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7wanderingpaws · 3 years

Text

Mess We Made - first (m)

Pairing: Baekhyun x reader

Genre: arranged marriage au (not bbh), doctor AU, highschool AU (first chapter only), university AU, fluff, ANGST

Words: 9.4K

WARNINGS: mature content, unprotected sex, cheating (not bbh), terrible family relations

Quick A/N: Finally, the anticipated full story for this drabble is coming! This will have more chapters! I am a bit self-conscious about this one. But I think it is a good challenge to grow as a writer. Hopefully it worked. Please let me know what you thought? ^^

Plot: You were willing to put the both of you through suffering without realizing you might hurt Baekhyun's feelings in the process. Even though he was yours, you were never his. And he would not stand in the way anymore.

tags: @byunfirstlady (hope you dont mind the tag; you were interest and since its been ages I tagged you to let you know 🥺 if you want to be tagged/untagged please reply to this post)

parts: first -- second -- third -- fourth (final)

Mess We Made, part 1

“Psst,” you heard from your right side as you walked through the corridors of your high school. Before you even managed to look in the direction of where the sound came from, a hand grabbed you, swiftly bringing you into the darkness of the corner, the cold wall pressing into your back. Baekhyun came into view with his breath-taking smile as his lips hovered over yours, stretched out in a mischievous smile. “It's me.”

Instantly, you grinned, mimicking his wide smile. “I was looking for you.”

“Well, I found you first,” he whispered, and leaned in, pressing his lips to yours in a gentle manner.

He had been your boyfriend since the second half of the first year in high school. You were now both seniors, ready to graduate and enter your chosen universities. You both chose the same one, the idea of not being able to see each other too ugly to risk going to different schools.

You felt Baekhyun's hands slide down your sides, reaching the hem of your short uniform skirt and his feather-like touch made you squirm and laugh right into his mouth. He followed suit with giggles. “It tickles,” you said, and looked into his smiley eyes.

He hummed, though didn't stop his wandering hand as he massaged the upper part of your thigh, the touch sending trembles down your legs, your heartbeat growing frantic. “But you like it. When I touch you there.”

Your breath hitched in your throat, growing red. “Yeah. But only when it's you.”

These final months in high school were those moments when boys were becoming very horny, the skirts of the uniforms girls had to wear driving some of them crazy. Baekhyun, thankfully, wasn't as affected, though you were thinking if it was because he already had access to you. You would tear his head off if he tried to touch another girl, but he just wasn't that type of a guy.

Same went for you, too. Baekhyun had a sharp gaze and if he saw a guy trying to lift your skirt up, he would just deal with them in his hapkido language, and nobody wanted that. Baekhyun was a literal martial arts superstar of the school. And also a terrible nerd. He was cool and nerdy. What a combo.

While that was him, the smiling, mischievous boy many girls grew a humongous crush on, you were the more unfortunate one, though many would immediately disagree. A daughter to a huge business company, money was something that was never an issue, to put it lightly. Having your own personal driver, needing to attend pilates classes to keep your form, visiting a dermatologist at least twice per month, eating small portions… everything that would scream rich, was basically you, as much as you hated it.

The reason for your hatred was simple: you didn't belong to Baekhyun's world. Likewise, he didn't belong to yours. But how would that define anything, when both of you were literally all over each other at any given opportunity, feelings too strong to fight them? Did social status really mean something? Baekhyun was studying hard to become a doctor, wanting to bring children to this world, and he had one of the best grade averages in the entire institution. Meanwhile, you, of whom it was highly expected of, didn't have it like him. Studying was not exactly your forte, and you ended up following your parents requirements of applying for business school, so that you would study something that was running in the family. As long as they did not intervene in your relationship with Baekhyun, you would accept and agree to anything. But Baekhyun was untouchable. No matter what would happen, it couldn't, by any means, include him and you always made sure about it.

“'Cause you are mine,” he murmured in your ear seductively, and you melted in his arms.

“That, I am. Always,” you replied breathily, standing on your tiptoes to crash your lips on his before anyone could catch you not spending the break outside of the building.

You just wanted to spend time with him before your family would whisk you away from him, like they always did. Rarely have you had the power to decide your free time, sitting at your father's meetings, mothers cocktails, boredly listening to conversations about money transactions that made you feel uneasy.

“Plans for tonight?” he asked as he gave your thigh a final squeeze before letting go, patting your skirt back down to its normal form.

You hummed, leaning back on the wall lazily, your chest pushed out. “Grandparents are coming over. From mother’s side,” you said, already tired at the idea of the dreadful encounter.

Baekhyun nodded, though you could sense he was a bit disappointed. He never said anything, though. It was safe to say he was used to the way things were working with your family. After all, it had been two years by now. Two years of your relationship. And with each passing moment, the both of you seemed to grow even fonder of each other. He never complained. He loved you.

“Sorry,” you sighed again, closing your eyes for a moment when you felt his palm on your cheek that forced you to open them again, his gaze gentle. He leaned in, nudging you with his nose.

“There is nothing to be sorry about, love.”

“Of course there is,” you replied passionately. “I really want to spend more time with you, Baekhyun.”

“You will. We will be together. Once university starts-”

“Can you understand that you consume my thoughts every second? And when I am not with you, the time just drags and it's like a small hell because I cannot see your face-”

Baekhyun kissed you, interrupting your small outburst. You moaned quietly, shyly, bringing him closer by his tie. He played with your lips, teasing you with his tongue, but he wouldn't go further than that. You were in school and as much as he was mischievous, he wouldn't go that far. “I love you,” he whispered.

You smiled brightly. “I love you, too.”

“And I will wait for you no matter how long it takes, okay? Don't feel sorry. I should study anyway,” he shrugged nonchalantly as if it really weren’t a big deal.

You smiled proudly while massaging his ear with your hand. “Always responsible, my prince.”

Just like you knew he would be, your driver was waiting for you, his face typically devoid of any emotions as you trudged to the school gates, ignoring the snickering gazes of students scattered around the entrance. Baekhyun was with you, hand in hand and just before you would reach the car, you stopped to kiss him goodbye.

“Text me,” you demanded, looking into his eyes.

He nodded, and his long hair fell into his eyes. “I will.”

Not wanting to let go just yet, you took the opportunity and brushed his soft hair out of his eyes while he gently gazed into yours.

“Promise me you won’t go against your parents,” he said suddenly, his voice quiet and hushed.

You focused on him, slowly retreating your hand from his hair. “What do you mean?” you asked, despite having a very good hunch. He knew your family very well, if not from what you have told him already, then from the experiences of when you would bring him home to study together and his parents would be cold and heartless, especially to you, not accepting your relationship with Baekhyun at all.

He sighed and looked somewhere else for a moment, letting the surroundings absorb in his mind before facing you. “I don’t want something happening to you. It just seems to me that the more you go against them, the more they will push you, mentally or physically. And I don’t want that.”

His worries made you feel warm. Someone actually cared for your well-being, unlike other people you were blood-related to. “I will be a good girl, hm?” you murmured, hearing your driver opening his door to get out, obviously impatient. “I will obey. For you.”

Baekhyun nodded and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “That’s the talk. Now go, before Mr Lee loses his cool,” he said, stepping away from you and nudging his head towards your driver who already opened your car door, obviously urging you to hurry.

You pressed your lips together and waved at your boyfriend one more time before turning and sliding inside the car, the door shutting loudly behind you, voicing the driver's dissatisfaction with your attitude.

Even if you wanted to wave at Baekhyun, you knew he wouldn’t see you. The windows were completely black.

You were dressing up for the dreaded dinner when your mother entered your room. Without knocking, of course. She looked at your dress of dark-red colour combined with a cute black bow on your back. The A skirt was hugging your curves just the right way and the hem stopped in the middle of your thighs that were covered in black stockings. Stylish, you thought.

“Slutty,” was what she said, frowning, her forehead wrinkled into three layers of skin. “Change it.”

You looked at her from behind your shoulder, sending her a poker face before facing your mirror again. “I like it. I won’t change it.”

Your mother sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re ridiculous. Who are you dressing up for? Your lover boy isn’t coming tonight.”

“And whose fault is that?” you fired back, hating whenever they as much as mentioned him. He was too good to be pronounced in their mouths. “It ain’t mine, mother. So stop irking me!”

“Watch your tone,” she said in a low voice before sighing deeply and shaking her head. “Listen. Your grandfather and grandmother will be here soon, so change. You know they are very conservative.”

“I’m not even showing skin,” you muttered, frustrated.

“You’re still a high school student. You aren’t supposed to be looking like this.”

Swiftly turning around, you walked to her slowly. “I’m not supposed to be having a chest? A butt? I am still growing, you know. Out of all people, you should know.”

“You have those because you eat more than you should and thanks to your boyfriend you are more horny than it’s okay for someone your age which leads you to have a big appetite,” she deadpanned. “So cover yourself up. This is not a strip club.”

Your mouth fell open, complete disbelief widening your eyes. She must have not been serious. But you knew she was, so what was more annoying was the fact that you still got angry and you still fought back, despite knowing their preferences for years. You tried to ignore the sting in your chest when she talked about food and about the way your body naturally worked. You were a hormonal teenager. Why couldn’t she understand?

Quickly remembering the promise you made to Baekhyun, you collected yourself and, although in pain, you nodded. But before you could answer, your mother continued: “Besides. Given the nature of our get-together today, you do need to look more responsible.”

That made you frown in confusion. “What does that mean?”

She smiled, though it was rather smug than anything else. “You will find out soon enough.”

“Mum!”

“Change,” she commanded, something dark flashing in her eyes before she walked out of the room.

Annoying tears burned in your eyes, and you quickly grabbed your phone, wanting to complain to Baekhyun, but he beat you to it and you found messages from him sent only a couple of minutes ago that immediately pacified your wild emotions.

i’m thinking of you ❤️ always

even now

and even now

and now too

gorgeous 😘🥰

You smiled through your tears, the need of wanting to be with him growing by tenfold. He melted all the negative emotions you had in yourself and you sat down on your bed, your eyes scanning the texts, the emoticons, and then the picture you had for him. He was being silly on it, wearing your sunglasses and pretending to be a girl group member looking seductive.

With a final look, you nodded to yourself, determined to follow what you had promised.

Changing into a white shirt politely tucked into a black pencil skirt with your hair strictly tied into a knot, you looked like any worker in your father's company; not standing out, conservative and a little bit numb.

Only one thing was eating you away as you made your way downstairs to the huge dining hall, your parents already welcoming your grandparents whose eyes gave you a strict look over.

The nature of this dinner.

What could that be?

All of the dinners had something into it. Your parents never did anything just for the sake of doing it. If there wasn’t something profitable in the action, they would never bother. But what did they want from your grandparents?

“Oh, finally you decided to show up. What are these manners, letting your old folks wait for you, hm?” Your grandmother’s words sounded like crow’s wailing. Annoying, terribly annoying.

“Excuse me. Had to dress up properly for your company,” you replied in a calm tone, not paying attention to her nagging. You walked up to them and bowed politely, respecting them.

Your grandma scoffed, frowning at you while your grandfather’s eyes crinkled up a bit in a small smile, though he didn’t say anything besides nodding once to acknowledge your polite greeting.

“Let’s just sit, shall we?” your father voiced, motioning to the prepared dining table adorned in a cream table cloth. “Before the food gets cold.”

“Yes, yes, we have things to discuss anyway,” rasped your grandmother as she sat down.

Your father was at the head of the table while your mother and you sat on his right, your grandparents on the opposite site. You ended up facing your grandfather for which you were thankful. He was one of the less evil. In fact, he barely ever showed any interest in the happenings around the dirty business your family was involved in.

Now that you thought about it, you didn’t know about him and your evil grandma. You had been secluded from any warm interaction since young age, so you never even bothered asking how they met and how they fell in love. How did grandfather even deal with someone like her was beyond your understanding.

Once your mother started talking in her superior tone, you concluded that your grandfather still managed to raise up someone like your mother. He probably wasn’t any better than the rest of the family.

“We have been in close contact with the rival company,” she started and you suppressed the need to roll your eyes.

Servants put all the food in front of you; seaweed soup, lots of side dishes, meat, fish, rice, rice cakes and corn tea. You usually liked the food but given you had to listen to another business talk, you lost your appetite.

“Their son is already in his thirties, so they requested the marriage as soon as our daughter is out of high school.”

You jumped in your seat, knocking your knee in the table rather painfully. You didn’t have time to curse and look at your mother, who continued talking as if nothing was happening: “Obviously we need to finish this deal before any more losses could happen to our business. Their company is overflowing with profit-“

“What are you talking about?” you snapped, not watching your tone that came out rude.

Your father frowned. “Your attitude is honestly disappointing. How can you talk to your mother in that to-“

“I am not getting married to anyone!” you shouted, growing hot-headed, your knee throbbing in pain. “I-I have a university to attend soon! How can I marry before getting a degree?! And I have a boyfriend-“

Your mother laughed drily. “How on earth can you even consider that boy?” she said, looking at you with utmost calmness. “He is just a middle-class boy.”

Your grandmother and father joined her in chuckles. “Don’t be silly,” said your grandmother. “It’s just a high school crush. It’s always about experimenting and not understanding what love is. Silly teenager stuff.”

“What do you know about love?” you asked doubtfully, turning to your grandmother with a death glare to which she returned it back.

“How dare you question your elders?! Calm down this instant and listen!”

If it were possible, fumes would be coming out of your nose and ears. You couldn’t believe what you just heard was true. It couldn’t be. You wouldn’t allow it.

“Besides,” started your father in a scolding manner, “you are not good at studies. We agreed to let you attend the university you chose, but your studies will be fruitless since you didn’t study as you were told to. You aren’t a man either,” he scoffed and gave a side eye to your mother who now froze. “But that isn’t your fault that you weren’t born a man. That’s someone else’s.”

Completely at loss for words, you fell back in your chair, devastated at what you just heard. Not only he degraded you, but he now attacked your mother.

In a sudden need to defend your mother as a woman rather than as your parent, you snapped: “It’s the amount of sperm that a man manages to put into a woman that decides the gender. If it’s anyone’s fault that I am a girl, it’s yours!”

Everyone went silent at what you just said, your father so shocked his mouth hung open. He blinked a few times, regaining his posture but you were already standing up. “I am not marrying anyone! I already have a boy-“

“So you do all the dirty stuff with this boyfriend of yours and that’s why your mouth is so nasty!” came your father’s voice like a thunder.

“She needs to break up with him. He is no good influence on her,” butted in your grandmother nonchalantly as she slurped her seaweed soup.

You snapped your eyes to her, and to your grandfather who was frowning down at his empty plate.

“I won’t break up with Baekhyun.”

“Then keep your delusions up. But once you're out of high school, the ceremony will take place,” said your mother resolutely, sending daggers your way.

“I don’t want to do anything with your business,” you now said in despair. “I don’t want to own your company!”

Your father snickered drily in disgust. “You won’t own our company, daughter. You’re useless as it is, so we are going to merge the companies. That’s the only way we can save our hard work.”

You shook your hair. “No, I refuse!”

“You don’t have a choice,” shrugged your mother now turning back to her plate. “You can do whatever you want, but your fate is in our hands. That’s why,” she emphasized and looked at you, “for your own good, break up with your boyfriend. He is no good news. Save yourself the heartbreak. He is with you for the money anyway.”

You stood frozen, keeping the gasp in. Tears were spilling out of your eyes and you turned around, running back to your room, sobs leaving your mouth.

You always knew your family was a nightmare - cold, scary, emotionless. But this was too much for your young self.

All you wanted was warmth, safety and honest emotions.

All of those were what Baekhyun offered you.

He was more than just a boyfriend.

He was love.

That night, you didn't call Baekhyun, instead deciding to text him back to let him know that everything went fine. He was studying anyway, and if you wanted something, it was for him to become successful in a field that he was passionate about. Unlike you, who barely had any hobbies, let alone passions.

Finally crying yourself to sleep around 3am, your alarm went off too early in the morning, a strong headache first thing you felt as you turned off the blaring thing.

Sighing, you fell back on the comfortable pillows, their lavender smell engulfing your senses and momentarily offering a calming pat on your headache. Closing your eyes, you felt your eyes well up again, the idea of having to break up with Baekhyun just not adding up in your mind. How could you do that? Why would you deprive yourself of the only source of light you had in your life? For someone you never even met. Someone who seemed to be much, much older than you.

“I'm not doing it,” you whispered into the stillness of your room, your voice hoarse. Tears slid out of your eyes and down your sides until they tickled your ears. “I'm not.”

And with that, you faced your day; you washed up, put on your uniform, packed the necessary books and headed out, not saying your morning greetings, nor eating breakfast. Ignoring your surroundings, you went out not even waiting for your driver. You decided you will take the mundane route to school that day: bus and metro like Baekhyun did everyday.

“Hey, are you okay?” Someone’s fingers appeared in the line of your vision. Fingers all too familiar.

You looked up to see a worried Baekhyun, his shirt untucked and his tie loosen-up around his neck giving him the typical goofy, laid-back look that lived up very well to his personality. You managed to smile. “Yeah, just tired. Didn’t get to sleep much.”

“And why is that?” he asked, taking the closest seat to yours, looking around to check if the owner of the seat wasn’t there. When you pursed your lips, debating what to say, he added gently: “What is bothering you, hm? You know you can tell me.”

Releasing probably the nth sigh of that day, you closed your eyes for a moment before looking at him. “Let’s talk after school maybe. It’s not something to discuss here.”

Baekhyun nodded but you saw the rapid thinking his mind drifted off to. He could sense trouble, especially with your family. “Alright, let’s do that. But your driver-“

“He didn’t drive me to school, so he won’t be driving me from school,” you said in a monotone and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at that.

“How did you come to school?”

You shrugged. “Like you do everyday. Public transport.”

Slowly, his mouth stretched to a soft, lopsided smile, his hand reaching out to caress your cheek with the back of his fingers. “Enjoyed it?”

You mimicked his smile, his touch easing up the tension you couldn’t get rid of since last night. “Yeah, thoroughly. Only you were missing. Then it would be perfect.”

His smile only grew and you turned your head slightly, kissing his hand before he retracted it, keeping the eye contact while he kissed the same spot your lips touched on his hand.

You watched in small awe and you giggled when he added a louder smooch. “You’re unbelievable.”

He let out a laugh, standing up when the bell rang. “But you love me.” He squeezed your shoulder.

“That I do.”

After that, you couldn’t focus any more in any of the classes. Once again it was proved that you wouldn’t be able to even imagine your life without Baekhyun next to you. Yes, the idea of marriage was scary but you’d marry him. In an instant.

Finally coming up with a way to make something out for yourself and of that damn deal your parents made, you slipped out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang announcing the end of your last class of that day. Quickly pulling out your phone, you hid in the toilets and dialed your mother's phone who lazily picked up after countless attempts.

“What.”

So you were still in a war zone. “If I am to get married,” you started without further ado, “he can not touch me. And I won’t be breaking up with Baekhyun.”

It was silent for a moment before your mother let out a laugh. “Oh, honey. We do want you to finish university first before anything else will happen.”

She didn’t add anything more which confused you. “Okay, either way, I won’t be breaking up with Baekhyun.”

“Do whatever you deem correct. Though I bet he won’t like you getting married to someone else? Didn’t you always say how loyal he was?”

You grit your teeth. “Why do you suddenly care about his loyalty?” you hissed, pacing in the small toilet space. “That isn’t your business. You will always get what you want and I already said I will comply but on my terms.”

“Your terms are cheating on your husband? Or on your boyfriend? I really don’t know where this attitude comes from in you. Neither me nor your father are like that-“

Before she could finish, you burst out laughing. “What? You aren’t like that? Don’t be delusional, mother. You’re trying to marry me off for your own profit!” you exclaimed, raising your voice. “The only thing I am asking - no, I am going to do it whether you like it or not. I will be with Baekhyun. I’ll be with him until he breaks up with me.” Because there was no way you would do it.

Your mother was silent for a moment and then she sighed. “Do as you want. As long as you sign the papers…” she trailed off. “I have a meeting now. Let’s discuss once we are home.” And she ended the call.

You realized you were trembling only when you finally let your hand dangle next to your body, already tired from the fights.

At least she didn’t say anything against the idea.

You took it as a positive sign.

You didn’t go home that night. Baekhyun suggested to sleep over at his house and you gladly agreed. It wouldn't be the first and certainly not the last time. His parents knew you well and you always felt their warm welcome whenever Baekhyun brought you home with him. His mother was a great cook and whenever you saw her, you were reminded of Baekhyun's kind smile.

“Are you staying for the night?” asked his mother with a laugh when you greeted her with a polite bow.

You smiled shyly, nodding and looking up at Baekhyun who was gazing down at you encouragingly. “Yes, if that is okay, auntie.”

“Of course! It's Friday night anyway. My son just keeps studying and not living his young life properly so please, be our guest.”

“Thank you,” you smiled and she said she would prepare a late dinner for you while you and Baehyun went to his room to change into something more comfortable.

“Could you borrow me some of your clothes?” you asked once in his room as you were working on unbuttoning your uniform's shirt and watched shirtless Baekhyun roam in his drawer for your favourite shirt of his.

“Here you go,” he said, coming up to you with the shirt and joggers, but instead of handing them to you, he just put them on the bed and mumbled a soft: “Let me.”

His fingers took over the unbuttoning process, and you closed your eyes at the feathery touch of his hands as he uncovered more skin. When he was reaching your stomach, he paused and you cracked your eyes open, finding him gazing at you intently before his eyes fell to the middle of your breasts that were exposed. He unbuttoned the last two buttons swiftly and then pushed his hands inside the shirt, dragging his fingertips over your hips and waist, tapping each bone of your ribcage until he slid his hands up to your shoulders, sliding the material off. “You want to keep your bra?” he asked, almost as if he wasn't breathing loudly, mimicking your rapidly rising and falling chest.

Shaking your head gently, you mumbled a soft no before he nodded in acknowledgement and with one hand unclasped the bra. He stepped even closer, your nose almost touching his broad and very naked chest. You felt his breath on your cheek as he whispered, pulling on the straps of your bra: “May I?”

Swallowing harshly, you nodded and looked up at him to find his fiery gaze intently set on you. When he pushed the straps off your shoulders and your bra fell to the floor, you shivered at the cool air hitting the hot skin as Baekhyun's fingers were back again, dragging them from your back through your underarms until he reached the sides of your breasts. His breathing was irregular, hot puffs hitting your face while you whimpered softly, egging him on to finally grab you.

“You're so beautiful,” he whispered shakily and you let out a loud sigh when he finally took a hold of your mounds, squeezing them gently in his palms.

You brought your arms around his neck, stretching the skin on your chest and you kissed him hungrily, the heat in your core growing almost painful for not being satisfied as you so badly wished you would be.

Baekhyun pushed his tongue into your mouth, going for a dirty kiss right away as he gave a final, stronger squeeze to your breasts before letting them go, bringing his hands down to your backside, bunching up your skirt in lust. He let out a satisfied moan when he grabbed the meat, his finger momentarily sliding inside and between your thighs. You were fast to break the kiss, needing air and also needing to whine because you needed him so badly.

His naked torso pressed now to yours, his hands cheekily teasing you and grabbing you, he was all about games.

“Baekhyun, the food is ready! Come quickly before it gets cold!” shouted his mother down the hallway, thankfully not coming to Baekhyun's room. You froze in his arms nonetheless to which he chuckled.

“Relax,” he murmured, pressing his face into your neck. “She knows not to disturb when my door is closed and you are with me.”

Letting out a breathy laugh, you let go of him just when he did.

“Once we are back,” he said, helping you put on his big t-shirt. “I will take care of that wetness down there. Seems pretty severe.”

You quirked an eyebrow, looking at the tent that was asking for attention over his joggers. “You sound so unaffected.”

He looked down just where your eyes were set and chuckled as if it was nothing. “Oh, sweetie, it's always like this when I'm with you. I just can't help it,” he said and leaned in, biting your earlobe. “You bring out the man in me.”

Everything was a long lost dream and you should have known it. Things you imagined and desired were not what the reality had in store for you, and it just made it more difficult for you to face Baekhyun. Even when you went on the last high school trip where you had the biggest fun, made the most exciting memories, sneaking behind the group to steal a small kiss, even all of that was not able to lighten up your damp mood. Somehow, it was possible for you to fake it, but you would have been dumb if you ever thought Baekhyun believed your words or smiles. He could sense trouble from miles and given the nature of your family, he was always well-aware of how many troubles could grow overnight in your household. He just wouldn't know the severity of the problem. And you weren't planning to tell him, just like you promised yourself and your mother, not until Baekhyun would break up with you.

And right now, it was your graduation day.

The D-day had come when you would have to say goodbye to all your friends, even the fake ones, and you would be a little closer to losing Baekhyun. Except you wouldn't know it would happen that fast.

“Congratulations!” squealed Baekhyun's mother who was fast to hug Baekhyun and you both at the same time, squeezing you to her chest. Your face was pushed into the colourful bouquet of flowers that smelled wonderfully - but from a distance. You tried to squeeze your eyes shut but you just looked down, catching Baekhyun's worn-out converse sneakers.

Baekhyun snorted a laugh when he saw your face in the freezias, and gently pushed you away from his mother to protect you. As you straightened up, you managed to scrunch your face just in time to sneeze.

“Oh dear, I'm so sorry,” giggled Baekhyun's mother and even his father chuckled from behind her which made your heart warm up.

“It's alright, auntie,” you waved your hand, feeling your eyes watering up but you laughed nonetheless because - how could you ever be mad at such a sweet woman who was the only person on Earth to have the right to call Baekhyun hers? As much as you wished, you were nowhere near close to have the right for him to be yours. And maybe you would never be. “Looking at you, I wonder how was my son able to sweep you off of your feet! You're so beautiful!”

You smiled shyly and felt Baekhyun's soft gaze on you, ready to reach out for your hand before his mother pushed the bouquet into his arms. “This is for you, son, and this is for you, my dear,” she said, giving you one as well.

Just when you were about to thank her politely and bow, your mother's cold voice interrupted the merry atmosphere, your happy smile dying down as you turned to face her, your father and a- stranger? A man, to be exact.

“Here you are,” she said, sending a cold smile towards Baekhyun's parents, ignoring your boyfriend altogether. She stepped closer so she wouldn't be overheard, and muttered: “I guess your wishes will come true soon.” She leaned back and you followed her with your eyes as she stepped aside. “Mr Kwon, please meet my daughter,” she introduced you before continuing, “and this is Mr Kwon Minheob, your fiancée. Greet him properly!” she ordered but you didn't even process what she said.

Standing frozen, your arms were about to let go of the bouquet you just received were it not for Baekhyun who was fast enough to get the flowers out of your grasp. “Oh, that's great news! I'll take these for you!” he exclaimed with a smile and you looked at him with pure horror in your eyes. “Congrats by the way! I will miss you as my classmate!” he added and quickly bowed to your parents. “I'll see you around someday!” And with that, he turned and left.

In that instance, many things were swirling around in your brain - complete, utter shock, overwhelm, fear, heartbreak. What did Baekhyun just do? Why did he say that? And where was he going-

“Nice to meet you,” said the older male with a deep voice. You turned your stare back at him, hearing your heart beating in your ears. “What a pleasure to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you and your studies. It is so nice of you to lower yourself and your status and attend a regular high school with ordinary people. I believe we will have a lot in common.” He finally uncrossed his hands from behind his back and you found a pastel pink bag dangling off of his somewhat thick fingers. “And this is my congratulatory present for you. Congratulations on graduating high school.”

Once again, you just stared at the bag, unable to make your own hand move and accept the gift with a polite bow like you were expected to. The only thing ringing in your mind was Baekhyun and him only. He found out much sooner than he was supposed to and you hated yourself because he was most probably hating you right now. What was worse - his parents were there, too. They all saw it when it all seemed like you were just about to stay with their son forever. Yet, your family, as always, ruined it all and you weren't sure if you would recover.

Looking up to the tall, grown man, it didn't take you a lot to know he was far from anyone you could have feelings for, ever. The words he just spoke, the malice he said them with, was everything you were standing for. Obviously, he was no one you could have things in common with.

Your father stepped next to you and, painfully, pinched your side, making you gasp and automatically reach out for the gift with a low bow. His fingers were squeezing your skin through your dress and it rushed tears in your eyes, but you blinked them away while accepting the gift and staring at the polished shoes of Kwon Minheob.

“Nice to meet you,” you mumbled, straightening up. The gift bag felt heavy in your hand but you tried not to pay too much attention to it. Eventually, your father also removed his hand from your back and he gave you a pressed smile, though you didn't look at him. “Congratulations, our daughter. Now we can go all to our house and have a good di-”

“I'm sorry, but I still have, eh, friends to greet and meet,” you said, “we also all agreed to have our last meal together as a class,” you added, looking up to meet your father's eyes. You weren't lying; the entire class wanted to meet and have chicken and beer. Preferably spend the time loudly somewhere in a good restaurant.

He shot you a dissatisfied scowl, but you held his gaze. “Until when? You won't be meeting them anyway, why waste time?”

“Exactly,” pressed your mother and smiled brightly at Mr Kwon, who kept observing you with quite an unreadable expression. “And we have Mr Kwon to entertain.”

Quite literally you thought you would start wailing right then and there; everyone was going against you, nobody seeming to listen to your words. Just when you felt tears prickle your eyes, Mr Kwon spoke up and surprised all of you.

“That is not necessary,” he declared, giving a curt smile towards your parents, “she is still young and should enjoy her classmates one last time. I suppose it will be difficult to do it once they all go their own way,” he said in a diplomatic voice, looking at you the entire time. It took a lot in you not to flinch and shudder under his gaze. “So go and enjoy, miss, and I will meet you soon to have a more private conversation with you.” You nodded quickly, though blood was already draining from your face at the idea of what he suggested. Mr Kwon turned to your parents. “I will leave you to entertain your daughter and I will reach out soon.”

Before anyone else could say another word, he gave a short bow and disappeared in the mass of people.

“You do realize-” your mother started, but you were fast to push the bag into her chest, not caring whether she caught it or not, and dashing for the direction that Baekhyun disappeared into.

Of course you were aware how much you would get scolded once you actually faced your parents, but right now you couldn't care less. It was better to get scolded, but losing Baekhyun or even making him hurt just the tiniest of bits made you resent yourself.

And so you pushed past crowds, stopping to say hi, keeping an eye out for any coconut head out there with a family that shone brighter than yours would ever shine. Just when you were about to lose it and start straight up crying in the middle of the crowd, you felt a hand intertwining with yours and you just knew. He didn't turn you around, but you felt his body behind yours and it was you who turned, facing him with a scared expression.

“Baekhyun,” you whimpered. Seeing his kind smile made you want to slap him because why was he like that after what he heard?

“Hm? Want to tell me about it now?” he asked gently and combed your hair out of your face, his smile growing by an inch. “Pretty.”

You took a deep breath, shakiness overtaking your legs from unwanted pressure. “It isn't what you think it is.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don't want to marry him,” you said and this time, your tears rapidly grew in your eyes and were rolling down your cheeks. “I-I-I never… I mean, not yet. I did-didn't know he would come, I never saw him before and-”

“Shhh, calm down,” he hushed, bringing your face to his chest, hugging you to himself. “Let's talk about it another time.”

“No,” you said, hiccuping, “I am not losing you, Baekhyun.”

“You aren't.” “I'm not losing you,” you repeated, closing your eyes and pressing your face more into him, taking a deep breath of his scent, feeling up his warmth and presence. “I'm not losing you.”

He called your name gently. “It's fine. Don't cry, hm? You know I can't stand seeing you cry. I am not mad and I'm not going anywhere,” he whispered urgently into your ear.

“I just hate my family so much,” you mumbled into his chest. Baekhyun's shirt must have been stained by make-up by then, but neither of you cared. “And I don't want their terrible attitude to damage you.”

“It won't damage me. You are important to me, you. Look at me, hm? Look at me, darling.”

You sniffed and stepped away a little, tilting your head so you could see his kind eyes. He cooed, reaching up to run his thumbs under your eyes. “My little raccoon. Let's enjoy today, alright? Just us. And our classmates,” he added with a little laugh.

You smiled weakly, nodding. Anything Baekhyun wanted, he would get from you.

Your entire class hoarded into a chicken restaurant in Hongdae, the loud cheers and chatterings making many people turn in interest to look at you. You sat down around your girlfriends while you let, though reluctantly, Baekhyun join his pals. Even though you would exchange reassuring looks here and there, you still felt incredibly anxious about the incident earlier. In fact, you were so swallowed up by the idea of losing Baekhyun that you didn't even think about the actual fiancée, Mr Kwon.

But instead of focusing on that, you decided to enjoy tonight, for you knew events like these won't be coming up for you anytime soon. If anything, your freedom was close to gone.

“I am going to start my own clothing brand,” started one of your classmates that was sitting next to you, munching on her piece of chicken meat. She went on spilling many details that didn't add up in your brain, though you listened carefully to every word she said.

“You don't have your degree yet,” you replied eventually and took a gulp of your coke.

“Funny, coming from someone like you,” she snickered, “you can decide you want to own an island and you will.”

You sighed, rolling your eyes but your classmate just shrugged.

“I can assure you she won't,” came in Baekhyun's voice. “I know it pretty well, since I'm her boyfriend.”

The girls exchanged looks. They all had a secret crush on him, so his words made them a little embarrassed. “Would you even marry her?” they teased.

“I would. In a heartbeat,” was his answer and you looked at him with huge eyes, your mouth that was slightly oily from the chicken hanging open, your heart frantically beating in your chest.

The entire table hollored and whistled, and you caught your boyfriend smiling proudly at you, eventually sending a confident wink. He tapped his mouth with his index finger and then pointed at you. You felt your lips stretch instantly, because you knew he meant “close your mouth”.

“Whew, you really are lucky,” muttered the girl next to you, changing the topic completely.

His hand was intertwined with yours once again as you were slowly walking along the Han river. Ttukseom Han river park was, as always, busy with young people. It gave a great view on Gangnam and Cheongdam that were lying on the opposite side, the city lights of the tall buildings reminding you how life revolved around money and basically anything that smelled even the slightest of capitalism. You found yourself despising all of it.

“Cat stole your tongue?” muttered Baekhyun playfully into the chilly air as he swayed your connected hands.

“Just… thinking,” you replied and made sure your sides were brushing.

He didn't reply, instead letting silence overtake again, but you knew he was curious. He wanted to, and deserved, to know.

“Did you mean it?” you asked, looking at the dark water.

“Did I mean what?”

“That you would marry me in a heartbeat,” you said softly, scared to actually pronounce those words. They sounded so unnatural, for some reason, despite them mirroring everything you ever wanted in life. “What you said during dinner.”

“Yes, I meant it and you know it, too, sweetheart,” he said, shaking your hand.

You smiled to yourself. If you wouldn't spill the beans now, you would probably never find the guts to talk about the main issue that was simmering like the water in a pressure cooker. “My parents want me to marry that man for business. Something along merging their companies or whatever,” you started. “I found out a while ago but I was fighting them. And then you made me promise to obey,” you sighed, feeling the well-known dread eating up your insides, “and I had to agree. But I don't want to.”

“So that's why you weren't yourself,” he muttered more to himself than to you, and he stopped walking so he could look at you properly. When you wouldn't meet his eye, too ashamed, he put his index finger under your chin and made you tilt your head up. “Why didn't you just tell me from the beginning?”

“Baekhyun,” you whispered in disbelief, “how could I? It isn't some news about apples growing backwards.”

He chuckled. “Well, you have to admit, that would make the headlines.”

You giggled, rolling your eyes. “You know what I mean.”

He let out another chuckle through his nose and slid his hand up so he could cup your cheek lovingly while thinking over his next words. “When are you supposed to marry him?”

You swallowed. “Maybe after uni? I … I never wanted to talk to them, so I don't know exactly… I insisted after university graduation.”

He hummed, running his thumb over your lower lip, his gaze focused on the way he parted your lips. “So, we have four more years?”

You pursed your lips, not liking the idea of having limited time with Baekhyun. “Of course not. I will always be with you.”

He sighed, and eventually dropped his hand on your shoulder; you tried not to feel disappointed. “I think this is more complicated than you think, love.”

“How is it complicated, Baekhyun?” you asked stubbornly. “I love you. I saw that man today for the first time in my life. How can I marry someone I don't know and barely ever saw? He is almost twice my age, Baekhyun. You know this is not okay and you also know it doesn't make any sense.”

“And you know business is anything but emotions,” was his fast reply.

“I don't care about their business.”

“And they don't care that you don't care.”

“Bu-but I just don't care! I will be with you behind his back and-”

“And how would that make me feel?” he fired back, now both of you slowly getting heated up from the small exchange of opinions. Baekhyun just asked something you never wanted him to utter. If you were to talk about him, of course, he was the victim. He'd become a secret lover; the forbidden fruit.

When you didn't reply, he nodded, his hand falling off your shoulder. “I understand.”

“Baekhyun, let's talk about this step by step,” you tried, reaching for his hand which he, thankfully, didn't retreat. “We still have a long time until any of those things could even happen. Maybe it won't happen - and I will try my best not to let it happen. But let it not affect our present. Please,” you added with urgency, looking into his warm eyes.

When Baekhyun was troubled or sad, his eyes seemed to become even more down-ward than they already were. This time, it was no exception and you wanted to reach out and make the wrinkles go away but you didn't. “Let me just think this matter through, alright?” he murmured eventually.

You pressed your lips together and nodded while you stepped close to him, snaking your arms around his waist. He gladly took you in, letting out a deep sigh as he hugged you to him and kissed the top of your head. “It will be okay.”

“May I sleep at yours tonight?” you mumbled into his shoulder after a moment of silence. “I just cannot imagine going back to that hell.”

He rubbed your back gently. “Of course. My mum is already expecting us. We shouldn't disappoint her.”

You leaned back a bit and stood on your toes to press your lips to his. “You're the best.”

And so, after walking a little bit longer and enjoying the faraway noise of the busy roads and nightlife Seoul, you slowly made your way back to the metro station, heading for Baekhyun's house, and your safety.

The both of you were lying on his bed, his parents long asleep, the quietness of the apartment giving you a sense of safeness. Baekhyun had a book open on his lap while you were doodling something you weren’t sure what was yet. Manual work seemed to preoccupy your mind enough and sadly, even with Baekhyun next to you, you couldn’t find your peace of mind.

“Aren’t you tired yet?” whispered Baekhyun and looked at you, and on the paper to see what you were so focused on. “It’s already 1am. Your parents will want you home early-“

Your sigh interrupted him and you put down the pencil rather harshly as you sat up properly to face him. “Since when do you care about them? You know I will go home whenever I want to. I don’t care, so you shouldn’t either.”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble, okay?” he said back, his voice quiet but low. “There has been enough drama.”

“What worse can happen? They want me to let go of you. That is the worst punishment for me.”

Baekhyun’s gaze softened and he also sat up properly to face you. “I know. I can’t lose you either. And I wasn’t intending on that. I meant that they might lock you up and then I won’t be able to see you so soon, hm?” he murmured gently, his lips puckering with each word as he reached out with his hand to caress your cheek. You leaned into his touch right away. “I want to enjoy what we have now.”

You smiled gently when you recognized your previously uttered words and grabbed his hand that was cradling your cheek. “You know I would sneak out just to meet you if I were to be locked up.”

He rewarded you with a lopsided, handsome smile. “You shouldn’t, you little devil.”

You sighed and shimmied yourself closer until your knees were touching his. “Kiss me,” you whispered breathily, already eyeing his lips.

He observed you a little longer before his eyes dropped on yours. Softly smiling, he leaned in, now both of his hands on your neck to angle your face. The softest of touches was what you felt first before he pressed his lips harsher, moving his mouth against yours. Your hands snaked around his neck to urge him on while he opened your mouth and invited himself in. Without meaning to, you let out a satisfied hum that seemed to ignite Baekhyun because he pressed harder, slowly making you fall back on your back, head on the pillows.

He grunted as you spread your legs so he could settle himself there as your kiss grew dirtier, all tongues and teeth, battling for dominance. Your fingers were messing up his hair while his hands were touching you over the fabric of his pyjamas.

It was your whines and a couple of pulls on the hem of his shirt that made Baekhyun lean back so that you could undress in haste, both of you eager and very much horny. Finally feeling the hot skin of his chest press up against yours he was too eager and he already lined himself up at your center, needing the release without any foreplay.

“Just keep quiet, alright?” he reminded softly into your ear under which he placed the softest kiss before he started pushing in, your mouth falling open, but your juices doing a good enough job for his easy access.

You gasped rather loudly and he silenced you with a messy kiss, interrupting it with harsh pants on your mouth as his eyes were closed in focus, his forehead pressed against yours. You panted and tilted your head to chase his parted lips while he pushed himself in all the way, reaching the stillness that you very much needed.

Unable to take the pain, your eyes were squeezed shut, scratching Baekhyun’s back while the other hand fisted his blanket.

“Just a little longer,” Baekhyun whispered urgently, lips against your forehead, repeatedly puckering them in tiny butterfly kisses. “The pain will be all gone, I promise. I’ll make you feel like no one on this planet.” He moved the slightest bit, the friction making him hide his face in your neck and mouth at the skin.

Your heaving chest was pressing up against his and with his next movement, you felt the tingles of pleasure that he promised you just heartbeats ago. Giving Baekhyun the sign to move, he started rocking, already setting up a faster pace for he couldn’t wait any longer. Your influence on him was too strong, his emotions for you too overwhelming. In his eyes, you were so sexy, beautiful, sensitive, and absolutely alluring. It would be brutal if he had to hold back while having you underneath him.

Who did he try to lie to? He went absolutely crazy at the idea of him having to leave you for another man; some old dude who didn’t even know you. It might have been the reason why he grew relentless, pushing you into his mattress and snapping his hips, your face of pure ecstasy only fueling his passionate drive. He hated the entire situation. He didn’t want to share you. He never wanted to have a secret relationship with you. If he imagined a future, besides him becoming a doctor, it was your presence next to his the entire time.

Baekhyun was never one to be aggressive and stubbornly go against every rule, unlike you. In your relationship, he was the cold-headed one, the peace-maker, always fighting for what the brain said instead of the heart.

But right now, his heart was in despair, already feeling the beginning of a heart break. He thrusted into you with such passion you really couldn't contain your moans and he wasn’t sure he wanted you to keep quiet anymore. Let everyone know that you belonged to him.

He bit your skin just under your collarbones, tasting the sweat, and you gasped, fisting his hair which prompted him to grunt and reach your g-spot.

“Cum for me,” he whispered harshly, biting you again and then moving his face to push his tongue into your open mouth. “Cum for me and say my name.”

He didn’t have to tell you as you were already panting his name like a mantra that would bring you to heaven. Your walls were pleasurably stretched out, the throaty sounds he made bringing you over the edge. He followed soon after your breathy moans and your arching back that caused your breasts to press to his sweaty chest made him lose it.

His arms snaked in the space between your back and the mattress and he squeezed your body to him, hiding his face in your breasts that he mouthed and licked at sensually while feeling himself release.

With one last bite to your sensitive nipple, he moved to kiss you, your tired smile welcoming him. “I love you.”

You combed his hair away from his damp forehead. “I love you more.” But please don't leave me.

CuriousCat Ask box is also open! Or comments!💕

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symphonyofthewrite · 3 years

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Saw your post, getting stuff off your chest, I just wanted to say that I haven't seen the thing with the kids mentioned by anyone and it really stood out to me, I feel what you mean to some extent, because for me it was a stronger reaction, albeit you probably won't feel the same and that's, obviously, perfectly fine. I have an instant recoil these days whenever a character is around kids for like one second and everyone instantly goes "THEY LITERALLY ADOPTED THEM/THAT'S THEIR CHILD/THEY'RE A PARENT"... genuinely sick of it, and I went white as a sheet when I heard it, I wanted to pluck my eyes out. I don't know if it's an American thing but English speaking fandoms (well, those teeming with fancops that is) seem like they cannot process adult looking characters being in any near proximity to childlike characters without automatically imposing parenthood and family dynamics and it's becoming distressing to me. I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I don’t get many asks so it makes me happy when I can talk meta with people 💛💛 (Sorry I’m a bit late in answering.)

Funnily enough I actually do agree with you. I didn’t have quite so strong a reaction, but I definitely had a very similar one when I first hear it.

My feelings were and are a bit mixed. I was saying in my other post that I would have preferred that I got to actually see this interaction; see the kids run by him and call him father, and him smile when no ones looking. I still think that would have been a better, more touching way to do the scene, and would have had more chance of me liking it (though I probably still would have felt very weird about it). (I think it especially would have been better because it would show that Alucard himself liked it, not that Greta was forcing the role on him.) I know that it was meant to be something touching, and pretty much everyone seems to like it (and I have seen some cute posts about it), so I just tried to like it too, and focus on the fact that all they were really trying to say was he was having a nice relationship with the kids, and that was indeed sweet.

But yeah, when I heard Greta say “I heard some of them calling you father” for me it was less a reaction of horror, and more a “HUH??!!”moment. When I heard it I was like “Alucard...you agree with this???!! This is how you see yourself??!!” I almost expected Alucard to refute it and say he didn’t see himself as a father to them. Like I seriously do not see Alucard as anything remotely close to a father figure, and it felt weird and wrong to me.

Like when I saw him interacting with the kids the first time, I didn’t think “oh he’s a father figure to them.” I just thought “yay, Alucard’s playing with some kids, and getting out of his bubble!!” I didn’t have any thoughts as to what his relationship role was with them, I just thought that first interaction was lovely.

And if I saw him interacting with the kids again, I still wouldn’t go “father figure” I’d just be like “yay, Alucard’s playing with the kids again, how sweet!!”

Sometimes the relationship doesn’t need a role or a label, ya know?

And I thought it was especially strange because…he literally just met them?? Like how can they possibly start calling him father when he’s played with them once or twice? Regardless of Alucard’s side or things, what group of kids would randomly call a nice man they just met ‘father’? Is...Is this a normal thing??

Anyways, back to Alucard’s side of things, Sypha’s line about Alucard being a teenager trapped an adults body has always been something that stuck with me and shaped how I view Alucard. I definitely view him as internally much younger than he looks. No matter how much I might hate them for what they did to him, I think Sumi and Take are about the age he actually is, and their relationship with him made sense to me. He’s still a kid—or at least young—he still needs his parents in his life, really. (That’s part of why I didn’t like that Drac and Lisa don’t go to him at the end. I personally don’t think Alucard really got closure, and in my mind I think he still very much needed them, and that would have been the perfect ending to his story in my mind, where everything comes full circle; He was forced to lose his parents and grow up too early, and only when he’s started to truly grow up does he get them back.) So yeah, I really don’t see him like a father at all. One of my main focuses in my Castlevania fanfiction is his relationship with Dracula, so I very much see him as the son, not as the dad, even when Drac isn’t around.

(Sidenote, come to think of it, I think this is another reason why Greta x Alucard is a nope from me. She’s very much an adult, so I just see a discrepancy between them that makes me feel weird about them being in a romantic relationship. If we need a label I feel like she fits as an older sister for him, guiding him and giving him support. Him unloading all his problems on her within just meeting her makes more sense if he’s like a younger brother who needs to cry to his sister. I felt weird about it in a romantic context when it was so fast. I mean I know he was desperate to talk to someone, and I probably would have done the same, but still).

“I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me”

^^ THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

I was honestly really hoping they’d go in depth into him dealing with his trauma, and how he’s still hurting from the wounds of it, and how he needs to heal. I thought that’s what his S4 arc would be about. I don’t think they gave him the chance to really process and work through everything that happened. (Again, I don’t think him just unloading all his problems on a nice stranger is truly working through his trauma. I would have much rather watched him struggle to trust her, and him telling her about his trauma happen later, and be difficult for him, and a deep, heartfelt moment).

Like I was saying in my other post, I think if they framed his arc in how he dealt with the town collectively, I think that would have fit better, and been more touching and satisfying. I would have liked to see him struggling to trust humans, and then see as time progressed how several different people in the town liked him and meant him no harm, and how he realized he could trust them, and that he liked them too. It wasn’t that he had a bad romantic partner and needed a new one. He believed he needed to be punished for killing his father, and in his deep loneliness he let these kids into his house and heart, and they turned on him because he was half vampire. That’s something pretty deeply ingrained, and not something a new romance just fixes by existing. He needed to work through that in a much deeper way.

I know this is gonna be a very unpopular opinion, and it's totally cool if you disagree, but in a weird way... I sort of disliked Alucard’s ending. Don’t get me wrong, Im glad he’s happy, and I’d certainly prefer it to him just getting more trauma like last season (*shudders*), and I don’t think him opening up his castle (and his heart) to humanity is a bad way to end his story, certainly not. I think that fits. And my heart did melt a bit at the "I'm weirdly happy" scene. But, where everyone else is like “*sobbing* happy endings for all our faves” ...I see the creators of the show trying to wrap everything up in a neat little bow, and while that’s certainly not all bad, I don’t love every aspect of that. Theres a time and place for that, but a show based on video games, for which there’s more content in these storylines isn’t one of them in my mind.

Sometimes some of the sadness needs to linger. At the very least, let it linger at the beginning of the season so you can work through it in a powerful way, you know? It may have been tough to see Alucard be more closed off, but I think it would have been more satisfying to see him open up his heart and go back to his old self if we saw his trauma leave lingering effects at the beginning.

To me it didn’t feel like a satisfying arc, it felt like the fairytale ending of “oh look he’s not apprehensive about humanity even after what happened! Oh look he got the girl! And the Castle’s a happy place now! Look he’s not sad anymore! He’s even a father figure to these kids! He’s totally moved on!” And all those things can be awesome when done properly, and when they have depth to them. But they didn’t work through the trauma to get there, so it felt surface level to me, and too fast. I really liked that first episode, and how we saw the two sides of him—one that's become more closed off, and the other that still buries the human despite his comments—and I also really liked the first interaction with the kids, and thought that was one of the few interactions that had depth to it and fit with his arc well. Having it go beyond “they’re helping him learn to like and trust humanity again, and displaying who he really is inside” ended up detracting from the power of his relationship with them in my mind.

Having played SOTN, I think an ingrained loneliness and sadness are, in a way, a key part of Alucard’s character. That sounds really sad and awful out loud but…there are some people that just have a sadness or a loneliness to them, and that's not entirely bad. Here’s the thing…it can make them that much more beautiful. The fact that they still fight for good, even when they see all the dark, those moments when they find true friends, despite how alone they are, those moments when they are happy, are so much more powerful. They just are always a bit…separate from other people. One of my favorite lines in anything is the line "We are connected by our darkness, not by our light" in Pandora Hearts. I think it's a line that fits Alucard well, and it’s always something that’s drawn me personally to him. Don't get me wrong, I don’t think Alucard’s all dark and sad and lonely, he’s definitely got a bright side to him too, of course he does. But I also don't think he ever is able to fully accept the vampire side of himself, and I find that interesting, and worth exploring. Personally I was honestly hoping for the show makers to come up with a bittersweet reason for why he went to sleep for 300 years, (and I thought that's why they set things up with Sumi and Taka that he’d have something against his vampire nature). Personally it felt like they were trying to say “oh he’s all better now, he’ll never be sad or lonely again” and while that’s nice I suppose…for me it sort of…stops feeling like Alucard, in a way? I don't know if I'm explaining it right, or if that sounds terrible...😅

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I do agree that’s very common of fandom that people are like “boom! Just add water! Instant father figure!” and I don’t love it either. Sometimes it can be cute if it truly fits, but it doesn’t fit every relationship between an adult-looking character and a kid character, and shouldn't be the first place people go to. In the same way every relationship doesn’t have to be romantic, not every relationship has to be parental/familial either. Sometimes it feels like fandom culture isn't really okay to have some characters just be good friends. A good friendship can be more wonderful than a romance sometimes.

If we have to put a label on it, I think he seemed like a nice older brother figure to them? I think that fits who he is in my mind. But father? Nope. Not for me. And again, I don’t think it needs a label.

Thanks again for sending me this ask!! It was nice to get the chance to work through some more of my feelings here too. Sorry if I went too overboard. And I hope I don’t sound too terribly negative, it really was a great season, and I definitely liked some parts of his arc, just not all of it.

If you or anyone else reading would like to discuss with me more, be my guest!! 💕

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365days365movies · 3 years

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January 16, 2021: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

I am a massive comic book nerd. Not unusual these days, to be fair. But I’m definitely up there, as far as my obsession with Marvel and DC go. And, yeah, I stick mostly to those two houses, and their various imprints.

Why do I bring this up? Well...remember this movie?

Kick-Ass was a pretty big deal when it came out in 2010, as it was a Marvel Comics movie that was completely unrelated to the relatively new Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based of a 2008 comic book written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita Jr., the film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, and featured a more realistic take on how real-world superheroes would actually work.

Vaughn and Millar by this point at least, were friends. Around 2012, they’re getting drunk at a pub together, and talking movies. The topic of spy movies come up, and how there hasn’t really been a good, non-parody, fun spy movie, and that there should be. And that was the bulk of their conversation.

Enter Dave Gibbons, a legendary comic book artist, whom you may know from drawing the comic book that was turned into this:

Oh yeah, he’s a big deal. Gibbons and Millar end up getting together to write a fun spy comic book based on this idea. Vaughn, meanwhile, is getting ready to direct X-Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to X-Men: First Class, which Vaughn directed. That’s a good movie, by the way, even if I have...issues...with the treatment of the X-Men in film. Maybe one day I’ll get into that, we’ll see what happens. Ask me about it if you’re curious.

Anyway, Millar goes to Vaughn with this script, and Vaughan looks at it and realizes that he needs to direct this movie before somebody else makes it. So he leaves Days of Future Past, and he signs on to...

I feel like it’s an obligation, as a comic book dude, to watch this film. I should also read the book, but I didn’t do that with Kick-Ass, so to hell with it! Let’s get this recap started! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Starting off with some Money for Nothing, and somewhere in the Middle East, 1997! We go into a stone temple, where some kind of mission is taking place. A surprise grenade causes the loss of one of the agents. The surviving agents are Merlin (Mark Strong), Lancelot AKA James Spencer (Jack Davenport), and Galahad, AKA Harry Hart (Colin Firth).

Hart, feeling guilty over the death of this agent, tells his wife, Michelle (Samantha Womack) and child Eggsy (yes, Eggsy) of his sacrifice, and gives Eggsy a medal.

From there, we jump forward 17 years, to Argentina where...Mark Hamill?

Holy shit, it’s Mark Hamill! Apparently, he’s playing Professor James Arnold, and being held hostage by a group of mysterious men. Just then, he’s rescued by Lancelot, showing up with some classic James Bond-style swagger and asking for a cup of sugar, sardonically.

He kicks the asses of these guys, but is SLICED IN HALF BY A MAN WITH SWORD LEGS WHAT THE FUCK????

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was watching the best thing I’ve ever goddamn seen. And as if that weren’t enough, she’s working for Samuel L. “Motherfucker” Jackson, playing Richmond Valentine. I am...I am so pleased.

We go to the Kingsmen headquarters, where Lancelot is being mourned by the Kingmen and their leader MICHAEL CAINE, REALLY, HOLY SHIT

Ahem. Sorry, uh...the star-studded cast has basically caused me to have a minor aneurysm. Caine plays Arthur, the leader of the Kingsmen. Get it? I can dig it, I’m a sucker for a good Arthurian reference. Anyway, now that Lancelot’s dead, it’s time to find a new candidate. Apparently, the man that died 17 years ago was part of an “experiment” by Hart, which Arthur says has failed. Galahad calls Arthur a snob, and says that they need to evolve with the times. \

Speaking of that former candidate, how’s his son doing?

Not stellar, it seems. His mom is dating a very unsavory gentleman, and not really taking good care of her youngest daughter. Eggsy (Taron Egerton), on the other hand, is a carefree delinquent. After engaging in an entertaining backwards car chase with the police (it’s cool), he gets arrested. He refuses to give up his friends, and he instead asks for a phone call.He looks at the medallion around his neck, and remembers that he can use the number of the back to contact someone for help. He uses a specific code phrase, but it appears not to have worked. But then, Eggsy is turned loose with little more than a phone call. That’s when Eggsy meets Hart.

We find out that Eggsy has a high IQ and Olympic-level athletics, but has dropped out of the Marines, and has been arrested for drugs and other illegal activities. After being read out by Hart, Eggsy goes on an anger-filled diatribe about the differences in privilege between the two of them. Although it’s short, it’s a powerful speech.

But that speech is interrupted by the owner of the car that Eggsy stole the previous night, as well as his gang. They’re yearning for a fight with Eggsy, and they threaten Hart. He doesn’t take that well, as he shuts the doors and windoes to the pub. Time to teach a lesson.

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Yup, I’m giving this fight the posted video award. It might be short, but it’s also one of the best and coolest sequences I’ve ever seen in a spy movie. And OH, it’s giving me that gadget shit I was missing from the Bond movies.

After one of the most enjoyable fight sequences I’ve seen in a while, Eggsy’s understandably stunned. So is his stepfather Dean (Geoff Bell), the leader of the gang that Hart beat up in the pub. He’s not happy, and he beats Eggsy in their apartment, and that scene is...WHOOF. Much to their surprise, however, Hart’s left a device on Eggsy’s back. He threatens Dean through the device, and tells Eggsy to meet him at a tailor that he’d mentioned.

Once Eggsy escapes from Dean and the gang via nest parkour tricks, he makes his way to the tailor, where Hart officially brings him into the fold, giving him the opportunity to become a Kingsman. He exposits the history of the agency as a private group of spies, meant to protect the world while not bowing to the bureaucracy that plagues government-affiliated spy institutions.

We get to go to Kingsman Headquarters proper, and yeah...yeah, it’s cool. As compared to the other recruits, Eggsy’s pretty obviously out of place. This, of course, is part of the point, as Hart believes the Kingsmen could use someone with different life experiences and background. That would be the experiment mentioned earlier.

Eggsy’s competitors include Roxy (Sophie Cookson), who appears to actually be polite to him, unlike most of the potentials. They settle in for the night...but not for long. Their quarters fills with water, as the entirety of the Kingsmen head towards the showerheads and toilets for air. While they all succeed, Eggsy is the one who actually gets everyone out, by literally punching the window.

Unfortunately, for one of the candidates...it’s too late. These candidates could die in the hiring process. Rough.

Sadly, Mark Hamill also doesn’t quite make it, as Hart finds him, surprisingly freed from Valentine’s capture. As he’s questioned, Valentine is forced to kill him via Suicide Squad implant, and barely escaped from his men. Valentine and his henchwoman, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella) are trying to figure out who the Kingsmen are, to no avail at the moment.

Back with Merlin, who’s training the Kingsman candidates! They’re all told to get a puppy! Aw. Eggsy chooses J.B. a pug, under the mistaken impression that it’s a bulldog. And I’m not a pug person...but that puppy is cute as shit.

Time marches on, and the Kingsmen continue their training. Eggsy’s colleagues continue to discriminate against him, especially Charlie (Edward Holcroft). Hart, who was knocked out by the explosion, eventually wakes up. Valentine goes around to political leaders and proposes his plan to “save the world,” whatever that’s about to mean. Apparently, that includes giving the King of Sweden a surgical implant of some kind. Huh.

This, of course includes some, uh...conflict with Gazelle.

Awesome.

Eggsy’s in the final 6! As Hart congratulates him over this, we finally get some exposition on Richmond Valentine’s plan. See, that implant is the Suicide Squad bomb that killed Hamill, and Gazelle also has one. Additionally, he’s released a plan to the world that will provide free internet and phone data...forever. Not ominous at all, that.

After a cool skydiving training sequence, only three candidates are left. Hart, meanwhile, poses as a wealthy philanthropist, donating to Valentine’s cause. As a result, he’s treated to an extravagant dinner...of McDonald’s. Yes, it is the best product placement I’ve seen in a while, in case you were wondering. That reveal was hilarious.

Anyway, their conversation turns from talking about climate change studies and concerns, to their opinion of James Bond movies, in a lovely little piece of meta flavor. At this point, they would appear to understand each other’s role in the play, as it were. Forgot to mention, Valentine’s been kidnapping anyone who disagrees with his goals, while also distributing his free internet cards. So, there’s that. But he’s also trying to figure out what exactly the “Kingsmen” are. Speaking of...

Our three remaining Kingsman candidates are assigned a mission to seduce a young dignitary. However, all three of them make a mistake, and allow themselves to get drugged at a party, by someone wanting to know who Hart and Kingsmen are. When Eggsy wakes up, he’s been strapped to train tracks. Uh oh.

Despite an oncoming train, Eggsy doesn’t give the man any formation. Which, of course, was the point. It’s Hart, helping to give the Kingsman candidates a little loyalty test, which both Eggsy and Roxy pass with flying colors. But Charlie...Charlie’s a coward who immediately gives everything up, including Arthur himself.

Eggsy gets to spend 24 hours with Hart, before being thrown headfirst into a mission. Hart explains that being a Kingsman means being a gentleman, which Eggsy isn’t. Hart, of course, plans to fix that.

They head to the tailor, and check out some spy gadgets. And much to their surprise, Valentine is also there, under the guise of getting a suit. Hart takes the opportunity to recommend a hatter, who gives him a top hat with built in listening devices. I love it.

Eggsy, meanwhile, speaks with Arthur at Kingsman HQ. He’s commanded to perform one final test: kill his pug, J.B. Which...yeah, damn, that sucks. He doesn’t do it, understandably. Unfortunately...Roxy does kill her dog. She succeeds...and Eggsy’s kicked out of the Kingsman candidacy. Which feels like a bullshit play, if I’m honest.

Eggsy steals Arthur’s car, then goes back home. As he’s about to confront his stepfather, Hart brings back the car via remote access, then explains to Eggsy that the gun was filled with blanks, and that Eggsy ended up giving up his shot. He also reveals that the first candidate to die...didn’t actually die! It’s been a ruse all along, meant to test the candidates under the strictest of conditions. Which sucks, obviously, because Eggsy’s out of the program.

And at that point, Valentine says something of note, revealing that he plans to go to a hate church in Kentucky to begin his master plan. Hart heads there, and tells Eggsy to stay put.

We get treated to just...just the loveliest of sermons. Disgusting. But then...

...that’s the point, isn’t it?

Because Valentine uses the SIM cards to create a signal that drives the parishioners crazy. Hart’s also in the church, however, and he also starts going crazy. Which leaves the question: what happens when a highly trained spy goes up against untrained civilians, has a bunch of gadgets...and has absolutely no restraint whatsoever?

A MASSACRE, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS. And most surprisingly, it’s a massacre that we actually SEE. Hart basically kills almost EVERYBODY in the church. I’ll put the video up, but...y’know, be warned here. It ain’t pretty.

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Hart comes to, and realizes exactly what he’s done. He leaves, only to be confronted by Valentine and his men. The Bond metaphor finally comes full-circle, explained directly by Valentine. But instead of explaining his whole plan and devising some complicated way to kill Hart that he’ll inevitably escape from...

He just shoots Hart in the head. Holy shit. And this is while Merlin, Arthur, and yes, Eggsy watch on through Hart’s home feed. Looks like a new Kingsman is needed.

Arthur tells Merlin to assemble the Kingsmen. But Eggsy...Eggsy has other plans. Thinking on Hart’s words about wanting to do something good with his life. He goes to Arthur to talk to him about Hart’s death. Arthur invites him in for brandy. And that’s...when my mind exploded.

HE’S FUCKING IN ON IT?!? Michael Caine, NOOOO! Turns out that Valentine’s convinced Arthur of his true plan: a culling. He believes that the Earth’s temperature because there’s simply too much humanity, like a body trying to kill a virus. And so...he’s going to make the virus exterminate itself. And that argument’s enough to win Caine over.

Turns out that the implant is meant to protect those individuals against a neurological signal emitted by the SIM cards, the same one that went off in the church. Arthur, realizing that Eggsy understands exactly what’s going on, poisons him, then asks if he would like to join them. Eggsy refuses...and Arthur sets off the remote poison to kill him.

But NOPE! EGGSY SWITCHED THE FUCKIN’ GLASSES! I love this movie. Arthur dies, and Eggsy uses the opportunity to dig the implant from his neck. He takes that and Arthur’s phone to Merlin and Lancelot, who realize that they can’t trust anyone at this point. And so, the three of them - yes, the three of them - go to stop Valentine.

And, yeah...I can dig it. OH HOW I CAN DIG it.

Roxy goes up in an experimental vehicle to bring down the satellite, Merlin is flying the plane, and Eggsy...Eggsy’s the one going in disguised as Arthur, in order to infiltrate the mountain lair of Valentine. Here, he and the other beneficiaries wait it out, while the world literally tears itself apart. Now wearing a bespoke suit and playing the role of a gentleman, Eggsy enters the lion’s den.

But as expected, it’s time to hit some snags. Roxy waits juuuuuust a little too long, and one of the balloons in her craft pops. As for Eggsy, he meets an old “friend” of his in the form of Charlie, who’s now working for Valentine.

The missile’s fired just in time, as Charlie’s taken out and Eggsy runs for the plane. AWESOME climax here as Eggsy escapes. I mean it; it is VERY cool. They succeed JUST in time, and the satellite is destroyed. However, Valentine’s still managed to partially start the process, and they can’t do anything about that.

Eggsy’s gotta go BACK in, before Valentine gets another satellite to trigger the signal worldwide. Now armed with Hart’s AWESOME umbrella, he makes his way there under heavy gunshot. They’re also teaming up against Merlin in the plane, so he’s not doing great. And that when Eggsy has the idea...to turn the implants on. ALL of them.

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It’s amazing. Violence in fireworks. So, it’s too bad that it doesn’t stop the signal. It works, and people start to tear each other apart all across the world. But only for was long as Valentine has his hands on the desk. Eggsy manages to stop that by laying down some suppressive fire.

That provokes a response.

..This movie is, for lack of a better term, fucking rad.

Gazelle and Eggsy have an awesome fight, worthy of any James Bond movie, seriously. I really want to give it the video post honor, but I’ve done that too much already. For god’s sake, I literally JUST did that.

Gazelle dies (it’s kinda goofy how she dies, if I’m honest), and Eggsy kills Valentine with her prosthetic leg. It’s over, as the signal ends, and Eggsy even gets the girl. Not Roxy, the Princess of Sweden. Not going into it, but it’s funny.

And that’s Kingsman: The Secret Service! Honestly, I gotta say, that was a rad-as-shit movie, and...

Ooh, a mid-credits scene! Eggsy goes back home, to the pub, where his stepfather and mom are hanging out with the gang. And let’s just say...Dean’s gonna get a little comeuppance. Manners, after all, maketh man.

OK, THAT’S Kingsman: The Secret Service! And that, again, was pretty rad. See you in the Epilogue in a few!

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vidalinav · 3 years

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Nesta and Identity

The one thing I really really want to see but have so little hope for because honest to god I don’t know if I trust SJM as a serious writer anymore (I’m not going to lie--no hate to her, but... I’ll save that for the anons) is Nesta playing with her identity. Because I think everyone has that point of wanting to experiment because of this new found freedom or the lack of it.

I want to see Nesta try on different clothes, some more scandalous, some more comfortable, some very bright and floral, some very plain and vintage, going through the “all black” phase, because she doesn’t know what she wants to be seen as. I want to see Nesta going through different hairstyles. Perhaps she doesn’t want to wear her hair up because it hurts her head with all the pins but she also doesn’t want it down because it gets in the way, so she tries different styles, because who the hell is she? We’ve all went through that “getting bangs” phase or you looking into the mirror and thinking something about you is off, that it needs to change, but you don’t know what it is so you just might change everything. I want to see her trying new jobs, learning new things and then quitting them, because they don’t suit her, because they were fun for a second, unfulfilling the next. I want to see her getting bored and really trying to learn about herself, which is a very difficult thing to do.

But I also want to see this identity exploration, I should say, not a crisis, because, Nesta right now is only beginning to like who she is, and like the life that she has. And for a good portion of this book, she does hate herself, and she doesn’t really know what she wants. And I think it should be said that her life span is extremely long now in comparison to what she thought life would be. Is that freedom to her or a curse? Sometimes routines are comfortable. By 25 you get married, by 30 you have kids, by 35 blah blah. They’re monotonous but they’re comfortable. But is that what Nesta wants? We know she wants kids eventually, that she seems to be a homebody, and that she is comfortable with this relationship that she has with Cassian and is excited about that, and having you know a mating ceremony/wedding. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but Nesta is definitely not Feyre. Feyre acted like the mom character, the entire time. Her whole narrative was centered around taking care of people, and maybe not ruling, because she wasn’t Rhys. She was never stated to be this queenly figure, this person without outrageous ambitions, or being smarter than everyone. On a regular basis, she was painted as a very average character. If she fought, she didn’t fight as well as everyone else. When she learned to fly, she wasn’t gifted at it. On a regular day, she just wanted to paint, and hang out with her friends, and chill. She was never the one who outsmarted anyone in the room. She was average, which is perfectly fine. Average people can have adventures of course and can still be the hero, and I think there’s something to be said about someone relatively normal (besides you know all of the high lord powers) coming out as a heroin. But Nesta... is always depicted as this wolf trapped in a cage. Why wouldn’t fae life of monotony, unwritten social rules, long lives, titles, and obligation not be a cage in itself? The IC have their rules, their roles. The entire continent of Prythrian have traditions, and I don’t think Nesta is going to escape them being who she is. Blessed by the mother and the cauldron.

So right now where we end, we see her with doors open, but let’s face it this is a girl who almost seems bigger than life. She may not want power to use it against people cruelly, but she has only just begun learning what she can do. Nesta hates everything she starts and then learns to love it, we see this. She doesn’t want to train, and then she excels at it. She doesn’t want to use her powers, and then she becomes all powerful, to the point where the power of the trove at least is somewhat tempting to use. And she’s so curious about everything. I would love to see more of that dark academia aspect, but also this part of her that is really good at “playing the game.” It would be so fun to watch Nesta struggle with wanting to be a “wife” and having this relationship and maybe wanting a simpler life, maybe wanting a regular job, keeping her job at the library, joining back into the Velaris every-day routine because it certainly took her a lot of healing to get to the point where she enjoys life again, but I also maybe want to see her getting bored eventually because she’s entirely too smart. I would love to see that narrative even in other POVs, where Nesta acts differently around specific people, because she doesn’t know who to be. I would love to see Rhys, Azriel, and Mor, notice the potential in her, Rhys more than anyone (maybe Amren too for world domination purposes) and seeing this really clever, witty woman come to life. I think it would be so interesting to see them being sort of pushy about her getting out there, and using her personality, her brain, to help them sign treaties or win over high lords and to scheme. But I would also love to see Nesta actively rejecting anything that has to do with it, because she doesn’t know if she wants that and she doesn’t want to be used, but she has to admit that it’s more fun than being home and doing nothing. And I think it would be very cool for Nesta to like that ugly part of herself. A lot of her narrative was framed in the way that her personality was ALL a coping mechanism, and to a certain extent it is and to a certain extent it’s not, realistically. She says that she hated the parts of herself that said such horrible things, but I would really love to see Nesta like that part of herself too, even the ugly parts, grow fond of it even, because she’s a complex character and people say shit to her all of the time, and sometimes people need a reality check and she’ll be more than happy to give it. I want to see that emotional struggle of being happy and acting happy and feeling fulfilled, to being angry and vindictive because the world is not nice and neither are the people in it. I want to see that back and forth of Nesta playing possibly an evil character and then being a good character, because that’s her whole narrative. She was the mean, bitchy sister who was villainized, and then she became the hero in some sense, and then she became the burden and was once again villainized, and then she became the hero. The whole entire ACOSF, they were going back and forth between is Nesta going to help or is she going to be a liability, should we trust her, can she handle this power, should she handle this power? So, I would love to keep this, where again I’ve said it in a post, I hope Nesta gets involved with Koschei, and not Elain, because I would love to keep seeing this. And this technically can happen by Nesta being antagonist to the whims of the IC, because you think they wouldn’t think bad of her if she disagreed? Every single one of them bows down, will Nesta, knowing what we know of her? Nesta is comparatively a Rhysand character, so... that’s not going to happen.

And, I don't want to necessarily see the struggle between good and evil, where Nesta is completely and entirely a villain, because no one is wholly good and Nesta is moralistically better than most when it comes to the greater good. Plus I really hate that trope. I personally follow the Hayao Miyazaki approach, where the balance between good and evil should be preserved, not the fight against one or the other, which would be impossible and most definitely biased. But I want Nesta to seem like a villain again, to find that maybe being a villain is more freeing than being a hero, or at least very similar to how people treat her all through ACOSF. Because look at all the expectations they had of her, that everyone had of her, just by her having power even when she’d already helped them and tried her best, they were sinking their claws in deep. So can you imagine, her having power now and the IC having these expectations for her to help them? Will she? I don’t know. But I certainly want to see it and I want to see what Nesta becomes. Even Cassian says that Eris looked at her, “like he knew what Nesta might become with a little ambition. The right guidance.” Knowing what we know, isn’t that what the IC is going to try to do? So, I don’t think Angry Nesta has left the building. But I do think we have the potential to see so many more sides of her, while she creates and explores who she is.

#nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #acosf #acosf spoilers #long post

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just--another--daydreamer · 4 years

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Snippets

» Shota Aizawa x gn!reader (They/Them pronouns used)

»Genre: Angst »Summary: While investigating a murder, Aizawa finds a piece of paper that reminds him of the past »Warnings: murder; blood; (short) description of a dead body & injuries; police; implied depression; trauma »Words: 2.2k » A/N: I listened to the song “Red” by Survive Said the Prophet as an inspiration for this. Repost because it didn’t show up in the tags

You can find a link to my Masterlist etc in my bio and pinned post

The scene was a mess when Aizawa arrived. The glass of what used to be a rather fancy door and windows cracked under the soles of his shoes as he approached the building. The automatic door did not open anymore, so he simply stepped through the giant hole in the pane, closely followed by his fellow pro-hero Midnight.

On the dark marble floor that adorned the bank’s entrance, the shards looked like stars in the sky of a clear summer night. However, the stars were not of their usual colour – they shone in a bright red. Aizawa’s eyes looked for the source of the red colouring and quickly fell onto the reason why he was there in the first place.

There was not much left of the expensive suit that the man had been wearing. It was ripped into pieces that hung loosely from his body, exposing the bone-deep wounds the man was covered in. An obnoxious smell came from the victim, but Aizawa refrained from covering his nose. Instead, he just clenched his jaw, the sensation a minor distraction from it.

Kayama crossed her arms in front of her chest. “He’s dead.” Aizawa huffed in an amused manner. “I couldn’t tell, thank you for pointing that out.” He took a few brave steps toward the body. The investigators who had been taking notes and pictures of the victim and the scene made room for the hero. Their job was done and they disappeared outside.

Aizawa crouched down to get a closer look at the man. He was not particularly interested in the dead body itself, but in his suit. Trying not to get too much blood on his hands in the process, Aizawa reached into the man’s pocket. His fingers grazed a tiny piece of paper. ‘Bingo,’ he thought before letting it disappear immediately and without anyone noticing. He was proud that not even Kayama’s watchful eyes had picked up on him doing this. He was glad that the police had not found it yet, making it easier for him to maybe take a look at it later, despite already knowing what the piece of paper was. Though, there was something in his mind that told him to leave it there, to forget about all this. To leave it to the police. Aizawa should let this rest and move one. God, that was giving him a headache. He got up with an annoyed gnashing of teeth.

“Oh, the heroes!” A fairly young policeman interrupted Aizawa’s ‘investigation’ by approaching them. “Any witnesses?” Kayama asked without hesitations. “No, that’s why nobody called the pros. He was found like that by a civilian when he was already dead.” The man pulled out the notes he had been taking prior to the heroes’ arrival. “Has he been identified yet?” Even though they were not technically a part of the investigating forces, the heroes had to know everything. Catching the foe was their job after all. “No. We’re working on it,” the man answered Aizawa’s question. “You’ve taken a look at the body?”

“Yes.” “Do you have any idea who could’ve done this?” the policeman asked. Aizawa averted his eyes, afraid that the officer might know that he was lying when he said, “No. Isn’t it your job to find that out?” His worries turned out to be unjustified as the policeman clicked his pen and let it, alongside with his small notepad, disappear in his pocket, an offended frown on his forehead. “That’s correct,” he answered, clearly struggling to keep his composure after Aizawa’s comment. “The video tapes are being investigated at the moment.”

Aizawa huffed again. “Yeah, good luck with that.” Kayama gave him a warning side-look. He knew he went too hard on the newbies sometimes and being in no good mood after his small discovery did not make that any better. “I’m afraid I don’t understand,” the young man stated. “This was the work of someone who knew what they were doing,” Aizawa explained. “There were no witnesses so that person knew the perfect timing for their attack. I’m sure they were aware of the security cameras as well. Even though they completely destroyed the place which makes it seem like a messy, spontaneous attack, it was a coordinated one for sure. This wasn’t a simple robbery ending in murder, this was an assassination.” The man looked at him, stunned. Kayama, on the other hand, was not too impressed.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that the murderer was a pro at what they were doing. They probably-” Aizawa stopped himself before he could reveal any more of the things going through his head. “That’s it, that’s all I’ve got.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Eraserhead.” Still a little stunned, the policeman bowed his head, Aizawa did not bother to do the same.

They watched as the man joined his colleagues outside.

Aizawa rubbed his jaw. It hurt from how much he had been gritting his teeth. In his pocket, his fingertips touched the tiny piece of paper again. Snippets of the past that he had been trying to forget at any cost came back all of the sudden and with the force of water masses making their way through a dam after weeks of heavy rain. He closed his eyes for a moment. Home. He needed to get home right now.

Midnight frowned at Aizawa. She opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her by raising his hand in a defensive manner. “I know what you’re going to say, save your breath.” But, as it was to be expected from his friend, Midnight spoke anyway. “You’ve found another snip.” “That doesn’t matter.” “That means it was them.” Aizawa really did not want to have this conversation right now. He buried his hands in his pockets again, closing his fist around the paper, and started walking towards the entrance of the bank. The night was bright from the red lights of the many police cars outside the building, reflecting off the wet asphalt. Some reporters tried to get a picture of the heroes leaving the building or even the crime scene. Their flashing cameras blinded Aizawa and he looked down as he lifted the warning tape to pass beneath it.

He was sure that Midnight would follow him but he would not have thought that she would catch up so fast. “You should tell the police everything you know about them,” she ordered. “I haven’t seen them in three months-” Aizawa sighed. “-since they lost their hero license, became a vigilante and broke up with me.” “Aizawa, that did not look like the work of a vigilante. That was a villain’s work.” He recalled the images of the scene and shook his head. Both to erase the picture of the corpse, and to disagree with his friend. “I’m sure they had their reasons.” Midnight huffed. “And you’re still defending them? Why?” Aizawa did not have an answer. “I’m sure the investigations will give some more insight.” “The investigations that you are impeding?” He did not have an answer to that either.

“I didn’t think you were the kind of person to let your feelings get in the way of your work.”

Stopping in his tracks, Aizawa sighed. “I didn’t think that either.” A hand of his wandered from his pocket to his chest, right above his heart. The pain that he had been trying to ignore came back, full force. It spread like a forest fire in a dry summer from his chest through his entire body, replacing the numbness he had been dealing with for the past months. The pain took his breath and made it impossible for him to move. He needed to get home, please, he needed to get away from Kayama, away from everyone.

For a mere second, he thought of how he needed you. You would know what to say, how to help him. You would know how he felt by just looking at him. But then he remembered that it was also you who had gotten him into this situation in the first place. That you were the one who had just murdered that man. Why was he defending you? He did not know. It was not the right thing to do, probably. Maybe. Maybe? He had no idea.

Aizawa’s fingers held onto his shirt that hung loosely over his chest. It did not ease the pain. Neither did holding onto that piece of paper you had left for him on the body. Just like you had left them at the scenes after the last few crimes you had committed. But with the difference that this had been your first murder.

“They’re not a villain, Kayama.” Aizawa was glad when he felt the first few raindrops hit his clothes and hair. The rain would cool him down, sort his thoughts out. Or so Aizawa hoped. “They may have lost their hero license but that doesn’t make them a villain.” “So you’re calling them a vigilante?”

“The hero system is not rational. Vigilantism is not rational either,” Aizawa was not sure where he was going with this. Maybe this was just him convincing himself that, no, you were not a villain. He clenched both his fists until his knuckles turned white. He thought of all the times they had put hero students so very young in dangerous situations, leaving them mentally scarred forever. He thought of the students who died horrible deaths upon being put into fights that were not even theirs yet and might not even become theirs in the future. He thought about the rejects, those who did not fit into heroism. He thought about those abusing their power. And finally, he thought about you, who had always fought against these problems in your own way and thus lost your license. And Aizawa had been too much of a coward to follow you.

He felt like he had broken into pieces that day, ripped apart into tiny snippets. It was not impossible for him to comprehend your thoughts and motivations – no, they even made sense to him. But a part of him stuck to what he had been taught to believe in. No, it was not only his heart that had broken that day.

It started to shower and thunder could be heard in the distance. Aizawa’s clothes started sticking to his skin, sending a shiver down his spine. He should get out of the rain to not catch a cold but instead he lifted his head and faced the sky. The rain mixed with the tears he had been shedding in secret and hidden from his friend’s view.

Aizawa had not allowed himself to cry until now. And hell, it felt good. The pain in his body eased, returned to his heart until that was the only place to ache.

“Give me the paper.” Kayama came closer and, in that moment, Aizawa was incredibly thankful for the rain. He reached into his pocket and placed the snippet on Kayama’s hand.

“It’s a location, just like the last few times. They want to talk to you, Aizawa.” “Yeah, it seems like they do.” “You should accept their offer.” “Did you change your mind about them all of the sudden?” Aizawa raised his eyebrows at Kayama. “No,” Midnight admitted. “But I’m your friend and I see that you’re hurting.” She rested her free hand on his shoulder. “And I trust your judgement that they have their reasons.” Aizawa ignored her last statement. “I’m not hurting.” “Oh shut the hell up.” Kayama lightly punched his bicep, it barely hurt. “It’s not far from here. A five-minute walk. Do you wanna go?” Aizawa nodded.

He did not know why he had agreed to meet you. It was not rational, not at all. The walk there felt as though it lasted hours – every single step took so much effort, like the street was made of gum sticking to his soles. At this point, he could see their breaths in the white lights of the street lanterns. The cold bit into Aizawa’s skin, made its way through his flesh and stuck to his bones, slowed him down even more. The rain was getting into his eyes, blurring his vision. Maybe the world did not want him to get to you, he thought. But when he saw your silhouette in the distance, an umbrella in your right hand to protect yourself from the rain, he remembered why he was there. He was there to make things right. Between him and you as well as in the society he lived in. He would do anything to fix this mess. To protect his students. To protect his and your ideals. To protect the ones he loved. To protect you. And to be protected by you.

“I am here,” was all he said when he came to a stop two metres before you. All Might’s catchphrase, ironic for the situation he was in. Even though it was dark, he was able to see you smile. It was a warm smile, the one he had missed so incredibly much. You offered him your hand and he took it with no hesitation. It felt familiar and sent electricity through your touching palms, up his arm and through his entire body. Somehow, the snippets of who he was came together and he felt whole again.

#aizawa x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #shouta aizawa x reader #aizawa #aizawa shouta #x reader #x you #x yn #x gender neutral reader #x gn!reader #bnha x reader

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

Text

All in the Family

Chapter 110: The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

After all the general crashing, smashing, and cursing wore off, it was nice to find themselves in a normal part of the castle such as the staff room. A game of chess had been interrupted by Frank, and all the pieces were yelling at him for it, cloaks were hung over the back of a few chairs, a stack of books anyone would peg to be McGonagall's had been overturned, and Professor Sprout had apparently been in the middle of grading a few assignments upon their entrance. Someone had even been reading the paper, Frank noticed as Alice picked up the copy with today's date. He shooed away a pawn that was still berating him and went over to see it had been covering the book, but as he picked it up he looked sharply at her instead as she gasped loud enough to drown out everybody else's mutterings.

Without prompting she read out Umbridge's new position as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and just what exactly that was. By the end all of them had a nasty pit in their stomach, and Frank was gripping the book like it had toad slime covering it. She'd only been there one week and already had equal power to the Headmaster? What madness was this?

Sirius watched in disgust as Longbottom read the chapter title as repeat of that stupid self-imposed ruling from the toad, but announced the article was read by Harry himself and was forced to reread it, as they all knew the book wouldn't let them skip. It sounded no better the second time, like a worm digging in one ear and down the throat, but sadly gave Sirius's mind a chance to wander and go back to watching Regulus with deep contemplation.

He was chasing the lost chess pieces around, and finally came up with all the white ones, offering Peter a game, who instantly agreed. He watched the two walk away, that pit in his stomach growing.

Some instinct still wanted to go over there and stop this before it went any farther. Logic told him that these two had ended up being Death Eaters without the others' influence, wouldn't them hanging out just fast forward that process?

Then he watched Regulus laugh again, and Peter actually smiled with a kind of pride Sirius couldn't claim to have ever seen.

This whole experience had gone from weird, to kind of cool, to horrifying, to traumatizing, to now just kind of, common place. The last time he'd thought about dealing with Regulus in any capacity had been ages ago now, the Marauders' own business being blown up and finally settling into an uneasy agreement had pushed his brother far from his mind, but now watching the two, he was kicking himself more than ever for it all.

Even being forced into his company Sirius had never properly reached a hand out to Regulus, as Peter himself had once so eloquently put it. He'd begun thinking of his dorm mates as his brothers by the end of second year, and third year had all but confirmed it by the time Regulus walked into school. Peter had even sort of absently replaced Regulus in his mind, the kid brother he could give shit to but nobody else in the world could. James was his equal now, the first to turn to when he had a problem and always had a good solution. Remus even had Regulus' biting sarcasm that he wouldn't let anyone see but his real friends, otherwise he was the face of cool and calm. He'd finally admit to himself watching them now he could have two baby brothers, right?

"Padfoot?" James hopped up on the table beside him where he'd landed and never moved, watching his line of sight. He tried to hide his unease Sirius was scrutinizing the pair again. If Sirius went off again about trying to get them to stay apart, James had no idea how he could step in and stop any of it. He still found it weird himself, but neither was doing any real harm. If anything, James would have to admit the two always seemed in a better mood hanging out with each other.

"It's not too late for us, right James?" He asked quietly, eyes on Moony now as he went over to the cupboard and rubbed his hand thoughtfully along it. Harry and Ron had once hid inside it and listened to the devastating news of Ginny's death and had saved her life in impossible odds.

"No," James said instantly, even if he still wasn't entirely sure what Sirius was getting at. He, as usual, was watching Evans, sitting by Longbottom's feet with Alice and the two whispering suspiciously as Harry's lessons went through without Umbridge, yet, in History of Magic and Potions, though the later of which was still a miserable experience for all.

She hadn't defended Snivellus in some time now, he'd very pleasantly noted, and in fact as talk turned to OWL grades she hadn't even glanced up at the book through the whole class. Maybe she was finally starting to see the git he was?

Then, as the twins arrived, her eyes flickered to him and away so fast, he'd swear his eyes were playing tricks on him. She still thought he was like them, only a troublemaker and nothing more.

He didn't want to open up his own prank shop though. While a worthy cause he'd invest in, he had other goals and aspirations for his life. He'd walked away from his career advice even nurturing the idea of being an Auror. Surely she'd see that as a good thing?

"We've always made our own future," James said practically, now grinning at Moony who was hovering as close to the three as he dared, clearly very invested in this whole teacher grading outcome. None of them acknowledged him, which in itself was a kindness to the fear-filled looks he was probably expecting. "I say we keep doing that."

"Yeah?" Sirius sounded a bit hopeful now. James grinned as he shook his shoulder for emphasis.

"Yeah. You're a bloody impulsive idiot, and I'd never change that, but maybe next time you lay into them, just, think about how bad you felt last time?" He felt stupid putting it as a question, but it was more than obvious Sirius felt bad for something regarding those two in particular. The list of reasons that could be wasn't exactly short, but when James tore his eyes back away to see Sirius honestly considering his words and eyes back on Regulus and Peter, he put it together with Sirius's reaction to Percy's letter.

Sirius wanted to make amends to the two, and he didn't want it to get ripped up in his face.

He tore his eyes away from their game, Peter was winning, and grinned at him. "And you Prongs? Going to put all that practice of annoying Evans finally sink in and try something else?"

"I might," he said honestly, going in vivid detail in his mind over all the times he'd interacted with her, specifically the ones where she hadn't started calling him an arrogant birk. The ones that stuck out were when he'd stopped trying to make her laugh, oddly enough, but had just talked to her. How strange. "Worth a shot."

The two were interrupted by the book, as Umbridge entered Trelawney's class.

"Bet you a galleon someone's going to walk away from this dead," James said uneasily.

Sirius wasn't taking that bet, this was definitely going to be a horror show. It started out memorable enough for sure, Harry giving Ron the task to analyze his dream about drowning Snape gave everyone a grim laugh, even if Lily would deny any such thing. Then Umbridge started asking some routine questions that quickly devolved into Trelawney's shriek of insolence that she could not See upon command. The spectacle finally ended with Trelawney's dour announcement that Harry was to die, again, and honestly it hadn't been as bad as they thought.

"Can I still get that galleon?" Sirius asked.

"No," James huffed.

Umbridge's own lesson in fact ended up being worse, as it ended with Harry in another detention! James snarled in disgust, his hand itching to go for his wand and suspend this woman up by her ankle and leave her there for eternity if she kept doing this to his kid! Sirius was so outraged he stood up on the desk and began shouting several expletives, while Lily let her face fall into her hands. She couldn't stop herself hearing this, but she couldn't keep watching.

"I can't help but be rather impressed with him," Peter said quietly to Regulus as he watched Sirius's face start turning colors. "A lesser man would have backed down after what Harry went through, this kid's still pushing her."

"Being an idiot about it though," Regulus corrected, also frowning in concern at his brother. "You really think getting detentions would change anything but make her happier? Harry would be better off finding some other way to fight back than bowing down." He preferred the idea of getting in her good graces and destabilizing her from the inside.

"It's not as if the Order is exactly sharing how to do that," Peter disagreed, but he could definitely see Regulus's point. Both of them were very aware that if Umbridge were here now, it would be Sirius and James in those detentions and not them.

"Hopefully someone will come up with a better answer for Harry then," Regulus muttered, or the people listening to this were probably going to break the sound barrier first.

Their game forgotten, the two cringed into their seats until Remus finally came over and convinced Sirius to stop threatening for a few breaths or they'd never hear the end of it. Harry's new Quidditch captain and even McGonagall adding insult to injury was improving no one's mood though.

Still, it was nice to see Sirius's temper lash out at someone else for a change, Peter and Regulus even found themselves smiling a bit as the three's not so quiet mutters of what kind of pranks they'd be doing to that Umbridge filtered in the room.

Lily found herself listening grimly to the lot rather than Umbridge and McGonagall's back and forth. It deeply bothered her she found no ill will for listening in detail to their horrible pranking, but was she any better when she'd just been imagining slipping in a slow-acting poison into her next meal?

At least she'd only been imagining it...right? She warred with herself just how far she'd go to put a stop to this, if her own hand was being cut open, if some little first-year's was. The idea of having children was still above her, but she wouldn't deny she felt protective of Harry enough she wasn't going to stop the Marauders if they got the chance of meeting her any time when they got back.

It didn't make their vile ways of doing these kinds of things to anyone that annoyed them any better, especially Sev, but this was also not the first time she understood why they did it. It scared her just as much as her own wavering answer she realized she was actually starting to understand those idiots.

Frank found that things only continued to get worse as Umbridge followed Harry to his next class, Care of Magical Creatures. When Harry was given yet another detention for defending Hagrid from Malfoy's past stupid mistake, he had to fight the urge to join in with Lily this time as she cursed vividly, though not as loudly as Black started doing all over again.

This was beyond disgusting, his Mum would never stand for this happening in Hogwarts! Then Frank looked miserably at Lily, and glanced sadly at the godfather, and reminded himself Harry didn't have anyone to really go to this with.

When Hermione brought up the subject of them just learning Defense Against the Dark Arts straight from Harry, he and Alice exchanged another terrified look. It was such a singular moment to them, they didn't even register anyone else's reaction, this was their own bubble of worry.

Neither had spoken of it because the book itself hadn't, but what if Neville started getting these detentions as well? Was Harry the only one here? Doing this to him was bad enough they already wished someone would step in, but it seemed a disaster waiting to happen if Neville, Ron, Hermione, those twins, and a host of other students were to join Harry.

Frank still remembered Luna Lovegood and Ernie Macmillan declaring themselves publicly believing Harry, and he fidgeted with unease if Harry would still think he was in the right if those around him started suffering his same punishment.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #HP #OotP #Wolfstar #Jilly #James Potter #Marauders #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Peter Pettigrew #Frank Longbottom #alice Smith #Lily Evans

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lancermylove · 3 years

Note

You know the deres things? Like tsunderes and kuuderes, and yanderes? What dere would you think would fit each character in bsts? There are a lot of deres to be honest. Sorry if this confuses you. I'm bad at English

Anon, I just spend countless hours researching deres and trying to fit all the characters into the one that suits them the best. Did not mean to spend so much time but hahaha....I get too passionate about BSTS related things. XD

Everything is under the cut!

Deredere: Kasumi, Qu, Kongou, Unei

Deredere + Hajidere : Sinju, Ginsei

Hajidere: Yoshino

Oujidere: Maica, Mokuren

Hiyakasudere: Sotetsu, Akira, Zakuro

Hiyakasudere + Kitikudere: Rico

Nemuidere: Menou

Danredere: Gui

Darudere: Taiga

Kuudere: Sin

Tsundere: Mizuki

Byoukidere: Heath

Sadodere: Haseyama

Goudere + Dorodere (kinda): Ran

There are some characters that I literally can’t find one dere that would fit them.

Ran: kinda a dorodere due to his violent tendencies and unpredictable side but also a deredere, but also has this side that can put people straight. If he loves someone, he would be a ray of sunshine, cute, but would get a bit fussy if he didn’t get what he wanted.

Takami: Seems distant but doesn’t really fit any of the distant deres because he has a warmer side to him (might or might not be for show). He also likes to tease MC but isn’t a hiyakasudere, and he is intelligent and can give threats to people but isn’t violent. If he loves someone, Takami would be a dom type but would also treat his s/o like a princess. Maybe, just maybe, could be borderline yandere, but we don’t have enough info about him.

Hari: Oujidere but not “bow down to me” type, he has a deredere side where he is nice and is willing to help others out, but like Ran, can also show someone a much-needed mirror. I feel like he would be a Hajidere with the person he loves, but at the same time, he would have a bit of a dom side.

Yakou: kind but not a deredere, has a kinda insecure side but isn’t a mean person, and he is hardworking but loses confidence if there’s a slight downfall. If he loves someone, I think he would be immensely loyal but would also be a little insecure, thinking he will lose you.

I saved these two for the end because I am going to write an essay on them as expected I hope. XD

Kei

Has a bit of kamidere with being prideful and arrogant, but in all fairness, he’s arrogant because he knows he’s good...and he IS good. He doesn’t tell people to treat him like a god nor wants to be treated like a god. Honestly, he doesn’t care for your opinion unless you matter to him lol. He knows who he is and doesn’t need anyone to tell him. Kei is also very fair as seen with Yoshino and letting his teammates be center.

Kei is there to protect MC and even went as far as to put his celeb career on hold for MC’s sake, so he is not self-centered. He has also saved the members of Starless from being fired by the universe’s worst boss on multiple occasions, be it at the beginning of BSTS, during borderline 1, or borderline 2. For BL2, he even temporarily suspended his own team to save Team W, and then apologized to his teammates and thanked them for being by his side. Also, he doesn’t see any of the Starless members as inferior and doesn’t pick fights unless someone Rico starts them first. And for those of you who think he mistreats certain characters, then by all means message me...in Kokuyou’s words “If you’re selling a fight, I’ll buy it”. XP

He’s very protective, loving towards MC but isn’t by any means a yandere or an obsessive-shy fanboy. He shows MC an extremely soft side that is reserved for MC’s eyes ONLY. Yes, he has devoted himself to MC, but he doesn’t say yes to everything MC says, so no, he’s not an undere. As a lover, Kei would be the knight/angel in shining armor and would shower s/o with all the love and happiness in the world. He would not put any restrictions on s/o and would go to any extent to protect his love, even if it means giving up his life. Is there a “perfect lover - knight in shining armor-guardian angel” dere? :P

Kokuyou

Has a bit of kamidere as well, but his kamidere is more in the direction of he’s the top and will be center, is arrogant, expect people to listen to him (or pick a fight if they disagree lol), and also his title of Mr. Starless. Again, in all fairness, he has been the face of Starless and handled the previous Starless after the Mikis/Iwami disappeared.

He isn’t a tsundere or a complete kuudere, but has both dere traits here and there - harsh, hot-blooded, loner, and cool. He doesn’t fit either dere though because Kokuyou is not the calm/collected never panics type. He shows his emotions as is, so he’s more of the clean-hearted person who doesn’t hide anything and says it how it is. He’s a loner (not anti-social) in the sense that he doesn’t care for chummy relationships (be it love or friendship) but he doesn’t push people away from him. I mean Mizuki literally sees him as an older brother, and Kokuyou picked Mizu off the streets and fed him/helped him out. He may seem like a tsundere because he’s initially cold to people he doesn’t know and warms up slowly but he’s really not.

He’s just a rough around the edges type of guy who has been through a lot in his life and doesn’t want to associate himself with others, maybe due to his past or not finding the right person. As a lover, Kokuyou would be a caring and loving man but not the sugar-sweet type. He would be protective as hell but not a yandere, and he would give his s/o space and would want space in return. He’s not the type to cling nor is he a type to like clingy people. Like Kei, Kokuyou would willingly give up his life to protect his s/o. I feel like Kokuyou would value honesty, even if he may initially get upset hearing the harsh words. Is there a “rough around the edges - still loving - protective - will not take any sh*t” dere?

#bsts character info #bsts #anon ask #kiara ask

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docholligay · 3 years

Note

For the rewrite: You get to rewrite D-Point/S1 finale but in a way that it could still fit into where the rest of the series goes and R could start as normal. How would you do it?

UGH. So basically I have to keep the weird false divide between inners and outers. FURI YOU LOATHE ME. This is obviously only part of it, as, uh, I am long-winded and love a bit of drama, but 1800 words. please enjoy

The wind whirled grey across that empty arctic plain. Well, not quite empty. If rei had been turned another direction, she would have seen Ami’s body, perched on a mound of ice, there in the far background from where Mina had dragged them both away from the scene, as if her own element were constructing a tomb to her. She knew without seeing that Ami would be dressed in that loose grey sweater and awkward green skirt that came down to her calves, a pair of loafers on her feet. It was what she had been wearing last time they’d transformed. The uniform leaves, when a senshi dies.

She’d found that out with Mako.

Rei hadn’t seen Ami die. She hadn’t needed to. It had, like she’d said, afforded Rei and Mina the time to move forward along that plain, trying to find the place where they could enter the lair where Beryl was said to sit, on this desolate patch of earth that might have been beautiful, thousands of years ago, when it was the seat of power for the earth, but now was as lifeless as everything else behind them.

Mina’s nose was in the air, as if she could smell anything but the bright cold of the wind. As if she could hear anything but that howling which might have been the same wind, but just as likely might have been Usagi. It could have been Rei’s own soul, too, she supposed.

She wanted to melt all of it. She wanted to take her arms off from around Usagi, put her hands together, and bring it all to dirt. How foolish they would be, bringing a fire maiden to the ice, not knowing what sort of powers she contained. She was the ace in the hole, she knew. She was the strongest one, here, if her pride did not allow her to remember that might not be true everywhere.

MIna stepped back from her lookout and glanced over to Rei and Usagi. “Sailor Moon. Princess.” Usagi looked up at her, tears half-frozen on her cheeks, “We have to keep going. If we stay here, they’ll find us straightaway.”

Rei wanted to protest, but only in the way that she wanted the girl before her to be Mina and not Venus. She had never mastered that in the same way Mina had, to be two people in one body. She was always Rei, and Mars was only ever Rei with the fire at her fingertips instead of her heart. Mina was warm and bright, if a bit annoying--a neon light, flashing in the cool darkness--but Venus was sheer steel, cold and unrelenting.

Usagi began wailing.

“But, but--” she took a deep breath, and coughed against the cold, “Am--”

“Sailor Mercury did her duty. It would be worst disrespect to her death not to do ours.” She looped the chain at her waist, tightening it as she went to move forward. “It’s getting closer to the surface, over that way.”

Rei hadn’t known Mina very long, as a practical matter. It was only recently that Rei had come to see her as anything other than a usurper, strolling into the group and declaring herself the military commander of the entire operation. Luna had said nothing to disagree, simply called her Commander Venus as Rei glared.

“I am the commander,” Mina had sipped at her tea, eyes sparking in the way they often did when she and Rei were alone, something that tugged onto Rei and made her keep looking. She blamed the moon. “But you are the personal bodyguard. You are the last one standing, because that’s your job.”

“Who decided that anyway?” Rei had scowled across the table, Mina leaning toward her, those clever eyes searching her too deeply, “You? You just think you can show up and--”

She’d laughed. “Oh, I don’t decide anything.” She looked up out the window to the sky. “This is so far beyond you and me.”

Rei went to protest that it didn’t have to be that way, that nothing was beyond her exactly, but Mina never gave her the opportunity.

“Don’t you want to protect Usagi?” MIna had come just a little closer to her, and she could smell that near-syrup sweetness, like peaches in a can, “Can’t you feel that you should? Why do you think that is.”

“That’s different.” Rei said, both then and now, Mina and Usagi both looking at her suddenly.

“What is?” Mina had her hands on her hips.

Rei shook her head, but did not remove her arms from Usagi’s side. “Let’s go.”

The terrain was not so flat as it looked, and Usagi stumbled as she cried, protesting that Rei and Mina didn’t care about their friends, neither of them rising to the occasion. Even now, Usagi did not seem to realize that this was it. This was the grand battle for which they had been reborn, this was the one they had to win. Every battle leading up to this had only ever been dress rehearsal.

It was not Ami and Mako at risk, but the world entire.

Mina stopped, putting her hand on Rei’s chest to pause her, but flashing her a grin that was beyond Venus as she did so. There was a glow in the earth, here, just barely, if you looked beyond the snow. Anyone else might have walked past it, might have stepped over it, but Mina put her hand down onto it, and it pulsed beneath her hand.

There was a rumble, and a crack, and Mina pushed them both back, grabbing to the chain at her side and beginning to swing. Usagi whimpered, again, and Mina turned back to the two of them, chain still gliding in golden figure eight over her head, as if it were a crown all her own.

“You have to go.” Mina’s eyes looked greyer, somehow, in this light, “Take her and head for the point on the far horizon. You have to get her there, Mars.”

Usagi tried to pull away from Rei’s heat, to no avail.

“Venus! We can’t leave you!” She began to cry again, her whimpering cry mixing with that same cold wind and drilling into Rei’s ears. “You can’t die too!”

“No,” she shook her head, “you can’t die, Princess. You’re the key. You’ve always been the key.”

Rei saw, in that moment, that it was never going to be otherwise. This was always how it ended. It was always Mars, bow on her back, taking the princess where she needed to be. Even if they won. Even if they failed. She was always the last one standing, always the final line of defense, and it was always her fire that protected the princess. The fire hadn’t shown her that before. It had never been close enough to see by its light.

Before Usagi could say otherwise, the ground burst open, and two of the youma guards popped out, mouths wide with delight and fury as they careened toward the three. MIna’s chain curved in a broad arc in the air, and came down, wrapping around a youma’s arm, twisting it back as she drew the chain in. But the other youma was fast approaching, and Mina was forced to step back, hurtling one youma into the other with a fierce swing of the chain.

She turned her head.

“Go!”

Rei stammered for a moment, unsure in a way that felt wrong and less stable than the crust of snow beneath her feet. But what about you? She wanted to say. If we leave you, you’ll die, and she saw Mina leaning over the table again, and she felt her body close in, and she could barely draw a breath at this moment, everything that might have been burning in the fire of what was to be.

Mina whipped the chain over her, moving deftly as she looped in around her neck and rerouted it, sparking one and then the other with its tip, blood beginning to tear from the two of them. Her violence was poetry, Rei thought, the chain her pen. She was nothing like the rest of them, stronger than Ami, more elegant than Mako, and, though she would only ever allow this in though, perhaps more clever than Rei herself. She was a creature created for this moment, a valkyrie of the long odds.

They staggered back, weapons drawn, unsure of how to handle this unusual weapon.

Mina looked back, blonde hair whipping in the wind, eyes narrowed.

“Go or I will kill you myself.”

Rei nodded, in that, the first command from Mina for which she had no moment to question or balk, and for which she felt no drive to do so. She took Usagi by the shoulders, her cries fading into the background against the shoosh of Mina’s chain.

As Rei started to move away, the youmas rushed at Mina, trying to flank her from the sides, but Mina was too quick and too studied, whipping the chain around her and knelling to the ground, catching them both with the end of it, howls as they furiously took another blow before they could turn to run, but un they did, escaping back down the hole in the ice.

“Have to go after them, unsettle the place.” MIna grinned back to Rei, and blew a kiss. “Think of me, fireball.”

Rei hated the nickname instantly. Rei hoped she would say it again. But she became Venus again.

“Princess. Your duty to the world is at hand. Do it.”

She did not wait for a reply, simply whipped the chain above her and disappeared down the hole. As Rei dragged Usagi away, still crying and screaming, Rei fought back tears of her own, hearing the fighting below them, hearing the thunderous roar of the troops coming to aid, knowing that Mina would die down there, bloody and bruised, her body broken in a horrible, dark, cold cave at the end of nowhere.

There was the entrance up ahead. Mina was right, they were scattered, they assumed the senshi had all entered together, they had not thought of it as Mina had, as Venus always would, and now was their moment.

“CRESCENT!!! BEAM!!!!” She heard echoing on the tundra behind her, and then there was a grand explosion, the tearing and rending of the earth behind them, and Rei and Usagi looked back to see a golden crest in the sky, rocks and dirt and snow flying from where she had blown apart the tunnel she was in, a sudden still silence filling the air, a fine red mist settling into perfect ruby snowflakes into that same wind, and whispering out toward she and Usagi.

Usagi screamed. It might have been Mina’s name, or Venus’, but it was a tuneless thing and might have been neither of them at all.

Onward. Make it worth it.

She grabbed Usagi’s arm, and pulled.

#thoughtfulfuri #Eight Days 2020 #SM rewrites #basically what if instead of just a line of getting killed there were a handful of tactics #give them some credit

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jilljoycearts · 3 years

Note

YOU MADE ME DO IT I'M IN AGONY AND MIGHT NOT READ YOUR RESPONSE BECAUSE I'M SCAAAAAAARED

Feel free to skip a few I'm overenthusiastic thinking of trios in Enderal

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

9. Snug, marry, kill

-> The Forgotten Stories Trio

Tharaêl, Dijaam, Esme

-> The Main platonic and/or romantic Relationships (imho)

Tharaêl, Jespar, Calia

-> Easy peasy maybe? The Emissaries besides the Prophetess (asking you about Siri feels wrong lol)

Tealor, Coarek, Yuslan

-> Iconic Vendors

Fresh and Tasty Bread, huh no I just place them out for you to look at, my wares it is you want to see I promise you they bring you glee

-> Dust pit adversaries (I want to write Tharaêl again because technically true hngpf)

The Twins (double trouble with two handed hammerss), Tamas Sha'Gar (first fight with the 4 people free for all, he was the one with bow and fire arrows), Raga Shadowclaw (lycanthrope)

-> more "cuddle once, have as a pet, abandon (give to a loving person to take care of)"

Whirlwind (Donkey), Standard Brown horse (not Svart), Cuthbert (the dead (& kinky) mini pig of Maxus Tabaccus, the summoned form not alive one of him)

-> The Big Baddies

The Father, Daddy, Ketaron Dal'Geyss (Rynéus' Father)

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

I'm a big indecisive softy so I couldn't answer any of those. Last one clearly indicates a certain **theme** in the game 🤔

Long ask - long answer! Like, very long. The following is based on my personal opinions, visions of characters, marriage, human behaviour etc etc, and I’m fine if you disagree with me. Also, warning - adult topics.

Okay, the input info:

- I think for myself, not for my prophetess (what I am: mid twenties female who values personal space in a relationship the most). - I don’t turn it into modern au. - This is “fuck/marry/kill”, not “snug/marry/kill” (I believe it’s implied, but still, ADULT TOPICS AHEAD) - For me(for this game) marriage is a combo of the first of our wonderful three-positions list, the lack of wish to implement the third and commitment. If optimistic – even fruitful coexistence. I keep in mind marriage is stability and all. - “Kill” is mostly “off the table” for those characters I can’t see fitting for any of the first two positions. That doesn’t mean I want to kill them, except I specifically state so.

1. Tharaêl, Jespar, Calia Starting with the hardest one.I’m telling bye to Calia, alas. She’s too lawful, and I’d be very grey morality-wise if put to their realities. Besides, she has these sub vibes and I agree with opinions she might be very dom when it comes to intimacy, but her whole sadness aura is not for me. I don’t want to deal with it if I don’t have to. Jespar: we know what he thinks of any relationship - “as long as I feel like it - I’m here for it, else - adiós” and it’s pretty common for our world, but as we’re in a medieval and religious community, I believe open relationship is not common at all. I am thinking about marriage possibilities here, yes. He wouldn’t like the idea – it involves commitment. And I assume he’s the closest to me personality-wise, so we could be close friends, but I *want* commitment. Whether the relationship hits low or we’re doing pretty good – I want my spouse to be with me. Jespar is known for running away when things get bad. So yeah, he stays just for one night. And it seems I have to marry Tharael. Well… He’s very ESTJ, but I don’t mind if he takes care of, welp, everything. Pros: his understanding of “family” is quite classic to our world as well. Remember what he says in the Refuge - “no one will have to mourn me - no widow, no children, no friends”. So in his head he tried to fit the roles of a husband and a father(still can’t see how he’s capable of it, but he definitely gave it some thinking). Family for him = wife and kids. He acknowledges and accepts the commitment. Besides, he seems to be very responsible and reliable. He also tries to be rational, sometimes he even manages. And, as I see the Rhalata as a military formation, having spent 8 years there, he is very straightforward and strict/precise/exact (pick the right word). If something’s being said – rarely hidden context is implied. It makes communication much easier. Cons: he is explosive and I have strong suspicions he might be of jealous type. It is manageable, though. Especially if you set a list of rules together what is acceptable and what needs further explanations. He’s used to living following rules, so give him new ones and he’ll feel more confident. But careful, as it may play against you. Been there done that. Rules are cool as long as they’re acceptably flexible and you’re not trying to find how to cheat and break them.

But out of these three, he is the husband material, at least for me. I’m not mentioning any intimacy above, as it would break the game for Tharael at all. But if elaborating – I don’t even know how you would drag him to your bedroom when he’s aware what he is and absolutely not aware what this new “shell” may produce as kids, if it is capable of it at all. So I politely ignore this fact. (In my otp it works as I headcanon the prophet can’t have children)

2. Tharaêl, Dijaam, Esme Why I would marry Esme: she *is* commitment. She cares a lot for a person she’s close to. She cares even after their relationship is not a thing anymore. I love this personality trait, and I’d like to see it in a potential spouse. I’m not sure what kind of relationship she prefers tho, if it’s open like Jespar wants them to be, I start doubting and think of picking Tharael again(not telling Tharael doesn’t care as much; in fact, he cares more). If not an open relationship – Esme is “lighter” than him, but also much more naive. But it’s okay, I can be oversuspicious for the both of us. So, marry Esme. And sorry, Dijaam, I have to kill you as I like Tharael more 🤷🏻‍♀️

3. Tealor, Coarek, Yuslan Ah, tricky. Yuslan once had a family – he’s capable of it, they were happy, so I’d pick him for marriage. I know how Qyranian people handle families and marriage, and poly relationships are definitely not my thing, but what he had was very “classy”, so I’m good.Tealor failed to have a family. He barely tried at all. Taranor – the lore never mentioned anything about any love interests. I guess not much difference here picking who to fuck and who to kill. I just pick what looks better, so… kill Tealor.

4. “Iconic Vendors Fresh and Tasty Bread, huh no I just place them out for you to look at, my wares it is you want to see I promise you they bring you glee” I barely trade in the game, I hoard everything😅 I know the first one is Marita, the second phrase is not unique to just one character and the last one I simply can’t remember. But I don’t want to do anything with the mean trader, so I kill him. Marita will be my friend.

5. “Dust pit adversaries (I want to write Tharaêl again because technically true hngpf)The Twins (double trouble with two handed hammerss), Tamas Sha'Gar (first fight with the 4 people free for all, he was the one with bow and fire arrows), Raga Shadowclaw (lycanthrope)” Ehhhh we don’t have any personalities here, so I can’t really pick anyone. KILL ALL!

6. “more "cuddle once, have as a pet, abandon (give to a loving person to take care of)"Whirlwind (Donkey), Standard Brown horse (not Svart), Cuthbert (the dead (& kinky) mini pig of Maxus Tabaccus, the summoned form not alive one of him)” I’m keeping the ghost pig as it’s somewhat intelligent, doesn’t need food and grooming and takes care of itself in general. If given the choice, I wouldn’t pick anything. Commitment, commitment… As for the other two hoofed frens, no difference really. I’d patpat both, but I don’t want to own a pet.

7. The Father, Daddy, Ketaron Dal'Geyss (Rynéus' Father) Ahh yess daddy issues :D It’s actually simple for me. Daddy I would kill. Huge no. No-no-no. Firstly, he’s a father figure (and you associate yourself with the prophet), so no “snug”, no marriage, no anything. Kill him and that’s all. Ketaron I have to pick for just one night as I don’t see it possible for me to survive under the same roof with this shitty person… So I marry the Father. Nothing physical and it won’t be much I would have to contribute to this relationship but it would be interesting to learn new things, at least. Still, I can see it as “I don’t bother you with your business, you don’t bother me, we just coexist without hate and sometimes I ask dumb questions” That’s all. And no, I won’t try to change anything about the Father. I’d better prefer to avoid any contacts. Serious questions here, being put into a position of spouse would make me shave my head or not 🤔

#enderal #joycereplies #tag for headcanons #text goes brrrr #its late night and I fell ill but Im at my pc working on comms now - bf got corona symptoms and I might be next so I have to finish my comms #havent proofread the text above

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myrandomfandomramblings · 3 years

Text

The Legends meet the crew of the Raza

Three and Mick:

- hit it off after a hostile introduction:

*Raza crew introduces themselves*

Mick: *makes fun of them for having numbers for names.*

Three: *points gun at Mick* “Want to say that again?”

Mick: *Points flame gun at Three* “Gladly”

*Sara and Two step between them to break them up*

Sara: Cut it out. Killing each other won’t help anyone. Rory why don’t you get yourself and our guests some drinks.

Mick: Fine but I’m not giving them the good stuff

*Only Three accepts a drink and he and Mick end up happily recounting their biggest scores*

Two and Sara:

bond over being Captains

talk about how they love their teams but sometimes feel like a babysitter.

bond over the responsibility of leading a team and the pressure that comes with feeling like every loss and failure is on them. Then talk about One and Nyx and Stein and Snart and Rip.

bond over struggling with regretting their past actions and trying to move forward and be better people.

they get along really well until half-way through the mission when their teams disagree and they both back their teams full-stop.

Five:

connects with the most legends

Gideon fabricates a hot chocolate for her in the galley

Ray and Nate show her all the cool tech (extra dimensional extrapolators, time carriers, ingestible translators, the atom suit) in the lab

she spends most of her time playing video games with Zari.

Six and Ava:

bond over initially detesting their teams way of operating but then coming to see the benefits

talk about how they still sometimes question their teams methods but at the end of the day they are their team and family and they trust them

bond over trying to be the rational compasses for their respective teams and on making decisions about which rules to follow and which to break.

Android and Gideon:

compare their respective ship specs

brag about their teams

discuss the similarities and differences between their technology and programming

like Two and Sara they get along until half-way through the mission when they too both back their teams full-stop.

Four:

doesn’t bond with anyone.

after 20 minutes he is dead set against working with the Legends having already heard about Beebo the fuzzy, blue kids toy that fought demons, the suggestion of ally bonding via a round of cards to save the time line and the motto “sometimes we screw things up for the better” said with sincere pride.

is surprised to find a decent collection of good quality hand-to-hand combat weapons, particularly bow-staffs in the armoury.

Is challenged by Sara to a hand-to-hand sparing match. If she wins they work together and if he wins the Raza crew can take the job for themselves as well as any resources the Legends have that they require. It was quite the fight and they were both so good it lasted much longer than either expected. At the end Sara just pulled out the win. Four reckoned it was home court advantage (since they were on the Waverider) or maybe because he had underestimated her. But he was a man of his word and he did feel better working with the legends now that their captain had earned his respect.

John and Charlie:

were sent away to John’s house while the Raza crew was on the Waverider to try to avoid exposing the existence of magic.

which was fine by both of them. They were happy to have the time to relax.

Team meeting:

*Discussion regarding the game plan for the mission leads to Sara and the Raza crew talking about their pasts and how they are trying to be better*

Ava (feeling left out): at least when you were bad people you were real people not just some cheap imitation grown in a lab

*Raza crew looks at Two and Android*

Android: are you insulting me?

Ava: No… I was insulting myself

Sara: Ava’s a-

Ava: Don’t say it. *buries face in her arm on the table*

Mick: Clone

Three: You mean like a robot like *points at android*

Sara: I can’t believe I have to say this again. I’m not having sex with a robot

Ava: *lifts her head off her arm to glare at Sara*

Android: What’s wrong with sex with a robot

Everybody: *starts laughing*

Sara: *apologizes to android*

Sara: *tries to explain that Ava’s fully human but she was created as an adult in a lab*

Gideon: *supplies all the technical stuff Sara can’t explain*

Two: Do you have nanites?

Ava: What are nanites?

Gideon: *explains what they are*.. but there is no evidence Miss Sharpe has ever had any

Sara: Why?

Two: *Decides to tell her story*

*When she mentions Dwarf Star Technologies Ray gets really excited and starts talking about the dwarf star alloy he used in the atom suit and asking Two if that’s what her nanites are made out of but stops when Two just stares daggers at him.*

Ava: Great so not only was I manufactured but I didn’t even get the cool stuff

Sara: How many times do I have to tell you that you are special and we love you for you

All the legends: *nod*

Android: My team used to say the same thing to me but I doubted them until I discovered I was created to be more

Ava: Well lucky you. I was created to be replaceable. In fact, I was the 12th clone to take my job… after the first 11 were killed.

Three: So you’re more like a Transfer Transit clone, but stable, physically speaking anyway. I think the emotional stability may be in question.

Six: Not helping Three

Android: I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation I can imagine how you feel and if my team’s shown me anything it’s that we have the power to decide who we are. *Pats Ava awkwardly on the shoulder*

Sara (starting to raise the energy): Ya! Who saved me from malleus

Ava: I did but-

Sara: and who rescued me from an army of vikings, pirates and Romans

Ava: I did

Sara: and who sent Rasputin back to hell

Ava: I did

Sara: See we need you and you are one of us

Android: You guys get up to some very strange adventures

Nate: That we do. So Android what was your great purpose

Android: *Explains about her creator (Dr. Shaw)

*When android mentions Dr. Shaw’s and Two’s relationship Sara gives Two ‘that look’.*

Android: What about you? What’s your purpose?

Nate: Ahh… well… I know a lot about history and I can turn to steel.

Ray: and he’s a really good friend

Nate: *nods*

Three: Seriously

Five: Well I think that settles it. We’re all just a bunch of misfits. I think we’ll make a good team.

And they did! Until they didn’t.

#legends of tomorrow #dark matter #sara lance #ava sharpe #ray palmer #nate heywood #zari tomaz #two #three #four #five #six #android #gideon #mick rory

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couslandofhighever · 4 years

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Hey! Can we please have rose, peach, yellow bow and fire form the oc ask? For any OC you want. Sorry, I'm on phone and I can't copy paste. xD

Hey, thank you for this! And that’s totally fine.

So far I only have Rosamunde Cousland, my first Warden.

🌹 How easy is it for them to connect with others and make friends? On the flip side how easy is it for them to make an enemy of someone? Are they the kind of person who hangs around the food table at a party and never talks to anyone or are they the type who can talk to anyone?

Rosamunde is a people person, but she prefers small group or private conversations even though she is capable of mingling. When she is on her guard, she is a social strategist and will choose blunt honesty or genteel obligation and telling people what they want to hear depending on the situation.

She always considered Bryce a little too trusting, and she was aware of the undercurrents of dangerous exploitation of women that does exist in Ferelden. She strove to make the most of the martial equality that was allowable, and she always wanted to participate in learning to fight and defend herself when her big brother did. This meant that she learned a lot of different registers of conversation, from groups made up of soldiers to what she was expected to do as a member of the nobility. However, a lot of these skills seemed to be just-for-practice until Howe’s treachery suddenly made everything all too real. Of course, this shook her ability to trust others, but it was not as deep a blow as it could have been.

First of all, she was pissed off. Secondly, she sensed that Howe was a snake. She just didn’t know how deep it ran.

Rosamunde prefers to make friends over enemies, and she is often a big proponent of second chances. She considers herself a good judge of character, perhaps sometimes incorrectly. She is not infinitely forgiving, though. For example, she had no hesitation about allowing Alistair to execute Loghain after their duel at the Landsmeet.

She likes to learn what makes the people around her tick, for better or worse.

Someone meeting her with violence or even simple distaste at the beginning of a relationship isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker for her. Treachery and betrayal bother her a lot, obviously, especially after what happened to her parents and everyone else who served them.

She may not be completely forthcoming about her mistrust or dislike of someone if she isn’t sure how it will play out. She will give people she’s unsure about some benefit of the doubt, but she definitely has suspicions that make her cautious to trust certain people, especially those who seem ambitious without a thought to the responsibilities that ambition would earn them.

She can talk to anyone, and she may pretend to be a terrible person for a moment if it will get them to open up to her about their plans, but if she does this she is likely to stab them in the neck or poison them if they won’t walk away with nothing but their life and the clothes on their back.

She is also especially prone to trying to befriend most women she meets, but she sometimes finds it easier to befriend men. She really wants feminine approval, and it is in part because - as of the start of her story, at least - she has not yet particularly realized that she is attracted to them, too.

🍑 Where is your OC’s favourite place to relax or calm down? Recount a story of their time spent in this place! What makes it so special to them?

Rosamunde was suddenly thrust into a fairly nomadic lifestyle when she became one of the two surviving Grey Wardens in Ferelden and - as far as she was sure - the only surviving member of her family. Her ancestral home was lost to her, and under the circumstances during the year it took to reunite Ferelden and end the Blight, she had no particular desire to return to Highever to find it occupied or empty and bloodstained.

She likes to go to places that overlook some kind of natural view. She particularly likes watching flowing water and the wildlife that come to its edge from time to time. She also likes hugging her dog and talking to him about whatever she would prefer not to vent to others’ ears. She likes cool and damp areas and the comfort fire brings from them.

Note: You asked for “yellow bow,” but I am not sure I see a yellow bow?

https://couslandofhighever.tumblr.com/post/626235048140619776/jumbo-ask-game

I will answer the only “bow” icon I saw, but if you meant one of the yellow category questions, please tell me which one, and I’ll answer it, too!

🎀 Do they wear a specific accessory with a special meaning behind it? What is their usual fashion sense like? What do they wear when they want to be comfortable and what do they wear when they’re going to a fancy party? Or do they just not care?

She likes to wear the blue color associated with her family’s heraldry, especially now that her parents died in such a terrible fashion. She does not want to forget her family or lose that association, whatever Grey Wardens traditionally do. She will always be a Cousland with all the weight and pride it carries. She takes being of noble birth very seriously. Some might disagree with valuing that kind of thing, and they might be right, but to her being nobility carries with it a long history of social responsibility more than a particular thirst for power. She feels that if she has the ability to do something, she should.

Luckily, or not, the heraldry associated with the Grey Wardens has a similar shade of blue.

She likes white, and if it is off-white she prefers a cooler, grayish tinge to it.

She likes earthy colors and roses, for her name and their beauty and thorns. She values being able to move in her clothing, so she would reject any particularly restrictive styles, though she does like pretty, feminine things. She would likely try on some kind of ornate thing from Orlais, but she would never let Leliana persuade her to wear shoes she could not walk, run, or play with Barkspawn in.

She admires Morrigan’s much more open, careless regard for her clothing, but she would probably never wear anything quite so worn or revealing in public.

🔥 Give us a list of general likes and dislikes, such as colours, textures, music, weather and other stuff!

I already stated some of this above, but here’s a list.

Likes: dogs (not just mabari), roses, blue (especially dark blue), white & gray, dark, earthy colors, morning fog, rivers, scenic views, summer rain (within reason), Barkspawn’s hair just after he’s been bathed, smooth stone, ploughed soil, early fall, and she is not particular about music and likes to watch people play

Dislikes: Very cold rain (would prefer snow), betrayal (though she’s a bit of a hypocrite and will let people betray bad people to come to her aid), the only color I think she has an aversion to is sort of sickly yellow, dead grass (the texture), droughts (both for their impact on people’s well-being and the kind of weather), feeling defenseless

The Questions are Here.

#interactions #warden oc #dragon age #dragon age origins #cousland warden #cousland #op #text #rosamunde #noire-pandora

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eds-trashmouth · 5 years

Text

Hi. I’m a fucking nerd. So here’s some dungeons and dragons head canons.

I personally fucking love dnd. And I’ve been thinking about this for so long. And I could make a fic but I don’t think anyone else cares about dnd so. Just head canons lmao.

- Bill is the dungeon master of course. The losers let him test out his new story ideas by playing through them.

-They’re not all fantasy medieval based but those are the groups favorites.

-They love sitting down with Bill and cranking out storylines for the rest of the group to learn gradually (throughout the game)

-Everyone talks out of game about all the interesting things they have hidden in their backstories. Richie is the impatient bitch he is and tries worming answers out of everyone but no one says anything.

-They all have their go to race and class. After playing for years, they’ve really grown into their characters.

-Ben plays a Dwarf Paladin. Richie jokingly mentioned a dwarf while they were all talking about it once but even tho he knew Richie was picking at his weight. Ben fell in love with the idea.

-He always speaks in character, a deeper kinda southern voice, and he’s on a quest to find his brother in arms. A dwarf who was sent northward in search of an artifact held by the high elf.

-He plays lawful good, always trying to do the right thing and he gets in fights with Richie’s chaotic character over decisions all the time.

-Beverly plays a Half-elven monk. She wanted something feminine, the elf, and something badass, like a monk. She’s a heavy hitter in battle and a smooth talker in sticky situations.

-She 100% flirts with every hot girl NPC they come across. Often getting rewarded extra for her sweet talking.

-She’s trained in many martial art styles. Her main quest is to find the people responsible for her families assassination. You see they were known in the high counsel for their knowledge and wisdom. (Basically they were important people and someone ordered an assassination on them)

-She was only a baby when they were murdered and she doesn’t remember much about them. Other than what she is told so it’s a very difficult mission.

-Richie is 100% a fucking bard. This was the easiest for me to decide. He’s probably a human. Or a Dragonborn bc their cool.

-He flirts with literally everything. He tries to seduce the monsters their fighting and tries to sleep with every NPC they come across. Make, female, non-binary. He doesn’t care. He’s tryna fuck it.

-He’s not a heavy damage dealer but he’s irreplaceable in the group regardless. He always inspires the group, bullies the enemy (if he failed at seducing them of course), and even heals if they need him too.

-Richie hasn’t decided his main objective yet. Bill has tried to help him many times but he just has too many incoherent ideas. He definitely wants to become the best bard in the lands.

-Eddie plays a gnome Cleric. He loves helping and healing everyone when they’re battling and he even has some kickass damaging spells as well.

-He has a spiritual weapon (a very good cleric spell) shaped like a giant inhaler. It was Richie’s idea and he always smiles when Eddie summons it but he never mentions it. He also has spirit guardians (another great cleric spell) in the shapes of red crosses (like the medical sign yk), stethoscopes, and those knee reflex hammers.

-It wouldn’t be the losers without Eddie and Richie bickering. They’re constantly arguing with each other over Richie’s actions but also constantly flirting. Richie thinks they’re endgame for sure. Eddie is undecided.

-Stan plays an elven rogue/ranger. He fights like a rogue but he can track and understand nature like a ranger. He uses daggers and sneak attacks to fuck shit up.

-He’s stealthy as fuck and can track anything in minutes. (Depending on the rolls of course) His love for birds really helped him decide to be more on the ranger side. But he didn’t want a bow. He wanted to be in their face then be able to get out.

-His character is quiet most the time. Really playing on the rogue class. But he’ll always have a comeback for anything Richie says. He definitely has the best one liners in the group. Even if Richie disagrees.

-Stan is the best at keeping quiet about his character. He doesn’t want anyone else knowing what he’s really after. The heiress to the throne of his people in the North. A half elf whose been missing for years.

-Mike is a Druid. An Aasimar Druid. He loves talking to animals and plants. He is constantly telling the trees around them that they are only passing through. The trees don’t respond but the party sure gets a kick out of it every time.

-His character is female, mostly so Bev wasn’t the only female. He even does a slight feminine voice when in character. Which always gets a laugh. There’s just something about hearing the deepest voice try to do a high pitched female voice that just insights laughter every time.

-Mike’s favorite wild shape (druids can turn into beasts) is a Giant Eagle bc they’re insanely smart and can fly. Also bc Stan likes birds. But he doesn’t mention that. He even asks Stan’s opinion on which animal would be best for the situation.

-Mike thinks Stan and him are endgame as well. But he’s so subtly flirting that Stan has no idea. But even if he has to play the slow game. He wants that elven ass.

#reddie #stanlon #dnd headcanons #kat writes #the losers club #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #beverly marsh #ben hanscom #bill denbrough #mike hanlon #stan uris #ignore me #im sorry #no one cares lmao

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marithlizard · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on RWBY v7 finale, “The Enemy of Trust”

Okay, finale, it's you and me. I've heard some eyebrow-raising things. Let's see what you've got.

Neo vs JNRO! My money's on umbrella girl, even at four to one.

Oscar's really getting along with this team. I won't be surprised if sometime next volume they officially invite him to be the P(ine) in the reborn JNPR.

Yep, short and sweet. She had a bit of fun there, and she was never in any danger.

I'm really appreciating the option to watch the fights at half-speed on the RT site and actually catch some of the clever moves.

Cinder's fighting style is quite different here than it was in all previous volumes. Remember the bow, the telekinetically controlled black glass shards, the Maiden fire and the giant sword? Right now she's leaping about acrobatically in melee with two short swords. If the face was different everyone would take this as an entirely new character. I get that it's cool to try new things, writers, but I miss the consistency.

So she specifically despises the privileged elite of Atlas. Can't blame her for that.

Okay, consistency or not I have to admit the aerial combat is visually fantastic. Winter's gryphon and Penny charging Cinder from opposite sides, followed by fire and ice colliding, wow.

Background music also doing its usual stellar job.

Penny says "I...disagree" in exactly the same tone of voice Adam used, and for exactly the opposite reason. That's a cool parallel and I'm sure it was intentional.

Oscar lagging behind out of breath. He's smaller and younger and is years behind everyone except Jaune on training, it makes sense. Also probably not using Aura to recharge stamina like the others.

Oooh, I knew it wasn't Nora instantly by the body language. Neo moves very distinctively, it's great.

And she's had lots of practice in imitating the person you love at the right instant to make you hesitate. Poor Ren.

You don't normally yell "Drop your weapons!" and simultaneously open fire unless you are intending to kill rather than capture. I guess the soldiers are assuming that Huntsmen will survive any kind of damage a normal person can dish out. Which is...not a safe assumption for Oscar I don't think. Ugh Ironwood your stormtroopers are dumb.

Ren is crying oh no

Annnnd Neo just toddles off with the lamp. I love that short officer with short ponytail look on her.

FRIA WAKES

and she is AWESOME

(Her eyes are the same blue as Ironwood's, it does make you wonder. We never learned her last name. )

Ren with an understandable lack of perspective. He's thought of Huntsmen as the pinnacle of combat badassery all his life, when really it's just a benchmark of competence along the path. I suspect there aren't many people alive who could defeat Neo, outnumbered or not, and most of the people who can are god-tier.

Maria's kept a low profile all volume because she has no patience for the high-level strategy and arguments and politics, she sure as hell isn't going to run grunt missions, and she'd last ten minutes in a room with the General before smacking him in the knees or possibly the nuts. But she was ready to charge in with the logistical support the instant that arrest order went out on the net. I just...love her. She is the best.

"I was supposed to protect the power of the Maiden until I was ready. I worry I may have lost track of time...but you can tell James that I'm ready, now." People were worried that Ironwood was holding Fria prisoner, forcing her into a sacrificial death. But the way she says that makes it very clear that she wasn't pressured. He specifically told her when you're ready. And he waited as long as he could.

Ironwood apologizing to Winter with so much regret in his voice. Look, you may hate him, but the writers don't, that's abundantly clear. And I don't either. This is a classical Greek-style tragedy unfolding before us, a good person being destroyed as their inherent fatal flaw meets the worst possible circumstances for it.

Oscar descending in the elevator, standing just like Ozpin. That is an eerie sight. He's going to imitate Oz as much as he can because Ironwood has been asking for Oz all along. ...and it's going to backfire as a strategy, isn't it.

"And....whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" "Still just me." But you're leaning on your cane as you walk just like Ozpin did.

Someone suggested applying Blake's "embodiment of a word" idea to all the characters, and the word I thought of at first for Oscar was innocence....but it's not, is it. Oscar is the embodiment of sincerity. He means every word of his offer to reconcile. How could anyone resist?

...Apparently Ironwood can. And I see it, I do. If this is a chess game, then protecting the king - the relics - is ultimately the only thing that matters. All the other pieces are expendable. Oz and Oscar and Ruby represent the opposite approach: every piece matters, and what's most important is not to win the game but to preserve the board, to keep it all going.

(If they'd told Ironwood all the way back in ch2 that as far as they know Salem can't be killed, would he have adjusted his perspective? I believe he would have, but not all the way. There's a fundamental difference in mindset. Lois Bujold talked in one of her books (Brothers in Arms I think) about how people are drawn to the romance of the hard choices. If you've believed all your life that hardship and painful sacrifice are necessary and inevitable, you get proudly attached to them in a way, and you tend to be skeptical, at best, of anyone who claims they can be avoided. I've been thinking about that a lot this volume.)

Uh.

WHAT.

You were having an argument, a heated but peaceful one. Why would you suddenly draw your weapon and shoot a teenager off the edge of a cliff? One who was offering no physical threat to you at all and who you could certainly have overpowered and arrested? You arrested Watts, who was trying to kill you, nearly destroyed your kingdom, and made you nearly tear your own arm off. Why would you murder Oscar?

You wouldn't. This makes no sense, just like Clover and Qrow fighting each other instead of teaming up against Tyrian makes no sense. I was hoping there'd be context in this case but there just isn't. The RWBY writers wanted dramatic scenes here and they didn't think the fans would care about anything else as long as it looked cool.

And this is new in v7, IMO. While I've certainly had some quibbles with the writing in past volumes, I don't remember anything remotely like this. Nothing so huge that I can't handwave or rationalize or say that it's a minor story element. I'm a Watsonian, not a Doylist; I hate having to say that something is just plain bad writing.

Ugh. Okay. Moving on.

That's a fast-regrowing Grimm arm.

I was expecting Penny to say "No, it's not me, it's supposed to be Winter," but she's really hesitating. After the conversations they've had she's not sure the power should go to Winter. There's nothing personal about it, no ambition. Penny has been acting exactly as a Maiden should from the moment Fria first saw her, her every instinct to protect and help.

Uh, y'know, Winter, you could SHOOT CINDER during the many seconds she's writhing in helpless agony there. You don't have to stand there and wait till she's ready to fight again. Sigh.

That said, the sequence of Oscar falling, power building in him and Penny, the silver eyes etc is stunning.

(that little twirl Oscar does, like a shoujo magical girl. cute)

holy carp there are still ten minutes left.

I don't think you're correct about fear being the common denominator, Oz, but I'll shut up and enjoy your very fine speech.

Winter makes her choice...and she's not surprised that Penny chooses differently. Opposed to the heroes or not, I do think it's a good thing for her to stay at Ironwood's side. Somebody sane needs to be ready to take over there sooner or later.

Penny getting support from Ruby and Weiss, yay.

This can't be easy for Pietro. He's loyally helped Ironwood for decades, and he's not exactly in good shape to live the outlaw life.

Cinder, continuing to piss off her only ally. Despite being the antagonist in a boss fight she felt...weirdly irrelevant at the end of it. So much so that she just quietly left when no one was looking.

"It's gone." Well, now that's an interestingly vague way to put things, Winter. Are you protecting Penny? Withholding information from your boss is, as we've seen, not something he reacts well to.

Watts has an implausibly nice cell with a beautiful view.

I think that's a quarry Oscar has fallen into, or perhaps the outskirts of a mine. He and Oz have a LOT to talk about and I would really love to actually see the conversation next volume, writers. For a change.

ooooookay yep that's a flying murder behemoth whale. I was expecting to be reminded of FFX's Sin, but it's got a vibe more like the whale from Pinocchio. My vote for a name is therefore Monstro.

Someone's dressed to impress her ex.

....Hmmmmm. You know, I didn't see an actual army of flying monkeys. Is there one? Is it inside the whale, or in that black cloud? Or does Salem have something else in mind?

"Fear" does seem like a song from Oz's point of view, but I don't feel it expresses his - or their - personality. It's not the image song I'm still waiting for. But then, quite a few characters still haven't gotten theirs.

Well. I'm on board for volume 8, hopeful the writers will make better choices, and curious to see how we're going to START a volume with an ultimate boss encounter. That's not a thing I've seen a story do before.

#rwby #spoilers #v7 spoilers

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inu-jiru · 4 years

Text

Tomoe, The Eastern Tigress - Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen - Tomoe Steps Up

No one had seen or heard from Hougen since the events of the previous night. The tyrant had remained in his hut, no doubt trying to cheer himself up with thoughts of Gin and John’s horrible deaths. Hunters didn’t dare open the hut’s door to provide Hougen his meals, instead opting to leave kills at the door and offer Hougen the chance to come and collect them. He never did. A young fawn, a few chickens, and a pig were left in a pile, bits of frost and snow collecting on them as they remained untouched. Hougen’s lackeys would eye the feast, though none of them were stupid enough to try and take a bit of meat for themselves. A scout padded into the base, coming to a stop at the base of the stairs. For the past few hours, he’d been acting as a spy and following the Ohu Army’s movements. He needed to make a report. The male swallowed hard, calculating all the ways things could go horribly wrong. Perhaps he could just not turn in his report? Surely, the movements of Ohu wouldn’t matter now that Hougen’s brother was on his way to Gajou, right? Still, if the Ohu Army gained an upper hand because he didn’t say anything… Sighing miserably, the scout made his decision. He climbed the steps, gingerly stepping around Hougen’s kill pile. With a shaky paw, he slid the hut’s door open. Daylight poured into the darkness, and the male could just barely make out Hougen’s form. The Great Dane’s eyes radiated with murderous energy as he stared at the intruder. “E-Excuse me, Lord Hougen…” the scout began, his head bowing respectfully. He received no response; Hougen’s eyes continued burning into him. Licking his lips, the scout continued. “I-I’ve come to report that the Ohu group’s arrived in Shiga. John, Reika, and that Great Pyrenees are with them.” “Grrr…” A low growl emitted from Hougen’s throat. “Let me guess. They’re trying to go and recruit that brat, Kyoushiro Shirogane?” “Yes, sir…” the scout replied. “But...it isn’t all bad. John isn’t even the one leading the group, as far as I can tell. It’s Gin’s son, Weed.” “Gin has a son?” Hougen suddenly stood up, limping towards the scout, the torn remains of his ears tilted toward him in interest. Swallowing, the scout took a nervous step back. “Y-Yes, but he’s just a little kid. Can’t be older than six months. John’s daughter is his second command, but she’s not much older. The Ohu Army must really be desperate if they have to rely on brats for guidance.” “...Is that so?” the Dane hummed thoughtfully. It seemed the information had lifted his spirits. The scout sighed in relief; perhaps he’d get out of this alive. Before long, a sly grin began to appear on Hougen’s muzzle. “That gives me an idea. Send for my assassins; I’ll have them take out Gin and John’s little rugrats, and Kyoushiro, too.” Hougen paused, turning to stare up at the mountain peaks in the distance. He slowly ran his tongue along his jowls. “The look on Gin’s face when he finds out his little boy’s been ripped to pieces...I can almost taste it, hehehehe…” The scout didn’t need to hear anymore. With a dip of his head, he descended the steps and disappeared into the woods. Hougen, meanwhile, felt a new sense of vigor. Glancing down at his kill pile, the Dane leaned down, picking up the pig and dragging it into the hut. He slammed the door behind him, sitting down in the darkness. As he bit down on the pig’s hind leg, he imagined that it was Gin’s. He smirked, before tearing it off, Gin’s screams of agony playing in his head. Soon. Oh, so very soon. “Tomoe, don’t!” Ken cried. The brown male, followed by Kagetora and several other dogs, leapt at the bitch, dragging her down to the ground before she could carry out whatever violent act she’d had in mind for Weed. Weed, still processing what was going on, cried out as he felt himself being pulled back by his scruff. Jerome had grabbed him, pulling him away from Tomoe’s snapping fangs. The bitch, mad with anger, was frothing at the mouth, her eyes darting in search of the puppy. “Where is he!?” she howled. “That piece of shit is a fucking disgrace! I’ll tear him a new asshole!” “Easy, Tomoe!” Kagetora said, panicked. “He’s not worth it!” “How the hell is he Gin’s son!?” Tomoe continued to rant. “Gin would never screw us over like that! That idiot doesn’t deserve to be our leader!” Weed stiffened, his pupils dilating as if he’d taken a fatal blow. Jerome snarled, setting the puppy down and barking sharply at Tomoe. “You’ve never even given him a chance,” Jerome spat. “None of you have. Weed has the power to be a great leader, but all everyone does is question him. If anyone here doesn’t deserve to be a leader, it’s you, Tomoe.” “You fuck off,” Tomoe shot back. She no longer struggled against the grip of her comrades, but they still kept a tight hold on her, just in case. “From the second you arrived in Ohu, you’ve been kissing Weed’s ass. That Kaibutsu guy said you were blinded by loyalty, and I hate to admit it, but he was right. You’ve latched yourself onto Weed, and now, your ass gets sore if anyone even thinks of criticizing him.” “Weed’s methods have worked for us,” argued Jerome. He looked at Rocket. “He changed Rocket. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that.” “Tsk…” Rocket scoffed. He’d feared something like this would come up… “I hate to burst your bubble, Jerome, but Weed didn’t “change” me. Please don’t use me in your efforts to try and make him seem like a good leader.” “What?” The assassin stared at Rocket in disbelief. It seemed he hadn’t expected Rocket to invalidate Weed’s supposed accomplishment. “Someone convinced me to switch sides,” the Borzoi continued, padding towards Jerome. “I’ll give you that. But it wasn’t Weed. No, it was someone I actually consider to be a leader.” Jerome studied Rocket’s face for a moment, his eyes narrowing. They then widened with shock...no, disgust. Jerome was disgusted by what Rocket was implying. “You can’t be serious,” the Shepherd growled. “I am,” Rocket replied boldly. He glanced back at Tomoe, catching her gaze. The bitch’s enraged expression slipped into one of genuine surprise. “I joined Ohu because I believe Tomoe has the power to bring down Hougen. She isn’t naive like Weed is. We don’t need someone who values their own way of thinking over the facts of war.” “Rocket…” Tomoe murmured. Weed’s brow furrowed, offended by Rocket’s blunt statements. “Tomoe only wants to fight everyone,” he found himself saying. “I’m willing to give people a chance!” “War isn’t the time to be so trusting, boy,” John spoke up. He’d been listening patiently to the back and forth that was going on, but now, he needed to add in his two cents. “Take that bastard Kyoushiro punished. It wasn't your place to stop Kyoushiro just because you felt the mutt deserved a second chance.” “But--!” Weed tried to interrupt. John held up a paw, silencing him. “You’re lucky the mutt hadn’t managed to get away. Just think; that little puppy of his could be having the shit beat out of him right now, all because you thought his punishment “wasn’t nice”. Face the facts, kid; being a leader doesn’t mean you can be nice all the time. If you aren’t prepared to do some harsh things for the good of others, then maybe Rocket and Tomoe are right; you don’t deserve to lead in Gin’s place.” “You aren’t being fair…” Jerome seethed quietly. “Ben chose him to lead…” “Did he now?” John responded. “Well, as Ohu’s General, I say that that decision is to be revoked. Ben will understand when he hears why.” “You can’t do that!” Weed was threatening to cry now. John’s face showed no emotion. “I believe I just did,” he said. Without another word, he turned back to the rest of the Ohu dogs. He ignored Weed’s blubbering as he ordered for Tomoe to be let up. As everyone stepped back, Tomoe slowly got to her feet, her head bowed in shame. As angry as she was, to have such an outburst like that in front of her father was humiliating. “Dad, I…” she began weakly, perhaps the first time anyone heard her speak in such a matter. John stopped her with a nuzzle against the top of her head. “Mmm-hmm,” he replied softly. “Later. Right now, we could all use some time to cool off.” He looked towards the rest of the Ohu soldiers. “We’ll find a place to settle down, maybe hunt a bit. We can deal with Kyoushiro later.” “Sir,” was the reply of almost everyone. Jerome glared at the back of John’s head, before looking down at the sobbing Weed. It didn’t matter what everyone else thought. Weed was the rightful leader of Ohu in his eyes. “Let’s look around,” Rocket suggested. “See if we can find some shelter.” The Borzoi looked to John for permission, which the Shepherd gave with a nod. Taking the lead, Rocket began leading the small group into the woods. GB hung behind, glancing back at Weed with a frown. Though he couldn’t disagree with what Rocket and John said, he still had a bit of pity for the puppy. Perhaps being forced to step down would do him some good. After all, Weed was much too soft to be a leader. Soon, there was only John, Weed, and Jerome left. John turned back to the duo, looking down at Weed. Jerome glared at the older Shepherd again. “What do you have to say now?” Jerome hissed. “Haven’t you scolded him enough?” “I don’t know what your deal is,” John snorted. “But I don’t appreciate the attitude, especially that shit you said to my daughter. I’d watch my tongue if I were you, bastard. As for you, Weed, you think about what I said. I didn’t take away your leadership because I hate you or anything like that. You just aren’t ready for the responsibility, and we need someone who is right now. You’re both invited to join us once you’ve cleared your heads, but don’t cause anymore problems. We all need to stick together right now, and I won’t tolerate anymore nonsense.” “I don’t want to rejoin if Tomoe’s leading,” said Weed hotly. John narrowed his eyes at the puppy. “Then don’t,” the General snarled. “Stay here and cry like a little brat, then. I’m sure Gin’ll love to hear what kind of little pissant his son is.” John said no more after that. He wouldn’t waste his breath on someone who was so set on being wrong. John followed after the others. Weed could do what he wanted, as long as he stayed out of the way. Night had come to the Gifu mountains. In the old shed, Teru’s father, his fur still damp from his earlier toss into the river, was desperately digging away at the dirt underneath the floorboards. He’d often leave himself an extra bit of food in case hunting had failed, or if he hadn’t been able to snag some dog food from the nearest town. To his dismay, the mutt had found absolutely nothing. His stomach growled, pleading with him for even the tiniest bit of kibble. “What the hell!?” Teru’s father whined. “Not a single emergency meal left? And those shitty kids won’t let me hunt in this territory anymore...gah! I just wanna kill them!” “Kill them, you say?” The mutt’s blood ran cold, hearing a deep voice behind him. He hadn’t even smelled anyone approaching his little hideout. Was it Kyoushiro? Was he here to see if he’d left? Quickly, the mutt turned around, his tail tucked between his legs. “I-I was just kidding!” he lied quickly. “Don’t kill me!” The male could now see that it wasn’t Kyoushiro who’d come to visit him. Instead, it was two large and very intimidating-looking Doberman Pinschers. Their canines gleamed in the moonlight, almost to an unnatural degree. “Kidding?” one of the Dobermans said, his ears bent at the middle, rather than cropped and straight like his comrade’s. “How embarrassing. You let yourself get tossed around by a couple of brats and then you hide from them?” “Nonetheless,” the second Doberman continued. “We can help you with your little problem.” The pair began laughing deviously as they stared at the quivering mutt in front of them. The Ohu Army had gathered in some other abandoned shelter. Their bellies were full, and their spirits were lifted, somewhat, now that the previous altercation had been put behind them. Tomoe refused to talk about it, not even with her closest friends, Ken and Kagetora. They could understand why; there was a chance she could’ve killed Weed earlier. Sure, she might’ve had her violent thoughts as ways of coping with the pup’s stupidity, but to actually attempt to murder him? It was no wonder Tomoe became so distant. The bitch sat outside, gazing up at the starry sky. She took in a deep breath before sighing heavily, her head bowing. She hated feeling this way...so guilty...so vulnerable...Everyone thought she was supposed to be some kind of leader? She couldn’t see it. “What’re you thinkin’ about, kiddo?” “Uh…!” Tomoe jolted, turning quickly. John was standing beside her, giving her a smile. The youngster scoffed in annoyance. “You almost gave me a heart attack…” “Heh, what can I say? I’ve been a hunter all my life. I can’t help having quiet paws.” John took a seat, wincing slightly. His wounds still ached, no matter how much time passed. The sooner they got to those hot springs in Kouga, the better… “You okay?” asked Tomoe, glancing at her father. “Yeah, yeah,” replied John with a careless wave of his paw. “That Hougen’s a dirty bastard. You know, he took Reika hostage so that me and Gin would stop fighting. Disgusting piece of shit.” “Tch...what a scumbag.” “Whoa there, kiddo. That’s some harsh language.” “Haha.” Tomoe rolled her eyes as John let out a chuckle. She was quiet for a moment, gazing down at her paws. “Dad…?” “Mmm?” John glanced at his daughter. “Do you think…?” She began quietly. “...That I could actually be a good leader? And don’t just say “yes” because I’m your daughter. I need you to be honest with me.” “Well, missy,” John snorted, giving Tomoe a light bump. He winced after that. “I was going to say yes, but not because you’re my little girl. It’s because the others believe in you. I haven’t got to see you as the stand-in General, but that Rocket guy seems to think you’re something special.” “I mean…” Tomoe shrugged. “That’s just Rocket. I appreciate his support, but I just can’t see what makes me leader material. I let my emotions get in the way.” “That’s fixable. You just have to remember to calm down and think about the situation before you act. It’s tough, yeah; I admit, I’m still workin’ on that myself. But what makes you leader material is if you’re willing to change yourself for the good of everyone else. Weed refuses to do that, but from what I can tell, you want to. That’s what makes you leader material, Tomoe.” Tomoe remained silent, but she took her father’s words to heart. She didn’t want to be a killer, blinded by rage. She wanted to be a warrior worthy of respect. That was a leader, in her mind. That was what she wanted to be. She suddenly stood. John turned to her. “Mmm?” he murmured. “I want to talk to Kyoushiro,” Tomoe announced, her tone now firm and confident. “I want to see if I can get him to join us. I know Weed messed things up before, but I wanna fix it.” John nodded. “I see. Ha...already acting like a leader, eh?” “Dad…” Tomoe flashed the older male a sheepish smile. “Let the others know where I went if they wake up, alright?” “Mmm,” John replied with a nod. “If Kyoushiro starts givin’ you trouble, give the rest of us a howl. I’ll come and kick his ass for you.” Tomoe laughed, before heading off. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going or where Kyoushiro would be, but she had all night to search for him. John turned, heading back into the shelter. Those who were still awake, or were stirred from their sleep due to the creaking of John’s paws against the wooden floor, lifted their heads. “Oi, John,” Hiro began. “You think it’s alright to let Tomoe go on her own?” “She’ll be fine,” replied the Shepherd. “Kyoushiro’s a hardass, but he’s also reasonable. Tomoe won’t do anything to make him angry.” “It’s not Kyoushiro I’m worried about…” Hiro murmured. There was a silence. Everyone knew what he meant. Weed and Jerome hadn’t rejoined the group, and if Weed was still in the territory, there was a chance that he could interfere with things again. John frowned. “You’re right…” he said softly. “We could go out and make sure things are alright,” Ken offered. “We won’t get in Tomoe’s way, but anything to keep things going smoothly.” “Sounds good.” John looked between all of the dogs that were awake: Hiro, Reika, Ken, Kagetora, Rocket and GB. “Alright, you all. Let’s get going.” While that was happening, Tomoe had entered a large, snowy field. She panted slightly, fighting to keep her paws from sinking into the white blanket. She could see a trail of footprints just up ahead. Slowing down, she leaned forward, taking a whiff. They smelled an awful lot like Teru’s father. “That guy?” Tomoe murmured, cocking a brow. “I thought Kyoushiro told him to get lost.” Not a second later, the bitch heard a terrified shriek. Looking up, she could see the mutt being chased by Kyoushiro and his dogs. “Help me!” the mutt screamed, making a beeline for Tomoe. Tomoe scrunched her nose. Still, this guy expected her to save his ass? Fortunately for her, the pathetic male didn’t get close enough to touch her. Kyoushiro had put on an extra burst of speed, running alongside the mutt. With a snap of his fangs, the Kishu forced Teru’s father onto the ground. Kyoushiro’s canines bit into the mutt’s back, forcing a bloodcurdling scream from his maw. “I told you to leave my territory, bastard,” Kyoushiro growled, tearing madly at the skin and bone. “I gave you a change to live, but clearly that isn’t what you want. Now, you’ll pay! Teru’ll never have to worry about you again!” Lector, Thunder…! Teru’s father mentally cried out for his new “allies”. Hurry up and kill Kyoushiro! Save me! “Die!” Kyoushiro roared, pulling back his head. With surprising strength, the mutt was tossed upward into the sky. He continued to scream, not stopping until he hit the ground, the wind knocked out of him. With his neck now exposed, Kyoushiro delivered the killing bite. It was a quick death; the mutt didn’t even have time to scream. Silence fell over the field as Kyoushiro lifted his head, running his tongue along his blood-stained fangs. He looked at Tomoe, who’d watched the scene in complete silence. “Mmm?” the Kishu began calmly. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you gonna tell me that I’m being unfair? That I should’ve sat down and had a chat with this jackass?” Tomoe cocked a brow, to which Kyoushiro responded by slowly grinning at her. “I’m fucking with you. Nice to see you don’t get in the way of other people’s business. Oi, you lot. Get rid of this guy.” “Heh,” Tomoe chuckled, watching as Kyoushiro’s packmates dragged away the mutt’s body. “I’m not some airheaded brat. Guy had it coming, anyway. But that’s not why I’m here. I need to talk to you, Kyoushiro.” At the edge of the field, John and his small group had arrived at the scene, sticking to the cover of the trees. They watched Kyoushiro and Tomoe, not seeing any signs of hostility from either of them. “I can’t hear ‘em…” Kagetora huffed, tilting his ears forward. “Maybe we should get closer.” “Kyoushiro might think we’re here for a fight,” replied Rocket. “I’m sure Tomoe’s handling herself just fine.” “Wait…” said Reika. She was looking towards another second of the woods. Two dogs were also standing under the shadows of the trees, watching the goings on. They were two adult Dobermans, far older than Kyoushiro or his own comrades. “Who are they?” Following Reika’s gaze, everyone else now saw the mysterious duo. “I don’t like the look of ‘em…” John muttered. “They look like dogs under Hougen’s command,” said Rocket. “Contract killers. They could be here for Kyoushiro…! GB…!” “Ah…?” the Setter perked. Rocket was slipping away from the others, moving closer to the Dobermans’ section of the forest. “Come with me,” the Borzoi said. “We need to check this out.” “Ah, alright.” “Be careful, you two,” Reika called after them. Thunder and Lector, meanwhile, were conversing to each other, unaware that the Ohu soldiers had spotted them. “We could probably kill them right now,” Thunder was saying. “No,” Lector responded. “Even with our skills, I wouldn’t want to risk being swarmed by those brats. I told that fool to lead Kyoushiro this way…” “No matter.” Thunder licked his chops. “We can always start over. This way.” Both Dobermans began heading off, though their movements didn’t go unnoticed. Kyoushiro, spotting them out of the corner of his eye, glanced in their direction. “Eh?” he barked. He looked over at Tomoe, who seemed just as confused as he was. They must not have been part of her pack. “Hachi. Riku. Follow those guys.” “Yes, Boss!” the two males said obediently, before heading off after the duo. “Weird…” Tomoe muttered. “Think they might be travelers?” “Nah,” replied the Kishu. “Something about them seemed...off. Still, my packmates are strong; they can handle a pair of asshole adults. That reminds me…” Kyoushiro turned to the bitch. “Why are you traveling with a bunch of adults? Aren’t you worried they might hurt you?” “I…” Tomoe blinked, taken aback by such a question. “Excuse me? Why would they do something like that?” “I’ve seen it again and again…” the Kishu’s eyes darkened. “I haven’t met a single adult who wasn’t trying to hurt or manipulate their kids.” “My friends aren’t like that,” said Tomoe defensively. “They’d never hurt someone who didn’t deserve it.” “Oh?” Kyoushiro pursed his lips, giving the female a stare that clearly indicated that he didn’t believe her. Tomoe furrowed her brow. What was going on with this guy…? Kyoushiro suddenly began walking around her. His eyes fell on her shoulder, the one that was wounded by Missile all that time ago. By now, it was scarred over. “Mmph. Tell me. That big Shepherd I saw before. That’s your father?” “...Yeah?” “Did he do this to you?” “What the fuck!?” Tomoe turned to face Kyoushiro, appalled. How could he even think of suggesting that John do something like that!? “My father would never, ever hurt me! Why would you say something like that!?” “Shit…” Ken murmured, his paws shuffling against the ground. “She’s yelling…” “What happened…?” asked Reika. “Everything was fine…” C’mon, kiddo… John thought, biting his lip. Keep it together… “Look…” Tomoe continued, trying her absolute hardest not to blow a fuse. “I don’t know what’s happened to you or your friends, but don’t you dare insult my father like that!” “Oi!” one of Kyoushiro’s comrades snarled. “Don’t talk to him that way!” “Enough,” Kyoushiro barked at his packmate. His eyes never left Tomoe’s. How curious. Never had he considered the possibility of an adult who wasn’t cruel. It sounded too good to be true. Despite his own beliefs, however, Kyoushiro could see that he’d struck a nerve. He’d drop the issue. For now. Kyoushiro turned, beckoning for Tomoe to follow him as he returned to his packmates. “Come with me. I feel like you came here to talk about something else, and I’d rather not stand out here in the open.” Tomoe hesitated, watching as Kyoushiro walked off with his pack. She could make out Teru’s little body as he bounded around the Kishu’s paws, a lot happier now than he was when she’d previously seen him. Still, Tomoe was apprehensive. She didn’t appreciate being insulted, especially by someone she’d thought she was getting along with. Still...Ohu needed Kyoushiro, and a good leader did what was best for her pack. With a sigh, Tomoe followed the Shirogane. This better have been worth it.

#ginga densetsu weed #ginga densetsu weed fanfiction

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itsbenedict · 5 years

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No Driver’s License: Session 42 (Epilogue)

No Driver’s License was a Madoka Magica game I ran for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It followed five magical girls as they dealt with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They figured out what was going on, who they could trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

This is the last in a series of session recaps I’ve been keeping, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 41]

Last time on No Driver’s License, the team got together to discuss their plans for the future. The Devil showed up to throw a wrench into the gears, though, and they found themselves reconsidering their plans and exploring other options. With their immediate foes dealt with, there were so many ways they had available to make something out of the future.

This time, we step away from Magical Burst in favor of something a little more zoomed-out: a simple homebrewed system built to resolve complicated plots.

How it works is: we start out with a description of the Darkest Timeline. If our heroes were to just give up entirely, what’s the worst that could happen? Because that’s what’s going to happen, if they do. To not give up, each player has five Hope points- plus two for each Hope Burst they banked during the campaign. To change the dark future, players can propose things that could happen, and bid Hope points to make them so (point costs set by the GM).

On my end, apart from setting the costs of interventions, I had 13 Chaos points. Whenever anyone made a bid of Hope to change the future, I could spend equivalent Chaos to twist the outcome- add some complication that messes up the tidy little bow they’ve tied on their problems. My objective with Chaos is to keep the setting interesting, ensuring that the players don’t just create a boring utopia.

Each player also has 3 Chaos points, which they can either use the same way as me- or spend, handing me Chaos in exchange for extra Hope, one to one. A little insurance for if someone feels like the GM’s point prices are unfair- the players can put their money where their mouth is.

So! What did our players do to the world? Let’s find out.

First off: the dark future they hope to avert.

Sakura: Your mundane life becomes yet more intolerable. Your classmates reject you, your aunt is unable to meet your emotional needs, your team dismisses you, and magic becomes your only outlet. The world of magic is no kinder, though, and your attempts to brighten it backfire. Happy endings hastily grasped shatter in your too-large hands, and everything is your fault, until...

Yukari: You succumb to the darkness. You were never the kind of person who could have a happy ending. She who fights with monsters might take care lest she become a monster, and somewhere in the storm of conflict you find it expedient to throw away your morality and humanity for an increasingly distant greater good. Some hero finds the means to slay you.

Seina: You and those around you lose faith. After many failures to pull your friends back from the brink, your team falls apart. Cho comes to label you another deceiver, and is she wrong? There was so much you could have done, but you missed your opportunity. You fade and wither and accomplish nothing, until...

Makoto: Your inexperience causes your life to crumble. Civilization can only do so much to bring a stranger into the fold, and you can't find a place in it where you can thrive. The world of magic is dangerous and stressful and lonely and it's all you have left, until...

Ibara: The boot comes down. Authority tries to keep you from doing good again, and your power reacts in kind. The world- even your magical friends- begin to forget your existence whenever they disagree with you. You become a ghost- unnecessary, unloved, unknown, capable only of scaring the living, until...

The world: Until... word gets out about the grief sink, turning Tokyo into a hotspot battleground between all the worst of the worst from around the world. It gives out in the midst of this conflict, leaving those worst of the worst to fight each other for survival. Worst of all, the fight claims the lives of civilians, including Joshuya Junko and/or Kaname Tomohisa. The Devil despairs and leaves the world, and the subsequent disappearance of Grief power causes the Incubators to become desperate. They invade Earth, unstoppably, and attempt to recreate the machinery of Grief on their own, turning the world into an entirely fruitless torture factory. Life in the universe collapses and eventually fades away.

This... is bad. When dealing with forces like these, the worst-case scenario is extremely worst. What’s it going to take to turn this fate away?

Well... let’s start with the big ones. First: Sakura would like to colonize Mars, building a self-sufficient cityscape for magical girls to call home. That’s a whole three Hope points to do- could be more, but magic can do a lot, and it’s not like anybody is opposing her bid. Mars is colonized, no Chaos opposition.

That pairs well with- and reduces the cost of- Yukari’s plan to colonize Earth. That is- she’d like to build an MSY, a magical girl government that applies some structure to the magical world. No more disconnected vigilantes murdering each other all over the planet- an actual organization that can unite megucakind against the Incubators. It only costs her two, with Mars as a base of operations, but this is very much something I’d like to spend Chaos to twist.

See- the problem with establishing a magical government is that there are rivals. All around the world, cannibal warlords like Kimiko and Honoka have been trying to crush their rivals and become the most powerful, and that presence hasn’t just disappeared. For two chaos, this government- Pleroma- becomes embroiled in a long-running war against the monsters that rule the roost. You can imagine plenty of adventures where magical girls are tasked by the government to go into cities ruled by supercannibals to take them down.

Yukari also spends a few points to stabilize some things. She uses her riches to ensure the team is provided with homes, and also devotes time and resources to ensuring Homura’s plan to bring Madoka back into the world goes successfully.

The last big world obstacle to overcome is... the incubators. No one feels like making an effort to stay hidden- if they’re going to do anything about magic, it’s going to raise some alarm bells with the resident galactic overlords. Becoming strong enough to take on the civilization that rules the universe and created magic itself... that’s expensive. Just resisting them, making humanity enough of a threat to not be worth crushing outright, is six points- too much for any one player to afford. They pool their resources, though- Yukari spending her Chaos, and Makoto and Ibara contributing the rest. As a result, humanity is able to reverse-engineer Incubator technology and make themselves a little too dangerous to risk trying to stomp.

For six chaos, though, the incubators are pretty upset about losing Earth, which was pretty productive. They’ve never had a rival power in the universe before, and they’re not really sure how to handle it. While they can’t actively take over the Earth again, they do continue to show up on Earth in secret, offering the standard deal with a modified Hell Engine repurposed from one of their less productive worlds. Oldtype magical girls continue to be contracted, though it’s of course illegal and not really a smart move- they have to be very careful about who they select, and offer them more power. A shadow war against the Incubators’ new secret servants threatens to destabilize Earth and Pleroma.

Lastly, for five hope and chaos, we get a twist on... an attempt to harness “Hope”, the strange magical power that allowed Sakura and Makoto to save the Hell Engine. While they’re able to establish a Hope-based magic system not built on suffering...

Well, hope, the new power source of positivity and determination and love and all that, isn’t actually a fundamental force of the universe like whatever the hell the Devil is tapping into to power things with Grief. It’s not clear exactly what Hope is, only how to access it and use it, and for some reason the Devil hates it when you use Hope. If pushed, she’ll tell you- not based on anything but a hunch and a horrible wrenching feeling in her existence- that it’s destroying what’s left of Her. That has to be it, right? You really can’t convince her that Hope is anything other than the burning of Godoka’s corpse. Eventually- not immediately, but far in the future, if people continue to use Hope- she will flee the timeline to get away from the pain, and Grief will no longer function.

So... that’s the general shape of things. Earth and Mars unified under one magical banner, the Incubators more or less driven off, and Hope supplanting Grief as a source of power. That’s pretty great! But what happens to the characters?

However, Yukari, Seina, and Makoto don’t spend any of their points on keeping themselves from falling apart. Makoto, in particular, looks at her worst-case scenario and accepts it, more or less. She doesn’t really find a place in the mundane world- instead, she throws herself into dealing with the various magic stuff that crops up.

Cool, cool...

Standard stuff. As for the rest of her situation...

Makoto also ends up spending points to help make sure Seina ends up okay. Specifically, she intervenes in a brewing crisis wherein Cho attempted to start her old cult again, this time using magic as a recruitment tool. She talks Cho down, gets Seina out of the fire, and settles down out in the countryside- living with Cho, actually.

Sakura, meanwhile, takes it upon herself to make sure Yukari doesn’t go off the rails. She makes sure to stick close, keeping Yukari from throwing herself into unnecessary self-destructive conflicts and keeping her alive during the necessary ones.

So... what does Seina do with all those points she’s not spending on herself? Turns out it’s R&D, mostly. She spearheads the investigation of Hope magic along with Sakura and Ibara, and also throws in... oh, y’know. Solving world hunger, disease, aging, climate change, human wars... all that good stuff. Somebody’s gotta do it, right? Come on, she’s magic, and all those problems are right there!

Sakura... she spends her last couple points of Chaos to recruit some allies. Earth isn’t the only world Incubators have enslaved as a Grief source- for two points, she gets in contact with a race of nautiloids on a nearby planet, and they’re drawn into the resistance movement. They provide some useful technology that reduces the cost of the war, and also... it is specified that through genetic engineering, Nautiloids can, in fact, breed with humans. I... decided not to ask too many questions about that. There are things about tentacles I’d rather not know.

Ibara, meanwhile, has a couple people she wants to help out. Sokoko, for instance, didn’t seem super stable even after they fought the crazy out of her, and Ibara made sure she was taken care of.

Also... remember that time Ibara witched in the Hell Engine and created a twenty-foot-tall imprint of herself on a demon? And then that demon tried to destroy the Hell Engine and got crushed and trapped under the rubble she created? Ibara would like to... not leave her hanging.

Is something I said, which Ibara decided was bullshit and worked around. She pumped Hope into the problem, severing the demon IBARA from the Devil and imbuing it with humanity. G...great??? Two points.

So! That’s... pretty much it for the PCs! Seina and Makoto work to make the world a better place, Yukari and Sakura go around building a space empire, and Ibara pitches in on all that and also kind of becomes a mom.

Before I get into the solo epilogue sections written by the players, here’s the skinny on the NPCs. First, Orino, who gets to embody the party’s mistakes:

THAT’S WHAT YOU GET! THAT’S WHAT YOU ALL GET FOR GOING TO THE MOON SO GODDAMN MUCH! IF YOU CAN USE THE MOON TO HURT ME, I GET TO USE THE MOON TO HURT YOU!!! RAAAAAAAAAA

...anyway. As for Tama-chan and the other fake Incubators...

Did Tama-chan ever actually tell any of you what it meant to become an Incubator? Her fakes... what they did to them was much the same as what the real Incubators did to Orino. They took people who'd had their entire ability to be dissatisfied burned away, and gave them something to be dissatisfied with- something to push them forward to action. What they gave them wasn't anything they designed themselves- none of these mere humans were capable of that. Instead, they gave them something prepackaged, the same thing that'd been given to Kyubey. The same thing given to anyone in Kyubey's line of work. A motive, an intrinsic part of their psychology that told them what their highest priority was. That priority... was to maximize grief production.

A magical girl with no Trauma Tracks is driven only by the very basics of their nature. Whatever they're inclined to do when totally satisfied with their circumstances- a state of being typically inaccessible to magical girls- that's what they do. Miyaichi Masumi's basic inclination was to look for beauty in the world, and so she floated around observing the beauty her magic unthinkingly created.

Fukuda Fumiko's basic inclination was to hang around her friends, finding and attacking weaknesses in other people. With the incubator imperative, she hung around her friends, finding and attacking weaknesses in other people, and tried to interfere with their operations so the impact of their grief sequestering ways would be reduced, improving the efficiency of grief production. The cannibals tell you, in time, what role Fumi-chan played in their activites before you showed up. She made herself much like Nishi-chan meant to be, an antagonistic force which got in their way all the time. Not that she'd stop claiming to be their friend, nor would she stop acting insulted that they no longer trusted her.

This was the basic profile of all of Tama-chan and Nishi's Incubators. The perfect worker is one who doesn't truly care about anything but the cause, who can't be upset by anything except problems with the bottom line. While they may have seemed human, may have been easy to get along with... ultimately, that was all they had.

When you began engineering a new hope-based magic system with the intention of cancelling grief production, this became something of a sticking point.

Tama-chan moved quickly upon realizing what was happening, but not quickly enough. She was able to trick a number of her former loyal lieutenants into having their core motives removed, including Ritsushima Ran, the fake in charge of monitoring and censoring the internet. Amai Asa, the agent assigned to watch over Masumi, was also rescued.

Those who had their motives removed largely reverted to a state much like Masumi's- capricious, impossible to dissuade from a course of action. (This was thanks both to their unbounded magical power, and their inability to be dissatisfied with what they were doing.) A few, whose natural inclinations were useful and predictable, were able to continue to serve roles in Pleroma's structure- but the rest became... well, they were certainly happy, but they were dangerous liabilities until their magic eventually ran out, and considerable Pleroma resources were dedicated to keeping them contained.

Those who did not have their motives removed... became even greater liabilities. Fumi-chan, Hatsu-chan, the nameless one you named Nagato-chan, and many others- they all retained their programming, and when war arrived with the true Incubators, they had little trouble picking sides. Without Tama-chan's operation actively facilitating their respawning, their impact was limited, but they made themselves a significant obstacle. Those who didn't outright die in the war were accepted into the Incubators' ranks, and were eventually forced to flee alongside their masters. You have no way of knowing how well they adapted to Incubator culture.

Fumi-chan was one of those who died in the war. She led a hasty attack on the Martian city of Teppelin, and her ranks were broken by its Princess in her flagship mecha, Seelenfaust. The Princesses of Teppelin and New Candyopolis personally fought in that battle, alongside the field captain of the Pleroma Combat Division's foremost strike unit, Golden Scepter. Reports are mixed as to which of them ended up dealing the fatal blow to the Incubators' cruelest agent, but Makoto- whatever Yoshe is to you, the captain of Golden Scepter remained her first priority. When she visited after that battle, Yoshe was drying her tears for days.

How about the non-Incubator girls?

Hasebe Hekima... she was the sort of person who had trouble being happy. She wasn't depressed, just... she was suspicious of the whole business. Being happy was an awful lot like being complacent, and she'd fought for her life far too long to be comfortable with that. Much like Yukari, she threw herself into work, spearheading several critical operations against the Incubators during the war in her role in the Pleroma Intelligence Division. Her career in xenopsychological espionage came to an end, however, when she worked with other mind mages in her division to try to extract what was left of her fallen friends from her psyche. She was... successful, in a manner of speaking, but the homunculi she made exhibited only the parts of her friends that could hurt, and the resultant horror at what she'd done drove her to witch faster than her teammates could get to her with hope-based grief healing. Afterwards, she became a Masumi-type, which as horrible fates go isn't as horrible as it could be. Her inclination to seek and draw out the innermost thoughts of others made her a pretty effective therapist until she mysteriously disappeared one day.

Rikimaru Reiko renounced magical girling and got into real estate, working for a struggling property management business and eventually climbing the corporate ladder until she became head of operations. She proceeded to turn it into a rather successful property management business, being one of the first to take the industry to Mars. She occasionally visits her mother in prison to gloat.

Akagi Anzu attempted to follow in Makoto's footsteps and become a heroic magical girl who saved people, which... what with her social anxiety, didn't go very well, at first. She had a pretty significant breakdown after a somewhat public failure where the person she was trying to protect ended up in the hospital, which led with her witching. She was rescued pretty quickly, though, and she kind of did a 180 after that Trauma Track was cleared. Later, when the Devil canceled Grief and the war started, she ended up second-in-command in one of the Pleroma Support Division's Earth orbital patrols, putting together a heroic defense that saved countless lives. After that, she fell in love and ended up a housewife? Apparently that was something she'd been wanting, go figure.

Chigusa Cho never lost faith. She, uh... Makoto had to kind of talk her down from trying to rebuild what she had, as far as the specific cult organizational practices went, but she continued to believe in Ikebana-no-Uzume. And... continued to get annoyed with Ikebana-no-Uzume, who, rather than embark on a mission of brainwashing humanity into universal love and caring, went about wasting her time with pointless crap. World peace? Ending world hunger? Eradicating all disease?! Those were all just band-aids on the fundamental problem, which is that people weren't all united with a single all-loving purpose! She... didn't really do much but complain, though, because she trusted that Seina would get around to it eventually. Makoto and Yoshe just had to put up with her complaining every time the subject came up.

Olivia Gumm struggled to find a mass audience for her work for a while, but... when the masquerade dropped, and real-life magical girls became the hot new thing, she was ahead of the curve and the first on the scene with a breakout hit. Certain parties put pressure on her publisher to give her a better deal, after that, and with that money- plus the backing from a certain niece who was now one of the most powerful and influential people on Ear- I mean, Mars- she was able to start a self-published online manga with a less punishing schedule.

So... after all that was worked out, I had each of the players write an epilogue for themselves, in keeping what what had been established during play. Here’s what they came up with:

From @koito-yuu:

Seina got tired of fighting pretty quickly. With everyone else's firepower, there wasn't much need for her in actual combat, provided she kept making healing items. (For some reason, they never stopped being cat-themed, even after the ears wore off.) She started working on larger problems. Global warming and famine were pretty easy with near-infinite magic plants. Disease was harder, but she eventually figured out how to grow plants that would heal almost anything. The next thing she tried was ending war. Luckily, Yukari's new world government took care of most of it. She ended up discreetly using her emotion magic on some of the more aggressive factions. She barely managed to stop Cho setting up a new cult. Eventually, she started working on magic itself, figuring out how to keep it going after the Devil turned off the grief system. And that was about enough. She retired to Mars. Space was still cool, after all.

From @thera-prickle, whose google doc I’m just going to link because I’m running up against Tumblr’s new paragraph limit:

How I Met Your Nuther

From @kohotli:

The sun shines on a stone building on the outskirts of town. In a small barn next to it sits Makoto on a stool, tending to a small flock of chickens. She’s older these days. Her hair is speckled with grey and her skin isn’t as smooth as it used to be. The harvest has been good this year, she shouldn’t need to go back into Tokyo for supplies for a while yet. Cho lives there too. At the end of everything nobody else could really understand what they’d gone through. Makoto tried to fit in with normal society but she was just too different. The adjustment was too difficult. Eventually she made a small farm for herself just far enough from wider society that people didn’t usually stumble on her.

There was a period where Makoto was more involved with what was going on in magical society. Her powers lead to several advancements in genetic modifications, including making changes so that humans could practically leave the Earth and go elsewhere. The pressure built and built until she eventually bid magical society farewell.

That night, Makoto tosses and turns in her bed. She’s dreaming of her captivity, then of the constant fights for her and her friends’ lives. She still struggles to feel safe, but between Cho, Sakura, and Yoshe, Makoto has managed to form some happiness for herself. Yoshe leans over to Makoto and gently shakes her. “Makoto, it’s alright,” Yoshe says quietly to her. “It’s just a nightmare.” This kind of thing helps make nights easier. Makoto opens her eyes gently and pulls Yoshe into a hug.

Sometimes things end up going okay.

From @eternalfarnham, again in a google doc:

Goodnight

an excerpt:

Shibu shrugs. “You know, no matter how many times I say it, ‘Martian princess Illuminati’ makes you sound like an even more half-baked conspiracy theory than you already are. You and your magic vampire team running a secret government. Probably with some lizardmen involved somewhere.”

“Found some magical vampires a while back.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Some German girl wished for her own vampire cult --”

“No, no -- shut the fuck up, that’s not even funny at this point, it’s been years --” Setsuna is trying hard not to laugh.

And from @drazelic, who didn’t use a google doc so I’m gonna paste it into one:

Yukari’s epilogue

Which concludes:

She retires to a convenience store inside Mitakihara. On school-day afternoons, Homura and Madoka come by and purchase various snacks and cute things from her shop; Yukari always makes sure to keep their favorite foods in stock.

Sometimes, other team members will drop by- not every day, but most days. It's kind of on-and-off. Yukari hasn't asked, but it seems the world's doing fine for itself, for the most part, without her needing to micromanage every little thing.

So she sits back behind the counter, legs folded next to the cash register, and idly reads a manga published by Olivia Gumm. Sakura'd- Yukari still can't believe Sakura actually went and decided to make herself the Princess of Mars after everything was over- Sakura had gotten it for her, last time she'd visited, 'to keep her from being too bored'.

It includes a comically unrealistic adaptation of herself, as a cameo. Yukari appreciates it. Once, upon a time, she would not have appreciated it. She supposes she's softened, in that regard.

And as she flips through the pages, she thinks to herself:

Yeah, this is good.

This is good.

And that’s... that’s it. It’s finally over. Thanks to my players for making this possible, and thanks to you for reading.

- NO DRIVER’S LICENSE: END -

#no driver's license

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