsha’s existence. In fact, his efforts are making her more legitimate seeming than she otherwise would be. (Now, if they’d run with that, it’d help.) She’s the great-granddaughter of a king who was so disliked he was overthrown. She has no ties to Dubrillion. Her father had no ties to Dubrillion. You can’t be some distant descendant of a deposed king and just like walk in with an old crown and be like “hiya, I’m the queen now.” That’s absurd.

And, yes, I know, Risha starts trying to find allies on Dubrillion after she has the crown, but I still don’t get why anyone on Dubrillion would care. Even those looking for a change of government. The Drayen’s are most recently known for being crime lords. Nok Drayen was a deeply terrible person who did utterly depraved things in his quest for power, and it would take about five seconds to ruin any chance Risha might have by pointing out the sheer body count Nok left in his wake. (Not RIsha’s fault, of course, but it’s sure as hell not going to make her look better than the current king’s second cousin or whoever else might have some claim on the throne.)

There’s a reason lost heir stories are usually about the immediate children of the deposed ruler. It’s close enough for it to make sense that that kid would be a rallying point to take the throne back from whoever has it now. Not their great-grandkid and not when the family has a history of being terrible. (I guess more distant Drayens didn’t suck, but we’re talking great-great grandparent ruler and back there. It just seems too far removed to matter. Unless everyone who’s ruled since great-grandpa terrible has also sucked? Dear Dubrillion: maybe try a different form of government?)

(Also, if the crown were important, why wasn’t anyone looking for it? Lots of people were looking - apparently - for the treasure of notorious crime lord Nok Drayen. But there’s nothing to suggest the current king of Dubrillion sent anyone out after the crown. For that matter, clearly, people have been ruling Dubrillion in its absence for several generations now.)

Then there’s the character-level problem. Even Risha doesn’t offer much of an explanation for why she wants to rule Dubrillion. She mentions envying the Smuggler their freedom and basically says, if asked, that “Ruling a planet has its perks. I should at least give it a try.” Okayyyy. That’s one compelling reason there. Where’d this interest in ruling even come from? She didn’t create her own crime syndicate. She’s shown no desire for leading large groups of people at all. She hasn’t even stayed with various friends/co-criminals she met along the way!

Hell, Nok never tried to take over Dubrillion. Huge chunks of the underworld, apparently, but not the planet he supposedly secretly cared about ruling or about his daughter ruling. He didn’t think he could use blackmail and murder to secure the throne?

It feels like they were going to go with a kind of “mafia princess” thing with Risha, but then somebody thought it would be awesome if she were also actually royalty, and they just ran with it all. No thought to the hows or whys, no thought to those two things not going together well.

Or maybe I’m just too old to take wanting to rule a place as a given. Leadership is work, people. Managing a mall bookstore was quite enough of a pain in the neck. I don’t even want to imagine running an entire planet. Maybe if you just assume that everyone wants the maximum amount of leadership/power they could possibly have the whole thing works better. But if you don’t have that default assumption, it’s just all... what.

(Even her needing to marry a noble to make it work. If the noble has enough power - political and otherwise - to back her, why isn’t he just taking over? Wouldn’t he have a better shot without some crime lord’s daughter?)

Wait. How is she the only descendant of her great-grandfather? Did each successive Drayen only have one kid? Was there some kind of “there can only be one!” murder spree every generation?

Don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of a companion character having her own life and goals outside of the player character. I just feel like the way they did it here doesn’t hold together well at all. If Risha seemed genuine invested in being queen. (I mean, effort suggests that, sort of. But also not. It’s more like she’s poking at the possibility than jumping in.) If the current king of Dubrillion were the one who’d deposed the Drayen line. If the current king’s paranoia about Drayen heirs launched Risha’s quest (this dude’s clearly fucked up, but also accidentally legitimizing me... if he wants me involved, I’ll give him involved.). If...anything that would help with all of that whats and whys.

Except then, how do you make it work with the Smuggler story. She can’t be too invested or it doesn’t make sense for her to stay. But casual interest in taking over a planet doesn’t really work. She needed a side story that didn’t conflict with the main story. Or she needed to be a love interest who wasn’t permanently in the main story.

*What’s really sad about that is that the writers did have creativity and there are some good bits in the Smuggler story. It’s just that parts of it are so painfully phoning it in. (And parts of it are trying too hard, but that would be a different complaint post.)

[michellejackson]

Jeg har nok kjærlighet for deg og meg

PART ONE

Fandom: Druck

Pairing: Fatou Jallow/Kieu My Vu

Wordcount: 1065

AU where Kieu My and Fatou haven't met yet, but Ismail still steals a tortoise.

or the one where Kieu My is having a shitty day, but a certain aquarium store worker brightens it.

You can also read it on ao3 :)

This was, without a doubt the worst day of Kieu My’s life. Looking down at her now coffee stained clothes, she let out an exasperated sigh. Why does this kind of shit always happen to her?

“Oops” the older man in front of her says, not seeming sorry at all. It’s okay. It’s just coffee. It could’ve been worse. Worse already happened. She plasters on a smile, not wanting to give the old goon any satisfaction in seeing her discomfort. She knew his type, telling him off would just give him more ammunition, especially here.

“It’s fine.”

And with that she turned away from him. At the moment she was just thankful that the coffee wasn’t smoldering hot. She wasn’t even surprised by the words muttered under his breath as she walked away.

“Should’ve stayed in China with your virus”

She stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder at him as she said, “I’m the one wearing a mask. Where’s yours?”. There was no point in telling him that she wasn’t Chinese, he wouldn’t care, and she had no desire to deal with another racist today.

She quickly found some napkins by the coffee station and made her way back towards her family. Her mother gasped when she took in her exterior, but before she could say anything Kieu My quickly explained to her that she’d accidentally spilled coffee all over herself, for there was no reason to put her mother under even more stress.

They were at the police station at 9 in the morning. A few hours ago, the store her parents owned was robbed and mostly destroyed. All the windows had been shattered and the groceries were destroyed. To top it all off, the words “WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE” were sprayed on the inside of the store. She feels like she should be more shocked, but the recent spike in racism towards Asians the last year has left her numb, she was just so tired.

“I’m fine mom, really.” She tried to assure her, but her mom wouldn’t have any of it. She banished her to the mall a couple of blocks away, to get herself cleaned up was the excuse she used, but Kieu My knew that wasn’t the real reason. Her mom wanted her away from the station, to try to shield her from the reality of the situation-

“You look horrible, you can’t let people see you in this state, go and clean up”

-even though she wouldn’t say it out loud.

So Kieu My left the station at her mother’s command. The walk to the mall only took about five minutes, and before she knew it, she had fully dried her shirt at the public bathroom and was on her way out. Halfway out of the mall was when she stopped short.

She looked into some shop, animal shop of some kind, but that wasn’t what peaked her interest. There was a girl behind the register, maybe the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen. She looked to be around Kieu My’s age, and she glowed. Her smile was so radiant and Kieu My felt weak in the knees. There was someone else working in the store, but Kieu My didn’t pay much attention to them, she was too distracted by the black girl with hair braided into a high, golden ponytail. She could see her eyes crinkle as she laughed, and god, from that moment on she knew she was a goner.

It took a couple minutes for Kieu My to stop staring. Feeling like a creep, she set foot back to the police station.

She’d come back, she had to.

-

A few days went by, and Kieu My still didn’t have a good enough excuse to visit the pet shop girl. What did she expect? For an animal to just appear at her house in need of help? She didn’t have any pets, nor did any of her friends, and it wasn’t like she could just go to the store and-

Her phone rings, Ismail is facetiming her. Reluctantly she answers the phone, “Hey, Isma-” they cut her off, “Kieu My we have a problem.” They’re walking outside, panting a little.

“Uhm, what kind of problem?”

“I’m on my way to yours right now, do you have any food? What do turtles eat?”

-

It seemed that Ismail had stolen a turtle. They’d stolen a fuckings turtle. “Ismail, what the fuck” she said as she opens the door. They let themselves in and helped themselves to her kitchen. She was the only one home, which is lucky for her, because Ismail just put the animal on her kitchen table and her mom would kill her if she knew.

Long story short, Ismail had dared their friend Constantin to steal the turtle from the local zoo, not thinking he’d actually do it, and now they were stuck with a stolen turtle.

“Why can’t you just let Constantin handle it? He’s the one that stole it.” Ismail looked down at the animal, lightly caressing its back. Sighing they said, “you know how he is.” And she did. It was stupid of her to even ask, of course Constantin wouldn’t take care of the animal, he wouldn’t even take care of himself.

Ismail looked at her now, smiling, “I fed her some cookies, but I don’t think she liked it very much, I don’t know what they eat.” They shrugged and Kieu My facepalmed. Oh god. “You fed it cookies?” it was a light shout, but Ismail didn’t take it personally. “How am I supposed to know what they eat, food is food, right?”. Kieu My don’t have much knowledge about animals in general, but she don’t think any of them would enjoy store bought cookies.

She groaned, she knew Ismail had come here for her help, but she didn’t know what she could possibly do to- wait.

This was perfect.

She carefully picked the turtle up and placed it back in the paper box Ismail and brought it in. She smiled up at her friend, “you know what, this might be the best bad situation I’ve ever been in” she picked up the box and moved towards the door, gesturing for Ismail to follow her.

“Wait where are we going?”

Kieu My didn’t even try to hide the excitement from her voice, “well, to the mall of course”.

[portfolio-]

Thoughts about Seven Day Queen, Part 15

I’m later on this episode compared to the others (damn miscommunication with enrollment), but I’m here! I don’t know how many times my heart broke on this episode, ugh. Bingo, 7DQ.

I don't think Chae Gyung will ever accept why her parents will cut ties with her. For one, she’s a family woman. She likes her family sticking together through thick or thin. It’s remarkable how she loves them despite the emotional neglect she experienced during her childhood. I mean, she was forced to remain in the province away from her parents because of a prophecy. But blood is blood, you cannot ignore that. Shin Su Geun acknowledged the fact that he hasn’t been the best father. Who could blame him for being a minister first and a father second? He has been in this game all his life (his sister is Queen, hello), and his loyalty to the crown just trumps everything. His saving Chae Gyung by “disowning” her is a last ditch effort for him to be a good father. He’d rather have her away from them rather than see her be ruined with them. He wouldn’t compromise his morals and would rather die following them instead of saving his skin. Shin Su Geun understood the consequences of his actions and was willing to pay for it, and that was what has been reclaiming him in my eyes throughout the series. Gryffindors to the end, yes?

Chae Gyung’s only bargaining chip is her family, and I hate how she was put in such a position. She’s made helpless by the actions of those who loved her, one way or another, and god damn it could someone just love her in peace? (Calm down girl, that’s too much to ask.)

It was saddening how Chae Gyung reminisced about the good old days with Lee Yung (yes, the man, not the king he became). It's heartbreaking how he was just a person to her. Chae Gyung befriended a lonely man who looked at her like she hung the sun. She saved him, that’s why he appeared redeemable early on. She’s his raft when he was drowning in the loneliness of bearing the weight of the crown. To the end, Chae Gyung has been Yeonsangun's conscience. The manner by which she questioned him about what he had done to the man he was was practically his conscience begging him as a last ditch effort to save whatever soul he has left. Chae Gyung sees him as family, but her heart is with Yeok. Chae Gyung sadly couldn’t save both. She had to make a choice, a rite of passage that somehow shows how our Chae Gyung finally grew up.

I like how, until the end, Yeonsangun is one step ahead of everyone. He's smarter than all his ministers combined, but he just had to be greedy, eh? Good Lord, he is as rabid as they come. And when he raised his sword, but couldn’t kill Chae Gyung </3 Goodbye, Yeonsangun's humanity.

BUT Fucking hell, Yeonsangun knows what will happen. Knowing he has the Shin family (except Chae Gyung) in his control. There’s no saving Chae Gyung’s family because of strings attached with Yeonsangun and DAMN IT.

Queen Dowager needs to wake the hell up and see that Chae Gyung is kindhearted and dedicated to his son. My god, this woman.

For once, Jang Nok Su became human in my eyes. Her death was so symbolic of an era that passed. I cried because I can feel Yeonsangun letting go of that last straw holding him together. 

MINISTER IM IS DEAD HALLELUJAH. I will turn a blind eye on Myung Hye's strategy (There goes my love-hate relationship with her.), but it did get the job done.

(Segue. I saw this comment in myasiantv if I remember it right badmouthing Chae Gyung and praising Myung Hye that’s like low key Ga Eun being compared to Hwa Goon bitch don’t start with me and my girls)

But my ultimate heartbreak was during the conversation between Chae Gyung’s parents. I want to hug her mom for her loyalty to her father and for being afraid of leaving Chae Gyung alone in this world. I want to hug her dad for resigning to their fate. Fuck you Deputy Commander. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. You killed one of my favorite kdrama parents. Fuck you. Rot in hell.

And the shell symbolizing Snail’s Wives in the hand of Chae Gyung’s father. Goodness. </3 I could already hear Chae Gyung’s and Yeok’s hearts ripping apart from a mile away.

Then Yeok became king, with Chae Gyung his reluctant queen. In my language, "Ano pang mukhang ihaharap ni Chae Gyung sa pamilya niya?" How in the [fucking] world could she face her family after everything that happened?

I feel sad for the queen (Chae Gyung’s aunt) and her sons. My heart hurts by their family being torn apart. It’s not like it’s the kids’ fault that they were born as sons of a mad king. My heart reaches out to the queen as well, whose family is being torn apart by another set of ambitious politicos who had nothing better to do with their lives. These assholes, go fuck yourselves.

I’m so relieved about Chae Gyung’s nanny because I thought she was going to die, but when she sobbed after the death of Chae Gyung’s parents and how she struggled to comfort her charge knowing that she couldn’t do anything but be there (HUGS NANNY).

No apology could ever, ever make Chae Gyung forgive Yeok, no matter how much she loves him.

P.S. Now that Minister Im is dead, is it too much to ask to have the Deputy Commander killed? That asshole deserves it.