#I became a rose fan again after making this post btw

[fantasydaydreamers]

“The Burning Rose Part 2/3″ Boyband!Au Bakugou x Reader

Summary: Continuation of PART 1

Word Count: 4,992

Warnings: Angst

Author’s Note: When I first published this fic, I wasn’t planning on making it a series, but TBR is coming to be a 3-part series!! I want to dedicate it to @sarcasm-is-my-form-of-attack because I believe she told me that this fic is how she found my blog and she’s just amazing so thank you!! I hope you’re all ready to meet The Heartless Heroes again~!

Song: Lullaby by Umi ft. Yeek

Dating the lead singer of a boyband was hard. It's been months since you went to 'The Heartless Heros' concert and received a burning rose from the lead singer, Bakugou Katsuki. After the show and during the meet and greet, Bakugou's approach to you led to something you'd never expect. That is--his number and a kiss on the cheek goodbye.

Your cheeks burned hotter than the rose did.

Since then, you and Bakugou's relationship has been a secret. A part of you still felt like you had to tiptoe around him because you still viewed him as 'famous.'

Untouchable. 

Why me? What makes me so special to be with him?

It was hard, but every day felt like a dream the way he sent you daily texts and pictures of his band practice or when he was in the studio recording. Your life seemed so...bland...compared to his but you felt welcomed and accepted into his life. Although his work sparked your curiosity, you didn't want to ask too many questions in fear of him thinking you're some weird obsessive fan.

You weren't. Well, you were a fan of him but you didn't want to give off the wrong impression and it was difficult. There were times when you two hung out and everything seemed normal where being a 'celebrity' or having a 'status' didn't exist. Moments like that even managed to make you forget who he was.

You'll never forget the day Bakugou picked you up in a truck, which Kirishima, the bass guitar player for the band, lent him. Why? Bakugou drove you two to a cliff overlooking the city below and set up a small bed in the back of the truck, an air mattress with pillows and blankets making everything comfortable to lay on. He even brought a small picnic basket for you two to feast on as you watched the sunset.

At that moment, nothing else mattered. You remember looking over at him, the orange, yellow, and red hues illuminating his face as he took a swig of water. The conversation died on your lips when you saw the angelic being next to you, staring up at the sky in wonder, a stray bead of water trailing down his chin. It was a rare emotion to witness on Bakugou's face and he looked like another person entirely.

'"What're you looking at, dumbass?" Bakugou had asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand without turning to look at you. "I can feel your gaze burning into the side of my head." His cheeks flushed a light pink which blended so perfectly with the dusk-colored sky. You smiled softly and reached out to grab his hand that had just put the water back off to the side. Bakugou tensed briefly next to you but accepted the affection when you turned your head again to watch the city lights flicker on. The sun was setting lower into the sky, the cool night air picking up and spreading goosebumps over your arms.

Bakugou must've noticed because he lifted the very top blanket the two of you were currently laying on and covered both of you, settling down further in the bed of the truck until you were laying on your back staring up at the now darkened sky. Being away from the city the stars were so much brighter and now you feel like you understood the wonder Bakugou must've felt. Realizing you have yet to answer Bakugou's question, you hum and give his hand a squeeze. "Do you think we still would've met if you weren't famous?"

The question came out as a whisper, a hint of sadness in your voice realizing that this whole date had been nothing but normal. Perfectly normal. Nothing was mentioned about his career until now, and although you didn't want to ruin the moment, you just wanted to know how he felt. Bakugou shifted next to you. You couldn't bother to look over at him but in the corner of your eye, you saw him prop himself up on his elbow as he stared down at you.

After what felt like the longest second in the history of time Bakugou answered. "Yes."

This time, you turn to look at him and see that even though he was embarrassed, there was a sureness in his eyes that made you shy away. "Famous, huh?" Bakugou scoffs, shuffling closer as he leans over to block your view of the stars. "Fame won't change me...the fuck do I look like?"

A sincere smile crossed your face which quickly turned into a teasing one. "Is that so? Well...I'll believe it when I see it." Sticking your tongue up at him, it wasn't even five seconds later when you were laughing and squealing at Bakugou to stop tickling you.

By the time both of you had calmed down, you were getting drowsy, overtaken by exhaustion, and comfortable with laying here next to Bakugou. Now side-by-side, stargazing forgotten, you two gaze at each other as he leans in close, keeping eye contact until he's just centimeters away from your lips.

"(Y/n). We would've met regardless of who I am. I would've never given you that rose if I didn't feel something that night I first laid eyes on you. As embarrassing as this fucking is...I'm serious and I promise that the shitty music industry couldn't change me if it tried."

Butterflies erupted in your stomach as he whispered those words against your lips, sealing the promise with a kiss.'

That was the night you fell in love and it was the last night you had a normal date with Bakugou Katsuki. The video of him handing you the rose circled the internet, reaching people who became intrigued. Overnight, 'The Heartless Heros' had grown in popularity which led to scheduled tour dates around the world. The day Bakugou told you, you felt your heart crumble the tiniest bit, your newly developing relationship being pushed back. You didn't even have the confidence to speak up about how you felt.

The was a big deal for them as a band. Something Bakugou had been wishing for and who were you to deny him of his dream. It didn't help that their record label became more strict and the time you were allowed with Bakugou became limited. His whole life became managed by other people and the promise he made you was hanging on by a thread.

It was the night he was about to fly out to the first stop on their tour, and he came over to your house thrumming with energy.

"This is really fucking happening, (Y/n). Who would've fucking thought that I would be going on tour? My friends and I together." He sounded so completely in awe, it just made your heart shatter more.

You offered him what you hoped to be an exciting smile and you continued to listen to him vent. He was currently laying on your bed, staring up at the ceiling as you tidy up your room, opting to stay busy because you knew if you laid down next to him, you would cry. 

"...I'll send you pictures every day of what city we're in and record my shows for you!" Bakugou was still hyping himself up, but a sudden thought of him at other shows made you stop in your tracks.

"(Y/n)?" Bakugou called out to you, noticing you were no longer paying attention. There was a long pause before he spoke again. "C'mere," he said softly.

With your head down, you crawl on top of him and place your head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you. Warm. You felt so secure and safe in his arms which made you feel that much worse. It was selfish and you knew that but how could you not feel that way?

"I'm going to miss you," you mumble against his chest. Bakugou squeezed his arms tighter around you, rolling you two over to the side as he cuddled you close.

"Tsk. I'm not going to be gone forever," he replied, but you could hear the embarrassment in his voice. The only thing you could do was clutch his hoodie tighter, hoping he would understand you were serious. "I'm going to miss you too, dumbass," he mumbled this time.

It was quiet; his hand stroked your back as you bit your lip as hard as you could to not sob into his chest. Just then, it hit you. With him being gone for a long period of time wasn't the problem. It was the single most important thing that brought you two together in the first place.

 "...Are you giving out any more roses?" Your throat started to burn from you holding back tears as that single burning question slipped out.

The hand on your back stopped before wrapping around you tightly, crushing you against him. "Is that what's bothering you? No, I'm not going to do that because I already have you." Bakugou murmured, leaning up to kiss the top of your head. "No one could ever make me give out another rose. I promised fame wouldn't change me, didn't I?"

The bright glimmer of trust in his promise dimmed just the smallest bit. 

You didn't respond.

~*~*~*~*

🥀Babe: 'Fifth show! Everyone says hey btw!'

You smile down at the picture Bakugou just sent you. He was on stage, microphone in hand while throwing a peace sign, as Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero stood behind him at their stations, grinning widely sporting equally cute peace signs.

So far everything seemed like it was going well. You haven't heard any news of Bakugou giving out another rose and he did manage to text you often about what was going on in his life, but the amount of times he was cut off from his phone by management made you upset. At first, he tried to sneak out late at night when everyone was sleeping to call you but that just made you feel guilty. After a while, you convinced him that it was fine and to get some rest so he had enough energy to put on his shows.

Which, they were doing fantastic.

Not only did you watch the videos he sent you, but you also watched the video's fans were posting online. The fanbase grew larger with each passing day and the number of fangirls skyrocketed. Sometimes, seeing them talk about Bakugou online was too much for you to handle and you started to question if this was all worth it but then you remember the secret moments you and Bakugou spent together, and nothing else mattered.

It didn't help that there was another up-and-coming musician by the name of Camie who had recently expressed her interest in 'The Heartless Heroes' on social media. More specifically, an interest in Bakugou. This made both fandoms go wild, coming together to ship the two of them and comment on their posts for them to collaborate. It hurt. It hurt so much.

It wasn't long until you noticed Bakugou had followed Camie back on all social media platforms which made your heart sink to your stomach. You tried not to think too much into it, but Camie wasn't interested in the others. It was strictly Bakugou she was pinning after so that made you skeptical.

So you decided to stalk her page and look up her music and you hate to admit it, but she could sing. She had videos posted of her in a studio recording an upcoming song and even her singing acapella was amazing. 'Looking for a feature👀' the caption said and you opened the comments, only to see everyone tagging Bakugou and Bakugou only. You saw that Camie had pinned a few of them.

h3ro3s_fanatic: @HeartlessBakugou !!!! you would sound greatttt on this😩😩

cami.stan: omfgggg someone pls...get bakugou on this ASAPPPPPP😭😭😭

From what you saw, Bakugou didn't comment or like the picture, but him following her was enough for you to get the message. It was pathetic that you felt this way. This is how it was, right? Dating a famous celebrity only to have millions of fangirls thirsting over him while other equally famous celebrities tried to get with him? Whenever you felt like this, your mind strays to the memory of that day in the back of the pickup truck when Bakugou kissed you so sweetly that the world faded away.

The day he promised you nothing would change.

You had exited quickly from her page and decided to mute her account for your own mental well-being. Bakugou wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Right?

Brushing off your insecurities, you save Bakugou's picture on your phone when another text pops up on your phone from Kirishima.

Kirishima: Heyyy (Y/n) I have a question

You: yeah?

That was weird. Although you had gotten close to Bakugou's friends, it was strange to see them randomly hit you up.

Kirishima: The boys and I were talking and we have an idea👀

You: okayyyy...👀

What?

Kirishima: Bakubro has been moping around a lot and we think it's because he misses u~😉 soooo we were thinking about flying u out here as a surprise. What do u think?

Your heart rate sped up at the thought of surprising Bakugou and seeing his reaction. The media and your self-consciousness was making things harder with each passing day but maybe if you saw him again, things would be okay. Maybe everything could go back to the way things were. Maybe fame didn't change anything.

You: oh wow...yes please!

Kirishima: Great!😁 I'll send u the details when we buy the ticket. U have to fly out tomorrow though. We're leaving tonight and arriving at the next stop tomorrow so we'll meet u there.

You: ok!

The excitement was building up in your stomach so much that you couldn't sit still. As you get up to start packing your bags, you stop in front of your dresser and admire the burnt rose you had saved in a resin case. Bouncing on the balls of your feet, you turn on some of 'The Heartless Heroes' music and sang your heart out as you packed.

~*~*~*~*

Kirishima had texted you that once you landed, there would be a chauffeur waiting with your name on a sign to pick you up. Sure enough, after you walked through gates, a man was holding your sign and you approached him cautiously. "Uh...hi."

"Miss (Y/n)?" He asked. You nod your head and he grins and motions you outside the airport. To your shock, a limo was waiting for you and the chauffeur chuckled, holding the door open for you. "The boys said they wanted to treat you right so I hope it's to your liking."

You wordlessly get in the limo and see a note on the seat addressed to you. The chauffeur closes the door and walks around to his side of the limo to get in the driver's seat.

'Welcome (Y/n)! I hope you were surprised about the limo, but if it's too much for you we're sorry! Blame it on Kami if you don't like it.' 

You snort and roll your eyes.

'Right now your driver is going to be taking you to a music video set instead of the concert venue. Turns out Bakugou has something to do first before we could head to the show. But! We'll still surprise him. Just text us when you arrive at the set. See you soon!'

Music video? You furrow your eyebrows and think about what song they could possibly be doing a music video for. As far as you know, they haven't released any new music, unless Bakugou has been working on something and hasn't told you. Shrugging it off, you watch the city pass you by through the windows as butterflies start to erupt in your stomach.

What do I even say?

All this excitement and you haven't even thought about what to say when you see him again. I missed you. Well, obviously. How have you been? Too lame. I love you. Too soon? Did you forget about me? Of course, he hasn't. You were flown out here for a reason.

The limo slowed down as it pulled up to an apartment building, cars parked outside as people ran around outside. The chauffeur looks at you in the rear-view mirror and nods his head. "We're here."

"Thank you." Pulling out your phone, you start a group text with Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero and text them.

You: I'm here!

Deciding to wait in the limo, it wasn't even two minutes later that the three came waltzing down a staircase before sprinting to the limo. Opening the door you couldn't get out before you were tackled by three bodies in a group hug.

You laughed and hugged them back as they excitedly tried to ask you how your flight was and if you did in fact like the limo. Before you could answer, the chauffeur calls out to you. "Miss (Y/n), I'll be waiting in here until you're finished and then I'll drive you to the venue."

Thanking him again, you close the door and try to answer all of their questions. "Yes my flight was good, and I guess the limo was okayyyy~" You playfully roll your eyes and Kirishima and Sero shoot Kaminari a look.

"What?"

You laugh again and look around nervously, seeing some people stare at the four of you. "So...um what's going on? What music video are you guys doing?"

Instantly all of their expressions dropped into nervous ones. "Uh..actually...it's not ours."

Confused, you look at each of their faces, noticing they were avoiding eye contact with you. Sero sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, breaking the silence first. "We got a call late last night that Camie was going to be in this city at the same time we were so she and Bakugou could shoot a music video for the song they did together."

Time stopped as you took in his words. They did what? They actually did that song together? Bakugou didn't tell me this.

The three of them noticed your confused expression and they shot each other worried glances. This time, Kaminari chuckled and reached for your hand. "Hey! It's okay, you can surprise him when he's done shooting. They're about to do his verse right now. C'mon."

You were dragged behind Kaminari as Kirishima and Sero trailed behind you, giving each other a cautious look that you missed. Going back up the stairs, the four of you entered a long hallway that had more production staff with sound systems and lighting all filtering in and out of one room in particular.

Waiting for people to pass through, Kaminari poked his in and then pulled you in behind him, hiding you behind the camera screen that was focused on Camie. Even in the shadows, you could see how much beauty she radiated as she talked to someone on set. But that's not who you wanted to see.

Your eyes leave the screen and immediately find Bakugou who was sitting in a set chair. A low gasp escaped your lips seeing him dressed in a white t-shirt, a leather jacket over it with black jeans on. Chains hung from the pants and black biker boots pulled the look together. What really got to you was the famous eyeliner he usually wears during concerts that framed his ruby eyes so well.

He looks so handsome.

Your swooning was cut off as Camie cuts into your line of vision and starts talking to Bakugou, her hand resting on his knee as she talked. Noticing this, your eyebrows shot up and you were about to step over and say something until the man in front of you at the camera screen spoke up. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were standing behind you and threw their hands over their face in disbelief.

"Lullaby apartment scene take one! Places!" The set people scattered and Camie moved away from Bakugou, not before trailing her hand off of his leg which revealed him smirking at her. Excuse me?

Everything around you started falling away as dark thoughts, exactly what you were worried about, consumed your head. Your eyes couldn't leave Bakugou as he stood with his back against the wall, by a large window, the sunset pouring in as Camie took her place down the hall and out of frame.

The lights on set dimmed as a camera on a track moved down the hallway to where Camie was and you could see her on the screen. A familiar melody started in which you recognized from her social media account that one time and you so badly wanted to turn away. A soft voice carried from the speakers as Camie began lipsyncing on screen.

I know you're hurting, you're hurting inside

Know when you feel it, you feel it at night

Why won't you let me in?

Why won't you let me understand you?

Why won't you let me in?

Baby, just take my hand and

She slowly worked her way down the hallway as the producer and someone from video editing discussed in low voices on how they were going to edit the final product. Camie worked her way out of the hallway and your eyes flicker briefly over to Bakugou who was watching her with a glint in his eyes you didn't like.

The camera wasn't even on him yet.

Now she was getting closer and closer to Bakugou, who had pushed himself off the wall and stalked towards her. She turns before they could meet and Bakugou's arms wrapped around her waist which you turn to the three boys behind you who looked equally as shocked.

"We had no idea, (Y/n)," Sero whispers, tugging your hand into his. You look back and can feel the cold sweat start on your neck as Bakugou leans into her neck, Camie arching back into him as she finishes her verse.

Can you let me sing you a lullaby?

And maybe then you'd let me in tonight

Your heart crumpled.

She gracefully spins around to Bakugou and raises her arms, placing them around his neck as he begins his chorus. He places his hands on her waist, as they lean closer together, their foreheads touching as they gazed into each other's eyes.

Remembering what Kirishima told you earlier, you held back tears threatening to fall. It's just a music video, it's just a music video, it's just a music video...

Trying to convince yourself that this wasn't real, that Bakugou wasn't looking at her a certain way, made it harder as you feel another hand on your shoulder, not being able to look away. They look so good together...like they belong...

Bakugou opened his mouth and that familiar silky voice filled the room.

I've been cooking up a playlist

'Cause I don't know how I could say this

If love was a subject in school

Couldn't major in communication

Feelings (I don't want 'em)

They won't show

But when it's time to sleep

Halfway through his verse, Bakugou lets go of her and walks backward to sit down on the bed, moving towards the window, looking out at the darkening sky, smoothly adjusting himself in a leaning position. The cameraman zooms into his figure and you hold back your choked gasps as he leans his head against the window, finishing his part, a strange longing expression crossing his features.

You get emotional

You barely notice the camera panning back to Camie as she finishes the song. Your gaze remaining stuck on Bakugou as he absently kept staring out the window, his arm coming up to rest his chin in the palm of his hand on the windowsill. They picked the perfect evening to do this because his frame was lit up by the setting sun, making you think of happier times.

"Good! That was good!" The producer announces, making everyone erupt in applause. You watch as Bakugou doesn't move, a small sigh escaping his lips, his hand moving to mess up his hair. You're about to step forward to go surprise him when Camie comes bounding over to him.

"Katsu~! You did amazing!" She pounces on the bed and what you didn't expect was her to kiss Bakugou.

On the lips.

In front of everyone.

This time you let out a gasp, one of the boys behind you inhaled sharply. You back away slowly, your whole world crumbling around you as you bump into the wall, not tearing your eyes away from Bakugou who has yet to pull away.

Finally, a flood of tears comes pouring down your face as you turn and bolt out of the room. "(Y/n)!" You couldn't tell who called out to you, but somehow you found a fire escape, running up to the roof for fresh air. This couldn't be happening. Not this. I should've known.

Opening the door to the outside, cold air hit you suddenly as you tried not to cry out. Taking deep breaths, tears still fell freely down your face, not knowing what to do. How do I get out of here? I can't stay here.

You couldn't even get five minutes to catch your breath when the fire escape door opened behind you again. "(Y/n)!" The voice of the last man you wanted to see right now called out to you in panic. You didn't turn around and let him see you like this. Footsteps sounded behind you and soon Bakugou was trying to turn you around to face him.

"(Y/n)-"

"Don't!" You yelled at him, wrenching your arm free from his grasp. "Don't touch me."

Turning to look at him, you see him grit his teeth, panic clear in his eyes. "That's not what it looked like, (Y/n)!" Bakugou tried to reach out to you again but you gave him a broken look that had him pause again.

"Oh yeah?" You huff out a sarcastic laugh. "Couldn't have been part of the music video because I thought the producer said cut."

"It wasn't part of the video!"

"So it was real. That was real. Everything I just witnessed was real?! So what's your story, Bakugou? You think you can just keep me as someone to have when you come back while you get with all the girls you want now because you're famous." You spit that word out, glaring at him through your tears, feeling like a complete idiot.

"No!" Bakugou yelled out, making you flinch. "Listen to me that wasn't what you thought it was! Camie just-"

"Baku~! Where are you~?" A sing-song voice could be heard through the door and you laughed. You laughed at the irony of it all. Here you were coming to surprise someone you thought you could call your boyfriend. Someone you thought you loved.

Bakugou whipped his head around and immediately turned back to you shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all. It was dark out by now, the full moon illuminating the two of you on this rooftop in the middle of some city you never want to step foot in again.

"(Y/n). She just kissed me. I didn't expect her to do that I promise there's nothing going on." It was weird seeing him plead, inching closer to you like he wanted to hold you. "Teddy bear...please."

You froze at that nickname. "Don't ever call me that ever again." You take a deep breath, pointing a finger out at him. "Do you realize what you've done, Bakugou? I can't even look at roses the same because of you! Every time I see one in public, I'm reminded of that night you handed me such a fragile gift. It felt like you were giving me your heart..."

Which is now sitting in a resin box on display in your room.

You take a shuddering deep breath.

"And now we're up here alone under this beautiful night sky, just like before, and depending on how this plays out, remembering this moment might make me hate the moon and the stars permanently! Watch what you say, Bakugou. Don't ruin this for me too."

A single tear fell from Bakugou's wide eyes, the cool wind touseling his hair gently as he stood unmoving in front of you, speechless.

"Fame won't change you, huh? Fuck you, Bakugou."

With that, you walked around him and back through the doorway, tears streaming down your face. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were at the bottom of the staircase with anxious looks on their faces. Once they saw you were crying, they looked guilty as they brought you away from the production.

"I-I'm so sorry (Y/n). We wouldn't have flown you out here if we knew this was going to happen-" Kaminari started to explain, but you held your hand up for him to stop.

They all stared at you as you took a deep breath, your chest aching from the pain you were currently experiencing. A shake exhale left your mouth as you wiped at your eyes pathetically.

"I want to go home."

They all glanced at each other like they weren't sure what to say until Sero finally nodded and grabbed your hand. "Let's go."

The boys had escorted you secretly to your ride, and you could see growing frustration on their faces the more you shook with sadness. You did offer them hugs goodbye because you knew they meant well and they each hugged you back with a firmness that made you think of him. The drive to the airport was deathly silent, your chauffeur looking at you in the rearview mirror every so often which you couldn't bother to tell him to mind his own business. You felt drained and empty the unknown city flashing by your window in blurs. 

All you could think about was how Bakugou didn't even bother to chase after you.

← Part 1

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[ruewrites]

Hi, i hope you are doing good. So i had a request, i really like angst and i was reading We're Blooming Togheter (its very good btw) And i was wondering if maybe you could write like an one-shot about Asmo and more about his last partners? Or maybe more about Lucifer taking care of the brothers at such a young age after being abandoned...i just really like angst.

Revisiting Past Ghosts

AO3

WBT

Ship: Solomon/Asmo, Lucifer/Diavolo (more near the end?)

Word Count: 3113

Warnings: Some violence (skip the third snippit)

A/N: Hi Anon! I’m happy that you enjoyed WBT! I really loved writing it! I’m also always willing to write more about it (I want to write more about it too). This ask actually inspired two one-shots? I’m not going to post the second one yet (I want to finish some other requests first) but I hope you like this first one. I was actually playing with some ideas about writing some more for the au and your comment pushed me to do it, so thank you! I hope you enjoy this!

Asmo remembered his first girlfriend finding out about him. Part of him had always known about his own affections,  but it still made him nervous to tell her. She’d seemed so accepting, so supportive. But Asmo quickly regretted the decision. She’d already had a jealous streak. He knew this, and this just seemed to make her lash out at anyone that even dared to look at Asmo in the halls, including his best friend.  It started out as little things that could be excused as accidents, but then Solomon’s number had been blocked on his phone.  

The only reason that they’d started dating in the first place was because they were in similar social circles. She was cute, Asmo was cute, it made sense. He’d been interested at first, but the more he learned about her personality, the less interested he became. Despite how perfect they may have looked to their peers, they clashed on more subjects than they agreed on. 

Their breakup had been ugly, Asmo wouldn’t deny that.They’d gone back and forth fighting about little things that didn’t matter in the long run. 

He’d thought it was over, until he’d seen Solomon’s vandalized locker.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured, a sickness stirring in his stomach. The two of them stayed after school to try to fix whatever damage they could.  There had been horrible notes, drinks thrown onto his text books, lipstick smeared over his notes. Asmo would have thought he would’ve been the target of her anger, but unfortunately this didn’t surprise him. 

“You aren’t responsible for her actions.”

“But she’s obviously still hostile because of me.”

“Stop blaming yourself, you didn’t ruin my locker.” Solomon let out a huff and pushed more sludge into a trash can, “You can’t fix her attitude.”

True but Asmo still felt bad. Things were quiet for a moment as Asmo tried to escape his guilt as he slipped paper towels in between the pages of Solomon’s notes. She’d been flooding his comments, but he didn’t think she’d ever do something like this once they broke up…

He felt Solomon nudge him with his foot, bringing his attention back up. “If you still really feel bad, you could invite me for dinner. You said Lucifer was cooking right?” he smiled. 

Was it simple? Yes. Did it make Asmo feel a little better and maybe even steal a laugh from him? Also yes.

His ex had gotten a new boyfriend eventually. Not that Asmo cared.

Every now and again they would still hiss at each other in the hallway. They’d gotten into a few more fights, mainly over Solomon, and each time Solomon had been the one to pull Asmo away. He hadn’t handled it the best he could have, but it was in the past now. It happened. He didn’t really remember when it all stopped. Eventually they had just sizzled out, going from a raging fire to nothing but smoke and ash.

********

Solomon had just gone home from dropping his assignments off. He promised he’d come back tomorrow, but only if Asmo wanted him too. Asmo had nodded, eyes still red and pillow stained with tears. He genuinely didn’t know what he’d do without Solomon. 

As soon as he was gone, Asmo was left alone with his thoughts again. He knew Solomon had to go home, but he wished he didn’t have to. He didn’t want to be alone. He should go back to school, he really should, but he wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to see his ex. He sobbed into his pillow, gripping it tightly, feeling the fabric become cold beneath his cheeks. It didn’t make sense. He didn’t understand. There wasn’t a reason. 

He did everything he could. He made himself pretty, he got him  the sweetest gifts he could think of, listened to him, cleared his schedule for him… Maybe it still hadn’t been enough. Maybe he could have done more, tried harder. He could have made himself prettier in the mornings or been a little more adoring. Now that it was over, Asmo was making a list of things he could have done better, but it was too late.

He could still remember the last conversation they had and how the bile rose in his throat.

“We need to break up.”

The words had caught Asmo off guard. Everything had seemed to be going fine. They’d never talked about any problems. As far as Asmo had known, they’d been a perfectly happy couple. They did everything happy couples were supposed to do. Asmo did everything a perfect boyfriend was supposed to do.

“But why?” he’d asked, voice already catching in his throat.

“Just ‘cuz Asmo.”

“But-”

“Just. ‘Cuz. Don’t make me spell it out for you.”

Asmo had been snapped at. Asmo hated being yelled at. It made his throat tighten and his body freeze. This wasn’t how this was supposed to be.

“You’re not dumb. You know why.”

But Asmo didn’t know why!

“Wait-”

“I need to go.”

Asmo could feel the mascara running down his face and taste it on his tongue, “Please don’t.”

“Lose my number Asmo.

Then Asmo had been alone. No reason. No explanation. He was just alone sobbing on the sidewalk, looking for an answer he would never get.

He’d been humiliated and broken and he wasn’t sure how to feel. Honestly, he probably would have stayed crying on the sidewalk if Solomon hadn’t found him.

He didn’t want to be alone. He wished Solomon didn’t have to head home.

His door cracked open ever so slightly, and footsteps crossed his room.

“There was ice cream left over in the freezer,” Lucifer seemed a bit awkward, as if he wasn’t sure what to say. He knew Asmo had been broken up with, but he wasn’t exactly sure what to say. It seemed like calling his ex some… choice words had been the wrong decision as Asmo had only cried even harder, defended his ex, and started to blubber about it being all his fault. From there Solomon had taken over and ushered Asmo upstairs.

He’d caught bits and pieces.

I wasn’t good enough. 

I wasn’t pretty enough.

I didn’t love enough.

I wasn’t perfect enough.

Lucifer heard a few other things, but all of these little untruths did nothing but make him angry. He knew his brother, and he knew none of those things were true. He’d seen Asmo interact with his partners, and he did nothing but love them. Perhaps he was a little biased, but he didn’t care.

Asmo sniffled and lifted his head. Ice cream didn’t sound too bad… He wasn’t sure how much of it he could eat, but it was a good breakup food. He sat up a bit and moved closer to his brother. The container was partially full and had brownie chunks mixed in. He leaned against Lucifer’s shoulder and sniffled.  

They sat there in silence,  Asmo wondering why he wasn’t good enough and Lucifer knowing he deserved better.

********

Lucifer was already tense. He could hear the rising voices from the living room. The couple clearly thought they were home alone. Voices rising in the heat of the moment, growing until they reached their inevitable crescendo.

Lucifer saw the slap before he heard it.

A hand brought down onto Asmo’s face. Eyes wide and full of hurt, shock, and embarrassment as tears welled and slowly overflowed onto the floor. He didn’t see Lucifer. It didn’t matter if Lucifer had met the man in his house before this moment. Now he was a stranger, and intruder. He was violating their space, and would be treated as such. 

Before he could disgrace Asmo furthur, Lucifer’s hands were dug into his collar and slamming him harshly against the wall. His vision was clouded with red, lips pulled back in a snarl. Bloodlust clouded his mind.

“How dare you lay a hand on him,” he snarled, grip tightening around his collar, “You have no right to hurt him in any way.”

“Wh-” 

“None.” 

Lucifer vaguely felt the tugging on the back of his clothes, Asmo’s voice no more than a bug flying in his ear. He dropped the man, making sure he stayed between him and his brother.  The fear that Lucifer saw would have been satisfying if not for the situation.

“Leave. If I ever catch you in my home again I will be the last thing you see.”

The man bolted out of the house, Cerberus barking as the door slammed behind him. Lucifer couldn’t relax even with his brother’s soon to be ex gone. His blood was boiling, and Asmo was squirming under his gaze. 

Asmo didn’t think Lucifer was home, he hadn’t thought anyone was home. It was the only reason his boyfriend had wanted to come over in the first place, he wasn’t a big fan of Lucifer or any of Asmo’s brothers really. It was a red flag, one Asmo had seen in the distance. He thought that would resolve over time. Apparently he was wrong.

“He’s not welcome in this family,” Lucifer growled, “No one is to treat you like that.”

Understood?

Lucifer’s tone made Asmo’s skin crawl. He was still trying to process what had happened. His cheek stung, and his eyes were watering. What had they been fighting over? He couldn’t remember. Were they even fighting or had they just started yelling?

Asmo couldn’t help but shrink into himself.

 “Yes.”

His words were soft and barely audible. His mind couldn’t even think about texting Solomon. Where would he even begin?

Lucifer paced around the living room for a moment, muttering to himself. He sounded almost animalistic, so unlike Lucifer. It scared him, the entire situation sent Asmo into a spiral and he wasn’t sure where to go from here. He flinched when Lucifer touched him, and seeing that seemed to make his anger flare again.

Lucifer stared at the mark that started to mar Asmo’s skin before shaking his head and heading off into the kitchen. He returned shortly after and pressed a cold ice pack to Asmo’s face. Hours of silence ticked by. 

Lucifer wanted to press charges.

Lucifer wanted to go after him himself.

Lucifer wanted to bury him deep in the ground with the rest of the spineless worms. 

Asmo told him not to. 

They’d fought about it for a few days, and the relationship had continued for a little longer after that. But eventually, both the argument and the relationship ended.

*********

Lucifer had been looking over one of his cases when Barbatos paged him down. Something about someone wanting to talk with him. While he’d never admit it, his mind hadn’t been focused on his work lately. Something was going on with his brothers, specifically Asmodeus. He’d seemed unusually twitchy and eager up until recently. Now he wouldn’t come out of his room, and he could hear him sniffling. 

 Diavolo’s booming laugh bounced off the walls and was the first thing Lucifer heard before he saw anyone.  Perhaps Diavolo wanted to take the three of them out to lunch again, where Lucifer would then continuously have to check the time and remind Diavolo about PDA as well as Barbatos’ presence.

However, when Lucifer came to Barbato’s desk, he saw a third person that he wasn’t expecting. 

Solomon looked a little frazzled underneath his normally cool composure. He stood stiffly next to Barbatos as Diavolo chattered away. Luciferer spied something pink clasped between fidgeting fingers. 

Barbatos was the first to notice Lucifer’s presence. He made his way over to his side and glanced over towards Solomon and Diavolo. 

“He seems nervous.”

“I noticed.”

“What do you think it’s about?”

 Lucifer hesitated, thinking over his options. Well, he had one idea. If he was correct, it would certainly make everything else fall into place much easier.

“I guess we’ll have to find out won’t we?”

Solomon smiled as he saw Lucifer approaching, causing Diavolo to turn around with a wide grin on his face. 

“Lucifer!” Diavolo chirped, moving closer. He went in for a kiss, but Lucifer stopped him. 

“Later. We have company,” he smiled, patting his boyfriend’s pouting cheek before turning to Solomon. “It’s good to see you Solomon, it’s been a while since we’ve had you at our dinner table.”

“Ah, well, Asmodeus and I have both been busy. We’ve been spending a lot of study time over at my apartment,” he said. Then a small silence stretched on. Solomon looked down at the pink envelope in his hands for a moment and sucked in his breath, “I was actually wondering if you could give something to him.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He could feel Diavolo and Barbatos behind him, their intrigue was palpable. Lucifer would be lying if he said he also wasn’t curious about what Solomon had to say. “And why can’t you just give it to him yourself?” he asked.

Solomon stopped for a moment, eyes glancing down at the envelope before smiling.

“Well, I’ve been hiding them in secret and leaving them anonymous, so what fun would it be to just give it to him?”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow and Solomon’s face fell. 

“He also hasn’t been answering my texts,” he admitted, “I just need him to meet me in the park tonight. I-”

Diavolo’s eyes lit up, “Oh Lucifer! I didn’t realize your brother had a boyfriend, and one with such romantic ideas at that.”

Solomon’s face lit up red and his eyes shifted to the side. So, there was something going on between his brother and his brother’s childhood best friend. His memories flashed to Asmo’s exes, the things they’d put him through, the pain they’d caused him. He didn’t want Asmo to live through any of that again, he didn’t want things to go wrong and he certainly didn’t want his brother to go through more heartbreak.

“What if I just told him? You’ve been sending him letters for a while, why not just get it over with?” Lucifer asked. 

Diavolo cut in before Solomon could even give his argument. “Lucifer, why don’t you indulge him?” he asked, “You mentioned that Asmodeus loved romantic things like this. Plus it’s adorable. He’s made this elaborate little plan just for Asmodeus.”

Lucifer hesitated for a moment, thinking his decision over, eyes glued to the envelope. It did seem very… Asmodeus, but could he trust this little romance to not leave Asmodeus crushed? It was a gamble with his brother’s happiness, and the stakes were high.

“It does seem like something Asmodeus would enjoy,” Barbatos cut in, nodding towards the letter, “Plus, you can trust him with his own heart.”

But could he really?

A few more minutes ticked by, Lucifer played with his thoughts. Perhaps he had still been soured by his brother’s last boyfriend. The man hadn’t really left a good impression, and Lucifer didn’t want to see Asmo in that situation again. Asmodeus deserved to thrive and to be loved and cherished. He just wanted what was best for him.

“Alright, I’ll give it to him,” he decided. Solomon’s grin returned as he handed the envelope over. “But,” Lucifer continued, “You’d better treat him well, regardless of what happens. I won’t tolerate anyone disrespecting him.”

“I wouldn��t dream of it,” Solomon smiled, “I promise I’ll take care of him.”

***********

It was late, but Lucifer couldn’t fall back asleep. He  picked up his phone to look at the time.

Three am. 

How was Asmodeus doing? Surely he and Solomon had gotten to their suite a while ago. Maybe he should give him a call. 

Turning onto his side, Lucifer propped himself up and stared at his husband for a moment. Diavolo was curled up on his side, softly snoring away. He wasn’t the most graceful sleeper, but it was still endearing in a way. It was still wonderfully Diavolo.

Kissing Diavolo’s cheek, Lucifer grabbed his phone before heading downstairs. It rang once. Then twice. He wondered for a moment if his brother would even pick up when a tired voice answered.

“Lucifer?”

“Hello Asmodeus,” Lucifer smiled, “Did you arrive alright?”

“Mmm, give me a second, we just… got to sleep.”

There was shifting on the other side of the line, followed by a second voice. It was slightly muddled, but Lucifer knew who it was.

“I’ll be right back Darling… It’s my brother… No no, not Mammon…. Yes Lucifer.... Go back to sleep, I’ll be back soon.”

There were a few other noises. Kisses perhaps? Then more shuffling and a door shutting.

“Sorry brother dearest, Solomon’s rather clingy when it comes to curling up,  I’m lucky I was able to escape to the porch.”

He sounded happy. It made Lucifer’s body relax and a soft smile spread across his face. Asmodeus was in good hands, he was safe, he was going to be cared for. He still remembered how happy Asmo had been showing off his ring, and how much happier he looked at his wedding. It made him feel at peace, knowing he was loved. 

“I assume you’re having a good time then?”

“Oh yes, all the unpacking is done, and we’re planning  on going out and exploring tomorrow,” he chirped.

“You mean you haven’t explored yet?”

“We were unpacking!”

“Unpacking doesn’t take that long Asmodeus.”

“Buuuuuuusssssyyyyyy,” Asmo sang, “Anyways, I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures tomorrow!”

“Good.”

I’m happy you found him.

Silence stretched between them for a moment. Lucifer could hear the ocean in the background.

“I should be getting back to bed, I have a wonderful husband waiting for me and a long day tomorrow.”

“Mmh, now that you mention it, I suppose I should be getting back to someone as well.”

I’m happy he makes you happy.

“Goodnight Lucifer, I love you!”

“Goodnight Asmodeus.”

Lucifer stared at the phone for a few moments more before going back to his bedroom where a warm bed and an adoring husband awaited him. Kissing Diavolo’s cheek once more, Lucifer settled back into bed, feeling his partner shift behind him.

Asmo looked up at the stars and took in the night air before wandering back inside. He barely had time to plug in his phone before Solomon was sucking him back into the bed and covering his skin with kisses. Honestly sometimes Asmo wasn’t sure what to do with all the love Solomon gave him, he doubted that he even deserved it at times. But as they laid together, Asmo knew that this was where he truly belonged. He’d finally found the one. Asmo had had good and bad partners come and go, but Solomon was the one who stayed.

#WBT #ruewrites #obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me solomon #obey me lucifer #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #solodeus #dialuci #soloasmo #asmosolo #asmodeus x solomon #diavolo x lucifer #angst #angst with a happy ending #tw minor violence #human!au #tw abuse

[bluesky-thewebcomic]

Final thoughts from Elvenwhovian

So here we are at the end. The last panel. There were a lot of times that I thought I wouldn’t make it to this point. It’s been an incredible and long journey, and finishing a project like this is satisfying beyond words. I know that many of you were not here from the start, so I just wanted to share the story of how this 930 panel monster of a project came to be and thank a few people who helped along the way.

Really it all started in March of 2014. My roommate had taken a trip to New Zealand to visit family and I was having a pity party at home alone (It’s always been a dream of mine to go to New Zealand). I was window shopping online on Thinkgeek (RIP Thinkgeek) and I was seeing all this merch for a game called Portal. This led me to Steam, which led to finishing the first Portal in about a day, then Portal2 in about 2 weeks. 

Of course this led me to begin looking up fan art which led me to discover the fanfiction “Blue Sky”. I read the whole thing in about 4 days. I was so engrossed in the story, I ate, slept, went to work, and read Blue Sky and nothing else. I vividly remember sitting at my kitchen table, ipad in hand, as I read the last lines of the story. I sat back, let out a long breath and said, “Wow. That was one of the best stories I’ve ever read.” 

The fan art came next. Being relatively new to tumblr, I was used to getting 3-6 notes on a post. Suddenly, people were coming out of the woodwork liking and reblogging. My mind was blown and it made me want to make more fan art. Then I met @starry-nightengale who became one of my best friends on this site. We fangirled over “Blue Sky” and Portal over the next year which led to us co-writing “The Trial of the Bow” trilogy, a medieval/fairytale retelling of Portal, Portal 2, Blue Sky, and Portal Stories: Mel. 

It was on Labor day weekend of 2015 when my internet went down inexplicably. My roommate who had the internet in her name was out of town yet again and I conceded that I would have to wait until she got back to get the issue resolved. The Trial of the Bow Trilogy was finished and I had just co-written with @the-royal-sketchbook a Half-life Medival/fairytale fanfic “The Legend of the Freeman.” However, my passion for Half-life was not as strong as it was for Blue Sky and I longed to do something else involving Wheatley, Chell, and the citizens of Eaden. 

Most of the people that I encouraged to read Blue Sky did not have the time to invest into a novel length book. I longed to create something more accessible. A comic book/graphic novel of the story had been in the back of my mind for a long time, but when the desire rose up in me, the thought of “but you would have to do backgrounds and you suck at backgrounds” reared its ugly head. 

But on that Labor day weekend, a thought occurred to me. “What if I did it as a comic? Very loose and simple. Something that I could do for fun without any heavy commitment.” So that weekend, I did a quick pencil drawing of the scene when Wheatley and Chell argue from Chapter 5. I threw some color on it and put it on tumblr and it got a great response. Then I did the scene when Chell transfers Wheatley into the hardlight avatar from Chapter 3. Another great response. It was simple and loose but people seemed to like it. I asked Starry what she thought about doing the whole story in such a way. If memory serves, she was for it but warned me not to get too far ahead of myself. If I did this, it would be a huge project and would take a lot of planning and forethought. BTW, good advice Starry ;)

After completing all of Chapter 1, I made the announcement, created the page, and the Blue Sky Web comic was born.

One of the things that helps me to recharge each week is drawing/working on art on Sunday afternoons. In the past, I had struggled to find things to work on, but no more. Sunday was now Blue Sky Comic day. I would post 2 panels and create 4 more. If I had extra time on holidays or days off I would get extra done. This system allowed me to consistently add to the project without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. I was able to get ahead so that I could take breaks for holidays, trips, computer problems, and eventually planning my wedding and getting married. The Blue Sky Web Comic became a constant in my life. Whenever I needed to decompress and just draw or color in panels, it was there. 

In late summer of 2019, my Father was diagnosed with cancer. If any of you have walked through cancer with someone, you know how difficult and painful it can be. My husband and I took a trip to see my parents about once a month for the next 8 months. The drive was fairly long and was the perfect opportunity to work on what I called “pencil work” for the comic (sketching out the layout of each panel, a process that took the most concentration and time). Working on the comic helped to keep my mind off of things. Each time we visited my Dad his condition declined and being able to focus on something like the “pencil work” helped to make the trips better.

In spring of 2020, right before the COVID-19 lockdown, my Father passed away. It was right before that final trip that I finished the “Pencil work”. By then I had also made a lot of headway on the comic itself, with only a few chapters left to ink and color. I remember reading stories and blogs about how people made it through difficult times by focusing on a hobby, tv show, book, or music; not living in denial of the bad things, but just having something to help them take a break from it all. That was what the Blue Sky Comic was for me in those final days and I will always cherish how it was one of the things that helped me to make it through that difficult period in my life.

With the COVID-19 lockdown, I had some extra time to work on the comic and by late spring of 2020, I finished the last panel. It still kind of blows my mind. From 2015 to 2020 was how long it took to complete.

____________

To the 2000+ followers and those who replied, liked, reblogged, and sent messages, your words helped me to keep going when I wondered if it was worth it. Your kind thoughts helped me to know that this story is still enjoyed by people and Portal fans alike.

To @starry-nightengale, thank you for your advice at the beginning and your support and friendship along the way. Here’s to many more ^w^

And to @wafflebloggies, thank you for writing Blue Sky. It may seem overdramatic, but when I found this fic back in 2014, I was in a dark place and your story helped me hold onto the light. Even years later when faced with new trials, it helped me to focus on what was ahead. I truly believe that this story resonates with so many people because it taps into the most simple and profound truth: the most powerful love is selfless. And selfless love can conquer any difficulty. Also your support of the comic over the years made me smile with delight. I’m so glad you liked it :)

So that’s the story. I plan to do more audiobooks of the rest of the Trial of the Bow trilogy, but after that I’m going to be taking a nice long break from Blue Sky and Portal.  I have a personal passion project that I am in the initial stages on. It's another web comic that I actually couldn’t have even considered doing if not for the experience I gained over the past 5 years. I’ll have updates on my personal tumblr for that project and the audiobooks, but for this page, The Blue Sky Web comic, this will be one of my final posts (aside from responding to any messages from you guys). Thank you all again for following. What an incredible journey this has been! This fandom is so amazing and I love you all. Take care and God bless. - Elvy

#blue sky portal #thanks again #it's been a wild ride #:'3

[lady-plantagenet]

Unsolicited Book Reviews (n3): The Sunne in Splendour

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️(+1/2?)

Even before I had an account, I tended to go to tumblr to see people’s opinions before buying a histfic. Certain books are either severely underrepresented, where I feel like there needs to be something on them, whereas others, though talked about enough, something more can still be said about them. So for my quarantine fun, I have decided to start a series where I review every medieval historical fiction novel I read. Hopefully, it will either start interesting discussions or at least be some help for those browsing its tag when considering purchasing it.

TL;DR: Keep in mind that I’m harsh with my ratings. I don’t expect my historical fiction to offer some sort of insight about the human condition or be some perfectly manicured prose, but this book’s biggest detriment was its lack of depth. Some scenes packed a serious emotional punch, but then again I am attached to this era and given the length, it would be insane not to. I learned a lot - no lie, but while my background knowledge on the wars of the roses has become enriched, I feel no closer to Richard.

Plot: We follow Richard III from a young boy at eight right before the catastrophe that was Ludlow to his death and a few years after. This story seems to be told through omniscient third person point of view, which creates issues when it comes to voice - a lot of the characters sound the same (John ‘Jack’ Howard, Francis Lovell, Richard Catesby to name a few). This is only a natural consequence of the sheer amount of people Penman chose to portray. I’m honestly still grateful for this as I was not a fan of Richard III’s POV, but really enjoyed Richard Neville Earl of Warwick’s, Margaret of Anjou and Cecily Neville’s. Everytime these three were the center of the chapter, it was truly enjoyable and multi-faceted which comes to show that Penman is capable of writing complexity when she wants to. I would also like to add that the author’s knowledge of medieval life (e.g. the food, the dogs, the nature of battles) was a high point of this novel and did something to counter-balance the rampant late 20th century flavour in this novel. She tries way too hard to adapt a medieval man such as Richard to our modern values to propagate her Richardian Agenda, which ultimately underscored this.

It must be said though that the author clearly did her research as most of what she said regarding minutae such as: what day of the week it was, where the characters were at one time, details of documents, who did what in which battle, what laws were passed etc... I had just come back to this time period after some years and I thought I knew all there was to know, yet, here comes this book which springboarded me into a wealth of new research - I suppose I am grateful for that. However, do not let that delude you into thinking it is comprehensive. There were historical innacuracies which I can only guess were intentionally made for the sake of the author’s Richardian goal e.g. Anne Neville being forced into her marital duties when historicalMargaret of Anjou made it clear that there would be no consummation until Warwick would prevail at Barnet, Isabel Neville being ‘abandoned’ by her husband in France when really it was only about 4 months they were apart and it would have made no sense for Isabel to sail with an invasionary force, Richard III abolishing benevolence tax because he thought it unfair as opposed to the reality which was that he had failed in his initial attempt to raise them because the population opposed, Richard III allowing the marriage between Jane Shore and Thomas Lynsom when in reality he had initially opposed it... Historical fiction is entitled to innacuracies but given that the author made it clear in her afterword that the only time she strayed was setting a scene in Windsor as opposed to Westminster, it is dishonest to conceal the aforementioned blips, especially when they are so unobvious that it would take a seasoned enthusiast to spot them. As you can tell they either do have a negative bearing on Richard’s image as a saint or show detractors in a positive light, clearly neither that which she was in a mood to explain away.

Characterisation: I can not stress enough how well Cecily Neville was portrayed, every scene she was in, I felt. She tends to be a very difficult character to get because of the whole illegitimacy rumour which casts shades of doubt. She was proud but also pious, subservient but also commanding... just an incredible woman of gravity. I enjoyed Warwick in all his flamboyancy as well and Edward IV was masterfully portrayed as the intelligent but forgiving man that he was. You could clearly see how despite his indulgent character, he knew when it was time to be serious, it was a joy to read the scenes where he strikes people into subserviancy. Anne Beauchamp was also quite a treat for the little time we had with her.

There were also some portrayals of mixed quality: George Duke of Clarence for one, his warped sense of humour and charm were well presented, his unpredictability adequately captured. The issue I have though is that no man is unpredictable to themselves and while it may make sense for other characters to see his temperaments as those like a weather vane it would make no sense for it to be this way in the chapters where he is the POV. Penman’s basically wrote him off as crazy (I mean literally mad) for the majority of the story which is utter tripe given that the whole madness angle is a modern invention. I won’t write more on this now as it deserves its own post (btw if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything I said so far send me an ask). Last thing I will say though: the last scene we have with him is utterly tragic and still sticks with me today, honestly the best writing in this novel was during the ‘Anne’ Book and ‘Protector of the North’ in the years surrounding George’s death. Speaking of, where do I begin with Isabel Neville and Elizabeth Woodville? Their marriages with Richard’s brothers are portrayed negatively for no other reason than to set up Richard and Anne Neville as a perfect love story. This story-telling technique is cheap as hell and I did not expect to find it in a novel so highly acclaimed for its ‘quality’. Let me make this clear: The marriage which was hailed as a love match at that time was that of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV. Anne and Richard could have been just as much a marriage of politics as George and Isabel’s, or the latter’s just as much a love match. George fought for Isabel just as much, if not more than Richard did for Anne, George stayed loyal for a surety whereas Richard’s bastard John’s conception may have coincided with his marriage according to Hicks, Marrying Anne was highly advantageous for Richard as marrying Isabel for George... I could go on. Therefore, why is Isabel constantly described as wretched, miserable and at one point abused(!) by her husband whereas Richard was nothing but gentle to the happy Anne. The Mary of Burgundy proposal story is often cited as proof that George only cared about power... but what about Richard’s proposal to Joanna of Portugal one month after Anne died? This may sound minor but it’s a perfect example of the author trying hard to make Richard a modern romantic figure which he wasn’t. I think he may have loved Anne Neville, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was a medieval king and made marriage provisions after her death to secure the succession. For a 800+ page novel about Richard III some seminal pieces of information were left out such as his seizure of the aged Dowager Countess of Oxford’s Howard fortune, the mysterious circumstances in which George Neville Duke of Bedford died young and unmarried after becoming his ward. All in all, do not let the wonderful historical detail fool you into thinking this is a complete account of Richard III’s day to day life.

Don’t even get me started on the Woodvilles... They were all treacherous villains and social climbers who belonged in hell. EVEN ANTHONY WOODVILLE - what has he ever done to Penman or anyone? All scenes with Elizabeth Woodville at the beggining were bedding scenes pretty much, which shows that the author saw her as nothing more than a heartless seductress. There was even a point where Edward in his rage said: ‘you would lie with a leper if it meant you becoming Queen’ and I was just shocked at that. I was further shocked when her daughter Elizabeth of York was musing that if her mother had been a good wife her father wouldn’t have needed to stray and I was just like... ‘I thought we were trying to be sensible in this book 0_0’ - How is it appropriate to have a woman blamed for her husband’s infidelity? How can we have such blatant classism and sexism on the one hand and late 20th century wokeness on the other? It’s what I said earlier, the author can’t prop up Richard and Anne without putting down all other couples in this book. By the end of the book I was honestly finding myself cheering for Elizabeth Woodville as she was becoming the woman with sense and cunning as we all know her, the saving grace of this entire characterisation was that Elizabeth became the only person with a brain by the end (I doubt this was the author’s intention). Down here in this category of bad characterisation I will add Richard and Anne themselves. Anne Neville though often absolutely adorable to me lacked any personality trait apart from being in love with Richard and past sexual abuse by Edward (which didn’t historically happen). Anne’s father and only sister die and she barely thinks about them, which severely undermines her portrayal as a loving and empathetic person. Her death scene and wane was tragic and affected me as a reader but holy Christ before that the author was very heavy handed throughout the book with her martyrisation of Anne, even when she was a young girl and everything was going well she cried in nearly every goddamn scene. Yes, this is Warwick’s daughter we are talking about. Richard (unlike the real great man that once lived on this earth) was similarly flawless and any small flaw he had was something like: ‘too trusting’, ‘acts then thinks’ - essentially ‘too good for this world’ flaws. No one is like this, least of all the real Richard who would not recognise this weird contrived romanticisation of a man. The saving grace of all this is that he admitted around the end to himself and Anne that he did want to be king a little bit, which YES, at least we get that because no one goes through all the procedures he did and endangers the survival of their house, unless they wanted to become king, at least a little bit. All in all, if Penman’s Richard III is the real man, all I have to say is: thank god his reign was cut short because this character would have made a terrible and weak monarch.

Prose: And here is where another of the stars was deducted. The prose is largely very pedestrian. It was full of modern phrases such as ‘hear me out’, ‘He thinks I am in the wrong’ ‘he can’t get away with this’ and other such likes. Also, I know it’s difficult to write a book where everyone’s names are Elizabeth, Edward, Richard and Anne, but apart from ‘Nan’ which was a nickname of that time, the modernity of ‘Bess’, ‘Bella’ or ‘Lisbet’ and the use of them in-text and not just dialogue, did much to draw me out of the medieval era. This is not just a criticism towards Penman but a grand majority of historical fiction novelists of this period. Having said that, her choice to cut conjunctions and use the word ‘be’ intead of ‘is’ or ‘are’ did not bother me at all and I found it effective in dating the language a bit. I appreciate that writing in poetic prose for 800+ pages is extremely difficult, but other’s have done it. And even in other novel where that’s not the case, the writing is still profound and impactful and conveys a deeper meaning, whereas here it’s more of a fictionalised history book. The author appears to have some imagination as the few scenes she made up e.g. Catherine Woodville’s visit to Richard or Edward summoning Edmund’s previous carer John to talk about Edmund as he was trying to deal with the grief of losing George, any scene with Cecily Neville in it, Anne Neville and Veronique (OC lady-in-waiting to her) when they were in hiding, Rosamund and Richard at the end, Margaret of Anjou when she was lodged at that abbey, When Stillington visited George before his death to give him a rosary and last rites and he refused to get them from him, Anne and Richard going to Middleham and Isabel’s lying in state were just some of them. However, even if you took all those well-written scenes and stuck them together they would not be more than maybe 150 pages which is not good in such a massive novel. I really don’t know how I would rank the prose, I feel weird saying it’s at the low bestseller level because at least it’s not overwritten and annoying, however, it lacked a lot of soul most of the time, which is dissapointing given what Penman had to work with. I can see that the author has some strengths, for example she’s good at writing about the weather and the natural landscape, she’s also good at describing facial expressions. But her massive flaw is dialogue and flow - especially the latter. The flow is hindered by her abject inability to weave historical events and their happenings into the prose, so she often settles for an exposition dump, especially when it comes to some male chatacter’s POV such as John Howard, Francis Lovell or Buckingham. A lot of the characters exposited at each other too, which wasted the opportunity for some serious character profiles. Basically too much telling and not enough showing. In conclusion, It didn’t always feel clunky, expository or laboured, but it way too often did for the good to be redeemed by the bad prose-wise.

In Conclusion, I cheated on this book a couple of times when it dragged, but got right back into it whenever the good sections came along. It is one of these books which people cannot stop raving about and I can’t stress how much I wanted to love it when I got it. It’s nice being a fan of something a lot of people are too for once, but it was just not to be. But at least now I can say I have read the cult classic of this histfic niche which apparently everyone has read and cried over. Even though it took me 7 months where others got through it in a week through sleepless nights. Despite all the negativity in this review, I would still reccomend it as it is a solid book and written by someone who clearly gets the conflict and time period. You will learn lots with this book (I intend to keep it as a sort of timeline) regarding things that you might otherwise find too dry to research in depth e.g. battle strategies and sieges. But what you will not learn about is the characters’ psychologies and personalities though Penman tries very hard and heavy-handedly to exposit their feelings to us.

#lady-plantagenet’s book reviews #the sunne in splendour #sharon kay penman #Richard III #if anyone disagrees or agrees i’d love to know your opinion #just send me an ask #historical fiction #Anne Neville #George of Clarence #Edward IV #Elizabeth Woodville #House of York

[plum-pudding-and-honey]

MONTHLY RANGE : Eight & Charley & C’rizz (1/2)

Scherzo -  2.5/5 : So... I really don't know how to rate it. Because I recognise the brilliance of the thing (excellent way of using the audio medium, the sound creature was brilliantly creepy and the atmosphere is so cringy but in a good way? Also Paul McGann and India Fisher are excellent and they do have good chemistry together). But I'm not a fan of Eight/Charley so this was kinda … annoying? I liked how the Doctor/companion relationship is explored and I like the fact that companions are memento mori (a nicer way of saying "pets", the Master gets it) but I really hated the idea that Charley was the first one the Doctor really loved (lol no) because like Rose and Clara, Charley is supposed to be """special""" (the difference being that Rose and Clara actually believe that they are special, it's not the case for Charley which is why I don't hate her with all my guts like the other two) in her relationship to the Doctor. Each and every companion has a special relationship with the Doctor, no one is special and the Doctor (whatever the incarnation) loves them all. Period. So yeah, having them mopping for two hours about "You said you loved me, you didn't mean it", "But I love you", "No, I don't love but actually I do, I'm just trying to protect you." was annoying. Just say you love each other, kiss or whatever and move on, but don't linger on it for THREE episodes, thank you very much. And then in the last part, the Doctor admits that he loves all his companions, so yeah great, but what was the point of saying that Charley was the first one half an hour before except pissing me off greatly? Despite all this, this was still a good illustration of my Eight-treats-his-companions-like-shit thesis. (Also, forgot to mention, Eight at the beginning whining about loses his senses … annoyingly brillant and sent me huge Eleven vibes). So yeah, I love some of it and hate other bits, so I guess I'll settle for something in the middle, rating-wise.

The Creed of the Kromon -  2/5 : It was going well pretty much until the end first part. Then it became a huge disappointment. We have two female characters, Charley and L'da, and they're both reduced to being reproductive tools for the Big Bad Bugs of the week and despite saving L'da being C'rizz motivation from the beginning, he just shoots her when he finds her without even considering trying something else to help her, I mean it's not like she begged that bad. And then he's ready to do the same to Charley. Great. Way to go. I hope this trigger-happy tendency will be corrected soon because I do find him an interesting character - I mean he's rough around the edges but there's way for amazing character development so please don't screw this up. The chameleon concept is also great (and wouldn't work on visual medium, let's be honest). Consider me hooked up for the Kro'ka/C'rizz arc (which I don't remember at all btw so that will be like listening to it for the first time). Also, I have to add that Eight's laugh in this episode cleared my skin, watered my crops and all of this. Also! I’m glad to have a Doctor + two companions dynamic, I really love it

The Natural History of Fear -  4/5 : So this was weird. I mean most of Eight's adventures in the main range are weird but this is another level of weird. Like they're really taking meta to the next stage. I don't have much else to say to be honest, except that it was difficult to follow at times but that I obviously loved the 1984 vibes. THIS IS THE VOICE OF LIGHT CITY. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW WORK DAY. TODAY IS HIGH PRODUCTIVITY DAY. Also that end twist *shocked*

The Twilight Kingdom -  2.5/5 : That's not particularly memorable. It really struggles to keep us hooked up for two hours and it didn't really work for me : I've lost interest and let my mind drifted several times and I was still able-ish to understand what was going on. That's not a good sign, people. The interesting bit was at the end with the return of the Kro'ka and how the mystery thickens about this weird place. Also Eight yelling "RASSILLON" at the end … someone's mad at daddy. We get to know a bit more about C'rizz which is always good to take since last episode didn't offer us any insight on his person at all. There's something definitely shifty and not coherent at all about him, like he's supposed to be a pacifist monk and yet, he's a pretty violent lad (I mean, this episode doesn't really count, he was controlled, but in the Creed of the Kromon he's not particularly gentle), which he acknowledges himself (I mean it could just be that being enslaved by the Kromon changed the man that drastically, but still...)

Faith Stealer -  3.5/5 : Ah! Finally we learn a bit more about C'rizz and we address what the hell happened in the Creed of the Kromon. Although, did he just get brainwashed into getting rid of his guilt, just like that? Because if that's the case, I'm gonna be very disappointed. I mean, I don't want him to suffer or anything but it all seemed a bit easy. Also, yeah, poor C'rizz, easily manipulated and preyed on by pretty much anyone is this freaking universe - can anyone give him a break for a second please? (also, is strangling Charley going to be a recurring thing or what? Because that is NOT ok, writers, no matter how much Charley jokes about it afterwards). Anyway, the plot was ok, the multihaven (or whatever the name of this place was, I don't remember) is an interesting concept (even more relevant today) and I really liked the idea that it's completely ok for anyone to worship literally anything without judgement. 

The Last - 3/5 : Excelsior used a nuclear weapon to end a never-ending war and killed most of her people in the process? Excuse me? The unpredicted parallel with the Doctor and the Time War is up the roof people. And so I can't help thinking that this story would have been much better in a shorter version with a post Time War Doctor (can you see this with Nine, Rose and Jack? Because I definitely can and I'm not ok). Anyway. Charley doesn't get strangled this time but choked with a pillow. I don't know, do the writers have a kink about strangling/choking/killing women? And her death was the least credible possible with the Doctor moving on from it like twenty seconds after and absolutely not going into huge drama/self pity/extreme guilt mode, so you know she won't stay dead very long. I liked C'rizz very much here, he's actually growing on me much more than Charley. I like his loyalty and the fact that he has a much darker side, when it's actually well exploited.

Caerdroia - 5/5 : gfvbvgttybvgf THREE EIGHTS THREE EIGHTS T H R E E  E I G H T S it's more than I can take. Hmm. So, i love the first part where the Doctor takes a nap (he deserves it) and sass the Kro'ka into telling him where the TARDIS is. I love him. Then we gets three versions of Eight and that's when I completely lost it. I also quite liked the crazy vibe of this episode, which felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland (again). The labyrinth part (or is it a maze??) was quite well done and the fact that it feeds off the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz subconscious was a nice to get to know them a bit more (especially C'rizz, whose annoyance with Tigger!Eight was very relatable). Charley and Eeyore!Eight was also priceless to be honest. And finally, finally, we get the TARDIS back and yeeeah! Also the Kro'ka is a frog vbyvegbvfy I can't

The Next Life - 2/5 : Excuse me but did this thing need to be that sexist? I mean... even Eight was a bit borderline a couple of times. I hated Charley in this episode, I hated how quick she was to judge C'rizz and how jealous she is throughout this audio when she's never really struck me as being jealous, especially not of C'rizz of all people. And it's a shame, really, because I was starting to think that maybe, she was getting less annoying. And most of all I HATED how her interactions with Perfection were depicted, how they bicker about the Doctor and, like, I get that it makes sense with Perfection being Zagreus and all, but it was very poorly brought, and ... just no. Also Perfection's relationship with Kip ... brrrr. Again, no. The plot in itself was not particularly memorable. It ends the Divergent Universe arc properly, the idea of this universe being in a constant cycle was kinda interesting and made sense with everything we had learnt so far so that's that. It was also nice to get to know more about C'rizz and I really like him more than Charley, and I hope he'll have a proper chance to find out who he is now. I'm definitely disappointed with this audio, it was way too long and problematic. (Just kudos for the Grace reference ... and it's made me miss Grace so I might rewatch the movie as a treat)

Overall opinion : Well I’m glad this is over. The Divergent Universe was an interesting concept but the quality of the episodes overall wasn’t very good and the way women are treated/depicted here is just a big NO. Big kudos for Caerdroia which was a nice surprise. The Natural History of Fear and Faith Stealer are good too, not as much though, and the rest, I’ll probably forget very soon, just like I did the first time. The only good thing to come out of this is my boy C’rizz

#doctor who #eight #eighth doctor #charley pollard #c'rizz #divergent universe #scherzo #the creed of the kromon #the natural history of fear #twilight kingdom #the last #caerdroia #the next life

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #505 (October 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMAN! The Reign is over, and Superman does what we’d all do after being dead for several weeks and coming back to life: no, not visiting your parents, making out with Lois Lane.

Or more than making out, since the next page starts with a caption that says “Later...” and lets us know that they both had to take a shower. (NOTE: Check Don Sparrow’s section below for artist Tom Grummett’s definitive take on what happened in that scene.)

Their post-resurrection bliss comes to a stop when they remember a little detail: Clark Kent is still presumed dead. How are they gonna explain his return without making the extremely smart residents of Metropolis suspect that Superman and the guy who looks like Superman but with glasses are actually the same person? Superman’s mind immediately goes into “wacky bullshit excuse” mode and he starts spitballing ideas, like claiming Clark lost his memory, or was carried by underwater currents, or was abducted by aliens. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that last one would work, since there have been THREE major alien invasions in the past few years, but Lois thinks no one would be dumb enough to fall for that sort of thing. Really, Lois? No one?

At this point, Superman picks up some supervillain activity with his super hearing, so he gets dressed and goes there (though it would have been pretty intimidating for the criminals if she’d shown up in that shower rug). A bank uptown has been taken over by Loophole, a S.T.A.R. Labs accountant who stole a gizmo that allows him to phase through walls. When Superman shows up to arrest him and his henchmen (are they all villainous accountants?), Loophole literally puts his first through Superman’s chest, instantly killing him. RIP Superman, again.

Nah, Supes just swats Loophole away and breaks the gizmo, causing him to get his crotch area stuck inside a vault door. Now he has to change his supervillain name to “DickVault”.

(I freaking love Maggie Sawyer, btw.)

After that, Superman goes to one of the areas trashed by his fight with Doomsday and helps clean up the junk that’s still laying around there. It’s then that he finally reunites with his best friend and most valued ally: Bibbo Bibbowski. (Jimmy Olsen’s there, too, unfortunately.)

Bibbo also introduces Superman to the dog he named in honor of his home planet, Krypto -- and it’s Krypto who provides the most significant moment in this issue. The little mutt starts barking at some debris from a destroyed building, leading Superman to examine it with his X-Ray vision and find some kids underneath.

Turns out the kids had been trapped there since the Doomsday fight, leading some random passerby (fine, Jimmy) to wonder if Clark could be stuck in a similar situation. Superman and Lois look at each other... giving Superman an idea and providing the premise for next week’s issue.

Character-Watch:

First appearance of Loophole (real name Deke Dickinson, C.P.A.), who would become a running joke in Karl Kesel’s Superman and Superboy comics. While his phasing powers are tech based, he also has the metahuman ability to somehow convince attractive women to be his girlfriends/henchwomen despite being a balding little dweeb. In this issue he’s dating a blonde named Sheila (who wears a mask, so maybe she’s actually hideous), but I’m pretty sure he had other girlfriends in future issues.

Plotline-Watch:

As I said... holy shit, five years ago: no one draws Supes coming back to Lois after an extended absence like Tom Grummett. This scene is almost a remake of the one from that issue when Superman comes back from his time traveling jaunt. There’s also a callback to Man of Steel #25, when Lois hears a tap on her window and thinks it’s Superman, but it’s just some dumb bird. This time she gets it the other way around:

Don Sparrow says: “There’s a cute visual callback to the last time Superman returned after a long absence on page 18, when Superman is reunited with Jimmy. It’s a near identical pose to Action #643, where Superman returned from exile in space (and in that moment, infected Jimmy with Eradicator-based space sickness, womp womp).” I think he’s instinctively throwing Jimmy up in the air, hoping the cold of space will kill him. Unfortunately, both murder attempts were unsuccessful.

As seen above, Maggie Sawyer wasn’t too convinced that “Fabio” here was Superman at first. That changes when he calls her “Captain” even though she was recently promoted to Inspector, and she’s like “only a dead man wouldn’t know all the precise ranks for the local authorities!”

The surviving non-Supermen are seen arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs for medical care after the Engine City showdown. Don again: “There are some mild continuity issues stemming from Superman #82, which perhaps wasn’t completely finished being drawn while Tom Grummett worked on this one, as Steel’s costume is almost entirely intact, when we last saw it a week ago, it was in tatters. Ditto the Eradicator, who was a wizened husk, and now is apparently a scorched Ivan Drago.” Let’s assume Supergirl worked her clothes-shifting magic on Steel’s armor and the Eradicator’s, uh, hair.

There’s a short scene where Superboy is visited by his reporter pal Tana Moon, who tells him she quit WGBS and is leaving Metropolis. Awww. Goodbye, Tana. Or should I say... aloha?

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor Jr. has a scene with Dr. Happersen where he says he intends to control or destroy anyone who wears the “S” symbol. Basically, if he can’t date them, they should be dead. He also instructs Happersen to help Cadmus’ Director Westfield get in contact with disgraced genetician Dabney Donovan. Get ready for a whole lot of clone-related shenanigans in the near future.

And now, more Don Sparrow-related shenanigans after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

This issue is another favourite of mine, but I suppose all these issues around the Death and Return are faves when I really think about it.  My copy of this issue had the holographic fireworks cover, and it’s a good one.  I like that Superman and the Daily Planet are in natural colour, rather than holograms.  The cover credit goes Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood, so I’m not sure what the breakdown was (or if that’s just a handwritten cover credit, just in case?

The story opens with one of my favourite sequences ever, with Lois waking up on her couch, having fallen asleep following the events in Coast City.  I love the detail as she opens the curtain, we see her engagement ring, indicating she knows her real fiancée has returned.  This sequence is followed up by two pages of splashes of the passionate reunion of the best couple in comics.  All beautifully rendered as they float, locked in a passionate, sunrise kiss.  Just lovely (so lovely that I am willing to overlook a small colouring error, as Lois has black hair instead of reddish brown for one panel).  [Max: I can confirm that they fixed that in the collections.]

What follows is a very cute scene, and one of some debate among Superman fans.  There’s no overt evidence of what happened, all we get is a cryptic caption reading “later…”.   Again, I give credit for the subtlety of the writers, as they depict this scene in a way that can be read either way:  maybe Clark and Lois made love, and the “later” we are seeing is afterglow, or maybe Lois had a shower since she just woke up after sleeping in her clothes. Then, after calling his parents while Lois showered, Clark had a shower himself.  I feel like today’s writers wouldn’t feel the need to be so subtle, and might lose the sweetness of this scene.  

In previous posts, I’ve talked about my friendship with artist Tom Grummett, and how as a boy, I would wear him out with all my dumb fanboy questions.  Once I got older, and our relationship became a little more collegial (just a little closer to collegial, since I in no way consider myself anywhere near his level of skill or success) I would really try not to geek out too much when we would visit.  But the one question I had to ask was about this scene, and what their intention, or interpretation of it was, as I was always curious.  Once I had explained to him which issue it was (the guy has drawn hundreds, so they might not all spring to mind immediately!) he admitted that his assumption was indeed that they had sex.  So there you have it!  [Max: Hot damn! Another Superman ‘86 to ‘99 exclusive, folks!]

However you wish to read this scene, the choreography, and facial expressions as they horse around is really sweet and fun, and such a nice, light tone compared to the do-or-die pace the books had been for the last two years or so.   Their easy joking, and back and forth banter really do a great job of showing them as a real couple.

It’s a very nice pose on Supergirl as she lifts off, simultaneously spurning Superboy’s romantic complaints.

I quite like the design on Loophole, and his gang.  Loophole himself kinda harkens back to the silver age villains of the Flash as Loophole has a unique hairline, is an older man, with a pretty average build, which was rare for villains in the 90s. His gimmick is pretty cool, too, though we immediately see its vulnerability.

The tearful reunion of the now-sober Bibbo and Superman is also a great moment—if anyone rose to the challenge of living up to Superman’s example in his absence, it was Bibbo.  I discuss the scene in more detail in the observations later, but the image of Superman whipping away the debris on page 20 is a great visual, with the dust clouds creating great motion and urgency.

On the whole, a great first issue for the return to the never-ending battle, even if it brings us closer to Grummett’s last issue on this title (for a while).

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Could Superman referring to the Death and Return storyline as a dream, while stepping out of the shower be a reference to Dallas, and their famous about-face after an unpopular season, where Bobby Ewing emerged from the shower, alive and well, dismissing a yearlong storyline as a dream?

A coy semi-reference to perhaps my favourite line in the first Reeve Superman film on page 8, where Supergirl says “Easy steel, we’ve got you, then later adding, “ok, you got me”.  

A little more issue-to-issue dissonance with Superboy reversing himself from the end of Superman #82, where he said clearly that Kal-El was Superman, with Superboy pointing out that legally, he’s Superman and not Kal. [Max: I think he’s talking strictly in the legal sense, since he helps Superman deal with the legal problem on the next issue and all.]

For all the times that Superman has used his heat vision on guns (as he does on page 11), we’ve never seen rounds get burned off, firing on their own because of the heat.  There might be an idea there.    

An odd sorta-cameo by Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon, who Superman apparently defeats in the waterfront district. An eagle-eyed reader asked Larsen about it in issue #6 of Dragon’s own book, and he nixed any proper crossover rumours, saying it was just a shout-out from Larsen’s buddy Karl Kesel.  Eventually they’d meet in Superman/Savage Dragon: Chicago, a so-so crossover in 2002.

A slightly bawdy joke from one of the Loophole gang, on page 14, as the moll of Deke Dickson calls Loophole a “weiner”.  

GODWATCH: A stirring moment when Superman detects the faintest of life-signs, thanks to would-be super-pup, Krypto, and responds “God willing” when someone asks if anyone is alive in that wreckage.  The love and concern in Superman’s eyes when he says he’d “rather die” himself than let little ones perish is a tear-jerker moment for sure.  Bonus points for the cuteness of Superman heaping praise on Krypto, with the line “if that dog could fly, I’d put a cape on him…”

Question:  Does Jimmy know? He comes up with the solution to the Clark problem very conveniently.  Maybe he’s smarter than we (and by we, I mean Max) give him credit for? [Max: It was all Krypto! Okay, I’ll concede that maybe Jimmy is as smart as a dog.]

#superman #karl kesel #tom grummett #doug hazlewood #superboy #steel #supergirl #S.T.A.R. Labs #eradicator #loophole #maggie sawyer #dan turpin #sydney happersen #tana moon #bibbo bibbowski #krypto #dickvault #the man whose dick is a vault

[mysleepdeprivedass]

Another ML fanfiction idea

And here we go for another prompt fic idea that I got while reading a fanfiction on AO3. I want to write this idea but I’m too lazy for writing a whole fanfiction.

And just want to keep in my head but it was driving me crazy sooo let's go.

Btw I inspired by the fanfiction MDR by Yilena  (on AO3) (@xiueryn on tumblr)  (also I haven’t finish the fanfiction yet but I need to let go the idea of my head)  

(let's go for translate everything a wrote again T^T and I just saw how long a wrote, the translation it's gonna be looong x.X also idk some term are correctly translate sorry if it's not)

Also warning, i’m going to talk briefly about eating disorder, bullying and suicide so skip the part in italic if the idea or the word can triggered you.

Have a nice reading on my 2.am writing idea. \0/ 

AU steamer / youtuber Marinette

Marinette begging steaming around her fifteen, and she become quickly know for her skills for some game

Marinette have now like 19 yrs old, almost 20.

She plays a lot of different games.

At first (when she was 15 ) she wasn't doing face cam steaming. After a years and a half, she start face cam but disguise. Her disguise is, a clothes always in polka dots red and black, and she have a mask which hide almost all her face and she wear a red wig (she have different wig, pixie cut, big curly, straits, ect,... But they're all red)

On twitch she is know as Ladybug, and she have a YouTube channel where she post all her rediffusion of her twitch live.

Marinette have a big community verry supportive and nice. She's the kinda of girl that going to play with her fan during live if she met them on the game.

She doing some explained and tip live on game that she's really good at or that she's love.

Her favorite game are Ultimate Mecha Strike saga. And a new independent MMORPG game call " The Tale of Miraculous" a kinda fantasy/fantastic game, that's become more and more difficult when your reach a levels.

Also it's a no-miraculous idea

At first, when she started live’s, qhe was doing a lot, like every night she was doing a live which ended around 4 or 5am. But after a big meltdown on live (she was around 17 years olds) she make a calender, which sometine change depending on he mood.

Monday Night : Games of her choice, most of the time she play at TTOM (The Tale Of Miraculous) or fighting games. From 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.

Wednesday Night : if she started a let’s play, she is doing the let’s plays, if she not she’s doing two or three games, most of the time horror games or strategy games. From 8p.m to midnight or 1 a.m.

Calender most of the time : 

Friday Night : chill night, she talk or debates with viewers while playing at Minecraft or she opening fan mail or for some occasion she is cooking. From 8p.m to random but between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

Sunday Night : Let’s plays or games selected by the community. From 8p.m to Midnight.

 Marinette has become very hermits and go out just a few time. She works at her parents bakery and has her own shop (known as Ladybug) her community know that she makes homemade clothes and she has a lot of customers from her community but also from famous people. 

Every other week she doing a live between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. in addition, where she plays indie games or flash games or during fashion week (or any fashion show) she like to do reviews about it and commentary.

Marinette finished school at home because of harassment, she had ended up making several suicide attempts, and had a severe eating disorder and was anorexic 

She suffered bullying very early, already in elementary school, and it got worse in middle school where the physical attack was violent. She got kicks, push down the stair, she got a lot a fractures, spit on, etc,..

After a big lynching after school, she try to kill herself, she got hospitalized and her parents finnaly knew about what she suffered. After that she become homeschooled.

A lot of cosplayers ask for commisions.

Chloé had started insults her in primary school but had stop everything before middle school except that others took over, like Lila.

Chloe apologized to Marinette after her suicide attempt. Even though Marinette and Chloe are not best friends, the two get along. Chloé always feels it's her fault that things got there

During her convalescence it’s when that she became Ladybug but was not in face cam.

She started streaming after being released from the hospital

She had a general ES bac (it’s a degree in french school, if you want i can explain french school in a other post... because I’m french ._.) and she studied fashion by correspondence.

For the 3 years anniversary of her twitch channel, she explain her firt years as the stramers, he past, and explain that twitch literaly save her live.

She self-harm for a long time (betwenn 11 and 16 years old)

She still have drugs and antidepressant, and she is follow by a doctor for her eating disorder.

During her depression, she developed agoraphobia, she doesn’t go to convention where she’s invited because of that, also because she wants to avoid overloading Tikki.

Fu is her psychologist.

Tikki is her service dog because she have anxiety attacks and panic attacks and she can hurt them during those.

Tikki is a Labrador, viewers sometine see her during live (try to climb on Marinette lap’s)  or hear her bark (very rare but can alway happen) 

Marinette loved roasted the clothing collections and clothing choices in video games. She also loves talking about RuPaul Drag Race.

She’s  openly bisexual and gender fluid,

She lives in a small apartment not far from her parents to be able to stream quietly.(And without disturb her parents)

Viewers know other room of her apartment. She stream on green screen, but when she live and do open fan mail she is in front of a wall with drawings and gifts from fans that she received. They also know her kitchen but she rarely on the kitchen. 

She don’t do much live on the Kitchen but she doing some videos edited on cook video for explain some bases and some recepis. It is to teach the beginner how to cook or the person who is on a tight budget.

Her first cooking live become a meme. She fall several times, managed to stick an egg to the ceiling (god know how), set fire to heroven, and spilled milk and flour all over her floor.

In her live chill, call “let's talk little, let's talk well” in her playlist of rebroadcast on her youtube channel, she brings people on discord to give their opinion on the subject or their experience. She has with subjects from religion, the LGBTQ community, mental illness, to motor disease, to lighter subjects like which animal people find the cutest or whether or not she should go and throw eggs at her neighbor that she hates or she talks about the series or TV show she watches.

Marinette only go out, for work, appointment or hang out with Luka, Juleka and Rose, all are her childhood best friends.And all know that’s she is Ladybug.

Marinette is known for screaming when she plays horror games and there's quite a lot of compilation of her falling off her chair or screaming, often accompanied by Tikki who jumps on her knees think of a panic attack and suddenly she falls off her chair because of Tikki.

*scene*

Marinette after a litlle jump scar : 

“ son of bi-”  * Tikki jump on her laps*

Luka is also a stramer mostly music related, but he some night doing game stream. He also have a youtube channel dedicate to music. He is call The Viperion Silencio.

 “what the fu- !”  *fall off her chair with Tikki on her, Tikki laying on her*

Luka and Marinette dated for a year and a half before realizing that they were better as friends that as couple. Their get along even better after they break.

Hours : 

Tuesday night: 8:30 p.m. to midnight, play video games

Friday evening: 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., review and play with Marinette at Minecraft

On twitch he sing or do some music reviews that viewers recommend. And if not play

He always showed his faces.

On youtube he does covers, original songs, has critical videos. All the videos are directed by him and edited by Juleka, him or Rose.

He also have odd jobs 

Saturday: 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., sing, some reviews and a the end he play video games

Nino, Alya and Adrien, are TTOM players, and Adrien is a huge Ladybug fan along with Alya.

He has always been close to Marinette and helped a lot especially for her eating disorder. It helps her eat and regain a healthy relationship with her body and food.

Nino and Alya hang out in each other's apartment in turn

Nino is not a big fan of Ladybug but likes to watch her lives sometine.

Nino and Alya live close to each other and are dating

On the other hand, he's a huge fan of what Luka does.

 Nino meets Adrien on a dating site, he made a account for joking (before he dated Alya) and the two got really well, and they started exchange discord, and phone number, playing together, and they already saw each other.

Sometine, Alya and Nino go to Paris and sometime Adrien go to Bordeaux.

Nino and Aly live in Bordeaux.

Alya joined them and the three are very close and have already met in Paris.

 Nino, Alya and Adrien are 20 years old, soon 21.

Inside joke between Adrien and Nino, on the fact that Nino “cheats” on Alya with Adrien or vice versa.

Too many “bro” between Adrien and Nino, and too many bro joke

Like, I imagined, Alya hant out  at Nino place, the three playing at TTOM.

Nino die

Adrien it’s like “Noo bro, you’re my whole world bro, you can’t live me broo”

Nino is like “ Broo I hace to leave, Bro my end is close, I love you soo much broo, live my life broo”

And Alya his laying on her stomach on Nino bed, head buried in Nino sheets and she growls and insults both them and call them "drama queen"

Alya is a huge sore loser and a salty loser.

In the evening and especially when he is tired Nino is a big game trollers.

Alya is a Ladybug Twitch Admins, she was one of the first on Marinette's channel and she quickly was in her Discord. She chats a lot with her on Discord. And she helps Marinette to make special videos where there is real editing. Other admins do it too.

Adrien, Nino meets Marinette thanks to TTOM because Marinette has created a beginner party where no one knows her, she becomes friends with Nino (whom she quickly destroy) and TIN TIN TIN group chat between the 4 (with Alya in it).

Kim is Nino's childhood friend and he started playing TTOM to spent time with his bro, and ended up in group chat (with Alix because he drag her in the game too), he's not good at games and and just a cannonball but he like let off frustration by beat out the hell of the enemy

Baby step by baby step, the group chat add more people

 He live with Alix in Toulouse, their roomate.

Alix plays a bit at TTOM but plays a lot of flash and horror games.

Ivan and Mylène have 22 years old and are a couple, they don't know Ladybug much, but they've already received a lot of donation from her for their environmental association and Marinette has advertised for them for free

Alix likes Ladybug but she is not her favorite streamer.she understand Marinette's struggle on her eating disorder  because she had eating disorder since she was a child, Kim helps her a lot with it

Nathaniel lives in Auvergne with Marc, the two work together on comics but Nathalie also works as a freelance illustrator and he has already made the banner and stickers for steamers and youtubers, including Marinette.

Ivan and Mylène do vlogs and have a site and an environmental association that Marinette really appreciates.

Max is a little streamer well known to be one of Marinette's best rivals, especially on Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. 

He also does video thumbnails and cover video illustrations for a lot of youtubers including Luka.

Nathaniel started chatting with Marinette because of this (Marinette commissioned him for her website, and her channels) and the two became very good friends.

He lives in Strasbourg and works in engineering stuff.

He does very little live but has a very loyal audience because he's a goddamn god on some games.

And some compilation of their best roasted and sassy moment are on youtube.

The two fight each year for the prize of UMS3

The two like to throw shades at each other  when they playing together.. Very big sassy and roasted moment.

* A bit like RuPaul's Reading season 5 between Alaska and Alyssa Edward * (Yeah i’m kinda in some fever of RPDR right now)

Like : 

There is a roasted meme running in their respective communities, because Max had been champion for two years when Marinette arrived and took that cup from him.

“Hey Bug In !  Here Ladybug, I'm with our dear friend The Gamer, undefeated champion of UMS3 oh whait -

They talk on discord

Okay I finish to translate everything, and shame on my I finish juste by copy paste from google translate. 

* gasp then clap * bravo, it was a good one, Miss [insert thing that Marinette lost or meme of her]

And their conversation is basically shades and meme.

Bruh I wrote a lot :o

I don’t know if I’m going to do some update on it. Give me your opinion on it ! Also you can take some idea just tag me and let’s me see what you have do ^^ !

Good Night  

#ml headcanon #mlb au #ml fic idea #ml idea #ml au #ml #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Tikki #juleka couffaine #luka and juleka #miraculous juleka #rose x juleka #luka couffaine #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #au #ml streamer au #ml youtuber au #fanfiction prompt #fanfictions ideas #idea fanfic

[shyrosequartz]

This was going to be a SU rewrite that explored the concept of “what if the diamonds were less extreme in their actions” and then as I was writing it became a weird AU but now it’s barely even that. I think it’s just mine now. I’m posting it anyways bc I like my concepts but I think I will just make it my own thing. I will tweak it of course but it’s mine now.

- Homeworld is a ‘utopian’ society. Elite gems seek perfection through art, dance, music, philosophy! But, of course, not all gems have this privilege. Builders build. Servants serve, etc... -Pearls are still servants, but they are NOT owned, nor are they forced to act against their better judgement by any master. If Homeworld was a restaurant, they’d be the waiters, essentially. -The Diamonds do not colonize. Gem production does not require the destruction of any planet or any organic life. Instead, gems are sent out to gather resources from other worlds such as water or mineral-rich dirt and bring them back to homeworld. Gems are then produced by [REDACTED, not saying because I’m using the idea in my fan comic and want to keep details secret!]. Gems are made much slower thru this process, and as such the planet has time to renew any resources taken from it. -However, the Diamonds and gems as a whole see organic life less as their own beings and more as strange, incomprehensible, sensitive, erratic things without much thought of their own. - Gems who are unable to follow the rules of Homeworld society are not shattered; rather, they get banished. These gems end up banished to Earth...while the mineral life there is rich, the Diamonds see it and the life within it as too much of a hassle to deal with.  -Pink is the “public face” of the Diamonds. When balls are hosted, when parties are planned, when dances are danced, it is all Pink Diamond who plans, and Pink Diamond who attends. Pink HATES it. She can’t bear the stress of it. - Pink Diamond takes a break from her duties as Royal Party Thrower when she learns of Earth, and the banished gems...she wants to know them. She disguises herself as a Quartz, and joins them... -Among these gems are Bismuth, Pearl, and other gems outcasted for being “wrong”. Pink Diamond finds that she has a lot in common with them, much more than she does the other diamonds. Rose and Pearl form a close relationship with one another, and Rose inspires all of them to live out their lives happily on Earth. - As she spends time with them, she comes to find...she has no desire to be among the diamonds any longer. But she doesn’t fake her shattering, and she doesn’t start a war. Pink Diamond simply...vanishes. The diamonds are confused and distraught. Where could she have gone? - To reform to be Rose all the time, PD poofs herself with a sword Bismuth gifted to her, Juliet style. - Homeworld gems are sent to scour the universe for her. Many come to Earth; it is automatically assumed that those exiles had something to do with it. Pink had such an affinity for Earth, after all. There are some battles, but the Crystal Gems (a name Bismuth picked out, btw!) always managed to beat them back. - After some many years, Homeworld gems stop showing up on Earth. Rose eventually decides to have a child. Steven! -Steven’s life is a lot less action-packed, as there are no corrupted gems to fight. instead, much of his life is focused on exploration! There’s plenty of gem artifacts and ect. left behind by Homeworld’s visits to the planet. A lot more focus on Gem Lore too....[partly because I’m VERY interested in learning what made White]. Connie gets to go on adventures with him pretty frequently after she is introduced because I love her and she deserves to. - At some point, when Steven is 14...a homeworld gem (Peridot?) comes to Earth for the first time in ages. Steven ends up learning about Pink Diamond and her disappearance from her. Steven ends up befriending her. She wants to find at least part of the truth, to give her Diamond some closure. - Steven later learns (possibly from Jasper) that Homeworld has been convinced Pink was somehow shattered. After all, why hasn’t she returned? the whole planet is in mourning. -After learning more about Pink Diamond, and who she was, Steven starts to have dreams of her. Of her life on Homeworld. of her unhappiness... - Eventually, he dreams of Pink Diamond, and her choice to reform as Rose. When he wakes up, he becomes desperate - he NEEDS to go to Homeworld. he NEEDS to tell the truth, the real story of what happened to her.  - He ends up there someway or the other of course. Maybe Blue came to visit the planet in mourning, to think of a punishment for the planet she vanished on, tho she knows Pink would never approve of such a thing. -Blue and Yellow are very open with one another, but White is still completely inside her own head, refusing to speak to or acknowledge anyone. - Steven manages to talk to all 3 diamonds. At first, they don’t believe him. But he manages to get through to them, idk how exactly but he does! And when they learn how unhappy they made Pink, and how MANY of Homeworld’s gems are unhappy, keeping up a pretense of perfection when really they faltered, they decided they wanted to learn what it was about Earth that seemed to set gems free. They come to understand and respect organic life. - Spinel! Spinel was NOT abandoned in the garden, but that doesn’t stop her from being PISSED that her so-called best friend left her without so much as saying a word. -Similarly, PD and Pink Pearl were close friends, but the diamonds didn’t wanna see them socializing, leading to Pink becoming more sheltered and the two drifting apart from one another. Pink Pearl is upset she never got a chance to say goodbye. Basically: Homeworld functions under a false pretense of a Utopia -> gems are exiled for challenging this -> PD befriends exiled gems and eventually runs away to Earth by simply vanishing and poofing herself to reform -> Homeworld gems are sent to find her to no avail. Eventually, they stop coming -> Many years later, Rose Quartz decides to have Steven. -> Homeworld gems start coming to Earth again. Steven learns about Homeworld. -> Steven learns about Pink Diamond. -> Steven goes to homeworld and manages to reconnect with the fellow diamonds -> The diamonds decide they want to understand Pink, they want to understand why she ran away and understand organic life. They want to know what Earth is like. They come to life there. -> Spinel and Pink Pearl are friends. Not really related to all that but they’re Friends.

#hope talks #steven universe #kinda. this is just mine now.

[badlydrawndrawnings]

Semi-formal critique/rant about a lack of  P1/P5 comparisons

When the first Persona 5 PV came out, there was a general agreed consensus that Persona 5 was going to be the Persona 2 duology (with Innocent Sin being the most compared Persona 2 game) of the modern games. This consensus grew more and more as more playable characters were introduced, character info was released, and certain gameplay elements were introduced, like demon negotiation and GUNS as a secondary ranged weapon.

That last one is more of a Persona 1/SMT gameplay element but whatever.

By the time of the game’s release, and with more people playing the game/watching let’s play and walkthroughs (and the anime, and the seemingly slow release of the official manga I can only occasionally find ~not Mementos Missions btw~), this consensus was and is still around. It’s not as strong as before, but it’s there. There are also some people that like to say the two games were handle the same way (with Innocent Sin once again being the most compared Persona 2 game) via characters and certain plot points. I actually made an old post about it, right here.

With the Japanese Release of Persona 5 Royal, these claims exponentially rose again to strong levels to where I literally wanted to go into Tim Barry’s Royal Stream chat and type ‘please stop talking about persona 2 and nyary please stop talking about persona 2 and nyary.’ Why? Because after watching much of Royal to the best of my ability, I come to the realize that, Persona 5 Royal at least, is trying to be the Persona 1 of the modern games. And fair warning, I will go into major spoilers for Royal in depths, based off what is known.

We have Reiji Kido and Goro Akechi, bastard children who revenge over their father is their main goal. Yet due to one factor being present (or absent), they show the different outcomes of their fates, one being able to move on after his revenge for thirst and live a normal life with his own family, while the other who fate is unknown (in Original Persona 5; Royal will be touch upon under the read more) as his revenge possibly costed his life.

We have Masao ‘Mark’ Inaba and Ryuji Sakamoto, two good teenagers who are momma’s boys and delinquents at their school. Yet the title of delinquent is either truthfully earn because of actual delinquent-like behavior that will lead to a future career, or a title gradually earned after an accident that costed a possible future career had it never happened at all.

We have Eriko ‘Elly’ Kirishima and Ann(e) Takamaki, both who are in fact one-fourth American models. Yet given how they appear so differently, it must have factor into how are treated by other student, with one looking more of the typical Japanese person she is deem odd mostly due to her ‘eccentricities’, the other appearing more foreign with blonde hair and blue eyes due to a chance of genetics she is treated unfairly due to rumors and enforcing negative stereotypes.

Once you get into the Royal Third Semester, the comparisons grow into new levels that took me by surprise.

For one, we have Kasumi Yoshizawa. Kasumi can be best describe as the love child/clone of Maki (with that red ribbon and some parts of her personality) and Naoya (P1′s Manga Protag’s background of sorts). For you see, Kasumi is not Kasumi. She is Sumire Yoshizawa, twin of Kasumi Yoshizawa. Sumire loves the real Kasumi, but the poor girl is envious of her older and much more talented sister. It grew and grew until Sumire is full with such negativity and hate with her life as how it is and how she is, Sumire couldn’t handle it anymore and decides to go into traffic to possibility kill herself.

And the real Kasumi dies trying to save her younger. Needing counselling for her depression and guilt of what happened, Sumire’s cognitive of herself change into her believing (with someone’s help, who I will discuss) she is Kasumi and lives her life as Kasumi. It’s only until the Third Semester does Sumire remembers the truth. It took awhile, but Sumire was able to overcome everything and awaken fully, with what appears to be Kasumi herself -that’s right a dead person- becoming Cendrillon. 

So one is wondering who the heck made Sumire believe she is Kasumi? It’s none other than Takuto Maruki! Everyone figured this man shouldn’t be trust, but oh boy. We weren’t expecting any of this sorts! For one, Takuto is a Persona User. Now, adult Persona Users are canon since the first game with Takahisa Kandori, but it’s Kandori we ought to focus on (and only Kandori in Persona 1).

Kandori is nothing like Takuto. Kandori is a business man through and through, being the head president of the Sebec Branch in Mikage-Cho. Both men believe it or not, have the same goal of sorts of imposing their ideal version of the world over reality with their own means, Takuto with his Persona Powers that sort became supercharge after Yabadadoo’s defeat by the PT, Kandori with the Deva System Sebec build.

Takuto honestly has good intentions, wanting a world where people can be happy without heartache and pain, which started when his former girlfriend had to go to the hospital after her parents died (in what I think was a burglary gone wrong). In fact, Takuto’s status as an antagonist is interesting. He knows the PT and has a Co-op/Confidant with Joker. While exploiting them for his research, he does so in his belief he is going to help them and everyone else because his way is the best. In fact, Takuto believes himself so much, he wants to make sure his ideal world will happen by trying stop Joker from sending a calling call by using Goro as one weird last resort.

Because according to Takuto, the real Goro is dead. The real Goro was taken hostage on Shido’s ship, but the destruction of the Palace pretty much doom Goro to a watery grave. Because of Joker’s unknowing wish to see Goro again (if you pick the right option), Takuto was able to use his powers to start the Third Semester on 12/24, the day where Joker canonically has to turn himself in. The Goro here is in effect, Dream!Goro who is eerily just like the real Goro. When Joker decides to listen to Dream!Goro of not accept the dream world and to accept reality as it is, that’s when Takuto takes out the big guns (aka, use his Persona). After losing to the PT via Personas, Takuto makes another go at it by almost became GOD by fusing with his Persona. When he goes back to his human self, Takuto fucking fights Joker in a fist fight and you pretty much ask yourself:  how many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man? But at the end, Takuto accepts it, and is given a second chance at life.

Kandori is just a selfish prick who only cares for himself. How much of a selfish prick? When the Deva System got attached to Maki’s subconscious and her Ideal World, Kandori decides to exploits Maki’s powers (via Aki, aka, Girl in Black) as a mean to his own end of becoming GOD. He also couldn’t give a shit about the P1 crew, hating them all and likes taunting them. Kandori couldn’t care less about his half bastard brother’s revenge goal, but comments Reiji does have that Kandori blood lol. 

And believe or not, Kandori is one of the few Persona villains to win. He actually achieves his dream of being God of a new world...and feels unfilled by it. By the time the Persona 1 crew confronts him, the man is particularly wishing for death because he has nothing else to live for since who knows how long his world can last. Kandori would have probably at surrender to them if Nanjo didn’t push Kandori into one last fight. Like Takuto, Kandori fuses with his Persona (though it’s not like he planned it), but he dies in this battle, pretty much as a empty man and as a possible warning of a wrong future.

Though Kandori gets the last word by revealing to the P1 crew that he isn’t the real person they should be focusing on. That goes to the real Maki, who is still sick in her bed (as it turns out, the Maki everyone is with is the Ideal Maki of real Maki’s dream, who is nothing like her).

(I forgot to mention it, but there’s also a brief moment on 12/31 when Joker dreams of an empty and dark Shujin Academy. It’s really similar to St. Hermelin during the parts the P1 crew have get lost travel through the school.)

With that being said about Royal, one can see what Persona 1 elements show up, how it works in both the original based game and Royal re-released, and the understand how Royal is trying to be the Persona 1 of modern Persona games. Yet people are still only taking about Persona 5 and how it’s like the Persona 2 duology (mainly Persona 2 Innocent Sin; I seen way too many people discuss in the Tim Barry chat how getting posses by your Persona came from IS but it was there since the first game).

And so I finally has to ask the question I thought I would never ask:  Why do Persona fans tend to not make P1/P5 comparisons? 

Is there something about Persona 1 that makes it easy to not make these comparisons? Like, I know the earlier games aren’t easy to play (especially one; I actually can’t play in First Person games in general because I get headaches from the format after half an hour or so of gameplay). That’s why the option to watch a let play walkthrough, reading the manga, listening to the audio drama, or do a combination of all the above exist. 

But is there’s something in Persona 1 in all of its materials, that makes it unworthy of talk like Persona 2 to be worthy of a comparison to Persona 5? I am in no means bashing the Persona 2 duology at all but I genuine want to know, without the need to cause discourse.We already have enough as it is. 

#persona 1 #persona 5 #reiji kido #goro akechi #ryuji sakamoto #masao inaba #eriko kirishima #ann takamaki #anne takamaki #persona 5 royal spoilers #persona 5 the royal spoilers #p5r spoilers #this is a text post #lol fix a few word mistakes

[drunkelfanastasia]

K-pop/khh 2018 favourites

I’ve already had several playlist posts here so I figured why not make a 2018 kpop/khh favourites one heh

They are in no particular order btw

Imfact – The Light

Track that made me stan Imfact completely and make them my second ultimate bias group. Honestly the best thing I’ve encountered in 2018 and I was lucky enough to see this one performed live.

Monsta X – Jealousy

My babes made a bop of 2018 once again huh? Sexy, powerful, aesthetical, with nice visuals, strong vocals and impactful choreography. Changkyun and Jooheon’s rap cured my acne tbh *whispers: jealousy baby jealousy*

Woodie Gochild – Muse (feat. Jay Park, Sik-K)

Another new artist coming into my life, thank god for Jay who finds all these gems like Woojae. The pigeon boi from SMTM6 became the light of my life with his crooked teeth and weird voice.

Sik-K – Fire

THE MOST POWERFUL SONG EVER MADE DON’T @ ME

I love how Minsik and bois from Groovy made most non-hiphop thing ever and nailed it anyways hdfhdjh

Drug Restaurant – 403

I love jamming out to this in the darkness with wine, that’s just the mood of the song.  Luring voice and the weirdest in the best way English lyrics, I stan!!

The Rose – Baby

STAN THE ROSE FFS Once again I had huge luck to see my babes live and let me tell you, this song sounds even better in person! This one gets The Most Iconic Drop award from me.

Big Bang – Flower Road

Is it emo hours already? Cause I miss my oldies goldies and their group music. Flower Road makes me think of summer and spending time in the countryside with your friends and running to the river.

Day6 – Headache

Listen, the theory about Day6 not having bad songs is not a theory, it’s a pure fact. It was so hard to choose on song from all their releases and I’m still battled between Headache and 121U because they both slap hard :/

Mino – Fiancé

This man is my king and I even have bleached brows/hair look inspired by him now, it’s no surprise I added his solo debut to the list. Again, his whole album is a huge bop, Rocket and UM are my faves apart from Fiancé.

Jung Jinwoo – She’s Got Everything

Artists from PLT released so many amazing tracks this year it’s insane! I realized I have three in here and I could’ve added even more sjhdjhf Jinwoo is so multitalented and underrated, it hurts.

Bloo – I’m The One

If you ever want to travel to another world while listening to someone’s voice – just open this link and get started with it. Heartbreak anthems from Daniel are nice but love anthems are even better.

ATEEZ – Treasure

Even if I’m a fan of funky and upbeat songs like Pirate King, Treasure still owns my heart being a little calmer and acing the vocals. Honestly, the MV is also extremely magical?? ATEEZ are a huge stanning material, don’t hesitate and become an Atiny.

kuzi – Badmind

Almost NO ONE knows who Kuzi is but I’m happy that I got to find out about him. He’s a nice young boy from Dickids and went by Hot Kuzi before and you should listen to his whole mixtape if you like hip-hop and trap.

PLT – Hocus Pocus

Another PLT track, are you even surprised? Hocus Pocus is something really precious to my heart as even my parents love it and it made me discover artists apart from my sweet Gaho.

Jay Park – V

The king has come to my list everybody! Such a lovey-dovey song this one is~~ Jaebum dropped bop after bop, Sexy 4Eva, Millions, one hundred features and he’s also a CEO? Get me a mans like him.

pH-1 – Cupid

*winking at @chaoticvamp * Harry is a precious baby and such a powerful musician, I’m shook. I remember not even looking at him at first bc I thought he isn’t worth my attention OH BOY WAS I WRONG sjdsjdhs Another song about love here… what’s wrong with me pls

South Club – Outcast

Listen, Taehyun was a huge mess after leaving Winner but look at him now! The punk spirit in his songs always inspires me to be myself.

Vinxen – How Do You Feel

A super emotional but calm track with intimate lyrics. TW for self-harm. It’s the best when you walk home in the evening and look around at people; start feeling like they don’t really exist and everything is a movie.

Snuper – Tulips

Started stanning this fab group after went to the Korean festival and saw them live, Snuper are xtremely underrated and even this comeback is not really popular even though the song is amazing and catchy L

NCT U – Boss

The country I live in, Ukraine had an honor to welcome NCT U into its arms where they filmed Boss and Baby Don’t Stop so it had a huge meaning to me + we also got introduced to Lucas and Jungwoo.

Got7 – Thank You

Yes I’m boasting about seeing another kpop group live again please excuse me I’m just happy—Anyways, I cried when they sang this song during the concert.

Ilhoon – She’s Gone

I WAS SO SHOCKED BY ILHOON DAMN BOI I didn’t really get into his album because other tracks didn’t get enough of my attention but She’s Gone called me her bitch, I’m a sucker for this badass song.

RM – Seoul

RM’s mixtape is a masterpiece in its best. I’ve never thought he’d produce something like that and its difference had me lured in quickly… Such a chill album that got goosebumps crawling down my spine, I fell in love with it and I’m honestly questioning my bias list after it.

Lee Sang – Repetition

My underrated babies Imfact are here one more time, this time with Sang and his self-written song that made my heart bleed. His beautiful vocals complete the mood of it so perfectly; it makes me miss someone who doesn’t exist.

Sam Kim – Make Up (feat. Crush)

Something that made the end of 2018 awesome for me is this collab and Sam Kim’s perfect voice. This has a catchy tune and it got stuck in my head for a while.

Villain – Manitto

My mom said that Villain is the coolest in PLT the first thing when she saw them all in one MV and told me he needs to be my favourite so here we are I guess hdfdfhfj I know I said it about lots of tracks before but that’s such a bop please give it a listen!!

Flowsik & Jessi – Wet

The most badass release of 2018? I think so. Jessi is a queen and a girl crush and just someone I look up to quite a lot, her rap is very well complimented by Flowsik and his raspy voice. (also Jessi is slapping bois butts in the MV, go watch it)

Dean – Instagram

Even though some fans were upset that that’s not Dean’s style I don’t agree. Dean’s style is whatever Dean decides to be his style, okay? Instagram is amazing and it has an amazing message to it.

Jonghyun – Take The Dive

The whole album was hard to listen to; I think we can all agree with it. Yet, it’s very beautiful and is always worth a listen when you feel like giving up. Our moon is always looking over us.

All these tracks are also in a YouTube playlist here :’)

#kpop #khh #dean #sik-k #jay park #plt #shinee #jessi #flowsik #imfact #vinxen #south club #winner #the rose #sam kim #crush #woodie gochild #bts #btob #nct #snuper #got7 #bloo #ph-1 #ateez #drug restaurant #monsta x

[dracosollicitus]

Choose one to respond, I love them both: Bound to the Light or Commander Dameron takes a Wife. **What inspired you to write the fic this way? ** I'm going to reread them soon BTW.

I’ll do Bound to the Light because @d4m3r0n also requested it in a reply! 

(spoilers for that fic/TLJ below)

Bound to the Light (BttL): I wrote this fic in six weeks, as a direct response to the massive growth I saw in the Reylo tag. I wrote it out of concern for a growing trend I saw in that ship tag - namely, the loss of Rey’s agency as her own narrative faded away in her attempt to save Kylo Ren and bring back Ben Solo, usually while falling in love with him in the process/as a direct result of their Force Bond. 

Disclaimer: I would actually love to see a Ben Solo redemption arc, if done correctly. As seen from my love for Zuko in ATLA and Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, I do have a soft spot for angry characters seeking to please crappy male authority figures in their lives, and who struggle with their tempers and their sense of identity (but Zuko and Kylo couldn’t be further apart, go ahead and @ me, Zuko was a sweet, precious fire baby who deserved the frickin’ world and Kylo’s committed, well, a heckin lot of homicide and seemingly supports a fascist regime). 

That being said, I’m not sure how they’ll back out of RJ’s decision to include the line of “You’re nobody - but not to me,” if they do decide to include a Ben Solo redemption arc in IX. I 100% shut down in the theater when he said that - and he’d been doing so well, I was like oh, okay, here’s where he begins to atone for the murder of his father, where he and Rey form a different, less judgmental order that practices and works with the Force, and then - yikes. That line, to me, is emotional abuse, plain and simple, and to try to manipulate Rey, who’s lived her life in solitude and fear and loneliness, was just absolutely cruel. She was heartbroken, I was heartbroken, everyone was heartbroken. 

Their decisions in film-making, then, were significant: the decision to follow up that scene where Kylo attempts to belittle her with Rey’s embrace with Finn (and if they go Finn/Rey, I’d be happy as well - I was also a massive StormPilot shipper before TLJ, and I still ship it, but I more ship Rose/Finn, and I obviously ship Damerey the most, and have seen their parallels since TFA), and then her meeting Poe. The iconic “I know” line was delivered not in a smarmy romantic context (I have feelings about Leia/Han that would take their own post to break down), but in a position of “resistance hero and famous flyboy admiringly meets a woman who’s currently struggling with her identity and place in the universe and tells her with both with his words and body language that not only does he see her as a person worth knowing, he likes what he sees, and thinks she’s remarkable.” We could get into his heart eyes when she lifts the rocks, but I digress. 

So, Bound to the Light attempted to do several things at once, while maintaining a tension between Kylo/Ben, Poe, and Rey. Poe and Ben grew up essentially as brothers, and the guilt Kylo experiences from torturing Ben’s best friend influences a lot of his decisions and actions. The all-consuming love and desire he has for Rey sometimes motivates him to kindness, but more often motivates him to selfishness and passion. Poe in BttL struggles with PTSD from his torture by Kylo Ren and the First Order, and also from the deaths of his friends in TLJ, which he feels personally responsible for. Rey struggles with her intense and sudden burden of responsibility from being the last of the Jedi, while dealing with the fallout of Ben Solo’s refusal to come back to the Light, Master Luke’s failure to teach her, and her own feelings of inadequacy and abandonment. 

Poe and Rey develop a Force Bond in the fic - hence the name, as Poe’s bond with Rey comes from a place of Light and love (inspired by the scene in TLJ where Snoke tortures Rey and immediately the camera cuts to Poe violently awakening from a stunned state, gasping in terror). The Force Bond parallels her bond with Kylo, the one that was forced upon her after his horrifying violation of her mind in The Force Awakens, and then deepened insidiously and again, without her consent or knowledge, by Snoke. Poe and Rey come from a place of shared trauma (furthered in the fic by Ben’s status as Poe’s former best friend, whom he often still thinks of as a brother, worsening the violation that occurred on The Finalizer), and a canonical optimism and extended kindness - this helps deepen their connection and create what I think would be a delightful dynamic if it became canon. 

Writing the fic was hard to balance - creating an accurate and peaceful resolution for Ben while depicting Rey’s love for him, a platonic love but no less important for its non-romantic nature - developing Poe and Rey’s relationship while following their own particular character arcs and development (Poe becomes more steady and thoughtful in the wake of his mutiny, and a man more interested in making a home and building a life outside of the war than in glory and victory; and Rey becomes a leader who has a strong sense of purpose and home) - and creating a feasible conclusion to decades long inter-galactic struggle between light and dark. But, I hope I did it well, while not upsetting die-hard Ben/Kylo fans, and not letting Rey’s love for Poe override her own need for acceptance and a viable “place in all this.”

TL;DR though, I just really, really wanted an epic length Damerey fic b/c damn that’s a pure ship, and Reylo had so many giant-ass fics, and I was like “But where’s my Damerey” and eventually I was like “FINE i”LL JUST WRITE IT AND TRY TO MAKE IT SOUND PRETTY.” 

Sorry for writing so much!!!

#damerey #ask #bound to the light #writing

[ccorvid]

hey y'all, don't mind me. I'm just.... sayin some crap. I posted this on fb the other day and got good responses so I figured I'd post it here too. I just keep seeing people complaining that Luke's character got destroyed in the Last Jedi due to a certain thing it's revealed he almost did in the past. I disagree. here's why:

btw there are definitely spoilers in here bc I discuss a lot of big moments in the movie so don't read til u see the movie. also this was originally written in response to a comment thread with someone, but I ended up not posting it. so it may seem a bit out of context bc I don't really feel like editing it a lot lol

the Luke we know and love struggled with the dark side. when provoked by the emperor, he even gave in to it and attacked Vader and tried to kill him with terrifying hatred. yes, he eventually regained control, but he still gave in and tried to murder his father. even in Legends continuity Luke gave in to the dark side for a time, and became the resurrected emperor's apprentice. no person ever struggles with the dark side only once in their life. its a constant struggle, and Luke even said in the movie that it was a passing thought that floated by him. immediately afterwards he saw in Ben's eyes the fear and hurt at his master's betrayal. and he paid for his doubt. he calls this moment out as his greatest shame. that's the reason he exiled himself. not because Kylo destroyed what he built, but because he failed his nephew and disgraced himself. it's not character assassination. it was showing that he's a real person. not the legendary Luke Skywalker that everyone worships. yes he was tempted again. more tempted than he ever has been since the death star. but he won again. Luke is still the same man that in the end, no matter the temptation, will always be a force for Light.

as for Rey's parentage, she was never specifically intended to be Luke's daughter. if she was intended to be anyone at all, there was evidence for a number of people. part of this could have been wishful thinking and her looking for her parents, but it could have been nothing at all. there were even theories, and hints to support it, that she's palpatines granddaughter. so don't be so set in her being Luke's daughter. there are tons of hints at other things. and even then, in a recent interview, Johnson has even said that the reveal could have been only what Kylo saw. Kylo could have been mistaken. he believes it and for now so does she, but he could have been wrong. personally I hope she is Rey Random. but this very well could have been something to throw off the scent. or just something Kylo said to hurt and manipulate her. as for the similarities to Luke, they were trying to be nostalgic, not specifically hint that she's his daughter. she's his successor, even if not by blood.

now, just so u don't like I'm loving the movie blindly; my critiques:

the humor was pretty out of place imo. it was all hilarious. and I was laughing pretty hard. and I loved it. but I just don't feel like "can you hear me now" and "your mom" jokes are very "in universe", if that makes sense. I had this issue with TFA as well. it's becoming tradition for Poe to kind of break the tension early on with a "who talks first, u or me" and "hi is this Pizza hut?". which again. is hilarious. but im still not a huge fan of it. speaking of breaking tension, I didn't like Luke throwing the Lightsaber over his shoulder. it was funny, but it's also a huge scene people have waited years for, that I wish they had kept it more serious. there were plenty of other opportunities for Funny Luke later on. and his "do you expect me to come in and save the day with my laser sword?" was pretty weird too. he makes a great point, but don't call it a laser sword. do they even have swords in their galaxy anymore?

and now just some nitpicky things: wasn't a fan of Finn and Rose freeing the space horses. I know people have been like ripping on their entire storyline, and I disagree on all that, but I just felt like their having a touching scene releasing the space horse was out of place and awkward. but whatever.

and the final scenes. Luke final battle with Kylo. they were lit af. only complaint is I wish he had used his green Lightsaber. I know it was meant to be some hint that something was up, and there are even already theories out there about some deeper meaning, but I was honestly just kind of disappointed we didn't get to see it.

and finally @ all the other big twists and stuff: L I T

(I was disappointed we didn't get to learn a bit more abt Snoke but tbh I don't think this is the last we'll see/hear of him)

reylo is a bad ship, but Kylo/Ben is probably my fave character. Rey is also great and doesnt deserve the crap people give her

that is all

EDIT: wasnt a huge fan of the way Leia was able to float back into the ship after getting blown up even if it was kinda cool.

BUT DID YOU SEE THE SCENE WHERE SHE WAS LOOKING OVER HER COLLAR???????

EDIT 2: linked below is a very very very very very very good video. only thing I would add:

if Luke did physically come back for an epic Lightsaber dual with Kylo, there would only be 3 outcomes possible. 1, he kills Kylo. leaving no future antagonist, and ruining any Rey / Kylo dynamics. 2, they fight to a draw, Luke escapes anticlimactically, and people complain that Kylo was on par with Luke, and 3, Luke sacrifices himself the same way Obi-Wan did to Vader, and people complain that they just re-hashed Obi-Wan's death.

https://youtu.be/vxikv_Q7HMo

#hey lol #sorry this is long and stupid #i actually had a coworker talk to me abt it tho saying how much he agreed #but anyway yea #sw #sw spoilers #star wars #the last jedi #star wars: the last jedi #tlj #sw:tlj #Luke Skywalker

[risingemini]

Astrology Information:

1. Taurus (Sun), Capricorn (Moon), Taurus (Rising)

2. If I were born again, I’d really like to have a Pisces Sun, Pisces Moon, and Libra Rising.  I just love the mystical sense that Pisces gives off, and their ability to know about their emotions without the tendency of being overwhelmed by them is just a quality I will be eternally envious of.  And Libra Rising because I’ve never been the sociable type, but Air signs always know how to keep a conversation going, and Libra’s ruling planet is the same as Taurus’: Venus!

3. I feel like my ideal placement for a soulmate (romantically) would be...Aries Sun, Pisces Moon, Aquarius Rising.  Aries Sun because the Aries I have ever met are just extremely fun to be around, plus they have that spark in their eyes that just brightens your day (blows a kiss to all my Aries Suns).  Pisces Moon because of the reasons formerly stated, and Aquarius Rising because they can be outgoing but also intellectual.

Hobbies:

1. I really enjoy writing and drawing in my bullet journal, I make a spread every week and I even made an account for it with my friend Dom (@bujobaddies)

2. I play some instruments (Violin, Viola, Piano mainly) and I’m also in my school’s orchestra, I learned Viola unintentionally actually because my teacher was holding auditions again even for returning students to place them in certain positions and since we didn’t have a large viola section, he allowed anyone willing to learn viola to play it in the orchestra without auditioning.  Too scared to audition with my violin, I picked up the Viola instead.

3. AND DID YOU GUYS ALSO KNOW I RAN AN ASTROLOGY BLOG?!?!?!  But seriously I love having this blog to look at and to see how people react to or think about our posts, even if they don’t necessarily like what we’re posting!  I love seeing people’s suggestions.  

Personal Stuff:

1. I’m gay, and honestly I’m still not used to being able to say it, much less type it and seeing it for myself.  For such a long time I denied this part of myself to have light shed upon it because I was ashamed of it because of what my parents told me about homosexuality.  But eventually I came to disregard the homophobic things they’ve said and slowly I’ve started to embrace it!  Even though accepting my sexuality was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, it was no doubt one of the best things, and I’m elated that I lack the fear to share this part of my self with you :).

2. I really, and I mean REALLY want to get into college.  Like I’m not exactly the brightest student (in a history test I turned in my test and I was wondering why I had turned it in so early and I was MAD confident but then I realized there was a back page that I completely forgot to do and yeah I got docked 30% for that) but I’m trying my best!  My top three schools as of now are University of Washington (it’s my dream school, so not exactly a target), University of Oregon, and then San Diego State University (although my Mom is against me going to this one).  

3. Speaking of college, my dream job is to become a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP for short, aka Speech Therapist)!  I really love sign language (I’ll be taking 3 years of it by this June, as of now 2 years) and to be quite honest It’s just a fascinating language to me!  I also like social sciences in general, like psychology and sociology (though I’ve yet to take the latter!) but I’m really wishing on a star to get into one of those 3 schools with this major!

4. I’ll be an incoming senior this fall, and honestly I’m rather scared.  All my friends have their SAT scores and GPA thingies all set and I’m still here trying to take the test.  But nonetheless I’m really hoping that I can pull through and not only succeed my senior year, but HAVE FUN TOO!  And also, congrats to all you folks in the class of 2018!  We done good :)

5. To be quite honest, Gender isn’t really something I care much for (in context to myself, of course).  Like if I woke up and biologically became a girl I’d be like “oh ok sure”.  Joey and I have actually talked about this, and I forgot what she said in particular (srry bb) but I remember saying that I would want the name Rose, pronounced Rose or Rose-ee (no particularly deep reason, literally it’s because that’s the stage name of one of my favorite Kpop performers).

Fun Facts:

1.  I hate room temperature water, I’m sorry but it’s just nasty

2. The reason why the blog is called risingemini and not ascendantaurus is because my dad gave me my wrong birth time when I started this blog, and gave me the hour AFTER I was born:D.  By the time I got the correct time I thought it was too late, and that Joey and I would stick with risingemini

3. My taste of music is rather disappointing. For the majority of the time i listen to Kpop (my friend asked me to do a ‘the signs as kpop groups’ and i snorted.  Btw for those interested my top 5 groups are Sistar, BESTie, f(x), Wondergirls, and 4minute) and if I DO listen to English music, well I’m particularly basic so its largely pop.  

4. My favorite color is pink (hence the pink highlights and stuff in our blog aesthetic) and it always has been.  I’m not a fan of hot or bright, but pastels.

5. Something really embarrassing about me is that I tend to daze out a lot, especially in crowded places or social situations, but it gets really bad when I start singing.  I’m not one for self-diagnosing but I’m quite certain I’m tone-deaf, even in karaoke I never get a score above a 20 (out of 100), and when I notice I do sing 6/10 times my friend is looking at me weird asking if I was just singing.

#risingemini #personal #me

[thickthighsandhockeyvibes]

All for You: James Van Riemsdyk

Requested: yes/no  Word count: 1.6k Warnings: none Authors Notes: @carey-pricemas  I know you didn’t ask or anything but I have had this for a while and have been really nervous to post it because I am nowhere near a writer you are and then I saw you mention me to another blog (THANK YOU FOR THAT BTW!!<3) and I decided to post this for you because I know how much you like JVR!! 

AN: Okay so I am very aware that the leafs were put out of the playoffs this year, BUT for this just pretend that they weren’t and they beat Washington and advanced to the next round.

For the past 6 games, the roles had been reversed. Lately, it had been James freaking out before games and you had to be the one to help calm him down and assure him no matter how the game ended you would still be his number one fan. But tonight that was not the case. You were a nervous wreck and James appeared to be cool as a cucumber.

“I don’t get why your so worried babe.” You looked up to see James walking out of the bathroom fixing his tie. “I’m not worried.” You mumbled as you continued to play with your Van Riemsdyk jersey. James laughed, a laugh that you haven’t heard since before the playoffs started. “(Y/n)? You look like you just saw a ghost. Are you sure your okay? If you're not feeling good I would rather you stay here and get some rest.”

You shook your head and stood up from the bed and walked towards where James was now standing getting is jacket out from the closest. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed a light kiss to his jaw. “No, I feel fine. I just haven’t heard you laugh like that in a few weeks. It was nice to hear you laugh like that again.”

“Maybe if you told funnier jokes more I would be able to laugh more.” You lightly slapped his chest and rolled your eyes. “I will have you know mister, I am a very funny person.” You said while waving your finger in his face. “Okay, well you can continue to tell yourself that on the way to the arena.”  He laughed as he opened the door for you. Of course not before he could lightly smack your bum as you passed by him. “James!” You squealed, “Don’t do that! What if someone saw that?”

“Well, (y/n) if anyone did see that they would know that you are mine.” James wrapped his arm around your shoulders before leading you towards the elevators where Tyler was standing with his girlfriend Mollie and their son Kanon. “Uncle James!” Kanon yelled as he saw you and James round the corner, Kanon was now jumping out of his mom's arms trying to run to James. Once Mollie set him down he made a beeline for James.

“Hey, there’s my favourite little man!” James said while leaning down to give Kanon a high-five. “I thought I was your favourite man,” Tyler said as you all entered the elevator. “Dude your kids cuter.” You all laughed. “Auntie (y/n) can I sit wif you tonight?” You smiled, “Of course you can buddy!” “Okay good, I like sitting with you because sometimes you say funny words.” You laughed, during most games you had a tendency to make up words instead of swearing now since Kanon had started taking a liking to you.

The rest of the ride down and to the game, you made small talk with Mollie about their wedding plans for the summer, while Tyler and James talked about game strategy. When you arrived at the Verizon centre you could feel the tension in the air and it made you sick to your stomach. Normally you needed to be the calm one for James sake, but tonight you couldn’t do it.

Once the game started it immediately became a very physical and violent game. In the first period at least each team had already had four penalties. The whole first period went scoreless and after that first period, I wouldn’t be a surprise if the second period became more violent and physical. Halfway through the second period Kanon decide that now he wanted to sit with you. Kanon talked to you about everything and anything. You helped him find Tyler out on the ice and cheered with him when Toronto got the puck and booed Washington when they had the puck.

A few minutes after the scheduled tv commercial break Toronto could not seem to get it out of their end, it wasn’t until there was a line change Kadri was able to shoot the puck out of Toronto’s end to where James was after he came off of the bench after a line change. “Oh my gosh! Go James go!”  Just as James crossed the blue line into Washingtons end, on a breakaway, one of Washingtons players came up behind James and tripped him.

You stood up with Kanon still in your arms, “WHAT IN THE FUUUuuuu-RRRRICKITAY FRACK WAS THAT!” You could hear Kanon laughing in your arms. “MOMMY! Auntie (y/n) said a funny word again!” A blush rose to your checks as you turned your attention back to the ice to see that James was getting a penalty shot. “Fuckin right.” You muttered under your breath. “Mommy now she said a bad word.”

You turned to Molly and handed Kanon back to her, “Sorry.” “It’s okay I’m sure that he’s heard much worse for Tyler after the game.” She said laughing.

You heard the whistle signalling that  James could go and turned your attention to the ice. “Go, James!” You could feel your hands shaking and everything felt like to was in slow motion as he moved around Holtby and shot the puck top shelf. You couldn’t think of anything else to do other than to jump up and down with the rest of the WAGS. “Oh my gosh no, I think I can start breathing normally again.” You joked and some of the other WAGs that herd laughed along agreeing.

As the second period came to a violent end with a line brawl, You texted James a quick “wait to go text” knowing he wouldn’t read it until after the game.

When the third period began you took what you said about the second being violet as Washington became more aggressive wanting to tie it up at one. You didn’t even realize that the end of the third period had come to an end until the final buzzer went and all the leaf boys jumped off of the bench and skated towards Freddie. All around you were the WAGs celebrating. All you could think of was how it was James who had scored the game-winning goal that advanced them to the next round. Damn you are so proud of him.

Shortly after the arena had started to clear out you and some other girls made your way down to the locker rooms to congratulate the boys and let them know you would be heading back to the hotel early and would meet them there.   When arriving you could see James in the middle of an interview, you patiently waited off to the side for him to finish up. When he was done he must not have noticed you standing there because he turned back towards the locker room.

“James!” You yelled trying to get his attention. He turned around and saw you, his smile grew wider as he made his way over. James stood in front of you and leaned down and kissed you lightly. He reached up and placed his hands on your cheeks deepening the kiss. You relaxed and wrapped your hands around his neck, tangling your hands in his hair. You pulled apart smiling. “I knew you could do it, baby, I am so proud of you!”

He placed a light kiss on your forehead. “You sound like my mother, not my girlfriend.” You laughed and wrapped your arms around his torso. Knowing this moment, it wouldn’t last long.

“James!  You have someone else that wants to do another interview.” “Okay, I’ll be there in a second.” “I’m gonna head back to the hotel with the girls. I’ll see you back there when you're done here.” “Okay, I love you.” “I love you too.”

**James POV** When I finally got back to the hotel room it was well after two am. When I got in the room I could see that (y/n) was asleep on my side of the bed. I went over and could see she still had her glasses on. I carefully took them off and presses a kiss to her forehead before going to change in the bathroom so I didn’t wake her.

When I came back out she was now awake and checking her phone. “Did I wake you?” She nodded slowly still half asleep. “Sorry.” She shrugged. “S'okay. Now come on I wanna go back to sleep.” I nodded and crawled into bed bringing her tight to my body so her head was resting on my chest.

“(Y/n)?” “Mhm” “Can I ask you something?” She moved her head so she could see me better. “Yes?” “How many kids do you want?” She tilted her head confused. “Where is this coming from?” “Tonight seeing you with Kanon made me think about starting a family with you.” “Two…or three… or four… maybe five. I don’t know I never even thought about it that much before until now.” “I want at least four.” “Then four it is. But not tonight I’m too tired so don’t get any ideas Van Riemsdyk.” “I wasn’t!” “Okay sure. Goodnight James.” “Goodnight (y/n). I love you.” “I love you too.”

I could hear her breathing start to become steady as she slowly fell asleep next to me. Damn, do I need to get a ring soon.

#James Van Riemsdyk #JVR #NHL Imagines #Hockey Imagines #Toronto Maple Leafs #TML #James Van Riemsdyk Imagines

[cherryblossomcheesecake]

God & His Priests & His Kings - a ffxv oc fan fic 1/?

A/N: Hey y’all, the sequal is finally here! So it’s gonna be awhile before much happens, this chapter is character/world building for the most part cuz we do have a big timeskip between HR&B and this story. Now, fair warning: it’s gonna be a LONG time before Soo gets together with a chocobro and this fic does start off with her being in a relationship with a male OC. That being said, this fic will contain underage sex/sex between two minors and eventually between adults, so I will do my best to let ppl know about nsfw content in the A/N and let y’all know where it starts/ends so if you don’t wanna read it, you can just skip it. There is vague nsfw content towards the end of this chapter btw.

ANYWAYS, if you’re stumbling upon this and want to read the prequel, here’s the link for How Rare & Beautiful. This fic is updated every other Friday. I’m also open for requests so send me something after taking a look at my rules!

Master Post

Chapter One: Feast of Starlight or Where Soo-Min is in Goryeo

I knelt quietly in the palace gardens, praying to any gods who would listen. I was sending off my daily pleads to the astrals and anyone else listening; I prayed for the health of the three princess elects, and their consorts and children. I prayed for the health of my mother, and for the health of the royal families of Lucis and Tenebrae.

Littered around me were piles of flowers and herbs that I had begun bundling either to be put on display throughout the various rooms in the palace or to be dried in the apothecary. The afternoon sun kissed my pale skin, offering some colour to my cheeks. I twirled a blue flower between my fingers, thinking of the little boy I had left behind in Lucis seven years ago, with those big sapphire blue eyes and messy black hair.

Seeing the prince grow through the dreamscape was hard; as Noctis grew older, he began to seek me out less, making our visits few and far between. I hadn’t seen him since he started high school this year, his hair trimmed to a short length to adhere to school rules. He had slowly begun to shoot up in height, easily passing my five foot two and continuing to grow.

Communicating in the waking world wasn’t any better though. Letters between Goryeo and Insomnia took weeks to get from the sender to the destination, nevermind how difficult it was to find the time to sit down and write a letter. I had sent a response off to Noctis a month ago, but with the exam season just around the corner, it was hard to say when I’d get a reply.

I sighed heavily, turning back to the flowers and herbs I had yet to sort through. Blades of cut grass clung to the dark green fabric of my skirt as I picked through the stocks and bound them together with twine.

I had become so immersed in my task that I let out a small scream when a pair of hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against a firm chest.

“You need to be more alert when you’re alone, jagiya.” a husky voice whispered into my ear, making me fight to turn around and hit my assailant on the arm.

Orion gave me a toothy grin, chuckling as I huffed at him before replying.

“And you shouldn’t go around scaring court ladies when they’re working. You’re lucky I didn’t have a knife,” I said, poking his chest as I glared at his tanned face.

“You wouldn’t stab me, you value my company too much.” he stated cockily, pushing a strand of hair away from my face.

“I may value your company and friendship, however I do not appreciate when you disrupt my work.” I said as I turned away to continue bundling up the herbs.

I had met Orion when I was thirteen, and he was fifteen; I had been in the market that day running errands for my mother and he had been working at a fish stall that my family frequently purchased from. The older boy had talked my ear off the entire time I was at the stall, and asked after me in the following weeks.

Myung-Hee got it into her head about making a match between me and the half-galahdian boy, sending me down to the market for errands more often, usually to his father’s fish stall for random things. Orion and I eventually became friends, spending the afternoons on the coast when we could both get away from our respective jobs.

In the three years that I had known him, Orion had swiftly changed from a boy into a man. As he inched closed to adulthood, his features began to appear sharper as baby fat melted away, and stubble covered his strong jaw. His long dark hair was adorned with braids and some strands bound together with leather strips, pulled back from his tanned face with the sides shaven. It was an attractive look for him, a beautiful blend of his mixed heritage involving both Galahdian and Goryean undertones.

And of course Orion wasn’t the only one blooming into adulthood. I was experiencing puberty all over again, dealing with the rushes of forgotten hormones and rapid body changes. My body in this world wasn’t too different from that of the one I had on Earth, save for minor differences in the finer details.

My skin was more golden despite how little time I spent in the sun, with my long dark hair falling to my lower back in a sea of black. My eyes were more upturned at the outer corners, my face fuller. My petite frame carried little to no curves, my breasts smaller than before, but I remained at my old height of five foot two.

In comparison, Orion towered over me even when sitting, his palm against the grass as he leaned towards me.

“When is the third princess planning on relieving you of your duties, court lady Han-Farron?” the man asked, smiling roguishly as he came closer.

My brown gaze flicked up to meet his own, taking in the mischievous glimmer that lurked within them, sending my chest aflutter.

“Princess Eun-Byeol usually dismisses me shortly after nightfall, unless she requires me further.” I replied, tucking herbs and flowers into a basket for travel from the gardens to the palace.

“I’ll wait for you then…” Orion whispered, leaning in even closer as he tucked a blossom behind my ear before swiftly departing.

A small smile graced my lips as I watched him go, my fingers delicately touching the blossom. I gathered up what remained of the flowers before lifting the basket as I rose and hurried off in the opposite direction, my dark green skirt fluttering in the wind.

The stone pathway wound through the massive garden, intersecting with other paths and branching off at various points as it led up towards the palace. The green of the garden soon gave way to the red pillars of the palace, the high walls and soldiers separating the garden from the courtyard beyond.

As soon as I entered, I was surrounded by the people of the palace. Court ladies and servants milled about, no part of the palace was silent as they carried out their duties. I walked among them, heading for the kitchen to drop off the various herbs and flowers so the could be delivered to the appropriate heads of staff.

Upon entering the kitchen, I was directed by head court lady Oh to place the basket on the long wooden table that stretched across the kitchen. After words, I approached the older woman, head bowed respectfully as she handed me a tray of tea and rice cakes.

“Deliver this to third princess Eun-Byeol’s chambers, she is taking her evening tea with the first princess Gyeong-Hui. Do not return until you are dismissed.” court lady Oh ordered in a stern tone, no different from usual.

I accepted the tray with a small nod and a quiet, “Yes, lady Oh,” before departing from the kitchens and making my way across the palace. The chambers of my lady, third princess Eun-Byeol, was farthest from the kitchens, prompting me to stride quickly as the air chilled with the slow onset of evening.

The guards posted outside my lady’s chambers opened the doors at my approach, allowing me entry to the receiving room where the two princesses sat talking.

“Ah, lady Han-Farron. You’ve returned from the gardens, and with tea and cakes.” came princess Eun-Byeol’s bell-like voice as I placed the tray on the table, setting the tea pot and rice cakes between the royals.

“Yes, your highness. Court lady Oh believed that rice cakes would be suitable for the first and third princesses.” I answered respectfully, my eyes directed towards the floor as my hands pressed against my abdomen as I withdrew from the table.

“A good decision on her part.” Princess Gyeong-Hui confirmed as she selected a cake from the plate, “Now, my dear, how are you adjusting to being a personal court lady to princess Eun-Byeol? I know this must be rather different for you.” the elder princess inquired, her voice weathered by age.

“The third princess has been nothing but kind to me, your highness. She doesn’t ask too much of me and is fair in her orders.” came my response as the two princesses continued with their evening tea.

“Good. You may be a lower station than her, but you are still a member of the Han clan and my grand-daughter. It’s is an honour for princess Eun-Byeol to have a personal court lady of your standing.” the first princess continued, taking a sip of her tea as she spoke.

“Of course, your highness.” I answered simply, standing still against the wall behind the older woman.

The two princesses continued to speak with each other, allowing me time to let my mind wander. I thought back on when I became Eun-Byeol’s personal lady, when I had just turned sixteen in this new life. I had been a regular court lady before then, starting when I turned thirteen, learning etiquette and the skills that were necessary to serve and provide for a family. But as my features became more mature and my figure went from girl to woman, I began to resemble the third princess, which gained the attention of the other two princesses and their court ladies.

I was approached by my grandmother and her court lady following my sixteenth birthday, who explained the role of personal court ladies; we were to be the double of our princess, so that if the princess was in danger or needed to wander anonymously, the court lady would stand in her place with nobody none the wiser. The makeup the princesses wore to disguise certain parts of their features made it much easier to pull off the switching of identities; the flowing silks of the ruqun hiding the differences in body shape. I had only stood in as Eun-Byeol’s double a few times, but it was amazing how much we did look like each other when I was dressed as her.

I was brought out of my thoughts at the sound of Gyeong-Hui’s chair scraping against the wood floor as she stood to take her leave.

“It was a pleasure to speak with you, princess Eun-Byeol. We don’t speak often outside of court,” she said, giving a slight nod of her head.

The younger girl rose as well, bowing her head in respect as she replied, “It was an honour to host you. I hope we can speak outside of court more often.”

Gyeong-Hui nodded once more before turning and sweeping out the door with a guard and handmaiden behind her. Eun-Byeol headed towards her bronze mirror that rested on her dressing table, as I quickly placed the empty plate, teapot and cups on my tray before following her further into her living space.

I began to assist her in removing various hair pins and ornaments, watching as sections of her hair began to fall from her formal updo. Once all her hair was released from the various pins and twists, I gently began combing the tangled strands, working through the knotted sections with care. It was a long process due to the length of the princess’ hair, but thankfully the knots were easily untangled, and I began to help Eun-Byeol remove her ruqun and redress in her night clothes. The white silk nightdress was simpler for the princess to handle on her own, so I began disposing of the dirty ruqun so that it could be washed.

“Is there anything else you need, your highness?” I asked politely as the older woman stood across the room.

“No, that’ll be all for the evening, thank you.” Eun-Byeol replied, her cool gaze landing on me briefly before turning towards her bed. I bowed respectfully despite her back being turned to me, and I departed from her living space.

The evening guard had begun their watch as I closed the door behind me, the night’s chill touching my cheeks. I sighed and quickly made my way to the small room located not too far from the princess’ chambers that had been appointed to me. They were located in a secluded courtyard that was near the walls separating the palace from the gardens, the area free of trees and awashed in moonlight.

I slipped into my room, quietly closing the door behind me. The rice paper door that led to the courtyard was open, letting the moonlight into the small room and illuminating Orion’s large figure as he laid on the bedding. I smiled silently before unpinning my hair for the night, listening to the shuffling of fabric as the older man shucked his tunic across the room before padding over to where I kneeled in front of my small dressing table.

Kneeling behind me, Orion brushed my hair away from the side of my neck before slowly brushing his lips over sensitive skin. I shivered lightly, allowing him to have his fun as I slowly wiggled out of my outer clothes, letting the silk of my hanbok drop to the floor.

I giggled when his lips brushed over a particularly ticklish spot on my neck, slipping out of his arms and walking over to the bedding, smiling as dark, hungry eyes followed me. Orion slowly followed, the beads in his hair clacking as his lips sought out mine once he stood in front of me.

His kiss was hungry and lustful, large hands roaming my torso as he attempted to remove my under clothes and cotton underskirt. The skin-to-skin contact was heavenly after spending a few nights without him, warmth radiating from his body as we both lost what remained of our clothing. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we lay entwined on the bedding, his lips mouthing a path of fire down my neck and chest, drawing small gasps from me as we slowly succumbed to our lust and passion.

Next Chapter

#ffxv #fanfiction #original characters

[littlemissmusiclover-blog]

GETTING BACK TOGETHER | Jaehyun

- “Jaehyun, which colour suits me best?” *insert pics of two same dresses but different colours* - HE DOESN’T REPLY FOR A DAY - You understand why >> It’s because of his work work work work work - him ignoring you most of the time started when they debuted - but that doesn’t mean he loves you less now before they debuted - it’s just that he’s so busy and their phones always get confiscated by the staff -he wants to secure his future w/ you so he works very hard - NO DATING POLICY - he always turns his phone off before going to the SM Ent. Building so the staff wouldn’t see your cheesy messages to each other - all the members know about your relationship and they support it very well - the other members admire you for holding on to the relationship even though it’s vvvvvv hard - “i like you noona you’re so cool now I can see why Jaehyun hyung loves you so much” - Mark… it could be Jisung as well - “oh god jaehyun hyung wouldn’t stop sucking his picture of you on his phone! It’s so gross!” - Haechan - “you guys are so adorable” - Yuta - “eyy don’t forget to use protection during your sexy time ;) ” - Ten - lol wtf Ten - but good on ya Ten for reminding these kids about that - “you’re not going to leave jaehyun, right?” - doyoung… or taeyong - “Nope.” - BUT LIFE IS A BITCH. - Rumours about Jaehyun dating you got out and the company was hell pissed - both of you got hate although you got more hate than jaehyun - most of his fans were anti to your relationship - only a few fans were supportive - well I couldn’t blame them though - they were his source of happiness and they feel like you’re taking him away from them - some were just delusional and wants him to end up with them - or with another artist… say Rose from Blackpink (I’m not a shipper btw; I just saw some posts here on Tumblr that some fans were shipping them) - you cry every night about this - JAEHYUN DOESN’T KNOW COZ HE’S BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK OK KIDDING BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW BECAUSE HE WAS TRYING TO STAY AWAY FROM SOCIAL MEDIA HE DOESN’T WANT HIS FEELINGS TO BE AFFECTED BY THOSE UNWORTHY NEGATIVE CRITICISMS - YOU DON’T MAKE IT OBVIOUS TOO THAT YOU’RE AFFECTED BY IT - coz he has lots to think about and you don’t want to put all your burden in this relationship on his shoulders - But he knows the fact that you get jealous everytime they bring up the JaeRose ship - like Rose is everything and you’re just a potato - so he reassures you that he loves you by kissing you, hugging you or cooking you your fave dish created by him when he gets a day off which is really rare these days because of the nature of his work - but despite all that, you still can’t help but to get insecure - like who wouldn’t get insecure? - it’s like you and him against the world lololol jk - you felt very suffocated - you don’t even know yourself anymore - you don’t even see your self-worth anymore - jaehyun loves you to bits and you know that - but it’s really hard especially he’s a celebrity now and you’re just one of the normal people out there - “Jaehyun, let’s break up” - jaehyun would just stare at you and blink twice - his adam’s apple would bob up and down - “why?” - “jaehyun, I can’t do this anymore” - “you always have little time for me” - “people… your fans don’t want us to be together” - “i feel like i’m taking you away from them” - “but you’re not taking me away from them” - “i love you (y/n)” - “please don’t do this to me baby” - his eyes would be instantly filled w/ tears - I’M NOT CRYING YOU ARE!!! - he would hold both of your hands while kissing your knuckles, shaking his head while blinking in tears - “your fans love you very much jae” - “but I only love you baby” - YES IT’S VERY HARD TO BREAK UP WITH JUNG JAEHYUN coz why tf would you leave him - “look, your career and popularity is affected because of me… because of our relationship” - And Jaehyun would say: “ I don’t care! I can throw all those away just for you! I love you and I wouldn’t want to lose you just because of all these things!” - “Don’t do that, mister. You’ve worked hard for this. Don’t throw it all away just for me.” - Then you smile bitterly and kiss him for the last time and leave - you didn’t know this but jaehyun was a sobbing mess right after you left - he would wonder where did he lack as a boyfriend what did he even do wrong why did you break up with him just because of the fact that his fans hate you - i mean, every couple in the showbiz always (or most of the time) get hated by the public esp. the fans - like, it’s only normal - but still you guys don’t deserve all the hate - you guys just fell in love with each other - why would people hate you - it’s not like you guys murdered a person or the whole nct - the members found out about this coz when jaehyun got back to the dorms he just broke down by the doorway - they were very shocked because you once told them before that you’re not gonna leave jaehyun no matter what happens - At first Ten thought that Jaehyun got you pregnant because he was crying by the doorway -but he finds out that you broke up with Jaehyun - “Well, at least someone didn’t end up getting someone preggo” - Ten - cue in everyone giving Ten a death glare so he would just cover his mouth - yeah Ten shut up - “Man, that sucks!” - Mark - i know right Mark - “I swear she loved you more than herself. Her eyes say that everytime she looks at you.” - Johnny - for a month jaehyun was a total mess - like he became more quiet he doesn’t talk that much on variety shows - his laughs were so fake - his smiles even changed like they’re not the same genuine smiles that they used to be - and it broke you guys even more as well as the other members - they couldn’t stand their bby jaehyun being like this so they set up a get together - and yeah you’re invited ofc - the get together was just at their dorm lol - they invited you and had dinner with them - you guys were still not talking with each other but would glance at each other every now and then and the members would see this and couldn’t freakin’ stand it - “oh my god just get back together” - jeno - “what happened to my mom and dad… like seriously? You guys are better than this” - jisung - “this is the only time i’d let you guys suck each other’s face c'mon fix this shit” - haechan - lol Haechan - Ten doesn’t say anything but leaves a suspicious box on the table - the other members leave so you guys could talk about things in the living room but really they’re just in the kitchen, litstening to your conversation - “how are you?” - he replies with: “i’m fine” - but he really meant it as NO I’M NOT FUCKIN’ FINE I’M IN A TOTAL WRECK WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME I FUCKIN’ LOVED YOU - there was an awkward silence after that - then both of you just say sorry at the same time like how cute is that - he says sorry for being such an incompetent boyfriend for not realizing how his career was affecting you for not doing the best that he can to make it work - you apologize as well for leaving him just because of your insecurity you let it take over you you let it ruin everything between you - “can we start over again?” - “Like, I mean, can we be… a couple again?” - “Is it okay if I kiss you?” - then you just nod and you guys kiss - after the kiss you guys open the box that Ten left on the table - it was a box full of condoms - oml Ten why lol - “Are we okay now?” - “Better than before” :“) And the other members come in, cheering for both of you

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By the way, I’m taking requests. Let me know if you want me to do another one. 😊❤

사랑해~

#nct #nct 127 #nct dream #jaehyun #jung jaehyun #nct jaehyun #kpop scenarios #nct scenarios #dating #breaking up #getting back together #relationship #love #nct u #nct u scenarios #nct 127 scenarios