#spoiler week is upon us oh boy

[cottonlemonade]

Night Routine

request: large Warm Milk with Honey to go for Tendou || fluffy-spicy night routine with boyfriend Tendou

warnings: spoilers, mdni, suggestive

One of the things you loved the most about your boyfriend was that he was never stingy with showing affection. As soon as you opened the door, Tendou was upon you with hugs and kisses, commenting on how gorgeous you looked - even if you only wore sweats and a shirt that had seen better days.

Coming straight from work, he always brought you something. You were the first (and quite frankly only) opinion he wanted whenever experimenting with something new and who were you to turn down handmade chocolate! So it wasn’t unusual for him to feed you something before you two got started on dinner. Having you sit on the kitchen counter, he would stand between your legs and make you close your eyes to get the full experience of the flavor. As the chocolate melted on your tongue, you’d feel his hands run up your plush thighs and give them a few sensuous squeezes, making you giggle.

“What do you think?”, he’d ask.

“Hm…”, you pondered, locking your hands behind his neck, “I love the twist of lemon you added.”

And your boyfriend’s face would light up that you caught his newest ingredient. He would kiss you, humming at how the chocolate added to your own sweet taste and then lift you off the counter so you could go on with dinner preparations.

When it was time to do the dishes, Tendou supplied a fresh playlist every week. You’d rock paper scissors to find out who would wash and who would do the drying and putting away and then begin the chore while dancing to his latest song choices. It always ended with you two loudly singing along to whatever was playing, let that be a disney song, an anime opening or like tonight Britney Spears “One More Time”.

“Oh baby baby, the reason I breathe is you”, he sang into your ear, his hands beginning a rather inappropriate journey over your hips down to your ass as you tried to focus on the sponge in your hand.

“Oh you got me blinded, oh pretty baby” and he ran his lips along your neck as he continued, “there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do” - and as quickly as his teasing began, it would stop. Next thing you knew he used the wooden cooking spoon as a microphone, holding it out to you whenever an adlib came up.

These silly games made the chore go by much faster and had you double over with laughter at his ridiculous performances, that got more over the top the longer the dish washing went on (to keep up morale).

When everything was tidied again, he’d put his arms around your waist and grin mischievously, “So, my delicious little praline. You wanna continue where we left off with our anime or…”, he put a finger under your chin, pulling you closer and said with a wink, “go straight to bed for some forbidden delights?”

a/n: ahhhh, the birthday boy! He is so silly and perfect ^^ I hope you enjoyed it 🫶🏻🌟 @ranscutedoll

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Morning surprises [S. R.]

wc: 1.1k

warnings: mentions of depression (Reid) and season 10 spoilers, and I think this is like gn(? I'm not good at writing it, but I think this time no genre is mentioned, haha

Hey! A while ago I looked at this drawing and asked @lilliesthings for permission to write something related to it. I hope you like it and please give yourself a chance to look at their art, they are great!

When you entered the bullpen it was apparently empty, as expected given the early hour.  You were feeling particularly energetic that morning because of the walk you had taken and the shower after that, coupled with the coffee you had in your hand, was the perfect combination to wake you up completely.

You had decided on a light outfit for that day, just a white formal shirt and beige pants, and you were about to settle down at your desk when a strange lump caught your attention.  It was a person crouching under a desk and upon recognizing the mismatched pair of socks on the man’s feet you fell to your knees without thinking.

“Reid?”  you asked worriedly, while one of your hands went towards his torso to pat him and the other looked for the pulse line on his neck.

You noticed that he was wearing the same clothes as the day before and the mere idea that he had passed out in the night and no one had noticed made you feel nauseous, but your fear dissipated when he opened his eyes and looked around in bewilderment.

“Huh, hello…” he greeted you, squinting as if he was getting used to the sudden lighting.

“Jesus Christ, Spencer, are you okay?  What happened?”

“I fell asleep,” he murmured with all the naturalness in the world.

You leaned closer to him to help him sit up, holding his back with one of your hands while he rubbed his eye with his fist and let out a yawn.

“That’s obvious,” you half laughed. “But why didn’t you come home?”

Spencer was silent, not knowing what to answer.  You already knew the answer, but you didn’t want to make it so obvious.  It was obvious that he was affected by the recent discovery of the death of Agent Gideon, whom you had never met, but from Derek’s mouth you knew that he had been an important pillar in your friend’s life.  You saw him walking through the hallways with his shoulders hunched and his gaze lost, as if he were the ghost.  And you had to admit that after so many years living with him it was difficult to ignore his obvious suffering.

The man’s golden hair was disheveled and without thinking you reached out a little to comb it lovingly, which made him smile.  You were only a couple of years older than Spencer but that hadn’t stopped the boy from developing certain feelings for you.

Maybe not as a crush, but as… Admiration?  A deep affection?  Maybe a feeling of security with you?

Part of him was grateful that you had found him and he didn’t even know when he had curled up to fall asleep.  Even if the hardness of the floor had hurt his body, it was the first time in a week that he slept properly.

“I don’t know, I think I was just late for the subway,” he justified, shrugging his shoulders.

You readjusted yourself from your kneeling position to sit on the floor next to him, smiling kindly and nodding at his response, although you weren’t entirely convinced.

“When that happens you can tell me, you know?”

“I know”

“Well it doesn’t look like it,” you said playfully, while patting his clothed leg.

“What are you doing here so early, anyway?”  he asked to avoid the topic, since he had already looked at the clock on the wall to check that it wasn’t check-in time yet.

“Oh, I wanted to feel productive this morning and went for a walk.”

“That’s great, did you know that starting the day with a walk, at least 20 minutes, fills the body with energy for the entire day?  This effect is proven by studies, which say that by walking outdoors we experience more vitality and energy than those people who walk indoors.  Plus it allows you to burn calories.”

“You could join me for a day if you want,” you offered gently.

You knew what it was like to deal with depression, and you knew that although in that situation your body is screaming at you that you can’t lift a finger, you also knew that it was good to have a friend to help you clear your mind from time to time.

“Sports activities and I don’t get along very well, so to speak”

“We can just go for a walk.  Without sporting intention, just appreciate the panorama. And then come here.

You just said it, so we will have energy for the day.”

There was an illusion in your eyes that he didn’t want to ruin, but he knew that lately he couldn’t trust his own mood.

“I will think about it”

“Think about it very carefully, I don’t want to come and find you here anymore” you murmured and he smiled with sealed lips “I’m serious, Spencer.

If you need something, anything, just tell me, okay?”

He knew it, but he enjoyed hearing you say you supported him that way.  And he wanted to be good enough for you.

“Right now I might need help standing up,” he joked, as the bags under his eyes lifted into a smile.  You stood up in one motion, then extended your hand to him to help him imitate you “I must look terrible, right?”

“A little,” you smiled, refusing to lie to him just to make him feel better, and despite that you added, “But you still look handsome.”

Your friend blushed softly and you saw him look away, as if that would get rid of your compliments that he thought were benevolent but were sincere.  One of your hands traveled to adjust his tie and the other shook off some dirt that was on his shoulder.

“Can I hug you?”  he asked suddenly.

The question surprised you but you knew that you would never deny him that, so you just smiled and extended your arms to surround his waist.

You felt the man sigh at your touch and return it with more force, making you suspect that he really needed that hug.  Maybe that was the way you could help him deal with his pain, simply holding him lovingly when he needed it and letting him go when he didn’t.

“Do you know he will cheer you up?” you murmured happily, separating yourself to look at him “A coffee.”

“One of the few things that keeps me sane in life,” he sighed and you laughed.

Spencer thought about adding that you were another one of those things, but he preferred to remain silent.

Without asking him anything, you lowered your hand to hold his and pulled him in the direction of the small kitchen, hoping that the drink would be enough to warm his heart, not knowing that your gentle grip was already accomplishing that task.

taglist: @navs-bhat @reidwritings @tricia-shifting14 @spencerslove @instabull @rhiannonhippiegirl @r-3dlips @missabsey @Olivia’s-25

[papabigtoes]

How are you feeling about knubbs

I thought he was FANTASTIC in this movie (you gave me an excuse to draw him from it) !

(very in depth response below)

I love his character and how he acts. The facials of him sassily kicking the breakfast table killed me in a watchparty I had with my friends

And yes, all three of us went “NOOOOO!” when he was engulfed by the explosions.

I will say, as much as I tried to avoid spoilers, his death was spoiled for me in my inbox once the leaks circled around last week. It wasn’t it being spoiled that made me groan - it was the fact they were typed as if the annoying orange grew fingers and wanted to be EXTRA quirky. I am embarassed for the anon because all it made me feel was the same way I feel when I stumble upon a millenial making videos with their dog where they speak in this pseudo-european accent all squeaky. If you ever wanna make me clench my toes in disgust, just send me clips of dogs with bad forced accents all chipmunked. that one audio that goes “IF MONDAYE WAS A VEGGIETABLE, IT WOULD BE A ZZUCHEYENEYE, BECAUSE ITS ZUCHS!” oughhh i will be white knuckling my phone like murderface on twitter when he shits bro

THEN, I saw people on instagram and one had Dick’s face as it was melting from Nathan’s trip. When I saw that image before the movie, I believed either A.) When MF got exorcised Salacia jumped into the closest body and because he wasn’t a demi-god, his body began to legit melt, OR B.) it tied into the fact Crozier hired Knubbler to get info on the band since S1E2. And he was revealing that he wasn’t actually as good-intentioned as the band thought.

The fact he continued to be a wholesome wine aunt and hippie stoner uncle hyrbid to the boys, AND THE FACT CROZIER HAD AN ARC (in my au I have him be like a grumpy grandpa to the boys, and a dad figure to MF so the fuel this film gave me for fan art? BOUNTIFUL) god it was truly a feast

I think I would be more sad if they decided to have the route be that Knubbler was terrified to die. If he was pounding on that shield in a panic, oh that would hurt! He looked so accepting of it, looking at the band with confidence that they’d indeed save the world, was a pretty damn awesome way to go. He went out like a true gear - he feared not his mortality.

I will say, his passing wont cause me to cease drawin’ him and William! I’ll draw him like he died but he got better so he’s ok.

have a lot of dickface stuff I want to include into my fan piece au, and he’ll still be a favorite to draw when it comes to it. Lmk if you want me to draw any knubbler angst with mf and whatnot, because I’ll probably continue with my favorite route with drawing him - the Cheese Route™️.

What do you feel about it, anon? You don’t have to answer back, but I do enjoy Talkin’ Klok and would love to hear your thoughts too!

[soupandsimple]

this video is very much not at all like what I wrote but it was used as the inspo for James and daughter 😌

* James’s reaction to his 3 year old daughter telling him she has a boyfriend (SPOILER ALERT; it’s just a boy who’s her friend)

* see request here

………………

Your daughter started daycare at the beginning of this week. Coincidentally also this week, James had been coming home late from work meaning he missed seeing and talking to her before she got into bed (besides the quick goodnight kiss he did always manage to make it in time for with a little slip into her bedroom just as you’d finish tucking her in). But since today was Friday, you let her stay up a little later to see and be with him for awhile.

It’s a little before eight when he gets home and the smile on his face when he sees his little girl is still up and about is a special one. After greeting you both, you let him get changed then serve him his dinner plate and set out a bowl of raspberries for your daughter to snack on to keep James company at the table.

“M’daddy guess what,” your daughter speaks as you help her climb up on the cushiony booster seat in her chair.

“What doll?” James replies promptly, hungrily gathering some food on his fork.

“I have a boyfend.”

The forkful of food is just centimeters away from James’s open mouth but all his movements freeze in that second.

Arching your brows, you smile to yourself as you go to the kitchen area to put away some dishes that had been sitting in the drying rack.

“Excuse me? Can you repeat that?” James urges, voice full of hope that he had heard wrong.

“I have a boyfend!” your daughter repeats happily, popping a berry into her little mouth.

“Oh n-n-n-no,” James says, setting down his fork with a forced chuckle of disbelief, “you are three years old, you cannot have a boyfriend at three years old.”

“Uh-huh I do, hims names Matthew!”

“Matthew?”

“Yes! He’s pwetty!” she claims with a big ol’ smile.

“Hey, hey, hey missy, this isn’t girl talk hour. I don’t care how pretty this Matthew kid is, you are not supposed to have a boyfriend!”

“Him hold my hand” she adds, blissfully ignoring everything James had just said. “And him gives me grapes and him sits by me on the listening carpet.”

“Oh no baby, no” he mumbles as he hits his hands against his face, shaking his head. “C’mon, that’s bare minimum!” he says, sliding his hands back off his face. “And he didn’t even give it time, it’s been what? One week? Don’t tell me he became your boyfriend on the first day of class?!”

Very much not interested in the conversation anymore, your daughter nonchalantly nods as she munches down on another berry and intriguingly observes how the juice from it spills to her hands.

“Wha- are you hearing this?” James astonishingly asks you, whipping his head over in your direction.

“Yes I’m listening. Are you?” you tease as you continue putting away dishes.

Now, the reason you weren’t reacting to your daughter’s claims was because earlier that week at one of the pickups, your daughter had joyfully ran up to you at the door upon arrival and announced to you that she had a boyfriend! After telling you all about the hand holding, fruit sharing and carpet sitting with Matthew, the daycare teacher monitoring the pickups cleared it all up for you.

For starters, the hand holding was only allowed when they walked from building A to building C for gym class and since your daughter and Matthew were next to each other alphabetically on the class sheet, they were paired together for that. Same went for the listening carpet where they were sat in an alphabetical order seating chart. As for the fruit sharing, it was something this Mathew kid did with any and all of his classmates apparently.

So did your daughter have a boy friend ? Yes.

A boyfriend ? No.

The fact that James automatically heard the term boy-friend and paired it with the amorous meaning was no one’s fault but his own. You’d explain it all to him later of course but for now, it was fun seeing him helpless while your daughter remained oblivious and frankly unbothered as to why her dad was freaking out over her having a boy as a friend. <3

[twstgarden]

❁ ❝ 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 ❞

━ second years + leona kingscholar + malleus draconia and second year! royal! gn! reader ━ being royalty sounds great until you have a sheltered upbringing due to your parents' constant worry over someone potentially harming you - the heir to the throne. so it was no wonder you never experienced things a normal person does, such as hanging out with friends and having dinner or visiting tourist spots in the country. upon revealing this information, your fellow second years and two of the other royal students of this campus decided to take a one-week trip to explore much of sage's island and give you a short taste of freedom. (f/n means first name)

requested by: @king-zi request type: oneshot requester's message: ◡̈⋆ʜᴇʟʟᴏ(●’◡’●)ﾉ it's me again, lol.. I heard requests were open again, I just finished reading the newest malleusxreader fic and I really enjoyed it(your writing makes me weak, in a good way), anyway here's the request: Could you do a platonic oneshot with the second years + Leona and Malleus (why?idk) where the reader is royalty and has never experienced going outside as they've been shielded away from prying eyes and the outside, and now that reader's in their second year, the second years and co decide to teach reader how to have fun and take a trip, maybe around sage island or maybe one of the boys hometowns to experience freedom? Apologies if this is confusing, anyway have a great evening/day/night florist's note: hii again! i love writing these types of fics where the reader just spends time w a group of students ahaha, thank you for the request!

this work does not contain spoilers for chapter 7, diasomnia's arc, but there will be mentions of the current twst jp event, stage in playful land: the dancing puppet and the fabled amusement park.

do not steal or translate without my permission.

"i've... never been to an amusement park..."

silence suddenly filled the room as your fellow second-years stared at you for a moment. the silence was then cut short by azul as he let out a sigh, "oh my, it seems the royal highness of our batch never went out of their castle."

you and the other second years have been conversing for a while about things they could do for the weekend and the upcoming break, and when it came to the point that it was your turn to speak, you barely had anything to share and told them the truth.

"i was raised in an overprotective household, so i was sheltered all my life. forgive me for not hearing of this... so-called 'playful land amusement park'."

"it's a 'mysterious' amusement park that shows up only once a year," spoke riddle. you nodded your head a little in understanding before humming in response, "hmm... well, if that's the case, the chances will be low for us to see it this weekend..."

kalim then gasped as he beamed at you, "oh, i know! why don't we tour around sage's island?! there's a lot of things to see here, f/n!" azul seemed to find this idea appealing as he nodded and verbalised his agreement, "yes, that's a great idea. this trip will also allow me to see new business opportunities and possible expansion for mostro lounge."

riddle sighed at azul's words, "you never change, huh... but kalim has a point. it would do good for us to explore..." you smiled a little at riddle, "you also will have a benefit from this trip, riddle."

"how long will the trip be?" asked jamil.

"one week!" exclaimed kalim.

jamil was about to respond until jade smiled and said, "one week sounds good. it just so happens that our break is approaching soon. shall we start planning the itinerary?" floyd seemed excited at the thought of exploring sage's island as he placed his arm on his brother's shoulder, "this is so exciting~ hehehehe~!"

"oh, is it alright if i invite two other people?" you asked as you tilted your head slightly in curiosity. ruggie seemed to have the idea on who you were thinking of, making him laugh, "shishishishi~ of course, you can!"

you then glanced at silver, hoping to hear an input from him, only to see him asleep while seated.

the day of the trip came and you were staring at your bag - which was empty aside from your wallet. "is this really all i could bring...?" you mumbled to yourself until you heard a knock on your door, snapping you out of your thoughts.

you opened the door, only to be greeted by the savanaclaw dorm leader standing with his arms crossed, "hey, we're about to leave."

"hang on, i still need to see what else i have to bring."

leona raised a brow in response before looking at your bag filled with only your wallet, "that's already enough, your highness." you could hear the sarcasm in his voice as he addressed you that way, making you sigh as you shrugged and grabbed your bag.

"okay, if you say so."

upon arrival to the gates of night raven college, you saw malleus standing with silver and the rest of the second years, making you smile as he finally received the invitation you extended to him. however, leona did not look pleased at all.

"the lizard's coming with us?"

malleus heard leona's remark and turned to face him, "it seems the big cat is joining us..."

"one trip. that's all i ask," you retorted before they could start their cat fight once more. jade then approached you and showed you the itinerary, "your majesty, we're starting off with the famous patisserie located at the foot of this mountain, then we'll head to the ports next."

your eyes stayed on the itinerary that jade was showing you before grabbing it and reading its contents, "hmm... a week's worth of exploration. this is great..." you then handed back the itinerary, "also, you don't have to address me that way. we're schoolmates, right?"

and with that, the day began. you and the rest of the second years started visiting the patisserie at the foot of the mountain to get something to eat.

you stood beside malleus as you both eyed the menu with great concentration.

"there's so much to serve... they start off with black coffee, then a frappe, a mocha, and 5 more drinks before they move on to the pastries?" you questioned, thinking that the patisserie will be serving the entire menu just like how most 5-star restaurants do.

malleus glanced at you, thinking the same way but at the same time, he had his doubts. ruggie was on the other side and he could hear everything you were saying, "ah, is that what happens when you're a closeted rich person? shishishi, n/n, you get to pick only what you want to get."

"really?"

"yes."

your eyes scanned the menu again before looking up at malleus, "what will you get? there's so many choices." the diasomnia dorm leader hummed as his eyes continued scanning the menu, "we can always get more than one..."

you nodded, "yes, you're right. then i'll have this..." you pointed at a drink and several pastries, making ruggie glance at you since he was only holding one muffin. you noticed his glances and smiled, "do you want anything, ruggie? i'll add it into my tab."

ruggie's eyes lit up as soon as you offered to pay it for him, making him point at the pastries he had been thinking of getting. leona, meanwhile, merely bought a single coffee and drank it with no other words.

your group ended up coming out of the patisserie satisfied. aside from what you ordered for yourself, you added a slice of cake for each person in the group to make sure they all had their fill.

"the cake you bought was so tasty!" exclaimed kalim as he beamed at you, while jamil gave you a small smile. "it was very generous of you, your highness. thank you."

"since you bought something for me, allow me to return the gratitude," spoke azul as he gave you a polite smile, but you knew all too well that he wanted to stay on your good side. well, not like it bothered you. "this trip is more than worth it. your presence alone brings me great joy knowing i am not alone in this journey," you spoke a tad bit formally.

"ah, you flatter me," spoke azul. floyd, on the other hand, had nothing to fear as he slumped his arm over your shoulders and spoke in a merry tone, "*chaetodon-sama is so generous~!"

you smiled at them and thanked them for their kind words before heading to the ports. your eyes scanned the area, seeing the fishermen and sailors preparing their boats to start their journey to the sea, while their families waved at them and wished them a good luck.

leona was standing beside you as he noticed you have been staring at the locals doing their own thing, "there's a lot to see in sage's island." his voice made you snap out of your thoughts as you glanced at him before looking back at them, your eyes staying on the woman nearby as she waved at her husband with a sweet smile.

"...it's definitely something that people of our status don't see much," you spoke softly, "being locked up in that castle has made me ignorant on the ways of the common folk..." leona stayed silent for a moment before he patted your head, and you can tell he was a little hesitant to do so, but you appreciated the gesture.

you looked up at him and smiled a little before looking back at the locals, "...i'd like to do this again when i'm back to my kingdom, to see what my people do on the daily..." leona hummed softly in response, "i'm sure you'll do well with it."

you merely hummed in response before looking back at your other schoolmates, seeing them speak to the sailors or talk amongst themselves, laughing and bickering playfully. it all brought a small smile on your face.

'a short taste of freedom with the people who made me feel what home was...'

*chaetodon - taken from chaetodon nippon, which is a japanese butterfly fish.

© twstgarden 2023 || please do not steal, translate without my permission, or use this to train a.i.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Now a Part Two of more info on "The Monkey King and the Infant" au:

link to part one

There's A LOT of crying and emotions between characters in this fic. Like full on "imma destroy this wall real quick" tantrums from Sun Wukong *and* Macaque. They're both deeply hurt and very bad at communicating.

Macaque's death in JTTW is canon. He had not set upon Tripitaka on his own accord - he had been ordered. He doesnt remember who gave the order though - must have drank some soup in Diyu.

Macaque believes that Lady Bone Demon only resurrected him to let her out. But she also secretly needs MK for something. Macaque prays that they never cross paths. Spoilers: they do.

Before Tang and Pigsy realised who the two monkeys actually were; they managed to get them jobs in their own workplaces. Macaque assists Tang at the University library where he works as an archivist. Sun Wukong on the other hand is the pretty host/delivery boy that charms tips out of all of Pigsy's customers. Even after the reveal, the two monkeys enjoy their day jobs.

Pigsy doesnt trust Sun Wukong to run the kitchen on his own. He does trust Macaque though, which makes Sun Wukong furious.

The co-parents learned that MK has built-in Gold Vision cus he has no filter;

MK (age 4): "What happened to your eye?" Macaque: *checks if his glamour is on* Tang: "Huh? What about his eyes? They look normal to me... oh he probably just means that little scar you have." Macaque, relieved: "Oh... this. I got in my last battle." MK: "No no! I mean your WHITE eye. The one you don't squint out of. Same side as the white streak in your hair." Macaque: "...what?" Tang, slowly realising whats going on and trying to hold back a lore infodump: "Ah! :D"

Sun Wukong will start sobbing at the drop of a hat if asked how his and Macaque's last fight went. MK learned that the hard way and it caused a crying chain reaction.

It takes Shadowpeach literal years of living and raising a child together before they realise that they've fallen back in love. Meanwhile Freenoodles got express delivery within weeks of MK being in their lives.

One of the first shapeshifting forms MK was able to take on is a brown piglet. Yes, Pigsy cried the first couple of times it happened.

Sun Wukong and Macaque shared the restaurant apartment for most of MK's childhood. Pigsy used to live there too, but moved in with Tang nearby after he took in the the soon-to-be monkey parents. He claims it was to "save up on space", but it quickly turned into something else along with his relationship to Tang. In the modern day, MK still lives in the apartment above the restaurant like in canon. Sun Wukong mostly lives at Flower Fruit Mountain when he's not staying in the city - otherwise he forcibly crashes at Macaque's loft in the University district.

MK is trans masc (he/they) in this au, as is Macaque and maybe Tang. Self projection ahoy.

Demon attacks and Human threats have followed the family throughout MK's childhood, but its nothing a superpowered team of dads cant handle. Except the first time MK scraped his knee at kindergarden and Sun Wukong was convinced that he was gonna bleed out. Or when MK got his first bad cold and Macaque ruined the kitchen trying to alchemise a cure. Or MK's first run in with a bully that made Pigsy so mad that he reconnected with Sandy to pull a "scary bodyguard" act on the bully. Or MK's first school play where he played the role as a cloud, and Tang clapped a little too loudly. Or his first- (the list goes on. these dorks are so proud of their little stone egg baby).

Please add your thoughts in the tags or send asks cus my butt's gonna write a fic soon

[shinynewboots]

Staring at the Sun / Adam x Lute Chapter 9

Summary: After the battle, Lute attempts to flee with Adam. They find themselves unable to return to Heaven and must adjust to life in Hell.

AN: Lol buckle up. Spoilers and real AN at the bottom.

Warnings: 18+, Violence, gore, smut eventually, Adam-typical misogyny, alcohol use, slight sexual themes, religious imagery

Chapter 8

Chapter 10

“Ch-Charlie, I think you need to check the news,” Angel stuttered as he scrolled his Sinstagram app. Almost every story and post showed Adam flying over Pentagram City. He showed the feed to Charlie, who scrolled through and frowned. 

OMG IS THE EXTERMINATION HAPPENING RN??? #imtoohottodie

WTF is that an angel? #amihigh

Hey why is that angel actually kinda hot tho #idtapthat

“Are you fucking kidding me,” She groaned and ran to the television set and turned it on. The screen showed Breaking News on the 666 channel. The footage showed Adam flying swiftly towards the center of the city, Lute cradled in his arms.

“This is Katie Killjoy with Breaking News. The Exorcist leader, Adam, who was presumed dead after the humiliating defeat by a one-eyed housemaid has been spotted heading toward the center of the city and presumably to our imminent doom. And I have to be stuck with Tom over as a companion for this impromptu Extermination Day.” 

“Fuck you, Katie.”

“In your dreams, Tom. Now, back to the weather.”

“Fuck!” Charlie groaned. “When did they even leave?”

“Oh, about an hour or so ago,” Alastor said, stepping out from the shadows. Vaggie looked over with narrowed eyes.

“And how would you know?” 

“Oh, silly me. I had my shadow follow them to keep tabs on them,” Alastor said, picking at his claws. 

“You knew they had been gone for a fucking hour and didn’t say anything?” Vaggie growled, pointing her finger at Alastor. 

Alastor smiled at her, his mouth twitching. He gently pushed her finger down out of his face. “You never asked. They did a nasty job on my shadow too.”

The room darkened around Alastor as he grew in size, his antlers doubling. Neon green light emitted from around him and the rest of the hotel guests looked in unease at the Radio Demon. “Someone will have to pay for that.”

“Not now, Alastor! Angel can you find the Egg Bois and see if they know anything,” Charlie said, her eyes growing red. Charlie felt her phone vibrate in her hand and she looked down to check the caller ID: Dad.

“Hey Dad, you haven’t happened to see the news, have you?”

___

Adam continued to fly over Pentagram City, his wings stretching out in a way that they had not been able to in months. This was the first time he had truly felt free during his time in Hell; more like his old self. Lute wriggled  in his arms as she came out of the fog that she had been under thanks to the shadow. 

The next time he saw the fucking Radio Demon, that fucker would die an even more gruesome second death. 

They were gaining fast on the Embassy, its golden light shining like a beacon to its unworthy citizens. On the streets, Adam could hear the screams and cries of the sinners who looked upon him with fear and awe (as they fucking should). A buzzing flew up near Adam and he looked over his shoulder to see a drone flying rapidly towards them, a camera attached to it. 

“Adam, Channel 666 news here! Care to give a statement?” A voice said from the drone, another camera popping out and coming closer to his face. Adam growled and shifted Lute in his arms, determined to blow the camera into next week but was too late. A gunshot fired out and the drone and camera began hurdling back down to the ground. 

“What the fuck,” He exclaimed and looked down at Lute, who held a smoking pistol in her hands and had a weak smirk on her face. “Nice shot, bitch.”

God, she was so fucking small in his arms. Fuck that Radio Demon. This had to all mean something. He had to get them back to Heaven. He had to get Her back to Heaven. Fuck, she didn’t belong here. And if it hadn't been for him, she would never have had to suffer here. She never would have lost a piece of herself (even if the metal arm was badass). She was meant to live out her days of eternity in Heaven, training with her sisters and soaking in paradise. 

Not saving a fucking Human soul that didn’t know when to keep its mouth shut. 

The Embassy was only a few hundred feet away. Down below, Adam could see Sinners gathered in masses around the entrance, looking at him in awe. Some held phones and took footage of him, while others just stood and watched. Others still shot up at him with various guns, but the ammo (not angelic steel), whizzed past and died back to the ground. 

Adam made the executive decision to land on the roof of the Embassy. His feet hit the ground much harder than he anticipated as felt the jarring difference between floating and walking. He looked down to Lute in his arms, who was looking much better and trying to wriggle free from his grip, likely frustrated that she felt helpless.

Adam was taken back to an earth movie he had seen decades ago, of a horrible monster scaling a tall, iconic building with a beautiful girl in its arms. 

“Adam, I can walk. I’m good now,” Lute said. Adam nodded and released her, his arms missing the weight of her in them. He looked around the roof, trying to find an entrance. 

“You’re telling me there’s no goddamn doors in this place?” He exclaimed, his speech rushed and on edge. Lute began to look as well, her movements slower than usual. She still felt weak from her brush with the shadow. 

“I don’t see any,” She yelled over. Adam looked at her like a madman, desperate and rigid. 

“Fuck,” He said, his breath quickening and sweat forming on his brow. “Wait, I’m a fucking angel.”

“Adam what—” Lute exclaimed before she was cut off by a shock of angelic light shooting from Adam’s hands aimed for the center of the roof. The light shot right through, leaving a gaping hole that led to the infamous board room where everything began to go wrong. 

Adam laughed, a triumphant, if not mad, laugh, with his head cocked back and his eyes towards the sky, as if to mock Heaven.

___

Lucifer was not having a good day. 

After receiving a call from his brother about a certain First Man making a spectacle and causing a commotion in Heaven and Hell, Lucifer knew he had to go and put on his big king pants and get to the bottom of the so-called commotion. 

(Seriously, why did Charlie ask him to save that asshole again. Oh yeah, redemption. Bleh.)

So Lucifer called his daughter (“Hey Dad, you haven’t happened to see the news, have you?” A pause and a sigh. “No Charlie, rots the brain. But I did get a call from Heaven about an angel sanctuary project gone wrong.”) and began his flight to the Heaven’s Embassy. 

Lucifer did not get out much. And he especially did not go towards the center of his Kingdom. So to see the chaos brewing in the streets, all chaos caused by Adam, Lucifer couldn’t help but feel nausea brewing in the pit of his stomach. Just perfect. 

“Dad!” 

Lucifer turned, his wings flapping in the air to hold himself steady, to see Charlie riding on Razzle. Her horns had grown in full force (oh Lilith, if only you could see her now) and her eyes were red with fire. 

“Charlie! What are you doing here?”

“This is all my fault. I didn’t even think they would do something like this. I mean, I thought they were happy at the hotel and everything was going great. I didn’t think they were trying to make the 6 o’clock news!”

“You didn’t think they would try to escape?” Lucifer asked, exasperated. 

“Well, I mean they weren’t exactly prisoners, Dad.” 

“And you were okay with them doing this?” Lucifer replied, gesturing wildly around him with his hands. 

“Well no,” Charlie said sheepishly. “But I trusted them. I mean, I still do. I think they just want to go home, Dad.”

Home. Well, Lucifer could understand that. So he sighed and gave Charlie a strained but encouraging smile. “Come on, let’s go clean up this mess.”

___

“SOMEONE BETTER FUCKING ANSWER ME! ITS FUCKING ADAM YOU CUNTS, YOU ABANDONED US DOWN HERE”

Lute wanted to rage and fight and scream with Adam, but for one of the first times in her eternal life, she knew she had to keep her cool. One of them had to. Dread clutched her heart as the reality of her deepest fear seemed close at hand: no one was coming for them. 

“They have to answer us, Lute,” He said, his voice cracking. Sweat dripped down his face and his t-shirt was drenched. Light flew from his fingertips as he blasted holes around the room, for good measure. 

The room was a disaster, as Adam had thrown every piece of furniture not nailed down to the floor. The table was flipped over. The chairs were scattered across the room. Holes dotted the walls, letting the hellish red sun stream its light in.  He had screamed and raged and destroyed all for just a minute of Heaven’s time. 

“They will, Adam.” Lute said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked down at it and paused. 

“You have to go back to Heaven. They have to let you back into Heaven,” He whispered. His shoulder was hot under her touch, as though he spiked a fever. 

“We. We have to go back to Heaven,” She repeated, confused in her tone. Adam looked at her as though he were looking through her. 

“Yeah, that's what I said.” His breathing was heavy and he looked as though he was thousands of miles away from her. 

A flash of light engulfed the room and the pair came face to face with Sera, her stature intimidating and her mouth set in a grim line. 

“Adam! Lute! What is the meaning of all this?”

Adam grew, his wings fully extended and his eyes ablaze. His canines were sharp and he looked as though he could kill. “No, what’s the fucking meaning of this, Sera? Leaving us down like fucking sinners.”

“We didn’t know the two of you were still alive. We didn’t think you survived the fall.” Sera said, her voice clipped as she kept her gaze on Adam. Lute watched in horror at the sight, feeling powerless to stop building tension. 

“Bullshit.”

“Adam.”

“No Sera, you mean to tell me that the leader and lieutenant of the fucking Exorcists goes MIA, presumed missing and you didn’t send someone down here check. Or fucking call Lucifer.”

“Someone say my name?”

All three heads turned to see Lucifer flying in through the gaping hole in the roof, Charlie in his arms in a way reminiscent of Extermination Day. Lucifer landed and Charlie jumped to the ground. 

“Speak of the Fucking Devil.” Adam scoffed, his eyes shooting daggers at Lucifer. Lucifer’s horns blazed with fire. 

“Sera.”

“Lucifer.”

“What in the fuck are you two doing here?” Adam growled. His piercing gaze shot back and forth between the Morningstars and Sera. 

“Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ve riled up the entire city. Literally fucking mobs down there. I’m here to clean up your mess. It’s becoming a bit of a habit, don’t you think?” Lucifer said smugly, strutting towards Adam and Sera, his arms crossed. The Dragon Beast Charlie rode in on howled into the open sky on the roof. 

Adam glared and opened his mouth but was interrupted by Sera. “Lucifer, your presence is not required.”

“No, Sera, as long as you’re in my territory, I’m staying right here.” Lucifer said, the horns growing from his head and eyes turning red. He turned to Charlie who gave him a stiff nod and enthusiastic thumbs-up. 

“Lute,” A small voice whispered behind Lute. Lute turned to see Emily standing behind her, a large grin on her cherubic features. “Oh my goodness, we thought you were dead!”

Lute found herself wrapped in the arms of the smaller seraphim, who squeezed her tight in her arms. While Lute had never felt a particularly close bond to the Seraphim (who she just now realized reminded her very much of Princess Morningstar), she felt relieved at the sight of her. 

“No, we’ve been here this whole time,” Lute whispered back, her mouth running dry and her palms becoming clammy. Emily frowned and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted when Sera caught sight of her. 

“Emily, I told you to stay back in Heaven. This matter will be resolved quickly.”

“Well, you didn’t exactly tell me why I needed to stay and I’ve never seen Hell, I figured this would be a good learning opportunity,” Emily replied, waving at the other occupants in the room and completely unaware of the building tension radiating off all parties involved. She looked around and caught eyes with Charlie.  

“Charlie?!” Emily squealed and ran towards the Princess, pulling her into an enthusiastic hug, which Charlie reciprocated. “Oh my goodness, It’s so good to see you! Oh, I’ll have to tell Sir Pentious that I saw you today.”

“Wait, what?” Charlie asked, a stunned look on her face. 

If Sera could have paled, Adam was positive she would have looked like she had seen a ghost. She stiffened as she watched the interaction between Charlie and Emily, her gaze never leaving the two. 

“Pentious. Your friend? The one who got redeemed.”

No one said anything for a few breathless moments. Charlie stared at Emily in bewilderment. Emily stared at Charlie confused, and turned to Sera for clarification. Sera’s face, however, was made of stone and offered no secrets or explanations. 

“Sir Pentious got redeemed? Oh my god, that’s so amazing. That means…the hotel works! Dad, the hotel works!” Charlie exclaimed, joy and rainbows and butterflies and all that ooey gooey stuff radiating off of her. She smiled at Lucifer, though her smile faltered when she saw the grave look on his face. 

“It’s been months since Sir Peanut died in the battle,” Lucifer said, giving Sera a pointed look. Sera raised her head as if to stick her nose up at the insinuation. 

“We are not here to discuss that. Emily, go home, we will talk about this further.” Sera’s voice was cold, colder than Adam had ever heard her use with Emily (Emily the golden child, Emily the new seraphim, Emily the baby blah blah blah). “The matter at hand is Adam and Lute having Fallen.”

Lute sucked in a gasp. Her heart shattered in her chest. 

“FUCKING FALLEN!” Adam raged, hurtling towards Sera with blind fury, his wings making large gusts of wind behind him. “You fucking cunt, after every fucking thing I’ve done for you, for fucking Heaven. After everything Lute has done to serve as an Exorcist.” 

“Adam, this shouldn’t come as a shock,” Sera replied, her voice even.

“Adam, this shouldn’t come as a shock,” He mimicked back, his voice high-pitched and mocking.“Well, it fucking does. I mean I had my fucking suspicions. Why did it take me so fucking long to heal from some goddamn stab wounds? Why didn’t Lute’s arm regenerate? I thought ‘shit, maybe it's because we’re in fucking hell of course things would be a little different’. But fucking fallen, Sera. Are you fucking kidding me?”

Lute felt as though all the air had been sucked from her lungs. She could only stare at the trainwreck in front of her, unable to get out of the way and hoping the train would crush her instead. Fallen. Broken. Dirty. Weak. 

“Adam, please, calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down! You fucking cunt I have given both my lives to heaven, human and eternal and you shut me out just like that? Like fucking sinner scum?”

“Adam, no one shut you out. You were unworthy to ascend back to Heaven. That’s all there is to it. You fell and you are the only one to blame.” 

“Yeah, and what the fuck did Lute do to deserve this fate?” He snarled, like a rabid dog with its corned prey. 

“She followed her leader. A wrong choice, apparently.” 

Adam paused and began to sway unsteadily on his feet. He swayed backward a few steps. Lute rushed forward to catch that fall that did not happen. Instead, Adam began to steady himself. He shook with pure rage, hate and fire emitting off of him that Lute had never known. Sera backed up a few paces, shielding Emily behind her. 

Adam let out the most heart-wrenching scream Lute had ever heard. It was so deafening that she could not bear to listen longer and so she clapped her hand over her ears but the sound was still overwhelming. 

An aura of blinding white light began to engulf Adam, beginning at his core and spreading across his skin like the roots of a tree until his entire body was encased in the light. There was no way to tell where the light stopped and Adam started; they were one and the same. Power radiated around Adam, the likes of which shook the Embassy and the grounds of Hell below. 

He was furious. He was hate. He was sin. 

“Adam!” Lute began to scream, though he seemed farther away than she could ever hope to reach. 

___

Time stopped for Adam. All the events taking place around him moved in slow motion. He saw Lute paused in mid-scream, his name just on the edge of her lips. He saw Lucifer, trying to usher Charlie away from the scene. He saw Sera and Emily and their holographic images flicker, trying to dissipate into the open air. 

And then there was nothing. 

.

.

.

And then there was everything. 

Adam was suddenly blinded by an awe-inspiring light. He blinked, but his vision was blurred and spotted. The sound of chaos no longer flooded his ears. No. It was the sound of…water? He honed in on it and could hear the unmistakable sound of a babbling brook. The water sounded to be flowing lazily as if the worst thing that had ever happened to Adam was of no care to the water. 

A pleasant, warm breeze brushed past Adam’s shoulder and ruffled his hair, his skin, his —. Oh. He was naked. 

Adam tried to open his eyes once more to adjust to the warm glow of the light. This time he was met with a sight that brought tears to his eyes. 

The garden was lush, just as he had remembered. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees. The brook babbled along, playing a song for all of the garden to hear. The soil was cool beneath his bare feet and he began to dig his toes into the soft carpet. Birds of various types flew around the garden and Adam was immediately able to remember them all by name. Dove. Owl. Eagle. Finch. Rook. 

Adam touched his face and realized he was crying. Fat, salty tears streamed down his cheeks and he felt like a child who had run happily into the warm embrace of a mother. 

He was home. He was in Eden. 

“Adam.” 

Adam turned and was met with a formation of light in the shape of a human man. The light began to take shape until it revealed a male angel standing at the same height as Adam himself. 

The angel had six brilliant blue wings. His hair was long and shone a golden brown in the sun. He wore the robes and armor in the style of a Byzantine warrior (Adam knew that this was not always his preferred style of dress, but he had adopted it after the various depictions of him in mortal art). Adam had almost forgotten how similar Lucifer looked to his brothers until now. 

“Michael?”

“I was wondering when you would join me.” The archangel replied, a smile on his face. 

“Am I dead? Again?”

Michael shook his head. “No, no more dead than you already were.”

“Are we in Eden?” 

Micheal shrugged. “Of sorts. More of an in-between place, really. I come here when I crave solitude." He paused. "Walk with me.”

Michael guided them to flowing water and Adam looked down and took in his appearance. His facial hair was gone, as were the dark circles under his eyes. His skin was youthful and tanned, almost glowing. His wings were gone, though in his shock he hadn’t noticed. The most jarring difference was the color of his eyes. Instead of the Heavenly golden hue, they were the same color as the warm, dark earth beneath his feet. 

He looked just as he had the day he was cast from Eden. 

“Why are we here?” Adam asked, looking at Michael. 

“I needed to speak with you, uninterrupted.”

Adam scoffed, though he immediately felt shame for the action. “About how you and the rest of Heaven abandoned me to die?”

Michael’s eyes darkened. “Don’t mistake me when I say this Adam, you are special. But, you are nothing more than a human soul. A special human soul, but a human soul nonetheless. A human soul who made a choice.”

“I didn’t choose to stay in Hell.”

“No, but you did choose to indulge in the Exterminations in excess. There was no justification for conducting the Exterminations more than once a year. You chose to engage with Lucifer’s daughter in battle, in spite of the other areas of the Pride Ring you and the Exorcists could have performed the Extermination. That sinner might have attempted to kill you, but your actions are the reason you have fallen.” 

Adam wept. He was nothing more than a little boy, hiding behind his mother’s skirts after he knew he had done something wrong. 

In his tear-clouded thoughts, he thought of his sons. His first sons. 

Oh Cain, my sweet boy who offered up everything to Heaven, only for Heaven to ignore your offerings. To ignore your plea for mercy and forgiveness. 

“Oh Adam,” Michael said, his eyes sad. He placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “You were the first and for that, you had a tremendous burden on your shoulders, a burden that, in hindsight was unfair.” 

“So that’s it?” Adam asked, his mouth dry and full of ash. He pulled away from Michael.“Your regret and my damnation?”

“You have fallen,” Michael said, his tone even. “A fallen human soul. Unprecedented, as the rest of the fallen are heaven-born, but of course you always were a trailblazer.” 

Adam glared at Michael, his mind reeling at the information. 

“What about Lute?”

“She made her choice the minute she tried to save you and she damned herself to that fate. She is in Hell because she chose to follow you, Adam. She has fallen as well.” 

“She didn’t deserve that,” Adam whispered, his voice small as he looked back towards his reflection.

“You more than anyone know that existing is not about getting what we deserve, Adam. It’s about following the path.” Michael said, offering Adam a small smile. “I am truly sorry Adam. There’s nothing I can do for you now. Your path has been set and you are setting course to a place where I and other divine beings cannot follow.”

Adam shook his head. “Just fucking send me back.”

Michael nodded and placed his hand on Adam’s head. Adam felt as though he was being ripped in two; his heart, his soul, his being felt as though they were being expunged from his chest. He was pushed off a precipice and plunged into the frigid waters of eternity. 

And once again, Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden.

___

Lute felt as though she were moving in slow motion. Her hair whipped around her as the heat radiating from Adam hit her full force. Her feet were unsteady beneath her, the sheer force of the power coming off of him almost knocking her to the ground. She watched as Sera and Emily disappeared. She watched as Lucifer tried to usher Charlie out of the building. 

The building. The Embassy was swaying dangerously as though there was an earthquake beneath the ground. The building groaned and creaked, unable to hold the weight of the sheer power it was containing. 

Her ears rang and she could not keep her eyes off of Adam. She had to stay. She had to help him. She had to do something. She had to—

“Lute!” Charlie said, gripping Lute’s shoulders and trying to pull her away from Adam. Charlie had broken free from her father’s grasp. “We have to go!”

“Adam,” Lute whispered, looking through Charlie like a ghost. The light flowing off of Adam was growing larger, brighter. The heat is more intense by the second. 

Lute’s cheek began to sting. She looked at Charlie and realized the Hell Princess had slapped her square across the cheek. 

“We have to go, Lute. We can’t help him.” Charlie repeated, her tone firm but kind. Her red eyes had faded and her horns retracted. Lute looked between Adam and Charlie before nodding. Charlie grabbed Lute’s hand and began to pull her towards Lucifer. 

“Charlie, sweetie, I don’t mean to rush you and your little friend, but WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE,” Lucifer yelled, holding his arms out to take both women. Charlie grabbed on to Lucifer and Lute kept her firm grip on Charlie’s hand. 

Lucifer began to fly through the hole that Adam had made in the roof and threw Charlie and Lute onto Razzle. 

“Let’s go!” Charlie yelled out to the dragon, who let out a powerful roar. The dragon flew high into the sky, with Lucifer close behind. 

It was quiet for a moment. 

Until.

A bomb went off.

Hell was suddenly engulfed in the brightest and most brilliant light it had ever seen. The light stretched beyond the confines of the Pride ring and touched every circle of Hell. The Embassy began to collapse, fire and brimstone and light exploded from its walls. 

The Pride ring began to crack, with the Embassy as its epicenter and expanding to all corners of the ring, leaving deep gullies in its wake. 

The three watched in horror as the building began to collapse into a pile of ash and rubble, crushing all the Sinners who had gathered outside of the Embassy.

The brilliant light began to fade until all that was left of the Embassy and its lone occupant was dust and ash. 

Lute began to weep. 

AN:

So...that happened. I know you all buckled in fro a fun little Adam and Lute story (as did I, I promise) but somewhere along the way, this story decided to take a life of its own and I for one am here for the ride. This chapter definitely had big season finale vibes if I do say so myself.

Also, any religious anything that's not 100% canon or correct...I am simply making it up as I go and using my suppressed Methodist upbringing as a reference. I truly had no intention of adding any archangels to this story and then I had the image of Adam in Eden and I simply could not help myself.

Do. Not. Worry. Lute and Adam will be together again at some point and I promise when they do it will be a very satisfying reunion. Please bear with me. We are strapping into my longest fic yet (that seems to be getting longer by the chapter lol)

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments, support, and just kindness. Everyone I have met in the process of writing this story has just been so amazing. I love hearing your thoughts, theories, everything! Do bear with me, I want our two favorite idiots to get together as much as anyone so I promise I am also on the edge of my seat for what happens next.

Until later, my sweet friends. I will gladly take your pitchforks and eggs.

[vergilscatgirl]

── .✦  Rainy Evenings ♡

𖥻 Pairings ; V/GN Reader, V/You.

𖥻 Content Warnings ; Fluff, no gendered pronouns are used, somewhat angsty, no use of Y/N, spoilers for the fifth game (not in depth but it gives you a general idea).

𖥻 A/N ; Okay the V brainrot is real, I love this boy so much you have no clue. This particular oneshot gave me a bit of trouble, but I wanted to get it out because I’ve had the idea all week. I hope you all enjoy! It’s a bit short and rushed, but I think it holds up nicely regardless.

V found himself adrift in thought, the warm embrace enveloping his body unable to tug him from the labyrinth of his mind. The timer on his life had long surpassed its expiration mark — granting him a feeling of grief, agonizing the truth he was acutely aware of. A question he allows to circle within his thoughts, as it was only a mere question as to when he would revert to his former self, for he was only a trifling fragment within a scheme that was — oh so perfectly — crafted.

The mellow rain pitter-patters along the window, creating a faint background euphony that brought him consolation — yet couldn’t divert him from his impending calamity.

You worry for him, though remain reticent, relishing in the warmth of his arms encircling you. You lay nestled within his sprawled out figure — fanned out on the couch within the main lobby of the Devil May Cry office, observing the weather outside. While the moistened and frigid world outside mattered not, for his figure wraps securely around you, shielding you from the crisp outdoors.

The tranquility is a welcome relief, in contrast to the habitual near deafening noise it was filled with. In spite of his ceaseless uncertainty, V beams down at the figure in his grasp, your face veils within his vest as you rest atop him. To express that he loves you was unable to convey his fervent adoration for you. From the beginning, you occupied his side, confronting the maelstrom of issues that had been thrust upon you – you held steadfast, the proposal of fear ostensibly not an acquainted concept to you.

“My little wanderer, how I adore you so,” his voice interrupts the silence, hand escaping his side, and instead, caressing your hair in tender strokes, “my reverence for you has no limits.”

“I love you too, V.” Your response was brief, as there were not many words to offer him, your mind devoid of proper thought.

“What is on your mind, my sparrow?” The pet name left a soft crimson simmering along the skin of your cheeks, hands grasping along his ebony, leather coat.

“When you go,” you continue, absorbed in reflection — your words come out faint, your mind clasping against the words you spoke, “what’s going to happen?”

“Ah, questioning our relations, yes,” he ponders for a moment, contemplating his answer, “for that, I can grant no balanced answer, though rest assured, I will still yearn for you all the same, dear.” His attempts at comfort settle your nerves, “I will remember you, while not as precisely as before, nothing can change the love I have for you.”

You understood its truth, and awaited the inevitable outcome that would follow suit. Once it occurred, and all was said and done, you would continue your journey throughout life without his presence, instead in place of another.

“I’m going to miss you, V.” The rain would roar up, dark streaks gusting against the window with a harsh force, as if understanding the circumstances enclosing the building. “You mean everything to me.”

“I will miss you as well.” His gaze seems elsewhere now, instead seeking out the window, viewing the storm alight anew. “Please remember, regardless of what happens between us two, you will remember how dearly I care for you so.” His tone carried no torment, no dejection, as you had been informed of all this from the start, but as his time candidly neared, it felt as if you’d been jabbed with a brute force.

“I’ll remember.” Your voice is tender as before. “I’ll remember you, V. No matter what.”

The storm clamors outside, deafening out the remaining musings. He holds you close, a small peck meeting your temple, before resting his own against yours.

“I love you, my sweet wanderer.”

[seventeenlovesthree]

SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW/FIRST IMPRESSIONS/META FOR DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02 THE BEGINNING MOVIE

So I had the privilege to watch the movie on release day and I have thoughts. Very unfiltered and out of order and knowing myself, my opinion will definitely change upon discussing, contextualizing and rewatching it, but... I need to get that first impression out of my system, maybe already link it with a few things we've previously known. So the following text will go through my experience in the cinema, the course of the entire movie and my personal opinions, so...

READ THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, BECAUSE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. LOTS OF THEM. ALL OF THEM.

(A/N: There will also be trigger warnings about child abuse and violence/gore/blood, so again, please be warned and read cautiously if you choose to do so.)

Alright, first of all, this was one of the special screening events all over Germany and, obviously, the majority of people who watched alongside my friend and me were nerds around my age. Those who used to watch the German dub back in the day - which was just a wonderful experience in general. The cinema wasn't completely sold out, but there were still lots of people! And I was there in my pseudo-Hikari costume nobody recognized, heh.

Before the screening, the event - hosted by KSM, who are responsible for the German dub - held a little trivia quiz! Which was pretty neat, they had questions like "What does Digimon stand for?", "What year did the plot of Digimon Adventure take place, when was 02?", "How many Tri movies are there?", "How many Digimon seasons exist in sum?", "What is te production company of Digimon called?", "What does the title of the first Tri movie - Saikai - mean in German?", "What is the first theme song called in Japanese?"

(The season number was a trick question since they said, including Tri as separate season may or may not count, but I had issues with this one too. And I had actually forgotten what "Saikai" meant...)

They handed out Blu-Ray copies of Kizuna for the right answers - and I actually won one by answering when the German dub of Adventure aired in Germany for the first time correctly. Good old 2000... I'll never forget that.

Then the movie started - I still don't really know how to go about this, so again, excuse the looseness of my rambling;

First of all, the German subs were okay, but once again a little loose and too quick/not accurate here and there. For example, when Tailmon audibly said "Hikari", the subs said "You are right". Not to mention that you HEARD them use the Japanese names, but the subs used their English dub names.

In the scene that was already shown to audiences last year, Takeru was talking about Koushirou not getting enough sleep and Hikari added that when she called Taichi, he scolded her since he was busy. The German subs outright skipped Hikari saying "Onii-chan", and made her just say "he". So... It sounded like she, too, was referring to Koushirou. Very weird...

Okay, to the stuff we haven't known yet!

If you asked me what this movie was about, I'd probably say: It's a story of child abuse and the consequences of miscommunication (and wishes). In several directions. And oh boy, the meta analysis to be written about this will take a while to conduct, because while the stuff appears to be "pretty on the nose" on surface level, it definitely CAN go deeper. The third theme of the movie is "the power of friendship" - and water is wet, obviously!

So we know about the giant Digiegg in the sky that has been floating there for a week. There is the message "Everyone should have friends and a Digimon partner" displayed on all kinds of screens. We see that Taichi and Koushirou are doing PR work while the 02 kids are hanging out in Daisuke's (employers') ramen restaurant until they see Rui on TV climbing Tokyo Tower, holding a Digivice. So they rush to save him as he falls - just to be greeted with annoyance and ignorance.

He tells them that he killed his own partner, that partnerships between humans and Digimon are a curse and should not exist. Miyako can't accept that and tells Hawkmon to stop him before he can leave.

So Rui goes: "Ah, how obedient. You are doing what you're told without questioning it and you probably like it that way."

We can tell - there is baggage there. Lots of baggage.

They later learn that the Digiegg may be Rui's partner after all - and since he claims that he climbed up there to talk to it, Daisuke is obviously super fired up ("You have balls, I like that", the cinema laughed out loud) and wants to help.

So of course he drags his boyfriend Jogress partner with him and they fly up there with Paildramon - just to get attacked by the egg and fall into a portal to travel back in time. What follows is them seeing Rui's backstory. And once they're back, he elaborates on it further.

At some point, my friend nudged me and asked me the following: "Do you also feel like you're watching Madoka Magica?"

Yes. Yes I did. 300%. I already assumed it'd be the case, since I initially thought Rui would be a time-jumping Homura and Ukkomon just another version of Kyubey. They even share lots of visual cues respectively, so it was not unlikely to happen, right?

... I was only half wrong there. Rui is not (intentionally) able to jump through time at this point. And it's actually not the kind of multiverse story I initially expected. (Even though there WILL be a change in the timeline, but we will get to that later.)

Ukkomon - is definitely Kyubey though. It appears in front of Rui on his 4th birthday. Which is on February 29 1996, meaning he is a leap year child. The Hikarigaoka incident took place a year prior - but he wasn't part of it.

TW Child Abuse

Rui lives in Hikarigaoka too. He's coming from an abusive household - his father is in a coma, and his mother may or may not have developed a bipolar disorder due to the stress, because she can be sweet one moment, and snaps completely the next, screams at him. Rui has marks of physical abuse all over his body and appears rather ruffled and malnourished... So when he accidentally wets himself on his birthday, his mother throws him out into the snowy cold of the night, half-dressed, to punish him. It's jarring to watch.

He wishes so badly for things to change. To have friends. To be protected from harm.

That's when a Digiegg appears in front of him - and Ukkomon hatches, asking about his wish and a digivice appears. He is, in this case, the first child to be partnered with a Digimon.

A Digimon that is capable of fulfilling wishes. Because it is connected with a godlike entity... Where have we heard THAT before...?

So what happens? Rui wished for friends. Rui wished for protection.

Suddenly, his mom starts being nice to him again. His dad wakes up from the coma. He has his Digimon by his side, who protects him from bullies and every type of harm. All Ukkomon says it wants is for Rui to be happy. To make him smile. To make sure to make him lots of friends who are just like him. That's all that matters to it, obediently following the initial idea, literally without questioning.

If you watched Madoka Magica (and also lots of other media that involve wish fulfillment, including Miraculous Ladybug), you know that there is always a price to be paid for wishes. And that you need to be VERY careful with how you word your wishes.

It all falls apart in 2003. What happens in 2003? Diablomon strikes back. Literally. The events are shown on television, we see Omegamon fighting Armageddomon - and Ukkomon explains to Rui how happy he can be that all these kids out there are fighting and willing to die for him specifically... Because... They became Chosen Children because of Rui's wish. Ukkomon enabled their partnerships to make "lots of friends who are just like you, having their own Digimon" - and Rui is horrified by the idea. It can be assumed that Ukkomon granted the "wish" in unity with Homeostasis (as deducted by Hikari at least and that will be relevant later on when we come to tying the lore together).

And then, in the next scene, you realize why Megumi Ogata voices Rui. The Shinji Ikari vibes are real with this one.

Ukkomon goes all "I would do everything for you to be happy" and we learn... That Rui's parents are already dead. They're just puppets Ukkomon has controlled to pretend a happy family life. It can be assumed that the same goes for the neighbour children who were seen during previous birthday scenes.

TW Violence/Gore/Blood

To say that the next scene is Ghost Game levels of gory and terrifying is an understatement. "I didn't know you took me to watch a horror movie", my friend says next to me. Rui ends up strangling his Digimon, trying to choke it to death, telling it that it completely misunderstood what he wanted, what he needed, what really makes him happy, that he never wanted any of this to happen. "This is not the happiness you wished for, Shinji-kun." When that doesn't work, he tries to smash his Digivice with a baseball bat... And loses his eye in the process. Fear not, Ukkomon pulls its own eye out to give it to Rui. More blood, more gore, body horror ensues as Ukkomon starts to melt away while crying in agony and disappears completely as Rui is surrounded by blood, the corpses of his parents and his own despair.

His narration ends there. All of that has happened years ago.

And I must say, I love Hikari. I really, really do. But in that moment, when she said "Poor Ukkomon, it just wanted you to be happy", I groaned. And heavily agreed with Rui when he replied "And that makes every action okay?!"

So again, one of the core messages of the movie is the subject of miscommunication. Rui says that there is no such thing as "unconditional bonds" and that "we can never fully understand each other". The Shinji Ikari vibes are SO strong with this one. The main conclusion the 02 group comes to is that they should have talked to each other better. That they should have talked about each other's intentions and needs, etc. And of course that IS a valuable lesson to take away from in every single way, but... Hikari's initial response felt so tone deaf to me in that moment. Of course she would empathize with the Digimon, but blaming the whole thing entirely on the abused kid not "communicating" properly with his partner after he finally experienced kindness and care after all the pain is just... Part of me wants to say "Yes, Hikari wouldn't want any Digimon to suffer, she hates injustice and condemns cruelty, we went through that with Ken's Digimon Kaiser arc", but the other part says "Hikari, do you remember the time you and your brother were traumatized because you two miscommunicated as literal children?! Taichi hurt you because he had good intentions, but you two didn't properly communicate - yet you never condemned him for that either, so I guess that's where it comes from and you haven't processed your own trauma yet after all." I am obviously not saying that she should condemn Taichi for what happened, but we also know that she idealizes him and that may have been her idealizing Ukkomon too. Hikari will be a kindergarten teacher, she will probably have to deal with other traumatized children in the future too, so... It's good that she contemplates her words as soon as Rui snaps at her, you can visibly see that she's thinking about it more closely. It's important to see the whole picture here - and that picture revolves around the circle of abuse. It's multi-faceted and it's important to address topics like that.

Then the egg hatches - and turns into a giant tentacle monster in the sky. But instead of Third Impact, it just created millions of Digieggs, to give each and every single human a Digimon partner. Because that was the initial wish, right...? To create more friends and give everyone a Digimon partner - just like the message on the screens says.

The kids start to panic, if that happens, it will cause lots of chaos all over the world, forcing partnerships to happen immorally like that, so they need to think quickly. Knowing that they need to stop it. Fight it. (Spoilers for Madoka Magica incoming here: In a way, Ukkomon's countless strings also reminded me of Kremhild Gretchen, the absurdly large witch form of Madoka that was so loaded with karma due to Homura's time traveling revolving around her that she turned out to be the most powerful, most devastating witch, nurtured by despair, capable of swallowing the entire planet, if not the entire galaxy...)

But... If Ukkomon is responsible for partnerships to be formed in the first place... Doesn't that mean that all ~60.000 partnerships that already exist will vanish too?

They discuss, they think about the consequences... And good old shoujo magical girl protagonist Daisuke Motomiya decides that partnerships aren't easily broken (*cries in Kizuna*), so they gotta go for it. The thing in the sky exists because of Rui's wish - so he is the only one who can solve this. Talk it out. Communicate it out.

And after some protagonist speeches and mutual encouragement, the Digimon all evolve up to their highest available level (meaning Imperialdramon, Shakkoumon and Silphymon - but they still had to show off Angewomon's new evolution animation prior to that, because DAMN) and rush to the place of the scene. Daisuke and Ken send Rui to fly into the egg in order to have a heart-to-heart, assuming that the Digimon evolved into this big tentacle monster in the first place because it just wanted to find a way to talk. (My friend interpreted this as some kind of Skullgreymon evolution, but I will get to that again in a sec!)

Thus he jumps in, travels back in time again, THIS TIME intentionally like the true Homura he was always meant to be - while Daiken act like a married couple wishing for their son to do his best.

If you know time travel stories, you also know that you're wise NOT to interact with what happened in the past. Ken even advises not to do that when they traveled back in time for the first time. But adult!Rui talks to his mother in the past, telling her that he knows she's got it hard - but that he wants her to listen to what her son has to say, because he really loves her. That makes the switch flip and she rushes to her neglected son to hug him... Hence causing the meeting between kid!Rui and Ukkomon to never happen. So Homura basically reached Madoka this time, huh.

Ukkomon still faces adult!Rui at the time and place they originally met - and Rui says he doesn't have anything to wish for anymore... Which Ukkomon at this point already knew. They have a light-hearted little exchange, talking about the things they actually didn't like about each other, finally being honest... And that they want to start over and meet again. "But for that, you need to let go of me now", Ukkomon says.

Rui travels back to the future and tells Daisuke and Ken that they still have to defeat the tentacle monster for the sake of a happy future. Of course they succeed, don't even need any new or special evolution or artifact to do that - and Ukkomon reverts back to a small egg in Rui's hands, ready to start over. With better communication this time, breaking the cycle of abuse once and for all.

And that's where it happens: The potential lore breaking - I mean, the whole thing is already confusing enough, which I will break down in a second, but...

Since the cause of the partnerships has now been taken out of the history books - the Digivices start to disappear.

All of them. Every single one on the entire planet. We see a BUNCH of international Chosen Children we've known from 02 before (including Wallace, Terriermon and Lopmon!) watching it happen with melancholic eyes. The Digivices slowly disintegrate into small light particles that float towards the sky... In the end, the kids reminisce about what the Digivices were there for in the first place, that they were a sign for the bond and connection between them and their Digimon - and that that may have been the case in the past, but that they're not needed anymore. That they don't need any device as proof for their connection. The bond between humans and Digimon can exist without having Digivices - at least from now on. So, in comparison to Kizuna, no partnership has "ended" this time.

Then a snowball fight happens between the 02 kids, their Digimon partners and Rui - initiated by Daisuke, who definitely intended to lighten the mood a little and cheer everyone up again. In the post credit scene, we see Rui fondly looking at the Digiegg in his hands.

The end.

... Wow.

Where to start, where to end. First of all, I NEEDED to check the Digimon Adventure novels again to see what exactly the Digivices were and how the process of "choosing the children" came to be. Excuse my rambling again, because I am still trying to figure out if all of this REALLY is lore-breaking or if there is a way to tie all of this together somehow.

So first of all - yes, Gennai did not know all about this, because apparently, a kid's wish caused all of this to get amplified. Homeostasis does not have a physical form, so it created its agents like Gennai - and PROBABLY Ukkomon too. Since we know the Digital World has "wish granting" abilities, I can accept there being a singular being that is capable of doing the same thing.

The question is - was the way the kids were utilized a happy accident too then? I'll try to interpret this as well as I can, but take all of this with a grain of salt, I may be completely wrong:

So to go in order: A Digiegg gets into the real world in 1995, and Homeostasis gets to scan Hikari, Taichi and the others, discovering the potential they have - since Hikari is the child that enables the hatched Botamon to evolve into Greymon super quickly, Homeostasis sends Parrotmon to retrieve it. Afterwards, in 1996, a Digimon like Ukkomon "would appear who had special connections with [a child] in the real world" (just like the 5 we kinda thought were the original Chosen Children). And thus, through Rui's wish, the "partnership system" was founded. Basically, Ukkomon's wish fulfillment powers enabled a system based on the limitless potential (of wishes and the bond between humans and Digimon) that was deemed useful by Homeostasis for the sake of saving the worlds. A system that wasn't in place like this before, so Rui was basically some kind of "prototype" - as was Ukkomon, kinda testing the waters of partnerships in the first place. And through analyzing the other 8 kids in the meantime, their potential had been discovered, which is why THEY also had Crests created for themselves. Like Ukkomon said - they came into existence to "protect" him, so he wouldn't have to save the worlds himself.

Takeru was the one who went "Wait, that's different information from what we have gotten!?" when Rui explains the whole situation, but I guess it could kinda make sense like this. The initial idea was based on a wish to just create "humans with Digimon friends" - and Homeostasis discovered that there is a HUGE "potential" in those partnerships since Digimon were capable of evolving faster and higher. And that also kiiiiinda explains why Gennai wasn't ever fully able to explain all of this, since - it was just very hard to explain. "You were chosen, because a kid wished for it" wouldn't sound convincing to anyone upon hearing it for the first time, right? Especially considering how often that question came up in several characters throughout the series. Sora, Jyou, Ken, just for example... They had all asked the question "why were WE chosen?" in one context or another. And now I can't stop thinking about this:

And... Even though it wasn't directly stated or alluded to in the movie, it kiiiiiiiiiiiiiinda corresponds with the neglect theory too. Since - the moment Rui wanted to end the partnership, the Digivice malfunctioned and Ukkomon just disappeared. It didn't happen the same way as it did to Taichi, Yamato, Sora and Menoa - but in a way, the way Ukkomon appeared as a giant tentacle monster, YEARS after the departure from Rui, is somewhat reminiscent of Eosmon appearing as well. And to get back to my friend's idea - yes, that also means that Eosmon and Ukkomon's tentacle form are BASICALLY like Skullgreymon, the result of neglect and corruption in their human partners' hearts. The only difference here is that both Eosmon and Ukkomon had BONKERS abilities (that were both linked to Chosen Children specifically, one of them trapping their consciousnesses and turning those back into children, the other capable of creating partnerships in the first place), whereas Skullgreymon was just terrifying...

It also doesn't completely contradict Menoa's theory from Kizuna - since, again, in the end, that was just a theory. That children are chosen "because of their potential". This can be read in both ways: their potential for the sake of causing evolution for Digimon as well as their potential to be a friend to Rui. They couldn't possibly maintain that if they "lost their ways"... (By the way, we have also disproven that "becoming an adult" makes the bond vanish, because if that were the case, Jyou would have lost Gomamon YEARS ago. I stand with the neglect theory here.)

Does that make sense? I'm not entirely sure. But stating it like this satisfies my mind more than how it felt when I left the cinema. I just wish they used more analogies and visual cues (like the ring and wordings from Kizuna) to connect the dots a bit better, but maybe I overlooked a few things.

There were a few things that absolutely got me into overthinking mode, for lore or personal reasons, but I can at least accept this theory from a lore perspective.

(Edit: On a different note, I like the idea of treating Ukkomon like Menoa in the way of her being an unreliable narrator that led to the whole "adulthood vs. neglect theory" in the first place. So Ukkomon may actually NOT even be aware that Rui WASN'T the first Chosen Child because, either it really didn't know or was manipulated by Homeostasis to claim that it's true. The reasoning behind that could be interesting to look at too... Long story short: Never take anything in Digimon at face value!!!)

As for the personal things... I saw a comment on Twitter that basically went like "It tells you a lot that I didn't even have to name the 02 kids once in an overall review". Because... Yeah, the 02 kids in particular didn't actually do a lot. They DID build up on the positivity Daisuke had already spread since the end of 02, believing in their bonds and the power of friendship and everything. An interesting aspect was also asking the question of whether or not the Digimon are acting out of free will, or if they do things out of obedience like Rui said, implying that Ukkomon just assumed his desires and completely neglected itself in the process. Hawkmon confirms that he does things because he believes in them - he DOES act very obediently towards Miyako in the movie though. But my personal opinion is that it depends on the partners and the bond they have (compare that to Jyou and Gomamon and you get a very different picture - and even Hawkmon has the ability to scold Miyako, so it really depends).

But aside from that? There wasn't as much, despite a few neat little character moments that people may or may not like, depending on their stance on certain characters (and ships as well).

Daisuke will be Daisuke will be Daisuke. He's the (endearing!) simpleton shoujo magical girl protagonist with a good heart and literally nothing but Ramen on his mind. V-mon is the exact same, they share one braincell in the most endearing way possible, they even finish each other's sentences and didn't doubt their bond for a second. ("You wanna know what friendship is about? THAT is!", V-mon says while just shaking Daisuke's hand. They're adorkable.) The bickering with Miyako is a bit of a theme there - especially in ONE particular scene...

... And that is in a scene involving Ken. For Jogress reasons, obviously, Daisuke and Ken are framed together a lot - and in this moment, Ken compliments Daisuke on being so serious and focused as he affirms his trust in Rui... Only to have Miyako ask them why they're flirting rambling so much, to which Daisuke responds veeeery defensively. (Edit: I just learned that the Japanese version ACTUALLY said "flirting", so that makes it even better, they know exactly what they are doing.) That aside, Ken is rather torn about the whole situation, he occasionally looks very troubled when the subject of partnerships is mentioned - and while they don't draw any Kaiser parallels as I initially assumed, Wormmon at least mentions how he and Ken could put their divide aside through communication. Which was a nice touch. (Also, Wormmon blushing as Ken pets him like a cat in his arms is the cutest thing ever.) And then... There is also that theme about, aside from Daisuke, another person being in his sphere quite a lot...

... And that is Miyako. They have at least three scenes in which, mainly, Miyako is the one reassuring or teasing Ken in ways that CAN be read in a certain light, but they kept it VERY tame. Again, Ken is very often framed between her AND Daisuke (and there is a moment between Ken and Miyako where Daisuke literally walks out of the frame and if that isn't meta, I don't know what is and basically, I feel like they should just have made Daikenyako canon), but... If you know, you just know. Especially with her using somewhat ambiguous sentences like "Well, let's see what the future holds, together". (I already know that a certain artist on Twitter completely exploded over that scene. It was interesting though that she had gone back to "Ichijouji-kun", even though by the end of 02, she had called him "Ken-kun" already.) That aside - she is basically the tech support in this, also there to comment on Daisuke's brashness. (Also, her saying "Goodbye, trusty D3" really got me emotional, that was tough.) And her being tech support in place of Koushirou was important, because...

... It really wouldn't have fit to have Iori do that, in my opinion. Sure, he works with computers too, just like the others do - but the scene in which he types is basically just there, because the computer room they used as shelter is from his previous high school and a superior allowed him to use it, so he simply just opened the live stream of the floating digi egg. That aside, Iori is mainly voice of reason again, nothing too major. His best scene is probably the moment one of Daisuke's snowball hits him in the face - because that's where he gets FURIOUS, it's very nice.

Then there's Takeru - and he was probably my favourite character among the 02 kids in this movie. It was already noticeable in the drama readings during DigiFes, but his main role is to be self-aware and make snide comments about things like "Oh my God, we were fighting in the open, of COURSE the media/military/whoever would see that and find us, what did you expect?!". He does that twice. (Tailmon does it too, which is hilarious. Whereas Patamon is just an innocent bean. "Patamon, you have no idea what I just said, right? "No, Takeru!") He's also driving support, as we already saw in the preview - while Daiken are riding on Imperialdramon, he drives behind them with Hikari, Miyako and Iori in the car as well. I was a bit disappointed to not have him mention his brother when the subject of "losing partnerships" came up, because he was absolutely troubled about the idea of being the cause of +60.00 partnerships disappearing, so Iori had to tell him to be rational and not be selfish...

... On the other hand, Hikari didn't mention Taichi in this regard either. As mentioned previously, I tried to rationalize her comment on "Poor Ukkomon", relating it to her empathetic personality - it DOES makes sense for her to assume that Ukkomon only did what it thought was right, since they didn't communicate properly. She thoroughly trusts in that she and Tailmon would always make their bond work through communication. To be hopeful yet also confident about their bonds. And her reaction towards Rui committing perceived injustice towards Ukkomon makes sense in context of her personality, since she probably still hasn't fully processed her own experiences. It was just jarring that she wasn't able to empathize with Rui on that. Daisuke was more open towards lending Rui a helping hand there. And hey, that is a very Daisuke thing to do - just like he was the first to reach out to Ken (and Wallace too, once he noticed he needed help and support), he was the first to reach out to Rui too. Who may have acted cruelly towards his Digimon (and that is not to be excused), but that was literally the circle of abuse, applying directly what he had adapted from his own mother. Digimon wouldn't be Digimon without trauma after all... That aside, there was not a lot to say about Hikari. She got a shot with Takeru during the snowball fight (as Ken and Miyako did), but that was it.

Long story short - the movie was fine. Visually, animation and colouring were VERY nice to look at, maybe a bit confusing at times, but that's what rewatches are there for. The sound was pretty great, the horror aspects were insane, but very well done in my opinion. The pacing was... Alright, though I'm not sure why several of Rui's leap year birthdays were skipped and that Ukkomon didn't appear in the meantime after 2003, so it begs the question of why exactly the movie took place in 2012 and not before. We also didn't really see a lot of the communication processes between Rui and Ukkomon, it was just claimed that there was miscommunication, but we don't know what else they were talking about for Ukkomon to "misinterpret" Rui's wishes. And that's where it doesn't help that Ukkomon reminds me of Kyubey so much, because its expressions are hard to read too. It's also unclear if there was actually more abuse (verbally or non-verbally) going on in the back - but it's not unlikely that it has taken place after all. So yeah, for the sake of the length of the movie, that was a lot more simplified.

I also don't reeeeeally understand why they showed the full Paildramon evolution twice. (Again, they were self-aware to some degree, because Tailmon stated "Do they really have to draw that much attention to themselves already?")

It's kinda sad that they didn't get any new evolutions. The character beats could have been even stronger, the "friendship talk" is nothing we haven't heard before, so the bonds could have been empathized a little more clearly - but then again, there is only so much you can squeeze into 87 minutes. And you could still feel the sense of togetherness, so that is perfectly fine in the end. The lore aspect is still a little difficult to wrap my head around, but seeing how I've outlined it above, I can make it work. Definitely looking forward to the audio dramas that will drop in the upcoming weeks, because a.) they will apparently contextualize more (especially in regards to Rui and Ukkomon's relationship) and b.) might allow more character beats.

Unfortunately, they may not fix my biggest disappointment with this movie. I had already feared it, but still hoped they wouldn't actually do that...

The older kids got the Tri revenge treatment. Literally. The three-second-glimpse of Koushirou and Taichi is the only life sign we get from the six older kids. Koushirou gets at least mentioned two more times, but that's it. We don't see Yamato, Sora, Mimi and Jyou. Not even during the montages. Not even when all the Digivices disappear and they show all kinds of Chosen Children across the globe. Nothing. We have no idea if Tentomon, Palmon and Gomamon are still there or not. No cameo, nothing. And that really left me with a heartache at the end, because I hoped they may at least use a montage like they did with Kizuna in the credit scene. And now I am left here craving Koushirou fretting over his phones probably also not working anymore, so he has to figure out a solution for that, gaaaaah.

That last part really left a bitter taste in my mouth and kinda soured the experience of the movie, even if the audio drama centering around Takeru and Hikari (!) may also involve Taichi and Yamato, but... It was okay. For the time being, I did enjoy watching the movie and the experience in cinema was just amazing. It was just difficult to digest. Let's see when I'll get to rewatch it. And let's hope that there still will be more content about the entire group - even without them having their Digivices.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 14)

With last episode's elimination weighing heavy upon us, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what will happen next. Still, I have to stick to it, and hope I'll be luckier with this week's upcoming ranking.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Gabby's Elimination

Current Score: 61 acquired/90 total

(Points versus @venus-is-thinking: 12 acquired/17 total)

Oh boy.

Look, I already rambled about how weird it is that Gabby was eliminated in this manner in my initial thoughts, so I won't waste my time writing the whole thing out again. It is true that Gabby already had a pretty complete character arc (going from insecurely relying on Ellie 100% to being afraid of what would happen when she was alone to overcoming her intrusive thoughts), so I can understand why the writers thought it would be okay to get rid of her now. I-- and I think a lot of others-- aren't so much upset with Gabby being eliminated as with the fashion in which it was done. Certainly for these power rankings, throwing in an elimination without voting was not something that I'd accounted for.

Thankfully I did well enough on Yul's elimination that how poorly I did with Gabby kinda got canceled out. Although, it also means that I wasn't able to reap the benefits of getting a 9/9 last week, and am now back in the 70% accuracy zone, though. Sigh. I fear that it won't get any better from here.

Let's just hope that there's an ACTUAL VOTE THIS WEEK HAHAHAHAHAHA (/lh)

Trailer Analysis

Ally pulling herself up into this tree and then Grett seeing a leaf falling from above makes me think that Ally might hide in a tree to spy on people, and Grett might spot her doing it. Embrace that Spy Nest, Ally.

EMILY???? MAYBE?????? Idk, I just miss her so much and I want her to come back.

Idol hunting, maybe? Or trying to spook people into thinking there's an idol to be found?

I assume this is actually Derek trying to check up on Trevor/see if he's okay, he's just doing it in his own Derek way.

It even seems like Trevor and Derek might both be serving as challenge tester interns for this challenge, which would add to the reading that Derek wants to make amends with Trevor.

Friendship! :D Death flag? D:

I hope that this is Jake telling Connor to get his head in the game instead of just yelling at him for no reason. If you're angry at him for being mopey, you're being a bit of a hypocrite, Jake.

Okay yeah, more treevidence.

This is a pretty standard strength-based Survivor challenge. Although, much like the balls challenge, this was also one that was discontinued for injuring the real life contestants too much. It's interesting to note that, for some reason, Connor's light turns red instead of being blue at some point in the challenge. It could just be an indicator that he makes it farther into the challenge (he's shown with eight bags instead of four). However, it could also be some sort of penalty, including one that starts at the beginning of the challenge.

To quote Venus, "IT'S THE BREAK CONNOR'S LEGS CHALLENGE???"

"I'm starting to feel like myself again~!"

This is presumably about Grett returning to her more villainous ways. Ironic, considering that she's just left the villains alliance, or at the very least it's less powerful now than it's ever been. I guess Yul and Gabby were both keeping Grett in check, in their own ways. Still, I missed s1 Grett, so hopefully we can get a bit of that flavor back in this end stretch. Also, this is the only scene we see with sunset lighting. That means that this scene is definitely the last chronological scene to appear in the trailer, and probably from after the challenge is over.

Power Ranking

#1: Grett

Speaking of Grett, let's keep talking about her.

Although I think Grett is in a much less safe position than she was before Yul or Gabby's elimination, I would still be surprised if she was the next to go. Obviously, I said that about Gabby too, but Gabby's elimination also strengthens Grett's position. Would they really eliminate Yul and Gabby AND Grett back to back to back? I sincerely hope not.

There also seems to be a lot of foreshadowing that Grett will be in a position of power/decision making in this episode. Last time, she said that she wouldn't forget that Alec and Riya continued to stand by Yul, and this time, she's clearly getting up to some sort of scheming. Obviously, it's possible for a character's own meddling to wind up taking them out in the end. However, I don't think that's what they'd want to do with Grett right now. She doesn't need to have what power she's finally managed to accrue swept out from underneath her again.

Oh, and she just told Gabby that she'd kick ass in the competition for her. That's not something you say right before getting cancelled yourself. Grett really should be okay.

#2: Jake

And, sure, why don't we put my other best winner candidate in the #2 position as well? If I think these guys could make the finale (together, even), then surely they have to make it past this episode, right?

I am a little bit worried for Jake, as there is definitely potential for Ally to shoot some votes his way. I'm almost expecting him to get some votes this episode, I just don't think it'll be enough to have any effect on him. Given his growing relationships with Aiden and Connor, I don't think that either of them would really ever vote for Jake at this point. That means, that, assuming all three of them vote together, Jake would need literally every single person in the game-- Alec, Riya, Grett, and Ally-- to vote for him in order to have a majority. Like I said, I am a little worried that that could happen, but overall, I don't think it will.

Despite the level of focus Jake has gotten this season, I still feel like there's more to come with him. I think the writers might want to expand more on his relationship with Connor, with both of them feeling like screw-ups, and Aiden and Jake's newly friendly dynamic is super fun to watch. In either case, as is probably evident by the fact that we haven't seen Connor or Aiden on this list yet, I think that Jake is the least narratively expendable of the true heroes. If you removed him, Aiden and Connor don't have much tying them together. Jake is the lynchpin of that alliance from a storytelling standpoint, and I think they'll want to keep him around for that reason.

#3: Connor

Okay, potentially a bold choice, given how many death flags Connor was throwing up at the end of last episode. You can't just spill your entire backstory in a heartfelt conversation, dude, you're gonna die. And now he's in the #3 spot that's been cursed by Gabby?! Now I'm really second guessing myself...

I do think that Connor's clock might not have ticked its final tock yet, though. Despite the fact that I honestly think it's more likely that he's been impaired (probably by Riya) in this challenge than that they spoiled that he makes it to some sort of second round, I still think Connor might win. Sure, in the superhero challenge, he wanted super strength; it's not that he had it already. But, who else is supposed to win this challenge? Twink 1 or 2? The gamer girl, or the depressed bookworm? Riya's snappable-looking arms?

My money's on Grett if not Connor, but I think that Connor winning immunity this episode would be an appropriate level of win for him after the rough time he went through last episode. It would prove to him that he can be strong and have good things happen for him, even if the circumstances are actively stacked against him. Jake's supposed pep talk could also help get him in the proper mood, which could bring the two of them closer together.

It's also still true that I think that Aiden, Jake, and Connor is still the voting block that's most likely to work together in the upcoming vote, making it harder for the villains to get enough numbers to eliminate Connor. I could definitely see Riya and possibly Alec wanting to continue targeting him, and if Ally has become Riya's lackey, she could go along with it too. Grett, I don't really see, but... I can't deny it's a possibility.

Still, I find it unlikely enough that Connor will be immediately eliminated that he's at #3. Ugh, now I totally feel like I've jinxed it, and it will just be that Connor goes home again. C'est la vie, I guess. Use that old man strength to prosper, Connor!

#4: Aiden

Blah blah blah, Jake, Connor, and Aiden working together means that they're all less likely to be eliminated in this episode, you've heard it twice before immediately prior to this. I do think that Aiden is probably the most likely of the trio to be eliminated this episode, though, even if I can't exactly put my finger on why.

Part of it is probably that Aiden was a finalist before, which makes me less likely to think that he will be again. Aiden also already beat Riya via James in s2, so there isn't as much of a need to have him outlive/triumph over her again this time. Also, while we've debatably concluded Connor's character arc with that conversation at the end of last episode, it definitely feels like we're winding down on Aiden's content for the season. He's certainly made it far enough to appease James and Lake at this point, and that fist bump with Jake may be a signal that they are truly and undeniably friends at this point. If that's the case, why is Aiden still here?

To be honest, a big part of why I've put all of the heroes pretty high up this week is because of Grett's quote from the end of the trailer, the one about feeling like herself again. If Grett has started stirring up trouble, how is that supposed to result in Aiden going home? Or Jake or Connor, for that matter. Given that Ally has seemingly flipped over to the villains' side, Grett voting with them to take out a hero is, like, the default. What's so spicy about that? I mean, it's spicy that Ally is now voting with the villains, but that has nothing to do with Grett!

It is definitely possible that I'm overthinking things, and that continuing to work with the villains (but of her own volition instead of Yul's) is making Grett excited to be a bad guy again. If that's the case, I'll surely regret putting all of Jake, Connor, and Aiden in the upper echelons of the list. However, I feel like Grett is planning to scheme something beyond what's more obvious, and that it's more likely that she will turn on Alec and Riya to work with the hero boys instead. If that's true, then all of them really should be safe.

#5: Alec

Welcome back from the brink of death, Alec. Don't make me regret moving you back up.

Alec was taking an unprecedented number of Ls last episode, and I fear they may keep coming for him. But, if that's the case, it may actually make him less likely to go home. No longer having any power, Alec at least appears like much less of a threat. He is still a worry when it comes to physical challenges, but there's much more of an appearance, at least, that he could now be taken out whenever.

I also feel like taking him out right now would be a little random. Like, if you were gonna have him go out as a direct result of the kiss, it probably should have been last episode. The current timeline of events would be Alec kisses Riya, then the truth is revealed and there's a strain on their relationship, then Alec just waffles around for an episode or so before being eliminated. Why have that period of waffling around in? The same felt true of Ally, and then they picked her up for a new plotline and some continued relevance!

Everybody keeps reiterating to me in the comments that there desperately needs to be a true villain in the final three, and they'd never eliminate Alec before that point because they need him there to be a losing finalist. And, you know what? Fair. I don't know as much about how Total Drama works as I do about how Danganronpa works, so if that really is a rule that's written in stone, maybe I should start listening to the wise words of the more informed fans. I'm always a fan of messing with the rules to catch people off guard, and I personally would probably prefer a finale where I'm not already certain that one of the three finalists isn't going to win. (Like, let's be real, ONC knew to cut off the s2 finale part 1 at whether or not Aiden would be saved instead of whether James or Riya would win, because once James jumped off that cliff it was basically a foregone conclusion that he'd be the winner.) However, it's nice to have some villain representation in the finale as well, and maybe that still can be Alec.

#6: Riya

I don't have much specific to say about Riya, just, like... bad vibes.

I could completely see Grett's scheming be in an effort to get Riya out of the game. Currently, I think Riya reads as the biggest dog on campus, so if Grett is looking for her "game defining move" (to whatever extent that actually matters), it could totally make sense to target Riya. Now that Connor is moving towards moving on, all she has to do is say the word to Jake, Connor, and Aiden, and I'm sure they'd comply. The scheming would be to the extent that it's a blindside, and Riya doesn't realize that she lost hold on Grett to an extent that Grett would be looking to target her.

There's also the fact that Riya was a finalist before, and therefore may not be again. I maintain that if they're going to have a repeat finalist, it's more likely to be Riya than Aiden, but there's always the possibility that it's just neither of them and Aiden could be taken out later.

I really don't have much else to add. I think Riya could very easily be in danger this episode, and there isn't much depth to it. Leaving Alec to fend for himself could be an interesting turn of events as well, as he never competed in s1 without Fiore by his side, and his plan going into the season of focusing more on his social game would have totally backfired. I'm not fully convinced on Riya going home, but it seems like a likely enough outcome.

#7: Ally

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. To be clear, I'm talking about Ally's placement in the power rankings-- from first place to last place-- as opposed to the decline of her character. Even if she's choosing to act a bit more villainously, I haven't started to dislike her more, or particularly think that she's being written worse. I merely think that she's put herself in a pretty precarious position.

As I said earlier in this power ranking, I think that Grett is going to be a major player in this episode, and as such I think that those scenes depicting her and Ally in the tree will be Relevant. Basically, I wonder if Grett will stir up trouble by throwing Ally under the bus this episode. It won't be hard for Grett to convince Jake and Co. to take her out, and if she can convince Riya that Ally has been spying on her (while still pretending to be under Riya's wing), Riya and Alec might turn on her, too. The scheming, therefore, can be a plot to humiliate Riya by tricking her into voting out someone who genuinely wanted to work with her. And, with Grett now joining the heroes, Riya and Alec's days are totally numbered. It's a brilliant plan to pin all six votes on one person in a move that secretly swaps your major alliance and gives you lots of power... just like what I predicted Riya would do to Alec last episode. Mannnnn...

Anyways, if you're like me, you might be wondering what an Ally elimination would do in terms of Ally's character arc this episode. It is possible that there would be some issues with Ally's heart simply being broken by an elimination in ways the writers don't want. However, there are a few ways around it. The first is that Ally, already having learned that it's better to play as herself instead of who she thinks the audience will like, will be satisfied by her elimination as a result of her trying to play the game as she thought best. That's like, super unlikely to have happen, but it's not totally impossible.

The other is that Ally will be upset, freaking out over whether flipping to being a villain and then immediately being eliminated as one will have totally ruined her rapport with literally everyone. But, she'll be comforted either in this episode or in the eventual Loser's Motel episode. In the case of being comforted this episode, I could honestly see Grett being the one to do it. In season 1, Grett was eliminated after the villains turned on her, and then faced a lot of public backlash for her actions. It was tough, but she made it through. Ally should be proud of the game she's played, having made it this far, and not take it too harshly that she got outplayed.

The Loser's Motel option would probably include Hunter and/or Tess trying to cheer her up, with the added bonus that Ally could see what people really thought of her this season. If they actually thought that she was more funny/engaging/interesting this season, that could lift her spirits. It could also be a combination of both, where Grett gives her word of confidence now and social media finishes it out later.

The other point of conflict is Ally's relationship with Jake, which... uhhhh, I don't know. If Ally does go out here by Jake's hand, I don't think that their relationship will be at all salvaged. However, I also don't know if that's one of the goals of this season? They might just hate each other, and that's the end. I think the biggest issue with that is, if Jake wins, it might be a bit of a weird look to have your winner have a lot of animosity towards another fairly rootable character.

Should that convince me out of putting Ally down here? I don't know, maybe. But on these trajectories, how would Ally and Jake ever make up, even if they had the entire rest of the season to do it? Both of them being losing finalists? I don't know! So, Ally stays here for now.

Well, that's the power ranking for this week. Unlike either of the past two weeks-- despite how different their outcomes were-- I'm not confident at what I've put here at all. I'd put, like, everyone here other than Grett at like 5 or 6 if I could. Will that lack of confidence be unfounded in a brilliant result, or will I have swung for the fences and missed wildly again? Honestly, as long as there's a genuine vote out this episode, I'll be happy. I look forward to seeing what happens on Saturday.

[ricardian-werewolf]

8: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

(Yes, Spoiler alert! A CROSSOVER!) Ao3 Link

Summary:

Nikolai explains finally how he took the crown, and dominik begins to unravel that there are layers to him that not even he as his lover knows of. Deep in Dva Stolba, a miracle occurs that shatters all of the plans anyone has.

Scene clip below the cut:

“Careful, Dominik. They also happened to secure my throne. Well, one of them did…” Nikolai’s fingers snapped, and the tent’s flaps were pulled wide to admit six figures;

The first was a boy with slicked back black hair, sharp eyes and a face made seemingly of marble. At his elbow - she was that small - was a suli girl with dark eyes and a gaze that made Dominik shrink back in his seat. Looming over the boy’s shoulder was a gangly Zemeni fellow armed with two pearl-handled revolvers and a jaunty top hat. At His elbow was a boy with freckles, ginger hair and goggles perched on his forehead. He looked about 15, and skittish. 

Dominik’s gaze focused in on the other two, a hulking Fjerdan glaring daggers at Dominik, and at his side a red-kefta clad woman with red hair. She swayed uneasily on her feet, and clung limply to the Fjerdan’s arm. Dominik had a vague memory of seeing this girl before, and then he remembered Kermazin with a jolt of fear.

“Easy,” Nikolai cooed, and settled back on his chair. It seemed like now any seat he sat upon was a throne. He radiated such power that Dominik was inclined to wonder What these teenagers had done to afford his brother and lover such a boon. So, he stirred his coffee, added a costly spoonful of sugar, and opened his mouth.

“How?”

Nikolai leaned forward, and flashed his teeth.

“Jurda Parem.”

Dominik’s brow quirked up in curiosity. 

“It’s a stimulant. The Fjerdans have been experimenting with it on Grisha. It’s highly , dangerously addictive.” Nikolai’s gaze softened as he glanced at the Grisha on the Fjerdan’s arm, and he clicked his tongue. He’d burned the parem the moment Matthais had told him - after swearing fealty to this new Opjer king.

Oh, yes.

Nikolai had killed Rasmus, and taken the throne. He had used the Black Protocol’s chaos to crown himself King, and inspire a revolt amongst the Drüskelle. Two Years of working with the common people as a nobleman had earned their favor, and with a new crop of Drüskelle coming in to replace the old guard, Nikolai’s word was law. 

“I made it my first edict that the Parem experimentation would stop instantly.” 

“What about Jarl Brum and the entirety of Fjerdan society?!” Dominik hissed. 

Nikolai’s face turned stony. He waved his hand to dismiss the guards and these teens, but then hesitated. 

His gaze turned back to Dominik, and he sighed. The two years of exile seemed to press down on him in that moment more than they had in weeks. Pulling his hands through his blonde hair, Nikolai pressed his palms to his eyes, and sighed deeply. A sick feeling wormed its way into Dominik’s gut. 

“It took a lot of work. Being inserted into Fjerdan society as an adult raised partially by Baba Anya, made for this to be one of the rudest awakenings I’ve experienced. And I’ve had some pretty rude awakenings.” Nikolai’s grin cracked and he peered down at the map. 

“I had to repress…” He fluttered his hands nervously and patted down his pockets for something. Dominik instinctively pulled out a fountain pen and tossed it to him. Nikolai grinned, stuck the barrel in between his teeth and gnawed on it. 

“-myself. Every part of myself. Fjerdan society before I got on the throne was so… masculine that the suppression isn’t even suppression, it’s socially acceptable. And yes, I know-” He glared at Dominik’s serious face. “Installing a new societal system into an already existing system is grounds for mistrust, disaster, and so on. But, beneath that veneer, by being one with the people, I found less so pockets of resistance, but the breakdown of monoliths. Ravka, and for good reason, sees Fjerda as a fundamentally singular thing: backwards. While militaristically light years ahead of us, they’re backwards in their social perceptions. At first glance. Under the surface, there’s radicals, centrists, and Jarl Brum alikes who want to march Fjerda to endless war. That’s why the Fjerdan law forces the noble families to compete for the throne. However, over the last… two centuries or so, it’s been cornered by the Grimjers.”

[eggtartz]

a/n : my attempt to write smut for the first time, it's kinda long 😭 hope it doesn't turns out bad but i'll try my very best!

18+ content you have been warned!

summary : takeomi made sure you felt safe, in his arms where you belong

tw : takeomi x female reader!, rape (do not proceed if triggering), sexual harassment, comfort sex!, lots of pet names, reader stutters a lot, battle of the three deities arc spoilers!

wc : 2415

you didn't know it would end up horrid like this so picking the last dignity you had, you tried to stand up only to stumble back against the wall.

"baby?"

he finally got a day to have you for himself after sneaking out from a brahman meeting. his gang had a huge fight to dealt with next week so his gang had meetings more frequently these days. even so, takeomi never ignored or gave you less attention. sometimes he would bring you to the meetings, to the mall to eat ice cream or bringing senju along so you two can have some girls time and doll up for him.

but today you had the whole day with him and you were very excited. early in the morning you wore a simple dress with pink pastel flowers as decorations and takeomi picked you up an hour later. you have told him the night before your plan is to have picnic in the sun and go shopping later. as you ramble on, he only smiled and nodded while placing his hand on your thighs while he was driving.

"shit, honey can you see under the cover is there any smokes left?" he asked you when you arrived at a traffic light. you checked the covers and the back and shaked your head while frowning. "there's a convenient store, you mind we take a quick stop so i can buy some of em'?"

he took a turn and parked his car. upon leaving he told you "i won't be long. lock the doors and stay still here and be pretty for me yeah?" you send him a sweet smile as you watched his tall figure disappearing in the store.

you've grown bored and wondered what took him so long it has been ten minutes. just then you saw a cat trying to cross the street but cars and motorcycles were speeding up. being the angel you were, you unlocked the car and ran to the cat and catched him before he tried to cross the streets again. "oh poor thing let me help you okay?" you cooed.

you hold the cat in your arms and went to an alley across the street and released him. "safe and sound now, be careful!" you waved at the cat goodbye and with a purr the cat left. you turn you heels but "oh, oh lookie what we have here?"

your heart dropped, there was three psychically bigger men in front of you that was practically drooling over your legs. there was one who had the audacity to peek your panties under the white dress.

"wh-what is this? get out of m-my way, my boyfriend i-is waiting" you tried walking passed them only for them to catch your small body and roughly pushed you against the wall. "oh we're gonna have fun are we boys?" you thrashed and tried kicking them with your high heels but they caught your feet and grabbed him and to your horror, they spread your legs.

and they had their enjoyment, after using you and forcing you for their own pleasure they left you in the alley. you thought it was only for five or six minutes? but it didn't felt like it, it felt like torture. you bet your vagina probably ripped due to their harsh thrusts, there was blood even. what would takeomi say?

thinking only about takeomi and how you wanted to run away to loathe yourself in grief you tried to stand up. "baby?" you couldn't turn your head to see that it was indeed him. the confusion in his voice oh how it broke you. he would be disgusted looking at your state, no he would despise you.

"takeomi, i- im sorry. there's like three g-guys. they, they. they were so strong i didn't know what to do. im- im so s-sorry" you tried explaining as best as you could with hiccups along your words and trying to cover yourself despite your dress that has been torn to pieces. takeomi didn't said a word, he only looked at you up and down for a while until he took out his phone and dialled someone's number.

"baby do you remember what they looked like?" with a sniff you shaked your head and still didn't make contact with his eyes. you heard his footsteps grow farther and shouted for his name.

"ta-takeomi! don't leave me pl-please, th-they could come b-back. please im, im sorry" your cries got worse and he kneeled beside you and wiped your tears away "i would never fucking leave you, not again. fuck this date, im taking you home. im leaving the bastards to senju" he took off his jacket and tried to help you stand only to see that your knees were bleeding as well as a spot between your legs.

clenching his teeth, he gently slithered his hands around your waist and carried you back to the car. the front seat was rather small and your feets sure hurt so he gently placed your body in the behind seat and shut the door. surprisingly, he sat down with you and leaned down to take out some wet wipes to clean off the blood.

"ta-takeomi? im, im sorry" he looked at you and in his eyes was adoration, sympathy and pure sadness. takeomi was guilty, the que in the store was so long he should have ditched it. it's not like he couldn't go a day without smoking. this was his fault and he wanted to expressed it by punching someone's teeth but now he had to comfort you. he had to made sure you felt safe with him.

"darling, you know this isn't your fault so please don't apologize. im so sorry, i shouldn't have left you for too long darling tell me what should i do?" he looked at you with glossy eyes, the scar on his eye looked so beautiful and you couldn't help yourself.

"take me. please, take me." you said with one breath. he watched as your eyes met his, he loved you so much he would do anything in the world happen just for you so when he sees you vurnerable like this, it ignites rage in him as he initiated a kiss. the kiss was slow and sensual, a hint of tobacco still on his tongue. he deepened the kiss with holding your neck and the other hand gently but firmly grasped your waist while giving it slow massages. you put your hands around his neck and opened you mouth so your tongues could collide and draw out a moan from you. you felt tears prickling again but he held your cheek and wiped it away as it was a sign that he way here, it was him.

"lay down for me princess, i'll take care of you" he said while unzipping your dress and with a last look on your face, discarded it. he ripped the blood stained panties you had and ate your cunt like a starved man. your hand frantically gripped his hair and he haven't touched your clit yet. you might cum on the spot and he wanted your head to be so dizzy that the only thing you're thinking is his tongue pleasuring you. you gasp when he lapped his tongue on your folds and felt a finger sinking in your pussy.

"how does that feel princess? better?" you opened your eyes and he eased another finger in and pumped it slowly "f-faster" you silently gasped when he went a tad bit faster but he was still gentle. he heard you whiny voice begging for more, more fraction. you needed to cum. takeomi inserted one more finger and went harsher on your clit, making you buck onto his mouth. going faster, takeomi looked at your state. your chest was going fast with the breathing, your mouth ajar and your sweet moans getting gradually louder as you were near to your climax.

takeomi took out his fingers from your pussy and directed his face on your clit, rubbing the bundle of nerve to stimulate you faster. he went faster and with a gasp you squirted on his face and he lapped your now wet folds quickly, not wanting to waste any of them. after calming down, you both looked at each other. takeomi's chin was wet from your climax before so you blushed and hide your face behind your forearm. takeomi chuckled and removed your hand. "now, now you weren't so shy grinding on my face just now weren't you?" he teased making you more embarrassed, your face turning into a different shade of red.

this was the woman that takeomi truly loved. she looked incredibly beautiful like this, under him sweating and panting but still maintaining her innocent look although her eyes are saying to take her whole.

"i'll put it in now yeah darling? stop me if you don't want to because once im in you, you know i can't stop"

"w-why are saying something so embarrassing?" you blushed harder, if that was possible. he started to kiss your jaw and your neckline, slowly and sloppy.

"can't blame me now princess, your pussy is heaven" he said with a smirk and you lightly smacked him. you were so beautiful, so beautiful only for him.

he took out his cock from his brief and took out a condom from his wallet. he ripped the packaging with his teeth and rolled it down on his cock. he pumped it a few time, the slit going up and down his bulbous head no doubt turning you on. you couldn't wait anymore and grabbed him closer with you feet, pushing your hips closer for any contact from him.

"aw she's so needy? your pussy is so needy now love?"

"please, it hurts"

"it's okay, im here. i'll take all the pain away" he shushed and slowly inserted his dick inside you. the first inches made you gasping for air while be was frowning so much to fight the urge to cum right there at how good your pussy walls felt around him. it was hugging him, welcoming him and he had to hold back until he sinked the last inches. with a shaky breath, he took out his dick and slammed it again inside you.

"shit baby stop clenching on me like that"

"yo-you're so big"

"yeah? but you can take it right? my princess can take it right? my pretty angel, my love" he cooed by your ear, making you clench on him harder with the praises and comfort. he went faster and slammed his dick into your pussy, his balls slapping your ass. holding you thighs apart, he fasten the pace while looking at you. you were lost in pleasure, eyes close shut but your lips were trembling.

takeomi rubbed your cheek making your eyelids opened instantly, while kissing you tenderly. he swallowed your moans in the bruising kiss while giving numerous dark purple marks on your neck. he kissed your face, the side of your lips, your breasts, your belly. your boyfriend worshipped you.

"fuck, fuck princess im cumming" he groaned while hiding his face in the crook of your neck, going faster to chase his climax. your feet automatically trapped him and did moved your hips to chase yours as well. with one last thrust, takeomi came with a animalistic groan and plopped his body on yours. his breathing was erratic, like yours. you both were sweating and couldn't move in a few minutes.

you tapped his shoulder making him look at you. you were still needy.

"can i suck you?" you pleaded innocently with battling those eyelash, mascara ruined and lipstick smeared. you looked gorgeous. with only the tone takeomi once again got hard and his dick on your stomach grew.

"go on princess, do whatever you want" and you did. frantically you took takeomi's cock in your smaller hands, smearing your mixed cum and spitted on the head. the action made him groan and he threw his head back. "mmh love your cock, love how it makes me feel" your tongue gave the head kitty licks then you took his cock in your mouth. his hand bunched your hair in a ponytail and urged you to take more of him.

"shit shit that feels so good princess, look at you taking my cock so well. you're doing so good princess keep going" you wanted to do better so you deepthroated his cock, shallowing your cheeks and in the same time groping his heavy balls. sweat started dripping from takeomi's forehead as he was so close to cumming so he pushed his hips and you opened your eyes to watch him through your wet lashes.

while bobbing your head, you tapped his thigh telling him to look at you. he looked at you and couldn't contain that look of pure filth from you and released his grip so you could breath. you coughed but hand instantly went to pump his cock again, he took your chin and kissed you sloppily smearing the spit on mouth making you giggle as you took him again in your warm mouth.

"damn it i can't hold it in anymore princess can i cum in your mouth?"

cock still in the mouth you muffled "do it" takeomi felt a wave of pleasure as he shoot ropes of cum, dropping some on your breasts. as he took a breath you took the leftover cum with your finger and swirled the sticky substance on your tongue while looking at him.

he grabbed your face and kissed you so hard, so bruising, so loving. after tons of light kisses and sweet cuddles you fell asleep in his chest. he took out some wipes to clean your thighs and his face. he put on his jacket on your body and wore his pants back. while adjusting the belts, he heard his phone ringing.

"take-nii we found some cctv footage, waka and benkei found them three blocks away." he heard senju from the other side.

"yeah, take them to the gym basement. i'll take it from there" he then hanged up. going to the driver's seat, he drove the car to your apartment where both of you would cuddle for the rest of the day. he doesn't have any intention to make you remember anything from today, therefore he's gonna deal with the fuckers tomorrow. oh how he's gonna have so much fun torturing them.

a/n : yikes how was the smut is it okay 😭

[writingnocturne]

A Simple Request

This is my contribution to @zelinkcommunity's Zelink Week 2023! Day Three: Letters

Look below the break to read! Be sure to check out everyone else's work, as well! They did great!

{ For this week, I will be posting a little peek at art/writing for memories in Call of the Forgotten, a TotK rewrite I am working on (there will obviously be direct and indirect spoilers for TotK). These memories will be posted out of order and are subject to change. They follow the Ancient Hero and Princess during the time of the First Great Calamity. }

Memory ?? – A Simple Request

"Naboris, revered Sage of Lighting and hero of the Gerudo– …Is that too much? Too little?" Princess Zelda leans over a desk, where she tirelessly has spent her morning writing drafts upon drafts of letters. "...I really am sorry, Link, we've been here all day." She glances at the boy sitting on the other side. He looks entirely spaced out, his hair loosely hanging over his bored expression. "But how am I supposed to send for them? I'm not my father. I am not the one they pledged their loyalty to… Yet I have so much to ask of them. Oh, I can't keep going back and forth on this forever! Link, please look over this for me!" Zelda shoves the parchment over to him.

( Word Count – 489 )

Link blinks, snapping out of it as the overwhelming array of symbols meets his gaze. A wave of a foreign feeling rams into him in an abruptly harsh fashion. His eyes go wide and his face becomes as red as his hair. Confused silence suffocates the both of them; but somehow this silence has a different air on either side of the desk. The princess tilts her head, eventually deciding to break it.

"...Link? If you don't want to read it, you don't have to–" She pauses, again, as Link anxiously makes eye contact with her. It's as if someone has shone a light right in his face! What is with that look? He's entirely distressed! Zelda reaches for the parchment. "...Oh, these diplomatic matters must be completely out of place compared to what you're used to. I shouldn't have asked, it must be too much."

"...princess–" He finally pipes up, but all he can force out is a murmur of her name. "I… want to help, but I–"

"What?" Zelda narrows her eyes. She has hardly ever seen Link so… shy. He is usually sturdy and focused, that is for sure. The princess returns her eyes to the writing, then Link. It is then that it comes to her. "Oh my– You don't know how to… No one ever taught you to read?" Her companion confirms this with a defeated nod of his head, but there is so little of a motion that she could have missed it entirely. "I suppose that makes sense… You know, perhaps I need to clear my head some, myself." She exchanges her struggling attempts of messages for a blank roll. "Would you like me to teach you? It will take more than one lesson, of course… but I could start with teaching you the characters."

There is a moment of hesitation from Link. He stares towards Zelda again, yet this time his eyes don't fear embarrassment. She seems fully serious. After considering his options, he briefly nods in affirmation. It may be worth not making a fool of himself at a later date.

"Alright." The princess gives a subtle but genuine, gentle smile. "Let's start somewhere simple."

Thank you for reading! Check out the first concept doodles of them here! Obviously, this is all very incomplete; but most is planned out thoroughly! If you have questions, just ask!

Art Info: (Check my art blog @nocturnalfandomartist!)

Program: Ibis Paint X

Time Elapsed: 2 hours, 57 minutes

[watchingspnagain]

Rewatching Death Takes a Holiday

Welcome to “All This Ep Needs Is Cas and a Pottery Wheel: A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

Up today, s4e15: Death Takes a Holiday

Bobby alerts the boys to a town where no one has died for weeks—even those who definitely should have, like a man who was shot point-blank in the chest. Upon investigation, they find the last person to die in the town, a teenager named Cole, who reports that when he died a Reaper appeared but was then taken away by black smoke. With help from Pam, Sam and Dean enter the spirit world, where they discover that Alastair is kidnapping reapers because killing Reapers is one of the seals. They are able to stop Alastair from breaking the seal, but Pam is killed by a demon before they can help her. After the boys stop Alaister, he confronts Dean alone and tells Dean that he cannot escape him. Castiel appears, zapping Alastair away, and congratulates Dean on stopping the seal from breaking before revealing that it was not Bobby who called them about the town, but him. Dean askes Cas why they can’t make more exceptions about who has to die—after all, Cas saved him from hell. Dean is unimpressed by Cas’s answer that Dean is different.

Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

 [and we begin:]

Mace:

ugh alastair. he’s so gross

   Lor:

nothing stays dead in Supernatural

   Mace:

snork

except women

   Lor:

except extras in the cold open, so something's hinky

HA

   Mace:

and sometimes gays

   Lor:

stupid show

   Mace:

the worst

no, you’re a donut, you donut

   Lor:

RIGHT?

who uses donut that way? (I love you, Dean)

   Mace:

Ha!

   Lor:

aw, fraught brothers

   Mace:

oh Jesus, Dean, stop being a drama queen and get in the car

   Lor:

LOL

   Mace:

Iiii, don’t remember this ep at all (so far at least)

   Lor:

I have the vaguest recollection but I don't know where they are going at all

   Mace:

ooooh CAS REFERENCE (sort of)

   Lor:

CAAAAAAAAS

I mean, Dean was literally just pulled out of hell by an angel, guys

I mean, I have seen this show before, so I know it's not miracles, but THEY HAVEN'T

   Mace:

Ha! Yeah, but that wasn’t really a miracle for miracle’s sake.

   Lor:

no it was for eyefucking's sake

   Mace:

SNORK

god, Dean, stop being such a grump

   Lor:

is Dean wearing gloves? immediately starts crocheting him mittens

   Mace:

“the normal rules don’t really apply to us” listen to your brother, Dean, he’s smort

snork

   Lor:

EXCUSE ME. he's Jim the Mechanic

"I don't have a good answer"

   Mace:

HA

   Lor:

dammit Dean now I want something fried

   Mace:

HAHAHAHA EW

omg Sam that’s so hot

   Lor:

blood freak!Sam is hot

   Mace:

HAHAHAHAHAHA

   Lor:

HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

   Mace:

stay in your lane, Lor

   Lor:

LOL

apologies

   Mace:

“no thanks, House"

   Lor:

brings Dean an ibuprofren and snuggles him

Sam you LIAR

   Mace:

oh sam, your pants are on fire

   Lor:

just because you look so good in that hoodie

   Mace:

exactly

   Lor:

aaaaah, breaking seals

right. that's what this season is about

I always forget that we go through a whole season of this before the apocalypse stuff

   Mace:

roger that. i’d forgotten too

right?!

SAM nice word choice

   Lor:

hahaha the boys' facial expressions

   Mace:

YES

ah, Outsiders reference

   Lor:

oh shut up Pam it's been like twice. just because you lost your eyes sheesh

NICE

   Mace:

god, Dean, eat a piece of cheese

   Lor:

LOL

aww lookitem all lying down

   Mace:

oh, this doesn’t end well for her does it?

   Lor:

I don't remember

I think no

I think she gets horrible dead

   Mace:

yeah

   Lor:

DEAN WINCHESTER

   Mace:

is it weird that they’re even hotter dead

   Lor:

no?

   Mace:

BACK OFF, HAG

   Lor:

GOD SAM IS HOT IN THIS ONE

   Mace:

RIGHT?!?!

“get out of me” HAHAHAHA

   Lor:

LOLOL

   Mace:

DEAN WINCHESTER NO

   Lor:

I love that Dean is like "what can I poke as a ghost"

   Mace:

YES

   Lor:

"thanks, Haley Joel" haaaaahahahaha

   Mace:

snork

   Lor:

and the face Dean makes

   Mace:

YES

   Lor:

wait Dean doesn't remember Tessa?

   Mace:

yeah, why doesn’t he remember that

   Lor:

huh

   Mace:

weird

   Lor:

I'm gonna assume that was just an expediency to remind the audience

   Mace:

yeah

sloppy, though

   Lor:

yeah

   Mace:

mmm the high freckle count makes up for it

   Lor:

YES

nrrrrrf the HOODIE

   Mace:

YES

   Lor:

Sam what are you doing

   Mace:

oh Sam are you lying to a kid?!

   Lor:

all the supernatural creatures want Dean. Reapers, Angels, God, the Darkness

   Mace:

yeah

   Lor:

oh Dean

   Mace:

omg the looks they give the kid when he doesn’t know Karate Kid

   Lor:

and now Dean has to pause the hunt to sit down and watch Karate Kid with Cole

YES

   Mace:

omg Sam’s laugh

   Lor:

YES

"you gotta teach us that"

   Mace:

HAHAHA he’s the only kid in the room right there

   Lor:

YES

   Mace:

ewewewew

so gross

   Lor:

did they forget that ghosts have weaknesses?

ooof this particular Alastair is SO creepy

   Mace:

hence my ews

   Lor:

yeah

   Mace:

arctic craphole hahahaha

   Lor:

lol

SHE DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE THE DOOR LOCKED?!

   Mace:

right?!

   Lor:

she's blind and sitting in a room with two dead bodies what the hell?

   Mace:

tsk

you can SEE Dean thinking fast

   Lor:

YES

   Mace:

don’t shit your pants, boys

   Lor:

LOL

you're not wearing a skirt, Pam

   Mace:

Koons, give her her common wordplay

   Lor:

grumbles

OMG LOOKIT HIM

   Mace:

YAS

so young

   Lor:

RIGHT?

and so rumbly voiced

and sex-haired

   Mace:

HAHAHA

   Lor:

"whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite"

   Mace:

“you seem to do the exact opposite”

HAHAHA

   Lor:

get used to that Cas, that's just Dean

you'll love it eventually

   Mace:

yep

as a parent, this hurts me

   Lor:

yeah

"we're all scared"

   Mace:

“sooner than you think” FUCK YOU 987439282

   Lor:

RIGHT?!

omg their faces

   Mace:

right?

   Lor:

and Dean trying to tell her she's going somewhere better after that speech Tessa just gave him

   Mace:

yeah

I don’t really get why they’d write that for him

   Lor:

yeah, it seems like he's holding onto the idea of a better place way harder than I'd expect him to

   Mace:

yeah, it doesn't track

he’s too pessimistic, and he knows she’s too smart to believe him

   Lor:

yeah

   Mace:

and he’s generally not insincere

   Lor:

nope

   Mace:

overall, pretty sloppy writing in that one

   Lor:

both of the boys lied to dying/dead people in this ep, and they both feel a little ooc

[devondespresso]

WIP WhhhMonday Nightish

Once upon a time Devon was tagged in a wip wednesday by @eriquin and meant to do it but missed both wednesday and the weekend before remembering again. totally unrelated, Devon is working on getting their official adhd diagnosis.

i also noticed that the past snippets shared in wip-whatever posts have been purposefully the least interesting parts because i was worried about spoilers, which is dumb because that's created the unintended consequence of my tag is full of everything i don't like as much and a very different impression of what my fic is (as seen by most of these snippets being my rewritten scenes despite the actual fic being mostly new in-between scenes)

TLDR: WIP Whatever-day-it-is: But Actually For Fun This Time

The Rules

Post the file names of up to 5 of your WIPs for people to send you asks

Post a snippet of one of those WIPs

When people send you an ask with the name of one of your WIPs, write 3 lines of that WIP.

(Optional) Post the lines you wrote.

You can send multiple requests especially since this is going on through the weekend!

The WIPs

we're doing bulleted chapter titles to share from since that was my favorite and genuinely most productive format I've used. Feel free to ask for as many as you want, I plan on working on this basically all week

Karen Wheeler POV Bonus Chapter (Prologue kinda? side story in the same universe?? Bonus chapter set after season 1 and way before ch 1)

Steve, are you okay? Are you okay, Steve? (ch 9)

What's this? The consequences of my actions? (Is that a motherfucking Lovejoy reference?) (ch 10)

Kidnapping? no. surprise adoption. (lol get taken care of BITCH) (ch 11)

NEXT CHAPTER BC IDK HOW TO TRANSITION (ch 12) (a very tentative title for the next chapter to be written)

The Snippet

here is my favorite and most recent scene I've written, which takes place before they junkyard where Steve and Dustin are at the grocery store to get that ungodly amount of raw meat they have to toss around (also i've split chapters up a bit in the name of structure so the third chapter is now called "Mommy Issues Central". Lemme know any goofy vine reference ideas you guys have or if it should stay like that) (fear not, Get Yo Fucking Dog Bitch lives on still as chapter 4)

___

They turned down the next aisle, lining the edges of the cart with some other pasta-related shit that he could still probably use. They heard someone coming over from the next aisle and before he could turn the cart around Mrs Wheeler pulled up.

"Oh, Steve ...and Dustin. What're you boys up to?"

He took a short breath to work their story into something without Mike, but Dustin beat him to it.

"He's teaching me stuff." 

He was imitating the tone Steve used but still way too vague. Mrs Wheeler held up a smile, her brows slightly lifted.

"Y'know, like cooking-" Steve said, throwing in a little gesture to the cart.

"And cars, changing oil and things. Y'know just.. dad stuff."

Dustin's part convinced her, Mrs Wheeler's expression softening into a real smile.

"Well I won't keep you long," 

She nodded off to the side to talk to Steve one-on-one.

Great.

“Are you and Nancy okay?”

“Wh- we’re- Why? Did she say something?”

“No, no, she’s just been… closed off, lately. And I drove her to school the other day, she didn’t say why.”

“Sh- yeah, that- that’s on me. Sorry.”

“Did you break up?”

“No no, definitely not. We’re kinda… we’re working on it. I’m going to try and make it better, after y’know..” he gestured to Dustin behind him.

“Right.” she smiled again, “Let Nancy know she can talk to me about any of this? Please? I tell her but- I don't know, maybe it’d be different coming from you.”

He held up a smile for her.

“Yeah, sure. Mind if we..” he jutted a thumb towards the end of the aisle.

“Yes, go ahead.”

He gave her a short wave and turned back to Dustin, who studied random shit in the aisle like Steve would believe his sudden fascination with olive oil outweighed childish curiosity.

“Steve-”

He turned back around, seeing Mrs Wheeler coming back up to him and whispering again.

“I know I’m not your mother, but you can talk to me, too. Both of you, okay?”

He kept the smile in place and nodded again, and she finally went back to her cart.

Dustin “Definitely-Not-Eavesdropping” Henderson followed him out of the aisle, thankfully waiting until they were out of earshot to ask.

“What's going on with you and Nancy?”

“Thought we had ‘much bigger problems than my love life’?”

He pulled up to the deli, stopping to pretend to look at the options.

“We’re not dropping everything for it but we can still talk.” he groaned.

“I’ll tell you later, kay? Not exactly the best place to talk.''

___

Tags

@stobinesque @spoookysix @marvel-ous-m @alexcharmsyou @museumgiftshoperaser @blushweddinggowns @sharpbutsoft @fag4dykestobin @findafight (no pressure ofc and feel free to switch it to actually wednesday fhuhjdklashj) (also just let me know if you don't wanna be tagged in these)

[ninhaoma-ya]

Chapter 1082 — Let’s go and claim it!

It’s getting annoying with how people don’t respect the publishing schedule at all with respects to the leaks. Spoilers have been out for over a week already when the official release is this incoming Sunday. I had to double check on Shueisha, and yes, 1082 is out on the 7th.

It’s like… you’ll still have to wait for the next chapters, y’know? There will be a break at some point, so why not just accept the pace we’re going at?

Oh well, I digress.

On to what you’re here for!

(A word of warning: this will be a jumpy analysis.)

What a horrible way to start the chapter :(

Although a minor side-bob, I really liked T-Bone. And yes, that’s why Oda killed him off: to show how well the Cross Guild’s plan is working, pitting civilians and pirates alike against the marines.

Although only some enlightened marines see it. Others are wilfully blind.

I wonder, Sengoku, I really do. The name Ohara doesn’t ring a bell? Flevance? Alabasta? Dressrosa? All the people on Sabaody sold in the human shops? The people in the Blues, extorted by worms like Nezumi? Egghead, a governmental island that’s going to be blown to kingdoms come as soon as Kizaru gets there?

Tsuru is truly a great strategist, able to see all sides, although she loses some points for still condemning the culprit…

…through whose eyes we see the devastation.

And Buggy is such a great showman! He does know how to get his people roaring..

..except for his oldest and dearest who are happy to listen to him being tortured.

Shame. Shame on you.

(This is totally on you, Mihawk and Crocodile. You saw what the devotion of his fans did to the Cross Guild poster and yet you let them create the ship?)

The ship is beautiful. I wonder what it’s called.

And now we learn about the importance of communication, boys and girls:

Shanks: Why don’t you share your reasoning with your old friend Buggy?

Buggy: Why do you assume Shanks wanted you to become a subordinate when he said “join me”? And why don’t you talk with Shanks about your and his dreams and see if you can find some common ground, instead of burying your own dreams because you thought someone else had a better shot at achieving them?

I really like Buggy vocalising his dream.

And the strategic genius of rallying the troops.

Yes, almost all pirates we’ve seen have been touched by Roger and the dream of the One Piece one way or another. It’s a great move to remind them of it — now they’re part of your crew and you, Great Chairman Buggy, obviously have a chance.

And rallying the troops keeps your bosses from killing you.

And, of course, the sheer romanticism of Buggy. He still believes, deep within, doesn’t he?

And the second part – it's nice to get some new faces and Koala my beloved, but:

WHAT HAPPENED? PLEASE, FINALLY TELL US!

I assume we’ll be going back to Egghead next chapter since we’ve been gone for quite a while and thus Sabo’s revelation will be left a cliffhanger for the upcoming year or so.

Such is story pacing and weekly cycles.

But then.

Oda’s line art.

It’s getting worse and worse. I really hope they finally convince him to let an assistant take over the inking, because this is not good.

Sure, the assistant-drawn neat backgrounds save a lot, such as in the above Tsuru/Sengoku-panel, but One Piece is still a character-focused story, with a lot of personal close-ups. And Oda’s lack of time (and probably weakening eyesight and increasing age) is showing so clearly.

There are so many who would love to help Oda create this masterpiece. Please, let them help.

Transport chapter, but I give it a dream come true and a wish upon a star.