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volleychumps · 4 years

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Hi hi hi! I just recently came across your blog and I’m loving it!!! Maybe an Akaashi, Bokuto, Kuroo, and Kageyama scenario where their S/O is a cheerleader and gets jealous when their team can’t take their eyes off them maybe?

Thank you for the request!! Oh, and btw you guys, I’m trying to do my requests in the order I get them and I usually have enough energy to do maybe one a day, two at most:(

Also, I switched up the character selection a bit so we could get more of the teams! Hope that’s okay!

Jealous Boys with a S/O who’s a cheerleader (w/ Akaashi, Kuroo, Kageyama, and Iwaizumi)

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

Akaashi

“You’re cheering for us today?”

“Yep! It’s my first time at one of your matches, I’m so excited!” You grin at your boyfriend, shaking your pom poms brightly as Akaashi bites back a smile, allowing you to plant a kiss on his cheek lovingly before moving to run back to your girls.

“Good luck!”

“You too.”

“Y/N, you have to take your jacket off!”

“Oh shoot, yeah oops.”

Akaashi stalls, glancing back as he heard that conversation. His eyes widen when you unzip your team jacket, revealing your cheer uniform. Your uniform hugged your breasts appreciatively, and it wasn’t good that he found it hard to breathe when he saw the length of your skirt.

Who? Just who makes skirts that short? He thinks irritably before you suddenly turn to him to catch him staring. He gulps when you wink flirtatiously, blushing when your friends seem to make a comment about him to you as you wave them off, making a motion like yeah, that’s my boyfriend.

Akaashi shakes his head. Cheer is what you do, who was he to make a comment at the...choice of attire?

Clearing his head, he jogs back to his team, ready to warm up to play his best in front of you until he hears Konoha whistle appreciatively along with Komi, obviously eyeing up the cheerleaders.

Akaashi blinks. It was fine, right? There were like, eight of you, they wouldn’t single-

“Bro, that (H/C) one though? Damn, she’s something else.” Komi blushes as Bokuto suddenly sweat drops.

“Thank god for mini skirts, looks like we’ll have a pretty nice view for when we play.”

“Konoha, you’re such a perv.”

“Sarukui, you just don’t know the ways of the cheerleader, observe the (h/c) one for instance, see her thighs? I would kill-”

“Uh Konoha, I think you should stop-”

“What, Bokuto? Aren’t you the one who’s into this kinda stuff too?”

“No, but I am.”

The whole team pause, glancing over at the quiet setter who had his brows furrowed in an obvious expression of distaste, blue-green eyes seeming to blaze directly into his teammates as Konoha quirks an eyebrow playfully, drawing up to the setter before Bokuto could stop him.

“Huh? You too Akaashi? Which one’s the cutest to you, huh? Tell us~”

Bokuto palms his face at the situation Konoha was digging himself in, deciding it was a lost cause before Akaashi scoffs, his lips pulling up in a slight snarl as he pretends to think.

“Hm. That’s a tough one.”

The Fukurodani team all exchange inquisitive looks with one another when Akaashi’s feet suddenly bring him to your position in front of the stands, bouncing up and down with your other cheer friends. Your eyes brighten when they see Akaashi, breaking out of the practice formation to jog up to him.

“What’s up, love? Don’t you play soon?” Akaashi puts both hands on the sides of your face and tilts your jaw upwards, his lips falling gently on yours before moving at a pace that was strangely possessive as your cheeks begin to burn. You knock on his chest with your fist as Akaashi kisses you harder, only letting you go when your breaths turn unsteady.

He had done that. In front of both your teams.

Your boyfriend pulls back, blue-green eyes seeming to blaze as he swipes his thumb at the lipstick stain he had left, ensuring it was off before nodding once to you and beginning to walk away.

“A-Akaashi-you-what-why-”

“That one on the cheek earlier wasn’t enough luck.” Akaashi shrugs to you as he walks back to his gaping team, clasping Konoha on the shoulder as he swipes at the slight amount of lipstick on the corner of his mouth.

“I don’t know, I think that one’s pretty cute.”

“Akaashi, I didn’t know-”

“Well, it’s a good thing you do now.”

The Fukurodani team all shiver once in unison. Akaashi, the usual calmest member on the team, seemed the most dangerous when pissed off.

Kuroo

“Good luck today, kitten. Try to cheer for me only, okay?”

“You’re the one doing the hard stuff.” You grin up at your boyfriend as Kuroo smirks down at you, leaning to press a quick kiss on your forehead lovingly before pinching one of your cheeks, causing you to pout.

“You’re really pretty, you know that?”

“Go! You start soon, dummy!” You blush, pushing your boyfriend forcefully away when his team enters the gym, running away from your boyfriend’s smirking figure in slight embarassment that his team almost caught the two of you like that.

Kuroo strides up to his team, hands clasped around his neck before taking a seat on the bench as Kai and Yaku begin to go through the plays, not noticing the way Lev and Inuoka both shared small gasps.

“Whoaaa, so we actually do have cheerleaders?”

“H-How am I supposed to focus?”

“Lev, just focus on the game.”

“That (H/C) one is the prettiest!”

Kuroo quirks an eyebrow, diverting his gaze. That caught his attention.

“Uh, Lev, I wouldn’t-”

Kuroo covers Kenma’s mouth, a sly grin making its’ way onto his face as Yaku and Kai both exchange looks knowingly. Before either of the third years can stop their team captain-

“Oh? What’s so pretty about her?”

“S-She’s on par with Karasuno’s manager.” Yamamoto stutters slightly as Kenma shoves off Kuroo’s hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Someone like that goes to our school?”

“Ne, Inuoka, do you think if I play good enough she’ll notice me?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, Lev!”

“Yep, it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Kuroo’s tone seemed to turn slightly sardonic, his grin never leaving his face as Kenma rolls his eyes, turning away from the situation to pull his phone out and shoot a quick text.

Y/N-san, please come over here before Kuroo kills one of my teammates.

Huh?

Just please come.

You blink, making sure to note how much time you had left before you had to be in formation before beginning to walk over to where Kenma was, noticing that your boyfriend had his chin resting in his hand, his signature smirk resting on his lips as he listened to whatever his teammate was saying.

“Shoot! Shoot, I think she caught me staring!” Lev looks down quickly after seeing your approaching figure, pom poms hanging loosely by your side as Inuoka clasps his shoulder.

“Lev, you should talk to her!”

“Yeah, Lev.” Kuroo grins as you come closer, Kenma sweatdropping at the fact that him asking you to come over wouldn’t bring understanding. “You should talk to her.”

“Uh, Kuroo?” You tap your boyfriend’s shoulder nervously, trying not to make direct eye contact with any of the staring team. You shift uncomfortably as your boyfriend glances up at you, eyes playful yet kind of annoyed.

In the next moment, Kuroo had pulled you into his lap, leaving his teamates (The ones that didn’t know already) with their jaws agape you yelp and try to break free.

“Babe, I came over here because Kenma said you might kill someone!”

“It’s a good thing he did.” Kuroo nuzzles his face into your neck, opening one eye posessively as the first and second years begin to stutter out apologies. His hands trace over your bare thighs as you flush, hiding your face with both hands.

“Everyone, meet (Y/N). My totally pretty cheerleader girlfriend who just so happens to be on par with Karasuno’s manager.”

“Knock it off.” You force yourself out of his hold as Kuroo pulls you back down to kiss your forehead quickly, putting the cherry on top of the situation before you dash back to your own team in embarrassment.

“Kuroo-senpai, I-”

“It’s alright, Lev!” Kuroo smiles a little too nicely at the first year’s stuttered apology.

“Just make every single receive and we’ll call it even.”

“W-what if I don’t?”

“You better hope you do.”

Kageyama

“Look, I won’t embarass you, so just focus on your setting, okay?” You smile up in reassurance at Kageyama’s blushing figure, his blue eyes struggling to stay on your face because of your cheer uniform. He thought you looked amazing of course, but-

“T-this is just the first time you’ve been at one of my matches-”

“And I’m sure you’ll do great. So don’t overthink it, alright?”

Kageyama’s eyes lock with yours before he nods once, turning around in a stiff posture away from your giggling self at how cute your boyfriend was. The dark haired boy jogs back to his team, all of whom had hardly realized the quiet setter’s disappearance.

“Where’d you go, Kageyama?”

“None of your business, boke.”

“The cheerleaders are here to cheer for us! Noya-san, which lucky one shall we make fall today?”

“You haven’t made any of them fall-”

“That’s what you think, Suga-san.”

“Have you...ever seen her go to our school before?” Noya stares in awe, pointing directly at you shamelessly as Tanaka rests his elbow on Noya’s head for support, the same expression on his features as you giggle and jump with the rest of your team-

skirt flying high and all.

Kageyama doesn’t look up, sipping from his water bottle as the comedic duo nearby him ogle the cheerleaders, noting it was just their nature before-

“I think her name’s (Y/N)? She’s a first year.”

“Are first years allowed to look that cute?”

Kageyama’s grip on his water bottle tightens as Daichi gives them his signature stern glare, pushing the two towards the center of the gym.

“If you have time to drool, you have time to warm up.”

“W-wait, just let us try to talk to her-!”

“Oi, Kageyama, we’re about to start, where are you going?”

The blue-eyed boy had abandoned the clenched water bottle on the bench behind him, walking up to your giggling form with the most confidence he had ever mustered.

“Kageyama!” You smile brightly, waving your friends to keep practicing without you before slow jogging up to your boyfriend. “Did you need some-?”

The expression in the usually awkward’s boy was foreign to you as he spins you around by the shoulders so your back is facing him, pulling your hair out of your tight ponytail. You blink as his fingers run through your hair, gathering it all up to put it up again.

“What-?”

“I didn’t mention it earlier, but it’s messy.”

“I could’ve-!”

“It’s fine.” Kageyama cuts you off, slipping your hair through the tie perfectly as you touch your hair for good measure, turning your head to smile sweetly in thanks.

“This is new. But I like it. I like it a lot.” You say a bit shyly, looking down at your pom poms before Kageyama suddenly embraces you from behind, hugging your back into his chest as you flush at the strange affection he rarely showed. It only lasted a mere few seconds, and you laugh at how red his cheeks had turned, not being able to resist placing a kiss on the side of his jaw.

What you didn’t know, was that you were just adding on to the show that Kageyama was putting on for his team, staking his claim. As you waved him off, cheeks pinkened from the foreign actions, you then notice the slacked jaws of the Karasuno team. Hesitantly, you offer an awkward wave as most of them awkwardly wave back.

“Kageyama, you could’ve just said that she was-”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Iwaizumi

“Since when do the cheerleaders come to the volleyball games?”

“Since today, apparently.” You cheekily grin at your ace boyfriend, Iwaizumi rolling his eyes in turn as you pout. “What, are you not happy I’m here?”

“No...I just don’t want to get um, distracted.”

You blink, glancing down at your cheer attire before smirking slightly. “Oh? And what would get you distracted?”

“Cheeky brat.” Iwaizumi mumbles in slight irritation, ears reddened as he pinches your cheek, causing you to whine. “The other fools in the stands might look at you.”

“Wow, babe. I’m suddenly glad you don’t come to watch me cheer.”

“What-?”

“Nothing!” You chirp, pulling Iwaizumi’s collar down to meet your lips quickly as you take off running before he can scold you, leaving the third-year a blushing mess at the hands of a first-year. Scowling, he turns back as his team joins him in the gym, pumped for the next set.

“Oho, is the reason I think you went before us the correct one?” Oikawa’s smirk is infuriating and knowing, Iwa shoving him in his shoulder with his own.

“Shut it, you piece of trash.” Iwa warns, beginning to stretch his legs before he pauses, seeing you take off your jacket from across the court along with your other teammates, feeling his breathing hitch.

Damn did you look good in uniform.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought that. Oikawa’s low whistle from next to him was enough for Iwa to “accidentally” throw his water bottle over his shoulder, feeling satisfied with the sound of pain that came from his best friend.

“Hah, I’m so nervous...”

“Is it because of the cheerleaders, Kindaichi?” Kunimi sighs, wrapping his fingers as Kindaichi scratches the back of his neck, cheeks flushed.

“W-well, yeah...plus (Y/N) from our class is part of it.”

Iwaizumi stalls.

“Yeah. I get it. It’s totally different seeing her in uniform.” Kunimi shrugs, not looking up from his taped fingers. Iwa feels an emotion he can’t describe rise in his chest, the breaths through his nose starting to become ones to control his breathing.

“Whoaaa, lemme see!” Yahaba pushes Watari’s head down, smirking slightly as his eyes trace shamelessly over your exposed skin from a distance. “She’s a first year? Damn Kindaichi, have you made your move yet?”

“W-WHat? I don’t like her, I heard she’s dating a senior! It’s just new seeing her so...”

“Exposed?” Kunimi offers, still not noticing the amused team captain and deadly aura their ace was giving off as Kindaichi nods brightly to his friend.

“Yeah! That.”

Hanamaki and Mattsun both take careful steps in front of the first years, being sure that they’re blocking the view from the now pissed-off ace.

“Now, Now Iwa...”

“We need them for when we leave, please don’t hurt them.”

“Uh...senpai? Why-?”

The humorless chuckle that slips Iwa’s lips is able to silence the whole team, sending shivers down the underclassmen’s backs as Kyotani watches on, indifferent.

“You wanted to know why, right Yahaba?”

“U-um..yes?” The last part comes out as a squeak as Iwa’s suddenly lifting himself out of stretching position and walking up to you, fire on his heels. You yelp when Iwaizumi’s strong grip clasps on your forearm, careful not to hurt you but still being a tad forceful about it as he pulls you away from your now confused team.

“Iwa?” You blink as Iwa jerks his jacket off his body in hasty movements, dark eyes brimmed with a possessive kind of feeling as he wraps it around your upper body, not even letting your arms through the holes as the sleeves hang loosely at your side.

As he’s zipping it up, his dark eyes are stare into yours with an intensity that made you gulp. “I’m suddenly glad I’ve never come to see you cheer.” He grits out, fingers lifting your chin upwards so he could capture your lips aggressively, leaving your breathing unsteady when he pulls back, a bit of your lipstick on the corner of his mouth as he smirks slightly at your dazed features.

“Good. Now they know.”

You blink, still in a daze as you adjust Iwa’s jacket so that you could wear it with the sleeves, turning back to your shocked team with widened eyes. To your dismay, they were all giggling and motioning you back into the circle to tell them what had just occurred, your friends already fixing your lipstick for you as you try to hide your face in embarrassment.

Oikawa’s amused grin for once, doesn’t piss off the ace as Iwa goes back to stretching as if nothing had happened. “Iwa, you’ve got a little something-”

“Leave it.” Iwa doesn’t look up from his legs, his tone taking on a chilling one as he taps the lipstick mark on the corner of his lips once. The underclassmen all share a shiver as Iwa lifts his head, dark eyes spinning with triumphant rage as Hanamaki and Mattsun sigh.

“Just in case they forget.”

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peachyteez · 4 years

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death’s grip ≫ DAY ONE, TRUST.

the tiger hybrid managed to escape from south korea’s top illegal hybird ring fights. of course, they didn’t let him go so easily. losing his chasers in a forest, covered in blood—his and others’—he decided to accept his fate of death from his wounds until a female and two other hybrids managed to take him from death’s grip.

PART OF THE HEAVEN SERIES.

✧ taglist: @defsoul15, @choisaniskillingme, @joongiebug, @t-tbinnie, @chanyeolol, @danibookmarks, @hello-its-ya-boi, @murralyn, @alienmashup, @panini, @moon8894, @taetae123094, @luv3rxcha, @treasure-hwa, @etherealbyeol, @hwaseongzzz, @koasworld, @sunsethw4

can’t be tagged: @yoongisleftboob

feel free to let me know if you would like to be added to the list!

✧ note: i know this is a day late; i have a lot going on and uni’s not being very nice :(

✧ WARNINGS: mentions of blood and death

next。

“okay, now that we’re here—yunho, come back!”

it’s been roughly about two weeks since the three had settled in their new home. it was a new experience for all of them. for both seonghwa and yunho, they were experiencing the heaven of living with someone that actually cared for them and not just using them like toys. for jiyu, she was experiencing the feeling of having people to come home to, people to rant to when she had a bad day at work, and people that she can consider her friends and dare she say, family.

now that they had settled down, jiyu thought it’d be a nice idea if she could let seonghwa and yunho experience things that they had never done before. like this time around, hiking.

running after a cheerful yunho who went after a butterfly, she breathlessly chuckled at his inner child peeking through. “yun, i know you’re a giant, and you’re really easy to spot. but it’s really dangerous on hiking paths since the trail can split off and i won’t have any idea where you went, alright?” she smiled while ruffling his hair.

“sorry,” he sheepishly apologized, his tail wagging back and forth in excitement at the new adventure that he was about to embark on. “come on! let’s go!” he yelped before running off towards the path again.

seonghwa chuckled. “he really is a little kid trapped in a giant’s body,” he said before running after the puppy hybrid to join him.

jiyu looked after them with a sigh, but she couldn’t wipe the little grin off her face. “they’re such dorks,” she mumbled before running after them. “hey, wait for me!”

and that’s how it was for most of the hike: yunho running ahead, utterly fascinated with the little insects and flowers on the path. although jiyu had to physically drag the giant away before he could even touch the poison ivy. even if seonghwa wasn’t showing his excitement like yunho, jiyu could tell he was enjoying nature since his eyes were contently closed as he basked in the sunlight while walking.

jiyu smiled seeing them enjoy themselves. movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. her eyes lit up at the sight. “guys!” she whisper-shouted, pointing to a fawn and its child by a nearby river. “look, it’s fawns! but we have to keep quiet otherwise we’re going to scare them away.”

seonghwa and yunho’s eyes sparkled at the sight. they kept their eyes on the two animals who were drinking from the river. looking at their tails, jiyu couldn’t help but stifle her laughter—they were slowly wagging, a sign that they were invested with what was in front of their eyes.

suddenly, the mother fawn’s head snapped up in alert. staring at the trees nearby, almost as if someone or something was there, she nudged her baby before they both took off. jiyu furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. did they see something?

yunho pouted. “aww, i wanted to watch them a bit more,” he mumbled. seonghwa nodded in agreement, the same small pout on his lips, too. “did they notice us?”

jiyu looked in the direction that the mother fawn was staring at. she shook her head. “no, the mother fawn looked over there, not at us,” she answered, still slightly confused at what couldn’t been there to startle the fawn so much.

out of nowhere, a low growl was heard. jiyu and yunho tensed while seonghwa’s ears perked up in alert. standing protectively in front of the two, seonghwa intently stared at the direction that the growl came from. “who’s there?”

jiyu realized it was coming from the same direction that the mother fawn was staring at. carefully walking in front of seonghwa, she peered down and noticed an injured person sitting and leaned against one of the huge trees. her eyes widened. “sir! are you okay?” she called out, about to climb down the hiking trail and towards the injured person.

seonghwa grabbed her arm. “what are you doing? what if you get hurt?” he asked, his eyes filled with worry.

“he’s injured, hwa!” she defended. “come with me to check up on him.”

with a nod, seonghwa started carefully walking down the slope, away from the hiking trail. yunho hesitantly looked at the two as he debated if he wanted to follow them.

looking back at yunho, jiyu sensed his hesitation. “can you call the ambulance, yunho?” she softly asked, handing him her phone. after getting a nod, she immediately started to approach the injured man. but the closer she got, she noticed something on his head.

“a hybrid...” she mumbled. “yunho, wait don’t call an ambulance!” she called back to the puppy. looking back to the injured hybrid, her breath caught in her throat. he was looking at her with the most intimidating glare he could muster despite his many injuries.

“leave me alone...” he managed to growl out.

taking a closer look, she noticed he was clutching onto an open gash on his stomach, little cuts on his face, and he was covered in blood. blood was even dripping out of his mouth. she gasped. what happened?

“and let you die of blood loss?” she asked. seonghwa stood behind jiyu in case the hybrid were to attack.

the hybrid scoffed, wincing in pain after. “if that’s how i go, then that’s how it’ll be,” he mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the tree. “i don’t need your help, so leave.”

jiyu bit her lip in thought. she couldn’t just leave him here to bleed out and die. she turned to seonghwa. “can you go tell yunho to call yeonjun and explain what happened?” she gently asked.

seonghwa immediately shook his head. “what if he attacks when i’m gone?” he whispered back, the same worried expression back on his face.

jiyu ruffled his hair. “i’ll be fine. you seem to forget where i work at,” she joked. “go, hwa. i can’t leave him to die out here.”

after a long hesitation, seonghwa gave a warning glare to the injured hybrid before going back to yunho. the hybrid let out another scoff. “are they your hybrids?” he asked, looking at the wolf and golden retriever hybrid as they frantically tried calling yeonjun.

jiyu slowly sat down on the ground, keeping a safe distance. “yes.”

“what’s your intentions with them?” he glared. “use them for money? or perhaps your own pleasures? or—”

“no.”

his eyebrows slightly raised in surprise at the woman’s firm tone. looking at her, her face was full of disgust and slight shock at the question.

“i’d never do that. they’re my family.”

“that’s what they all say,” he humorlously chuckled. “that’s what they all say to get us to fall into their little trap before they show their true colors.”

“not everyone’s the same,” she defended. “i don’t know what happened to you, but i can assure you i want nothing more than to just help you.”

he observed her. as determined and truthful as she seemed, he didn’t want to take another chance. he’s already been through so much, mentally and physically. he was tired. “stop wasting your time,” he weakly mumbled, leaning his head against the tree again. “just leave me be.”

a pained look flashed across jiyu’s face. to see a hybrid so easily give up on his life pierced her heart. however, it only motivated her more to help.

“jiyu! yeonjun’s sending a rescue team!” she heard yunho call out to her.

she wryly smiled to the hurt hybrid “as much as you want me to do that, i’m afraid i can’t. a rescue team’s already on their way.”

the hybrid’s eyes narrowed. “this could all be trap for all i know. you could be sending me back to where i came from,” he growled. he attempted to stand, but he fell right back down in pain. “just leave before you're gonna regret it.”

as threatening as he seemed, she knew he couldn’t do much due to his injuries. she stood up and dusted her pants. “look, you can believe whatever you want, but i swear on my life that i won’t harm you. i work at a hybrid recovery center, i just want to help. please?”

hearing her pleading tone, he looked up into her eyes. they were filled with nothing but earnest and desperation. why? why was she so insistent when they didn’t even know each other? what’s her motive?

he sighed. he’s survived up til then by relying on himself. he’s obeyed his owners for the sake of his own survival; never rebelled, never bit the hand that fed him. until enough was enough. he fought and ran away. humans were terrifying beings, they only cared for their own benefits and pleasures. so what was so different about her? he wouldn’t be lying if he said he didn't feel the slightest bit safe around her.

suddenly, he heard the sound of sirens and footsteps, making his ears stand in alert and his teeth sharpen. looking in the distance, he saw a group of men and the familiar hybrid ambulance. so she really did call a rescue team...

“so will you let me help you?” she gently asked, squatting down by him. “you’ll be safe, i promise.”

watching a yellow-haired man interact with the wolf and golden retriever hybrid a distance away, he was surprised. it was a normal interaction for anyone, but to him, it was a whole new concept. he’s only been shouted at his whole life.

he closed his eyes, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. “very well.” he’s been through hell and back, he could take more if that was the case.

jiyu smiled before giving yeonjun and the rescue team the okay to slowly approach and take the injured hybrid. “ah, that’s right. i never got your name. i’m jiyu.”

he pursed his lips. seeing her happiness, he slightly lowered his guard. “hongjoong.”

#9th member of ateez #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez angst #ateez fluff #kim hongjoong #hongjoong imagines #hongjoong scenarios #ateez hongjoong #hybrid au #kpop hybrid au #ateez hybrid #hybrid!ateez

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ceealaina · 4 years

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Title: What's New Pussycat? Collaborator Name: ceealaina Card: 4008 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Image: Uh, Kitties Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: Romantic Fluff, Domestic Summary: After crashing through a wall at the Bad Guy Lair of the Week, Tony finds cats. A lot of cats. And entire roomful of cats. Apparently Avengers Tower is now a shelter for cats as well as superheroes... Word Count: 1829

So maybe -- maybe -- Tony had just very slightly overestimated his abilities in handling this fight without backup. Or maybe he’d underestimated the number of bad guys. But either way it was okay. It was fine, he was fine, everything was fine. He had it all totally under control.

And he totally believed that. Right up until, in taking out what he really hoped was the last bad guy, he’d found himself thrown through a wall, because of course he had.

For a minute Tony just let his eyes fall shut beneath the faceplate, waiting for JARVIS to run scans and make sure there wasn’t somebody waiting to whallop him with a bulldozer, or something else stupid. It had been a long day and a longer fight, and while there were no serious injuries, he ached in places he hadn’t even known he’d had. All he wanted right now was to go home, have a drink, and then take a long, hot bath with the jets on extra strong, and then maybe sucker one of the various supersoldiers he had running around his house into giving him a backrub and --

“Uh, sir?”

JARVIS interrupted the very nice daydream Tony was developing with a tentative tone that had Tony groaning.

“What is it, J? Another five hundred of them in the basement?”

“Not exactly, sir.”

But before JARVIS could explain, Tony heard the sound for himself, faint little squeaking noises filtering through the speakers of the armour. He looked up and his eyes went wide as he took in what he was looking at.

“Uh, kitties?”

“It appears so.”

Lots and lots of kitties, in fact, perched in little cubbies lining the walls of the room he’d crashed into -- thankfully it didn’t seem any had been injured with his abrupt entrance, so there was that, at least. They were viewing him with various degrees of curiosity, and as Tony was still trying to get his bearings, one of them hopped down. He lifted his hand on instinct, and the cat wound her little body around him, rubbing her chin on his fingers. Tony blew out a breath.

“Oh boy.”

***

“Okay, so Honeybear, don’t be mad.”

Tony met Rhodey at the door with an extra-large coffee and his flirtiest smile; in retrospect probably not his best first move, because nothing was going to make Rhodey more suspicious.

Rhodey hesitated before stepping inside, eyes narrowed at Tony. “What did you do?”

“Seriously! Steve already yelled at me once today, which is just ridiculous really because I actually didn’t even do anything wrong this time, and it’s not like he still has allergies or anything. Really, if anyone’s the injured party here, it’s me.”

“I didn’t yell at you, Tony!” Steve called from somewhere near the kitchen. “We just had a serious conversation about making executive decisions without consulting the rest of the team.”

Tony waved an arm like that was the same thing. “Who pays the rent, Steven?” he shot back.

Rhodey just pinched the bridge of his nose and drew in a deep breath. “Tony,” he said, trying to get him to refocus on the actual issue at hand. “What. Did you. Do?”

Tony gave him a guilty smile in lieu of actually answering, and then started to lead him down the hall. “I just want you to know that I didn’t have a lot of other options. There was nowhere else to take them, Rhodey. I couldn’t just dump them all on the street. And they were doing weird things to them, Honeybear. Cloning them and god knows what else, and sure I took out the bad guys, but what if it was the shell of a larger company, huh? I wasn’t going to leave them there!”

Tony could tell that Rhodey was bracing himself for the worst, so rather than trying to explain further he just led Rhodey into the room he’d converted for his purposes. It was supposed to have been a gym, initially, but then he’d realized the extent of Steve’s abilities and he’d repurposed an entire floor for the gym instead, leaving this space empty. It had been mostly used for storage since, so it hadn’t been too hard to convert it into--

“Holy shit,” Rhodey muttered as he opened the door, revealing all the kitties, some of the playing, some of them eating, some of them snuggled up for a good, long nap, or perched on the window watching the day go by. “Tony, did you start a cat shelter?”

“Uh…” Tony couldn’t tell if Rhodey was impressed or horrified, which wasn’t a great start. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Not exactly?”

Rhodey arched an eyebrow, but Tony was pretty sure he could see a slight smile twitching at the corner of his lips. “So what, exactly, is it?”

“I told you, I couldn’t just leave them there! And do you know how overcrowded the shelters are in this city? Nobody could take this kind of influx, not even if I spread it around. I could have covered the costs -- would have covered the costs -- but they still wouldn’t have the space. So… Easier to just keep them here, right?” He gave Rhodey his best smile. “Just think of it like a foster home, just until we find them all permanent homes.”

“We?”

“They!” Tony corrected quickly. “I’ve got a contact at the shelter. They’re working on it, but you know, there’s kinda a lot so it might take a bit. Come on Honeybear, it’s not like I’m going to keep them. You know me, I’m much better with electronic babies than real ones.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes, but he was fully grinning now, and when one of the cats came to wind herself around his ankles, he immediately reached down to give her neck scratches, setting off a loud barrage of purrs. “You’re such a doofus,” he told Tony, but his voice was all affection.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed, grinning back at him. “That’s what Steve said too.”

***

The thing was, while he never made a big deal about, Tony knew that Rhodey had always loved animals. He’d seen the monthly donations on Rhodey’s credit card bill (and had tripled them anonymously), he’d seen the way he’d choked up over the abandoned animals commercials on television, and he’d been in the car that time he’d nearly killed them while successfully avoiding a squirrel. (Rhodey swore that it hadn’t been that close, but Tony knew the truth.)

So it wasn’t exactly surprising when Rhodey “accidentally” got well and truly invested in taking care of all the cats, making sure they were fed and watered, that the bot Tony had designed kept their litter boxes cleaned, and that they had lots of play and snuggle time. Neither of them had ever had pets before -- it hadn’t really been conducive to their lifestyles -- but Tony loved watching Rhodey interact with them. He was already soft as hell for the man, falling more in love with him practically every time he looked at him, but something about watching Rhodey interact with the clowder of cats made Tony fall even that much harder.

He also wasn’t oblivious to the way Rhodey’s face would fall a little each time one of kitties left for their new home, the way he’d cuddle the remaining cats just a little closer the next time he was visiting them. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for them, of course he was. And of course deep down he’d know that they wouldn't all be able to stay. But Tony knew his husband, knew how little it took for him to adopt someone -- that was, after all, how they’d ended up together in the first place. So it wasn’t surprising that Rhodey had mentally adopted every single one of the cats.

They were down to only seven cats left when Tony snuck into the room one day, intending to ask Rhodey something that had seemed important at the time, only to find him sitting in an armchair, facing out over the city with his favourite kitty snuggled into his arms (not that he’d ever admit to having favourites, but Tony knew). He was talking away to her, telling her how beautiful she was, how they’d be sure to find her the best home, somewhere really special, and Tony felt his heart melt. He snuck right back out again, waiting until he was safely out of earshot before speaking up.

“JARVIS? I need you to order some supplies.”

***

It wasn’t too much longer before the rest of the cats had been adopted, all except for the one that definitely wasn’t Rhodey’s favourite, even though he kept turning down adopters for her, and had already named her Einstein. Tony loved Rhodey, but he was such a dumbass sometimes. (Yeah, yeah, pot, kettle, shut up JARVIS.)

Tony had waited until Rhodey had some meetings that he couldn’t put off, pretended he was on a lab binge, and then the second that Rhodey was gone he’d rushed down to the cat room to get everything ready. It didn’t take much to close everything up, sneak Einstein out -- she really was a sweet little thing -- and then plunk himself on the couch in time for Rhodey to get back.

As predicted, Rhodey headed for the cat room almost immediately upon his return, barely even offering Tony a wave on his way by. If Tony hadn’t known his husband so well, he might have been offended. Almost immediately Rhodey was sliding back out of the room, eyes wide.

“Tones? Have you seen Einstein?”

Tony feigned a neutral expression, but he knew he was doing a terrible job of hiding his dumbass smile, stupidly pleased with himself. “Oh, uh… She was adopted. While you were gone.”

Rhodey, apparently, had missed his smile altogether. “What? When? By who?? I’m supposed to have veto privileges. I didn’t even meet them, Tones!” o

“Oh my god,” Tony groaned, rolling his eyes. “You ruin everything.” He was still grinning through, and he got up to reach behind the couch, picking up the little cat pet that Einstein was snoozing in, all dressed up with a red and yellow ribbon. “She was adopted by you, dipshit. Surprise.”

Rhodey stopped dead. “Oh,” he managed. And then he broke out into a wide smile, moving to take Einstein, now blinking at him sleepily. “Wait, really? She’s ours?”

“Ye-es…” Tony narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. “You’re in charge of her litter box, though. I’m not doing that.”

Rhodey just burst out laughing, bright and happy, and Tony couldn’t help beaming at the sound of it. “God, I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too.” Tony stuck his tongue out at him. “You’re lucky you’re cute though, cause god, you’re dumb.”

Rhodey didn’t even protest, just reached out and hauled Tony in for a tight hug, holding him close until Einstein gave an indignant meow of protest from between them.

@tonystarkbingo

#tonystarkbingomiv #tsbmiv #ironhusbands #tony stark #james rhodes #fluff #romance #domestic #fic #my fic

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greycappedjester · 4 years

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Hi I'm so sorry I'm just too shy to ask this on ao3 but I was wondering: how is Slade's relationship with Dick? I don't mind them as a ship in general but in the story sometimes I feel like Slade gets too close to Dick and I thought if there was something platonic on his side? I'm sure you wouldn't do that in the story that's why I'm asking if it's only on Slade's side. Sorry if this is a stupid question lol. Maybe it's just because I've read sl/adedick fics before. ^^D

Nah, I’ve actually been waiting for someone to ask about that. So....it’s complicated and will take awhile to explain so I’m putting it under a Read More before I get too long winded with my character headcanons:

This is going to get soooooo long, lol, so feel free to skim. Warning for Gotham in general and Gotham being naturally a bad place for kid vigilantes to grow up in. Also because this explanation gets somewhat dark in character interpretation....

Bonus short story at the end after a really long post.

-------

Alright, so first, I feel like I should mention again that I never watched the Teen Titans animated show past maybe the first two episodes and the movie my friends wanted me to watch that I don’t really remember. (I meant to watch that show, just never got around to it). I say this because I heard that the Teen Titans TV show portrayed the Dick and Deathstroke relationship much differently in a way that’s cool and fine but not something I can see myself really wanting to write about. I know their relationship more from comics where Dick was already an adult (albeit a young adult) when he first met Slade.

So. Back to my After the Fall of Olympus universe and yeah, I’m slowly getting to my answer. The thing is....the story is entirely in Dick’s POV right now.

And Dick’s absolutely terrible at reading and picking up any form of affection others have for him. He understands it abstractly (he knows people care) but when assessing, he critically underestimates it if he remembers to account for it at all. This goes even worse with people he’s closer to--which is why it took him forever to realize why Jason actually did want to stay with him at the manor and why he still has no idea Barbara is in love with him. Even Kory who was really, really direct about liking him, it took him years to fully emotionally process and respond to that. He’s getting better...but remembering his own value (in others eyes) isn’t something he’s overwhelming good at doing.

My headcanon, he is abnormally good at reading people and picking up basic sexual attraction. He’s good at telling when he’s being flirted with or when people are attracted to him and, honestly, Dick’s charismatic and instinctively a flirt, too.With that, partly from growing up in Gotham with its weird and supremely dark villains, I think Dick very much divorces the two concepts of romantic attraction and sexual flirting in his mind--he’s aware they can go together, obviously with Kory--but he doesn’t naturally pair them as other people probably would. It’s also part of why he just doesn’t get the level of concern Tim has about Catalina.

Okay, back to my point.

The way I write Slade and Dick’s relationship is actually mostly done off screen. But, I think Slade started with approval of Dick’s skills and potential in a clinical/objective view, growing respect and interest (personal but not at all romantic) in him as a person, and much more recently in the story (as in that last conversation he had in Ch. 18), I think Slade realized he has some legitimate attraction and cares a lot about Dick in a way that’s probably romantic.

Slade also is very, very aware immediately that he’s not going to do anything with that and, in a way, doesn’t want to because Dick ever responding to that would be jeopardizing his relationship with his family, his team, his view of his morals (which are so integral to Dick) in a way that would be exceptionally out of character and concerning coming from Dick. In other words, something happening would be a lot more terrifying than nothing happening and Slade cares.

For Dick, it’s a lot more simple. He does not have any romantic feelings there. He does in a somewhat analytical, unconscious way recognize that Slade’s probably attracted to him (probably before Slade noticed honestly) but he’s....well, kind of used to that at some level. More so, Dick doesn’t connect it to emotional care and--like with everyone else--vastly underestimates that Slade does care about him in a way that’s actually pretty selfless for a mercenary. For a romance, your guess is absolutely right, it’s not going to go anywhere in this series but I wanted the undertones and implications to be there in the final third of the story

....But, that’s also more of a later/recent development in that relationship. For most of the story that’s posted so far, Slade sees his relationship with Dick as a lot of respect and even care but not as romantic in any way. I can promise no romantic undertones at all until Dick was already in his 20s because I really, really am not interested in writing underage. (for those curious about Slade’s age in the story, I think of him as mid-20s in his introduction in Year 3 and pretty early 30s here to Dick’s early 20s)

Above everything, they respect each other and would be almost friends if that were possible.

The team and his family doesn’t know any of this.

Anyway, that was long, so here’s a bonus short story from Slade’s view. I write a lot of After the Fall of Olympus short stories in other charcter’s views that I’m not planning on posting until After the Fall of Olympus.

This one’s between Year 5 and 6 and is titled “October 7th”:

-------

It’s October 7th, almost two in the morning, and Slade’s camped out in a somehow still standing bombed out apartment in a no-name village in the middle of a war-torn country.

He’s not exactly expecting visitors.

There’s a knock on the apartment door.

Slade cocks his gun and puts two rounds in the door before, for good measure, adding matching ones on either side of the frame.

He has two seconds to let himself pretend that’s the end of it before the door knob turns to the unmistakable sound of a skilled lock pick.

Fuck, he’s too tired for this shit today.

“Geeze, Slade, what if I’d been an innocent civilian?”

Slade’s hand stills on the gun in surprise then consideration before slowly slipping it back into the holster.

“Kid,” he greets. “There’s no innocent civilians left around here. ‘Specially ones that can make it to my door without me hearing any footsteps.”

“I’ve been working on that.” Dick says, walking into the apartment. He isn’t even wearing his uniform, just plain black military style clothes with the lower half of his face covered by a piece of cloth. He pushes it down and smiles as he presses the door shut behind him. “You did tell me to get better, after all.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have,” he mutters without much heat. “You getting better almost left me out of a job.”

Dick rolls his eyes. “Please, as if both of us don’t know Luthor could’ve gotten out of those charges in months. If the Light didn’t erase them for him, anyway.”

Slade shrugs. Maybe another time, he’d find the energy to banter back. But not today. Never today.

“Why are you here, Dick? How’d you find me?”

The smile slides off of Dick’s face, leaving behind those far too heavy eyes to belong to an eighteen year old.

“You know I have your file, Slade.” Dick clears his throat. “I know what day it is.”

….Fuck.

It’s not like he expected anything else. Not since the moment he saw the kid. But, still...he doesn’t want to deal with this. Doesn’t want to deal with anything. Today, he just wants to crawl back into the worst, most deserted corner of the world he can find until the hours creep passed and he can find the energy to move.

Instead, he glares. “Good for you. Now get the fuck out, kid.”

Dick grimaces but shakes his head. “Not until you answer a question for me.”

Slade groans and, for a handful of seconds, honestly contemplates just killing him, considers it in a way that he hasn’t since before he even met the kid, back when he was first handed a file by a practically no name organization called H.I.V.E.

He’d regret it later. Sure. He has too much he wants to see out of the kid to kill him in a shitty, dusty apartment. But, that regret would come later. Later, once this day had finally passed.

That alone is almost enough to have him reaching for his gun. Almost

“Grayson,” he finally grounds out, “if you know what day it is, you know I’m not exactly inclined to play our game of hero and villain right now. You want information, find someone else.”

“Good, I’m not here to play either. Only problem is I can’t ask anyone else, you're the only one who knows the answer.” Dick lowers himself to sit on the floor across from him, like a particularly stupid mouse in front of a viper.

And then, he looks up and his eyes are too steady to belong to prey.

“Here’s the question: Do you really want to be alone today, Slade?”

The breath catches in Slade’s`lungs, harsher than if the kid had just punched him.

He pushes the reaction down, already knowing it’s too late, and says in the steadiest voice he can manage, “Yes.”

Dick stares at him, unmoving. “I don’t believe you.”

The air around them is too tight, too burning, and Slade’s being pushed down under it to suffocate.

He can’t fight it, so he takes it and pushes it back into anger. “The fuck, kid! What do you know? You said you have my file, yeah? How long have you had it? Because I’m betting you’ve had it since we first met!” He lunges forward. “So, why are you here now, Dick? What makes this year so special? What’s made you decide to pretend to care now? Because whatever it is, kid, I can promise you, I’m not worth it. So, leave!”

By the end, he’s gripping Dick’s shirt, pulling it tighter until the collar has to be digging painfully into his neck.

Dick doesn’t look away. “No.”

Slade doesn’t look away either. “You know I really think I might kill you right now.”

“You won’t.”

One of Slade’s hands moves until it’s pressing into the kid’s neck. A single sharp twist and he could snap it. “So sure?”

Dick nods.

“And why’s that?”

“Because I brought your favorite whiskey.”

A brown bag is pressed into Slade’s ribs and the man feels something rising in his chest that could possibly be laughter if it was some other time.

He drops the kid.

He takes the bag.

“Pretty sure heroes aren’t supposed to be contributing to alcoholism, kid.” He gestures to a half empty bottle of much cheaper stuff beside him.

Dick coughs, rubbing at his throat. “Please. With your metahuman metabolism, I bet you can barely feel it for an hour.”

“Depends how much I drink,” Slade counters, eyeing the bottle. “How’d you know my favorite?”

Dick shrugs. “Gotta keep some secrets to myself.”

He fishes out a spare shot glass from somewhere in the black folds of his outfit and pours a small glass for himself.

Slade raises an eyebrow. “Last time I checked, you’re still 18, kid.”

Dick gives him an incredulous look in return. “Last time I checked, this place doesn’t have a drinking age...or a government, actually.”

Slade hums, amused, using a larger glass for himself. “True, but thought you’d be following the laws of your own birth city a little closer, hero. Gotham’s still at 21...on the record at least.”

“Technically, Gotham’s not my birth city.” Dick snorts and takes the shot.

Slade tilts his head. “Where were you born?”

Dick pauses, thinking, before offering a sheepish smile. “You know….I actually have no idea. Somewhere in Europe, probably? I came early, the circus was still on tour. One of the lion tamers helped deliver me, used to be a doctor.”

“Always a surprise, kid,” Slade shakes his head, draining his glass. Tasting it in his mouth and pretending it’s enough to wash away the ash.

The next words come before he can stop them. “...Adeline always wanted two kids.”

Dick goes quiet.

“Of course,” Slade says to his glass and fuck it, just fuck it, “turns out we didn’t even get the one. Turns out I didn’t get either my wife or my son.”

Fuck, he hates October 7th.

He reaches for the whiskey, ignoring how his hand shakes. “Addy was a soldier, you know? A good one. Of all the stupid fucking ways she could go, I never thought it’d be childbirth. Maybe I should have. Always knew I’d kill her somehow.”

“You didn’t kill her, Slade,” Dick says softly.

“Sure. Whatever,” he agrees, too tired to argue. It’s not as if he hasn’t heard every variation sometime or another. It’s just right now, he can’t quite bring himself to debate about the cause when the end of it’s always going to be the same.

Dick drops the subject and the relief that Slade feels is immense enough that it’s close to gratitude.

“What was your son’s name?”

“Grant. We were going to name him Grant.” He takes another sip. “If we had another one, we were going to name him Joseph. Or Rose for a girl.”

“Those are good names.”

He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does.”

Slade doesn’t answer, looking up to eye the kid over his drink. Dick sees it, holding up his own glass in acknowledgement before knocking it back.

“Why are you here, kid,” Slade asks again. “We’re not friends, pretty far fucking from it last time I checked.”

“I’ve got my reasons,” he answers calmly.

“If you’re here to make your usual sales pitch about the virtues of heroism, I really will kill you. Whiskey or not.”

Dick shakes his head. “....is it so hard to believe I just didn’t think you should be alone?”

Slade thinks his skepticism is loud enough without him needing the words.

The look Dick gives him is steady in return. “Think what you want to, Slade, I know what grief feels like. It’s a poison. It’ll kill you unless you find a way to drain it.”

Dick looks down at his own glass and Slade gets the feeling the kid’s no longer talking about just Slade. It’s still a tossup whether he means himself or the Bat.

Either way, Slade makes sure his next smirk is particularly pointed. “And, look at you. Tracking me all the way down here to try and save my tortured soul. Such a hero.”

“Oh, shut up,” Dick says with an eye roll, pouring himself another drink

Slade cocks his head. “Speaking of, don’t all the good little heroes have school right about now.”

Dick looks up, almost sheepish. “I’m ditching my classes. Don’t tell my brothers, I’m still trying to be a good influence.”

Slade snorts and takes a particularly long swig.

A good influence. As if a single one of his stupid, fucking team doesn’t think the fricking sun shines out of the kid’s ass.

Fuck. What is Slade even doing? Sitting in a run down apartment in the middle of a warzone drinking whiskey with a too trusting kid a decade younger and that he probably should have killed years ago.

But, then, it’s always been exceedingly difficult for him to do what he should---what’s the sane and logical thing--when it comes to Dick Grayson. And, one day--when he doesn’t have the burn of booze sitting in his gut and his chest doesn’t ache like he’s been shot--Slade’s going to take a hard look at why that is.

For now, he’ll just leave it like he usually does. The kid’s too interesting to die yet.

Dick eyes his shot glass, contemplatively. “This whiskey’s way too overpriced, Slade. It’s practically aged vodka.”

Slade finishes his off steadily. “Shows you have little taste, Grayson.”

Dick laughs and slides the bottle over. “I brought another one anyway.”

....Far, far too interesting.

#atfo #my writing

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kyluxtrashpit · 5 years

Text

K so I said I might write a post about what I wanted from ep 9 and then I ended up doing it. So this is essentially a summary of the movie I would’ve made if someone gave me that ability. It’s not fully fleshed out, but I literally could not stop myself from typing it out once I starting piecing it together lmao

Even though this is my own creation, I still consider this a spoilery post SO WARNING FOR RISE OF SKYWALKER SPOILERS RIGHT HERE

I still think the best thing to do with ep 9 would be to centre it on the FO falling apart instead of ‘oh no daddy palps is back :o’. Truth be told, I’d rewrite TLJ too if I could, but I’m going to try to work within its constraints on this as well as keep some tros stuff intact for the sake of trying to work with it. So here’s the basic plot of what I would’ve liked to see:

Kylo undermining and removing authority from Hux while he focuses on Force stuff. He’s still looking for secrets and holocrons, but there’s no palpatine

Meanwhile the Resistance is working on building up their forces and helping the little people, plus trying to get info to take down the FO

The focus of the Resistance side is them trying to get the strength to face the FO and working together and all that good stuff. Focus more on the small acts of goodness in the galaxy that bring people together and end up with those they help joining the Resistance. That’s where they get their strength

Rey’s story would also be mostly about mastering the Force (and Leia still helps to train her) and the love and family she’s found among the Resistance. She’s still stupidly powerful though. I’d love to make her a Skywalker, but hell, it’d even work if she remained a nobody. TLJ was her crucible; she knows who she is now. She doesn’t need anyone else to tell or write her story for her

Also I really want her to go grey jedi. So maybe she realizes what Luke really meant: it was time for the jedi not truly to end, but to change. To embrace emotion without losing themselves to it. To realize that the only true way to achieve balance is not by staying light in order to defeat the dark, but instead learning to master both and keeping the balance within herself. That way, when the darkness is defeated, it won’t need to rise again: true balance. This would be her growth in the story, to learn how to embrace true balance in the Force

Also Finn’s story is still going to focus on the Stormtroopers (and Jannah can 100% still be there). So he finds Jannah and her team in Act 1, and then in Act 2 they unearth some secrets as to how Stormtroopers are brainwashed. Conditioning can’t be broken out of by will alone; Finn was Force sensitive. But something else happened with Jannah and her company. An idea is born: could they recreate that on a large scale and free them all? That’d be a huge blow to the FO and it would save all those troopers who never had a choice in what to be

Poe’s focus would still be on becoming the leader they need him to be, with lots of fun trio moments. So his wouldn’t actually change that much, but nothing about him being a drug dealer. I’m sure Zori could still be worked in but tbh I didn’t feel she added much to the plot

Rose is there a lot more too and comes along on all their adventures, happy to liberate anyone they can. She’s always been in it for the little people and that’s where she shines

Also Kylo is even more erratic, even more lost. He feels torn apart all over again. He’s not doing well as SL; he thought it would make things clearer, but it didn’t. He’s unstable and feral, focusing on all the wrong things and making bad choices because of it

Near the end of Act 1 of the movie, Hux betrays Kylo in a near deadly fashion, but Kylo manages to escape by the skin of his teeth

The Resistance gets word of a civil war within the FO. It;s Hux’s fleet (the red troopers + newer FO officers) vs Kylo’s fleet (mostly the older imperials who remember Vader + the KOR – you can keep Pryde here too if you want). This is their chance. They can take advantage of the chaos

While Kylo recovers from Hux’s attack, he starts having doubts again. Nothing has felt right since he became SL but what other choice does he have? He can’t go back, can he? He’s not supposed to want to. And even if he did, he’s too far gone to ever be welcomed, even by his own mother. So he continues fighting against Hux, more harried and haunted than ever

This situation degrades quickly. Both sides are getting hits in, but Hux is winning. Worse yet: it’s spilling over and doing collateral damage. Places controlled by the FO are being exploited, even worse atrocities being committed against them in this rapid arms race to superiority

Hell, maybe Hux’s fleet still has those planet-destroying canons like Palps’ fleet cause why not, everyone seems to think SW needs a superweapon in it. Anyway

There’d be more development on the heroes’ side as I detailed above here. Rey helping people and learning to be grey. Finn discovering the secrets of the Stormtrooper program. Poe becoming a leader. Rose comes with them on their journeys. Leia is heard rather than seen for the most part; she’s surviving this time around, but her presence is felt through her messages and dialogue snippets rather than physically being in the scenes. Some of the footage could be used, especially her hug with Rey, but I’d use much less of it

The Resistance knows they have to hurry. Do they have enough people? They have no idea, but they’re gonna try anyway. They have to. And you can still have Lando do basically the same thing; show up, be cool, then go get some more people

I’d like to do more with the KOR too, but tbh I’m not sure how other than just some scenes of them and Kylo doing Ren Stuff (whatever that may be). But there’d definitely be something

Near the end of Act 2, there’s a particularly brutal fight. I’d want Kylo and the KOR on the ground here, doing their shit. It feels kinda cheap to have him almost die again but tros also had 2 death fake outs for Kylo before the actual death so fuck it lmao. He thinks he’s going to win (maybe Hux is even there? Or maybe Phasma is revived? Or even just some fancy trooper akin to FN-2199 or something. Maybe it’s even Force-nullifying tech), but then the last minute he gets his shit wrecked

He’s dying. He reaches out with the Force, violently, affecting everyone. Rey hears it through the shattered bond. Finn even hears it, though faintly. It hits Leia hardest of all

Meanwhile, Kylo sees the ghost of Anakin instead of a vision of Han. Anakin, who knows better than anyone what it is to turn to the dark, but also what it is to turn away from it. The scene would still play out similarly, but not mirror the past scene with Han so much

(Look, I know a lot of people don’t like bendemption, but I think that redemption is always possible as long as it’s written well. And that applies to pretty much any character. TROS just needed more time to develop it, which I am attempting to do here by showing Kylo’s instability at the beginning)

Anakin manages to heal Kylo enough to bring him back from the brink of death, but not fully. I don’t think I want Kylo to toss away his lightsaber, but he still could. Regardless, there’s some sort of symbolic gesture to prove he’s changed his mind

A ship arrives: it’s the Resistance. Finn and Poe are cautious, but Rey doesn’t fear him. She confronts him about this sudden change of heart, but she can feel his sincerity. So she reassures Finn and Poe and they bring him along, though no one is really happy about it. They fix him up

With Kylo’s fleet all but destroyed, Hux is ready to take out the Resistance and everyone who sympathizes. Now perhaps we have a planet the trio had previously visited get destroyed. There’s still an ultimatum from the FO to obey or die. It’s a crackdown. A final act to ensure domination of the galaxy. Hell, you can even still call it the Final Order if you want to

The Resistance now strikes. Lando’s getting more back up, if he can, but they take who they’ve got. Kylo is there and there’s a lot of mistrust (could be played for humour too) but not enough time to get into it. They need to do this or too many will die. If he tries anything, Rey will strike him down and she tells him so. She’s done listening to his attempts to get under her skin

This Kylo is also definitely more Ben (I’m mixed on whether he should just go back to his old name or not so I’m keeping him Kylo for the sake of this summary). There’s guilt, though. A lot of it. You can see it on his face and in what he says. But helping to fix this will be a start. His crimes aren’t forgotten; he wants to make up for them however he can

Also Finnrey happens. They kiss before the fight this time and it’s very cute and romantic

So basically the end fight is Resistance fleet vs FO fleet. Poe is leading the charge. Meanwhile, Finn, Jannah, Rose and company sneak on to try to end FO conditioning. Rey and Kylo also sneak on; they’re going for Hux and the elite troops he uses as guards

Hux is going to have to have Force-nullifying tech of some sort (which I think is extremely underused in the SW universe as a whole btw). But he underestimates what Rey (powerful as fuck) and Kylo (Skywalker) are capable of

I’m not 100% sure how this fight plays out but I think I want Rey and Kylo to take out Hux’s elite troops without being able to use the Force. It’d be a fun struggle to watch and also make the fight much more visceral and difficult for them. But they both know how to fight, so they win

On the other side, Finn, Jannah, and Rose manage to do whatever to free the Stormtroopers from mind control (I’m not sure exactly how this would happen, but it’s star wars, it doesn’t need to make much sense). We get the first stage of a full trooper rebellion. They go after the officers immediately

Outside, Poe is struggling, just like in tros. They might lose this. Even if the landing party wins, there’s just too many of them. Cue Lando bringing a big fleet to help and giving us an epic space battle

Back inside: something exciting happens and it turns into a struggle between Hux’s tech and their combined Force powers. This is how I think it should go:

Kylo gives Rey his Force powers, which knocks him unconscious. Rey now has the power to break through on her own. It shouldn’t be possible. She sends out a concussive blast that knocks Hux back. The ideal here would be Hux being captured and taken in alive to be tried for war crimes, but I know that’s asking too much lmao so

If I can’t have definitively alive Hux: Rey approaches him but the ship makes a buckling noise; her Force powers compromised the structural integrity. Debris falls, obscuring Hux (and probably implying it killed him), and she knows it’s time to run. Kylo also comes to around this moment and follows

(And for real, I’m also okay with Hux dying for sure here, because at least he got to have his day first, but this is fantasy land lmao so I’m just not gonna have it happen as far as that goes)

Finn, Jannah, and Rose lead the stormtroopers onto transports as the ship starts falling apart. Rey and Kylo (and Hux, if I got my way) show up and make it in too. They take off and make it out just as the Finalizer crumples. Everyone lives! (Plus Hux is plausibly still alive even if I can’t have him definitely alive sdkfsdkl)

They call for the fleet to stop; the Stormtroopers on every destroyer are rising up, freed from their shackles. Shot of FO officers tied up and captured as the Stormtroopers, without their helmets, celebrate

A sidenote: I can’t decide whether I want Kylo to have lost his Force powers permanently by giving them to Rey or for him to get them back. I think losing them would be a good act of sacrificial penance, but at the same time, I’m not sure if that’s a thing so lmao. I’m open to possibilities here

End bit would still be a celebration. Rey and Finn and Poe still hug. The Stormtroopers are happy. We can still have that moment with Lando and Jannah; the implication of trying to find where every one of the troopers came from. The FO officers have been imprisoned. Everything is right in the galaxy again

Now there’s one more scene with Kylo: he stands in front of a door, looking pensive, squeezing and unsqueezing his hands into fists. The shot moves to his back and the door opens. You can’t see what’s inside but you hear: “Ben?” followed by a pause, and then a small, broken “Mom.”. He steps inside and starts to fall to his knees. End scene

Now, as a last scene, we could still do Rey having a funeral for Luke on Tatooine and keep the ending shot basically the same except Leia and her saber aren’t there because Leia is alive. Rey could still decide to be a Skywalker if she’s a nobody. The shot of two suns. The End.

#oh boy I need to stop saying things about this movie and just move on lmao #but god could you imagine?#I think this would've been really cool #might be a little anime lmao but fuck it star wars has never been super deep anyway #I really did try to give every character something so I hope I succeeded!#shut up nerd #meta #text #long post #tros spoilers #rise of skywalker spoilers #spoilers

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anagentinwriting · 6 years

Text

To Catch a Thief - Part 4

Summary: Being an FBI field agent was your dream job but having been stuck behind a desk for most of your career you’ve almost given up. Fortunately, a series of robberies with minimal evidence forces you to assist a team in the field to help solve the case. But when the only thing left behind is a series of song lyrics, will you be able to find the perp? Or will the number of obstacles and lack of evidence keep you from solving the case?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Reader

Word Count: 2429

Warnings: Swearing

To Catch a Thief Masterlist / Main Masterlist

“The same hologram system used in Vegas was used here, too,” Gamora informed. “The Norway police told us the case the Space Stone necklace was in was supposed to be the most secure in the world, but it's not anymore. The case has bulletproof glass and sensors running every which way. There is also a metal box below it where the necklace is stored at night, so no one ever needs to touch it. SL must be good at picking locks or has a tool that can break into anything. One thing's for sure, SL must have friends in high places to get him equipment in a foreign country.”

“No kidding.”

“And the museum still has no idea when this happened,” Kraglin added. “They only realized it was missing when the hologram shut off and underneath it was a paper with lyrics on it. We figure the theft happened three days before since it took that long for the hologram from Vegas to trigger off.”

“What were the lyrics this time?” You asked as Kraglin handed you a picture of the paper with the lyrics on it.

It’s magic you know

Never believe, it’s not so

It's magic, you know

Sorry, SL

“Do you recognize these lyrics at all, music expert?” Gamora asked with a hopeful smirk.

“No, it's a little vague, but I’ll do some digging. Do you have any idea how he did this?”

“Magic, according to him,” Kraglin insinuated, making you and Gamora shake your heads. “It’s crazy how Harry Houdini died from getting punched in the stomach, but I guess, later it was found out he had acute appendicitis. He may have been one of the best escapologists, but no one can escape death.” You narrowed your eyes at him. How did he know the randomest things and share these things at the most inconvenient times?

“Interesting Kraglin, really, but there’s no such thing as magic,” Gamora declared. “We need to try and figure out a plausible way for how he managed to do this."

“Abracadabra,” Kraglin chimed in, twiddling his fingers in the air.

Kraglin and Gamora got to work looking over the evidence the Norway police sent over by email. Kraglin would be flying out later this afternoon to collect anything physical he could find and bring it back to further examine it.

You sat in your chair listening to the song Magic by Pilot after doing a Google search on the lyrics. From your understanding, it’s a happy cheerful song. It’s about loving life and not taking every day for granted. It’s short and to the point. SL could've forgiven himself for doing the things he did in his past, and instead of dwelling on them any further he's moving on. He was finally looking to better days ahead of him, and you were happy for him. Both his last songs were uplifting and this one seems like he’s happier.

“Find anything, YN?”

“I did and last night Luis gave me some insights as well…” You filled them in on what you found out from Luis and what you were thinking with the new song lyrics.

Gamora wanted you to search the database for anything related to Space-Legend or Star-Leader while she got Kraglin ready for his trip. But like always you found nothing on the names. Then, you remembered SL exposed a few companies a couple years ago. You ran a search, but without the company names, it would be hard to narrow down the long endless list related to the mistreatment of animals.

SL had to of committed previous crimes before this, but with no leads you needed to move on to something else. With Gamora watching the Vegas footage, you started on the two months worth of camera footage the Norway museum sent over.

“Peter, why is this even a discussion Faithfully by Journey beats their song Separate Ways. It’s no competition.” After getting locked out of your apartment a couple weeks ago, you and Peter struck up this weird friendship. He has his issues, but he’s a nice guy even though you have petty arguments over music and movies.

“What? Are you crazy? Separate ways is so much deeper than you are making it out to be,” Peter argued, making his voice rise a bit higher.

“How? Faithfully is how love should be. It proves that even though the distance and the problems are putting a strain on their relationship, he will always fight to make it work because he loves her.”

“I agree, 100 percent. But, hear me out, Separate Ways is more realistic. I mean, a guy falls in love with a girl that thinks she’s unworthy of love, whether it's from a bad past relationship or whatever, but the dude understands this. He tells her someday she’ll be able to love, and he hopes that one night they touched will get her to come back to him. But, even though he tried his best to show his love is real, he knows she will never feel worthy of it. All he wants is for her to be happy, even if it's not with him.”

“I'm done having this discussion, but if you ask me it sounds like you have experienced this first hand.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m right and your wrong. So, how is your case coming?” Peter ignored your comment by covering it up with a quick question. He walked to the fridge to grab another beer, but before he closed it he peeked over at you silently asking if you wanted one. You nodded as he pulled out another one for you.

“I'm afraid that's classified.”

“Still? Wow! It’s almost like the FBI is keeping this under wraps and away from the public, huh?”

You narrowed your eyes grabbing the beer from his hand. Why did he always insist on asking you about your case? Was he curious or did he want to help? To keep things safe you decided to stick with a one-word answer.

“Sure! Back to my previous topic, who broke your heart? Was it a high school sweetheart? A friend with benefits ordeal gone array?”

“What makes you think someone broke my heart? My heart is rock solid like my body.” He plopped down in his usual spot on the couch, staring at the coffee table.

“Rocks are breakable with enough force.” You took the seat next to him, setting your beer on the coffee table.

“Smartass,” he sighed, taking a swig of his beer. “If you must know, there was this one girl, Beeret, we were dating all through high school. She was a super cool and amazing painter. We both claimed to be in love, but before she left for college, she broke up with me. She didn't want to try the long distance relationship thing since it never works. She wanted me to forget about her and move on. She told me she’d always love me but she didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“What? Who wouldn’t want to be with you? Any woman would be lucky to have you,” you blurted out, feeling your face begin to heat up as your palms started to tingle. Your eyes moved to your beer bottle on the table, before returning to Peter.

“You'd be surprised,” he said, keeping his eyes on yours.

“Hmm, that's why you don't like Journey's Faithfully." He shrugged with one shoulder. "At least this explains why you have lady friends and not girlfriends.” You watched his eyes move from yours to your lips before he leaned back licking his lips.

“Hammered that nail right on the head didn’t you.”

“I’m an FBI agent, it’s my job to notice things.” You shrugged, patting him on the thigh before leaning back into the couch.

A month in and you’re still analyzing security tapes. Two months worth of tape was exhausting to look over. Staring at this screen all hours of the day was starting to strain your eyes, but all you could do was rub them and keep going. You never heard of these necklaces until you started this case, but every time you switched on the footage you noticed they attracted a lot of attention.

You were watching the recording three weeks before the thief happened. In the corner of the camera, a guy with a notepad walked by looking around each exhibit like he was taking notes. Is he doing recon to see where the cameras and sensors are at? You couldn't see his face, but notice the red jacket he was wearing. You speed up the camera keeping a close eye on him, but he doesn’t stay before he wanders off in the other direction. You make a note of the date and time of his appearance and what he was wearing. You skip over to the next day but saw nothing.

A week later, Red Jacket showed up on camera again. This time he was standing close to the blue stone necklace almost like he was examining the cases lock mechanism. Then, you don’t see him again until three days before the hologram turned off. You go to the front entrance camera of the museum and watch him walk in. He never gets anywhere near the necklace nor does he leave the museum out the front door. You might finally have something.

“Gamora, I got something.”

“Seriously? What is it?”

“A possible suspect, Red Jacket,” you said, pointing at the screen.

It was Thursday night, and once again it involved hanging out at Peters apartment. You always hung out on Thursdays because he worked at the bar, Trash Panda, on Friday nights and weekends.

His apartment was always a disaster with takeout containers, and clothes laying on the floor. Cd's, DVD's, cassettes, and records laid everywhere else. Peter also had some weird decor, or as he called them his useful relics. There was a broken sword, which he called Dragonfang, a knock-off Jackson Pollock painting, and a basketball size Pac-man head. It might’ve been dirty but it felt more like a home than your apartment ever did.

“Why do you always insist on watching the old Footloose versus the new one?” You asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Peter.

“The old one has Kevin Bacon. And if you don’t like Bacon something is wrong with you.” You rolled your eyes and Peter’s phone starts ringing. “Pizzas here. I’ll go get it, can you put the movie in?”

“On it.” You put the disk in the player and grabbed the remote off the end table. A picture frame you never noticed before catches your eye. You pick it up taking your usual spot on the couch. The image was of a much younger Peter laying on the grass listening to his Walkman with a woman you could only suspect to be his mother.

“Got the pizza. You got the beer. Let's watch this flick.” Peter carried in the pizza kicking the door close but stops short seeing you staring at a picture in your hand. “Ahhhh….whatcha got there?”

“Is this your mom?”

“Oh ah, yeah.” He walked over setting the pizza down on the coffee table and taking a seat in his usual spot next to you.

“She’s beautiful. Is she....”

“Dead…...no. She’s very much alive,” he answered, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Um, her name is Meredith. She’s an amazing mother, but she does have an inoperable brain tumor.” You set the picture back down beside you.

“I'm sorry, Peter.” You reached for his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“It's okay. It's not the first time she fought this. She’ll beat this thing again, I just know it,” he said with a hopeful spark in his eyes.

His mom beat cancer before and it’s back. You couldn’t even imagine how hard it was for him to see his mother going through this the first time; let alone a second time. You would never want to relive any of your bad memories all over again.

“Still, it must be hard to watch her go through all this again," you sympathized, squeezing his hand again before letting go. “I’d hate to see you go through this alone, so I’m here if you need anything, okay?” He nodded with a sly smirk on his face. “I’m serious! If you want a home-cooked meal or need help getting your mind off this or --”

“I get it,” he interrupted you by patting you on the leg. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Really.”

“Is your dad still around at all? It must be tough on him, too?"

“No, he’s not. He’s dead, but he was never really in the picture when I was growing up. I mean he was, but he wasn’t. He taught me a lot but it was always me and my mom.” Peter grabbed a beer and rotated the bottle in his hand smearing the condensation across the label.

“I’m sorry, that’s tough to deal with growing up.” He nodded his head before twisting off the top and taking a sip. “Do you at least get to see your mom often?”

“As often as I’m allowed,” he murmured, wide-eyed at the floor before flickering them back to you with his eyebrows raised. “Anyways, ready to watch this flick?” You nodded, dropping the subject. He didn’t want to continue talking about this and you understood, but you couldn’t stop thinking about his choice of words.

“How’s work? Find any new clues on your case or whatever?”

“Yeah, I may have found a break in the case actually. Gamora seemed pretty happy about it so did Kraglin and he’s tough to impress.”

“Nice work.” The opening credits start coming across the screen and Peter starts tapping his leg and humming some tunes before he starts singing. “Leaning on my pillow in the morning / Lazy day in bed music in my head / Crazy music playing in the morning light / Oh-ho-ho It’s magic you know / Never believe it's not so.”

“Stop singing and watch the damn movie.” You nudged him in the ribs, forcing him to stop and snicker. “Why are you singing that song anyways?”

“Oh, the pizza guy was singing it. It’s a classic, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, something like that,” you replied, grabbing a slice. It was the same song from the recent heist. It might have nothing to do with the case, but it didn't hurt to look into this pizza place or their employees, even if it led to a dead end.

#peter quill x reader #peter quill #peter quill reader insert #peter quill au #peter quill image #avengers #star-lord x reader #star-lord au #star-lord #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel image #avengers image #guardians of the galaxy #gotg #to catch a thief

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 5 years

Text

Winner’s Curse Ch. 9

Note: Thanks to @edream93 for her help in looking over the new OC I introduce here and helping to keep some originality.

For the past few days the small group had traversed the jungle since its unknown terrain covered miles around the coast of the island. Always stopping for a couple of hours so Calix and Jordan could repair a hole they found and to eat or to hide whenever pirates or other sea dwellers came to the small strip of sand to scour for washed up weapons, kelp or bits of soggy, half-eaten food.

It was their third day on the road and they all walked in silence to the cliffs, pushing back leaves and occasionally cutting the overgrown roots that cut into the upward path to Skull Mountain.

Jordan had no idea what the others were thinking, but her nervousness over their lack of detailed planning and the fact that Jay did not seem so familiar with the jungle territory as he claimed to be, dissipated to a dull nagging in the back of her mind thanks to the past few nights of no sleep.

They felt that they covered most of the shoreline, but Jay said it would be best to make sure they fixed all the holes, and the best way to see the barrier was on the ledge of the aptly named Skull Mountain.

Skull Mountain was the mountain ledges connected to the volcano of the Isle, and ironically did not possess any skull-shaped rock formation. It had been displaced since Chernabog had chosen it as his resting place. The imposing figure created an image of a stone dark angel since he had stayed immovable since the creation of the Isle 20 years ago. He never unfurled his wings once during those long years which led to numerous speculations and bets as to when he would wake up.

Claude Frollo always ranted that Chernabog would arise when Judgement Day came bringing death and the volcano’s eruption. Sheriff Nottingham said that Chernabog was already awake, what else caused all the thunderstorms around the Isle? Jay personally believed that Chernabog had the right idea to be asleep since the Isle would be boring for the demon if he couldn’t wreck havoc on the Auradonians.

Fortunate for them, Jay was taking them to one of the small cliff ledges near the end of the mountain crest, far from Chernabog’s cliff where the smoke drifted wispily from the edge of the volcano.

“It’s not gonna erupt.” Jay dismissed Aziz’s curious question about the sign of smoke, “It’s like Chernabog, it doesn’t do a thing.”

When Jordan had first saw the imposing view of the cliffs and some rather shoddy, abandoned sculpture work on its side, her first thought had been "Why would villains find time to try to carve skulls in the side of the mountain?"

Now after three days smothered in muggy heat and mosquito bites, and up close to the cliff, all she could think was, "Finally! What I would give for a flying carpet so I would never have to walk again."

By the time they had reached the foot of the cliff, all but Jay were too tired to do the 10 foot climb to the cave ledge and Jordan felt like it would be foolish to wish for them to go up so they decide to sleep there at the foot of the cave.

For the past few nights, Jordan had found it difficult to sleep on the cold, hard, sludgy ground especially when she kept swatting away ants and flies that seemed to determine to use her as a pillow, but today whether it was a combination of heat and tiredness or simply adaptation, she fell asleep immediately.

It was deep dreamless sleep, utterly blissful.....until she was hit on the head. "What the hell?" Jordan yelled summoning pink sparks to web and crackle between her fingers even as she squinted at the bright sunlight that blinded her not-quite opened eyes.

"Get up." Jay said with far too much enthusiasm in the morning. "We're climbing so we can get a better view of the Isle. We’re doing it today with no delay."

Jordan forced herself to fully open her eyes and stumbled to standing position without a snarky comment on his corny rhymes, to study the cliff she was being forced to climb. Seeing the impracticality of her dress for mountain climbing, Jordan transformed her outfit to a black leather Lara Croft style shirt and shorts. Jay and Aziz had thrown themselves onto the mountainside, climbing steadily and skillfully while Calix gripped one piece of rock and promptly slid down to his ass.

"I really didn't think this would involve physical labor." Calix muttered, darkly glaring at the cliff and the two boys who were apparently racing each other to the top.

Jordan saved any cranky agreement she had to focus her energies on climbing the impossible mount. The rocks cut into her hands and were more slippery than they seemed—with every few steps up, she slid back down.

This went on for a while until Jordan gave up. Calix had managed to secure his footing and was climbing past her, her arms were burning and she could feel the sweat drip down her neck. She was over it so she used her magic to transport herself up where Aziz was grinning at her inferior physical skill.

“Wow, using magic already. What happened to saving your energy for when we really need it?” Aziz teased.

Jordan gave him a withering glare and looked around the cave. It was large near the front and seemed to narrow as she walked towards the back where Jay was until she saw that it was narrow enough to be a tunnel.

Calix apparently had made his way up too since he stealthily sneaked up behind her to place his chin on her shoulder and stare in Jay’s direction.

“What are you looking at?” Aziz asked giving voice to what Jordan was thinking. She could tell it was a tunnel, but it was too dark for her to see anything beyond it. Yet Jay was staring intently at it and gently patting at the ground and throwing small stones ahead of him.

“I’m trying to remember if they are booby traps here.” Jay answered.

“No. No no no.” Jordan moved to block the entrance of the tunnel. “I don’t care about whatever is or could be in there. We’re just here to fix the barrier and defeat the Coven. No side trips.”

“Not even to find ancient treasure beyond your wildest dreams?” Jay said, not looking at her but still looking down the tunnel with a faraway glint in his eye.

“Pfft I’M the only ancient treasure beyond anyone’s wildest dreams here. Let’s go.” Jordan said, forcibly hoisting him to his feet and pushing him back to the entrance of the cave.

She glanced back at the tunnel, trying to glimpse beyond the darkness, trying to feel some magical energy that would signal there was something there. Faintly, she felt a buzz between her fingers that began to travel up her arms to her throat. It felt like a claw scratching at her palate and grit crunching between her teeth.

There was something magical there. Magical and dangerous.

So she lied to Jay, “If there was some ancient treasure, I would sense it. I sense a draft of cold wind, and the smell of rust so your “awesome” treasure might be a broken sword. Nothing worth exploring that tunnel.”

Jay raised an eyebrow at her, “Sure there isn’t. But fine, if you want to be a coward about it and not try to get an artifact that could help us..”

He was seriously trying to goad her into finding whatever the thing is? This was unbelievable. There entire world was at stake, and Jay still harbored his kleptomaniac tendency to go impulsively after any treasure, just to look at that shimmering gold. If he could be even more obvious that he wanted to-

Calix cut into her thoughts, pointing, “I see a few holes we missed at the southwestern side, right there.”

Jordan ignored Jay’s stubborn stance in front of the tunnel and went to stand between Calix and Aziz. If he wanted to get that gold, fine. She wasn’t going to stop him. A part of her knew that being a leader probably meant keeping track of your team, but she didn’t want to stay around and say something she would regret like how she thought he sounded like his father.

Calix was right, she could see the shimmering edges of the invisible barrier that gave s view of the ocean beyond compared to the blurry, shifting image of the ocean from the rest of unbroken barrier.

“Makes sense since that’s close to the bridge to Auradon. Right, Jay?” Jordan said, directing Jay’s attention away from staring at the tunnel behind him.

“Uh yeah.” Jay squinted at the horizon.

“Ayiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi!” Came a cry from the jungle. Vultures came flying out from the towering tree across from them, but she couldn’t see any other animal move.

The boys immediately grabbed their weapons into a defensive stance while Calix and Jordan’s magic began to crackle from their fingers.

The cry didn’t sound like an animal. It lacked the guttural wildness. It was too controlled, and too frighteningly close.

The call shifted direction seemingly coming from their left side, and it began to vary its sound. “Aaaaay-oh. Aaaaaaay-oh. Ayiyiyiyi!”

“Ahhhhhooooooohhhhhh" the yell shouted again and Jordan pulled out a dagger for extra protection.

"Show yourself!" Jay yelled out.

A large, motionless body dropped to their feet with a thud, sliding slightly to leave a trail of blood. The four teens jumped back with a scream, another figure swung in and kicked Jay into the group making them all fall down like dominoes. The figure grabbed the weapons that Jordan and Aziz accidentally dropped and threw it over the cliff.

Jay managed to get up first causing the figure to aim a high-kicked at his throat. Jay ducked which seemed to be the figure's intention for as he ducked low, she grabbed the shafrahs he loosely held in hands and threw it with the rest of the weaponry.

"Hey, you!" Calix shouted, right hand raised to cast a spell.

The attacker looked toward Calix, pounced ontop of him and pulled him into an arm lock until they heard a crack before stepping away to stand at the entrance next to the motionless body which Jordan now recognized was a dead hyena. All of them froze, breathing heavily, looking at each other to make the next move.

Standing in the light, Jordan could see their attacker was a slender, statuesque young girl about their age. She had dark skin and white hair pulled up into a messy bun that indicated she was probably of Atlantean origin, yet her brown eyes were nothing like she had seen before. Her pupils were dilated to slits similar to an angry cat.

The girl's outfit was bare essentials with a sleeveless, midriff-bearing hyena fur top that left little imagination of the cleavage that was beneath, and showed off a toned stomach that Jordan bet most mortals would envy.

Her black wrapped skirt with a shredded hem looked like it was made out of tent fabric, but the bulky material was compensated with its shortness that allowed one to see the girl’s legs for days.

The one distressing detail that marred the outfit was the splotches of dried brown blood and fresh red stains, and the top had animal canines hanging to the bottom like one would do with fringe beads

"I am Ranavalalona." The girl announced with a lilting accent, pulling out a small spear that she had apparently strapped to her back, "What are you doing in my territory?"

Jordan looked at the boys from the corner of her eyes. They all looked dazed and slightly dreamy even Calix, still rubbing his limp wrist, was leering at the girl that hurt him.

She supposed she could see the appeal since this Ranava-whatshername had the whole jungle princess thing going on with the fur bikini and swinging on vines, but Jordan personally couldn't go for a girl who wore animal teeth as accessories.

"Well?" Ranavalalona took another step towards them, pointing the spear right at Aziz’s heart.

Jordan saw red. The phrase was cliche and overdone, but that was all she could see at the moment. The possibility of Aziz’s red, oh-too-mortal blood spilled on this moss-strewn cliff. Years of built-up, familial protectiveness fueled her anger already boiling against this intruder for threatening him. Her mind snapped into narrow focus on the girl’s neck, ready to have her spine ripped out at the snap of her fingers. If she dared-

"Lala!" Jay spoke up for them.

“It’s Ranavala-ugh never mind you’ll just butcher it.” Lala said under her breath but Jay continued his happy greetings as if she had stayed silent, "You've grown up so much!"

Lala didn't move her spear away from its intended aim, but she did turn her head to give Jay a wary “Are you kidding me?" look that was too casual for the tense atmosphere at hand.

"Jay. Last time we met, you were 15 and I was 13, and I was as tall as your chin. I haven't changed that much."

Jordan would bet that Lala’s height wasn’t the growth that Jay was referring to, but refrained from commenting on Jay's need to flirt with everyone. Not as long as it distracted this girl from spearing Aziz if he made the wrong move.

Lala addressed her question again to Jay, "What are you doing here?"

"My friends and I were having a little field trip. I wanted to show them how real people fight, spears and animals and blood, all that stuff. So we took a little nap at your cave and we were just leaving." Jay smiled charmingly yet Lala looked unimpressed.

"Unoccupied cave he said. Unoccupied my ass." Jordan could hear Aziz hiss under his breath while staring longingly at the jungle girl.

"Cute answer. Tell me the truth or I will let you go on the condition that your friends go back to their kingdom as corpses." Lala said. The threat slipped past Jordan’’s mind as she finally deciphered that the lilting accent Lala had was a faint British accent.

This just made her wonder even more which villain could she possibly be the daughter of?

An Atlantean with a British accent that lived in the jungle?

"You can try, but that girl you're threatening to stab is a genie. She can't die. Broken wrist there is Circe's son, and Aziz, okay, Aziz could probably get killed, but he's Aladdin's son so that would be a really bad decision on your part if you kill Agrabah's prince." Jay said, slowly edging his way to Lala's side, "We're here on a mission to stop the Coven which I know your mom is a part of. But I have a more interesting proposition if you join us to defeat her."

Lala's offensive stance didn't waver, yet her eyes lost their suspicious cat slits and became much more open and curious.

At that moment, Jordan was close enough to see a faint scar that looked like an animal claw had trailed it's claws on Lala's right thigh though it became hidden when it circled to the back of her leg. Another potential scar was visible as puncture wounds on both of her shoulders; dozens of small tree/animal scratches on her legs and arms and blue bruises were beginning to bloom on her ribs.

Jordan felt her heart tug with pity for this girl. She wasn't an attacker, she was defending herself like all the other Isle kids. Jay had been ruthless in tourney as he had been trained to be in his life, often quoting the Isle’s unofficial philosophy of “Kill or be killed” which must apply all the more to someone who spent her hours in the jungle.

Once more a sick guilty feeling gnawed in Jordan’s stomach. This all laid at the fault of Auradon. The so-called good kings and queens who protected their kingdoms by allowing villain to live separate and raise their children in this violent-ridden hovel.

Lala curtly nodded for Jay to continue talking, letting a bang come loose and cover the bloody mark near her left temple.

"I’m guessing La is the same as always.” Jay began.

Oooh her mother was Queen La. that explained everything! And it was so obvious too. La. La. Lala.

Queen La was such a minor villain who had only fought Tarzan though that it was easy to forget she existed. Just like no one outside of Agrabah would know of Abis Mal or Mozonroth, much less their repeated attacks against the royal family.

“Queen La.” Lala automatically corrected.

“Fine, I bet Queen La is the same as always, right? She’s immortal so she plans to never give up her throne in Opal or whatever and has no plans for you to take over as heir or for you to do anything.” Jay said.

“It’s Opar, and no, I’m never going to rule anything. I quote,” Lala thickened her British accent, “Ranavalalona, don’t be delusional. If you’re slow enough to allow Sabor to scratch you, think of how much worse it would be if you got into a fight with me. Besides, if I had to choose an heir, it would the children I’ll have with Tarzan. Not you.” And then she talks about having sex with Tarzan, and their perfect children and reigning again and on and on.”

“If you join us, you might have a chance to do something of your own. You could rule Opar. You could be queen.” Jay urged, pumping more enthusiasm in the conversation then was present in Lala’s face.

“Jay,” Jordan murmured warningly, she knew he was trying to lure Lala with appealing things if she helped them, but she certainly did not want to be the one to break it to her that no way in hell would anyone in Auradon would give her a kingdom or let her be queen.

“If what you say is true..” Lala challenged, “How are you going to do it? I doubt the king would obey your whim so easily, and even a thief like you can’t steal a kingdom.”

“We have a genie. Duh. I mean technically they don’t since it’s “degrading” but-“ Jay explained.

A loud buzzing sound deafened the rest of Jay’s words and Jordan felt faint. She could already feel the phantom hands groping and caressing, leaving goosebumps and streaks of heat-searing pain. Her throat constricted as her thoughts wildly chased one another, jumbling into a mess.

He was offering wishes, he was offering her, being sold without any regard to what she wanted. What did she expect. She was a genie, this was what she was born to do. Grant wishes and serve others whether she liked it or not.

Jordan felt the rise of bile breaking past the lump but forced herself to focus on keeping it down. That helped to alleviate her flashbacks a bit to return to the cold reality that the thief and warrior were still bargaining over her.

“4 wishes. One for each intruder.”

“That’s not how genie magic works. It’s three wishes for one master and that’s only if..” Jay corrected.

“I don’t care about your mythologies. I want the four wishes.” Lala glared, holding out her hand as if she expected Jay to physically hand her the wishes.

“Fine.” Jay said, holding out his hand for a shake to seal the deal. Lala gingerly shook his hand before flipping him over with a scowl, “I believe it is best left unsaid what I’ll do if you break your deal.”

Jordan’s breath caught in her throat again when she felt a reassuring squeeze of her hand.

Aziz whispered under his breath in arabic, “Nothing’s going to happen. He’s lying. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

The “I won’t let that happen” was left unsaid but it was understood.

“I know.” Jordan tried to go for light-heartedness, “When have you ever known me to do something I didn’t want to do.”

The affectionate moment between them was rudely interrupted when Lala shoved Jay into Aziz and walked towards the tunnel, “Let’s get started. I will lead you to the castle so you can do whatever it is you need to.”

“Not now.” Calix contested, “We have to fix the holes in the barrier.”

Jordan took a deep breath and cleared her throat so her voice wouldn’t come out as shaky as it would have a minute ago, “He’s right. We’re fixing the barrier first so the Coven doesn’t have an escape, and for that we’ll have to travel there.”

“Or transport yourself there. Show off your powers.” Lala suggested, eyeing Jordan in a way that reminded her of when Rajah saw a delectable piece of meat.

Jordan stiffened and plastered a fake smile despite the growing pit in her stomach at the thought of Lala observing her powers so she could best make her choice, “That is a good idea. But it would take too much energy for me to transport all of us so two of you would have to stay behind like you and-and..”

“I’ll stay behind.” Jay volunteered, punching Lala on the arm, “We can catch up.”

“Don’t be friendly to me. It’s weird.” Lala hissed, punching his arm in return.

“I’ll stay behind with both of them.” Aziz added, leveling a suspicious glare specifically at Jay which Jay matched, “Three’s better than one.”

“Fine.” Jordan snapped her fingers and took herself and Calix to the southwestern side before they needed to interfere with a brawl. They were almost grown up, they could handle themselves.

They worked in silence, Calix muttering Greek incantations under his breath as he wielded his crystal wand and Jordan stretched her pink magic like a giant band-aid over the holes.

Calix broke the comfortable silence with a nervous cough, “Uh I-I well um, I know we don’t usually talk about her feelings. But- if you could. Only if you want. I’ll listen. You seemed pretty freaked out back there when Jay offered-”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Jordan snapped, not sounding as breezy as she would have liked to have sounded. “I mean..uh I appreciate your offer and I will come to you. Just..we have bigger things to worry about so repressing my fears seems to be the best option.”

‘Yeah.” Calix nodded curtly and they went back to work in silence for the next five minutes.

Once the two stepped back to observe that the translucent barrier was whole, Jordan said softly, “If you ever need to talk about your mom. I’ll listen too.” Calix nodded at the ground, “Thanks, but I think repressing my feelings seems to be the best option for now.”

Jordan nodded understandingly even though an uncharacteristic part of her suddenly wanted to know everything Calix was thinking about this situation despite the possibility of tears and ugly crying. Calix had been oddly silent the whole trip, not cracking jokes and it frankly unnerved her. But she knew Calix was like herself. If he wanted to deny anything was happening, he would do it stubbornly until it backfired on him. Usually in the form of a drinking binge with Dionysus or some other half-hearted coping mechanism.

She just hoped he would cope with it until the time came.

Jordan reached out and gave Calix a reassuring hand squeeze, hoping he would feel less alone like whenever Aziz did it with her. Calix didn’t look at her, but squeezed more tightly as with their hands intertwined Jordan snapped her fingers to return to the cliff ledge.

They were greeted with the sight of Aziz, Jay and Lala sitting cross-legged in a small circle. Jay and Aziz were fighting in English with a mix of Arabic that Aziz kept adding since they all knew Jay wasn’t fluent in his father’s tongue which Jay angrily reacted to, thinking Aziz was cursing him out and he retorted likewise.

Lala sat between them, skinning her hyena, shaking her head with the annoyance of someone dealing with two irate children.

“Guys. Let’s get going.” Jordan clapped to get their attention, ignoring the scowls the two shot at each other. She didn’t know what they were arguing about and she didn’t want to hear at this moment. They had a mission to do, and she hoped the two would be mature enough to bottle it for a more convenient time.

Despite some grumbling under their breath, Jay and Aziz didn’t seem up to any childish avoidance or silent treatment as they gathered the weapons that Calix levitated from the ground and walked to the cave entrance.

Lala slung her hyena over shoulder and pulled a stray charred stick of wood that was on a small woodpile next to the tunnel entrance. It took a couple of tries, scraping it against the moist cave walls, but she alighted it and motioned for them to go single-file before her.

Jordan felt suspicious as to the reason why Lala was behind them, blocking any route to escape, instead of in front but she didn’t see any argument that wouldn’t lead to Lala potentially getting offended and losing her help.

The tunnel was pitch black save for the light of the torch and the hotness of the jungle heat gave way to the icy freeze of the inner mountain where water droplets abounded on the cave’s ragged walls.

It had started out high enough for Jay to walk comfortable at his full height but as they ventured father inward, they all had to bend down to a crawl on their hands and knees, and forgo the torch flame since the width space narrowed to that of an air vent. The gravel dug into Jordan’s skin and hands and she was sure she was going to come out looking like she spent her time in a chimney with the way the broken bits of cave wall crumbled around her.

They were silent during this trek, taking in their limited surroundings and silently wondering how much longer it would take, the only sound being the constant drip of water and Lala’s steady inhales and exhales.

Abruptly, their crawl stopped at the sound of rushing water and Jordan felt Calix nose smash uncomfortably against her butt while she narrowly avoided crashing into Aziz’s by pressing her cheek to the wall.

“Why are you stopping?” Lala harshly demanded, unexpectedly sounding breathless “Move!” “I can’t. There’s no ground, there’s a waterfall.” Jay protested at the front of the line.

“MOVE.”

“I-”

“You jump. It’s just water. MOVE!” Lala yelled frustratedly, scraping her nails against the walls, “Move, damnit. Do you want to be stuck here.”

Jay hesitated for a second and then dove out followed by Aziz shouting “Geronimo!”

Jordan approached the end of the tunnel and looked out to be splashed in the face by an icy spray of water. The hole they were coming out of was positioned directly next to a waterfall which fed into a large lake encompassing the high-ceiling cavern with walls of cave-man like stick drawings dotted by random flourishes of moss and vines that had thrived in the mountain’s crevices. It reminded Jordan a bit of the ancient Kuzcotopian temples hidden inside mountain caves, and wondered if this used to be the site of one.

She didn’t have to wonder long for she felt an insistent push of Calix bumping into her thanks to Lala’s prodding.

Jordan reluctantly looked down at the 20 foot drop into cold water. She wished there was a way to get to the left side of the cavern where there was a thin strip of bare land that had a small campfire.

The word ‘wish’ reminded her of her idiocy. Always forgetting that she was a genie even when an hour ago she had been painfully aware of the fact.

“MO-”

Lala’s command faded away with the sound of the waterfall as she magically transported herself to the strip of land where Jay and Aziz was swimming towards.

Jordan heard the splash of Calix taking the dive and saw Lala sitting comfortably at the holes edge, hyena still slung over her shoulder and the charred wood in her mouth. She reached to the right side of the hole where there was a scrap of vines and moss growing in the crevice. She pulled at a vine and swung gracefully to one of the rocks jutting out in the middle of the lake. She walked to shore on a path of rocks and sandbars that were hidden beneath the water but were enough to keep her dry from the ankles up.

“You couldn’t have told us about the vine?” Jay rolled his eyes as he shook his wet hair and clothes like a dog.

“None of you know how to swing on a vine.” Lala responded in a tone that made evident her disgust on their lack of vine-swinging knowledge.

“So is this the-” Calix began to ask when Lala interrupted, “No, of course not. It’s Maleficent’s castle. I may be helping you, but I want to eat my lunch first so sit down and make a fire.”

They all looked at each other and sat down obediently to make the fire. They had no idea where they were so their only choice was to trust this girl and do what she wanted for the time being even though Jordan secretly bemoaned the time they were probably wasting.

Calix and Jordan had been about to put on a fire with the use of their magic but Jay jumped in with a show of demonstration in his wilderness survival know-how.

Lala silently but generously cut up the hyena pieces for each of them, only speaking to inform them that they could safely eat the meat once the fire had made the edges of the skin a nice pink color.

After Jay showed off his fire-making skills, Aziz bragged about the time he had gotten lost in the desert and survived three days on his followed by Jay’s story of fighting a crocodile and even Calix joined in the boasting reccounting a harrowing hangover where he ended up in Troy with no memory of the past week and the journey he took to find out what the hell he did.

Jordan had heard these stories before so zoned out and looked around. The place was pretty bare since the lake covered most of the ground area. There were small cliff juts on the right walls so she guessed that was how people had managed to draw their cave paintings.

On the strip of land, there were two fur blankets by the wall with spears and knives placed nearby. There were a few dartboards tacked up bearing numerous holes from what looked like constant target practice use by large pricks than darts.

Lala slipped away from them to go to the faded orange blanket of what looked like to be tiger fur and began digging diligently until she took out a book and a red jewel, shaped like a hand-sized crystal ball.

Jordan poked at Calix to stop his story and pointed at Lala whose back was turned toward them as she read her book.

The dusty grit and scratchy throat feeling returned and suddenly Jordan knew that this must have been the dangerous magical artifact that she had sensed.

Almost ceremonially with her back still turned to them, Lala took off her top, fully displaying the scratches and puncture marks that ran down her back, some still bright red and shiny with wet blood. Lala took the jewel and rubbed it on her back and shoulders, making the red ball lose it’s shiny luster, now that it was covered with the deep crimson of her blood.

Jordan wished she could creep closer to hear if Lala was saying any incantations but knew that to creep closer would probably alert the jungle girl that she had an audience and then they wouldn’t know what the jewel was capable of.

It was no matter since Lala began to chant, slightly in musical key but mainly in the low voice of a priest evoking the will of the gods.

“Take this blood

Strengthen its endurance.

Break this earthly cycle

Set the spirit free.

Spill it before fire

And heal unto me.

Please heal unto me.”

Before their very eyes, the marks on Lala’s began to shrink of blood, thin to faint lines and close up, healing her to smooth, untouched skin as if she had never been in a vicious fight.

Lala put her top back on and hopped up to face them, holding the jewel and book in her hand, staring at them knowingly even though they tried to look as if they were still intently eating or were mesmerized looking at the fire.

“You should know if you want to spy and act like you’re not doing it. You shouldn’t suddenly all stop talking.” Lala said matter of factly, tying up her belongings in the tiger fur blanket that she converted to a sling-on bag.

“Your mom gave her the jewel?” Jay whistled, looking impressed and a little...jealous? Jordan wondered if he was thinking of his own magic roots and that maybe if he had stayed on the Isle this long, he would have been able to learn how to wield his father’s snake staff.

Lala shrugged, pursing her lips like she wasn’t going to talk but then she shrugged again, “It was from my mom’s leopard staff. She decided to create a better, less breakable jewel and I… I just wanted to see if I could do the priestess stuff she did. You have to admit,” She thrust her bare left shoulder, free of claw marks, “It’s helpful.”

No one made any comment about the matter and devoted to finishing the surprisingly tasty yet chewy meat. Jordan observed that the scar that Lala possessed on her thigh still remained and secretly mused on why Lala decided to skip that mark.

After they finished their meal, Lala jumped up again, and began to push away a plaster that covered another tunnel entrance.

“This way to the castle.” Lala announced.

#winner’s curse #my fanfic #my fanfiction #disney descendants #jay #aziz #jordan #calix #lala #my ocs #ocs #chapter nine

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 7 years

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Oh! I wanna hear your hyper critical opinions towards p3 (and p4 if youre up to it). I am genuinely curious as to what it is!

pDSOAPFADFJIOA;FJIA;JF;DA Ahhhhhhh if only I wrote down everything I said (I did this over a year ago). under the cut cause long:

It was easier cause I was ripping it as we played and I had some nitpicks in the dialogue (more so with like “WAIT THAT MAKES NO SENSE!” or “WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO THAT CONCLUSION?!” kinda thing rather than a translation error). But I can’t really specify what it was cause it was so long ago. The only one that comes to mind is when they’re jerks to Naoto, it must be how she’s talking in Japan cause like.......they’re really, REALLY rude to her. Like, they do realize she has a right to be suspicious of them right? Like, don’t get me wrong, I loooooooove the animosity in some way (great foe-yay/rival shipping yay fodder for me to ship her with the MC ahuhuhu 8U) but dang I wish they made more tension (and made it even). That’s actually the one thing I thought the P4 anime did right (and trust me I don’t think that anime did a lot of things right, esp concerning Naoto...ironically XD), they really built the tension between her and the group very well. Anyway I want to go into more detail some other time, maybe when I replay the two games, but for now I’ll give you a general overview).

Ok so all and all I think P3 and P4 are fine the way they are. They did a good job with them. P3 for being Hashino’s first hoorah into the series (also didn’t have enough time or money to include everything and had to cut stuff, LIKE THE FEMC! ;W;), and P4 for.....having such....a small.....budget....and....not a lot of time....and.....the company was struggling.....Like dang man I’m surprised we got P4. So like, compared to P5, I’m a lot easier on these two cause in one case Hashino was trying to find his style, and the other he was struggling with working with almost nothing (P5, however, didn’t have any of these issues).

Ok so like.....My biggest issue with P3 is mostly it’s characters and character relationships. P4.....I wish we could’ve hung out with Naoto earlier (even before she joined the team, that would’ve been interesting if the MC and her met up and attempted to draw more info out of each other about the case), and I wouldn’t have minded if they added more to the murder plot.

P3....ngl the first act until Aigis show’s up is.....so....slow.....and boring....and no one is really likeable imo. I hated Yukari, I hated Junpei. Mitsuru seemed interesting but she wouldn’t hang out. Akihiko....didn’t really care for him, but I couldn’t hang out with him. I couldn’t hang out with Yukari or Junpei if I wanted to (Yukari won’t hang out till around Aigis joins anyway, I remember from my last playthrough we tried, it was an NG+ and she snubbed us). Kenji is a moron (don’t hate him, feel bad for him, but god so boring), Kaz is a moron, didn’t do Yuko the first time (should’ve I did like her, hate I only got the first rank the first time I ever played through P3), I didn’t like Chihiro (she started off fine but was kinda creepy later on), can’t hang with Fuuka unless you have maxed courage cause eff me (not like I can ever remember her gd link anyways that’s how forgettable it is, I don’t even like Yukari but at least I remember her’s). Basically......the SL sucked balls. Major balls (I liked Maiko, the Star dude, the old couple, the Hermit, and the Devil......I guess the Tower too he was ok, and....that’s it....for outside teammate links aka Aigis and Mitsuru). Silly was not a happy camper when she popped P3 in after having fun with P4 (and esp after being told P3 was a GAZZILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!1!), tbh I took like a 4 month break from P3 and replayed P4 before I picked P3 back up (after Aigis showed up I def enjoyed it a heck of a lot more after that). Now, P3′s plot is really good and very solid, it’s P3′s strong point. My issue is that.....everything P3 does is for the sake of the plot. It does it well, don’t get me wrong, but everything about the characters is only happening cause “plot demands it.” They never felt super fleshed out, and it’s probably why they feel a little odd (maybe even flat-ish) in the spinoff games (even more so than the P4 team), cause the spinoff games aren’t relying on their (P3′s) plot. I also don’t buy a lot of their friendships (esp the males teammates with the Male MC), Yukari and Mitsuru’s is....ok (I don’t like how the game makes it feel like “oh you have a dead dad? me too! let’s be friends” as a thing, I know she’s just trying to relate and sympathize but.....I’ve seen that as a complaint come up by a lot of people, for someone so popular Yukari isn’t much of a people person in this regard, from how the game frames it that is). Also the fact you can’t friend girls. There’s not a lot of bonding moments in the game, there’s more than P5, but I still don’t feel as close to the team as I should even by the end. And gawd, Ryoji? Wut I’m friends with him now? How? When? I like the guy but I don’t think he likes me. You’d think he’d want to hang out with me cause.....PHAROS! ;W;

There’s more but I don’t want to leave you hanging, but anyway it’s just....I have a lot of issues with how the characters are handled. They’re good characters, I wish there just....more to them. But the thing is.....THIS IS AN EASY FIX! You’ve probably heard me say about the P5 manga/anime “a change in medium can do wonders” or something like that. That’s cause I have P3 to look at. The manga and movies do wonders for P3 my problems with P3. There’s more bonding, character relationships are improved yadda yadda. Yes there are issues within the manga and movies themselves...... but they do a lot of good things too. One of the things the movies did was actually......influenced by it’s P3P remake (aka establish a relationship with Ryoji, yay!). Oh man, P3P/the FeMC fixed sooooooooooooo many problems (it also added some even more awesome duality to a game that already had a lot of duality going on with it), I can talk to Yukari and Junpei from the get go (and they treat me different, and more pleasantly than when I played as the dude), I can actually hang out with the guys (and I DON’T automatically have to date them, in fact I have to work to date them, every single one), the stats for character requirements are laid out more fairly like in P4 so by the time someone is available I can probably talk to them (without having to kill myself trying to manage my social stats).But man, the first act just flows so much better when you’re able to bond with your teammates (also Rio and Saori are great SLs!). Even tho they don’t change the female SLs pretty much at all (making it veeeery gay XD), it does feel like it is at least a friendship by the end (even tho I’m literally dating everyone and you can’t tell me otherwise! 8U). I also love her personality comes across more clearing (and varied) than the males, there’s a more clear progression of her psyche than her male counterpart (it’s still there, just not as obvious, and I love how they’re inverted to each other~! :D). It’s just, with P3, the really minor changes go a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way. The only thing I would change with P3 is the minor stuff. Just add more scenes (that don’t take up time) to the game, on both sides. Gameplay wise add more SLs, alternative SLs even. Heck, if they remade the game, I think being able to go to new places would be cool (and it’d be where you’d meet your new SLs) cause man you’re in a city, you deserve to do more stuff! It’s just the little things man, the little things can make a big impact! It says something that probably my fav Persona fanfic and fav Strain42 Persona parody comicis the P3(P) ones, even tho P4 is my fav game. You change a few things around, even the medium, and it makes a difference.

Ok onto P4. Now P4 is the opposite of P3, with P4 it’s strong point is it’s characters. The characters drive P4. P4 is character based, P3 is plot based. P4 the plot takes a back seat. This is fine, it works in P4′s favor, like how the plot worked in P3′s favor. P4′s plot is ok, it does a great job with supporting the characters. Sadly I understand if you wanted more murder mystery (or just mystery) in a murder mystery game. And in P4′s defense, again, it had a barebones budget and not a lot of time and the company was doing pretty bad and P4 still came out pretty great (was the most popular before P5 came out, lord knows if it may even come out on top again if it gets an updated graphics/gameplay remake). And it’s also really hard to keep a murder mystery going for about 70-100ish hours (and only finally solving it in the last 1/5 of the game). Also P4, like P3 (forgot to mention that above), sticks to it’s theme really well. Even making it solving it/obtaining the good ending routes semi-difficult. Sure you can deduce Adachi, but tbh it’s also difficult. They do a pretty decent job building the guy up as a friend (even more so in P4G due to the SL). Izanami is also well hidden. The game makes you work and it rewards you.

Now if I were to change stuff.....it’d range from minor to major depending on what we’re talking about. Minor would be adding more scenes of Naoto bonding (she needs it cause the late game doesn’t do her justice), and like I mentioned above, I think have a deduction off would be interesting (Naoto’s SL was one of my favs cause of how we solved a gd mystery, god I’m so mad that never made it into the anime, even as an ova, it could’ve been a great team-building filler one too). Another thing I’d add would maybe be.....something similar to quests, but instead you have to solve a mystery (which means talking to people, and investigating areas), it can range from finding a cat in a tree or finding a bully or whatever. Just something minor that can give the mystery lovers something fun to do. I’d also have Izanami/gas station attendant be an SL (she originally was the Empress before giving that to Margret). Oh I’d also like to take Margret out on “dates” (c’mon gimme dem fun shenanigans). And.....now this can be minor or major (depending on what they do, but it’s probably more major), add another red herring. I don’t care how.....but....it would help draw attention away from Adachi. Maybe they’re added from some of the mini mysteries you solved, maybe they squeeze an extra dungeon into the game some how-some way (doubt it for the later, that’d be a major change), but another red herring would be good.

For a Major change it’d be restructuring the plot a looooooot, adding more dungeons for more red herrings. I would actually make Dojima a red herring. He originally was suppose to be the killer (but they thought that was too dark, understandable), with Adachi as the red herring instead. Other than that I’m not exactly sure how they’d overhaul that. I mean, if they made a P4 game based off of P3P’s route (aka different route/game, different killer), I’d like to see their prototype stuff play out. Short-haired ice queen Yukiko, delinquent/bully Rise, Pretty boy Naoto (actual boy this time, also make him dateable.....what? I like Naoto 8U), 1st year MC, Female Teddie, Adult(?) Kanji, Dojima as the killer, Adachi as the red herring (Chie and Yosuke are actually pretty much the same). I’d really like to see that.

But tbh, I don’t really know where to start in giving P4 a major overhaul (except to go with the prototype set up), possibly cause it’d mean introducing/creating new characters. But P5? I do, oh man I know where I would start (P5 is where I’d make my major changes left and right, no minor changes here...except maybe dungeon 1), I’d make soooooo many changes to P5. But that’s for another time (not now, it’d take too long). 8U

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