#these are really quick but I might come back and improve em later

[deepseaspriteblog]

Rose could either be a Psychic, Dark or Fairy type. Psychic/Dark is more obvious for her character but I wanna see a Fairy-type Rose.

I can vibe with that! Have some really quick mock up designs of a psychic type Rose (with a Gothitelle as her signature pokemon) and a fairy type Rose (with an Aromatisse). I might try and refine these designs later.

[downwiththemutantnjnjaturtles]

TMNT X reader

How the Turtles show affection [+ minifics]:

sfw, 2003/2012/Bayverse, also the term love language is used very loosely, just to convey what I'm talking about

Leo

• A major portion of Leonardo's "love language" is self improvement when it comes to you

• As mentioned before, he's very keen on helping you grow as a person and wants to be the one to help facilitate that.

• Whether it's in self discipline, the nurturing of skills and talents, or even just working toward a small goal, he's there every step of the way and ready to give advice or listen to you when you're feeling frustrated about things.

• If you talk disparagingly about yourself, he'll tell you to cut it out right away.

• He's a "no bullshit" kind of guy, so even though he'll break it to you gently, he's firm on the fact that he doesn't want to see you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself.

• He'll certainly help you build up your confidence if you struggle in that area.

"Just a little more, y/n," Leo nudged you on as you tried to muddle through the last of your workout. You were struggling with the last of your pushups, but he was there to catch you if your arms gave out. You never had to worry. "Come on, I know you can do this," he said, a reassuring hand supporting your torso.

With a strained grunt, you finally pushed through the last motion, and you released all the tension in your body. He was quick to pull you onto your knees. He smiled warmly, "I knew you could."

Donnie

• Donnie's love language is partly giving. He loves to impart knowledge onto you.

• He's a "learn something new every day" kind of guy, so he always tells you some kind of neat fact regarding any subject. He just loves for you two to expand your minds together.

• The other part of his love language is quality time (as most like), but he is one to enjoy conversation in particular, so there's a lot of talking when you two are together.

• Asking you about your interests and life is how he shows he cares, and remembering small things you mention

• He's also a helper, meaning, if you're struggling with something, and he doesn't already know what to do, he'll go do some research about it and help you then.

Some things are just difficult to understand. Like what you had to learn right now, a subject you weren't very good in. You were frustrated and ready to give up, but Donnie was there to explain it all for you. "There are lots of ways to learn things, and even more ways to take notes," he told you, pencil in hand just as you had. Putting his arm around your shoulder, his hand made soothing rubs on your arm.

"We just need to find what method works best for you. It doesn't mean you're not smart. You just need a different approach."

Raph

• Raph's love language is a bit all over the place. He can be a little bit of everything, but where he functions best is in care and trust.

• Deep down he really wants people he can trust, and likewise, those to trust him.

• He's big on giving in different ways, so sometimes he might cook for you, help you do something you were dreading, etc.

• Raph isn't much of a talker most of the time, so a lot of affection is expressed physically rather than through words. Holding you, arm around the waist, passing little touches are things he does often.

• He can and will talk, though, and part of his love language is sharing with you things that excite him. He usually is not so openly passionate about things, but he feels comfortable with you in that way.

"I found this beauty just thrown out one night," he told you, digging through his stuff to find the piece he was looking for. He pulled out a comic book in very good condition and showed it to you. One of his favorites, apparently, and it had taken him six years to find the complete series. "Can't believe they threw out one of these like that. Can't believe even more that it was in such good condition."

He handed it to you with a smile, hand lingering on yours for a second longer. "You can borrow 'em, if you want. Or we could...read it together sometime?

Mikey

• Mikey's love language is a mixture of touch, word, and action. He loves to hug you, is not shy about telling you just how much he loves you, and also through doing things together.

• Similarly to Raph, he, too, loves to share the things that excite him. He wants to do things together like skateboarding (or similar activities), goofing around, art, etc.

• He'll make you feel like the most awesome person in the world for every little accomplishment or remotely cool action.

• Mikey is extremely encouraging and supportive, although this carries on to your bad ideas as well...

• He'll be your partner in crime for anything you ask of him

• Is incredibly in tune with his and yours emotions, so he's very empathetic to your struggles and even though he might not always understand it, he's there for you unconditionally

Mikey always seemed to know when you were feeling down. You could try to hide it, but he caught on quickly. He'd get the truth out of you one way or another (which was at times pestering), but he cared, and wanted to know what was wrong. Other times, he just held you.

"What's up, angel?" he questioned you, wondering why you were upset. When you didn't answer after more attempts to find out, he gave in and wrapped his arms around you, leaning you in to his plastron. He rested his chin on your shoulder. "You can tell me later," he said softly as he pulled back. "I got you, y/n. See?"

[butcherknives]

Hcs about how the boys would propose to you? 🥺🤲

What a sweet request! I hope you enjoy! I really wanted to give you something high quality, especially for your mans Big D. Thanks for requesting, Ezra!

Sparda Men: Proposing

ft. GN! Reader

       > SFW

Dante

The man, the myth, the legend never would have imagined himself in a committed relationship with anyone, and to have that someone be as magnificent – as perfect, as fun, as troublesome and anchored as you? He considers himself lucky in a way he doesn’t believe that he deserves.

For this reason, it takes him a long while to reconcile with what he wants; what he truly, irrevocably desires.

You. Forever.

He’s never believed in marriage. Never saw the point when it’s only another contract, no different than the ones he has his clients sign before he hoists his blade over his shoulder and enters the chaos with a sideways smile. A formal business agreement to show your loyalty?

Seems sus.

Yet the more time passes with you, the more he begins to see the appeal of taking your hand before the eyes of... whatever it is. The government. 

It’s on a whim. (It’s always on a whim.) He’s weighed his options prior but the act? After spending the morning in your company, wrapped up in your languid love, he makes a snap decision.

It isn’t a special day until he makes it one when he blocks the television with his body and laughs when you complain that he’s a better door than a window.

“Hold on, hold on,” he says as he reaches for the remote to mute your show as you shout a quick “hey!” yet he swings around to face you, throws a wink, and slides down on one knee.

He doesn’t present anything. There isn’t jewelry or roses, no box of chocolates or bottle of champagne, only Dante with his thousand watt grin and his hand on yours. But Dante is a magnetic man with honey-sweet prose and your breath catches all the same. You need nothing else.

With your name on his tongue, he recites his love for you on center stage and though the whimsy makes you smother a laugh behind your hand, there’s no question of his sincerity.

“Love of my life, dearest of all, my heart beats only for you. Have you any idea the power you hold over me?”

And as his theatrics fade, he peels back the scars and wounds and opens his uninhibited heart for you. He tells you how much you’ve improved his life. How happy you make him.

“Waking up next to you every morning? Heh. I feel like I might just believe in angels, after all.”

His smile is syrup and sugar when you agree to marry him, and as he draws you into his orbit with a long kiss, you know you were made for this moment.

He jokes later that you should get matching tattoos on your ring fingers. His would say “for” and yours would say “ever.” You swing back that it should say “best buds.” He laughs and reels you into a hug.

He buys you an antique band, instead.

Vergil

Much like his brother, Vergil has never seen the point to marriage. To have to prove your loyalty? Should that not be simply understood through the relationship? What is there to further prove? More importantly, to whom do you owe explanation? Your relationship is sound.

He loves you. Is that not enough?

Humanity and their ridiculous traditions have no business being in his.

If it’s marriage you want, however, you will have to express this. Whether it’s because you believe in the practice – religiously, romantically, or a hybrid of both – or because of the tax benefits, he’ll need to hear it from you.

His answer isn’t immediate. He needs time to reconsider his own stubborn understanding.

You, however, come first. You always come first. Even when he doesn’t express it, he pays careful attention to what makes you feel safe and secure. If a marriage license is what it takes, then perhaps he can release his ironclad grip and compromise. It isn’t as though he hasn’t already planned to keep you near until, perhaps, you tire of him.

He supposes ultimately, there’s no harm.

When he comes back to you with his decision, there’s no fanfare. He doesn’t make a spectacle. He doesn’t offer anything beyond his company.

His approach is calm and formal, although you doubt he means for it to be. No, you’ve grown accustomed to Vergil’s peculiarities and your eyes aren’t deceiving you. There’s anxiety knotted between his brows and in the way his eyes seem unable to focus on you. Funny, considering how confident he’d seemed upon entry.

He says your name and stands across from you, hands folded neatly in front of himself. (Reserved, closed off, and you find yourself wondering what he’s up to.)

“I’ve considered your request,” he says, “for marriage.”

You nearly laugh, but you won’t damage his pride. You know how hard this is for him to reconcile, even as he steels his expression with practiced stone-perfection.

You prompt him with an inquiry and smile, patient and curious to hear his conclusion.

“If it’s what you want and you find me worthy, then I would be honored to have your hand.”

You throw yourself at him and reassure him that he doesn’t have to marry you, not if he truly doesn’t want to go that route. That you’d be happy simply knowing he’s yours, but he’s steadfast as he slides his arms around your waist.

“My heart belongs to you,” he says. “And I will gladly give it to you.”

Nero

He hates to acknowledge how much of a romantic he is at heart but he’s told you, in a moment of feathered vulnerability in the lull of conversation, how he’s always kinda-sorta dreamt of marriage. Nothing big, he amends. Only the most important people would be there, but he has envisioned it in a cathedral dressed in white.

“I know it’s lame,” he says. “And pretty fuckin’ stupid at this point. It’s not like anyone even follows the Order anymore. Who needs a cathedral?”

But you don’t think it’s lame or stupid, and you tell him that you’ve dreamt of marriage, too. You’ve always wished for some fashion of a family with 2.5 kids and a white picket fence, even though that isn’t your life and likely will never be. It’s alright to dream.

Nero falls silent. He doesn’t bring it up again, not for quite sometime. Time passes enough that you forget the conversation.

You never see it coming.

It’s your birthday and you’re finished celebrating with your friends. You get home, just the two of you, high from excitement of the day. And Nero says, “Wait-wait-wait. I’ve got another present for you. Hold on a sec, okay?” Then vanishes into the bedroom as you peel your shoes off.

When he meets you in the living room, his hand is behind his back. He’s shifty, bouncing from foot to foot, but he tells you to close your eyes with a wolfish grin. So you do. You cover your eyes with your hands and laugh as he shuffles around. You listen as hard but you only hear a click you don’t recognize.

“Okay, open ‘em.”

And he’s on one knee, a black box in his hand with a ring cushioned neatly at the heart. Your chest seizes. You think you might cry. Perhaps you already are.

“I know I can’t give you the life you want,” he’s saying, soft yet impassioned, watching you with rapt attention. “But I love you more than anything and I can’t imagine life without you. I... want to spend forever with you. So, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

You say yes. Of course you say yes. You laugh through your mounting joy as he slides the band over your finger, reverent and fighting back his own emotion glimmering in his eyes.

He may not be able to give you “the life you want” from the dreams you had as a child, but you have no doubt that this is the life you want.

With him.

[colormeyondublue]

Chapter 13: Welcome Back

Chapter 12 Here  Chapter 14 Here

Later that morning, after a good long snuggle session, you finish packing for your trip. You find yourself back in your office with Yondu so you can lock everything up before you leave. Kraglin is the only one with a key to anything, but the captain wants to be sure no one can get in your office to snoop around.

He wanders over to your desk to make sure the drawers are locked, and he finds something odd in the top drawer. “Whatssis?” he asks, picking up the notebook and flipping through some pages.

You gasp and quickly pull the notebook from his hands. “Nothing! It’s nothing. Just some doodles and notes. Nothing important.”

“Notes about what? Doodles? Why can’t I see it – huh?" He presses.

“It’s just nothing important. Doesn’t matter.” You turn to stuff it in your bag and hope he lets it go. You’ll never admit it, but you’re a little embarrassed. These notes and doodles were from when you first starting falling for Yondu, and they were kinda dorky. Little planets, stars, hearts and Yondu’s arrow piercing through a larger heart was scribbled all over various pages. You even started writing his name in cursive on some of the pages.

“Uh, no. Hand it over missy. No secrets 'tween us.”

You reluctantly hand him the notebook and hope like hell he won’t taunt you for it.

“I dunno what yer worried about. It’s just little shapes and planets and stars on here. And an arrow? What’s this stuff on the side?” Yondu points to the cursive writing on the page he is referring to.

Of course! Yondu can’t read English cursive handwriting!

“You mean you can’t read that?”

“Those are letters?! No, I can’t read that. It ain’t like no language I’ve ever seen.”

“Yondu, it’s called cursive, or script. It’s a form of English Terran writing. I learned it when I was really young. I love writing this way, it’s really relaxing.”

“Okay, so whatsit say?”

“That’s your name. Those are planets and stars, that’s your arrow, and those are little hearts. Your arrow is going through that heart like Cupid’s arrow. I think I actually doodled some of this the night I went to the bar with you for Geff’s birthday.”

“What’s a Cupid?” He asks.

“Oh, Cupid is…well, he’s Roman. It’s a long story involving Terran history. Basically, it’s symbolic of love. If Cupid, an ancient Roman deity, shoots you through the heart with his arrow, the first person you see after he shoots you is the one you fall in love with. It’s totally a myth, but that myth goes back thousands of years. When you fall in love with someone, people will sometimes say – ‘you must have been shot by Cupid’s arrow!’ Kinda silly when you think about it.”

“So ya drew all this ‘cause you were thinkin’ about me?” He continues to flip through the pages, and each one is a little different than the last.

“Well…yeah. I did. But this was all before I had the guts to come out about how I felt. So, I poured it all into my notes. I never thought you’d find it.”

A little smirk appears on his face as he marvels at the pages. He snaps the notebook closed and throws it back into the drawer before he locks it. “Let’s keep this safe here until we get back. Then I wanna bring it back ta our quarters so I can look at it whenever I want.”

~~~

The two of you pack up your belongings into the Warbird before you head out. Kraglin shows up in the docking bay to see you off. He greets you with a smile and a friendly hug.

“You better get back up here soon. The boys’ll miss ya too much.” Kraglin is only half joking. There is no doubt that there has been some worry among not just Yondu and Kraglin, but a few of the guys that you won’t come back, but no one has said anything. What you didn’t know, was that you really had made a big impact on the whole crew. Your outburst in the mess several weeks ago made the crew start thinking about who they are, what they stand for, and what they want out of life. Not that much has truly changed, but the seed was definitely planted thanks to you.

“Awww. What would you guys do without me?” You tease. You hug Kraglin back and Yondu tells you go ahead and get comfortable on board. He’s got something to discuss with Kraglin.

Yondu watches you step on the Warbird and he turns back to Kraglin. “Alright, so I’ve programmed our comms to have a little bit farther reach so I can still get ahold of ya if things go sour. I don’t think anything is gonna happen down there, but I wanna be careful. Terrans are s’damn touchy. Keep this on you at all times. Same goes fer me. If anythin’ fishy happens on board while I’m gone, you comm me and I’ll be up here quick as I can. I trust you and the boys to keep this place handled and I trust you to choose second in command while I’m not here.”

“Yessir. We’ve got it handled. Don’t worry about a thing. Go down there and make the most of it. We’ll be in touch if we need anything.” Kraglin pats Yondu on the back with a reassuring smirk. Yondu rolls his eyes and smirks back before boarding the ship.

Yondu sits next to you in his pilot chair and hits the ignition. Before long, you’re out of the docking bay of the Eclector, and off into open space. The two of you are silent for a few minutes until you hear Yondu speak up first.

“So – uh…I know yer really excited, and I know how much ya love yer Earth and yer family…but there’s somethin’ that’s been on my mind fer a while. I gotta just get it out there.” He hesitates for a moment while he programs the ship to auto pilot. “If we get there, and all goes well, and ya start feelin’ like ya wanna stay, I won’t hold it against ya. I know how much it all means to ya, and I won’t be mad atcha’ if you decide to stay with yer family.” He notices you start to protest, and he raises his hand so you let him finish. “Honey, you were kidnapped. You were stolen from yer home and yer family. You were sold and traded and bartered for like property. Ya got lucky when you escaped from the Skrull, and ya did pretty well fer yerself on Krylor. Yer a tough woman – you’ve proved that. I just wonder if being back home and with yer people won’t make ya wanna stay with ‘em.”

“Yondu, I understand your concern, but I am not leaving you. Ever. Yes, I love my family. Yes, I love my planet and everything that comes with it. But, after all I’ve been through I think I’ve realized that I love you more. My life has changed drastically over the past few years, and I don’t think I would change a thing that happened. Every single step I’ve taken since that morning by the river has brought me to you. Since finding you, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I don’t think anything can change that.”

Yondu just stares at you. The happiest she’s ever been? With me and that sleezy crew that calls 'emselves Ravagers? Even after what happened with Trenvik? He doesn’t say a word. Instead, he simply takes your hand and brings it to his lips. He then covers your hand with his, and sighs. You stand and walk to him. You carefully nestle yourself in his lap, snuggling your head into the crook of his neck. Yondu wraps his arms around you, and you feel him relax beneath you.

“How long until we approach the solar system?” You ask.

“It’ll be a couple hours until we reach that first little planet’s orbit, and then several more hours ‘til we close in on Terra’s atmosphere. The Warbirds thrusters are wide open, but it’s still a good distance. Gotta hand it ta ya Terran’s…ya’ll got a big solar system fer sure. Have ya even explored all of the planets here, or are they too far apart?”

“We know a lot about the other planets and their moons, but we haven’t visited them other than sending rovers to take videos and photos. They’re too far apart for what technology we have. Our rockets are super slow, and we burn through too much fuel. But, we do know a lot about the different atmospheres of each planet. We know their surface temperatures, and which ones might have had liquid water at some point. Not a single one is suitable for much life, but there is talk about the possibility of colonizing Mars.”

“Hmm.” He says simply. “Tell me somethin’ about Terra.”

“Like what?”

“Anything. What’s the first thing ya think of?”

“Hmm. Well…when I think of Earth, I think of the trees. I think about the forests, rivers, waterfalls, and wildlife. Sometimes humans forget that we aren’t the only ones who call Earth home, but I never forget. Each creature has value. From the tiniest bird in the sky, to the largest whale in the ocean. We are all connected, and we all have something to give.”

“What’s a whale?” he asks.

You simply giggle and rub his arm. “I’ll show you when we get there. Anything you wanna know, I’ll teach you. I can’t wait to show you everything.”

A few more hours go by with idle chit chat, and occasional comfortable silence. You tell him all about your home, the city you lived in, and what it was like growing up on Earth. You catch Yondu smiling at some of the stories you tell and he thinks your sister sounds annoying, but nice nonetheless. You begin to yawn and doze off a little in his lap. “Hey, why doncha’ go get some sleep in the bed back there. I’ll be fine up here – ain’t tired yet. We’ll be there before ya know it.”

“But I don’t wanna leave you all alone up here.” You say.

“It’s alright baby, I’ve flown a lot longer than this in my time. Go on now, getcha some sleep. I’ll be up here if ya need me.”

“Mmmmokay…I’m goin’, I’m goin’.” You mumble as he lifts you from his lap. He watches you make your way to the bedroom. Once you’ve closed the door, he picks up his comm off the control console and gets in touch with Kraglin to make sure all is in order back on the Eclector. Kraglin assures him that everything is fine, and the crew is content with their time off to just play games and drink as they please. Some have even taken to doing some odds and ends jobs to improve their cabins or M-Ships.

Before he knows it, he spots a little blue dot. The Warbird is closing in on your planet. He waits a few more hours before he decides to wake you. The closer the ship comes to Terra, he decides to engage the signal jammers so Terran communication systems and satellites can’t pick up any signals or sounds coming from the Warbird.

A while longer passes, and he heads back to the bedroom to wake you. There’s already a pretty good view of Earth out the front window, and he can’t wait to surprise you. You wake at the feeling of a large hand tapping you on the shoulder. You sit up and try to let your eyes adjust to the dimply lit room. Yondu has a very mischievous grin on his face.

“What’s going on? What are you up to?” You ask.

“Come here, there’s somethin’ you gotta see. But first, you gotta close yer eyes.” He insists.

“Close my eyes?”

“Do ya trust me?”

“Of course, I do!” You say with a smile.

“Well then c’mon! But keep yer eyes shut.”

You close your eyes and giggle lightly as you take his hand. Slowly, he guides you to the front of the ship where you can feel him position you in a specific spot.

“What are you up to, Yondu?”

“You’ll see, you’ll see. Okay…open.”

You open your eyes, and a gasp escapes your mouth before you have time to stifle it with your hand. Tears are immediately filling your eyes, and you can’t keep a few from falling. You shutter a little, and your breath is completely taken away. There it is. The oceans, the clouds, the beautiful green continents. Earth. After all this time, there it is. You can’t believe what you’re seeing, the beauty of your planet is stunning.

“Welcome back sweetheart.” Yondu says as he quietly presses a soft kiss to your temple.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 286: VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “what’s the record for most consecutive bone breaks within the span of a single minute” and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to unleash roughly 17 Smashes onto Tomura. Kacchan was all “THAT DOES IT, I’M TAKING THE REINS OF THIS SHITSHOW” and carried Endeavor and Shouto up to where the action was so Endeavor could hit Tomura with a Prominence Burn. AFO was all “Tomura would you rather burn to death or let me take over your body” and Tomura was all “...” and so AFO TOOK OVER and was all “STABBITY STABBITY” and used his Stabbing Quirk to do some Good Old Fashioned STABBIN’. First he stabbed Endeavor, and then he was all “hee and now I’m gonna stab Deku”, but Kacchan was all “SIR THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT RIVAL” and so he rushed on in AND GOT HIMSELF STABBED INSTEAD. And so basically THIS PAST WHOLE WEEK HAS BEEN A RIDE, LET ME TELL YOU.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “sup Deku lemme just downplay how I totally took this fatal blow for you just now” before he dramatically passes out and is caught by Todoroki “BTDUBS I CAN FLY NOW” Shouto, who is also carrying his dad because the kids really are just doing it all, here. AllForRaki Tomura For One is all “HAHA BAKUGOU IS PRETTY DUMB”, at which point Deku just LOSES IT ENTIRELY and ASCENDS INTO A NEW PLANE OF FURY LIKE A LITTLE GREEN RAGE BUDDHA. But then like two seconds later Tomura is all “ANYWAY, SO” and FUCKING TOUCHES DEKU’S FACE, CAUSING THE TWO OF THEM TO ASTROPROJECT INTO THE FREAKY OFA/AFO MINDSCAPE BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER IS BANANAS. Vestige!AFO is all “reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated but aren’t you glad I saved your life though, Tomura”, while Tomura is all “!!” because he’s hopefully starting to get A Clue, and meanwhile Deku just stands there watching all “what the fuck.” The chapter ends with SHIMURA MCFUCKING NANA showing up all, “HI, I HEARD SOME BITCHES WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC, AND THEY DIDN’T INVITE ME.” Go on, Nana. Give ‘em hell.

you guys. I’m not normally one to take pleasure in another human being’s misfortune. BUT THAT SAID, there are exceptions to every rule, and so let’s just say certain events have transpired early this morning which have PUT ME IN A VERY, LET’S JUST SAY, NOT-TERRIBLE MOOD which this chapter will hopefully improve upon!!

oh my god Deku’s one non-fucked-up eye that he still has control over is SO WIDE YOU GUYS

hmm I know I shouldn’t be all (゜▽゜) while the two of them are all (； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) ... and yet here we are. btw I’m worried tumblr’s formatting will ruin those two emojis which I worked so hard to get just right so I’m gonna repost them on another line here just in case

(； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) that’s them. Kacchan and Deku. my boys 

HERE COMES THE CHEESY “JUST GOT STABBED BETTER PLAY IT OFF ALL COOL!!!” ONE LINER OH MY GOD

(ETA: really love how my son, with what for all he knows could be his dying breaths, decides that the absolute most important thing is to preserve his selfish asshole facade so as not to fuck up his status quo with his rival. “LOOKEE HERE I GOT MYSELF ALL STABBED AND SHIT FOR YOU, BUT I TOTALLY JUST DID IT BECAUSE I WAS TIRED OF YOU GETTING ALL THE COOL HERO MOMENTS” yeah, that’s right! SELFLESS MOTIVATIONS, WHAT ARE THOSE sob.

also tbh I’m glad they didn’t delve any further into their feelings right here and now because this really isn’t the place or time for it sadly. WE WILL JUST PUT THOSE ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER THE ARC ENDS, when they are all recovering from their various wounds and traumas and have time to catch up and have some long-overdue heart-to-hearts. it deserves its own chapter or two or three. maybe time to head back to Ground Beta once they’re healthy? “healthy” perhaps being a relative term given their current condition fjsdjkf.)

by the way it looks from here like only the ones through his torso and shoulder actually hit, so that’s something at least. WE’VE LOST ENOUGH LEGS TODAY. I need to conserve my remaining puns

MEANWHILE TOMURA IS HAVING A CRISIS

ARE YOU MAD AT YOUR EVIL DAD TOMURA. HE JUST WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER WILL HE, THAT GUY

anyway so it looks like Kacchan might have caught a break here because AFO/Tomura is pulling the stabby quirk activation tendril things back out! rip, “Kacchan vs. Deku part 3″ theories

p.s. I got ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE DRAMA and thus glossed over the chapter title which is “one among us”! hmmm this is definitely AFO/OFA related, calling it now. ooh lord I am excited

NOW MY SON IS DRAMATICALLY FALLING

THE BLOOD FROM THE MOUTH OOF NOT GOOD AHHHH. DEKU’S FACE AHHHH. HIS BODY JUST WENT TOTALLY LIMP DID HE PASS OUT AHHHH. SOMEONE CATCH HIM!!

BY HIS FOOT, SHOUTO?!

well NOT EXACTLY THE MOST GRACEFUL THING I’VE EVER SEEN, but we’ll allow it because HOLY SHIT BOY. ARE YOU ALREADY CARRYING YOUR DAD ON TOP OF THAT?? HORIKOSHI PLEASE CONFIRM, IS TODOROKI MOTHERFUCKING SHOUTO FUCKING FLYING AROUND UNBALANCED AF ON HIS ONE FLAMEY LEG, CARRYING HIS 500 LB POP AND NOW HIS FLOPPY PASSED OUT BEST FRIEND AS WELL?!? HOLY SHIT TODO?!?!

LADIES AND GENTLEFRIENDS OF THE VILLAIN STANDOM, FEAR NOT, TOMURA’S HAIR IS THE FIRST THING THAT GREW BACK LOL

even before his eyeballs kfldkakjk. which, btw, how does he even know what’s going on right now? “this fight has shed a lot of useless blood” sdkmkjl okay well (1) WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT, AGAIN??, (2) SERIOUSLY THOUGH, HOW DOES HE EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU STABBED?? ARE YOU EFFECTIVELY BLIND FOR THE NEXT FEW SECONDS HERE, WHAT’S GOING ON, and lastly (3) I seriously can’t tell if this is AFO or Tomura talking right now. or are they going back and forth?? help this is so confusing

HEY

THE DISRESPECT. I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW KACCHAN ANGST IS NEVER USELESS!!

AND NOW HE’S BACK TO THE STABBING JFKJLKJLF I AM NOT TOO HAPPY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW MISTER

okay and now we’re cutting to some quick panels of the unconscious Aizawa, Gran, and Ryuukyuu, along with the “still conscious but in a very real sense might as well not be counted” Manual who is really having a day, that poor guy

anyway but then there’s also some dialogue boxes being all “if you act out of rage your power will respond accordingly, the most important part is to keep your head clear.” which I’m like 90% sure is Deku/OFA related, but honestly NOTHING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER IS CLEAR SO FAR YOU GUYS. except for the Shouto-is-a-badass part anyway

HMM YEP I’M GONNA GO WITH DEKU-RELATED

it must be a callback to some line I’m forgetting. maybe Lariat explaining Blackwhip to him that one time. probably should have been in italics if it was a flashback quote, but hey. anyways the point is Deku is absolutely, 100% following this advice to the letter (/s)

(ETA: yep I’m almost positive this is the same quote from chapter 213. “listen, when you use this power out of anger, it’ll really start working for you. what really matters is controlling your heart.” which is still one of the weirdest pieces of advice in the entire series, but basically I think he was just trying to tell him it’s okay to get mad, so long as it’s calmly mad. like, controlled fury, as opposed to this white-hot berserker nonsense he’s been running on as of late. anyways I do still love me some shounen rage all the same but Lariat has a point.)

...

it took me a minute to realize THOSE WERE DEKU’S EYES. holy --

AND ANOTHER MINUTE TO REALIZE THAT DEKU FUCKING GRABBED THE ACTIVATION TENDRIL WITH HIS BUSTED UP OFA HANDS AND BIT INTO IT WITH HIS RABID OFA JAWS AND SNAPPED THAT SHIT LIKE A FUCKING KITKAT KLJLKSJDLKJFLK WOOOOOOOO I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING BUT GODDAMN. POWER MOVE

(ETA: this is a two-page spread omg. I didn’t even realize at first. this scan ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT DO THIS BADASS PAGE ANY KIND OF JUSTICE but I can’t wait to see the real deal on Sunday holy shit.)

LMAO

DEKU RAGED SO HARD HE TURNED INTO AN ANGRY GHOST SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FKLSKG

(ETA: he actually looks a bit like the Vestiges/Kurogiri tbh.)

meanwhile Tomura basically has the exact same face I would have had in his position. yeah for real man. I don’t even know

p.s. WHEN will people learn to STOP INSULTING KACCHAN IN DEKU’S PRESENCE. WHEN, I ASK!!

WHAT IN THE CINNAMON TOAST FUCK

if this was a physical page I was holding I would have FLUNG THAT SHIT AWAY LIKE THERE WAS A SPIDER CRAWLING ON IT. WHAT THE FUCK

HOT DAMN. well uh. so that’s SUPER DISTURBING, what a lovely panel of Tomura’s melted face slowly growing back while his ears lag behind, and meanwhile that little scar that had been growing and growing and which at one point certain people (ME) thought might turn him into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERLY instead RIPS HIS FACE IN HALF to reveal the KINDER EGG AFO SURPRISE UNDERNEATH AHHHHH TAKE IT BACK

THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T LET MAD SCIENTISTS PERFORM EXPERIMENTS ON YOU, KIDS. PSA. JUST SAY NO

-- NO!!!

HORIKOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fuck

oh my god. I almost would have rather cut away right after the Kacchan incident than freaking cut away NOW of all times, jesus. THAT’S JUST A BITCH MOVE, IS WHAT THAT IS. if we don’t cut back within the next three pages I SWEAR TO GOD

anyway so GUESS WHAT GIGANTOMACHIA’S DOING YOU GUYS. if you guessed “the exact same thing he was doing last time we saw him” then you are absolutely right, because it was actually PRETTY EASY TO GUESS

anyway but he says he detects “master’s scent”, except that there’s apparently two of them. interesting! one in Tartarus and one in Jakku, right? lol Horikoshi has burned me so many times already with his excruciatingly slow reveal of this that I’m not gonna hold my breath just yet, but I’ll get the hype train warmed up JUST IN CASE

okay so meanwhile in downtown Jakku, the heroes are handing off the civilians over to the police and rescue forces while they prepare to engage with “the villain”, by which I assume they mean Gigantomachia. does this mean Iida and Ochako are gonna fight Machia you guys omg

OOH!!!

“PLEASE INFORM THEM ON FOOT” well I know a certain SPEEDY BOI who would be PERFECT for that job oh my. make haste, Tenyar FastmLeggy

WAIT WHICH WAY ARE THEY HEADING

ARE THEY HEADING TOWARDS MACHIA OR TOWARDS DEKU AND AFO

so rather than answering my VERY PERTINENT question, Ochako is instead spending an entire page thinking about how their complete clusterfuck of a life keeps getting exponentially worse all the time! well but she’s not wrong though

NOW SHE’S ALL “GUYS...!” and, rather than explaining ANYTHING AT ALL, Horikoshi is again cutting back to THIS, OMG AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: good thing Kacchan wasn’t awake to see his dramatic “I’ll just get myself impaled for Deku’s sake” plan result in this outcome ALL OF TWENTY SECONDS LATER smdh.)

I ACTUALLY PREFER MY DEKUS NON-CRUMBLED, THANKS. ALSO JUST ON A SIDE NOTE, POOR SHOUTO THOUGH. THE LAST NINETY SECONDS OR SO HAVE BEEN ENOUGH NIGHTMARE FUEL FOR A LIFETIME HAVEN’T THEY

so now he’s all “MIDORIYA!!!” because OF COURSE HE IS. his best friend just got impaled, and his dad too, and now he fully expects to see his other best friend crumble to dust right before his eyes holy shit. T R A U M A ™

-- !!!

somehow in the excitement of the moment I forgot his actual goal for a sec lol. meaning I instantaneously switched from HORRIFIED to GRINNING LIKE A MANIAC :D :D :D come on OFA time to show him what’s what

AND NOW WE’RE SWITCHING OVER TO EVERYONE’S FAVORITE TRIPPY DREAM LANDSCAPE FOR ADDITIONAL DRAMA, WELL OKAY

I’M ON BOARD WITH THIS, WHATEVER. also it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Deku is in fact nekkid underneath that mystical cloud bs, so let’s hope one of his remaining yet-to-be-unlocked quirks is a pants-conjuring quirk lulz

“this place...” yeah we all fucking know what this place is son, let’s get on with this. by my count we’ve only got four pages left so PLEASE BUDGET THEM WISELY

OH MY

holy shit. I have so many screaming thoughts about this lol but I just want to keep on reading lkjlkjlkjl okay I’ll come back later and edit them in, how’s that

OR MAYBE I’LL JUST RANT ABOUT THEM NOW GODDAMMIT

shit. okay let me just try and sum this up as quick as I can

so just in case it wasn’t already crystal clear, AFO’s soul being roommates with Tomura’s seems to be just about 100% confirmed now. good for you, All For One For All theory!! the “Kacchan loses his quirk” theory died so that you might live on in glory

AFO does seem to have almost fully taken control now. it looks like Tomura’s still fighting back, but AFO clearly has the upper hand now if their body language is any indication. Tomura on his knees with AFO calmly holding him down and ignoring his struggles... not looking too good for him at the moment

people seem to have somewhat lost sight of this in the midst of the great “heroes vs. villains Who Is Right Who Is Wrong What Are Morals” debate of 2020, but just a friendly reminder that AFO is in fact responsible for 100% of all of Tomura’s suffering from pretty much the moment he was born up till this very moment we’re now witnessing!! like, you can go ahead and blame Nana and Gran and The Complacent Apathy Of Hero Society and whatever the fuck else from here till Sunday, but All for One is the reason Kotarou was orphaned. All for One is almost certainly the reason why the seemingly quirkless Tenko suddenly just magically developed THE MOST FUCKED UP QUIRK OF ALL TIME at the worst possible moment. All for One is probably the reason why no one helped Traumatized Baby Tenko in the immediate aftermath (I can and likely will write a separate post about this in the near future). All for One is definitely the reason why no one helped Tenko at any point after that. All for One is the reason why Tenko grew up all fucked in the head (“HERE’S YOUR DEAD FAMILY’S HANDS, MERRY CHRISTMAS”), and the reason why he grew up blaming Heroes and Society rather than the sole person who was actually responsible who was literally standing right in front of him the entire time. and lastly, All for One is the reason why Tomura has now been manipulated into unknowingly sacrificing his own body and possibly even his mind. so THANKS A LOT FOR THAT. more like jerk for one amiright

basically what I’m trying to say is that Deku and Tomura are not actually enemies here, and they never have been. the two of them have a common enemy, and I’m convinced Tomura’s story is about him eventually coming to realize this. and this looks to be the first step towards that, for two reasons. one, because AFO is finally starting to out himself to Tomura as the rat bastard he has always been. and two, because Deku is catching a glimpse of this now for the very first time. up until now he didn’t have a damn clue lol. but this is now something for him to file away in the back of his mind, and perhaps follow up on at a later date, once all of this craziness finally subsides and he has some time to process

anyway, so that’s basically it! tl;dr AFO is the final villain and unless I’m very much mistaken, this scene is going to finally start to set that up. let’s read on!

OMG

NANA?!?

lKDSJFLKSHGLISHDOGIHOLRKL

NOOOOOO I can’t believe it fucking ended there I can’t fucking believe it, fuck everything

smdh. what a place to end it. didn’t confirm a damn thing. not even whose mental landscape all of this is actually taking place in! like, don’t mind me though Horikoshi, it’s not like THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGES ON THIS QUESTION OR ANYTHING except oh wait it really kind of does. kljkj

but seriously. because if it’s Deku’s mind, it means that Tomura’s attempt to take his quirk wasn’t successful. but if it’s Tomura’s mind, though... well... hhhhhhkhfff

or it could be both, I guess. more of that “AFO and OFA are the same quirk and thus linked” goodness. oh man. anyways stay tuned for next week when Nana presumably helps Deku out with the rest of that black fog and also hopefully finds him some pants. or maybe Nana can just go fight AFO herself. a little payback for everything he’s done to her protege and to her grandson. either way I CAN’T WAIT omg. VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

[lokilickedme]

Hulu and Do You

A Hammer Of The Gods Jake & Tate Shortfic, Part One

Part One - The Worst Kind of Man Rated M for language and adult themes - no sex yet (and I stress yet) 1703 words Takes place a year after the events of Hammer of The Gods

I’m posting this here for now because I’m not in the mood to accidentally start another longfic and AO3 tends to do that to me.  This will be two parts with the second coming later.  Written under the duress of a headache and not edited or proofread, so...whatever’s down there is what ya get.

I’ll reblog later tonight with my tag list attached.  Slide under the cut and lets go :)

“Geezus fuck kid, take that to your mom.”

Tate flinched, that same old kneejerk reaction to a raised male voice that she’d always had, a holdover from another time, another place, and most definitely another man.  But the man in the next room hadn’t really raised his voice, had he?  No, it was just that she was so damn used to it happening that the reflex had become too deeply ingrained to not be automatic.  It made her feel ashamed of herself for not being over it, just a tiny bit.

Jake didn’t raise his voice.  Not at her, not at her kids, not ever.  She’d never really actually heard him raise it, not in anger, not even when he was threatening a creatively bloody demise toward her long gone ex the day he’d popped his jaw damn well near clean off his face.

Jake wasn’t a yeller.

But he was definitely a curser, and her son had committed the unforgivable by blasting into the room he was working in to offer up an empty GoGurt tube in trade for a new one.

It wasn’t unforgivable in this house though, and it wasn’t unforgivable with this man.

Only The Ex.  Once upon a time.

Jake didn’t mind the kids coming into his study room; he wasn’t insanely nuts about them being around him, but he had no particular dislike of it either, other than when one or the other of them handed him something sticky.

Like the youngest just had.

She couldn’t blame him, to be honest.  GoGurt tubes in the hands of a four year old weren’t something she enjoyed dealing with herself, and Jake - well, Jake wasn’t the daddy type.  But he was a good man, albeit a filthy-mouthed one, and the words hadn’t even been the slightest bit irritated sounding.  Just more of an Ew, hell no.

So why the flinch?

She’d been trying to sort that in her head for the past year, and the only conclusion she’d reached was the uncertain possibility that she was simply afraid that one day Jake would become like The Ex.  Angry, irritated, controlling, condescending.  Disapproving.  Abusive.  She had nothing to base it on other than the fact that it had happened once and her luck, though vastly improved since the night she’d grabbed the kids and walked out with nothing but Jake’s tuition money in her pocket, couldn’t possibly hold.

Or could it?

Perhaps Pete had been right when he’d summed his friend up in a single sentence - He might look like he’d snap your neck for a half smoked cig but he’d just as soon pay you a nickel for it.  It hadn’t made sense at the time, but a year of dating the man had put a bit of clarity on it for her.  Jake was quick to anger in attitude only.  For the most part he was levelheaded, quiet, capable.  He had a low tolerance for idiocy and a deep appreciation for common sense, and what he put into the world by way of surliness he made up for in an intense intelligence and observant nature that dictated he simply deal with problems himself instead of waiting for anyone else to solve them.  And now, after all this time, she knew something not many other people knew.

The angry attitude wasn’t real.

Jake Harper was a fraud.

He didn’t hate the world...he was just uncomfortable in it.  Whether it was shyness or impatience or what his sisters referred to as “a near fatal case of attention deficit coupled with just too damn smart for this world”, she’d probably never figure out.

Not that it mattered.  She’d long since sorted how to work around it and keep that furrow-browed scowl from being used on her.

Jake was easily distractable...and he didn’t like to watch TV.

At all.

And that was where Tate’s secret weapon came into play.

He’d been studying a lot lately.  Way too much, but he had finals coming up.  She shouldn’t even be here, not really, not while he was working on such a time crunch with such a massive class load, but they hadn’t seen each other in a week aside from a quick lunch on Tuesday and a late night Facetime sexup the following evening.  It hadn’t been difficult talking him into letting her come over.

Or talking Pete into picking up the kids and taking them to the park so she and Jake could be alone for a couple of hours.  But he was running late and the kids were making a lot of noise, and now there was a drippy GoGurt tube incoming.

“Pete, come on.”

“Your wish is my command, Tatertot.”

“Geezus!!”

Her face went a bit warm, hearing that crude word pop out of her own mouth.  She’d been around Jake too much, he was rubbing off on her.

Rubbing off on her.

The alternate connotations of that phrase added more heat to her cheeks but thankfully Pete didn’t notice.  He was too busy grabbing her son up and tossing him haphazardly into the air, a horrifying habit she’d gotten used to.

“Sorry, runnin’ late.  Little girl, come on lets go!”  One huge paw came up to gingerly remove her son’s tiny fist from where it was twisted in his long unruly hair.  “Ew.  Is that GoGurt?  Better be blueberry, the cotton candy looks shit on me.”

Good old Pete.  If Jake hadn’t been the one to break the lock on her bedroom window - euphemism or no - things might have been a little different at this juncture of her life.  But Pete was a better friend than Jake would have been if the roles were shifted, and she was grateful for the big brash Viking’s helpful companionship.

Especially now.

“Take some frozen peas for the ducks.”

And then they were gone, and she was left standing in the doorway to Jake’s study room, looking at his broad back and swooning just a little bit over the contrast between his long dark hair and the light blue of his tee shirt as he hunched forward over his desk, deep in concentration that she knew didn’t come easy for him.

“You want to take a break?  Kids are gone, we could watch some TV.”

She knew he didn’t like TV, he didn’t have either the ability or the desire to put that much focus into something recreational after devoting so much effort into keeping his head on his studies.  He turned his head just slightly to the side, not looking at her, but acknowledging her presence.  “That show you like, they put the final season up.”

“Yeah?  Which one?”

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his back.  “That whack one about the preacher and the vampire.”

“You’re kidding?!  Want to start it?  I can call us in a pizza.”

He turned his chair to the left, coming around slowly to face her.  There was something dark and slightly wicked in the twist of his lips that shot a shiver through her.  “Do that.  I’m gonna finish this chapter and then I’m gonna Hulu and do you.”

“Ooh...and here I thought the whole Netflix and chill trend was going to just pass us by.  I mean...”  She took a step back, exiting the doorway, letting her hand stray purposefully toward the top button of her shirt.  “You’re always so busy with school and you have that personal vendetta against Netflix and all - “

“They sold Doctor Who to Amazon.  Fuck ‘em.”

“Well yeah, can’t disagree with you there.”

His eyes passed over her briefly, lingering for just a moment on her hand where her fingers toyed with the button.  It was enough.  Jake didn’t ogle, though there were times she wished he would as some sort of a courtesy warning shot before he made his intentions known.  There wasn’t a lot of preamble with him.  Straightforward and to the point, always.

Good old Viletongue.

She had no complaints.  Because she always knew where she stood with Jake.

But today...today she wasn’t planning on standing.

                                         ************************

He was bored already, she could tell.  He was a scientist at heart, which she found humorous - Captain Curseword, the filthiest-mouthed man she’d ever met, the guy who could take a toddler’s boardbook with eleven words in it and turn it into a foul diatribe so intensely crass it made you step away from him for fear of the wrath of God accidentally hitting you while aiming at him - this man was possessed of an analytical mind so sharp and detail oriented that anything shy of a scientific documentary lost his attention within minutes.  His chosen profession suited his intellect, the chemistry aspect of pharmacology more than enough to give his mind something to work on all the time, but it ran so counter crossways to the physical side of him that sometimes she found herself wondering if he’d been accidentally housed inside the wrong body at birth.

In fact, sometimes it seemed like he wasn’t quite human at all.

She’d thought him an angel once.

And then she’d slept with him and realized he was, in fact, a god.

A god that was about to fall asleep less than ten minutes into Preacher episode one season four.  She looked over at him, next to her on the couch with his head back on the cushions, those stormy sky blue eyes half closed while his fingers tapped out an odd little rhythm on the thigh of her jeans.  Likely typing a chemical equation of some kind, his brain’s stubborn refusal to shut down long enough to rest seeping out through the steady drum of his fingertips.

He was a confusing thing sometimes.  He was both the best kind of man and the worst kind of man...and what she needed right now was the worst kind.

Taking that busily distracted hand from her thigh, she moved it up to her chest and laid it palm-down over her breast.  Jake didn’t respond, but his fingers clenched slightly; she looked over to find he’d closed his eyes entirely, but the tiniest twitch of a grin was gently turning up the corners of that filthy, filthy mouth.

[valkyriesryde]

Vigilante

Part Two to Shut Up

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Mutant Fem!Reader

Summary: Rumours of a vigilante that stands of neither side of good or bad spread. The devil punishes whomever she pleases and she’s made quite a name for herself. But who is she really?

2.5kish general warning for fear mongering and swearing i guess? but its really not that bad imo

A/N: Yeaaa Idk guys, this might just be a two parter, I kind of like the open ending but if you’d like to see more of have any ideas of where you might want this to go then let me know! Otherwise I’m pretty happy with how this turned out!

Three months. Solid grades. Improvement all around. Graduated from the academy. And yet…

A desk job. Stuck at the fucking desk while everyone else is out there.

“You’re not equipped for field work…”

“You’re more useful behind the scenes…”

Fuck em all.

It took two weeks behind that desk for you to hand in your resignation. You told them you’d rather work security, that this isn’t what you thought it was going to be. Which, I mean, it wasn’t a complete lie. You thought working for SHIELD, working for the Avengers, was going to be action, saving the world, missions that you’d work your butt off for. But all you got was pushing papers and organising intel for field agents with no promise of becoming one yourself and none of them even showed any sort of gratitude for the work you did do.

She’ll never get anything better than this

You’d heard your boss think to himself when you handed in your resignation.

You smirked and shook your head as you thought about the interaction a year and a half on. He was right, you’d never get anything better than SHIELD, so why not make it for yourself.

Why not make your own path. Why not stop sitting around and trying to find something that fits what you’re after and instead go out and get it yourself.

One has a lot of free time when they have no job and are able to live off of their savings and contract work. In that free time one has the perfect opportunity to practice and perfect their skills and in some cases, like yours, powers. It’s amazing what you’re able to do when you put in the hard work. It’s amazing what sort of reputation you can build for yourself when you put yourself out there.

A reputation to be reckoned with, and nobody even knew who you were.

Many referred to you as a ghost.

You haunted the hallways of the abandoned fortresses. You whispered in the ears of those you hunted and told them their worst fears. You made them run and cower as you walked silently in the shadows after them. Without even lifting a finger you had even the likes of Hydra handing themselves in. You were a feared vigilante.

But the world didn’t like vigilantes. In fact, they were quite against them. SHIELD especially made an effort to either recruit or put a stop to any vigilantes they could find. They’d tried for months to get their hands on you, but you were always one step ahead of them. They thought you were like Scarlet Witch at first, seeking revenge on Hydra and those who had done you wrong until they found no pattern or relation between the victims driven mad by your torment. Then they thought you just had similar powers to her but that didn’t explain your method of actions, you didn’t have the same manipulating powers as her, you spoke into the minds of your victims, you read their thoughts and you picked out what they feared most and whispered it in their ear without getting near them, without even being seen.

When those who faced you were questioned they were already driven mad, screaming for help, yelling about the ghost.

“It’s the voice of the devil,” one had muttered warily to Captain America when asked what you sounded like. “Lucifer is here and she’s punishing us all!”

“Isn’t Lucifer typically male?” The agent sitting across from the man asked. Steve Rogers leaned against the wall watching the man twitch and his eyes dart around him.

“You’re wrong, it’s her it has to be. She promised I’d pay for my sins, she knew all my fears - she knew everything! I didn’t even see her but her voice, you can’t mistake it…” he kept muttering and Steve stood straight, his interest piquing, “Lucifer walks the earth.”

Lucifer

That’s what they called you now. The devil. It went round and round the rumour mill between all agencies, good and bad. ‘The devil walked the earth’ they said, ‘she takes no prisoners’ they said. And when the lights went dark in the warehouse, the agents knew exactly what was coming and the extremists buying their weapons had no idea.

“Not now,” one of the agents whimpered, you recognised his voice from your past, back in training and the corners of your mouth twitched up.

Hello Connor, you whispered in his ear from the rafters, throwing stars in your hand. What do we have here?

“No no GET OUT!” He yelled and held his head in his hands, the lights flickered as he fell to the ground crying out for you to spare him.

“Whats happening?!” One of the extremists said, his gun ready to fire at will but he wasn’t quick enough before a throwing star pierced his hand and the weapon dropped to the floor.

What would your little sister think of your actions, you asked him.

She has to have a limit of range? You heard suddenly. They must be within ten metres for you to unwillingly hear their thoughts. Another familiar voice, Falcon.

Are you here to steal my prey birdy? You asked him and heard his footing slip slightling in the rafters to your left in surprise.

Who’s to say you’re not the prey I’m here for? He said back and you could hear the smirk in his voice. Not so quickly you thought to yourself.

We’re on the same team you and I.

“Steve, she’s here.”

Your movement stopped as you neared the edge of the ceiling and looked down, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes had the extremists in handcuffs while the other two agents stood nearby with their weapons still held ready in their hands. If this was staged they would have the place surrounded, or at least all exits taken care of. For a second you thought about sneaking into Bucky’s head but that man had had enough people in his head, you felt for him, he didn’t deserve another. Then you thought maybe Steve’s to convince him you were one of the same. But what are the off chances he recognised your voice? Sam had never heard you talk, even if he had overheard you it’s unlikely he would put two and two together.

“Lucifer are you here?” Steve called out.

You were stuck. You were face to face with the personification of the institute that dismissed you. These were the leaders of the organisation that had told you you weren’t good enough. This was the man that pushed you to be better completely out of spite. 

“You’re my creator,” you whispered under your breath and an idea came to mind.

Quickly and quietly you moved further away from Sam, he dropped to the floor beside Steve a second later and you kept eyes on the group as they stood back to back in the middle of the warehouse.

I’m Lucifer am I? You whispered into their minds and all five men were on instant alert. I’m the devil you say? I guess that’s somewhat fitting isn’t it. The punisher of sinners. There’s just so many sinners that walk this plane aren’t there. You know all about that don’t you war heroes. Bucky and Steve peered to each other nervously.

You’ve seen enough sinners to last several lifetimes. You continued moving around them above their heads until you stood facing Bucky. You’ve been them. You whispered in his ear and Bucky understood how your voice had driven people insane before.

“Ignore her Bucky,” Sam said through gritted teeth, his wings stretched.

You’re all guilty for something, aren’t you Falcon. You were in his head now, watching his friend fall to his death as you relayed the image and he screwed his eyes shut to try and push it away. We all have our demons. It was Steve’s turn, his mind was strong but there were so many images to choose from.

Bucky falling from the train, he adjusted his stance.

Being beaten in a back alley, his breathing shallowed.

His mother on her deathbed. “Ignore it Steve.” Bucky told him.

Some make us stronger, you stood directly above them, it was as if you were standing right behind him, the way your voice crept up the back of his neck. But they still hurt.

Steve’s eyes screwed shut now as you showed him dark blue eyes with smudged black soot around them staring at him as if he were a stranger. Red lipstick that quivered and sobbed. Ginger hair and a sharp jaw smeared in blood falling to the ground. Over and over, the eyes, the distinguishing features of all those he held so dear at their worst where he couldn’t protect them. You went through them all, you found them so easily he kept them with him always in his mind until you stopped suddenly and Steve gasped as he stepped back at the last image he saw.

A blue mat. Black sneakers, with tights to match circling it. Shaking hands, a bell rang then nothing. Familiarity ran through you as you stood straight above them.

“STEVE?!”

It’s you. He said trying to find you as he spun around but you stayed as still as humanly possible.

“Steve what the hell did she do to you!?” Bucky smacked his chest.

“Take these guys and get out of here.” Steve told him with no further explanation as he stepped between the rows and piles of crates.

“I’m not leaving you here,” Bucky bit back.

“That’s an order, I know who it is and we won’t get her unless you all leave right now.”

I know it’s you.

You needed to leave. You needed to get out, he can’t find you. Exits, there wasn’t an easy exit and if they were leaving now that makes you leaving even harder.

The four men followed Steve’s direction, though begrudgingly, and took the two prisoners with them. You heard the car drive off, watched the lights through the window disappear and then it was just the two of you.

“I wondered what you had gotten up to after you left SHIELD you know?” Steve called out, he continued weaving through the crates around the warehouse and you followed him along the beaming. “I even tried looking you up to see, but I couldn’t find you. I suppose I should have been suspicious of that, it was like you just disappeared but I didn’t think much of it. I thought maybe you’d just moved away, it’s not uncommon.”

Why was he talking to you like this? Why did he care?

“I was really rooting for you, when I saw you didn’t become a field agent I was a little disappointed, I thought you would have and if not in that round of selection at least the next one. But you did have some things you needed to work on I guess,” he chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess you worked on your powers though, they must have needed the extra attention. Well done, you’ve come a long way from just hearing people’s thoughts.”

He disappeared behind a crate for a second before he came back into view on the other side. You wondered if he had a plan of any sort but you knew his reputation, he could easily come up with one on the spot if he needed to.

“What about your combat skills? Did you work on them?”

He was baiting you, urging you to come out from your hiding and prove to him how far you’d come because you’d done it once before.

I don’t owe you that.

You almost shouted it at him but that would give away your position and you weren’t about to give the super soldier the upper hand.

“You don’t owe me anything. I owe you.”

Your steps stopped as he did and he looked at the ground ahead of him and sighed.

“I owe you an apology. I pushed you too hard, myself and the others, we didn’t give you the attention you needed or deserved. I wanted so badly to see you after the exams, I wanted to ask you to have coffee with me, I wanted to help you, to learn more about you. I didn’t think you’d welcome me, so I didn’t go looking for you until a month after you’d already left. That’s how I found out. Connor laughed when I asked him where you were, he said you’d quit, that you couldn’t handle it. I knew that wasn’t the case, you wouldn’t just quit.”

You don’t know me like you think I do.

“I do.” Steve looked up at the beams but you were two steps behind him, there was no way he could see you. “Because I was you.”

Then you know why I won’t be joining you any time soon Captain America.

The window slammed shut behind you and Steve made a move as he scaled the crates into the beaming to find nothing but dust and spider webs and an unlocked window.

Stay true to yourself.

You heard his voice as you jumped from the edge of the roof to the next building and made a run for it. Tears brimmed your eyes but you couldn’t let that slow you down as you kept running from the warehouse, from Steve.

There’s a difference between a vigilante and a hero.

A hero is someone who is admired, they have a list of achievements and people look up to them, want to be them. They work with law enforcement, they strive for greatness.

A vigilante is self-appointed. They refuse to work with law enforcement, they are feared, and hunted. They are not welcome on the streets by those that try to control it. But often they are called for by the people because those who have sworn to protect them have failed the populace.

You didn’t categorise yourself as either. You were neither admired nor wanted by either groups you worked for and against. The people didn’t know about you, the establishment hunted you.

Thanks to the Avengers, to SHIELD and to Captain America, you were something different. You were the devil in the shadows.

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[jamestrmtx]

Fairytale Complex - [Undertale | Sans x Reader]

[Gender Neutral, Frisk's Parent Reader | Slow Burn]

Chapter Twenty One | It's Showtime! (Part 3 of 3 | His POV)

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

"Should I… Should I give up Frisk's custody?"

"What?"

Having that be the first thing the human asks when arriving at the Judgment Hall surprises him the right amount to make that 'what' come off as a shout. It resonates throughout the echoey room, giving rise to the noise and causing them to flinch and stop walking. At that, Sans sighs and excuses himself; strain arrives in his voice as he corrects himself with, "Why do you think that? Isn't the kid happy with you?"

They avoid his irises and stare at the newly laid-out benches around, these a product of the changes being made to the Underground, and ones they suggest sitting on while they talk. It's obvious they're stalling for time, so he doesn't speak and only follows them there. One glance at the bitter look in their eyes and the sheer uncertainty of their frown makes him stay that way -- waiting for them to act first. Not even the bright light that seeps into the room is enough to shake them out of their distant gaze. Their steps are soft and slow, barely causing an echo as they walk, vastly different from his own set of footsteps. Being any more cautious and quiet would mean they would disappear out of the room entirely. Were he not walking along with them, their presence would be hard to distinguish from the vast emptiness of the place. Even the benches don't suffice to fill out the space surrounding the Hall.

"I'm not sure anymore," they finally reply, tone as icy as their choice of words. He sits next to them and lays a hand over their knee, one he squeezes tight as a way of comforting them. "Toriel seems like someone better fit for that role, so if she holds the same feelings she had about adopting Frisk as she did the first time, then maybe… That's all for the best?" Their voice trembles, though they continue with, "What do you think, Sans?"

The monster pulls his hand back and lets their question simmer in his thoughts for a while.

"Do ya really wanna know?" he asks, meeting their gaze.

"...Yes." Their reply is as weak as the light in their eyes.

Again, Sans gives himself some time to think, needing that more than ever now that they hold him up to such a delicate question. He doesn't want to sugarcoat anything, but -- similarly -- he doesn't want to hurt them further than they already appear to be. A happy medium would be the best choice, though he doesn't know what that is, exactly. Truthfully, he was growing biased whenever it came to talking about them; he was besotted, no doubt, and -- if matters kept on this way -- he had to scold himself for letting his feelings conflict with his job. Seeing them blue was the last thing he wanted, but some things are easier said than done. If they required an honest answer, he had to deliver it. Masking faults wouldn't do any good, in the long run.

"I think you're a pretty wonderful parent. It's the overthinking and overprotective part that you've gotta work more on. Other than that, then you should take that promise you made seriously, so that you can improve and find more strength to avoid those doubts." His hands make their way to their waist as he brings them closer to him. He then sits them on his lap, smiles, and leans in, looking up with that same, yearning visage afterwards. "...And someone easy to love, despite that stuff." His desire to kiss them grows stronger by the second, yet he's aware it's best not to try that currently -- not now, of all times. The human was still healing; his wants could wait for their needs. "I like being around you -- with you. And while I know Tori's a good mother, you're a good parent, too. You deserve to keep being Frisk's parent, just as they deserve having a parent like you."

By all means, this has to be the riskiest move he's pulled so far, and with awful timing, too. He overlooked plenty of factors before placing them on his lap, and -- now -- he's beginning to consider if that's the best thing he could've done. Their hands have difficulty finding a safe area to land on without making him tense up, and the same goes for their sitting position, this one just as stiff as they try to get comfortable without doing the opposite to him. Still, they stay firm in place and smile back, something that doesn't last long when they say, "I've made too many mistakes, and I've... I've bothered way too many people. I can't even feel mad about arguing with Brenda without then feeling guilty seconds later, k- knowing she did so much to pull me out of that bog. I don't deserve to be forgiven." Their hands press against his chest and grab tight onto his shirt, squeezing at the fabric to tug him closer against them. "It's not right."

The monster tries to catch another look at them, though the human refuses by looking down, gaze cast on their lap. "That's on the people you've hurt. You don't get to decide whether you deserve their forgiveness. Or do ya?"

Their hold on him roughens. "Of course not."

"Then why think that? What makes you think Frisk doesn't like you -- or Brenda? Or pretty much... anyone else?"

Sans gets even closer, leading them to press a hand against his shoulder in a weak attempt at gaining that space back.

They look at him afterwards, eyes focused on his teeth. "Do you want to ki-"

He does that before they can even finish with their sentence.

The reminder he's yet to adjust to physical contact dawns on him when he kisses them.

His pulse skyrockets, and it's a challenge not to grow dizzy by his own actions. His hands lay awkwardly on their lap, but he tries to explore elsewhere to prevent that, making him end up holding their lower back. The warmth and softness of their body is a grand contrast from his, something he can feel to be more pronounced when his hand strays to their waist, pudginess felt sharply against the roughness of his touch. He's lost track of how long the kiss has lasted, yet -- right as he's thinking about ending it -- they return it with twice as much fervour, tongue slipping into the space left between his parted teeth. Clumsy movements turn clumsier as he wonders what to do now that they're going beyond a quick and simple kiss, though he doesn't push them away. His soul fastens and he can hear their heartbeat with how close he is against them, the sole obstacle to keep him distanced being the reminder this is the last action he'll get for a while; if again, at all.

He shouldn't be doing this, and while his mind has that thought on repeat, he wants more.

"Doin' mouth-to-mouth again, are we?" an infamous voice comments, this one heard from close by. "Didn't know getting so touchy-feely and tongue-heavy was part of the process."

They get off his lap and stand up; their actions are immediate, even more so than his own. A guarded, almost wary look overcomes all the hard-earned calm they expressed before. Not an ounce of reluctance stays in their posture, and -- in comparison -- they appear plenty more defiant than anything else.

"You've fought all the way here, just to surrender now?"

Sans almost believes he's said that himself with how similar that voice is to his; it's rough and booming, and it arrives from the door of Asgore's old garden.

"This was all one cheap ruse, wasn't it? You never really were angry with any of the monsters, were you?" the same voice asks, his figure emerging from the door. "You've 'fought' with people like Toriel just to make yourself seem like you actually give a shit about your child, but you don't care at all." It's the same man from the bus; a small but no less weak army stands behind him, allowing him to act more confident than before. "If you did, I'm sure as hell you wouldn't be kissing a complicit in murder. You just want to hand the kid over to the first idiot you see and be done with them."

"Hey, bud," Sans says, standing up. "Watch it."

He takes a few steps forward until settling in the middle of the hall, preventing those by the door from getting any closer. "We came here for some quiet n' privacy," he then adds, zeroing his gaze on the man. "So please leave, so I can talk with 'em."

"You should watch what you say," one of the crowd says, stepping from behind the man. "Just what do you mean by 'privacy', exactly? Gonna get it on with that human? Though you were doing that just now, and you've done that before, too -- It makes no sense for you to want any 'privacy' now."

"I don't think I need to explain why me giving 'em CPR and me kissing 'em are two vastly different things." The skeleton continues to get closer, noticing the crowd's doing the same. "And I mean privacy, as in: what we need to talk about 'ere ain't none of your business," he states, gaze narrowing at the woman. "Leave us alone."

"As if we'll let you go," a different man says, joining the woman's side. "You might have (L/N) fooled with your 'feelings', but we're aware of the truth, and we refuse to let whatever this is keep going. Whatever cheap sob-story you told them to try justifying your actions won't work on us."

He glances back to the human when noticing they've grown quiet. They're still standing near the bench, though they soon face the crowd and say, "If you have a problem with that, you can talk to me directly. He has nothing to do with this." Then, they glare at the man, who remains unfazed even as they walk forward. "He's-"

Thud.

The sound follows right after he shields the human from the object hurled at them.

It rests in his hand, large, oval, and porous -- one of Asgore's heaviest garden rocks.

"Stop that."

Thud.

Three are thrown at the same time. Two Sans catches with ease, though one slips right past him and ends up hitting his company with a loud thunk. Worry over them being hurt fades when he looks to their side and sees they've caught the rock in their hand, creating a bruise in their palm -- one they hide in their pocket after shaking the pain away.

"Leave us alo-"

A crash follows before the third thud, leaving shattered glass by the opposite spot to where the man and his crew stand at. Shoes aid with not being cut by the shards as he gives his back to the crowd and inspects the source of destruction, though it's made clear the thud's come from another rock, this one the human didn't turn out successful in avoiding. Blood drips from the side of their face down to their neck, while the rock lays stained by the floor. Regardless, they say nothing and cover the wounded area with a piece of cloth they retrieve from their belongings. The cold look from before returns, but with ire and distaste -- all of that directed at the crowd rather than their own self.

"Say something," the man from the bus says, words aimed at (Y/N), who stays quiet all the while. "The hell's wrong with you?"

"Ditto." they state, lips straight and eyes dull. "You have no business being here. This is-"

"Then your Halloween-edition boyfriend has no business living up there, either."

"That's not what I meant." They approach the monster's side and stay close to him. "This place is dangerous. The walls are cracking, the ceilings are crumbling, and the floors are giving in. The only reason why the Underground isn't available to you is 'cuz it's being made a safer place for you to be in."

"Then why are you here, of all people?"

"I'm here to learn the truth before I decide what to do with Frisk's custody."

Sans tries to stay one step ahead of them, remaining wary over any other attacks. The man glares at him, though the greater part of his attention resides on (Y/N). Still, he nods at one of his companions to keep an eye on him, reminding the monster he hasn't yet forgotten about him.

"So why did you ask about giving up their custody?"

"Because I know I'm not adept enough to raise them with my current state of health. They deserve better."

Anger strikes in the man's eyes. He clasps his hands into fists and clenches his jaw. What keeps him from getting any closer is seeing Sans do the same.

"So you call Toriel better?" the man questions, words spat.

Something unknown ignites in the skeleton's soul, and while he assumes it's because two people he thought fondly of were being spoken ill of, the strength of that feeling makes him believe there's more to it than that.

"Asks the man who threw a rock at (Y/N)," he intervenes, against biting back his tongue.

Sans takes their hand and helps them sit back down on the bench, though he keeps an iris on the crowd and a thick shield around the human.

When finished, he stares back at the man and adds, "You have a minute to wrap things up and leave this place -- before I call for backup."

"Can't fight us alone, skelly?"

"I don't intend to."

He holds the human up in his arms and takes them to the first location he thinks of, all while ignoring those who try to challenge him as he teleports them out of the Judgment Hall.

• • •

"Are you and (L/N) safe? Please give them my deepest apologies. Truth be told, it has been rather difficult to communicate more often, now that my... jail sentence has doubled."

He rests his back against the wall, slumps, and closes his eye sockets for a moment.

"I'm fine," Sans replies, toying with the strings of his jacket. "They got hit by a rock, but other than that…" He glances at his bed, where they lay at as they hold an ice pack to their wound. They give him a quick thumbs-up, allowing him to continue with, "They're okay."

Asgore breathes out a sigh in what he can only assume to be relief. "Be sure to mention my name, if they ever require medical care."

"Got it. See ya later, old man."

"Farewell, Sans."

He sets his phone down and stares at it, gaze blank as he contemplates the situation.

(Y/N)'s question clings to his mind no matter how much he tries to convince himself they're fine.

If someone so devoted to their role as a parent had a thought as wild as that one, then what was keeping them from holding themself back?

What was keeping them from giving up the one thing they found a purpose in?

And if they hadn't brought it up, what would happen then?

"What did he-" The human interrupts themself with an 'ow' when they try to stand up. "What did he say?"

The monster sits next to them by the edge of the bed and leans in, using one hand to hold their cheek while the other keeps him stable -- hovered over their body. "Don't stress about that now," he says, voice quiet. "Just relax."

They smile and keep their cheek in his hand, though theirs places itself over his as they rub their thumb against it. "Worried?"

"It's the third time you've fallen ill in less than a year." He chuckles. "What do you think?"

"I think you need to join me in bed, then." They brush his hand away and extend their arms out -- as if waiting for a hug. "C'mere, babe."

He approaches them without dither, though he's careful not to be rough as he lowers some more and embraces them. Their arms grab his waist and lay him on the little space remaining next to them. The space he lacks they make up for by bringing him close -- enough for him to hear their heartbeat, along with each breath they take. "So are you still going by that agreement letter? Or did you really just bodyguard me?"

"Bodyguard?"

"Don't judge my word choice." They grin. "I'm dizzy and tired." A curious glint reaches their gaze when pulling their attention away from him to look around his room. "You're almost done moving, aren't you? The place looks empty."

"It's better now that you're here, though."

"You never miss an opportunity to do that, don't you?"

He winks. "That's about the last thing I wanna do when I'm around you."

They roll their eyes, only to then grab him by the shoulders and pull him closer. Their breath is overwhelmingly minty, revealing they've just about chewed the entire box of gum he'd seen them take out of their bag. Thankfully, it seems to have worked to some extent, as they don't seem as weak as they did when first arriving at his room. The mint's strength is what's keeping them awake and fighting the nausea shown after escaping through the use of his magic. "Are you really fine?" they ask, smile still there; it weakens, however, and they appear to recall something, confirmed with, "A- And God, I'm sorry. You said you weren't comfortable with making out, and I doubt you mentioned anything beyond kissing on the cheek, too, right? And yet, I… I went ahead and-"

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I did something you clearly stated you didn't like before."

Sans pokes at their nose with his index finger, gaining an annoyed huff from their part. "And that was around two whole months ago," he says, grinning. "I barely knew much about my feelings back then, but now I understand them a lil' better, and… And what I'm comfortable with, also."

They don't humour him. On the contrary, they grab his finger and soon his entire hand as they force it into a fist. "But it's still important enough for me to remind myself of it." Finally, they push it away and lour. "You don't need to do any of this." Their forehead wrinkles and their body stiffens. "I was in the wrong-"

"For asking me if I wanted to kiss you? I was the one who cut you off mid-question for that."

He stands up and helps them do the same.

"Let's calm down for a moment and think this through."

The skeleton then places his hands over their thighs and looks up at them. "I'm still figuring myself out, but one thing's for sure: I like you. Even if I don't exactly know to what extent those feelings go, what I'm willing to do, and what I'm not, I like you, and I want to explore these feelings with you." They nod and stay silent as he adds, "The one who punched me at the bar -- that friend I told you about -- they had a crush on me for a long time, but I never really was one to care much for that kinda stuff. Then there's the occasional, rare crush I had on other people, but… It was always hard for me to distinguish whether those feelings were romantic or not." He stops to assess their expression and sees intrigue in their eyes. "I was more guarded at the time, since I still had that job at the Hall, and that involved me being a hell lot more distant than I am these days. But now that I've got more freedom to live and just, well… be, I've been able to figure things out about myself -- like how much I enjoy even the thought of having you by my side."

When something cold falls on his hand, he looks up at them to see tears in their eyes.

"Were you that worried about this, puddin'?" He can't contain a laugh when he sees them shed more tears after being asked that question.

They nod and press their lips tight together, holding themself back. "I don't want to screw this up. I… I like you, too, and it feels like… like I overstepped a lot of boundaries for a minute there."

"A kiss that you asked me about first?"

"But then I returned it and did things I wasn't supposed to."

"Did you actually ever ask me if I liked it or not?"

"Well, uh… No."

Sans takes their hand and brings it against where his soul can be felt beating.

"I was, frankly... overwhelmed, but it didn't feel gross or anything like that. And I didn't feel a need to stop or tell you to, regardless." He feels his face burn, and he's sure there has to be some evidence that his face is turning red, yet he doesn't hold back. "Did you forget what we went to the Hall originally for?" His smile widens. "Or did you forget to keep yourself in mind again?"

"It was to talk about my dream from earlier."

"But you still ended up talkin' about Frisk instead. And then I sat you on my lap and kissed you." He then brings their hand to his cheekbone. "Sounds selfish when I put it that way, doesn't it?"

They don't answer and choose to hide their face away against his chest. "Maybe? I… I wanted to kiss you, too, though."

"I did it knowing that dream you had was related to me -- and in a negative way, to boot."

Their hand lets go of his cheekbone and goes to place itself close to where they rest their face at.

"So let's plan something," he adds, holding their back. "Once we're done signing Frisk up in Tori's school, and once you settle things out with your job… We go on another date like the one we had at that hotel, and from there on, we can talk about that dream for real. You'll avoid bringing up stuff that's not directly related to your situation, while I'll avoid my urge to kiss you."

They let out a laugh. "Tell me more."

Sans complies with a grin. "So if everything's sorted out better by then, we can celebrate that accomplishment by having our actual first date -- but at my new place."

"You sure want me to visit you, huh?" they ask, smiling. "Is there… Is there maybe something important you want to tell me, teddy bear?"

He chuckles, winks, and pulls them closer with an arm around their shoulders. "You've read right through me, puddin'."

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

• • •

IMPORTANT NOTICE

**TL;DR near the end of it**

Sans's (assumed) age (mentioned in Chapter Two) will be bumped from 22 to 29 to better fit his character and overall personality, as well as to complement the passage of time in both this story and its spin-off more adequately (more on that can be found on the author note in Chapter One of said spin-off).

The Reader's/you're meant to represent someone younger who's still learning how to live life and how to overcome slips ups and screw ups. Sans being 4 years older helps portray not only his character as someone who used to engage in science better, but to make the difference in knowledge and wisdom more evident between both the reader/you and him. So basically, if you've played Stardew Valley -- for example -- he'd be around the same age as maybe Harvey, Elliot, or Shane, since they're the most... mature-seeming of the bachelor bunch. Sam and Alex come off more as late teens, while Sebastian is more accurate to describe the age I once gave Sans in this story (don't quote me 100% on this topic, though -- I married Emily in the game and I'm pretty awful when it comes to comprehending videogame lore). A more obvious reason is that Sans seems more mentally sound despite the roughness of his circumstances in the game, something that can be hard to achieve if you struggle with mental health.

**TL;DR: Sans's age has been bumped up a few years to better fit his character and the plot of both stories.**

This was something an Ao3 reader brought up recently, too, so they essentially inspired me to finally make these changes! Please, help me.

• • •

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[irene-sadler]

Six Months

someone wondered when the Baroness (a side character from the Tournament aka Sir Reynard and the Red Knight which I wrote earlier this year) was coming back and uh, “back” implies that she ever left in the first place, tbh. spoilers: she didn’t.

anyway so here’s a little something something

its a quick family story plus a story about civilians in wartime packed into a little over 4000 words. rated PG. ft teen romance drama, sheep, grown up romance non drama, and not a single canon witcher character. think Roseanne (original show not the weird remake that died on arrival for Reasons) but in the setting of The Witcher. or don’t if u have no idea what i’m even talking about b/c u dont watch 90s cable sitcoms constantly like i do lol.

Six Months:

The Nilfgaardian soldiers came at night, but they found an empty manor house. The occupants had had plenty of warning they were on their way; the family’s oldest son had ridden nonstop from Rivia Castle to warn them that there had been a coup, that the Queen had vanished and her young son was in charge, and that it was only a matter of time before their old enemy Caldwell came looking for them. Hilde thought they were, in many ways, fortunate - not lucky, because no luck had been involved - fortunate that their son was riding his fastest horse, fortunate that the rest of the household managed to collect what they could and hide the rest without dramatics or incident, fortunate to have somewhere else to go. An old herbalist’s hut in the woods wasn’t much, but it was, she’d said, a roof over their heads. They’d always had a plan, in case everything in their lives went very badly wrong. Everything had, and the hut was part of it.

    Then her son rode off with most of her other sons and the rest of her husband’s knights, on the chance that the Queen was out there somewhere, and left the place somewhat emptier-feeling in his absence.

    “Wish I was going with them,” the Baron said, looking down the woodland road after them.

    “We talked about this, Eldred; you’re sixty-seven years old, your eyesight’s going bad, and your knees don’t bend anymore. A warband’s got no use for you.”

    “I know that,” he said. “Don’t mean I don’t wish I was going.”

    A little flock of sheep crossed the path, with some of her nephews trailing after them, waving sticks and shouting.

    “I’ll be worried about them, too,” she said, as one of the sheep suddenly bolted. Eldred took her hand, squeezed it, and limped off after it.

    The next time their paths crossed he was in a slightly better mood. She hooked her arm through his elbow and looked up at the full moon through the trees.

    “Can’t hear myself think in there, so I came out here for some fresh air,” he said. There wasn’t enough room inside for even half the people who had followed them along. Most of the household had settled around the hut in tents and bedrolls. The inside of the hut was still jammed with the smaller children. They were also fortunate that it was spring, and nobody would freeze to death sleeping outside. No luck involved, again. No army fought in the winter, although she wouldn’t put it past the Empire to try.

    “We’ll have to build pens for the sheep and pigs, tomorrow,” she said. “Maybe some more shelters, too. The farmhands can do it. And I’ll organize some of the women t’ forage in the woods. We’re fortunate it’s spring. We might be living off pottage of oats and chickweed, but we won’t starve t’ death.”

    “You know,” Eldred said, “I was thinking I might get a shot at some of these invaders after all. They might turn up here.”

    “They might.”

    “Wouldn’t want any spies or wanderers t’ spot us and take word back to th’ army that we’re out here.”

    “No.”

    “Anyhow, with all these boys out here, I thought I might train ‘em up a little, just in case.”

    “That’s not a bad idea.”

    “Might take some of these girls, too,” he added.

    “Even better,” she said. He smiled down at her.

    “We’ll be safe here.”

    “Of course we will, with you around,” she said.

    ———

    Wars were just a part of life. She was born and raised in Rivia; she’d grown up watching her brothers and father ride off to war with Lyria, over and over again. Her father was killed by a Lyrian archer when she was twenty-three. She’d watched her mother’s face while they buried him. She never wanted to know what it took to make someone wear that hard, dead expression. Over a decade later the King married a Lyrian princess and those wars stopped, but more took their place. There had been the rebellion, after the King died, led by her own disgruntled brothers, who refused to serve a Lyrian; her husband’s promotion from petty knight to Baron was a direct result of the glory he’d won putting it down. That war had almost destroyed her marriage, but they’d pulled through, in the end. Then there had been bandits, minor invasions, civil unrest; it seemed like there was always something to fight over, but never anything new. Whether Lyrians were killing Rivians or Nilfgaardians were killing Rivians, they always had the same damn excuses for it. The older she got, the less patience she had for any of them.

    ———        

    Smoke from cooking fires floated through the newly cleared area around the camp. The forest echoed with the sounds of axes hitting wood and more trees falling. The pigs slept in the shade out of the heat, watched over by a pack of skinny boys from the village. The herbalist’s hut sat surrounded by a dozen almost identical buildings - buildings, children, chickens, dogs, a donkey that someone had brought in, loaded down with rushes -

    The Nilfgaardians hadn’t found them, but a whole lot of other people somehow had. Some of them brought livestock or food, but a hell of a lot of them had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Hilde refused to turn them away, even if a few of the hands muttered darkly about spies and famine. More was better; more people meant more hands to work and more eyes to keep watch. Eldred’s little force of skinny teenagers with homemade bows and farmhands armed with handaxes had grown in size, if not, in her opinion, in quality. He seemed pleased with them, at least. Some of them were standing watch at the edges of the clearing. She was pretty sure none of them were asleep.

    It turned out they weren’t; a minor racket interrupted the idyllic peace of the summer afternoon - some kind of argument, she thought. She abandoned the shirt she was mending and headed to the north side of the buildings, where she found a pair of youths shouting at each other. One, she noticed, was her own youngest son, waving a bow and turning an impressive shade of red. The other was a dark-haired girl. The latter spotted her before the former; Hilde watched with detached interest as the girl’s eyes widened and her stance shifted from aggressive to frozen fear.

    “Herron,” she said. “It’s -”

    “What’s this about?” Hilde asked.

    “- your mother.”

    Herron deflated, visibly.

    “We were just - we were talking,” he said, staring at his own feet.

    “I heard.”

    “Just a - a disagreement over the watch schedule,” said the girl. She raised an eyebrow, considered telling them to cut the shit, and then decided not to. Whatever it was, it was probably harmless, and it wouldn’t be improved by her involvement.

    “If you have an issue, take it up with the Baron,” she said. “Meanwhile, quit disturbing the peace.”

    The girl bowed and escaped at not quite a jog. Herron stared after her, still beet red.

    “Who’s that?” she asked.

    “Nobody.”

    “No?”

    “She’s just - she wasn’t at the right guardpost.”

    “Whatever you say,” she said. Herron was shifting uncomfortably, showing the usual signs of a teenager who desperately wanted to escape.

    “Go on,” she said. “Get back t’ work.”    

———

    Herron had begged to go to war with his brothers. He was only fourteen, and although he looked like a skinny, lanky, teenage copy of his father, he had none of Eldred’s athletic ability. The best that could be said for him was he was a decent shot. Maybe he would have survived the battlefield, but she didn’t want to take the chance. Besides, he was her baby boy; she felt like he had been ten years old only the week before. She couldn’t let him go, and Eldred had taken one look at her face and hadn’t argued with her. The resulting angst had taken weeks to wear off.

    Whatever Herron was up to, she was just glad he was finally speaking to her again.

    ———        

    The rainy season hit exactly on time; a genuine stroke of luck, because the rain would keep their ever-increasing hideout a secret for a little longer. The pigs were happy, but the sheep and humans less so. Hilde and her selected lieutenants kept the place running anyway, despite the endless mud, the nonstop damp, and the weather that ranged from a drizzly mist in the mornings to downpours in the afternoons and evenings that were so heavy Eldred stopped making his militia patrol the forest for fear they’d get lost or drown in a flash flood.

    During one of the downpours one of the militia members came splashing through the mud and into the hut. Eldred stopped scrubbing rust off his sword.

    “Something going on?”

    Hilde thought he sounded a little too hopeful.

    “Nothin’,” the man said. “Not really. Just, we had this kid come up t’ th’ east guardpost just now.”

    “Ask around; has t’ belong to someone around here,” Hilde said.

    “Don’t think so, milady, on account of it ain’t a human child.”

    “Oh. I’ll take a look,” she said. “Go on, I’ll be there.”

    Eldred shook his head slightly at her as she stood and pulled a cloak around herself.

    “What?”

    “Nothin’.”

      She could barely see where she was going, but she managed to slop her way through the muck between the huts and made her way the guardpost. A little pack of militia stood around the spot, watching a single, very small shape that huddled under a blanket. The shape didn’t look up when the guards all spotted her and stood.

    “Honestly,” she said. “How many people does it take to keep an eye on one five-year-old? Don’t you all have work to do?”

    “We were thinkin’ maybe there could be Squirrels about,” someone explained, awkwardly. She rolled her eyes; the expression might have lost some effect in the pouring rain and dark, so she added a little of it to her tone.

    “Yes, well. If so, I’ll protect you, Jenny. Get going, all of you. Find something else to do.”

    Most of them trailed off, muttering among themselves. One man stuck around; she raised an eyebrow at him, which he seemed to take as a sign. He stumped off a few yards away and stood squinting out at the dark woods. She rolled her eyes again and crouched down.

    “Hello. Who are you?”

    “I’m six,” the huddled shape said.

    “What’s that?”

    “You said I was five.”

    “Oh. Sorry. It’s hard to tell for sure, under that blanket.”

    “I don’t want t’ get wet.”

    “What’s your name?”

    “Ailfe.”

    “My name’s Hilde,” she said. “If you come with me, you can get something to eat and sit in front of a fire. What do you say?”

    “Alright.”

      Ailfe sat next to the fire, inhaling a steaming bowl of barley and dandelion leaves. Hilde offered seconds after the first bowl was done, bided her time, and, finally, asked, “So - Ailfe. Where are your parents?”

    The girl shrugged, took just enough time away from eating to say, “Dead,” and went back to it. Eldred shook his head again, slightly, when she glanced at him; he had looked less than surprised when she came in out of the rain lugging a bundle. He was trying to look like he was wearily embracing the inevitable, but she could see a hint of a smile in the corners of his mouth. She smiled back.

    “Where are you from?”

    “Dravograd,” Ailfe said.

    “Ah.”

    She’d heard rumors, in passing, through the militia, who’d heard them from the merchants on the roads. Hilde knew enough to believe them.

    “Well,” she said, “You can stay here, if you like; it’s not like we don’t have the room, and you can help my nephews with the sheep. How’s that sound?”

    “Fine.”

      Not twenty minutes later, the girl was dead asleep. Hilde pulled a dry blanket around her and stretched out on the pallet in the corner next to Eldred.

    “Couldn’t let her starve,” she said to him.

    “We’ve had stranger things than elves in our family, I suppose,” he replied. “Remember my uncle Egbert? Th’ one who turned into an enthusiast and became a priest of Pareplut?”

    “I always wanted a daughter.”

    “I know,” he said, kissed the side of her head, and added, “I love you.”

    “And I love you, Eldred,” she said.          

    -——

    When she’d decided she was going to marry him, her parents hadn’t been too sure about the idea. She was twenty and he was slightly more than a decade older, but she’d seen him in the tournaments, and she’d heard about him outside them. He was very often the best knight on the field - perfect form, an undeniable talent - and he was a close cousin to the King, and her aunt’s husband had it on good authority that he was as capable an administrator as he was a fighter. It was true that he wasn’t much to look at, but she wasn’t foolish enough to care about his missing front tooth, or the scar on his chin, or his crooked nose. The day he’d won yet another tournament and gallantly offered her the prize with a gap-toothed smile, she knew nobody in the world was going to change her mind about Sir Eldred Greenwood. Her parents would just have to get used to it.

    ——

    The rain stopped for good and the sun cooked all the water out of the air. She started sending the kids and donkeys off to the stream, a mile away, every morning and evening to fill kegs with water. Ailfe trooped along with the others, wearing a shapeless cap that covered her ears, looking as filthy and half-wild as any of them. She had forgotten about the incident with Herron completely.

    She was sitting on the top rail of a fence in the twilight, watching bats flutter through the smoke and lights of the camp and chatting about nothing in particular with Eldred. Anything resembling privacy was hard to come by, but most people seemed to be off doing something, somewhere, and nobody was near the sheep pens. At least, they didn’t think so, but they were wrong. Right around the time she lost interest in the bats and they ran out of things to talk about, something interrupted the forgotten background hum of insects and humanity.

    “Wynn?” a voice said, from the nearby guardpost, out of sight past a shed. Eldred jumped about three inches and, to her mild disappointment, stopped kissing her.

    “What the hell-”

    She covered his mouth with her hand, quickly.  

    “Shush.”

    It was only Herron. She recognized his voice. She didn’t immediately recognize the voice that responded.

    “Hi Herron. You on watch?”

    “Yep.”

    “When do you get off?”

    “Uh, in around an hour. Why?”

    She figured it out, after some thought; it was the girl he’d been arguing with, weeks earlier. Eldred raised an inquiring eyebrow up at her. She shook her head at him.

    “Do you want t’ get dinner afterward? My folks are cooking a chicken that quit laying.”

    “Oh,” Herron said. “I already ate.”

     After a brief pause, the girl said, “Um, well, have a good shift, then. I’ll see you later.”

    “Later,” Herron replied.

    Hilde waited a minute, then sighed wearily. Eldred looked pained.

    “That was the single worst thing I’ve ever overheard,” he commented.

    “I’m thinking you ought to have a talk with our son,” she replied, quietly.

    “First thing in the morning, and not a minute later,” he agreed. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”

    “We weren’t.”

    ————

    They’d had five sons. The oldest, Hal, had a wife and children of his own. He was at court, most of the time; Eldred had sworn off the place as soon as Hal was old enough to go without him, and only went up for holidays and emergencies. Edgar and Robin, the twins, were five years younger and as unalike as they could make themselves. Edgar was a wanderer, had barely been home for most of the last decade. She wasn’t sure if it was fortunate or not that he had been home during the spring. Robin had just gotten married during the winter, and had a position at court. Jack, the fourth, had died of consumption when he was four. Her youngest son was a surprise; she’d been over forty when he was born, and nobody had expected both of them to survive the event, but they’d been wrong. Herron was weedy, but he was as strong as an ox. He looked like his father, crooked nose and all, but he acted just like her long-dead oldest brother - kind, loyal, brilliant, and unbelievably easy to manipulate. It worried her, sometimes, but she knew better than to wonder if her youngest son would come to a similar end. There was nothing to be gained by dwelling on the past, and even less by trying to predict the future.

    ———

    The dry spell continued. One evening the donkeys and children went off as usual. An hour later as she was helping finish butcher one of the pigs, one of the boys scrambled out of the woods. Hilde balanced the knife in her hand and glanced at the trees behind him. Nothing seemed to be following him - at least, not very closely.

    “What’s wrong?”

    “They’re comin’,” he said, wide-eyed and shaking.

    “Who?”

    “Black Ones. We was on our way back, and - and -”

    She swore under her breath and turned quickly; she would have told one of the others to get Eldred, find the militia, but it was too late; someone had already gone.

    “- they took all the donkeys,” he continued, “Even Donny.”

    “What about all your friends? The other kids?”

    “I don’t know; everyone was running around, and there were soldiers, and nobody was payin’ attention to me and I just ran away.”

    Herron raced up, sweating heavily.

    “Ma, someone said th’ enemy’s here, and dad says t’ get everyone inside th’ stockade-”

    “Yes, I know what t’ do,” she said. “There’s a bunch of kids out in these woods, somewhere.”

    Her daughter was out there, somewhere. She had to go find them.

    “I’ll go look for them,” Herron said. “I’ll find them.”

    He looked terrified. She couldn’t send him - but she couldn’t not send him; she knew she couldn’t really go herself. What would she do out in the woods? Get lost. Get killed. Herron was, if nothing else, a good shot, and a halfway decent hunter.

    “I can do it,” he said. He looked even younger than he actually was, but he sounded confident. She breathed out and nodded.

    “Please be careful.”

    “I’ll try.”

      The stockade was barely a wall; it was a fence with a gate, but it was better than nothing. They’d built it to head height with the sharp ends of logs pointed out toward the trees, and it wouldn’t stop an arrow, but it would stop a horse. Hilde stood by the gate, looking through the holes in the fence at the path her husband and a bunch of teenagers and farmers had taken into the woods. He had trooped out with a sword in his hand, smiled at her under his helmet, and hadn’t looked back. She told herself he would be fine, and Herron would be fine, and the collection of women armed with axes and pitchforks and old spears left over to defend the entirety of the camp would be fine.

    Hours passed, and nothing happened. The feeling of stretched nerves in the air turned to one of faint boredom as the afternoon wore on. She took to pacing the perimeter of the fence, watching the trees for movement, listening for a sound other than the endless rattle of cicadas and crickets and the noise of livestock and people. The shadows got long, and nothing happened. She sternly told herself not to worry, or, at least, not to imagine horrible things that could be happening very far away.

    “Horses,” someone suddenly said. “I hear horses comin’.”

    She stared out at the woods, clutching the makeshift spear she’d armed herself with. There were horses out there; she heard a rumble that could only be a line of heavy cavalry, dozens of armored horses and men. She’d heard them a thousand times in a thousand melees, and she could imagine exactly what they would do to her mass of barely-armed, unarmored peasants if they broke through the fence.

    “Get ready with the spears,” she said. “Just like we practiced.”

    Spears was an overstatement; more than a few of the people who lined up behind the fence with the points of their weapons facing toward the trees were holding pitchforks, but Eldred had thought they’d do just as well. She had her own doubts, but they didn’t have anything better. Any side conversations ended as the sound of the oncoming cavalry rumbled louder; they stood and sweated and waited until the first horse appeared on the narrow road between the trees. She squinted at it; it was hard to see in the dusk, and she wasn’t very familiar with Nilfgaardian armor, but she didn’t think the rider was wearing black. In fact, the knight riding up at the head of the column had a distinctly familiar seat. She breathed, finally, and leaned the spear on the fence.

    “Those are Lyrian banners,” someone said.

    “It’s a trick,” someone else replied, shakily.

    “No,” she said. “No it isn’t. Open the gate.”

    She trooped up the road, met the column, found Herron limping along beside them with a bandage on his leg, a pack of children surrounding him, and Ailfe in his arms.

    “What happened?”

    “I did it,” Ailfe announced. “I saved the day.”

    “Oh?”

    “Well, sort of,” her son replied. “She did keep the Blackclads from catching her and the other kids -”

    “-we climbed a tree,” a boy announced, smugly.

    “-and then I found them and they caught me -”

    “Herron fought like a good one,” said Ailfe. “He got wounded, look.”

    “- then Dad and the lads turned up and attacked the Nilfs -”

     Ailfe finished the story in an excited shout.

    “- and then, durin’ the fight, th’ army came!”

    The knight from the head of the column pulled up and stopped.

    “Not that we needed help,” he said.

    “No, of course not,” Hilde replied, rolling her eyes at him.

    “- anyway, it all ended more or less well,” said Herron. “And they’re saying the Queen’s back.”

    She looked up at Eldred, caught a gap-toothed grin on his face.

    “Oh?”

    Eldred nodded at her.

    “We can go home soon,” Herron said.

    “Home?” Ailfe asked.

    “I’ll tell you all about it,” he said. “Come on, let’s get down to the camp. Ma, are you coming?”

    “In a minute,” Hilde said.

      “Well,” she said, in the comparative quiet after they left, “Did you see any of our sons?”

    “Not in this unit - these people are just scouts, really,” Eldred said.

    “They’re all alive, at least?”

    “Far as I know. We’ll see them soon enough, if all goes well.”

    “That’s a relief.”

    “Can I give you a lift back?”

    “A ride from a noble knight? I can’t say no to that,” she said.

    The camp was swarming with Lyrian soldiers, Rivian civilians, donkeys, barking dogs, and runaway goats and sheep. Eldred reined in the horse at the gate and overlooked the chaos. She thought she caught a glimpse of Herron and Wynn, ducking out of sight behind a hut, and quickly pointed out the leader of the soldiers.

    “Ah,” Eldred said. “Well, I suppose we could wade into this mess and talk to him -”

    “You’re the Baron,” she interrupted. “You can’t just sneak off by yourself with all this going on. Also, it’s getting dark.”

    “I wasn’t going to go by myself.”

    “Oh,” she said.

    “What I’m thinking is we go off somewhere and come back after this has a chance t’ calm itself down -”

    “I suppose I can always pretend you kidnapped me,” she said. “Someone has to maintain an appearance of responsibility around here.”

    “I promise to have you back before dark,” he said. “What d’ you say?”

    “It’s a deal.”            

    “Someone told me our Hal’s a Colonel, now,” he said, turning the horse around. She wrapped her arms around his waist and propped her chin up on his shoulder to see the road ahead.

    “Is he?”

    “Not that it’s a surprise; he’s just like you.”

    “A social climber?”

    “A pragmatist.”

    “You always were a romantic, Eldred.”

    “I’m a lucky man. We wouldn’t have made it all these months without you.”

    Luck had nothing to do with it; they’d planned and fought and were, again, fortunate that it had all worked out in the end. She buried her face in his neck and let him think it had, anyway.

    “I can’t wait to go home,” she said.

[kaiowut99]

Phew, finally finished re-finalizing my finalized GX stuff so far!

Over the last few weeks well I guess months--initially while I waited for some potential editing help for 65, then [once I canned the last fix I’d planned; sorry to those I may have slightly annoyed with my casual reblogs about it] just to get it all done while in Rome before double-releasing 65 and 66--I’ve been giving my scripts one final look-through to fix any consistency or formatting issues with my newer stuff (things like my starting to use “Fusion Undone” as De-Fusion’s translated name before accidentally going back to “Fusion Cancel” or turning “Miss Asuka” back to “Asuka-san” since I’d meant to use that whenever “Asuka-sama” was used, or the way I’d italicize contractions or capitalize things), and also to sort of go and do things I should’ve done initially (like translating Daitokuji’s nyas into meows, the logic being that it’s what we’d hear in English anyway; hopefully this is one that goes over well?).  Basically just to cross them off my list so I don’t go back to them at all.  The plan is also to work on new finalized MKV softsubs that I’ll release on NAC for those who’d like ‘em, since Zeratul (who’d provided them before) hasn’t in a long while, and once I do them for 1-66, they’ll be a thing going forward.

While I was at it, I applied some other animation/footage fixes to things I hadn’t picked up on in my initial finalizing run-through as I started doing them, or polished a couple that I did.  Some might wonder “why put in the effort for quick shots or at all no one cares,” but as I’ve mentioned before, as someone who loves GX with some [I think good?] skills using Photoshop/video editing and an eye for detail, I figured if I have time to improve it for people (especially those who might notice the same errors I did) where the staff didn’t take the chance to do so on the DVDs (where they usually would), then why not? (I was actually inspired to do it by KaiserNeko doing the same for DBZ during DBZ Abridged.) The fixes I work on are done for both my hardsubs and the DVDRips I release with the scripts over on NAC, and there’s a thread there with the original DVDRips I work off of as well, in case anyone doesn’t like them (most/all of my finalized Season 1 scripts were re-timed for them by someone there, but I’ll take some time out to do it myself too now that I’ve re-finalized them), along with the CR subs which I’ve said should be shown love too.  I’ll list these new fixes out below by each episode, for anyone super curious about the details; some are kind of interesting, lol. (Did my best to format it so it’s readable, too, lol.)

So, yeah--keep an eye out for the links to actually-final 1-64 on my stream masterpost to be updated along with 65 and 66 once I post them (probably tomorrow), I’ll be updating the links in my NAC thread to the hardsubs and scripts I’ve re-finalized along with any DVDRips updated with the fixes below, and as I get work going on 67+ (which I’ve started a bit of) I’ll work on batches of the softsub MKVs for folks.  For people looking forward to my 65 and 66, really appreciate the patience the past couple of months; hoping to work on some double-releases to make up some time.

Extra-Final Fixes!

Episode 4 (Since I didn’t include a list of the previous fixes I’d worked on in the original release post, I’ll include those here in italics; the new ones here were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Manjoume’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here. The fixes I’d already done were applied to the flashback in 66 as needed.)

As Judai takes damage from Clayman’s destruction by VW-Tiger Catapult, Judai’s LP start counting down from 3808 and not 4000; I fixed it in Sony Vegas by masking in a LP counter starting from 4000 for a few frames.

As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, Manjoume’s part of a split-screen has part of his blazer semi-faded for a frame; I corrected it by just duplicating a later frame.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, there are four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the bottom part that extends out--but it shows up in the next frame, which also causes Judai’s Disk wrist grip to vanish for the rest of the shot before Shou’s split-screen comes on, as the parts of his arm for it are colored like his jacket sleeve.  To fix the first issue, I used Photoshop to draw on that bottom part in that first frame, then masked it into the shot in Sony Vegas for the other three frames.  The second issue I fixed by recoloring his sleeve to account for the wrist grip, then masking the edit into the shot while masking the little destroyed Solid Vision bits above the edit.

Had a few things going on here.  First, after Manjoume mocks Judai being wide open just after the above, we have one of many recycled shots through the episode where Judai insists that he’s still got fight in him--the initial frame has Judai in the same position as edit #3 ends with his wrist grip missing, but it reappears as he moves to stand firm while the shading on the lefthand side of his Disk’s Cemetery slot is wonky for a couple of frames.  Second, as Judai moves back into his initial position, that shading is normal but the wrist grip again disappears into his sleeve, and this time that bottom bit of his Disk’s upper part is colored as part of Judai’s sleeve, making his arm shorter.  Third, as Judai moves to draw, the wrist grip reappears and that bottom part is now colored properly, but Judai’s arm isn’t extended like it was at the start of the shot. Finally, as Judai draws, the wrist grip is there but that whole part of his wrist is colored like it (no red noting the end of his jacket sleeve).  I fixed the first issue by copying the wrist grip edit from #3 and copying the moving Cemetery slot shading from the second part here.  The second issue was fixed once I again copied the wrist grip edit from #3, along with using the initial frame to mask in the correct Disk/forearm coloring.  Then, I fixed the third issue by copying the rest of the area below the Disk’s bottom bit from the later shot in edit #7 below where it was colored correctly.  I fixed the last issue by recoloring the first wrist grip curve into red for the end of Judai’s jacket sleeve for five frames.

As Manjoume’s V-to-Z aims directly at Judai, as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendant Wings, the Winged Kuriboh on his Disk is in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense on the field; I blanked its Monster Zone in Photoshop and then added a Winged Kuriboh proxy in AfterEffects correctly in Defense Mode.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send all that energy right back” at Manjoume, the spot on his Disk where Winged Kuriboh LV10 appears for a few frames is colored like the Monster Zone it’s on; I just applied a Winged Kuriboh LV10 proxy above it for those frames.

Again, a few things here as we recycle the Judai shot in edit #4 (but he’s smiling so it’s different~). First, after Manjoume mocks Judai’s idea of him drawing a 1000-ATK-or-higher Monster to finish him, the initial frame of this shot is pulled from just before Judai moves to draw in edit #4 because the wrist grip is missing along with the bottom bit of his Disk being colored like his jacket.  Then, as Judai moves to draw and grabs a card from his deck, as his Disk arm swings upward for a few frames, the wrist grip area is first 90% colored like his sleeve, with half of the first curve of it on his sleeve colored like the grip, before it’s fully colored like his sleeve for the other frames.  Finally, as Judai fully draws and his Disk swings back to the bottom of the shot (recycling Judai’s position post-draw in edit #4), the wrist grip is gone, but also Judai’s undershirt is miscolored, part of the folds on Judai’s jacket sleeve near his elbow are colored like his Disk, and his Disk is miscolored or missing a few details compared to the earlier shot (like the bottom side of the blue LP orb being colored blue as well and not the Disk’s gray as before).  I fixed the first issue by copying the fixed initial frame from edit #4, masking it in Vegas to just use the Disk/wrist grip area.  The second issue was fixed as I recolored the wrist grip area such that the first curve was fully red and the rest was wrist-grip-colored for the three frames of Judai’s Disk arm going upward.  I fixed the third issue by just masking in Judai’s Disk and arm (up to the edge of his wrist) from the earlier correctly-colored shot, while also masking in his correctly-colored undershirt.

As Judai summons Featherman--to Shou and Chronos’s surprise--and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk disappears as Shou and Chronos slide in on a split-screen, and it’s still gone as they slide back out.  I fixed this in Vegas by just masking that black box on to stay longer, masking in Shou’s split-screen over it before and after it slides in.

Episode 8 (Original release post; as with episode 4′s, these new errors were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Ryou’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here.  The fixes I made before were applied to the flashback in 66, as well.)

After Judai thinks about how well Ryou played his first move, he draws Fusion for his turn, but as he draws it, it’s a dark-orange rectangle in his hand; I added a Fusion proxy over it in AfterEffects for the quick 2-3 frames it’s in.

After Judai’s first hit on him, Ryou draws and Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon, but visually he’s playing a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone--we see this Cyber Dragon in Zone 3 a few shots later as he uses Revival of the Dead to bring back his first Cyber Dragon.  The dub fixed this by making his Disk arm move such that Ryou’s hand lands on Zone 3, with the card in his hand a dubified Cyber Dragon, and I opted to work that into the footage here by masking their moving Disk over the original shot in Vegas, redoing the sky background behind it and masking in parts of Ryou and his hand to make it blend well while also adding some detail to the Disk in Photoshop to compensate for the slightly lower quality.  Then, I replaced the dubified card with a Japanese Cyber Dragon proxy in AE.  I worked on this in 66 first (as highlighted here), but I unfortunately couldn’t just copy that edit completely here, since the footage in 66 has a bit more brightness/contrast to it that I couldn’t dial down accurately to make it blend in to the darker footage here; this is definitely the kind of error that would normally be fixed on the Japanese DVDs, so why it wasn’t is a mystery.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, he’s missing Thunder Giant on his Disk’s third Monster Zone; I added a proxy onto it in AE and masked the red bulb on his Disk over it in Vegas.  It’s tiny and a quick shot, but for consistency’s sake and all. (I’d previously only added that missing Thunder Giant as it zooms out while he activates A Hero Appears).

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and the screen fades and zooms out to Bubbleman on his field, he’s missing Bubbleman on his Disk in his third Monster Zone.  I added it in AE, then keyframed this zoom-out for it accordingly in Vegas.

Right after #4 above, as Judai notes that he can’t Normal-Summon again this turn, we see Mudballman--which he hasn’t summoned yet--in Defense Mode on his Disk.  When I first fixed this, I put Bubbleman in its place, but accidentally in Defense Mode (given that he’s in Attack Mode right now), so I fixed my own correction by blanking the third Monster Zone Mudballman was on and slapping Bubbleman on in Attack Mode in AE, moving it along with Judai’s Disk. (Still not sure why the dub decided Mudballman = VW Catapult or something apparently lol)

Episode 10 (Original release post listing the original two fixes that were done)

After Mei draws out his Sanga thanks to Kyuu’s Dark Designator card, during the panning shot as Mei adds it to his hand (before they tell Judai and Shou they’ll enlighten them about Tag Dueling), the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk is shown reversed; I just applied a proxy in AfterEffects on top of it so it was correctly shown with the name box facing left.

After summoning Steam Gyroid, as Shou notes that summoning Hyuga left Kyuu without a defending Monster, the above shot is recycled--this time, reversed so it pans from Shou to Judai, but also has Judai react to what Shou’s saying--and so is the error with Burstlady on his Disk.  Again, just applied a proxy in AE to fix it, moving it as Judai moves his Disk.

As Shou looks down in disappointment after his Steam Gyroid’s attack ran into Hyuga’s effect, Judai turns to give him some words of encouragement, but as his Disk moves with him, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on his Disk again facing the wrong way.  Just slapped a proxy on in AE and moved it as Burstlady’s Zone came into view.

After Gate Guardian destroys Shou’s Steam Gyroid, as Chronos watches on and notes Shou’s timidity vs Judai’s stubbornness while the two look on at the Meikyuu Brothers, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk facing the wrong way again.  Fixed it by placing the proxy again in AE, then zooming it out accordingly as the shot zooms out.

After Mei sets a card and Judai prepares to draw for his turn, there’s a yellow rectangle where his Defense-Mode Burstlady should be.  Applied a proxy in AE over it to fix the issue.

Episode 11  (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Kyuu draws once Judai sets a card to end his turn using Spark Gun on Gate Guardian, the spot on his Disk where Defense Wall in Defense Mode would be has an Attack-Mode-shaped hole where you can see the blue of the stands behind him! I fixed it by making a Defense Wall proxy that I slapped on in Defense Mode in AfterEffects, moving it with his Disk.  For the tail end of the shot where the Zone is fully visible, I also filled in the hole with the Zone color in Photoshop and then applied the proxy.

As Shou declares Gate Guardian the target of his Shield Crush, the card back for the one card in his hand is miscolored.  I fixed it by redrawing the usual card back in Photoshop for the frames it’s in, Gaussian Blurring it so it blends in, before he turns and they’re out of the shot.

After Mei ends his turn having attacked Drillroid with Dark Guardian amused at Shou’s standing back up thanks to Judai, as Judai draws for his turn, his face-down card is miscolored. I recolored it in Photoshop for the few frames it’s in, working it into the footage in Vegas.

After Judai draws from Pot of Greed after the above, he goes on to activate Fusion Gate, but Sparkman on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai realizes he’ll need to give up Skyscraper so Tempester can survive Dark Guardian’s attack, the Tempester card on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai and Shou reel from the above attack once Kyuu ends his turn, Shou has a Normal Monster card where Drillroid would be on his Disk.  I fixed it by slapping on a proxy in AE for the couple of frames it’s visible in before Shou moves his Disk so it’s not onscreen.

I polished my edit to Misawa to keep his sideburns still in episode 12 and added it to the equivalent shot in the preview here.

Episode 12 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As noted in 11′s #7, I polished my original fix to Misawa’s moving sideburns as a buffed-up Hell Soldier took out his Hydroggedon so it blended in more with the smoke and everything going on in the shot; looks better now.

As Manjoume declares Hell Burner’s attack on Misawa, there are two quick frames where it’s a yellow rectangle on his Disk; I applied a Hell Burner proxy in AE accordingly.

Episode 18 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Kagurazaka brings back Berfomet to take the hit from Thunder Giant and he starts his turn, as he activates Reincarnation of the Dead, there’s a quick frame where it shrinks in his hand as the shot zooms out--I fixed this by just duplicating the frame just before where it’s normal.

After Kagurazaka summons the Gazelle he added to his hand above, he then activates Swords of Sealing Light, but there’s a quick frame where it’s just a yellow shape in his hand.  Easy fix by slapping a proxy in AE.

Episode 30 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Shou and Hayato realize they’re no longer being boiled alive, Hayato audibly asks, “Huh? Where are we?”, but his lips only move for the “Huh?” part of that as he lifts his head.  To fix this, I used the couple of flaps as he lifts his head and tweaked/resized them so they would work after his head’s lifted, adjusted to fit his line.

Episode 31 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Chronos sets a card down after Camula brings out another Immortal Werewolf, Antique Gear Soldier on his Disk is shown as a Normal Monster Card; I originally fixed this by slapping on a proxy in AfterEffects while the shot was still, then keyframe-zooming it out in Vegas, but at the time, I didn’t account for Chronos’s swinging arm, so the card was superimposed over his hand for a frame or two as it swung over that Zone.  I’ve masked his hand over my edit now, so that’s fixed.

Episode 38 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Judai summons Wildman in Defense Mode to start the duel and the lights suddenly go out (prompting the “duel of darkness/duel in the seas” mixup...), we see Wildman’s in Attack Mode on the field despite its Defense posture.  I fixed it by applying a proxy there, then masking Wildman’s lower body and the shadow coming from his sheathed sword on top of it.

Episode 46 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Judai reminisces about the past year, he flashes back to his duel with Ryou in episode 8 and his Featherman being vaporized by Cyber Dragon; I added back the fix I did to Judai’s Disk in removing his destroyed Featherman for the few frames it’s onscreen.  Because the flashback fades to white right then too, I also added a quick mostly-transparent layer of white over the blanked zone to replicate the start of the fade to white so it blended in.

As Judai then looks over at Shou and Hayato and he remembers his first encounters with them (a bit reanimated, too), there’s a quick frame where Hayato’s gritted-teeth mouth disappears before it closes into a line for his mouth.  Fixed by just reusing a frame of his mouth in the same position and moved it into place in the panning shot.

Episode 51 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Ryou notes that Judai’s studied up on him by choosing to go second, Judai slides in on a split-screen, but the top of his hair’s miscolored.  Fixed by recoloring it in Photoshop, then working it into the footage in Vegas by moving it into place as he slides in.

As Ryou uses Time Capsule to hide away his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion for later and Judai thinks back to his move in episode 8 leading to his activating Power Bond, I added back my fix to Ryou’s Disk to add on his missing two Cyber Dragons and the one Cyber Dragon in his hand, grayscaling it and adding visual noise to it to blend with the flashback.

Episode 54 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Chronos pins his hopes on Manjoume, as Gokaido draws for his turn, we see an error where his Disk apparently partially vanishes for two movement frames--it seems the animation staff forgot to put the background layer behind his Disk there or something, lol.  I fixed this by actually filling in the rest of his Disk in Photoshop for those two frames, first by filling in the Disk itself and then painting on the rest of the Monster Zone at the edge of the frame, and then just added them to the video in Vegas.

Episode 59 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Shining Flare Wingman returns while Ed explains Misfortune’s effect, of the D-Heroes on his Duel Disk, we see Diamondguy and Diehardguy reversed.  I originally slapped on proxies for them positioned correctly in AfterEffects on the frame after the slow zoom-out stops, then in Vegas I used that frame to re-do the initial zoom-out, but while I usually add a slight blur to the proxies, I noticed that they were a bit too blurry as the zoom-out started.  So I redid it and lightened the blur, while also touching up the bit as Misfortune’s light envelops Ed and his Disk so the light over them blends in more.

Episode 62 (Original release post, though I didn’t do any fixes before)

As Judai uses Dandylion’s effect to summon his two Fluff Tokens, Cocoon Dolphina--visually in Defense Mode on the field--is in Attack Mode on Judai’s Disk in the panning shot to them.  I fixed it by first blanking the Zone in Photoshop, then placing a proxy in the Zone for one frame in AfterEffects before I re-panned that frame for the shot.

[southerneldritch]

-A year later, John-

The night of August 25th was impressively clear, John noted to himself. It was a fine night for this job, but nevertheless he was left feeling less than happy to be out so late. John drew in a deep breath and there was a slight twinge of pain in his ribs, not quite healed. 

The storms that had been passing through Avenyork had choked the air to a thick humidity that left him and his ribs feeling like he was back in New Orleans. He smirked to himself. He hadn’t thought of that place in a hot minute. It had been over a year since he last saw the Doc slip beneath those turbulent waters of NOLA and he found himself thankful he’d given little brain power to recalling that favor. Being back in the city was nice, and the Mrs. was at home waiting for him to finish this job, likely with a fresh baked pie from earlier this evening. “mmmm” John thought,  “A slice of pie and a cup of coffee would be nice right now, instead of sitting outside some dockyard warehouse.” In all honesty he’d rather be doing any of the things he’d grown used to, being back in the city right now. Maybe he could go see a ballgame or go a few rounds at the boxing club he had joined. Hell, he even liked having the occasional drink with Isaac if they could manage to not talk shop.

“Oh right, Shop” He thought to himself thumbing through the pages of his notebook. Work with Verum had grown on him nicely, he was very good at his job. While he wasn’t going to puzzle things out like Goodwin or Isaac, he certainly had them dead to rights on attention to detail and speed. Hence why he was sitting in a company car outside a damn warehouse waiting for some rube to come and unlock the place so he could find the stolen artifacts they were paid to recover. John knew he could break in, either by lock picking or using his prefered method, force, but that wasn’t an option. The items in question were likely not supposed to be in private hands and their client was very much not a library or museum. This had to be a smooth operation, in and out with no evidence that John had done his part. No attention from the cops. He thought again of the pie waiting at home. His stomach growled loud enough that he almost didn’t notice the tap on the glass of his car door. 

He glanced up to see someone who resembled a security guard standing at his window. Some mook who couldn’t cut it as a cop and did the next best thing for some warehouse by the Atlantic ocean. John rolled the window down. He was prepared to explain that he was waiting for one of the dockworkers who was a friend, but the chance didn’t come. 

Regardless of his aches from years ago, John was fast enough to not worry about whoever this discount flunky was. The swing the guy took with his electric torch wasn’t fast enough to hit anything that wasn’t nailed down. John casually grabbed the guard’s incoming hand, and with a measured amount of control bent it backwards over the edge of the rolled down window. The crack was not a satisfying sound, John didn’t like hurting people, but this man started it and John didn’t leave things unfinished. 

“Fuck! Oh god, my arm!” The man cried as John released the now considerably less dangerous limb. The man stumbled back slightly but not before John had already popped the door handle and flung the full weight of the door into him. The man fell backwards and thudded onto the damp pavement. 

“So what exactly was your plan? Cold cock me with your torch here and call the cops?” John asked while he stepped out of his car. He noticed quickly that the man was not wearing much of a uniform, and even more quickly that he was reaching for a gun. John realized that this was probably the man who was supposed to be moving the items. “Oh, gonna just toss me in the water and go about your night instead?” John asked as the man drew the pistol. The man’s movements were not improved with the injury and fall, which certainly didn’t even his odds for taking John in a fight. It did seem like the gun was providing him some sort of unearned confidence and he promptly aimed at John’s chest and pulled the trigger. John stepped easily to the side just before the gunshot rang out. In a blink John had grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted the gun free. The man yelped and attempted to kick John’s legs. The two tussled for what could generously be called a few seconds, if only to save this wannabe thug some pride, before John had him pinned on his stomach. His broken arm was under him and John had his good arm twisted in an exceptionally painful position on his back. “Alright, we could have done this easy, but instead you had to think you had the drop on me.”

“Fuck off” the man coughed out.

“Hardly a way to speak to the man who could break your other arm.” John gave a slight swell in pressure and the man let out a cry.

“Shit shit ok ok ok you win christ please stop”

“Only if you let on who gave you the drop that you were going to be followed.”

“Who says I was told, maybe I just saws you” He almost spit the words

“Well if that were the case I greatly need to improve my skills, but considering you were taken down by a man as tired and hungry as me I’m guessing you aren’t really all that observant.”

“Jesus,” he moaned, “You’ve busted my arm and now you’re going after my balls?”

“I might have been more polite if you hadn’t tried to off me. In anycase” John began to rummage the man’s pockets with his free hand. “Where are those keys? I think I’ll be looking through the warehouse without your assistance”

There was the obvious sound of the hammer of a pistol being cocked behind John. He let out a sigh. He suddenly felt foolish for being as loud as he was while taking down the first idiot of the night. “Didn’t figure there would be two of you.”

“Well” A voice that sounded like a mix of a bullfrog and tired sloth chimed in from the direction of the click. “Then you should have figured better. Now get up off of George and we can sort this out politely”

“If you ask me, guns seem like the lowlife choice” John slowly raised himself up off of ‘George’. “In fact, it sorta feels like you guys need ‘em to feel like you can even do your jobs.”

“Alright, wiseass,” The bullfrog croaked, “See how tough you are with lead in you!” A loud bang was followed by several others, then cursing and swearing. The man’s first shot hit nothing but the night air. John had already stepped to one side. With a fist flying, Bullfrog voice got clocked hard in the left cheek. John knew the bone had broken under his strike. “CHRIST!” The loudest croak the frog chirped yet. He fell over and the gun clattered to the damp ground. “You son of bitch!” He yelled and pulled a knife to leap at John.

“You guys are a joke.” John almost laughed as the jab and swing of wild and untrained attacks flew at him. Blocking was more of a practice, maybe a dance? The Bullfrog’s bleeding face began to fill with rage and exhaustion. With another quick jab John snatched the knife from the man’s hand and swept his feet. There was a distinct full body crack as the bullfrog went down hard. Unfortunately he had landed next to the gun. Flailing, he grasped for the small revolver and John lept for him. 

Before the tussle could really get into full swing there was a sound from above, the terrible grinding of glass just before breaking. They all looked up in confusion. The sky started shifting in color and shape as dark lines ripped across the night sky. It looked as if a mirror of another world was breaking into our night sky. The glow was unnatural and a beam of singular greenish light pulsed from across the water on the other island. 

John took the moment of bewilderment off the Bullfrog’s face with an exceptionally landed finishing blow across the dimwits cheek. This crack left the man unmoving as his friend George took to his feet and stumbled away, screaming like a madman. John muttered “Son of a bitch”  before gazing up at the breaking sky. “Hell….” He paused and dreaded “Guess I should call Isaac.”

(by J. Daily)

[heroloverangel]

A Nice, Clean Shower

Present Mic and his girlfriend enjoy a shower together and nothing dirty happens, I swear!

Living with a pro hero means that your life isn’t always peaceful and quiet. That goes double when you’re living with one as loud and energetic as Present Mic. You’re halfway through a nice, hot shower when you hear a frenzied commotion tear through your home. Before you can call out, the bathroom door flies open. Cold air hits your naked body as the shower curtain is yanked back, revealing your boyfriend frantically stripping off the last of his clothes and practically diving under the water.

“Get ‘em off me, get ‘em off me, get ‘em off me, get ‘em-”

Startled, you grip his shoulders and try to make sense of what you’re seeing. “Hizashi! What’s wrong? Weren’t you helping Aizawa with his students’ finals?”

He nods, calming down enough to explain. “The kids. Put bugs. All over me.”

To your credit, you try very hard not to laugh at his misfortune. “Oh, honey. I bet that really freaked you out.” You give him a comforting smile, then reach up and rescue the small animal that’s still clinging to his hair for dear life. Yamada, an actual grown man who fights villains for a living, looks at the tiny insect and lets out a high-pitched squeak of panic. You roll your eyes, carefully stepping out of the bath to deposit it a cup for release later. Making sure to drip water onto his costume as you return, you adjust the curtain back to its proper place. “It’s a ladybug, you baby.”

He pouts, trying to hide his embarrassment with pure energy. “You’ve saved my life, babe. You’re my hero tonight.” You playfully push him back, resuming your previous activity. You’d only gotten one leg shaved before he came sprinting in like a madman, and prop the other one on the edge of the tub to finish the job. You’re not aware of the view you give Hizashi as you bend over to move the razor across your skin, but he’s definitely grateful for the sight. In fact, it’s enough to bring his personality screaming back to normal.

Your task complete, you straighten up to set the razor down and find a pair of hands immediately at your waist, pressing you forward against the cold tile. There’s a mischievous glint in those green eyes when you look back at him, a toothy smile that you fall for every time as he leans down to kiss you. “You really are the best, you know that?”

“Yeah, but tell me again,” you laugh. His lips are all over you, drifting across your cheek and down your neck where he knows you’re vulnerable. “Mmm. Look who’s confident now.” He’s had enough of your taunting, squeezing a hand between you and the wall to grope your breast. The hot water’s made your skin more sensitive, and your nipple hardens instantly the moment he circles it with a long finger. He gives it a quick pinch and you cry out, and his tongue slides into your open mouth. You can’t help moaning into him, feeling his dick growing hard against your rear. “Careful, there might be another ladybug crawling around the shower,” you cackle.

“Keep up the attitude and I’ll have to find something to fill your mouth,” he warns, eyebrows raising suggestively. You grin; you’d be perfectly happy to call his bluff but his hands feel so good on your chest right now. “I love playing with these tits,” he groans into your ear, kneading them until you’re squirming against the wall. It’s his turn to tease, dragging hisses and whines out of that smart mouth of yours as he squeezes your chest and peppers quick nips and kisses along your throat. “Make some noise for me, baby.” He bites down sharply on your shoulder and you yelp in surprise. You feel his cock, fully hard against your ass and you grind against him.

“Hizashi, be nice,” you groan and he snorts, long fingers dragging down your damp skin to circle your navel.

His lps trail over the mark he’s left. “Oh, you’re in the mood to play fair now?” His hand slides lower, dipping teasingly close to your pussy and he laughs at the sigh you let out. “You gonna be good for me?” You nod eagerly and know that he’s grinning widely from his place behind you.

“Touch me, I want-” Your request is cut off when his other hand grips your chin and angles your head back for a deep kiss. You’re distracted for a moment and caught off-guard as those talented fingers snake down to rub over your clit and you break away from his mouth with a shudder. “There, please.”

“That’s my girl,” he smirks, stroking at you until you’re writhing in his arms. “You want me to put it in, baby?” You’re very aware of the dick pressing up along your back and take a deep breath to calm yourself. You brace your hands against the wall for support and flash him a smile that’s wickedly appealing. His fingers grab at your hip to position you for himself then slip down to brush along your wet cunt. “You get off so easy for me, sweetheart. It’s great.”

“Hizashi, don’t make me wait,” you pout, wiggling in front of him impatiently. You squeal as a hand slaps your ass hard, offering him a pleasing little jiggle.

Mic only laughs at you again. “You’ve got such a great ass, you know I can’t help it.” You face away from him to the tile wall and hear him fumbling behind you. “Here, lemme make it up to you.” Without another word, you feel the tip of his cock slowly move between your thighs and press into you. He thrusts slowly, working himself into your welcoming body until he’s fully sheathed inside you. “You like that, huh?”

“Y-yeah, I love it,” you moan, arching your back to give him a nice view of your body. Making sure to plant his feet firmly on the bath mat--he’s learned too well from that mistake in the past--he finally begins to fuck you with his usual energy. “You feel so good in me, honey.”

“I know, babe.” He leans forward, his long hair tickling your skin as he resumes his hobby of peppering your neck with kisses. He smiles into you, that dorky little mustache of his itching against your shoulder. “Your pussy always squeezes me so good, it’s perfect.”

It’s suddenly far too warm in your little shower. “Dirty pervert,” you pant, turning away to hide your flustered expression.

Mic makes a sound of disappointment and tilts your face back to meet his eyes. “Don’t lie, you love it when I talk like this.”

“I do...mmmmf-” His tongue’s in your mouth before you can get out a response. You let him overwhelm you, eyes slipping closed to savor the moment. “Hizashi…”

“You’re taking my dick so good,” he growls in your ear, and the needy tone in his voice makes you whine. You’re being pressed harder into the wall, sandwiched between his warm body and the cold tile of the shower and you shiver at the contrast. Yamada groans behind you, his hips speeding up and you have very little choice but to follow his pace. “Don’t be shy, baby.”

You moan louder than you mean to, clenching around his cock like a vise. “M-maybe I don’t mind it…” you admit with a small smile creeping onto your face.

He picks up on your mood immediately and continues. “You’re so fucking hot when you’re like this. Acting like you’re so sweet and innocent while your cunt’s practically begging me to tell you how much of a filthy brat you are.”

You can’t even pretend that you don’t enjoy every word out of his mouth by now and can’t resist goading him on. “Am I a dirty slut, hero?”

You feel his cock throb inside you and he thrusts back in hard. You cry out for him but don’t miss his reply. “You’re my dirty slut, and you love it.” He slaps your ass again and relishes the way your pussy milks him for more. “Tell me you want my cum, like the good little whore you are for me.”

You only consider denying him for a moment, then his calloused fingers sneak to your front to massage your sensitive clit and you know you’ve lost. “God, I want it. Come in me.” The steady rhythm of his hips falters, and as he pushes you into your orgasm you’re determined to bring him along with you. “Please, Hizashi. Fill up my cunt.”

You get your wish, warm and messy and satisfying between your shaky thighs. You’re both loud, neither of you able to say anything beyond mindless gibberish, but between all the fucks and wows and love yous you get the point. You pull yourself together enough to quickly clean up, the now-cold water of the shower a welcome relief after all your fun.

Mic sits on the edge of the tub, trying to wring the excess water out of his long hair while you get dressed. You soak up the compliments as he praises you for improving his mood so much and you remember why he barged into the bathroom earlier. Curious, you peek into the cup you’d grabbed before and speak without thinking.

“Oh. The ladybug escaped.”

His scream leaves your ears ringing for the next three days.

[peanutsandbitterstep]

Frost Damage

GBF Fanfiction

Summary: The new addition to the crew is too much of a reminder of the past for Seox’s liking.

Normally, Seox looks forward to returning to the Grandcypher. He leaves for Eternal missions so often and misses so much while he’s away. The last time he’d come back, he’d wanted to hear Djeeta, Lyria, and Vyrn recount their adventures. There were members of the crew whose company he wouldn’t mind.

Now, though, fear is coiling in his gut. Old fears of hurting the people he comes in contact with. Of losing control of his power.

‘Maybe you should be,’ part of his mind whispers. ‘After all, you’re the monster who destroyed your first home.’

‘No. I’m past that. My power is for protecting people,’ he tells it firmly.

“Seox!” He looks up and Lyria is waving to him from the side of the ship. “Welcome back!”

He lifts his hand to greet her and murmurs, “I’m home.”

Once he’s onboard, Vyrn says, “Nice to see you back and in one piece, Masked Wonder. Hope you like eel because we got barrels of ‘em.”

He shrugs. “They’re fine.”

“You won’t believe how big some of them get!”

“It spit poison at us, but luckily, Katalina was there to protect us,” Djeeta says.

As the three of them tell him about the monster eel that attacked beachgoers, his anxieties quiet, as they usually do. He stops by his room and checks on his plants.

One in particular is heavily overgrown and he has to take it out of the pot to prune the roots, before trimming the leaves and replanting it.

Before he knows it, hours have passed and there’s still something he needs to check on. It’s getting dark outside and people are still socializing on the deck of the ship. As he guessed, Djeeta is among them and she immediately comes toward him as soon as she spots him.

“Oh good, I was about to look for you,” she says. “You haven’t eaten, right? There might still be some leftovers. You should get it before someone else does.”

She grabs his arm and he decides this isn’t worth fighting. Especially not since he actually is hungry. The dining hall is half empty, so they’re able to get a table to themselves.

“So when do you think your next mission will be?” she asks, nibbling on some crackers.

“Soon. Maybe in two weeks.”

“That’s not a lot of time,” she says, disappointed. “Still, I’m glad you’re here.”

That doesn’t seem like a good sign. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I’m just happy to see you.” In a playfully aggressive tone, she says, “You’re my friend and I’m happy to see you. Is that crime?”

“That’s not– I was just worried.” Speaking quickly to avoid a change in subject, he says, “How’s Nehan?”

“Still spending a lot of time in his room, but less than before, so that’s something, at least,” she says. “Is that why you were worried? Because you’re worried for him? Or about him doing something?”

His feelings are too tangled to give a proper answer. Even if he were to worry about Nehan, it isn’t as though he’d be able to help in any way.

As for the other thing, he feels almost paranoid thinking about it. Unlike him, Nehan is a full-time member of the Grandcypher by necessity. Harming the crew would be to sacrifice the only protection he has from any vindictive mafia members. But still, Nehan has the capacity to do a lot of harm and the help he’s given Stardust Town, the Enforcers, and the Eternals isn’t enough to quell that fear.

“I know you said you didn’t want to talk to him the last time you were here, but what about now?” Djeeta asks.

“There’s nothing I could say to him. I can’t make up for my past actions.”

She’s quiet for a moment. “But do you want to talk to him?”

“If talking to him would help him in some way. But even my presence is painful to him.”

The last time Nehan had really spoken or even looked at him was their battle at the Karm hamlet. And sometimes, it seemed like he couldn’t bear even being in the same room.

Djeeta looks worried and Seox says, “I don’t know if this is something that can be changed. I don’t want to force an interaction that will only bring harm.”

Still doubtful, she says, “Okay. If you say so.”

Seox doesn’t see Nehan at all during the week and a half that he spends on the Grandcypher. Then he has to leave for another Eternal mission. The mafia wars are keeping all of them busy, especially Feower and Tien, and the rest of the world still have issues that need to be taken care of.

It’s another few months until he returns to the Grandcypher.

The first surprise is seeing Nehan outside and talking to someone. The second is his expression.

Nehan had woken up exhausted and purposeless. Sometimes, Mugen would be able to elicit some kind of energy, but it was always short-lived.

Now, though, there’s light in his eyes and not from fury or Trancensia. Seox doesn’t know what changed or what Lyria could be saying that would spark such an interest, but Nehan actually looks alive for once.

Then he catches sight of Seox and it dies, just like that. His body takes on a forced stillness that could be mistaken for relaxedness if someone wasn’t looking hard enough. He lifts his hand–

“Seox, you’re back!” Phoebe runs up to Seox and he tears his eyes off Nehan. “Um, we’re redecorating Raduga and we’d like to get your opinion too.”

Grateful for the distraction, he follows her to the subgalley and spends more time than he thinks is necessary on the color of the placement mats. But he needs the reminder that he can do more than destroy.

He has to leave the crew sooner than expected.

“Did Nehan come talk to you?” Lyria asks.

“No.”

“Oh… he said he would.”

“Maybe he chickened out?” Vyrn says.

“Is it something important?” Seox asks.

“He can say it next time you come back,” Djeeta says, which isn’t what he asked.

He’s in a hurry, though, so he can’t press for more details. But he ruminates on what Nehan could possibly want to say to him every chance he can.

Maybe something about his past that he doesn’t know about? There’s plenty of that. Maybe it’s something that would require him to leave the crew. That’s probably ridiculous, but he can’t get the thoughts out of his mind.

He doesn’t allow that to distract him from the mission, though. He’s an Eternal which means he’s one of the strongest in the Sky Realm and personal matters cannot get in the way.

So that isn’t the reason he gets poisoned. His opponents were able to get reinforcements faster than he anticipated, which was nothing he couldn’t handle, but it did mean one of them was able to land a hit with a blade coated in snake venom.

Seox has a resistance to it, which means he does not die, much to the chagrin of his enemies. But it does slow him down and that’s more a blow to his pride than anything else.

He returns to the Grandcypher and is immediately challenged to a sparring match by Ayer. He’s improving steadily, a little faster and a little stronger than the last time they’d sparred.

“Are you holding back?” Ayer asks during a lull. “You’re slower than before.”

“That’s not what you should be concerned about,” Seox says and goes on the offensive.

Ayer is talented, but he’s not the best. Not yet. He takes his loss with relative grace and Seox makes his escape before anyone can ask prying questions.

Surprisingly, the one who stops him is Shao. “So would you say that your last mission was a difficult one?”

“No more than usual,” he says shortly. “Why?”

“Any serious injuries? Or is it just fatigue?”

“Get to the point.”

Shao chuckles. “So impatient. If you need my assistance, you should let me know. The captain and the others should be getting back from their mission soon.”

He isn’t sure how he should take that. Shao’s expression remains as enigmatic as always. “Is that a threat?”

“Not at all. I’m merely pointing out that if it really is a serious injury, you’ll be seeing me one way or another. I just thought I’d save all of us some time.”

Seox tries to imagine how this conversation will go, what would happen if he were to just walk away, what Djeeta, Lyria, and Vyrn would say.

He should be fine, but the poison is affecting him for longer than he expected. It would definitely be more embarrassing to have to come back to Shao later and admit something was wrong.

“It’s just snake venom. It’s not fatal.”

“Hmm.” Shao tilts his head and then leads Seox to his room. As he opens his giant wooden chest, he asks follow up questions about the venom and its effects.

After Seox begrudgingly agrees to an examination, Shao hands him a bottle of medicine with instructions on when and how much to take.

“Like you said, it doesn’t seem to be fatal. But if you feel worse, let me know immediately.”

“How much?”

“Nothing. I’m doing this as a favor.”

“I don’t want a favor. Tell me your price and I’ll pay it.”

“Oh, it’s not a favor for you,” Shao says and shoos Seox out of his room.

Seox does feel a marked improvement the next day, but he has no clue who the favor would be for or why they would use it for him. Many of the crew members are too straightforward to not give some indication that they’re the culprit, but none of them are.

He’s called away on a mission sooner than expected. He bids a quick goodbye to Djeeta and hurries toward the dock, planning what the quickest route would be.

“You’re leaving quickly.”

Seox stops short on the ramp and turns. Nehan is leaning on the railing, looking down at him. He looks tired, but his eyes aren’t dead pools of nothing at the very least.

“I have a mission.”

“Right.” With no transition, he asks, “How far did you get in building your poison immunity?”

‘Before you snapped and murdered everyone,’ Nehan means, but does not say.

Seox hadn’t really been in a position to keep up the regimen after being locked away and then he’d had other things to worry about after that.

“Enough to not die. But you’d have more knowledge about it than me.”

Nehan glances to the side. “I guess that’s true. Good luck on your mission.” He disappears back to the ship and Seox leaves.

Was that the only thing Nehan had wanted to say to him? Surely not, he had to have just heard from Shao. Then…?

The mission is rough. All Eternals need to get their hands dirty from time to time, but some hit closer to home than others. He just wants to return home and not think about inheritances and dashed dreams.

As soon as he climbs aboard the Grandcypher, he hears,

“Seox!”

“Masked Wonder!”

And both Lyria and Vyrn lunge for his mask.

Seox throws himself to the side and manages to dodge. “Wait! Hold on!”

Lyria does not, joyfully shouting, “You’re back!”

“It’s good to see you!” Vyrn says, and it is absolutely unfair  that he can use his wings to attack from above. “Now, Djeeta!”

Seox whirls around, but she’s already right there and she snatches the mask off his face.

“Welcome back,” she says, grinning.

He’s about to respond, when he looks over her head and finds Nehan across the ship, staring at him as though he’s seeing a ghost.

“What?” he snaps, taking his mask back and pressing it over his face which is rapidly turning red.

Nehan shakes himself and waves Seox off before going inside.

“Do you want to talk to him?” Djeeta asks.

“I…” Seox thinks about all his questions.

‘What were you going to talk to me about months ago? Why were you asking about poison? What did that look mean?’

And he thinks about the weight of sins and whether he has the right to make a move.

“If you want to talk to him, I think you should,” Lyria says.

“Yeah, nothing’s going to change if you don’t talk to each other,” Vyrn adds.

Djeeta gives him a thumbs up.

Fifteen minutes later, Seox is knocking on the door to Nehan’s room. “Can we talk?”

He expects Nehan to refuse, but he lets Seox in. He hadn’t expected to get that far and stands there for a good few seconds, trying to think of how to start the conversation.

Nehan lightly coughs and asks, “How was your last mission?”

“Fine.”

“…How long until your next mission?”

“Next week.” To keep the conversation from turning to more small talk, he picks a question and asks, “What did you want to talk about, a few months ago?”

Nehan’s expression becomes more mask-like and he responds, “Was it the captain and the others who told you?”

“Yes.”

“It can wait until another time.”

Impatiently, Seox says, “Just say it.”

Slowly, as though he’s measuring out the weight of each word, Nehan says, “The captain thinks I should let you know that I don’t hate you.”

Seox stares at him, not sure how to even begin processing that. “Why?”

“I think she thinks it will reassure you somehow.” With a wry smile, Nehan says, “Do you feel reassured?“

“Why would I be reassured by something that I know is untrue?” he asks harshly.

Expression turning inscrutable again, Nehan says, “You don’t need to believe me. If you want, we can pretend this conversation didn’t happen. But I wasn’t lying.”

“I saw your reaction when you saw my face. Obviously, I just remind you of the day I destroyed our clan and took everything from you.”

“That wasn’t what it meant.”

“Then what was it?” Seox demands.

Steadily, Nehan looks at him and says, “You look a lot like your father. That’s all it was.”

You killed everyone you’re going to lead our clan to a new era too dangerous to be around you’re the future of the Karm clan you monster

“Seox? Seox, wait,” he dimly hears Nehan saying, but then he’s already moving.

Back then, he’d had no limits, just the chaining of one movement the next until everything that moved was red and broken at his feet.

“Seox?” Djeeta’s voice says from nearby.

He blindly throws his arms out to push her away. “S-stay back! I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not going to hurt me,” she says with such confidence that he wants to bury himself before he can shatter it.

“I’ve done it before.”

“And I’m still alive. I’m coming closer.”

She takes his hand and he freezes.

“If you go berserk, I’ll stop you. And I don’t think that’s happening right now, but either way, I’m going to be here.”

Slowly, the world comes back. He’s crouched in his room in the Grandcypher. Djeeta is kneeling in front of him. The wood above creaks as another crew member walks down the hallway and the wind howls outside.

“How are you feeling?” Djeeta asks.

Embarrassed. Tired. “I’m okay,” he says.

“I’m going to get you water. Do you need anything else?”

“No.”

Lyria and Vyrn are waiting outside and they start a whispered conversation with Djeeta as they run toward the galley.

Seox takes a deep breath and straightens up, trying to shake off the pins and needles in his legs. He takes off his mask and wipes his face. Djeeta and the others will be back soon. He doesn’t know what he should say or do now.

Djeeta and the others come back with a glass of water and some snacks.

“You like some of these, right?” Lyria asks anxiously.

“I’m fine with anything,” he says. “Is Nehan…?”

“He’s okay,” Vyrn says.

“I’ll check in on him again later,” Djeeta says. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Seox says.

The three of them exchange looks.

“If you don’t want to talk to us, that’s fine,” Lyria says. “But we’re here for you if you need anything.”

“I’m sorry,” is all he can think to say.

“Why? It’s not your fault,” Vyrn says.

“I should be past letting my memories affect me like that. I’m sorry for burdening all of you.”

“It’s not a burden!” Lyria insists. “You’re our friend!”

How could he not be, though? He feels like he’s retreading the same ground. Like he’d cut off the diseased limb of a tree, only to find out that the whole thing is infected and needs to be uprooted.

“Exactly,” Djeeta says. “You are. Not the imaginary Seox who has all his problems sorted out and never needs help from anyone.”

That gives him pause. He thinks about Djeeta and he thinks about her father. About unthinking kindness and unwavering dedication. “I… I don’t deserve your friendship.”

“Good thing it’s not about whether you deserve it or not,” Djeeta says.

No one says anything for a moment.

Seox gets a small fraction of his thoughts in order. “Nehan said he doesn’t hate me.”

“That’s good, right?” Vyrn says.

“You think he’s telling the truth?”

“I don’t think he’d ask Shao to give you medicine if he hated you,” Lyria says.

“That was him?”

She hesitates. “Maybe he didn’t want you to know. But he really does seem to care about you!”

“We overheard him asking about you,” Vyrn says. “He–“

“Vyrn,” Djeeta warns and shakes her head. She turns back to Seox. “There’s a mission tomorrow to replant a garden. I’m going to ask Nehan if he wants to come. Do you want in? It would just be the two of you.”

Seox considers the possibility that Nehan really doesn’t hate him and the opportunity presenting itself. “I’ll go.”

The next morning, they meet on location. The garden is meant for the whole community, but monster attacks had left it in disrepair.

Nehan, dressed in casual work clothes, surveys the damage and says, “I’ll start from the back and work my way forward.”

“I’ll start from the front then.”

For a while, neither of them say anything beyond what’s necessary for their work.

“This is unsalvageable. I’m tearing all of it up.”

“I need more fertilizer for this area. I’ll be right back.”

Nehan is the one who finally brings up a different topic, saying, “I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you.”

Seox yanks a weed out of the ground because that’s easier to focus on. “I’m the one who asked.”

“I should have lied.”

It’s the casualness with which he says it that makes Seox look up. “That’s your solution?”

“I don’t think either of us can handle complete honesty at the moment.”

He might have a point, but still. “That doesn’t mean I want you to lie because you think I can’t handle it.”

“Then what do you want? Because I don’t want to keep having interactions that lead to us getting hurt.”

Seox isn’t sure what to say to that, so he doesn’t answer. They work silently for another while.

“Are these dead?” Seox asks about another patch of plants.

Nehan studies the brown, wilted leaves and tsks. “Frost damage. They should have been planted weeks later than they were.”

“Can they be saved?”

“I think so. But it might not be worth the effort.”

“Hm.” Seox waters it and leaves it alone for the village to decide.

He asks his next question because it feels relatively safe and there might still be unfinished business he has to take care of.

“You owe Shao a favor?”

“Right now, he owes me one,” Nehan says. “I’ll have him help me look for some herb on a mountain or something. We’ll see.”

They’re already having a conversation, so he moves on to the next question. “Were you asking for information about me?”

Nehan pauses, thinking, and Seox wonders if this will be a lie. “I don’t actually know anything about you. The others have insight I don’t.”

“Oh.” Seox supposes he knows even less about Nehan. It’s… not something he’d really considered.

“They speak very highly of you.”

“…Oh.” He’s glad that his mask hides the fact that he’s blushing.

They finish at the end of the day and begin to head back to the Grandcypher. This is his last chance, so Seox calls on his courage and asks, “When you said you don’t hate me, was that a lie?”

“No.”

Seox stops. “How? Surely you haven’t forgiven me for what I did.”

“Do I need to?” Nehan asks, turning.

That feels contradictory to Seox, but clearly it doesn’t to Nehan.

“It’ll still be a while before I can completely forgive you. But I don’t want to kill you and I don’t want to keep avoiding you.” Nehan’s expression changes to something more conflicted and he breaks eye contact. “But it’s not as though I’m in any position to pass judgment on you. So don’t… don’t take that to heart, I guess.”

Despite himself and despite what Nehan says, he does want that forgiveness. He hasn’t done enough to be worthy of it, though. “There’s more we should talk about.” Seox glances to the side and forces himself to get the next words out. “But I think you’re right. I wouldn’t be able to handle it right now. But I also don’t want you to lie.”

Nehan shrugs. “Then we won’t talk about it now.”

“And that’s it?”

“I’m not going anywhere. So even if you leave the crew, you’ll know how to find me.”

Seox thinks about where he wants things to be and considers the reality of where they are, and he exhales. “Okay.”

Djeeta, Vyrn, and Lyria see him off when he leaves for his next mission.

“Come back safely, okay?” Lyria says.

“We’ll get you a souvenir if we go somewhere interesting,” Djeeta says.

“It’ll be big and ugly so you can display it in your room,” Vyrn says, laughing.

“You don’t– You don’t have to,” Seox says.

“We’re going to,” Djeeta says. “Have a good mission.”

Seox sees movement at the corner of his vision and looks to find Nehan watching him. Nehan waves and Seox reciprocates it before turning back to Djeeta and the others.

“You all be safe too. See you.”

He does this more often than he likes, but, this time, as he walks down the boarding ramp, his fears’ whispers are quieter and he’s hopeful about what could happen when he returns.

A/N: Happy new year, everyone. i wanted to get this out yesterday but I didn’t. Let me know if you like it because i’m tired and can’t tell if it’s good. Here’s to playable Nehan 

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[wisemanners]

@wadamwoltron asked sincerely for my take on The Scene so here it is, i guess, but on my blog and NOT in her DMs like a weirdo. also some additional background context i guess. i’m trying to keep this somewhat objective, though obviously my specific memories are probably going to color it anyways.

so background context: this is mostly metatextual analysis regarding what is apparently a hotly debated topic in fandom of “what shiro’s mysterious disease.” the wiki says muscular dystrophy; we can’t find a source for this (though, if you know of one, please feel free to share). what’s stated in canon (in 7.1, “a little adventure”) is as follows: 

it’s a muscular disorder

it’s degenerative

it involves muscle stiffness or tightness, which is alleviated by electrostimulation

we know for sure it affects his right arm; keith’s asking “what are those?” MAY imply that he has two (or more?) EMS devices but in the later scene where he has both sleeves rolled up we only see one. 

a quick search of EMS therapy brings up this page which lists the following uses: you suffer from muscle spasms, have suffered from muscle atrophy due to disuse, your muscles need to be stimulated and re-educated, your muscles are weak and lack tone, you've lost range of motion due to an injury or illness. (it’s also used for circulation reasons, but since he mentions keeping muscles loose we can assume it’s related to one of these.) searching “degenerative muscle disease” brings up MD (general) as the first result, followed by other neuromuscular disorders; the symptoms listed that EMS is used to treat check out as the various muscular dystrophies all feature one or more of those symptoms. given that, this analysis will proceed as if this is the factual diagnosis (not ONLY because as far as i recall it was, though that is also the case). 

[there are numerous types of MD, and we’ve done a fair amount of research to determine which one is the most likely given the symptoms presented (myotonic, probably DM2), but that’s less significant other than its CURRENT mortality rate.]

that said: the scene itself. 

“Everything okay?” The only thing to analyze in the first line is the genuine concern in it, but that does contextualize the scene; i AM coming into this conversation from a place of being worried about someone i love. 

“Iverson thinks I shouldn’t be part of the mission. Called in the big guns; Admiral Sanda showed up to try and convince Sam to remove me from the crew.” (there are interesting and significant implications with regards to how the Garrison’s chain of command works here, but that’s not the point of this character analysis.)

“Well, maybe he’s right. Maybe you shouldn’t go on the mission. You’ll only be putting yourself at risk.” the absolute lack of hesitation in agreeing with iverson is i think the bigger clue at the greater context of this argument. this isn’t news. this is something i’ve been thinking about, and have clearly already come to a conclusion how i feel about it. “maybe” is a hedge word here. i DO in this moment think iverson is right, and this is just an excuse to say so. additionally, risk is an important word here, which i’ll circle back to several times. 

[additional note on animation: i show almost no expression during these lines, except to frown and look stern at the end.]

“You know how important this is to me. It’s worth the risk!” Aside from tone and expression (he’s clearly upset and desperate here, and even looks away at the end as if he can’t face me), note risk again. 

“Takashi, how important am I to you?” I know this line is everyone’s favorite. I understand why, even, especially given the dubious nature of “canon” on our actual relationship. The line itself establishes a lot; the first name usage (canon isn’t super clear on why he goes by Shiro, even with the other people he’s closest with (Keith, Sam, Matt), or its relationship to his Japanese heritage (which is significant here whether or not producer LM would agree), but to this point I’m the ONLY person in canon who ever addresses him by first name) as well as the general phrasing makes this the most obvious statement that we’re in a relationship. That’s arguably good, considering canon does little else to show it. 

The significance in the CONVERSATION, however, is to position this as a choice - your dreams, or your partner. It’s actually the biggest reason I hate people siding with me in this argument! That’s not a good thing to ask someone you love to choose. More on support in a second, though, as well as more about what I’m asking for here. 

[animation note: let’s talk about my coffee here. the hand shake and slamming down my cup is definitively the most show of emotion I have here, which IS significant. that line + the choice presented AREN’T coming from a place of deliberate manipulation, it’s emotionally charged despite me trying my best not to show it.]

“Every mission, every drill, I’ve been right there with you. But this is more than a mission. This is your life at stake.” here’s the support bit, obviously, since that’s what I’m evidencing here - reminding him that I’ve always been by his side and supported his dreams. that’s not actually the important thing going on here, though, because it’s the end where he cuts in: 

“Don’t start that again, Adam! You don’t need to protect me. This is something I need to do for myself.” First: again - we’ve had this discussion before. Second, the timing: it’s not until I bring up the risk again that he gets upset. 

A relevant concept here that I think most people in the fandom genuinely will not have heard about but is TREMENDOUSLY important to this conversation and to understanding what’s happening in this argument is dignity of risk. The article linked is a good overview, but in short: many things can only be gained or achieved by taking chances of getting hurt, and disabled individuals (originally those with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, but certainly applicable to physical disabilities as well) are disproportionately PREVENTED by overly-cautious caretakers from taking those chances. 

Shiro’s objection that I don’t need to protect him, I think, points really strongly to THIS being the actual issue. I’m trying to look out for his safety because I don’t believe he can or will do it himself (which I DID think, at the time); he feels smothered by this because he’s an adult who has the ability to assess risks for himself and decide which ones are worth it to him to take. 

“There’s nothing left for you to prove. You’ve broken every record there is to break.” This is significant in that it shows I think how highly I regard him, but I also think it’s the strongest textual evidence in the scene that we’re talking about COMPLETELY different things - that I fundamentally don’t understand what’s important to him about this mission OR why he’s upset that I’m trying to stop him. 

[animation note: he’s stopped arguing, gesturing, or looking at me here, and doesn’t look up again until I reinforce the ultimatum in the next line.]

“I know I can’t stop you, but I won’t go through this again. So if you decide to go, don’t expect me to be here when you get back.” I feel like “I won’t go through this again” is another line that people sympathize with, which makes sense; I’m afraid and wounded, and people sympathize with fear and hurt. It reiterates the cyclical nature of this argument, too. It’s also still bringing back the choice: stop taking chances on things that matter to you, unless I’m not one of them. 

[animation note: shiro looks both hurt and angry and doesn’t take his eyes off me the whole time i’m saying this, but doesn’t say anything. I also only look at him once during it, at the very end.]

“I’ve got a class to teach.” probably obvious without additional analysis, but in addition to an emotional reaction, this puts an absolute hard stop to anything else he might say in response.

having gone over the scene, some additional considerations: 

I think a lot of people latch on REALLY hard to “this is your life” and shiro’s later “it’s getting worse” line and somehow conflate the two into an implication that this is about a lack of TIME. It is, I think - but NOT the way people assume. 

Prognosis now, in the 21st century, is for a good percentage people with even severe forms of MD to live high quality, enjoyable lives into their 30s and 40s or later; even without a curative treatment, it’s reasonable to assume that in the 24th century this has improved. Given Shiro’s current overall health still being good, with the primary effects we see being localized to just the one side, it seems a little odd to assume that 30s-40s is still his life expectancy. 

My lines about the risk to his life also don’t actually discuss an imminency of death in GENERAL - it’s SPECIFICALLY risky to go on the mission. why? well, most likely, because a minimum of 10 months is an AWFULLY long time for someone with a serious progressive condition to go without medical care or a checkup. which is a reasonable thing to be concerned about! 

but we also have textual evidence that shiro’s GOOD at being responsible and taking care of himself, even if he sometimes sacrifices his needs for others’. he wears his assistive/medical devices. he keeps a workout routine. he can push himself hard, but we also see places where he knows his limits. and the majority of interventions for MD are about upkeep - building stamina, range of motion exercises, monitoring condition - and having the right tools on hand for an emergency. so, at what point does the concern become about not trusting him to take care of himself well, especially when the kerberos mission was in regular contact with the garrison?

and the flip side of the coin about time: with a progressive disease, there IS always a looming time limit, on everything. that included his dreams. our time together wasn’t limited the way people seem to assume - but his time as a pilot was. so having more perspective now, I can see his side better, and find myself frustrated both with myself from before, and with the people who agree with me. it feels dismissive to his wants and needs, as WELL as his right to self-determination. 

i don’t think takashi abandoned me when he went to kerberos. i think i abandoned him, when he badly needed my support, by forcing him to choose between someone he loved waiting for him, and a dream which was running out of time. i know it’s popular to joke about what happened and that i’d say “i told you so,” but he was right, and I should have listened better. 

[chaoshomeschooler]

Chaos’ SAT studying tips

As someone who has dedicated way to much of my time to trying to figure out this stupid test and who has no younger siblings or friends to pass my tips along to, I’m just going to leave some studying tips here so feel free to look at em if you’d like.

First of all, take a practice test to gauge where you’re at. Take note of the types of questions you missed and why you missed them. Also take note of if you’re struggling with time or not.

Really the only way to improve time is to keep practicing with a timer. Maybe even set a timer for less than the amount of time you would actually be given.

But don’t worry about time right off the bat if you’ve never taken the SAT before. At first just take as much time as you need to get used to the questions.

Reading

What I’d recommend to improve your reading score is really just to take more and more practice tests. The important part is to read the answer explanations on the ones you miss or that you struggled with. Try to recognize patterns - is there a certain type of question you miss the most? How does their answer differ from yours? Figure out why theirs is right in a way that makes sense to you.

Remember that there’s always evidence for every answer. If you think something is implied or you’re pretty sure but you don’t feel like you actually read it in the passage, or if you use outside knowledge, that probably ain’t it.

I’ve heard a lot of people say you should summarize the passage to yourself before you try to answer the questions but at least in my experience, the whole time stress thing makes you forget to do that.

If you’re struggling a lot with time it’s a good idea to get used to speed reading, at least to some extent. I took a course on it and the main take away from that was to just guide your eyes by moving your finger or a pen along underneath the words you’re reading. Just try doing that and try to do it faster and faster while still making sure you’re comprehending what you’re reading. Also here’s a free speed reading course I found.

I’m sure you’ve already heard this but Khan academy has timed and not timed reading sections you can use for practice + explanations. They also have videos and stuff with tips for the SAT overall and how-to videos on the different types of questions you’ll come across.

Writing

Pretty similar to the reading section - make sure you recognize the types of questions you typically miss and make sure you really understand why your answer wasn’t what they were looking for.

There are some more hard and fast rules you can study when it comes to writing, which is nice. IE punctuation rules - especially semicolons.

They also do this trick question where they give you the subject of a sentence and then they put a few words and then they ask you for the correct form of the verb. They also do one where the subject is singular/plural but it sounds like it might be plural/singular. Maybe it’s a name of a group or something - They’re trying to throw you off on the number of the verb, and sometimes even if it’s past/present/future etc.

My main tip for time on the writing portion is you do NOT have to read every word of every passage. Unless they’re asking you to move a sentence within a paragraph then you only have to read the underlined portions of the paragraph and sometimes the rest of the sentence that precedes it. Unless they ask you a question that pertains to the main focus of the passage, you do not have to get a real understanding of what the passage is talking about. Remembering this has saved me so much time.

Khan academy also has some practice for the writing, but if I recall correctly they don’t have quite as much material as they do for the reading.

Math

Okay so math was my worst section until just this year.

First of all, same rule applies - take lots of practice tests and make sure you understand why you missed the questions you did. As you’re going over your answers + the explanations, make a few sheets in a notebook with reminders or rules or tips or a few common formulas that you usually forget. If there’s one certain concept (for example, parabolas) you can n o t understand - really take the time to sit down and try to understand everything you can about that concept. Write it all down on a dedicated sheet of paper in a way that you can easily look over later.

Some formulas I think it’s important to understand are the graph of a circle, the vertex form of a parabola, standard form of a parabola and slope-intercept form of a line. There’s a few more but those are the main ones off the top of my head.

For math, you can definitely start at Khan academy - they obviously have tons of content for SAT math and math in general. For some people that’s all they use and they get really good scores. For me though, I could only get so far with it.

One thing about Khan academy is they usually just show you the longer, math-y way to do a problem (from what I recall. I could be totally wrong on this cause it’s been a while) when a lot of times on the SAT there’s a really easy and obvious way to get an answer in seconds without doing lots of calculation - if you know where to look for it.

I found this youtube playlist rather helpful when it comes to getting the math questions done the quick and effective way. Most of the time you really don’t have to solve out every problem or answer. The guy doesn’t talk in all the videos but there’s a good number of them where he explains what he’s doing and gives several examples. I’m pretty sure he always writes out all the steps of how he solves the problems.

Honestly just watching him do the problems so quickly gave me a lot of confidence because it made sense how he did it. “If he can do that that fast then so can I!”

One thing is, if you do use the ‘don’t solve out every detail’ way and you have time left over at the end, definitely go back and check over ones that you weren’t so sure about or that seemed like they might have been trick questions. This really applies to all the sections.

Overall

College board also has their own study guide.  It’s organized by three overall sections: “getting ready for the SAT”,  english and math. English and math are both broken down by every type of  question they have on the test, so you can only download the sections  that you need to work on. I’d say just search the PDF for the specific  concept you’re struggling with, but I guess you could read the whole  guide if you want to and have the time.

Supertutortv is a youtube channel with lots of tips and stuff.

Growing up I was always told that the SAT is about ✨logic✨and I guess that’s still true. They’re less testing you on what you know and more so testing you on if you know what to do. Problem solving and analysis.

Finally, if/when you take the test for real, try to be as chill as possible about it. Don’t be stressed about how you’re going to do or what you’re going to do. Be confident in the fact that you prepared or in the fact that you didn’t want to do much prep and that that was the best choice for you. Don’t think about college or your future or what your parents or whoever is in your life is going to think. Don’t think ahead at all. Just focus on what you’re doing at that moment.

Feel free to send me an ask or DM and I’d love to answer any questions or provide more resources or do anything else I can to help anyone who happens across this post.