#and they’re scrambling to do damage control

[kimbapisnotsushi]

can you imagine being a hardworking thirty-something bouncing ball corp employee in like idk sales or some shit who spent YEARS before that trying to climb the corporate ladder and succumbing to the 9-5 workhorse race that makes you dead inside but now your boss is a college kid who shows up to important company meetings in sweats and brings his homework to the office so he can get it done on time and haphazardly stuffs paperwork and legal documents into the same binders as his lecture notes and doesn’t give a shit if you don’t properly file for time off bc he can barely be assed to email his professors the same and will still PAY you for it????? can you imagine???? i can’t but it’d be REALLY fucking funnny

#GIVE ME CHAOTIC COLLEGE STUDENT AND BOSS KENMA OR GIVE ME DEATH #kenma is both simultaneously the best and worst boss of all time #bc he treats his employees well and he’s got good benefits and pretty much everything else you could ask for #BUT he also gives his secretary and department managers constant aneurysms #bc he haaaaaates dealingn with formalities #and if they’re meeting with someone he doesn’t like he WILL be a rude little punk about it #and they’re scrambling to do damage control #do NOT tell me kenma is professional he will tell the ceo of a company 10x bigger than them to fuck off and come out victorious #kozuke kenma #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu hcs #sou says stuff

[teamhappyme]

it's time to go

josh lyman x female!reader

word count: 4.4k

warnings: my condensed rant at how the women are treated in the west wing, what is a timeline/plot

a/n: logging on to post a fic and then fall off into the abyss where there is no motivation or inspiration flowing! this has been sitting in my drafts for two years, folks. finally got the inspo to finish this generalized west wing fic-turned josh lyman reader core done! i hopee you all can indulge in this as much as i did :) (yes another taylor swift inspired title you can take them from my cold dead hands-)

~~~

There is a constant buzz that lives in the west wing. 

If it’s not the white house staff and all the varying levels of personnel making noise, it’s the conference room meetings that hold everyone in D.C. trying to influence the white house and the American people. 

Normally, the buzz is comforting to you. In the middle of the communications department, you all thrive on it. But the last twenty four hours had reached a level of mayhem that not even you guys could spin into a positive narrative.

You accompanied Toby to CJ’s second brief of the night, trying to inform the press on the situation in Haiti while attempting to dodge any questions about the MS shock and reelection campaign.

CJ was losing control of the group. She was shuffling papers, removing sticky notes, adjusting her glasses, all in an attempt to keep herself somewhat grounded from the chaos at hand. You sensed Toby tense up as a member of the press pushed and pushed, asking his third follow up question. 

And that’s when it all came crashing down.

CJ flew off the podium and you and Toby followed after her.

“Did she just say the President is relieved to send troops into Haiti?” Sam asked as he joined you in the hallway, waiting outside of CJ’s office. “Relieved to put American lives and Haitian civilians at risk?”

“I was standing right there!” Toby shouted back and you flinched. This certainly was not the good buzz you wanted.

Before they could continue yelling at each other, the door to the briefing room slammed against the wall, CJ rubbing her hands over her face and turned to find the three of you standing there.

“CJ,” Toby started, but was quickly interrupted.

“Just don’t say anything! Just… don’t say anything.” You all gave her a moment to regroup before she began walking back to her office. 

Your two bosses stood in the middle of the hallway, not knowing what on earth to do next, other than duck and cover from Leo once he heard what happened. 

“They’re gonna need extra hands for damage control.” Sam turned to you, and you nodded.

“I’m on it. I started drafting notes for an apology statement,”

“Apology?” Toby asked, voice still an octave louder than you liked, directed to you.

“I told her to.” Sam added, and you watched the look the two of them shared. They sure had some things to discuss. “We’ll talk about them later. Just, make sure they are clear about what CJ meant. Redirect as much as you can without stepping on any toes.”

“Got it.”

You pushed your stack of papers into Sam’s hands and made your way to the press offices. Phones were ringing off the hook, aides scrambling from desk to desk, as Josh stepped in beside you.

Before either of you could reach CJ’s office, she slammed the door, rattling a few frames on the wall.

“Well, we’re just getting started aren’t we.” 

“Happy Thursday.” you added as he walked back toward his office. You looked out over the war room and locked eyes with Carol. She let out a breath before meeting you at her desk.

“Heard there’s a bit of a situation going on. Where do you need me?”

- 

You’re not sure if it’s still Thursday by the time you leave the press office. It’s still dark out; you haven’t eaten anything besides Carol’s desk mints and you need a nap. Desperately. 

You walked through the bullpen to Josh’s office, your final memo delivered before you could put the events of the last day and a half to rest - at least for the next six hours. You checked in with Sam one final time, making sure your absence today didn’t put him any further behind. (Of course it did, but he’d never tell.)

Donna wasn’t at her desk, and the rest of the bullpen was empty save for Josh pacing around his office while reading over a document. You waited until he stopped moving, scribbled something on the paper, and stuck the pen back in his mouth to knock on the opened door.

His eyes shot up, meeting yours for a quick second before he began pacing once again. 

You’ll take that as a ‘come in.’

“7:00 a.m. briefing notes, CJ wanted you all to take a look at them before morning.” You handed him the paper, skimming it before he went back to his thick document. “Carol says all they are waiting on is an update on Haiti from the situation room. They assume they won’t get that information until-”

“Nancy is doing the morning brief tomorrow.” He interrupted, not looking up from his papers.

“I’m sorry?” you questioned.

“Nancy is doing the morning brief tomorrow. She has the information and will get the Haiti update by 5:00.”

Taking a second to recover your thoughts and do a double take at your own copy of the memo, you couldn’t help but question the man in front of you. 

“Why are you benching CJ?”

“No one’s benching CJ. Leo made the decision to have Nancy give the brief on Haiti. I mean, she seems pretty qualified to give the brief being the President’s National Security Advisor, but I could be wrong. She just bribed me with some bagels to give her the opportunity.”

“Don’t you think CJ deserves to do her job?”

“She said the President was relieved to send troops into Haiti.”

“She made a mistake,” You argued, and you could feel the anger starting to spew out of you.

“Yeah, and unfortunately she made it in front of the press and during broadcasted briefing.”

“CJ used one wrong word and she’s getting hanged for it.” You dropped the stack of memos onto Josh’s desk, his full attention now on you.

“CJ is the press secretary, she is the line of communication from the President to the public.”

“And you’re the Deputy Chief of Staff, and Toby is the Communications Director, and Sam is the Deputy Communications Director, and-”

“What’s your point?” He interrupted, running a hand through his annoying, unkempt hair.

You scoffed. “What’s my point? As the Deputy Chief of Staff, you went on Capitol Beat and slammed Mary Marsh while simultaneously ridiculing every person of faith in the United States. You also went in front of the same White House Press Corps and stated that the President had a secret plan to fight inflation when he obviously did not. As the Communications Director, Toby was accused of insider trading. Finally, as the Deputy Communications Director, Sam slept with a prostitute, and instead of staying away from her like all of the senior staff advised, including Leo, he was photographed with her, which could have caused a major PR crisis for us to fix.”

“I thought you were in favor of Laurie and Sam’s relationship, prostitutes shouldn’t be discriminated against.” He added with a smirk.

“Do you think this is funny?”

“You listing all of the mistakes we’ve made as we work in the most powerful building in the world? Yes, I do.”

You crossed your arms in defiance, fighting back frustrated tears. He wouldn’t get it.

“CJ has stood at that podium over the last twenty six hours taking shit from the press on the President’s diagnosis. She chooses the wrong language once, and Toby is yelling at her while Leo shoves her in the corner.”

He let out a sigh, trying to choose his next words carefully. 

“It’s her job to get the language right-”

“For fucks sake Josh, this isn’t about her damn job! It’s about every single woman in this building working their ass off, taking the hits for their bosses, for the men in this administration without as much as a thank you. How many times has Donna been on the receiving end of phone calls from angry senators, stayed late to make sure she proofread your memos, sacrificed her free nights to lobby and push your policy on people? And how many times have you thanked her for it? I sit in the communications bullpen and hear Toby shout for Ginger, Bonnie, and me dozens of times a day. I see, first hand, the scrutiny that CJ is under every time she has to defend policy to the press. And don’t think I don’t understand that we all signed up for these roles. We all knew what we were getting into, we all knew the hierarchy of the west wing. We knew we weren’t going to be praised for our contributions, no matter how big or small. But none of us expected to be benched for doing our job, for telling the truth of a man that is too scared to say it himself.”

Josh’s eyes widened at your casual tone and bold statement. You knew you were crossing the line. 

“You’re talking about the President, keep your voice down.”

“Why? Everyone is thinking the same thing. He’s hiding behind Haiti, he’s hiding behind CJ, and he’s hiding behind this damn white house!”

Josh moved around you, going to shut the door in hopes that no one heard you. But a foot propped the door open, and in walked a still irritable Toby.

“I sure as hell hope that wasn’t the President you were having a public outburst about in his goddamn west wing,” Toby exclaimed, only causing you to roll your eyes.

“Toby,” Josh tried to interject, but you were ready to finally give everyone a piece of your mind.

“It sure as hell was. And I’ll repeat it for anyone that wants to hear it, in fact, why don’t we all just march down to the Oval office and tell the man causing all these problems himself how we really feel. Or am I the only one with the balls to say it?”

Josh had to physically stop you from leaving his office, holding onto your shoulder as you could practically see the smoke leaving Toby’s ears.

“You sure as hell don’t have enough seniority to command a meeting in the Oval!” Toby yelled out, landing another low blow to your ego. Josh’s hand tightened on your shoulder as you fought back the tears desperately trying to form in your eyes. But you wouldn’t give Toby the satisfaction. “So suck it up, and wait for us to tell you what the hell to write to get us out of this situation.”

You shook Josh’s hand off your shoulder as you took another step closer to Toby.

“I’m not writing a single word until I get to talk to the President.”

“Get the hell out of my bullpen, you’re done tonight.” Toby seethed, clearing the way for you to leave.

You didn’t think twice. You walked past the two of them, not a care in the world at the fact you just told off two of the most powerful people in the White House, potentially risking your job in the process.

The buzz followed you through the halls to the communications bullpen, walking past Ginger and Bonnie who were wrapping up phone calls at their desks. Sam yelled out to you from his office, but you kept your head down and kept walking. 

It wasn’t until you walked past the Roosevelt room, locking eyes with Donna as she sat with papers spread out in front of her, red markings all across the pages, that it hit you. She gave you a small smile, her eyes quickly turning to concern as you felt the tears threaten to fall.

You quickly walked to the exit, brushing past the security guards and stepping into the spitting night rain. The air was cold, and it felt like a shock to your system. 

What the hell have you done.

You barely made it fifty feet before you heard someone calling your name, heavy footsteps running toward you.

You turned to find Josh, coat in hand, approaching you outside the White House.

“Wait a second,” Josh said as he finally stood in front of you, draping your coat around your shoulders. You didn’t even realize you were shivering.

“I need to go,” you said, embarrassment and anger still seeping through you.

“We need to talk about what just happened. It’s been a long, hectic night-”

“Josh, you’re not going to talk me out of my own words.” You interrupted him. “I meant everything I said in there, and I’ve been feeling that way for a while. No amount of talking is going to change what I think, or what Toby thinks. It’s done.”

“We can fix it, please-”

“Nothing is going to change!” You exclaimed as your arms raised in frustration. “The only way this goes away is if I go back in there with my tail tucked between my legs and suck up to Toby. I’m not going to kiss the ring and pretend I’m okay with what’s going on in there. And if that’s the job now, I don’t want it.”

“It’s always been the job, the President's policies and opinions are our policies and opinions.”

“That’s easy for you to say when you’re in the room where it happens. And quite frankly, I’m sick of taking the hit for men who can’t help themselves.” you said and continued walking further away from the White House.

“It must be lonely up there on your high horse, pointing your finger at everyone who has what you want!”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” you whipped around to face him, finding him closer than he was before. You hated that he was looking down at you, both in height and pity. “And of all the people in that fucking building, it should have been you to understand why I feel this way.”

The two of you stood incredibly still, waiting for someone to make the next move. It had been like this between the two of you for months; push and pull, give and take, waiting for someone to crack and push the boundary wide open. No one knew how to get you to open up like Josh, and no one made him as flustered as you. And still, it all ended like this.

He looked down at your hands, clenched into fists at your sides, and he slowly reached out to grab them. But you couldn't let it happen this time. You took a step back, and both of you tensed up again.

“It’s time for me to go.” Physically, mentally, all of it. It was time for you to leave the white house.

Josh nodded, fighting the urge to continue to try and get you to stay. Instead, he rested his hands on the lapel of your jacket, pulling it tighter around you for the final time. You refused to look up at him, knowing you would give in just like all those times before.

He gave you a small nod once he was ready to finally let you go.

“I’ll see you around.”

*****

It’s been three days since the MS scandal completely shook the nation.

You haven’t left your apartment since that day, avoiding phone calls from everyone in the west wing.

Sam had left voicemail after voicemail, begging you to tell him why you haven’t been to work. Toby refused to tell him what happened, but he knew it had something to do with that night. Not even endless compliments on your prose and speeches from Sam could get you to crawl back there. He gave up after his sixth message.

There was a pile of unopened mail sitting on your kitchen table, along with empty take out containers and a bottle of wine - there may even be a copy of your law school application in the mix, a pity read or two occurring in a drunken haze. 

Later that night, after dodging another phone call from Donna and attempting to get as much of your life together as you could, you gave in and sat down to watch CJ’s nine o’clock press brief. You were glad to see that she was off the bench again, and seemed to be back to her usual self. 

There was a knock at your door as she opened up for questions, and you hated to think you missed the sound of the press gaggle.

You swung your door open, expecting a large pizza to be shoved into your face, but instead an exhausted Josh Lyman was standing at your door.

“Hi,” he said and began cracking his knuckles. “I would’ve called, but you seem to forget how the phone works.”

“I know how the phone works.” you replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?” you sighed. “I walked all the way here, please take pity on me.”

“Fine.” You opened up your door, mostly to shut him up, and ushered him into your home.

“Glad to see you cut yourself off from us completely.” He jeered and pointed to the press briefing on the TV. “You know I’m the one that suggested she make the joke about Hungary, so they should be laughing for me.”

“What did you come here for, Josh?” you asked, again, trying to redraw the boundary between you two.

“Ginger and Bonnie kept saying you were sick, and since no one else heard from you, thought I would check in to see if you were alive. You look pretty not sick to me.”

“Josh-“

“We need you back in the west wing. Toby and Sam are at each other's throats and we need a speech for our first campaign stop. If you don’t get back to the bullpen I’m afraid we’ll never see the written word again.”

“I don’t-”

“I’m not beyond begging or bribing to get you back in there tomorrow morning.” He couldn’t help but smile at himself as he shrugged off his coat and sat down at the kitchen table. You tried not to notice how soft he looked in jeans and a sweater. “But you’re not getting my office, or my secretary, or my season tickets to the capitals. I will however put up Sam’s season tickets to-“

“I wrote my letter of resignation, Josh. I’m not coming back.”

You sat down next to him as you watched him freeze, eyes widening the slightest bit. Rendering Josh speechless never gets old, even under these circumstances.

“Toby’s not going to fire you, he was just pissed off the other night. C’mon, if we head down there now I’m sure he’s still there slaving away over this speech-“

“I didn’t write this because I was afraid of getting fired. This is my choice, Josh. I’m choosing to leave the White House.” 

You handed him the letter, and he took it with some hesitation. He spent a few minutes reading it, and then rereading it, shaking his head before throwing it back on the table.

“Why?” Was all he asked as he pulled his chair closer to you. You shook your head, not wanting to get into it. He leaned back in his chair, staring at your letter on the table.

“Josh, I’ve spent too much time helping people, specifically men, climb up the political totem pole. I’m tired of writing speeches and bills for someone else to say. I’ve been burned by too many men in my life to be naive enough to be comfortable in one place.”

He moved to pick up the letter, or so you thought, but instead he picked up your law school application.

“Since when have you been interested in law school?” He asked, flipping through the pages of the Georgetown Law School application. 

“Since forever,” you said, suddenly growing quiet under the scrutiny of his eyes on your application; your essay was practically a diary about your time working in the west wing. “I couldn’t afford to go after I graduated from UVA, and my parents weren’t exactly thrilled about the idea of having a girl lawyer in the family. So, I settled and started working on the campaign trails. I think you know the rest from there.”

Josh didn’t say a word in response, you’re not entirely sure he even heard a word you just said. Instead his eyes were darting across the page, flipping page after page to finish reading your essay. Josh had never read your personal work; sure you’ve written dozens of memos and speeches that he had proofed and listened to, but nothing with your voice. Nothing that showcased your intelligence, your compassion, and dedication to learning to improve not only yourself, but the world around you.

It was making you anxious the more he read and the less he spoke. Was it bad? Did he think you were absolutely insane for thinking you could go to law school? You need to get it out of his hands before it completely changes the way he sees you.

“I know it’s a long shot that they would accept me, I haven’t even decided if I’m actually going to apply or not, so-” you tried to take it out of his hands, but he grabbed your wrist before you could reach it.

“They would be absolute fools not to accept you.” he said, slowly lowering your arm back to your lap, not letting go of you yet. “The west wing is going to fall apart without you.”

“You guys will be just fine without me.” you started and rolled your eyes. “Toby has an ego, and a vocabulary, big enough for ten speechwriters. And, I haven’t gotten in yet.” 

“You will. And Toby’s ego, no matter how large, will never fill the hole you’re leaving.”

He maneuvered his hand away from his wrist down to your hand, and watched as he laced his fingers with yours. You let out a breath as he rested them on his knee, slowly bringing you closer together.

“So, will you accept my letter of resignation now that you know the full story?”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

“Josh-”

“I have a stipulation to the letter.” he interrupted, the smirk returning to his face. “You stay on until we win re-election, and take on a very part-time consulting position once school starts. You deserve to see this through, and we can’t part with you any sooner.”

How the hell does anyone say no to Josh Lyman? Between his annoyingly handsome signature smirk, his warm brown eyes, and his messy hair, he’s a total heartthrob. But you seemed to have some effect on him too, seeing as he hasn’t let go of you just yet.

“That sounds like a plan, only if you and Toby agree to write me the best recommendations Georgetown has ever seen.”

“I can deliver on Toby, but I’m not so sure I can give you what you’re looking for. I may have a conflict of interest,” he said and squeezed your hand, causing you to laugh. “But I have the next best thing, the President of the United States on speed dial.”

“Then you’ve got yourself a deal.” His smile spread over his entire face now. “And thank you, for believing in me. And not firing me last night.”

“Well, you were right. A little outspoken, but nothing worse than what Toby has said to the President himself. There’s going to be some change in the west wing now, thanks to you.”

“Who knew all it took to get something done in this city is to have a temper tantrum?”

“Almost every politician in Congress,” Josh added before being interrupted by his pager. His face fell the slightest bit as he let out a sigh. “It’s Leo.”

“Back to work?”

“A crisis awaits,” he said, letting go of your hand as he shrugged his coat back on. Your fingers flexed against your side, already missing the warmth of Josh’s hand in yours. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow morning?” 

“Bright and early,”  You replied as you walked him to the door. “With a desk full of notes from Sam, I’m sure.”

“Oh if only we could all be so lucky.” He joked, as the two of you lingered in the doorway to your apartment. You really didn’t want him to go. “I’ll brief you in the morning, hopefully nothing too serious.”

“Okay. Um, drive safe.” You stumbled over your words, and you didn’t miss the way his dimple jumped out at your expense. 

“I will. Have a good night.”

“Night,” you mumbled back, watching as his eyes flickered down to your lips for a split second before taking his first step back from you. 

“Josh,” you choked out, and he turned back to face you in seconds. He waited for you to say something, but for once in your life, nothing came to mind.

“Cat got your tongue?” He jeered. You hated that he had this effect on you. And he was reveling in it.

“It’s all your fault, you know. Dropping the whole ‘conflict of interest’ bit, and then leaving without any explanation.”

“I’m sorry, let me be a little more clear.” he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him as butterflies erupted in your stomach. 

“Such a charmer,” you whispered as he dipped his head down, and finally kissed you.

His lips were softer than you imagined, slowly moving against your own. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t thought about this moment before, but it was surpassing everything you thought it would be. Josh was always gentle with you, and he kissed you just the same. He took his time with you, and you could feel yourself getting lost in the feel of his body against yours.

He was the first to pull away, resting his forehead on yours as you caught your breath. 

“I think that made it very clear how much I like you.”

You smiled as you wrapped your arms around him, burying your face in his neck.

“I like you too.” You replied, placing a light kiss on his jaw before pulling back to get another look at him, dimples on display. 

“If you keep looking at me like that I’m never going to make it back to the White House,” he joked, and you shoved his chest.

“Then get out of here, Josh. I’ll see you in the morning.”

You smiled as he leaned in to kiss you once more, teasing you as he pulled away, leaving you chasing his lips. You placed one more chaste kiss on his lips before letting go of him.

“Goodnight,” he said, gently squeezing your hand before finally walking down the hall. “I’ll be sure to tell Sam I cured you back to health.”

“In your dreams, Lyman.”

*****

#josh lyman x female!reader #josh lyman x reader #josh lyman fic #josh lyman #the west wing #the west wing fic

[friendlylocalwhumper]

This new conditioner is nice. It smells like cotton and perfume. Curls splay loose and fuzzy across his shoulders, soft from the warmth of being pressed to the pillow for the whole nap.

A hand skims across the ridges of his back. Only Emory’s familiar fingertips get to trace the thick ridges and valleys of layered scars there. When a brush across the longest, widest scar elicits a shudder and a whine of complaint, Emory scratches there. Long gentle swipes of short nails scratch at the deep uncomfortable itch until Lux finally melts again.

“Come here, Curls.” Lux shifts his hips back and hums happily when he’s swept closer to curl against his boyfriend, a bunched up blanket between them.

They’re close, warm, safe. Been safe for a long time.

Lux stretches, arms flying wide and back arching. A long groan is wrung from his throat and his eyes squeeze shut, sleepy tension melting away. Emory’s hand slipping under his upper arm to wrap around his shoulder doesn’t startle him at all. Diligent fingers press at knotted muscles and Lux whines, ending his stretch and falling still to allow the painful massage. It always feels so much better after the - after it stops -

It’s too painful. Eyes screwing shut tighter, fingers flexing sharply, Lux hisses out a sharp breath and waits for Emory to notice his reaction. He’ll stop instantly.

Knuckles dig in harder against joints that were permanently damaged years ago. Lux finally lets out a whine and twists uncomfortably, blinking his eyes open and twisting his head to see his boyfriend.

“Em? It, it, I don’t, it’s a little…”

Beautiful dark eyes glint at him. “A little…?”

He’s not understanding, somehow. Lux licks his lips and tries to find the words to explain kindly, to spare Emory the sharp heartache of causing him pain. “A li-ittle, um, it, doesn’t f-feel right, not your fault, I, I think it’s, mmh, muscles locked up, bad…”

Usually a single stutter is enough to make Emory hesitate and offer to back away. It’s not working now, though. Lux must - he must be doing it wrong somehow. Not communicating right. He should be clearer. Emory will be glad that he asked for what he needed.

“Em, um, I need, I need, I n-need, hnn!” Blue eyes fly wide and his back arches once more as fire erupts in his shoulder. It’s not - it can’t be happening. Emory’s fingers tighten their grip around the freshly popped joint, and Lux’s throat squeezes out a mewling sound before he can even understand that he’s being hurt.

“You need…?” Guides Emory in a warm, loving tone. Lux’s bare feet kick the blankets away and scramble across the bed as he tries to escape the unbearable grip on his shoulder which is creaking under Emory’s slowly flexing hands.

“I n-need, I, I, need, please!” This can’t be happening, but it is, somehow. A nightmare, maybe. Or mind magic, or - please, it must be a hallucination or trick, not his real boyfriend really mind controlled. And not… not Emory just… wanting to hurt him. Skin a sickly pale shade and fingers clawing into the mattress, Lux digs the back of his head into Emory’s chest and keens desperately.

The pop of the ball of his shoulder leaving its socket must be something he imagines as that new agony is ignited. There’s no way he could hear that, not with the blood rushing in his ears the way it is. But he imagines the sickening sound anyway. Only when he hears the soft dry sobs of his scream dying out, does he realize that he was screaming at all.

“Does that hurt, honey?” Comes the tender voice of the man he loves so much, right at the shell of his ear. Lux isn’t pinned, isn’t chained, there’s no gun or magic to his head. Still, the grip that shifts to wrap around his elbow keeps him in place with the imagined threat of this getting much, much worse somehow.

“Please…” Restless but not daring to struggle, Lux tries to swallow the sobs that threaten to catch in his throat and suffocate him. “I want… nnh, normal Emory. Safe. Don’t, I, I…” A self-interrupting sob-breath jolts his chest. “I want to wake up.”

The crunch of his elbow being snapped with sheer strength sends him arching up so sharply that Lux knocks his head back against Emory’s chin. It’s just enough to stun the hands off of his broken arm, and the warlock finally struggles, crawling with the awkward desperation of a mouse that’s finally wriggled free from a trap.

“Not so fast, baby,” Chides Emory, coolly using one of the petnames that send a chill of disgust racing up Lux’s spine. He crashes to the floor and throws himself to the bedroom door, tossing up fear-weakened magic to block the doorway behind him and lock the door shut.

There is not banging on the wood, no yelling. It’s eerily silent in there as Lux stumbles out of the house, muffling heartbroken weeping behind a sweaty palm.

#whump #drabble #angst #mind control #lux #emory #mine #broken bones #dislocated shoulder #betrayal #begging #crying #inspired by a comment that whumpr made to me today #thank you baby for the cruel idea

[sandbees]

Imagine if House of Mouse Yuu was there during the villain's take over, I can see the great seven and others (Captain Hook and Smee, The Hyenas, Pain and Panic (especially like how pain and panic were egging pinocchio to join em doing evil deeds)) trying to corrupt Yuu for the hell of it, considering yuu has been the only waiter that they like compared to everyone else and hey! They actually tried to stand up for the villains when they're not doing anything wrong (I'm looking at that time where Zeus saw Hades at a different table and zapped him unprovoked) anyways, I can see out if everyone it's Hades, Pain and Panic, the Hyenas and Ursula making Yuu join em but really, they just want to do their job so they're stuck serving rowdy villains and calming down the remaining staff (sentient brooms, penguins etc.) And playing damage control until Mickey saves the day.

Yuu: *Staring at the chaos that the villains are causing*

Yuu: This is fine :)

Honestly, even though they’re just doing their job, Yuu can’t help but have fun as well. I mean, the villains are just down to have them join and give them a better time. And the villains are lowkey dissing the ‘heroes’.

(”Oh, you just HAVE to know that Hera was supposed to show up tonight. You know, she’s awful to servers so it’s good that she wasn’t able to come, huh?”)

("Let me tell you, Ariel always leaves hair in her forks. It’s uncouth for a young lady that’s lived on land for so long.”)

Yuu is also scrambling to keep the establishment afloat, though thankfully all the other staff are fairly equipped to dealing with villains. However, they do need help, and are very appreciative of Yuu, especially with how they can handle all of the villains.

After the fiasco, Mickey will 100% give Yuu a raise, as well as other staff giving them gifts.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland yuu #twisted wonderland scenario #twisted wonderland headcannon #house of mouse au #ask #but no this is seriously the event where Yuu met all of the Disney villains #and while it was chaotic #they had a lot of fun

[britishassistant]

Yo the accidental kiss scene but with Villain!Yuu. Imagine during their 'fight' with a hero, who's honestly just playing along. Yuu notices Civilian twst boy near their invention and goes to stop before they hurt themselves only to trip and fall on them. In front of the hero and other civilians.

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

The problem with fighting Rielle is that he keeps using his powers regardless of whether or not they’re of any actual use in the fight. He’s a strong fighter regardless, but his control of sea creatures seems to be an unconscious impulse that he needs to pay attention to stop.

It’s bad enough when it’s just Yuu discovering interesting and rather awkward things about some of their minions’ heritage. (Enca used to swear blind that she and her parents were 100% human. Her grandparents are getting a divorce next month.)

It’s so much worse when Azul has decided to make himself their captive for the day.

His eyes are glassy, and he’s shambling towards their doomsday machine, tugging mindlessly on various pipes. Which wouldn’t be bad, it’s not like he’s actually doing any damage with those noodle arms of his, except Rielle’s already been damaging it with much more powerful attacks, breaking it to the point where it’s about to blow, and he hasn’t realized he needs to order Azul to retreat.

Yuu swears.

The Supervisor manages to yank Azul away, pull him down behind their work table, before the entire machine explodes.

There’s something soft under their lips.

There’s also something hard pressing into their face, and when they open their eyes there’s a rapidly darkening blue fuzz filling their vision.

Yuu rears back and scrambles off where they were using their body to shield his, stuttered protests only half making it out of their mouth.

Azul is clutching at his lips, hands trembling, a dark blue blush rapidly spreading across his entire face and down to his collarbones.

Yuu has time to think only one thing.

“Ah. Cute.”

“How—how dare you molest an innocent hostage, villain!”

Something slams into the side of their head and everything goes black.

#twisted wonderland #twst #supervillain au #harrassed villain yuu au #twst yuu #twisted wonderland yuu #azul ashengrotto #twst azul #azul x yuu #twst rielle #mermay #shut up it counts #time for my #azul blushes blue because octopi have blood that shows as blue in oxygenated areas #headcanon to make an appearance

[artbyblastweave]

There’s a thread on r/parahumans right now where someone floated the hypothetical: “What’s the plan if the Endbringer refuses to leave and just keeps going indefinitely?” While a lot of people are saying something to the tune of “everyone would be fucked,” I think the more insightful answers are highlighting an interesting aspect of the Endbringer’s invincibility, which is that a lot of it is tactical. It’s about how they fight. 

Endbringer Fights don’t last long; they rarely involve more than a few hundred capes, because that’s all the defenders have time to scramble; and the stakes, while high, are specific. In the New Delhi fight, they hit a point where the worst thing Behemoth was capable of doing had already happened, and the sole goal was to evacuate with the expectation that he would now leave. No additional resources were being poured in; no new things were being tried.

All of this limits the opportunities for an Endbringer to be in genuine danger; and an Endbringer can be in genuine danger from the right power synergy or the right giant-killer cape. By Word of God, String Theory was capable of killing and Endbringer, and the Endbringer response was to have Simurgh coordinate things so that she’d never have an opportunity to try. But If the presented stakes become infinite- an Endbringer that destroys the city but then just keeps going- it increases the odds that eventually, everyone is going to try everything, and one of those things will work.  And even if they don’t? If an Endbringer keeps rampaging in a straight-ish line for days or weeks, Scion will notice eventually, and an Endbringer that stands its ground against Scion is a dead Endbringer. 

So in a sense, the Endbringers aren’t really exempt from the setting politics; they endure for similar reasons to the Slaughterhouse 9, which is that on top of being very hard to kill, they’re slippery. They pick fights they can control; they try to run the second those fights look like they’re going south, and they avoid escalating things to the point of overextension. Khonsu got close to being an Endbringer who wouldn’t go away, and rather than focusing on total extermination of his targets, his fighting style was built around causing some damage but never hanging around long enough to become vulnerable to Scion.  I wouldn’t be surprised if, once they adopted the “hit dozens of targets at once” game plan, the factor deciding at what point they left became whether Simurgh predicted that they were about to stumble up against circumstances where someone could get lucky and put them down.

#parahumans #worm #wildbow #worm thoughts #meta #endbringers #thoughts

[sl-newsie]

Spelled (Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter) Descendants 3- Ch. 6: Damage Control

In no time I spot Ben’s castle. Did he handle the mob? Will he be upset? Get a grip, Magica! You can work your own problems out later! Right now the fate of Auradon is at stake!

I land on the balcony and spot Ben hunches over his desk, probably going over more plans for the Isle. 

“Ben! Ben! It’s me!” I tap frantically on the window until he turns and notices me.

“Magica?” Ben looks at me bewildered from behind the glass. “What are-? Hold on.” He walks over and opens the door, but refuses to let me in. “I have every reason to call the Royal Guard and-”

“And have me locked away with my father,” I finish. “Go ahead, Ben. I’m tired of running. If it means I’ll get to live a life of solitude then I won’t fight it.” Ben’s whole face drops. “But you’ll need me to stop Audrey. This mess is partially my fault, and-”

“Yeah, I saw the mob,” Ben mumbles. “But at least you didn’t spell anyone.”

“Um, yeah…” I sheepishly look away. “I, uh… Kinda turned Willow into a plant. Only temporary!” I add quickly at his shocked expression. “You can’t blame all of it on me, Ben. What did you expect when you allowed Mal to turn me into a criminal?”

The young king lowers his head. “I- I didn’t think it would be this bad, Sparks. We did it to help with security-”

“No.” I hold up a finger. “You didn’t do it. Mal did. And she brought down others who are loyal to me in the process.” I give him a stern look. “It’s going to take more than a scrambled half-wit explanation to make me forgive that.”

“Well maybe if you didn’t overreact all the time then-!”

“What?” My voice grows hoarse and my eyes glare coldly at Ben’s spooked face. “‘Overreact…’” I turn away, stunned by Ben’s reasoning for fearing me. “Well, I suppose my family is well-known for dramatics. You know as good as anyone that I have my Aunt Winnie’s temper. It was all too easy for people to paint me as someone to blame. A meaningless scapegoat.” I pivot and stride over to back Ben against the window. “But I’m better than that. I am deciding to let go of my grudge against Auradon and personally blame those in power. Particularly your new fiancée. We’ll finish this later, Ben Florian Beast. Right now we need to stop Audrey.”

Ben’s face hardens and he gives a sturdy nod, then takes out his phone. “I’ll try to find out how far her sleeping curse is spreading-”

I bite my lip. “Could thee allow me in?” He looks back and I hold out my arms. “Please, Brother Ben? Let an old friend enter?”

He smiles warmly and joins me in a big hug. “I missed you, Sparks. We can work this out, I promise.” 

I chuckle. "You've grown. Added some meat to your bones, too. Has Mrs. Potts been feeding you well?"

"Haha, very funny." Ben rolls his eyes.

We both walk into Ben’s office and he pulls out a map of Auradon. A guard rushes in, almost fainting when he sees me.

“Stand down! She’s with me,” Ben orders. “Find out if anyone’s seen Audrey. And find out if she has a list of demands!” 

“Just one.” We both jump up at the sounds of Audrey’s voice. 

She’s here. Waiting just outside, holding the scepter. I go to stand in front of Ben but he denies my protection. Does he know how dangerous she is? Instead he’s approaching her in a friendly manner.

“I want my life back,” Audrey says cockily. “I have a proposition. I’ll wake everyone up right now, under one condition, Bennie Boo.” She steps closer and tucks his bangs over. “Make me your queen and we’ll rule side by side.”

If she touches him again I will wipe that smirk off her face!

“Did someone put a spell on you?” Ben clearly doesn’t think she can be this evil. “Just tell me who and I’ll-”

“You’ll what? Marry them?” Audrey gives a high-pitched giggle. “Most people get dumped because they’re not good enough… I wasn’t bad enough.” She giggles again and gives a twirl to show her new look. “How do you like me now, Bennie Boo?” 

Ben frowns. “I like the old Audrey better.”

Audrey’s face falls, and I can tell that was the wrong answer.

“She wouldn’t want to hurt Auradon. Just… give me the scepter, and I’ll forgive you.” Ben goes to take it but Audrey points a warning finger.

“You’ll forgive me? I don’t think so. Sleeping is too good for you!” 

She knocks Ben over with a blast of magic. I see his clothes start to tear and his eyes go feral.

“No!” I shriek and throw a ball of purple flames at the pink-haired villain. It singes her skirt and she screams, sending another blast of lightning at me. 

“I thought we agreed, freak! Auradon needs to learn a lesson!”

“Not this way.” I shake my head. “Audrey, this has gone too far. Hurting innocent people won’t bring us glory or respect.” I think back to what Remus said. ‘Maybe one day it won’t be just good and bad, black and white. Maybe we can have a mix of gray.’ “No one is perfect, and it’s not right to expect someone to be what no one can achieve. We can fix this without creating any more damage than there needs to be.”

Audrey scowls and scoffs at my words. “That’s rich, coming from you. Face it, Sanderson. You never were supposed to exist. Your mommy never loved you, and your dad only loves you because you’re a mistake.” 

I sink to my knees as each word drives deeper pain into my heart. Everything that’s happened this past year, everything I’ve loved or feared, is all based on her wicked truth. 

“You were never meant to go to Auradon Prep. You were supposed to be sent away with all those other freaks!”

Audrey blasts me directly in my chest and I feel my heart snap. A cold, dark presence snakes its way into my head and every hope or thought of kindness evaporates. In my blurry vision I see my magic engulfing me in cold flames, threatening to choke every ember of happiness. My own magic is being turned against me.

I can’t- can’t stay awake…

My body slumps to the floor and I see Audrey peering down at me.

“I’m running the show now, freak.” She smirks. “Since you were all down for being evil, let’s see just how much of a Sanderson you can be!”

#carlos descendants #carlos de vil x reader #descendants carlos #mal descendants #evie descendants #jay descendants #uma descendants #harry hook descendants #audrey descendants #ben descendants #disney descendants #descendants x reader #mary sanderson #winifred sanderson #sarah sanderson #binx hocus pocus #hocus pocus

[anoddworld]

HAHAHA IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!! This is for my MSM human AU. I wanted to get this out before I went to school. Hope you enjoy!

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

The sun was just setting below the horizon around the city. Cars zipped on down roads. Buildings stood tall over the people.

However, in one building, a person is typing away at a keyboard connected to large monitors, speakers, and a microphone. Their brows furrowed in pure focus. It was reasonable, however. Their task was important.

“Alright, are you three in position?” They asked into the microphone.

“Copy that.” A deep smooth voice, Loodvigg, sounded from the speakers.

“Good. Be ready for the signal.”

As seconds that felt like minutes passed, they waited on baited breath. They needed to know if this went well. If anyone got injured, they need to make the call to pull them out of battle.

“Vhamp? What’s the signal again?” An elegant voice, Blasoom, asked.

Letting out a shaky sigh, they spoke into the microphone again, “It’ll be a firework. Whiz-Bang’s meant to set it off.”

“Then we’re off!” Blasoom declared. Though, Vhamp could’ve sworn they’ve heard someone cursed. Probably Loodvigg, if they could guess.

“Alright then.” They took a deep breath. ”Good luck.”

They started to bounce their legs and switched lines to their other teammates. If they remembered correctly, the other eight members were dealing with a suspicious fire.

“How’re things going over there?”

“We’re just finishing up here. We’ll be home in a bit.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Attomz.” They then added, “Can you tell me what happened?”

A pause. Probably him asking if he could say anything. However, they were nervous all the same. They had started to wring their hands. They took long, deep breaths.

“It was apparently an electrical fire,” Attmoz reported, “There was no one in the building and no evidence of any kind of arson.”

“Okay,” They responded, “If everything is done over there, there is one more thing you all could do.”

“What is it?” Another person, Furnoss, inquired.

Vhamp pulled up the location. “It’s over by the Silver Oak Plaza. Galvana, Loodvigg, and Blasoom should already be over there assisting Seasonals. Some of villain attack.”

“Aye-aye! We’ll be there in a bit!” Hornacle shouted joyously, “We’re close anyways!”

“Excellent. I’ll hear from you all in a bit, right?”

“Yeah, man, don’t worry about it.”

“Good,” Vhamp sighed, “I’ll be right here.”

They leaned forward and combined the lines. It’s the only reasonable thing to do. Once that was completed, all they needed to do was wait. That was their least favorite part. Vhamp never understood why, but it made them anxious. Maybe it was radio silence. That usually never meant anything good.

The door suddenly opened. That wasn’t right. Everyone should either be at or going to Silver Oak. So… who was that? Were they being robbed?

Vhamp stood slowly. Did they need to suit up? Well, they’re going to do that anyway. Reaching down, they grabbed their armor. It’d take too long to put it all on, so they just slipped on the metallic brown arm pieces. They approached the door to the control room.

Slowly opening the door, the intruder wandered around in the living room, clearly looking for something. Vhamp began to weigh their options. On one hand, they could fire an attack now, revealing their location, and possibly damage something. On the other, they could attempt to approach carefully and slowly and then attack, but risking the intruder being armed. Or maybe…

They steadied their aim and stepped out of the room. The intruder whipped their head around to stare them down. They look horrified, clearly not expecting anyone to be home.

“I’ll ask you once,” They hissed, “Leave. And I won’t fire.”

“N-no way!” The intruder pulled a knife out of their pocket. “You… you can go fuck yourself!”

“Hm. Fine.” They fired off a shot of energy from their hands into the intruder, knocking them over with a cry. They dashed over before they could scramble to their feet. Vhamp grabbed their shirt and glared down at them.

“I’m feeling nice, so I’m giving you one more chance,” They offered, “I’ll let you go, only if you don’t fight me along the way.”

They looked around for a second, then answered, “F-fine.”

“Good.” Vhamp heaved them onto their feet. They grabbed their wrists.

“What’re you doing?”

“Dragging you out. I’ll let you run away afterwards.”

The criminal grumbled under their breath. They took it as an agreement and started to drag them outside. Vhamp’s heart was racing. What if the intruder found some way to stab them? What if they did something worse?

As they opened the front door, the cold evening’s air hit them in a refreshing way. Vhamp felt their lips twitch into a little smirk. They threw the criminal out the door.

“Now, leave,” They ordered cooly.

The criminal ran, ran, and ran away from their house. Vhamp watched as they disappeared into the cityscape. Sighing, they stepped back indoors. They didn’t feel well, though they needed to get back to the control panel.

Opening the door to the control room, they sighed and slid the armor off their arms. They then sat down and rested their arms on their legs.

“Vhamp? Are you there?” Galvana’s voice sounded from the speakers.

They swallowed and answered, “I’m here. Just had to use the bathroom, sorry.”

“For thirty minutes?” Their friend’s voice had a joking tone, though Vhamp felt a lump form in their throat.

“... I also changed clothing,” They lied.

Galvana giggled, “Okay, well, we just finished up here and were just worried about the radio silence from your end.”

“I apologize. Is everyone alright?” They began to wring their hands again. 

“You’re good,” They beamed, “Barely any injuries, just a few bruises. We’ll be back soon.”

“Excellent.” Vhamp relaxed a bit. “Anything any of you need when you get home?”

“Hmmmm… we can talk about food when we’re home,” Galvana then added, “Glaishur has been complaining about being hungry for, like, an hour!”

Vhamp nodded, “Alright. I’ll be waiting.”

“Alright, see you soon!” Galvana closed off the line.

Vhamp stood again and wandered upstairs. If they wanted their friends to believe them, they’d actually need to put on their pajamas. It did sound nice anyways. Walking into their bedroom, they b-lined to their dresser. They pulled out a cozy yellow sweater and its matching pants. They threw them on and headed back downstairs.

When arriving at the living room, Vhamp flopped onto the sofa. They didn’t feel much better. Now that they were thinking about it, maybe they were hungry? They hadn’t eaten very much today, seeing as they were quite busy with work. They usually get upset if they haven’t eaten.

Then, they realized they were shaking. Is it because the blood sugar drop? It probably was. Vhamp brought their arms up to their face and felt the tears that had begun to slowly fall. They cursed themself as they shot up.

They shuffled to the kitchen and grabbed a box of tissues. They didn’t want to eat just yet, they wanted to eat with their friends. They dabbed the tissue on their wet cheek. They sniffled and rested their head in their palm.

The front door opened and warm chattering filled the previously silent house. Vhamp smiled gently and wiped their face again.

“Hey,” They greeted weakly, “Welcome home.”

“Oh, Chord, what happened?” Galvavna asked and walked over to them. They pet their head gently. It felt nice.

Ah, yes. Their civilian name, Chord. They assumed that the work day was over, then. They melted into their friend’s hand. It just felt nice.

“Hungry… tired, probably,” Chord mumbled, “Welcome home, Volt.”

Sighing, the hero smiled, “Thanks, buddy.”

Chord pulled away and walked around the counter. They wrapped their arms around Volt’s lean frame. Volt chuckled and returned the hug. They also continued to pet their hair.

“Got any ideas for dinner then?” Volt asked quietly.

“No, just food,” Chord murmured, pressing their face into their shoulder.

Volt turned to their friends. “Any ideas for dinner?”

“Chinese?” Loodvigg suggested.

Rolling his eyes, Scaratar responded, “You always say that.”

“And yet we never get it!” Loodvigg complained.

“Hm, fair,” He shrugged, “I think I’ll go with that too, then.” The taller cheered quietly at the small victory.

“Pizza!” Tortt and Attomz yelled at the same time.

“Can Chinese be spicy?” Furnoss asked quietly. Loodvigg nodded. Then, he smiled, “Then I’m in.”

“Yeah, Chinese sounds nice,” Glaishur murmured, his eyes fluttering shut.

Hornacle nodded, “Yeah! It sounds awesome.”

“Tofu sounds nice,” Blasoom smiled, “Proto?” Proto, more well known as the hero Plixie, nodded.

“Chip?” Volt looked at the silent man, who simply nodded. It wasn’t much of an answer, but it’ll do.

“Ah man!” Attomz nudged Tortt with his elbow. “We lost, Tyler!”

The other snorted, “Damn.”

As the chattering grew, Volt walked them back over to the sofa. Chord sat between Scaratar and Tyler, as that was the only spot left. An arm wrapped around them and pulled into a rather tight hug.

“Tyler,” They mumbled, “You’re crushing me.” He loosened his grip on them, causing them to sigh in relief.

“Sorry, I was just worried,” He apologized, “You looked pretty upset when we came in.”

“It’s… alright. I was just a bit hungry, that’s all,” Chord muttered.

“A bit? You were crying,” Scaratar chimed in.

“Shush, Niko.” Tyler playfully hit him on the shoulder. “Let ‘em sugarcoat it.” Niko sighed, nodded, and leaned on Loodvigg, who pulled him in for a proper hug.

As Chord listened to the endless chattering from their friends, they started to feel a bit drowsy. They allowed themself shut their eyes. A little nap won’t kill me, right? They thought as they drifted off to that soft and calm darkness.

…

“Hey, Chord,” Someone nudged them awake, “Food’s here.”

Groaning, they sat up and stared at the table. Sure enough, there was food. They had no idea what they got, but it was probably good, right? They leaned over and picked their bowl off the table and over to them. After opening it, they saw it was some noodles. Nothing fancy, really.

After mumbling their thanks, they joined the other in eating.

…

“What do you mean we almost got robbed?!”

#my singing monsters #msm #celestials #original story #vhamp #galvana #I am so tired rn #syncopite #tortt #attmoz #loodvigg #scaratar #furnoss #plixie #blasoom #hornacle #glaishur #the gang's all here

[fumblingmusings]

Cardverse 2023

@aphcardverse-week

Day Six: Celebrations - Gods and Monsters | Family

Each King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts is given a gift. When it appears, in what form and the level of control required to manage it is never agreed upon. The King has the gift of great strength, the Queen of great hearing. The Jack's gift appears during the King's Birthday Celebrations, and its implications for warm and soft-hearted Feliciano are terrifying. Gen | GerIta | No Warnings Apply

Feliciano wailing was not an usual sound. Everything was worth of screams and shouts and complaints and laughter and moans and whatever ejections one could make with their vocal cords.

Still, hearing this scream was enough to make Kiku turn away from the parade.

Ludwig, the King, whose very birthday it was that the parade was celebrating, also twitched, turning to find Feliciano scrambling to the back of the balcony, pulling at his wrists as if trying to tear his hands clean off.

Lovi, the Jack’s younger brother, went to grab his brother, only for him to flinch away with a scream of his own the moment their hands touched. Falling backwards, gasping in pain, Antonio, another member of the court, fell to his knees to check on what damage had occurred. 

“Feli?” Kiku asked, alarmed.

Feliciano gave no coherent response, simply giving a look of wild panic, then retreated back into the palace, away from the parade, away from the crowds, away from the King and Queen.

Ludwig swallowed his alarm, looked back at the crowd, then followed the Jack. He tapped Kiku on the arm, telling him to stay put. Kiku did, with only one more look to see where Feliciano was fleeing to. Lovino continued to curse, but still yelled at Feliciano to come back.

The King decided to follow, shoving and arguing for staff to stick to their original intentions. Feliciano finally stopped in one of the courtyards, jamming his hands into the water of a large fountain.

“Feliciano?” Ludwig called, stomping over with gentleness. “What is it?”

“They’re burning! I didn’t think this would be my gift,” Feliciano sobbed incoherently, cheeks streaked with tears. “I hurt my brother, I hurt my brother! Ludwig - Ludwig I’m a monster!”

Ludwig reached into the water, uncaring of getting his sleeves wet. The water was warm, far warmer than it should have been, and when he reached underwater for Feliciano’s hands, he panicked, retracting them from the water with a help.

“No! No no! You’ll get hurt, it’s too hot!”

“Feli-”

But the Jack began to run away again, openly sobbing.

Ludwig was faster however, and simply stepped on Feliciano’s cape. He screeched and fell to his knees, shaking his hands as if to cool them off. To Ludwig’s surprise, they were bone dry.

“They didn’t tell me it would hurt like this,” he whimpered. “I don’t want to hurt anyone - but I can’t touch anything without… Ah! Ah! Ludwig it hurts!”

The King craned his neck, looking for someone hovering nearby. Not an hour went by without the trip being watched in one way another, and sure enough, three guards were hovering at the door, looking foolish in their colourful red uniforms.

“Get us ice!”

Two men left immediately, leaving one spectator still. Ludwig ignored him.

“Let me see Feliciano.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No you’ll get hurt. When my brother told me about these gifts… this doesn’t feel like a gift! It’s awful. What if I… Ludwig it hurts…”

“Let me see.”

Ludwig removed his wet gloves and took Feliciano’s hands in his.

They did burn, like fire. But Ludwig felt no pain. Feliciano’s tears continued to fall, but slower, watching Ludwig’s long pale fingers rub reassuring circles into his palm and dorsal. 

“What can I do with such a gift?” the Jack muttered. “Boil water? Burn people? I cannot live with this pain.”

“It may just be just the beginning stage. When Kiku had his, his hearing became so sharp he had to go to the countryside, as each stomp of a horse's hoof was like daggers in his ears. I remember his ears even bled.”

Now Kiku had no trouble at all watching a military parade with its dozens of instruments and shouts and stomping with no more than the occasional twitch. He could listen as closely as he liked, wherever he liked. There was no need for any spymasters or circle of informants, the Queen knew what he needed to know. And no more. 

“What about you?” Feliciano mentioned, “You have never once harmed a fly, and yet you have all that strength…”

“It was very hard, at first. You call yourself a monster, but my own family had to teach me very carefully not to harm anyone. Even if it was unintentional, people would not look upon my kindly. I hurt Gilbert, once, when we were younger.”

With his hands on Feliciano’s, so incredibly gentle, somehow the Jack did not believe the King. 

The ice arrived, bowls of water filled the brim with shaved ice. Feliciano did not remove his hand’s from Ludwig, however, instead the pain was fading, concentrated at where the King’s skin touched his. Hot, still, prickling and pointed, but no longer painful. 

“It doesn’t hurt,” he noted. When Ludwig let go of his hands, a sigh of relief on his lips, the fire restarted, the point where Feliciano let out a further screech.

Scrambling for the return of Ludwig’s touch, Feliciano whimpered. His pain tolerance had never been a good one. He saw no point in having to tolerate suffering, in anyone or anything. If someone was in pain, you did what you could to end it. Now Feliciano felt as though he were destined to cause nothing but pain, his heartrending expression was too much to take.

Ludwig simply sighed and tugged Feliciano in close, taking one hand to run through his amber hair. Feliciano was warm, always had been. 

“I’m frightened,” the Jack admitted.

“Of what? Nothing to fear when I am with you Feli. And I am always with you.”

Feliciano whined directly into Ludwig’s sternum, not seeing the King roll his eyes. “Come back to the celebration, come back and see your brother - who is fine I am sure - and stop thinking of yourself as a monster. You could never be such.”

“But -”

Ludwig pulled the conjoined hands up, kissing Feliciano’s skin. Immediately, the fire ceased. Gasping, Feliciano untangled their hands, so that he could better hold the King’s face.

“You made the pain stop. Does it hurt?”

“No, Spatzi, I promise,” the King half laughed.

“Don’t let go of my hands.”

“I promise.” He pulled Feliciano to his feet. “Just get through the rest of the parade - my parade - and we will see what has caused now of all times for your gift to appear. Can you do that? Just a few more hours.”

“Must I?”

“Yes Feli,” said Ludwig, with no measurable amount of exasperation and love. 

Feliciano kissed his King, who sighed merrily at the contact of their lips. A kiss from Feli always felt like a blessing. 

It seemed no surprise to him that Feliciano seemed to carry the very sun inside him, so full of warmth and merriment and life. There was no doubt that he would be a very powerful Jack, and perhaps it would take a great deal of control to learn. Self-control and Feliciano did not always pair together, but it seemed inconceivable to Ludwig that he could ever be so recalcitrant that he would willingly harm another. No, the thought was as laughable as the thought of Ludwig one day ceasing to love Feliciano. An impossibility; a fool’s hope.

So, Ludwig pressed a kiss of his own to his partner’s temple, and began to pull him back towards their family, waiting for them on the balcony still. Feliciano wiped away the remaining streaks on his cheeks, gripping Ludwig’s bare skin whenever a flare of fire began once more.

The buckets of ice remained untouched. Perhaps they would never be needed. 

#waaaa i'm late i'm late i'm late #hopefully today's intended post will be up tomorrow but WE SHALL SEE... #anyway #hws germany #hws italy #hws japan #hws romano #hws spain #cardverse #cardverse week 2023 #fanfic #op

[infestedslime]

I made some concepts for @natahposting’s tau exodus update concept (which you should read or this won’t make sense)! It was fun to do, so I’ll probably try to come up with at least a few more later on. I’ve included a stick figure Excalibur in most of the images for scale

Tau Ceti F, lacking much of the organic fauna that some of the other planets in the tau system do, make do with specialized sentients to fill certain environmental roles on the terraformed world. One such sentient is the bolyst, a large, neutral sentient, serving the role of large herbivore. The bolyst bears a large, circular saw as well as the ability to emit bursts of energy from its forelimbs which break down organic matter, both of which it utilizes to keep larger, hardier plants under control, as well as allowing the smaller organic creatures of tau ceti f to take in some of their nutrients. Bolysts, lacking predators, are neither skittish or aggressive near tenno, but if attacked they will lest out a loud wail to alert their herd and charge at the offender with their circular saw. It is beast to take caution in archon controlled zones, as there they will act aggressive to tenno and their allies by default.

The tau walker is a large, defensive sentient meant to act as a mobile turret. They were created by allied sentient forces to hold back archon control in certain areas, but many have fallen to such forces nonetheless and must be either recaptured or destroyed. In archon controlled zones these sentients will act as mini bosses similar to thumpers, with the addition of being able to turn them to your side by using certain devices to scramble archon frequencies. In zones not controlled by archons they will patrol the map attacking enemies. Their primary defense is the front mounted turret, however they can also stomp to release a large shockwave. They are normally very slow movers, but will utilize their back mounted engine to rush forward when spotting an enemy.

Prosecysts are archon aligned sentient generals. They have high health and attack using their larger set of limbs, which fire beams of sentient energy. Their 4 arms are used to preform “rites”, prayers to whichever archon they serve that will buff nearby allies. Prosecysts serving Amar will buff damage, while ones serving boreal and nira will buff health and speed respectively. Tenno that destroy prosecysts will receive similar buffs to their team.

Hest is a friendly sentient, neutral to both the lyndwyrm and the committee. Tenno can find them and their storefront near the entrance to either faction (switching which one they’re at every weekly reset) with a daily rotating stock of cosmetics, blueprints, and decorations that can be traded for tau ceti f’s natural resources, similar to Npcs like Nanak or ticker. They can also be found in the open world hosting communications to either faction and allowing Tenno to pick up bounties from either the lyndwyrm or the committee.

Volantis is a sentient energy pistol of hest’s own make. Primary fire produces a shotgun blast of small, vertical discs of irradiated plasma, while alternate fire shoots one large horizontal disc of plasma that cuts through enemies. Deals purely radiation damage. High status and high damage at the cost of low crit. Primary fire has high multishot, whistle secondary fire has high punch through. The weapon has a regenerating battery in lieu of a magazine. The weapon can be permanently acquired from hest’s storefront and does not rotate like some of the other stock.

#warframe #art #sentients #tau exodus #these were really fun to make I’ll probably try to do some more enemies and conservation targets in the near future #I’m not sure how much tweaking these would need to fit into the original update concept but they’re just rough ideas #so they can all be adjusted to better fit the original idea #my art

[madcatdaderpydrawer-blog]

Whump 16

Moon watched in horror as the glowing sphere shuddered and twitched, a sickening purple hue washing over it. No, no no no no NO! It couldn’t activate, he can’t let it activate! Yanking himself away from the suits controls he turned and ran deeper into his mind. Before he could reach it, though, a shockwave rippled through the air slamming him into the wall. It pulsed erratically as it rose in the air, giving off waves of energy that got thicker with every second. He gagged, clutching at his throat; Despite being unable to breath, the sheer force of the energy it was giving off made him feel light headed. Like he was struggling to stay above water while wave upon wave crashed down over him. Pushing him farther down under everytime he reached the surface.

The program tugged at his brain, urging him to rest. To go silent and immobile. His body felt heavy and weak, like he would drop at any second. Before he could adapt to this feeling, the floor was swept out from under him and he was plunged into the darkness.

---------

Moon twitched violently, lurching forward and falling onto his knees. Freddy put a hand on Suns shoulder, signalling him to stay put. No matter how much he wanted to run to check on his brother, something was clearly very, very wrong.

Suddenly the seizing came to a complete halt, his arms hanging limply at his sides. Sun held his breath, eyeing him for any sign of life. Time dragged on for what felt like forever before he got to his feet in one fluid movement. An action that was far too crisp, too robotic even for him. His fears were proven correct when his eyes opened, revealing blank pupilless eyes. One red, one purple. That simple static smile that he had hoped he would never see on his siblings face again. 

Security mode. She had activated security mode. 

But something was wrong. Unease prickled at his joints and he moved further infront of the little boy, eyeing Moon suspiciously. His void eyes snapped to Gregory immediately and he shot into the air in a lunge. Sun and Freddy scrambled out of the way, pulling Gregory along with them seconds before Moon landed directly where the boy was before. Large cracks spidered across the floor from the point of impact. Sun grimaces thinking of how much damage that could’ve done had they not moved in time. Though that relief is short lived as ‘Moon’ immediately goes on the attack once more, getting a clean scratch across Suns side.

He gasped, clutching his chest as pain ran up his side. Fuck, fuck this was bad. What is he doing? Security mode can’t attack children, especially not unprovoked! What the hell is happening?! What did she do?!

Another swipe, another lunge. Pain exploded from his head, one of his rays having been cut clean in half. It’s because he’s infront of Gregory, he quickly realizes. He’s trying to get to Gregory. 

He scoops up the boy, sprinting across the tile floor. Sun doesn’t know what they’re going to do about him, but... they can’t stay. He won’t let another child die under his watch. He can’t.

----

Moon slammed against the barrier, trying to push himself back into his mind. His BODY. He couldn’t stand this, watching his body move without his consent, working to meticulously tear his brother apart. 

If this were an earlier time, the sight wouldn’t of bothered him. It might’ve even delighted him, in fact. But this wasn’t earlier in the month or even the day. Moon finally- finally- has a reason to care beyond this monotonous draining job! A reason to fight! He couldn’t just sit aside and see the person who opened his eyes die by his hands!

But he couldn’t get back in! It felt like he was hitting a brick wall. Frustration and desperation bubbled up in his chest.

He has to get through

HE

HAS

TO

His fist went straight through the wall, his eyes widening in shock. He brushed off the surprise quickly, pulling his fist back and lunging at the glass wall. It shattered on impact and he landed on the other side with a loud huff. The pressure and heaviness returned but this time he fought it, dragging himself to his feet and lunging at the sphere. it was becoming more and more fragmented as time went on, the sight was making him sick. It’s not supposed to look like that. 

His security mode was such a fundemental feature inside of him. What would become of him if it fell apart? Would it be repairable, or would his own code unravel with it? The thought makes him sick to his stomach.

He yanked it back, the program roaring violently in objection. Vibrant blue strings wound tightly around the fragmented code and he ran past the glitching sphere, grabbing the controls. 

Looking at the scene around him left him horrified, and he jerked himself to the side hard colliding with the wall. He grimaced as pain erupted through his body. That was going to hurt later...

The blue strings snapped and Moon ducked, the programs wild strike barely missing him.

----

Sun weaved through the decorations, darting around walls and over obstacles, Moon right on his tail. He’d given Gregory to Freddy which thankfully went undetected by his persistent brother. The best thing he could do for now was try to get him as far away from the duo as he could. While it wasn’t the best plan, they needed more time!

He yelped and dropped to the floor, barely dodging another aerial attack. Moon went to swoop back into the ceiling when his body jolted unexpectedly, the wire refusing to rise up. With a loud thunk Moon ran straight into the wall. Sun grimaced at the noise, stopping to look up at him. For a brief moment he caught the sight of that single white pupil, his face scrunched up in pain. But just as fast as it happened it was gone, eye returning to that vacant stare and sickening complacent smile.

That’s when it hit him; It couldn’t shut Moon down because of the virus. He was fighting back. That made hope spark inside of him.

“MOON! If you can hear this, whatever you-you’re doing, it’s working! You have to keep trying!”

Moon darted back into the ceiling, and Sun could only hope that his words got through to him.

And... they did. They seemed to, anyways.

Every move was met with some form of resistance, a sudden change in direction resulting in him slamming into a food stand or wall, a miscalculated strike plunging his hand straight through the plaster causing it to become stuck. Sometimes the wire appeared at random, yanking him up into the sky when he got too close. It became clearer that Moon was purposefully tampering with his programming, yet couldn’t get control fully. Everytime he would seize control it would be in sporadic bursts only lasting seconds before the program took back over. It was just too strong.

Sun managed to meet back up with Gregory and Freddy, explaining the situation. There wasn’t much they could do, though, yet Sun continued to shout words of encouragement when he could. He had to do something to help him, he could see how hard he was fighting. 

But it didn’t seem like it was enough. Smoke was emmenating from the gaps in his suit as he dangled unsupported in the air, head spinning 360 degrees in a shuddering disjointed way. He was going to overheat if this kept up. 

Sun ran up to the railing, ignoring Freddys warnings not to get too close. He had to check on his brother, because as much as he wanted to deny it he did care about him. And it was clear he cared too. it was surprising to see how hard he fought to keep himself under control, to stay away from them. Normally in this state he’d never bat an eye at hurting Sun, he never had before. But something changed, he changed. It seems that, infected or not, there’s still a part of him in there that cares. This is his way of showing it. 

His mind was racing as he tried to figure out how to safely get Moon down without hurting him, but was yanked out of his thoughts by a sharp pull on his wrist. He shrieked, grasping the edge of the railing to stop himself from falling over. Moon grinned widely at his brother who struggled in his grip, pulling him closer to the edge of the balcony. A twisted, malevolent little giggle came out of him and he pulled on his arm, hard. Sun gasped, holding in a pained squeak.

“Moon, don’t.. don’t do this. Please. You don’t have to do-do this...” He stared up at him, eyes pleading. Desperate.

----

Moon can confidently say that this was the closest thing to hell an animatronic can experience. The constant back and forth, hopping from his mind to his body back to his mind again was dizzying. If he was a human he would’ve thrown up. Several times. But he kept going, he fought too hard to give up now. Yet everytime he was pushed back, it was getting harder and harder to get back control. He was getting closer and closer to not being there in time. 

And as he watched his brother be pulled closer and closer to the edge, he worried that he would be too late. His soft plead struck a cord in him, a stinging pain in his chest that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Rearing back, he punted the small sphere across the area. Seizing control of the body, he forced himself to release Suns arm, going as far as to fly backwards in the air.

It isn’t going to be enough though! He won’t be able to keep control for long. His eyes fell down to the ground far, far below him, and a sickening idea planted itself in his mind.

There is.. one thing he can do. It’s not like he’ll be salvageable at this point, anyways. If he stays in this state much longer, he’ll combust. Still, the thought of going out by his own hands sent chills down his spine.

But what else could he do? It was the only way to stop it. To stop him. His gaze landed on Sun and he grimaced internally. He wasn’t going to like this plan, not at all. But it was for his sake. After everything he had done to him, this was the least he could do. 

His hands trembled but didn’t still as he reached above his head, holding the wire still with one hand. This is it. This is really it. He steeled his resolve, driving his talons through the thin wire. The constant buzzing chaos in his mind went dead silent in that moment. The sharp pop was nearly deafening.

----

Sun sighed in relief when Moon dropped his arm, watching him pull back. His eyes glitched, his eyes returning to their less vacant look. The desperation and fear on his face was evident, but it dropped quickly to a look of... apphrension. And dread. He looked like he was deep in thought, about what he couldn’t start to guess. He was rattling like a heated tea kettle, steam pouring out of him. They locked eyes for a moment, just a moment, before he reached up.

Suns eyes widened, “W..Wait.. Moon, don’t-” 

The wire gave with a single swipe and he plummeted to the floor, a deafening boom rumbling through the air.

The silence was deafening.

#reblogs and comments are appreciated! ^^ #whumptober #fanfic #fnaf security breach au #redemption au #daycare attendant #fnaf moon #moondrop #fnaf sun #sunrise #sundrop #fnaf gregory #fnaf glamrock freddy #angst #glitchtrap virus

[aphantpoet]

Boba Fett

When looking at fans reactions to the series “The Book of Boba Fett” I was surprised by the number of people who's complaints hinged on the idea that the series is some sort of redemption arc that should take a long time  I will admit, I haven’t got the chance to watch the series yet as I do not have Disney plus and have not found a way to watch it elsewhere,  but I have found in these reviews that people seem to have a very one dimensional view of Boba Fett as a character. 

When we first meet Boba Fett he’s a minor antagonist in the original trilogy. Less of a character and more of a plot device. His armour aside,  the most notable things about him is that he’s pragmatic “He’s no good to me dead” and a bit of a ladies man [the scene in Jabba’s palace]. That’s hardly any nuanced characterisation. He “dies” as he lived, an ultimately one note but cool antagonist  that provides some colour between the grey, black and white of the Empire.

We see him next in the prequal trilogy where, despite the relatively small screen time, Daniel Logan is giving it his all. We see him in his father’s apartment on Kamino ,when Obiwan Kenobi goes to investigate the planet and we are introduced to the clones. Young Boba is shown in this first scene to be a smart kid who distrusts the Jedi [or at least strangers]. We see him observing his dad’s interactions with the Jedi, We’re also shown that despite him not having the inhibitor chip, he still listens to his dad with Boba closing the door to hide Jango’s armour. When Obiwan leaves before Jango can order Boba to pack so they can get away Boba’s the one who prompts his dad. This first scene shows him as a kid who  is observant, smart and cares  about his father.

During the confrontation and chase with Obiwan Boba plays a mostly supporting role. He is only seen actively engaging when he scrambles into the ship and fires the guns at Obiwan. He manages to fire impressively well when you conside that he;s can’t even see over the steering wheel. He’s also the one who points out that they’re being tracked. he’s not shown to be especially ruthless except when he laughs at Jango’s “we’ll have a couple of surprises for him” comment. other  than that he mostly spends that scene in the cheap seats. This shows him a proactive and demonstrates that he is still learning from his father, still a far cry from the feared  bounty hunter he’s shown as in the OT. 

He’s next shown at the execution of Padme, Obiwan and Anakin, where he cranes his neck to have a look. He doesn’t really say anything during that scene or during the ensuing battle. His only major appearance after is when he holds his father's helmet and rests his forehead to it. during these scene Boba does not play a major role, presumably because George Lucas thought having the heros’ fight a ten year old would be a little too far. 

During TCW, Boba is shown in three arcs, playing a relatively minor role in two of them. His first major appearance is when he is trying to kill Mace Windu. Boba executes the plan quietly and efficiently , in a way that minimises damage to the crew. It is not until Mace Windu asks a clone to put something in his room because Anakin needed him that things spiral out of control. 

Aurra Sing is the one who orders him to blow up the reactor rod. Boba protests “But the crew, this isn’t about them”. He is still ultimately persuaded to do it. When he’s caught Boba easily slips into the “vulnerable cadet “ role and tricks the trooper into handing over his blaster. While Boba has no problem fighting the trooper when the helmets are on  Boba hesitates when the helmet comes off and he’s faced with his father’s face staring up at him in fear and confusion. It is only with the assertion that he and the clone are “brothers” that Boba is able to follow through with stunning the solider. This sequence of events shows Boba's competence as well as his moral compass, It also serves to demonstrate his complex surrounding the clones. 

This moral compass is further challenged when he sabotages the escape pod  and Aurra Sing intercepts them to pick him up. Boba is more than ready to just leave and even suggests to her that they let them go. Aurra Sing is the one who asserts that the have to be jettisoned into the unknown. he only leaves with her  after this threat is applied to him. He walks away telling the cadets that he’s sorry and, as Aurra demands, lets them loose. Through this arc Boba is shown acting with competence but anger, displaying instincts that were likely taught to him by Jango. When speaking to the captive clones Boba removes one of their gags and tells him that this isn’t what he wanted. It is only when the clone reminds him that he is also a clone that Boba hardens up, though not enough to hold back a wince when Aurra slaps the clone and by the time shooting the hostages comes around Boba is not angry enough to go through with the threats. This shows that despite his quest for vengeance he is still an immature and insecure kid in a galaxy where there are thousands of him made everyday. The only thing that makes him different from the other clones is that he ages normally and was chosen by Jango, one thing that is not unique to him and another that says nothing about his accomplishments. He is still far from revenge and from living up to his father’s legacy. 

Through the following scenes Boba slowly becomes disillusioned with the quest as he sees Aurra shoot a member of their crew in cold blood and is threatened by her. He still tries to hold onto the moral high ground and insists that “i’m not a murderer, but I want justice ” even when that drive for “justice” has flown way out of his control.  He is eventually left to the mercy of the Republic. Plo Koon  brings Boba to Hondo Onaka to get him to tell them where the remaining hostages are. Boba protests that he has no one so why should he help?,  it is only when Hondo, the only person at this point who has treated Boba’s loss with any respect convinces him that it’s the honourable thing to do and that it’s what his father would have wanted that Boba caves and expresses genuine remorse for his actions. Despite his age and arguable part in the carnage as a whole, Boba is sent to prison.

There is not much to be said for his appearance when Obiwan goes undercover but his actions after getting out of prison, either by release or escape show how he has hardened and stayed the same. He is tasked with bringing a bride to a warlord, for this mission he is teamed up with newcomer to bounty hunting, Ventress. Boba is short and demanding to the Dathomirian, claiming that's she’s a “rookie”. Neither seem to know that the other s  in fact overqualified. It is worth noting however that this same energy is also given to him by Ventress so he is hardly the only one acting like this.  It is also worth noting that Boba is not incapable of taking advice from others. This is seen when he questions the need to subtram travel, when he thinks that just using the ship would be easier. When the reason why is explained to him Boba has no problem with the direction. Boba comes out of prison much harder than he was when he came in, having  no problem with making himself bigger or dishing out violence where he has not changed is seen in his actions later in this event.

When Boba and his crew are attacked the chest they were keeping the bride in comes open Boba’s first instinct is to run to her and assure her that he’ll protect her from the attackers. The dubious honourability of him delivering a slave bride to a warlord aside, it is clear that Boba has internalised Hondo Onaka’s lesson on honour. It is only when he realises that she’s on their attackers side that Boba orders they be tied down so he can get the mission done. Ventress subsequently switches him with the girl and delivers her home.  Boba is not seen after that but it is in this scene that his portrayal as a ruthless bounty hunter makes more sense. even still, during this arc Boba is not seen being especially bloodthirsty. He’s ruthless towards the people who stand in the way of his mission but for innocents, those he cares for or assumes he’s being paid to protect  he’s especially careful. 

Boba has no other major appearances in the shows or movies until the Mandalorian. When he saves Fennec Shand he has no connection to her, he is not even aware that she once hunted the closest thing he has to a biological sister in canon.  Despite seeming to have softened Boba prove this not to be the case. He threatens Grogu to get the armour back and fights well against the troopers. he is also the first to suggest that there’s not need to fight and they they put down their weapons. During the fight Boba gets his armour back. Boba honours his deal with Din Djarin and joins in the mission to get Grogu back, one again showing Hondo Onaka’s lesson about honour has made an impression on him even all these years later.

When Bo Katan starts to insult him Boba is not quick to violence. It is only when  Jango Fett is brought into it that Boba brings put the threats. He then fights Bo’s sidekick before she agree’s to help Din Djarin because Grogu’s involved. After the mission he ruthlessly shoots down Bib Fortuna and so begins his hostile takeover of Mis Eisley. Looking at some scenes he seems to be going a good job, having mellowed while retaining his fire and sense of honour.

So, looking at all that together, there is no reason why the arc set out in Book of Boba Fett cannot work. While I’m sure some of the criticism I’ve seen is valid, I do not think the  assertion that Boba Fett  should remain a ruthless killer is one of them, nor do I think that this is part of some moralist agenda to make villains not evil anymore . 

#star wars #boba fett #long post #character analysis

[depressedhatakekakashi]

oh man, Kakashi minding his own business and then seeing his dead dad???

Hell maybe Gai, Asuma, or Genma see Sakumo first and they try to do damage control before it gets really bad

Oh gush YES!

I was thinking it’s blank period (since Hokage Kakashi) so Asuma wouldn’t be there

But Shizune? Gai? Kurenai??? (I do not include yamato here because i don’t think he knows about sakumo. He’s blissfully unaware what’s about to happen or he’d put a firm stop to it)

They’re scrambling for excuses to take Sakumo anywhere else. It’s the first time anyone see’s Gai recognize someone they don’t know, but Gai knows that hair and that face and he knows it’s NOT kakashi which leaves only one other option.

I can see Gai inviting team seven and Sakumo out to dango and sending Neji or Tenten off to warn Shizune that something is going wrong and they need to keep Kakashi tf away

It doesn’t work of course. Kakashi’s interest is piqued when Shizune starts giving him more random work and he’s a slippery bastard

He’s getting out of that office and seeing what’s up himself

[brandwhorestarscream]

OSxBB here again and ooh, there's not a brick left by the time they're done. They fucking Ba Sing Si'd BB! No one's getting out unscathed from that!

And Omega Supreme had grabbed more Decepticons on the way over, both ones that followed Megatron's orders to come follow or that he literally just.....found in space and yanked inside himself to add to the growing collection. The ones already there give the newcomers the details and everyone just gets ready for a brawldown.

And oh, do they get one.

The second Omega Supreme sees Bumblebee again but it's not his BB.....that this isn't the happy, smiling, reckless and unapologetically loud bit of sunlight and warmth that helped him and loved him and cared for him. This is a doll wearing his skin, his face, talking in his voice in carefully measured tones so as to sound pleasing to hear and quiet enough to neatly dismiss. That they ripped every bit of life out of the minibot, damn near made him a drone in all but name, all to try and have him be the controller for the new Supreme being made.....

The Senate *burns*. The Noble district *burns*. All of Cybertron can hear Omega Supreme's roars and screams and the furious explosions he makes as he vents every last bit of anger and rage and despair he has.

The Decepticons barely have to do anything besides follow up on the few survivors. Starscream makes absolute full use of his everything here, using this once in a lifetime chance to get so so much done. Shockwave and the reclaimed Soundwave (tiny version) just shrug and dig into the now unguarded and cracked open computer systems. Theirs now.

Cybertron changes entirely in barely a day and if that's for better or worse, none can really tell. (it's for better, but it will be a while to get there, undoing all the damage that's been done)

I love that Omega just decided to kidnap as many decepticons along the way as he could. Good for him honestly. They don’t entirely know what’s going on but Lord Megatron says they’re storming Cybertron with the help of one of the Supremes, sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ PRAISE BE TO DECEPTICONS! RAISE YOUR WEAPONS! TODAY WE TAKE CYBERTRON OR WE DIE TRYING!!!!!!!!!

Ahem

Anyway. With the government reduced to ashes and the nobles torn down from their high towers, Cybertron is in a severely fragile state at the moment. Survivors of the elite guard scramble to run damage control and get their power back before the cons can snap it up, but they’re not fast enough. Their power was built on propaganda and fear and blind obedience, so their followers were quick to abandon them and slow to offer support in this time of crisis. Funny how that works 🙄

Omega is content to leave the decepticons to their own devices; he could not give less of a damn about what happens to this miserable planet going forwards. Look what those monsters did to Bee 🥺 he’s completely ruined, his personality stripped away, reduced to nothing but a drone that smiles an empty smile with cold, dead optics staring out of his face. He tries desperately to reach him, to get that connection back and get Bumblebee to remember, but the council really did a number on him. His memories are securely locked down if not deleted all together. I’d say there’s probably a good chance they shadowplayed him as well. I wouldn’t put it past them, sculpting and molding him into the perfect control system for their shiny new weapon of mass destruction. A master brain surgeon might be able to help him, depending on how angst we want this to be. Thoughts? 👀

Closing remark that I forgot to add: “This is a doll wearing his skin, his face, talking in his voice” is some s-tier prose and you should be proud of it 💖

#OS×BB AU

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Lifeweaver in Total Mayhem is…interesting. I basically had a tug-o-war with the enemy Hog because we both had our grab/hook abilities up most of the time and whenever he hooked one of my team I would yoink them back. Only problem is when he hooks me and then I’m scrambling for dear life and sometimes just say fuck it, yoink whatever nearby tank is playing and hope they fight for me lol.

In normal QP, he’s not so bad. I do think the comments I’ve heard on how his controls should be fixed are necessary. There’s just too many individual abilities that I often end up just not using one for a long period of time because I forget it exists. His right click should be his damage (or honestly vice versa), and then they should move his dash ability to just double jump. As it is right now, it’s just too awkward to use.

Haven’t noticed any trolling Lifeweavers yet, but I’m sure they’re out there in limited quantity. There have been the occasional times where I’ve been yoinked when I wasn’t really low HP that had me going “What? Oh, okay, sure I guess” but a part of me wonders if they were having a similar issue that I had when I played him which is that the targeting of the ability is a bit over-sensitive so when you’re in the middle of a clusterfuck sometimes it’s hard to grab the one you want. I’m sure that’s probably a setting, similar to Kiriko’s teleport. Also I noticed some weirdness when trying to grab Tracer, understandably. I ended up grabbing my Tracer as she was blinking and it looked like all that it did was stop her in her tracks momentarily and then let her blink, without actually bringing her to me. Seems like that might be a major issue in more serious games if it really just stopped her altogether.

The weirdest thing I noticed with him though, and perhaps more testing is necessary because I can’t say definitively what caused this, but I think his ult actually caused me to perform an involuntary 180. I was playing Sym at the time and our LW used his ult on point right next to me, and I think because the tree sort of grows from the ground in a spiral, I was like caught in the spiral so it made me completely turn around without moving my mouse. It was incredibly weird and kind of jarring.

All in all, he’s just OK. I don’t think he’s crazy OP, but I’m also dogshit with him still so that might just be a massive skill diff. The buff to his healing was much needed, though I’d argue he might need a smidge more.

#random #video games #Overwatch #Blizzard #Lifeweaver #also my friend scared the shit out of me because he said he thinks he was given a rank without ever playing comp #and I know that the rank rules changed so that your SR is basically your rank now #and I know that QP has MMR even though its QP #so he genuinely had me thinking that I was gonna log on and see that I had a rank #even though I’ve never played ranked period #because I just prefer to live in sweet sweet ignorant bliss #thankfully I was mistaken and I didn’t have a rank #thank god #I choose to believe I’m actually top 500 but just haven’t been ranked #;)

[champagnepodiums]

Regarding your answer about mercedes being really good at PR, I generally think so as well but tbh i was kinda baffled at what happened in the last week. Besides basically every team member writing the entire year off after just one race, we’ve had all kinds of statements from George saying they need to sacrifice the year, Toto saying their car concept need to change and then saying that they’re not changing it, Lewis saying that merc doesn’t listen to him… idk I don’t think any of these statements are bad per se but it seems all so *messy*. Like they had completely different expectations from this car than how it turned out during the first race weekend and are now scrambling. And fans have generally being very dramatic considering it’s only being one race (tbf I kinda get it because we don’t know how many years lewis is going to race and I want to see him win the 8th more than anything), so the letter that Merc put out today makes sense to me. But at the same time it felt a lot like damage control idk. Also it was interesting to see A LOT of people criticizing them for it on twitter or reddit because they felt like merc is complaining about not winning anymore (which I don’t think it’s the case tbh)

Yeah, I definitely think the open letter was a course correction — they have had time to process and they’re moving forward.

I’m seeing a lot of criticism too but it’s a lot of criticism from people who don’t seem to understand or care about the PR that is going on?

I think its not something any other F1 team would do and I think it sets them apart in a good way.