#so maybe its a case of trying to revive it somewhat by pushing it into the crowd

[traumxrei-archive]

aaaaaaaaaa i'm glad i'm not being a bore with my octopus infodump ksldjfkfsjd

azul just struggling during beans day and running around trying to keep up with jack despite the constant threat of flatlining is somewhat, funny sick 😂 the imagery of just, azul looking ragged, panting and wheezing as he tries to break into a sprint, feet dragging and looking like he's about to trip and eat shit at any moment.

jade just carries an aed everywhere with him just in case azul's heart starts going funny...

but also it somewhat, makes me feel bad... if azul's cardiovascular system is that trash he should really follow a modified pe programme... vargas pls... 😔

that being said, i personally would imagine that he will be careful not to push himself too much? since you'd think he'd be able to feel when his heart is about to fail (feeling faint, shortness of breath, etc..)

i'm not fish enlightened so i'm not sure how an octopus would recover from their heart stopping (maybe it just, kickstarts by itself if the octopus ceases activity? i'm not sure... maybe the branchial hearts eventually revives the systemic/main heart? aye...)

though supposedly an octopus can have its main heart stop for over an hour without any negative side effects...

it's sort of, eerie. to imagine azul in pe class or just, going through a busy day. and everything is fine at first glance, but when you take a closer look, you realise he's almost not breathing. and he wouldn't have a pulse...

on another note, in people, your heart stopping completely (flatline aka an asystole) isn't exactly, a situation you would want to be in.

iirc an aed (or defibrillators in hospitals) doesn't shock a stopped heart back to life, in fact it's the opposite: it stops the (irregularly beating) heart so that you can reset it to a normal rhythm. so it's used during cardiac arrest caused by the heart beating out of rhythm/erratically (not stopped completely), like too fast or too slow (among others).

an asystole is generally irreversible in people... so unfortunately jade zapping azul would do little to help...

speaking of jade, i find it fascinating that (some) moray eels have glass (-like) teeth. morays have got to be some of my favourite sea creatures, they're just so goofy looking with their mouth constantly open like :V

(and also, goodness, i'm flattered that you enjoy my silly illustrations 😂 porridge leona has confronted me to the mortifying ordeal of being perceived 😂😂)

(the continuation of this)

IM SO SORRY THIS REPLY TOOK SO LONG FALSE !! i got caught up in the event so ur ask got pushed down im very sorrryyy T^T pls forgive meeee aaaaa

also im so sorry for putting the idea in ur brain *wheeze* but azul just d wording n then getting up again like everything's fine is just. peak comedy to me.

lmao n then jade explaining that he has an aed lisence just for these types of situations– (everyone getting shocked that the dude who beats ppl up carried a thing that helps ppl not die in certain situations–)

alsp yea. vargas probably doesnt understand mer-biology, like he thinks everything translates smoothly bc of the potion even tho they retain some animal characteristics fjfjfjfjjsjs

yea maybe they have a magical explanation as to how azul walks around with a stopped heart, he probably feels it happening and can either get himself to the nurse or since he's been living with it all his life, he probably has a spell for helping regulate his heart shdhdjfj (it's no use to him when he's dog tired like he was in beansfest tho T^T)

OH MY GOD YES. THE GLASS TEETH– i hc that the tweels aren't fully one type of moray, actually they've probably got a mix of creatures in them so them having glass teeth in their mer form...it makes them deadlier bc you gotta watch out for the teeth you can AND can't see (like the pharyngeal jaws. i keep thinking abt their pharyngeal jaws and i can't sleep at night)

also yes morays are so cute i just wanna squish one despite the fact that it'd probably chomp my hand off–

and speaking of their mouths going :V I THINK ABT THE CLEANING SHRIMPS N MORAYS' MUTUALISTIC RELATIONSHIP– it's so cute bc floyd calls us "little shrimpy" so it's kinda like we became his little cleaning shrimp esp if we worked at mostro lounge,,, we keep things clean n he proteccs us from potential danger !!

(ITS OK TO BE PERCIEVED !! kinda scary at first but ppl do b staring n loving ur art <3 (it's me, i'm people) and keep up the good work wooo)

[elenamiria]

Boyfriend Pt. 2

Javier Peña x Reader You and Javier both seem content not to acknowledge what happened between the two of you making work awkward. To solve this Javier goes back to his old habits causing you a great deal of jealousy. However when you seek out someone to push Javier out of your mind things don’t quite go according to plan.

Word Count: 6.3k

Warnings: Swearing, minor angst, drinking, smoking, fem reader, smut - unprotected sex, oral (m and f receiving), no pulling out, dirty talk, slightly rough sex, nipple play, possessive Javi, aftercare

Boyfriend Pt. 1   -   Pt. 2   -   Pt. 3 

 Quick little note for the content, in this fic I discuss Bachata. Bachata is a dance that when danced with the right partner can be intimate and sexy however as a dance it itself is perfectly innocent, it’s a very common dance now though in the 80′s when this fic takes place it was only just rising to prominence as it was looked down on when it first came out. There’s a lot of political history behind the dance and if you’re interested in learning more about it there’s an excellent article about it here. Also if you have no clue what Bachata looks like or is I recommend watching this video before reading the fic! This is an example of great chemistry in between partners.  Also thank you all so much for the support on the first part of this fic!! Everyone was so sweet, I’ll be responding to everyone later tonight, for now enjoy!  I love each and every one of you who read this fic, whether or not you like or lurk - it’s all welcome and appreciated so much!! Tags: @blxwjobsforclones​ @fishswimbetterunderwater​ @aeryntheofficial​ @corrupt-fvcker​ (just in case you wanna read the next part🥺) 

The second time you and Javier Peña fucked was about two weeks later. Though only after both of you couldn't contain your jealousy any more.

A few days after the car incident Javier still couldn’t stop thinking about it, about you. Your words kept replaying over in his head, ‘it wasn’t anything’, and he kept replaying his own stupid words over and over too. He should’ve said something to you about how you made him feel, about how when he saw you go down he swore his heart stopped and how when you kissed him nothing had ever felt so right before. Instead he chickened out and brushed you off like it was nothing, which is what he convinced himself it was to you - nothing.

Things had grown tense between you two where normally easy quips filled the air, leaving Steve to roll his eyes, there was silence. And when he tested the waters with a gentle compliment you simply said ‘thanks’ and went about your day. He couldn’t lie he missed the playful flirting that always flowed so naturally between the two of you and when the silence between the two of you didn’t seem to change, causing his stress levels to skyrocket, he turned back to what he was used to. That just so happened to be dealing with his feelings through sex, though not with you that would be too simple. He turned back to fucking informants, he hadn’t stopped once he realized his feelings for you but it had definitely slowed him down but now it was like a dam broke and he couldn’t stop himself.

You had been slightly suspicious when suddenly Javi was bringing more info to the table, remembering when you first arrived to Colombia Steve giving you a warning about your other partners unusual methods, but you pushed any concerns aside as you threw yourself into work. You had started bringing work home to distract you from the object of your affection who, in an unfortunate turn of events, lived directly below you. Noise didn’t carry much from below up but you were sure he could hear you moving above him, as you could always hear the person above you. So, you weren’t aware of Javier’s steady stream of lovers until a poorly timed cigarette break.

You didn’t smoke often so you weren’t sure why you couldn’t shake the need for a cig, sighing you put aside your tedious task of the night (combing through call logs for a specific number) and fetched your carton and lighter. Locking your apartment and double checking you hustled down the steps and out of the lobby, only sparing a glance at Javi’s door. With another sigh you leaned against the building and lit up, taking a deep drag you let your eyes close before exhaling. Maybe it was good to take a break, your eyes were struggling in the poor lighting and you had started to re read the same numbers accidentally, the fresh air was reviving your brain somewhat. Taking another deep drag you started to plan out the rest of your night but we’re distracted by the noise of the opening lobby door. Opening your eyes you glanced over preparing a polite smile as you exhaled but when you spotted who it was you instead choked on the smoke. Turning quickly you prayed that he wouldn’t notice you.

As you continued to choke you tried not to think about how you had just witnessed Javier shoving his tongue down the throat of some skimpily dressed beautiful girl. Finally catching your breath you were quiet just long enough to here the girl purr out “when can I see you again Javier?”

You hated the way your heart clenched at that and angrily took a deep inhale of your cigarette, though inhaling so sharply only caused you to choke again. Swearing you tried to cough as quietly as possible though that clearly didn’t work when you heard Javier call your name, clear concern in his voice. You turned to him with a shaky smile as you caught your breath. When he saw you weren’t dying he laughed softly and raised his brow questioning, “First ever cigarette?”

You laughed as you finally caught your breath though you’re eyes were watering and responded with a simple, “Nah, surprisingly it’s not”

There was an awkward pause where both of you stared at each other for a bit though you broke contact blinking quickly and before you could stop yourself you blurted out, “Should I be concerned?”

Javier frowned at you, confusion blanketing his face as he dumbly responded “What?”

That should’ve been your cue to drop the topic and your brain was screaming at you but your big mouth seemed to have a mind of its own as you gestured towards the road where the girl had just caught a cab, “You just fucked her, right? And we- ya know, but you didn’t use a...”

You felt your face grow hot and took another drag as Javier stared at you, face tight with tension. He seemed like he was going to respond before he shifted, placing his hands on his hips and questioning “You really wanna have this conversation out here?”

You felt your embarrassment growing and you shook your head as you groaned. Your hand came up to rest on your forehead in stress as you backed down, “No Javi, I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I said anything, ignore me. I’m a mess.”

“You’re gonna be more than a mess if you don’t move your hand, Jesus you’ll set your hair on fire.” Then his hand was on yours gently moving your lit cigarette from it’s precarious position over your hair. Letting out yet another groan you let your head fall onto the brick building, which hurt far more than you cared to admit due to your still healing head wound, as you whined “What’s wrong with me?!”

In your self pity you failed to notice the way Javier staying tenderly clasping your wrist, affectionate smile on his face and this time it was him who spoke without thinking, “Do you want to come over for a drink?”

He expected total rejection considering what you had just seen but when you offered a happy little grin at the opportunity he felt a warmth fill his chest. The two of you headed to his apartment and it was only then that he remembered he only had whiskey but luckily you told him that was fine. Once you had a drink in hand the tension that had plagued you seemed to melt away and the two of you were back to your usual teasing. You spent the night laughing together and sharing intimate details of your lives that you hadn’t gotten the chance to talk about at work, though it was mainly you doing the sharing. When you were thoroughly tipsy you swung the conversation back to what you had originally asked and were relieved, and secretly pleased, when Javier told you that he always used condoms. The tables were reversed when he thought about it for a second then in a panic asked you if you were on birth control to which you responded with a laughing yes.

Time flew and it was soon far past time for you to go to sleep and still get a reasonable amount before work, you knew you were going to regret your decisions when you spent the work day half asleep but it was worth any grief you would go through. When you said you should go to bed Javier insisted on walking you to your apartment despite your protests that nothing was going to happen on your return which involved walking up a flight of stairs and that's it.

When you reached your door and unlocked it you turned to find Javi standing much closer than anticipated, staring down at you with his warm brown eyes. A small gasp left your throat and your hand absentmindedly came up to play with the buttons of his shirt. You swallowed deeply when you realized how desperately you wanted to kiss him, your lips part slightly and your head tilted inhibitions lowered by the steady thrum of alcohol. It wasn’t until you felt yourself moving forward that you snapped yourself out of it. Pulling back like you were burned you bit your lip before softly muttering, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Javi.”

As you started to enter your apartment you paused, turning towards him with an enamored smile “and thanks for the drink, I had a really great time”

Javier gave you a genuine smile back as he replied, “Me too cariño, I’ll see you tomorrow”

The two of you continued this routine frequently, your body always sending you on a smoke break right when Javier was escorting out his latest ‘friend’ - you swore your brain was trying to torture you into quitting. You still felt your jealousy flare up every time but you were able to quell the flames knowing that you were the one who was over every night and you were the one bringing genuine smiles and laughs to him. It wasn’t until you saw the same girl leaving his place three times in a row that you snapped, jealousy swirling inside you. When he asked you over for a drink you brushed him off storming back to your apartment and calling up one of your only friends outside of work. She had started out as an informant, a journalist who stumbled onto a trail, but she quickly became a friend though to maintain your friendship both of you agreed to no work talk. Luckily the next day was a weekend and with minimal begging she agreed to go out with you.

At work the next day Javi could tell something was up, you were antsy the whole day and kept glancing at the clock. When Steve questioned you, “got a hot date or something?”, Javier felt himself tense but when you responded that you were going out with your friend he relaxed slightly, though he still wasn't fond of the idea. As soon as you were able to leave you bolted, stopped only by Javi grabbing your hand and a quiet reminder to be careful and then you were on your way to get ready. You chose a silky slip dress that complimented your curves and you carefully applied makeup for the first time in forever. When you were ready you called for a cab and headed to the nightclub, intending on finding someone to distract you from one Agent Peña.

That ended up being just what you did, finding a handsome stranger to dance the night away with and you invited him back to your place, determined to finally push thoughts of Javier out of your mind.

When you arrived to your building you both stumbled out of the cab, he paid as you keyed into the lobby. Grabbing his hand you pulled him into you to press a messy kiss to his lips as you backed up, this plan backfired when you tripped on the stairs and you let a burst of giggles past your lips.

Unbeknownst to you this caught the ear of a certain DEA agent who had stayed up to make sure you got back in one piece. He was about to open his door to tease you when he heard a male voice echo in the empty hallway. He cracked the door open just in time to hear you huskily laugh out “Callate la boca y dame un beso”

His heart lurched at your voice and he wished you were speaking to him instead of the man who was eagerly kissing you. He knew he shouldn’t watch but he couldn’t help it while jealousy reared its head as you broke apart and pulled the man up to your apartment. Shutting his door aggressively he sighed and poured himself a generous amount of whiskey before sinking onto his couch, contemplating calling one of the girls he had seen recently.

He could hear your footsteps above him and thankfully they grew fainter as you moved to the bedroom. Taking a deep swig he lit up a cigarette, mouth twitching in annoyance. He knew he was being hypocritical but seeing someone else with their hands all over you made his blood boil. He took a deep drag from his cigarette before freezing and exhaling sharply. He could hear your bed frame rattling.

Practically downing his drink he knew it wouldn’t take the edge off, the only thing that could soothe him tonight would be you. As he angrily puffed at his cigarette he paused, in all the time you had lived above him he couldn’t remember having to listen to you fuck someone else, had he just been ignorant to your activities or had you never brought anyone back before.

Getting up for more whiskey he sighed running a hand over his face, he was such an idiot. He couldn’t believe he let you see all of those girls leaving his apartment, though did it even matter to you? He didn’t know, part of him hoped it did but another part realized if it did matter to you then that made him a massive asshole. He was so focused on his thoughts he hadn’t realized that the rhythmic scraping noises had stopped. It wasn’t until he finished his cigarette that he realized your apartment was quiet. Pausing he listened more intensely, he thought for sure he was going to have to listen to you cry out in pleasure as you had been very vocal in the car.

Hearing footsteps and noises that were decidedly not fucking he frowned, puzzled, as he sat there until he heard what sounded like the two of you leaving the apartment. Sure enough a minute later he heard two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs and the lobby door opening. He frowned, he was sure of the noises he heard but they had only lasted a few minutes, there was no way you had gotten off that quickly. Hesitantly he made his way to the lobby and watched through the frosted glass as a cab pulled up and the blurry figures standing outside came together in a kiss before the taller one walked off.

You lit up a cigarette at frustrated tears filled your eyes. Not only had you not cum, your body still humming desperately, the whole time this man was fucking you the only thing you could think of was Javi - which was the exact opposite of what you were trying to achieve. Frustration filled your body at the thought that Javier was moving on with his life like normal and here you were hung up on a man who had no idea your feelings for him. Taking a deep drag you felt a tear slip from your eye and a moment later the door opened to reveal Javier. You frantically turned your head to the side, trying to hide what you were sure was a miserable expression on your face.

When he called your name you shook your head in response though this only caused him to worry and in a second he was at your side. His hands gripped your bare elbows tightly, voice coming out in a deep growl “Did he hurt you cariño? I’ll kill him I swear.”

You sharply turned to him, a small smile filling your face at his protective nature. You weakly responded,”No, it’s nothing like that he was a gentleman. I just...”

You trailed off not knowing what to say, I mean what could you say ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about you and thought screwing a stranger would distract me but I wished it was you the whole time’ that would go over well. So, Instead of coming up with anything productive to say you took another deep inhale of your cigarette, tilting your head so you wouldn’t blow smoke in Javi’s face.

In your silence Javier’s hand slid to your back, lightly trailing up your spine as he murmured “Did he make you cum hermosa?”

You shivered at both his touch and his voice, eyes darting to meet his darkened pools. Entranced you shook your head as his other hand came to wipe a stray tear away. He pulled you closer to him as his voice dropped to a whisper as he asked, “would you like to?”

A whine left your throat as you needily breathed out “Yes”

Then he was cupping the back of your head and tugging you into a slow sensual kiss. You responded eagerly though he kept his pace leisurely and you let out a low moan as his tongue swiped at your lips. Parting your lips he slipped his tongue in light and teasing before he pulled back, leaving you chasing his mouth. A deep chuckle left him as he gently pulled you back into your building and he took a drag from the cigarette he had stolen from your fingers while kissing you.

Javier walked into his apartment moving to extinguish the cigarette and you followed tentatively. You were suddenly nervous entering his apartment, even though you had spent most nights here for the past two weeks it suddenly felt so intimate. The last time you two had been together it was so spur of the moment there wasn’t time to think about what was happening. Now all you could focus on was what was about to happen and your mind moved to all the girls you had watched leave this very apartment, how could you even compare to all of them. You startled out of your thoughts at the sound of music, Javi having turned on his radio before making his way over to you.

You stayed frozen to the spot, staring with wide eyes as your partner walked over towards you. As if sensing your tension Javi gently took your hand in his and the other came to rest on your waist, pulling you slightly closer he began to sway you to the beat of the music.

At this you started to relax, dancing made sense and dancing you could deal with. As you softened in his arms and began to mimic his movements he allowed himself to take lead in a basic salsa. You smiled up at him with a teasing, “I didn’t know you could dance Agent Peña”

“Oh, I know how to dance” he quipped back before turning the two of you in a slow circle, when you followed without problem he started to test the waters with a few more complicated steps. As you continued following his lead he cocked his head, “Now either I’m missing something or you spend a lot of time in clubs, how do you know how to salsa so well?”

You laughed responding, “I used to dance at home, I did ballroom for a long time so I had a leg up when it came to learning. So you don’t have to hold back if you really wanna lead.”

At your words a devilish smirk lit up Javier’s face and he pulled you closer as he let himself flow to the music leading you in a spectacular array of moves, you had a feeling he just wanted to show off. It was exhilarating dancing with him, he was an excellent lead always hinting where you would go next before the move and a smile covered your your face at the freeing sensation of letting go.

When the song ended you reluctantly parted as the announcer started talking, Javi turned towards the kitchen calling over his shoulder to see if you wanted a drink.

As you were about to respond the next song came on and you instead asked, “Javi do you know bachata??”

Starting into the rhythm - three steps to one side and a hip raise then repeat the other way - you danced with yourself as Boca Rosa filled his living room. Javier had come back at your question a stern look on his face, he knew that you had definitely learned bachata in clubs and was intent on questioning just how many strange men you had danced with, until he watched the sway of your hips. The drinks in his hand were quickly set aside in favor of coming to pull you into him. You easily fell into the sensual closeness of the dance, Javi’s knee coming between your legs and you went back and forth for a few beats before a growl built in his throat. Spinning you forward away from him he then pulled you back to him so your back was pressed firmly to his chest. As you continued the basic step his hand rested on your ribs just below your chest, the other pushing your hand to swing around and rest on the back of his head. His face pressed into your neck as your hips rubbed against his, he couldn’t help the possessiveness that overcame him as he growled out, “Do you dance like this with other men cariño, did you dance with him like this?”

Grinding his hardening cock into your ass you whined when both his hands came to your hip as you swayed to the beat before he spun you away again. Once you were facing him again he grabbed your wrists trailing your own hands up your body and tugging you firmly back into him. You were practically kissing, noses bumping, and as his hand rose to bury in the hair at the nape of your neck you couldn’t help the moan that left your mouth. Your upper body swung in a half dip at the firm tug on your hair, Javi’s lips taking the opportunity to trail down your neck nipping lightly. When you came back up he teased at your lips with the quickest brush of his lips before swinging you out to the side and giving you a solo turn before he led you back to him. His leg slipped in between your legs again and in a non-bachata move pressed his thigh hard against the junction of your thighs, a pleased moan leaving your lips. You were already slick and after the mediocre sex you had earlier you had forgone underwear, clit catching as he rubbed his leg back and forth. Once he felt you creating a damp spot he pulled away hungry eyes trailing your body.

“Turn around, bend over the couch arm.”

His tone left no room for debate and you were eager to have him take control after your dance. You could feel your skirt rising as you bent over the couch and you were certain at your angle it was barely covering your wet pussy. You heard a sharp exhale and then large hands were sliding up the back of your thighs. Letting out a small whimper as Javi pushed your dress up over your hips you were unprepared when a hot breath hit your cunt and a yelp flew from your mouth. His hands came to grope at your ass, harshly grabbing handfuls as his mouth covered your lower lips. His experience was obvious as he absolutely devoured your pussy, nipping sucking and licking in all the right ways. Trying to hold back the noises that were pushing at your lips, the sheer amount of noise you were involuntarily producing was embarrassing, you only allowed small whimpers out. At this a loud clap rang out as Javi brought a hand down on your ass, instantly soothing the sting with gentle strokes of his hand. He pulled away slightly to growl out, “Let me hear you hermosa, you sound perfect”, before diving back into your pussy intent on making you cum.

Your mouth fell open in pleasure letting your noises flow freely and when a hand came to play with your clit your noises grew to pleas as your orgasm rapidly approached. Whining you arched back towards him, burying his face further in your cunt and another slap to your ass had you falling apart as the overwhelming pleasure mixed with the slight pain. Javier’s name flew out of your mouth as you almost sobbed from the pent up release, you ground back against his mouth and you felt him moan into you. He continued to play with your clit prolonging your pleasure as you heard him undoing his belt.

He finally pulled away once he was satisfied he licked up every bit of your cum and started unbuttoning his shirt. Hazy with pleasure you stood, wobbly in the heels you still hadn't removed and turned towards him to assist in removing his clothing.

As his shirt was ripped off you bit your lip and moved closer in order to pull him into a searing kiss, body heating again at finally being able to see him bare before you. Before he could deepen the kiss you pulled away trailing your lips down his neck, down his sternum and finally allowed yourself to nip your way down his stomach.

Landing on your knees before him you tugged his zipper down before pulling his pants down. You were surprised when his cock sprang free, it seemed you weren’t the only one going commando tonight and you licked your lips at the way his cock bobbed in front of you. Biting your lip your hand rose to stroke him gently, the other hand teasing at his balls.

A moan flew past Javi’s lips as you kissed his tip and what sounded like a low whimper came from him as you licked up and down his length getting him nice and wet before you finally took him in your mouth. Teasingly you kept a slow pace, only taking his tip, until a hand buried itself in your hair and Javi’s deep voice commanded ‘enough teasing, cariño’. You gave him the best innocent look you could when his dick was in your mouth before starting a faster pace, this time taking as much of him as you could. He was long and you couldn't fit him all in your mouth, hand stroking the portion left out, choking slightly whenever you would eagerly take him too deep. Whenever he hit the back of your throat his hips involuntarily bucked forward and stuttered gasps flew from his mouth. You knew you would absolutely hold yourself there, choking on his thick length as long as you could keep hearing those noises he was making. You kept your pace for a few minutes, varying how long you held him in your mouth sucking lightly until you bobbed your head again, before he pulled you off and you looked at him confused, his eyes were practically black in need as he purred out, “When I cum it’s going to be in your tight little pussy hermosa, are you wet enough for me?”

Reaching a hand between your legs he groaned in appreciation to find you absolutely soaked for him. Pulling you into a deep kiss he backed you up to the couch though rather than setting you down right away he allowed his hands to slide under your dress and gently tugging it over your head, moan leaving his throat as you were fully exposed to him. His hands traced your body reverently as he soaked in every inch of your skin, your name leaving his lips delicately before he whispered “You’re so beautiful, you know that cariño?”

He captured your mouth in another passionate kiss as he lowered you onto the couch, making sure your head was resting comfortably as he situated himself in between your thighs. Once you were settled he teased the tip of his cock up and down your slit, thumbing at your clit, drenching his cock in your juices. Your back arched slightly desperate for him to stop teasing, instead a small smirk found his face as he tapped his cock against your clit sending sparks down your spine. Your hands grasped at his arms as a pleading look crossed your face whining his name out desperately.

Both of you moaned as he gave in and slid his hard length into you, pushing until his hips were flush against yours and you were filled to the brim with him. You were convinced you would never see anything more beautiful than Javier Peña throwing his head back in pleasure at the way your walls clenched around him and the way his neck tensed made you want nothing more than to suck a mark into his tanned skin.

He started pumping into you slowly but every thrust was deep, hitting spots in you that you were certainly no one else had ever touched. His hands stayed on your thighs, squeezing slightly as he steadily pumped into you, and his dark eyes roamed your body savoring everything you shared with him. His whole face twitched in pleasure as his hand relocated to rub lightly at your clit and your walls clenched around him, the sight of his hard length disappearing into your soaking cunt causing his breathing to become ragged.

Before the sight could make him cum prematurely he leaned down to capture your lips as he picked up his pace, the thrusts were still deeper strokes than fast ones but it was effective, your orgasm building quickly within your lower stomach. Your hand buried in his hair as he broke the kiss to groan out lightly and you nuzzled into his neck, nipping lightly before sucking slightly. This caused Javi's hips to stutter as he whimpered your name out, voice raising slightly and your body buzzed in pleasure at his broken sounds.

You sucked a mark into his neck, biting gently, while he picked up the pace and as your tits started bouncing in time with his thrusts he arched his neck in order to suck a nipple into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around your nipple and as it hardened he lightly tugged it with his teeth, you whined at his treatment and he repeated his actions on the other side. Your walls fluttered around him more rapidly now as his hips slapped up against yours, cock slipping in and out coated in your juices as he neared his peak as well.

Pulling away and sitting up straight Javier watched you as you got closer to to your orgasm, the new position allowed him to rock deep into you even faster. He shifted your legs so the one pressing into the couch back was now resting on his shoulder as he pounded into you. As soon as the leg was secure his hand flew to lightly grip your neck, not cutting off your air supply but just resting there reminding you that he was in charge, his neck straining at the exertion as he slammed in and out of you. As your back arched in pleasure a growl left his throat as he pressed, “He didn’t fuck you like this did he? He can’t fuck you like I can cariño. After this you won't be able to fuck anyone without thinking of me.”

His words lit your body up as you cried out for him, writhing as your pleasure started to reach its peak. Sensing this his hand tightened slightly in order to slam his cock into your drenched cunt even faster, breath coming out in harsh pants, his other hand grasping at your tits playing with your nipples. As he thrust into you he ground out, “You have such a tight little pussy, you take me so well cariño. You’re absolutely soaked filthy girl and all for me, who does this cunt belong to? Tell me baby”

His words sparked your submissive side and you cried out “You Javi! I’m all yours, my pussy is all for you Javier!”

You squeezed him tight as you teetered on the edge though you couldn’t quite tip over it, desperate you grabbed his hand that was rolling your nipple lightly and pushed it towards your clit before grabbing his wrist and squeezing tight nails digging into him, desperate for an anchor. Javier breathed out rapidly as his hand shot down to your clit and firmly tapped with his fingers. The light sting mixed with his firm commanding words of “Cum for me hermosa, cum all over my cock and I’ll fill up your tight cunt” was enough to shove you over the edge.

You were vaguely aware of hoarsely screaming his name as your back arched high, eyes squeezing shut. You grew impossibly tight around him and his hips stuttered as he began to coat your walls with ropes of his cum. He pinched lightly at your clit and your walls fluttered rapidly, a heavy shocks shooting through your body, milking his cock as he spurted into you. You saw white at your prolonged pleasure and you felt something wet at the corner of your eyes, which you realized were tears of pleasure as you started to come down.

Both of you stayed frozen, chests heaving as you fought to regain your breath, his hand moved to rest on your sternum lightly tracing your collarbone.

After you both became aware of your surroundings after floating down from your highs he gently eased your leg off of his shoulder and you had a feeling you were going to be sore. A dazed smile came over your face as you softly pulled him towards you to share a kiss. You couldn’t hide the affection that shone in your eyes as you took in his blissful face. As you shared another kiss he stroked your face softly before sighing into your lips, pressing his face to the side of yours he spoke your name hesitantly.

“If you ever need to...blow off steam like this again you come to me.”

His words made your heart beat faster but not wanting to get your hopes up you muttered jokingly, “you’re still inside me and you’re worried about next time?”

You tried to turn your head to look at him but he gently held your face in place before speaking quietly again. “I’m serious, if you don’t want to let me know but, if you want me, I need to hear you say you’ll come to me.”

You could tell that he wasn’t comfortable with this conversation, he had said once emotions weren’t his strong suit, so you responded quickly. “I’ll come to you Javi, as long as you’ll have me.”

You felt like there was something else he wanted to say but instead he pressed a chaste kiss to your lips and your eyes slid shut happily. Slipping his softened cock out of you a whimper left you as you felt his cum start to leak out of you.

Javier swore at the sight, cock twitching in interest and he wanted nothing more than to gently finger his dripping cum back into you but he pressed a kiss to your forehead and whispered “Let me clean you up hermosa, I’ll be right back”

He disappeared before returning with a cloth to gently clean you up, pressing soft kisses to your inner thighs as he worked, he couldn't help but lick one stripe up your pussy tasting himself on you and causing your whole body to shake as an aftershock flew through you.

Pulling away he grabbed the drinks he had discarded earlier and took a swig before offering one to you. You accepted it, throat hoarse from all the use it got - you prayed Javier’s walls were decently soundproof. Shifting up you let out a groan when you realized how tired you were. At your noise Javi looked at you and gently grabbed the blanket strewn across the back of the brown couch covering your shoulders with it and questioning softly, “Are you alright? Do you need anything?”

You shook your head shooting him a another smile, “No, I’m just tired is all. I should probably head to my apartment”

You absolutely hated the idea of leaving him so soon but you didn’t want to impose and so you stood on wobbly legs, cursing the fact that you were still wearing your heels, but before you could get anywhere you were stopped.

Javier gently grasped your wrist and his eyes softened, other hand raising to smooth down some stray hairs on the side of your head before his deep voice met your ears, “You can stay if you want”

You froze not believing what you were hearing and then he spoke again so quiet you barely heard it, “Please stay, I don’t want you to go”

Your heart soared and you smiled broadly nodding happily. You sat back down in order to take off your shoes and as you did Javi’s hand continued to play with your hair. As you smiled sweetly up at him he felt like his heart was going to burst, seeing you with someone else had pushed him to his limit. He knew he was going to have to tell you how he really felt but as he guided you to his bedroom he let a smile cover his face, he could get it right this time.

Seeing you in a spare shirt of his and pressed up against him sleepily pressing a kiss to his chest he knew he wanted more with you. He wanted you to be his girlfriend and for the first time in a long time he could see a life beyond Colombia, settling down with you and if you wanted starting a family. Pulling you closer to him he drifted off into sleep Javier knew he would have to ask you to be his girlfriend, but for now you agreeing not to see anyone else was enough.

[merryfortune]

Day 6

Social Interactionism 2021

Day 6: “I’d like to formally propose that you hug me.”

Event: @hugsaku​

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Aoi/Go/Yusaku

Word Count: 1.4k

Tags:  Post Canon, Canon Compliant, Fluff with a Little Bit of Angst

AN: Big thank you to Serry for hosting Hugsaku, thank you so much, I’ve really enjoyed participating <333

  “Bye, bye, Shima, see you tomorrow.” Aoi said.

  Naoki scratched the back of his head and laughed, “Yeah, see you two Duel Club slackers tomorrow.”

  Yusaku exhaled funnily hearing the slight hypocrisy in that statement but he waved goodbye to Naoki as well, who was no doubt thinking to himself how unfortunate it was that he didn’t live in that general direction like they did. Then, they could be a real trio going to and from school. Although, what he didn’t know was that Aoi didn’t live in that direction either, but she did have plans with the hot dog van. Plans involving hopefully reviving Aqua but that was getting ahead of things.

  As a pair, Yusaku and Aoi shuffled along. It was getting a bit late, the skyline was dyeing orange with the evening as they walked in silence to the park. It was a comfortable silence, however, as they were both introverts and both knew that if any developments had happened during the day, then they would have much to talk about later, so it was best to save their breath.

  Or, at least, that was the unspoken agreement before they happened along upon an unexpected encounter.

  They were close to the park now, having walked for about fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes and there were a fair few people fanned out along the paths and such. The old man under a tree, reading a book; the mother pushing along a stroller with groceries tucked under the carriage; and the office lady with a reusable cup of coffee in one hand and her smartphone in the other. A whole host of people and with mild interest, Aoi and Yusaku observed just one: the runner in a dark navy hoodie who was up against the iron fence, catching his breath.

  He pushed off against the fence with his two fists tucked in and his shoulders square. He was ready for another round of long-distance running, it seemed, as his pace was staunch and somewhat slow. He passed by Aoi and Yusaku by a shoulder and out of curiosity, both of them flicked their gazes up to him and they met his eyes. Heavy set, a steel blue. He blinked.

  “Onizuka Go.” Aoi gasped with recognition.

  He let go of the tension in his muscles that kept him tight and compact, ready to run and run for miles. He looked at them both, tentatively confused but had the courtesy to bring his hood down even though he liked to keep his eyes on the prize like a racehorse in blinders.

  “Do I know…?” he murmured before his eyes glistened. He recognised them back. Well, at least one of them. “You… Your Zaizen’s sister.” He turned his head to Yusaku and studied him closer. There was something familiar about him but he couldn’t place it and Yusaku, instinctively, shied away from the attention, all but scurrying to hide his identity – or, in this case, identities given it was Go. “And… do I know you?” he asked. “Like, from way, way back?”

  “Sort of…” Yusaku mumbled.

  Aoi glanced at him and Yusaku nodded awkwardly. “It’s good to meet you properly, Onizuka, it’s been a while.”

  “Y-Yeah,” he said, “and we never got that match, huh, Blue Angel?”

  “Yes, that is a shame.” Aoi said.

  Go rubbed the back of his neck, “I know I just had a breather, but I’m thinking we should sit down, maybe?”

  “I’d like that.” Yusaku piped up.

  They looked around and found an unoccupied garden bench in the park, in the shade of some trees. They sat, with not much space amongst them, with Yusaku in the middle, of all places. He felt just a little bit claustrophobic between them but did his best to withstand that middling pressure.

  Looking up at Go, even just in stolen glances, it was heartening to see that he had put some of his lost weight back on. He wasn’t quite as showstopping muscular as he once was but he had padded out to what looked good and healthy on him.

  He sat with his hands in his lap, twiddling his thumbs, and he looked at Yusaku, “So, you a fan?” he asked.

  “Kind of.” Yusaku replied. “My name is Fujiki Yusaku, but you might know me better as Playmaker.”

  Go’s eyes widened. He didn’t believe it – or maybe he didn’t want to believe it.

  “And just as I’m Blue Angel, as you know, I’m Blue Girl and Blue Maiden as well, but maybe you already knew.” Aoi added, she did her best to not sound wracked with surprise as she hadn’t been expecting Yusaku’s easy admission of his other self.

  “N-No, I believe it.” Go said but it seemed more to Yusaku than to Aoi.

  “I figure, since we have this chance to talk, you deserved to know.” Yusaku said.

  “Thanks.” Go said because he wasn’t sure what else to say.

  He hadn’t been expecting that Playmaker would be some gawky, awkward kid but it made sense to him that such a stoic person might be stoic because he was socially graceless more so than hardened and intense like a criminal.

  “No, I should be thanking you.” Yusaku said, feeling a little bit stronger and certain with what he wanted to use this opportunity for. “Or,” he added, “I should be apologising to you. But maybe both. I think both works so I’ll start with thank you. Thank you for trying your best to defend the Link VRAINS from the Knights of Hanoi. I was distraught when you were defeated by Revolver, admittedly, because I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Playmaker…” Go breathed.

  Yusaku prickled. “I was scared. I tried pushing you – you and Aoi – away because I didn’t want to see you get hurt but that’s the thing about bonds, connections… even if you try your hardest to sever them all, push people away first, it just magnetises you to them all the more.”

  Go laughed. He tried not to sound bitter, but he did just a touch. He supposed that that was exactly what happened. He was pushed away by losing to Playmaker, by feeling unacknowledged by him, but that just made him go full throttle which in turn caused him to combust. But his laughter turned into a quiet smile.

  “I realise this doesn’t change the past but its how I felt – and continue to feel.” Yusaku said. He glanced at Aoi. “I don’t want you to feel left out, I’m sorry and thankful for you as well.” He told her.

  “It’s okay.” Aoi replied.

  “So, what now?” Go asked. “I still have a lot of my work-out routine to get through, sure you two have to hurry on along. But we should catch some up some more.”

  “Y-Yeah,” Yusaku stuttered out, words clogging in his throat only to turn into an awkward deluge, “but before you go, I formally propose that you should hug me.”

  Go laughed again. Playmaker was cute. His stoicism truly did not come from cruelty but from a place of hurt and awkwardness. Knowing that, his memories of their duel and other encounters made more sense to him in this new frame of context. His laughter was full-bellied and strong; Yusaku’s mouth twitched and then, without seemingly no warning, Go obliged.

  His arm flung up and then hooked around Yusaku with an energetic voracity. Go pulled Yusaku in close, to the crook of him and Aoi watched with a giggle. Yusaku stiffened as he had never been hugged quite so exuberantly before and Go grinned.

  “To better futures and all that, eh?” Go reckoned.

  Yusaku smiled as he put his hand on Go’s thick forearm, “Y-Yeah, something like that.” He said. “I’d really like to duel you again.”

  “I’d like that as well – oh and, Blue Angel, you get in here too, don’t want you feeling left out, we never got our Charisma match after all.” Go bellowed in good nature.

  “T-True, we never did.” Aoi agreed but she inclined to Go’s invitation.

  She leaned in on Yusaku, almost skittish, and hugged him from his other side. She put her hands on his shoulder and nuzzled in. Yusaku breathed with difficulty in the lock of Go’s arm but it was as strangely nice as it was overbearing. He smiled with hopeful thoughts.

[joonyverse]

residency troubles - kim namjoon (bts)

Summary: You were a resident in her 3rd year at a prestigious hospital, who happened to be the daughter of the director of said hospital, and had a little bit dark past. Professor Kim was a neurosurgeon, who came to the States, but decided to come back, and work for the hospital you were at. And then one occurrence lead to another.

Warning: abusive parent figure, family problems, violence, minor character’s death, childhood trauma, infidelity, light smut scene (not reader’s), grammar mistakes, incorrect medical terms, failing english

word count: 10.8K

kim namjoon x f! readers

doctor!au

Sound of ECG being the only sound that you could register, amidst the layers of yells being thrown at you, or your surrounding. The rapid sound the machine made, indicating how the person on the bed was unstable. Having been pushed aside, you could only watch, not knowing what to do anymore. You saw the doctor giving the patient CPR, sweats running down his face, as he fight for the life that literally depending on his hand. You could only wish miracle upon the sky. 

But then, just like how the sky granted your wishes, the ECG sound was back to normal. Heart rate continue to beat stable, and gradually getting steady. The doctor stepped aside, before he wipes the precipitation on his face, from the energy he spent trying to save a life. He glare into your way. His glare was cold. Shivers running down your spine. It’s like a bucket of cold water had been poured over you. You gulped down, and quietly follow him into a space where no patients were in vicinity.

This was the calm before the storm.

“Are you even a doctor?” He asked. His voice was cold and distant. It feels like the alcohol swab that you use before getting pricked by a needle.

You looked down, only able to stare at your feet. You knew it was your fault. Your fault here could be someone else’s life being endangered. And you should have known better. It’s not like it was your first year. And you acted like a complete intern.

“I’m sorry doc, it won’t happen again” you said.

“Yeah, because when you did it again, a patient would die!” He yelled the last part at your face. You flinched a little bit at the sudden raise of voice.

“I’m sorry doc” you said, your voice sounds even more inaudible if it was even possible.

“God y.n, you’re fucking clumsy! How could you even get into residency? I wonder… Daddy’s money?” He said in a belittling voice.

You gulped down. You want to fight back, but you can’t. His aura was way too overbearing and powerful for you to beat.

“You can’t do a single thing right! Nothing! You keep making rookie mistakes!” He yelled. “That patient, he was allergic to your prescription, and he could have DIED! But no, you ignore the chart, and act like a know it all!” He yelled once again. And you took it like a big girl, holding your tears in. Was it because of the yell? Or was it because you almost cost someone’s life? You didn’t know anymore.

“Fix it, another one rookie mistake, and you are over” he reprimanded before he left you alone with your thoughts.

You solemnly walk towards the office room, sitting on your reserved desk. You lean back into the back of the arm chair. You let out a sigh, feeling like a heavy burden in your chest was lifted. You quickly wiped your tears that threatened to fall. You shook your head.

“That was stupid mistake” you mumble to yourself. “You were an idiot pretending to be a know it all” you continued,

Your train of thoughts were being cut off as the sound of door opening filling the room. You looked towards the source of disturbance, seeing your friend who was in a no better shape walking in. Just like you, she plopped onto her armchair, energy drained from her soul.

She rolled her armchair towards yours. She put her hand into her scrubs pocket as she fished for something. She pulled out a banana milk and handed it towards you. You take it with a grumble, signing that you indeed need some sugar right now, 

“God, you’re still here?” Jiwoo asked as she take a sip of her strawberry milk.

You nodded with a pout on your face as you took a sip of the banana milk Jiwoo so kindly gave. “Professor Park needs me to do some errand last night so I couldn’t go home, and then when I knew it, it’s already morning! And then there plenty of emergency cases I need to handle, and then… Doctor Yoo yelled at me” you said. Your voice was solemn. Your eyes were looking down. Exhaustion was evident in your demeanour alone.

“Is it because of Minwoo? The seven year old kid?” Jiwoo asked to which you responded with a nod.

Jiwoo suddenly bend down to look at your face better. “God, I was damn tired, and then I see your face and I immediately feel better” she said.

You looked up, you gave her a cheeky smile. “Why? Because I’m a doctor and I’m pretty?” You said as you put your palm into a flower pose.

Jiwoo scrunched her nose. “No, because it looks so apparent you just got dragged into hell and your eyebags are competing with pandas’” she said. “Just go home y.n, it’s not even healthy anymore” she added.

“I can’t, I’m going to assist Professor Park’s surgery, and maybe after that, I’ll be able to go home” you said, your frown became more apparent.

Jiwoo got up from her seat before she gave you a pat on your head. “Good luck, and I better not see you here after my surgery is over!” She said.

“Whose surgery are you assisting?” You asked before she walked out.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Professor Lee’s.”

Sound of ECG once again rang through your ears. It’s drumming inside your very being to the point you swore you can hear it in your silence mind. The tension was high inside this operation room. Your heart was drumming inside your chest.

“Suction” Professor Park asked, You quietly handed him the suction.

You prayed to all Gods above that this too shall be saved. He deserves another life. You knew that better than anyone here. Well maybe, other than Professor Park himself. God, he was just seven year old, there’s so many things he needs to see, he needs to be, and you want to save him more than anything else.

“Professor, he’s losing a lot of blood, he’s unstable” the anaesthesiologist said.

You can see Professor Park’s brows furrowed, as he was getting even more focused if that was even possible. You saw him getting even more frustrated but he keep composed.

Suddenly the heart rate picks up. Your head snapped towards the ECG, like an instinct. “Professor-“

“I know, y.n, I know” he cut you off. You can feel his frustration and desperation in his voice. You grew antsy and anxious. And yet you held it in. You might get kicked out if you show signs of such things and that’d be the least thing you want.

You can see that the anaesthesiologist getting even more anxious. And that really didn’t help you calm down in any way. You knew this was bad. When the professor did all the right thing, but the patient keeps being unstable, you knew this was bad. You knew Professor Park done all the best he could, and yet you knew the boy wasn’t going to make it. In fact, everyone in the room knew that. But everyone, gave their best till the very end. 

Until the sound of flat line hit your ear drums.

You grew motionless. 

But Professor Park wasn’t one to give up. He kept trying to revive the kid. Wanting to give him the last chance he could get.

But the universe wants him back. They love him more. 

And so you watch as the kid lay there on his death bed, motionless, no heart activity. Everyone in the room hung their heads low. Everyone tried their best, but fate says it’s time for him to go. 

It’s the thought that the kid was so young. So fragile. So small in this big world. So many for him to explore… and they took that away from him.

“Time of death, 12th of May 2020, 10:25” Professor Park announced.

The operation room was solemn. And you quietly close him up. You move your emotion aside, as you carefully close him up, not wanting him to hurting despite his inability to feel.

As soon as you were out of the room, you were walking like a corpse, too many thoughts went pass your head. And yet you can’t think of a specific one. You should have gotten used to patients’ death, and yet you don’t. Every each one still hits you hard. Watching someone’s life depended on you and yet they still losing grasp, it’s always hurts, it’s always feel you’ve failed them each time, despite you knowing that there’s nothing you can do.

You walk back towards your office. Your head hung low. Tears were brimming in your eyes. Your chest was heavy and painful. The kid deserves so much more. And it hits you like brick. You don’t even want to imagine how the mother must be feeling if you were feeling this way. Memories of how you played around with him, laugh with him, giving him encouragements and comforts, as he went through his time in the hospital, flashes by you. You wiped the tears that had fallen down as you continue to made your way back into your office to pack and clocked out.

You entered the passcode into your digital lock, your emotion and energy were as drained as ever. You sighed as you entered your apartment. You threw your bag carelessly as you walked into your kitchen. You reached for a glass to pour yourself some water. The water did somewhat its work on soothing your heart that was in agony. But you were tired. You want nothing but to sobs into your pillow.

You looked into the couch in the living room. Your boyfriend’s shirt was there, and you for a moment wonder. The weather was cold and your boyfriend… felt hot?

Suspicion immediately filling your head. You brace yourself for whatever behind the door of your shared bedroom. You brace yourself for another heartbreak.

And then you heard it,

“Seokjin, please don’t stop- ah- fuck, please don’t stop!” A girl, who certainly wasn’t you cried out.

You were beyond mortified. Your eyes widened. You were disgusted beyond anything as you very well know what’s going on behind the door.

You opened the door roughly, it bang to the frame. You saw them, on your bed. Your Bed. Your boyfriend on top of her, having his balls deep into her. You were hurt, betrayed, but most of all, you were livid. You were furious above all.

But both of them wasn’t any better. They both looked at you, flustered, that you caught them red handed. You scoffed at the sight.

“I should have expected that” you said. Your voice was rather calm. But anyone who heard that, and see how you shook on your ground, knows that this was the calm before the storm.

You saw your boyfriend moved to reach out to you. The girl beneath him whimpered as he moved. You immediately feel waves of disgusts all over your body, drowning you in it.

“Just fucking finished your thing, and pack your things after that” you said before you step out of the room, not bothering to even close the door.

Seokjin finally pulled out and stepped onto the floor, racing towards you.

He grabbed a hold of your hand that you roughly tossed. 

“You are filthy, so please don’t touch me” you said, your voice who usually full of warmness for him, now cold and full of venom.

Seokjin knew he messed up. He never sees you like this, but then again there was a first for everything. You were usually cheerful, bubbly, your voice held such warmth that makes anyone that come across you wants to be by you all the time, no doubt. 

“Please listen-“

“Listen to what Kim Seokjin? I saw it all! You were spared on the need to explain!” You yelled. Your composure was failing and you don’t have the intention to keep it.

He stayed silent, he knew there was nothing to explain, when you saw it all. And you knew that too.

“Just fucking go okay? Spare me from the pain, I’ve had enough for today, and it’s barely midday! I already have a poor kid died on me only to go home to see my boyfriend fucking his other lover, so please just go” you said as you took a seat on your couch. Your arms were over your eyes, you wanted nothing but to cry… and cry even more.

Seokjin was concerned above all. He was your friend at some point. He knew how hard you took patients’ death, and he clearly was the cherry on top.

He slowly made his way back to fix his mess before them both leave you alone, in your misery  and tears.

A month had passed since then. Everything moved so fast when you focused solely on work and nothing else. Jiwoo would call you a horse for working day and night, not letting anything getting in your way. You keep shoving your nose up the job, working like a robot would do, that even Professor Park teased you for being one.

Your days would be fill of helping Professor Park handling the patients. Giving commands to the fellow residents that was below your year. Running from one hall to another. Death was almost become something numbing to you. Almost.

And yet everyday, people around you keep reminding you that you were human first before anything else. You worked hard, wanting to be recognised for your hard work and your hard work only. You forgot to have fun, Jiwoo said.

It’s not easy. To be the daughter of the director of the hospital itself. Everyone think that you are able to get your place because of your connection. Because daddy is paying everyone’s pay-check. And so you worked hard everyday, trying to prove yourself, that you deserving of your place there.

How can people accuse you of such things when your dad was trying so hard to forget about you when it comes down to family…

Jiwoo would stop you everyday from working yourself over the limit. So does Professor Park. They would both stopped you from taking everyone’s shift, from staying at the hospital any longer than you’re supposed to.

But it’s hard to convince you when you’re so set on something.

It was lunch time. Both you and Jiwoo use it to quickly get some lunch before any calls can get to you both. Especially when the cafeteria is serving your favourite curry that day. Jiwoo would secretly convince the chefs there to just make curry everyday so you would leave your work and eat more enthusiastically, but of course she wasn’t able to convince them.

You were enjoying the curry to your heart content. It’s the littlest thing like this that reminds you that you were indeed human above all, as dramatic as it sounds. Jiwoo watched you with amusement.

“I tried so hard to be a good friend, and you still choose curry over me” Jiwoo said in fake annoyance. She playfully stab the potato in anger.

You swallowed your food with a smile on your face, as you looked up at her. “Curry heals my heart Jiwoo, this is not just any curry, this is magical curry” you said In a teasing manner which caused Jiwoo to scoffed.

And then suddenly Jiwoo sat straighter, fixing her posture. Her eyes widening. Seeming more tense than before. You slowed your eating pace in confusion. Your eyes scanning your surrounding, which seemingly collectively has their focus on one point.

You turned your head towards said point. Your eyes squinting, your brain going into even more confusion than before. You even scratch your eyes repeatedly to make sure that your eyes aren’t playing you, and yet the sight still was as shocking as ever.

Your ever, so arrogant, and what the workers would say, intimidating, father was there. In the cafeteria. That you swore he would swear he would never touch, not even the ground. You almost throw your curry at him if it was possible.

There was a man beside him. A handsome and young looking one. He was tall, his brown hair slicked back. He looked as clean as ever. A glasses sitting on top of his nose bridge. He looks smart, brilliant even. Well he must be, seeing him walking side by side with the director of the prestigious hospital. To sum it up, he was the finest man you’ve ever seen to walk in this hospital, he was a sight to see for sore eyes.

But you quickly shook the thought out of your head. You quickly turning back towards your food. As you see from your peripheral view that everyone around you, including Jiwoo stood from their seat to give them a bow before they sat back down. And suddenly the cafeteria was somewhat quieter than before. You hated it.

“What an asshole” you muttered under your breathe. You then felt a kick on your foot. You looked up towards Jiwoo who was still standing, and now her eyes are spatting curses at you.

“What?” You mouthed in annoyance.

“Stand up” Jiwoo mouthed back before she kicked your foot once again. You rolled your eyes and give in to her request.

You turned around. You saw that your father and the man beside him… and whoever walked along with them have their focus on you. You suspected that it was because your father was staring at you, wanting the respect he deemed to be deserving. You sighed and gave them a half hearted bow before you sat back down and continue to eat your food. You felt bad because you didn’t mean to be rude to anyone but your father.

That was until suddenly you felt a tap on your shoulder, that stopped you from eating. The cold but yet so familiar touch on your shoulder. You sighed and turned your head towards the intruder of your meal.

“This is y.n, my daughter, she is a resident here, she worked for Professor Park, your friend right?” Your father said, smile was on his face. But you know so well this was the smile he uses on someone he’s trying to impresses.

“Ah yes, he is my friend… Jimin” The handsome young man said with a smile. His voice was so deep, you swore you could drawn in it.

“Y.n, this is Professor Kim, a neurosurgeon from the States! He’ll be working with us, greet him” Your father said with a smile ever so radiant, you almost puke. 

You faked a smile back at him, playing your good daughter card on. Jiwoo looked at the both of you nervously.

“Nice to meet you, I’m y.n, a resident in the general surgery department” you introduced yourself, with a smile more genuine at Professor Kim.

Your father patted your shoulder again. “Right, good, about our dinner later tonight, y.n, I hope you’ll be able to make it” your father said to the both of you. “You have no shift tonight, right y.n?” you father asked.

“No sir, y.n is free for tonight” Jiwoo cut in before you were able to say a word out of your mouth, “I’ll make sure she’ll make it on time” she added.

You mentally slapped your forehead. And god you thought you couldn’t loathe the situation any further.

“Right, thank you Jiwoo” your father said to Jiwoo before he walked away.

You threw your spoon lightly on the table once they’re out of sight. You sighed in full annoyance now. “Why would you do that?!” You whisper-yelled at Jiwoo.

Jiwoo gave you a cheeky smile in return. You really wish you could get angry at her really. “So miss y.l.n here won’t work herself to death, and able to dine in with the most handsome and smartest man ever to walk in this earth” Jiwoo said, her smile was faking innocence.

You gasped, feeling scandalous, feeling like Jiwoo had just seen you naked, seen through you. “Jiwoo!” You gasped.

“What? It’s true! I can swear upon my life you were ogling the professor! Undressing him straight with your eyes!” She said between laughter, as she accused you.

You whined at her. “Oh come on! I was not okay!” You said, threatening to throw your spoon towards her head.

“Oh come on! My girl deserves to have some fun and love too!” Jiwoo teased. And then she suddenly lean in and looked you straight in the eyes. “Especially with the neurosurgeon professor that’s known for being so smart, is popular at the States, handsome, deep voice, and your father trying to impress” she said, her voice was loud enough only to be heard by you.

Your eyes widened, it’s almost like you got possessed and suddenly the picture of the professor being said infiltrated your mind. Him standing there, looking so fine, with his smile and dimples. But before your thought can get any further, a loud voice cut you off from your training thought. 

“You guys are seemingly having fun! Without me! I don’t like it!” Jimin said, shocking both you and Jiwoo, before he sat down beside you.

“Professor, y.n here is going to go out on a date!” Jiwoo said before laughter making its way once again to her.

“A date?!” Jimin shrieked. “My god, finally you blessed this desert with some water to survive from! Y.n is going on a date!” He said.

You now physically slapped your forehead. You can see some people gave your table a stare for a second before going back to eat again.

“How can it be a date when, one, I just met him today, and two, the dinner has my father in the variable” you grumbled before you roughly stabbed a potato and fed it into your mouth.

“Wait… does it mean… it’s Namjoon?!” Jimin once again, leaning closer towards you. Your eyes widened once again. Who now?

“Professor Kim! Kim Namjoon!” Jimin said, after seeing the confusion in your face. You shrieked at the name, almost jumped in to cover his mouth. You don’t want another rumour surrounding you. Now you remember that Professor Kim had mentioned Jimin as his friend before.

“Oh my god, y.n, I swear he’s nice! And he’s single… well as far as I know, but I can totally introduce you to him!” Jimin said with so much enthusiasm, people would think he’s the one that’s going to be introduced to someone.

“You know what? I’m done eating lunch, Jiwoo, Jimin, you can chat, but I’m going now” You said in a flustered state, causing Jiwoo to teased you even further. 

The clock shows 5pm. Everyone around you is hurrying you to go home, put some makeup on, and clean up. It was mostly Jiwoo who urged you to do so, she even go as the length of promising to drive you there and back. Jimin even told you to clock out as soon as you can. You swore you would rather spent more time in the operating room then go through the dinner. You whined in protest, but what can you do when it’s you versus everyone?

And so there you were, finding yourself rummaging through your wardrobe that you’ve been so long abandoned ever since you start pulling lots of night shift. That you don’t bother to touch ever since you opted to watch Netflix at home is more fun than going out for some fun Friday nights. 

You ended up choosing a formal white dress. It fits prettily on you and just right, accentuate your features so nicely. You chose a baby pink Saint Laurent purse to go with it, knowing it looks cute and beside, you haven’t use it in forever. A pair of black rockstud caged pump from Valentino completing your outfit of the night. You applied some light makeup too. You had to admit that it was somewhat a personal satisfactory and pleasure to clean up like this, something that you haven’t done in so long.

As soon as you stepped out of your room into the living room, Jiwoo who was waiting there had her eyes on you, mouth agape. You rubbed your sides instinctually, feeling somewhat self-conscious.

“Does it looks weird? God it’s been so long since I did this, I maybe forgot my touch-“

“Cut the nonsense! You look as stunning as ever!” Jiwoo said as she approached you. You gave her a thankful smile.

“You know how much I hate going to a dinner, god, I’m only doing this for you” you said to her as you both walked towards her car that was parked in the basement.

“Girl, you’re going to thank me once you start getting some” Jiwoo said, a teasing smile on her face.

~~~

A car ride later, you found yourself standing by the entrance of this fancy Italian restaurant. You gulped down, wanting to turn back and secretly catch a cab and go back home. It’s not that you are nervous, you just hate to be in the same room as your father. Let alone eat on the same table.

You just hoped nothing will gone awry. And that means you have to control your emotion, keep it at the bay.

The last time you ate with your father, it was… horrible to say the least. You ended the night with your blood pressure as high as ever, food shattered on the ground, his wife crying and begging for you both to stop, your half-brother is smirking at the situation.

With a reassuring sigh, you braved yourself and enter the restaurant, bracing anything that might come at you,

You gave your name to the waitress, before being escort to the private section of the restaurant. She carefully and delicately open the ebony wood door, revealing the occupants inside. You saw a table for five, there sat your father, his wife, or rather, your stepmother, and your half-brother

Your father sat at the centre of the table. His wife sat on his right, her son sitting beside her. You saw that the seat beside you was still empty. The seat was probably for Professor Kim you figured.. Not long before you enter the room, Professor Kim arrived following suit, seemingly a little bit out of breath.

You tapped on his shoulder, making him look at you. You smiled at him, chuckling inside at his seemingly in-hurry state. “Are you okay?” You asked him softly.

Professor Kim took a big gasp of air before answering you. “Yep, all fine” he said with a smile, his dimples appeared once again, as deep as ever.

You both entered the room. And you saw how your father’s smile lit up once again. You almost rolled your eyes at the situation. If any people see this, they would have thought that this was some ordinary family dinner. Maybe even Professor Kim thought so. But your so called family know that this all business matter.

The waitress took your order as soon as you and Professor Kim sat down. You ordered a truffle cream pasta for yourself, meanwhile he ordered an Aglio Olio for him, both of you opting for some ice tea for the beverage.

Your father cut into the steak that had been served before him as he arrived sooner than both of you. The professor beside you cut the silence by apologising, “I’m sorry, I’m a little bit late, I had a patient that need to be look out for in urgent” he said.

“It’s okay, he wouldn’t mind Professor Kim” you said before your father even said a word. You can feel your father was giving you a glare as in ‘Behave’, but it’s not like you’re going to care about any of his words nor actions.

“Please, just call me Namjoon, I’m more comfortable that way” Namjoon said to everyone in the room. “I am still young after all, just a little bit older than y.n here” he said. You had to admit, it seems like he did his research beforehand, as he knew how old you were. Somewhere deep in the back of your mind, you wondered if Jimin told him some things about you.

“You are a polite kid, a smart one on top of that, and I’ve heard your activity in non-profit organisations Namjoon, you’re just a complete package aren’t your?” Your father’s wife said, a giggle followed after her words. You shook your head in silent.

“Ah… I’m not ma’am” Namjoon said, looking flustered. You can only imagine. The man was looking so red you almost felt bad. But then again, you saw his features, and you realised, the man was deserving of every compliments he got. A handsome man, with good personality? God you were somewhat hoping he’d be single. But you continue to eat your food in silence.

Your family continue to chat with Namjoon even after the table being emptied. You stayed silent, not wanting to say a word, not wanting to cause a fight, too tired of it or to do it. But you can see from under the table that Namjoon’s legs were fidgeting, like he’s trying to say something but don’t know how. And then you faintly heard it, the buzzing from his trousers’ pocket. You realised that this might be a medical call. And so you decided to save him and utter a word.

“I’m sorry father, Namjoon and I have to go back to the hospital right now” you said, standing up, not before nudging Namjoon, signalling for him to do so too. 

Your father looked towards Namjoon, his head tilted a little bit. “Is that so? You should go then, your patients are important” your father said.

And it seems like Namjoon had read the situation too. He gave your father a quick nod and bow. “I’ll get going then sir” he said, before you both headed out of the room.

As soon as you’re both out of the room, Namjoon quickly answered his call. You saw him tensed up, which meaning that it is an urgent situation, and he was probably needed as soon as possible. Before even you could even say a word, he walked in fast pace before turning into a light run towards his car, still on call.

You sighed and shook your head. At least the dinner didn’t go as bad as you thought it will. 

The next morning, you went to the office just like usual. Your outfit were so casual just like usual, in contrast to what you wore last night. Jiwoo shook her head after hearing the uneventful dinner when she drove you home. And of course as soon as you arrived in the hospital, the first thing Jimin asked you was about your dinner, to which you answered as it is. Jimin huffed in response, just like Jiwoo. 

It was one of those time where you get a room to breathe, after finishing a surgery. You were left alone in the office. You turn your head around, relieving the knots on your shoulder. You were sipping the warm coffee that you bought at the cafe downstairs when someone knock on your office before opening it. The door revealing a man that oh so familiar.

“Hey, what’s up?” You greeted with a smile that looks rather tired.

Upon seeing you, Namjoon proceed to enter the room, a relief smile on his face. “You were here!” He said, taking a seat next to you.

You chuckled at his words. “You weren’t here to see me” you said.

Namjoon lowered his head and chuckle along with you, being caught in action. “Well, I was searching for Jimin but he wasn’t here, and I found you instead” he shrugged.

“Hey! Seeing me is also a good thing okay!” You complained playfully. You made a fist and hit his side arm in a playful manner.

Namjoon pretended like you had hit him with the strength of a fighter which caused you to whine. “Come on! I didn’t hit you that hard!” You said.

“You bruised my ego!” He retaliated, which caused both of you to laugh. “Did you just finish a surgery?” He asked.

You nodded at him, a pout made its way onto your lips without you even noticing, a habit you didn’t notice you had. “I am” you said.

Namjoon stares at you, his eyes were unreadable, but honest to god, you were rather scared of trying to find out on what was his eyes were saying, and so you ignore it.

“Poor y.n, must be tiring right?” He said, in a tone that seemingly babying you. He suddenly put his hands on your shoulders and lightly massage them. You froze for a second upon feeling his palm on your shoulder, before you relax into his hold.

“What will poor father says if he saw his favourite neurosurgeon is giving a massage to a mere resident…” you said, your voice shaky from the massage.

Namjoon laughed at your words. “Oh come on! You are not just a mere resident” he said.

You gave him a smirk and rolled your eyes. “Yeah, a resident who happened to be the director of the hospital’s daughter” you added in.

Namjoon tensed, you can feel it on his hold, before he let go of you. Truth be told, you were rather disappointed that he let go, somewhere deep in the back of your mind, you were missing his warmth now that it feels somewhat cold without his touch.

“That’s not what I-“

“Namjoon? I’m just joking” you quick to assured with a smile.

Suddenly Namjoon turn his whole body at you, looking you dead serious right in your eyes, making you nervous in some way. “I mean it y.n, you are talented, Jimin told me a lot of good things about you, and I know you are a hard worker, and I’m not saying this because you are my boss’ daughter” he explained. “It’s because you care about the patients dearly, and you are a hard worker” he added.

You swore to god you teared up right there right then. For the first time in your medical career, it’s the first time anyone, beside Jimin or Jiwoo, praising you. Not because they want something from you, but they acknowledge you for who you are. You quickly shook the tears off, not wanting to be emotional. “Oh come on! This is unfair, you made me cry” you said jokingly.

“Your father must be proud of you” Namjoon said, unknowingly.

You chuckled bitterly. “I don’t expect much from him” you mutter under your breathe, hoping he wouldn’t caught it. You quickly stood from your seat, giving him a reassuring smile. “Gotta go though, Jimin is having a conference soon” you said.

Namjoon gave you a smile before he stood up too. He suddenly grabbed your hand, making you look back at him, stopping you dead on your track.

“Thank you for last night, you saved my patient”

It was another day. Just another uneventful day. Or so you thought. The yawn that you held for so long can’t help but came out of your mouth. Along with it, a drop of tear trickle down your cheek. Your eyes trained on the computer monitor before you. Your head heavy with thoughts.

The door to the office suddenly opened, making you looked up from the computer. In your head, you were groaning at the stiffness your body was experiencing. “Can I help you?” You asked to the visitor.

A familiar person walked into the room, creating a beam on your face, from ear to ear. Well to be exact, it’s more of what they brought.

“Jimin! My life saviour!” You squealed as you jumped from your seat. Jimin gave you a playful smile in return, while humming to a cheery tune. You immediately dragged your armchair onto the table that was set in the middle of the office, meant for meeting, and well, meals. Jimin took a seat at the centre of the table, while you took one beside him.

“God, it’s chinese?! You really know how to impress a woman don’t you?” You said as you grab a chopsticks and set your food in front of you, knowing that Jimin already know what your order was.

“Well, aren’t you my hardworking resident? Who unfortunately still pull an all-nighter and-“ “Stop with that! Won’t you?” You complained playfully to him. “I really restrain myself from taking night shift you know that!” You added.

“I know, but look at you, I can bet you haven’t gone home since last night” he said before he took a bite of his food.

You froze on your seat. The sense of time really had went out of your head. In your head, your hair is probably the big sign of it, looking like a whole bird nest. Your supposedly tidy pony tail, now so many strands had gone loose. “God, I didn’t know that” you sighed.

Jimin gave you a glare in responded, as in saying “How could you not know?”. His phone suddenly dinged, and so he took it from his pocket, looking at the notification. “Y.n, you don’t mind another company, do you?” Jimin suddenly asked.

You were having a bite of your food, so you really didn’t pay attention to his words. You wordlessly nodded at him, to engrossed on your food.

The door to the office once again opened. And yet you paid no attention, your hunger took over you. In your mind, you think that it’s probably Jiwoo, or well another surgeon. Another surgeon other than Jimin having a meal with you both wasn’t a new thing anyway.

“I’m sorry, I had an unscheduled appointment” A familiar deep honey-laced voice said. You stopped chewing, your eyes widened. You sat a little bit straighter, but not brave enough to look up. 

“It’s okay, you’re not late, I just have a bite of my food” Jimin said. You can see from your peripheral view that Jimin was staring at you with a teasing glare, his mouth formed a smirk. “But y.n here… she seemingly hasn’t eat since yesterday” Jimin huffed playfully.

Namjoon chuckled before he took a seat beside you. You gulped down your food, before staring at Jimin with a warning glare. “I’m so sorry you had to see me like this” you said to Namjoon who was arranging his food.

“Y.n, you’re talking like as if I don’t see you at that Italian restaurant, gulping down the food like as if you want to escape so badly” He said before he had a bite.

“Well, in a way, I kinda do actually, but don’t get me wrong, it was not because of you, like at all” You said after gulping down another bite of your food, After talking, you grabbed a bite once again. Maybe you were too focused on your food, or too focus trying to ignore the nervousness in your heart, but when Namjoon stopped to stare at you, with a fond smile on his face, you surely didn’t notice.

He almost chuckled, seeing you eat like there’s no tomorrow, like as if you stopped, someone would steal your food away from you. He looked at you with so much amusement and fondness. Your hair was everywhere, and he was a little bit worried it might bet into your mouth. He carefully reach his hand out towards you. His fingers gently reached for the loose strands that disturbing your eating and might be a little bit itchy on your face. He carefully tuck them behind your ears.

His fingertips touching your ears got you shivering down your spine. You froze on your eating, but seems like Namjoon didn’t notice that, too enticed by you. You weren’t brave enough to turn your head around. No, you weren’t. You don’t know what you should be expecting.

“Your hair was in the way” Namjoon said, his voice was gentle, almost inaudible, but loud enough for you to hear.

“T-thank you” you stuttered. In that moment, you braved yourself enough to turn your head at him. But what you saw, god you could swear your heart wasn’t prepare for it. Namjoon was smiling at you, his smile was just… something that you were more than sure was a gift from God. His dimples were evident. And truth to god, your heart was beating so fast you were sure the whole room can hear it.

Namjoon chuckled before he turn to his food once again, eating it. And everything went back to normal. By normal here you meant, Jimin and Namjoon were chatting about what they’re both missing when they were away. You silently listening in. And yet your heart was still beating loud, your head still full of the thought of him. If Jimin noticed, you were glad he said nothing.

And at one point, it seems like your name was mentioned, which was caught your attention back to the room. “I’m sorry?” You said.

“I just told Namjoon how you haven’t gone back home, and I think that you should go home now, and Namjoon will drive you home” Jimin said nonchalantly.

“Oh come on, you act like this is my first time doing this, I’ll be fine staying in the hospital a couple more hours, and beside I’m still reviewing-“ “A doctor also need lots of rest, y.n” Namjoon cut in.

“But-“

“No buts, pack your bag, you’re going home” Jimin said as he stood up. He immediately went to clean up the table, insisting on you to prepare to go home instead, which earned him a scowl from you.

The car ride to home was fill with you both getting to know each other. How you both grew up. Though you still hide so many, you just told him the enough amount of it, well maybe to the part of your father and you don’t have a really good relationship, but that was all. Namjoon told you how he grew up, how he ended up going to the States before deciding to go back here. You had a feeling that he too was hiding something, but maybe, only time will be able to tell.

“I’m so sorry for troubling you” you said when you’ve finally arrived. a frown on your face, as you felt bad for doing this to him.

“It’s okay, I don’t live far from you anyway, I’m just a building away” he said, with a smile on his face, that you grew to fond of now.

“Thank you for the ride, Namjoon” you thanked him, a smile made its way onto your face.

“I enjoy this, let’s do it another time, y.n” 

And somehow it becomes an everyday thing for you and Namjoon to go home together. Some days it’d be you driving, and some with him driving. People would have caught the sudden closeness you gain. Maybe some questioning it, but if they do, nothing has been caught by your ears so far.

It’s rather beneficial really for the both of you. Sometimes Namjoon would come over, and you both would put Netflix on and binge watch some documentaries there. Or sometimes, when things just went awful, or when you have something to celebrate, you both would go out for a drink, get drunk, and call a designated driver. Some days, you both would go on a dinner, when work got too hectic and left you both barely room for breathe. Or sometimes, you both would go to watch a movie that you both have been waiting for its release.

It was one of those days. Where things are just… hard. Nothing is going in your way. You got yelled by a doctor, and even Jimin expressed his disappointment. Jimin was someone who barely disappointed with you, knowing you more than anyone else here. And when Jimin got disappointed, it means you really did something messed up.

Not only that, a patient’s condition was worsened, her kidney was failing on her, and she was just a teenager. And so far, there wasn’t any available donor. 

You were walking through the hall when a conversation caught your attention. You can’t help but listening into their conversation. Well, how can you resist when said conversation involving your name being mentioned. It supposedly come as no surprise that people would gossiping about you, and yet, despite knowing better, continue to listen what on they have to say.

“I just don’t get what Professor Kim saw in her, like she’s just a spoiled brat!” A nurse said.

“Are they even dating?”

“No way, I bet they are close because well her father or maybe her want favour” “I bet she actually likes him, but he’s just being too nice”

And that’s it. You had enough. You shook your head in disbelief. Even after years, and your obvious showing of your dislike towards your father, everyone still think you are daddy’s little girl. All things accumulated inside you. You felt so stuffed inside. You had enough. You quickly approached the familiar office, knowing he would be there. You knocked on his door, just in case he has someone inside.

“Come in” Namjoon said from behind the door,

You carefully opened the door. You saw the sight of a woman, seemingly around you or Namjoon’s age. You were more than sure she was the most beautiful woman that you’ve ever seen in your life. Her red lipstick matching her skin tone, like as if it was made specifically for her. The pencil skirt she wore cladding on her skin so perfectly, accentuating her figure. Her aura was almost overwhelming.

“Ah… You have a patient? I’ll come back later than” you said in apologetic tone.

She was staring at you, a smirk on her face. “Oh? Namjoon really didn’t tell anyone about who am I, did he?” She said, her voice was taunting.

You said nothing, being put in an awkward situation. “I’m sorry, I’ll go out” you excused before you close the door again.

But you did not miss it.

You did not miss the last sentence she said, right before you close the door.

“Namjoon, I love you still”

~~~

God and here you thought your day couldn’t get any worse. You really now felt like you were drowning in an ocean of negativity. You don’t know why, and you don’t want to know, but you felt a pang in your heart. You felt your throat constricting. You felt something that you haven’t felt in so long it almost scared you.

You just wanted to be home as soon as possible. Maybe get some drink, and hoping Namjoon would listen to your worries, like he always did. You strut your way back to your office, not caring about your expression anymore, too tired to control it. You can feel the tears of frustration brimming in your eyes, they burn. But still you paid no mind to it.

Especially when a text came.

From [Namjoon]: Sorry, cant go home now, I’ll see you tomorrow 

And tomorrow came. If you thought it was any better, well it wasn’t. Not when your father’s secretary suddenly knocked at your door when you were preparing for breakfast. Sunghyun, your father’s secretary, was a rather nice man, and he acted as the messenger between your father and you. Sometimes you felt bad for it.

“What now, Sunghyun?” You sighed, as you see him by your door. “Come in, I made some pancakes” you said while opening your door a little bit wider for him to come.

“No need to, I’ll be quick, your father wants you to be at the Min Corporation gala. It’s well… for fundraising, but your father can’t attend it, and your brother is overseas” he said.

You sighed. If you hate your father, well you hate the galas more than anything. The free food and champagne is an advantage, but the mingling and fake smile for hours was not your cup of tea.

“You know the answer, it’s a no from me” you said before you rolled your eyes.

“And you know the answer from your father, he doesn’t take no, I’ll be going then” Sunghyun said. “And oh! Don’t forget to bring a date, I think your father wants someone in particular and you know who” he added, before he really left you standing by the door

You really don’t know how to break it to Namjoon that your father wants him to go for a gala, and with you on top of that. You can tell him that it’s a work order, but maybe somewhere deep down inside you, you want it to be something more. Beside, you don’t want him to feel obligated to attend.

But you were rather surprised, and rather pleasantly when he easily accepted it. Now, he become your only reason to feel excited about the damn gala. You can already picture the look you were going for tonight.

And with that in thought, you went to the gala with heart giddy. He promised to meet with you at the venue as he had an appointment right before it. You can’t help but let your mind wander on how he would look with a tux on. Your heart beats faster at the thought.

You stepped off your car, and everyone’s eyes are instantly at you. Your hair was set onto a bridal up-do, your off-shoulder emerald gown looking so glamour under the lights, making you look like you stepped out of fairytales, your Saint Laurent pumps accentuating your legs, and your Gucci purse completing the look.

But as minutes pass by from the assigned time, you grew anxious. You tapped on your feet. You were standing at the corner of the room, anxiously waiting for Namjoon. Your eyes keep searching for his figure, wanting nothing but to be with him. And it doesn’t help when you spot your ex, and by god you regret that, cause he caught your stare and was walking towards your way.

A vibrate on your phone making you looked down towards it. A text appeared in the notification bubble.

From [Namjoon]: I’m sorry, I think I’ll be late, Idk if I can make it, but I’ll try, I’m so sorry

You sighed. Disappointment filling your being. You now wasn’t in the mood for anything at all. You wanted nothing but to go home now, and maybe just watch another documentary like you always do.

“Lonely tonight, are we?” Seokjin, who was now standing beside you, asked.

“Shut up, get away from me” you said.

“Why are you not mingling? Are you craving for a beating from your dad?”

“I told you to shut up, didn’t I?”

Seokjin chuckled at you. “It’s a pity, you could have just joined me, and if we were still together, you might be having a good time instead of a really suck time” he said, his eyes were mocking you.

“Who said I was alone? My date is a busy doctor, someone who actually works, not just riding on daddy’s fame” you said, your tone was full of malice.

But Seokjin just smirked. He was rather entertained by your action and behaviour. He suddenly leaned in, and whispered to you. “Or maybe, Namjoon is just busy with a certain woman” he whispered. His voice indicating that he indeed knows something.

You shook your head in disbelief. You were angry. Angry at everything. Angry that you let your ex who cheated on you to get to you. Angry that you were losing your composure. Angry that Namjoon lied to you. And that was your breaking point. You didn’t care anymore. You immediately pushed Seokjin away from you harshly. 

“Fuck off, Seokjin” you said before you exited the ballroom, back towards your car.

You were just sad. Sad that just why Namjoon would lie to you, why can’t he just say it to your face that he doesn’t want to go with you. 

Your face was as emotionless as ever when you come to work the next day. You were more than ready to accept your father’s wrath. And truth be told, you just want to get it over and done with. You can’t wait to go over it, cry a little bit, and maybe then the tension inside you that’s been building will go away.

And by god, you don’t want to face Namjoon today. You avoided him all day, not at all making your way towards his hallway. If Jimin and Jiwoo noticed, they didn’t said anything. But they were rather worried. Because you haven’t said a single word to them. You weren’t letting anyone come close to you. You kept silently doing your job and anything Jimin tells you to.

And then it comes. It was rather funny really your encounter. You were walking towards your office when Sunghyun was walking to your office too. 

“Ah, y.n, I was looking for you” Sunghyun said.

You sighed. “Father wants to see me?” You asked.

Sunghyun nodded in pity, as he felt bad for you. You sighed, accepting your fate, knowing you can’t deny it. You rather face him in the office rather than letting him step onto the comfort of your own home. And so with heavy steps, you walked towards your father’s office, embracing the fact that a fiery wrath is waiting for you.

And just like what you were expecting, when you entered the room, your father was there. He was sitting behind his desk. You lowered your head, waiting for the storm to come.

He was looking at you, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. His stare was icy cold, something that supposedly you were used at. But not when you can’t help it. Not when you are afraid, knowing very well on what’s about to come. For something that had happened ever since your childhood days. And you can only gaze at the golf club by his desk in fear.

He stood up from his seat. He wasn’t that tall, but you feel small beneath his overpowering gaze. And you feel like you were the 8 years old girl all over again, who was cowering in fear, as her toy accidentally knocked over a fine china. And there he stood, in front of you, just like the old times. You can feel the panic attack start coming over to you.

And then, just like the lightning strike, his hand came fast and hard and land onto your cheek. Your palm immediately went to the burning cheek, grasping it in pain, for sure it would turn red. And then he kicked your shin, making you buckle onto the ground, feeling smaller than you were already.

And he reached for the golf club. At this point, your tears can’t be contained any longer. It fell down onto your cheek. Sobs came out of your mouth, asking for him to stop, but he, just like always, let your words be muffled by his own anger. And just like how his hand, the golf club too now was hitting at your figure, hard, so hard the pain caused you to cry even more. And yet he has no mercy. Not until his anger dissipated.

“How. Dare. You. Ashamed. Me. In. Front. Of. Senator Kim’s. Son. And. Leave. The. Gala?!” He said, with so much anger in his voice, every words for every hit. No doubt purple bruises are now painting your body

“I’m sorry, please stop, please” you sob and pleaded.

And it feels like god answered your prayer, because he stopped. He let out a sigh like as if the tension had left him, and now you were left with so much trauma, so much memories of your childhood came back into you, as you continue to cry more into the floor.

“You really won’t get my words won’t you?” he said with so much anger despite the calm tone.

“Now get out” he said coldly, before he strut back towards his chair.

You quickly get up from the floor. Your steps were shaky as you reached for the door. But as soon as you were out of the room, you run towards your office. You can feel your chest tightening, your throat constricting, as your eyes continue to pour more tears from it.

You immediately went into the comfort of your office, closing the door rather harshly. You lean onto the door and let out gasps of breathe, not really aware of your surrounding. You grasp on your chest, trying to gather some air to breathe on.

When suddenly you felt a figure coming right onto you. Your eyes were wide open. You recognised Namjoon, looking at you, with so much concern and worry in his eyes. You let yourself breakdown, as more sobs coming out of you. Namjoon took a hold of your body as you fell onto the floor.

“You’re okay here, you’re safe” Namjoon said, trying to comfort you. He saw how you look very much disturbed. He saw the angry red print on your cheek. He saw the purple bruises that now is visible as it’s forming on your collarbone and forearm that were revealed. He may have an idea on who might had done this.

“It’s okay, you’re safe here y.n…” he comforted even more, letting you calm down in his hug. 

Minutes passed by, and you were much calmer now. And Namjoon not even a second letting go of you, and for that you were so thankful for. He held you in his arms, that now felt so secure and safe for you. It felt like with him here, you have nothing to be afraid of, that he will chase everything off.

“Thank you” you muttered. You nuzzle your cheek into his chest, not wanting to let go of him.

“I need to check your bruises” He said.

“It’ll be fine” 

“No, you’re not, talk to me” Namjoon said, his voice stern. He can’t help but feel anger building inside him, a fuming anger, towards whoever did this to you.

And you noticed that. The deep frown in his face says it all. His eyes can’t hide the unadulterated rage behind it.

“Namjoon, I’m okay, I’m fine” you said, reassuring him. Namjoon’s eyes look back at yours. You stare right onto his, wanting to assure him that all is fine now.

“You’re not y.n, you were crying, you were hurt, I swear to god whoever did this-“ You grabbed a hold of his face, you cradle his face onto your palms. “I’m okay hey, I’m here” you said, assuring him. “I’m just glad you are here with me” you said giving him a small smile, despite the lingering fear still left behind in you.

“Is it your father?” He whispered, his voice was so careful, as if he was afraid you would break.

You looked down and nodded. “But it’s okay, I’m used to it okay” you said.

And god, that was even more horror to him. No one should be used to such abusive treatment. “God y.n, that- that doesn’t make it any better” he said, his voice was so quiet, and yet you know he was having so many emotions going on inside his heart.

“I’m going to confront him about this, I’m going to beat him-“

His words were cut off. Of course it was. Maybe it was the spur of the moment, maybe it was something that you’ve been wanting to do for so long and now it finally reaching its tipping point. Maybe it was because he wouldn’t stop worrying, but you did it. You put your lips onto his, cutting him off of his word.

Namjoon was surprised. His eyes were widened, when he realised you were kissing him. Your eyes were close tightly. He held you tighter in his arms, as he reciprocate this kiss.

You both let go for oxygen need. A smile on both of your face. You felt rather shy now, and a little bit afraid. “I’m sorry” you apologised. Your eyes were still trained on your thighs, avoiding his.

Namjoon looked down at you who was till in his arms. He smiled softly, the familiar fondness come back into him as he saw your shy demeanour. A flower bloomed in his heart. “For what?” He asked, a teasing smile was now on his face.

“You know what” you muttered.

“I appreciate the apologise” he said, making you looked up at him. “But I love it, so I’m going to do it again” he said before he kissed you once again. You can’t help but smile into the kiss. Happiness and love replacing the feeling in your heart.

But then, the woman popped up into your mind, making you let go.

“W-wait” you said before you let go. “But I don’t want to be in the middle of unfinished business” you said. “Or well that’s what Seokjin hinted…” you muttered.

It seems like Namjoon caught on what you meant. And he gave you a smile… and for some reason you were scared to find out the meaning behind it. “We have nothing going on, for so long now” he said.

You tilted your head at him in confusion, needing more explanation.

“She’s my ex, we almost got engaged, and then I found out, so I break it off, and then she tried to come to me again” he explained.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a rebound” you said, your voice stern.

Namjoon pet your hair, his smile once again appeared. “Yes, I am, I wouldn’t kiss you if it was otherwise, and I chose this over any possibilities” he said,

“And… I’m sorry for not… appearing last night, I had a patient, code blue” he apologised, his voice was so sincere.

You pouted at the memory of last night, not wanting to remember it any longer. “It sucked so bad, I dressed up so well, and for nothing” you huffed. “But if you give me more kisses, maybe I’ll think about forgiving you” you said, as you pretend to think about it very seriously.

Namjoon grabbed a hold of your hand before he gave you a peck on your lips. “I’ll up your request to something better” another peck “What if I take you out on a date?” And another peck.

You beamed at him, giving him even more pecks all over his face. “Okay, tonight then, and I want to go to that new ice cream parlour” you said before you got up and went out of your office, going back to work 

The alarm on your phone rang so loud, it able to woke you up from your sweet dream. You groggily reached for your phone and turn it off. Peaceful silence once away fill your bedroom. You then went back to nuzzle into the embrace of your boyfriend. One of his arm was circling around your waist, hugging you tight to him. He softly groaned from beside you, being the victim of your loud alarm as well.

“Good morning” you greeted, a small smile on your face. “As much as I’d rather be cuddling, we have to go to work” you said.

“Why don’t we just skip work, and have the day all to ourselves?” He suggested playfully. You hit his chest as a scolding. 

“Come on, get up Professor, we need to work and tend our patients” you said as you attempted to get up.

But Namjoon had other things in mind. He pulled you back into him, trapping you between his arms, as his upper body hovering over you. He pulled you into a kiss, that you were more than happpy to reciprocate. “We will, but for now, I will have my girlfriend all to myself first” he muttered between kisses.

You smiled into the kiss. His silly words bring a smile onto your morning that usually fill with frown. “You’re lucky I love you” you said, which he hummed in respond as an agreement.

You were both all tangled up in bed, hands on each other, not wanting to leave each other behind. Jimin and Jiwoo would call you both clingy. How could you not when you both worked at the same hospital, sometimes you sleep at his and sometimes him at yours. And yet, you still both longed for each other when you’re away from each other. 

But really, there’s no place you’d rather be than in his arms, and him in yours.

a/n: AAA IM BACK, THIS ONE TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE DSJKHF i’m watching Hospital Playlist nowadays, so this was inspired by the drama hehe, I hope u guys like it ;-;;; tbh when i made this, i have the look namjoon delivered during MOTS 7 press conference aksjh. Also to anon, I know this takes so long but I’m currently writing your request! Also everyone! Pls stay at home and keep your hygiene! 

[exaltatuss]

“Light a fire they can’t put out. Thus, set yourself on fire, seek those who fan your flames.” -Blair

General Info:

Name: Blair Blanchimont Nickname: Xeno Blair Occupation: Time Patroller Race: Vacosian Gender: Hermaphrodite Height: 190 cm Morality Alignment: Lawful Neutral Eye Color: Silver. Turns to gold on several occasions Hair Color: Silver Semblance: Tenacious Evolution Misc: Either always wears the above, or the one below, which would be her attire as a Time Patroller

Personality;

Xeno Blair’s personality would be somewhat similar to her main counterpart, if not more laid back due to the fact that she doesn’t have to deal much with royal duties, considering her new occupation as a Time Patroller. But despite such, she’s still very much as responsible as the main timeline Blair, and thus, would take immediate, dire tasks seriously, and thus, would make sure they are done swiftly and efficiently, if possible, especially in battles. However, outside the job, her laid back personality would very much be seen, and thus, would also be someone who would enjoy spars here and there, especially with Xeno Ruby.

Backstory;

In the Xeno-Timeline, everything up to the God of Destruction Cerveze Saga remained the same, with them attaining God Ki, but never going to train with the GoD and her attendant, instead opting to raise and refine their combat power on their own. As such, several years passed, with the Ascendance Team being able to train in peace.

Five years after the fight with Cerveze, Tyrian, an old nemesis of Ruby, had gotten onto Kami’s Palace, attaining the Dragon Balls and was about to wish for immortality, but the sight of Ruby and Blair, caused him to panic. The two Vacosians had taken to training together in the Time Chamber for a bit, just recently coming out.

This panic caused Tyrian to word his wish in a bad way, with both Ruby and Blair having been reverted to their teens. With this he thought he had an easy time killing them, but had been blasted to smithereens by a heavily annoyed Blair. Ruby of course chuckled it off, telling Blair that they can just use the Dragon Balls again to become adults again.

But Blair mentioned that they had used them prior and that the Dragon Balls of Remnant would now remain inactive for a year, during which Ruby and Blair were stuck as teenagers. Going further, Blair explained that she couldn’t lead her Kingdom like this and while she really didn’t want to burden her kid again, Bianca would have to take over the mantle of King of Blanchimont Kingdom once more.

Ruby and Blair had of course informed their family and friends about it, some of which laughed at it, while the others commented that they would help find the Dragon Balls later with them, but otherwise life went on as normal. During this downtime, Ruby and Blair also kept training, not being able to do their usual jobs, due to their newly induced youth.

It was then, that they found out a lot of their abilities and skills had lost their edge. Ruby’s Instant Transmission barely worked, while her Haken had begun draining both stamina and doing damage to her body again. Worst of all, she could only use the 20 times in short bursts.

As for Blair, she had used the evolved version of her Semblance, being stuck with the basic ten times that the normal one provided. Her other techniques had lost their kicks as well, but it was a win in her books that she didn’t have to relearn as much as Ruby had to do.

Yet the final nail in the coffin was their transformations. Super Vacosian was fine and all, but Super Vacosian 2 had a strain to it once more, making the form harder to use, rather than effortlessly. For Ruby it was even more devastating, as she was the only one able to use Super Vacosian 3, yet was unable to sustain the form for even a minute, without it completely sapping her strength away.

Yet as is known in Remnant, the peace never lasts for more than a couple of years, before some new villain shows up. This time in the form of an old nemesis of the Vacosian Rage, Tsathaggua, who wished to enact for her race, by wiping out the remaining Vacosians. Yet she was to weak to do so, opting to deploy underhanded methods instead.

One of which was to assault one of the stronger Vacosians and take over her body, with Arancia falling victim to such. After a series of body-snatching and body-hopping, Tsathaggua was able to attain control over a weakened Ruby, whom she was able to push her body beyond its natural limits and attain power even beyond Super Vacosian 3.

This being was known as TsathaRuby, with Blair handily losing against an opponent like such, even while using Super Vacosian 2, with her Semblance combined. All hope seemed lost, with Blair having perished against TsathaRuby, but what really happened was Purple Sister using the Instantaneous Movement technique to teleport Blair out of harm’s way and onto the planet of Kaioshins.

There, Blair cursed her own inability to save the day, annoyed that it was always Ruby. Purple Heart in the meanwhile gave her an offer, to begin training under her, in order to nourish that God Ki within Blair some, maybe help her reach a higher plateau of power. Of course the condition was that they had to restore Blair’s tail, as the Kaioshins told that the true source of power lays within there.

After a painful procedure, that involved a lot of magic, Blair had her tail again. For the first time in several decades, she felt like a whole Vacosian once more, aside from the whole thing of being turned back into a teen, she once more was taken to TsathaRuby and fought her a new. Her newfound power allowed her to fight her possessed rival rather well, until the other revealed the fact that she had been holding back, and unleashed all of the power she had stolen from her prior hosts.

Blair once more was beaten and smashed to the ground, a large crater of 3 kilometer radius forming upon impact. Yet as luck would have it, a solar eclipse happened. The restored moon of Remnant laying over the bright shade of the sun, creating a perfect darkened circle, with an amber glow. It was this that allowed Blair to transform into a Great Voidal once more, but this time it wasn’t black like they usually were.

No, this one had a white color, being referred to as the White Voidal of legends. After running rampage for a bit and scaring TsathaRuby away, she finally was able to wrestle control back from her primal instincts, the form compacting into a humanoid form once more. Blair was back in her adult body, her prime, and yet her hair wasn’t blonde. It was wild, unruly and white, with her having gained the ears and tail of a wolf to boot.

Blair didn’t know what this form was, but it had more than enough power to overwhelm TsathaRuby and allow Blair to use her techniques fully once more. With the usage of God Ki, she was able to remove the fiend from Ruby’s body and obliterate her into nothingness. The day was saved once more, but this time it was the unlikely Blair who had done so.

Ruby now back to her normal self, had to take some rest and several senzu beans, her body having gone through quite the ordeal. Finally, the Kaioshins descended down on Remnant, purifying everyone from Tsathaggua’s control and restoring the natural order. After thanking them, Ruby decided to ask Blair what the form was, with Blair only giving her a shrug.

According to Vacosian legends of old, this could be the true Super Vacosian form, the one that is on par with the legend of the Super Vacosian God. With that, Ruby decided to coin it as Super Vacosian 4, as the whole Super Vacosian God thing was another line separately. Still, now that they had some time, Ruby also had her tail restored and with the Solar Eclipse still happening, she attained Super Vacosian 4, after a very long time of trying to control the White Voidal form.

Ruby’s case of the form was rather interesting. Her hair became more of a mix between red and black, much like her base form. Yet like Blair, she had gained wolf ears and a wolf tail, while being returned to her prime as well. With this she could use the Instant Transmission and Haken again, but for some reason was unable to really make it compatible with Super Vacosian 4, anything higher than the base Haken not working.

Enjoying a few months of peace, Ruby and Blair were able to further train with Super Vacosian 4, mastering it to a better degree. They were hyped, because the wait of a year was nearly over and they could wish themselves back to their adult body’s once more. Yet while they were asleep, the sky had darkened, a few of Cinder’s old minions having revived her.

Of course this was felt, but by the time the Ascendance Team arrived on the scene, the deed had already been done, Cinder and co having escaped off planet and back to her empire. Of course Ruby and Blair were extremely pissed, with their unfortunate realization that they were stuck to being teens much longer. Three wishes had been used in a hurry, meaning they had to wait at least 9 months, before being able to use the inactive Remnant Dragon Balls once more.

Still, they couldn’t exactly track down Cinder. Her empire’s technology was too advanced and helped her mask her ki, not even the omniscient Kaioshins were able to track her. With such, half a year had passed, the Ascendance team training in preparation for whence Cinder would strike. It was during this time that nearly all of the Ascendance team started getting back into the habit of training.

Both Osiria and Arancia trained with each other, unleashing their potential with Purple Heart’s help and discovering new forms unique to them, yet due to being hybrids, they weren’t able to attain Super Vacosian 4 themselves. It was a form seemingly limited for pureblooded Vacosians. Regardless, the rest of the team, like Chione, Aura and even Orithyia had attained newer heights of power too, yet it was nothing compared to the Super Vacosian 4 of Ruby and Blair.

Finally the Ember Empress came, and brought her entire forces with her. Remnant would have been invaded by Cinder Fall once more, but the forces were locked in battle with the Ascendance team, while the Empress was dealing with Ruby and Blair.

The two Super Vacosians 4 had a hard time against Cinder’s newly revealed Ascended Warrior form, which allowed her to fight them both on the same time. Yet Cinder wasn’t the only one with an ace up her card, as Ruby revealed that she had attained an evolution to Super Vacosian 4, known as Ascended Super Vacosian 4.

This form more than doubled the user’s Super Vacosian 4 multiplier, but in turn came with the heavy strain of sapping energy away like Super Vacosian 2. In this form bio-electricity came too, Ruby gaining a bit more arrogance and a wilder look, but was able to make quick and short-work of Cinder. Finally having avenged Pyrrha from the past, with Ruby having found some more inner peace that way too.

Blair revealed that she had the form unlocked as well, and once the entire forces of Cinder’s Empire were dealt with, Arancia questioned Ruby and Blair why they didn’t use it from the start, with the duo answering that they wanted to test themselves out a bit and hey, it made for a fun and dramatic reveal.

With that, the Ascendance Team parted ways once more, Ruby and Blair working on mastering the Ascended Super Vacosian 4 form to the best of their abilities, while waiting for the remaining 3 months of the Dragon Balls to finally return to being active. The time came, with Ruby and Blair being more hyped than ever to return to being adults.

But of course where they are, trouble comes running too. The heavy usage of the Dragon Balls over the years had let to Negative energy being accumulated, with Synron not appearing normally, but as an evil version of itself. It told them of what transpired and that they’d have to fight and get rid of seven Evil Dragons, and only get one more wish. This was told with the last bit of positive energy it had, before turning evil and leaving them to their vices, waiting for them at the ‘edge of the world.’

With that, the Ascendance Team set out to deal with the seven powerful dragons in 7 groups. Arancia and Osiria took on the third most powerful, 6-Star dragon, with Ruby and Blair taking on the second most powerful, 2-Star dragon, while Chione, Aura and co dealt with the rest. The fights were tough, each of the members being pushed to their limits. Even Ruby and Blair were forced to push past their limits, activating their semblance and the Haken in ways not meant to be.

Yet the 2-Star Dragon, known as Niji-nron, was still overwhelming them. It was in this that Ruby and Blair had both broken past the limits of their limits, Blair being able to use her Semblance Evolution once more, while Ruby had attained a higher form of being in Super Vacosian 4. The true form as it was called and known as, True Super Vacosian 4. With this, they made short-work of the 2-Star Dragon.

With the battles being over temporarily, Ruby and Blair reverted back to their base forms to recuperate for a bit. Yet only Blair returned to looking like a teenager, with Ruby being unable to revert back from the basic Super Vacosian 4. It turned out that it had become her new base form, in price of achieving the True Super Vacosian 4 form.

Ruby was a bit saddened, not because she lost her handsome bastard qualities, those still remained, but because she now permanently had wolf ears and a wolf tail, with Blair sometimes referring to her as a furry thanks to that. Still, they couldn’t mull over it for too long, as the Ascendance Team promised to gather together and face the strongest dragon, the 1-Star Synron, all together.

The dragon proved to be more than a match for everyone involved, until Ruby and Blair decided to put in the last remnants of what they could do and once more assumed True Super Vacosian 4 and Super Vacosian 4 with the Semblance Evolution, in Blair’s case. This allowed them to overwhelm Synron and as they were about to extinguish his life, something happened.

As the dragon was about to die, he absorbed the dragon balls into his body, becoming Omni-Synron and growing vastly more powerful than before. Not only that, he gained the abilities of all the deceased dragons too, allowing him to overwhelm even the mighty combination of all the Ascendance Team attacking together.

Desperate situations called for desperate measures, with Ruby and Blair putting their pride aside and doing the fusion dance. The resulting fusion was known as Rulair, a Vacosian that had the True Super Vacosian 4, but was able to use Blair’s Semblance on top of that. The fusion’s time was cut short, but ultimately allowed her to match Omni-Synron and destroy him forever.

Forever, because the fusion had put too much power into the final beam attack, cracking and shattering the Dragon Balls into pieces, meaning the Dragon Balls of Remnant were now history. Of course Kami offered to recreate them, but Ruby told her no, they had to learn from their mistakes and relying on the DBs once more, would just give birth to a being even mightier than Omni-Synron, something that not even the fusion Rulair could defeat by then.

But of course that final wish remained, with Synron’s apparition appearing once more and telling them that he was grateful for being able to be purged of his sins. Hence the Ascendance Team using the final wish to restore Remnant to how it was before all the villains attacked. Of course they offered Blair that, but she denied it, calling it a waste of a wish, when their home planet was in dire need of salvation.

It put a smile on everyone’s face, as it confirmed that Blair truly saw Remnant as her new home, even giving up the wish of becoming an adult once more, just to have everyone be revived and all the damage be restored.  With that, Synron thanked them and bid them goodbye, and hoping to see them in the next world not too soon.

“A battle worth remembering, indeed. In fact, I’ll never forget this.” Was Blair’s response, before returning the Rose’s tease to her having to go through puberty a second time by calling her a furry, which shut Ruby up. With those antics back in order, all of the Ascendance Team laughed and bid each other farewell, returning back to their daily life.

Some more time had passed, with peace setting in. Yet Ruby and Blair were bored, them not being able to return to their jobs, due to their conditions, meant that they were stuck with only training, training and some more training. Luckily for them, their exploits were noticed by a Time Patroller, who called them abnormally strong for a timeline. Much things later and they were approached by Chronoa of Universe 12, their universe and offered to become Time Patrollers.

Henceforth, Ruby and Blair decided to refer to themselves as Xeno Ruby and Xeno Blair, to not confuse themselves with their main timeline counterparts. From here on out they travel time to solve problems and put things back into the right order, with Ruby becoming more mature as a result. Blair, on the other hand, still would be her usual self, albeit more laid back, but would take her job as a Time Patroller seriously.

Trivia:

-Much like Ruby, Blair is also stuck in Super Vacosian 4 permanently, that it might as well be considered as their new base form at this point. A consequence of her using Super Vacosian 4 on top of her Tenacious Evolution Semblance, in parallel to Ruby’s use of True Super Vacosian 4. Blair is very much fine with this, the wolf ears and tail are very much welcomed, really. Thus, with Ruby teasing her that she had to go through puberty again, Blair would always return the sentiment by calling the other a furry whenever she sees fit.

-Using Super Vacosian 4 on top of her Tenacious Evolution often results in massive collateral damages, with it being able to tear through the very fabric of space-time, causing unwanted phenomena, and cause its upheaval. Such permanence would be so extreme, that nothing short of the Super Dragon Balls would be able to restore the damage. Thus, Blair only uses it on situations that beg for it to be used. In other words, she’ll only use it in situations that are dire enough. Chronoa says so, too, and explained it to her, after all.

-Both Xeno Blair and Xeno Ruby are responsible for managing things across the Outerverse and will step in if a threat becomes too big. It helps that they are incredibly strong too, all in all, they’re mostly left to their own vices, free to travel or stay on Remnant as they wish, train, etc. But when they are called upon, then one knows that things are very dire.

-In terms of power, they outclass the main timeline by a good bit, but are even when Ruby and Blair use their -Dominus- and -Sign- forms each. In short, a battle between those four is forbidden, as they could cause all of existence to crumble. Something that impressed even the Demiurge and the Scarlet King.

-Super Vacosian 4 is different from what the main timeline Ruby and Blair have achieved. Their Wrathful State is not the real form of how Super Vacosian 4 looks like, the true form being what Xeno Ruby and Xeno Blair have achieved. The difference in power is quite clear too, with the basic Super Vacosian 4 heavily outclassing Super Vacosian Blue by a good margin.

-Xeno Ruby, as well as Xeno Blair, both have bonded with their own unique Keysword, which they can summon in battle whenever they wish, as well as gaining all of its abilities and resistances too.

-Naturally, Blair would have most of the main timeline Blair’s abilities and techniques up until the Cerveze Saga, along with the possession of God Ki, gained under her training with Purple Heart. Still, while she isn’t able to be like the main timeline Blair in terms of achieving Super Vacosian God, she still gets the benefits of having God Ki, with some of them being:

-Energy / Ki Absorption, Life-Force Absorption (Using "Draw", she can damage opponents by sucking out their life energy, which she can then use to heal himself) -Probability Manipulation -Dimensional Travel -Space-Time Manipulation (Those with flawless control of God Ki can open holes in space to travel to dimensions, as well as create their own space/dimension. Can also create dimension in which time is slowed, or not existing, while being unaffected by such occurrence.) -Receive reduced Damage. -Can reduce enemy’s damage reduction by 50%. -Purification (Can purify Dark Demonic Energy.)

As well as the resistances that come with it:

-Existence Erasure -Soul Manipulation -Mind Manipulation -Magic -Law Manipulation -Physics Manipulation -Death & Life Manipulation -Gravity Manipulation -Sealing & BFR -Time Manipulation -Time Stop -Possession -Madness Manipulation -Corruption -Power Nullification -Memory Manipulation -Unholy Manipulation (Demon Magic & Demon God Magic)

-Like Xeno Ruby, Xeno Blair has also received a new style of clothing, something she had gotten due to her role as a Time Patroller now. It certainly does suit, and very much exudes her taste.

[verus-veritas]

Metabods: Change of Mind (1)

Time for another favourite story of mine. It’s a bodyswap story written by “Mango Deville” on the Metabods site. I really, really love this story and it’s definitely one of the Top 3 Best Bodyswap Stories of all time! /Verus

This happened a few years ago now.

Stuart was just lying there, unable to do anything with his life. I had come into his room on a late night prowl of the hospice made more restless than normal that night due to the news I had received that day. My suspicions had been confirmed, I had inoperable liver, stomach and bowel cancer giving me only a few more months to live.

Not that I could really complain, at 64 years of age I know that I had had a reasonably long and active life. Although I hadn't been in an intimate relationship since my last lover and I parted company twenty-five years ago I had to be grateful for what I'd had. Let's face it, it was a life of sorts at least, unlike some of the patients whose physical welfare I tended as the resident physician and who tonight I looked in on. Most were here only due to the “wonders” of modern medical technology.

Case in point was Stuart here, 23-year-old son of a wealthy industrialist, all but killed in a motorcycle accident on the family estate about a year ago; physically his young body had healed completely, flawlessly you might even say. His brain, however, had never recovered; he had never regained consciousness and brain scans failed to reveal any activity. In a less advanced society he would have died and been laid to rest after the accident. But his parents had denied him this natural process, refusing to accept the medical facts and well able to afford 24 x 7 intensive care for what was basically only the shell of the vivacious and high-spirited man-boy that I had also known, as private physician to the family. His mother regularly spent long hours by his bedside trying to revive him with her conversation and massaging his surprisingly still very fit body; there were hardly any signs of wasting away, a rare situation that gave her hope. But there was never any response and it was probably a matter of time before they finally accepted the inevitable and let him go.

I looked ruefully at Stuart, his chest rising and falling rhythmically but somehow mechanically; in the dim light I could see the heart stimulating pad that was taped to his firm chest. A respirator sat beside the bed but it was not expected to ever be used. During my tenure at the hospice I had grown to accept the tragic waste of patients like this as part of life's cruel irony. In the soft glow of the machines that were keeping his body alive and on that day of all days the irony of the empty shell of such a beautiful youth lying here for want of an active brain resounded heavily in my mind. Irony, because for want of just such a healthy body my brain would soon be silent like his.

Many thoughts had gone through my head that day but I don't quite know what prompted me to decide to try out such a crazy idea. For some years to relieve the boredom of my normal work I had experimented with brain wave patterning, always with laboratory animals of course but ultimately as a possible means of cancelling out criminal and antisocial behaviour in humans too. I was not unaware of the ethical dilemma of this concept but was not really expecting any major breakthroughs to need to worry about those realities now, if ever. And now it appears that nothing would ever come of it anyway, despite some interesting results among some of the larger mammal subjects I had tried lately. The concept was for the “good” brain wave patterns of one subject to be read into a computer and “mapped” into the other subject's brain, erasing the negative patterns. I had been experimenting with horses recently (the hospice kept a few for the active but terminally ill patients to enjoy) but to get the strength of signal required there had been problems with feedback. The donor subject would get some of the recipient's brainwaves back through the system, usually for example it would respond to the recipient's name (as well as it's own still) and other behavioural anomalies. It was as though there'd been a slight merger of memory. Certainly the recipient benefited from the experience as behavioural patterns immediately took on the donor horse's profile; it even responded to the donor horse's name! There was some evidence of a merger on this side too.

Of course all this experimentation was done on the quiet and was completely unknown to the other staff of the hospice, but I had documented everything I had done on the laptop and the main copies were on my desktop computer at home.

Perhaps it was ill-formed thought processes caused by the reaction to my bad news but also there was a feeling that maybe my experiments could help Stuart here and perhaps other patients like him. There was not also some degree of pride in the thought that my “brain” was somewhat worth saving; having been gay all my life had meant I had not had children to pass any of my characteristics on to. Perhaps I could pass my brainwaves over to Stuart and he would be able to function again? At the same time it would be like I was passing him some of myself, my characteristics so that he could make use of them. I decided there was nothing for either of us to lose, either of our lives would be measured in months now, as things stood.

So that night I went back to my office and got my experimental apparatus, consisting of a laptop computer, a pair of skullcaps, an electrical transformer and some loops of wiring to connect them all together. On my return I plugged in the transformer and connected the skullcaps to it and the laptop in parallel. I booted up the computer and loaded the program and realised I would need to modify the parameters for the different body weights (for the electrical charges) and relative brain masses (for the mapping) of humans compared to horses. I entered the data and the computer quickly calculated the settings it would feed to the rest of the apparatus. I positioned a chair by the bed and placed the laptop next to Stuart's left arm, facing the chair. I then placed the recipient's skullcap on his head and located it carefully, as I had learned the criticality of its correct positioning with the previous experiments. Stuart at least did not move with the unfamiliarity of it, unlike the horses.

The other cap I placed on my own head and, using the mirror across the room over the washbasin in which I could see myself from where I stood next to the bed, positioned it carefully. I sat on the chair and placed my right hand in Stuart's left one and clasped it tightly (this wasn't necessary but I appreciated the feeling of warmth it gave me). With my left hand I clicked the laptop mouse button to initiate the sequence. I remember the feeling of buzzing in my brain rising from almost nothing to what no doubt had caused the horses to react nervously. For them I had resorted to mild sedatives recently but had not even thought of it for myself, having only just decided to do this on the spur of the moment. It was nothing really compared to some of the pain of the cancers I was carrying in my body. The buzzing was getting to be most objectionable and I remember thinking that at least I was confident that Stuart would not be feeling anything. And then I blacked out.

I woke with a jolt, the buzzing in my head was down again to a bare minimum. I went to open my eyes but the lids seemed strangely heavy as they do when you are awakened suddenly from a long deep sleep. My eyes took some time to focus clearly though there was no problem seeing with the light in the room—I could make out the clock on the wall across from me, it read a quarter to 1, about 12 minutes after I had started my “experiment”.

Then it struck me! I was looking at the clock from a different angle from what I should have, sitting on the low patient's chair beside the bed; I was higher than that and my neck was at a reclined angle from which it was a slight strain to focus on the clock. And I could feel a hand in mine but it was my left hand, not my right one!

Noting the stiffness of my body I pushed myself upright with my free hand and realised it was the bed I was on, not the chair! And the hand I was holding was that of an older overweight man who was slumped motionless in that very chair I was sure I had been sitting in only minutes before. And that man was me! I was looking at my own body from afar—was this an out-of-body experience? Slightly panicky, I searched the room and my eyes fell onto the mirror over the washbasin and there was the ultimate shock! Looking back at me was Stuart, animated and sitting up in bed! And I saw the startled look on his face in complete accord with my emotions. I moved my head and Stuart moved his too! I raised my right arm and waved my hand and Stuart raised his arm and waved back at me. How could this be, was this possible, was I inside of Stuart's body?

Just then the fact that I (or was it Stuart?) was still wearing the skullcap caught my attention—perhaps instead of merely transferring brainwaves more than that had gone across; my consciousness in fact! So where had Stuart's consciousness gone? But then he hadn't had any consciousness had he? Is that why my (former) body lay slouched in the chair? As the thought dawned on me I instinctively reached up and removed the skullcap and it's wiring from my.. er.. Stuart's head. How would I explain this, that the former me was now at least comatose possibly dead and I was now alive inside of Stuart's body? It would appear to everyone that I had “stolen” his body! And what a body to steal! Prime of youth 6 foot 2 23 year old with a slim but muscular physique, blue green eyes and sandy coloured hair. And then there was his flawless skin, skin that when he arrived last year had acquired a golden hue from outdoor activities in the summer months but was by now somewhat paler from his time in the hospice. No one would ever understand.

I reached over and saw that my former self was indeed lifeless. Without brain activity and the life-support system that had kept Stuart's body alive all these months it had probably taken no time at all for the body to die, certainly less than the 10 minutes I had been unconscious. There was obviously no going back now. In a strangely horrified reaction to something that I had called “me” for over 60 years I shook free of the hand that still clasped mine.

Perhaps I could hide what had actually happened? My brain ticked over quickly—I would have to remove all traces of the “experiment”. With some effort I reached over and removed the skullcap from what was formerly my head. I wrapped the two of them together and reaching down to the other side of the bed, opened the cupboard door and tossed them inside. The transformer was a standard issue one though there had not been need of one for any of the equipment in Stuart's room. Again with some effort I reached down and switched it off. I picked up the laptop computer from the bed; I could see from its display that it had been coordinating and recording the miraculous process that I had just been through. Somehow I had to save this data but not let it get into anyone else's hands, of course. Fortunately I had previously loaded a rewriteable CD into the machine as I had previously found this to be the easiest and most secure way to transfer data from my experiments to the desktop at home. I quickly typed in the commands to copy the data onto the CD, noting the stiffness in my fingers. I guess when you haven't used your muscles for months, as Stuart hadn't, you can't expect them to be anything but stiff, despite his mother's massages.

My immediate thought was to delete the files from the laptop lest someone discover them but stopped myself; I normally waited till I knew the CD could be read before deleting the files, a habit formed from making an early mistake with saving data. I remembered I could encrypt them so did so and set the password to “Change_Of_Mind”, my “codename” for the experimental work I had been doing. I removed the CD and placed it into an empty CD case that I saw was lying on top of the bedside cupboard, next to the portable CD player with which I had seen Stuart's mother play his favourite music in her efforts to revive him.

Finally I pushed my former body back into the chair and slumped it over to one side (away from me).

I closed down the experiment program and opened my expenses spreadsheet, did a minor change so that it would look like I had been working on it, and launched the screensaver program. I positioned the machine on “my” lap and arranged “my” right hand as though I had been typing but it had fallen loose.

Satisfied that most of the evidence of my experiment was now removed and a plausible view of “my” former body's death was established I lay back for a minute to think about how I could “become Stuart”. I knew the boy well enough, delivering him and being the family physician for all his 23 years, but it was gonna to be hard for them to accept the inevitable differences in our personalities. I decided that perhaps they would believe that it was the result of the months of coma, a form of amnesia, maybe. I, too, would need to remember what it was like to be young and free of worries.

I had been lying there for about 15 minutes and realised one last thing. I was supposed to be comatose and there I would be perfectly normal in the morning when someone would find us. Only one thing to do, knock myself out for some time and then I could “awake”, to everyone's miraculous relief, no doubt! I remembered the tranquillisers that I had been using to give myself a few hours sleep each night, relief from the pain of the cancers. They were in my breast pocket! I reached over and gently removed the strip, took four from it, replaced the rest and then smoothed down the jacket again. From the cupboard I took the glass of water Stuart's mother used to moisten his lips... er... my lips with. Swallowing the pills was not easy (even my throat muscles were unused to activity) but after a moment I'd got them all down.

I lay for another 10 minutes or so before I could feel their effect but while I was waiting another thought occurred to me. Once or twice I had arrived to visit Stuart as the hospice's Chief nurse Peter had been finishing sponge bathing Stuart. I had been slightly jealous of the strongly built male nurse's job, really only when it came to Stuart, I admit, but couldn't help wondering at his enthusiasm to take on this particular patient with such personal zeal. My suspicions were confirmed when driving past a gay bar on the other side of town one night I saw Peter coming out of the bar, and he wasn't alone. That was some time back and I had seen him again on two more recent occasions also leaving the bar. But both of the later times he was alone which had surprised me because not only was he well built but he was quite good looking with a white blond mop of hair and possibly Nordic features. I reminded myself that gay life in our town was not necessarily a hectic social whirl (it certainly never had been for me my whole life) and with shift work perhaps Peter did not often meet other available gay men. The second time I saw him come out alone I actually felt real sympathy for the man.

On the last occasion that I had arrived before Peter had quite finished Stuart's sponge batch I discovered that he was gently cleansing Stuart's genitals, and the sight of it was enough to make me even more jealous. From where I stood at the doorway I could see that Stuart's penis and balls were quite large and not only was Peter bathing them meticulously he was obviously enjoying the moment too, from the sizeable bulge I could see in his white uniform trousers. I momentarily wondered had Stuart gotten an erection then, as a response to the warm soapy water, whether Peter would have “helped him out” if he had thought he was not likely to be disturbed. The thought had sustained me for a number of nights in my own bed, too.

I raised my “new” hand and looked at it; it was a reasonable size for a man. I then thrust it down under the covers until I located “my” genitals. Sure enough the penis I felt there was a size that surprised me even at such close quarters and my balls were easily larger than my hand could grasp together. I could almost feel an erection coming on (I was starting to get used to feeling things through Stuart's body) but the tranquillisers were kicking in. Instead I contentedly dropped the weighty objects between “my” legs and fell into a heavy sleep in which, I am now convinced, parts of Stuart's life were revealed to me in flashbacks. This would prove to be a common occurrence over the next few months.

(End of part one)

Source: “Change of mind” by Mango Deville on Metabods.com

[jerrydog]

I had absolutely no intention of watching The Rise of Skywalker. In fact, I’ve never even bothered watching a single trailer for this movie. The only way I’d watch this is if someone dragged me into it, which is exactly what happened. Thanks to The Last Jedi, I started viewing Star Wars movies in a different light— more objectively, so to speak. It made that cloak of nostalgia that was hindering my vision vanish completely. Because that’s all there was to it. I realized that I only liked Star Wars because of nostalgia. Because of its great significance in pop culture for the past few decades. Take that away, and I realized that most of these movies were average at best.

I was old enough to watch the prequels in cinemas. Maybe I was too young then, but I loved The Phantom Menace. This made me look forward to Attack of the Clones, which I didn’t really like at first. But everyone else seemed to like it. Everyone else was so hyped up over it, because duh— it’s Star Wars. So I somehow convinced myself that I should like it as well. Call it peer pressure or whatever. Revenge of the Sith had its issues, but overall I found it entertaining. At least entertaining enough to make me seek out episodes IV-VI on home video. Maybe it was the influence of nostalgia again, especially since my parents were huge fans. After watching all episodes from I to VI, I was already somewhat of a Star Wars fan.


I was one of those who were so excited to see The Force Awakens. After such a long time, we were gonna see a new Star Wars movie on the big screen! And it had a lot of the original cast returning! That was surely a case of pandering to nostalgia, but heck everyone including myself lapped it all up. Sure it was mostly a rehash, it doesn’t hold up that well on repeat viewings, but it sure was fun to watch for the very first time. Especially once you see all those beloved characters back on the big screen. And with that cliffhanger ending showing our first glimpse of Luke Skywalker after all these years? Man, everyone sure as hell were hyped up for the sequel.

Which was the aforementioned The Last Jedi— definitely the most divisive Star Wars movie ever made. I can’t understand how some people loved it, because I think it’s downright horrible. Apparently I didn’t think it was so bad the first time I saw it— I gave it a 3/5 on my review here. That time though one of my friends fell asleep while watching. another one was so bored he wanted to walk out. These were HUGE Star Wars fans by the way. The fact that two huge fans couldn’t finish viewing a Star Wars movie was quite telling. I saw it again with my cousin after two months because she had not seen it yet. It’s a struggle to get through such a pointless plot on second viewing. I was shocked to find out that Rose Tico didn’t die. lol. Apparently I was no longer paying much attention towards the end on my first viewing. After this second viewing I’d give it a 2/5. I managed to see it alone at home for the third time, when I did a Star Wars marathon of sorts. It was the only movie that I was struggling to finish. Since I was watching it alone in the comfort of my own room, I could rate it the most objectively. After the third viewing, I’d give it a 1/5.

I know we all have different tastes. If you liked The Last Jedi, if you enjoyed watching it, I’d respect that. But please do not refer to it as excellent, as perfect, or the best Star Wars Movie ever because it isn’t any of those. I wouldn’t call a movie with such a useless plot perfect. That main plot could have been told in 15 minutes or less. The entire movie just wasted 2 ½ hours over nothing. The side quest was just as pointless. Plot holes were numerous. Beloved characters were quickly set aside. Beloved characters start to behave in a way that’s completely out of character. A bunch of new main characters pop out of nowhere, with no other purpose than to serve an agenda. Many things did not make sense even on a science fiction movie. Characters show new skills, even though such skills were never foreshadowed in what’s supposed to be a saga. It also diverged from any logical path following The Force Awakens. In fact after viewing all Star Wars movies in succession from episodes I to XI, The Last Jedi stands out because it doesn’t conform with the universe set in the other episodes. In doesn’t fit the overarching narrative at all. They might as well have called it The Last Jedi: A Star Wars Story.

Look, I get it. Innovation and non conformity should be praised, but only when it’s done in a proper setting. If you’re going to make a movie that’s part of a trilogy or part of an entire saga, you have to be a team player. You have to stick to a certain theme. You can’t push boundaries too far, else your movie won’t feel part of a whole even though it’s supposed to be. Rian Johnson knew The Last Jedi was gonna be part of a Trilogy. You can’t verge too far when you’re making an episode in a trilogy— especially not when it’s the second installment you’re making. So yeah, I’m glad JJ Abrams did a retcon and basically ignored Episode VIII. It wouldn’t take much to ignore it anyway, considering the fact that close to nothing of significance happened in that episode. Oh yeah, Luke died/ vanished. Also Snoke, in what was the only awesome scene in the entire movie IMO. Anything else that happened were basically non events.


Now critics are complaining that The Rise of Skywalker ignores the narrative threads that were set by Rian Johnson. Oh you mean the same way he ignored the narrative threads set by JJ Abrams? I didn’t hear any critics complaining then. All I heard were praises because the movie was so inclusive, it was so empowering, it was refreshing because it didn’t feel like a Star Wars movie. How can “not feeling like a Star Wars movie” be a good thing about a movie that’s supposed to be part of the Star Wars Saga? Look, general audiences couldn’t care less about the race or gender of characters they see onscreen as long as a good story is being told. Majority of people who hated The Last Jedi aren’t single white men who are still living in their parent’s basements, so SJWs should quit that tired narrative. A lot of people who hated The Last Jedi are ordinary moviegoers who just wanted to have fun watching a movie set in the universe they’re familiar with. A lot of people hated The Last Jedi because even that was taken away from them.


Critics are also complaining about several plot points. Like how Emperor Palpatine is still alive (not a spoiler: it’s on the movie’s official synopsis, and it’s stated right at the very beginning.) I know, that totally came out of left field. Palpatine clearly died on episode VI. There were no hints or foreshadowing that he was still alive on episodes VII and VIII, even on repeat viewings. Thus is comes off as a cheap and desperate attempt. Whose fault was this though? Who decided to kill off this new trilogy’s big bad on the second episode? Rian Johnson didn’t leave much for JJ Abrams to work with here, he was basically pushed against a wall and working with his hands tied. Creating an entirely new villain would be anticlimactic, but since it’s a part of a 9 movie saga, the next best thing would be to revive a villain from the past. Another common complaint is that this new movie feels rushed, that so many things were being packed in a little over 2 hours. Again whose fault is that? If Rian Johnson didn’t waste 2 ½ on the previous movie and told a story with significant events that would feed naturally onto the next episode, an episode that would serve as a bridge between two episodes instead of looking like some disjointed amalgamation, this wouldn’t have happened would it? JJ Abrams had that unenviable task of trying to tie up so many loose ends. It would have helped if Rian Johnson tried to be a team player by tying up some loose ends from The Force Awakens and then tying up some of his. But no, he preferred to do things his own way. He preferred to be different, he preferred to leave his indelible mark. Instead of effectively bridging two episodes, he left the Skywalker Saga with no clear direction. 


I agree. This movie seemed rushed. It seemed forced. It could use a lot more time to tell the story. But considering the difficult task that JJ Abrams was given, those faults are easily forgivable. Yes a lot of it is fan service and obvious pandering. But isn’t that only fitting for what’s supposed to be the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga that started way back in 1977? Anyone who grew up with these movies would enjoy this finale. it contains a lot of the things that people have loved about Star Wars. This series has been around for more than 4 decades, fans belong to different generations. Episode XI is not a perfect movie, but it’s a perfect thank you to everyone who has been a fan. I had no intention of watching this movie, but I’m glad I was forced to give gave it a chance. It’s not the best Star Wars movie, but it’s good enough to restore my faith in all things Star Wars. 
… 
My rating: 4/5

[musetotheworld]

Hi! Could you write Cat taking a bullet for Kara, but with happy ending, please!

Kara really, really hated blowing out her powers.

So many times growing up she’d half wished she didn’t have them, that she could just be human and normal the way everyone around her was. For a young teenager still adapting to a completely different planet and culture, the addition of super everything only made life harder. Even if she’d been able to use her powers instead of hiding, they were another adjustment that she often resented.

It might have been easier, if she’d had reason and ability to be a hero like her cousin. If she could save those in need without jeopardizing her secrets and the safety of her family. Then at least her powers would have a positive side. Instead, they’re a burden and a weight, one heavy enough to register even with super strength.

And then she’d come out as Supergirl, and suddenly those powers mattered. They were still a burden, still a responsibility, but this time they were a duty she assumed herself. They didn’t feel restricting, they felt empowering. She could use them to change the world, to help others see that they could change it too. And that made the secrecy worth it.

And that made the times she lost them far worse.

It wasn’t that she hated feeling human, not exactly. After years spent wishing she could be ‘just Kara’ there was a certain relief that came from being average, at least after the first time when she learned that she could and would get them back. Even if she still felt guilty for losing them, for leaving her city for a few days, after the first few times learning to adapt to the difference it became almost a vacation. She could take a few days as Kara to get her human life sorted out without being pulled away for super responsibilities every few hours.

So no, being human wasn’t all that bad, not under most circumstances. But this isn’t most circumstances.

So used to relying on her hearing to warn of incoming danger, Kara hadn’t noticed the gunmen approaching the CatCo benefit until it was too late, until guns were drawn and orders being barked. And when she did, well, she froze.

There wasn’t another word for it. From the first shouts of ‘everyone on the ground’ she should have complied, should have dropped with the employees around her. None of them were important enough to be a danger or a target, if they just listened to whatever they were told there shouldn’t be a reason to fear. The gunmen were likely after something in one of the offices, or the safe, and if no one provoked them then there was no reason for anyone to get hurt.

Except Kara froze.

She froze, staring at them in horror as the truth of the situation registered. She was powerless, and what would ordinarily be a challenge only in regards to keeping bullets from ricocheting off of her and into her coworkers was very definitely something else entirely now.

She doesn’t notice the tensing trigger finger until it’s too late, and Kara opens her mouth in shock as she realizes what’s about to happen. She’s going to be shot, and it’s going to hurt, maybe even kill her. All because she doesn’t have her powers.

And then a weight is slamming into her, and she’s falling to the ground, but it doesn’t hurt. Why doesn’t it hurt? Bullets are supposed to hurt, there’s supposed to be pain and blood and heat. That’s what she’s always heard, what she’s heard every DEO agent who takes a hit say. But this is just a dull ache.

When she hits the ground, the sharpness of the impact jars her eyes open from where they’d closed in the face of the looming pain, and now it’s her mind that’s freezing.

Because Cat shouldn’t have been here. Cat was in London, or was it Paris? Suddenly Kara can’t remember, can’t focus enough to think. Because Cat, frail soft human Cat, is laying half on top of her. Is laying on top of her, and bleeding across her legs.

She thinks there are screams echoing across the room, but for once her hearing seems distant and unconnected from what she’s experiencing. It’s too overwhelming to deal with, so her mind shuts out everything but Cat. She’s desperate to move, desperate to do something, anything.

Instead she’s lying still, staring at Cat in shock, watching as her shirt slowly stains with red. Of all things it’s wondering if the dry cleaner can get blood out of it that tips her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Suddenly the screams are immediate, pushing against her ears and nearly deafening her. All her control is gone, and it takes long moments for the realization to sink in.

Her powers are back.

In seconds she’s changed into her suit and taken out the gunmen, knocking them out with only a little more force than is necessary. It’s not intentional, but Kara can’t bring herself to regret it, not when she needs to save Cat.

Ignoring all reason and knowledge that she’s going to have some very upset agents on her case, she flies to the DEO rather than a local hospital. The DEO medics are better equipped to deal with a gunshot wound than even the best hospitals, and Kara is not about to risk Cat’s life with anything but the very best care there is to offer.

Once Cat is safely in the hands of the medics, Kara spends the next few hours being lectured by Alex and J’onn in turn. She keeps tuning them out to listen in on the progress of the surgery, so they keep coming back to try again. Finally Alex gives in and just holds her, obviously realizing that any arguments will have no effect on Kara’s decision or feelings about the matter.

They sit in silence, other than when J’onn is lecturing, until Kara hears the surgeons wheeling Cat into recovery. As soon as she knows they have her set up Kara is standing and speeding towards the room. She isn’t going anywhere but Cat’s side until she knows the woman will be okay.

Thankfully the medics are familiar with Kara’s tendency to worry from the few times Alex has been injured, and don’t say a word as Kara enters the room. She has to deal with a few knowing looks, but they’re the least of her worries right now.

“She’ll be okay, Supergirl,” one of the doctors says, a man she hasn’t had much cause to interact with before. “It wasn’t bad as far as gunshot wounds go. Didn’t hit anything serious, she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”

Kara can only manage a smile in thanks, not quite ready to speak just yet, but he seems to understand. And it’s refreshing to have someone give her facts about the situation without adding accusations of recklessness or disregard for the safety of the organization. She knows J’onn means well, but after hearing the same thing for the third time Kara had been just about ready to shout the truth about the DEO’s existence from the top of CatCo.

It doesn’t take as long as Kara had expected for Cat to wake up from the anaesthesia, and as soon as she stirs Kara is at her side with a cup of ice chips. She’ll probably end up giving away her identity within the first five minutes of this conversation, another reason J’onn and Alex had been so upset, but Kara doesn’t care. Cat had taken a bullet for her, obviously it was well past time to be honest with her. She deserved more. And Kara knows she had for a long time.

“I see you got your powers back,” Cat says once she’s managed to eat a few of the chips, soothing her throat and reviving her somewhat. “I’m glad. National City needs their hero.”

“What, what do you mean?” Kara asks, sure she’d misheard. She’d been ready to confess everything, but she hadn’t expected Cat to do it for her.

“Please, Kara. You’re feeding me ice chips because I have a hole in my stomach, I think the time for secrecy is over, don’t you?”

“Well, yes,” Kara says, stumbling over her thoughts and words for a second as she readjusts yet again. “I was going to tell you.”

“You know I hate being second at anything,” Cat teases, and Kara feels herself relax just a hair. If Cat is feeling good enough for banter then she really must be okay. Even if Kara knows it’s probably thanks to the various drugs the DEO has given her for the pain.

“If you knew, why did you push me out of the way?” Kara asks as she realizes what Cat’s knowledge means.

“You’d blown out your powers,” Cat says with a shrug. “It was clear from the footage after the last fight with that rock alien, and the fact you didn’t react when they came in told me you hadn’t gotten them back yet. And I couldn’t let National City lose its hero.”

Kara wants to shake her, wants to shout and scream and throw a fit over the fact that this amazing woman had somehow decided she wasn’t every bit the hero of the city that Kara was. That she wasn’t more than Kara. Supergirl was an alien with superpowers, yes. She showed the world a way to be, to act, to save. But she was still alien.

Cat though, Cat is human. She has her flaws, and the media hasn’t always been kind in detailing them. But she’s still a hero. When Kara first blew out her powers, Cat had been there. When Kara had been under the influence of Red Kryptonite, Cat had been there. When Kara had seriously considered a plan of action that would kill hundreds of thousands of people, Cat had been there.

“National City can’t lose you either, Cat,” Kara says, voice quiet with the pain of the very thought. “You’re more their hero than I am.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree, Supergirl,” Cat says, eyes closing for a moment. “I’m too exhausted to argue with you properly.”

“I should go, let you rest,” Kara says as she backs towards the door.

“No, stay.” It’s soft, spoken with eyes still closed, but Kara can see the nervous tension in Cat’s frame, even with the drugs. For whatever reason, Cat is afraid to ask for this favor.

“I won’t go anywhere,” Kara promises as she crosses back to Cat’s side, pulling a chair with her and settling in. She only hesitates for a moment before reaching out to take one of Cat’s hands in her own, wary of crossing a line. But there’d been a promise in her words that goes beyond this moment, one she thinks they both feel, and this contact seems right.

There’ll be more to discuss later, they’ll both probably run from whatever this is at some point, but right now feeling the warmth of Cat’s hand in her own is enough. The continued proof that she’s still here, that everything will be okay, that’s all Kara needs right now.

And if there’s more to come? They can deal with that when it does.

[tellminion-blog]

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Utilize an apparatus like SEMrush to see your present catchphrase rankings. You're searching for anything simply off the principal page (positions 11-20). 

I propose utilizing this information to make your own asset to follow this venture. Mine resembles this … 

After you accumulate 3-5 joins for that page, set up a suggestion to keep an eye on the page's position in list items around about fourteen days after the fact. This ought to be sufficient to achieve the principal page of indexed lists much of the time, contingent upon the dimension of rivalry there. Clearly, scale as needs be. 

Invigorate Your Content 

That distribute date at the highest point of your substance is gigantically huge. I mean … most likely (that is my working hypothesis). 

The more frequently you update your substance, the more regularly your site is slithered, expanding your chances to rank. While Google still can't seem to come directly out and pronounce that crisp substance will springboard you into first page results, there's a lot of proof to trust that is the situation. 

How about we think about this from a Google's viewpoint. List items are inclining all the more continuous — for instance, Google presently routinely shows tweets and topical news at whatever point they apply. 

I don't get this' meaning for your site in Google? Maybe it's best deciphered this way: If your page doesn't offer the best in class data, you're likely not the best source to give a solution to my inquiry. Hope to rank as needs be. 

This isn't valid in all cases, obviously. Look for something like 'US Constitution' and you'll very likely get similar outcomes on numerous occasions. The base data for a subject like this doesn't change very frequently (if at any time). 

In a post initially distributed in 2011 — with respect to Google's Caffeine look file — the blog states, "Various inquiries have distinctive freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is intended to all the more likely see how to separate between these sorts of quests and the dimension of freshness you need, and ensure you get the most expert answers." 

There's some unpredictability here — as some contextual investigations propose, there's a whole other world to consider than essentially refreshing the distribute date of your blog entry. Cyrus Shepard represented a few instances of how crisp substance may impact Google rankings. To abridge a couple of key takeaways: 

New substance gets a freshness score which rots after some time 

The measure of substance invigorated in the post matters 

Changes to key zones of the substance are generally critical 

While a few pages of your website remain to profit more than others, reviving your substance shields it from social affair spider webs and gives an edge in natural inquiry. 

Assume Responsibility for Your Index 

"On the off chance that you need to win the lottery you have to purchase a ticket." 

That is a statement from Eric Enge which mirrors his own theory on ordering the substance of a site. Dismantled, what this basically implies is each page matters. 

Maybe that is an extraordinary view to take yet more website admins should acknowledge this ideals. All things considered, what number of sites have you experienced that weren't utilizing Search Console? Numerous organizations still can't seem to bring their site's list into their very own hands. 

Regardless of whether this is joyful obliviousness or something altogether extraordinary, the outcome is the equivalent: your enhancement incredibly endures. Overlooking the specialized side of your site is somewhat similar to disregarding routine upkeep on your vehicle. Getting your oil changed consistently is certifiably not an inviting recommendation — it's required. 

The initial step to taking control begins with using the full intensity of the Google Search Console. Among its numerous advantages, Search Console enables you to: 

Confirm that Google can get to your pages 

Teach Google which pages to creep/maintain a strategic distance from 

Guarantee the general wellbeing of your site; check for creep mistakes 

Make a point to peruse Google's guide on dealing with your site with Search Console for more data. 

Content Still Matters 

For what reason is content so broadly touted via seek advertisers as a sovereign expert in SEO? I for one trust this is on the grounds that SEO all the more intently looks like substance showcasing as of late. In spite of the fact that this perspective helped ebb the rising tide of low-quality spam content, it's comparably in charge of setting an excess of accentuation on a solitary part of SEO. That sort of exclusive focus isn't useful. 

This 'content most importantly' rationale basically keeps up making the most convincing and instructive bit of substance results in top rankings. The issue with that isn't everybody is prepared to do simply producing a New York Times Best Seller — and Google positively doesn't expect that either. 

OK, so content isn't exactly ruler — yet regardless it makes a difference a lot. You would prefer not to mail it in here on the off chance that you really esteem natural execution. Here are a couple of brilliant principles to remember: 

Substance ought to be composed for clients first 

Profundity matters; shoot for 800-1000 words in your pages 

Try not to waver to interface out to pertinent sources; it may even assistance you get proportional connections 

Keep it versatile neighborly 

Need more assistance in this division? Become familiar with enhancing your substance for SEO the correct way — make it an ordinary propensity. 

End 

Content isn't a fix for the ills of web search tool promoting — it's basically a gear-tooth in the more noteworthy machine, helping turn the wheel. For those of you that can't be viewed as the Larry King of HVAC articles, hear this: You're cleared. There are numerous roads to accomplishment in the domain of SEO. Differentiate your technique and you'll unavoidably discover your direction.

[tellmediaaus]

Content Still Seems To Be King

Quality written substance is the final deciding factor. 

There it is. That profoundly imperfect trademark of the white cap SEO people group — a definitive over-improvement of the stuff to direct people to your site. Essentially every advertiser under the sun has parroted this language sooner or later, relentlessly. These are the expressions of a liable man. 

We treat content as though it were some stealthy MacGuffin — covering up on display, fit for opening the mystery kingdom of Google. Talking as somebody who wrote some genuinely motivating takes a shot at dental and pipes administrations — out and out honor commendable — I can let you know: This essentially isn't valid. 

Website improvement is a round of inches. There is no silver shot. Revealing to me the response to all my consuming inquiries concerning advancement is basically 'produce extraordinary substance' — that appears to be woefully deficient. It resembles yelling 'pursue the North Star!' to somebody stranded adrift; much appreciated, however those summed up headings just assistance to such an extent. 

We should get explicit. Here's a greater picture on the most proficient method to support your traffic. If you would like to see a video explanation and local seo marketing company, you can check out tell media.

Organize Pages 

Gaining natural traffic for a recently made site is not kidding work — however shouldn't something be said about a site that has been around for a couple of years? 

There's a decent possibility more seasoned destinations rank for some important watchwords simply off the primary page of query items. Those catchphrases and their resulting pages ought to be your top need. 

Noted SEO master Joe Laratro proposes these pages can without much of a stretch be pushed the correct way with 3-5 focused on outside connections. How you win those connections is totally up to you — joins from low-quality sources presumably won't cut it. 

Utilize an apparatus like SEMrush to see your present catchphrase rankings. You're searching for anything simply off the principal page (positions 11-20). 

I propose utilizing this information to make your own asset to follow this venture. Mine resembles this … 

After you accumulate 3-5 joins for that page, set up a suggestion to keep an eye on the page's position in list items around about fourteen days after the fact. This ought to be sufficient to achieve the principal page of indexed lists much of the time, contingent upon the dimension of rivalry there. Clearly, scale as needs be. 

Invigorate Your Content 

That distribute date at the highest point of your substance is gigantically huge. I mean … most likely (that is my working hypothesis). 

The more frequently you update your substance, the more regularly your site is slithered, expanding your chances to rank. While Google still can't seem to come directly out and pronounce that crisp substance will springboard you into first page results, there's a lot of proof to trust that is the situation. 

How about we think about this from a Google's viewpoint. List items are inclining all the more continuous — for instance, Google presently routinely shows tweets and topical news at whatever point they apply. 

I don't get this' meaning for your site in Google? Maybe it's best deciphered this way: If your page doesn't offer the best in class data, you're likely not the best source to give a solution to my inquiry. Hope to rank as needs be. 

This isn't valid in all cases, obviously. Look for something like 'US Constitution' and you'll very likely get similar outcomes on numerous occasions. The base data for a subject like this doesn't change very frequently (if at any time). 

In a post initially distributed in 2011 — with respect to Google's Caffeine look file — the blog states, "Various inquiries have distinctive freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is intended to all the more likely see how to separate between these sorts of quests and the dimension of freshness you need, and ensure you get the most expert answers." 

There's some unpredictability here — as some contextual investigations propose, there's a whole other world to consider than essentially refreshing the distribute date of your blog entry. Cyrus Shepard represented a few instances of how crisp substance may impact Google rankings. To abridge a couple of key takeaways: 

New substance gets a freshness score which rots after some time 

The measure of substance invigorated in the post matters 

Changes to key zones of the substance are generally critical 

While a few pages of your website remain to profit more than others, reviving your substance shields it from social affair spider webs and gives an edge in natural inquiry. 

Assume Responsibility for Your Index 

"On the off chance that you need to win the lottery you have to purchase a ticket." 

That is a statement from Eric Enge which mirrors his own theory on ordering the substance of a site. Dismantled, what this basically implies is each page matters. 

Maybe that is an extraordinary view to take yet more website admins should acknowledge this ideals. All things considered, what number of sites have you experienced that weren't utilizing Search Console? Numerous organizations still can't seem to bring their site's list into their very own hands. 

Regardless of whether this is joyful obliviousness or something altogether extraordinary, the outcome is the equivalent: your enhancement incredibly endures. Overlooking the specialized side of your site is somewhat similar to disregarding routine upkeep on your vehicle. Getting your oil changed consistently is certifiably not an inviting recommendation — it's required. 

The initial step to taking control begins with using the full intensity of the Google Search Console. Among its numerous advantages, Search Console enables you to: 

Confirm that Google can get to your pages 

Teach Google which pages to creep/maintain a strategic distance from 

Guarantee the general wellbeing of your site; check for creep mistakes 

Make a point to peruse Google's guide on dealing with your site with Search Console for more data. 

Content Still Matters 

For what reason is content so broadly touted via seek advertisers as a sovereign expert in SEO? I for one trust this is on the grounds that SEO all the more intently looks like substance showcasing as of late. In spite of the fact that this perspective helped ebb the rising tide of low-quality spam content, it's comparably in charge of setting an excess of accentuation on a solitary part of SEO. That sort of exclusive focus isn't useful. 

This 'content most importantly' rationale basically keeps up making the most convincing and instructive bit of substance results in top rankings. The issue with that isn't everybody is prepared to do simply producing a New York Times Best Seller — and Google positively doesn't expect that either. 

OK, so content isn't exactly ruler — yet regardless it makes a difference a lot. You would prefer not to mail it in here on the off chance that you really esteem natural execution. Here are a couple of brilliant principles to remember: 

Substance ought to be composed for clients first 

Profundity matters; shoot for 800-1000 words in your pages 

Try not to waver to interface out to pertinent sources; it may even assistance you get proportional connections 

Keep it versatile neighborly 

Need more assistance in this division? Become familiar with enhancing your substance for SEO the correct way — make it an ordinary propensity. 

End 

Content isn't a fix for the ills of web search tool promoting — it's basically a gear-tooth in the more noteworthy machine, helping turn the wheel. For those of you that can't be viewed as the Larry King of HVAC articles, hear this: You're cleared. There are numerous roads to accomplishment in the domain of SEO. Differentiate your technique and you'll unavoidably discover your direction.

[theconservativebrief]

For as long as television has been around, most American TV shows have obeyed one rule: The show must go on.

This means that no matter what befalls a series — from a contract dispute causing the studio to fire the leading lady from a show named after her, to arguments over pay leading to the Dukes of Hazzard being replaced by their cousins, to countless examples of shows that have had to make cast changes when actors left because they got bored or were fired or even died — that series will continue in some form.

Often, it will become a misbegotten hybrid version of itself. But every so often, a show’s retooling, forced by the network or undertaken by showrunners desperate to make a series work, might lead to something better than what existed before.

Look no further than internet favorite Parks & Recreation for an example of a show that kept tinkering with its formula all the way into its third season, until it attained its final form. Fan favorite characters like Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) and Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) didn’t join the cast until the end of season two, and on their way in, they saw original character Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider) make his way out. And that’s to say nothing of the many tiny tweaks to the show’s premise and characters that its writers made throughout its run.

But occasionally, a TV show falls apart under such spectacular, headline-generating circumstances that its return — under whatever form it takes — is tracked with fervent anticipation, less because anybody hopes it might be good and more because we’re morbidly curious to see what happens.

That curiosity is why the first episode of The Conners — ABC’s Roseanne-less spin on Roseanne — should draw a large audience for its first episode tonight. But if those viewers stick around, it’ll be for one simple reason: The Conners is pretty good.

The Roseanne revival was the biggest show of the spring. ABC

In case you’ve somehow forgotten the particulars of the Roseanne firestorm that took place over three months earlier this year — yes, it took place over just three months, and it took place earlier this year — the basic contours of the story are pretty simple.

ABC decided in 2017 to bring back Roseanne, the hit series that ran from 1988 through 1997 in its original incarnation. The series had always been blunt about what it’s like to live in the United States without a lot of money, and in its best seasons, it was as good as any show had ever been at confronting the ways that oppressive systems conspire to keep people in the lower classes from climbing the economic ladder, and looking at how racism and sexism too often divided those lower classes.

Roseanne Conner — the “fictional” Roseanne — was a riff on Roseanne Barr’s standup comedy, but as the series continued and Barr gained more and more power over her fictional self, she pushed the series in a bolder and brasher direction. It was a progressive series, in the sense that it was tuned in to big-picture issues and more often than not took a left-leaning stand on those issues. But its politics always followed from its characters.

So bringing back Roseanne in 2018 made a certain amount of sense. And it also made a certain amount of sense that Roseanne Conner would be a Donald Trump supporter in 2018. After all, plenty of lower class white people, bristling with racial resentments, voted for Trump in 2016. There was just one problem: Barr herself was a big-time Trump supporter, and her support frequently took the form of alt-right conspiracy mongering.

It didn’t matter. Not really. This new spin on Roseanne debuted to massive numbers (more than 18 million live viewers!) in late March, and Barr’s status as perhaps the most famous Trump supporter in Hollywood ignited a long series of arguments revolving around whether the fictional Roseanne’s similar Trump support, much milder in fashion than the real Roseanne’s Trump support, was an irresponsible gloss meant to cover up Barr’s tweeting of conspiracy theories.

But the ratings were great. The show was, by some metrics, the number one show on TV in the 2017-’18 TV season, and ABC was a network in desperate need of a hit. Despite the presence of much-in-demand actors like Laurie Metcalf, John Goodman, and Sara Gilbert in the ensemble cast, who might have balked at returning for another season but evidently didn’t, Roseanne was renewed for a second season. Everything was going perfectly.

And then Barr tweeted something racist, comparing Valerie Jarrett, a former Obama aide and a black woman, to a monkey. She seemed contrite at first, then offered a variety of excuses — including that Ambien had made her do it and that she didn’t know Jarrett was black — but the damage was done.

After a matter of hours, many people associated with the show had spoken out, Barr was fired, Roseanne was canceled, and network television had seen its most unlikely series end in decades. (It’s worth noting here that ABC president Channing Dungey is a black woman herself.)

Yet over the weeks following the end of Roseanne, those involved in the show kept wistfully saying things along the lines of, “Boy, wouldn’t it be great if there could be some sort of spinoff?” This hinted that talks were already in progress to create just such a spinoff, and eventually, The Conners — about the Conner family sans its matriarch — was born.

It’s a cynical cash-grab, and one that might not even work. How many people were watching Roseanne’s return to see a prominent Trump supporter own the libs? And how many people were watching Roseanne because they liked its title character? However many, ABC has to be hoping there are enough people who were watching Roseanne for something other than its title character to make The Conners a modest hit. And here’s the twist — it deserves to be.

The cast of The Conners — notice anybody missing? ABC

I liked new Roseanne a fair amount, but it eventually stomped all over at least some of its promise, as Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk pointed out in a review of the finale (which ended, somewhat improbably, with the Conners being saved from a massive flood by a Trump-ordered deployment of FEMA). Like the original series, the 2018 iteration of the show still contained moments of stark desperation, of caustic humor directed at the dire financial straits the characters found themselves in. But it never quite worked its way up to calling out the star on her bullshit, either in reality or on the show itself. It always felt like a half-measure of a show, even in its very best installments.

I’m not sure The Conners — of which I’ve seen two episodes — is the full measure, but it’s at least three-quarters of a measure. Without Barr sucking up all of the oxygen in the show (and its marketing), The Conners is better able to realize much of what the new Roseanne was aiming for: to tell stories about how lower-class white Americans find themselves drifting further and further from whatever American dream they thought might be theirs.

Suffice to say, a lot of the show’s success in this regard is linked to how it chooses to write out the character who once gave the series its name. I’m unable to tell you just how Roseanne leaves the franchise, but the choice The Conners makes gives its terrific cast (especially Goodman, Gilbert, Metcalf, and Lecy Goranson) some stellar material to play. And that choice similarly zeroes in on what the show was at least trying to say back in its incarnation as the most recent (and ultimately final) season of Roseanne.

For one thing, The Conners doesn’t try to force political or social issues into episodes with the frequency that Roseanne did in the spring. Yes, those issues are still present, because they inform the tapestry of the Conners’ lives. But the show’s conflicts are often more rooted in just how far behind the family is on its bills, or in a character’s drinking problem, or in a growing divide between ex-spouses, rather than whatever’s in the headlines.

They aren’t timely issues, because they’ve existed as long as humanity has. But by placing them in the context of this family, at this particular point in time, they take on the feeling of timeliness, while allowing The Conners to divorce itself from lots of fights over Trump.

The two episodes I screened also made me laugh quite a bit. None of the jokes are going to be all-timers — okay, maybe one line about Pierce Brosnan will make it into the time capsule (it’s in the second episode that was screened for critics, which looks to be the fourth to air) — but the characters have a warm and funny way about them that the original Roseanne had in spades and the new version too often replaced with mean-spirited insults and the like. While the characters still tease and insult each other incessantly, there’s more warmth to it.

Plus, not having Roseanne around has given The Conners a stronger spine, while also giving much of the supporting cast more to do. Metcalf and Goranson are the chief beneficiaries, both receiving plenty of great moments throughout the two episodes screened, but Roseanne’s absence also allows Goodman and Gilbert to move to the show’s center as a man learning to rethink his entire life and a woman who aimed to leave her past behind but ended up trapped in the life she was trying to escape.

The Conners isn’t afraid to push for big, emotional moments, and its more dramatic sequences are often stronger than the jokes. If you have any affection for these characters, I can’t imagine you won’t be moved by what they go through.

But that gets at the very question now driving this franchise — how much of the success of new Roseanne stemmed from it being a solid, sturdy version of a big, hit show from TV’s past, and how much of it stemmed from the star becoming Hollywood’s stalking horse for an unpopular president that, nevertheless, has a deeply committed fan base?

Did the people who watched Roseanne in 2018 really want a thoughtful show that tackled the social and political issues of the day via beloved TV characters, or did they just want a TV star who was angry, because they, too, felt angry?

The fact that there are plenty of great TV comedies tackling social and political issues without nearly the viewership of Roseanne doesn’t bode especially well for the former option. But for the sake of The Conners earning the chance to further sharpen its voice, I hope it’s the latter.

The Conners debuts tonight on ABC at 8 pm Eastern.

Original Source -> How the Roseanne revival evolved into The Conners — and became a better show in the process

via The Conservative Brief

[sittschowrites]

Writing Schedule — October 2018

First off all, as previously stated on Twitter, I will be trying out quarterly schedule updates from here on out. Maybe I'll finally manage to hit a "deadline" or two that way...

Now, with the release of the next RWBY volume around the corner, the main focus for the next couple of months is pretty straight forward: RWBYNov.

The plan is to push an update for the main story in time with every new release of an episode, starting with the revisions for the second and third part followed by the "brand-new" fourth part (which is only about two years late...).

Beyond that, I plan on reviving what was supposed to be last year's Christmas special for this year's holiday season, which was a series of short stories introducing a Fairy Tail AU focused on Erza and Mira (who, in my opinion, should have been the main characters of that show).

And by Christmas special I mean something to be released over the holidays, not something with a Christmas theme. (Transposing holidays, especially religious ones, into universes where they have no place existing is somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. It should never be done...)

Additionally, I have picked up and worked on several new-ish obsessions since the last update, which may or may not reach the showcase stage as side projects:

Touhou (Kaguya/Mokou, romantic)

Not actually a new obsession by any means but one I've finally made some progress on. I have outlines for an introductory story establishing the core relationship as well as several of the games' plot lines altered to include Kaguya, Mokou, or both.

I do love those two girls and their rather intense love-hate relationship, but for some reason that I don't quite understand, there is a drought of stories about them out there (at least in the English-speaking world) even though they feel like they should be the premiere pairing as far as Touhou is concerned.

Supergirl (Kara/Lena, romantic)

What an absolute train wreck of a show. Seriously, I haven't even made it through the first season yet and that is supposed to be the "good" one while everything beyond seems to be universally hated (Mon-el, apparently, is a bigger douche than Sun, which is hard to believe), and aside from a few clips, I haven't actually seen Lena on screen yet, but from what I have seen, Kara and Lena stand somewhere halfway in between Regina and Emma, and Korra and Asami, both of which happen to be among my favorite pairings.

I just couldn't help sketching out a few story lines for them while skimming over what other people have written, and it feels like one of those shows that really needs its story and how it treats its characters "fixed." (And I want to turn Lena into Tony Stark, high-tech combat suit and all...)

Also, it does go hand in hand with the next point on the list:

Teen Titans (Raven/Jinx, romantic; Raven/Terra, platonic)

I'm not a comic book person by any means---in fact, I quite dislike superhero stories in general---but Teen Titans just hit a nerve with young me and stuck with me over the years. More specifically, Raven is easily one of my favorite characters of all time, and I have been planning on working with her almost for as long as I've been writing stories...

Not being a comic book person, I do lack a lot of background about the convoluted universe created by DC, and fans will probably complain a lot about my rendition, but I do have several story arcs loosely based on the show plotted out, starting with the dawn of the Titans and going all the way past Raven turning proper demon lord. While the earlier parts would be more focused on being ensemble pieces (especially the first arc), the main focus, eventually, would be Raven's friendship with Terra and romance with Jinx.

I also like the possibilities for crossovers between Supergirl and Teen Titans as they both are technically set in the same universe. (Or parallel universes, which is a distinction easily enough to ignore.)

My Little Pony/Equestria Girls (Sunset/Sci-Twi, romantic)

In case anybody has been wondering why I haven't released much of late (not that anybody would), it might have to do with me "wasting" my time reading pretty much every Sunset/Twilight story ever written and plotting out a whole bibliography of stories spanning both the human and the pony universe.

Sunset is just too awesome a character not to love and she doesn't really get enough of the main character treatment in the actual show. There's always a Twilight around to upstage her even in her own universe and her stories always seem to play out the same way: Sunset looses friends for arbitrary reasons, Sunset mopes around about not having friends, Sunset learns a lesson about friendship, Sunset regains friends.

It's very repetitive, boring, and it doesn't do her character justice, which is why I have outlines for all the Equestria Girls stories as well as several of the major Friendship is Magic arcs revamped (and moved about on the timeline) around Sunset taking a starring role that doesn't just revolve around "making friends" but around her actually doing something.

On the romantic side I used to be a bit torn. I was perfectly happy pairing Sunset with Princess Twilight and I tend to stick with my first choice no matter what other characters come along, but human Twilight is just a better fit overall. With Princess Twilight, Sunset is the mentee, with human Twilight, she's the mentor in the relationship, which is a role that just feels more appropriate. (And they are kind of the same person anyway...)

Also, alicorn Sunset (eventually) with blood ties to Celestia. I mean, how could I not. Her backstory just becomes so much more interesting to play with if she is Celestia's daughter rather than some random, albeit gifted, personal student, and she bloody well deserves those wings for all the crap she had to go through.

I'm also quite fond of Rayla and Claudia from The Dragon Prince, but there just isn't enough material of that show or those characters around yet to actually work with. Maybe in a season or two. Besides, I'm pretty sure I've already put more on my plate than I can handle...

[benchgenderstudies]

#making new friends.

Hi Ariel,

 Hope your new year went well. Lately I've been catching up with the Modern family series up to season 4 so far.  When I was checking out news about the actors a few of the newest headlines about you attending UCLA came up and interviews and such. You've done a great job which is kind of a unique thing to be chatting with a 19-20 year old I know only of as a 14-15yo. The Hollywood Reporter interview contained some things I found unique and I've had the experience of commenting into hollywood about certain stars. The one that comes to mind is the original Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd.  Personally I feel he has an identity difficulty in credit only as a child star that hollywood might not let him breakout of in another role, his own role.. matured, for his own sake. Lloyds run in with the laws and high speed chases cause me concern that deep down inside he might crave the identity given to another actor for the other two prequels.  

 How this relates to you is the matter of the politics of typecasting and how it affected you. Its great you want to help abused and emotionally strained kids, it is. Its my purpose to contact you as a successful whole and intelligent person willing to get closure on her biological childhood. One day you might choose to start your own family. Its my suggestion that at this time you don't have to be a charity case with your time to specialize in changing what already happened for childhood offset. Maybe in twenty years you'll feel that the character Alex is more a mockery of how good a student you were or weren't (under circumstances) trying to reason a sense of norm with your kids.

The red carpet will probably always invite you. What hype is made of it by paparazzi is for hyping sex trophies and not females.

 I see a similarity between your 'unveiling' the early twenties Ariel and the way Hannah Montana's star felt obliged to twist their image almost to a bipolar limit with new cleavage decisions and probably unlicensed candid video of twerking. So there's that and then there's your comments that you didn't really want to network in college. It was all about learning and being coldly bolted to books. Its my concern you envy the Alex character and even she wanted to have her "Raven" friends and perhabs be the center of her social circle. Apparently the interview said you were taught to distrust girls and see them as enemies and competition; I'm saying the unhealthy pushing people away might still be a factor. If your mom made you the jealous obsession of her dreams fulfilled, of course she'd treat your age peers like distractions and 'problems'.

 The most important thing I felt to effort was to feel healthy about what career you go into and take a path that revives a sense of normalcy. Generations of women have taken to being caregivers and nurturers. It can burn people out. Maybe for now the caring for damaged kids isn't best for you; remaining the canary in the coalmine lobby. What you feel must be an outlet of the matter will naturally be (at least one of your) microphones. As there are other people like your mom and worse, you don't have to spend your time being her/their janitors. There's going to be a graduation from your child star. People don't like facing their own age and they take it out on celebrities; as if you really offered a shoulder to complain to. Its infact many of your haters that need a counselor to really find out who they are and why they're such knobs.

 Some might think taunting your nerd character might somehow be attacking that archetype in society to make girls "easier" at that age. Plenty of celeb porn is up there pasting child stars faces on adult stars bodies. I'm not sure how that’s different from making Hyland , a 20 year old, play an underage teen. If guys pick up on her being 'legal' then it somewhat drafts your character into being sexualized with arbitrary age perceptions. My background is gender anthropology and exercise sciences.  A very juvenile 42 years old btw. Maybe you have a few critical concerns of the industry as well that might make you a powerful policy maker and addressing washington DC.

 Best of luck in studies and your college experience. Friends come in good and bad packages. Some girls really are assholes. Maybe you are a child star but you don't necessarily know everything about what college should be for you. Make as many new roads as you want. Frustration will shake everyone eventually. It won't just be your early childhood stresses and trauma. The worst case scenario is one of your parents die during your degree program and then it'll well up a bunch of old things you didn't need to deal with. The brand new car (closure process) that drives off screen,.. into the future….  *crash, and springs and gears bounce back into the scene. There's a physiological reaction to all that but dwelling on it ultimately resolves to wasting time developing your future.

    Tabloids are owed nothing to prove yourself to. Sheesh, a bunch of legal voyeurs who procrastinate chasing life for themselves. Who owns these tabloids? Brazen articles slamming celebs are pretty much their cry for help until some good chap like Alec Baldwin runs them over with car. #OnTheRoadToDecency. In closing.. Lots of people believe there's a lot of carpe diem available to you. That’s probably true. A bit more on street smots is necessary to not be the 'carp' in media pool of cheap attention and owning your day. Closing the spigot a bit on hollywood medias use of your time is okay and healthy. Ever more is learning to manage making life be on your terms and the people in it. How do you feel about an antitabloid biz that digs up the columnists dirt? A student club that brings paparrazi's smug character out from behind the camera to face what the public thinks of their trash talking. #Suggestions. Something to keep you busy and fellow students motivated for good reasons.

 My hellos to the cast and crew of Modern Family, It’s a great show..

 Kind regards,

Michael Bench, MEP, GCERT

Mikki

[uniofbathscifi]

Anime Review: Erased

[Review submitted by http://hawk-in-a-jazzy-hat.tumblr.com/]

Originally posted on 25/03/2016

This review is a personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the committee or the society in general.

Satoru Fujinuma really wants to write manga, but his attempts keep getting rejected due to not having enough of his own heart in them. Unable to find the inspiration, Satoru finds himself working a part-time pizza delivery job, but he has other things on his mind as well. Namely, the fact that he keeps undergoing “Revival”; being sent back a few minutes into the past in order to prevent an imminent disaster. However his life suddenly takes a turn for the worse, and he finds himself being revived way, way into the past; back into his elementary school days. Reuniting with his old school friends, he figures he has a chance to prevent a disaster from his childhood; a disaster which, if averted, may just change his life forever…

Adaptations are tricky beasts. No matter what you do, you’re always going to get people going “but the original was better because it did it first”. Incidentally, I stand by my belief that all work stands on its own feet, adaptation or not, and if something is a unique story in its own medium then it deserves to be looked at as such. Some film adaptations are better than their books, some books are better than their films; there’s no one rule as to what makes something “better”. But that’s a rant for another time. What I will talk about is the nature of adapting a manga into an anime, and what that entails.

See, the Erased manga is an 8 volume series standing at 44 chapters, which finished this year. It was adapted into a 12 episode series to be released during a single season (a season of anime lasts for about a quarter of the year). This immediately causes discrepancies with timing, pacing, where to split the chapters; film is a very different medium to comic, since some pages only take a few seconds (action scenes), while others will take several minutes (character discussions). Also bearing in mind that you might need to add or take away things, and you can probably see why adaptation is so difficult. Luckily the Erased manga was due to finish at the time when the series was airing, so at the very least the series ending is actually the “true” ending. (Again, another rant about the stigma of anime-only endings another time)

So given all that, what, you’re probably asking, do I think of Erased? Honestly, it’s great. It’s got a really unique concept and the first episode is incredible, setting up a dark, mystery thriller. The next few episodes add even more layers, taking place in the past and adding several beautiful character moments.

Easily the highlight of this series is the arc revolving around the main schoolgirl character, Kayo Hinazuki. Her relationship with Satoru takes up most of the series and it is beautifully done. For one thing, the kids in this series actually act like kids. It may not sound much, but trust me, it’s so rare to find great, believable child characters in any piece of fiction. None of the child cast come off as annoying or bland or grating, not even the catty ones. The segments in the past really felt like a nostalgia trip, and props to everyone involved in writing and acting that. I also want to give a shout-out to Satoru’s mother, who may be hands down the best mother I’ve seen in anime period.

Another plus is the presentation by A-1 Pictures; every frame of this looks utterly beautiful. Characters are always on model, the designs actually look semi-realistic without looking ugly, and the facial animation is leagues above what I’d expect for anime. The direction’s really solid as well, with clever composition and editing creating some beautiful and tense moments, and even sometimes saving the scenes which are, let’s say, not quite as well written.

Now, this series follows the basic story of the manga, but a lot had to be cut out. But herein lies the real problem with this series, and why I was harping on about adaptation earlier; in order to make a good adaptation, you need to mould the whole series to your new medium. If something needs to be taken away, then you need to actually write it out completely. Conversely, if you need to fill time and add something in, make sure it completely fills the gap. (Which can be done well; this is one reason why I actually for the most part like the Hobbit movies). Erased has a lot of story, and has a lot of plot threads and characters to get that story across, but the thing is, the anime is not given enough time to explore them. Hence while it does wrap up the main plot, technically, there are a load of extra characters and sub-plots that are either completely rushed or just don’t go anywhere.

They’re not bad characters, they really aren’t, but they just feel so superfluous. It really feels like this should have been a 24 episode series. In fact, I was convinced it was going to be until the last three episodes, which are probably the worst of the series in terms of pacing. And again, they’re not bad episodes; they’re tense, they’re emotionally driven, they focus on the right things and the ending itself is satisfying. But as well as they did manage to fit in all this stuff they could have done so much more if they’d just taken out some of the fluff. The present day stuff and pretty much all the characters there, and maybe a few of the other schoolkids could all have been cut, and we could have spent some more time developing others, particularly Kenya and Yuuki who in the end were both desperately lacking despite both being interesting.

Having now watched this for a second time, I can pinpoint the series’ flaws down to another issue, again probably due to the adaptation; from the beginning, Erased sells itself as a mystery and a thriller. The direction, the concept; everything lends itself to high-concept tension. But the thing is, when you really get down to the story…it’s not a mystery. It’s a drama, and it’s a character study, and when the show actually focuses on that, it’s really fantastically good. But that just makes the deficiencies stand out even more when it tries to push the mystery angle at you, which may be somewhat realistic but in many ways completely kills the tension. I feel the series could have saved itself if the big ‘reveal’ as it were had been at the halfway point, rather than close to the end. Erased is a far more engaging story when it’s dealing with the ‘how’ rather than the ‘who’, and given the final confrontation of the series, I’m convinced that’s what the story was trying to do; it’s certainly more akin to a clash of ideals than a big Phoenix Wright ‘blowing open the case’ story, which in this context just falls flat.

That’s the saddest thing about this series for me; I want to love it so badly. It has so many wonderful things going for it; great animation, wonderful characters, a thrilling mystery and beautiful emotional beats, all the way through. But if you’re going to tell this story you need to tell it properly, and the adaptation here was overall just so sloppy. Either double the series length, or if that’s really not possible, then cut out bits and shorten the story. Yes it’s difficult, and it’s sad to lose great stuff, but it’s even sadder to be shown great stuff and then never actually having anything done with it. Let me put it this way; I’d much rather be able to build a small Lego set than get sporadic glimpses at a huge one.

With all that said and done, this is still a great series. It definitely rises above my recommendation line (between 6 and 7) and has an awful lot to love, particularly in the first half. With all that said though, despite nearly everything else being near perfect I can’t call this a true classic. It clearly wants to be, and I seriously wanted it to be, but that’s the nature of adaptation. You can have the greatest story in the world, but if you don’t tell it right, then you are losing so much more than you realise.

My score: 7/10