#I think we need to lose the bandana to get the full effect

[only-johnny-deppp]

“Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...” 

 Johnny Depp’s NEW INTERVIEW!

Last saturday, August 14, The UK Times, released a new interview with Johnny for the Sunday Times section. It was realized sometime earlier this month, in London, probably on the same day he and Andrew Levitas were recording for the Q&A for the “Minamata” release in UK. This is Johnny’s first interview since the UK trials in London last year, and released three years after Johnny’s major interview for the British GQ Magazine. Here Johnny and Andrew Levitas speaks about “Minamata”, his future as actor and a thing or two about his personal life, although he cannot talk about the court case.

For those who couldn’t read yet, here is the FULL interview:  Enjoy.

***

“I’M BEING BOYCOTTED BY HOLLYWOOD”

Johnny Depp has a new film out this week. In the opening scene his character, the real-life photographer W Eugene Smith, says, “I’m done. I’m tired. My body is older than I am. I’m always in goddam pain. I can’t trust my f***ing dick any more. Constantly in a foul mood. Even the drugs bore me.”

I ask Depp if Smith’s despair resonated with him. Depp stops. Rocks back and forth. “That’s interesting,” he replies with painful hesitation.

“I didn’t approach playing Smith in that way… Although you bring your toolbox to work and use what is available. Having experienced...” He stops again. Depp takes any questions that might refer to his calamitous libel case last year slowly, in a mumbly, croaking drawl. “A surreal five years…”

In the film Smith needs to revive his reputation. In real life Depp’s task is even more daunting. Thanks to the judgment, everyone can call him a “wife-beater”. Now he must convince a Hollywood still convulsed by #MeToo that he’s not toxic — and that any attempt to rebuild his career is a risk worth taking. This is Depp’s first interview since the case.

We are speaking over Zoom, Depp in his London home, in front of a gold-framed painting. The 58-year-old is wearing a lot of clothes. Earrings. Floppy hat. Sunglasses. Bandana. Scarf. Checked shirt over a T-shirt with an indiscernible slogan. If you saw him on the Tube*, you might think he was off to work at the London Dungeon*, to play most of the characters.

PS. For those who are not familiar with British words: * Tube = British slang for London Underground, the subway trains. * London Dungeon = is a walk-through experience that recreates scenes from London's scary history in a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides.

Depp resumes, talking in broken sentences about the new film, Minamata, in which Smith, via Life magazine, exposes the brutal mercury poisoning of Japanese villagers in the early 1970s.

“How do we do this?” he asks rhetorically, meaning how to speak about the elephant in the Zoom. “Well, there’s no way one can’t recognise the absurdity of the mathematics.” He grins. “If you know what I mean?” No. “Absurdity of media mathematics.” He talks in riddles. “Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...”

He trails off again. He is holding a big brown roll-up of some sort. “What the people in Minamata dealt with? People who suffered with Covid? A lot of people lost lives. Children sick...Ill. Ultimately, in answer to your question? Yeah, you use what you’ve got. But what I’ve been through? That’s like getting scratched by a kitten. Comparatively.”

Last July, I went to the High Court in London to watch Depp on another screen — a video from the socially distanced court where the Hollywood star was losing a libel action against The Sun after it called him a “wife-beater”. It was the grottiest showbiz trial of the century. There were photos of the actor passed out in a foetal slump, socks on show. One lengthy exchange involved faeces. Another urination, inside or outside a house, after a violent night with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

This had all been going on for a while. In 2016 Heard applied for a temporary restraining order against him. The couple had long endured a narcotic, booze-filled, childish relationship, but that does not matter — 12 incidents levelled against Depp were proved, said the judge, and abuse is abuse, regardless of how badly they both behaved. Depp wanted to appeal, but the court said no. Next April in the US he has a $50 million defamation case against Heard relating to an opinion piece she wrote about being the victim of domestic abuse. It may be his last roll of the dice.

In the 1990s Depp was a sensitive heart-throb. Cooler than DiCaprio, edgier than Pitt. In this past year he has been stripped of his status and dignity. On day three of the trial Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, asked Depp about daubing a penis on a painting. He could not remember. “That would be quite a big thing, painting a penis on a picture?”  Wass asked. “Quite a big thing?” Depp asked.

It was a well-delivered line, but Depp was on show. Performing. Now he is more timid, less lucid. His people say he cannot talk about the court case given the looming US trial, yet it hangs over everything. The director of Minamata, Andrew Levitas, is also on our call — as a pub trivia aside, Levitas is married to the Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.

The two men clearly get on. “With regards to journalism, it was important for us to put across in the film the power of truth,” Levitas says. Depp nods. “The responsibility of journalists to look after citizens of the world. [Our film] coincided with the moment important publications had to put Raquel Welch on a cover to get enough eyeballs to sell enough ads in order to put something meaningful inside. A result of that is clickbait — it’s destroying the purpose of journalism,” Levitas continues.

“You said it beautifully,” says Depp, one of the world’s most pinned-up men, who built a career on magazine covers. “I couldn’t say it better than that.”

Last month Levitas wrote to MGM, which bought Minamata for the US market but decided not to release it. He accused MGM of being concerned that “the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them”. Then the letter got really strong. Levitas accused MGM of failing in its “moral obligation” to release the film and said it needed to explain to the victims “why you think an actor’s personal life is more important than their dead children”. He then attached Smith’s photos of ghastly deformities that shocked the world 50 years ago.

“It’s important that the movie gets seen and supported,” Levitas says. “And if I get an inkling it’s not going to be, it’s my responsibility to say so. Where it goes from there? I don’t know. But we have responsibility to these victims . . .”

You can see why he’s passionate. The film is good. MGM bought the film because it is good. Depp is good too. He disappears into the role, far from his more recent pantomime parts. It’s being released worldwide, just not in the actor’s homeland.

Depp, who also produced the film, interrupts. “We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs.”

“Some films touch people,” he adds. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything…” He pauses, as he does. “For Hollywood’s boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?” He trails off. “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that…” Again, he trails off. “To bring things to light.”

The fact, as I think Depp knows, is that for his career, the court that matters is not one of law, but public opinion. On social media, where a lot of minds are made up, Depp’s good reputation will always outweigh the bad, thanks to his frequently blinkered fans.

Outside the High Court, as Heard arrived, I saw Natasha, 30, yell: “Get hit by a truck, Amber!” She is extreme, but the persistent way his fans demand that others think their idol is a saint shows a career revival will happen. After all, most filmgoers do not follow his private life at all. To them, he is Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands. To them, he is a star — and a star can take an awful lot of heat before it burns out.

“They have always been my employers,” Depp says of his fans. “They are all our employers. They buy tickets, merchandise. They made all of those studios rich, but they forgot that a long time ago. I certainly haven’t. I’m proud of these people, because of what they are trying to say, which is the truth. The truth they’re trying to get out since it doesn’t in more mainstream publications. It’s a long road that sometimes gets clunky. Sometimes just plain stupid. But they stayed on the ride with me and it’s for them I will fight. Always, to the end. Whatever it may be.”

Depp will talk like this for ever — about his “truth”. Minamata is the last film Depp has listed on the industry site IMDb, where actors usually have half a dozen in development. So, yes, fans of the actor can see Depp in a new role now — it is a return, but is it a relaunch? The film was finished in 2019, way before last year’s court case. Is that it? His last film? He thinks and looks off to his bookshelves, at biographies of Betjeman and Olivier.

“Er...no,” he says, eventually. “No. No. Actually, I look forward to the next few films I make to be my first films, in a way. Because once you’ve...Well, look. The way they wrote it in The Wizard of Oz is that when you see behind the curtain, it’s not him. When you see behind the curtain, there’s a whole lot of motherf***ers squished into one spot. All praying that you don’t look at them. And notice them.”

I would ask him to explain, but I am not sure he is an explainer. Watch this space, I guess, but he is already taking a first step back. After we speak, it is announced Depp is getting the coveted Donostia award at the San Sebastian Film Festival next month. Some people are just too famous to fail.

~ Interview by Jonathan Dean, in London, for The Times UK (released on August 14, 2021)

#Johnny Depp #New Interview #Interview #Minamata #Justice For Johnny Depp #I Believe Him #Johnny Depp is Innocent #The Times UK

[omegatheunknown]

AEW ALL OUT 2021

In which, not to get ahead of myself here, AEW puts on one of the best major wrestling shows in several years*, following the simple yet effective principle of giving the people what they want and sending everyone home happy and hungry for more.

- The incredibly 'Nitro' ending of the go-home Dynamite, which ran a little long on the 'heels beat everyone up and strut around like assholes almost too in desperate need of comeuppance' bit, short of garbage raining into the ring, did actually increase the heat for both promoted matches. Again, not rocket science, but executed perfectly. Catharsis was on the card, and catharsis went over several times Sunday. - Again, it's time to move on from the Casino theme, shuffling the deck and drawing suits really only detracted from the Battle Royale and seemingly always throws the production crew a curve. If they haven't hammered it by now, it's not going to happen. - Bit unhappy about the PAC/Andrade situation, but still over the moon with Andrade's promo style and Chavito being unhelpful at best.

*Pre-Card

Best Friends and Jurassic Express v The Hardy Family Office and The Hybrid 2 (**) - Not usually much to say about a loaded-up multiteam boondoggle, particularly when the show has yet to begin, but there were some moments worth sitting up to take notice -- there's a lot of talent in the ring, even if Jack Evans/Angelico aren't going to be more than mid-level mooks, little matchups with guys like Luchasaurus and Chuck Taylor are opportunities for innovative/weird spots. - Really this match exists to show-off Jungle Boy, play his theme song twice, and work him in to the aforementioned spots. I don't rightly know what Jungle Jack's ceiling is, but it sort of feels like he's plateauing, at least this version of himself. - Dan Lambert thing is interesting in that it doesn't seem to easily lead to something obvious... I mean who are Scorp and Ethan Page feuding with by proxy here, the concept of contemporary professional wrestling? Orange Cassidy and Kenny Omega?

*Main Card

Miro (C) v Eddie Kingston for the TNT Championship (***1/2) - 'Redeem Deez Nuts' T-shirts now available -- and made immediately redundant now that Miro has graciously redeemed Eddie's nuts. - Imagine looking at Miro, listening to Miro talk, and not really being able to figure out this guy is money. Also imagine panicking when he took a little while to find his groove in AEW. 'The Redeemer' is both entertaining and terrifying, and this match delivered heavily on the promise of two big fellas smacking together repeatedly. - Not only does Eddie's arsenal of power moves target Miro's neck, he may also be quite difficult to put in the full reclined camel clutch. Or he'd quite literally snap in half. It didn't come to that. - Weird heel turn by Bryce's attention span and the overall weirdness of the finish is all that kept this from being an excellent match, otherwise this was a tremendous curtain jerker and started off a dangerously fun run of pure adrenaline.

Jon Moxley v Satoshi Kojima (****) - The stakes were nebulous, the build was abrupt, yet this was a fantastic match and tremendous showcase for an underappreciated great who has been more or less just toiling for a bunch of years as a NJPW Dad. Same deal for Nagata, and I assume Tenzan is the same, Taka Michinoku even -- let's see it. - I have to assume the Cozy Lariat might have put Mox down, but Kojima otherwise played the hits (Koji Cutter, Piledriver, Brainbustaaaa) in a big way and Moxley once again proved he's become a very well-rounded wrestler who can match the intensity of just about any former IWGP champion. - More to the point-- KAZE NI NARE -- out of nowhere, too. Or out of nowhere to those not paying attention to the whereabouts of Minoru Suzuki (Right, he's just over here to fight Daniel Garcia and not Mox?), which I guess is to my own peril. Wow, though. Surprise Number 1- a complete surprise, and a welcome one. Let's have it.

Dr Britt Baker, DMD (C) v Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship (****) - I love Kris and her best friends but she didn't have a prayer of dethroning Britt. She got one promo, several weeks ago, and though she did make a meal of Hayter and Rebel, the chase has been abrupt and not given much discussion, other than Mark Henry and whomever else acknowledging what is extremely evident -- Statlander is stronger than she looks, and she looks really strong. They've got her doing Cesaro-level 'modify your grip while holding your opponent's entire weight' nonsense, and it's amazing and scary. - Even with the reign of the good doctor not being credibly threatened, this was an excellent match that demonstrated the continued growth of the competitors in the women's division, even as it underlined that their storylines remain undercooked and perfunctory: Orange Cassidy whipping off his shades to urge Stat to get up was a beautiful moment. Britt's Panama Sunrise, also, too sweet. Statlander eating shit on her 451 and her pendulum moonsault was properly brutal, as were Britt's curb stomps. Really great match between these two. - Again, if they had bothered to write anything into this story, such as Kris' alien physiology making her immune to the lockjaw or something... actually, maybe that's a terrible idea. it's an idea. Undefeated challenger is defeated, on to the next for Dr Britt. Statlander and OC should tag against some of the boys.

The Young Bucks (C) v The Lucha Bros for the AEW World Tag Team Championship(*****+) - Can't not mention the insane entrance lined up for Fenix and Penta. It was bewildering, it was enchanting, it was aggressive, it was hype. It also reminded everybody how very badly we all wanted the Lucha Bros to win. The crowd has been setting new peaks with their volume since Punk showed up, but things were absolutely thunderous and ecstatic at the end of this match. Absolutely valid response. I yelled on the couch. - Nick's facial hair was a bigger tell that it was time for the Bucks to lose than anything else about this build. There's literally nowhere to go from there -- they've done the hair, the bandanas, the kicks, the animal print, the dangly earrings -- peak visual heel for this time and place. - Sincerely thought this was going to be too much of a full sprint spot-fest (the PWG-esque circle of trading blows is not really 'my thing') but even so they kept finding gears, and ramping and ramping and adding blood and brutality along the way. Even a bit of levity, with the tacked up sneaker, followed by the sincerity of Penta throwing himself in harm's way to protect his brother. Immense match, I think you'd have to go back to the Bucks vs the Addiction and MCMGs Ladder War to find a more thrilling tag team gimmick match. - If there's a single flaw to be found it's in the production not really settling on wide angles for simultaneous action at the start of the match. They figured it out. - Rey Fenix is the best luchador in the world.

Women's Casino Battle Royale (**1/2) - If nothing else, this really shows off that they now have a surplus of women's wrestlers who deserve time to hang in the ring. Unsurprisingly, the match picked right up when Thunder Rosa and then Jamie Hayter got to the ring, with additional props to Tay Conti and Jade Cargill, who was dumped rather unceremoniously given her general booking... - Okay, there was something else. Welcome to the rechristened Ruby Soho, who I've not seen a lot of outside of her extremely limited showcase in WWE, but she has so many friends in the back and in the industry and that's never for nothing, not in wrestling, anyway. Intrigued to see where she fits, and if the women ever get more than a match per show. - Touched on this in the preamble but this was the roughest part of the night for the home viewer, just weird decisions on cutting away from various entrances to show... nothing in particular happening. Also while the commitment to not-kayfabing the countdown clock is... admirable? It makes the pacing hinky. - Almost everyone who got new gear for tonight was looking like the white ranger -- Nyla, Swole, Bunny, someone I'm missing. Except Anna Jay, whose stars and glitter gear looked great.

MJF v Chris Jericho for the fate of Jericho's in-ring career (***) - MJF's unauthorized homage to Y2J's entrance: good. Fozzy's guitarist going off tempo with the instrumental Judas: weak, and would've been sad if this were the end for Jericho. Especially as the build has felt... muted, somehow. - Props to the commentary for continuing to feed the red herring of 'in AEW,' as a caveat to stipulation, it did feel like... a remote possibility that MJF would win. - Credit to Aubrey for calling this one down the middle and not putting the fix in for her friend Jericho, and I guess the Dusty finish will give MJF plenty to gripe about. - MJF wrestles with a pure heel style, holds, chops, blocks, and Jericho is fifty years old, so the level of wrestling on exhibition in these matches is well beside the point. It was solid to good, and I was fighting burn out from the first half of the card's level of excitement.

CM Punk v Darby Allin (***1/2) - There are a couple benefits of Darby as a dance partner, and it's certainly better than having to watch Punk return against like, QT Marshall or Shawn Spears. Darby does make everyone look slow, but he can also be tossed around, and this raises his profile even in defeat, obviously. That said, the stakes here are... meta, at best, in that we want to see the man look good and justify the hype. It's a weird thing to root for. He certainly does look good. (Tights? Tights!) - It's fun to theorize about actually booking an angle where Punk is rusty and needs to regain his prowess, and maybe he'll stumble, but maybe the most we get out of that angle is hitting the GTS a little close to the ropes so Darby falls right out of the ring, in what was, for me, the spot that justified this whole match. - Sting's proud step-dad aura is still a hell of a thing, I really liked the end of the match kudos all around. - Match was good, hard to hang my emotions on. I wasn't watching WWE when Punk was in WWE. Definitely feeding off the excitement of others a bit here, and he sure can talk. I'd like to see him cultivate a stable, certainly.

Paul Wight v QT Marshall (n/r) - ...popcorn match? QT Marshall is like the anti-Daniel Garcia in that while his prominence and presence is just as inexplicable, I don't want it to continue, and he doesn't justify it in the process. - Match was two minutes longer than it needed to be.

Kenny Omega (c) v Christian Cage for the AEW World Championship (****1/2) - Crowd was both burnt out and more or less waiting for the post-match angle. Which I get. it's hard to cruise to the main event and having seen all the different things we've already seen on this card, even a singular performer like Kenny Omega and a legend with whom he (surprisingly? fittingly?) has superb chemistry with in Christian Cage were up against it to deliver something memorable. - Context dependent, I can definitely see rating this below their Rampage match, especially since... I mean Christian isn't winning the AEW title off Kenny at this or probably any other event. - But! It was really good! It was very good! They really do match-up well, and Kenny's v-trigger has rarely looked more devastating than when it knocks Christian flat. Christian got cut open in a novel and initially worrying way, and Kenny followed up a botched moonsault with a harder version of the same move off a rail, but it was a really great match and it deserved more energy than was available.

Post-Show - Calling back and inverting the end of Dynamite, The Elite strut about the ring, slightly less stoked than they were on Wednesday, but with the Bucks smiling through the pain, and Jungle Boy once again subjected to violence for his misguided heroism, Kenny 'not much a promo' Omega lays down a killer line about nobody being fit to challenge him who isn't unavailable, already tired or dead. - The Undertaker ADAM COLE, BAY BAY as Surprise #3 was a minor stroke of brilliance, and a fun swerve because while it's exciting to see him, his appearance at this point in the narrative does nothing to solve the problem of The Elite beating up Christian and Jungle Boy. Unless he's still sore about his unsolved murder, which he isn't. Storytime with Adam Cole is back and it's beautiful. Also Jungle Boy died for this. - Okay. But. Just. Okay. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are All Elite. They will hopefully tag together. Bryan will head to NJPW, almost definitely. Minoru Suzuki just walked in and started slugging on Mox. The Forbidden Door is wide open. Will Kenny Omega one day return to Wrestle Kingdom? There are so many possibilities and they are all very exciting. This was a phenomenal show and it didn't have Hangman Page, Cody Rhodes, FTR, Santana and Ortiz, PAC, Andrade, Sammy Guevara, Team Taz, and the rest.

- Wrestling is good, actually. Imagine watching like five hours of wrestling and loving wrestling at the end of it.

*What competes- WK11, Dominion 2018, 2019, DoN 2019, 2021.. All-In, probably. Wrestlemania 30. A few Takeovers. Kris Wolf's retirement show...

#aew #aew all out #all out 2021 #cm punk #bryan danielson #kenny omega #christian cage #chris jericho #mjf #darby allin #the young bucks #penta el zero m #rey fenix #miro #eddie kingston #sting #jungle boy #kris statlander #dr britt baker dmd #orange cassidy #thunder rosa #ruby soho #adam cole #the elite #jon moxley #satoshi kojima #wrestling reviews

[puddygeeks]

𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝑶𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 - 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒅 𝒙 𝑶𝑪 - 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 8: 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑶𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚

Masterlist

Rating: Mature

Summary: 𝐴𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝐴𝑈 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦, 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡.

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Spencer Reid x OC

Status: Ongoing

LONG TERM ONGOING PROJECT :)

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𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 & 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝐴𝑈'𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘. 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤.

Eᴘɪsᴏᴅᴇ: Pʀᴇ Sᴇᴀsᴏɴ 1

Chapter Eight

“You know, it’s remarkably similar to Brighton Pier here.” I commented, fanning myself in desperation under the scolding sun and Ricky pushed his large sunglasses down to allow me to feel the full force of his judgement. “Well, except that it’s unmistakably hotter, obviously.”

“How dare you compare this beautiful sandy bliss to your pebble filled nightmare?” He remarked with a sweeping hand gesture at the beach, before sipping out of his straw with offence and I rolled my eyes at him.

Ricky has always been a force to be reckoned with, but as he got older, he only grew more confident and I was constantly inspired by how comfortable he was in himself. His thick brunette hair reached his collarbones now, but he currently had it pushed back out of his face with a colourful bandana so that he could tan. In order for him to worship the sun to his full capacity, he was wearing a worryingly small pair of shorts and had stretched himself across a lounger like the diva that he absolutely was.

“Hmm. Your actual beach is better, I’ll give you that one. But you’re seriously lacking on drag queens, quirky cafes and fancy boutiques to shop in.” I pointed out, fondly recalling the whirlwind weekend that we’d spent in the British city the last time that he’d visited me and he shrugged in defeat.

“Touché. You win this round.” He admitted, laying back to bask himself again, whilst I shuffled my sensitive skin further under the sun umbrella that he’d reluctantly agreed to allow me to bring over on the condition that it didn’t cause a single shred of shade over him.

It was a beautiful day, only improved by the quality of my company and I had to admit that I was endlessly pleased to have decided to extend my stay for another few days. Despite the years that had passed since we had last been in each other's physical company, Ricky was still able to put me at ease in a way that no one else had ever been able to emulate and I cherished the opportunity to simply relax with him at the Virginia Boardwalk.

“So, what’s it like being an FBI agent?” Ricky asked, turning his attention back to me with a smug expression. “Is it wonderful knowing that you have the power to stop anyone in their tracks? I would absolutely abuse my power for evil, but I know you’re too pure for that.” He muttered with delight and I chuckled at him knowingly. The things that he would use an FBI badge to accomplish didn’t even bear thinking about.

“Darling. I already told you. I’m not an FBI agent. I’m still a technical analyst for Interpol. I’m just on loan.” I repeated, already losing count of how many times I had made this distinction, but he still seemed as unconvinced by this as he was the first time that I told him.

“Oh, semantics! Sounds to me like you’re working for them and considering that you saved a girl from a burning building like a freaking hero, I’m just going to treat you like one.” He argued, seeming amused as if I were simply downplaying things, when realistically, it was a case of him dramatising the arrangement, as he did with most things. “We have an FBI agent in the family. That’s pretty cool.”

“There is absolutely no reasoning with you.” I groaned, shaking my head in embarrassment and he shrugged dismissively, as if this were an obvious fact that I should have accepted already. “How’s university going? Have you sorted your accommodation for your second year yet?”

“College is going fine. I’ve done a fantastic job being the life of the party, so I have plenty of offers for people to live with. My only struggle is choosing people who aren’t completely filthy as housemates. I can’t live in a grubbly little student hovel.” He explained, seeming repulsed by the very idea and I raised a brow at his diva attitude. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not being dramatic. My first year in dorms, I shared a bathroom with straight men. You don’t understand the trauma that I’ve lived through.”

“Does your mother know that you haven’t arranged housing yet?” I interrogated, already sensing a hint of dishonesty in him and his features quickly contorted into a guilty look. “Rituparan! I understand being picky, but you’ll end up with no choice other than to live with the grimy jocks if you don’t hurry up. You need to get organised.” I scolded, earning an eye roll so severe that I worried his face might never recover from the strain.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Alley Cat. I’ll get it sorted. Now, drink your mocktail before it gets too diluted.” He ordered, sipping down the last of his drink and placing the little umbrella from the top in his hair with a flourish. The moment that he faced me, I knew that he had mischief in mind.

“Okay. Are you ready? Who am I?” He pouted so dramatically that his cheeks all but disappeared and I almost choked on my drink.

“Oh, too easy! That is the unforgettable Lola, the only woman on the planet who considers a cocktail umbrella the perfect hair accessory for any occasion.” I answered, earning a cheer and wicked laugh of satisfaction from him. “You know, I love having someone else to mock dad’s exes with. You’d think the fact that he only dates women my age would mean we’d have something in common, but alas, apparently a sense of humour isn’t shared by age group.”

“Of course they’re not funny! The only thing those girls come with is a price tag.” He sassed, flipping his hair back out of his face in a ridiculously bitchy gesture and I was immediately reminded of just how much I loved him. “At least you don’t have to pretend to like Tanya anymore. Honestly, if she had a second brain cell, she’d be dangerous.”

“Oh, no! They broke up?” I gasped, almost sounding convincing with my upset and he whipped his head around with drastic confusion. “I guess she had to bleed my dad dry of pocket money eventually.” I drawled, prompting a small yelp of surprise and a quick high five from Ricky.

Tanya had been dating my dad for just over six months now, so I knew that she was likely to be approaching her expiration date soon. His routine was well known amongst the entire family now and in an effort to counter the embarrassment that it caused for my mother and I, it had become a running joke for us all to share.

“Didn’t you hear the details?” Ricky crooned, turning to face me fully on his lounger with a devious expression and I shrugged nonchalantly. “According to Maji, she tried to charge her lip fillers to his business credit card. Caused all sorts of uproar at the office. I guess she’ll be making that duck face at someone else’s wallet now.” He divulged, pouting into an exaggerated model face for effect and I struggled not to splutter my drink everywhere in response.

Ricky’s mother always seemed to know everything that was happening in our family and I’d long believed that this was where he’d learned to dig information out of people. She was abnormally gifted in guilt tripping the truth out of even the most hardened family members and yet, she doted on Ricky as if he was the very thing that made her world turn. If I ever wanted to know what was going on in my dad’s life, I knew that I could rely on her to be up to date with events.

Before I could manage to recover enough to speak, my mobile rang with it’s sharp tone and I had to clamber around in my bag to find it. As soon as I saw the private number, my eyes grew wide in dread.

“Oh, no! The bat phone?” Ricky asked, seeming genuinely horrified that I might be called into work and I quickly nodded, before holding a finger to my lips to shush him.

“Agent Hawthorne.” I answered, feeling utterly ridiculous referring to myself this way in my current company. This insecurity was only made worse by Ricky sliding his shades back on in a judgemental manner and I gestured to him to stop distracting me.

“Alice. This is Hotch. Are you still in Virginia?”

The voice on the other end of the phone was as serious as ever and though I was enormously relieved to find that it wasn’t anyone from Interpol trying to order me home, I felt nerves building in my chest already.

“Yes, Sir. I am.” I reported, noticing Ricky raising his brows at me in interest and I knew that he was dying to know what was being said.

“I realise that you’re spending time with family, but would you be able to come into the office for a meeting? I have a matter that I would like to discuss with you in person, if possible.” Hotch requested, allowing me absolutely no hint of the cause for this meeting and I felt my face change into one of alarm.

My mind had already begun racing with all of the possible complications that I could be facing for my actions at the base now that all of the documentation for the case had been submitted and I was terrified that if any further charges were brought against me, they could contradict the deal that I made with Interpol to avoid imprisonment.

“Yes, Sir. I’ll come in right away.” I stuttered, attempting to fight down my terror. My hands shook with nerves as I hung up on the call and Ricky looked positively thrilled to have been given the opportunity to witness this conversation, as if he’d just been personally included in a matter of national security.

“It’s a good thing that you went for virgin cocktails, my dear. I have to get back to Quantico.” I confessed, quickly burying my nerves so that he wouldn’t sense trouble.

“Oh my god! This is so exciting!” He announced, hopping straight to his feet and flustering to grab his belongings that were spread across every surface around him. “One cab for Agent Hawthorne, coming right up!”

--⥈--

Outfit: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/460070918191621506/

Standing in the lift of the Quantico building, I was overwhelmed with anxiety. I had been in such a rush to get here that it hadn’t even crossed my mind to change clothes, or to do anything to prepare my appearance at all. Though I knew that I didn’t have any more office clothes with me anyway, I acknowledged that I could at least have found something that provided a little more coverage and didn’t leave me feeling so exposed.

The idea of walking through an office where everyone was dressed smartly, wearing a white floral mini dress was an absolute nightmare and I realised that I only had a few minutes to make any changes. All I could think to do was to untie my waist length hair, shaking it out to at least cover some of my arms and attempting to make it look styled.

The doors opened to reveal a full office, with most of the team present at their desks and I gulped nervously. My dress felt as if it had actually shrunk in size since the beach now that I would be seen in it by people that I had worked with and I had to remind myself that I had bigger things to worry about with being called to come here than my attire.

JJ’s heels clicked on the polished floor as she entered the reception, her professional appearance clashing horribly with the casual style of my low top converses and I tried not to feel intimidated.

“Alice! I know that I said we wanted to see you again soon, but this is a little crazy.” She breezed as she approached me with a warm smile and I tried to force myself to relax. “Hotch is just finishing a call and he’ll be out to meet you.” She explained, before her gaze fell onto my outfit and I felt myself physically become stiff under her scrutiny. “You look pretty!”

“Oh, thanks. I was just on the beach. I’ve already worn all of my work clothes so, um, this is all I have?” I offered, shifting awkwardly and she smiled sympathetically at me.

“We’ve all been called in at unexpected times. I was literally collected from home in my pajamas once. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” She soothed, leaning closer to me as she spoke so that no one would overhear my concern and I let out a long breath in relief.

“Besides, I know that Hotch is just going to appreciate you being able to come in at such short notice. I hope you got to enjoy at least a little bit of your time off before we intruded?” She asked with an honest concern in her eyes and just as I opened my mouth to see if she could give me even the slightest hint of what to expect, Hotch stepped into the room.

“Alice. Thank you for coming so quickly.” He stated in his usual serious manner, reaching straight to shake my hand and I complied immediately, forcing a smile through my nerves. “I’ll try not to take up too much of your time. Let’s talk in my office.” He offered, opening the glass doors to the main office for me and I stepped through hesitantly.

Within approximately two steps of entering the space, I could already feel eyes on me and tried not to allow myself to be unnerved by the attention. The anxious voice in the back of my mind screamed that I was the most inappropriate looking member of staff to ever enter this office, but I forced myself to keep my head held high as Ricky had always preached.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Spencer was watching me from his desk as if he’d been stopped in his tracks and I waved subtly at him, prompting him to hurriedly do the same back in a fluster. Morgan passed Hotch distractedly, before he noticed that I was following him with obvious surprise.

“Looking good, Poppins. Welcome back.” He muttered as he squeezed beside me, sneaking a charming smile and thanks to the combined warmth of the two men, once again I felt my nerves beginning to settle slightly.

Hotch encouraged me to take a seat in his office, before closing the door behind us and I felt as if I couldn’t think straight in the silence that followed. He settled into the seat opposite me, knitting his hands together on the desk between us and despite feeling before that I had reached the point where I could understand his expressions, his face at this moment was completely unreadable.

“For a start, I want to discuss what happened at the Twenty Nine Palms base.” He opened, his stern eyes studying my face for every minute reaction and though my heart sank at the suggested topic, I nodded back calmly.

“Whilst it can’t be denied that your actions resulted in saving a young girl's life, they were also unacceptably reckless. You demonstrated absolutely no regard for your own safety and jeopardised the reputation of the whole team. You are aware that we appreciate your support, but I’m not convinced that you realise we are legally and morally responsible for your wellbeing whilst you are under our service and that I would be personally held accountable for your death as a result of your irresponsible actions.” He lectured, his voice sounding even more severe than it had when I was in the ambulance and I felt my confidence crumbling with every word that he spoke.

It became clear that he had paused his speech to allow me the chance to explain myself and I cleared my throat to speak with a feeling of terror.

“I’m truly sorry for my actions, Sir. You are entirely right. I was reckless and selfish, and I didn’t consider how my behaviour would reflect on your team, and especially on you. I’m not going to make excuses. I just want you to know that I accept any and all consequences that you feel are appropriate.” I answered calmly, ensuring that I kept my tone calm and respectful, and he sighed as he studied me.

“I didn’t call you in here to punish you, Alice. This is a conversation, not a lecture. What I aim to understand is why an agent with no field experience, or any personal stake in the case, felt that they had no choice other than to risk their own life to save a child who they’d never met?” He clarified, his entire demeanour remaining unchanged even as he moved to a gentler tactic of questioning and I chewed on my lip.

It took a few moments for me to consider how best to answer this, but eventually I decided that I respected this team as a whole too much to lie. I prepared myself for a conversation that I knew would likely change his opinion of me permanently, but assured myself that honesty was a necessity at this point.

“When I was fifteen years old, my mother was abducted.” I began, glancing down at my hands as I spoke to avoid the intensity of his gaze. “It took four months for her to be found and when she came home, she was a different person. I never saw the mother that went missing again.” I paused, clearing my throat to keep the emotion from my voice before continuing.

“Three years later, a girl at my university went missing. She wasn’t the first, but the stakes were high as all of the others had been found murdered. I obsessed over everything that my mother had survived to come home and I couldn’t imagine how awful it would be to endure that at just eighteen years old. So, I began looking into the case and after a while of digging, I compiled enough information to anonymously assist law enforcement in safely recovering the missing girl. I realised then that I had the skills to make a difference to the world and I kept going, one missing person at a time, until Interpol found me.”

“You were given a choice between conviction, or working for them?” Hotch asked knowingly, as if he’d seen this very situation many times before and I recalled the recent conversation that I’d had with Penelope about hackers frequently being recruited through their questionable activities. I nodded slowly in response, deciding that this wasn’t the time to divulge any further information about the circumstances of my hiring.

“I didn’t join this field by choice. It was never the plan for my life. Don’t get me wrong, I always wanted to help people. I actually trained to become a psychiatrist, like my dad, but a job like this had never even been on my radar. Yet, here I am.” I explained, shrugging awkwardly as I realised that this sounded like I was ungrateful for the mercy that I was shown and I tried to be more careful with my wording when I spoke again.

“When I was standing in front of that building, watching the smoke pour out of it, all I could think about was how my mother told me that she spent every minute of every day that she was in captivity praying to come home. I could just imagine Amanda doing the same thing, hoping with everything she had that someone would save her and I was right there.” I stopped as frustration seeped into my voice, allowing myself to regain control so that I could resume my explanation.

“I knew that there was a chance that she was still alive and I felt like everything that had happened, all of the crazy unplanned situations that had led me to being there at that exact time were so that I could save her. It sounds insane, but it was like my legs moved before I had even decided what I was going to do. For the first time in my career, I trusted my team, this team to have my back and with all due respect, Sir, it was the right thing to do.” I finally finished my rant, forcing myself to meet his eyes to allow him to see my sincerity and I was shocked to find that his face was filled with understanding, causing me to realise that he was already filling in the blanks between my words.

“You said that this was the first time that you felt this way about your team. You shouldn’t be working with people that you can’t rely on. In our line of work, we are forced to face horrors that most people can’t even begin to imagine. The people around you should be your anchor in the storm.” Hotch advised, causing my eyes to become watery and I sniffed back my emotions, desperate not to cry in front of him. “You have options, Alice.”

“What options? Prison?” I scoffed, recalling my conversation with Shepard with a flinch.

Though I had thought in detail about leaving Interpol many times since my recruitment, I knew in a serious light that it was merely a fantasy and nothing more. Without my employment to them, I was considered as nothing more than a threat to security and returning to normal civilian life was no longer something that I could consider.

“Join our team.” Hotch offered, causing my mouth to drop open in shock and I noticed the corners of his lips twitch slightly upward at my reaction.

“It’s clear that you are neither happy, nor valued at Interpol. You have already proven the difference that you could make across multiple cases and the entire team have agreed that you make an excellent addition.” He elaborated, listing reasons that I struggled to even associate with myself and I couldn’t seem to form a response, as I stuttered in the silence.

“But, I-Sir, we just discussed how I jeopardised this team. I don’t mean to seem rude, or ungrateful because I absolutely am not, but I fail to see how I’ve given you the impression that I would make a suitable field agent. You already have Penelope for technical support, so I’m not sure what else you could need me for here.” I pointed out, hardly able to wrap my head around the sudden detour that this conversation had taken and found myself baffled at the very concept of him offering to employ me.

“When your team brought you for the Valeno case, you showed potential that they were purposefully dismissive of. After you left, Gideon suggested that I speak to you about a position within the BAU. Unfortunately, at the time we didn’t have the available resources to do this. Due to the recent successes of this team, we’ve been granted the budget to expand and I would be foolish to ignore a candidate who has already contributed to that success. You are a good fit and the first choice of every member in this unit.” He presented, completely disregarding my concerns and when I looked at him with confusion, he sighed.

“I have discussed the recent incident with Gideon and we share the opinion that with the correct mentoring and the support of a team that believes in your worth, you could be an exceptional field agent.” He divulged, causing me to raise my brows impossibly higher in surprise.

It was bizarre enough that Hotch wanted me to join the team, but finding out that Gideon had been the instigator for this offer blew what remained of my psyche to pieces and Hotch cleared his throat to regain my attention from my inner turmoil.

“The offer would, of course, be conditional. It would be based on your own commitment to overcoming your experiences. None of us are immune to personal biases and each of us have elements of our pasts that make certain cases more challenging for us than the others. However, we rely on each other to hold us accountable, and have all learned to be objective and to know our limits. If you think this is something that you can also undertake, then there is a place here for you. As long as you want it.” Hotch clarified, causing me to stare back at him in blatant disbelief.

“I-I honestly don’t know what to say.” I stuttered, fiddling with my hair anxiously and Hotch cracked a rare smile at me. “It isn’t as simple for me as just changing state. My life is in France now. I’ve already left my mum behind once in England. I’d also have to renounce my dual nationality and become an American citizen.” I thought aloud, considering the enormity of the decision before me and Hotch nodded in understanding.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” I asked nervously, unsure of what else to say and Hotch seemed completely unsurprised by my reaction, as if he’d actually been expecting it.

“Of course. It’s a serious decision that you aren’t expected to make right away. Take all of the time that you need.”

--⥈--

“Girl. Your life is crazy!” Ricky gasped, studying me with a fascinated expression and I had to laugh at his dramatic reaction, despite mostly agreeing with the sentiment. “You’re gonna say yes, right?”

I sighed deeply as I considered this question and the way that he considered me now revealed exactly how insane he thought I was for even needing to think about it. In order to avoid his prying eyes, I stood to start clearing away the takeaway boxes that littered my hotel room bed, but Ricky refused to be silenced.

“Alice. Honey. What are you doing?! Life at Interpol has been miserable for you since day one. You said it yourself. I can’t imagine anything there that could be worth turning this offer down for!” He scolded, staring at me in complete disbelief and I shook my head at his youthful attitude to things.

“It’s more complicated than that. I never planned to work in this sector at all, much less as an FBI agent!” I explained, still struggling to process the fact that this was even an option that was open to me. It felt as if it had come from nowhere and I was already overwhelmed with the mere concept of making such a serious life decision.

“This isn’t just a job that we’re talking about here. It’s a completely different life. I need to be sure that I can handle it, before I move away from everything that I know. I’d hardly ever get to see mum and Roger.” I clarified, struggling to make him understand the severity of the situation.

“You never visit your mama anyway! I should know. I overhear Maji talking to her about it enough.” He groaned, only causing me to feel even worse about the idea of moving even further away from her.

“Besides, if you took it then you’d be living right near me and there isn’t any better benefit than that!” He added, posing across the bed as if he were the most important factor in the proposal and I chuckled at him with fondness. He sighed at my lack of enthusiasm, before dropping to a more serious tone.

“The most important thing for all of us is your happiness. You’d be crazy to stay somewhere that is making your whole existence taste like bad Aloo Gobi. And you deserve better than that! You deserve for your life to always be like Maji’s cooking, full of love and happiness.” He described, seeming as if he’d distracted himself along the way and he glanced back down at his plastic container of curry with disdain.

“You realise that you have a gift for being able to relate literally anything to food, right?” I remarked playfully, observing him with amazement and he shrugged carelessly.

“Food is one of the most enjoyable things that sustains us. It’s important.” He argued passionately and I couldn’t think of a single point to dispute his statement with, having to allow him the pleasure of being correct. “Fortunately, Mumbai Gardens is able to provide an almost authentic experience, right here in the heart of Virginia. A good meal can heal many things, you know. Even the stress of your biggest ever life decision.”

“That’s high praise coming from you. Could it pass the home test though, do you think?” I queried with curiosity as I disposed of the remaining trash with the Mumbai Gardens logo on it and he scoffed as if I’d asked something utterly ridiculous.

“Not a chance! Even Mama would be able to tell you that it wasn’t completely correct. You know, she’s actually been with Maji long enough now to have better cooking taste than some of my other actual Indian friends.” He revealed, showing his love for his step mom, who happened to be my paternal aunt Heather, clear in his voice.

I couldn’t withhold a wide grin as I thought of my aunts, both filled with a warmth that radiated even in my memories. Heather and Ricky’s mum, Nabhitha, had been married for almost ten years now and were the main reason that I still had any faith in true love. They had done an admirable job of raising Ricky together, with Heather always treating him as if he was her biological son and I was endlessly proud of them. Thanks to them, Ricky had grown into the confident, funny teenager that I loved. Their blissful blended family gave me hope for my own future.

“I just had an idea.” Ricky breezed, sitting up particularly straight as if he could barely contain his enthusiasm and I turned back to face him with interest. “If you take this job, we could totally rent a place together! I could be your stylist extraordinaire, in-house councillor and professional Indian chef.” He suggested, his eyes gleaming with excitement and I scoffed loudly at the idea.

“Absolutely not. I’ve already got enough on my plate, without considering parenting you, Ricky.” I laughed, wincing at even the thought of dealing with his dramatics on a daily basis and he gasped at my refusal, seeming as if he could never have expected me to refuse his generous offer. “You can be as offended as you like, but I still don’t have the energy to deal with a college kid in my space. I’m not gonna be your easy way out of student housing. Pick some other teenagers to live with already.”

“Fine. I was offering you a lifestyle of sheer luxury, but I guess I’ll just have to take my fabulous self somewhere that I’ll be better appreciated.” He announced, acting as if he were hurt by my denial, before quickly softening back into a smile barely a few seconds later. “You should definitely think some more about taking the job though, queen. You deserve a fresh start.”

“We’ll see.” I conceded with a chuckle, desperate to simply end the conversation. “Now, which film do you want to rent?”

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[gaynoctgar]

Prompto’s Brotherhood Arc is Fatphobic 2, Electric Boogaloo: Haley’s Back and She is Pissed

This essay is going to be an even deeper dive into the fatphobia that permeates Prompto’s character arc, and is going to handle the issue with more grace and nuance than I did the first time.  This is also going to explore the effects the arc had on me as a player, and on other players who share my experiences.  It is going to be very organized, long, and methodical (word count: ~5300).  It’s a bit of a doozy, but it is something I feel it is very important.  I have been wanting to elaborate on my previous Prompto essay for a long time, and for reasons I will detail below, I feel that I am ready to do this now.

Consider this a sequel to my earlier essay, and I will be referencing it throughout.

Stand back everyone; Haley’s about to get mean and personal. 

Under the cut for safety and length, please avoid if the subject is triggering to you!  Take care of yourselves! 

Thank you all so, so much for hearing what I have to say.

TW: fatphobia, eating disorders (both in terms of Prompto and of the author)

Intro

All right everyone, buckle in.  Last time I think I was a little bit too nice about this.  Last time I think I let a little too much go.  But I’m a full three years older now and I’ve seen a few more things.  And now I think it’s time that I really just let loose and criticize the fuck out of Square for something they have consistently done wrong, and that is the way they have handled issues with weight in regards to one Prompto Argentum.

Many of you may know that Prompto is one of my favorite characters in anything ever.  This very sideblog, in fact, used to be named for him (old url was promptoisbi).  It’s because of this that I hate that he’s so consistently shit on by the narrative, but right now we are talking about the out-of-universe insidiousness of the fatphobia that completely permeates this story.

The first essay is right here but the TL;DR version of that is essentially “the way that Prompto’s weight loss in Brotherhood is portrayed as a moral and positive good and in fact necessary for him to be a protagonist is immensely fatphobic.  Because the game refuses to problematize this, I am going to, and I’m going to contextualize that with my own experiences to help explain why this is so fucked.”  At that time, I was recovering from long-term anorexia, and I think that permeated a lot of what I wrote. I don’t regret this, and I still think the essay is pretty solid.  But I’m not a woman who won’t admit her own limitations, and one of mine at the time was that a lot of my fatphobia was internalized.  Now that I am healing, now that I have talked to other people with experiences that mirror my own (notably @chubbyargentum), I think I am in a better place to articulate what upsets me.  

The rest of the essay will be divided into six parts, themed as follows:

A redux of my central criticism in the first essay, that the narrative treats Prompto’s weight loss as a positive, moral good.  In fact, it’s necessary for him to be seen as a protagonist.

Detailing that Prompto’s weight loss was directly motivated by another character, and this other character does not apologize to Prompto at all for his previous behavior.  We are in fact supposed to believe that him saying what he said was a good thing.

Evidence that Prompto still legitimately has an eating disorder from his trauma. This goes unexamined by the story, and in fact seems to be actively encouraged by other characters, notably Ignis and Noct.  This isn’t to bash the characters, but the way they are written.

Points 1 and 3 combined produce a genuinely triggering experience for players like me; this is where I detail some of my own history with weight and eating problems.

Anticipating pushback, I propose two alternative scenarios that avoid the problems outlined in parts 1-4: one where Prompto doesn’t lose weight, and one where he does but it’s handled a lot more sensitively.

A personal look at what (and who) actually motivated me to do a Part 2 to my essay.

Followed by a TL;DR conclusion if you want to jump right to the heart of things.  I know this is a long essay, and I don’t apologize, but I do want to make it accessible to those who might have a harder time reading something so long.

Time to knock down these points, one by one:

Part 1: Equating Weight Loss to Morality

Prompto’s episode in Brotherhood, “Dogged Runner,” serves as our introduction both to Prompto as a character, and pulls double-duty to show us how he becomes involved in the life of a prince.  Gladio and Ignis’ episodes did not have to do this double work because they are in Noct’s life by occupation, but Prompto, being a commoner, needs this introduction. Unfortunately, this episode is not twice as long to handle the double workload it gave itself, and the plot clearly suffers for it.  For those who don’t remember, Prompto seems to be a child who more or less raises himself--a shy boy who is in the same grade as Noctis.  He is quite obviously overweight, and the episode in fact chooses to focus the bulk of its attention on that rather than how he met Noctis (this will be explored in Part 2, below).  This is what I take issue with.

Due to....an encounter, we’ll call it, with his royal classmate, Prompto becomes motivated to “improve himself to become someone worthy of a prince,” as described in Episode Prompto.  Right off the bat, this description is implying that in order to be worthy of Noctis’ companionship--even independently of Noctis’ own actions, which will be problematized in the next section--he must be different than the way he is.

This...doesn’t make sense.  We already saw that Prompto was a kind and generous soul, if rather shy.  He took in “Tiny” of his own accord; he fixed her up and fed her and made sure she was healthy, solely out of the goodness of his heart.  What else could this literal child need to “improve” about himself to make friends with Noctis?  Well...the episode focuses on this in a way I would almost argue is objectifying.  We see in excruciating detail how this literal child (I feel the need to mention again that Prompto is 12 years old and doesn’t seem to have consistent parents) approaches the world with a black-and-white mentality….that is, he seems to focus exclusively on eating salads and running an excessive amount (we’ll get to this more in Part 3).  Further objectification occurs when we are shown repeatedly that a minor is taking “progress shots” of himself in his underwear.  

A bit of a tangent, but the way that last one is drawn...y’all did remember Prompto was 14/15 at that time, right?  Extra H points for Square, right there.

So yeah, once all of this happens, Prompto is finally deemed by the narrative to be acceptable enough to enter the life of a prince.  Basically, if you’re fat, get a goddamn eating disorder and you can be a protagonist!

And I’m actually gonna take a second right now to address the more common, and generous, interpretation/criticism I am anticipating.  I know what SE was trying to do here.  They were trying to show us that Prompto’s “self-esteem” was the problem.  That he needed to gain more confidence, and losing the weight didn’t actually solve that problem.  I know this is the intent because the hotel scene exists.  But...answer me this.  Why is losing weight treated as an analogue for Prompto’s internal character growth?  Why is losing weight an analogue for literally anything?  If the issue was Prompto’s insecurity and shyness, there are a dozen other ways to show that. I can think of one right now: maybe have Noctis try to make friends and Prompto runs away because he gets nervous and tongue-tied and that’s the source of their lingering awkwardness.  There you go, much better episode.

Part 2: Noctis is a dick

And I say this as a Noct stan.  Y’all know I love him.  With all my heart, I do.  But...I don’t think he starts the game as a good person, in this respect at least.  I do think he becomes one.  And I think that his growth and maturation over the course of the game is absolutely a treat to watch.  

I’m gonna immediately qualify this by saying I do not think Noct is a dick on purpose.  Noctis is, in fact, unfailingly kind in most situations and this is one of his greater strengths.  I just think he is just as much a victim of internalized fatphobia as Prompto is, despite not having the experience of being fat.  I think two things contribute to this: biases that went unchecked by any of his caretakers, and genuine social difficulty brought about by his upbringing.

But now it’s time to get to….the incident.  The reason these two know each other.  After Prompto takes care of Pryna, she runs to deliver her letter to Noctis and eventually returns to Luna, as was her original mission.  Luna, noticing Prompto’s name on a bandana tied around Pryna’s leg, tasks Gentiana to help her find this kind soul so she can thank him.  Luna does, and Prompto receives a letter that soon becomes his prized possession.  The princess operated on the assumption that Prompto and Noctis were friends, seeing as Prompto encountered Pryna, and asked that he remain “ever at [Noctis’] side.”  Prompto takes these words to heart, and resolves to introduce himself to his royal classmate.

Here’s where the problems begin.  We know that Prompto is shy because we have seen him before.  He kinda kept to himself, away from the other kids, content to take his pictures.  To Square’s credit, I was really expecting Prompto to be a target of bullying because of his weight and he wasn’t….yet.  This actually makes his interaction with Noctis a lot worse, however.  We all know what happens next: Prompto does try to introduce himself to the loner prince (who, by his own admission later, was also kinda shy), and he happens to trip.  Noct goes to help him out because he’s kind at heart, and a confused Prompto thinks that Noctis means that he wants to see the camera.  Noct is baffled and says something along the lines of “I meant you, dummy!” and goes to help Prompto up. 

Honestly, end the scene here.  They become friends because Noct is unexpectedly kind to someone he didn’t even know, and that sticks with Prompto, and they’re childhood best friends. Right?  RIGHT?

If Square had had a modicum of decency, yes, this would have been how the scene closed.  But then Noct had to open his fucking mouth.  When trying to help Prompto up, he remarks that the poor boy is “heavy,” something that quickly and immediately impacts Prompto.  Noct, also being 12, seems none the wiser and jovially heads off to meet Ignis.  But Prompto?  Prompto is….affected by this.  He decides then and there that he has to not be heavy anymore if he wants to be Noct’s friend.   

“But Haley!” I can hear y’all saying, “Isn’t it Prompto’s fault for internalizing a harmless comment in such a way?  Why are you so angry at Noct because Prompto took it too seriously?”  Or alternatively “Noctis was also a child, he didn’t mean it!!”

Well, it’s all about how the narrative treats the situation.  I mentioned this before in Part 1, but the reason I’m mad at both Noctis and Square is because the narrative treats him as though he is in the right at all times.  If the issue really was with Prompto as a character, then we wouldn’t have been shown his journey in such excruciating detail.  We wouldn’t have been subjected to the downright harmful avenues he goes down in pursuit of this goal (see Part 3 for elaboration).  We would have just seen Prompto trying to work on becoming more outgoing--maybe talking to his neighbors more often, for example.  

One small scene in particular gets me here: we do see Noct return to the place where they met and he seems to be baffled by the fact that Prompto will not talk to him.  We in fact know this to be the case because in the hotel scene, Noct explicitly says Prompto “should have said something sooner” in terms of starting their friendship.  Now, this pisses me off for two reasons:

That this wasn’t addressed in Brotherhood itself.  We see that Noct kinda wants to approach Prom again but doesn’t seem to know how.  If we are assuming he messed up on accident, this would have been a great time for Ignis to tell him so, maybe motivate Noct to apologize.

That Prompto doesn’t immediately call Noct out for this line, or say something along the lines of “Well you kinda straight up insulted me when we first met.”

So, because neither of these scenarios is the case, I have to assume that Square wants us to think that Noct was correct to insult Prompto, and that him losing the weight is a good thing, in a narrative sense.  

Finally, it’s straight up out-of-character for Noct to be this way.  Not the misspeaking part, that is perfectly in-character.  It’s the fact that this bias of his goes unchecked by Ignis or Gladio, and he is never made to apologize for hurting another person’s feelings.  Part of growing up is realizing that sometimes your actions can hurt other people, even if you don’t intend for them to.  The fact that the intent wasn’t there doesn’t mean the hurt wasn’t real.  Since Square is so convinced that Noct needed to “mature” in this story...I am immensely disappointed that the opportunity wasn’t taken here for him to learn.  And even more disappointed because I am pretty sure this is intentional.  Every single one of Square’s fat characters is used as a side character or comic relief.  In order for Prompto to be a protagonist, he had to lose weight, and to have Noctis--the central protagonist--be the character to directly motivate that is a slap in the face.

Part 3: Don’t Recover, Buddy!/ It’s actually good that you have “obesophobia”

So I know I put the trigger warning at the top of this, but I’m doing it again, because now I’m gonna talk about eating disorders.  So this is your last chance to back out if that stuff is legitimately triggering, which I understand.

I’m gonna say it right now: Prompto has anorexia

[several people are typing…. .jpg]

I don’t think this is subtle, and I do think this is intentional, so let me break it down.  Prompto exhibits a lot of the symptoms, and yes I am speaking from personal experience.  He’s exhibited all of these from the moment Noct made that comment when they were kids, and, notably, only from that point on (hence why I wrote Part 2 the way that I did):

Prompto has an obsession with fixing meals.  He’ll be the one that helps Ignis the most often.  In Prompto’s case, this is a sign that he loves preparing the food, not so much partaking: classic hiding of symptoms.  There is also the fact that most of the salads are his favorite meals, which yes, is a deliberate callback, but I don’t think it’s a good one.

Prompto runs a genuinely stupid amount.  I think that exercise is well and good--I’m something of an exercise buff myself--but it’s the way that Prompto does it, to the point of exhaustion, that is a problem.

Despite being borderline underweight, Prompto legitimately still seems to think that he is still fat.  This is supported by his reactions to multiple dialogues, which I’ll get to in a second, and the “obesophobia” thing on his character profile which….yeah I shouldn’t even have to explain that one.  Prompto is legitimately afraid that he will gain weight--specifically, that he will be fat again.

The fact that according to that same profile, Prompto’s photography habit started when he took progress photos of himself!! So he’s also got some legit body dysmorphia going on.

These are the ones that are most obvious to me, anyway.  

“Now okay, Haley,” y’all are furiously typing, “so what that Prompto has anorexia?  That’s a relatable character flaw!”

Well….one, no it isn’t.  A disorder of any kind is not a character flaw.  I’d be willing to let that slide if the following were not also true: other characters seem to reinforce these behaviors of Prompto’s, and I am looking directly at Ignis and Noct.  Let’s start with Ignis.  I’m sure we have all gotten the random dialogue of

Prompto: All right, let’s hit up the Crow’s Nest! Ignis, for no fucking reason: If you wish to put on weight?  Certainly. Prompto, defeated: Yeah, I know…

Every time I get this dialogue I want to yell and also want the option to kick Ignis out of the party.  Also the fact that no one steps up on Prompto’s behalf (notably, you know, his goddamn best friend!!) is a bit of an Issue too.  Another one involves Ignis, but I have only gotten it once, so I can’t remember it exactly, but Ignis says something to the effect that he can make “whatever [Prompto] wants” for dinner and Prompto says “Yeah, it’s the wanting that’s the problem.”  That’s...that’s horrifying and y’all should be concerned for your friend.

To turn my attention back to Noct, objectively the most important person to Prompto, we need go no further than “Why is your face so fat?” in selfies.  

This one legitimately made me mad.  Prompto panics and retaliates with “What?? I’m not fat!!” (notably, he said “I” and not “my face,” which is a bit of a slip), and Noctis is supposed to be his best friend.  I was somewhat okay with Noct being passive in the earlier incidents, because maybe he wanted to spare Prompto the group drama that would ensue, but Noct directly engaging in it actively pissed me off.  I also want to say this isn’t me bashing on the characters in the slightest, I am simply calling attention to the way they are written.  Because they are not called out by anyone else, because this behavior is treated as acceptable, I have to assume the narrative wants me to agree with them.

The only conclusion I can gather from this is that not only are the bros aware of Prompto’s disorder, but they actively encourage it.  Which would only further Prompto’s assumption that they only will love and accept him if he looks a certain way.  No wonder the poor kid was so freaked out about his barcode!

Part 4: This shit is triggering to players

The subtitle for this section should be “Haley talks about how deeply “Dogged Runner” affected her in a PTSD kind of way” because that’s what I’m going to be doing.  Second trigger warning for eating disorders and weight talk, because that’s what this is gonna be.  This also is not going to be nice.  I have strong language for Square:

Here’s where I come clean about why this issue matters so fucking much to me, and why I am now freely and openly saying “fuck you” to Square every chance I get.  When I first saw Brotherhood, I was at a stage in my life where I was not coping well with my body image.  I had my first brush with anorexia in high school, but it was coming back because I was in a new place, and I felt like that was the only thing in my life that I could control.  So I had been eating less and falling back into the habit, except...this time I had my support system.  So I thought.  I went into the anime wanting to learn more about the characters I had come to love, and I walked out of it thoroughly triggered and horrified that Square would stoop to such shoddy, lazy, and harmful storytelling.  

I had...a moment, here.  I won’t detail the breakdown too much but I was genuinely not okay.  To see behaviors that I had ferociously clawed my way out of, and was violently resisting once more, portrayed not only as not unhealthy, but as desirable for people like me...it genuinely felt personal.  And, I imagine I wasn’t the only player who felt that way.  In fact, because I have talked to other people like me, I know this is the case.

Let me take you on a trip, for a moment.  Humor me.  Imagine you’re in your early 20s, and you’ve put a lot of ugly, horrible coping methods behind you.  Imagine your best friend in the entire world, @nonbinary-recipehs​, recommends this game they are playing, and you play it together and start to consume its media.  Imagine the horror and dread that settles on the both of you watching this episode, which rings so similarly to the times you passed out from lack of food, from over-exercising, from over-straining yourself to be this idealized version of thinness.  Imagine seeing that the outcome of this episode isn’t Prompto getting the support he needs from his friends, but that the narrative legitimizes his suffering. In fact, this brutal suffering and rapid loss of weight was necessary to justify this character’s relevance to the narrative! Imagine how that must make you feel.  Maybe those coping methods that were so horrible actually weren’t.  It worked for Prompto, maybe it’ll work for you!!

Perhaps that little thought experiment will help you understand what this whole situation can feel like to players like me, to people who have struggled with internalized fatphobia and with eating disorders, who have been called heavy, who have been made to feel as though their worth is in their thinness.  Fuck you, Square.  Fuck you for not having an ounce of consideration for how this might possibly look.  Fuck you for not considering people like me as complete people.  Fuck you for making me watch a character I love suffer, not to tragedy, but to an illness that could have been avoided if anyone had shown him even an ounce of respect or care or decency or decorum--

…

I did warn y’all I was angry, this time.

Part 5: Two Alternative Scenarios that would Avoid All This

“So Haley,” you’re saying, somehow having read past the rant in the previous section, “if Square did it so horribly, how would you have done it?”

That, my dear reader, is an excellent question.  In fact, I’ve got two solutions, which I will explain and elaborate upon below:

The first is rather simple: Prompto doesn’t actually lose the weight and becomes a canonical fat character.  Absolutely nothing else would change about the story or Prompto’s character except for the following:

Noctis would become curious as to why this new friend of his was avoiding him.  He then has the opportunity to open up to Ignis or Gladio and reflect on what he said, and realize that he actually hurt Prompto’s feelings.  This motivates him to apologize, and the two become Actual Childhood Friends.

Prompto just Has This Body Type Now and nobody says dick about it, that’s just the Way He Looks

You could explore internalized fatphobia I suppose but I don’t actually trust Square to do this sensitively.  You know who I do trust? Liam ( @chubbyargentum ), who writes the Nighttime Sunshine AU and fic.  

All of the previously mentioned fatphobic comments are completely removed because all the bros love and support him.

Prompto isn’t the comic relief because of his size, he just happens to be both.  Yes, there is a difference, and no, I am not going to derail the essay by explaining that.

Prompto would still absolutely kick ass, take names, shoot people, love chocobos...all the shit he does in canon.  But now, you have a character who didn’t have to be completely humiliated to get to this point.  Now you just...have a guy who happens to be friends with the prince, because he is kind and caring. 

But okay, let’s take another approach.  Let’s say Prompto does still lose weight. How, then, do we accomplish this without being fatphobic or debasing Prompto’s character like canon did?  

That leads me to solution 2: Prompto does lose weight, but it’s incidental.  Let me explain what I mean here:

Let’s have a situation in which the apology does still happen as I outlined in the first solution.  Childhood friends is a thing.

As such, Prompto becomes...increasingly curious at all the cool training Noct does.

Noct is….embarrassed about this, I think. Because Prompto doesn’t like Understand What It All Means...and they’re still pretty young.  Noct doesn’t want him to understand.

But Prompto?  He wants to be able to Do Cool Shit, especially if it means defending his best bro who also happens to be the prince.  And he doesn’t want Noct to do any of this alone.  He asks to train with Noct, no special treatment (except for like the fact that he legit can’t do magic).

Gladio...allows this, begrudgingly.  Then, permanently, when he notices Noct tries harder as a result of showing off.

Prompto starts to learn how to take care of himself from Gladio, and from Ignis, who has...gathered that Prompto doesn’t exactly have parents, and becomes invested in helping him learn how to cook healthy meals for himself.  Who knows?  Maybe the healthy eating will rub off on Noct!

The result is that, over time, Prompto does lose some weight...and starts to bulk up as Puberty Happens.  However.  This is all incidental.  Prompto never set out to lose weight because he hated himself or felt unworthy, like in canon.  He set out to become strong and train with his best bro.  This is absolutely critical. 

With this solution, Prompto does lose weight, but doesn’t become the borderline underweight young man with an eating disorder we all know and love.  Instead, he’s been brought up around healthier traditions, which makes him immensely more suited for the role of Crownsguard when that time comes.  In fact, he might have entered it at age 18 just like Gladio and Ignis did, despite Noct’s protests.  Another thing I like about this solution is that it shows how Prompto is friends with Ignis and Gladio; how those relationships developed independently of Noctis, and why these four really are the family unit the game wants me to think they are.

And with these two solutions, I believe I have laid out some much stronger backstories for our beloved boy that avoid all of the...unfortunate implications of his canon backstory.  I only wish that Square had thought about their implications just a little bit more, and done Prompto some true justice.

Part 6: What motivated this essay, and the power of shared experience

This isn’t really a proper conclusion, that’ll be in TL;DR, but I would be remiss to not include what actually motivated me to write this massive essay, and also share it with all of you.  The sharing part, I think, is super critical.  When you inhabit marginalized identities, and in this case I specifically mean having a fat body, it can be...difficult to share and discuss your experiences.  Harder, still, to be public about them, and to criticize media that perpetuates these harmful ideas.  But here I am, doing that.  Here’s why that is.

About a month ago, I met @chubbyargentum, who is called Liam.  I was cruising through the promptis tag, as you do, and found his Nighttime Sunshine AU, and his blog is filled with excellent art for it as well. The premise of this AU, on its face, is very simple: it’s a story where Prompto and Noctis did not actually become friends in high school, and two very important things are different: Prompto is still fat, and Noctis is a closeted trans man.  While I can’t speak to the trans experience, I can indeed speak to the experience of inhabiting a fat body.  And this AU….spoke to me.  I don’t want to spoil too much but there is a rather emotional scene that just...confronts everything I wanted Square to confront about this that they never did.  He approaches the topic with so much sensitivity and nuance, something that is so rarely seen in fandom. 

I’ve talked with Liam every day since, and my brain has consistently been enlarged.  A lot of things I let slide before...felt so egregious to me that I had to say them.  I’ve been confronting my own internalized prejudices towards certain kinds of bodies all the time, and I am learning every day.  He’s become a very dear friend of mine, and I care deeply about him.

This also came at I guess you could say the “first climax” of my journey with weight loss, which I had never had success with despite the trauma I described in Part 4.  I’ve lost...a significant amount of weight since March, and I think the reason I’ve had so much success is 1) the support of my friends (notably @nonbinary-recipehs, @pocket-prompto, and @chubbyargentum), and 2) not feeling like I hated myself anymore.  I approached it as a journey to become more strong, not less fat.  As I outlined in Part 4...Prompto’s Brotherhood episode and character backstory were and are legitimately triggering to me, and, I imagine, to many others.  Liam had the confidence to put the content in the world that he wished to see, and this essay is helping me do the same.  

Having other people who share your marginalized experiences and validate them...well, I’m sure many of you know.  It’s a feeling like no other.  And I’ve never really had this feeling explicitly about the experience of being fat until now.  Now, I understand that my anger is in fact, righteous.  And I am not afraid to say so.  The power of shared experience motivated this essay and, in fact, everything that I do on this blog.  I have come away from this AU with the bravery to say aloud what I have always known to be true.   

So thank you, Liam.  Thank you, big brain group.  And thank you, readers, for listening to an experience that may or may not mirror your own, and for opening up your heart enough to hear the roughly 5000 words before this point.  Thank you for making the effort to understand, and the effort to learn and grow.

TL;DR

I did promise to provide an easily digestible version of the…(checks word count) ~5000 words before this point, so here we go.  The central thesis of this essay is something like “the way Prompto’s weight loss arc was portrayed in Brotherhood is horrendously fatphobic for a number of reasons.”  I then broke it down into six major pieces: the first four being the fact that weight loss is treated as moral by the narrative, the uncharacteristically dickish actions of Noctis, the fact that Prompto’s disorder is encouraged by other characters, and the out-of-universe triggering effects the story has.  In the fifth piece, I outlined two alternative scenarios: one where Prompto doesn’t lose weight at all and remains fat, and one where he does lose weight but healthily so and fleshes out his character.  In the final piece, I explained the motivation behind writing this essay, namely interacting with other fat fans like @chubbyargentum.  I explained all of these points in great detail, being careful to stress that my issue with this isn’t any of the individual characters, but the bias that motivates the writing.

So...what now?  Well, I’m not really sure.  But this was something I really had to put into the world.  I think it is important and necessary to speak up and criticize media that harms you.  And you know what?  Final Fantasy XV is still my favorite game.  It is because I love it so much that I was motivated to write this, and by sharing it, I hope to contribute to a greater discussion about fatphobia in gaming, and in life.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #tw fatphobia #tw eating disorders #prompto argentum #please be respectful with this one #i feel like this is an unpopular opinion #but it is incredibly necessary that i say this #because it is something i believe #and because I don't want square to continue to get away with it #thank you for read #haley.exe #haley writes ffxv #haley has opinions #i'm preparing for so much hate

[creative-type]

wake from death (and return to life) v

AO3 Previous  Summary:  Zoro had always been told that Kuina died falling down the stairs. But she didn’t fall, and she wasn’t dead.

...

Port Tolouse was on fire. Thick black smoke billowed in the air, choking Kuina’s lungs and stinging her eyes as they drew nearer to the island, the heat pulling her skin taunt. At random intervals explosions would rocket in the distance, followed seconds later by low rumbles that would carry over the ocean.

In comparison, Belo Betty’s ship was deathly silent. As silent as a group of over a hundred sailors could be, anyway. But somehow, the random coughs and creaking wood stood out as all the more unnatural, devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of life that Kuina had grown accustomed to. Hiding behind her mask, she stayed near Dara, not willing to lose her on the crowded decks. Together they joined Elizabeth, Lyudmila, and Aria de Gris at one of the ship's lifeboats. Other groups—individual squads in Betty’s army, Kuina supposed—likewise found themselves huddled near the small vessels, but the bulk of the Revolutionaries remained right where they were. They were going to fight their way in.

If de Gris thought anything of Kuina’s presence or strange apparel, she didn’t show it. Over half the Revolutionaries Kuina saw had their faces covered in some way or other. While de Gris and Lyudmila chose not to change out of their everyday clothing, Elizabeth had a bandana tied around the bottom half of her face kept her backward ball cap low on her forehead, and Dara had spent most of their time approaching Tolouse painting her face to look like a living skull. Vibrant clothing was exchanged for a loose-fitting outfit made of greys and blacks that reminded Kuina of the stories her father told of kunoichi assassins.

“There’s a story on my home island,” Dara had explained as she put the final touches of black to her cheeks, “of a death god who steals the shadows of the wicked and weaves them into a fine cloak, leaving them to whither to dust in the sun.” Her skeletal grin widened. “Who am I to deny these bastards the opportunity to see the face of god before they die?”

She had paused then, as if waiting for Kuina to tell the story behind the blue and red oni mask, but as far as Kuina knew there wasn’t any. It was just something her father had hanging on his wall that she had taken on a whim, something the swordsmen of the old country wore into battle, just as she prepared to do now. Kuina could only shrug and follow her above decks, waiting for their next orders.

“Is everyone ready to depart? Chances are we won’t be able to come back for a second trip,” de Gris said in a low tone. She eyed each of them critically, gaze lingering on Kuina a shade longer than the rest. Kuina shrugged her backpack higher on her shoulders in response, all her worldly possessions contained within. De Gris nodded once sharply to herself, as if confirming a fact she already knew.

“Alright. First objective is to meet up with the rest of the crew and see what shape our boat’s in. We still haven’t been able to reinstate communications, but our job will be a hell of a lot easier if the enemy doesn’t know where we’re at. Dara?” she asked.

“Ready, Boss.”

“We leave once Betty gives the signal.”

Before Kuina could ask what that signal was, Belo Betty emerged from belowdecks. Revolutionaries parted before her as if she were a drop of water in a quart of oil as she strode to the raised quarterdeck, voluminous skirts billowing regally behind her. She moved with such grace Kuina wouldn’t have been surprised if she were floating on air, and didn’t flinch as a cannonball fell just short of the ship, splashing harmlessly into the water. It was the first attack, and in the haze Kuina couldn’t tell if it came from land or sea.

Acting as the Revolutionary’s herald, Belo Betty stood with a familiar red and black flag in hand. It was much bigger than the one she’d used against Kuina, and the sight of it made her sick. Betty slammed the ferruled end against the deck as if she were trying to stake the blunted metal into the thick wood. The resulting silence was deafening.

A moment passed as Betty appraised the resolute faces of the men and women under her command. Then another, and another. Then suddenly, Belo Betty thrust the flag into the air and shouted, “ For freedom! ”

The Revolution roared . Kuina barely turned her back in time before Betty swept the blood-red field in front of her. Without being able to actually see the flag, the effect of her devil fruit was dampened, but Kuina could still feel the effect it had on everyone around her. Gooseflesh went up and down her arms as an unnatural electricity sparked from person to person, spreading like a deadly contagion across the decks.

Kuina had wondered why the entirety of the Revolution’s fighting force gathered together in one place making themselves vulnerable to enemy attack, and now she knew. Less disciplined soldiers worked themselves into a frenzy, their hysteria so great they had to be held back to prevent them from jumping into the sea with the intent of swimming their way to Tolouse. Some beat their rifle butts against the decks in savage rhythm, others screamed war cries or shouted profanities at the enemy.

But most seemed used to the flag’s intoxicating effects. In a way, they were more intimidating than their less-disciplined brethren, maintaining rank and awaiting orders while the blood boiled in their veins, whole-hearted desire for war mixed with the soundness of mind to do so effectively. Kuina could even sense it in her small group--the quickening of their heartbeat, nostrils flaring as their breathing deepened, pupils blown wide-open in punch-drunk anticipation.  

“Alright, ladies. That’s our cue,” de Gris said. A tight, savage grin belied the calmness in her voice. Her naked sword gleamed in the sun. “Mila, Kuina, you’re on rowing duty. Elizabeth you stay back, and Dara you take middle.”

No one had said anything about rowing, but Kuina didn’t argue. Though the lifeboat could easily have seated over a dozen people they remained clustered in a diamond formation, with Kuina, Lyudmila, Elizabeth, and de Gris forming the four points and Dara square in the center. As soon as they were boarded they were quickly lowered into the sea, hidden from the shore by the broad side of the brigantine.

“Sorry, but I need to touch you for this to work,” Dara said, grabbing a hold of Kuina’s backpack. Her other hand wrapped around Lyudmila’s shirt sleeve, while a still-standing de Gris lay a hand on her head and Elizabeth had a fist full of the back of her shirt. “And if you need to puke, try not to get any on me.”

Without giving Kuina any time to question what she’d just said, Dara activated her devil fruit. With a sickening lurch that made Kuina feel like she was a metal wire being stretched through a drawing hole she, her four companions, and their little boat they were sitting in was laying flush with the water, all-but-invisible from the shore.

Behind her, Elizabeth retched, loudly and copiously into the back of the lifeboat. Dara sighed.

“And this is why she never gets rowing duty.”

Kuina decided right then and there that devil fruits were not meant to be understood, only accepted. After recovering from the initial shock of suddenly existing in two dimensions instead of three, Kuina nearly threw herself into a panic thinking that Betty’s ability had made the Revolutionaries collectively go mad, and that the tiniest wave was going to capsize their boat.

Except, somehow, it didn’t. Despite their flatness, the lifeboat still had gunwales. There still, somehow, was depth, because Kuina could discern that de Gris was standing above them and that her feet were firmly planted below. It made no sense, and trying to wrap her mind around it only raised more questions Kuina couldn’t answer.

“Don’t just sit there, girl,” de Gris hissed. “ Row. And keep those oars as close to the water as possible.”

Hastily Kuina did as she was told, trying her best to ignore her paper-thin arms by focusing on her oar. It, at least, was somewhat flat under ordinary circumstances and didn’t look quite as unnatural as the rest of them as it skimmed across the surface of the sea. Behind her, Elizabeth groaned.  

“How far?”

“We need to get behind the first line of defenses.” De Gris scanned the sea and pointed to a jetty farther up the coast. “There. Betty will draw the majority of the fire away from our position, and once we ground we can hit them from behind and hopefully give her a chance to land her people.”

“Strange that communications haven’t opened,” Dara said.

De Gris hid her scowl behind a hand as she lit a cigarette. “Whole turn of events is strange. I don’t like that we’re walking in blind, so stay sharp. Something is very wrong here.”

“Besides the fact that everything’s on fire?” Elizabeth said before being overtaken by a harsh, brassy cough. “What sort of king does that to his own people?”

As they drew closer to the jetty, Kuina could hear the alarm of fire brigades over the sounds of fighting, but it seemed like a lost cause. The cityfront nearest the docks was already a blackened ruin, the greedy flames having moved on in search of more fuel, carried by the favorable wind that had brought the Revolutionary Army so quickly east. Whatever they were fighting over was already gone.

De Gris stared resolutely ahead, her eyes never leaving the flickering red-orange skyline. “I’m not so sure he did.”

xxx

There was no practical way for Dara to maintain her power once they reached the jetty. They quickly disembarked, and it fell upon Kuina and Lyudmila to secure the line while the rest hurried to cover. Smoky haze mixed with mist rolling off of the sea, obscuring them from any eyes that might have strayed from Betty’s distraction.

Kuina’s teeth were already on edge when Lyudmila paused to peer at Kuina through her thick glasses. There was a faint, perplexed expression on her face. “What will you do once the fighting starts?”

“You’re really going to ask me this now? ” Kuina asked. “I told your boss already: A swordsman pays their debts. Nothing good would have happened to me if I’d stayed at Lougetown. Even if I think you all are a bunch of two-faced bastards, I owe you for getting me out.”

“You would fight for the people you hate.”

It wasn’t a question, and something about her tone made Kuina want to squirm. She finished the last knot, and together they hurried to join the others. “Hate’s a strong word. Most of you have been...hospitable. We just see things differently. You know, on an organizational level. I mean, you haven’t tried to shoot me even once . I’m almost insulted.”

For the first time since they had met, Lyudmila smiled. Like all of her expressions, it was barely noticeable, a twitch at the corner of her mouth that was gone almost before it had arrived. “Even if we are a bunch of two-faced bastards?”

“The way I see it, most people have a little bit of bastard in them, myself included” Kuina said with a shrug. They ducked into the hollow of a burnt out warehouse where de Gris waited less-than-patiently, bloody sword in hand and a pair of guardsmen laying dead at her feet. “Some just happen to have more than others.”

Lyudmila made a noise that was suspiciously like a laugh, and Kuina didn’t miss the questioning look de Gris shot her way, or the subtle nod she gave in return They were still watching her, testing her fragile allegiance.

Kuina’s pride rankled that they thought she might break her word, but she looked away and pretended that she hadn’t noticed the exchange. There were more important things at hand.

Like the fact that Port Tolouse was on fire.

“I’ve already sent Dara ahead to start wreaking havoc along their cannoneers,” de Gris said. “Mila, I want you to find someplace high where you can start harassing the enemy. I remember there being a belltower at the square that looked like it would offer a pretty good view.”

“Could be conspicuous,” Lyudmia said.

“Right.” de Gris lit a cigarette. “I leave it to your discretion. You got a mini on you?”

Lyudmila held up her wrist, where a baby den-den mushi slept.

“Don’t how good your signal’s going to be, but I want to know what’s going on at sky level. Don’t worry about being overheard, Trini set me up with a ghost before we left.”

Lyudmila nodded once sharply, and disappeared into the street. Kuina and Elizabeth shared an uneasy glance as de Gris turned her attention to them, frowning around her cigarette like she didn’t quite know what to do with the last two members of her team.

“We need to rendezvous with the troops we left behind and find out what the hell’s jamming our snails,” she said finally. “Last report had them dug in in the Oldtown neighborhood, but with the fires that could have changed.”

“I thought we were backing up Betty,” Kuina said.

“We have. Any enemy ship that gets close enough to board is going to have Betty’s devil fruit to contend with, and neutralizing the land-based defenses will allow them to land safely on the island. The greatest threat to our people is the fact we can’t talk to one another.”

More arguments spring to the tip of her tongue, but Kuina bit them back. If de Gris thought sending one person to take out some cannons was all that was needed for Belo Betty to dock safely, that was her problem. She was obviously confident in Dara’s ability, and the unbidden memory of the other girl’s opinions on the quality of East Blue wars compared to the Grand Line swirled in Kuina’s mind.

Then she remembered how Dara had managed to sneak behind her without notice and wondered if maybe she hadn’t had a point.

“I’ve never heard of anything that can block a den-den mushi signal before,” Elizabeth said slowly, interrupting Kuina’s thoughts. “Do you think it’s some new World Government tech?”

“Probably. More important question is why deploy it here , in the asscrack of the East Blue?” A shadow flashed over de Gris’s face, something dark and ugly fighting its way to the surface. She turned her back to both Elizabeth and Kuina. “We’re wasting time. Weapons out, ladies. Where we’re going, things are going to be hot.”

Kuina drew her sword and followed her out of the ruined warehouse, mulling over her question. Because of its relative peacefulness, marines and Government agencies in the East Blue were notoriously underfunded. Military compounds received less money for training, research, and development. Its Cipher Pol branches had fewest agents in the entire world. Anyone with even a modicum of talent was poached by divisions in the Grand Line that offered incentives that made the more dangerous placements desirable. She had spent enough time working within the judicial system to hear sailors complain about their meagre salaries and how bounty hunters like her stole all the glory of the hunt, while they spent their lives wasting away at thankless tasks.

But the truth of the matter was it was cheaper for the Government to give a one time handout of a few thousand berries to a headhunter than it was to feed, equip, and pay a full-time naval recruit. As long as the number of pirates in the East Blue was manageable, the penny pinchers at Mariejois weren’t likely to change the annual budget anytime soon.

So what was Grand Line tech doing out in the East Blue?

They skulked deeper into the city, stepping over mounds of rubble and skeletonized buildings. To Kuina, the destruction seemed greater than a mere fire—it looked like a bomb had gone off. The streets were littered with the broken glass of a thousand shattered windows, the streets pockmarked and smoldering, grey smoke making the air shimmer and haze. A terrible stench rose from the city, testing Kuina’s intestinal fortitude, and making Elizabeth have to stop once more to retch.

Then they turned a corner, and somehow it got worse.

There, in out in the open, were the bodies of the dead stacked into piles, bloated and rotting in the midday sun. They lay in front of a mangled corpse that had been nailed high on a surviving concrete wall like a martyred prophet of some terrible deity. Even at a distance Kuina could see the melted gold encircling the forehead of the displayed body. Written below the remains in red letters a foot high was the message: Death to tyrants.

“Is that...Is that their king? ” Elizabeth gasped.

Cautiously de Gris approached, not caring that her two subordinates stayed well back. With clinical detachment she made a quick study of the bodies before turning her attention squarely to the crucified corpse.

The desecration of the dead left Kuina horrified and numb, and she had to turn away. She wasn’t naive enough to be ignorant of the horrors of war. She herself had killed dozens of men, and sent dozens more to their deaths. But there was no honor or glory in such mutilation. Kuina doubted most of them were even combatants. No one with a shred of warrior’s pride would condone the slaughtering of innocents.

Beside her, Elizabeth seemed equally perturbed. Between her hat and bandanna it was impossible to gauge her expression, but her hands twitched spastically as she stood rooted in place. Her eyes never left the bodies, and every few seconds she would make a strangled noise, as if trying to speak, but was unable to form any coherent sentences.

“Can’t stomach your own dirty work?” Kuina muttered.

Elizabeth swung toward her. “You think we —”

In the distance, Kuina heard the soft click of a hammer being pulled back. She moved on instinct, grabbing the front of Elizabeth’s shirt and pulling her to the ground. Her indignant yelp was drowned out by the crack of a pistol shot striking the rubble behind them, followed by a second and a third, sending up a cloud of dust where they had been standing just a moment ago.

Belatedly, Kuina remembered that Elizabeth was carrying bombs. An entire backpack full of highly flammable, explosive, homemade bombs of questionable quality. Twisting as they fell, she cushioned the smaller woman from the brunt of the impact with her own body. As soon as they hit the ground Kuina rolled on top of her so an errant shot couldn’t set off an explosion that would blow them all to pieces.

At the first shot de Gris whipped from the body of the king, firing her pistol once in the direction of a hollowed out factory. For a moment Kuina didn’t move, but no further shots came.

“ Geooff, ” Elizabeth said, her voice muffled. Slowly Kuina obliged, scanning for more enemies with her sword in hand as the other woman struggled to her feet.

“Out of the street,” de Gris barked. “We’re sitting ducks out here in the open.”

Hurriedly, they did as she said, hiding behind the cover of charred beams of timber and mounds of rock and rubble. There were more bodies, more splashes of rusty red, but these it seemed had been left undisturbed. If there were any survivors, they didn’t stay long enough to find them.

After a minute or so of silence, Elizabeth said bluntly, “You’re bleeding.”

“Huh?” Kuina looked down, and sure enough, she had cut through the sleeve of her jacket, causing blood to trickle from the back of her arm. She hadn’t even noticed the wound, but now that she did it began to sting, not deep enough to cause any real concern. “Must have been all that glass.”

“Bind it,” de Gris ordered. “Don’t give the enemy anything to track.”

Before Kuina could do as she said, Elizabeth was by her side with a roll of linen bandages taken from her bag. Wordlessly Kuina rolled up her sleeve and let her wrap the wound with shaking hands. Elizabeth took a moment to judge her handiwork, nodding once sharply to herself, before looking up at Kuina. There was no word of thanks shared between either of them, but Kuina thought for the first time Elizabeth saw her for who she really was, instead of some random stowaway brat she happened to be traveling with.

“That wasn’t our work back there,” she muttered, before looking questioningly at de Gris. “Was it?”

Aria de Gris pulled a small metal disk from the inside of her coat, holding it up for inspection. The silver metal was scorched black and warped after exposure to extreme heat, but Kuina thought she could see the faintest outline of an insignia etched upon it.

“That’s Callen’s mark,” she said, before adding for Kuina’s benefit, “he’s the one Betty put in charge while she was gone.”

“So he’s dead,” Elizabeth said.

“Not necessarily. It’s possible someone got ahold of his uniform, just like it’s possible that man wasn’t the king.” de Gris tucked the metal back into her pocket. “That message was made to look like it was written in blood, but wasn’t. Someone has gone out of their way to make the Revolution look like butchers. Wholesale destruction like this benefits no one—no sane ruler destroys the economic center of their country without exhausting every other option available to him, even when attacked by outside forces. Tolouse won’t be blamed for the fires.”

“We had their king captured anyway. Someone else must have ordered the bombardment.” Elizabeth said. “The marines, maybe? I haven’t seen any of their ships.”

De Gris shook her head. “The local marine base has been tied up with unrest on the Venn Islands and pirate raids to the north. They shouldn’t have the manpower available to overthrow the Army once we dug in, especially with civilian support. That’s why Betty decided to attack now in the first place.”

“Then who—?”

De Gris held a hand up for silence. Kuina’s grip around her sword tightened, but she didn’t hear anyone approach. Beside her Elizabeth slunk closer to the wall, hands more twitchy then ever.

Suddenly de Gris’s head shot up, and a moment later Kuina sensed the presence of someone above. She moved to strike, but de Gris’s hand clasped against her wrist, her grip like iron.

“You found someone to replace me already, Captain?”

Elizabeth yelped as a head popped over the edge of the roof, face smeared with grime and dirt looking down at them, a dozen braids swaying lazily in the breeze. With a laugh, she flipped down beside them, landing lightly on her feet.

She was a dark-skinned woman of about twenty, with the compact, powerful figure of a gymnast. A short spear was strapped to her back, the only weapon on her person. She gave an appraising glance at Kuina and grinned. “Nice mask.”

Kuina nodded, not having the slightest idea what was going on. The woman acknowledged it and turned back to where Elizabeth was half-cowering behind Aria de Gris, lazy grin growing even wider at the sight of her. “How’s the weather down there?”

“Fuck you.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Liz.”

“Enough,” de Gris said, stepping between them. “How did you find us?”

The woman shrugged. “The Army saw Betty’s ship sailing into port and sent a group of us to make sure she made it in okay. I happened to see Dara doing her thing with the cannons, and she told me what direction to go in from there. I heard the shots by the massacre site and figured it was probably you.” She jutted a thumb in Kuina’s general direction. “Who’s the new kid? Did you pick up another stray?”

“Less ‘picked up’ and more ‘had foisted upon’,” de Gris said. She let out a stream of cigarette smoke to cover her sigh. “Camille, meet Kuina. Kuina, Camille Salyor. And now with those pleasantries out of the way, would you kindly tell us what the hell is going on on this island? Where’s the rest of the crew?”

Camille grin faded. Now that the surprise had faded and Kuina had gotten a better look, she noticed that it wasn’t just Camille’s face that was dirty. Her shirt, which looked to have been white at one time, was stained a uniform greyish color, marred by scorch marks and accented by darker splashes of dried blood. There was an ingrained smell of smoke that cut through the acrid city air, and despite her cheerful air her eyes were bloodshot and tired.

“They baited us, Captain,” Camille said. “They let us take the city, feigned weakness until Dragon left, then bam! ” She punched a fist into her open palm for emphasis. In the distance was the rumble of cannonfire, causing Camille to anxiously look skyward.

“I need to get you to Oldtown,” she said. “Come on.”

De Gris let her take lead, and together they left their meagre cover. Kuina followed last of all, not sure what she was supposed to think or how she was supposed to feel. It was clear the Revolution was just as shocked and appalled as she was by the devastation, but did that mean that they weren’t the ultimate cause? De Gris said herself that no sane king would set fire to his own country, and no army would string up their own nobility for all the world to see. With the navy occupied elsewhere, who did that leave? And what, if anything, did the metal de Gris found prove?

Instincts honed by a decade hiding in the shadows told Kuina to run and never look back. This was not her war, and the citizens of Tolouse were not her people. She couldn’t become the world’s greatest swordsman if she got herself killed in some backwater East Blue town no one had ever heard of.

The rest of her, the part that was stubborn and bullheaded enough to defy her father’s wishes to continue her path as a swordsman, needed to find out who was responsible. What she would do with that information...Kuina didn’t yet know. But there was a pile of unavenged souls howling in the back of her mind, men and women who she’d never met, but could never forget.

They had walked maybe a quarter of a mile dodging patrols in military garb and guardsmen when Camille suddenly stopped. With a quick glance to make sure they weren’t being watched, she walked to the edge of the street and kicked in a sewer grate. Without a second thought, she jumped inside.

Beside Kuina, Elizabeth blanched. “You can’t be serious…”

But obviously she was. Pausing only to douse her cigarette de Gris followed, leaving Kuina and Elizabeth looking down into the darkness. They shared a skeptical look, Elizabeth saying what they were both thinking:

“Well fuck.”

Without any further complaint, she clambered down into the hole, Kuina following shortly behind, taking care to replace the grate. The sewer wasn’t high enough for any of them except Elizabeth to stand upright, and the only light came from the grates and the meagre flame of de Gris’s lighter. Filthy water came up over the tops of Kuina’s boots, and for the first time she was grateful that they were waterproofed.

“The trouble started almost right after you left,” Camille said in a low voice. “We received a message that the army had arrested prominent members of the dockworker’s union as suspected traitors for helping the rebellion, and unless we came willing to trade the king they would start executing people.”

De Gris grunted, “They weren’t wrong. Betty said her first contacts came through the unions, and the dockworkers were how she stockpiled supplies. But a king for some laborers isn’t exactly a fair trade.”

“That’s what we thought, but there was no harm in trying to negotiate a better deal, or at least that’s what Callen thought. He took a group to parlay with the army, and decided to bring the king along as a sign of good faith—”

“ Idiot, ” de Gris said under her breath.

“—and that’s when someone decided to just bomb...everyone. Us, the general negotiating for the army, the bloody king ...the whole block, just up in smoke.” Camille shook her head. “I knew it was a bad omen when the wind shifted. Felt like the air before a Grand Line squall, I knew they wouldn’t be able to put out the fires.”

“Sounds like a firestorm. No wonder the whole city’s gone to hell,” de Gris said. “I take it that’s when they cut communications?”

“Yes, and by the time we were able to organize, rumor had spread that we were the ones to start the bombings. We’ve been fighting the citizens who oppose us, trying to evacuate the ones who believe, keep the fires down, and delay the army all at once. It’s like...it’s like they know what we’re doing before it happens. They’ve anticipated all our moves and had counters ready before we have even decided a course of action.”

De Gris mulled over her words. “The king wasn’t popular. Do you think Tolouse officials did it?”

Camille looked up at her captain helplessly and shrugged. “At this point, I’m not sure what to believe.”

xxx

They emerged from the sewers into chaos. The streets of Oldtown bustled with activity from Revolutionaries and civilians alike. It lived up to its name well, ramshackle old buildings pressed together between too-narrow streets, with shacks and shops squeezed in wherever there was room. Dogs, chickens, and pigs roamed freely, rooting through piles of trash for food. Many of the children Kuina saw went barefoot.

The smell of smoke was stronger here, but it seemed that the combined efforts of the Revolution and their allies had fought back the worst of it. The dividing lines were clearly marked—streets blocked by barricades of furniture and debris cut Oldtown off from the rest of the city, the army on one side and the Revolution on the other. The only safe way in or out was through the sewers. With the help of urchins and criminals who knew those waterways as well as they did the streets above, the Revolutionary Army had managed to defend them well enough to make any government force think twice about using them for an attempted sneak attack. Not when it was easier to simply starve them out.

De Gris was immediately summoned by Revolutionary leadership, leaving the rest of the group to their own devices. For a brief moment Kuina realized she was free. Without de Gris’s sword or Lyudmila’s crossbow hanging overhead, there was nothing to keep her from fleeing. It would be child’s play to get lost in the chaos and leave the Revolution behind her once and for all.

Kuina was immediately ashamed of herself for even considering such a thought. A true swordsman didn’t break a promise freely given, no matter how distasteful they found it to be. She wouldn’t tarish her honor by running now.

Besides, everything about Tolouse stunk like two-day old fish left out in the sun. If she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes, she wouldn’t have believed the mass of destruction had been done by anyone other than the Revolutionary Army. But seeing their surprise firsthand, and how hard they worked to protect a city that at this point mostly wanted them dead, was something she couldn’t ignore.

It was an uncomfortable thought that distracted from the task at hand. Kuina almost didn’t notice Elizabeth and Camille whispering fiercely to one another. Shaking her head a little to clear it, Kuina edged closer so she could hear what they were saying.

“You’re going back out there?” Elizabeth said. “ Now? ”

“It’s not that bad, Liz. If this were the Grand Line, we’d be done for by now, but these are still East Blue troops, and bad ones at that. I’ll be fine.”

“If they’re so bad why are we getting our ass kicked?” she spat back.

Camille didn’t have an answer for that. “Look, the rest of the crew is hanging out at the market, I’m sure the captain will go looking there after leadership is done talking with her. I’ll be back with Dara by sunset, but I’m not going to let myself be trapped in some prison made of stone and wood when there’s fighting to be done.”

“I can fight,” Kuina said.

The both looked up at Kuina as if just remembering she was there. “I like your spirit, friend, but I’m not going to take responsibility for the life of someone I’ve literally just met,” Camille said with a weary smile. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Captain would literally murder me, and I enjoy living too much to take that risk.”

“She’s pretty good with that pig sticker of hers,” Elizabeth admitted grudgingly.

“All the more reason to stay in case Tolouse forces try something underhanded. And if not, you’ll be fresh for when the fun starts tonight.”

“What’s happening tonight?” Kuina asked.

Camille shrugged. “No idea, but I’m sure the captain and Commander Belo will come up with something fun. It’s not in their natures to take a defeat like this quietly.”

With a quick wave, she bounded back to the sewers. After a moment, Elizabeth sighed and turned away. “Boss is going to be pissed . C’mon, let’s go make ourselves useful.”

They pushed their way through the crowded streets. It was shocking how many people were out in the street. Despite everything that was happening, people still needed to get food and find water. Men and women hauled chunks of wood and rock to add to the barricades, or stockpiled ammunition while children circled underfoot playing games and running errands. Shops were open for business, often bartering with goods instead of money. Hanging at the edges more predatory thieves and criminals hovered like vultures, waiting for a chance to swoop in.

There were hollow-eyed men in bandages, disabled beggars holding their hands out for charity no one could afford. Women whose clothes were stained in blood and screaming children separated from their parents.

The injured grew in number the closer they got to the market—a massive open air structure of wooden columns supporting a tin roof. Some were laid out in the street, their feeble moans echoing through the air and making Kuina shudder.

“I hate this,” Elizabeth muttered. She seemed to shrink in on herself, hiding her tiny frame in her oversized coat like some sort of turtle.

“Hate it?” Kuina said. “Isn’t this what you people do? ”

“Not us. Not de Gris.” She shrugged her backpack higher on her shoulder. “We’re more of a...I don’t know...strike force, I guess. Get in, do a job, and get out. We don’t work much with the regular army. We don’t have enough people for that.”

“And what was your job here?” Kuina asked, curious.

“Capture the king. If our ship hadn’t been damaged, we would have stuck around for all this.”

Elizabeth kicked a piece of rubble for emphasis. It bounced across the threshold of the market, and they both came to a slow stop. Individual shops and stalls had been cleared out and been replaced with dozens upon dozens of cots upon which the injured lay. A handful of men and women went from bed to bed with stethoscopes or bandages or little cupfulls of water. The smell of blood and death and burnt flesh radiated outward. Kuina could taste it in the back of her throat every time she took a breath.

One of the women making rounds caught sight of them. Her eyes lit up in recognition and she carefully made her way over. Kuina looked down at Elizabeth questioningly, and she said, “That’s Clara. She’s our ship’s doctor.”

Clara was a heavy set woman of about thirty-five with a wide, guileless face that seemed made for smiling. Her most striking feature was a head full of bright copper hair she had tied back in a short tail. Despite wearing surgeon’s robes that were smattered with blood and gore that was not her own, she somehow managed to look delighted at the sight of Elizabeth.

“Welcome back! Oh, you have no idea how much I wish I could give you a great, big hug right now. How are you doing? Where are the others? Oh, bless my soul, I’ve forgotten my manners,” she exclaimed, turning to Kuina. “My name’s Clara Cross, it’s so good to meet you. Are you traveling with Aria or Betty? Have you been hurt? I could—”

“I’m fine, thank you, Doctor,” Kuina said, taken aback by her determined cheerfulness. “And, um. My name’s Kuina.”

“She’s with us,” Elizabeth added. At the prospect of being hugged she had taken a large step backward. “As for the rest—”

“Dr. Cross, we need you!” a man shouted from the other side of the market. “Jal’s hemorrhaging and we can’t get it to stop!”

Clara’s head snapped to attention. “I beg your pardon, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“How can we help?” Kuina asked, feeling suddenly help less at all the pain and destruction that surrounded her. But Clara either didn’t hear the question or chose to ignore it as she hurried back into the makeshift hospital. Beside her, Elizabeth seemed equally lost.

“I fucking hate this.”

And at that moment, Kuina couldn’t blame her.

xxx

Kuina quickly realized that the worst thing about war was waiting. Waiting for the fight. Waiting for news. Waiting for orders. She had been on Tolouse for only a few hours, and she was sick of it. Elizabeth was at least able to be useful , handing out her stock of explosives like they were candy and ushered away to where she could make more. As members of Belo Betty’s ship trickled past the barricade in twos and threes, word got out that Kuina was not actually a Revolutionary. Because she was not one of theirs, the Army wanted nothing to do with her, and the locals shunned her for the same reason.

Her hands itched for the chance to fight, to take her frustrated, impotent energy on someone who truly deserved it, but at this point Kuina had no idea who that was. And without solid proof one way or the other, she was stripped of her most useful skill when it was needed most.

In the hospital tent, at least, no one cared who Kuina was or where her allegiances lay. She knew nothing of medicine past basic first aid, but that was enough for Clara to put her to work fetching water, washing soiled linens, seeing to minor wounds so the limited medical personnel could focus on the more seriously injured.  

The burn patients were the worst. At least a sword killed swiftly; a burn could leave it victim in agony for days before killing them, and with pain medicine in short supply they would often feel every minute of it.

Kuina was joined by yet another member of de Gris’s crew, a grim-faced girl who introduced herself as Danielle before asking for Kuina to call her Danny. She had the heavy, calloused hands of a workman and a hachimaki around her head that identified her as the shipwright who stayed behind to make repairs on the ship. With those repairs now complete, she was just as stuck as Kuina, waiting for her next job.

“Didn’t they want you building up the barricades?” Kuina asked as they went out for more water to boil. “Seems that would be a good place for a carpenter.

“You’d think, but the locals told me to get lost. Half of them blame us for what’s happened, the other half think they can do better. Last thing we need right now is more infighting, so here I am meeting my new crew mate instead.” Danny smiled down at Kuina. “You wear that mask all the time? Doesn’t it get uncomfortable?”

“I’m used to it,” Kuina said. She paused a moment as she stepped around two men arguing over the price of rice. “And I’m not really joining the crew. I’m just traveling with the Revolution until I can get to the Grand Line.”

“Smart woman.”

Kuina looked up in surprise, but Danny kept going on as if she’d made a comment about the weather. There was no bitterness or anger in her tone to indicate she regretted her own decision to join the Revolutionary Army, or any disgust that Kuina didn’t want to stick around. Only the simple statement of fact.

Smart woman.

She noticed Kuina gaping and raised an eyebrow. “Look at the hellhole we’re in. Only a crazy person would dedicate themselves to this day after day. I’d jump ship myself, but I was dumb enough to tagged for a bounty.” Danny tapped the edge of Kuina’s mask. “Shoulda wised up like you. Now I’m stuck.”

“I am...so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I made my choice of my own free will. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but no one forced me. That’s more than I can say for some.”

Kuina slowed to a stop. “The Revolutionary Army forces people to join them?”

Danny snorted. “Let me put it to you like this: Do you think any of the people here can ever go back to their normal lives once this is done?”

Given her own experience the words shouldn’t have been a surprise, but they somehow left Kuina dumbstruck. All around her were hundreds, if not thousands of men, women, and children. Most were not actively fighting. Most had been trapped by the barricades and the fires. Most had not wanted...this.

Even if the Revolution was somehow victorious, what did their futures hold? Even if they could fight back against the Justice of the World Government, the rest of the city were turned against them.

It would be a bloodbath.

Calling back behind her as she walked back to the hospital tent, Danny said, her voice a dire warning,

“Be careful they don’t get you, too.”

#creative-type writes #One Piece Fanfiction #wake from death (and return to life) #kuina

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Well, howdy there. I’m up to episode 8 of Ranma 1/2, the second episode of the introductory arc for the best boy in anime history, Ryoga Hibiki. Last episode gave us a general idea of who he is, but it’s this one where we’ll get to see him and Ranma actually fight, as the title gives away. I’ve said it before, but I absolutely adore titles like this. One time I was writing a fanfic for this series, and I won’t lie, making up similar styled titles for chapters was one of the best parts. So, excited to watch it, next paragraph I’ll have done just that!

That...was kind of disappointing. I was really looking forward to this episode, and while there was a ton of stuff I really enjoyed about it, there was a lot I did not care for in the slightest. But before I talk more about that, I’ll do my recap.

Though there is a bit of an issue there, too. About half or more of this episode is Ranma and Ryoga fighting. I’m recapping the episode to you in a text-based format, so going blow-by-blow to describe every move of the fight would be pretty boring, I’d imagine, even if a lot of what happens is actually really great and ties together well. But on the other end of the spectrum, a lot of the plot momentum in the story is carried by the ebb and flow of the fight scene, so just glossing over it wouldn’t work either. I’m going to try for a middle path, but I apologize if I don’t stick that landing.

The episode starts at Furinkan High School, in the middle of the night, as the school’s Chemistry Club is secretly meeting to put their finishing touches on an...explosive mine? Which then blows up? I’d love to tell you this makes sense later...but it does not.

We cut from there to Ryoga, who is dramatically monoguing about how badly he wants to kill Ranma. NEXT SCENE. At the Tendo Household, Ranma and Akane are discussing again why Ryoga wants to beat Ranma up so badly. He’s still confused, since he was sure it was because of the bread. Speaking of Ryoga, Kasumi shows up to deliver a letter that arrived from Ranma, from his rival. It’s a letter of challenge, but the date on it was the day before. Ranma doesn’t think that’s a problem though, considering Ryoga’s relationship with timeliness. To accentuate that point, we get a small scene of Ryoga misunderstanding someone’s directions and going the wrong way, again.

The next day, in what looks to be between classes or during lunch or something, one of Akane’s friends comments on how long her hair has grown out. Akane notes in narration that it’s “finally” longer than Kasumi’s, to really connect the dots we see she’s thinking of Dr. Tofu. But there’s no time for that, Ryoga is back again! In the sports field! While sports are going on! He gets knocked out by a stray ball, but in no time Ranma is down there to fight him, and most of the school has gone down to watch.

Nabiki and her henchwomen, which she has apparently, smell an opportunity, and organize a betting ring on the fight. There’s some brief banter between Ranma and Ryoga, during which it’s revealed it’s actually been a month since the last episode and Ryoga ended up on Okinawa while lost (meaning he’s now been to all four of Japan’s main islands), but then the fight finally begins. Ryoga starts by mainly using his umbrella, and Ranma sticks to dodging.

From there, we get a few audience cutaways. It turns out everyone put their money on Ranma, so Nabiki realizes she’ll need to do something to make sure Ranma loses and she doesn’t lose a ton of money on the bets. The Chemistry Club shows up, and they realize that if Ranma dies, they’ll have a chance to...do something to Akane they never clarify, but is implied to be somehow taking ownership of her. Yeah.

Back to the fight, Ryoga tosses his umbrella at Ranma as a distraction, then pulls out a length of wire and throws a handcuff onto Ranma’s wrist. Now they’re chained at the hand, so they’ll have to fight close quarters, which favors Ryoga more. The umbrella ended up landing near the audience, and some of them try to lift it, only to realize it weighs an incredible amount. Even Akane, who is quite strong, can barely lift in less than a foot off the ground. Realizing that Ryoga’s been carrying this monster of a weapon with one hand this whole time, seemingly with no difficulties, Akane tries to warn Ranma that his opponent is far stronger than he seems.

We cut from there to a student running to see Kuno, and let him know Ranma is fighting some really strong guy who seems to be around Ranma’s level. Kuno claims he is “meditating”, which turns out to just be looking at posters of Ranma in his cursed form and Akane while trying to decide if he likes one more than the other.

Ranma finally decides to take this fight seriously, and uses Ryoga’s trick to his advantage by tangling Ryoga into being grappled, with only one hand to use and Ranma sitting on his back. It’s a great move, but Ryoga is in fact so strong that, with one hand, he can throw both of them dozens of feet into the air, where they start fighting mid-air. That was a miscalculation on Ryoga’s part though, as Ranma is basically built for air juggling.

They end up outside the initial fighting area, right where the Chemistry Club hid a bunch of their explosive mines. They don’t blow up as they’re stepped on though, and after several gags they end up trying to beat up Ranma by jumping out with mallets...right as the fighters dart away for somewhere else, setting off their mines and blowing themselves up. And that was the last anyone heard of them. I guess they’re actually dead. It’s canon now.

Nabiki runs after Ranma and Ryoga as they leave the school entirely for their fight. They’re just on some random street of the city now, and the handcuff tether broke as they left the filler characters behind. Nabiki approaches Ryoga as they’re fighting, offering him what she claims to be a steroid, but is actually just some vitamin pills. Ryoga takes them anyway, and with that plus Nabiki’s thorough encouragement, he acts as though he’s suddenly far stronger. Thanks, Placebo Effect! In fact, he lefts a cement telephone pole out of the ground and uses it as a melee weapon. Amazing.

Ryoga chases Ranma through the city and into the zoo, where some animals are let out from the carnage of their battle. By this point, Ryoga is getting tired of Ranma running away all the time, and says he’s acting like a girl. That hits Ranma’s Berserk Button, and he starts fighting back, breaking the weaponized piece of public property and several other things just as the other students start arriving to keep watching the fight.

The only problem is that A) Ranma broke a water fountain, making it spray water everywhere; B) Ryoga dodged the water using his umbrella, but Ranma got splashed and his curse activated; C) Ranma’s favorite shirt was slashed in the chest area earlier, meaning now parts of his breasts are showing. Ryoga is confused for a second, and Ranma actually gets really emotional, making it clear how much he hates his curse, how much of a struggle living with it is. From Akane’s face in the background, she finds it a bit overwrought. Kuno also briefly shows up to leap at Ranma, only to be taken out with a kick.

If Ranma thought the reveal of his curse and his explanation of how bad it makes him feel would make Ryoga take it easy on him, he thought wrong. In fact, Ryoga seems even more angry now, pissed off at the idea that looking so attractive could be a genuine problem. (Some fuel for you Ranma/Ryoga shippers out there.) Ryoga reveals a new trick. Apparently he has a bunch of bandanas, and he can throw them as sharp boomerangs? Okay.

Worried about him, Akane tries to help Ranma get out of there, sure he wouldn’t be able to win in his cursed form, only for Ranma to have to protect her, picking her up into his arms to run away to get some room away from their assailant. They then have a brief moment of realizing how close they just were, and each struggling with whether to go into why they’re upset at the other or say something about their cute moment. They both decide to go with the former. Oh, and there’s a brief cutaway scene of some zoo person trying to catch an animal, seeing Mr. Saotome come out of a store in his cursed form, and assuming he’s an escaped animal too.

While Ranma and Akane argue in a tree, or as Ryoga accurately calls it, “flirting”, he cuts down the tree using his best, which can apparently become tense and really sharp? Anyway, he’s on the attack again, and in the heat of the moment Ranma says a very bad thing, insinuating that he doesn’t like Akane. She slaps him, absolutely done with him. After all, she’s been worried about him, tried to help him, and in response he’s gotten angry and insulted her. Ranma tries to recover, going after her, but she dramatically turns around to say she is done caring about what he thinks...right as one of Ryoga’s sharp weapons falls from the sky, cutting off a large chunk of her hair mid-turn.

That’s the end of the episode! It was a lot, but it also wasn’t. Hmm...where to start, where to start...should I begin with what I didn’t like, or what I did? I think I’ll actually get the rougher parts out of the way first, so then I can relish talking about what I enjoyed.

There are no two ways about it: this fight, which I had remembered so fondly over the years, is full of filler material. To no one’s surprise, the Chemistry Club are anime-only characters, and unlike other such new elements from later in the series, which I enjoy to certain extents, these characters are nothing. Actually, nothing would have been better. They add no stakes, nothing worthwhile at all, they break up the fight in the process, and what we see of their characters is genuinely despicable, even worse than Kuno. It is left vague exactly what they want Akane for, but it’s left open to interpretation enough that it could be anything from getting her to join as their only girl club member, to being their shared sexual object. If you think I’m reaching for that, please, watch the episode. These are the inceliest incels who ever inceled, and they kind of scare me.

They’re not the only rancid fat in this episode. Kuno did not need to be here. At first, I was happy to see we’d get a little bit of him during this story, but his first scene was just a boring repeat of an already becoming stale joke (Hahaha isn’t it funny that he’s in love with two people at the same time?) and his second scene lasts for about four seconds and is a dull moment in the middle of an emotional scene for Ranma. Genma’s cutaway scenes aren’t as bad, but they’re not really good either. They’re the most neutral.

Of all the side-stories going on here, the only one I actually liked was Nabiki’s. It affected the plot a little, it was in-character for her while driving further to show how money-obsessed she is, she got some anime-only henchwomen out of it (Kikuko and Ryonami for those who care), and I never felt like it was hurting the fight itself. I get that a lot of these other elements of the episode were there for comic relief, but in my opinion it was bad comic relief. It undercut what the other parts of the episode were trying to do, not accentuating them like they should have, and they were just unappetizing. My last complaint would just be a lot of the opening scenes, which were basically mini-recaps about who Ryoga is and what he’s like, didn’t really feel needed.

All of that out of the way, allow me to now gush over what I love about this episode. This fight isn’t the best Ranma vs. Ryoga fight in the series (In fact, I don’t think it would make my Top 3. Yes, if you haven’t seen this show, they really do fight that many times over the course of it.) But it is still a pretty good fight with lots of memorable moments. Ryoga is the first opponent to actually test Ranma’s strength in any real ways, and there are some really killer bits of action here, such as the grappling, the mid-air fighting, and the telephone pole weapon.

What makes this more than just a cool looking fight are the emotional aspects to it. On Ranma’s side, he doesn’t really care about fighting Ryoga, up until his pride is hurt by Ryoga’s comments. For the first time, it’s Ranma getting mad, and from that we get to see how Ranma feels about his situation. That draws out some hints to the mystery behind why Ryoga is angry as well, if you’re paying attention to the clues. (I couldn’t think of anywhere else to mention this, but I am still reeling from how often Ryoga this early in the series relied on weird weapons. Where does he get them? I am quite glad (if I remember correctly) that they phased that part of him out with time.)

On Akane’s end, in addition to another case of Ranma saying the wrong thing to really hurt their attempts to connect with one another, we also learn more about her hair. While a little clumsy, early on it’s made clear, without being outright stated, that the reason Akane wears her hair long, and has been actively growing it out, is so she looks more like Kasumi, hoping to catch Dr. Tofu’s eye. Thus, when the episode ends with that hair being accidentally rendered far shorter, we know that means something to her.

I’d also say this episode does a good job of getting us further into the idea of a status quo developing. After all, it’s apparently been another month of Ranma living with the Tendo’s now, and the school at large seems to be settling into what Ranma brings to them with his presence. They’re not stunned by someone showing up to fight Ranma, they’re chasing after them to watch it. Only other thing to note is, in addition to Nabiki’s minions, Akane’s best friends finally appeared, Yuka and Sayuri. I actually wasn’t sure at first, since Yuka’s hair is a lot shorter than will be her norm later on, but I did confirm that they are in fact her equivalents to Ranma’s Hiroshi and Daisuke. They get even less characterization than those guys do, but they’re a nice addition to the growing cast regardless.

I still have a few characters who have shown up that I haven’t done a spotlight on, but none of them really featured in this episode, so I decided to do my first repeat. That’s right, we’re talking about Ranma again, and because I’ve already discussed his voice actors and actresses, I won’t need to go over them again, except to say I still love his Japanese voice actor for his uncursed state, but find his actress in that language to not quite work for me.

So, it’s been a little while since the first episode, and we’ve gotten to see Ranma a little more. Since this was an action-heavy episode, I think I’ll start with talking more about his fighting style. I said in that first episode that Ranma is fast, and he is. So far, he’s spent most of his fights dodging his opponent, rather than attacking them, and when he does it’s sometimes with such speed that they don’t even see it happening. It’s the very fact he’s more defensive that is occasionally shown to annoy Akane, and you can see it having another layer to it: Ranma would much rather avoid things he doesn’t like, rather than face them head-on.

But he’s not just quick, he’s quick-witted. To match his meticulous mobility, Ranma thinks on his feet, always looking for ways to outmaneuver or outsmart his opponents. We can see from how easily he lifts Ryoga’s umbrella, even in his cursed form, at the end of this episode that Ranma is also very strong, but he doesn’t rely on that strength, he uses his brain instead. Personally, I’ve always thought that was evidence that, at least with Ryoga of all people, he would probably lose a straight-up strength vs strength fight, but I’m not sure if that’s ever openly stated. Still, I also don’t see Ranma lifting telephone poles out of the ground.

In terms of his personality, I’d argue that through the episodes thus far, Ranma has shown to be a complex protagonist. On the surface layer, he’s a fairly abrasive person. He enjoys nettling people, at least those he knows are easy to rile up, and frequently says the worst possible thing to someone without realizing the damage his comment will do.

But there’s also more to him than that. Whether he wants to admit it or not, and he clearly doesn’t want to, Ranma does care for Akane. He does go out of his way to try and comfort her, cheer her up when she’s down, give her advice with her problems. When she might be in danger, Ranma runs in to help, and is upset that she’d endanger herself during his fight with Ryoga. In other words, Ranma is a tsundere, leaning fairly heavily on the tsun side.

One other important piece of who he is that we’ve gotten only hints of here or there so far is his pride and how it relates to his masculinity. Ranma is a very proud person, and he’s clearly not a fan of people taking him lightly or treating him in a way he doesn’t like. That includes being treated as though he was a girl, because he isn’t.

That is honestly understandable. Sometimes, completely outside of Ranma’s control, his physical body changes into something he doesn’t feel comfortable with. When he’s in his cursed form, people see him and treat him differently, and he keeps trying to assert his masculinity, to no avail. Ryoga gets Ranma angry by saying he was acting like a “girl”, completely unaware of the curse at the time. As I’ve said before, I think this actually relates quite well to the transgender experience, in these cases specifcally gender dysphoria and midgendering. I can’t remember how much we’ve seen of it up to now, but Ranma’s rejection of femininity in any way, something he does to try and preserve his masculine pride, often leads to him acting rude or even misogynistic to others. It’s an interesting part of his character, but I do feel the need to say right now that I absolutely hate the stereotype with trans men where some people claim they act misogynistic to try and be more masculine. Like, I know some people do it, but using that brush on all trans men is just wrong and transphobic, no thank you.

Welp, that certainly was an episode. Even after going into all the really interesting and good parts of this episode, I am still left with a bad taste in my mouth. By no means did the bad outweigh the good, but the fact the worst parts of the episode were frequently interspersed among the best parts of it broke up the pacing in a bad way for me. It’s still in the top half of the episodes so far, as I’d put it between episodes 6 and 4. The current ranking is now:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

This storyline isn’t over just yet though! Next week, we’ll be looking at the fallout of Akane’s impromptu haircut in episode 9, “True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!”. See you all then!

#episode 8 #School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #ryoga hibiki #akane tendo #anime analysis #anime rewatch

[cutegirlmayra]

If It's Not To Much Trouble....

@helaknight What about a Boom! Sonamy prompt where Sonic likes Amy and teases her by flirting with other girls to tick her off because he thinks she still have feeling for him. And Amy feels Sonic is actually making fun of her and confronts Sonic to stop teasing her and walks away but Sonic grabs her arm and pulls her to him and tells her that she’s not fooling him and he wants to be in a relationship, but Amy thinks he won’t take isn’t serious so she tells him the requirements with a song and in the end he gently grabs her hands and pulls one of them to his cheek and the other to his chest meeting her know he’ll take their relationship serious and you can think of the rest.

~💙💖~

Melanie Martinez just released her new album and I would love her song High School Sweethearts to go with this song. I know you don’t cuss so you can use the clean version.

Ya? No?

—–

Ehem, -listens to the song- umm… I can do my best, but this isn’t really… ‘friendly’ for prompts lol I’ll do my very best to incorporate the song into the prompt, but it will have to be changed. I hope that’s okay! >x<

PROMPTS ARE ON SHUTDOWN! So help me, if yall give me one more amazing prompt to do without first saving it in a word doc for when the freakin’ grand reopening is SO CLOSE TO HAPPENING I will eat your prompt to where the sweet, wonderful prompt I would have written is stashed safely in my stomach! DO YOU HEAR ME!? ONLY I WILL ENJOY IT! So please, PLLEEEASSSE put all your wonderful ideas somewhere safe until I reopen everything! Thanks, you’re the best~<3

Prompt:

“Can I just be honest?”

Amy, leaning against a wooden stall in the market place, arms crossed and glaring away from Sonic’s typical pick-up line.

“I can’t tell which is the prettier twin.”

The twins giggled before waving him off, and he zipped over to another little lovely batch of girls. “S’up, girls. Names adventure.” he winked, as some giggled while most just shifted their eyes as though confused.

“He’s out of his mind!” Amy flipped her hands around in the air, “What does he think he’s doing!? It’s a waste of time! He’s not gonna cross the finish line with any of these girls, and they walk away the second he tries to even finish a flirt!”

As Amy rambled on about it, Tails just sighed and put his metal detectors headphones down to hang around his neck. “Amy, I don’t know how to say this, but I think you’re acting really jealous right now. I mean, it’s not like he’s causing any harm.”

“Oh, yeah? Just me?” Amy stood with full confidence in front of Tails, as if knowing something he didn’t.

“What?” Tails raised an eyebrow to her, before looking to see Sonic trying to put a move on Zooey. “That jerk!” he threw the metal detector down, completely animated in his shock, before rolling his eyes back up at Amy. “Ehem, he needs to be stopped.” he straightened himself up.

“Well, at least Zooey’s being faithful.” Amy sighed, seeing Zooey scoot away from Sonic as Tails began to lose his mind.

“That’s it! I’m talking with him.” Tails was about to step forward when Amy threw her arm out.

“No, this is my battle.” There was an aura of power and might, as instrumental, epic music played instantly in her wake.

“Huh?” Tails, seeing the shift of tone, suddenly looked up to Amy.

She marched over to Sonic, making people jump or scramble to get out of her way.

“You think it’s funny, don’t you? Making fun of my passion?”

Sonic stopped a moment as Zooey cowered under the counter, seeing a confrontation about to occur.

Sonic, sly as always, leaned a little and smirked at Amy. “So, you finally noticed?”

She gritted her teeth, and the aura she once had boosted vigorously to where the whole town suddenly were closing windows, doors, and even locking down their open, wooden market place.

It was like a western show down.

“You’re one to talk. You mock my only fashion sense!” Sonic raised his foot up, revealing his shiny red shoes. “These are the ONLY article of clothing I get to where, you better respect the shine, sister!”

“Oh, just keep talking.” Amy was getting more and more agitated. “Because the more you do, the more I regret ever telling you how I feel!”

“What..?” Sonic suddenly lowered the foot, confused.

Amy’s hands shook violently, her head moving down as she struggled to keep it together. “If you can’t handle a heart like mine then…” she swung her head up, refusing to be weak and vulnerable in front of him again, “If you can’t handle the loving, the smothering then… then..!!! Then I don’t need to like you anymore!” she stomped away, but the powerful roar caused Sonic’s blue quills to stand on end, the sign behind him to fall over from the powerful cry.

“Hold on!” Sonic shook himself free of the effect of her rejection and zoomed back to grab her arm, stopping her again. “After you told me you liked me you said there would be requirements! I can’t just jump from step seven to eleven! You have some things you have to do too!” he looked serious… something Amy hadn’t seen in him before.

“What are you talking about!? You refused to even hold my hand! Too scared to show me off in public, or even admit you-!” she bit her tongue.

“What? Choked? Biting your tongue back?” Sonic let her go, but remained in her way. “Amy, why do you think I was egging you on all this time? You wanna act like those high school sweethearts you see all around you, but that’s not who I am! They’re not your type, and you should know it!”

“Oh, yeah? And what is!” Amy pushed him back, “A jerk who thinks flirting with other girls will somehow make me step up and be honest!?”

“Yes!” Sonic seemed to release all his tension then, “That’s exactly what you’re doing! You want me to promise to love you? Then you have to be fine showing it! For one thing, you never act like you like me in front of me!” he gestured to himself, “I’m no cheater, I won’t waste your time, and I won’t screw you over! But you can’t tie me down, Amy… I can’t do all that… mushy, gushy romantic side of things! Can’t you tell these girls couldn’t even stand me!?”

“It’s true, he’s awful!”

“Thank you! … Hey!” Sonic turned to try and see what random girl’s voice had just spoken up from the hiding crowd but they all ducked their heads back down.

“I’m willing to try this thing out, but you have to be willing to play at a level I’m comfortable with. You’re the only girl I’ve ever been absolutely ridiculous for, Amy… I’m trying. But I need you to try too. For one, you weren’t comfortable with me flirting with these girls, right? Think of how I feel when you keep your real feelings hidden from me.” Sonic tried to be deep, but another girl’s voice spoke up right as he began to be vulnerable.

“To be honest, we didn’t really feel comfortable with his flirting either…”

“Alright, she gets it!” Sonic slammed a foot down and turned back, glaring at the naysayers to quit their random outbursts already. “Thank you for your input but I think we’ve all got the picture that I’m bad at this!”

“Really bad!”

“He stinks!”

“I mean, his looks are kinda all he’s got left.”

Sonic, defeated, sighed and swayed his arms down.

“…Fine, new requirements.” Amy grabbed Sonic’s brown bandana around his neck and pulled him over to her face, causing his feet to skid against the ground a moment, his feet falter from holding him steady. “If you date me… just be yourself, and I’ll… try and be my true self.” Her ears bent a little, she couldn’t look him in the eye when she said it.

He smiled, taking in her sincerity.

“There, now was that so hard-OFFPH!”

She pulled him up to her face, “But if you flirt with another woman again, I’ll rip your freakin’ face off!”

“Urk, d-duly noted…”

The crowd cheered, glad Sonic’s random flirting was over with, but then two high school sweethearts starting singing and Sonic and Amy both turned to them and shouted,

“Shut up!”

Sonic, leading Amy away from the crowd who continued to pester with how lovely-dovey the rest of them were, even Tails and Zooey being cute with their tails forming a 3-dimensional heart–finally retreated to being alone.

“What are we doing here?” Amy asked before Sonic took her hand. “S-Sonic..?” she blushed, looking confused.

“I haven’t said my confession yet.” Nervously, he smiled and put her hand to his heart. “Feel that?”

She shyly pulled a little away, but Sonic’s insist tug, and those annoyed eyes, let her know that she needed to try and little harder here too…

She conceded, letting her fingers dip into fur and feel his heart beat.

“That’s how you make me feel.”

“You just ran.” she rolled her eyes.

“No… I just started feeling…” He looked up to her, and their eyes suddenly locked in great emotion… Amy’s heart began to race too.

“Can we just be honest?” Sonic tilted his head, leaning towards her forehead and letting it touch his own as he put another arm around her shoulders… bringing her closer.

“There are no requirements.” He teased, as she found herself melting into his embrace a bit. “If you think you can be my one and only true love… then…”

He whispered, “Don’t wake up.”

Amy’s eyes burst open as she leaned up from her bed, listening to music with her headphones on and groaned, seeing it was still late at night.

��Oh man..!!!” she kicked under the covers and picked up her hammer, also having its own pillow by her side–not allowing it to get stolen again–and smashed her radio.

(Super AU, but I hope I did alright >////w///<; )

#sonamy #boom!sonamy #sonamy boom #high school sweethearts #sonic prompt #sonic boom prompt #sonic au #sonic au prompt #sonic boom au #cutegirlmayra #submission #musical prompt

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Dream Cont: (Cause my mind wants to make a ml saga for some reason)

Previous Dreams: (ML Dream Episode) (My Subconscious is f***ing taunting me) (Because my mind finally wants to be nice) (Yes there is more) (The one with Zag Spoilers)

Who is Arséne?

This episode seemed to have taken place right after the previous dream episode ‘Mask Master’ So apparently Lila was pissed about what happened at the masquerade ball, and told Gabriel.

-Gabriel was scolding Adrien about the whole thing. Adrien was just sort of looking sullen and sad. 

-Arséne is let in because he had something to discuss with Gabriel about some financial paper work (I think it was investing)

-Gabriel told Arséne to come back tomorrow that he was busy. Arséne said that won't work since he has a business trip, and asks Adrien whats wrong.

-Gabriel explains that Adrien had embarrassed Miss Rossi (the new model/ aka the lying B****) and that he will be taking Adrien out of school effective immediately.

-Adrien stands up. He tries to protest.

-”You have disgraced the Gabriel brand Adrien. Until you understand what that means, you will be here.”

-Arséne steps in.

-”It is my fault the boy did this Gabriel.”

-Arséne explains in detail about how Adrien was not at fault because it was his lesson (honestly I don't really remember the full explanation, but it worked)

-Gabriel tells Adrien he has a warning and to not do anything remotely of the sort to Lila in the future.

-Arséne was relieved... until Gabriel fired him instead.

-”What!”

-”You are a terrible influence on my son and I want you as far away from him as possible. Consider your lessons canceled.”

-Adrien tried to defend his tutor but Arséne told Adrien it is okay.

-”A gentleman knows when it is time to walk away.”

-Arséne said farewell to the young blond and began to walk away. Being ever so polite about it.

-”You would do better in the future to work on your manners Mr. Manochot.” Gabriel commented.

-Arséne got PISSED. He stops.

-Arséne turned back and went up to Gabriel before shouting at him, listing everything Gabriel did wrong as a business owner, as a socialite, and especially as a father.

-”I have known this boy for a few months and I am certain I have been a better father figure to him then you have been in his entire life.”

-”What are you implying?”

-”You may be his father Gabriel, but you sure as hell are not his Dad.” Arséne left in a huff.

----

-Marinette is with Kitty Section, She seemed to be just listening to their new set.  

-After they finished, Luka asked what the designer thought of the set. She said it was really awesome, but the third song did feel less... (she couldn't phrase it) But Luka understood.

-”Yea, I do think that song still needs some work.”

-Ivan approaches Marinette asking to talk to her for a second.

-Marinette knows why Ivan wants to talk and the two move to the side. Marinette shows a cat bandana with the Kitty section logo on it. It was a commission that Ivan asked for. It was for Myléne’s birthday.

-Ivan hugging and spinning Marinette out of thankfulness was adorable.

-He takes the bandana and goes to wrap it up.

Marinette was glad the drummer liked it.

-Ivan tells the band he needs to leave so that he can meet with Myléne, there is some encouragement from the band and he runs off. Practice pretty much over, everyone kind of splinters off.

-Marinette comments to Tikki that she wishes she could have something like that.

-Luka approaches Marinette, asking if she wanted to help him with the song in the third set.

-Marinette looked a bit flustered saying she is no good at rhyming and all that.

-”I could use some inspiration, and you are very inspiring” (WHY IS LUKA SO F***ING SWUAVE! THIS IS MY DREAM, HE SHOULD NOT BE) 

-Marinette agrees.

----

-Arséne is walking out of the mansion and Adrien ran after him.

-Adrien saying he doesn't want Arséne to leave, that he has been such a good tutor and mentor.

-Arséne smiling at Adrien.

-”You're a good kid Adrien, promise me you won't become anything like your father, and I will know that my lessons paid off.”

-There is an akuma, it was originally headed for Arséne, but seeing Adrien calmed the gentleman down. But Now Adrien was sad and akumatizeable. So Arséne got in the way (Zombizou parallel) got his pocket square.

-Arséne telling Adrien to run, fighting the akumatization.

-Adrien tells him to keep fighting it. That he will get help and he runs off.

-As soon as Adrien is gone, Arséne gives in. But it seemed like he Wanted to get akumatized.

-Hawkmoth introduces himself, blah blah blah.

-”Now I will Make Gabriel Agreste suffer!”

-Hawkmoth realizing errors were made.

-Monsieur Manner is born! He is wearing an all white suit, with a butterfly shaped eye mask. He has a cane, and his hair is prim and proper brown. his eyes are purple.He has an incredible mustache.

-Hawkmoth quickly changed back to Gabriel to avoid his lair being found.

-He kidnaps Gabriel and takes him to the Eiffel Tower. 

-Adrien sees this. Plagg asking if this is even a bad thing. They transform and go off to fight him.

- Gabriel pretending he has no idea whats going on. But is internally screaming.

-----

- Marinette is listening to Luka play and looks a bit smitten. Then her phone goes off, news alert. Marinette says she needs to answer a call. and walks out.

-Luka shrugs and keeps playing.

-Marinette checks the news and sees Chat noir fighting an akuma.

-Marinette tells Luka, ‘Bakery emergency and that she has to go.’

-”No worries, I feel plenty inspired thanks to you.”

-Marinette left smiling before she transformed.

-----

-Monseuir Manners had an ability to create ‘Rules’ which if people didn't follow they get punished.

- Ladybug and Chat noir realizing they were a little out of their depth and needed to find a way to beat him. Ladybug needed to go get back up.

-Myléne gets inflicted by an effect of the rules and her punishment was being turned into a statue.

-Ivan was furious, and wanted to fight against the akuma.

-Ivan helped by allowing Ladybug to escape, so Ivan got the bull Miraculous in this one. I think he was called ‘Long horn’ I just know his costume was so so, I liked other fan designs better.

-Ivan’s power was something that made him able to endure the rule breaking. I can't for the life of me remember and I know it sounded so OP in this episode. Like it made him immune to powers of others for a short time.

-The fight itself was really cool, Chat noir trying to talk down Monsieur Manners the entire time.

-They win, and Long horn is holding Myléne is the cutest thing in the world.

- Chat noir checking if Arséne is okay after he was freed.

- Arséne thanks the cat hero.

-Gabriel makes a rather vicious remark about Arséne, and Chat noir fires BACK!

-Ladybug and Arséne watching the cat go OFF on Gabriel Agreste. Arséne has some suspicions on who Chat noir is.

-Ladybug backs up her partner, because quite frankly, she agrees that Gabriel is an awful parent, (who lets Lila be a model anyway?)

-Ladynoir moment that is sweet.

-Gabriel apologizes to Arséne, asking him to come back working with him. Arséne looks at the cat hero for a moment.

-”The only reason I am agreeing to this is because of your son.”

-Kind of a touching scene.

-Later, Arséne is on his own and Tuxx comes out.

-”Did you have fun being an akuma? Did it give you insight on which side we should take?”

-Arséne doesn't say anything.

-Tuxx smirks.

-”Going soft on me?”

- “If I take down Hawkmoth, Adrien loses a father, but Hawkmoth doesn't deserve the miraculous. I need more time to think.”

-”Is time really something you have? You know the ....”

-Arséne coughs loudly into his hankerchief.

-”I know I am on a time limit Tuxx, but playing rashly will also be just as detrimental.”

-”I don't want to lose my best friend.”

-”And you say I am going soft.”

-There was a bit at the end where Arséne is going out for a date, and Miss Bustier is there. But my dream kind of cuts off there.

#ml dream #ml dream episode #ml dreams #miraculous ladybug #ivlyen #Lukanette #arsene manachot #Arséne manachot #drama #ladynoir #It was Very vivid #much like my other dream #but that was marvel related #ladybug #chat noir #monsieur manners #hawkmoth #Ivan bruel #mylene haprele

[oreomonsterhunter]

ON:E D2

Day 2 continued (even though there isn’t really a part one since TuMBlr DeLETed iT and I do not have the energy to try to recreate my thoughts, plus they wouldn’t be first impressions anymore since I’ve seen it already. Le sigh)

My Time is up first and I’m not prepared. My laptop even decided to quit the hell out of the website I was watching from, I assume in an attempt to protect me from 23 year old menace Jeon Jungkook. But the show must go on...

Ok I love the guitar move, I loved it the last two times and I love it now

No one come for me but his voice sounded a tad bit off when he first came in

I say this with love because my eyes and ears are peeled for injuries and strain and it is 2000007191819% believable that jk went too hard on day 1

But you know he’s right back on top again when the backing vocals come in and it sounds like a recording 😍 that’s my boy

I SEE TIDDIES I REPEAT THERE ARE TIDDIES ON THE SCENE

This choreo is impeccable

And I say that having seen it thrice and had my eyes peeled for the footwork and hand work because jk can Dance with that real good technique

You can almost touch the hours he’s put into this performance

Can you tell I’m avoiding the sexual nature as long as possible because I am

The leather fit was better for the thighs I’m just gonna say it

I like the red (and spoiler: the fact that he and jimin switch colors) but I reeeeeally liked the leather

My gawd those shoulder moves he’s so aggressive with it I’m 😳

The fact that his entire chest is out is absolutely sending me off the deep end, I am losing it, I have lost it

This sure is a...pectacle

Insert Jin windshield wiper laugh here

Jeon jungkook has pretty broad shoulders...and an itty bitty waist...and he’s throwing it in my face I’m like damn

Ok the backup dancers are lovely, and I like the symbolism of jk being followed by shadowy strangers, his every move inspected and copied

Imma say it: I liked day one hair better

I AM GASPING FOR BREATH JEON JUNGKOOK STOP IT RIGHT NOW I SAW ABS AND A WHOLE FRICKIN SHOULDER PUT THAT AWAY YOUNG MAN

I am keeping my eyes on the prize there is more to come I gotta stay cool but his THIGHS ARE A SIREN SONG AND I AM HELPLESS

That vocal run oof 😍😭 and right after that intense dance nonsense

Ok Santa I’ve had enough, all I want for Christmas is to squeeze jk’s thigh. Just one. Just for a moment. That’s all I ask.

I see sweat 👀 I’m not gonna say the thought I’m having I’ll scandalize you

FILTERRR JIMINNNN FUCK ME UPPPPP

Ok so he has his first note and immediately spreads his legs what am I supposed to do here jimin

His shirt is thin and almost missing as many buttons as mr doesn’t-know-what-buttons-are-jungkook so HOW does he do the outfit change later...we’ll find out

THE ROBE yes this is better this is the one heck yeah new fave

Jimin is Carmen right now (if you know you know) this is my ultimate goal

His hair...I said I was obsessed on day one but tousled is 😍 I love silvery jimin

And yes his eyeshadow is perfection absolute chef kiss Gordon Ramsay is on his knees praising this five star look

The lift and the half fall with the backup dancers is even MORE chef kiss ughhhh I’m so glad I’m watching this again to catch the details (and now I can pause lol)

Oop I caught a glimpse of those hand tattoos hello

Yeah jimin said “jk isn’t the only one with a chest”

HOW the outfit change was FOUR SECONDS OR LESS I COUNTED

I am literally yoongi looking at jhope doing hip thrusts right now. Hand over mouth, phone fallen to the floor, my entire life in shambles. Jimin has brought literal tears to my eyes how is he this potent even through a screen

Potent is the word, he is an actual SIREN like what

Jimin get over here I want you

And now I’m soothed with Jin 😌 thank you

THE PINK SHIRT nvm I’m not soothed I am a massive fan girl

His hair is also perfection, the whole vibe is It

Jin’s voice is sweeter than the WWH kisses he blows to the audience all the time 😭 omggg

I really do love that shirt, the sleeves are so fun and pretty and flowy

The little prince theme is killin me ahh

Things I want after this concert (since part 1 was deleted I’ll repeat myself...thanks tumblr I really love that you deleted valuable notes): jimins ripped sparkly pants, jungkook’s thighs, jimin, Jin’s shirt

HOLY HELL THAT HIGH NOTE

Jin are you sure you’re human I see no flaws, pretty suspect if you ask me

What?!? The song is over already? Excuse me?

Probably because I had to keep taking breaks from jk to breathe, and jimin to regain some control of my brain cells

The way tae does lil kid things as an adult

Not just on stage but I was reminded by that lil finger wave, this absolute cutie

The way he holds a mic is 👀 this man really does everything differently and somehow makes anything look damn good

What’s cuter, this kid or taehyung’s smile right before the chorus??? Impossible choice?

NOPE it’s the way tae makes those little faces at him and pats his head and you hear army in the background 🥺😭😭

His high notes at the end? Are they all trying to murder me with these vocals? Vocal line doesn’t REST

EGOOOOOO I think I need hobi in a red car for the rest of my life

How am I supposed to stay calm when you look That Good, hobi?

This choreo is so much fun ahhhhh I wanna dance but I’m definitely not good enough to learn this on the fly

The lil woah

Ripped jeans hobi 😍

Skipping hobi is an absolute joy, a bit of sunshine everyone needs to witness, the cure to what ails you, the light at the end of a long day, I sob

His joy is seeping through the screen he really is sunshine

He can really make any dance look easy, that’s such a skill

I mean these leg moves? I know they’re hard, or at least tricky, and he just? Does them? And makes my brain think they’re easy because he’s just doing them so naturally? What a lie he’s just gifted beyond this dimension. And also practices to perfection so there’s that

Tae is seriously shaking his booty right now lol

I know the boys always make fun of suga’s rap during boy with luv but I really love it

Jin’s so happy 😊 they’re all excited and having so much fun

I’ll never stop screaming over bts harmonies. Jk can actually turn anything into a masterpiece he blends so well with everyone, goosebumps every time I forget about a harmony and get surprised and ughhhh yesss

Jimin doing the ego dance lol this cutie

See I’m not crazy, they really are so happy on stage 😭 they’re all glowing and now they’re gonna talk about it I better not cry I’m too tired for that

Mmmmm Joonie wearing necklaces is 👌

All of their hair looks stellar oof

DNA choreo is one of my faves (who can watch them and say they’re not amazing performers, seriously)

Yasss Jin goooooo

Dance line really knows how to take and grab my attention like...I’m addicted to them

The hobi center part at the end though 🥳

I love the old songs, I’m always smiling when some of them come on idk

It makes me happy that bts still like performing their old stuff, like...we enjoy it but so do they

SUGA ON THE THRONE WHERE HE BELONGS #king of swag

You know it’s an old song when rapper jk reappears, and y’all know how much I love rapper jk *cough* ddaeng *cough*

The baseball is weird not gonna lie

Ooh little groovy jhope

Jimin seriously considered yanking his shirt up, I saw him think about it 😂 but shirt still tucked in

NEVER OVER THIS DANCE BREAK

Ok usually my jaw drops over jhope NOT NAMJOON excuse ME whAT

This should be ILLEGAL SIR, ILLEGAL

Ok yeah jhope has my jaw dropping again how does he move like that

😳😩🥵 red alert, that smirk is worth calling 911 to put out a fire because Hot Damn

I love jimin’s voice ok I love it

The closeups on heavy breathing sweaty bangtan are actual threats against my life

Not sure I have a pulse anymore

Can anyone in bts perform cpr I think I need it

Ok nvm jhope’s intro in spring day is the virtual version, I’m saved

What excuse me park jimin you better be ok go drink some water bb

Jin forehead I see you, worldwide handsome on full display

Gahhhh hobi vocals simultaneously kill me and bring me back to life

Also harmonies with rapline and vocal line (suga and jimin are lovely omg)

IDOLLLLLLLL YASSSSSS QUEEN

jk is totally doing sound effects lmao

I like how tae has the bandana around his bicep again (they totally stalked the internet and found the thirst, it’s the least practical thing, he’s only wearing that for one reason lol

They are the MOST HYPE how do they just keep going my introverted ass is in awe

Jk like move y’all are in my way this is my moment get out of it ahahaha

Wait how did I not notice tae put the bandana on his head

It must be a pain in the butt to clean up all that confetti

Encore song is only for army 🥺 these are the most precious boys i swear

Jimin fixing jhope’s hair...I thought I couldn’t uwu any harder but I can

Apparently I can uwu even harder because jimin saying he’s not gonna cry and smiling so big his eyes turn into smiles too I’m the softest for one man and his name is park jimin

President joon, I’m happy too 😭

#glamazon #seokjin #king of swag #yoongi #my darling sunshine #jhope #president joon #namjoon #mister smooth #master of seduction #chim bean #jimin #tall dark and handsome #taehyung #thottius maximus #jungkook #bts #on:e #on:e concert

[softspaceboibrian]

The Rest of My Life

Pairing: Gwilym Lee x reader

Summary: Gwilym spends the last few moments with the love of his life

Warnings: lung cancer, death, very sad, so much angst

WC: 1795

A/N: I don't even know why I wrote something this sad, I wasn't feeling at my best. I'm so sorry.

When Gwilym finally got out of the audition, he turned back on his phone and found 7 missed phone calls from Joe, 4 from Lucy and a couple from Ben. Obviously something had happened to her, he knew it, he could feel it. And, even though deep down in his heart he knew exactly why he had so many missed calls, he wanted it to be good news. He needed it to be good news.

While dialling Joe’s number, he got inside his car, his heart racing in his chest. “Please, mate, answer your phone” He kept repeating, switching to speakerphone to avoid getting stopped by the police on the way to her.

“Gwil, thank God. Where are you?” Joe seemed worried. A lot.

“I’m on my way. Do you have news?”

“Hurry up. She...” He stopped talking, and the line went quiet for a few moments. Then he spoke again “She’s not good. She doesn’t have much longer.”

“Tell her I’m coming. I’m 5 minutes away. Tell her I’m almost there.” Gwil’s voice sounded calm, but if Joe could see him in that moment, he would know exactly how he was really feeling.

“I’ll tell her. But, please, get here as fast and as safely as possible” Joe tried to comfort him, before hanging up.

Five minutes later, Gwilym was running towards the front entrance of the hospital. Once inside he didn’t even need to say who he was, why he was there: almost every nurse knew him and knew her. So he raced down the halls of the hospital, bee lining between interns, nurses and doctor, his only goal in that moment being her room. Finally, he saw Ben pacing in front of her door, Lucy sitting on the chair right out side of the room, Rami trying to comfort her. At that sight, he stopped for a moment, feeling his heart breaking. But then Ben saw him, and immediately raced towards him. “You’re here”

“How is she?”

“Not good, but stable for the moment. Joe’s inside with her, trying to keep her busy”

Gwil simply nodded, walking slowly towards the door, his heart dropping in his chest with every step. He always knew that day was going to come, since the day they found out.

--------------------

They had been sitting in the waiting room for what seemed like a lifetime. They had been waiting for the results of the exams for days, but they felt like months, years even. She hadn’t been feeling well for a while at that point: it had started with a simple cough, but the syrup didn’t have any effect. Soon she began feeling pain in her chest area, getting worse and worse. But the moment the doctors really started to get worried was when she first coughed up blood. She had done any exam possible, even though they both already knew exactly what it was.

“I’m sorry that you had to wait for so long. Please, sit down” The doctor was a rather young woman, 5 or 6 years older than Gwil, with her hair in a neat ponytail, glasses that made her kind eyes pop. “I guess I should start by telling you that the results are not good. Actually they are far from good.” That didn’t help at all, but they had explicitly asked her to be as straightforward as possible. “I’m really sorry, but the results came back with the answer we all expected and yet hoped wouldn’t come: it’s lung cancer.”

Gwilym’s eyes immediately filled with tears, while she tried to stay calm, to contain herself. “How much longer?” The man asked, interrupting the woman sitting on the other side of the desk. “How much longer does she have?”

The woman looked down at the papers, not to look for the answer to the question, but to recollect herself. Telling such terrible news to such young people was never easy. “If we start the treatment right away, hopefully a year. If you decide you don’t want the treatment, well, in that case 5, maybe 6 months. But that’s already a stretch”

“Will it hurt? The treatment...” That was all she asked, all she needed to know. She was already sure about her decision to start the treatment as soon as possible, but she still wanted to know.

“It won’t be pleasant. Everyone reacts to it in different ways, but it’s never a smooth ride.” The doctor sighed, trying to keep a soft, gentle tone while delivering the sad news. “You will get weaker, you’ll lose your hair. At some point, in the last few weeks, when the situation will get worse, because it will, you will have to permanently move in here, in the hospital.”

“When can she start with the treatment?”

--------------------

He finally found the courage to walk inside the room for what was probably going to be the last time, to spend her last few moments with her. Everything was too good to be true in the last couple of days. But they always say that there’s always a last good day before the end. There had been times when things seemed to be looking up, but then quickly went back to the usual. But that time, that time Gwilym knew it was going to be the last time. He could see it in her tired smile, in her pale skin, in the way she tried to make the bandana on her head look good for him, because she too knew there weren’t going to be many other date nights with the love of her life.

“Hi, angel” Gwilym smiled, or at least he faked a smiled, while walking into the room where his girl, his fiancée was laying in bed, with their best friend who looked tired. “I’m sorry I’m late, traffic was terrible”

“You made it” She smiled at the man, trying to move a little to the side to make room for him on the bed.

No one needed to tell anything to Joe. He simply kissed the girl's forehead, before walking outside of the room to join the others, patting his friend’s shoulder on the way, as if to say you can do it. Gwilym smiled back at him, before making his way next to her, laying right next to her.

“How was the audition?” She asked, as she had done every day after he had an audition or a meeting.

He smiled, softly pressing his lips to her temple, almost too scared to break her even with such a gentle touch. “It went great. They seemed really interested in me, told me they were going to contact me as soon as possible to let me know. My manager said he thinks I basically have the part” He talked softly, his hand gently tracing her features, as if he was trying to take it all in for one last time.

“I’m sure you’re going to be great in this movie too, as always, after all”

Gwilym’s smile quickly turned into a frown, tears welling up in his eyes, the realization that she wasn’t going to be there to support him through it as she had always done hitting him hard in the face. How was he going to be able to pull through it? Who was he going to run lines with? Who was going to be by his side at the premiere? Who was now going to be his most honest judge?

“Please, don’t. Don’t cry. Not right now. I want to spend the last few moments of my life with you and I want you to remember them as happy ones.”

“I was so ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I was ready to start a family, get married as we wanted, travel around the globe with you, then maybe settle down and have children.”

“You could still do it, you know that”

“But without you, it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing will be the same.”

“Gwil, my love, please, listen to me.” She faintly took his hand in hers, trying to calm him down, even just a bit. “We knew this day was going to come, and we were lucky enough to have been granted for more time we were supposed to by God knows who. But tomorrow I won’t be here. I know it’s sad. I know it hurts, I can only imagine. But please, please, promise me one thing: don’t put your whole life on hold for me. Go on, keep living, fall in love again, start a family with someone who loves you just as much as I love you. Do all the things you wanted to do. Don’t let your life end with mine. You’re strong. Keep living. Keep making people happy. And maybe remember me from time to time. Remember the girl that loved you so hard that gave her life for you. And when you’ll be old, grey and bent, when your time will come, I’ll be there, waiting for you.”

Tears were streaming down his face, wetting his cheeks. He was ready, he didn’t want to lose her. Not yet. He needed more time with her. But there was not much more time left. “How can I fall in love with someone else if my heart belongs to you?”

“You’ll find out that it’s easier than it seems. Your heart needs to love and be loved. You’ll need time, you’ll need practice, you’ll need support from your friends, but you’ll go on.”

“I don’t want to”

“But you will have to”

“Don’t leave me. I’m not ready to spend the rest of my life without you.”

“I know, love, I know.” She whispered softly, stroking his cheeks, trying to wipe away the tears. “But, please, allow me one last wish: let me spend the rest of my life with the man I love. I want to bring with me the image of you smiling, that is the last thing I want to see.”

At those words, his heart broke. But, somehow, he managed to wipe away the tears from his face and smile, like she had asked. It was hard, but it was for her, and he would do anything for her.

Ten minutes later, Gwilym walked out of the room, eyes full of tears. He didn’t dare to say a word, worried he might break down right there, in front of everyone. All he did was look at Joe and softly nod.

Everyone stayed silent, all he could hear was Lucy softly sob into Rami’s chest. But he couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand the looks from all the people around him. So he simply started walking, walking away from them, from that place that screamed her name, that kept screaming “she is gone”.

#gwilym lee #gwilym lee x reader #gwilym lee x you #softspaceboibrian #softspaceboibrian writings #angst

[takingcourage]

A Helping Hand

Pairing: Jaime x MC

Word Count: 1,800

Summary: Arden decides that her fiancé needs some assistance in his efforts to repair their home. 

Note: This story follows The Girl Next Door and will probably make more sense if you’ve read that story first. 

It had all started with her potted plants.

"Jinx just won't leave them alone," Arden had told him seriously. "They'll do better here anyway. You've got more sunlight than I do at the apartment."

He'd complied, giving her permission to put the pair of planters anywhere she liked.

Next, her clothes had started cropping up everywhere -- socks in his laundry basket, a set of pajamas in the nightstand drawer, and a pencil skirt and blouse that had staked their claim at the extreme end of his closet.

Jaime smiled every time he saw them -- these tangible reminders that she’d said yes -- that soon, this would be not just his house, but theirs. Besides, the slow infiltration just meant that there would be less work for them to do on moving day. 

When he arrived home from work on Friday evening, it came as little surprise to find her car parked in his driveway. The sedan had caught his eye as soon as he turned onto Sycamore Drive, messy as usual and looking for all the world like it belonged there. 

That's because it does, he thought as he parked his truck beside her in the doublewide drive. Or it will soon. He engaged the emergency brake and left the vehicle, already feeling the weight of the day begin to lessen. 

Leaving his keys in his pocket, he rapped a couple of times before he pushed open the front door. “I’m home!” he announced, voice a quiet singsong in his uncertainty where to direct the greeting. 

Any remaining tiredness evaporated the moment his eyes fell on Arden. 

She popped out from the hallway, an easy grin splitting her face. "I know I said I was working late tonight, but we finished everything and decided to start the weekend early." Bounding into the entry, she hopped up on her toes to receive the kiss that she knew was waiting for her. "I thought I'd come by and do some work on the house."

Jaime's eyes widened at the suggestion, and he finally looked beyond her happy face. Far from the professional attire she’d probably driven over in, she now wore a pair of threadbare basketball shorts and a T-shirt that still had the remnants of some long-forgotten art project staining both sides. Her short hair was tied up with a blue bandana that was knotted just above her left eyebrow. 

He knew at once the look that she’d been going for, but couldn’t help snickering at the full effect. 

Brown eyes flashed, and one finger raised to a point. The finger -- along with the rest of the hand, he noted -- was unnaturally red. “Stop thinking about me being cute. I’m here to do work,” Arden protested, wagging the finger she held out toward his chest. 

Jaime’s lips straightened at the appraisal, but his thoughts changed very little. She was always irresistible, but this style was completely new. “What work are you getting done?” he asked once suspicion had gotten the better of him. 

“Follow me,” she told him coyly, turning on her heel to travel back down the hall. 

When they reached the dining room, he couldn’t help taking stock of everything before he followed her movements. He knew Arden’s intentions were good, but what she’d tried to pass off as home repairs in the past typically included mass amounts of Gorilla Glue and duct tape. He breathed more easily on seeing that all was as he had left it, save for a bucket of soapy water that stood in the corner. 

"I've been cleaning the walls," she informed him proudly, retrieving a dripping sponge and squeezing the excess water with exaggerated finesse. “I was reading up on how to prep walls for painting and I came across this recipe for making a solution that removes leftover wallpaper adhesive and...”

Arden’s words trailed, brows furrowing as her eyes swung back to him. “Why should I have let you do it?”

Jaime hiked a hand through his hair. The thought hadn’t been conscious until he’d heard it from her lips, and now there was no way of taking it back. It didn’t even seem sensible from any objective metric, but he couldn’t help his instinct. 

“I...” he struggled, bringing the hand down to scratch the ridge behind his ear. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Arden. I promise it’s not that. It’s just... I kind of wanted to do all of this for you. Maybe that’s old fashioned of me.” 

The protest felt silly, but it was true. The changes he’d already made had been some of the most satisfying work he’d ever done. He’d imagined her bare feet padding along each panel of flooring, smiled over the thought of her towels joining his on the bathroom wall, and dreamed of their future with every single swipe of sandpaper and drop of paint. Letting someone else do part of that work felt like cheating. 

She tossed the sponge back into the bucket and wiped her wet hands on the legs of her shorts. There was no anger when her eyes met his, but the confusion he read there clenched his heart. 

“I thought you’d be happy that I was taking initiative. You’re always joking about how lazy I am when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

Jaime took a step toward the wall, contemplating the work she’d done while he’d been away. Arden was right, her help up to this point had rarely been anything more involved than holding the end of a tape measure. With a shake of his head, he called to mind the many times he’d tried to include her in his work without success. I should probably be grateful that she wants to help.  

Arden’s pensive tone put an end to his preoccupation. “I mean, I’m here for selfish reasons too.”

As she moved toward him, he extended a hand to cup her face, fingertips resting on the band of fabric that spanned her head. She surveyed him solemnly, her chipper excitement having fizzled out in the wake of their misunderstanding.

“I’m just so ready to live with you.” Her lips formed the words slowly, and Jaime had to work not to lose focus on what was being said. “I thought I would do anything I could to help speed along the process. And I love this house, Jaime. I’ve been imagining living in it for -- well, years, actually.” 

He traced the thick layer of cloth, his thumb resting on her temple thoughtfully. “I have too. And I can’t tell you how much I look forward to having you here all the time. But I want everything to be ready when it’s time for you to actually move in. I don’t want you to have to live somewhere with half-finished floors or tacky paint.” Please understand, Arden. 

The corner of her mouth tipped upward. “I think I do. But won’t it be ready faster if I help?”

Her simple question should have had a simple answer, but Jaime struggled to accept it. I just want it to be perfect for you.

Arden considered the words curiously before her eyes crinkled further. “It already feels perfect to me.” 

Jaime sighed faintly. “You know what I mean.” 

“I guess so. But doesn’t that mean we have work to do?” she surmised with a pointed glance at the walls.   

“Okay,” he told her, removing his jacket. Once done, he rolled the sleeves of his work shirt several inches. “Here’s my new plan. The jobs we can do together, we do together. If there’s something that takes a lot of training or experience, I’ll do it by myself. How’s that sound to you?”

Arden’s smile returned in full force. “It’s a deal.” She held out a slender hand and he shook it, noting her pruny fingers. 

“But we’re going to start by finding you a pair of gloves, okay?”

Her cheeks flushed a delightful shade of pink. 

“Come with me to the garage,” he beckoned. 

On reaching their destination, he quickly located the box of gloves on top of his workbench. He withdrew a pair and held them out for his fiancée’s approval, but her back was turned and her interest focused elsewhere. 

“I love this color even more in person,” she told him, brushing a finger over the small sample drop on top of the paint cans she’d found. “It’s going to look amazing in there, especially with the new stain on the floors.” 

Jaime’s chest flip flopped at the enthusiasm in her tone, and he resisted the urge to pinch himself awake. “Let’s finish one step at a time,” he encouraged, stretching the gloves toward her in a second attempt. 

She retrieved them and tried them on, distracted. “What I’m really looking forward to is the primer. It’s like painting, but you can get a little crazy with it,” she told him intensely. “Doesn’t really matter what it looks like in the end.” 

He bit back a groan at the suggestion. The idea of Arden with anything resembling a paintbrush was vaguely disconcerting. 

“I’m kidding,” she assured. “At least partially.”

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” he offered, sliding open a drawer to find his stash of clean rags. “I think I’ve got what we need. Let’s head back in.” 

He followed her into the house, chuckling again as he caught a fresh glimpse of her ragged appearance. Any frustration or uncertainty he’d felt before was quickly melting away to leave little but fondness behind. I may not always understand you, but I sure am lucky to have you. 

She glanced back at him with a sly wink. 

“And I still can’t believe you finished a full week of work and wanted to come scrub walls instead of going home to binge Netflix. You’ve changed, Arden.” 

“They say love will do that to a person.” 

He rolled his eyes at her cheesy rejoinder and pretended to struggle to stretch the gloves over his palms. 

“And besides,” she admitted, “that wasn’t the only reason I came. I had some things I wanted to bring over too.” 

"Sneaking in more of your clothes?” 

Arden's nose wrinkled at the accusation. “You’ll just have to wait and see.” 

“I can’t wait to find them -- whatever they are.” He pushed a second sponge into the bucket, compressing it until it had been thoroughly saturated in the cleaner. 

“And I can’t wait to move in.” 

“That makes two of us.” He kissed her forehead and held out his sponge, motioning for her to do the same. “Let’s get to work.” 

#playchoices #playchoices fanfiction #wishful thinking #jaime lewis #jaime x mc

[dermankey]

Alright ya bums hold on to ya pant seats cause this bout to get real

All y’all out there sayin’ spirits deconfirm characters? The thing is they don’t.

“But Piranha Plant doesn’t have a spirit and-”

YA SHUT FOR A MOMENT IMMA GET THERE.

Okay, so in Ultimate, there are special fighter spirits that can be won by beating classic mode. Each fighter has one spirit, with some having more for alts, like Cloud’s or Mario’s. However, a fighter can be a spirit if it’s a different form, such as different incarnations of Link and Zelda, or the most notable, Mario & Luigi from Tennis Aces. 

So you say Piranha Plant not having a spirit means spirits deconfirm, huh? Well, get this: Sakurai knew Piranha Plant would be in the game, but not Joker.

Remember, good ol’ PP was added in as a bonus for the early buyers. He’s a bonus, a joke character Sakurai himself chose. Knowing PP would be in the game before hand, he made it so there would be no PP spirit, cause PP would get a fighter spirit in his classic mode run. That’s why Nipper Plant turns into Petey Piranha; it was the best substitute for PP. 

But, if you all remember as well, Sakurai made a post, in English, mind you, that Nintendo chose the DLC Fighters. All Sakurai did was chose the five from the number Nintendo gave The a-Okay to.

That means Nintendo chose Joker. Surprising, uh?

So my guess is, characters like Geno and Bandana Dee, more specifically Geno for reasons obvious at this point, were most likely added as spirits as a contingency plan. My thought process is this: While getting Cloud’s rights back, Sakurai must’ve also worked out the rights to use Geno and Mallow’s names and art in Ultimate, which is actually a step up from the Mii Costume in Smash 4. He knew he couldn’t chose who was in DLC, so at the very least Geno could be in the game in spirit. 

Where Sakurai failed to get Geno in the base game, Nintendo could succeed with the more tantalizing offer of paid DLC.

Now, u may be thinking of the whole Porky deal. How the very important Mother character isn’t in, right? Well, his “absence” actually helps my theory! See Porky’s in the game, just not how we recognize him. Spoilers for Mother 3, but Porky sealed himself in the Absolutely Safe Capsule to avoid losing to Lucas. However, while no one could break in, neither could Porky get out. This capsule was absolutely safe, even from Galleem’s beams. This is also why Palutena and Bayonetta were considered to be the main characters for WoL, because they could have been powerful enough to withstand Galeem, had not Sakurai realized Bayonetta’s enemies and gods like Viridi and Hades were also effected. 

So the TL;DR? Spirits don’t deconfirm characters, and Geno was added as a spirit just in case Nintendo was not able to get full rights needed to make him a fighter.

Oh, yeah! Make sure to also share this round! Make sure big people in the Smash fandom see it! I don’t care if I’m credited or not; it’d be nice, but I just want to get the word out there.

#super smash bros #super smash bros ultimate #super smash ultimate #geno #suped Mario rpg #world of light #nintendo

[atlaslain]

five times kissed, do hades verse

five times kissed.     /     @flamereign

i.       neverland.   lea brings him here a lot. before they began their travels, he asked zack what kinds of worlds he wanted to see and zack said bright places. places with light and warmth and sunshine. he never wants to see the underworld’s cavernous jaws again, lit only by the sickly glow of the river of the dead. neverland is paradise by day: halos of sunlight glittering on an endless ocean, laughter echoing through seas of trees, life and vibrancy as far as the eye can see. by night, it’s a starlit expanse: constellations coiling through velvety skies, mermaids’ tails glinting in the moonlight painting their lagoons silver. zack can breathe easily here. he often catches lea smiling at his delight with the world. 

zack’s begun playfully referring to their outings here as dates just to watch lea’s reaction. it appears to give him pause; he tends to flick his gaze carefully to zack’s face, read his expression, and then seem to decide against whatever he was going to say. it’s frustrating, this slow attempt at luring him into displaying some inkling of his feelings. zack’s never been particularly skilled at subtlety — he’s going to run out of ways to hint about his crush soon, and then what will he do? he has no idea how to go about this dating business! ( self-consciousness nags that this is why lea doesn’t want him: zack’s got none of the experience he’d expected to have by this age, thanks to hades. surviving brainwashing instead of learning to kiss has put him at a minor disadvantage. )they’re watching the mermaids today, and zack’s thrilled because at least they seem to want to flirt with him! they tell him how pretty his blue eyes are and coax him nearer to the water so they can braid tiny seashells into his hair. when they leave, zack’s still grinning broadly.“they said i was pretty.” he hasn’t had a compliment like that in years. since … before. it’s nice. fluffs his ailing ego up. “you are,” lea tells him without hesitation. and, oh. that makes zack’s heart flip. he’s horrified to feel his cheeks heat. pull it together, fair. his crush says one nice thing to him and he falls apart. “think so?” zack asks, mouth dry, throat tight with nerves. that’s it; he’s doing this. he pulls in a deep breath and takes hold of lea’s shirt, uses it to reel him close. he can hardly breathe. is a first kiss supposed to be this exhilarating? gods, what if he’s awful at it? he’s zack fair; he’s supposed to be amazing at everything — he’ll lose his reputation! lea watches him steadily, seems to be considering pulling away — as if he’s afraid zack’s not ready to be doing this. that settles it. defiant, zack yanks him in for that damn kiss. turns out pretty good, if he does say so himself.

ii.       halloween town.   they haven’t kissed again. aside from that one chaste — if slightly rough — kiss, they’ve continued on as they were. zack understands better now that lea feels he’s experienced entirely too much trauma, and wants him to heal before they become physically entangled. he seems to have some idea he’ll ruin what they have, or push zack too far, if he follows what he wants. zack finds the whole thing ridiculous and would much rather be kissed on every available surface to rid him of his pesky inexperience. lea’s too protective of him. ( it’s rather annoying that zack can’t help but be endeared by that. if lea could stop providing reasons to fall more in love with him, that’d be appreciated. ) though halloween town isn’t quite one of those bright, warm places he’s wanted to see, zack loves it the instant he lays eyes on it. it’s healing, in its own way, to find enjoyment in a place so grim. his outfit helps: zack’s a vampire here, complete with very real fangs and a revealing outfit in dark leather and strategically placed rips. lea’s a scarecrow. he manages to make it look incredible. zack makes a flirtatious comment about how he’s never found a scarecrow hot before. they watch a show by the fountain: the world’s ghoulish residents perform a vaguely horrifying song about monsters, backed up with some gleefully violent dance moves and a sparkling array of disco lights. afterward, the whole thing devolves into a party — music thrums through the streets and the graveyards, coffins expel their skeletal residents to join the dance, and zack grins at lea and insists they partake. “when else are we gonna get to dance with werewolves and ghosts?” he reasons, but only ends up dancing with lea. he gets bolder as they dance, grabbing lea’s hands and positioning them where his outfit slits open at the sides. warm hands against skin feels indescribably good. zack, touch-starved and a little too eager, presses as close as he can get. lea gives him a look like, i know exactly what you’re trying to do.zack grins, unapologetic, and waits to be kissed. he wants it to be lea’s choice this time. he’s not disappointed. lea gives him this impossibly fond look, even as his eyes darken with want and he leans in to press their mouths together. zack meets him greedily, forgetting altogether about the fangs this world has given him until he just about cuts lea’s lip open with them. “oh — oh, fuck. fuck. i’m sorry!” he backs up, but lea’s laughing and leaning in for a far more careful kiss and he really doesn’t mind that it tastes a little like blood. 

iii.       wonderland.   the flowers are real chatty here. the roses wave their leaves and threaten to stick zack and lea full of thorns if they don’t stop staring — but the daffodils gently offer them directions to ‘what they’re looking for’. they wind up more lost than they’d been originally, but zack gets the sense the flowers’ logic is a little skewed anyway. they stumble into a maze of constantly shifting hedges, and only realise they’re too small for their current location when they happen across a dainty little table set with ‘eat me’ cakes and ‘drink me’ vials.they play musical sizes ‘til they’re right. zack’s never had so much fun. he grabs lea’s hand as they explore, winding their fingers together, and now it feels like a real date. he almost can’t believe he gets to see places like this. there are still days he wakes up swallowing screams, certain he’s going to be staring up at the underworld’s vast ceiling — and instead here he is, safe and learning not to be constantly on edge. seeing all the star-scattered worlds lea can show him. he promptly leads them into one of the maze’s dead ends, despite earlier assurances his sense of direction is great. lea makes a comment to that effect, mouth curled into an amused smile. “maybe i meant to lead us here,” zack suggests, playful. “just wanted to get you alone.”he’s teasing, but it does seem too good an opportunity to pass up. zack backs lea into the hedges, careful not to press him too close to the brambles winding there, and maps languid kisses over his cheeks. he’s getting more confident with this. it’s easier, now, to sink into the enjoyment and find lea’s lips, kissing slow and sweet. arms wrap about zack’s waist to draw him nearer and he smiles into the kiss. lea’s stopped treating him quite so carefully. it’s thrilling to watch him lose himself in this.zack only stops when he hears card guards approaching. he drags lea off, insisting he wants to see the mad hatter’s tea party before they go home. 

iv.       port royal.   zack’s perhaps not destined to be a captain, but he enjoys sailing lea’s ship nonetheless. this world may be his favourite yet. it’s all vast stretches of dazzling ocean, baking sun and a thousand islands to explore. the towns are tightly-packed and well-populated, but full of fascinating locals and tales of piracy. zack requests this world often. they lay down anchor in port royal as the sun begins to dip low on the horizon. zack’s wearing the captain’s hat, the hair beneath it bound in a loose bandana. lea, dressed in his pirate finest, looks roguish and entirely too appealing. his clothes are wet and clinging to him from the swim they took. they kissed surrounded by ocean and the froth of waves, and zack’s been aching to be touched again ever since. he wants … he wants. more. lea doesn’t treat him so gently anymore, sure, but he doesn’t fling him to the ground and ravage him either. zack’s not entirely certain what it’d take to warrant that kind of behaviour but he plans to find out. he’s yet to figure out how to say ‘i want you to bone me ‘til i can’t think straight’, what with lea’s protective need to shield zack from his own fucking horniness. zack takes matters into his own hands and suggests they spend the night in the ship’s cabin. lea agrees, puzzled but willing, clearly affected in his own way be the sheer amount of kissing and touching they’ve done today. he’s still holding himself back. it’s easily remedied. zack tosses him to the bed in a display of strength designed to remind the man just how far from weak he is, and straddles his hips. “hey, so i dunno how to approach this tactfully,” he murmurs. “i really want you to fuck me. or … let me fuck you. either way. i’m not picky. and i know — i haven’t … before. and you’re worried about pushing me too far. but i want to with you.” a pause. “like, you could shove me onto all fours and ram me whenever you wanted and i still wouldn’t think you were pushing me too far. okay?”he’s maybe a little too casual about it, but lea seems to get the point. he goes this strange contrast of soft in the eyes and decidedly hard lower down. maybe zack’s got a knack for this dirty talk thing after all! zack kisses him hard, rocks his hips with need. he’s waited so long for this feeling. he should — show lea some appreciation first. he kisses his way lower, yanks lea’s shirt off as he goes, and tugs at his pants. “teach me how to…” he begins, but impatiently pulls the clothing out of the way and gets his mouth down there before lea can say a word. zack pulls back a few moments later, slightly breathless, to complete his sentence. “teach me what you like.” 

v.       thebes.   he had to come back here. it’s almost rebuilt now. zack’s recollection of its destruction is blurry at best, largely dominated by his encounter with lea and his subsequent salvation. he vaguely recalls sending statues splintering into dust — but there are new ones in their place now, most of them depicting hercules. that’s good. the place isn’t ruined. the people seem happy again, busy. the colosseum is up and running again. zack insisted on dropping by the second he heard.lea respected his choice, but seems to understand he needs comfort. he holds zack’s hand, lingers close by his side as they make their way through the city. they’ve spoken, at length, about lea’s time as a nobody and how the actions of his past self hurt him. it’s similar for zack, though he didn’t lose his heart; he lost his free will instead. “wanna enter the tournament together? you’n’me could win it,” he suggests, wanting to paint over the rough memories with something good. possibly also wanting to watch lea fight, because he greatly enjoys that. lea hums an affirmative, and the playful glint in his eye suggests he knows precisely why zack wants to do this. he leans in for a kiss. zack holds him close even after they’re done.thebes is healed. zack thinks he’s well on the way there, too. 

#flamereign #● fanmail [ answered ]. #alt kh verse tag tba #TIS DONE #spicy content for ts

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep2: Fire, Screaming, More Fire

Last we left Yugi, he’s yet again endangered his life by ditching school in order to duel some magic weirdo in an abandoned warehouse instead of just calling the police. Bakura’s been staring at the outside of this warehouse for at least a few minutes, probably deciding if it’s worth the effort. A rough decision.

Also, I mentioned this last episode, but it became super apparent in this episode with all these slow pans on this kid, but he used to actually look like a child last season but now looks...different? This awkward teen had a real big growth spurt over the past few arcs he was away. Apparently Bakura joined the local barre class or did Keto or maybe just used dark magic? I dunno.

They very clearly were like “we gotta sex up Bakura, he’s just so hard to look at” but then they changed nearly everything BUT the hair? The one irredeemable thing? The most cringey thing to look at on Bakura? they left it? They made him tall and fit but then left this weird mass of shapes on his head?

Anyways, he came out here just to track the puzzle but realized instead, he got a 2 for 1 package deal today.

(read more under the cut)

...he can just un-possess people? Ring beats wizard staff? (or rod, or whatever it is that this guy is holding off camera in the shot below. I think it was called a Millennium rod or something. Makes sense. It’s gold and has an eye on it.)

Keith has been possessed for...who knows how long, and he has a lot to take in. First off, he’s in a different country when last he remembers he was stranded in the ocean. Secondly, he’s in an abandoned warehouse with a minor which is all sorts of awkward to explain to the police. Third off, he’s playing cards? And then fourth off:

So glad I got to post this Bandit Keith meltdown in July. Even when he’s dumped in the ocean, possessed, trapped in a cult, shipped to Japan, and forced to dress like a knock-off heartless, despite alll of that, the flag bandana remained? You can remove all of Bandit Keith from Bandit Keith, but he will always wear his USA pride like someone who’s originally secretly born in Ontario and is desperately trying to hide it from their Texan Mother in Law.

That or he’s totally bald under that bandanna. Like one of those gas station redneck hats.

Here’s a redneck hat for the people in the room that aren’t from the States:

Like I’m 80% certain that Keith’s hair is not his real hair.

Also, damn, this brand is called “Mullet On the Go” and that is the best business name I’ve ever heard.

Yugi just assumes that Bandit Keith is mad about losing...and it says a lot about how much people freak out in this universe in how Yugi can’t tell the difference between when someone loses a game and when someone is possessed and trying to regain control of their mind. The two type of meltdowns really do look strikingly similar.

Even the bird looks like he’s just embarrassed to be here. Especially when this happens.

OH.

This is possible!?

I just assumed all those pieces welded together magically or something. But apparently this is hella possible!

So, possessed Bandit Keith decides to pull “A Mokuba” Which is what I call it, when someone peaces out halfway through the game and just steals stuff so the other person can’t play anymore. Still the ultimate move. Unrivaled in how effective it is. So far one of the only risk-free sure fire ways to beat Yugi Muto (other than threatening to kill yourself, which is option #2)

Does it count as a death if Pharaoh is already dead? Probably not, huh? Anyway, Ryou Bakura snaps out of it, goes back to Ryou, buttons up every single button on his shirt and jacket all the way up to his neck because he’s like way too much of a prude when he’s nice to show off that he’s been running that 5K, and then...decides to do this????

Is this how he’s been working out this whole time??? Has he just been Footloosing it through warehouses in his off hours, how is he so good at this???

Bakura kinda switches back and forth from being nice and being...Bakura. It’s not clear if Ryou is a face Bakura’s wearing just to deceive Yugi, or if Ryou is doing his best to interfere but just can’t interfere with the important stuff like this:

Yugi, reunited with the many pieces of his puzzle, looks at them with this big dumb smile while, at the same time, Bakura hashes out for us, the viewers, a reminder/recap about everything we learned about the history of this puzzle thing from last season.

TBH it’s a fair way to do recap for an entire season. Instead of having it slapped together at the beginning like some boring book report, instead just have it naturally slip in when you actually need to remember all this content. Although, TBH, if you just started watching Season 2 without Season 1, I doubt any of this recap would have helped make any of this make sense. Especially the part where a Pharaoh had Yugi’s hair. That’s just...that’s sort of a stretch, ya?

And Bakura does all of this within 2 feet of Yugi.

I guess we get to go back to Brain Fortress at some point. Have fun with the floor traps, Bakura. Have fun dealing with every corner of Yugi’s mind including the room that is just that really weird huge bowling pin and 50,000 oversized legos.

And then, Bakura just falls off this platform and flat on his ass, which kind of summarizes this guy altogether. Lots of trying so hard to look cool that it ends up going full circle and making him more awkward than just being...chill.

But, once the dust has settled, and the Bakura ancient curse has left the field, Bandit Keith decides he’s not dead and fully wakes up because the jetlag is apparently very real when you’re possessed.

WHAT!?

WHO!?

Just two rando cans of leaky ass gasoline???

Ah, now we’re watching Yugioh.

Yugi, the genius he is, decides he must save the puzzle. But like...why? Pharaoh’s already dead. He’s not going anywhere. But maybe Yugi never attended enough class to learn that most metals don’t melt in a house fire.

I mean this is magic metal so like...probably needs way more than fire to get rid of it. Probably have to toss it straight into space.

Oh man, the big new chain came back to bite him in the ass yet again--and not just this time, but multiple times this episode it keeps coming back to “why the hell did you get such a strong ass chain!?”

This chain is Yugi’s hubris. His Icarus wings.

Busting through the door with their feet, Joey and Tristan come across a whole lot of random things that happen all at the same time and it’s just them saying WTF WTF WTF over and over again until the episode ends.

They assume that Keith was the only one in this building quickly entering the first stage of Hell, but they had a feeling they should just double check, just in case, and their reaction to seeing their best friend here amongst the fire was  “ah damn it, not again.”

Very surprised that Yugi’s hair has held up and has not gone up like a match. Maybe it was hair washing day and so it wasn’t full of grease yet?

Also, it’s nice to think that somewhere, just a few blocks away, Kaiba and Ryou are just having a wonderful day on the soccer field, birds singing, sun shining. A soft breeze in the air.

Meanwhile:

That’s not a joke I made--Yugi really did pass out like this. Which is how this bizarre scene happened:

This show has MOMENTS.

When they realize they should maybe pull the ring out instead of in, they finally got it out.

How did Bandit Keith get it in there in the first place!?

I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen someone in an anime carry someone from the front.

Yugi wakes up in a hospital, everyone is covered in anime battle damage (you know how when you get 3rd degree burns they just toss a couple bandaids on your face?), and he has some pretty choice jammies.

The episode ends on a weird note of Tea just getting real dark out of nowhere. OK

Bakura didn’t feel like coming to the hospital? Man. I can never tell with that kid.

Well that was a lot of...fire...right out of the gate, next week, on Yugioh:

Will Pharaoh and Bakura have a wacky Odd Couple situation in the puzzle chamber? Does Yugi change in the tow chain for a series of combination locks? Does Bandit Keith get stranded in Japan without any money, and have to race ducks like he’s in Shenmue?

#yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #s2 ep2 #fire #bandit keith #yugi muto #tea gardner #tristan taylor #bakura #like that was a lot of fire for a 2nd episode

[boarix]

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part V

The Promise

Trigger warnings: canon language/violence/gun, drug and alcohol use. Mature/suggestive content

Game spoilers!

Please enjoy!

 “Why won’t she listen?!”

Danse was pacing in Curie’s lab. His steps were heavy even without his power armor and he kept jarring the microscope making it almost impossible for Curie to read the slide.

“She listens to you, monsieur Danse, but she is most distraught over almost loosing MacCready and effectively loosing monsieur Hancock. She is so downtrodden; we need to respect her wish to move more slowly, oui?”

“I could crush them! The Dragoons and I and one or two M-42s... It would be over like that.”

Snapping his fingers, Danse roused Panther who had been napping in a window. The great monster of a housecat proceed to walk across Curie’s desk placing itself strategically between her and her work.

Sighing in defeat she gave it a pat, “We do not know how many civilian innocents may be killed by a direct assault.”

Wraith would never again call for the destruction of an entire facility; the loss of life between the Institute and the Prydwen would forever haunt her.

Danse had gone back to pacing-out his frustration and hearing Curie’s uncharacteristically impatient sigh, Panther jumped down from her desk and intercepted the large man, purring loudly and rubbing on his leg. Danse stopped automatically and as is if a switch in his brain had been flipped, he stooped slightly to pet the cat.  

“Ah, you are Pavlov’s dog.” Curie smiled at him, “You have no say; the cat is there so you must stop to pet it.”

Curie giggled at her “joke” and combined with the smile she gave him, Danse had a rush of feelings and thoughts that were rather unsettling.

I wonder if I could… If she would let me…

His thoughts were cut off by the door slamming open and a ridiculously muddy MacCready poking his head in, “Hey is the boss lady back yet?”

Curie jumped when the door opened, “Oh my goodness! Why, you are all together mud! Do not come in here so filthy. Why are you a swamp monster?”

“I’m helping Sturges dredge for the mill. Is Wraith back yet?”

“What, did you lose a bet?” Danse was laughing.

“Why do people keep asking me that?” MacCready was exasperated, “Of COURSE I lost a bet! No one would willingly volunteer to help with this crap! Let me know when she gets home.”

“Is there something you required from Madame?”

MacCready was thankful that they couldn’t see him blush through the mud, “No! I just… want to know that’s all.” He slammed the door as he left.

Curie had returned her focus to the microscope. Danse, feeling that the moment had passed, but that some of the new thoughts and ideas might be worth revisiting later, left her to work; closing the door politely.

 Wraith had taken Shaun back to Diamond City for the fall with the intention to work a local case with Valentine while she was there. There had been some whispered dissention over the synth detective’s new look and Wraith had hoped that her presence combined with Piper’s endorsement would help to ease any growing negativity.

She had been gone for a while and MacCready had been increasingly grouchy at over being left behind. He didn’t remember what had happened after he had been shot, and Wraith had been rather vague about the subsequent fight between her and Hancock. What she had been clear on was that for the time being he was grounded for his own safety and there were a lot of tasks he could help with before his next semester started.  

“I can’t believe she took the dog too. I’m so flippn’ bored!”

As it happened, as soon as MacCready slammed the clinic door, Wraith crossed through Big Bridge Gate. She had made the trip to and from Diamond City travelling incognito as a male caravan guard and so made it all the way to her office undisturbed. Dogmeat’s disguise was simpler: Wraith took his red bandana off.

“May I help you?” Sofie had no idea whom she was addressing and was legitimately startled when Wraith’s voice answered her.

“How’s it been, Sofie dear?” Taking off some of her gear while the ghoulette updated her, Wraith interrupted long enough to suggest they go outside to the picnic tables, “It’s really nice out today and I want to sit in the sun while it’s out.”

MacCready caught wind that Sofie was talking to someone that “might be The Boss” and so immediately went over to impress her with his mud. Swaggering up as if he was in a tux, his tone was overtly flirtatious, “Well if it isn’t the best looking ladies in town! Get a load of you two knockouts! Hey, Sofie who’s in the little tower today, it’s Lloyd right?” At the diminutive ghoul’s nod he winked at them, “Scuse me a minute…”

Laughing a little at his odd behavior and appearance Wraith and Sofie continued with their meeting until they both jumped at a sudden scream, “GGGGAAAAAHHHHH!!! MACCREADY YOU DISGUSTING FUCK!! I CAN’T FUCKING UN-SEE THAT SHIT, MAN! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!” Then, looking all the world as innocent as a new born, MacCready returned to the picnic tables adjusting his belt.

“What did…?”

Wraith interrupted her quickly, “Nope! No, Sofie. Just… no.” She laughed in spite of herself, “Mac, if you’re through, I got some more ballistic fiber and I’ve been meaning to mod you some new stuff. Go shower and meet me back at the house. Hey, the showers are that way.”

“Why can’t I use your office shower? I’m gonna get a change of clothes…”

“I’m about to get in there myself and you are not walking through the house like that! Go use the public showers and I’ll have someone bring you clean gear.”

“Okay, mom! Jeez!”

 The community showers were one of Wraith’s personal triumphs. Although the pressure wasn’t always the best, at least the users had the option of hot running water. MacCready relaxed into the warm water and had just finished lathering up everything when he heard Curie’s voice.

“Monsieur MacCready I have brought you fresh things. These old are to be burned, oui?”

“No! Don’t!” In a panic, he forgot himself and ran out to the locker room area, slipping on the floor and nearly colliding into her.

“Oh! I was only… joking…” Curie turned an odd shade of pink as she got a full frontal view of everything MacCready had to offer. “Oh! Eeeeeee!” Running away she dropped the pair of pants she had brought, but nothing else.

Wearing nothing but a confused face and a few suds, he picked up the pants, “Hmmm, commando it is.”

 Wraith was surprised to see him half naked a few minutes later, “I sent Curie with a full change of clothes.” As he told her the story she started to laugh.

“I’m glad you think it’s funny, but I’m confused; I thought she’s a doctor. Doesn’t she see naked people all the time?”

“Hmm. Maybe it was just the shock of it? Actually maybe she hasn’t. I’ve never forced anyone to get a physical and Preston was prepped for surgery before we got there. All of the instruction she’s done has been field med based, and they used cadavers so probably never a live man either.”

“Didn’t she help with medical research and stuff? Before she was…”

“Well, keep in mind when Dr. Collins programed her, all of the anatomy and physiology data was just that, data. And if she ‘saw’ a live naked patient it would have been through her ocular sensors. They aren’t quite the same as our eyes and she wouldn’t have had a… an emotional, I guess, reaction. So she has never seen a live naked man before. Then when a handsome naked guy who is dripping wet, bumps into her… yeah, she’d probably flip.”

Now it was MacCready’s turn to blush, “Never seen a naked man before… Where did you get cadavers…oh yeah, never mind.”

Wraith was laughing hard, “Yeah…heh… she’ll forever… hahaha… compare…” She snorted loudly, “… all other guys… to you! BWAAAHAHAHA!”

“Wait… you think I’m handsome?”

Wraith rolled her eyes dramatically at him, “Yeah, Mac. You be sure to apologies to her later though, okay? Wait. You better let me speak to her first because I’m laughing but you might have legitimately traumatized her.”

“Well, it is a lot to take in.” He spread his arms out wide and lifted his chin proudly.

“Yeah, yeah. Keep your arms up, I’m gonna measure you.” As she took the various measurements, Wraith found herself thinking about how handsome she really thought the young man was. Trying not to make herself blush she pushed the thoughts away and rushed, especially his inseam.

Stop it! Don’t think about his junk! You creep. Old bat. No underwear…. Gaaaahhhh!

Trying to cover up her busy mind she read his measurements out loud as she wrote them down, “I’m glad I measured first cause you’re filling out, I’m surprised your coat even fit you anymore.”

“What do you mean? I’m not done growing yet?”

“You’ve been at your full height, I’m sure. I just mean that I’ve been feeding you well and having you do more physical tasks than just runnin’ and gunnin’. You didn’t have as lean a winter as the ones you’ve told me about either, so your body can actually apply calories to muscle mass building as well. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll never be a beast like Danse.” She had thrown in that last bit to deflate his ego as he had started to flex experimentally during her explanation and it was giving her all sorts of fresh material for her dirty brain. She went to sit at her workbench, more to have her back to him, less to actually start her work.

Will you please stop! You are fifteen years his senior and he… and he… looks it.

MacCready’s ego was rather substantial however and so the jibe didn’t seem to faze him. Instead he swaggered over to the table and plopped down on the top, folding his arms he smiled down at her, “You know everything about me, huh? I don’t know anything about you though. I mean, not really.”

She immediately stood up so she could have her back to him again feigning interest in the ballistic fiber, “What do you mean? You know me, Mac!”

“I know what you’re like. I know that you’re a good person. But I don’t even know what your life was like, you know… before. You said you were a lawyer, but I don’t know what that really involves.”

“I assure you, it’s boring stuff.”

“C’mon, Wraith, give me something! Just one little story… Please?”

She sighed, defeated. At first she tried to speak calmly and slowly but her pace soon picked up, “Okay. I was in the Marine Corps for a few years and bounced around a bit; I worked for the Adjutant office and Ground Supply and a few months over-seas with Public Affairs.”

She took in a large, shaking breath, “When I was home on leave for a cousin’s wedding, my parents and I were in a bad car wreck. I was the only survivor and then it was just barley. That was actually the first time I heard of Vault Tec; they had a lot of contracts with the military and they offered to help pay for my surgeries and recovery if they could run some extra tests. I didn’t really have much of a choice; I essentially belonged to the military.”

She had started to pace back and forth as she talked, “I found out later that I wouldn’t be able to have children. The doctors said it was because of the damage I received from the accident, but I have always wondered about that.”

“Wait, they told you that you couldn’t have kids? But… Shaun?”

“I’ll get to that.” She resumed her pacing, “I decided that I wanted to change my career focus. I still wanted to stay in the military but I thought I might actually feel like I was doing something if I got my law degree and became a JAG lawyer.”

“Jag?”

“Yeah, it stands for ‘Judge Advocate General’s Corps’. She stopped pacing and stood silently. She was practically panting by now.

“Wraith? Are you okay? You don’t have to…”

“No, I’m alright. I just haven’t talked this much about before... Not to anyone.” She closed her eyes and controlled her breathing, “That is actually how I met Nate.”

MacCready straightened up a little at the name. She almost never talked about her late husband.

“Nathaniel Emmanuel Keita-Johnson. He was the Army liaison assigned to me for a case I was working. He was also just about the most beautiful human being I had ever seen; tall, dark and handsome. But he was also kind and fully committed to justice. I fell in love with him immediately. I kept it professional though and never let on what I was feeling. So much so that he thought I didn’t like him at all!” She had started breathing hard again.

“Wraith, really! You don’t have to…”

“No! I can do this!” She was back to pacing, even faster this time, “After the case wrapped he approached me and apologized. He said ‘I’m sorry if I wasn’t helpful to you’. I couldn’t believe it! I apologized for him feeling that he needed to apologize to me…”

“That sounds like you.” MacCready was trying to be supportive.

“Yeah. Well, we got to talking and then the rest as they say is history. We got married and I was amazed that he even liked me let alone wanted to be with me, especially since I couldn’t have babies. Well, then Vault Tec showed up again. The rep congratulated us on our marriage and asked if we would like to participate in a surrogate program.” She could see that MacCready was confused, “That’s when they take a fertilized egg sample from the parents and implant it in another person. At first I told them ‘no’. But I reconsidered and Nate said that he really wanted to see… me… as a mother…” Wraith was shaking now and started gasping for air.

MacCready took her in his arms and held her tightly to his chest, “Stop! It’s okay! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. Just breathe.”

He had unwittingly echoed Hancock, and Wraith’s mind went into a spin as she simultaneously re-lived the deaths of her husband and her son as well as Hancock’s dismissal. She blacked out as her body re-set itself. MacCready continued to hold her as she briefly went limp and her breathing evened out.

As she came-to she was keenly aware that she was pressed against MacCready’s bare chest. She tried to focus on his heart beat and regain control. Then he began humming I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire and rocked them gently back and forth. She could hear his heart rate increase as she put her arms around him and reciprocated the embrace.

I just want to feel something else… Maybe I could… With Mac I could…

He pulled back from her and setting his hand on the top of her head he made as if to pet her hair, but ended up running his hand gently down the side of her face to cup her chin, “I’m sorry Wraith.” With his face mere inches from hers it was nothing to dip his head slightly and set his lips against hers.

The kiss was meant to be an offer of gentle support, but as she returned it with urgency he felt a fire ignite inside him. His hand moved to the back of her head to deepen the kiss even as she wove her fingers through his hair pulling him to her. He hefted her up to straddle him and pushing her against a wall, ground his growing erection between her legs.  She moaned against his mouth and he thought he might lose it right then. Reaching down between them she cupped and stroked him through his pants.

He bucked himself into her hand, “God yes… please! Uhhh!”

As Wraith moved her hands to his zipper an image of Hancock flashed into MacCready’s mind and he grabbed her hands to stop her. Shaking and panting he set her down and backed away, “No we can’t. I’m sorry we can’t.”  

Wraith completely misunderstood and was blushing furiously, “I’m sorry, MacCready! I guess I… I don’t…”

“No! God no, it’s not what you think!” Knuckling his fists into his eyes he reeled back, “I promised! I promised him!”

“Mac, I don’t understand… what…”

“Hancock!” Backing away from her toward the door, MacCready’s face had twisted into an intensely anguished mask, “Please don’t think that I don’t want to… God I do… so fucking bad! But I promised Hancock that I’d never steal from him again!”

Wraith became very still, “Robert Joseph, I do NOT belong to Hancock!” She was clenching her fists and wouldn’t look at him, “He doesn’t even… like me anymore!” She felt so childish saying it out loud.

“He loves you!” He raised his voice at her shaking head, “I know he does! And you love him! And… and I don’t know what happened, but I know it’s my fault you guys aren’t together anymore.”

“We were never together!” Wraith was trying hard not to start crying.

“But… you slept together...”

“Slept. He held me while I slept.” As angry as she was she felt a stab of sympathy for him. Even more so when she saw tears standing out on his cheeks. She reached for him, “Mac, it’s okay…”

“No. You never had a chance… to… It’s all my fault!” He fled through the door, and she could hear him run up the stairs to his apartment.

 Wraith stood in silence for several minutes. She briefly thought to go knock on Cait’s door; the other woman would probably help her alleviate her intense sexual frustration. She almost immediately dismissed the idea. Cait wasn’t who she wanted and she didn’t want to use her like that. Instead she took a copious amount of Mentats and proceeded to write up 3 months’ worth of task-lists for Sanctuary. As she came down she felt an intense compulsion to go see Nate’s grave. Hiking up past the vault she remembered too late that she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and had no armor or weapons at all.

She didn’t see the shadow following her.

Wraith had planted hubflowers around the simple stone that served as her late husband’s grave marker. She sat on the damp earth and took several measured, flower scented, breaths before speaking, “Hey Nate. You remember that talk we had about moving on if one of us dies? Well, I thought I had someone in mind… I wasn’t ready yet but… there was a man… a ghoul actually and also maybe a man. I guess I thought I could have both.” Tears streamed down her face, “But it turns out… no one actually wants me anyway.”

Lost in her pity-party she didn’t see the shadow circle around her.

Finally feeling a presence, Wraith lifted her face from her hands to see a pair of glowing eyes quietly observing her. She wasn’t afraid as she didn’t feel a harmful aura, “Panther?”

Upon hearing its name the cat began chuffing at her. Stepping across the grave with its whiskers fully extended, it licked her nose before crashing its forehead into hers and wiping her tears with its face and neck. It then made room for itself on her lap: sitting on her crossed legs while placing its head and paws on her shoulder.

She returned the cat’s hug, whispering, “Thanks Nate.”

  The next morning Wraith was gone.

She had left notes for Sofie, MacCready and Danse and had spoken with Curie, but everyone got the same information: Wraith would be back TBA. With 3 months of task-lists no one lacked for clear directives, but MacCready told everyone to leave him alone and spent 3 days in the big tower. In the end, Danse was the one to go and bring him down after a lot of yelling and toilet-bucket throwing. It was even later rumored that Danse had called him a, “whiny little shit”.

  Deacon knew that the young man traveling alone was actually Wraith. At first he was irritated with her, but then decided that her disguise was probably good enough to fool anyone but him. Wraith was 5’7” so with the heeled boots she was wearing; she was already the average height of most males in the commonwealth. She had altered her walk as well so her movements and body carriage denoted a general sense of “maleness”. She had even worn a wig. His irritation changed to pride as he jogged up next to her, “Whatcha doin’?”

Wraith didn’t jump or flinch at his approach as she had felt him from a ways off, “Walking.”

“Walking is for saps! Me, I’m swimmin’!” So saying he started wheeling his arms around as they moved along, “C’mon in, the waters fine!”

She couldn’t help but smile but wasn’t exactly in the mood to feel better yet, “Looks more like you’re trying to land a plane on a carrier.”

“Where we going anyway?” He was doing the breaststroke now.

“We?”

“Yeah, it means the speaker,” He pointed at himself, “and one or more other people,” He pointed at her, “considered together.”

“It’s getting dark and I’ve been settlement hopping and I’m worn out and… I’m trying to do the smart thing by stopping at a safe-house.”

“Do you have some of that sweet leather stuff?”

“Always.”

“Then we shall join you for dinner.” He had stopped swimming and instead adopted a courtly walk, “That time ‘we’ was meant to indicate that my royal self has made a decree, thusly.”

Wraith gave in. After an enjoyable banter-filled dinner she felt herself relax. Spreading her bedroll and tossing Deacon a spare blanket, she was amazed that she was as comfortable as she was.

Maybe it’s because I know he doesn’t ‘want’ me. There aren’t any expectations. I’m just safer because he’s here.

They lay in the dark for a few minutes before Deacon finally worked up the nerve, “Wraith, we are friends right?”

She propped herself up on her elbows to try and see him better, “Of course! Why?”

He resisted the urge to get closer to her, “Friends talk about stuff. You want to tell me why you and Hancock aren’t speaking?”

Flopping back down she grunted, “Ask him.”

“Hancock barely tolerates me. We are too much alike. So as much as I like fucking with him… I’d just as soon go poke a yao guai.”    

“Who says I won’t punch ya?”

“Punch yes, eviscerate no.”

“Oh I’m sure he wouldn’t do that.” Tucking an arm behind her head she sighed dramatically, ending it in a growl, “I think he’s mad about MacCready. We almost lost him and it more or less could have been avoided, had I not been so stubborn.”

“That doesn’t track boss; Hancock knows what this life is like. Notice he didn’t try to stop you like I did. Instead he came with, probably thought it would be fun. The guy gets off on danger.”

“I don’t know… he’s got a soft spot for MacCready. He was pretty possessive after he’d been shot.” She started to run her hand back and forth across her buzzed hair, “Actually it wasn’t until Mac kissed me that he started acting weird.”

She could see him smile in the dark, “Oh yeah? Exchanging fluids with ol’ Hatty MacCheekbones are we?”

You have no idea…

“It wasn’t like that; he was delirious and mistook me for his late wife Lucy.”

“What are you going to do tomorrow?”

The abrupt change in subject caught her off guard. ”Uh… I donno. I don’t actually have a plan out here. Like I said I’ve been going through Minutemen settlements incognito, checking on everything unofficially and so far so good. I’m happy with all the leaders I’ve picked and there really isn’t anything other than the big projects…”

“So come back to the Railroad for a bit.”

His interruption surprised her, “Uh… I don’t know, Deacon.”

“Or, or, just hear me out. Help me with my current project.”

It would be nice to have something different to do… A change in focus…

“Okay.”

“Really?!”

His excitement made her smile, “On one condition; you can’t swim on dry land the whole time. Wavin’ your arms around like that… you’ll have vertibirds trying to land on us.”

  There wasn’t supposed to be coursers.

Deacon’s project was meant to be a simple package transport: a pick-up and drop-off of a synth from one secure location to another. It was supposed to be a routine mission and a way for Deacon to spend more time with Wraith.

There wasn’t supposed to be coursers.

Wraith’s high perception picked up on the concealed courser before it fired a shot, “There!” Throwing a knife at the mirage-like ripple in the air, she gauged about where its hand would be and got off a rifle round as it moved to block; its Institute pistol coming into view as it left its hand. The ripple moved away and Wraith chased after, “Pursuing!”

Moving himself between the synth they were transporting and the apparent threat, Deacon was surprised when she grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully behind him. Forcing him down she stood on his right leg to keep him prone. Rolling to his right, he brought his left leg around and kicked hard against her right knee. For a split second her hold weakened, long enough for him to continue his momentum back to a standing position, pulling his silenced pistol from its holster as he did.

Recovering quickly, she grabbed his pistol wielding hand in a vise-like grip. Pain forced his hand open and the gun dropped to the ground. Not losing a beat, Deacon gave her a closed-fist double-tap to her temple. She caught his fist on his third jab and yanked forward to grip his neck with her other hand. Releasing his fist, she gripped his throat with both hands and lifted him off his feet.

“GHAACK! How are you so tall?!”

Activating his shoe knife, he delivered a brutal kick to her armpit. Had she been a normal human this would have more than broken her hold. As she was a courser, she flinched and dropped her arms slightly but not enough to set him on the ground. Clawing at her hands, he could feel himself losing consciousness. Mustering every remaining ounce of strength, he swung his foot up and slammed the knife into the side of her head. He knew she was dead, yet her body didn’t seem to know and was still holding him painfully aloft.

His last thought was, “Oops.”

 Using a combination of her berserker rage and an incredibly sharp combat knife, Wraith sliced through the courser’s arms, dropping Deacon to the ground. Prying the hands away from his purpled neck she tilted his head back to begin CPR. Knowing full well she wasn’t competent enough to perform a tracheotomy, she prayed his windpipe hadn’t been crushed. “Common Deacon! Fight for me buddy!” Still not getting a heartbeat, she slammed her fist onto his chest, “God damn you, YOU ASS! BREATHE!”

“Ouch.” His voice was a horse whisper and was followed by a wracking cough.

Shooting him up with Med-X and a stimpak, Wraith gathered him into her arms and proceeded to cry. He briefly struggled against her touch but she squeezed all the tighter, “Nope! I get to. I get to hold you after that! I’m sorry and you can yell at me when you’re better, but I get to fucking hold you now.”

He reached up to tenderly touch her bruised and battered face.

   “I know it will be difficult for you monsieur Deacon, but you must use your voice as little as possible as you are recovering.”

Curie’s no-nonsense face made Deacon want to laugh, but the thought of how painful it might be kept his chuckle at bay. Nodding instead he hopped down off of her examination table and joined Wraith in the waiting room.

“Doc sez I shouldn’t talk.”

Wraith laughed at him, “As if that’s possible!” As they headed to the door, Wraith stopped short causing Deacon to almost bowl her over, “Shit! Mac is out there.” Deacon raised an eyebrow at her. “I scared him and now he won’t let me out of his sight. He’s kinda smothering me.” Deacon raised both eyebrows at her. “Okay, okay I get it. Shush yer eyebrows, jeez!”

  Hancock sensed someone standing behind him, “Fahr, can you tell me why in the goddamn I wrote three copies of the same fucking page?!”

“You were probably high. Or drunk. Both?”

He was in no mood for Deacon and didn’t bother to turn around, “I don’t have time or the patience to deal with your shit right now.” He shuffled some papers around to emphasize how busy he was, “The Railroad needs something, they can leave a memo.”

“Actually it’s Wraith that needs something.” Deacon involuntarily flinched as Hancock slammed his palms down on the table. “She’s not well, Hancock. She doesn’t sleep or eat hardly at all.”

Hancock’s voice was low and dangerous, “What, am I her pa now? She has plenty of folks to take care of her.”

“You mean MacCready, right? You know they aren’t together, right? He completely rejected her and she was heartbroken!”

“It’s none of my concern.” Hancock’s shoulder set and voice told on his lie, “I have problems of my own here without having to worry after the good General Wraith.”

“Wraith isn’t her real name.”

Pushing himself up violently, Hancock closed the distance to Deacon with remarkable speed. Grabbing the other man by the shoulders he slammed him roughly into the wall, “I DON’T FUCKING CARE!”

Throwing caution to the wind Deacon got in his face, literally pressing his forehead to Hancock’s and dislodging his tricorn, “I think you fucking care quite a bit! You can’t lie to a liar, Hancock. I know you are in love with that woman.” As Hancock released him and backed away, Deacon feeling he’d gained the upper hand, followed after him, “You thought you were in their way right? You thought ‘If I’m not around then they’ll fall into each other’s arms’. Right?! Well the jokes on you because they are both too hung up on you, of all people, to even be with each other!”

“Well in the absence of us both, I’m surprised you didn’t swoop in and snatch her up! Follown’ her around all the goddamn time… sneaking around actually; It’s obvious you’re in love with her too!”

Deacon's shoulders sagged. Removing his sunglasses he cleaned them with his shirt, “Of course I’m in love with her. We all are.” Looking back at Hancock he smiled a sad little smile, “I can’t be that for her though. I had my chance at happiness and I destroyed it. I will never have that again; I don’t deserve it.”

Hancock’s body posture changed, “That ugly face yer makin’… like lookin’ in a mirror.”

“Well, people are always saying how much we look alike.”

“Heh!” Hancock swept his hat from the floor and returned it to his brow, “Well, I’m not sure what to do. She’d be pretty pissed at me still… Oh, and don’t think for two seconds that whole ‘Wraith isn’t her real name’ shit was a huge bomb! I know better than that. Who names their kid Wraith? I figured it had to be a nickname.”

“It’s from when she was a Marine; the ladies in her unit all choose spirit names like ‘Banshee’ and ‘Geist’ and called themselves the Spirit Squadron.” Deacon chuckled, “It’s interesting that she’d prefer Wraith to…”

“No! Don’t tell me!” Hancock quickly interrupted, “I don’t deserve to know unless I ask her myself. Although I doubt she would want to speak to me anytime soon.”

“Drop her a memo.”

       Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please see my Wraith in the Ruins master-link under my tags. =^..^=

#fallout #fallout 4 #fallout 4 fanfic #wraith in the ruins #fallout hancock #fallout deacon #fallout maccready fanfic #fallout deacon fanfic #fallout hancock fanfic #fallout curie #paladin danse #fallout danse fanfic #fallout dogmeat #rj maccready #maccready romance fanfic #hancock romance fanfic #john hancock

[meshugana1]

Gal Gadot finds herself becoming a fat-assed dwarf

Gal was walking down the street to a boutique she very much enjoyed on this sunny day. It was rare ever since her Wonder Woman film was released that she could get a day off to just do normal things like shop and be with her family. But Justice League had just been released and she experienced a resurgence in her popularity which only gave her less time to spend on herself or her family. She honestly wished she could just stop being recognized, right now she was dressed like Diana Prince would be in the comics when she wanted to be inconspicuous, ironic though that is.

She wore a headscarf to hide her haired the sides of her face and large dark rimmed sunglasses to help cover the rest of her exposed skin and she wore a heavy dark jacket to hide her slim figure. She was at least looking forward to a day of indulgence for herself, getting her hair done and getting a few outfits for herself. She had done this successfully for several hours until she came into a shoe store and met a clerk named Judith who recognized her. When it rains it pours it seems and the floodgates opened. She was practically swarmed at the shoe store and barely managed to escape.

It was much the same at the suit store and the hairdresser and soon enough it seemed like she had an entourage of several dozen people. It wasn’t much longer before photographers and paparazzi arrived and she began to break into a swift trot trying to find a safe haven. She turned the corner into a poorer shopping district and practically dove into the first shop she saw. She ducked down below the window until the sounds of footsteps died down, then she finally let herself stand back up and take in her surroundings.

It looked like some kind of very old curio shop. The floor was old and made of wood, Gal could see the indent in the floor where all the foot traffic had been focused at for probably decades. Every single wall was decked out with shelves full of bizarre looking odds and ends. Some of the items looked more normal than others though, she saw some very old board games and toys but on the next shelf over she saw was appeared to be shrunken heads and monkeys paws. She continued to walk around the eccentric little shop and gave herself a start when the woman who ran the shop popped up from behind a counter.

The woman was tall and had dark olive skin, a mole dotted her wide, red smiling lips. She wore an old style floral dress and a red bandana held back her wavy brown hair. She couldn’t have been more than thirty-nine years old, this woman had milf written all over her. “Hello Ms., my name is Saveta. Please let me know if you see anything you like.” She said with just the slightest hint of a Romani accent. “Oh no,” Gal said “I’m sorry but I’m not here to shop. I only came in to avoid the crowd.” Saveta’s face fell just a bit but then she redoubled her efforts, “Well regardless we have many wonderful items from around the world! I’m certain you could find something that suits you if you take a look around.”

Gal thought it was the least she could do to take a small look. She was about to do just that when she saw that several of the people following her had doubled back and were looking into the stores. Saveta saw her concern and asked “Are you all right? Is someone after you? I could call the police if you need them.” Gal quickly responded “No, no. they’re just fans.” Saveta took this in and upon closer inspection recognized the woman in her shop. “That’s it! You’re the Wonder Woman from the movies!” Gal silently cursed under her breath and removed her sunglasses and headscarf.

“Yes, I’m sorry I was just trying to have a quite day to myself but I got recognized and now everyone wants my time.” Gal was near tears saying this and looked to the window to see that a group was headed this way. Saveta understood her problem in a way that only an experienced woman like her could. She had a thought then, it might be breaking a few rules but this woman needed some help. “I have an idea Ms., why don’t you drink this?” She then placed a shot glass onto the countertop and opened a small glass bottle that contained a bright red liquid. She poured Gal a shot and handed it to her.

Saveta assuaged any fears the movie star had that this would absolutely help her avoid the crowds. Gal still wasn’t so sure but she was pressed for time and decided to try it. She downed the liquid in a single gulp, it had tasted like pure alcohol and she coughed for a minute afterward. When the drink hit her stomach she felt a powerful sense of nausea come over her. She put her hands to her stomach and bent forward trying to fight the feeling, but as she looked to the floor it seemed to be getting…closer?

Saveta watched as the celebrity before her felt the effects of her special brew. When she walked in she was five foot ten inches but now she was more like five foot three. Gal felt the clothes she walked in with begin to grow slack as she kept losing inch after inch. Soon she was less than five foot tall. Saveta looked behind the woman and watched the second effect of her potion take effect as all the mass from the woman’s height recollect itself in her bottom. Gal could feel her jacket and shirt practically fall off her body but felt her pants only grow tighter and tighter. Without considering her surroundings or decorum she frantically attempted to remove her pants.

Gal now stood at four foot six inches and her ass had ballooned out and was greatly straining her pants. Before she could remove them her pants lost the battle with her growing ass flesh and they ripped down the back and down her thighs. She pulled the tatted denim away from her and just barely managed to pull down her silk panties before they were swallowed up and turned into a thong by her enlarging ass. She now stood at three foot eight inches and her ass looked like two basketballs. The nausea had dissipated and Gal was now nearly four feet shorter and much more pear shaped than the woman who entered.

She let out a gasp and tried to cover her fat ass and exposed pussy, but when she did she felt an amazingly erotic feeling from her fat bottom and her pussy just seemed to flood with heat. “Sorry, that’s a side effect of my potions.” Savetta said, she saw the crowd getting closer and rushed to the back to get the dwarfish woman some clothes. When she came back the celebrity was feverishly jilling herself, she shook her back to her senses and had her dress herself. Gal looked down at her state of dress and quickly complied. Unfortunately the only outfit that could fit Gal’s new shape was a little out there.

It looked like a halloween costume of a stripper, with a small stretchy tube top and a skirt that looked like it was made to cover a fake exaggerated butt but on the new and improved Gal just barely managed to fit. Her feet didn’t seem to shrink that much so she stiletto high heels remained on her feet but the entire outfit made her look like a cheap prostitute. she didn’t have time to feel embarrassed as the door opened and several people walked in asking if a tall woman came in here. Saveta told them “Sorry but only this prostitute came in today.” Gal used every acting bone in her short body to not react to that comment.

The crowd took a look at her and some gave a lecherous look but they all left soon after. When the two were once again alone Gal demanded and explanation. “Don’t worry shorty. Sorry couldn’t resist. The potion will wear off in about nine hours. Now you’ve got plenty of time to treat yourself and not be bothered.” Gal was still angry but the pulsing heat in her pussy distracted her. She thought for a moment while she rubbed her cootch. It wasn’t like she was in pain or anything, in fact it felt pretty amazing, and she said it would wear off in a little while. She considered her option for a moment and said “Well, I appreciate the help. I think I will enjoy the rest of my day. Oh, and by the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any more of that potion for sale would you?” Saveta grinned and said “Of course miss, anything for Wonder Woman!”

The fat assed little dwarf woman walked out of the curio shop totally without being recognized at all though she did catch quite a few leering eyes as they stared at her swaying behind, but the heat she felt in her cootch from that made her want more. As she walked away she heard Saveta call out “Enjoy your day! And be sure to come back and sample my other wares at Saveta’s Curio Shop!”

The end. Hope y’all like it!

#Gal Gadot #dwarf tf #ass expansion #shrinking #request