#the curse of not being bland as hell Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[dubiousdisco]

Why do they keep hating on my boy

[criticallyacclaimedstranger]

The Artist and the Builder [a Joel x reader fic]

Read on Ao3

Sequel: All The Fear and the Fire of the End of the World

Fandom: The Last of Us

Ship: Joel Miller x you/artist!reader who is his age and has arthritis and allergies.

Tags/warnings: Bit of pining, Joel is sweet and settling in, reader has joint pain and allergies, kissing, pretty tame foreplay, a little fumbling, teasing, insertion of objects into vagina that probably shouldn't be there but it's the apocalypse there ain't no dildos, vaginal orgasm, Joel is Too Big and also has Bad Knees, piv sex, cuddling, artist stuff listen I don't know how to do this anymore.

Summary: Gruff contractor Joel Miller has been in Jackson for a while and up until now, you thought he didn't like you because you're an artist and who the hell needs art in the post-apocaypse? But you are wrong.

Words: 7,139

A/N: Listen I know absolutely nothing about being an artist, sorry about that. I also don't have allergies or arthritis (although I suspect I am going down that road but let's cross that bridge when we get there). I just want Joel to be soft with someone his age whose body is falling apart. Many many thanks to @pazizz and @rambling-in-purple who helped me with this one. It started as one thing but ended something else. I really appreciate the help along the way <3

My masterlist

The ache protrudes harshly into your dreams and tears you away from sleep way before it’s time to get up. It grows stronger as you come to, and you carefully try to open your hands. Each joint is like a rusty hinge that creaks and whines when moved, and you sigh deeply as you hide your hands in opposite armpits in an attempt to warm them up. Your mother had arthritis and would tell you in a bland voice that you’d probably get it, too. She had it, her mother had it, and so on. But that seemed so far away, you had your whole life ahead of you, and you had just settled down and started to live after your crazy twenties when the outbreak happened, and survival became your only goal. Despite it all, you managed to live for twenty more years, and then got slapped with the family curse.

Closing your hands around a mug of hot tea, you walk around the living-room of your small house and inspect your various half-finished projects: paper made of plants, clay paint, painted mugs. The whole house smells like a compost, so you open a window to let in a cool breeze. You immediately feel it in your aching hands but do your best to ignore it.

Sitting down at your drawing table, you pick up the charcoal and sketch a couple of lines to the profile you’re working on. It doesn’t feel right, however, so you put down the charcoal again. Restless, you sip some tea, your foot tapping against the floor.

Eventually, you have to go to the infirmary, where Robert, Jackson’s doctor, already is treating his first patient of the day.

You like Robert, like being of use, but being a nurse isn’t what you wanted. You trained to be one, yes, and worked as one for years because it felt like a good, honest profession, and your parents insisted. At nearly 30, however, you quit, and went back to school to pursue your true calling: art. You had almost finished your education when the world went to shit, and your passion no longer counted for anything. For the past twenty years, you’ve thrown yourself after art supplies like other people after food, but even paper is becoming harder to come by. Hence your experiments using plants.

“Your hands bothering you?” Robert asks around lunch, and you nod silently. You haven’t said anything, but he notices.

“Take the rest of the day off.”

“I’m good.”

“Just go, okay? I can’t give you anything for the pain, but I can give you the day off.”

You accept gratefully, and as you change into your normal clothes, you decide to go check at the latest construction site if there’s any sawdust to be had.

You hear the promising sound of a saw working its way through wood as you get closer to the latest house being erected, and when you reach it, Joel Miller looks up from the sawhorse and straightens his back. You think you see a grimace flash across his face, but then he carefully rearranges his features into the usual scowl.

Joel’s been in Jackson for a while now. You don’t really know much about him, except for what you’ve heard from others: that he walked across the country from Boston with the girl in search of his brother, and when the place where he was supposed to drop off the girl was destroyed, they both came back here. He seems to have settled well, and he’s handy, so he’s a welcome addition. He doesn’t really seem to understand your needs, though: when you first asked him if he could save some sawdust for your papermaking, he scoffed when he learned that you needed the paper for art. You bit back on an acid remark. Art wasn’t valued very highly in this world, but it’s what made you happy, and you didn’t care what someone like Joel fucking Miller thought.

“Hi,” you say, stopping in front of the sawhorse. “You got something for me?”

He wipes his forehead on his sleeve and nods towards the wall of the house he’s building. There are three buckets by it, and you see that two of them are filled with yellow sawdust, the third one with nettle leaves. Puzzled, you look over at him. You can’t really figure him out.

“What’s this?”

“Ellie said you were looking for nettles in the vegetable patches,” he mutters. “Passed by a bunch of them on patrol yesterday.”

You chew on your lower lip as you process the unexpected kindness.

“Thank you,” you eventually say. “I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Joel picks up the saw again and goes back to working on shortening the board propped on the sawhorse. The woodsy scent of sawdust fills your nostrils, and you catch a whiff of sweat from Joel, despite the cool weather.

The buckets are proving difficult to pick up. Your fingers refuse to curl around the handles, and even if the weight is more than manageable, your hands are just not having it today. You swallow hard, embarrassed by your frailty, when Joel steps up behind you.

“I’ll take those.”

Big hands close around the handles of the sawdust buckets. You pick up the nettle bucket and start to walk towards your house. Joel walks alongside you, silent and avoiding looking at you just as you are stubbornly staring in any direction but his.

“I have arthritis,” you finally tell him, naming your disease with disgust dripping from your tongue. “My hands don’t work so well some days.”

“That’s rough,” he offers. “I used to have a neighbor who had that. Sorry.”

You finally venture a glance at him. His features offer nothing of what’s going on behind those dark brown eyes.

You arrive at your house, and Joel carries in the buckets for you. You see from how his nostrils flare that he wasn’t prepared for the earthy smell of your home.

“Just put them down there,” you ask him, gesturing to him. Joel does that and is left standing in the doorway to your living-room. He looks around at your various half-finished projects, the pictures on the walls, all your attempts at creating art with whatever materials you've been able to get your aching hands on.

You pretend to busy yourself with washing your hands, but you're really watching him. You've seen this before: people who don't care about art seeing art in a whole new way for the first time. They're always slammed in the face with it, and it's a very delicate moment that shouldn't be disturbed. So you busy yourself at the sink, rinse out your cup despite it being close to clean already, warm up your hands some more with water, open the cupboards and rearrange things. Joel disappears into the living-room, his heavy, unfamiliar boots causing the floorboards to complain about every step he takes. You hear him walk around slowly, and your curiosity gets the better of you. Quietly, you walk over to the doorway to sneak a peek at him.

He's standing by your desk, holding up a paper with a half-finished sketch. To your horror, the picture is of him, the one that you just can't get right because you can't figure him out, can't combine his threatening glower with the warm smile he reserves for his close ones.

You almost dash across the floor and snatch the paper from his hands before throwing it down on the desk, picture down.

"That's not finished, I mean, it's not... you weren't supposed to see it."

"It's good," Joel states simply. You glance at him as you mindlessly rearrange the sketches on your desk.

"Thanks."

His stare is piercing and hard to meet, so you cast down your eyes to a sketch of Ellie right in front of you. Joel follows your gaze and sees it.

"Can I see that?"

You bite your lower lip, pick up the sketch and hand it to him. You're happier with this one: Ellie's face is open, honest. She talks, questions, comments. You've barely heard ten words in all from Joel, and he's been around for months.

"You really captured her," he admires you. "Did she pose for this?"

"No," you shake your head, "but I've worked together with her occasionally. It's easier to draw someone when you know how they move and talk and such."

He hums in agreement as he studies the picture.

"Is that why you haven't finished my picture?" he eventually asks, catching you off guard. "Because you haven't spent time with me?"

"Probably," you shrug, and hold up your hand for him to relinquish the picture back to you. He does, and the line between his brows seems to melt away when he asks you if you'd want to finish his portrait.

"I can come by tonight after work."

You meet his soft gaze and nod.

"Yeah, okay."

///

You're in the middle of dipping your paper molds into a tub of pulp and putting them to dry when there's a knock on the door. You call out a "come in" as you wash your hands under water as hot as you can manage. Not good at staying passive, you've strained your hands all day continuing with your experiments.

Joel steps in, eyeing the room immediately before settling his nut-brown gaze on you.

"How are your hands?" he wants to know. You shrug.

"The same."

You reach for your jacket, and Joel grunts questioningly. You raise a brow at him.

"Are we going out?"

"I need fresh air."

"It does smell in here." A grin flashes by his face, almost shocking you. Was that a joke?

"Sorry," he immediately apologizes, taking your silence for chagrin. You smile wryly.

"Don't worry. It really is smelly, I just don't notice anymore."

You leave your house together and start walking slowly down the street. The evening is cold in a refreshing way, and you hide your gloved hands in your pockets, both to keep them warm and to keep them occupied. Keeping your eyes trained on some invisible spot in the distance, you try to figure out something to say. It doesn't feel like you and Joel have a lot in common, and all those old icebreakers of "where are you from" and "do you have a family" can be sensitive in this world. You opt for something you do know about him.

"Did you build houses before?"

He takes a second to answer, but finally tells you that he was indeed a contractor.

"Always good to know how to build things," you comment. Joel hums in agreement before clearing his throat.

"And you? You usually work in the infirmary."

"I was a nurse, but I didn't like it much," you tell him. "I went back to school to study art, but the breakout happened before I finished. And nobody needs art to survive. So I work as a nurse."

Joel doesn't say anything, but nods to a passer-by.

"Do you like being a contractor?" you ask. Once again, he takes a little time before presenting his answer.

"I do."

"Good, honest work, huh?"

"Something like that. And..." He hesitates, gaze flickering when you turn your head to look at him.

"It's nice to build something instead of destroying it," he finally mutters. You nod slowly.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Without hurry, you walk around Jackson three times while talking. Joel is a man of few words, but the words he does utter are well chosen and sometimes heavy with information. He talks about his former construction work but doesn't utter one word about his personal life, possible family, likely loss. His voice is warm when he talks about Ellie, the teenager he delivered across the country, only to find that the people who were supposed to take care of her were already dead and buried. There is a momentary crack in his facade when he talks about his failed mission to bring Ellie to Salt Lake City, but he quickly gathers himself, and states that that's how both ended up in Jackson. He seems happy enough with those turns of events.

You tell him about your art education, about how you ever since you were a young child have seemed to notice how light falls on objects, faces, your surroundings, and the deep-seated urge to draw the light, paint it, trace is with a brush in futile attempts to replicate the magic. The light changes everything, how the world is viewed, and you're constantly trying to capture those moments when the light renders a common kitchen utensil magical, just because the first rays of morning sunshine catch the curves and angles of it. You're not sure he understands, but he does listen.

Eventually, you stop outside your house, facing each other. Darkness has fallen and you didn't leave the porch light on, so you struggle to see his face in what little light there is to be had from the moon, and the glow from the windows of the neighboring houses.

"It was nice talking to you," you say sincerely.

"You too."

You hide your hands in the opposite armpits in an attempt to keep them warm. The cold is getting to them, even with gloves.

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

Joel blinks.

"You're not going to draw me?"

"It's too dark."

"Ah." You hear from his tone that he just realized that you've been talking about light this whole time. His head shifts on top of that long, strong neck, his face turns a little to the side and you catch the profile of his aquiline nose against the faint light coming from the neighbor's house.

And you know you have to try to draw him like this, half cloaked in darkness, the bridge of his nose sharp against soft light, maybe from a fire, the shadows painting dark valleys on his face with his frown, the glint of grey in his beard, a lock of hair curling by his ear.

"Maybe not," you correct yourself and step past his towards your porch. "Come on in."

You load up the fireplace, your hands only trembling slightly from the weight of the wood. Joel kneels next to you by the fireplace and takes the matches from you. A protest rests on the tip of your tongue, but the brief touch of his warm, callused hand makes you swallow it. You stand up and watch him light the fire, breathe life into the kindling, and carefully place smaller twigs on the first, small flames before rocking back to watch the fire grow. You move your weight from one foot to the other, tuck your hands into your pockets. Joel glances up at your fidgeting.

"Your hands hurtin'?"

"It's the cold," you shrug. "But it's fine, it's not that bad."

You take a step back, towards the kitchen.

"Want a cup of tea?"

"Sure. Thanks."

When you return with two mugs of steaming tea, the fire is crackling merrily. Joel rises, joints popping, and accepts one mug from you with one hand, the other suddenly taking a gentle hold of your wrist. You twitch, the tea spills over a little, but you don't pull back your hand. Slowly, Joel covers it with his big, broad palm, so much warmer than yours, and you almost instantly feel the heat spread into your aching joints.

When you search his averted gaze, he releases your hand, and clears his throat.

"Thanks for the tea," he murmurs, and you nod quickly.

"You're welcome."

You busy yourself with emptying the run-down armchair from various knick-knacks and tools, and indicate the seat for him. Carefully, as if afraid to break it, Joel sits down. You pull up the desk chair and take a piece of charcoal and a paper, propping it on your lap with a sheet of cardboard under.

"You're not going to continue with the half-finished picture?" Joel asks, sipping his tea.

"No," you shake your head. "It's not how I want to draw you."

"Waste of paper."

"I'll use it to make more. It's okay."

He grunts, and you hide your smile without knowing why you're even smiling in the first place.

"Turn your head a little towards the fireplace," you instruct, and Joel squares his shoulders, as if he's unhappy about being told what to do. However, he does as he's asked, and follows the rest of your directions easily. When you're happy with his angles, you put coal to paper, and start to sketch.

For a long time, the only sound heard is that of the fire, and the soft scratch of the coal against the coarse paper. Your sharp eyes note every hair, pore, and line on Joel's face, but you're finding it hard to transfer them to paper. After a long day, your hands are hurting bad, and the pain keeps shifting your focus away from the task at hand. Finally, you sigh deeply and turn the paper upside down.

"I'm done."

"It's finished?" Joel asks, shifting like he's sitting back and leaning forward at the same time. One brow is quirked inquisitively, while his tight jawline lets you know that he doesn't really want to see the result - but he's curious.

"No," you specify as you get up, "it's not finished. I have to start over, but it's getting late."

Your fingers can barely let go of the coal when you set it down together with the paper. You hide your knuckle in the palm of your other hand and rub it discreetly.

"You won't show me?" Joel rises from the armchair and comes up to you, putting away the cup of tea. Standing right in front of you he seems almost impossibly broad.

"Your hands hurtin'?" he asks in a low voice that vibrates along your spine. You swallow quickly.

"Just need to warm them up, it's okay, I'm used to it."

Your breath gets caught in your throat when he takes both your hands and presses them to his chest. You feel his heart beat quickly against your palm and realize that some of his body heat actually comes from him being just as nervous as you are.

Feebly, you try to pull back your hands.

"I'm getting coal on your shirt..."

"Don't care."

You bite into your lower lip, speechless as if you were fourteen and standing in front of your crush, instead of a middle-aged woman talking to...

Who is Joel to you, anyway?

"Why are you doing this?" you ask hoarsely. Joel frowns, his hands slowly letting go of yours. You keep your palms on his chest for a second longer before letting go. Bereft of the warmth, your joints feel even worse.

He doesn't seem to have an answer to give you, but his lips move like he's trying to say something to break the silence. When nothing comes out, you get impatient.

"Joel?" you prompt.

"No one's ever looked at me like you look at me," he lets out, his dark gaze locking in on you. "It's like you're staring right through my clothes. It makes me nervous. I haven't been nervous in... a very long time."

"Nervous how?" you hear yourself ask, even if your armpits have grown damp, and your heart is beating so hard he surely must hear it.

"Nervous in that way." You hear exactly what he means, all the possibilities and threats and risks summarized in that. There's something so awkwardly boyish in it that you find yourself smiling. His frown deepens when he sees it, but his lips soften.

"Joel," you ask, softly touching your aching hand to his, "do you want to kiss me?"

He immediately grabs your wrist and touches his lips to yours in a kiss that doesn't really know what it's supposed to do but wants to do it anyway. He forgot to draw breath, and instead of inhaling against your skin, he pulls back quickly when he has to breathe.

"Fuck," he mutters, "that was a shitty kiss. I'm sorry."

Your cheeks flush violently when you pull at his hand.

"You can try again?"

The offer makes him smile, finally, and he displays that dimple that you found absolutely impossible to put to paper. His closes his hand around the back of your neck, and his lips press onto yours, and he remembers how it's done, and kisses you until you're not sure your legs will carry you anymore.

///

The picture of Joel becomes secondary to your meetings. Joel, you realize very soon, courts you, like some southern Gone With the Wind-type of gentleman. He brings you whatever materials he can find when he goes on patrol - you're excused from that task due to your horse allergy - and quietly offers you his thick gloves when you're out walking together, and your hands hurt. He continues to not talk much, but you start to recognize the little things: acts of service, the way he looks out for you, how his eyes light up when he sees you. His kisses when you part.

There is only kissing. He hasn't touched you in any other way, and you haven't taken initiative to anything further. There is only a rather chaste, yet warm, kiss when he leaves your house, where you usually meet up. He drinks tea and watches you draw, or paint when you're not asking him to pose for you. You know exactly how you want to capture him but so far, your hands haven't been skilled enough, and for every hour you spend with Joel, you lay another piece of the puzzle that is Joel, and you become unsure of how to draw him.

One evening, a couple of months after that first kiss, you're enjoying the warm fire in your living-room when there is a knock on the door. Joel stands on your porch, eyes scanning you quickly as soon as you open the door.

"You weren't at the movies," he says, referring to the event that nearly everyone in Jackson went to tonight. You hear the question in the statement: Are you okay?

"It's cold," you shrug. "Not my thing. Wanna come in?"

He enters your house, and you take his coat and hang it by the door.

"How are the hands?" he asks. You rub your palms together.

"Not bad today, actually. How's your knees?"

He grins a little, knowing that you saw him carry furniture up porch steps earlier.

"Creaky, but they still carry me."

"Tea?"

"I don't want to disturb, if you wanted to be alone."

You lead the way into the living-room, and move some things away from one armchair, pulling it closer to the fireplace, next to the one you were sitting in.

"You're not disturbing, do sit down. I could work some more on your portrait."

Busying yourself with picking at pieces of charcoal, you don't pay him any attention until his footsteps bring him right behind you. One warm hand touches your waist gently, startling you into turning around to meet his sheepish face.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." His warm body is so close to yours, and his smell of wood, sweat, and snow invades your nose. You inhale deeply, pretending to sigh just to get the opportunity to soak in this intoxicating, masculine smell of his.

"I got something for you." Joel holds up something wrapped in cloth, and it takes you a few moments to gather yourself.

"For me?" Carefully, you take the little package from him. "Whatever for?"

He shrugs. “Thought you might need it. It’s probably your birthday at some point, or Christmas, or whatever.”

You never were good at receiving gifts, and it's even harder now. When was the last time you even got one?

He shifts his weight; a show of nerves that doesn't match up with his calm, deep voice. You decide to put him out of his misery and unfold the cloth.

It's four paintbrushes, hand carved with thick, curved handles, and tidily shaped heads.

"Oh. Joel, these are... these are gorgeous."

You hear him exhale, like he had been holding his breath.

"You think they're any good?"

"I'm sure they are, the hairs look amazing. Where did you get these?"

"I made them."

Now you tear your eyes from the brushes. "You made them?"

"Carved them, they should be comfortable to hold, I asked the doc what's suitable for someone with arthritis... The hairs are horsehair, bound together with sheep hairs."

He has really listened to you talking about all the art supplies you miss, and your ideas of making your own.

"The hairs are washed, so hopefully they won't give you allergies," he adds quickly.

"Joel... thank you. I don't know what to say."

He chuckles a little. "Try them first. What I know about making paintbrushes can fit onto the head of a nail. You may wanna return them."

"Unlikely."

You lean forward, the brushes still in your hands between the two of you, and touch your lips to Joel's. His hands rise to gently cup your elbows as he accepts your kiss. Only when your lips grow more insistent, does his hold tighten as well, and all you can think of is him holding your tits in the same manner.

Your hands, still holding the brushes, come to his chest, and you start undoing the buttons of his flannel. Joel's lips leave yours, and when he looks at you with eyes steeped in hot molten lava, you know that it didn't come easily.

"What are you doin'?"

"What does it look like?" you smile a little shakily. Is this the beginning of a refusal? Have you misunderstood his interest in you altogether?

"I don't want you to do it just because I gave you somethin'."

"It's not because you gave me something, it's because you never took anything away."

He cups your cheek now, strokes his big thumb over your lips.

"You're beautiful. I haven't done this in a long time, and never with anyone as beautiful."

"How old do you think I am?" you laugh, amused and touched at the same time. His ever-present frown changes slightly, turning quizzical.

"I don't need to hear that I'm beautiful," you specify, hands still on his chest. "I don't care about that."

"Then what do you wanna hear?" His voice is impossibly low. Your pussy clenches, grows moist and hot.

"I want to hear you want me."

"Oh, darlin'..." he sighs, closing his eyes momentarily. "I want you like crazy. I have wanted you for a long time, but I wanted for you to decide when you'd have me."

You didn't know how much you had longed for someone who saw you as a sexual being, a woman with desires and a will of her own.

"Joel," you whisper, and he swallows the rest of your words when he crashes his lips to yours. The brushes fall from your hand when you throw your arms around his neck to bring him closer, and Joel's big arms go around your waist. He hums into your mouth when your entire front is pressed against him; a satisfied hum, like he's happy to have you here. You answer with a hum of your own and feel his lips curve in a smile.

Slowly, his hands begin to know your body, sliding over curves and dips, fingers dipping into flesh, palms caressing over your clothes. Your approach is more direct: you pull at his flannel, wanting it off him.

"There's no hurry," he admonishes you between kisses. "Unless you got somewhere you need t'be?"

You exhale in something in between a scoff and a chuckle.

"In your pants?"

"Bedroom, then?"

"It's warmer in here, where the fire is."

"Hold on."

He releases you, seemingly unwillingly, and disappears into your small bedroom, re-emerging momentarily later with your bedding. You move the armchairs away to allow for him to put everything down in front of the fireplace. Groaning, he lays down on the makeshift bed, taking your hand and pulling you down next to him. You giggle a little as you plop down, immediately receiving more kisses.

"This better?" he wants to know. Your skin knots over when his hand finds its way underneath your shirt.

"Much better."

He rolls half on top of you, hand finding your breast for a light squeeze as his knee pushes between your thighs to separate them. His cock is stiff against your hip, and you move against it, smiling into the kiss when he grunts and grabs your breast harder. You put your hand on his, pressing it down, feeling his hand disappear into your soft flesh almost painfully. Your moan gears him up, and he starts to pull your shirt upwards. Squirming out of it, you reach for his belt, huffing in annoyance when Joel sits up to take his own shirt off. You sit up as well for a better reach, and your forehead connects with his chin just as he dives back to you.

"Ouch!"

"Fuck!"

You smile sheepishly at each other, both of you more startled than hurt, and Joel gently pushes you back down.

"Maybe we should take it slow?"

"I need you, I'm done waiting."

"I know, sweetheart, but I don't want you to break my jaw."

You scoff, but his kisses make you docile. Your clothes come off, along with his, and when you're both finally naked, skin against skin, you discover that you're happy with going slow as well. In the light of the fire, you trace your hand along his strong muscles and soft flesh, kiss his scars from past struggles, and the newer bruises from recent altercations with logs or whatever he has attempted to lift on his own. You close your fingers around the girth of his cock - Jesus, 20-year-old you would've giggled like a maniac at the sight of it - and enjoy the sounds of surrender that you can conjure out of him.

"God, your hands feel good on me," he hisses as you slowly, while trying to remember how to do this, stroke him with both hands. You smile, suddenly struck with nerves, when you pass your thumb softly over the glistening head of his thick cock. The precum catches the flickering light from the fire, and you get lost in how light and shadow play over Joel's skin; the dark dip of his navel, the hills of his soft pecs and stomach illuminated, his cock rising proudly from a thicket of dark hairs towards the light, the fuzz of his thighs. The embossed skin of a scar reflecting the warm light. The way his skin rises in goosebumps at your touch...

"Darlin'?"

You blink, and meet his wry, amused smirk.

"You with me?"

"Yeah, sorry. I just... was looking at the light."

"How you'd paint it?" Joel seems to catch on immediately, having listened to you rambling on about The Light several evenings. Yod nod and run one finger along the length of his cock before continuing up his happy trail, swerving around his navel.

"There's so much to see on the human body, if one just knows how to look."

"Lemme try that."

Joel pulls you down and rolls you onto your back, propping himself up on one arm next to you. You blush a little as he inspects you, his hand following the dancing shadows on your chest and stomach.

"Yeah," he murmurs, "I can see it alright."

"Yeah?"

"M-hmm. Hold on."

He rolls to the other side, looking in the dusky room for something. When he returns to your side, he's holding one of the brushes he made. With a feathery touch, he touches the brush to your ribcage, right underneath one breast.

"Here's light," he mumbles, carefully tracing the brush along a rib. "Right next to the shadow of your breast."

You exhale in a soft moan as his knuckles brush up against your breast, knotting the nipple. Joel's tongue slips out to lick his lower lip before he goes on tracing the lines that only he can see on your skin.

"What are you painting, Picasso?" you ask hoarsely.

"Hush," Joel tells you curtly yet not unkindly. You smile and close your eyes, shifting a little so that you can drape your arm around his shoulder. His hot breath is on your breast, his whiskers tickle you before something warm and wet disturbing your nipple tells you he's licked it. A shiver runs through you, and you push your chest out, asking him wordlessly to do it again.

He latches on and suckles steadily, but your shout of surprised pleasure has barely died down before he releases you and continues down your stomach with the brush.

"Joel," you whine, blinking up at him, but the focus in his eyes is so intense that you don't say anything more. Instead, you watch him figure out the fundamentals of visual art: how the light changes everything, how to handle the brush, how to angle the hand. His brush may not have any paint on it, but he paints your pleasure with sounds from you: gasps, hums, a hiss when he passes over a ticklish spot. With the brush trailing through the thicket of your pubes, your legs fall open and your lower lip catches between your teeth. Your pelvis rises to meet the soft hairs, and you moan when Joel dips the brush through your slick folds. He moves the brush to your nipple, circles it to wetten it with your arousal, then ducks down to suck it into his mouth. Your back arches, your inner thighs are wet, your heartbeats echo in your pussy, and you need him to understand just how desperately you need him.

"Fuck me," you keen, "Joel, I need you to fuck me."

He hesitates, coming up to slot his mouth over yours and steal your breath away. You rub yourself against him, find his cock and tease it, make him moan just as needily as you.

"I take it you ain't a pregnancy risk?" You hear from his tight voice how close he is to snapping. Fuck, but that's hot.

"STDs are our only concern," you try to joke, but it's not funny. Before coming to Jackson, you spent years in a quarantine zone as a nurse, and the common sexually transmitted infections ran rampant. Without proper testing equipment, it was hard to tell the scale of it.

"I should be clean," he tells you, and you're too far gone to doubt him.

"Me too."

He kisses you again as he rolls on top of you, his width and weight blocking out everything else as he plunges his tongue into your mouth. Your hips rise to meet him when he leads his cock against your entrance, and you almost bite him when he starts to push into you. Your nails press into his shoulders, the fit is impossible, and Joel stops.

"Fuck," he mutters. "You okay?"

"It's big, it's been a while."

He growls and pulls out, cupping your cheek when you whine.

"Don't wanna hurt you."

"Just get me wet, Joel."

"You're plenty wet already."

"And you're hung like a goddamn moose, so get me wetter," you snap, and Joel chuckles.

"Relax, darlin'."

"I'm trying."

He kisses you again, hand between your legs, two fingers slipping through your folds and drawing out the slick to a slow circle around your clit. Sparks run up your spine and you bury your fingers in his thick, greying hair.

"You always try to cram it in before finding a girl's clit?" you mutter, but your smile shines through. Joel slips a finger inside you.

"I told you, it's been a while." He trails kisses down your neck and moves his finger inside you, seeking the right, spongy spot. You mewl and writhe, needing more but not getting it. One finger is not enough. An idea forms in your head.

"Take the brush," you ask him breathlessly. Joel stills, finger slipping out as he studies your face. You roll your eyes.

"It's not a commentary on your skills. Get over yourself."

"You were the one who were in such a such a hurry a minute ago," he teases before looking around for the brush. Finding it, he brings it to your tits, but you shake your head.

"No, use it on me."

His brow rises quizzically. You push his hand down.

"Fuck me with it, Joel."

You expect an objection, or at the very least surprise, but all you get is a strangled sound and a searing kiss. The handle, so smoothly polished, is thick and curved in a way that bears resemblance to a dildo - not that you've used one in twenty years, but the thought is there now and you have to try this out.

The handle slides in easily, filling you better than his finger but without the intensity of his cock.

"Fuck," you keen, directing your hand down to rub your clit as Joel slowly pulls out the handle before pushing it back in. "There, fuck, Joel, that's good..."

He's breathing audibly now but you don't look at him anymore, you close your eyes and let him help you find all those buttons and spots that you had almost forgotten that you had anymore. When your toes start to curl, and you moan "Faster, Joel, faster!" he complies, rough whiskers scratching the sensitive skin of your tits as he fucks you with the paintbrush that he carved with his own split-knuckle hands to spare you your aching ones.

You barely know what an orgasm feels like anymore, but there's no mistaking this one. The rise and the tightening of muscles, the holding of breath before releasing it in a choked moan, the loosening of limbs, the pounding heat of your pussy.

"Jesus, but that's beautiful," Joel sighs, gently sliding out the brush and putting it to the side before kissing your flushed forehead. "Darlin', you're killin' me."

You chuckle huskily and pass your hands over your face.

"I think it takes a lot more to kill you, Joel Miller."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

The bedding underneath you may keep the draft of the floor at bay, but offers no suspension, so when he edges into you a second time and bottoms out, it's like being split in two between a rock and a hard place. But you can take him, and you cling to his broad shoulders with breaths coming out as hissing.

"Relax," he murmurs, petting your hair as if you were a skittish animal while slowly moving in you. "Sweetheart, you can take it, you're doing it already, you're doing it so well, it feels so good..."

You keen as he spears you again, slowly but steadily, his muscles trembling from the effort of keeping himself from crushing you. Your legs wrap around his thighs, arms around his shoulders and you pull him down, you want to be crushed, you need him like this, steady like a train and sharp like a razor, his breathless kisses on your neck, the groans that may come from pleasure or discomfort from being on the floor, you have no idea, but you need him just like this.

"Come, Joel, come," you gasp into his ear, the good one, and he endures, unwavering in his effort as he digs into you, deep, thorough, devastating.

His climax is a relief and a sadness. You don't want it to end, but you also couldn't bear one more second of it.

Joel slumps to the side, gathering you into his arms as he draws a deep, shaky breath. In the faint light of the embers that are left in the fireplace, you trace the scar on his right cheek and watch his eyelids press shut more firmly before he turns his head to kiss your fingers.

The temperature in the room seems to drop as the heat dies down, and you carefully untangle yourself from Joel's firm hold to put another log on the embers. When it flares up, you return to Joel's side, now finding him watching you.

"You okay?" he asks when you pull a blanket over both of you. Making yourself comfortable, you nod with a little smile and a kiss to his lips.

"Perfect."

"That thing with the brush was... interesting."

You blush. "I don't know what happened."

"Glad it did."

"Joel, I... haven't had sex like that... at all... in decades," you blurt out. "And this was... perfect."

He hums, glances down, and to you it's glaringly obvious that he is conflicted. Your heart sinks just as he speaks up.

"It really was perfect."

"But?" You can't help yourself: there's a slight edge to your tone. Joel leans his head back a little to take a good look at you, the usual disapproving frown back on his face.

"But there was someone," he starts, "for years. And we never had this. Time and place wasn't right."

You exhale in relief. History and baggage are easy to deal with, rejection is not.

"I'm sorry."

He shrugs with a little sound, forehead smoothed out.

"Was she... Ellie's mom?" you dare. Joel shakes his head, and his hand slowly passes over your back, fingers strumming the bump of your spine.

"I didn't know Ellie until a few months ago. This was... someone else. A partner. She took Ellie on, really. I was against it. And she... didn't make it."

You don't want to say that you're sorry again, but don't know what else to say, either. So you kiss him, because you want to, because you think he needs it, because there are no words. Your hand is splayed open on his cheek, his lips and mouth are dry and so are yours, but the kiss is sweet and gentle, and the things you can't find words for are carefully passed on to him. He exhales in a soft sigh onto your cheek, then tilts his chin up to kiss your forehead before burrowing his nose against your hair. It's clear to you that he wants to sleep, but you're buzzing with unexpected energy. Carefully, you slide away from his arms, smiling at his frown, and get up to tip-toe to the desk, where you pick up paper and coal. A faint blush colors your cheekbones when you feel his cum seep out of you, and you hurry back to the makeshift bed, sitting down by Joel's feet.

"C'mere," he barks, but you shake your head.

"Just stay still."

He complies with that frown of his, and you settle down, putting the piece of coal to the paper.

You know how you want to draw him now.

[crystalelemental]

FEH Books Redux

Unfortunately, I have re-downloaded FEH. A large portion of this was a friend telling me that they also re-downloaded the game, and were reading through the stories, and felt like there was more there than previously given credit. And we know how I am. I like to talk. So I'm going to talk about each of the books and what I thought of their story! This will also include character work, because for me, a lot of the impact of a story is character work. Especially here. We'll get to that.

Book One Book 1 is a pretty basic story, with exceptionally little going on. It's setup. All we really get out of it is a bunch of quick little short stories about each of the worlds, set against a backdrop of "Where's Zacharias?" and "Embla's royal family is cursed by their dragon god's blood to want to destroy Askr." There's a bit of establishment for Veronica's hostility, and that Bruno is Zacharias and searching for a cure. But fascinatingly, my own memory of the game's story had failed me. I thought this book established all the clear loneliness of Veronica and connections between her and Bruno, and...that didn't happen. Sharena notes that Veronica seems lonely, but a lot of those tidbits I remembered? Paralogues.

As a result, I have effectively nothing to say about the book. It's astoundingly boring. I actually wound up forgetting I was trying to re-read at one point, and skipped dialogue against Roy, because I had picked up the pattern and went "there is nothing of value being said before this fight." I was correct, of course. It's the worst book by virtue of what it is.

Book Two Book 2 is an odd one. It's more fleshed out as a story than Book 1 by a pretty large margin, but it's not good. The story is structurally sound, and events unfold in a logical order. But it lacks depth.

Surtr is just an incredibly bland antagonist, conquest for its own sake because royalty does whatever it wants, etc etc. Fjorm is fairly interesting given her drive for revenge, and Laegjarn is memorable because of her constant read on the Askr trio's strategies and staying one step ahead. But Hrid and Ylgr offer nothing, Gunnthra's neat to me but does nothing, Laevatein is bland as hell, and Helbindi does little for me. By character, there's little weight. Even Veronica gets set on a shelf. The most we get out of her is that Xander is super protective and willing to die for her, which is better for him than for her, and he's got his own game to establish he'd do that.

More than that, I think it just lacks for clear ideas. It doesn't really play with any concepts. It's a very bland sort of "Evil King, Good Princess" dichotomy, backed by "evil king's daughters aren't bad people but are trapped by his evil" for drama. Because FEH cannot help its origins: bad parents and familial tragedy is all it knows. I can't say there's much to examine that isn't present in virtually every Fire Emblem ever. I have little to say. Bottom tier.

Book Three Book 3 finally starts to pick up the pace. It is legitimately trying to be an interesting story. Unfortunately, its problem is that, despite having interesting concepts, it fails to see them through.

The intro presents a few really tantalizing pieces. Eir is the concept of a Merciful Death; an end that brings peace and closure in contrast to the horror of death as it naturally stands. Lif and Thrasir, the original sovereigns that founded Askr and Embla, return from Hel and seek to lay waste to their kingdoms. Hel herself is demanding and controlling of Eir, while Alfonse's father is immediately characterized as a bastard who cut off his son and who is feared by his children, creating an interesting comparison. With Lif and Thrasir, you can get a sense of the command of genealogy; the idea of a sort of cycle of violence and fear from parent to child extending back to the kingdom's founding, and challenged by those seeking to be a monarch for the people, and allying with one whose approach to death is that it should be merciful.

And then it proceeds to undo literally all of that. Lif and Thrasir are actually Alfonse and Veronica from another universe. Gustav actually super loved his children, even if he's a rat bastard. Eir isn't even from Hel, she's a good person from the life kingdom that Hel kidnapped, making her entire story just Nino again. All of that interesting setup is completely subverted in a way that makes it worse. The only interesting concept we retain is that Lif, having lost his kingdom, made a pact with Hel to revive his kingdom is he destroys another; trade a life for a life. It examines that idea of what the duty of a monarch is, and presents a once-good king who, having lost everything, chooses to protect his people by devastating another country. There's some interest in that! Shame Thrasir is completely wasted. And I think the conclusion of the book, Eir still weeping for Hel because that was her mother in her mind, has some power to it. That no matter how terrible your parent, they're still in some ways your parent, and it's okay to grieve them.

Book 3 feels like a book of exclusively missed potential. It's an interesting idea on the whole, but everything, down to the drama of individual events, kinda falters. Gustav's too much of a prick to feel anything about what they present. Eir's torture at the hands of Hel is sad, but in a fairly ridiculous way that doesn't make it as impactful given we never see a positive interaction between Eir and Hel. The defeat of Hel is also annoying. Good thing the rite that would completely destroy our kingdom was done by Lif and Thrasir, so we can just steal their completely ritual item and kill Hel with that! Problem solved! It's clownshoes. I don't really respect it.

Book Four Book 4 is a fairly rough intro. Peony does nothing for me, and the constant commentary in the early chapters about "It's a dream so anything is possible/everything makes sense" is annoying. I'm also just not a big fan of the costuming this book on the whole.

However. This might be my favorite book.

Once you get past the goofy intro, this book gets serious in a way that rules. The Dream World was literally falling apart for vague and uncertain reasons, and so the rulers of dream decided to steal children who are abused and abandoned, who would never miss their homes, and turn them into dream fairies to stabilize the realm. Freyr, who presides over good dreams, feels some guilt about this. Freyja, who commands nightmare fairies, considers it necessary. Their underlings remember none of this, but through the story, awaken those memories and are forced to confront their past. There's a great use of dream as escaping reality, using layers of dream to maintain dramatic weight in trying to escape Freyja's nightmare, and some fairly impactful twists and turns for the first time in the game.

In particular, I adore the antagonist trio. Freyja, being bullied and ostracized as a child, is intensely bitter and seeks to keep the attention of her brother, the only person who was ever kind to her, exclusively on her, growing hateful of mortals who he tries to attend to. She thinks of others, even her subordinates, as people to use, and doesn't recognize how much they matter until they're gone. Triandra and Plumeria themselves know this, but don't mind. Even after regaining their memories, they recognize they had nothing to return to, and their lives are better here. They're completely devoted to the one adult that ever really did anything for them. For Triandra, her parents were abusive, and she wound up killing her father to protect her sister. When they became fairies, Triandra, as the one facing that trauma, governed nightmare, while her sister Peony, who was shielded from the worst of it, retains hope and governs good dreams. For Plumeria, she was neglected and ultimately abandoned to die. She is deeply distrustful of others, and immediately assumes the worst intentions of everyone she meets, and treats all forms of attention as leering. Her role governing lewd dreams is due to a desire for attention and affection above all else, but a deep distrust of actual connection; she holds a safe distance in this role and hates everything about the people who arrive to her dream realm.

I do think Peony and Mirabilis are pretty bland. They're fairly one note and uninteresting. Peony and Sharena swapping roles and the whole changling situation is a pretty extraneous mystery, but I do think it thematically ties in well. The answer of "It doesn't matter who's the real Sharena, we shared so much that we're both a huge part of each other, and we're happy with our lives as they are" is kind of the whole focus of the dream. You dream to find the life you want, and map that to reality when you wake. Never waking is a problem, and is presented as maladaptive given it's the goal of the antagonists to prevent awakening. They're stewing in their misery. But facing what's real, accepting that maybe something is sad but finding happiness in your life, is the point. I do think it understands that circumstances drive which category you fall into. What Triandra and Plumeria suffer dictated a lot of what happens in the dream. It all works out pretty well, and is one of my favorite books.

Book Five Book 5, more than any other book, suffers from being stuck in a gacha game.

The main story involves Fafnir, king of Nidavellir, going on conquest after conquest against other nations, in an endless militaristic gambit. His brother Otr is all for it, his sister Reginn defects to your side, explaining that Fafnir was once very kind, but turned to war almost immediately upon taking the throne. The sage Eitri, who creates most of the mechanical weaponry used by the kingdom, has her own designs on capturing the summoner to replicate their power.

Turns out, Reginn is the princess of the kingdom, who was lost during the chaos of a coup years back. Eitri, a deeply devoted nationalist, feels like the country has gone to shit over this and seeks to put the true successor on the throne. The crown that Fafnir wears was Eitri's design, and drives anyone not of royal blood mad, ultimately corrupting them into a beast that will tear apart their own kingdom. Fafnir is just some guy she summoned from a different world, and has been searching for a way back, though he can't remember why, Nergal-style. Otr found this out, and has been working with Eitri to destroy Fafnir's home world gate to prevent him leaving, because he is so deeply attached and can't stand the thought of losing the only person he has left.

Dramatically, Reginn and Fafnir's tragedy lands really well. I'm a lot less invested in Otr, I think his stuff is interesting but not particularly compelling. Eitri is a delight, and the book ending video of her ranting about how she won this so hard her death doesn't even matter is the single best bit FEH has ever produced. The events as they unfold carry tremendous weight, presenting that Reginn's ancestors are on Eitri's side, calling for her to "Destroy the heretic" in reference to the man she sees as a brother. Which, thematically, makes this book slap. You are literally haunted by the spirits of those who came before, all the way back to the founders of the country, whose primary goal seems to be endless militarism and perpetuation of royal blood. The original king waged war on the jotun that oppressed them, but in turn created a nation that cannot escape the demands of blood and war. It is so intense that, given reference to a peace offering to Jotunheim that presumably took effect with Fafnir, any outside of the bloodline and their militarism is corrupted until they fit in line by the crown that signifies leadership. It rules.

Unfortunately. This is gacha. And this story is effectively told in about ten chapters. That's all it took to produce one of their best. But we can't have that. There must be 13 to meet the demands of the system they are trapped in. And so, the jotun.

Dagr and Nott are arguably the worst OCs in the game. They add so little that I consider them actively detracting from the story. Their existence adds so little that, when they speak, it feels like their character portraits pop in from literal nowhere. They have no presence or purpose, and Dagr's familial drama with Nott's death is completely without meaning. I assume it's supposed to mirror Reginn, whose family is fighting too, and resolve that oh even with fighting there's a bond of love. But Otr hates her guts, so like. It doesn't even do that.

This book is so close to my favorite, but the constraints of a gacha force them to produce three chapters of completely meaningless garbage to fill a quota. And it is deeply, deeply sad.

Book Six Book 6 is rough. We return to the conflict between Askr and Embla, to finish the conflict between these nations and officially welcome Veronica as an ally of state, rather than the ally of convenience she's been the last three books. To do this, we have to deal with Embla, who can control those who share her blood in the royal family to violent action against Askr's kingdom. We're finally resolving what Book 1 set up.

It sucks. Guys, I'm sorry, it's so bad.

Thematically, the books emphasis is on opening vs closing your heart to others, and the impacts of loneliness. Veronica was already emphasizing these themes, but they're renewed in Embla, whose final sendoff is that she is lonely and isolated, and perpetuates this fate for herself by never fully opening up to and trusting others. There are some solid bits like her conversation with Askr where she expresses fear of betrayal, and how he says he can't live in fear of betrayal and allow himself to abandon mortals over that. This bleeds over into a sort of "appreciate what you have" narrative, echoing back to Letizia, who is only bitter that she feels she has nothing because of what was taken, despite being the head of the Curse Directive and affection from both Bruno and Veronica. There are some decent thematic parts to this story.

But. Critically. It fails dramatically at every turn. Elm, Embla's retainer, is so pointless that he dies and I literally did not realize it. Embla's loneliness is explained two different ways: first by Askr who expresses that people wishing to migrate elsewhere felt like abandonment so she forced her kingdom's people to never leave, and second by saying that actually one of her subjects tried to kill her? For no reason? And that she then feared betrayal and closed herself off from others. These reasons don't really align so well, so her backstory feels conflicting. Letizia's on screen for like two lines of dialogue before going "Surprise! I'm evil!" and the whole first half focusing on how her lies will catch up to her people the masses can tell a good ruler from a bad one feels...just extremely juvenile given current circumstances. They kill Zacharias, too, which I feel is pretty lame. Though at the top of the goofs list is Askr's death, where he has to quickly ask Ash to consider him a father as he's dying to fulfill Fire Emblem obligations to only die for someone else to have family drama over.

I also don't really share the fandom's apparent attachment to rat god Embla. Don't get me wrong, I like her design well enough, but Embla's personality is pretty bland. The loneliness angle is something we've seen done better with Freyja, and more consistently with Veronica. Add in her unclear history and it's very hard to take her all that seriously. Really not a fan of this book on the whole.

Book Seven Book 7 is a time loop story, centered on the Golden Seer, Gullveig, and her predecessors in Kvasir and Seidr. The drama is mostly fixated on finding out who Gullveig is, in order to stop her growing into the universe-ending beast she becomes, but does have a nice conclusion we'll get to.

To cut to the chase: I actually liked this book quite a bit. I generally like time travel stuff, even if it's absolute clownshoes nonsense. There are straight up Yugioh filler arc events in this, countering Gullveig's infinite power with your own infinite power but adding another attack so yours is bigger. It's nonsense.

The good of this book hinges entirely on Gullveig. I love a good sad girl, and Gullveig's whole thing is tragic time loop, so like. I am a sucker. Kvasir is also pretty interesting, though she gets less time. Seidr is...fine. She's your current iteration of the same entity, who is light and hope. In contrast, Kvasir is deeply lonely, having literally no one outside of the summoner ever appearing in her life, while Gullveig is created by the head light god by having her kill her sister to stop a curse that then jumps to her to make Gullveig, who hates what she's become. They're way more interesting iterations. I think the romance is kinda whatever, Kvasir doesn't get enough interesting interaction with the summoner to make her feelings feel all that engaging. But it's fine.

The main problem with the book is mostly that outside of Gullveig, it's...not particularly engaging. Head Light God (Njordr?) is just Lord Gwyn, fearful of the rise of humans and aiming to destroy the entire world because better absolute death than a world without him. He then tries to order Gullveig around after having her kill her own sister and absorbing her curse, and is surprised when she just unmakes him. Nerbuz is really boring. She does basically nothing of interest. Seidr's sister, Heidr, is also just nothing. She exists to have a curse and be a momentary fakeout on the true identity of Gullveig, but the trailers for the book spoil the hell out of who it really is, so it doesn't even work. And of course, "Will you make a baby with me?" Even if they try to downplay it as just a spiritual thing haha, it's a weird thing to throw in, FEH.

I think this is a solid "Decent." Not as strong as book 4 or 5, but perfectly serviceable and engaging enough I can get behind it. I blame this on their refusal to outright gender the summoner, but clear desire for you to interpret them as male, resulting in Gullveig's overt feelings being tragic sapphic time loop material. I'm taking this, knowing that it would bother the devs.

Book Eight Book 8 is an interesting one overall, but I think it's another middle of the road one.

Its positives are largely in how it handles its character drama with the kids. I wound up really liking most of the kids, with Nidhogg in particular just being devastating at the end. They handle what they're doing with their cast a lot better, despite having yet another huge OC cast.

The downside is that, the crux of this drama is...kinda stupid? The setup is also seen in Octopath Traveler 1, where your healer heals an evil man because their healer code says they can't decide who lives and dies, then the evil man does evil to them and they Change. This happens to Yggdrasil Man (Laerdor?), who changes his family from the Healing Hands to the Quieting Hands. But like. This crux also relies on him, a literal god, being kidnapped super easily, and then also all of his kids being killed. It also explains that evil man didn't even hesitate and killed all his kids immediately, even though them being alive for the moment was supposed to be the motivation for Yggdrasil Man to work. It's a little much, is my point. I can't take it fully seriously. The work well with the ground work set, but the ground work is kinda flimsy.

And with that...

Book Nine (So Far) So, without the full book, I can't talk to it too much. But I will say this. I don't hold high hopes.

Alfador is being set up as purely a despot, Baldr as self-righteous, Hodr or whatever her name is being the quieter girl who's more self-depreciating so I like her better, Rune isn't really doing anything, Loki's around but who cares. And you can kinda map a good chunk of tihs, I think. Baldr's going to have a moment of reckoning, likely with Hodr dying because family drama is a must. Alfodor's going to have no appreciation for life because that's damn near every single antagonist in every single book thus far.

There's one (1) point of interest, in Alfador's accusation that Askr is attempting to conquer the nine realms. Which. Isn't too far off. It's not intentional, but how many realms have we killed the king and installed a sympathetic monarch in their place? All of them? Except Embla, who we're friends with anyway. If the realms stand isolated, this does pose a problem. Moreover, there's ongoing lore around your summoner being wildly overpowered, having the ability to constrain anything, even gods, with their power. It's something many characters seek to gain for themselves, but it also...never amounts to anything. Outside of Eitri, no one really does anything about it. So it's just...up to the individual narrative to make reference to your power being scary, or just let it go as not important right now. It makes each book feel highly isolated, despite its intent as a unified story.

Moreover, it does feel incredibly repetitive when you're shotgunning the whole thing. The concept behind the story itself seems to be the bigger draw; there's literally no other explanation for why Book 3 is so popular. Even the ones I like are largely carried for me by "I think dream realm/steampunk/time travel is cool, so these are the ones I liked." It's rare that character work gets really interesting, as pretty much every character that lands on something is some sort of familial drama. Characters they care about die, or they die for someone they care about, maybe parent is garbage and doesn't care at all and the siblings are the ones that die, maybe parent does care but their death is a catalyst. But there's not much wiggle room here. And around all of this, we're dealing with the constraints of telling a story while being a gacha. It's just. Not particularly great for them. There are components I'll carry with me. But by and large, it's nothing too special.

[megafreak400]

Watching All of One Piece - The Water 7-Enies Lobby Saga

Hi, I'm not dead I promise. The first reason is I got stunned locked for a bit, taking a long 3 to 4 month hiatus on watching One Piece due to a specific arc. After that though I basically got a bit backlogged in terms of all my blogs, partly due to real life reasons and then after wards because I just had too much on my plate I kept putting it off. Full disclosure at the time of writing this I have made it to the time skip. However I will be writing this blog based on what my reaction to things were at the time. For the most part writing this so late is only going to affect the questions segment, since I don't fully remember if I had any questions that ended up getting answered. Still I do apologize for putting these off, especially since this is when some really good stuff starts to happen in the show. Also because I'm realizing this will be useful for all my blogs, here are the previous write ups for One Piece (going forward I'll only post the last blog) The East Blue Saga The Baroque Works Saga The Sky Island Saga Reminder too, i'm not explaining the arcs, this is written with the expectation you watched that saga. So, spoiler warning. Also, this marks the start of the show being in wide screen. Just figured I'd mention that somewhere.

Music

The issue with this section for background music is that A: since i'm way ahead of when I watched this arc it's possible to forget when some new background music was introduced. and B: the longer this goes on with so many track continuing to show up that were introduced from day 1 some stuff can get lost in the deluge at times. So if a song really stands out background wise and I remember it being introduced here (and if I was wrong and it was introduced earlier going forward, don't get mad please) I'll still talk about it but this section will likely be mostly OP's and EDs. Well Ok mostly OPs after this post. For whatever reason the EDs go away, and for a long long while from what i've been told. So enjoy the last few of those while you can. So first off for background music, and both of these are bangers.

It's been a while since we've had a new straw hat theme (or a new straw hat in general) and this theme is fantastic. Up there with rubber wrecking ball, when this song is busted out you know Franky is gonna wreck some shit.

And here we have the theme song of the strongest character of all of One Piece. Perhaps one of the greatest songs in the show (it also had me laughing my ass off) The OPS in this saga are fantastic. I think all three of them are super catchy with fantastical visuals.

Opening 5 is incredible and a fantastic way to herald the wide screen era. Not only is the song catchy as hell but I think in general the animation made for the op is the best in a while.

Brand new world, the 6th opening breaks the curse of even numbered Openings just being...OK. It's one of the best openings in the show, taking what the 5th one set up and surpassing it with a catchier song and even better visuals. It's too bad this opening lasts for a very short period of time, being switched out before enies lobby is even half way through or so.

Crazy Rainbow is catchy, and cute too bad it has no significant visuals for the arc itself. It's not nearly as bland as OP 2 or OP4, not even close. It's just following two fantastic ops so it's gonna be a step down no matter what. But still a pretty fantastic opening. And hey we actually have some EDs that I really liked. This saga really is firing on all cylinders

This song isn't anything incredible, but it shows sad boat so I had to give it a shout out.

This one though is one of my favorite EDs. I love the fan art, the funny animation of chopper flying around and the song is a banger. It's also the final one for a bit, so this is a good note to end on.

Arcs

Same as last time, no summaries just my thoughts on each arc as a whole. There is two things I need to talk about briefly though. The first is Boss Luffy. Boss Luffy is a special sent in an alternate universe in the past, so like no connection to anything currently going on. All the characters from the show are in it just alternate past versions of themselves. I did not watch it at the time of watching this saga because i was made aware future Boss Luffy specials that came out in later arcs and I wanted to cover all of it one go. So if you're wondering why I didn't have a section on it, that's why. The other is the Straw Hat theater shorts. At one point in this saga they had a series of clip show episodes (More on that later) but at the end they had some cute shorts that are kind of similar in nature to Boss Luffy, but like, shorts. Basically the Straw Hat Characters in other timelines or what have you. Like one where they're all monsters, one where they're all house wives or one where chopper is a super hero. They're cute enough but nothing substantial enough that I wanted to do all of them individually and they don't really make up an arc in and of themself. I did want to give them a mention at least.

Long Ring Long Land Arc

Ok.......this arc man. This arc stunned locked me for like at least the entire winter. It didn't help that work was awful this winter due to how bad winter was for us this year (resulting in my hotel being way busier due to and uptick in winter recreation). On top of Skypia, while being ok, not being an arc that really pumped up my desire to consume One piece, this arc being the first one after the last saga just killed all desire for a bit. Which sucks because the land itself is fantastic. I love the long island with the long animals. They're very funny and I will never not laugh at mooooooooole. The issue is what takes place on that island. Foxy might be one of the worst character in the show, or at least the one you groan every time you see. I'll get into him more in the character section, but him and his dang pirate just, suck all joy out of One piece. He's ugly, not funny and just wastes time with his pointless cheating. Toei absolutely made this worse since i've been told they doubled the length of this arc because for some reason they love Foxy. It's like if you took team rocket from pokemon and all their annoyance you can have at them for derailing the current episode, but take out anything redeeming about them. That's the Foxy pirates in a nutshell. I think my biggest problem though is that this entire arc is centered around the possibility of Crew Members leaving the crew due to the nature of the Davy Back Contest. But the entire arc is also spending it's time having the straw hats lose to dumb cheating or shenanigans, trying to be funny and light hearted. But when you introduce the consequence of "you're favorite character is gonna to be gone forever" into the mix it's not funny when Foxy makes them lose a race by freezing them in place. Having chopper cry as a result does not make me happy. It makes me very very angry in fact. Couple that with the next game being Sanji and Zoro arguing while the Foxy Pirates Cheat that way, Yea I wasn't really feeling this. The worst part is you know the status quo is going to be reset at all of this. We know none of the crew leave and that none of Foxy's crew joins the Straw Hats. So it just feels like a waste of everyone's time. Sure it's the journey, not the destination that matters most of the time, but the journey isn't enjoyable. So you can't even be like "well this is rough but they'll come out of it better" because no, things just reset back to zero. It's even dumber because the Straw Hats are looking for a ship wright. And Foxy has a whole dang gaggle of ship wrights. Luffy wins Foxy's entire crew and just.....let's them all go. It just all sucks. Again the arc being doubled didn't help matters. Ironically, the anime only stuff I feel are the better games at least. From my understanding the boat race, the Groggy ball game and Luffy vs Foxy are all in the manga. And while parts of Luffy vs Foxy are cool (like how he wins) I just didn't think the afro gag was funny at all (except Robins reaction to it cause I love Robin) and it was after this arc had already dragged on way too long. The roller blade section (in which they win chopper back before Luffy is stupid and excepts a second round of games) I thought was the highlight. The Straw Hats are work really well here and the cheating isn't nearly as frustrating. The red light green light was mostly funny as was the dodge ball game. This is despite those two taking place in the second set of games. But still the whole thing took way too long and while there are some good character moments with the Straw Hats, it's not worth putting up with Foxy and his stupid slow slow beam. Good thing we never have to see these guys again.

Ocean's Dream Arc

This is an anime only arc based on a video game....yes you read that right. Honestly though, this is one of my favorite anime only arcs I think. For a few reasons. 1: It's not that damn Foxy 2: Robin being the only one to not lose her memories I think is really good for her character growth and a great lead up to the upcoming arcs in hindsight. Robin has kind of been somewhat distant from the crew a bit compared to other members, so getting moments like this where she's trying to keep the crew together despite not even having as many memories of each other as the rest of them is great stuff. 3. Seeing how characters react despite their lost memories really reinforces their character arcs and strength of character. Or in one case lack of one. Chopper despite it all still believes in Luffy, really hitting hard how much Luffy accepting him meant and means to him and how much Luffy inspires others like Chopper. Nami goes completely off the rails, which really hits home how much her character has grown because current Nami wouldn't be acting anything like past Nami. And Ussop....really doesn't change too much. He also is hesitant to believe in Luffy (when Luffy gets his memories back) but it's not because of his character growth like Nami but lack of growth. He still has overly low self esteem about his abilities but also it shows there is this divide between him in the crew that exists even when he has his memories. This arc is great at the time and fantastic in hindsight. Unlike Foxy it really sets the mood for Water 7 and I think it's overlooked by people because lol game story.

Foxy's Return Arc

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ok despite it being awful that these guys come back LITERALLY AN ARC LATER, this isn't really that scary. The actual foxy stuff is only for like two episodes and while it's nothing...good it's mostly harmless. It also has some cute Robin and Chopper moments. This honestly only exists because in the manga they had an encounter with Aokiji at the end of long ring. They still need that encounter cause it's kind of important so they moved it here closer to water 7. So the Foxy coming back stuff is really just a vehicle to lead into this encounter. That said, I hate this man and I hope we never see him again. As for the Aokiji stuff I'll get into it more during character stuff but it's all very much just setting the ground works for....

Water 7 Arc

Here we are, the part of the story many people cite as the high point of One piece. Which....considering how many episodes are left does leave me a bit nervous. Still it's hard to deny that this arc is really good. One thing to mention before getting into the meat of it though is that while Water 7 and Enies Lobby are considered two arcs....they really kind of could just be considered 1 arc in a lot of ways since they're so very connected together. Still fully makes sense why they're divided (similar to Jaya and Skypia proper) so just know I'll be focusing only on the stuff before the sea train reaches Enies Lobby here. Water 7 has everything you love about a peak One piece arc. You have a fantastic setting with the lovely canal based city of Water 7. You have fantastic new characters and allies that grow to be important friends of the Strawhats. You have heart breaking moments, cathartic fights and silly moments a plenty.

I think in trying to break this down I'll go over mostly what I like or didn't like in no real order. A lot of things are happening all at once in this arc, so this is the best way for me to write this section. Again I'm gonna try not to focus on character too much during this section. 1. As mention the town of Water 7 is a fantastic setting. It's sad because Skypia should have also been this but I honestly feel like I feel way more wonder and adventure with the characters exploring this city then I ever did with them exploring Skypia. Probably didn't help that most of the arc took place on a section of earth land. The Venice inspired canal system is great, the tired nature of the city is also great and I love the Yagaras. Also the idea of a Sea Train continues to reinforce the fantastical nature of One Piece. One of the best cities in the show so far. 2. The Galley-La company is great, and while the plot twist of most of them being the villains didn't blind side me as hard (I had a strong hunch due to reasons) it still feels like a betrayal despite only knowing these guys for a little bit. This, on top of the drama with the ship and the drama with Robin you would think would cause overwhelming despair but somehow this arc does a good job of not drowning you in sorrow. 3. Robin leaving ironically feels like it's the least impactful of the events during this arc, at least at first. Up to this point Robin hasn't ever full clicked with the crew as much as I had hoped, she's still felt like she was at arms length. This obviously changes but the initial leaving I think takes a back seat to the more obvious drama over the merry. But it made Chopper sad cause he wanted to shop for book with Robin so, please bring Robin back. It's definitively the scene with Iceberg in his office that really sells me on wanting to get Robin back though. It's a great scene and the entire sequence of events kept me wanting to watch, which you know is the sign of a fantastically paced arc. 4. Small aside, I do think the mask thing is weird. They give Franky a mask and robe at the start, I think mostly to make you think he may be the main villain....but yea sorry I know he joins the crew. and even without knowing that, the disguised don't really work when Kalifa speaks out loud under her robes. Just seems like a bit silly when we mostly only see the villains being the ones wearing the robes and masks. 5. Franky's back story is the saddest backstory ever told. I love Tom and Kokoro, and seeing what happens is just so fucked up. Fuck the government. Sometimes flash back sections can make me a bit impatient to get back to the main arc, despite wanting to know the back story. It really depends on how they're paced. Here I never felt like I wanted to see less of Franky's youth and this in addition to his conversations with Ussop really do wonders and building Franky as more than just a mean pervert that stole their money. 6. It's nice to see the crew ironically working together so strongly in this arc. I know the crew gets divided a bit during this arc obviously, but it felt like in Skypia and even Alabasta that the crew was less working together and more just happened to be in the same place together. Here all of the remaining crew is trying to do what they can to piece stuff together and get back what they lost. This backbone makes it so I never felt like everything was lost because Luffy and Nami and Chopper and all of them didn't stop fighting or trying to do something despite the many pieces moving against them all at once.

7. I obviously knew about the Merry eventually being replace, but it being arguably the main bit of drama for this arc really hits hard. I'll get into it more with Ussops character sections, but I want to make sure you understand that I don't think anything here was done badly. Ussop acting out is frustrating but not because it makes no sense (it makes total sense) or because it's poorly executed. It's a great moment because it makes you just as frustrated and upset as the characters, because of the emotional reasons alone. And that's great, because it could have either made everyone hate Ussop forever or made the whole thing feel like a waste of time and it doesn't, not at all. 8. The entire train section luckily I kept my momentum well enough, but it's by far the weakest part of the arc. Arguably it drags on just a bit too long. While there are some great parts during the build up to the eventual confrontation at Enies Lobby, IDK if it's worth suffering through Noodle Nose to get there. 9. The ghost ship wright is finally explained, and while I guess it makes enough sense, the real pay off for this bit of lore won't be seen until the next arc. 10. I will talk about most of them in characters, but there are so many good characters and love to hate them villains in this arc. All of them are so good, and will remain some of my favorite characters for a long time. 11. Seeing the Franky Family, Straw Hats and Galley-La join together after spending most of the arc fighting each other due to misunderstandings or the Franky Family just wanting money is fantastic. I love a good mass team up and it really sets the stage for how grand the pay off will be. 12. and I think that's the thing. Enies Lobby and this arc are so attached that you really can't separate the two. Water 7 is all build up and Enies Lobby is all pay off. They're both fantastic but it's hard to really praise this arc without talking about the next one and where things end up.

Enies Lobby Arc

Yea this arc is fantastic. Let's just dive into the play by play. The entire battle to get to main building is just lovely. It's very clear where everyone is during this mass battle, and the gates provide barriers to overcome while not slowing the momentum down too much. Luffy rushing ahead is expected but it honestly all works out and leads to his great moment of unveiling Gear 2. Gear 2 is really cool, though I'm a little apprehensive about it taking a toll on Luffys life. I hate it when any show introduces this element to act like a fake consequence to hammer home how dire things are and how much the character is putting on the line. But like if you never see the consequences coming to pass then why even bother having them to begin with. If Luffy doesn't fall dead at the end of the show, then yea it's kind of a dumb plot point. Luffy pulls (and will pull) this move out so much that it gets to the point that he should have have a heart attack before he even gets to the new world (more on that later) Everything leading up to the Strawhats getting to the main gate is fantastic. We saw a bit of it in Skypia, but I really love people other than the Strawhats getting to fight with them and show that they're also pretty strong. The Franky family and Paulie are great fun here. And Sniper King convincing the giants to join is a fantastic call back to little garden while also just increasing their momentum. Also the fact that spandam just is so in denial at any of this being possible on top of leaving the phone off the hook that the straw hats get more momentum is just great. The result is you get this whole full scale battle even though you know cp9 could have stopped it or halted it way sooner. And I like that because after some of the heart ache during Water 7, we need them to feel like their winning and pushing forward. We need momentum. Robin's back story is heart breaking and of course the friends reaction to the government always being her enemy is amazing. Unfortunately this is when the anime decided to shove a bunch of clips shows in due to a schedule change. I mostly skipped through these but it is kind of a pace breaker to include clip shows as official episodes. They have specials for a reason. I get that they wanted to put more of a buffer between them and the manga, but after the fact you could just remove these and have one episode of the straw hat theater and not really lose much. What follows is a fantastic serious of battles (and one really awful one) against Cp9 and like everything about the end of this arc is great. Everyone (except one person) feels like they contribute here. Chopper basically putting his body on the line to win a fight, Nami's fight again kalifa, Luffy vs Lucci. Some of the fights I feel get drawn out too much. I do think Zoro vs Kaku did not need to take the entire arc. I get comedic effect and all that but that one was a bit silly. But overall it's a great time that kept me engaged. I do think the deux ex machina of the merry coming out of nowhere to save them is a bit silly, but I also will allow it because, it's really good and leads to one of the saddest scene in the anime. About a boat. I cried. Talking about this and Water 7 is hard because...there really isn't any big problems or issues with the execution. Like hopefully I've conveyed why I think things really work but for the most part it can be hard to explain why something is good. It's much easier to explain why something didn't work for you (and don't worry, we will get to that in a future sage). So hopefully my take on these arcs reads a bit more than just saying "it's really good." over and over. That said, it's really good.

Post Enies Lobby Arc

I don't have too much to say about this arc. It's good, don't get me wrong but it's mostly just cool down and world building for the future. Very needed and much appreciated but as for as doing a deep dive as a transition arc it does everything pretty much perfect. Seeing Koby again, learning about Luffy's dad, his grandpa and this new world their heading to is all great world building. And seeing the Sunny be built, and everyone in Water 7 giving them a heroes welcome is just nice. One piece is usually always good about giving breaths of fresh air after emotional sections to never make you feel too stifled. And this arc is great in that regard. also the whole crew getting Bounties and Sanji's reaction to his poster is hilarious. Poor Chopper though. Obviously the stuff with Black Beard and Ace is gonna lead to big things, but I'll talk about that more when we get to those related arcs.

Characters

Ok So I'm gonna have a section for the new crew members, new character introduced this saga even if they show up later, any old guys that come back and are important enough to talk about, and the old crew. Hopefully this will be the standard going forward.

New Crew

Franky

We finally get a new crew mate after a long stretch of no new crew mates. And Franky is a fantastic new addition. He's very smart when it comes to building and has a big brother sort of wisdom that i think is very needed to help balance out the crew. He's also very dumb and very funny at the same time, so comedy wise he's a blast. All the moments in this arc where he acts an shoulder to lean on with Ussop and Robin were enough to turn around his initial villain status, as I don't think either of those two would have grown without him. I do think it's a little weird he joins the crew so suddenly after Enies Lobby. Like while he did get close to the Straw Hats a bit, with everything being in the heat of the moment it does feel just a tiny bit forced due to his bounty. But this is a very minor nitpick. Overall Franky is a fun guy and his Cyborg nature adds something new to fights. I don't think I realized the crew was missing someone like him until he finally joined and now I couldn't see them without him.

Saga Characters

There is a lot of these to go through, so no pictures for them because there is just way too many and most of them are saga only.

Granny Kokoro is fantastic. One of my favorite characters of this arc. When you first meet her you assume she's a throw away funny drunk character, but then you realize how tragic her story really is. And her joining the fray and being like a main contributor in rescuing Robin as well as adding new world building due to her being a Mermaid just is the cherry on top of an already great character.

Iceberg is a fantastic brother to Franky and I'm glad that while he is suspicious of the straw hats, he's also a big enough man to admit he's wrong and also help them out. WHAT DO YOU MEAN PAULIE DIDN'T EAT A DEVIL FRUIT?! He's awesome though. At first you think he's gonna be the worst of Galley-La, but nah he's easily the best character of that group next to Iceberg.

CP9 as a whole I'm just gonna lump in together. Because honestly while they do have individual personalities, overall they kind of just function as one force for the Straw Hats to fight. Individually they're not anything special character wise. I do think the special powers is kind of silly (more on this later) and I guess just a way to add a power system that isn't devil fruits. But I still think in the arc it works mostly well. Kaku is very funny due to his giraffe from, easily my favorite of the group. Lucci I think gets over-hyped a bit, but he makes for a good final boss for Luffy to overcome. The others range from kind of whatever like wolf man, some what annoying like kabuki guy and I kind of hate them with fish zipper man. Spandam may have taken the award for the worst character in this show. I hate this man, so much. Luckily he does get his comeuppance, but still him beating on Robin for literally no good reason is jut fucking awful. His father also sucks. This whole family line is cursed and deserves to burn. The franky family as a whole is fantastic. I did not expect to like them, but they really won me over during the battle on Ennis Lobby. Especially the main leader, Zambai, and the two girls Mozu and Kiwi. I don't really have specifics to say about them, just that I love them.

I love Sodom and Gomorrah, and if they had died I would have been so mad that pell lived and they didn't. Kashi and Oimo are funny enough. I imagine we may see them again in the far future, but I honestly have no idea for sure. T bone is great and I hope we see him again, nice to see a good marine once and a while.

Robin's mom cloned herself. Saul is best dad, and the entire backstory of Robin's made me cry. Aokiji I don't have a read on yet. He's and interesting character to say the least but I need to see more before I determine if I like him or not. fuck wanze, fuck wanze, fuck wanze. No, just no. If I ever see Foxy again I will scream. His entire crew is also awful. SNIPER KING IS THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE SHOW. I hope he returns one day. His theme song is amazing, and his moment when he saves robin with his sniper skills is incredible.

The Old Guys

Garp is technically old because we saw him in Koby's one episode, but we get the proper introduction to him here. I think I mostly like him at this point. He is definitely Luffy's Grandpa that's for sure. I want to see more with him but at this point, he's an interesting and fun character. Koby should not have grown this much. How much time has even passed? Granted it's nice to see him again and he even gives us some world building. I'm sure he'll be back again in the future. Helmeppo exists. Black Beard, White Beard, Shanks, Ace and any other big names that show up sprinkled through out here I'm lumping in the category of they don't really get any new character development but something big will be happening soon. So not much to say about them at this point.

The Crew

Luffy

He's much better here then he was in Skypia. No bullshit with being eaten by a snake. In fact this is probably the most serious Luffy has had to be in a long time. His whole interaction with Ussop when it comes to their fight and the subsequent rush to try and figure out if Robin is really betraying them or not puts him to the test and really shows you who Luffy is. Luffy learning new moves by watching his enemies to protect his friends, to the point of literally paralyzing his body for a bit really hits home how much Luffy cares about his friends. I think in previous arcs while I liked Luffy, I felt his goofy nature took too much of a front seat to the point where it negatively affected the plot. I don't feel that's the case here, and Luffy is forced to make difficult decisions and really learn what it means to be captain. And I think he'll be all the better because of it.

Zoro

He's is easily the Strawhat that mostly stay the same in this arc. Like in Skypia, if you liked Zoro you will still like Zoro. Shout outs to his calling out Ussop at the end of the arc though. I do think this is an underrated moment because Zoro despite not showing it often really respects Luffy. He's completely right to point out how Ussop can't just pretend nothing changed, and I really like that he does so. He's basically second in command but I think a lot of people think he's just dumb idiot who swings swords. He has a lot more wisdom to him then you would expect. Other then that, he's just solid throughout but I don't think he really has any moments that are mind blowing. He does spend most of the fight against Cp9 chained to Sniper King, though Zoro using him as a sword is funny. I also really like him passing on Paulie's message of firing Cp9 to Kaku. Other then that though, he keeps being solid.

Nami

Nami continues to just climb up my favorites. She's probably the character who keeps the Straw Hats together the most during their panic to find robin in Water 7. I love her determination after learning what Iceberg heard from Robin, like that's the Nami I love. Hearing people talk about how she's afraid and weak all the time makes me think I watched a different show then most fans. Yea she's not the strongest fighter, but that's what makes her fights so good. She wind using clever strategies and she still puts herself on the line even though she knows she's no Luffy. As a side note, I do love that during the CP9 fights it starts as a 1v1 but the fact that people switch partners to who works better to combat who makes the entire sequence of events very good. Yea Nami doesn't do well against kabuki man, but at least she isn't god damn sanji. She then proceeds to absolutely hand Kalifa her ass, in one of the best battles of the arc. The mirage tempo is right up her alley as a fighting technique, and seeing the new climatec in general was fantastic.

Ussop

Ussop finally gets his character growth and it's about time. This was much needed for Ussop, since he spends so many arcs before this point not underestimating his own abilities, trying to do things not in his wheel house, taking credit for no reason or just trying to run away despite knowing better. Ussop has felt out of his depth for a while, and the events leading up to the Merry needing to be replaced and his loss of their money breaks him. Ussop is 100 percent in the wrong and what he does next. He takes the initiative and manufactures a narrative where he forced his friends to abandon him so that he could avoid his fears of it happening in the future. He makes it Luffy's fault so that he can hide behind that instead of confronting his own insecurities. Compare to Robin, who has the same fear but instead makes a personal sacrifice instead of a selfish one. Ussop then spends most of the arc after that part hiding. His scene with Frank is great mind you, but it also is further proof of his concerns about the Merry being more a scapegoat for his own fears and worries. When he learns about robin, he can't bring himself to face his friends and decides to hide behind a mask. and while it is funny, Ussop is kind of just using it to pretend like nothing has changed. He's trying to just run away from confronting his weakness and acknowledging his strengths. From admitting he screwed up and growing as a character. Him saving Robin was the first step in him knowing what he can do as opposed to what he can't do, but he needs to leave the mask behind. We then see him at the end of the arc, proving that he never lost faith in Luffy, he lost faith in himself. But he also still is trying to not take responsibility for his actions. He hides behind a mask, and spends much of the last arc scheming how to rejoin instead of just apologizing. Only when confronted with the fact that he needs to own up to what he did or his friends will leave does he finally grow as a character. and I'm very excited to see this new Ussop in action. Sanji

Sanji, Sanji, Sanji, Sanji. Is there ever gonna be an arc where you don't suck? Don't get me wrong, I do like it when he does spy shit, I really do. I do think he spends way to much of early Water 7 just not being helpful from our perspective, but I get it he wanted to sneak aboard to the train. And While the train heist ended up a flop, Sanji isn't horrible during this section. His fight with Kalifa though, Holy shit. This might be my least favorite Sanji moment by far. Robin is being taken to an inescapable* prison, time is of the essence. Everyone is fighting for these keys (yes Zoro and Sniper King are being idiots but that's more Sniper Kings fault and to be fair the enemies are also being idiots here so I feel like it's kind of a wash) and what does Sanji do? Fucking can't hit a lady because of Chivalry! What the fuck kind of bullshit is this. That's sexist as fuck, a waste of our time and just a lame way to lose a fight. He does then beat up a wolf man but sorry, that doesn't make up for how supremely awful that moment was to me. He can only get better right?* *This may or may not end up false. Chopper

I love Chopper. I love him so much and he continues to be peak this this arc, and all while wearing a cute jacket. Chopper kicks ass saving Galley-la from the fire, saves Zoro from the chimney (Nami is also good here too, saving Luffy), and that's before we get to Enies Lobby. His moments with the Franky Family's Yagaras is very cute and heart breaking at the same time also. But then we get to his fights against CP9. My dude saves Nami, gets Franky his Cola, and then turns into a monster in a last ditch effort to curb stomp Kabuki man. He then is the reason Nami figures out the Golden Bubbles weakness, while also fixing Sanji. They all would have lost of Chopper wasn't there. He doesn't get nearly enough credit. The poor boy also can't move when he wakes up and it's so sad because you know he's be helping the others fight if he could. Choppy is incredible. Robin

Robin like Ussop gets massive Character development during this section. Up to this point she's been a character that I felt was kind of kept at an arms length from truly joining up with the Straw Hats. Very similar in fact to how Nami was pre-Arlong Park. But the revelations about her past and her want for a family or friends is heart breaking. The fact that she's become someone known for betraying people simply because she had to protect herself after others betrayed her first is just crushing. She's felt that she has to live for her people, but she herself hasn't wanted to until now. To have friends who will say to her "your enemies are our enemies no matter to cost," like that entire scene is incredible. Robin's character can only go up from here, now that her shackles have been freed.

Crew Ranking

Chopper > Nami > Franky > Robin > Zoro > Luffy > Ussop >> Sanji So there is some change here that I do want to explain and maybe the lack of some movement as well. Chopper will always be my favorite (unless they do something horrible to my boys character) so its unlikely he'll ever move. At this point I think I need to put Nami over Zoro for sure. It's not that Zoro got worst, it's that Nami keeps being stupid awesome. She has some really great moments in this saga and continued character growth. Franky is very fun and while I'm not sure if he'll stay this high on the list for long, I think his turn to being a good guy as well as how supportive he is at Robin and his growing love of the straw hats here as well as his backstory just really pushes him as an immediate favorite. Also he funny. Robin arguably could be higher than some due to being the emotional backbone of this arc, and I didn't not like Robin in this saga (as evident by her going up) I just thing the other left a stronger impression on me. Also as this goes on it's gonna be splitting apples and oranges as there is few in the crew I don't like. As mention, Zoro doesn't do anything wrong and has some great moments here as well, it's just a lot of the other crew is really stepping it up. Luffy is really good in this arc and if Zoro wasn't one of my favorites he probably would surpass Zoro here. When Luffy is a bit more serious and not doing stupid shit to delay the plot, I like him a lot. He's in that mode throughout this whole saga mostly, so again don't take this as he's bad here, everyone else is just on point as well. Ussop finally got his character development moment, but because he has some really frustrating if not understandable moments he doesn't move the radar much for me. But this is the best Ussop has been by far and I can see him only going up from here. Yea no sorry Sanji deserves another space separating from Ussop. The only Straw Hat this saga that went down further. AND THERE WAS NO WHERE LEFT TO GO DOWN? You can slot Tyrannosaurs above Sanji if you want. While some of the spy shit he does is good, all of the crap with chivalry is awful and beyond that he spends a lot of the saga off screen (like most of water 7) and when he does show back up it doesn't really amount to much. Sanji just consistently has the worst character of the entire crew by far and even if you wanted to say "well he fights good" uh no he doesn't He had one decent win here but that's not enough to make up for all the stuff he pulled with bubble lady. Maybe he'll get better someday

Mysteries and Questions

ok so as mentioned, I'm technically far ahead of this arc at this point, so I don't know how useful this section is for this blog posts. To be honest I don't think I had a lot of questions at this point beyond what is going on with Black Beard and Ace, stuff about the new world in general and just general curiosity about fish man island. Some of these have already been answered, others less so but overall I know i was left with a lot less questions compared to Skypia since some of those were answered here.

Final Thoughts

This is by far the best Saga of One Piece so far bar none. It has the entire crew working together while still having drama. It has fantastic set pieces, cool fights, funny jokes and heart breaking moments and all with the perfect balance. This is Peak One Piece and I can't wait to see where the show goes from here.

[honeytrap26]

Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Suguru Geto x Reader (Part 3)

summary: A story about your blooming love and friendship with Suguru Geto.  cw: mentions death, blood, gore, betrayal, sprinkles of love and fluff. Tragic love story. aunote: Third part of this series. Enjoy and happy reading! 🐼🖤 Total wc: 6k+/Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 4(Finale)

wc:1k+

Set the mood: 

Little Mix- These Four Walls, Seafret- Atlantis

August,2006

-I feel so numb.

Suguru is standing in the shower, he scrubs his body and rinses his mouth.

The hot water runs down his back.

Bitter, so bitter. It’s all so bitter and bland. I can’t get the taste of cursed spirits out of my mouth.

If only there was a world without….

The warm water runs down his back.

What if…

What if….I just killed them all. 

What if I just killed all of the ....“Monkeys” Toji’s voice echoes in his mind.

Yes, if I killed all of the monkeys then my….. 

He thinks about the time you came back home gravely injured, your shikigami warped you back into the infirmary. You were both heavily injured, Seraphina had lost an arm, protecting you at the last second.

Yes, to protect the people I care about I must find a different way to keep them all alive.

The cold water runs down his back.

His eyes that were once hazel and flickered with hope and life are now faded to a dark brown as he’s,

-Staring at the shower wall.  

September,2007 -It's begun, the feeling that the end has come.

Seraphina whispered as she brushes your hair. 

“What are you talking about?” you turn to look at her but she vanishes, 

“Wake up!” she yells, her voice echoes through her nest. You look around to find her but you're sitting there alone.“Seraphina?” you see a shadow standing there, it beckons you to follow it. “Seraphina is that you? Where are you going?” you run after the shadow, it stops before a black hole. It reaches a hand out to you. 

“Come with me.” It turns into a child version of yourself. “You’re tired, let’s go rest.” it holds your hand tugging you towards the black hole as you get closer your body begins to feel heavy, your eyes get heavy, you yawn feeling so “sleepy” the shadow whispers in your ear a malicious grin on its face.

“How long are we going to sleep for?” you ask the child, she giggles pulling you harder making you jog towards the black hole, it grows bigger as you get closer.

“Forever.” it’s jaw unhinges and it tries to swallow you but a hand reaches out yanking you back.

“Wake up!” Seraphinas voice is loud and clear in your ear, the screams of the villagers make you jolt up grabbing your chest, the thick screen of smoke suffocates you, burning your lungs, your heaving trying to catch your breath.

“You’re finally awake, I can’t hold out much longer.” Serpahina is standing in front of your body in a defensive stance, her robe is tattered and torn apart, she’s breathing heavily, holding her sword.

“Seraphina! What happened?!” you catch her as she falls, she hands you the sword. “ I thought we exorcized the cursed spirit, is there a stronger one? That’s not possible, it was a low level, I saw it, I took care of it.” you ramble on.

“Suguru” is all she says before vanishing,

“Suguru…” you look around you, the village is on fire, the houses are burning down.

“Help me!” a woman screams running towards you.

You get up to help her but you feel a sharp pain in your ankle making you fall to the ground.

“Please” the woman shrieks, a cursed spirit runs after her, its tongue swaying back and forth. You try to form a dagger to throw, “Shit, I’m too exhausted and Seraphina was badly injured.” You muster all your strength to jump in front of her, slashing the spirit. You stab your sword into the ground to break your fall. 

“Are you oka-” you ask, but you get a hard slap that stings your cheek.

“It’s all your fault! You’re all cursed, damn you all! Go to hell!” she screams at you, grabbing your hair she yanks you onto the ground. You’re in a state of shock not being able to move, she picks up a rock to throw at you, your eyes widen, you try to warn her and push her away but it was too late. A cursed spirit stabs her in the back ripping her body apart, her blood splatters all over your face. You look down, your hands that are covered in blood, you try to wipe the hot liquid off of your face, wiping it on your tattered uniform. Your heart is pounding, your hands go numb and your gasping for air, taking shallow breaths. The spirit slashes you with its sharp claws, ripping your outer jacket. Your mind is blurry all of your memories are rushing back again, 

“You’re a cursed child! You did this to us!”

The spirit jumps on top of you, your body rag-dolls to the ground, you’re laying on your back, you see the thunder rumbling through the sky, a drop of cold water hits your cheek. A claw pierces and digs into your thigh, but you don’t feel a thing. It hits you in the stomach making you spew blood, your breathing is labored as you gasp for air.

“It’s so warm here. I…want to sleep.” your eyelids are droopy and heavy, your warm blood soaks through your white t-shirt, seeping into your jacket.

 You stare off into the sky, seeing the electromagnetic waves connecting through the cloud,

“goodbye.” you choke out. Lighting cracks through the sky, roaring.

Mission Summary: A cursed spirit has been ravaging a village, two sorcerers were dispatched to eliminate the target. They found two little girls that were caged and abused. The village was burned down and 112 villagers were killed. His partner was found in critical condition. Later that night his parents were found dead. Upon further inspection, there was evidence and traces of Suguru Geto's cursed technique from all the crime scenes. Suguru Geto is to be captured and sentenced to death for the death of 112 villagers, his parents and for gravely injuring his partner.

You’re standing in the shower. The weight of your soiled clothes pulls your body down. You fall to your knees and cover your face.

You feel cold metal on your finger against your bruised cheek, tears running down your face. 

And now the water's cold,

Shoko runs in and pulls you out of the shower, your lips begin to turn purple, and your body is shivering, she holds you in her arms rocking you back and forth whispering. Yelling for Gojo to grab a towel. Your muffled cries become painful wails.

“You’ll be okay. I’m here. You’re safe.”

You lay in your bed, holding the ring he gave you.

Where did you go Suguru? 

-I tried to eat today but the lump in my throat got in the way.

[fu-cough]

I watched Disney's Wish (aka their 100 year celebration movie) and if you like the movie please just feel free to ignore me😭

ITS SHITTY.

1. Appearance - it is so bland. The castle has no color in it. It's all grey, even Asha's clothes are muted! Their city is called "ROSAS" for god's sake, they couldn't have thrown in an abundant amount of roses there?? Flowers?? They tried to do this 2d and 3d mix that the Spiderverse movies made famous and it just does not work. The characters do not interact with the textures of the background at all. It feels like they were just plastered onto the scene with the backgrounds already made. The trees and leaves do not sway. The best sequence was probably the "At All Costs" song number.

2. Soundtrack - "here I are", "Throw caution to every warning sign" (the context of the song is that she does not care about the warning signs), "I got these genes from outer space" (which does not make sense metaphorically and literally because afaik Magnifico is a human with powers). Overall, the tune is okay (more of pop music than theater style but ok) the lyrics are not. Definitely tried to copy Lin's style.

3. Asha - who EVEN IS SHE?? We don't even know anything about her except that she wanted to be Magnifico's apprentice so her family could have a higher chance in having their wish granted. Also her father died. She was so boring as a protagonist. She had an i want song where she spoke about being restricted by people telling her "no" and like WHEN?? She was never stripped of her freedom, the only time she was told no was when she asked Magnifico to have her grandpa's wish granted. She was THE SAME throughout the entire film. No development, no moral lessons, no nothing.

4. Magnifico - he kind of deserved better lmao, not the best but his character deserved better treatment plot wise. Like he turned evil in a span of 5 seconds because of some cursed book i guess. And then his wife of how many years immediately left him and took the throne for herself 😭. He granted a girl's wish about being a dressmaker and she talked shit about him the moment he was in the mirror. I don't really understand why he's a villain but that's because I don't understand how wishes worked in-universe.

5. Wishes - i dont understand THIS!! it pisses me off so much and threw me off the entire duration of the film. Like okay so the people of Rosas WILLINGLY give the King their wishes once they turn 18. Then the King grants 1 wish per month and people KNOW THIS. It's basically a lottery and there's a chance your wish will never be granted. The citizens also know that they will forget their wish once they give it and they will never get them back. So what is Asha trying to revolt against here?? People seemed okay with this entire arrangement, hell, they knew about it the entire time. What exactly is the conflict in the story?

6. Other Characters - ohh omgg Asha's friends are the seven dwarves haha nice idea Disney, if only they were fleshed out and we could've seen their wishes, right? Also there's a talking goat thing who makes butt jokes. And then there was Star that was definitely just there to make merch plushies. Asha's grandpa wants to "inspire the young generations" thru... playing the guitar??? Asha's motivations revolved around having her grandpa's wish granted and his wish is just so goddamn plain. Like where are the stakes?? It would've been better if her grandpa's wish was something life saving. Maybe her mom was sick or something.

7. Plot - there's a plot?

I am just so madd. It so soulless, stiff, and basically just an entire ball of corporate bullshit. I am not blaming any of the writers, animators and anyone in the creative field because we know damn well it's the executives' fault for making this whole mess. 1/10.

[semper-legens]

39. Curses, by Kevin Huizenga

Owned: No, library Page count: 179 My summary: Do you ever think about curses? Kevin Huizenga does, and he's here to present the deeper questions about the world around us interspersed with a backdrop of modern mundanity. From the suburbs to the skies, from men haunted by creatures unseen by anything else to the feathered ogre that lives beneath the city, from Sudanese refugees to the golf course. My rating: 3/5 My commentary:

Curses! Or, not? This was a baffling one. As longtime readers of this blog will know, I'm always on the look out for interesting graphic novels, particularly indie titles or things that are a little bit outside of the norm. Well, I might have bitten off a bit more than I can chew with this one, since I came away from it understanding not a lot. Certainly the book wasn't what I was expecting - I saw on the back that there was an adaptation of Green Tea inside it, a Sheridan LeFanu story that I read in uni, and I was execting something more on that grounds, adaptations of classic stories or folktales or something like that. And that's not not what's within these covers; the LeFanu stuff is there, as well as stories inspired by other myths and folklore. What I wasn't expecting was Glenn Ganges, an everyman recurring character of Huizenga's, and the bland mundanity of modern suburbia. What a weird concept.

Overall, I found this a mixed bag. The best story in the collection is undoubtedly 28th Street, which follows Glenn and his wife wanting to have a child, but being unable to do so until they find a feathered ogre and succesfully pluck one of its feathers. Perhaps the reason I liked it so much is that it adapts a folktale, specifically an Italian story, and yet blends it with the iconography of modern America into a surreal, magical realist landscape. The worst, for me, was Jeepers Jacobs, which details a conservative Christian's musings on the nature of hell, which was just too much prose about philosophy and too little Things Actually Happening. There's also some stuff which is definitely evocative (like Case…, the art of which is beautiful Japanese-inspired paintings and the story of which follows a record of an adoption) but I didn't see how it fit thematically. Maybe I'm just not getting it, I don't know. It's not bad, it's just…weird, and not my kind of weird, I'm afraid.

Next, more Outlander!

[snuggles-and-struggles]

Reverse trope writing prompts list I found on tumblr n made a bunch of fic ideas for ages ago. They're mostly silly but some I did take some liberties w/ and actually had more proper ideas stem from.

I had intended to actually write these all out as fics and post them in a collection but since idk when that'll happen, here they are as is <3

• Too many beds

They get in a minor accident on the way to an event, forcing them to book a two night stay far from home while Edge's car gets repaired. But there was a mishap with the computer system. The only room they have left is one of the big fancy penthouse rooms, which they'd be welcome to stay in for no extra charge for the inconvenience. Obviously Stretch thinks that's great, but having to do a full security sweep of a much larger room, with significantly more windows leaving them exposed, puts Edge, well, on edge.

Stretch is happy to get some space after being stuck in a car for so many hours with Edge, but when he senses things take a nosedive, he goes to check on him.

Edge has more or less locked himself in the bathroom and is having a panic attack. It takes a minute, but Stretch eventually helps him calm down, and they wind up falling asleep together on the couch. Or, Stretch falls asleep, Edge mostly just dozes.

• Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Stretch wanted to help Rus plan a surprise party for his friend, Pup. Everything is going according to plan until Pup essentially assaults him. He caves and tells him it was supposed to be for a surprise party and that Rus would be there soon, but whom he quickly learns isn't Pup clarifies he seems to have gotten the wrong monster. Well, that explains a thing or two.

Before Stretch can embarrassedly apologize and show Boss the way out, Rus appears. He scolds Stretch insisting he'd kidnapped a stranger, to which Stretch sheepishly responds that yeah, they sorted that out already. But then Rus goes and throws another monkey wrench in and asks if Boss would like to stay for the party anyway.

If for no other reason than to embarrass Stretch more, he accepts, and Rus quickly departs to go and get The Real Pup. Boss mockingly tells Stretch to go ahead and introduce him to the rest of their friends, at least, the ones he actually knows, anyway, and Stretch is like 'what am i supposed to introduce you as? The guy i kidnapped???'

Boss says yes, but at Stretch's argument, he chuckles and tells him to lie, make something up. Old college roommates or boyfriends or whatever, he doesn't care.

Boss can't stay very long but it's incredibly fun watching Stretch squirm, hasn't done something just for the hell of it in such a long time, he forgot spontaneity can actually be enjoyable.

• Really nice guy who hates only you

Edge has hardly said more than two, completely bland sentences to Stretch since meeting, and yet Stretch loathes him. It embarrasses and frustrates him, but there really isn't anything he can actually do about it, now is there.

• Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

College professors for sure. What field? Who knows. But it's definitely very playful and very silly. Plot twist at the end reveals they're already married perhaps

• Divorce of convenience

Edge and Stretch want to adopt, but due to laws put in place by humans after surfacing, they can't with Edge's LV. However, if they simply divorce, then Stretch could all by himself. Problem solved.

• Too much communication

Edge explaining something too bluntly leads to an argument, where reasons and old hurts bubble up to the surface. Eventually, after cooling off and talking more, they decide maybe it would be best to try therapy, instead of relying on only each other.

• True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Of all the insane, ridiculous, moronic things the Alphys from his world has done, inflicting him with some sort of disease that can only be cured by kissing an enemy has to be the stupidest.

Worst yet, for all the monsters who hate him, there are very very few he would even consider asking to do something so absurd. After writing and rewriting a list of options and settling on simply threatening Alphys until she fixes it herself, Stretch unexpectedly shows up at their house.

Blue had asked him to return something, and while they're bickering, it occurs to Edge to simply ask Stretch. Enemies they may be, but he is far and away preferable to anyone from his own universe.

Stretch is, suffice to say, shocked when Edge asks, and tries to kind of avoid it, but when Edge reluctantly pleads and offers to do nearly anything in return for his cooperation, Stretch relents and they kiss.

...however, much to Edge's confusion, it didn't work. Stretch is incredibly flustered and admits he doesn't actually really dislike Edge all that much, and Edge is...confused.

Edge gets sorted via simply going to a fell verse bar and waiting until someone who hates him is drunk enough to kiss him, and it all works out. The ever-chivalrous monster he is, though, Edge insisted upon getting drunk as well, that it would've been wrong to prey on someone inebriated when he himself was in a clear headspace. And so Stretch goes with him to keep an eye on him and help him home afterwards.

Confident Edge wouldn't remember, as drunk as he is, Stretch confesses his crush as Edge is nodding off on his couch. When he comes to, sure enough he doesn't remember the words themselves... But Stretch's willingness to help, not disliking him enough to break the curse, and the pain pills and water that had been set in front of him go a long way in changing the way Edge sees Stretch.

• Dating your enemy’s sibling

Blue is the one who's taken issue with Edge since the get go. Edge doesn't even exactly know why. But things get a bit more complicated when Stretch kisses him unexpectedly one night.

• Lovers to enemies

They'd been somewhat resentful fuck buddies back underground, but after surfacing and breaking off the arrangement, they got so much worse.

It probably takes a significant amount of help from friends on both sides to clear the air, and help them realize perhaps the hard feelings were rooted in something other than distaste

• Hate at first sight

This is just like every other spicyhoney fic already lmao

• Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Pup is torn. He and Stretch have become good friends, and Stretch is always flirting with him. But Edge is...magnetic, and wonderful, but he can't tell if he has a chance with him. Rus tries to help him choose Edge, while Chara tries to help him choose Stretch, when, much to everyone's surprise, Stretch and Edge abruptly start dating.

At first, Stretch had taken the idea to Edge in an effort to make Pup jealous and finally get him to go out with him, unknowing of his feelings for Edge, too, and Edge agrees to help...but the more time they spend together, the more they start to realize...

Possible adjacent Mapleblossom

• Fake amnesia

At first, Edge really had lost a large chunk of memories since surfacing in that accident. But as he recovers, he starts hiding what he remembers. Things had changed so much when Stretch realized he didn't remember how bad their relationship was, and now that he’s being so much kinder, Edge desperately doesn't want to go back to how it was. But really, how long can he keep it up until someone notices?

• Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Every day, they meet at the window. They'd tried to fight it, at first. When they'd learned that their deaths were a crucial event in the timeline. All they had to do was avoid each other at all costs. But the more they pulled, the harder the universe pushed, others getting hurt or causing other issues within the "code", and so they had no choice but to give in.

They would kill each other one day. They'd known that for a long time. Not how, nor why. They never, ever anticipated falling in love. It was a horrifying, cruel thing, to slowly realize they were two halves of one whole. Soulmates, bound in life and death, every step they'd ever taken always leading to the other.

To satisfy the desire, they meet there, at that window, where they can see each other, talk, almost touch, pretend, both leaning up against the thick, clear glass, that they can feel the others warmth through.

Every day it gets a little worse. Every day it gets harder to leave. One day, they'll have no choice. They'll be overcome and go to the door, desperately meeting in a long denied embrace. And maybe, just maybe they'll be able to share one kiss before they succumb to their fate.

• Strangers to enemies

This one confuses me. Is this not how all enemies start?

• Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

No one, no one, believes Stretch and Edge when they finally share the news. Them? Hah! They couldn't stand each other before, not to mention there were reasons for that. Their personalities clash terribly! Edge's standards are way too high to settle for someone like Stretch, and Edge is way too high to maintain and antagonistic for someone like Stretch.

Good grief.

• Too hot to cuddle

In the midst of the dog days of summer, Edge and Stretch are much, much too hot to cuddle in bed as they often do. It's so hot, in fact, that they can't even sleep. So they decide to take a nice refreshing shower together to cool down some...

• Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Not a himbo, but Stretch is too charitable for his own good. When his good friend, Grillby has to retire due to health concerns, Stretch buys his restaurant in order to keep it open. Unfortunately, he has NO idea how to run a business. The head chef, Edge, had been doing most of the work in Grillby's absence, and now has no choice but to step up and help Stretch figure things out.

• Nursing home au

It's not wholly uncommon for monsters with high LV to not have much in the ways of family or friends. This often lands them in places like the care home Stretch works at, since they have no one else to help them in the event something happens to their health.

He'd originally taken the job at his brother's recommendation, unsure he'd be cut out for it, but after a few months he found he doesn't actually mind so much. He gets along well with his patients, and the work isn't as grueling as he'd feared.

Typically, he doesn't get the patients with LV due to his HP, but whether there was a slip in the system or the coordinator figured a skeleton monster would be best suited to help another, his new patient is Edge, ex-Royal guardsmen. He's got an illness that's progressed to the point he can't live on his own anymore, and has long since become estranged from his family, leaving it up to Stretch to take care of this ailing patient.

[dtrghost]

closeness and proximity

Side note: This is my first ever tumblr fic, so uh, be gentle!! moving on!

pairing: ghost x f!reader

synopsis: callsign is sunshine, because you're anything but. team 141 thought ghost was bad? at least they could crack a smile out of the guy from time to time, you? you were stone faced, all day, every day. until one day you're not, not with a certain someone anyway.

warnings: inaccurate military language and sequences, violence, angst, descriptions of interrogation and torture, INTENSE gore (imo), cursing, allusions to mental illness (reader has sociopathic tendencies) you get the gist. If you have a weak stomach or faint heart, please do not read this, like please.

I'd also like to start this off by saying that the mc is not a good person, and that is on purpose. I've seen a lot of the angel fics where ghost falls for his antithesis, so I decided to try something new. So here, please forgive any mistakes.

if this does become a series there will most likely be smut because,,, yes.

(update it's becoming a series so if someone wants to be tagged for that lmk cause i have so many ideas for this)

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

Word count: 3.4k

"Sunshine how copy?" Ghost's gruff, static filled voice called through coms, scope checking the parameters of the building she found herself held up in. She didn't respond at first, busy fighting for her life in a basement underneath the building they weren't aware of.

The deeper she went the harder it was to understand what was being relayed to her, so she settled on doing it on her own. He listened to a man grunt, their body dropping to the floor under her boot as she took a deep breath.

"There's a basement underground, coms are cutting out. I'm taking charge on clearing the basement. I'll report when I get to the surface. Sunshine out." She loathed her callsign with a passion. To speak it caused a burning hatred to spark in the lowest depths of her heart and made her cringe horribly. However, she knew it was better than letting everyone know her real name, so she dealt with it.

Ghost sighed, knowing she couldn't be stopped once she started. She had been on a few missions together in the past few years, he knew she was uptight and lacked the emotional capacity to make friends with others. It made him wonder why, what could've been that bad to freeze her heart over and shrink it to the size of the pebble he was crushing under his foot as he shifted uncomfortably. People would try and try to thaw her out, yet always failed.

He waited, taking out strays that attempted to heed the possible rescue requests that came from that basement, and patiently waited.

"This is Sunshine, basement cleared. Might wanna come take a look at this." His eyebrows furrowed, affirming the request and making his way down quickly, not wanting to stay in the open for too long. He made his way to the basement, eyes widening at the various bodies that trailed to wherever she was down there.

Had she done this all by herself?

He followed the bodies all the way to her, lights flickering, casting a bland white light on the concrete walls. seeing her digging through an opened trunk in a room filled with them.

"Weapons. American." Sunshine reported, glancing at him as he took his place next to her, seeing the American flag painted onto the inside of the lid. She turned at the sound of a groan, a soldier she left alive rousing to consciousness.

"Fuckin' hell. This mission was to take out ultranationalists." Ghost sighed. She didn't respond, the task force member watching her turn on her heel and grab the soldier by vest, throwing him against the wall with impressive strength. Blood flowed out of the back of his head, smearing against the wall as he slowly slid to the floor. He had never seen her in interrogation, but he had heard from those who have.

Brutal, heartless, some had to exit the room.

He wouldn't. He's witnessed plenty of torture tactics, even had to rely on some himself to get information necessary for national security. But this is another reason why they called her 'Sunshine', because to others she didn't feel remorse for what she did, some said she enjoyed it even, that her eyes brightened like the sun peaking over the horizon. Whether that was true or not he'd figure out now, as eager as he was. He watched her take out her knife, flipping it in her hand as she crouched to the soldier's level.

"Where'd they come from." She asked simply, keeping an even tone that surprised Ghost. He expected something more fierce, intimidating, but it was as if she was starting a conversation with a normal person. The victim attempted to spit in her face, but with a quick turn on the head it landed on the floor behind her. Her knife dug itself into his foot, his cries of pain echoing in the basement as she twisted it. The sounds of his bones cracking made Ghost shiver.

"Where'd they come from. Who sold them to you." She persisted, her face void of all emotion as she ripped the blade out of his foot. She sighed, turning to ghost who stood in the back, surveying the action. His eyebrows furrowed as she pointed to the door with her knife.

"Wait outside. This might take awhile." At first he didn't move, but the hint of impatience in her eyes spooked him out, for reasons unknown to him, but instinct told him to listen. So he slowly retreated and stood watch outside for anyone either getting up or rushing down the stairs. Y/N turned back to her victim, seeing two loops with chains hanging off of them imbedded into the wall. She tied his arms up, leaving his body sagging down.

Ghost listened to her repeat her questions, and when she didn't get an answer, a shout would follow. But those shouts turned to ear-piercing screams very quickly. He listened to pleads and begs of mercy to understand him, that he couldn't say anything out fear to what they'd do to him.

"Imagine what I'll do next if I don't get the response I want." She'd respond.

The bones cracking, the retch of vomiting, blood splattering onto the cold concrete.

"If you think you can outlast me, that I'll get tired of this and stop for the night to let you regain some of your humanity, you're wrong. Because unfortunately for you sweetheart." The blade tore through his skin, another bellow of pain emerging from his throat as he squirmed in his place. They were both coated in blood, her eyes dull and her ears tuning out the noise. To her, it was as if he was silent, his screams didn't penetrate through to her, and talked and talked until it drove him mad.

"I don't have all night, and I'm getting impatient. You won't die, I wouldn't allow that. I went through med school, graduated top of my class with a doctorate in Neuroscience. I know how to break." Which was evident as his leg was broken and facing different directions from the knee down to his toes.

"And I know how to fix. I'll keep you alive a lot longer than the night, and I'll do a lot worse. So if you want this to end, start talking, or you're in for a long week." Simon wondered what she was doing. His mind went over the possibilities until her victim finally cracked after the final scream he unleashed into the empty basement. He detailed a secret arms trade between an ally of the United States' and another country, which would lead to the likeliness of intentions for them.

War.

Y/N huffed, ripping off a piece of the soldiers shirt that wasn't soaked in sweat, blood, or vomit, which was a very small one, and wiping her hands clean as best as she could.

"Could've said that 10 minutes ago. Now, you'll bleed out within the next 5. Shame." Ghost listened to his anguished sobs as footsteps approached him, turning around from the entrance to see her, covered in blood. His eyes widened slightly, noticing a piece of...

Her eyes followed his to her vest, noticing a very small piece of flesh sitting between her shirt and gear before flicking it off to the side.

"Hopefully he didn't have HIV." She joked, but there was no humor in her voice, no sign of her finding it funny at all, as if she said it to just say it. Ghost didn't respond, he wasn't sure how. He slowly moved to look inside the room, the curiosity of what she did to the soldier eating him alive, until she grabbed his roughly.

"Don't." The word sent shivers down his spine, and he knew better than the disobey as she had operational command authority, and would likely court martial him if he had. So he took a step back and maintained eye contact, radioing in to Price.

"Captain, this is Ghost. How copy." He called, his gruff voice bringing a smile to her lips that he couldn't see due to her mask which was just a boring black one, decorated with blotches of drying blood that lightened up enough to see. "This is Price."

"We found weapons and gear, they're American." He went onto explain the situation, being weary of his mission leader walking around him in circles, waiting impatiently as he reported their findings.

"Copy that. I'll transfer this to Lanswell. Good work, report back to base for debrief."

"Copy, Ghost out." He connected his radio back to his vest. She took out her pistol, leading him to pull out his own. The behavior she exhibited was one he hadn't seen often, and it led to a deep mistrust he couldn't shake. She smirked, turning around, walking back in the room, and confirming her kill with a bullet between the eyes before reappearing in front of him.

He looked at her suspiciously as she gestured to the stairs, wondering who trained her, who made her into what she is now. She wasn't normal, not like the rest of them, she had no signs of remorse, care, or empathy for the people she killed, and she killed them with ease. Over 30 soldiers in one cramped basement and she came out unscathed, in tip top shape. He followed her out and made it to the landing zone where a helicopter came to pick them up.

She was silent the whole way back, Price being there to greet the two before they sat through debrief.

"Sunshine, we have orders from headquarters to have you join Task Force 141. Ghost is to watch over you. An official introduction will be made tomorrow." Price announced, not missing the tightened grip of Ghost's fist on the table.

"Copy that captain." She responded in her usual tone, only fueling Ghost's anger as he turned to glare at her, though she only ignored him, keeping her gaze unwavering on Price.

"Hit the showers soldier." Price dismissed, Y/N being the first to leave. But before she did, she turned to look down at her new partner.

"Happy to be on the team, Mr. Riley." It took his everything to not jump to his feet and knock her out, holding his breath to calm himself down as she walked away, the door shutting behind her. He hated that she had power over him, and worse that she rubbed it in his face.

"There's no chance in hell I'll stand for her being on my team." He immediately threw at him, standing up in his seat with his finger pressing firmly on the table in front of him.

"First, it's my team. Second, It's not my choice, orders are orders." Ghost growled lowly, clearly upset over the lack of fighting to keep her off, to keep her away to those he held near and dear to his heart, even if that wasn't too close to begin with. He saw her as a danger, an immediate threat, someone who belonged in an institution before they saw the battlefield.

"Then send an appeal. She's a war criminal. Tell em that!" He snapped.

"Bloody hell we're all war criminals. Then we'll be stuck in prison with her and you'll complain some more." Price groaned, rubbing his forehead, clearly irritated by his soldier's insistence.

"Not like that. Not how she is. She'll kill one of us before we get the next mission, hell she parade around our bodies like a joker and hail-" Price's hand slammed on the table, cutting his lieutenant off.

"Quiet." Ghost went silent, sighing deeply as he waited for Price to gather the right words, to somehow ease his mistrust in her, though he doubted she could do that. He watched as he shut the door and locked it, keeping his voice hushed, standing closer to his comrade.

"This is classified information, what I say stays in this room and is to never be discussed with anyone else. Is that understood lieutenant." Ghost's eyes widened for a moment before nodding in affirmation, waiting for his captain to continue.

"She- she wasn't brought up normally. As a great many soldiers weren't, hence why many of them join the ranks in the first place. She was a prodigy, she became a seal at 17, and on her second mission she was set up, deserted, and kidnapped. Nobody knows what happened to her in there, a search team was sent out, but she wasn't found til a few months later, and when she came out after she was different."

She was a child.

That's all Ghost could thing about. God knows what happened to her in there, and he didn't want to think about it.

"She exhibited sociopathic tendencies, she was closed off, didn't speak for a very long time. She failed psychological evaluation requirements, depression, ptsd, ecetera. Even then they sent her back out on missions a couple months later." Simon's eyes blew open, Price nodding glumly.

"Missions? Fuckin' hell, she needs help not special ops." He sneered, not at Price, but his anger was seeping through at rates he couldn't control. He was angry, how could they do that to someone? Did they not care, not even a little bit for her life? Her wellbeing?

"I know. But they're not taking her out any time soon, and now that she's on our team the least we can do is try to help her. I knew her before she became this. She was a kind soul." His voice dropped to a whisper, as if reminiscing, and he was. Her bright eyes, so full of potential when they met for her first mission, how she wheezed when she laughed. She was a kid, and it hurt his heart thinking about what she turned into over the last 6 years. Ghost nodded, silently agreeing to his motives before Price simply waved him off.

Simon hit the showers, scrubbing off the dirt and gunpowder that clung to his skin, watching the water turn black as the face paint drizzled down into it. The captain's words ran through his head over and over, the words going in one ear, through his brain, and out the other in a constant circle. He knew firsthand how corrupt his line of work could be, but that didn't make him any less angry when it revealed itself to him in the ways it did.

When he exited, fully dried and clothed with his mask back on, he passed by Y/N's room, noticing the light peaking out from underneath the door. He sighed quietly, his hand coming up and knocking on the door.

"It's open." Her cold voice responded, though it sounded more distant than before. He twisted the knob and let the door open, seeing her laying on her cot in deep thought. He went to question her, until he realized that she probably listened in on their conversation.

"You were listening." She nodded once, curtly and formally before sitting up and turning to look at him. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, analyzing every aspect about him. He felt like he was being stripped naked just by her look, his soul bare for her to look into.

Her eyes drifted over his exposed arms, the sleeveless tank he wore leaving them on display. He was a big guy, his arms were veined and muscled, tattoos filling up a majority of the space, combined with scars that passed through some of them. The top he wore was a bit tight, outline his chest in an attractive way, but she forced her eyes away, knowing he already caught onto what she was staring at.

"Price is right. I wasn't always like this. And I think he was the only one to notice, or at least point it out." She began, drawing attention away from the fact she just checked him out shamelessly.

"Wasn't right, what happened to you." He replied stiffly. She snickered, standing up. He watched her pace the room, twisting a knife in her hands, causing him to tense. She noticed.

"I'm not going to stab you lieutenant." She reassured, though it didn't help at all as she went on. She wasn't sure what she felt, confused for sure, as to why she was unable to emotionally process her emotions or evaluate the information she heard, as if her mind was barring her from contextualizing her state of mind. She knew she wasn't normal, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it and label herself.

"I was 17 when I was taken, you know that. Had a rough upbringing, I won't explain that to you now." She wasn't sure where she was going with this, and neither was he, but he'd listen for a bit to try and understand her more, maybe to trust her more now that she was his teammate. "I can feel emotion you know. Only to a certain degree, I can empathize. Fleeting, but it's there sometimes. I do feel some remorse, but you know how we are in this field. Weakness will get you killed, so you internalize it, you keep it buried underneath everything else, and because my everything else was stripped away with me, it just sits in here." She tapped her temple and shrugged. He understood what she meant, he did that too. He withheld his shame, his guilt, and his remorse, remaining a stone cold figure in the field. He saved the emotional crap for his time alone where he could deal with it in the way he knew how.

"You just let it sit there then?" He pressed, crossing his arms over his chest. She nodded.

"Don't know what to do with it. Lost my sense of self and all I know is this job. I do try though, I try to force some tears like I've seen others do, but the only time these.. feelings present themselves is on my missions, which is why everyone thinks I enjoy it. But I don't, for the record, I just can't control it like you guys do. And I envy you for that." His eyes widened slightly.

"Envy, huh."

"Mhm. You can talk to each other, find common ground and relate, make friends and connections. I can't because I don't feel like you guys do. And then you demonize me and outcast me more than I already am, so. Oops." He thought she was getting upset, but she wasn't, there was not a hint of anger or sadness or negative emotion in her person whatsoever, none that he could see anyway. Her arms were loose and carefree as she swung them around every time she turned her heel to pace back in the direction she just walked in.

"We can help you." Her first sign of feeling was an eye roll with a steady irritated gaze. But she didn't say anything. The idea of needing help repulsed her beyond anything else, made her want to punch a wall and scream, her eyes widened. Anger. There it is, outside of a mission too. She hummed, looking back at him.

"Alright Casper." He grunted, displeased by the new nickname which made her smile widen cheekily. She searched his eyes for a moment, finding entertainment in the small flames in his amber eyes, how they flickered and danced when he found something humorous, how they died out when he found something unamusing or boring, how they raged when he grew angry or determined to finish something with a newfound passion.

She liked to think he had that burn in his eyes when Price spoke to him about the notion of helping her, hoping that he'd care that much even if she didn't want the help, or perhaps she did, that would explain the want would it not? That was a thought for later. For now she'd do her job the way she knew how, she wouldn't change, not yet, not that she knew how anyway.

"We're going out for a drink tomorrow night, care to tag along." He offered, jousting his chin up at her in a heads up manner.

"I don't drink." She replied, monotone as she laid down on her cot, shutting her eyes with a sigh. He watched her body sink into the bed, all stress and tension releasing, and he took that as his dismissal. He shut the door behind him, releasing a breath and walking back to his room, confused and tired where he slept on the day's events.

Though he was curious on how tomorrow would turn out.

And that's it! If you want a series out of this let me know!! It's my first fic and I'll probably binge a bunch because I feel like writing. I'm still trying to figure out the whole border thing I wanna make everything aesthetic or whatever but yeah.

See you guys next time!!

[obeiii-mee]

Hey!! I just came across your page and I immediately fell in love with your writing style,, since your ask box is open, I was hoping to request MC getting hit with a spell or curse that makes them hate the brothers. (Like mystic messenger elixir, or danganronpa despair disease!) pretty much just how they would react if MC suddenly started to thrash and curse at them. (That sweet angst if you catch my drift) Thank you for taking the time to read this! <33

The Brothers with a Cursed!MC

———————————-

We gotta keep the angst train rolling because why not-

I’ll happily write anything to do with hate spells and the Danganronpa reference really painted it out for me nicely so let’s see if I can write angst in slightly smaller portions because there was an attempt! Thanks for the request by the way, this is the kind of thing that pops up in my brain pretty often, idk how I never wrote it out before now! You’re also very sweet for taking the time out of your day to request this <3

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, Satan, Asmo, Beel and Belphie

Notes: uh, the title is pretty bland because I didn’t know what to write instead-

————————————

Lucifer:

-“What the hell are you doing here? Get out-I don’t want to fucking see you!”

-Knowing that he could’ve done something to prevent this honestly frustrates him in ways he did not think were possible

-As someone who doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him, the sight of you thrashing around in his brothers’ arms while yelling obscenities at him genuinely broke his heart

-Moments like this, when something so unexpected happens or when he’s genuinely hurt by the actions of others, stump him the most. His perfect self just vanishes and he’s stuck because he doesn’t know how to react

-Well, he’s obviously sad. Actually, sad doesn’t even begin to cover it. Your desperate attempts at breaking free and lunging at him were probably one of the most gut wrenching things he’s ever had to witness and that says something considering he was very much present when his sister was on the verge of a painful death

-However, perhaps more than anything, he is seriously pissed off. Whoever casted that spell, be it an accident or otherwise, is in deep shit the moment Lucifer discovers that they are the perpetrator and they will have to suffer accordingly

-This is the kind of thing that no one, let alone the Avatar of Pride, would forgive easily. Having a loved one be brainwashed or rather cursed to the point they make you the target of all their hate and distrust hurts. And that hurt will quickly turn into anger with time and before long, the demon in question will find themselves hanging from the ceiling in Cerberus’ room before personally being visited by Lucifer himself. Terrible fate really, but what can you do?

-Even so, none of that mattered in the grand scheme of things-after all, he punishes ignorant demons on a pretty regular basis and they can’t die as easily as humans so finding the time to torture such a miserable creature isn’t exactly a problem

-The problem was the aftermath; as much as he wishes to, he can’t get rid of the effects of the spell manually and unfortunately, he will have to wait for them wear off before you can return back to normal. Fortunately, on most occasions, jinxes like this don’t last for very long. Typically 2-3 days, though sometimes it can drag on for up to a week which he hopes isn’t the case

-In the meantime, the best course of action would be to supervise you for the next couple of days and see whether your condition is getting better or not. This is, unsurprisingly, a very difficult thing to do since you keep pushing him away and violently at that but it’s not as if he can just stop trying. Curses like this sometimes come on with side effects, especially when performed on humans and they can be pretty nasty. After studying previous cases of these incidents, he discovered its quiet probable for you to get sick or sluggish towards the end of the life span of the spell

-And he stays firm on the matter, even if you keep loudly protesting against it and even if he feels completely drained after each visit to ensure that you were not taking a turn for the worse. Believe it or not, your words are powerful enough to start wearing him down and not many people can say they have that kind of affect on the literal embodiment of pride. More than anything, Lucifer wants you to return to your usual self because he misses you and seeing you act this way towards him is really making him question a lot of things

-“I told you to just piss off, you prideful, two faced bitch.”

-“….MC, stop moving-I’m trying to check whether you have a fever or not. I promise to leave afterwards, but I can’t do that until I’m sure you’re not getting sick.”

Mammon:

-“Hey! Don’t fucking touch me, just stay the hell away from me!”

-Honestly, the first time you snapped at him while you were under that curse shook him to his core and he was just confused because he’s never seen you act out like this before. But then, your words start to settle in and he almost bursts into tears

-The whole time his brothers are trying to sort you out, he’s panicking in the background with tears running down his face until Belphie comes up behind him and slaps him on the head, telling him to get his shit together

-Truth is: he is freaking out. Badly. Like, extremely bad. He doesn’t know what’s happening or why, he just knows that you are not feeling like yourself at the moment because you keep throwing shit at him and yelling at the top of your lungs to leave you alone

-He doesn’t want to. Leave, that is. Mammon actually feels like physically attaching himself to you by now and he probably would’ve if it weren’t for his brothers, who sensed that having him around was not doing you any good

-The worst part though was that, after a couple of days of waiting around for the curse to wear off, you began to ignore him altogether and that probably hurt him more than the way you treated him before

-Mostly because, in that case, he knew you weren’t acting like your usual self and he could reason that it was definitely the spell was that forcing you to behave like this. However, being ignored hit a bit too close to home since this is a pretty common tactic you used whenever you were seriously pissed off at him. Granted, you only ever reserved it for very serious situations but when you did apply it, Mammon usually felt as if the world was going to collapse on his head

-The silent treatment was possibly one of the worst things he could’ve endured that week because of how unwanted it made him feel and overall just worthless for not being able to protect you from this kinda stuff. Actually, he wouldn’t have been surprised if you decided to blame this on him as well, even after you’ve regained some more of your senses. To him it made perfect sense

-For the most part, the whole time Satan and other various demon doctors were trying to treat you, Mammon was most likely off sulking by himself. If I were to guess, probably in his room, back to the door and knees pressed up to his chest. Since, obviously, he wouldn’t have any motivation to go out without his lucky charm present and accounted for, so locked inside his room seemed like the only solution

-His brothers were worried but not even Lucifer could drag him out and eventually they gave up. Honestly, they were hoping bringing you back to normal would convince him to set foot outside of his bedroom again, even though it felt like a bit of wishful thinking

-Realistically, he’s going to keep his distance from you for a few days after you’ve recovered because by then he would have become quite insecure about a lot of things and really didn’t want to be in your presence until he felt safe again. Though, it wouldn’t take an awful to coax him towards you once again. He fell in love with you for a reason, after all.

-As for the stupid motherfucker that decided jinxing you was a good idea, he better thank his lucky stars that Mammon was mourning for a solid week before he could act on his emotions of anger. In my opinion, that’s enough time for the demon in question to runaway, maybe to the human world, invent a new identity. Go on holiday. To the Balkans, maybe. I don’t know. Mammon would probably find him. And as tame of a demon as he can be, no one wants to feel the wrath of the second born

-“…..Mammon, just go.”

-“…please….p-please don’t say that…”

Levi:

-“What the hell are you doing here?”

-Probably asking himself the same question, to be honest. It’s clear that you do not want to see him and that his presence was nothing more than a hindrance but for some reason, he really felt inclined to stay

-Levi was the last of the brothers to find out about your sudden predicament. After all, the incident itself took place during school hours and he was at home watching anime the whole time. Not to mention, he turned his D.D.D off completely so he wouldn’t be bothered by anyone before his marathon was finished so even though the brothers were desperately trying to call him, he obviously didn’t answer

-It was horrible, to put it mildly. Having to watch you get forcibly get strapped to the bed so you didn’t have the chance to attack anyone and even when you calmed down, it was clear you didn’t feel like talking to any of them

-In a way, this whole ordeal is really just feeding into his inferiority complex because even though he knows the words you are saying are not sincere, they still manage to affect him quite badly because it’s coming from you

-Despite the explanation being reasonable enough, he fails to not take it to heart and it sort of shifted his whole perspective on your relationship, much like Mammon, because of his insecurities

-By the time you’re back to your normal self, he is not. Completely out of energy as one might say. And yes, he’s used to not sleeping for days in a row sometimes but this is different because he is not doing it to catch up on a show he missed or to play with his fish

-This is a matter of your health being absolutely on the verge of collapsing entirely while your whole personality flipped like a switch, which made him anxious enough to not crave sleep or his usual entertainment past times

-While you’re still sick, he’s essentially hoping to Lord Diavolo himself that Satan knows what the hell he is doing since he was the one in charge of taking care of you, with him being more of an expert than any of the others and all. It’s stressful and the way you keep talking to him wasn’t helping in the slightest

-In all fairness, he’s almost acting as if you’ve died and he’s in the process of mourning you. Mostly because to him you were a completely different person altogether and he refused to believe the actual MC would be so blunt and dismissive. Even if you were to believe half the things you were saying, it’s not like you would willingly say it out loud to him no matter what because you always took into account how he felt about everything

-That’s what he keeps telling himself, though your insults are starting to get at him the more he’s in your presence. To keep himself occupied, he attempts to find the person who’s cursed you as a way to avenge you. Levi knows his brothers probably already did all sorts of horrible things to them and they obviously deserve it but he wants to take some petty revenge too! And what’s pettier than completely destroying someone’s social life through social media, especially when it’s helping him deal with the current situation <3

-“Can you just fucking leave already, you piece of shit.”

-“….MC….“

Satan:

-“Piss off Satan.”

-It doesn’t take long for him to start matching your energy in terms of anger. I guess it’s to be expected since hostility is usually met with more hostility and this is especially true in Satan’s case. Though it’s not clear whether he’s angry at you or the situation as a whole. It may well be both, but just because he’s the Avatar of Wrath, that doesn’t mean he’s completely unreasonable

-As usual, he was just spending his free time inside the library of the House of Lamentation when Mammon came bursting in, panicking from the looks of things before proceeding to grab him by the sleeve and aggressively yank him towards your room

-The whole situation was pretty bewildering to begin with but then, when he noticed the exact state you were in and just how badly you needed medical help-or the demon equivalent by any means, he low key started freaking out as well

-Truthfully, it was a lot of pressure on him. It was obvious that all of his brothers had really high expectations of him and were essentially pushing him to ‘fix’ you within the next 24 hours, which was probably not possible anyway

-However, on top of all of that, your overall demeanour also caught him really off guard and he genuinely had no idea how to react to your altered self once he has been updated on the matter

-Naturally, he is used to fighting fire with fire but as much as he is inclined to do just that, it really wouldn’t be fair on you considering you are not exactly capable of resisting the curse in question

-Honestly, he’s just glad (and extremely tired) once the effects of the curse are lifted because the whole experience was draining for him and as a result, he couldn’t even imagine what you were feeling after you started regaining your senses again

-Though he’s not the Avatar of Wrath for nothing and he sometimes can hold grudges for various periods of time, he doesn’t really hold anything against you, no matter how much you may have upset him while you were in that state of mind and for a few days, he may just appreciate the fact that he was able to do anything at all as a way to help ypu

-In terms of the foolish bastard that thought doing this to you was a great idea, it doesn’t take Satan all that long to come up with some kind of scheme to take his revenge on them. The whole ordeal has left him incredibly frustrated and agitated, so who would be a better choice to let all of his anger out on if not the dumbass that caused you to go through all of this?

-Don’t worry—the fourth born tends to unwind fairly quickly after releasing some of his anger so he should be by your side the next morning as if nothing happened <3

-“I’ll fucking kill you-GET OF-“

-“…MC, for the love of all that is demonic, stay still. I am not in the mood for this right now.”

Asmo:

-“…just… get out…I don’t want to see you.”

-Yeah, that alone would do enough collateral damage to last him for the next few centuries or so. Though he’s always been good at being perceptive and noticing when something is amiss with either you or his brothers, even Asmo seemed to be take off guard by your condition

-The effect you have on him is devastating at times, you know? He genuinely doesn’t know how to feel about any of this because he’s not used to seeing you react in such a way and he’s certainly not used to his brothers acting in such a peculiar manner either. It was almost as if they were lost on what to do next and that terrified him to a certain extent

-Even though you were against anyone keeping you company, someone needed to supervise you for obvious reasons. If something were to happen or your condition were to worsen, then the outcome of that problem would be in your favour if someone was there to spot it in time. Asmo usually volunteered to stay, since he didn’t feel like doing anything else on most days now that you were bed riddled

-Of course, Mammon also tagged along quite often and the two of them sort of bonded this way, though the circumstances of their stronger relationship is dubious by all means. You wouldn’t be able to tell but despite absolutely refusing to leave your side for days on end, your words did start wearing him down a little

-It wouldn’t surprise him if he were to find out you really despised him and his siblings after everything they did to you. They still couldn’t identify the curse quite well but for all they knew, it could’ve been used as a sort of truth serum that forced you to say what was on your mind no matter what

-Luckily for everyone else involved, Asmo is certainly capable of brushing off the insults you may have hurled at him and even though he’s still hurt by your words, he seems to realise that now is not the time for him to be offended or to mop about, since your condition was suddenly going to worsen before it got better

-I guess Asmo has always been rather good at prioritising the things and people he considered to be important and you are, without a doubt, one of them so his main concern was to ensure that you get better, not to worry over what you think about him

-Surprisingly enough, he didn’t need to think about the good for nothing scum that cursed you to begin with all that much, mostly because his brothers went and took care of them long before he even had the chance to react

-Doesn’t mean he has no intention of hunting him down later (if he happens to still be alive which is doubtful) and giving them a piece of his mind as well. Does this imbecile know how much sleep he lost because of what he did??? How many hours of distress and lack of self care-yeah he is probably gonna end up taking it out on him

-The good thing about having a smart ass for a brother was that Satan did heal you and way faster than most them had hoped for. In a week’s time, you were back to your old self again and Asmo could finally….relax after several days of anxious waiting. If you expect him to unglue himself from you once you’re back to normal then you’re fatally wrong.

-“Why are you even here? I thought the perfect Asmodeus would never need the company of someone who is so clearly below him.”

-“….MC, I could never think that. I…need your company more than anyone else’s so don’t say that. It’s not fair...”

Beel:

-“I fucking hate you so don’t even fucking bother talking to me.”

-Really, startled doesn’t even begin to describe his reaction to the current situation because he just came in to ask you if you wanted to go to Hell’s Kitchen with him and he found you strapped to your bed, yelling obscenities at him whilst his brothers watched from the sides, equally dumbfounded

-Surprisingly enough however, even though he may seem like the type to get emotional (which he is capable of being no doubt), Beel becomes really frustrated and angry once Mammon explains what happened to you and why you were in such a compromising state of mind

-Like, don’t get me wrong, seeing you act so indifferently towards him hurts more than his hunger pains when he doesn’t eat for a whole day but knowing that someone out there purposefully tried to turn you against him and his brothers pisses him off a lot

-And it’s probably because he knows it took such a long time for things to finally settle down and for you to be accepted into their family just for this to happen so naturally he’s not exactly happy

-Of course, don’t expect him to go off on a rampage on his own (at least, not until you get better) because honestly, he could eat the idiot behind this whole facade if he wanted to but he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it knowing you were still very much stuck at home and bed ridden

-For the majority of your recovery, he obviously stayed by your side (though he wasn’t as committed to it as Asmo and Mammon because he constantly had to go and fetch more food from the kitchen)

-Probably slept in your room as well, him and Mammon most likely took turns because after a few days of this, they were becoming increasingly tired and your bedroom floor isn’t exactly an easy place for someone to rest. They figured they’re not gonna be able to do you much good if they are drop down exhausted all the time

-Beel probably envelops you into the hug of the century once it’s confirmed there are no traces left of the curse on you and he’s almost crushing you but that’s OK because it’s been a tough week and he needs it (you too tbh)

-I would say he’s the most unaffected brother by your interactions with him whilst you were under the influence of the spell. Even though you deliberately went out of your way to insult and insinuate all kinds of horrible stuff about him, he didn’t seem to take too much of it to heart and brushed it off almost??? Didn’t stop him from sighing in relief as you apologised to him for saying all of that

-“Go annoy someone else Beel, I’m not in the fucking mood.”

-“…MC, have you eaten anything today?”

Belphie:

-“H-HEY!! Fucking let go of me-what the hell are you doing??!!”

-Unlike his brothers, he does not believe in the art of allowing people to heal on their own nor is he any good at giving people personal space when they may want it, he is simply against it

-So he’s pretty much aggressively holding you no matter how much you thrash against him-he’s surprisingly strong for a demon that doesn’t actually do anything all day so no wonder you can barely move whilst in his embrace

-The whole ordeal has pissed him off and tired him greatly, like two seconds in and he can’t decide if he wants to take a nap or go end the piece of shit that started all of this to begin with

-Honestly, he probably decided against both because maybe-just maybe-he was more needed here, at least until you stopped throwing shit at him every time he entered the room. In a way, he thought his presence might help but that’s just wishful thinking tbh

-Not going to lie, even though he tries to make it seem as if this is not bothering him at all, it does. Out of everyone, your hatred for him is, in a way, the most justifiable. Whilst he can see your dislike of his siblings as something that was fabricated due to the curse, your feelings towards him could’ve been real for all he knew

-That could be the main reason he didn’t feel like pissing off despite you telling him to do so every hour of the day and eventually he had to be pried away by Satan once he decided his brothers were getting in the way of your recovery

-That week may as well have been torture because time was going too slow and yet too fast simultaneously and he was in a fucking horrible mood the entire time (your attitude rubbed off on him) so this eventually lead to him snapping at his brothers on several occasions and fights breaking out more often than usual

-Once you are back to your senses (more or less) expect a pillow to be thrown at your head because that time period was so stressful to him he could barely sleep and he was anxious as fuck. By now, we know Belphie expresses his concern through anger and snide remarks so that’s to be expected

-Even though he is grumpy by nature, Belphie is internally so relieved to know you were not able to control yourself whilst under the influence of the spell and just happy that now he is 100% sure you don’t hate him as much as you let on during the past few days. However, the best thing to come out of this situation?? He got dibs on breaking the ribcage of the bastard behind all of this and now he gets to be a torturous little shit to someone else for a change

-“Huh? What are you going to do? Fucking kill me again? I don’t give a shit.”

-“………..”

—————————————————————

[hotwings0203]

Bully!Dabi pt. 3

Tags: @shikamaruscumrag @pinkiy13l @an-ambivalent @luno614 @sukunasleftkneecap

Tw:dubcon, noncon, bullying, manipulation, Russian roulette

“Doll? Come on out and I won’t hurt you too bad.”

You wait with bated breath as he walks right past your hiding place behind some crates, blue fire licking up the sides of his body and held in the palms of his scarred hands.

He’s mad, you know he is. He’s teasing you, of course he is, why else wouldn’t he just turn on the lights and pounce?

No, this is another punishment of sorts. A punishment for escaping your previous punishment from being locked in your room.

Another lash of burning cobalt strikes against a wall about 10 feet away from you, and you curse yourself internally. If only you had just stayed in bed a couple days more, if only you hadn’t snuck out when he left, if only, if only…

“Baaaabbyyyyy”

It sounds so wrong and uncharacteristic coming out from his gravely voice.

You huddle your limbs even closer to yourself, paying no mind to the cramping in your knees from being squished for so long.

It’s been about 25 minutes or so from what you can remember. It’s hard to remember anything that happened this bland morning anyways when the climax of your life was seemingly taking place here, after you entered the wrong room.

You had honestly just wanted a peek outside of Dabi’s room and maybe a drink of water, nothing more.

Or so you tell yourself.

But can you really be blamed? Who else wouldn’t have run out the moment they got a chance after spending almost two weeks in the same shitty room, being used as fuckmeat and only given bread scraps and salty cum as meals.

It didn’t matter how close he held you at night, how his strokes seemed to brush up against all the right places, how he tried catching your eye every time he wanted to talk about anything (which you would never really indulge in, only giving him a soft grunt or a nod). He was a monster, a demon in disguise that was keeping you against your will in his clutches.

A loud crash closer than before hits your ears, and you stifle an impending whimper. You can tell he’s roamed closer than before, finding nothing from his earlier place in the front of the storage room.

“I’m getting pretty fucking tired of repeating myself doll. You must be even more of a masochist than I thought since it’s like you want me to fuck you up even worse than I did before.”

His words are quiet but they do enough to cause a loud beating in your already-pacing heart, so loud in fact that you fear he can hear it racing a mile a minute.

You wonder if anyone is nearby, if they even remember you’ve been missing for a while now.

“Y/N”

“Come out, pretty girl. You know I miss you”

But you don’t miss him.

What you do miss, however, is not being chased into an empty storage room and hounded like a fucking dog. You miss joking with Twice, painting your nails with Toga, making Shigaraki chuckle.

All of a sudden, the crate next to you is covered with hellfire. The flames that are thrust from Dabi’s hands are so wild that they seat through your shirt and prick your skin.

You scream and scrabble backwards, the light of his fire illuminating his face leering up above you in the dark like a ghoul from a children’s book.

You clap your hands over your mouth, ignoring your bubbling skin as fear overrides premonition, but the damage has already been done.

It’s eerily quiet for a minute. Then, he whispers,

“Found you”

Even in the pitch black room you can practically see him lunging towards you, and you scuttle backwards on your hands and feet in terror. His hands miss your bare feet by a few inches, and he snarls before making another swipe.

“Fucking bitch, this is the thanks I get for taking care of you, bathing you, feeding and fucking you?”

You yelp as he lights up the floor on both sides of your trembling body, and you see his figure once more as the blue fire shows the sick grin twisted up on his face.

“Leave me alone,” you sob, clambering up on your feet and running backwards as he advances on you. The smoke from his quirk is filling the room, and you erupt in hoarse coughs as it’s filtered through your aching lungs.

Everything about him is toxic.

“Nah. That’s not how this works sweetheart. You see, I take care of you, and in return, you do whatever the fuck I say when I say it.”

He raises his palms to you and you flinch, covering your head and colliding with the wall behind you. You’re too scared and tired to evade him again as you feel his body cover you and brush against yours as you shake in place, your arms still above your face.

He cooes at you. “There there, my stupid little bitch. You were scared daddy was gonna hurt you, right?”

His stitched palm caresses your bitten bottom lip and trails up to your tear-stained cheek.

After a moment of you saying nothing, he slaps the side of your face, hard, and you gasp in pain. Now it wasn’t just your stomach that felt on fire.

“I asked you a question, you brain dead whore. Are you scared daddy’s gonna burn you? ‘You scared he’s gonna beat you black you blue? ‘Scared he’s gonna cut a gaping hole in your burnt tummy and fuck the gash?” He leans in and lets his raspy words settle over your ears as he tenderly brushes your hair away from it. He softly kisses the shell of you ear, and when you sob quietly he wraps his arms around your middle and hugs you close, paying no heed to how you uncomfortably squirm when your raw torso burns from the contact.

You squeeze your eyes shut and try not to inhale too much, lest the smoke embedded all over his body gets too close for comfort in your system.

“Y-yes daddy. Please don’t hurt me, I was…a bad girl.” You cringe when the words are wobbled out, but you know it’s what he wants.

To humiliate you, to hurt you. Who was he kidding when he said he loved you?

Dabi, however, feels butterflies in his own stomach.

See, this is what you need. To answer to Daddy, to submit to him so that he can take care of you. That’s why you stayed so long in his room, right? It’s cause you knew it would make him happy if you listened to him. You let him make love to you, and treat you like his little girl because deep down, you know this is where you belong.

So why are you fighting him? You never raised a complaint for a week and a half, you only stayed quiet and kept your eyes shut when he asked if you were okay. That means you liked it, right? No real opposition, after all.

Except for now.

Dani is honestly disappointed in you right now, you were doing so well…so why’d you have to go and ruin it?

He might’ve softened from the way your body shakes and your sobs are muffled by his smoke-scorched jacket as you press against him for comfort, but the image of you turning around and running away when you saw him earlier hurts him too much.

It angers him.

Why the fuck were you so scared? Hasnt he shown you enough that he loved you? What, does he need to fucking spell it out for you?

Why were your eyes filled with such terror when he caught you? Did you turn away from him and run because you thought he was going to make you look like him, all burnt up and hideous?

Honestly, he would never, but if you’re so hellbent on making him the bad guy, then fine, he’ll play the bad guy.

Anything for his precious little girl.

And so he tightens his arms around you and chuckles cruelly when you whine at the lack of air.

“Well, you were right. I am pretty pissed, I mean I told you to come out and you didn’t listen right?”

“S-sorry,” you weakly choke out.

He laughs even more crazed now, crushing your ribs so tight he could actually hear your breath wheezing out of you, could feel your weak little punches against his back.

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it. No no, I want you to beg for your fucking life now.”

Your eyes widen as his arms begin to warm up and become unbearably hot.

“Dabi, no, no please!”

You writhe in pain as he cackles above you, savoring the choked breaths that emit from your wetted lips.

As soon as you begin to see spots, he releases you, and flings you against the corner of the room.

You go flying and bang your head against the concrete wall, his voice muted and swimming around in your ears as you fight for consciousness.

He saunters towards you in all his flaming glory, hands in his pockets as if he were walking out for some fresh air. He crouches in front of you and lifts your head with the pads of his fingers.

“Awww, my poor little girl. That had to have hurt, huh? You’re bleeding,” he cooes and blows a strand of hair away from your eyes.

He’s not lying, you can feel hot blood trickle down the side of your head as your vision sways.

“Stop this,” you pant. “I get it, I’m sorry- you were right and I was wrong, I shouldn’t have ran. I’ll listen to you from now on-“

“-But you said that last time, didn’t you?” He cocks his head and with the light of his turquoise fire against the shadows of the room, he looks like a being from hell itself.

“Remember? When you sucked me off like the dirty whore you are? Remember that you stupid cunt?” His grin becomes more reminiscent of a wolf baring its fangs, and you’re rendered silent in complete terror.

He takes your silence as an encouraging factor to continue his fun.

“You ever played Russian Roulette, Y/N?”

You have enough sense to quickly shake your head, a sinking feeling in your stomach forming at his implication.

“Me neither. But I kinda wanna try it right now. So, back against the wall. Stand up straight and spread your legs.”

You look at him incredulously. “You can’t be serious Dabi.”

He raises an eyebrow and a fire grows in the palm of his hand. “Wanna find out? Oh wait, you already are- now do what I said otherwise you’ll have one less leg.”

You don’t need more motivation to act on his orders.

Taking a deep breath, you hesitantly spread your legs and place your palms flat against the wall.

“Spread ‘em more. That shouldn’t be anything new to you.”

You wince at his dig but continue to widen the stance between your legs.

He smiles at your compliance.

“Good. This should be fairly easy, I mean the room is already dark enough to count as having a blindfold. Whatever you do, just don’t move.”

You wouldn’t know it, but he’s sincerely saying it for your sake. He’s glad for the safety of the dark, because he doesn’t want you to see the way he hastily wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans as he prepares himself for his next move.

The room goes dark, his fire has been put out.

You inhale softly, blood pounding in your heart as your hands shake in anticipation.

Then all of a sudden, a fireball comes barreling right towards you, in between your parted legs.

You shriek and jerk, but luckily you’re saved from being singed.

“I told you not to move, babe.” He clicks his tongue and rubs his erection absentmindedly.

A second, then third bolt of fire comes at the side of your head, singing your hair and then dangerously close to your already burnt stomach.

At each one you sob and do your best not to move, not to take in Dabi’s utterly emotionless face as you wail for mercy.

The last one comes so powerful that as it strikes the wall next to you, flecks of ash sting your cheeks and lips.

Your knees are jelly, your mouth is aching from begging for your life as he wanted.

But you know he’s done when he lets out a loud yawn and groan as he stretches his arm and flexes his fingers.

“A-are we done?” You sniffle.

He says nothing at first. You just hear him ask a couple steps towards you, his boots echoing in the room. You assume he stops in front of you because you can feel his body in front of your kneeling figure.

His hand descends and feels around until he reaches the top of your head. Stroking softly, he twirls locks through his fingers and gently shushes you until your hiccups subside, and you lean your forehead against his thigh.

“‘You happy it’s done? You did so well for me, sweetheart.”

“Yes Dabi. Thank you,” you utter softly, knowing it’s what he wants to hear.

“Yeah? How thankful are you?”

You still at that.

He starts to unbuckle his belt.

You pull your head back, and he pulls his pants down.

“Dabi-“

“Shhh, don’t ruin this. Just keep your mouth shut and let your body do the talking. Show me how grateful you are that I spared your fucking life.”

The gentle way he handled you clashed with his harsh words, and you have a moment of whiplash.

He kneels down in front of you and lets his hands wander in the dark until he meets your torso.

You hiss at the sensitive flesh, but he doesn’t stop. He just moves his hand under your shirt and higher, pushing your bra up until your tits spill from the bottom of it.

He bites his lip as you whimper from his touch, his thumbs swirling around your nipples and prodding the squishy flesh.

Dabi gets more eager when you throw your head back at one particularly rough squeeze and shuffles even closer, his pants and underwear at his knees, member bouncing out in the open air.

“Take your panties off,” he rasps, furiously stroking his cock.

You surrender and slowly pull your sweats off, and then your panties as you hear him lightly panting in eagerness.

The second he hears them drop to the floor he lunges for your feet and yanks your forward, catching you in his lap as you yelp.

It’s pitch black, but he can feel you clear as day.

The tickle of your hair hanging in his face, your sweet smell clouding his rationale, the melodious sounds of fear and pleasure mixed with pain make his prick stand painfully at attention, weeping at the slit for your pussy.

He doesn’t even bother taking your shirt off in impatience, he simply barks at you to hold the hem up so he can feel your breasts bouncing against his face when he motorboats them.

You, however, shakily hold his hand at your waist when he pulls you forward until your bare hole presses against his length, coating it with light juices.

“Oh fuck, doll, your pussy’s practically begging me to fuck it. ‘You like having your life in danger? No wonder you keep fucking up,” he groans as he moved beneath you, letting his hips rock back and forth to gain friction from under you.

“Wait, go slowly-“

“No the fuck I won’t,” he interrupts. You have enough sense to bite back any retorts from the subtle growl in his words.

He lifts you up from underneath your ass, and you raise your hips in compliance as he grabs his dick, circling it around your swollen nub and then pressing it against your entrance.

You breath shakily and run your hands through his hair, not so much in a loving gesture but tightly in futile hopes to deter him in any possible way.

He takes it either way as you wanting him equally, and without further ado he slams your hips down on his whole length.

You howl in pain as he begins bouncing you, pressing down on your shoulders and forcing your poor cunt to envelope him fully at each stroke.

The room is filled with the lewd sounds of your ass clapping on his dick, the mixed fluids from both of your bodies and the harmonies of his low grunts and your high pitched whines.

You can feel his dick twitch violently inside of you as he nears his climax. He flips you over on your back and starts pounding into you, laughing cruelly in your face as you cry out from the intensity of his strokes.

“D-Dabi! Pull out, I’m not on birth control!”

“Good.”

You open your eyes to stare at him in horror, barely making out the marred features of his face.

“I’m gonna fill you up with my babies. You’re gonna be plugged with my cum from now on, ‘s the only way you’ll stop running.”

“Get the fuck off me, this isn’t funny-!”

He grabs your rising fists and pins them back against the floor, crushing your wrists in the process.

“Who said I’m laughing?” And he isn’t laughing anymore, no, on the contrary he looks the most serious that he’s ever been, and that terrifies you the most.

The upper half of his body is suspended in midair above you as his pelvis smashes against your clit in a steady rhythm.

“‘Bet you’d like that, bet you’d like having all your holes stuffed with my kids. They’re gonna grow up and know how slutty their mommy was, they’re gonna watch and learn how Daddy earned his name. You think they’ll cry when they hear you scream for me?”

You want to rip out your ears from the filth pouring from his mouth, but unfortunately your hands are trapped under his grasp.

All you can do is chant “no, no, no,” under your breath as he’s pushed over the edge.

“Or maybe I’ll tie your legs against the barstools outside and let every man out there have his way with you. You missed them, right? I’m sure they missed you too, I’m sure they missed the way you’d fuck them the second they made you laugh,” bitterness seeps into his voice as ropes of cum shoot out.

He moans loudly in your ear and collapses against your body, sweat intermingling in the cervices of your entangled limbs.

It takes around three minutes for you both to catch your breaths, and for him to shakily raise himself on his elbows to peer down into your ruddy face.

“Clean yourself up. You’re going back to my room. And this time, if you try to run we’ll repeat this entire process again, but I’ll actually let everyone have their way with you. It’ll be like an orgy version of Russian Roulette, well all place bets on whose kid it is.”

You don’t miss the rest of the League, anymore

[aroaceleovaldez]

For the character, maybe Frank Zhang and/or Piper McLean?

Send me a character!

Frank:

First impression: Hell yeah shapeshifter character :) < (animorphs fan) What a lovely fella :)

Impression now: He deserves so much more....

Favorite moment: Of course gotta go with freeing Thanatos and just the entire Alaska/Canada fight scene. Wish the whole curse thing was more relevant outside of that moment but other than that, hell yeah you go Frank.

Idea for a story: I want him and Leo to be friends,,,, like. actually friends. Please,,,

Unpopular opinion: I AM SO MAD AT LIKE, MARK OF ATHENA THROUGH TYRANT’S TOMB FOR WHAT RICK DID TO FRANK’S STORYLINE. What the hell was that. Why nullify his curse and then un-nullify it THEN NULLIFY IT AGAIN. WHAT WAS THE POINT. AND WHY DID READRIORDAN SPOIL FRANK’S ENTIRE TYRANT’S TOMB SUBPLOT BEFORE THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED??? HELLO?????? Also also the Frank/Hazel/Leo love triangle & Leo/Frank rivalry was BAD and UNNECESSARY, jealous boyfriend trope is OUT. (Leo being half oblivious to it all was a little funny though).

Favorite relationship: Frazel is extremely cute HOWEVER again, i want Frank and Leo to be friends,,, please,,, i just want them to TALK-

Favorite headcanon: While i have Opinions™ about neurotypical Frank it does directly support my headcanon that adhd/dyslexia/autism is a genetic thing for demigods rather than an inherent “demigodly” trait. Thank you Frank for your service in me trying to fix a ton of the niche kinda ablelist things in the series <3 But aside from that. Let him be neurodivergent cowards.

Piper:

First Impression: Woah,,, she’s just like me for real,,,,

Impression now: Rick. Rick you can stop writing “I’m not like other girls” characters. Rick- Rick sTOP-

Favorite moment: It’s an extremely tiny moment but in Mark of Athena there’s this tiny moment described in passing of Piper being the one to physically drag Nico out of the jar/battlefield when they’re fighting the twin giants and a.) it’s such a funny scene to me and b.) Brain go brrr with thoughts about Nico & Piper having a bit of kinship from that moment/Nico respecting Piper a lot for basically being one of if not the only one to like, actually help him out of the Giant’s lair.

Idea for a story: Piper, Drew, Sadie, and Lacy all going on a quest/adventure together. Let them all unpack that “I’m not like other girls” complex. Very fun potential for an exploration on different manifestations and expressions of femininity particularly how it intersects with different identities. There is so much depth you could go into with that.

Unpopular opinion: Stop making her fashionable, she has abhorrent fashion taste on purpose. Give Piper those absolutely ridiculous thrift store t-shirts!!! The most gaudy, tacky things imaginable! Horrible color combos! Have fun with it! She not only has bad fashion taste but also MONEY. She has access to EXPENSIVE horrible fashion! Either that or just give her basic plain clothes. NOT fashionable plain clothes, i mean Bland As Hell.

Favorite relationship: LET PIPER AND DREW BE GOOD SISTERS TO EACH OTHER PLEASE-

Favorite headcanon: Piper wears velcro shoes (probably kid’s velcro shoes) and jorts she made herself. I will never change my mind on this.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. I just find it gross how Persephone never got the choice to tell anyone (besides "Chiron") about her assault? Eros prodded it out of her, Hera "touched" her and figured it out (then forced Hephaestus to SEE the actual act), Psyche found out and was about to tell everyone else until happenstance stopped it, and Hades, the man who is praised for "respecting her boundaries", went against those boundaries to spy on her then forced her to tell him. Even that choice was ripped away from her.

2. Rachel could have ripped off Mamma Mia down to the plot and ABBA musical numbers and it'd still be more accurate to mythology than whatever she's doing instead. Hell, it'd force her to actually set it in Greece instead of /ITALY/. The supposed GREEK myth expert over here!

3. What's gross about the Eris thing is what is it saying exactly? It's a "curse" to have less than pleasant emotions? All that's telling RS' audience of young girls is that they what, can't have normal emotions and have to be "perfect" all the time? IDK, it sees awfully easy for Persephone to be "kind" when she never faces any actual consequences for her actions and has everything provided for her that the 99% of us will never get. It's such a privilege worldview to sell as "feminist"/"empowering"

4. Something I feel like RS fell flat one was when hades said Aphrodite had half Olympus around her finger. Hera doesn’t like her, hades hasn’t helped her, Ares is ready to leave her for Persephone, I haven’t seen anyone other than Eros help her. She slept with Zeus to get her son out of trouble, but I haven’t seen anyone actually treat the goddess as she is. 

5. is that supposed to be a meta comment by rachel about how people critique persephone being "boring" because of her lack of dark traits? bc people love a good, sweet character, the LO issue with persephone is rachel kept insisting she's this ~complex~ goddess only to blame eris for persephone's one negative trait because she didnt actually want a complex character, she wants persephone to be her bland self inert who gets horny induced rages for the ~aesthetic~ but is perfect the rest of the time.

6. the fact persephone's entire personality and goals is just the doing of others is like .. such a weird self own. rachel somehow took a goddess with admittedly lacking characterization in mythology and made her so devoid of anything to her she had to write in a gaggle of goddesses trying to scrap together a a flimsy excuse of a personality for her to even try and make sense of the lack of development she's given her. how is that even possible to unwrite a character like this and publish it??

7. where's that gif from twilight where the blonde lady threw a baby into the fire because that's what I want to do to baby persephone 💀 apologize to the roses that were wasted to make that thing 💀

8. Why does baby Persephone look like a mandrake from Harry Potter lmao. does Rachel know those thinks are ugly and can kill you.

9. It's kinda funny Hades' expressions when he saw Persephone in the party because when he asked who was she he looked like he's about to sneeze and then he looks like he's getting a heart attack instead of falling in love at first sight or whatevs

10. I stopped reading LO a while ago because of the characterization of Thanatos, who's always been my favorite Greek deity to learn about (ignoring the fact that webtoon got boring for me in general).  Throughout the (minimal) myths he's in, he's shown as fair and kind, but also not very emotional (seeing as he's, well, death & being emotional would interfere with being neutral).  Idk if this makes any sense I just always get really attached to death deities so lo thanatos makes me sad :(

[joeytalyor0108]

My Honest Review On Metal Lords (2022)

I finally going to make a review of Metal Lords...yay...

To get to the point, Metal Lords (2022) is an meh film. It's not bad but it's not really good either. If you just want to watch it out of fun, go ahead. But in my opinion, I don't recommend this film to a metalhead or anyone. The plot is basically about two "friends", Hunter and Kevin, who get into Battle of the Bands and tried to find a bass player.

First, the characters are meh in a sense of they are not rememberable (hell I already forgot their names lol). Kevin, our main character, is just a basic socially awkward teen who just wants to learn metal to impress his friend, Hunter (don't give me start it on him). We don't really have a lot of information other than he's in the marching band and live in an apartment. The side characters like Noah (the main singer of a trash indie band) and Skip (I think his the main bully) are bland, basic, and not rememberable. The only side characters I like are Robbie (so pure and protect him at all cost <3) and Dr. Sylvester (Hunter's dad) who is your typical religious ( which kinda fails since all of his actions in the film are actually justifiable) dad but love how he is so done with Hunter (one of my fav scenes). The only interesting character is Emily (who should have been the main character) who tried to deal with her mental illness/disorders in her daily life and loves playing the cello. Kevin and Emily's relationship is pretty wholesome tbh (didn't see the point of them having sex as the reason to start their relationship). In the most wholesome scene, Kevin told Emily that "even if there is something wrong with her, she's perfect for him" when she talked about how she hates herself because of the mental issues she had.

Then we go to Hunter...Hunter Sylvester... my favorite character (I want to die by saying that). Hunter is one of the most annoying, entitled, spoiled, and unlikeable characters I have ever seen. He treats everyone (including his "best friend", Kevin) like trash and wonders why nobody likes him (Luckily the only person he treats well is Robbie). This is probably the only one I kinda roof for the bully. When he gets bullied by Skip and his friends at Noah's party, Noah defended him telling Skip to back off and trying to help Hunter. Instead of thanking him, he cursed him off for no reason and told him his band is trash (not wrong but still) but his band will win the Battle of the Bands (Newsflash Noah's band won). He reminds me of those elitist metalheads who just got into metal and shame other metalheads for their music taste. He also treated Emily like shit just because she is a girl and she's "psycho" which lead to her beating his ass ( best thing that ever happened). The only reason why he didn't want her to be in the band was that a girl playing in the cello band, EW THAT'S GAY (crazy right); luckily he gets called out by Emily for having the gayest metal posters in his room. His pops have enough and send him to a behavioral center which is temporal due to Kevin breaking into the place and getting him out with the power of friendship (more of that later). All of this happens and being an asshole according to Hunter that "he did this of METAL" which let's be honest you just have mommy issues (his mam left him and his dad at least two years ago which I could see why). Lastly, his apology to Emily is very insincere and sounds like every youtube apology; at least his apology toward Noah is kinda and sincere and his band is pretty good (stop lying bro).

There is nothing really about this film but wishing they explore the town more I guess. The soundtrack is definitely the best part of the film, maybe because they put metal songs other than thrash and hair metal. It's just that Metal Lords is more of a forgettable film than a shitty one. Hell, this is just an excuse to make a Hunter Sylvester rant post (don't how people love him). Just don't watch this...watch Heavy Trip, Airheads, and Deathgrasm. They're was better than this (if you want to watch a movie which is Hunter as a girl but better go watch Málmhaus (Metalhead)).

(Little rant: love how the story tried to force Kevin to go back together with Hunter and tried to justify it even tho Hunter doesn't deserve him at all :) )

[joculatrixster]

13, 14 and 18 for the ask game. >:)

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

LOZ - Ganondorf is not an interesting or cool character, hes actually quite bland. no like litterly i find him so boring as a character i barely even think about him.

Ganon is barely better but thats only bc hes a mindless beast fueled of rage and hatred which is interesting as a cautionary tale for those who seek to abuse their power and a great insight on what could happen to Link or Zelda if they ever lose themselves to their aspects of Courage/Wisdom becomign mroe spirit or god than mrotal lsogn their minds in the process and only being able to focus on one key duty of which for Ganon is to rule Hyrule(or destroy in more modern games like botw) but i have a few theories on what could happen to Link/Zelda if THEY ever abused the Triforce like Ganon did and gave up their humanity to their power

...that being said tho Ganondorf on his own just is not that interesting to me as a character. as a foil? great! as a dark reflection of what Link or Zelda could become? amazing! as what one could become when pushed to the edge and a living embodiment of the failures of Hyrule? perfection! on his own as a character i would make interact w/ others just bc i think he has something new or nuanced to say? ...no.

granted! i have not seen him in Twilight Princess and i heard he is quite good in that game so hey maybe he shapes up but as i am now i do not think hes all that interesting

Pokemon - IDK how unpopular this is but like Ash has been long overdue for a replacement, tbh i feel like we should have had a new protag every new region bc Ash was originally just Red? how cool would it have been to be ppl like Gold or Sun as protags and following the game's story a bit more closely?? i feel like Ash is just so bland at this point i want something new and fresh!

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

LOZ - Hylia and Demise were bad additions to the LOZ franchise and the mythos should have stayed focusing on the golden goddesses/Triforce for motifs, the fire/earth/power water/ice/wisdom and wind/lighting/courage as core motifs w/ focusing on trios and the number 3 could have been a VERY interesting setting for a power system and cultural beliefs but...

making it an explicitly light vs dark story in Skyward Sword kinda makes Link's role as an equal holder of the Triforce..irrelivant as hes just Zelda's Knight/Hylia's blade now, which is boring af. light vs dark godly battles have been done a zillon times! Zelda being descended form a goddess makes sense dont get me wrong, her family being in charge of the Triforce and the female line having the power of the light force could be foreshadowing or hinting to that. hell even bringing in the idea of divine right to rule would make it make sense but like...Ganondorf being the incarnation of a god's hatred, r u kidding me?

we didnt need a basically Satan to be Ganondorf's predecessor! it makes the fact Ganondorf was also favored by the triforce therefor making the golden goddess's morally grey for protectign such a cruel man not interesting anymore! he had power bc he was FAVORED by power same way Zelda had wisdom bc she was FAVORED by wisdom and Link has courage bc he was FAVORED by courage, their roles in the story r set bc power is a corrupting force, wisdom can clear one's min,d and courage gives u the willpower u need to succeed!!! oh but no, Zelda is just a godqueen and Ganondorf's agency is just gone bc hes cursed and Link isn't more than a pawn to be used in the gods' wars :\ bleh so boring...

Pokemon - the anime's characters r a lot less interesting than their game counterparts...is that unpopular? idk. i grew up on the anime but i loath how some characters are changed or cut out of plots to fit the narrative bc to me personally it erases what made them interesting in order to fit them into new stories and roles which at that point use another character or just like...make anime exclusive ones?? idk its more of an annoyance but i don't have many negative pokemon thoughts lol!

18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

u know, i think tis rlly rlly sad how pathetic some fandom ppl r...like i can NOT image being so invested in other ppl's ships to try and gaslight them into feeling like bad ppl for not liking a popular ship likeeee can u imagine???

"ohhhh look at me im so unsure about myself and scared of having my own opinion i blindly follow fanon and the "right ships" WAA WAA u dont like my ship??? WAAAAAA!!!! SO MEAN SO DELUSIONAL ITS OBVIOUSLY CANON!!!!!!! HOW CAN U NOT SEE IT?!?!?!"

i fucking adore rarepairs and crackships! most of the ships i have i made up on the spot and id be LUCKY if it has more than 10 fics on ao3...ffs im lucky if it even has ONE fic let alone ONE FIC THAT ISNT JUST A ONESHOT PROMPT BOOK.

yall so spoiled on ur "canon" ship that u lost the fun of just dming ur friends at 2am saying "hey what is X and Y kissed?" and having them reply back w/ enthusiastic agreement then be starved for content for the rest of ur life...I did not invent Plain Yogurt x Sourbelt or get invested in the dynamics of Malon x Zelda/Link x Beedle for ppl to tell me im "biased" yes bitch im biased so now what?

lol i cant stand some fandoim ppl this is why i only interact w/ mutual and friends others i can NOT trust to be normal cookie run fandom burned me too much for me not to be suspicious of others who even vaguely hint at thinking that my ships r bad bc they r not popular

[multiplefandomsblog]

your roommate hcs are so cute, can i request for naib, demi, tracy, andrew, kurt, patricia, and victor?

:0 holy crap yes! I’m so glad you enjoyed the roommate hcs!! Me and the other mods hope you enjoy these! Thank you for requesting :))

(i added melly because why not? lmao hope you don’t mind.)

Part 1!

Naib Subedar

This man deadass didn’t know you were living with him

Even when people told him about it, he wasn’t rlly paying attention and didn’t rlly care

Your stuff in his room? He thought it was his or someone just broke into his room and left it there

When he saw you on the toilet however, he just freaked out.

“Why the hell are you shitting in my room!?” “Your room? I’ve been living here for 2 months!”

Once he found out you lived with him, he made sure you knew what was his and what was yours

also, since he’s very protective of his things-- you being one of them-- he would totally get jealous if he caught you tallking to someone that wasn’t him.

he would probably give you the silent treatment and act like a pissy baby

He hates it when you touch his stuff

especially his photos, the photos were special to him because they were of him and his army friends.

You’d sometimes catch him looking at the photos with a longing in his eyes, it was highkey sad.

having you live with him meant lots and lots of training

he made sure you were always prepared for matches and that you don’t get downed early

when you got downed early however, He would scold you but he would still rescue you anyways because he’s soft

“You’re such an idiot, you’d better do better next time! Or else I’ll kick your ass.” 

one time he got cocky while kiting because you were watching him

he forgot to turn on his elbow pads and face palmed into the wall.

“...You saw nothing.” He turned around, a bit woozy from hitting his head on a wall. He flipped the hunter off before stumbling wooshing away

When you first get to know naib, he’d probably come off as intimidating and menacing

but once you get to know him--the real him--, you start to understand that even though he may be tough on you, its because he wants you to be the best

he has good intentions

During matches he’d let you handle yourself and made sure you didn’t rely on him too much

One time you needed to shower but you ran out of your shampoo so you used his.

When he questioned you, you simply responded “What? You don’t need it anyways, you’re bald!”

He didn’t rescue you the next round.

should’ve seen that coming

though he forgives you when you braid his luscious long existent hair for him

Kurt Frank

The amount of times you almost stepped on this man is astronomical.

he would constantly be in his tiny form because he would lose a lot of his things

his tiny form helped him find his things easily

Though when you first moved in with him, you had no idea what his ability was

so when you first saw a tiny version of your roommate you thought he was just a weird doll

until you heard him say a tiny, “Hey can you move your ginORMOUS foot? You’re stepping on my book.”

You fucking screeched and took off your shoe to try and kill him

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

After he explained to you about his ability you calmed down a bit and spared this tiny man but only this time!

Frank loves books, he probably filled your shared rooms with stacks on stacks of books

You’d often see him tiny, waving at you while you’re decoding

Once you overhead Kurt arguing with First Officer over who was the rightful owner of some sort of treasure map

They fought for days,

kurt would constantly complain about it to you

turns out it was just a game on the back of a Cereal box.

sorry this is short like kurt

Tracy Reznik

Would be a little awkward at first, but the awkwardness slowly fades away when you both make bad jokes

she gives me childhood best friend vibes

Has her doll sitting in the corner of your shared room room, it’s lifeless eyes scare the living shit out of you in the dark you try not to make eye contact, afraid it’ll curse you or smth

if she was mad at you she would move the bot in a way that looked like it was flipping you off you off in your direction before you went to bed.

Always making little robot things that are super fun to play with

Loves sharing her things. Has no problem with it

you wanna wear her clothes? sure

you want to wear her underwear? evEN BETTER-

Pulling all nighters, trying to get her machines to work like how she wanted it to work.

Would live off of kraft Mac n cheese and junk food in the modern day

Pretty hyper, chugs pink monster energy drinks while pulling all nighters, also, in the modern day

would probably be a bruh girl

Her room is a mess, covered with blueprints and scrap metal

her room is practically a safety hazard

Sometimes she dresses her doll up a bit, putting wigs or her old clothes on it (which scares you half to death)

Once she made her doll dress up like her

and you almost went up to it to ask what it wanted for dinner.

Has a photo of her and her dad

You never wanted to bring it up, worried it might make her upset :(

Sometimes she’d feel really guilty about being downed in the first 30 seconds

please comfort her, she feels super bad

She always relies on you to rescue her

She gets really happy and thankful when you body block for her but she still gets a bit concerned when you do it randomly

“i wasn’t even kiting-” “Protecc the mecc.”

Demi Bourbon

Always out at the bar

Smells like alcohol constantly

tipsy 24/7

she’s never 100% sober

You have to hold her hair out of her face when she comes back to your shared room to hurl

Likes bringing back hard vodka or weird flavoured alcohols back for you guys to get wasted try together

Room is bit cluttered, but she doesn’t have much in her room since she’s always out in bars or matches

Usually latches onto you like a parasite when she’s drunk.

it gets a bit awkward when her face is a bit close to yours,

“Are we about to kiss right now-? BLeurghgrhgherrgh.”“...*audible sigh*”

You’d go to her expecting her to heal you like a normal person but no

instead she shoves dovlin down your throat

She likes to do your makeup, and always adds a matching beauty mark

unless you don’t wear makeup, then she’d ask you to do hers 

always loves how she looks afterwards

more than sometimes demi would get into bar fights, 

so you know she’s about to throw hands when she starts takes off her earrings-

10/10 would fight for you <3

She’s gives me cool wine aunt vibes

Probably a lesbian too (check out our Demi smut fic ;))

Or bi, idk

Just straightn’t

She’s really good at hyping you up, especially when you’re taking shots

“CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG-”

Andrew Kreiss

Would be very shy at first, opens up a little when you get to know him

Totally a night owl, can’t sleep at night from all the guilt and “what if’”s

if you see this baby awake at night, hug him, he really needs it

You’ve never seen the other side of his face

How does he see with hair in his eyes?

He’s albino, which is super dope

Sometime you fear he’s thinking about burying you

You always see him thwacking Luca with his shovel

Barely talks

Room is moderate

He doesn’t want you to find out too much about him

He may seem bland, but he loves sweet food

You’d bake him cookies and other sweets

He’d act as if he’s not embarrassed and brush it off

“Are you blushing?”“No, I-I’m sunburnt.” “On your face?” “....I stare into the hot red sun sometimes because it eases me.”

to keep his lie going, every time he catches you staring at him he would fry his eye balls by staring into the sun until you left

partially the reason why he can’t see well

When he’s not looking, you stare at him while he’s eating the stuff you made because he looks so happy :’)

One time you found him down in the dumps so you made him a cup of coffee, and when you handed it to him you said-

“Depresso espresso?”

*sniff* ”..are you oka-” “IM NOT CRYING, YOU ARE”

he actually cried

it was such a nice gesture(?), that he started ugly crying

You’d ask him if he wanted hugs during matches when you see him get stressed

He’d be flushed and kinda confused

hug... him? why tho lmao

he’d definitely agree tho, to be fair, with some hesitation 

if y’all ever cuddled in bed, i feel like he’d be a little spoon

poor boy needs the comfort, he wouldn’t mind if you wanted to be little spoon tho

he just wants to be close to you

Victor Grantz

You love playing with his dog, Wick

Super nice and polite, but a little guarded

The type to be too afraid to call people out when they do something wrong but would totally trash them in his head

You write him little letters everyday and leave them on his bed to make him happy :))

He’d a be a little spoon

Wick would always join you guys while cuddling

Kisses would be soft and gentle

Usually sends you the first letter in matches

Loves to cuddle

He bb 🥰

You always get him a birthday present AND a Christmas present

You also get a gift for Wick

He loves giving you surprise hugs

Likes to read with you while cuddling

Literally a cinnamon roll

Once he was eating a cinnamon roll

And you whispered

“C a n n i b a l i s m .”

He was very confused

and kind of scared- were you going to eat him?

Patricia Dorval

Room always smells like herbs

She could literally smoke weed and you’d think it’s some magical healing herb

it magically makes you feel better

Always there to stun the hunter when you’re ballooned

The mature one

Her room is organized, with boxes labeling what herbs and magic stuff that are in them

You were cooking dinner for the day and you accidentally used one of her fancy herbs in your soup

She didn’t realize until she tried the soup

She wasn’t mad just disappointed

She lectured you on how you shouldn’t touch her stuff or use it for cooking

Gotta admit tho, the soup was pretty good

she acts like the mom everyone wishes they had

totally the type to be like, “dude we should think this through.” before doing something risky

and then five seconds later, “cowABUNGA MY DUDES”

one time she caught kreacher leaving the mens washroom without washing his hands

seeing as she was the mother of this manor, she had to protect her children from diseases

so she yeeted her monkey skull at kreachers head, cleanly knocking him out

and everybody cheered.

Melly Plinius

When you heard melly was going to be your roomie, you couldn’t have been more excited.

you finally had a victim for the many insect pick up lines!

So you decided to make some good first impressions by waiting for her in your room.

so when she arrived to your room and greeted you, you happily greeted her back, and slipped in the pick up line.

“Hello, my name is Melly. I believe I will be your ro-?”“Yeah nice to meet you too, say, what do bees make?”

She kinda thought you were a bit rude so much for first impressions

“...Erm, honey?” she replied hesitantly

“YES DEAR?” 

... okay maybe you weren’t thaaaat bad.

after that she kind of developed a teensy crush on you 

so it was hard living with you because of her crush, since she was constantly flustered 

you loved her reactions, she constantly got red.

it was funny watching her try to keep her cool and fail.