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sailorgreywolf-german · 4 years

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An Autumn Walk

This is for @hetalia-writers-monthly

The prompt is Quote: “The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let the dead things go” - Anonymous

Characters: Germany and Prussia, mentions of Holy Rome

Relationships: Fraternal Germany and Prussia, GerIta

Word Count: 2,000

Autumn had set upon Berlin in earnest, and it was turning the trees of the Tiergarten golden and red. There was a chill in the air, but it was pleasant.

After living here for so long, Prussia was of the opinion that climate of the city was the best at this time of year. The bite of winter was still distant, and the sweltering heat of the summer was gone.

He also loved the way that the autumn leaves colored the city, painting the streets orange and red. It was a last moment of bright color before the city would lapse into the greys of winter.

He was taking a moment to enjoy the turning of the season with his brother. They were taking a walk through the Tiergarten as a rare break from the demands of building an empire. Germany had asked for some time together, and a stroll through the Tiergarten was the most convenient way to have casual privacy.

Prussia had less on his shoulders now that his brother was in charge of the country, so he was glad to take a walk and offer whatever advice Germany wanted. He still had his own responsibilities as the largest state and as the one who had the closest relationship with the dynasty.

He had given Germany his kings, but he still knew the Hohenzollerns best. He was still the best intermediary between Germany and the monarch. As for the chancellor, it was evident to Prussia that Bismarck was still Prussian to his core. So, there was still an important place for Prussia in Berlin.

As a brother, he had the sense that Germany had asked him to go on this walk with something on his mind. It was easy to tell when he had something turning behind his eyes.

He expected the conversation to start at any moment, because he knew that Germany could never keep his thoughts to himself for very long. If he had something on his mind, then it would come out.

Prussia was just waiting for him to say something. As they walked deeper into the park, far enough that the victory column was no longer visible at the periphery of Prussia’s vision, Germany finally started talking.

He started, “I have been talking to Feliciano.”

That was no surprise; Germany seemed like he was becoming fond of Italy. Ever since the war against Austria, Prussia had noticed the way that they had been spending more and more time together. They seemed to think that it was clandestine or subtle, despite rarely finding a truly private place to talk.

Anyone could have easily seen the magnetism between them. If he had wanted to, Prussia could have easily eavesdropped. But he had chosen to allow the young love to take its course. He was happy for them, albeit slightly concerned with how quickly Germany had seemed to attach to the Italian.

Prussia added in his own mind: Oh yes, I’ve noticed that you’ve taken an interest in him. Anyone could see that.

He did not voice it though, because he had some restraint. He could almost feel Fritz’s hand on his shoulder, reminding him that the realization was not an easy one, and it would take time. Realizing feelings for another man could be difficult, especially for a young man who was still learning about himself.

If Fritz was here, he would remind him how long it had taken him to realize he had an attraction to men.

There was no use in pointing it out to Germany or teasing him. It would only make him more self conscious if he did not realize on his own yet.

So, after a long moment of contemplation, he said, “And what have you been talking about?”

He could guess, since he had once been a young man who stole moments with someone else. But he was certain that Germany would not share all of that with him, since he was his brother. Lover’s moments were meant to be private.

He watched the blonde’s face as he waited for an answer. There was a suggestion of an anxious blush. Germany finally answered, “Oh, many things. My life, his life, the future.”

He sounded anxious, and he was always short when he got anxious. But Prussia thought it still sounded very much like a conversation that lovers might have. Germany gathered himself and started talking again, “I think I like him more than I expected I would. He's not strong or bold, but I still like him.”

There was a furious pink blush in his cheeks now, and Prussia felt for a moment like he understood what this conversation might be. He could already imagine what might be coming next.

Was his brother about to tell him that he had feelings for Italy?

He immediately tried to think of a way to respond so that Germany would feel comfortable talking to him. He had to make sure that his brother did not feel any shame about his feelings.

But, Germany quickly added, “I mean that he is a very good friend.”

Prussia sighed to himself. His brother had not yet come to that realization, or decided to share it with him. He discarded his own prepared speech and looked up at the trees while he was waiting for Germany to get t whatever was on his mind.

He did say, “You know I encourage your diplomatic endeavors, but why are you telling me this?”

There was dappled light filtering in through the trees and it made the whole day feeling charmingly cozy. There was a moment of quiet, which was only punctuated by the crunch of leaves under their feet.

Then, Germany seemed to summon his strength and say, “He was telling me about the Holy Roman Empire. They lived together when Austria ruled him.”

Prussia hid his own surprise, because it had never crossed his mind that Italy had known his younger brother. He hadn’t considered that they lived together before.

It made sense looking back. At the time, Prussia had little to do with the politics of the rest of Europe, and it had escaped his notice.

In all the times that he had watched Germany talking intently to Italy, he had not thought that they may be rekindling a connection. Even if Germany did not remember it, it was entirely possible that he still felt a glimmer of friendship.

Could Italy tell that the man he was talking to was the same one that he had known years ago?

The thought was strangely haunting to Prussia, almost melancholy. How odd it would be to talk to a ghost.

Germany continued to speak, “The way Feli speaks about him makes it sounds like he really misses him. I think they were very good friends.”

Prussia thought, momentarily, that it was amusing that he used the same term as his own romantic feelings. He really must not have any idea what was developing between them.

Then, an old conversation surfaced in his mind. Holy Rome had once told him that he intended to get married to one of Rome’s heirs. It had been a topic Prussia had quickly dismissed once he had severed his relationship with the Catholic empire.

The comment brought it back to mind so clearly, and made a sudden strange sense. Had he meant to marry Italy before his death?

The thought was even more melancholy, because Prussia could easily imagine the grief that Italy had felt when Holy Rome had vanished. He knew the pain of losing a lover.

He glanced at Germany, and could see the likeness of young Holy Rome in his face. He was older now, but he did not look so different. Given the right cloak and hat, it would be easy to see.

How strange and painful that must be for Italy. Did he know that he was talking to half a ghost?

Did he gravitate towards Germany because he could see the resemblance so clearly?

He could not imagine how he would have reacted to a man who looked like his lost love, but who had none of their memories together. Italy must be more conflicted than he was showing.

He wondered if Germany’s own fondness for Italy came from that childhood relationship. The heart may remember what the mind had forgotten.

Germany seemed to be struggling through his thoughts as he said, “When Feli talks about him, I feel almost like almost I knew him.”

He trailed off for a moment, and the methodical crunch of leaves beneath their feet filled the silence.

Prussia thought for a fleeting moment that Germany was about to break through an amnesic barrier. The thought was terrible, because it would bring a cascade of pain and betrayal.

Whatever the feeling of death had been, the pain had been enough for Germany to lock it away in his own mind. There was an experience there that Prussia could not imagine, one that had been terrible enough to forget everything that came before it.

If Germany broke through he would remember that Austria had left him to die on a battlefield, and Prussia feared what the repercussions would be for his psyche. The amnesia was surely a way to protect himself from the knowledge that he was left to die.

Selfishly, he knew that he would also be called to account. If Germany remembered that he was once the Holy Roman Empire, then he would ask why Prussia had never told him. And that was not a conversation Prussia was prepared to have.

He watched with trepidation, wondering if Germany was about to experience the full force of those emotions.

But then Germany shook his head like it was an absurd thought, and Prussia breathed a short sigh of relief.

To reinforce that conclusion, Prussia said, “You did not know him. He died a long time ago.”

He knew it was half a lie, but it was one that would keep Germany from interrogating his own memories.

Germany shook his head one more time and said, “I know that. But, I wanted to ask you if you remembered him. He was our brother, wasn't he?”

He looked like he was trying to put the pieces together in his head. Prussia answered the question, “We had the same father, but I never knew him well. Roderich would know him better than I did. My king was never the Holy Roman emperor, and Holy Rome never lived with me.”

He hoped that would be enough to put the topic to rest and avoid any danger of old memories resurfacing. Germany was chewing the inside of his lower lip, like he was thinking very hard.

Prussia knew that there was more that he could say about the Holy Roman empire, but it would be inappropriate. He had thought Holy Rome was weak and ineffective, and he had spent years training Germany to overcome those qualifies.But, it would be unkind to tell a man about the weak boy he had once been.

Germany pressed him, “Can you tell me what you remember about him?”

Prussia sighed. He had to come up with an answer, and it would have to be one that would satisfy Germany’s curiosity.

He stopped walking, and looked up at Germany solemnly. Hemet the curious blue eyes and said, “Listen to me. Maximilian had too much power for a boy his age, and it killed him.”

He stepped towards his brother and placed his hands on his shoulders. He wanted Germany to listen to every word clearly. He enunciated every word as he said, “That is exactly why I made sure you were ready to become an empire. I was not going to let you fail the way he did. You are the future and I wanted you to be ready. I have lost one brother already, and I will do everything in my power not to lose you.”

The words he dared not say echoed in his mind: I will not be able to bring you back from death a second time.

He omitted the fact that he had spent time planning to fix the deficiencies that had brought Germany so close to destruction before.

He continued, “Now take an example from the season. Let the dead go, and move forward.”

The blonde nodded and replied, “But what about Feli? I want to understand him.”

Prussia drew in one more breath through his nose. He could hear the pangs of love in his brother’s voice, the first love that he neither fully forget nor fully remember.

Prussia answered, “Show him the man that you are, and he’ll love you for it.”

#hetaliawritersmonthly #aph prussia #aph germany #hws gerita

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wildernessuntothemselves · 6 years

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Oppa Knows Best | Part 1

Word Count: 6k Genre: Smut, Angst Summary: If there is anything a lot of people can agree on when it comes to college, it’s that college is about much more than just education; it’s a whole transformative experience. The person you were before college is not the same person you will be after college, and no one knows the truth of that statement quite like you do. You just didn’t expect to change so much so fast. A/N: this is like my fifth friends to lovers story and there is no sign of me stopping any time soon lmao Warnings: This story contains a very unbalanced power dynamic between the two main characters that is unhealthy and shouldn’t be tolerated irl. If someone treats you this way irl please run. This is a fictional story and the plot is basically just a vehicle for the smut. Contains slutshaming and controlling behavior. Also the dirty talk is painfully corny and pornolike so be warned lol. Oppa kink if it wasn’t obvious.

Even though you and Jaehyun were only one year apart in age, he had always babied you, to the extent that the one year you were forced to be apart for the first time since you came onto this earth—on account of him beating you to college first—you spent it lost and adrift like a puppy trying to find its way back to its owner.

Which was completely ridiculous and melodramatic since, during that year you spent apart, Jaehyun never let a day go by in which you didn’t talk to each other. He called or texted you every single day no matter how busy he got and basically kept in better contact with you than even your school friends whom you saw every day. But still, his physical presence was something else. When it came time for you to go to college, there was no question about which one you’d choose, and he didn’t even bother to ask before bringing you all the papers that you would need in order to apply to the same college he attended. He guided you every step of the way lest you make any mistake and get rejected, and before you knew it, you were under your guardian angel’s wings again. Everything was as it should be. Your world was back on track. All the pieces fell—wait, what did he say? He thinks you should get some space from him? What the fuck is he on? You had this whole thing planned ever since you were little kids, and he seemed to be fully on board with that plan up until now. Isn’t that the entire reason you were here?

“I’ve been on your back ever since you were born, but this is college, angel. You’re supposed to let loose a little and experience new things, and you can’t do that if I’m always around you like a second shadow. You’re on the same campus as me so I can still get to keep an eye on you and keep you safe. I don’t need to be your roommate too and be all up in your business all the time. You need a little space to grow and discover yourself.”

He had explained it all so eloquently, so maturely; it made you want to gag. Who the fuck said you wanted space? It sure as hell wasn’t you. The entire reason you chose this college was so you can re-suture your hip to his and never separate again. If you had wanted space, there were a million other places you could’ve gone to instead of here. His whole explanation sounded like bullcrap to you, and it was just so unlike him. Your Jaehyun, Mr. overprotective in the flesh, telling you that he should back off and let you get loose? Yeah, you’re calling bullshit on this.

It didn’t take you long to find out the real reason why he refused to room with you, and it was just so typical, you actually burst out laughing in spite of the pain when you had caught him red-handed. You see, Jaehyun has developed a curious little womanizing streak in your absence. It was both unexpected and entirely predictable. Jaehyun was a man after all, and he had spent his whole life being the exemplary good boy who every mother wished her son would be more like. The only girl he interacted with beyond some cordial, totally neutered socialization was you, and you can unfortunately testify that your relationship was nothing more than an older brother-little sister type of thing. So of course odds were that he would give in to his physical needs eventually, and they say that the more repressed you were, the more freaky the meltdown gets. To his credit, he tried to shield innocent, little you from his promiscuous ways, but alas, he was doomed to fail from the start. You just can’t hide your rendezvous when you’ve gone through half the student body already. Yup, shit sure got freaky. You wouldn’t have been nearly as crushed about this new development if it weren’t for how stupidly in love with him you are. Yes, stupid, dumb, idiotic you had to be every fucking cliché in the book and go and fall in love with your handsome, charming best friend who, of course, saw you as nothing other than a little sister. It was easy to delude yourself back home where your entire world was only a few blocks wide and Jaehyun’s sole attention was on you, but now he has dozens of beautiful women willing to warm his bed every night, and he’s burning through them like he was hell-bent on making up for the years of celibacy he had endured back home. Still you had enough sense of humor and self-awareness to laugh your ass off at the look on his face when you busted him. For a hot second, he tried to claim that the woman he was in bed with, who he didn’t even know the last name of, was his girlfriend and not the night’s flavor. You had sat there and listened to him dig himself into a progressively bigger hole until his partner finally cracked from the awkwardness and exposed his ass.

As much as you wanted to hate him for lying to you and, most importantly, for being with anyone who wasn’t you, you really couldn’t. He remained the same Jaehyun you’ve always known, always around and always there for you. He never let you down. It’s just that you now knew he wasn’t some kind of pure angel, but a grown man with needs and a very healthy sexual appetite. You could no longer continue to live in a fantasy world of your making where he was going to proclaim his love for you any minute now so you can go on and live the happily ever after you’ve been promised by every movie ever. You couldn’t even go the easy route and hate the women he slept with, call them sluts and whores and claim you’re so much better than them. Truth is, if you were in their place, you would’ve slept with him too. Who wouldn’t? He’s handsome and sweet and smart and the sun shines out of his ass. Any girl would be lucky to have him even if just for a night. You could only wish you were so lucky. But despite how so uncharacteristically rational you were about this whole thing—and you gotta admit, you were damn proud of yourself for it—it was all still so surreal, and that feeling, that weird emptiness that came to reside in your chest in place of the fanciful love that once bloomed there, couldn’t be shaken off by any number of rational arguments or self-reflection. And you didn’t know what you had to do to fill that void so it wouldn’t swallow you whole. It messed with your head sometimes, the emptiness; it told you that this was all his fault. It said that he had tricked you into wasting your life on him, that he purposefully fed into your delusion by the inordinate amount of attention and love he lavished on you. It spoke to you of how differently your life could’ve been if you had known how he felt from the start. For one, you wouldn’t have planned your whole life around him. And now you were stuck, forced to keep living in the ghost town you had built for him. So, desperate enough to take another page out of the book of clichés you so loved, you decided that since your years worth of love for him couldn’t possibly be replaced by the tepid, superficial affections that came with crushes and brand new relationships, you were just gonna have to go old school and fuck the bad feelings away. And surprisingly, it worked. For a couple of months, you attended every party on campus you could get into and refused to head home until you had someone in toe. It was awkward at first, for someone with zero experience like yourself, but you had lost the love of your life and were determined to find even a little bit of pleasure in this hell you suddenly found yourself thrown into. That determination paid off, and soon, you were floating high off your sexual awakening and all the new kinds of pleasure that came with it. Before coming to college, you never really thought about sex all that much, just the occasional guilty session where you’d rub one out to the thought of Jaehyun’s hands on you and him telling you what to do like he always did in real life. But those were few and far between and you always felt bad about it afterwards. Now it was entirely different. You reveled in your encounters. It felt good to allow yourself to feel pleasure and share it with someone who genuinely desired you. You got off on it—the effect you had on your partners. Contrary to how your dynamic was and is with Jaehyun, you were shocked to discover how much you enjoyed being the one in control every once in a while. It was much more than just sex to you, it was like discovering a whole other aspect of yourself that you never knew existed and would’ve never known about had Jaehyun not broken your heart. You were enjoying yourself and experiencing new things, just like he told you to, so it was just so fucking hilarious to see him right now, angry and pissed off at you for following the very same advice he gave you. You had noticed the building tantrum a week before it got bad enough for him to confront you about it. He always happened to be at the same parties you attended, and whenever you looked his way, he was always watching you, an ugly grimace on his face and an ominous look in his eyes that told you he was seconds away from ripping apart the person who was daring to touch you limb by limb. He was furious and visibly not in control of his emotions. Perhaps that was the reason why you could decipher another emotion in his eyes that you never saw directed at you before, desire. You didn’t know if it really was the first time he looked at you that way or if he always has but knew better to hide it, but that shit was like a drug to you, and you did everything in your power in order to fan that flame. You wore progressively more revealing clothes and acted progressively more wanton. You made sure he always had a good view of you as you put yourself in all kinds of compromising positions. All your hard efforts culminated to this—him dragging you behind him to his dorm room after he snatched you away from the arms of your dance partner, whom you were practically dry humping on the dance floor. Jaehyun flings you through the door and slams it behind him, his demeanor chilling. You’ve never seen him this angry before. You genuinely didn’t think that your guardian angel was capable of looking this menacing but somehow you managed to get him to this stage. It didn’t help that his bangs, which were normally styled down to give him a soft and fluffy look, were now sleeked back, making his features look severe and accentuating the fury in his eyes. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, huh? What happened to you?” “Enjoying my college life?” You hold your head high, refusing to feel belittled by him. “Weren’t you the one who told me to?” “I meant make friends and join clubs, not be the first contender for the title of campus whore!“ He shouts. You knew Jaehyun was drunk, catastrophically so, otherwise he wouldn’t dream of using that tone with you, let alone call you a whore, but it still pissed you off. You also happened to be equally as drunk as he is and fully prepared to retaliate. “Kinda hard to win that contest when you’re the reigning king. Or is it ok and cool when you fuck a different person every night but it’s dirty when I do it? I never took you to be so sexist, oppa.” “Don’t play dumb, ___. It doesn’t matter what I think of it. You could pretend we live in an ideal world all you want and that a woman and a man can be treated equally, but this is the real world, sweetheart, and it’s ugly and unfair, and it doesn’t care about those naïve ideals you have cooked up in your pretty little head.” Jaehyun gets up in your face and taps on your skull with his fingers, mocking you. “The fact is that a man can sleep around and not catch any flack for it. Hell, he might even be idolized. But a woman like you does it and the size of her tits and how tight or loose her pussy is are the talk of every guy on campus. You may be enjoying yourself now but it won’t be so fun for you when you realize that you’ve made it so all the guys here think you’re only good for being a warm wet hole for them to stick their dicks into.” You were hurt. Jaehyun has never talked to you like that before. Even during his worst moments, he always took care to choose his words carefully so he wouldn’t hurt you, but now it seemed like he wanted to hurt you. He was being vindictive and petty and nothing at all like the Jaehyun you knew, and it hurt you so bad but it also made you angry beyond belief. You weren’t stupid. You were perfectly aware of how fucked up this world is, but he’s your best friend and he’s supposed to be your slice of utopia in this world. That’s what he had always been. Even if the world was unfair, he always supported you and offered you reprise from it, not parroted the bigotry back at you and made you feel like you have to accept it. If all the guys on campus really thought that way about you then they could go fuck themselves. Anyone who adheres to that ridiculous double standard isn’t worth you wasting a single thought on them. The problem lied in the person that already meant the world to you and yet chose to treat you the same way all those fuckers did. “Do you see me as a hole to stick your dick into as well, oppa? Is that why you’re so fired up about this?” He gapes at you, scandalized. “Are you insane? Don’t talk like that.” “Why? It’s the truth. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at me lately. Your dick wants to fuck this easy pussy, but your head is all conflicted about it because I’m your innocent, little girl and you’re not supposed to be thinking that way about me.” “You must be out of your fucking mind.” He hisses, and it really amazes you how he seemed to be getting angrier by the minute. You didn’t think it was humanely possible, but here he is reaching new heights with it. It should scare you off and that is clearly his intention, but the defensive undertone to his words rung clear in your ears and piqued a dangerous blend of curiosity and self-righteousness within you that urged you to expose him for all his lies. He was standing so close to you that you only had to raise your hand in order to place it on his chest, “It’s ok, oppa. You’re a man too.” You slowly trail your hand up and down his firm torso, your ears attuned to the way his breathing got less steady with each pass of your hand over his lower stomach. “You’ve spent your whole life trying to distance yourself from the perverted and less civilized of your gender but this whole thing is forcing you to realize that you’re just like them, and all it took were showing a little bit of skin and being a little provocative for you to get off your high horse and deal with the fact that you want to wreck your little angel.” Your hand slides up to latch onto the nape of his neck, nails scratching lightly at the small hairs they find there. “You talk about other men, but it’s really you who is thinking those dirty things about me, right, oppa?” Jaehyun remains frozen and unresponsive, but you could practically feel the barely suppressed anger unfurling under his skin. “So are you going to grow a pair and do something about it or are you going to continue hiding behind your fake concerns?” A tick in his jaw is all the warning you get before he’s grabbing a hold of you and bending you over the arm of the couch. Your shout of indignation cuts off into a sharp cry when you feel his large hand smack your ass. He might as well have slapped you right on the face for the flush that instantly colors it red. But it won’t be alone for long as Jaehyun seems intent on turning your ass even redder than your face is, delivering harsh, incessant smacks to both cheeks. “You just don’t know how to shut up, do you? You think you’re too grown to listen to your oppa anymore, huh? You think this is all fun and games?” He growls. “Oppa! What are you doing?” You shriek out. You were beside yourself with humiliation. Yes, you were goading him just a second ago but you never imagined he would actually do something like this! He chuckles mirthlessly, not stopping his assault. If anything he spanks you harder. “Where did the confident, sexually forward woman go? You’re gonna act all innocent now that you’re faced with the consequences of your actions? Well that’s too bad, angel, it’s a little late for that. If you wanna go around wearing big girl panties and acting like a slut, then you’ll be treated like one.” Fuck, this was so wrong, not just because of the degrading position and the way he was speaking down to you, but because of how much it was actually turning you on. The rumble in his voice and the rough, open-handed strikes he pelts your ass with do nothing but make you squirm with arousal. As you’re stuck trying to juggle between coming to terms with the embarrassing effect he has on you and simultaneously trying to hide it from him, you get struck with a sudden epiphany. You realize now why you had always allowed him to control your life; simply, you enjoyed it. You were just blissfully unaware of how much you’d enjoy him forcing you to submit to him. “Look at this, your skirt isn’t even covering your ass properly. Such a fucking slut.” He tuts, his hand taking a reprise from spanking you to rub over your red, exposed skin. “I can fucking see your pussy from here.” To prove his point, he insinuates his hand between your thighs, his fingers easily coming into contact with said panties. “Fuck, you’re so wet.” He purred, thrilled by your body’s honesty. “You like this, don’t you? You know you deserve to be punished.” Impatient, he rips the panties down your legs and hurries to put his fingers on you again, moaning in appreciation when they touch the bare, velvety skin. “See? You’re a good girl. You just needed oppa to remind you.” Hearing him praise you like that, you couldn’t help yourself; you feel your pussy clenching around nothing, causing a small dribble of arousal to come out of your hole and coat Jaehyun’s fingers. “Damn, you really are needy. Now I see why you’re sleeping around so much. You can’t help yourself. You need someone to fill you up and take care of the ache in your pussy. Do you want me to do that for you, baby girl? Do you need oppa to stuff you with his cock and make the pain go away?” You feel yourself on the verge of tears, humiliated like you’ve never been before. Jaehyun is making you sound like some kind of a sex-crazed nymphomaniac which you weren’t at all, but it was hard to argue his point when just the light touch of his fingers on your pussy and the faint whiff of his cologne that permeated the air were making you hyperventilate. Feeling embarrassed but desperate, you push your ass back onto his finger and whine, hoping he would take some pity on you and spare you the degradation of having to say it outloud. He responds to that by removing his fingers entirely to deliver two cruel smacks to your already red and sore ass, his wet fingers leaving sticky stains on your cheeks. “That’s not how we ask for something, brat.” “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” You wail, “It just hurts so bad!” “Where does it hurt, baby?” He coos, pretending to be concerned. He trails two fingers up and down your slit a few times before they settle against your hole, dipping inside shallowly. “Here?” “Yes! Please, oppa.” You cry out in frustration, putting all your effort into stopping yourself from pushing your ass back again to take his fingers deeper into you. He hums, pleased with your answer, and rewards you by pushing his fingers all the way inside you, the width of them stinging a bit, but it still felt better than anything you’ve ever experienced before. Guess it’s true that sex with someone you love feels intensifies everything. You were getting so close already, and you try to pull your legs together to rub them against each other, but Jaehyun places himself between them and forces them back apart, smacking your ass with his free hand then massaging where he hit when he hears you whimpering in pain. “You’ve done so well already, don’t misbehave now.” He pumps his fingers in and out of you, and your legs shake with the effort to hold yourself up and keep them spread. Jaehyun notices your distress right away,“Oh, are you close, angel?” He taunts, “Are you that needy? Or do you just want oppa so bad?” “Please, can I cum?” You deflect the question, not feeling up to the effort it would take to lie to him but also not prepared to reveal your lifelong crush on him while you were bent over the couch getting fingered by him. That’s not what your nine year old self imagined it going at all. He sighs, but lets you get away with it. “Yes, sweetheart, you can cum.” “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” You repeat like a mantra, feeling a sense of unrivaled euphoria ravage your body at how good his fingers feel inside you and how long you’ve been waiting for it. You’re boneless by the time your orgasm dies down, leaving you exhausted and vulnerable to the effects of the alcohol that was finally taking a toll on you. So when you hear the sounds of a zipper going down and a foil package getting ripped opened, you whine insolently, worried that your poor tired body might not be able to survive getting fucked by him if he continues being this rough with you. “Hush, brat.” He slaps you, this time over your sensitive pussy making you spasm in shock before falling boneless again. He gathers you in his arms and lays you on your back on the couch, pulling your thighs tight against your chest. Keeping your legs spread and heels in the air, he pushes himself inside you, grunting, “Take my cock like a good girl. This is what you wanted after all.” When he’s all the way inside you, his breath leaves him in a shaky sigh, and he takes a moment before he starts moving. But when he does, he doesn’t hold back, snapping his hips into you as hard as he had smacked your ass earlier, as if intending to make this into a punishment as well. It was certainly just as humiliating, for he pushes your top and bra up to your chin so he could leer at your breasts as they bounce up and down with every thrust while his hands keep your legs spread wide with your heels up in the air. You felt every bit the slut he was accusing you of being, and yet you couldn’t stop yourself from drenching his cock in your juices, overwhelmed by a crude sense of pleasure at being manhandled and used by him, at having the man you’ve loved all your life claiming you in such a primal way. “Fuck, you’re tightening up.” He drawls, the words heavy on his tongue as he snaps his hips into you harder to overcome the resistance. Are you gonna cum again? You like my cock that much. baby?” You turn your head to the side, trying to bury your face in the cushions to hide from him, but Jaehyun doesn’t allow it. He stops his movement and tugs on your hair sharply, forcing you to face him again. He bends down so his upper body is draped over you, his face mere inches from yours. The new position has his other hand pressing your thigh harder against your chest, making it cramp, and you whimper in pain. “Oppa, it hurts.” “Say it, angel.” He lets go of your thigh and moves his hand to your lower abdomen, his thumb hovering just above your clit. “Tell oppa how much you like his cock and I’ll let you cum again.”

His gaze pierces yours, ordering more than asking you to obey him, and it’s a crime how sexy he looks even as his skin glistens and his bangs stick to his forehead with sweat. His figure looms over yours and he exudes a dominance you were no match for. You never were. So, meekly, submissively, you give him what he wants. “I like it so much.” “Like what?” His gaze doesn’t free yours as his hips pick up the pace again. It smolders, lighting your every nerve ending on a fire that is fanned by the grunts and moans that escape through his clenched teeth as he feels your walls clenching down on him. “Your cock, oppa. I like your cock so much.” You really did. His cock fills you up just right, just a little bit too big so it give you that delicious burn as it forces its way between your walls, but not too big to actually hurt you. All that sleeping around must’ve did wonders for his skills because he knew just how to move his hips, which angle to hit to make your mind go blank and submit to him. “Please let me cum on your cock.” You whine, fearing that the overwhelming pleasure might short-circuit your heart if it didn’t find a release soon. “Plea—AH, fuck, Jae, Jae!” It only takes a couple of flicks of his thumb to have you spasm around him. He fucks you through it, grunting with effort as your walls get even tighter, making it harder for him to keep fucking you, but he doesn’t stop. Your orgasm feels never ending as he drags it out in order to reach his own, stretching your nerves thin with the over stimulation. Finally, finally, his hips stutter and he give you one last brutal thrust before he groans and collapses over you. His sweaty body, his hot breaths in the crook of your neck, and his cock throbbing inside of you as he cums almost suffocate you. The heat of him around you, inside of you, is overwhelming, and you feel like you’re trapped inside a furnace. Just before you start gasping for breath, he gets off of you, taking care to not let the condom slip inside of you as he pulls it off and ties it then gets up to dispose of it. Without his body warmth, and his warm presence, your entire body erupts into goosebumps, and you quickly yearn for his suffocating heat once again. Luckily, Jaehyun’s absence doesn’t last for long. Ever the gentleman, he comes back with a wet, warm towel that he uses to clean up the mess you’ve made between your legs. When he’s done, he tosses it to the side and scoops you up in his arms, taking you to his room. He sets you down on the bed gently, taking care to avoid putting pressure on your bruised bottom. You’re like a rag doll in his hands as he strips you down and dresses you up in one of his big shirts. He then grabs some cream, and coaxing you to lie on your stomach, he massages it on your reddened bottom, kissing the top of your head softly every time you wince in pain. When he’s done with everything, he engulfs you in his arms and whispers a soft good night in your ear.

And sure it felt great to be treated so tenderly by him, that was one of the reasons you were so ready to submit to him in the first place; Jaehyun always knew how to make it worth your while. He knew how to pamper you so you’d strive to please him in order to get more of it.

On the surface of it, this looked like everything you’ve ever wanted, if only it wasn’t ruined by your knowledge that it was decidedly not. This isn’t a boyfriend caring for his lover after sharing a heated moment of intimacy. This was… well, you didn’t even know what the hell it was, and the huge question mark that hung in the air kept you from deriving any sense of enjoyment out of the situation.

You need to talk about what just happened. You needed to know what this means. Did Jaehyun like you too or was this just a sexual thing? Does he even find you sexually attractive or was he just drunk and pissed off? Is this something that could possibly happen again? Can there be something more?

You had so many questions to ask, but your eyelids were heavy and your mind was heavier, and before you knew it, it shut down on you mid-thought and plunged you into the blissful land of slumber.

“Let’s go get your stuff.”

“What?” You croak, barely having woken up yet, not to mention that some motherfucker was pounding on the inside of your skull like he was trying to break out.

Jaehyun stares at you, his eyes unnerving and entirely too sober. “You’re moving in with me. I need to keep a closer eye on you from now on. I won’t let you continue living this kind of lifestyle.”

Just like that, all sleep flew from your mind.

“What the actual fuck, Jaehyun?” You explode, “At least make a girl some breakfast before you go full chauvinist on her.”

“That’s not funny.” He deadpans, “I’m worried about you.”

“Well, you don’t need to. I’m a big girl. I don’t need you to check for monsters under my bed anymore.” You retort, incredibly annoyed that this was the direction the conversation was taking. This isn’t what you thought you’d be talking about. Dumb, little girl.

“Here we go again.” He rolls his eyes, and your cheeks flame at how condescending the gesture was. “You’re just a child who is playing at being an adult. You don’t realize the mess you’re getting yourself into. I can’t stand by and let you ruin yourself like this. I’ve taken care of you your whole life and I’m not about to stop now, even if you’re going to hate me for it.”

“I’m not your fucking doll, Jaehyun. Don’t I get to have a say in my own life? God, are you even listening to yourself?” You massage your forehead, unable to contend with both the headache and the unreasonable man. It was different when you were drunk and horny and trying to get into his pants, but now his words sounded just as ridiculous to you as they were. “If I had known you’d turn into this sexist, controlling asswipe the moment I did something you didn’t like, I would never have come here.”

He flinches at your words, looking wounded, but you can’t find it in you to feel sorry for him. He brought this on himself.

“I only want what’s best for you, angel.” He takes your hand between his own but you yank it away.

“You think slutshaming and controlling me is what’s best for me? It’s what’s best for you. You can’t handle that I’m not the virginal little girl you used to know and that I’m now a woman with an actual sex drive. You don’t like the ugly truth it’s making you confront about yourself so you want to force me to wear my old skin again so you can go on pretending you’re still the nice guy you always thought you were. You’re such a fucking hypocrite, Jaehyun.”

“You’re right. I am a hypocrite. I criticized you for the same thing I gave myself a pass for, and that’s not fair.”

“Thank you.” You mumble, finding it strange how he gave in so easily, but feeling relieved nonetheless.

“So I should stop too. I won’t fuck around anymore. I’ll clean up my act and go back to being the older brother you deserve.”

“What?” You sputter, dumbfounded. “That’s not what I’m saying. You can fuck whoever you want. I don’t care.”

Your protest was weak and you knew it. You did care, a whole fucking lot. You were accusing him of being a hypocrite, yet here you are, ready to denounce your sexual awakening in exchange for keeping him celibate as well. It just hurt so bad to see him with all those women, and it never, ever got better. So if the price of you never having to see that sight again is sacrificing your own sexual freedom then would that really be so bad? You’ve lived through that before. You’re used to it.

“I know you don’t.” He gives you a strange smile, one you’ve never seen on his face before, and yet it feels so profoundly familiar. When he takes your hand in his again, you let him. “But I care. I care about being someone you respect and look up to, and I won’t achieve that by sleeping around.”

“I would still respect you even if you slept around, oppa. It’s your choice. I don’t want to snuff out your love life.” Your words said one thing, but your body language said another. You were looking at him with big, wet eyes and a woeful face that you knew he could never resist. You were playing the role of the martyr who is willing to sacrifice her own happiness in order to make him happy, because you knew that Jaehyun would never allow that to happen.

“You’re not snuffing out my love life. I can still date.” You couldn’t keep your face from visibly falling at that, and he hurries to clarify, thinking that your problem lied in his double standards again rather than your jealousy over him being with another woman. “And you can too! I’m not against you finding a nice guy and building a long lasting and loving relationship with him. On the contrary, that would make me so happy.”

He gives you a bright smile that you mirror with your own soulless one, but he doesn’t notice your lack of enthusiasm, and continues on. “I know that sleeping around isn’t necessarily a bad thing nor does it make you a bad person, but I just want to make sure that no one is taking advantage of you and that you’re safe and with someone who deserves you. Of course, he’d have to come through me first.” He chuckles, but this time you don’t even bother giving him a reaction.

“Is that alright with you, angel?” His knuckles caress your cheek softly, and you close your eyes, leaning into his touch and resigning yourself to a life of being wrapped around his finger. “Yes, oppa.”

A/N: I’m on hiatus so I don’t have time to pour over this story as I normally would have so excuse the cheese and the cliches. Anyway feedback keeps me alive so I’d love to hear from you guys.

#jaehyun smut #jaehyun angst #jaehyun college!au #jaehyun bestfriends!au #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun fanfics #nct smut #nct angst #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fanfics

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momentofmemory · 5 years

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fictober - day twenty-two

Prompt #22: “We could have a chance.”

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America Films & Avengers Films)

Rating: T

Characters: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanoff

Words: 1100

Author’s Note: a series of nine interconnected drabbles spanning avengers (2012) - avengers: endgame (2019), +1 double drabble to round it out. was intended platonically but can be very easily be read as romanrogers if you so desire.

>>One More Chance (and another, and another)

1. Steve’s barely two weeks out of 1945 the first time he sees it.

They don’t know each other: he only knew she existed as of this morning, and she seems like the kind of person that doesn’t really care either way.

But she’s the only person he’s spent time with in the twenty-first century that doesn’t look at him like he belongs in a museum, so he barges into her room and says, “Time to go.”

She turns and says go where, but her eyes say we could have a chance.

For the first time, Steve thinks he might, too.

“You know Maria’s single these days.”

Steve sighs and pushes his uniform deeper into his locker. “Natasha…”

"I’m just saying, she’d probably appreciate your whole strong, silent type schtick.”

“I’m not interested in dating,” he says, slamming the door shut. “We’ve been over this.”

“Steeeeeve.”

There’s no universe in which Steve thought he’d hear Black Widow whining.

“Come on. You could still have a chance.”

“Maybe I wish I didn’t.”

Before he can walk away, Nat’s hand darts out and grabs his arm. “I’m glad you do.”

He blinks, genuinely shocked by her concern.

She’s gone before he can reply.

“Move, Natasha.”

She doesn’t budge from her position in front of him, determined even as gunfire ricochets around them. “Don’t be stupid, Rogers. No one has a chance in hell of getting through there.”

Steve cinches his shield tighter around his still-bleeding arm. “If I take out the guard on the turret, you should be able to manage the rest.”

“Steve—”

“Nat.” He searches out her gaze and holds it until he’s sure he has her attention. “I could have a chance. Trust me.”

Natasha hesitates a second longer, then steps aside.

“Guess you’re called the Cap for a reason.”

Steve finds her, after.

After training the new recruits, after handling the PR nightmare, after a week has passed, after she bores a hole into the wall from staring at it for hours.

(Bruce doesn’t come back.)

Steve sits down beside her and says nothing, and she leans against his shoulder with a sigh.

“So this is why you turned down that girl from accounting—Lidia?”

“Lillian,” he says. “And she turned out to be a HYRDA agent, actually.”

“Goshdarn.”

Steve snorts. Then he shrugs. “You’ll have another chance.”

“That your professional opinion?”

“Experiential.”

She hums, thoughtfully. “Shared life experience.”

Steve’s latest lead is another dead end.

There’s one less HYDRA base in the world, true, but its wreckage bears the marks of the Winter Soldier—not Bucky Barnes.

He doesn’t turn when Natasha joins him on the balcony.

“Long day?”

He huffs. “Long life.”

“Oh good, I caught you in your optimistic mood.” A pause. “No one would blame you if you stopped, you know.”

“If there’s even the smallest chance…” He shrugs. “I’ve got to at least try.”

“I figured.” Her fingers drum rhythmically on the bannister. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.”

“…Thank you.”

It’s almost six months on the run before Natasha strolls into their hotel room, right in the middle of a planning session to take out a terror cell that’s been harassing the locals. She doesn’t offer an explanation or even a smile, just her opinion without preamble.

“You don’t stand a chance at taking out the entire group on your own, Rogers.”

Steve stares at her in surprise, a flash of something flickering across his face. “Agreed. …We do, though.”

Natasha tilts her head and walks forward, stopping in front of Steve.

She unholsters her Escrima rods, and Steve smiles.

“I’m thinking about starting a group for people that need help moving on.”

Natasha glances up from her datapad. “You. The inventor of ‘not moving on’ himself.”

“I do have experience with something that’s at least kind of similar. Helping people find a way past that…” Steve shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s what Sam would’ve done.”

Natasha hums in agreement. “So moving on. Seems like good advice—you gonna take it yourself?”

“Nah. It’s too late for a fossil like me.” Steve steals one of Nat’s sandwiches. “But them… I don’t know. Maybe we could give them a chance.”

“…Yeah.”

Natasha’s already suited up when Steve walks into the conference room. “We could have a chance, Steve,” she whispers, staring at the holographic stones with an almost reverence. “A chance.”

“I know.” Steve leans on one of the chairs around the table. “Never thought I’d be going back in time to do it, but I guess I’ve already gone forward. Might as well round out my social card.”

Natasha laughs. “Promise me one thing?”

“Anything.”

“If something happens—if it doesn’t work—we don’t stop. I don’t care what it takes. We get them back.”

Steve agrees. “Whatever it takes.”

Steve flies forty feet through the air and when he crashes to the ground, for the first time in a while he thinks he definitely can’t do this all day.

Everything hurts. The cuts on his leg and forearm are bleeding badly; he knows he’s broken several ribs. His helmet’s cracked and maybe his skull, too, and there’s an uncomfortable spike of pain lancing up his spine.

But she gave us a chance.

Steve rolls over onto his stomach, arms and legs shaking as his forces himself to his feet. He stares Thanos down.

He’s not going to waste it.

10.

“This is the eternal exchange: a soul for a soul.”

The visage of one of the many ghosts from Steve’s past stares down at him, but Steve can’t bring himself to be impressed.

He’s gotten used to graves being emptied, friend or foe.

“And this counts as a soul?” He looks down at the rock in his hand, glowing orange despite the crimson blood that stains its essence.

We could have a chance.

The Red Skull regards him carefully, then hovers towards the edge of the cliff. Steve follows but doesn’t look down. He knows what lies at the bottom.

“I have seen many things during my unending vigil over this place, Steven Rogers,” Johann says. “But that is a question that has never been asked.”

Steve nods once, sharply. He’s had worse odds.

“Good enough.”

He slings the rock over the ledge, as fast and as far as he can, and it sails for miles under the combination of his superhuman strength and the planet’s lower gravity.

The stone hits the ground.

The world goes dark, and when he awakens, he finds himself in a lake of purple-tinged water, waves lapping at his shins.

Steve looks up, and smiles.

#fictober19 #steve rogers fic #natasha romanoff fic #mcu fanfic #romanrogers #endgame #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #memsfic

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izupie · 5 years

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‘Beep Beep Beep’ - Chapter 9 - Tranquility

This is a different kind of chapter, but hopefully you all like the result. I was very pleased with it in the end (it went through many versions and rewrites aaa)

I can’t believe it’s all nearly over ! This has been such a crazy journey and I am so happy and excited whenever I post a new chapter - thank you all for sticking with me!

((What gratuitous shower scene I have no idea what you’re talking aBoUT))

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>>>[Izupie’s ko-fi] - your support is hugely appreciated;; <3 <3

>>>[Izupie’s AO3] - please consider checking out my other Izuocha works too?

>>>[AO3 Link to Beep Beep Beep] - If you want to go to the start~

>>>[AO3 Link to the newest chapter] - Here it is! Chapter 9!<<<

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A persistent buzzing sound woke Izuku up gently. He blinked in confusion and looked over to where it was coming from – a tiny blinking green light on his bedside table revealed his phone was the culprit. Oh, he’d got a message.

He’d turned his phone onto silent mode since the day he’d got it, so he didn’t even know what any of its tones sounded like. It wasn’t like anybody ever contacted him on it except his mom anyway, so he’d never had a problem with leaving it on his bedside table while he slept. He didn’t think it had ever gone off during the night before. It was odd for something like a phone vibration to wake him up though, since he slept so deeply.

Izuku pushed himself upright and reached for his phone.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Izuku jumped and slammed his hand onto his alarm. It had startled him so badly that his phone had slipped right out of his fingers and clattered to the floor between the bed and the table.

His heart was still pounding as he picked up the old clock and checked the cracked display; it read ‘5:00’ in softly glowing red. That explained why his phone had been able to wake him up – his body clock usually got him up around this time anyway, even if there was a rare occasion that he didn’t set an alarm. He let out a small huff as he tried in vain to turn down the volume, but the button for it had broken a long time ago. When it woke him up through sleep it seemed quieter somehow. He tapped the volume button harder, but it still did nothing, so Izuku placed the clock back onto his table in defeat. It had been stuck at maximum for quite a while but hearing its broken volume properly for the first time made him suddenly very conscious of his neighbours. The sound wouldn’t be able to travel that loudly through walls would it?

Izuku ruffled his hair and threw off his duvet.

He really needed a new alarm clock.

Izuku stretched his arms above his head, feeling the satisfying pop of sleep-settled bones in his back and elbows, and absentmindedly rubbed his scarred arm as he glanced guiltily over at his to-do list, catching sight of the reminder to ring his mom. Maybe he’d offer for her to have the clock back instead of throwing it away? She got overly emotionally attached to stuff like that. (Which was why she had a loft filled with an embarrassing amount of boxes of baby photos and old toys.) But that would kind of feel like he was returning her gift, despite it being years old… He supposed there was space on one of his comic book shelves in the living room… It could live there as a memory of moving out to university rather than as an actual functioning clock, since the display was cracked too.

Maybe he’d grown to become overly emotionally attached to stuff too and hadn’t even realised it. His mom had always joked that the only thing he’d inherited from her was her height, but he knew from the sad smile she gave the photo in her purse (when she thought he wasn’t looking) that deep down it didn’t really bother her to think that he was more of his father than her.

Not that he knew much about him.

Izuku splashed cold water onto his face and rubbed it dry vigorously with a towel. Yesterday had been a stressful day, so he was feeling a little more tired than usual. At least getting up on time meant he had plenty of time for his standard morning routine.

He was trying desperately not to think of Ochako, but in trying not to think of her it of course meant she was all he could think about.

He put on his gym clothes and tried to focus on the workout routine he was going to do; he’d read a great post on Instagram about a training set that would put more focus on his core muscles. It sounded like it was going to be tough, but he relished the challenge. Though he probably wasn’t going to be quite so enthusiastic about it when he was complaining about his aching body to Denki in the ambulance later.

Izuku checked his watch and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on his kitchen table while the kettle boiled. It was definitely a coffee morning. The banana was a little browner than he would have liked - since he hadn’t gone shopping in a while and he often neglected to eat the fruit he bought, despite insisting on always keeping the fruit bowl full - but it was the energy that he needed. Still waiting for his old and slow kettle to boil, Izuku opened his cupboard and winced at the baskets of pills and first aid kits he still had stashed away in there. He really needed to sort it all out. Some of that stuff was probably out of date. He picked up a box of vitamin supplements and swallowed a little vitamin tablet down dry. He’d been very prone to accidents and illnesses as a child, and he’d been so scared about dying and leaving his mom all alone that he’d developed anxiety towards his health. When he’d moved out of his mom’s house he’d taken all of his remedies with him, though he’d slowly started needing them less and less.

Nobody ever would have believed he would end up being a paramedic; meek little Izuku who visited the doctor’s every other week with his injuries and maladies. Toshinori was the only one who truly believed that he could do it. Even his own mom had been concerned about how he would deal with surrounding himself with the very thing he’d been falling into his whole life. But that had been part of the reason he’d wanted to do it. In the end it was his own experiences and hard work that had helped him to grow beyond his anxieties and his accident-prone nature, and now Ochako had opened a whole other world of life outside of his work that he was excited to explore too. Friendship and enjoying someone else’s company… preferably hers.

Izuku shook his head to stop that train of thought while he added a touch of cold water to his steaming mug of coffee and downed it all in one go.

He couldn’t wait for her to come back, but he hoped she was doing okay and getting some quality time to heal up, though he was sure her parents would be taking good care of her.

The door locked with a definitive click behind him as he turned the key to his apartment, then he took off at a brisk jog down the corridor.

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

It was only when Izuku finally made it into the ambulance that he remembered his cell phone. Denki was lounging in the passenger seat, cursing and swiping his finger on his own phone.

“C’mon, be a shiny, be a shiny. Damn- it’s not shiny. Gonna catch you anyway for leading me on- Hey, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost bro.” Denki continued to swipe virtual pokéballs across the screen on Pokémon Go, not even appearing to look up as Izuku settled into the driver’s seat. (It was his turn to drive.)

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” he sighed, “I just saw your phone and remembered that I got a message on mine this morning, but I dropped it before I could check it. So it’s currently still sandwiched somewhere between my bed and the bedside table.”

Denki hissed between his teeth. “Man, I’d be losing my mind if that was me. I didn’t think you’d be that bothered though, don’t you leave it in your locker while we’re on shift anyway?”

“Yeah, but what if someone needed me! And I’m sitting here with no idea. I should have checked it,” Izuku lamented, placing his forehead on the steering wheel. What if it had been Ochako?

“What if it was your girlfriend?” Denki finally looked up from his phone, somehow echoing Izuku’s thoughts.

“Sh-She’s not my-” Izuku jolted upright and waved his hands in a fluster but stopped as he saw the grin on his friend’s face. “Evil,” he mumbled with narrowed eyes.

Denki laughed. “Ah, you’re too easy, bro. I should feel bad ‘cause you’re such an easy target.”

Izuku put his forehead back onto the steering wheel with a tiny thud. “Thanks.”

Denki laughed louder and patted Izuku’s shoulder playfully, then leant back in his chair and folded his arms. His voice was uncharacteristically serious when he said, “Dude. Listen to me. I know all about relationships and-”

“I thought you’d never actually been in a relationship?” Izuku pointed out from the steering wheel.

“Fu- that’s- hey, that’s literally not even important to the point I’m making, okay. I could have had a relationship before now. I’m not afraid of flying solo, so I’m just biding my time until someone meets my crazy high standards.” Denki pouted. “Anyway, I’m trying to have like. A moment here. Bro to bro. So…”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Go on, I’m listening.” Izuku could barely hide the amusement out of his voice. He smiled as he sat back up to give his friend his full attention.

Denki cleared his throat a little. “Look, it’s simple - you just need to ask her out.”

“I’ve been trying to,” Izuku groaned wearily. That’s his big advice?

“Well try harder!” Denki gripped a fist in front of him in a battle pose.

Izuku was about to protest that he’d been trying as hard as he could, but he blinked and thought about it instead. Had he been trying his hardest? At any point he could have asked her out if he’d really gone for it. The times they’d been interrupted, or something had disconnected their schedules… He could have forged ahead and found a way around any obstacle if he’d really put his mind to it. That’s what he was good at. He thought of the flowers currently sitting in a saucepan of water on his kitchen table (on account of him not owning any vases). Try harder… That had been a step in the right direction but… It was such simple advice, but maybe Denki was right…

Ochako could have died that day…

The realisation hit him; it was time to be bold.

Denki must have seen that he was seriously considering what he had said because he continued in a smug voice, “See? I know what I’m talking about. From what you’ve told me about her, it sounds like she’s totally into you. Next time you see her you’ve got to go for it man, seize the day, go big or go home!”

“That’s actually... Wow, um, thanks for the advice Denki.” Izuku scratched the back of his neck, affection lighting up his smile. He spent so much time working with Denki that he forgot that they’d already built up a strong bond, just from how much they had to rely on each other and work so closely together. He was a jokester and didn’t take himself or life too seriously, but he was a loyal friend. It made Izuku even more determined to invite his friends to do fun things outside of work.

“You two will be one of those really grossly adorable couples,” Denki added, pulling a face.

Izuku gasped and playfully tapped him on the arm, pretending it was a punch. “Hey!”

Denki grinned and swatted his hand away. “Too easy.”

Usually a call came in while they were taking over from the night shift crew and getting settled into the ambulance, but today the radio was silent. Between incidents they would drive around the local area, ready to attend anything if they were contacted, so Izuku put the vehicle into gear, pulled away from the hospital and followed a familiar route around the city. Denki occasionally got his phone out of his pocket and cursed and muttered about shiny Pokémon.

Izuku could feel the anticipation of getting to his own phone like a background buzz through his mind as he drove. It had been days since he’d been able to work without something on his mind. Ever since he’d met Ochako…

He guessed he needed to prepare for the next seven days being like this. Hopefully they’d be able to stay in touch and it wouldn’t seem that bad.

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

By the time Izuku dragged himself back through his front door they’d attended a vast array of different calls and incidents. He shrugged off his coat and threw it onto the kitchen table, beside the saucepan holding the bouquet of flowers, ruminating on the most notable calls they’d attended as he shuffled into his shower. There was a young woman who’d broken her arm in a horse riding accident, an old couple with scrapes and bruises after a minor car crash, a lucky young boy with some bruises that had fallen out of a tree and terrified his parents, and a middle-aged man who’d had a cardiac arrest at work. Denki had successfully shocked the man’s heart back into a rhythm with the defibrillator, but it had been a stressful call, and had kept them busy long after their shift had supposed to end.

Attending patients like that made Izuku glad that he chose the career he did. Without the two of them that man would certainly have died – cardiac arrest was as bad as it got. But he was safely in the hospital and things were looking positive for him, so Izuku wanted to check on him tomorrow and see how he was doing. It felt good to be able to do that without fear of Kacchan catching him checking in on the patients and yelling at him. The air between them was clearer now, though he suspected Kacchan would never be friendly and pleasant, but that was okay – it’s just the way he is.

Izuku gratefully stood under the shower’s hot spray and sighed. His days were long and hard, but he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The water soothed his tired muscles and washed away the sweat of a good day’s work, so for a little while he simply stood and let the water run in hot rivers over his skin. He rubbed his scarred arm gently and flexed it up and down, working out the stiffness and aches.

Once he’d rubbed his hair vigorously with a towel and put on a sleeping shirt and some sweatpants, he made his way back into the kitchen, flopped onto a chair, and laid his head on his arms. Not only had it been a busy day, but the new workout he’d tried meant that nearly every muscle was aching, so it would be amazing to eat some quick food and climb into bed-

My phone!

Izuku leaped up from his seat so fast that his chair screeched and fell backwards with a clatter, and he ran to the bedroom, almost sliding to his knees on the carpet in his haste to get down to the floor. His hand groped in the narrow gap between his bed and the small bedside table and he crinkled his nose a little at the feeling of all the dust on the carpet, knowing he hadn’t ever put the hoover down there the whole time he’d lived in the apartment. Finally, he felt his pulse quicken as his fingers closed on something solid.

Izuku pulled it out with a triumphant sound and unlocked the screen. His eyes widened. Eleven new messages. That was more messages than he got in a whole month.

They were all from Ochako.

<Mmmm, just had some home-made stew, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much you would have loved it!! (>v<) I hope you’re not working too hard Deku! And please eat something filling and wholesome if you are! (I know I know it’s like the pot calling the kettle black) (omg my mom’s terrible small town phrases are rubbing off on me and I’ve only been here one day,,,) (I’ll come back into the city and you won’t be able to understand me!!) Also I finally convinced my mom to stop sending me into the garden now the sun’s going down. I told her I’m feeling better but if I stay out there in the cold too long I’ll just get dick again>

<*SICK>

Izuku hadn’t been able to stop smiling the whole time he’d read through her messages. He could almost hear her voice while he read them.

It made him sad to think that she hadn’t had a reply from him all day.

He looked at the timestamp on the last message and realised she’d sent it half an hour ago, so chances were she’d still be awake. She’d said she can only receive and send messages when she was in the bathroom, so it’s not like she’d get it until tomorrow anyway, but he’d still send it, he decided, tapping on the screen.

<P.S. excellent autocorrect fail!! X>

Izuku huffed out a little laugh as he tapped send on his final message and smiled tenderly at his phone. A knotted, concerned feeling lifted from him; knowing that she was going to be having a nice week away was both comforting and sad.

He missed her.

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<Ah! Sorry I just got your message, I was having lunch out with my parents! There’s this amaaazing little restaurant near the farm my mom works at, and they use all the produce from it. I swear you can taste the Freshness ! It’s literally a signal black zone though. Oh! There’s this really cute wishing well that they’ve built into the restaurant so I threw a coin in it and made a wish (can’t tell you what it was though or it won’t come true!!) but I did take a good selfie with it that I’ll probably make my profile picture as soon as I return to the land of reliable internet x>

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<Don’t worry! Hope you’re having fun looking at some old memories! We finished on time today so me and Denki are having an after work coffee at a café you might know well… Your friend Mina was there and she said to tell you that she’s having to cover some of your evening shifts so you owe her, but she also said to tell you that she loves you and misses you. She’s so funny – and so full of energy! Hopefully I’ll get to see you there too one day?? X>

<Aaaaa! I can’t believe you went to Uravity! Please tell me that Mina didn’t tell you all the embarrassing stories she has of me! (>A<;) If she did, they’re all lies!! (I’m glad you can’t see me now actually, I’m sitting on top of Iida’s shoulders in the parking lot of the town hall – it’s the only place signal gets through here!) (again, don’t ask how we found out.) x>

<I’m dying over that image, and I don’t even know what your friend looks like! I loved it at Uravity, the stars and planets and stuff are really pretty. I can see why you like it. I’ve never even seen you there, but just the aesthetic and being there reminded me so much of you :( xx>

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<Izuku? Are you free? Xx>

<??? Xx>

<Sorry, just saw your reply! Ah no don’t worry! It’s ok! Night shift sounds rough! Please get some good rest tomorrow! You’re so kind Izuku, ready to jump in at the last minute to help out a friend. It’s not long until I get to come home anyway, so we’ll see each other then for sure! Can’t wait xxx>

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<It’s been nice to be looked after by my parents again for a little while but I’m ready to come back home now. It’s been nice to have a bit of tranquillity, since I’m always so busy and I don’t really make enough time to enjoy the little things - but I’m working on it, something you inspired in me xxx>

<I’m missing friends and I actually really miss my job. Every morning my dad makes himself a coffee so by the time I get into the kitchen there’s this lingering coffee smell and it makes me nostalgic xxx>

<Ok. I told my parents I’m going home tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed it but I really want to get back - so I’m hopping on a train tomorrow afternoon. Should be back in the city about 7.30ish? I could get a taxi from the station, but they’re so overpriced, so I’ll get the bus to the apartment - which means I’ll be getting home about 8 ! (^o^) I know that your night shift starts around then so we won’t be able to see each other, but I’ve still got a few days off work for my sicknote, so I’ll be in all day the day after! Xxx>

<Xxx>

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

<Wait,, omg are you there??? X>

<It’s so good to talk to you in real time! Xxx>

<I’m just getting ready for work, I’m having ‘breakfast’ haha x>

<I’m not going to encourage anything but you should totally get the coffee xxx>

<That’s completely encouraging me!! xxx>

<Man, it sucks that we’re going to just miss each other :( xxx>

<Oh, got to go! It’s pulling into the station! Xxx>

----

>>>>[Read on AO3]<<<<

#Please let me know what you think - I'd love to know if you feel the time passing I did worked <3 #I loved the interactions this chapter #izuocha #izuocha fanfiction #izuku x ochako #bnha fanfiction #bnha #beep beep beep izuocha #beep beep beep #dekuraka #my fanfiction #my hero academia #mha fanfiction #mha fanfic

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darkzorua100 · 6 years

Text

So nothing much really happened in 79. It was mostly just set up for the Blood Shepherd and Lightning duel. We did get to see more of Lightning, as the title would imply him being the main focus of the episode, and geez this Ignis really is just a prick but he’s an interesting prick.

As Ryoken has stated, Lightning has been watching everything that has been going on in Link Vrains. The episode starts off with him trying to watch the Revolver vs BS duel but isn’t able to because Ryoken knows how to cover his tracks. He monologues to Jin about their whole situation like they are actual allies in this war before correcting himself that Jin was nothing more then his puppet basically but it is still fascinating to me that he does this. Like the whole Lightning/Jin dynamic from Lightning’s POV. Unlike Windy, Lightning doesn’t so much as hate humans as he finds them to be a lesser species, as he explains to BS, but he almost treats Jin like an equal. Yeah he made him into a human shell, but unlike Windy with his kid, he hasn’t physically harmed him and in a A.I. mind like Lightning’s, he might not take into account the mental pain. Plus he went out of his way to kidnap Jin to use as his footstool when he really didn’t need to. Windy and Earth have both shown that the Ignis don’t need their humans to duel. The Origins and the Ignises are connected to each other and maybe because of that Lightning does see Jin as some kind of higher being, because he was the one to give him a shape, but because of the way he was programmed, he has no choice but to see Jin as nothing more then a simple human as well. I don’t know, I just find their connection intriguing.

We cut over to Windy after that and man, Revolver f*cked him up. Windy isn’t completely healed and Lightning tells him that he won’t ever be completely healed and I loved the fact that he won’t be. It makes sense because the Knights of Hanoi created the Ignis, they should know how to kill them with a program that even the Ignis can’t heal themselves from, but I just love the literal eye for an eye karma in it. If Windy’s Origin is still alive, he has got to have so much physical scarring because of his accident. The fact that now Windy has his own physical scars to match his kid’s just makes me happy because I love these types of symbolism and now I can’t wait for Windy’s kid to be revealed even more because as soon as we see someone with scars just like Windy’s, I’m going to flip out. So yeah, safe to say Windy is kinda pissed and if he didn’t hate humans before, he does now. Again, can’t wait to see his kid because if he didn’t hate A.I. before because of the Hanoi Project, after the car accident because of Windy, oh boy hello more symbolism. Anyway, Lightning gives Windy the details about Earth’s death (which amuses the little psychopath greatly apparently) and Aqua joining Team Playmaker (who annoys him (no one likes Aqua apparently in this group XD). After that, we get some interesting foreshadowing to something big, from the looks of things, from Lightning’s group as after giving Windy the plot rundown, Lightning sends Windy out to Bohman’s location where it seems that Lightning might be constructing something deadly. I very much want to know what Lightning is planning. Tower of Hanoi 2.0 anyone?

We get some sibling interaction between Emma and Kengo visiting their father’s grave. Emma tries to get her brother to join Team Playmaker which fails (if he wasn’t going to join Ryoken’s club, I very much doubt he would join Yusaku’s because you can’t beat what Ryoken is offering I’m sorry) and five seconds later, BS logs into Link Vrains and Lightning invites him to his place. Team Playmaker and the Knights (Revolver and Spectre) follow suit and we get the beginning of the Lightning vs BS duel. Nothing to crazy happens other then BS taking Revolver's advice to heart and takes into account the strategy of Lightning’s group with the Link Spell Cards, with BS destroying Judgement Arrows and that’s how the episode ends.

Lightning’s deck is spammly but I like the theme. Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains has this Greek Mythology theme to it, but Lightning’s deck almost feels Roman like. Greek and Roman Mythology go hand and hand so it makes sense. I don’t think this is the end of Lightning’s Link Spells though. I’m 100% sure he has another Link Spell in his deck exclusive to him. It might not even be a Spell, it could very well be a Link Trap. If he didn’t have another one of these cards, that would be to easy. As for the stakes of this duel, the winner basically gets the other’s data. BS wins, he gets Lightning and will probably murder him five seconds later if he does and if Lightning wins, it sounds like he is going to turn BS into a mindless drone just like I thought he would. After all, he said it himself, his team is low on numbers. He would be taking out a threat and be gaining one too. Now we all know Lightning is going to be winning this duel, that’s not even a question, but I’m very concerned if this show will do another cop out in order to keep BS on the “hero” side. I’ve seen some people saying that Revolver could jump in and save BS from getting his data stolen once he loses and I very much hope that doesn’t happen and will be something similar to Earth’s lose where it just happens instantly that no one, not even Revolver, can stop it. I think this whole thing would just work out better if BS did get hiveminded because Lightning really does need more people on his team for Team Playmaker to face off against. Like who are half of these people that aren’t Playmaker, Soulburner, and Revolver going to duel against if Lightning doesn’t have more players? BS needs to get brainwashed so Ghost Girl can save her brother and get a win and I’m still crossing my fingers that we will get a Miyu vs Blue Maiden duel because of the virus Lightning put into Miyu.

But yeah overall, it was just a episode to get the ball moving. Next week Jin is speaking and after the monologue Lightning had with his Origin, with the camera focusing a lot on Jin this episode, I’m really curious now to know why he is speaking, if he actually is trying to break free from Lightning’s control or Lightning is just speaking through him. Crossing my fingers for Society of Lightning to happen. We need more anguish. Plus brainwashing always leads to some epic moments in Yu-Gi-Oh. Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon anyone?

#vrains #vrains spoilers #Thoughts #theories

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firebirdsdaughter · 6 years

Text

Okay...

Finally sitting down to watch Zi-O ep 4...

Let’s game?

Well, no, actually no, we won’t, but I was trying to be thematic.

And in no particular order:

Okay, that explains it. When I saw the preview images it looked like they were talking to Emu, and then Geiz and Sougo both henshined and took a knee for some reason. It’s actually the other way round.

Geez, Emu. Since when were you this uncommunicative and unhelpful? That’s Taiga’s job!

Like seriously, you know these two are Kamen Riders. Just explain yourself to them instead of making weird vague statements.

Geiz at it again w/ the grump. Have I mentioned--you know where that’s going.

Tsukuyomi w/ the intercede again. I’m liking this trio.

Okay, I wanna know who Goggles is. The guy whose hand Geiz was holding in that future-flashback? A friend? Brother? This being Toei it’s unlikely to be a boyfriend, but it’s still possible. He looks like he mighta been a nice fellow, I’m sorry he died.

I guess this is a lot to take in, and Sougo is generally pretty slow on the uptake, it appears, so... But looks like he’s getting it now.

Tsukuyomi, I really hope you’re aware just how much of a problem child you just decided to adopt.

I actually agree w/ someone else I saw, I think. I kinda wish they would give her a better reason than ‘I don’t know’ for this. Like, I’m liking the idea that she doesn’t want her childhood friend to technically become a murderer by killing someone who is, at that point, still innocent, but this ‘I don’t know’ thing is kinda... meh to me. It doesn’t feel touching or sweet, and is even kinda out of character... But that’s just me. She’s super great, but she otherwise seems so decisive and confident that it’s a little odd.

OH MY GOD IT’S THAT CHURCH! I mean--it’s that wizard Bugster!

Fun fact, that Church is not just a Toei set. I have seen it in about FIVE other shows I think (don’t ask me to name them all, I can’t--but Kaname Jun was in one I think)

AH! Brave is here! But it’s back in 2016, episode... 2? Or maybe 3, but it would be when Hiiro literally just got there, so he’s still an ass. I mean, I still love him. But he was an ass.

Geiz, mister straight forward, just fucking informs them he’s from the future, I love him.

Maybe this has something to do w/ Hiiro’s sense that he should help them before... Aside from grumpy secondary solidarity, ofc.

‘From your perspective,’ Geiz, you are literally from 2068. I’m pretty sure, excepting folks from 2069 onward, that that’s the future from everyone’s perspective.

Also, to get this out of the way: AAAAAAH! SETO IS SO PRETTY! OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH EVEN WHEN HE’S A DICK! AND ESPECIALLY WHEN HE’S NOT!

Note: I don’t love him because he’s a dick, but what I love is grumpy, pretty much jerky characters who come out of that bc they start caring about someone or something (again, in Hiiro’s case). Did that make sense?

Also, I’m actually giggling bc of how much of a pompous ass my grumpy surgeon son was. The fact that this is literally like, right after he first showed up, means that he’s at peak dickishness and it’s really funny to look back.

Kids pulling on Geiz. God, honey, what were you expecting when you put that thing on? Well, at least they’re aware of how goofy it is.

On that note, ARE WE EVER GONNA SEE YOU WITHOUT IT?

Also, dear god, someone get this boy some fashion advice. I’ve SEEN that preview image sweetie. You canNOT dress yourself.

Oh my god, it’s the hospital helipad. Now I’m nostalgic.

Okay. Emu can teleport to game worlds now? Al... Alright then. You know what, whatever.

And Emu’s getting thrown around again. Some things never change. What’s still funny about this is still that Ijima Hiroki is (still) not a short man. He’s 5′ 10″. This, to me, makes how much Emu get’s thrown around utterly hilarious.

See, Emu. This is what happens when you don’t pull a Taiga, and discuss things w/ people. You’re the one who forced Hiiro to learn that, why are you doing it?

Aw, Sougo appreciates that Tsukuyomi is trying to save the future w/out killing him. Good kids.

Where’s that B99 ‘cool motive still murder’ picture? I mean, I know it’s a kid. But dude... You don’t have the right to other people’s lives (or body parts) just bc your son is dying.

Hm... I know people are thinking it’s named after Hiiro, but... What if it’s named after his dad? I mean, Kagami Haima was the director of the hospital, he had to start somewhere. To me that feels more logical? Bc it’s only been two years since Ex-Aid, that’s awfully fast to name a medical procedure... But it’s just a thought.

You know what, I bet Hiiro feels bad for brushing Geiz off in the past, so now he’s like ‘I must do everything I can to help these kids out bc when I met them before I was a jerk.’ Part of his ‘stop being an anti-social grump’ attempt. And he’s worried about Emu.

Does the Time Majin have an AI? How did it know to fly up to the roof right then? Is it telepathically connected to Sougo now?

So Uhr is helping Ora/Hora out? Maybe there is hope for a villain-family dynamic after all...

Also apparently that’s Takeru’s mech? Takeru has a mech? I really need to finish Ghost... But it’s either just for the sake of cameo, or it’s related to how Geiz got the Ghost Ride Watch. Now I’m wondering if he maybe stole the Drive and Ghost Watches from the Time Jackers? But if that’s the case, why did they have them? They usually use the Another Rider Watches...? Are Takeru and Shinnosuke okay? Oh my god, did Takeru die again? Actually, I guess Shinnoksuke also died a lot in that one movie so... Oh dear.

Is Sougo transforming in tiny spaces gonna be a thing now?

Come to think... Since the opening, we haven’t seen Woz. What’s prophet boy up to?

This tiny gremlin child who I adore and want to pinch the cheeks of just giggling to himself in his busted mech like a five year old.

Sorry, Geiz, you can’t beat the bounce.

Sougo just fucking slams this thing w/ the Time Majin.

And so, the path toward very reluctant and at first very awkward friendship begins. Let’s a-go kids!

But also god that boy is skinny. Honey, do you even HAVE hips? Are you okay?

Geiz is having feelings but is very confused right now. Punching things is generally a good venting method.

And the boys are still very bad at not being good at teamwork. Like, they’re already synchronising in pretty much every fight they’ve been in--not just in henshins but in attacks and so on.

Emu that looks NOTHING LIKE YOU, WHY would you call it a doppelgänger.

Since this is after Hiiro first showed up, it means that the two of them still don’t like each other (bc it took them a while to get there), so I’m not surprised that he wouldn’t call Hiiro immediately if something came up. Plus this may not show up bc CR relied on reports by witnesses and were in an abandoned warehouse. But then why is Emu...? Oh, I don’t know.

Was his henshin really always that deep?

Oh! There he is! Woz! I was wondering where you were! So, uh... Where were you?

Geiz: ‘Oh no, not again!’

Wow, he did the hoppity hop thing!

HE HAS GIANT BUMPS ON HIS ARMS! I LOVE THE GIANT BUMPERS ON HIS ARMS!

(I think they’re meant to be buttons?)

Aaaaand, right on cue, there Woz goes again.

Emu just like ‘okay then, let’s roll w/ this then, I guess!’

Wait, but the Brave and Snipe (and Genm, and then there’s Para-DX, and Poppy, and Cronus... Though I guess those last ones may not end up existing since they’re post-this?) Watches don’t seem to be in-show, so... Does that mean that Hiiro and Taiga keep their powers? Bc there was a Crozz-Z Ride Watch, so I now understand Ryuuga losing his, but there were so many Riders in Ex-Aid... Though maybe there’s a whole butterfly thing that simply by removing the primary everything is effected. Bc if you had to account for each individual Rider... Imagine how complex and difficult shows like Ryuki and Gaim would be to explain/sort through.

Hiroki has such a nice smile. Actually, pretty much everyone is Ex-Aid had a nice smile when they smiled.

Oh, god, yes. I really hope that the Rider trying to teach Sougo how to do the finisher in some way (miming for Emu, explaining for Sento) is a thing every time... Though I guess since they couldn’t get Gentaro we won’t get to see him do it... But maybe Takumi will? (I’ve never actually watched Faiz, so I have no idea what the finisher looks like)

Oh, hey. When Sougo hits him it says it in... Kanji, I think? But in Japanese characters of some kind instead of English.

ATTACK OF THE SUBTITLES!

Geiz standing of to the side trying to act cool while these two dorks help this man up.

... He’s wearing socks and... You know what, this is Japan. They’re probably his shoes for inside, and because he was running out to the ambulance with his dying son, he didn’t bother to change.

I love how Emu is like ‘who could we possibly... OH! That asshole!’ (again bc this is the very early season, back hen we didn’t like each other)

HE SAID IT! I guess they cut away so Seto didn’t actually have to eat the cake. Apparent he doesn’t actually like sweets? Maybe bc he’s such a sweetie. ^^

I really love it when the ones playing the ‘serious grumps’ are really adorably dorky and super nice. Like apparently, Seto was the funny and fun one, which I find so cute and hilarious.

Sougo here, getting into the groove of things during his second rodeo.

Emu’s like ‘are you two together?’ and Geiz is like ‘someone shoot me.’

Awwww. Of course Hiiro saved him. Though they haven’t shown us anything yet... So, maybe, even in the altered timeline, he and Emu still ends dup becoming close somehow? Can I pretend that’s the case? Seriously, Hiiro needs that kid. Otherwise he’s just gonna continue forgetting how to be human.

Why do you need another plate? But I think it’s cute how Junichiro is making so much food. I wonder if it’ll be like Mario in Zyuohger, where when he find out (if he doesn’t already know) he decides to just make life at the shop as homey as possible.

Geiz, maybe you should start using his name? Just to, you know, keep Uncle from getting suspicious?

ALSO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING WHY... I just can’t anymore. I love my dorky fashion disaster assassin son.

Here we are w/ the intense staring again. Wouldn’t be KR w/out it.

Geiz and Tsukuyomi be like ‘wow no pressure.’ Seriously, Geiz looks like he’s having a small panic attack back there.

He looks very pretty, though.

Aw, they’re keeping their Ride Watches together!

Well, there’s clearly a friendship theme, so I’m hoping there’s a level of deepening the bonds that just started forming in this episode. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Faiz other than apparently Kaixa is a horrible person (given that the preview images imply he’s strangling some poor girl, I am inclined to agree), so I can’t make any guesses there.

All I ask for Christmas is ONE episode where Geiz doesn’t wear that damn collar thing. I know it’s only been four eps but just ONE.

And, in final news, looks like they’re switching the Watches around.

Okay! Well, that's that for now. Now, my head hurts and I still want pizza, so... Not much else to say. Imaginary pizza for anyone who read all of this, you really didn’t need to do that.

I’m gonna pretend Hiiro and Emu are still friends somehow. Having a good time here, looks like we’re looking at another solid trio and I love it. Also, w/ OOO and Ghost apparently coming up... Good times.

#Kamen Rider Zi-O #just some thoughts #just some immediate thoughts #how many different ways can i say that?#have I mentioned I love Geiz?#that's it that's his tag now #looking forward to reluctant friendship #this three are seeming like a good trio and I might smell an OT3 on the horizon #to the degree that i end up shipping anything #not really a huge shipper and even when I do I'm not as into it as some other people #not as an insult simply as a fact #i have a couple of specific ships that i legit 'ship' but otherwise i'm more invested in family and friendship relations #whether it be blood or found family or otherwise #though i guess found family falls under friendship #head still hurts #still want pizza #so long and thanks for all the fish #Timey Wimey Rider

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whetstonefires · 6 years

Text

d gray man liveblog part 5! (part 1)(part 2)(part 3)(part 4)

Love the amount of personality Allen conveys by code-switching into different formality levels. the translators here are doing an excellent job conveying that, though i suspect the foul language there could have been legitimately punched up.

asserting that his oath to mana and the love that underlies it are his even though he can’t know that is...what makes Allen main character material i guess.

XD I want to ask when ‘being a total maniac with a personality whose internal contradictions are never entirely resolved’ became the shounen protagonist standard but i’m paging through mentally and it basically goes all the way back.

Ashita no Joe was like this. it’s always been like this. only the details change.

I will give Cross Marian .3 points for the possibility he predicted that offering Allen no mercy would inspire him to pull out his hardshell rage against the whole situation rather than crumpling under the weight.

stg allen walker is composed of 93% layered trauma like fine lacquerware and 4% mental invasion. the remaining 3% of his personality is what’s subject to contest. when XIV exceeds 7% encroachment is when shit is going to get real.

oh woo there is Politics afoot and Bookman is...actually intimidated by them, that scares me.

also he and Lavi keep conversing through thought bubbles and i can’t tell if we’re meant to understand they have a telepathic link or this is just an idiosyncratic method of indicating whispers.

lavaliere thinks allen is funny. or that komui’s attempts to reframe shit in allen’s favor are funny.

he’s not actually wrong that the XIVth can’t be trusted, but you want to insist he is wrong somehow because he’s already demonstrated that his standards for treatment of people who even might be compromised are inhumane as fuck.

i want to keep making Pope jokes but the recurring phrase ‘the central government’ just. it really does emphasize how much this organization is modeled on a modern Japanese concept of hierarchy rather than an early-modern European one.

...i am reminded that early European accounts of Tokugawa Japan recorded the shogun as the Emperor and the Emperor as the Pope.

labubibir just smirks when komui asks if his unilateral ‘we’ll tell everyone all about this in the morning’ decision has the pope’s imprimatur behind it.

srsly if we get to a twist that the current Pope is like. an animated corpse or a stuffed bear or a wooden statue or something run by a committee, i’m not even going to be shocked.

oh look it’s Link in that outrageous papal magic ninja getup. XD the role of Timcampi in this story is so weird. and great. he’s like. magic floating R2D2 stg, only if Luke threw R2 at Yoda’s head at some point.

...the point would be when Yoda actually explained about Vader before Vader could, but did it in the most assholish and unhelpful way possible

which you know i would believe would have happened.

Cross Marian it is so completely in character for you to turn up dead and thus useless at such a politically vital moment i almost don’t believe you’ve actually been killed.

only the fact that you actually shared significant information last night makes it seem reasonably likely this is not a fake death.

the disappearing body is a good trick. the guards sleeping and not dead is suggestive either way.

i like the juxtaposition that made it look link Link was blowing shit up by playing chess. (instead it is the marginally less ridiculous ‘playing chess at the site of a battle while ignoring the fighting’)

are those things even akuma? they’re fighting them in a graveyard and either the fight is non-serious enough or the chess is important enough that Miranda’s multi-tasking...

if she needs to use reverse on the board then presumably it...got spilled? but then they could just memorize the positions and let her let it go...

lol yeah okay allen scold the monster for its lack of manners toward a lady.

lmaoooo okay the chess was to win an Innocence-infused ring back from the ghost of its chess-master previous owner! normal duties have resumed in spite of the massive loss of personnel and allen’s identity issues, and apparently Link is now contributing to team efforts. this won’t divide his loyalties at all of course.

the chessboard didn’t decay with the ghost, so i still don’t know what Miranda was reversing time on it for.

+1 sassy old lady.

wow they’re actually building Order operations around use of the Ark, which only Allen can pilot. i guess anyone can use the doors he’s established so once he’s got a solid network running they can axe him but....

...Miranda it is rude to crush on a priest, though he has very pretty hair. (i mean, i’m assuming he’s catholic, since he’s with the Order, which works for the Pope. all indications really are that England is a catholic country in this universe.)

...it’s also a country where the Noahs are installed at high levels of government I don’t understand how no one in the Order has noticed that.

‘even if only for the moment’ ffffffffs link shut the fuck up.

...if anyone is inexplicably reading this without familiarity with the media property involved and picturing the hero from Legend of Zelda when i yell at link, please continue doing that, it’s basically correct except for being wrong in almost every particular.

oh good grief. So, they actually agreed with me about ‘can’t get rid of Allen’ for all the reasons i stated! they just announced to everyone he knows that they have an ongoing mission to kill him if he goes rogue.

that’s entirely reasonable, really, though depressing, but they had to be so viciously dehumanizing about getting there! wtf. “our very own pet noah” imma wring your throat.

...ten years has made Miranda Lott so much more relatable but never more than in this moment where she’s reminding herself she’s the only actual adult in this group.

also really feeling Allen’s “I don’t understand anything, but time keeps moving on.”

Holy shit the guy who knew Kanda when he was a small person now counts as foreshadowing of horrible things to come.

...how long have they left the bloodstained shattered window unrepaired so Rebeliel can sit here staring at it?

i don’t know whether i’m more focused on how absurd it is that this man does fancy baking (19th century! powerful! man!) or how terrifying it is that he’s offering Allen a slice of cake.

lmao apparently Reever is not a typical example of his role, probably because Komui isn’t. in fact, i don’t think i previously realized the ‘section’ he’s ‘chief’ of is the hq science section, because Komui acts like he’s Head of Mad Science and leaves Reever to be his chief minion.

also, this poor woman. her brother got horribly murdered working with these people and it traumatized them and now they’re treating her as a replacement goldfish because she looks just like him. that’s messed up on so many levels, though presumably she’s at least moderately okay with being misgendered or she’d dress differently. it being the 19th century and all.

...also i can’t tell if she’s meant to be a very pale black woman or if hoshino just did a ‘fat person’ character design around racist caricature visual tropes, but she’s got the blackface lip outline and a dreadlock ponytail, so welp.

wow Cross’ disappearance just gets more mysterious even as the evidence of his death mounts.

oh never mind Lebubble says it was definitely his bosses but he’s concerned because he was left out of the loop.

hmm okay that’s two women getting instant crushes on pretty boys and two relatively minor cases of sexual harassment in three chapters, all four times intended as humor, do not like this trend.

hmm now a trans woman being used as a visual gag. i’ve seen worse uses of this trope, but ugh.

the Ganimard expy is funny, tho. the amount of personality conveyed in a few pages is reliably high.

...i feel like he’s pointedly not given his prisoners any changes of clothes in order to maintain the illusion that it makes some kind of sense for there to be an entire gang of phantom thief that gets caught every single time.

that doesn’t actually explain why they’re all still wearing the outrageous hat.

aaaaand back to allen’s identity crisis.

wow, on the one hand cross is pressuring him from beyond the grave not to rely on Mana’s memory because that’s not his real self, but on the other hand he has to seriously consider that his recent lapses in the formality adopted in imitation of Mana were even less himself and in fact the result of a hostile alien consciousness breaking through.

haha this heist scenario is so exactly like a Magic Kaito one I’m guessing that’s a deliberate allusion and not just shared Phantom Thief tropes. (Though how do you tell in a genre like this, Ganimard-Nakamori-Galmar lmao.)

...the thematic element of speech-mode equating identity is really nicely used but lmao sticking out the tongue has sufficiently different connotation in Japan to make this possession sequence weirder than intended. which was already pretty weird.

daaaaamn link’s papal ninja moves are finally seeing some use. also way to signal your real identity bodysnatcher kid, allen’s like sixteen, an adult would definitely not call him niichan.

wow you can even use his papal ninja paper magic! somehow! that is a really high-tier bodysnatching skill. also lol of course kanda can recognize a papal ninja crow by skillset.

i am a huge fan of allen’s capacity for headgames.

oh my goodness is he seriously donating all the money from his thefts to an orphanage? specifically the orphanage where he lives?

and again with the boob grab.

...allen walker weeping that he’s bleeding is quite the hilarious sight but come to think of it if he can’t hold off one random crybaby bodysnatching kid his odds against XIV don’t look that hot, eh?

oh no evil undead nun.

oh that’s a great idea, ask komui for advice about what to do in the situation that an exorcist and his guardians are rejecting summary kidnapping. it’s not like he devoted his entire life to regaining contact with his sister after the Order kidnapped her.

oh no it’s another hideous potbellied angel monster and they’ve figured out how to jam allen’s curse radar. that curse was a present from his dad you bastards!

...mana was a really weird person.

you know link, i’m pretty sure from you that was protectiveness.

oh! a twist! the nun is evil without being an undead monster!

meanwhile the nice nun and all the orphans have been turned into puppets.

daaaaamn the Papal Ninja Paper Magic is good stuff! why don’t they teach it to more of their staff, maybe they wouldn’t have such high turnover.

...Kanda just referred to Noise Marie as ‘she’ but I’m pretty sure that’s a translation error based on the fact that his surname is ‘Marie’ and ‘Noise’ sounds like a descriptor based on his hearing-based power rather than a first name.

it would frankly be awesome if Noise Marie were a woman, but considering the only two not-conventionally-boobalicious and also not elderly female characters we’ve had were minor visual gags (plus i guess Miranda during her initial nervous breakdown), and that hoshino was genuinely startled people thought Jasdero was a woman, presumably because of the lack of visible breasts, i reallllllllly think she would be unlikely to design a huge bald muscle woman, let alone treat her with this much casual respect, let alone while writing her as gay.

regardless, if Noise Marie actually dies imma be so mad. not that me being mad has had a perceptible affect on the death rate--though Kanda and Krory did survive the Ark Battle Arc so maybe i do have power. or rather we collectively as readers do.

hah he cut his own fingers off with wire, badass.

allen’s talent for inspiring compassion claims another victim in Bodysnatcher Timothy and holy cow Emilia The Nice Middle Class Girl is here with a handgun to menace the giant monsters, nice.

i mean, they’re not very menaced, but she’s shooting them anyway, because fuck you.

...holy shit that’s a powerful ability. the fact that it leaves his real body vulnerable is kind of a major drawback even with good teammates, but wow. also for some reason his Innocence has its own consciousness???

which can pilot his body for him while he’s walkabout, how helpful!

Bonne the the translady prison boss has joined the count of girls who see a cute guy and get an instant crush recently, but for some reason she’s really into Reever? I mean, he’s good-looking, sure, but he’s not one of The Pretty Boys.

Just realized that part of what’s vibing so weird is, this is a shounen series, but the specific way it juxtaposes elements of extreme shittiness with elements of brilliant concept and execution is more shoujo in style.

sameface isn’t normally a big issue in this series but Link-with-his-bangs-blown-back looks confusingly similar to Timothy’s Innocence Spirit, whom Timothy identified as his adult self with startling ease.

kneeling there out of options thinking you’re going to die and you dedicate your last thought to revellier, link? really??? that’s extremely sad. did he actually do anything to earn your loyalty or is this just brainwashing?

I feel like last time through I failed to absorb the political implications of the Order having managed to put together agents who can stop a Level 3 akuma with their hands and then eat it. with their hands. i think they’ve been spliced with akuma, because ‘nothing human can get through this barrier.’

Lenalee going one-v-one on a Level 3 was a nigh-self-destruct big deal a couple of months ago. This isn’t just sloppily managed shounen power creep this is the obsolescence of the excorcists.

which in theory would be a good thing, but the way these guys are made has to be awful and our main characters were already disposable enough in the eyes of their masters.

At least Allen’s getting Power Creep too! New tactic: drop sword. Stab enemy in the back with it while standing in front of them because it’s still part of your body somehow.

oh good grief allen you saw what happened to tiki myk! how did you not see this coming. ughhhhhhh. i know why. your current life plan is to Denial so damn hard the universe breaks your way. this is your god letting you know she’s not going to indulge that touching optimism.

i think it shocked me the first time, but i’m not sure anymore.

yeah, deeply counter-productive course of action.

...i’m now used to the way XIV uses Allen’s face but the akuma seeing him as a flaming skeleton monster i had forgotten about. wut?

with kanda it’s not a question of did he count on allen being able to dodge or did he not care if he stabbed him too, it’s both.

the cognitive dissonance of the story trying to treat Timothy joining the Order as a Good End to this episode, the same way it did back in early days when they recruited Miranda, when the prevailing atmosphere of the story has become one of institutional cruelty and corruption wherein the Order is a hellish slave-taking death trap that eats its people alive is just...fucking me up big time.

am i actually expected to accept the content here at face value?

...i mean, it’s a good end in that our heroes are spared having to forcibly kidnap him into indenture, but Emilia joining to look after him is just. It’s not funny or heartwarming or empowering.

we’ve recently gone over how komui doesn’t want lenalee to see his joining the Order for her as self-sacrifice even though it was, and also how much it fucks him up being accountable for how evil this organization is.

and not to be awful but lenalee’s his actual family and actually sweet, whereas timothy is a horrid brat with a habit of sexually harassing Emilia.

And that was before the war reached a point where we’re seeing 90% mortality.

don’t do this emilia. nooooooope.

on the upside, the nice nun and all the children survived somehow!

allen’s relationship with Link is weird.

i wonder if i was meant to be disturbed by how similar Mana’s body language was to the Earl’s for a second there?

okay so can we talk about how in this moment of extreme drama where Allen has sat up in bed possessed by evil, timcampi (who never communicates except via body language and is a floating orb) gets a speech bubble containing a picture of a toilet?

because it was really important to let the readers know that the little golem theorized that Allen needed to have a pee, in between cutting from the unsettling Symbolic Dream to the terrifying murder face.

and the thing is, it even kind of was! it contributes to the pace of the whole scene, it reminds us that timcampi is a conscious being with opinions even if he can’t communicate much, and is witnessing this incident. and yet. toilet.

the entire storytelling style of D. Gray Man revolves around creating cognitive dissonance and it does not suit my brain.

...i honestly don’t know what to think about Link being uncomfortable sharing a room with Lenalee flashing that much thigh, but i know i like him better for the fact that he let her drive him out of his own room by falling asleep on his bed, and just stood around in the hall like a chump waiting for her to finish her nap.

and he escalates from threatening allen with a formal complaint to threatening to tell komui he’s alone in a room with lenalee lmao.

he really is fitting right in.

oh hey. it wasn’t just timcampi who saw.

yes okay thanks for the tyki myk update good to know there are long-term consequences for running a noah through with Crown Clown.

aaaand North American Boobs Lady didn’t seem half this menacing last time she came up, but now she’s flanked by Hungry Hands Dude and his partner and komui is looking freaked out.

he does that a lot lately.

#catching up with d. grey man #d gray man #d gray man spoilers #i need to go into less detail

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roc-thoughtblog · 4 years

Text

Sense and Sensibility Readthrough Part 24

Chapter 27, Pages 144-150

Previously, the Dashwood sisters arrive in London. Despite apparently being in town, Willoughby seems to be ghosting poor excited Marianne, who is getting more disappointed by the minute. A consolation Brandon just doesn't hit the same.

Readthrough below.

Chapter 27

Dashwood girls and Mrs. Jennings open this chapter by discussing the consequences of fine weather: namely that it keeps sportspeople from wanting to leave the open playing fields of the country. Sir Middleton might delay his arrival to enjoy a few extra days of sunshine, and Marianne's anxieties are eased by considering that maybe Willoughby too couldn't tear himself from a fine country day.

That the sunshine isn't expected to last much longer also makes her excited for the possibility of it no longer (hypothetically) holding Willoughby away from London. I think Elinor and I both suspect the weather has nothing to do with it.

The Miss Dashwoods had no greater reason to be dissatisfied with Mrs. Jennings's style of living, and set of acquaintance, than with her behaviour to themselves, which was invariably kind.

It's been a while since actively noted an Austenism but I feel like it just got inverted. Usually it's something positive that gets the rug swept out under it; this time it's something negative that got inverted. I guess it's extra appropriate here seeing as the Miss Dashwoods have never really held any particularly positive disposition to Mrs. Jennings before. I like it.

Colonel Brandon, who had a general invitation to the house, was with them almost every day; he came to look at Marianne and talk to Elinor

:'D

I would like to do that. The constantly casually visiting friends thing, I mean. Not the looking part. That's a bit odd, though I'm taken to be aware that "can't take my eyes off you" is definitely a thing a that happens to people, so, eh. It's harder in reality though, the constant visiting. Pandemic aside, Mrs. Jennings most definitely has servants taking care of general affairs when anyone visits. If I dropped by on any of my friends though, there's a high probability that I'd be imposing in some way that requires personal domestic effort on my friends' part.

Elinor observes that Brandon's little crush on Marianne is growing somewhat larger than little. Hmm.

Oh! But also, a week into the visit, a card arrives from Willoughby! So he's recieved the communications from Marianne. Despite that though he's made no real substantial response... Marianne's even more highly strung now just waiting for anything. No sitting still, no getting on with anything else in her life. Yeah, I know that feeling, it ain't nice.

Whoop, she got to the point where she snatched a random letter off of a servant just to make sure it wasn't from Willoughby. At this point Elinor can no longer refrain from probing at least a little, but mostly that just offends Marianne who claims to have nothing to hide. While snatching letters from people and pretending it ain't nothang. Nobody is convinced but it doesn't help Elinor extract anything from her.

The Middletons have arrived and Lady M has invited her mother and the Dashwoods over to visit. Sir M has, extremely characteristically, immediately thrown a big party. :'D

Willoughby is of course not in attendance, so it will be impossible for Marianne to feel happiness tonight. The Palmers are there, and Mr. Palmer has apparently forgotten who the Dashwoods are; fair enough. Has forgotten for ONE PARAGRAPH until remembering them AN HOUR LATER dear god this disaster man. :'D

"I thought you were both in Devonshire," said he. "Did you?" Elinor replied. "When do you go back again?" "I do not know." And thus ended their discourse.

This exchange. :'D

I had to go back and check to make sure that the Barton Cottage actually was in Devonshire, because it would've been even funnier if Mr. Palmer just thought they were in some completely irrelevant place altogether. I feel like Jane Austen has to have known somebody who was Mr. Palmer.

Apparently Willoughby was invited to this party, because Sir Middleton ran into him on the street in the morning. He's still not here to even see her. Poor Marianne seems very hurt. Elinor's pretty resolved to get Mama Dashwood's support in intervening now. Marianne is also writing a letter in the morning, which Elinor assumes is addressed to Willoughby, specifically for the lack of any other candidate.

See, when the narration puts it like that, I really start to think she's not writing to Willoughby at all. Maybe somebody else with a W. Or an M, if we're doing the upside down letters fakeout. The Middletons? ... Miss Williams...?

As Elinor drafts the letter to her mother, Brandon visits. Marianne has already vacated the room on account of not being in the mood for company, which is just as well because Brandon seems to want to talk to Elinor alone. ... He probably does that in a general sense anyway, he and Elinor like talking to each other and I sense that Marianne just has zero interest in interacting with him in general, even without considering the current situation with Willoughby.

I haven't really bothered to speculate on who ends up who but it occurs to me that there being three suitors around with varying levels of chemistry for the two sisters, perhaps that is intended to be part of the allure of the novel. It is a romance after all.

Hmm. Nope, can't tell. All three men are rather broadly too absent. Eddie seems too detached to even hold a relationship, and Willoughby is doing his whole ghosting thing. Brandon is the only one who seems to have some kind of normal friendly relationship with either of the sisters, but neither he nor Elinor seem to be remotely interested in each other in any kind of non-platonic capacity, even though they seem to get along quite well. There's too much story left to go.

Oh, anyway, Brandon's come to ask about Marianne's engagement to Willoughby, which is apparently fairly public knowledge. That's not terribly surprising considering I feel like Elinor is the only person who really cares who holds any real doubts. But the rumor doth fly. Brandon's been holding onto some hope that it ain't true, but he's caved after seeing a servant carry a letter in Marianne's writing addressed to Willoughby.

OH NO. HE'S ALSO ASKING ELINOR FOR ROMANTIC ADVICE. HE'S IN SHAMBLES. THAT'S EVEN WORSE THAN ASKING ME FOR ROMANTIC ADVICE. :'D

At least I have absolutely zero stake in any situations people are foolhardy enough to consult me on. Such are the perils of appearing prudent. People bugging you for advice on matters that you really can't give.

Brandon is in some serious shambles right now though. He's kind of stumbling over himself, maybe even rambling a little. He's asking Elinor to fill him in on the exact state of the engagement, but it's almost like he's begging. He's desperate for either a last window for... something, or just some kind of absolute closure that will let him move on. He kind of has it pretty bad; even Elinor is in some shock right now, as though she were the one who suddenly had to deal with a rival engagement. Well. I mean, as though she had to deal with one a second time.

Well it's another tough week for Elinor's advice column. She doesn't barely know much of anything about Marianne's current relationship with Willoughby to begin with. To say what she thinks, that there's something odd going on and in no way confirmed, is to give Brandon false hope because for real he ain't gettin no time of day from Marianne. So she lies and just tells him about as much as anyone else probably says, that it's basically confirmed even if she doesn't know any details.

And that's that. Brandon leaves, emotionally, while wishing Marianne well.

she was left [...] with a melancholy impression of Colonel Brandon's unhappiness, and was prevented even from wishing it removed, by her anxiety for the very event that must confirm it.

Imagine being forced to break your friend's heart on behalf of somebody else, and needing to justify it on the a relationship you're hoping will actually even work out. That's a lot to handle.

That's this chapter. I wonder what this means now? Obviously something is still going to go wrong with Willoughby, and we still have a bunch of loose ends with Brandon, so he can't lose relevance yet.

#1400 words #seem to have a lot more to say past few chapters #Jane Austen #Sense and Sensibility #readthrough #novels

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tigerlover16-uk · 7 years

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What do you think of the controversy over Caulifla's super saiyan transformations and the Mary Sue accusations?

Goku was able to perform the Kamehameha, a technique that took the world’s oldest and most experienced martial arts master 50 years to get down, on his first try without ever even hearing about the concept of ki control in his life before Roshi showed him the technique. No I don’t care if Dragon Ball was mostly a gag manga at the time, that’s still objectively canon and Goku is frequently shown mastering techniques at extremely fast rates just through observation.

Vegeta revealed pretty much out of nowhere that he had learned how to sense people’s ki without a scouter just by realizing that Goku and his friends could do it and giving it a go himself, when the only time he could have possibly had to test this ability was during the ten odd minutes he spent conscious on that outpost where he had been sent to recover. Keep in mind, the ability to sense people’s ki was introduced as an ability Goku only gained because he drank the ultra divine water, and yet everyone could do it in Z with minimal explanation given and Vegeta just picked it up naturally.

Goten learned how to fly on his first try after a brief explanation as to how, and he and Tunks were able to master going super saiyan on their own with no help or instructions as little children, offscreen, and both were strong enough to given Gohan a run for his money as a super saiyan if Gohan’s reaction to sparring with Goten was any indication. With no other explanation than “Because mutant prodigy’s”. and as Gotenks they not only skipped right past super saiyan 2 to become a super saiyan 3 out of nowhere just as a quick plot convenience to get them and Piccolo out of the hyperbolic time chamber, with the implication Gotenks could have done it earlier easily if he wanted. SOMEHOW. And let’s not forget his technique he suddenly revealed he had where he spat out a squad of sentient ghost suicide bombers with his face (Just TRY and give me a sensible explanation for that. I DARE you).

Hit has an ability that literally allows him to boost his power and improve his skills so that he can match or even just surpass his opponents AS HE’S FIGHTING THEM, best demonstrated by how he quickly managed to catch up to and fight mostly evenly with Goku at kaio-ken x10 on top of super saiyan blue.

And I could give a number of other examples.

I don’t see nearly as many people complaining about any of these instances, and many of the people complaining about Caulifla don’t have an issue with those characters doing these things.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, people put WAY too much importance on super saiyan transformations. People complain about Caulifla and Kale’s transformations “Devaluing” the super saiyan transformation and making it less impressive and special.

Except, that’s literally all the franchise has BEEN DOING to the form since the Freeza saga ended.

Future Trunks’ debut pretty much debunked the possibility of it being a rare one of a kind legendary form, and soon after every single character with saiyan blood in them minus Pan and Bulla we met was able to go super saiyan. Multiple new forms were introduced as upgrades to super saiyan in Z, GT went and introduced super saiyan 4, something that actually LOOKS like a proper transformation. The recent movies adapted into Super introduced two new transformations that were literally called god forms, one of which required a special ritual involving multiple super saiyans to access. And of course there’s Broly’s legendary super saiyan transformation from his movies, which has been re-imagined as Super Saiyan Berserk for Super, and Super saiyan Rose, which is super saiyan blue with it’s colouring being altered by Zamasu’s corrupt divine spirit inhabiting Goku’s body. And Trunks’ rage mode.

And again, characters have been shown gradually having less trouble acquiring the initial super saiyan forms, to the point Toriyama didn’t even bother showing us how Goten and Trunks mastered them and just made a joke about it.

I think people are still hung up on the whole “Legendary” status the form has in universe, and how the characters treated it as a big deal, and came up with their own vague, non-descript explanations for it like “It comes in response to a need” and whatever (So, yeah, what was Goten and Trunks’ need? To look cool for parties?).

When the truth is, given from what we’ve seen, the likely scenario is that the initial super saiyan transformation is actually a fairly basic technique that any reasonably talented saiyan can do if they try and have an idea what they’re going for, provided they concentrate hard enough. It was only considered legendary in universe because no one had any idea how to do it or what the heck a super saiyan actually IS, since no one had done it for a thousand years for some reason. I mean… Nappa thought that Gohan might have been a super saiyan because he was a hybrid, and Vegeta thought he had become one because he’d gotten a few zenkai boosts and he was royalty.

Super saiyan transformations really aren’t that big of a deal, in that case. They serve two main purposes, as a convenient excuse for our heroes to match their enemies, and as iconography for the series. People claiming that the super saiyan form is some special great thing that has to be earned are usually of the same mindset this fandom has that saiyan characters are intrinsically more valuable than characters of any other species, especially humans. Which is straight up wrong on multiple levels.

One of the complaints people used to have about the prequel trilogy of Star Wars was that having so many Jedi made them less “Special”, yet if the Clone wars and much of the other media set during that era and before it featuring large amounts of Jedi, sith and other force users proves anything, it’s that there’s actually MORE and better story potential to having a fairly sizable amount of Jedi and other force users around, and having them not be quite as OP as we would have thought, as opposed to the original trilogy’s strategy of having only a few of them and having them be super special people.

Caulifla was already a prodigy, If you look at her, she seems to be a rough counterpart of Goku, being a lot different to what we had been lead to expect universe 6 saiyans to act like, loving to fight and having a strong desire to get stronger, yada yada. As a super saiyan 2, she was able to fight pretty evenly with Goku using that same form, so she’s definitely waaaaaaaay stronger than Goku was AS a super saiyan back in the Frieza saga, and given the lifetime of training and natural talent it would have took her to reach that level on her own, that probably would have meant she’s an expert at ki control.

So, take everything I’ve mentioned into account, remember the series has a long established pattern of very talented characters learning new abilities almost instantaneously after seeing them, remember Caulifla saw Cabba go super saiyan several times right in front of her and that he gave her advice about how to do it, and her getting it down on her second try is hardly that illogical.

Her going super saiyan 2 is a little more sketchy, not helped by the fact that… well, the series has never finely ironed out HOW the upper transformations work and how characters go into them other than Gohan’s extreme rage burst. But I’ll just shrug it off as a surge of adrenaline briefly triggering it since she had to stop Kale killing Cabba quickly. She didn’t actually have the ability to go into it herself after all, she needed Goku to show it to her and to seemingly concentrate a lot harder, and then spar with Goku to get it down. So, a little eye brow raising at first, but nothing too egregious and I was willing to roll with it.

If she had started out going into super saiyan god out of nowhere, that would have made no sense and have been something to gripe about. But the way she gained her super saiyan transformations? Honestly, I don’t find it a big deal, really.

Super saiyan transformations have never been anywhere near a quarter as important as the character’s USING them. Caulifla is a fun and likeable character, and she could have plenty of potential to her if she’s brought back for more stories after the current saga. So that’s all I really care about in the grand scheme of things.

Really, I’m just glad that the franchise FINALLY got off it’s lazy butt and introduced a female super saiyan already. It’s refreshing seeing more women doing cool things in this show. Heaven knows we had an inexcusably small pool of powerful and competent female fighters in this series already. People nitpicking the mechanics of the forms, whether it’s been devalued by Caulifla using them the way she has, to complain about her being a bad character supposedly… with all due respect, I think their priorities are in the wrong places.

Then again, going through comments sections, people’s blogs and other sites, I’ve seen a frightening amount of disgustingly sexist and disturbing comments about Caulifla and Kale, and also the Kamikaze Fireballs, especially Ribirianne. And people actually freely admitting that Dragon Ball doesn’t need women fighters that aren’t all like Android 18. Soooooo… maybe the divisive side of the reactions to Caulifla are about more than just people hyper-focusing on lore and the informed “specialness” of super saiyan transformations.

This fandom DOES have a long standing and not well enough addressed misogyny problem, after all.

#dragon ball super #caulifla #dbs #dragon ball #Dragon Ball Z

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howtohero · 7 years

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#044 Contact Information

Superheroes cannot reasonably be expected to be aware every time a crime or supervillain attack occurs. They’re busy people! Or they’re very oblivious. Also, ever since that space shuttle full of alien robots crashed into that volcano it’s gotten hard to determine which giant robots strolling through the city are part of some evil scheme and which ones are just confused, but friendly, alien robot tourists who just got lost on their way back to where they parked their crashed spaceship. So sometimes heroes just don’t know when or if they’re supposed to spring into action all heroic-like. So it’s a good idea for superheroes to set up some sort of system by which the public, or certain elements of it, can get in touch with them. If you happen to have super hearing this isn’t really such a pressing issue for you. All you have to do is listen for someone calling your name. But for the rest of you, that only works if someone is screaming your name in your immediate vicinity. And what are the odds of that happening??? Probably they are very low.

The first thing you have to do is determine who you want to be able to get in contact with you. Members of your own support-squad should definitely be able to call you when they need you and communicate with you while you’re out in the field. You should probably just all get matching communicators. That would be so fun! You could have a night where the whole squad gets together and everyone customizes their own communicators. You can get stickers and glitter. Just go all out on those Team Bat-Fish-Giant-Bird-Wing-Woman communicators. You’re also going to want other, unaffiliated superheroes to be able to get in contact with you. If you and all your super buds get your communicators from the same Radio Hut you could probably arrange to meet up on a separate channel which can be used to communicate with each other. Provided you’re in range of course. And can get a signal. It will always be hard to contact another hero when you’re underwater or in space. So think about that before you go off into deep water/space. Don’t dive right in and blast right off and then think to yourself “oh man, you know who would be great to have as backup here? Ny™@r3 the sagely horse who gives advice to troubled youths!” You need to have all of those thoughts before hand! Also if you try to get matching walkie-talkies with all your pals you become one of those “you can only reach me if you’re within a thousand kilometers of me and also if you shop at the same electronic stores as me” people and those people are always a hassle to get in contact with. Another thing you can do is to just casually give out the cellphone numbers of the people on your support team to anyone who asks and this way if someone needs to contact you they can call them and then they can determine if it’s an important enough message to relay to you.

The next people who are probably want to in touch with you are (your parents go call them you jerk!) the police. Sometimes solving and preventing crimes is difficult. Sometimes the city doesn’t have enough money in its budget to train their cops to fight evil talking polar bears. So they give you a call. They don’t have to pay you anything. You get off on that stuff. (This is all presupposing that you’ve gotten past the awkward “is that guy in the costume punching other guys a criminal???” phase with the local law enforcement)/]. But how will the police contact you? Can they call you? Beep you? If they wanna reach you? An idea that might seem attractive in theory is to provide the local PD with some kind of giant spotlight that they can shine into the sky whenever there’s trouble. But just know that that’s stupid. That’s not an effective way to get in touch with a person. Like, at all. What if there’s an emergency during the day? What if you’re out of town or, I dunno, indoors? What if you’re not just staring at the sky?! It’s also a great way to let all your enemies know exactly where you’re going to be. That’s a great way to get murdered. If you don’t want to get murdered, don’t do that.

Instead what you should do is set up some sort of hotline. But not the kind of hotline that gets advertised on billboard and park benches and indoor blimps at basketball games. You don’t want to get flooded with calls for help moving furniture or doing arithmetic homework or prank calls from supervillains. Don’t fly around the city dropping business cards with your number on them. Don’t hang up flyers in your local Pizza Shack. Don’t take out an ad in the papers. What you should do is give your number to a few key individuals, the mayor, the police commissioner, your parents, that guy who tipped you ten bucks after you saved his life that one time, the president, the chef at your favorite restaurant, attractive journalists, me, so that we can always contact you if there’s an emergency you need to be aware of.

If answering calls isn’t really your thing –which I get, talking on the phone is hard- another thing you can consider doing is setting up an email address which people can use to contact you. Or have both the hotline and an email server and allow more people to have access to the email address while keeping the hotline reserved for just like, me and the president. Having an email setup is handy because you can just use the search function to find the most urgent emergencies. Searching keywords such as “monster attack” or “alien invasion” or “free ice cream, ends tonight,” can help you cut through the frivolous and the spam. You can also just assign interns to maintain the email account and then they can pass on the most pressing information directly to you. You can even let them craft fun responses to the emails! Stuff like “hey thanks for these pictures of your cat dressed in a cape we printed them out and hung them up all over the hideout,” or “hey, we know we said we liked those pictures of your cat with the cape, and we did. We liked them a lot. But you need to stop sending us pictures now. You’ve sent us over three thousand pictures of your cat in a cape. It’s not even different capes. it’s always the same cape. This is absurd. You need to stop.” Of course, that means letting a bunch of college kids represent you on the internet while also allowing them to decide which world-threatening emergencies are worth your time, and there’s definitely a learning curve that comes with that, but they’ll probably get the hang of it quickly.

You can also set up a PO Box which people can mail letters to. Or train pigeons to bring you letters! That’d be pretty neat! (If I had a pet carrier pigeon I’d name it Carrie, everyone call out your dream pigeon names in the comments!) This will cut down on the amount of adoring messages that will inevitably clog up your voicemails and inboxes. Make it clear to your legions of fans that you will only read love letters or fan mail if they are sent through your country’s esteemed postal services. (Also I guess this would be a good place to direct people to send pictures of their cats in human clothes.) This can also be handy if someone knows about a crisis that will occur in the future and thus, is not exactly urgent information now. Stuff like “My cousin just got a doctorate in mad science and also bought a bunch of bats off of the internet and I’m concerned,” or “The ghost of my grandfather’s college roommate appeared to me and warned me that an army of evil old-timey ghosts are going to attack the living realm in three months’ time,” stuff that’s important for a superhero to be aware of but not as pressing as some of the other stuff you need to be informed about.

No matter which method(s) you decide to adopt you’ll quickly find that allowing people to contact you to report crimes and/or emergencies will vastly improve your ability to actually be where you need to be to help people. Don’t be one of those chumps that just wanders around waiting to come across danger. I mean you can still do that too. That’s kind of proactive I guess. But also make sure people can get in touch with you when they need to.

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