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#I’ll just mark it as spoiler since the event has been out for very long
bronyinabottle · 10 months
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THE ANCIENT EQUESTRIAN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - POST-MAKE YOUR MARK CHAPTER 4 EDITION
Hello there! I’m here to sort of give a follow-up to a post I made a while back about G5 after having established it has a connection with G4 how it might have to go forward about it. Ever since then, the G4-G5 connection  has been… inconsistent at best. The comics perhaps have the most direct link what with the Mane 5 meeting Discord which is never referred to in either Make Your Mark and presumably not in Tell Your Tale (I have not watched much tell your tale, though sorry. I feel like I just can’t get past the art style and the fart jokes I heard about they did with Sparky (Did they really have to do that to one of the most sympathetic characters in all of MLP? Misty did not deserve that one iota) absolutely was a deal breaker for me.)
And Chapter 3 while it did have the Twilight cameo and maybe a vague idea of how Opaline rised to power… it didn’t really give us a whole lot to go off of it feels like. So I didn’t really feel like giving much thoughts on it.
But Chapter 4 has certainly provided something that’s substantial enough to discuss… but I’m not confident it’s for all the right reasons.
For the sake of those who have not seen Chapter 4 of Make your Mark, I shall put the rest after a Keep reading line section. As the first thing you’ll see.. is a very significant image that is a pretty direct spoiler from Make Your Mark Chapter 4. If you have already seen Chapter 4, or don’t really care enough to avoid spoilers feel free to continue reading.
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^Probably most G4 fans reaction to this image
Before I really dig into this thing, there is some speculation that this is all just more gas lighting by Opaline about her origins to Misty and none of the details are true since there seems to be multiple versions of how Opaline came to be a threat. But… I’m not sure I see any intentional use of the “Joker origin story” trope where everything Opaline has said about her origin is a lie. I’m not sure the writers will actually make that a plot point when it seems like they have it all simplified for children watching (They won’t even share what Zipp knows about alicorns to the audience for crying out loud!). I feel like the idea that Opaline may be lying about this entirely may be giving the writers of G5 a little too much credit here. If I’m wrong, I’ll fully own up to it. But for now, let’s presume that Opaline is telling the truth or at least mostly the truth.
So to get this out of the way…
WHAT THE BUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK?!
So… let me get this straight… Opaline has been around ever since Celestia and Luna were fillies. That in itself is hard to map out the time for that. But then you gotta start thinking. If she’s been around for that long? What in Equestria was she doing in the time since the royal sisters were kids up until G5? In short, what was she doing DURING the events of Friendship is Magic and so on and so forth? Why didn’t she say take advantage when the Celestia was the only ruler for about 1000 years?
And if she’s the one that ruined the peace in Equestria ultimately, why does she feel way too incompetent to have been the one to to have done so? Opaline doesn’t even find out Misty has betrayed her at the end, if she can’t even keep track of her ONE AND ONLY MINION. How in Equestria did she end the most peaceful era in Equestria’s history?
Another question that might be even worse? How come Celestia and Luna didn’t tell Twilight or the rest of Equestria about Skyros? I mean yeah, obviously neither Opaline or Skyros actually existed meta-wise when developing Friendship is Magic. But this is the kind of stuff that seems to prove that the idea of connecting G4 and G5 was always just an afterthought. This just doesn’t work with what Friendship is Magic has established even with it’s vague look at Alicorn lore. Apparently a land of the Alicorns exists now? Just how many Alicorns are there actually? Apparently the Journal of Two Sisters implied there was a place of Alicorns, but the problem of course is Friendship is Magic contradicted said journal with Flurry Heart’s birth in Season 6.
Also, if Opaline has lived that long. That actually makes it very possible for Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry Heart to all be still around somewhere. Cause I guess G5 just confirmed that alicorns are truly immortal in terms of dying from old age. Honestly, at this point I wonder if things are about to get crazy and it turns out the rest of the Mane 6 got to become Alicorns too and are hanging out in Skyros or whatever just for an excuse to return all the beloved characters to G5. It’d be an utterly stupid thing to do, but it almost feels like it isn’t impossible the way they’ve approached the connection between G4 and G5 so far.
It’s just… ugh, ridiculous. Opaline was ignored by Celestia and Luna as fillies and she waits like how ever many years before bringing Equestria down during TWILIGHT’S reign rather then while Celestia (The one she probably blames more for why she plotted to take magic away) wasruling. Like why? Why did she wait so damn long? Perhaps it’s another case of simply being sealed somewhere for a definite amount of time just like Luna on the moon for a thousand years for all we know. But right now the details are sparse about this and it’s never been said that Opaline got out of some sealed space like Limbo or Tartaurus
But what is perhaps the absolute worst crime of the image…
WHY IS YOUNG CELESTIA’S HAIR NOT PINK?! RUINED FOREVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRRRRR! #NOTMYMLP
(I’m kidding by the way, that’s just nitpicking lol)
Regardless, while Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark has some pretty decent and cute moments. It might even be the best piece of G5 media ever since the movie came out. However, any connection they make with G4 continues to be a headache that adds more questions than answers. There has been nothing to really downplay the idea that it’d have been much better if they had made sure G5 was it’s own universe just like G1 and G3 are entirely different universes from G4.
Another worry I have about G5 is actually something that might be out of Hasbro’s control. Netflix has a tendency to cancel shows, even if they’re doing well. How much time does G5 have before Netflix decides it’s done? Supposedly Make Your Mark has 1 more special and probably another Chapter/Season to go. But I wonder if the team behind G5 are going to be under the possibility that this next batch of Make Your Mark could be the last one if Hasbro and/or Netflix decide they’re not renewing for another season. Granted, even Friendship is Magic had to deal with that possibility. As Magical Mystery Cure would have been the series finale had FiM not been as successful as it was to get renewed for Season 4 and so on. But that was a time where Hasbro still had been very profitable, where as lately there’s been reports of them possibly selling some of their properties, not to mention laying off employees. How much can G5 of MLP carry on under these circumstances? There’s even fears that My Little Pony as a whole may end altogether based on how bad Hasbro has fallen financially. I don’t know if it’s quite that bad for them. But I wonder if it really says something for the company now that it looks like it has clearly not captured the same lightning in a bottle that G4 did.
Now obviously, I’ve said before that even if G5 turned out to be amazing it’d still have a hard time living up to G4 just because the peaks FiM achieved are unsustainable. Part of the reason FIM was so successful was the surprise that an MLP show grew such a diverse audience in the first place. But now that MLP has attracted a larger amount of fans then expected, it just becomes… the status quo that there are people who you normally wouldn’t think be watching a show about cartoon ponies. It’s no longer a shock that a grown man is watching a show about ponies with G5, that was part of what made G4 successful. People wondering why adults of all ages were watching a show presumably for little girls, some of whom became fans of the shows themselves as their curiosity grew. G5 wasn’t going to be able to capture that feeling all over again as a grown man watching MLP is now old news. That’s why even if it was great, it’d have a hard time repeating what brought so many to G4. 
It’s even harder when… it just doesn’t feel like G5 stands out much in my opinion. The Mane 5 (Or well, new Mane 6 now after the end of this chapter. In fact Misty just may very well be G5’s best character) are all fine characters in their own right, but the Equestria in G5 seems… lifeless compared to the one in G4. They’re almost always in the same 3 locations that have been there since the movie. There’s no sense of real exploration and real fantasy like there was in G4. While most of FiM takes place in Ponyville there was still the very idea that Equestria is a wide map, with even locations that are only mentioned and not ever actually gone to. That was a disappointment before in G4 where we never got see like Saddle Arabia for instance. But we still got plenty of other areas throughout G4’s run besides Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale. And that's also ignoring the fact that besides Sparky and the animals, we've really not seen any other species from G4 still. (The cliffhanger of Chapter 4 seems to imply more dragons are coming but... I wonder if it's too little, too late at this point)
It feels like for me, the only reason to keep watching G5 is to see how Misty’s story plays through. And whatever is going to be Opaline’s final comeuppance. (Granted her own idiocy seems to be a comeuppance for her every episode). Izzy can still be fun to watch too, but otherwise the only other interest in terms of tying things with G4 just often makes things worse as with the story about Opaline knowing Celestia and Luna when they were fillies. Perhaps I’m just overthinking things too much, and I’m sure some may just insult me by simply calling me a G4 purist. Call me one all you like if you want. But something about G5 has not left me as invested with the series as I was with Friendship is Magic. I’ve given it a chance to try to warm up on me over time. But not much is doing it for me right now. I’ll continue to watch to see how Make Your Mark proceeds, as I mentioned earlier the next set could even be the end of G5 since I’m very aware of how much Netflix has canned things early alongside with Hasbro facing financial problems. I won’t say if I have a solution for MLP’s future as I don’t think I have a real solid idea. Every possibility runs it’s own risk. Like if G5 is considered a failure, and Hasbro decides Gen 6 is basically a reboot of Gen 4 with the Mane 6 we knew and loved for one last attempt to keep the Gen 4 fans invested or just pulling the plug and letting Gen 6 be entirely new even at the risk that it interests almost nobody.
Maybe it’s not quite THAT bad for G5 as of yet as it’s still only a few years since it started and I apologize if it maybe I'm overreacting to a small scene. Maybe depending on how many views Chapter 4 of Make Your Mark gets we’ll soon get news if Make Your Mark has been green lighted for more past what we know is still coming. For now though, G5’s only added more questions then answers for me personally since the last time I talked about the link between it and G4. And it may be at a point where it’s just too late to fix anything. Perhaps it’d be a smarter move to just try to ignore any reference to G4, or just to try to consider it an AU future of G4. Because I still have the same conclusion I had whenI last covered the “Ancient Equestrian Elephant in the Room”, G5 has some fine characters and content on it’s own. But if you take it as a Friendship is Magic sequel, then it has many shortcomings that currently look like they just can’t try to fix without making things worse.
I wouldn’t fault the G5 staff if they decided that they want to try to ignore G4 altogether. But I feel like at this very moment, Hasbro execs are breathing down their throats, and telling them that they must write a way to say… fit in the return of Twilight Sparkle in G5. And the dread of what else they could fuck up about the connection between the two generations getting even worse as a result.
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emiliasilverova · 2 years
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Putting the “Silver” in “Silverova”
(Or: a long post about my main Bondverse OC)
I was rewatching bits of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night—the version with Daniel Craig, that is. Mostly it was to confront the “trauma” (with big quotes; I should probably say “utter discomfort” instead) that this movie induced on me all those years ago. What I didn’t expect was to find out that, in fact, said movie influenced my writing, my themes, my characters a lot more than I thought. Subconsciously, though.
Alright. I need to talk about Silver.
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Name: Kaiko Morikawa
Date of birth: January 3rd, 1988 [28 years old in-verse]
Place of birth: Kyoto, Japan
Nationality: Japanese and French
Localities frequented: Formerly based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Recently spotted in: Miami, Florida; Tangier, Morocco; Baku, Azerbaijan.
Occupation: freelance mercenary; assassin for the Janus Syndicate (formerly)
Physical description: Height 5 ft. 9 in (175 cm). Slim and toned, gender-neutral appearance. Complexion, light. Eyes, hazel. Hair black in a ponytail. Thin, oval face. Eurasian features. Right-handed.
Distinguishing marks: a silver-hued prosthetic left eye; a trepanation scar on her scalp, masked by her ponytail; marks of a removed tattoo on her left wrist.
Orientation: demisexual; demi- or aromantic
Extracts from MI6 file: Unclear relationship with the head of the Janus Syndicate. Intel gathered from Russian informants suggests that she climbed up all levels of the Syndicate’s hierarchy in the span of a few years, from errand girl all the way to one of Janus’ personal enforcers. However, according to 007's report, it appears that she broke away from her employer and is actively conspiring to eliminate him. The event triggering her defection, if she did defect, is unknown.
On a similar note, the way she came to Saint Petersburg from Kyoto also remains largely unexplained. According to Japanese records, the Morikawa family was brutally murdered by a local yakuza gang in 2005. The daughter—Kaiko Morikawa—has been missing ever since.
[…]
Mistrustful nature, prone to sarcasm to mask insecurity and anxiety. Has been observed to lash out in violence under stressful conditions, likely driven by an history of trauma. Rather quiet, introverted personality otherwise.
Uses switchblade knives as a weapon of choice, but has been trained to operate all kinds of Soviet/Russian weaponry (as can be expected from a Janus Syndicate operative).
***
So this is Silver. I call her that, by the way, because when I created her 15 years ago she was “SilverEye”—a female twist on GoldenEye, not the movie or satellite, but the main character of the obscure videogame GoldenEye Rogue Agent. I’ll try to steer away from that character and game here, otherwise I would digress in yet another rant. All you need to know is, they explain why she literally has a silver eye.
Silver is an extremely important character for me. Just as important as Alec/Janus, and that means a lot—those who know me (or who've just seen my Tumblr posts so far) surely can tell. But there’s the problem: Silver is an OC. That means I can’t quite talk about her as freely as about a canon character such as Alec. Because people either are not interested in, or outright frown at, OCs. Because that means having to explain her whole story, as it definitely isn’t included in the canon everyone knows. Oh, I tried to do that. 9 years of work, 90K+ words total, a monster of a longfic that I can’t write anymore because of all the retcons I would need to steer it in a satisfactory direction. This, people, is Missing Connection. The zone between fanfic and original fiction is a very weird one, I can tell you that much.
Yet, despite my writing hardships, I don’t want to stop talking about Silver. Her type of character is one I don’t feel I’ve seen often, especially in this fandom. Sure, Lisbeth Salander’s awful experiences influenced hers more than I ever expected (can't say too much about that btw, I'm trying to avoid spoilers on Missing Connection), as I found out last night. She draws from female characters like O-Ren Ishii, Beatrix Kiddo, the Major Kusanagi, Private Vasquez or Ellen Ripley, but also from male ones like Sonny Crockett, Dalton!Bond or Alec himself. Hell, when I read the Bond novels, sometimes she and book!Bond have the exact same kind of reactions or internal monologue.
But perhaps the most unusual thing about her is her gender identity/sexual orientation. She’s a cis woman, but she doesn’t give a damn about traditional femininity. It just doesn’t appeal to her, hence her gender-neutral presentation. She’s attracted to very few people not because of all the crap she went through in her life, but because that’s the way she rolls. She doesn’t fall in love, she thrives in (very trusted) friends with benefits relationships. And I’m not going to lie—I feel represented by her in that regard.
That being said, I could be wrong on her being uncommon. At the end of the day, I’m an isolated person who’s barely scratched topics like sexual orientation or gender identity. I also haven’t even read that many Bond fics. But still, no matter what, I want to keep Silver alive in one way or another. I want to keep exploring her identity, her 1980s aesthetics, her twisted relationship with Alec, her grey morality, her outsider’s point of view on the Bond universe, her struggle to keep her sanity among a bunch of insane canon characters… and so many other things. But what I also want is not to be doing that just for me. The lack of interaction has plagued me ever since I started writing, and I’m sick of it.
Lately, in the remix I penned of an MI6-centric fic, she appeared as 0011. That’s an alternate version of her of course, because there’s no way the actual Silver could be hired as a 00 agent. I’m not sure this is what I want to do with her in the long term, but at least that could be a good way to make her known by more people. As is this post. So, to you who have come so far into this: do you want to hear more about Silver in the future? If so, in what way/form? I’m genuinely curious to see your answers.
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10/13/22 - REVEAL: Happy Birthday, Poco! Starting Volume 9; Chapter 47 is Out!; Another Break...
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Hello once again, everybody! Happy Birthday Poco!*
I’m a little late for today, but, as for the rest of today, we should all celebrate Poco’s Birthday! The first chapter of the Volume 9, chapter 47, is all about it, so be sure to check it out on Mangadex as it should be on there right now!
This also marks the start of a break because, as you may have noticed, I burnt out a couple of chapters ago (pretty much ever since I started lagging behind and being late to everything.) A medium-sized break is just the thing to get caught up, relaxed, and prepared with a big enough stockpile. It might take as long as a month. That means I’ll be finishing up Volume 9 when I get back!
I think that’s all I have to say for now. Again, I’m always open to tips or criticisms to make myself or my scanlation better. Thank you all again for reading this manga along with me. I hope everyone has a happy day for Poco’s birthday. Take care everyone. Until I come back again in a month’s time.
- agnyS
(P.S. SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER: Poco’s birthday was decided but his actual birthday has not. If it’s actually revealed in the last three volumes, I’m sure all of this will be old news and pretty silly build-up!)
(P.S.S. I messed up in a huge way. I have a feeling this is how you can TELL I’m a little burned out and not thinking straight. I’ve been building up this event for months and I mistakenly thought today was the 13th! At the very least, everyone will be ready for Poco’s birthday tomorrow... Haha.)
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linpunny · 3 years
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He just neighed. Ahqhgafqtqgs 😂😂😂
I’m dead rip me
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getoutofmyjaneway · 2 years
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Beta Cannon: the Pre Voyager Era of Kathryn Janeway | Mosaic v The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway
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This weekend, I got a copy of the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway from a local book store. For how frequently we speak about Mosaic in the community (despite having some flaws) I was shocked that I had not heard a lot about this book and assumed it was a bad thing. And yeah in some regards it was (see @mia-cooper’s post on the subject). I have a lot of feelings (I’ll post a proper review at a later point) but one thing that did stick out to me is the divergence from what we have considered Beta Canon, aka, the extended universe of Star Treks told through novels, short stories, video games, etc. After completing the novel, I jumped right into my old standby copy of Mosaic, which has dictated a lot of Janeway’s back story since 96. Both of these novels cover the beginnings of Janeway’s life and how she was shaped into the woman we know. 
TLDR The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway changes a lot of things for no reason. Some of these are for the good. Some for the bad. And some, for like no good reason at all, like it was fine as it was, and was accepted cannon for like 25 years, but sure fine whatever.
I will mention that, as Mosaic has been a book in my library and I have read it too many times, so of course, I do have a bias toward it. Additionally, I feel like it is fair to mention here that authors of Fanfiction have leaned on this as their bibles since 1996 as Mosaic is written by Jeri Taylor, one of the show-runners for Voyager. Because of its connection with a showrunner, Mosaic is also integrated into the canon of the show. It seems that most points that are taken from Mosaic in the Autobiography are only included because of their existence in cannon material.
Anyway, this review is going to focus on the characters that shape Kathryn and I will end with my final thoughts. This is long so to respect your dash, you are going to have to click keep reading. You’re welcome.
Obligatory Spoiler Warning for ALL of Mosaic, chapter 13 of Pathways, and chapters 1-7 of The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway
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Edward Janeway
In all media, I feel like we can safely say that Kathryn Janeway is in fact a daddy’s girl. Her relationship with her father is very important to her, so it is interesting to see how it is portrayed very differently in both novels. In Mosaic, a lot of the highlights of Janeway’s earlier years revolve around time spent with him. From giving her special attention after ‘Your Sister’ was born, to consoling her after her losing tennis match and subsequent walk home in the rain, and trips to Mars, Kathryn mentions great fondness of quality time spent. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway he is more described as an absent father, one that she always wanted to see and please. When he was home, she wanted all of his attention and to impress him greatly. She wished to follow in his footsteps after gaining a love of flight and the stars with a plane ride and a telescope he gave her. He tried to prepare her by detaining the events of the current conflict with Cardassia and inviting Starfleet brass over for dinner. Overall, in her early childhood, it makes more sense for Edward to not be around often. There is not a lot of conflict between the sources, other than the details of the aforementioned tennis match and different childhood nicknames.  
Edward is in a crash aboard an experimental ship on Tau Ceti Prime which leads to his death. This is where the big differences begin. In Mosaic, Kathryn and her fiancé are also on board. In  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn is still on the Al-Batani. The fall out of this event has a great effect on Kathryn of course in both novels. As this is a missive shaping event of Kathryn’s life, I felt it very jarring to be changed. This moment shaped Janeway and gives us good context for why she handles situations the way she does. I see this trauma and I understand her character better, for dealing with the loss of two of the most important people in her life all at once.
Gretchen Janeway
The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway was good to Gretchen Janeway as her character is basically a blank slate. We know little about her from Mosaic as it mostly focuses on Kathryn’s relationship with her father (and other male influences in her life). It is nice to learn more things about Grechen as with Edward’s job, it is likely that Kathryn was mainly raised by her. Other than being an artist, she also wrote some of the Flotter holos and wrote a number of children’s stories about the people of Bajor during the occupation. She does a lot of humanitarian work with the refugees from Bajor during the occupation. She loves to garden and get her daughters involved. She has a close bond with Phoebe due to their overlapping interests, but you can tell that she strives to support her in what she does. Overall, I like getting know Gretchen to be someone of than Kathryn’s mother.
Phoebe Janeway
 I was shocked when researching Memory Alpha for this review, Phoebe is never named in any Cannon media up to this point (Star Trek Prodigy could very well change this). We know Janeway has a sister and she is an artist, but that is it. Both novels keep her very similar personality-wise. In both stories, Kathryn is not looking forward to being a big sister. They also both mourn the loss of their father together. In Mosaic, she is not mentioned much. Kathryn tells her she is not old enough on an off planet trip and Phoebe plays pranks on her. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway goes much more into depth. They don’t get along when they are younger. They fight a lot. I feel this is a very realistic portrayal of real siblings, vying for attention and approval, snapping when they don’t get their way.  They both excel at what they do, Kathryn in her studies and Phoebe through her art. They seem to need to one-up each other at every turn.  As they grow up, they grow closer together, as many siblings do. Points added for giving Phoebe a wife, something which has been included in a lot of fanfiction. Overall, there are no big conflicting points.
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Mark Johnson
Kathryn’s fiance at the time of the Voyager’s disappearance, Mark is a very different part of Kathryn’s life in both novels. In Mosaic, he is a childhood friend and went by his middle name Hobbs. Seemingly always two steps behind Kathryn, he did a lot of the same activities that she did, tennis and swimming in the underground cave systems. He did these poorly, and this makes Kathryn always look down upon him. They reconnected after her father’s death and she fell head-over-heels for him. Personally, I always felt this was a little uncharacteristic of Kathryn, to run away from her responsibilities to be with a man. It just seems very out of character and has always bothered me. The  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway takes a completely different approach. She meets Mark as a friend of Pheobe and her wife as a widower. They hit it off and they fall hard. You can see the conflict in Kathryn as she debates how to move forward with a relationship as they have different outlooks on life. She has a drive to explore but does not want to be an absent parent. She debates quitting, which I don’t think is something Janeway would have ever done. Overall she decides to accept Mark’s proposal just before taking command of Voyager. This makes the Dear John situation a lot more believable as it makes sense that he would want to move on with his life much quicker. Overall, I have to just ask, why? I know Mark doesn’t have a lot of character, but why change basically their whole relationship dynamic? 
Justin Tighe
Justin is a character I actually like for selfish reasons. This explains why I was very miffed that he was nowhere to be seen in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Justin is Kathryn’s first love, they were coworkers, engaged and in love, and dies in the same accident that takes her father. As a person who always wanted Chakotay and Janeway to get together, this incident perfectly gives the reason. She is afraid to get romantically involved with a crew member because of the nature of the job. This dynamic is seen between Picard and Nella Daren in TNG very well. Kathryn has learned the hard way that she can lose a person under her command and how it feels when you are in love with that person. In early Voyager, you can see she isolates herself from the crew and it takes time for her to get comfortable. And during Night she relapses to her old ways. This is the way I have always justified Janeway’s reluctance to have a romantic relationship during their time in the Delta Quadrant. By understanding her background, I have a lot of respect for that choice. Her relationship with Justin really shaped how she handles relationships and without the impact he had on her life, it actually makes her character weaker.
Owen Paris
Owen is Kathryn’s mentor. In Mosaic, they meet as he is reviewing her junior honors thesis advisor on massive compact halo objects. From here they gained a relationship built on respect and learning. It makes sense that, as he was her personal mentor, that she would be close with his family, and why she would seek out Tom as a person to bring with her to the Badlands mission. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, she does not meet him until she is on the Al-Batani. This doesn’t only weaken her relationship with Admiral Paris, but moreover weakens her relationship with Tom. If he was her superior officer, why would she develop such a ‘big sister’ mentality to Tom if she didn’t have as many opportunities to meet him?
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Tuvok
Mosaic does not go too much in depth with Tuvok and Janeway’s relationship, but its sister novel Pathways does. In Pathways, Tuvok meets Janeway when he is an ensign under her command of the USS Bonestell. The Bonestell and the Billings, two ships that Janeway served on, tend to get confused a lot. Most sources have Janeway’s first command as the Voyager, Including Voyager itself -  “It doesn't seem like my first command is shaping up the way I expected,” Janeway Shattered. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway has her and Tuvok meet on the Al-Batani. I actually really like the dynamic between them, as they grow to respect each other over a much longer period of time. I also like that, though Janeway climbs through the ranks, it does not change their relationship dynamic as she still relies on him and asks him advice as if they were equals. I think giving them a longer time to build their relationship. Also would like to note that Janeway and Tuvok also had a friendship with the original CMO of Voyager, Dr. Fitzgerald. I always wanted to know more about the Pre-Caretaker crew and I would have loved to see this dynamic and how the grief of losing a close personal friend in the Caretaker incident would impact them both.
Also I feel obligated to shout out the Janeway and Tuvok story in Star Trek Waypoint One-Shot. I need to get around to doing a series retrospective, but this short story I have not seen anyone talk about and I love it so much. Please read Waypoint. Okay next.
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Other characters
Cheb - Janeway’s boyfriend in Mosaic. He was kind of an asshole and got her into trouble. He is not in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway and I see no problem with this.
Boothby - “[he is the] head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy. When I was a cadet, he used to give me fresh roses for my quarters,” Janeway Revulsion. Boothby is not in Mosaic. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, it is explained that her mother loved to garden and this was something that Boothby did as a gradian figure to make her feel at home and destress. Makes sense.
Aisha - A childhood friend of Katheryn’s. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Mosaic has this weird thing about highlighting the relationships with only the men in her life, so it is nice to see her have some other female friends.
Nexa - Katheryn’s roommate at the Academy.  Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Nexa helps broaden Kathryn’s horizons by helping to learn about Exoliguisticts, first contact, and the Betazoid culture. Again nice to see her have other female friends.
Riker - Yes they go on a date in Mosaic. He is not mentioned in the  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. I know he is a gag character but I still liked it.
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Final Thoughts
A lot of characters were changed between these two novels. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. I really like what the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway did with characters like Tuvok and Gretchen Janeway. Other characters were not so lucky (Justin, sweetie I’m so sorry that they would erase you like that, oh my god). It’s a mixed bag, but one thing I need say is... why?
We have had a good thing going here with the established canon as is. Mosaic (and Pathways) is the foundation of which the last 25 years of fanworks and the relaunch novels are based on. Why change history when it is already written?
Always, would love to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading my novel of a post. I will see you in the full review.
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Note
so since you're gonna do the avatar!mc au with the entities you think each brother would fear the most (SO excited for that btw, my friend can attest to the fact that i've basically been rambling about tma x om nonstop since the first post you made that put the two together), i'd love to hear your thoughts on which entity each brother would *be* an avatar of, if you're cool with sharing! personally i love the ideas of specifically vast!levi and dark!belphie but i'd love to hear your takes on the concept! <3
So because of how time works, despite receiving this ask on July 12, by the time you see this it’ll be August! So the entire Avatar!MC series should be out by now, which I hope you will/have enjoy/ed. I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of Vast! Levi, which I’ve talked about before (as you know ;) ), but I will happily ramble about it again!
These aren’t gonna be short fics though bc I do Yearn to save that energy for The Longfic, which is still in the planning stages because a) I can’t pick a timeline, and b) trying to match up the timelines of Obey Me and TMA is hard, especially when I tend to have a violent disrespect for actually paying attention to the timing of plot events in both. I already fucked up a part of the plotting because I forgot the order we get pacts with the brothers lmao
Content warnings: Mentions/allusions to tma-typical Spookies, yet another installation of my Cursed Crossover idea, lengthy debates about what makes someone choose to become an avatar of fear, spoilers for Lesson 16+ of Obey Me and S5 of TMA
What Entity Do I Think The Brothers Would Serve? (Cursed TMA x Obey Me Crossover)
Lucifer
So I put him as falling victim to the Eye/Beholding bc of his whole thing about Secrets and Pride being about wanting control over your own image
And he does have a creepy tendency in canon to always know when his brothers are up to some Dumb Shit
BUT! You know what we see in Lucifer’s character that we see in a certain Entity?
A simultaneous manipulation of others and submission to being manipulated by a higher power
That’s right, I think Luci would be a Web avatar
But Winter, Lucifer wouldn’t wanna take marching orders from someone/thing else! He’s too proud for that— You’re right! He doesn’t want to. But he will.
He willingly submitted himself and his family to Diavolo for eternity to get what he wanted (saving Lilith)
And from how much we see him work, it’s safe to say that he’s a pretty damn essential part of running the Devildom
If he really wanted to, he could probably successfully pull a coup on Diavolo
But he doesn’t, because he’s trapped himself by his own honour code
Thus, the sexual tension bromance we all know and love/insist is Deeply Problematic and blacklist (depending on how much you like/hate dialuci lol)
10/10, would fill with spiders again
Mammon
I put Mammon as falling victim to the Buried for pretty obvious reasons
But admittedly picking a fear he’d serve is trickier
I had to get a bit abstract with it, but I think the Hunt might suit him
Not necessarily the primal *cough* and police brutality *cough* parts of the Hunt tho
More like how Basira was considered an avatar of the Hunt in the fearpocalypse because of her mission/promise to Daisy
See, Greed can stem from fear
Fear of losing what you have, of no longer being able to support yourself, of being preyed upon by others
So people become greedy as a defense mechanism, to protect what they have
If they’re on the offensive, they won’t be targeted
Also, if you’re constantly pursuing more more more, there’s no time to think about anything else
Like consequences, or guilt, or Feelings
If Mammon let his little tough guy act go too far for too long, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say he could start heading down the path to avatarhood
After all, people pay big money for hitmen and bounty hunters…
Leviathan
As I said last time, I can see why people would associate Levi with the Lonely first: he’s a shut in, he acts like he wants nothing to do with people/would rather be alone, and I get it
BUT! All of that actually stems from the fact that Levi has terrible self-esteem and thinks he deserves to be this gross shut in loser
While envy can make you want to bring others down to your level, so to speak, Levi tends to just shun “normies”, not actively conspire to sabotage them
He actually does crave understanding and to have people in his life, he just doesn’t know how to go about it
Boy’s got Mega Social Anxiety is what I’m saying (funny how both the Lonely and the Eye can be real bad for that, huh)
But the Vast? Nihilism? Takes all the pressure off
If everyone is a small, insignificant speck in the face of an uncaring, unfathomably large cosmos, who cares what you do? Who cares what people think of you?
Yeah, you’d be kinda weird too if you stared into the infinite abyss of the ocean and realized it was just the maw of a gargantuan sea monster too, Karen, lay off
Plus aesthetically, the great Awful Deep most people fear in the ocean is a comfort to Levi
And again, THE VAST IS MORE THAN JUST THE SKY
I WENT ON A BOAT ONCE
LIKE REAL FAR OUT, SO I COULDN’T SEE LAND FOR DAYS
IT WAS JUST ENDLESS B L U E
AND I WAS ON A CRUISE IN THE CARIBBEAN
I SAW A FRACTION OF THE OCEAN’S S U R F A C E AND IT WAS I M M E N S E
Did you know we’ve only explored like 5% or whatever of our oceans? Think about that! Every Single Thing we know about what’s in there is just the tip of the iceberg!!! GOD KNOWS WHAT’S DOWN THERE!!! PROBABLY FUCKED UP FISH IS WHAT
*ahem* anyway, fishee
Satan
Another tricky boi
I marked him down as fearing the Desolation, as a reflection of what he fears most in himself
I probably could have also gone with Slaughter, but I’d say that’s more baby/early-Satan
Desolation is also about destruction of potential, and Satan has very carefully built himself into a non-rage-monster person
So tearing that all away from him is :)))
But what would Satan give himself over to?
Ceaseless Watcher, I want that twink OBLITERATED—
Satan clings to knowledge and erudition to distance himself from the rage he was born as
“Watch and learn” is literally how he became a person
I find it deeply funny that it could also easily be how he becomes a monster once again
Also if you think the avatar of Wrath wouldn’t have a use for supernatural blackmail you’re just straight up incorrect
Couple that with Satan’s various connections and he’d be a Force to Reckon With
Asmodeus
I put him as a victim of the Corruption bc I found it extremely fitting considering the duality of his romanticized image vs the “dirty” fluid-filled nature of Lust.
Lust can be really nasty, but as licentious as Asmo’s supposed to be, he’s surprisingly coy
(now part of that comes from the fact that Obey Me isn’t strictly 18+/full-on porn, but still)
There’s a lot of Interesting Ideas to unpack there with attitudes towards sex vs sensuality and idealisation vs reality
Now as for an avatar… I debated this for a very long time, tossing around Eye, Stranger, Spiral, even Web for like one second
But I think I’ve got it
Slaughter!
Specifically the musical/random outbursts of violence side (not so much the war side)
Why? Well for one, Biblical Asmodeus is said to “"transport men into fits of madness and desire [...] with the result that they commit sin, and fall into murderous deeds (Testament of Solomon, verse 23).”
But also, Obey Me Asmo’s affair with that portrait chick from the earlier lessons started a whole ass war
Like it or not, the boy is very good at instilling manic violence in people
They don’t call it bloodlust for nothing
Beelzebub
I paired Beel with an End avatar MC bc the boy fears losing his loved ones like he lost Lilith
You could argue that Desolation would fit there too but I liked how it fit Satan better
Now as for a Vibe…
I’m tied between Flesh and Corruption tbh
Though corruption is mostly bc buge :)
So I’ll talk about the Flesh
So uh, mass consumerism, meat is meat, cannibalism… see where I’m going?
Ignoring the Hans because that was super racist, the two Flesh avatars I remember best are Jared Hopworth and The Guy Who Stuck His Arm in a Spooky Meat Grinder To Feed His Buds
I think of Jared in relation to Beel not because of the gym thing, but because his very chill/apathetic attitude towards his patron is similar to how I’d picture Beel’s approach to all this
Like “well, guess I’m here now”
I love Beel as much as everyone else, but he’s not exactly apologetic about his… habits
Not to the degree that he’d actually try and change them anyway
So if he got started on the path to Flesh avatarhood, he’d be pretty fucked
Belphegor
I put Web for him as a fear almost entirely because of the concept of Uno Reverse Card, ngl
It does technically tie into his whole thing about being trapped in the attic, since he’d denied all agency and freedom in there, but… Uno Reverse
Dark!Belphie is an interesting concept, and MAG86 “Tucked In” is iconic, but tbh I don’t really… Get the Dark
Don’t get me wrong, put me in a dark place and I will be scared, I don’t like not seeing things, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why one would become an avatar of the Dark
It’s not a very “primary” fear imo? Like, I’m scared of the dark bc I can’t see what’s there, ie. a threat could be there and I wouldn’t know, but intellectually I know it’s just the absence of light. That’s not really spooky on its own.
I guess what I’m saying is I can attribute spookier things related to the Dark better to other Entities, so I’m not sure what its draw is specifically
According to the Entity Sexiness Survey I did a while back, there’s apparently some Catholic stuff going on with the Dark so maybe that’s why i don’t get it lmao
Anyway I’d put Belphie down for Spiral
“What lies behind a smile” indeed cowboy
Apparently it’s getting choked
Is it because MC’s entire relationship with him is originally founded on a lie?
Is it because the Spiral deals with distortions in your perception, gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing, as well as foggy liminal mental spaces like between sleep and consciousness, death and life?
Is it because I think Belphie would absolutely delight in driving someone bananas by fucking with their dreams until it bleeds into their waking life?
Is it because being a person or consistent being at all is too much effort, consistent internal geography is hard, fuck it, just be an endless twisting series of hallways?
Yes :)
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rataltouille · 3 years
Text
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HOUSE PLANTS, UPDATE 7
[novel intro can be found here]
HEY ACTUALLY I FINISHED THIS BOOK!
i don't want to get too sentimental [watch me proceed to get sentimental] but this book means a lot to me and i really could NOT have done it without the support of the wonderful folks on writeblr. the writing community is kind of the reason i even started this novel so it means a lot to me that i’ve met so many of y’all here. this is my first ever novel and i’m so glad i was able to make it so far! here are the final stats:
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 81,049 words.
STARTED: april 17, 2020
FINISHED: january 28, 2021
AVERAGE CHAPTERWISE WC: 3242
NUMBER OF CHAPTERS: 25
NUMBER OF TIMES LILITH SNAPS: 2
NUMBER OF TIMES LILITH SUFFERS: you know it’s too much to count.
the last month of writing this novel was so mixed. like before i hit the 70k mark i’d just been slogging through the novel, feeling uninspired and bored of the story. and then january hit and i was like. wait a minute. my deadline to finish it was the 31st of january. and so i basically startled myself into drafting again and then hit another wc milestone and that motivated me?? so much??? like i remember that drafting the penultimate chapter took me a pretty long time but it was so enjoyable because i was genuinely liking what i was writing and that hadn't been happening for the past few months. and then i wrote the entirety of the last chapter [it’s a vignette so it’s pretty short] for an hour until 1 am in my bed with the lights off and boom. it was such an experience. what makes it even more fun is that i’d drafted 75% of the book in my bed with the lights off at 1 am so this was such a nice full circle moment.
i’m also a little insane from all that lack of sleep but it’s okay we don't talk about that.
excerpts:
chapter twenty-one
this one’s a mix of the weirdest and most broad emotions. there’s a funeral in town, willow’s acting shadier than usual, lilith and juniper finally kiss, etc. etc. literally a rollercoaster. also it’s important that you guys know they kissed in a graveyard. nothing’s more romantic than that amirite.
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Residual— that’s how we all felt. Just shells that wash away right before they touch land. We lingered like sleep at dawn, like medicine rimming the lip of cough syrup bottles, like fingerprints on fresh glass. There wasn't a permanence in the way we persisted, because eventually, one leaves their nest. They untether from the source in pursuit of the world. How would a dead girl do that? She won’t reside on the fringes of life like a bad dream.
god this prose is so depressing. even i’m getting sad over it and i’m literally an emotionless husk of a person. hey but the description slaps so enjoy.
also if you’ve noticed i’ve been sharing excerpts less and less in the updates despite the chapters being longer on length [these chapters average at like. 5k words] and that’s because i’m finding it harder to share stuff that doesn’t need context / isn't spoilery.
chapter twenty-two
ah yes the angstiest chapter, probably. something happens to willow that lilith blames herself for and this kicks off the final cluster of events that lead to the climax. i love this chapter because lilith gets angry [but at the wrong person aka herself] and we get to see this side of her she always tries to hide!! another thing that happens is that her garden withers so that’s a fun trip
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My garden could have been a fallen kingdom. The ferns were rotting from under the flap, their spores gone. Gardenia blooms had split with their petals discarded like an evening gown all around the pots. The mint had binary fissioned and lay in shreds, the jasmine wilted and spread. All of them like war dolls, casualties of my ignorance, beyond saving.
poor garden :/
chapter twenty-three
this chapter. exists i guess. ISDNJSDUH i sound so disillusioned but essentially this chapter was supposed to end on a the ✨big reveal✨ that the book has been leading up to but then something. happened. and i had to move that into the next chapter and so nothing actually happens in this one! like it’s all important things and we’re setting up tension but overall it’s the least eventful of the final story arc.
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We stepped together into our house; it had been abandoned for a day but was the exact same. Dust hadn't suddenly piled up in the threshold, sticking to our soles. The air hadn't musted over in the house’s grieving for its sole occupants. The bathtub was still filled. The water skimmed the floor, and I’d decided. I’d stay with you for the whole week, the fortnight, the month, the year. I’d stay inside with you, because me leaving the house, me choosing to spend any second of my life without caring for you, was a mistake. I’d always seen you as fragile, quiet like moth wings and just as delicate. Maybe I’d needed to feel I was protector just as much as I thought you needed me.
i really like this excerpt because it’s very simple and light in terms of prose but also the implications and that purposeful telling at the end really stick with me. exposing lilith since 2k20.
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As morning rose the next day, like a curtain lifting, the sun picked itself up from the horizon, shattering cloudlines in a bright, orange glow. The skies got clearer by the hour as summer sauntered in again. Already the habits of my grounding were kicking in; my circadian rhythm bounded to my outside, too, as I instinctively scheduled and compartmentalized my daily life. First, wake up, check on you. Finish chores while making sure you’re alright. School, eaten with worry, but you're capable and you’ll call if you need help. Home, count your pulse as you inevitably slumped in plush sleep— at the coffee table, at the bathtub, in Aunt Hailey’s chair (rare), in your bedroom (rarer). You’d wake for dinner and read until the lights begin to dim and your eyesight tripped. You’d doze off for the rest of the night. Your internal clock was more functional, more efficient, than mine.
obligatory rhythmic everyday life excerpt that's reminiscent of 2020.
chapter twenty-four
THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER! THE LONGEST CHAPTER!! THE ONE WHERE SHIT GOES DOWN!!! [can you tell it’s my fave chapter]
this took me two whole weeks to draft [it’s around 7.2k words] but it was so enjoyable the whole time!! there’s something so satisfying about making the quiet character, the one who never express anger, finally snap. so satisfying. lilith is actually pretty feral in this and we all stan. it also has a lot of simpler yet more sharp prose? if you know me you know that repetition is literally my favourite device ever. i overuse repetition it’s actually insane. and this one has a lot of that, but in a way that isn't annoying, and i really enjoyed writing it!!
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I’d never been in your bathtub before. You haunted the room and it was always yours; I didn’t consider running the tap for myself. Maybe your going out prompted me this time. The water was so high it sloshed over the lip of the tub. The floor was slick like eels’ skin. My skin was blue with cold; the chill gummed my cheeks and ears and I shivered. My reflection stared at me in hatred, the features warped and pulled like taffy. I half-floated, a ghost in liminal space, and the walls were choked with water lines and flower patterns. With my body invaded by alien frost, with the ceiling low and cruel and ready to crush, I cowered. How did you do this every day? Did the clothes make the difference?
lilith’s going through it again ft. willow’s bathtub.
after this it’s a lot of incredibly spoilery stuff!! like the prose slaps but it’s too many spoilers to share. but have another description of the heaviness of midnight because i’m obsessed with that aesthetic
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The lock clicked behind me. Silence descended like birdsong and I was paralysed, stuck at the two half-stairs that led to the outer path, stuck at the threshold of no return. My body shook. All around me was nighttime, gooey and heavy. I was unfurling, like a rose, step after step, pushing past the gate and onto the road. The wind was so cold it frosted my tears.
btw the chapter does not end on lilith crying she kind of has a girlboss moment and snaps massively [i mean after all she’s been through she deserves it] and then the main story aka the fictive past ends.
chapter twenty-five
the final chapter, which also happens to be a vignette chapter and is thus set in the fictive present! it’s very short and is only one tiny scene but it really ends on the perfect tonal quality for the novel. i can't share any excerpts because it really is very short so! have this iconic screenshot i took as soon as i finished the draft instead:
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[also if you were wondering yes i did type the entire novel [and basically everything i write] on my ipad because i don't own a laptop]
and that really is it! this was such an incredible journey and i’m so excited to share more of my newer writing and upcoming projects with y’all. it feels so weird that this really is the last time i’ll be making official posts about this novel. truly the end of an era.
house plants taglist: @discreet-writer @mp-golfin @jaydewritesfiction @writer-in-monochrome @magnus-s-writes @firesidefantasy @sugarlessbubblegum @theoldcity @n1ghth4wkz @remi-writes-sometimes @suninks @dreamybellatrixanvm @camusbf @fablemancy @isherwoodj @svpphicwrites @spillme @sunwornpages @bijouxs @asadlitficwriter @bookphobe @sirius-xthem @carlyiswriting @hekat-ie
general taglist: @lovingyou-is @haldimilks @andiwriteunderthemoon @coffeeandcalligraphy @shaelinwrites @tuoyu @charles-joseph-writes @eklavvya @wolf-oak @bitterwitchwrites @laughtracksonata @whatwordsdidnttouch @indeliblewrites @thenataliawrites @illimani-gibberish @sienna-writes @jennawritesstories @chloeswords @aelenko @keira-is-writing @cherylinanika @infinitely-empty-pages @jmtwrites @august-iswriting @sarahkelsiwrites @freedelusionbanana
tumblr is being. really really annoying and wont let me edit on the browser so i’ve got the 50 mentions per post mobile thing to deal with. the rest of the taglist will be tagged in a reblog!
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mageofseven · 4 years
Note
Hi I just recently discovered your blog and I’m in love with your writing! I have a little request if you don’t mind. The brothers (and undateables I’d you want to) finding MC bruised and beaten and later discovering they got into a fight with another demon. Thank you in advance if you decide to write this!
Awww thank you so much! I might end up doing the Undateables in another post, but I'll just stick to the Brothers for this one.
And thanks for requesting 😊
TWs: violence, vague s*xual assault
Spoiler warning: 1st year spoilers in Lucifer's and vaguely in Belphie's section
~
Lucifer:
Was checking out the area under Diavolo's orders.
Apparently there have been some people sneaking around in the old Colosseum and normal methods to keep other demons away from the historical landmark have been futile.
That and word has made it's way that some criminals have been using the place to secretly make dealings
So when he got there, he had expected to find some such people lurking around
Instead he found MC on the ground in the center, bruised and bleeding with their arm bent in a very concerning way.
He rushed up to them, calling their name and checking them for signs of life.
Honestly, the man was having major flashbacks to the day he lost his sister.
This was exactly where Lilith fell and Lucifer had to watch his sister, all broken and in pain until Diavolo came and he had to make the deal that changed everything
The deal that eventually led to MC's existence
Yet here they were now, in exactly the same place and state and the demon couldn't help but break down for a minute with panic he tried so hard to conceal.
The human let out a groan and the man could only sigh in relief.
"MC, oh thank the Devil..."
"Luce...?"
"You'll be alright." He promised. "I'll take you over to have Simeon heal you."
Despite the internal panic and flashbacks of such a traumatic event, he still handled the situation well.
Once MC was all healed up, he asked them what happened.
Apparently, they found a note that someone had stuffed in their school bag, asking for them to meet at the Colosseum.
They thought it was weird, but curiosity had gotten the better of them so they went and were attacked while exploring the ancient building.
The demon had meant to kill her, but sensed Lucifer approaching so they dropped the human and ran for it.
Ends up getting as much info from them about the attacker as he can.
Even if MC doesn't want the demon to die for what they did, they get no say in the matter.
Because of their status as exchange student, this attack is a political issue and the consequences Lord Diavolo warned his people about originally must be put into play.
Politics aside though, Lucifer would never let any being who hurt MC get away with it.
Becomes a lot stricter with what they can and cannot do
Like, they're not even allowed to go for a walk around the block without either him or his brothers accompanying them.
Even changes up their class schedule to make sure they have at least one of his brothers with them per class and they even have to walk MC to their next one.
Any arguments about this from MC or the brothers fall on deaf ears.
He will never let anyone lay a hand on them again.
Mammon:
School day had ended and he was on his way to pick MC up from their class.
Since Lucifer decided the day they came that he was responsible for their safety, he always had to do stuff like this.
He was late today though since his teacher held him back after class.
Blah blah F on the test, blahh blah summer school, blaah blahh blaaaah. Whatever man; he wasn't listening
And because of them, he was late. So much so that when he arrived at the human's classroom, they weren't there.
Lowkey panicked.
Shit. Shit shit shit, where'd they go???
Practically runs in the halls trying to find them
Knows Lucifer will have his head for this if he can't track 'em down.
Ends up hearing some kind of ruckus in the courtyard
And finds a big group of students forming a circle and chanting "Fight!"
"Oh yell!" Is momentarily distracted from his problem and joins the group. "Fight! Fight! Fight--."
Oh shit. That's his human in the circle!
Mammon's brain just started buffering as he watched MC dodge and weave, even getting some good hits in. The second brother was actually pretty impressed.
The lower demon in the fight eventually lost his footing and fell to the ground, giving an opening for MC to give a big kick between his legs and the demon let out a shrill scream. His green skin started smoking and changed to grey as it hardened and suddenly seemed more like stone than a person.
The circle of students started cheering and Mammon's jaw practically hit the floor.
Holy shit, the human did it!
MC fell the ground, panting heavily and bruised from head to toe.
Mammon finally rushed up to them.
"Damn, MC! You're gonna give me a heart attack!"
All of a sudden, some students started running and others just quickly jumped back, revealing Lucifer and Diavolo.
....yep, he's dead.
The two older demons started asking MC questions as they caught their breath and Mammon tried to sneak away.
Lucifer grabbed his brother by his jacket, but otherwise paid him no mind as MC told their tale.
Apparently this demon that sits behind them in their Devildom History class had been giving them crap for a while; calling them names and pushing them around. Today they even started touching them in places that made them wanna break the demon's hand.
MC snapped and told them such. The demon only grinned. Honestly, he was probably waiting for them to say that.
From there, he dragged them out by their hair and the rest is rather obvious.
Diavolo had some of his men carry the demon away. Apparently, the stone-like skin is defense mechanism, essentially the equivalent of a turtle hiding in their shells for that sub-race of demon.
The prince assured MC that the demon will be dealt with and tasked Lucifer with getting them healed up.
Mammon was hung upside down from the roof for a few hours for letting this happen, but MC was patched up and okay in the end.
Leviathan:
He usually buys all of his otaku stuff off of Akuzon
But occasionally, he likes to go out and by manga at this store downtown.
It's a once in a blue moon sort of thing, but he still does it
MC felt like taking a walk so they joined him
The two explored the shop as Levi fanboyed about seemingly every other series he passed.
The otaku had already started a pile of manga he planned to buy.
He didn't even notice when MC left his side until he approached the counter to pay
Boy just assumes you bailed on him at first and sinks into self-loathing mode
Until he heard a scream from outside.
He abandoned his manga and raced out, just in time to see another demon run for it and MC leaning against the building.
Their right arm was bleeding from the holes and claw marks made into it.
The third brother started freaking out and rushed them home, even leaving his books there.
When they get back, Lucifer patches them up with a first aid kit and a little bit of a potion.
MC explains how they were shopping with Levi when all of a sudden they saw Beel outside the store waving at them
She went out to talk to him, but then suddenly, it wasn't Beel anymore.
Apparently, it was a shapeshifting demon and, since they specifically choose Beel's form to take, Lucifer assumed that they must have been watching them for a while and planning this attack. They likely chose Beel because they knew he was someone MC would let their guard around.
Levi felt like crap for letting them get hurt, but MC said it was their fault for being tricked.
Lucifer decided it was both their faults and gave them both a long lecture
Satan:
The fourth brother invited MC out for coffee
The blonde actually really likes the atmosphere of coffee shops and wanted to share it with them
The two ordered their coffee and sat at their table while talking about books. He recently read a book on artic fauna from the human world and was comparing the information he read with their own knowledge
It was a very relaxing experience like most of MC's quality with Satan.
Before the two of left, MC had to stop in the restroom.
That demon waited patiently for the human at their table, but when almost ten minutes went by, he became a bit annoyed and puzzled.
Not wanting to be rude, but also ready to leave, Satan approached the bathroom door
He paused mid knock when her heard a low growl followed by a cry from MC
Now in his demon form, the blonde kicked the door off its hinges. It wasn't locked or anything, but the man was super pissed.
Found a demon pressing MC, who had a gash in their head, against the opposite wall
'An eye for an eye' is more or less the philosophy he followed here, or rather, a head for a head.
He took the demon and slammed his head into another wall over and over again.
MC had to run up and tell him to stop after the other demon passed out.
They left the demon on the floor of the bathroom and Satan, with his arms around MC to keep them close, headed back to House of Lamentation
The human didn't want the other brothers to see them like this and worry so Satan snuck them into his room and went to get the first aid kit.
It was quiet between the two as he patched them up.
"I'm sorry for scaring you." He said as he finished with their stitches. "Seeing you hurt like that just made my blood boil. They deserved it, but you shouldn't have had to watch."
"It's okay... thank you for saving me."
The two spent the rest of the night huddled together in his room, reading and just settling down from the incident.
Asmodeus:
Shopping trip!
Asmo was a bit too enthusiastic about it, but that's part of why MC was all too willing to go
He mainly just wanted to see MC in cute outfits, but also bought a few for himself
Any self-consciousness MC might feel on her own is long gone when they spend time with him. He's always hyping them up and complimenting them and overall making them feel beautiful.
Time spent with Asmo is always a good time and well spent.
The fifth brother does actually leave their side for a bit after they found someone hot to flirt with
MC didn't mind and just let the Avatar of Lust do his thing as they continued to look through the racks.
At some point a very good looking demon approached them and started flirting with them
It became obvious that this dude was one of Asmo's demons, another demon of lust
Even with this in mind though, their attention really did make the human feel special, even if they probably said such sweet words to everyone
MC underestimated the demon, thinking that just because Asmo wasn't the aggressive sort that the demons under him wouldn't be either
Ends up following him out of the store and makes out with him against the wall of the building
They didn't understand why they were doing this, but the human's mind had been feeling foggy for a while now.
Suddenly, MC's whole body started to feel heavy and they were so dizzy that their vision was just a blur
Ends up passing out and waking up a few minutes later to Asmo crying as he stood over them and begging them to wake up
"Azzy?"
The man threw his arms around them.
Finds out that the fifth brother went looking for them when he saw that they weren't in the store anymore. He came outside just in time to see one of his underlings try to suck their soul out of their body.
As soon as they heard their superior's voice though, they dropped the human and ran.
The two went straight home and Asmo was extra clingy with them for the rest of the day.
Beelzebub:
The two of them went together to Madam Screams since they were both craving sweets.
Beel was really hungering for a cherry pit pie (though of course he planned on order other things as well) while MC was really hankering for some chocodevil cake.
The two happily got in line to pick out their treats, but MC stepped out to get a clearer view of the case with all of the treats to see if they wanted anything different instead.
Ends up getting attacked by a famished, minor demon of gluttony and slammed down on the glass case containing the sweets.
Beel jumped into gear; he changed into his demon form and threw the other demon off of them.
During the skirmish, the two ended up breaking down a wall and crushing three tables.
When the fight ended, the big guy rushed up to MC to make sure they're okay.
The human was bleeding and had a lot of glass shards embedded in their back and arms.
Though worried, the sweet boy keeps himself together and carefully takes out the bigger shards.
Rushes them home, treats forgotten.
Once home, Lucifer is the one who gets the rest of the glass out of their back and cleans up their wounds.
Beel stays by their side and lets them squeeze their hand when Luce's clean up hurts too much.
Luce gives his younger brother a lecture for all the stuff he had broken back at Madam Screams, but is surprisingly lenient with him.
The older brother didn't say it (and honestly, he should have), but he was proud of his brother for stepping up and protecting MC, but at the same time, expected nothing less from him.
Yeah, Lucifer will likely get sent the bill, but MC's safety is more important.
Belphegor:
Belphie had fallen asleep during class; no surprise there.
The rest of the students left the room when class ended, but the seventh brother continued to sleep at his desk.
MC found his sleeping face cute and didn't want to wake the demon
So instead, they hung around the classroom, waiting for the Avatar of Sloth to awake; the school day was over and the classroom wasn't going to be used for anything else so they thought there'd be no harm in hanging around.
Sadly, they were wrong.
Another student, a jerk from their Seductive Speechcraft class had waited for them to leave the classroom in order to harass them, but when they didn't come out, he came in.
Eventually had them backed up against the wall and forcing their hand up their shirt, causing the human to yelp.
He tried covering their mouth with his other hand, but MC bit them, angering the demon and leading them to putting their hands around their throat as he yelled at them.
The entire time, the minor demon never saw the Avatar of Sloth sleeping at his desk.
Big mistake.
Belphie woke up and saw the scene before him, turning into his demon form real quick.
Didn't hesitate to grab a hold of the bastard and make him let go of MC, who was now gasping for much needed air.
The seventh brother used his miasma aura to weaken the demon as he was now the one doing the choking with the lower demon.
MC covered their face and cried in their corner on the floor.
It was too similar to That Night™️ and the human was bordering on panic attack because of it.
Once the minor demon passed out, Belphie turned and saw MC crying on the floor.
He rushed up to them, but stopped once MC started screaming and begging for him to stay back.
That look in their eyes... it was the same fearful look he remembered from That Night™️
And it killed Belphie inside because he never wanted them to be scared of him ever again.
He waited for the human to calm down and, with their permission, slowly approached them.
He wanted to hug them, but was afraid that they'd just be reminded of it even more so he held back.
Surprising him, the human hugged him instead.
He held them tight for as long as they needed and started to notice the bruises forming on their neck
The two went home after that and reported the incident to Lucifer before Belphie dragged MC with him for a nap.
He chose Beel and his' room since he knew the attic would probably be too much for them right now.
Cuddled close to them and apologized for all of it. For falling asleep and leaving them defenseless. For the other demon's attack. For scarying them. Above all, that he was sorry for That Night™️
~
Masterlist
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xoxo-teddybear · 3 years
Text
Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt.7
Bakugou x f!reader
Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+
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Ep. Warnings: Smut, Angsty, Cursing, 18+
Summary: Theres been some trouble in the journey to the competition and so class 1-A has to take a quick stop. Things get steamy for the hot couple but is Y/N regretting her decisions?
BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST
Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9
When you opened your eyes, you took notice of the gorgeous stars that littered across the beautiful night sky. The sky itself was a mix of deep, dark, navy blue with hints of purple and white in the mix, creating a gorgeous scenery. The bus had drove far away from the city and its light pollution, giving you the best views you’ve ever scene. Speaking of views, when you turned away from the window, you saw Katsuki resting peacefully. You smiled softly with a warm glow on your face and cuddled in closer to him.
As the drive continued, you felt the bus jump, create a loud noise, and eventually slowed and stop. You looked around and noticed a few other students waking up, along with Aizawa. When he came back from checking on the front, he spoke to the class.
“Alright you rowdy bastards....WAKE UP!” He shouted into the megaphone that woke up every sleeping student, including Katsuki.
“GAH!” Bakugou screamed as he was awaken from his deep sleep. “Geez, your dad really had to break everybody’s eardrums?”
“Ew Suki, don’t call him that.” You laughed out as you both refocused your attention on Aizawa.
“So. There’s been a change of plans. The bus has broken down and we seem to be in the middle of nowhere so we’re gonna have to camp out for a little while. I just got off the phone with the competition advisors and they said they’ll postpone the event until we arrive. So everybody just get comfortable, we’re gonna be here for awhile. For now, can I get Y/N and Rumor up front.” He explained and demanded.
You got up from your seat and whistled for Rumor to follow. You made it up to the front to see him and asked him what he wanted.
“Yes?” You asked with your arms crossed and a tired look on your face.
“Take Rumor and scope the surrounding areas. Look for a place where we can stay and if you can’t find anything, just come back here. We’ll just camp out on the bus until we get some work done to the bus. I’ll call a repair company and see if they can send someone to help us with the bus. Be back here in 20 minutes MAX. Got it?” He said.
You only nodded as you went back to your seat to grab the earring to explain what was happening to the league. When you got there Bakugou asked what happened and demanded to go with you but you reassured him you’d be fine and then kissed him before walking off the bus. Bakugou, still uneasy about the whole thing, went up to Aizawa.
“Hey! Let me at least go with her just in case!” He demanded. Aizawa only rolled his eyes as the blonde before he spoke.
“Bakugou, Y/N is a very capable girl. If she runs into any trouble, she can handle it and if I was that trouble, I’d be the one running away from Y/N. And she has Rumor who can also fight and transform into any animal, mythical or real. They’ll be fine.” He explained.
“Yeah but-“
“Bakugou. I’m sure Y/N has told you about her past already, and so you know that her and Rumor have done pretty well on survival. They’ll be okay. Not get back to your seat.”
“But-“
“Now!”
Bakugou huffed as he reluctantly went back and slouched in his chair. Back with Y/N, she was riding on Rumor in his giant hawk form as they flew around. While in the air, she told the league what happened and said when she arrives at the competition, she’ll send her coordinates and then they can arrive.
As Y/N flown around, after about 15 minutes she found a motel not too far from the bus. She had Rumor turn around and make it back to the bus. When she arrived she noticed the students had all exited the bus and settled around a camp fire they set up nearby. She landed and the class all got excited at the cool sight of Rumor in a different form. Bakugou quickly ran to Y/N and hugged her after he had been worrying for so long.
“You okay? Are you hurt?!” He asked while checking you for any bruising or damaging.
“Suki, I’m fine don’t worry! I’m great actually. Aizawa!” You called out, grabbing your dad’s attention. “Found a motel. Right off of west end. Rumor can bring all of us in about 2 trips on his flying bison form.”
“Great. Then let’s go.” He replied. You laughed as you heard the boys of the Bakusquad get rowdy and excited at the news of another bison ride. The Bakusquad and dekusquad along with Momo and Jirou rode first. You made it there and had Rumor fly back to get the rest of the people including Aizawa and the bus driver.
When you made it back, Aizawa had gone to book everyone’s rooms and you and Bakugou hung out in the corner of the lobby away from everyone.
As you leaned against a wall waiting for the room keys, you took notice of how Bakugou was just smiling with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head as he sat in a lobby chair.
“What’s up with you smiley?” You laughed out as you sat on his lap. He chuckled as he finally opened his eyes to look at you.
“You telling me you don’t remember?” He questioned. You thought about it for a little bit but ultimately came to no answer.
“Remember what suki?” You asked, and Bakugou sat up straight with his hand wrapping around your waist as he got in your face.
“You promised me the next time we get in a bed, you would let me have my way with you. And would you look at that. We’re in a motel, where there are beds, and we all have our own rooms with at least 1 partner.” He explained happily.
“Aha, nice try Suki, but Aizawa definitely wouldn’t let me sleep in a room with a guy let alone someone who is my boyfriend. I’m gonna get paired up with...I think Jirou.” You said with a confident smile.
“Right, and I’m getting paired up with Denki and won’t you look at that, Denki and Jirou are dating! I’m pretty sure Ears wouldn’t mind switching with me so I could spend time with my girlfriend while she gets to hang with her own boyfriend.” He smirked. You realized he was right and your smile dropped as you quickly got up from his lap.
“Nervous? I thought I was the virgin.” He teased. You rolled your eyes at his comment. You weren’t nervous to have sex......you were nervous because this time it was with a guy you love...and that guy was Katsuki Bakugou. He radiates big dick energy.
“Um..no,” you pouted with side eye.
“You hesitated,” he smiled.
“NO I DIDNT!” Bakugou just chuckled at your cute behaviour before he stood up and pecked your cheek.
“Don’t worry princess. I’ll treat you real good. Promise,” he whispered in your ear. The sound of his husky voice went right in between your legs and you could already feel yourself growing wet and becoming a puddle right underneath him. Except you weren’t even underneath him and he didn’t even touch you. The power he holds is....stupid. But, you finally snapped outta your little bitch phase and played his game.
“Fine then,” you said and proceeded to wrap your arms around his neck and whisper in his ear, “better not disappoint...daddy.” You playfully said and walked away with a smirk leaving Bakugou with an open and shocked smile as he watched you go.
Aizawa called everyone over to grab their keys.
“Alright. Boys and Girls will not share any rooms and the opposite gender is not allowed in the other’s room after 10 o’clock,” Aizawa began to call out names and finally got to the end. “Y/N and Jirou, and Bakugou and Kaminari.”
Bakugou looked at Kaminari with devil eyes and growled at him as he tilted his head towards Jirou. Kaminari shook in his place and quickly ran to his girlfriend.
“H-Hey babe! Wanna trade with Bakugou so we can share a room together?” Jirou looked at her terrified boyfriend with a raised brow in confusion.
“Are you okay Denk-“
“PLEASE! PLEASE TRADE WITH THAT DEMON!” Kaminari begged. Jirou and Y/N looked towards Bakugou and then towards Aizawa.
“Okay Jirou, since he’s this scared of Katsuki, I’ll stay with him and you can stay with Denki. Don’t worry about Aizawa, everything will be fine.” Y/N said.
“You sure?” Jirou questioned.
“Mhm! Besides, what kinda girl wouldn’t wanna spend more time with her boyfriend?” You said rhetorically and walked away to Katsuki. “Let’s go, Love.”
“Yes M’am.” Bakugou said as he followed you while looking around to make sure no one noticed. You both walked but remained silent. It wasn’t an awkward silence, more like you both were too excited for what was to come. When you and Bakugou finally arrived at your room, you put the key in as Bakugou continued to be on lookout. When you opened the door, Bakugou pushed you in and shut the door and locked it.
He pulled you in before you could turn around and gave you a hot kiss. His hands roamed your body until they eventually reached your ass to give it a firm squeeze and nice smack. You gasped at the feeling and Bakugou quickly slid his tongue in. Your tongues glided across each other as you tugged at Bakugou’s hair. You swear, if you didn’t know him and this was just a one-night, you would think he’s already had experience. Bakugou separated from your lips the slightest bit just to tell you to “jump.”
You wrapped your legs around him as he carried you to the bed and placed you down. He continued the kiss and unbuttoned your school top and removed your tie. You did the same to him as he groped your chest, massaging the plump flesh through your lace bra. He pulled off your skirt and then discarded his own pants and went to kiss your neck.
You moaned at the feeling of his tongue as he sucked on patch after patch leaving purple marks that would definitely show in the morning. While on your neck he removed your bra and panties and his hands quickly went to feel your exposed body. He backed away to stare at the sight of you. He bit his lip as he took notice of your breast and naked body.
“Perfect,” he whispered to himself as he stared and touched. You giggled at his compliment and pulled him in for a few pecks before flipping him over and straddling his lap as he sat up. “Yes Princess?”
“I promised you a good first time. Let me keep my word, Suki.” You smiled at him as he did the same to you.
“Fine then. Show me a good time.” He smirked at you and tilted his head back on the headboard. You smirked and pulled down his boxers to reveal his giant length. It stood erect with an angry red tip that was begging to be satisfied. You stared at it in awe. You already knew he was big..but this size was ridiculous. Not only had he had a long length, he was thick too. Extremely girthy. Bakugou smirked as he realized you were too distracted with his size that you didn’t continue anything.
“Hey Princess, you gonna stare or suck?” He asked with a grin. You gave him a little “hmph,” as your hand went right to his tip, using your thumb to rub around his slit. He groaned and sighed at the feeling of your tiny hands on him as you noticed his little blush adorn his face.
“You doing okay Katsuki?” You asked with sass as you pumped his cock, causing him to loudly gasp at the change of speed and pleasure.
“F-Fuck...this is nothing Princess,” he seethed out. You tilted your head and smirked as you went down to kiss his tip. You kissed his length up and down as you felt him shake at the feeling. Once you reached the bottom, you licked his shaft up to the top causing him to moan. You finally took his tip in your mouth and swirled your tongue around him. You swallowed his pre-cum and finally went down on him, taking as much you could.
“O-Oh fuck! Shit..shit baby,” he said as his hand went to your head and he threw his head back. You bobbed your head up and down and gagged on his dick, making music that was perfect to Bakugou. You used your hand to pump whatever you couldn’t fit in your mouth and soon felt Bakugou thrusting his hips up the slightest bit. You moaned as his dick sat in your throat causing vibrations to consume his entire length.
“Fuck-fuck!” Bakugou said and his hand on your head moved you up and down, controlling the speed of your movements. You moaned louder as tear puddles began to fill your eyes. Your hands, no longer needed to pump the rest of his cock, went to fondle his balls as he groaned louder.
“Shit...suck my dick just like that Princess. Mm..you want me to blow my load right down your throat! Wanna taste my cum?” He teased. You moaned even more in agreement as you took control again and began to speed up even more.
“Ohh! God! I’m close! I’m so close baby...mm I’m gonna cum down your throat! OH FUCK! I’m gonna cum!” Bakugou screamed out and soon you felt his warm seed shoot down your throat. You tasted his cum all over your tongue and savored the salty-sweet flavor. “You like that? Mm, you like the way daddy taste on your tongue?”
You pulled of him as he quickly went to pump his own cock to bring it back to life.
“Open,” he demanded and noticed all the cum sitting in your mouth. He smirked at the sight and then spoke, “swallow it.”
You smirked as you shut your mouth and swallowed it all. You opened your mouth to show him it was all gone and he smiled as he bit his lip.
“Happy?” You asked while getting close to his face.
“Very.” He smirked as you both went in for another kiss. You straddled him once more and he aligned himself up with your entrance. You felt his tip slide across your cunt and you moaned in his mouth.
“Excited?” Bakugou said with a grin.
“Please Katsuki, please just fuck me!” You breathed out. He smiled against your lips as he slammed you down on his cock.
“FUCK!” You cried out with your head thrown back as Bakugou admired the sight. You weren’t even prepped so you were tighter than ever as your pussy swallowed him whole. You bounced on his cock as you cried and moaned. He grabbed a hold of your ass as he smacked it from time to time.
“Shit baby...yeah bounce on that cock. You like it? Like having a giant dick deep inside your pretty little pussy?” He said with a deep voice.
“Yess Suki. Mm, fuck me just like that!” You cried out. Bakugou wrapped his arms around your waist and placed his feet flat on the bed as he lifted you up and down while he thrusted his hips up into you. The speed and strength of his thrust threw you into a haze.
“Oh my goddd! Yes Katsuki! Y-yes! So big..f-fuck!” Your hands went around his neck so you could support yourself as Katsuki’s thrusts never stopped. “Oh fuck daddy I’m gonna cum!”
“Yeah? Gonna cum? Spill it on my cock so daddy can fill you up!” He demanded.
“Yes! Yes! Yessss! Shit! Katsuki..Katsuki! Don’t stop! YES!” You screamed as you came and spilled it all over his cock. Katsuki didn’t stop though. He continued till he came and he came hard.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...ARGH!!” Katsuki shouted as he spilled his load deep inside you. He moaned out as his warm cum filled up your womb. He fucked himself through both your orgasms and he finally slowed down. You were still sitting on his dick as a mix of both your releases spilled out of you and onto the bed. You both settled as you both came down from your highs, however you both didn’t separate. Katsuki still released groans and broken sighs as he relished in the feeling of his first time.
You were exhausted but you wanted to take control. You weren’t the virgin, but Katsuki made you look like the newbie. You had to be the last one standing. As Katsuki laid against the head board still moaning softly, you placed your hands on his shoulders and began to bounce again.
Katsuki’s head snapped up as he realized what you were doing and he already came twice. This was his first time and if you kept going, he would feel his third high approaching soon.
“N-No! No baby! P-lease! Please it’s too much! AH FUCK! Ohh god! S’too sensitive,” he cried out as he sobbed in overstimulation. He felt euphoric but it was too much for his first time.
“Oh c’mon daddy, you got this. I want you to fill my pussy one more time. Please?” You said with a sweet seductive voice. Bakugou looked at you with pleading eyes as they filled with little tears due to the immense pleasure.
“I- I can’t princess! Fuck it’s too much!” He argued. You only smirked and encouraged him to pull through as you continued your bouncing. Bakugou continued to blab out moans and cried as his mouth hung open. He let out sobs of euphoria as he shook. You went in to kiss him and this time your tongue dominated as Katsuki became a total sub beneath you. Bakugou moaned into the kiss sharply before he pulled away.
“I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum! Babyy! ....Fuck!” He cried out.
“Cum inside me Katsuki, fill me up please,” you begged. You bounced harder until Katsuki’s body stilled as his cum filled you up just like you asked.
“Fuuuuucckkk, shit....hah....mmm,” he moaned as he finished. Your legs shook from the feeling as you both were now officially done with Katsuki’s first time. After a minute to catch your breaths, you pulled off his cock and cuddled into Katsuki as he weakly wrapped his arms around you. You both were still breathing heavily but you had smiles on your faces as your minds were in a daze. A fuzzy aura surrounded you both as you finally settled. Katsuki pecked your forehead before he spoke.
“That was amazing.” He sighed out with closed, satisfied eyes. You giggled at his reaction as you smiled at him.
“Definitely.” He smiled down at you as he covered you both in the blanket and tucked you guys in. He planned on getting some rest and you went to follow as he hugged you close. You rested on his chest and you both relaxed in silence. Soon enough, you noticed Katsuki had fallen asleep and you smiled as you messed with his soft hair. You looked at the time and saw it was 11:47. Soon would be time for the competition.
You frowned and your eyes went wide. You just took Katsuki’s virginity. And tomorrow, you would be the reason the league would attack his school, his friends, his idols and teachers, and other schools. You sat up from his chest and you covered your mouth with both hands to hide your sobs. Katsuki remained asleep after he exhausted his energy, and didn’t wake up. You were thankful for that but tears fell as you dropped your head down and cried.
How could you do this to him? He loved you. He wanted you to be his first. He put his all in you and you’re paying him back like this! Granted, you loved him too, but you would have to break his heart in the end.
“I’m so sorry....I’m so sorry Katsuki.” You said and fell to his chest, silently crying. Katsuki still didn’t wake up, too deep in his sleep to be aware of anything. He couldn’t hear your quiet sobs or feel your hot tears as they fell on his sculpted chest. That night, you cried yourself to sleep again. Out of all the things you could’ve done, this was the worst. Your tear stained cheeks rested against Katsuki’s chest as you drifted off into slumber, fearful and anxious of the upcoming events.
“I’m sorry...”
——————————————————————————
You both woke up that morning, one completely engulfed in blissful happiness and one filled up with an anxious feeling. Bakugou smiled as he looked down at you, completely nude and covered in his markings. He could definitely get used to that feeling of pride he felt when he saw you adorned in...well, him.
After a few minutes of cuddling, you both decided it was time to get ready. You both took a shower together and you tried to laugh as much as you could, but you couldn’t help but let a few moments of fear and sadness slip out. As you got dressed and made your way to the lobby to meet with everyone again, Bakugou took notice of your behavior.
“Princess? You feeling okay?” He asked. You looked at him with worried eyes but your mouth covered it up.
“Mhm! I’m okay, Suki. Don’t worry.” You said. Bakugou didn’t believe it and even though he didn’t know what it was, his mind thought the worst and thought I had something to do with him.
“Umm..was it me? Do you...regret what happened last night?” He asked. You looked up at him in shock and you started to realizing a pattern. Bakugou always thought it was his fault whenever you were upset, and that just made your heart ache.
“Suki, you never upset me at all. I don’t regret anything with you, especially not last night. It was the best night of my life and being with you is the best decision I’ve ever made. Stop blaming yourself, okay hero?” You reassured him. He smiled at your words and appreciated them, but he knew you were still upset about something and weren’t telling him.
“If you’re upset about something, you can talk to me...okay?” He offered.
“I know. That you for that.” You said. He pulled you in for a comforting hug and you sighed in relief as you welcomed his touch. You hugged him back much tighter than usual.
“I love you,” he whispered softly in your ear as he held you. Your eyes almost filled with tears but you fought them.
“I love you more.”
Back on the bus, the people of UA continued their journey to the competition. Each second inched you closer and closer to what could possibly be the end of the UA you’ve come to love. Somebody, something, is going to encounter something bad. They’ll either go missing...or worse. And it’ll be your fault. You thought about the friends you’ve made, the new father you’ve acquired, and the amazing relationship with Bakugou that you’ve been blessed with. Everything’s about to change.
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utilitycaster · 3 years
Note
Sure! Why is Taz Ethersea validating why a pre-calamity campaign would be a bad idea?
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Okay first off I do want to thank you all! I think I probably would have eventually made a post, because opinions are stored in the Tumblr blog but I don't think I would have thought through it beyond the simplest answer of "actual play D&D is uniquely unsuited for a narrative with a foregone conclusion" but I think it goes beyond that and getting these questions led me to think about it much more.
Also: this post will be full of spoilers for prior TAZ and Critical Role campaigns.
That simple answer is still the right one. I'll admit I have many biases - I don't like stories where the ending is total failure, vs. something bittersweet and mixed; I am very picky about my cataclysm/apocalypse narratives; and I like to avoid spoilers and be surprised by endings. But in particular, one of the greatest elements of D&D actual play is that the long shot is possible. You can roll that 5% chance of becoming conscious instead of dying, or 15% chance of divine intervention, or what have you in a desperate situation. You still might fail, but there's a chance.
Which is one of the other great elements of D&D actual play is that the long shot failure is also possible; the 5% chance of dying sooner than expected or fumbling what should be an easy hit (or an enemy succeeding when they shouldn't).
A big part of why I'm struggling with TAZ Ethersea right now isn't actually the forgone conclusion. A big part is the mechanics, which just don't come off as terribly suited for an audio-only medium (even with the shared map, we don't get the images drawn in sync with the podcast which is what you'd need to really follow along properly). But it doesn't help that I know that when the Storm comes, they at least in some capacity make it. A lot of what appeals to me in the Quiet Year is the map-making and description of a small community and the idea of worldbuilding as the end-goal rather than a starting point, but a significant part of the premise is that the community has a year, but does not realize it. They know they have to prepare for winter, but they don't know that winter will be marked by the Frost Giants. And I don't begrudge the McElroys for using this for worldbuilding, for a number of in-game and out-of-game reasons, but the fact that they do know they have a year and that we as listeners know that obviously some kind of undersea society is able to be built after that year due to the premise of the main portion of the campaign has taken out most of the tension.*
We know how the Age of Arcanum ends. We don't know details, but we know what happens. We also know the Calamity is generations long (Halas being both a few generations after Aeor's destruction and also pre-divergence), and ends in the Divergence, and afterwards the world slowly rebuilds.
Any campaign therefore has a couple of options. Either it would have to be long before the Calamity to allow for some degree of freedom of choice in what the players are doing (which is generally not the vibe I'm getting from people interested in a pre-Calamity campaign), and also...I don't really get what that accomplishes that a new relatively unexplored location wouldn't. The other would be that it's either a campaign that never gets to any kind of significant catastrophe aversion goal (which...while I do not believe actual play casts are in any way obligated to cater to the fandom other than general sensitivity towards other people, stopping some kind of large-scale terrible event and/or big bad is a pretty central concept of the genre even when other elements of it are played with), or one that we know fails in that goal (or at least...only succeeds in saving about a third of all people) before it starts.
It's true that usually, we as viewers go into a D&D story expecting some measure of success (I could write a whole separate essay on why TPKs aren't great viewing for a long-running campaign) but CR in particular has made it clear that there is still a capacity for some amount of failure, or mixed success; there is still perma-death, or victory at great cost, or initial failure that has consequences that cannot be avoided even by later success. Something all actual play DM/GMs (and in many cases, regular old home game DM/GMs) have to do is walk that nearly invisible line where truly, success and failure are both options but total all-consuming failure is extremely difficult to achieve while still not making things seem too easy or unearned. A pre-calamity story puts that already monumental balancing act on Extremely Hard Mode because a large amount of failure as well as a small amount of success is inherently built in.
It also makes it much harder for stories like the one we had in C2 about Aeor, or for that matter, C1 about Vecna, to resonate in the same way, since both used the mystery of the pre-Calamity/Calamity eras to tell those stories. I love dramatic irony but there's a limit; there should be some mystery for the audience and players, not just the characters. If a creator puts a huge mysterious cataclysm in the past, there's a reason for that! Ethersea could have just been "it's an underwater society because it's fantasy" and that would have been perfectly fine, but it's not! That's a creative choice! The mystery of the Calamity is almost certainly by design!
In the end the thing that gets me about TAZ Ethersea is that I usually love the worldbuilding/character concept episodes of D&D shows that have them, and the Q&A/talkback episodes...but I'm learning that I want people to talk about those finished products in a big-picture way. I may be guessing here but I think people want pre-Calamity lore, but they would not actually enjoy a full, 100+ episode campaign of pre-Calamity happenings that is both hamstrung by forgone conclusions and may hamstring other stories that are to take place in the future. I think some comics, or a novel, or a small scope EXU mini-series, or like...a really long tweet thread from Matt about some pre-Calamity lore would actual satisfy that curiosity more effectively while also allowing them to preserve the important mysteries. Or, building from previous campaigns, having C3 exist a few decades after C2, where the consequences of the many archaeological expeditions and the return of the Aeormatons are becoming widespread, would similarly give us the ancient lore while still providing the open, unpredictable world actual play is uniquely suited for.
*just to make it clear: I'm complaining about the Ethersea setup epidosdes because I love complaining about things but if I actually found it wholly unenjoyable I would stop listening and skip ahead, completionism be damned. There are plenty of bright spots, mostly when they stop following the rules of the game and introduce specific character beats, and I am excited by the consequences, it's just...almost 5 hours long and still going.
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cheri-translates · 3 years
Text
[CN] 3rd Anniversary Love Carnival - Kiro
🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for an event which has not been released in English servers! 🍒
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Kiro’s Prologue: here
3rd Anniversary Masterlist: here
[ KIRO ]
The machinery starts moving, pulling the boat slowly as it makes an upward climb. The end is dense and dark, making it difficult to see.
I’m sitting in the first row, nervously adjusting the plastic raincoat I’m wearing. When I turn my head, I see Kiro’s mouth opening and closing.
In order for the raincoat to better shield us from the splash, it comes with a zipper near the hood area, which can keep the entire head covered.
MC: Mm?
Kiro: You... vous.
MC: What?
The clamour of the crowd mixes with the sound of the machinery. Along with the plastic raincoat, I can’t hear his voice at all.
He suddenly reaches out, pulling the zipper in front of me, at the same time revealing his own face.
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Kiro: Come to think of it, this raincoat is really troublesome. I said - don’t be nervous! The first attraction marks a good beginning, and is just meant to establish a foundation.
[Note] “Marks a good beginning” is translated from 开红门 (“kai hong men”). This directly translates to “opening a red door”. Keep this in mind for later :>
MC: ...is it too late for me to say that I’m regretting this?
Kiro: [laughs] Should we jump off the boat?
He smiles broadly, as though he’d jump off with me the moment I say “Let’s jump then!”.
Kiro: It’s all right! Just treat it as us climbing an upside-down mountain, paving the way to a new phase.
MC: If it’s a new phase... would it be an even more dangerous adventure?
The climbing has almost reached its end. The light streaming from the peak of the mountain gradually enters our vision, and fall onto Kiro’s sparkling eyes.
Kiro: A new phase in which I’d like you even more.
The sky is so blue that it’s akin to a tide, gently covering Kiro’s back. The entire world is quiet, as though it has stilled.
In next second, I feel my body being tilted. The splashing water suddenly blocks the entire sky, the waves swirling into arcs, like the corners of a secret smile.
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Kiro: [laughs] Is it too late to pull up the raincoat’s zipper... [screams]
MC: ...probably. Ahh---!!!!
Kiro: Ahh-----!!!
The speed of the swirling water crashing back down on us is reminiscent of several explosives, splashing onto our faces.
When we reach the ground, the water, like torrential rain, evokes exclaims from visitors waiting at the side.
The boat courses leisurely along the track, towards the end point. At this moment, no one is paying any attention to the two poor souls who have been soaked to the bone.
We look at each others’ sorry state, realising that the zipper in front of our faces have only been pulled up by a quarter. We lapse into silence.
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Kiro: ....haha...hahaha!!
MC: Hahaha.
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Kiro: I was so close to helping you zip it up fully just now!
MC: Same for me.
At the exit, the wall displays on-ride photos from the previous group of visitors.
On one of the screens, there are two people reaching out for the other party’s face, smiling brilliantly.
Kiro and I share a glance, and walk to the service counter.
Kiro: Hello, please print the ninth picture in the first row!
Looking at the picture, I can’t help but laugh. Kiro casually sweeps his hair upwards, then smiles as he tidies my messy hair.
MC: I spent the morning applying makeup. This is truly marking a good beginning.
He uses a tissue to wipe my face. From the side pocket of the backpack I’m carrying, he retrieves a stick of lip gloss. Leaning down, he lifts my face slightly with one hand.
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Kiro: Don’t move.
The stick of lip gloss lands carefully on my lips, making me so nervous that I can’t help but close my eyes. The air I breathe into my lungs contains the unique scent belonging to him.
After the lip gloss has been applied, what replaces it is an even gentler and softer touch.
It’s so quick that it seems like an illusion.
I open my eyes to see a few drenched strands of Kiro’s hair drooping downwards mischievously. The corners of his lips are lifted, and the colour on his lips and mine are similar.
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Kiro: Okay, it’s “red” now.
[Note] Kiro is playing with words here by referencing both the colour of the lip gloss, and to “marking a good beginning”, which, as mentioned above, is translated from 开红门 (“opening a red door”) in Chinese!
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[ PART TWO ]
Since we’re already drenched, we decide to seize this chance to try all the attractions which involve water.
Kiro: Miss Chips, let’s take a break over here!
Kiro pulls me over to sit at a corner of the hot spring resting area. Dipping my feet into the warm hot spring, I feel the fatigue in my body dissipating along with the steam.
He removes various props from his face, brushes the beads of sweat from his forehead, and releases a long sigh.
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Kiro: The heat almost killed me. I can finally breathe.
MC: You’ve worked hard, big celebrity.
Kiro: It’s not hard work at all.
He leans his head against mine lightly. His feet also shift closer, sticking to mine.
Seeing our legs pressed together, my face starts to feel warm. Perhaps it’s due to the hot spring.
Kiro: Hm? MC, what’s wrong? Are you too tired from earlier?
MC: Nope! It’s just that… this hot spring is too comfortable, and I feel a little sleepy.
Kiro: Ahh… Wake up, Miss Chips! We’ve barely finished half of today’s challenges!
His expression shows concern as he turns his body to the side. Because of the movement, his toes lightly brush the sole of my foot. The other leg shifts over, accidentally rubbing against my instep.
Like a feather brushing and rubbing against my heart, bringing with it a wave of numbness.
MC: I’m awake, I’m really awake! You… just sit properly!
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Kiro: [laughs] Miss Chips, why do you look so nervous?
A certain someone doesn’t seem to be aware of what happened, his big blue eyes blinking innocently.
It’s all because of you!
Although that’s what I think in my heart, my mouth starts searching for another excuse.
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Kiro: [laughs] Hm?
MC: I’m just worried someone would suddenly come…
The facts show that it’s easy to regret words that have just been spoken.
Several couples walk towards us one after another, sitting on the flight of steps not too far off from us.
Seeing this image, I immediately reach out for Kiro’s face before he turns around.
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He widens his eyes. Due to me being overly frantic, I exert too much strength, causing his entire person to turn over, and our legs to be entangled.
MC: …people are here!
Kiro: [laughs] I hear them.
MC: Don’t say anything!
Kiro: It’s all right. They can’t hear us.
His voice is very soft, buried in the bubbling hot spring. But the warmth of his breath is on my face, and I can’t help but hold my breath.
Kiro: I suddenly realised that my hair is a little messy right now.
MC: How can you tell?
Kiro: From your eyes.
MC: Pfft. In that case, what else can you see in my eyes?
Kiro: Hmm… I’ll have to take another look.
He shifts his head slightly closer, as though he’s truly searching for something in my eyes.
Kiro: I see…
Kiro: That MC was lying earlier.
I freeze for a moment, sensing that Kiro has placed his feet beneath mine. Stepping on them, my entire self seems to be lifted up, and I feel light as a feather.
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Kiro: Do I make you very nervous?
MC: …you already know the answer.
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Kiro: It can’t be helped. Miss Chips was just too cute just now.
MC: I’ll leave you to take the inverted roller coaster by yourself later!
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Kiro: This punishment is too much!
Despite what he mutters, his eyes are smiling.
The couples behind us finish resting, and they get up to leave the hot spring area.
I also prepare to release our interlaced hands. However, in the next second, Kiro lifts his hand, placing mine on his face. My feet are once again tangled with his.
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Kiro: I need to prepare myself for taking the inverted roller coaster by myself.
Kiro: Let’s stay like this for a while longer, okay?
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[ PART THREE ]
MC: I think we need to slow down…
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Kiro: Agreed.
Of course, I couldn’t bear to let Kiro take the roller coaster by himself.
We support each other by the arm, preparing to head to a more light-hearted ride.
MC: “Ready Ready”… what’s this?
Kiro: From what the guide map says, it seems to be a 4D theatre?
According to the introduction on the guide map, groups of two will be seated in a sphere-shaped cabin which will course along the tracks. The tracks don’t seem to have a large amplitude.
MC: It should be an attraction similar to “Soaring over the Horizon”. It seems pretty all right.
-
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Kiro: Go! Go! Go!
MC: Wa ahh—!!!
Kiro: [laughs] M-m-m-miss Chips, hide behind me quickly!!!
The woman crawling out of the well follows behind us. Just before she reaches us, the door shuts.
The sphere-shaped cabin seems to jolt, and the image of a gigantic spaceship appears in front of us.
The yellow gorilla wearing a crown suddenly smashes through the iron wall above us, reaching out to grab us.
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Kiro: MC, come see!
Outside the base, the sky is filled with wyverns. Young people who are sitting on their backs and wielding long swords greet us.
We sit on a wyvern, breaking through the large doors of the jail, crossing the lava mountain and the castle of a mage. On an uninhabited island, a pink-haired girl waves at us.
In the vast ocean, an elderly man is in a small boat. The gigantic, jade-like tail of a whale resembles a hug from the sea.
On top of an ivory tower, a man wearing a mask steps on revolving flowers, showing us a poker card.
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Kiro: Hahaha, this is way too cool!!
A person stepping through the clouds next to us waves a long stick in his hand, opening a new path for us.
A panda police officer blows on its whistle, directing the wyverns to land.
When the hatch door slowly opens, I realise that this short, fantasy-like journey has reached its end.
Kiro: Even the name of the ride is a reference.
MC: That was incredible! Just how many Easter eggs are there…
Kiro: Mm… 27?
MC: …why did I only count 16?
Kiro: Let’s see!
Kiro takes my hand, explaining the various images in the ride while we walk.
MC: But there was a hotdog man at the corner, right?
Kiro: There was also a man wearing an X mask on the roof.
MC: There was a dolphin at the corner of the group of small animals.
Kiro: And behind her was a hidden white snake girl.
MC: …
Kiro: …
Our footsteps pause at the same time. Exchanging a silent glance, we turn our heads in synchrony and rush towards the ride.
Kiro: Hello! We’d like to go one more time!
-
MC: There’s a killer whale chasing someone over there!
Kiro: There’s a hot air balloon and a white dragon above the street! And that mountain!!
MC: Where did we count until?
Kiro: 31?
With our four hands together, our brains crash.
MC: Hold on, we missed it, we missed it! Over there!!
Kiro: …
MC: …
We step off the sphere-shaped cabin, more or less identifying all the Easter eggs.
What we had missed earlier was just a small image.
Kiro: [sighs, then laughs] Let’s go, Miss Chips.
I blink, staring at Kiro who looks unaffected. Then, I tug on his hand.
MC: Cough cough. I’ll give you a chance to express your opinion!
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He blinks gently, a little expectant and a little hesitant.
Kiro: …won’t the third time be boring?
MC: Will you let me be bored?
What replaces his response is a full embrace.
Kiro: Of course not!
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[ PART FOUR ]
The cafeterias in the Love Carnival must have gone through a lot of designing in order for moe flowers to appear easily for couples.
Every single themed cafe is packed to the brim. I hurriedly pull Kiro, who is wearing a wig, away from these “danger zones”.
There aren’t many people in the forest right now, leaving only the rustling of leaves.
MC: It’s a good thing I thought of this scenario beforehand.
Kiro: Deng deng deng deng!
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When we speak in unison yet again, we retrieve picnic mats from our individual bags, and look at each other blankly.
MC: …I made enough for two. Did you also buy two sets?
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Kiro: I was worried the cafeterias would be too crowded and we’d get hungry.
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Kiro: But…
His voice grows soft, and I don’t know what he’s struggling with.
In the end, he purses his lips, turning his eyes to me.
Kiro: I didn’t buy them.
MC: …hm?
He chuckles in embarrassment, spreading the picnic mat smoothly on the ground, and taking out food boxes from the bag.
Seeing these food boxes, I’m left slightly stunned. Based on my memory of how long I’ve known Kiro, it seems that I’ve never had a taste of his cooking.
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Kiro: I was thinking that since today is such a special day, even if we couldn’t sit in a cafeteria to have a couple set meal, we should at least have something special. I don’t want you to be left with any regrets today, so I was wondering how to make things different for you.
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Kiro: And then… [laughs sheepishly] what you see in front of you happened.
I lift up Kiro’s food box. The rice has been scooped up in a crooked manner. Although the carrots could be said to be in heart-shapes, they look more like the heads of an arrow.
In the messy omelette, the ham seems to have sneaked out secretly. Perhaps it wanted to have a breath of air after being in such an enclosed space.
The octopus sausages are like blooming fireworks, hiding in the gigantic rice ball, too shy to see anyone. Meanwhile, the sandwich looks incredibly full, and it seems to have chicken drumsticks in it.
This looks like a far from perfect bento - shoddy and clumsy.
Kiro: …what’s in front of you is already the best attempt.
MC: How many times did you make this?!
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Kiro: I’ll let it remain an undisclosed secret forever.
He places his palm on his chest, closing his eyes and saying this quietly.
Chuckling, I hand the bento that I’ve prepared to him. In exchange, he gives me a few minutes’ worth of praises.
MC: This seems to be the first time I’m eating what you made.
Kiro: There shouldn’t be a problem.
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He looks at me with certainty. His expression is exceptionally serious, causing me to laugh aloud.
MC: Why didn’t you show this to me before?
Kiro: They weren’t good enough.
MC: Have you met your standards now?
Kiro: Of course not! I just felt… that you’d be happy with this.
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His eyes are bright, akin to a sun being hidden by soft clouds which are unable to shroud the light.
This perfectionist is slowly, bit by bit, willing to display the areas he isn’t perfect in before me.
Like the tender belly of a kitten.
MC: I’m especially happy. But if something does happen, you’ll have to take responsibility.
Kiro: Of course I’ll take responsibility! Even if nothing happens, I’ll also take responsibility! [laughs] I’ll take responsibility after eating.
The afternoon sunlight is just right. The quiet forest is reminiscent of a small world, embracing us.
MC: I’ll be digging in now!
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[ PART FIVE ]
The heavy Pendulum drags us far away from Mother Earth. Our feet are suspended in the air, and continuously scale to greater heights.
As of now, I’m hugging the safety bars in front of me tight.
MC: Kiro, you liar!
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Kiro: I’m not! I was duped into coming here too!!
After lunch, we proceeded with the carnival challenge. After going through all the tests earlier, we had pretty much conquered a majority of the attractions in the park.
That is, aside from one of them - the Turbo Drop, which is so tall that it pierces the clouds. It looks as though it’s inviting people to scream in an unparalleled manner.
Because it looks overly frightening, and that the entrance has been designed to be hidden in an obscure place, there are extremely few visitors who ride it.
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Kiro: The staff told me that this was very interesting! The entrance was a tower, and I thought it was an attraction where we could look at the scenery from a high altitude.
MC: I can understand all of this, but…
We’ve reached the peak of the Turbo Drop. Over a hundred metres in the sky, the winter air is especially cold, and the empty Turbo Drop seems even more desolate.
I feel as though my heart is already dead.
MC: Why didn’t you let go before we boarded the Turbo Drop!
Kiro: How could you bear to let me go through this on my own!
MC: I have to harden my heart during such circumstances!
Kiro: You could treat it as… us going through a hardship together.
MC: What kind of a hardship could be even more terrifying than this!
Kiro: Just think about it. Don’t novels and movies always have such scenarios? Two lovers experience some… challenge from the world.
He reaches out, gripping my hand tightly.
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Kiro: By getting through the difficulty, people can see the determined love of the couple, and they eventually overcome all the barricades! As long as we complete this challenge, the future will be full of tranquil and beautiful days of enjoying each others’ company! This way, do you feel filled with courage?
MC: Does this count as Mr Kiro’s exclusive secret to success?
Kiro: This secret can’t be used by anyone. It only works when it’s related to you. Whenever I face anything frightening, as long as I have this mentality, I’ll feel omnipotent, and that there’s nothing I can’t do.
MC: In that case, me too!
I grab his hand tightly, the view beneath my feet frightening beyond compare. But because Kiro is here, I feel as though I can press on through this.
Holding him as we walk towards the end-goal, all the challenges along the way are simply temporal.
MC: Wait.
Something occurs to me.
MC: This has nothing to do with you dragging me up here.
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Kiro: Haha.
The music from the Turbo Drop resounds, signalling that this frightening experience is reaching its end.
The incredibly rapid wind brushes past my ears. In the midst of the weightlessness rushing though my entire body, I hear Kiro’s words.
Kiro: If Miss Chips weren’t around, I definitely couldn’t do this on my own!!
-
With jelly-like feet, I lean against Kiro’s frame. Even so, I can’t help but sulk, my soft fist smashing against him.
MC: …“the future will be full of tranquil and beautiful days of enjoying each others’ company”?
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Kiro: Welcome to your tranquil and beautiful days with Kiro.
MC: How would you know about that?
Kiro: I just know it.
His voice is soft as he leans towards my lips. It’s as though his words are at my ear, and requires some weaving before it can reach my heart.
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Kiro: Because every day will be a future like this. The only difference is that there will be different kinds of beauty.
MC: in that case, what kind of beauty is it now?
Kiro: Right now…
His voice suddenly grows softer. He takes off the hat he’s been wearing all this while, and covers our side profiles.
Kiro: Lift your head, and I’ll tell you.
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Fireworks event: here
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sailorbadger · 3 years
Text
The Fandom’s Least Favorite Character - an analysis on Kate
Kate is probably the most hated character in the Robin Hood fandom. Not even probably, she is the one who consistently gets the most hate. So, what has she done? Did she commit several murders? Did she kill off a beloved character? Did she do something so problematic that she deserves to burn in hell? Did she do war crimes? No, her biggest sin is existing among unfair circumstances.
The title of this post is kind of a lie. This analysis is not really about Kate as a character, but about how she is written, how the narrative presents her and how this all affects the fandom’s treatment of her. I started writing this because I am sick of seeing so much unnecessary hate for Kate. This is just me commenting on larger trends I have witnessed and a decade’s worth of frustrations finally being written out. If you do recognize yourself from some of my descriptions, I hope that this post will give you something to think about, but just know that this is not meant for any one person in particular.
I’m not going to try to convince anyone to think of Kate as their favorite character. I’m not even trying to make anyone like her. I’m just trying to see why she is so hated within the fandom. So, let’s start off with how it all began. Grab some snacks, you’re going to need them; this is a long one.
 Introduction: Is it all Merlin’s fault?
To understand the context in which Kate was introduced to the show, let’s first look at where we left off at the end of season 2. I���ll start with the in-universe changes first. The biggest change obviously is that Gisborne murdered Marian. This altered the whole course of the show. Marian was such a central part of not only the show but also the Robin Hood legends, that at that point it was obvious that things were going to change. Will and Djaq left the show as well. Them leaving is not as dramatic of a change for the show’s narrative since they were not as central as Marian, but they did make up one third of the gang. This meant that there was a need for new characters to be introduced in season 3.
In our world, things changed between seasons 2 and 3 as well. There was a larger gap in production than before (with seasons 1 and 2 coming out in consecutive years and there being a gap year between seasons 2 and 3), and some of the people working on the show left or were replaced. Robin Hood’s spot on the BBC schedule was taken over by Merlin for 2008 so I guess we could blame that show for everything that went wrong in season 3. (I’m obviously joking here but conspiracy theories are welcome.)
The most important change in my opinion – and I think this is even more important to how season 3 turned out than anything that happened in-universe in season 2 – is the fact that Dominic Minghella was no longer writing or producing the show. It’s surprising to me that the fandom as a whole doesn’t ever really talk about this, when in many other fandoms creators or showrunners leaving the show are usually a big deal and mark the end of an era. I myself only found out about Minghella’s departure from the show before season 3 this year, but it seems to explain a lot on why season 3 felt so different from seasons 1 and 2.
With all that out of the way, the stage is set, and it is time to look at how exactly Kate came into the show.
 Six boots, two feet
Season 3 starts off with my least favorite episode of the whole show (see my episode ranking for more details). It tries its best to address the events of the season 2 finale, but in a way that will let it quickly get to the season 3 storylines. Unfortunately, the things that happened at the end of the previous season were so important that they would have needed several episodes to cover the full impact of the events.
Kate herself is introduced in episode 2. She is immediately given a reason to hate the villains and join the fight when her brother dies. She doesn’t join the outlaws right away, but when she does, she essentially has to take over three roles at once. I do not think it’s a coincidence that I think episode 4 is Kate’s best episode and that she’s at her best before she actually joins the gang. That is the point in the show when she is allowed to be her own character rather than someone who is trying to fill a void.
Like I said, Kate has three roles to take over; she gets Djaq’s spot in the gang as “the girl one”, Will’s role as “the peasant with personal connections to the people’s suffering” (and interestingly, since Kate’s family is around, her connection could have been even stronger than Will’s) and Marian’s as “the love interest”. Since the season 2 finale got rid of both of the only female characters in the show, it was inevitable that they would eventually be replaced if the show wanted to include any romantic storylines (it was, after all, 2009, so queer representation was out of the question). With three pairs of boots to fill, and only two feet, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that Kate can’t possibly do it all alone. The show does introduce Tuck and Isabella as well to help fill the gaps, but I think Kate gets labeled as “the replacement” far more often than the other two.
 A triangle without a base is just an angle
Kate had all the potential for a good plotline. Her brother died, making her hungry for revenge, yet this part of her is only sprinkled in every now and then instead of being a part of her character arc. Instead, she is made a part of not one, not two, but three love triangles.
I’ll start with the Much/Kate/Allan one. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t actually exist. All sides of this “triangle” are… weird. The writers try to frame it as a legitimate love triangle, when only one person in it seems to have any real feelings for another character. Much is shown to be interested in Kate, but we as the audience are never given a reason for why he likes her or even how he fell for her. I guess we’ll just have to take his “I fall in love very easily” (from 2x4) quite literally. Kate does not seem to have any romantic feelings for Much, and she seems oblivious to his feelings as well.
To be honest, I don’t think Kate ever really saw Allan as an option either. At best I could admit that maybe she had a slight attraction to him, but I never got the impression that it was something she would seriously pursue. I don’t think Allan was seriously interested in Kate either. His flirting with her is quite similar to his joke-y flirting with Marian and Djaq. My friend and I talked at length about this, but Allan doesn’t seem like the type of person to flirt for real. This could be a whole analysis on its own, so I won’t go too deep into it here. But I don’t think Allan considers Kate a legitimate romantic option.
So, this “love triangle” only exists in Much’s head and in the narrative the writers try to force on the audience. The Kate/Allan side of it is practically dropped the minute Kate/Robin becomes a thing.
Then there is the Much/Kate/Robin/Isabella triangle that is not a triangle either. I already covered Much/Kate for the most part, so I won’t go into it. Since the Robin/Isabella relationship is not that central to Kate’s character, I won’t bore you and myself by going through it that deeply. The buildup for that relationship is practically nonexistent, and so is the end of it. The whole Robin/Isabella relationship feels forced, because the writers didn’t know how to properly replace Marian while coming up with something new.
Kate’s crush on Robin seems to develop out of nowhere as well. It looks like a pattern when it comes to romances this season. Robin himself doesn’t appear to have any romantic interest towards Kate until he and Isabella “break up”. After that point, their relationship progresses way too fast. It doesn’t help that they seem to have no chemistry between them, and Robin treats Kate like a child and then five seconds later proceeds to make out with her.
Honestly, if Kate had to have a romance with a character on the show (and with it being 2009 obviously they could not fulfil my dreams of Kate being bi but that’s beside the point), it should have been with Archer. The two of them had more chemistry in the 30 seconds they worked together in 3x12 than Robin and Kate had the entire season. It would have also made me far less uncomfortable, since the characters would have been closer in age. Which brings me to my next point.
 “There is only one thing worse than a rapist – a child”
How old is Kate supposed to be? Seriously, this show can’t seem to make its mind about her. In general, I do not trust anyone’s age on this show unless it’s been stated somewhere. I know some people try to base the characters’ ages on the actors’ real ages, but to that I say, “fuck that”. Archer is the best example of the fact that this show did not even try to cast people who are the right age, or even look the part. (Seriously, he does not look even close to being 20.)
That being said, Kate is written like she is both 15 and 25 at the same time. I don’t know if the writers had a specific age in mind when they were writing her, but there is a huge difference between those ages. I think it’s the most reasonable thing to assume that she’s in her late teens, maybe at most in her very early twenties. She is still living with her family (I know that most women at the time married in their 20s but it’s not like this show is concerned with historical accuracy) and her behavior is a little immature at times. With all that said, I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that I find it incredibly uncomfortable that all the men that are presented as possible love interests to her are fully grown men.
It is the most obvious in Robin and Kate’s scenes. Like I said earlier, Robin treats Kate like a child and speaks to her in a condescending way, only to then make out with her in the same scene. I must wonder why the writers didn’t just age up Kate. I think it would have been more interesting to make her someone who is already married, and instead of losing her brother, it would be her husband that dies. Of course, I would prefer it if Kate didn’t have to be a part of any of these love triangles to begin with but aging her up would have made the dynamics far less uncomfortable. (I do have to also point out the fact that Meg is also written like she is a teen girl. The show then tries to pair her off with Gisborne, who is even older than the men Kate is being forced into love triangles with. So… yikes.)
 Let’s take a break, drink some water
Let’s take a moment to recap what we’ve learned here. First of all, Kate entered the show in unfair circumstances and with only two feet to fill three pairs of boots. She was only ever allowed to be a part romance plots, and she didn’t get a proper character arc of her own. In general, the women in this season were not written well (not that seasons 1 and 2 were the height of feminist television either), and they were reduced to being love interests or tools to further the male character’s plotlines. Without Dominic Minghella involved and with a full year between seasons 2 and 3, the show lost some of its charm. Unfortunately, this meant that Kate was not the best written character. But I do not think she deserves all the hate the fandom has given her over the years.
 Interlude: Doctor Death
Before I get too much into how the fandom has reacted to Kate over the years, I feel like I should explain my own history with this show and the fandom surrounding it.
I started watching the show when it was first airing here on TV. It was some time during season 2, and once I had seen my very first episode, I watched all the following ones as well. With the finale, there was a problem. I had seen 2x12 and knew that the final episode of the season would air the next week. I was so excited for it, but then my mother decided that we would all go out and have dinner. I kept looking at the clock all day, hoping I would make it home in time. I got home just to see the credits rolling. I’m still a little bitter about it.
After this, I was desperate to see how the season ended. I’ll remind you that this was before it was common for shows to be put online officially. Streaming wasn’t really a thing yet. I did the only thing I knew what to do; I went to YouTube. The thing is, I did not know that what I had been watching was the second season of the show. So, you can imagine my confusion, when I find the very grainy version of 1x13 on YouTube and start watching it. Eventually I figured out my mistake and watched 2x13. At some point I watched season 1 as well, but I honestly don’t have that many memories of when I first watched this show. My clearest memory is being betrayed by my own mother when she forced me to go out for dinner.
Since I do not remember what year this all happened in, I did some googling and if I’m correct, season 2 aired here for the first time in the summer of 2009, with reruns in the summer of 2010. Because I have no other memories for context, I can’t say whether or not season 3 was even out in the UK at the time. Anyway, I did not watch season 3 for a few years. I also didn’t engage with the fandom until 2012, when I joined Tumblr. (A side note: while trying to find out when season 2 aired, I found the episode titles and descriptions. Apparently 2x4’s Finnish title was Doctor Death. There were some real gems on that list but this one was my favorite.)
Over the years, I had read bits and pieces about season 3 on the internet. I was still upset about the end of season 2, and the things I read did not make me want to watch season 3. Sometime in 2012-2013 I finally gave in and watched season 3. I was mostly disappointed by the season as a whole, and as for Kate specifically, I found her annoying. In the fandom, I went along with the Kate-hate that was popular in the fandom at the time.
I did a full rewatch of the show with my friend in 2016–2017. During that time, I didn’t hate Kate as much as I did before. Maybe it was that I had a fresh perspective, maybe it was that I had matured in those few years. Who knows? I was mostly disappointed by the bad writing. Even back then, I wished that Kate had been given a proper chance.
The next proper rewatch of the whole series I did was this past winter. I watched the show in a non-chronological order with someone who had never seen it before. This time, I was angry at the writers and found myself half-ironically becoming a Kate-stan. I also began to really pay attention to how the fandom has talked about her over the years and was unnerved by the hate has she gotten.
So, here we are. Time to take a look at how the fandom has treated Kate. Most of this will be based on my own experiences and memories, so if someone else has a different point of view to offer (especially from the early days of the fandom while the show was still ongoing), feel free to comment! I just wanted to give you my own history with the fandom to show that I have indeed been around for most of the fandom’s history.
 The hate-train for Kate-town leaves from platform 4
It seems that from the very beginning, Kate was disliked. I remember reading negative comments about her way back in the early 2010s (I would try to look for examples, but I just spent 30 minutes trying to find out when season 2 first aired here and it’s currently 1am so I am not spending any more time googling right now). There are fics that make fun of her and how badly she was written, and most of the jokes and dislike about season 3 seem to always come back to her. This attitude has been present in the fandom in other contexts as well. Over the years, the hate towards Kate has come and gone along with the popularity of the fandom.
Every once in a while, someone has tried to either write Kate better or even see her as a character that was let down by the writers. Mostly this has not led to any significant change in the fandom’s attitudes. I feel like whenever some of the older fans outgrow their Kate-hate by either just maturing and realizing it’s pointless or just not wanting to waste their time making fun of her, new fans come in and start the whole thing all over again.
I am grateful, however, that the general consensus in the fandom seems to be (at least in the year 2021) that the actress is not to blame for Kate’s faults. It still does make me uncomfortable that people go so far as to cross out her face on pictured etc. just to show how much they hate the character. This hate that Kate gets feels very misogynistic at times and is at least partially the result of the show’s misogynistic writing, but the actress deserves no negativity for playing Kate.
 What about Isabella?
One thing that is very interesting to note is that while both Kate and Isabella were newcomers in season 3 and were both replacements for Marian in the sense that they were love interests for Robin, only Kate has received a significant amount of hate over the years. So why does the fandom not hate Isabella?
I think that a big reason for why Isabella is tolerated – not necessarily liked, I haven’t seen too many people genuinely enjoying her character – better than Kate is the way the narrative treats them. Kate is essentially forced down our throats. The show is so desperate for us to like her that they end up making her unlikeable. Isabella, on the other hand, is eventually made into a villain, and thus we’re not meant to sympathize with her in the end anyway. (I could write a whole rant about how Isabella’s treatment in the narrative is bad but let’s not do it here.) Isabella also has the advantage of being Gisborne’s sister, so her backstory ties better into already existing characters. I think it’s reasonable to say that Gisborne being a fan-favorite in certain parts of the fandom doesn’t hurt Isabella’s case either.
Isabella is also only involved with Robin, while the show keeps pairing Kate off (unsuccessfully) with almost half the cast. I think she was written in a way that reminds people of Mary Sues, and considering how fandoms tend to not like characters like that, it’s no surprise that Kate got all the hate she did.
 Murder and being annoying – they’re the same thing, right?
So why exactly does the fandom hate Kate so much? Obviously, the writing is a big reason. Season 3 is not written well, which means that Kate is not written well either. She doesn’t really get a storyline of her own, and instead her main purpose is to be someone else’s love interest. I would also add that Kate doesn’t really get hate for her personality. Most of the hate that she gets in terms of character traits revolves around her being annoying, but that’s not really a personality trait. So I think the issue is not her personality, but her role.
The next reason won’t surprise anyone who has spent as much time in fandoms as I have: Fandoms do not like female characters. Well, I should probably rephrase that. Fandoms tend to hate female characters more easily than male characters. I’m not going to analyze too deeply on why this is, as I’m sure someone has already done research on this with references to actual feminist theory. There is a lot of internalized misogyny in fandoms, and female characters get hate for even the slightest wrongdoing, while male characters who commit far worse crimes often have a strong fanbase that will defend them despite these flaws, especially if said male character is played by a conventionally attractive man.
Kate is also blamed for things such as breaking Much’s heart, even though she was never really aware of Much’s feelings in the first place, so it was definitely not intentional. She’s blamed for every small wrongdoing in a way other characters in the show are not. I’ve seen people criticize Kate for small things that she has not even done on purpose. Some of these people then also go on to ignore the fact that Gisborne has committed several murders, taken part in the oppression of the poor and done many many more atrocious things, and paint him as a more sympathetic character than Kate. I understand if you do not like Kate, but it feels misogynistic that the female characters are held to different standards than the male characters. I can already hear some of the Gisborne-fans saying “but I acknowledge his actions and think what he did was wrong! I just find him to be a misunderstood and/or interesting character”. To those people I will just say: Why are you not applying this same logic for Kate? Why are you making outright hateful comments about her? If you don’t like her, why not just ignore her? If you are a Gisborne-fan and have never made these comments about Kate, this obviously doesn’t apply to you. And even if you aren’t a Gisborne-fan, but you do recognize this way of thinking in yourself in regard to some other character, I encourage you to think about it critically. I just used Gisborne as an example since I know he’s perhaps the most popular male character in the fandom (at least if Ao3’s numbers are anything to go by). I’ve also seen a similar attitude from a lot of Allan-fans, though in their case the hypocrisy is often not as obvious, but I’ll return to Allan in a moment.
Many female characters end up getting hate because they get in the way of a popular (often m/m) ship. In this regard, Kate is kind of an outlier since she doesn’t exactly do that, since there isn’t really a ship to get in the way of. Sure, she’s eventually paired off with Robin, but Marian is already dead by the time she shows up, and if people were truly bothered by someone other than Marian trying to get Robin’s attention, they would also hate Isabella with the same intensity. I do think there is one “ship” Kate does come in the middle of, and here’s where we get back to Allan.
Now, the ship Kate does get in the middle of is not in fact canonical. I am of course talking about the popular Allan/OC trope. If you go on Ao3 or Fanfiction.net, you won’t have a hard time finding fics where Allan is paired with an OC. This is understandable, seeing that the show only has four main female characters to begin with, one of whom is already in a love triangle with other people, one of whom canonically ends up with someone else, one of whom is actively hated by the fandom and one of whom just does not interact with Allan.
I want to make it clear that I think it’s fine if people want to come up with their own OCs for the purpose of shipping them with existing characters, it’s just not my thing, especially when those OCs are any level of self-inserts. (I personally don’t feel the need to ship Allan romantically with anyone. I just tend to not like OCs in any fandom.) Since Kate is presented as a potential love-interest for Allan, I think many fans who would rather see Allan with their own character or even themselves view Kate as an obstacle or a threat.
As you may see, this fandom, like many others, unfortunately treats the women in the show differently from the men. Male characters like Gisborne are viewed as redeemable so long as they are attractive, but Kate is irredeemable for… breaking Much’s heart and/or getting in the way of Robin/Marian or Allan/OC? This is something that really bothers me. I don’t mind the fact that people don’t like Kate, it’s the extensive hate she gets that makes me uncomfortable.
 Conclusion: Where do we go from here?
Like I said in the beginning, I am not asking anyone to say Kate is their favorite character or to even like her. I just wanted to provide some things for people to think about regarding how they treat female characters. I think it’s about time the fandom took a proper look at itself and critically thought about how it speaks about female characters. It’s 2021, let’s not hate on female characters just for being a little annoying or getting in the way of shipping.
I haven’t seen the fandom analyze that much why season 3 is the way it is. I would love to see some meta about how Dominic Minghella’s departure and other behind the scenes factors contributed to the story and aesthetics of season 3. I would also love to see some actual analysis on the season 3 characters that isn’t focused on tearing them down. If the fandom never made another post about how terrible Kate is without providing any actual reasons, I would be happy. I can sort of understand this immature hatred coming from 15-year-olds, but I’m disappointed to say that I have seen fully grown adults tearing down Kate in this quite misogynistic way. I know that many people do not intend for their dislike of Kate to come across as misogynistic, but it does not erase the fact that that is how many of those hateful comments appear.
I think Kate had a lot of potential. Season 3 had a lot of potential. It is quite a move to kill Marian in the middle of a Robin Hood story, so they had the chance to take the story to all kinds of places. Unfortunately, the season 3 we ended up with was not of the same quality as the previous seasons. Instead of just hating on the characters or story in general, I think we should focus on really analyzing the season, and even coming up with our own ways of improving it. Many people have already done this (though unfortunately many of these attempts also include thinly veiled hatred towards Kate. It’s your story, why are you not treating her any better than the actual writers of the show?), but there’s always room for more takes.
At this point I will shamelessly advertise my own “Kate should have been the new Nightwatchman” theory and my Nightwatchman-fic. I wrote the latter in a way that would let it be a part of canon if necessary. I think that by refocusing the story and shifting the way we read the text, we can find new aspects of season 3, and perhaps even enjoy it more. That is what happened to me during my latest rewatch, and all it took was watching it in a non-chronological order and talking about it with someone who had never seen the show.  
I’m not trying to gatekeep the fandom and say that only thought-provoking analysis or fix-it fanfiction is allowed. I just feel like people should be more conscious of the message they are sending out when they write hateful comments about Kate, censor her name or even cross out her face from pictures. Is it actually funny? Are you contributing something to the conversation? Is it actual criticism or just hate for the sake of hate? You don’t have to start writing posts in the defense of Kate, but you can just start ignoring her. It’s not that difficult. It’s fine to make jokes, but let’s start thinking about what our jokes say about us.
I once more want to emphasize that this is not a callout post I wrote with any one person in mind. So, if you felt offended when I was talking about Gisborne-fans, Allan/OC-shippers or Kate-haters in general, I can assure you that this post was not about you personally. This is not about any individual person. I’m just commenting on trends in the fandom I have noticed over the years. I don’t think any of you have committed any sins or that you need to be cancelled. I just hope that if you did feel guilty reading this, you’ll realize that maybe this post was something you definitely needed to read. As a woman, I would love it if this fandom worked on getting rid of its internalized misogyny.
I’m not claiming to be right on all of this, in fact I have a lot of bad opinions as well. I hope this post has provided people with things to think about. Feel free to use this as a starting point for your own meta or analysis. I’ll end my rant here, and leave you with this thought:
Kate had a lot of potential to be a good character. She did not let us down. The writers did.
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linpunny · 3 years
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He just neighed. Ahqhgafqtqgs 😂😂😂
I’m dead rip me
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I spout some Obey Me nonsense for several paragraphs
Can I just spout some more nonsense about the brothers? Cool. Thanks. I have some animal related headcanons that just attached to my brain. Did you know that there are dozens of different crow subspecies? Yeah, neither did I. 🙃
*In Asmo’s part there is reference to Aphrodisiacs and in Belphie’s part there is reference to regurgitation (I know not everyone’s cool w/ that. I don’t go into detail on either topic)*
All of the brothers share traits with their signature animals 
Lucifer, for example, much like a peacock likes to impress others. Not necessarily for breeding purposes (ew, I hated typing that), but yeah. He’s also a completely non-picky eater, he will eat anything that can be digested, much like a peacock. He does have more tact though, he’ll only eat stuff off his own plate. If it doesn’t look edible, he will not process it as food however.
Preening. Also, can I just say that I hate the fact that he has these meh wings. I would love to see him with some BIG wings. Peacocks are able to fly and so should this man. Those tiny things would never allow for flight. Imagine this ‘perfectly flawless’ man with some absolute UNITS for wings.  Also, the fact that we were robbed of him having tail feathers that show his oh-so hidden emotions? Tragic. 
Mammon is associated with crows. (I figure it’s likely Carrion crows which are found in Europe and Eastern Asia, because from what I can find the only other crow found in Asia is the Jungle Crow) Crows like shinies, Mammon likes shinies. Crows are among the more intelligent birds and are better with numbers than other birds. 
Mammon seems to be mostly street smart, but he is also shown to be good at math (when it pertains to monetary values.) in some cases. However, much like Carrion crows, Mammon sometimes has cravings for decaying flesh. However, this can be fixed by eating raw meat. Also he’s a boss at scavenger hunts of any kind. Ask him to find something (usually for coin) and he can find it
Levi has a forked tongue and you cannot tell me any different. I don’t care if this has to be a universe alteration. My serpent boi has a forked tongue. Whether or not he can use it for smell, I’ll leave to another’s discretion. Also, fangs??? Can we as a fandom give Levi venom? Anywho, there are other, shall we say, features that I’ve seen people hypothesize about, but that not 100% my gig. 
Levi can absolutely breathe underwater, but like amphibians, can he take in water through his skin? Also, does he have the expandable jaw a snake has? Does his tail molt? Does he, in his entirety, molt? His horns look like coral, are they alive like coral? Or are they based on an axolotl? I just want need to discuss Levi’s biology with someone.
Satan’s animal is a unicorn, which if it does exist, there isn’t much on it. He, much like both unicorns and cats, takes specific traits in order to be tamed/befriended. Not quite purity, but for Satan one must be intelligent and understanding at the least to gain his trust. He himself is intelligent of course. Although, if he is left alone for too long or becomes bored he will tend to become more chaotic and show slightly destructive behaviors.
If we assume that they act like horses, we can say that Satan grazes (in the human sense of the word) with food. He doesn’t eat a lot all at once. He will gradually eat food over the course of a day. Satan also has the uncanny ability to sleep standing up, which is handy since his bed commonly ends up covered in books. Well, it’s more dozing than sleeping. He also has excellent balance and the prey-related extreme fight/flight response. That response causes him to startle before fleeing like a horse sometimes, although he will pause to settle his curiosity of what startled him.
Asmo glows under UV like a scorpion. His heart markings glow pink and lime green (like his nails!!). He does not have a tail, but the barb-like parts of his wings and his finger nails could possibly have replacement stingers. Instead of venom, he would sting with an *aphrodisiac* that charms whoever is stung. He does have the gift of resistance to extreme temperatures. They don’t entirely bother him as much as his brothers.
Asmo is one of the few that does not eat like his signature animal. He will not and cannot even bring himself to think of eating bugs. He does however share slightly similar sleep schedules. He is more active at night than he is during the day, having a profound nightlife. In addition to this, he has a scorpion’s ability to detect light and excellent nightvision, being able to see almost perfectly in just starlight.
Beel has the ability to clings with his hands and feet (when uncovered) to surfaces like a fly. Like some flies he will legit eat anything, although he is shown to dislike food made by known bad cooks such as Mammon. Flies are pretty uninteresting overall, but Beel’s wings do make the buzzing sound we all just love when he uses his wings. 
If we spread out to any and all types of flies, he may like the taste of blood because some flies are blood suckers. He may have sensory structures that can detect infrared emissions and many blood-sucking flies can also detect the raised concentration of Carbon Dioxide that occurs near large animals
Belphie can eat barely digestible foods such as plant life and he has 4 stomach compartments. The parts are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. He, due to having a bull’s digestive system, does *regurgitate and rechew food as cud.* Much like cattle, he sometimes has morning cravings to eat clovers and evening cravings for grass.
He is good at categorizing, which many cows are somewhat proficient at.  Cattle are usually very social and even short-term isolation is considered to cause severe psychological stress. When isolated, Belphie suffers from an increase in his heart rate and plasma cortisol concentrations. When visual contact is re-instated his heart rate rapidly declines. Mirrors have been used to reduce stress in isolated cattle. (This may play a part in his distress due to certain spoiler-filled events and relate to disdain towards Lucifer.) He learns visually and much like bulls is easily irritated by fast-moving objects. (Being irritated by the color red is a myth)
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24-primaveras · 3 years
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Pure Magic - ShiSaku
Title: Pure Magic 
Prompt(s) - Magic @shisakuweek​
Warnings: Adult Content/Smut 
Hi guys, sorry to post a fanfic so long around here I was going to post through AO3, but I only found out today that registration takes a week. When I get the approves there, I'll update it here by putting the link and also the link in Portuguese, in my spirit fanfics Bluefox203 profile.
Sorry for the english
                                         ───────•••───────
The first time I saw him, it was like my present stopped and, in slow motion, I watched his path cross mine. Standing in the wide centuries-old corridors of Konoha’s College, I admired his striking presence alongside his own, who at that moment I imagined were his family members for the magnanimous similarity they all had with their dark hairs and eyes as black as the darkness of the sky on a moonless day.
I knew it wasn't just me that they enchanted, the peculiar noise of the place seemed to diminish leaving space just for them. I could have aimed for any of them, however, his individuality captured my full attention. He wore the same sober vestments as the others; he walked with the same strength, however, looking at his eyes, I felt they were different and I had this confirmation when our irises crossed.
In that instant I knew that he had noticed me too, as strongly as I had, and squeezing the books in my arms, I allowed this connection to continue until his image left my field of vision, leaving me oblivious to the people around me, feeling just my heart racing, like a spell.
However, my stilted mind managed to capture from the rumble of students a word, which I didn't know at the time that would be my downfall - yet.
Uchiha. 
I whispered like a secret and the word landed heavily on my core.
[spoiler] I wanted to say that our second meeting happened as soon as I wanted, but it took me a while to actually see him again. Although his marked presence seemed to be with me from time to time, but I took this as a reverie of an anxious mind that sought to see him once again.
But the moment came, and in the midst of a university rite of passage where everyone gathered at dusk to celebrate the beginning of a new semester, I faced his piercing orbs once more. This time, I looked at him the way I had wanted to from the first time, completely. The extremely white skin, the messy hair, the tall and strong body marked by the black leather jacket, made him even more attractive. An aura I had never seen or felt, seemed to pulse from him to me, softening my legs and leaving me slightly breathless without even being touched. And, like an incantation, my body brought us closer and closer until we were only inches apart, making me hear for the first time his dense voice. "Enjoying the party, Sakura?" I didn't know how he was aware of my name, but that didn't matter because the way he said it was enough to make me wish he'd repeat it over and over again.  “Starting…” I said boldly, smiling along with him, moving even closer to his body. I didn't think about it much when I dared to touch him, however I had the need to feel that he was real and was really there at that moment, but my hand was stopped before I reached his handsome ​face. The grip on my wrist was firm, but it didn't hurt, and bending his body to equal the difference in height, he whispered close to my ear: “No need to be rushed, we will have all eternity.” My whole body reacted immediately to his speech and making my situation even worse, his nose touched my entire neck, making me shiver, only once to land next to my ear and pronounce: “It's not time yet…” He sounded husky, making me feel all his eagerness to have me just as I wanted him, squeezing my waist in a possessive way as he placed a single kiss on my burning skin. “See you around, pink flower.” When I realized I was alone, regaining consciousness of moments that seemed to have happened in a parallel reality. The places he touched still tingled, but I realized that unlike him, I didn't know his name. And this was something I only managed to unravel in our third meeting. Once again, in the midst of the cold of the lonely night, his figure was present and there I was sure that it was not a random event. Leaning against a stone wall, he was waiting for me and smirked as I got closer. Anyone in their right mind would have walked away and I knew there was something very wrong with me wanting to be with a complete stranger, but it felt so right; as if a magnet drew me to it. "I told you we'd see each other again." He uttered the words as if they seemed to be part of some prophecy. "Who are you? I still don't know your name." I cut off his next line hastily, seeking to allay my curiosity before I lost myself once more in his eyes. "I wouldn't have to tell you this, but I want to have the pleasure of hearing you calling for him next time." Would there be a next time then? “Shisui, you can call me Shisui." His words again captured my attention, and in a whisper I pronounced his name seeing a malicious smile forming on his face as he watched my naive act And that's exactly how I felt around him, a naive little girl who didn't know what to do around a man, but the sensations he awakened in me were far from being innocent. And like last time, I raised my right hand on an impulse but the moment I became aware of my act, I interrupted myself, yet at that moment his hand was against mine, encouraging me and making me rest my palm on his face. We stayed like that for a few moments, my hand being pressed between his face and fingers, which caressed my torso, causing me a familiar feeling, but at the same time unprecedented. Yes, it was something that felt so natural that we could stay like this for long moments, but unfortunately they didn't happen. I could only notice that his eyes had strayed from mine when a male figure appeared a few meters away from us. The man with long black hair nodded, as if calling to him. “I need to go now…” He spoke in frustration, making me realize that it wasn't just for me that cost our separation; but then his lips lightly brushed mine quickly, causing me to feel as if electricity were flowing between us. "And don't be alone so late, Sakura. The night hides what no one really wants to see." And once again he was gone quickly, seeming to disappear into the darkness of the night, leaving me behind with my whole body begging for more of his touch and his presence. Our contact had been brief, but enough for me to want more and more.  Feeling that has not left my body for days. I reached the point where I woke up feeling feverish at the mere memory of his touches inflaming my insides. Such was my desire that one night I dreamed of him and unlike other times, that one, I hadn't forgotten when I woke up. Everything seemed so real that in my daydreams I could count it as another one of our meetings. However, in my fantasy I was able to touch him as I wanted and he reciprocated in the same way. His strong hands went all over my body, slowly stripping me of my clothes to the point where I was completely naked in front of him.  My insides contracted with anxiety just from his hungry gaze on me and his erection pronounced into the dark pants.  "Lies down" he said bluntly, propelling my body towards the bed and I obeyed, positioning myself in the middle of the sheets, only to have the male figure on top of me after. The kisses started on my shoulders, and went down dangerously to my thighs, which were already squeezed deliciously by his hands. The contact of his lips with my dermis was already making me airy, and when he bit my thigh, I moaned slyly, not containing my excitation. That seemed to encourage him, because all his attention finally went where I really wanted it. He opened my intimacy with his fingers, leaving me exposed for his tongue to pass through the entire region, completely destroying my sanity. He looked hungry and took out all his desire to suck me lasciviously, hitting my clitoris, which was suffering deliciously against his mouth. Desperate, I brought my hands up to his hair, curling them there and somehow trying to get even more contact between us.  "Once again you're being rushed, my dear." There was a sarcastic tone in his voice as he pulled away from me, depositing his orbs in mine; they stared at me so intently that for a moment I thought I saw a red glow pass through them, but quickly ​he broke the contact, going back to work with his thirsty tongue on me. I couldn't take it anymore, it seemed that he was enjoying torturing me in that delicious way, taking me to the peak of pleasure with his precise movements, just to slow down the rhythm of his touches to see me suffer when I was robbed from his pleasure. “Please…” I beg once more. “Let me come, you're driving me crazy like this.” "Since you asked in that way, I can't refuse, honey," he said sharply, penetrating me one last time with his tongue moistening even more my entrance, which at that moment was throbbing with so much lust I was feeling. Even with the dimness of the room, I could contemplate the male body as he removed his jacket, exposing the strong arms pressed by the white shirt. The pants had the same fate as the other piece, and now the rigid penis marked the dark underwear even more. Without taking his eyes off me, he massaged his own cock through the fabric and when he finally removed the last piece of his body, he went back to masturbating in a heavy and lascivious way, closer to my intimacy. In a few moments he leaned the head of his member against me, moving his hand in a rhythmic way, transmitting for me some of the intense pleasure he was feeling. I was already on the edge of the cliff once more, and this time, he was willing to set me free; he positioned his cock in me and filled all my intimacy tortuously. However, perhaps because of the fury of the act, I awoke at that moment, breathless and frustrated with the very real illusion I had created. But the last spoke louder and desperate to be able to put an end to the feeling that was consuming me, I put aside any disappointment, taking my own fingers to my point of pleasure. Just like in the dream, I was soaked, and it only took me touching myself for all the sensations from moments before to come back. I hurriedly moved my digits over my femininity, seeking to repeat the circular motions his hot tongue made in me. Excitement trickled down my legs, and closing my eyes trying to find his image above me, I laid two fingers into my pussy and rubbed my clitories with my hand. "That, just like that, come for me." My delirium caused by the uncontrolled libido was so loud that I seemed to have heard his husky voice in my ear and like a good girl, I did exactly as I was told. “Shisui.”  I fell apart in my fingers screaming his name, feeling such intense pleasure as I had never before been able to bring myself. It had been so strong that after feeling my entire body flow in delicious spasms, I blacked out, yet at that moment nothing disturbed my sleep anymore. (..) And so the days went by, along with the semester, and when I realized we were already in the holiday season.  The campus was practically empty, with only a few people, who, like me, had no desire to be anywhere else enjoying, or rather pretending to enjoy, some plastic happiness, which came wrapped in a red gift box. No, the best thing would be to stay there, taking advantage of the cold December weeks to study for the final exams that would take place in a few days. Of course, when I found some concentration for it, as it seemed more and more difficult these past few months. Lovesick. Lovesick was the name my friends had given to my dazed state I found myself occasionally in, where I found myself thinking about him. I obviously denied such a fact, how could it be possible to fall in love with a person you had seen only a few times? I didn't even know anything about Shisui.... The only thing I knew was that he had taken my life off the rails every time we saw each other, and even the most skeptical of people would be enchanted by the brunette's dense eyes, which seemed to transmit more than a normal person could. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts of him one more time, all of this really must have come from the damn crush like they said. Damn it lovesick! Taking my eyes outside, I finally realized that the whole night had already taken over, the day had passed completely and looking at the computer at that moment I glimpsed only two pages of the paper that I was supposed to hand in after the holidays. There was absolute silence in the library and no living soul wandered through that place. Focusing once more on the screen, I glimpsed the exact moment when the lights flickered and in front of me the image of the man had formed, however, this time it was not my imagination, Shisui really was there. I yelled in fright, quickly covering my mouth with my hands as the taciturn figure sat in the chair beside me. “Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The speech was accompanied by a laugh and his hand holding mine, increasing our proximity even more.  I wanted to delight in his touch like the other times, but this time I realized how cold his hand had a low temperature. “You must be cold…” I tried lamely to cover his hands with mine. “No need to worry. I'm used to it... He smiled minimally, reversing the positions of our palms again, cuddling me, eliciting a sincere sigh from me.  "I missed you," I said, looking into the dark eyes I so loved to see. Maybe it really was lovesick. "I felt it too, but I've never been as far away as you think… Maybe you just didn't pay that much attention, Sakura." His speech, accompanied by the tone of voice, made me feel a chill down my spine, like a feeling of déjà vu. "Then what took you so long?" "I've already told you that each thing has its time, and I couldn't involve you in it before." In that? None of it made sense, and I felt more and more lost in a fog that seemed to prevent me from seeing something that was right in front of me. "You know, Sakura, don't be naive. You must have felt it already, no?" Another shiver ran through my body, and I felt as if something was desperately seeking to wake up. "Even if you try to deny it, you feel things you've never felt when I look at you or touch you, don't you?" And once again he touched me, but this time his target was the center of my forehead making me feel a tingle there as if everything around me became denser than before, making me drown in my own interior, however just like it started, it only took seconds for this sensation to leave my body, and then I felt serenity in its purest form. It could float, as if a layer that held me all my life had finally come apart. It was simply sublime. And when I refocused my vision, Shisui was smiling, making my heart race like never before. I could no longer sit still, heading towards the long window looking for air.  The scenery outside was all the darkness that that day didn't even have the moonlight. Soon he was at my side, startling me once again with his speed of appearing in the silence. “People always look for the brightest light at night and I truly understand why." He breathed out the words staring at me deeply. "But you know, the darkness also has its beauty that could be subtle to normal eyes, but if we admire it closely, there is much more than the surface hides. His body turned fully toward mine, and his hands went to my waist, holding me tight the way I craved. "Do you want to see this beauty with me?" His tone was serious and his gaze looked like it could swallow me up. "Are you ready, Sakura?" I could say that I needed time to answer his question, yet something inside of me seemed to have known the answer for a long time. “Yes”  I might be nervous about the unknown that would come with that statement, but pronouncing these three letters has never felt so right. Then it happened. His ever-so-black eyes turned a pure, intense crimson. My whole body shivered, making every fiber of my being tremble in anticipation of having him there, staring at me with that mixture of sensations, which ranged from fear to curiosity. Curiosity to understand, no, it was more than that, it was will. Willingness to be sucked more and more closer to him, who seemed to call me like a magnetic field, which attracted me more and more to him. Her skin might not transmit heat, but I felt getting hotter and desperate to be able to move out of that trance that his bright dancing irises had put me on. However, I would be lying if I said I wanted to get away; I wanted freedom so that I could move forward, get closer, and finally be able to resolve any doubts or questions that had already haunted my innermost thoughts. "Shi..." That was all I managed to utter through a pleading whisper. If the darkness that surrounded him worked at that moment, I would never know, but a mischievous smile that grew on his face and that gave me the vision of his elongated canines, caused something to grow inside of me, and he knew it. He knew of his effect on my body, that it clamored for his touch, and everything else he could give me, and I him. And I was ready for that, I would give him whatever he wanted. Because Shisui Uchiha was pure magic, and I just wanted a little bit of it. [/spoiler]
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bobo-archive · 3 years
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Bumbleby prompt! Blake comforting Yang after the traumatic events of the last couple episodes
I went a little overboard with this tbh-
“I’ll Always Stand by your Side in the End”
V8 C4 SPOILER WARNING
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"What do you mean you lost Oscar?!"
The sound of Ruby's voice from the other side of the room startled Blake awake. She sat up to open her eyes to a living room inside of the Schnee Manor. She was on a sofa, and beside her was Weiss, who was still asleep. Blake took a moment to process what she'd just heard before realization set in.
She shot up off the sofa rushing to Ruby who still was using her scroll. The caller id appeared as she realized it was Yang she was talking to... It'd been hours since they'd heard from the rest of their team, and Blake had been worried most of the night for Yang.
"We were clearing up some grimm down in Mantle and this grimm came in and scared away a few beowolves before literally taking Oscar! This grimm... You won't believe me when I say this Ruby..." Yang held a pause for a moment which gave Blake an opportunity to hear the engine of a motorbike at full speed in the background, Blake was pulled back to the original conversation when the words she'd never expect to hear in her life rushed out of Yang, "The grimm talked! It even knew how to protect itself! We weren't able to stop it, at first it kept using Oscar as a... Almost like a meat shield! Then while we're chasing it-it called for help! Grimm don't do that... Something is really off."
"How is that even possible?" Ruby spoke with pure shock. She turned to notice Blake was now awake, "You... Did you hear what happened Blake?"
"Blake?" Yang's voice came over. Blake's ear twitched to the sound of her name from Yang.
"I heard... Are you coming back? And even then... What are we going to do?" Blake replied. She felt her ears press against her head as she took a step back.
"I don't know... But we're heading back. Are you guys already in Mantle?" Yang was quick to ask her sister.
"No, Nora got injured while we were in the Compound, we're in the Schnee Manor now letting her rest, but once she's ready to go we'll be back down as quick as we can," Ruby paused for a moment, "So we can figure out how we're going to get Oscar back from Salem."
----
Within an hour Weiss had woken up, along with May who had been sleeping on another sofa. Nora still was unconscious and her aura only in the middle. Blake hoped it wouldn't be too long before they could get back down to Mantle, she was worried about them. About Jaune, Ren, especially Oscar... And Yang.
Her mind wouldn't drift to anything else aside from Yang. The fear in her voice still shook her. She'd witnessed probably the first grimm ever in the history of Remnant talk and show signs of actual intelligence.
Ruby and Weiss had been lightly conversing about the situation, Weiss, who was also very shocked to hear what had happened to the other group, had barely spoken all morning. Blake still sat by the window, wondering just how bad it was... If grimm learned how to actually protect themselves, that could be bad for all of Remnant, not just them.
...
She'd been tempted to call Yang, she figured they'd be back in Mantle by now waiting for them, but part of her wouldn't let her pick up her scroll. If she did she'd stare at the call button for a few minutes before putting her scroll back down.
Things finally started to get a move on for the morning when Nora awoke around 15 minutes later. Her aura was still around halfway recharged but they had an actual emergency now. The burn marks from the electricity though were healing to be scars that ran throughout her body.
After an even longer amount of time, Ruby and Weiss went off and made breakfast for them, something quick since they didn't have much time. Waffles, something Blake enjoyed. The 5 of them had sat and eaten quickly before checking to see if they had everything and soon enough they were back in the airship they came in. They took off, and Blake was beside Ruby, who stared out the window.
She took the moment to talk to her.
"Are you okay..?" She asked, Ruby, didn't turn around as her face grew slightly sadder.
"Yeah... I'm just worried about Oscar... And Penny... Keeping Penny out of reach of Salem is the best option we have right now but I still worry... If the littlest thing goes wrong with launching Amity..." She paused, taking in a breath of hesitation. Ruby turned to Blake, and Blake met her silver eyes.
"Oscar... We know Salem has the relic and... Oscar technically still has Ozpin buried inside him somewhere... I worry... Salem probably doesn't know how to work the Relic of Knowledge but Oscar does." Ruby spoke. Blake understood the point, who knows what Salem would even want with the Relic of Knowledge.
"We're here." May cut off the conversation as Blake finally looked out the window again and realized they were down in Mantle. As they landed Weiss pulled out her scroll and began to pull up a call with Jaune Ren and Yang. Within moments it was Jaune who answered.
"We're back, are you guys at the restaurant?" Weiss said.
"Yes, we're working on a plan, you really need to hurry," Jaune said.
"Why? More news?" Blake asked.
"No... It's just really bad." Jaune sighed. The group hopped out of the airship and set off for the restaurant and within seconds they were back inside the same room they started in.
The reunion was... Different than expected. When Blake entered Yang hadn't even turned to her, she stood up to hug Ruby, looked at Weiss then sat back down.
Is she... Mad at me?
The horrid thought wouldn't leave her, but it stayed for a while when they all sat around the table. So far the only plan they'd had was to go straight into the giant Grimm whale and see if that was where Oscar was.
Of course, that plan had been thrown off the table quickly, and in this case literally. There was a scrapped piece of paper on the floor of a battle plan of sorts.
What felt like hours passed by and nothing. They'd had smaller plans that would quickly be scrapped. They decided to take a short break, take a minute to breathe, and see if any good ideas would come that way. Blake had sat nervously, wondering if Yang would maybe acknowledge her now. She'd conversed with her in parts of their planning session but they still hadn't had an actual conversation.
What she didn't expect was to not have been paying attention when she did eventually speak to her.
"Are you... Mad at me?"
The tables almost turned as Blake realized Yang wasn't mad at her... She was... Was she worried she was mad at her?
"No! I'm not upset...  I'm just worried. Everything going on..." Blake sighed as Yang took a seat beside her, "I thought you were mad at me for not going with you..."
"Blake, you were doing what you thought was right and in this situation, I'm just glad you're okay." Yang sighed.
...
"Are you okay, Yang?" Blake asked, turning to face her partner more directly. Yang took a while to respond. Blake grew anxious more and more before the response came.
"I don't know..." Yang's voice was barely a whisper. Blake could see invisible tears roll down Yang's face. Just by the looks of things it seemed worse than she'd expected overall. She spoke again, still in a whisper, "I just feel like this is partially my fault... Oscar being taken and all."
"It was not your fault." Her hand moved to caress Yang's cheek, "No one has ever seen a grimm like that before, and look now, we have no idea how to handle this. Even if you'd tried something then there's no guarantee it'll work. We'll get Oscar back. I promise." Yang stayed silent again as she leaned forward to fall into a hug with Blake, to which Blake moved her arms to hold onto Yang who by this point was almost crying. She noticed Ruby in the background, staring at the two of them. Her eyes wide with worry, but Blake nodded and Ruby turned away.
Once the hug was released she held eye contact with Yang.
"Yang, I know this wasn't your fault, and you did everything you could. You, Jaune, and Ren. This wasn't any of your faults, and I want you to know that." Blake said, "I'm not mad at you whatsoever, I just don't want you to get too worked up over this... I don't know what the future holds if I'm being honest, but no matter what, I promise I'll stand by your side in the end."
Silence rested between the two as Yang stood up with Blake. They hugged for a moment before Yang's eyes lit up.
"Guys, I have an idea."
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WELP THAT'S A WRAP
I don't usually like writing things that could be in a canon setting per say but this was actually fun, writing hurt/comfort is kinda my jam, and for what it usually turns out to be this worked out a bit better than most I feel. Anyways... Please just be okay you two omg :(
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