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spectersgirl · 6 months

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So like... truly not a single individual asked for even anything remotely this but I've had it sitting partially unfinished in my drafts since the day I started this blog. I'm debating turning it into like a 3ish part mini-series but please do let me know if you guys think I should just leave it alone or keep going! If I did continue this, know that future parts would be juicier and likely include a bit of angst as it would kind of work perfectly with a request I have in my inbox!

Without further adieu, I hope you enjoy :)

Something More

Harvey Specter x Reader

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You were in such a rush to get to work that you hadn’t bothered to check your phone until you were already on the train and headed to your office. If you had, maybe you would’ve put a bit more attention into your appearance on that particular day. Once you were in your seat, you finally pulled out your phone and noticed a rather… compelling message from none other than Harvey Specter. Your heart nearly beat out of your chest.

You’d very recently become a junior partner at the firm, which meant you’d be working just a bit more closely with him than when you were simply an associate. This thought both excited you and also freaked you out just a little. Harvey was the biggest of the big dogs in corporate law, and to say you weren't intimidated would simply be a lie.

The message Harvey had sent you was simple, as he didn’t tend to beat around the bush or waste any time when it came to much of anything.

“Come see me when you get in, I want to chat. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. Oh, and there’s something waiting for you in your office.”

You pictured the smirk he had while typing out that message, knowing he'd made you nervous.

You fluffed up your hair a little and checked your lipgloss in the reflection of your front camera and before you knew it, you found yourself pressing the elevator button up to Pearson Specter, and clicking your heels as you walked to Harvey’s office. You decided to go straight there, wanting to get whatever this was out of the way. You paused when you reached Donna’s desk, unsure of whether or not you needed to check in with her first. You'd never been summoned to Harvey's office before.

“You can go right on in, hon. He already told me he’s expecting you.” She said with a slight smile, not even needing to look up from her screen to see who was there.

“H-how’d you know it was me?” You asked, visibly thrown off by her skill. You didn't have a ton of interaction with Donna when you were an associate, only here and there and you’d heard she was good at this type of thing, but damn.

She looked up and gave you the “Do you really have to ask me that” face.

“Right. Thanks, Donna” you said as you turned toward Harvey’s office, only slightly embarrassed.

You knocked on his door, which sat slightly ajar. He was reading from a file folder, but closed it when he saw you enter.

“She Donna’d you, didn’t she?” He asked with amusement present in his tone.

“That she did. But umm, you... wanted to see me?" Your stomach was doing flips, despite him saying you weren't in any trouble, you felt like you were anyway.

He smiled, gesturing at the seat in front of him at his desk. You cautiously sat down, your guard still up.

“I told you, you're not in trouble. You can relax, Y/N. I don't bite. I just wanted to congratulate you personally on making junior partner. I know we’ve never really crossed paths much since you started here, but I really look forward to getting to know you. From what I've heard, you do great work, Y/N. It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by me, or any of the senior staff. You’re going to do great things here.” He said earnestly.

You were floored. Of anything you expected Harvey to call you into his office for, this wouldn’t have even cracked your top 20 guesses. Up until your promotion, you weren’t even confident he knew your name let alone knew about and recognized the hard work you constantly put in.

“O-oh! Really? Thank you! That means everything coming from you.” You replied.

"Of course 'really', I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." He said with a chuckle.

You relaxed your shoulders and sunk a tiny bit lower in your seat.

Harvey opened his mouth to say something else, but as he did, Donna poked her head in to let him know he had a call from a client.

You quickly stood up and smoothed your dress out.

“I’ll let you take that, but thank you again, Harvey. I really appreciate it.” You told him.

He smiled warmly and stood now, too, walking you the few feet to his doorway. You mentally noted how gentlemanly this was, saving the thought for later.

By the time you got to your office you had completely forgotten the other part of Harvey's message from earlier, that he had left something on your desk. Neatly placed in front of your laptop was the most beautiful bouquet of flowers you’d ever seen, and a stack of business cards, embossed with your name and the new title. A post-it note sat on top of them with “Congrats!” written in Harvey’s handwriting. You smiled widely. To you, even these cards meant more than you could possibly describe. They were a physical manifestation of all the hard work you'd put in, everything you'd gone through and overcame. As for the flowers, well, they definitely were a shock to you. You didn’t take Harvey as a flowers guy.

You settled into your desk chair, smiling down at the stack of cards before signing into your computer, and getting started on the slightly mountainous pile of work you had to take care of. With a promotion of course came more cases and harder work, but regardless, you were still glad to have been promoted.

You were deep in your laptop typing up a brief for one of your cases when you noticed a presence standing in your doorway.

“Oh, Harvey! Hey, sorry I was just in my head. I was going to come by earlier and thank you for the flowers and the cards. They’re beautiful”

Harvey grinned and nodded his head.

“Of course, you deserve them! Though I can’t exactly take credit for the floral arrangement… that was all Donna.”

“What can Donna not do?”

“I’ve been asking myself that for the last twelve years."

"Did I hear my name?" Donna said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and making Harvey nearly jump out of his skin.

You smiled brightly, greeting the redhead and thanking her for the flowers. She lit up and told you all about her florist, telling you she'd get you a business card asap.

As the week went on, you found yourself having more run-in's like this with Harvey than you'd had in the entirety of your employment at the firm. Surely it was a coincidence, or at least that's what you'd convinced yourself anyway.

The remaining Harvey-free parts of your week didn't nearly live up to how your first morning as a partner had gone. You had been hitting dead end after dead end in all your cases and nothing was going the way you'd planned. The deposition you had scheduled for Friday got moved, so at the very least, you were able to head home a little earlier than you planned. You were wrapping up and grabbing your coat when a knock on your office door made you jump, the tension from your rather hellish week still rattling you.

"Hey sorry to scare you, I just wanted to see how your first official week as a junior partner went?"

You huffed a sigh in response, not wanting to make a big deal out of the tough day that surely you'd get over.

Harvey chuckled at this.

"That bad, huh?"

"I'll be fine, I’ll get it figured out it’s just everything I tried to do went exactly the opposite of how I wanted it to go."

"I would tell you we've all been there, but I wouldn't want to lie to you," Harvey replied, smirking as he straightened his tie. "Harvey Specter always gets what he wants"

"Mmm, I'm sure he does.” You mused. “Well Harvey, as much as I'd like to chat more, I was about to head home and have a very large, very strong drink."

"Funny, I was about to ask if you'd like to join me for a drink."

You paused for a beat, weighing the pros and cons of going for a drink with Harvey. On one hand, he was technically your boss and it wouldn't be the worst idea to get to know him better. On the other, it made you a little nervous having any alcohol in your system around him. For totally work-related reasons, of course, and no other reasons.

"Fuck it," you thought to yourself. "live a little."

“You know what Harvey? Sure. I'd like that.”

Harvey grinned in a way that made your stomach erupt with butterflies.

"Good, let's get out of here." He said, grabbing your coat off the coat rack and handing it to you.

You grabbed it from him, put your bag over your shoulder and flicked the lamp on your desk off.

Harvey stood by the door to your office, holding it open and letting you go first.

"Wow, and to think just yesterday I thought you were only a pretty boy with an ego. Harvey Specter is actually a gentleman?" You questioned teasingly. Harvey raised an eyebrow, smirking as you both walked toward the elevators.

"All I'm hearing is that you think I'm pretty"

"Not the point, Specter."

"It's the only point I caught. Did you say something else?"

"And suddenly I'm regretting saying yes to you"

Harvey chuckled now, pressing the lobby button as the elevator doors closed.

Not an hour later, the two of you were seated at a small table in whatever fancy bar it was that Harvey had taken you to. You'd forgotten the name, but apparently, it was somewhere Harvey frequented if the exceptional treatment from the staff and the fact that they knew his name was any indication.

You ordered the drink you always ordered, a whiskey ginger with a lime, and Harvey nodded approvingly before ordering his own drink.

Once your server walked away, he turned to you with an impressed look on his face.

"You're a whiskey girl?"

You shrugged. "I've become one, I used to be a vodka girl in college though." You said with a giggle, remembering all the nights stumbling home from parties with your college roommate after way too many vodka lemonades.

"I was a 'whatever gets me drunk the fastest' guy myself," Harvey said, making you both laugh. Your drinks arrived and you held your glass up to cheers before taking the first sip.

You were surprisingly having a great time with Harvey, he was really getting to know you and you were even able to squeeze a few stories out of him, too. As time passed and the more drinks you had, the more you let your guard down and finally admitted to yourself that Harvey wasn't the same cocky guy you'd heard about from the rest of the world. He'd already started to show this in the workplace, but now that all the stress of the office was gone maybe, just maybe, you were even starting to admit to yourself that you wanted something else between the two of you. You pondered this while Harvey ordered another drink for each of you, your fourth of the night.

"Okay that'll have to be my last one, I can assure you, you don't want to see drunk Y/N this early into knowing me. She can be a handful" You warned with a smile.

Harvey chuckled in response, nodding in understanding.

You each sipped your drinks as you chatted some more, giving him some more bits and pieces about your life.

Harvey flagged down the server when you were both finished and before you could even offer to pay for your drinks, Harvey had already handed over his Amex.

"You didn't have to do that, I'm more than capable of buying my own drinks." You stated, standing and draping your coat over your arm. The heat from your slight intoxication warming you enough as it was. Harvey followed your lead, standing from his own chair before responding. He stepped slightly forward, much closer to you.

"I know you are, I just wanted to celebrate you making junior partner and show you that I really enjoyed your company tonight," Harvey said softly, a genuine smile on his face.

Your cheeks felt like they were on fire at his admission, and at the lack of distance.

"I happened to enjoy your company too."

You knew it was risky, and likely unrequited, to feel the way you felt right there in that busy yet intimate bar. You rationally knew that he probably was just being nice because he wanted to get to know you better for working purposes, but the drinks you'd had were starting to catch up with you and you didn't know how long you'd be able to take this closeness.

Harvey spoke, interrupting your train of thought.

"Look, I know it might cause some talk around the office, but I'd like to have something more with you. So, if you're feeling what I'm feeling, I'd really like to see you again. I mean, I'll see you at work obviously. But I'd like to take you out again, more planned this time-" He stammered, making you smile.

"Harvey?"

"Hmm?"

"Stop talking."

Before you could think twice you were pulling him close, planting your lips on his, and he wasted no time returning the gesture. When you finally pulled away, slightly out of breath, Harvey tucked your hair behind your ear.

"So is that a yes?"

"That's definitely a yes."

#harvey specter #harvey specter x reader #suits fics #harveyspecter #harvey specter suits #suits #NOT A REQUEST omg who am I

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starphires · 9 months

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❛ YOU GET ME SO HIGH. ❜

tlou masterlist.⠀ 𑇓 ⊹ ᳝ ࣪ dealer!ellie williams⠀𝑥⠀f!reader

summary. you finally want to experience the high of smoking, and who's better to teach you than your good friend, ellie?

―︎ warnings. implied fem! reader, fluff, ellie being a softie for reader, smoking (weed duh), inexperienced reader, shotgunning, weird situationship between ellie and reader, no use of y/n but reader is called sweets

𓂃 ࣪ ‧ ₊ ⋅ 𐙚 a message from juno. feeling a little prideful bc i can pretty accurately describe what it's like smoking 💪also totally feeding into the dealer ellie stereotype but whatevs bc it's so yummy!! reblogs & feedback is appreciated! ( wc: 1602 )

“JUS' FEEL THE AIR FILLING IN YOUR LUNGS.”

Looking over to Ellie with a gleam in your eyes that's begging her to tell you you're doing it right.

A gentle boost to your pride, Ellie says. “Tha’s it. you're getting it!” she encourages. Peering down at your hands in your lap, a small smile on your face. Becoming shy at the slightest bit of praise your friend showed you.

You were both grateful and conflicted that Ellie had agreed to teach you how to smoke a blunt the right way. Instead of the ladder, which would be you in your dorm with the pre rolled blunt you had probably, most likely bought off Ellie, clueless out of your mind as you have a coughing fit.

But you weren't. For about the past 30 minutes since you showed up knocking on her door, you've felt nothing but tranquility, and it was because of Ellie.

Yet, there's burning in the pit of your stomach, creeping up your neck and causing your heart to beat at an abnormal rate. Again it's because of Ellie. Your dear friend who makes you so shy you stumble over your words, does the smallest and meaningless actions that makes your heart flutter. It's just a silly crush.

From the moment you had taken a seat on her shitty dorm couch, heart pounding, hands tucked under your thighs to mumble out, “Will you show me how to smoke, ellie?” voice more shakey than you intended, but you didn't care because you got your point across.

And now, as you sit on her unmade, yet perfectly comfortable bed mere centimeters away from each other. Knowing a few more skills like how to grind the plant and pack it tightly into a blunt wrapper, “Always add more than you think you need.” Ellie told you, you'll keep that noted for when you ultimately roll your own. You had also looked a little too intensely when Ellie licked the wrapper to seal the blunt, hoping you’d looked away fast enough before she could catch you.

“I think ‘m ready, Els.” you say, tucking your bottom lip between your teeth.

Her eyes flicker between you and the blunt on the rolling tray perched on her knee. “You sure y’want to do this?” Eyebrows creasing as she examines your face for any uncertainty, because she knows that once she spots it she'll pack all her shit up and the two of you can watch some lousey reality tv show like normal. But there's no flinch or glint in your eyes that shows you don't want to stay slumped in Ellie's bed as you and her smoke away at the shared blunt.

“Positive.” you whisper, “Wouldn't want anyone else to teach me but you.” That made Ellie smile, she scoffs and looks away quickly before looking back at you. “You flatter me, Sweets.”

It's really a short moment of the two of you just staring at each other, soft smiles adoring both your faces as you absorb having the others undivided attention. You wished it lasted longer.

Ellie sighs, shaking her body a little as she turns her attention to the rolling tray, picking up the blunt in one hand and a lighter in the other. Tilting her head a little and peaking her eyes at you, “Jus’ watch me do it a few times, alright?” she finishes with the blunt now between her lips.

You nod at her instruction. Eager eyes watching as she brings the lighter up to the end of the blunt. Remembering her telling you that you have to get it started and burning before it really gets to hit you, so that's why you don't really pay attention to the first few hits.

“Pay attention.” Ellie’s voice startles you. Not expecting her to be paying much more attention to me than I did to her.

“I am.” you argue.

“Hmm.” is the only noise of acknowledgement Ellie makes as she shakes off burned ash into the ashtray. Bringing the blunt back up to her lips. You're so close together that you can see her cracked lips and the small freckle above her top lip. Oh, you're definitely paying attention now, as you see how her chest rises higher to take a more hearty drag. Once the blunt disconnects from her lips she takes a small inhale and holds for a few seconds before exhaling the smoke, you watch her repeat this yet again before she turns her body towards you. Copying her movement you too now face her.

“You catch that?” she asked.

“Mhm, yeah I did.”

“Alright.” Putting her hand that held the blunt forward, you wipe your hands on my pants before you take the blunt between your index and thumb. Looking back at ellie.

As if she could sense my nervousness, “Jus’ relax. I promise being anxious isn't gonna help your first drag.” With her words I took a few deep breaths, eyes trained still on her face.

“Good, good. Now when inhaling, remember to do it with your chest, not your stomach like we practiced.” She notes and you nod along.

Continuing, Ellie adds. “You don't have to take a super long drag either, do as much as you think you can handle. ‘Nd once you do, inhale a little air, it'll burn, but that's normal.” With her words and reassurance you nod along, “Okay.”

Looking down at the blunt between your fingers, remembering all of the instructions Ellie has given you, inhale with chest, no super long drags, inhale some air, hold, exhale. Seems pretty simple.

Picking your hand up to your mouth, Ellie’s eyes stay fixed on you as you place the blunt between your lips. You follow every single one of Ellie's words, and she was right about the burn, exhaling once it became too much. Forming into a small coughing fit, Ellie reaches behind her to grab a water bottle.

“Here, try and drink this. It'll help.” She explains, opening the cap and handing it to you. Grabbing the bottle from her you begin to drink it as Ellie's hand soothes up and down your thigh.

Once you calm down you look back to see Ellie with a small smirk on her face. Frowning, “Wha- why are you smirking? Did I do something wrong?” Suddenly becoming insecure that you had made a fool of yourselves and made a mistake.

“No, no. You did everything right.” Your shoulders drop at her words, relaxed to know that you had done it right.

Ellie's gaze drops from her hands back to you, “You're actually a natural.” she compliments.

Erupting into a small laugh, before a wave of realization hits and you silence yourself. Hand in front of your mouth, “Sorry.” you mumble

“S’okay.” Ellie assures, continuing the soothing movements on your thighs. And the two of you stay like this for who knows how long, just slightly rocking while looking at each other.

“You want to smoke more?” she ask, “S'cool if you don't!” she urges.

You shake your head, “Yeah, I do.” Slightly shaking the blunt to get off the ashes before lifting it back up to your lips, taking another hit. When exhaling the smoke is in Ellie's face, you had expected her to back away and waft it from her. But instead she had inhaled some of it herself, holding it for some time before exhaling.

“Woah.” amazed by her.

Ellie laughs, face falling into a smirk.

“I said that out loud?”

“You did.”

Nodding to her answer, pouting lips. Can't get out of this one that easily.

“How about we try something?” Ellie suggest.

Confused, but you nod along. And Ellie’s gaze shoots down to the blunt between your fingers, catching the signal that she wants you to hand her the blunt, you do.

“You trust me?” her voice is low.

Biting down on your lip only to release it. “Yeah, I do.” you whisper.

“M’kay, c’mere.” She moves her free hand to your hip to push you toward closer to her, pushing your own body to help.

Now you're sat even closer, practically on top of ellie as your legs hook around her back.

“Y’comfortable?”

“Are you comfortable?” you deflect, she's the one who has your body weight on her thighs.

“Jus’ peachy.” she responds cooley, her free hand now racking up and down your waist.

“It's called shotgunning, where one person smokes and then exhales to have another person inhale their smoke.” Ellie explains. “We can try that if you want.” There's a sense of uncertainty in her voice, not from her part of not wanting to do it, but from worry that she may be pressing on the lines of your boundaries.

“I want to try.” you gleam, slightly readjusting yourself to become more ready. Ellie smiles at your eagerness.

“Again, jus’ relax. I got you, okay?”

“Okay.” Ellie makes it easy for you to just trust her, you'd follow almost anything she'd say.

Watching intensely as ellie takes a drag. How her eyes flutter shut, face and body relax, how she even does a little nod of approval of her hit, and how her throat flexes when she inhales a little air.

Green eyes now open, telling you to get ready to inhale her smoke. Shimmying as close as you can get to her, smoke flies from her mouth as you inhale it. Feeling the ting burn in your throat as you hold it in before you finally exhale. Looking back up to ellie with doe eyes to contrast her droopy eyes.

“Shit, you really are a natural.”

#starphireswrites.#please don't bully me if anything is incorrect m still fairly new to smoking 😭💔#had an absolute blast writing this #will DEFINITELY be writing more dealer ellie!#the last of us #tlou #tlou part 2 #the last of us x reader #tlou x reader #ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x y/n #fluff

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ewingstan · 25 days

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9-11 for whatever Worm characters come to mind! (Or Sophia/Calvert/Taylor/Krouse if you have any thoughts!)

Fuck it. All of em for all of em.

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Sophia: I'll be real I don't feel super strongly about her. She's written to be hateable in an effective way, but she's less of a full character than Emma despite being in much more of the story. And her shit kinda gets bogged down by racist writing (a lot of the worst of it happening right before Aisha's introduction, which is also pretty racist). She's involved in a lot of cool and interesting moments but they're rarely interesting because of her.

Coil: Works really well as the first overarching villain in Taylor's story. He's able to sell the "I'm a bad guy but in an excusable way that's not really too bad" well enough, but also has a lot of obvious red flags even before the Dinah reveal. So you can understand perfectly well why Taylor, a kid who really wanted to continue hanging out with the undersiders and do things that made her feel like she had any control, would go along with him. But you can also take a step back and say Jesus, only a kid who really wanted to continue hanging out with the undersiders and do things that made her feel like she had any control would go along with him.

Taylor: Wildbow has a reoccurring tendency to focus on characters who are both incredibly smart and can get an incredible amount of info quickly, but only in specific limited ways. Its true of Taylor, Lisa, Sylvester, Kenzie, Mia—a lot of my favorites. But the interesting thing is that they're never smart in the same ways, never collect the same sort of info. Lisa has general super-induction but no great skill at making plans. Sylvester can read and manipulate people to a superhuman level but is constantly getting blinded by his own resentments and desires. Taylor's hyper-vigilance gave her the ability to see and react to everything external around her, but no means or real incentive to know whats going on internally with people around her. And it makes sense! She's incredibly afraid of letting people in who'll end up hurting her; people who've genuinely been kind to her in the past have used their previous closeness to hurt her later! Knowing that someone doesn't mean her harm now isn't gonna reassure her, so its safer to assume everyone's a threat and not worry too much about what they're actually thinking.

And then there's Rachel, who she not only connects with emotionally, but is the only person who's able to make an emotional connection with her! And since you understand why its not the norm, its all the more incredible to see!

Krouse: oh I'm glad you asked

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Sophia: I like that she and Lung both get wrapped back up in the end for Skitter's Gold Morning missions. I wish she got to do more in those, but I do like it as a story beat.

Coil: How high he got and how far he fell.

Taylor: Man the escape from Coil's trap is a fucking great chapter. She's a one-woman horror movie. Single-handedly sells her as a villain who'd get national attention, and its not even a moment the public knows about. And its in such a great place in the story too, where all the tricks she's using have been established so its not feeling like a weird escalation in her abilities, but she hasn't all employed them at once or to such incredible effect yet. It’s the real culmination of her taking “lessons” from Bakuda about being scary.

Krouse: One of the moments that really sold me on him was when he was getting attacked by Case 53s, and immediately started thinking about how he could take them down, before he interrupts his own thoughts to go "wait, what am I doing, I should just run away." It just sells so much of his whole deal. He's a great on-his-feat thinker, he can be an incredible strategist when he's on his own, but he also doesn't share Taylor's suicidal urge to face any problem head-on. Its kind of the inverse of one of Taylor's early establishing moments: after getting attacked by Rachel, she reaches for a reason to calm down, realizes she doesn't have one, and immediately retaliates hard enough to get blood on her boots. God they're such good foils, its weird that the extent of their relationship is mutually disliking each other. Not even intense dislike in either case.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Sophia: That the black member of the trio is the one that consistently gets physically violent, is characterized as the athletic one compared to the others in general (instead of "the cute one" or "the prep" she's "the track star"), gets described as being savage multiple times, doesn't have much of a character outside of sucking despite being in a work that's otherwise really good at giving internality to people who act shitty, all that jazz.

Coil: How little sense we got of what Calvert's dominion would really look like. That we didn't get much of his takeover without other disasters interfering actually works—it fits the themes of constant conflict interfering with stability and safety. But I still want more of a sense of what Calvert wanted.

Taylor: I didn't care about her reunification with her mom. I say a lot that the ending of Worm is one of the best endings of any story I've read, and that's true of Gold Morning as a whole, but I don't actually care much about the last epilogue. The Brian reveal certainly doesn't help there.

Krouse: Do you know how much it sucks that when people ask me who my favorite worm character is, the tumblr sexyman is in contention?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Sophia: any story that takes her basic parts, gets rid of the obviously shitty stuff, and develops her into a real character.

Coil: Disney Channel sitcom

Taylor: Well I already tried expy-ing Khepri into my tabletop campaign, and that got mixed results, so I'll take TTRPGs off the list. I'd be interested in her getting put in a medium where you'd have to be creative with how to represent the bug cloud, like live theater.

Krouse: I was gonna say Mob Psycho but then I remembered that they already had a guy who teleported around being a jackass. But I would like too see a well-animated version of his fighting style.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Sophia: I'll Make You Sorry by Screaming Females

Coil: For some reason I get an Everything Everything vibe from him? Maybe Photoshop Handsome or Breadwinner.

Taylor: I don't actually read her as trans but Dysphoria Hoodie is what immediately came to mind. I'm at least theoretically still making a Cicada Days animatic about her. I think portions of BCNR's Sunglasses fits with whats going on internally with her in the Mannequin fight

Krouse: Want to make a Prowl Great Cain AMV for him one day. Lyrics fit perfectly, and the way its sung gets the same otherwise inexpressable intensity of how I feel about him. Darnielle said “This is a song about betrayal. A lot of songs about betrayal are about betrayal and redemption. Not this one.” And yeah, that's Krouse!

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Sophia: Oh, no

Coil: It would prolly be fine except for how he'd torture a branch of my psychological continuity and then effectively kill it by destroying that reality whenever I leave the dishes out too long. Don't correct me on how his powers work

Taylor: Uhhh probably not. Even if I wasn't much older, I don't really talk to my roommates unless they're the talkative sort. She's been stuck living with clamshells before, it wasn't good for her.

Krouse: I'd have to kill him

10 and 11: alright these are "could you be best friends with" and "would you date" and in both cases the fact that I'm 23 means no. I don't have Blake's ability to form rich friendships with people much younger than me. And I'm not interested in Calvert as a friend or a lover.

#sophia hess #thomas calvert #taylor hebert #francis krouse #wildbow #parahumans #wormblr #mals reads worm #mals says #ask game

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prismatoxic · 23 days

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chilchuck tierlist of babysitting fentripp, people who he absolutely knows he can count to not kill his child and people who he knows will end up doing something wrong (even if by accident)

GOOD QUESTION ANON

the original post about my chilaios fankid, fentripp, for anyone who didn't see it

anyone who isn't here hasn't offered or chilchuck hasn't considered. however i can be persuaded to add more entries with compelling arguments for them

S TIER

Kabru - follows the rules to the letter. will have fen fed, bathed, taught, played with, and asleep by all the exact right times. if anything diverges from the plan, it's because fen is a goblin, not because kabru did anything wrong. fen likes when kabru reads to him, he does funny voices.

Senshi - follows his own ideas of what's best, but shockingly good at it nonetheless. very careful, and considerate, and makes sure he knows where fen is at all times. fen likes him a lot and they always have a really good time together.

Meijack - doesn't want kids of her own, but is pretty good with them anyway, and she's extremely protective of her little brother. knows exactly what chilchuck expects, and also has a pretty good sense of what he'd approve of when instructions are unclear. strikes a perfect balance of making fen have so much fun that he doesn't realize no mischief is actually being caused.

A TIER

Laios - tends to stray off the beaten path a little, but will always defer to his husband so he's never gonna get too wild with it. he also loves fen more than life itself and won't intentionally put him in any manner of harm's way, no matter what. maybe doesn't count as a babysitter since he's literally fen's other dad, but as far as chilchuck is concerned, anyone outside of himself is a risk if he's not also there, so.

Falin - fen is obsessed with her, and the feeling is more or less mutual. she loves him so, so much. but... she's also maybe not chilchuck's ideal as far as babysitting goes, because she's extremely susceptible to the puppy eyes. can drop down to d tier for a few weeks if fen manages to lead her on some batshit adventure, but generally speaking, chilchuck trusts her.

Yaad - similar to kabru in his ability to follow chilchuck's guidelines to a T, and fen does seem to like him, but he's not always fully prepared for what caring for a young child entails. still, he's a decent enough choice, if he's available.

Dandan - weirdly good at this. chilchuck left the guild to him for a reason--dandan's got a good head on his shoulders, something that's only become more true over time--but "babysitting" wasn't a skill chilchuck anticipated him having. he might shirk responsibility from time to time, but in a "alright, you can stay up an extra hour" way, not a neglectful way.

B TIER

Marcille - fen is safe with her, and she'll do her best (and so very badly wants to be the best aunt ever), but she tends to overthink things and can get distracted easily. also, the older he gets, the angrier fen gets if she mentions magic, because he thinks elves are abusing the spirits. (she tries to default to gnome magic around him but he still side-eyes her for a while. don't worry, they bond properly when he's more self-sufficient.)

Namari - a little nervous about caring for a kid by herself, but she's actually really fond of fen. she does most things right, and chilchuck's not necessarily ideologically opposed to her teaching his son dwarfish swear words, but she's more interested in having fun than being a guardian so she's not the perfect choice.

C TIER

Flertom - perfectly decent, most of the time. loves getting to care for a child (desperately wants her own someday). can get a little sidetracked playing pretend-mom, though, and doesn't always have the best ideas for what to do, which doesn't always end well.

D TIER

Puckpatti - way too scatterbrained for this job, and also way too eager to goof off in whatever way fen indicates he thinks would be fun. she's alright with her sisters since they tend to override her poor decisions and keep her on track, but by herself, she's a last resort.

Izutsumi - basically an older sister to fen, but this is rarely a good thing. he loves her and they have great fun together, but leaving them alone is a recipe for disaster, and even kabru's had to step in and shut the idea down officially. "don't put me in a position where i have to explain how a cat and a toddler burned down an entire castle wing."

F TIER

Shuro - not good with kids. actively kind of scared of this one in particular. will agree if asked, but that's because he's bad at saying no, and chilchuck doesn't intend to ask. (and laios needs to stop thinking it'll work out for anyone.)

Mickbell (& Kuro) - only offered to be a nuisance, or at least that's what chilchuck assumes. kuro might be able to handle it on his own in a pinch, maybe, but there's no point trying to peel him and mickbell apart when there are so many better options.

Mithrun - with kabru? passable. by himself? absolutely the fuck not.

#tox answers #chilaios #THIS WAS REALLY FUN TO ANSWER THANK YOU <3 #shoutout to oxy for helping with several of these #dunmeshi spoilers #detox oc: fentripp touden

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saturninefig · 3 months

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say hello to jules mayberry, my nsb founder 🌱💡

jules is a mischievous tech girlie who loves the finer things in life. she can be a little mean, and she's frequently jealous of other sims, but her heart is in the right place most of the time. all she wants is to set up a secure future for herself and the many generations to come. ✨

jules loves video games, the computer (she literally will not do anything else) and tasty vegetarian food.

she dislikes people who don't appreciate gifts (*cough cough* j huntington iii), bros, and romance music.

she currently lives in 18 culpepper house in san myshuno, but has plans to retreat to the 'burbs when she finds her mr right (well, more like 'mr that'll do').

✼ more info under the cut ✼

✦ backstory: both of jules' parents were scientists. they were friendly, smart, and perfectly lovely people – though they definitely spent more time in the lab than they did at home. having died when she was a teenager in a 'work accident' (it's all very hush-hush), jules took her small inheritance and put it towards a pad in the city rather than university. after one semester, she decided the academic route wasn't for her. besides, who needs a degree in this day and age anyway?

✦ challenge goals: (i don't have all the packs so i had to improvise a little)

master tech guru career – start-up entrepreneur branch

complete chief of mischief aspiration

master mischief and logic skills

complete elements collection

✦ my goals:

make two enemies

have at least one child

move out of the city to a fancy home in the suburbs

be bffs with her children, unlike the way her parents were with her

have §100,000 in savings

✦ other notes:

i'm shockingly bad at making male sims, so this is going to be a matriarchal legacy (this includes nb and trans sims)

i use thepancake1's more traits in CAS mod because three just isn't enough (i chose the remaining traits based on personal preference, but i plan to randomize it/inherit traits from gen 2 onwards)

jules got unlimited funds to decorate her apt to make it Cute but i dropped her remaining money down to §1000 to reflect her 'inheritance'. girlfriend spent most of her money on plants and wall art (#relatable).

since i don't have all the packs, i'll be mixing and matching the og nsb challenge with this version alongside whatever whims tickle my fancy or enhance my story ;)

thanks to @cupidgnome and @deathbypufferfish for the psd aspirations template and icons. and of course, @lilsimsie for creating the nsb challenge 🖤

#get it? jules like mint julip?!?#not having gtw makes this whole challenge a nightmare so bear with me as ~wing it~#nsb challenge #not so berry #nsb mint #nsb legacy #ts4 legacy #sims 4 #ts4 gameplay #ts4 not so berry #sim: jules mayberry #*mine* nsb challenge #*mine* nsb gen 1

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io-lu-art · 4 months

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just a looong ramble analysing and rethinking Rey's character and turning whatever conclusions I get to into my headcanon without changing any plot points in TFA because I don't have the energy for that....

First things first. With everything I write here and publish on my blog from now on I refuse to believe that TROS ever existed. Everyone is free to have their personal opinions as long as they don't harass or hate on anyone, and this is mine. Almost every choice in that movie has left me scarred, even up til now, 4 years after its release. I thought I can ignore it, like any other healthy human being, but - oh boy, I cannot. If you are interested in reading another ramble on that, here's the post.

Since I am writing my own take on what could happen after TLJ (you may call it a fanfiction, I'm gonna call it a fanscript since that's gonna be its format), this post serves the purpose of getting my head clear around what's the deal with Rey, analysing, and lying down a solid foundation for my WIP. The story I'm writing has barely reached the end of Act I (out of III) at the moment I am composing this commentary, and I constantly notice that I get stuck with Rey's character every time I have to think about her for different reasons I will address down below.

I will make some rewrites as I see fit and necessary along the way for her character to make sense to me. All rewrites are in Tumblr's

chat style

This post will be linked to my AO3 fancifction as a reference for people to understand how I treat her character as soon as that one will be finished... *clears her throat* ...ANYWAY-

Let's have a look at Rey, shall we?

Rey's introduction.

When we first meet Rey, there is already a lot we get to learn about her. She's a scavenger. On a pretty much deserted desert planet. Water and food are scarce. She gathers parts during the day to sell them in exchange for food rations.

She has no friends, no family. She's lonely. And has been for quite a while. And yet, though hard, it looks like a pretty peaceful and stable life. If it were significantly different, we would have gotten introduction scenes of her battling some gangs or other scavengers for parts or something. But instead we were provided with beautiful, peaceful cinematography and John Williams' incredible score.

She manages. She manages because she has to and has never known to do otherwise. This on its own is already a very solid introduction. And it becomes even more powerful as we are provided with additional context later on, as she tells BB-8 that she's waiting for her family.

We know who she is, what she does and what she wants. No more questions, right?

Well, this is where it gets confusing, at least for me: there's one shot in Rey's introduction which always leaves me puzzled about her actual wants. It's the moment she puts on the rebel pilot helmet.

Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it feels like it kinda wants to draw parallels to Luke Skywalker in ANH? What exactly is the purpose of this shot? Is she putting on the helmet just for fun? Is it to show that she is still a kid inside? She seems to enjoy herself. Is it to show us that she maybe wants to be a pilot...? The gesture on its own is too little information to imply that, let alone that she already is a very skilled one, so probably no. Then, is it, perhaps, to show us that she dreams of more? Like Luke, who wanted to get off the planet that is "farthest away from the bright center of the universe"?

The interpretations, especially when looking at it in context to the rest of the movie could go on and on and on.

Quick detour.

The reason it works so well with Luke's character is because from the very beginning, with everything he does and says, it is perfectly clear that he doesn't want to stay on Tatooine. It's his only want when we first meet him.

Luke has friends who tell him about the galaxy. He seeks adventure.

And he's very impatient about it.

Everything he says basically SCREAMS how much he hates it there.

Now back to Rey.

Am I expecting Rey to show the same interest in getting off Jakku with the same attitude and level of energy as Luke, should that have been what TFA was going for? No, of course not. They are (supposed to be) two different characters after all. But I do believe that, given the setup, that helmet scene leaves too much room for confusing and unnecessary interpretation. (More so because I am trying my best to avoid nostalgia bait wherever I can.)

I am not denying the fact that she wouldn't have heard about the wider galaxy, that she wouldn't wonder about what it would feel like, being out there. People travel. And with people traveling, so do stories. So if you want to hint at that, do it subtly, all the while keeping the focus on her biggest want.

I might really just be reading too much into it, but still, in my humble opinion, a way to solve this confusion is cutting out her interaction with the pilot helmet completely. Let me demonstrate.

Inside her home we already see this self-made rebel pilot puppet. Just like the puppet lying around, instead of having her pick it up and putting it on,

the helmet remains part of the environment, stuck in the sand. There could even be a close-up on it as Rey puts down her empty plate next to it when she has finished eating if you really want to show it. She then rests her arms on her knees and looks up into the sky, following the ship that has just departed from the far outpost into the high atmosphere until it disappears. Waiting.

What is achieved by changing the interaction with the helmet is that it keeps her wants just as clear as Luke's. Luke wants adventure. She wants her family back. Period.

...I rewatched this scene after writing these paragraphs and yes, I admit, in the end it happens so fast that one could probably just let it pass and interpret it as Rey being very bored and using it as entertainment to wait out the days. But even if it were just that, the effects this little tweak would have on the following scenes is quite interesting to look at nonetheless.

The tweak I am going with from now on: Having her not actively wonder about possible adventures at all. She doesn't believe those stories to actually be true, because she's never allowed herself to. She's never allowed herself to actually want to ever leave Jakku.

What would it mean for her characterisation? It would make her slightly more serious and grounded. And the movie (except for the helmet scene) actually already treats her that way. Notice how she, while fixing BB-8's antenna, takes a moment to look at him before asking:

She's never seen such a droid before. At least not in such good condition. So, of course, she's curious. But when BB-8 says it's classified, she only laughs about it. "Classified? Really? Me too. Big secret," as if to say, haha, yeah, right. She rejects that possibility. And she doesn't bother asking any further, because when she is confronted with the choice to go and explore, she is reminded of her promise to herself, which is that she will wait for her family until they return.

Now, here is where I insert some very subtle "rewriting". When Rey first meets Finn, she is suspicious of him...

...and should actually remain suspicious,

instead of admiring him and falling into this, let's call it, "excited, fangirly smile"...

She doesn't know him. She has no reason to trust him. Instead, the tone of this line should be one that reflects her emotions as it slowly gets to her that those stories she's been hearing about might actually have some truth to them, that there might actually be a wider world out there. So make her be gradually interested.

Huh. This man I just forcefully hit to the ground, a Resistance fighter, knows about BB-8 and his classified information. What are the odds of that?

"So you're with the Resistance?" Rey asks suspiciously, looking down at the man.

The man stands up, brushes the sand and dust off his jacket and answers, "Obviously. Yes, I am. I am with the Resistance."

Rey frowns, "I've never met a Resistance fighter before," scanning him with her eyes. Why would there be any on Jakku? Nothing ever happens here.

"Oh, this is what we look like, some of us. Others look different."

Rey cannot help a little smile at his strange attitude. She looks back to where BB-8 rolled off to. Puzzled, she tells him, "BB-8 says he's on a secret mission. He has to get back to your base..." Even hearing herself pronounce that out loud feels so surreal to her. None of this makes any sense. Why-

"Apparently he has a map that leads to Luke Skywalker and everyone's after it."

What? "Luke Skywalker?" she asks, confounded.

CUT TO ACTION.

Whether she wants it or not, the plot forces her into the stories she's been hearing of. You don't want to believe they are real? They're real, all right. She has no choice but to run and get along. And later, she does get more and more interested, specifically when she meets Han Solo, the legend himself. Her whole beliefs turn upside down. It's exciting and she embraces it. Why? She's made a promise to BB-8 that she will get him home, and those things kinda come hand in hand.

Rey's physicality.

Rey is very fast to jump into action. She doesn't think twice about what she's doing. She just acts. Because that's how she's learned to survive all this time on her own. When she but hears BB-8 struggling in the distant sand dunes the first time they meet, she immediately reacts and goes to help (which also shows how compassionate she is towards people - and droids - in need of help).

And she's incredibly stubborn about it. If I may even word it like this: it's something she carries with pride.

So she's a good fighter. And I have but one request: DO. NOT. FORGET. THAT. HER. FIGHTING. STYLE. IS. ROUGH. AND. DIRTY. AND. HAS. NO. TECHNIQUE. WHATSOEVER. WHILE. THE. STORY. PROGRESSES. OK? Ok. What else? Ah, yes. Piloting. I don't know which of the two aspects has brought more uproar in the SW community, with the addition of the Force to these 2 points making people call her a Mary Sue, her being overpowered and so on. Let's have a look at that.

Rey's piloting skills.

She obviously knows her way around the Falcon. And it's plausible. "This ship hasn't flown in years!" It's been there for quite a while. Maybe she has had the opportunity to sneak onto it once. What about her flying skills? Well, that takeoff definitely had me worried. At this point I am even amazed this ship is still all in one piece. Which has me thinking... just a thought...

While trying to get those TIEs off their tail, Rey damages a visibly big part of the Falcon's exterior. "Ups," she comments, hastily checking the controls. Ok... The ship still flies. All good.

"What was that?" Finn calls from the gunner position, seriously worried for their lives.

"Nothing to worry about!" Rey quickly shouts back. All in all, the flight is messy as hell, and the Falcon needs some heavy repairs. But they still manage to get out.

"Nice shooting!"

"That was some flying! How did you do that?"

"Thanks! I don't know! I've flown some ships, but I've never left the planet."

(This is me reacting to their dialogue in the new context:) Yeah, guys, good work! You've almost destroyed the Falcon in the process, but you're alive, so I guess it's fiiiiiine.

What am I going for here? Adding to their level of expectations, which are... pretty low, and hopefully Rey's likability.

And then, later, Han is horrified of the state his ship is in, "Who did that?" Rey doesn't answer his question, but instead immediately offers her help, "I can fix that for you," feeling a bit ashamed of handling the ship of a legend this carelessly. And Han is... well, Han about it.

When would the Falcon get those repairs, you might ask? Eh, *hand gesture* there's plenty of time on D'Quar for that while they discuss how to blow up the third Deathst- *clears her throat* Starkiller Base. And obviously it's not gonna be Rey doing those repairs.

This addition tones down her abilities, puts more focus on her skills as a scavenger and makes her more relatable. I'd also argue that it puts more weight to her decision to eventually decline Han's offer to join the crew because of her wants. You see, once immersed into the real thing, the stories becoming true, meeting the legends, she becomes genuinely curious. She asks questions. Why did Luke leave? What fight? She gets incredibly excited when Han offers her a job. And yet, despite all, she still wants to go back.

Nevertheless, Rey displays pretty amazing piloting skills under those stressful circumstances on Jakku. After all, flying the Falcon is....

Her instincts are implacable. One might even say that she*

She just isn't aware of it yet. It is not until some scenes with Han and the rathtars later that we get the first hint.

The Force.

Now I might be wrong, but I have a theory, which is that the piloting performance under high pressure on Jakku might have been it. The Awakening.

The Force calls to Rey through Luke's lightsaber. And she listens to it, not knowing what will follow. She experiences the Force vision, and is horrified.

"That lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now, it calls to you!"

"I have to get back to Jakku." Again.

Even when Maz tells her, "You already know the truth. Whomever your waiting for on Jakku, they are never coming back,"

she still refuses to believe that.

Tears run down her cheeks

and she shakes her head. No.

"But there's someone who still could."

Rey frowns. What is Maz implying there? "Luke?" she asks and realises what it's leading up to, and doesn't like it. Her emotions are a mess. She gulps back and keeps shaking her head as Maz speaks.

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. [...] The light. Feel it. [...] The lightsaber. Take it."

Rey doesn't want to hear of it. Any of it.

"I am never touching that thing again!"

Rey just witnessed complete horror. She is in denial. Keep in mind her clear wants from the beginning of the movie. Ideally her want for her parents to come back should be replaced by the character fulfilling her needs at the end of her arc. But we're not nearly there yet. What Maz tells her about the Force completely contradicts Rey's experiences. She cannot just accept the truth. And how does she handle it? She runs away. She's terrified.

She wants to go back to the way things were before any of this mess started. But the plot doesn't let her run away that easily. It knows she has to face her fears, one being her fear of the Force and one the fear of perhaps never making it back to Jakku ever again.

It forces her further into these situations, making it impossible for her to get out of them. She's trapped. Literally and figuratively. And fighting her way out won't work this time, the one ability she always relied on to save herself. It's her darkest moment. And if that were not enough, Kylo Ren, this stranger, this man inside that mask, the man from her vision, shoves all her insecurities right into her face.

"And Han Solo." Rey jolts up. Either out of fear of possibly betraying Han and slipping, giving away a location, or out of rage that Kylo has gone too far into her personal space. Either way, this rage gives her some strength to oppose him. "You feel like he's the father you never had. He would have disappointed you."

"Get out of my head!" He backs away for his own reasons, not wanting to think any more of his father, but still holds onto her mind. Rey does all she can to withstand him, and the longer she does, the more time it gives her to understand what is going on.

And Kylo senses it. What he's trying to do here is not working. Concern washes over his face, which makes him lose control over the situation. The connection opens, inviting Rey to tap into his mind. She's inside his head. Now she understands. She understands she can use this power on him, too. So she does.

And there it is. She's strong with the Force.

And that's intentional. Why? For reasons we discover in TLJ and numerous other fanfictions. (TROS? w-what's that-)

She has found a way out of the situation. Now, has she ever heard of Jedi mind tricks? Maybe? But remember what she just discovered: She just tapped into Kylo's mind. So she tries that again on the stormtrooper. Because when she knows how to act, she just does. She's always been confident in her physical abilities and skills. Why would she have to treat this new power any different? And luckily it works, after 3 tries.

And that's fine. Let's move on. Kylo kills Han. Explosions.

Notice this. Even though she knows she now has these new powers, the same powers Kylo has, she still draws her blaster at him after calling him a monster. She acts on emotion and choses the quick, familiar way.

I actually like to believe that Rey really doesn't know what the Force is and how it works, at all. How would she? Yes, Maz did tell her about it, but how do Force-powers manifest in people? She's never seen anyone use it before, upon meeting Kylo Ren. So in every scene she does use it, she just copies Kylo. That's the only reference she has. Remember how proud she is of her physical abilities. And she is so naive that she just goes and tries it for herself, without thinking of whether it will work out or not. And it works out for her. Because, again, she is strong in the Force.

It's true that her flaw, her naivety, is not really addressed in TFA. It never really backlashes on her. And, to be completely honest, I have no idea how to make room for that without some heavier rewrites yet. But maybe it's not necessary. TLJ takes care of that. TFA just introduces us to Rey as a character after all.

Now, is the force-summoned lightsaber making her overpowered? If you interpret it as "Kylo couldn't get that thing out the snow but Rey could," then yes, yes it is. BUT, if you see it as "while Rey is observing the fight, she sees Kylo trying to summon it, so she copies him, the way she copied him with the mind-tapping, and reaches for it the moment Kylo conveniently gets it out of the snow for her," I don't think it is, though I do agree that in order for the second version to be true, the scene happens too fast with too little shots to explain it. *OP takes a breath* So, here is what I suggest:

Kylo reaches out for the lightsaber. SHOT of the lightsaber in the snow, fidgeting slightly. BACK TO Kylo, pulling anew. BACK TO the lightsaber. It gets free. CUT. Another shot of it flying through the air towards the camera.

SHOT on Rey witnessing that - she is already on her feet again - and immediately reaching for it as well, outstretching her arm towards it.

SHOT of Kylo as he feels the momentum of his pull shift and dodges out of the way. The lightsaber flies past him, into Rey's hand.

Rey has always been fast to react to action. So it would make sense for her to be able to do that. Ok. Now to the fight itself.

*sighs* I don't even know where to start. ...One thing's for sure. Kylo at this point is pretty much destroyed emotionally from having killed his father, but he's still big and strong and aggressive in his movements. Rey, on the other hand, kinda seamlessly knows how to handle a lightsaber, which... is definitely not believable at all.

Let's step back for a moment. Why do we have this fight? Rey needs to get Finn and herself out of there and Kylo is pretty much in the way, so she wants to eliminate the problem. And what does Kylo want? Sure, he is interested in Rey and her raw powers which eventually adds up to them being equals in the Force, so he doesn't want to kill her...

But he also wants that lightsaber, doesn't he?

(God, I am looking at this fight to find any clues and I'm just sitting here, elbows on the table, resting my head in my hands, massaging my temples, wondering, "why the hell are there so many cuts in that fight scene?") (I am no expert in fight choreography, so bare with me as I try to make this work.)

Rey is the one who draws first at him.

She has never wielded a lightsaber before, but knows how to handle a staff... so she treats the lightsaber like a staff within its limitations.

Because remember, HER. STYLE. OF. FIGHTING. IS. ROUGH. AND. DIRTY. AND. HAS. NO. TECHNIQUE. WHATSOEVER. So, pretend we have some well thought out choreography in this part.

Kylo blocks her with ease. Rey is frustrated. The lightsaber feels heavy and difficult to handle. It doesn't take long for Kylo to

get her cornered at the edge of the newly formed cliff.

"You need a teacher! I could show you the ways of the Force!" he exclaims.

Rey considers, out of breath, "The Force?" Rey takes a moment as her mind connects the dots. So that's what these new powers are? Kylo watches her, waits for her to make a move. No time for pondering about the Force any more. Rey moves. Kylo LETS her duck and free herself from his block. She runs, backs away from the crater. He follows her. He outstretches his arm. Rey is stuck. She's literally petrified. Again. Kylo draws nearer. He twirls his saber, now holding it backwards (you know, Ahsoka style). "No," she hisses through her teeth, struggling. Heavy breaths. She closes her eyes. When he almost touches her hand holding the lightsaber, "No!" she RESISTS his force-cage and GOES FREE.

Because, you see, even though Maz told her to "close her eyes" and "feel the light", Rey has never done that before, and when under stress, I do believe she would rather choose a quick, familiar way to get out of the situation. The only thing she knows how to do with the Force at this point is to copy or resist Kylo. She wouldn't know how to to draw power from the Force, yet. She'll have plenty of time to learn that from Luke later, should she survive this fight, so we better continue.

Kylo stumbles back as she draws at him. Rey goes for a swing to hit from above, which Kylo manages to block last second, bringing his lighsaber up from behind his back. As their lightsabers are crossed again he quickly reaches for her right hand, which is holding Luke's saber, with his left hand and moves it aside to his right towards the ground, using his crossguard for more momentum to force her down. He steps his left foot accordingly to keep himself stable. Rey cries out from the unexpected movement. They are kinda back to back. His left shoulder against her right one. The position is uncomfortable. He squeezes Rey's wrist. Rey cries out in pain. Then, she realises how close they are.

Time for some close combat, ladies and gentlemen.

She gives in and lets go of the lightsaber, lets it fall to the ground. Kylo releases her to reach for the fallen lightsaber. But before he can pick it up, Rey KICKS his left hand away with her right heel and PUNCHES his JAW with her right elbow from below. Kylo's head rocks back. He stumbles backwards from the harsh impact, causing him to turn his back to her in order to catch himself. Rey summons Luke's lightsaber back into her left hand, and ignites it. When Kylo turns back to his opponent, left and unprotected side first, Rey is ready to stab him in his left shoulder.

Kylo stumbles back some more, she brings her hands together for another strike leftwards, he barely blocks it, he stumbles back some more, it leaves his posture open, Rey strikes again, rightwards, lower this time, wounding his leg, he falls to his knee, leaving Rey the final blow to provide him with his scar.

The reason I started writing this entire ramble in the first place is a conversation I had with my friend which brought up the fact that Rey should be able to beat Kylo by using her rough, unpredictable moves. Shout out to my friend who, bless her, is willing to listen to and survives every one of my sw rants and who pointed this out in the first place!

Is this a good fightscene now? I have no idea. I hope so? I do have it very clear in my head now though, so I might go and have some fun storyboarding it in the nearest future.

You know the rest. The ground splits, she runs to Finn, Chewie picks them up. . . .

There are some more moments which I believe need some tweaks, like the meeting with Leia, which is just so unfair to Chewie, really, but if I go on and on about this, I would end up changing the entire movie, which I do not have the strength for atm. This ramble was supposed to be about Rey and her alone, so I am done here.

I guess in the end Rey does realise her needs and is able to let her wants aside for a bit longer and focus her hope on actually helping the Resistance and get Luke. Hope that, with finding Luke, she will get to understand these new powers. I do feel like the movie could have provided us with a more emotionally rich reactive scene to the fight and her abilities, and generally just more of those, but then, what am I expecting from a JJ Abrams film? We have Rian for that.

My conclusion? I'm bad with conclusions and summaries, so here you have it, my take on Rey by only adding to the existing dialogue, changing some attitudes here and there, adding a scene, and changing the fight sequence at the end and how she treats the Force.

I do have a clearer understanding of her character now, which was the entire purpose of this ramble, so I guess, mission accomplished. Congratulations on having made it till the end. It was a long ride. I did consider splitting this beast into 2 parts, but while writing this, at one point I just decided to fully commit to it.

You are totally free to, of course, agree with me and stay tuned for my WIP fanscript or disagree, never read through this thing ever again, ignore it and leave it to die on Tumblr's graveyard.

Before you ask, because I also considered doing that just for the sake of having fun with GIFs on Tumblr (all text gifs are taken from YARN btw), I will not do a post like this on TLJ, since I have no problems with Rey's character there at all. Props to Rian Johnson at this point, for managing to make sense of her with what TFA gave us.

#rey #rey nobody #the force awakens #the force is strong with this one #character analysis #character rewrite #headcanon #this is my headcanon now #ramble #long ramble #long reads #have i mentioned it's long?#star wars #star wars fanfiction

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ladytesla · 3 months

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The Great Faerun Baking Show (part three)

For those of you who are just stopping by, I had a horrible idea a while ago and this is the result. I have no idea what's going to happen or who's going to win. I’m just going to roll a D20 ‘bake check’ for everyone and write out the results, including what everyone rolled so y’all know I’m not cheating just so my druid boyfriend can win. The person with the lowest total score (out of a possible score of 60) goes home.

We've got the main 6 companions, Jaheira, Halsin, Minsc (and Boo), Minthara, Dammon, and my tav Medora (who y'all can just pretend is Alfira if you don't want someone else's tav in the story, since they're both female bards)

Week One, Cake Week: Star baker was Karlach, Minthara went home

Week Two, Biscuit Week: Star baker was Halsin, Shadowheart went home

Week Three: Bread Week, or "No you can't use Mage Hand to knead your dough"

Signature: Cottage Loaf

Astarion: Sun dried tomato and paprika. Unfortunately somehow he never turned on his oven, so all he had when time was called was a big ball of dough that wasn't able to be judged.

Dammon: Greek spices and olives. Or whatever the Faerun equivalent of Greece is. Maybe Waterdeep? Anyway, there were a few too many olives and it was a little underbaked, but it wasn't too bad.

Gale: He really wanted to keep with a magical purple theme, but ube and red onion really don't vibe with each other. It was way overworked thanks to the mage hand he totally didn't use to help with the kneading process.

Halsin: Rosemary and wild mushroom. All of which he'd gathered himself, of course. Nearly perfectly done, and beautifully decorated with little sprigs of rosemary.

Jaheira: Cinnamon pumpkin bread. Very autumnal, but the moisture in the pumpkin threw off the consistency of the dough and left it underprooved. The decorative pumpkin seeds on top could only hide so many sins.

Karlach: Jalapeño cheddar. Just the right amount of heat, from someone who's an expert on it. She even decorated it with a few slices of jalapeño for presentation.

Lae'zel: For some reason she decided to put smoked salmon, herring and tuna in the same bread to make a fish loaf? It was also underbaked, and didn't go over well at all.

Medora: Saffron, rose and pistachio bread. The rose was a bit too overpowering, and the loaf was overworked. It looked nice, though.

Minsc: He used Indian spices in his bread like garam masala and curry powder, which gave it a really unique flavor. It was slightly overprooved, but overall a successful loaf.

Wyll: Gluten-free garlic and herb. He wanted to challenge himself to make a classic flavor more available to those with dietary restrictions (because he is a Very Good Boy) and it was a resounding success. He earned a Hollywood Handshake for his efforts.

Technical: Baguettes

I was surprised to find that the lowest roll for this round was an 8! So they all did pretty well. I think that, from now on, if there's a tie I'll roll for them a second time. The second roll won't contribute to the score at all, it'll just determine the order in the technical.

Worst to best:

10. Halsin

9. Dammon

8. Astarion

7. Karlach

6. Minsc

5. Jaheira

4. Lae'zel

3. Wyll

2. Medora

Gale

Showstopper: Bread Sculpture

Astarion: He recovered from his disastrous signature round to make a masterfully-done sculpture... of himself, with a dagger in one hand and a glass of wine in another. He had to reference the face from a sketch someone had made of him, but thankfully it had been a skilled artist. Paul and Prue had to look really hard to find a flaw.

Dammon: He made a bread dinosaur. A stegosaurus, to be exact. And thanks to its sturdy bread-roll legs, it was able to stand upright unaided. The tip of the tail got a bit burnt, and to save it he'd had to take it out of the oven underbaked.

Gale: He made Elminster's hat, and colored the bread with paprika and cayenne to get the red color. It ended up being quite lopsided, unfortunately, and overworked.

Halsin: His owlbear was incredibly detailed, and the garlic chip decorations he used for some of the feathers accented the flavor of the bread wonderfully. Some of the chips had browned a bit too much on the ends however, so it wasn't perfect, but it was close.

Jaheira: She had a rough time this round. Dropped one of her doughs so she only had two to work with and underbaked her sculpture of a tree so badly that it had to be propped up to stand upright.

Karlach: She made a tower of bread skulls, with one of four different flavors. And tiny grassini breadsticks to represent swords and spears. A mammoth undertaking that she pulled off very well.

Lae'zel: Unhappy about her gingerbread dragon, she was bound and determined to make a dragon right this time. And thankfully, she succeeded. Otherwise she would have continued to make dragons until she got it right. The bread was quite spicy and had chili peppers in it for good measure, but the heat wasn't overpowering at all.

Medora: She attempted to make a lighthouse on an island. It was really precariously tilted to one side, and the bread making the lighthouse was underbaked, but the bread the island was made of tasted fine.

Minsc: He made a giant bread version of Boo the Miniature Giant Space Hamster. Which he presented next to the real thing. It was a huge loaf of bread so it was underbaked in the middle, but it was visually impressive.

Wyll: His bread version of the Ravenguard family crest had a braided border which took a lot of time. However, with the added colors in the dough to bring the crest to life, Wyll was still able to make something delicious and very nicely baked within the time constraints.

The Results:

Our star baker for the week, with a score of 52/60, is Wyll!

Unfortunately, with a score of 23/60, Jaheira has to leave the tent.

Feel free to play along in the comments! How would your tav or favorite npc compare?

Let's fuckin go we're doing pies and tarts next.

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marigoldsinamber · 3 months

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The Devils on the Pew - Part 1

Summary:

Ned Flanders is a devil, a demon, Satan, whatever you want to call him. And his gorgeous wife is too.

They moved to Springfield with the idea of causing some trouble, earning a few souls, and having a little fun before they moved on. Their personas are perfect and their lives are comfortable but when they come up with an idea to seduce the local reverend and his wife, they don't expect to get into so much trouble. Or to actually grow this attached.

Ships: Devil!Ned Flanders/Reverend Lovejoy, Devil!Ned Flanders/Devil!Maude Flanders, Devil!Maude Flanders/Helen Lovejoy

Content Warnings: I suppose OOC for canon-Flanders but not for demon-Flanders.

Word Count: 3.3k

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

When a devil wanted to choose a town to live in for a couple of years, there were a few things they considered. Sometimes, they looked at the folk who lived there and decided they were wicked or greedy enough to fall prey to a demon’s bargain. Occasionally, they chose a place filled with idiots who’d never notice. Hell, sometimes they’d throw a dart at a map and get lucky enough to find a place with both.

And that was exactly what had happened when the devil found his way to Springfield with his beautiful wife right behind him.

Maude draped herself over his shoulders, sweet thing that she was, and gently kissed the corner of his mouth. Her tail swished through the air lazily as she smiled. “Bored, honey?”

“Undeniably,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “Why, it feels like years since I got somebody to sign a contract.”

“It was three days ago,” she teased. “Still, if you’re bored, we can find something fun. Do you want to drive somebody crazy again by following them around and singing? That makes so many turn murderous.”

She sounded so eager that he couldn’t help but laugh.

He’d chosen the right devil to stick by his side. The perfect combination of sweetness and danger, perfectly hidden beneath her acting skills. Why, if he didn’t know better, even he would think of her as a perfect suburban wife.

“Or you could always call the reverend again. Tell him you got a paper cut on your tongue and you think God’s punishing you.”

“Even that’s grown tiresome now I’m afraid. He’s started just giving me the most random verses for any problem.”

But it was tempting. This town gave him more entertainment than he’d bargained for with just about every fool you could imagine. A small nudge and they all fell into various sins without even a second thought. Even the sweetest of children hid dark desires and he’d really never felt more at home.

Unfortunately, even that wasn’t enough to keep him excited. He got awfully, maniacally bored with small temptations. Sometimes he just wanted to devour souls and wreak havoc upon the land.

There were footsteps on the landing and he hurried to hide his horns and goat legs as the children scampered around the corner. They weren’t demons. Maude had thought it would help their image to have a pair and honestly, he’d grown quite attached to the skittish boys.

“Daddy! Daddy! They’re throwing rocks at the windows again!”

He gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing as he heard the glass crack from the other side of the house. How he wanted to burn them all but punishing or, heavens forbid, slaughtering a few children would make them better behaved as a whole. The worse the kids were, the more everybody in town suffered.

Why, just the other day, he’d seen a few teenagers stealing an entire slushie machine from the convenience store.

He knelt down beside Rod and Todd and pulled them into a reassuring hug. “Don’t you worry about those boys, alright? I know they seem scary and intimidating now but remember, God will always protect us. You just have to have faith.”

They nodded their heads and buried their faces into his sweater before deciding by themselves to read a few pages of their bible. They hopped up to go find one and Ned wondered if maybe he’d made a slight mistake with how Christian he’d raised them. Certainly seemed more ironic with each passing day.

Maude smiled at him as he stood. “They’re so sweet.”

“Aren’t they?”

“I think we did a good job,” she said. “By the way, I’m going to our book club a little later so do you want to drop them off with a sitter? I made some sugar-free, flour-free brownies and everybody’s going to have to eat some to be polite.”

Ned chuckled. “You’re crueler than the devil himself, you know that? I can watch the boys though, so we don’t need a sitter.”

She smiled and playfully bumped her hip against his. “I was thinking that while I’m with my friends, you can take the reverend on a few errands with you. Helen really wants him to get out more.”

Ned laughed and agreed. The benefits from being from Hell ranged from easily terrorizing his favourite humans all the way to lower taxes. And he did love tormenting the town’s pastor who seemed to be getting more and more exhausted of him by the day.

He pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek before he disappeared with a puff, arranging for a sitter who could come watch the kids. It was a shame they had to drive there but on a street with the incredibly observant Helen Lovejoy and the paranoid neighbour who lived close to them, they needed to take the long route. He didn’t blame said neighbour though. Anybody would be jumpy with that many stolen goods in their home.

His sweater felt a little scratchy that day when they left the kids with a young demon who had nothing better to do and a healthy fear of him. It was the best way to know nothing would happen to the boys.

No demon wanted to experience his anger if his children got hurt.

Maude knocked and they waited patiently outside the Lovejoy’s house, both noticing the open window with sheets tied together that led from Jessica’s room. They exchanged glances but no words until Helen opened the door, her smile decidedly fake.

“Hi-diddly-ho, Helen,” Ned greeted. “Maude told me this book of yours is a real tear-jerker so I brought you all some tissues.”

Maude wrapped her arms tightly around Helen’s waist, hugging the other woman in greeting before she held out the platter. “And I brought my favourite brownies! I tried something new with the recipe this time.”

Helen smiled though the excitement didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Sugar-free?”

“Of course.”

Ned leaned down to give Maude a kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day, dear. I’ll be back around dinner time to steal you again.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “And good luck with everything. Are you sure you don’t want company or anything?”

“I’ll be fine-diddly-doo. You enjoy your book.”

Helen’s attention had been caught. She couldn’t resist digging for information, even if it turned out to be awfully boring. “Are you up to something fun today?”

“My mother’s coming into town so we want to get her a small gift,” Maude filled in. “Neddy wants to pick it out himself but you know, I always worry because he gets so flustered about this kind of thing.”

Ned chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “I just want to make sure I get the right thing.”

Helen’s fake smile gave way for a real one as she had an idea. “Well, why don’t you take Time with you? My mother’s always coming over so he has plenty of experience and it’s not like he’s doing anything important today. He’s just playing with his trains.”

“Are you sure he wouldn’t mind? I’ve got to admit, I wouldn’t mind the help.”

“Of course, he won’t mind. Why don’t you come in while I fetch him?”

Maude smiled at him as she went to put her brownies down in the kitchen, giving him a small peck on the lips as she went past. The other guests hadn’t arrived yet. Ned had wanted to get there as early as was polite to make sure Helen helped them out.

If the reverend wasn’t able to go though, Ned had been eyeing out the mayor of the neighbouring town for a deal. Or if that fell through, Mr. Burns was always an easy target.

He could hear a faint argument and he stepped ever-so-slightly closer to listen without anybody noticing. Maude waved at him from the kitchen and he waved back, curious.

“Helen, we agreed that this would be my uninterrupted time with my trains.”

“But I already promised Ned you’d be willing to help and it would be great for you to get out for a while. What if the other ladies start feeling jealous that my husband is here? Next thing you know, Marge brings that awful Homer Simpson over.”

“It’s my house. I live here.”

“Do you have to be so difficult?”

“How am I meant to know what to buy his mother-in-law?”

“Get her the same thing you’d get for my mother.”

“Like poison?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Ned chuckled and strolled back to the front entrance when Helen reappeared with a promise that her husband would be out soon. It didn’t take long for him to drag his way up the stairs with an expression on his face that suggested he might be praying for salvation. It was too bad that Ned’s existence blocked off a good amount of divinity.

“Howdidly doodily Reverend,” he greeted despite the glare it earned him. “It’s such a beautiful day, don’t you think? Just filled to the brim with opportunity.”

“Truly.”

Ned’s smile was blinding as he bid goodbye to the two ladies. He kept up a stream of near endless and useless chatter the entire time he drove. Reverend Lovejoy barely responded to him but Ned made sure to intersperse enough questions to ensure the man couldn’t tune him out entirely.

Ned already knew what he wanted as ‘gift’ but he made sure to walk around the store and contemplated just about everything before he came to the selection of Bibles and hummed in appreciation.

He picked out two near identical ones with close prices and stared at them, contemplating which to buy with occasional muttered opinion.

“Ned, I believe those bibles are exactly the same,” Reverend Lovejoy told him after about two minutes passed.

“There’s a two-cent difference in the prices though,” Ned said and pointed to the sign. “There must be something missing from the cheapest one. What if I buy it for my mother-in-law and it’s missing two cents of content. I don’t think I’d forgive myself.”

“Buy her the more expensive one then.”

“But what if they haven’t taken anything out of this one and have instead added stuff to it instead?” Ned asked, sure to sound panicked. “What if they added something to the text.”

Reverend Lovejoy stared at him blandly. “I sincerely doubt that would have happened.”

“The devil works in all ways,” Ned said. “I don’t know if I can take that risk. Could you read this one and tell me if there’s anything untoward in it before I buy it?”

“You want me to read through the entire bible right now? In the store?”

“Well, the way I figure it, if anybody’s going to know if there’s something hidden it the pages, it’ll probably be you.”

“You can also get her both and then if she finds something strange or missing from one, you just replace it.”

Ned tapped on his chin as though thinking about it. “That sounds like a mighty fine idea but I don’t know if I want a possibly butchered bible in my house at all. God has been a little more sharp-eyed as of late, especially after we flicked to the wrong channel the other day. You remember it right?”

“You did call about it.”

“I wonder if she read through the last bible I got her or if she only read part of it…”

“Have you ever considered getting her a different gift?”

Ned took his time looking around the shop. There wasn’t really anything else fun – just a few incorrect psalms etched into mugs and dishtowels. He’d love to get one for Maude’s mother but he didn’t know her favourite, he told the reverend.

Honestly, one day he should buy something like this for Maude’s mother as a joke. He could imagine how she’d laugh at the idea.

“Oh, this one is almost in the same shade of blue as the one you used last week,” Ned said, eagerly picking up a third. “But it’s a whole dollar more. Boy for that price, I’d be expecting a new verse toward the back, wouldn’t you?”

“Sure.”

“Which bible do you use for sermons?”

“I… can’t remember.”

They could always stop by the library and pick it up but Ned felt that would be a little too cruel for now. Instead, he put all three back and nodded his head. “We should go look at a few other stores to make sure we’re not being ripped off.”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary.”

“No, no, you have to be careful. No sense in wasting money.”

Meanwhile, Maude gasped politely behind her hand after Luann finished her rant about how she hadn’t finished the book because of her husband’s childish tantrums. It sounded as though getting remarried had ruined their relationship exactly like it had the first time. She couldn’t help but feel bad for that poor child of theirs.

“I thought things would be different this time but he’s just as much of a loser now,” Luann complained. “It’s so frustrating. I just want to strangle him sometimes.”

“Men never learn,” Marge said sympathetically and put a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t begin to count how many times I ask Homer to do things nicely and he ends up completely forgetting. He can’t even remember my birthday.”

“Not all men are like that,” Maude defended. “Ned is great about those things.”

Bernice nodded in agreement. “Julius too. The biggest thing we fight over is him wearing his doctor’s coat out all the time.”

“They also fight about her day drinking,” Helen whispered, leaning in close so only Maude could hear her.

Maude giggled. She’d wanted to be friends with Helen from the day they arrived in Springfield and she couldn’t help but be proud of the accomplishment. The woman had more power over the people in this town than most imagined. The fear of getting into Springfield’s gossip mill kept many on her side.

Maude took advantage of that. Neddy liked to torment through pestering and an ever-happy grin but Maude preferred a subtler approach. Nobody ever suspected she might be the way Helen found out so many private details.

After all, how could a regular person know what went on in their homes?

“Maybe we should have some of the baked goods?” she recommended to Helen. “I think everybody could use a bite of something sweet to help settle the nerves before we talk about the book.”

“Of course,” Helen said. “I cannot wait to taste those brownies.”

Such a lie. One day, Maude would make actual brownies and they’d all be hilariously surprised.

Helen grumbled under her breath when they entered the kitchen and immediately began snatching various catalogues off the counters. She shoved them into an overflowing drawer nearby with great effort. “I’m going to burn all of this nonsense one day,” she complained. “I keep telling Tim to leave his train stuff in the basement but he never listens.”

“It’s sweet he has a hobby though,” Maude mentioned and leaned against the table. “Neddy doesn’t really have anything like that aside from reading the bible.”

Maybe they should choose a more obvious hobby. She enjoyed having the reputation of being the bland, boring family in town, but eventually somebody might wonder what they do during the day and tormenting townsfolk never sounded good on record.

She did want to cause some ripples soon. Maybe she would fake her own death? If it wasn’t for the kids, she’d eagerly do it in a second. Imagine…

“At least reading the bible doesn’t send your electricity bill through the roof,” Helen griped.

“It can when Ned gets to a really exciting part of it and he just can’t stop turning the pages. Once, he stayed up the whole night without even realising.”

She should read the bible again to keep up her charade. She had no idea how Ned had managed to remember all those verses and passages when the most he did was flip through the pages in between signing deals and cashing in on them.

Helen sighed and took out a few large plates to put things out on. “It’s rather funny, don’t you think? We complain all the time about our husbands but it could be far worse. I can’t imagine living a life like Marge’s.”

Maude shuddered dramatically. “I feel so sorry for her.”

Although years of living alongside the Simpsons had helped her realise Homer wasn’t all bad, she still didn’t like the man much. His children were menaces also and she hated inviting the family over even when Ned asked her to.

“And Luann’s husband somehow managed to be even worse. I think he must have stalked her the entire time they were divorced.”

“That’s very sad,” Maude said though she didn’t mean it in a pitying way. “I feel so sorry for their kid. He probably needs far more attention than they give him.”

Helen scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s pathetic really. I don’t think Luann’s mentioned him once today.”

Maude did find it hypocritical for Helen to lecture anybody about not paying attention to their kids when her own daughter was far worse than any of the town’s hoodlums. Jessica wasn’t a bad child deep down but Maude had never gotten the opportunity to properly speak to the poor thing. She wasn’t often home or at events with her family.

Helen hadn’t mentioned her daughter either though she did leave one brownie in the tin, likely for either Jessica or Tim. Maude winced. She didn’t want to eat the things herself.

“He has a crush on Marge’s girl, Lisa,” Maude offered, providing enough gossip for Helen to be happy. “But from what Todd saw, I think she’s more interested in one of those crass boys who terrorise everybody.”

“Oh really?” Helen asked. “Gets her taste in men from her mother.”

“Obviously.”

Maude brought the cupcakes from Bernice and Helen carried out the brownies when she noticed the light in the basement had been left on. She mentioned it to Helen who quickly hurried down the stairs to turn it off, muttering the whole way.

Maude peered down curiously, only getting a brief glimpse of the massive collection of model trains before everything plunged into darkness.

“His collection has grown since I last saw it,” she commented to Helen. “It’s almost impressive.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “Of course, it has. It’s the real love of his life, don’t you know? The other day, I saw a receipt for flowers and I got so happy, only to find out they were fake miniatures for the grass next to the train. We haven’t been on a date in forever but he’s there every day.”

She was keeping her voice down to make sure nobody else heard. A lot of her superiority came from the idea of her life being better than the other woman she surrounded herself with. Maude had a strong suspicion she was the only one who knew about Helen’s true feelings surrounding her marriage.

And the more she thought of it, the more of an opportunity she saw.

“Maybe we should go on a double date,” Maude said. “We can do something we’ve never done before like go on a camping trip or a hike. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

Helen’s eyes brightened at the promise. “Oh, I don’t camp but I do know where this lovely little log cabin is we can rent. It would be amazing! You could even bring the boys if you wanted to.”

“They’ll be so excited! They’ve been getting much better with nature lately.”

Maude watched Helen carefully for the rest of the day, appreciating how her expressions stayed neutral even when she was irritated or smug. She couldn’t even deny that Helen was quite pretty when you looked past the judgmental sneer.

When Ned picked her up, she had a plan in mind.

Tim looked awfully unimpressed as he marched back inside his house, rubbing his temples as though a headache had formed over the day. Three bibles sat on the front seat and she laughed and she put them in the back after they’d driven away. Ned’s day had been a stunning success it would seem and she was mulling over offering Luann a deal.

“I have a brilliant idea,” she cooed as they made their way home. “I thought about it while I was talking to Helen.”

Ned raised an eyebrow at her; the very edges of his horns were beginning to poke through and she laughed, pushing them back down. It usually meant he was using some of his more demonic forces to watch the road while paying attention to her.

“You know I love your ideas,” he said.

“The Lovejoys have been going through a rough patch in their marriage,” Helen said. “And I think we could help them out in a more… physically fun way.”

Ned chuckled almost demonically. She wouldn’t even run a contract by him so this must be something far more interesting. “And how will we do that?”

“I just think they could use another avenue to release their frustrations.”

He inclined his head to her. “Well, that does sound like the best diddly idea I’ve heard all day. So neighborly of you and I know your devilish temptations are strong enough to charm just about any man.”

Maude preened beneath the praise. She knew she had talent when it came to drawing men’s eyes to her but no, she had no interest in seducing the Reverend. He’d never been that interesting to her. Not like Helen was.

“I’m thinking more about his wife.”

“You want to seduce Helen Lovejoy?”

“I want to try,” Maude said. “I like her Neddy and I think it would be great fun. Her soul would practically be mine after that. She’d have to sign a contract rather than let it get out.”

He chuckled. “Now, you don’t have to lie and say it’s for a contract. If we get one out of this, all the better but you know you’re allowed to have your fun without stealing any souls.”

“And I want you to seduce her husband.”

There, Ned hesitated. He tilted the car’s mirror down to look at himself, wrinkled his nose and frowned. “I don’t know about that. Maybe if I’d chosen a better form but… not this one.”

Maude rolled her eyes. “Are you joking? You’ve taken your shirt off before, right? This form is delicious.”

“Maybe to those who like men but I don’t think the reverend of a church is going to let his gaze wander to me,” Ned said. “You, I think, might have a chance.”

Did she notice a hint of jealousy in his tone? Her attention hooked, she leaned forward to ask, “Do you find him attractive?”

Ned scoffed. “Obviously. Why do you think I bother him as much as I do.”

“Then why not try? If he’s not interested, you leave it to me and I’ll just swoop Helen right out from under him. Best case scenario, we end up with only one soul rather than two but I have some stories from Helen that suggest you might have a better chance than you think.”

He shrugged. “I suppose there’s no harm in it. We should try not to get our names too messy though. I don’t want to have to move towns.”

“I promise. I’m a very smart devil.”

Ned smiled proudly at her. “That you are and hey, I’ve always rather liked those collars he wears.”

This work was inspired by this absolutely stunning artwork:

#the simpsons fanfiction #the simpsons #the simpsons fanart #ned flanders #maude flanders #devil ned flanders #reverend lovejoy #helen lovejoy #flanjoy

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nocek · 1 year

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Ok I know it's a little bit late but turns out my big Okoye rant just has to be written down or it will keep bothering me. So here we go. Screaming into the void.

The thing is I like Okoye and I think she had nice thing going on in Wakanda Forever. That is up until the point that her plot threads were axed midway and rest of it was given to Nakia of all people? Which sucks for both of them. So in this essay....

The first Black Panther movie build her up nicely as Lawful Neutral character. Which is rare and for me makes really interesting character. She dutifully followed the law when Killmonger took the throne and then just as dutifully was about to kill her husband when it was revealed the throne taking wasn't so lawful after all. Both of those choices were incredibly emotionally hard for her and actually quite rare storytelling wise. Which I loved. What is even better: on top of all that she wasn't punished by the narrative for being lawful instead of going after her heart.

Great! I really, really loved it. Especially when in the new movie they started to nicely build up on that to give her own little plot and character growth.

Well. Up to a point.

But lets focus on what they were clearly building up to.

Okoye loves Wakanda. It's her character virtue since she is Lawful Neutral. But at the same time loving it too much and too blindly is her character flaw.

Wakanda is the best and thus doesn't need to change.

First we saw it in Infinity War with a little side joke about opening Wakanda to the world meant maybe Starbucks and not, well... war.

In Wakanda Forever in one of the first scenes she tells Aneka to give back the daggers since spears are traditional weapon. Which, by virtue of being traditional, are better and it's not going to change on her watch.

For that, the obvious plot resolution would be that Okoye needs to open up to new things (particularly technology). Unfortunately, the thing is, they sort of did that in the movie but in the worst way possible (and I don't just mean that Midnight Angel armor is ugly, you are right sister. It's ugly af) but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Wakanda is the best and thus I'm the best.

Okoye is a bit full of herself, or to be more precise thinks others are not as good since they are not Wakandan. She assumes she can deal with Americans and duh, she is right. She can actually deal with them like nbd. So does it really count as being blinded by her own/ Wakandan awesomeness?

Yes. Yes it does. I love that she is confident in her skills and she has all the right to be but she also knew there is new unknown threat. It was overconfidence on her part to think she can deal with Talokans too.

And she got her ass handled to her in fair fight.

And she broke her promise to queen Ramonda and lost Shuri.

Consequences as plot resolution? It's more likely than you think.

Because yeah. That's where clearly her further plot was axed and given to Nakia (which could be whole other big rant but just so you know: she was done dirty here too). Because let's be real it would fit perfectly.

Classic plot. Hero gets overconfident. Fucks up. As consequence hero loses their privileges/status/whatever. So they go on a quest not to regain their privileges or prove themselves but to right their wrongs.

Often they initially want to prove themselves, but then they learn they need to fix their mistakes because it's a right thing to do. Just after that the narrative can reward them with actually-you-just-have-proven-yourself-plot-twist - here are your privileges back and then some.

In Okoye's sake we can even cut on the second part of that plot. She just goes on a quest to right her wrongs and to save the princess.

Rewrite of a rewritten plot?

So her first overall wrong was dismissal of new technology. Could be righted easily by going to Griot to ask it to help her locate Shuri. It's even still in the movie but instead it's Ramonda who talks with Griot. It shows Griot can locate Shuri, they just added little scene with Nakia doing spy stuff and talking to people because it's her forte.

It would even fit the underwater cave rescue scene better. Because the forceful solution of going in guns blazing would fit more Okoye's desperation. Nakia is a spy. She would be more level headed and just sneak in and out unnoticed. Moreover, since she is more caring people person she wouldn't just leave that one girl to die.

But hey. If they didn't do that they wouldn't have the excuse for war and to have whole second part of the movie and "big" action scene at the end. Which is sadly mandatory in Marvel movies.

But going back to Okoye before I get sidetracked too much.

Just a rewrite... please.

With that the last plot thread for her to resolve would be redo of the fight with Attuma.

And it could and SHOULD follow the classic plot of like Rocky and countless others:

Hero loses a fight

Hero trains some more/ learns new things

Hero wins second fight fair and square

but nooooooo

Instead of mixing it with with opening to new technologies plot - as in asking Griot to help her find weak spots of Talokans. Or even just upgrading her spear to be better in fight with another vibranium spear if you really need to go this way (and clearly don't have time for training montage in this bloated movie)...

nope. Instead we go sorry Okoye you are just too weak. Here, have an armor. Which ok ties to the same new technologies plot thread but at the same time is so damn insulting to Okoye and her skills.

Like really fucking insulting.

It's like going to Cap or Black Widow and saying you are cool with all the fancy kicks and all but lets be real here. You are to week to fight real super powered villains - here have an armor.

Would anyone do that? No. Because it's insulting and goes against what those characters are at their core. Even if they are "too weak" they still would win by their skill, their smarts, their cunning nature or just by their sheer stubbornness.

Because those are their cove virtues.

Because that's how storytelling works.

And just FYI I'm not shitting on characters actually using armors. Oh no. Tony or Riri would win by learning and then building smarter armor. Rhodey would win because he is a solider and for him the armor is just tool of the trade - it's just a tank he happens to wear. But for Okoye or Cap or Natasha or any other hand to hand badass fighter it would go against the very idea their character was built on. It would be plot breaking Deus Ex Machina solution. Everyone would be bitching that writers written themselves into a corner and found very unsatisfying plot resolution that doesn't work.

But since Okoye is a side character and this movie has way too much going on in general, it's just left as it is.

And I'm very salty about that.

#black panther #wakanda forever #okoye #nakia #text post #long post #rant #sorry I had to #this movie had a lot of potential and great ideas but just as a previous movie it suffered by mandatory boring big fight at the end #and it tried to jump through too many hoops #even if the quick revrite of whole movie looks quite coherent (to a point of Namor deciding out of blue I'm evil now)#funny enough same problem with too many hoops had black widow movie #and speaking of comparisons #it also had same problem as first fantastic beasts movie #oddly enough #as in main character has no charisma #and is overshadowed by other characters #and then the plot in further movies #even if they are interesting and drive the plot #it's still a blockbuster movie #it needs to be driven by MAIN character #so again sorry for the text post #after so long radio silence #I had shitty month at work #I actually have some drawings to share so I hope this break from usual programming won't be a bother

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chidoroki · 7 months

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182 Days of TPN - Day 178

Chapter 178: "To the Human World"

As sweet as it is to have Mujika & Sonju rush all the way from the capital to the GF plantation to wish the children one last goodbye, I can't help but think of the surprised Pikachu meme whenever I see this panel of Ray. He matches it perfectly.

Kinda glad we don't linger on the tragic events of the previous chapter long, like yeah, I don't need to shed any more tears about it, but also having Mujika completely switch topics as if the loss wasn't highly depressing is lowkey hilarious. Also, that one shot of the plantation shows the outer bridge again somehow even though it was clearly destroyed back in ch167.

I'm assuming Oliver, Violet & all the other GP kids already know about the golden water because Lucas might have told them about it when he ventured underground with Emma? It's not like any of them saw the literal Goldy Pond themselves since it was locked behind the door that required the WM pen to open and none of the residents had one until Emma showed up, but whatever. The only one of them I could imagine getting a peak of the golden water themselves is Nigel since he went below the windmill to set off the self destruct button in the control room that was right next to said pond. Anyways, if this is the place the Ratri clan used to transport stuff between worlds, can't y'all just use the stairs too? I dunno why but I can't imagine them using the Seven Wall method every time, or that they would even know how to complete the ritual in the first place. Emma only activated that to advise the demon god they're all ready to implement the promise and cross over.

Phil asking the very important questions that we're all dreading the answers to! Though I'm wondering again how he knew of the deal in the first place. I figure he and all the other children at GF were told about the promise off panel by the escapees sometime after they were all reunited or perhaps that little tidbit of information was something Phil heard about from Andrew. Who knows. I certainly don't. I can love this series with all my heart but by no means do I have an abundance of knowledge of every tiny detail.

I can't and won't say Emma's lying here because she isn't. She answers Phil's questions with full confidence and very truthfully, it's just.. not the full truth, which is clever on her part to just give the answers they're wondering about instead of all the extra fine details because her family definitely wouldn't allow her to carry such a burden, as they outwardly express to her a bit later.

I can imagine Emma revealing the price of the reward so casually, like "oh, the demon god actually wants you guys," or something similar which makes everyone's freak out even funnier in my head.

Thankfully, her family is off limits due to how Emma phrased the new promise to include all the cattle children to cross over to the human world, so the reward is.. "nothing." It's so anti-climatic that no one believes it. I praise Emma's master actor skills very highly and will probably do so again in a couple pages, but this undoubtedly one of her weaker performances. C'mon honey, I know the past couple days have been real hectic but surely you had some downtime between all the traveling to and from the capital to think up a better story. (and Violet totally swears there. don't even question it. perfectly in character.)

I love how everyone continues to be skeptical as the lie continues to grow. If the reward was really that simple, then Emma wouldn't have had a reason to hide the reward from Ray when he first asked about it during ch144. If it was all good news and truly free from any sort of sacrifices, then I'm sure she would've been delighted to tell him everything she and the demon god discussed.

She's certainly not wrong. Just because the cursed blood will be shared amongst all the demons so they won't degenerate, doesn't mean that'll cure their cravings for human meat. Sonju is a perfect example of that. I also love how enthusiastically everyone is nodding their heads to Norman's words. The fact everyone would give up their freedom in the human world just to stay behind in the demon world with Emma is so precious. It would've been interesting to see all the humans live normal lives (as "normal" as they could possibly get anyway) in the demon world and whether or not they could actually coexist with the demons. I guess the second season sorta did that during that final episode slideshow where it had the fullscore trio and Lambda crew stay behind for a couple years before crossing over, but that was poorly done and covered the later story arcs instead of everyone living freely so that attempt doesn't count.

It's so wholesome to see everyone celebrate like this because Emma is still telling the truth here. They really really deserve to be excited and hopeful for their new lives in the human world.

It's so reassuring to know that the boys are still feeling just as suspicious about this reward as the entire fandom did.

The doubts don't last for much longer though since Emma starts speaking from her heart and we all know how motivating and optimistic she is when that happens. Emma has lied and put on great performances in the past in order to hide her real intentions, so the fact she's being completely true to herself and her feelings here is impressive since no one, not even Norman or Ray, could detect any other uncertainties about the reward with how efficiently she puts their wondering minds at ease.

Well I'm sure as hell not. (I do love this panel of her though.)

Relativity by M. C. Escher, but make it pretty and magical.

Sorry to say but she's definitely gonna forget you, Mujika. Not by choice of course, but consequently. I'll never get over that bittersweet smile of Emma's either.

Totally gonna be bias but I'm absolutely thrilled everyone ended up in what is essentially this world's version of New York. Aside from that, I was beyond worried about Emma obviously missing as she was previously holding onto Phil's hand for several pages before everyone crossed over, but I tried hard to push away all the anxious feelings by thinking of how exciting it would be to see the kids explore one of the world's largest cities. You know, after they find our very special sunshine child first of course. That's top priority.

Favorite panel/moment:

I love how these two panels blend into one another. Makes me wanna believe that Emma was in two places at once, as silly as that idea is, but she either used the ritual to just signal the demon god that everyone's ready or took a quick trip there and back to tell Him personally. It's probably the former (since I doubt there's still an active full moon), but the latter would've been a bit funny to see her disappear for an instant then have her return just as quickly.

#the promised neverland #tpn manga #182daysoftpn #chidoroki used chatter

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yourladystar · 7 months

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Star's Engage Catalogue Day 34 (part 5)

I feel that it's only right to showcase the final team that will be joining me.

And I have to split it into 2 posts because Tumblr has a 10-picture limit.

Don't really think I have to explain why Alear has been a strong fighter. You see those stats and you see why I had Marth stick with him, those two are a perfect fit.

But I wanna talk about how shocked I am by Alear's character. He's genuinely up there with Corrin and Shez as one of the best avatars this series has done. His story is engaging, he's a joy to watch in anything he does or says, his voice acting is immaculate, he's so God flippin adorable! I'll definitely talk more about him another time, but he managed to become one of my favorite characters in all of Fire Emblem, something I never expected to happen playing this game!

Again, don't think I need to explain why a dancer is good. And while Corrin worked with him for a while, Byleth is a better option, especially with the stats he gives.

And Seadall surprised me with his character. His alluring nature and way of speaking, his wisdom and experience from his past, the struggles he deals with from his lifestyle, and the way he can inspire others even when he doesn't believe in himself. I don't know how some of y'all can say he's boring, this sh*t is lovely.

Also he's pretty as hell, but I think you can see that.

Rosado has been a reliable fighter who can just about any enemy I have him face. Good stats, weapon variety and flyer mobility make him extremely versatile. Leif has been the best fit for him, since his stat boosts and skills work best for how Rosado functions in battle.

His character is also wonderful. A perfect evolution of Forrest and wonderful rep for trans, genderfluid, crossdresser's, and gender questioning people in a time where they really need positive representation. Plus he's spunky and sassy while also being caring and supportive.

Amber is a weirdly good example of hard-hitting but fragile. His low speed and res make him susceptible to one-hit kills, but the enemy can't do that if he doesn't kill them in one hit first. Eirika also works weirdly well for him, as the twins' skills suit whatever I need him to do that turn.

But I can overlook all of that for his character. I love this doof! He's so dumb and goofy but filled with so much positivity and cheerfulness it's hard not to smile at his antics. Even when he royally f*cks something up, you can't help but smile and go, "Youre doing amazing, sweetie."

Alcryst might just be the strongest member of my team and Lyn really helped to bring out his true potential. Her skills perfectly suit his play style and ensure that any he fights will not survive, whether it'd be death by crit, death by Luna, or Alacrity stopping the opponent from even fighting back. And with me giving him avoidance skill, literally nothing can even touch him. It's honestly ridiculous how busted this unit is.

And don't get me started on how much I love this little skrunkly! He stole my love the second his first scene ended and it only got better with each scene he got. I just wanted this boy to have love and happiness and seeing him get that from everyone in his life- his brother, his retainers, his friends, his boyfriend- they all just make me smile.

Alfred has a rocky middle, but he really picked up. Once I started utilizing the resources I got and realized that he got swords after being promoted, Alfred really came into his own and started being a powerhouse. Sigurd has been his Emblem since the start. No one else can really utilize his movement the same way Alfred does.

Alfred also shocked me with his character. I already liked him enough for the goofy and entertaining meathead he was, but the second I unlocked his A-support with Céline, everything I perceived about him changed! He went from being just a fun and silly presence to one of the most tragic yet hopeful characters in this. Someone who, even knowing they have little time left, refuses to give up and continues to strive forward to protect everything and everyone he cares. Someone who doesn't ask for your pity and will always be put you first.

I couldn't have picked a better person to give the Pact Ring to.

Alflear for life, baby!

Zelkov is a unit that started off good and continued to be good throughout the entire game. I've never been in a position where it felt like bringing him along was an inconvenience, even when there was no chest for him to unlock. Hell, for the longest time, he didn't even need an Emblem to assist him, but when I did decide to give him one, the Three Houses lords for him like a glove.

And God, I love listening to him talk! I had no idea what to expect out of him during the lead-up to Engage, but I am so happy with what I got. An enigmatic and mysterious yet sweet, caring, and helpful man who seems like an autistic coded goat on the surface but is just using his many hobbies to avoid dealing with the trauma of his childhood- that is right up my alley!

I'll do the second half in the next post.

#fire emblem engage #playthrough #first playthrough #alear #fe alear #m!alear #seadall #fe seadall #rosado #fe rosado #amber #fe amber #alcryst #fe alcryst #alfred #fe alfred #zelkov #fe zelkov

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katyspersonal · 10 months

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/vent

Discussed some things with my friend and just can't shake off the thoughts. It is a crucial skill to learn to distinguish between people who are explaining themselves when they've been terrible accidentally, and people who are abusing their victim privilege to be deliberately terrible without any consequences.

Like, someone having had a toxic friend or boyfriend in middle school or whatever that they refuse to heal and move on from is not a good reason to bring ruin, drama, negativity and toxicity wherever you go. "I've had a bad experience that fucked me up and that's why I can and will cause problems sometimes, it is awful" and "I've had a bad experience that fucked me up and that's why I can be rude to strangers online and be ableist with tangible consequences to anyone who as much as REMINDS me of the person that hurt me and if you disagree with me you are victimblaming!!!!!!" are different sentiments.

It will be a rather uncomfortable thing to share, but it is to illustrate the point. At ages of 16 and 20, I've had toxic friendships with me in the bad guy role (though former hardly was one, too short-lasted), and from my knowledge both of these people turned extremely toxic themselves. Like... Some that still knew them backed away, because those people would be rude, toxic, overly cautious, insensitive, quick to throw drastic accusations and uncomfortable - always, always, always using my name as an excuse to continue that behaviour and never have to apologise, heal of become better. "Katy hurt me so I don't have to be a decent person now, everything I do wrong is blamed on her" was the logic, basically.

Granted, maybe those people improved since and realised to not drag innocent people into toxicity, I haven't heard about them for years. But like... ugh, similar anti-recovery logic is something I've been seeing from other people, too. I just gotta say - being a victim of a bad person, be it a very toxic friendship or straight up emotional abuse, does not automatically make you a GOOD person. If your response to having had bad experience is basically 'Bitchin', now I don't have to put in effort in treating people right!', if you turn it into victim's privilege, if you are being anti-recovery and hold your grudge hurting yourself and others further, if you think you are allowed to screw even other people up for being "similar" with that guy... well, you are certainly not 'good'.

I survived all manners of abuse (yes, even that kind) from different men, especially the stepdad, but if I act sexist towards men - I own it. For some reason I do not have to over-explain what I've been through and how it magically gives me right to mistreat even men that didn't do anything bad. And this comes from me - a goddamn idiot with a bunch of mental problems and no resources. Like... for sure, FOR SURE, people with much more sound mind and capacity to heal could do better after dumb shit like middle/high school drama or someone being awful to them online...? Is not it so? Why would some people want to endlessly wallow and spread this evil further into the world? Do some people just need a REASON to be bad without consequences, and having endured pain works perfectly?

Again - trying to not fuck things up and failing is different from deliberately being toxic.

#/vent #/negative #like sure when you are as healthy as a wounded animal you will snap? yeah like no shit?#but some people will know this is wrong no matter what caused it #and other people will just continue and shift everything on that person who is no longer there for YEARS #i hope i made myself clear i am talking about the situation that stopped and is not ongoing #when you are actively being mistreated the priority is to get rid of that person and THEN you can self-reflect

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tokiro07 · 3 months

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Cipher Academy ch.56 thoughts

[Continue...?]

(Contents: Speculation - anxiety/predictions, thematic analysis - Friendship)

I STILL CAN'T TELL IF IT'S BEEN CANCELED!!!

Hrngh...on the one hand, this was such a quick resolution to this storyline, it really feels like Nisio is outright trying to wrap it up as fast as possible...on the other, revisiting the introductory crossword specifically in the battle with Toshusai to determine which of them is the leader of the academy is the perfect bookend to this section of the story since she won't have any reason to be antagonistic to Iroha going forward, and there isn't really a way to drag out sharing crosswords into multiple chapters that wouldn't feel awkward

The presence of loose ends like Kogoe's machinations, Hakanage and Zakuroguchi's plans, how the Morgue will be used, Iroha's dad, locating Amvicious, etc. all indicate that there's plenty of story left to tell, but it's very possible that we're going to get an "our journey continues" ending, so that doesn't tell us anything

As I've said before, Nisio frequently ends arcs with quick resolutions, like how Medaka vs. Kumagawa or Hitoyoshi vs. Iihiko were only one chapter each, so this feels very like him, but that could just lend well to wrapping up the story when the editors say it's time to stop

It's so frustrating!!! I don't want to hold out hope only for it to be dashed, but Nisio's track record tells me there isn't reason to accept defeat yet, either!!!

Hmph!!!

Anyway, this is a fantastic end to what I've been calling the Friendship arc, as not only has Toshusai acknowledged Iroha as her friend, it was Iroha's belief that she felt that way that convinced her to concede defeat to him. The goal of Q.123 was to demonstrate how well they understood each other by effectively putting words in each other's mouths, and wrong answers would be a demerit - not only did Iroha demonstrate perfectly that he understood Toshusai, but that even though they were on opposing sides, he wholeheartedly believed that she viewed him as a friend

There was also the bit about "answering a code with a code," which I believe is meant to harken back to the idea that Iroha's way of thinking is so outside of the box compared to everyone else's, as seen when he brought in a third member to what was supposed to be a three-person cell, but honestly I think that was more how Nohime rationalized it rather than how Toshusai did. It's an important skill that only Iroha has shown, so it is a quality that Toshusai believes that a leader should have, but more than that, the idea that wars can be ended with friendship rather than violence has been a key ideal of the story as a whole, so it makes sense for that to be the final lynchpin in her decision to allow Iroha to take command

Kogoe walking away because she considered both options to be winners is an interesting callback to the CLP election, as she said the same thing when Iroha fought Anonymity, so I think if the story is to continue, she's undoubtedly going to be the cause of the next inciting incident. If the story gets to continue on, Iroha's friendship with Kogoe is certain to be a major contributing factor to the resolution of whatever her plot is, though likely in a slightly different way than we've seen here. Like I said, I think that our next storyline is going to be the Victory arc, so rather than "wars can be won through Friendship", it's more going to be "wars can be Won through friendship." It's a subtle distinction that I don't envision most people will understand at the moment, but if we ever get there, I'll be sure to go into more detail on it

Kogoe established in chapter 1 that she believes wars can be won without fighting, so using her as the focal point for the Victory arc, a story about finding alternate forms of victory, would be just as fitting of a bookend as Iroha befriending Toshusai. I still feel there would need to be one more arc after that to tie together all three arc's lessons, but ending it on Iroha proving Kogoe's hypothesis correct could well be the perfect conclusion

Here's hoping we get to see it!

Until next time

#cipher academy #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews

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electrasev5nwrites · 8 months

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Ninja Daily: AIC 25

"That one."

Inoichi gave him a sidelong glance that was far too expressive for 5 in the morning. "As you say, Hokage-sama."

Minato considered explaining. He was too tired.

'Kushina, I wish you were here for this. You're laughing at me, aren't you?'

There was no sign of her, of course, other than the ache in his soul where they should be touching. He pressed his lips together and waited for the genin he'd chosen to be brought in.

When he was led in, the boy had his shoulders back just a little too far and his hands were clearly aching to make fists. He was defensive. Not overly fearful.

'Is Naruto like this boy? Would he be wary of me, too?'

Minato smiled brightly. "Please, have a seat." While the genin was dithering, he made a point of glancing down at the clipboard he was holding. "Inai-san, right?"

His daughter's favored student sat down with slow, deliberate movements. He straightened his back. He didn't make eye contact. "Yondaime-Hokage-san."

'That's exactly the minimum amount of politeness required,' Minato thought. 'How familiar.' He didn't let the ghost of a smile reach his face. "How are you finding your stay in Konoha?"

Inai Yuusaku swallowed whatever smartass remark he'd been about to make. "Acceptable. How is yours?"

Well. Maybe he hadn't swallowed all of the sass.

'Disorienting. Highly concerning. I don't have the time or freedom to conduct the research I'd need to know what exactly has gone so wrong here.'

He felt his eyes crease in a smile. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I missed the plum blossoms last year."

The Kiri genin gave him a mildly disbelieving look. "So you did. Maybe some other things too, but mostly the plums."

Minato crossed his ankles underneath his chair. "I hear good things about Kirigakure lately. Is there anything you particularly like to do at this time of year?"

It was sort of cute, watching the kid strain to understand what Minato was hoping to glean from that question. In the end, he played it safe. "Not really."

"How did you end up training under the Mizukage?" Minato asked casually.

The boy gave him a sharp look. "I am lucky to have a skilled teacher."

He was neither confirming or denying that Aiko was the Mizukage. Even after she'd given her implicit permission for her team to talk about it.

"Of course," he agreed politely. "But you shouldn't be so modest. I hear good things about your performance in the second task of the chuunin exams, in particular."

If he hadn't already known the body language in that recorded fight belonged to Aiko, the stiff and defensive set to the genin's shoulders would have confirmed it.

"Thank you," Inai-san said. He made eye contact and then looked away as quickly.

"Uzumaki-san was in Kirigakure's Black Ops, wasn't she?" Minato tried.

The shrug the genin gave seemed genuine. "I am not privy to the career details of my seniors."

"Of course." He uncrossed his ankles and adjusted his feet to be the perfectly proper four inches apart. "But it's an open secret, isn't it? It is unusual for someone with such a low-profile career to be welcomed into the upper echelons of government. There's not many other confidential departments where a shinobi can become powerful enough to become a kage."

Inai probably didn't realize that he gave a minuscule nod of agreement. He believed that theory, then.

That was… Well. He hadn't expected that Aiko would have been honest about where she had come from. A classified career was the most comforting explanation that Kirigakure could come to.

"How long has she been your teacher?"

"Only since the weeks prior to the chuunin exams."

'Aiko specifically told them to be honest about that, then. He's hedging ambiguous answers where he isn't sure what she wants and spitting out what he's sure is safe.'

Minato nodded and gave a conversational hum. "Is she a good teacher?"

Inai gave an answer to that easily, in the affirmative. But of course he would.

"Thank you for your time," Minato decided. He stood up and resisted the urge to put his hands in his pockets.

The genin looked relieved. He actually gave a half-bow from his seated position.

Minato let his posture relax as he pulled open the door. "Goodbye." He nodded to the foreigner. "Before I go, I have one last question." Minato tossed it out as though it was an afterthought. He rubbed at the tendon behind his right ear. "If your teacher decides she wants me gone, how would she do it?"

He pretended not to notice how incredibly tense that was making the observing ANBU.

Inai Yuusaku seemed more than a little confused by the question. His eyes narrowed, looking for the trick. "I'm afraid I've never seen her in a difficult fight," the genin hedged. "I can't say what she would do."

Minato nodded. "Thank you. Have a good day." He let the door shut behind him and immediately set off to his temporary office, not the conference room behind one-way glass. Yamanaka-san would follow after the genin had been taken back to his cell. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before Inoichi slipped inside with a mild expression and let the door shut quietly.

"Yondaime-sama." Inoichi nodded. The way his long hair slipped over his shoulder was the same way Minato remembered, even if the wrinkles and scars were new.

He managed a thin smile. "What did you think?"

The Yamanaka took a moment to respond. "I do not think he gave any information that Uzumaki-san would have forbidden him to give," Inoichi said.

'He thinks I made a mistake in choosing that genin to interrogate.'

Minato nodded. "Yes." He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "He did a good job."

Inoichi looked at him, perfectly steady. There was no judgment in his clear blue eyes.

Minato snorted and made a waving motion. "You think I'm an idiot."

The younger man shook his head solemnly. "Not at all, Yondaime-sama." Inoichi let one corner of his mouth slip up in a smile. "I'm waiting to hear what you wished to accomplish."

He eyed Inoichi, but indulged. "I didn't need any classified information that a genin would have been privy to." Minato scratched the back of his neck. "But he did inadvertently confirm that Uzumaki-san has revived the dead before and that he believes the process to be permanent. I'd say that the breakdown of what Uzumaki-san did and did not classify would also indicate that she has dug her heels into Kirigakure, but has not been transparent about her history. She isn't especially friendly, but she hasn't ruled out cooperation with Konohagakure."

He was hungry, again. That was so odd. It was a strange feeling to get used to again.

"I see," Inoichi said slowly." A frown line formed. "I had made the first connection myself- his answer about how Uzumaki-san would get rid of you was phrased ambiguously to protect knowledge of her fighting style, but clearly assumed that a fight would be necessary." He tilted his head. "I… can see hints that evidence your later conclusions."

Minato didn't answer the implicit question. He was going to have to, eventually. It hung like a rock in his stomach. He just… He needed some time to gather more information and come to a conclusion about what needed to be done.

"Thank you," he said. He heard that his voice came out wooden, but didn't muster up the energy to falsify emotion. "That will be all for now. I'll speak with the Sandaime soon, but you may as well go first."

Inoichi didn't bother to deny that he would be reporting to the Sandaime. "Very well, then."

He couldn't work up the emotional effort to be offended that the Sandaime was distrustful of him. It made sense. The situation was incredibly suspicious.

'It's really starting to look like an alternate timeline situation.' Minato slowly collapsed to a seated position on the floor and ran his hands up his hair. 'Aiko, what have you done? Do you even know?'

She was different from the 14 year old girl he had briefly known in Rouran. At least, in presentation. It was a fair assumption that a lot of the same neurosis and traits were present, just better hidden. Less raw. He could easily see where the same need for control was playing out in this genin team she had adopted, the same protective desires towards younger and more vulnerable children. The oddity was that she had ended up bonding to persons in Kirigakure.

'If I can get her to come to Konohagakure, that would be best. I don't know if she can be convinced to leave.'

It was completely mad that this situation existed and he didn't even get the luxury of feeling confused about it. There was a terrible certainty in his gut. He knew what had happened- what linked him and Aiko. It was so terribly vulnerable to extra variables, simply because it wasn't meant to be subverted at all.

Minato wasn't under any illusions about what he was. He was walking and breathing and his heart was beating, but his soul belonged to the death god. He'd been given physical form to bear witness, but he hadn't truly been revived as one of the living.

The only question, really, was why Aiko had come to this place. Had it been an accident, like what had happened in Rouran? This was absolutely another dimension- there were only two live hiraishin seals in existence. One was in Kakashi-kun's possession, and the other one was being kept alive by the natural chakra in Rouran. Aiko had made certain that he wouldn't do that, ergo, there was either no Aiko belonging to this universe or at the very least, she was not the same as the Aiko he had encountered.

It seemed likely that he had never had a daughter in this universe, and not simply because no one seemed to think Naruto had a twin. Why else would Aiko have found herself in this specific timeline? This proved that alternate realities exist, and that probably meant infinite realities. Unless it was pure chance drawing Aiko to this universe, then there was some other factor involved.

Minato pieced listlessly through the reports he'd already studied. He kept coming back to focus on one paragraph in particular- Aiko had rather baldly interrogated a genin about siblings.

He wanted to think that her lack of subtlety meant that she had been upset or surprised by what she had learned- that perhaps she had never considered that there would have been no Aiko in this universe. Or that she had strong reason to believe she had a counterpart?

'She should be conversant with this theory.' Minato leaned back and ruffled his hair up. 'She's capable of adapting and using hiraishin. Maybe it's not her focus area, but I doubt that. So why wouldn't Aiko have learned about multiverse theory?'

From that he could posit two possible solutions- option one was that her fuinjutsu education was bizarrely inconsistent and patchy. Given that she should have been reared by Jiraiya, he would have said that was impossible. Of course, now in this universe he had seen that Jiraiya had abandoned his responsibilities to Naruto. Grimly, Aiko's selective ignorance was not as far-fetched as he would like.

Option two was that she had been upset by Naruto's answer because she specifically had reason to believe she had a younger counterpart. That was interesting. If there really was another Aiko in this universe, where was she? Why hadn't anyone ever mentioned Naruto's twin to him, if only to explain why she was absent? Why would Aiko know when no one else seemed to?

'Or Aiko could have just panicked. People do foolish things and forget obvious information when they are panicked.'

That theory was less interesting. Minato bounced his right leg a few times. He frowned when he caught himself fidgeting.

This office was a third the size of the Hokage's office. It felt like he was working in a dark cave and the walls would come down at any mo-

Minato dismissed the thought. He took deep, calm breaths. He did not ruminate on the soul that he'd never encountered in all his years wandering and reconnecting. It made some sense that forgiveness was still coming. Avoiding someone who got you killed was reasonable. Perhaps after a decade one's resolve might fade, but- it was what it was.

The walls were a pale green, textured with dust that made them scratchy. It was rather tasteful. He looked at them for a while, pushing down the blackness. If there was a window, he would have opened it. Or maybe he would have jumped out of it and chosen not to use any chakra.

That, he reflected, was possibly why there was no window.

He wasn't going to kill himself. Probably. He had a bone-deep terror that he wouldn't be able to pass back to where he belonged. Would his soul be trapped in limbo? Would he intrude on this Minato and Kushina's afterlife? Would Kushina wait for him until the world shook apart and death was unmade?

The only person who might be able to give him a hint was in Kirigakure playing at Mizukage. He was grudgingly, confusingly proud of her for achieving that. Aiko was a very odd person, but she didn't lack for ambition, did she? She was definitely his kid. And she seemed more stable than she'd been as a teenager. That was a good sign.

Talking to her in private would be… not impossible, but difficult. And unwise, given that the Sandaime was trying to figure out if Minato was under her control, as well as what had possessed him to keep a child completely secret and send her off to Kirigakure.

He hadn't asked yet, but he probably would, once investigation turned up nothing. It would have been a very strange choice, so Minato couldn't blame the Sandaime for wondering.

Would it be better or worse to tell the Sandaime that he was misplaced in dimensions? Would Sandaime believe him? Would sharing that information cause harm to Aiko?

Minato cleared his throat. "Excuse me."

ANBU boar obediently entered the room.

"I want to interview the genin who wrote this report." Minato handed it over. "Have her brought to me, please."

The shinobi gave the report a cursory glance and then handed it back. "Of course, Hokage-sama." He bowed and left quickly.

Minato spared a moment to feel a bit sorry for how alarmed that girl was going to be when told that the undead Hokage wanted to talk to her about a mission months ago. In all likelihood, she wouldn't remember anything more detailed than what she had written in her report. But if there was a chance he could push her to remember more details, specific wording that Aiko had used or facial expressions- well. It could help him.

He occupied the late morning and afternoon with the materials the Sandaime had arranged in order to help him understand the current political and social climate.

Three sharp raps on the door made him look up. That was Boar's hand, but he wouldn't be knocking to enter.

"Come in," Minato called, more on reflex than as a decision. He frowned immediately. The list of people who was approved to come and see him was short. Who was- oh, already?

The door took a good long second to open, during which time Minato twirled his pen and leaned back in his chair.

"Please excuse me."

He had melted at that timid little voice before he had a name to go with that pink hair. "Haruno-san," Minato said gently. Just looking at her made him feel a bit squishy and parental. She was rather small. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I read your reports and had some questions for you. Please, have a seat."

She gave the chair a fearful look.

Um. Maybe she was too polite to sit in her Hokage's presence. "Or you can stand."

Sakura gave him a wobbly smile. After a moment's deliberation, she sat. She did not relax in the slightest.

Alright, then. He dug out the relevant report. "You mentioned that Uzumaki Aiko exhibited attachment to members of your team," Minato started, as though he wasn't very aware of why this would be true. "Did you at any time have the impression that she might be willing to come to Konoha for the chance to be near anyone?"

Sakura twisted her hands in her lap. She looked up and then down quickly. "It's possible, Hokage-sama. She was kind to Sasuke and I, but I think she was very protective of Naruto."

'Yes,' Minato thought dryly. 'She would be. She was worried about him when they were the same age. Now that he looks like a child to her, she would be more alarmed. My best guess is that she was checking to see if this Naruto had an Aiko to take care of him- she would have come back to Konoha at that point if she could have. But now that the shock has passed, she could have rationalized that he isn't in danger, or that she can protect him from afar.'

She was projecting those feelings onto her current genin team, most likely. But the bond there wasn't as strong. It couldn't possibly be.

The trouble was deciding what to do with that information. He wasn't willing to hurt those kids on the off chance that Aiko would come to Konoha without them to mother. Was separating them more or less likely to help? Should he keep them apart as long as possible and see if her attachment faded? Or would it demonstrate more goodwill to give them back to her?

Had he made a mistake by not removing the hiraishin seal Aiko had left on her genin? Had that been a message, or had she really forgotten that it would be no barrier for him?

He had to admit that he didn't really know his daughter well enough to guess. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

'She might return if Naruto asked her to. She wouldn't do it for me.'

Minato sighed. "How do you think she felt about your sensei? Was she relaxed? Fearful? Interested?"

Consternation crossed the genin's face. "Ah. Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura furrowed her brow. "She wasn't deferential at all, even when she was pretending to be a civilian. She might have…" Sakura looked a bit ill. "She might have flirted with him a bit. She exhibited a pattern of being apparently dismissive and disinterested, but she was very aware of him." Sakura folded her hands more demurely in her lap. "And she took interest in ensuring his health, when I don't think it served her purposes."

Well. He could see why she would make certain her genin sensei was healthy, even without a direct benefit. But still, Minato wondered at that possibility.

'Aiko could well have a crush on Kakashi. Or it could just be her familiarity and trust with her Kakashi bleeding over and looking odd to anyone who doesn't know why she cares about him.'

"Did you notice any concrete signs of attraction?"

She looked as thought she would very much prefer to forget this conversation. "Um." Sakura grimaced. "She and Tsunami-san may have exchanged some meaningful looks and comments. But I didn't think it was serious."

He mercifully abandoned that line of questioning for now, suppressing any amusement. For the next ten minutes he picked Sakura's memory. She did surprisingly well at repeating what seemed to have been verbatim quotes, and could recall specific body language.

When he finished, he leaned back. "Thank you, Haruno-san. You've been very helpful." He tapped his pen against the paper where he'd been taking notes. "Do you have any questions or comments for me?"

Her eyes widened. "Hokage-sama," Sakura said, as thought she was newly realizing that was who she was talking to.

He resisted the urge to see if someone was standing behind him. "That is me," Minato said cautiously.

She gave a polite little bow, as though pre-emptively apologizing for the rudeness of daring to speak to him. Her hair swept forward to cover her face. "Yondaime-Hokage-sama." She stopped. "I do have a question."

"Yes?" he prompted, trying not to smile.

The girl put her hands behind her back and lifted her chin. "I want to know why no one has told Naruto that Aiko-san is his sister."

He dropped his pen.

"What."

The girl barreled on. "Naruto deserves to know. Does Aiko-san know for sure? I'm worried that will come around and cause political trouble down the line."

'Good god, Kakashi. You trained this girl? I didn't give you enough credit as a teacher.'

Minato folded his hands on his desk, a plain one with the cheap plastic cover. He took a moment. "You are very small and frightening," he told Sakura. "That's a good combination. Have you considered your career path?"

Her brow furrowed. Oh god, her big green eyes glinted when she looked at him so suspiciously. He wanted to give her an ice cream and teach her to make explosions.

He wouldn't have been surprised if Kakashi or Jiraiya had figured that out. But this little girl, who didn't have the extra hints of the connections between Minato and both of his kids…. How had she done it? Minato considered what she could possibly know and how that could point in the right direction. "Why do you think that?"

Haruno glanced down at her sandals. "Strong circumstantial evidence implied that she thinks she's Naruto's sister. She could be wrong, but she seems like she knows what's she's doing." She dug a toe into the carpet. "Superficially, there are also some similarities in appearance and personality. They've got the same smile, for one thing."

He'd never registered a particularly memorable smile from either of them. Minato tilted his head. "You know, I want a detailed explanation of the evidence and logic that lead to your conclusions." He raised an eyebrow. "Can you have that on my desk today?"

"Um. Yes?" Haruno seemed a little confused, but that was alright.

"Just come back whenever you're finished. I don't know if Kakashi-kun is a good teacher for you, but I hope he's proud of you," Minato told her. "You're going to have a great career. Thank you, you may leave. Please keep this meeting and all contents to yourself."

Flustered, Haruno bowed far deeper than was necessary. She was rapidly turning a shade that threatened to compete with her hair. "Ah, yes. Thank you Yondaime-sama. Goodbye, Yondaime-sama."

"Have a nice day," he said.

"Yes, Yondaime-sama." She closed the door.

Minato didn't bother to conceal a smile. He sat very quietly, leaning forward a little to listen for the sounds of the girl gathering her wits enough to leave. After two seconds, there was a quiet, "Damn." Then she left.

He huffed out a laugh. "What a sweet kid."

The morning dawned sullenly. Or maybe that was Aiko projecting on it. She struggled her way to the office and only remembered she was supposed to have fed Gaara as she was taking a report from Saito-san's hands. She accepted the papers with both hands and a guilty feeling.

'For two shining days in a row, I was a responsible adult,' she thought. 'I've hit my peak, it's all downhill into garbageville from here.'

"Saito-san, please have Sakurai-san report to me as soon as he comes in," Aiko said. She transferred the papers to only her left hand. "When is my first appointment?"

If it hadn't been for the wrinkles that said otherwise, Aiko would have been forced to conclude that Saito had never smiled a day in her life. "From 7:45 until 8:05, you have the three hospital administrators. At 8:10, you could see Sakurai-san until 8:40. After that, you have three consecutively scheduled appointments in half-hour blocks that would begin at 8:50 and last until 10:30am. At that point, your schedule opens up until after lunch."

Aiko eyed her. "The last appointment is with you, isn't it?"

Saito-san nodded sharply, but her halo of tight gray curls didn't bounce a millimeter.

"I'll look forward to it." Aiko ran fingers through her hair, pulling it all to rest over her right shoulder. "Who is the young man who brought my coffee yesterday?"

"Kouzui-kun. Was there a problem?" There was a hint of teeth in that question.

"No problem at all," Aiko said mildly. It seemed more politic not to express surprise at the slightly inauspicious name. But, really? Unless it was a really strange spelling, his name had to be Flood. What family living on an island would want to be named 'Flood'? "Please ask him to prepare refreshments for my first meeting, and to bring it in at 7:44 to signal the start of the meeting." She tapped her reports against her left hip. "Thank you, that will be all for now."

Saito bowed her way out of the office. Not two seconds later, she was barking out orders to someone who wasn't using both hands to transport boxes of mission scrolls. Aiko pressed her lips together tightly even though no one was around to see her smile.

In the brief window of time she had, Aiko managed to read through the missions report data from the last week. It painted a picture that was incrementally better than last week's, but formed a stronger pattern of improvement when she remembered what these had looked like when she had first started reading them. Her personnel had been engaged in 2409 missions during the course of the week, 2089 had been completed and 1988 of which had been completed successfully.

It was a far cry from the 100% efficiency mark of managing 3577 weekly missions, but it was better than she had seen in past.

The numbers were artificially inflated by the bloating of D-class missions, of course. On average, a team could complete 4 D-class missions per day, and ideally that would form about 15% of the overall mission intake. With 23% of the mission requests coming for low-paid D-class missions, the treasury wasn't repleting properly, and shinobi who really ought to be doing C and B class work were being pulled to missions below their skill level. If she-

"Mizukage-sama." She looked up at the voice that came before two polite knocks on the door frame.

"Yes?" Aiko kept her tone mild to conceal the sharp spike of irritation she felt.

Nishikawa-san pulled the door open and gestured behind him. "Sanno-sama, Eirei-sama, and Namamura-sama are here for your meeting."

"Of course." She stacked the papers together and slid them into a folder. Then she came around her desk to greet her guests. Eirei relaxed during the pleasantries of bowing and being seated, but Namamura and Sanno were unperturbed from the start. That was a little off-putting, since Eirei was the only one who she had met prior.

"Mizukage-sama." Sanno was the one to begin, once they were arranged in the trio of chairs in front of her desk. "Let me be the first to thank you for the honor of the invitation to talk."

Aiko folded her hands in her lap unconsciously and ducked a couple of seated bows. "Not at all, Sanno-san," she deferred. "I am pleased that you could find the time in your busy schedules." The door slid open quietly. She glanced behind her guests to see that Kouzui was carefully balancing a tray in both hands while Nishikawa silently shut the door behind him. She turned her attention back to her guests. "The aim of our meeting today is to go over the new direction for the city hospitals. I would like your concerns, as well for you to communicate the new direction to the head of the hospital."

The three-person board of directors must have already designated Sanno as spokeperson, because he didn't glance at his fellows. "I regret to inform you that the senior management is missing key personnel that will make enacting a change difficult. We are in the process of internal review to begin promotion, but it could take some time to complete hiring and other necessary changes." The big man leaned slightly out of the way as Kouzui placed a cup and saucer on the sidetable at his elbow.

"I'm aware." Aiko said evenly. "I consider filling the position of Head Doctor your most immediate concern. I would like to request that you waive the two-month probationary period in favor of immediately assigning one of the seniors to the role on a temporary basis. In my opinion, Kamimura-sensei would be suited to overseeing the changes I have in mind, as interim head or whatever designation seems appropriate to you."

Kouzui left as silently as he'd entered. Sanno glanced backwards before making a moment of eye contact with Eirei.

"What did you have in mind for the hospital this year?"

Aiko glanced down at her desk for an instant to be sure she was handing over the correct papers and not her missions efficiency reports. "It's a two year plan, with a review scheduled in 3 months. I want to construct a new, more modern building for the main hospital within the year, and the two satellite clinics to be completed after that. I'm concerned about insufficient corridor width in the burn ward-"

Eirei was nodding as he passed the last paper on to Namamura. "Yes, I see," he agreed. "That was renovated from an older section and it's really not up to code. But this project sounds prohibitively expensive, Mizukage-sama. Our current budget is not sufficient for 3 new buildings within two years, much less maintaining the current ones concurrently until the transition can be made."

"Which I why I want you to direct the financial review to come up with a projection of expenses." Aiko took a sip of her coffee- 3 creams, 4 sugars. Someone in the office was feeling kind this morning. Or trying to kill her gradually with too much sugar. Could the two be compatible? It might be Mei.

"That projection will need to account for additional hiring and training as well. I'm aiming to increase the staff by 2% this year, and 3% the following year." She gestured at the notes she'd handed them. "I want to make a career in the medical sector more appealing to draw in more candidates to reduce the workload and head off the burnout. That's going to involve more aggressive recruiting and some mandatory aptitude testing, as well as a slight salary and benefits increase. Once we've dealt with the current glut of D-level missions, I think suitable candidates could be drawn from our genin population as well as aiming further recruitment into the Academy."

"And the funds for all this?" Eirei was carefully neutral in tone, despite pressing the point.

Aiko favored him with a slight smile. "This is one of my highest priorities. If I find the budget requests reasonable, I will find a way to fund them. Additionally, the costs for the construction are not going to be on the hospital budget. I need your cooperation for drawing the blueprints to ensure the facilities will be adequate, but your other responsibilities for that project will be minimal."

The meeting went on along those carefully polite lines. It wasn't ideal that they were too cautious to offer many thoughts, but it was efficient. She'd take it and probably miss it later, when people got bold enough to argue with her.

Kouzui slid open the door at 8:04 to begin collecting dishes, and wow she could get used to staff that insightful. The silent prompting helped draw the meeting to an easy close and usher the trio of older men out on their way only two minutes past the designated ending time. It took one minute for Kouzui to remove two of the chairs to the storage area and refill her cup. She leaned back and rubbed at her head in the two minutes before Sakurai let himself in.

"Good morning, Mizukage-sama." He barely glanced at his inviting seat, with coffee steaming on the side table.

She gestured for him to sit. "Good morning, Sakurai-san. Did Gaara-kun report to you this morning?"

His mouth twitched. "He reported directly to Tazuna-san, Mizukage-sama. I have received his verbal report about his orders and aims for the day."

Aiko tilted her head, prompting for further thoughts.

Sakurai didn't take the bait, because he wasn't a sucker.

Fair enough. She could go to the source for information, later.

"I've decided on your role going forward, based on your experience with international trade in past." Aiko gave him a smile. "For now you'll still be handling the infrastructural projects, but we'll be moving new projects over to Utakata in future to free you up for setting up a financial department. Do you have thoughts about who you would like to work with?"

Sakurai blinked once, twice. He pressed his lips together tightly. "What would this position entail, precisely?"

"You'll be developing and implementing policy for ship-based trade," Aiko explained. "That would involve working closely with the Treasury, as well as several civilian industry leaders."

"I see." He didn't move for a moment. Sitting straight and perfectly still like that in the sunlight, Sakurai cut a rather heroic figure. Aiko had the frivolous thought that the off-white stone of the Hokage monument wouldn't do justice to the dramatic warmth of his complexion but she didn't know what material would be better.

"May I speak freely?"

Aiko frowned more on instinct than displeasure. "You may. What's on your mind?"

Sakurai, impossibly, sat even straighter. "I would like to respectfully decline this assignment, if I may. I believe that my skills are better used in the area where I am currently working."

What.

"The reconstruction won't be indefinite," Aiko pointed out. "Tazuna and his team will leave. It won't keep you busy."

"It's true that our immediate concerns will be addressed in short order," Sakurai agreed levelly. "However, much of our infrastructure and housing is old, built according to out-dated standards. Our city planning does not reflect the standards of one of the greatest nations. We need a long-term plan to rejuvenate Kirigakure and bring our institutions, cultural and functional, to the pinnacle of modernity and international dignity befitting our status."

She rested her arms on her desk. "You've been thinking about this," Aiko said slowly. "What would you term as our priority long-term and short-term concerns?"

Sakurai didn't fully conceal a spark of victory in his expression. "Our waterways are relics made of inferior and unsafe materials, our flood protections insufficient, and our electrical infrastructure woefully inadequate. Our natural resources are not being efficiently utilized, and frankly, much of the capital city is dingy and depressing. Parks and other sites requisitioned for training grounds and bleak government buildings have reduced the visual appeal and affected morale and quality of life. We do not offer secondary education and other resources that would improve the quality of life here, and so we lose talent to minor nations that can offer other opportunities."

Aiko licked her lips. She rested her chin on her palm, leaning into the conversation for the first time. "Utakata has some papers that you'll be needing. When can you have 2, 5, and 10 year plans on my desk?"

She only knew that the meeting time must have been up because Kouzui came in to take one of the guest chairs and accompanying table out from storage and whisked away Sakurai's untouched coffee. Aiko was sort of sorry to see Sakurai go, but she used her ten minutes of free time to scratch notes down and take out what she would need for her next consultation with the newly chosen Academy principal and the vice principal. After that meeting, Chojuro came in. He was adorable, and obviously passionate about outlining a system for recruiting more students to be mentored in swordsmanship.

But he was also obviously unprepared and off-kilter in the more general assignment he'd had to outline and staff parallel programs for other advanced skillsets.

"A very nice young man, but goddamn if he isn't a little bit narrow in his approach to problem-solving," Aiko muttered to the closed door after he left. Someone else was going to have to pick up that slack. "Not every problem needs a hammer, you soggy daikon. Dingus. Parakeet." She leaned back in her chair and hooked a foot over the support bar under her desk. "Poorly-wired waffle iron."

Sanbi finally woke up enough to register some vague confusion and disapproval, but no actual disagreement with her analysis. He did the bijuu equivalent of rolling over and going back to sleep, because some people were unemployed slobs and could do that.

She waived off the next coffee because she'd had four and it wasn't 11am yet. Kouzui actually frowned at her, but he returned with water. She gave a little more weight to the theory of slow-burn assassination by sugared coffee.

Aiko snuck off to her home for a hasty bathroom break before Saito knocked on the door for their meeting.

Saito wasn't pleasant on a personal level, but she exhibited a sort of ruthless competence that Aiko appreciated in her staff. She didn't trust that Saito would call a doctor if Aiko had a heart attack in her office from drinking way too much caffeine, but she felt a bone-deep certainty that all the missions paperwork would be filed, insightful notes on staffing trends would be made, and and no jounin would hand in a mission report with fudged details while Saito reigned. That was, generally speaking, more important. If a little unsettling.

Aiko shook off the jitters that came from a closed-door meeting with someone who likely wanted her dead. She felt like stretching her legs, so she ran out to check in on the harbor. The lack of news was encouraging, because someone would probably have come to find her if Gaara had killed Tazuna.

She arrived to find the work crew continuing whatever arcane science would complete the pump and lock system while Tazuna sat cross-legged on the ground and monologued while drawing something. Gaara was crouched on the other side of the paper and leaning ever so slightly in.

Cheered, Aiko chose not to disturb whatever momentum they had going. She'd asked Gaara to report to her later. Nosing in would steal his thunder and probably undermine the whole damn point of entrusting him with a little bit of autonomy. And nobody looked even a little bit dead, so it was clearly going just fine.

"An absence of murder qualifies a project as acceptable? I notice that this is a different metric than you applied to the Chojuro," Sanbi commented. "Is Gaara not being trained for a higher level of responsibility that would seem to require higher standards? Please explain."

'Chojuro is a name, not a title,' Aiko corrected. 'Also, shut up. The 'no murder so far' thing is a very preliminary observation. I'll have more details about Gaara's competency later, whereas Chojuro is a grown-ass man who had a month to come up with something to impress me.'

The leader of the three-man team that Mei had personally picked to watch over Yamato gave her a nod when she went to the last residential complex next. Yamato, dripping sweat already, took a couple of seconds to notice her.

"Hello." He glanced back to his work and used what she recognized as excessive dramatics in laying out the floorboards for the eastern section of the third floor.

Aiko folded her arms against the breeze and considered the even, smooth layout of the single piece of wood flooring that covered half of an apartment complex. She felt the left side of her mouth pull up. "That's impressive. Do you need to rest before you do the next part?"

Yamato tossed his hair and inadvertently flicked her with sweat. "Not at all," he said levelly.

She stepped behind him and focused on what he was doing, because she was a cheating piece of garbage and her Rinnegan were basically souped up sharingan.

He flinched at the reach of her chakra, but he had absolutely no way of knowing there was a chance she could gain from testing the way his chakra felt as he worked. So he laid out the next floorboards and built up the ceiling on the next level before he pleaded exhaustion to take his break.

"Thank you," Aiko said, because manners mattered even when one was secretly stealing another person's technique. "It's a pleasure to watch you work. I'll stop back in this afternoon to watch some more, if I have the time." She'd make the time, if it was at all possible. She might be giving him back to Konohagakure any day now.

His ears reddened.

Aiko nodded to his handlers and left. She felt a little bad about benefiting from his obvious years of hard work, but she didn't have time to be that diligent just for the sake of it. Her guilt didn't stop her from going to her private training grounds to replicate what she had observed about manifesting uniform, strong wood instead of a gnarled mess.

It went very well.

'Intellectual theft is very useful. I sort of get the Uchiha now.' Aiko guided a ring of stone up with her left hand and whacked it into the dirt with mokuton. It made a pretty inset. Contemplatively, she warped the wood and convinced it that it would like to be a decorative arch over the stone. It took a minute or two for the wood to agree with her and bend into a tall "U" shape, burrowing sturdy legs into the ground as a base.

Someone should put some flowers inside it or something. Actually yes, she'd do something like that when they got around to improving the city parks. She was going to have so many decorative bridges and pavilions. She could be just as classy as Konoha. She'd have so many unnecessary gardens. It was going to be great.

Every attempt to replicate what Yamato had done was vastly superior to her amateur fumblings in the dark. Aiko made a mental note of it: Stealing really paid off. She wasn't keeping track of time while she experimented with control and power, but it was at least 12 when someone came to find her.

After about 2 minutes of standing silently, Terumi cleared her throat. "Mizukage-sama," she allowed. Her tone was bland. "There's someone at the gate claiming to be your guest."

"That's… bold." Aiko blinked excess power through her body and concentrated it in her hands. She molded it into heat and pressure and pushed it out as a white-hot ball of fire that consumed her experimentation. Mei watched this with no particular expression at all, but Aiko was feeling slightly proud of her improvements with both the wood and the fire element, thank you very much. "I should go say hello, see if they need to be taken out to lunch or imprisoned or whatever."

Mei might have betrayed some irritation in the twitch of her eye, but her tone was implacable. "As you say."

"I remember that struggle," Aiko said absently. "You're too used to using the mask as a crutch for hiding your thoughts. Work on that." She let her hair out of the ponytail she'd used to keep it off her face while she trained and shook it out with her fingers. There were only a couple of splinters in it this time. Nice.

Mei's mouth neatly dropped open in outright outrage, but Mei didn't deny the criticism. She followed Aiko on the run to the gate and fell behind a polite couple of steps only when they reached the small cluster of wary shinobi at the city checkpoint.

"She is my beloved sister," Karin said, in the tone that meant she was daring someone to disagree with her. "We are very close. She would want you to give me tonkatsu. Probably ice cream, too."

"So you have said," one of Aiko's shinobi said. "Many times." The man was wearing the pin that identified him as from the outer patrol and a long-suffering expression that identified him as the poor bastard who had carted Karin to the main island.

Mei looked a bit ill when Aiko glanced back. Perhaps she hadn't heard that Karin was claiming to be related to Aiko. Or maybe she just hadn't believed it until she saw them at the same time.

She considered, for a moment, that Karin was almost certainly here to spy for Orochimaru. The chances were like, 98%.

"That sounds like a problem."

'Not really.' Aiko turned on her sunniest smile. 'She's not as slick as she thinks she is. She's 12. But her scheming is absolutely adorable, you'll love her.'

"Karin, I'm glad to see you." Aiko waved off the tense gate guard overseeing the potential disaster. "Stand down, everyone. There's no problem here. I've may or may not have some relatives that might show up from time to time."

"Yeah, yeah." Karin sniffed. "Can't the Mizukage's sister get some respect around here? A hot lunch?"

Aiko rolled her eyes. "I'll treat you to lunch and we'll talk. Terumi-san, thanks for bringing the situation to my attention. And-" She gestured a question.

"Kamimoto," said the man who'd escorted Karin. He probably needed hazard pay and a hot drink.

"Kanimoto-san," Aiko continued. "Thank you for your diligence and bringing her to my attention. Stop in to my office before you return to your post." She slung an arm around Karin's shoulders and began steering her away. "Afternoon."

They didn't talk after that. Karin was perfectly capable and appeared a lot more confident than she was, but even her iron will was apparently a little tested by the sudden awkwardness of reaching the kage to whom she'd claimed a relationship. Aiko steered them into a restaurant that seemed decent. She and Karin were ordering drinks when Utakata strode in and seated himself.

Aiko noticed something very interesting on the menu that required a lot of her attention.

There was a very long, very uncomfortable silence. The waiter shifted on their feet.

"Hello," Karin broke in. She kicked her heel against her chair. At least, that was probably what the little thump from under the table was. "Are you going to order something, or do you just subsist on hair cream and the smug satisfaction of being where you aren't wanted?"

"I'll have tea. Hot." Utakata didn't take the bait.

The server beat a hasty retreat.

"Aiko-san," Utakata said, in an incredibly pleasant tone. "I believe that we have had a very similar conversation before. May I request clarification? I had previously assumed that this issue was concluded."

"I didn't kidnap this one, either," Aiko defended. "She came here. And it's not even a lie. She's my relative, look at her." She gestured. Karin preened on reflex. "Those cheekbones are telling the truth, Utakata. The pretty, pretty truth."

"She's your sister," Utakata said with no inflection.

"Oh." Aiko shrugged, checking that no one was within hearing distance. "That's a lie."

"Then it wasn't the truth," he said patiently.

"It was basically the truth. It's close enough." Aiko tilted her chin up, combative. "What the fuck is this? Do you tell me what to do now?"

He leaned in. "You can depart upon whatever course of action suits your fancy, but it would be helpful were I to have accurate information so that I might support you."

She bristled.

"Mom, dad, I hate it when you argue." Karin rapped her knuckles on the table. She raised an insolent little eyebrow.

"That's ridiculous," Aiko rejected. She leaned back from Utakata's personal space. "I'm not old enough to be your mother."

"Unless you are," Utakata muttered.

"Maybe I am," she allowed the possibility. "I could be as old as fifty."

"Is she older or younger than your other ambiguous sibling or offspring?"

Aiko eyed Karin up. Side by said, she'd be able to pass Karin off as a year older than Gaara, but not the other way around. "Older," she said, and that was true. She was pretty sure. "Or they could be twins. Depends."

"You must choose one story."

"Why?"

"Because-"

"I'm really starting to feel left out." Karin sounded more bemused than anything. "Are you two actually married? Should I know you?"

"Yes," Aiko said, because she couldn't parent two teenagers alone. "That's your stepdad Utakata, a great big slug person who likes to blow bubbles. He's a very nice man and you'll be helping him imprison some nice Konoha nin. Darling, sweetheart, please tell my sister daughter person all about your current project and have her show you how she can help."

There was a lull around the table, but Karin and Utakata were probably reacting to different things.

"Goodbye. Enjoy lunch." Aiko stood up and waived the server over. By the speed with which they made it over, no one had quite managed to forget the just who she was. "These two are having a working lunch, I'm afraid that I have to back out of. Please send the bill to my office, I'll balance the account within an hour of receiving it. Excuse me."

She beat a hasty retreat.

When she made it back to the office, Gaara was waiting for her. She guiltily ushered him in, because it was a total fluke that she hadn't left him waiting through the lunch hour. If she hadn't fled Utakata and Karin, he'd be sitting here alone. How sad.

"Good afternoon, Gaara." She stopped herself from patting his head as she passed by. "What did you think of Tazuna?"

Gaara considered this. "Old," he said. "Knowledgeable. Lacks the self-preservation of a sand vole."

She blinked. She thought about that for a moment. "Fair enough. I guess that's all empirically true. I was hoping to hear about his plans for city development."

"Ah." Gaara nearly let his eyes close. "Today, I learned…."

Silence stretched out while he mulled over his words. Aiko used it to check hopefully if someone had brought lunch yet. Nope.

"Irrigation and drainage," he said.

Apparently he considered that enough.

"That they're important?" Aiko prompted. "Or you learned about the basics?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I will drain water where there is too much. I will bring water where it is scarce."

"How?"

"Through drainage and irrigation."

She threw a pen at his head. The sand caught it and crushed it to pieces.

Gaara might have been smiling, but it was way deep on the inside. His actual expression remained impassive.

"You are a little shit," Aiko informed him. "I saw you having a perfectly civil interaction with Tazuna-san earlier. I am asking for macro-level analysis."

He made the saddest little motion with his shoulders. It was probably meant to have been a shrug. But it was so slow, small, and controlled that there was no possibility it was anything but a calculated imitation.

"I'm going to put you in the ocean," Aiko said calmly.

"I will practice drainage."

She blinked. "What, what?" She felt her brow furrow. "I don't think you can drain the ocean."

"Do you suggest irrigation instead?"

The worst part of his insolence is that his tone was perfectly level, and his expression was the same as ever. Aiko crossed her arms and sat on her desk, on top of her folders. She looked at Gaara long and hard.

He was waifish and adorable, really, with his oversized clothes, mop of hair, and sleepy eyes. He was also the child of a kage, brilliant and damaged and separated from everyone he had ever known in a situation where everyone treated him differently than before. He was deeply suspicious, waiting for the other foot to drop.

He was imitating her interactions with Utakata as a way to relate to her, because he had few models of positive interaction. Probably he felt that she would abandon him if he offended her, and he was desperate to change his entire being in order to find a new purpose. He both admired and feared her.

She felt… sad, suddenly.

"You are a lot like me," Aiko said, meaning absolutely nothing to do with the way he'd been needling a powerful figure. That wasn't really him, or at least not necessarily him.

Gaara gave her the same black stare, but there was somehow disbelief in it now.

"You're a good kid," she said. She averted her eyes, because that was edging dangerously close to forgiving herself for having once been young and vulnerable. "I'm really starting to wonder if lunch is ever coming. I did ask for that to be brought here, didn't I?"

"Yes." Gaara finally gave her a straight answer. "You did not give specifics. Therefore, my preference was asked."

"Oh." Aiko pursed her lips. "That's just fine. What are we having?"

"Rice, barley tea, tsukemono."

She waited a couple off seconds for him to continue, but he didn't. "…Is that all?"

He frowned at her.

'I should have eaten with Karin after all. I'd be having pork.'

"Alright, then." She brought her legs up onto her desk to sit more comfortably. "While I have you here, I wanted your thoughts on something. We need to contact Suna, to ensure that they won't count you a missing-nin once they realize you're here. I think being proactive is better. Who would have the clout to legitimize diplomatic action?"

The list was short, and the names he thought of were the same ones she knew. The two elders would be able to lend weight to anything, but were unlikely to get involved. There were some senior jounin who might be able to gain public trust and authority, but no one truly stood out.

"So… To be honest, your genin team might be the biggest concentration of influence," Aiko half-asked. It was what she'd wanted to hear. "Temari is not a genin in anything but name. The 16 year-old heir of the last Kazekage, an experienced jounin, and her 15 year old brother- it would be hard to countermand them, if they had some assurance of support or influence?"

"You want to lure Temari to Kirigakure."

Aiko frowned at her apprentice. "Lure is a strong word. I'm going to send an invitation from the newly inaugurated Mizukage to Suna no Temari, eldest child and presumptive heir of the 4th Kazekage. To be honest, it's a bit rude, but it would be hard for other interest groups to protest it. They won't want to outright offend me, but it would make it very difficult for anyone to limit her influence by claiming she's an unknown. She probably won't want to come, but it would be hard to turn down that golden opportunity to position herself as an authority."

Gaara did not seem impressed by this logic.

"I think that Suna and Kiri can benefit each other." Aiko crossed her legs. "We have too few personnel to handle our mission load and reconstruction, which means that higher level contracts are getting filled slowly and in fewer numbers. That will hurt our clientele and influence them to take their business elsewhere. Suna, on the other hand, has been hurting for lack of missions to support the populace."

Gaara startled, green eyes firmly fixed on her.

"It's obvious," Aiko dismissed. "Do you agree with my suggestion?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "How many?"

She bit her lip for a moment. "Twenty, for now. Including you."

Someone knocked on the door. They both ignored it.

"How long?"

"Six months, to be re-evaluated later."

He shook his head. "Far too long. Shifts of two month, in three waves." He frowned. "Staggered, so that more experienced shinobi can help the newer ones acclimate."

"Are you supervising them?"

Gaara actually grimaced, which was hilarious.

"Point taken." She leaned over to pat his head. He accommodatingly moved his head forward just enough that she didn't overbalance and fall off the desk. "I'll draft the letter requesting that your sister visit."

Saito-san pushed the door open and gestured a genin in with two trays of food. She didn't even pretend that she hadn't been listening in. "I could have a messenger sent to the business district, Mizukage-sama." She sounded incredibly, depressingly resigned.

Gaara's eyes widened.

"Other sister," Aiko said hastily. "Karin."

"How many are there?" Saito-san asked, but she didn't seem to be talking to Aiko.

"Karin?" Gaara said quietly. His brow furrowed.

She considered fleeing this interaction, too, but actually she was pretty hungry. So she slid off of her desk and cleared off a space for her tray and Gaara's. The genin set them down and began backing away. "Itadakimasu." She picked up her blue chopsticks, noted the slightest scent, and sighed. She set them down. Gaara had never made a move for his own food. "Saito-san." Aiko made eye contact. "Are you trying to poison me?"

The older woman was very still. "I am not, Mizukage-sama."

That was the kind of statement that compelled her bodyguards to come out, even before Aiko had to beckon.

"I wondered how long this would take," the Sanbi said cheerfully. "I was surprised no one had tried to kill you all this time. Admittedly, you were out of the village often."

Aiko kept her stare as cold as possible. "Please take yourself and your assistant out. Provide these professionals with a list of the people who provided the food and utensils. I hope to see you tomorrow morning."

Saito was so pale as to look ill. "Mizukage-sama, my loyalty to Kirigakure is absolute. I have nothing to do with this."

"I hope so." She waved the requisitioned Hunter-nin out. "I think that Gaara and I will find another lunch." Aiko watched her office head escorted out of the building in custody, head held high.

"Fuck," she said. "Who is going to finish that report before my meeting tomorrow?"

"Aiko-sama?" Gaara's arms were crossed again, body language closed off.

It probably wasn't a good time to try touching him. She took a moment to really fucking hate whoever was trying to kill her this time. Gaara had been relaxing, before. Fuck.

"Goddamnit," she said, apropos of nothing. Aiko sighed. "At least I know you can sense poisons. I smelled it, did you-?"

He shook his head. "There's grains of something plant-based in the tsukemono."

"It's sweet," she agreed. "Too sweet for daikon. Goddamit." Aiko gritted her jaw. "Let's… go out for lunch. You should meet Karin."

"Who is my sister?" Gaara said, dry as the desert he came from.

"Probably." Aiko locked her office door from the inside with a sharp, irritated movement. "I might change my mind on that, so don't quote-"

The ichibi rose.

She darted to the side before turning, but the sand wasn't aiming for her. Gaara was stretching his palm towards Obito. He was sitting on her chair.

Her shoulders dropped. "Rude. That's just rude."

He didn't smile at her. "Good afternoon, Aiko. You should go rescue your brother before he dies."

"Brother?" Gaara asked, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Obito.

"Explain that."

"I believe that Itachi went to check in on his younger brother under the pretense of pursuing a target and gathering information on a target that has disappeared," Obito said, not sounding especially interested in any of this. "He met with several Konoha shinobi, and has taken a hostage. A summon conveyed this information less than an hour ago, as well as the fact that they have left Konohagakure but not Fire Country."

"Where is he going?"

Obito snorted. The answer was obvious.

"There directly?" Aiko demanded.

"I believe so," Obito said. "Akatsuki would be most prudent to go in order, but Pein has been angered by the disappearance of a target whose location was thought to be fixed." His one-eyed gaze rested on Gaara. "Taking the kyuubi at this juncture can be explained as opportunism, by a man with a grudge against Konoha. It won't send the other jinchuuriki to ground." He huffed. "Last I heard, they were planning to pass the 3rd border patrol between Shi and Sho stations. They're probably through already, but you could pick up the track there."

She grabbed his arm, thinking of probable routes that Kisame and Itachi would take out of Konoha. "I'll need you. I can't fight them both."

Obito pulled his arm away gently. "I have a cover to maintain." He gave her a one-eyed squint. "I'm hoping you'll help me deplete Akatsuki's ranks, but I can't be associated with your efforts if one of them escapes. Happy hunting, Aiko."

She nodded, reluctant. "Thank you." Aiko swallowed. "I appreciate the information.

He gave her a thin smile and then melted away into Kamui.

"Aiko-sama?"

"I need to go." Aiko gritted her teeth and tried to remember the most likely location to cut Itachi and Kisame off. If they'd left Konoha with Naruto hostage, they'd be traveling fast, directly to Ame. Once they made it past the final rings of tight security, they'd travel fast until they hit the border.

She needed backup.

Gaara was too young, and a jinchuuriki besides. She wouldn't bring another target to Akatsuki, which ruled out Utakata except in direst need. Mei was probably trying to kill Aiko. Ao was her man, she didn't trust Chojuro would do any damn good against a more experienced swordsman, and-

"Right," Aiko said, slightly regretting what she was about to do before she did it. But the list of people who were powerful and trustworthy for this was rather short. Okay, so she'd go get him, rescue Naruto, and then- right. She'd almost forgotten. Aiko pointed at her apprentice. "Gaara, my wallet is in the top left drawer, go get lunch."

He scowled.

"I love you, be good," she said quickly, and then she was gone.

It was hard not to flinch when a hostile suddenly appeared behind you. Yamato kept down the grimace and turned to face his visitor. "Mizukage-sama," he said mildly. "You look well." The sweat running down his back itched.

Uzumaki-san glanced around the area, checking 1-2-3 on the guards. "Yamato-san." She gave him a thin smile. Something about it sent a warning to his hindbrain. "I'd like to make a deal with you. I need to deal with a – threat to my personal interest," she said. Her pulse was jumping. "Two powerful figures have taken the kyuubi jinchuuriki, as part of their campaign to acquire all of the bijuu."

He felt the blood drain out of his face.

'If she's telling the truth, this is bad.'

"Neither of us want that," Uzumaki-san said. She wasn't wrong. "Come with me. You can escort Naruto back to Konoha."

"Who are we talking about?" Yamato pushed his hair back, missing his happa. "I'll need my equipment."

'This feels like a trick, but I can't see what benefit she could get from it. Why would she choose me? To legitimize her presence in an operation in Fire Country? Because she can't trust her people to keep a Konoha jinchuuriki safe? That could be it. But it would imply she doesn't have good control over her people. Interesting, if true."

Uzumaki nodded sharply to the closest guard. "Get all of his equipment," she ordered sharply. "Bring it here. And you, pass over your soldier pills- medkit? Yes. You, come with us."

The Hunter-nin scattered to do her bidding, which did make this seem convincing.

She finally turned her purple gaze back to him. "Akatsuki's Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are the enemy," Uzumaki-san said. "Leave Uchiha to me. I suspect that Hoshigaki will be carrying Naruto. You two will retrieve him safely and occupy Hoshigaki until I can help you." She paused and addressed the nin whose equipment she was requisitioning. "You take a message to Utakata once we've left here informing him of where we've gone. I'll be taking your other teammate as well."

"Two Hunter-nin and I against Hoshigaki?" Yamato asked. Hoshigaki, Hoshigaki. "He was a hunter-nin too, wasn't he? He'd know the tactics well."

"Yes," Uzumaki said shortly. "That's why you'll be taking point while my people run interference and backup." She gave the remaining hunter-nin a look over Yamato's shoulder. "Is that acceptable?"

He wasn't certain she was talking to him, but he nodded just the same. "I want my teammate as well," Yamato tried. "I'll work well with him."

"He'll just get killed," Uzumaki-san said shortly. "He's weak against water jutsu."

'How does she know that?'

She appeared to dismiss him- ah, the hunter-nin had returned. Yamato got changed as quickly as possible, shucking the sweat towel around his neck in favor of his flak jacket and hastily fastening weaponry and equipment pouches. He pulled his uniform pants on directly over the pants he'd been given, because he wasn't flashing his underpants to the Mizukage. She waited with what he was now recognizing was tightly leashed violence, not calm.

'She seems to think she'll be able to take on Uchiha. I don't like making a plan based on that assumption. If she's wrong, things will turn ugly quickly.'

But she was taking him back to Fire Country. He'd get no better offer than that. As a Konoha nin, he couldn't pass up a chance to escape custody and aid in retrieval of a Konoha shinobi.

"I'm ready," Yamato lied, feeling his stomach clench. The Mizukage held out her left arm to her hunter-nin. After a pause, they both took hold of her forearm. The two gloved hands dwarfed the Mizukage's arm, making her look disturbingly fragile. Yamato copied the gesture when she reached out with her right.

And then they were in a forest.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #clarity #AIC #Aiko in Canon

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