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winryofresembool · 3 years

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Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 24

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Halloween chapter, part 2.

A/N: Yay, an update! I think some of you are gonna be happy about the characters that are being introduced in this chapter... Also lots of Caleo dorkiness (and canon references) in it! And you'll get to see if you were right with your costume guesses :D

Also like I already mentioned last week, this is the last chapter that I have written so far (when I started posting this fic I tried to make sure I'd have at least 7 chapters ready so I wouldn't have to stress about deadlines... and here we are now) so it is possible that updates may slow down a bit, at least if the chapter wants to become long. But I am still /trying/ to keep up with the regular updates the best I can :) So worry not!

Now, enjoy and let me know what you think!! Ps. somehow we’ve managed to pass 50k words already :O

Words: 4040

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

…

“Hi, you guys!” Piper, who was dressed as Wonder Woman, greeted Leo and Calypso first when they arrived, gesturing for them to come in.

“Hello! I was afraid Argo II had decided to stop working because you guys are late,” Jason the Superman noted as he offered to take Calypso’s coat and put it in a hanger by the door.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jason, that possibility did cross my mind as well,” Calypso said, casting Leo a meaningful look. “But no, not this time.”

“We’re only 10 minutes late!” Leo protested, checking the time from his phone. “I was busy finishing something… and Calypso took her time preparing herself as well. She probably did her wig for like two hours.” He gave her a not so serious side-eye.

“I did not!” Calypso said defensively. “Yeah, I straightened and combed and braided it but that took me maybe 15-20 minutes so he is highly exaggerating.”

“Don’t worry, Calypso, we know he does that a lot.” Piper smiled at her reassuringly. “Speaking of your wig, though, you look very cute! That hair reminds me of the style you had before my makeover. You’re dressed as the mythology Calypso, right?”

“Yes, I am,” Calypso said, pleased that Piper had figured that out so fast. “I thought it would be fun to be a bit self ironic for once. I haven’t really had a good reason to sew recently so this was a nice excuse to do that as well.” She made a small twirl to show the dress better.

“That dress really looks great!” Piper told her. “I would gladly commission you to sew me clothes; it’s so hard to find anything nice from the clothes stores these days. But Leo.” She turned back to him. “I see someone hasn’t bothered to get a costume. I wasn’t expecting that from you because you’re always so excited about them.”

“No, you got it all wrong.” Leo wagged his finger at her. “I do have it here, but as I told Cal, it would have been too difficult to wear in the car.” He dropped his bag on the floor, causing a loud thud as it hit the ground.

“Alright. Care to give us any hint what it is?” Piper asked curiously. “Seems heavy.” Calypso wondered if this was something they did every year.

“I’m just saying that it’s inspired by some movies that united us three,” Leo noted mysteriously. “But that’s all, you’ll see soon!”

“My mind is blank now,” Piper said. “Jason, what movies have we watched with him?”

“The first one that comes to my mind is Star Wars,” Jason reminded her. Suddenly both Jason and Piper’s eyes widened in realization. “Could it be?”

“Oh no, Leo you didn’t!” Piper doubled over in laughter when it occurred to her what Leo’s costume most likely was. “I can’t wait to see this!”

“I hope you took pictures with Festus!” Jason couldn’t keep his poker face either, and Calypso watched their reactions with confusion.

“Don’t worry, I will show them later.” Leo grinned, unperplexed by Jason and Piper’s laughter. “Now, where can I change?”

Piper showed him an empty room where he could get into his costume in peace, while Calypso started looking around the house on her own. Even though the place seemed rather fancy, Jason and Piper had managed to make it cozier with their personal objects. A lot of them had seen life and were worn but somehow they still fit in with the newer decorations.

As Calypso reached the living room, her focus went to the guests who had already arrived at the party. She waved at Annabeth and nodded awkwardly to Percy. Even though she and Annabeth were friends again, she wasn’t quite sure how she should act near Percy so ‘reserved’ felt the most natural reaction. She couldn’t help but smile a bit, though, when she registered their costumes: Annabeth had a Chiton just like her, although grey instead of white, with some silvery accessories and a beautiful owl shaped brooch over her chest. Perhaps the most impressive part of her costume was the Greek styled helmet that was used in battles and that hid most of Annabeth’s curly ponytail. Calypso was quite certain she was dressed as Athena, the Greek goddess that according to her was the one she identified herself the most with. Percy on the other hand was wearing sandals, shorts, a tropical shirt, and a belt with fishing equipment and he was holding a fishing rod in his hand. Calypso couldn’t quite figure out who he was supposed to be, other than some sort of fisherman.

“Hi,” Calypso greeted them as she got to hearing distance with them. “You guys look nice. You’re Athena, right?” She asked Annabeth. “Matches my theme, don’t you think?”

“Sure does,” Annabeth nodded, eyeing Calypso’s costume. “You look pretty much exactly like how I imagine the mythology Calypso.”

“Thank you. Coming from you it’s a big compliment.” She turned Percy. “I can’t figure out who you are, though. You don’t seem like a Greek god?”

“I am, though,” Percy replied. “I’m Poseidon.”

“Ooh, so that’s why the fishing gear!” Calypso realized. “But I don’t think the Greeks had tropical shirts quite yet.”

“No, you’re right in that.” Percy shook his head, smiling a bit. “But I’m basing this on the version in the Peter Johnson series. That’s how he was described in it.”

“I didn’t know you have read that too,” Calypso said, “But makes sense. Um, the Poseidon and Athena of the mythology hated each other, though. Not that it’s really my business, but I hope you two are doing fine…?” She asked a bit nervously, not wanting to be the reason for their issues.

“Oh yeah, we are,” Percy confirmed immediately. “It’s just an old joke – back when Annabeth and I were reading the Peter Johnson books I used to say Poseidon is my godly parent and Athena Annabeth’s, and that just kind of stuck with us.”

“Alright.” Calypso accepted Percy’s answer, turning her attention back to Annabeth. “By the way, where did you get that helmet? It definitely looks fancier than most of the plastic ones you see at costume shops.”

“My father collects these things,” Annabeth answered, lifting the helmet from her head for a moment. “I’ve told you he’s also a historian, right? Well, one of his friends wanted to make a replica of the ancient Greek helmets with some modern machines and dad bought this from him. I’m not saying this is 100 per cent accurate but it looks pretty cool, in my opinion.”

“It does,” Calypso confirmed.

“You came with Leo, right?” Percy asked then, to which Calypso nodded. “Where is he? I can’t wait to see his costume; he usually goes for something that is way over the top. Last year he was Hiccup from How to Train your Dragon and he had made a Toothless costume for his dog. I’ve also seen pics of him as Iron Man. Yes, with a full iron costume.”

“I can believe that of him,” Calypso chuckled, imagining Leo in the said costume. “He just went to change into his costume because apparently he couldn’t drive in it. He didn’t reveal what he was going to be, but it does sound like something extravagant.”

“I missed his costume last year but I’ll be sure to have a camera ready when he shows up this time,” Annabeth said happily. Calypso was relieved that the conversation was going this well; she hadn’t known what to expect beforehand because this was the first time she was in the same room with Percy since the ‘incident’. Talking with him now, though, made her realize that holding a grudge wouldn’t be smart and he seemed to think the same way.

“I just realized,” Calypso decided to change the topic, “that I’ve never heard the story of how you guys know Jason and Piper. So how did that happen?”

“It’s a funny story,” Percy started, smiling at the memory. “Jason and I used to be the captains of rivaling soccer teams when we were around 16. Well, one time Jason’s team was visiting us but we were playing in an arena that had just been renovated so I hadn’t been there before. I may have been a bit late from our team meeting and I was a bit lost so I decided to ask one staff lady where I was supposed to go. Somehow she got our teams mixed up and I ended up in the locker room of Jason’s team. Some of Jason’s teammates said that my expression was worth seeing when I realized the mistake but I dunno about that. The funny thing was that somehow the same thing had happened to Jason; he had also been late for the meeting because of traffic or something and he had gotten into my team’s locker room. Well, after the game we had a good laugh about it together and ended up talking about other stuff as well and noticed we have a lot in common. That’s how we became friends. When we moved into the same town, we started training together at least a few times a week.”

“Piper and I didn’t learn to know each other until Jason and she started dating a couple of years ago and they invited Percy to some party where I went with him. To be honest, I was a bit suspicious about her at first because we seemed very different but eventually we learned to respect each other’s qualities. And here we are,” Annabeth added.

“Those are some cool stories,” Calypso said. “It seems like a funny coincidence that somehow we all ended up in this city even though most of us are from somewhere else. Like Leo is from Texas, I am from Greece…” “Speaking of him,” Annabeth had to muffle his laughter with her hand, “I believe we are finally getting some answers about his costume.”

“Oh… my gods” was all Calypso could say when she turned to the direction Annabeth was looking at. “You’re really something else.”

Leo was completely hidden inside his costume, but Calypso could practically hear him grinning at their reactions. The costume looked very much like in the movies; golden (just painted, not real gold, because there was no way Leo could afford something like that) plating forming a droid with big round eyes and an ability to speak lots and lots of different languages: C-3PO from Star Wars.

“Holy shit, dude, that looks so real.” Percy gaped at Leo. “I’m starting to understand why you spent so much time in your room the past few weeks.”

“Why C-3PO, though?” Calypso asked once she managed to put her poker face back on. “Does that have some story behind it?”

“Because, duh, it looks cool!” Leo exclaimed with a mechanical voice from inside his costume. “I dunno, ever since I first saw C-3PO as a kid I thought it would be cool to be able to build something like that. And hey, his ability to translate like all the possible languages is pretty neat. Me? I just know 3.”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable in there, though?” Calypso asked. “That thing must be heavy.”

“Sunshine, I’m always uncomfortable. But this was a childhood dream of mine so I sure as heck am not backing off now,” Leo said with determination.

“A stubborn one, aren’t you?” Calypso stated. “Even I have to admit, though, that you have certainly done some thorough job with it. Hey, I should take photos before I forget! You don’t get to see this every day.”

The others dug their phones up as well and for a while Leo just made silly poses while they took pictures, clearly enjoying the attention his costume got. Eventually he started demanding that Calypso should join him for the photos but she was a bit hesitant at first.

Leo argued: “Come on. Greek mythology meets Star Wars? You don’t see a crossover like that every day.”

“Can’t argue with that, I suppose,” Calypso said and went next to him. “Well, do we have some kind of story for Calypso and C-3PO’s meeting?” she asked as Percy and Annabeth waved at them to look at the camera.

Leo considered her question for a moment. “Oh, how about this? C-3PO somehow ends up on Calypso’s island - because duh, Calypso is cursed so she can’t leave the island…”

“You seem to know surprisingly much about Greek mythology, just saying…” Calypso noted while trying to smile for the photos, resting her hand on the metallic shoulder.

“I told ya, Sunshine, you can blame tía Callida for that…” Leo reminded her. “Anyway, I imagine those two don’t really like each other at first because they’re so different but eventually they learn to respect each other’s skills; C-3PO can translate basically any language and Calypso is good at all kinds of handiworks, which is hard for a droid.”

“And? What happens after that?” Calypso asked curiously.

Leo considered it for a moment. “C-3PO doesn’t really wanna leave Calypso’s island but he has galaxies to save with his friend R2-D2 so he has to go but he promises to come get her afterwards.”

“Aw, Leo, that is kind of sweet,” Calypso commented, suddenly aware of the metal arm that had snuck around her waist. “Does he… does he ever return, though? Shouldn’t that be impossible?”

“For a human, maybe, but he’s a droid,” Leo noted. “Unfortunately during a big battle he blows up badly but the ever so faithful R2-D2 collects the pieces and finds someone who can rebuild him again. And boom, he makes it back and lives happily ever after with his goddess.”

“What’s the term you use when you enjoy a fictional relationship a lot?” Calypso asked. “Shipping?” Annabeth nodded at her. “I don’t know, Leo, to me it sounds like you ship those two. Isn’t that a bit weird?” “What, why would that be weird? I’ve seen people ship…”

“I see these two have gotten into a full on nerd mode again,” Annabeth said quietly to Percy while they were waiting for the flatmates to stop their bickering so they’d be able to take the photos. “Not projecting themselves into their characters, right?”

“No, definitely not,” Percy agreed.

Eventually Leo and Calypso stopped bickering and Annabeth was able to take the pictures. Even if Leo was mostly hidden by his costume, Calypso felt a bit self conscious about the fact that these were the first photos of them together. They did a few goofy poses because Annabeth and Percy told them to, but Calypso thought she probably looked more embarrassed than funny in them.

Once they were done, Leo went to Annabeth who was going through the photos and bowed his head a bit to see them better. “Hey, these do look pretty cool! It’s probably just the lighting but here you look like you’re blushing to some funny comment C-3PO made.”

“Show me!” Calypso yelped nervously and took the phone from Annabeth. When she saw it, she could immediately tell Leo was not wrong; she really was blushing. “Yeah, it’s definitely those candles in the background that do it… And I think it’s pretty warm in here, maybe all the people here heat this room…”

“OK, if you say so,” Leo said but Calypso imagined that he was looking at her suspiciously through his costume.

Trying to get the others’ attention to something else, she said: “So, who else has arrived so far?”

“Nico and Will. I think they went to get some snacks from the dining room,” Piper, who had just entered the room, answered.

“Leo told me that Nico is Jason’s relative, but what about Will?” Calypso asked her.

“Will is Nico’s boyfriend. This is the first time we’re meeting him but they seem very good together. At least he seems to have a grounding effect on Nico, and he actually listens to him, unlike most of us. Um, sorry, it’s a long story, one that I should probably save for another time. Nico may be a bit hard to approach sometimes but he is a very nice guy when you learn to know him. Just… been through a lot. I guess like many of us here. But he seems way happier now,” Piper said, and as if on cue, they could hear some distant laughter coming from the dining room.

“We should start a traumatized college kids’ club,” Leo attempted to joke, and the others hummed in agreement. Maybe she did belong to this group after all, Calypso thought. If only they knew, though…

“This just got cheerful,” Percy said, interrupting Calypso’s thought process. “Who’s up for blue candies? Get them before Will and Nico eat them all.”

“I heard that, Jackson!” Nico entered the room without a warning. “No offense to you or your mom but blue candies aren’t exactly my thing.”

“Hi, Nico,” Percy greeted him, seeming a bit flustered after Nico’s comment. “You haven’t met Calypso, right?” He pointed at her.

“No, I haven’t,” Nico took a quick look at her and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Alright, in that case, this is Calypso Astal. And Calypso, this is Nico di Angelo,” Percy introduced them to each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Calypso approached him, but he seemed to evaluate her for a moment before he took her hand.

“Likewise,” Nico said finally. “I think Jason has mentioned you a few times.”

“Oh. That’s nice,” Calypso said a bit unsurely, like every time she met a new person. The lonely years still had a toll on her, and even though she liked spending time with her friends, meeting new people was always a bit nerve wracking to her. “You’re his relative, right?”

“A distant cousin,” Nico answered. “Yeah, our fathers are related, but I have my mother’s last name and Jason has his.”

“I take it your mother has roots elsewhere, based on the last name?” Calypso asked.

“She was Italian,” Nico shrugged. “I lived there my first years too. But now I can barely remember those times.”

Calypso noticed the use of past tense, but she thought it was probably better to not ask about that in the middle of a party. “Oh. I’ve been to Italy a few times. I’m originally from Greece.”

“What brought you here, then?” Nico asked.

“Dad’s work,” Calypso responded in a tone that told everyone she wouldn’t elaborate on that topic more. It seemed to have become a habit to her.

“Anyway,” Leo, who had managed to stay quiet for a surprisingly long amount of time in Calypso’s opinion, stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Nico, a little bird told me,” he looked at Jason, “that your boyfriend is a Star Wars geek. Is that true?”

Nico took one look at Leo’s costume and his mouth twitched when he realized why Leo was asking. “He is, but don’t let him get started on it, or else he will never stop. Besides, he’s not my boyfriend, I prefer calling him…”

“A significant nuisance?” Will showed up from the dining room, carrying a plate full of food. “Don’t mind him, he just warms up a bit slow.”

“Yes, this is Will,” Nico sighed, addressing those who hadn’t met them before. “Sometimes he’s a nuisance, sometimes he can be quite OK. When he’s having a good day.”

“Same back at you, dear,” Will laughed. “Did I hear someone mention Star Wars, though?”

“You did,” Leo said, stepping forward so Will could see his costume better. Needless to say, Will looked beyond thrilled.

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Nico said quietly before Will even had time to comment on the costume.

“Woah, that must be the best C-3PO costume I’ve seen. And yeah, I’ve seen a few so I don’t compliment you for nothing,” Will assured.

“Thanks, man, I did spend quite a while with it,” Leo said, high fiving Will. “Glad someone here appreciates good things.”

“I still hope you’re not one of those fans who have only seen the most recent movies and not the originals,” Will noted.

“Heck, no!” Leo exclaimed immediately. “The original three for the win! Mom and I used to watch them a lot… um, when I was little. She was a big fan. But the newer ones just don’t feel the same.” Calypso had a feeling Leo had almost said something else, but he had changed his phrasing at the last moment.

“You have a pretty good taste,” Will said approvingly. Then he finally realized he hadn’t even asked Leo and Calypso’s names before getting into the geek mode.

“So, who are you two? I already met Percy and Annabeth earlier but I don’t think I know you guys yet.”

“I’m Leo Valdez, and this is my, um, flatmate, Calypso Astal,” Leo introduced. Calypso hoped there was a better word to describe their relationship than a ‘flatmate’ but at the moment it was probably the best and the safest option there was.

“Flatmates, huh?” Will repeated. “How did that happen?”

“I was in a hurry to find a roof over my head so I put in the application that I also accept mixed flats,” Calypso replied. “I didn’t meet Leo beforehand because, um, that would have been a bit difficult to arrange in this case, but it worked out OK.” Calypso noticed Leo was looking at her from the corner of his eye, and she realized she had never even talked about that option before. The truth was that she had had to plan her leaving very thoroughly so her father wouldn’t notice and she had driven to Indianapolis as fast as possible, with no time for second guessing.

“And my flat happened to have a room free because our boy Jason decided to move in with Beauty Queen,” Leo added to that story. “It’s really no stranger than that.”

“Oh, right, someone must have mentioned that you and Jason used to be flatmates,” Will recalled. “I just didn’t connect the dots.”

Jason had apparently finished welcoming the rest of the guests because he joined the group in the living room. “That reminds me, I don’t think I’ve asked you, Calypso, if Leo still leaves his dishes undone and if he has empty milk cartons in the fridge.”

“He used to do that?” Calypso asked with amusement. “After seeing his room that’s not so hard to picture, but no, he’s been pretty tidy in the common area. Although one time he bribed me to do his dishes for him in exchange for some of his food.”

“It was a good deal!” Leo protested. “You didn’t have to cook and you also got to taste some Valdez’ sizzling hot quesadillas so I’d say it was a win-win. Besides, you didn’t seem to have anything against that.”

“Alright, I will admit the quesadillas were pretty good,” Calypso conceded. “But a true gentleman offers them without even asking. Well, other than that he’s been OK,” she told Jason with a playful twinkle in her eye.

“I guess he really is able to change his habits, then,” he replied. “At least when the flatmate is someone he...”

Before Jason had time to finish his sentence, Leo intervened: “Folks, do we really have to be talking about my cleaning habits in front of people I don’t know? The first impressions are important, especially when it comes to Supersized McShizzle!”

“We’re just being honest, Repair Boy.” Calypso couldn’t resist booping his metal covered nose. Apparently she just didn’t know how to not cross the line with this boy, she sighed in her mind.

“Is that all? Where’s the feisty Sunshine I know?,” Leo said in a low tone, so the others could barely hear his comment, coming out almost flirty.

“Shut up,” Calypso answered equally quietly but held her gaze at him.

“Ahem,” they suddenly heard Piper’s voice behind them. “In case you’ve stopped with the flirting, I’d like you to meet a couple of people.”

Calypso turned to see the newcomers and as she recognized the Hunter badges both of them had attached to their shirts, something in her mind just suddenly turned off.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

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carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich · 4 years

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9, 12, 14, 25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 40, 41, 42 and 50 for the Diabolik Lovers Ask Game please! By the way, I love your blog SO MUCH. ♡♡♡

From this ask game.

Thank you for the ask anon, I’m really glad you like my blog :)

This got kind of long so I’ve put my answers below the cut.

9. Do you hate anyone in DL?

Hate is a very strong word, but if you saw my recent post on Shuu’s CL route then you’ll know that I am not the biggest Karlheinz fan. Richter and Cordelia are also fairly awful but I can’t help but feel some sort of pity for Richter as it seems he had a pretty miserable life and while some of the things Cordelia did are just horrible, my negative feelings towards her have somewhat lessened since we got a bit more of a glimpse at her backstory in DF. Menae must have died before Cordelia could really remember her, and we have to remember that she was heavily manipulated by Karl. Like yes, Cordelia is dreadful, but I still think Karl is the big bad of the series. He does so so many awful things and no matter which game you look at, I can’t help but feel that his reasoning is always pretty bleh (even if that probably is just due to not great writing).

Also after that Subaru LE ending Seiji Komori can eat dirt.

12. What do you think of the fandom?

Hmm... While I know some people hold negative views of the DL fandom at large, I don’t think any fandom is entirely unproblematic. My personal experience has generally been pretty good but I will admit I have seen some fairly terrible behavior in the 3 and a half years I’ve been seriously into DL. Then again I also haven’t been this deep in any other fandom and, sadly, I think that is just the nature of the internet.

Still, there are some amazing and very talented people in this fandom, and I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been able to interact with them, so I prefer to focus on that over anything else.

14. Sub or dub?

Sub all the way. When I first started watching anime, I initially just watched dubs, but after I started learning Japanese, I switched to subs to try and pick up some more vocab and now I can’t go back. Also I really like a lot of the Japanese voice actors in DL ^^

25. What do you think of DL haters?

I generally hold the attitude of “live and let live”. If someone doesn’t like DL because of the triggering content (and the way it deals with it) or the sometimes questionable plot then fair enough, it’s not like I think the series is without its problems. The only time I will have any issue at all is if they actively attack fans of the show. If someone is just minding their own business and not hurting anyone then under no circumstances is it okay to blindly attack them over a work of fiction. So yeah, you do you as long as you’re not being a twit about it.

28. Would you ever show your parents DL why/why not?

For anyone who remembers some of the random stuff I post, you’ll know that my mother is indeed aware of Shin’s existence (and Carla’s) which perhaps would have been difficult to avoid given that he’s plastered all over my bedroom wall and I talk about him A LOT (I am just as bad irl folks), but I’ve never gone into the details of the series with her as I feel like she’d be fairly disturbed at some of the content (and it’s for this reason that I would never show her the anime).

You will understand then, why I was slightly horrified when she told me she’d read the wiki because she wanted to know more about the characters I loved so much (like bless her, but also O.o). Apparently Carla is “a baddie” but she thinks Shin is okay.

My parents are also aware of the existence of this blog but, fortunately for me, have no interest in reading it.

30. What do you think of Yui?

I like Yui (I mean what is there to dislike?), she’s a lovely character and has a really good impact on the boys. I’m not as invested in her as perhaps some of the fandom but that’s because I am unapologetically here for the dumpster fire that is the boys.

I prefer writing reader inserts over Yui x diaboy fanfics, simply because it’s fun to see the boys in a slightly different relationship dynamic to that we get in the games (like if you look at my most recent Shin drabble, Yui would never tease Shin like that but I would so reader insert it is).

31. What is your favourite Dialover song and why?

What do you mean I have to pick just one??? Gahhh I love love love Kessen no Dies irae, because it features the Tsukinami bros and it’s just my sort of music but I think my favorite might actually be I.M.I.T.A.T.I.O.N.G.A.M.E. I’m not the biggest Kino fan but Maeno’s singing voice is phenomenal and it also brings back happy memories of when I finished Shin’s LE route for the first time.

34. Tell us your top three routes! Why are they your favourites?

Hooo boy, this is a tricky one because we all know my bias at this point ^^;; I’ve limited myself to one Shin route because otherwise this list would just be me waxing on about Shin and goodness knows I do that enough already.

1) Shin’s Lost Eden Route

While I like his DF route, I love that Shin’s LE route pays a bit more attention to his feelings towards Yui than his complicated relationship with Carla. I love that it really stretches him as a character and we get to see him relying on Yui, like I don’t know who came up with that plot but BLESS. I think the pacing is very good and the bad endings are just so tragic (and I love really angsty bad endings). And some of the scenario chapters from this route just make me melt.

I also love this route for personal reasons. I’d only just fallen into Shinhell when LE was released and I remember seeing the CGs for his route but there was no information on the plot in the English speaking side of the fandom and it was driving me nuts because I just wanted to know that he was okay. It was at this same time that I had a bit of spare money so I... bought a PSVita and a copy of Lost Eden so I could find out what happened (I was planning on getting a Vita anyway just maybe not THAT soon). I’d only been learning Japanese for 6 months (I am nothing if not horribly ambitious) but I didn’t let that stop me and played through the route. And I loved it (even if I struggled a little with the language) and I was so happy to find out what happened to him. So yeah, I just have warm memories of it.

2) Carla’s Dark Fate Route

While I like Carla’s LE route, I think the pacing and plot of his DF is just a bit better. I love that it gives us the best glimpse at the backstory of the founders (I will take any and all Krone and Giesbach tidbits I can) and I think the progression of Carla and Yui’s relationship is really well handled (even if he is dreadful towards her at times). Also I like Carla, I think of all of the diaboys, he’s one of the ones I’m most similar to so I find it easy to empathize with him.

3) Subaru’s Dark Fate Route

It’s been a while since I played this route but I remember having a really good time when I did. The Vampire Ending is incredibly sweet, as are some of the scenario chapters and I thought the plot was fairly well structured. Plus Carla and Shin are in it so bonus points there.

37. If you could change one thing in your favourite Diaboy what would it be?

I never want to answer questions like this because I love Shin as he is, I don’t want to change him.

I mean I would like for him to see more value in who he is than just his bloodline and get it into his skull that he is not inferior to Carla but only as gradual changes based on environment (or just idk talking to Carla but goodness only knows that won’t happen unless Carla’s on his deathbed again).

40. Your thoughts on Karlheinz?

See above. But yeah, not a fan, would not be sad if he became the victim of a bizarre fishing accident and never again appeared in the DL franchise but I think that’s a bit too much to hope for. Sorry Karl fans but I can’t get over the stuff he’s done (and also I have had enough of “and it was Karl’s fault all along” coming up in the games).

41. Would you buy the games if they were released in English?

I’m a little torn on this one because I love supporting Rejet and otome game localisations but I own all of the games aside from VC already so there wouldn’t really be any point. I think if I had a LOT of money to spare then I would, but as my finances stand at the moment then it’s a no.

42. If you got to design the 14th Diaboy what would he be like?

Oh this is a difficult one, ideally I’d like to see someone who was a member of one of the other demon races but I don’t think you can really have a diaboy without the blood-sucking, so I guess I’d make them half vampire half adler (as I think they’re the race we know the least about). As for personality... It’s tricky because I feel like the diaboys already cover a pretty wide spectrum. I’d probably make him a cocky jerk because I love cocky jerks and I’d make him fairly witty too but more logic than feelings orientated. I’d have him kidnap Yui because he wants to use her as a pawn against the diaboys in some nefarious plot (that I’m not going to think too much about because this post is not meant to be an OC planning session) and not because he has any interest in her or plans for her himself. I guess he’d sort of be a cross between Kino and Carla?

I’d give him a vendetta against Karlheinz too because I can :D

I had to cut this short because I started coming up with a backstory an everything but I think that’s too much ^^;;

50. Do you think Richter should have a route of his own?

Honestly? No. It’s not that I wouldn’t be interested to see the story of Richter with someone who is not Cordelia (even if he is not my favorite dude from the franchise) but more that I can’t see Rejet dropping Yui as a heroine and RichterxYui? No thank you. After all the stuff he’s done in the games and his obsession with Cordelia? I just don’t feel comfortable with that pairing, sorry.

#reply #ask game #I'm always super happy/surprised when people say they like my blog #because I feel like it's kind of chaotic but if you guys like it then I must be doing something right #character hate #?#I feel like I've been relatively polite but just to be safe #I have half tried to proofread this but it's so long #bless you if you made it to the end

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hoseoksactualass · 5 years

Text

[1:24 a.m.] I’m not gonna touch her 😡

pairing: jungkook x reader

genre: smut // fluff

word count: almost 2k

warning/s: oral (male receiving)

a/n: pls imagine this w cherry kook i miss cherry kook, also,, i changed my writing style...a bit? if you’ll notice? and this is gonna be long

Jungkook knew what he was signing up for. It’s the way your lips wrapped around the rim of your fourth beer bottle and how Jimin’s hand gradually went higher up your thigh like you feel it through insobriety and loud laughing. He still likes you, though, wants to protect you, everything in the How To Confess scripture and all that yada, but he’s a man of his word, so he’ll house you for a night. Admittedly more so because Jimin’s hand started to look sickening. And he did so with Jimin sending him a proud sneer and Jungkook biting back with a rather defensive “I’m not gonna touch her.”

It’s been a considerable amount of years since you’ve visited them in Seoul, and to your avail, Jungkook found it perfect to invite your trusty circle of friends to where he’s bought a new apartment with his fat wallet. After confessing his feelings, because he’s not a Big Bitch. And with knowing Jimin gets touchy when tipsy, and even more so when he knows he’s making the younger boy jealous; that was uncalled for. What was also uncalled for was how uncomfortable you were making his pants. The way you pumped your fists into the air to signify party, and the hem of your shirt loosely brushed over the skin of your stomach. The way, with intoxication in your tongue, you told him you missed him after every swig.

Of course he has a guest room; he’s not cheap, and definitely not a pervert. You were the first to grace its untouched sheets, in the silence of a post-party air, eyes reeling under your closed eyelids, and a part of Jungkook hoped you were dreaming of him. Not a part of him, all of him.

It’s still stuck in his mind anyway. The way, before you fell asleep, you mumbled “Thanks for making me stay, Jay-Kaaaaay, love ya.”

You look like you’re about to wake up, so Jungkook is thrown back from his trance in a hurry to grab you a glass of water. When he comes back, he makes it look like he hadn’t been gawking at you all the while. He’s brought a whole pitcher, too.

“Hi,” you yawn, rubbing at your eyes. “I think I’m sober now.”

“Why aren’t you hungover?,” is what Jungkook settles with. He pours you a glass and lends it to you.

“I didn’t fuck myself up, don’t worry,” you drink. Slowly like you’re taught, or you’ll end up bent over the toilet or pissing Jungkook’s guest room sheets. “You?”

“I had, like, one bottle,” he leaves out the part where he got tense peering at you, more particularly at Jimin’s hand while you lit up the party’s conversation like a natural. “Not drunk at all.”

“Mm. You’re gonna have to clean up the place, anyway,” you cup your glass in both hands, looking up at Jungkook. “Can’t do that with a hangover,” the way you clink your nails against the glass makes the air more awkward. A pretentious act for the silence of his apartment. Pretending he didn’t confess how intense his feelings were a mere night ago in a warm, warm welcome of your comeback to Seoul. Delightful. More so because thinking about it made your face hot, and for what, you have no idea.

Jungkook pulls down his hoodie, fingering through the cherry red of his hair. Slowly fading into the pale bleach that it was. “Yeah, there’s quite a—a mess.”

“Let me guess, did Ji-hee vomit?”

He huffs out a shy laugh, apples of his cheek prominent. “S-Surpisingly not.”

“Oh, she didn’t. That’s a first.”

“Yeah, she didn’t.”

You bite at your lip, veering your stare from him. “...Yeah.”

He backpedals a step he was supposed to make, body stirring whether he should go closer or out of the room, smacking his lips together, dicey in the way he’s so puzzled. “Do you— Should I— Will you sleep, or—”

“No, JK, wait—,” then it’s you who smacks your lips together like punishment for even calling him by the name only his closest friends call him. But you see it makes his cheeks turn rosy. “I— Can I borrow a pair of shorts? O-Or pyjamas?”

He tries to ask why. Tries, but he’s already shuffling out of the room per your request, and your nails dig into the clench of your fists, because it’s so fucking tense. He comes back with basketball shorts. Lame and old, worn out neon green striped on the sides of the black polyester. Still shy in the way he hands it over, but he doesn’t miss the way your hands brush when you receive it. You intended that.

“I—I kind of—My shorts reek of beer, so, I’m gonna...”

“D-Do you wanna go to the bathroom, or should I—should I just leave?”

“You can just turn around,” you say it out of impulse, kindness, panic, and it’ll be too feeble to take back. So you smile at him, at the way his eyes widen and he looks like he’s about to say something. You catch the way his eyes flick at your legs when you’ve kicked them off the bed, and then he turns around like you asked.

Jungkook doesn’t want to obsess over it—the sounds of your shorts slipping off your limbs, your skin, wearing his basketball shorts. He tries to block it out, but it’s the only thing he hears. The only thing he imagines until Jimin’s hand snakes its way back up into his imagination, and his nose flares.

You, on the other hand, don’t want to obsess about how close he was. How you were basically stripping behind him, how you know he was thinking about how you look. Your heart softens for it, and the inevitable pulse in your body everyone feels over someone like Jeon Jungkook. You can see the bones of his shoulder even from under his hoodie. You walk to him, don’t particularly know why, and he hears it, but he still waits for your word to turn back around. You want to touch his back. “Hey, Jungkook?”

He jumps at the proximity of your voice. Directly behind him. “Yeah?”

“You can turn around.”

He does, meets eyes, too. Searches yours for something. “...Hi.”

“I’ll be straightforward. I don’t want you to—,” you say, and he instantly breaks eye contact, downcast. “I don’t want you to be all—all awkward around me, because you—because you confessed so... yeah.”

He holds back a smile. “It’s just that you haven’t answered is all.”

“I’ll answer.” His eyes light up. It’s glazed with hope, and it squeezes sweet at your heart. His eyes flutter, and he purses his lips into a gulp. You like him. In fact, you curl your arms around his neck and pull him to your lips. Make him stumble to you, eyes wide, but he instantly shuts it tight when your lips clash, his hands in fists, because he can’t bring himself to touch your hips. Up your shirt like he’s imagined so many times. Maybe he whimpers lowly against your lips, taken aback and smitten all at once. He takes a mental note of how good you kiss, how fluid you are when you tease a nibble on his lower lip. You feel how he lets you suck him into it, until you feel your hands playing with his waistband, and you feel his tightly hold yours.

“_____, what are you doing?”

“That’s my answer. I like you. I—,” you tug at his sweatpants. “—want you.”

“B-But I—,” he tries to take a step back, breaths already shallow. “But I told Jimin I wasn’t gonna—gonna touch you.”

You loosen your grip, staring at him straight in the eye where he craves for you. “But do you want to?,” your voice is soft.

“I—I do want—to touch you; it’s just that Jimin is an asshole when he—”

“Then try not to touch me, or try to make sure Jimin doesn’t find out,” you kiss him again. This time, he receives it better, grabbing leverage on the desk behind him, tilting his head so his lips fit with yours, and he does it so beautifully; you catch the way his red hair falls over his eyes. You kiss to his dimples, feel the seething of his cheeks on your mouth. You see he closes his eyes when you kiss down from his jaw, brows slightly furrowed; he’s buried in the feeling, ruined by it. “Tell me what you like.”

You’re careful when you peck his neck. You make sure you see it when he wants to moan for it, for how feathery and soft you kiss him. “I—Anything.”

“There must be something I can give you.”

“Anything you’ll give me,” he wants to sound innocent, so he can pin whatever filthy thing you were planning on you like he isn’t hard for it. “I—I want it.”

You suck at his pulse at that, nipping so it leaves a light mark. “Do you?,” you look up, fishing for his response when you palm his crotch.

The way his eyes are shut tightens. You palm at the creases of his clothes until all you feel is the outline of his arousal. “Y-Yeah.”

“You like this?,” you grope harder. He purses his lips like he’s about to cry.

“Yeah,” his voice is tight, gripping hard at the edge of the desk. You make sure your eyes solidly meet when you get on your knees, pulling his sweatpants and boxers down with you; he almost jumps. Flinches violently at the sudden gesture and the will to cover how embarrassingly hard he was, but it’s too late, because you have a tight fist around the base of his dick. His breath hitches. “A-Are you gonna—never mind.”

“Am I gonna what?,” you bite your lip, sending a slow, tight stroke to his dick. His knuckles go white.

“I mean—’cause you’re on your knees—I think that maybe you would... suckmydick,” the last words go out in a whisper, but you didn’t have to hear it. He blushes harder at the way you giggle. It doesn’t take long before you close your lips around the tip, wetting the trace with your tongue. “E-Exactly—like that.”

You gape up at him. His eyebrows are knit, eyes dark with lust, lips wet from kissing; it’s godly. His chest heaves—up, down in suspense. You take him in your mouth as far as you can go, letting up just to go down again. He could break his desk with how hard he was grasping it just to keep himself up.

“O-Oh, fuck,” he curses through the clench in his jaw. You could stare at him and do nothing, and he’ll declare it pleasure. “Fuck, shit, fuck.”

You match the way you stroke him with how you suck, holding him; you can feel his veins protrude and pulse, hot and damp against your mouth. He brings one hand to your hair, tucking strands behind your ear for the feel of it, mouth half open.

It’s absolute Music To Your Ears. His loose breaths that bring a nasal whimper with it, the downturn on his brows like he’s begging. He’s still too diffident to express what was reeling inside his head—recurrent thoughts of tasting how wet you are or having you coiling under him. His hips almost kick. You’re tearing up, and all he can do is stroke your hair. His fingertips light you up until the ground under you feels moot. He touches you like he’s head over heels in love, petting you as if praising you, and you perceive it in the blush on his cheeks, crossing all the way across his nose. You suck faster, and it takes expected effect. He wants to say something about how he wants your pussy, but he settles with “Y-Your—mouth feels so good.”

The praise ignites you even more; you moan in approval of it. Jungkook happens to like that. A Lot, it makes his dick twitch. He’s submerged in the feeling, completely ignoring how he got here and where he’ll end up, wrapped around the thought that you willingly got on your knees for him. He doesn’t know how to express how grateful he is, but the sound of your name makes much more sense. He says it, fucking moans your name like it’s the only thing he knows. Like he hadn’t done exactly that in his lonely, wee hours of the night once or twice, feeling careless or intoxicated.

You’re a mess, nearly keening at the soft caresses of his hand on your hair, palming it against your head like he’s cradling you to sleep. You watch him ogle at the way you make certain most of his cock slips easy in your mouth. He’s increasingly timid the closer he gets, confused even if he knows you’ll let him cum down your throat. He lets his other hand free, grabbing a fistful of his hoodie and bringing it to his face, turning his head to the side. You don’t miss the way his ears flush crimson as if to match his hair, or how he moans louder against the fabric to muffle himself. In fact, how flustered he was was incredibly hot, the way he returned his other hand to the edge of the desk lest he might pull your hair out.

When he cums, you hear a string of choked glory, held together by a slowing mantra of your name until he drops his cover. He keeps his head to the side, eyes still closed, face still red, breath still heavy. You swallow, but you’d need a glass of water for your throat to clear. When you stand up, you pull his clothes up with you. “I figured you wouldn’t kiss me now that I’ve swallowed your cum.”

His eyes flutter at that, reddening quickly at the face again before he presses his lips on yours, and it’s a soft, light kiss that lasts seconds. You smile.

“You can tell Jimin it was just my hair.”

“W-What?”

“My hair. You touched just my hair.”

“He’ll think I’m weird.”

“It’s not false, I mean, you kissed my cum-stuffed mouth, so—”

He laughs at that but doesn’t stop blushing for three days.

#leave feedback!!#btswritingcafe #kwritersworldnet #jungkook smut #jungkook scenario #jungkook drabble #jungkook imagine #bts smut #bts drabble #bts scenario #bts imagine #namjoon #seokjin #yoongi #hoseok #jimin #taehyung #jungkook #bts

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donotexterminateupgradepudding · 4 years

Text

Further defining the relationship between the Doctor and Clara Oswald; Season 9 episode 1 & 2

Blargh. I’ve been busy with work stuff and getting ready for some travel so it has been taking longer for me to sit down and actually get this going. To make my life easier, I’ll try to work on smaller chucks of season 9. Hopefully, this will prevent me from getting too involved in the post.

After the Doctor and Clara are reunited in the Last Christmas special (one of the more emotionally rewarding Christmas specials might I add) they are back to traveling together. Episode 1 starts with the Doctor doing a solo trip where he encounters the a young boy, Davros in a creepy handmine field. Upon learning his name, the Doctor flees seeing that he shouldn’t help the creator of the Daleks himself! And thus the tension builds as he hides while Davros’ snake servant goes in search of him.

Of course, Missy decides to catch the entire world’s attention and Clara is summoned to U.N.I.T headquarters and we get a badass scene of her riding her motorcycle to the Tower of London. The biggest shift in how she behaves is how she acts like the Doctor when talking with Kate and the others as they try to determine what is happening. Clara throws out big picture ideas and almost automatically starts thinking of all of the possibilities that this could be. She has always been a self-assured and intelligent person, but she commands authority now.

As Missy expects Clara appears with the U.N.I.T. and the two of them have a very tense conversation about the disappearance of the Doctor. As Missy really wants to have the full attention of the Doctor, she will stop at nothing to rile up Clara and insult her including her hurtful words asking about if Danny is still dead. Missy presents the Time Lord confession dial to Clara stating it is the equivalent of a will. She makes it clear it is delivered to his closest friend of the eve of his final day. Clara’s reaction here is her at her best trying to give nothing away to Missy. Her concern is evident, yet she knows she can’t be riled by Missy and must remain calm both for her safety and the Doctor’s.

Clara glances down at the dial, back at Missy, back at the dial before reaching for it before it zaps her.

She has a look of complete shock as it hurts her. Clara believes herself to be the Doctor’s closest friend. She declared it to Danny when he was just another cyberman. Yet, Clara is not a Time Lord. To add insult to injury, Missy points out that Clara is like the puppy with the random couple. This implies that Missy and the Doctor are like a married couple and Clara is just some dumb pet. I get that the Master/Missy isn’t supposed to be a nice or sympathetic character, but I really personally hate Missy. She spends all of her time trying to state how intellectually advanced she is, how she has risen over feeble and dumb emotions yet it is 100% clear that she is extremely jealous of Clara and the Doctor’s relationship. She set their relationship into motion, but she’s not a fan. Missy and Clara have a very tense exchange as Clara implies that their relationship must be love and Missy is totally offended by the remark and can only retort back Time Lords are better than that. Clara clearly hit a nerve, not like Missy will ever state the truth.

Missy wants to state that her level of friendship with the Doctor far exceeds any understanding that Clara may have, so thus, she can’t even begin to comprehend a 2000 or so year relationship. Honestly, not matter how old the Master may be, I really think as a character he/she will never develop a deeper understanding of “humanity” as a concept that includes Time Lords and humans.

The 10th Doctor has stated that he’s observed people who have done more in 20 years than 80 years implying that time does not always equal wisdom or accomplishments. He also stated he was just a young one at 90 implying as well that even though Time Lords live much longer, they clearly mature at a slower rate than humans or other species.

Being the overly analytical nerd that I am, let’s say a 90 year old Time Lord is like a 13 year old human. It means that at 2000, the Doctor is like an ~ 289 year old human. Therefore, Time Lords can be more mature and wiser than a standard human, but not as much as one would expect with a different rate of maturation.

Back to the whole Clara - Missy face off, Clara clearly isn’t buying this and provokes Missy by stating that she’s to believe that Missy is best friends with the Doctor and turned good. Obviously, Missy takes immediate offense to the concept of being good and kills two of the U.N.I.T staff in the area. Of course Missy threatens to kill the rest of the U.N.I.T people in the area, but is caught when Clara tells her to kill her next. It shows that despite all of her bravado and her Time Lord intelligence, she can’t figure out where the Doctor is since she isn’t as close as Clara is.

Therefore, Clara wins by telling her to prove that she is serious. She only needs to point at the plane above her to get her point across. And with that, Missy has no choice but to obey.

Oh sure, she tries to write it off as something easy and something that she couldn’t actually do anything bad with; yet at the end of the day Missy has to recognize she is out of her depth.

The framing then shifts where Clara is not the one seated and Missy is standing behind her since by her own admission, she can’t find where the Doctor is and Clara is the only person currently who can.

This also gives Missy a chance to put a vortex manipulator on Clara while she is distracted, thus removing her from the assistance of anyone else. I have to admit, if Missy is so smart, she should have figured out what it took Clara all of 10 seconds to put together - where is the Doctor having a crazy party.

As Clara ponders what will let them know he’s there, Missy states it will be a small anachronism. Of course both are shocked as he enters playing guitar on a tank . . .

The Doctor then tries to have some hilarious stand up a few hundred years too early and Clara cringes at his fish tank joke while Missy seems . . . not amused? befuddled?

Clara then asks Missy what’s the matter with him. She’s never seen him like this - and she has seen the 11th and 12th Doctor, so she got to compare to totally different personalities.

He immediately hears her and pulls his sunglasses down a bit to get a better look at Clara and Missy.

Clara then wonders if he heard them and realizes that they are there. Instead of verbally answering, he proceeds to play some of “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison. Of course based on their facial expressions both Missy and Clara think the song is about her and likely not the other. However, Clara wins for having the more totally adorable smile.

As he continues to play, the camera will quickly switch back to them for a moment where Clara beams, Missy then gets a side glance over at her before she stops smiling and is more serious looking. The camera pans back to the Doctor and then back to a very flattered and happy looking Clara who only stops smiling with her teeth as he finishes playing as if she were caught on tape.

Now the lyrics for “Pretty Woman” aren’t very deep or anything like that, but they are appropriate for the relationship between the Doctor and Clara. Pretty woman, walkin' down the street Pretty woman the kind I like to meet Pretty woman I don't believe you, you're not the truth No one could look as good as you, mercy

Pretty woman won't you pardon me Pretty woman I couldn't help but see Pretty woman that you look lovely as can be Are you lonely just like me

Pretty woman stop awhile Pretty woman talk awhile Pretty woman give your smile to me Pretty woman yeah, yeah, yeah Pretty woman look my way Pretty woman say you'll stay with me 'Cause I need you, I'll treat you right Come with me baby, be mine tonight

Pretty woman don't walk on by Pretty woman don't make me cry Pretty woman don't walk away, hey, OK If that's the way it must be, OK I guess I'll go on home, it's late There'll be tomorrow night, but wait What do I see? Is she walkin' back to me? Yeah, she's walkin' back to me Oh, oh, pretty woman.

The Doctor is always lonely - the Doctor travels through time and space yet can never have a friend able to keep traveling with him. Therefore, these lyrics really fit both of them at the beginning of season 9, the only person they have is each other.

Clara runs down to ground level while Missy continues to watch from above. The Doctor has to visually look at Missy before she will even come down while Clara was already there waiting for him. She then comes up to him and asks how he knew she was there.

Clara: Did you see me?

Doctor: When do I not see you?

Clara: What, one face in all of that crowd?

Doctor: There was a crowd too?

Clara: Wow, we’re doing charm as well now, are we? [laughs] Which one of us is dying?

As she states he’s “doing charm” it means she is impress with how he’s grown as a person and is trying to impress her. Of course it totally works, she’s beaming at him here as she smiles, though obviously concerned.

After some nervous glances between the two of them, he then hugs her. She’s thoroughly overwhelmed as the Doctor has initiated a hug between the two of them.

Clara can’t keep up with these changes. This all makes sense. Clara, like the 12th Doctor uses her quick wit and sarcasm to deflect when she’s not sure what is happening. She’s clearly concerned based on her facial expression, but she has to be strong for him since his hugging means he’s worried.

And we get that worry as the camera finally shows his face as he tells her it is a great way to hide your face.

When they finally break from the hug, she’s able to guess that he’s throwing a party, but this was not the type of party she was expecting. The lighting in this scene is telling, his light eyes dart back and forth and when she pulls away we see shadows under Clara’s eyes. She knows this is not the Doctor and he deflects her by stating he’s been many men and all of him is invited to this party. 12 may have come a long way with his emotions, but at a time like this he really still doesn’t know what to do. He also has to deal with Missy as he then introduces her as the wicket stepmother. He also uses this transition to place himself directly between Clara and Missy.

It is quite clear that he’s protecting Clara since he already realizes that Missy brought her there and he can’t trust Missy with Clara alone.

There is a bit of chit chat and eventually Colony Sarff, Davros’ snake errand boy shows up and confronts the Doctor. He states he followed his friends to the location and asks for the Doctor to come see a dying Davros.

The sonic screwdriver is thrown down before him and he looks ashamed and can’t say anything only able to reply to Clara’s comment that it used to be his sonic.

Not surprisingly, Missy has to ask what the Doctor’s facial expression is. I waffle on if this implies that Missy knows exactly what that facial expression is and only says that so that Clara states that he’s ashamed. This is him feeling ashamed for some sort of action.

Clara looks on with great concern as she asks him what he’s done. That then leads to the rest of the flashback explaining what happened at the beginning of the episode. Upon learning that the boy’s name is Davros, the Doctor freezes and is unsure what to do. As the fog rolls in, he uses that as a chance to escape as the fog obscures the TARDIS, yet the tell tale sign sound of it departing before returning to the current events implies that the Doctor abandoned a young Davros.

The Doctor agrees to go and says the lamest good-bye to Clara ever as he just turns to her before turning his back to snake errand boy. In true Clara fashion she barely even glances at Missy before she springs into action stating that they will come with him.

And with that, the trio are transported to the ship as they travel to where ever Davros is.

While waiting to meet Davros, the Doctor reveals that he’s the creator of the Daleks (a surprising thing for Clara to not know seeing that she knows tons about the Doctor) and that the bigger question is “Who created Davros?” as an almost rhetorical question.

As Colony Sarff comes to take the Doctor away, he and Clara have a very awkward conversation. She immediately calls him out on giving the confession dial to Missy. Therefore, the Doctor knew she was not dead and he had someway to reach her - though she was unable to find him without Clara. This clearly does not sit well with Clara. She’s the one who is supposed to be able to lie, not the Doctor to her, Clara. Their facial expressions are so strained, he’s trying his best to look calm and looks so sad as he hid things from Clara while she tries so hard to look tough.

The tension between them is so palpable you can almost taste it. Clara is off her game, he ran off to 1138, had a crazy party, made it so that Missy and Clara would have to find him, he tried to coldly say good-bye and how she’s stuck in a holding room with Missy who keeps trying to kill her.

When Missy and Clara get captured escaping from the room and the Doctor sees her trapped in the room with the TARDIS, he begs Davros not to hurt her.

There is then a discussion between Davros and the Doctor about how compassion was his weakness and he asks himself why he let him live when he stumbled upon him as a boy in his present time. The Doctor looks quite distraught as the Daleks wait for Clara to run before zapping her, the TARDIS is “destroyed” and the episode then ends with the Doctor deciding to save Davros to save his friend. I would say this scene is a complete parallel to the 9th Doctor and Rose when they were on satellite 5. It appears that Rose was killed by the laser beam, instead she was transported to the Dalek command. This is the exact same thing, I’m sure the Doctor knows that Missy would have messed with the vortex manipulators, the big question is if she only made it that hers would transport her elsewhere while Clara ends up dead.

Already this meta has gotten out of hand and I haven’t even gotten to episode 2.

The second episode makes it very clear that indeed the Doctor knows that they are fine (again as long as Missy didn’t kill Clara on purpose). With Clara hanging upside from the rope (where did Missy get the rope? and the stick?) Missy makes Clara take her “Doctor intelligence test” to determine if she should keep or alive or not. Of course Clara, knowing the Doctor so well, is able to determine not only why Missy wasn’t dead in the first place, meaning the Doctor knows that they are still alive and that the Doctor always assumes that no matter what, he’ll win.

Missy seems to need some convincing as to if the Doctor is actually thinking that, which Clara simply states, he’s expecting them to pick up the slack for him. Therefore, they should assume that they will win. All of this must annoy Missy on several levels since she wants the Doctor’s attention but has to deal with the puny and pitiful Clara.

Since the Doctor and Clara are separated, I’ll only briefly [try to briefly] get though parts of the episode.

The Doctor is upset and steals Davros’ Dalek chair and a laser as he messes with the Daleks. They point out that he does not use violence, confident that he will not actually fire a weapon at them. They do seem to forget that the 10th Doctor clone did commit Dalek genocide, but for some odd reason that doesn’t count. . . .

However, Clara is involved and this is clearly foreshadowing to how far he will take things for Clara. Really, the Doctor has two great enemies, the Daleks with Davros and the Time Lords, well the Time Lord establishment that is.

Meanwhile, Clara and Missy are stuck in the Dalek sewers as Missy really defines how she really can’t work with anyone despite her opinion that she is a great friend of the Doctor. Clara is 100% correct that they are not a team and the entire time it is like the worst Time Lord - human team, with the Doctor and Clara making the “best” Time Lord - human team. I digress.

The Doctor then gives his demand to the Daleks, that he wants Clara Oswald returned unharmed and alive and he even makes sure it is broadcast through the whole city so Clara and Missy can hear it as well. Missy comments on it while Clara only listens. Clara clearly is trying to understand what it all means. What is interesting is that Missy states this is the Doctor without hope . . . upon saying that Clara only shifts to look at Missy in shock.

Does Clara think he’s actually without hope? She does look like she’s holding back tears, but she is unusually silent and instead Missy keeps commenting. With Danny’s death Clara was talking non-stop when she was upset. Now, she’s oddly silent.

To be able to infiltrate the Daleks, Missy makes sure to stick Clara in a Dalek casing, which has the added benefit that, she can no longer say her name . . . this is a bit of an odd thing since when Clara’s part of her self that had been scattered through the Doctor’s timeline was her Oswin Oswald, who was a fully transformed Dalek and could still say her name. I think you wrote yourself into a little contradiction there Steven Moffat. . . not like your whole weeping angels issue between “Blink” and when Amy and Rory get stuck in 1880 something. Sorry dude, your writing is not the most consistent.

The point is, everything that Missy does, is to use Clara to her advantage while still keeping her expendable and Clara just had to roll with it. . . . the whole thing highlights how her relationship with the Doctor is so much more equal even though there are times Clara will act as bait to assist the Doctor.

A huge portion of this episode is dedicated to philosophical discussions between the Doctor and Davros as Missy tries to use her negotiating skills with the Supreme Dalek. I’m personally surprised that they can’t figure out that Clara is in the one Dalek shell, it is one hell of an assumption to make after the Doctor stole Davros’ chair.

The Doctor being himself, knows that Davros will likely try to take advantage of his compassion, a constant theme these two episodes but damn well knows he’ll also wake up the zombie Daleks.

Missy runs into wake up the passed out Doctor and has procured the Dalek laser. The Doctor immediately asks where Clara is and if she is fine, while Missy is upset he’s not asking about her at all. Of course he gets the last laugh and runs out with his confession dial and runs into Clara. He stops as the Clara Dalek says “Doctor.” and he tries to tell her to run. The framing of this shot is good, we see Clara at the end of the hall and then it switches to a view behind Clara looking at the Doctor.

This is a classic “reunion” style shot as two characters approach each other after being separated. The issue is that the Doctor thinks it is a regular Dalek and the weird Dalek programming won’t let her explain things clearly (really seriously, this plot inconstancy is bothering me, Clara should be able to override the Dalek programming since she already has done it).

Missy confirms that it is Clara and then tries to convince the Doctor to kill the Dalek as it is the one that killed Clara. All of her cries that she is his friend and that she would never hurt him eventually result in the the Dalek saying “mercy” which is enough to get the Doctor to step back a second and realize that something is off with this Dalek (as well as Missy’s insistence to kill it). Upon realizing that it is Clara, he lowers the laser and tells her to open the casing and helps her figure out how to open it.

He is at a loss for words as he sees Clara as tears run down her cheeks.

She’s trapped inside and he reaches his hands out to hold her face as she cries and really, we don’t get a great look at his face as it is shaded most of the time.

What is clear is he feels terrible about everything and to steal an oft used phrase from the 10th Doctor, he states that he is “I am so sorry.” Since the 12th Doctor is much less social and has only had one companion so far, Clara, the guilt he must feel this time has to be immense.

It is clear that when he tells Missy to run, it is a threat that if Missy doesn’t leave him and Clara alone, there likely will be consequences.

The action then skips back to them returning to where the TARDIS was. They return to the location and Clara looks perplexed why they were not shot when the Doctor reveals the TARDIS is fine and with that statement Clara is beaming and smiling as he explains things to the Daleks.

This is clearly and expression of deep love and appreciation for the Doctor here.

And back to form, now with Clara, he can show off as he looks back at her softly with that spirit in his eyes.

He has his Clara Oswald back safe and sound. He knows what he needs to do. With that he puts his sonic sunglasses on with more bravado than necessary (since it is all for Clara) and we get a repeat of how she looked when he had the invisible watch and was playing around with her. The two of them look like two idiots who can’t get enough of each other. What seals the deal is when the Daleks ask what is happening.

The Doctor’s reply.

Oh same old, same old. Just the Doctor and Clara in the TARDIS. [Clara giggles]

As they escape it is just the regular old Doctor and Clara looking at each other, smiling, beaming at each other. The two of them are 100% into each other and the fact that he makes it sound like they’ve been at this forever and will be at it forever shows how different 12 is compared to some of the other Doctors. He’ll do anything to hold onto Clara. This really is the normalization of the two of them as an inseparable duo.

As they watch the Dalek city on Skaro succumb to the zombie Daleks, she asks if she’ll get to know what is on the confession dial, but she damn well knows he’s not going to tell her.

As he discusses the ability of Clara to get the Dalek to say “mercy” he ponders how it would be left in their programming so to speak.

Realizing that it was the Doctor saving young Davros (and giving him his sonic) that it was himself who then allowed himself to save Clara. He sprints off to the TARDIS and rescues Davros and only tells him that mercy matters, and likely based on Missy’s behavior, he tells him that friends and enemies likely doesn’t matter but that mercy does.

The first two episodes of season 9 serve a purpose both to shadow what will happen at the end of the season as well as show how far the Doctor will go to make sure that Clara is safe and sound. His love for Clara is almost extreme compared to his love for others that he has traveled with before.

I found their reunion at bit flat, when they reunited during the “Last Christmas” episode, it felt much more of a connection between the two of them. Instead, we the viewers barely get anything, we don’t even get to see him pull her out or hug her. Did they think this would be too much too early?

Overall, they do set up the depth between Clara and the Doctor and really highlight how much they love and care about each other while Missy acts as a foil to both of them wanting to have the Doctor’s full attention, yet never able to do so. It seems like episode 1 did a better job of connecting Clara and the Doctor, while episode 2 fell flat for sure and just didn’t seem sincere enough even though there were dramatic events.

It went from the Doctor almost shooting Clara to them back to normal as the TARDIS materializes around them and no discussion of this afterwards. Clara was unusually silent as well in the episode, it just felt off. By this point, they should have had a long detailed conversation about what happened, but no, he hops back into the TARDIS, saves young Davros and the episode ends.

#doctor who meta #doctor who #Twelfth Doctor #twelve x clara #clara oswald

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innuendostudios · 5 years

Video

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New episode of The Alt-Right Playbook called Always a Bigger Fish. Here we dissect the core ideology of conservatism, which is somewhat different from what conservatives claim it’s about, and get into why fascists keep getting footholds in conservative parties.

Shout-out to Steve Shives for playing Your Conservative Friend.

If you like this series, consider helping it keep coming out on the regular by backing me on Patreon.

Transcript below the cut.

Say, for the sake of argument, you’ve got this friend. You know, that one friend? You were buddies in high school but don’t really see each other anymore except online? And you used to argue about politics for fun when you were teenagers, but, as you’ve gotten older, you’ve drifted further left and he’s gone sharply right, and your arguments don’t feel so frivolous anymore. And maybe you’ve agreed that it’s better for your friendship to stop getting into it with each other, but you’ve just posted on Facebook about how college in America should be free and all student loans forgiven, and your friend has left a comment he’s not supposed to leave, and you’re not supposed to respond but you really wanna respond, so, after a moment’s hesitation, you shoot him a DM.

“Why do you care how we’d afford free tuition? Wars are a lot more expensive than education, but you never seem to care how we pay for those. We just go into debt and you’re fine with it. Anyway, aren’t you the party that says deficits don’t matter?”

“Yeah, but you’re Democrats. You’re not going to run a deficit, you’re going to raise taxes, aren’t you?”

“Taxes are generally how governments pay for things.”

“Spoken like a proper socialist.”

“No socialist would call that socialism. Only you, and only when we pay for things you don’t like. But when we build roads, or subsidize corn, then then you just call it government.”

“Those are things we can’t pay for without governments! But we can pay for college ourselves. We’ve been doing it since forever.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but it’s not the 1950’s anymore! Time was, you didn’t need a degree to get a good job. Now you do. And you could pay for college waiting tables, but now you can’t. Nowadays college is a necessity, and people can’t afford it.”

“Why do liberals make excuses for people? If you want to go to college and don’t have the money, then you study and work hard and get a scholarship. You earn it instead of complaining until somebody gives it to you.”

“Do you think people aren’t doing that? Do you think there’s millions of unclaimed scholarships just lying around waiting for someone to apply for them? There is nowhere near enough financial aid to get everyone to college who needs to go.”

“That’s not my problem! They can crowdfund. Or get a loan. Or, whatever, go on Oprah. The government doesn’t owe you an education on my dime.”

“It’s not gonna be your dime! You don’t make that much. No one’s talking about raising your taxes. If some billionaire you’ll never meet gets taxed to put some kid you’ll never meet through school, why should you even care?”

“If somebody robs a bank that isn’t my bank, I’m still opposed to robbery. I have a problem with taking money someone earned to give someone a degree they aren’t owed.”

“Why is what happens to poor people ‘not your problem,’ but what happens to rich people is? You think you’re gonna be rich someday?”

“Oh please. You’re the one the one who thinks they’re gonna be rich.”

“I assure you I do not.”

But then he says something that blows your mind a little bit. Something that makes you think you’ve been going about this the wrong way. Something that makes all the seeming contradictions of Republican thought maybe make some kinda sense.

He says, “Yes you do. Democrats think they’re going to take the money from billionaires and spread it around. Give it to a bunch of poor people so they can go to college. And everyone gets a degree, and everyone gets a good job, and healthcare is free, and minimum wage is 80 bucks and hour. And everyone’s saving lots of money, so what then? Everyone’s rich. Everyone works in tech. Everyone moves to New York and California. And nobody’s a billionaire, and nobody’s broke, and everyone’s great at their job because all they needed was the right opportunity, and no one’s better than anyone at anything. It’s a fantasy, and we shouldn’t have to pay you to LARP it. You think you can make everyone the same, but you can’t. There’s always a bigger fish.”

[beat]

You say, “Did you just quote The Fantom Phucking Menace at me?”

And he says, “I guess I did, lol.”

And that’s as good a time as any to drop it.

But the conversation sticks with you. See, when you talk to your conservative friend, you operate as though you have the same base assumptions: belief in democracy, “do unto others,” etc. etc. If you didn’t believe your friend shared these assumptions, you’d basically be calling him a fascist or a sadist. And you conclude that, if you believe in democracy, you must believe in equality, and, if you believe in equality, you must believe in equal access to education, and must conclude that governments should help pay tuition. And so you give your friend the benefit of the doubt that, if he doesn’t understand this very simple logical progression, he either hasn’t had it properly explained to him, or has, at some point, been lied to. Because no one could believe in “all citizens are equal” and “always a bigger fish” at the same time.

But, by this thinking, you’re treating most conservatives as people who want, in their hearts, to be liberals, but have so far failed. And maybe that’s why they think liberals are condescending?

What if he doesn’t have the same base assumptions as you? Or what if he does, but he has other assumptions you aren’t aware of, that lead him to different conclusions? He is often misinformed, but what if that isn’t the problem? What if he… actually believes something else?

We’ve been circling around this one for a while. We’ve talked about what liberals believe, we’ve talked about what fascists believe, we’ve talked about what nihilists believe, or rather what they don’t believe, or rather why they aren’t actually nihilists. But this is a tough one: What do conservatives believe?

(o god I’m going to get yelled at so much for this one)

The United States, like much of the Western world, is a capitalist democracy. That’s what we’re raised in, that’s what seems normal to us. And, in our normal lives, democracy and capitalism seem to coexist easily: voting doesn’t feel like a violation of capitalism, buying a bagel doesn’t feel like a violation of democracy. But sometimes they come into tension with one another. And, speaking really broadly, when a choice between them has to be made, a liberal is someone who tends to think democratically, and a conservative is someone who tends to think like a capitalist.

THE OPERATIVE WORD HERE IS “TEND.” Liberals are still capitalists and conservatives still stan for democracy, and the preference for one or the other may be very slight. Nevertheless, which way a person leans reveals their priorities.

The democratic framework - or, at least, a democratic framework - is “one citizen, one vote.” No matter who you are, you are born with certain in- or possibly unalienable rights, and any system that doesn’t guarantee you those rights is a tyranny. Freedom, agency, and a hand in the strictures that govern you; everyone is entitled to these things. It’s an egalitarian mindset; people gain power by electoral process, i.e. when it is granted to them by the masses, with whom the true power resides, and whom the Constitution guarantees the right to take that power away from an electee. Rather than powerful, the elected official is, in a sense, an employee with millions of bosses, all of whom have equal authority. This is the idea of democracy, with the history of democracy being riddled with failures to live up to this ideal, but part of the project of liberalism has been about making the government more closely resemble its ideology.

The capitalist framework, by contrast, is that of businesses and markets, where “big fish eat the little ones.” If two people start businesses in the same field, and one makes more profit than the other, that person can make more investments, open more locations, undercut their competitor’s prices. The more money you have, the more money you can make. So advantage compounds, where even small failures often mean getting muscled out of the field. Now, with some creativity - a novel cost-saving practice or a new delivery method - the underdog can still thrive, and this is part of what conservatives like about the market: that it demands this creativity in a live-ammo environment. But most will not beat the odds; that’s how odds work. Since there will always be more failures than successes, the general trajectory of unregulated capitalism is money pooling into fewer and fewer hands. Things naturally sort themselves into a hierarchy with sharks at top, a million minnows at the bottom.

Since we all live with both of these frameworks in our minds, and most of the things we do in our day-to-day lives can be justified by either one, we don’t often notice the contradictions between them, and it’s easy to imagine whichever one tends to be our default is everyone else’s default as well. But issues like poverty, taxation, and education are areas where the contradictions matter, and we are sometimes shocked by how different the world looks to our conservative friends.

In conservative thinking, this hierarchy is humanity’s natural state. The American Dream is “here, anyone can make it.” No matter who you are or what you start with, you can become a billionaire. But a necessary component of this is: anyone can, but everyone can’t. We’re not all gonna be billionaires, there’s a finite amount of money in this country. For any one person to have so, so, so much more than they need, there must - mathematically - be thousands of people with less. Your conservative friend is often baffled as to what you’re even trying to say when you point out there’s not enough high-paying jobs or affordable health plans for everyone; there’s not supposed to be. The system requires an underclass. Someone’s gotta clean the toilets.

Capitalism, then, is a proving ground. It’s how you demonstrate where in the hierarchy you deserve to be. Do you have more than you need, or less? Anything you’ve got, you beat someone else to it. How resourceful were you? How well did you play? The field is, by no means, level, but any disadvantage just means you have to work harder. We know people who start with nothing can win big; if you are a shark, you will make your way to the top, because that’s where you belong. Anyone complaining about how stacked the deck is against them is making excuses for not being better at the game.

Disadvantage itself is not a problem, so long as it is (quote-unquote) “natural.” What’s necessary is that advantage and disadvantage not be imposed from without. Free tuition, a high minimum wage, taxes on the wealthy, or any other kind of government meddling, these things must be opposed, because, with them, people would end up in the wrong places. Power has to be earned; if it isn’t earned, it won’t be properly wielded, and then society ends up a mess. Conservatives generally feel what’s wrong with the world today can be chalked up to people not being where they should be in the social order. They used to be where they belonged, but then liberals gummed everything up with their government handouts and forced representation. (When, exactly, things were the way they should be is a bit of a moving target: nowadays, they act like it was the 80’s, in the 80’s it was the 50’s, and in the 50’s it was some time before the New Deal. So, following the nostalgia cycle, it’s usually “about thirty years ago.”)

Conservatives are distrustful of any effort to make society more equal because, deep down, they don’t believe equal societies are real. Obviously, “all citizens created equal” needs to be the government’s position, because you can’t trust the government to know where to put people, so it has to treat everyone the same. But this is a legal fiction, like corporate personhood. It just means “the government leaves the market alone so the hierarchy can reveal itself.” You’re not supposed to believe in an equal distribution of power. What are you, seven? This is just the way the world is. Look at alpha wolves, silverbacks; consider the lobster.

You are one, single individual within a system, and it is your job to rise or fall within it on the sweat of your own back. You don’t change the system. Society’s problems come from the rules being too weakly enforced. The answer is always more discipline. Your conservative friend thinks you’re naive for thinking the system even can be changed, and his is the charitable interpretation! Many conservatives assume liberals - at least, the smart liberals - know that the hierarchy is eternal, that there will always be people at the top and people at the bottom, so any claim towards making things equal must be a Trojan horse for something that benefits them. (Why would they assume that? Because that’s what they do.) The real liberal agenda is to put people in the wrong places on purpose. Boost liberal allies, hold back liberal opposition. You don’t want to break up the pyramid, you’re just trying to sneak someone else to the top.

A lot of conservative contradictions start to make sense through this lens. Of any issue, simply ask: does this distribute power, or consolidate it? If power flows up the hierarchy, they’re for it, if it flows down, they’re against it. How can conservatives say $15 an hour is too much for flipping burgers but somehow $11.5 million an hour isn’t too much to run Amazon? Because, if you’re flipping burgers, you’re a minnow, and you don’t need $15 an hour to be a minnow. But sharks, they deserve all they can get because they know what to do with it. They use it to give us Amazon. Don’t you want Amazon?

We keep assuming conservatives defend the rich because they think they’ll be rich someday, and, sure, they would love to be. But it’s more nuanced than that: they defend the rich because they believe the rest of us need the rich. We’d be lost without them. There should be no shame in being beneath the rich, not if the right people are rich; no shame in being a cog in the machine so long as the machine produces something beautiful. There is a real fear that everyone filling their proscribed role is the only thing keeping us from complete and total not-the-fun-kind-of anarchy. There is honor in being in your place and doing your best with it. Most especially if your place isn’t at the very bottom.

The thing about hierarchies is that they’re self-similar on many scales. If you’re in the middle, then you serve the king. Valar dohaeris. But, to everyone beneath you, you are the king. You’ve got a good job and a good wage, that gives you some power over people who don’t. And getting pissed at those above implies that those below have a right to be pissed at you. There’s a real anxiety that liberals want to make room for those people in the middle by putting conservatives at the bottom, and that those people will then treat conservatives the way conservatives treated them. Freedom, respect, and empathy are looked on as finite resources in a competitive marketplace just like jobs and scholarships.

Also, most conservatives are white men, and so are most billionaires. So, but for the wealth, they actually have a lot in common, which makes it easy to empathize with billionaires, and to feel empowered by seeing people like oneself do so well. And white men at the top influence policy in ways that serve people like them them, which materially benefits white men in the middle. The wellbeing of white billionaires becomes a metonym for the wellbeing of all white men. A slight on them is a slight on all of us. White men want to believe that these billionaires earned their station, and not that their gender or race got them preferential treatment, because that would imply their own treatment may have also been biased in their favor, and maybe it’s not the liberals giving people power they don’t deserve.

No matter how much a conservative believes in “earning” one’s place, they have, always in the back of their mind, an image of what society should look like, and any discrepancy between imagination and observation must mean foul play. This feminist is too respected, this Black superhero is too popular, it can’t be because they’re worthy; someone must have put their hand on the scales. Someone got a freebie or played the race card or faked a scandal. This means, even though they claim the hierarchy is natural, what they will or won’t accept as legitimate is a gut feeling. If they like what they see, they take credit for it; if they don’t, it’s the Left’s fault. And what does it say about them that they see a bunch of white, male sharks and think, “Yeah, that’s authentic”?

The innate authenticity of wealth and power is the starting point. Like, OK, you know when they open the door to Kingdom Hearts, and on the other side there’s Mickey with his shirt off, and you’re like, “Why would Mickey with his shirt off be on the other side of that door?” and the answer is “I dunno, we’ll figure it out in like seven games”? Rich people believing “it’s good for everyone that I’m rich” is the starting assumption - that’s Mickey with his shirt off - and conservatism is the pile of games where they make up reasons why that might be true after the fact. It’s a retcon. This hierarchy is not democratic; it’s Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage.

Savvy viewers may be remembering another political philosophy that is hierarchical, undemocratic, built on nostalgia, and that likes to cloak its policies in progressive camouflage, and that’s the one from two videos ago: fascism. (ooooooohhhhhh golly) Now: I am not calling conservatives fascists. There are distinctions: Under fascism, the hierarchy is much, much less meritocratic, and the nostalgia is much, much older. However: conservative thinking is, at the very least, one that fascism maps more cleanly onto. Fascists appeal to this hierarchical mindset by portraying all of history as struggles between ethnic groups over who gets to be where. “Someone's got to be at the bottom, white man. We'll make sure it isn't you.” You’ll find, throughout history, that fascist movements, though they often pick up dissidents from all over the political spectrum (the “Third Position,” for instance, is fascism for anti-capitalists), when they find purchase in a political party, it’s pretty much always the conservative party. Look at France, look at Brazil, look at here. Whether you want to interpret that as conservatives being uniquely susceptible to fascists, or diet fascism being another name for conservatism, I leave that up to you.

Fascism - and, to an extent, libertarianism - are… ‘roided up extrapolations of the hierarchical mindset, in the same way socialism and anarchy are extrapolations of the egalitarian one. We can see conservatism as a kind of compromise between fascism and democracy, and liberalism as a compromise between capitalism and socialism. They are two different attempts to solve the tensions between these ways of thinking without giving either one up. You could just as easily claim that liberalism is watered-down, ineffectual socialism. A lot of the Left would balk at that, but not me, pinko scum that I am.

The most important thing to understand is that you cannot communicate with nor anticipate the behaviors of a conservative if you don’t understand what they believe. Which is hard, because they’re often in denial. You will never convince them to compromise on any attempt to break up the hierarchy, because even incremental change strikes them as revolutionary and they feel they’ve made too many concessions already. You will never get them, of their own free will, to agree to government regulation, because the government, as a democratic institution, is inherently unnatural. If you don’t like what a business is doing, you don’t regulate it, you take your money elsewhere. You should favor the capitalist solution, not the democratic one. (Also, when you vote with your dollar, people with more dollars get more votes.) They will never be onboard with aiding the poor in any systemic way, and will, instead, champion charity and crowdfunding, because minnows getting to eat should always be framed as a gift rather than a right. You may get individual conservatives to come around on some of these, but, as a body, they will never consent to any of it unless they can work it to their advantage or if you have leverage over them. They will sign on when denying progressivism costs them something, because few things terrify them more than slipping down the hierarchy.

And what’s insidious is that most of us have this thinking ingrained in our own minds as well, myself included. We’re all raised in the same culture. This is why they’re able to control the conversation, because they can, with some priming, get us thinking in their terms. A nice upshot is our thinking is also ingrained in their minds, though they’re a little bit better at fighting it.

But as long as you are trying to meet this mentality in the middle, you are leaving the door open for fascists. Conservatism is and always will be vulnerable to them. A good defense against fascism is to consciously, intentionally, think and act in democratic terms, because newsflash: we’re not actually lobsters. Neither of these systems is natural. They are choices we can make. I recommend this one, because egalitarian thinking is one thing Nazis are bad at infiltrating.

If you want to fight fascism, move left.

#video essay #alt-right #the alt-right playbook

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trishmilburn · 5 years

Text

An Exploration of The Untamed’s Romance & Mystery, Episode 5

Disclaimer: This post and others in this series will be filled with loads of spoilers if you haven’t seen The Untamed, the Chinese drama based on Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation). My chief interest in doing this series as I re-watch the drama is to chronicle the development of the romance between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but I also highlight the progression of the mystery that helps bring them together. Keep in mind that I’m writing these posts with the knowledge of what’s going to happen throughout the series and having read the novel. If you’d like to read my examinations of previous episodes, links are provided at the end of this post.

On to Episode 5…

We pick up where we left off at the end of Episode 4, with Wei Ying and Lan Zhan fighting at the back of the Cloud Recesses. Wei Ying tells Lan Zhan he thought he heard something and thinks someone might have snuck in. Lan Zhan grabs him and hauls him off to the library to serve out his punishment for being a bad boy.

Once in the library, we see bad boy Wei Ying copying the oh so many Lan Clan rules, and being very bored while doing it, so he starts to watch good boy Lan Zhan as he reads a book. Of course, “WangXian” is playing on the soundtrack and Wei Ying, even unknown to himself, looks smitten. But honestly, who wouldn’t be? Have you seen Wang Yibo as Lan Zhan? But I digress.

When Wei Ying compliments Lan Zhan’s calligraphy, he gets no response. After saying “Lan Wangji” a couple of times, he says “Lan Zhan” louder and finally draws his future love’s attention. But when he asks why Lan Zhan finds him so annoying, he once again gets no answer. (Here, I’ll answer for Lan Zhan: It’s because he’s drawn to you, and it annoys the fire out of him because you’re so not his type – or so he thinks.) Though Wei Ying apologizes for everything he’s done wrong so far, he points out that it’s not all his fault. After all, Lan Zhan hit him first the night Wei Ying snuck into the Cloud Recesses, bringing alcohol with him. He then gives us some more foreshadowing for when the story turns darker by saying, “I’m that kind of person who wouldn’t raise his hand against others unless they strike first.”

He asks Lan Zhan if he’ll give him the honor of looking at him (yes, this is totally a bro thing to ask), but Lan Zhan just tells him to copy the rules one more time because although Wei Ying has apologized, he feels no remorse. And then he uses the muting spell on Wei Ying yet again.

Next we see the brother-sister duo of Wen Ning and Wen Qing talking, and we get another reference to there being something wrong with Wen Ning. Wen Qing laments that though their family has practiced medicine for generations, she can’t even treat her own brother beyond the medicine he already takes. Then she promises him that she’ll take him away from Heavenly Nightless soon. We get another clue that he’s in danger there, that he’s being used or abused so that Wen Qing will do what Wen Ruohan wants her to.

Now back to the library, where this time it’s Lan Zhan looking up from his book to glance at Wei Ying working. But Wei Ying isn’t actually copying rules; he’s drawing Lan Zhan because, again, that’s totally a bro thing to do. No, Wei Ying is totally crushing on Lan Zhan but is just too dense to realize it yet. All those stares and grins and need to get closer to Lan Zhan, ostensibly to be the friend of this guy who isn’t giving him the time of day, are giving it away to anyone with a single clue. But, to give Wei Ying a bit of an out, who would have expected him to crush at first sight and on a guy when he’s always flirted with girls? When Wei Ying shows Lan Zhan the picture he’s drawn of him, Lan Zhan pronounces him “extremely childish.” What I think is really going on here is that Lan Zhan is wondering why someone would want to draw him. Perhaps he’s even touched somewhere deep inside, but he’s not self-aware enough to acknowledge that. But when he re-opens his book, any goodwill toward Wei Ying that might have been beginning to flicker is doused when he sees not the text he expects but a pornographic drawing. And that brings about the biggest expression change in Lan Zhan so far. His eyes go wide, and he leaps to his feet with an indignant “Wei Ying!” This all amuses Wei Ying mightily, and he tells Lan Zhan that he doesn’t believe he’s never seen anything like that before. Lan Zhan responds by telling him to get out of the library so they can fight, but Wei Ying says that fighting is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses, which just makes Lan Zhan angrier. So angry that he shreds the naughty book, much to Wei Ying’s anguish.

Next we see Wei Ying by the creek telling Nie Huiasang and Jiang Cheng about what happened in the library and how he thinks it calls for a celebration that he was the first one to cause Lan Zhan to lose control that way. Jiang Cheng, predictably, says that it’s nothing to be proud of and, “Our family’s reputation is gone because of you.” Wei Ying tells him that he already apologized to Lan Zhan but that he didn’t accept it and muted him. “What’s wrong with me teasing him?” Nothing, sweetie.

They suddenly become aware that something odd is in the nearby trees, and Wei Ying throws a paper talisman that direction. One of the Wens’ spying birds, which looks like it’s made up of black smoke, takes flight. They wonder why it’s there. Nothing good, that’s for sure.

Lan Zhan is telling Xichen that the energy barrier at the back of the mountain keeps getting disturbed. Xichen asks if he’s been able to determine who has been back there, and after a telling hesitation he admits it’s Wei Ying. Again we see one of those knowing grins from big brother Lan when he sees how much this information bothers little brother Lan. I think Xichen has been shipping WangXian since he first saw those two in the same room together. Lan Zhan asks if he should strengthen the barrier, but Xichen says it was set up by their ancestors and should be fine as long as “she” doesn’t go there. Lan Zhan asks, “She?” But Xichen says they’ll talk about that later. The she is a big reveal later down the road.

A Lan disciple, Su She (hate that guy, you’ll understand why later), shows up and tells the Lan brothers that a villager from Colorful Robes Town (also known as Caiyi) reported evil water spirits causing trouble in a nearby lake.

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng go to see Yanli at her lodgings but are surprised when Wen Qing is the one who opens the door. You can tell Jiang Cheng is harboring a crush of his own when he grins like a fool upon seeing her. I don’t blame him. She’s beautiful. This crush makes me sad though because I know what lies ahead for them – sacrifice for her and betrayal for him. Despite the fact that I’m eventually going to want to knock Jiang Cheng into next week for being such a damn, self-centered fool, even fully hating him for a while, there’s this other part that harbors the fantasy that if things had just gone a different way he and Wen Qing might have found happiness and made beautiful babies together.

They learn that Wen Qing is there because Yanli hasn’t been feeling well. When Wen Qing sees the close, affectionate bond between Yanli and Wei Ying, it reminds her of her own bond with Wen Ning.

Next we see Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing catching up with the Lan brothers, asking to go along with them to deal with the water monsters for the experience since they don’t have classes for the next few days. Lan Zhan says no, that it’s against the rules and there’s no need, but Xichen overrules him to Lan Zhan’s well-contained but obvious surprise. (Shippers gotta do what shippers gotta do.) When Wen Ning shows up, wanting to go as well, Wen Qing tries to get him to go back and rest like she told him to, but Wei Ying speaks up for his archery skill and that he should be allowed to come along. Xichen agrees to let him accompany them as well.

While on the road to Caiyi, Lan Zhan asks Xichen why he’s allowing the others to go with them. Xichen replies he could tell Lan Zhan wanted the two young lords of the Jiang Clan to come along. He asks his little brother, “Isn’t that so?” Lan Zhan says nothing in reply. The fact that he doesn’t disagree with his brother shows that Xichen can read what he’s thinking despite what he says.

When we see Lan Zhan and Wei Ying shown to their room at an inn along the way, I wondered why exactly these two are sharing a room. Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to share with their brothers? But maybe Xichen and Jiang Cheng get private rooms since Xichen is his clan leader and Jiang Cheng is next in line to be his. It won’t be the last time – or the most memorable one – that Lan Zhan and Wei Ying share a room at an inn. (This is an even truer statement when referring to the book, which includes a scene that had to be left out of the drama unless they wanted to be shut down by the government censors immediately and perhaps even locked up.) They are shown to their present room by perhaps the laziest innkeeper ever. Despite the fact that he says they’re the first guests he’s had since the lake started eating people, and thus he’s had plenty of time to clean the room, he hasn’t done so and tells them to do it themselves. Rude!

Meanwhile, another fisherman is taken under by the mysterious lake monster. Dude, why are you night fishing on a lake that’s eating people?! I guess Nessie was hungry.

The next day, Wei Ying asks Xichen if he thinks the evil water spirits and the spiritual absorption issues are connected, but he doesn’t really get a satisfactory answer. So after offering Lan Zhan a drink while Xichen walks ahead, he asks Lan Zhan if there’s been any progress with the spiritual absorption issue. Lan Zhan responds simply, “None.” Oh, Lan Zhan, man of few words. Wei Ying says he feels as if Xichen knows something that he’s keeping from them, and he sees something in Lan Zhan’s expression that says he thinks the same. But when he presses Lan Zhan on this point, Lan Zhan simply takes his jug of wine and pours it out on the road, saying, “Drinking alcohol is prohibited when monster hunting.”

They arrive at Blue Spiritual Lake and board boats, typically one or two people per boat. Xichen is in the front, and there are four people in his boat, Su She among them. But I had to laugh at the last boat filled with seven people. I imagined the director saying, “Okay, all you unnamed Lan extras, in this boat.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if they ended up being eaten, the redshirts of Gusu.

So we’re on a foggy lake looking for man-eating monsters, and still Wei Ying looks over at Lan Zhan wearing that “I like him” smile. Then he notices Lan Zhan’s boat is displacing too much water, meaning that one of the monsters is hanging onto the bottom. So that the creature doesn’t catch on and either get away or endanger Lan Zhan, Wei Ying pretends to goof off by using his paddle to fling water at Lan Zhan. As soon as Lan Zhan leaps from his boat toward Wei Ying’s, the creature flips his boat. Wei Ying walks forward to be next to Lan Zhan and says that he wasn’t purposefully splashing water at him and that they can be even now. Lan Zhan moves away and says for Wei Ying to stay farther away from him. Xichen’s little knowing grin comes out again at this interchange. It really is like Wei Ying is flirting and Lan Zhan is determined not to return his feelings. This distance he puts between them is more evidence that Lan Zhan deliberately puts up a barrier around himself, physically and emotionally.

After Wei Ying kills one of the monsters, which I have to say looks like sentient seaweed, with his sword, Lan Zhan looks reluctantly impressed and asks him the name of his sword. When Wei Ying replies that it’s Subian (translated as “Whatever”), he has to explain that it is indeed the sword’s name, not that he’s just saying, “Whatever” in a flippant way.

One of the weedy monsters attacks and injures Jiang Cheng’s leg, and Wen Qing leaps over to his boat to treat him. Cue more crushing by Jiang Cheng. Pretty cultivator girl has healing skills. What’s not to like, right? Well, other than her kinfolk back at Heavenly Nightless.

When the creatures start gathering together, trying to lead all the boats to the middle of the lake, Lan Zhan says all the cultivators should immediately return to shore. Then Wei Ying figures out that the creatures are forming a waterborne abyss that will suck all the boats under, so Lan Zhan says they should abandon the boats and ride their swords. Everyone leaps up into the air to board their swords except Su She, who sends his sword into the abyss, trying to kill the creatures. (Oh, why couldn’t he have gone with that sword?) When he’s unable to recall his sword to escape, Wen Ning moves forward to help him. Seeing this, Wei Ying dives down to save Wen Ning. But when Wen Ning turns around and his eyes are completely white right before he faints, this shocks Wei Ying. Lan Zhan realizes the danger all three men are in and dives down to bring them all up into the air. That Lan Zhan, he’s handy to have around. But Wei Ying, being Wei Ying, has to tease a bit and asks why Lan Zhan is holding him by his collar when he can hold his hand instead. But Lan Zhan replies, “I don’t like touching strangers.” Well, that’s nonsense, Wei Ying basically says because they are well-acquainted. However, Lan Zhan disagrees.

Xichen plays his magical xiao and sends a spell toward the abyss. Right after, we see another of those freaky Wen smoke birds flying away. Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all.

Back at the inn later, Wen Ning is still unconscious and Wei Ying is checking his eyes, which are back to normal. When Wen Qing enters the room, he asks if Wen Ning had any past experiences that make him so easily affected by evil spirits. When she doesn’t answer, he figures he’s hit close to the truth. He gives her a protective amulet for Wen Ning and leaves.

Jiang Cheng is walking through the village when he passes a vendor hawking hair accessories. When she tells him hairbrushes symbolize yearning, he pauses. He’s certainly been yearning. We’re going to see the comb he buys again.

Once Wen Ning is awake, they all go out on boats in the canal that runs through the town. The way they don’t have to paddle and the slow pace at which they are moving reminds me of the It’s a Small World ride at Disney World. Wei Ying is reclining eating loquats like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Xichen, who is in the boat in front of Wei Ying’s along with Lan Zhan, asks his brother what he’s thinking about. Lan Zhan replies the waterborne abyss. Xichen wears another one of those tiny knowing smiles right before Lan Zhan admits that what Wei Ying said about there possibly being a connection between the lake monsters and the spirit absorption isn’t unreasonable. He asks Xichen if there are any clues about a connection, and his brother replies that he isn’t sure but hopes there isn’t. Because if it’s what he thinks then it’s possible they might not be able to stop it.

Meanwhile, Wei Ying gets that flirty mischief in his eyes again and calls out to Lan Zhan, who is standing ramrod straight (as opposed to Wei Ying’s reclining), to have a loquat and tosses it at him. Lan Zhan catches it, says no thanks, and tosses it back, all without looking at Wei Ying. Xichen says that if Lan Zhan wants a loquat, he can buy a basket full. Lan Zhan says he doesn’t want it. Yeah, I feel like we’re talking about more than fruit here.

The parting shot is Wei Ying grabbing a couple of jugs of Emperor’s Smile and tossing down payment as he passes. Considering the fact that Lan Zhan poured out the wine he had earlier in their trip and the Lans are right in front of him, I can imagine the look of mischief, sneaky satisfaction and barely contained laughter on his face as he does this. It’s also both sad and sweet when I think about how much Lan Zhan’s view of Wei Ying’s love for this particular alcohol will change as the story progresses. But for now, we’ll just enjoy the gradual development of their feelings for each other.

Previous posts in this series:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

#the untamed #wei ying #wei wuxian #lan zhan #lan wangji #wangxian #lan xichen #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wen ning #wen qing

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weirdmarioenemies · 6 years

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It’s a Super Mario Odyssey masterpost!

Sorry to take a break from the Halloween goodness, but it’s the one year anniversary of Super Mario Odyssey! Hard to believe it’s been a whole year, isn’t it? There’s no denying this game is absolutely, how do we put this, “perfect” for a lack of even better compliments, with some vast, detailed worlds, many small fun challenges, and of course, lots of cool new Weird Mario Enemies!

...But today, we aren’t going to talk about enemies at all, because what this game also has is some fantastic Weird Mario Friends! To put things simple, there’s a lot of kingdoms in the game, and most of them have their own NPCs that we all love as dearly as the many friends and foes and spooky tree aliens we’ve featured on this blogs in months past, so sit back, as all three WME mods talk about the wonderful new NPCs we see in this game!

Talking about Bonneters, Tostarenans, and Steam Gardeners is Mod Chikako!

Talking about Lochladies, Shiverians, and Moon Rabbits is Mod F Boy!

And talking about New Donkers, Bubblainians, and Volbonans is Mod Hooligon!

With that out of the way, let’s-a go!

Name: Bonneter

Mario’s grand adventure starts off on an EXTREMELY strong foot when he regains consciousness in a land populated by... g-g-g-g-GHOSTS! The precious Bonneters live in the delightfully spooky Cap Kingdom, where there is rarely a color present besides white, gray, or black, and the whole land is enveloped in a thick fog. To top it all off, the music is simply perfect for a spooky, yet friendly town of ghosts! Also, they all have British accents.

Of course, there is one Bonneter who stands out from the rest, and that is Cappy, Mario’s newest friend! He embodies the ability of the Bonneters to take the form of normal hats and Capture other beings. Yeah, it’s basically possessing people. It’s okay. It’s fun.

What do you think is under their hat? Is it part of their body, or are they stylish? They don’t LOOK very natural, but Cappy has a few tufts of hair on his hat/head, so the answer is... I don’t know!

Also, there is no spooky-themed area in this game. The only ghosts in the entire game are your friends! Score one for ghosts!

Name: Tostarenan

Here they are... the first ever new characters we saw in Super Mario Odyssey! Remember that Switch trailer way back when? Where we saw like three seconds of Odyssey? Those three wonderful seconds? I do!

Tostarenans are, of course, based on calaveras, the decorative skulls used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. They live in a cozy little town just as colorful as they are, and love nothing more than having fun and eating frozen- I mean, freezy treats!

As I’ve touched upon in their own post, Tostarenans have their own undead version, the Chincho! Which means... these are living skeletons! How does this work? They’re the same shape, so do they have exoskeletons? Again! I don’t know! But wow, that’s two sorta-spooky friend species already, huh? Like we said! This game is perfect!

Name: Lochlady

Lochladies are the world-famous fashion designers found in the Lake Kingdom... a Kingdom whose industry relies entirely on fashion! Peach/Mario’s very pretty wedding dress was made here. According to the brochure, they’re known for their flexibility but also their strength, and that’s kinda funny... they might look dainty, but these fish are strong!

A fish? A mermaid? They’re really a bit of both. Of course mermaids are their main inspiration, but these things very clearly have scales, right? It’s nice that even the very-human designs in Mario are still a little bit silly.

Though, I suppose the term “mermaid” wouldn’t really apply to them, since mer comes from the Latin for “sea”... instead, they’re named Lochladies... a loch, of course, being a Scottish word for a lake... Like Loch Ness! And Dorrie, the incredibly-Loch-Ness-Monster-inspired friend, even shows up here. If you ignore the fact that Lake Lamode is a French name, it all works out.

Name: Steam Gardener

That’s no watering can! Just kidding, it is. But it’s also a robot! And most importantly, it’s a friend! Really just a wonderful combination of things to be.

Steam Gardeners live in the Steam Gardens! They’re steam-powered! They garden! And they are very good at it. They come in different magnitudes of rustiness, but don’t worry! It seems they can very well go on forever as long as they stay charged. Their heads can be empty, but can also contain flowers or even seeds that they can dispense!

I really love the Steam Gardeners because they don’t really look like a character at all, you know? They look robotic, sure, but there’s not really much of a face or anything. And if you ask me, that makes them even more fun! The flashing lights seem to act as a face, if anything, since that’s what they point toward you while speaking. Oh yeah, they’re even asymmetrical! They’re really just a mishmosh of things that most people wouldn’t consider “cute”, but guess what! I think it’s precious! Sue me! (I would probably win because this isn’t a valid reason to sue someone!)

Name: New Donker

When the first trailer for Super Mario Odyssey came out, one thing that immediately caught everyone’s attention was the New Donkers! Usually, when humans appear in the Mario series, they are very heavily stylized, like ol’ Mario Mario himself! But these humans are hardly stylized at all, looking like your average businessperson you’d pull off the streets of New York in the 1950s!

Seeing Mario interacting with these much less stylized people is as jarring as it is hilarious, with lots of people questioning how this sort of image could be from a real Mario game. This is exactly the kind of off-the-wall wackiness we all appreciate over here!

...Of course, then there’s the question of if the New Donkers are technically human. We know Mario is human! We’ve gotten numerous statements from Nintendo that confirm it, aside from one old advertisement which listed him as “homo nintendonus.” What we really should be talking about is the New Donkers! We have no official source considering them humans, as they are exclusively referred to as “New Donkers” in-game. One statement from Nintendo says the reason Mario looks so different from the New Donkers is because “there’s lots of different kinds of people in the world,” but when the definition of “people” also includes dancing skeletons and garden robots, I think that it can be considered a pretty broad term.

Of course, even then, New Donkers and humans are obviously two very genetically-similar species capable of cross-breeding. How else do we explain Pauline?

Name: Shiverian

I love many many things in this big blue Earth of ours, but chubby seals are definitely way up there. So, these guys? Absolutely... wonderful. I love them. I love their dopey voices, I love their cute widdle faces. I love their cosy little town, and I love that they hold competitions where they literally roll around a racetrack, because they’re just that round and fat!!

Shiverians are one of the few NPCs you can capture, too! When in Fat Seal form, you can compete in their Bound Bowl races... Humans aren’t allowed to participate, but the brochure makes it clear that only a fat seal man could survive such a race.

And above all, I love their funky elder. Look at those shades. He’s a cool old man. He’s not like your grandpa- he’s hip!

Name: Bubblainian

I think one thing we can all appreciate here at Weird Mario Enemies Dot Geocities Dot Io is gastropods, no matter what shape or form they take. In Super Mario Odyssey, they take the form of giant French snails with flesh-lips, but better off to be a snail with weird flesh-lips than not be a snail at all, am I right gamers?

I’m glad that they picked snails as their “easy-going beach populace,” (though snails are a good choice for anything, really) but what stands out most about Bubblainians to me isn’t the Bubblainians themselves, but rather, one very particular run-down I had with one during my playthrough of the game!

Bubblainians hide in their shells whenever an enemy gets too close, a small detail I really love. However, one time when I was playing, I was wearing the chef outfit, and was running up to talk to one of these guys when without warning, it hid in its shell! I assume a nearby Gushen might’ve just gotten a little too close, but I just thought it was silly because these French snails were afraid of a chef!

You know, because escargot is a dish in France that’s made from snails and...

Well, it was funny to me at least.

Name: Volbonan

My absolute favorite world in Super Mario Odyssey has to be... New Donk City. I feel that that’s most peoples’ favorite. My immediate second choice, however, is Mount Volbono, and I just love its inhabitants to death. Before I die, you’ll see me laying down, on my deathbed saying “man, I sure love the Volbonans from Super Mario Odyssey” and then I’ll be dead.

But why do I love Volbonans so much? Well, I guess it’s just that I’ve always sort of had an affinity for inanimate object creatures (anyone who’s met me knows how much I love Vanilluxe) and Volbonans are just a perfect design for a fork character! I tried a few shots at designing fork characters in the past, but I made the dire mistake of putting the face on the part with the tines, rather than the handle, a mistake which the Volbonans so excellently fix! Really, I never considered using the tines as limbs, it’s a design that works so well that I’d be cursing myself if the Volbonans weren’t so inherently blessed in and of themselves.

Throw on the chef hats and neckerchiefs, and they go from perfect to extremely perfect, having a design befitting of their hobby of cooking! It feels weird that an entire species has a life focused on cooking, but I suppose that if you’re a giant fork in a land of giant food, there’s nothing better you can do. One of the souvenirs you can buy from Mount Volbono is a set of forks based on the Volbonans themselves! Cute! A little freaky, but still cute!

I think it goes without saying that I want the Volbonans, alongside every other Odyssey NPC, to be playable in the next Mario Kart. Let me race around the whole Mario world as a giant fork or 1950′s (ambiguously) human man!

Name: Moon Rabbit

I am summoned once again from the depths of my cave to talk about Japanese folklore, because I enjoy doing that! The Dark Side stage, unlocked after you beat the game, is also known as “Rabbit Ridge”, and features food-shaped rocks and a whole lotta bunnies... Why? You may or may not have already heard of the story of the moon rabbit (it’s pretty well-known), but in case you haven’t:

According to our friends in the east, the markings of the moon kind of resemble a rabbit pounding mochi with a mortar and pestle. And yeah, I can totally see it. Of course, Mario Odyssey very prominently features hats, and it prominently features the moon in nearly every Kingdom.... and rabbits, naturally, are pulled out of hats! It works on so many levels!

The regular Moon Rabbits aren’t all that talkative, but of course, there are some fairly notable rabbits, too! Yup, the Broodals are from the Dark Side of the moon... which might even be why they look like UFOs when they fly around in their hats. I won’t talk too much about them here, but you’ve gotta wonder... why are they so much more anthropomorphic than their fellow Moon Rabbits? Is this a Goofy/Pluto scenario?

#super mario odyssey #mario #mod chikako #mod f boy #mod hooligon

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julia-highstorms · 6 years

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Jane Is Here (ILITW AU) - Chapter 4

Summary: Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Jane had survived the game and got a chance to grow up with her friends?

Note: F!MC. Sadly, I still don't know when I'll post Chapter 8 of "If Jane Was Here" since I'm mostly focusing my time on my final project I'm almost graduating college, guys, I can't believe it! *tears of joy*. Read Chapter 3 here.

Pairing: Noah x MC/Jane x Lucas

Rating: PG-13

Word count: 1657

Tagging my beloved and loyal readers @kurbqa @miragemeister @klaudiana-beaumontkk @yertletheturtle04 @eat-motherfucking-lead-bitches @mysteriouslady4 @indiciater and I don’t know/can’t remember who else reads it, so if you want me to tag you when I post the next chapters (for this fanfic and/or “If Jane Was Here”), let me know, please! Thank you always for your patience and support!!!

Chapter 4 – The whistle

They immediately pull away from each other, facing the direction where the familiar sound comes from.

“Did... did you hear it?” – he asks, the moment completely gone.

“Yeah, I guess it’s coming from this way...” – MC starts walking towards the sound, when he grabs her wrist.

“Wait.” – Noah hesitates for a brief moment, clearly deciding if he should go or not, before saying with determination: “I’ll go with you.”

She nods at him and they both cautiously follows the sound, his warm and big hand still on her arm.

The sound draws them to the base of an old, twisted tree, where something hangs from the lowest branch. MC picks the old but familiar whistle.

“Is that...?”

“Yeah, the whistle I gave Jane. She lost it the last time we...” – she cuts herself, unable to finish her sentence, although Noah knows exactly about what or who she is refering to.

“Well... I guess Jane will be happy to have it back.” – he says. – “Don’t worry, it happened a lifetime ago. It’s all over, MC.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know...”

“What do you mean?”

She looks up to his face and is about to tell him about what happened on the sleepover, when they hear Jane’s shouts, calling for them.

“Uh, they fished pretty fast today. Let’s go. Besides, it’s getting dark and these woods still freak me out.”

Noah notices that MC is still shaking a little and squeezes her hand, reassuringly. The girl lets out a small sigh, feeling her body relaxing a little.

That’s right. Everything’s okay. The past is in the past.

And they go back to the lake, hand in hand.

“Look at how many fish I got!” – Jane proudly shoves her conquest to them, as they both walk out of the woods... and then her eyes lays on their hands together. – “Hm, did something happen?” – she asks with a smirk.

MC and Noah immediately pull away, their faces suddenly red.

“Uh, great job, Jane.” – her brother says, taking the fish himself and heading to the camp ignoring her question. – “Now I can finally make our dinner.”

The red-haired girl just rolls her eyes and trots to her best friend: “Okay, tell me everything. What happened? Did you kiss? Who confessed first? I bet it was you!”

“Nothing happened, Jane. But we found something...” – and MC shows her the old wooden whistle.

Jane’s big brown eyes go wide.

“Oh my God!” – she squeals, taking the object in her hands. – “So it was this what we heard the other night! Where was it?”

“In the middle of the woods...”

“And did you see it? Or anything creepy?”

“No. Just the whistle.”

“Good.” – Jane says as she puts the whistle in her pocket. – “Oh, let me help you!” – she takes half of the sticks MC is carrying and they return to the camp.

The dinner was calm. Noah grilled the fish perfectly and he and Jane made a duet, with him strumming on the guitar while she sang, performing to MC and their father. Although he always teases her, Jane actually sings pretty well. Mr. Marshall wanted to tell some ghost stories before they all went to sleep, but Noah was strongly against it. Of course his sister teased him about this.

Even though she’s tired from the day, MC can’t sleep, her mind running with memories of when she found Jane’s whistle that evening, the sleepover they had and of Mr. Red.

She can’t help but feel that something will happen. Something bad.

Tired of trying to sleep, she decides to get up and walks out of the tent she’s sharing with Jane.

MC sits by the campfire, lighting it up. The warmth somewhat makes her feel less tense and worried.

Around her everything is calm and still. She can hear the sound of the peaceful lake and the sing of an owl nearby and smell the nature around her.

And then, she hears something. Footsteps approaching. Her body immediately stiffens, her senses in alert. Not thinking twice, she grabs the first thing she sees to use as a weapon and prepares herself to what’s coming.

“HAAAA!”

“Whoaaa!” – Noah exclaims, dodging her attack and falling backwards. – “MC?” – he looks at what she’s holding. – “I can’t believe you were going to attack me using my own frying pan!”

“Jeez, Noah, you scared the crap out of me!” – she says as she helps him to get up. – “What were you doing in there?”

“Uh, I had to pee...”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.” – she interrupts him and sits down again.

“Can’t sleep?” – he sits next to her in the grass.

“Yeah.”

Noah knows that something’s off. MC usually is not this quiet. And she definetly doesn’t go around attacking people with frying pans.

“Hey... What’s up? Is everything okay?”

She lets out a sigh and looks at him, her eyes searching his.

“Noah... There’s something I didn’t tell you. About the whistle...”

“Oh, right. You did seem a little shaken by it.”

“Yeah, about it... when Jane came to my house for that sleepover this past week... We...” – she gulps, summoning all her strenght. – “We heard it.”

“The whistle sound?” – she nods, turning to face the campfire again. – “Wow, but the whistle wasn’t near your house.”

“Exactly. And Jane said... that she was scared.” – Noah feels his heart stopping for a secong inside his chest as he immediately remembers those three words.

Are you scared?

“And... that’s why I’ve being acting... strange since then. A little paranoid.” – MC finishes. – “I know it is stupid, since nothing else happened (well, until we found the whistle this evening). Jane herself turned the page and said that it meant nothing, that the past is in the past.” – she forces a laugh. – “Besides, it doesn’t make any sense why Mr. Red would suddenly be back after 10 years, right?”

“...You have every right to feel this way, MC. I would too... In fact, I think I’m feeling a little frightned right now.”

She turns to him for a few seconds, before letting out a laugh. Noah looks at her as if she suddenly went nuts, which he thinks is the case.

“What?”

“Only you, Noah, to make me laugh when I’m feeling terrified about something.” – she wipes off a tear.

“Uh, I’m glad that my cowardice amuses you.”

MC giggles a little more before snuggling against him, leaning her head on his broad shoulder: “Don’t say it. You’re not a coward.”

“Of course I am. I almost shitted my pants every time we would come to play in the woods. And it still terrifies me.” – she chuckles softly again and feels his arms around her. – “And you are the bravest person I know, so... you don’t have to be afraid. Of anything. Because I know you’ll face it.”

“You have too much faith in me.”

“I’m just stating the facts.” – he squeezes her a little tighter. – “And don’t hesitate to tell me. Whatever you’re feeling, if something is bugging you... I’m here.” – she smiles, feeling his warmth enveloping her.

“...Thanks, Beanie Boy.” – she says, nestling into his embrace.

They lose track of time on how long they stays like this, watching the campfire slowly cooling off. Neither of them says anything, but these moments of silence with Noah are always welcoming. Just being around him is enough to make her feel at ease, and vice versa.

Noah lets out a yawn and she suggests that they should go sleep, which he accepts right away. She helps him getting up and leads him to his tent. But before he enters it, the girl stays on her toes and kisses him softly on the cheek.

“Thank you for being with me, Noah.” – she whispers at him.

“Any time, MC.” – he gives her a sleepy smile and enters his own tent.

MC sleeps well the rest of the night, but Noah almost doesn’t wake up for breakfast the next morning. But Jane is pretty good on waking up people (specially when she’s hungry) and he is the official cook, so the boy has to wake up anyway.

By the time MC walks out of the tent, Noah is making fried eggs on the frying pan she almost hit him the night before.

“Hey. Did you sleep well?” – he asks her, with a side smile on his lips.

“Yeah. I’m sorry I kept you awake.”

“What?! Why did you keep him awake? What happened? What did you two do?!” – Jane suddenly says behind them, startling her best friend. She has just came back from the woods, carrying some berries.

“Nothing!” – MC quickly answers. – “I, uh, have to use the restroom.” – and she walks away.

Jane looks suspiciously to her, but lets her go. She knows that MC will tell her later anyway. Wether she likes it or not.

“Hey Noah, can we eat these?” – she asks turning to him. She knows too well that it is simply impossible to get any information from her twin brother if he doesn’t feel like telling her. And he never wants to tell her anything that would happen between him and her best friend, so she lets it go.

“Unless you want us to die. These berries are poisonous.”

“What?! But they’re so cute!” – she takes one of them and admires it.

“Exactly. They’re cute because they want you to eat them. And this is why they’re so dangerous. Beautiful things can be dangerous, Jane.”

“Hm, are you talking about MC?”

His cheeks immediately turn a deep shade of red and the girl can’t contain a smirk. She would never lose an opportunity to tease Noah and MC.

“Shut up, you prick.” – he rolls his eyes as MC comes back.

Monday morning, back in school, the three of them are greeted by a cheerful Dan as soon as they arrive:

“MC, Jane, Noah! I hope you have nothing planned for this Saturday, because I’m throwing a house party!”

#jane is here #noah x mc #mc x noah #ilitw fanfic #ilitw #it lives in the woods #noah marshall #jane marshall #ilitw noah #ilitw jane #ilitw mc #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #playchoices

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melodicholy · 3 years

Text

Just making a quick guide for this small game I've been playing

LIVING IN THE ENDING WORLD GUIDE [INCOMPLETE]

Since I haven't seen any guides on this game, I thought I'd pipe in a small guide for other people who may still be looking around for one. I don't have all endings/achievements but the ones I do have are listed here:

Headed for paradise

Reached the tower

Watched the world freeze over

The new ruler was born in the mountain

Halfway down the road

Please note I'm no expert at this, simply just sharing what I know. About half of these were accidental and I have no clue how I got them, but I'll set up some tips and tricks for beginners, and how to get some of these achievements.

Starting Out

Before starting the game it'll give you three choices:

Food x5

Knife + two other tools

A game console

I've only chosen food once, and being unable to use a knife made getting more borderline impossible, so you run out fast if you're unlucky. Knives are hard to come by, and also needed to open wooden crates and reaching berries, so my advice is to always go for tools. Handheld consoles are good for mentality in the long run, but you need to usually find batteries for it to work, and finding a bonfire/hammock can usually do the trick at that point.

The Burnt-down Hospital gives flasks, vegetable seeds, first-aid kits, lab kits and a frying pan which necessary for base level 3 and blankets. If you make your first trip there with a severely ill character, you'll always be sure to find an operating room to treat them. This is only guaranteed once before you're left to the RNG. This place is also a huge speedrun to getting your characters insane if you're not lucky so go prepared.

The Ruined Library gives books, which gives knowledge. The first visit will always land you with a cooler box containing 4 food. Push on to find nets and first-aid kits, but I don't recommend getting the first-aid kit, those usually leave you wounded.

Barren Mountain gives meat and plant which can be converted to food with enough knowledge. At knowledge level 40 you'll find the Polluted Powerplant and the Forgotten School.

Polluted Powerplant is very important. You want to have ropes and food, a recommendation of at least 40 strength, a naginata or molotov to defeat the mutant. Never go near the hunk of metal on the ceiling. You'll die from radiation sickness. Don't touch/drink water and you'll eventually end up getting a broken bike.

Don't go into the Prison Park unless you have a fixed bike or completed the REX Plan.

Always fight the dogs, this will leave you wounded, but you'll deal a heart less damage.

Never bother with the rusty trunk unless you have the beach key or are very desperate. It widdles 1.5 hearts and gives 1 food otherwise.

Same with car event. Inspecting the inside gives nothing, so either leave or harvest the metal material from it.

When you are given a choice between seaweed or a small fish, always go for seaweed. It gives you 3 food at less cost.

Barrel event is also similar. If you have no need for bonfires or base upgrades, I recommend inspecting it for 1 food.

Never make bonfires out of anything but wooden material unless you're desperate. It lasts for five days, unlike the other options.

If you see a dog (Kotaro), follow it. It'll usually leave food or first-aids kits.

Don't hoard food. At around 8-10 food, I'll always get the event where mice destroy your base and storage. This immediately puts you back on square one, where you'll have to pray for a bunch of wood and metal. Definitely a must to have your base at level 3 so you won't have to worry about this.

Don't approach survivors unless you have a naginata. The man and woman you find will always attack you and take food, whereas you have a choice to share 3 food with the group of starving people, but some of them will also be hostile. Fighting the man and woman gives you 1 food, same with the hostile group, but sharing with the survivor group will have them returning later with the option to choose double the food, silverware and an invitation into their home. I've only chosen the first two options.

Naginatas can be made with knives and long sticks.

Broken radios need batteries to work and give around 5 knowledge points per night.

Dumbells are usually found in the Forgotten School.

Hammocks are like a permanent bonfire, craft them out of nets and long stick when you can.

The Beginning (Day 1-34)

Pretty much just stick around at The Shore of the Beginning. First things first you want to set your sights on getting wooden material. That's what you'll need to upgrade your base, and be able to refine tools like naginatas and fishing rods (the must haves). On Day 3 you'll almost always trigger a night/afternoon event that'll give you wooden material.

At 10 strength, you'll be able to break in car windows for 3 food, but at the cost of being wounded, which lessens the number of hearts you heal each night, and can grow worse, like into the severely ill status, which is a big no-no. Unless you have spare first-aid kits or are desperate, I'd avoid this.

At 10 knowledge, you'll find a map that'll give you two other places to access: the Ruined Library, and the Burnt-Down Hospital.

It is recommended to get blankets from the Burnt-Down Hospital before Day 19 or else you'll get ill.

I also recommend getting the key from the nurse to unlock the basement. This allows you to be able to unlock the Barren Mountain locale. While you're there, you should set up a bonfire and try to find some vegetable seeds and frying pans. Gather first-aid kits when you see them.

When you reach knowledge 30, you'll be able to convert things other than seaweed. You'll always find an abandoned trap on your first trip there. I don't know what happens otherwise, but I always leave it for later deer meat.

Around Day 20-28 you'll keep making notes about how cold it is. Build up food for a 4-day freeze where you won't be able to do anything as your life chips away. On Day 34 you'll be free to do whatever again.

Mid-game (Day 34-60)

Now at this point you want to get up supplies for another long run. If you see an old man in need of care, take care of him. He'll give you vegetable seeds, a nice bonus if you haven't had luck in the hospital. Build up food and stats for the grind at the Polluted Powerplant, you lack strength, go to the Forgotten School for some dumbells.

Once you have have enough supplies (food, weapons, etc.) go to the Polluted Powerplant and take the grind it'll take several days but you'll eventually manage to find a broken bike. This needs to be fixed with "machinery" which is just a radio.

You want to get this done before Day 59, otherwise you'll get the bad end where you freeze to death.

Different Achievements and How to Get Them

For the True end, you want to keep pushing on in the Powerplant until you find a pool of radiated water. Tapping "Proceed" will allow you to find the REX Plan. To understand it, or follow it, you need two flasks from the Hospital, two tubes that I'm guessing comes from the Shore, two liquids which you can get from the two hostile survivors. Finally you'll need some silverware which I only managed to get from the thankful survivors you help out.

Once you get these things, you'll practically achieve immortality. Except, you still lose sanity and food and you cant refine anything past Day 60. I don't know what happens if you go to Babel before Day 59, though.

I only got this ending once, and I lingered around each locale unable to really understand what was going on since my mentality plummeted to insane pretty quick. I lingered around Babel post Day 60, just killing all the wriggling creatures until there were no more.

For another ending, you want to craft the bike and speed past the wriggling creatures in Prison Park until you get to Babel.

The other bad ending is when you don't go anywhere and just get caught up in the storm.

To get "New ruler was born in the mountain" achievement find the pretty flower seed and planter from the Burnt-Down Hospital and grow it. Once the plant disappears, go to the Barren Mountain and you'll find it!

(Bonus) Kotaro's "questline"

I never was able to finish this, but here are the places he appears in order. After the Forgotten School I'm not sure where to find him and I'm sure the "last walk" achievement is his.

He'll first appear in The Shore of the Beginning as a dog with a necklace. Follow him, though you won't find anything.

Next he'll be in the Ruined Library, you'll start calling him Kotaro and he leaves behind 1 food.

After that you'll find him in the Burnt-Down Hospital's garden. He'll leave a first-aid kit.

Then the Barren Mountain. He'll be chasing a deer you won't be able to catch up.

Then the Polluted Powerplant. It usually takes a while for me to find him there but you'll find him coming out a room where you hear a thud.

Finally the Forgotten School. He'll be atop a staircase with an item in his mouth.

So far this is everything I know. If there's anything else I missed, just pitch in and I'll add it. Ciao

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ikesenmotonari · 6 years

Text

yay that ikesen oc thing. she’s a multifandom oc but hey im not creative so i might as well JAM her into another universe lets go lads

idk who to tag but if u have an ikesen oc go for it i wanna know bout em!!!

i was tagged by @nyktoon-ikemenlove thank you sweetheart!!!

Age? Height?

“Hi! I’m Melody Wyverne, but my friends if I had any would call me Mel, Mells… that fun stuff! I’m nineteen and I’m five foot two!”

She’s petite, on the curvy side. She’s 5′2″, or 155 cm; she is only nineteen and wants to go home. lmao

What’s your fashion like? [Time travelers – pre & post-wormhole!]

“Er, pre time-jump I was a fan of sleeveless hoodies and high-waisted jeans. I didn’t go out much, so I dressed comfortably. Now I wear kimono and hakama… it’s pretty. I sure hope it didn’t trouble people too much to make these…!“

The top one is an older doodle. thonk emojis

Where are you from?

“I’m from Canada, actually. I lived alone for a bit then my dad reached out to me and asked me if I’d like to spend some time with him in Japan. So uh, I just wanted to talk to him again and thought this would be a good way for me to intern somewhere… it might as well be his business right? Then the storm thing.“

Her mom is French, her dad is English. She’s got a ridiculously high IQ level and no social skills whatsoever, so she knows most Japanese and speaks it pretty okay despite her North American kind of accent. Is that a thing? thonks

Feudal era – pros and/ or cons?

“There are pros?!“ She’s not very happy being surrounded by blood and death…

Pros? Cool clothes. Cons? HAVE YOU MET THESE PEOPLE?!

If you’re not in your homeland/time, do you want to go home?

“Gosh. Absolutely.“

What’s your home life like?

“Well, I’ll run you through a usual day! Ah… well, I’d eat something, then play with my cat, talk to Avery for a bit, then… yeah I’d spend the rest of it at the garage, just working on my projects! It’s… I like working. It’s not healthy, and I’ve been told… but it’s nice, you know?“

Melody doesn’t go outside.

She scarcely leaves her property and the only close friends she has is a cat and a cyborg (a man with no arms). Her parents split years ago and she wasn’t properly socialized as a kid. Being raised as a certified genius? It’s… lonely. She doesn’t know how it’s affected her, but being thrown back in time is forcing her to look at things differently.

You just got your dream job! What is it? / Or, what’s your line of work?

“I’m a programmer on the side, but first and foremost, I make prosthesis for people. I have a background in medicine and engineering I suppose…”

Any other hobbies or skills? Do you use them / how do you use them in the Sengoku period?

“Not really… I can barely take care of myself as is, haha! Erm. I can’t use my skills much at all in this era. Other than some simple automatons, there’s also guns I can piece apart, but I’m more hesitant with those… all I can do is use my expertise in biology I guess. There’s a lot of injuries going around, and I’m glad I’m not completely useless.“

Where is your base of operations? Azuchi Castle? Kasugayama Castle? A pirate ship? Running all over the woods or in a secret monastery? Some other cool place?

“I woke up in a forest near Azuchi and stayed in a neutral tea house for a while before Lord Masamune pretty much dragged me to the castle. So I stayed there for a few months, and the warlords grew on me, but… I… got kidnapped. So I guess my base of operations is a pirate ship.”

Oh?

“…I don’t like it. Don’t get me started on their captain…”

How do you feel about killing and violence?

“I just wish there’s another way past it all. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the logic behind killing someone. I… I’m a doctor. Not a murderer.”

Have you learned to fight? If so, what’s your weapon and/or fighting style of choice?

“Nope, actually. But there’s some good guys on board that might be willing to teach me! At least, I hope so. The only thing I’m leaning towards are guns, unfortunately, but they’re the closest thing to a modern mechanism I can get. Eep… I don’t know how to fight! I don’t want to!”

What are you fighting for?

“Um, my life?!“ It changes. Eventually. ;3

What are your feelings about authority?

“As long as they’re not bullies? Fine.” She pauses. “Lord Nobunaga was different though. I didn’t understand him fully, but he doesn’t really make fun of me or anything. He’s just curious I guess. I don’t tend to question authority unlike some pirates.”

How do you handle someone invading your personal space?

“I just get really uncomfortable and back away if I can. I can’t bring myself to yell at people unless they’ve seriously whittled down on my patience. I didn’t know I had it in me, actually… huh.“

…do you invade people’s personal space?

“Ha…. haha! Yeah, sometimes. I get nosy okay? I didn’t even know what personal space was until I was eleven!”

Are you more open, or more reserved? Are you secretive?

“Avery says I’m an open book. I have nothing to hide, no secrets to keep. There’s not much that happened to me before, so I guess I’m some kind of blank slate? Gee, that sounds so harsh…”

Is this the first time you’ve been truly in love?

“Love? Have you spoken to these people?”

Eventually? Yeah. Yeah this is her first time.

What’s your style as a lover? (interpret this as innocently or not-innocently as you please ;) )

She’s sweet, affectionate and balanced. She knows when to handle time with her partner and time working on whatever independent activities. Though she’s quite a dense person overall and won’t realize if she’s even fallen for someone, she deeply and wholeheartedly trusts them. It takes a while for her to know this.

Also, she’s 99% submissive and slightly masochistic. As well as a rope bunny.

What are your favorite ways for someone to show you love?

Touches, fleeting ones. Tight hugs, any kind of embrace. Show her something unconditional, undivided. She’s been isolated for so long she convinced herself she won’t have someone to love, so she carries on merrily alone, not knowing how deprived she is of human contact. Hmm.

Take her on an adventure. Bring her out of her comfort zone. Show her what the world could be like… you’ll change her.

Do you use a petname or endearments for your lover(s)?

Not really, she would give nicknames if she could! She already says things like ‘honey’ and ‘dear’, but nothing too mushy unless it becomes super playful and joking.

How do you feel about…

Nobunaga? “He’s such a complicated warlord… I don’t know if I’ll ever understand him. But he’s shown some really keen interest in me. Is it because I’m a Westerner? Either way, Lord Nobunaga scared me and he still does. But after spending months in the castle and talking to him, he’s not actually as mean as I thought he was. I don’t know why he laughs at me though! I guess the things I do seem really silly to him!”

Hideyoshi? “Oh he’s super nice. He taught me how to make tea when mister Mitsunari and I put way too much leaves in. He tends to scold me for staying up though, but I can’t help my insomnia without my pills! It’s really comforting to know that Lord Hideyoshi is looking out for me though. The things he does reminds me of how Avery takes care of me, so I guess he’s like a big brother? Heehee.”

Masamune? “He was the one who brought me to Azuchi castle, and boy is he wild! His energy shocked me honestly, it’s like he never runs out of it. He’s so cool though! He kinda scared me too, and I’m pretty sure he can stab me once told to, but he’s been really playful. I didn’t know I’d have so much fun in Azuchi thanks to him. And he makes amazing food! Though he should stop bugging me to eat three meals a day…”

Ieyasu? “Aw man, I wish I can talk to him without him speedwalking away or trying to avoid me! He’s reading stuff about medicine, right? I’d like to know what he’s learning. It’s no doubt super different from modern medicine. I try to talk to him sometimes but Lord Ieyasu’s always busy… was it something I said?”

You know that question about invading personal space? Melody leans in to peer over at his books sometimes. She’s a bit too friendly to his liking.

Mitsunari? “I relate to him a lot. He’s really friendly and sometimes I’d spend my free time reading with him. Time goes by so fast though and either Lord Hideyoshi or Lord Ieyasu would step in to tell us we’ve missed dinner…”

Literally. They are so alike. They got along swell.

Mitsuhide? “S-Scary… have you heard of those rumors about him? I mean, in person he’s okay, but he’s just tall and intimidating to me. He did take me out to the marketplace once and show me around, which… well, nevermind. I guess he’s nice. Apparently Lord Hideyoshi told him to stop teasing me, but I don’t recall being teased?”

She’s dense.

Shingen? “Big man. Very tall, and… I think he was flirting with me. Whatever it was, he’s… really.. erm, polite and all, and I met him along with Yukimura and Sasuke at the forest tea house before I was taken to Azuchi. I don’t know him too well, but with what Lord Nobunaga told me, he must be a strong warlord…”

Kenshin? “I never met the guy. With a title like the ‘God of War’, I don’t think I want to…!” Fear.

Yukimura? “He’s… he’s kind of… what’s the word, gruff, isn’t he? I met him along with Shingen and I guess it’s a good quality to be honest and stuff. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

She spilled tea on him. You can imagine the rest. Sasuke came in clutch.

Sasuke? “He’s super great. I wish I had more time to talk to him! He kinda saw right through my attempt to hide the fact that I’m from the future and he gave me helpful advice on fitting in and staying under the radar. Eep, sorry I got dragged to the castle, Sasuke! We can talk about astrophysics another time…! Seriously, I’m so grateful to him. Without his advice I’d probably be in big trouble.”

Kennyo? “He went near the tea house once and was feeding the fish in the koi pond. He’s scary, but… he’s nice. I served him tea and some dumplings. I had no idea he hated Lord Nobunaga so much…”

Motonari? “Ugh… infuriating. I didn’t know I could be so angry at someone before I met this guy. The nerve he has, to kidnap me in broad daylight, spit on Azuchi defenses, and then use me as his impromptu surgeon for the high seas! Hmph. … I… I don’t know. The more time I spend with him, I feel like I’m not going anywhere - you know, I try to get along, I really do, but I think he’s keeping me away? Like, he just tends to stay shallow with people. As annoying as he can get… I want to know why. He’s shown how playful he could be, and his crew loves him. He gives me the same vibes as Lord Nobunaga, actually… intimidating, but I want to know more about him.”

Any other friends/notables?

“I have a friend named Avery and he’s awesome! He took care of me ever since I was eleven, he was twenty-one at the time and now he’s thirty. He’s like a dad to me. Oh, and this isn’t too important, but he has metal arms. I made those! Er, the updated ones, actually. Just to make sure they’re functioning like real arms and all. The prototypes were made by my mom and he was severely injured, so the surgery took a while. He and I grew really close after my parents’ divorce. He lives a few blocks down, and he has eight dogs. Don’t ask ME why, you should ask HIM. … I miss him. I hope he’s okay.”

She also has a cat named Charlie. He’s a grey ragdoll. That’s… that’s about it.

hooray for my shallow motonari headcanons with trust issues

#oof #ikesen oc #my art

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sanjuno · 7 years

Text

NRT+SW: That We Answer To Our Stars

Just remember that you people asked for this and if I end up posting a story concept that you love and want to see as a fic? Be well aware that all of these outlines only have one thing in common:

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN A SINGLE SCENE FOR THEM.

Which means I won’t be turning them into fic for a year at least so... *handwaves* Encourage me IRT your favourite WIP of mine, because finishing one of those will clear up space in the docket for a new story to get some attention.

Now, these outlines can get kinda disjointed but at least you’ll get to see a bit of how my brain works when I plot out stories.

THE SCENE!

>Kaguya’s multiverse trip goes wonky b/c best crossover fodder scene

>Uchiha Clan dumped wholesale on Rim World/Wild Space World in SW’verse. All the Uchiha Clan. All the Uchiha since ever.

->World is XL planetoid version of TG44, with added biome options b/c YOLO (unless you’re in the Uchiha Clan I guess b/c then you get to Live All The Times?)

>Indra, Madara, and Sasuke separate ppl w/ wiggy chakra resonance. V disorienting.

->Ninshu gets Dialled Up To Eleven = Force Bonds! Force Bonds everywhere!

-->Entire Clan gets Highlights Reel of Historically Important Memories (also so much purposely induced trauma wow WTF.)

--->Mass Meditation required to untangle/unfuck heads

>Entire Clan now Force Sensitive BTW

->WTF w/ crazy Nature Chakra infesting everyone? Uchiha are Not Pleased.

-->Upside: Force Bonds/Ninshu Super Connection can be used to awaken Sharingan w/out Psyche Destroying Trauma so yay for that

>All Uchiha now have Kaguya’s est. life span. Also nubbin horns and forehead sensory organ b/c aliens are a SW thing I can do this now (don't know if want full-on third eye or just funky Clan Marking thing? Hm...)

THE PLOT THICKENS/ACTUALLY STARTS BEING A THING!

>Sep. forces land on new Uchiha Homeworld b/c shenanigans and The Force Likes To Meddle

->Sasuke introduces said forces to Kirin b/c is reminded of T7 mission to Land of Iron? Or Snow? Dunno which but Naruto’verse says machines = bad juju so Sasuke is 100% justified ok thanks.

>212th follows. Obi-wan is v concerned by the Uchiha

->Entire Pop. of Planet is FS WTF is this nonsense?

-->Clones v impressed at least. Free-range jedi are badass why were they not informed of this being an option? (Clones made for jedi = have a hard time leaving GAR b/c existential dissonance when no jedi for retired soldiers? Also Kamino sucks and slavery sucks more but now the Clones who don’t want to be soldiers or recycled can Take A Third Option! So much Clone chatter about the Uchiha thing wow.)

>Madara is sent to be Senator b/c Jedi are Very Insistent that this Planet be part of the Republic.

->Madara terrifies all the politicians b/c Uchiha Hate Politics (they're too blunt and the see too much) but Madara is best at it v good at lying without saying anything untrue.

-->Madara knows Palpatine is skeevy b/c Uchiha See All The Things and You Can’t Fool Me With Such A Weak Illusion, Foolish Human and now there are clashing manipulators and Your Attachments Make You Weak and this is going to get out of hand so quickly I just know it.

>Sasuke is apparently still best Prophecy Child Bait and Anakin is Conflicted b/c how can he be attracted to someone not Padme?

->501st would like to adopt b/c last time Anakin fucked off without backup Sasuke came back 5 minutes later with Anakin hogtied over his shoulder and the Seppie base on fire. Sasuke is so unimpressed b/c That’s Not How You Infiltrate Enemy Lines, You Moron

-->Sasuke is still 100% going to seduce Anakin and Padme b/c his life is Not Complete without an Idiot to yell at and a Crazy Berserker who likes to pretend she’s The Sane One to ride herd on.

--->Obi-wan is Done With All Of Them b/c Sasuke isn’t even pretending to try and hide his intentions b/c if they get fired Sasuke can just take them back home for a proper marriage. Mikoto is So Proud of her boy.

>Madara and Mace have ‘sip and bitch’ IRT Palpatine being an evil fucker

->At some point Madara will wonder out loud what Palpatine is grooming Anakin for? Mace is Concerned by this revelation. Madera is not.

-->Sasuke had Issues IRT not sharing well with other children. BTW Mace Sasuke is planning to steal away Anakin and marry him. Don’t worry he will be returned eventually and so will his wife.

--->Mace thinks Anakin had it coming. WTF was the boy thinking? Did he really think he could hide anything from a temple containing several thousand telempaths? Jedi can get married, it’s just considered polite to ask first and go through the counselling with the Mind Healers beforehand. (Idea! Coruscaunti Jedi treat marriage the same way the Japanese treat Gun Control. Lots of paperwork and regular mandatory psyche evaluations and pervasive low-key terror at the idea of having one.)

->Madara will hear the “too much fear in him” story and cackles

-->Slaves have to please their Masters to survive. Anakin was freed to be a Jedi so if not a Jedi then he’s a slave again? No Fear = Be A Jedi (Not A Slave) and now Anakin is The Hero With No Fear

--->Therefore everything the Council dislikes about how Anakin acts was initialized by the Council. Mace hates Irony so much. Madara is still cackling in his face.

->Madara wants the aged out Initiates who still want to fight (or even just the Initiates who don’t suit the Jedi lifestyle)

-->He has a Clan to maintain! About 25% of the Uchiha never fell in love or fell in love with non-Uchiha so they need Marriage Options. (Uchiha don’t fall out of love easily either so new potential spouses need to be Impressive As Fuck and the jedi know how to be Impressive.)

--->Species doesn’t actually matter Uchiha’s Forest of Death planet has lots of different options despite being mostly Giant Fuck-Off Trees and the higher your Force Sensitivity the higher your chances are for successful cross-species hybrids. (Madara is planning to keep Obito and Itachi away from the aquatic species for a while b/c they have a concerning fondness for fishes.) Hybrids are viable though b/c The Force loves grand babies.

>Izuna is there as Madara’s Security Chief and he’s having Far Too Much Fun getting to be paranoid for a living. Plus all sorts of time to spend with his wife! (Need to pick name and develop Izuna’s wife beyond terrifying DFAB genderfluid interrogation specialist but at least they’re happy together.)

->Izunami (Izuna’s daughter) and Kagami are tiny children again b/c weird cross-dimensional space-time fuckery is like that

-->Shisui is super amused to be ‘older’ than his grandfather.

->Kagami approves mightily of Madara-shishou’s friendship with Mace (reminds him of Tobirama-sensei!)

->Izunami is 100% in favour of actually getting to ‘grow up’ with her Mom and Dad around this time (although she only really listens to Madara b/c he was her Parental Authority Figure and old habits don’t break) Jedi actually find this comforting b/c even if Uchiha crazy about attachments there are familiar bits there in how they arrange instruction even if the three students at a time thing is weird.

-->Both Izunami and Kagami are So Relieved that their Spouse is the same age as them b/c while they would be willing to wait until the other grew up this is much less creepy.

>Speaking of age fuckery Itachi is smol now and just about permanently leashed to Mikoto’s side.

->Sasuke is v amused b/c Aniki deserves this.

-->Mikoto and Fugaku are the first Uchiha couple to make a new baby and it’s Sarada b/c she’s the only good thing about the Next Gen (Except for Snake Fam but they aren’t a part of this fic boo)

>Obito is Madara’s primary assistant b/c some of the Uchiha are Not Over the whole Killing Us All Off thing.

->Obito runs into Quinlan Vos. Results are hilarious.

-->Brainwashing to the Dark Side ep. goes v differently. (Need to re-watch this ep for details but yes) Obito will rampage over everything b/c dude has No Chill

>Shisui is v jealous of his relatives b/c Itachi is too smol to play with and also has been hijacked by Isami (who will hold her death over Itachi for the rest of forever but again Uchiha don’t really fall out of love so she’s also learning Itachi wrangling skills from Mikoto now.)

->Everyone else is finding Jedi favourites and Shisui misses his ANBU team b/c it’s not like he really had time to make any other friends

-->Sulking Shisui trips over Feemor while waiting for Madara. Apparently Uchiha and Yoda’s Lineage have A Type.

>BIG PLOT POINT: Uchiha Remember

->’Curse of Hatred’ spun by Madara as ‘plague’ caused by ‘non-native invasive plants’ (Blames it all on Zetsu and says plant was toxic to non-Uchiha) Says is why there are no non-Uchiha in TG44′s population despite stories otherwise.

>Uchiha think the Jedi Code is silly but the Clones are the Best Thing. All Clones look different to FS/Sharingan

>Uchiha have a habit of “stealing” spouses.

->BTW Shisui has No Patience

-->Upside: Feemor is v flattered by the attention and TG44 has a v interesting ecosystem. TF is in everything on this planet like WTF how does this work?

->Kagami is So Proud. Look at his Grandson, so proactive.

-->Starts to ‘hint’ that maybe Madara-shishou should think about settling down.

-->Mace has been meditating and consulting with the other Masters of the Order.

--->War changes everyone. Plus certain contracts between the Jedi Order and the Senate have been voided by the drafting of Jedi Generals. (Look up the details of the Ruusan Reformation for more info on disbandment of Jedi Military Powers and what it means when Senate gives them back the right to raise levy forces.)

-->Jedi don’t need to look harmless anymore just need to look less dangerous than the Seppies and the Sith.

>Uchiha Clan FB keep any of them from Falling to the Dark Side.

->Sasuke finally gets his hooks in Anakin and Padme. Notices the ‘nightmare vision’ problem first time he sleeps over.

-->Kidnaps Obi-wan to ‘repair’ the stress fracture in Anakin’s only familial FB b/c having his partner be so alone in his head is creeping Sasuke out and it’d only get worse if the bond to Obi-wan breaks completely.

--->Obi-wan is too tired to even object and now Anakin is freaking out b/c he’d been so focused on Padme maybe-dying in childbirth that he hadn’t even noticed how sick his Master looks.

---->Oh and also there is a Sith Energy Parasite attached to Anakin’s FS and it’s been poisoning his bonds. Sasuke just facepalms while the Jedi have panic attacks and drags in the genjutsu expert hostile deprogramming specialists.

----->Upside: Uchiha now know what Sith Master’s chakra signature is and can hunt him properly. Also help Mind Healers check all Jedi for similar problems, starting with Active Duty Generals. My the Council Chambers look so much Lighter now.

>Then some stuff happens where Palpatine is exposed as the Sith Master and there are explosions.

>Plot Twist is that Madara and Mace have been banging and rewriting the Jedi Code of conduct since like their third date and no one picked up on it.

->Mace: *stares Anakin in the eyes* And that’s how you hide an affair, Skywalker.

*jazz hands* And this is how my fics look before I start writing them.

#Sanjuno self metas #Sanjuno Monolouges #prompt myself #Fic I haven't written yet #that we answer to our stars

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misskieshakate · 7 years

Text

A Certain Elegance (II)

Or in which the team sees the security footage of Lance torturing Joras.

If you haven't read the first one and felt like the torture scene was cut off or simply just not enough, here's the cctv along with the team's reactions to A Certain Elegance

*** I am extremely sorry for taking this long to post this! I had trouble with the structure and flow of this story that I had to scrap the whole thing and rewrite it over and over- it sucked!! (And it still is in my opinion). But I’d rather post it now than not post at all, right? So I guess I’m apologizing for two things: 1) That this took so long to write, and 2) That the structuring and flow might be a little iffy..***

Caution: This turned out longer- waaaaay longer- than what I planned!

Enjoy :))

To say that Shiro was concerned was an understatement. Being the Black paladin does that to you. He had to juggle being a leader and being a friend to the other paladins, balance between being stern like a General, and being considerate like a friend. He thought he's been doing a good job so far, ordering the others around with a firm tone and patting their backs for a good job; until now.

The other paladins- Keith, Hunk, and Pidge- were already in their lions waiting for the wormhole from the Castle of Lions, all except the Blue Paladin. Shiro tried to play no favorites when it comes to his teammates, giving them equal attention if need be, but Lance was beginning to occupy most of his thoughts.

"Yo, my dudes. Aww you guys so sweet, waiting for me." Lance's face projected in his lion's screen.

"About time." Katie's face popped up on his screen.

"I was outnumbered Pidge, get off my case..." Shiro let them drone on into a harmless squabble of words against words, but one thing stole his attention.

Shiro may have been used to the sly and seemingly innocent act Lance pulls during diplomatic missions, but the splatter of blood on his helmet was a surprise. 'Maybe it's alien blood. He did say he was surrounded.' He thought, wishing the cold tendrils of suspicion let him go.

The tendrils of suspicion didn't let him go. Instead, it gripped him tight and held on for dear life.

"If you're such an amazing paladin, what did you get out of that Galra ship, Keith?"

"Well, me and Hunk, managed to hack into their servers." Keith held out a small thumb drive, "You are looking at the ship's security footage from the year it was used until we sacked the place."

"Ha, don't make me laugh." Lance opened a zipper in his flight suit and fished out a data pad, "Behold! The data pad containing all information about the ship's plans, course, slaves, meal plans and all of the above! Beat that, Keith."

Keith scoffed, "For all we know, that data pad's full of malware and alien porn."

"It's from one of the Generals who supervised Shiro in the pits, mullet head..."

Blood.

There was blood splattered everywhere on Lance's white and blue armor, from his helmet, his breastplate down his knee guards. There were also dark spots on his black flight suit that Shiro assumed it was alien blood not Lance's. He met the princess' eyes and they both had the same suspicion.

What the hell did Lance do this time?

'Shit,' Lance thought, 'of all the things they could find, they'd have to find security tapes.'

After the debriefing in the Bridge, Lance made his way to the showers. Lance walked in strides, letting his long legs do their work. He undressed in a way where he's taking off armor and flightsuit in an efficient way yet not looking like he's in a hurry, like he's not a bundle of nerves.

The blood on his hands was still warm as well as the memory of blade gliding across skin, leaving a trail of vibrant red. Lance shivered despite the warm spray of water against his body. The thrill of letting loose a part of him that he badly kept a secret was a complete euphoric feeling. It was like the flood gates were finally open, setting free the torrent that was the Salazar in him. And for it to be contained yet again because of a thumb drive the size of- well - his thumb, Lance scoffed at the cruel joke that was his life.

He scrubbed at his chest, reliving the sensation of warm blood and tears on his fingers.

Oh-

He lifted his hand to his face. Lance watched the beautiful crimson of Joras’ blood wash away from his fingers like it was never there. He frowned with the thought of the others finding out that part of his life.

Lance was and never will be ashamed of who he is. He planned on telling the team about his upbringing and his family, but now was not the time. They are fighting an intergalactic war, the fate of the entire universe are on their hands, they don’t need any distractions right now. That means no surprise attacks in the form of him being a mafioso was needed. And also, Lance was wary on how the team would take it. Will they look at him differently? Would they treat him at an arm’s length?

A feeling of warm comfort hummed in the back of his mind, gently waving through his body.

Blue.

Blue sent him feelings of acceptance and assurance, telling him that the team will understand, that they will not think badly of him. Lance smiled at the comfort that his sentient lion was sending him. But he was still reluctant about the cctv footage. There has to be a way where the team doesn’t find out he’s a Salazar and still hold on to the high of being one.

A mischievous spark of an idea jolted Lance out of his thoughts.

“Of Course!” Lance exclaimed and hurriedly looked for anyone who might have heard him.

When he was sure no one was listening, Lance started formulating his plan. But little did he know, he was smiling that Salazar smile once again.

“Knock, knock. Pidgey, open up!“

Pidge looked up from her laptop and sighed. She knew that voice, heard it over and over again until she can pick it out in a crowd.

Lance.

She groaned when the knocking hasn’t stopped. What she would give for some peace and quiet-

“Pidge, you know I come from a big family, I can do this all day!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, geez!“

PIdge trudged to her door and placed her hand on the pad on the wall. The door opened to a Lance wearing that stupidly soft robe with an equally stupid green goo on his face.

“What do you want?“

“Well hello to you too, Katie.“

PIdge gave Lance a pointed look.

“I’m just here to give you the data pad I retrieved from the Galra ship, no need for your sass, Pidgey.”

PIdge took the data pad from Lance. “Is that all? If you haven’t noticed, I have a shit ton of video feed to go through.”

“Oh I noticed alright!“ Lance unceremoniously waltzed his way inside her room. With Pidge’s dwarf like height, she doesn’t exactly have the ability or the energy to stop him.

“I mean look at this room!“ He gestured at the scattered clothes and the multitude of wires all tangled up that occupied most of the floor and the bed. “There’s more junk covering the floor than, you know, actual floor. And look at you!” Lance pointed at Pidge and leaned closer to take a sniff, “You reek, Pidge. Have you eaten anything since we arrived? Please tell me you at least ate something before you planned on binge watching years worth of security footage.“

Pidge was touched, really she was, especially when Lance was acting more like a mother to her than the space brother she dubbed him as. But Lance acting like a mother hen sometimes can get a little overboard. Like that one time he lectured Pidge about brushing her teeth before going to bed, he texted her every hour reminding her to brush her teeth.

“Will you leave if I say I did?“

“That depends,“ Lance crossed his arms on his chest, “are you telling the truth?“

Pidge was about to say yes but her stomach whaled a guttural cry like the traitor it is. She opened her mouth to argue but closed it again because Lance was smirking at her.

“Nice try, Pidge.“ Lance made his way towards her drawer and pulled out clothes and a tower, “Take a shower, the one I taught you with the scrubbing and the conditioning, understand? After that, you will eat. We just raided a Galra ship and took all of their rations, Hunk went wild with his cooking. I promise the food tastes divine.“

Pidge was tempted to do just that, hell, she could almost feel the warm water on her skin. Then her gaze slid on her bed and saw her laptop. Right, she has a job to do.

“Lance, I have videos upon videos to watch. I don’t have time for a thirty minute shower-“

“Nuh-uh.“ Lance placed a finger on her lips, stopping her from reasoning out. Pidge tried to chew that finger but Lance pulled his hand back and ruffled her hair, “I know when you can do stuff and when you can’t. In your current condition, you can’t. In a matter of hours, you’ll find yourself sleeping then chugging mugs of coffee. I know you, Pidge.“

“No, you don’t under-“

“Katie/‘Pidge’ Holt/‘Gunderson,’ if you don’t take care of yourself I will. I’m one step away from dragging you to the bathroom and giving you a bath myself.“ Lance ruffled her hair a bit more before smiling softly at her, “Go. I’ll watch the videos for you. Go!“ Lance gave her a little push towards her door.

Pidge plopped down on her bed, her hair still a bit damp after her thirty minute shower Lance routine. She felt light as a feather. She picked up her laptop and placed it on her lap. The notepad program was open. She clicked on it and saw a typed message from lance:

‘Hey Pidgey, I ran your Galra translation program on the videos and it seems that it didn’t place the videos in the right order. Some are in the right order though, but some are definitely misplaced. I sifted through the earlier videos and marked them whenever something interesting happened. Remember if you need some help, don’t hesitate to ask for it, ok?

xoxo Lance.

P.S. I left you snacks under your bed, be sure to eat them when your vision starts to blur :)’

Pidge scanned the file names of the videos Lance listed below his message. There weren’t a lot, which she expected. It was a courier ship, the most exciting thing that must have happened was when they were carrying prisoners, which- based on Lance’s notes- happened only twice so far. Pidge clicked on the file containing all of the security footage and confirmed that it was truly out of order, she expected that too. Her Galra translator still had a few kinks she needs to fix but at least she has something.

Pidge cracked her knuckles and adjusted her glasses.

“Let’s do this,” then she clicked on the next video.

She was on video number 47 when she decided to eat the snacks Lance left. It was in the middle of the night cycle and Pidge’s butt started to cramp from sitting on her bed for far too long. She munched on the biscuits and played video number 48.

Pidge sat straighter at the unfamiliar setting of the video. The previous videos were from cameras in the ship’s docks and hallways, but this footage was in a secured room with monitors all over the walls.

“Jackpot.“ Pidge fast forwarded the footage and pausing momentarily when a Galran soldier entered the room. She zoomed in closer to the keypad to see the string of code they type in, but the footage turn grainy in some areas when she zoomed in too close. Fast forward some more... She unpaused the video with a jolt when a sudden commotion occurred in the Galran ship.

The video footage shake and audio got scratchy. The sounds of blasters and cannons were heard even in the secured part of the ship. Galran soldiers went in and out of the room holding blasters and swords.The soldiers were panicking as they leave the room. Then, a tall and broad soldiered Galra entered the room. He began giving orders to the soldiers who were dwarfed when standing next to him. They promptly obeyed his orders to stay, to attack, to defend-

“This guy’s a general.” Pidge felt her heart pound at the action that was happening in front of her. It was sick to enjoy what was happening, she felt like she was watching a movie. She didn’t know if she was rooting for the Galra or the people who were ambushing them.

A thought came to Pidge that made her heart pound harder. What if there were people out there fighting the good fight? What if there were indeed people who were rebelling against Zarkon?! That meant more allies, more connections! Her breathing turned to pants as she watched the video. She knew it was stupid, but there was something that wormed its way to Pidge’s mind.

‘What if my brother’s out there fighting the good fight? What if he’s a part of a rebel group that’s attacking the ship right now?’ It was a far fetch idea that fought the logical part of Pidge’s brain. It was an emotional request from her heart. Pidge will damn well fight for that part of her that refused to let go of the hopeful sentiments that her brother and dad were still alive.

She was giddy, practically jumping on her bed as the video shook once more. There was a deafening sound, then the doors of the room was blasted open. There was smoke all over the room, turning the video grey and white. The Galra soldiers were shouting amidst the chaos, warning each other that there was someone else in the room. A flash of blue laser blasted off against the dust and smoke followed by a scream of pain. After that, a spray of blue lasers shone through the fog of smoke. Various screams echoed inside the room as well as the thud of a body falling on the floor. Pidge was able to follow the source of the blasts, her eyes straining to track the fast and agile movements of the unknown gunman.

As the dust settled, the fog of smoke clearing out, the video footage beoming clear and focused. The gunman was finally revealed.

Pidge gasped at the sight of blue, white, and black. She had to admit that she was impressed by the skill of the gunman who managed to shoot all of the Galra soldiers down. But her moment of praise was interrupted by two blasts from the gunman.

The tall, broad shouldered General howled. Pidge wondered why the gunman decided to shoot the Galran general but spared his life. The gunman sauntered towards the fallen General. Pidge zoomed in on the image when the gunman stood a mere feet away from the Galra General.

Pidge watched in horror once she realized where those two blasts landed. The General’s knees were blown out. Two holes decorated the General’s knee caps, crimson bleeding all over the Galra’s legs and on to the floor.

No.

The gunman pulled up a chair from one of the control boards. He hefted the General by the shoulders, the general’s height dwarfing the gunman’s body. The gunman let the General slump on the chair. The gunman worked methodically, tying up the general with wires found in the room, even cutting up pieces of cloth from the fallen soldiers to stuff the General’s mouth.

NO. No. Nonono..

The gunman moved with precision, his hands never shaking while tying the wires on the General in intricate knots. He tugged on them, making sure it was tight.

Pidge couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She looked at the time stamp and confirmed that the video was a recording of their assault on the Galra ship. If the video was footage of today’s events then there should be a call right about-

‘I’m in one of the control rooms, Pigeon, cool your jets.’

Pidge’s jaw fell open.

“Lance?“

‘I’m a bit outnumbered but I can handle a couple of Galra soldiers on my own.‘ Pidge watched Lance pretend to be out of breath.

‘Nah man, I can handle a few of these aliens. Besides, you and Keith have a mission. Protect the mullet head, yeah?‘ Lance picked up his bayard and pulled the trigger at no one in particular, giving the illusion that he was preoccupied at the moment.

‘I gotta go, guys, I think I just got found out.‘ Lance pressed a button on his helmet.

“So that’s how you cut the feed.“ Pidge was still in shock. Why did he do that to the general? Why did he lie to me and the team? “What are you hiding, Lance.“

Shiro, Keith, and Hunk were busy sorting through the loot they got from the Galran ship when Pidge burst through the common room with her laptop. She looked ashen, like she’d seen a ghost.

“You don’t look so good, Pidge. You alright?” Hunk asked, coming towards her and patting her back.

“Yeah, you look... pale.” Keith added, eyeing the lack of color on the Green Paladin’s cheeks.

“You guys need to see this.” Pidge moved most of the things on the table aside and placed her laptop on the surface. Keith noted her shaking fingers.

“What is it, Katie.” Shiro placed a firm hand on Pidge’s shoulder, “Is something wrong?”

“It’s about Lance.”

At the mention of Lance’s name, Hunk perked up. “What about him?”

“Just watch, ok?” Pidge clicked play and stepped back.

Shiro’s eyes were glued on the screen. And when things started to unfold, he realized why Lance slowly occupied his thoughts.

He remembered it starting when he brought the Blue Paladin in a diplomatic mission. Shiro chose Lance because he kept on insisting to come, and maybe because Lance was pretty good with children. So when they arrived on the planet, Shiro expected Lance to entertain the emperor's seven little alien toddlers while he and the emperor were to negotiate a deal. Lance did went with the children but only for a few minutes.

Then, Lance entered the throne room like he owned the place. He asked for the Emperor's company with such finality that the Emperor almost smacked him in the face, but Lance merely leaned against the Emperor's face and whispered a few words. Shiro has never seen a green face go pale so fast it almost looked like watered down mucus. In an instant, the Emperor spluttered and ordered Shiro to leave the two alone. Shiro was about to argue but his protests died on his lips the moment he saw the terrifying smile on Lance's face.

He had never seen him smile that way, all menacing and cold. Then their eyes met and Lance simply shook his head. His smile became more friendly and open, like nothing happened. At first, Shiro thought it was only a trick of the light. There's no way Lance was capable to look like a cold blooded killer, right? Not their goofy, jovial Lance.

But the series of successful diplomatic missions say otherwise.

Shiro had to admit that there was something slick yet graceful in the way Lance made the people around him oblivious and aware of him at the same time. He would approach the ladies of the court or the maids, even the guards, charm them until they're eating at the palm of his hands. Then, when official business are on their way, Lance would worm his way to the negotiation and say his piece. Allura gradually got used to this tactic, but she and Shiro agree that the way Lance operated was frightening and downright astonishing to watch.

And to have a front row seat on how Lance gained his information was... captivating in the bloodiest of ways.

‘Now, we’re alone.’ Shiro watched Lance remove his helmet and ruffle his hair casually, like the Galran General he shot on the knees and tied to a chair was not a big deal.

‘Comfy?’

Keith wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel. He gets that people have secrets, he has many of his own, but he didn’t expect for Lance’s secret to be like this. He expected, guiltily, that Lance’s secret involved something amusing and funny, even downright embarrassing. But torture?

Like watching a car crash, Keith refused to look away.

Lance was sitting across the Galra now, snatching a wicked dagger from the alien’s belt. ‘I didn’t know you have one of these.’

Keith watched in complete fascination at the way Lance wielded the weapon. It glided through the air, slicing and stabbing at imaginary opponents. He was in awe at the way Lance controlled the almost non-existent muscles on his arms to make the illusion that he was slicing in slow motion.

Keith’s obsession with knives doesn’t stop in collecting. With all his time spent in the dessert, isolating himself from the world, Keith occupied himself in learning to wield the very knives he collected. He practiced and practiced until he was able to control any bladed weapon be it a dagger or a sword just like his bayard. And watching Lance was like watching a mercenary give a tutorial on how to kill.

With the amount of strength and precision Lance was presenting, Keith could only assume that Lance had years and years of practice despite his bayard being a ranged weapon. How Lance came to learn to wield a knife like that is the question.

‘You must be wondering where I learned to do this.’ Keith leaned closer to the laptop’s monitor, straining to hear the answer to his question, but there was a mumbled static.

Keith hit the pause button and turned to Pidge.

“What did he say? Why can’t I hear what he just said?”

“The cctv camera couldn’t catch what he was saying because Lance leaned down and whispered it to him. I zoomed in as far as I could, tweaked the audio as much as I can and I still can’t hear him.” Pidge fixed her glasses on her nose and gave a pointed look at Keith, “The image pixelates even more when I tried to read his lips. Does that answer your question?”

When Keith shut his mouth, Pidge hit the play button again, “That’s just the first part. There’s more.”

But before Pidge continued to play the video, Keith didn’t notice the part where he paused the video. Keith caught the exact moment Lance grinned at the Galran General. Even seeing it in the safety of a video, it sent chills up and down his spine.

‘Shall we begin?’

‘The Champion was captured with two other humans, one was even brought to the fighting pits. Where are they?’ Lance made a light cut on the Galra’s cheek, drawing blood.

The term kill them with kindness suddenly made sense to Hunk. Before, he interpreted the saying by actually being kind to people, taking the high road and doing what was right instead of opting for the violence route. But seeing Lance torture a Galra using a twisted way of kindness brought a different meaning.

It had been ten minutes after Keith paused the video. Pidge promised more, and boy was there more.

In the span of ten minutes, Lance was able to make a bloody mess on the floor as well as on his armor. So that’s where the blood came from. Lance made another incision on the Galra’s chest, deeper this time. He repeated his question then made another slice.

Lance’s voice was melodic when he apologized for every cut he made, be it a shallow one or a deep gash across the skin. However, his apologies were a bizarre thing to listen to, Lance’s apologies were said in a way that Hunk could only describe as playful sorrow. Sure his face was hunched up to convey sadness and guilt, his voice taking over a watery and thin tone, but Hunk couldn’t help but hear an amused tone beneath all that sadness you commonly associate with apologies. It sounded sincere yet mocking at the same time.

Hunk was surprised he was handling Lance’s secret with a complete calmness out of the three. Sure he was caught off guard at first, but everything makes sense now. When the video paused on that chilling smile Lance gave the General, something clicked. That wasn’t the first time Hunk saw that smile.

They were chilling in the library- Hunk and Pidge leaning back on their chairs while Lance studied- when he first saw that smile. A group of other students snickered at Lance when they passed by their table, one even made a rude remark regarding Lance’s underwhelming performance in their flight simulation. As usual Hunk thought of kill them with kindness and took the high road by saying thank you for their criticism and a promise to do better next time. Of course, Pidge made a rude gesture of her own by flipping them off. Hunk gave a worried glance at his friend and that’s when he saw that cold, toothy grin.

Hunk always wondered why Lance seemed to lag behind their lessons when they were in the garrison. People who enter the garrison already have an existing knowledge regarding piloting and space in general, so seeing lance struggle was something Hunk often mused about. Of course, he didn’t directly asked Lance about it but instead helped his friend figure things out. Hunk already had a clue about his friend’s self-esteem issues so he made it his mission to give back what Lance did for him in moments where Hunk’s own anxiety takes over. But that chilling smile he made had a look of determination in it. It screamed ‘Watch me prove you wrong.’ And seeing it in this context gave a deeper meaning to it.

That chilling smile didn’t simply mean determination and proving someone wrong, it had a murderous and almost malicious intent to it. Combine that with the calculated moves Lance have been doing- apologizing for every harm he did on the Galra- he was truly killing with kindness in the most literal of ways.

They were fifteen minutes into the video and there was a pool of Galra blood on the floor. The Galra was decorated with cuts of varying degree. The other paladins wondered why the Galra hasn’t passed out yet, but not the Green paladin.

Before showing the video to the others, Pidge has watched the video hundreds of times. Upon watching it over and over again, she came to the conclusion that Lance was a genius when it comes to torture.

Every move he made was calculated, every slice was precise no matter how shallow or deep he cut on the Galra. The reason there was a pool of blood on the floor was because of the numerous shallow cuts he made on the pars of the body that blood flow were the strongest. When the cuts were beginning to close, Lance made sure to reopen the wound, keeping the Galra awake.

The deep ones were the ones where Lance focused on. Pidge noticed Lance avoiding the deep gashes he made. And instead of slicing it open again when the wound stopped bleeding, Lance squeezed at the cut to encourage the flow of the blood and to keep the Galra from passing out.

When the pool of blood was becoming a bit too much, Lance changed tactics. He still asked the same questions over and over, but the punishment was different.

He punched the General’s gut and face when the answer remained the same: he doesn’t know. The paladins clearly heard the crack of bones every time Lance made contact through his fists. His apologies becoming more and more sincere as he delivered blow after blow. The Galra slumped forward, breathless and wincing in pain, when Lance paused to wipe at his bloody knuckles.

He tipped the General’s face up to him with such care and tenderness that it conveyed through the muddled cctv footage. He looked at the Galra with pity and compassion as he once again apologized, saying that he’ll keep on hurting him if he doesn’t give him the answers he wants, but he never failed to apologize and let the Galra know that he hates doing it.

It had the effect of mercy and guilt. It made the other paladins cry at the General to have pity on himself as well as on their friend who was forced to inflict pain on him.

Still, the Galra insists on not knowing. Lance sighed and dropped heavily on the chair. Lance explained that he leaves him no choice. With speed they didn’t know the Blue Paladin had, his hands were on the Galra’s knees and the Galran General screamed in agony.

Lance’s fingers were digging into the hole he made on the Galra’s knee caps.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ Lance chanted. He didn’t want to do this, they thought. The pain in his eyes says it all. Why can’t the General just give him what he wants and save both of them from the pain of the torture it brings on both of them?

Lance retracted his fingers and wiped the blood off his fingers. He picjed up the knife again and began cutting the wounds that started to close.

‘I have told you over and over again, Blue Paladin, I do not know! Please, please, I do not know. Please believe me.‘

‘I want to believe you, Joras, believe me I do. But I checked your credentials, Joras. You are one of the major generals in the Galran forces. You were the one in charge of the Champion when he was in the fighting pits. So you are either lying to me or you take me for a fool. I get it. Really I do. Most people take me for a fool, and I don’t blame them for it. I suppose it’s my fault for letting them think of me that way.‘ The sad and downward look lance casted upon Joras made the other paladins mad. How dare he think of Lance as a fool!

‘No! I take you not for a fool! You have successfully infiltrated this control room, one of the most secured control room in this ship. You have killed all of my soldiers who were the top of their class and was handpicked by me. And you have me between your legs, Blue Paladin, you have me bruised and bleeding, begging you to have mercy on me. You are no fool.‘ Damn right he isn’t, they all thought.

They watched the scene progressed, resulting to Lance gaining the information he needed. So that’s where the data pad came from. All of them sighed in relief knowing that the torture on both the Galra and torturer was finished. But that relief was short lived when Lance began to speak once more.

‘I know this may sound cruel but know that I have the right intentions in mind. Do you want me to kill you?‘ The room was filled with shocked silence. They didn’t expect lance to offer such a thing. It was both a cruel and kind mercy.

‘I know you know what’s coming to you. Zarkon doesn’t appreciate snitches, just look at what happened to Thace. And what’s worse, Zarkon will just dispose of you like you were nothing. He will erase all of the things you have done in service to the empire, let people remember you as a traitor.’ This was true. The only thing Joras will be coming back to was punishment from Zarkon, a certain death.

‘But if you die now, die on my hands, I can make it painless. I will let the entire universe remember you as the Galra who helped the Blue Paladin rescue the humans that ended the war against Zarkon. You will die a hero, Joras, don’t you want that?’ The paladins unconsciously nodded in agreement. A painless death was better than humiliation and pain.

‘You will make them remember me as a hero?’

‘Yes, Joras. And even more.’ Galras didn’t deserve the kind of mercy Lance was willing to give the General knowing that they’ll have no second thoughts in capturing or killing them. Yet, Lance found it in his heart to be kind and give this small mercy to a Galra who will not hesitate to pull the trigger on them.

‘Alright. It was nice to meet you ,Blue Paladn Lance. It is an honor to die on your hands.‘

‘Goodbye, Joras.’ Lance picked up his bayard and wordlessly shot the Galran General in between the eyes.

The paladins gasped at the sound of the blast and the audible sound of a body hitting the ground. Lance shot a Galra point blank.

And he was smiling.

Oh god you made it through!!! Congratulations?

I didn’t mean to make it this long and honestly this was supposed to go even longer but the paladin’s answer to the video was silence until this part of the mafia au created by @gdesertsand. We’re co-writing the mafia au on ao3 but we haven’t posted/ got started on the chapter 2 yet haha so sorry about that.

And oh, shout out to @nameless-ice-goddess who gave me the idea of the team reacting to the torture scene. Hope you like this one too!

#lance #voltron #vld #mafiaau #mafia!lance #dark!Lance #uhm happy birthday?#it's his birthday #i'll post something fluffy and smutty on his birthday #but this one is dark #maybe a lil angst too #who knows

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littleshebear · 6 years

Text

A little bit of Star Wars fic. I started this massive wip back in the day but never finished it because (a) the expanded universe got de-canoned and (b) I have no work ethic. I figured this little snippet works fine as a one shot so I figured I’d post it. One of the things I was thinking about while writing this was how the Alderaan royal family is always portrayed as perfect, wonderful, happy squeaky clean and never had any problems. I wanted to do a little more realistic take on what it would really be like to grow up in a family where the kids are groomed for greatness from a very young age, who grow up in the public eye, are expected to go into politics and naturally excel at it. I just don’t see everyone coming through that psychologically unscathed. So we see a young Bail here, who didn’t initially want to go into politics, trying to play Papa Organa at his own game.

Legends timeline, so Bail is an Organa, Breha is an Antilles and the families are political rivals. Much of this won’t be canon anymore and even then, I liberally cherry pick the Legends timeline because a lot of it is really bizarre.

Dinner is served in the Aldera Palace, as always, at precisely six-thirty pm. The meal is delicious and delicately presented, the wines painstakingly matched with it. The room is softly, artfully lit by the crystal chandelier (a gift from some royal House or other). Mother sits at one end of the table, barely touching her food. Celly and Rouge giggle and whisper about potential suitors, but Tia isn't interested in that. She's listening to Bail and Father politely savage each other over the fish course. It's a typical Organa family dinner.

“Now? You thought now was a good time to say this?” Father is incredulous.

Bail is relaxed, or at least he seems it. He slouches back in his chair, one hand resting on the table with his fingers curling lightly around the stem of his wine glass.

“Seemed as good a time as any,” Bail replies calmly. That's a lie, Tia is sure of it. You don't drop a bombshell like, “I'm leaving for Coruscant to work in the senate,” at any old time. Just as the servants are clearing the entrees, that's the perfect inopportune moment; Father won't shout in front of the servants, so it gives Bail a precious few seconds for the idea to sink in before Father has a chance to explain why it's impossible, just impossible.

Father makes no attempt at nonchalance, he grips his fish knife like it's an offensive weapon. “You have duties here! Or did you forget, you're next in line to be Viceroy? What, am I to retain the title into my dotage?”

“Of course not, Father,” Bail replies, so reasonable, so logical. “Step aside any time you like, that's what Regents are for.”

“A Regent?” Father snorts. “Who?”

Bail picks up his wine glass and points the base of it towards his sister. “Tia could do it.”

Tia’s lips twitch and she sits up straighter in her chair but Father immediately bursts her burgeoning pride with two, incredulous syllables.

“Tia?”

Bail quaffs what's left in his glass and shoots his sister an apologetic look. She can't tell if he's apologising on Father's behalf or his own, for bringing her into this. She smiles back sheepishly. She doesn't mind, not really. She's seen far worse collateral damage during past arguments.

Celly and Rouge have since ceased their chatter and joined Tia in watching the show.

“Are you really leaving, Bail?” Asks Rouge.

“No, darling, he isn't,” Father interrupts. “He's just being childish. Acting out. Again.”

“Is trying to fulfill one's potential childish?” Bail counters. “I've been studying and training for years; Interplanetary Relations, politics, languages, diplomacy…” He leans forward and clasps his hands, going for the kill, “...At your insistence, Father. You wouldn't want to see all that education go to waste, would you?”

“You were training to become Viceroy, not some lowly researcher in a Republica office. For you, these are accomplishments, not trades.” Tia is surprised Father is able to talk about his eldest working for a living without holding his nose.

“Isn't…” Celly glances nervously at Mother. “ Isn't Coruscant very dangerous? You hear so many stories about the Capital.”

“Oh yes,” says Bail, nodding seriously. “It's full of criminals, gangsters, bounty hunters and,” he pauses and mock shudders, “Civil servants.” Celly giggles into her napkin. She doesn't want Father to think she isn't taking this seriously but she's always been helpless in the face of Bail's deadpan humour.

With Celly vanquished, Rouge steps into the fray. “Will you be working under Senator Antilles?” Tia almost guffaws. Rouge thinks she's being clever by baiting Father with talk of Antilles but Bail could probably kiss her for bringing him up. She doesn't understand that working with their family’s main rival for the Viceroyship is no doubt part of the appeal for their brother. Father always saw the senate position as the consolation prize so the idea of his son pursuing it by choice is as perverse as it infuriating.

“He thinks I could do well in the senate,” Bail answers. His tone is measured but Tia fancies he's doing everything he can not to grin like an idiot. “Chancellor Valorum, too. I can certainly achieve far more there than I can here.”

The thought of his eldest working under an Antilles has the desired effect: Father looks sick. “Mazicia,” he entreats Mother to end this lunacy, surely Bail will listen to her. “You cannot think this is wise.”

“He's a grown man, Prestor,” Mother sounds tired. She always sounds tired these days. “What can we do, lock him in a tower?”

Bail glares at Father, the mask of civility has slipped: his eyes are narrowed, his jaw clamped shut. He's daring him to disagree with Mother. If he does, it will be all-out war. You don't drag Mother into these things, you don't ask her to mediate, she has enough to worry about. You just don't do it. It's against the rules of engagement. The three girls have all fallen silent. This isn't funny anymore.

There's an agonising wait as Father weighs his options. He can acquiesce and lose face or carry on arguing and ruin dessert (and possibly all future dinners to come). The silence is eventually broken as Father's cutlery clinks on his plate. “Fine,” he mutters, attacking his food, “Go then. You'll be bored within a week.” Civility resumes.

Bail’s gaze meets Tia’s, that silent communication they've been perfecting ever since they were children. She can guess what he's thinking. Can you believe it, Tia? I won. I actually won. For the first time in our lives, he backed down! It's true, Father walked right into this. Bail won't get bored, he never gets bored. He succeeds at whatever he applies himself to and he always applies himself. Father should have known his shining, brilliant son would take his political training as far as he could.

Tia wonders if Bail realises how much she'll miss him. He's not just a brother, he's her advisor, her confidante, her ally in this minefield of protocol and etiquette that is their family. It’s a stunning victory for him though, so she won't begrudge him it. He's getting out and she's happy for him. So for now, she just sits in quiet awe of her big brother. Only Bail could spite their father by choosing to excel in a field he was forced into. Tia can only dream of being so elegantly vindictive.

#star wars #star wars fanfic #Bail Organa #Tia Organa #Legends Timeline

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dramallamadingdang · 7 years

Text

Weeplies!

OK, they’re not wee at all, but they’re for @mortia, @eulaliasims, @an-elegant-simblr, @scibirg, @fuzzyspork, @immerso-sims, @cindysimblr, @acquiresimoleons, @holleyberry, @penig, and @tamtam-go92.

mortia replied to your photoset “House #2 for the pseudo-Amish. These houses are all small but have at...”

how on earth do you get criquette's lanes all the way up to the house without crossing over roads and losing them?? SORCERY!

I removed the roads from the front of lots with the Lot Adjuster (Bonus: You get ten more tiles in front to build on) and then deleted the road/sidewalk tiles from them and in some cases moved the pedestrian portals. (Didn’t bother with the vehicle ones since there’ll be no vehicles used in this neighborhood anyway.) The road default does the rest; some of the textures are transparent, so you can still see the rural lanes through them where they overlap off-lot.

eulaliasims replied to your photoset “Yay, I get to do Sims-stuff tonight. And there’s probably other stuff...”

The view from that porch is amazing. <3

Yeah, I figure if you’re living in “country wonderland” you kinda need a porch with a view to appreciate it. :)

an-elegant-simblr replied to your photoset “Spam of the no-waves beach lot, which I’m calling a riverside lot....”

Overgrown is great though! I always go crazy with my gardens, which might cause lag on large lots, but I don’t really care as long as I have a pretty garden :)

I do like the overgrown look, but lag when playing irritates me, so I try to strike a balance. As it is, there’s no lag with just a single testing Sim on the lot, but if there’s more than that...Well, we’ll see how it goes. Plus, when I was originally decorating the thing, it wasn’t going to be a camping spot, more just a fishing/swimming hole sort of thing, so I wanted it undeveloped. But then I decided to add the camping cabin(s) and...Well, that sort of set-up should probably be a little more cleared. Maybe less wild grass and more dirt and trees for campsites. But for now...it’ll do. :)

scibirg replied to your photoset “House #2 for the pseudo-Amish. These houses are all small but have at...”

I adore this house!

It’s a nice one! I can’t take credit for any of them, though. I didn’t feel like coming up with floor plans myself, so I just went off to a site that sells ‘em and did a search for houses of 1500 sq. ft. or less with four or more bedrooms. A surprising number came up. I’d rather play small houses, and I’m used to cramming large families into them, so this time I didn’t feel a need for big farmhouses. I wanted it to have a more homesteading sort of feel. So, small houses, log construction.

fuzzyspork replied to your photoset “House #2 for the pseudo-Amish. These houses are all small but have at...”

So tranquil. Too bad they never gave us rideable horses because this neighborhood needs them! After Pets came out I was sure there'd be a "farm" pack that included horses and stuff like chickens to raise. That would have made TS2 done for me. :P

I wouldn’t be surprised if they do a farm game pack or whatever they call them for TS4, given the current popularity of farm games. But yeah, it would’ve been really nice for TS2 and would’ve made sense after both Pets AND Seasons, given that Seasons added the growables. Combined with OFB, farming-for-profit only makes sense, and adding livestock would’ve been the next logical extension. But then, no one’s ever gonna accuse EA of possessing logic, I’m afraid. :)

Soooo, I guess we just have to be happy with Beck’s and Sun and Moon’s animals. At least Beck’s horses are rideable, albeit only around the lot or for a non-playable off-lot ride similar to getting an alarm installed in a car. (Probably uses that coding, in fact.) It’d be nice if they could be used as actual “vehicles,” so that you could, say, ride your horse to the store (I do that, at home in Colorado) and then hitch them up to a hitching post when you get there and stuff, but... *sigh* Only in our imaginations. :)

immerso-sims replied to your photoset “Spam of the no-waves beach lot, which I’m calling a riverside lot....”

Looks amazing!

acquiresimoleons replied to your photoset “Spam of the no-waves beach lot, which I’m calling a riverside lot....”

Wow it looks so good

Thanks to you both. :) It’s kind of a fun lot.

cindysimblr replied to your photoset “Yay, I get to do Sims-stuff tonight. And there’s probably other stuff...”

oh my. Your game looks way too pretty!

Is there such a thing? :) But thank you. Or rather, thank the people who make lovely neighborhood deco stuff. It’s so much easier to make a pretty neighborhood nowadays thanks to all the stuff they’ve done.

acquiresimoleons replied to your photoset “Yay, I get to do Sims-stuff tonight. And there’s probably other stuff...”

I love it so far. How do you plan to get rid of supernaturals?

They just won’t be allowed to happen. It’s a religious-isolationist community kinda-sorta based on some aspects of the Amish way of life, and supernaturalism just wouldn’t be acceptable to that sort of mindset. I don’t use the normal methods of making supernaturals, anyway, except when it comes to Plantsims. (And they’ll all do organic farming -- no pesticide -- to avoid that.) Otherwise, it happens via alien abduction and experimentation (a mod) in my game, and I won’t use the hacked telescope in this neighborhood, so the chances of abduction are pretty slim. If it happens and the result is being a “supernatural,” then that person will end up shunned, which means banishment, pretty much, so...yeah, no supernaturals. Except maybe aliens. I haven’t decided whether or not alien babies would be accepted in this community or not. Probably not, though, because babies without marriage isn’t acceptable. But perhaps exceptions could be made when it’s all out of your control and doesn’t happen via sex, anyway. So...I dunno. I’ll make a decision if it happens, I guess.

holleyberry replied to your photo “When Sage got home from work, he invited fiance Emmy over, and it was...”

He also wanted other things. Doesn't mean he has to fulfill that to be happy. Send the man on his vacation. Geez!

Yeah, I know, it’s just...He hadn’t actually rolled up that want before, which I would’ve expected after he scored his woohoo-with-a-fifth-person. It only came up right after he got married, with the post-wedding want roll. It made me give him a side-eye.

But then, maybe Emmy’d be up for an open marriage. But probably not, with that Fortune aspiration. In my mind, they’re kind of about appearances, like they’d at least want the appearance of the “happily married with white picket fence and 2.5 kids with a (single) beautiful spouse” thing. Unless, of course, they have a Romance secondary, which would blow that away and be a lot more fun, but she doesn’t, so...Yeah, don’t think it’s going to go there. But who knows?

holleyberry replied to your post “And the next evening, after returning from work, Sage had, as usual, a...”

Lock that shit!

Ohhhhhhhh, yeah. :) Well, no, actually I didn’t lock it. I just had him propose right there and then because sometimes ya just gotta go with the flow.

penig replied to your post “And the next evening, after returning from work, Sage had, as usual, a...”

Obviously, he wants that vacation to be a honeymoon!

I guess so! And it’s so weird for him. Like he’s gone nuts. But maybe he doesn’t want to be just like Uncle Simon after all...

tamtam-go92 replied to your post “And the next evening, after returning from work, Sage had, as usual, a...”

Oh my, he really needs some love doesn't He?!

Apparently! He’s usually just not the committing kind, but I guess something happened in his little pixel brain to make him change his mind. :)

penig replied to your post “Replies!”

Ah, yes, Health Crap. Yeah, that is enormously frustrating, but you have to get zen about it or you'll make it worse. (Easy to say...)

Yeah, Zen is the way to go. Mostly I tend to just ignore things and go on with my life as best I can because I’m not going to be one of those people who IS their illness, if you know what I mean. But sometimes it’s just impossible to ignore. At least it’s mostly better now, for the moment.

#mortia #eulaliasims #an-elegant-simblr #scibirg #fuzzyspork #immerso-sims #cindysimblr #acquiresimoleons #holleyberry #penig #tamtam-go92 #replies

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madness-of-void · 7 years

Text

Little Distraction

Also On AO3

Theme: Kids

Based on this post

The thing about accepting a date from some dude that sat next to you in your advanced photography class just because he was cute was...well...

It was a bad idea.

Stiles could tell that all the dude wanted was to get in his pants. Bad. Add a notch to that belt above the fornication bed. Not that he minded. Stiles hadn't been laid in a few years. He was quite surprised by his ability to ignore his libido and breeze by classes like it was nothing.

But he did miss sex. Sorta. He didn't need it, per se. He could live without it. And besides, he liked getting to know people before he decided to share something completely intimate with them.

But this guy, this incredibly cute dude in his advanced photography class, with the dimples and curly red hair and pretty blue eyes, just...no. Nothing fun about him. All he had going for him was the looks. Now, if his efforts were more focused on trying to engage Stiles in some type of interesting conversation rather than attempting to give him a boner from under the table in a fucking public place...

Out of all the first dates Stiles had ever been on, this one had to be the worst.

He had no idea how to get out of this uncomfortable situation. Not a single clue. Sure, he could tell the guy to go have intercourse with a cactus, but he has calmed down a lot since his high school days. He wasn't as much of an ass as he used to be. Though he was definitely considering it. Wasn't like the dude didn't deserve it.

Thankfully, a blessing in disguise showed up.

And what was said blessing?

A baby.

An adorable, rosy cheeked, olive skinned, tousled black haired, stunning golden-green eyed, Gameboy onesie wearing baby.

Instantly, Stiles forgot all about his terrible date. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.

Now, Stiles adored babies. They were just so small and cute and innocent and sweet – how could anyone hate them?! His eyes focused with intense joy on the little tyke, even when the father (at least he thinks it is the father) got in the way briefly. All he saw of the maybe dad was the back of his head, which was the same black as the baby, and the fact that the guy was made of muscle. Other than that, the world revolved around the bouncing baby boy in the highchair.

“Oh my god...so cute...” he whispered, leaning in closer.

“I am?” his date asked, a smirk forming.

“Shhhh! Shut up! I'm gonna talk to the little guy.”

“Uhhhh...”

Stiles waved at the baby, grinning like an absolute idiot. “Hello! Hi! Hi there!”

His date proceeded to look even more confused than he was already. Not like Stiles cared. There was a baby behind his date. And Stiles would not be distracted from a baby!

The baby stared back at Stiles, brows furrowed deeply. It was too damn cute! Ugh! Stiles wanted one! He started making faces, ignoring what was likely words of annoyance from his date. He blew up his cheeks, crossed his eyes, and stuck out his tongue.

To his delight, the little tyke squealed happily. Loudly.

Score one for the Stiles!

He started to play peek-a-boo, a classic hit for babies. And, as expected, the little guy loved it. Laughed hysterically! Stiles could feel his chest swell with joy. With pride. This had to be the best thing in creation! Almost better than curly fires! (Which was saying something, because nothing was better than a good batch of curly fries.)

Eventually, the little shrieks of pure, awesome joy pulled the supposed father's attention away from the menu and towards what was making his boy so noisy. Which was when Stiles became slightly distracted. Wasn't hard. Baby daddy was just...just so...unfairly pretty. He could see where the squealing tyke got all his good looks from. Every. Last. Bit. Of. Them.

“I think your date left...” the guy said in a surprisingly soft voice.

Stiles allowed his attention to be pulled away, finding that, in fact, his date had left him. He shrugged, sputtering with no cares to give. Dude's loss. Babies were a godsend!

“He was only in it for the bedroom game, anyway.” he snorted.

The pretty man's face fell, like he felt it was all his fault somehow that Stiles had lost his date.

“No no no no!” He hurried over to the chair his date once occupied, sitting in it backwards and motioning towards the still giggling baby. “It's totally cool, man. The kid is way better of a conversationalist!”

The guy snorted, a smile forming. (Revealing the most adorable bunny teeth, holy hell.) “Thanks, I guess. Sirius is pretty smart for his age.” He turned to the baby, that smile growing as he ran his fingers through the thick mop of black on the child's head. “Aren't you?”

The little guy, Sirius, beamed at him. All gums. All cute.

Stiles held back all the fanboying he wanted to do. Held it in very tight. Because he didn't need to lose his cool now. Later in his dorm would be a-okay! Now? Nope!

“Sirius, huh? Like...Sirius Black? Or like the star?”

Pretty guy's ears went bright red and he flinched lightly. “Um...both?”

“That's awesome, man. He's gonna be the coolest kid in school.” Stiles leaned in a little closer, careful to keep the legs of the chair not too far off the ground. “Isn't that right, little dude?”

Sirius garbled, still all gums smiling. Goddamn...so friggin' cute!

“Derek.”

“H-h-huh?”

“My name?”

“Oh! Oh, dude! Okay! Cool! Uh, I'm Stiles.”

“What kind of name is Stiles?”

“A much safer one than my real name. Trust me. I think only my mom and babcia could say it without tripping.”

“Ah. Polish, I presume?”

Stiles flailed, nearly falling forward. Crisis was adverted, thanks to Mr. Derek. But little Sirius thought it was funny as hell. So...score two for the Stiles.

“You, uh...you know Polish?”

“I know a lot of languages.”

“Oh wow. Neat. I know, like, the bare minimum of Spanish and Polish. Yeah...I've never been real good at learning languages. Though I'm taking sign language at school right now. Doing pretty good in that.”

“School?”

“Don't freak. I'm over twenty-one.”

Derek hummed, looking thoughtful. “What are you going to school for?”

“Photography. With a minor in criminal psychology.”

“Sounds like a tough load.”

“Eh. I like it. I'm being challenged, and I'm also challenging my professors.” Stiles held a finger out for Sirius, scrunching his face up as he grinned. “They're not as good at conversations as you are, little dude.”

Sirius screeched giddily, taking Stiles' finger and attempted to place it in his mouth. Stiles laughed, tempted to lean forward to let the baby nom on his finger. But he knew what would happen if he tried, so he just watched as Sirius fruitlessly tried to pull him towards the mouth.

“He's usually shy...” Derek confessed quietly.

“Wha? Really? He seems like a totally bubbly kid.”

“No. He's...pretty shy. Usually cries when people talk to him.”

“Huh. Guess that means I'm special. But not as special as you, Sirius! Man...someone needs to get you a wand.”

At that, Derek chuckled, ducking his head in order to hide his smile. Score three for the Stiles? Score three for the Stiles!

“So...he yours?”

Derek nodded, a fond gaze directed to Sirius followed. “Yeah. All mine.”

“Where's his mom?”

“In prison. Where she belongs.”

“Ouch. Well, if that's where she belongs, then good. Sirius here doesn't need that kind of bad influence.”

Derek gave Stiles this look. A look that questioned why Stiles didn't ask about his son's mother. Or at least any further. And Stiles wanted to. He really did. But he felt like this was one of those times he needed to put a cap on his overwhelming curiosity. Especially with something that sounded this serious.

“So, how old is the future badass wizard?” he asked, changing the topic quickly.

Tension bled out of Derek, and he smiled as bright as the sun. “He's about five months.”

“Wow! Five months!” Stiles brought his attention back to Sirius, who was staring at him like he was waiting to have the attention returned. “You're such a big boy! Pretty soon, you'll be driving and picking up chicks! Or dudes!”

Sirius giggled, leaning forward in the highchair and slamming his hands down repeatedly.

“Or maybe just collect dogs and cats. Or birds and lizards. Or hamsters and fish. Or rats and guinea pigs. Sometimes pets are way better.”

Sirius giggled more, a little drool slipping out of his gummy smile. Stiles laughed at that, taking a napkin from his table and wiping up the dribble.

“You're really good with kids.” noted Derek.

“Yeah, well, I love them. They're cute. I mean, they can be nightmares, but I still love them.”

“Most people your age don't think like that.”

“Most people my age aren't as intelligent and ambitious as I am. I really fit my Slytherin traits. Minus the shrewd part. I don't even know how to be shrewd. Or maybe I am and don't realize it.”

“Slytherin, huh?” Derek leaned back in his seat, smirking. “Hufflepuff.”

“Dude! No way! You heard that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are supposed to be the best of friends?!”

“I've heard.”

“Slytherpuffs for the win! Or, as my mom likes to call them, Honey Snakes.”

At this, Derek let out a loud, sunshine laugh. Made Stiles' heart swoop right into his gut. Especially when Sirius joined in, sounding hysterical and gripping at the highchair.

Stiles, for lack of a better term, might be fucked.

~+~

Apparently, Stiles was still a sucker for hot advanced photography class peer. Maybe it was because Sirius' inhumanly pretty father was far out of his league. Like, beyond out of it. So out of it that even if Stiles waltzed right up to him with every quote of love he could muster, and every promise of happiness, and confessing his undying affection for little Sirius...he would still be way bellow the bar of what was in Derek's league.

Which is why Stiles was stupid enough to accept a do-over date with his classmate.

Which he regretted almost five seconds in.

His date thought that rock climbing at the state park was a great idea for a make-up date. A superb idea, actually. Because he would not shut up about it the entire ten minutes it took to drive there. And once they were scaling the wall, Stiles huffing and puffing and swearing profusely under his breath, his date had the gall to invite him for Netflix and Chill after a few rounds on the wall.

Mr. Nice I'll Give You A Second Chance Guy went right over the edge of the wall, and became a splat of goop on the ground.

“Are you serious right now?” Stiles spat, gripping tightly at the colorful and fake rocks.

“What?” his date asked dumbly.

“Netflix and Chill? Really?”

“Well yeah. Do you not like the idea?”

“I would...if it was actually watching Netflix and chilling out on the couch with snacks! Not you, again, trying to get into my fucking pants!”

“Hey!” called the person in charge of the wall from bellow. “There are kids here!”

Stiles glanced down, so not in the mood for any of this shit. “Bite my ass!”

The coordinator, or whatever he was called, gawked at him in horror, while those around him either scowled or snickered. Stiles' date scoffed above him.

“What the hell's wrong with you, dude?”

Stiles opened his mouth to answer, to hiss and curse at this bastard for making him think that he was actually going out with Stiles for more than just sex. Scream it to the heavens so everybody knew what this dick was all about.

But a blessing came.

And that blessing was Derek, walking a bike next to the wall, wearing bike shorts and a tight fitting tank. He was a marvelous site to see from where Stiles was. But nothing could compare to seeing little Sirius. Who was sitting in a neon blue bike carseat, wearing baby sunglasses in the shape of a wolf and a snapsuit that covered up his sensitive arms and legs. And...

“OH MY GOD! HE HAS A TINY BIKE HELMET!”

Of course that caught the attention of everyone nearby. And Sirius noticed him before Derek did. That loud squawk of joy proved it. Derek looked up at the wall, immediately breaking out into a knee destroying grin. He waved at Stiles, while his son smacked his knees repeatedly in excitement. Stiles, the best he could, waved back enthusiastically. Almost fell off the damn wall.

He was certain his date was saying something. Probably along the lines of how Stiles was being distracted by a baby again. But, alas, Stiles was distracted by little Sirius. Again. So, in order to make sure he didn't cause bodily harm to himself, he reclined down the wall. Nearly tripped over himself as he tried to get the equipment off, ecstatic to see Sirius and Derek again.

Especially since he had been thinking about them for days.

Once free, he raced over to them, instantly gripping the sides of the carseat and making noises at Sirius. The tyke screeched happily, keeping his shaking fists close to him. Stiles stuck his tongue out, blowing raspberries. Sirius did the same back.

“Fancy seeing you here.” teased Derek fondly.

Stiles snorted, smirking at the single father. “I'm starting to wonder if you have Stiles Is Having A Bad Date I Must Intervene With My Child senses.”

Derek quirked his brows up, saying a lot more than his words did. “Bad date?”

“Bad date.”

“Same guy?”

“Same guy.”

“Mmmm. Trying to make it up to him? Or is he trying to make it up to you?”

“Well, he was supposed to make it up to me. But then he offered Netflix and Chill. So...needless to say...bad date.”

“What's wrong with watching Netflix and relaxing on the couch or bed with snacks?”

Oh, pure innocence. This man just went up yet another level out of Stiles' league. “Unfortunately, the meaning doesn't translate to that anymore. It means Netflix and Sex, basically.”

Derek wrinkled his nose, as if someone had shoved something rotten in his face. “That doesn't make sense.”

“I know! Really sucks 'cause, dammit, I wanna actually Netflix and actually Chill!”

“Baaaaaaah!” Sirius interjected, now grabbing at one of Stiles' fingers and trying to insert it into his mouth.

“That's right, future wizard! It sucks!”

Sirius grunted, fighting hard to get that finger into his mouth. His father laughed lightly, shoving a binky into his mouth instead. Sirius didn't look the least bit amused, but he took it for what it was worth and just kept Stiles' finger captive. Not like Stiles minded. It kept him away from his very bad date.

“Well, if you want to leave, I was thinking about returning the rental and going out for lunch...” said Derek shyly, ears tinted pink.

Next to Sirius and all other babies in the universe, Stiles decided right there and then that Derek's ears going pink was the cutest thing ever created. So was the shyness. There was no reason for it, since the last time they saw each other they talked for hours on end while making faces and/or noises at the five month old. But it was endearing as hell. So, so endearing.

Stiles slumped dramatically, sighing with relief. “Oh my god, yes! Please take me away from here.”

The single father beamed, ducking his head slightly. “Your wish is my command.”

Oh yeah. Stiles was beyond screwed.

~+~

Life was unfair to him.

Just...so unfair.

Not only had Stiles not bumped into Sirius and Derek since the rock wall date (thank you midterms), but he was swindled into a third date with his classmate. How he was swindled? Oh, it was fairly easy. His so called friends wanted to do a group date, which Stiles agreed to. Group dates could be fun! But what he didn't know, until he arrived to the club with the other half of the group already waiting for them, was that advanced photography classmate was going to be there. And that his friends basically shoved Stiles at him.

He was getting new friends after this.

Fuck them. Fuck them hard. With a cactus.

The minute they entered the club, which was a poor place for a group date, by the way, Stiles stormed away from the group. Right to the bar. If he was going to be stuck here with these dillweeds, he was going to drink like it was going out of style. No dancing. No socializing. Just drinking till he felt wasted, then he was calling a cab to take his drunk ass home. He didn't trust what these assholes would do if he allowed them to 'take care of him' while drunk. Probably toss him over to advanced photography peer and allow him to do whatever he wanted to Stiles.

The very thought made Stiles sick to his stomach.

He made himself very cozy at the bar almost instantly, telling the bartender what was up. She gave him a look of pity, volunteering to call him a cab when she felt he had had enough and would escort him herself to the cab when it came. Even told the other bartenders that Stiles was going to be the only customer she would serve until he went home. That...had to be the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. He breathed out his thanks, to which earned him an adorable smile in return.

She was plain adorable, really. With her little Spirited Away dress and hair tied up into several braids.

(He wasn't going to flirt with her, though. She had a ring. He respected that kind of shit.)

As the night lagged on, he was fortunate that his 'date' barely bothered him. Just came over from time to time, asking if he was ready to dance yet. Each time, Stiles said no. And the bartender, who he learned was named Kira, would glare thunderbolts of death towards the dude. Advanced photography classmate would always huff and pout and stomp off, obviously not used to being told no at a club. But he should be used to Stiles blowing him off. This would be the third time now.

Sadly, Sirius or his dad weren't there to save him.

But Kira was! And Kira was super nice. And a great listener. Maybe a bit of an enabler whenever he would pour out poetry about Sirius and Derek. Especially when he lamented about the fact that he was not remotely close to Derek's league.

“I bet you are. I mean, he lets you near his kid. No guy, or girl, who has a kid would allow someone not in their league to be near their kid. Especially a five month old.”

At this point, Stiles was definitely a little spent. He was swaying slightly on the stool and smiling like a dope. “Really? You think tho?”

“Of course! That is such a young age for a child to be around a stranger. He must really trust you to have you around his son. Especially if the mother is behind bars.”

Huh...Stiles never really thought of that before. Maybe it was because he had only interacted with Sirius and Derek a few times, or his borderline crippling self-doubt, that made him feel that he was nowhere near Derek's league. Maybe he was in Derek's league. And that would mean he would be able to hang around Sirius and Derek all the time! Or, well, most of the time, but still a lot of the time!

Kira was definitely a horrid enabler.

“Okay, you know what?”

The new voice made Stiles groan, his rising happy mood flattening. He turned around to face his so-called date, sourness consuming his face. His date looked furious. Scary furious. For a split second, Stiles felt like he may be in danger. Even with Kira to back him up, who had told him that she used to be a Mixed Martial Arts competitor, he was spooked. He quickly tensed himself up, ready to fight back if he had to.

“What?” he spat back, defiance in his stare.

His 'date' grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him off the stool. Stiles near about screamed, startled by the strength. His heart sped up and all thought process went out the window. He could feel the alcohol lowering his abilities to stand straight and to think properly on how to respond.

He suddenly became incredibly terrified for his life.

“You are going to dance with me. And you're going to dance with me right now.”

The force behind the voice only made Stiles that much more scared. He pulled back, his panic fueling him now. Which was still spotty because of the alcohol.

“N-no!” he tried to say forcefully, but it more or less came out like a terrified child.

His 'date' yanked him again, trying to drag him to the dancing floor. Stiles screamed, attempting poorly to pull away. He could see Kira rushing up to him, ready to help with this assassin glare plastered in her dark eyes. He could also see a lot of other people starting to notice the commotion. So he screamed louder and fought harder, hoping that it would deter this creep and maybe Kira could avoid kicking anyone's ass.

Then, something happened that Stiles did not expect.

Just as Kira approached, fists poised to go, with this jerk raised his own fist to her...someone grabbed at his wrist, holding it in place.

And that person was Derek.

“H-hey! I know you!” Stiles' drunk mind supplied.

Derek gave him a terse smile before twisting advanced photography peer's arm behind his back. The guy cried out, clearly surprised and not happy.

“Hey! Get off me!”

“Let go of Stiles. Now.”

Derek's voice made Stiles' blood run cold. But it was also a bit of a turn on.

(Okay, he was drunk enough.)

Stiles' 'date' spat on Derek's face, which earned gasps from the small crowd that had accumulated around them. Somewhere from that crowd, a woman shouted, “Kick his ass, Der!” And, well, Derek obliged.

He took the creep's other wrist, twisting it away from Stiles and forced behind the back. Then, Derek kneed him in the gut. Advanced photography peer doubled over, swearing with venom. Again, Derek kneed him...right before he handed off the guy to Kira. And Kira went to town before tossing him over to the bouncers. Stiles' 'friends' raced off after the bouncers and his 'date', arguing that Kira and Derek were in the wrong.

Once it was all done, Stiles gawked at Derek like he was some sort of supernatural being. Which, to be honest, the dude had to be! He kept showing up whenever Stiles was having a bad time with his classmate! Maybe he had a sixth sense. A Stiles focused sixth sense.

“You okay?” Derek asked him, swimming in worry.

Stiles nodded, a little disoriented. “Where's your little guy?”

“Stiles...I can't take Sirius to a club.”

“I know..but where is he? I miss 'im.”

At this, Derek ducked his head to hide his smile. But Stiles saw it. There was no way that could be hidden from the Stiles!

“I'll call him a cab, Der.” offered Kira, patting the single father's shoulder.

“Waaaait...you know Derek?”

“I would hope so. I'm his sister-in-law.”

So that's why she was being an enabler! Sneaky sneaky lady. Like a fox.

“It's okay, Kira. I'll take him home. I'm the designated driver for Erica's bacherlorette party, anyway.”

“Is there enough room?”

“I drive a minivan.”

Kira nodded, the words 'good point' lingering in the air. “Well, I'll leave him to you, then.”

“Thanks, Kira.”

“Yeah! Thanks Kira! You're badass!” Stiles echoed, grinning like a dope again.

She bowed, smiling giddily as she pretty much skipped to the bar.

And that's all Stiles remembered. Besides the throwing up near Derek's shoes and passing out.

Next thing he knew, he was being woken up by baby babbles and a tiny hand touching his face. He groaned, trying to get himself put together before opening his eyes. Which was not happening. Not with a splitting headache and stomach flips.

“Sirius...you have to leave Stiles alone, champ.”

Wait...was that Derek's voice? Stiles opened his eyes, his sloppy mess of a self be damned, to see if he was having hallucinations of some kind. Nope. Not any hallucinations. That was Derek, looking so warm in his sweats and burgundy thumb hole sweater, crouching down to scoop up his son away from Stiles. Sirius squawked in protest, making grabby hands at Stiles. The farther he got away from Stiles, the louder Sirius got. Right until the point he started to wail.

“Shhh...Sirius...Stiles is sickie. We have to let him sleep.”

Sirius did not like the explanation, his wailing turning into infuriated cry-screams. Which hurt both Stiles' head and heart. He sat up, feeling dizzy and groggy. Derek noticed immediately that Stiles was awake, and looked ready to apologize for his son. But Stiles didn't let him. Just held out his arms – telling the father that Sirius was more than okay to be near him. Sirius got louder, almost flying out of Derek's hold in order to get to Stiles. Luckily, Derek was a bit more coordinated than that and passed off his son without a tumble.

The very second the little guy was in Stiles' arms, he smothered his face into his shoulder and calmed down. He sniffled here and there, accompanied by bitty hiccups. It was the cutest! It also made Stiles fall in love just a little bit more with this kid.

“He really likes you...” breathed Derek, face soft and vulnerable.

Stiles smiled, rocking the little guy back and forth carefully. “Yeah, well...I really like him. So...”

Derek nodded, looking that much more vulnerable.

Shockingly, Sirius fell asleep on Stiles, which meant that Stiles was not going anywhere. Might as well make some small talk.

“Um...so...this is your place.”

Derek flinched, guilt crossing into the vulnerable. “I...you...you said you didn't want to go back to your place. You were...worried about that guy attacking you in the middle of the night.”

“Mmm...makes sense. I mean...he did scare the hell out of me. I seriously thought he was going to hurt me. At least...I think so. A lot of last night is a blur. Guess that's what happens when you wallow your anger in booze.”

“That'll do it.”

A hesitant, awkward silence fell over them. Only Sirius' breathing filling the room. Then, Derek sat down beside them, staring fondly at his boy.

“He never does that with anyone except me. He won't even do that with his aunts, or his uncle, or my parents.”

“Really? Huh. Guess I'm special.”

“Guess so.”

The silence fell over them again, this time not so awkward. Still hesitant! But not awkward. Then, without any prompting, Derek started leaning in. Stiles leaned in as well. And, before they knew it, they were kissing. Not anything heated or passionate. Just...soft, gentle, sweet, quiet exploring. It was the best kiss Stiles had ever had. So much emotion...so much...trust. He felt like this was some type of honor and he had to respect it whole heartily.

And he would.

He definitely would.

As Derek pulled away, Stiles unconsciously chased. That earned him a kiss on the forehead and a hand running down his arm carefully. It was all so mind blowing. He was half certain that he was in some sort of dream. But Sirius shifting slightly in his hold told him that it wasn't. That it was all very real, and very amazing.

(Amazing was not a strong enough of a word, but that was the best he could think of.)

“Wow...” he whispered, staring deep into Derek's gaze.

Derek grinned like the sun, staring just as deeply into Stiles' eyes. “Yeah. Wow.”

“I, uh, you, you free Friday?”

“Well...I think I can work something out. I'll have to see if someone can watch Sirius for the night.”

“What? No! Bring him! I love star wizard!”

Derek gaped at him, stunned as all hell. “Are-are you sure?”

“Uh, yes? I know that dating you means dating your kid, in a way. And I would love to get to know you two better. Especially Sirius 'cause, no offense, I have fallen in love with your kid. Not in a creeper way! Just...y'know...”

“Stiles...I know what you mean. And thank you. For caring about my son.”

“Of course. I'm not a total douche.” He swallowed, laying back against the cushions. “Now...if you excuse me...I gotta try not to puke all over your kid...”

Derek rolled his eyes, patting his shoulder as he stood. “I'll get you some Coke and crackers.”

“Oh my god, you're a saint.”

“I do my best. And Stiles? Don't puke on my son.”

“I'll try.”

~+~

Their first official date was at the very restaurant they met at. And a lot of it was spent making Sirius giggle and squeal. They did learn some things about each other, but a lot of their attention was directed at Sirius.

The next time they went to that restaurant, it was for Sirius' second birthday. During that little party, Derek and Stiles' families teased them about being together for so long that Sirius was calling Stiles papa. Which wasn't a lie. No matter how many times they tried to correct Sirius, Sirius refused to call Stiles anything other than papa. So, with Sirius' help, Derek sought to fix it with a proposal.

It wasn't until Sirius' third birthday that they went to the restaurant again.

Their family and friends nearly took up the whole place in the celebration, filling the air with joyful noise. As they ate, Stiles announced that he had a very important question for the birthday boy and Derek. It became uncharacteristically quiet, everyone confused.

He didn't leave them in suspense long. That would be too cruel.

He got down on his knees, making it so Sirius was looking down on him. Then, he asked if it was okay if he adopted Sirius – become his official papa instead of step-papa.

“But you are my papa.” Sirius replied simply, like it was such a silly thing to think that Stiles was anything but.

The innocent response caused everyone to sob. Especially Derek, who was so overwhelmed with emotions that he could only nod his approval.

When they came again, Sirius bragged to anyone that would listen that his papa had adopted him and that his name was Sirius Stilinski-Hale.

Also that he was daddy's star and papa's wizard. Because, honestly, he was.

He really was.

#sterekbingo #sterekbingo2017 #sbkids #sterek #stiles x derek #stiles stilinski #derek hale #singledad!derek #college student!stiles #fluff #first meeting #meet-cute #stiles has some pretty bad dates #derek saves him #kira yukimura #she's at the end #brief violence #brief drinking

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