#whose in-game path matches their canon one

[fluffmonster31513]

something about aventurine being on the path of preservation, and acting as a preservation emanator, and questioning if life is worth living. something about acheron being an emanator of nihility, the literal embodiment of emptiness and meaninglessness and saying that life is worth fighting for. that conversation either broke something in me or fixed something that needed to be fixed.

#hsr #hsr aventurine #hsr acheron #honkai star rail #hsr 2.1 #god i have so many feelings and thoughts #the fact that acheron and aventurine are also some of the only characters #whose in-game path matches their canon one #because topaz is NOT a preservation character but aventurine is #which also adds to sunday (i think it was him this quest was a blur) questioning what aven has in common with the preservation #like he and gepard are the only preservation characters who are like. actually on that path. #because march is a trailblazer and fu xuan is technically on the path of the hunt

[blasphemecel]

Shidou Ryuusei — Like Teeth

PAIRING: Shidou Ryuusei/Reader WORD COUNT: 3.6k TYPE: Humor, Feelings realization, idfk what this even is but i threw in some surprise fluff at the end WARNING(S): Nsfw jokes but cmon it's shidou you gotta forgive me for finding sex funny this once, play-fighting that doesn't seem very playful, canon-typical mental illness, canon-typical unnecessary dramatics, canon-typical overly intense soccer rivalry NOTE: Reader is a part of the blue lock project but no concrete gender identity or pronouns are specified

It starts like this:

After the freaky nerd from the ceremony whose name you hadn’t bothered remembering finishes with his instructions about this game of tag you’re supposed to be playing, the biggest asshole in the room immediately targets you once he realizes you’re the one with the highest number on your jersey. You trap the ball with ease and then kick it straight into his face with as much power as you can muster, knocking him out, the force sending him reeling.

While the timer continues ticking, no one dares to make a move or even exhale too loudly in your presence, scared you might take their bodily functions as a challenge to your authority. Like every opponent before, they’ve submitted to you.

You stare at the ceiling, your lips set in a tight line, the despair settling in. Just this once, you want to meet someone who can excite you, and you’d hoped this ridiculous place could help.

___

As the top scorer of your pathetic excuse for a team — though behind your back they call you ‘the top red card holder,’ but considering how far up your own ass your head is, you’re yet to pay attention to this remark — by the second qualifying match they already know to pass the ball to you no matter what. In your defense, you’re not any more tyrannical than the average douche in this competition. It’s not your fault they’re too worthless to do what you can.

Two of the opponents are blocking your path, and you shuffle the ball between your feet trying to get the positioning right while they attempt to steal it. Everyone is making noises, but they never mean anything to you. You back up once you’ve felt that the stars have aligned and strike the ball through the tight opening between their bodies, taking the first goal of the match.

“You’re good!”

You blink, the words bringing you out of your perpetual trance to look at the guy in front of you. He starts rambling some nonsense about explosions and how he’s going to beat the ass of anyone who can’t give a good show and you think at some point he has started finding new roundabout ways of saying that he basically wants to bust a nut on the field. It is absurd. You understand it down to your bones, except maybe the last thing. For the first time, everything is coming into view. You can make out his face and you can hear his words and you see your teammates in your peripheral vision. How you didn’t notice him before, what with the hairstyle and his cartoonishly beautiful eyelashes, you’re not sure, but you’ve never been more present during a game before.

“Alright, gyaru,” you say. “Show me how you explode.”

“Gyaru?” he tilts his head, grin wide like a demon’s. “You think I’m pretty?”

Though Jinpachi Ego officially writes down what ensues as a round-robin tourney in his notes, the spectators (meaning literally anyone else who was in your physical proximity) would describe it as ‘The Longest Dick Measuring Contest They’ve Ever Seen.’

The way he moves fascinates you like nothing else. Just like you, he is a creature of instinct. You both circle around while trying to score or steal the ball, only to find that stopping the other is impossible.

After this match, two monsters glance at each other and think, ‘Maybe there is someone out here who understands me.’

___

There are still jitters in your veins. You can’t sleep. Is it ridiculous and maybe parasocial that the thought of ‘I want to see this guy again’ is keeping you up at night? Yeah, probably. You also feel like a creep lying down in the dark with your eyes wide open, yearning to bulldoze through something like you do when you want to calm down.

Frustrated, you slip out of the futon and leave the room while the rest of them are sleeping. The hallways let out ominous flickers, trailing after you while your steps echo and bounce off the walls. This building looks like a prison, you think, though you hadn’t noticed before.

You hate to think that your desperation is so strong you’ve developed the power of manifestation overnight, but when you step inside of the training room, he’s already there. He doesn’t have the decency to seem surprised at your entrance when you close in on him. His arms are crossed and he has a smug aura about him, but for the love of everything you cannot comprehend why he’s standing there doing nothing. At least you planned on being productive when you headed here with your plan to obliterate whatever you could get your hands on. Just so happens it’s him that you found.

The weird silence stretches, but it doesn’t bother either of you because as it turns out you have the same kind of social incompetence. You realize you don’t even know the guy’s name, but he declares, “You really came.”

You don’t really know what he means by this considering you didn’t arrange to meet here beforehand, but he’s saying it as if this was some unanimous agreement you came to earlier. “Waiting for me in the middle of the night all by yourself, handsome?”

“Every cell in my body was calling out to yours,” he says as if it explains anything. His expression is bordering on maniacal. Anyone else might’ve realized this was a bad idea, read the warning signs, but to someone like you who has lived their entire life sleepwalking, the excitement of such a strange encounter is addictive. “We’re the same… That’s why you felt it.”

“In that case, please avoid summoning me so late,” you say. “I value good sleep.”

He cannot tell if you’re just taking the piss or if you’re on the same page, but it’s rare that anyone entertains him when he says anything of that nature. To him, this is an amusing turn of events. “They say you’re some kinda unhinged delinquent. ‘s that true?”

“Sure, if that’s what you call putting a few sorry bums down in their place after they crossed me.”

“So you know how to scrap too, right?”

Right now, Shidou Ryuusei is like a kid at the candy store. You can’t discern any reason for him to swing at you, but he does, smiling all the while. After you respond to his provocation with a duck and a kick of your own — you avoid using your hands for anything if you can avoid it, finding it beneath you — you decide to consider this your friendly introduction to each other.

If he wants to coax the crazy out of you with his punches, then you’re trying to get him to settle down every time you retaliate, daring him to pipe down and turn boring just like everyone else. You’re not sure for how long you duke it out, but at some point you grow sloppy, and the last you remember of it before succumbing to your exhaustion is the last round of boneless slaps you offered each other.

___

Two of your teammates hatefully watch you and Shidou from across the cafeteria. You’re a selfish and insensitive person, of course, they know that. Before this, you’d always eat alone, but ever since the match where they were forced to watch you two flex on them, you’d hang out with him. Still, “I can’t believe [L/n] would rather have a romantic dinner with the only goddamn bastard in this goddamn building who gets better meals than share with us! I’m sick of this natto.”

“You’re telling me,” the other boy says, sadly eating a radish.

This must be an advanced form of psychological torture administered by Ego himself. Even if you don’t notice the audience, Shidou seems to be reveling in the negative attention. They can only watch and drool while you two push at each other and try to steal ingredients. At some point, you put Shidou in a suplex, making him cough out something. Then he wrestles his way out of your maneuver and shoves your head into your plate, forces you up again, and licks the food off your face while you scowl at him.

“I’d hardly call that a romantic dinner, though.”

“A guy from blondie’s team said he caught them asleep on top of each other in the training facility once.”

“Do you think they’re-?!”

“Oh my god, they’re…!”

They scream and point at each other and then hug as if traumatized. To add insult to injury, your voice rings from afar, “Are your eyes really pink? There’s no way that’s natural,” while some of the sauce still sticks to your skin.

“What? You think I’m some kinda fake?” asks Shidou, apparently offended.

“I’m gonna expose you, trust.”

How are you blowing everyone in your cell out of the water in terms of performance? You have to be the dumbest person in this entire wing.

___

“I want you,” he says.

Granted, this is out of context, but you still find that the words have some effect on you. But this won’t do no matter how hard you want to give in. With the first stage of the second selection cleared, you can’t continue as you are. You’ve been complacent in your talent. To expand your abilities, you need to observe whatever other powerful players there are in here instead of still chasing after him. Even the wet wipes on your old team have started catching up.

Besides, you’d always thought your appeal to him is as an opponent, someone who he wants on the other side of the field to face off against, and now Shidou is demanding to work together with you.

“I was in a coma before I met you,” you say. He pinches his eyebrows together, which is probably the first time you’ve seen him pull such an expression. To think you have the ability to utter something so strange, it weirds out even Shidou. “You pulled me out of it, but now I need to see other things, too.”

“If you tell me you wanna go watch other guys, I might get jealous.” Despite the initial waver, he sticks his tongue out at you, trying to be playful like always.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

Shidou grabs you by the collar of your jersey and pushes you against the wall. You blink at him, finding this an inappropriate time for a spar seeing as this is regular enough for him, but then he invades your personal space in a way which doesn’t feel particularly combative, your noses brushing against each other, and he blatantly glances at your lips before closing his eyes. You don’t think about it when you pull him in by the neck, your body reacting to his cues.

It’s not even that great, he’s not really being effective at what he’s doing, mashing your mouth against his almost pointlessly, teeth clashing and all before moving far too quickly onto the tonguing part of making out. Your nails are digging into his neck and his hold against your waist is tight enough to bother you. There’s a latent aggression in it like there is in any other interaction between you two.

And you don’t enjoy this for the surface-level sensations but rather for the strange tightness in your chest, the headrush, the closeness where somehow he’s enveloping you and you’re enveloping him at the same time and it feels like you’re about to fuse. You don’t want to let go yet, maybe under the assumption that if you keep kissing him, he’s going to be polite and return your breath to you.

Steps come near the entrance of the hallway and then, “Ah! Uhhh…”

You snap out of it and push Shidou off of you. He has the gall to look offended, glaring.

There’s some puny kid with a buzz cut, standing there with his confusion clear on his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, uh… whatever it was you were doing!” he says in a panic, waving his hands back and forth.

Yeah, that’s a good point. What the fuck were you doing? You just jumped at each other on instinct, ruled by some bizarre, mysterious need.

It must be because the air is so charged between you. Shidou is always in overdrive and he has a penchant for pulling you into his madness. You’re always doing something when you’re together — trading blows, trying to show the other up in soccer, saying heavy-handed things for no reason — and now a moment of stagnancy happened and you both turned into even bigger morons than usual.

He didn’t think about it either, you’re sure. Besides, even if you’re a crazy bastard on the field, you’re not like him. Shidou will meet even stronger players once he advances and he’ll move onto his next obsession. This doesn’t mean anything, at least not to him, you’re convinced.

You untangle yourself from him and ram your shoulder into his as goodbye before lamely saying, “I’m going now,” and offering a nonchalant wave.

He frowns before kicking imaginary dust off the floor. “Sure, fine. Be this way!”

Igaguri isn’t super puritanical or anything. Yeah, he grew up in a temple and all, but seeing two people kiss doesn’t offend his sensibilities. What freaked him out was how you managed to make it look like a fight while you were going at it, and like, he knows the hallway was deserted before he came out of thin air, but this is still a public place. Whatever happened to shame?

And now he has to be in the same vicinity as this scary guy who’s glaring daggers at the spot you were standing in, vein bursting out of his forehead and all, as if you ruined his life by walking out of here. He looks like a manchild who’s sulking because his mom forgot to make him chicken nuggies. A bead of nervous sweat rolls down his forehead.

___

Ever since the beginning, Isagi has been honing his technique, always hungry to add another skill to his repertoire. Rin and Shidou have no synergy; fine, he thinks, it’s not like he really even wants to set up a goal using them. It’s not enough to satisfy him anymore, not after the last match. He’d much rather score himself.

But the problem with the spatial awareness he has developed is that he can’t turn it off at will, or say ‘la-la-la’ and ignore something to focus on what’s important.

Well, being on the same stage as you and Shidou has to be the worst thing of all time. He wants to smell a goal for himself, but the most likely chemical reaction he can predict is one between you two, and you’re not even on the same team. It’s like a ticking time bomb, like those explosions Shidou has been vaguely rambling about, and it permeates the air.

You’ve started adapting his bodily control and precision, almost coming close to scoring with your back on the net. And Shidou has managed to pull off one of ridiculously tight angled shots to break through a two-on-one, passing the ball to Rin. If the phenomenon Isagi observed and achieved before is ‘consumption,’ then he has a first row seat to watch you two cannibalize each other.

The most unfortunate thing is the chase. The ball will come to you, but Shidou will steal it. He’ll be in the air ready to strike, but you’ll sabotage him from below. Isagi recognizes this as an unconscious prediction — on a molecular level, you know where the other one will be, and you’ll race there. It’s like he’s watching both of you swing neon signs and desperately scream ‘Please look at me!’ and overall beg for attention while also stubbornly refusing to make eye contact in fear of rejection.

It is revolting. He wants to gag.

Sure, Ego talked about how luck is a skill and how a pro takes advantage of it, but he never mentioned what to do when someone on his team is living through a low-rated soap opera episode with an opponent. With all of the emotional constipation among the participants of this godforsaken project, he’s sure this won’t be the last time he’ll need it.

___

Sitting down in the middle of practice isn’t productive, but you’re ‘taking a break,’ by which you mean you want to snap someone’s neck. It’s been boring again, ever since Shidou started disregarding your presence. You’re even on the same team now and it’s like you’re no better than air to him.

Of course, you’d predicted he’d find someone new to excite him. You just hadn’t anticipated it’d hurt your feelings. Why do you care, anyway? You should be used to this. The soccer you’ve played has always been selfish and lonely, and moping and jealousy are below you.

But during the match against U-20, you saw him look at Itoshi Sae the same way he first looked at you on the day you met, spouting nonsense with his unique expert-level yappery. And you don’t like that. You don’t like it at all.

He’s off doing his own thing again when you search for him with your eyes. You stand up.

And then you don’t think at all, breaking out into a sprint at full speed.

You’re behind him in the matter of a minute or so, slipping your foot between his and kicking the ball overhead so it lands behind him. He bristles, perhaps at your unwanted company, but you’ve already turned on your heel to run in the other direction.

You’re dribbling the ball when you glance over your shoulder. He’s onto you, trademark grin on his face. You’re not even sure what you’re trying to accomplish here, but all that comes to mind is, It doesn’t matter if it’s going way too fast or way too hard anymore. Just chase after me one more time.

You’re almost all the way over to the other goal, maintaining your lead, when Shidou kicks the ball after lunging around your side. It slips off half-assedly, but you don’t have much time to mock him for his technique because he grabs you by the wrists and pins you down, straddling you to the ground.

“That’s a foul,” you say, displeased.

“I don’t care.” His smile is so big you feel like he’s going to need to visit an orthodontist after you’re done here. The annoying strands of hair he keeps loose are hovering near your face, taunting you.

Your eyes dart again with your head in the fake grass and you see it straying off. “And the ball didn’t make it. To be honest, you were sloppy.”

“I don’t care.”

“You… don’t?”

There’s that sick fluttering feeling in your stomach again and your heart kicks against your chest painfully. Your cheeks are growing warm and you feel uncomfortable by the heat with Shidou so close to you. What the hell is wrong with you? Seriously, he didn’t even tell you a line or anything. He just said ‘I don’t care’ twice. That’s not game! You need to get a grip.

“Yeah, why should I? I’ve got you right where I want you now.”

You raise an unimpressed eyebrow. If making you look like an idiot is his revenge to you for making him mad, then fine, you’re going to pretend you can’t make your way out of his grip with ease.

“You can’t give me a big dopamine hit like that and pull away,” he says, leaning closer. By this point you really can’t see much apart from his big ass head right in your face. Does he even know what he’s implying to you while looking at you straight-on? Does he realize you know his weird euphemisms are all figures of speech for whatever makes him horny?

“What do you mean?”

“Tellin’ me all that romantic stuff and running away…” Shidou narrows his eyes as if the memory is enough to annoy him.

You blink. Oh. You thought he was throwing a temper tantrum because you refused to team up with him. But once again, you’re unimpressed. “So did that turn you on or what? I don’t get it.”

“Well, I’d put it in other words, like, let’s say, hypothetically, maybe you made me explode because you’re an oxidizer and I’m an organic-”

“Ok, I know, but I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here-”

He retreats and rolls away from you, allowing you to sit up again, so you cease talking without reaching the point you were trying to make. It flies out of your head anyway when he links his hand with yours, staring at you, seemingly subdued now. You’re not sure why you’re both acting like shy middle schoolers now while indulging in something so chaste considering you’ve done way more indecent things together, but you intertwine your fingers and offer him a smile. The sight catches him off-guard.

Before he can bask in another achievement (this time being the first person to make you express any kind of joy when everyone knows you’re one distant asshole), a ball hits him straight on the forehead.

Without any preamble, Rin deems it fit to announce his presence by saying, “Your lukewarm displays are appalling. You should both just die.”

You stare at him and then at each other and burst out in laughter, pointing at him. Though you finish your laughing fits at about the same time, you spur on another one by asking, “Do you think he even knows what lukewarm means?”

“No, I seriously doubt it!”

Rin thinks to ask you how come you think it’s chill when your shitty boyfriend or whatever he is says the grossest things imaginable, but suddenly it’s a problem when he wants to say his favorite word, though he doesn’t want to seem too offended or otherwise invested.

___

Im sorry if this is in any way contradictory or shitty or sucks balls I havent slept in 4 days except for a one-off 3 hour nap and wrote this while possessed. Maybe ill sleep again at some point and this will be the worst thing ive ever seen and ill have to delete it. God forbid.

#shidou x reader #shidou ryuusei x reader #bllk x reader #blue lock x reader #bllk x you

[thelongestway]

hey no shade but you know dungeon meshi isn't actually based off dnd right? there are definitely some overlapping concepts and it can be fun to analyze it through a dnd lens but really it's its own homebrew fantasy setting. just checking bc i nearly got in an argument w someone over dungeon meshi lore the other day only to realize it was because they were trying to apply dnd lore to it ahahaa

Oh yeah, absolutely, it's its own thing. You don't even have to go far to show how it's its own thing: for one, the whole set-up with the dungeons being what they are isn't found anywhere else in D&D-inspired material that I know. You could maybe reflavor Halaster's Undermountain to something like the Dungeon Meshi dungeons, but that would be another layer of homebrew. That said, I do have the feeling that Ryoko Kui grew up on the same kind of D&D material that I did - stuff like Elminster's Ecologies, or old school Greyhawk materials. Her story genuinely feels like an AD&D game run by an old-school DM, maybe even earlier in the editions (hi, Chilchuck and "I'm a rogue, I'm not gonna fight"!). I don't mean that she follows D&D canon in any meaningful sense--her stuff isn't set in Greyhawk, nor on Abeir-Toril, nor on Krynn, etc. But I do think she's someone who's inspired by old school stuff, even as she makes her work thoroughly her own.

An acquaintance of mine once wrote that long tabletop games gain a quality that she called "being well-trod". This is when the players and DM are so familiar with the world they live in that it becomes, well, lived-in. They don't need to look up rules anymore to extrapolate: they understand the logic of the setting, and they get the same kind of intuitive feel for the world that we do when living in our own world, in real life. A feeling of where the boundaries lie, and how things work.

This is how I feel about Dungeon Meshi and D&D. It feels like a work written by someone who walked the same paths that I did, and whose work is therefore both new and startlingly familiar. That's it in a nutshell, but then I also wrote a bunch of examples, which got very long, so cut for length and spoilers!

I wrote somewhere in the tags on my Dungeon Meshi posts that it's incredibly surreal reading a story that seems to be informed by the exact materials that you base your own homebrew games on. Kui takes her work in a wholly different direction than I did - but the disparate elements of the story would fit in like a glove, because they're based on similar logic. I could quite literally take any of the ecologies elements of Dungeon Meshi and put them into a given module I'm running, and it would need less adaptation than 5e material. And most of the cultural/racial elements of Dungeon Meshi? That, too. Where it's not a one for one match, it would so easily be explainable by "different continent".

Let's take the example you're probably here from: the Canaries and elves in general, and let's take elves in general first. In D&D, there's been a switch in models of elven aging throughout the years: from "they are literal babies up until 60-ish, and then have 40 years of actual adolescence" to "yeah they grow to full adult size at about the same speed as the other races, and are then just culturally considered too young to make their own decisions". I am decidedly not a fan of the second model - I think it takes away from the cool biologies early D&D thrived on. BG3's treatment of Astarion's age of death, for instance, keeps throwing me. Yeah, I get it: it fits in with the edition they're working off, but I hate it. That's not how things work on our Faerun! But then we get to Marcille's backstory, and we see that she has the problems old school half-elves did, and you're like "oh, well of course someone invested in weird cool biology as an author would interpret elves like that." Her treatment of age makes sense to me. She makes the races as alien as possible, and hits that vibe of "D&D-style fantasy is its own thing, with its own set of rules" that I love. In contrast, and unlike any prototypes I know, Kui takes her half-foots in a different direction! They don't live longer than tall-men, they live shorter lives, closer to goblinoids. And I think it's for the same reason: because it's that much cooler to have different experiences of life in humanoid races. This is decidedly Not D&D, but it would absolutely fit into that vein.

With smaller details, I keep joking around here that the Canaries are grey elves, and of course they're not. But then Kui keeps putting in these tiny little details - which can be either nods to existing material, or the same extrapolations that other authors drawing upon high fantasy tropes have made. The white ships that have travelled all the way from Tolkien's Valinor to Evermeet and now to Shima. The fact that the Canaries have basically the right color scheme for grey elves threw me completely: I was not expecting that! Elves being that specific brand of destructive that they are - jeez, the Canaries would be right at home in Myth Drannor, or during the Crown Wars. So I joke around about these specific dolts a lot, and I am having an inordinate amount of fun seeing if my predictions that come from running a Myth Drannor game for a good long while now come true. And it goes on. Marcille doesn't prepare spells, and the magic here is obviously not Vancian. But Mithrun's teleport shenanigans are literally stuff I've done in games. The differences between races in D&D aren't because of wishes made by mortals; they're built in by gods for their own purposes. But the towns that spring up around anomalous spots and that have to deal with the weirdness have the same vibe. Kui draws on a more extensive tradition than just D&D, of course, but she transforms the tradition in a very similar way to old D&D. Of course the elves' magic in Kui's work does weird and creepy stuff with soulbinding and immortality; that's been their dark side since Tolkien and Celebrimbor's work with Annatar, and then it turned into stuff like elves regularly sacrificing their lives in high magic rituals in Faerun. Of course Senshi's backstory is about the dwarves that have dug too deep - but they are, of course, distinct from gnomes, and the gnomes are a peculiar and interesting breed of arcana specialists. Of course Chilchuck is a Burglar - but he works on dungeon delving unions, of all things! It's a familiar transformation, so the world makes sense to me, and I love it. So yeah. Tl;dr: not D&D ofc, but the vibe is there, and I am having fun with it.

Also - can you tell me about the argument? I am super curious, and I wonder if the person you were arguing with was working from 5e material.

#dungeon meshi #D&D #half-baked meta #my elves #horrible crossover thoughts #i'm sorry anon this is probably way too long but you've activated my trap card #also added some small edits #there's a very short list of anime that hits this specific vibe for me with respect to other worlds #like Log Horizon Gets MMOs #Seirei no Moribito is written by an anthropologist and it shows in the first 5 minutes #but for D&D? Ryoko Kui has the coolest treatment of the material even in comparison with anime that were *based on* old school games #why does the cut keep migrating #webbed site

[fictionkinfessions]

I'm pissed that the path I took just isn't available in-game. They made Ker feel like he's not part of our story, like he's just some whirlwind romance detached from everything else outside of "yeah you can call him when you're about to do the final mission". Bull-fucking-shit, that ballsy fucker (/affectionate) crashed the meeting with Hanako and demanded she save both me and Johnny. Would not take no for an answer. Sure, it doesn't exactly fit the theme of sacrifice and loss the game is going for, but maybe, just maybe, they could've fucking figured something out rather'n tossing him in like he's just some bit player.

Then again, I guess I know who the game's made for and it ain't people like me an' him. I mean, look at the only other man who can be romanced in-game. The last good cop in Night City, whose story ends just as abruptly. I mean, I haven't played through that far in a while and I know there've been updates, but I was recommended an article about romances in-game recently and it seems like the only changes to those are that you can actually interact with your s/o after the fact.

I dunno, maybe the fact I was apparently from a fuckin' crossover universe where me, Johnny, and Kerry rode out with the Aldecaldos just in time to be in Boston when the bombs dropped and to sneak into the cryo-vault (our cyberware probably saved our asses; when we realized what the pods were, we knew we were screwed if they found us out of them so we risked it, then again I think I messed with 'em so maybe that was it) changed more than just some of the history and between-canons/Fallout canon shit (I think the bombs dropped later than in Fallout canon but that could just be me mixing up when what happened), but still.

Feels like the devs didn't much care about those of us who aren't/weren't into women. Even the trans rep in-game is a woman and "well you can make your character trans by mixing and matching but at least one of the choices makes no functional difference at all and being trans doesn't actually impact jack or shit". Pretty sure there were at least a few people who gave a shit that I was trans, and a few trans men around. The trans flag was a thing for sure and it was in more places than just on Beast.

Don't get me wrong, my source isn't a shitshow or anything, just feels like it was made with a certain demographic in mind and including anyone else was an afterthought included for brownie points.

x

#fictionkinfessions #fictionkin #poie issue #shipping issue #canoning issue #police cw #demolition cw #genocide cw #? #falloutkin #lesbophobia cw #transphobia cw #mod party cat

[whileiamdying]

Coolio, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ Rapper, Dies at 59

From a bookish, asthmatic child to mainstream hitmaker, the West Coast M.C. charted a distinctive path to hip-hop stardom.

By Eduardo Medina and McKenna Oxenden Published Sept. 28, 2022 Updated Sept. 29, 2022

Coolio, the rapper whose playful and sometimes gritty takes on West Coast rap and anthemic hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” made him a hip-hop star in the 1990s, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 59.

His longtime manager, Jarez Posey, said he was told that Coolio died at a friend’s house. No cause was given.

Coolio, whose legal name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., achieved mainstream superstardom and critical success with “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995. A grim, minor-key track that featured the singer L.V. and drew on Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise,” it spent three weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 and was named the chart’s No. 1 song of the year.

It also won the Grammy for best rap solo performance in 1996 and was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, outshining the movie it was featured in, the high school drama “Dangerous Minds.”

“Coolio still builds his raps on recognizable 1970s oldies, and he delivers intricate, syncopated rhymes as if they were conversation,” Jon Pareles wrote in an album review in The New York Times, noting that “Gangsta’s Paradise” uses “the somber minor chords” of Mr. Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise.” Coolio told Rolling Stone that he had cleared the usage through a family connection — his wife knew one of Mr. Wonder’s brothers — with the stipulation that the song couldn’t contain any profanity. Mr. Wonder received a writing credit.

Another 1995 movie, the comedy “Clueless,” gave Coolio another crossover moment. His song “Rollin’ With My Homies” was on the soundtrack, and its hook, beloved by the character Tai — the desperate-to-be-hip new girl played by Brittany Murphy — is a running joke in the film.

Coolio’s other hits included “Fantastic Voyage” — the opening song on his debut album, “It Takes a Thief,” released in 1994 — and “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” from the “Gangsta’s Paradise” album, released the next year. Both albums were nominated for Grammys. “C U When U Get There,” which is based on Pachelbel’s Canon, a Baroque-era standard, was a standout track on Coolio’s third album, “My Soul,” from 1997.

But nothing could match the success of “Gangsta’s Paradise” — a song that, with its piercing production and ominous background vocals, became instantly distinguishable for millions of 1990s rap fans, especially with a memorable opening verse based on Psalm 23:

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin’ left.”

While Coolio lamented that his hit had overshadowed his other work, he told PopkillerTV in 2018 that the song had taken him on “a great ride.” Its popularity has endured for decades; the music video has garnered a rare billion-plus views on YouTube.

Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born on Aug. 1, 1963. He grew up in Compton, Calif., in Los Angeles County, a place known for producing some of hip-hop’s most successful artists, including Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

He told The Independent in 1997 that as a child he would play board games with his single mother, to whom he later dedicated his success. After a turbulent youth — a bookish, asthmatic child, he became a teenage gang member, juvenile offender and drug addict — Coolio worked as a volunteer firefighter.

In his 20s, he moved to San Jose to live with his father and fight fires with the California Department of Forestry. He became more spiritual there and later credited Christianity for helping him overcome his addiction to crack.

As he embarked on a music career, Coolio joined a growing wave of West Coast hip-hop that was increasingly becoming mainstream; it had surged in national popularity as MTV, radio stations and major labels came to embrace this once-regional underground sound. After performing with the group WC and the Maad Circle alongside WC, Sir Jinx and DJ Crazy Toones, he went solo.

Coolio signed to Tommy Boy Records, the independent rap label known for releases by De La Soul, Naughty by Nature and Queen Latifah, which had partnered with Warner Bros. Records a decade earlier to expand its commercial reach.

Building off the gangster rap and G-funk sounds and images of N.W.A, Ice-T, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Coolio gained a following by combining his credibility with a willingness to appeal to a broad audience by means of softened language, dance tracks, recognizable samples and other nods to past hits.

A Spin review of the “Gangsta’s Paradise” album in 1996 called it “great pop music” and “the most stylistically broad mainstream rap album you’ll probably hear all year.”

“Coolio presents himself as an entertainer,” the magazine added, “one who projects an unhinged personality while creating solidly commercial sounds.”

“Gangsta’s Paradise” had board cultural impact, even spawning a Weird Al Yankovic parody, “Amish Paradise,” which replaced the streets with farm country, offering lyrics about churning butter and selling quilts.

The scale of the original song’s success awed its creator. Coolio told Rolling Stone that he was on tour in Europe when he realized that “I was No. 1 all over the entire planet — not just in the States. I was No. 1 everywhere that you can imagine.”

On Wednesday, the rapper Ice Cube recalled Coolio’s hard-earned rise, writing on Twitter that he had witnessed “first hand this man’s grind to the top of the industry.”

Coolio, known for his spindly and sprouting cornrows, went on to sell 4.8 million albums in the United States, according to Luminate, the tracking service formerly known as Nielsen Music.

The year after his big hit topped the charts, he wrote and performed the theme song for “Kenan & Kel,” a Nickelodeon staple in the late 1990s starring the future “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Coolio later became a recurring presence on reality TV, appearing in shows like “Coolio’s Rules,” a 2008 series that focused on his personal life and his quest to find love in Los Angeles.

He had four children with Josefa Salinas, whom he married in 1996 and later divorced. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

In 2009, Coolio pleaded guilty to drug possession and went to a rehabilitation program. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to a felony firearms charge after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on bag at an airport.

Coolio, who struggled with asthma all his life, served as the spokesman for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, according to his official online biography. At a 2016 performance in Brooklyn, he had an asthma attack and was saved by a fan who had an inhaler, Page Six reported.

Coolio had in recent years become aware of his place in hip-hop history. He said in 2018 that after long lamenting his struggles in the music industry, he came to understand that “people would kill to take my place.”

“I’m sure after I’m long gone from this planet, and from this dimension,” he said, “people will come back and study my body of work.”

Eduardo Medina is a reporter covering breaking news. @byEduardoMedina

McKenna Oxenden is a breaking news reporter and a member of the 2022-2023 New York Times fellowship class. @mack_oxenden

#coolio #the new york times #artis leon ivey jr #gangsta’s paradise #dangerous minds #michelle pfeiffer #grammy

[beskarhearts]

The Dragon (Din Djarin x reader)

gif credits @bestintheparsec​

Connection series Pt. 13

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!reader (no use of Y/N)

Warnings: cursing, canon typical violence/death, angst, mentions of death, chapter 2 spoilers

Word count: over 11.0 K

Summary: Having to kill a Krayt Dragon comes with many concerns and worries for you about Din and your future with him.

Notes: I FINALLY finished it! I am so sorry for such a long wait but last week was really quite the shit show for me so I didn’t have much time to write. I really hope you like this chapter and let me know what you think!

Previous Part ____ Next Part

_______________________________________

“I think he might kill you.”

“He will be fine.”

“I don’t know. I mean, you did just volunteer his village to be appetizers for a Krayt Dragon.”

Din looked over at you, his helmet tilting. “We will be fine.”

You rolled your eyes. Din was always so sure and confident. It was one of the many characteristics you admired about the man. You wished you had the ability to conjure up such confidence in yourself and your plans. You didn’t know how he always did it (or how they somehow always worked out), but it was admirable and impressive. But he seemed to be taking it a step too far this time. It wasn’t that you weren’t confident in his abilities or sure that he was extremely capable. You knew he was stronger. Stronger than anybody else you knew. If anybody could do it, it could be him. But your fear was that this was simply impossible. The dragon seemed like too big of a task, especially for a group so small (and especially when said group hadn’t even agreed to the plan yet). At this point, you had watched this beast eat creatures larger than you and Din in one go like it hadn’t even noticed they were there. And you didn’t want to see the man you cared about so much because dinner for it. “This is too big.”

“We will get help.” Din calmly said, his voice holding no tinge of worry or fear. Sometimes it drove you crazy, his inability to express fear. You didn’t necessarily think he never felt it. Actually you know he had before, though it was always in very specific situations. But when it came to hunting or taking down something about a thousand times bigger than him, he didn’t seem to be scared. It was like it was second nature and you understood that on some level it was. Except this wasn’t a normal bounty or some group of scoundrels attacking him and the kid. This was a dragon. That ate people. And destroyed everything in its path. And the fact that that didn’t seem to scare him at all was mind boggling to you.

“What if Vanth’s village doesn’t volunteer? Are you going to keep being stubborn and insist on killing it yourself?” You retorted. You didn’t often get upset with Din. Getting mad at him honestly seemed hard to do with his patient and sure nature. Sure, there were little quirks that annoyed you but nothing that made you snap back and get mad. But right now your own fear was brewing inside of you more and more, eating you from the inside and peaking through in the way you spoke to Din. Seeing how large this dragon was truly supposed to be and hearing only bits and pieces of the Tuskens plans instilled no confidence in you. If anything, it only left you feeling hopeless. Din on the other hand seemed ready to go.

“I am not being stubborn.” Din quietly said, his helmet looking around as the village people made their way into the cantina in town. It had already seemed like such a long day but it was probably only noon, if that. You had only spoken to the Tuskens about a course of action for a little while because it seemed pretty clear: kill the dragon. The problem was that killing it required a lot of manpower and weapons. And those were two things Tuskens didn’t have much of and you and Din couldn’t supply. Vanth on the other hand could so Din had volunteered The marhsals town without asking for much permission. After a bickering match between the two, the three of you made your way back to the town to give them the game plan. But as you looked at the people funneling into the small building, all giving you weary eyes, you felt no reassurance that they would be willing to help. Or if their help would prove to be useful at all even if they gave it.

You looked back at Din, whose helmet was tilted down at you. The child was sat between you two, looking at the people passing by who gave him confused looks. “You are being stubborn. I respect your Creed and I don’t care about your helmet or how you live or anything but... do we really need this random armor so badly?”

Din froze, looking at you straight on and you suddenly felt ashamed, your cheeks flushing even darker than they already had been from the heat. You had always been extremely careful about what you said regarding his Creed and his way of life. You never wanting to offend him or make him think you cared about trivial things that would betray his loyalties to being a Mandalorian. You understood some people liked to live a certain way or had to. This was Din and you could accept all his little quirks with relatively no problem. But this seemed outrageous to you. It wasn’t like the armor would lead you directly to a Mandalorian. It would just sit on the ship, an empty shell, and you guys would once again have to start over and try to find a Mandalorian to help. Nearly dying for this seemed like a bizarre concept to you. But it didn’t to Din, and you knew it. If there was one thing he might of been more dedicated to than you and the child, it very possibly could of been his Creed. And if it said that Vanth couldn’t wear the armor because he wasn’t a Mandalorian, then he was going to get back the armor no matter what. 

“You know what, forget I said that.” you mumbled, bringing your face to look down at your shoes instead of the intense gaze of the Mandalorian standing in front of you. “Let’s just get this over with.”

You expected Din to walk away, get started on explaining what had to go down with the people waiting in the cantina. But instead he remained stood in front of you, not moving an inch. “I won’t let anything hurt you two.”

You looked up at him and felt your heart soften. He didn’t even have to say it. You knew that was true, beyond any shadow of a doubt. He’d kill whatever he had to to keep you guys safe. But it wasn’t you or even the child that you were worried about. It was Din. You knew he would insist on being hands on with this and it made sense, considering his strength and abilities. But you couldn’t stop imaging him getting swallowed hole by this creature and everything being for nothing. “I’m not worried about us. I am worried about you.”

Din paused, looking back at you as if he had been frozen into a state of shock. Din wasn’t used to people being worried about him. He had never had someone who wanted him to be safe and to make it to bed every night in one piece. Someone who watched out for him. Someone who would hurt even more than he would  if something happened to him. You understood that to some extent, having been alone for many years now with no one who really cared about your wellbeing. But this had been Din’s whole life and it took some adjusting to get used to that. To wrap his mind around what seemed to be such an incomprehensible thought to him, there mere idea of something caring about him being so bizarre.

Din finally cleared his throat and looked down at you. “I will do my best. It will be fine.”

You noted the way he didn’t make a false promise. Didn’t say nothing would happen to him or there was no risk or you were worrying about nothing. Din wasn’t the kind to do that and you were certainly not the type of woman to dumbly believe him if he had. But it still made your shoulders sag and your whole body curve into yourself. He was a noble man and while you knew he was doing this for the armor, he was also doing it being he was selfless. He saw a town that needed help and knew he could do something about it, or certainly as hell try his best to. And he wasn’t going to walk away because of the potential consequences that could result from doing the right thing. 

“What do I do if something happens?” You barely were able to get the words out but Din heard them. He rested a hand on your shoulder, squeezing lightly but you kept your eyes trained on the ground as you tried to hold back your emotions.

“You will get the kid to a Jedi.” 

You rolled your eyes and finally looked up at him. He shifted lightly, taking note of your reaction but not sure what he said wrong. You pulled away slightly and looked at him as plainly as you could. “Of course I will do that. I mean what will I do?” 

You hated to sound so dependent, no needy. You had never been like that before. You had spent your whole life trying to become more independent and find yourself. But now you had found yourself and a part of you was in Din. And if anything happened to that part, you were afraid you would just lose yourself entirely. And that terrified you. 

Before Din had the chance to respond, Vanth popped up in between the both of you. You looked over at him and took note of his nervous expression. He had expressed plenty how he didn’t have high hopes for a good response from his people, given their deep hatred for the Tuskens. And you saw that concern deeply etched into his face. “This isn’t going to work.”

“It will be fine.” Din said, repeating the very words he had said to you multiple times. But Vanth seemed to also take no comfort in them.

“They attacked us less than a year ago. Killed half a dozen of us by the mining camp. I’d say I took down about twice as many Tuskens.” Vanth said, looking at him incredulously. You wanted to side with Din, but you also found yourself hesitant to believe this town of people would push aside all the tension and hatred for the Tuskens and work side by side with them. 

“The town respects you. My guess is, they’ll listen to reason.” Din explained.

Vanth lolled his head over to you and gave you a questioning look. “What do you think?”

You shrugged slightly and saw worry flash in his eyes at your significantly less confident response. “I mean, you’ve got to try at the very least. What is the worse that will happen?”

“I get run out of my own town and then they all get eaten by a dragon.” Vanth said plainly.

You shook your head and twisted your face up. “Well, that is pretty shit so let’s make sure your town agrees to this.” 

“Great.” Vanth muttered as he turned, heading into the cantina.

Din turned to you, helmet tilted like he was belittling you and you scoffed. “What? We aren’t wrong!”

Din sighed and followed the marshal into the cantina. You grabbed the child and followed behind. Once you entered the building, you found yourself a little shocked. This was the most people you had seen in this town so far and you definitely hadn’t seen people meeting up to hang out or converse. The town had seemed completely dead, almost void of life. But now the room was full of a small group of people but instead of looking joyful to see their neighbors and get a drink, they all looked contemplative and concerned. You could practically feel the unease and tension in the room as they all gave their marshal and the strange Mandalorian weary looks. They also talked amongst themselves and you picked up bits and pieces of some conversations, hearing the word Mandalorian and dragon thrown around a couple of times. A few stray eyes even landed on you, gesturing their heads to where you and the kid stood before talking to the person beside. 

Vanth and Din stood in front of the bar, looking over the crowd of people as their murmuring began to simmer into silence. You took a seat at the bar, holding the child tightly against you as the people looked at you three with expectant looks. 

Vanth broke the silence and gestured a hand over to Din. “This here is a Mandalorian. You know what that means?”

The bartender earlier was the first to speak up. “Well, we’ve heard the stories.”

Vanth nodded before continuing on. “Then you know how good they are at killing. Now, this one’s got a problem. I got a suit o’ salvaged armor and the Mandalorian creed says it’s his to take.”

The people broke out into a small burst of murmuring, discontent looks and panicked voices filling the room. Vanth nodded, as if he himself was saddened by the idea of giving up the armor, but he began speaking again, capturing the attention of the room. “But I’ve got a problem, too. A Krayt Dragon has been peeling off our pack animals, and sometimes, taking our mining haul with it. It’s just a matter of time before it grows tired of Banthas and goes after a couple of you townsfolk, or even, so help us, the school.”

The muttering became a little louder as fear filled the people, all concerned at the prospect of the creature that terrorized them doing even worse and possibly attacking their families and children. You saw some disapprovingly shake their heads and for the smallest second, you felt hope. You saw the desperation in their faces, their fear and anguish. They wanted to get rid of this dragon. No, needed to. You just hoped they were not stubborn enough to refuse the assistance of the Tuskens who were also their sworn enemies.

“As much as I’ve grown fond of the armor, I’m even more fond of this town.” You looked over at Vanth and you felt the authentic concern for his people. You could say what you wanted about the man but it was undeniable that he cared for his town and his people. It may of been small, but it was his to protect and serve. That loyalty was something you could admire and you imagined that same loyalty was what made all these people listen to him so intently with such trust and reliance. “The Mandalorian is willing to help us slay the leviathan in exchange for returning the armor to its ancestral owners.”

People in the crowd began to nod, the bartender chipping in again with a “Well, that settles it.” You felt yourself begin to smile softly but you held back, knowing the worst part of this agreement was yet to come and could very likely make all the people storm out. 

“There’s more.” Vanth spoke out, causing the people’s smiles to drop as they took in his change in demeanor. “We can’t take on the Krayt alone. And the Sand People are willing to help.”

There it was. Immediately, you saw the enraged looks strike on all their faces, looking up at the three of you angrily. A few even began to rise from their seats, shouting out words of hate and disbelief. The agreement that had been there mere seconds ago had dissipated entirely. 

“They raid our mines!” one man yelled.

“They’re monsters!” The bartender shouted in agreement.

Din turned to look at you for a moment and you gave him a small shrug. You didn’t mean to be cocky but “I told you so” was written all over your face, along with a solemn look. If these people refused to help, Din would insist on doing this with just himself and the Tuskens and Maker knows what would happen then. He turned away from you and you both looked over to Vanth, who looked defeated.

“I’ve seen the size of that thing, it will swallow your entire town when the fancy hits it. You’re lucky Mos Pelgo isn’t a sand field already.” Din spoke out. You raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling a little shocked. You don’t think you’d ever seen Din speak to such a large group of people but hearing him talk to them all was fitting. He naturally took command of all of their attention, his deep voice causing all the others to fade away slowly as they turned to look at him curiously. He exuded the same confidence that had frustrated you earlier, but was now serving a better purpose for the townspeople. 

“I know these people. They are brutal. But so is the Dune Sea. They’ve survived for thousands of years in these sands and they know the Krayt Dragon better than anyone here. They are raiders, it’s true. But they also keep their word.” He continued, giving a small pause as the room looked up at him with speculation and interest. “We have struck a deal. If we are willing to leave them the carcass and its ichor, they will stand by our side in battle and vow never to raise a blaster against this town until one of you breaks the peace.”

You waited for the yelling and shouting to resume, for people to begin walking out of the building. But instead the townspeople looked at each other, contemplating their fate and whether to trust this plan, strumming their fingers along the tables as their eyebrows furrowed. Slowly, a few people began to nod and the rest slowly and somewhat reluctantly joined in solemn agreement. You swore you saw Vanth let out a big sigh of relief as he looked over at Din in gratitude. Din began to back up from the center of the room, making his way over to you as Vanth took center stage and began to lay out the plan in more detail.

“You did well. Like really well.” You whispered to Din as he looked down at you and the child sat in your lap, who cooed at him with big eyes.

“You sound shocked.” Din said and you chuckled.

“I admit I wasn’t the most confident that they’d be willing to help.” you admitted and Din nodded.

“They are desperate. They need this more than we do.” 

You nodded in agreement, looking up at him. You wanted to grab his hand that had made it’s way to rest on the bar’s counter but you refrained from doing so, not wanting to engage that way publicly. “Mando?”

“Yes?”

“Do you really think this is going to work?” 

Din looked up from the child and aimed his visor at you. “Yeah. Now that they are joining forces, I think it will work.”

You looked up as all the people began to rise from their seats and funnel out of the building, all looking a little more hopeful than before but still somewhat worried or frustrated with the conditions they had agreed to. Vanth made his way to you two and let out a big sigh. 

“You okay?” you asked and Vanth gave you a grunt.

“I need a drink.” he said and you gave a small chuckle. You handed the child to Din, who looked up at him happily as he was taken into his arms, and reached over the counter to grab a bottle of spotchka. 

You handed it to the marshal, going to look for a cup next but finding yourself amused when he just brought the bottle right to his lips and drank straight from it. He eventually lowered the glass and let out another sigh, but you think this one was from relief. “That’s better.”

“What are they doing?” Din asked, his mind seeming to be solely focused on the mission ahead.

“Gonna start gathering supplies before the Tuskens show up.” He paused and looked over at Din. “I really hope you know what you are doing.”

“Tuskens are the experts here.” Din responded.

Vanth grimaced. “That makes me feel better.”

He placed the bottle back down on the counter and you and Din followed him to the entryway. Sure enough, the people had been quick to work and were grabbing crates and boxes from a shed. Vanth didn’t look over at the two of you but spoke once again. “Think it’ll work?”

“It better. Joining forces is their only hope.” Din responded.

“It is.” you agreed and Vanth nodded, lifting himself off the frame of the entry and walking onto the deck, watching as people began to lift what looked like explosives from some of the crates.

You began to hear mumbling amongst the people as all their heads whipped to look to their left. You eyes followed up to find a single file line of Tuskens beginning to make their way into the town, all sat upon Banthas. They eventually made their way in and all froze, looking into the faces of the fearful townspeople. 

“Well, boys. I believe it is show time.” You muttered and Vanth gave out a grunt.

“I believe it is.” He agreed. You gave him a small pat on the back as the three of you made your way towards the two groups of people. You had initially thought one of you would have to step in but to your surprise, the Tuskens began to jump off their Banthas, reaching over to begin helping the people of Mos Pelgo unload their cargo. You looked over at Din in shock but he only watched the interactions, the child joining in and looking at the Banthas with much interest. You couldn’t see his face, but you swore you could feel a confident smile radiating off him in waves.

The people were hesitant at first and while they still gave the Tuskens curious and questioning gazes, the two groups began to fall in a rhythm as they began to hand each other the white canisters to store on the side of the Banthas. You even walked over, joining and trying to instill some confidence in the people as you smiled up at the Tuskens, who merely nodded to you in acknowledgement. You bent down and began helping a woman who lived in town with handing some of the white explosives to a Tusken. The woman gave you a small look but nodded as she accepted your help, seeming to not have a problem with you but rather the Tuskens who she kept giving the side eye to. 

You both worked in silence until she began to speak. “You help come up with this stupid idea?”

You let out a small chuckle at the inflection of her voice and the way she raised an eyebrow at you dubiously. “I admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of this plan initially.”

“Why? Cause it’s going to get us all killed?” She asked roughly.

You looked up at her. Her face was twisted into some kind of inexplicable emotion, seeming to encompass a wide range of emotions, some of which you couldn’t pinpoint. But the one thing that seemed to stand out to you was the smallest sliver of hope you could see in her eyes. You didn’t think she was asking this to be argumentative or wanting to start a confrontation. As far as she knew, she saw you with the Mandalorian and Vanth and figured you knew what was happening and the likelihood of this going well. She was looking for something to hold on to, someone to confirm that this plan wasn’t a death sentence. You guessed you had given Din the same look earlier. And while his answer itself hadn’t been very reassuring, his confidence as he spoke to the people had been. He believed in this plan and you knew that he thought that if everyone could work together, this was possible. And even though you were scared, you knew Din. And if he trusted it, you had to.

So you gave the woman a confident nod that probably eerily matched the one Din always gave you, even offering up a small smile. “As long as we work together, we are fine. We need to just push aside our differences and find some peace.”

“Differences?” She snorted. She looked away from the Tusken and whispered to you. “They kill our people.”

“And they look at you as people who stole their land and water. To them, you are just as great of a threat.” You reasoned. A hint of realization seemed to flash across her face. “Not everything is so black and white.”

The woman nodded and gave you a mysterious look. “You always this smart?”

You let out a chuckle. “Oh, Maker, no. I am a dumb ass most of the time.”

The joke seemed to get rid of any tension there had been, her laughter joining in with yours as her eyes crinkled up. You found yourself enjoying the moment but it was cut off as shouting rang out.

“What, are you trying to blow the whole place up? What? Is that what you want?” you heard a townsperson yelling and your head whipped up to find a man staring up at a Tusken who seemed to take each word as a personal insult (even though he couldn’t even understand the language).

“Oh, shit...” you mumbled and the woman looked over at you.

“What were you saying about peace?” she sarcastically said to you and you gave her a small smirk, enjoying her joking nature. 

You made your way to the two right as Vanth pushed past the Tusken who looked ready to fight. “Take it easy. It was an accident, okay?” the marshal said, but neither of the two looked convinced.

“What do you want to do?!” The man shouted back, anger flashing in his eyes.

You watched Din begin to near the situation, studying the situation. 

“It was an accident!” Vanth repeated sternly. The townsperson seemed to back down, but a weary look now hit all the townspeople at the first hint of confrontation.

The two got back to work, along with the rest of the people. Vanth looked up at Din and scoffed. “It’s gonna be great.” he sarcastically muttered.

__________________

You wouldn’t say things were going great so far, but they seemed to be going smoothly at the very least. Everybody had reached the cave, standing a far distance back from it but beginning to prepare for the battle to come as they unpacked all their supplies from the Banthas. Some people looked prepared for battle with determined looks. Others look not quite so convinced and pretty hesitant. You were stood next to the woman you had been talking to earlier, whose named you learned was Jo, and she gave you a critical look. “That is where that thing lives?”

“Yup.” you replied.

“Great. This should be a piece of cake. We won’t die at all.” she muttered.

Jo and you watched as a single Tusken approached the cave very slowly, down on the knees and pressing his hand into the sand. He looked like he was intently listening and the townspeople and other Tuskens fell silent as they watched him intently. Cobb and Din stood a few feet ahead, speaking to themselves and you nearly let out a chuckle at the sight. Just yesterday Din had been exchanging short, curt words with the man but now upon first glance, they looked like two pals just having a chat with each other. 

“That Mandalorian a friend of yours?” Jo asked, making you tear you eyes away to look at her.

“Something like that.” you let out until you remembered the discussion you had had with Din just the night before. “Partners, actually.”

You couldn’t help the small quirk of your lips, causing you to have a lopsided smile that made Jo give you a smirk of her own. She didn’t address the word you had used, seeming to understand. “What about the small green thing?”

You looked over at the child, who was sat in the pouch on Din’s side with his small wrinkled head poking out, eyes looking into the cave with equal parts wonder and fear. “That is his kid.”

Jo raised her eyebrow. “Does he look like that thing under all that metal?”

You let out a chuckle, having remembered how you had asked him a similar question shortly after you two met. “Maker, I hope not.” you joked.

Jo let out a chuckle, shaking her head at you. Both of you turned to look to the side as you watched Din approach, hearing the kid’s cooing as his eyes landed on you. “I’ll leave you two alone.” Jo said before walking off to help the others.

Din stopped a couple feet in front of you and you stepped forward, grabbing the child and holding him in your arms. He gave a small, soft sigh as he cuddled into you. Normally when you two were on the ship, you would spent a majority of the day playing with him and holding him. But with how busy it had been the last few days, it hadn’t given you a lot of time with the small child and you could tell he had noticed. “Aw, poor baby. Not getting enough attention, are you?” you cooed softly to the child.

One of his ears perked up as he seemed to let out a small noise in response, grabbing at your hair with one of his small, stubby hands like he loved to do so often. “I think the kid likes the attention being on him.” you said to Din who shook his head in agreement.

“Yeah, he does.” Din said and you let out a small chuckle. “You made a friend?”

You looked up at Din, who’s helmet was aimed towards Jo and gave a shrug. “I like her. She is convinced we are gonna die, but otherwise she has a very cheery disposition.” You sarcastically joked. “How about you and Vanth? I’m pretty sure you guys are going to start making friendship bracelets for each other any second.”

Din aimed his helmet back on you, tilting it slightly and you couldn’t help but to chuckle at his reaction. “I don’t know about that, sweet one.”

“Well if you do, I will only be slightly jealous.” You teased and Din finally let out a small chuckle. You looked over his shoulder, seeing the townspeople and Tuskens working together in a rushed but organized manner, handing each other supplies and putting Banthas in their places. “What is the plan?”

“The only weak spot of this thing is it’s belly.”

“So we have to blow it up from below?” you asked.

“Exactly.” Din confirmed. 

“And we do that by?”

“We bury the explosives in the sand, wake it up, and then...” Din trailed off and you gave a grunt.

“I’m not going to like this part, am I?”

Din gave you a small nod of the helmet. “No. But we’ve got to get it angry and make it charge at us.”

Your jaw dropped only slightly as you look up at him in bewilderment. “That sounds like the dumbest thing I’ve heard. We’ve seen that thing when it’s not even pissed but just hungry!”

“We just need to get the stomach above the explosives and hit the detonator. We don’t even have to be that close.” Din reasoned.

“I’m pretty sure being anywhere near this thing is too close.” You countered. You attention was broken from a loud sound and you looked over to find people wheeling out what looked like giant crossbows, aiming the massive arrows right at the mouth of the cave. You saw Jo and a few other towns people digging holes and dropping the white explosives into them, setting them up and powering the detonators for use.  

Before you had the chance to go on, Vanth walked up to the two of you. “You catching her up with the plan?” Vanth asked Din.

“Oh, you mean the suicide mission?” you interrupted, sarcastically directing your question at Vanth who let out a small sigh and gave you an unconvincing smile.

“It’s our best bet. And I’m just trusting your partner here to not get us killed.” Vanth replied.

“We will be fine.” Din said once again, a hint of exasperation in his tone from repeating the same phrase for what must of been the hundredth time that day.

“Let me get this straight.” You started. “We have explosives, a few crossbows, a handful of Banthas, some Tuskens who have never successfully defeated one of these things, and some townspeople, who no offense, but have very limited experience and no clue what they are doing?”

“And a Mandalorian.” Vanth finished, a grin now gracing his features as he found amusement in your tone.

You gave a small chuckle, not being able to help yourself with the outrageousness of the situation. “Well then, boys, this sounds like a great way to spend the day.”

As you finished your sentence, Jo walked up the the three of you. She held a detonator out to Cobb, giving him a hesitant smile. “Careful, Marshal.”

Vanth grabbed the button from her hand and gave her a small nod. “Thank you, Jo. And you stay safe, hun.”

Jo gave a nod before walking off, giving you one last small smile before she joined the other townspeople. Before you had the chance to ask what was next, you joined everybody in watching three Tusken Raiders steadily make their way towards the cave. You felt a chill run down your spine as you watched the scene. Next to the entrance of the cave, the Raiders looked minuscule. Like flecks of sand. Which meant nothing good as for the size of the creature within it.

You held your breath as they all paused at the mouth of it. A moment of heavy silence rang throughout the area, everybody including Tusken and townspeople alike staring at the scene with a burning curiosity and trembling fear. The three held their hands up to their mouths and loudly yelled in their language, in hopes to wake the creature up. Part of you hoped it would be a deep sleeper and not rise from its slumber, but a growl was emitted from within the cave that sounded more menacing than you could of even imagined. You winced as everybody seemed to freeze up with the deep rumble of the sound. While you remained frozen in your spot, the three Tuskens began to run away from the cave as soon as they were aware they had awoken the creature.

You squinted your eyes, waiting to see the dragon peak through. You almost worried for a moment it was going to stay in the cave until the enormous head of it popped out of the sand, the force of it sending a rumble through the ground that shook your legs. You watched with wide eyes as the crossbow-like devices began to shoot at the beast but in comparison to it, they looked like tooth picks rather than huge arrows. The creature seemed to not even notice them as they hit against his thick hide, not even when a few metal ones pierced into his head. His sights seemed to only be set upon the creatures who had dared awake him.

You felt a shiver run down your spine as one of them tripped and stumbled, falling behind the other two who continued to run away. “No!” you yelled out but your voice seemed to drown out with the sound of the Tuskens yelling and the dragon.

The dragon crashed down onto the Tusken that had fallen, swallowing him whole as he sank back into the sand. You watched as he began to slither back. “What the hell?” you muttered.

Din seemed equally as frustrated as you, watching the scene through a spyglass. “Dank farrik. It’s going back in.”

You looked over at Cobb, hoping perhaps they had a plan for this but a terror-stricken look was the only thing you found, his face paled in horror. He didn’t even look over at you, merely staring at the creature who had eaten a man like it was nothing.

Some of the Raiders held onto the ropes of the few arrows that had managed to puncture the beast, but it seemed to be no use as they were dragged along the sand like little play things. A few Tuskens ran after the ones being dragged as townspeople shot at the dragon, though you assumed most of them knew it was a fruitless effort. Nothing seemed to have an effect on this dragon like everyone had hoped and it hadn’t even made it to the explosives.

If you couldn’t even get it to where it was supposed to go, how the hell were you supposed to kill it?

“It’s retreating.” Din said.

You let out a loud curse, shaking your head in frustration. “Dammit! This thing is smarter than we thought.”

“I’m going to hit it.” Vanth said and you both looked over to see him looking down at the detonator in his hands.

“No. Wait, we only have one shot. We’ve got to get it out.” Din explained. Part of you wanted Vanth to just blow the sucker up, but you also didn’t want to pull the trigger too early. If the weak spot was only in one place, you couldn’t risk wasting all the explosives preemptively.

The Tuskens and people didn’t give up though. If anything, they seemed to grow more determined. Perhaps they knew this was their one chance or maybe adrenaline was simply coursing through their systems. But they all joined together to throw grenades at the creature and shoot at it, their primary goal to make it come out of its cave more and get it in the perfect spot.

And luckily, it seemed to be working. The only downside was it pissed off the dragon who now was heading right towards the people, letting out loud screeches that made your ears ring. It opened its jaw wide, preparing to swallow the people whole who began to run away, a few brave ones still throwing things at it in an attempt to get it further out.

The dragon just barely missed the people, it’s teeth and head crashing into sand again. “Now?” you asked Din, yelling over the noise of the dragon wreaking havoc.

“Not yet. It’s gotta come out further.”

Cobb seemed to hold on even tighter to the detonator as he watched more Tuskens shoot hooks into its head, grabbing on to them and trying to pull it further. This time, the Krayt took notice and threw its head back, causing the brave Raiders who had held onto the rope to be catapulted into the sky. You winced at the sight, thinking it couldn’t get worse. Until it began spitting.

You narrowed your eyes, wishing you had a spyglass like Din had as you looked at the scene. It took a moment but you realized it wasn’t just saliva, but rather some venom that seemed to be killing people upon immediate impact. Your eyebrows shot up the top of your head as you looked over at Din and yelled. “No one mentioned venom!”

He totally ignored you, keeping his eye looking through the spyglass held in his hand. He watched the creature slam its head into the sand again and began yelling. “Almost, almost. Now!”

Vanth immediately clicked the button and instantly a huge explosion rang out. The loudest roar yet was released and seemed to echoed as sand splattered everywhere, the people closest to the creature ducking from the flying debris. You narrowed your eyes as you looked into the explosion. The creature led out a pained roar as it sunk back into the sand and you felt any bit of hope from earlier dissipate.

The people and Tuskens began to step forward and investigate the area where the Krayt dragon had once been but you were already shaking your head in disappointment.

“I don’t think it’s dead.” Vanth said cautiously.

“It’s not. It’s still alive. Dank farrik!” you shouted, feeling every hair on your body stand up as your nerves tore through you.

You didn’t have a moment to properly ask Din what was next when another rumble rang out and your heat dropped into your chest. “They need to move back!”

Instead, everyone looked up at the cliff above the cave, where the sound was coming from. In a matter of seconds, the Krayt dragon smashed out of the rock and looked as angry as ever, spraying it’s venom from a much more effective angle that lead to more devastation that you had hoped for.

“It’s picking us off like womp rats! Let’s get after it.” Vanth yelled out, grabbing his rifle and putting his helmet on his head.

You looked at the two and realized what the plan was immediately. “Dammit, don’t you two dare-“

Before you even had the chance to finish, the two men were shooting in the sky with their jet packs. The child and you both watched from your spot on the ground as they landed on a ledge and you let out a curse. “Oh, your dad is totally buying me a fucking jet pack.”

You didn’t mean to curse with the kid so nearby but anger was the way your fear was coming out. But not even using your upset to try to mask the fear that struck through you as watch the two men shoot at the dragon with the rifle seemed to work. Your voice trembled and your hands shook. All you were able to do was grab a rifle but you were no help from here. If anything, you might just screw up whatever mad plan Din had if you shot at it.

On the other hand, you couldn’t just watch. You stared in shock as the two men continued shooting until the head of the dragon finally whipped towards them. You winced and looked away, not wanting to see what would happen. “Maker, Force, whatever is out there: please don’t let him die. I haven’t even told the idiot I love him.”

You hadn’t realized you were saying the words out loud until the kid cooed up at you, as if agreeing with your plea. You were about to console the kid when you saw the two flying back to the ground out of the corner of your eye.

“Stay here, kid!” You yelled, running full speed to the area where they had landed, rifle tightly gripped in your hand. The Dragon was slinking back, away from the gun shots, but you thought at that point all of you were aware that this wasn’t the end of the terror this monster would impose.

As soon as you made it to the men, Din whipped his helmet over at you. “Get away!” he yelled at you.

You rolled your eyes, trying to not let him notice the way your legs wobbled and your worry could be seen in your eyes. “Screw off! I promise to protect you, idiot. Can’t let you get eaten by a damn dragon!”

Din didn’t have a chance to argue further when the three of you heard a rumble behind you. You all turned around to find the dragon had once again emerged and was steadily making its way to you three and the rest of the people left.

“There he is.” Din said and you couldn’t help but to think ‘no shit’.

You looked over at Din, waiting to see what he had planned as the dragon continued to quickly tear through the Tuskens and towns people in its way. You caught the way his helmet looked over at a Bantha a few feet away and you looked over at it, instantly seeing what caught his attention.

“Mando, what are you doing?”

He looked back at you quickly. “I’ve got an idea. Get its attention.”

Your eyes widened slightly and you tried your best to sternly look at him. “What is the plan?!”

Din paid no attention to your question. Vanth went along immediately, shooting off a back rocket that landed right into the beasts head and causing an explosion. The pained roar it let out was so loud it made your ears ring but you paid no mind, lifting your rifle and shooting at its head, trying your best to help.

“We’ve got its attention. Now what?” Vanth asked as the creatures head turned to look directly at the three of you. You sucked in a deep breath as it’s eyes seemed to burn into you like the venom in its mouth. Oh, shit. You were going to die.

“You still have that detonator?” Din asked.

Vanth tossed it to Din. “Take it.”

You looked at Din. “What’s the plan?”

Din froze for just a second, almost so quickly that most wouldn’t notice it but you did. Noticed the way his helmet looked straight into you like his eyes were burning a whole into your chest. You felt your whole chest squeeze tight. “You’re gonna take care of the child.”

You couldn’t help the way your eyes seemed to instantly start to water, your hands balling into fists. You told him. You knew it. He was going to get himself killed for a set of armor. For a damn town that you hadn’t even heard of until a few days ago. You wanted to damn his honorable courage and his need to help others. You wanted to slam your fists into him and drag him away from this whole scene, pretend like it had never even happened.

But you knew Din too well. And that was never going to happen. It was part of the reason you loved him but it was also the reason why you knew it would always be a risk that you’d lose him. Whether it was to be a good man, for his Creed, or for you and the kid. This was the kind of man he was.

And you knew it. But it still didn’t ease the pain you felt.

“Dammit, Mando! You are going to get yourself killed!” you yelled, now registering a tear running down your cheek.

Din looked away, as if he couldn’t handle seeing you. Vanth grabbed onto your arm and began pulling you back. “What’s the plan?” he asked.

“Grab her!” Din demanded.

You tried to pull away but Vanths arms wrapped around you, pulling him tight against his chest. You tried to tug away but you don’t know if he was too strong or your pain was making you weaker, but it was a fruitless effort.

“What’s the plan?” Vanth repeated, holding onto you tight. You looked at Din with wide eyes. You needed the answer. You needed to know he had a plan, one that was reasonable or at the very least possible. You couldn’t have him going in with no course of action and a death wish. But your heart plummeted at his answer.

“I don’t know, but wish me luck.”

You grunted and tried to tear away again, but with no result. “MANDO, NO!”

You didn’t have the chance to see his reaction before he slammed the butt end of his rifle into Vanths jet pack. The man instantly clutched onto you tighter than you had ever been held before, both of you lifting up instantly as you began to soar into the sky and away from Din.

You tried to find him but your eyes were now full of watery tears and you were slamming back too quickly so everything was just a frenzy of sights. It wasn’t until you both slammed into the ground far away from where you had once been that you desperately dragged yourself away from Cobb and crawled onto your knees.

Your eyes instantly landed onto Din. Your mouth went completely dry and you felt your breath being sucked into your body as you found him right next to the Banth, whose explosives were being activated. The dragon headed straight for the two and you let out a strangled scream. “He is gonna kill him! STOP!”

But it was no use. Din probably couldn’t hear you and even if he did, it wouldn’t stop him. Vanth crawled up the you and grabbed onto you. You didn’t know if he was trying to hold you back or if he was simply steadying himself, but you felt yourself drop into him like your body had stopped working.

You wanted to look away. You probably should have in all honestly. You probably should of found the child and covered his eyes, shielded him from the travesty you were all witness to. But you couldn’t tear them away from Din, watching the man standing there and not moving or making any effort to run.

Time seemed to go in slow motion and you didn’t know what was happening. You felt like you were outside of your body as you finally watched the Dragon reach them and swallow the Bantha and Din whole, like it didn’t care that it had taken what had become your whole world.

You couldn’t even hear the scream you let out, or feel the way your body fell into the sand. You couldn’t feel Vanth slip his helmet off and hold onto you. Didn’t see the way the dragon slipped back into the sand. Didn’t hear the silence that fell over what had been a war zone, all the Tuskens and townspeople that remained watching in shock at what had happened. Didn’t see the Tuskens that approached where the monster had slithered back into the sand and taken Din with it. Couldn’t hear or see the way the child whined in his pouch, not even realizing that the only father he had was gone.

All you felt was a piercing pain. A familiar one. The same one you felt the night your family died. The same one you swore to never feel again, even if that meant never caring for a person again because the pain was too much and it would consume you completely the next time. You had let yourself feel with Din and he was gone. Just like everyone you cared about.

You didn’t even hear the rumble and almost didn’t even see the way the Dragons head had poked back out of the sand. Once your brain registered what you were seeing, you broke even more. Din had killed himself and it hadn’t even worked.

You saw the creature open its mouth and prepared for it to swallow more innocent people whole. Then you realized it wasn’t going to swallow something. Something was coming back up.

You lifted yourself onto your knees and Vanth pulled back. “Holy shit.” he muttered.

Your brain could barely process it. It seemed so fast. Din was flying out of the creatures mouth and within a few seconds after that, an explosion set off within the creature that sent out a huge shockwave, knocking both you and Vanth back onto your behinds.

You pulled yourself up as quickly as you could and watched Din land on the ground and turn to look at the creature he had slayed, his armor dripping in the venom.

Vanth stood up and had a big grin on his face, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the Mandalorian. The towns people and Tuskens also let out sounds of joy, whooping and cheering at a victory they thought was impossible.

But you were still feeling the numb aftereffects of the incomprehensible pain that had torn through you. You didn’t smile, only brought yourself up on shaky legs and kept your eyes on Din, as if he would disappear if you looked away.

Vanth began to walk towards the people celebrating and the Mandalorian hero. The townspeople made their way to examine the carcass. But you just turned away and made your way to the child in the sac.

He looked up at you eagerly, also seeming overwhelmed from everything happening. You picked him up and grabbed onto him, holding him tightly to your chest as he made soft noises in response. You closed your eyes and made yourself breathe in and out calmly.

————

It had been a while and by now the Tuskens were digging in the flesh of the beast and spreading its carcass apart to harvest what they wanted. The Mandalorian made his way towards your direction, holding a large piece of Krayt Dragon meat which the child stared at with much interest. If you were in a better mood like the others were, you would probably have laughed at the childs willingness to eat anything. But you felt like you couldn’t even laugh if you wanted to and turned away, continuing to hold the child tightly.

You heard his footsteps near and heard the slap of the meat as he dropped it onto his speeder. He was only a couple few behind you but you still didn’t turn. You couldn’t look at him yet. You didn’t know what you would do. Instead you avoided his gaze and tucked the child back into his pouch.

“I’m sorry for-“

“Don’t.” you interrupted, hissing the world more harshly than you intended.

You heard Din freeze behind you and you let out a big sigh, finally daring to look at him. He seemed to have wiped most of the venom off his armor but a sticky residue seemed to be left on it that would require further cleaning (something you certainly as hell wouldn’t be doing). His helmet was aimed straight at you and you wanted to tell him to look away, anywhere else. But you just looked right back at him, you jaw set and your eyes looking straight into his visor.

“You... you should of said something.” you finally muttered out. You intended to sound much firmer but your voice croaked out the words.

“I didn’t have time.” Din argued.

“Didn’t have time to tell me you were going to get swallowed by that thing?” Din froze and you rolled your eyes. “I thought you died.”

“I didn’t though.” Din said, sounding confused.

“It doesn’t matter!” you said back, shaking your head in disbelief. “You could have. Hell, I don’t know how you didn’t. I mean, did you even think you were going to make it?”

The silence that followed your question was answer enough and you let out a strangled chuckle, not finding anything funny but your body didn’t seem to know how to react. “Not even a warning, Din. A goodbye. Nothing.”

“I didn’t have time.” he repeated.

“What if that had been it? Last thing you say is wish me luck and then you get swallowed by a creature unnecessarily?!”

“It wasn’t unnecessary. We needed to kill it.” Din seemed to be growing slightly more frustrated but still keeping his cool.

“No, Din. We all could of accepted our losses and turned around.”

“And let that town and those people die?” Din asked.

You froze at the question but quickly regained your composure, blinking away any logic. “They could of moved. Somewhere else. Somewhere that didn’t have a fucking dragon hunting them down.”

“Now they don’t need to move and there is no dragon hunting them. That is good.”

You finally looked away from, wanting to bury your face into your hands. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

You faced your body to look at him. “Is this gonna be your thing? We land somewhere, people need your help, and you put yourself in a situation where you aren’t just risking getting hurt, but risking loosing your life? Because I can’t handle that.”

“I can’t just not help these people.” Din argued. You understood the logic. You supposed if you were in a position like his you probably would have acted similarly. If you’ve got the tools to help others, why not use them? And with his past and everything he had lost, he understood how things could harm people and cause everlasting trauma. So if he could prevent that happening to someone else, why the hell not do it? No matter the risk.

“Why do these people mean more to you than me?” you asked, crossing your arms over your chest. It was a selfish question. Perhaps all you were being was selfish but it seemed like a justifiable question to ask. Because all you worried about was him. Losing him or hurting him or him hurting himself or a million other things that could happen. And he didn’t seem to even think twice about you or what would happen today. Hadn’t even said goodbye, just in case.

Din let out a small sigh and tried to reach a hand out for you but you pulled away. He lowered his helmet before looking back down at you. “They don’t mean more to me.”

“Really? Because you gave me a heart attack today! I thought I lost you. I thought I lost the thing I care about most again.” You could now feel tears begin to leak at the corner of your eyes. You wanted to stop, brush them away, but you couldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I promise I didn’t try.” Din said but you shook your head.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come back.”

Din froze. “Don’t say that.”

“I can’t have you do this.”

“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to be with me!” Din responded and you looked up in shock, raising an eyebrow.

“What does that mean?”

“You knew what I am. What I did. I am a bounty hunter. I am a Mandalorian. Putting my life at risk is part of the life. You can’t expect me to give that up.”

“You aren’t just a bounty hunter or a Mandalorian anymore! You are a father to this kid now, no matter how much you don’t want to admit it because it scares you.” Din looked down at the kid briefly, who looked up at the two of you in confusion. “And you are a person who... who I love!”

Din froze and you realized it was the first time you had said it out loud. You knew you had loved him for a while. And sure, you two had shown each other your love in various ways. But the words hadn’t actually left either of your mouths. It had seemed to scary to do. But it had happened before you could think about it and it seemed to open a floodgate within you.

“I love you, Din. I love you so much and I care about you so much. I just want you to be safe and I want you to make it to the bed on the Crest with me every night in one piece. I want to know what is happening and I know you aren’t used to it, but we need that communication.” You took in a deep breath before continuing. “I want to have a future with you. I want you to be able to want a future that doesn’t just consist of bounty hunting for the rest of your days until you get killed. I’ve never wanted this with anyone else but I want to settle down with you and get married or something and hell maybe even pop out a few of your kids and get old.

“And maybe it is too early to say this or you don’t want any of that, but I do. That is all I want. All I want is you. And the kid. And fine, you need to be brave and try your best to safe people because you know the world won’t do it because it’s a shitty place. But you need to let me in a little more and let me help or... fuck, I don’t know. Try not to put yourself in situations where you are literally getting swallowed whole!”

You finally finished, not realizing you were panting until a silence filled between you two that made your whole body freeze up. You had just laid a lot on Din. And you were worried it was too much. He was good with you but he still sometimes had a hard time communicating with you properly. It wasn’t his strong suit and a conversation like this was enough that you were worried you had scared him away.

“I love you.”

You felt your chest tighten up. He said it loud and clearly, without any hesitancy. He had said it like he meant it wholeheartedly and had said it plainly, like he often spoke about things that were obvious and completely true.

“Yeah?” you quietly asked and Din nodded.

“I love you, sweet one.” Din paused for a moment before continuing. “I understand what you are saying. I will be more careful and I wasn’t trying to cut you out. Everything today was just... so fast.”

You nodded slowly. “You just... you scared the hell out of me.”

Din finally grabbed onto your arms and you let him. “I’m sorry. I will try to be better about that. I’m still not really used to having somebody around.”

“I know.” you said softly.

You almost thought he was done until he spoke again, much softer and quieter. “I want all of that too.”

You couldn’t help the small smile that broke out onto your face. “Yeah?”

“Yes. It all sounds... great.”

You grinned a little bigger. “It does. But you will have to, y’know, survive in order for it to happen.”

Din nodded. “I will try my best while we get the kid to his kind. And then after that, we can start it.”

“Start what?”

“Our future.”

Your heart melted like mutter and you leaned into his strong grip. “That is... all stuff you want?”

“Nothing sounds better.”

You wanted desperately to rip his helmet off and plant a big kiss on his lips, convey to him physically how you were feeling. But instead you opted for a smile and small nod. “Well then that sounds like a plan.”

“Sorry to interrupt, love birds. But I have something you probably want.” you both looked over at Vanth, who had managed to make his way to the two of you without you noticing. In his hands he held the armor you had both come for in the first place. He gave a small smile of appreciation as he shoved it towards Din, who grabbed it slowly. “It was well-earned.”

“You can say that again.” you sarcastically mumble and Vanth let out a chuckle, nodding his head in agreement.

The Mandalorian reached out a hand and Vanth grasped, shaking it firmly.

They both let go and Vanth turned towards you, giving you a big smile. “It was an absolutely pleasure meeting you.”

You gave him a lopsided grin. “Well, dont I feel special?”

Vanth laughed. “You definitely are. That’s for sure.” he looked over at Din. “You are lucky. Treat her well.”

“I will.” Din said firmly.

“Oh, he definitely will. If he doesn’t I’ll make sure he suffers.” you teased.

Vanth gave you a grin. “I think I’m going to miss your humor.”

“If you need a good joke, bother Jo.”

“I’ll take note of that.” Vanth said before opening his arms out. You gladly gave him a big hug and he patted a hand on your back before pulling away.

“I hope our paths cross again.” he said.

“As do I.” Din said.

“Hopefully under much better circumstances.” you said.

Vanth shook his head in agreement. “Now you can say that again.” The Marshal began to turn around but paused for a moment, pointing the armor. “Oh, and you tell your people I wasn’t the one that broke that.”

The man then walked away, towards his townspeople.

You stood next to Din and watched them all gather together, joyful smiles on their faces. You caught a brief glimpse of Jo who smiled at you, giving a wave which you reciprocated.

“Y’know, I actually like that marshal.” you said.

“Me too.” Din agreed and you smiled.

“Look at you, being a social butterfly.” you teased and Din chuckled.

You both turned at the sound of commotion, all of the Tuskens cheering in joy as they pull what looked like a large pearl out of the dragon. Even a few townspeople joined in on the celebrating, looking at the item. You watched the two groups of people who had once not been able to stand next to each other now communicate in harmony (at least as best as they could with the language barrier).

“You were right.” you finally said.

“About what?” Din asked.

“About helping them. It was the right thing to do.” you admitted.

Din only nodded and turned to look at you. “You ready to head home?”

You smiled softly, yearning for the Crest you now called home and to lay in a bed with Din again. “Yeah. You stink like Krayt dragon innards so you need to shower.” you said with a small grin.

“Shut up and get on the speeder.”

“Can I drive it?” you asked.

“No.”

You let out a grunt and crawled onto the pack of it, making sure the child was securely attached to the side. “Fine, but you better remember you are getting me one of these.”

“Of course, sweet one.”

“And it better be a good one after what you put me through today.” you joked and Din grunted as he crawled on the speeder after strapping the armor to the back of it.

“Yeah, we will see about that.” he muttered.

You let out a big laugh as you grabbed your arms around his waist and held on as the bike whirred to life. You looked down at the child, who looked eager for the ride to begin. And you thanked whatever was out there for making sure your family made it through the day.

Tag List: @ilikethoseodds @dindaddy @poguesvixen @starspangledwidow @fangirlalexia @the-scandalorian @ka-x-in @keepcalmandblogstuff @the-lady-of-stars @orneryscandalousevil @spaghetti-666 @afootnoteinyourhappiness @the-darkempress @dream-alittlebiggerdarling @dee-vn @eury-dice3 @rb4writers @just-me-and-my-obsessions00 @lxdyred @queen-since-97 @honey-hi @periptill @seninjakitey @guiltyegg @the-bottom-of-the-abyss @altarsw @itsaviicf @greeneyedblondie44 @buffnatalieportman

#din djarin #the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 2 #din djarin x reader #din djarin imagine #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x female reader #mandalorian x reader #mando x reader #mandalorian fanfiction #mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian season 2 spoilers #cobb vanth #the marshal #star wars #star wars imagine #star wars fanfiction #star wars fanfic #din

[chalabrun]

why your op sakura au’s are valid (imo)

One of the best and most creative things I’ve seen come from the Sakura fandom are the power up/background exploration AU’s that take Sakura--the heroine who was woefully underdeveloped compared to Sasuke and Naruto--and give her the limelight that Sasuke and Naruto’s locus took from her extremely early on. Two of the best (and likely, the most popular) AU’s I’ve seen are the Slug Sage and Mokuton AU’s, oftentimes blended together. As for background, sometimes people popularly make her a secret Senju, or a distantly related Uzumaki. Or, she’s given other things altogether.

Frankly speaking, whatever twist she’s given, it’s awesome to see. I love seeing what people come up with, no matter the ship or not, time period--you name it.

Thing is, these AU’s cause a lot of mixed opinions. The stans often say she deserved better, that she was too underdeveloped. Anti’s say that people who do are self-inserting and want to make her into a Mary Sue. 

Here’s my controversial opinion: have you considered the possibility that there’s actually a canon precedent to it? Yes, I have the balls to say this.

Read on and I’ll show you what I mean.

Inheriting the strength of a Sannin, as part of the Neo-Sannin

One motif that many people can agree with is the fact that, very early on, the notion of Team 7 being the next Sannin after the originals were foreshadowed for years. That they were would not only inherit their abilities, but surpass them.

Volume 66, cover

By the war itself, we see this realized when Hiruzen--the Sannin’s original team captain and teacher--affirmed that Team 7 had indeed fulfilled this expectation and became the next generation of Sannin, sometimes known as the Neo-Sannin by the fandom.

Something constantly affirmed by canon in regards to Sakura specifically (as emphasized in this wonderful meta by @midgetmeredith​) is the fact that she did indeed come to surpass Tsunade in both strength and medical ability, something constantly reinforced by those who both admire, knew, and were even contested against Konoha’s Slug Princess and also by Tsunade herself. 

Chapter 246, as said by Kakashi.

Chapter 279, by Chiyo, Tsunade’s rival during the Second Shinobi World War; Tsunade was the only person who could foil Chiyo’s poisoning prowess.

Chapter 632, emphasizing Sakura surpassing and inheriting Tsunade’s power.

Chapter 634, by Shizune, Tsunade’s apprentice who personally learned from Tsunade just as Sakura had.

My point being, canon absolutely solidifies the fact of Sakura surpassing and inheriting Tsunade’s power, although this a dead horse that has been beaten and reaffirmed and not the point of this meta.

What does it mean to be a Sannin?

(Below scan originally from Narutoversity.)

As stated in the Second Databook, to be a Sannin means that each individual Sannin are of equal ability and might to each other.

“Explosive spirit and unique power!

Jiraya’s manly fighting valor, Orochimaru’s individual talents, Tsunade’s monster power and supreme knowledge of medical jutsus. During fights, their skills would increase thrice fold and create stories of great battlefield deeds. Especially, places of battle where the three fought together were their own stage. Stories of their battlefield deeds have evolved into legends. As there will no longer be days when the three will fight alongside each other, the flower of their legend is the more dazzling.

Jiraiya: Serious but deadly eyes! Are the only ones who can fight against the Sannin the Sannin themselves?

Tsunade: Her power is like that of a god of war.

Orochimaru: Like a reflection of his way of life, his fighting skills are cruel to the extreme.”

- Second Databook, translation from Narutoversity.

As stated here, to be a Sannin means to be equal in power, that no individual Sannin is more powerful than each other. More than that, only a Sannin can hope to take down a Sannin.

As stated by Ebisu shortly after Jiraiya’s return in the aftermath of the Konoha Crush.

As said by Jiraiya during the Three-Way Deadlock in part 1.

“A lonely blossom that flowered in Konoha! Tsunade is the strongest Kunoichi in Konoha history, every bit a match for Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Her whereabouts – indeed, her survival – are currently a mystery, but her name blossoms in the noble inclusion of the shinobi.” 

- The Naruto Secret: Scroll of Soldiers Official Fanbook by Masashi Kishimoto (Original scan & translation is from amitDS.)

When the Neo-Sannin stopped being equal

Volume 70, cover

Chapter 670

In the interlude between their deaths and revival, Naruto and Sasuke learn that they’re something known as “transmigrants” from Hagoromo, specifically of his sons...

Chapter 670

...Asura and Indra Otsutsuki.

Chapter 671

And as we continue to learn, not only are they the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, but they inherited their immense chakra as well.

Now, let’s recap what makes Naruto and Sasuke so special in the first place, up to this point:

Naruto: The son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, sealed with the Kyuubi, not only did he inherit unique and potent chakra from his mother--who’d been originally brought to Konoha because of it and her life force--but was also the jinchuuriki before him of Kurama, the most powerful bijuu, the Kyuubi. Minato was known as the “Yellow Flash” as the previous Hokage was the prodigiously known for his terrifying ability on the battlefield. Also Jiraiya’s student who surpassed him. Naruto is also Asura’s reincarnation, and as we see above, inherited his massive chakra and life force. And, he possesses the Six Paths Yang Power, as well as 3 different sage modes (Toad, Tailed Beast, and Six Paths).

Sasuke: The son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, the then clan head of the Uchiha, Sasuke is often likened to Madara himself, and confirmed as such by Tobirama and Kurama, the latter stating that Sasuke’s chakra feels identical to Madara. Inheritor of Orochimaru’s power and Indra’s chakra, possessor of the Sharingan, Eternal Mengekyou Sharingan, Rinnegan and all the powers associated with it. He also was the recipient of the Six Paths Yin Pwer.

Really, this list could go on with how many powers Naruto and Sasuke gain outside of what they inherit from the Sannin. Sakura? Yeah, not so much.

Essentially, we go from this...

Chapter 631

...to this.

Ch. 670

To clarify, Sasuke and Naruto being the focus of the story isn’t a bad thing. Their bond is integral to the story; however, we were promised the Neo-Sannin.  Who, as I stated before, were supposed to be equal in strength and might like their predecessors whose motif was integral to the story long before the struggle between reincarnated brothers was even an unwritten idea in Kishimoto’s mind. 

Basically? If you’re going to promise us this...

...don’t reduce it to this and keep it that way. 

Give us the Neo-Sannin we were promised that could stand on equal ground together, no matter how much time had passed or how far apart fate and other circumstances drove them apart.

Closing Thoughts

Basically, the entire point I’m trying to prove here is that we were promised the Neo-Sannin, but were denied it in the same, final arc. While Sasuke and Naruto got godly power ups, and continue to get (anyone catch Naruto’s new Baryon Mode in the Boruto manga that’s even more powerful than what he’s gotten from Hagoromo?), Sakura stays much the same. And while she’s comfortably at the top of her game by Boruto, as the world’s strongest med-nin and Tsunade’s successor, she’s greatly outclassed by Sasuke and Naruto. Anti and stan alike agree with this, so yeah.

This why Sakura deserves AU’s where she becomes as powerful as Naruto and Sasuke. Slug Sage, Mokuton, secret Senju--you name it. 

Canon promised us the Neo-Sannin, which we didn’t get. So, why can’t we have it in fanon at the very least?

#sakura haruno #haruno sakura #pro sakura #pro sakura haruno #pro haruno sakura #my meta #antis don't bother debating because i'll just block you louts on sight lmao

[libra-kirishima]

Kinktober Day 11- Threesome (Spike Spiegel/Reader/Faye Valentine)

Catching up, baby! Here's my third piece of non-bnha content on this blog ever. Written last year but oddly relevant now that they announced a LA series?? (Also you can take somewhat canon Jewish Spike out of my cold dead hands.)

Warnings: NS/FW Content. Fem reader. Faye and Spike's bickering. Reader is Ed's sister but it's mentioned like once in passing. Nobody asked for this it's pure self indulgence.

The atmosphere on the Bebop felt like a Mexican standoff. Two pairs of eyes burned into you as you glanced down at the cards in your hands with disinterest. You had a royal flush, something you would be overjoyed about had the game not been abandoned long ago for something more interesting.

"What can I say? The ladies love me." Spike laughed. The three of you were sharing stories from before your paths crossed. Spike's (likely exaggerated) story of when a woman wanted and run away with him as he was hunting a bounty on Venus.

"Please," Faye rolled her eyes. "You hate women."

"I don't hate women, I just hate women with attitudes." He argued. You and Faye both quirked an eyebrow and stared at him. "What?"

"I've probably pleasured more women than you have." She laughed.

"What are you saying?" He questioned, although it sounded more like a challenge.

"I'm saying you're either too inexperienced or too selfish to be good in bed." She answered after a drag of her cigarette.

"How would you know what a woman likes?"

You couldn't help but laugh, and neither could Faye it seemed.

"I'll let you take a guess." She gestured herself up and down, allowing both of you to take in the sight of her curves through her pajamas. "Use your critical thinking skills." Spike fought off the urge to roll his eyes and instead turned to you.

"(Y/N), who do you think is better at sex?" He asked sincerely, clearly trying to prove a point.

"Oh, I'd love to find out." You answered. You weren't sure if his question was a joke or not, but after you gave your answer, it was clear this was no longer a joking manner.

And so began their standoff. You weren't sure how long you had been stuck like this, but with the way they both looked at you, then each other left you desperate for contact. For satisfaction. For something. (And ideally before Jet returned with your sister.) Your free hand reached over for the bottle of whiskey Spike had left on the table.

Liquid courage you thought to yourself before opening it and taking a swig.

"Listen," You sighed. "I'm bisexual and horny." Both of them raised their eyebrows in interest. "So can someone please make the first move before I-"

It was Spike who cut you off. With one swift move of his lanky arm he swiped all the contents off the coffee table, then reached over to lock his lips onto yours. Wasting no time, he gently tugged at your hair, slipping his tongue into your mouth when you gasped. He tasted like stale cigarette smoke, but you couldn't bring yourself to care with the way you melted into his touch.

"Hey!" Faye cried from her spot on the couch opposite him. Shortly after, you felt her crawl behind you and attach her lips to your neck. Her nimble hands reached around your form to dive between your thighs. At the same time, Spike's hands moved from your hair to your breasts, kneading at the clothed mounds. Faye's lips left your neck to focus on pulling your skirt up, and Spike's lips immediately took their place. He seemed determined to mark every inch of your skin as his. his. His.

Nobody else's.

He pulled your shirt off in one fluid motion and left more bruises on the newly exposed skin. Faye's hand slipped beneath your underwear and rubbed slow teasing circles into your clit. You let out a soft moan, letting your head roll back to rest on her shoulder. Spike took advantage of the easier access and attached to your neck once again, sucking a dark circular bruise at the hollow of your throat.

Faye's attention moved to Spike for a moment, watching him try to devour you like an animal.

"Trying to prove something?" She asked teasingly. "Our poor girl has so many hickies she looks like a leper." Your cheeks burned at her words. Less out of shame and more at the sound of being called 'our girl.' Your hands almost instinctively reached out to Spike again and pull his mouth back to your skin. He met Faye's gaze with a shit eating grin.

"I don't have to prove anything." He answered. "And you?"

She rolled her eyes. He didn't wait for a response. Spike's mouth trailed from your throat to the valley of your breasts, and down your stomach. Love bites were left in a straight line all the way down, stopping below your naval. You whined when he pulled away to admire his work.

A perfectly straight line. He thought to himself. An achievement only he cared about, sure, but God you looked so fucking good.

"Never knew you were a perfectionist." Faye snarked.

"Looks even better from the front." He joked back. Spike's attention was now fully on your body. "Quite a sight for sore eyes..." He mumbled to himself. His lips met yours once more in a kiss that was surprisingly tender for the man that just marked every inch of your skin as his own.

Something he was trying to savor.

He then moved to kiss all of the marks he left, trailing from your neck and shoulders down your collarbone, to your throat, between your breasts, and all the way down to where he left off below your naval. His hands made quick work of removing your skirt and panties, then throwing your legs over each of his shoulders. Your lips locked on to Faye's.

The taste of stale cigarette smoke was much easier to tolerate when mixed with the lingering taste of strawberry lipgloss.

Frustration washed over you in a second wave as Spike kept himself from where you needed him most. You let out a pathetic whine against Faye's lips. Spike muttered something to himself which you missed the first part of.

"Do something or I'll take your place and you can have your fun with my seconds- are you saying grace?!"

Faye's confusion peaked your interest at what the man between your legs was whispering to himself.

"-blessed are you Lord our God, King of the universe, by whose word all things came to be."

You and Faye locked eyes for a moment in amusement before you heard his voice again. "I've started praying before all of my meals again." You bit back a laugh, which died in your throat when he gave your clit an experimental suck. "Especially one this divine." He argued. You couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

And you couldn't bring yourself to care when he dove in and ate you out like a man starved. Her lips caught yours again, and swallowed your moans and cries as she worked to undress herself.

When she pulled away from you, your eyes watched her hungry and impatient as she slowly peeled what remained of her clothes off. You would savor it more if you could keep your eyes open. It was clear they were fighting for your attention. When Spike slipped two of his fingers in, you allowed yourself to fully lay back and let him take you however he wanted. Her weight sank into the chair across from you, watching Spike make you cum first. Her hand slid between her legs to match the pace at which Spike was fingering you. His fingers curled up to hit your g-spot, with a strong suction on your clit to match. His eyes watched you with pride as you reached your first orgasm of the evening.

"Faye," You called, still trying to catch your breath. You reached your hands out and made grabby motions, begging for her to come close to you once more. Spike made work of ridding himself of his suit, shamelessly drinking in Faye as he did so. You didn't have to say anything more. She already knew what you wanted. You moved your head to allow room for her legs on either side. She straddled your face and slowly lowered herself down to your waiting lips.

You couldn't bring yourself to waste time waiting for Spike. Your tongue had been desperate for her taste since you first met her eye. The craving burned inside of you when you first got the taste of her lips. Strawberry and cigarette smoke lingered in your mind. A reminder that she was once there, insatiable until you got your hands on her again.

Now you had something to prove.

Your arms reached up to lock her legs in place around your head, hands kneading at the soft flesh to remind her that she belonged there. With your head between her legs, eating her pussy like it was your last meal.

It was ambrosia. The nectar of the gods. Heaven was between Faye's thighs and you wanted to spend the rest of your life savoring the taste.

You almost didn't notice Spike spreading your legs apart to slide inside of you. Relief flooded you when he slipped fully inside, your hips meeting his. He grabbed your hips with a grip that indicated to you he had no intention to be gentle.

You didn't want him to be.

His pace was brutal and sloppy. His pleasure was the only thing he could think of. All other thoughts were clouded by thehe way your cunt sucked him back in when he pulled out, like it was made for him. Like he belonged there. The the tight, wet warmth of your body had him practically drooling. He was obsessed with the sight of his cock disappearing inside of you with each thrust.

He used your cunt like he owned it, and was going to be the death of you. Your mouth stilled with each time he hit your cervix with the tip of his cock. Spike's lips met Faye's in a sloppy kiss, more teeth and tongue than anything else. A truce of sorts. You felt one of Faye's hands reach behind her to grab at your hair. Spike's left hand loosened the bruising grip on your hips to rub at your clit. The way you tightened around him as you got closer almost made him cum himself. He couldn't hold out for much longer. His pace got harder and faster. His fingers pressing against your clit was making you feel so good that you were in tears under Faye.

"That's it, baby. Let yourself go." He coaxed. You hardly needed an invitation. Your pussy tightening around him as your orgasm washed over you was just what he needed to let himself go as well. He bit into Faye's bottom lip as he came inside of you. White warmth flooded your insides and flowed out onto your skin when he pulled out. The vibrations of your moans against Faye's clit let her orgasm hit her soon after. Her body shook on top of you as she squirted all over your chest.

Spike wished he had a camera on him. The memories of this would be good enough for him to never watch porn again. He leaned back to catch his breath. You and Faye both collapsed on his chest, allowing yourselves to do the same.

The silence was broken by you after what felt like a lifetime.

"Alright, team. Good game! Let's hit the showers and then we'll do it again." You joked. The two of them raised their eyebrows at you. "What? In order to give a fair answer as to who's better, I need to get a good understanding of both of you." You left the two of them for the bathroom.

Spike and Faye looked at each other, then back to where you once stood, then back to each other.

"Don't you fucking think about it-" Faye started, but Spike didn't bother to listen. He pushed her off and ran after you to the shower.

"Too late. I've got something to prove."

"Ugh."

Faye followed suit, tugging him back by his hair to beat him to where you were.

#i don't remember the source of that gif i found it in my phone #if u made this gif and want me to credit u pls reach out to me bc it's great work n i love it #ns/fw #cowboy bebop imagines #cowboy bebop x reader #spike Spiegel x reader #Spike Spiegel imagines #faye Valentine x reader #Faye Valentine imagines #cowboy bebop smut #cowboy bebop #long post #pronouns used: she/her/hers

[corposhifting]

Corpo V Alternate Story/Missions/Endings

Major story spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 below.

Playing a Corpo V whose intention is to get back to the top of the Corpo ladder I felt as though there could have been some missions/alliance changes throughout the game for Corpo V.

This for a Corpo V holding a major grudge against Arasaka but still wants that sweet Corpo lifestyle/power.

This will probably not all match in with canon lore but are all just some fun ideas I had that I wanted to share.

 Militech

Early in the game we must go get the Flathead from Maelstrom, here is our first Corpo V path. We can choose to side with Militech, with Meredith.

Based on your choices with Militech and those inside the factory you’ll either get in good with Meredith or Gilchrist, whomever it is, is impressed with your work and offers you to do some dirty work for the company on the side. What do you get in return? Some good rep with Militech and some good weapons given out for jobs.

There are then some missions you do for them, maybe even work with some of their agents doing raids. You can either have a one-night fling with Meredith/Gilchrist or start up a romance. If you get enough good credit with them, you can reveal your Johnny issue (this is your choice, you may choose not to here) and they will help you take down Arasaka.

 Netwatch

During the mission in Pacifica with the Voodoo Boys you can chose to stick with them or help Netwatch and their runner. If you side here with Netwatch, you encounter them and Bryce outside the Chapel after dealing with the remains of the Voodoo Boys inside.

Impressed with you they offer you some side jobs, you can choose to either accept this or not. If you build up good rep with them they give you some good netrunning gear.  Bryce can either be a one-night fling or full romance option here.

You go ahead and do a few missions with Netwatch where you learn their dislike for Arasaka in general and once you build up some more rep with them you can let them know about your Johnny issue. Netwatch still weary of Arasaka agree to help you with your problem if you take down Arasaka. During the assault they help you with their best undercover netrunners and Bryce assisting.

 Kang Tao

After finding and kidnapping Hellman, you can choose to go back with him and help Kang Tao. You work closely with Hellman who again can either be a one-night fling or full romance option.

Again just like Netwatch and Militech you can build rep by doing work with them. Kang Tao through Hellman will know about your Johnny issue.

Wanting to get rid of Arasaka and making it no secret you can work with them and complete a full-on assault of Arasaka tower with them guns blazing, in return for helping them they agree to help you with your Johnny issue with Arasaka technology.

Interested? Want to know about the missions with Kang Tao? Check out my ideas,  https://corposhifting.tumblr.com/post/639986406455951360/cyberpunk-2077-kang-tao-fan-storyline

 Trauma Team

After helping a Trauma Team who have been attacked by a strange new gang, you discover the gang has found a way to infect the Trauma Team teams making them vulnerable. You can decide to work with them and do a few protection missions, you then storm the gang headquarters and deal with the gang. As a thanks Trauma Team give you a limited supply of send-outs that you can use when you’re on 1 health to come and revive you completely.

During the Arasaka showdown at the very end when you defeat Arasaka Trauma Team arrive and ignore the Arasaka people and assist you (and whomever you have sided with, Militech, Kang Tao or Netwatch OR even all three!), having chosen their side and backing you.

Interested? Want to know about the missions with Trauma Team? Check out my ideas, https://corposhifting.tumblr.com/post/639878656793133056/cyberpunk-2077-trauma-team-fan-storyline

Do I have to help the Corp’s? Or tell them about Johnny?

Nope you can choose not to do their missions and if you do choose their missions. You do not have to tell Netwatch of Militech about your Johnny problem,  Kang Tao through Hellman will be made aware of your issue automatically however. To get Netwatch and Militech to help you assault Arasaka though you will need to tell them about the chip issue. This doesn’t include Trauma Team who’ll help you in the final assault no matter what. 

What about Johnny?

Well he’s going to hate your guts working with all these Corp’s, but he will like the general idea of taking down Arasaka just not how you’re going to do it.

 What if I got good reputation with Militech, Netwatch, Kang Tao and Trauma Team?

Full on assault of Arasaka tower backed by Militech people and tech, Netwatch and their netrunners, Kang Tao people and weapons and Trauma Team to rescue you with a resuscitation if needed. The ultimate/epic attack on Arasaka, they don’t stand a chance. Have everyone help with your Johnny problem and then sit back on your Corpo throne.

What about Hanako and Yorinobu?

After you assault and defeat Arasaka this is totally up to you. Let them live or kill them, 100% your choice. 

What about Takemura?

You can ask him to join you but I doubt he will. He as well as Smasher could both be Arasaka boss fights.

Want to know more about how the ending would go down in more detail?

Check out my follow up post below.

https://corposhifting.tumblr.com/post/639641876238041088/cyberpunk-corpo-fan-ending-arasaka-downfall-and

This is all just some fun ideas I came up with for a Corpo V alternate missions/reputation/ending. 🖤😉😊

#Cyberpunk 2077 #Cyberpunk Corpo #Cyberpunk Corpo Lifepath #Cyberpunk 2077 v #Cyberpunk Corpo V #Militech #NetWatch #Trauma Team #Kang Tao #Johnny SIlverhand #Arasaka #Cyberpunk 2077 Alternate Mission #corporate #Cyberpunk Alternate Story #Corpo Reputation #Cyberpunk Hellman #Cyberpunk V #Cyberpunk Corp V #Corpo V #Corpo Lifepath V

[arahul-abyssia]

Looks like it's September again (already, somehow), so that means that it's Nintember again, which means I'll be writing again! Same dealio as last time, one story per five prompts, up to six writings total. (And I'll be putting most of each under a cut, because mobile users can't skip posts)

And for my first entry for @starprincesshlc and @jklantern 's wonderful little event, I shall once again be attempting to twist some modicum of continuity, characterization, and canon-compliance out of a world that clearly cares scarcely for all three.

The Great Act

~~ Art, Green, Dizzy, Fire, Strength ~~

It was the loud buzzing of his phone’s alarm clock that dragged him from his slumber. He awoke to find himself sprawled across the couch, which was in no way long enough for his lanky body and spindly legs. As he blearily reached out and slapped at the coffee table, hoping to find the rude device by pure luck, he also blearily reached out and slapped at his memories, trying to figure out what series of events had led him there. For a moment, they floated just out of reach, and then suddenly flooded back to him all at once.

Oh. Right. It’s all over.

Another sporting event had come and gone, and as usual, in spite of all the effort he put into training and practice, he had ultimately lost to the same people he always did. No matter the sport, no matter the plan, no matter the time, they always won. And why shouldn’t they? The heroes always win in the end, always securing victory against the villains.

And he was one of them: the purple-clad counterpart, mirror, and supposed rival to one of the land’s most revered figures. Meant to oppose, and meant to lose.

He was Waluigi.

The name still sounded absurd to him. He had no idea how two men whose names were ‘Mario’ and ‘Wario’ and who naturally served as near-perfect foils of each other, had managed to meet and form such a publicizable rivalry without any deliberate effort, but such was the case. However, the notion that the brother of one had his own doppelganger in the brother of the other (or cousin, they never did manage to keep that story straight), with the same dichotomies of name, body, and personality? That was simply and utterly ridiculous, far beyond even the realm of ‘too good to be true’. And yet, if anyone had caught on, they hadn’t made it known to him.

Lost in thought and routine, he realized he had reached and opened his wardrobe, where numerous sets of that purple hat, shirt, and overalls were staring him in the face. In a sickening sense, they were the centerpiece of a great work of art, the fabrication that was his entire public existence, the character that he and Wario had constructed so that he might further be the ‘evil counterpart’ to everyone’s favorite red-clothed fire-throwing hero. Mario was stout and a bit fat, Wario was stouter and fatter; Luigi was tall and a bit thin, so Waluigi was taller and thinner. Mario had an M as his emblem, Wario had an inverted M; Luigi had an L, so Waluigi had an inverted L. To any casual outside observer, it was perfect.

But unlike Mario and Wario, whose rivalry had been formed in their youth, Waluigi had never even met Luigi until Wario had made him his sporting partner. The most he had known of the legendary Mario Brothers was just that: they were legends, for the countless adventures and quests they went on. In truth, despite how much he played it up during each and every game, he bore no true grudge against the man he was supposed to hate; Wario had, for a time, convinced him that Luigi’s presence in the public eye was somehow detracting from his own, but he had long since realized that that wasn’t the case; in fact, it often seemed like Luigi himself was being snubbed by the public, with the vast majority of the glory placed upon Mario, no matter how much Luigi contributed.

And yet, despite his existence being little more than a convenient story, despite the stress that constantly acting like a jerk brought, and despite always losing at the games no matter what, none of it brought him any sadness: for all its ups and downs, he felt himself to be rather good at keeping up the act, and the sports were, at the end of the day, still fun.

So why do I still feel so… bad?

Routine and thought had once more brought Waluigi elsewhere, and he found himself once more on his couch, now dressed in his usual outfit, with some sort of drink in his hands, probably coffee or tea; he didn’t care to determine which at that moment. His eyes casually wandered around the room as he brought the mug to his lips.

Then, just as the liquid touched his tongue--apparently he had managed to make tea out of coffee beans--the answer came to him. All across the room’s walls and shelves was sporting equipment of every sort--tennis racquets, shin-guards, helmets, golf clubs, old kart wheels, giant dice blocks, a probably excessive number of deflated balls--and absolutely no other sort of decoration. He leaned forward to place the mug on the table, and in doing so noticed his gloved hands and violet sleeves. Who wore the outfit of a character that they supposedly were not, every single day? Apparently, him.

He didn’t do anything else. He had let the character that was Waluigi consume his life to the point that had no idea who he was outside of it. He had nothing that he did when sports weren’t involved. Wario didn’t dedicate all his time to his rivalry; he owned an entire video game company--an unstable and poorly-run one, certainly, but it was nevertheless another use of his time. Mario and Luigi had their own grand adventures, of course, which is also what Peach, the Yoshis, Bowser, and his horde of minions were all typically involved in.

They all had lives outside of the games, and what did he do during the interim times? He either tried to practice, on his own, in the few suitable locations that he could find when the world was arranged for adventure, in a vain attempt to not lose as bad when the next game came around, or he wallowed in his home, doing absolutely nothing of any import.

But what could he do? Waluigi was never anything beyond a fabricated counterpart to both Wario and Luigi, but he could not remember, even slightly, what or who he was before he embraced that role. That nearly all of his memories prior to his first meeting with his partner were lost to him, was, he shuddered to admit, rather unsettling. Not even his old name--if he even had had one, he could not recall anymore--would reveal itself to him, and it was not as though he could simply find out through some external means: he was never the best at record-keeping, and to really sell their act, he had had his name legally changed to “Waluigi” and all references to his previous identity erased.

He shook his head, attempting to clear his mind of thoughts. There was little sense in worrying and fretting over who he was in that moment--the chance of any sort of useful epiphany emerging from it was even slimmer than he was.

Ugh… better just try to distract myself…

The first suitable option to catch his eye was the TV remote lying on the table. He quickly grabbed it and flicked on the set, and was immediately assaulted by the cheery enunciation of the Lakitu news anchors on the aptly-named Lakitu News Channel. He recalled that that was the channel he had left the set on last night, after he had gotten quite fed up with the incessant and inane blathering about the events of that day’s final matches, and it took only about five seconds to figure out that they were still on that topic. Scowling, he began flipping through the various channels available, hoping to find something interesting enough to block out the melancholic thoughts that were biting at his mind, like a hundred tiny Muncher and Nipper Plants.

After a painfully long series of more newsrooms--all talking about the exact same thing, of course--and unappealing shows--Half of these are for children and other half would just make me feel even worse!--he stumbled across some sort of advice segment hosted by a Birdo (was it the Birdo? He couldn’t tell). With absolutely no better options, he resigned himself to sit back and listen halfheartedly to whatever trite tips she tried to provide; maybe they’d be amusing enough to at least give him a small chuckle.

“I hope you all enjoyed our lovely guest! Now, before we move on to the submissions from all you wonderful viewers, I’d like to reiterate some old, but tried and true, advice, which I hold very close to my heart.”

Oh, here we go…

“Something which you probably hear very often is to always be yourself, or to always be true to yourself…”

Feh, I can think of several people who definitely shouldn’t do that…

“But it may be that you don’t like who ‘yourself’ is, or perhaps you don’t know what self you even have to be true to…”

Hah! As if… uh…

“And to that end, I’d like to say that there is always room for change. There’s always a way to make something new of yourself, to alter the parts of you that you want to, to become a different, better person. ‘Yourself’ can be whoever you want it to be; never are you locked along one unending bleak path. Try new things! Experiment! Don’t let yourself be trapped in an endless cycle.

“Believe me when I say I have personal experience with this: I’ve done so many different things over a rather short period of time, trying to find what I wanted to do with myself, who I wanted to be. Even now, I’m still not entirely sure if this is my supposed ‘calling’…! But I never got anywhere by doing nothing: it was on me to break out of my shell and search for myself, and now it’s on you to do the same.

“You don’t have to begin drastically, with a flying leap of faith--I think we’ve all walked over enough cliffs by now to know that!--but, if this is the sort of mindset you find yourself in, why not try taking some small steps today? It could be as simple as wearing a new outfit, or talking to someone new, or partaking in a new pastime.”

Birdo continued to elaborate on her point, but Waluigi--or, whoever he was beneath that--had stopped listening. He wanted to make some snark about what she said; he wanted to rationalize how what she described couldn’t ever apply to him; but, he found that he couldn’t. He had attempted to follow similar advice long in the past, and failed, but something about the way she phrased it, managed to affect him more deeply than he had thought possible. It was as though her words had dug beneath his shields and layers and pierced something somewhere in his core; pulled a lever, turned a handle, flipped a switch.

A strange sensation washed over him, one he could only describe as a blazing fire--nay, an inferno--igniting within him. He had felt the touch of flame countless times over the years, but not even the innumerable rage-fueled volleys he had endured, all combined into a single force, could compare to what now burned in his soul.

He leapt up from the sofa and ran to his bathroom. Staring at him from within the mirror was a character, a costume, a facade. It was not who he was. He grabbed a towel, dampened it, and proceeded to scrub away the pink paint on his nose; Wario and Waluigi’s noses were defined by that bright rosy color, but his was not. He then tore open a cabinet and grabbed his bottle of mustache product; normally, it was used to create the signature angular mustache of Waluigi, but today, it would shape the hairs into something softer and curlier. Whether that was what he would ultimately like did not matter: he was experimenting! He was changing himself!

Though the man that stared back at him from the glass now bore a much different visage, it was still framed by the purple cap and shirt, yellow emblem, and dark indigo overalls. He tore them off, then opened his wardrobe once more and threw all the copies of that same outfit to the ground. Hidden behind them were old clothes that he hadn’t worn for many, many years. He grabbed the first garments he saw--a casual dress shirt and gaudy neon-yellow shorts. Did those go well together? It didn’t matter. Without hesitating, he put them on.

He quickly glanced in the mirror again: the ensemble was nearly complete, but just missing one last touch. He thought on it for a moment, then stricken with brilliance, hurried to his modest backyard, where the roses he performed with in the games grew. He plucked one from its bush and affixed it to his hair, then ran back to the mirror to observe himself one more time.

His mismatched get-up would likely garner many stares from others, though he wouldn’t mind them at all; if he had anything in common with Waluigi, it was that they both loved being the center of attention. Even still, that’s not what mattered. A whole new day lay before him, a whole new day to be someone new, someone different; to move on from the cycle he had been stuck in, to take a whole new step forward.

He returned to the sitting room and turned off the television, then went to the front door. Taking a deep breath, he turned the handle, threw it open, and marched into the daylight, the daylight which felt far fresher and warmer than it had in a long time, though even it held no candle to the flame that continued to blaze within him.

Ready or not, world; here I come!!

#nintember #my writing #godss there were so many directions i thought about taking this #eventually had to just choose and commit to one #straight up wrote a great deal of a different take before scrapping it #writing is... a time

[ganymedesclock]

Given PK is, as one might guess from the blog, a character I kinda really love thinking about and exploring, and also someone where not a lot of his personality is very ‘available’ to the audience so you have to do a lot of conjecture and headcanon about what’s ticking away under the surface, it’s always fun to trace my personal inspirations.

And for the version of PK I write over at Remnantverse, there is definitely a certain amount of DNA from Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda.

For the unfamiliar- or, for the familiar wondering what elements I’m specifically thinking of- Shen is an arrogant lord and the main antagonist of the second movie. Relatively sickly in an environment ruled by powerful martial artists, Shen pioneered the use of gunpowder as weapons from his family’s background in fireworks, and makes a pretty terrifying display of a famous martial artist who stood against him by destroying the latter’s defenses with his new weapon: a cannon.

It’s also made clear fairly early on that Shen is a testy perfectionist who has not just a practical inventor’s lens on things but a more poetic or theatrical sense that he insists things are strictly to his vision- and it’s a sign he’s going seriously off the rails with stress and frustration when he starts disregarding these fiddly details (insisting “the year of the peacock begins NOW” and simply glaring down a subordinate who points out that by that logic, he’d only get half a year since it’s nowhere near New Years)

But I think the biggest element of “PK Mood” in Shen, is one conversation he has with Po- Po has spent the movie up to a certain point reeling with trauma from a half-remembered incident with Shen’s forces in his early childhood; but when he comes to terms with this and faces it in a visually gorgeous scene, and then comes back to square off with Shen, the latter is flabbergasted that Po no longer seems bothered by it. To recall the conversation more or less from memory:

Shen “I scarred you for life,” Po “Scars heal,” Shen “no they don’t,” Po “yeah, I guess... they fade?” Shen “I don’t care what scars do.”

And it’s in this interesting moment we see, in Shen, not the confident warlord he presents himself as, but the crux of his problem: this is a guy who’s never gotten over anything in his life, to such a point that it feels like a completely alien and ridiculous concept that someone could just... heal. The reality of scars, is they are not static, not as long as we’re still alive. They warp, shift, fade. Our body reassembles itself. We may not be good as new, we may not even be “better” but we will never stay the same.

It’s this sense of someone in a stasis position. And this conversation points out to us Shen’s quite literally fatal flaw. When Po destroys his fleet in the end of the story, Shen is able to witness his ship’s cannon falling towards him. At this point, we know, while Shen is a weaker antagonist, he is absolutely fast and light on his feet- absolutely fast enough to get out of the way.

He doesn’t.

He watches the cannon fall and closes his eyes.

Shen makes a decision not to leave what he knows, what he feels certain of, because while his other qualities create the conflict in the story- his hunger for power and interest in dominating others- what turns his personal story into an ultimately futile tragedy is that Shen doesn’t believe in the ability to heal. This makes his downfall rather brutal, in that the technique Po defeats him with is a weaponized form of basically Tai Chi, that in the setting, is explicitly taught to him as a meditation and he uses said meditative form specifically in his coping scene.

Shen’s mentor, the Soothsayer, who by the time of the movie has turned on a very different path from him, ultimately says “I wish you happiness,” to which Shen grimly retorts “happiness must be taken.”

Now, PK as I understand him is a lot less superficially snappy as Shen; he maintains an air of chilling calm in most situations. But a lot of those major beats are there- superficially, a warlord whose ruthlessness and ingenuity allowed him to dominate much more powerful foes, and someone who prefers to present themselves with a Perfect Image- and, that deeper thread.

Because the biggest thing that haunts me about PK’s canon fate... is that he is undisturbed.

His perch on the throne is precarious. Ghost is able to throw him off of it with about as much difficulty as it takes to break a geo deposit. His robes are rotted in such a way that suggests they simply deteriorated standing still. His guards slump at their posts, dead, only closest to him- every other ‘defensive layer’ in the castle is untouched.

Nowhere in the palace is there any insinuation of the Radiance’s presence. There is precious little of the Void.

PK is, we know, an intelligent and dangerous individual. He had to have been, to have won the initial war for Hallownest and driven Radiance as far back as he did. In a setting where the majority of people of Noted Authority seem like they could kick your ass pretty well, it’s hard to imagine the god-king forged out of a giant monster wasn’t a pretty tough customer at least in one regard or another.

And, yet, PK is dead. And he is dead in such a way that if there was any fight in the throne room, we’d see the aftereffects of it.

There is a deliberate, ringing sense of anticlimax to the throne room. This is a space you would anticipate a boss fight, a final moment, ANYTHING. Anything, to match up to the hype we have felt throughout the entire game, of finally facing The Pale King.

And then, even tipping his body off the throne barely makes a sound. He doesn’t shatter thunderously or let out a great burst of light and presence like the Dreamers do. He just takes three hits and falls to the floor with a sound that is not even particularly loud, or jarring, and a motion that lacks a sense of weight or finality.

And it... in a terrible way, makes perfect sense. If you don���t believe in the ability to heal, you sincerely think that being at your worst means you’ll be at your worst forever, or only get worse. What incentive is there to possibly try and get yourself out of a pit?

“I don’t care what scars do.”

“But you should, Shen.”

And this isn’t delivered like a snappy moment of triumph from Po, as much as, nearly concerned.

But ultimately, Shen makes a cowardly decision.

He doesn’t want to find out what scars do.

#Hollow Knight #Pale King #Kung Fu Panda #Lord Shen #readmore #suicide mention tw

[rethis]

15 questions on Prince of Tennis

Favourite Character

I’d say Yukimura, but truth is that my favorite Yukimura is my hc!Yukimura (I’ve been too long in this fandom and, when introduced, it’s not like Yukimura had the best of developments). If headcanon is allowed then: Yukimura Seiichi; if I stick to canon, then Tezuka Kunimitsu. He’s the kind of character I usually like: half mentor, half apprentice, good enough to choose his own path, introvert, etc.

Least liked character

Not sure… I’m not taking into account Shintenipuri, neither characters exclusives from the OVAs or the anime. But for those whose I really dislike is more like “I don’t even remember your name, pal”.

Favourite Team

Rikkai. Even if for a moment I forget that the Rikkai I love is woven on my own headcanon (yes, you will hear that a lot), stills my fav. They have four of the best characters on the series, a deeply and complex relation between all the members, and the only flaw I find in them is that the doubles pairs are more independent that I’d liked, but great dynamics nonetheless.

Least liked team

Higa. I mean, they’re mean. And I don’t like violence (main reason I praise the cdrama and the anime over the manga).

Favourite Ship

None? I mean… I’m not here for the romantic ships. There are plenty of other ship dynamics I’ve been captivated on. One of my favorites falls on Sanada and how he manages his feelings towards Yukimura’s illness.

Least liked ship

Almost anyone that focus on romance or sexual attatchment.

Favourite Arc

Kanto Regionals: Rikkai vs Seigaku. It’s the first time we’re allowed to know the feared, admonished, team of the Rikkaidai, and it’s pretty nice to see how the introductions to the main characters of the team are joint together, at least.

Least liked Arc

National Tournament. Sooooo boring. I think I just watched once and never again (just to look for the few excerpts of Yukimura and his background, for headcanon purposes, of course).

Favourite Movie/Ova

Another Story, specifically the 4th episode of the 1st round of these OVAs. I love smol Akaya and be able to see the Three Demons together on the Rikkai’s courts is just perfect *cheff kiss*

On a less canon approach “The Band Of Prince Film Kick The Future!”. It portrays flawlessly the aura of drama surrounding Tezuka along all the series.

Least liked Movie/Ova

Don’t know. I don’t remember boring things and, as I said, I’ve been in this fandom long enough to forget the less memorable OVAs.

Favourite Match

Tenipuri!match (anime version): Fuji vs Akaya… I mean Fuji vs Kirihara. I enjoyed the fear on Akaya’s eyes of being hurt.

Chinapuri!match: Mu Siyang vs Ji Jing Wu. In the manga/anime Atobe was a jerk, but Jing Wu was so worried, that poor thing ó.ò

Least liked match/a match you think should have gone differently

My first thought was the Sanada vs Echizen, but lastly I’ve come at peace with the original score. And now… I don’t know. I think is less about the score than the way it’s managed. That said, I didn’t enjoy almost none of the National matches, but I’m ok with them.

A match you'd like to see

I don’t care enough for an specific match to long for any of them.

An interaction you'd like to see

None. If I feel the need, I just write it down, and then, it’s like it happened all the time. The need is filled and my little excerpt with me forever. Thinking about it… I miss that Sanada and Yanagi talk often about Yukimura, and wrote this*:

“Renji turned off the screen and put the phone back, the call ended. He didn't recreate too much, he couldn't afford it, not with Genichirou leading the morning's training. Not a typhoon could stop him, much less a telephone conversation, no matter how much it was with their captain.

He joined the players who warmed up on the tennis courts, pacing them from side to side, racket in hand, and after a few minutes of regaining the heat in the muscles and the flexibility in the joints, he attended to Genichirou's finger that called him.

"One set, half court. Let's see who can hold the most volleys,” he suggested, though he meant it as an order.

He followed him to the court, where they exchanged fifty rallies, longer in the early games, less in the latter. Both ended up exhausted, Renji was convinced that he would collapse sooner, but he noticed that Genichirou was sweating more than normal, and knew that he needed an incentive to continue giving his all.

Every once in a while everyone needed it.

"Genichirou," he said, when Renji was winning six games to Genichirou's five, "Seiichi asked me for the national matches from last year. The ones he also played. "

"Good," he replied, ordering Renji immediately to return to the midfield line.

And although Genichirou was not a simple boy at all, Renji knew that only he and Seiichi were capable of influencing his character in this way, turning the scoreboard around (even if Renji used his last strength to prevent it), to draw, after all, the best of each other.”

How do you feel about adding Aliens?

           ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*Written in Spanish, translated by automatic translation. It could be worse.

#ask meme #prince of tennis #includes a short fic #Sanada Genichirou #Yanagi Renji

[broken-clover]

AU-gust Day 12- Modern

Here comes a joker! I really did like the idea of a crime au, but I just couldn’t come up with anything. So here’s something I’ve been wanting to make for a while, kinda inspired by an ask I got from Rex way back when. I just liked the idea of Axl being Bedman’s adopted dad, I thought it was neat!

Also apologies in advance for me using my name headcanons again, it’s just so difficult to work with a character whose name is ‘Bedman.’ Seriously, does he have a less bizarre name in canon? Who the fuck would name their kids ‘Delilah’ and ‘Bedman?’ Guess we know who the favorite was...

“I don’t like you.”

Axl wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he first signed up for the local foster program. Well, he sorta did. Ideally, he’d expected to be tasked with taking care of a child, with whatever bizarreness it would entail. He knew he wasn’t exactly what a lot of people would consider ‘prime material’ for a foster parent- he was an unmarried twentysomething with no clear direction on where he wanted to go with his life, but he was financially stable, passed all the agency’s legal checks and drug screenings, and attended every mandatory pre-service class alongside a small crew of other aspiring parents. Despite his best efforts, he always got the impression that the agency took issue with him being there. Still, Axl did everything he was told, waited patiently, and chatted with his assigned caseworker until they had found a match for him to try out.

Matthew had come with a ratty purple backpack, a seemingly-permanent scowl, and a laundry list of behavior problems tacked onto his case file. Axl wasn’t his first foster parent, he’d already gone through nearly a dozen, all of which had sent him back. The reasons varied, from destroyed appliances to constant verbal fighting. And he made it clear right from the get-go that he despised his new foster home just as much from the first words he uttered.

“I don’t like you. Send me back.”

It seemed nobody really knew where the origin of his ire was. Being pushed back and forth through the foster system again and again for years seemed like a perfectly good reason to be cross, at least in Axl’s opinion, but the way the orphanage and his agent had spoken about it made it sound like Matthew was born with a scowl on his face and just didn’t know how to take it off. They seemed surprised by the concept that he was even being placed in another foster home. The repeated failures and inability to get along with anyone seemed to indicate that he was doomed to take the slow path, waiting a few more years until he turned 18 and aged out of the system on his own.

In spite of their initial rough meeting, Axl did his best to welcome him warmly. He’d set up and painted a room ahead of time for his new family member to live in, acquired all the legal documents he needed for everything from school enrollment to medical files, and stored up a plethora of dad jokes that he could use as he needed. Matthew was unimpressed with all of them.

“I hate this place. When are you sending me back?”

For all the snarky comments and indifference he could manage, Axl didn’t budge. He was patient. He would keep trying.

Though he only knew so much about him from his case file (Matthew despised small talk, and Axl didn’t drag him into it), he’d done his best to support the interests he saw. He bought the science books he noticed the boy staring at in the shop windows, and trying to pick out new cartridges for the game system he barely let out of his sight. He seemed like the intellectual type, reading college-level books on social sciences and linguistics, and he preferred strategy games over any other kind. Axl wasn’t much of a bookworm himself, maybe that’s what made it so difficult for them to connect. But even if he couldn’t match him on an intellectual level, maybe he could still do so on a more personal one.

So he stayed patient.

“Why are you being so stubborn…?”

Axl could tell he was at least getting somewhere. They didn’t exactly have casual time together, not really, but he wasn’t immediately shooed away. Matthew could play his games, or read a book, and Axl could sit on the other side of the room. Every time, he inched closer and closer, until the only option left was for them to sit on the same couch.

“Heya, Mattie, mind if I sit down for a sec?"

It had been a quiet evening, not especially remarkable in any way. Just another day of work and school for the both of them, and free time afterward to unwind.

His son glanced up at him, but only for the briefest of moments. “You have more than one chair.”

“Yeah, but I just wanted to sit with you today. Is that okay?”

“...Fine. But don’t touch me.”

Axl sat himself down on the other side of the sofa. “So...how was school?”

“Don’t want to talk about it.”

The sheer speed of his response threw him off-guard. “Well, okay. Um, did I already tell you that I like the neat thing you’ve got going on with your hair?” He pointed towards the boy’s messily-dyed purple locks.

“Eight times. Nine now.”

“You do it yourself?”

“In my last house’s bathtub.”

“Must’ve been a right mess! But it looks like it turned out good?”

“It was. My foster mom was mad about the mess I made. So she wound up screaming at me over it. And I screamed back. And before I knew it, she sent me back. It’s on my case file, I thought you said you read it.”

Axl felt his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. Well, open mouth, insert foot. He had read it, multiple times, but all it had listed was ‘confrontational issues and repeated arguments.’ He’d wondered exactly what that had meant, but actually figuring it out made him feel the exact opposite of satisfied.

“...Oh. Sounds like a right bitch.”

“She was. Can you stop asking questions now? I’m bored of them.”

He complied, though the ensuing silence only made everything feel more uncomfortable. He just didn’t get why some people screamed at their kids, mistakes just happened sometimes. Children were still learning how things worked, it seemed natural sometimes it would end in a mess.

“Hey.”

“I don’t wanna talk.”

“And I’m not gonna make you.” Axl stayed where he was. “Is it okay if I talk, though? You don’t have to say anything back.”

No response. But he didn’t get up and leave, like he had done in the past, so Axl took it as a cue to keep going. “I know you’re probably not gonna like me right away. And that’s ok. I’m still a total stranger, and you’re just expected to trust me to look after you. And I’ve seen all your paperwork, but that doesn’t mean I know anything about you as a person. We’re still strangers, the two of us.”

He paused. Matthew looked unfazed. “So I get it. I really do. I’m…” Axl tried to think of what he wanted to say. “I...

I’m not sending you back.”

Still no response. But Axl noticed the way his hands locked, and the little startled double-blink that came with it.

“If we’ve got issues, we can work ‘em out. I know you’ve been through a lot, so it’s ok if you have a rough time at first. And I’m not gonna throw you out as soon as you have a hard time. I totally get it. You’re not a bloody dog, I’m not gonna pretend like I can tame you with treats until you do whatever I tell you. There’s just some stuff we aren’t ever going to see eye-to-eye on. But no matter what, you’re my kid now, and you’re not going anywhere unless that’s what you really want.”

Slowly, uncertainly, he watched Matthew close his game and let it rest in his lap. He didn’t look up. “I want to be a good parent. I know I’m new at this, too, so I might fuck up a couple of times. I just want you to know that I’m ready to be your dad, and that means loving you no matter what.”

After another quiet, uncomfortable moment, a small voice piped up. “I’m not good at jokes, but yours aren’t funny.”

“It’s not a joke.” Axl replied. “I mean it.”

“It’s not funny!” It sounded more forceful the second time. His voice grew brittle. “You should send me back. Why won’t you send me back?”

“Why would I do that? You’re all set up in your room, and moving is a pain.” Axl tried to throw in a little friendly chuckle, but it didn't hide the unease in his voice. "Why would you think I would want to get rid of you?"

“I- I’m not-” His tone finally snapped, and his shoulders began to tremble. “I’m no good.”

He found himself hesitating for a moment, but Axl scooted closer, wrapping arms around his shoulders and giving his son a tight squeeze. “Nobody’s perfect. And I wouldn’t want you to be, anyway. I just want you to be you. Whatever that means.”

The two of them simply sat there for a while. This certainly hadn’t been in any of the advice books he’d read, but this was something Axl didn’t mind doing on his own. He just hoped he had expressed what he needed to.

He didn’t even think of letting go until he felt squirming against him. Matthew immediately picked up his game again and flipped it open. No acknowledgement at all. But...no, that was fine. He said he would accept him no matter what he was. If he didn’t like to talk about his feelings, then he didn’t need to force it.

“...help me with this turn.”

“Huh?” Curious, Axl shuffled closer to get a better look at his screen. “Wait, is this the one I got you?”

The boy nodded. “The mechanics are simplistic and the strategy elements are child’s play, but...I’ve had a lot of fun with it.” He tapped at something on his screen. “Alright. So right now my troops are stationed outside the dragon king’s fortress. How should they be organized when we open our assault?”

Well, he wasn’t much of a strategist, but he had no trouble giving it a go, anyway. “Uhh, definitely want to have some long-range stuff, right? So you can hit from a distance. Got anything for that?”

Another nod. “There’s a whole subclass for that, let me show you. There’s archers, a trebuchet, long-distance casters, and demolitionists. Each of them have a different set of stats and energy cost.”

“Why don’t you explain them to me a little more?”

“Sure. Archers have the best cost-to-efficiency ratio, but their projectiles are still on the weaker side. But if you take the trebuchet…”

It was a starting step, he realized, only a small one. But it was still something.

#AU-gust #writing #guilty gear #Axl Low #Bedman

[setsureadsshit]

Lost At Sea: A List of WIP’s I am finally letting go of [ Part 2 ]

[ Part 1 ]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Very Sincerely Yours by semaphoredrivethru

Summary: Terrified at the prospect of humiliating himself in front of the ton and completely ruining his first season with his crippling shyness, omega Stiles Stilinski does the only thing he can; he invents a sweetheart away at war. A completely fictitious and utterly gorgeous captain, a gentlemanly paragon of romance and adoration, an alpha with whom Stiles spends years "exchanging" letters.Years later, an angry, war-battered Derek Hale shows up at Stiles's door. He's no gentleman, and vehemently denies the existence of anything remotely resembling romance. He's received every last letter and has come to collect on Stiles's promises of home and marriage, no matter what.

Last Updated: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: AHHHHH, THERE’S NOTHING I LIKE MORE THAN A GOOD REGENCY BODICE RIPPER AU. HOW UNFORTUNATE THAT THIS ONE NEVER GOT FINISHED. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD START TOO, I AM SO DISAPPOINTED. AHHHHHHH SO SAD.

Sold by onlyastoryteller

Summary: The government has passed two significant acts that eliminate the rights of convicted felons. When Peter Burke learns that Neal Caffrey's Work Contract has been purchased by a private citizen, he springs into action.

Last Update: 2018

Fandom & Main Pairing: White Collar ; Baffery

Personal Notes: While this fic is amazing and it hasn’t been THAT long since it was last updated (trust me, I’ve held on to fics for over 5 years on the hope it’d get updated lmao), this fandom and pairing just doesn’t interest me anymore; mostly because The Bullshit Season really turned me off from the show.

Sypha’s Boys by ShifterCat

Summary: “Back in the tomb under Greşit, Alucard asked you about that prophecy involving him. And… you blushed.”“O-oh.” That brought her up short. “Yes. That.” Sypha glanced away, gathering herself, then looked back decisively. “‘The Hunter, the Scholar, the Sleeping Soldier: they shall travel together. They shall defeat great evil together. They shall… love together.’”Trevor blinked a few times, allowing that to sink in. Then: “Your prophecy says we’re going to fuck?”

Last Update: 2019

Fandom & Main Pairing: Castlevania ; Syvorcard

Personal Notes: I mean, it says what it is on the tin - it’s just a collection of smut vignettes and after the first 5 chapters the sex kinda just gets old and I start to crave actual plot. That isn’t to say it’s not well written and I didn’t enjoy it but..you know *hand waves* 

Partners by wordswehavesaid

Summary: In which Barry Allen is the Starling City Police Department's forensics assistant. Yes, Starling.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: The Flash/Arrow ; Flarrow

Personal Notes: I love love love love LOVE this fic. I love it SO MUCH and it physically PAINS ME to let it go but it’s time. Still, at 25 hefty chapters, it’s not really a bad deal to put your time into it.

Take My Body by paraselenewoman

Summary: Derek and Jordan are Alphas. Stiles is their newly obtained omega. Everything is pretty terrifying.If given the chance, though, Stiles probably wouldn't change a thing.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Derek x Stiles x Parish

Personal Notes: ......okay listen. I never said I was proud of all of my fic reading choices okay BUT SOMETIMES. SOMETIMES A BITCH JUST NEEDS SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED A/B/O Dom/sub DYNAMICS IN THEIR LIFE OKAY. YOU CAN’T SHAME ME - but I am a little embarrassed to admit it so let’s head to the next fic.

That Which Binds Them by Flarrow

Summary: Everyone is born with a mark shared by their soulmate, located somewhere around their shoulder blade. They say the mark burns upon meeting one's soulmate. Oliver knows what his is, but doesn't believe in the system. Barry doesn't know what his looks like, but he wants it to be a surprise.Set in The Flash and Arrow universes, but AU in the sense that I'm not sticking to the storyline laid out in either series, though I may borrow elements when they work for the story. Barry and Oliver are still The Flash and Arrow. Idea of the mark's location was inspired by the brand Oliver received in “The Fallen.”

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: The Flash/Arrow ; Flarrow

Personal Notes: I read this a while back but I do remember it being a really good story. At 18 chapters, I didn’t feel like giving it the full re-read treatment since I’m currently on a role but I DID take the liberty of reading the very last chapter and I can say you’ll leave this fic satisfied if you do read it, even though it’s unfinished.

Steve Rogers and the Tri-Wizard Tournament by gryffindor17

Summary: There’s not a person who walks the halls of Hogwarts who doesn’t know Steve Rogers: the boy with the righteous streak, hot temper, and massive crush on the Romanian Longhorns’ star Chaser, Bucky Barnes. But Bucky exists to Steve only on the front page of The Daily Prophet. He has long since resigned himself to admiring from afar, catching games when he can or otherwise following Barnes’s crusade against injustice through printed page.Until the man himself walks into the Great Hall on the first night of their Seventh Year.Bucky’s life outside of the spotlight is hardly worthy of a footnote, never mind a headline, but no one wants to read about Bucky Barnes being found face-down and fast asleep between the shelves of Durmstrang’s impressive library. Between his studies and the Quidditch Finals looming around the corner, the last thing Bucky needs is something like the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He knows Headmaster Pierce is expecting him to volunteer, but all Bucky really wants is to pass his N.E.W.T.S. and maybe twist The Minister’s arm into passing the bill about guaranteed pay for House Elves.That is until he spots Merlin’s gift to man sitting at the Gryffindor table.Then things get complicated.

Last Update: 2016

Fandom & Main Pairing: Captain America (MCU) ; Stucky

Personal Notes: It’s rare that I actually enjoy Hogwarts AU’s and I’ve kinda dropped out of the Captain American fandom so, while this IS really well done, I’m just not interested in it anymore.

Part Of Your World by Jenetica

Summary: Derek's a werewolf. Stiles is a merman. They're not supposed to work.Luckily, they're both determined to prove that particular fact false.Sequel to "Sea Foam and Sunshine."

Last Update: 2014

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: This is the second part in a series and you should def read the first one it’s fucking great. The second one is also good but...you know. Not gonna be finished ever so.

Knot Your Playmate by Halzbarry

Summary: He quickly closed his laptop and laid back on his bed. Somehow he’d convinced himself to not only sign up for an online ABO hookup website, but to also meet up with not one, but two alphas to potentially sleep with and get him through his heat. AU where Stiles is an omega, and has to sign up for an online ABO dating website to find an alpha to bring him through his heat, and possibly be a match so he doesn't flunk out of high school and get sent to remedial school because of Harris. What he doesn't expect is to find two mated alphas looking for an omega, and for feelings to start getting involved. Notice: Fic is on indefinite hiatus and is no longer being worked on.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Derek x Stiles x Parish

Personal Notes: .......LISTEN. IT’s GOOD OKAY????

Last To Know by Never_Says_Die

Summary: Kink meme fill in which every werewolf and shapeshifter in Beacon Hills is aware that Stiles is pregnant before he is. And apparently the first baby!werewolf being born into the pack (their Alpha's, no less) is a big freakin' deal and excuse enough for everyone to lose their damn minds. When Stiles figures out why everyone's been acting so weird around him, he's not amused. 

Last Update: 2013

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: This one is basically finished, like, it’s 21 of 22 chapters but the 22nd chapter would have mostly been just putting a bow on it, it’s already wrapped you know? It’s a really good fic I really love it, I should honestly just reblog it in it’s own right but I’ve already gone through the trouble of formating it so fuck it.

Lonely Road by CranApplePye

Summary: Stiles is running from things he doesn't want to face. Derek is running from a past he cannot leave behind. Their paths collide on a lonely stretch of road when Stiles' car breaks down and Derek is the only mechanic on hand. An unexpected closeness develops, but both men are harboring secrets and Stiles may have just found the one person whose luck runs worse than his own. When the past catches up with the future, it may be one collision that neither of them can survive, and it may end up pulling everyone they love down with them.As everything begins to unravel, choices must be made. Stiles must decide how far he's able to go to protect the people he cares about, and what he'll do when he hits his breaking point. Derek must decide whether he can overcome a lifetime of betrayal enough to trust in someone again, and what he's willing to sacrifice if he is. And Scott and Allison must decide what it means to stand by your friends, and what price they are each willing to pay to do what is right.

Last Update: 2015

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Sterek

Personal Notes: I AM REALLY MAD THIS NEVER GOT FINISHED. SUCH A COMPELLING STORY. SUCH A FRESH TAKE ON WHAT THE CANON COULD HAVE BEEN. AAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Lost In The Flood by Skaboom

Summary: When social services finally barges in and takes Isaac away from his father, granting custody to his aunt, Isaac gets the first good night's sleep he's had since his mother died, but that doesn't mean that everything is easy from there on out. There's a lot of lingering damage, and with everyone gossiping about him at school, it's hard to find someone to turn to, but with the help of a caring Aunt, a great therapist, and an unexpected friendship with Stiles, a kid on his lacrosse team, Isaac might finally be on the right path.

Last Update: 2017

Fandom & Main Pairing: Teen Wolf ; Stisaac

Personal Notes: Another sad goodbye, there has never been enough Stisaac fic in this fandom for me so seeing what few good fics there were go unfinished is particularly bitter to me.

#Teen Wolf #Sterek #stiles stilinski x derek hale #white collar #neal caffery x peter burke #neal caffery x peter burke x elizabeth burke #Castlevania #Alucard x trevor x sypha #the flash #arrow #flarrow #barry allen x oliver queen #derek x stiles x parish #Captain America (MCU) #Stucky #Steve Rogers x Bucky Barns #stisaac #stiles x isaac #Lost At Sea

[houseofhalation]

A sneak peek of an upcoming request fic. Warning for dark content, not completely canon compliant with the game. 

You draw the blade across your forearm, deep enough that blood flows from it immediately, sharp pain gnawing at your arm to profound you swear it touches bone. Blood drips into the bronze bowl before you, the dull noise of it ringing through the empty room of the abandoned church. 

The summoning would be stronger, more stable if you used the full weight of your coven behind you. But in this at least, you are alone; your scheme necessitates it. To defeat the sorcerers moving in on your coven’s territory, you have decided to harness the power of a demon. Almost any demon will do, as long as they’re of about middling strength. Any stronger and it’s liable to overpower you; any weaker and they will be of no use in rousting the sorcerers. 

Once you have the safety of your coven in hand, they will have no choice but to elect you their leader. If you were completely honest with yourself, you would admit that this is the main impetus behind your decision. Power: that, and little else. The safety of your sisters is a pleasant side benefit. 

That is why you have taken the unorthodox path of using your own blood as sacrifice. It opens you to a few minor dangers, but the power it promises in return is lucrative. It shouldn’t be much of a problem, anyway; you’re certain that whatever comes through the portal in front of you, you’ll be able to control. It’s just a single mid-level demon, after all. 

But there is one thing that does worry you a little nervous, and that is that you don’t have a name to call upon. A name is almost always required for first contact, but it is definitely required when you’re trying to forge a pact. All of the demons listed in your coven’s grimoire are far too powerful for you to control. It’s a bitter reminder of how far your sisterhood has fallen; generations ago, you were told that your coven could subjugate Lucifer himself. Now, you’d all be lucky to conquer a troupe of robals. The unfairness of it all makes you grit your teeth as you splash the blood you’ve collected around the circle of salt you’ve poured in front of you. 

That weakness is going to come to an end. Tonight. And you will be exalted, you will have your name written down in your coven’s grimoire to be remembered for generations to come. The thought bolsters you as you step into your own circle of protection, dribbling the last little bit of blood around yourself. 

Blood for protection and blood to seal, drawing strength from the closeness of the sacrifice. You use the heavy cloth bandage you’ve brought just for this occasion to stanch the bleeding, wrapping it tight enough around your forearm to slow the blood flow. Just in case, you test your fingers. 

There’s no putting it off any longer, and you mercilessly quash the trepidation that rises in you.

“I call out to you, denizens of the dark! Send unto me one of power! One whose wrath matches mine own! One who will see my enemies below my feet!” You raise your arms to the vaulted, decaying ceiling. It was a stroke of luck, really, finding this forgotten place within your coven’s territory. Isolated and in the middle of the forest everyone always ignores because it’s close to the highway and nothing else. Plus, you kind of like the idea of summoning a demon in what had once been something of a holy place; you hope that it will give you some extra protection. 

“I summon you!” You call out into the darkness and the smell of bitter smoke blooms around you, belching out from the flicker of cold flame that erupts from the center of the circle in front of you. The smile that spreads across your face is anything but happy. The pale light from the full moon seeps in through the holes in the roof and creates the shadows that swirl around you now. 

You watch in nervous anticipation as the smoke in the second circle coalesces, and you resist the urge to hold your breath as it forms a shape.

...Three shapes. 

Three shapes.

Not the one you’d been hoping for, the one you’re fervently hoping will form just before the smoke clears. But even as the first wisps start to dissipate you can see there are three distinct heads. 

Shit.

At this point, you’d be happy with a three-headed demon, anything, so long as it was just the one. Because your circle was only meant to hold one demon of a certain strength, and it wouldn’t matter if they were the weakest trio of robals in hell, it still isn’t meant to contain them. Shit, shit, shit.

The smoke fades and you count—one, two, three—three demons standing before you, shoulder to shoulder in your warded circle. Three greater demons, based on how human they look. The better a demon is able to hide their nature, the more dangerous they are; it was your first lesson and it’s what your mind flashes to now as you stare at them. You feel your heart beat faster as you take in their countenances, and faster still as you notice that you can’t see anything demonic about them at all.

One of them—the one with purplish eyes and dark hair— taps at the edge of your circle where the wards flare to life against his pale fingers. You wince as you feel the magic awaken. His touch is gentle, but only for the moment. None of them look even remotely pleased to have somehow been summoned. If there’s any way to salvage the situation, you hope it will appear before you.

“I—I have summoned you—” your voice is dry with the fear you’re trying to hide, but you don’t even get to finish your demand.

“Oh!” The demon in the center exclaims, offering you a smile you might have misconstrued for friendly in any other situation. “That’s something we really should set straight first. My name is Asmodeus. This is Belphegor, and that is Satan. And you didn’t summon us, poor thing. You invited us. Rude of you to try and trap us in this,” he says with his honeyed voice, toeing the line your blood makes around him. Pained tears prickle in your eyes. 

“Your names—” you start to choke out, still trying to catch up to what’s happening. They gave you their names. That should give you some measure of power, some protection. Names have power, after all. But the blonde demon only shakes his head as if he pities you, which is galling and terrifying all at the same time. You don’t know which is worse. 

“It won’t matter,” the one you recognize as being called Satan says. Which has to be a practical joke, those names, because they’re all names of the lords of hell. There’s no way you’d be able to summon even one of them, let alone three, but.

Invited, the one calling himself Asmodeus said.

“We wanted to see which human was stupid enough to throw out an unbound summoning using their own blood,” Belphegor says. “Let’s hope you’re better at entertaining than you are summoning, right?”

“Aww, don’t say that! She’s pretty enough,” Asmodeus says as he leans forward, close to the edge of the circle he’s standing in. “At least, I think so; that robe really is getting in the way. How about you take it off, hmm?”

Your hands are at the tie around your waist before you even know it, tugging at the material keeping the folds of your ceremonial robe closed. Before it can slip open, you realize what’s happening and pull it shut tighter. There’s no sense in hoping that they haven’t seen how he’s just managed to manipulate you, even through the circle. The dark haired one laughs openly. 

“What do you think we should do with her?” The blonde says, reaching out to press the palm of his hand again the thin barrier your wards make. Electricity buzzes underneath your skin and you grit your teeth, fighting down the bile that rises in your throat. He isn’t even really touching it, and that is what truly fills you with dread. He hasn’t even tried to test it yet, and you’re already starting to crumble. 

“We could kill her,” Belphegor says with a shrug, as if he doesn’t care. He probably doesn’t, you know.

“I suppose we could eat her,” Satan suggests, though he doesn’t look particularly enthused by that idea. If they don’t eat humans, then you might, maybe, just escape this confrontation. The possibility is slim, but it might be there. 

“You’re lucky our brother isn’t here,” Belphegor says with a yawn from inside the circle. The blonde one keeps tapping at your wards where they’re weak, and you can feel every touch etched out on the inside of your chest. “Then there wouldn’t even be a question. He’d eat you before you could even start to beg for your pathetic life.”

“Such a waste,” Asmodeus says with a smirk, his sweep of strawberry blonde hair falling over one of his eyes. You take a step back and press your hands against your lower ribs, where the sparks of pain are the worst. You know now why outside blood sacrifices were preferred, why your sisters forfeit a modicum of power for the comfort it brings. Because having three demons pressing against the wards that keep them in is absolute agony.

You only meant to summon one. 

“Poor thing,” the honey-eyed demon continues, the one that called eating you a waste. His voice is soft and soothing and you look up at him, remembering at the last minute that you shouldn’t look into his eyes. “You could just let us out, you know. It would be so easy, and then we can have some fun.”

“No,” you grind out, tongue thick and heavy from fear and the magic Asmodeus is trying to work on you. 

#obey me #obey me! #obey me! fanfic #sneak peek #just to prove that like I am actually working on stuff #obey me! asmodeus #obey me! belphegor #obey me! satan #this will be on ao3 #when it's done #gore #blood #cause i forgot #younglings avert your eyes #oh shit i also forgot to tag for #female mc

[professorchaos]

i already know u like it but heres a free ask to talk about bunny

y’all know by now that bunny is maybe my favourite ship of All Time. so instead of just saying why i like it i’m gonna say why i don’t like fanon surrounding it 

the thing about bunny that disappoints me constantly is how terribly their potential for an incredibly complex dynamic is overlooked!!! in fanon it’s generally portrayed either as this soft fluffy side ship that everyone’s just like “eh it’s cute i guess” about, some weird fetishistic thing about young blonde boys (eugh) or one-sided hurt/comfort (either cool bad boy kenny saving poor naive butters from abuse, or innocent sunshine butters healing angsty mess kenny’s wounds both physical and psychological). when it’s not one of those- and i’ve seen this more lately, i guess bc people want to stray from those old fanon tropes- it’s like. evil murderous professor chaos with a one-sided crush that’s portrayed in a manner that’s, frankly, incredibly homophobic. 

butters and kenny are characters whose paths have overlapped often, yet their interactions in canon are extremely limited. they rarely talk, and only have one episode focused on their friendship, which didn’t come out until 2012- even in tfbw, which introduced a huge amount of new dialogue for all sorts of character combinations, chaos and mysterion only get two unique interactions. i’m not sure exactly why matt and trey are so averse to having them interact. possibly because they’re trying to write kenny out of the show- i don’t know. anyway.

despite how little they converse, i think there’s good reason to believe that the two have some sort of deeper friendship ‘behind the scenes’. they’re often seen glancing at one another when things go south (especially with eric; think of how often they’re on either side of him, too), playing together (we know that mysterion and chaos play off-screen, and both seem to value that time quite a bit, despite mysterion’s dismissive responses in tfbw. there’s also their dynamic in sot to consider, with the two spending a lot of time alone together or alone together with eric, and butters admitting he has a crush on princess kenny). in going native, butters admits that kenny is his favourite out of all the other kids, and though kenny is surprised, he warms awfully quickly to the idea. (blame that hero complex, i guess). 

so the way i see bunny is like... they’re almost narrative foils, though not quite. each of their personas matches up in one way or another (hero/villain, princess/paladin) and you’d think it makes them the perfect match, yet they’re barely seen interacting. they bump together, sure, but they always move away from one another again soon afterwards. it’s like- their friendship is littered with these little moments of incredible intimacy, even when said intimacy isn’t at all ‘intimate’ in the conventional sense (kenny throwing a ninja star in butters’ eye strikes me as... something. especially in fanon, where it leaves a lasting scar. i don’t know how to describe that kind of thing, between two people who never really meant each other harm and perhaps later might find love in a romantic sense, as anything but ‘intimate’). they’re never the closest, they’re not this inseparable duo. they’re just two people with incredibly similar circumstances, and ways of coping with said circumstances so different that they loop back around to almost being the same again. they look out for one another (kenny possibly having invited butters to board game night, butters comforting kenny when he’s ill from cheesing) but they’re also, i think, filled with a sort of mutual resentment- they are, in a meta sense, constantly vying for the fourth place in stan’s group, and have been since season 5. interpreting that as something within canon makes for... an interesting concept. 

there’s nothing more romantic to me than the concept of fate (you can blame one of my first fandoms, CLAMP, for this). but not fate as in “two people meet and become soulmates”, which is kinda how i see like, style- no. i see bunny as being fated in a twisted and meandering sense. they’re not necessarily fated lovers, but they’re fated to know each other, and to bounce off of one another again and again until- maybe, someday, hopefully- their paths finally align for good. they compliment each others’ dissociated and fragmented selves perfectly, part for part and step by step, and i think that one day, whatever gods allowing, something incredibly special could be born from that. 

give me bunny angst! give me bunny drama! but not the gratuitous kind, where nothing is ok and they’re stuck in the horrors of the past, but the kind where it’s like, ok, this is just how life is for people like us, and we’ll drag something beautiful from the wreck if it kills us. a soft ending, i think. they deserve it.

#ship asks #rambles #DJBDKJDBKDBDK ok i love them so much also last sentence is a link. listen 2 the song if u want. i luv bunny. thank u