#I've never animated someone turning before so that was really cool

[almondcroissantsandink]

Once in a while when I don’t know what to draw, I try to practice animating something. This was one of my favorite transitions in the finale. 

#mk #moon knight #animation #steven grant #marc spector #art #practice #I always think oh!! i want to animate this #and then as soon as i start I was to run headfirst into a wall because I hate that I can't just create a finished work as quickly as I can #illustrate #animating is so hard and time consuming #it's almost like...i have to practice in order for it to get easier ;) #but also look! #I've never animated someone turning before so that was really cool

[thegnomelord]

Sorry for blowing up your inbox, but you've really got my creative juices flowing. So I want to expand on 2 ideas.

No. 1

Shrike Harpy Reader w/ oblivious Graves (bc from my knowledge, he's usually a vampire or regular guy) or Ghost (bc he was human before)

In which Shrike reader is getting progressively more obvious with their advances bc Ghost/Graves don't understand. The particular idea I had was where they think it's some kind of threat or prank. So reader is getting more obvious, and they think that the threat/prank is getting more intense.

That would be hilarious! Obviously, they will either find out or be told about the advances eventually. But the idea that you are courting them and they miss the mark entirely is so funny to me. Especially if their teammates laugh and refuse to tell them the obvious truth.

No. 2

Going off of the spider's sexual dimorphism + a different version of monster au. Pairing spider hybrid reader w/ octopus (cthulhu?) König (if you do reqs for him), where spider reader looks at him and is like:

So you're telling me there's an eight-legged hybrid, approximately five times my size, that could snap my spine like a toothpick, just beyond enemy lines.... Do you need someone to volunteer for a solo recon mission any time soon?

Oh no! My recon mission turned into a hostage situation, how unfortunate. But while I'm here, I should interrogate him... yeah, interrogating is exactly what I'll be doing with this giant tied up man rn....

👑 anon

No, no, anon I'm always so happy reading all the stuff you guys send me! I know next to nothing about Konig except the stuff I've read about him that turns him into a really perverted disgusting degenerate and while I'm not comfortable writing that, I hope one of my mutes picks it up bc it is super cool! I got a dancing with Ghost ask I really wanna do so Graves it is lol

CW:SWF-ish turns suggestive at the end, Graves being oblivious

Graves hates being the butt of the joke.

For the last couple of months he's been getting 'gifts' in the form of chunks of meat stabbed through various knives. It had started a knife being stabbed through burgers and steaks(typical American food), which he couldn't eat, but slowly progressed to rarer and rarer pieces of meat until he wound up finding just raw and bloody chunks of meat; a leg of some large animal turned into a pincushion, a still beating heart stabbed through with a knife, livers shish kebabed on a bayoneted blade. . .

And he'd find them everywhere, in the communal fridge, in his office, in his room. And while he didn't mind the free meal, he was a little unnerved. He knew it was you doing it because he had screened the minds of all his shadow's, but he didn't know why you were doing it.

He can see the way his shadows smirk at you when he finds another bloody organ skewered on your favorited knife in the fridge, your feathers puffing up and a not so quiet chirp escaping your lips when he sneaks the meat away to feast on.

You also become more touchy with him when you notice him accepting your gifts, though he has no idea of it. He trusts you, which is why you're allowed to sneak up on him, your wings spreading out to wrap around him like a cloak as you chirp a "Hello commander."

It makes him jump out of his skin, and though he chastises you about it, it's never as harsh as he could make it, his shadows giving him a knowing look that he can't reciprocate.

That's the worst part. None of his shadows will tell him anything.

He doesn't know much about your species of harpy except for the generalized knowledge of extreme speed and craftiness, so he can't figure out if this is some kind of joke, or threat, or you just seeing him as part of the flock? Or maybe it means nothing? He's especially confused when you grow bolder and one day he walks into his office to see a Bison leg sitting on his desk, once again skewered. Where did you even get the bloody bison? Hell knows but certainly not him.

Eventually a shadow grows annoyed by your constant bloody gifts in the fridge and with a very annoyed huff drops a harpy encyclopedia on his desk.

He'll need to get them a gift basket after this; he spends the next few hours just reading about all kinds of harpies, ears progressively getting hotter as the book delves deep into every aspect of the harpies, each sub-race's specific courting and matting habit and making him feel like he's reading porn.

Then he finds a chapter about your type of harpy, eyes growing wide like dinnerplates as he reads about your quirks. He doesn't know whether to go search for a cross or tissues. He reads more and more, turning pages upon pages, his eyes scorching every anatomical picture into his brain and making him think of what you're packing, his pants growing tight as the minutes tick down.

Just his luck that you'd decided the moment when his face is the hottest to walk into his office without knocking, another skewered offering on a plate in your hands.

"Christ!" He yelps, slamming the book shut and looking at you like you're his parent and caught him looking at a playboy magazine.

You puff up in surprise, your wings spreading out a bit before flattening back to your back, a soothing chirp leaving your lips. It used to mean nothing to him, now he knows what it means, his cock getting a bit harder in his pants.

"You alright commander?" You ask, walking closer, the talons of your feet clicking against the ground.

"Yes, yep, perfectly fine." He grunts, desperately hoping his vampiric state will suppress the heat in his face, but to no avail. "You-" His eyes settle on the plate in your hands, his body practically conditioned to salivate when he sees a familiar knife sticking out of the food.

"I?" You ask, then you note the book on his desk, your head tilting in confusion. "Graves?"

He swallows, eyes darting from the food to you, and he doesn't know which one he's starved for more. "You've been wooing me like a dolly huh?" He asks.

"Yeah." You're unsure of what else to say, in your head, had he not wanted your advances he would have never taken your offerings. Then you realize. "Don't tell me you just noticed." You deadpan.

Graves gives that awkward chuckle you've grown to love, and you decide you need to be bolder. You place the plate on his desk and lean over it, a coo rumbling in your chest— deeper, rougher, seductive.

"How about I show you what I want?"

#gnome's tea break #x reader #gnome correspondence #trinkets from the hoard #phillip graves x reader #phillip graves #cod x reader #cod modern warfare #monster cod au #monster 141 au #👑 anon #gn reader #phil

[bonefall]

Favorite rewritten scene from TPB? Any scenes you think would fuck if they were animated? Dont worry why im asking its not important <3

Hmmmm....

Well, BB!TPB is probably the least changed arc to begin with! Better Bones is a project that is basically trying to deliver on the themes I liked in the first 5 books; a flawed society is on the verge of birthing a great monster, a reckoning generations in the making, which can only be saved by the very outcasts their culture seeks to destroy.

So I'm not adding too much to it which isn't just building up the culture some more, adding personality to some background characters (especially mollies), or shoring up cats in ShadowClan.

I've got an old post floating around somewhere about my goals and a basic summary for each book, but here's a MASSIVE ramble about things I plan to add

The three MAJOR cool scenes in here though?

Rusty's Collar

Deerfoot's Sabotauge

Scourge's Collar

Into the Wild: Opening stuff, ThunderClan expansions, Rusty's Collar

For one, DAPPLETAIL has a much bigger role as Firepaw's first teacher. Rusty speaks Townmew; he needs to learn Clanmew.

So I might make the meeting with Graypaw earlier, or just have a bit more of a transitional period where he's "living with a paw in both worlds" before he gets named Firepaw

He also is able to see and take part in some of the Expanded Roles, while still learning Clanmew.

Frostfur is Head of Kitchen Patrol, pregnant, and overworked. Rusty likes her though, he can't always tell what she's saying but he learns she calls him the "Intense Gingerthing (affectionate)" and she's got cool scars

Tigerclaw might be Head of Hunting, or his cousin Willowpelt. Undecided yet; Willowpelt will be taking over after he becomes deputy though.

I forgor who is Construction Head at the moment, probably Mousefur. In any case it's a molly, One-eye has been retired for a long while.

Dappletail is the Educator, naturally, and she hangs out with Ravenpaw and her son Graypaw. Ravenpaw has a habit of telling tall tales.

The adult he's closest to though? Spottedleaf, the Cleric, like a big sister.

IMPORTANT: Rusty's time as a not-apprentice comes to a hard end with his battle against Longtail. Probably because he now understands enough Clanmew to know he's talking shit.

This time though, we're setting up some foreshadowing lads

Unlike other depictions of the collar removal where it's framed like the triumphant moment he enters the Clans, with a beam of sunlight revealing to Bluestar that he is the cat of great prophecy, his collar being snapped off comes with trembling fury and anxiety

He was terrified and angry in that moment! He's been bullied by Longtail, it just came to physical blows, and he was being choked by his collar digging into his throat so he couldn't breathe. When it suddenly SNAPS, he's hacking and coughing, but the whole Clan is cheering at the spectacle, it's like...

He's being told he's just proved himself. The joy of finally getting what he's really wanted, of landing a mark on his bully and being CELEBRATED for it, it starts to wash away the fear and fury.

It's sudden, like whiplash. He's trembling, he's growling, he's smiling. His stomach is rolling and he doesn't know which emotion is turning it.

Then, his collar is buried. He only sees it out of the corner of his eye, Dappletail (someone he likes) digging a little hole and dropping it in. Like getting rid of something dirty. He can't identify the emotion that prickles his heart in that moment, and to his dying day he never learns the word for it.

But it's going to be the same thing he feels, much much later, after the roar of the BloodClan battle has gone quiet and he's staring at the collar he ripped off Scourge. He spared the leader's life and caused the group to retreat... but, looking at that collar, so lovingly studded with trophies not unlike the ivory Clan cats take from boar hunts...

He realizes that it's meaningful. To Scourge. He can't go far enough to admit that his own collar meant something to him... but...

it would be wrong to just discard this. This emotion drives him to eventually approach Scourge and BloodClan again, in the Epilogue, returning the collar as a gift of goodwill and re-opening discussion about Tigerstar's Impossible Deal. These talks open up a new era of peace and trading between Chelford and the White Hart, until TNP brings it to a tragic end.

But anyway!

Ally Expansions + Deerfoot's Sabotage

In an effort to establish that the Clans have unique subcultures, and that the cats within them are unique individuals, BB!TPB needs more positive supporting cast in more than just WindClan.

GATHERINGS NOW HAVE AFTERGATHERINGS. This is like a discreet afterparty, which adult warriors can choose to attend by simply staying behind when their leadership returns home.

Fireheart regularly attends them until the moment he becomes leader.

A few of his friends in other Clans are Aftergathering regulars. Onewhisker, Mosspelt, Wetfoot.

Some others are just occasional visitors. Mistyfoot is brought along by her sis-in-law, Mosspelt, once or twice. Morningflower comes to do some trades.

(at his FIRST aftergathering he gets to meet Carpwhisker and Cinderfur. These two are noted to stop coming when the political tides harden.)

Because this is the Thistle Era, the Aftergathering is much smaller than it will be in a few generations.

They're also still careful to not leak too much information outside of their own Clans, and the ShadowClan cats are even particularly excited at Fireheart's first Aftergathering because it was difficult to regularly attend these while Brokenstar was leader.

DEERFOOT is a MUCH expanded character. Son of Lizardstripe, brother of Runningnose and Tangleburr, Deerfoot is involved in opposing both Brokenstar, and later NIGHTSTAR when he feels he's going against what Deerfoot fought so hard for.

And, most famously and most fatally, he's the head of the TigerClan Rebels.

Much as I like Ravenpaw... he's not getting his cameo at Stonefur's execution. No, I'm not going to be having the HalfClan cats rescued by Graystripe's bad feeling and also Ravenpaw is there. Freeing the prisoners was an action that came from WITHIN TigerClan.

Deerfoot is going to be beseeching Firestar for it. I haven't figured out EXACTLY how yet, but I'm thinking that it's after Darkstripe was exiled (suddenly, Tigerstar no longer has a mole in ThunderClan) and he's able to ask for Firestar's help openly and honestly, and tell him how many cats will need refuge if the plan is successful.

Being leader now, and not JUST a deputy, Firestar has to consider the way it might drag his Clan into conflict with a huge opponent... which Deerfoot assures won't happen, because his forces have a process. Using ochre and onion, they obscure themselves completely. Not a single one's been caught-- besides the ones who were picked up for the "crime" of being HalfClan.

Deerfoot is going to be killed for what he does here, saving so many lives. So he won't pay for the little trick he's going to pull.

While applying Firestar's ochre and onion, just before entering the camp to rescue the HalfClan cats (and finding they've started an execution early-- with Stonefur), Deerfoot draws back to look at his handiwork. Not a single fleck of his bright, unmistakable orange fur is peaking through his disguise.

So he clicks his tongue, "I've missed a spot." With a rub of his paw, the ochre around the ThunderClan leader's eyes is smudged. Just enough that anyone locking with those green eyes would see the fire poking out from beneath.

Later, when Firestar learns of this after Deerfoot's death... he chuckles with equal parts bitterness and admiration. Most of Deerfoot's Rebels had to go right back to living in TigerClan, and knowing Firestar was leading the battle patrol would take suspicion off them... but, knowing his old, lost ally... a bigger part of it was that Deerfoot was hoping that information would reach Tigerstar and BURN into him.

Compassionate and spiteful to the last, that Deerfoot.

Darkest Hour: BloodClan and Scourge's Collar

I think if I was going to rename the individual books, I'd call the last book of BB!TPB "The Moment of Truth."

BloodClan is keeping the way that it's not important until the last book. Aside from an offhanded mention here and there and a run-in with some peons that replace the rats that attack Bluestar, they're not relevant until the moment they're introduced.

I do want to keep how SURPRISING it was to see them suddenly roll up, keep that feeling that they're brutal, unsettling, foreign. When Tigerstar loses his shit on Scourge for not following his order and attempts to kill him, I want to keep how cold, sudden, and BRUTAL that ending was.

But... when Scourge FIRST appears on screen, he looks much different from the Iceheart he will eventually become. He begins to look less "monstrous" and more like a PERSON as Firestar realizes that they're not so different.

Scourge has no pupils at first. His eyes are solid, icy blue.

He also has no mouth when he isn't about to bite, no lip synch when he talks. Like he's just existing ominously onscreen, wind ruffling his spiky, ungroomed fur.

Before the killing of Tigerstar, it's noted that Scourge's speech is odd, and hard to understand. But, you can sort of make out his intent if you listen carefully.

Firestar recognizes that he is speaking Townmew, his own first language.

Tigerstar doesn't really respect him enough to listen, until he barks an order and Scourge tells him, "...My cats move when I command them, and not before."

Like canon, Firestar steps forward to speak with Scourge. Unlike canon, he very intentionally begins speaking Townmew.

ALSO like canon, when Firestar explains Tigerstar's crimes, that he will never honor any bargains he has made, and thus that they can't be trusted, he rolls that Nat20 and Scourge tells him that there will be no battle today as he thinks about this new information.

And, of course, Tigerstar lost his marbles about this. And also his organs

And Scourge is SEETHING. That's his LAST straw. He made a deal and he is NOT being given what he is owed, he tried to gracefully walk away only for Tigerstar to disrespect him for the last time, and he's SICK. AND. TIRED. Of backstabbing, DISHONORABLE CLAN CATS.

And YET. He remains cool. And he tells Firestar directly, "In light of this, I have changed my mind. We will be taking what we are owed. You have three days to leave, or it will come to combat."

Another big change from canon is that no Clan needs to be convinced to fight. It's a battle culture. They were ALWAYS going to win, or die in glorious combat. Running away is not an option in this era-- they believe their eternal reward is up in StarClan.

But Firestar CAN unite them, bring them together to discuss battle plans. And in this first day...

TigerClan is dismantled. Though Leopardstar tries to cling to her newfound leadership of TigerClan; both Shadow and River are clearly tense and demoralized. Anxious and snappish warriors are mulling about the camp.

and STILL, Firestar is dealing with a bunch of cats who are openly disrespecting him.

Even when he reminds them, "YOU brought him to the Forest! Tigerstar's deal was HALF our land and I could pull LionClan out at any time! I'm trying to HELP YOU"

Darkstripe in particular is still here with his little xenophobic jabs. And he is Xenophobic Jabbering.

In spite of the guilt Leopardstar feels, and the resentment that Blackfoot is starting to feel for Tigerstar and the position he's being thrust into, they're still DIFFICULT, not giving Firestar clear answers about if they're going to come talk battle strategies or not.

Firestar can't believe this.

They're really gonna do this. Say that TigerClan can take care of its own problems.

They're just gonna try and hold onto their scraps of pride and charge into battle, NO plan, because they think they're above him.

After ALL OF THIS, EVERYTHING thats happened, the times they've fought and he's won, becoming deputy, even earning the authority of a leader...

They're STILL not taking him seriously.

This prompts Firestar to end up losing it, the "I saw what you did to Stonefur" speech to Blackstar is moved here, addressed to BOTH of them.

But this time, there's even MORE victims. He lists ALL of them, plus the refugees still in his camp.

And they're gonna kill even MORE cats? What? To be the smuggest corpses in the GROUND?

OR MAYBE THE HAPPIEST LITTLE SKULLS ON THEIR STUPID HILL.

It SHUTS them up.

Leopardstar, in particular, clearly haunted by this... her own father, Mudfur, is one of those refugees. And she is staring intently at some of the bones on the hill.

Unfortunately, her remorse will not stick. Distance will make Blackstar more ashamed, but Leopardstar begins to look back with nostalgia.

But FOR NOW? It MATTERS.

Darkstripe comes in with another little comment, and she snaps at him.

Then she turns back on the Bonehill, and says the, "This belongs to a darker time" line.

Firestar also ends up visiting with Barley Sr, Jr, and Ravenpaw. Chatting about reasons why Ravenpaw still doesn't want to come back, even though Tigerstar is gone.

And about BloodClan, as Barley Senior comes from there. Bone is his mother (though due to some timeline things I'm considering her being his sister; and then Hoot and Jumper are littermates OR cousins of Junior.)

Ends up explaining a bit about the history, how it was formed because of Oakstar, the context of the descendant of Oakstar turning on Scourge like that

Plus why Barley Sr left. His time as a solver, the death of Violet Sr, the way BloodClan demands tribute to keep its cats fed.

And while BloodClan has issues... Firestar is realizing... so do the Clans.

Violence, blood feuds, war... xenophobia. He's still seething over that exchange from earlier.

Firestar's anxious over the big fight, and the people he knows he will lose. GOOD people. The battle won't discern the crackerjacks from the jackasses; people he loves will die. He HAS to win. And yet, his feelings towards Scourge feel frustratingly conflicted.

On the second day...

Finally he's getting somewhere with the other four Clans. Everyone's preparing properly, learning how to fight TOGETHER and not just as four separate entities.

But in ShadowClan, he catches POISONS. Runningnose and Blackfoot are planning to go into battle using the same tactics they used against WindClan-- things that won't kill right away, but will cause inevitable infection and kill slowly, and painfully.

And they're showing OTHERS about it, too.

And this UPSETS Firestar

But, AGAIN, he's able to talk to them. They have a point-- if BloodClan is going to use those claw-weapons, they ALSO have an unfair advantage.

Firestar, about to invent Rules of Engagement: "If they weren't going to use them though?"

That's how Firestar ended up in a british back alley. Meeting with BloodClan.

Scourge is cold and polite, as always, makes a comment about him being early.

Firestar tells him about the poisons, how he's seen them be used before, and how they will kill slowly,

Scourge is torn... at first, thinking it might be a lie, but then the shock of what might happen sets in. He asks, "and why would you warn us about this?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. We're fighting for our home and you're fighting for your promise; It should be a fair fight."

"which means you're reigning them in, then?"

Nods, "If you use the claw extenders, they're going to use an unfair advantage of their own"

As they dig deeper into the conversation, Scourge loses his patience.

"Enough. I've heard enough lies from Clan cats, forest fool. You untrustworthy lot NEVER uphold your end of the bargain, you come here to weaken us but we will not be tricked by a dishonorable foe ever again."

It's starting to hit Firestar now. Scourge... is kinda right.

He's RIGHT to be so distrustful of Clan cats. To think they're dishonorable. He's seen them all himself; liars, hypocrites, cowards, all of them allowing EVIL things to be done to innocent cats.

The pause seems to last days, but it's clear to Scourge he's thinking deeply about what he said.

When Firestar looks up he tells him, "I understand. But I am honorable."

Scourge laughs at that. The whole alley does.

But he stands firm. He will uphold HIS end. "And when you come tomorrow, you will see that I've held my people to it."

"Then you're a greater fool than I thought, weakening yourself."

"Tigerstar believed that honor made us weak," he says with defiance, "and you killed him. I buried him. Now he is dead; don't choose to keep his memory alive."

AND ON THE THIRD AND LAST DAY

When they all come to face off at Fourtrees, it is seen, most of BloodClan is not wearing their extenders.

And most of the Clan cats do not have deathberry-red claws.

There are just some. On both sides.

Scourge is not one of them. His claws are his own

Fire and Scourge step foward in the center, their armies behind them.

Scourge quietly points out the irony in a hushed tone, for what he is about to say could have offended either army;

"Two fools, alike in their dignity. Perhaps in another time we would have been Brothers-in-Honor, you and I."

Brother-in-Honor = Townmew term for someone who unites you through a shared, noble cause.

But Firestar is done. He had to say goodbye to many of his cats this morning, he doesn't know who will live and who will die. The Warriors stand behind him, proud and noble, but terrified to their core. He knows this.

This is their HOME. And he is the holy leader of ThunderClan, bearing the fragment of a star within him.

He's lost his patience, and his sympathy. When he responds, it's loud enough for both armies to hear. (Note: Ever so slightly performative)

"Last chance, Scourge! One step further, and you'll meet the full might of the Warrior Clans."

"Two fools," the little cat laments, "One far more foolish than the other!"

He screeches for BloodClan to attack, and like canon, Firestar loses track of Scourge in the torrent of angry cats

Battle otherwise goes very similar to canon. Out of left field, Darkstripe turns on Firestar with deathberry-red claws, furious and embarassed that he took Tigerstar away and prevented them all from fighting with "every advantage"

Graystripe. One-Man Firestar Defense Squad, body checks him and kills him, trembling in disbelief and immediate regret over his brother's body

Whitestorm loses his fight with Bone and falls, bleeding, to the ground

As he dies, he tells Firestar to let go of his grudges. He was wronged, he was hurt, but please don't let that stop him from making the right choice. Longtail should be deputy.

Firestar announces Longtail is his deputy right there.

The apprentices dogpile Bone in revenge, though I also wouldn't mind changing it. In any case, Bone's dead before Willowpelt can even realize her mate is gone

When he finally sees Scourge again, they grapple ferociously until the little cat breaks loose

Trying to avoid the grallocking move that ended Tigerstar in a blow and not knowing Scourge can't do that without his claw extenders, he pulls back and leaves himself wide open for a vicious transverse slash

He's split open from neck to arm, he can feel himself bleeding out

Scourge looks at him with pity but says nothing, flicking his claws like he's wicking the blood from a sword.

Game_Over.png

Firestar's vision fades into flashing stars and bursts into the silver-and-blue lights of StarClan

He sees the faces of everyone who he's lost, everyone he couldn't save. Spottedleaf who died in a raid. Stonefur whose execution came too soon. Pikepaw who refused to take refuge with his mother. That old bastard Deerfoot. Whitestorm whose blood is replaced with fresh stars.

Yellowfang comes forward, threading constellations like stitches through his gash, snipping at him to stop wriggling like a worm. Spottedleaf is also helping in a way he doesn't understand, licking his fur the wrong way and returning his lost blood like a Mi returns warmth to a cold kitten.

He smiles, filled with the wonderful sensation of a Sharing of Stars, until it hits him again that he needs to go back

Hmm.. maybe ill have it so Whitestorm had no last words and he gives them here. "Don't let the grudges of the past ruin the future. Make the choices you know are right."

Bring the theme together; he was talking about Longtail, but Firestar interprets it differently.

And when he wakes up in his body, gash aching but skillfully closed by the best healers he ever knew, he feels like they filled his veins with a lion's blood.

He grins, a mixture of humor and righteous fury. He didn't know Scourge's tricks, but he doesn't know HIS either.

Scourge has his back turned, focused on Onewhisker who's cowering in front of him. Firestar bowls into him, catching him off guard

"You! You died! I killed you!"

"I played dead."

With a second bolt of strength, Scourge tries to turn it around and they tumble, hissing and spitting, but the little cat doesn't get a second chance

He's pinned like prey, one paw holding his head and the other pulling down his shoulder, growling like an animal with its neck exposed for a brutal killing bite

Firestar lunges down and Scourge screeches, a horrible crack of teeth on bone quiets the battlefield

And then a SNAP

The sun glimmers on the bloodstained collar's fangs, one of the teeth cracked by Firestar's jaws, as he throws it behind him

Scourge's face is truly apparent to Firestar for the first time, his icy eyes wide with astonishment

Firestar recites the beautiful words that had once been made hollow by hypocrisy, "A true warrior does NOT need kill to win their battles," but he presses his paw into Scourge's pulse as a warning, "DO they?!"

He lifts his paw, and Scourge calls for BloodClan to retreat

Though the warriors are shocked at first, they saw his collar ripped off and his black fur soaked in his own blood, and understood they were losing

Just as united as any Forest Four following the command of a leader, each warrior disentangled as quickly as possible and streamed out behind their bolting leader

Some warriors ran after them to chase them out, and came back a few minutes later

And just like that, it was over. They were gone.

But, that collar is laying there, in the light of the setting sun. The inner fabric is purple, covered in a layer of red and brown from a mix of fresh and dry blood. Various teeth poke through, which he now realizes are from various predators.

Firestar gazes at it and feels Rusty's heart beating. He has that strange, indescribable feeling again.

It's... just like Clan cat hunting trophies, yes. It's a valuable, meaningful object to Scourge. It's a spoil of war made of spoils of war. That's why it's stirring his chest, surely. There's something... deeper to this item. It shouldn't be discarded; this item needs to be kept safe.

Or, perhaps, returned.

From there, the epilogue is gravy. When Firestar arrives in the alley again, this time flanked by several cats, Scourge is still recovering from his many injuries. He feels like he's been seeing Firestar's face too often-- and then the collar is gently placed on the ground.

Just like Firestar expected, there's an energy that washes over the gathered cats, and even the unreadable Scourge now seems awestruck by the gesture. The collar was something greater than just a collar; though Firestar couldn't remember if he had ever been told what a BloodClan collar represented.

Speaking, again, in Townmew, he explains that Tigerstar made Scourge an Impossible Deal, which the treacherous tyrant never meant to honor in the first place. But he is dead. BloodClan cannot have the territory and the Clan cats have won it fairly-- but what CAN we do for you? What were you seeking?

The answer was so simple that it was almost sickening. That they'd come to blows, and cats had died, over something that could have been worked out so easily. BloodClan had plenty of food from the humans' excess and hunting in the wilderness was not a skill they ever had anyway. What they wanted was materials.

Wood. Flowers and herbs. A chance to walk along the hiking trail and see the giant trees. Maybe the occasional piece of prey they didn't have access to in the town, like squirrels and frogs.

So, for a while. There was peace in the Forest, bringing the Tiger Era to a definitive close and beginning the fruitful, but short-lived Fire Era.

So! Them's the major changes. Take your pick of the scene you think is coolest, personally I've got a thing for Firestar ripping off Scourge's collar.

#BB!TPB #Better Bones AU #BB!Firestar #BB!Iceheart #BB!Scourge #Minor edit: Got possessed with more dialogue for the scourge confrontation scene

[catbountry]

It's been a year since the premiere of Trigun: Stampede. The series, despite the fears of the fans of the '98 anime, actually turned out really good; Yasuhiro Nightow is a big superhero comics nerd, and wanted to have this new anime adaption be an adaption similar to the adaptions of the MCU, back when those movies were consistently enjoyable, and I daresay a bunch of the people watched Trigun probably were either already anime fans, or they were nomad fans who may have been really into the MCU at one point.

I have a lot of thoughts on an American perspective on Vash the Stampede as a character, with a lot of comparisons to American comic book superheroes. And while Trigun wasn't my first anime, I was hooked on it, as someone who grew up around Batman and Spawn's 90's popularity. During my first Otakon in 2001, I must have seen a dozen Vash's and Wolfwoods. I remember the year there was a Wolfwood cosplayer whose Punisher gun was shaped like the Star of David instead of a cross, making him a rabbi. That shit was amazing. The larger point is that I've loved this character for more than half of my entire time being alive, and I haven't seen a lot of discussion of Trigun viewed from a more political lens, and why it resonates so much with Americans (or at least me, who is an American) in particular

Buckle up, kids, this is gonna be long and rambly.

There was a period of time where I watched nearly every single new MCU movie in the theater. It was exciting seeing adaptions of comic books that would have probably never gotten a movie before the success of The Avengers. And I don't think it's a mistake that the most comic book-y of the movies are usually the best; Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel remain as probably my favorite MCU movies. Nightow was working directly with the studio making a new Trigun anime and reportedly got the crew to watch a bunch of Marvel movies to set the tone for the anime as an adaption; it's why Vash got a completely new redesign that freaked all us old fans the fuck out. Though it appears that once again, Trigun tried and failed to get that massive Japanese audience that most successful anime have. But boy, oh boy, do us westerners fucking love Trigun, especially us Americans. Nightow's love of superhero comics bled into Trigun, and it just so happened that he was incredibly influenced by Spawn, Hellboy and Batman as much as he was influenced by Akira Toriyama and mechanical art. McFarlane Toys released a Vash figure that is McFarlane'd the fuck up. Nightow loves all superhero comics but especially the Blade trilogy.

Just look at this and imagine being 13 years old and seeing this on a screen for the first time with the instrumental hard rock opening.

Also, I wouldn't actually get around to reading Spawn until I was an adult, but you know what? It's pretty good. The writing is definitely weaker than the art, but holy shit, that art goes hard and I still think that shit's cool as fuck.

As stated before, around the early 2000's Trigun was considered peak anime, though it's been more overlooked in recent years in favor of Cowboy Bebop, an anime that has aged gracefully by comparison. But while Bebop has that sort of timeless cool and level of quality that drew the attention of filmmakers like the Wachoski sisters, Trigun has that very specific kind of adolescent sense of coolness that comic book fans get, especially back in the 90's before this sort of thing would be smothered to death by MCU's Joss Whedoning of superheroes. Spawn, Hellboy and Batman are still cool. And Trigun also has a shitton of guns, obviously, given that Vash being an incredibly OP gunslinger in a world where everybody has guns.

And America loves guns.

I think the contrast of Vash's pacifism while still wielding a gun is extremely interesting because it's not something you see very much (I bet if I watched more westerns, I'd have a better idea if this is a trope in them at all). Batman does not use guns and doesn't kill people, which is why there's still discourse around Tim Burton's Batman films to this day still; I don't think Kevin Smith has budged on this. Other more morally grey superheroes will use guns (by this definition I'm counting The Punisher even if he doesn't have any superpowers, unless you count severe PTSD as a superpower). And a lot of them had huge surges in popularity in the 90's around the time Nightow was making Trigun. Vash posed like Batman or Spider-Man looking brooding (like the gif above) happens a lot in the earlier issues even though that's not really his character.

Several years ago, there was an attempt by a conservative thinktank to discredit a bunch of Hollywood actors saying that gun violence in America is a serious issue and contrasted their statements scenes of them shooting guns in movies, but if we're being real here, gunplay in movies can be really fucking cool. Again I invoke The Matrix, or movies by Robert Rodriguez and John Woo. Look at video games, and compare the decline in violent crime that's been happening here since the 70's and 80's, as culture warriors bemoan movies and video games for becoming more violent. Remember when Wayne LaPierre, vice president of the NRA, brought up fucking Splatterhouse as a reason why Sandy Hook happened? Do you know what Splatterhouse looks like?

It looks like this.

You know how these guys constantly say the only way to counter a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun? Usually, the inference is that if the "good guy" with a gun shoots, he's shooting to kill. Deadpool and the Punisher would shoot to kill. But Vash is constantly trying to avoid it. And I remember as a teenager finding that really cool? And the manga and anime don't shy away from how impractical Vash's pacifism is. It's a bit more realistic than Steven Universe's ending, but also Steven Universe was made for children.

I know Avatar: The Last Airbender is often invoked when criticizing Steven Universe's philosophy, but I haven't really seen Vash's similar philosophy criticized in the same way, and I think a lot of that has to do with the presence of Wolfwood, who is the "I think we're gonna have to kill this guy" guy. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen art of this yet. I may have to get on that. I already drew Vash horrified at the Trolley Problem.

Vash is a character designed with maximum coolness in mind, but also an overpowered being who is capable of killing millions, and in the anime, he somehow destroys July City without killing anyone directly, but the destruction of the city led to a bunch of people dying. He's so deeply committed to not wanting to kill anyone that he's probably killed more people than he would have if he just shot Knives. The best Batman stories acknowledge that Batman's refusal to kill Joker has similarly results in the deaths of people Batman could have prevented if he killed one guy, and this could also apply to Vash's relationship with his brother Knives, who was kind of destined to be a mass murderer with a name like that, let's be real.

Online, we tend to joke about bringing out the guillotines, or justify not feeling an sympathy for billionaires who die in a sub trying to view the Titanic. But if you were given a gun and a real human person begging for their life, what would you actually do? Do you honestly think that you would be the ethical Death Note user?

Vash has guns but he chooses not to kill people; he prefers to not even use them unless he has to, instead opting to run away and look cool doing it somehow.

He really, really doesn't want to kill people. He doesn't become numb to people dying. It hurts him every single time he watches someone get killed. In reality, most of us that aren't sociopaths would be distressed at the thought of killing someone. The only reason armies in real life work is that they become inoculated to the idea of violence and dehumanize the enemy. Vash is no soldier. He is idealistic, he is empathetic, and he sees every human being as a person worthy of life. Batman refuses to use guns, as that's how his parents were killed in front of him. Vash has to use guns in order to protect people from getting killed. He has the ethics of Superman but the tools of a comic book antihero. He's the logical conclusion of an shonen anime protagonist in a world that chews up anyone with that kind of optimism and hope and spits them out. And yet... he still keeps going. He remains committed. He's still cheery, goofy, lovable Vash.

Batman used to kill people, in the earliest comics. With the Comics Code Authority, no superheroes could kill people. In the 80's, comics were getting darker and edgier, taken more seriously. While Alan Moore's Watchmen delved into the moral complexities in a world with superheroes that was similar to ours, Frank Miller was keeping Batman consistent, even as Gotham got darker and uglier.

Batman is a vigilante. The police can be helpful or they can fuck up everything, depending on what's needed for the story. In Batman Year One, there's a scene where Batman crashes a party attended by the elites of Gotham, politicians and mobsters mingling.

Seeing this during the Bush presidency blew my mind. I don't want to get into just how perfectly the members of his administration seemed to resemble a rogue's gallery of sorts with the shared goals of making a lot of money and bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I was extremely anti-war even before the 2000 election as a very opinionated 14 year-old watching, Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and feeling relieved that a grown-up was able to see through all the bullshit; it helps when the guy who's against the war and killing people is funny. I remember writing in my diary at 12 years old after Columbine happened that I wanted to take all of the guns and melt them down in a pot, similarly to that scene in Superman IV where he throws the entire world's nuclear arsenal into the sun. But also that same year I would fall in love with The Matrix... and not long after that, Trigun.

Again, we come back to the idea of someone using a gun, a weapon designed to kill people, and using it in pursuit of the exact opposite. That resonated with me. I myself was very idealistic, and the political climate of my teenage years seemed to do almost everything to stamp that out of me. Things feel just as fraught two decades later, but in slightly different ways. Pacifism is looked down upon, as indicated by the backlash to the ending of Steven Universe, and how one crazy lady called Rebecca Sugar, a Jewish person, a Nazi for writing it that way. But for Steven, things worked out. For Vash? Well, he still has hope somehow, despite everything. I think the fact that he strives to protect human life, even when someone is a complete monster, is admirable in that it cuts to the very basic desire to not see people hurt. But we're also selfish, and scared, and sometimes it's hard to conceive of a solution to a problem that doesn't involve violence. Seeing dead bodies on TV or the internet upsets us, but we're often paralyzed by feeling like we can't do anything, and even if we tried, we'd likely perish in the attempt. We desire revenge, punishment for those who transgress by inflicting violence, and we can rationalize using it against the right targets. Vash the Stampede would have a fucking breakdown dealing with the state-backed violence that's been a part of geopolitics pretty much as long as there have been states and geopolitics. Vash would try and solve the bombings of Gaza with an impassioned plea for both sides to stop fighting before he would somehow wind up making things worse and it would eat away at him inside, no matter how brave a face he puts on as he tries to find some kind of hope in a hopeless situation. And... you know what? I kind of wish more people would be like that. Maybe if there were enough people like that, these sorts of things wouldn't happen in the first place. I wish more people could look at human suffering and feel compelled to try and stop it, not discriminating against one side or the other, trying to understand why people are doing what they do. Seeing anti-war protestors in Tel Aviv brings back memories of protests against the start of the War on Terror, and how hated America was internationally during those years, even when most Americans approved of the war. Michael Moore was booed at the Oscars for condemning George W. Bush and the War on Terror. It's terrifying that those in power want us killing each other and have conditioned us to support it. I want so badly for human beings to come together to just stop the violence, but it feels impossible, like we're destined for failure, like we might somehow make things worse or become worse versions of ourselves full of hatred and ugliness. But we should want to try, even if it's hard or unprofitable or we have no idea how to even do it. Somebody actually dedicating themselves to trying to fight our violent impulses out of love is appealing, and if they're more powerful than use, and can do more... well, I want the biblically accurate angel with every mental illness willing to martyr himself over and over again. But it is more fun when he's Bugs Bunny about it.

#political bullshit #trigun #comics #tl;dr #not fanfiction #I am high right now I hope this still makes sense when I'm sober

[m-jelly]

I love your fanfics about strong female leads, and I was thinking if that could be involved in any element. Also maybe a sprinkle of demi-sexual Levi because I’m pretty sure that man is sex-repulsed if it isn’t with someone he loves. The main story idea I think would be cool is “Pet Rescue Owner” x “kinda gangster Yandere Levi.” The reader could be like a badass disney princess lol

I've always seen Levi this way. He won't have sex with someone unless he loves them.

@kenkopanda-art <3

I want you. I need you

Pairing: Levi x Fem! Reader

Tags and warnings: Modern AU, fluff, romance, gangster Levi, slight yandere Levi, becoming a couple.

Levi meets you kicking all kinds of ass in an alley so you can save a box of kittens. He is instantly smitten and grants you and your animal shelter protection. Levi becomes a little bit obsessed with you.

@ladycheesington @levisbrat25 @nyxiieluna @li-anne @galactict3a @youre-ackermine @thebobaprincess @2moth-anon2 @cypidity @notgoodforlife @demonsimp6 @nbinairyn

It was like the heavens had opened and gifted him the most perfect woman in the world. Your body was divine, your strength and ferocity arousing, and that sexy smile you had on your face as you slammed your foot into a low-ranking gangster was incredible.

Levi was walking the streets near the edge of Erwin's zone to see if scumbags were running around. He came to an alley and heard some shouting about someone being a bitch and a whore. When he looked down he saw you and got ready to save the day, but you surprised him.

You kicked one man in the balls making him double over allowing you to kick him across the face. Once he was taken care of you grabbed the other's head and slammed it against the brick wall. The last got a fist to the face and then a firm kick.

Levi was in love. He needed you, wanted you.

He moved closer to you as his heart compelled him. "Impressive."

You panted a bit. "You want your shit kicked in too?"

Levi put his hands up. "No, I'm good. Tch, these lot aren't. You in a gang?"

You turned and walked away. "Nope, just really passionate about animals." You picked up a box with five kittens in it. "Worry not little ones, I've got you now."

Levi stared at the cats. "What are you?"

You gazed at Levi. "Animal rescue."

"Animal rescue who knows self-defence?"

"You never know when you need to kick someone's head in."

Levi hummed a little. "You're right." He stepped on one man waking up. "I have a proposition for you. I work for the scout gang."

You walked past him. "Good for you."

"I can provide help and get a few scouts to assist you."

You stopped by your car and stared at Levi. "What's the catch?"

He opened your car door. "Spend time with me."

You stared at him for a while before checking him out. "Like a date?"

"Yes."

You put the kittens in your car and stood up and eyed him. "Sure."

Levi's heart raced. "Really? Perfect. We'll move your business and home to scout region so you can be safe."

You smiled. "You're cute. What's your name."

"Levi."

You gave your name. "Nice to meet you."

Levi released a long love filled sigh and watched you drive off. He placed his hand on his heart and knew he was hooked. He wanted to see you again. He wanted to have you. He craved your touch, your voice and your smile.

He did everything he could to be near you and see you. He watched you from a distance and any man that got close to you, he scared away. You were his. He wanted you all to himself and he would do anything to keep you. You were his perfect dream.

He would watch your home and your new shop in the scout region. He would actively go with you to rescue animals just so he could be at your side and see you smile. He knew he shouldn't, but he would take some of your things just so he could have a piece of you always with him.

It all came to head one night inside your rescue shop.

Levi was watching you from his car making sure no one touched you. He relaxed a little and glanced over at the flowers next to him as he debated about handing them over. He wasn't the best at romance or getting his feelings out, but with you he was in deep.

"Hey Levi!"

Levi flinched and looked at his open window to see you leaning in. "H-Hi."

You smiled at him. "You know, this could be classed as stalking."

He gulped hard. "I-I know, b-but I'm ch-checking on you. I-I'm making s-sure you're safe."

You leaned on the door. "That's so cute." You looked at the passenger seat. "Those for me?"

"Y-Yes."

You leaned closer and kissed him. "Thank you."

He blushed hard. "I uh...you're welcome."

You pulled back and opened his door and got in. You straddled Levi and closed the door. "Much better."

Levi gulped hard. "This is a dream come true."

You giggled. "Same. I've liked you for a long time and I've been trying to hint to you I want you because I know you want me. However, my flirting skills are lacking so I'll do this." You tangled your fingers in Levi's hair as he grabbed your ass. You kissed each other with deep loving passion. "I want to be yours."

Levi panted a little as he felt many deep desires inside him. "I want you to be mine. I'll spoil you all the time. I'll shower you in love. I need you."

You ran your hands down Levi's chest. "I'm all yours."

#levi ackerman #levi #aot levi #snk levi #aot fanfiction #levi x you #fanfic #levi fanfiction #levi x y/n #levi x reader #jelly fanfics #levi attack on titan #levi aot #levi x reader fluff #levi x yn #levi ackerman fluff #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x y/n #levi ackerman x female reader

[dingochef]

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x You (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, Oral Sex (M receiving), Vaginal Fingering, Betting, Gratuitous Discussion of American Football

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: Football is serious business. Of course you and Jake take it to a new and sexy level.

One of my favorite seasons is underway! College football! And Notre Dame and Navy played the first game yesterday. Enjoy!

Masterlist

Touchdown

As the fall approached, you let Jake know the importance of watching Notre Dame football.

"It's how I spend most Saturdays in the fall. You're welcome to join me, Lydia and I tend to get together and watch a lot of them together, or do your own thing. No worries."

Jake, unsurprisingly, has opted to join you most of the time. A Texas boy at heart, football is written into his DNA. The upside is that when you go over to Lydia's or she and Rooster come over to your place, it is that he and Rooster get to spend some time together. Most of the time they're hanging out talking, whatever weird antagonism they had between them before resolved, half paying attention to the game, more amused by your and Lydia's reactions to the game.

Today Navy is playing at Notre Dame, finally the guys will have someone to root for.

You get a text from Lydia in the morning:

Lydia: We're going to have to bail on tonight's plans. Rooster has a nasty cold.

You: Bummer, next week then. Does one feed chicken soup to a sick Rooster? Seems a little cannibalistic.

Lydia: lol. This Rooster is definitely a fan of the O'Callahan family recipe.

You: That's not the only O'Callahan "recipe" he likes to eat. 😛

Lydia: Yup, 'insert smug smile here'

You: Well, tell Rooster to get well so we can get together.

Lydia: Will do. Go Irish! ☘️

You: Go Irish!☘️

You let Jake know that it'll be just you two watching the game today.

"Makes sense, he seemed a little under the weather at work yesterday," he replies.

You take advantage of the nice fall day and wander around a farmers market and grab lunch at a little cafe nearby. You're waiting for your food when you say,

"I think fall is the only time I really miss Michigan. I always loved the leaves changing, heading out to the cider mill for cider and donuts, and the cooling weather."

"What do you mean head out to the cider mill? That sounds hilariously peak Midwest, by the way," he teases.

"It's definitely a Michigan thing. A lot of apple orchards have cider mills and most have bakeries. It's a fall tradition, almost mandatory, to go to an orchard, pick your own apples, some of the places have farm animals to visit and pet, and get some fresh cider and donuts. They make the donuts with apple cider and they are so good."

"Huh, I've never really heard of that as a thing, but it sounds nice."

"One of my favorite things to do is people watch. My personal favorite is the Instagram mom who has dragged her family out in matching plaid to get some family pictures. The kids are bored and want to go pet the goats and Dad looks like he is nervously watching the clock for his college football game, but is there humoring his wife."

Jake laughs at the description.

"Or the basic white girl with knee high boots, skinny jeans, and a bulky sweater, usually in beige, and sometimes a wool hat. And don't forget the infinity scarf."

"So basically the people walking out of Starbucks with a pumpkin spice latte in San Diego."

"Yup, that's really one of the only markers that fall has arrived here. The PSL ads."

"El, I have to ask you a very personal question," he pauses for dramatic effect, "Do you like pumpkin spice lattes?"

"Unfortunately I do, I'm a sucker for them. I know that goes against your Navy ethic of coffee must be drunk black and terrible.

"Alright, I won't hold it against you," he replies and winks.

You head home and have a lazy afternoon. You and Jake spend some time reading on the couch which turns more into cuddling and making out.

A beep on your phone startles you and Jake out of your embrace.

"Time for the game," you chirp happily.

"Did I just get cock blocked by a football game?"

Jake asks, a bit whiny.

"Not any football game, the Notre Dame Game."

You chuckle at his tiny indignant harrumph as you turn on the TV and get the game up. The camera is panning over all the Navy cadets in the visitors section.

"Did you ever go to any football games?" you ask.

"A few of the home ones, I didn't travel with the team ever. Usually the other branches of the military were the big games of the season. I assume you went to many of the games."

"I had student season tickets all four years."

"So you're like an Irish super fan, like a little leprechaun," he says tickling your sides. You try to give him a death glare and it has no effect.

"I once tried out for the leprechaun. Didn't make it."

"Really, seems like you'd have some skills that would be very useful with the gymnastics and all."

"There's a lot more to being the leprechaun than just jumping around, it's getting the crowd excited, having the persona to get people into the game."

"You would look so cute in a leprechaun outfit." He laughs.

"Har, har. Are you thinking of that outfit," you reply pointing to the TV to the leprechaun mascot doing backflips, "or some slutty version you'd see at Halloween?"

Jake shrugs and says,

"Either or, but if you're going to force me to make a choice, I guess the slutty one."

You roll your eyes and direct your attention back to the TV as the opening kickoff is soaring high into the air. Snuggling into Jake's side you get comfy to watch the game with his arm around you.

"Why does someone as big as Notre Dame play Navy every year, it seems like they could get some names with more fan appeal?" Jake asks.

"It's history, paying back a favor to the Navy. Notre Dame during WWII, like most all male colleges, had trouble getting students and was coming close to shutting its doors. The Navy decided to use the campus for training cadets and that money kept Notre Dame afloat till the end of the war," you answer.

"Huh, never knew that. So you can thank the Navy for your education and in an indirect way, me." He jokes and continues,

"I've got an idea, since we're both obviously rooting for opposite teams," he points to your respective sweatshirts,

"How about a bet?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Every time the opposing team scores you have to forfeit a clothing item. Overall winner at the end gets oral, no reciprocity required."

"You know Notre Dame has beaten Navy for the past 43 years," you remind him, a bit smugly.

"I've got a feeling about this one. Besides, if I lose I have to give you oral. Oh no, the travesty."

He slaps his hands to his face as he opens his mouth ala the kid from Home Alone.

"Alright, it's a fool's bet, but it's on."

You shake hands and settle in to watch the game.

The first piece of clothing to go is Jake's sweatshirt, the Irish scoring a touchdown early in the first quarter. You're off the couch cheering. Jake is smiling at your enthusiasm as he peels his sweatshirt off and tosses it to the opposite end of the couch. Underneath the discarded Navy sweatshirt is another Navy tee.

"How many Navy shirts do you own?" you ask, jokingly.

He laughs,

"A majority of my wardrobe is courtesy of the United States Government, but I make government issue look good," he responds, sweeping a hand down his body. Jake's shirt is snug enough to see his muscles defined through the fabric.

"That you do," you say as you give him a quick peck of a kiss sitting back down on the couch.

The rest of the first quarter is uneventful, neither of the two teams scoring. The game rolls into the second quarter and things start to get more interesting.

Navy rolls out a touchdown early in the quarter and Jake is whooping and cheering as you take your sweatshirt off and add it to his on the couch.

"Yeah, yeah, one lousy touchdown. We gave it to you to keep your self esteem up, can't have a less than confident military can we?" you grumble out.

"Whatever you say, dear," he says as he kisses your temple. You sit back down and cuddle up on the couch.

The calm doesn't last long, as Notre Dame scores another touchdown on a long pass.

"That is how you do it!" you shout, pumping your arms in the air. Jake rolls his eyes at your display and pulls off his sweats and throws them into the growing pile.

Your elation is short lived as Navy runs another touchdown into the end zone tying the score. You wiggle off your leggings and add them to the heap. Jake is smirking at your frustration.

"Come on, come, let's go Irish!" you cheer, trying to will the game in Notre Dame's favor.

Apparently, your cheering has helped and Notre Dame runs in a touchdown with three minutes to go in the half.

You're off the couch dancing around cheering and Jake is now really rolling his eyes. He takes off his shirt and you are momentarily distracted by the sight of his perfect chest ornamented only by his dog tags. He catches your eye as you ogle him and smirks,

"You see something you like, leprechaun?" he asks in a long drawl.

"Maybe," you reply as you sit down and tuck under his arm. Notre Dame is up seven on Navy with the score 21 to 14 as the half ends.

You and Jake check other college games and refresh your drinks during halftime. When the third quarter starts, you are already cheering,

"Alright Irish, let's get this done. Finish them."

Jake laughs and says,

"I've never been with a girl who is this enthusiastic about football."

"It's contractually required if you graduate from Notre Dame. It's in a tiny font on the bottom of your diploma."

You have to forfeit your shirt in the 3rd quarter, but Notre Dame still is in the lead by one because of a missed extra point by Navy.

"We're still winning," you say, only a little bit petulantly, with my arms crossed.

"Keep making yourself feel better," Jake humors you.

The fourth quarter is where the game starts to unravel for the Irish. Navy scores a touchdown and goes for the two point conversion and takes the lead. Jake lets out an enthusiastic,

"Woo!" next to you.

"Cough it up," he extends his hand for your bra. I take it off and toss it at him, it lands on his head comically. He is quick to discard it with the other clothing.

You're really cheering as hard as you can and finally, Notre Dame throws a long pass for a touchdown.

"So do you think they'll have the guts to go for the conversion or are they going to play it safe and kick the extra point?" he asks casually as he stands to pull down his boxer briefs adding them to the clothing mountain.

You are slow to reply as you take in the whole vision that is Jake naked.

"Extra point, live to fight another day," you stutter out earning yet another smirk from Jake.

Your prediction is correct and the fourth quarter ends with the game tied 28 to 28. Overtime starts quickly and Notre Dame has the first possession. They run it in and make the extra point. You look over to Jake for his part of the bet,

He laughs,

"I'm already naked."

"Fair, but I've still got my underwear," you brag.

"Not for long, I have a feeling," Jake replies.

He is annoyingly right. You shimmy out of your underwear as Navy kicks the extra point for their touchdown.

You are starting to lose your mind, Notre Dame has beaten Navy for 43 years in a row and now it's going into a second overtime?

Jake is laughing maniacally at your absolute shock,

"This is why you don't ever count a Navy man out!" he shouts at the TV.

The second overtime is useless as the teams trade field goals and the game remains tied.

"Come on Irish, let's do this," you plead as the third overtime starts . You are perched on the edge of the couch nervously bouncing your knee up and down.

Navy runs it in for a touchdown and you curse. You are not surprised that they go for the two point conversion as their kicking hasn't been good today. You're temporarily elated as Notre Dame scores another touchdown. Before you can blink, Notre Dame has set up for a two point conversion. A Navy lineman breaks through the Notre Dame line and sacks the quarterback. The game ends 46 to 44, Navy the winner.

"Holy shit, they just broke a 43 year record." You sit down stunned on the couch.

You look over at Jake, completely naked and still as confident as ever, his hands on the back of his head.

"I told you I had a feeling," he says smugly.

"Yeah apparently you should have bet some real money on it. I bet there are some bookies going nuts right now."

Jake catches your eye and says,

"I'm ready when you are sweetheart to claim my winnings."

He winks to complete the wolfish look he has on his face.

It's your turn to take the lead.

"You're right, it was a handshake agreement,"

you say as you slide over to him on the couch. Leaning over you catch his lips for a kiss that catches on fire quickly. You and Jake's arms reach out for each other by instinct, before you become too entwined Jake pulls back from the kiss.

"You're tempting me towards other ideas and we have to settle up before we can do anything else," he says, running his hand down your belly, placing his whole hand over your mound and teasing one finger into your folds before pulling back. You try to hold back the moan.

"Okay, if that's the way you want to go," you breathily reply.

You give him one more kiss before sliding off the couch to get on my knees in front of him. He is hard and ready, the anticipation already built up, a gorgeous bead of pearly precum forming at the top. You slot easily into his widely spread thighs.

You start by kissing his inner thigh and running your hands along his quads. When you get close to his balls you breeze past them letting a huff of hot breath out. He lets out a little frustrated whine above you. Kissing at his other thigh you run your tongue up to the crease in his pelvis. Jake gently threads his fingers in your hair, holding it out of the way of your face. You kiss up the golden hair of his treasure trail up to his navel.

"Please, El, I've been wanting you since before the game," Jake pants. You smile into his skin, and lick down to his very ready cock. You want to take him apart and make him melt with pleasure. Tracing your tongue up his length you tease him just a little bit more, just a hint of what is to come. Jake's hips buck up trying to get more contact.

You start licking him around the tip of his cock, gently. You haven't put him in your mouth and he's pleading, "Please, El, please."

You finally take him in your mouth and slowly slide down the shaft.

"Fuck, that's good," he grunts, a small degree of the tension and buildup released.

Pushing him all the way to the back of your throat and you are rewarded with a long groan. His hands are flexing and grabbing at your hair. You finally start to bob up and down on him and his breath hitches.

"Oh God, El. Fuck you're so good at that," he groans as he lightly thrusts his hips up chasing more.

You keep a steady pace, not fast enough to get him off yet, but definitely enough to get him closer. You place one hand at the base of his cock to take care of the length you can't fit in your mouth and move it in sync with your mouth while the other gently cradles his balls. You're rewarded with more moaning and his running mouth,

"You know if Notre Dame played as well as you suck cock, they would've blown Navy out of the water."

You make sure he sees your eyes roll when he looks down at you, in a slightly bratty move you press hard at his taint earning a startled grunt. A laughing moan escapes his lips before he retorts,

"Is someone a sore loser, El?"

You pull off his dick, smart mouth ready in other ways,

"Seems like I'm a pretty good loser, considering your dick is in my mouth. Which I mean, I could leave you hanging, Hangman."

"You wouldn't dare–," his reply is cut short as you take him down to the root, the golden curls tickling your nose, his cock sliding down your relaxed throat. You bob your head up and down as he lightly thrusts to fuck your throat.

You increase your pace adding some actual sucking to increase the intensity. Jake moans are turning into pants, you look up and he is trying to keep his head from falling back so he can watch you.

"Oh fuck, keep going, so close," he pleads as an incoherent string of words comes out. His body tightens and then he floods your mouth with his release. You swallow it all. Keeping your mouth on him, you ride out his orgasm with him. You let his softening cock slip out gently and you give the tip one last sweet kiss. When you look up his head is slung back on the couch and his chest is heaving as he catches his breath.

You stand up and take in the view, an absolutely ravished Jake Seresin. He is completely limp on the couch, eyes closed in the afterglow. You step over his right leg to get your clothes.

He snaps out of his near catatonic state and grabs you with his hands pulling you down on top of him, your back to his chest.

"Do you really think I'd let you get away without getting off? Leave you hanging?" he whispers into your ear as he slides his hand down your stomach.

"This was all about you, winner," you reply.

"I may have won, but I'll definitely be a good sport about it," he says as his strong fingers circle your clit. He continues down and dips a finger into your pussy, feeling how wet you are.

"My my my, you're very wet, were you turned on sucking my cock?" he asks.

You whine with need more than answer him.

"Answer me, El," he commands as he slowly circles your clit.

"I was, it's such a nice cock. I was thinking about it inside me, fucking me."

This is the answer he is looking for as he starts to rub faster and his other hand comes up to play with your tits.

"God damn, El, you are so sexy, so beautiful. I love watching you come apart."

The tightness in you is building, you crest and shatter when Jake dips one of his large fingers into your slit. He holds his fingers still against your clit riding out the aftershocks. Pretty soon you fall limp against his body satisfied for the moment

He starts kissing the side of your neck as you come down.

"Want to bet on next week's game?" he asks with a cheeky grin against your skin.

"Why wait till next week? I think you're ready for round two," you reply, grinding against his already hard dick. The kiss deepens until a beeping is heard from the pile of clothes at the end of the couch. He grabs his phone and shuts the reminder off while you're still in lap.

"Too bad it's time for Texas to play, darling," he smugly answers, enjoying the look of instant frustration on your face.

"Did I just get cock blocked by football?" you ask, repeating his words from earlier.

"Not any football game, the Texas game, sweetheart."

"Same bet?" you ask.

"You're on, El.'

This is the gameplay from the 2007 ND vs. Navy game where Navy did indeed upset ND.

@kmc1989

@starswholistenanddreamsanswered

@mayhemmanaged

@callmemana

@dempy

@hangmanscoming

@lanie-k

@callsign-viper

@senjoritanana

@djs8891

@atarmychick007

@memoriesat30

@midnightmagpiemama

@mygyn

#top gun maverick #hangman #hangman fanfiction #jake seresin fanfiction #top gun fanfiction #top gun smut #hangman x you #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin x you #jake seresin x you #hangman smut

[meimi-haneoka]

What are your top 10 favorite scenes in Clear Card manga? (Not counting the anime because it hasn't been finished yet)

Aaaahhh nice question! 🤭 Thank you so much for sending me this ask, since now that the main story is over, with a cool mind, it gave me the opportunity to think about the scenes I loved the most.

It is actually quite hard for me to choose, because there are so many good scenes, and it somehow feels also "unfair" to make a ranking, but I will try to answer with my CURRENT top 10, which is highly depending on my current inclinations and preferences. 😊 (under the cut, with explanations and analysis for each scene)

10. Chapter 1, "We'll be together forever"

I'm not placing this here because it's my least favorite, not at all, but because after more than 7 years, its power to evoke emotions in me has been supplanted by other scenes. 😅 I dunno how to explain it but, while it stays one of the most important and nostalgic scenes in this series, so much more happened in this arc that I feel "in a stronger way" than this scene. Still, it's in my top 10 because I was highly emotional when I've seen it in chapter 1.

9. Chapter 22, "Same goes for you, Syaoran-kun"

Ooooh, this was such a satisfactory moment, I still remember it. Till that moment, Sakura never gave out any hint that she had started to notice that Syaoran had been hiding something from her. This was portrayed differently in the anime, because Sakura confides her doubt with Meiling way before this scene happened in episode 21, but in the manga it was such a "wow" moment for me, because we had been screaming in our heads "how is it possible that Sakura is so oblivious that she doesn't notice anything", but no, she actually had already noticed, it's just that she wanted to take all of us by surprise, Syaoran included! And she was waiting patiently for him to talk to her. I also liked the way she phrased this, because it might be interpreted as slightly slightly calling him out while telling him "please open up to me" with love. Which is exactly what also will happen with another couple later on.

8. Chapter 33, Sakura hugs Syaoran with a resolute face

Another moment that made me scream "QUEEN!!" was this one. Oooh, how much I loved Sakura in this specific panel. Syaoran is prevented from warning her about Kaito and what he knows about him, so he desperately tries to convey to her with that crushing hug that no matter what happens, he's going to protect her. But since Sakura had just found out the truth about the Clear Cards and felt the frustration of not having understood it earlier, causing her loved one to put himself into a dangerous position, her resolute face here always conveyed to me her desire to be more "in touch" with herself, finally "waking up" and do her part to protect Syaoran in turn. That little hand gripping Syaoran's shirt tightly is everything to me. It's so rare to see Sakura depicted with such strong and complex feelings.

7. Chapter 41/42, Syaoran and Kaito's fight

One of my favorite scenes, no doubt. You have no idea how much I'm anticipating to see this scene in the anime. It's not only because my two favorite boys are basically arguing over who's more "I'll save/protect my most important person no matter what" (even if one of them hasn't figured it out yet), but it's also because we have a pretty violent Syaoran here...he attacked Kaito behind his back with a freaking lightning, without notice or anything else, and that made me go "wow Syaoran, you must be quite mad if you're not caring about fair play in this confrontation" 😂 And it's also pretty uncharacteristic of Kaito to be taken by suprise by someone....but this is just because Nadeshiko had distracted him with a topic that really dug deep in his core.

6. Chapter 31, "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun"

And of course, this is another main scene that I can't wait to see animated and that really left an impact on me. I realize that my favorite scenes are those where the characters do something you wouldn't expect from them basing on what's been portrayed of them till that moment. And I think hearing Sakura say "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun" had a major impact on me. And felt very satisfactory. Of course I knew that Sakura would've never lashed out at Syaoran when she would've found out about the Sakura Cards, about lying and omitting things to her...Sakura knows that her Syaoran would never reach such lengths if it weren't for her safety. But still, he didn't fully consider the consequences of his actions, which could've been so much worse than what we've seen, and I think in that moment Sakura fully realized all of that, and it's inevitable that the pain turned also into anger because "how can you be so blind to not realize that you would've killed me if something happened to you?". Sakura's calm and composed anger and pain is very much in character for her, but also something we yet had to see till that moment, so it felt really refreshing. I also remember her next sentence, "Even if it would've made you uncomfortable, I would've cried and cried forever". It's as if she was telling him "in front of something of such gravity, I need to take notice of my own feelings and express them. I WILL react in this way, even if I know that I will make you feel bad about it." It's claiming the right to be angry when your loved one messes up big time with you. (lord, the parallels!) And Syaoran's hug to her head, not even allowing himself to hug her body, felt very humble and respectful from his part, in my opinion. He absolutely felt the need to apologize and comfort her, but not invading her space and comfortable zone too much.

5. Chapter 52, "But you look like you're in pain"

Chapter 52 was a "parallels fest" beginning to end, and more than a scene, I'd daresay I place the entire chapter in this position of the ranking. It was very nice to see, for once, a parallelism between Akiho and Syaoran, rather than the usual Akiho and Sakura. I think CLAMP took care in depicting this scene because they wanted to make sure that the readers understood that, despite being under a "synchronization", the feelings Sakura and Akiho have for their loved ones are absolutely genuine, unique and personal to eachother. In short, Akiho doesn't act in a certain way towards Kaito because she's "mimicking" what Sakura does with Syaoran. If there's one thing in CLAMP manga that always eluded hitsuzen, plotting, scheming, even premonitions, are the feelings the characters have for their important people, and it's not something specific to CCS. Not even magic can change the feelings someone got for someone else, just as magic alone cannot make someone fall in love with someone else. It's always coming from the heart. And so, in this scene we see two kids deeply worried for their loved ones, who look in pain, and CLAMP have shown to us how their situations, although paralleling, had two very different outcomes, not because the feelings at the base were different, but because their circumstances were different. In the Akiho/Kaito half, I was absolutely heartbroken by Kaito's reaction, dictated by fear and isolation. But I was also in awe at Akiho's strength of mind, the way she kept insisting for Kaito to open up to her because she just could feel that something wasn't right, it hadn't been for a while at this point, and the fear to lose him made her stronger and more incisive than ever. Alas, Kaito's stubborness at this point of the story is basically playing a tug of war with her (a game Akiho has no intention to lose), so he had that reaction of running away and shutting the door in her face, another thing I found extremely uncharacteristic of him, because he had always been so respectful and diligent in his "role of the butler". With the progression of the story, this reaction became so much more clear and coherent with his state of mind. To this day, this chapter is so dear to me because of the strong and complex emotions depicted in it (even though at the time it hurt so much).

4. Chapter 80, "Cristaux. That's my true name"

Well yes, it might be because it's just fresh in my mind, or because it was, in a way, the end of the tribulations for me to see this guy finally realizing what Akiho is to him, but I feel this scene in my core. The choice to reveal his true name to her, what it means in a CLAMP manga, the intimacy of the scene without actually depicting anything that any reader (who doesn't know CLAMP well) would consider "regular" for a romantic scene (so much that a good amount of people didn't understand what happened here), makes it so precious and special to me. When I've talked about this scene in the stories of my IG account, I used "Delicate" by Taylor Swift as a background song, because I really feel like CLAMP depicted Kaito's intentions in a very delicate way. Which is how it is supposed to be, how their relationship will develop and transform along the way. They need so much sensitivity, gentleness, time, tenderness, because they both have lots of scars they need to heal from. And just like in the song, Kaito is starting to acknowledge many things and he's moving a tiny step ahead in that direction, with this gesture that means so much (and Akiho is perfectly aware of what it entails). It's like "starting again" for them, this time from a foundation of honesty and trust. Slowly, slowly healing and building their bond back up. It's the evidence that when your heart is in the right place, there's always a second chance and Kaito showed here that he doesn't want to waste it.

3. Chapter 78, Akiho and Kaito's reunion

Well. OF COURSE this would be in my top 3! I cried so much!! 🥲 The emotional tension, Akiho's anger, Kaito's silence that suggested how stunned he was, finally realizing things that we waited for the whole manga for him to see... I think the one aspect that struck me the hardest in this scene was imagining to be in Akiho's shoes in that moment, and feeling all that love and anger pouring out of her, without even fully understanding where those feelings came from, because she still didn't remember anything about him. Like, you have someone in front of you, your heart knows it's the person you love, and yet you can't remember anything about them, not even their name. But you still feel this storm of feelings pouring out of you. So powerful. As powerful was Akiho's assertiveness when she rebuked Kaito not only for deciding her happiness on her behalf, without asking her absolutely anything, but most importantly because he dared to remove himself from her life, thinking "she doesn't need me to be happy, after all", when he was so so so wrong. And in doing that, he committed another horrible thing, he literally threw himself away in the process, like something of no value. I think more than anything else, this was what hurt Akiho the most. And we always go back to that parallelism of chapter 31, how these boys, in their fever of protecting their most important person, completely forget/don't see how fundamental THEY are to that person's happiness. Out of this whole reunion, another scene I love is when Akiho kinda "pulls" Kaito back to her, pressuring him to go along with Sakura's plan to revert him back to his true appearance (from that of a dragon). You can see that his self-loathing makes him hesitate, and resist that plan till the last second, but when he exchanges that long stare with Akiho, he finally caves in. Her hard stare, which shows already the irritation and pain that will overflow afterwards, makes him feel "wanted", necessary to someone. Just for being himself, not because of his powers, like it had been till he met her. That's another moment of this scene that I love deeply.

2. Chapter 48, "The moon is beautiful"

Yeah I'm sorry, I've been debating whether this scene would go to n. 1 or not, then decided otherwise, but I can't lie to myself: the scene that impacted me the most in this entire manga, the one that changed me, is this one. Akiho's covert love confession under the full moon. And until someone explained to me what Akiho actually meant with that "because the moon is really beautiful", I had considered this just a very sweet and cute scene, but nothing more. When someone gave me the correct "reading key" (and it's absolutely intentional because Akiho's speech is placed between quote marks), something changed inside of me towards these two. I already liked them, Akiho in particular, but this scene confirmed to me that Akiho was serious in wanting to grasp her life tightly and change it. From a shy, insecure girl needing validation at every sentence, crushed by the trauma of the past, to someone who actually made the first, concrete steps in conveying her thoughts and feelings to the person most important to her. From stillness, to action. The first steps towards finding her voice, and letting it be heard, louder and louder, throughout the story. This is a very important turning point, as you can literally see her changing, after this scene. Even in this metaphorical way, it must have required for Akiho to muster all of her courage to confess her feelings. Did Kaito understand what she meant, here? To this day, I don't think he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such a foolish thing like "I didn't think you needed me to be happy" in ch. 78. But he still wanted to spend time with her, he was visibly glad to receive that "invitation" from her, even though he never let that transpire from his words, his reply is a line carefully built in Japanese to address what Akiho wanted, not what he wanted. Cause he couldn't allow himself to want anything, aside from that one wish, knowing very well how this would've ended. Chapter 48 and 49 were giving us everything we needed to know to determine not only Akiho's feelings towards Kaito, but also his own feelings for her. It's very clear by the way they look at eachother in their scenes of these two chapters. And yet, the smell of "doom" was looming over them (so much that at the time I thought this would be their last conversation before everything went down the drain; fortunately it wasn't), so this "duality" created the perfect mix to get me definitively invested in these two.

1. Chapter 79, "I can't be on everyone's side"

I chose this scene for the 1st position because I absolutely adored the revolutionary and strong message that Sakura passed in the very culmination of the climax. I felt we really needed it. More than once I had feared, throughout the serialization, that CLAMP would've shown Sakura trying to "befriend" or "compromise" with the Squids & Association, when the "moment of the truth" would've come. Because of the apparent "dogma" that "Sakura is everyone's friend, no one is evil in Sakura's world, Sakura is such a good girl".

But what they had already shown about Akiho's clan and the Association ABSOLUTELY couldn't be justified or compromised with. CLAMP had already shown too much cruelty from them, there couldn't be any "redeeming arc" or anything like that, that wouldn't result in being offensive to the sensitivity and intelligence of the readers. Sometimes it happens that you just can't compromise with cruel people guided only by greed. You shouldn't. Especially if they abused other people ever since they were so little.

In this specific scene, CLAMP have put Sakura in front of a choice, but not only that: they also made her question her own morality. How I adored that! Sakura does realize that what she's about to do might not be good from a moral standpoint, forcing people to forget about something without their consent. Exactly what Kaito did before. But she doesn't care. This is something different, and the difference lies in the intentions. While Kaito acted out of love, those other people were clearly trying to harm her friends. Because of this, she spells out clearly that she can't be on everyone's side. Because at some point a choice needs to be made, and she chose Akiho and Kaito. This scene right here is, perhaps, the one that answers the question that I know many people made themselves throughout the story, and after it was over: did we need Akiho and Kaito in Cardcaptor Sakura?

Yes, we did.

Because they brought Sakura to this moment, and they pushed her to make this decision. The decision to choose her loved ones' happiness over anything else, even her own morality, particularly when cruel intentions were involved towards people with a background much less happier and ideal than hers'. The decision to go on along with them, rather than trying to go back to how things were before. The decision to do whatever in her power to protect them. A series of decisions that brought her an enormous character development. This thematic of "going on" rather than "going back" was so strong in Tsubasa too, and it's not a coincidence that everyone could feel a strong connection to that other CLAMP work, in the final 2 chapters (and not only because of the cameos).

I think this scene defined and changed CCS forever (for the better, in my opinion). I feel like the essence of Clear Card is all here. This feeling of "everything we went through was for this moment" is so strong that made me designate it as my n. 1 scene!✨

#reply #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #card captor sakura #syaosaku #yunaaki #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #lol I didn't think this ask would take me so long to reply #but I had some 'accidents' along the way #anyway this is basically just me rambling again about my favorite scenes under the cut

[fyodcrs]

I’ve got a somewhat delusional theory. So in the anime Fyodor is seen wearing a bandage on his right (?) hand because of the injury, which is how he ended up being defeated since he was forced to let the vampires operate the helicopter.

I looked back at the manga….and he’s not seen wearing a bandage on either hand at all, he doesn’t even seem to have that injury.

Does this mean the manga will be different?? Because how will the manga explain Fyodor losing because of the injury when it was never depicted in the manga? I highly doubt asagiri and harukawa would forget a detail like that. But this could just be me being delusional and hoping for something different

I've been wondering about that, too, because you're right: he doesn't have the hand injury in the manga. I thought it was kind of odd that they gave him that injury in the anime, and put so much focus on it. Obviously now we know why - it was the key to his defeat. Which, by the way, is actually kind of stupid, because the hand injury clearly doesn't bother him all that much:

Sure, operating a helicopter is going to be a lot more involved than pressing a button or holding someone's hand, but the injury clearly isn't so severe that he can't use it at all. It's kind of a dumb (and super random) thing to be what gets him in the end.

I actually thought that his bleeding hand was a hint at something completely different, because remember how the anime also added this scene in Fitzgerald Rising, which isn't in the manga?:

So I was like: "Hmm. Maybe they have been hinting at something important about his character involving blood? Something related to his Ability, even his anemia?"

But no, I was overthinking, it was just so he could make a dumb decision and get himself killed. Okay then. Honestly? I felt that whole scene was a little OOC for Fyodor. I feel like he'd want to pilot the helicopter himself, injured hand or not. Isn't the whole point supposed to be that he doesn't have implicit trust in his "allies"? Wasn't that the whole point of Dazai's victory speech? Well, it actually was trusting his allies that got him, because he apparently trusted that Fukuchi had control of Bram and that the vampires were wholly his pawns to control. I am confuzzled.

But I digress. Maybe it is slightly delusional, anon, but I'm also assuming that things have to go differently in the manga, because the hand injury didn't happen, so that can't be a major plot point. Or maybe he's going to injure his hand before escaping the prison, and the anime just put it in sooner to do some cool foreshadowing? It's either that or his death won't play out the same way.

*sigh* I'm hoping it goes differently, because in my opinion, his death was the sloppiest writing I've seen in this series. If this is what Asagiri has planned, I have been giving him way too much credit as a writer up to this point. Granted I'm very biased, and I've had my own ideas of how I would like Fyodor's character to end up, but I know I'm not alone in thinking this was just plain bad from a writing standpoint.

Unless, of course, everyone saying that he isn't really dead are right. I'm praying ;.; I'll forgive everything if that turns out to be the case ;.;

#Fyodor #Bungou Stray Dogs #anon you have no idea my head has been spinning trying to come up with theories #delusional or otherwise #I'm trying to take a deep breath and wait to see what happens in the manga #and just focus on the fyosig and fyozai fanfics I'm working on to pretend none of this happened sdfghjghj #BSD

[2darklymelanatedstories]

Nameless crush (ft Piccolo)

Part 1: Curiosity

So beautiful. I found a perfect spot in the forest. A beautiful view of the sun resting on the horizon. Gohan took me her a few weeks back when we were trying to escape fangirls and paparazzi cause I asked to take a picture of him in his Great Saiyan Man outfit. I chuckled at the memory off Gohan almost being stripped naked by a bunch of fan girls.

I stared at the horizon as the fresh breeze hit my face. I enjoyed every minute of it. The peace, the fresh air, the view, nature. You couldn't find any of these in the city. Other than that there was something else about this place that drew me in, I don't know if its just the beauty of mother nature but something in me keeps telling me to come back. Like I'll find something more.

But every time I came back there wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. I took out my earphones from my pocket and placed them in my ears. A song was already playing, probably because I never turn my music off. I listen to music more than I listen to people so I like to something playing just incase I need to tune out someone.

I laid there on the grass and looked up at the semi dark clouds in the sky.

"Hmm, could rain soon."I said to myself. Though I didn't really care if it rained. I don't mind getting wet. I closed my eyes and dozed off. Drifting into my secluded dream world.

I felt a wet, icy drop hit my cheek, though I dismissed it and went back to sleep. It wasn't until I heard a sound of someone moving, that I shot up and looked around, scanning my surroundings.

"Probably just another animal walking past."I said to myself as I let out a breath of relief. Though I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched. It started raining harder. I took out my earphones, my I've already went through my whole playlist so my music stopped playing a while ago. I looked up at the sky, letting the water stream down my face.

"Shouldn't you be indoors right now?"asked a deep, male voice from behind. It startled me but I didn't show it.

"I could ask you the same thing."I replied, my face still enjoying the cool rain. "Its raining cats and dogs out here, why aren't you inside?"

"I like training in the rain sometimes."the man said. "Whats your excuse?"

I stood up and cracked back, my back still facing the man.

"I like the rain out here and I don't feel like going back to the city. Its so peaceful here."

"Don't earthlings usually get sick from sleeping in the rain though?"he asked. "Earthling?" I thought.

Is this guy one of the aliens I've heard of or just weirdo. I heard him take a few steps closer. With my guard up, I turned quickly turned around to face this strange man.

I jumped back in shock to see him right in front of me. His chest so close to my face. It looked like...is he green? His purple gi that stuck to his green, wet, toned body and a white cape that gently flew in the breeze.

"Ok so he's clearly an alien. Dare I look up at his face?"

I slowly lifted my head up at the green man...alien. His dark, ivory eyes looked down at mine. I tried my best to hide my nervousness but I guess he could sense it becuase he took a few steps back.

I stared at his face, his features for a while. He didn't look that bad, actually pretty handsome.

"So are you gonna answer my question or just keep staring?"he questioned with an annoyed tone. It snapped me out of my thoughts breaking me out of the trance I was in.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I was just-"

"Staring at the hideous monster before you?"

I waved my arms frantically in the air, with an embarrassing blush on my face.

"What!? No, no. I mean I was staring but," I trailed off. "You're not hideous, you're actually pretty handsome for an alien. Gah! Not that I'm saying aliens are ugly but-"

He raised his hand, cutting me off. "Its fine. I understand, most people react this way when they see me",he said. "At least before running away screaming. Which I believe now is your cue to do so."

"Why would I do that?"I asked.

"Why not? Most earthlings do." He seemed curious.

"Well I'm not most. Thats stereotypical."I said, glaring at him. His dark, cold eyes staring back.

We glared at each other for about a minute until...I sneezed. He chuckled a bit before going back to his stoic state.

"Whats so funny?"I asked.

"I guess that answers my question."he teased. "You should head home, before it gets worse." He turned and flew up a few feet in the air.

"Hey wait, you can fly? Then why not give me a lift!?",I yelled out. He stopped mid-flight and turned to me with a grin on his face.

"I don't pick up weirdo's who like sleeping in the rain.",he responded. "Sorry but you're on your own. I also noticed that you didn't come here with a car, better start walking."

He then flew off, leaving me here.

"Why you big green–ugh!",I yelled, stomping my foot on the wet ground.

"Guess its my fault anyway. But he could've been a little helpful."

I walked back to the city, it wasn't to far from where I was. Plus it wasn't that bad since the rain lightened. Everything I had on was soaked and the uncomfortably wet clothes made it almost unbearable. But I made it nonetheless.

I opened the door to my apartment, tracking water and mud all over my floor. I stripped and got into the bath. After what happened I didn't feel like another shower. After the 20 minute soak I got into my fuzzy PJs, and slippers and made myself some tea while binge watching My wife and kids. I didn't pay attention to most of it as I was busy thinking of that alien guy I met. I silently cursed when I realised I didn't get his name. My God he was handsome. I needed to take a picture of him next time.

~

I couldn't sleep. My thoughts of this guy kept me up. Question after question hitting my brain whenever I tried to sleep. I needed to know more, to see more, to hear more. I got up around 3 in the morning and packed all my stuff. I wore my favourite black and yellow hoodie, dark jeans and purple sneakers. I left the apartment and headed to the same spot. Multitasking trying to tie my hair and eat a chocolate bar for my "breakfast".

I headed to the spot, the sun started rising in between the moutains. Letting nice warm light hit my face.

"Oh, it's you again." That deep voice, it was definitely him. "Though I didn't expect you to be here so early.",he said, he sounded intrigued. "Or do you always do this every morning?"

"Nope, I couldn't sleep so I decided to come here and explore the forest.",I said.

"Oh really. There's a lot of places to go to but you decided to come to this exact spot. Why?"

I wanted to turn around and look at him but fear of staring into those eyes stopped me.

"I just wanted to enjoy the view first.",I said nervously.

"Ok let me not stop you. Enjoy.",he said somehow knowingly. I heard him walking further away from me with each step.

"Wait.",I said. He stopped. "What's your name?" I turned to him. His back facing me. He glanced over his shoulder, his dark pupils got a glimpse of me.

"Piccolo."he said.

"Piccolo." His name felt sweet when I uttered it. Leaving my lips tingling.

"Nice name.",I happily said.

"I believe this is the part where you tell me yours." He came closer but this time I showed no nervousness. I tried to keep a neutral face but a smile crept out when he took his final step.

"Nope. I don't feel obligated to go around telling my name to strangers."

"You're a weird one."

"Really? Thank you, I was always told I wasn't normal. Now here an alien is, proving everyones point by calling me weird.

He gave me a small smile before levitating with his legs crossed. His eyes never leaving mine. Like he was observing me.

"Didn't anyone tell you its rude to stare?"I asked.

"Thats funny coming from someone who couldn't take their eyes off me yesterday."

I couldn't say anything. I just stared at him as a light blush appeared on my face. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, like he found this amusing.

I let out a fake cough. "What?"

"Why are you nervous?",he questioned. I snapped myself out of it and stood confidently.

"I'm not. Why would I be?" I folded my arms and turned to the side avoiding his gaze.

"Your face."

"What about my face?" I then became self conscious. Was there something on my face?

"Nothing. So you're not going to tell me your name?"he asked, changing the topic.

"No, why do you wanna know anyway?" At this point I was just trying to distract him with questions so he'd stop staring.

"Just curious."

The sound of his feet touching the ground made me quickly turn to face him. He glanced down at my bag for a second before looking back at me.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then.",he said before walking away.

"How do you know I'll be here tomorrow?",I asked suspiciously.

"I know you will.",he stated before taking off.

I sighed. Sweet breath of relief. His charcoal coloured eyes stopped staring into my soul. At least I knew his name now.

"Piccolo."

#piccolo #piccolo x oc #dragonball z #dragonball super #dragonball #dbs #dbz #piccolo x reader

[shuttershocky]

As an avid (?) Dota player, what's your opinion on other games in the genre such as HoTs, LoL, HoN etc?

I'm an avid Dota fan, but only a casual player as evidenced by my playtime

Anyway to answer your question, I've tried quite a few in my time!

Heroes of Newerth - This was Dota 2 before Dota 2. Had many old heroes from Dota but with a ridiculously fast turn rate and overall game speed. I didn't get to play it much, but a ton of the current pros in Dota 2 came from the HoN scene. I'm still hoping Icefrog ports some HoN heroes over (though some abilities like Puppet Master's Crazy Puppet have already made their way into Dota through skills like Winter's Curse) now that HoN is, you know, dead.

League of Legends - I had a lot of fun with it as a more action based take on the genre, but i disliked the general streamlining of strategy. Replacing trees and high ground for vision breaking with tall grass that just makes you invis while inside didn't really sit right with me, as well as how tame skills and items were compared to Dota (an ultimate stun in League is about the length of a regular stun in Dota, as League does not have an equivalent to BKB. Something like Flash moved you only a tiny hop compared to Blink Dagger's screen wide teleport, because of how busted introducing Dota-style mobility would be in League of Legends). Loved certain members of the cast though. My faves were Leona, Orianna, Lux, and Ezreal. The last time I played, they had just newly introduced Yasuo (I think this was in 2013?) so I'm sure a lot has changed since then.

Heroes of the Storm - It was a party game. I don't know how else to describe it. Way too gimmicky and casual for my taste, though I thought its talent tree was really cool (and Icefrog did as well apparently, patch 7.00 brought HotS talent tree into Dota). They also had some ridiculously cool ideas for character skillsets, Abathur was completely insane, and the Lost Vikings were a very unique take on one hero who is many (such as Meepo).

Smite - I played Smite in the beta and didn't play it anymore after it actually released. the 3D angle felt novel, but I really didn't see the point of switching to a 3rd person action control scheme vs isometric point and click when the map was just as flat with no verticality whatsoever. You can't make a classic MOBA map and then make someone run around it in 3D, without verticality it feels very boring and stale. I'm sure they improved it post launch though. It was also really fun to have main menu animations in the beta where the gods of various pantheons would be palling around. If I remember correctly, the Play button was a Norse deity (i forgot who) giving Ra a bearhug and ruffling his head while they smile at the player. So cute.

Battleborn - Every day I have to contend with the knowledge that Overwatch lived and Battleborn died. I liked Battleborn. i will never get to play Marquis or Phoebe again because the servers are deactivated. Fuck.

Super Monday Night Combat - Yes it was flawed. Yes making your level act as a multiplier of your stats (meaning being just 1 level above the enemy gave you an insane advantage) was really bad for game pacing and made games stompy. Yes every character having a grab attack meant that every character in the game had a channeled stun. I don't care. It had Captain Spark, a weird Rocketeer- Shark Boy fusion, and the most fun blink in the history of PVP games. This dude could teleport through walls and floors, letting knowledgeable players potentially get the drop on people from ANYWHERE (if they dont teleport to their deaths anyway) and that 360 degrees of possible angles was so fun I still daydream about getting to play Spark again. I can't. They deactivated the servers. I loved this game so dearly I wrote up character guides and posted on the forums every day. SMNC is where i got the name of this blog; my username used to be Camerashy, then it became Shuttershy, then people playing against me in SMNC thought this was a my little pony reference, so Shuttershocky it was.

Gigantic - They killed the perfect video game. I was there since Alpha testing. I have a shirt from the developers. Gigantic had some of the best character art in the history of video games. Playing it felt amazing, like someone finally figured out how to do a 3D MOBA, and it was to flip the whole concept on its head. Rather than defend a base, you had a massive kaiju on your team that kicked ass, and your objective was taking down the enemy kaiju while yours literally tore the battlefield apart. God. It was everything. I loved it so much. It had so much life left to live, but nobody played it, another victim of being a cartoon 3D team game that dared to be around when Overwatch arrived. Players who came in during beta or release never even got to play my favorite character of the Alpha test: Roland, because they took Roland away for some reworking and promised he'd come back, only for Gigantic to die before Roland ever returned. Tyto. Tripp. Mozi. Especially Beckett and Imani. I miss all of you every day. This was as close a PVP game could get to perfection in my eyes and it's gone. I will forever grieve what could have been

[superanimepirate]

PJO TV Show Live Reactions Part 3

I'm out of Chocolate chip cookies, but I did have cereal and I'm ready for Medusa

Oh, and this is not spoiler free for the books and possible future TV show events

Oh the attic is creepy and the oracle is creepier I love it.

Ah Baby's first Quest and Oracle Visitation

Oh they didn't show the rest of the prophecy. Interesting? I'm not sure why exactly, I guess so we can find out later?

Oh he's actually choosing his companions. Oh he didn't wait for Annabeth that was cute.

Wait so Blackjack is just...at Camp? Does Luke steal him later?

Poor Grover on scooper duty. Of course Percy would choose him tho.

Oh! Ok there's the prophecy. He's worried about the friend betrayal. I don't if he thinks it will be Annabeth, since he had that little speech about trusting her to do what was needed to be done?

I love the Poseidon Cabin its so pretty! There's a water feature!

Oh. Hello. Luke

Oh I like the animation on the shows that's cute.

Oh. Yeah. I knew Percy was considering Luke. I'm so glad he chose Grover, who knows how that would have turned out. It...probably would be really bad actually.

Wait. Something I've never actually considered of before, can Grover talk to Thalia's spirit that's in the tree? Does the tree have a dryad? Don't all tree's have dryads? But Thalia's is a special tree. Huh.

Percy be nice! Before Annabeth smacks you lol, Thalia is a bit of a touchy subject, though I understand the comment of gods and saving Thalia.

Oh, we've cut out Argus?

Oh Annabeth is being difficult but it's kind of adorable. Grover...what are you doing? I mean, its adorable, but what?

Never split the party!

Hello old Mrs. Dodds. Annabeth, don't antagonize the fury

Oh, HoO foreshadowing?

Wait Percy, why bring the shoes in a box? Instead of wearing them or giving them to Grover?

"I didn't even know New Jersey had forests, but we found one!" Walker Scobell has somehow harvested the spirit of Percy Jackson, I fear he may be unstoppable

Pfft Oh Percy, you think you can just...call a goddess?

Grover the vegetarian is investigating someone cooking hamburgers on a Satyr path. Ok

Oh the statues actually look pretty cool

Hello again, Mrs Dodds

Oh, we've got her actually name now, cool. Hello Auntie Em. I'm really liking the actress already

Oh we aren't beating around the bush ok Hello Medusa

Ok, so far I'm loving this version of Medusa, but I wonder if we well get the meta commentary on how monsters take out grudges on the children of the gods, since she at least claims she won't do that to Annabeth. In this, did Annabeth get tormented by spiders

Annabeth, don't antagonize the gorgon

Medusa's story time! I'm glad they kept that she was a priestess for Athena, but they took out the screwing around in Athena's temple, or did I misunderstand that? Or maybe that's what Annabeth is talking about, calling her a liar? IDK there have been many versions of that story, including one that paints Poseidon in a very bad light and Athena in an even worse one so...

Oh, what are you offering Medusa? This is creepy and I love it

Creepy basement full of statues. Lovely

I'm not sure if I love or hate that Medusa is still beautiful in this instead of ugly

Oh the invisibility hat! That's smart!

Love that they used it against Alecto

But I'm still waiting for Percy to be Impertinent

Uncle Ferdinand! :(

Bury it in the basement? That's not impertinent. And would lose Annabeth her hat. Thank you Grover, they both need to hear this, I love Grover.

Ah, there it is. The betrayl line. It makes sense it would bother him during this quest.

Oh so Percy and Annabeth had monsters trying to turn them on eachother, is it Grover's turn? Will it be the Pink Poodle Gloriosa?

Ah. There's the impertinence. I love sending the head to Olympus, but I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about using that head against Gabe, he doesn't seem very abusive in this version, though abusers don't always go 100 % all the time so I guess we'll see

Percy is singing the song!!! These kids are too cute for this dangerous quest

Hermes! Oh are we going to see the delivery next episode? At least Hermes seems amused.

I like the ending song, and the credits still slaps

#percy jackson #percy jackson spoilers #percy jackson tv show #percy jackson tv show spoilers #percy jackson live action #percy jackson live action spoilers #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson and the olypians spoilers #pjo #pjo spoilers #pjo tv show #pjo tv show spoilers #i hope that covers the spoilers tags i'm still not sure if there is a consensus on that #really liked this episode despite some odd choices #Wonder if we'll get a thalia cameo #i don't think she's been cast #has she?

[hopeymchope]

...so where's my In/Spectre season 3 announcement already?!

My friggin' gourd, In/Spectre has damn near everything I could want in an anime.

Fascinating, intense, twisting, DARK mysteries... ?

...that can sometimes also include surprisingly heartwarming turns that hit me in the feels?

A pair of interesting central protagonists with an endearingly off-kilter romance going on?

Dialogue delivery and animation framing that serve comedic interjections EXTREMELY well?

Episodes that flow between each other so naturally that it's tailor-made for binging story arcs in chunks?

Some amazing fucking lore that includes both supernatural creatures from ye old folklore — as well as ideas I've never seen explored before?

I mean, what else do I love and need in an anime, really?? I suppose, I DO like my high-stakes games full of betrayal and manipulation... but there's enough brilliant manipulation from our lead heroine that I get a side dish of that feeling, too.

If it has one weakness (...for some people, I mean; definitely not for me...), it's that it's so heavily focused on delivering amazing dialogue-heavy monologues full of investigative reveals and character insights. So if you're someone looking for cool action sequences or whatever, there's definitely NOT much of that here.

...although sometimes... on rare occasions... they deliver THAT AS WELL.

In short: For my tastes, In/Spectre is the WHOLE FUCKING PACKAGE. Season 1 was so focused on one big, season-long mystery that I didn't get a full enough taste to be sure, but season 2's mix of story arcs has shown me that it's just wall-to-wall EXCELLENT storytelling.

And I haven't even mentioned the BEST thing it has — It already has more than enough stories in its base novels AND its manga adaption to fill an entire third season. Like, RIGHT NOW.

So. How? Where? When? Who do I have to fuck, marry, AND/OR kill to get MORE ASAP?

#in/spectre #kotoko iwanaga #kuro sakuragawa #steel lady nanase #anime gifs #anime #Kyokou Suiri #kurotoko

[corvidcrybaby]

Hello, friend! I just stepped into Hellsing this past weekend and through my scrolling for blogs to follow, I came across yours. I found you through your posts about your OC. Based on what I've already read from you, you seem like a highly thoughtful, kind and knowledgeable person, and I've got every intention of reading your stories and commenting on them!

If it pleases you, I'd like to ask you some questions about Hellsing and your relationship to it.

1. What first drew you to the series? And is it best to follow the manga, anime, or OVA in terms of interpreting the story?

2. If it was up to you, what would you change about the story?

3. What's your take on the overall dynamic between Alucard, Integra and Seras?

4. I see the story takes quite a few artistic liberties with the lore from Dracula by Bram Stoker. Why do you suppose Alucard tried to turn Mina? Do you suppose it was for similar reasons as those for why he turned Seras?

5. I've been doing my share of research into vampire lore as of late and have come to learn that the lore Bram Stoker borrowed from for and added to through his novel contains antisemitic undertones. As a Jewish individual and a fan of the Hellsing series, how do you navigate this? (Disclaimer: I am not Jewish, which is why I did not recognize this myself until recently.)

Thanks so much for your time and attention. Happy Holidays!

First of all, oh my gosh thank you so much for the kind words! This ask made my whole day - I hope you enjoy my works, I feel like you can physically see my sense of writing develop over time but I put a shitload of heart and soul into them so I hope it shows. <3 As for your questions, I'm going to get into some major spoilers, so reader be warned beneath the Read More.

I think the general aesthetic was what drew me to the series at first. The dark, edgy and mysterious elements blended with pulpy action hero shit and campy horror form a really unique beast in terms of art, storytelling, everything. I saw someone refer to Hellsing's approach as "aesthetic maximalism" and tbh that is everything I love about it - all this, plus the surprisingly heartfelt messages about war, trauma and being human kept me coming back for more. As for which version is best to follow, I personally lean towards the manga as the main reference point, but Hirano was plenty involved (to my knowledge) with Ultimate's development since it's the adaptation that's faithful to the manga. The Gonzo 2001 anime has some fun ideas and cool moments but it's basically fanfic, including some major changes to the characters from their original versions (Integra is outright cruel at times in 2001 and way more dogmatic, Alucard is more brooding and mysterious, and Seras has more to do and feels more mature but her personality got flattened). Oh, that and BDSM as a narrative device. Love that shit.

I would make a couple of changes, personally. First and foremost, I would make it a little clearer why Alucard decided to shoot Seras before then turning her. It's never explained if he did this out of selfish desire to have a companion, or if there's some other reason - from our perspective it seems like he really did just murder Seras to make her his pet. It seems totally plausible for him to have shot the vampire holding her hostage without hurting Seras. Right now, it basically looks like a glorified abduction. However, this kind of clashes with how their dynamic develops over time, and that's clearly not the kind of relationship that's meant to be portrayed between them, as they do have a certain sort of genuine affection for one another, but it isn't delved into as much as I would like. I think making it clear one way or another would dispel the uncertainty. I would also expand on Millennium's origins and personal motivations more, and at least make the references to their crimes against Jews more overt. Beyond that, there is little I would change.

BDSM polycule. No. Literally. I don't even mean this to say that they are canonically a throuple - that misses the mark. BDSM is often sexual, but it does not need to be (plenty of dynamics exist where a dominant and submissive engage in a power exchange without ever touching one another for mutual benefit). The characters call those who direct their actions 'Master' for a reason, and it's because Hellsing is rife with themes of dominance versus submission, and how the act of bending to someone else's will is not necessarily a bad, damning thing that makes you weak. Alucard knows he is not a moral person, so he gladly allows Integra to give him orders on who to kill, who to destroy, and so on. Seras is a fearful person who has long struggled to feel a sense of agency in her life, and lacked authority figures to guide her growth. Alucard and Integra both provide her that push - and it's scary, and it hurts, and she puts up a fight all the while because she's frightened and uncertain of herself. Everyone likes to act as though Alucard hated her for this, but that seriously misses the mark. Especially in the manga, Alucard is surprisingly patient with her refusal to grow, telling her to take her time as she adapts to being a vampire. But at no point do either parties let Seras forget - growth is not optional. Eventually, she will have to accept what she is. And she ends up finding solace, belonging, and fulfillment in her service to others in this way.

I doubt it was for these reasons. Personally, I think Alucard’s affiliation with and interest in Mina Harker is often overstated by the fandom - of Dracula the novel, and of Hellsing. I view what he did to Mina as a cruel, strategic crime of opportunity, a means of striking at the heart of the team of vampire hunters that were pursuing him. That, and a means of keeping an eye on them. Nothing more, nothing less.

Aaahh that's a spicy meatball. So first and foremost I think it is important to note that a great deal of tropes in literature from the Eurosphere have some level of antisemitism baked into them. As one of the oldest forms of bigotry, it's just a fact of life. If you're Jewish and engaging with media whatsoever, you run into it. It just happens. Now, having said that, I would say two things. One, Alucard is far tamer in appearance than Dracula is in the novel. No small beady eyes, no retracted hairline of messy-fluffy hair, and while he does have an aquiline nose, it isn't this grotesque-looking oversized Zeppelin of a thing as most antisemitic caricatures would portray. That, and his negative personality traits are more than of a general brute, rather than this small-minded, vindictive, greedy miser. Having said that, he does still use seduction as a weapon, he does drink blood (blood libel), and so on. That in mind, I think where I fall is that you cannot divorce the vampire from its origins as an antisemitic trope, but you can point to the elements of the trope that aren't necessarily anti-Jewish in nature as well as say that Alucard is departed enough from these roots to be largely divorced from them. Largely, keyword.The other part to this is that antisemites in Hellsing are consistently portrayed as the villains. Indeed, it is perhaps the only usage of the Nazi Vampire trope that I think does it justice. By having the bigots that would normally insist that Jews are blood-drinking monsters be the actual monstrous enemies who kill and plunder just because it's fun for them (and that they did this as humans long before they turned to boot), it gives the impression of commentary on how Jews are often scapegoated for the crimes of actual bad actors, in the same way that Jews get blamed for the economy being bad instead of the rich corporate oil barons who sit in their ivory tower ruining shit for everyone else. That, and general commentary on warfare. Warmongers gorging themselves on the blood of innocent people that their conflicts spill is a classic allegory of the vampire - hell, for that matter, think of how many Confederate vampires there are in fiction. It isn't a coincidence (and come on, we've all seen the thumbnail for that one YouTube video essay on this, LOL). Beyond this, I also want to draw attention to two things: Tubalcain Alhambra's name, and the Captain's death. First off, the fact that Hirano named the Brazilian collaborator with the Nazis after the Alhambra Decree, a watershed moment in European antisemitism which expelled, forcibly converted or murdered all of Iberia's Jews (Sephardim), boggles my mind and to this day I think it's the coolest fucking detail about Hellsing. It links the bad guys both with religious persecution and with violent antisemitism in an unmistakable way. That, and his name, Tubalcain, being named after the son of Cain. It's all very pointed.

Second, the fact that the Captain gives Seras the tools needed to kill him and it's a silver tooth? That Pip specifies comes from a death camp victim and makes it crystal clear for narrative purposes that it represents the crimes of the Nazis coming back to bite them? That's powerful, to me, IMO. It, too, links Millennium with their antisemitic crimes against humanity in a way that you really cannot make excuses for. I've spoken about this with fellow Jewish Hellsing fans, mind you, and my take is more charitable than most. If you want to be specific with it, the widely agreed-on way to properly discuss Nazism is to show point blank that their victims were primarily Jews, first and foremost - and in that, Hellsing falls short, as there isn't a single Jewish character in the series, named or otherwise (which is a gap I wanted to fill through my fanfiction). Having said that, I personally think that as far as depictions of Nazis in anime goes, it's one of the better ones out there - but it isn't perfect, and the style Hellsing is written in (it's basically opera, after all, Bertolt Brecht forgive me) kind of made that a forgone conclusion. Make of that what you will.

Thanks for the questions!!!

#hellsing #hellsing fandom #hellsing fanfiction #hellsing oc #hellsing ultimate #hellsing headcanons #my headcanons #antisemitism #alucard #seras victoria #sir integra

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Captain Marvel: Part Three

Pairing: Carol Danvers x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: For the sake of this rewrite, Howard and Maria Stark dies on December 16, 1997 instead of 1991. Tony is 23 when they die.

x

It's not easy being with someone like Vers, but as the years pass on, the dislike you have for her takes an unexpected turn. Being with the Kree is the last thing you ever want to do, but the longer you train and work with Vers, the more you want to stay with the Kree because of her.

You're not in love with her or anything like what you felt for Bucky, but you do admit to having some sort of feelings for her.

What did I tell you about using your powers? If you want to learn how to control them, then you need to learn how to fight without them," Yon-Rogg chews her ass out.

She's been taught never to use her powers but you think that's bullshit when all they ever want you to do is to use yours.

"It wasn't her fault," you speak up. You have no business butting in, but you can't let her get in trouble for using what she was given. "She didn't want to use them but I pushed it out of her. I made her use them. Punish me. Not her."

Vers stars at you when Yon-Rogg walks over to you intimidatingly. She admits only to herself that you could be something more than just her training buddy, but the last thing she's gonna do is admit it to you.

"You have some nerve doing that to her. You know why we don't allow her to use her powers."

"Sue me for thinking someone with powers should use them. How else will she learn how to control them?"

"Head to the labs. I'll be right there."

The "labs" is where they like to torture people for disobeying them. They sugarcoat the words to make it seem like they're these perfect people. Vers watches you leave with worried eyes but she keeps her mouth shut so she doesn't receive the same treatment. You're used to being tortured, so whatever Yon-Rogg can come up with is only going to amuse you.

Things stayed the same for a few years after that but your and Vers' relationship blossomed from training buddies to being actual friends. She is still the same conceited, cocky, arrogant asshole you always knew her to be but whenever she's around you, she allows herself to be someone no one else gets to see.

One of your favorite things to do is to sneak up to the roof of your building and watch the Hala sunset together. You bring all sorts of snacks while she brings a few drinks for you two to enjoy. It may have taken six years to come to this point in your relationship, but you're glad you got here.

Peter and Yondu often sneak into your head when you're not expecting them to, and you remember your promise to Peter before you left. I promise, Peter, I will come back for you. I will find my way back to you. It's been six years and you're still on Hala with Vers with no intention of leaving it. Peter had Yondu and the other Ravagers he can turn to. It wouldn't kill him if you spent a couple of more years on this planet.

"Kree isn't the best people out there, but Hala's sunsets are beautiful. It reminds me of home," you say and grab a snack.

"What was your planet like?" she asks delicately.

"It was always sunny and warm. Not too warm where it feels like your skin is melting off, but the kind of warm that when it winds, the air feels nice as it cools your skin. There were a lot of buildings but even more nature. Everywhere you looked, there was the bright color of green. When the seasons changed, the color would turn red, orange, yellow, and then brown. The oceans were so calming. They rarely ever were choppy and aggressive. The animals were so majestic and beautiful, but you really had to look for them for they loved to hide. I haven't been back in centuries. I miss it."

"Would you ever go back?"

"Only if I knew Markus was dead. I don't care how much time passes, if there is a possibility of the man who tortured me is out there, I will never return."

"I've only heard stories about Markus. What was he like?"

You can't talk about Markus and be sober, so you grab the alcohol bottle and chug half of it to get a nice buzz going.

"To everyone else, he was charming. He had everyone wrapped around his slimy little finger. He was a really good businessman, I have to admit. To me, he was a monster. No, he's what monsters fear. He wanted to rule the universe and roped my mom into being his test subject. It got so bad that she killed herself so he used me instead. Like mother, like daughter," you whisper.

Markus was lethal. He wasn't going to stop unless you showed the progress he was looking for. Once he mixed his own serum with the power of the Tesseract, there's no telling what he'll do to you. There's no telling what kind of power you'll have, but that won't stop Markus from trying to figure it out.

"Please, Markus, just stop. I'm begging you," you cried.

He walked closer to you with a red-hot iron poker in his hands. It'd been sitting in the fire for over an hour, so it'll burn anything it touches. In order to ensure you won't run away from him, he chained you to the ceiling and floor. Your arms are above your head and your ankled are shackled to the ground. It gave you a little wiggle room but not enough to escape whatever torture Markus concocted.

"Be a good girl and stay still," he commanded.

He stuck the poker onto your bare stomach, and you screamed out as loud as you can from the pain. Your body jerked from the damage, but that only encouraged Markus to press the poker harder into your skin.

There's nothing you can do but take the pain he gave you. Markus took the poker away and stared at its mark on your smooth skin. Like the many trials before, he watched your wound heal itself. The more he did this to you, the easier it got for your body to heal the wounds.

Gone was the pain but your body still shook. Your skin patched over the wound on your stomach, scarred over, then completely disappeared. This is the first time you've healed your wounds so quickly. Markus grabbed the poker and stuck it to your side once more, and you screamed out expecting to feel excruciating pain.

However, it never came.

In fact, it didn't even hurt.

You looked down with dried tears on your cheeks to see your skin glowing with fire around the site of the poker. Your body has become adapted to the flame of the poker exactly how Markus was hoping. Markus smirked, dropped the poker, and headed to the front door where his lab assistant is.

"Day seventy-two successful. Get her ready for the next one."

When Markus injected the new serum into your body, he saw the four elements flash through your body. If you can control the weather, then he can tweak the serum so that when he gives it to his army, they won't go through what you're going through now.

One down, three to go.

"No!" you gasped in enough air just before Markus' lab assistant pushed your head underwater.

He's done this fifteen times this day, but your body refused to succumb to the water. It fought hard to survive whatever Markus was planning. Every time he pulled you from the water, you tried to intake as much oxygen as you could before you were dunked back underneath the water.

"You have been fighting this for thirty days, Y/N," Markus sneered when you're pulled back above water. "Either you do what I want or I'm going to make sure you rot next to Mommy." The lab assistant pushed your head below the water again. "Make sure she breaths or else she doesn't come up."

"Yes, sir."

The assistant holds your head below water for longer than usual, and your body thrashed as you tried to get oxygen into your brain. One by one, your nerves began shutting down to conserve energy for the organs that needed it. Markus watched as you kicked and punched the air as if you could somehow fight your way to the surface. He looked at his stopwatch, and around the three-minute mark, your body went completely still. He watched and waited with his breath in his throat. Was this going to be the time that worked? Will you finally be able to control the water around you so that you can breathe and live?

Everything in your body started to shut down. When there was no more fight left in you, you felt oddly at peace. No worries, no cause for concern, no problems on your shoulders, and no Markus. You could die right here and you'd be okay with that. Then, something clicks in your brain. Your mother wouldn't want this for you. You don't want this for you.

All you needed to do was breathe, and you'll make it through another trial. Just breathe. Breathe. BREATHE!!

Your eyes flew open as you sucked in the water. Only to you, the water felt like oxygen. The water is converted into oxygen as soon as it entered your mouth. Your chest heaved as you took in deep breaths of water. The assistant let go of your head when he felt you breathing, and you pulled yourself out of the water with a deep gasp. Markus watched with greedy yet joyous eyes at this discovery.

"I hate you," you panted.

"You're doing a very good job, Y/N," he grinned. "Two down, two to go."

"I don't know how much more of this I can take. Please, Markus," you begged.

For the past couple of days, he's testing the effects of air. The worst kind of feeling in the world was not being able to breathe, and this is what Markus was going to do. He would stimulate the room so that the air in it would thin out until it became so hard to breathe. Markus watched through the two-sided glass window where he could see you but you couldn't see him.

He pressed the button that activated the vacuum that would remove the air almost completely from the room.

"Mark---"

The air immediately thinned, not allowing you to take in a lungful of air. You're on the ground with your back against the wall since you don't have enough energy to stand on your own. There were no words to describe the pain you were feeling, but Markus wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted. The mirror in front of you only showed the torture and pain you were seeing, but also a reminder that only you had the power to stop this. Only you had the power to get back what was taken from you.

Something bubbled inside of you that busted out in a whiff of air. Suddenly, the air around you wasn't so thin. You intake a lungful of air when you could, and you fall to the ground in a fit of coughs. 

When will this end?

"I knew she would control this element the quickest," Markus says to his assistant. "Not being able to breathe must be pretty painful. Prepare the next trial."

This one was different than the other three. Markus is only allowing you one day to get this power under control since he's running a bit behind schedule. The last power you must control is rocks, soil, and stones. Basically, you needed to take the ground you walk on and control it how it moves or shapes. Until you do that, Markus would not be satisfied. 

He's placed you underground in a small room made of only rocks and dirt. It's so small that you can't even stand up all the way. You're not that claustrophobic but after six hours of being in this room, you're going a little crazy.

"Markus let me out!!" you screamed.

If you don't do something soon, you're going to die of suffocation in here. If you can will your body to breathe underwater, take the pain of a hot poker, and allow air to circulate through a room when it's been thinned, you can definitely fight your way out of this.

"What the hell does he want me to do? Create an opening and climb my way out?"

As soon as you're finished speaking, light shined from above. You stepped away from direct sunlight and saw a crack in the opening on the ceiling.

"I'll need a bigger opening than that."

The hole on top grew bigger at your words until it was big enough or you to fit through. However, there's no way for you to climb that high. If you can make a hole appear from just your thoughts, then you can create some sort of steps that leads to that hole. You touched the wall and closed your eyes as you allowed the thoughts of stairs to enter your brain.

The room began to shake and rocks started to fall to the ground to shape some kind of stairs that led all the way to the top. As soon as the ceiling was clear, you ascended the stairs slowly. You wanted them to know you were coming. When you approached the top step, you turn and see Markus, his assistant, ad a few other men on the far side of the room.

Before you have a chance to take one step, Markus pushed a button that activated the thing he stuck in your neck on day one of experimenting. Every nerve, muscle, and bone stiffened upon hearing the buzzing noise coming from it. Your body fell to the ground once it had no support system, and Markus smirked knowing he was safe from you.

"Gentlemen," he said as he walked to your still frame, "this concludes the Tesseract trials. We are now ready to begin the cloning process once we assess these minor details. We don't need our soldiers behaving the way she did now do we?"

"What are you going to do with her after this is all over, boss?"

"She's proven to me that she's capable of taking a lot more than what I've given her. Don't worry, boys, I'll find good use of her yet."

You didn't even know you were crying until Vers put her hands on your shoulders. Drinking all this alcohol wasn't such a good idea.

"I won't ever let them harm you again," Vers promises.

You turn to look at her not realizing your face is only a couple of inches away from hers. You're not sure what's in the air or if it's the romantic setting of watching the sunset, but you take a leap of faith and kiss her quickly. You're not sure if that was a good idea, but when he leans in for more, you know she's wanted this as much as you.

What you feel for Vers is nowhere close to how you felt for Bucky, but you can't keep living in the dark. You have to enjoy your life and the people that are in it, so what's the harm in dating her when there is no one else in your life to stop you?

"Wait, what does this mean?" you ask and pull away from her.

"I think you know what it means," she smiles.

"Does this mean I can sleep over in your room tonight?"

"I think it means you can sleep over in my room every night."

You two go to bed that night and cuddle until the morning.

x

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