#Esp on such a small and limited screen

[kelpiemomma]

It was a knock at the door that pulled Ingo out of a deep slumber.

It was not frantic, not a sound that had him leaping out of his bed in a panic, but it was firm. Insistent. It compelled him to emerge from the warm comfort of his blankets, piled and wrapped atop of a straw bed to block the chill of the night, and to the thin wooden door blocking the chill and snow. He stumbled in the dark, tripping over smoothed wood and catching himself on the wall of the hut. His hand grasped the coat he’d hung up before crawling into bed and he pulled it down, wrapping it around himself like a protective cloak. Still with no light, and no real thought process beyond answer the door, Ingo pulled it open.

“How may I-” he began the sentence through a yawn, cut off midway by the sight before him.

The ground was lit by the moon in the sky, bright enough that Ingo could clearly see the person who had woken him up. It was impossible to determine an immediate gender so Ingo didn’t even bother to try. Whoever they were had long hair, a light gold that nearly appeared white in the moonlight. They had a long, stern nose with a flat bridge. Their gaze was flat and serious, lips thin as they stared down - very, very far down - at Ingo. At full height Ingo was a few inches taller than those around him within the village, but this person made him feel like a child. If his head came up to their chest he would be surprised. They were dressed in what appeared to be an old-fashioned white robe, the wind carrying across the valley lifting it gently before placing it back down as though it was the most delicate fabric. Intricate golden details laced the trim. Perhaps it was the sleep but it seemed to Ingo’s mind that the trim was… moving. One moment he thought there was a sun rising over a valley, and in the next it seemed to be some sort of battle between two pokemon. Hands appeared and disappeared, a wave of appraisal and worship before sinking down into a wave.

Rubbing his eyes to clear the odd sight - and upon second glance, the delicate lace no longer slipped through design - Ingo took a second look. Their height had not decreased at all but he was able to notice something new. Something that, somehow, he had missed in his awed staring. The person’s arms were wrapped around their chest in a cradling position. A blanket, the color of which he’d never seen before, was swaddled tightly. Though the hold was confident there was also a looseness to it that sent alarm bells ringing through Ingo’s mind, waking him up further. As he opened his mouth to speak the bundle moved, a tiny fist raising itself from the blanket and pounding on the person’s chest. Barely a moment later, a piercing cry erupted from the blanket as well. The stranger did not blink. They barely seemed to notice the noise at all. Their hooded green gaze had not left Ingo’s face.

“Is that- are you carrying a child? Are you hurt? Are they hurt? Here, please- come inside, I’ll get a fire started! It’s awfully cold tonight; a baby shouldn’t be out in this weather.” Ingo reached out impulsively, grasping for a sleeve and ending up with an arm ful of wailing baby. He pulled the child close to his chest in surprise, looking down into light eyes full of tears. The infant hiccuped through their tears, arm waving furiously. He grasped the limb gently to protect his own face only for his hand to be pulled down towards the babe’s face. They immediately began gnawing on his fingers, the wail dying gradually as they found something to occupy themself. The cold was forgotten.

Something clicked into place.

“Warden Ingo,” the person before him finally spoke, pulling Ingo’s gaze reluctantly away from the baby, “I leave her to you.”

“I’m sorry? I’m- I’m not a Warden? I'm just- a guest. Why are you- are you leaving? Are you leaving your child behind?” Anger rose in his chest. Was this infant being abandoned? Directly into his arms?!

“She was never meant to join this world. She was not part of my plan. I heard the world cry and there she was.”

“Do you need help? If you can’t raise her on your own you may join the village, I’m sure. They would be willing to take in a parent in need!”

“I am not her parent. I brought her into existence but she is not mine. She never has been and never will be.” There was a darkness in the person’s eyes, a bitter sort of anger laying under those words. They were sharp, pointed enough that the baby wiggled in Ingo’s arms and let out a high-pitched whine. Immediately he rubbed their - her? - cheek, the whine slipping into a gurgle. His fingers were pulled and tugged on until the baby managed to slip a fingertip into their mouth, chewing on his limb. Ingo’s gaze never left the person’s before him, though they finally dared to look away from him. Their flat expression became something like a sneer as they looked down before it was schooled into disinterest once again.

“As you were never meant to be here either, I leave her to you. I would bid that you take care not to lose her and do not tell others where she came from.” The person slid their hands into their sleeves, the gold filigree flashing blindingly bright as the sleeves made contact. Ingo turned away to block his and the child’s eyes. “Not even I know where she may end up next time.”

When the light faded and Ingo could look again the person was gone. He took several steps forward, looking around to try and see where they had vanished to, but not even the snow gave a hint at what direction the person had gone in. Only the moon looked down at Ingo, the light solemn and soft. He turned his gaze to the infant in his arms; cheeks were being carelessly bitten by the wind and turning red, eyes wrinkled up in discomfort and watery, but his finger remained chewed on. Despite the infant’s abandonment, they didn’t appear disturbed. In fact they appeared… content. As the chill nipped insistently at Ingo’s bare feet, driving him back into his hut to pull the door shut, so did the baby’s eyes. They let out a gurgling noise, grip tightening on Ingo’s fingers, and then they began to snore.

Ingo rubbed his face, trudging back towards his bed. There were things he needed to do and yet- something pushed him towards the blankets. He pushed them to the side, keeping the infant in one hand while removing his long coat. Using it and a blanket he created a nest to cradle the little one in. As he set the child inside, covering them with one of his sleeves, they sighed in what he could have mistaken for content. One chubby fist grabbed the wristband of his coat while the other migrated to the infant’s mouth, thumb settling into place as though it belonged there. Half awake and half aware, Ingo prepared his own blankets upon his straw bed. He put the infant between himself and the wall, and then hesitated before moving them between himself and the opening of the room. Then he hesitated again- the wall would be colder, but perhaps safer, right? If the baby was facing the room it might roll out of the blankets and fall off the bed. It wasn’t a long drop by any means, but still! He swapped the child to the other side once again, wrapping another blanket around and over the nest, and then laid there.

What had just happened? Where had the baby’s parent gone? They had said they weren’t, but where else could it have come from? Had it been stolen?

Despite his concern that these thoughts would keep him awake, another force pulled Ingo’s eyelids down and he drifted off to sleep.

It was a knock at the door that pulled Ingo out of slumber.

The sound was quick and heavy, quickly joined by a voice.

“Mr Ingo! Are you awake?”

It was not so much a genuine question as much as it was a wakeup call. One that he was used to at this point. Several months among the Pearl Clan had helped him come to understand not only their language but their habits- he was needed, and so they were waking him.

Sunlight warmed the wooden floor as Ingo slipped out from under his blankets and padded across the floor. His head felt fuzzy and he felt a little confused; his jacket was not hanging up where he had put it the night before and there was a small snowdrift on one side of the door. He looked at it curiously, trying to figure out where it had come from, as he opened the door.

Irida stood before him, her gaze slightly narrowed and her brows drawn tight. Rather than angry he could see the stress in her expression, the way she held herself. He wondered what had happened.

“Good morning, Miss Irida.” ingo said. “How may I be of help?”

“Mr Ingo, it’s almost afternoon. We had a large amount of snowfall last night and need your help. Since you’re an early riser we thought you had already gone out- are you ill to have slept so long?” She asked. “We can’t have anyone else getting sick not so soon after the last wave!”

Ingo blinked, shaking his head and raising a hand. He had arrived, lost and freezing, to the Pearl Clan at the tail end of a lingering sickness. Though he had been cold he had also been healthy and immediately stepped in to help the recovering clan; distrustful members had warily guided the confused man around the territory to gather berries and check game. They doubted his memory loss but couldn’t afford to deny his aid. To many he had been a necessary evil. To some, he still was. To Irida, who was still young but in the running to lead the clan, he was a goal.

“I apologize, Miss Irida. I woke up last night after having a very strange dream. It must have taken me a while to fall asleep, if I indeed slept until noon. I will get ready to help.”

He went to close the door so he could dress, sighing out, “the moon was so bright it seemed to be daylight.”

Irida shot him a look.

“Mr Ingo, there was no moon at all last night.” She stated. “It’s why we didn’t see the amount of snow until this morning, despite the watch.”

Ingo froze.

“No,” he said slowly, “no, there very much was a moon. In fact, there was a person as well. They-”

From his bed came a piercing wail. Ingo froze and Irida jumped.

“Mr Ingo,” she said after a moment of listening to the crying child, “is that a baby?”

Pulled out of his panic by her words Ingo rushed to pick the child up. A terrible smell greeted his nose as he removed the baby from the nest of blankets and coat.

“There was a moon,” he said as he stared at the crying child, “it was full and bright, and-”

“Moon later, baby now.” Irida said, taking the infant from his hands. She paused, and then glared at him. “Baby explanation later, baby cleanup now. Where do you keep your changing supplies?”

“She was a… a gift,” Ingo replied dumbly; somehow it felt like the right description, “I have nothing.”

Irida stared at him in complete confusion and irritation before she sighed.

“Baby explanation later, finding the baby new nappies and…. ergh, new clothes now.” She exited his hut with the wailing child. As if pulled by a string Ingo followed, barely slipping his shoes on before stumbling into the soft snow that had yet to be cleared from in front of his home. He ignored the stares as Irida marched - baby held in front of her like a shield - to the home of Calaba. The old Warden was opening the door before they were within ten feet of the house, watching them approach with barely concealed displeasure. She allowed them in with pursed lips and the shake of her head.

Ingo dreaded to know what she was thinking.

As he watched Irida strip the infant to clean her, all the while narrating what she was doing as if Ingo was paying that much attention, one set of words caught his ear.

“I’m sorry, Miss Irida, I am- I am a little… a little off course. Could you please repeat yourself?”

She shot him an irritated glare over her shoulder. This one was truly angry with him; he would be sure to get an earful later. Though she was mostly fair she was also a hot-headed young woman determined to become the next lead of the clan. It was possible this had just hurt her chances.

“I said, Mr Ingo, what’s her name?”

“Her name?” He repeated, “I- I don’t know. They… she didn’t come with a name.”

“They normally don’t,” Calaba snapped from behind him, “which is why their parents give them one. She may be a little young for a name yet- she doesn’t look that old. You moved awfully quick Mr Ingo.” Her tone left no room for doubt- she believed that he had impregnated someone and left them, only for them to return the favor and deposit the baby on his doorstep.

“Warden Calaba, she’s not mine. Someone- someone stopped by last night, in the full moon, and gave her to me. Surely one of the watch noticed them!” He turned to her in an attempt to defend himself. Calaba snorted and crossed her arms.

“It was a new moon, Mr Ingo. There was no light at all. Perhaps you made your own light- did you track someone down and take their child?”

“I would never! That is- that is a horrible thing to insinuate, Warden Calaba, regardless of your affection or lack thereof for me! There were no footprints outside my door, were there? I couldn’t have gone anywhere!” He spun to face Irida. She was tying a new diaper onto the baby, ignoring the wails in her ears.

“With the amount of snowfall last night, footsteps would’ve disappeared quickly Mr Ingo.” She answered sorrowfully. She was loathe to agree with Warden Calaba and her harsh tongue.

“Do you believe I stole this child?” Ingo demanded of her.

Irida finished wrapping the infant, handing her back to Ingo. Only once she was in his arms, face buried in his chest as she gripped his tunic tightly with chubby fists, did she quiet. WIth her wails ceased the silence prevailed in the room as Ingo stared at Irida, who looked between himself and Calaba. If the warden didn’t like her, her chances of achieving leadership would drop even further.

“No,” Irida finally said, “in all the time you’ve been here, you haven’t come off as that sort of person, regardless of how others have seen you. But the baby-”

“I don’t know where she came from. I awoke to a knock at my door last night and someone gave her to me. They did not introduce themselves, only told me not to lose her, and then they left. I thought it was a dream until she began to cry after soiling herself.” Ingo said firmly. He turned to look at Calaba as he spoke, meeting her impassive gaze firmly. There was a tense moment until she grunted and looked away.

“So a mystery person dropped a baby onto a stranger’s lap.” She muttered.

“I’ll organize a search party,” Irida said, “a couple. If they were around last night then they must be nearby- the snow was falling much too heavy and quickly for them to have gotten far.”

Ingo understood the insinuation- they were, most likely, looking for a corpse.

“Until then… we should find her a home with a wetnurse, and-” Irida went to take the child from Ingo despite having just deposited her back into his arms. He tightened his grip just as Irida’s hands clasped onto her sides. Feeling the other touch the baby began to scream. Irida immediately stepped back, covering her ears, while Ingo turned away and rocked from side to side. She quieted after a few moments, gurgling quietly against his chest once more. Ingo and Irida looked at each other. She reached out to take the baby again. Ingo didn’t tighten his grasp this time, slightly holding her away from him, but as soon as Irida touched her she opened her mouth to scream once more.

Irida stepped back, expression turning to confusion. “She won’t let me take her.” She said.

Calaba scoffed.

“She’s an infant. Give her here, she’ll quiet down if you just hold her a moment.” She demanded.

Ingo reluctantly handed the baby over. Just like with Irida, as soon as Calaba had a hold of her she began to shriek her displeasure. Calaba pulled her close and began to rock her as Ingo had, but as the minutes passed on the shrieking turned to sobs. Like the night before the baby raised her fists, pounding on Calaba’s chest to express her displeasure. One of them must have nailed the older woman well because she let out a surprised breath, her arms’ hold weakening momentarily. Ingo was there in a heartbeat, reaching out to take hold of the girl.

Once she was back in his arms she began to grow quiet, wrapping a hand in his tunic as her sobs turned to crying, turning to whines that quieted into hiccuping breaths as he rocked her. Her teary eyes met his gaze with an unexpected intensity. She held onto his tunic in a way that, were she an adult, Ingo would believe to be some desperation. Don’t let me go, she seemed to be begging, don’t let them take me away!

I won’t, Ingo thought back, I won’t let them take you. I promise.

“Well,” Irida said after a moment, “I believe that she wishes to stay with Ingo.”

“Hmph. She’ll still need a wetnurse unless he’s hiding milk behind that tunic.” Calaba said the words dismissively. “He’ll also need to learn how to change her, and get her clothes, and-”

“Akari.” Ingo said, breaking the sentence.

“Who? We don’t have an Akari in the village. Is that her mother?” Irida asked, approaching. She kept a distance from the baby, preparing to step back in case the screaming started once more. Wrapped in Ingo’s arms the baby met her gaze placidly.

“No. It’s… her. Her name.” Ingo trailed a finger from the girl’s forehead, where small wisps of dark hair were already threatening to fall in her face, down over her nose. She smiled and giggled, wrapping a hand around Ingo’s finger and shaking it. Ingo couldn’t help but think she must feel excited.

“Her name is Akari.”

#Pokemon legends Arceus #PLA #Irida #Ingo #Akari #After encasing myself in dad and found dad media I had an idea #I mean I have my own lol PLA universe which includes my OCs but #I haven't touched it bc reasons but honestly #Fuck it we ball. New series with 0 pressure for me lol #Other things are still a wip but I also needed to practice uploading on AO3 #Some things did not load as they should so there is that issue... #Not a big problem with 3k words but uh. #I don't want to be combing through 20k to fix italics and stuff #Esp on such a small and limited screen #Anyway I'm rambling now. Here's some fic. Have some infant Akari #Arceus is a deadbeat dad (they're upset Akari screamed as soon as they picked her up) #(Arceus is like 'why does she not immediately love me? Time to re-home her') #Haven't decided the exact behavior of Arceus in this one but at the very least they're not as malicious as they are in #Like 99% of my other fics (sorry. I like naughty bad god Arceus) #Uhhhh personal tagging for tracking hmmmm.... #OBF series #That'll do pig. That'll do.

[aerithistired]

Why Aeon is resident evils weakest ship (It's NOT cuz they're toxic for eachother DUN DUN DUN)

HII this was copy pasted from a reply to another discussion, but I'm posting it cuz I want to post my opinions <3I never understood why the fandom is so crazy over aeon when they have the most weakest writing in a ship I've ever seen but to each their own I guess.I'd love to hear your thoughts and expand on my argument more!

I dont ship anyone with Leon in general which is INCLUDING Ada. For me it doesn't have anything to do with the facts of the story, because its all perfectly sensible on paper ( also because it is clear they're the endgame couple and are each other's love interests), but mostly with the way the couple was written- and *especially* Ada.

I'm not too familiar with the old RE games but from what ive heard and seen- Ada was supposed to be a black cat/cat woman/ femme fatale character and have a Batman- catwoman relationship with Leon. Personally, im not a huge fan of the dynamic, but other wise i can still see it as a solid dynamic for a ship.

On the other hand, i feel like the remakes and especially the RE2R doesnt know what they want their relationship to exactly be because from what i have noticed, they've significantly reduced the Catwoman- batman dynamic from the og games (Lily Gao, the RE4R VA herself said she wanted to tone down the seducctive femme fatale persona In ada in response to backlash).

I feel like re2r tried to make their relationship feel like an angsty and serious slow burn but considering their limited screen time and development together, didn't execute well.

In the beginning of the game (RE2R) Ada is quite serious about her work and partnership with Leon and is very strict about not getting close with him- on her part that is(i believe leon leaned more towards trying to get to know her).

Chemistry wise, i dont see much happening between them up until the part Leon takes a bullet for her and she treats him and when he does the same for her afterwards. I really liked the "dont push it rookie" line she gives him after he offers to carry her(?), It was more warm in comparison to their relationship before, and i wish they delved Into that with more scenes like that before the kiss (basically build up their relationship with emphasis on ada).

Also i feel its important to note that the scenewhen Leon takes a bullet for Ada had SUCH GOOD POTENTIAL to open into her character and how she felt about Leon at that moment because its a clear turning point in their relationship but AGAIN we get nothing and Leon is literally asleep.

!!And please don't start the 'hidden subtle details of the scene' argument with me cuz those scenes cuz despite the small details, is still not enough to establish a good relationship development growth- and especially since we barely get any monologue from Ada's side on how she feels about leon.!!

If there were clear cut scenes of them developing in trust and proper teamwork AND OPENING UP OF CHARACTER DEPTHS (and getting past the one sided attempt at friendliness from Leon) EARLIER ON IN THE GAME this wouldve made the betrayal much more heartbreaking too.

I think those segments would've been an excellent START for DEVELOPING their relationship and getting closer as a team.

☆Most well written and beloved ships have enough screen time with them showing development of their relationship- esp in slow burns. This applies to video games as well.☆

However, the pair mmediately kiss (AFTER LIKE ONE SCENE OF THEM SLIGHTLY DEVELOPING), And that was when the ship lost me. It WAS too sudden from a writing point of view and had so very little build up about their trust and caring for each other.

I'm not saying you can't fall for someone in a short time, but the issue rather was how there was LITTLE chemistry portrayed with them UP TO that moment. YOU SHOULD GIVE ME SOMETHING WORTHY TO SHIP THEM, CAPCOM.

More scenes like the one i mentioned before (with more emphasis on Ada opening up, The hints of her teasing him, etc) would've been great.

i understand that the game is not a romance but if you are trying to pull a slow burn-esque type ship off, you should commit to it, either that, or make it a fast one with chemistry right off the bat (like flirting and banter) cuz THIS was just very messy.

And that was ALL we got of their relationship for the first game. CAPCOM could've made great use of them in the other RE games (re4r and re6) but the couple ended up on more of the yearning and longing for side than actually developing together on screen, which sucks. (which is also like kind of annoying cuz we didnt see much of how they felt for the other throughout the game UNTIL THE NEAR END OF THEIR FIRST GAME- Which also had very little on screen moments of development. SO THEY HAVE A LIFE LASTING IMPACT ON EACH OTHER?? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!)

LIKE I GET THE POTENTIAL ON PAPER BUT IT WAS NOT IT IM SORRY.

And for the argument that Ada is *supposed* to be the mysterious character- i get that its a part of her appeal- but i find myself craving for her story to be shown in game than searching for crumbles of it from other RE material.

A well written character needs depth. And Ada HAS depth, its just shown subtle to an UNNECESSARY extent in the case that capcom tried to 'show and not tell' but it just doesn't execute well in terms of writing a romance where both characters need to grow and develop for a potential relationship or a ship.

(LOVED SEPERATE WAYS BY THE WAY). I ALSO DONT LIKE SHES IN EVERY GAME LEON IS- which just mostly reinforces she is his lover than a very vital part of the RE universe in GENERAL (which is why im so sad she wasnt in village) I really wish they put more focus on HER story.

And as for Cleon and other leon x ships- I don't know about them, since they barely interact throughout the RE universe. but i feel like if they did work together, potential for great chemistry could've been built for the pairing too. Shrugs

Again, i think Aeon had great potential but it went down the drain because of inconsistent characterization of her within the fandom, the game itself and the way it was written.

Everything Is there on paper. 'But she bandaged his arm. She helped him so many times when she didn't need to. She loves him and he loves her.'

OKAY, I'm READING what I'm supposed to feel about the ship, but it's not hitting. Why? Cuz it's badly written.

Im a bit annoyed when people try to argue that this ship is good in terms of writing cuz its NOT!!!! I dont really care if people ship them cuz they're attractive and the appeal is there *sort of*.

But if you're trying to argue on a story and writing basis, it's one of the worst ships I've seen in ANY media forms lol, you can't make a case for this ship and win im sorryヽ( `皿´ )ﾉ

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I'm terrified of writing my opinions on ships on here so I'd like to emphasize this is just a silly fictional game and I've been meaning to write my opinions on it for a while. all in good fun! sorry for potential bad grammar english isnt my first language :DD

#leon kennedy #Aeon #Resident evil #Resident evil ships #I'm terrified of aeon shippers

[petruchio]

Bestie I think you’re so right about the movie altering Lucy and Coryo’s romance to better convey the themes within the limitations of the medium!

Like it’s actually a huge book! I knew they would have to cut a lot for the sake of run time so I was fully expecting them to sacrifice some of the details that do so much heavy lifting for the deeper themes.

But I was so pleasantly surprised, and I honestly think that preserving the themes must have been a central goal in the production! I was noticing small changes - but they all seemed to serve keeping the major themes in tact?

Like I saw it with my family (who all read thg but not tbosas) and I went in wondering. Like how are they going to make a meaningful, faithful, adaptation of such a large book?? Will my family understand The Themes? And they did!

I think it speaks to Suzanne’s writing ability (her themes are layered throughout every level, so a few cuts won’t gut them entirely) and smart/intentional alterations.

Like you mention with cutting the kiss, I think doing so highlights the transactionality of this moment. Coryo won’t kiss her OR give her the compact until she denounces Billy taupe! Like literally he won’t save her life (do the right thing, like Tigris says) if she’s in love with someone else! Interesting!

But like you say, if they do !finally! kiss (without that monologue) it’s easier to miss how manipulative he’s being in that moment and the importance of it!

I think they made a similar smart choice with being shipped off to 8 - I might be wrong here!! But I’m pretty sure he isn’t ordered to be a peace keeper? He CHOOSES that because he sees it as his only avenue left? (Which I thought was some military industrial complex commentary sprinkled in but now I’m afraid I imagined this whole thing LOL)

So assuming I’m not misremembering - I thought making highbottom force him to become a peace keeper also worked similarly. Like letting him choose that (without the internal monologue) makes his motivations seem genuine when they aren’t fully. So it’s just better for the movie medium perhaps?

Anyways, rambling done lol thanks for listening 🌟

ohhhh how i love all of this!! i love you for taking the time to send all this to me -- and thank you for validating my reading of the altered love story!!

and YES i was so pleasantly surprised by how well they managed to maintain a lot of the thematic content of the book, esp because we KNOW how much they gutted it in the original trilogy. i have a couple theories on why: the first is that the filmmakers are devoted readers of my tumblr blog and they understood the importance of preserving the political themes from the novels when adapting them to the screen (ok obviously i am joking.) my real theories are -- the cultural conversation has shifted a LOT since the original films got made, and i think they were more aware and more *able* to be more explicit with so many of those ideas. i also wonder if the act of adapting the story of someone from capitol was easier than adapting someone from district 12 -- there's been much ink spilled over how we, the privileged moviegoers who are watching the film in theaters, are much more like capitolites than we are like katniss herself. and i wonder if that made it easier to adapt -- because one of the big critiques of the thg films is that they really glam jlaw up even when she's in district 12, and it makes scenes like the "remake" scenes kind of lose their power and biting social commentary. whereas with snow, and the capitol, and the games themselves, we're meant to understand that they ARE a facade, and the movie can really lean into that. (side note, my least fav costume in the whole movie was lucy gray's swimsuit. pretty much for that exact reason -- it was too ~perfect~ for the setting.)

to your point about the change with snow deciding vs being ordered to become a peacekeeper -- i honestly couldn't remember either so i went to see if i could find the quote from the book and it's this:

[...] But as he approached the dean, a cold dread washed over him. There, arranged on the table like lab specimens, were three items: an Academy napkin stained with grape punch, his mother’s silver compact, and a dingy white handkerchief. The meeting could not have lasted more than five minutes. Afterward, as agreed, Coriolanus headed directly to the Recruitment Center, where he became Panem’s newest, if not shiniest, Peacekeeper.

honestly i wish i remembered what exactly is meant by "as agreed" but i do think you're right that in the book it's more implied that he doesn't have another choice -- because he didn't win the monetary prize, he has to enroll. so i think you're right that the point is that the idea that it's his choice at all is in question because it's societal pressure and his family's financial status that kind of forces him into the military industrial complex. but i think, because they made this scene so explicit in the film, that you're right that having him be ordered to do it instead of hearing him justify it in his head manages to accomplish what we need it to for the sake of the plot moving forward (if kind of weakening that angle of sc's commentary)

also, here's something to chew on -- i was thinking as i was watching the film if part of the reason some of the changes didn't irritate me so much was because i was more forgiving of the need to shift things around to account for the lack of internal monologue because the book is written in third person instead of first person. i mean, obviously i am overly attached to pretty much everything about katniss, and yes that comes down even to her internal monologue, but i did wonder if that made some of the changes feel more natural to me, because we still kind of get them explained to us in the book as an observer, instead of listening to someone explain themselves to us (i don't know if that makes any sense?) -- but i guess what i'm trying to say is that maybe reading tbosas is more like watching a film, vs reading thg which is more like you are experiencing something alongside katniss? and that's because of the pov choice?

WELL that was a ramble! i'm always amazed by how much we can say about these books and films!! they're just so layered and so fascinating -- i'm loving all the conversations i've been seeing about tbosas. i feel like a lot of it is really starting to gel for me the more i read people's thoughts and analyses. (i still think the third act is messy though. no matter how great suzanne's themes are, i do think the pacing is rough. lol!)

#answered #anonymous #tbosas #tbosas thoughts #<- feels like i should make a specific tag for tbosas metas

[funnywormz]

notes on how the hotel characters perceive their surroundings. most of this is canon but some of this is headcanon stuff and embellishment i added myself lol

the old crew:

- i think that all 3 of them see the hotel in much the same way. mostly they just see what the guests see, but they're all able to notice weird illogical traits of the hotel and can see it when she moves around, whereas the guests can't see it like that. i think there's some kind of cognitive block for the guests (sorta like dream logic i guess) where they don't really perceive it or take note of it as being unusual when the hotel twists around them or when she has infinite hallways/stairs/etc. so although the old staff mostly see the hotel as the guests do, they're able to notice things that the guests can't.

- the owner can probably see the hotel most "accurately" out of all of the old staff. he can "see" things happening inside her rooms and behind walls and his perception isn't limited by space/distance (or even time necessarily). he can also travel anywhere in the hotel instantaneously, although the hotel herself can limit this ability if she chooses. perceives the void as just complete blackness with tables/cabinets/etc in it but no visible floors or walls.

- the lobby boy can "feel" things happening in other rooms and occasionally directly perceive them but only if he's standing right outside the door/wall they're taking place behind. if he's further away he knows vaguely what's happening but it becomes less detailed with distance.

- the manager needs her screens to see things happening in other rooms. she usually roughly knows what's going on even without the screens, but instead of seeing/feeling things directly she just "knows". like something is feeding her a summary of events but she's not actually experiencing them? it's like if you were standing in one room and someone in another room was giving you notes under the door to tell you what was happening where they were, if that makes sense??? she does experience feelings/intuitions abt things going on in the hotel (esp guests arriving) as well but they're often pretty vague.

the new crew:

- the bellhop sees the hotel like it's a giant living organism that she's inside. everything is bloody and meaty and fleshy and very much alive. all objects within the hotel are organic to her, i.e., the concierge's tv screens are eyes, doors are gaping mouths or wounds, pens are bones, paper is skin, etc. everything is constantly pulsing and twitching and flinching when touched. she can't see what's going on in other rooms at all or even really sense it; if she wants to see what's going on somewhere she has to physically be there herself (or watch it on the concierge's screens).

- the concierge sees the hotel as a void with rooms/walls/etc marked out by small shimmering white lines which he can see through. think like a drawing of a building but only with the lineart lol. he can see everywhere around himself but distant objects are harder for him to see. when things are far away from him they appear like little twinkling stars. he sees inanimate objects as well but usually only in the room he's currently occupying, if he's looking through the wall into a different room he can only see the living things in there, for example. he can see things how the guests/old crew see them when he chooses but generally doesn't bother with it unless he needs to. he also has screens like the manager does so he can keep tabs on the guests, this is especially handy if their room is further away. to him the "void" of the hotel isn't complete blackness, instead it's a little iridescent, and undulates and shimmers different colours

- the auditor sees everything as a void with no walls or boundaries. she can move around in it but also she can be anywhere instantly without needing to move at all. inanimate objects do become visible to her when one of the staff or guests interact with them, but otherwise she can't see them. she can stop, speed up or slow down the passage of time in relation to herself, enabling her to move and do things extremely quickly from the perspective of others. she can't travel back in time, though, it's either stopped or moving forwards but she can't make it go backwards. if she stays in one place and looks into the distance than things do lose their detail, but this is hardly ever relevant bc she can go anywhere in the hotel instantaneously and effortlessly so if she wants to look at something she can just be beside it straight away. distant guests and staff look like stars for her much as they do for the concierge. to her the "void" is complete empty darkness with no patterns or colours, just black.

#the hotel #the hotel podcast #sorry if this is incomprehensible

[allfrogsmatter]

i spent a lot of my weekend playing sims 3 and mannn i forgot how much i loved that game, but it also makes me miss the sims 4 like crazy

rambling thoughts below (also if you played s3 what do you miss or not miss about it???)

sims 4 just does a much better job with relationships and dynamics between sims, which makes it such a good platform for storytelling and i miss that because all my sims 3 sims’ relationships just seem so flat

but there’s something about sims 3 that just makes it so playable. the open world truly was so nice, i love not having loading screens anytime i leave the lot and being able to toggle between sims as they go about their day - i miss it so much in sims 4

also the autonomy in sims 3 just seems so much better, when i leave my sims to their devices they always seem to want to clean up or play with the dog, but in s4 it’s play video games or drink water and leave dirty cups around, plus they spend so much more time actually doing things instead of standing around (maybe this is just because i didn’t excessively mod my game fro s3 but still)

and the wants in s3 are so much better than whims in s4, something about the way they’re displayed just makes me actually want to complete them, and i love that lifetime aspirations show up as wants for kids and teens

other things from s3 i missed:

- pets are more doable- in s4 they’re always running away from neglect because my sims don’t interact with them unless i make them

- separation between worlds- i wish you could travel to other worlds for vacation like you can the ones from world adventures, but i like that your world is contained in s3, everyone at the school lives in your world, everyone at your job lives in your world, you can maintain relationships with people from other worlds but they’re not showing up at your door every day (esp. in the context of a decades challenge, if your sims immigrate from europe to america you won’t be seeing your european auntie walking down the street in your neighborhood)

-color wheel - oh my god, i had almost forgotten, this genuinely was a heartbreaker when s4 came out, there was so much variability in cas and build in s3, even with limited clothing options you could create unique looks for your sims with different patterns and textures and you weren’t restricted to the awful ea options

-clothes- something about the s3 basegame clothing option, it’s just very workable and versatile, maybe i think this because trends have come full circle, but a few years ago when i jumped into s3 again i remember being so tickled with the outfit options

-teens- there’s something about s3 teens that just makes them better, maybe because they made them look like teens by making them shorter instead of just scrawny, but with generations teens just feel more fully fleshed out than in s4 (i don’t have growing together or high school years so ig that’s on me, but also i can’t afford both of those packs)

-packs- something that has really been grinding my gears for the almost TEN YEARS since s4 came out is how much extra content you have to purchase, for s3 if you wanted game content, for the most part you got it through expansion packs, but s4 is just excessive with expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, kits, etc. there’s just so many features that you want in your game, but it costs a small fortune to get them all because they’re distributed across packs that cost up to $40

-PRICE- i have so many nostalgic memories of saving up my $20 to go to target and buy a new expansion pack for s3, then the joy i felt when it was on sale, every s3 expansion was, and still is, $20 but for s4 they’re twice that, the only time i can ever justify purchasing anymore is when they’re on sale

- rabbitholes- it seems like for s4 they did away with a lot of rabbitholes, just not work and school (except with packs), it was nice being able to send my sims to the movies or the bistro for a date night and not have to be following them the whole time, making them interact

- ownership- maybe it’s just me but i miss physically having the boxes the games came in and putting the disk into the computer and having the little icon for every pack on my desktop, i don’t like how everything’s through origin or the ea app now, esp. because for whatever reason s3 university got uninstalled on my moms pc and ea wanted me to buy it and when i used the code from the box it said it had already been applied (i only have the one account i have no clue why tf they took university from me) and if i didn’t have the disk i wouldn’t have been able to reinstall

- i also miss little things, like ordering pizza and seeing my sims drive around and catching birds in the wild and holiday festivals

#nonsims #sims 3 nostalgia #i’m actually feeling ancient today #because i got the sims 3 for my 11th birthday #and now i’m 22 #and the sims 4 came out ten years ago in september #also i’ve been rewatching lifesimmer’s generations lp #that was my kryptonite as a kid

[cpunkwitch]

answering my questions p3

[pt: answering my questions p3]

part 1 (link), part 2 (link)

ask game 3 (link)

biggest inaccessible thing that angers you right now?

doors with round handles. fuck those door knobs im glad my bedroom door doesnt actually close so i dont have to use it.

2. something no one talks about that you wish had more discussion about how it could be more accessible?

windows. i dont ever see anyone talk about how windows (that are meant to be opened for air circulation etc) could be more accessible. the window i have i have to wrestle with in order to get it open in the summer, because of that i avoided it this summer and ended up not having ac

i get there are some windows that have the screen on the other side and the inside slides up, i prefer those, my sister has that in her room, but the locks and the act of opening the window itself is not easy or something everyone can do.

3. what are some good resources that help you out? any blogs or sites that really helped you out with a disability or gave you support?

a user on here actually suggested speech assistant to me, i dont remember who but i was able to find an aac for my phone thanks to a tumblr user. i dont really have anything else to respond with, my resources are actually kinda limited ^^;

i got my cane off amazon, thats really the only other thing i have.

4. if you have an aid, mobility or not, how did you get it and do you know any good places to get them at good prices?

unfortunately all i know is amazon because i dont have a way of using other sites. most other sites dont use stripe and paypal is a bitch to me. i know there was a post going around earlier to be put on a wait list for a free wheelchair i think? if anyone knows where that post is id like to reblog it again

best way to get things at a lower price though is if theyre used/2nd hand. theyre considered worth less than new ones as they've been used and probably worn in already, therein they arent in mint condition like newer ones, but theyre still good. i actually got my first two binders that way. (tbh i get most things that way)

i know you can find 2nd hand stuff on facebook groups/marketplace, Kijiji, ebay and similar sites but i dont fully trust most of them myself.

when it comes to aid's that are programs though, such as aac or screen readers, there are tonnes that are completely free or come with small monthly subs or in-app purchases that arent too pricey and a lot of sites and social apps have those built in now a days with stickers, emojis, gifs, text-to-speech options on devices and so on.

5. any programs you know of that are either easily accessible or make things more accessible?

aside from my answer in 4, i have asl bloom which is like duolingo for american sign language. if you wanna quickly learn some asl for free, asl bloom is great!

i mentioned i have speech assistant for an aac, i've excitedly posted a bit yesterday about using it for the first time in a classroom setting.

6. whats an aid that no one mentions being an aid? could be big or small

anything is an aid if it assists you. glasses, braces, screen readers, etc

i see plenty of people acknowledging that pictures, emojis etc are aids as well esp for the nonverbal, more so than i would see sometime in the past.

a lot of things that might not be considered socially acceptable can be aids too, plastic straws for example, esp bendy ones, but thats been talked about quite a lot since the pandemic and i hope to see that discussion continue until theyre finally brought back as the default.

things that i never-to-rarely see anyone mention as an aid of some sort though? aside from medication, creams and things for pain management, theres not much to come to mind.

7. any recent news that really pissed you off, like an accessibility being taken away?

there was something at the time of making that ask game but i no longer remember what. nothing recent that have to bring up, at least not right now.

8. any good news to share with the disabled community?

i am sorry to say i bring no news at all, good or bad, but i may have some at a later date. perhaps whenever i get that french aac update we can consider that good news

9. what are some helpful things in your town/city for cripples?

nothing special i can think of

10. what can your town/city improve on to help?

the fucking side walks

11. is there an accommodation you wish you had/could get/want more of?

if i had the money and was in a different situation, id get a shower chair, braces or compression gloves, a wheelchair etc.

typing programs like typist arent made with disabled people in mind and i wish they were, i make mistakes because im dyslexic and cant always control my stims and they score you on how many mistakes you make with no backspace option and you cant continue until you improve with the least amount to no mistakes. they should at least let you use the backspace.

i use typist for class and it pisses me off that i cant go back and fix my mistakes. not just typing either but writing classes in general that grade you on how many mistakes you make should consider and accommodate people with issues writing/typing. just giving them more time to work on an assignment is not much of an accomodation. tics, stims etc are all things that can effect a persons writing and its pretty unfair and ablest to think that everyone can just stop making mistakes with writing if they practice enough.

12. whats some discourse going around right now that you wish would stop?

non physically disabled / able bodied people claiming cripplepunk includes them. should never have been discourse to begin with the name itself should be fucking self explanatory and if you know anything about cripplepunk its that its FOR THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED

also transid/transx bullshit...

13. advice for people who are only just discovering theyre crippled?

its okay to be disabled, learning your physical limitations and general limitations with your body is actually a good thing.

youre not lazy, youre not unsightly, youre not gross, youre not creepy, youre a living being and you deserve the accessibility, accomodations and help you need or want. if youre thinking of getting assistance get it.

youre not taking anything away or hurting anything by calling yourself disabled and using aids if you think it helps you.

whatever you have hindering your physical functions does not define you nore is it the only trait about you but it is a part of you that comes with you. dont let anyone disrespect you over it, get/use what you need, its your body.

14. any questions for people who've been in the community a while?

what were things like when cripplepunk first started? how did it gain traction and popularity? how did you come across it and what was it like when you were new?

do you have any advice for people just joining cripplepunk and things to say about content creation for cpunk? is there content you wish to see more of or reoccur? what was content online like when you first joined disabled/crippled spaces?

15. ramble about your condition?

man i really need to book time with the chiropractor. my arthritis aches are in more than just my hands and wrists, i get really bad foot cramps, leg and ankle pain and i have seriously bad tension and stiffness in my neck, shoulders and back.

if i remember tomorrow i'll call them when i get home for lunch between classes. and see if i can book thursday afternoons

a lot of my condition comes from my moms side of the family, which is cool in theory, i like talking about that kinda thing, hereditary and genes n stuff interests me but because its my mom and i grew up in her shadow being referred to as her "mini me" and shit, it makes me pretty uncomfortable to know just how much like her i am and i cant get away from it. (and thats not even mentioning how uncomfortable i am being associated with one of my ab/sers(u) to such a degree)

16. rant about your environment?

i feel like thats a thing for an entire post on its own. i could rant about my home environment or my city.

17. if you have any aids, have you decorated and/or named them?

ive painted my cane and and trying to paint it again when i remember, have the time and spoons, but i havnt named it or added any attachments and i want to. suggestions are welcome!

18. tips for maintaining mobility aids of any?

as a cane user:

wash and sanitize the handle/grip and foot of your cane as frequently as you use it. especially if someone else has touched it and you've been outside with it and have allergies!

use paint sealer if you customize your cane and use masking tape on the parts of it that you arent customizing (handle, foot, joints if its foldable)

place it by the door but not next to the entrance or shoes so it doesnt get knocked over/kicked etc and so you remember to take it with you if youre an "out of sight out of mind" type of forgetful person like me.

crippled-pvp mentioned this before; place your cane under the seats/on the floor if youre in a car. its deadly otherwise.

19. anything that motivates you to leave your house even just for fresh air and a stretch?

coffee/snack runs. the garden on campus nearby. if it werent for close by things like that i'd see no point in leaving the house outside work/school. and maybe a few other things like painting in the back yard ig?

20. free space!

feel free to ask me questions, to clarify or elaborate/expand on something, my inbox is always open for a chat and anon is on for privacy of those who use side blogs or are too anxious to be off anon. anon is not on for hate/discourse.

[ID: banner reading "dni if... proship, transx/id, syscourse/discourse blog, anti-mspec lesbians/gays, anti-lesboy/turigirl more in pinned rentry. this blog is protected by the addams family, the de rolo family and co." in all black lowercase text. It has a grey cloud background. On the left is the De Rolo coat of arms with a cobweb in the top corner and symmetrically flipped on the right is the symbol of Vox Machina with the same cobweb in the bottom corner :End ID]

#cass rambles #physically disabled #cripplepunk #physical disability #actually disabled #cpunk #disability blogging #cripple punk #cpunk blog #disabled #mobility aid user #cane user #answers

[wtfcl0ud]

last time i tried setting up an rss feed i was at uni n trying to kill some time and i was doing research on my tab which i hate bc idk small screen feels more limited and i ended up with a shitty website to 'parse' the feeds n i just didnt fully grasp everything i cld do with it but ooh boy am i having so much fun now esp with google alerts and booleans like yh this is fun actually

#rss feeds #cloud nonsense

[benevolentbirdgal]

Hello, recently the new Legend of Zelda game came out and it made me think about the main villain Ganondorf again. I’ve always kind of though he tends to fall into some harmful antisemitic traits such as the red hair, green skin, large nose (his race of people are portrayed with large noses, he is from a desert race of people but I thought it was important to mention), his goal is to take over Hyrule and has the Triforce of Power, and his early depictions re of a large pig-like creature. I am not sure if this was done purposely to make him a harmful stereotype or not, but with how many people are talking about him I thought it would be important to ask.

Hi Anon!

Honestly, this is not an element of discourse that is familiar to me personally. After looking at some images and whatnot (it's been a long time since my NintendoDS has seen the light of day), I can see where people are coming from.

I think it's unfortunate - especially with how aggressively white and western and not remotely Jewish or Jew-coded the protags are - but I don't (personally) think it's intentional nor am I terribly bothered by it. I get why it gives people the ick (esp the pig one), but Ganandorf also hits a lot of general folklore/adventure/fantasy tropes writ large (which TBF, often have antisemitic roots in contexts where Jews have been persecuted). There's legitimately a read that maybe the uber-white-and-western-good-rulers vs the thief who has a big nose has some bad coding TM, but I don't think it's the only read. I also honestly hadn't thought about the visuals that hard, because I've encountered pixel art versions of Zelda stuff on pretty small screens previously and well, those have limited visuals.

If you're asking about this (fanart I believe by an unrelated artist that people had Opinions About on reddit) then yeah that particular drawing was Big Yikes and IMO, intentional or not (artist did release a pretty detailed apology postfact), did emphasize the most problematic/antisemitic/caricature bits of the character.

Re: intention in the original character: given that Zelda originally came out in' 80s (and Ganandorf was introduced in the '90s?) and was produced by a Japanese company (i.e. with designers not from a culture that has historically had interaction with or oppressed Jews pre-WW2), I'm inclined to believe it was more a case of "cool western fantasy elements" without necessarily interrogating their origin or coding or possible harmful impacts. If I had to hazard a guess, I don't think that Japanese designers in the '80s and '90s had any considerations for Jews (so.much.kabbalah.appropriated.in.anime.but.discuss.another.time), much less intentions to create antisemitic caricatures or necessarily even awareness that it could be read as such.

As is increasingly (and delightfully) the case with my asks, this is very much my personal opinion territory, and I'd love to hear what other Jews have to say

#jumblr #other jews who are more gamer-y than me I'd love to hear from y'all

[idle-flower]

Dear Yuletide Author - 2022

Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope your wishes are granted this holiday season!

Likes:

I prefer plot and angst and adventure to fluff, though a nice warm fluffy scene can make a good dessert at the end of the pain and suffering. I lean more to f/f and m/f than m/m. I enjoy forbidden relationships. I love exploring the 'what if' spinoffs of a small change in a canon. I swoon for lovers who take dramatic risks to protect their loved ones.

I also enjoy detailed description of clothing/furniture/jewelry/pretty things in general. Not just heaping up brand names, but sensory detail.

Dislikes:

Please avoid sweeping tropey AUs like 'what if noir' or 'what if everyone was in high school'. I'm REALLY picky about comedy so it's probably not a good idea to go for wacky funny stuff. No excited rambling about pregnancy or babies. (Older kids are okay.) While I am okay with pretty dark stuff, please don't gorily torture characters to death on screen. If people gotta die, limit the details! I am generally not keen on crossovers. I dislike PWP unless it is exceedingly hot smut (see below). Please don't do gender/sexuality swaps unless I specifically mention it as an option.

Smut:

I don't require it, but I do read a good bit of filthy porn.

Kinks I find interesting: mild bdsm, pain mixed with pleasure, dubcon, sibling or cousin incest, strap-ons (for f/f not for f/m), futanari and other magical appendages (also generally for f/f, unless we're in a setting where 'man turns out to have tentacles' actually makes sense), teasing, teenagers, drugs/magic with interesting effects, people making terrible decisions due to being emotionally overwrought or really really horny, trying to stay quiet and failing, desperate urgency

PLEASE NO: rape or painful sex that one party is not enjoying at all, inserting anything edible (licking off boobs is okay), aggressive face-fucking, choking, degradation, scat/watersports, bukkake, parental incest, anyone younger than teen, emphasis on 'virgin blood' (some writers make it a huge deal with tearing pain and fountains of blood, please don't).

NOTE FOR PINCH HITS:

If this ends up in a last-minute pile, the fastest thing to get up-to-speed on would be the movie Poison Ivy, it's not that long and requires no information outside of the film itself. The book request would require reading at least two novels from the series (Prince of the Blood / The King's Buccaneer) and possibly more for background. Roseanne is not a deep-plot-continuity show and I'm mostly asking for something well outside of the canon time anyway, so if you have a general idea of who David and Darlene are you’re probably fine, but if you're _completely_ unfamiliar with the original it would take time to pick through the episodes to find the key developments for the characters and get a feel for the dynamic.

NOTE FOR TREATS:

Absolutely fine with people getting inspired by my ideas and doing whatever! I actually have some suggestions that I would ONLY want as a treat. I certainly don’t expect them to happen! But they’re silly ideas that wouldn’t work for the main focus.

Roseanne

Darlene Conner, David Healy

I am emotionally devastated by what the revival did to this couple. I demand a happier timeline!

Generally I don't care about canon after their wedding; pick and choose what fits the story best. I want to see David&Darlene happy. I don't want things to be ridiculously over-the-top wonderful (no lottery winnings, no making them dotcom millionaires) and I don't want all their personality flaws completely removed to make them perfect angels, but I want them to turn out okay. Let them emotionally mature a bit and become adults and still be in love. Let them have creative jobs and a roof over their heads. Let them still have some geeky interests! They were becoming adults at just the right time to get in on anime (in the US) and the internet going mainstream, how might that have affected them? (For some reason I can see David as a Mac fanboy, especially in the time when Macs had a quirky artist reputation.)

I'm not personally invested in Mark&Becky, but if we're making a happier AU, might be nice to keep him alive and let them have their child? Keeping Mark alive helps explain why things DON'T go awry, since that's the official explanation for what broke David. Or you could just never mention them, I don't care. Similarly, if David&Darlene have two kids the younger one does not need to be named Mark or even be a boy, we can just skirt that issue entirely.

I am so desperate for happy content here that I will waive my usual complaints about fluff, babies, and pregnancy. I'd still prefer plot but I want _happy timelines_ most, so there can be pure romantic fluff with no plot. David can fuss over Darlene while she's expecting. They can be cute about dressing up the baby as a tiny monster or something. I will read absolute shameless goo of David sitting little Harris on his shoulders and Darlene watching them and thinking about how she loves them.

Or - baby drama! They were really young and taking care of newborns is exhausting even if you don't have PPD. Imagine if Harris wasn't premature and they tried to raise the baby on their own and got super stressed out to the point where Darlene lashes out badly, causing David to take the baby and move back to the Conners home to protect his daughter? Something to force Darlene to do more to make up for a fight than _just_ an apology, and get David to stand his ground because he loves Darlene _so much_ and he wants to forgive her immediately but his daughter _needs_ him more than anyone else ever has, and he just can't risk her being hurt. Maybe this will push Darlene to finally go to therapy and learn some emotional skills? Plenty of drama possible as long as it all ends happily. Put them through the wringer, make them cry, and put them back together stronger!

What's Harris's relationship to Disney World like, as a little girl? Does Darlene constantly snark about how much Disney sucks? Do they gross their daughter out by telling her that she was conceived there? Does she take this to heart and drive them crazy being obsessed with only Disney Princesses and not the weird indie stuff they wish she liked? Do they finally give in and take her on that vacation and then end up conceiving their second child? (It truly is a magical kingdom!)

If you write them as adults aged through to near-present-day, make them still into fantasy and artistic things! Someone mentioned modern David should be running a Patreon drawing pinup art even if he couldn't hold an official job in comics. (Imagine the embarrassing furry porn plotline if he gets a weird commission and has to hide it from the kids...) We also know Darlene read Interview with the Vampire - what if she got into White Wolf and roleplaying with a small group of cynical goth friends? Or became an urban fantasy/romance author? Or ONE OF US writing fanfic to unwind from her job?

If you're totally against David/Darlene as a ship, I'll settle for them divorcing because Darlene realises she's a lesbian, and them settling into being co-parents and best friends instead. (This is, after all, closer to the reality subtext!) Heck, if you wanted to really mine the subtext, David could become surprisingly successful after they split up and there could be some comedy in the awkwardness of coparenting between houses with really different income levels, and Darlene feeling reluctant about taking child support because she hates feeling dependent on him - but, again, at the core they love their kid (or kids) and are still friends and they make it work. Cute good-dad moments please?

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: David/Darlene only please. I have a weakness for outwardly soft and submissive boys who are much more dominant in bed, particularly if he's teased to the breaking point before pouncing and going absolutely wild (to the pleasure of both). Also fine to get into a little bit of comedy along with the naughty fun times. Five times sex was interrupted or led to hilarious consequences? (The handcuff key got lost, firefighters burst in for some reason, someone threw a water balloon through the window because of all the screaming, etc) As long as it all ends happily!

DNW: David abandoning his kids, HE WOULD NEVER. Unhappy endings. Please try not to have characters commenting on David being "emasculated" or anything like that, the gender policing really bothers me. Don’t make David gay even if you’re going for the lesbian Darlene option. No COVID plotline please.

TREAT ONLY: David/Darlene/Molly poly relationship. (I’m probably going to write this myself someday)

Poison Ivy (1992 film)

Sylvie Cooper, Ivy

I was struggling through the confusions of puberty, Ivy was hot, this film left an impression on me. In a way trying to build any sort of happy ending for Ivy feels out of place, but on the other hand there's a lot of loose ends left after the story.

Throughout the film, there's a lot the audience never knows about Ivy, including her legal name. Did Coop know it? (Maybe, probably.) Did her father? (Quite possibly not). How do they handle all the legal responsibilities of her death? Were Ivy's stories about the aunt she was staying with true? How do they break the news?  How does her funeral go?  

What do Sylvie and her father have to say to each other about Ivy after the truth comes out? Does he admit everything that he did? (The movie seems to let him off way too easily by implying things are all Ivy's fault, when he ABSOLUTELY knew how wrong his actions were) How does he handle the guilt? How do they rebuild their relationship? Or, speaking of guilt, Sylvie kind-of-sort-of was responsible for Ivy's death, even if it wasn't 100% intended and she was not quite in her right mind at the time. She did push Ivy. How does she handle THAT?

What is school like, afterwards? What rumors escape? How does Coop handle them? Does this attract new weird friends? Does she adopt any of Ivy's traits as her own?

Or - what if Ivy survives the fall? Seriously injured, possibly paralysed, but alive? How do they deal with her, once the truth comes out? Do they cover up her crimes? Do they keep her in their home? What happens to their relationships?

Did Ivy ever care about Sylvie? Did she legitimately want to be friends before she started trying to seize hold of the world and the wealth that Coop lived in?

Sylvie ends up kind of pushed out of a lot of the middle of the movie so the film can spend more time perving over Ivy. More about her character and her thoughts in general would be great. We know she can be a troublemaker and a fantasist - who else has she been telling lies to? Or is the whole movie itself a lie she's telling us? And if so, what is the story behind the story?

For AUs, what would have happened if Ivy had met Coop when they were several years younger, so she couldn't get her hooks into Darryl as easily? What if they met at summer camp and Ivy was just as messed-up and needy but the situations were different? What if the movie plot is actually a fantasy younger-Ivy spins about her future to her fascinated-and-appalled friend, who then has a chance to react to it? Or what if Ivy tried to replace Sylvie rather than her mother? Or what if it's Darryl that she wants to kill, as revenge against the men who've mistreated her in her life? Or if it's Sylvie she really wants to be with, and we get some twisted bad-girls scenario where BOTH parents are conveniently disposed of so the girls can live together forever, lying to each other and the world and refusing to acknowledge the truth of what they've done?

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: I'm on board with Sylvie/Ivy, I'd rather not have too much Ivy/Darryl. It can happen to set other events into motion, but not as the focus of the story.

DNW: Sylvie to die, Ivy to end up with Darryl

TREAT ONLY: If you've noticed a connection here, yes, I may have over-identified with Sara Gilbert as a teenager. I do not want a crossover as a main request, but if you want to swap these characters and David/Darlene around somehow for fun? Sure.

The Riftwar Saga

Nicholas conDoin

While the series has fans my request may be pretty niche. I quit reading this series shortly after The King's Buccaneer because I didn't like the direction it took. Most importantly that almost all female characters stopped having any volition whatsoever, to the point where main characters' sisters/daughters didn't even get NAMES because they were so irrelevant? This was a shock after previous books, particularly the Empire trilogy but even Krondor's Sons had some interesting gender discussions and characters.

Anyway, for my purposes, please disregard _all canon_ after The King's Buccaneer. None of that happens! (Most of it I don't even know about anyway)

Instead, let's focus on Nicholas as a hero. The King's Buccaneer sets him up as a central figure that dark forces will be drawn to, which ought to have meant more than just "went on one expedition". He came home with a girlfriend with an interesting character, who wasn't too inclined to get married. And early in the book, his parents were discussing the prospect of marrying him off to a Keshian of true blood for diplomatic reasons.

Tell me the story where Nicholas goes to Kesh. With Iasha in tow. Who is the woman they want him to marry? What is her rank and how does she fit into complicated Keshian politics? I don't want her to be just a trophy that they expect to be carried back to the Isles and never see her homeland again, I would prefer if they intend for Nicky to stay in Kesh, at least for part of the year. Perhaps she expects a marriage of equals, traveling between multiple estates? How does she get on with Iasha? Rivals, best friends, lovers, an inspiration? If Kesh recognises Iasha's intelligence value as a citizen of Novindus they might even bribe her away.

Erland slept around a good bit on his visit. Does Nicholas have any unexpected nieces or nephews? It's been around ten years so they would still be young if so, but he might see a face with a surprise resemblance. Relatedly, how do Sharana and Diigai react to Nicholas, given their history with his brother?

_Do_ other dark forces try to attack him somehow? Is he dragged off on a new adventure to find secrets hidden in the heart of Kesh?

If all of this is way too much to take on, I'll settle for a story from Iasha's viewpoint showing her finding her way in her new world, using something *other* than just her looks to plot and scheme and come out on top. Her making some female friends would be great.

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SMUT: I’m not as into it with this canon, so an M rating is probably better than an E. Fine for sex to happen - this is Kesh - but that shouldn’t be why we’re here, I’m more into the adventure and intrigue.

DNW: Killing Nicky or Iasha. Slashing Nicholas with any pre-existing male character. If you want him to meet someone in Kesh to expand his worldview a little that's okay. I'm not that into m/m but it could be fun to play around with expectations, considering all the het harem action in Prince of the Blood. I just really don't want him hooking up with Harry or Marcus or anything like that.

#yuletide letter #yuletide 2022

[conlascl]

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[biomic]

Not a PR fan but those excuses don't fly. There were other PR seasons with a big cast, so Kyu should be doable, esp since they could create the first canon gay Ranger couple with it. Or they go the boring route and make Silver a girl because there aren't enough on the team. Also they don't have to brand the LuPats as cops and robbers. Just make them secret agents (or members of the military) and the Lupins aristocrats or some other rich peeps. These people are working a creative job, so they should be able to make things work instead of finding excuses that only makes them look lazy in the eyes of the fans.

part of the creative process is being able to step back and know your limitations. that's why "kill your darlings" is such common writing advice. everyone WANTS kyuranger and lupat adaptions, but don't really think about what needs to be done to make them actually work. saying "well you're in a creative job, just figure it out" feels more like a copout than skipping the seasons does

i mean, i've explained why kyuranger wouldn't adapt well. kyu had a full, uninterrupted year and still had trouble giving everyone in the cast proper focus. now, i adore kyuranger, it's one of my favorites, and i think the stuff it excels at is more than enough to overcome its flaws, but translating that large of a cast over to power rangers? with just 40 episodes at your disposal, awkwardly stretched out over two years and forced into nickelodeon's cramped schedules and constant hiatuses? you'd have the same issues that kyuranger did but multiplied tenfold. could it be done? sure. would it be as good as everyone wants it to be? probably not. that's not a testament to the creators being lazy, it's just an extremely difficult task that most writers would struggle with. you only have to look at kamen rider saber's first arc to realize that cramming as many characters and toys into a small amount of episodes early on can fuck up the rhythm of an entire show (as much as i love that one, too)

and lupat... well first of all, you could maybe fudge the lupinrangers but the patrangers are very clearly, visibly police officers. they have police badges stamped on their foreheads and megaphone nightsticks as weapons. their mech has sirens on it. they're cops, and trying to pretend they're not just ends up creating too big a disconnect between page and screen

and really, at that point, is it even worth it? if you have to pretend the thief rangers aren't thieves and the cop rangers aren't cops, what is the appeal of adapting lupat in the first place? you're stripping it of what made it unique in the first place, so why do people still want it so badly when it's clear that hasbro and nickelodeon wouldn't let it fly anyway? is it just so we can say those suits exist in the PR universe? because, hey, everyone sure did want gokaiger to be adapted huh, and boy that turned out great didn't it? hold on this entire paragraph is questions

power ranger fans have a problem of entitlement and demanding that showrunners do this and that without actually thinking about the challenges of running a show like this and the hurdles the production has to jump through to make this shit work. we got gokaiger adapted just like everyone wanted, and they scrubbed clean everything that made that show special until it was completely and utterly soulless. we got go-busters adapted just like everyone wanted, and while beast morphers doesn't seem like a Bad™ show, i don't hear as much glowing praise for it as you would think for all the hype surrounding its source material finally being brought over. as long as power rangers is going to follow this outdated adaptation process (and hopefully we're almost done with that), the focus should be on making a quality show, not trying to fit square pegs in round holes trying to appease a fanbase who will just end up complaining about it anyway

and finally, i will reiterate,

simon bennett does not choose which season gets adapted. hasbro does.

#anonymous #asks #kendrix morgan died for our sins #power rangers for ts #super sentai for ts

[bestworstcase]

Hey, me and my friend are developing our own Tangled History Lore the involves the Saporians, and in our instance, Demanitus helps Corona take over Saporia by stealing Zhan Tiri’s created memory wand and wiping their memories of the invasion except for the Saporians who helped Corona.

Now, Saporians have grown up with no history of the past other than small events, barely care about their heritage, and are still somewhat against Corona.

So what would happen to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, who may have been previously allied with Saporia, if they found out Corona and Saporian treasonists took over and wiped their memories

so if i'm following, corona rapunzel's returned the entire nation of saporia and all of saporia's allies ~two thousand years ago when demanitus and zhan tiri were still kicking around and this massive magical conspiracy then went undiscovered for however long—i assume until around the time of the series itself?

which. hm

backtracking a little from your actual question i think it would be worth taking into consideration the limitations of the wand of oblivium—bc in rapunzel's return it's shown that the wand is powerful but can't really be used on a wide scale: the saporians managed to wipe the memories of the coronan king and queen, and being generous perhaps a handful of other aristocrats and important courtiers whom we just don't see on screen bc they're not necessary to the story, and then just relied on the coronan culture of absolute obedience to the king to control the rest of the populace while waiting for varian to figure out a potion that could... either directly reproduce the effect of the wand on a dramatically larger scale or else somehow serve as a conduit for disseminating the wand's magic to many people at once. (personally i think the latter solution was more likely what the goal was, i.e., clementine uses the wand to curse batches of varian's potion and then they suffuse the water supply with the potion or start gassing people with it or whatever the method of distribution ended up being and the curse is transmitted through the material of the potion—but that's a tangent)

so

the question is how did demanitus and his coronan conspirators get around the problem of the wand needing to—as rapunzel's return implies—individually curse every single person whose memories the caster wants to alter? conquest by brainwashing is arduous to the point of impossibility if you're trying to do it one person at a time, esp. when it's possible for cursed people to fight off the magical amnesia with support from loved ones whose memories are intact. and then add to that it being a wand he stole from zhan tiri and his own self-admitted unfamiliarity with magic—this is the man who shoved his soul into a monkey with a spell he knew he barely understood after all—and theres the additional problem of did the coronans even know what they were doing the way a real witch like clementine or zhan tiri would?

and then all magical considerations aside you have the further complication that massive conspiracies are difficult to pull off simply because they require a lot of people to be in the know to make things happen, and you start running into the two-can-keep-a-secret-if-one-is-dead principle. stuff gets out

ANYWAY

this is cynical but assuming there is indeed a two thousand year gap between the memory wiping and then modern day corona, in line with the canonical timeline of tts—which i recognize is not necessarily a reliable assumption with an au but you didn't specify—i honestly dont think a lot would necessarily change if the brainwashing was retroactively discovered somehow. bc by now the hegemony of the seven kingdoms in a world where saporia doesn't exist is well established and... people in power cleave to the status quo. what's going to happen to this sprawling trading alliance if we take corona to task for this enormous violation of human rights that happened literal thousands of years ago? when saporian culture was eradicated so thoroughly that it might as well not ever have existed? who benefits from tearing this system apart now, and who benefits from leaving things as they are and shrugging at past wrongs? (it's so much easier to just say well... that was a long time ago... oh well.)

except for, of course, the saporians themselves, because it was their identity and their home and their culture that was utterly stripped from them—they lost everything, and even the knowledge that they'd lost anything at all was stolen from them too, like, it's hard to fathom a scenario where this information comes out and doesn't lead directly to outrage and unrest from whatever saporian communities are still left—how else can one even respond to something like that?

and from there i mean. it depends on where you want to take the story and how you want to handle it, like, theres a lot of variables beyond "corona did this horrific thing x centuries ago and now we know about it" that could or would shape the direction of events subsequent to the conspiracy being broken up to—like assuming all other things being equal how do zhan tiri and cassandra and the moonstone fit into this, with zhan tiri being (i assume) a saporian sorceress whose work was stolen and then used to eradicate her home? how does varian's partnership with the saporian separatists go when theres this underlying element of them just doing to corona what was done to their ancestors in a desperate bid to maybe scrape back together some semblance of a cultural identity for themselves? how does rapunzel—who has herself run afoul of saporian memory magic, albeit accidentally—feel when she learns this about her nation's history and what does she do about it? etc etc etc and then all these individual character decisions have ripple effects that shape the broader societal and political responses there's not a one size fits all answer, here. it's dependent on the specific shape and structure of the story itself

#but also i would think abt maybe workshopping that conquest idea more #to either nail down the exact details of HOW such an enormous conspiracy could even work or #like refine it away from 'and then they brainwashed the entire continent'

[hockeyforthefirsttime]

That Someone- Roope Hintz

AN: yeah, idk man. This took far too long to write, esp with thought of quality that isn’t there. HOWEVER, I can’t stare at it any longer so here ya go.

Word Count: 2,5k

TW: alcohol, slight angst, general pining

Roope has never been an easy person to understand. One moment he is your best friend, and other times he’s one of the star players of the Dallas Stars. And the two roles, they shouldn’t be all that conflicting, but apparently they are, and you don’t know how to change that. 

“Roope, can you please for one second listen to me?” 

You speak up in between giggles as he is curled up in your lap. 

“No.” 

He mumbles into your stomach, the vibration of his voice against your stomach making you chuckle. 

“You promised. The deal is that you make dinner every other time.”

“But m’tired.” 

His protest makes you card a hand through his hair, which you know is a bad idea. It only makes you feel like your best friend is something more, to you. 

“Please just make dinner Roope.” 

You sigh. And with a grunt he actually gets up and moves to the kitchen while rubbing his eyes in a childlike manner. 

You twist around on your couch and grab your phone from the coffee table. 

People always scrunch their noses when they see that your lockscreen is just black. Most people call you boring for it, most of all Tyler Seguin, the Star that you feel closest to, if you don’t count Roope. 

You don’t care though, because you don’t want to have anything there. (If you were to have anything there it’d be Roope though). And that about sums up how far into the deep end you are. You have a creeping suspicion that this is what Tyler knows, and that’s why he keeps teasing you about your black lock screen. 

Shaking your head, you turn on some soft music on the TV speaker and wander into the kitchen. 

Roope has a towel hanging over his shoulder and is quietly humming along to your music.

“You really only know how to make pasta?” 

He turns at the sound of your voice. 

“It’s damn good pasta and you know it.” 

He teases with a smirk. You have told him on multiple occasions just how good his pasta is. 

“Maybe so.” 

“It’s finished soon, Miss Denial, will you set the table please?” 

Roope asks as he turns back to the carbonara he has been making. 

It’s the domestic, small things like this that make you fall even further. He just doesn’t realise. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the only person you have admitted your feelings to is you. Because when other people ask about Roope, he’s always just your best friend. As jokingly as he does it, calling you Miss Denial rings more true than he thinks it does. 

------

As one of the Star players of the Dallas Stars, Roope acts a little bit different. He brings you out after a big win, he does, but you never go together. There is always some excuse, mostly that he thinks you will have more fun getting ready with the WAGs. Because of that it’s just easier if you carpool with them. Or take your own car. For better or worse, because that means you have to stay sober for the entire night. 

And even if you think every night is gonna be different, it never really is. Tonight is apparently no excuse. 

They have just won over the Islanders on home ice and are the usual suspects en route to the regular club. Roope had the winning goal and was over the moon when he got out of the locker room and media.

You had dressed in an emerald knit sweater, not being able to put on the jersey Roope had given you. You had tried to put it on, you really had, but feeling the weight of having “Hintz” on your back was just too much for you. Especially when you know that it’s all you’ll ever get. 

You’re all sitting together around two tables, doing shots and nursing different drinks. Roope is beside you on the outer end of the table. Tyler is on your right, for once having sworn he isn’t gonna get completely wasted. 

You’re all laughing at Miro as he downs another shot of something he supposedly likes, you can tell he’s close to the limit now. However you aren’t too scared, you’re his ride home anyways. 

Roope’s arm is resting behind your head and as the time starts nearing one am, even with the flashing eyes and loud music, you’re starting to feel drowsy. You lean into his chest and rest there, unknowingly making the whole table swoon.

“Hey, I’m gonna go get another water.” 

Roope’s eyes are slightly glassy as you look at him. Carefully he moves out of his seat to allow you to move.

“Want anything?” 

“Just a beer please.” 

Roope mumbles softly and you nod. 

The queue to the bar is longer than expected, and ten minutes have passed when you walk from there. 

You’ve almost reached your table when you notice an absence. It makes you stop and causes someone to bump into you, making you spill half the glass of water. You know they’re gone before you can register who it is. 

Sighing, you make your way over to the table and the vacant spot. 

“Hey, anyone know where Roope went?” 

The group around the table is more reduced now than you first realised. Apparently also feeling very pitiful, ‘cause no one wants to answer the question. Until Tyler does. 

“Uhh, some chick came up asking for a dance.” 

Miro stumbles to your side, positively hammered, and folds his frame over yours. 

“Roope s’stupid.” 

He slurs against the top of your head.

“Stop Miro.” 

You sigh. 

“But s true.” 

“Please not now, here drink this.” 

You say and hand him the half empty glass of untouched water.

“I think I’m gonna try to get this mafioso home for the night.” 

The remaining team members and their significant others all nod understandingly. And since you can’t see Roope, you start to hug people goodbye. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll come to his senses sooner or later.” 

Tyler whispers into your ear as he hugs you, giving you an extra squeeze. 

You set the still full glass of beer down by Roope’s spot, and take Miro’s arm so you can lead him out of the club. 

“C’mon, let’s get you and me home.” 

“Okay, I feel a little dizzy.” 

Only a few minutes later, after you and Miro have departed, Roope comes back to the table still fixing his cap and wiping lipgloss off his lips. Immediately he spots the glass of beer and takes a big swig of it. It’s not until he finishes swallowing that he notices the eyes on him, all except one pair. 

“Where did Y/N go?” 

He questions.

“So you finally notice, huh.”

Tyler mumbles, yet somehow Roope catches it. Making him frown at his teammate. 

“She went home, took Miro back to his place as well.” 

Jamie’s date of the night replies. Roope looks towards the exit, but sees no sign of you or his teammate. 

----

In all honesty, when you got the first message from Roope, asking why you left, your heart couldn’t take it. So you just shut off your phone and went to bed. And thank god for Sundays, cause you sleep until 11am that morning. It’s not good sleep, and you still feel tired when you drag yourself to the bathroom, and sad. The person in the mirror doesn’t quite look like you, she is much more bleak, faded. 

Regardless, you step into the shower and try to wake yourself up. Even though you don’t have anything to do, you still want to wash last night off your body. The soft almost non exiting pressure stream of water doesn’t help much, only adding to your frustrations. So you step out and dry off, before going back to your bedroom. You dress in a pair of old sweats that hang off your hips ever so slightly and a henley sweater you find in the back of your closet. 

Your phone is still on the kitchen bench when you walk in, and you decide to power it on again. As soon as you punch in the pin code, it’s overflowing with messages from Roope. And the general gist is worry and confusion. When you click on his contact, and see the messages and the times they were sent, it’s your turn to get worried. They go from tree am to ten minutes ago. 

Me: Roope, you need sleep

You type before you can think twice, and send the message. Almost instantly there is a new message, but this time only the one. 

Roope: I’m on my way over. 

And you swear you are frozen in time, cause minutes go by and you don’t notice, only staring at the screen.  A knock on your door shakes you from your stupor, and automatically you go to open it.

Roope looks rough, to put it mildly. He is still in the same clothes as last night, his blond hair is messy even hidden underneath his cap, and his eyes are red and droopy. 

“You need to sleep, Roope.” 

“No, I need you.” 

 You sigh and open the door a little further, motioning for him to come in. 

“Roope, please. You have to sleep.” 

It feels like there is little else to say. You don’t want to have this conversation with him now, when he might not remember it in the morning. Much less when you are on the verge of crying yourself. 

“Please, ‘jus wanna talk.” 

And he sounds so so sad, when he talks. You never could resist a sad Roope, there is something in the way his eyes plead with you. So you close the door and turn towards him, and are met with that exact look. 

“Okay, just go sit on the couch.” 

You sigh, watching as he stumbles over to the couch. The trip to the kitchen seems far too long, but when you make it you pull out a glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen. It isn’t until you shut off the running water, that you hear the soft snores coming from the living room. 

Walking into the living room, you see Roope completely collapsed in what has to be an uncomfortable position. At that moment you decide to let him sleep it off. Even if he doesn’t end up remembering this moment when he wakes up.  You set the glass of water on the coffee table along with the ibuprofen, and decide to go about your day in other ways. 

Like getting your laptop and sitting down by the tiny kitchen table you have, to attempt some work. In reality you end up editing some playlists on your Spotify and getting consumed by it. The next time you look at the clock on the stove, it shows 3pm. And you figure you’ve wasted enough hours on the internet. 

Quietly you close your laptop and take off your headset. When you walk into the living room,  Roope seems to have realized how uncomfortable he was and has curled up into a ball. Crouching down in front of the couch 

“Hey, you need to wake up.” 

He groans, but you can tell he is starting to wake up from the way his brows scrunch together. Reaching out, you place a hand on his upper arm and shake him a little. Slowly but surely, his eyes flutter open, meeting your gaze. The whites in his eyes are still a little red, but he seems a little clearer now. 

“Morning”

Roope mumbles, while getting up. He swings his legs over the edge and his upper body follows. You can’t help but let out a little chuckle while shaking your head at him. He leans his elbows on his knees, and lets his head drop into his hands. 

“Here, drink some water.” 

You hand him the glass from the table and go to shake out two pills from the bottle. 

“No no, I’m fine without.” 

He says after taking three generous gulps of water from the full glass. 

“It will help with the pain.”

You tell him, holding your hand out towards his. 

“Why?” 

He asks, and you answer absentmindedly. 

“Because there are chemicals in this that will help you relax.” 

Roope shakes his head at you and sighs. 

“No, I mean, why are you always so kind to me? Why do you care so much?” 

You feel your heart sting and sink to your stomach. 

“Do you not want me to?” 

The fact that you are getting defensive about this should tell him enough. But he only seems to get more fired up. 

“Don’t answer a question with another question.”

And you swear, time stops for a second, giving you time to think a few thoughts. First, that you should never have let him stay. Second, that there are a million better ways to do this. And third of all; fuck it. 

“Because I want to be someone to you.”

He frowns at that, trying to take a step towards you, only to discover that you’ve moved to the other side of the coffee table. 

“Of course you are someone to me, you’re my best friend.”

Roope even cocks his head to the side in confusion. 

“I want to be that someone to you. Not just your best friend. I want you to hold me in public, I want you to take me out on the dance floor when we go out, and I want you to not rush home after a night in. I want to be able to put on your jersey and not feel like an imposter. I think I want more than you’re willing to give. And that’s fine. I’ll get over it.” 

You don’t realize you have moved through the apartment, and you don’t realize that Roope has followed you. You do know though, because you can see his reflection behind you in the window.

“All of me, if you’re willing. I’ll give you all of me, because you’re not just my best friend, you’re the friend I call whether I’m happy or sad. When I’m having a crisis or don’t feel well I think of you, or come here. I just didn’t think you’d want all of the public stuff, cause I know you’re a private person.” 

He has been moving closer and closer, now you can feel him behind you, across the entire plane of your back. In the reflection, his head is a little bent and his breath is fanning across your neck. 

“All of me, is what I can give you.” 

Roope whispers, sending tickles down your spine. 

“Are you sure?” 

You close your eyes as you lean into his chest, feeling him wrap his arms around your front. 

“Never more sure of anything.” 

The confirmation makes everything fall into its rightful place inside you, so you lift a hand to the back of his neck, which causes him to lean down and place a soft kiss on your lips. 

#roope hintz #roope hintz imagine #dallas stars #nhl #nhl imagine #roope hintz angst #roope hintz fluff #roope hintz fic #roope hintz blurb #dallas stars imagine #dallas stars fluff #Dallas Stars angst #Dallas Stars Blurb #nhl blurb #nhl fic #nhl angst

[dennou-translations]

K SIDE:GREEN – Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, please support the creators by purchasing the official releases.

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“‘Electricity’, activate!” Letting out a resonant voice, Hikotarou raised his PDA up high.

Isn’t this guy reading too much manga? Should I stop looking up to him after all? Sukuna thought, hands buried inside his pockets, yet the PDA’s screen started glowing green before his eyes.

“Eh?”

As if to sneer at his foolish reaction, a green shine burst from within the terminal. Drawing a zigzag track in the empty air, the green lightning pierced a PET bottle about five meters away. A chemical-like smell of melted plastic drifted from it.

Sukuna approached the burned PET bottle, and as if to say that he was acting without thinking, he touched it.

“Hot!”

Instantly, he flung it away. The PET bottle made a loud noise as it hit the ground. White smoke dissipated in the wind. A blistering appeared on Sukuna’s hand.

“What’re you doing?” Hikotarou cackled a laugh.

With his back turned to that laughter, Sukuna was looking down at his hand, forgetting to even blink.

That was real. It was neither magic nor a trick. A real supernatural power.

He had never even imagined that something like it existed in this world. Games were games, not reality. It was exactly because he usually played many of them that Sukuna was perfectly aware of this much – or at least he intended to be.

However, the words that Hikotarou had said to him one day came back vividly. A video game that one could play in the real world. That was most certainly a fact, not a metaphor or anything of the sort.

Sukuna heard an unfamiliar noise. A steadily pulsating beat. That was something Sukuna could hear from nowhere other than his own chest. A fragment of a world that had only ever exited within fiction and fantasy was unmistakably floating before his eyes – this truth was making Sukuna’s heart beat loudly.

“How’s that? It was true, wasn’t it? You believe what I said now?”

It was a wholly different story that Sukuna was annoyed at Hikotarou, who, in a stark contrast with him, was smirking proudly and pushing his PDA against Sukuna’s cheek. He gave quite some thought to knocking down the device, but that would be lashing out while being in the wrong, which was pathetic. After reflecting a little, he decided to attack from a different opening.

“You said you’d bought this thing, right? How much was it?”

When asked, Hikotarou quickly averted his eyes and said in a low voice, “1k.”

“So expensive! Ain’t that the same amount as the promotion points!?”

1k was a short for 1000. In order to rank up within JUNGLE, the points had to be consumed, and the points required when an E-rank was promoted to an L-rank were exactly a thousand. When thinking about earning that many points in an honest manner, it would likely take almost a month.

“Also, didn’t you say this was disposable or something? Don’t tell me this is the end.”

“O-Of course not! I said it was disposable ‘cause there’s a frequency limit! We can still use it!”

“How many times more?”

“Four...”

Meaning that item cost 1000JP for five times of use. Unfair overcharging was an understatement for it. And out of all things, Hikotarou had spent a valuable opportunity to make fair use of those 200JP on a PET bottle. Most likely with the sole purpose of showing Sukuna something nice.

The moment he thought this, something welled up within him.

“Fufu,” he snorted as if about to burst out, a roar of laughter following suit. “Ahahahahaha! What’s with that? Such a waste! Aren’t you an idiot!?”

“Sh-Shut up! It’s fine! Those are my points after all!”

“Even so, you—for something like that—”

“It’s ‘cause you wouldn’t believe what I said if I didn’t do something like this!”

A worked-up Hikotarou was so amusing that Sukuna laughed even louder. If his classmates saw him now, they would be wide-eyed and shocked. Sukuna himself had just found out for the first time that he could laugh with such a strident voice.

“Damn, it ain’t something to laugh so much for. You’re always making such a sour face too,” Hikotarou said with a strained smile. It was apparently influenced by Sukuna’s burst of laughter.

And so, for a while, the two players laughed together.

“But how does this thing work?” After laughing for some time, Sukuna scanned Hikotarou’s terminal with his eyes. “Doesn’t seem like there’s any mechanism planted in your PDA. It’s the same model as mine.”

“Yeah. Everything is apparently thanks to JUNGLE’s personal use app. Everybody calls it ‘ESP app’.”

If one could use psychic powers upon signing in, then there was indeed no social media more revolutionary than this one. It was about enough to become explosively viral, but it had its own reasons to remain as underground.

According to Hikotarou—

“There are these two types, the ‘skill’ and ‘item’, in the ESP app.”

“Skill” referred to powers that could be used constantly. If people called something a “psychic ability” in JUNGLE, it normally indicated one thing. That when rising to G rank and above, they could choose only one power and use it limitlessly. From among many abilities, they would select just one that matched them and nurture it in their desired direction.

On the other hand, any player could use an “item”. However, it was disposable – as Hikotarou had just showed, one had to spend copious amounts of points for each time of use. In exchange, it could be used in combination with skills to develop various strategies.

“You can clear high-level missions by combining those two – that’s what the upper-rankers are doing, it seems. Well, this is just what I heard, since I’m still in a low rank.”

“Huun. Sounds like you can do a lot, depending on the combination.” Looking through JUNGLE’s store, Sukuna nodded as if impressed.

“Yeah. Sukuna, you should think now about which you’re gonna pick when you turn into a G.”

“That so? I can also use it?”

Up until the present, Sukuna had lived a life where “things that he could not do” did not exist. Which was why he had never once thought that he wanted superhuman powers like those from mangas or movies.

The reason for Sukuna to have butterflies in his chest when he saw the “ESP app” was that JUNGLE had destroyed his world.

It was such a wholly different world that it could completely overturn the things imposed on him until now – the tedious common sense and reality – by his parents and the people at school. Coming in contact with a power none of them could imagine and racing to a place their hands could never reach – how thrilling that was!

When he realized, Sukuna was gripping his PDA strongly. This was neither him fleeing from suffocation nor rebelling against parents. Sukuna had just now come to know the true appeal of JUNGLE.

“Right. Aah, that’s right! I’ll rise too! Then, I’ll use even more amazing powers and accomplish bigger missions!”

“Yeah! That’s the spirit!” Hikotarou nodded, laughing.

Sukuna was also grateful that he existed. Hikotarou was the one who had told him about JUNGLE and showed him its real charm – it was all thanks to him.

If he could one day clear up all sorts of missions using various kinds of psychic abilities with Hikotarou, it would surely be extremely, tremendously fun.

It was Sukuna’s first time being excited ever since he was born.

◆

“Well, see ya tomorrow,” Hikotarou said at the three-way junction on the way home that day, waving his hand.

Sukuna stopped walking involuntarily, as their talk had been at the most interesting part. They had looked into the JUNGLE store list, discussed about this and that combination and just as he figured out the best combo, he had started talking about it.

Sukuna’s house was on the right side of a Y-shaped three-way junction. Hikotarou was about to walk toward the left side. Wordlessly, Sukuna went to Hikotarou’s side.

“Sukuna?”

At Hikotarou’s surprised look, Sukuna pouted and turned away. “It’s fine to go the long way around sometimes, ain’t it?”

Hikotarou blinked repeatedly. That gaze was annoying. Enough to make him almost unwittingly forget the invisible combo that he had finally come up with.

“That so? Then hang out with me for a bit.”

Hikotarou did not try to tease him for it. His countenance surly, Sukuna replied with nothing but a “fine by me” to that grinning face.

And so, Hikotarou took a detour. The place he stopped by was a drugstore in front of the station and what he bought was cat food.

As Hikotarou held two one-kilogram dry food packages with both arms, Sukuna asked as if skeptical, “You had a cat?”

Hikotarou averted his eyes with a rather subtle expression. “It’s not like I’m keeping it.”

Through that single sentence, Sukuna was somewhat able to understand the situation. He followed behind Hikotarou, who was walking mutely.

Eventually, the two arrived at a vacant lot on the outskirts of town. In a corner of said vacant lot, where weeds grew boundlessly, there was a cardboard box. Cries of “mew, mew” that seemed to beg for something could be heard coming from inside the box.

“They were four at first,” crouching down and opening the food package, Hikotarou whispered as though talking to himself. “One was the mother and the others were kitties. But one day, the mother was gone, and when I came to see them after a while, the two other than this one were dead.

Sukuna looked around. On a spot at a short distance from there, he could see two small stones lined up beside the block wall.

“This guy here was about to die too, but I did a bit of research, and after I gave him milk and brought him something warm, he managed to recover one way or another.”

“Won’t you try to take it home?”

Still crouched, Hikotarou looked up at Sukuna. He had on a weak smile. “We can’t have pets at my place. My da—my father hates this kinda stuff.”

“Then—I know; how about you use JUNGLE? Send out a mission to find him a foster parent.”

Hikotarou laughed dryly, “I think whoever takes it on will probably just take the points and send the cat off to a health center.”

Sukuna went silent, crouching down.

The little cat was dirty. Its fur and skin were muddy, its tail bent. It was engrossed in eating the food, but once it looked up, its eyes had hardened mucus on them.

Hikotarou took out a tissue and gently wiped it off. “Wanna pet it?”

“That okay?”

Hikotarou raised his voice as he laughed at the dumbfounded question. With a sour face, Sukuna reached out a hand and touched the kitten. Perhaps thinking that he was food, the kitten thrust its nose onto his palm and sniffed it incessantly. It was ticklish. His mouth distorting, Sukuna endured the sensation. Finally, the kitten pushed its body onto Sukuna’s hand and its sleeping breath began to ensue.

As if not to disrupt the revolving, throaty sound, Sukuna complained in a low voice, “Hey. What do I do about this? I can’t move.”

“Won’t it be fine if you don’t move?”

“You!” He let his anger show, but the kitten might awaken if he moved recklessly. As if having bitten into a bitter-tasting bug, Sukuna looked down at the kitten. “Does it have a name?”

“Yeah. He’s also Nine.”

That was Hikotarou’s handle name. Sukuna stared at him with a look that said, “Don’t give it such a confusing name”, yet Hikotarou was gazing down at “Nine” and laughing.

“I’m glad it’s summer right now. A parentless kitty wouldn’t survive if it were winter. Even then, many dangerous things will likely happen to him, but if he grows up just a bit more, he’ll get by on his own—”

“I’ll,” Sukuna opened his mouth before thinking of anything. “I’ll keep it.”

Hikotarou looked at Sukuna with wide eyes.

“My parents probably won’t allow it, but even so, I’ll keep it. I think I can do it. My house is big. I can think of lots of places that neither my parents’ nor the servants’ eyes could reach.”

“Sukuna—”

“That should be better for this guy than here. I can put up a box, a blanket and things like that in our unused warehouse, and a toilet too, I guess. I don’t know about that stuff, but I’ll look it up later. You can also come over when you feel like seeing him.”

As if angry, Sukuna was making a surly face. Hikotarou looked at that expression of his with rounded eyes. Unable to bear the gaze, Sukuna stared down at the little cat once again.

“Of course, only if you’re okay with it.”

Hikotarou replied to Sukuna’s mumbled words, which sounded like an excuse, with a smile that seemed to shine, “It is! I’m counting on you, Sukuna!”

Sukuna laughed sheepishly. The kitten’s sleeping breath ensued windingly from within his hand. While feeling its body temperature on his palm, Sukuna inferred his opinion by muttering a few words, “By the way, can’t you change the name Nine?”

“Nope.”

◆

The home of Nine the kitten was soon found.

There was a wooden shack in a corner of the Gojou estate. Originally used as the gardener’s warehouse, it was now abandoned as the garden tools had been moved to a storehouse in the main residence. The shack, which Sukuna’s parents obviously did not go anywhere near and neither did the servants, was perfect for his purpose. He had arranged the kitten’s needs in a corner of the cramped and dim shack.

He could not possibly bring that cardboard box home, so he had laid a blanket over a basket woven from wood, making it into an improvised bed. The kitten Nine had raised its voice in protest against being moved from its former location, but it soon quieted down after being tossed into the blanket.

He had left it with a box of food, a water bowl and litter for its toilet. He could not take it outside, so he would have to raise it there for a while.

Looking around the small shack, Sukuna had nodded to himself. The kitten would surely be okay there. Nobody would find out. Convincing himself of this, Sukuna had cautiously left the shack and returned to the main house.

Today was the day to eat dinner with his mother.

“How was school, Sukuna?” such words came out of her red lips.

His knife, which had been carefully cutting the meat, stopped moving completely.

Sukuna looked at her with upturned eyes. The appearance of his mother enjoying an elegant dinner on the other end of the pure white tablecloth and silver candlesticks, with two servants at her left and right sides, was almost like the queen of a nation.

“Just normal.”

“‘It was’.”

“It was normal.”

His mother titled her neck a little. With a slight movement from her gaze, one of the servants moved soundlessly and poured wine into her glass.

“Have you been getting along with your friends? Your face has been bright lately. Are you having fun?”

Sukuna was silent.

If she was asking if he was having fun playing with a friend, the answer was yes. But not with the friends she had provided for him – Ninomiya and his former followers. It was with a smart and lively boy named Kue Hikotarou.

What would his mother do if she found out about Hikotarou?

She did not approve of anything that did not act in accordance with her will approaching him. Needless to recall the matter with Ninomiya, if his mother knew about Hikotarou, she would certainly try to keep him away. He could not think that she would be appreciative of things like JUNGLE.

Hikotarou might have to transfer schools because of him. As this possibility crossed his mind, Sukuna was horrified.

After thinking a little, Sukuna answered, “Yes, I am having fun, Mother.”

So you have nothing to worry about. So don’t meddle in anything and leave it as that. Leave me alone—

His mother drank a sip of wine, smiling. “Is that so? Then I’m glad. Your happiness is my happiness—”

Suddenly, the smile disappeared.

She stood up from the chair as if kicking it away. The glass collapsed with a smashing sound, the wine spilling and dyeing the tablecloth red. Approaching the frozen Sukuna with big steps, she firmly grabbed the hand that was still holding a knife and raised it with force.

A raspy voice came out of her lips, which were once tightened into a thing line, “What is this?”

Stock-still, Sukuna looked at it. He had a burn on his right hand. It was the wound that he had earned himself right after school today, when Hikotarou showed him the ESP app.

It had happened due to his own carelessness, and until just now, Sukuna had even forgotten that he had a burn. After all, it did not particularly hurt and he thought it would heal soon.

But his mother was different.

“Explain, Sukuna.”

Sukuna’s mother thought of him as a treasure. He was her property, like gemstones and rings. Of course his mother would be angry if said property was damaged. Whatever the property itself thought did not matter.

Sukuna spoke with a voice that sounded like a gasp, “It—is nothing, Mother. This is just—”

“‘Just’ what?”

“I was eating something hot during lunch and... I touched the food with my fingers...”

It was a painful excuse if he were to say so himself, but he could not think of anything else. Talking about Hikotarou was out of question. If he said he had borne it in class, there was no mistaking that she would check with the school for confirmation. If the lie were exposed, Sukuna’s mother would thoroughly investigate his surroundings.

If this happened, Hikotarou’s existence would definitely be revealed. And if she found out about Hikotarou, farewell would be waiting in the not-too-distant future.

Sukuna’s mother stayed dead-silent, peeking at his face fixatedly. Halting his breath, Sukuna accepted her gaze.

“Is that so?” muttering these few words, the mother let go of Sukuna’s hand.

Sukuna pulled his hand to his chest as if stealing it back. His heart was beating with strong thumps.

As a Crescent Moon-like smile once again crept on his mother’s red lips, she reached her hand out to caress his head. “Mother has an urgent matter to take care of. I will be going now, but you can eat dinner by yourself, right?”

Swallowing saliva as if swallowing lead, Sukuna answered, “Yes.”

“Really? You are a good child, Sukuna.”

Stroking Sukuna’s head in a noticeably rough manner, his mother turned on her heels. The way that the wine splashed on the back of her skirt looked like a spurt of blood was forever seared into Sukuna’s eyes.

◆

Five: You there?

Nine: I am. Got any business with me?

Five: Nothing that you can call “business” in particular.

Nine: Then what is it? Can’t sleep?

Five: Hey. Didn’t anything happen to you?

Nine: I don’t get what you mean.

Five: I mean, like...

Five: Didn’t anyone, like your parents or people from school, say anything to you?

Nine: Aah, I get it. Is it about JUNGLE?

Nine: I told you, didn’t I? That the level of anonymity is super high in JUNGLE. You can change the app icon anytime so nobody can tell who you are just by looking, and you can also hide that you installed it if you feel like it. You’re scared of being found out ‘cause you’re from a good family, right?

Five: No! That’s not it!

Nine: Then what is it?

Five: Like I said...

Five: It’s nothing.

Nine: What’s up with you?

Five: I said it’s nothing!

Five: Just, if anything happens at school, make sure to tell me. ‘Cause I might be able to do something about it.

Nine: Don’t say such creepy things out of nowhere... What, you mean something’s gonna happen to me?

Five: I don’t know. But this is a what-if.

Nine: Yes, yes, thank you for your kindness.

Five: I’m serious!

Nine: Then I’ll answer seriously; I won’t rely on you even if that happens. JUNGLE players are independent by default. No matter if they have friends, they don’t do that kinda thing. Aren’t you the same?

Nine: ......

Nine: Sukuna? You awake?

Five: I am.

Five: I get it. It’s just like you said. Forget about that.

Nine: Ah, that so? Then are you done? I ain’t done with tomorrow’s homework yet.

Five: Haa? You should finish homework the moment you get it.

Nine: Shaddap! G’night!

Five: G’night.

◆

The next day and the one after, Hikotarou did not show up at school.

Sukuna was fretting about all sorts of things, yet it was not as if he could do anything. Hikotarou had said that in the chatroom, but if Sukuna’s mother attempted to keep him away, there was surprisingly little that Sukuna could do.

Sukuna’s mother loved him and tried giving him whatever he wanted. However, it was completely impossible to change her opinions through his. Plead as he might, his mother would do as she willed. His voice would not reach her.

But that did not mean he could fold his arms and watch.

He was the first and only friend that Sukuna could respect ever since he had been born. Just thinking about this friend having to go somewhere far away because of him made chills run through his spine.

Until now, he had never experienced so much fear and anxiety. Although he did feel suffocated and disturbed by his mother’s actions, he had never felt dread.

Before he realized, Sukuna had sneaked out of his room and headed to the shack. He opened the door gently. Relying on the light of his PDA, he found the basket he had left in a corner. Wrapped in its blanket, the kitten Nine had been sleeping soundly.

However, perhaps noticing Sukuna, Nine looked up at him with its round eyes. Raising a sweet cry of “mew, mew”, it scrambled its way up the basket, crawled out and ended up rolling down to the floor with a thump.

“Ah, h-hey—”

He frantically picked Nine up, but this time, it climbed up his arm. As he let it do as it pleased out of not knowing what to do, Nine reached Sukuna’s shoulder, rubbed its head against his neck and curled up on the spot. It was warm and ticklish.

Sukuna’s cheeks slackened. Supporting Nine with one hand, he made sure it would not fall. Sitting down in a corner of the shack, he whispered in pauses, “I gotta protect him, huh.”

As if to respond to his talking to himself, Nine cried out a “mew, mew”.

◆

Even though he had consolidated his determination, on the very next day, Hikotarou popped up in front of Sukuna as he was getting ready to go home.

“Hey, Sukuna. Have you become an L ranker ye—ouch, owowowowow!”

As Hikotarou waved his hand lightly with the same bright smile as usual, Sukuna forcibly grabbed his wrist and went out to the corridor.

Hikotarou raised his voice in protest, “Wh-What’re you doing?! That hurts!”

“Shut up! Why did you take days off!?”

While Hikotarou was not coming to school, Sukuna had imagined all sorts of bad things. Such as, he could be preparing to be transferred or his parents could have told him to stay away from Sukuna. That was why he was awfully irritated by Hikotarou’s carefree smile.

However, Hikotarou, who had no idea about that, said while cackling a laugh, “My bad, my bad. I was just a bit busy with missions lately.”

Apparently, Hikotarou had been absent from school due to fake illness. As he said that he had been running around town while pretending he was at school in order to accomplish JUNGLE missions, Sukuna was flabbergasted.

Feeling spent, Sukuna leaned against the wall. He gave Hikotarou a sharp gaze. Fretting had made him look like an idiot.

At that moment, he realized something. Hikotarou’s forehead was just slightly swollen above his right eye.

“What’s that?”

As Sukuna pointed at it, Hikotarou raised his voice with an “aah” and said, “I hit it in the middle of a mission. Nothing to worry about.”

“Nobody’s worried.”

“Thought so. That aside, wanna go on a mission now?”

At Hikotarou’s shining eyes, Sukuna asked curiously, “Missions can be done in duos?”

“What, you didn’t know? There’s an urgent mission coming out now!”

“‘Urgent mission’?”

Despite finding the unfamiliar term strange, Sukuna tapped on JUNGLE and opened the “mission” tab. As he did so, the words “urgent mission” were indeed dancing over the top row. Unlike the other missions, a large red font was used for it.

The title was “Urgent Mission: Uwagami Town Survey”.

“Activating urgent mission. The mission content is a survey around Uwagami Town. Please record the cityscape and roads of Uwagami Town in photos and videos and upload them. For the photos, the reward is 5 JP each, and for the videos, 50 JP per minute. We will pay double the reward for videos near Uwagami First Street. Details are as follows─”

Sukuna dry-swallowed. “This is around here?”

“Yeah! So it’s a chance! It was activated just now, so most of the players haven’t noticed!”

Hikotarou was excited. Of course he was. Uwagami Town – moreover, the First Street – was precisely the surroundings of Uwagami Elementary, which Sukuna and Hikotarou had to pass through. Meaning that they would earn JPs just by taking pictures of this area. It was as if dirt had turned into gold.

“All right! Let’s go!” Squeezing his PDA, Sukuna gave a broad nod. As if he were infected by Hikotarou’s enthusiasm, his chest started throbbing.

◆

Uwagami Town was a high-class residential area located in the heart of the city center. The adjacent Shimogami Town was a government district where governmental facilities were concentrated, and many people who belonged to government agencies lived in it. In particular, there were police officers stationed in front of mansions where important people lived, watching for suspicious figures.

To start off, Sukuna took a picture of one of said police officers. The police officer merely squinted without saying anything.

“First, 5JP!”

“Let’s go steady! Steady!”

Talking loudly to each other, the two took pictures one after another. A two-lane main street that ran from east to west through Uwagami Town, an enormous building under construction, a vast parking lot, commercial buildings lined up as if to jostle one another, a spacious park and the children playing tag in it.

Upon a more careful look, there were countless other people taking pictures like Sukuna and Hikotarou. Salary men, high school girls, housewives and even elders who, no matter how one looked at it, were over 70 were positioning their PDAs to photograph and record the streets. Amongst them, there were also those who were being interrogated by police officers due to taking pictures too unreservedly. They indeed looked suspicious.

The chances that Sukuna and Hikotarou would be questioned were slim, but they somewhat did not want to be regarded as the same as those people, so they started moving to less popular locations.

“Let’s go, Sukuna!”

“Ah, wait!”

The main street of Uwagami Town stretched through a beautifully maintained city, but when one entered one of the back streets, an old townscape spread out. The back alleys, so narrow that it seemed people would have a hard time just passing each other in them, had branches and leaves hanging over them as if they were tents. Hikotarou and Sukuna sprinted under the sunlight coming through the gaps between the leaves, storing everything that caught their eyes in pictures.

At the veranda of a wooden house, an old woman was napping with a cat on her lap. Just beside the gutter stood an outdated red post. In front of a mysterious shop, there were three lined-up statues of tanuki. Sukuna photographed them all with refreshing surprise.

“It might be my first time coming to a place like this.”

Hearing the whisper that leaked from Sukuna while taking pictures, Hikotarou made a skeptical face. “Your house is around here, ain’t it? Never went exploring?”

Sukuna shook his head. The only part of Uwagami Town he knew was the main street up to the school and its surroundings. He had never made side-trips or eaten outside – he was never given the choice to go “exploring”.

Because by no means would his mother allow such a “vulgar” conduct.

Head tilted, Hikotarou said with a nonchalant voice, “Hu~n... Welp, that’s okay. Then, I’ll be your guide!”

“You know much about it?”

“This area’s my backyard!” Hikotarou said, full of confidence and grinning.

With just a step, they jumped over a stream fortified with concrete. As an unknown dog barked at them, Sukuna laughed at Hikotarou for dropping his PDA. They hopped onto the block walls and rushed through as if to sew the gaps between the houses.

All of it was a new world that Sukuna did not know about. Every time he took cuts of said world, his JP went up. He was accumulating the power to open novel worlds. Absorbed in it, Sukuna pressed the shutter over and over.

Eventually, by the time that this unfamiliar world began to dye itself in the colors of sunset, an electronic sound suddenly echoed from the PDA.

“Urgent mission concluded! The cumulative JUNGLE Points will be calculated now. Please note that any subsequent shooting will not be converted into points!”

As the end of the mission was announced, Sukuna and Hikotarou looked at each other’s faces at the same time.

“How many did you take?”

“About 200, I guess. I’ll probably rank up with this!”

As Sukuna said so, Hikotarou grinned. “Then let’s celebrate!”

Hikotarou turned around, going back the way they had come from. Sukuna followed behind him.

Two arrived at the shop with the tanuki statues that they had seen on the way. The sign that the tanuki were holding had the words “snacks shop” on it.

Sukuna stared at it in puzzlement. “What’s a snack?”

“For real?! No, well, that’s right. You’re a rich kid.”

Sukuna was offended by the disbelief in the way he spoke. However, Hikotarou opened the glass door unconcernedly and stepped into the store.

It was small and dim. The objects tightly crammed into the cupboards and baskets were all things that Sukuna did not get very well.

When he picked one up and inspected it, he found that it was a bag with richly colored gummy-like things inside. It looked like some new type of poison, but he could not rule out the possibility that it was food.

“Sukuna, you’re taking that? Then me too,” Hikotarou said, stealing it from Sukuna’s hands.

“No, hum—”

“Granny~, I’m leaving the money here~.”

“Aight~.”

Ignoring Sukuna’s voice, Hikotarou put money on the front edge of the unattended entranceway and then took cider from the refrigerator. Without time to do as much as be surprised at this innovative system, in which the owner of the shop did not have to even show her face, Sukuna was taken outside by Hikotarou and the two sat down next to the tanuki.

“My treat. We’re celebrating your raising of status!”

Being handed the colorful gummies bag, Sukuna stared fixatedly at it and opened his mouth in hesitation, “Hey, is this...”

“Edible?” was what he intended to ask, yet Hikotarou was devouring them without paying him any mind. Apparently, it was really food.

He opened the seal. If his mother knew Sukuna was eating something that had any foreign substance in it, his mother would probably pass out. That was why Sukuna closed his eyes, readied himself and threw it into his mouth.

“How is it? Good?”

As Hikotarou asked innocently, Sukuna said with an indescribable facial expression, “Tastes like chemicals.”

“That’s what’s good about it. Feel like you’re gonna get addicted to it one of these days?”

“Don’t wanna be.”

Sukuna washed his throat with the cider. Heaving a breath, he looked at the tanuki statues beside him.

“I didn’t know this kind of store existed at all.”

“Told ya that this area was my backyard, didn’t I? There’s lots of other places like this one!”

Earnestly impressed with an “eeeh”, he casually asked, “So your house is around here?”

Hikotarou’s smile instantly thinned. “Hm, well, kinda like that.”

Hikotarou’s complex facial expression caused Sukuna to hesitate asking any further, so he kept his mouth shut. It might be that he did not want to talk about his home circumstances. It was not as if Sukuna wanted to pry either.

Hikotarou was completely different from his “school friends” of until now. He knew Sukuna was a member of the Gojou family, but was not swayed by that. He saw Sukuna for what he was.

So his home circumstances did not matter.

“I see,” Sukuna replied with a mutter, looking up at the sky.

A large airship was crossing the sky, which was painted in sunset colors.

As he ate the mysterious gummy candy and drank the cider, a question left Sukuna’s mouth out of the blue, “By the way, what was so urgent in that urgent mission?”

“Eh?”

“Well, ain’t it kinda weird to make a survey of the city into an emergency? Just what’s the reason to investigate the city in such a hurry?”

Folding his arms, Hikotarou began to think. “Now that you mentioned, it’s indeed suspicious. The reward’s too high in the first place.”

“For starters, who issued that mission? I’d never heard of an urgent mission until now, y’know?”

Sukuna opened his PDA, which was in the middle of charging, tapping the “mission” tab. Even if a mission had already ended, one could check the details from the history category.

Hikotarou explained while doing the same as him, “Just like the name says, urgent missions are missions with a high level of urgency. They’re easy to spot ‘cause they come from the top of the list, but they charge a lot, so not many people issue them. To begin with, only upper rankers can activate these. Well, the one who issued it was—”

“H. N”.

That was the name of the player who had triggered the urgent mission. Apparently formed of just initials, the handle name was tasteless and dull. Even as they tried jumping to the user page, most of the information was private. There was no doubt that this was a top ranker, but they found out nothing more.

Staring in a daze at H. N.’s user page, Sukuna opened his mouth, “Since we’re at it, let’s try to guess. This guy’s objective, I mean.”

“I’m in.”

Meaning that, just as when Hikotarou’s mission and Sukuna’s JP gains had been speculated about, they would try to conclude what goal this H. N. person had that warranted issuing an urgent mission.

“It told us to take pics of the city. Is he a cameraman or something?”

“There’s no way a pro would use photos taken by amateurs. He’s better off doing it himself on that matter.”

“So, in any case, he just needed a big amount of them? He used lots of users for it ‘cause he wouldn’t be able to handle it on his own?”

“If he were taking a bunch of pics alone, he might be warned off by the police. But if it’s done in large numbers, he’d get the pics even if one or two people were caught. Besides—” Sukuna pointed to a sentence in the mission details. “Here says, ‘back alleys that aren’t on the map will give you bonuses’. So he wants info on backstreets, secret paths and the like?”

“For what?”

“The only thing that comes to mind right off the bat is, well – a preliminary investigation, I guess.”

“Of what?”

“Let’s see; some kind of data—”

“Like an escape route?”

The duo’s smiles disappeared at this casual phrase.

Those were disturbing words. As they could not grasp the whole picture, their imaginations were awfully agitated. Pulling their faces close to each other’s, the two continued the “speculation”.

“Escape route for who?”

“If he gotta run, he must be a criminal.��

“Like, say, a robber?”

“There’s government buildings here, so ain’t it more possible that he’s a terrorist?”

Silence.

The “caw, caw” cry of the crows echoed comically. The two burst into laughter at the same time.

“N-No way! There’s no chance that’d be it!”

“Y-Yeah! None, none! No way there’d be terrorists in Japan!”

While laughing, they were aware there a somewhat dry ring was mixed in it. Indeed, something of that sort was, first of all, probably impossible. However, it was not as if it did not exist.

Most importantly, there was nothing they could do now. They had already submitted the photos. No matter what H. N. was scheming, they could do nothing about it.

Even so, unable to erase the vague fear he had once acquired, Sukuna peeked at his PDA. In that moment, a fanfare-like sound played from the PDA. A holographic image of a deformed parrot character – Jumpy – appeared, dancing around Sukuna and Hikotarou’s general area.

“Urgent mission accomplished! 2745 points added to your JUNGLE Points! Rank up! Five has been promoted to JUNGLE L-ranker. Congratulations.”

Just like dates changed, the rank display in his own page was replaced with a flashing noise. From E-ranker to L-ranker. Along with that, the functions that had been restricted until now were unlocked as well. New rank mission ordering rights, mission activation rights, AR function usage rights—

Sukuna felt that his world had expanded yet again.

When he looked to the side, Hikotarou was raising his cider bottle with a cheerful smile.

“Congrats on your promotion, Sukuna!”

“Thanks.”

As Sukuna gave a lopsided smile, he and Hikotarou had a toast with their cider bottles.

Yeah, that’s right.

JUNGLE was the source of Sukuna’s power. It was a window that showed a new world to someone like him, who was bound hand and foot by his parents and simply made to walk the rails that had been decided for him.

No matter how shady it was, he could not think of losing it. That was about as terrifying as losing Hikotarou.

“Hey? Sukuna?”

He came to his senses. It seemed Hikotarou was calling him.

“A-Aah. What is it?”

“Just wondering how the cat Nine is going.”

“Aah, he’s so well that it’s a problem. He climbed on my shoulder a while ago—”

“Eh~, what’s up with that? He’s never done that with me!”

Laughing at Hikotarou’s sullen face, Sukuna said, “Then come see him next time. He’ll be happy too, for sure!”

“Yeah, true. One of these days.” Hikotarou laughed faintly, filling his mouth with cider.

◆

He woke up early that day.

“6AM?” as he whispered, a yawn came out. Sukuna turned off his PDA, put it in his sleepwear’s pocket and got up from his bed.

He had to wake up earlier than usual ever since bringing Nine in. That was the expected, as he was the only one looking after it. He had to set up a time to take care of Nine before going to and after returning from school.

He quietly slipped out of his bedroom and headed to the first floor, sneaking out through the window of an unused guest room. He had secured this “escape route” by making use of Grass Root. He picked places where the servants would not be and times when they would not be around, rushing within the stipulated period.

Therefore, he was at ease. He had made sure that by no means would anyone find out about it.

Upon opening the door, Sukuna learned that this was nothing but an assumption.

Nine had disappeared from the shack.

His heart resounded with a strong thump.

He wondered if it was hiding somewhere. It was a kitten. It might have crawled into a spot that would not cross his mind.

However, he could not find such a breach anywhere in the shack. Neither could he hear its voice. It would always come crying loudly and cling to Sukuna whenever he arrived.

There was only an empty basket and a blanket that had grown cold in there.

He peeked into the bowl that he had filled to the brim with water. It had not decreased in the slightest. Was it not going thirsty or hungry, wherever it was? For starters, where had it even gone? His own expression full of anxiety was reflected over the water in the bowl.

As he looked at himself in blank amazement, a sweet voice coiled around him from behind, “Sukuna.”

His body trembled with a start.

As he turned around with eyes wide-open, his mother was standing at the shack’s entrance. Her red lips were forming a smile. Both her arms were holding a basket with a pure-white kitten on it.

“If you want something, you can just tell your mother.”

Grinning at him while he was motionless as if frozen, Sukuna’s mother left the basket with the white kitten by his feet. Not making the littlest movement, the white kitten stared fixatedly ahead, as if already disciplined to do so.

Words finally spilled from his dry mouth, “Where’s Nine?”

His mother tilted her head, but after catching on, she at last said, “If you mean that filthy one, it has been disposed of.” She spoke while smiling, “You wanted a cat, right, Sukuna? If so, you should purchase a proper one.”

Her hand caressed Sukuna’s hair. As though she were admiring a treasure.

“You mustn’t touch such a dirty stray cat like that one. What if you were scratched and contracted some disease? My dear Sukuna, I can’t let you do that.”

Sukuna looked down at the white kitten. It was well-manneredly, quietly sitting in the basket. There was a luxury accessory, adorned with a golden chain and red ribbon, fitted around its neck.

It was a choker.

While he was looking down at the kitten, a dark emotion gushed forth within Sukuna. It was a sensation that he had tasted countless times until now. When those people had tried to provide him friends. When he found out that those people were watching his room. That was the feeling that welled up inside.

He had managed to swallow it down until now. He had been able to control it. Because he was aware, somewhere in his heart, that there would be no going back once he laid it bare.

But he believed that, if he gulped it down now, something within him would definitely end up broken.

Therefore, Sukuna reached out and took the bowl full of water in his hand. As he glared at his mother, the smile disappeared from her red lips. Fear did not surge even as he saw this. More strongly than that, the dark emotion – “hatred” – was filling Sukuna from the inside.

“WHO—” He swung up the water bowl. “—SAID I WANTED A CAT?!!”

Sukuna slammed it at the kitten.

The bowl did not hit it directly. It collided with the nearby wall, bouncing off a big splash. Struck by said splash, the kitten let out a cry and jumped off the basket. It ran to a corner of the shack and gazed up at Sukuna as if scared of him.

When he saw that look, the dark feeling was gone like a retracting tide.

The kitten was not at fault for anything. It was simply brought here unknowing of anything and made into a replacement for some stranger. It was shameful and pathetic of him to take his anger out on it. He felt like he had become the same kind of person as his mother. Sukuna sensed that his own hatred was aimed at himself.

On the other hand—

Any facial expression had vanished from his mother’s face. She was as expressionless as a Noh mask. Lips sewed into a thin line, she stared intently at Sukuna.

Sukuna did not return the gaze. However, he did not attempt to explain himself either. It was not that he feared doing so. But because he was repulsed of even speaking to her.

After a moment of silence that could be deemed as an eternity, his mother muttered in a few words, “Really? I see.” She then turned on her heels, exiting the dim shack.

Left behind, Sukuna did nothing. He crouched on the spot, burying his face in-between his knees. Recalling Nine’s voice whenever it called for him, the softness of its fur whenever it snuck up to him and the ticklishness of its breath whenever it sniffed him, Sukuna cried with his shoulders shaking.

The white kitten was observing Sukuna.

◆

The next day, Sukuna found the collar that the white kitten had been wearing inside his residence’s trashcan.

That was what happened to the things Sukuna said he did not want.

◆

What should he say to Hikotarou? Lying on his bed, that was all Sukuna could think about.

The answer did not come to him. There was no way it would. The one who had offered to take in the kitten Nine, which Hikotarou found and had been taking care of, was Sukuna himself. There was no way he could tell him that his parents had found out about it and gotten rid of it.

Ever since losing Nine, Sukuna had secluded himself in his room, refusing to go to school or even eat, thinking about this all the while. His parents had knocked on his door and spoken words mixed with persuasion, and every time he heard their voices, he desperately had to overcome the urge to clear them away using the ESP App.

What should he say to Hikotarou? This question without an answer occurred to him whenever he opened JUNGLE and saw messages from Hikotarou piling up.

Amidst his spiraling thoughts, Sukuna became someone who did nothing but fiddle with his PDA. After all, he was able to escape from this reality just by staring at the several lined-up missions in JUNGLE.

The reality was catching up quickly.

It was no coincidence that Sukuna had activated Grass Root at that moment. He was wary of his parents perhaps trying to force him out of the room if he kept shutting himself in it.

Only the security surveillance cameras of the lowest floor could be viewed on Grass Root, but it could detect if someone were to break through the door of his room. He had not decided what to do when that happened, but he imagined that he would likely have to use an item from the ESP App.

However, that did not happen.

The one projected in the surveillance camera was not the robust guard-man. It was a man clad in a wrinkly suit and a boy who he was bringing with him.

“Hikotarou? Why...?”

With the words that he had whispered in a daze, Sukuna awoke at once. There was no “why”. It was because his parents had found out that Hikotarou existed.

Sukuna felt goosebumps. He jumped out of bed and rushed to the door of his bedroom, but gave up on opening it.

There were lookouts on the other side. His mother had arranged a sleepless watch so that she could deal with Sukuna whenever he came out. If he came out, he would quickly be caught and transferred somewhere else. And then, he would never get to see Hikotarou again.

The door’s no good. I need a different means of escape—

He looked back. Outside the window, he could see the trunk of a garden tree about three meters away. Even if one jumped off the windowsill, they would not be able to reach it.

That was the case for ordinary humans. However, Sukuna was a JUNGLE player.

Taking out his PDA, he opened it without hesitation. He activated the item “physical strengthening”, which was within the power of L-rankers.

Instantaneously, a green electric current burst out from the PDA, ran through Sukuna’s whole body and then disappeared into thin air. However, that strength remained within Sukuna. Each time his heart struck a beat, a force that was not his own circulated his blood vessels, his muscles absorbing it.

A countdown appeared on his PDA. He did not know the reasoning behind it, but once this period was over, his power would be gone as well.

In short, he had no time to waste.

Sukuna opened the window and jumped up. The unbelievable jumping power more than compensated for the three meters. The momentum was so strong that he almost missed the tree trunk, spiraling around it when he reached out and clung to it. His eyes spinning from the gymnast-like maneuver, Sukuna jumped from branch to branch and landed as if rolling down.

Sukuna broke into a run barefoot.

It was not as if he could do anything by running. Sukuna’s parents would not listen to his opinions. Rather, they may consider Hikotarou even more dangerous as a cause of his rebellion against them.

However, he had a feeling that he would resent it for the rest of his life if he just watched the current situation with a finger in his mouth.

From the position of the surveillance cameras, he calculated the place where Hikotarou would be at right now. It was one of the normally unused reception rooms. He ran along the outer walls, taking a wide turn around the mansion. Holding onto the reception room’s window, he quietly peeked inside.

And so, Sukuna experienced a lifelong regret.

“Good job on your report,” his father said, sitting on an extravagant chair.

The middle-aged man and Hikotarou were standing opposite to him, on the other side of the office desk. The middle-aged man was giving his father a toadying smile. Hikotarou, standing next to him, was merely staring at his toes with a mask-like expressionless face.

Sukuna’s heart began to beat copiously fast. If he kept looking at this scene, he would lose something important. Even though he knew this, he was unable to take his eyes off it.

“You might be poor, but since you have enough brains to be able to talk to him as an equal, we have selected you to be his friend as a special case.”

Sukuna’s breath caught. The conversation he was hearing through the window was as vague as a nightmare, with no sense of reality to it.

“Make sure to do your job modest and humbly. I have already transferred this month’s payment.”

“Thank you very much! Hey, you show gratitude too.”

While bowing repeatedly, the middle-aged man put his hand on the back of Hikotarou��s head and squeezed it with force. Unresisting, Hikotarou let himself be handled and bowed his head. He weakly muttered incoherent words.

He was extending his gratitude. To Sukuna’s father. To the power of the Gojou household.

His father leaned his body against the backrest and looked down at the two. “However, your interactions seem to be going too far lately. My wife is worried that Sukuna might have become defiant due to bad influence from you.”

The face of the middle-aged man quickly turned pale.

“Who was it that put in word so that someone from the fallen Kue family could somehow attend that school? I would like you to be a bit more aware of that.”

“M-My deepest apologies! Hey, you!”

The middle-aged man grabbed Hikotarou’s head violently. Hikotarou let him do as he pleased. He was mumbling something – perhaps apologizing?

Enough already. I don’t wanna see any more of this.

He did not want to see Hikotarou – his friend – like that. Still, in the end, that “friend” was also nothing more than something those people had arranged for him.

After watching Hikotarou receive punishment for a moment, his father raised his hand. “Do that somewhere my eyes can’t reach.”

“Yes! I-I always—”

“Enough of that. Sukuna is what matters now.”

Hearing the name, Hikotarou sluggishly raised his head.

“He has been confining himself in his bedroom all the time lately. I called you here to convince Sukuna. Talk him into it and bring him out of his room.”

“O-Of course! Hiko! Get ready at once!”

“Hum.” At that moment, Hikotarou’s voice sounded clear for the first time. “Sukuna has been absent from school all this time... Is he sick or something like that?”

Snorting, Sukuna’s father narrowed his eyes as if to poke fun at Hikotarou. “There seems to be no problem with his health. Apparently, he had picked a stray cat recently. By the looks of it, he got angry because we disposed of it. Honestly, children are so...”

Hikotarou went stiff. His small hands balled into fists.

“If he wants a replacement, we can provide anything he wishes. So hurry and do something about this. It will be bad for our reputation if the current situation continues as it is.”

Hearing the words of his father, who thought of no one but himself, Sukuna slammed the windowsill with his hand, reinforced by JUNGLE’s superhuman abilities. The only one who noticed the sound was Hikotarou. His eyes alone moved, taking in Sukuna’s figure. Their gazes met for just an instant. Yet Sukuna would probably never forget those wide-open eyes.

Sukuna peeled his body away from the window. He had lost all reason to stay in that place.

The “physical strengthening” was still within its effect time. Making full use of that power, he ran. Tears spilled as he rushed through the estate’s garden.

That was the first friend he had made ever since he was born. For the first time ever since being born, he had admired someone and thought of him as even cooler than himself. He had taught Sukuna about many things. Such as the enormous power that he had never even imagined and a new world that he had never so much as noticed, even though it was lying right next to him. He deemed the memories of breathing in the air of freedom and of playing around shoulder-to-shoulder with him as brightly sparkling jewels.

However, they were not jewels but glass marbles arranged for him by the adults.

He had nothing. The resounding beating of his heart, the new world that shone so vividly – everything had disappeared. Right now, the all that surrounded Sukuna were adults so filthy they made him want to throw up, as well as the fakes they had provided for him—

No.

“That’s not true,” Sukuna muttered little by little.

At the same time, an electronic voice echoed from the PDA in his hand, “The effect time of item ‘Physical Strengthening’ has expired. If you wish to extend the effect time, please add extra JUNGLE Points—”

“Extend effect.”

“Voiceprint authentication confirmed. Consuming JUNGLE Points in order to maintain effect duration.”

Hikotarou was a fake. A fake that his parents had prepared for him. Whenever he was with Sukuna or whenever he laughed, he had been probably making a fool out of Sukuna deep down.

Nevertheless, it was not as if everything was fake.

Only this power, JUNGLE, was real. True strength. A tangible world. Beyond that window, a new world was spreading out. That was the sole truth.

And right now, having wiped the tears away, Sukuna was seeing yet another world.

In that world, Sukuna was free. Sukuna was lonely. Having lost his only friend, Sukuna figured that there was no longer anything chaining him to that place now. The exciting world that he had once had a glimpse of together with Hikotarou was lost forever, and the only thing spreading out before Sukuna was a desolated, perishing world.

Yet he had no options anymore but to jump into it.

Strengthening this resolve, Sukuna set forth while gritting his back teeth.

◆

On the day that Sukuna used JUNGLE’s superhuman abilities to the fullest, stealing everything he could take and vanishing from the Gojou house, a large number of thieves attacked Uwagami Town.

Multiple government officials’ homes were raided at the same time. After suppressing the police officers guarding them as if it were nothing, the thieves robbed all houses of information related to secrets of the state and disappeared into the back streets and alleys of Uwagami Town.

The Metropolitan Police Department identified the case as a large-scale beta case due to the clear criminal techniques and the testimony of police officers describing them as “physical abilities that would usually be impossible”. The command of the investigation was transferred to Scepter 4.

Sukuna only came to know about it much later.

#k project #kprojectedit #k side green #gojou sukuna #sukuna gojou #k #kue hikotarou #gohands #gora #novel #my translation

[no-gorms]

I guess this is a timestamp for Stuck in a...? Last week an anon asked what happens next in that ‘verse and a couple of days later my brain decided to come up with this short thing.

Steve/Tony, established relationship, a/b/o, fade to black (also on ao3)

+

Left to his own devices, there are few things that can throw Tony out of a workshop groove. Typical hard limits are hunger and exhaustion; softer limits are the occasional frustration at being unable to solve a problem and its opposite, the thrill of finding a solution that he then needs to show off or celebrate.

Then there is the other kind of distraction.

Today, Tony’s working on a pair of experimental rocket boots, which are balanced on a test gantry and awaiting power-up. It’s a straightforward test – a culmination of the morning’s work and is perfectly pedestrian right down to DUM-E’s concerned chirps from nearby with the fire extinguisher. Yet what seemed crystal clear a moment ago seems suddenly hard to pin down, the numbers slipping away from sense every time he looks at them, and forcing Tony to futz with the test parameters on his control screen.

It doesn’t help that his lower back aches. He’s been rubbing his knuckles against it absent-mindedly throughout the morning, though he’d mostly relegated it to a distant ignorable distraction until it travelled upward along his spine and is adding on to the pile of things that are not doing his concentration any favors.

Wait.

“Oh,” Tony says in surprise. “Huh.”

A heat, then. Maybe. He thinks it might be early, not that he’s ever been that good at cycle tracking. That said, Steve is good at cycle tracking and has called his past heats that they’ve shared together right down to a 36-hour margin of error, so the fact that Steve hadn’t blocked Tony’s whole schedule today means that it must be either early or a false alarm.

Tony tips his head back, sets his feet apart and closes his eyes. Rolling warmth immediately blooms out of lower stomach, sending him doubling over.

All right, it’s definitely a heat.

Which means that Tony can surprise Steve for once.

Tony grins. “JARVIS, where’s the good ‘ol Captain?”

“In the conference room, sir.”

“Great. Put a bookmark on everything, would you? Thanks.”

Tony liberally sprays himself with Axe (so his scent won’t give the game away) and leaves the workshop with a spring in his step.

It’s not that he minds having to handle a heat on his own – he’s done that often enough, and gotten suppressants for whenever it’s too inconvenient to bother – but having Steve on his team, as it were, makes the whole thing far more enjoyable. It’s an excuse to drop everything (workshop binge included) and spend time with his favorite person; who, coincidentally, thinks of Tony as his favorite person, and isn’t that just something?

Though Steve would likely protest with something like: do they need an excuse? They can just be together whenever they want to?

To which Tony would respond, but this is the universe purposefully reminding them to take a break from whatever else is going on and just be. Also, the accompanying heat-heightened orgasms are fun.

Tony has more of that make-believe argument with Steve all the way down from the workshop to the conference room floor. It does occur to him that he could go to their room first and set it up – snacks, liquids, change of sheets etc. – but surprising Steve feels far more urgent. Besides, they’ve gotten a pretty good heat/rut routine down by now, which only needs their cycles to settle in sync to be perfect.

But that’s a goal for another time.

Today’s goal has Tony sneaking up to the entrance of the conference room, from which he can hear Steve and other voices in discussion. Tony’s step falters a little as he parses the tones of their voices. Business-like and serious, though it can’t be that serious since they left the door open.

Tony considers his options. He backtracks the way he came and detours to the pantry that’s two rooms over. There’s coffee brewing there already, so he helps himself to a cup and is halfway through it before remembering that caffeine’s not a good idea before a heat. He’d never bothered with such things before Steve, and the fact that that thought has Tony feeling fond instead of annoyed says a lot.

“Fine.” Tony dumps the remainder of the cup, has some water instead, and trudges back towards the conference room.

“—it’s not enough,” Steve’s saying. “I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable with this.”

“I don’t blame you,” Maria replies. “But we can’t keep the task force there. It’s recall or finish it.”

Tony’s a handful of feet from the doorway. He pauses there, hands on hips, and tries to will the meeting to die by ESP alone.

“I know a guy,” Clint says.

“You know a guy that I don’t?” Natasha says.

“All right,” Steve says. “How do you want to play it?”

Tony rolls his eyes at the ceiling and retreats to the wall just next to the doorway. He leans against it, arms crossed and the ache of earlier starting to creep down his thighs. Excitement of getting to see Steve apparently distracted him enough that he didn’t notice the slow, coiling warmth gathering down below.

Tony takes a deep, chest-rattling breath. His nose always gets more sensitive leading into a heat, and sure enough, he can make out the teasing curl of Steve’s scent in the air – familiar and calm and not close enough. When Tony shuts his eyes he can picture Steve’s form in crystal-clear mental definition: his brow furrowed and his arms crossed, a Captain America in full business mode and not expecting a diversion-in-wait a mere couple of yards away.

“—two-person show,” Clint says. “Any more and we spook them.”

Tony realizes that he’s rubbing his elbows against the wall behind him. He’s marking said wall, but he’s also working off the creeping itch under his skin. At this rate he’s going to start rubbing his face and other sundry body parts against the wallpaper soon. It’s nice wallpaper, and the Tower is technically his so he can mark everything as much as he wants, but the itch won’t be satisfied by that. It’s more likely that the itch will simply grow, and become intolerable, and there’ll be a Tony-shaped scent mark in the wall that’ll take forever to clean.

It occurs to Tony that he’d sped up his heat by coming out here to find Steve, who is right there. In the next room. When he could be in the same room as Tony, and preferably in Tony to boot.

Now that’s a nice thought.

It’s a very nice thought, in fact, and is further buoyed by some very nice memories that he and Steve have made together lately.

Tony realizes he’s panting. His gulps of air dry out his lips, and make him dizzy. He feels compelled, pulled, drawn.

He only realizes he’s started walking when he’s already taken a couple of steps away from the wall, his head tipped up slightly as though tugged through the open space by the invisible lure that is Steve’s presence.

Tony enters the conference room and, finally seeing Steve, makes a bee-line towards him. He also vaguely registers other people in the room but they’re mere shadows, distant and vague, and very unlike the solid, glowing figure of one Steve Rogers.

“Hey Tony,” Steve says. “I thought we were—”

He’s cut off when Tony reaches his target, flinging his arms around Steve’s torso and pressing his face against Steve’s neck. Steve is solid and warm, a wall of muscle that speaks to safety more than strength, and Tony breathes him in deep. There are a few inches of bare skin just above Steve’s collar, and though the skin has Tony’s scent on it, it is muted, which will not do at all. Tony rubs his cheek against Steve’s skin, in firm but small motions back and forth, while Tony’s chest does the same work marking up Steve’s torso.

“Oh, uh.” Steve takes a questioning sniff. “Ah.”

“Well, that’s your day gone,” Maria says. “Just let Barton take an away team—”

“No,” Steve says firmly, “this isn’t an excuse—”

“It is time-sensitive,” Natasha says. “Just saying.”

“I know, but—” Steve makes a surprised sound when Tony moves, sending his arms upward over Steve’s shoulders and wrapping them behind his neck. “Tony—”

Tony pulls. Not very hard, but just enough that Steve hunches over a little, giving Tony the boost he needs to bounce up and wrap both legs around Steve’s waist. Steve is, of course, a very smart man, and immediately has both hands under Tony’s thighs to hold him steady. Tony’s rumbling purr of approval lands at the soft skin of Steve’s neck, just under his ear.

“Yeah, you’re done,” Clint says. “Got a bad case of a limpet.”

“No, I want you to get in touch with your guy, find out what he can put together in 24 hours,” Steve says. Tony really likes the way Steve’s chest vibrates when he talks. He shows his contentment by tightening his grip around Steve, who pats his thigh twice in subtle acknowledgement. “The task force stays. You two put your pull-out plan to paper and send it to my email in an hour, before we even think of engaging.”

“An hour,” Natasha echoes.

“You’ll probably need longer than that to call it in,” Steve says, which has Natasha huffing in amusement. “Task force stays. Got it?”

“Got it,” Maria says. “I’ll pull the latest sat images. An hour, you said?”

“Yeah. Well.” Steve adjusts his grip on Tony and starts walking, presumably to a more private and agreeable destination. “Thereabouts.”

“Bye!” Clint calls out as they leave the room. Tony lifts one hand from Steve’s shoulder just long enough to wave.

When Steve next speaks, his voice is different. Softer, like the very bedsheets Tony hopes Steve’s taking them to. “You’re early,” he says.

“Your powers of deduction are astounding.” Tony tilts his chin up to nip at Steve’s ear, and is gratified by Steve’s shudder against him. Steve’s steps speed up to almost a run, jostling Tony as they move along. Tony grins. “Are you seriously going to take breaks to answer emails?”

“I can multitask,” Steve says tetchily. “Or at the very least, get you distracted enough that you won’t complain.”

“A challenge,” Tony says with a hum. “Sorry for interrupting the whatever, though.”

“Don’t be.” Steve stops walking, and removes one hand from under Tony’s thigh. There’s a click of the doorknob, and then Steve’s shifting his weight to toe the door open and bring them both inside. “I’m grateful that you’re comfortable enough to come to me like that. That’s, uh. It’s nice.”

Oh, so Steve likes that. Success.

Tony’s still grinning when Steve tosses him on the bed.

#scaramouche writes superhusbands fic #alpha beta omega #omegaverse #superhusbands #verse: stuck in a dot dot dot

[sareesonscreen]

S1 E4: Saucy Deep Dives: Third Person SIngular Number

After spending the last two months watching and examining Bollywood hits, it’s been very exciting for us to introduce our audience to hits from all across South Asia. In this episode, we are thrilled to be watching a Bangladeshi favorite made by one of the most famous contemporary directors there.

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki came into the scene in the early 2000s, at a time when mainstream television and cinema largely existed either in the form of family entertainment or copy-pasted “hero’s journey” scripts made for quick consumption. 

This is where Farooki came in with his more casual and approachable filmmaking. His stories revolved around the relatable everyday struggles of ordinary people. This also meant utilizing colloquial language in his cinema (which was rare, given that the media at the time would only depict formal Bangla or a standard dialectical Bangla [for rural stories]). 

Third Person Singular Number (2009) was Farooki’s third movie, which solidified his position as one of the most notable contemporary directors in Bangladesh.

Third Person Singular Number is conceptualized as a fairytale-like story of Ruba (played brilliantly by Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Farooki’s partner, and long-time muse), who is confronted by the challenges of being a single woman in South Asia, after her partner (note, not husband lol) is sent to jail. Ruba struggles with constant harassment as she attempts to find housing and employment. The Prince Charming character of this movie comes to us in the form of Ruba’s childhood friend - Topu (a successful musician in Bangladesh, both in the movie and IRL), whose support helps in making Ruba feel safe. Her feelings for Topu force Ruba to engage with her conflicted relationship with her mother (who left her father for her lover) as well as her fidelity to her jailed partner.

One of the most remarkable things about the film is its deliberate focus on Ruba and how it centers her perspective - this is extremely apparent in the cinematography and Farooki being able to employ the feminine gaze aptly. The first half of the movie depicts at length the various ways in which women become victims of sexual assault - be it at home, in public, or in professional spaces.

There's this one scene in particular, where Ruba becomes hesitant to go to the police station as she recalls a news story from a couple of weeks ago where a woman was r*ped at one. A male gaze retelling of this would tell the audience through action - a flashback where the woman is facing violence, or perhaps when Ruba was reading the paper, or conversing about it with someone. But in this story, Farooki chose to make this woman materialize in front of Ruba and tell the story herself. Not only giving voice to an unnamed woman who had met a horrible fate, but also creating a moment of emotional connection between the two women. It humanized what is often just reduced to news headlines, statistics, or water filter conversations. There are hints throughout that she is an unreliable narrator. Resulting in the (spoiler alert!) the fairytale-esque second half of the movie. Fairytales, historical romances, and fan-fictions often serve as great mediums for social commentary, particularly on the dynamics of power (esp. geared towards women). The fact that the only escape available to Ruba from her bleak reality is an absurd Prince Charming figure speaks heavily to the harsh reality of the real Rubas of the world. For them, her ending would not be a possibility.

The use of space in the visuals of the film was also noteworthy, with Ruba being shown to feel trapped or caged in the company of predatory men (even including her own partner, whom she feels stifled by later in the film). This is often done through the use of close and medium shots, along with physical obstructions in the shot. Meanwhile, her relationship with Topu is shown to be much more affectionate and easy-going; this is depicted with a wide shot of the beautiful kashbons of Bashundhara. Not only was this technique used to remark on the state of Ruba’s mind (which is rare given that male directors rarely highlight women’s perspectives), it also commentated on the wider issue of South Asian women and how they are often made to feel small and struggle to find space (be it physically or metaphorically).

This beautiful work with space is further used to remark on the silence of the other women in the film (notably, Ruba’s cousin, friend, and mother). Unlike Ruba, the only woman with a voice (and the narrator, of course), these women are often seen in the confines of layered cage-like homes (with distinct obstructions like columns, furniture, etc. present in every layer). These characters, like their real-life counterparts, often exist in the crevices of their own homes and are stifled by the domineering presence of the patriarchal structures and insecurities around them.

The two noteworthy women characters (aside from Ruba) are her cousin and her mother. Both of whom we know very little about. However, in their fleeting moments on the screen, some of them make attempts to defy patriarchal structures around them in small but significant ways – Ruba’s mother by being courageous enough to follow her heart and leave a marriage and her cousin by helping Ruba despite her mother-in-law’s objections.

Another interesting thing is that despite Topu being Prince Charming, his character was given depth by not making him entirely selfless and sacrificial. Topu’s expectations were conveyed to the audience in a subtle but effective manner, using scenes like his outrage in the forest after Ruba backs out of having sex with him (though sex was never mentioned, only alluded to), as well as the ever-awkward buying condoms at a chemist shop (an entirely silent and secretive transaction, btw).

Ruba’s character in the film is shown to be determined, independent and tenacious even while she struggles with the oppressive realities of being a woman under patriarchy. One of the focal points of the movie is her strained relationship with her mother (who passes away, leaving no possibility of redemption or reconciliation ). The film uses an interesting technique of showing Ruba’s internal demons manifesting as younger versions of herself, hypothesized to be metaphors for her id (6-year-old Ruba), ego (present Ruba), and superego (13-year-old Ruba) as she battles over her feelings for Topu and consequently her feelings of resentment for her mother. Though her relationship with her mother is significant to Ruba’s evolution as a character, very little is shown of her mother and her motivations. Despite trying to give Ruba some semblance of closure with her mother at the end, the film falls short in creating multiple well-written women to enhance the story and the emotional connection to the characters.

We’ve also had the pleasure of having Raidah of Raidahcal on this episode. She does wonderful work addressing contemporary feminist issues in Dhaka, Bangladesh. While we all had different takes on the movie, it was wonderful to have Raidah’s unique insights and perspectives. Be sure to check her out. We’ve also had the pleasure of collaborating with her on her podcast Raidahcal in an episode exploring feminist economics – we would love for you to check it out as well!

She also asked us a question that made us pause a bit: Why are men given passes for not portraying women's realities accurately just because they are creating sophisticated art?

And this made us realize that there is a very thin line between centering a woman's perspective in a film, versus presenting an intrusively voyeuristic gaze to watch her struggle. Ultimately if the author of the art is not able to distinguish the two for everyone watching the movie, is all that nuance pointless? This ambiguity within the film became more clear to us as we left our own echo chambers and were faced with a wonderfully challenging guest and the realization that the film is sometimes as good as the viewer wants it to be.

Even on our Sauce Meter, this film fared better than some of our previous takes. Here’s a breakdown of our scores.

1. Is there at least one character who adds a nuanced representation of a diverse South Asian identity, without stereotyping and tokenization?  

Ruba, the protagonist of the film is a complex, well-rounded character and a woman – the film also uses an unfamiliar perspective by centering the story around the experiences of a woman vs a man (which is considered the default) – but she is one of the few non-male characters that get significant screen time, so not full points.

0.5

2. Are the primary characters (especially women and marginalized characters) portrayed with agency, individuality, and motivation?

Despite Ruba being limited by the sexist nature of the social structures around her – notably her struggle to find housing and employment as a single woman, she is shown to have agency and individual motivation – she is also shown to want autonomy and finds ways to assert herself despite inhibiting circumstances.

0.75

3. Are women and marginalized characters shown to be cognizant of their identities and how they exist within the social context?

Taking half a point off because there are limited representations of women and other marginalized characters, but the glimpses we get into other women apart from Ruba all seem to be painfully aware of how their choices and abilities are limited by oppressive patriarchal structures. Notably, her cousin despite having limited control over her life and household still tries to help Ruba, and Ruba herself has several moments where she points to the tribulations of being a woman in society.

0.5

4. Do the women and marginalized characters have meaningful relationships with each other?

While the women’s relationships with each other are not given a lot of screen time, they remain focal plot points. In particular, Ruba’s relationship with her mother is instrumental in the evolution of Ruba’s character and arguably even her liberation, however, the movie does not do these relationships complete justice and dedicates very little time to other women or marginalized characters in the movie.

0.25

5. Does it challenge any flawed notions upheld by capitalism, patriarchy, and the caste system?

The movie successfully subverts stereotypical representations of women and even defies traditional ideas of marriage and power dynamics between men and women and for that, it gets a full point!

1

TOTAL SCORE ON THE SAUCE METER: 3/5

What did you think of our rating of Third Person Singular Number? Did we reach too hard? Let us know!

- Usha and Rekha

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#Season 1