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kaistarus · 4 years

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Haikyuu Among Us

Pairs: Nishinoya X Reader

Words: 2.8K

Summary: You're playing Among Us with the Karasuno gang. When you get selected to be the Imposter you're not above doing what it takes to win.

Notes: This is a completely self-indulgent fic for Nishinoya's b-day

Masterlist

"There are too many options. What do you think?”

Nishinoya’s yellow character stood motionless beside the lobby’s computer as he selected between several hats. Your animated crewmate ran circles around him while waiting for him to finish his customizations and for the rest of your friends to load into the game.

“I think the post-it is the most accurate, but the egg is the cutest.” You said mindlessly, smiling when Hinata’s bright orange character hopped off one of the benches at the top of the screen. You left Nishinoya so you could chase around Hinata instead, running circles around each other in excitement over your matching stemmed helmets.

Nishinoya grumbled as he selected the raw-egg to cover his helmet. “Should I buy a child?”

“Are you ready for that?” You asked as more people finally started loading onto the ship. “It’s a lot of responsibility and what if we both die?”

“Oh, you’re right. I’m not ready to be a single father.” Nishinoya left the computer and came to run in the circle with you and Hinata in the center of the lobby.

“You guys are disgusting,” Tsukishima’s condescending voice filtered into your headset. You rolled your eyes and glared at his black spacesuit with the devil horns. So rude.

“Let people be happy, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said while his dark green character joined your dance circle. You couldn’t explain it, but the wet floor sign felt extremely fitting for his character.

“I’ll help you raise your child if (Y/N) dies Noya!” Hinata said brightly into your headset.

“Thanks, Shoyo!”

“No, I want to help him raise the child!” Tanaka yelled into the mic causing you to jump in your chair. You quickly opened your audio settings to turn his volume down. “I deserve it. I’ve known them the longest.”

“No way, I already called dibs!”

“Guys, you can both help me! The more parents the better!”

“There is no child.” You said, pinching the bridge of your nose,” and stop planning for me to die.”

“Sorry.” They all said in unison.

“But one day…” Hinata added ominously. You blinked at the screen confused and opened your mouth to respond before deciding it better to write that off entirely.

“All right, I’m starting the game,” Yachi said before the countdown appeared at the bottom of the screen.

“Wait, is Kageyama AFK? He hasn’t said anything.” Hinata asked, concerned.

“I just don’t want to talk to you, idiot.”

“Ouch.” Nishinoya snorted.

You muted your mic after a small giggle. The red crewmate appeared to shush everyone and you couldn’t help the wicked grin that crossed your face when ‘Imposter’ appeared in red letters afterward. Beside your character stood your partner in crime, Hinata, his name also bled red for the violence to ensue. You nodded to yourself confidently. Hinata wasn’t the best imposter, but you two were pretty in sync so you weren’t too concerned.

The airship loaded and everyone appeared around the center lunch table in cafeteria. You debated what you should do… maybe hang out with Hinata and attempt a double kill? You two could pull that off. Maybe just try some fun vent kills like you’d seen streamers do recently. Too bad Nishinoya ran over to you and began dancing beside you, clearly trying to get you to follow him to the right side of the map. It would probably be cruel if you slowly garnered his trust to use him as an alibi…

You followed him out of cafeteria. He began a wire task so you pretended to watch the bar go up until he excitedly danced beside you when he was finished, happy he’d cleared himself as an innocent crewmate-not that you hadn’t known that already. You went to fake asteroids, standing beside the chair while hoping to all that was good the green bar would move on time, when it did you leaned your forehead on your desk with a heavy sigh. Nishinoya’s character ran circles around you, likely thrilled that you were both crewmates, before continuing down the gray halls to the oxygen room. You took a moment to feel guilty before shaking it off.

While Nishinoya went to do another task in O2 you noticed Tsukishima running down the hall, alone, so you briefly separated and went to follow him. Unfortunately, Tsukishima decided to go to navigation all alone which left you with absolutely no choice. You strolled up to him and pressed the lit up ‘KILL’ button in the bottom corner of your screen. The animation had you snapping his character in half which you were a little too satisfied with-you could practically hear him raging from across town.

Once complete, his little half body flopped over and you snickered to yourself in your room. Then you remembered Nishinoya probably heading this way and you quickly self-reported the body.

“Naviga--.”

“Somebody killed Tsukki!?” Yamaguchi yelled so loud you had to lift your headphones up.

“Oh no,” Kageyama said, sarcastically. “What a loss.”

“You don’t sound upset…” Yachi pointed out.

“Should I?”

“Yes! He’s our friend and he’s dead!” Yamaguchi yelled.

“He’s not actually dead Yams.” You smirked, propping your elbow onto your desk and leaning into the palm of your hand.

“Sometimes I still hear his voice…” Nishinoya sniffled into his mic and you rolled your eyes fondly.

“Where was it?” Hinata asked.

“Navigation.” You said calmly. “Me and Nishinoya were doing tasks. I saw him go down to nav and I wanted to see if he died in the murder zone and he did.”

“Makes sense,” Nishinoya said casually. “So, who else is there that killed him?”

“Makes sense? She literally said she followed him to the murder zone.” Tanaka pointed out. You purse your lips because you did kind of say that, yeah. You should probably phrase things better.

“I saw her do asteroids though and she saw me do other tasks so we’re good.” Nishinoya scoffed at Tanaka’s accusation. “She couldn’t possibly have murdered Tsukishima if she did asteroids.”

“Okay… but what if she faked it?” Tanaka suggested.

“Are you suggesting my girlfriend would lie to me?” Noya said, gasping dramatically. “How could you dude?”

“The absolute disrespect.” You said, narrowing your eyes at Tanaka’s brown character. He knew too much.

“What if they’re both the imposter?” Yachi suggested.

“No way. If Noya was imposter half of us would be dead already.” Hinata said, with a chorus of agreeance following him.

“Well, who else is around here?” You asked.

“I’m almost there,” Kageyama said.

“Almost there or running from the crime?” You asked, excited to bring someone new into suspicion.

“Dun dun dun,” Hinata shouted.

“I don’t know if this means anything, but Hinata was at card swipe for a really long time…” Yachi added quietly.

“I just failed it like ten times, okay?” Hinata said sadly.

“Yeah, that checks out.” Kageyama snorted. “This idiot would fail a card swipe.”

“Let’s just skip, but Kageyama and (Y/N) I’m watching you,” Tanaka said.

“Good,” Kageyama responded.

The round ended with no one being ejected, thankfully, but you were a little concerned about the amount of suspicion being thrown at you. Hopefully, Hinata would keep Kageyama alive, and if the opportunity presents itself Tanaka would be your next target. Until then, you ran around the table to Nishinoya and danced beside him until he was ready to move. It was most important that Nishinoya believed you were innocent. You needed a strong ally, especially now.

As you waited patiently for him to complete another download task you kept the sabotage map open contemplatively before Hinata decided to shut off the lights for you. You tried to stay close enough to Nishinoya that he would see you in his limited visual area while you run to electrical, that is, until you saw Yamaguchi trailing behind you. Once you all entered cafeteria you pulled a quick u-turn under the cover of darkness and stabbed Yamaguchi’s poor unsuspecting crewmate body several times in the back before returning to Nishinoya and helping fix the lights. As if nothing had ever happened.

After fixing lights like the innocent, fake crewmate you were an air horn went off in your ear to signal Yamaguchi’s body being reported. You fell back in your chair with a whine before unmuting your mic.

“All right, this is good,” Tanaka said, a few muffled smacks heard as he excitedly smacked his desk.

“Disrespectful, dude. What did Yams or Yachi ever do to you?” Nishinoya asked. You raised an eyebrow because you hadn’t even noticed Yachi’s crossed off character. “They’re the two nicest people on earth.”

“Yeah, that’s sus.” You said with a smirk.

“Super sus.” Nishinoya agreed.

“What? No. I mean, I was on my way to the button because I literally watched Hinata jump into a vent when I found Yam’s body. Which means we have two pieces of evidence now.”

You cursed internally and glared at Hinata’s bright orange character. He would get caught venting.

“Dude, seriously?” Nishinoya laughed.

“What? I didn’t vent.”

“I watched you.”

“Oh yeah? How can I vent when I’m not even the imposter?” Hinata said confidently. You rolled your eyes.

“Damn, he’s got you there dude.” Nishinoya snorted. “Solid defense Shoyo.”

“Thanks, man!”

“Don’t defend him!” Tanaka yelled. “Unless you really are the second imposter!”

“What? No! Where’s your evidence? Give me proof!”

“Yeah, give him the proof!” Hinata added.

“Where were you when Yamaguchi was killed?”

“How the fuck would I know?” Nishinoya asked, astonished. “We were only in cafeteria when the lights were off and I didn’t see a body.”

“We?” Tanaka sounded deep in thought. “When the lights were off…”

“Are we just forgetting about mister thank god Tsukishima is dead?” You said, pulling attention toward Kageyama. “And last I checked only Noya and I fixed the lights.”

“Oh yeah, where were you, Kageyama?” Nishinoya asked.

“I’m where the boxes are.”

“You gotta learn the room names, man.” Hinata sighed.

“Maybe this is a tactic!” Tanaka shouted.

“Oh, and self-reporting isn’t Tanaka?” You asked.

“I don’t know. Tell me about the last round?” He responded confidently. Oh shit.

“Hang on, we gotta vote. We have like 15 seconds.” Nishinoya pointed out.

“Vote Hinata. He vented.” Tanaka said, repeatedly.

Everyone voted quickly and Nishinoya even apologized to Hinata, so you sighed before going with the majority. You had officially lost your partner. On the bright side, if you could take out Tanaka you could probably convince Nishinoya that Kageyama was the last imposter. You just had to play this last bit safe.

You waited a bit before going in the direction Tanaka had run after, but your last few rounds backfired when Nishinoya trailed after you. You needed to get away from him long enough so you could kill Tanaka without him seeing. You broke away from him for a moment and hopped into the nearest vent, jumping around until you found an area close to where you thought Tanaka had last been running around. When you popped out fear immediately shot into your heart when Kageyama’s dark blue character peaked into the top of the screen.

You weren't sure if he saw you or not, but you couldn’t risk it. He had to die.

You chased after him toward cafeteria and just barely got close enough to hit the kill button when he entered the room. You let out a breath of relief when the kill animation popped onto your screen and you watched your character repeatedly stab Kageyama in the back. You thought you were safe, so when the air horn for a meeting played you shot up in your chair. Apparently, in your tunnel vision, you hadn’t noticed Tanaka lurking nearby.

“It was Tanaka. I watched him kill Kageyama!” You shouted the moment your mic unmuted.

“Wait, what the fuck?” Nishinoya’s voice was filled with genuine confusion and you almost felt guilty. Almost. Maybe after you won.

“No. She chased him down, sawed him in half, then tossed him away like it was nothing. I saw it all.” Tanaka shouted.

“You can’t even saw people.” You rolled your eyes.

“I’m so confused,” Nishinoya whined. “It’s not Kageyama? But (Y/N) was with me like the entire game.”

“Exactly, so how could I have killed anyone?” You said excitedly. Nishinoya had no suspicion of you which was perfect. You could definitely win this.

“You were at every place where the bodies were found.” Tanaka pointed out. “She couldn’t have been with you the entire time. Like when she self-reported the first body?”

“I didn’t self-report.”

“Or when the lights went out?”

“I guess not.” Nishinoya said. You hit your desk lightly in stress. “She also wasn’t with me this whole last round...”

“Exactly!” Tanaka shouted. “And she was really adamant about putting suspicion on Kageyama.”

“Cause he was suspicious!” You threw your hands up. Since when was Tanaka so good at this game?

The line was quiet for a moment. “(Y/N) he’s making a lot of sense.”

“Okay, but he also reported Yams' body,” you countered. “Easily could’ve been a self-report there too.”

“That’s true…”

“Dude, why would I have tried so hard to get Hinata out if I was an imposter?” Tanaka asked, exasperated. “It makes no sense. It has to be her.”

“He could’ve lied about seeing Hinata vent!” You shouted, deciding to throw hail mary’s in your moment of demise.

“Why would I do that?”

“My head hurts,” Nishinoya whined. “(Y/N) I don’t know...”

“Okay. You should vote for Tanaka because...” You said while racking your brain for a solid defense. “I… love you.”

Nishinoya blew air into the mic. “Fuck dude, that’s a good defense.”

“No it’s not you--” Tanaka groaned. “Dude, for like five seconds I need you to stop being a simp and just big brain with me here.”

“But she’s saying nice things to me,” Nishinoya whined.

“Dude, c’mon you know who it is.”

Nishinoya groaned into the mic. “Okay, (Y/N) you’d never lie to me, right?”

“Never.”

“Are you imposter?”

“...I love you so much and I’m so happy you’re in my life and--”

“She just fucking admitted to it!” Tanaka screamed in the mic. “Don’t let her get into your brain. You’re better than this.”

After a brief silence, Nishinoya finally voted and you stood out of your chair when it revealed Nishinoya and you beneath Tanaka’s brown character. The mixed shouting in your headset went completely ignored by your own excitement while you celebrated, thanking Nishinoya with loving words.

“You fucking simp!” Tanaka yelled. “I can’t believe you. I trusted you!”

“I’m sorry,” Nishinoya’s groan came muffled in your ears. “I just couldn’t do it.”

“Good job (Y/N)!” Hinata cheered. “I never win as an imposter.”

“Cause you vent in front of people,” Tsukishima said.

“It was an accident! I meant to sabotage doors and I misclicked.”

“Oh well, we still got a victory.” You said proudly while spinning in your chair.

“You used me,” Nishinoya said, disappointed. “For personal gain.”

“I’m sorry, Noya,” you smirked as your characters all slowly hopped off the chairs in the main lobby. You danced around his yellow character as everyone loaded in. “I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

When the second game began, you let out a sigh of relief when the light blue confirmed you as merely a crewmate. This time you could legitimately just goof off with Nishinoya and complete tasks together while hopefully avoiding death.

After the map loaded you once again made your way to navigation together, keeping guard while the other was busy, and dancing circles every time you completed a task. When you eventually had entered the murder zone you trusted him to watch your back while you did your last task on the right side of the ship. Your first mistake apparently. You audibly gasped when the kill animation appeared on the screen. Nishinoya’s yellow character snapping your poor little crewmate’s neck in plain sight, leaving its little half body lying there for all to see. It’s poor singular bone popped out and bare.

You stared blankly at the screen while Nishinoya danced around your body for a moment, knowing that your ghost was hovering over it before he went down and hopped into the vent. You flopped back into your chair watching as Tanaka’s character ran into the room, stared at your body, and ran out. You could picture him cackling at the situation from here.

When a meeting was finally called, not even for you but Kageyama, Nishinoya pretended to be upset that “someone dares to kill you” and other bull shit. You crossed your arms and glared at his stupid yellow imposter self.

You supposed you deserved being used as a cover-up from the grave.

He better at least win.

#haikyū!!#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #nishinoya x reader #nishinoya x y/n #nishinoya yuu #nishinoya yū #hinata shoyo #kageyama tobio #yachi hitoka #tanaka ryuunosuke #yamaguchi tadashi #tsukishima kei #nishinoya yu x reader #nishinoya scenarios #nishinoya imagine

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jayeray-hq · 4 years

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Sakusa : You Know We’re Meant to Be

JayeRay’s fluff prompts

Post Time Skip/Manga Spoilers!

Warnings: A little but of Hurt/Comfort and bullying but lots of Fluff after

If you like this, please check out the Character Masterlist!

This is part of a collaboration I’m doing with @lilolpotato some fluff to counter some of the hate from the Sakusa Hate Night thing that was going around 😊💖 Also a huge huge thank you to the amazingly talented @yuujiscurse for the banner! Their work is amazing! 😊💖

You weren’t sure if they simply didn’t know you could hear them whispering or if they simply didn’t care, as you stood waiting for your boyfriend to emerge from the locker rooms. Hopefully you wouldn’t have to wait long, Sakusa was usually the first out due to insisting on showering before the others of the team could infect the space with their germs. Still today you hoped he would hurry, even faster than usual, so you could leave the receptionist and the woman she was talking to, likely someone who worked in the building, far behind you.

“What does he even see in her?” the woman who’d greeted you almost every time you’d entered the building with a saccharine smile that was apparently hiding a mouthful of venom whispered to her blond coworker.

“I certainly don’t see anything special,” the other woman, a pretty brunette agreed giving you a clear once over a blatantly dismissive look on her face, “She’s probably absolutely hideous behind that mask she wears all the time.”

Your hands balled into fists in your jacket, as you tried to ignore them, reminding yourself that you wore the mask for a reason. It was for both your comfort, and your boyfriends. Sakusa’s germaphobia was a very real fear, and frankly you didn’t mind doing a few things to accommodate his fear, or make him feel more comfortable where you could, especially since you knew he would and had done the same for you before.

Wearing a mask out in public was a simple thing, and frankly considering the pollution in Japan, not all that uncommon. The women were clearly being deliberately petty and you sank deeper into the jacket burrowing into it, and taking comfort in the familiar smell and feel of it. It was one of Sakusa’s old Itachiyama jackets, one he’d gifted to you when the two of you had first started dating.

It was warm and comfortable, and a blatant reminder of how very much your boyfriend cared about you. After all very few people were allowed to touch his things, and even fewer were given gifts, especially sentimental gifts. Komori had teased the two of you for days when Sakusa had first given it to you, exclaiming every time he saw you wearing it that even he had never been allowed to touch Sakusa’s Itachiyama jackets and he was his cousin.

It smelled like him, clean and crisp from the detergent he preferred to use for all of your clothing, one you’d become quite fond of yourself, and that you associated solely with him. It took your mind off the cruel women in front of you, at least for a little while.

“Can you believe just the other day he dropped his towel on accident, I tried to hand it to him, and he gave me the most disgusted look and just walked away,” the brunette told the receptionist clearly deeply offended by the incident, “As if I were something dirty he’d found on the bottom of his shoe.”

“I’ve tried to give him pens to use before,” the receptionist admitted equally huffy as she explained, “He won’t touch them, not until he disinfects them with a wipe first, and even then he’ll only hold them if he’s wearing gloves.”

You sighed quietly to yourself, a part of you wanting to storm over there and defend your boyfriend and an equal part understanding, just a bit where they were coming from. Sakusa had a fear, one that was very real to him, even if it seemed silly to others, and he had extreme ways of reacting when forced to face that fear. Still even you could admit sometimes his inability to properly interpret social cues could leave him coming off cold, or even cruel even if he didn’t mean to be that way.

“I bet she’s not even his girlfriend,” the spiteful brunette hissed, “Just an obsessed groupie who follows him around.”

“He probably treats her like trash,” the receptionist added in a cruel enjoyment to her unkind speculations, “Which is really no less than she deserves honestly.”

The women were clearly lashing out, and on the only target the had readily available, but that didn’t stop you from feeling hurt or furious on behalf of your boyfriend. How dare they insinuate he treated you badly? The idea was infuriating especially when you knew how very hard he tried for you.

Sure, your relationship wasn’t all smooth sailing, but then what relationship was? Yes, you’d had to exercise a lot of patience as Sakusa slowly worked himself up to touching you, but it had been completely and utterly worth it. The feeling of being held in his arms, knowing he desperately wanted you to be there, so much so that he fought off his worst fears in order to do so was indescribable. You’d honestly never felt as loved as you did when your germophobic boyfriend reached his hand out to you, assuring you that he wanted to be able to touch you.

Even several years in you still couldn’t cuddle without a thorough shower beforehand, and some aspects of physical intimacy, including public displays of affection were especially hard, but it was worth it. You were so proud, both of your boyfriend and how very far the two of you had come as a couple, and it infuriated you that these two women, who knew absolutely nothing of his struggles would dare to insinuate such awful things about him.

Oh, you knew they probably didn’t actually believe them. You’d dealt with jealousy from other women before. Your boyfriend was undeniably incredibly good looking, stunning even, and for some reason a lot of people found his supposedly aloof and cold demeanor cool and enticing. He’d had fans for as long as you’d known him.

Still it didn’t stop you from wanting to march right up to the women and force them to take it back. They could say what they wanted about you, but in no way shape or form would you allow them to badmouth your secretly dorky and completely socially inept boyfriend. Honestly one more word from them and you might’ve done just that, fortunately or unfortunately your furious thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of your boyfriend.

“Hey,” the sound of his voice pulled you from your murderous thoughts and turned your attention to Sakusa who had emerged from the locker rooms at last. His hair was still a little damp from his shower, the dark curls not quite as springy as they usually were as they fell across his forehead, and he was fully zipped into his Black Jackals jacket, hands in his pockets the traditional mask covering half his face, “let’s get going before the others come out.”

“Sure,” you agreed trying to keep your tone as upbeat and normal as possible ready to fall into step with him and head to the store, which was the whole reason you’d agreed to meet him at the Black Jackals usual practice gym in the first place.

However it seemed you hadn’t done a very good job of concealing the lingering upset from overhearing the women’s gossip session. That or your boyfriend was getting better at reading you, though both honestly were possibilities. He stopped in his tracks, forcing you to come to a halt as well, his brows sitting heavily over his dark eyes as he peered at you intently, clear concern visible in them.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice taking on the clipped edge that let you know he was deeply concerned. Apparently, you’d been more obvious than you’d thought.

“Nothing,” you tried to assure him, forcing your tone to be upbeat, not wanting to drag him down, “Why would something be wrong?”

“Don’t lie to me,” he ordered, the words blunt, but the clear care in his tone taking any sting out of them. Honestly he had very little in the way of tact at times like these, something you should probably be annoyed by, but could only find strangely endearing.

“It really is nothing,” you assured him, your own tone softening at his clear concern for you, “Just overheard people gossiping about us again.”

“Were you upset by them?” he asked hesitantly, clearly peering into your eyes, his whole body fidgeting with restless energy, a tension to him that reminded you of a rubber band stretched and ready to snap. For all that many read him as uncaring you knew that Sakusa was extremely protective of the few people he allowed close to him, and that you were one of the privileged few. He was clearly ready and willing to tear verbal strips off anyone who’d dared upset you.

“Yes,” you told him, figuring honesty was probably the best policy at this point, “But only because they were saying untrue things about you, about how you treat me.”

Some of the tension in his shoulders relaxed at that, and his eyes softened. You couldn’t see his mouth because of the mask, but long familiarity let you know the corners would be curling up in relief,. He clearly didn’t care a bit what people said about him, an attitude you wished rather desperately that you could emulate.

“Let them say what they want,” he told you firmly, “It’s not something that bothers me, so don’t let it bother you.”

“If only it were that easy,” you told him your own lips curling into a wry smile.

Your eyes widened in surprise as he pulled one of his hands from his jacket pockets and gently took hold of your face, the warmth of his shockingly bare fingers on your skin making your heart flip over in your chest his thumb gently swiping across your cheekbone rendering you completely and utterly speechless.

“The only opinions about my person that I care about are opinions from people who matter to me,” he told you sincerity dripping from very word, “And the only opinion I care about when it comes to our relationship is yours.”

Your heart was beating a rapid tattoo against your ribs at his fervent declaration, especially since you knew he meant every word. Your boyfriend was nothing if not completely and utterly honest when it came to you, even brutal at times. He was never one who’d spare your feelings, which was how you knew moments like these were as raw and honest as it was possible to be.

“I love you Kiyoomi,” you told him a little helplessly, the words falling out of your mouth before you’d had a chance to really think about them.

“I love you too,” he responded without missing a beat, even if you could see the faintest of pink blushes decorating the tops of his cheekbones over the mask, “And I don’t like seeing you upset. What people say about me doesn’t bother me, so please don’t let it bother you.”

“But wouldn’t you be upset if people were saying things about me?” you pointed out reasonably, well aware he would be, as he’d proven many times over in the past.

He clearly couldn’t think of an argument to that and so instead remained silent, so you continued, “You mean so much to me Kiyoomi and it hurts to hear anyone might think poorly of you or insinuate cruel things about you and how you treat me that are blatantly untrue.”

He watched you with soft eyes, his thumb still gently tracing your cheek as he explained, “So long as those things don’t cause you to doubt me I could care less.”

“Never,” you assured him fervently, “I like to think that by now I know you pretty well Kiyoomi and I don’t think there’s anything ridiculous petty gossipers could to make me doubt you, to doubt us. Despite the fact that we’ve had our challenges I always felt like we fit well together. Like two pieces of a puzzle.”

“I’m glad,” he admitted freely, “I’ve always hoped that you’d felt the way I do.”

“The way you do?” you repeated curiously.

“Like you know you’re meant to be,” he told you the words stealing the breath from your lungs and you were fairly sure you forgot how to breathe entirely as he leaned forward to press a gentle masked kiss to your forehead.

Fortunately, or unfortunately you were pulled from your thoughts by raucous sounds from behind the two of you. It turned out you’d been so wrapped up in your conversation with your boyfriend you hadn’t noticed you were blocking the hallway and keeping the rest of the team as a captive audience of sorts. Apparently the private, intimate moment wasn’t nearly as private as you’d thought, and you were suddenly incredibly grateful the mask helped cover your cherry red cheeks.

Apparently Bokuto was the one who’d interrupted your moment, too moved by it to stay quiet any longer, and now the former Fukurodani Ace was fervently congratulating your poor boyfriend about how smooth he was. Sakusa looked incredibly put upon as the team swept you up with them as they left the building in a small herd, all of them gently teasing or congratulating the two of you on how very cute your relationship was.

In the midst of all the chaos your boyfriend managed to sneak his hand into yours, his fingers twining together to keep you close and connected to him. You accepted the gesture, feeling warm, and secure and completely and utterly loved, enough to shoot the poisonous receptionist and her bitter friend a blinding smile on your way out the door.

Sakusa was right. Their opinions, especially on your relationship, shouldn’t matter to you, at the end of the day you knew he loved you and that was more than enough.

#sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa fluff #love sakusa #sakusa love #sakusa x y/n #sakusa x reader #sakusa x you #sakusa kiyoomi x you #sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa kiyoomi x y/n #haikyuu!!#haikyu imagines #haikyu fluff #haikyū!!#sakusa oneshot #JayeRayWrites

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mellometal · 3 years

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Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.

(Please tell me at least one of you got that reference.)

Anyways, jokes aside, the slaughtering of Dhar Mann’s videos is back and running! I’M BACK. Sorry for the long wait. I’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on, which I’ve been very transparent about and I wasn’t in the right headspace to tear apart Dhar Mann’s videos due to that.

Y’all are in for a real treat today. Why? Because I’m tearing apart TWO of his videos in ONE post! They’re all the same premise, basically. Both of these videos are about people scamming others out of their money by faking injuries and disabilities! Ain’t that nifty? /s

Both of these videos have these things in common: insurance fraud, scamming people, and faking injuries and disabilities. Obviously, we all know those things are extremely fucked up.

For anyone who’s not aware, Dhar Mann has actually committed fraud in the past that he pleaded no contest to in 2014. Fucking shocker, I know. He’s such a kind soul, right? How could he do something so EVIIILLL? /s

He’s actually never served jail time, let alone was ever arrested, for the five felony counts related to a scheme to defraud the City (Oakland, California) by submitting false claims and receipts in order to receive redevelopment grant money. Those were all from the shit he did back in 2008 and 2009! He stole THOUSANDS of dollars from the city when he was an entrepreneur in the medical marijuana business! Dhar Mann served five years of probation. They let him off easy. Why? Oh, because his parents are super rich too and they paid to get him out of serving a jail sentence.

In 2018, he made a blog post on entrepreneur.com about his “big mistakes costing him everything”. IT’S SO FUCKING FUNNY TO ME. JUST THE WAY HE PUT IT IS HILARIOUSLY BAD AND I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING. Like, BRUH. The fuck did you think was gonna happen? He wrote it out like he was a kid who got in trouble with his parents for not eating his vegetables and had to write out a whole fucking essay as to why it’s important to eat your veggies. It’s THAT bad.

ETA: Here's the link to the article. It's so bad it's funny.

Will there be any response from me? Unfortunately, not this time. These videos are too poorly made for me to make comments about. It wouldn’t be worth it at this point because Dhar Mann has his head up his own ass and won’t listen to the real people he’s actually hurting with his videos. It's obvious they're bad.

It's obvious that insurance fraud is a serious crime. Faking being disabled is disgusting. By faking disabilities, it makes it THAT much harder for disabled people to be taken seriously. It’s sickening.

Onto the first video I want to talk about. This first one has a man who fakes being disabled and fakes injuries all for monetary compensation, a lawyer who encourages her client to do this serious crime, a judge who’s EXTREMELY unprofessional, a few owners of small stores who are the victims of the crime that is injury fraud, and an undercover FBI agent.

Committing insurance fraud can usually end up with a prison sentence of up to five years per false claim (like what this man and his lawyer did in the video), but it can reach up to twenty years. There’s also a penalty that can be up to $250,000 per incident. It’s no joke. (Kids, don't do this, please.)

The first video starts off in a court room. The “victim” (the plaintiff) gives the store owner (the defendant) a piece of his mind, then the guy’s lawyer does the same thing. Hey, as a lawyer, you should know better. That’s extremely unprofessional. The store owner is obviously distraught. He's remorseful. He feels horrible about someone getting hurt in HIS shop, but he’s determined to fight his case. He didn’t do anything wrong.

The judge tells everyone to rise, then says everyone can sit down in an unprofessional way. He tells the plaintiff to tell their side of the story. The lawyer tells the judge that her client tried to grab onto one of the hand bars in the disabled bathroom stall, found that it wasn’t installed properly, and he fell. The store owner interjects and tries to tell the judge that what they were saying wasn’t true...without saying that he objects. The judge gets angry with the store owner...which again, is unprofessional.

The lawyer shows the judge the photos she took as evidence. (I'll get to why these claims are absolute bullshit.) After that, the judge finally tells the store owner to tell his side of the story.

The store owner is adamant about installing the hand bars in the disabled bathroom stall properly, he genuinely had no idea how that even happened, and he's still remorseful. The judge ruled in favor of the "victim", asks for the store owner to pay out $25,000, and court was dismissed.

The lawyer and the "victim" are seen gloating about being successful in pulling off another scheme. The "victim" tells his lawyer that he needed to get out of the wheelchair. His lawyer denies this by saying that she doesn't want to get exposed.

They then go to another independent business to pull off the SAME scam. They do this at a small boutique. The store owner goes around to catch them in the action when he bumps into an undercover FBI agent. The FBI agent asks him what he was doing, and he tells the agent that he’s trying to gather evidence. The agent understands and goes on his merry way.

We see the lawyer going into the dressing room while the “victim” is browsing around for a dress shirt to try on. She goes in with the screwdriver, unscrews the hand bars in the dressing room, then comes back out. The “victim” asks one of the store clerks if he could try on a shirt he picked out, so he goes back there, and he “falls” in the dressing room. LIKE HOW HE “FELL” IN THE DISABLED BATHROOM STALL AT ANOTHER STORE.

What makes these claims absolute bullshit is the fact that the lawyer carried around a screwdriver to uninstall the hand bars to make her client "fall" (she had it sticking out of her suit jacket). Plus, if a disabled person were to actually fall from improperly installed hand bars in the disabled bathroom stall, the holes in the wall wouldn't look clean WHATSOEVER. The screws would not come out clean like if you were to unscrew them out of a wall. Part of the wall and the screws would most likely be ripped out and the disabled person would be SERIOUSLY hurt (depending on the person). Like, you'd have to go to the hospital, most likely. The way that the "victim" "fell" was like he practiced it, like how you would in theatre. (I've practiced how to "fall" safely when I was in theatre for scenes where you have to faint or pass out. There's a trick to doing that without hurting yourself. Theatre kids, you know what I'm talking about.) He was still in the fetal position in his chair on his left side. He had NO injuries whatsoever.

His lawyer JUST so happened to be there! Convenient timing! She introduces herself (even though they clearly know each other already) and tells the people working in the store that she’ll be seeing them in court for their “negligence”. The store clerks have no idea what she’s even talking about and they’re understandably afraid. I don’t think the owner of that boutique was there at the time. (Don’t they have security cameras all over the store? I would think they'd catch onto what the lawyer did in one of the dressing rooms if they did.)

They pull off this scam, they're seen LAUGHING about fucking scamming people and committing a SERIOUS CRIME, and the store owner from earlier catches them when the "victim" gives the wheelchair back to his lawyer. They take the store owner's camera, taunt him, and then the lawyer EATS the SD card! They go off into the sunset, laughing like your stereotypical mean girls in Beverly Hills.

They go back to court, where the store owner is still trying to defend himself. The judge isn't budging at first, the lawyer is acting like the store owner is lying (he isn’t), and the store owner is trying to tell the judge exactly what happened. He’s almost ordered to pay out $25,000, which would mean that he’d have to close down his store to even come up with that kind of money. That stops when the undercover FBI agent goes right into the courtroom to give the judge evidence to prove that the store owner is innocent. Apparently this guy has been investigating these two people for a while and was waiting to catch them. It ends with the lawyer AND the "victim" being arrested and the store owner is proven innocent. He never ends up having to pay the $25,000.

Hey, Dhar Mann. I have a few questions for you.:

Are you projecting? Because you did commit five counts of fraud. You pulling the same shit again? Just curious.

When you add in BIPOC and AAPI characters, why do you have to ALWAYS have to write them as either the victims, the heroes, or you write them to be absolutely awful people? This is ESPECIALLY the case with Black and Hispanic people in your videos. You ALWAYS write these two groups like this mainly, and I don't understand why. The racial aggression in your videos isn't cute. Knock it the fuck off. Why not just write them as normal people, WHICH IS WHAT THEY ARE?

Is your concern for small business owners genuine? Do you actually care about small businesses? Or did you just add them into this video for brownie points to feed the gross excuse for a savior complex you have?

The second video I want to talk about is pretty much the same thing, except this involves a couple and they don't fake disabilities! They do fake being/getting injured though. I’ll call the guy with the nice car “Nice Guy” and the scammers “Scammer 1″ and “Scammer 2″. They don’t have any names, unfortunately.

It starts off with Nice Guy backing out of a parking lot when Scammer 1 "falls" behind the car and yelps out in pain. Nice Guy gets out of the car to see what happened and he’s freaking out because he thinks he just hit someone by trying to back out of a parking lot. He wants to make sure that Scammer 1 is okay.

Scammer 2 runs over to her boyfriend to see that he “fell” behind the car, berates Nice Guy, Scammer 1 is crying out in “pain”, and Nice Guy is trying to come up with a solution. He gives the two scammers $600 and they go on their way. Scammer 2 tells her boyfriend that he put on a great performance. Little did they know that Nice Guy heard everything they said.

But wait, kids! There’s more! It’s fuckin’ wacky!

They go to a little convenience store, Scammer 1 pulls out a water bottle out of one of the fridges that he didn’t pay for, and pours some all over the floor. Scammer 2 happens to walk in, "slip" on the spilled water, and land directly onto her back. The store clerk there goes over to see what happened, Scammer 1 introduces himself as a personal injury lawyer to Scammer 2, and they try to get monetary compensation from the store clerk. Little do they know that Nice Guy was watching them the whole time!

He caught them on camera trying to pull off a scam, he called the cops, and we never see Scammer 1 and Scammer 2 ever again!

Why is it that there were no security cameras in your store the first time around, but they were CONVENIENTLY THERE this time, Nice Guy? You could've proven your case and won the first time!

My thoughts on these videos? Super boring. Ableist as hell. Super unrealistic. They're so poorly made that I didn't even want to make a comment on either of them!

It looks obvious that he's projecting, but I don't know. What do y'all think?

#tw dhar mann #these videos are a fucking dumpster fire but they're so BORING #we all know that committing insurance fraud is wrong #anti dhar mann #please stop supporting dhar mann #dhar mann will live to regret his decision uwu #dhar mann will live to regret his decision to make these fucked up cringe videos #dhar mann is a piece of human garbage #dhar mann is a cringe ass nae nae baby #dhar mann #don't commit fraud kids!

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liskantope · 3 years

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A few tired thoughts on impeachment and Trump

So, impeachment. Or, to back up a bit, Georgia solidifying its new identity as blue-leaning background state, immediately juxtaposed with a violent insurrection, a public falling-out between the president and vice president (for the first time I think since 1832, and now extreme MAGA people want the VP’s head on a stick, final proof that they are truly part of a cult rather than just passionate about policy), calls to invoke the 25th amendment, and an impeachment, in barely more than a week.

I already wanted to write a post like a week ago putting some scattered thoughts into words, but more and more kept happening, and I got sort of burned out thinking about it all, and I’m actually quite tired now so I think this will come out fairly short (edit: as usual, it didn’t really).

I’ve had a lot of mixed feelings on impeachment and what the impeachment process is really about. Managed to express some of them on Facebook and have a helpful and enlightening dialog, amazingly enough. I’m still sticking with my resolution to mostly quit social media and certain YouTube channels once immediate political situations died down (which I had thought would be after the run-off elections but clearly the day-by-day developments are continuing until Inauguration Day), but at least that kind of exchange has been a decent enough note to go out on.

I think one of the main potential traps in this whole thing is assuming that what happened last Wednesday was a direct result of the speech Trump had immediately just made (although this Twitter thread I just saw makes some very good arguments that it was, so the epistemic status of this point is not very high-confidence). The case for impeachment was largely being framed as “speech on January 6th was a direct incitement of breaking into the Capitol building and threatening the lives of congresspersons and the VP -- look, he even used words like ‘fight’!”, and the NYT for instance put phrases like “Trump speech incites riot” in its headlines and news articles. This seems like a fairly easy argument for the other side to knock down. Trump never told anyone to be violent; he even used the phrase “peacefully and patriotically” at one point (though not the part everyone quotes); and phrases like “we fight like hell” are used with a non-physical meaning by politicians all the time (and particularly often by The Young Turks, who highlighted the phrase as “proof” of incitement!).

And at the same time, Trump was absolutely, devastatingly responsible for the travesty that happened, just not through the particular speech immediately preceding the event, but through weeks and months and years of meticulously (inasmuch as he does anything “meticulously”) grooming a cult following and weaving an alternate-reality narrative with an anti-democratic twist to it regarding the election, fanning flames and riling up the hardest inner core of his supporters to such an extent that now in retrospect it seems like something like Wednesday’s event was bound to happen. The post-election tantrum has actually disgusted me to my core in a rawer way than almost anything else he’s ever done (I know things like kids ripped from their parents and kept in detention camps is worse on a direct level, and this all speaks to my privilege, but I have a Thing about the meta-level sin of trying to mess with our self-correction and bring the presidency closer to a dictatorship), and as far as I’m concerned, a second impeachment is well deserved.

But to actually argue this requires invoking psychology and “social sense” or social intuition, and that catch with Trump -- one of the most fundamental themes of his behavior as a campaigner and president, in fact -- is that to effectively argue that anything he says is reprehensible requires analyzing these more subtle psychological effects and connections, while both sides tend to stick to interpreting his literal words which almost always can be interpreted on their face as meaning something much more innocuous. In these case there’s often a nudge-nudge-wink-wink or dog-whistling layer to what he says which both sides often refuse to actually investigate in arguments: anti-Trump people just insist that it’s sitting out there so starkly that no justification of its existence is needed, while Trump defenders entirely refuse to engage by saying to just look at the words he said in the most literal way possible. This has played out again and again and again for over five years; the incitement issue even just feels like the climactic final culmination of it. I’d like to see just for once a national debate over Trump’s recklessness where the two sides weren’t just talking past each other in this way.

But maybe I shouldn’t be thinking at all about what a substantive debate would look like, or seeing Trump punished on a basis of rhetoric that fully exposes how exquisitely and subtly profound his negligence as a leader and human being has been rather than arguing back and forth about a particular speech: as my friends have reminded me, impeachment proceedings are a purely political endeavor. For whatever reasons (tradition and propriety?) the congresspersons stand at podiums and give arguments but they aren’t particularly meant or expected to persuade. (Okay a lot of it is about the people watching and each of their political futures, I guess.) Maybe it doesn’t matter if none of the arguments are particularly strong ones. I’m biased against the idea of the proceedings being entirely political because it disgusts me and seems to betray the ideal vision of how Congress is supposed to work, but I imagine it’s reality (and certainly not the most disgusting or distressing aspect of reality right now).

I didn’t get a chance to catch much of the House debate this time around but I did listen to a lot of it during Impeachment Take 1 in December 2019. At the time I wanted to write a lengthy post detailing how pointless it all ways but it coincided with a sudden rush to grade my students’ exams in time for the holidays and so the post never happened. But it was really striking how almost interchangeable the Democrats’ speeches and the Republicans’ speeches were (it was almost perfectly divided along party lines as I recall), how often the same particular handfuls of phrases came out of almost every single congressperson in each sides’ arguments (I can’t remember the phrases now). It was almost as if each politician had cobbled together their speech by copying off the same model and rearranging a few paragraphs and orders of phrases. The little I saw of the speeches for Impeachment Take 2 in the House suggests that they were a little less uniform, but I doubt they were much more substantive.

Anyway, at this point all that really matters to me is for the Senate to vote to convict. I’m not too optimistic that this will happen and hope that the House politicians put enough emphasis on analyzing the likelihood of this when deciding to impeach, because the first impeachment didn’t actually seem to do much good and a second one might do more harm than good without actual concrete punishments coming Trump’s way as a result. But if they do, it will be as satisfying as possible a postscript to the whole humiliating debacle of the past four years as I can really ask for, outside of non-government actions like arrest and imprisonment.

#Our Current president #(hopefully my last time using that euphemistic tag)#maga cult #kids in cages #american government #impeachment 2019 #impeachment 2021 #young turks

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randomfandomimagine · 4 years

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Soul of a Warrior. Chapter 6: Light & Dark

Fandom: The Witcher

Ship: Jaskier x Nissa (OC)

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AO3

Please reblog and leave a comment, it would make my day!

A/N: As well as updating on Thursdays, I will be posting new chapters every Sunday from now on, so stay tuned twice a week 😉 Also, remember that feedback is very much appreciated 🤗

The next day, we have entered Redania and are nearing Rinde. The Pontar river flows next to us, and I gleefully watch it as we advance on foot. I am elated to be closer and my mood only improves with the company. It feels like a new beginning.

Jaskier’s voice fills the silence, as it couldn’t be other way. This time he timidly sings lyrics to a new song he’s in the process of composing.

“What will you do?” Geralt speaks, and I realize he’s looking at me. “When we reach Rinde?”

“Oh” The question surprises me a bit, so I absently look at Pal while I think of an answer. “Well…”

“She will stay with us, of course!” Jaskier answers, forgetting about his music. “Right…?”

I shrug a little, a bit conflicted. I am quite comfortable with them now, and I certainly enjoy their company. The thought of leaving them behind saddens me, but perhaps the best thing would be to spend some time alone, reflect and allow myself to heal. The loss of my home town is still an open wound, and it feels too early to move on.

“M-Maybe…?” Pal reciprocates the stare when I look at him. If only he could tell me what the right thing to do is.

“It’s fine” The witcher nods slightly, pulling Roach along himself. “Think about it”

“Yes” I smile, knowing the choice is still a bit far away. “We haven’t reached Rinde yet in any case”

I turn at Jaskier, who slides the lute to his back. His eyes are glued to the ground and he absently kicks a small rock of the many that cover the ground at our feet. As though he senses my gaze, however, he lifts his head up. I smile a bit at the sight of his lively blue eyes, and he sweetly reciprocates the gesture. Somehow, his expression is asking me to stay, to remain by their side for just a bit longer... and I want to comply.

As we walk, I step onto a small stone that rolls and makes me lose my balance. Jaskier next to me is quick to wrap an arm around me even though I quickly recover.

“Wow, careful!” He smirks when I hold on to him out of sheer surprise.

“I’m… fine…” I blink repeatedly, flustered by the sudden closeness.

“Leave her alone…” Geralt tiredly says. I have to purse my lips not to laugh at the face Jaskier makes in response.

“I’m being considerate, Geralt, I don’t want her to fall in the water!”

I snort when I look at the big space that separates us from the water. In reality, I was nowhere near falling in.

“You don’t think me capable of the terribly hard task that it is walking?” I tease him, tugging at his hand that settled on my waist and trying to get rid of it. He doesn’t leave off.

“He’s just looking for an excuse to touch you” The witcher mutters, deadpanning as usual.

“I-I-I…” The bard stutters, gawking at his friend. “Excuse me! I’m just trying to…”

“Stupid bard” I chuckle when he starts blushing and playfully wrinkle my nose at him.

“Oi, it would be a real shame if you actually fell in the water” Jaskier pushes me slightly and I yelp and cling on to him. That only causes his smirk to grow. “Not so cheeky now, eh?”

His hand squeezes my waist and I shrink against his side. Jaskier’s eyebrows arch in curiosity to my reaction and I bit my bottom lip.

“Watch your hand” I only say, maintaining eye contact.

“It is on your waist, no lower” He defends himself, intently watching me as if wishing to read my thoughts.

I don’t respond, only push against his chest ever so slightly in order to put some distance between us. His expression suddenly changes, from confused to absolutely thrilled.

“No…” Jaskier shows me a mischievous smirk. “Are you ticklish, my dear Nissa?”

My cheeks burn. The twinkle in his eyes confirms that I am in fact blushing.

“N-No…”

“Yeah you are! Oh, this is brilliant!”

“Don’t you dare, Jaskier”

“Or what?”

“I am warning you”

I lift a finger up, but my quivering lip makes the threat slightly less menacing. Ahead of us, Geralt sighs very loudly. He is mumbling something to Roach, and I manage to catch a few of the words he says.

“Why me…?”

“Ah!” I yelp when Jaskier roughly squeezes my side. “Hey!”

“I thought you weren’t ticklish” He smirks still, squeezing again.

“Stop it!” I squirm to try and get away from his grasp. “Jaskier!”

When he holds me with both hands and starts tickling me without mercy, I let go of the horse’s reins. Giggling and struggling to breathe as his nimble fingers attack me, I shrink over myself and push my shoulder against his chest. Jaskier only giggles as he watches me squirm. To lock me in place, his arms push me against his torso. In that position, I have no escape as his hands continue squeezing the ticklish spots in my sides. I try to push myself off him yet again, squeaking and laughing breathlessly and without remedy during such torture.

Pal suddenly nudges Jaskier, quite angrily, to push him off me. I see Geralt returning to our side as he notices the scene. In the meantime, I struggle to catch my breath when his attack ceases.

“Wow, little horsey” The bard immediately lets go of me, backing away. “Calm down there”

“It’s alright, Pal” I am moved that he tries to protect me, even if Jaskier could never actually hurt me. I try to comfort my horse, caressing his neck, but he’s still a bit rattled. Pal nudges his head towards Jaskier again, causing him to yelp and step further back with an exclamation.

“Jaskier” Geralt calls him, and even if he’s leaning forward, he isn’t quick enough.

Jaskier loses his balance and falls into the water, yelling in surprise. He sinks into the river for a moment. We stand by until he scrambles to his feet once more. The water luckily only reaches up to his chest. His brown hair looks black as its dripping with water and sticking to his forehead. His expression is indescribably hilarious.

“My lute!” The bard suddenly shouts, frantically sliding it over his chest and analyzing it. He sighs in relief when he checks his most precious possession is intact. Wet, but intact.

I cover my mouth, torn between laughter and concern. When Geralt offers him a hand and pulls Jaskier out of the river, I lean towards the amusement and start giggling. Even the witcher next to me clears his throat to hide a chuckle.

“Go ahead, Nissa, don’t be shy!” Jaskier throws his hands up in exasperation, splashing water everywhere. “Enjoy my misfortune!”

The sound of his soaked clothes dripping water on the ground only causes me to laugh harder. I take a moment to recover and then place a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” I feel the need to ask, but he gasps in outrage.

“No!” Jaskier shouts dramatically. “I could have died, and my lute!”

Geralt shakes his head in amusement and continues walking, taking Roach with him and telling her how he will treasure this moment forever. I myself approach Pal, but he’s carefully watching the bard. Trying to make amends, the horse gently pushes his head against Jaskier’s shoulder.

“No, no, no” He wiggles his finger at the horse. “Don’t give me that now, you beast”

I grin as I watch the two interact. Pal tries once more. In the end, Jaskier sighs and caresses him between the eyes to settle a truce. The horse leaves him with one last nudge before returning by my side.

“He was only trying to protect me” I conclude as Jaskier frowns and watches his lute attentively. “You were attacking me after all”

“Yeah, yeah…” He mumbles, carefully wiping water drops from the instrument.

I grin and walk ahead, leaving Jaskier to his resigned mumbling and concentrated cares towards his beloved lute. Geralt is smiling a bit when I catch up with him, and his grins only widens when our gazes meet and finds that I am trying not to keep laughing.

Rinde is a welcome change from the extremely silent atmosphere that has gloomed over us for the past few days in Vizima. The city is bustling with people, activity and movement. There is a small market at the capital and so we indulge in curiously taking a look at the items displayed: clothes, food, herbs, jewelry, weapons… all kinds of goods.

Jaskier’s mood has improved in these few hours that it has taken us to arrive. After his clothes and hair have dried, he is back to his usual chatting and occasionally calls to show us something that catches his eye. He tugs at my wrist and takes me with him everywhere he goes. Though I laugh a little at his behavior, I manage to get rid of his grasp after a while. He is too preoccupied with curiously eyeing some poetry books to notice.

I absently wander around the market and stop before a stand displaying dresses and riding wear. All my belongings burned in the fire along with everything else in Vizima, and I wasn’t cautious enough to take any money with me. Nonetheless, I eye a comfortable looking pair of breeches and a tunic.

Although Geralt and Jaskier look slightly disheveled themselves, I honestly feel absolutely disgusting. After all the activity, my clothes are full of dirt, dust, blood and sweat. So is my skin, and I could certainly use a change of clothes. Nonetheless, it will have to wait until I can earn some coin.

The witcher suddenly halts next to me and picks up the very garments I watch. Geralt hands me the clothes, but I don’t take them and instead watch him, baffled.

“I don’t carry money with me…” Still not moving, I watch his outstretched hand.

“Just take them” He pushes them towards me and tosses a coin to the seller.

The man doesn’t have a problem taking the payment and letting me take the clothes. I myself don’t feel as willing and stand there in shock.

“Take them” He insists. “Or I throw them away”

“T-Thank you, Geralt…” I whole heartedly say, clutching them against my chest.

“Aw, that’s sweet” Jaskier rests an elbow over my shoulder, watching his friend. “See, Geralt? You’re soft, don’t deny it”

The mildly friendly expression in the witcher’s face fades instantly as he turns to the bard and glares at him. Jaskier doesn’t bat an eye and instead continues speaking.

“Here, look” As he cheerfully takes Geralt by the arm, the witcher pinches his nose in exhaustion. “I found something incredible”

I curiously follow after them, arriving to another stand. This one is full of beautiful jewels sparkling under the afternoon sun.

“Look, Geralt!” He repeats, holding up a gorgeous silver necklace with emeralds incrusted on it. The witcher glances at it with disinterest, even if Jaskier is watching me with the corner of his eye anyway. “Doesn’t it remind you of someone’s eyes?”

I giggle at his poor attempt at subtlety. Geralt grunts in aggravation. Although I open my mouth to speak, our candid moment is interrupted when someone starts shouting at us.

“You, mutant!” The seller is eyeing Geralt. “Get out of here, away from my wares!”

There is a short pause in which we gawk at the man. Then comes the retaliation.

“Oi!” Jaskier harshly drops the necklace. “What did you just say to him?”

“You heard me!” The man insists, shooing us with hand gestures. “Off you go!”

“Alright then” Jaskier hands the witcher his beloved instrument. “Geralt, hold my lute”

Unfazed by the bard’s outburst, he only holds him by the back of the doublet and pushes him away of the stand. Jaskier complains, though he is forced away from the confrontation. I want to retort back myself, but I am so shocked and outraged that the nasty words I want to dedicate that man are stuck in my throat. In any case, I open my mouth to produce any sounds. I will not let him berate Geralt in such a way.

“I… H-How dare you?!” I only manage, glaring at the man. My body is burning with anger. I kick the base of his rickety stand. “You should learn some manners, you-“

I advance towards the idiot, but the witcher makes me stumble as he drags me away from that spot as well. He has lifted me off the ground, leaning me against his side and easily carrying me away from there as though I weigh nothing to him.

“Your merchandise isn’t even that great, you pathetic excuse for a jeweler!” Jaskier continues confront him, earning an angry glare from the man. “You absolute buffoon!”

“Jaskier…” Still carrying me, Geralt hauls the bard around by the doublet.

The two of us exchange a helpless look as the witcher defuses the situation. Several pair of eyes watch us, accompanied by hushed mumbling. Once we are slightly calmer and far away enough from the marketplace, Geralt lets both of us go.

“That man deserved to get a piece of our mind” Jaskier angrily fixes his doublet.

The witcher only shakes his head. He ignores it when the bard vehemently nods back.

“If you are to travel with us, you can’t react like this” His golden eyes move from me to his friend. “You too, Jaskier”

The aforesaid mumbles under his breath, and although the words are unintelligible, I gather by the way his gaze is directed towards the man still that they are not kind words.

“Are you truly alright with this?” I demand to know, staring at Geralt.

“It isn’t the first time” His lips form a thin line, though he seems calm. “And it won’t be the last”

“You amaze me, Geralt” Jaskier takes a deep breath. “I could just punch him in the face and break his teeth”

“Hm…” He only replies. “We should search for an inn”

Trying to forget about that incident, I touch Geralt’s arm as soon as he lets go of me. Nearly sarcastically, he pats my hand. He doesn’t seem surprised nor bothered by such treatment, and it breaks my heart. One gets used to everything, it seems, even to insults. All I hope is he isn’t starting to believe in the veracity of those insults. Or that he has already.

Jaskier dramatically sighs when Geralt leads the way. My feet drag across the ground as I follow them. That interaction feels like a glimpse at what travelling with them truly is like.

“I suppose we should all rest for a bit” Pointing a thumb over his shoulder, the bard directs us to the closest inn. “We could all use a bath and some food, I am hungry”

Jaskier doesn’t wait for us as he now leads the way towards the establishment. Silent, we follow in tow.

A question hangs in the air, though neither of them says it. We have arrived, we have found a place to stay, and the dilemma lingers in my mind even if I don’t address it either. I haven’t decided what I will be doing, but surely it can wait for a few hours more, just until we get some well-deserved rest somewhere other than a forest or out in the open. Big decisions should be taken on a full stomach and a rested mind.

As we near the inn, the hubbub of voices from inside reach us before we enter. Geralt and I stop for a moment to secure the horses outside.

“You two go ahead and rent the room” Geralt is eyeing a notice board right outside the inn.

“Right” Jaskier casually walks in.

I stay behind for a moment. The look in the witcher’s eyes makes me suspicious. Is he trying to leave us alone? Before he can confirm it with an indecorous comment, I follow after the bard.

The environment is loud and lively. It smells like ale and sweat, yet somehow it feels vaguely familiar and welcoming. Too many years working in a tavern, I suppose.

Jaskier is already leaning on the reception table, talking to the woman behind it. I walk toward him. He sinks his hand on his pocket and I pout at the sight.

“Not you too…” I mumble as I stand by his side, resting a hand on his arm. Jaskier only grins and says nothing.

“Thank you, darling” He is telling her now. “You have the cutest nose, by the way”

I scoff at how he flirts with her, though he completely ignores me. The woman doesn’t seem too impressed in any case. That doesn’t erase that stupid grin from his lips.

“Jaskier…” I tug at his arm, but he shakes his head.

“Ah-ah” Dragging two coins over the counter and closer to the inn keeper lady, he then turns his body to me, nearly challenging me to change his mind. “No complaints”

“I feel terrible…” I feebly lean on the column behind me. “First Geralt and now you… You’re being too kind, and I have no way of repaying you…”

Jaskier looks at me, and I can feel how his eyes struggle to stay on mine. I cock an eyebrow at him and he grins innocently.

“Oh, I’m sure you can think of some ways to make it up to me, Nissa” The way he arches his eyebrows is suggestive to say the least. I shove my palm against his shoulder to erase the expression off his face. “Ow, alright… sorry…”

“To your left” The inn keeper woman hands Jaskier a key.

“Ladies first” He motions forwards, so I take the lead to where the rooms are. Walking to our left as the lady said, I talk over my shoulder to him, glancing ahead to watch where I’m going.

“I do appreciate what you’re doing” I tell him, earning a beautiful smile from Jaskier.

“You’re very welcome” After a few more steps, we reach the door and he unlocks it with the key. “I’m always more than happy to aid a damsel in distress”

I gawk at him in false outrage and he chuckles, opening the door for me and allowing me to step in first.

“Thank you, Jaskier” Before I come in, I leave a soft peck on his cheek. "Truly"

It’s hard not to notice how he freezes in the spot. His fingers briefly brush against his cheek there where my lips were. The bard is flustered enough to awkwardly clear his throat and take several seconds to follow after me, closing the door behind him.

“R-Right… I, uh…” As I plop down in the bed, I watch him. Jaskier trails off for a moment before he recovers his train of thought. “I… also asked for warm bath water”

“That’s lovely” I say, bringing my braid over my shoulder and starting to undo it. I absently hum a melody, that which he has been singing, as it is stuck in my head.

Watching me in silence, Jaskier sits in the other bed, facing me. His fingers fidget with the key. I avert my eyes and lowly sigh in relief when my tight braid is undone. It doesn’t help with feeling tired and filthy, but at least it’s not tugging at my scalp anymore.

“Can I ask you a question?” He suddenly utters, blinking as though his eyes are on me yet not actually seeing me.

“Of course” I reply, absently carding my fingers through my tangled hair. “What is it?”

“Do you… believe in destiny?”

“Oh… I… Well…”

“Yes?”

A dreamy and thoughtful look takes over him. I struggle to voice my thoughts on the matter. I never did believe in it, but it isn’t quite as simple as just that.

“I can’t afford to” I finally reply, shrugging a shoulder when he frowns. “If it’s set on stone, I feel as though mine is quite cruel”

“Right… I suppose…” Jaskier glances down to the rusty key between his fingers.

I can tell the moment is quite tense now, so I pipe up once more to remedy it.

“Why do you ask?” I show him a smile as soon as our gazes meet. “Are you still thinking about your new song?”

That seems to liven him up immediately. His deflated posture fixes and he grins brightly once more.

“I am, actually. Though I’ll admit: I am quite stumped with this one” He lets out an exaggerated sigh, as though he were heaving his final breath. “I can’t find the right words”

I think of something to say, but he is already standing up. Jaskier shows me a charming and flirtatious smile as he moves from his bed to set with me in the other. Our sides brush together as he places an arm over my shoulders.

“Would you like to be my muse, Nis?”

“Don’t start, silly”

“You’re the one that kissed me!”

“On the cheek”

“You still kissed me”

“It was on the cheek!”

He lets out a chuckle that I find too adorable. I refuse to fall for his charm again and so I push him away. Leaving him lonely, I stand from the bed and tower over him. His eyes resemble those of a puppy dog as he looks up at me.

“I am taking a bath” I hold a hand up before he can say anything, which he was, judging by the way his lips started moving. “You may keep any related comments to yourself”

“Or what, my lady?” When he tilts his head, the hair falls over his eyes but he doesn’t move it. “You will have our trustworthy witcher beat me?”

“Or I can do it myself” I smirk and turn around, denying him the chance of a witty response.

The shift of temperature is shocking at first, but I relax into the warm water and sink further into the bath. It seems to magically untangle all knots in my muscles. A deep sigh escapes my throat. I needed this.

Although the noises of the inn sound muffled through the walls, the silence is slightly overwhelming. Being used to Jaskier’s voice proves bothersome when presented with its absence. With his absence in general. Even with Geralt’s absence despite his usual silence.

It is the first time in nearly a week that I am actually completely left alone. No matter how much I appreciate their company, it now allows me to breathe and think more clearly. The decision at the back of my mind arises with the reflective mood I am currently in. As I absently scrub my arms with soap, I consider the possibilities.

Returning home is obviously not one of them. I am forced to move on one way or another, but there are many ways to do so. Rinde seems as good place as any. The important question is… alone or with them? This newfound quietness and tranquility is comforting, yet I am unsure that I would grow used to it, that it wouldn't turn into a curse soon. After I lost Kader, Hana was always by my side. I hadn’t been truly alone in my life, and neither did I want to. Moments of isolation? Of course. A lifetime of loneliness? Absolutely not.

I wince when the bar of soap presses against a superficial wound that I had forgotten about. On the outside face of my arm, the cut I earned on the mountains remains. It is nearly completely healed , but it will leave a small scar. Despite how harrowing those events were, my mind clings on to the positives of our endeavor. The way we protect each other, Geralt’s reluctant smiles and hums of amusement, even his grunts of annoyance and glares. Jaskier, of course, is in my mind as well. The way his lively blue eyes land over me, his bright smile, his ubiquitous voice, whether singing or teasing or rambling.

The water feels slightly cold now, and so I busy myself with actually taking a bath rather than mindlessly sitting in it. Once done cleaning the remnants of dirt, blood and sweat from my skin, I move on to my hair. As my hands move automatically, I imagine how different my life would be without them. And I can’t stand how empty it would feel. Not long ago, they were completely strangers. Geralt was nothing but a witcher, a mutant I was too afraid and distrusted of due to past experiences. Jaskier was only a meddling bard who could be too talkative and annoying at times. Yet now…

I tried to pretend like I was conflicted, though there was honestly no choice to make.

The new clothes fit me quite well, and are definitely an improvement to my old and tattered garments, even if they are slightly too large, especially the tunic that nearly poses as a dress reaching my thighs. I have to tight my belt around it so it comfortably clings to my waist instead.

When I return to the room, Jaskier is gone. One of the three beds is occupied with saddlebags that I recognize from Roach’s mount. Geralt must have passed by, probably preparing for a witcher job or something of the sort. I notice Jaskier’s lute is nowhere to be seen just as I recognize the sound of his singing voice through the walls. Of course he’s out there singing.

Exiting the room, I walk into the common area where the music fills my ears. At that moment, he is playing a cheerful jig that has some people quite entertained. I quietly walk to a side of the establishment and lean on a column. When I pay attention to the lyrics, I cross my arms and shake my head in disapproval for the song’s childish sexual content, even if it pulls a chuckle out of me. I watch him fondly as he performs, standing on a table. He is wearing his white undershirt that suits him so well. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, showing his forearms as they move at the rhythm of the tune. His eyes vividly wander around the room, squeezing every ounce of excitement that his music produces in the room. They suddenly fall over me. His entire face lights up as he grins bright and winks an eye at me. I smile back before I can realize I am.

Just then, Jaskier finishes the song and lets the last note ring dramatically. A few of the people applaud and go over to leave some coins in the open case of his lute on the ground. With a theatrical bow, the bard thanks them and prepares to play another song. Quite briefly, his gaze returns to me as he strums the first chords. I laugh when I recognize it immediately and mouth the words along with him.

“When a humble bard…” We both grin at each other from opposite ends of the room. “Graced a ride along…”

People easily catch up as well, starting to loudly sing the infamous song. This is distracting enough for him to get quite into his performance, drunken in his success as everyone is soon loudly chanting along. I myself tap my foot with the catchy rhythm.

He thrust every elf

far back on the self

high up on the mountain

from whence it came

He wiped out your pest

got kicked in his chest

He’s a friend of humanity

so give him the rest

A pang of guilt suddenly stings me in the chest. My grin fades away. I had never noticed certain aspects of the song. Now they seem quite disturbing.

I understand that Jaskier wrote that song for Geralt, to rid him from his awful fame as the butcher of Blaviken. I used to believe it as well, which didn’t help me in trusting him. Now that I know him personally, though, I realize how unfair that title was despite not having witnessed the events that developed. But Jaskier’s lyrics paint the elves in a bad light, and it upsets me. The bard had only been charming, sweet and playful towards me. That side of him is now revealed to me, almost like it wasn’t there before. Faced with the truth, I lower my head and exit the inn. The contrast of the silent night is jarring.

Just as I plop down in the wooden platform outside of the building, everyone starts loudly singing the chorus. Toss a coin to your witcher, o valley of plenty… The voices are too distracting as I try to wrap my head around these astonishing contradictory feelings.

The cool night breeze is refreshing, seemingly clearing my confusing thoughts. I had everything completely wrong, didn’t I? I believed Geralt to be an emotionless mutant who only cared about coin and I realized he could be even more human than some men. I thought Jaskier was pure and untainted, but he had a darker side as well. Nonetheless, why does it bother me so much? I was just starting to see him as a friend rather than a stranger. That was just what he was now, a friend if anything at all.

I absently look out to the horizon, shaped by the buildings that stand in the way and shadow the beautiful colors of dusk as the sunlight caressing my face slowly fades away.

“There you are” His voice next to me makes me jump slightly. I didn’t realize the song was over. “What’s the matter?”

“You startled me” I mumble, surprised by my racing heart.

“Not that” He sits by my side and tilts his head to establish eye contact. “You walked away in the middle of my performance”

“Oh, that…”

“Yeah, I feel quite hurt” I reluctantly smile when he presses a hand against his chest.

“Jaskier…”

“I thought you enjoyed my songs”

“And I do”

He knocks his knee against mine, and his voice acquires a more serious tone now.

“Tell me, Nissa” I glance at him, only to find with such a tender and innocent expression that it moves me.

My doubts seem to vanish, but the song still echoes in my mind.

“When did you write the song?”

“Oh” Jaskier straightens up, proudly. “When I first met Geralt in Posada, we-“

“It’s not true” I interrupt him, knowing he might start rambling, as he does.

“Pardon me?”

“That’s not what happened with the elves”

His moment of pride vanishes as he averts his gaze. Just as I thought.

Our encounter with Yaevinn burns fresh in my mind, as I am sure it will for a long time still. And although I wasn’t there with them that other time, I know Jaskier’s song wasn’t quite truthful. Just the fact that he called the elf an ‘it’ gave me a hint. Sadly, I know why he wrote it like that. And he himself explains as he opens his mouth and replies.

“No…” Jaskier absently pinches the strings in his lute to avoid my gaze. “Filavandrel let us go, just like that”

"Then ‘it’ showed mercy” I shake my head, looking up at the stars that timidly shine over us. “Why did you write the song like that?"

I notice him frowning at my disappointed tone. However, he shows me a sarcastic smile and tilts his head in consideration.

"Would you have liked a song about the grief of the elves, humanizing them?"

"Yes, of course! It would have been more beautiful and more real than this lie"

"Well, you're not like everyone else, Nissa"

I stare at him, properly seeing this darker side of him. During all this time I had only known the gentle Jaskier, the kind man that comforted me when I lost everything, who did his best to make me smile, or fluster me with his flirting and teasing. It wasn’t until I heard his famous song again that I realized about his cunningness.

“How do you know so much about elves, in any case? Beyond… you know”

“My brother told me, he was well traveled”

“He must have been insufferable”

I open my mouth in outrage, but his playful smirk lets me know he’s not being entirely serious. Acknowledging his attempt to lighten up the mood, I chuckle.

“He could be at times” I nudge Jaskier, elbowing him in the ribs. “But then again, so are you”

The bard winces, pushing a hand against his chest in heartache. I laugh again, and he can’t help but to smile at the sound.

“There is more to life than fame and fortune”

“Oh, is there now?”

“Yes, do you realize that?”

“I’m starting to, my dear Nissa” Jaskiers reaches out to push my long dark hair behind my ear. I become flustered. Even if the gesture is quite chaste, against all odds, it makes me shiver. I watch him expectantly, waiting for him to do something else. To say something cheeky or do something cocky. Soon enough, he does, yet not in the way I imagined. “You look prettier”

“Prettier?”

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re always pretty” He smiles, nearly bashfully. “But now, under the moonlight... you are absolutely glowing”

The compliment is genuine, devoid of any of his usual flirtatious tone. To further baffle me, Jaskier averts his gaze as though he doesn’t deem himself worthy of contemplating such beauty.

I look at his hand placed between the two of us. My fingers move, considering resting against his. However, Jaskier suddenly stands up.

“Ah, Geralt” He mutters, causing me to look up and forget about it completely.

The witcher has indeed returned. He gives us a side glance as all signs that he recognizes our presence. Then, tightly pursing his lips, he moves on to where Roach patiently waits outside the inn. He picks something up from the saddle and saves it in his pocket.

“What is it?” Jaskier asks, hovering behind him. Geralt sternly pulls at Roach.

“It’s not an ordinary vampire” I frown in confusion until I remember he’s returning from a witcher job. “It’s a bruxa”

“A what now?”

“A bruxa, Jaskier. They are very powerful vampires”

He blinks repeatedly, watching me in awe. When he quickly turns to Geralt, however, the smile that nearly reached his mouth vanishes. I understand why, as I wasn’t used to seeing that intensity in his golden eyes either.

“Huh… Watch out, Geralt, Nissa here might steal your job”

The bard’s attempt to lighten the mood fails miserably as the witcher ignores it. He moves with adamant determination, and we quietly follow behind him. I take Pal with us too. To our surprise, the witcher doesn’t oppose.

The outskirts of Rinde are isolated and eerie. Only a few lonely trees fill the vast wasteland around us. The ground under our boots is soft, covered in green moss and dark brown soil. The temperature drops the more we distance ourselves from the city.

Although Geralt has now voiced his annoyance with us following after him, we make a strong case saying we are a team and have his back... despite the fact that neither Jaskier nor I are as skilled as a witcher, or even as a warrior, especially in the bard’s case. None of that matters, at least three pair of eyes see better than two or one.

I jolt up and cling on to Jaskier’s arm when an unnatural sound floats around us. No matter how embarrassed I am by my gesture, he seems to reciprocate. Seeking my comfort as well, his hands seeks my own.

“W-What…” He gulps, squeezing my hand tight. “What, uh… What the hell… Was that the…?”

“Yes” The witcher dryly says, taking ahold of his silver sword. It glistens with some sort of oil. “Stay here”

We are more than happy to follow his instructions, but as soon as he takes one step, they are rendered useless. We aren’t any safer staying here.

A man runs our direction, waving his arms and calling for help. His attacker soon appears amongst the darkness of the night, lunging at him. It is a pale creature, looking as though it tried to resemble a woman with dark hair but failed miserably. If that was an actual woman, she would be deadly ill and deranged.

Geralt yells and wildly swings his sword, but it’s too late. The bruxa is already feeding on that poor bastard, devouring him alive with visceral hunger. The witcher cusses loudly. Feeling light-headed at the sight, I turn my head in the other direction. My stomach turns and I feel sick. There’s so much blood. Jaskier has the exact same reaction as we both face our backs to the cruel violence. Our palms urgently press together. The man’s screams only worsen our state. The metallic sound of Geralt’s sword slaying the bruxa’s flesh is just as harrowing. A deafening screeching noise follows. The three of us groan in unison, gritting our teeth as the shriek resonates in our very bones. I stick to Jaskier’s side, clutching his hand as I wait for it to end. Two thuds distract us from the unsettling feeling that has nestled within us. The sound has fortunately stopped.

“Fuck!” The gruff voice says not far from us. The both of us run to the witcher just as he collapses on the ground. Our hands drift.

“Geralt!” The creature has bitten through his thick leather pauldrons, and his black clothes are now stained with crimson blood. I grimace when I notice a good part of his neck skin is missing, revealing even more blood. My eyes then move to the figures on the ground.

The poor man is now dead, lying motionless on the ground. Blood covers his corpse, and his skin has brutally been ripped out in several places. The bruxa, although managing to injure Geralt before being slayed, now lies dead as well. The sight is absolutely ghastly.

I tremble slightly while Jaskier tries to pull the witcher to his feet. I am about to do move to help when I hear that hissing sound once more. The bruxa is still alive. It has killed a man. It has hurt my friend. Suddenly I am filled with anger and move on an instinct as I shout and pull out my dagger. The creature hisses defiantly when I face it.

“Nissa, no!” An urgent tug at my wrist sends me stumbling backwards.

As I recover my balance, the witcher sends one of his magical signs to the bruxa, that goes flying backwards and away from us.

“Get to the horses” Geralt brushes Jaskier’s hand off his arm. “I’ll be there in a moment”

“But-“ I stupidly mutter, eyes darting from him to where the creature disappeared from.

“Now!” It is thanks to his command that Jaskier pulls at me to do as we were asked.

“We need to get him some bandages” He reminds me, still tugging at me. “Nissa?”

Nodding my head, I realize he is right. Even if he says it in a desperate attempt to divert my attention from the deathly peril the witcher is currently in, I resign myself to go with Jaskier and reunite with the horses.

My bones seem to bounce with how violently I am stepping as I run. My heart beats in my throat. When we finally reach Pal and Roach not far from us, I hurry to search the saddlebag. Pal stirs, perhaps sensing my restlessness. I cling on to the bandages as soon as I find them.

“You have been traveling with him for a while” I mutter to Jaskier as my fingers struggle to fasten the bag closed. “How do you not have a nervous breakdown worrying about him?”

“Sometimes I’m just in as precarious situation as he is, to be honest” He chuckles, leaning a hand on the saddle. It is shaking lightly.

“That’s not funny” I glare at him, playing with the gauzes in my hands.

“You usually laugh at my jokes…” Jaskier defends himself, shrugging one shoulder.

“Not when… when... Melitele, that was… so violent…” I gulp, scrunching the fabric I hold. “And Geralt…”

My friend stands before me, resting his hands over mine so I stop tightening them more and more. My knuckles have turned white from how much force I inflict upon those bandages.

“He will be alright”

There is a tired yet uplifting look in his eyes when they lock with mine. I heave a trembling sigh, glancing down to his fingers over mine. They are warm and comforting no matter how lightly they lean against my skin.

The both of us look behind Jaskier when a figure makes his way closer to us. Geralt drags his feet over the ground as well as his sword. His free hand is putting pressure on the wound and his jaw is tightly clenched. Once again, I forsake the comfort Jaskier provided me with and run to the witcher.

“Are you alright?” I anxiously ask him as I stop before him.

“Never better” He sarcastically grins at me.

“Don’t give me that, Geralt” Making sure not to touch his wound, I push down on his shoulders to save the height difference.

The witcher grunts in annoyance despite letting me move his hand away. I exhale in anguish when I closely look at the wound. Forgetting about the nasty sight, I fold some of the bandages and push them against his tore skin. He grunts again.

“At least Nissa makes a good medic” Jaskier hesitantly watches over my shoulder. I don’t pay attention to him in favor of the injured witcher.

Using the remaining bandages, I wrap them around the folded ones and tightly tie them over his shoulder blade to keep them in place. That should hopefully stop the bleeding.

Not waiting for my blessing, Geralt then walks past me and closer to Roach. He doesn’t speak to address what happened. He seems eager to leave. He doesn’t speak at all.

Geralt hasn’t said a word. Something tells me that man wasn’t the only victim he witnessed at the hands of the vampire. That explains the gloom expression he bore when he quickly returned to the inn for supplies.

“I… Geralt…” Jaskier tries. His voice quivers as he closely watches his friend.

“Fuck off” He replies, not bothering to glance at us. There is anger in his voice as well as in the way his hand aggressively pushes against the wound on his neck.

Jaskier and I exchange a concerned look in response to his stubbornness. Geralt drags himself to the room, with us closely behind.

“You need to talk to us, back there…” When we reach the door, he quickly turns to us. That is enough to silence me, given the dangerous glint in his eye.

I freeze as I hold his gaze. He doesn’t say anything else, only stomps into the room. Trying to follow after him in order to comfort him for his certain distress, I take a step. Jaskier pulls at my arm just in time to avoid me getting hit with the door as Geralt slams it closed.

“We should leave him alone” Jaskier speaks next to me, voice gloom. “Give him a moment…”

“No, he’s clearly upset!” I turn to Jaskier, who sighs. His brow is furrowed in worry.

“Trust me, Nissa” Slightly defeated, he lets go of my arm. His gaze drops, even if he briefly lifts it back up in hesitance. “It’s best if we give him some space”

I feel too restless to do nothing, so I reach out for the doorknob. Jaskier is quick to hold my wrist before I can turn it.

“I just told you-”

“I’m talking to him”

He shakes his head, pursing his lips tightly.

“That’s not a good idea, love” Jaskier gently tugs at my hand, but I am not convinced. “You haven’t seen him when he gets like this”

“Well, I’m going to” Giving up to my stubbornness, he lets go of my hand with an exasperated flourish and gestures for me to be his guest and give it a try. I pause to take a deep breath.

I knock on the door and wait, earning no answer. At least that’s better than being yelled at again. Jaskier and I exchange a glance, and he nods encouragingly at me. Cautiously opening the door and peeking inside, I find Geralt facing his back to me as he sits on the bed.

“Do you mind if I come in?” I utter timidly, but he doesn’t move.

Hoping I’m not tempting fate, I step inside and close the door behind me. Jaskier is already walking away, resigned to patiently wait for me while I try and talk to the witcher. The room sinks into silence when the commotion of the tavern is muffled by the walls. I open my mouth, only to close it again. Words rarely escape me, but I am timorous of saying the wrong thing.

“You don’t have to, but…” I believe that’s a good start when he lightly turns to me. “But I’m here if you want to talk”

He is clutching his shoulder dripping with blood, forcefully pressing the bandages against his wound to stop the bleeding. My words make him frown thoughtfully.

“I know I can’t save everyone” Geralt speaks in a monotonous voice, still not facing me.

He did speak, however. A feeling tells me I’m on the right track, so I try to say something more. Nonetheless, I dare not to walk closer.

“I’m not Jaskier, I know when to shut up” I joke, smiling at him, but he only dips his head.

Geralt might not be the bubbliest person, but I know in other circumstances he might have hummed in amusement to my silly little comment. Instead of holding it against him, however, I lean on the door behind me, resting my hands between it and my back. I am willing to stand there in silence for as long as he needs to. All night if necessary. Even if he didn’t say a word after that. I just refuse to leave him alone. Unless he asks me to.

“There were more people there” To my shock, he speaks again. “Many more”

I hope I manage to conceal my surprise when we lock eyes. Geralt is clenching his jaw in annoyance, but for the first time I can read the genuine emotion and regret in his eyes. He is unwilling to voice the effect it had on him, though he does not need to. He doesn’t have to keep speaking for me to understand how much it weighs on him. However, he continues to talk. And I listen in silence.

“I wasn’t fast enough” He tightens his fists. His voice sounds deeper than usual, if that’s possible. There is a certain pain in it that makes it sounds hoarse and broken. “When I got there, the bruxa was already shredding them to pieces”

I grimace at the mental picture, furthermore when the images of what I witnessed vividly return to me. However, I remain faithful to my purpose here.

“You did what you could, Geralt” I watch him intently, but he averts his gaze. “It was not your fault, you… you did your absolute best”

The witcher doesn’t reply, and quits glancing in my general direction from the corner of his eye. Seeing that my words aren’t quite having the desired effect, I slowly approach him. He doesn’t complain about it, so I sit by his side, although not extremely close. I want to leave him a bit of space. The witcher doesn’t move nor respond. For a moment, we sit there in complete quietness. I hope my presence at least proves comforting to him if only by my moral support.

The door suddenly swings open with a creek, and I look to see Jaskier. Geralt doesn’t turn. The bard interrogates me with his gaze, so I nod. Understanding what I mean, Jaskier walks in. Before he can accidentally ruin all progress, I shove a finger against my lips. Obedient, he resigns himself to stand there quietly and leave it to me.

Geralt briefly sighs, looking away from both of us. I glance over my shoulder to Jaskier, who frowns slightly when we lock eyes. He nods encouragingly and I continue speaking.

“They may not realize it, but the world needs people like you” I cautiously reach out to rub his arm, but he pulls away. A soft yet deeply sarcastic chuckle leaves his lips.

“You are too kind, Nissa...” At least he’s saying something now. “I thought people needed me too”

“I-I don’t mean witchers” I correct myself, realizing my thoughts didn’t quite come through as I intended. “I meant good men, like you. Someone kind and strong capable of protecting them, not only from the creatures that witchers hunt”

“I’m not a human” He insists, seemingly sunken into a pessimistic state that will be hard to pull him out of.

“Well, still-“

“I appreciate the sentiment” His golden eyes seem darker than usual as he looks at me. “But what you’re saying is not true”

“It is to me” I timidly shrug to show him I’m being genuine, I truly believe what I’m telling him.

“To me too, Geralt” Jaskier slowly nods his head, trying to convey how honest he’s being.

I look at Geralt and catch a glimpse of the beginning of a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his mouth in the end.

“I… You better cheer up, grumpy” I pat his shoulder, also giving it a gentle squeeze to let him know that, while I am joking, I do mean my words. “Or else I will have to put up with Jaskier tonight on my own”

A proper smile, no matter how small, finally reaches his lips. Geralt nods his head in acknowledgement. Quietly, yet he does.

“Hang on a minute” Jaskier catches up to what I’m trying to do and joins in. “You are not ‘putting up with me’, alright? You are being blessed with my charming presence”

“Yeah” I wrinkle my nose at him. “Of course we are”

Jaskier purses his lips trying not to smile. A glint appears in his eye. Geralt only grunts. He is slowly returning to being himself.

“Now” I face Geralt once more, slowly approaching him to ensure it won’t bother him. “Let me take a look at that wound before you bleed to death”

He doesn’t complain when I stand before him, so I reach out for his wound. I gulp when I see the blood, and my hands are shaking slightly. No matter how many times I have watched Shani do this in Vizima, I haven’t treated anyone myself.

“Since when are you a medic, Nissa?” Jaskier sits down in the other bed, in front of Geralt.

“I’m not” I grimace as I watch the worrisome wound that won’t stop bleeding. “But I knew someone in Vizima who was”

I ask Jaskier to fetch me the satchel and he quickly does, returning to his spot in the bed after handing it to me. I gather some alcohol and bandages from it and return to putting pressure over the wound, waiting for it to quit bleeding.

“I often went to visit her and learned a few things about treating wounds” I continue in the hopes that my story is distracting Geralt. “Hana didn’t like that I spent so long around sick or injured people, though”

Their eyes are on me, which rattles me a bit. I try to focus on his shoulder instead. It is a hard task, as I hear the bard offering Geralt to squeeze his hand if he’s in pain. It is quite distracting when he chuckles as well, but groans when the witcher slaps his outstretched hand away.

When the wound finally stops bleeding thanks to my efforts, I drench the clean side of the fabric in alcohol and gingerly press it against Geralt’s shoulder. He groans but doesn’t flinch.

“Since you’re keeping me alive” He says, looking up at me. “I’ll share my coin with you”

“You’re keeping you alive, Geralt” I shake my head at him. “I’m only patching you up in any poor way that I can”

“I wasn’t asking, Nissa”

“Does that make me the group’s unofficial medic?”

“Yes” The witcher smirks. “Though you might treat Jaskier more often than me”

“Oi!” The aforesaid complains, pointing a finger at him in vexation.

Geralt rolls his eyes, and I have to grin while I continue my cares. I am suddenly enveloped by a feeling of warmth. I have seen the light and dark side of them, of their company and their endeavor. And with it all, I am certain that I have made the right decision.

Tag list: @x-joie-x / @x-jodi-x / @dancingwith-thesunflowers / @golden-guide / @alwayshave-faith / @this-is-whump-dammit / @legallyblindgamer727 / @lilyevans1 / @kingniazx / @molethemollie // Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list to be notified when I post next chapter!!

#please reblog!!#jaskier x oc #jaskier x reader #soul of a warrior #soaw #witcher #witcher fanfiction #the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #geralt of rivia #geralt #jaskier #oc #original character

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villanevest · 5 years

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You’re Mine [pt.2] - eve’s perspective in 2x08

welcome to part 2. again, i’ll be unpacking eve’s perspective in the finale in this post. i’ve already uploaded villanelle’s, and tomorrow, i’ll make a post about why i think the finale was, plot and character-wise, a great choice for the show going into season 3. let’s jump in. EVE’s thoughts and feelings in the finale. something that’s important to remember is that while villanelle has always lived a life of extremes, eve’s life was exceptionally ordinary until last year. in this past week or so, her husband has left (even if it was a long time coming), she saw someone murdered in front of her for the first time, has been confronted with the reality of aaron’s weapon, and has semi-hooked up with villanelle. she’s holding it together like the absolute legend she is, but just try and contextualise the finale within the sheer amount of upheaval eve’s undergone in even the last few days. for eve, the episode essentially kicks off with two almost simultaneous adrenaline shots: villanelle saying “gentleman”, and hugo getting shot. she nearly gets hunted down herself, and then makes her first major choice of the finale: to leave hugo and go after villanelle instead, who she assumes is in similar danger, and who, ultimately, she cares about more.

eve acts her way out of the hotel and into aaron’s house, all the while believing she’s probably headed to the even worse of two evils. she grabs the letter opener and goes in, prepared to defend villanelle, which is an important precedent for later. but then villanelle’s just… fine. she abandoned hugo, dying, and their world-saving (or so eve thinks) recordings of aaron’s dealings, for nothing.

then villanelle’s revealing aaron’s a killer, and aaron’s offering villanelle something eve is afraid she won’t refuse. and he verbalises one of eve’s deepest unspoken fears: that villanelle WILL get bored of her. that she can’t possibly keep villanelle’s interest once they’re no longer caught in a hurricane of external pressures. and then she has to deal with the absolute overload that is the question, push come to shove, would villanelle hurt her? while villanelle never considers hurting eve here, eve understandably doesn’t realise that. after all, as far as she knows, villanelle killed anna, as well as dozens of other people. villanelle thinks she’s been clear about how strongly she feels, but eve is caught at the crossroads of kenny, hugo, jess, carolyn, konstantin – all these people who promise her that no matter how real it feels, villanelle is a psychopath, could flip the switch in a second. that’s a terrifying possibility: that the woman you’re obsessed with, have given up everything for, might end you and walk away. shrug it off.

villanelle kills aaron, and eve’s currently up to seeing two bodies in about fifteen minutes. while she hates aaron and isn’t particularly bothered by his death, she’s abruptly sure that they’ve blown the mission entirely, and quite apart from carolyn crushing her under heel, eve’s afraid that their screw-up might result in aaron’s weapon going public, that he might have some contingency plan they weren’t authorised to know about. eve’s all messed around; villanelle’s surprisingly chill. but eve’s used to villanelle thinking of the immediate, small picture – eve is sure it’s up to her to get them out of all this. she’s concerned for both of them, and believes villanelle truly doesn’t understand the scope of the trouble they’re in. notice that she uses plural language. “we”, “us”. she’s already trying to plan THEIR way out of it. villanelle is a tacit premise, a guaranteed.

they escape aaron’s place, and then eve becomes set on retrieving the recordings. i think partly she needs a goal to cling to, but apart from, as she says, not wanting people to have died for nothing, she’s also considering that the recordings might be enough to buy back favour with carolyn. that she can barter her and villanelle to freedom if they get carolyn what she wants.

and then carolyn effectively says she’s been manipulating eve this whole time. that eve is so predictable, carolyn could build VERY critical plans around her behaviour. this brings in a whole question of free will – eve begins wondering how much of all this was ACTUALLY her idea, and how much carolyn had subtly suggested to her, nudged her towards. carolyn is something of a mentor, and even if eve never totally trusted her (e.g. she didn’t tell her that she stabbed villanelle), she was at least sure she knew HOW NOT to trust her. she thought she couldn’t tell her about how deep she was in with villanelle, but really, carolyn knew that, and was using it already. it’s a deeper betrayal than expected from an unprecedented direction. eve goes from thinking she’s in control to being totally lost in her own network of relationships. even kenny’s not innocent, and he’s supposed to be their good guy. so eve stays for villanelle. villanelle, who might be amoral, but has always been upfront about that. she doesn’t hide who she is. she doesn’t judge who eve is. eve takes a breath and decides villanelle is her ally in this. more than her ally.

and then eve walks out of the room to find that last person she trusts being killed in front of her. that would make eve’s count 3 Deaths and 1 Major Betrayal in under an hour. so she picks up the axe, and at villanelle’s urging, hits raymond with it.

here’s the thing: eve isn’t ready for this. is she on an increasingly grey trek into darkness? absolutely. would she organically be ready to kill people one day? not sure. i think she has to be kicked into it by a high-stress situation like this, but she was definitely headed towards being completely unbothered by knowing of villanelle’s kills beforehand, helping her set them up, making who-lives-who-dies calls – she basically already was.

this is kind of starting the car at two hundred miles. she doesn’t slip someone arsenic, or snipe them, or even push them in front of a train. she AXE MURDERS someone. yes, it’s in self-defense (or villanelle-defense), but that’s probably THE most brutal way to kill somebody when you’re not deliberately torturing/dismembering them.

villanelle leads eve away from it all, but it’s implanted in her brain now. eve starts going into shock again and exhibiting a range of other trauma symptoms. villanelle’s there to pick up the pieces and take her away.

while they’re walking through the tunnels, the cool air and lack of other sensory input gives eve a minute to process. to get beyond the blood and gore and villanelle-almost-died to “i killed somebody”. yes, a bad person, but a person. one important difference between stabbing villanelle in 1x08 and killing raymond is that the stabbing was heat of the moment, chased by instant regret. but eve had second after second before hitting raymond with the axe the first time, and then even longer before killing him. there was time to think. time to stop herself. i also don’t believe that raymond, while followed immediately by disgust, is actually something eve regrets on a gut-level. she’s prepared to do anything to keep villanelle alive.

again, eve feels a little more control when presented with a goal: get through the slats. symbolically, it’s a staircase up from darkness to light. it feels like she’s literally getting herself and villanelle to somewhere things will be better. like getting to the end of this fucking terrible day. when they get to the ruins, eve is kind of stunned, staring around, because it seems like such a weird contrast: she feels horrible and dirty, but she’s surrounded by beauty. and then she’s beginning to realise that maybe she doesn’t feel that horrible, that dirty, and what does that mean for her? for who she is?

when villanelle asks what eve wants for dinner, she says spaghetti. yes, probably part knee-jerk response because they’re in italy and these are two images eve associates, but mostly because it’s comfort food. eve is seeking out something slow and soft and familiar after the last few hormone-and-tragedy fuelled hours. and then villanelle’s telling her about alaska and saying they could be normal, and right now, normal sounds pretty good.

she sees villanelle as offering salvation. they can keep this feeling of beauty. villanelle won’t judge her for killing raymond. she says yes to alaska because she wants all that; she knows she wants villanelle and she knows she wants to leave rome behind.

and then villanelle pulls out her gun, and everything goes to shit. eve just found out carolyn’s been manipulating her for her own purposes, so of course she immediately connects villanelle to that experience, and has the heart-crushing “realisation” that villanelle’s been doing the exact same thing.

as i said in villanelle’s 2x08 post, villanelle DID want eve to kill raymond, but because she thought it would be good for eve: liberating, exciting, relaxing. but in the wake of carolyn’s puppeteering, it’s very natural for eve to read this as villanelle attempting to sculpt eve, to pull her strings as well. like i mentioned earlier, eve wasn’t ready to kill raymond, which villanelle didn’t recognise (“you had it under control” / “no…”). she’s dealing with all kinds of internal turmoil now, and suddenly it turns out that this is unnecessary. that villanelle, who thinks nothing of murder, could’ve done it for her and spared eve all this. this comes back to eve’s sense of self. through season one, eve considered herself a Good Person. after stabbing villanelle, she went on kind of an identity bender (telling niko she’s not a nice person), and that was great for her, because actually, fundamentally, she’s not a Good Person. but eve’s not prepared to be a Murderer. we’ve talked before about how eve has a lot of classically narcissistic traits. what’s the most upsetting thing for her here isn’t killing raymond, it’s that she’s lost control of her own narrative. she could rationalise her slipping when it happened slowly, but now, eve is dealing with the full-velocity crumbling of DECADES of programming that has given her rules of who and how to be.

“how did it feel?” “wet”. wet, and: not as bad as i thought; i don’t feel as much as i thought; or i do, but it’s the wrong things. asking eve to address how she ACTUALLY feels rather than how she thinks she SHOULD feel is just inadvertently rubbing salt in the amount of cognitive dissonance she’s experiencing between self-image and reality.

“i’m proud of you.” and this gives eve room to breathe, because it allows the idea that maybe it’s villanelle’s fault. villanelle, who eve has already perceived as manipulating/betraying her by lying about the gun, can be the reason that this happened, and then nothing has to change. eve loved villanelle at X number of murders, what’s X+1? doesn’t make a difference. and eve gets to stay as the more-innocent one.

so she presses that blame outwards. she decides that it can be villanelle’s responsibility – she easily defended villanelle’s killing aaron to carolyn, so no issues here with this. and then she says she wants to go home, and just like with the spaghetti, this is a bid for familiarity. to return to an old self-image that has been irreparably rattled by killing raymond and how she feels and doesn’t feel about killing raymond, which she hasn’t even had time to digest yet.

this is such an unintentionally vicious thing for villanelle to say, because on some level, eve KNOWS this (and understands it far more deeply than villanelle has even meant it). niko is gone. she turned carolyn away. kenny is in on it. hugo is probably dead. and now she’s killed someone. there IS no home – not the way it was. but eve has just lost this former home and now the promise of a new home in alaska, since that’s been directly and immediately juxtaposed with villanelle concealing the truth about the gun, which throws everything else about alaska into question too. is it a pipedream? did villanelle even mean any of it?

so she lashes out, reacts as ardently as she can against something villanelle didn’t even consider offering (“like bonnie and clyde? just go on a killing spree?”). she’s scrabbling back to that previous version of the self by staunchly standing against anything new, and exaggerating it to talk herself into alaska being less appealing, so she can let go of it. also remember: this entire time, eve is still in shock. she’s had a whole quarter of an hour to come to terms with this.

here, eve says “you want me to be a mess. you want me to be scared”. it’s a way of justifying her actions – eve would only kill if she’d been messed up and terrified, right? right? she’s projecting her fears about villanelle and herself onto villanelle, and then she has a physical sounding board to react against. eve can demonstrate to herself by demonstrating against villanelle.

no, eve hasn’t had time to cool off yet, but she’s adapting with the smoothness of we’d expect, given all the little flags about her sitting on the psychopathy spectrum. she’s able to push back against villanelle, step forward, reclaim control.

the scene might’ve ended very differently if villanelle hadn’t emphasised that EVE wanted this. they’ve both confused each other and themselves, and neither of them is fully wrong or right. eve did want at least some of this, but less immediately, and she was barely consciously aware of it. at the same time, villanelle definitely wanted it too, and her being more vocal about it makes it seem more like HER idea to eve. she’s losing that control she desperately needs.

“you love me” is a truth that might’ve been easier for eve to deal with if it wasn’t in conjunction with other truths, like the fact that she’s capable of murder. in denying her love for villanelle, she’s trying to cast off her love for everything else villanelle represents – all the violence, the excitement, the extremes.

because if villanelle doesn’t love her, eve can walk away with some of herself intact. especially seeing as she now thinks villanelle’s been manipulating her, pushing her, and she’s wondering how that escalates, how can she trust someone who’ll shape her behind the scenes? niko was always cramming her into a tiny box she didn’t fit into, but now villanelle’s stretching her out of it, into the open space too much too fast.

there’s this beat here where you can see the devastation on eve’s face writ large. she feels abandoned and alone and she’s SO MAD that she put her faith in villanelle against the odds and in her mind, it was broken. this is a really charged sequence, so eve hasn’t really had a break to consider how villanelle might be thinking, which she usually does – one of the reasons they work is that eve understands how villanelle’s brain ticks. but she’s so caught up in her own trauma right now that she’s not being as patient with villanelle as usual, which is obviously understandable. but when villanelle calls out “eve!” all desperate and strangled like that, you can watch the emotional toll. she stops backing away. she pauses. this is the last possible moment where we could take the exit on the highway, and salvage these miscommunications.

but then, as i said in villanelle’s post, villanelle blocks it out, blocks eve out.

eve cries. in the space of a few hours, she’s lost EVERYTHING. and now that fear aaron tapped into at the beginning of the episode is “realised” – she’s not enough for villanelle; she’s not special. villanelle has singled her out since 1x01, has said “like us”, has said “i’ll look after you”, and it’s all over. so the pause ends. she goes back to retreating, she turns away so she won’t have to look at villanelle and see everything that nearly was; see alaska. because yes, eve agreed to alaska while under a phenomenal amount of pressure (from circumstance, not villanelle; villanelle wasn’t pressing for an absolute answer), but i think it held a very real allure to her, too. time to breathe out. to spend that time with villanelle. to have all her questions answered. to see who she is entirely away from the trappings of ordinary life. for eve, villanelle manipulated her into killing raymond, then offered her alaska, then rescinded and decided eve wasn’t special, so perhaps the offer of alaska was never real, or villanelle was only going to offer it to eve after she’d murdered someone. villanelle only wants a particular eve, one that eve isn’t even sure is really her. is that true? no. villanelle was getting ready to pitch alaska before they even went back to the hotel. if she REALLY wanted eve to kill someone, she would’ve set her against aaron when she arrived with the letter opener, and she wouldn’t have told her to run from trouble, she’d have told eve to stand her ground.

and killing raymond, in a lot ways, is who eve is, or who she’ll become. but eve can’t read villanelle’s thoughts. she’s been through an incredible amount in one day. she doesn’t know what’s real. who to trust. whether promises are made with crossed fingers. if anyone cares about her, or just cares about what she can do for them, what she can become for them. how will she feel about the murder once she’s had a bit more processing time? what will she think about villanelle confessing her love, then shooting her? what will their next meeting be like? i’ll get into that in my write-up about narrative choices for the show. i’ve also posted another one of these about villanelle, and how villanelle’s thinking and feeling (check #villanevest writes). inbox me, comment or message with your thoughts. take some time to mull over the finale. remember, it’s a slowburn, guys. personally, i’m really excited by all the possibilities, but like i said – that’s for another post.

#ke spoilers #killing eve spoilers #killing eve #ke #ke essays #villanevest #villanevest writes #villaneve #villanelle #eve polastri #villanelle x eve #eve x villanelle #killing eve finale #killing eve 2x08 #villainever writes #ke finale #ke 2x08

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marvelsuperfangirl · 5 years

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Just A Girl ( Part 2 )

A/N : Here it is! After a few months, the second part is finally ready for you to read, FYI, the reader has a long monologue, sorry about that. I hope you’ll like this second part as much as the first one :)

Summary: Keeping a secret is hard, but it is even harder when it concerns your real nature. And even worst when you have an enemy that is so close to you that you can’t seem to get rid of. Will Y/N manage to keep her Kree origins for herself or will she have to face some obstacles along the way?

Part 1

There wasn’t any stain of blue left on you when your story reached its last line.

Bruce, was sitting down with a dumbfound expression overtaking his features and you didn’t know how to acta round him, now that he knew your secret.

You pursed your lips into a tight line and slightly balanced yourself back and forth in your seat, waiting for his reaction.

« What are you again ? »

His voice was calm, at least at first listening but a hint of confusion or even fear tainted his words. As his eyes met yours, you sent a smile his way, trying your best to reassure him. Also to prove him that you were still the Y/N he knew and not a monstruous alien.

« A Kree »

Furiously nodding his head, he looked around the room before setting his attention on you again. You noticed how he was fidgeting with his fingers and he was trying not to look at you in the eye.

« But why would Fury hire a alien to join the team ? »

With a chuckle, you get up from your chair and went to stand next to the bay window of the lab, which gave you a view of the empty grass field they used as a landing spot. It was a pretty dramatic behaviour, but just by looking at the landscape ; the dense forrest, protecting the compound from prying eyes, the lake,a little but further and that wild path leading to the outside world.

The memories of your arrival on earth as well as your first times with the team started to fill your mind.

« On Hala, my home planet, I was part of a team, similar to the Avengers. It’s called Star-Force. Our mission was to protect the Kree civilisation from any potential enemies. Years ago, were still under the reign of supreme intelligence engaged a war against another specie of aliens. She told us the Skrulls were conquering our empire and killing our people. But we came to realized that we’ve been set up to annihilate them to boost our own extension.

We actually were the invaders of the story. My civilisation always have been ruled by dictators but nobody complained until now we were doing as we were said and to be honest, my only goal was to be a part of the Star-Force, nothing else mattered.

But everything felt off after all of this was revealed to the population. I felt disgusted to have fought for a purpose like this one. And I was lost, everything I believed in was false… »

With a sigh, you turned around and locked eyes with Bruce.

« I managed to leave Hala. Our saviour, Carol, who was also part of the Star-Force, told me she knew someone on C-53 or eath, as you call it. With just my ship, I set off to find someone called « Fury ». My researches drove me straight to S.H.I.E.L.D and after explaining everything to him and how I was sent by Carol, he decided that it would be a good idea to have an agent from another planet and with knowledge about the things beyond earth. »

Silence took over the room and Bruce had that shocked expression back on.

« That’s a lot to take in »

« I know, I’m sorry »

He put his face in his hands, the poor man had just been strike by a revelation you can only imagine to receive in fiction, it wasn’t surprising that he had trouble to deal with it.

« How the hell did you manage to hide your true nature all this time ? »

The question was accurate but you still giggled nonetheless.

« We’re not so different. I mean, we both look humans, only my eyes are a giveaway. And on the other levels, I am just stronger, faster and maybe a bit more evolved regarding technology since we are far more advanced than humans. I’m not pretending to be smarter than you, of course, you’re the only one with a super brain and able to turn into a green giant. »

The last comment earned you a laugh along with a shy smile.

It would obviously take some time for him to get accustomed with all of this, but deep down, you knew it would be alright. You were relieved that Bruce was the one who discovered your secret instead of someone else.

Happiness was more fitting, since now you had an ally on the field and you couldn’t wait to have a conversation with him about Kree technology ; you surely could teach each other some stuff.

The bubble of hapinness was quick to be bursted, the doorknob was actionned from the other side. Someone was trying to come in but fortunately, Bruce had locked the door before even starting to help you clean up. It would have been extremely complicated to explain what was going on there.

The two of you looked at each other, panic rising between you.

« Banner, are you in there ? »

Bucky

« Tony told me you were surely in there. I’m looking for Y/N, have you seen her ? »

Not knowing what to do, you made some gestures at your friend, which got answered by more gestures, and finally, he got up and walked to the door.

But before he could open it, you had some last silent things to say, which were in the form a a finger on your mouth followed by praying hand. Roughly translated : « Please, don’t say anything ».

And with a promising nod along with a smile, Bruce unlocked the door.

On the other side, the former soldier had a worried expression plastered « accross» his face, his hair seemed more disheveled than usual, if that was possible.

His eyes fell on you and before anything could be said, he entered the lab hastily.

« Y/N ! We’ve been looking for you for more than an hour. Are you okay ? I swear if that asshole ever gets close to you again I’m gonna kill him ! »

You stopped him before he could add anything else, by putting a hand on his arm.

« Bucky, it’s fine. I’m alright, itw as just a little blood. Bruce helped me clean up and I needed some calm and to talk to someone after what happened »

That seemed to soften him, then confusion erased all trace of his previous relief.

« You know, you could have talked to me right ? It doesn’t matter what and when, if you need me, I’m here. We’re friends after all. »

You felt guilty after hearing those words. Bucky was so nice and you so wanted to tell him the truth but the less people who knew, the less were in danger.

« Thanks but I’m feeling better now, I think I’ll just go back to my room. »

With a nod, he took a few steps back, ready to leave but he stopped in his track. A suspicious glance was thrown your way, then to Bruce’s. You swallowed thickly, fearing that he’d know something was up. But as if nothing happened, he shook his head and turned back to you.

« Do you mind if I walk you there ? »

After giving Bruce a brief glance, you focused back on him and offered him a bright smile.

« Absolutely not » you smiled and walked to the door.

« Oh, thank you Bruce for helping me » you said, with a wink before leaving the lab, Bucky following suit.

The two of you walked in silence, you didn’t really know what to do and how to explain how you had flee from the fight. It wasn’t a superhero-y behaviour, that’s for sure. And certainly not one that can be tolerated for a Kree, if you’d done that on your home planet, you would have been punished.

« I’m sorry for earlier. I just felt like a complete fool and running away was my best option » .

« Don’t apologize. You’re certainly not the one that should do that ! Pietro is an asshole and if I had the slightlest idea that he would lash out on you, I would have changed your partner »

He was so cute ! That’s crazy how different he was from the speedster and they were from the same specie.

« Don’t worry, everything is fine now. I’ll just make sure to avoid him even more now and never be paired up with him for training «

You smiled up at him.

« How can I not be worried ? You might have proved to me, the guys and Pietro that you were able to fight on your own but I’m still protective over you. You are not a supersoldier or have a special ability. »

Only if he knew.

« I’ll protect you from him »

Heat rose to your cheeks and you certainly didn’t know how to answer that. That whole mushy behaviour was new to you, your life as a member of the Starforce didn’t leave any room for feelings or even worse : love.

Fighting, defending, killing and maybe a bit of of ingineering were your main purposes. And since your lived in the academy with the rest of the team and the wannabes, that behaviour has never been abnormal to you. When you two finally reached your bedroom, you opened the door before turning to your friend.

« Thank you, see you later »

« Yeah, and promise me, if there’s something, anything, don’t hesitate to talk to me »

One last smile and you were in your room, back against the closed door, protecting yourself from any hateful or nice humans, all while keeping your secret safe.

What you didn’t know was that on the other side, someone was longing to get in. And secret or not, we’ll see about that shortly.

Tag List: @nerdy-jelly-art

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yeoldontknow · 5 years

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an update and some food for thought

hi friends. this will be the only time i will address the things that have gone on the last 24 hours on this blog. i do not, under any circumstances, enjoy drama or attempt to invite it to this space. my blog is meant to be a place of positivity, creativity, expression, safety, and conversation. it is not a place where i welcome negativity or harassment, and i certainly dont like having my friends or followers feel put in a position to defend me. im aware i did not ask them to, but who i am as a person doesnt actually like being the center of this kind of attention. and that is why i am saying the following once, and only once so that this conversation can stop.

i am putting my thoughts under a cut because i dont want to clog dashes.

balls deep, as with all my stories, was written from a place of fantasy. there is, quite honestly, nothing real about it. logistically, it makes no sense. hygienically, it makes no sense. but it is a fantasy of what if, an exaggeration of a very real kink i have. this is not to say i am unaware of the questionable morality of the setting, nor am i glossing over the very obvious problems of the location. and most of all, i absolutely do not condone the themes of that story. what i am saying, is that i walked into writing the story knowing that some would be uncomfortable with it. as with anything i write, i dont write to fulfill a large, broad group with perpetually safe topics. i write to experiment, i write to explore, and i write to learn. you can call this experimentation a failure, but i was very happy with it. i have never ever written anything like that before, and it is a stepping stone to other things i want to write. does this mean those types of settings will be used again? i cant really say. what i can say is that there are other, more morally ambiguous ideas i want to explore when it comes to sex, kinks, and emotions, and while i absolutely can see the perspective of the anons who voiced their concerns with me, i wanted the opportunity to voice my own.

this did not happen due to a number of anons that offered absolutely no constructive criticism or feedback. there were only three anons out of 27 that wanted to offer opinions about how this story made them feel, about how the structure or setting could have been different. the rest? told me i deserved to die. that i was a pedophile. that i need to go to prison. that i deserved to be banned from tumblr and writing altogether. that i was a disgusting excuse for human being. that it was offensive id even suggest they read the story. but, i never ever expect everyone to read what i write. the story was properly warned and tagged and the moodboard is a visual of where the story heads. now, i dont ever want to say a person shouldnt read what i write. i love giving the benefit of the doubt, and i love learning how others with the same kinks as me feel about what i write. if they genuinely were into the warnings, and read and saw something that was inherently wrong, i was ready to talk about it. but i got none of that. instead, i was met with majority harassment and hate.

the anons i received that voiced concerns were exciting for me, and taught me a valuable lesson. i was able to see their reasoning behind some of the issues they had, and went back and edited some of the dialogue to mitigate the concerns. and even though the story was properly warned, moving forward i will be changing my warning methods. i am still deciding how this will look, how deep i will want to go, but im astutely aware of the very real triggers this may have roused in some readers, and i want to make sure - in the effort of maintaining this safe space - that those kinds of responses dont happen again with my readers, friends, or strangers. my intention with anything i write is to inspire, to encourage conversation or criticism, and to explore methods of self-expression - no matter how wrong or uncomfortable. hero, for example, contains incredibly triggering themes - chapters 7 and 13 spring immediately to mind. brooklyn is burning also contains some pretty irresponsible smut and triggering themes. and my upcoming work for joyride & finesse will also be extremely triggering. so the responses i did receive from respectful anons was considerate and helpful for me.

again, i want to make clear i am not glossing over the setting. if anything, the types of settings included in public sex kinks range from places like this to other, more open spaces. amusement parks. parks in general. fairs. ive even read a story that took place in a bouncy castle. kink, in many cases, intersects with fantasy - it is a kink because we want to try it or think about it, feel excitement from it, but are told we morally shouldnt and therefore it becomes regarded as a kink. the term kink itself contains a range of definitions, including sexual perversion, participation in uncommon sex acts, and non-traditional sex acts. that’s just scratching the surface. in order for me to grow as a writer its important i branch out and try things not everyone will enjoy or approve of - sometimes, things not even i would approve of. so i thank those anons for voicing their opinions - it was an excellent litmus test for the rest of my days on tumblr.

but for those who thought spouting hate and vitriol my way would be an effective way of telling me never to try something, i am sorry. i cannot let you win. ive said before the readership on my blog is important to me, and i am fully aware i have been called a role model or an inspiration to young writers. if they see someone like me, someone much older and confident in their skills, let someone harass them into silence, that is worse to me than upsetting a handful of people. so no, you did not win.

balls deep has been edited and will be posted again sometime this week, in its new form. anon asks will remain off. because if you want to voice your concerns, i want to speak with you and see you. i want a real conversation, not hate.

thank you all for your flood of warm, kind, and supportive messages. i really am thankful for the ambush of support that has stemmed from this. from now to eternity however, i am seeking mature conversations and helpful, considerate feedback. that is how you foster an open, expressive community. i love all of you to the moon and back.

#psa

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felidae-charr · 5 years

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That was... literally the worst living story patch I’ve ever played.

Naturally, spoilers. And if you can’t tell from the title: I have a very negative opinion of the latest living world story patch. EXTREMELY NEGATIVE, in fact. If you choose to read on past the read more, you need to expect both spoilers and heavy negativity - because in my opinion the way ArenaNet have treated their characters this patch has been fucking disgusting to the extreme and it absolutely destroys the climax of the patch. Worthless fucking garbage.

I’m going to sum up my problem with this patch in a simple sentence, to begin.

Characters are not given the time to be characters. ArenaNet presents us with cool ideas for these characters, but takes no time at all to explore these ideas, and this means that when Aurene dies, I don’t fucking care.

My favourite - my favourite - character, and her death feels empty, hollow and meaningless even more so than Eir’s death did. I was furious with how they treated Eir in Heart of Thorns, but how they’ve treated Aurene has me spitting feathers and I just legitimately spent fifteen minutes ranting the ear off of my partner because these writers are only getting worse as time goes on and it’s destroying any love I had left for the GW2 shitscram of a story.

“But what do you mean?” you ask. “What do you mean characters don’t get time to be characters?”

Allow me to give you a hypothetical situation:

This latest living story patch doesn’t end on fighting Kralk. It doesn’t end on Aurene being fruitlessly fucking murdered for no good reason and it doesn’t end on a bullshit cliffhanger. It also doesn’t involve an instance where characters become fearful of Aurene for all of ten seconds, and then immediately flip-flop back to totally trusting her and the Commander after some harsh words. No. No, none of that. Instead, picture this:

Aurene is given an extra few instances where she just gets to be a character. She gets to be afraid of death. She gets to be afraid of failure. She gets to struggle with the weight of her fated task on screen. We see her sulking. We see her feeling sad, lonely and isolated, the only offspring of Glint left after her brother’s slaughter at the hands of Balthazar (to save the Commander, no less) and not even able to talk to the characters like the Commander or Taimi because of her very nature. We’re not just told of her fears, we’re shown them. Aurene is allowed to just be.

And then we go into the trials. We see more of her struggle, her initial reluctance to work together because she’s the Scion and she has to be strong for everybody! She has to become strong enough to avoid the fate she saw in her visions! We don’t just do some arbitrary, asinine bullshit in the trials; perhaps we save Aurene from herself in a more impactful way when she is shown the Branded version of herself. Something meaningful. Something that shows Aurene and our Commander truly connecting, forming a bond instead of us just giving her a little pat on the head and saying “Hey, it sucks that you only saw horrific visions of you dying a painful, terrible death but we’re here with you :) “

Then we go into the Forge, and in the Auditorium we are attacked by the Brand from the Rift. Aurene displays her new, growing power, and characters are allowed to be afraid of her.

Rytlock is allowed to be distrustful of her because he is very much a distrusting sort. He becomes somewhat distrustful because Aurene is a dragon and nobody can really know how she feels, and Aurene can’t verbally tell him. He’s distrustful because Aurene is immature and has been afraid. He’s distrustful because he has been burned by Kralk once before and he lost Glint, and he is fearful of the idea of losing a second good dragon. Rytlock is allowed to be a character.

Canach is allowed to feel some manner of distrust when he sees Caithe enter her partnership with Aurene. He’s allowed to be suspect of yet another dragon that can turn Sylvari into minions, and perhaps he doesn’t immediately believe that Caithe is entirely herself. Canach is allowed to remember the horrors of Mordremoth and the feeling of having a dragon inside your own head and he is allowed to squint in suspicion at what he sees because it isn’t like he has any other experience of dragons! Canach is allowed to be a character.

And imagine another entire instance letting them feel that way. Instead of the bullshit thirty second scolding that seems to totally change their mind. Imagine an entire instance where you have to try and regain the confidence of these people, people who have LEGITIMATE REASONS FOR BEING UNCERTAIN and who SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD THOSE LEGITIMATE FEELINGS HANDWAVED AWAY. Imagine a small but whole instance of these characters getting to feel that way, of having to be reasoned with because they have valid fears and concerns that deserved to be recognised. Instead of ArenaNet just giving you the idea that these characters have feelings, only to magically make them disappear less than one minute after they voice those feelings, and for those fears to never be brought up again.

And imagine after that, an instance of having to console Aurene! Of Aurene feeling hurt and broken because even when she tried to communicate with her friends, the only family she has left who has turned on her, and the Commander and Caithe having to tell Aurene that it’s okay. They’ll come around. They’re still a family. Imagine Aurene being allowed to actually try and prove herself to these people to win their confidence back. Imagine Caithe and Aurene actually being allowed to explore the idea of Caithe becoming “Aurene’s Voice” and talking to these uncertain characters. Imagine Aurene being allowed to express herself!

And now imagine Aurene’s death, after that. Now imagine, after the extra time being taken to look at these characters and their fears, their uncertainties, their hopes, their dreams, their desires to achieve a better result for Aurene than they managed for Glint, imagine how much Aurene’s death means.

It would have meant so much more. It would have been so much more impactful. To have come so close and to be met with failure, and beyond that, to have been shown Aurene in a personal way, to have been shown how hard she had to fight to overcome what she saw in her visions and how frightened it made her, to have been shown Aurene winning the trust of the only surviving family she had left, and then to have her snatched away when we thought we were on the cusp of winning.

What ArenaNet did to Aurene this patch was fucking disgusting and I am appalled. The writing for this living story has been getting worse and worse and worse. Characters aren’t allowed to feel like characters anymore. They’re killed on a whim, they have their emotions handwaved away like it means fucking nothing, and it hurts me because this game is better than this. It has done better than this.

I remember an entire instance, a whole story step, devoted to Trahearne and the Pale Tree. When Trahearne was at his lowest, we had a story step where he visits the Pale Tree, and she shows a vision of Orr to our not-Commander-at-the-time and to Trahearne, to try and encourage him. We get an entire story step devoted to Trahearne admitting his fears, telling us how he does not feel ready for this destiny that’s been given to him, how he doesn’t think he can do it. Of course there was some fighting in that story step, but even though Trahearne was not well received overall, those story steps FUCKING MATTERED.

This game used to let characters breathe. It used to let them think and feel and it used to give their emotions validity and meaning. It used to be able to treat the characters it had with respect, to give them the time they deserved so that when things happened to them, it was impactful. Why were we so angry at Eir’s death? Because a character that we had come to love, a character that ArenaNet had given the time to be a character with fears and hurts and had given a small but notable arc in trying to heal from the death of Snaff and the abuse of Zojja and a character that ArenaNet had cared enough about to explore and let exist and grow in the world got killed without a second thought, for no reason. She was killed as a plot device to turn Braham into an asshole - where Braham had not been given as much care and love as Eir had.

This game used to do better by the cast of characters it had, and I cared about what happened to them. In another world where it still did that, Aurene’s death this patch would have had me sobbing. I was moved by Trahearne’s sacrifice at the end of HoT. I was genuinely upset and sad. I wished I could have done more to save him. And the crazy thing is that I still like Aurene more than I like Trahearne - and yet her death didn’t make me shed a singular tear. A character I adored the concept of, who I thought had been done so well up until this point, horrifically killed defending my own character and I felt... nothing. Empty, hollow and angry that she had been so mistreated by the writers.

Fuck you, ArenaNet.

All of these characters deserve more time than you give them. You used to give your characters time, and as a result, they felt believable and lovable and I cared about what happened to them.

#Felidae rants #GW2 spoilers #spoilers #GW2 #Living Story spoilers #All or Nothing #this was a bullshit stupid patch #IT'S A RANT #negative opinion incoming #what happened to the writing of this fucking game

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sebeth · 5 years

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Injustice #4

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Injustice: Gods Among Us # 4 by Tom Taylor.

Dick and Damian spar in the Batcave. Dick critiques Damian: “You keep aiming for that killing blow, you’re trying to hurt me, which I’m trying not to take personally by the way, but it’s not all about the body and head. Your opponent has sticky -outy bits that are easier to reach. Not only does your opponent have sticky-outy bits, they may also have had some bad circumstances that led them to a point where you’re fighting them. Some criminals deserve a second chance. Second chances are harder with a severe brain injury.”

An angered Damian hurls an escrima stick at Dick’s head, which is caught by the newly-arrived Superman.

“That’s not very sporting, Damian.”

Dick assures Clark: “It’s okay, Superman. I knew it was coming. He tries it all the time.”

The opening scene is foreshadowing for later events in the series. Damion’s routine hissy fit with the escrima sticks will end up having severe consequences.

Events before the beginning of the series in this universe are rather vague. We don’t know the circumstances of Damian’s introduction to the Bat Family. I would assume it’s similar to the mainstream universe. Damian appears older than 10, possibly in the 13-14 years old range.

Tim became Red Robin in this universe but we aren’t given details. Did Final Crisis happen? Was Bruce lost in time and presumed dead? Or is Dick’s mentorship of Damian similar to the animated movies?

Superman is at the cave to speak to Bruce. Damian says Bruce is “broodier than usual.”

Damian thanks Clark for killing the Joker: “Not that the Joker’s gone, everything just feels safer, you know?

Dick asks Clark if he’s okay. Clark says he’ll manage.

Clark demands to know where Bruce was when Ma & Pa Kent were kidnapped.

Bruce tells Clark that he has to “stop what you’re doing”.

“I have to stop what? Stop saving lives? Stop bringing dictators to justice?”

“You’re scaring them.”

“They should be scared. They should be too scared to press the button. They should be too scared to pull the trigger. They should be too scared to hurt each other. You taught me that. You’d do exactly what I’m doing if you were me, if you could do what I can.”

“You killed a man, Clark.”

“I did. And every time you let that madman live, how many more did you condemn? Did you even feel responsible? Did you even feel guilty?”

“Every time. But we don’t get to choose who dies.”

“One death. To save millions.”

“One. Death.”

“It always starts with one. That’s how justification works. But once you justify something once, you can do it again and again. It becomes easier. Right and wrong blur.”

I find myself on both sides of their argument. Bruce is absolutely correct on the slippery side nature of taking the law in your own hands. Superman and company have no right to run the world. On the other hand, killing the Joker is something that should have been done years ago. The Joker’s body count is in the hundreds if not more. There is no hope of redemption for him – and even if he suddenly regretted all of his previous actions, there is no way to atone for his scale of murder. And this is before the Metropolis massacre. The Joker – and Harley’s – death toll is now in the millions!

A Japanese fleet harpoons whales in the ocean only to encounter a very angry Aquaman.

Aquaman sinks the ship causing the Justice League to respond.

Diana urges Arthur to withdraw. Arthur refuses – the ocean is his kingdom and he will protect it as he sees fit.

A worried Atlantean soldier blasts Diana, starting an Altantean-Justice League brawl.

We return to the Batcave where Clark accuses Bruce of loving the Joker: “You’re not sitting in the dark mourning Metropolis, are you? You’re mourning him. You’re angry at me for taking the Joker away from you. You loved having him around. Your constant nemesis. The two of you played your stupid game and people died. Why did you let him do this to me, Bruce?”

While the suggestion of a Bruce/Joker love match is disgusting, Bruce should have ended the Joker years ago. Honestly, the Joker should have been killed – and left dead – in the Death of the Family storyline. After the paralyzing Babs/murdering Jason combo act, the only thing the writers seem to do with the Joker is have him commit yet another atrocity. Boring and redundant.

Clark continues his rant, bemoaning the loss of his wife an unborn child. Clark specifically mentions the loss of his unborn child denying the world of another Kryptonian, “someone who would have made me feel less alone.”

Maybe Clark should try being nicer to Conner!

Clark criticizes Bruce’s parenting skills: “You’re sitting in the dark, ignoring Dick and Damian. How many friends did they have in Metropolis? Have you consoled them? Have you held them? Your parents died and left you, Bruce. What’s your excuse for not being a father?”

I don’t know if the events of a future Injustice annual were planned out at this point but if they were, Clark’s speech is rather ballsy and hypocritical considering his treatment of the Titans in the aftermath of the destruction of Metropolis.

Did Clark ever consider Bruce is “sitting in the dark” at the Batcomputer because he’s searching for his missing son? The one Clark banished to the Phantom Zone?

Dick and Damian wouldn’t normally have “friends in Metropolis”. Jon was never born and Dick doesn’t hang around in Metropolis. Is Clark’s “friends in Metropolis” rant the first clue Bruce has regarding the whereabouts of the missing Tim and the Titans? Is that the reason Bruce punches Clark at the end of his speech?

Clark switches from angry to concerned in a second, examining Bruce’s hand. Normally, I’d say it’s a typical Clark move, but in the Injustice-verse it’s a sign of Clark’s growing instability.

The Batcomputer alerts the duo to the brawl in the Atlantic Ocean. Clark decides to head over there.

Bruce warns Clark: “You can’t yourself above us, Clark. You’re right. I’m not saying I’d act differently if I had your abilities. I’m not saying I wouldn’t try to impose peace but you…you’re a better man than I am.”

Not anymore, Bruce.

Alfred asks “Master Kent” if he’s staying for tea.

“I’m afraid not, Alfred. And you don’t have to call me ‘Master’”.

“Good. Let’s remember that.”

Alfred is not fond of Clark’s shenanigans.

Aquaman has summoned a creature so huge that its arrival causes a tsunami. That’s right, the Kraken has been unleashed.

Batman warns Aquaman via a communicator: “Listen to me. He’s coming. He’s in angry. He’s in pain. You’re hurting his friends. You need to stop or there’s no telling what he may do. Do as he says.”

Superman wants Arthur to withdraw the Kraken.

Arthur does after reminding Clark the League started the brawl. Which they did. Arthur attempted to calm the situation down after his soldier blasted Diana. Diana decided she was “tired of words” and started the rumble.

Arthur and Clark argue.

“I called for a worldwide ceasefire.”

“Even your voice does not reach down into the deep, Superman. If you wish to rule the surface world…”

“I do not seek to rule, only to protect.”

“I understand, with the destruction of Metropolis, you lost your kingdom. But you can’t have mine.”

“I do not want…”

“Superman, whether you see it or not, your reign is beginning. But the sea is mine alone to command.

The League realizes “Atlantean armies are rising in countries across the world.”

Superman: “Arthur, what is this?”

“A reminder. I am not some self-appointed leader of an insignificant country who can be bullied into submission. Every port. Every ship. Everything that flies over the oceans does so with my blessing. Your world would halt grind to a halt if I willed it. Every land mass borders the sea. Your entire world is inside mine. Consider this a show of strength. Now get the hell out of my ocean.”

Bruce fumes: “You idiot. He’s not going to respond to an ultimatum!”

Clark orders Diana, Hal, and Billy to accompany him: “Aquaman is using his strength. It’s time we showed him our strength. It’s time we showed everyone who would threaten the world just how much power they’re dealing with. No more holding back.”

The foursome then lift Atlantis out of the ocean and re-locate it into the middle of the Sahara desert.

That’s the show of strength? Lifting a city containing thousands of civilians, women and children, and putting it in the middle of an environment where they are unable to breathe or tolerate the extreme heat. Sounds more like a murder plan.

It should be noted the panels containing the “rising Atlantean armies” only showed the Atlanteans standing in formation on the coasts – not actually attacking.

I’m not defending Arthur – he, along with Clark and Diana, all acted like immature toddlers having a fit.

The forcible removal of Atlantis is where any remaining sympathy for Clark went out the window. He acted like a terrorist. A “proper show of strength” would have been engaging the Atlantean armies not threatening unarmed civilians. It boggles my mind that the rest of the Justice League has been fine with Clark’s actions.

Diana is clearly a more sinister version of herself in this universe. She’s been egging Clark on the entire team and she is the cause of the Atlantean confrontation.

Hal should know better – Sinestro was removed from the Green Lantern Corps because of Superman-like actions – but he’s shown bad judgement in the past so I could maybe see him siding with Clark. It’s still iffy as Hal hasn’t been traumatized by the destruction of Coast City in this universe.

Hawkgirl – well, if she’s “Hawkworld” version of Shayera then she would be comfortable in a military-run world

Raven – will be shown to have fallen under Trigon’s influence so she’s clearly fallen to the “dark side”

Cyborg, Captain Marvel, and Flash are simply too good/sweet to fall in line with the dictator posse. Boggles my mind to see the trio blindly following Clark and Diana’s orders.

Diana informs Clark that Arthur is ready to speak to him. Clark demurs, stating “I’ve achieved nothing by talking today.”

More like cowardly refusing to own up to his actions.

Arthur urges Diana to steer Clark “away from this course of action”, warning her that “you will have scared a lot of people today. Ordinary people who will not want gods and aliens telling them what they can and can’t do.”

Diana refuses as she believes “this course of action is what’s best for the world.”

Diana returns to Clark and informs him that Arthur “will pull his armies back into the ocean”.

Clark has Billy and Hal return Atlantis to the ocean, nothing “this action didn’t sit well with either of them.”

Diana tells Clark “Don’t worry about what they think. You did the right thing. You did what needed to be done.”

“So you’ve said.”

“I won’t let you doubt yourself.”

“What else?”

“What?”

“Surely Arthur had more to say.”

“No. Nothing.”

Diana omits Arthur’s concers and his expressed sympathies for the loss of Lois.

Diana is quite the sinister manipulator in this universe. She’s all but hurling Clark down the “slippery slope” of his actions.

It’s easy to see the reasons of Clark’s descent. He’s lost his wife, unborn child, and his entire city. He’s isolated his parents in a fortress instead of mourning with them. He has a fierce anger towards his best friend because of the Joker and is unwilling to listen to Bruce. Diana, his other best friend, is urging him to indulge in his worst impulses. And the rest of the Justice League – minus Arthur – is too cowardly to call him out.

Next issue: It gets worse. Of course, that could be the summary for every issue.

#Injustice #Superman #Batman #Aquaman #Wonder Woman #Damian Wayne #Dick Grayson #Justice League

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itsyaboykay · 6 years

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Review for The Savior’s Champion (spoiler alert: I gave it a 2/5)

Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I do not hate the author, Jenna Moreci, by any means. I watched a lot of her channel and felt she gave some very valid writing tips and so I was excited to read her book. So everything here I have to say is my own opinion not just as an aspiring writer but as someone who's loved books for much of my life. Also, this is a very spoiler heavy review so if you wish to remain unspoiled, please turn away now. (And a warning for the use of the “C” word.) With that, I have some thoughts to convey....

When I heard the hype surrounding this book and heard the premise of the story itself, I was very excited and ready to save up the cash to buy the book. Since I had a chance to rent it from a library, however, I decided to do that first so that I could at least get to know the story before shelling out the money and honestly... I'm very glad I rented the book before buying it.

This book is honestly such a disappointment compared to the rave reviews I kept seeing people give out on YouTube. First, I'll categorize my thoughts out into the Characters, the Writing, the Plot/World and other miscelaneous issues that I found while reading.

The Characters:

In my opinion, all of the characters felt very two-dimensional 90% of the time. There were just one or two traits given to each character and every single thing they did revolved around that trait. For example: there was a character called the Jester because he was always joking and funny and that's all there was to him. He was constantly cracking jokes. Though, to be fair he did die off pretty early on in the story. Another good example, however, would be Niel who was very fratboy-ish and perverted. That's all there was to him was constantly saying something lewd until it got him shoved down a hole when he grabbed Leila's ass one too many times. There's also just so little given about them or their story or what little personality a lot of the characters have before they're killed off. So a lot of the time their death just had absolutely no impact to me since I only just learned that this dude's wife died giving birth to their son ten pages ago.

Another thing about the characters is that when it came to the competetors in the Sovereign's Tournament, most of them were very difficult to keep track of and I found myself having to watch the videos on the author's channel covering the characters at least three times over the three days it took me to read this book. Without it, I'd have been a lot more lost than I was and I feel that had the competetors have been referred to as either solely their Laurel (a title given to them at the start of the Tournament) or their given name, it would have made things a lot easier.

On to individual characters themselves. Concerning Tobias, I felt him to be very high and mighty a lot of times. He looked down on his own best friend for wanting to enter the Tournament and looked down on people for being open about their sexual exploits not to mention looking down on Flynn for feeling he was in love with Cosima despite having just met her. All there was to him was that he was the Good Guy and he was in love with Leila. A lot of times he was extremely dickish towards Flynn just for the guy being grateful about Tobias saving his life. There were two particular times in the novel that it was very obvious that everyone was just being a dick towards Tobias just so that we, the reader, would feel sorry for him and hate the bad guys. When he lost the gift challenge due to only being able to draw Leila, everyone laughed and berrated and hated him despite just a few moments ago being chummy with him seeing as he's quite literally pulled some of them out of challenges and saved their asses. Then much later on during the Viewing where the foreign rulers bet on who would win the fight to the death, everyone just gangs up on Tobias again and starts smacking him around and laughing at him because we're supposed to hate these characters and wanna save and protect poor widdle Toby. Despite the fact that in that Viewing scene, Tobias very much brought all of that on himself seeing as he blatantly insulted the foreign rulers right to their faces and called them disgusting. Yes, they're vile for betting on human lives, but at the same time, these are very influential and powerful rulers of foreign kingdoms and Tobias is the least-liked comtetetor left out of the Tournament. All in all, Tobias (like all of the male characters in this story) doesn't feel like a real, believable man but as the fantasy perfect man that a teenager would dream up and swoon over.

The Sovereign confused me. A lot. Why was it that he didn't have Leila (the Savior) killed while she was still in infancy? She was premature when she was cut from her mother's womb and this is set in a time where there wasn't the technology necessary in order to ensure Leila survives infancy so it would have been a simple matter of strangling her then lying to the public to say that the circumstances to her birth complicated matters and thus she died. He easily lied about who killed Leila's mother by cutting out the man's tongue and having him publicly executed so why could he not have killed Leila and spun a lie? The same goes for his strange need to have Tobias killed in the arena. He's the Sovereign, after all, it would have been very easy for him to order Tobias executed (especially when there were two assassins still alive by the time they get to the palace) and hide the true nature of his death. The public wasn't around for a lot of the challenges (from what I could tell, at least) so it was very unnecessary for the Sovereign to insist that Tobias be killed in the arena when Tobias proved himself very capable of defending himself out there. Especially when time and time again Tobias was being Blessed by the Savior and thus given an extra edge in each fight. Another thing was his anger about Leila being down in the Labyrinth despite that having been the perfect opportunity for his three assassins to kill her seeing as Tobias wasn't available 24/7 to look over her and protect her.

Leila being the Savior is a very hollow revelation and makes much of the book seem very pointless. The whole premise was that Tobias falls in love with a woman that he's not supposed to seeing as he's entered into the Sovereign's Tournament, but it's all taken away and the impact of him having a forbidden romance with someone who isn't the Savior is taken away when it turns out that the woman he loves is in fact the Savior. It was very annoying to see Leila constantly assuming things of Tobias, first with seeing the blood on his hands and assuming he's the one that murdered the first three competetors in the Labyrinth (despite him being covered in injuries from said Labyrinth) and then going on to the Poem Challenge where he poured his heart out in a love poem ABOUT her and FOR her. Instead of taking this into account, she just assumes that he had sex with Cosima during his reward even though by this time they had confessed to loving each other already. It's very trope-y and something I've seen many a times in other stories and media. Her killing of the Senators is just seen as a "Oh, *shrug* no biggie" type of thing by Tobias which I felt was very strange seeing as he looked down on and actually beat up the other competetors in the Tournament for murdering people. Leila also constantly got upset with Tobias for saying that he hates the Savior when they both know that he thinks Cosima is the Savior. When he was saying he hates the Savior, he was referring to hating Cosima and they were both well aware of this. She was supposed to be this super badass woman who doesn't afraid of everything and yet to me she just felt like a special snowflake Mary Sue most of the time. Finally about Leila I kept wondering is why she smelled so strongly of peaches that Tobias was seemingly able to smell it the moment she walked through a door. Did she constantly eat them? Was she bathing in a scented wash? Did she wear peach perfume? It was never explained to my knowledge.

Sadly in the story, Kaleo was the only character I found myself enjoying at times since he angered Tobias so much and I was already annoyed with Tobias before the end of the first chapter. Despite him at the end of the story turning into a perverted sexual deviant who wanted to literally rape Tobias in order to torture him for the Sovereign and being very two-dimensional like the rest of the characters in his sadistic tendencies during the whole Tournament, he was still the most entertaining of all the characters.

The Writing:

Despite me prefacing this review with that I feel Jenna Moreci gives out sound advice on writing, I found her writing style to really not live up to that advice she preaches one her YouTube channel. For one thing, the dialogue in this story was such a strange hybrid switching back and forth from overly formal and robotic to fratboy/fuckboy speak. And every single character save Enzo and the Queen from Enzo's country spoke in the same exact way. Even the Sovereign, the literal king of Thessen, walked around calling people "little bitches" and "cunts" all the time. Leila was called blunt and her words were made to seem like a joke but instead, her dialogue was just very vulgar when it felt that the author wanted to be funny. Another thing was that overuse of the words "cock", "cunt" and "bitch" throughout the story. They were the ONLY insults thrown at people which made it really seem that the author knew no other insults she could give for the characters to toss at each other. Even Raphael, the Intellect, literally the smartest and most refined man in the Tournament would say "cock" and I believe even called people "cunts". As far as I was able to tell, there was only one instance that Jenna Moreci wrote "dick" instead of "cock" and it was twenty-six chapters deep in the story while Cosima was trying to coerce Tobias into having sex with her.

This whole story just feels like it was a YA book placed under the Adult genre in order to allow the author to have gore and sex and vulgar dialogue. As I mentioned with Tobias, the men in the story just felt so unbelievable as if they were thought up by a teenager who thinks this is what grown men are all like despite this having been written by a 30+ year old woman. A lot of the elements were just so juvenile and immature such as the fuckboy nature to a lot of the dialogue and certain things like Tobias focusing so much on Leila's chest and thinking to himself "tits tits tits tits" at one point. Then there was a whole scene where Tobias describes urinating in someone's washbin for cheating on his sister which, while yes he was sixteen at the time, felt so juvenile for him to be talking about. Another EXTREMELY juvenile and cringey thing was that Ceasar was just randomly jerking off right next to Tobias in his tent every morning. As if in spite of being in the Tournament surrounded by a bunch of death and violence and gore he's just too horny and can't help but masturbate right next to Tobias. Finally a lot of the descriptors given to people in dialogue and even in the narrative itself felt very strange. The servants constantly scuttled and scampered about. People were skidding to a halt despite walking at a regular pace. And a lot of times people "spat" out words when it didn't seem like that's how they were trying to say the sentence? I don't know how to put it other than it was just very strange.

The Plot/World:

I've seen a lot of other one-two star reviews going over the lack of Worldbuilding in this story, so I'll try not to reiterate too much here. I do agree that there's just so little we're given about Thessen other than the general vibe that it's based off of Ancient Greece and it used to be a desert before the first Savior changed it all. I also agree that the lack of an in depth explanation on the magic was just very confusing and left a lot of head scratching and it's sad to realize that Jenna Moreci is more than likely saving any kind of explanation on the magic and how it works for her second and third book in the series. It would have been nice in the final chapter when Leila saved Tobias and was explaining everything about her being the Savior that she give us SOME kind of explanation. Such as why the Blessings ONLY showed up on Tobias when it was most convenient for them within the story. Why didn't it show up when Tobias was in the hedge maze? Why did it take until he made it to the arena and started fighting Flynn and Kaleo? Why is it that despite Leila being a literal god wasn't powerful enough to keep the Sovereign from having too much control or even just from overthrowing him and taking control of the realm back? There was also the whole matter in the final chapter with her suddenly needing to say a chant in order to heal Tobias when before when healing him she just slathered the fake potions on him and touched him.

It was very confusing that the Sovereign, the current ruler of the realm of Thessen, wasn't able to name how many Tournaments there have been but he was able to tell everyone that there were three men who tried to quit the Tournament and know exactly how they were executed for their dessertion. Another thing about the worldbuilding was that it was very sad that characters kept using the phrase "oh my God" or using "God" at all. Despite Thessen being based on Ancient Greece (which was polytheistic) and them worshiping a living god in the Savior, it would have been a lot nicer and fit in better for characters to say something like "oh my Savior" or at least use the plural form of "gods" or give us an explanation that the Savior is supposed to be the child of a singular God and that's why they're constantly praising Him.

There were a lot of just very random things thrown in that despite them serving a purpose to the plot felt out of place in the plot. Such as there just randomly being an apothecary lesson for seemingly no reason only for it to be revealed that the wine was poisoned. Like, why did no one question why they were learning how to brew an antidote to a poison in the first place? How did none of the "smart" characters like Tobias or Raphael piece together that they were being poisoned? As I mentioned before, the deaths for much of the story just felt very random and served no real purpose other than to eliminate that character from the roster and have someone for Tobias to cry about for a few pages until Leila came along and he could stare at her chest to forget all his troubles.

Miscellaneous Issues:

There were also a lot of just very random things that I kept cringing at or questioning in the story. Such as the dialogue at the start with the woman asking Tobias if he prefers "the cock to the cunt" as a roundabout way to ask if Tobias is gay. Cosima's lovely little line about how a man isn't a man until he proves he can have sex with a woman. Like, yes, we're supposed to not like Cosima because she's betraying Leila and going power hungry (and a lot of the time it felt like we were supposed to hate her for being "slutty") but that whole thing just had me cringing.

Tobias seemed to have this instant weapon mastery after having one overnight lesson on how to fight with a sword against the bardiche with Flynn and Leila. He was never taught how to shoot a bow, he was never taught how to fight sword against sword and he CERTAINLY wasn't taught how to dual wield swords and yet he was instantly able to master all of these fighting techniques despite having just One (1) lesson in the whole book.

Garrick did an absolute 180 going from this super badass calling everyone else a coward and jumping into the ravine (which should have killed him given that him jumping from that height and hitting the water's surface tension would have been like jumping onto concrete) turns into a coward throwing a hissy fit and saying "fuck the Savior" just because Drake pointed him out next as the target he wanted to kill.

The fight against the Giant confused me since Tobias was teleporting around the arena and at the start I had assumed the arena was a large area and yet when he would teleport from one side to the other he was able to hear the Giant questioning what was going on with perfect clarity. He was also confusing in killing the Farmer for being "blasphemous" despite he himself wanting only coin and glory and calling the Savior a "pair of glowing tits". (At least I thought it was the Giant that killed the Farmer. I could be wrong because of confusion, again.)

The final two points that were just very random were why Delphi kept telling Tobias all this information about the other contestants. Other than it being because Leila liked Tobias, she was giving him information before Tobias even realized he was in love with Leila so I just kept asking myself "why is she doing this? What's in it for her?" And lastly was that the riddles in their little card game were stupidly simple and felt only there for the need of toting Tobias' intelligence to the reader.

In Conclusion:

I was very disappointed in this story. I had high hopes going in and was excited to read it because I like Jenna Moreci's channel on YouTube but I ended up having to force myself to finish this book when I wanted to just close it and return it to the library after the first three chapters. It's made me very hesitant to find and read her other book Eve: The Awakening or any other book in the Savior's Series despite my morbid curiosity. All in all, I would not recommend this book to anyone and give this a 2/5 simply because I liked Kaleo and his trashy self.

#the savior's champion #tsc #jenna moreci

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killian-whump · 7 years

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Not only defending and encouraging shipping Hook with his rapist but doing so yourself, and admitting to it for the sake of objectifying him. Some Hook fan you are. Treating Colin like a piece of meat, shipping your supposed fave with the woman who raped him. And belittling fans, some of whom are rape suvivors, for reacting in an upset manner to a rape story line, and saying it's not justified, or assuming it's for shallow reasons? Could you be any more disgusting?

“…In one post, you manage to encourage and commend someone shipping Hook with his rapist, and condescend, dismiss, and make assumptions about people who are upset about the rape plot. You’re a real piece of work, aren’t you? I guess that understanding post you made after 707, about seeing why people were upset by Wish Hook’s rape and thinking that was valid, was just you blowing smoke. Your change of tone is startling. Wasn’t expecting to feel dismissed by one of my favorite bloggers…

…While attacking the actors for something beyond their power is definitely crossing a line, whether wish Hook’s rape is worth the amount of upset that fans are displaying is not your decision to make. It’s your opinion. My anger is valid. My disappointment in the writers is valid. My being honestly triggered back to my own experience because of this plot is valid, and you don’t get to tell me that what I’m feeling is an overreaction. You may think what happened is no biggie, but others don’t.”

Well. You claim I’m one of your favorite bloggers… but I find that extremely hard to believe. If I were one of your favorite bloggers, you’d undoubtedly know by now that the posting and appreciation of rape content is 100% within the stated scope of this blog. If, by some great lack of attention on your own part, you’ve somehow managed to follow me for some time and not figured that out… Allow me to disavow you of this misunderstanding immediately:

This is a whump blog, devoted to appreciating peril, bondage and assault suffered by one Killian Jones (and other assorted characters played by Colin). Rape is a form of assault, and is posted about and appreciated on this blog along with all other forms of whump. All rape content is tagged with the “content warning” and “nonconsensual” tags for the ease of blocking. If the mere idea of such content being posted and appreciated on this blog offends you, you should immediately click the unfollow button. THIS BLOG IS NOT A GOOD FIT FOR YOU.

As for my previous post about the rape storyline, yes, I did state that I understand some viewers are disturbed by the storyline and that I feel their opinions are valid. That has not changed in the slightest. However, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you:

There is a huge difference between being justifiably disturbed by a storyline and voicing your opinions… and trying to censor a storyline and dictate how others are allowed to respond to it. You have every right to be upset about it. You have every right to turn the show off. You have every right to inform the writers that you did not enjoy the storyline. You have every right to block tags pertaining to this content so as not to be triggered by it, and politely request that fellow fans tag appropriately. You do NOT have the right to censor the content entirely. You do NOT have the right to condemn people for enjoying it. You do NOT have the right to police what ships other fans appreciate. You do NOT have the right to dictate what other people post on their blogs. Saying that I fully understand that some are offended and that I support their right to voice their opinions about the scene does not mean that I would ever condone the censorship of this (or ANY) content or that I support fans’ right to condemn each other for not being equally disturbed by it. If you thought for even a moment that my original post supported those concepts, then I am sorry, but you completely failed to comprehend my post.

In short, I am a whumper. I enthusiastically and openly enjoy storylines, fanart, fanfics and headcanons where men get kidnapped, tied up, beaten, whipped, stabbed, shot, poisoned, tortured, murdered, and yes… raped.

I’m not condemning anyone for being disturbed by the content, nor am I trying to silence their valid opinions. But likewise, I will not allow anyone to condemn me for NOT being disturbed by it or try to silence my valid opinions. I have made absolutely no bones about the fact that I fully support the rights of ALL individuals to be who they are, enjoy whatever they like, and to never for one moment feel ashamed or condemned for their enjoyment of wholly fictional material that exists solely to be enjoyed as a form of entertainment.

So if you haven’t already, PLEASE unfollow me. Though I truly doubt you ever actually followed me in the first place, to be honest. I mean, if you did, my super rapey Neverland headcanons would’ve made you run away screaming by now, let’s be honest here :P For any followers who are concerned about the content appearing on this blog and tags they may want to block, please feel free to check out my Warnings page. That’s what it’s there for! :)

#kw ask box #anonymous #fandom drama #ugh #read the fucking blog description

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sage-nebula · 7 years

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What do you think of the direction the Pokemon anime is taking on Lusamine? They are trying to make her more sympathetic and she don't seen to be abusive. I feel conflicted because will they are whitewashing the only female villain, they are also going into to the USUM route without the unfortunate implications.

Well, first, before anything—I mean no offense, but I just feel that you should know for future usage that “making a villain out to be a good person” is not the correct use of the term “whitewashing.”

“Whitewashing” is a very specific term which relates to portraying a character of non-white ethnicity as white in adaptations of the original work. So for instance, the characters Katara and Sokka were whitewashed in the live action film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, because although they have dark skin in the original cartoon, they were played by white actors. The character Yagami Light was whitewashed in the recent Netflix film adaptation of the series Death Note, because although he is originally a Japanese character, he was portrayed by a white actor and his name was changed to Light Turner, and so on and so forth. “Whitewashing” applies specifically to the depiction of race (and sometimes culture) within media adaptations, and doesn’t at all refer to the heroics or villainous traits present within the characters. Again, I don’t mean to call you out on this or attack you or anything even remotely close to that, but I just thought you should know for the future, since there are some reactionary people on this website who might get a little more volatile about it, even though it’s just an honest mistake on your part.

As for the actual content of your question: It’s complicated.

First, before anything else, it needs to be said that Lusamine is still abusive in USUM. Gladion’s line about how he was “an ornament to [his] mother” is still in tact, as is all of the verbal abuse she hurls at Lillie and Gladion right there on screen when you confront her at Aether Paradise. I actually transcribed this while playing through that scene last night, so I can share that now:

LUSAMINE: “A gifted young trainer like [player] … and they bother with someone like you? How disappointing. […] My … you do say such imcomprehensible things. Calling me mother? I don’t have any children! Certainly not any wretched children who would run off and reject my love! So tell me how you’ll save that pokémon. What can you do, Lillie? You failed to convince me to listen to you. You don’t even have the strength of a trainer. The only thing that you’ve ever done on your own is steal someone else’s research material! It’s so terribly unattractive. But know that my fathomless love will save even someone like you … when I protect this entire world from darkness!”

The very first thing the player witnesses Lusamine saying to Lillie, her daughter, is that it’s disappointing that the player has “bothered” with someone like Lillie. The fact that Lusamine takes the time to point out that the player is gifted hammers in the point that she feels that Lillie is not. By saying that the player is a gifted trainer bothering with Lillie, Lusamine is—in essence—saying that Lillie is not worth their time. She is not good enough for the player. She is worthless. Given that this is the first thing we witness Lusamine saying to Lillie—and that this is the first time they’ve even spoken in person in some time—we can see right off the bat that she’s an abusive mother.

But she doesn’t stop there. When Lillie tries to defend herself by saying that she doesn’t need Lusamine’s approval, and that she will save Nebby, Lusamine says that she says “incomprehensible things”. This ostensibly applies to everything Lillie just said, but Lusamine decides to drive the nail in further by disowning her (and Gladion, though not by name), saying that she doesn’t have any children, and that the children she does have by blood are wretched children who rejected her. Even if you wanted to argue that Lusamine is just lashing out in anger and rejecting those who she perceives rejected her first, the truth of the matter is that Lusamine is the adult. She is their mother. She is supposed to love and support them, and do the right thing, which she has not done. She treats them, as Gladion tells us, like objects and possessions, and when they don’t behave the way she wants them to, she throws them out and blames them for how poorly she treats them. This is emotional abuse.

And again, she doesn’t stop there! She continues to berate and belittle Lillie right in front of the player character, to the point where Lillie ends up bowing her head in shame and hurt. She blames Lillie for her own refusal to listen to or acknowledge Lillie’s concerns, saying that it’s Lillie’s responsibility to convince her rather than her own responsibility to listen. She insults Lillie for not being a trainer, and calls her a thief (while at the same time reducing Nebby to an object, calling him “research material”). She then goes on to call her unattractive, and to say that she’s going to save someone like [Lillie], once again pointing out that she sees Lillie as the lowest of the low without directly saying that. All of this is verbal and emotional abuse. All of it. It’s extremely realistically written, something I can say from personal life experiences with my own biological mother, and it is high-key abusive.

And then, shortly after that, we get:

HAU: “:Daughter? Son? Wait … you all are a family?!”

LUSAMINE: “Perhaps once we were … sweet Hau. But those wretches beside you left me.”

She straight up once again says that Gladion and Lillie are no longer ones she considers family, and calls them wretches on top of it. (Note that, despite the fact that Lusamine says this to Hau, Hau still calls her “a good person” later. Have I mentioned how much my opinion of Hau has plummeted by this point?) Despite the fact that her intention now is to save the world, and despite the fact that she has moments where she does things like call Gladion “a sweet boy” for seemingly worrying for her, it’s more than evident that Lusamine is every bit as abusive toward her children in USUM as she was in SM. If anything, Lusamine changing her tune only when her children seem to care about her is even more indicative that she’s an abuser. Abusers will act nice and sweet toward their victims when their victims “behave”; it’s when they start to “step out of line” that abusers bring down the hammers of pain, and that’s exactly what Lusamine is doing here. Oh sure, she’ll act like a sweet, caring mother if her children are doing what she wants them to do, but the second they try to think or act for themselves she declares them wretched traitors that she wants nothing to do with. Considering the last conversation I had with my own biological mother ended with her calling me a traitor because I got out of her house (and me saying I didn’t have to listen to that, and her saying I did, and me saying I didn’t before I hung up the phone), yeah, that’s all very familiar to me, and it is absolutely abusive.

So make no mistake: Lusamine is still an abusive mother, and is still the most realistically written abusive parent that we’ve had in Pokémon to date (far more so than Ghetsis, whose dialogue makes him sound more cartoonish than anything). Even though the anime is clearly looking to adapt USUM, that shouldn’t affect the fact that Lusamine is an abusive parent to Gladion and Lillie, because she is. The only real difference is that here it doesn’t seem as if her abuse is being blamed on Nihilego toxins; instead, it’s just being handwaved and treated as though it isn’t abuse at all (along with Lillie’s experiences pre-canon being erased, since we no longer have the, “… you left me alone with Mother. She became so bad after you left!” line that she delivers to Gladion on Poni Island in the original games). And honestly, that’s kind of even worse, since now the fandom’s awful behavior of ignoring / downplaying Lusamine’s abuse and excusing her because she’s a woman is being validated by Game Freak themselves. Disgusting.

With all of that said, I would argue that Lusamine’s behavior still carries shades of emotional abuse in the anime as well. It’s clear from the few interactions that she has with Lillie that she doesn’t actually respect Lillie’s autonomy or agency very much at all. She ignores Lillie’s personal space, and handwaves the fact that Lillie is upset being hugged and cuddled by her. She also completely disrespected Lillie’s wishes regarding her old clefairy, treating Lillie as though she was an ignorant child and evolving the clefairy despite the fact that she knew Lillie wanted to raise the clefairy as a clefairy, rather than as a clefable. Whether Lusamine was right in that it was illogical to raise a pokémon in a pre-evolved form simply because it was cuter that way or not is irrelevant. The point is that she railroaded over Lillie’s wishes and boundaries, and she seems to have a habit of doing so. That said, you’re right: That is far less overt than the emotional abuse she hurls at Lillie and Gladion in the games, so it does seem as though they’re treating her as though she’s just an oblivious, overbearing mother rather than an actively abusive one in the anime.

As for how I feel about it? Well … I would think that would be obvious.

I’m livid at the way Lusamine has been handled in all forms. I was so, so excited to finally have a female Big Bad, and I had so many high expectations for her. Game Freak and TPCi have successfully ruined and destroyed every last one of them. In USUM, which the anime is clearly taking its cues from, she’s not even a villain anymore; she’s an antihero at best, because although she clearly abuses her children and is willing to sacrifice Nebby, her decision to sacrifice Nebby is not one borne out of selfishness, but rather is one borne out of perceived necessity. If Necrozma comes over to this dimension, he’ll steal the light, and presumably everyone and everything there will die. Lusamine is taking the tack that sacrificing one life is worth it if it means saving billions. That’s logic that can’t be easily argued with. It’s an ethical dilemma, and ethical dilemmas often don’t have hard line right or wrong answers. (Often, but not always. There are some “ethical dilemmas” which aren’t ethical dilemmas at all and do have hard line right or wrong answers.) They’ve completely stripped her of her villain status, presumably because in their minds women just can’t be villains. (And by “their” I mean “Game Freak’s”, because remember, the anime staff did have Hunter J back in DP.) It’s upsetting and infuriating both on the basis that I really wanted a competent, dangerous female Big Bad for once, and also because she’s still a blatantly abusive mother in the games, and that’s just treated as if it doesn’t matter. I guess, in the eyes of Game Freak (and a large part of the fandom) abuse just doesn’t count or isn’t that bad if it comes from one’s mother. What a great fucking message to send. [/s]

Anyway, I’m not happy about it, but there’s also nothing I can do to change it. So long as Alan is left out of the Team Rainbow Rocket arc coming up (or at the very least, if he’s involved, he doesn’t have his character assassinated), I don’t have it in me to get very worked up about it, emotionally.

#white-gehenna

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coffeesforfuckers · 7 years

Text

Cuffed In Handcuffs To My Biggest Secrets // Frerard

Pairing: Frerard Summary: Gerard hates Frank and Frank hates Gerard. They swear at each other, kick, hit, spit at each other, anything that could possibly kill the other while screaming insults at one another. Everybody else is sick of their shit and decide that handcuffs are the only way to solve the problem. Word Count: 3,892

“I hate you so much, Frank Iero. Why the fuck do you even try?” I snap at him without even turning to face him, walking to the changing rooms after a show, “You can’t sing, you can barely play your fucking guitar and on top of that, you’re a reckless moron.” I list off and I can just tell he’s nagging me behind my back.

“You just say this shit because you know you suck and this band will never take off. I don’t even know why I stay at this point, I could do so much better without your dumb ass.” He mutters from behind.

“Yeah right, Frank. How about you go try that out and tell me how it goes?” I sass and he kicks me in the shin. I spin around to face him and he spits up into my eye.

“Maybe I will, dickhead! You’ll fall apart without me here.” His voice is sharp as I wipe his saliva off of my face and quickly grab him by the collar of his shirt.

“Listen you little goblin, I will fucking destroy you.” I hold him up, too close to my face.

“Like you could fight me, I’ll kick your ass, I’m from New Jersey!” He says as if it’s intimidating.

“Like that would ever be-” He spits directly into my mouth. I drop him and spit into the floor in disgust.

“You little shit! What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” I yell angrily, “Are you fucking challenged?!”

“I’m defending myself you cunt!” He yells back and I swing at him, nailing him in the jaw. He swipes his hand over my face and claws me over the cheek and eye.

I go to grab him again, “Hey! Hey! What are you fucking doing!?” Mikey and Ray rush towards us as Mikey shouts at us.

I catch Frank’s collar and slam him against the wall. Mikey pulls his arms around me and Ray gets Frank, prying us apart as we both desperately attempt to injure each other. I fight against Mikey but he holds me firmly as Frank kicks around in Ray’s arms, looking like the little gremlin he was.

Frank spits at me again and it hits Mikey’s arm, “ Hey !” He practically screams, “ Enough !”

“He started it!” Frank growls.

“No, he fucking spit at me!” I defend.

“Why the fuck are you trying to kill each other anyway?! Jesus christ! Can’t we have one day where you two don’t fucking maul one another!?” Ray snaps.

“Frank’s a fucking idiot! That’s why!” I attempt to break free of Mikey’s restraint again to no avail.

“I didn’t fucking do anything! He just started insulting me for no reason!” Frank struggles, kicking his feet as they couldn’t reach the ground from the way Ray was holding him.

“Can you two please just go get changed so we can go back to the hotel?” Mikey sighs exhaustively. We were constantly at each other's throats and I could tell they were sick of having to pull us apart. I think they should just let us kill one another in all honestly.

“If you let me take one more swing at the gremlin.” I hiss.

“Gerard. Fucking go change. Now .” Mikey demands and starts pulling me to my dressing room, “Ray, take Frank to his dressing room please.” He sighs.

I can hear Frank shouting to be put down and that he could ‘ walk himself’ as Ray carried his tiny ass to his changing area.

|||

“Just let us fight each other. Whoever wins gets to live and stay in the band.” I say as I pull my shirt over my head.

“Gerard, you are not fighting Frank.” Mikey rolls his eyes, “Why do you two hate one another so much anyway?” The question causes me to freeze.

Only Frank and I knew the reasons but even then, there barely was one. We just hated each other really. It was that simple. Him and I were complete opposites, they don’t attract, they repel in our case.

“We just do, Mikey. Opposites don’t always attract.” I grumble, sliding out of my skinny jeans.

He sighs at my immaturity, “Have you ever tried to get along?”

“Once. We’re better as enemies.” I speak and tug on a pair of baggy sweatpants, “Never will I ever be friends with Frank Iero.” I say and lightly kick Mikey’s knee as he was sat on the floor, blocking the exit so I wouldn’t run off and murder Frank.

Smart move.

I let out a huff as he stands up and grasps my arm. Mikey leads me out to the cab that’s waiting for us. Frank’s on the far end and Ray’s in the middle, Mikey hops in and then me. They put a barrier between Frank and I to keep us from ending the lives of one another.

I stare out the window and so does he, completely ignoring me. It’s almost surprising that we haven’t started a screaming match yet. Well, we mostly only did that when Ray and Mikey weren’t around to stop us.

I did feel bad that they always had to stop us from being sent to prison for murder. But I could care less when I was in the middle of one of our infamous arguments.

My eye hurt.

“Mikey, could you get me ice when we get to the hotel, I’m gonna go look at my eye to make sure that I won’t go blind from his attack.” I glare over at Frank who’s already shooting daggers at me.

“Okay, I’ll grab you some ice too, Frank.” He smiles between us as we have a stare down.

“Fine, betray me why don’t you?” I huff and Mikey rolls his eyes at me and my pathetic childishness.

“Gerard, knock it off and you too, Frank.” He mutters to us both and we go back to watching out the windows.

|||

I’m barely awake when we finally get to the hotel. I drag myself up to my room that I’m sharing with everybody. Everybody gets up there quickly, except Mikey of course, who’s finding me ice.

I step into the bathroom to check my wound and it looks awful; my eye is almost swollen shut. I let out a sigh and wash my face with water and then sit down on the floor, leaned against the wall with the hot water running.

I did this a lot. It helps my voice a lot from how much I’ve been straining myself to sing and occasionally get sick from nerves. I was always a very awkward and nervous kid and I get extremely anxious before shows, especially big ones and sometimes end up vomiting from the anxiety.

There's a banging on the door that causes me to jump, “Yo! Hurry the fuck up!” Frank shouts from the other side.

I huff and turn off the water, tossing the door open. I shove him back and he stumbles as I move past him, “Dickhead. I will end you.” Frank grumbles as he slams the bathroom door.

I just end up going to bed.

|||

I sigh as I wobble on my feet, unsure of if I were still going to throw-up again or not. Frank keeps banging on the bathroom door and I’m ready to kill him.

“Can you hurry the fuck up!? Other people have to use that too you know!” He yells, slamming on the door. I’m so fed up with his yelling that I just rinse my mouth and step out, punching him in the chest to move him out of my way.

“Go fuck yourself, Frank.” I snap as I stomp off.

The set goes by so fast, I almost kill Frank probably around three times and he almost cracks my head open with his guitar. Everybody thinks it’s all for the show somehow. Probably because we’re not screaming profanities at each other and actually trying to piss the other off to the point of murder.

As soon as it’s over Frank and I are beating each other as soon as we step off of the stage. Mikey catches me just before I grab Frank by the neck and Ray grabs him.

“You dirty little troll! I’ll fucking slaughter you! I’ll fucking kill your ass!” I shout, fighting as hard as I can against Mikey.

“Try me, Cunt! I dare you to fucking try and fight me you cock sucking whore!” Frank does the same as I.

“Okay! Knock it off!” Mikey shouts over us and we fall silent as always, “Ray, it’s time,” he huffs.

“Brian!” Ray calls our tour manager over.

“Are they at it again.” He groans seeing the scene.

“Grab the things out of my back pocket. Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Mikey speaks sternly.

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll actually kill each other?” Ray raises a concerned voice.

“It’s time for them to settle their differences themselves, Ray.” Mikey shakes his head as Brian grabs my arm and Franks. Suddenly cold metal is strapped around mine and Frank’s arms.

“Handcuffs!?” Both Frank and I yell in unison.

“Good luck, dipfucks. If one of you dies the other has to drag around the other’s body forever.” Brian nods at us as he leaves.

“No! No!” I shout, “Get him off of me!” I yell at Mikey.

“Learn not to kill each other and we’ll let you go.” Ray chimes in.

“We can’t play like this!” Frank snaps.

“Your problem, not ours.” shrugs Ray, and I glare at him.

I am not okay with this.

|||

“I need to shower.” I say, it's only Frank and I in this hotel room.

“Too fucking bad.” He says and I hold back everything in me that's screaming to deck him.

“Can you stop being a cunt. Just stand outside the-”

“No.” He interrupts angrily, “Sponge bath or no bath.” He snaps at me.

“Why the fuck do you hate me so much?” I demand and he just ignores me, typing on his phone. I pull my hand back and it causes him to drop his phone.

“Cunt!” He shouts.

“Go fuck yourself.” I shake my head, “I'm going to bed.”

Frank mutters angrily as we lay uncomfortably close and awkwardly in bed.

I hated my friends so much right now.

|||

Breakfast is the biggest pain in the ass. We're attached with both our dominant hands and let me just say, it's impossible.

Our elbows smack together, our wrists are red, our hands hurt. It's awful. I can't take it.

Sadly, lunch is even worse, having to eat with our heads actually pressed together. We're both absolutely miserable.

By the time we get to the venue we are so ready to murder each other or kill ourselves, we can't tell which would be worse. The place is so big and I'm so anxious. I'm shaking violently and I can tell Frank is getting annoyed by it.

I was also panicked over him finding out about my nervous issue of vomiting before shows. Not even Mikey knew about that somehow. Nobody ever found out.

I bounce my leg and shift around more than normal in my seat. Frank is grinding his teeth with anger at this point.

“Do you have to piss or something?” He snaps and I shake my head, “Then stop bouncing around like an idiot.”

I can't, I want to, but I can't.

“I… Frank I really need to get these cuffs off, like now, please.” I beg.

“You act like I want to deal with this.” He growls at me, he's pissed.

“Frank, you don't understand.” I persist.

He stands and pulls me up, “I knew you needed to piss.” He grumbles and drags me along.

“Not piss.” I say.

“Gerard no.” He glares at me.

“Not that either.” I mumble, now I’m pulling him along, knowing I’m going to vomit. I end up pulling him into the bathroom with me and he seems confused for a second until I drop to the floor.

“Whoa! What do you think you’re doing!?” He shouts and I kick him in the shin.

“Shut up, don’t draw attention.” I mutter angrily.

“Dude, what the fuck? Are you-... Gerard, do you purge?” He whispers, kneeling next to me and holding my hair. It feels so fucked up to have Frank of all people in here with me while I spill the contents of my stomach into an old, pretty gross toilet.

“No.” I cough, “I get sick when I’m too anxious… Which happens almost every show.” I give a weak smile.

“Does anybody know?” He rubs my back after tying my hair up.

“No, I’d rather not worry anybody…” I vomit promptly after I finish speaking and Frank flinches, surprised almost.

“Well, I hate you and even I’m fucking shaking with worry so yeah I can get that.” Frank says and shakes his head.

“Thanks but I’m fine. I just need to stop eating right before shows.” I sigh and sit back, tugging the band out of my hair. My hair flops down around my face and I stand, flushing the toilet with my foot. I wasn’t a fan of public bathrooms. I rinse my mouth out in the sink and Frank doesn’t bother me for once.

It was actually kind of nice not fighting him constantly.

It didn’t last long as his arm got caught in the door and we started yelling over it, threatening to kill each other. Of course, the one time we argue, Mikey shows up and shakes his head at us.

“Good luck playing like that.” He grins, finding our situation amusing.

“I fucking hate you, Mikey!” I shout as he walks off, laughing to himself, “Cunt!”

|||

The shows have been an absolute disaster. He had to play with me hooked to him, singing and moving around was a struggle. He kept fucking around with his guitar and went to toss it around himself and nailed me in the jaw and I bled so bad that they had to bandage it on stage because I refused to leave. That was only the first night. Try over a week of this. I was so banged up and I swear he's reopened that gash in my jaw with his guitar almost every night.

Being back in the hotel room was a blessing. Even though I had to have Frank practically wrapped around me, it was better than trying to beat the shit out of him while he was attached to me.

I somehow manage to get comfortable. Frank was already asleep somehow, my face hurt too bad for me to fall asleep yet. Frank mumbles incoherently in his sleep, it’s surprisingly the least annoying quality about him.

He begins to stir at probably four in the morning, his mumbles getting a bit louder.

“No…” He hums, “No! Go away!” He speaks loudly and he starts to toss and turn anxiously, practically shouting. He’s actually crying, bawling, years running down his face as they slip out of the corners of his firmly shut eyes.

“Frank.” I mumble.

“Stop! Don’t do that! No! I said no!” He starts to get a bit aggressive. I catch his free arm and start to shake him.

“Wake up! Frank, hey… Wake up.” I push him again and again but his yelling continues, “Frank! Wake up!” I shout, startling him awake. He sits upright, still in tears. I can see he’s trembling.

His hands shake as he rubs at his eyes, sniffles and hiccups shaking him. I turn the lights on and sit up, going to place a hand on his back but I end up yanking at his arm. I frown and rest my hand on his leg.

“Are you okay?” I ask and Frank doesn't look at me, only shaking his head, “How can I help?” I want to make him feel better, I'm the only one who should cause him pain is what I think for my reasoning of feeling bad for him.

“Y-... You can't…” He stammers and I frown a bit more. I decide to pull him into me, which forces him into my lap, “What-... What are you doing!?” He struggles in my arms for a second and I hug my arm around him, resting my head on his chin. He stops moving and his cheeks heat up.

“I'm trying to be comforting. Mikey used to do this to me when I would get night terrors.” I hum and feel him squeeze an arm around me, gripping onto my hand.

“Why are you helping me?” He mumbles.

“You've been helping me and I'm just trying to help you in return.” I explain. He and I may beat the fuck out of each over all the time but I felt pretty bad and this feels pretty good.

“Oh… T-... Thanks…” He says into my chest.

He shakes for a while longer, sniffling and not so much crying as whimpering. I'm exhausted but I stay awake the whole time, singing to him. That's what always calmed me down when I'd be so upset.

“Do you think this would be enough of a reason to get the handcuffs off?” I joke and he starts to shake his head.

“I don't want them to know.” He winced against me.

“Okay. Your secrets safe with me, Frank.” I told him and he pressed himself more into my chest. He fell asleep and I laid down, holding him still.

My heart was beating so hard and I couldn't sleep until probably around six.

|||

I wake up with Frank wrapped tightly around me. I stir slightly and notice that Mikey is stood at the end of the bed, taking pictures.

“Hey!” I snap and startle Frank who jumps and sits up.

“You two friends now?” Giggles Mikey.

“No!” We both shout.

“Yeah, okay. ” Mikey chuckles, “Now get up, we're going out to eat.”

“I'm not hungry.” Frank instantly says, “I forced Gerard to get up with me and we ate last night.” He lies. I give him an odd look.

“You sure? It's like four, we have to go in a bit.” Mikey says and we both nod, “Okay, we’ll be back in a while.” Mikey says as he starts to leave, “Bye losers!”

I roll my eyes and the door closes, “Why’d you do that?” I turn to Frank.

“You won’t get sick before if you don’t eat until after, right?” He smiles at me with red cheeks.

“Yeah, you’re right… Thanks.” I mumble and toss my legs over the side of the bed. Frank crawls over and climbs off the bed.

“Let’s go get ready for the concert.”

|||

I walk ahead of Frank to the dressing room, we had been wearing the same shirts for the past, probably week now and had to keep dousing each other in cologne to help us not smell like complete shit. He starts to wash his face and hair in the sink while I standby, involentarily helping.

I’d caught myself staring at him a few times. It was hard not to when you were literally handcuffed to him, but I mean, excessive staring, “Your hair's so soft.” I say without thinking. It really was surprisingly soft.

“Thanks.” He chuckles bearing his bright white teeth up at me. My heart beats too fast as he squints up at me, water dripping down in his face.

“Uh, yeah, no problem.” I cough.

“Could you please get me a towel?” He laughs and I grab him one, patting the water off of his skin. He takes it from me after a moment of watching me with a dopey grin and starts to dry his hair, my hand banging against his head as he did so.

“Frank…?” I speak.

“Yes?” He coos with his schoolgirl giggle.

“Why do you hate me?” I ask and he’s taken aback by the seriousness of my sudden question.

“Uh…” He mumbles, getting flustered and red faced, shrugging.

“Tell me.” I insist.

“I don’t have a reason…” He says awkwardly. I stay silent for a minute or so, pondering whether or not to keep pushing it.

“Yes you do.” I shove him with my arm.

“No!” His cheeks glow.

“Come on, just tell me, I won’t get mad.” I say and he shakes his head, “Well, I honestly just hate you because you’re definitely better than me.” I admit, also because he’s hot and it’s not fair.

“It’s not that you’d get mad.” He sighs.

“Then what is it?”

He shrugs at me, sighing. He seems extremely upset, trying to avoid me which was almost impossible with the cuffs on our hands. I grab his hand and he almost jumps out of his skin.

“Don’t do that!” He smacks me.

“Just tell me what’s bothering you, Frank. We already know each other’s weirdest secrets.” All except that I’m gay as fuck.

“No we don’t.” He gives me a funny look.

“Close enough.” I bump against him with a smile.

“Uh…” He’s as red as a tomato.

“I told you why I hated you, you have to tell me, it’s a rule.” I speak, “You have to, Frank.” I press and Frank gives in with a sigh.

“I like you.” He says, looking at me.

“I asked why you hate me, Frank.” I look at him like he’s crazy.

“No, I-... I’m in-... I-...” He kisses me.

I’m not sure how to respond. I don’t kiss back out of pure shock, but my heart beats too fast and my face burns. I don’t hate it.

Frank pulls back quickly, “Oh, god… I am so sorry, I couldn’t uh… Think of any other way to convey my feelings, but that didn’t work either because it makes me look stupid and it makes my feelings for you like… Even more of them have flourished and your lips are like… Nice… And I’m just gonna stop talking now because I feel really dumb…” He is so red and flustered. Frank looks really cute when he’s blushing, I realize.

“No, I-... I didn’t hate it.” I say.

“You didn’t kiss back… If you didn’t hate it then you would just… Kiss me back…” He sighs, “Well, secrets out I guess…” He frowns, “Can we pretend this didn’t happen?”

“No.” I shake my head.

“Gerard, can we please just forget about it?” He begs, not looking at me.

“No, we can’t.” I reply and he looks at me in frustration and anger.

“Gerard!” He shoves me, I stumble and fall, grabbing onto Frank as I collapse onto the couch, “Forget about it okay.” He persists.

“No, I can’t.” I reply as I place a hand behind his head, resting it on the back of his neck, I pull him closer to me, kissing him myself this time. It felt good, it felt like the thing I’d been missing forever.

The door opens and we try to jump apart only ending up with me writhing in pain from Frank pulling my arm and popping it from its socket.

“Looks like you two have solved your differences and congratulations, you are free to go!” Mikey laughs.

“Yeah… To the hospital.” I grunt and Frank chuckles at me.

Mikey takes the cuffs off but in reality we we’re around each other more without the cuffs than with once they came off.

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