#breaking it up into chunks like that just GAH SO GOOD

[willowparkfanclub]

the black pauses in the show when a book chapter ends.... cinema like oh my god

#literally had to pause when i realized like THAT IS SO FUCKING SMART #breaking it up into chunks like that just GAH SO GOOD #pjo #pjotv #percy jackson #me yapping

[waitmyturtles]

Well — I can’t believe it’s over. Moonlight Chicken was… I’ll get the words for it. Satisfying is the first one that comes to mind. And MC was my first beginning-to-end fandom on Tumblr. The big brains, the META, the psychological and cultural analyses! I’m a peon in a sea of passionate geniuses here. I love this community so much.

Where do we start. Moonlight Chicken, episode 8/finale thoughts and impressions. As usual, quick hits first, then the big thinks.

1) So much wonderful fan service. And I know that fan service can often take a show out, and when fan service is included in a script, I’m sure that at times, it makes directors and screenwriters grit their teeth. But I’m REALLY THANKFUL for all the fan service with all the couples, and yes, I’m including First and Khao here, because — come awn, the way these two almost OVERACTED their relaxedness at the bank and the food truck at the end, I was giggle-crying. Had we seen Alan smile any bigger at any other point in the show than at the food truck? THE SWAPPING OF THE CHAT IDs? THOSE CUTE LOOKS? KHAO’S little head shakes? THE TURN AFTER RECEIVING THAT MYSTERY CHAT? THANK YOU, AOFFFFF, thank yoooouuuu! Thank you for knowing exactly what you were doing for us and our ships, ha.

A dear anon recommended My School President to me, and I’m gonna definitely watch it, because I’m officially a GemFourth stan. More on this later, but I absolutely adored that their storyline took up a huge chunk of screentime. Besides the storyline interweaving beautifully with the major theme arcs of this last episode, their chemistry just could not be better. It’s been well documented how Fourth has been EATING his role, but Gemini, too! The TEXTS! The knowing looks! How much Gemini is able to communicate just by looking at Fourth. SO SATISFYING AND FULFILLING, GAAAHH.

And, and, and — forgive me for being sentimental. Because I’m still so new to this wonderful world of Aof’s work and Thai BLs, I didn’t have to wait as long as so many of y’all in the family for Earth and Mix to reunite in such a good script. But I was still feeling the nostalgia early in the series at seeing these two together, and I felt it so strongly in this episode. Jim FINALLY breaking out of his shell. Calling Wen his boyfriend. Leaning in to make a move (on the wonderful couch). Holding Wen’s hand and squeezing it in response to Wen. Gah. Too great.

Just, like….. how are these GMMTV couples SO GOOD? HOW ARE THEY SO GOOD TOGETHER? (Yes, not quite accurate to call AlanGaipa a couple, but shhhhh.) Anyway, sighs of happiness.

2) LENG. Gossipy. Luv u. Sneaky b.

3) I know we kinda despise her (and by “we,” I mean all of my inner children who want to grab these guilt-stricken, “what do I do nowwwww” whine-whine parents by the throat), but umm, Jam’s a 10! She cute! I liked her mall outfit, I cannot lie.

Jam came full circle. She admits to her shit. She figures out how to come thru in the most sensible way she can. I’ll offer more thoughts in a bit, but I’m actually a little glad that we didn’t get the rage scene that I so WANTED to see in episode 7. She’s ready to pony up for school. That’s the best way she can help, and I’m glad she was written as figuring that out.

What did I see happen to Jam? She leaned into the kind of parenting and family building that she could manage at this point in her life. What she was CAPABLE of, she did. She created a family table for ALL her family. To show that kind of blended family, eating all together, at peace, with a small child in their presence…. to have created a warm environment where Jim could finally, comfortably come out without judgement. She replicated the same table that Jim himself had created at his diner. She’s paying her dues back to BOTH her brother AND her son, both of whom she rejected and abandoned.

I have to hand it to Aof. My inner child’s heart is wrecked at this, but I have to hand it to him. He treats bad parents with compassion. ATOTS, Bad Buddy, and now here. He doesn’t blame bad parents for who they ARE — he instead skewers WHERE THEY CAME FROM, the culture from which these styles of parenting are borne. God, Aof. That’s not necessarily emotionally purging for Asian kids traumatized by the unexplored impact of filial piety. But it’s much more of a realistic artistic meditation, a FAIR one. I see what he did with Jam, and I ultimately have to appreciate it, even if I was dying for a rage episode. I appreciate that Aof, as an artist, will not succumb to base emotion simply because it’s the surface feeling. He will always dig and layer what ends up truly working as an emotionally balanced meditation.

4) Big themes. Once again — a return to the balance between old and new cultures and perspectives, and how us oldies get pulled along into the new age. But also, in this episode, we were reminded of what youngsters bring with THEM, from THEIR pasts, into their future.

This episode focused on Jim’s movement and Li Ming’s movement. Oh, my heart. I’ll start with Li Ming.

Li Ming is really a hero of mine — I think what he demonstrates for me is that youthful FEARLESSNESS towards change that we admire youngsters for so much — while us oldie parents are also worried about them, we fear for them, because we know that there are potholes and pitfalls when change can happen quickly and blindingly.

I think that's what Jim was referring to when he says to Jam that Li Ming helped him (Jim) find his maturity. That was at the core of the night talk that took place in episode 7. I think Jim saw, in Li Ming, what Jim *needed* to see in Li Ming to trust Li Ming with Li Ming's own growth. Jim needed to see that Li Ming could consider his options, and be more emotionally sophisticated and aware than Jim ever has been.

And, I think -- that helped Jim TRUST Li Ming. That wonderful short conversation between Li Ming and Jim, where Jim confirms with Li Ming that Jim is just *worried* about Li Ming, like a parent.

When Li Ming says, "love isn't that big of a deal." When Li Ming talks about other ways that life needs to be sustainable.

Li Ming KNOWS Jim, and knows HOW TO TALK TO JIM.

How brilliant is that, to see that in someone so young, just dominate you, an older person, by way of emotional knowledge and sophistication? Jim had no choice, in my read, but to trust Li Ming -- and, maybe, take some inspiration and take that sophistication, and internalize it, so that he (Jim) could begin to relax and find happiness as well.

5) The other story about Li Ming's movement is between him and Heart, and as I said before, I'm just totally sold on GeminiFourth as a pairing, because their dynamic was really perfect for the growth that needed to be demonstrated between the two of them.

HEART! We saw Heart shoot his shot, dang it! HEART! With his wanting a boyfriend, with his parents learning sign language, with PEOPLE AROUND HIM LEARNING HOW TO TALK TO HIM. On multiple levels, even if we didn't see all of it actively (like with Heart's parents), Heart made demands and shot his shots, just like Li Ming did with his own family.

GOOD GOD -- could Aof have used this motif more wonderfully, so EFFICIENTLY? Young people get shit done! No holds barred, they can bolt through their own obstacles, their own barriers, to get shit done. Young people aren't held down by the past, like some old uncles we know.

And yet. Young people CAN ALSO RESPECT THE PAST, AND BRING LONG-STANDING CULTURE WITH THEM -- as Heart and Li Ming showed at the temple, as Li Ming danced as a lion, bringing in the Lunar New Year (FULL CIRCLE from when the series premiered, y'all!) AND THAT'S GROWTH. That's how the world spins, that's how Pattaya spins -- a place caught in the middle between the old and the new, the historic and the modern. Just like Li Ming and Heart, they are always growing, always maturing, and fast, like young people do, before they get stagnant-ish and older-ish, like Uncle Jim.

6) And then we see the growth paradigm with Jim, as reflected in the mirror of Li Ming. We see Jim -- finally -- loosening up. We see Jim come out as paired up with Wen to his sister. We see them on a date, a romantic date on the beach. (Sure, Jim is still an old dad, complaining about the food or whatever, geez, Jim.)

We see him close the old place, and open a new place. We see that new place as a new and modern way to hold over the old culture -- khao man gai, outside, under the stars, the way it's supposed to be eaten in an equatorial country.

I'm borrowing the following screencap from @hummingbirdsinjune:

We see Jim, finally, reflecting. We see him reflecting on how people were able to move forward, people like Jam and Gaipa, while he reflected on how he was held back. We see him figuring out how he won't hold himself back, and won't LET HIMSELF BE HELD BACK, anymore. He cancels the lease to let go. He, finally, wants to be in control. He sells the car, one of his last links to Beam. And commits to moving forward in so many ways.

And he stays in Pattaya. So we know -- he's still going to be connected to the old ways, the historic culture, of Pattaya.

And when Wen choose to decline the job. When Wen -- AND JIM -- decide to build a home together. Home isn't anything modern. Home is HOME. Home is history. Home is building history together. Jim is both leaving things behind.... and leaving nothing behind. Because he's building all he needs in his life once more.

The building of home with Wen. That's what ultimately took me out about this episode.

7) I believe I finally got the khao man gai analogy to the show that I long wanted before the show premiered. As with Jam's table at her husband's house, when the guys were sitting and eating at the diner before the diner closed. Jim's family, Jim's community. How food brings everyone together. That was a presage, I think, for the home he was going to eventually build with Wen. Y'all know I wanted this, and I'm so glad I got it. Yay, chicken rice.

I'm totally going to have more thoughts over the next few days, but this is what I got for now. I'm so in debt to Aof as an Asian fan of his dramas for giving us such unbelievable commentary on culture and family. We are INCREDIBLY LUCKY to have this artist making these shows. They are so important to me as an Asian, as a lover of my culture and Asian cultures, as an Asian child and mother also struggling with the balance of old and new values and cultural rituals. Aof's shows teach me so much, about extra- and introspection, and Moonlight Chicken was absolutely no exception.

#moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken meta #earthmix #firstkhao #earth pirapat #mix sahaphap #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #geminifourth #fourth nattawat #gemini norawit #jim x wen #wen x jim #alan x gaipa #gaipa x alan #li ming x heart #heart x li ming #moonlight chicken episode 8

[questioned-quetzalcoatl]

Take My Breath Away

Rating: K

Pairing: New Zealand/Tonga

Characters: New Zealand, Tonga

Variation: Canon

Summary: New Zealand insists he invites Tonga over to his place for New Years again so he can show off his firework display, to which they more or less reluctantly agree too. 

AN: I missed a Christmas fic this year so I’m making up for it with some fluffy Zeaonga for New Years because gah I’m in love with them all over again. I can’t help it. I miss/love them so much qwq. Hope u enjoy it !! Happy New Years everyone <3

---

“Why do you insist on dragging me to these kinds of events?” 

It’d seemed they’d been questioning his motivites the whole way up there, following the personification of New Zealand as the other dragged a 2 liter Cooling bin behind him like it was nothing. Though Kainga could be less surprised, that man had unfathomable amounts of strength in him, reasoning with the fact that James thought with pure muscle and his fists rather than his actual head. Kainga was certain even if he did use what little he had in his head, they’d all be completely doomed.

Still, that thing probably weighed at least a ton with the beers and snacks stashed inside it like a hoard. 

“Cuz I love a good fireworks display, and got the best in the pacific!”

“I severely doubt that.” Kainga raised an eyebrow at him, making James roll his eyes amidst the darkness. The only light softly peeking over the top of the grassy hill, flickers of different colors and shades that made the shadows of the grass dance and flicker. The sign of life on the other side. A city aglow with bright lights that came into view, blinding them with the contrast of the darker hill, Kainga’s hands gently lifting up in front of their face to block some of it out. Even making them feel a little dizzy, until James laughed.

“Well quit yer complainin’, Kai-boob, we’re here!”

“I-I wasn’t complaining!” Kainga protested, unraveling the picnic mat stashed under their arm when James had more or less crashed the Cooling Bin to the ground. Their face scrunched up a little at what sounded like glass breaking inside of it, “If that’s the sound of my beer smashing in there Mr New Zealand I swear to god that I’ll use bin to hide chunks of your body-”

The silence and the quiver from James sent Kainga into loud snorts of laughter as if that threat actually had some impact on the Kiwi, perhaps just the mental image of it all. 

“You’ll have a job gettin’ every piece of me in there-”

“Relax honey,” They cut James off as they sat beside him, leaning over to give him a soft kiss to his lips. “I was just joking. I’ll peg you instead~”

“EXCUSE ME?!”

Kainga laughed, choking on their own air that inhaled into their lungs as the paler James’s face got. Resting their head under his hairy chin, followed by a snicker of pure enlightenment at his reaction to the sheer thought of it. “I mean the offer is there, if you do it I’ll wear nothing more but your rugby jersey for the rest of the week.”

James stalled a bit on the offer. Chewing the inside of his cheeks as if James ‘-can-not-be-topped’  Hunter was considering the thought rather deeply until he spoke out. “Let’s just see if that beer is smashed or not, yeah?”

Wrapped in an old and worn blanket that had seen better days, Kainga sat in a soft silence stretched for an eternity or two, as they watched the bustling city below him. People walking about, the sound of happy drunks to be heard wherever you went. The stars bright and twinkling with kindness and wonder, mysteries that had him up all night trying to figure them out. Memories, faded like that of an old sepia photograph, rushed through them all at once. 

For once, just in that moment. He felt himself slowly falling back in love with New Zealand.

The gentle kisses he’d place on their cheek, just so he could watch them flush a pastel pink and whaft his face away with flicks of their wrist. Only for James to bring them in closer to him, his heart and all the love he had to give to the Tongan he was cuddled up with. The way he’d gently brush against them, hooking a finger and pushing their scarf down to reveal their neck and kiss further down his lover. Not caring how much they shifted or squirmed when he did so.

When they looked up at him, James could yell to the moon. Their gaze, eyes full of mirth and love, tender and precious. The kind of look you saw in someone when you knew they were truly, irrefutably in love. The kind of look that hinted towards stories untold and as mysterious as the stars up above.

Just like that, James’s breath was gone. 

Swept away like dew on the morning grass against the breeze of the callings of mid-afternoon. No other on this earth could make him act the way he does when the Tongan looks at him like that. No other on this earth could make him feel as nervous around them, even when he went to go get the cheapy five dollar champagne for the both of them, that look they gave him. He took a photograph in his mind, stuck it up on his board of memories. 

Kainga continued to watch as people walked about, some racing with a bottle or two of beer or wine, others walking with friends and singing, terribly in their drunken state but no doubt having the time of their lives. Couples walking back and laughing together. Families going to the park just in the nick of time to watch the fireworks display in a few minutes. Up here, they felt on top of the world.

Behind them, the sound of gentle and quiet footsteps padding up along the grass towards them resounded. Before a flute of champagne appeared, held between large calloused, scarred fingers. Kainga turned to regard the owner of the hand, finding a man who’d returned that same look they gave him not too long ago, coupled with a dopey and tender smile spread across his face

“Aren’t you cold?” They asked, accepting the drink and taking a sip. 

“A lil, the cold bugs me more than anything. If only I had a lil Tongan lover to take me in their arms and hold and kiss me until I’m all warm and cozy~”

Kainga rolled their eyes again before moving over on the picnic blanket and opening out their arms for him with a soft; “Come here you big baby.”

The two of them sat there, sipping five dollar cheap champagne that was in one hand, the rest of their limbs tangled together in a loving embrace to try and stay warm. This time it was Kainga’s turn to start kissing all over James’s face, occasionally getting pricked by the hairs of his stubble and ‘beard’ as James called it, though it was more dark peach fuzz than anything else. And it didn’t taste good at all.

Minutes tickled by and the gusts of wind brought them together even closer, Kainga shivered under the blanket and shuffled closer to try and absorb more of the kiwis' warmth. As much as they could at least. They couldn’t tell you when the two of them were under his blanket, leaning against each other as they watched the stars up above. By the time it had happened, Kainga had finished his Champaign and James was about half way there.

“Did you enjoy that huh?” James chuckled as Kainga swirled the remaining champaign foam at the bottom of their glass with a thoughtful hum.

“Maybe” Kainga decided to reply, averting their eyes away and looking away to hide the blush across their face and the smile blooming on their lips. “Would have preferred tea, to be honest.”

“Is this you subtly asking to make you tea?”

“No.” Kainga parroted a smile at him. “This is me telling you to.”

A snicker left the Tongans lips as James seemed confused, surprised above all. “Where on earth am I going to make you tea? Kai we’re on top of a hill!?” “I’m aware, what happened to you ‘having your ways’ hm? You never seem to have a way whenever I want anything from you-”

James leaned in, his forehead resting on Kainga’s head with a kiss placed to his cheek once more. A goofy punch-drunk love kind of smile lighting up his face with the warmth of a thousand suns.

“Oh really?”

“Mhmmm~”

James chuckled softly, the sound like warm honey on Kainga’s skin. Making them shiver slightly just at the feel of it. James’s breath tickled their ear, only then did they realize that the older man beside them was leaning in for a kiss. That sly fox and his tricks.

The result was a flick to the nose and a chortle from the other whom he’d tried to snog on New Years night.

“Are ya laughin’ at me?”

“Noooo….” 

James’s smile broadened as he tried to kiss Kainga for a second time, his stubbornness and impatience at Kainga’s constant refusal of a kiss caused James to shove them down onto the mat. Kainga now below James in a heavy fluster. Kainga moved away, side-eyeing the man before giving him a glare that could rival the sun. Whatever reaction the kiwi was hoping to get, didn’t occur as James struggled to keep himself from laughing. The feeling bubbling up inside of him like the champagne they drank.

In no time, Kainga’s face was as red as the sweater they were wearing. Lost for breath as their heart tried to tattoo itself on the back of their ribs. Once James had stopped putting up a pout with them, whining pathetically at the lack of any lip to lip contact, Kainga had regained their breath, they wrapped their arms around James’s broad shoulders and muffled the yelp escaping the kiwis lips as he was pulled down back onto the mat for a long and heavy chaste kiss. Though the status of that soon changed, with James’s hands, as rough as the mountains on his lands, slipped up Kainga’s thigh. Causing them to pull away with a gasp. The streets down below with the drunks singing the night away and the families watching the stars and counting down for the fireworks over Auckland city.

They went off, an explosion of colors lighting up the sky. Blooming like sky flowers that glittered and cried out.

James leaned up and out of the kiss, out of breath with a healthy blush dusting his cheeks. He looked down towards Kainga with that same look his father wore whenever he spoke of his mother, with warmth like that of a fire and mirth for the love of his life.

“Happy New Years.” He whispered, leaning in to kiss Kainga once more. Both of their breaths swept back and combined into one once again.

They couldn’t help themself as they fell irrefutably in love with James all over again in that moment.

#zeaonga #aph new zealand #aph tonga #hws new zealand #hws tonga #fanfiction #event #new years #new years kiss #fic: take my breath away #hetalia #aph #hetalia oc

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

K A M U K U R A.

...

*After launching Nagito forward, Izuru completely crumbles an entire skyscraper, and now walks through it’s remains at a leisurely pace.

...Step forward...you cannot hide from me...

...

*Nagito cautiously steps out from behind a large chunk of rubble.

I was hoping to ambush you...Or sorry, does that seem a little underhanded?

Use however many underhanded tactics you wish. Not only would they be your best option at winning, but they still won’t work on me.

*WHOOSH!*

GRGH!

*POW!* *CRACK!* *WHAAAMM!!*

UHUUAGH!

*After the tad little dialogue, Izuru rushes forward. Nagito holds up his arms to block the attack, but Izuru breaks Nagito’s guard almost effortlessly, and uppercuts him straight up to the top of a nearby building.

This...doesn’t make any sense...!

Hm...

Gah! HRAGH!

*CRUMBLE!* *PUNCH!*

...

*SMAAASSHH!*

*Nagito clings to the side of the building he was launches at. Izuru takes a run up and starts to clamber up the wall of the building towards him. Nagito frantically climbs up and smashes the side of the building, sending a large chunk of the concrete straight down towards Izuru. Izuru however, merely smacks the concrete aside as if it were a fly.

*PANT!* *PANT!* *PANT!*

...!

GAAAHAGH!

*Nagito tries to run, but Izuru is at the top of the building and upon him before he can even figure out what happened. Izuru grabs Nagito by his hood, tosses him up into the air, and smacks him down like a volleyball! Nagito goes crashing straight through another 6 buildings, and the impact causes shockwaves and further destruction in the surrounding area!

WATCH OUT!

*CRRAAAAASHHH!!*

AAAAAAAAGGHH!

*Meanwhile, not too far away, Yoruko speeds down the ruined streets on a scooter, with Chiaki and Sora strapped to the front. She frantically turns the handlebars to avoid being crushed by the falling building rubble and debris.

When I woke up this morning, this was NOT how I saw the day going!

Chiaki! I’m not sure what the plan is here! How am I supposed to get you to Izuru like this!?

Just look for an opportunity, and take it when you see it! ...I think?

Hurgh! RAAAAAAAAAGHHH!

Mm?

*BAM!* *WHAM!* *POW!* *POW!* *POW!* *WHAM!* *WHAM!* *POW!* *BAM!* *WHAM!* *BAM!* *WHAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *POW!*

...

*Izuru launches Nagito towards an open park area of the city, a square environment surrounded by buildings. Trying to take advantage of his surroundings, Nagito bounds between the buildings at an unseeable speed. Then he starts to launch himself at Izuru from all angles. However, Izuru predicts the attacks with perfect accuracy, and raises his arms in the appropriate directions to soften the attacks.

RRAAAAAAAAAGHH!

...

Geh!?

Impressive...but not good enough...

*CLLUNNKK!*

GAAH-AAGGHCK!

Hm...!

WAAGH!

*BOOOOOMMM!!!*

*Nagito goes in for an excessively hard hit, but slows down as a result. Izuru catches his fist, and then grabs his arm so tight, his metal hand is severely dented. Izuru then reels back and throws Nagito so hard, he crashes straight through a solid building, putting a gigantic crater in it! 

ERGHGH!

...!

(Dammit! His power’s insane...! He’s almost twice...no...THRICE the power of Hajime...!)

(B-But how!? They share the same body, so how is Hajime’s strength so incomparable to Izuru’s!?)

*Nagito goes tumbling through the air, but is able to regain his senses in time to land on his feet. He lands on top a large building, and as he notices Izuru bound through the air towards him, he starts to jump across each roof to get away. Izuru chases after.

(I-It’s impossible...the shining power of talent and hope is nothing compared to me...! I-I can’t beat him!)

(But I can’t escape him either! What other choice do I have!?)

*BOOOOOOOOOMMM!!*

GAAGH WHAA!? AAAAAAAGH!!

Hm...

*CRAAASH!*

*What Nagito doesn’t see coming, is as he jumps across buildings to escape, Izuru rushes in front of him and blows apart the building before Nagito can land on it! Unable to retain his balance as he falls, Nagito crashes straight through the window of the building past it.

KEAAGGH!

*Starting to become enraged, Nagito crouches down and jumps up. He crashes through several floors until he bursts out of the building’s roof. He glares down at Izuru, who is standing on the roof of a building far smaller than his.

Do you think of yourself as some sort of God Kamukura!?

God’s are a depiction of moral authority...I am no such thing.

Well...I suppose I could be if I wanted to, but honestly, I don’t do things that I deem pointless. Having these powers and just naturally being good at everything removes all sense of excitement from life...

It’s a boring world...a boring existence...And I was honestly hoping that you might be able to break that cycle.

Huh?

But you are not a worthy opponent...Despite your newfound abilities and talents, battling against you is like taking candy from a baby.

You...! Fine! You want excitement!? I’ll SHOW you something exciting!

You think you can stand to be entertaining for me when you can barely stand on your feet?

Fine...Give me everything you’ve got.

GRGH!

...!

*Nagito suddenly jumps back down the hole that he made by crashing through the floors of the building. Izuru patiently waits, when all of a sudden, an explosion of blue light slashes the building open! The entire top half of the building rises as Nagito jumps up, carrying it above his head!

It’s INCREDIBLE ISN’T IT!? I’M AMAZED THAT YOU CAN BE BORED WHEN YOU’RE CAPABLE OF SO MUCH!

SO “GOD!” WHERE IS YOUR SANCTUARY!?

Like I said...I’m not a God...and this is ridiculous.

HAAAAGHH!! I’LL BLOW YOU AWWAAAY!

*Nagito reels back and throws the entire building at Izuru...

...Hm...!

*ping!*

*KEER-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!*

!!!!!!!!?????

*Nagito is left slack-jawed and horrified by what follows...Izuru completely destroys the entire building chunk thrown at him...by flicking a pebble at it...!

...!

AH-!?

And I also said...you are disappointing...!

*CRRUUUUUUUUNNCCCCCHHHH!!*

*CHOKE!* KUGGH!

...!

*CRASH!* *SMASH!* *WHAM!* *SMASH!* *BOOOM!*

*Izuru is upon his opponent in an instant. He punches Nagito so hard in the stomach, his fist nearly goes out the other side! Nagito’s interior organs are almost completely destroyed, and every last but of wind left in him is knocked out completely. Izuru then grasps Nagito firmly by the jaw and slams him straight downwards! They go crashing through the floors of the building, and reduce the rest of it to rubble!

AHAGH!

Stand strong Yoruko! We’re almost there!

...

Ngh...! Ugh...gugh...

*Now in the open, surrounded by what remains of the building and the buildings around them, Izuru lifts Nagito up by his head.

*CRRACKCRRUCCHKERCRACK...!*

OOUGH! AAAHAAAHGH!! YAAGHAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!

*Izuru’s grasp on Nagito’s head starts to exponentially tighten. Amongst the sounds of settling dust and rolling stones, the most prominent sound heard is the painful, tooth-scratching noise of Nagito’s skull, slowly starting to crack and break...! And his screams of damnation...!

You are not an Ultimate Hope...You are not special...You are just trash...

And trash...should be tossed...!

GAGH!

*Fortunately for Nagito, before Izuru can completely crush his skull, he instead dunks him straight into the ground. This creates a shockwave and blows the surrounding rubble apart.

KAAGH!

YORUKO!

*Yoruko is finally able to catch up, but arrives at the most imperfect time. The shockwave launches her straight off her scooter, and sends herself, as well as Chiaki and Sora, crashing to the floor.

...

...

What are you even fighting for Nagito Komaeda? You claim that you wanted to see Hajime groveling at your feet, but you and I both know that isn’t true...

You have no motive...You’re just blindly attacking because you don’t know what it is you want anymore...

...

*Nagito, barely conscious, heaves himself up into a seated position.

I’ve always been seen as the antagonist...What’s wrong with acting like one?

Do I even need to answer that?

No...but...I want you to answer me this...How is this possible?

Hm?

I don’t get it...! Hajime wasn’t NEARLY as strong as you! But you’re fighting in his body with his strength!

So how!? How are you so much stronger than-!?

I’m not...

Wha...

What...?

Your logic is sound. This is Hajime’s body. His powers don’t automatically get stronger just because I’m not the one in control of it. The strength is the exact same...

But then-!

But the reason why you were on a more equal playing field with Hajime wasn’t because I am stronger...

It’s because HE held back...

He...what...!?

At his full strength, Hajime is capable of everything I’ve just dealt to you, and then some...But he didn’t extend that power to it’s max.

If he had...he would have crushed you in an instant...

B-But he didn’t...because he was worried about destroying the city?

No, Komaeda...

He was worried he’d kill you.

!!?

Hajime thought that...despite everything...the Nagito Komaeda who was his friend was still in there somewhere. He thought that if he could fight with you equally, you’d see your wrongdoings and try to atone.

He wanted you to have another chance. And in exchange...you killed him...

I...no...! I-Impossible!

Is it really impossible? He may have been shrewd and never really minced words, but Hajime was ultimately a kind, honorable man who only wanted to see the good in people. Including people like you...

*Izuru suddenly raises his hand...

Let it be known...I share no such niceties...

Ah-!?

You bore me...So now...I will split you like a watermelon.

A-AAH-!? GGGAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!

*PLOP!*

!?

STOOOP IIIIT!

!!?

!!!??

*As Izuru lowers his hand to deal the killing blow, Chiaki, on the pad, suddenly drops down in front of him and yells!

*pant!* *pant!* *pant!*

*Yoruko stands in a stance nearby, making it very evident that she just threw Chiaki towards the two.

...

*Izuru reaches down and picks up the pad, looking at the face on the other side.

...Hey...buddy...it’s been a while.

Do you remember me? Izuru? Hajime if he’s in there?

...

...

*Izuru is silent...but then...

...

...

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #dr2 #danganronpa another 2 #sdra2 #izuru kamukura #chiaki nanami #nagito komaeda #sora #yoruko kabuya #the melancholy of nagito komaeda arc

[paroxysmal-distaste]

acatalepsy. || prologue

copied and pasted from my wattpad, excuse the old writing.

playlist.  0.  1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.  9.  10.  11.  12. ----- ◈ Chapter 0 - Prologue ◈ ◈ Date Published: 24/12/2018 ◈ ◈ Word Count: 2147 ◈ -----

UNKNOWN DAY IN AN UNFAMILIAR UNIVERSE

"What the hell are we doing in here?"

"Lighten up! You barely leave the house anyways."

"Yeah yeah yeah, you don't need to remind me. Did you bring the flashlight I asked you to bring?"

"I thought you were taking it."

You face palmed.

Recently, there's been a train accident where it's said to be believed that the tunnel was haunted. Everyone thought this was true because apparently there would be less people onboard after going through the tunnel than before. Almost like they were taken by something.

You thought it was bullshit.

The area had already been blocked off, but that doesn't stop your adventure loving friend from dragging you into her curiosities. In a way, you had always admired that about her, but other times you saw it as a flaw. One of those times being now.

"Mags?"

"Hm?"

"Can I go now?"

"No."

You rolled your eyes and frowned, speeding up your pace to keep up with her, "Wait up, will you?"

"Does your phone have any battery?" She questioned, ignoring your comment.

"Just a bit, I don't know if it will be enough though, especially since the flashlight takes up a lot of it."

"Turn it on for a moment, I can't see where I'm going." The both of you lifted up the Caution, Keep Out! police tape as you carefully stepped over the rumble. The atmosphere surrounding the place was giving you the chills, and you shivered quietly.

"Can we speed this up a little? I'm getting the creeps." You stated blandly, subconsciously tightening your grip around your backpack straps. You kicked a squashed can of Sprite to the left of you.

"Give me a hand with this." Mags gestured for you to help her with what seemed to be a large part of debris from the crash.

"Alright, but if it accidentally drops on your foot or something and it breaks, don't blame me." You raised your hands up comically and pursed your lips, before dropping them loosely to your sides. You grunted as your fragile hands attempted to pull off a large chunk of concrete from the side of the tunnel.

"You know, you're acting kind of weird. What's the rush? You don't have somewhere to be, right?" She asked abruptly.

You froze,"N-no, what makes you say that?" Your body stiffened as your friend squinted her eyes at you suspiciously.

"You seem to be in a really big hurry for some reason and you don't usually care when I pull you around on these trips."

You lifted your arms and shoulders, turning your head to the side, "I-I don't know, I think I'm just tired I guess."

"You're a terrible liar! You're meeting up with someone aren't you?" She placed her hands on her hips and neared you, making you back away nervously.

"Pffft- whaaaaaat? No way." You tugged at your turtleneck, "It's getting a little hot in here. Mind if I just-" Just as you were going to push past her, she said something that made you pause.

"It's Miles, isn't it?" The constant shifting of your eyes made her own widen and her lips to curve into a smile. "I knew it! You can't hide anything from me!"

"Shush! I was going to tell you, but I didn't know if I would call it anything yet." You fiddled with your hands in an antsy way, before pushing a strand of loose hair behind your ear.

"Ooo, you have to tell me what happened!"

"He just asked me out, that's all!"

"That's all! What do you mean- that's great!"

Your face reddened as she hugged you, "Stop... you're making it seem bigger than it is."

Mags nudged you suggestively, before walking forward. "I'll drop it. For now."

After a moment or two, a giant hole in the wall was finally revealed, and your friend carefully put a foot in the gap, trying to squeeze their way in.

"I can't get in! I think I'm stuck." She murmured, her voice echoing since half her body was left through the wall and her legs were kicking up and down in panic.

You snickered at her flailing limbs, and you could hear her getting cross at your lack of helpful action.

Something made a clicking sound, and you shielded your eyes from the sudden bright light in your face. It flickered for a moment, and a loud horn sound blew.

"M-Mags." You tugged at the bottom of her jacket, your eyes widening as you noticed that the light was from an incoming train.

"Huh?" She questioned, "I can't see! What's going on?"

Your face paled as you began to roughly tug at her legs, accidentally slipping one of her shoes off. "Dammit! A train's coming!"

"I thought there weren't supposed to be any trains seen this place had been closed off!"

"Yeah, well, it's not going to be stopping anytime soon - let me help you, stop kicking!"

Just as Mags was easing herself out of the hole, something made you pause momentarily.

Something tickled your arm, and instantly, you began to mentally freak out. Whatever it was, if you made any sudden movements, you were sure it was going to harm you.

"Ow! Something bit me!"

Never mind.

A burning sensation began to occur on your palm, and it felt as if your skin was falling off. You tried your best to not yell out in pain, since you and Mags were trying your best to get out of the place alive.

"I'm out! Quick! Hurry up, it's coming!"

You snapped your head to look behind you, seeing the lights coming closer. Turning your attention back to what was in front of you, a few metres forward was Mags with her hand extended, waiting for you to grab it.

The train seemed to get closer every second, and you bolted forward, almost tripping over the tracks.

You finally managed to clasp your hand around your friend's, and she hoisted you up immediately.

It was right on time too, because the train violently broke through the large concrete rumble, and continued going ahead at full speed.

The rubble of rocks flew everywhere, causing both you and Mags to fall backwards and to scoot backwards with your hands.

"Oh my goodness." You ran a shaky hand through your hair, which was now messed up. By doing so, a striking pain ran through your arm again, and it brought attention to what happened earlier.

You breathed in through your teeth, as Mags grabbed your hand gently in worry.

"I think it was a spider, but it must have been a pretty nasty one because it hur- gah! Careful!" You snatched your hand away from her grasp, making her stumble out a 'sorry'.

"Let's just get out of here." You frowned at her before walking out of the subway, her footsteps following quick behind.

You stared at your hand curiously, wondering what sort of bug would produce a large wound and sensation like that.

A radioactive spider definitely didn't cross your mind.

---

You ended up cancelling on Miles, and it made you feel terrible since you were really looking forward to your 'hangout'. He had invited you to go rollerblading with him, since he knew you loved it.

What you told him was that you weren't feeling very well, but you promised you would make it up to him.

That bite from a week before, was no ordinary bite. Your daily life was increasingly difficult, from accidentally ripping papers the second you tried to remove it from your own fingers, to climbing walls.

You did put two and two together, and realise that it must have been during that train episode because that's where you first started feeling weird.

Going out for a walk, you hummed the song that was playing through your headphones and looked around at the lights and streets of Brooklyn.

The moment was short lived though, since what happened next was only made aware to you when you heard an extremely high pitched scream. It must have been pretty loud since your headphones are always full volume, which signalled that something was seriously wrong.

You pulled your hoodie down, and carefully removed your headphones to find out what was happening.

Another villain.

And Kid Arachnid - as everyone called him - was saving the city once again. You had never seen him in action up close, and it only took you a few moments to notice that his abilities were the same ones that you had.

Your fingers began to tingle, and you looked down at them, slightly startled at the realisation. Were you just like him? You didn't know, and a small part of you wished you were. It would be interesting becoming a hero and fighting alongside Kid Arachnid.

A loud yell pierced your thoughts again, and you jumped at the sudden sound.

A car was thrown your way, but a string of webs managed to prevent it from going any further.

You looked up to see your saviour, who was now struggling to fight against the person opposing him.

A strong urge to help was almost forcing you to get up and assist him, but your fears held you back.

The villain seemed to have said something to him that alarmed him, because he ended up grabbing you and holding you up.

"Y/N!"

Wait, Y/N? How does he- His voice. I know that voice. Of course I do, I could recognise it a mile away. A mile...

Miles.

Everything that happened next was a blur, and you still couldn't process it. Before you knew it, you were free from the malefactor but in exchange for the well-being of someone else.

"Miles." You whispered, before running over to where he was laying. Almost instantly, you moved him off of the wreckage to make him feel a little more comfortable instead of having sharp rocks digging into his back.

"Miles- are you o-okay?" You managed to cry out. "You didn't have to do that!" You kneeled down to his level, unsure how to treat him.

"I did anyways though, didn't I?" He grinned and stated in a raspy voice. Of course that was his response.

"I-I should have gone to our meetup- maybe then I wouldn't have disappointed you, and left things like this. I-I-It's all my f-fault and-"

"Y/N. It's not your fault. This was bound to happen eventually." He was cut off when he gave out a weak cough.

Your hands shook vigorously as you placed them over Miles' cheek, using one to pull off his mask.

He smiled delicately when he saw you a little clearer, and he pushed the strand of hair that was sticking out behind your ear. "You always did have those little bits of hair pointing out all the time."

Your laugh made the tears that were brimming your eyes fall down on his chin.

Miles' eyes trailed to his stomach, where a large and deep, bleeding cut was held. There was no way he was recovering from that.

Suddenly, he squinted, and a pressure built into your head. It felt like a headache, but it actually felt nice. His eyes widened at you, and he smiled.

"Y-you're like me."

"W-what?"

He didn't reply, and his eyes were beginning to close.

"Miles. Miles! Answer me!" You tried your best to try to shake him awake without damaging him, but he wouldn't wake up. "M-Miles...?"

You stood up carefully.

This happened way too fast. First you get bitten by a radioactive spider, next your crush, best friend and also the city's super hero dies in your arms.

You couldn't even cry anymore, because you were still processing what had just happened. The villain was still on the loose.

Of course, at this point, you were fully aware that what ever caused Miles to be as skilled as he was, also got you.

It was a spider.

You dug your fingers into your fist until your knuckles turned white.

If there isn't going to be anymore Kid Arachnid, then there needed to be someone else to be there for him. Not to take his place, but rather, in his memory.

An idea started to form into your mind.

Chapter 1 >

#milesmorales #miles morales x reader #miles morales #acatalepsy

[wheres-sam]

I binge-watched the spn anime because of the brain rot

It’s bad except for the parts that are good, and it’s pretty to look at. Here’s a comprehensive list of pros and cons. Spoilers ahead!

Pros:

- more psychic kid backstories: Max (Nightmare), Lily (Darkness Calling), Jake (Loser)

- more psychic Sam

- more Azazel

- basically if you want more about the psychic/demon kids, watch the anime

- more young Winchesters

- the monsters, the superhuman abilities, the fight scenes, it all looks really cool animated. (But PSA it’s violent. It doesn’t shy away from blood and gore.)

- Sam and Jessica backstory

- more of the brothers being cute and funny together

- Missouri isn’t forgotten

- includes some Japanese legends/mythology

- the impala looks great in every scene. They did Baby good

- the “Supernatural” intro title

- the outro sketches of the boys hanging out with Baby

- Episodes adapted from the original show are different, but I like some of the changes? It’d be boring if it was an exact retelling and the visual medium wasn’t utilized. (I know I said spoilers before, but this is when they get detailed. If you wanna skip over, I’ll tell you where they STOP.)

Nightmare goes more into the abuse Max has suffered. Instead of locking Sam in a closet, Max sends Sam through the floor and covers the hole by breaking his bed in half, and it’s extremely sexy how Sam shoves the 2 halves apart with his mind. Later on Dean puts bandaids on Sam and they talk about demons loudly in front of a fast food intercom.

In My Time of Dying highlights the guilt Sam feels over Dean. In both the og and the anime John verbally blames Sam for not shooting Azazel, but where in the og Sam goes right on arguing, in the anime he reels back for a moment like he was slapped. Dean’s spirit touches Sam’s shoulder, and Sam knows immediately that it’s Dean. He doesn’t even question it. Instead of “Are you here?” it’s “I know you’re with me. I can feel it.” And I love that. Dean figures out right away he’s dealing with a reaper, and the reaper takes on the appearance of Mary to convince Dean to move on to the afterlife. Instead of a Ouija board, Sam uses a laptop to talk to Dean, and the first word Dean types is “Sammy!” Dean is so fond of his little brother and Sam is so baby.

Rising Son is an anime only episode, but it draws inspiration from John’s journal. Dean has a proper breakdown over his dad’s death and the possibility of having to kill Sam. Ms. Lyle, Sam’s favorite teacher who turns out to be possessed, is explored. John takes Dean hunting, and in the journal Dean hesitates to shoot a buck, and little Sam shoots it thinking it was endangering Dean. In the anime, Dean’s cornered by a moose and Sam makes it explode with his mind and it’s so !!! How little Sam’s first words are, “I’m glad you’re okay. It didn’t hurt you?” The boys are covered in blood and guts and Dean’s like 👁👄👁 “Why are you here? Did you do this?” And then Sam starts freaking out a little, the shock sets in. “I don’t know. I don’t know, honest.” And he’s staring at his hands, and I am a big fan of Sam showing superhuman signs as a kid. Like in the journal, Ms. Lyle tries to take Sam. She gives Sam the illusion of a choice to come with her or stay with Dean, and Sam chooses Dean. This ep is pretty much when John figures out Sam has demon blood. He kills another hunter that wants to kill Sam.

Crossroad is based on Crossroad Blues, and I love how the crossroads demon shows up. It’s hard to describe, but it’s so neat, like she’s walking underneath Dean in this mirror world, and then the mirror world takes over the regular world, so you really get this sense of otherworldly seclusion, existing outside of time.

What Is and Should Never Be shows Dean is a firefighter in his ‘Mary never died’ world, and Sam got to play soccer growing up like he wanted. The brothers hold each other after Dean is saved from the Djinn.

AHBL part 1. When Azazel shows Sam that he fed Sam his blood, Sam gags and slaps a hand over his mouth, and I like that reaction more than the live action. The psychic kids get to go more anime with their powers, and that’s a lot of fun. They don’t need weapons. Ava slams Sam into the brick side of a building and cuts him without touching him. Jake snaps Ava’s neck with one hand and then catches Sam in his arms. When Jake attacks Sam, there’s no gun or knife. He’s relying on his super strength, his fists. Sam throws his arms up to protect himself, and (accidentally?) pushes Jake back with his mind, and the collision creates a crater in the ground. Jake puts his fist through Sam’s chest to kill him. It’s brutal and it’s rad as fuck. These kids are terrifyingly powerful.

The Sam and Dean reunion before Sam is killed is not as emotional as the live action imo, but what the anime does intrigues me. Hurts in a different way. Because Sam is stunned after he uses telekinesis again, on Jake, and when he hears Dean behind him Sam freezes. He doesn’t look relieved to see Dean, but wary and weary. It’s Dean taking steps towards him, not the other way around, and it has to be because Sam doesn’t know if Dean saw him push Jake back. Sam doesn’t know how Dean’s going to respond to all this, to him, having powers that come from a demon, the demon, Azazel. Sam hasn’t had a chance to process anything. He’s scared. He’s tired. And the way the anime focuses on Sam’s eyes here. Gah. “Dean. Dean, I’m...” I’m sorry. I’m all right. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m a monster. There’s also this one shot between Sam and Azazel that sends me because of how anime it is.

AHBL part 2. I love how Sam brought back to life is animated, with all the color returning to his face and a light wind rustling his hair and his lips parting to indicate his soul returning to his body. Jake attacks Dean, and, a lot like how Sam activates telekinesis to save Dean from Max in Nightmare, Sam gets a burst of superhuman strength. He rips Jake’s arm off and tackles him to the ground and beats him to death, punches holes into his body, and it’s so savage and bloody and scary, and I love it. The Devil’s Gate opening looks so cool animated. Same goes for Dean shooting Azazel with the Colt.

Not to turn this into a meta post, but I also noticed how the last couple times Sam uses his powers they’re colored green-yellow, the same colors as Mary’s ghost when she reveals herself in the anime’s Home, and I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it’s neat how it draws a connection to Sam’s biological family instead of Azazel’s blood.

The Spirit of Vegas is like Bad Day at Black Rock, but Dean has all the bad luck instead, and it shows off the silly cartoony physics that make animation fun. The boys sleep outside and split a chunk of bread for dinner. Also this lil bit of Dean’s hair tied in a bow.

- (STOP) the brothers are pretty. I am not immune to animated Sam and Dean Winchester.

Cons:

- Jensen doesn’t voice Dean until the last 2 episodes

- The English dialogue is really bad sometimes. I wish I could’ve watched the sub, but I couldn’t figure out how to change the language

- Some character designs are really different from the live action, and maybe that’s petty, but if you’re gonna change the characters diversify them? Don’t just make them unrecognizable white people

- Missouri’s design as a stereotypical witch doctor is racist

- Gordon is replaced by some British guy named Jason?? Why

- There’s an LGBT character who is not accepted by her family and, while that bigotry is always shown to be negative and she dies the hero of the episode, she still dies ://

- In the English dub Lily’s gf is made into her roommate instead. Idk about the sub

- Bobby’s pretty much a totally different character

- Sam and Dean are OOC sometimes

- Dean’s hair usually looks darker than Sam’s and it drives me crazy

- The storytelling is, overall, not nearly as good as the live action

- The non-Japanese lore in some episodes makes no sense. Sometimes it’s just plain ridiculous?? Like there’s a giant robot made of cars and scrap metal controlled by a demon? ? I wish I was making this up

- Meg’s role is severely reduced

- No Harvelles or Roadhouse

- Shadows are overused, but maybe that’s because the og show is so dark?

- I don’t mind the art style. I like the aesthetic, but I wish it was a little more expressive. It doesn’t do Sam’s puppy eyes justice.

- AZAZEL’S SHADOW?? PROPORTIONS?? PEA SIZED HEAD

- Idk why they mashed season 1 and 2 together? The story feels rushed

- there’s not as much chemistry between Sam and Dean, but that’s a given without J2 on screen

- Nobody tells you!! That there’s scenes after the credits!! And some of them are important! Why are important scenes after the credits??

The anime would not be good on its own, without the heart and depth the live action brings, but it works as supplementary material you can cherry pick from. I would watch more if there were more episodes.

It hasn’t turned me off from wanting an spn anime. I’d like to see it continued or redone, with updated animation and better scripts. There’s a lot of potential in exploring more about the psychic kids and Sam’s powers, storylines that were cut short in the og show. Animation is a great medium for showing off the supernatural, getting creative and creepier with the designs, dramatic with the fight scenes, without having to worry about bad CGI. I don’t want a live action reboot, but I think a redone animated series could be a lot of fun! (As long as it’s not an excuse to make any romantic ships take over. SPN is a platonic love story, and I like it that way.)

If you made it to the end here and are interested in watching the spn anime, you can watch it for free on the CW Seed app! You can probably stream it elsewhere, but idk where!

#spn anime #supernatural #supernatural the anime #my detailed pros is pretty much me letting you know what episodes are worth watching #and why #its bad but I kind of like it #I like what they were going for. the potential it has #I like sam and there's lots of sam

[shirtlesssammy]

6x21: Let It Bleed

Then:

Dean and Cas broke up

Now:

March 15, 1937

Providence, Rhode Island

It was a dark and stormy night, and HP Lovecraft sits at his typewriter clicking away. He finishes his manuscript, and his door slowly creaks open. He pulls out a revolver and heads to the hallway, but quickly backs back into the room and locks the door. A window blasts open and a shadowy figure is there. He pleads with it --but becomes blood cannon fodder anyway. 

Dean continues to dissect what could have gone differently to prevent his breakup with Cas. Sam tries being the logical friend --but there’s no explaining heartbreak, folks. Bobby comes in to tell them that when Cas popped in for his late night tet-a-tet with Dean, he stole a journal. But don’t worry, Bobby had a copy. 

Upon reading it, Bobby discovers a mention of HP Lovecraft. Dean doesn’t know who that is --and you’re going to tell me the dude that knows horror movies like the back of his hand and reads Stephen King doesn’t know who the father of horror is? And I know that Dean lies to cover up things he thinks other people would look down on him for, but this would be a weird moment to do that. 

Anyway, Bobby thinks Lovecraft knew something about purgatory. 

Meanwhile, Ben is chilling in his room reading Cthulhu graphic novels while his mom is watching the sportsball with her new beau. Demons bust in and gut the boyfriend right away. One takes after Ben. Ben gets to his room and calls Dean in a panic. He doesn’t know what’s out there and he can’t get to the shotgun in Lisa’s closet. Dean tells him to jump out his window. It’s too late --Crowley’s there and has both Ben and Lisa. 

Crowley tells Dean that no harm will come to them if he backs off from the purgatory plan. 

Sam throws some salt on Dean’s wound and asks if Cas knows about this. “We gotta assume that he does.” OUCH.

While Bobby heads off to follow the Lovecraft lead, Dean and Sam set to finding Lisa and Ben. They summon Balthazar and tell him that Crowley is alive. He blinks and tells them Cas already informed him. They then tell him about splitting the souls in purgatory plan. Balthazar knew that too, ahem. He refuses to help find Ben and Lisa. 

Sam thinks they should call Cas. “WE’RE NOT CALLING CAS.” This is a man in pain, Sam, he needs time. 

Bobby, meanwhile, interviews someone who possesses a large collection of Lovecraft’s private letters. He asks about March 10, 1937 specifically, and the dude wonders if he’s working with the other guy --”trench coat, looks like Colombo, talks like Rainman.” We’re supposed to assume he’s describing Cas, but ?? okay. They’re competitors actually.

The guy tells Bobby that Lovecraft had a dinner party with other blackmagic followers. They were getting together to perform a ritual to open a door into another dimension. He has --or had-- letters describing the dinner. Bobby leaves, knowing exactly how the letters disappeared. 

Bobby discusses the case with Sam, revealing that one guest of the party -the maid’s son- didn’t die and has been in a mental ward since that night. He’s gong to interview the man now. 

Dean, meanwhile, is lining the demons up and taking them down if they don’t answer his questions. 

For Murderous Rampage Science:

Sam tries to get his brother to take a break, but Dean is 100% on an emotional bender and will not stop. Sam then heads outside to pray to Cas --pleading with him to bring Ben and Lisa home. 

When Cas doesn’t appear, Sam walks away, dejected. Only Cas is there, invisible to Sam. AND I WANT TO TEAR OUT MY EYES. 

Cas confronts Crowley. Crowley was “merely exploiting the obvious loophole.” Cas demands he tell him where they are. 

Crowley tells Cas the only way to save Lisa and Ben is for him to find Purgatory. 

For Literal Science:

Cas flaps away when Balthazar summons him. They meet in a wooded area, and Balthazar confronts Cas about his partnership with Crowley. 

Balthazar confirms that Cas would be the vessel to take on the souls from purgatory. He could explode from all that energy. Cas assures him he won’t (weeps). Cas demands Balthazar tell him if he’s with Cas, and Balthazar laughs but agrees. 

Bobby interviews the maid’s son, and discovers Cas was already there. Bobby asks for the story. The man tells what was said at the time, but then asks, “Do you believe in monsters?” He tells Bobby that the door did open that night, and whatever came through took over his mother. Then the others died. Bobby gives his condolences to the man, and he shows Bobby a picture of his mother. Bobby recognizes her.

Dean prepares his Tortures for Demons™ when his foot drags part of the devil’s trap away. The demon immediately gets the drop on Dean, only for Cas to flap in (or turn visible) just in time to save Dean’s bacon. 

Dean’s...ungrateful. Surly, even! Cas apologizes about Lisa and Ben, and he’s hurt when Dean doesn’t believe that he had nothing to do with their abduction. 

“Dean, I do everything that you ask,” Cas pleads. “I always come when you call and I am your friend - still. Despite your lack of faith in me, and now your threats.” Cas is just asking for backup this ONE TIME. (And you know what? Knowing the crap these Winchester boys have pulled, I always felt like Cas made a good point here.) They lob soulful looks at each other. Cas promises to rescue Lisa and Ben if Dean will just PLEASE stand down and let him absorb every single monster soul EVER it’s NOT A BIG DEAL. This is entirely the wrong tactic, and Dean tells Cas to go back to Crowley and he’ll save Lisa and Ben on his own. 

Cas flaps away. Soulfully. 

Bobby arrives at Eleanor-the-Dragon’s door. She’s at a little cabin in the middle of nowhere - one of her safe houses. He confronts her with the old photo and demands to know her agenda. “You know, we’re not all alike,” she retorts. She reacts similarly poorly to Bobby complaining about sleeping with her without knowing she was a monster. BOBBY! WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT RIGHT NOW. She tells him that the world’s lucky that she’s who popped through the portal. The professor is on Team Earth. Bobby begs to know the secret of the portal so that he can protect her from Cas. 

Balthazar flaps in on Sam. He’s joining Team Winchester because he’s terribly concerned about Cas’s life choices. He flies them close to Crowley’s angel-warded lockup, and Dean and Sam swoop in to save Lisa and Ben. 

They split up inside the warehouse - always a sensible plan. Sadly, Sam “Soft Noggin” Winchester gets knocked out IMMEDIATELY. Sam plz. Dean bursts into Lisa and Ben’s prison like a little angry blur of knives and in short order, he’s killed all the demons standing guard. They start to flee, when Lisa holds Ben at knifepoint, her eyes flashing black. 

The demon goes all in on the mental torture, telling Ben that Dean’s his real father (JK!) and that Dean is Lisa’s WORST EVER MISTAKE. While Dean catalogues the internal damage, he and Lisa fight. He sheathes the demon blade and starts an exorcism, and I look directly at the camera. Demon Lisa’s got another trick up her sleeve. While the exorcism progresses, the demon grabs a tool and jabs it into Lisa’s gut. Then, she gives Dean a choice: exorcise her and Lisa bleeds out or let Lisa remain animate (but a demon puppet). Wrenchingly, Dean finishes the exorcism. 

He makes sure Ben’s armed with a salt-round shotgun and then they head out of the factory. Ben shoots his first demon while Dean shouts at him to “pull it together” and I...just…….

Guys.

I’m just going to box these feelings up and stuff them in my Dean Winchester is a Sad Child attic, while humming Cat’s in the Cradle to myself.

They find Sam and head for a hospital, Dean muttering the whole time that she’s FINE Lisa is JUST FINE she is FINE. Cut to the hospital where Lisa is NOT FINE, but also is not dead! Yet! 

Cas flaps in. 

Dean refuses his apology. REFUSES IT. But Cas didn’t come to apologize. Okay, he DID, but he primarily came to heal Lisa miraculously. Dean looks up at him like he completely forgot that Cas can heal. 

For Healing Cas Science:

In Jensen Ackles your face is a menace news, Dean displays grief, joy, relief, anger, betrayal, sad cat memes, and more in like less than five seconds of screen time. He thanks Cas for healing Lisa. “I wish this changed anything.” Regrets lie thickly between them. Dean asks for one more favor. He wants himself erased from Lisa and Ben’s memories for good. 

When Lisa wakes, Ben explains that they were in a car crash. Dean enters, and introduces himself as the guy who hit them. GAH. The shitty things these characters do!!! Excuse me while I hurl knives at the wall for a solid thirty minutes!

“I lost control for a minute,” Dean says, not AT ALL metaphorically about their time together. “And I just want to say that I’m sorry.” He heads out, leaving the Braedens entirely unprotected from future supernatural threats and missing a substantial chunk of their lives. Hope Cas also cleaned up Matt’s body??? And the busted door??? (Side note: does anyone else have weird squid emotions thinking about Cas willfully blanking their memories when his own memories have been tampered with time and time again? I SURE DON’T!)

Dean meets judgmental Sam back at the Impala. Sam, I see your judgment, and I judge thee valid. Dean talks about his emotions in an open and healt----hahaha nope. Dean tells Sam that if he ever mentions the Braedens to him then he’ll break Sam’s nose. He punctuates that with mournful, red-rimmed eyes which definitely deal at least 1.5X damage against Sam’s puppy eyes. They drive off into the sad music. 

Elsewhere, Eleanor Visyak leaves her cabin, only to encounter Cas behind her. Cas flaps her away. CAAAAAAAAS!

You QUOTE Miette??!!

Your chocolate's been in my peanut butter for far too long

What’s with the slow burn?

You’re just a man. I’m better off protecting myself

I’m officially on your team. You bastards

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #Lisa Braeden #Ben Braeden #spn 6x21 #let it bleed #supernatural season 6 #bobby singer #balthazar

[aros001]

First time read through light novel vol. 8. Random thoughts.

...So...does anyone else feel a little uncomfortable with that cover image between Reinhard and Felt? I mean, I know he's not going to do anything sexual to her and she's not as young as I originally thought she was (I think vol. 1 said she was 15, while ever since the anime I thought she was like 10 or something), but she still is underage, being forced into wearing and doing something she doesn't want to by a grown man, and I think just the way he's got his hand holding her bare thigh makes it feel more sexual than it should be.

Also, is Wilhelm floating? The heck is he sitting on?

Subaru was afraid of death. Dying constantly trashed his life with an unbearable sense of fear and loss. He thought it was like that for everyone; he assumed that was how it had to be. Subaru, who had experienced death more than anyone via Return by Death, didn’t want anyone else to know what it was like.

I'm definitely seeing more similarities between Subaru and Ferris here than I did in the anime. I like how they both have a more unique perspective on life and death than most people would; Subaru from his Return By Death and Ferris from being such a powerful healer (to the point he can even regenerate himself from near death, I guess). Again, for a series where death can be undone so easily, it really knows how to use that premise to show just how weighty and serious death is. While the two will and do kill, it sits with them more than it does for others because they know just how awful death can be.

Something I've really enjoyed when reading through various LN series after watching the anime first is that I end up liking certain characters that I didn't in the anime. I didn't hate Ferris but the cutesy way he talked really bugged me and I didn't focus on him much. Here though I'm definitely getting a better feel for his character, especially with how much he values life, cursing at the suicidal witch cult members for tossing theirs away so easily. He and Subaru's back and forth makes the ending feel that much more heartbreaking when Ferris has to mercy kill the possessed Subaru.

Also, just to clear up any confusion I have, is Ferris in drag or does he identify as a woman? I don't have any problem referring to him from now on as a "she" (I never had that problem with Magne in My Hero Academia) but I'd prefer to get my facts straight. Ferris also makes a joke about Subaru swinging over to his side of the fence but I'm not sure if that means he's gay or not. It's a little hard to tell how far his affection for Crusch runs, for example.

Similarly, there's Julius, a character I never disliked in the anime, but I can definitely see more of a path to him and Subaru becoming friends here. It is funny that a comment from Ferris got me thinking how something to two have in common is how easy it is for them to get others to immediately dislike them just by talking. For Subaru it's because he too often talks without thinking, shoving his foot into his mouth, and for Julius it's how unintentionally snobbish and "better-than-you" he can sound. It's also nice that the story is getting Subaru to try and work through his issues, acknowledging that he's being unfair towards Julius, whom really has done nothing wrong aside from unintentionally pricking at Subaru's inferiority complex.

Like Subaru, I thought demon beasts and monsters were just so common in the world that a barrier around a lord's domain was a very common thing. But from how the other characters in-story are talking, it sounds like Roswaal deliberately put his domain and the village in the center of (or at least nearby) a demon beast habitat. Even in the anime I always believed he knew more than he let on but here he feels like a straight-up mastermind with everything he's been pulling behind the scenes and all the things he's done that, as of yet, have no explanation or reason behind them. Just what is he up to?

One thing I'll say about this series in comparison to some others I've seen/read; the dark magic here, like with the Witch of Envy, Return By Death, the White Whale, and the Unseen Hands, really feels like DARK magic. I've seen series that have their own version of dark magic that'll make bad things happen or summon demons or sacrifice people, but this? Everything to do with the witch feels creepy and unnatural, like it's not or should not be part of the world. With how much suffering it's caused, the mystery behind the gospel, just how unhinged Petelgeuse is and his body jumping, it all feels like stuff you should really not be messing with. Even at the end with Subaru running off and Julius finding him, getting no response at first from Subaru, feels like something out of a horror movie.

Subaru keeps getting asked if he's Pride, to which I'm assuming they mean if he's the one to become the Archbishop of Pride. Personally, my theory is that because of how much the witch seems to "favor" him, Subaru is Envy, like, well, the Witch of Envy and the only one of the seven sins they never mention to have an archbishop, given Satella destroyed the other witches. If that's the case, I can only imagine how much that's going to piss off all the other archbishops, that after all their shows of devotion some schmuck came to their world out of nowhere and became Satella's favorite.

“Lending one’s strength does not mean merely swinging one’s sword. It means challenging the same foes, worrying over the same obstacles, sharing the wounds and the weight of the burdens. This we can do. This is the lesson I learned in the past.”

Obviously this is meant primarily for Subaru but I can't help but think it can apply to Rem and Emilia as well. With the exception of Puck, Emilia tends to go out of her way to avoid involving others in her problems or having them feel they owe her anything when she helps with theirs. Rem dedicated a good chunk of her life to live as her sister's replacement after Ram lost her horn and tried to kill all the demon dogs on her own after Subaru was cursed saving her. They both seem determined to bear the weight of their burdens solely on their own, like they're the only ones who need to suffer. Subaru goes back and forth on how much he involves others in his problems, but while he's more than willing to help ease the burdens on others, his problem for the longest time was that he was so fixated on "swinging his sword", as he thought fighting and strength was the only way to help (probably because strength would honestly solve a decent chunk of his own problems).

“Two days ago, the forest around the mansion became unnaturally calm... to the point that even my eyes could catch nothing. Thereupon, an armed group appeared bearing the crest of the House of Karsten, which had declared war with the blank letter... Surely you cannot blame my little bird’s heart for being on the verge of breaking?”

Ram, I had no idea how much I missed you until you came back.

Namely, that someone out there had swapped his letter of goodwill, aiming to turn Emilia and Crusch against each other.

I don't think a line or speculation like this was in the anime, which it probably should have been. Without it, it just seems like Subaru's an idiot and made a stupid mistake, but now it seems like someone is directly manipulating events behind the scenes. Personally, I'd say my money's on Roswaal if I didn't have terrible luck when it comes to gambling.

“Silence! Cease your prattle! Give that book back, right—”

“Hey, don’t shout. If you get too angry, you know—your brain’ll shake.”

...

“G...gah...! How dare you, dare you, dare youuuu! My disciple of love!!”

“Don’t gimme that, you’re the one who mixed us up! Tunnel vision! What, are you lazy?!”

HA!

Overlord was the first light novel series I read (the only other LN I'd read before was Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases and that was years ago), so naturally it's the series I tend to make the most comparisons to for the other series I've been reading. In this case, something I really like about both Ainz and Subaru is that, despite how they're presented sometimes, neither is actually stupid (though they too often suck at reading the room). They're both just in situations way over their head and they have no frame of reference for how to deal with these fantasy world situations. Subaru, like with tricking Sloth into getting attacked by demon beast or figuring out what was up with the flowers, has plenty of times where he shows he can come up with decent plans or quick thinking that can pull off a win. His flaws are based more in his own immaturity and need to grow more as a person.

Honestly, Ainz and Subaru are fun to compare because, of the LN MCs I've read so far, they both seem to get every break the other doesn't. Ainz is obvious. He's got actual power, tons of resources, and numerous people whose faith in him is absolute, while Subaru has almost nothing save for the curse and the clothes on his back and has to continuously struggle to make any difference. On the other hand, Ainz has no one in his life he can relate to or be his real self around, making him feel incredibly empty and lonely, while Subaru has attracted a surprisingly wide web of people around him whom, despite some hiccups, do genuinely believe in the real him.

I am 90% certain Emilia and Puck fighting Sloth wasn't in the anime. Well, no wonder anime-only fans have trouble liking her when you cut out nearly all of the character's best sh*t! [Edit: I was wrong. Another post pointed out it was at the end of ep 23. Like I said, it's been a bit since I saw the anime and I remembered none of this fight. Though I still stand by that LN Emilia is better than anime Emilia] Like I've said before, it's not like anime Emilia could just be replaced with a sexy lamp and nothing would be different, but compared to the LN version she really didn't get a lot to do in the anime outside of the first arc. She wants to be queen and sometimes heals people. Otherwise she was mostly off-screen or serving as Subaru's object of affection (and sometimes obsession). Just being able to fight isn't everything but Emilia here certainly feels like she has a lot more fire to her personality and does more when she appears. She's not just a nice, pretty girl for the MC to fight for.

Somehow, he’d died again. He’d probably lost it all once more.

He surrendered everything to the abyss. This was the familiar embrace of failure after he pathetically lost his life.

Look back at the world.

Look back at your failures.

Don’t forget. Don’t forget. Do not forget.

Ferris’s tear-filled voice. Wilhelm’s lament, shaking with regrets. Julius’s resolve and remorse, so great he probably gnashes his teeth over it—Don’t forget, ever. No matter how low you are, don’t ever let go.

Is this Satella saying this to Subaru? I'd assume so since it ends with the "I love you" line Subaru's been getting before he RBDs. But if so, why is she saying this to him? One theory is that she has her own regrets from her life and is giving Subaru a chance not to have the same. That assumes she is a good person and that the stories around her are wrong. Another theory, given the Witch of Envy title, is that she's insisting Subaru never let go of what's his. It's his (and hers, since he is hers) and no one else can have it. I mean, that applies more to greed than envy, I suppose, but stretching a bit you could say she'd be jealous of a world moving on without her.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/gwjfwy/novels_first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_8/

#re:zero #random thoughts #reddit repost

[bleachbleachbleach]

HELLO.

I just wanted to say that I love, love, love your tags on that character/tool post a lot! Some of my favorite shows/books involve characters that can't keep it together and just barely make it to the end of the story or make it there in an "inconvenient way" and tbh I find that usually the narratives that follow these characters don't really work away from them either--the narrative is just usually more questioning instead of fully formed.

Like, 'what if/how would', y'know? There's less of a clear meaning and more just 'what if they hadn't done that. what if they had done that. what if all that meant nothing. what if that struggle was all there was'.

But oh boy, when they DO work away from the narrative. *chefs kiss*

I mean, most of my favorite Bleach characters are narrative nightmares who either hinder or cut off lines of theme in the story entirely. And, in general, I think there are A LOT of characters in shonen--a genre known for very long narratives that can't possibly complete every thought but also can't just abandon all those characters introduced ESPECIALLY the fan favorites or personal favorites--work in the way you described.

Tbh i think your tags really highlight why so many ppl get drawn to these characters/why they're so fun to play with in fanfiction.

If you have more to add or more thoughts about this you want to lay down I am here, eagerly awaiting and ready to pick them up.

Also, who do you think in Bleach is the most fun characters who sort of drop kicked the story, in your opinion? Who's the one you like the most? And who's the one you dislike the most?

[For posterity the referenced post is this one.]

Aww, thank you! That’s really lovely to hear. I was anxious about even putting it in tags because I don’t think I presently have the capacity to explain it well—and even if I did might still sound bananas to many. Or at least the bit about negotiating with characters and how *they* feel about being subjects in stories. Because as much as that really is my practice saying it out loud takes me back to like… FFN in 2003 where every store was prefaced by extensive chat-form back-and-forths between the fic author and their character "musies" and that is not something I think fandom would benefit from bringing back in force, hahaha. But anyway.

Here’s the part where I disappoint because I don’t think I actually know Bleach well enough to speak to it in this context. WHICH SOUNDS DUMB EVEN AS I TYPE IT BECAUSE LOL WTF IS THE NAME OF THIS BLOG WE ARE CHARLATANS AND POSERS FOR CLAIMING AS OUR NAMESAKE NOT ONE BLEACH BUT THREE BLEACHES but truly, my experience of Bleach has a shallow depth of field. I feel like I have weirdly intimate knowledge of some severe rabbit holes but a non-existent to uneasy sense of the gestalt.

Like idek man, in my "slow re-read where I am actually paying attention" Ichigo hasn’t even met Byakuya and Renji yet. ToT

I'm gonna put this behind a cut because it spidered all over the place, but in summary:

characters and their capacity to produce narrative failure

the charm of longform serialized series and their invitations to imagine stuff

me attempting to talk about Hitsugaya and feeling a fool, as usual

I guess in general terms, I’m really interested in characters and their capacity to produce narrative failure. Not failure as in 'bad' but failure as in things that break form or are circuitous or are actively detrimental to a narrative arc. All my strongest examples of what I’m thinking of are from a different fandom and therefore not relevant to this blog, alas. By comparison I think anyone in Bleach can keep it together better than the characters that are immediately coming to mind, lol. But I think this idea dovetails often with trauma narratives, or depression narratives, because these things are often… non-narrative? Like, there’s no fourth or fifth for minor fall or major lift. Sometimes it’s the same thing over and over again, or maybe nothing. Maybe it’s the exact same self-sabotage narrative dictates could have been avoided. Maybe it’s some act that emanates forth but cannot be explained because it cannot be explained and will never be explained. That’s a version of what I’m talking about, in any case, though not the only version.

Your note about longform shounen definitely resonates with me, too. In my mind I don’t like long things and I prefer series that are more self-contained but whenever I have ever landed in a long-term fandom, with a piece of media I felt obliged to carve out chunks of my life for, and to interact with at that level of creative fannishness, it’s always been something stupid long and serialized by the seat of its pants. I know plot holes or dropped threads bother a lot of people (makes total sense, don’t get me wrong) but I find these things incredibly attractive. I see them as invitations to join in the fun. Especially when it’s so much a part of the form and genre to have this, as you said, lack of real expectation that every thread will be followed to its conclusion (or that it would be worthwhile to do so) and every thought completed.

There’s this piece by David Grann that was published in The New Yorker in 2004 that I really love that speaks to part of this idea, albeit in terms of fictional universes versus fictional characters. But Grann is talking about Sherlock Holmes (Doyle original) and the ways that Sherlockians would like, approach apparent lapses in narrative and then solve them according to the established rules of the universe. I just love that. There’s also the line, "Never had so much been written by so many for so few," which LOL if that ain’t fandom I don’t know what is!!

I feel like I’m actually talking about three distinct but related facets of these thoughts in this post, except all at once and without clear transition, uhhhhh.

Gah, I am broken and now can ONLY think of examples from my not-Bleach fandom, but to try a different tack and add yet another facet to this already funhouse-mirror post, my various attempts to write Hitsugaya often feel like they come up against a version of this. I think Hitsugaya has aggressive side character energy, and I find it difficult to make him the center of a story and have it feel right to me. He feels different to me than writing other minor characters, where they can be the center of their own stories even if their story is not the main story. Like, two of my fave characters in my other fandom have literally like… three lines in 350+ episodes and it feels easier to imagine THEM at the center of their story and I think what it comes down to is that Hitsugaya probably prefers what he not be written. And when he does become more narrative I think he’d prefer that none of it was happening in the fist place. But at the same time he always seems to be…around??? whether there is really a good reason for him to be present or not. XD So while, say, he and Bartleby "would prefer not to" (because THAT'S what this post needs, a Melville reference), Bartleby actually opts out and Hitsugaya out here volunteering.

He also often feels non-narrative to me because he feels very declarative, if that makes sense? Like, the coming-to-decisions or coming-to-realizations parts of existence happen pretty quick, or are approached perfunctorily. I feel like I find narrative in the "coming" part of that equation and instead Hitsugaya will be like, well, I’ve already done that part without you, and/or plan to do that part in the future and it will still be without you, the audience. Anyway, here’s the determination I’ve made, here’s what I’m going to do, and here begins the long and probably tedious process of my doing that thing (off 2 go train in a cave for a bit). I don’t think he actually believes the world is that simple, Tab A into Slot B, but I do think he’s already made that assessment and can see coming to terms with that as a horizon, if that makes sense. So even if he doesn’t know the answer to something, or is completely at a loss of what to do (what to say to Hinamori? how to productively address the number Aizen’s done on him) there’s still not necessarily a story there. Maybe the answer is you grind, and it is repetitive and boring. Maybe you just hold things. There’s not even the act of learning how to hold things, necessarily, just the practice of doing so.

Wow, that probably doesn’t sound good! I feel like I need to suffix this with the assurance that Hitsugaya is my absolute runaway character in the whole series and this was true 15 years ago and it is still true now (truer, even) and everything I just said are reasons why I love him.

#i feel like this is one of those 'well.... that sure was a Post' situations #and i will have to try to articulate this better in the future #probably multiple times #ideally with concrete explicated examples for the sake of clarity lol #but please take this as an invitation to talk about YOUR read of Bleach/Bleach characters and/or elaborate on your also excellent tags

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XLI: Here Comes the Sun

We ran through the tunnels, unsure what we would encounter next. There was an unsteadiness about it all which threw the rhythm of my heartbeats off balance. It both startled and excited me; that we were all together again and working to put an end to the things that have caused us such suffering for well over a year. Of course, there was no guarantee that we could, or that our answers would be found, but just knowing that we were together again and all felt a grain of hope, of purpose, made all the difference to me.

Our path was illuminated by dim lights set up along the walls of the tunnel. Little lanterns with stained glass casings and small crescent bulbs which produced a gentle glow. Each thud our footsteps made as we ran, the click-clacks, felt like we were that much closer. Of course, there were several miles of tunnel and Ray and I knew that the end was supposed to lead to an entrance to the airport. This felt different somehow. Like we were on a treadmill and the gap between the start and the end widened with every step.

Look at me. I’m contradicting myself. First I’m saying how we’re moving forward, and then I’m saying how we’re not moving at all.

Yes. It was confusing, and maybe it was more of a sense of swimming against a current than anything else. Funny, that: there was a strong chill down there. Maybe not a breeze or even a heavy wind, but a dead chill all the same.

“You know, I kinda missed it at first, but I swear, any minute now I’m going to complain about how freezing it is,” Ray slowed down and grumbled.

Compared to Tigershark and I, Ray wasn’t used to running long distances. Demetria slowed down as well.

“Come on, why’d you stop? It takes more energy to stop and start back up than it does to keep up the pace!” Demetria berated my husband, something which I really should have scolded her more over.

“Newsflash: we’re not exactly dressed for the part of running underground in below zero temperature,” Ray pointed out.

I think I was most surprised by the fact that Demetria didn’t seem the least bit tired out. I remembered back when we had our adventure together, she had trouble just walking up a mountain. Now she was complaining about Ray, who’s probably walked up plenty of mountains of his own, not keeping up.

“Yeah, it is a problem, but...are we really about to head back to grab our jackets?” She countered.

“This stinks!” Tigershark complained.

Everyone started to bicker among themselves and I began to shiver with a great intensity as well.

“G-Guys!” My arms and legs shook and I shouted. They all looked my way.

Good, good. You’ve got the floor, Sunny. Now to make yourself look cool. Don’t fuck this up!

“This is unpleasant,” I began. OK, not a great start, but I knew I could pick up momentum, “but we’ll have to make do! We’ll just have to get that blood flow! If we need to take breaks, that’s fine, but we still need to do all we can to –” I stopped myself as I realized what I had on me.

I reached into the inside of my jacket pocket and pulled out an unlit torch. Looks like I may have been more prepared than I thought.

“Hun, wanna do the honors?” I smiled and held the torch up to him. My heart skipped to the tune of ‘Skip to my Lou’, as something as simple as that felt like a grand romantic gesture. There was a slight hesitance to it and not one defined by the natural chill, but by the passage of time itself. For Ray’s part, he looked up and into my eyes, and they looked watery, a possible result of the chill. He shuffled into his pocket and he looked like a timid little rodent all the while.

“I can’t see very well,” he croaked and his words almost crashed into themselves bit by bit as he went on, “but you still shine so bright.”

If words alone could keep me warm, those most certainly would have.

“You do as well. Even faint, that light is still there,” I replied.

He pulled out his lighter and flickered a little flame. After the torch was lit, he looked away, perhaps in shame.

“I’ll admit, everything that’s happened up to this point still affects me. It’s hard to think that anything can get better, but...I’m trying.”

Demetria tapped her foot against the stony ground.

“Can we put the flirting on hold and get a move on?” Her impatience was characteristically hers. Even if other things about her may have changed, that little childishness remained. It kept the smile that was already on my face intact.

“Who says I can’t do both?” Ray chuckled and he sucked in a gulp soon after, his eyes wide in shock that he could even manage to do that.

We started walking on and huddled close together as Ray held on to the torch. In the midst of it, Tigershark jumped up and whined.

“Guys! Guys! I’m still cold!”

“How old are you now? 11?” Demetria scoffed.

“Be nice!” I scolded Demetria.

“Fine, sorry.”

“You’re never too old for a piggyback ride!” I told Tigershark, then swooped her up and got her up on my shoulders.

“I’m going to have to remember that one,” Ray commented under his breath.

Now, with Tigershark on my shoulders, we ran forth once again. Ray had a bit of trouble keeping up, but he was still doing a good job. A+ for effort. All was going well and we were filled to the brim with a heaping helping of determination.

“Hey Ray,” Demetria turned to him while running.

“Yes?”

“I know you didn’t want me to come back here, so you’re probably mad that I did so anyway.”

Ray shook his head.

“Right now we’ve got more pressing matters. Besides – I’m actually quite proud. I didn’t think you had it in you to do something so crafty.”

That all came to a head, however, when the ground before us began to shake. I wobbled and held onto Tigershark’s legs, struggling to keep my feet on the ground. Ray wobbled as well and almost fell while Demetria stood her ground, only bending her legs ever so slightly.

“What’s going on?!” Tigershark poked her head in front of me and looked around. “Is it an earthquake?”

I looked around as well. Her question was soon answered when the walls in front of us began to crumble, or rather, chunks of it slid out and what emerged were three creatures made of stone in the shape of large, human figures. My eyes were fixed on the holes which once made up the wall. Those human-shaped holes.

It’s their hole. It was meant for them.

My thoughts would have gone in all sorts of zany directions if not for the fact that one of them slammed their rocky ‘fist’ into the ground and knocked us all down. I managed to catch Tigershark in my arms as I fell, but it still wasn’t such a smooth landing. Meanwhile, the other two of those rocky beings blocked off the path forward.

“Gah. Just a distraction,” Demetria groaned before helping Ray up.

“Thanks,” he took Demetria’s hand and pulled himself up, then brushed off his pants.

One of the animated stone figures hurled a rocky arm my way and I swerved to the side. As I watched the stone fist fly by, I tried to raise a leg up and kick them down, only for my leg to slam in and feel a surge of pain rise from the heel of my foot up to the top of my leg.

“Dammit,” I hissed. Of course that wouldn’t have worked. That would’ve been like kicking a boulder.

Still worth a try.

One of my jacket pockets contained a thick pair of steel gloves. As I fastened them on, the stone figure once again readied their fist my way. In unison, our fists connected and I had to hold on with my other arm as well just to hold my ground. My legs slid back and I had to kneel just to hold my ground. That said, cracks began to form in the boulder-like fist of the figure.

Just a little more...just a little more…

In my periphery, I caught one of the other stone figures stomp their way over to Tigershark who was frantic in her avoidance of them, as the third alternated between trying to hit Demetria and trying to hit Tigershark. With two, there was a greater chance of her being hit. I couldn’t let that happen. But as I started to shift my attention, so did the stone construct as they noticed Ray, caught in the middle.

“He’s hurt enough already!” I grunted as I skidded across the smooth floor and almost fell in the process, but in a cool move from yours truly, I landed just in time to react to two fists slamming down. I raised my arms up and struggled to get up.

“Hun,” he gasped.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured him, “to me this is just another adventure. I can hold these things off. What matters more is everyone else’s safety.”

“Ha,” he scoffed and I could tell there was a smile about to form even without looking his way. “You’re beginning to sound like how I was. There’s no need for that, y’know?”

As I held my ground, he spun around until he was beside the construct and I, then pulled out several needle-tipped threads of razor wire. I noticed them wrap around the stone figure’s fists and he yanked forth, tugged with all of his might until the animated pile of stone had no choice but to yield and even if it was just a few centimeters away from my own fists, it was all the distance I needed to get an opening.

“Now!” He yelled.

“You don’t have to tell me that, silly,” I replied, all coy as I swung my fist right into the ‘head’ of the construct and watched small cracks form.

It’s not enough.

Faster, I jabbed the ‘head’ several more times, using greater force with every pounding of my fist until the cracks deepened and finally the stone head shattered into many misshapen pebbles.

“HA!” I spat into the figure, and I was taken by surprise once I realized that the thing was far from defeated: they swung from the side and on instinct, I held up both arms to block it, but the jab struck me right in the side of my abdomen and I was knocked back and fell right over Ray. We both hit the ground and my landing was somewhat smoothed with me being over him, but even then, I knew I must have been bruised pretty bad.

We both got ourselves back up just in time for the two stone constructs to stomp our way, one on each end. Ray’s back was to mine and we worked to protect the other.

“I thought you weren’t equipped for a fight,” I commented as I huffed between words.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to work with,” he replied. Our sly grins matched each other’s and it felt good to stand beside each other against an obstacle once more.

Just the other day, I didn’t think we would be able to fight alongside each other at all. He had kept to himself in that diner for the most part. With Aurora’s crew huddled in the diner, the place was even more cramped. Worse, she wasn’t exactly the most well behaved.

“Mutiny! I call mutiny! Avenge me, my crew!” Aurora shouted as her and Ray emerged from the kitchen. She looked enraged and threw a fit. Ray was making shooing motions and looked ever so annoyed.

“We hardly have any food at all and where do I find you? On the floor with a jar of cookies in your hands! How do you think that’s fair to the other occupants?”

As Ray dragged Aurora out into the dining hall, she looked back and stuck her tongue out, then stormed off and sat across from me at the table I was seated at.

“I’m going to have to side with my husband on that one. That was a dumb move,” I commented. Really, I know I could’ve just said hi, but it wasn’t like she said hi to me, either.

“For real, boss,” Allison, one of her crew members leaned over from one of the other booths to add her input. “I want a cookie, too!”

Aurora closed her eyes and slumped over, her lips folded down into a stubborn frown. She reached into one of her (what I assumed to be) many pockets and pulled out a cookie, then held it up with the tip of her fingers. One small, crisp chocolate chip cookie, made courtesy of Tigershark and meant for a small dessert after everyone’s dinner. Oh, if only. Allison took the cookie and munched away.

“Thanks boss!” She chirped while nibbling down on the cookie.

“Hey! I’m hungry too! That’s no fair!” Other denizens of the diner began to raise a ruckus. I knew such a thing would happen, and I was sure Ray knew as well. There just wasn’t a lot of food to go around and portions were getting smaller by the day. Despite such an uproar, Aurora just remained quiet. After a while, it died down.

With how deathly quiet it could get when everyone was hushed, even the slightest noise could return the place to chaos. Case in point was when a strained shriek let loose from the opposite end of the dining hall.

From then, I heard Ray’s defeated groan as he shuffled out from the back with bandages in one hand and hydrogen peroxide in the other.

“Poor Todd. His wounds must have reopened,” I made note.

“Todd?” Aurora asked.

“He’s a newcomer. I’ve tried to make him feel as welcome as possible, reassure him that things would get better and that he was in good hands here. It’s been hard, since he arrived with pretty deep gashes all over his skin.”

“Huh. I’m just surprised you know his name. Didn’t seem like you or Ray cared for stuff like that.”

“I try, just a little. I can’t say I know everyone much, and some haven’t been interested in telling me much. Maybe moral support isn’t much, but I don’t know what else I can offer. It seems like both he and I help out, but only at a distance, and at different intervals. Sometimes I provide medical attention, but mostly I just check up on folks and try to make them as comfortable as possible.”

“So this has affected you as well.”

“Of course,” I smiled, my voice turned warm and airy, “I never claimed I didn’t. Just that I need to have hope that things will get better.”

“That’s all well and good, and it better end, but hope without action will only get us so far,” Aurora argued.

I didn’t know how to state my case, if I even had one, so I changed the subject instead.

“I heard Russell died. It must be hard for you,” I tried to offer condolences.

“Yeah, it sucks, but what can ya do?” Aurora shrugged it off.

“Huh. You’re taking it rather well. I’d have thought you’d be more broken up about it, considering how much you cared for him.”

“Are you kidding? He was the best. Well, right next to Allison, of course. But I can’t afford to be sad. He’s too good for that. It would be disrespectful.”

“So you didn’t grieve? Nothing like that?”

She waved it off once again.

“I don’t really identify with those five stages of grief or shit like that, but I suppose if I had to pick one that resonated with me, it would be anger. None of this – none of this should have happened. Yes, environments out here can be harsh, brutal. People die from the cold all the time. This is different. It’s not natural. So yeah. I’m pissed.”

“So if it was the cause of nature, you wouldn’t be?”

“Hell no. This unknown force we’re dealing with? Or, rather, I should say, this cowardly force. I don’t care if it’s some supernatural bullshit or not, it’s cowardly that this thing kills with blatant disregard and then brings him back just to make him a monster, make us kill him again. It’s torture, I don’t care what you say. It’s not some unknown or uncaring force, it’s got intent, malicious intent. See, I may not have a formal education, but I get nature. It’s not always pretty and it can be dangerous, outright deadly, and I don’t know the inner workings, but it’s there and we live with it. If he was taken by a blizzard, or caught in an avalanche, hell, anything else, I could make peace with it and move on. This, I can’t. Not from him, but from what was done to him.”

“I see. That all makes sense. I’m just worried that even if we find out the cause of all this, we might be too powerless to stop it.”

“I thought you were hopeful.”

“I am, by necessity. Nothing is meant to be permanent. Not the good, not the bad. So I just have to hope that we can see it through and see the good again.”

At last, she opened her eyes and turned to me with a toothy grin.

“So you’re planted firmly in the denial stage,” she remarked.

“I’m not in denial!” I got on the defensive. “I’ve been acknowledging how bad things are this whole time.”

“Ha! It’s not the lack of acknowledgment that makes you in denial, it’s that you think everything will return to normal on its own. That if we all just clap our hands and believe hard enough, then poof, happy days are here again. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re not…” I hung my head. “What do you propose we do, then?”

“I don’t know…”

We sat in silence for a moment and I kept my ears open, listening in for any possible conversation. There were some here and there, but nothing I could make out, as they all bled into other conversations being had. I had no choice but to throw in the towel. Unsure what else to do, I brought out a deck of tarot cards.

“I’m hoping for a good omen…” I muttered. It was like I was playing poker or something, a sort of spiritual game of poker.

As I shuffled the deck, I was brought to a fright by none other than Astraea herself.

“Hello, Sunny,” she blew forth those two words.

“Hey, kiddo. All done bringing everyone their orders?” I turned to her, still shuffling my deck.

“Yes. For now. Until the next one. Amen.”

“Hey! Look who it is! It’s Astraea!” Aurora chortled in excitement, nudging Allison along the way.

“Hello, human named Aurora,” Astraea greeted Aurora right back.

“Please, I’m begging you, just call me Aurora.”

“Very well, Aurora human,” Astraea closed her eyes and breathed life into her words.

“C’mon! How come Sunny is just Sunny? What about me?” Aurora began to whine.

“Because I wanted to annoy you. Yes.”

Tigershark must have taught Astraea about little tricks like that. I admit, it’s quite amusing.

“Dang, OK. I see how it is,” Aurora crossed her arms and pouted.

“What are you doing?” Astraea turned her attention to me and the shuffling of my cards.

“I’m doing a tarot session for myself,” I explained.

“What is ‘t-arrow’?” Astraea tilted her head.

“It’s sort of like fortune telling,” I tried to explain. “Each card is meant to represent something, and I’m curious as to what the future holds.”

“As am I. How interesting, then, that you can find that out through cards.”

“Ah, ha, I think it’s more complicated than that. It may show you a version of the future, but it’s still up to the reader to interpret its meaning.”

“May I watch?”

I nodded.

The shuffling continued until I felt a little spark, a spot of contentment, like a satisfying drop of water on my tongue. Then, I set the deck down and drew five cards and laid them out on the table. One by one, I flipped them face up.

“Let’s see...three of swords, the hanged man, the star, the hermit, and the world.”

As individual cards, I could tell each one in relation with the past, present, and future. However, I couldn’t say what it all meant when connected. I studied each one and just felt a murky, insatiable feeling. Maybe I could tell what it all meant, what everything was leading to, but at the same time, I refused to give myself the answer.

“Ha,” I laughed, “maybe it’s better not to know the future.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, I could say I have a pretty good idea...but I think it’s best not to tell.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Let’s just say that right now, we’re in the middle, and the world is at the end. It should be a good thing, but I don’t know if I’m ready to face the world just yet. I’m still looking for that star.”

“I’m the star,” Astraea stated with great confidence.

“You sure are. Makes me wonder what role you play – if you are the middle, what is the hermit that will lead us to the world?”

Astraea shook her head.

“If it was me, every card would be the star.”

“Nothing else?”

“The stars are vast.”

“So past, present, and future?”

“And everything in between.”

I put the cards back into the deck and reshuffled, then put the deck back into the box. You could say that I made peace with the results. There were still other things that I hadn’t made peace with. Like the fact that I couldn’t see anything when I looked outside. No, it wasn’t a pitch darkness, but instead a thick buttermilk gravy-like shade.

“You know, something’s been bugging me,” Aurora brought up.

“Yes? What is it?”

“When this all first started, what did you mean when you said you could hear ‘voices of the dead’?” Aurora sounded like she was in disbelief that I would even say such a thing, but I remembered saying as such.

“Ah, you heard about that?” I chuckled.

“I’m not saying it’s a wrong assessment, but it just seems odd.”

“Now I’m curious as well,” Astraea chimed in. “I’m still new to the fact that humans die, but isn’t it known that a human must be alive to have a voice?”

“Oh, Astraea! I forgot you were still there!” Aurora gasped. She then gasped again when Astraea plopped down on the seat next to Aurora. That time, however, was less a surprised gasp and more of a pained gasp, as Aurora had her legs stretched out across the booth and now they were crushed under the weight of Astraea’s tush.

“Now you may remember,” Astraea spoke as if to comfort Aurora, then turned to me, “go on, Sunny.”

“Well, about the voice thing...not necessarily,” I corrected.

“What do you mean? Like, ghosts?” Aurora asked.

“What are ghosts?” Astraea also asked.

Hmm...I didn’t want to have to go back and forth answering two people’s questions, and the one using Aurora’s legs as her throne was the type to be full of nothing but questions.

“I think I can answer both of your guys’ questions. First, I think what I said back then may have been misleading. It wasn’t the dead that I heard, but rather something that felt devoid of any life.”

“Uh...no shi...i…” Aurora stopped herself from cursing, peering over at Astraea, who was bobbing her head and smiling. “...indig. No shindig. If somethings devoid of life, then it’s dead, isn’t it?”

That’s the best non-swear you could come up with?

“Please don’t interrupt,” I raised my index finger. “Anyway, it felt void of life. Like there was nothing in it. It was a voice, a noise, sure, but there were no words. It was like an imitation of words without a connection to them.”

“I see. I don’t get it at all, but I see,” Aurora replied while nodding. Astraea nodded as well.

“But this is why I’m not in denial, like you said,” I continued, “because nothing lasts and everything is in a constant state of change. Yes, when something ends, something else takes its place. But even that doesn’t have a true end. My childhood is gone, but my parents could remember moments of my childhood. There are places that I’ve been to that I’m not at right now, but I can still picture them through my memories. It’s through our memories that we are able to preserve things that have long since gone.”

“I recently learned what sleep is, but I don’t remember how I came to know it,” Astraea observed.

“But you remember sleeping now, right?”

Astraea nodded.

“And I remember watching others sleep, too.”

“Even if it’s not in our immediate consciousness, we remember things. We remember people, even long after they’re gone. Sometimes memories of a person can be fleeting, but to just remember at all, to just have them in your thoughts, gives them that much more life. In that sense, it could be said that no one really dies, because there’s someone out there to remember them.”

Aurora scowled. Maybe I had hit a touchy subject, given her lost crew members. But then again, it could have been possible that she lost others in the past as well. At last, she opened her mouth.

“Hm. Yeah. That tracks,” she said, all nonchalant.

“There’s a belief that says ghosts are just memories. Little flickers and images of someone who has since left. I suppose I subscribe to that belief as well. See, even if someone never knew them, wasn’t there to remember them, their spirit remembers. Little memories, like routines. That’s why it may appear like they pass through walls or show up in places they shouldn’t. It’s because that specific instance of memory is being played out. Those voices in the fog, they sound...forgotten, or detached from memory.”

“Mm. Living through memories. It would appear that you too are interesting, Sunny,” Astraea commented. By all accounts, I took it as a compliment.

“One possible interpretation of the death card in tarot is a form of change. How one thing ends and another begins. That’s not the only card to instigate change, but it’s the one I want to focus on. I didn’t draw it, but it’s what I’m looking forward to the most: the death of this fog, and for something new to take its place.”

Astraea hopped off and stood back up. Her gaze fixed on me, a focused endless chasm emanated from her pupils. As I stared, it seemed like the chasm grew wider, deeper, and darker.

“But if you remember the fog after it’s gone, wouldn’t you say that it’s lived on in your memories?”

“I…” I was stunned and speechless.

“I’m just wondering: how do you separate the memories that live on and the reality that you want?”

I should have had an answer. I shouldn’t have just let her walk away in wonder, but I too in that moment wondered what the answer was. It seemed so simple, right? Everything affects everything else, and even if the past doesn’t leave, it’s still possible to create new memories from the present and future, right?

It could have been fear. Not a fear of change. Many people had that fear, but that was one of the things I embraced, even sought out at times. But what I had a fear of...oh, I wasn’t even sure. Even if I knew, it would have been best not to say what it was.

Whatever stopped me from answering, I knew that the fog had affected Ray. He was worn down, torn, both on edge and out of energy. Kept him from smiling. Our lives were in upheaval and it seemed like I was the only one smiling. Or smiling for the both of us. But that wasn’t fair, was it? Should I even have been smiling at all?

On the off-chance we succeed and things got better, he would still be affected, and then the question would be: how much would he change at all? Or would there still be that little piece, somewhere in the back of his mind, always jaded and weary?

Still, I couldn’t help but be excited in that moment. The two of us, back to back, fighting those stone figures and us getting beaten up together. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

As the one on his end readied for a punch, he tossed some more threads at the stone ‘fist’ and once the threads connected, he tugged the large rock right off. On my side, the other figure readied a fist as well.

“Hun, I’ve got an idea,” he proposed.

“OK, but first, here’s an idea: duck!” I shouted and we both ducked down as the animated pile of rocks shot their ‘arm’ forth. We just barely missed being hit. Thank goodness.

“Now, take the rock and get smashing,” he voiced his idea.

From my eyes formed an invisible line which connected to the large rock in front of me. Then, it registered.

“Right!” I snapped my fingers.

I grasped the large rock in both hands, then lifted it up and in a swift series of motions slammed it down against the rock creature on Ray’s side. The other, the one who wanted a piece of me so bad stormed over and Ray swerved out of their way. I too maneuvered around, then thrust the rock down upon their head and slammed it down a few more times in successive motions, each one harder than the last, until the figure before me shattered into pieces.

I huffed. What a workout. It took a moment of catching my breath to realize that there was still one more of those figures and they were targeting both Tigershark and Demetria.

“How are you holding up, you two?” I called over.

“Bad!” Tigershark yelled as she jumped out of the way of the stone creature’s fist.

“All I can do is dodge,” Demetria replied, more collected, though visibly frustrated, “my knives are no good against these things.”

Makes sense. They’d have to be some really sharp knives to have any hope of piercing through such large rock formations.

“Don’t worry about it!” I assured her, “I’ve got something to break them now!”

My attention then turned to Tigershark.

“As for you,” I dug inside my jacket. Not the pocket, but buried between my usual top and the inside of the jacket. It was the last item of use I had on me and it was a wonder it could fit at all. I tossed it over beside Tigershark. “Here’s that makeshift weapon you made, dear!”

They were two thick wooden stakes connected together by several layers of thread. I didn’t know how effective it would be, but Tigershark was strong, and something was better than nothing.

“Ooh! You remembered!” Tigershark looked down and held onto the threads in between.

“Go nuts, kiddo!” I raised my thumb up and grinned. She did the same back to me.

As I got ready to join in, two more of those figures emerged from the walls in front of us.

“God damn it, we just can’t catch a break,” I cursed.

“There’s more?!” Tigershark freaked out, although by now at least she was having fun alternating between jumping around and whacking her foe. “I hope Remora’s doing okay right now!”

“Jeez, you had to bring her up now?” Demetria sounded annoyed.

“Well, these things are tough and I’m worried about her,” Tigershark cried out, agitated.

“She’s probably fine. She’s tough,” Ray tried to reassure her as we prepared to fight more of those stone figures.

“Yeah, but that other her looked scary!” Tigershark cried out further, rather than her worries be allayed.

“Other her...ugh,” Demetria scrunched up her face. “When it comes down to it, she really is the self-sacrificing type.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Demetria looked back behind us through the low light of the tunnels. She turned back to us and shook her head.

“No. I need to stay here. You guys are more important.”

I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

“Go to her,” I sounded like I was giving her permission. Maybe I was.

“But –”

“You said so yourself: your knives are no good against these things.”

“But will you guys be okay?” She looked distressed, conflicted.

“Oh yeah! These things?” I pointed my thumb over. “I’ve faced worse.”

Once again, Demetria looked back, looked at us, then back again.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” She asked, deadpan and dreadful. Yet all the same, she turned back at last. “OK. But if I go, you guys better still be alive when I come back, got that?”

I nodded.

“Got it, dear.”

With that, Demetria ran off, back into the nightmare that was the basement of the diner. Once she was out of view, I looked forward where our enemies greeted us with open fists (well, closed, but seeing as they had no fingers, I had to play fast and loose with my metaphors).

“Now with her gone, it’s just us,” I looked over to Ray as I cracked my knuckles.

“I’m here too!” Tigershark jumped up and jabbed her stone enemy in its ‘head’, causing them to knock down.

“Right! It’s just us three!” I proclaimed. “And the three of us are going to kick butt, aren’t we?”

Really, I couldn’t have asked for more.

#remoras full #writing #scifi #fantasy #horror #action #stories #sunny #rock monsters #finally a chapter that isnt super long #tarot #death #change #astraea #aurora

[jamielea81]

Conversations

Chapter 4

Description: You accompany your friends on a day trip to Animal Kingdom Theme Park where you meet Scott Evans by chance. This one afternoon leads to a year long friendship with both Chris and Scott over text messages and phone calls.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warning: Cursing, drinking, and drunk texting.

A/N: Italics are internal thoughts.

Chapter 3

“Where do you want to eat?” Brooks asked once the two of you reached a strip of fast food and casual eateries.

Both of you left the office in search of a late lunch. In actuality, Brooks surprised you in the parking lot when you pulled in. You had just eaten breakfast two hours prior, but hey, if he was paying, you were going.

“Champs is always good,” you said.

Brooks hummed in reply, but kept walking past the entrance, leaving you standing there puzzled.

“Okaaaaay,” you said as you jogged to catch up. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Okay. Sure. We’ll go with that,” you replied.

When you passed the fifth restaurant, you quickly walked ahead, grabbing the door for Panera Bread and holding it open for him. “In! Now!”

He chucked, shook his head, and walked in, you following behind.

With a large, apple and chicken salad in front of you, as well as large hunk of bread, you decided to let the two of you eat in peace before the interrogation began.

“Do you really need three packets of butter for that piece of bread?” he questioned.

You pointed the plastic butter knife at him. “It’s rude to talk with your mouth full. And yes, this is a lot of bread, so it deserves a proportionate amount of butter. Bread and butter give me life. Don’t hate,” you replied, tearing a chunk off.

He closed his mouth, chewing a large bite of his sandwich but giving you a large closed lipped smile.  

After your stomach was overstuffed by the bread you insisted on eating, you took a large sip of water, eyeing Brooks who now had his phone in hand.

“You and Jana are too much alike. Always so serious on your damn phones,” you said. Pushing your cup away because you were just too full for even water.

“One to talk. I hear you are mighty chatty with those…Evans guys,” he whispers at the end causing you to roll your eyes.

“They’re both friends,” you reply, shrugging your shoulders.

“Not with Chris from what I hear,” he said, the smugness thick.

You bite out a laugh. “From what you hear. You mean Jana? That’s your big scoop?  You’re such a punk.”

“I’m just sayin’ that it all sounds flirty to me.”

“Remind me to not tell Jana anything anymore,” you said.

He gives you a half smile, but says nothing else.

“It’s not like that. He’s Brish Mevins.” Brooks chuckles at the fake name you gave Chris. “Have you seen the girls he’s dated?”

Brooks shakes his head no, but picks up his phone and starts typing away. You put your hand over it, forcing it down.

“Neither have I, and I want to keep it that way. But I’m sure they’re gorgeous and probably all actresses. Besides, sometimes people just flirt. I do it too. It’s fun,” you replied.

“Think what you will, but be open to it,” Brooks says, taking his finger and tapping your nose.

“Dorks. That’s the only types of people I know.” Brooks scrunches up his face and gives you a smile. “Any way. Tell me what’s up and don’t say it’s nothing.”

He lets out a long breath but sits up straighter, his face instantly changing to one that’s excited. “I got a job offer,” he exclaims.

“A different one at the paper?” you asked.

He shakes his head no. “It’s with an online news organization. It’s still a sales position, but it’s better pay and I can work from anywhere.”

“Don’t leave me there by myself,” you pout. “You can’t buy me lunch if you’re at home.” Bottom lip sticking out.

“You’re hardly there by yourself. How often have I come to your desk and your busy chatting with the women around you?” he asked.

While you are extremely happy for your friend, damn, are you going to miss seeing him every day.

“Not the same.” You take a big breath in. “But I want the best for you. So, if you’re happy, I’ll be happy. The Cole family is certainly moving up. You with this new job and Jana making partner.”

Brooks throws a hand up. “Don’t jinx it. Nothing’s been announced yet.”

You copy his stance, adding your second hand in. “Fine. Fine. But it’s going to happen.”

 It’s media day at Walt Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The second attraction, Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge is opening and you are quite excited. You hadn’t always loved the Star Wars franchise, not getting into the movies until your early twenties thanks to an old boyfriend who was pretty obsessed. This ride is supposed to be a huge deal and with very little revealed to the public thus far, you’re stoked.

There’s a big presentation by CEO Robert Iger with some surprise guests. Storm Troopers are roaming the currently empty stage while various members of the media prepare to go live once the presentation starts. A borrowed camera with a zoom lens from the paper rests in your hand. You also have your digital voice recorder ready to go. It would be easier to film the event and take stills from the video, but with a good number of YouTubers making up the event, you can always catch what you missed later that night.

Robert Iger walks on the stage while small pyrotechnics fire off from the back. Cheers all around. The buzz in the air is catchy and you find yourself fangirling more than anything. The special guests end up being Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as both actors play a part in the ride.

You’re given a return time to ride the attraction that day. Seeing that you have about an hour until your time slot, you peruse the shops selling various themed wares. Even the bottles of Coke products are themed to match the land. You purchase an orbed shape bottle of Sprite and snap a selfie sending it off to Scott.

Scott: Sprite? You’re in Star Wars land and you get soda. Where’s the blue milk?

You laugh at his reply.

Y/N: Star Wars land? It’s called Galaxy’s Edge Grumpy.

Y/N: Have you tried the blue milk? I’ll stick with the pop thank you very much.

Scott: Pop?! What the fuck is pop?

Scott: How long have you lived in Florida. The word you’re looking for is soda.

Y/N: Whatever 🙄

 You snuck a selfie with a Storm Trooper and sent it to Chris. A few minutes later he was calling you.

“Hey babe,” you answered.

Yeah, your friendship had taken on another nickname. He called you sweetheart and you called him babe. The first time you said it to him you cringed. Like full body folded in half while you waited for a reaction. You didn’t mean to say it, but Chris took to calling you almost daily. He had a long break in his schedule and you had become part of his day. One day the word just slipped out. It felt natural. When he went on as if nothing happened, you relaxed. The nickname slipped out more and more as if that were his name.

“You’re killing me sweetheart! Are you there for the paper?” he asked.

“Yeah. Story will post tomorrow if you want to read it. I’m about to go on Rise of the Resistance in a few minutes.”

“Of course, I want to read it. Send me the link tomorrow. Gah! I’m jealous,” he whined.

You let out a giggle. “Get your butt to Orlando then. If you can’t swing the cost of a hotel, you can stay with me,” you replied.

“Uh-huh, okay, Sassy. I’ll let you know. Go enjoy your day smartass,” he said.

“You wouldn’t put up with me if you didn’t like it,” you teased.

“Need to stop talking to Scott. Apparently, he’s a bad influence on you,” Chris said.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But I’m going to head over to the line. I’ll call you later babe,” you said.

“Sounds good sweetheart. Bye,” Chris said ending the call.

Rise of the Resistance was not only visually stunning, but action packed. There were so many details that no doubt you could ride ten additional times and still not catch them all. The Sentinel was lucky to have a Disney enthusiast such as yourself on staff. Whenever there was a Disney Parks story needed, they knew yours would trump the competition. While you knew you were good at your job, you were also your worst critic and struggled to really put yourself out there. This is why you mainly worked on assignment with only writing a story of your choosing from time to time.

On your way out of the park, you purchased a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar. You took a bite out of one of the ears and snapped a selfie. The picture was quickly sent to Chris since he asked you to mail one to him a month again.

Y/N: I was going to mail this but he just looked so damn tempting.

Chris: I may not talk to you for a while. I think you understand why.

Y/N: I refuse to believe that. I’ll call you later.

Chris: We’ll see

What a baby.

 It was Christmas Eve and you were freezing cold in your mom’s house. The heat was on, but she liked to keep the thermostat set to sixty eight to keep the gas bill low. Living in Florida for fifteen years had thinned your blood. The one positive about being back in Minnesota in the winter besides seeing your family, were the cute winter clothes you could wear again. Despite the warmer temperatures all year round in Central Florida, clothing stores still sold tall boots and thick sweaters.

Dressed in a large cream cowl neck sweater, dark blue jeans, and fuzzy red and white stripped socks, you were still freezing. You pulled the green throw blanket up to your neck, wishing someone would hold your mug of hot cocoa spiked with Baileys up to your lips so you wouldn’t have to remove your hands from under your blanket.

“When did you turn into such a baby?” Heath, your younger brother asked.

Like a true baby, you stuck your tongue out at him. He smirked but shook his head at you before sitting down next to you on the couch. Your mom and her sisters are in the kitchen, fussing with dinner, but mostly drinking wine. The “kids” who are all in their late twenties and thirties include your cousins Jenny, Rebecca, Tony, and Nick and his wife Avery, as well as yourself and Heath.

You brother reaches forward and grabs your mug off the coffee table, taking a sip before passing it to you.

“This is weak,” he said.

“Not all of us need a splash of cocoa in our Baileys,” you replied.

“When’s the last time we all got drunk together?” Jenny asked.

“Not since Nick’s wedding and that was like ten years ago,” Rebecca replies.

“Count us out, we got the kids watching TV in basement and need to get home tonight,” Avery said.

Nick frowns causing you to chuckle.

“I’m game, but I don’t want to get Baileys drunk. What else do we have?” you asked.

Heath got up and walked into the kitchen, politely smiling at your mother before opening a cabinet. It was taking some effort as he was trying to reach the back of the cupboard. A few seconds later he walked back into the living room with his hands behind his back. Like a magician unveiling his trick, he pulls the bottle from behind his back.

The group of you oohs at the green bottle of Jägermeister.

“We’re going to be so sick,” Rebecca said.

“On Christmas,” you add. “Why does mom have a bottle of Jägermeister?

Fuck. Mom is going to be so mad at us.

“It’s mine from like five years ago. I left it here and forgot all about it,” Heath chuckles.

“Do we have shot glasses?” Jenny asked.

“Doubt it,” Heath said.

“But we do have Dixie cups in the bathroom.” Tony said, getting up from his seat and moving into the bathroom.

Heath grabbed his phone and hit play on his nineties music playlist. It may be Christmas Eve, but this was really a get together with your family since you mainly only came home once a year. Even then, not everyone was able to get together every year.

With your first shot in hand, you snap a selfie. Best to do it now before I start to get sloppy.

Downing the shot with your brother and cousins, you grab your phone to fire off a text, attaching the picture to send Chris and then to Scott.

Y/N: Cheers to a Merry Christmas

Scott’s the first to reply as you finish your second shot.

Scott: Someone’s getting holly and jolly

You giggled at that causing your family to all send you a questioning look.

“These shots are already going straight to my head,” you said quickly.

“Drinking game!” Heath shouts. “Since we know the Christmas Story is on TV, anytime someone says Ralphie, we drink.”

“We are so getting wasted tonight,” Tony said.

“Mom,” you called out. She walked from the kitchen into the living room where you all were. “I think everyone but Nick and Avery are staying over.”

“You kids,” she sighs as she shakes her head walking away.

Your phone buzzed in your hand. Chris had responded to your text.

Chris: God you’re adorable.

Butterflies swarmed in your stomach with heat instantly rising to your cheeks. You hoped the alcohol you consumed was a good enough cover for the redness you were no doubt showing.

Your phone started to buzz in your hand repeatedly. You were so lost in your thoughts, you almost missed the call entirely.

“Hello?” you answered.

“Merry Christmas sweetheart.” Chris said. His voice was a little rough, making you shiver.

“Hi Ba-Chris,” you said, almost slipping out the nickname in front of your family. Getting up quickly, you moved to your old bedroom for privacy.

“How’s your Christmas so far?” he asked.

“Really good. It’s like the first Christmas in maybe five years where all my cousins on my mom’s side could come,” you said. “We’re having a really good time.”

He chuckled. “I can see that. How many paper cups of alcohol have you had?”

“Only two. Probably a lot more to come,” you replied. “Besides, it’s warming me up. It’s like I get amnesia about the weather.”

“I bet. Too much sunshine. It’s cold here too,” Chris said.

“Are you and Scott in Boston?” you asked.

“Yep, for like the last week. Probably be here another couple of weeks. You should come to Boston,”

What?

You cleared your throat. “Like now?” you asked.

Chris chuckled again. Damn, if that laugh didn’t get you every time.

“Like in general.” He pauses for a moment. “You should come out sometime. Scott’s here a lot. I’m here a lot. It would be fun. Give ya the whole New England experience,” he said.

“You know, it’s cold in Massachusetts,” you chuckled out.

“It’s a good thing you look so cute in sweaters,” he said, seriousness in his voice.

Okay fine. I like Chris. I like him, like him. Fuck.

You’re rendered speechless. Yes, he’s flirty every once in a while, via text message, but hearing it over the phone is something else. It’s almost not fair that he can say those things but be a thousand miles away most days.

“Hello? Did I lose you sweetheart?” Chris asked.

“Sor…sorry. Yeah, I’ll think about it,” you stammered.

“Come in the fall. It’s beautiful in the fall and not too cold for you.”

“Okay. Yeah. We’ll work it out,” you replied.

“I’m holding you to it.” Chris said.

“Y/N? Where’d you go?” Rebecca called from the other room.

“Hey, Chris. I’m being summoned in the next room. M’sure I’m a few drinks behind by now,” you replied.

“Okay, sweetheart. Go have fun with your family,” he said.

“You too, babe. Merry Christmas,”

“Merry Christmas,” he replied.

You were indeed late to the party as everyone was plenty tipsy by the time you walked back into the living room. Tony handing you a full paper cup before you could even sit down.

An hour later you had given up on drinking. You were at the point where you were just tipsy enough with zero percent chance of getting sick and that was plenty. You had a feeling your mom would be waking everyone up bright and early tomorrow.

You picked up your phone and sent Chris a text. Because having your phone while drunk was a great idea.

Y/N: We all want something beautiful

         Man, I wish I was beautiful

The two of you had a habit of sending song lyrics back and forth to each other. Since the nineties station was still playing on Heath’s phone, Mr. Jones seemed appropriate. And maybe the booze made you brave since the words had hidden meaning to your crush on Chris.

Chris: A little Counting Crows on Christmas?

Y/N: Why not? Sometimes Christmas makes you nostalgic for the 90s.

“One more shot. Come on. Just one more. You’re never home to get drunk with me anymore.” Heath sniggered.

“You are a bad influence on me,” you teased, poking him in his chest. “Fine. One more and that’s it.”

One more turned into three more and you were suddenly sloppy drunk. You said goodnight to everyone, after throwing them extra blankets and pillows you scrounged up from your bedroom.

Alone in your room, you couldn’t get your mind off of Chris. After calling you cute and inviting you to Boston, not to mention the flirty texts, it was all too much.

Y/N: I think yur so cutte

Y/N: so nice n sweet

Y/N: just derseve everything you evr want

Y/N: wish yo not so far away

Predictive text doesn’t catch everything apparently, but you’re pretty sure he would get what you were saying. Before you could type another devotion to Chris, your phone rang, causing you to drop it on your head.

“Motherfucker!” you exclaimed, rubbing your aching head.

The phone continued to ring regardless of your pain.

“Hello?” you groaned.

“So, I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and say that you are trying to text my brother.” Scott said.

“Scott! Hi! I miss you!”

He chuckled. “Yeah, Yeah. Miss you too Sassy. Sounds like someone’s a little drunk.”

You giggled. “You’re a little drunk!”

“Oh my god. I should be recording this call.” He murmured.

You laughed because that’s what you did when you drank. You weren’t sure why you were laughing, but Scott always put you in a good mood.

“Anyway. I’m going to call you tomorrow because you probably won’t remember this. I need you to put your phone away and go to sleep. Those text messages you thought you were sending to Chris, you actually sent to me,” he said.

You frowned, sticking out your bottom lip. “Can you show Chris? He needs to know,” you whined.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow sweetie. Now get some rest. Goodnight,” Scott said.

“Night Scott.”

 The next morning you groaned to the sounds of your mother banging pots and pans. You were pretty sure she was doing it on purpose. With every bang, it felt like your head was going to crack open. Taking a pillow from under your head, you put it over your face and prayed that you could fall back to sleep. But then you remembered something about telling Chris he was cute.

Oh no! He’s going to think I’m some sad, desperate girl.

You grabbed your phone, praying Chris didn’t reply. Maybe he’d ignore it and save you the embarrassment. But then you remembered Scott calling you.

“Thank god for Scott,” you mumbled.

Typing out a quick reply to Scott since he would now be considered your saving grace.

Y/N: Thank you for saving me from myself.

Scott: No problem Sassy. How are you feeling?

Y/N: Like death. Not drinking again, probably for years.

Scott: So dramatic.

Y/N: Merry Christmas Grumpy.

Scott: Merry Christmas Sassy.

You plugged your nearly dead phone in to charge and regrettably got out of bed since your mom continued to make way too much noise at nine in the morning. You took a shower, hoping it would make you feel more alive. Sadly, it did not.

After eating breakfast which consisted of pancakes since your mom took a little mercy on you, you crawled back into bed. Christmas dinner was being served at five, so you grabbed your phone to set an alarm for an or two, because you knew you would over sleep. As soon as you picked it up, you saw you had a text from Chris.

Chris: Merry Christmas sweetheart.

Chris Evans was going to be the death of you.

Chapter 5

Tag List: @mustangshelby04​ @bellaireland1981​ @carolina-thiell​ @straightforwardly​ @torntaltos​ @denise1605​ @mcuclintasha​ @southerngracela​ @iam-cj​ @trynnabemultifandom​ @chrisevansforever-blog​ @kelbabyblue​ @broadwayandnetflix​ @kyjey​ @thevelvetseries​ @i-just-feel-like​ @daddieslittlefangirl​ @hista-girl​ @stankface​ @denisemarieangelina​ @im-not-an-armrest-im-short​ @whymalu​ @the-doctors-fallen-angel​ @mariswritingforfun​ @tessabb7​ @chrisevansfanfic​ @lakamaa12​ @thinkxlovexloud​ @nea90sweetie​ @the-murder-strut-murdered-me​ @greyeyedsmile14​ @dangerouslovefanfic​ @ripvandrinkle​ @bitterstar88​ @andymi3ntus​ @zestygingergirl​ @tanelle83​ @pinknerdpanda​ @allaboutthebooz​ @estillion14​ @panicfob​ @patzammit​ @heartislubbingdubbing​ @collinsstanharbour​ @twittytelly​ @thefandomzoneisdangerous​ @linki-locks11​ @mywinterwolf​ @ab-baybay​ @rda1989​ @impalaimages​ @jesseswartzwelder​ @rainbowkisses31​ @xostephanie​the

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans x you #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x reader insert #chris evans imagine #chris evans au #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fic #chris evans fan fiction

[jjuzoir]

Could I get some first kiss headcanons with Summer troupe? They're my faves and I absolutely adore each of them!

Request:

A/N: i get you anon,, they’re so cute;; summer group filled with softies

——🌻——

Summer Troupe First Kiss HC!

Tenma:

- You two were hanging out at the park near the dorms!

- It was a sunny summer day, summer break had just started and the sun seemed brighter than ever in the clear blue sky.

- Tenma had bought you two some ice cream and now you laid on the soft, watered grass protected from the sun under a big tree.

- “Can’t believe you didn’t want vanilla, [Name]- you can’t go wrong with vanilla,” Tenma rolled his eyes at you while shoving a big scoop of ice cream into his mouth.

- “And I can't believe you chose vanilla when they had like, I don’t know, a thousand different flavors?!” You snorted, “Vanilla is for the basic bitches, Sumeragi.”

- “H-Hey! It might be basic but it tastes good.”

- “Oh, really? Then let me taste it,” you prop yourself up in one arm and look up at him.

- He smirked slightly before picking his plastic spoon- one fittingly orange- and scooping out a big chunk of vanilla before nodding along with your plans.

- “Fine but give me your spoon,” he rolls his eyes as he shoves another spoonful into his mouth but a small drip had fallen from the corner of his lips to his chin.

- Then, you attack; you go kiss him smack straight in the lips aiming at the melted sweet.

- You pull away before nodding in agreement; the vanilla ice cream really was as good as he said.

- The kiss tasted of cold, ice cream and sweet vanilla plus the hint of lip balm added a sweeter feeling of lemons to the mix.

- And that’s how you had your first kiss with Tenma, who in the end, turned so red everyone around you two though he had a heat stroke.

——🌻——

Yuki:

- You were helping him with the costumes for the newest Winter troupe costumes late at night.

- Sakyo and Izumi were making rounds at his room to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid but it was already 11PM on a Sunday night and you both had school early tomorrow so que whining from you and scolding from Yuki.

- “Can’t we put it on hold, Yuki? We’ve got school tomorrow, we can’t skip or-“

- “Stop complaining and sew those buttons,” Yuki rolled his eyes at you before redirecting his focus on the sewing machine in front of him.

- “B-But it’s so late! You have to be kidding me,” you rub your eyes tiredly, “W-What about that skin-shit you’re always complaining about?!”

- “We need to have these done by Tuesday, [Name], we can’t stop now.”

- “Yes we can, instead of working now and possibly screwing up why don’t we just finish it up in the morning!”

- “Because.”

- “You can’t just say because!”

- “Less complaining, more sewing.”

- You huff annoyed before continuing sewing the buttons on Hisoka’s blazer, fucking Yuki and his need to get things done fast!

- “What if,” you mutter under your breath, “I give you something in return for my sleep?”

- “Gah, stop-“ Yuki blinks slowly as your words settle in, “What could you possibly give me that would make me wanna stop now?”

- You stand up, leaving the materials- especially the needles- in place before skipping behind Yuki’s chair and hugging him from behind.

- “A hug-?!” He goes to mock your choice before being cut off by your lips giving him a quick peck.

- “No, a kiss!”

- “A KISS?!”

- Congratulations! You’ve managed to corrupt Yuki to the point of shortwiring, he’s now malfunctioning :(

- His lips were soft, he tasted of coffee- probably from the 3 cups he had drowned that evening….

- You felt him attempt to kiss you back but before anything could happen you pulled away smirking.

- He’s now red in the face, a red as bright as the fabric he was using as he tried not to squeal in shock.

- “So, can we please bring Muku in and go to sleep?”

- “... Fine but you tell anyone about it- Ack!”

- You shut him up with another kiss on the lips, but this time- you could feel him kiss you back properly.

——🌻——

Muku:

- It was during one of your anime marathons!

- One of just favorite series had finally gotten its long awaited anime adaptation, and through a rough month of no-spoilers you two had finally gotten together to binge watch it all.

- It was another romance anime, one of the millions that Muku had read throughout his short life- but you had to admit that even if it was kind of cheesy it still somehow made your heart race.

- By the end of the penultimate episode it was already 2 in the morning on a Friday night and sleep was crawling unforgivably into your brain.

- “Muku… how many episodes… left?”

- He yawned before looking at the list, “I think… one?”

- “Already?!” You gasp shocked before sitting up, okay- you can do it! 25 minutes, no ads- you could do it, right! Right?... Oh no… you’re falling asleep!

- You pinch yourself awake, come on!!! It was getting good!! The protagonists were finally kissing after being apart for years!!!

- Muku was your struggle against sleep and laughed to himself before covering his mouth in fear of hurting your feelings.

- Just then, he remembered a scene you two had previously watched… episode 17, where the boy kissed the girl awake after she had fallen asleep in the library… could he do so too?

- A pink rivaling that of his hair crept into his cheeks- what if you hated it though? What if he smelled bad? Or if he was a bad kisser??

- He was too caught up in his mental-torture session he didn’t realize you sneaking up on him and kissing his lips.

- He felt your lips touch his and his eyes opened wide, you had done it!! Did this mean you liked him- wait, did you like it?? He liked it but that doesn’t mean you did too-

- “A-Ah! [Name],” he shrieked as the blush deepened, he touched his lips- he could still feel yours in them.

- At least now he didn’t have to worry about messing up, “Thank you, hehe.”

——🌻——

Misumi:

- You were helping him on one of his triangle hunts when you two had your first kiss.

- He had insisted you two go to the park nearby since, and I quote, “Had heard the crows talk about triangular treasure!”

- So, 2 hours into the hunt and you were exhausted from attempting to keep up with Misumi and his treasure hunt.

- “Oh my… it’s too hot for this, Misumi,” you rest your body on the ground.

- “Nope! We’re not leaving until we find the Super Rare Ultra Triangle Treasure!”

- You sigh tiredly and close your eyes before waving the blue haired boy off , “Give me 5 minutes.”

- “Okay but I am not gonna share the treasure with you,” he jokes before practically disappearing from the air.

- You turn around in the soft grass, it felt so nice against your skin- you wondered if you could find some water or something cold.

- You opened your eyes only to find a small cart stationed near the edge of the park; a shaved ice cart!

- You practically jump in line and count your money, you’d order two and bribe Misumi into coming home by asking it to be triangle shaped!

- And by the time Misumi came to drag you back to the hunt you had two shaved ice cream in your boyfriend’s favorite shape!

- “You found the treasure!!”

- He jumps you with a hug and takes the cone into his hands and takes the biggest bite ever.

- “And what’s my reward, Misumi-kun?”

- “Reward… reward, what could [Name] want for finding the ultra rare super triangle?”

- You smile at his scrunched up face, he looked so cute concentrating like that you could help yourself from kissing him.

- He’s shocked at first, he quickly smiles into your lips before kissing you back.

- “I’m fine with that.”

- “Hahaha, me too~”

——🌻——

Kazunari:

- You two were shopping for supplies to help Kazu for his next assignment, some weird yarn or whatever art students needed, when you found a photobooth.

- “Yah, let’s get some dope pics!”

- “I’m not feeling too well, Kazunari,” you shyly deny him but he doesn’t listen- or maybe he just doesn’t care- because he’s soon shoving you into the seat before you can hear his reply.

- “It’s just for you and me, ain’t no one gonna see ‘em,” he smirked before inserting some coins, “Let’s see, how should we pose for the first one, eh?”

- “Maybe a heart? I-I don’t know, I’m not good with- Ah!”

- Before you can finish your thought when you hear the countdown starting, you quickly rest your arms next to Kazunari forming a big heart; an eye-smile follows and boom! First picture done!

- “Kay, next! Maybe some peace signs?”

- “Oh- uh, sure? It’s starting,” you quickly pose and you feel Kazunari’s arms circle your waist and boom!

- “Second pic’s done,” Kazunari smiles, “But I can't think of what to do for the last two- oh, it’s starting, any ideas-!!”

- You panic and simply kiss him on the lips, that’s a good picture… right?

- By the time you hear the camera click Kazu pulls away blushing a deep red, how the turned tables have oh.

- Before any of you two can think of another pose a photo is taken where your boyfriend’s blushing red and you’re smirking up at him in victory.

- “Guess I came up with the best picture idea, ha!”

#—🎀 a3! #a3! #a3 #act addict actors #a3 tenma #a3 yuki #a3 muku #a3 misumi #a3 kazunari #tenma x reader #yuki x reader #muku x reader #misumi x reader #kazunari x reader #summer troupe #( tagging? idk her ) #—✒️ sora’s scripts #—📨 request #—💌 mysterious messenger!

[mistwraiths]

3 stars

Ever wants to dance but her parents want her to be a doctor. Her parents also signed her up for a special summer camp in Taiwan. At camp, Ever decides to find herself and break all the rules her parents had. Boys, drinking, and more. But what will she choose when summer ends?

Loveboat, Taipei is a book that I wanted to love but there's too much that pulls me back from it. It's really hard to rate because there are parts I genuinely liked and thought were cute or good. But I also cringed or felt like some things were not so good.

There were several really good topics in this book. Finding yourself and discovering your roots, culture, and where you come from is. Doing things that make you happy and passionate. It talks about racism and the pressure of being a first generation American and feeling like you don't belong. Of parents' expectations and the firsts of life (first love, first kiss, first time, etc). There's touches of mental health and domestic and emotional abuse.

Some of those things were gone over in depth really well. But somethings felt a little flat like the mental health, the domestic and emotional abuse, etc. The writing was a bit cringe too sometimes. Words like "Gah! He's gorgeous" or "Agh!" just made me go: what did I just read. To be honest, the book focuses so much on Ever finding herself and boys, that I think it kind of let's the book down. Because... most of the characters aren't too likable or at least they all seem to do things made me balk. There's also a very messy love square thing going on.

Ever seems to have a bit of a loose moral compass. She seems and acknowledges that she apparently seems to like guys that are with other people. Dan might be an exceptional because she liked him before but he gets with her friend and she's still into him and jealous. She also immediately thinks: "oh I could use Xavier" as the guy to break her first with RIGHT AFTER her best friend Sophie breaks up with him and it's incredibly clear that she still likes him. Sophie isn't a peach but we'll get to that later. She basically uses Xavier for her first time and while I support women claiming their sexuality, it doesn't sit right that she basically does it knowing full well that he has feelings for her and it probably means something to him. And she's just like peace out, we'll only be friends afterwards. She's also always falling down for someone who is supposed to be graceful.

Sophie was a character that I struggled with. The book very clearly wants you to like her a lot, then feel sad for her, mad at her, sad for her again and then forgive her. Sophie knew Ever was checking Xavier out a little in the beginning and literally jumped on that. Not only that but Sophie not only stole something that was basically for Ever, but lied about or essentially purposely mislead about her relationship with Xavier. I do feel sorry for Sophie having family pressuring her to be a good girl, to find a rich boy and get married because she's poor and doesn't want to grow up that way. But that doesn't excuse her behavior. Sophie feeling angry and betrayed at Ever kissing Xavier like right after they broke up is understandable, but what wasn't okay was her distributing all Ever's nudes to everyone and slutshaming her. And then Sophie's alone and then a boy hits her, and Ever forgives her for everything (like kissing a BOY is the same thing 🙄). I just really had a hard time with all that.

Xavier is obsessed with Ever and gives her secret drawings, gifts, etc even though he technically is with Sophie at the time. Rick is all over the place emotionally, and later we understand why with his struggles with his girlfriend. The whole mental health plot is a good one but it does feel a little brushed over too quickly.

When it's good, it's good. I enjoyed Ever's love of dance and choreography. I liked her struggles with not feeling like she belongs and with her identity and future. How she struggled against her parents and with them. The budding romance between Rick and Ever is cute! "With you 1 + 1 equals exponential," is so fucking cute!!!!! I really enjoyed her growth of concerning her and her future, and to speak up.

I just didn't like big chunks in-between or certain characters. The whole almost car accident and her dancing literally with a previous dislocated shoulder that was just put back and an injured ankle was probably the most craziest thing so I guess that says something.

It was still enjoyable but yeah. This book kind of went all over the place with me.

#loveboat taipei #abigail hing wen #steph reads #steph's book review #book review

[thiswasinevitableid]

#7 OT4, NSFW if you please :) Love your work by the way! It’s helped a lot in these times

Thank you! Sidenote: getting a LOT of OT4 requests this time (not a complaint, but clearly y’all a yearning for some lately).

“Still can’t believe you talked me into this.”

 “I didn’t talk you into anything, Duck. I asked if you wanted to see what I’d been talking about. And if you want to head back to apartment and risk missing  potentially undiscovered species, you’re free to do so.” Joe descends the last of the craggy rocks on the shore, stopping on a large, flat expanse of stone dotted with tide pools.

 Duck slides down, stopping beside his...boyfriend? He and Joe have been hovering somewhere between boyfriends and friends with benefits for months now. Joe is droll and smart and so handsome it doesn’t seem fair, has a nice dick and always asks Duck genuine questions about work, has a pathological fear of failure and yet can still be coaxed away from his studies to play FFVII. 

 Duck kissed him impulsively at a party last fall, ended up on top of him in his cramped apartment, and woke up to him cuddled in his arms, dark hair messy and smile soft when he noticed who was holding him. 

 They’d been friends since Freshman year, Joe a reserved forensics major and Duck a Wildlife Biology major who was a little jolted thanks to his move from a tiny town in West Virginia to Santa Cruz. Somehow, this seemed like the natural progression. And honestly, what more could Duck want than someone to talk to about trees or video games or to listen to babble about cryptids who would also eagerly take a break to go down on him (Joe’s love of his body borders on worship)?

 The interest in cryptids is why they’re currently on this deserted stretch of coast. Joe insists that ever since he found the spot (he wanted a quiet place to eat by the waves) pieces of his lunch go missing.

 “Usually candy or dessert or what have you. Whatever it was did take half an order of bao once.”

Tonight, Joe is hell bent on proving to Duck that something really is there. It’s not that Duck disbelieves him; Joe may be obsessed with the unexplained, but he’s skeptical enough to not fall for just anything that seems weird. But he can think of several other explanations for what’s happening. 

 Joe pulls a caramel apple from the paper bag he carried down, and sets it on a rock, one just out of reach of most waves. 

 “Right, now we turn around.” He steps next to Duck, turning him away from the waves.

 “Joe, you’re not supposed to turn your back on the ocean. Real dangerous.”

 “I know. I’m not a complete city slicker, Duck. But whatever it is only pops up when my back is turned.”

 “We get swept away by a wave, I’m gonna say I told you-”

 Splash

 They whirl, find the apple gone. 

 “See?” 

 “I see it’s gone. And I’ll admit I didn’t hear no birds dive down for it, which was gonna be my main guess.”

 “I know, and I also eliminated seals as a cause. I never see any heads popping up while I’m here.”

 “Huh.” Duck scans the waves, wishing their spot wasn’t enclosed on both sides by high rocks. Something could be hiding just out of sight. 

 “Right?”

 “Okay, maybe there is somethin’ weird. But we gotta find a way to figure it out that don’t involve unintentionally feedin the wildlife.”

 Joe chuckles, “And you say I’m a goody-two shoes.”

 “You are.”

 “Which one of us stayed up all night two days ago studying?”

 “I wanted to pass! Which, I did, we got the scores today.”

 “We should celebrate.” Joe shoots him a playful smirk.

 “Oh yeah?” He drawls, looping an arm around the taller man’s waist (the invitation Joe needs to cuddle closer, something he still shy to do in spite of how often they fuck), “how about we start right now?’

 “Here?” Joe looks around, and he can see his blue eyes calculating just how messy and hazardous it could be. Then he glances at Duck, smile tugging at his mouth.

“Alright, country boy, how do you want me?”

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

 Barclay floats just around the corner from the rock, savoring each bite of the new gift. It’s sticky and sweet and crunchy all at once at he loves it. 

 “What did he leave you this time?”

 “Gah! Indrid how are you so quiet all the time?”

Red eyes framed by silvery hair regard him, amused, “We are not all built for strength and power, Barclay. Some of us must rely on speed and stealth to survive.”

 “...Yeah, fair.  Here, try this.” He holds out the apple, Indrid taking a large chunk of it with his sharp teeth. 

 “Ooooh! What is it?”

 “Not sure.”

 “You could ask him.”

 “Indrid, I’m not gonna just swim up to a human and-”

 “I told you, I foresee introducing yourself to this human going well.”

 “You know Mama’s saying; better safe than sorry.”

 (Mama is one of the only humans in this patch of coast that the mers trust).

 “Besides, he brought another one with him.”

 “Really?” Indrid swims past him, peering around the rock. Barclay looks carefully over his shoulder. 

 The humans are on the ground, the new one on his back, legs bare and spread wide, mouth open with curse words that can be lipread even from where they’re swimming. 

 “My, no wonder you’ve become so interested.” Indrid purrs. 

 “Uh, that’s, that’s the other one. That one is Joe.” He points to the handsome face that’s looking up as it nips playfully at the other man’s thigh before returning to...whatever he’s doing between his legs. 

 “He’s quite charming as well.” Indrid licks his lips, gaze drifting back to the other human, “I always assumed humans preferred to do such things in houses.”

 “Me too. Uh, we should probably give them space. Right?”

 “Indeed.” A long, green tail circles his own, “in fact, they’re giving me some ideas on how we could spend our time while we do.”

 Barclay swallows, heat coursing in his stomach, “we, uh, we shouldn’t let this go to waste though.” He holds out the remainder of the apple. 

 Indrid opens his mouth a little too wide for comfort and bites it down. 

 “Always so hospitable to visitors.” He grins.

“Indrid, we live in the same cove.”

 “I know. I am attempting to flirt.” A tilt of the head, “Is it working?”

 “Uh huh.”

 “Good. Come along, my dear, I know a spot that will suit us well as we, ah, do as the humans do.”

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

 Joe really is rubbing off on him. That has to be the reason he’s here, near dusk, with a pack of skittles, two kinds of M&Ms, and BlowPop, laying candy on several rocks in hopes of coaxing their mystery creature out. 

 The sun hits the water just right, giving him a rare glimpse down into the clear portions, the stray kelp and darting fish.

 The very long, horizontal kelp. That seems to be moving in a circle, just out of view. No, wait, it’s definitely swimming, which means it’s either the largest fucking eel ever recorded or…

 A face comes into view. 

 He sits up, startled. Looks down to find the face peering up at him, expectantly. 

Cautiously, he holds out the packet of skittles. The mermaid? Merman? Merperson? Takes them, sniffing the package inquisitively. Then it rips the pack open, dumps the entire contents into it’s mouth in one go, and chews while Duck watches with a mixture of revulsion and interest. 

 “Thank you.” The mer hands the empty package back, “those are delicious. Do you have more?”

 “Uh, yeah? Guessin you’re who’s been takin’ Joe’s lunch?”

 “No. A friend of mine has. But I share his curiosity for human food, and it’s purveyors. I knew you would be coming down tonight on your own, and wished to meet you. I am Indrid” He gives what must be a bow, head dipping towards the water. 

 “I’m, uh, Duck. Why, uh, why did you want to meet me?” 

 “You seem potentially interesting and you are very attractive.”

 Duck tries not to blush, “Thanks. Um. Would you be okay if I asked Joe to come down here? I mean, I’m havin a minor existential crisis over your existence. But he’ll be so fuckin stoked to see you. Guy just loves bein’ right.”

 Approximately fifteen minutes later, Joe stands next to him, staring at Indrid, who is lazily floating on his back, deep green tail just visible in the nearby lights from town.

“I was right! HA!”

“See?”

“Yes, and this is more or less the reaction I foresaw you having. Joseph, would you like me to introduce you to the mer who has been joining you during your meals?”

“Absolutely.” Joe is still grinning with excitement as Indrid disappears into the darkening waves. When he reemerges, one hand is still under water, still trying to pull something up.

“Barclay is a bit shy. He got photographed a few too many times.”

“We can set our phones somewhere if that would help.”

“No need.” Indrid grins reassuringly as another head pokes out of the water. Barclay has dark hair and a beard, and regards them both warily.

“Uh. Thanks for letting me have some of your food.”

“You’re welcome.” Joe kneels down, holds out his hand, “it’s nice to actually meet you.”

“You too.” A large, wet hand reaches out and takes Joe’s, shaking it a bit awkwardly. Duck sits down next to hi,

“Would, um, would it be alright if I asked you some questions? I promise I won’t tell anyone about you two, but I am dying to talk to a real cryptid.”

“Sure.” Barclay shrugs, smiling shyly.

“I can go-GAH!” Duck jumps when he turns to find Indrid mostly out of the water, laying on his belly as he looks through the candy.

“We can be out of water for short periods of time.” He says mildly, ripping open a bag of M&Ms and downing half before holding the bag out to Duck.

“That’s, uh, okay. I like the peanut ones better. Good hiking snack.”

“Hiking?” Indrid asks through a mouthful of chocolate.

“It’s where you go out and walk in the woods.”

“Is that pleasant?”

“I like it.”

“That’s putting it mildly; he hikes almost every day.” Joe says with a smile, looking up from where Barclay has been letting him see his gills.

“May I hear more about it?” Indrid rests his chin on his hands, watching Duck with excited fascination. It’s…kind of flattering actually.

He smiles back, “Sure thing.”

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

“So, you just float there and watch movies through her back door?”

“Yep.” Barclay mumbles into the rock. He and Joseph are in their usual spot, the merman sunning himself on the rock as they chat. Joseph remains fascinated by the apparently variety in merfolk phenotypes; while Indrid’s lower half is distinctly eel-like, Barclay’s is much closer to that of a harbor seal in texture and color.

The texture feels wonderful under Joseph’s hands. The first time had been an accident; he’d been reaching for a bag of cotton candy, wobbled, and balanced on the merman, causing his hand to glide along his tail. Barclay gave a rumbly sigh, and asked if he would do it again.

So he does, petting along his tail and up to his chest. He actually has body hair, dark brown like his beard, under which two half-moon scars are just visible. Joseph doesn’t ask about them; he knows what they are from Duck, and he knows that it is Barclay’s choice to share, and only if he wants to.

“Alright, my turn.” Barclay rolls over, rests his hands behind his head, “why do humans go to the trouble of cooking fish when you can eat it raw?”

Joseph thinks, petting the upper part of the tail and enjoying the little sigh as he does, “Cultural and personal preference, I think. Some people love sushi, others think it’s gross, things like that. Um” he stops petting, “Barclay? Is something wrong?”

The merman blinks happily up at him, then registers the question and is off the rock and into the water in a matter of seconds.

“Uh, I, I gotta go, sorry, see you tomorrow bye!”

Joseph sits for a moment, hoping he’ll resurface. A seagull lands nearby and as he looks at all he can say is, “what the hell was that?”

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

“What the hell is that!”

“The largest hermit crab in the cove” Indrid beams, “I told you I would show you impressive wildlife.”

“I didn’t know they could get that big.”

“He is very determined. Off you go now.”

Duck snickers as he watches Indrid shoo the crab away as if it were a cat on keyboard. They’ve been meeting regularly, sometimes just the two of them, sometimes all four, sometimes a mixture of three. When he and Indrid meet, they often end up swapping stories of their exploration; Duck of his beloved forest and Indrid of his various expeditions out to warn other mer-communities of danger (his future vision explains why he tends to a laugh a little sooner than makes sense.”

“Duck, may I ask you an odd question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you and Joseph, ah, ‘together?’”

“Kinda.” He tosses a pebble into the water, “we’re basically boyfriend’s in all but name at this point.”

“Which means you only see each other?” Indrid sounds apprehensive.

“Not automatically. He and I ain’t talked about bein’ exclusive. Guess we should. I know it wouldn’t bother me if he wanted to see other guys. Got a sense he feels the same way. I dunno, I figure just cause he might like someone else and me at the same time don’t mean he don’t care about me any less, you know?”

“Indeed I do.” Indrid’s smile turns wistful.

“Ain’t you and Barclay datin’?”

“Not formally. But we’ve been friends for years, lovers when we were younger and occasionally lovers now, with a period in between where we did not have an interest in such a thing. Well” he claps his hands together, “this has been enlightening. I shall see you soon.”

He’s gone before Duck even has a chance to ask how you ask a merman out.

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

It’s excruciatingly hot, and Duck is just grateful Indrid and Barclay’s secret hiding spot has shade. It’s a small patch of beach, half inside a cave in the rocks, with enough sea trickling in for the merman to move in and out of water as needed, but not so much that he and Joe will drown if they’re there during high tide.  It’s the perfect summer hideaway.

Right now, it’s the perfect spot for Duck to feed a half-melted pint of ice-cream to a very appreciative merman. They’re both on their stomachs, Indrid’s tail dragging lazily in the water, and Duck is loving every minute of watching Indrid lick rocky-road off a spoon.

Joe sits next to Duck, Barclays head in his lap (and Barclay’s tail regularly brushing along Indrid’s). He’s feeding Barclay candy from the gourmet sweet shop in town. They’d stopped there right before they hit up the Seaside SweetShack so Duck could buy two pounds of candy for about the same price Joe got the one small box.

“What can I say, Barclay has an amazing, sophisticated palate.”

He sneaks a glance at Joe; he looks so happy, sending a pang of affection through Duck’s chest. And distracting him from the tongue that glides out over his fingers.

“How about a swim?” Indrid nips his thumb before gliding back into the water, Duck following him until he’s up to his chest, the merman swimming gracefully around him. The end of his tail slides up Duck’s thigh and he shudders. The tail repeats the motion, then presses up and drags back and forth.

Duck moans, legs threatening to give as the tail continues teasing. But Indrid is there, cradling him close, even as his tail builds up to a relentless pace.

“Is this alright, my sweet?”

“Y-yeah, fuck, ‘Drid, it feels so good.”

“I have confirmed with Barclay that he is alright with a more, ah, expanded relationship.”

“J-joe and I did too. Decided we were, fuck, boyfriends at the same time, oh fuck ‘Drid please don’t stop.’

“I am afraid I must, or you will cum too quickly and be too tired for what I have planned.”

“N-no, no please ‘Drid, I got great stamina.” He grinds faster, hints of ridges rubbing along his trunks, desperate to cum from Indrid’s creative approach.

“I do not doubt it.” Indrid kisses him, laughing when the gesture makes him work his hips all the harder, “but it is not merely stamina that is the concern.” He withdraws his tail and Duck whines. Indrid gently guides his face so that he’s looking down.

“Holy shit. You got two dicks?”

“Yes. I am aware this is not something humans have. Is, ah, is that an issue?” For the first time, he looks nervous, and Duck reaches out to brush a strand of silvery hair behind his ear.

“Not at all, sugar.”

“Oh good. Because while I can think of some delicious uses for them that involve all four of us, right now I dearly wish to shove both inside you and make you feel exquisite.”

Duck drags his finger up one side of the ‘V’ and down the other, “Bring it on.”

Back on the shore, Josephs cock is trying it’s best to rip through his trunks at the sight of his boyfriend moaning in the embrace of one of two mermen (god his life has gotten weird) he himself would gladly submit to.

“We can join them if you want.” Barclay rumbles, turning over in his lap to nuzzle his cock as he narrowly avoids being hit by Duck’s flying swimtrunks.

“Yes, yes I want. But, um, first” he cups Barclay’s face in both hands, encouraging him to sit up, “kiss me?”

Saltwater and sugar coat his lips as Barclay lunges forward, pulling him into his arms as he practically feasts on his mouth.

“Oh good lord, again, pleaseMMohhh” a full on growl this time, teeth dragging down his neck before sucking a hickey into it, “seems you’ve got a rough side, huh big guy?”

Barclay moans at the pet name, nodding, “I, I love being sweet to you babe, but goddamn does being around you make me wanna do some real wild things. Is, does, I won’t if it you don’t want me to.” His face goes from wolfish to puppy dog in the blink of an eye.

“I very much want you to. I trust you, Barclay. If I’m honest, I feel safer with you than almost anyone else in the world.”

A gentler kiss this time, though no less eager, then, “There’s one other thing. My, uh, my set-up is a little different than Indrid’s” He adjusts so Joseph can see. It’s the same spot he saw starting to open that day on the rocks, where Barclay left in a hurry. Two tendrils appear towards the top, and when Joseph touches one it curls around his finger, stroking it.

“God your body is amazing.”

“Because it’s different?” Barclay asks hesitantly.

“Because it’s yours and you are one of the most incredible men in or out of the water.” Joseph clambers on top of him, slipping two fingers into the slit, Barclay moaning and writhing as he works them in and out rapidly. The tendrils harden the more he plays with them between his fingers, Barclay tightening around him as they do.

“Yeah, fuck yeah babe, like that” Barclay pulls him close, sharp nails stinging his back, “like that, play with ‘em like that, good, so fucking good, holy sh-“ He cums, arching off the ground.

“That’s it big guy, good lord you OW, ow, jesus.” Joseph pulls his hand back, fingers red from where the tendrils squeezed them.

“Sorry, technically it’s a mating thing.” Barclay pants.

“Fascinatin—Hey, come back.” He laughs as Barclay darts into the water, leading him to where Indrid is curled behind Duck, the human letting out a series of slow, soft moans.

“That was quite a show” Indrid purrs, beckoning each of them over for a kiss.

“I’ll say, fuck, oh fuck ‘Drid is that all of it?”

“That is half of them.”

Duck groans in delight, head flopping onto Josephs shoulder. He kisses his forehead, then tilts his chin up to kiss along his jawline, adoring every angle and curve of it as much as he did the first time.

“Joseph, if you turn around and Duck braces on you, it may help.”

“Sure, oh” he chuckles as Barclay surfaces before him once he turns, “fancy seeing you here.”

“Forgot, fuck, forgot to warn y’all, his sense of humor stays even when fucking.”

“Perfect.” Barclay kisses him, works his trunks down and off as Duck’s fingers grip his shoulders.

“Can, uh, can I jack you off, babe?”

“I don’t know, can youOOoh” He moans when Duck bites his upper arm.

“You weren’t kidding.” This Barclay directs at Duck. Then he wraps one strong hand around Joseph’s cock, and all his nerves light up in tandem. He let’s himself let go, enjoy the feeling of Barclay’s strokes, his kisses up and down his neck, the needy, strained noises Duck makes in his ear as Indrid works his way in.

“At last.” Indrid’s words are all the warning he gets before Duck jerks violently behind him.

“FUCK!”

“Oh dear, should I-“

“No, no don’t you dare fuckin stop, god I ain’t ever felt anything like that, want you to fuck me until you’re good and done.”

“Good boy.”

Both he and Duck moan.

“Oh I see, you both like that. I shall keep that in mind. Now, be a good boy for me and take this.”

“Fuckfuck, oh fuck me.” Duck is clinging to him now, sending up waves around them both as Indrid fucks him.

“God, babe, you look so fucking good like this. Like you were fucking made for me.”

“Ohhhhlord, yes.”

“Heh, you’re always so put together, even on the beach, but a little dirty talk and you AH, ahshit, Indrid.” Barclay crowds him even as his strokes pick up, and Joseph feels why; Indrid’s tail has snuck between them.

“My dear, what is the point of me having this odd, long form if not to pleasure you with my tail until you scream?”

“That does, does seem worth exploring.” Joseph pants.

“Kinky fucker.” Duck bites his ear, then clings around his waist, “fuck, oh fuck, ‘Drid, Joe, darlin’ oh fuckin’ Christ.” There’s a groan he recognizes as Duck cumming, followed by a growling howl as Barclay kicks up more water, strokes growing erratic and fumbly.

“C’mon babe, come for me” He sounds so eager to please and so in command that Joseph is undone, spurting into the water with a cry. Barclay kisses him, soft praise interspersed with pecks on the cheek and lips.

Duck is still moaning, jolting against Joseph as Indrid fucks him hungrily.

“That’s it my sweet, just a little more, you are so good, so very good taking all of me and my cum too, such a good little human, oh, oh Duck.” There’s a trill and then the splashing behind him ceases, Duck whispering Indrid’s name. In place of the jealousy he feared, Joseph just feels happy; Duck has found someone else who seems to adore him as much as Joseph does.

They make it back to shore in a graceless swim/wade/flop combination, Joseph pulling out the towels they brough so he and Duck won’t get sand in horrible places. Soon he’s resting with his head on Duck’s chest, Barclay nestled behind him and Indrid behind Duck, tail making passes to pet them each now and then (both mermen are just enough in the water to avoid issues).

“Uh, when, when are you gonna visit again?” Barclay murmurs, a little sleepy.

Joseph looks at Duck, who returns his conspiratorial grin, “Tomorrow, of course. After all, we’ve got way more sweet things for you to try.”

#Indruck #sternclay #agent stern/barclay #OT4: Government Men and Their Cryptid Boyfriends #agent stern/duck newton #agent stern/barclay/indrid cold/Duck newton #mermay fills #mermaid au

[atheistcartoons]

This is the climax of a delightful anecdote that Christians like to share with each other called Einstein Humiliates an Atheist Professor. It never happened, obviously, but the Dover School District case proved that evangelical Christians will happily lie and cheat to get what they want.

However, let's pretend that this actually happened. I could go through the whole thing line by line, but I'll just pick a few things and try to explain why they are wrong. The indents are all direct quotes from The Atheist Professor, linked above.

There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.'

The student in the story is confusing the idea of 'hot' and 'cold' with the idea of energy. You can put energy into something and it will get hotter. And you can take energy away from something and it will get colder. But you could also put different energy into something to make it travel faster while staying the same heat, and so on. The words 'cold' and 'hot' only have meaning with respect to relationships. As absolute values they have no meaning. For instance, if you put one hand in hot water and one in cold water, and then put both hands in room-temperature water, each hand will feel that temperature as different. This analogy for god's grace and evil completely and utterly fails.

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains... 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'

Firstly, the student completely misunderstands the philosophical idea of 'dualism', which only concerns the idea that the body and the mind (or soul) are made of different sorts of things. The opposite of dualism is 'monism', which states that either the mind is a creation of brainstuff only, or that the body is illusory and we are entirely composed of mindstuff. It has nothing to do with good or bad or a god. This is one of the first things that students of philosophy learn. This student would fail the first exam he sits.

Secondly, science has no interest in explaining thoughts, or anything else immeasurable. As soon as they become measurable, they’ll worry about it then. 

It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Science understands electricity and magnetism pretty well, actually. What it still cannot explain is the precise nature of gravity. Gravity would be a much better example to use here, as that student would know, if he had the first clue of what he was talking about.

Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.

Death isn't just the absence of life. If it was, then I would be dead before I was born. Before I was born, my life was absent, but I wasn't dead.

'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'

GAH! How many more times do I have to read this? No one is claiming that humans evolved from monkeys! That's not evolution. It's a strawman version of evolution that Christians like to argue against because they don't seem to be able to argue against actual evolution.

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'

Evolution is a process. You can't see any process with your own eyes. All you can see is the results.

'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'

Another common misunderstanding of evolution. This student, like many Christians, has developed a strong opinion about something he doesn't understand at all. For one thing, there is so much evidence in favour of evolution - literally hundreds of thousands of chunks of evidence lying around all over the world - that only a fool (or delusional person) would deny it as a theory.

The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.

This might sound obvious, but science doesn't say the professor has no brain. Also, it's not a good sign of a story if you have to rope in a gang of fictional people to agree with you.

The professor sat down.

Hopefully he explained to the student what 'dualism' and 'evolution' and 'science' and 'philosophy' actually mean. Although given that the student is a Christian, no amount of explaining will help him.

If you see any of your friends sharing this sloppy story from anyone, you should link them to this page, or to the snopes.com page, or to the Wiki page for evolution. Don't just sit there and delete it. These people actually believe this gibberish and they deserve to know the truth.

Science is a series of best guesses about how things work based on the information we have. Religion is a series of ridiculous guesses based on books written thousands of years ago. Science is the process whereby we understand the world around us. Religion is making up stories about why things are the way they are and pretending that they are true. This is why there are lots of religions but only one science. Also, unlike religion, science will work whether or not you "believe" in it.

In other news, for all intents and purposes, Einstein was a functional atheist.

#atheism #atheist #Einstein #lies #si

[laszlowrobinson]

A playlist that your character would actually listen to

It didn’t say to describe why they would listen to these songs, but I did it anyway because while idk anything about music I like to rave about it lmao

Spice Up Your Life - Spice Girls 

I mean the Spice Girls were and still are iconic spelled to sound like eye-con-eek. They were a good chunk of his childhood to adolescence since they WERE the 90′s. So not only is their music just, you know, great, it holds a very nostalgic place in his heart. I mean he for sure watched Spice World and didn’t give a single shit that it makes no sense. It didn’t need to, it was the Spice Girls hanging with aliens and chilling out on the bus in their iconic fashion. Anyone in that movie he will reference as their character from that instead of like oh Hugh Laurie from House MD? NO, it’s Hugh Laurie, Poritot from Spice World. Oh Stephen Fry? From Gosford Par? NO, it’s Stephen Fry, the Judge from Spice World. 

Anyways, while he would and does put their entire discography on, I’m putting this one in particular because it’s such a bop!! And their anthem. When the bitches were back for the 2012 Olympics, while they may have opened with Wannabe with choreography, (except Victoria who literally stood there Posing, the icon) they really went in with Spice Up Your Life okay, they rode around that stadium ON the cabs while singing it!!! It’s 100% the song that will pick him up off the floor. 

LA DI DA - EVERGLOW

What a song??? Holy SHIT. It may be only like a month old in its life span but it Hits, so it gets a spot on this playlist because as soon as I heard it I was like, “Laszlo would be obsessed.” It’s a bop, it’s a jam, it’s everything he could ever ask for in a song. First off, the production on it is just so good!!! The beats HIT and the clapping behind their vocals picks it up to another level. And that part where they like lmfao aggressively grunt?? after “Everglow forever let’s go.” amazing, brilliant, stunning, absolutely the best thing he has ever heard before. And then the VOCALS!!! The talent!!!! Like the range between all the girls is astounding, and I don’t just mean their vocal range. I mean ALL of it, the singing, the rapping, the power and then pulling it back for the softness until they come back to make heads bop for the chorus. Whew!!! Just such a good, pump up song that he can bop around too and that’s his favorite kind of music!! 

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - ABBA but the Cher Cover 

No disrespect to ABBA because Laszlo loves them, but he looooves Cher and while he would ALSO play her entire discography, this song just hits different sung by Cher in 2018 in her beautiful, earthy voice. And she did it so tastefully. She respected the original song by not turning it over into something completely lost to the track but it still felt like she was putting her own magical Cher-y blessing upon it as if it were her very own song. It’s like the perfect crossover??? He probably had an out of body experience listening to her cover album of ABBA and then going to see her in Mama Mia! 2. Plus, like, this song is also his life lmfaooooo where is his man,,, @ god (who is Cher, as confirmed on Will and Grace.) 

I Know A Place - MUNA

Not only is this song just...so good...but the lyrics of it really hit home for him. Like??? “Don’t you be afraid of love and affection/ just lay down your weapon”??? ow bitch. But it is a celebratory song!!! It’s about being able to be whoever you are and not having to worry about getting hurt or dealing with the bleeeh people of the world because they’re going to a place that’s safe and accepting, and that’s in LGBT+ spaces. And there are a lot of people who don’t feel safe and who are having to hide themselves, but this song is providing them a little slice of heaven to be themselves. It also serves as a reminder that there are places were you can be safe and happy and yourself and you will be accepted!!! And that’s just such a lovely message, and for music like this to be out there in the world for the youth makes him so happy! And the music itself is so funky and absolutely something that one can dance to. It has those places that slow down...and then HIT for the bopping around for the hype of the chorus!! UGH! and Katie’s voice still being sort of haunting really just brings it on home. This song is so good!! Stream MUNA!!!!! 

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga (TW: fake blood from 3:20-end of the video) 

I’m linking the 2009 MTV performance because I’m going to say that this was his first exposure to Lady Gaga and holy shit was it life changing!!! This was everything. Like the performance art of it really came for his throat. Spoiler alert: when the blood started pouring from her chest and the crowd like gasped and groaned??? It was a Cultural Reset!! She was singing her heart out and going all out on that choreography. Her foot up on the piano as she slammed the keys??? The set design?? SO GOOD! And her dancers? Shout out to them, because damn they really did that. So, not only is the song amazing, he will always associate it with hearing it to this performance and it is still such a good song!!! The lyrics are insane. She did this when she was 23, only a year older than him, and boy did it light a fire under his ass. 

And it also serves to keep him humble lmfao. Even though he isn’t Famous famous like his other family members he does have his own little corner of fame and can’t be out here falling in love with the attention. 

Coisa Boa - Gloria Groove

Honestly, anything Gloria Groove puts out is pure gold to his ears. They don’t have to go as hard as they do, but they do it anyways! The really pronounced instrument that’s going on? Their singing??? Going from rapping to hitting that note at the end of “Quer papo de ousadia?” absolutely sends Laszlo off the rails. Like, there’s no other way to describe their style than Iconic. It’s fun and fighty and gah! So good!! Also it just being about getting the Squad and going ham is just, chef kisses. Again, his favorite songs are things that get him moving and grooving, and this ones ticks all the marks and so much more. One day they will release an album and on that day someone should check to make sure Laszlo is still alive. 

Toxic - Brittany Spears

I mean what is there to say. The song is iconic, it came out when he was like 17. It was everything and still holds up today. The production on it still just boggles the mind. That like eeeeee sound??? The spy music break in the middle of it?? And the video!!! Art. The fact that she did the back handspring during the laser bit really just made him go insane. Cultural reset from the pop queen of the time. Turned him into a bigger Britney fan. Everything about it is so good. Another nostalgic one, but !! it still holds up baby!! If this is played he is legally required to perform. 

El Mambo - Mon Laferte

Her voice is just?? out of this world. Laszlo is a huuuge fan of everything she puts out but this one really just took him out. Like she can hit some powerful vocals and that’s what the beginning seems like they’re counting up to, but when she came out of the gate just rapping about this guy who needs to get over himself, woooowie. And then she comes back for that mambo sound in the chorus and her beautiful voice going In, ugh. UGH. It’s so good!!! She is amazing and the instruments on this one really highlight that as well as making it groovy enough to dance around to as we say goodbye to toxic men and their overwhelming jealousy!!

Too Little Too Late - JoJo

I’m linking to the 2018 version because JoJo re-releasing all her music so that she can get the cash money from HER music is...stunning, amazing, love her and love that for her. This song was yet another cultural reset. And you know what, she just got better. Her vocals kick ass and the lyrics are still just as good as they were when they first came out. That high register run she does toward the end??? Okay?? go off!!! Another song about a wonderful lady kicking a man out of her life and becoming better for it. also she JUST came out with a Christmas album so go stream it. 

Endless - Frank Ocean

Now this is the whole album because, honestly, that’s how it’s supposed to be listened to. There’s also the visual element that you’re supposed to watch while listening, but since that’s like no where to be found since Mr. Ocean’s people snatched it all up from the internet unless you want to buy it off Apple, this is all we get to work with. Which is fine, honestly. ANYWAYS, this whole album is just so beautiful. And no one really knows the full story behind where it came from or why Mr. Ocean made it, and that’s a whole over layer as to why Laszlo adores it!! Not only is the music stunning but the mystery surrounding it gives him life. Frank Ocean is another artist that he could press random on the entire discography and be happy with whatever decided to play, but THIS album is his favorite from the man. It may seem like the outtakes from Blonde but to Laszlo, they all feel intentional. It’s like peaking into a sketchbook versus the novel of Blonde, and that appeals to him!! There is a certain effort that needs to be put in to listen to it by finding it. So it’s that little bit of extra artistry that makes this album hit different than the others, plus the songs, though some very VERY short, are all GREAT. Every song has this sort of improv feeling almost? but feel effortless like all his other music. Some of them are really short, just snip bits of a song, but they don’t feel that way with how they flow together and cut one another off and it’s just a weird entity of music that feels fleeting and yet...endless. 

#bdrpwrimo #bdrpwrimosid